1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,519
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Eating Wall Broke. I'm your host,

2
00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:07,200
Speaker 1: Colleen Wit and today we have special guests Greg Plumber

3
00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:11,360
Speaker 1: in the building, CEO and managing partner of Concord Collective,

4
00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,720
Speaker 1: and enjoy repeat. I'm really excited about having him here

5
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,240
Speaker 1: today because he has to be one of the most

6
00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,480
Speaker 1: impressive entrepreneurs of the season that survived the pandemic and

7
00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,680
Speaker 1: did it on a Kobe Bryant, uh, Steph Curry, Clay

8
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:30,000
Speaker 1: Thompson level. Yeah, I'll take it. Thank you so much.

9
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,240
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. And we're talking hospitality industry today,

10
00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,120
Speaker 1: so we're gonna be eating real good this This this

11
00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:39,320
Speaker 1: has a lot of moving parts. I would like you

12
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,559
Speaker 1: to tell me what are the ingredients? Sure, well, Colleen,

13
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,760
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. I really appreciate you for bringing

14
00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,199
Speaker 1: me in today. So today we're making a creamy Cajun pasta.

15
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,280
Speaker 1: Creamy Cajun pasta. I would say creole, but I'm not

16
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:59,000
Speaker 1: creole and I'm not Cajun, but just creamy pasta, very

17
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:04,040
Speaker 1: comfort food. Feeling good when you were broke, Yeah, well, yeah, absolutely.

18
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:05,960
Speaker 1: I always wanted to eat good, no matter if I

19
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:07,560
Speaker 1: was broke or if I had any money, So I

20
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:09,440
Speaker 1: still like to eat the same type of things. I

21
00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:10,800
Speaker 1: get to eat out and get to try a lot

22
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,120
Speaker 1: of different food down, but I like to eat the

23
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,440
Speaker 1: same thing that brings me comfort and it reminds me

24
00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:17,720
Speaker 1: of something that takes me back to like a nostalgic place.

25
00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,000
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean when I was growing up, I

26
00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:21,679
Speaker 1: did a lot of cooking. But when I when I

27
00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,480
Speaker 1: think of broke in the real true sense of it, uh,

28
00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,040
Speaker 1: it's college, and it's right after college when you needed

29
00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,120
Speaker 1: to be able to stretch, to stick to your ribs,

30
00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,280
Speaker 1: whether he was drinking or whatever. If you had a

31
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,480
Speaker 1: couple of people over the house, you wanted something that

32
00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,600
Speaker 1: you can go a long way and then everybody just

33
00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,520
Speaker 1: be like, oh yeah that was cool, whether it be

34
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,800
Speaker 1: you know ladies or you know, your buddies or whoever

35
00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,480
Speaker 1: you wanted to impress them. So and I've always been

36
00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,840
Speaker 1: one that I really liked to, you know, kind of

37
00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,840
Speaker 1: treat my friends well. So you know, yeah, even if

38
00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:51,680
Speaker 1: I'm broke, you know, back in the day, I would

39
00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,560
Speaker 1: spend my last just trying to make sure everybody else say,

40
00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,160
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's the truth. Though. Yeah, Well, well

41
00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,800
Speaker 1: we'll see you gotta you gotta tell today ingredients. We

42
00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,680
Speaker 1: have a chicken. We have some bell peppers, yellow peppers,

43
00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:11,200
Speaker 1: red peppers, green onions, white onions, and Dowe sausage. We

44
00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,160
Speaker 1: have some heavy cream. I want to see. I hate

45
00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 1: heavy cream. We have some crisscoat garlic, and then you

46
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,119
Speaker 1: know any kind of creole ss with tony statuaries today

47
00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,160
Speaker 1: chicken stock just for a little, you know, to cut

48
00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,480
Speaker 1: the heavy cream. It's crazy. I kind of have the foresight.

49
00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,120
Speaker 1: You didn't like it. And then and then there's nodles.

50
00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:42,480
Speaker 1: Have some noodles here as well, this sausage and had sausage. Yeah,

51
00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,360
Speaker 1: and I'm not you know, so so this is the

52
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:50,160
Speaker 1: meal is super confident, filling. And then you know, let's

53
00:02:50,200 --> 00:03:14,440
Speaker 1: get to it. Let's get to it. My problems, my problem.

54
00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,600
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited to try this dish. Go ahead,

55
00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:21,080
Speaker 1: let's start awesome. Well, let's let's heat our paying first.

56
00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,360
Speaker 1: Are you used to working with electric? Not really, but

57
00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,560
Speaker 1: I'll make it work. I like my paying hot, so

58
00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:30,440
Speaker 1: I'm gonna turn it up hot. Put oil in it,

59
00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,880
Speaker 1: not too much oil, because we're gonna brown the meat first.

60
00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:40,400
Speaker 1: Now you're you're from the hospitality industry, absolutely so, did

61
00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 1: you spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Yes,

62
00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:45,400
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm spend time in the kitchen. When I

63
00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,080
Speaker 1: was a kid, I was really fascinated by cooking and

64
00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:52,760
Speaker 1: watching cooking stuff and uh and then you know, working

65
00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,440
Speaker 1: in restaurants. My first jobs in restaurants, well, one of

66
00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:58,760
Speaker 1: my first job was at a golf course concession stand

67
00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,920
Speaker 1: in Detroit, and uh, after that, I went to work

68
00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,560
Speaker 1: in restaurants downtown. I worked in one of the busiest

69
00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,840
Speaker 1: restaurants in Detrode from fifteen as a bus boy hostess.

70
00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:12,320
Speaker 1: And it was amazing to see how like how much

71
00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:14,760
Speaker 1: energy came to a restaurant and whether people were celebrating

72
00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,160
Speaker 1: the birthday or you know, just getting the lunch or

73
00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:19,279
Speaker 1: having a meeting. You know, it was all around food.

74
00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:21,920
Speaker 1: So it kind of clicked to me. And you know,

75
00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,559
Speaker 1: ever since then, I just really kind of been really

76
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,120
Speaker 1: into it. And I went to college and when I

77
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,479
Speaker 1: was in college and morehouse you know, would try to

78
00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,480
Speaker 1: work different jobs, whether it be entertainment, internships, or you know,

79
00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,440
Speaker 1: working for a family longer had a uncle down there.

80
00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,240
Speaker 1: It was doing well at the time, and he let me,

81
00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,240
Speaker 1: you know, kind of work for him, and you know,

82
00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,480
Speaker 1: always would end up going back to restaurants. So so

83
00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,119
Speaker 1: for our listeners, because I don't think I was able

84
00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,520
Speaker 1: to share with you guys what Concorde Collective is, what

85
00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,480
Speaker 1: enjoying repeat is. Can you break it down for everybody

86
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,719
Speaker 1: so that they can kind of I have an idea

87
00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:10,160
Speaker 1: of yeah, yeah. So Cancre Collective is a restaurant hospitality

88
00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,120
Speaker 1: company based in Los Angeles, and we operate bars and

89
00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,320
Speaker 1: restaurants and airports, and we have over thirteen locations today

90
00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:19,600
Speaker 1: at l a X. So if you travel to l

91
00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,640
Speaker 1: a X, hit us up um and you know from there,

92
00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:27,000
Speaker 1: you know, uh, we also have restaurants outside of airports

93
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,720
Speaker 1: that we're working on and soon the launch in the

94
00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:35,279
Speaker 1: very near future restaurants. That's correct, That's crazy. It is good.

95
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,160
Speaker 1: I mean I worked at l A X. I started

96
00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,640
Speaker 1: my career in two thousand five and I came in

97
00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,839
Speaker 1: as an assistant manager after leaving MORGANE. Stanley. I was

98
00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,599
Speaker 1: unhappy as in finance, and I thought that you don't

99
00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:48,799
Speaker 1: want to do something. I really got it got me going.

