Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 1: Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not gonna lie. Mike and I are actually
Speaker 2: enjoying our holiday wine over here. Mike and our next guest.
Speaker 2: Our listeners are actually very familiar with him, who I'm
Speaker 2: pleased to say is back with us. Yanick Benjamin, a
Speaker 2: smallier and co founder of Wine on Wheels. This is
Speaker 2: an organization that works to help with people across all
Speaker 2: forms of disability, and of course this is something close
Speaker 2: to his heart. While a car accident left yonic paralyzed
Speaker 2: two decades ago, he still was able to pursue his
Speaker 2: dreams to attend college and become a smallier. He also
Speaker 2: actually he and partners opened a Contento, a restaurant in
Speaker 2: New York, and he also joins us on Zoom from
Speaker 2: New York City to discuss raising money and awareness for
Speaker 2: people with disabilities, as well as Holiday of Wines. Thanks
Speaker 2: so much for joining us again, Yanick. It's always great
Speaker 2: having you here.
Speaker 1: How are you very good?
Speaker 3: Thanks? Thank you for having me in Happy holidays.
Speaker 2: Yes, so, our listeners know you very well because you've
Speaker 2: been here so many times. But for those who are
Speaker 2: listening for the first time, who don't know your backstory,
Speaker 2: Please tell us and walk us through kind of how
Speaker 2: you got to where you are now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, very quickly.
Speaker 4: I'm second generation restaurant term. My parents are from France, so.
Speaker 3: They came to New York.
Speaker 4: My father came here in nineteen sixty three and he
Speaker 4: worked at a restaurant called Like Gnui, and I basically
Speaker 4: followed his footsteps and I just stayed on that path.
Speaker 4: Wine is just a real deep passion of mine. I
Speaker 4: was very fortunate to work at some really great restaurants
Speaker 4: and at the age of twenty five years old, unfortunately
Speaker 4: I was in a car accident that left me paralyzed
Speaker 4: from the waist down. But I really never allowed that
Speaker 4: to determine of my dream of actually having my own
Speaker 4: restaurant and wine store.
Speaker 3: It took a while, but.
Speaker 4: You know, you know, if it's if it's endurable, then
Speaker 4: endure it, right, you know, if you can endure it,
Speaker 4: then and just keep rushing through it. And so, you know,
Speaker 4: a couple of years ago I was able to open
Speaker 4: up a restaurant called Contento in East Harlem and it's
Speaker 4: wine centric. And then just last year I opened up
Speaker 4: a wine store, actually the very same building that I
Speaker 4: was born and raised in. My parents would write about it,
Speaker 4: so it's it's a real family affair. So I'm very fortunate.
Speaker 4: I'm grateful. Sure, there there have been some difficult moments
Speaker 4: in my life, but I think that applies to everybody else,
Speaker 4: and I was very lucky to be surrounded by some
Speaker 4: great people to continue to pursue my passion.
Speaker 1: That's great. Really quite an inspirational story. Uh And as
Speaker 1: just mentioned, we are enjoying some wine to get in here.
Speaker 1: So just like I don't usually drink on the job
Speaker 1: hard you're saying, we just throw that out there.
Speaker 2: This isn't what We only have a little over a
Speaker 2: half hour left of the program.
Speaker 1: If you hear some snoring, I definitely will getting back up.
Speaker 1: But you know, I'm going to confess I'm not a
Speaker 1: real expert on wine. I love it. I know what
Speaker 1: I like.
Speaker 2: Myself an expert.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I guess that's it's such a kind of
Speaker 1: a loaded topic because you know, you like, I know
Speaker 1: what I like, but I don't really know how to
Speaker 1: describe it. I go, I look at the list of
Speaker 1: the menu, and my strategies always get the second cheapest
Speaker 1: one you ever want to get the cheapest, but I
Speaker 1: go second.
Speaker 2: Chief, You're like Michael the Chief skate All right, anyway,
Speaker 2: I digress.