100
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,520
Speaker 1: I got a chance to meet a friend of mine's

101
00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,839
Speaker 1: father who was in the business. He interviewed me, said

102
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,520
Speaker 1: you can have a job, but you know, just be careful.

103
00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,719
Speaker 1: This is not glamorous, is not what you probably expected

104
00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:03,080
Speaker 1: to be, but you definitely have a job. We definitely

105
00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,719
Speaker 1: did to help. And I was like, and you were

106
00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,120
Speaker 1: a manager at a concession standard. I was the lowest

107
00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,880
Speaker 1: of the lowest manager and I was the assistant manager,

108
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,120
Speaker 1: closing manager who you know basically you know, worked on holidays,

109
00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,120
Speaker 1: airports between seven So I worked on holidays. You know,

110
00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,599
Speaker 1: there was no there was no like regular days off.

111
00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,000
Speaker 1: My days off for Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the middle

112
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,600
Speaker 1: of the week. So as a young guy trying to

113
00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,640
Speaker 1: figure out l A and then try to also navigate

114
00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:38,000
Speaker 1: uh a career, I just kind of buried my head

115
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,160
Speaker 1: and worked and we had a lot of fun. And

116
00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,360
Speaker 1: you know, I still have my fair share of fund

117
00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,120
Speaker 1: but I did a lot of work. Yeah, and how

118
00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:51,120
Speaker 1: do you go from that to phoning all these concession stands? Like, well,

119
00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,440
Speaker 1: what happened in between? So in between U and you

120
00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:56,839
Speaker 1: got I got a chance to continue working for the gentleman,

121
00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 1: my mentor, and through CMS, the company I used to

122
00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:01,960
Speaker 1: work for, we were able to go from being a

123
00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,400
Speaker 1: small you know operator at l A X with you know,

124
00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,880
Speaker 1: four or five locations to ultimately growing the company from

125
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,560
Speaker 1: two thousand uh eleven to two thousand and sixteen to

126
00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,360
Speaker 1: nineteen locations. And I was a big part of that

127
00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,840
Speaker 1: growth with my dear friend and his son or and

128
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,640
Speaker 1: you know, really we had to prove ourselves and we

129
00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,920
Speaker 1: were competing against much larger companies. So and then also

130
00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:29,880
Speaker 1: as a small business, you get to you know, touch

131
00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:31,760
Speaker 1: a lot of parts of the business. You don't just

132
00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:33,880
Speaker 1: work in one focus that's my job. I go home.

133
00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:36,480
Speaker 1: We were thinking big, big time, and like how do

134
00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,600
Speaker 1: we get to the next level. It required us to

135
00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:40,320
Speaker 1: do a little bit everything, even if we don't want

136
00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,480
Speaker 1: to do it. I hate to bring up the racing,

137
00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:44,640
Speaker 1: but where are you guys all black? Or yeah? I

138
00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,760
Speaker 1: mean so your boss at the time was black. Most

139
00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,920
Speaker 1: of the employees of minority. So the airport, they have

140
00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:55,360
Speaker 1: a program called the a c dB Airport Certified Disadvantaged

141
00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:59,320
Speaker 1: Business Enterprise. So that is a program that really promotes

142
00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:03,840
Speaker 1: women and minority own businesses being included in contracting opportunities

143
00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:09,480
Speaker 1: and airports. So for the a c d D program, uh,

144
00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:11,480
Speaker 1: you know, you have to be a minority and a woman,

145
00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,680
Speaker 1: and you have to obviously go through certain certifications to

146
00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,720
Speaker 1: get to make sure you meet the requirements. And um,

147
00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,400
Speaker 1: he was a c d V company and he eventually

148
00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:26,440
Speaker 1: sold his business. No, I like it hot as long

149
00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,120
Speaker 1: as everyone can still hear you. It isn't too hot,

150
00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:35,720
Speaker 1: it's too high bloody, be louder. Uh I like it hot,

151
00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:38,959
Speaker 1: And uh probably people like what are you doing that?

152
00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:41,959
Speaker 1: So yeah, a c d VS for people that don't know.

153
00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,439
Speaker 1: There are opportunities for women's minority own businesses to get

154
00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,960
Speaker 1: into the airports. Yeah, but do you have to have

155
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,640
Speaker 1: a lot of money to get in there? Like shooting people? See,

156
00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,120
Speaker 1: that's a that's a tricky thing. And you know there

157
00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:56,839
Speaker 1: are a couple of ways to get into it. But

158
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,760
Speaker 1: you know, access the capital is really challenging for minorities

159
00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,920
Speaker 1: in general, and then a lot of predatory lenders out there.

160
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,720
Speaker 1: But if there's a will, there's a way. And you know,

161
00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,319
Speaker 1: I think there's a bunch of access to capital now

162
00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:12,120
Speaker 1: and a lot of resources out there for you to

163
00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,040
Speaker 1: learn where to go get those things. And I want

164
00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,240
Speaker 1: someone that I always love to talk to people and

165
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,199
Speaker 1: kind of like give my story because I didn't come

166
00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,360
Speaker 1: from money. I didn't have money, I didn't have someone

167
00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:23,800
Speaker 1: to say here's a bunch of money for you to

168
00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,960
Speaker 1: go start a business, and you shouldn't wait for that. Um.

169
00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:29,520
Speaker 1: But I fast forward, you know, really working for that

170
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,560
Speaker 1: company taught me everything I did. I learned on someone

171
00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,120
Speaker 1: else's tign And that's what they tell you, like, don't

172
00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:36,280
Speaker 1: go out there and say I want to start my

173
00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,559
Speaker 1: own business, but you really haven't worked in that and

174
00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,440
Speaker 1: you gotta learn what's going on. You gotta learn what

175
00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:45,520
Speaker 1: the opportunity is and then how you can provide about

176
00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,360
Speaker 1: I just had to be a sausage. My hands a

177
00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,600
Speaker 1: clean on. So we're mixing a sausage of the chicken

178
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,480
Speaker 1: out any season that with the creole season, season with that,

179
00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:57,160
Speaker 1: and I had a little more at the end. Just

180
00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,000
Speaker 1: brought it off the chicken and we're gonna put it

181
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 1: to the side to find the vessel to put into

182
00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:07,280
Speaker 1: the side. You can use uh, you can use my

183
00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:12,840
Speaker 1: plate for now because I want to get so Yeah,

184
00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,720
Speaker 1: so you know, fast forward that company. He ultimately had

185
00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,360
Speaker 1: a chance to sell his business, which is great because

186
00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:21,080
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't get a chance to realize that.

187
00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,599
Speaker 1: He sold his business in two thousand sixteen. That was

188
00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,360
Speaker 1: the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, trying

189
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:28,920
Speaker 1: to get everything ready to package up for him to

190
00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,920
Speaker 1: realize his goal. His goal was to realize success. I mean,

191
00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,079
Speaker 1: he's been operating for a long time. He had really

192
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,120
Speaker 1: took a lot of risk and it was time for

193
00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,520
Speaker 1: him to kind of focus on retirement. And you were

194
00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,440
Speaker 1: the guy that had to package it. Me and the team.

195
00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:46,040
Speaker 1: It was a team of us, but I was a

196
00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:48,280
Speaker 1: big part of the team. And we were obviously cleaning

197
00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:50,960
Speaker 1: cleaning up a lot of things, things that really need

198
00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:53,240
Speaker 1: to be fixed that weren't you know, getting his real

199
00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:56,360
Speaker 1: value to go in and tweet those things, change brands.

200
00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:59,080
Speaker 1: If we had a location that wasn't doing well, we

201
00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:00,640
Speaker 1: had to change in something than that was so you

202
00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:02,800
Speaker 1: get the real value for it. Because it's the real

203
00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,120
Speaker 1: estate is really real estate in the airport, so it's

204
00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:08,200
Speaker 1: a different type of sense of real estate. But the

205
00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,800
Speaker 1: better the real estate, the more valuable it is from

206
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:16,200
Speaker 1: operating standpoint, when you're talking like I don't know if

207
00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,320
Speaker 1: the correct terms are like retail on hospitality, but don't

208
00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:21,120
Speaker 1: you guys look at it by like the square foot

209
00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,480
Speaker 1: is like how much money you produce per square foot?

210
00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:26,160
Speaker 1: Is that how it works that retail typically does that,

211
00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,320
Speaker 1: but for restaurants is a little different because yes, you

212
00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:32,880
Speaker 1: want to maximize the revenue and square footage, but you

213
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,559
Speaker 1: also have a lot more components, Like there's a lot

214
00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:38,880
Speaker 1: more labor intensive to to to execute a restaurant. It's

215
00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,319
Speaker 1: a lot more equipment to execute the restaurant and the retail.

216
00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:44,920
Speaker 1: You get products that are finished and they come in

217
00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:46,840
Speaker 1: and as much stuff you can fit in the box

218
00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,000
Speaker 1: that someone want to buy, you do it. But for us,

219
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,160
Speaker 1: it's about getting the right product mixed and being able

220
00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:54,559
Speaker 1: to execute in an airport in the time, we managed

221
00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:56,440
Speaker 1: to be able to get people to the destination without

222
00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,640
Speaker 1: being angrier way too. So it's kind of like a

223
00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,480
Speaker 1: a little dance that we do. But it's fine if

224
00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:06,080
Speaker 1: you like, if you look at it that way. I

225
00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,679
Speaker 1: worked at McDonald's once, and uh, I wasn't successful at all.

226
00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,720
Speaker 1: I wasn't even successful waitressing. I learned that food and

227
00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,080
Speaker 1: me in that business was way too much pressure. There's

228
00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:17,960
Speaker 1: some things that I'm just not good at, and that

229
00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,560
Speaker 1: is those those two jobs I would feel horrifically well.

230
00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:24,280
Speaker 1: So you got to we have a great personality to

231
00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,240
Speaker 1: be able to serve. So I think I leave you

232
00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,560
Speaker 1: to your table. You know, if you're not into and

233
00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:31,840
Speaker 1: you're not into it, and that's the that's the real

234
00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:34,480
Speaker 1: driver to it. I think anything you do got to

235
00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,360
Speaker 1: be passionate ball yea, even even if you flip in

236
00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:39,200
Speaker 1: burgers like you gotta be. I want to make this

237
00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,080
Speaker 1: burger so good, like I don't want to eat it

238
00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,800
Speaker 1: my guys. I see him with guy's a girl thinking

239
00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,120
Speaker 1: they're cooking, and it's a lot of pride that goes

240
00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,640
Speaker 1: into that. So I always love it. And I agree,

241
00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,000
Speaker 1: something's not into I'm not into. I wasn't in the finance,

242
00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,199
Speaker 1: so it didn't work for me and I was miserable.

243
00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,440
Speaker 1: Couldn't pay me to go there. Uh, And I was

244
00:12:57,600 --> 00:12:59,120
Speaker 1: you know, late, and I wouldn't be in the best

245
00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,520
Speaker 1: version of myself. So I think you gotta be into

246
00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,800
Speaker 1: whatever it is you do. You went to school for business, Yeah, um,

247
00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,800
Speaker 1: did you foresee that you were going to be an

248
00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,680
Speaker 1: entrepreneur because he said you went straight into finance. You

249
00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:13,400
Speaker 1: know what the funny thing is, whether I knew it

250
00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,160
Speaker 1: or not, I was an entrepreneur before I really like

251
00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,280
Speaker 1: I thought about it, and I in college, I mean

252
00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,720
Speaker 1: well before that, in high school, me and my brother

253
00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:25,439
Speaker 1: and my best friend at the time. We threw um

254
00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:27,640
Speaker 1: one of the largest parties in the city of Detroit,

255
00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,959
Speaker 1: and everything you could imagine went wrong. We had We

256
00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:35,280
Speaker 1: had done an incredible job and promotingly hit every venue,

257
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,719
Speaker 1: Every school from every neighborhood came. But I didn't think like, oh, well,

258
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:45,680
Speaker 1: I'm putting this from creating a really hostile situation. Yeah.

259
00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,240
Speaker 1: So we actually had one of the few parties at

260
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,160
Speaker 1: this place called the Bella Casino. You been how old

261
00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,680
Speaker 1: were you when you did it? You had at the casino?

262
00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:58,320
Speaker 1: It was it was the call that casino. What so

263
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,120
Speaker 1: we had? You were talking about a house. We got there,

264
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,080
Speaker 1: It's February. It was a Valentine's Day party. We handrew

265
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:09,439
Speaker 1: a flyer like hearts with a little SPECIs like come

266
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,400
Speaker 1: to my party. I wish I could find but we

267
00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:15,720
Speaker 1: passed them out. We had a huge turnout, and then

268
00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,520
Speaker 1: you know, obviously people start fighting and shooting. People were

269
00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,160
Speaker 1: dancing in the trade. We danced, so I mean, you

270
00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,880
Speaker 1: guys had the hustle and all that. This guy was

271
00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:26,480
Speaker 1: dancing with this girl and he punched a hole in

272
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,720
Speaker 1: the wall. So I'll see that and like, oh, they're

273
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,400
Speaker 1: gonna charge us for that. We got there to night

274
00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,120
Speaker 1: of the menue. I don't want to overcook this, and

275
00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,400
Speaker 1: they say you can't take money to do it. So

276
00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:39,480
Speaker 1: all the things that could went wrong went wrong and

277
00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,240
Speaker 1: then we end up still walking away with a little

278
00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:43,000
Speaker 1: money and we paid it out. We had to fix

279
00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,880
Speaker 1: the grass, got beat up. It was it was kind

280
00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,960
Speaker 1: of a mess. It was kind of as they were shooting.

281
00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,640
Speaker 1: Thank you, and you guys are only six. Where were

282
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,320
Speaker 1: your parents? They were there? But you know, I beg

283
00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:59,760
Speaker 1: my dad he was a police officer, and I beg

284
00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:01,920
Speaker 1: my had to give me the money to do the

285
00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:04,560
Speaker 1: party because I needed like I thought I had the

286
00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,000
Speaker 1: money and it was a shorts so I'll go to

287
00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,080
Speaker 1: him and my uncles are like, yeah, that's the plan,

288
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,120
Speaker 1: and like I don't know, this sounds kind of crazy,

289
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:16,000
Speaker 1: but they took a chance and we got their money back. Okay, perfect,

290
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,160
Speaker 1: And then we had so you are a real entrepreneur.

291
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,840
Speaker 1: You know, it wouldn't have lc anything like that. And

292
00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,960
Speaker 1: then in college we threw parties, were parties and we

293
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,480
Speaker 1: did promotion. We passed off flyers. We passed off flyers

294
00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,080
Speaker 1: for some big promoters that I won't name that never

295
00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,240
Speaker 1: paid us, so we got a chance to learn earlier.

296
00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:38,200
Speaker 1: But being an entrepreneur was you know what we should

297
00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:41,160
Speaker 1: do better to to kind of better serve the guests

298
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,240
Speaker 1: of the clients. So yeah, all right, so this is

299
00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:51,160
Speaker 1: about brown got the boom. Okay, we'll use this. Oh yeah,

300
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,720
Speaker 1: you can use that one. So I only get all

301
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:55,480
Speaker 1: the grease of it because I want to use some

302
00:15:55,520 --> 00:16:00,280
Speaker 1: of that for these veggies. So next to was edges.