Speaker 1: But you got how sort of your for dummies explanation
Speaker 1: of how a guy like me can at least look
Speaker 1: smart when he's ordering a bottle of wine? Like, where
Speaker 1: do I need to start? What do I need to
Speaker 1: know to start?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Well, I would say, you know, you have to take
Speaker 4: the Socratic method right, just ask away. You know, I
Speaker 4: think people are often too afraid to ask questions because
Speaker 4: they're afraid of being perceived as being dumb or clueless.
Speaker 4: And I think that's the worst approach, you know. And
Speaker 4: I think here in New York City, we are one
Speaker 4: of the great wine capitals of the world. There's New York,
Speaker 4: there's Hong Kong, there's London, there's Paris, and certainly New York,
Speaker 4: you know, has so many great restaurants, so many great
Speaker 4: wine stores.
Speaker 3: There's no shortage of it.
Speaker 4: So, like, you know, it's just a matter of finding
Speaker 4: that right space where you can go into where you
Speaker 4: feel comfortable and you just ask away.
Speaker 3: No one is going to ever expect you to know
Speaker 3: the difference.
Speaker 4: Between Shennon blanc or Reasoning or Cabernet, Sauvigno and Merlau.
Speaker 4: But you know, there's nothing wrong with asking as many
Speaker 4: questions as you can because that's the only way you're
Speaker 4: going to ever learn. And unfortunately, through this process, through
Speaker 4: this journey that you go through in wine, you know
Speaker 4: you're going to get wines that maybe don't suit your palate,
Speaker 4: but that's the whole purpose.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's what makes it fun.
Speaker 4: And then eventually you start to really discover what you
Speaker 4: like and what you don't like, and what flavors suit
Speaker 4: you and what other flavors don't suit you. And then
Speaker 4: that's the really key. The key is not to be
Speaker 4: afraid to put yourself out there and just being able
Speaker 4: to enjoy the journey. And that's the beauty of wine,
Speaker 4: because wine it's not just about you know, a grape
Speaker 4: choice that ferments into this beautiful product, but it's about history,
Speaker 4: it's about geology. It's a geography and all these wonderful stories,
Speaker 4: and that's that's the beauty. And this is why I
Speaker 4: love wine so much, and that's why I love to
Speaker 4: share it with people such as yourselves.
Speaker 2: I just want to point out that Yanik was just
Speaker 2: rewarded Best of the Year by Michelin Guide, So I'll
Speaker 2: trick to that. I know it's cheers to that, right
Speaker 2: of course. So tell us about these latest holiday wines
Speaker 2: that you're introducing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, so I chose three wines that These are
Speaker 4: wines that I think that really over delivered for the price,
Speaker 4: and these are wines that we actually carry out the
Speaker 4: wine store at both Pier Wines and Spirits. So the
Speaker 4: first one right over here is just one of my favorites.
Speaker 4: It's Michelle Burnet in retails for about fifty dollars. It's
Speaker 4: purely Chardonnay through and through. It's all grown on pure
Speaker 4: chalk soils. And this is a one that ages for
Speaker 4: up to three years before it's actually even released out
Speaker 4: into the market. And it's a one that's complex, it's
Speaker 4: it's enjoyable.
Speaker 3: It goes well with food.
Speaker 4: I think people make the mistake into thinking that champagne
Speaker 4: is only something that you open to when you're celebrating,
Speaker 4: But no, there's nothing better than to have a great dish.
Speaker 4: Even something as simple as fried chicken. Fried chicken and
Speaker 4: champagne goes so well together. Sushi, you name it. Champagne
Speaker 4: is one of the most versatile wines that you can
Speaker 4: actually pair with different types of food, So I highly
Speaker 4: recommend it. Just don't limit yourself to like, you know, holidays.
Speaker 4: You can do a lot with champagne. So this is
Speaker 4: why I chose this, because of the creaminess, because of
Speaker 4: the complexity, the length of finish that it has.
Speaker 3: It's just really beautiful.
Speaker 1: We should have got some fried chicken too.
Speaker 3: I know, you should have gotten some fried chicken. I
Speaker 3: should have told you. That's my mistake. I should have
Speaker 3: sent over well, fried chicken.