303
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,520
Speaker 1: It's okay, we'll get that. Always make a mess. I

304
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,800
Speaker 1: the cleanest guard, one of those people like I cook

305
00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,720
Speaker 1: and clean at the same time. Right, I don't, but

306
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,480
Speaker 1: you have to. Okay, So now you got the veggies, Okay,

307
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,480
Speaker 1: I want to do I want to do these first.

308
00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,880
Speaker 1: Let him sweat a little bit and man and I

309
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:25,160
Speaker 1: challenged him for all you listeners. I was like, can

310
00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:27,560
Speaker 1: you make this dish in under fifteen minutes? So he's

311
00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,520
Speaker 1: under a lot of pressure right now, pressure as he

312
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:36,360
Speaker 1: told his story telling telling an impressive story. So the

313
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,600
Speaker 1: thing that caught my attention about you was I was

314
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:44,280
Speaker 1: reading that during the during the pandemic, when most people

315
00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:49,720
Speaker 1: were crying like myself, I was in fetal position, like,

316
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,200
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, my business is going under in micro Sacks.

317
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,040
Speaker 1: I had an events company, so needless to say, it

318
00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:00,480
Speaker 1: shut down really fast. Um, you were you were out

319
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,880
Speaker 1: there working and I guess looking for your next opportunity

320
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,800
Speaker 1: or was it just a natural pivot? Like what was happening? Um?

321
00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,480
Speaker 1: I remember being at the conference that the industry conference

322
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:15,040
Speaker 1: we had. I'm just Sautetia Peppers. So we were at

323
00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:18,080
Speaker 1: the industry conference and then everything was kind of We're

324
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,600
Speaker 1: riding high and then come home, people started getting sick

325
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,000
Speaker 1: and I was working on I was doing some consulting

326
00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:25,440
Speaker 1: at the time, and I was with a dear friend

327
00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,159
Speaker 1: of mine up in San Francisco. And then we were

328
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,240
Speaker 1: at a restaurant which is a missing Star restaurant, the

329
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,480
Speaker 1: Angler and his beautiful restaurants. You're hard to get a

330
00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,440
Speaker 1: seat in there. But we're on business in San Francisco,

331
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,320
Speaker 1: and we look around, were only person in the restaurant.

332
00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:43,000
Speaker 1: We're like, this is scary. And then later that night

333
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:48,320
Speaker 1: the mirror San Francisco Learning breed shut down San Francisco,

334
00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,119
Speaker 1: so we're like, can we get home? And I was

335
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:52,600
Speaker 1: the first city to shut down, if you remember. So

336
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,719
Speaker 1: I went home and I was still kind of like, uh,

337
00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,520
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. And then immediately overnight, you know, air

338
00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:02,040
Speaker 1: traffic really kind of shut down down across the country,

339
00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,520
Speaker 1: which is our business. Yeah, you're in the airport and

340
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,160
Speaker 1: our businesses struggling. Beforehand, we were having a hard time

341
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,560
Speaker 1: just trying to get, you know, things on the right track,

342
00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:12,800
Speaker 1: because when you open a new business, they're always gonna

343
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,040
Speaker 1: be things you need to correct. So this kind of

344
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,240
Speaker 1: took the wind out of ourselves. And you guys opened

345
00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:19,639
Speaker 1: right before the pandemic. Yeah, you know, we open right

346
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:21,480
Speaker 1: before the pandemic. And then you know, we opened and

347
00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,800
Speaker 1: to know, we opened two dollars eighteen, like end of

348
00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,399
Speaker 1: two dollars eighteen, a year before the panic. So you know,

349
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,879
Speaker 1: I was a partner and I wasn't very involved, but

350
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,840
Speaker 1: I was also doing consultant, trying to get new opportunities

351
00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:39,480
Speaker 1: and trying to chase new deals. And then everything kind

352
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:43,200
Speaker 1: of came to a screeching home. So when I say yeah,

353
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:44,960
Speaker 1: I was really affective because we had to all go

354
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,960
Speaker 1: home and I'm thinking on stuff, what's gonna happen. But

355
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,440
Speaker 1: then at the same time, we were doing, uh, myself

356
00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,920
Speaker 1: and some other partners mine, we're working on golf course project,

357
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,960
Speaker 1: Ratio Park golf course, and we're supposed to take over

358
00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:04,719
Speaker 1: Mark and they're like, well the golf course closed down,

359
00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:08,960
Speaker 1: you can't take over, okay. So we end up taking

360
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,040
Speaker 1: over into April when they started to reopen and quickly

361
00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:18,440
Speaker 1: got it going in April. The golf courses were the

362
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,200
Speaker 1: first thing to open the city. Well everything else, the

363
00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,359
Speaker 1: grocery stores, with everything, other venues. Because we're outdoors, I

364
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,760
Speaker 1: didn't know that. Yeah, it was people are allowed to

365
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,760
Speaker 1: go play golf, and golf just skyrocket. But then I

366
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:32,719
Speaker 1: had no idea that was the place to be at

367
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:38,600
Speaker 1: this whole time. It was and golfing, and we were

368
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,040
Speaker 1: there and I spent time there, and then we were

369
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,280
Speaker 1: working on like okay, how do we take advantage of

370
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:47,240
Speaker 1: the opportunity. We can't start construction, And we found a

371
00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,439
Speaker 1: contract with the l a Homeless Authority UM which has

372
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,560
Speaker 1: lost of and they had a project for people experiencing

373
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,080
Speaker 1: homelessness to take them off the street, and they interviewed

374
00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:03,200
Speaker 1: us to do meals for these individuals that they had

375
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,920
Speaker 1: housing hotels doing so the government. You know, we're a

376
00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,000
Speaker 1: government contractor. So it's like, okay, how are you government

377
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,920
Speaker 1: contractors because of l a X. Yeah, we're Yeah, our

378
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:19,200
Speaker 1: businesses we operated government control facilities. You know golf course

379
00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:20,800
Speaker 1: is owned by the city of l A. I didn't

380
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,800
Speaker 1: know that. Yeah, for the most part. And then also

381
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,960
Speaker 1: you have the airport, which is owned by the city

382
00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:28,640
Speaker 1: of la So I say government contractors, yet we work

383
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,320
Speaker 1: with government instince. Okay, So we got there where we

384
00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:32,879
Speaker 1: want to be. We don't want to get too soft

385
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:38,959
Speaker 1: because boom, your favorite part of it? First? Wait, did

386
00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:43,600
Speaker 1: you add green onions? Gotta keep it? Okay, So guys,

387
00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:47,959
Speaker 1: you just sautay the garlic onions, peppers. He's adding the

388
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:53,440
Speaker 1: chicken stock just a little. You're a real chef man. No, no,

389
00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 1: not at all. I definitely do not cook like this

390
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,440
Speaker 1: at home. You gotta start. I'm going to I'm gonna

391
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,200
Speaker 1: take this. Whenever there's a really good dish, I try

392
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,440
Speaker 1: to pretend like I created it in front of my husband.

393
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,119
Speaker 1: He's gonna like this because we got we have a

394
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:13,160
Speaker 1: special type of taste, but betrayed. We all know there's

395
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,120
Speaker 1: a lot of lorries in our house. We're like, we're

396
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,760
Speaker 1: very colorful taste for us better word. Really, I feel

397
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:23,760
Speaker 1: like Jamaicans have more a little heavy. There we go. Man,

398
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,960
Speaker 1: I hate heavy cream, frost, build the sauce left the store,

399
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,920
Speaker 1: barg alfredo sauce. You know that garlic onions, You got

400
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,720
Speaker 1: the peppers. So you're gonna like basically give all the

401
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:41,720
Speaker 1: heavy cream. It's gonna be good because with the chicken stock.