Speaker 5: It's great.
Speaker 1: How about what goes good with you turkey? I'm making
Speaker 1: turkey on Christmas?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, actually so I'll skip around for a second.
Speaker 4: So this over here is made by a really dear
Speaker 4: friend of mine and really just an incredible talent. His
Speaker 4: name is Eduard Parine, and he's out in the Beaugelat
Speaker 4: region in France. And this is a grip called game
Speaker 4: and this goes perfectly well with turkey, you know, you know,
Speaker 4: especially if the red This is a red wine right here, Yeah,
Speaker 4: for sure, And this is what I would highly recommend.
Speaker 4: You know, it goes well with the cranberry sauce. It
Speaker 4: goes well with the stuffing. You know, when you're talking
Speaker 4: about turkey, oftentimes you have a mosaic of different ingredients
Speaker 4: that are happening all at once. So this is something
Speaker 4: that I would highly recommend right over here. This is
Speaker 4: from a place called Muravon. Edward Palliine he is, he
Speaker 4: owns the property. It's called Chateau de Mouravon, and I
Speaker 4: absolutely love these wines. It's all grown on pure granite
Speaker 4: soils and just just a real flavorful wine that has
Speaker 4: again a lot of depth and a lot of personality
Speaker 4: to itself.
Speaker 2: I love that. I also like some of the a
Speaker 2: little bit sweeter wines. Like a reasoning, But what kind
Speaker 2: of suggestions do you have someone on that kind of
Speaker 2: spectrum of wine.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah, so you know, if you if you
Speaker 4: can't find a reasoning, I would certainly recommend the grip
Speaker 4: called Shennon blanc, which I absolutely adore. And this is
Speaker 4: a grip that you primarily find in the northern part
Speaker 4: of France in the Wire Valley places like Vouvre and
Speaker 4: all that, and they are actually incredibly affordable generally speaking.
Speaker 4: They range a really good h blanc, you know, ranges
Speaker 4: from anywhere from about twenty five dollars to forty dollars,
Speaker 4: so I highly recommend that it's absolutely delightful.
Speaker 3: And then if you wanted something a bit more drier,
Speaker 3: over I have over here.
Speaker 4: There's a place called Galicia, So it's all the way
Speaker 4: in the north western part of Spain. It's called the
Speaker 4: Green Spain, and I absolutely love this part. And this
Speaker 4: is a great called Albertino, and Albertino is again high acid,
Speaker 4: salty fresh. It's got notes of peach and green apple
Speaker 4: and orchard fruits.
Speaker 3: It's really a.
Speaker 4: Really spectacular wine that's also incredibly versatile, and that's why
Speaker 4: I chose these three wines because of its versatility. But
Speaker 4: just like Reasoning and just like Shinnon Blanc, it does
Speaker 4: have that same versatility too, and that's what that's to
Speaker 4: me what a great wine is, right, you have.
Speaker 3: The ability to pair it with different ingredients but also
Speaker 3: for different occasions.
Speaker 4: And this is made by a winemaker named Roji Mendez
Speaker 4: along with this partner Alberto Orte, and I think they're
Speaker 4: making some lovely wine. Spain is definitely on the up
Speaker 4: and up, without a doubt, some great wines.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I love the spanishreds. I feel
Speaker 1: like they're underrated people.
Speaker 2: We'll have to leave it here, but we always love
Speaker 2: having you with us. Benjamin Smali, a and co founder
Speaker 2: of Wine on Wheels. Always a great conversation, Mike. I
Speaker 2: don't know about you, but since we are based here
Speaker 2: in New York City, I always love the holidays because
Speaker 2: of these When you look at the holiday displays at
Speaker 2: a number of stores and the lights everywhere in Manhattan,
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: I do. I love walking down Fifth Avenue around the holidays.
Speaker 1: But es I gotta say as a Jersey guy, as
Speaker 1: a Jersey guy, everybody knows Fifth Avenue is so done.
Speaker 2: I was waiting to f you want.