402
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 1: So he's gonna kind of like let this kind of

403
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 1: blend together. Don't mind my face everyone, because I really

404
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 1: really hate heavy cream, but a passion. But cheese is

405
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,960
Speaker 1: gonna kind of all work out. He makes chicken stock

406
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:58,159
Speaker 1: with heavy cream, Okay. And I thought heavy cream was

407
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,800
Speaker 1: like a milk you could eat it. Yeah, water milk

408
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 1: will like separate, but heavy cream it's good. You need

409
00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:11,479
Speaker 1: the Farmeersan cheese okay. Okay, So yeah we're gonn how

410
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:34,879
Speaker 1: to make alfredo. Guys, it's just cheese. I mean a

411
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,240
Speaker 1: lot of people use lozarella cheese, but parmesan is good

412
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,640
Speaker 1: for us today, right. Um. And then so we're doing

413
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,960
Speaker 1: meals for homeless people experienced homeless nest and we didn't

414
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 1: have the background for that. We just kind of figured

415
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,439
Speaker 1: it out and we end up making one day it

416
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:53,720
Speaker 1: was three hundred and then the week later said, well,

417
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:58,399
Speaker 1: can you make a thousand meals, like so imagine you know,

418
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:00,880
Speaker 1: the trial and error. So think that was a big

419
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: part of me like kind of figuring out like, man,

420
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 1: you really can do anything you want to if you

421
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,120
Speaker 1: want to do it. And uh so I really kind

422
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,960
Speaker 1: of just we we were working like seven days, were

423
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to how to you know,

424
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 1: come up with meals and I was your creating recipes

425
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:17,280
Speaker 1: or like look at the recipes and then trying to

426
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 1: figure out how do you mass produce them? Yeah, and

427
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 1: that's I was gonna ask next, like how do you

428
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,000
Speaker 1: go from getting the contract so now entering a space

429
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,119
Speaker 1: that you've you've never really entered before, right, because it's

430
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:29,359
Speaker 1: it's like meal prep right now, here's here's meal prep,

431
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 1: but here's the here's the cheetode. Right. Most people say yes,

432
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 1: I'll take the opportunity and then say, but I need

433
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:38,880
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of time to figure it out.

434
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,120
Speaker 1: If you just say and it's probably not everybody because

435
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 1: if you're not if you're not built to handle this

436
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,919
Speaker 1: kind of thought process, if you say yes, I'll do it,

437
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: and then you just quickly jump in action and figure

438
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 1: it out because right now, even today, people are still

439
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: dealing with whether the business is telling them, yeah, we

440
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 1: don't have the ability to do that. We know the

441
00:23:58,119 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 1: band when you do that, we can't do it. And

442
00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 1: I think we want to be, you know, for as

443
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:05,679
Speaker 1: a company that kind of runs towards that kind of stuff,

444
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 1: because you know, you solve problems, you get opportunity, and

445
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,680
Speaker 1: that's we were like in the problem solving business. A

446
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,879
Speaker 1: little more cheese, want the sauce that thicking up, and

447
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:20,159
Speaker 1: then we're gonna return the meats to the kind of

448
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,239
Speaker 1: bring it all together. It looks good. Yeah, I'm one

449
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,960
Speaker 1: of those people that say yes and then uh, I

450
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,600
Speaker 1: look at my schedule like, oh, we're gonna fit this today.

451
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,080
Speaker 1: But you know, I watched a lot of pinking in

452
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,080
Speaker 1: the brain, so you know what, I'm gonna take over

453
00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 1: the world. I literally, during the pandemic, painted a mural

454
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 1: of pinking in the brain in my garage. The neighbors

455
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 1: all driving my lake. What are you doing? What's going on?

456
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,000
Speaker 1: I'm making myself happy. So we're gonna end up adding

457
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 1: more cheese. But I just want to start building this

458
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 1: in just go when we get the right consistency. So

459
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 1: he's pouring the chicken and the sausage into the sauce,

460
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: and you gotta try not to make a big mess

461
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:00,679
Speaker 1: what you look like I'm doing. So you don't need

462
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 1: to add more seasoning throughout this whole thing, I think absolutely.

463
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: But you know you always can add, you can't subtract.

464
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 1: I've learned that lesson before. Yeah, I give remind all

465
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,840
Speaker 1: the time. Yeah, I've done that before. Maybe you try

466
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 1: to drown it out. It's not start over, start over.

467
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 1: Uh So, Yeah, we were doing the meal thing and

468
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 1: that kind of ended up being something big, but it

469
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: was exhausting work. And then the opportunity with with SSP

470
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 1: came and I was a partner with them and there

471
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 1: it was a great relationship. But you know, they made

472
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 1: a business decision where they wanted to kind of look

473
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,479
Speaker 1: at to exit from the l a X market. Can

474
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: you explain to our listeners what SSP is. SSP is

475
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:55,119
Speaker 1: a fabulous company, shout out the SSP. Uh, But they're

476
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: really one of the leading industry leaders for food, beverage,

477
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: hospitality and airports. And they're based their London owned company,

478
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,040
Speaker 1: but they have a Northern North American division and they

479
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 1: are really you know, we essentially do the same thing

480
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 1: as we managed food beverage contracts and airports and you

481
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,880
Speaker 1: know they do travel centers and uh in Europe London,

482
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,879
Speaker 1: but for the most part, Yeah, SSP is as a

483
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: food beverage hospitality management company. So you had your own

484
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 1: concessions in the mark in the airport while you're doing

485
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 1: the homeless food and you're a part of SSP. Yeah,

486
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,159
Speaker 1: so I had more or less, Yeah, we had. We

487
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,520
Speaker 1: were a joint venture partner with SSP through the a

488
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: c dB Airport Concessions Disadvantage Business Enterprise. It's allful program

489
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:53,120
Speaker 1: and SSP UM myself and we had my company and

490
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 1: enjoy Peat and several of the companies were partners in

491
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 1: l A. We had operated eight restaurants in the airport.

492
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 1: They were the managing partner and then they operated the

493
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 1: day to day restaurants and we served on the management committee.

494
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 1: And then you know, because I had worked for the

495
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 1: company previously CMS and I managed the business myself and

496
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 1: I done kind of everything. I built the rapport with

497
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 1: the airport and you are w R landlord where they

498
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 1: knew that one I had the experience to do it

499
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 1: UM and they were quickly able to get behind me

500
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,680
Speaker 1: and say yeah, we like this. And it was really

501
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 1: at the time where uh not just airports, not just cities,

502
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: where everyone was saying I want to see more minority

503
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,439
Speaker 1: participation in a real way, like a meaningful way. And

504
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 1: then to me that was kind of like a light

505
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 1: bulb like, well, they can't say no if you said

506
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 1: you if you want to see more, and I'm bringing

507
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,120
Speaker 1: some to you. Because this is not an easy thing.

508
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,639
Speaker 1: It wasn't like oh yeah, sure, just like you signed

509
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:50,560
Speaker 1: off on a document. It's a lot of work that

510
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:53,800
Speaker 1: goes into this and a lot of people's livelihood of state.

511
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: You know, this business had over two other employees um

512
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: that quickly they had to furlough a lot of them,

513
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: you know, because there was no business in the airports.

514
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: So it was a lot of a lot of things

515
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: to consider when we really addressed the opportunity and say well,

516
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,119
Speaker 1: how do we do this? And then trying to go

517
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: raise capital. I mean I took I made about a

518
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,920
Speaker 1: hundred phone calls just trying to raise the capital. People

519
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,440
Speaker 1: you knew, what, people you didn't know. Both people a

520
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:23,879
Speaker 1: little more cheese. I think that's it for us on cheese.

521
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: And now we're gonna we're gonna mix with the pasta

522
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: because I like to mix um season first though, So

523
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 1: you have this opportunity. Now you're cold calling, You're trying

524
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 1: to raise the capital. So no part of you was like,

525
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: I don't have this capital. I should just quit. You're like, no,

526
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go out and get it. We're gonna do it,

527
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:48,160
Speaker 1: and you become a salesman. I didn't do. I've never

528
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 1: done that part of the business before. I just knew

529
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,440
Speaker 1: how to operate the restaurants. I had a bunch of relationships.

530
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:55,280
Speaker 1: And the crazy thing about it was, you know, you

531
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 1: learned every pitch you go and you learn something you

532
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 1: should anyway. So would go in a beating and you

533
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 1: know certain things would stand out to certain investors and

534
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,719
Speaker 1: certain people looking at my deck, and then I just

535
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 1: asked for help, like I asked friends that I knew,

536
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: take a look at this. Tell me what you think.

537
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 1: Do you think that I missed something here? And I

538
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 1: still do that today because you need perspective, like I

539
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,120
Speaker 1: don't know everything. I know that to be a fact, like,

540
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 1: and I've always I kind of have a disadvantage. I'm

541
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: a twin, so I have a twin brother. Are you

542
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:35,400
Speaker 1: kidding me. Family, I love it a lot of turn

543
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 1: you if you sat us the next to each other,

544
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 1: you can tell we tell we're brothers. But you know,

545
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 1: he's a love brother. He's extremely intelligible. He knows it all,

546
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 1: and he'll tell you the same thing. So I'm not

547
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 1: saying anything you don't know. And so I would always

548
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 1: have someone in my ear telling me, oh no, you

549
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:54,960
Speaker 1: know they you know if I'm always used to take

550
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 1: in criticism, So all right, listed friends took a bunch

551
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 1: of calls, you know, a bunch of pitch meetings. People

552
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 1: weren't meeting in person. So imagine trying to like sell

553
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: an idea via zoom. It was a special skill. I

554
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 1: got a lot of respect for people who do that

555
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. The thing to touch it because it's hot. Sure,

556
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 1: this is not hot. I just want to taste it first.

557
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 1: Make sure to go for it. Oh it's too cheesy.

558
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: It's too cheesy. That's hilarious. It's not. It's not too cheese.

559
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 1: It's little cheese. And I'm like, okay, okay, So you

560
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 1: told me it was hard to do this, and it is.

561
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 1: Uh so you're selling, You're you're selling on zoom exactly.

562
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: I'm selling on zoom, FaceTime, you know, sending people emails,

563
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 1: you know, having a follow up every single day because

564
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 1: no one you know, when you have money, even sitting

565
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 1: there like we get to you. And I was getting

566
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: more more gesture by the moment. And then every time

567
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,760
Speaker 1: my partner would say, hey, where we at, I would say, oh, yeah,

568
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:09,200
Speaker 1: we're on the home stretch, you know, like work with me.

569
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:11,280
Speaker 1: But they knew, but did he was he responsible for

570
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 1: also raising capital? No, my partner's SSP. I med SSP.

571
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 1: They're like, okay, the people you're you're trying to buy

572
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: them out, yea, And they're like, we're under pressure. Kind

573
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 1: of give us an update, what's going on? And it was.

574
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 1: It was a lot of a lot of pressure. But

575
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we had a relationship,

576
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: so and this was the right thing to do. And

577
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 1: you know, I called all the favors I could, what

578
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: I need to call them, and you know, I would

579
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 1: do it all. I would do the exact same way

580
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,920
Speaker 1: if I had to do it again. Right, So, um,

581
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 1: now we're gonna kind of mixed up. So you're telling

582
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: them you're in the home stretch, but you really weren't.

583
00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 1: What was keeping you from quitting at that point because

584
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 1: I told everybody I was gonna do it. Oh, you're

585
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 1: exactly like me. That's how I am. If I say

586
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 1: it out loud, it's like, oh my god, I have

587
00:31:57,800 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: to do it now that I mean. I literally told

588
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,120
Speaker 1: her buddy, oh yeah, so I'm I'm doing this and

589
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 1: they're like, what's you up to? How's everything? You know,

590
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,400
Speaker 1: he was checking in how things doing the pandemic. We

591
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,600
Speaker 1: were trying to get like, you know, the airport to

592
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 1: give us rent relief for different uh you know things

593
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,479
Speaker 1: that you know that really were hindrance on our business.

594
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: It was a lot of that, right, um so we

595
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: were doing YouTube videos the first time, trying to tell

596
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: our story so uh so, but then you know, you

597
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 1: talk to friends and what are you up to, like, oh,

598
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: I'm doing this or this? So it's the real thing.

599
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 1: Like once I said I was doing it, I couldn't

600
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:37,040
Speaker 1: have I couldn't face the noise of not saying, not

601
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:38,560
Speaker 1: being when to get it done. And I think a

602
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 1: lot of people doubt it that we would get it done.

603
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 1: A lot of people thought you're crazy if you're doing it, Yeah,

604
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 1: you're crazy, Like why would you want to do this,

605
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: and um, I found a fantastic group of partners UM

606
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 1: through our industry who who quickly got it. They believed

607
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 1: in You call people in the industry at this point

608
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: smart well I started looking on saw the industry. You

609
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,720
Speaker 1: had to come in. Inst're like, Okay, somebody here wants

610
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 1: to do it. A lot of people will take your

611
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:06,480
Speaker 1: calls and say, yeah, we want to do it, but

612
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 1: we gotta you know, typen this up. We gotta do this. Well,

613
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: how do you know they're not even gonna kind of

614
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 1: overstep over you, right, because that's kind of tricky, right,

615
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:17,719
Speaker 1: because you're calling your competitors essentially, right. Yeah, but I

616
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 1: had I had a UM noncompete or exclusive for a

617
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,960
Speaker 1: little bit of time that quickly elapsed after I couldn't

618
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 1: get it that they couldn't tell to anybody else until

619
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 1: we reached this deadline. So yeah, for the most part,

620
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 1: it was a little bit of a little bit of

621
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:40,680
Speaker 1: that for sure. So we're ready to play. Okay, okay, yes,

622
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 1: let's play. Let's play UM do you Yeah, we'll play UM.

623
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,320
Speaker 1: What a crazy, crazy, crazy story. So you end up

624
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 1: raising the capital and then we're gonna we're gonna end

625
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,320
Speaker 1: up trying this meal, and yeah, I'm trying to get

626
00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 1: it all this in. And you know I said it

627
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 1: was cheesy, but it's not easy being cheesy. It's fine.

628
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 1: I'm gonna rate your dishes. I'm gonna race it. I'm

629
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna be like salmon cow with it. Okay.

630
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 1: I mean, look, you had me, uh preoccupied, so I'm not.

631
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:19,439
Speaker 1: So I'm moving here and then I'll bring it here.

632
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 1: Here we go. I want to make it look good.

633
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:27,080
Speaker 1: Ready on a second, you got this? Oh, just a

634
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,880
Speaker 1: little more right, and then we'll do like we'll like

635
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:34,360
Speaker 1: plate it and then we'll put a little on top. Awesome,

636
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,919
Speaker 1: a little uh there you go, a little hot sauce

637
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:44,399
Speaker 1: if you want plate We're gonna do this. We're gonna

638
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 1: switch it. We're gonna throw the commercial. Great, well, it

639
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 1: looks cheesy, it looks delicious. Okay, it's a little red

640
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,839
Speaker 1: brna and you how very much you like? Oh? Yeah, yeah,

641
00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 1: let me try. Let me try and be you for

642
00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:04,319
Speaker 1: a second. Hit it all right, and then this yeah

643
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,760
Speaker 1: a little bit of that. So I use hot sauce,

644
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,600
Speaker 1: but we don't. We're not gonna do it today because

645
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 1: I like it hot. Here we go for the taste test.