Speaker 1: To know where the real holiday shopping is. It's in Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, at the mills at Jersey Gardens.
Speaker 2: That's all right, you are right. And for some background
Speaker 2: here on our next guest, who is John Carter, chief
Speaker 2: executive officer at Parker three D. He actually recently opened
Speaker 2: his largest creation to date, a you have to see
Speaker 2: it to understand pop up shop called Go Pixel Yourself at.
Speaker 2: Like Mike was mentioning the mills at the Jersey Gardens mall.
Speaker 2: So it's a folks right. I'm fascinated to hear more
Speaker 2: about this, but a bit from what I understand is
Speaker 2: it's a photo already interactive, six million pixel digital experience
Speaker 2: that costs watch this three million dollars Mike to put together.
Speaker 2: So John is here on Zoom from the mills at
Speaker 2: the Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey. John, thanks
Speaker 2: for joining us all the way from over there. You're
Speaker 2: not too far, just across uh the Hudson over there.
Speaker 2: But first off, just kind of set the scene for
Speaker 2: us and walk our listeners through what you've built here.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, you know, I used to design all
Speaker 6: of the New York City Christmas windows, as you had mentioned,
Speaker 6: and I love Mike's intro. We had wanted to do
Speaker 6: something close to home. You know, we've worked all over
Speaker 6: the world. We've worked in Dubai, We've worked in Shanghai,
Speaker 6: We've worked in London, We've done a large mal decors everywhere.
Speaker 6: And you know, as a kid, I would walk into
Speaker 6: these windows and you'd see them and it was behind
Speaker 6: the glass. Well, we're inviting people inside the glass so
Speaker 6: you can see where I am here. If you're watching
Speaker 6: on YouTube, you're basically in an animated Christmas window, so
Speaker 6: you get to live inside of it. And we have
Speaker 6: ten different photo ops in here, and it automatically comes
Speaker 6: into your email.
Speaker 5: We print a photo for people who like a printed photo.
Speaker 6: And there's also all kinds of original artwork here to
Speaker 6: pose with. And in fact, there's the inside of a
Speaker 6: seven forty seven for the beginning of your journey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I advise if anyone's listening to radio, get to YouTube.
Speaker 2: Yes, and right now.
Speaker 1: This thing John has created, I'm speechless. John. I it's like,
Speaker 1: it's amazing, it's awesome. But John, I'm wondering. You know,
Speaker 1: when Justin and I were talking about this earlier, when
Speaker 1: I walked down Fifth Avenue this year, it felt a
Speaker 1: little more over the top than usual, And I look
Speaker 1: at your thing, and I'm like, over the top. This
Speaker 1: is over the top of the top. Right in Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: New Jersey. Has this whole idea of creating these great
Speaker 1: holiday displays. Has it been ratcheted up in recent years?
Speaker 5: I think it has.
Speaker 6: I mean I remember when I started doing them, which
Speaker 6: I am.
Speaker 5: You know, it's probably twenty years ago. I started doing these.
Speaker 6: We started making it so you could touch the glass
Speaker 6: and things would interact.
Speaker 5: But it's gone further than that now.
Speaker 6: I mean today we create the digital video that goes
Speaker 6: in the back of the Bloomingdale's windows, so those windows
Speaker 6: are changing constantly, and I think going down the road,
Speaker 6: you're going to see even more innovations and still keeping
Speaker 6: a little bit of tradition. If you look behind me,
Speaker 6: you see all kinds of kind of radical video and whatnot,
Speaker 6: but there's a sense of tradition about it.
Speaker 5: And I think if we can onto that tradition, but
Speaker 5: we can also believe.
Speaker 6: It or not explore AI and augmented reality and virtual reality.
Speaker 5: I think that's where we're.
Speaker 6: Going to see this going because you can't avoid those technologies,
Speaker 6: but I think we can learn to experience them in
Speaker 6: a more friendly way.