646
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 1: Everyone ready, here we go. First of all, it looks beautiful. Well,

647
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:27,200
Speaker 1: let's see how cheesy. Didn't do it? I don't taste great.

648
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 1: It's not cheesy. No, it's cheesy. Do you not like cheesy?

649
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:37,840
Speaker 1: I like cheesy, but oh yeah, the noodles balance it

650
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:43,239
Speaker 1: out a little concerned, thank you. I'm definitely gonna bring

651
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 1: this home and pretend like I created this dish. It's

652
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,479
Speaker 1: very comforting. I don't say that. I just have one question.

653
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:52,960
Speaker 1: Why did you use chicken thighs and not chicken breasts

654
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: because it's cheap? Yeah, well you don't. Back in the day,

655
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 1: you can do this meal for all. Now you might

656
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 1: depend on what story you go to. You gotta go

657
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 1: to Rouse or trade to Joe's, or you'll be in

658
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,480
Speaker 1: real trouble. I lived by Gilson's, and I've never seen

659
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:14,000
Speaker 1: a more expensive groceries for my life. This dishes extremely delicious.

660
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 1: It's definitely like one of my top favorite dishes. Hopefully

661
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 1: my crew can enjoy it in our little in between break.

662
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna table. That's good news. Did you tell everybody that? Though?

663
00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 1: Won't I've been hesitant to tell people when their dishes

664
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: are really bad. Useally the second we wrap and they leave,

665
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 1: I'm like, the dish was really horrible. Yeall saw some

666
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,720
Speaker 1: of my stuff. I'm like, really, people, ain't that Um yeah,

667
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,720
Speaker 1: i'd say it like I'll tell you on this episode

668
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,200
Speaker 1: my most hated dish is uh, the tuna castro. I

669
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:50,960
Speaker 1: love it. Tuna castro. Right, I'll never do it again.

670
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 1: Don't ever want to hear hear it again. It was

671
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,239
Speaker 1: it was. It was out of all the dishes of it.

672
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 1: I've even had the muscles on the crackers. I will

673
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:01,799
Speaker 1: do that before the tunic, the muscles like from the camp. Yeah,

674
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: it was pretty bad. We had a We had a

675
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 1: guy in our neighborhood named t and he would eat

676
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:13,000
Speaker 1: the Vienna sausage are like the oysters and the muscles

677
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:17,280
Speaker 1: from can. I'm like, dude, obviously he had a drinking problem,

678
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:23,320
Speaker 1: so he was whatever being connects. Now, we're gonna close

679
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 1: this inner, this episode out, but I do have a

680
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 1: question for you, out of just two more questions, out

681
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,600
Speaker 1: of everything that you've accomplished in your career thus far,

682
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 1: what would you say was the hardest accomplishment. I think

683
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 1: the hardest part for me was actually believing that I

684
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,480
Speaker 1: was good enough to do with myself and like I

685
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,240
Speaker 1: was able to bring value to so many other people.

686
00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 1: But then when you you know, you don't look at

687
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 1: yourself as the guy who should be you know, receiving

688
00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 1: the blessings is easy to put yourself there. And I

689
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: was always good at like showing up for people, And

690
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 1: the biggest part was me to show up for myself,

691
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,440
Speaker 1: and I really show up, And you know, I had

692
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure, not just you know, from a

693
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 1: dead standp but pressure pressure to perform because I really

694
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,520
Speaker 1: want to be great at what we do. I really

695
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,840
Speaker 1: want us to be recognized as one of the best.

696
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,399
Speaker 1: And that's not gonna be easy. That's something you can't

697
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: say that and not not say that. I'm putting the

698
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:25,120
Speaker 1: work to do it. So the biggest part for me

699
00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:28,120
Speaker 1: was believing I could be the guy and I could

700
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,799
Speaker 1: actually make it happen for myself. I know it may

701
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 1: happen for others because there are so many components I'm

702
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:36,799
Speaker 1: really good at. But then you gotta surround your people

703
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,719
Speaker 1: with you know, surround yourself with people that are really

704
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 1: good at the other stuff, so you can actually you know,

705
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,759
Speaker 1: get to the to the to the to the commonplace,

706
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 1: so where you really want to be at. So that

707
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:48,840
Speaker 1: was the hardest part. Um the rest of the stuff,

708
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 1: you know, this deal was was great because it energized me.

709
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 1: It gave me a whole new purpose coming out of

710
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:58,320
Speaker 1: this pandemic. And it was it was it was someone

711
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:00,200
Speaker 1: who said it to me and I was like them

712
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,239
Speaker 1: books and listen to the podcasts and they were you know, really,

713
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,600
Speaker 1: opportunity comes when there's chaos. Opportunity comes when you least expected.

714
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:10,480
Speaker 1: And I know I was ready and I put in,

715
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:13,919
Speaker 1: you know, fifty years doing this, so for it wasn't

716
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,359
Speaker 1: about at that point can I do it? It was like, oh,

717
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:21,320
Speaker 1: I'm I'm doing it and let's go um. Because I

718
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:26,319
Speaker 1: also like making decisions and uhsion, Oh yeah, I love

719
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,840
Speaker 1: making decisions. I love it. I want to be the

720
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 1: gout to make a decision because I'm equipped to do

721
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,839
Speaker 1: it and I know the right decisions and I don't

722
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 1: I'm not a scary person. I don't think from a

723
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:42,240
Speaker 1: scary mentality. So because when I'm there, I've never had anything,

724
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:44,399
Speaker 1: so it's not like I'm gonna lose everything. I didn't

725
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,880
Speaker 1: have any I didn't have anything, so it's easy for

726
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:51,240
Speaker 1: me to say to take the leap, but then yeah,

727
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 1: that's it really once you mentally get yourself there, and

728
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 1: it's kind of all downhill from there, do you U?

729
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:02,040
Speaker 1: I look at you, and I feel like there's a

730
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:04,880
Speaker 1: lot of your success kind of goes back to you

731
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,280
Speaker 1: being able to say that you're going to do something

732
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:09,799
Speaker 1: and then doing it. So I think that from an

733
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,120
Speaker 1: outsider looking in, we didn't get to dive as deep

734
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,440
Speaker 1: as I would have liked. But I feel like the

735
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:17,760
Speaker 1: reason why you were able to even raise the capital

736
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:19,520
Speaker 1: to do what you were able to do is because

737
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:21,560
Speaker 1: people knew your work ethic and they knew if you

738
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:23,319
Speaker 1: said you were going to do something, you were going

739
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:52,400
Speaker 1: to do it, you know. I mean the people that

740
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:55,759
Speaker 1: invest in me, I don't even know that they were

741
00:40:55,800 --> 00:41:01,080
Speaker 1: paying attention from AFAR. And one thing I probably myself

742
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,000
Speaker 1: on is showing up for people doing the right thing

743
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,880
Speaker 1: and and really kind of doing not just doing it

744
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:09,560
Speaker 1: to say I check the box, but doing it too

745
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:13,359
Speaker 1: to do it and you did it with integrity, I mean,

746
00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:16,279
Speaker 1: I mean, and obviously there are moments where you kind

747
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:19,680
Speaker 1: of you kind of have to like been been the

748
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,040
Speaker 1: been the your your standard of internity because you know,

749
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:24,759
Speaker 1: I was telling my partner, yeah, I got it all

750
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:26,680
Speaker 1: figured out. I got it all figured out, but it

751
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,279
Speaker 1: was it was a white line because I was gonna

752
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:31,640
Speaker 1: figure it out. But there was a moment where I

753
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,600
Speaker 1: had to basically come clean and tell them like, you know,

754
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:38,319
Speaker 1: I got some real challenges. And you know, I wish

755
00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:39,919
Speaker 1: I would have just did that from the beginning because

756
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 1: it took a lot of pressure of myself because they

757
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,319
Speaker 1: were really coming at mean, the SSP was really coming

758
00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:47,960
Speaker 1: position like wanting to help me. This was the right

759
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:50,440
Speaker 1: thing to do, Like I was helping them so they

760
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:53,239
Speaker 1: solve a problem like being able to get out of

761
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 1: this opportunity and then provide an opportunity for for someone

762
00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 1: else who wanted it. And it made a lot of sense.

763
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:03,239
Speaker 1: So I think, yeah, integrity was critical, but just just

764
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:08,000
Speaker 1: being honest with yourself and saying all right, you know, uh,

765
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:10,040
Speaker 1: I may I may not be able to pull this off.

766
00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:12,799
Speaker 1: Ware here's the challenges because people want to help you,

767
00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:15,040
Speaker 1: but if you if you're acting like it's all good,

768
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 1: then can they really help you? Because where do they

769
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 1: help you? How do they do to help you? Yeah,

770
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:21,640
Speaker 1: I agree with that. To to a certain extent, but

771
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:23,400
Speaker 1: at the same time, I feel like you put yourself

772
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,480
Speaker 1: under just the right amount of pressure to like create diamonds.

773
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,319
Speaker 1: My last and final question, I promise you we will

774
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: wrap this is This is the This is the question.

775
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:35,720
Speaker 1: This is the thing that I admire the most about

776
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:39,560
Speaker 1: you and I struggle with as an entrepreneur. Is the pivot.

777
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 1: I love your pivots. Like your pivots, they look from

778
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,120
Speaker 1: a far very graceful and very like, Wow, what an

779
00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:49,400
Speaker 1: amazing pivot right there. How are you able to pivot

780
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,360
Speaker 1: as much as you have? Like, what is the secret

781
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:56,319
Speaker 1: behind your pivot? I just want, I mean, I don't

782
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:00,839
Speaker 1: you know, thank one, thank you for the compliment. I'll

783
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:05,400
Speaker 1: say that the second pieces. If you have to, you

784
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:07,680
Speaker 1: have to. Like I didn't really have a choice. I

785
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:10,319
Speaker 1: couldn't said yeah, I don't have to deal with it

786
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:13,000
Speaker 1: one way or another. And I wanted to control my narrative.

787
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:16,920
Speaker 1: I wanted to be in, you know, kind of driving

788
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:20,120
Speaker 1: the ship. And I thought that, you know, this is

789
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 1: my opportunity, this is my moment to like kind of

790
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:26,719
Speaker 1: make history in our industry, do something that you know,

791
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:29,640
Speaker 1: it's been talked about for a long time, and really

792
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:32,040
Speaker 1: you know when I was looking a capital that was

793
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:33,759
Speaker 1: a big part of a really aligned with the right

794
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,920
Speaker 1: people who also wanted to do the right thing and

795
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:39,960
Speaker 1: kind of like make history and do something that really

796
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 1: had never been done before. So the pivot comes when

797
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:47,000
Speaker 1: one you have to be ready and prepared, so you know, uh,

798
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 1: well not all the time you're ready and prepared, like ready,

799
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:53,399
Speaker 1: be ready. I mean, you gotta have you gotta have

800
00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 1: a framework to bring you gotta be in the building

801
00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:58,880
Speaker 1: to reading. I was in the building and from the outside,

802
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:01,319
Speaker 1: people thought, oh, you got this. You know you're you're

803
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 1: all the percentage of business, which I own percentage. They

804
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,000
Speaker 1: have partners, right, I have great partners, and we all

805
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,560
Speaker 1: want to see each other win. But I woul business

806
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:12,480
Speaker 1: where I was really kind of just along for the ride,

807
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,239
Speaker 1: whereas today I'm making a difference. And the pivot came

808
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:17,520
Speaker 1: because I wanted to be the person I always knew

809
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:20,319
Speaker 1: that I could. I could do this, And you know,

810
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:23,879
Speaker 1: that's kind of really the driving force behind everything our

811
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:27,240
Speaker 1: team is doing, because we really are like really competing

812
00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:30,799
Speaker 1: against big boys, like big companies who who do this

813
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:34,760
Speaker 1: on a on a global scale, and I think we

814
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,880
Speaker 1: speak to a different person who wants to work for

815
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 1: a company. They say, I want to work for a

816
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:40,799
Speaker 1: company that looks like that, and give me they come

817
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:42,719
Speaker 1: from where I come from. I come from the same

818
00:44:42,719 --> 00:44:45,600
Speaker 1: background and many of the people that work force. Uh,

819
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:47,480
Speaker 1: I worked in the industry. I did all this, I

820
00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:49,000
Speaker 1: did all the work. I'm not telling them to do

821
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 1: something I haven't done myself, and I still do it.

822
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,399
Speaker 1: So it's all about just remembering all of that, kind

823
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,000
Speaker 1: of putting it on in a pot and kind of

824
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 1: making it work, making it work, you know. So well,

825
00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: thank you for an amazing meal on another episode of

826
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:09,560
Speaker 1: Eating Wild Broke. Thank you, thank you, yeah, thank you

827
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:22,000
Speaker 1: so much. It's awesome, So bring our energy levels up.

828
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:25,759
Speaker 1: That's because in the back of my mind, I'm like, dang,

829
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:27,440
Speaker 1: I gotta cut it short. I gotta cut it short.

830
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:33,319
Speaker 1: We cut a lot of feel of her. Well, thank

831
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:36,440
Speaker 1: you so much for blessing me with one of the

832
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:40,319
Speaker 1: my favorite meals on the show. And even though we're

833
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,800
Speaker 1: on camera and I'm not you know, I'm going to

834
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:47,680
Speaker 1: clean this plate the second camera coup. Yeah, yeah, no,

835
00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:49,520
Speaker 1: you did an amazing dish, And thank you so much

836
00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:52,400
Speaker 1: for taking time out of your busy schedule and answering

837
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 1: my LinkedIn d M. That's as the only DM I'm

838
00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 1: looking at because that's where the actually is it like

839
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:04,960
Speaker 1: what somebody wants to be on the podcast. So thank

840
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,640
Speaker 1: you for having me and thank you for finding me

841
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:10,239
Speaker 1: interest enough interesting enough to be on your show. And

842
00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:12,399
Speaker 1: now when I go to the airports, which I'm I'm

843
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,480
Speaker 1: always at the airports, uh, instead of just going straight

844
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:18,799
Speaker 1: to the Delta lounge because I'm adulta lounge fanatic, UH,

845
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:21,880
Speaker 1: I will be like, where which restaurant we're going to today?

846
00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:24,400
Speaker 1: So we in Delta. I'm a Delta a person too.

847
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:28,840
Speaker 1: We are opening um Alfred with Alfred the coffee brand

848
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:32,640
Speaker 1: in the Delta terminal and uh later this year. So

849
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:36,759
Speaker 1: that'll be our our kind of latest and greatest. But yeah,

850
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:38,560
Speaker 1: please feel freedom. We're gonna put you on the v

851
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:40,880
Speaker 1: I P List. They're gonna see their face and say, oh,

852
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 1: there's such thing. There's no such thing as that is.

853
00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 1: It's an unofficial There are people that you get all

854
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,200
Speaker 1: in love when you come through. Okay, you guys heard

855
00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 1: that here on Eating Wall Broke, I'm gonna hold him

856
00:46:51,360 --> 00:47:07,319
Speaker 1: to it, all right, peace yea for more Eating while

857
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:10,120
Speaker 1: Broke from I Heart radio and the Black Effect. Visit

858
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:13,120
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you

859
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.