Speaker 2: John, whenever I think of malls, especially in the wake
Speaker 2: of COVID and how much pressure they were going under
Speaker 2: when everyone's under lockdown. Obviously, as we come out of
Speaker 2: COVID set the scene for us as far as what
Speaker 2: it looks like in the people that are there right
Speaker 2: now for the holidays, because even just a year ago,
Speaker 2: it still felt like we weren't quite back yet. Right
Speaker 2: Like I even had COVID on Christmas a year ago.
Speaker 2: What do things look like now, because it seems like
Speaker 2: we're back to normal, right.
Speaker 6: I had to really fight to close this space right now.
Speaker 6: And I don't know if you can hear it from there,
Speaker 6: but it sounds like we're in MetLife stadium.
Speaker 5: It's just a mob scene out there.
Speaker 6: And so I think, you know, any of the younger
Speaker 6: shoppers are feeling like they want an experience, not just
Speaker 6: a product. And when they come to the mall, you
Speaker 6: see them with their camera is up and they're experiencing people,
Speaker 6: and they're experiencing displays, and they're buying things, but it's
Speaker 6: all part of an.
Speaker 5: Experience, especially the gen Z.
Speaker 6: There's been some articles about gen Z, like specifically saying
Speaker 6: I want to buy things in person, I want to
Speaker 6: talk to a person, I want to try it on.
Speaker 6: So there's almost been a backlash. It's a novelty to
Speaker 6: come to a shopping center now and it shows just
Speaker 6: you can barely walk out there.
Speaker 1: Hitch, And I was going to ask you, I mean,
Speaker 1: how much does sort of the selfie Instagram influence have
Speaker 1: now on your work?
Speaker 6: It has a lot of influence. I mean I've been
Speaker 6: doing all kinds of sculpture. I did street art, I
Speaker 6: did environmental sculpture installations. And I think the fact that
Speaker 6: people now have cameras and they want to capture something
Speaker 6: gives us a new way to look at it. It
Speaker 6: used to be went to a museum and you paid
Speaker 6: and you just looked at things. But now people want
Speaker 6: a photograph. And if you go to the Van god
Speaker 6: Museum in ancester Dam, you're not even allowed to photograph.
Speaker 5: So here we encourage you to photograph.
Speaker 6: So I think that has definitely changed the way people
Speaker 6: interact with things. And I think people also expect now
Speaker 6: because of the Internet, which you know, think of how
Speaker 6: young the Internet is. People want to interact. So there's
Speaker 6: going to come a time in the very near future
Speaker 6: here where you will take a picture and AI will
Speaker 6: make you into something else.
Speaker 5: They'll make you into the Statue of Liberty, They'll make
Speaker 5: you into the Sphinx.
Speaker 6: So it's way more interactive than just looking at something.
Speaker 2: John talk to us about the business and costs behind
Speaker 2: putting something this gigantic altogether for a holiday season.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, you know, we used to do you
Speaker 6: know the windows soup to nuts and those are always
Speaker 6: at least six figures occasionally seven. I still do mall
Speaker 6: holidays all over the world, and those again are always
Speaker 6: six figures, very seldom less than six figures, and sometimes seven.
Speaker 5: In this case, we spent three million dollars bringing this together.
Speaker 6: About half of that is just playing technology, and we
Speaker 6: think it matters because this place will be completely different
Speaker 6: next week, and the week after that it will be
Speaker 6: completely different again. And without that expenditure. Without that investment,
Speaker 6: it doesn't have legs like it does with the way
Speaker 6: we've done it here.
Speaker 1: John, the only thing I will say before we let
Speaker 1: you go, if you're in Elizabeth, do not leave that
Speaker 1: city before you get some Sorrentino's pizza. That's my only
Speaker 1: my closing remarks.
Speaker 2: I love that a tidbit for bike here. Well, John,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for joining us. John Carter, chief
Speaker 2: executive officer at Parker three D. He was joining us
Speaker 2: on zoom there from of course, the mills at Jersey
Speaker 2: Gardens Mall and Elizabeth, New Jersey. We appreciate his time
Speaker 2: walking us through all that in the beautiful displays there
Speaker 2: that he over there