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Speaker 1: As black folks, Man, we don't always have the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to be opportunistic, right because once we graduate college, man,

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Speaker 1: we thinking about these loans that we gotta pay back.

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Speaker 2: We gotta go get this job. You know, we gotta do.

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Speaker 1: All the things that our counterparts don't have to worry about.

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Speaker 1: So we don't have canceled opportunity to just be opportunistic.

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Speaker 1: Where As if I had a nest egg and my

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Speaker 1: family set me up, you know what I mean, I

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Speaker 1: can go out there and make a thousand, two hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars to stay.

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Speaker 3: I'm Will Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green Money.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna introduce you to some of the biggest names,

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Speaker 3: some of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas. If you're

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Speaker 3: black and building or simply using tech to secure your bag,

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Speaker 3: this podcast is Field. Derek Moore aka mo Clint gray

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Speaker 3: An E Manual E. J. Reid Ever found us a

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Speaker 3: slim a Husky's Pizza Biria, a fast casual artist in

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Speaker 3: pizza shop with the love for hip hop and R

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Speaker 3: and B culture. The Nashville based company now both restaurants

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Speaker 3: are Antioch, Chattanooga, Memphis, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as well as Elanta, Georgia,

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Speaker 3: and Sacramento, California. I talked with Clinton Moe about the

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Speaker 3: Italian history of pizza places and how their take on

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Speaker 3: a pizza restaurant instead amplifies Black culture and how that

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Speaker 3: takes each slice and topping to another level.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say, you know, our initial vision concept

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Speaker 4: was all about being you know, authentic. We we wanted

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Speaker 4: to you know, basically put our story, our culture of

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Speaker 4: everything that you know creates the.

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Speaker 2: Black experience on our walls.

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Speaker 4: You know, we grew up, you know, on the era

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Speaker 4: of adult nineties, you know, hip hop music videos, movies

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Speaker 4: such as Do.

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Speaker 2: The Right Thing, and you know we even got.

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Speaker 4: You know, Boycott Soyles, you know, on our will and

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Speaker 4: our restaurants because you know, you know, we felt like

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Speaker 4: there was room for a concept and restaurant brand, not

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Speaker 4: just pizza actually, but just something that told, you know,

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Speaker 4: the story of Black culture in a high end way.

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Speaker 4: And so you know, the only thing you know Italian

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Speaker 4: about our concept is the pizza. Everything else is one

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Speaker 4: of African American culture and our way to tell that

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Speaker 4: story to the world.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I was reading something where you positioned this

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Speaker 3: as music, art and good food obviously, and so how

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Speaker 3: how does the music part fit into Like what is

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Speaker 3: the experience like for somebody who's not been to Islam

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Speaker 3: and Husky's what is the experience like inside one of

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Speaker 3: your stories?

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Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a piece of art.

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Speaker 1: Music, man, that's something that we we live by Islam,

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Speaker 1: Huskies and and.

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Speaker 2: Music is aside from fusing, aside from.

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Speaker 1: The pizza in the art, the music is probably maybe

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Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more important than the art because

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Speaker 1: when you come into clim of Huskies, it's a feel

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Speaker 1: that you get when you listen, when you hear the

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Speaker 1: music through the speakers, and that's something that that when

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Speaker 1: Clint's talking about it's been authentic as an Afric American culture.

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Speaker 2: Man, Like we noticed that we would be going.

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Speaker 1: To all these restaurants and stuff, but we wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: We wouldn't hear our music, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: We wouldn't see our art on the wall.

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Speaker 1: But you got a bunch of black folks in the

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Speaker 1: bad cooking, you know what I'm saying, or patronizing the spot, right,

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Speaker 1: So so so the music says off.

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Speaker 2: The rip, you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: This is aside from looking at all the employees. Uh,

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Speaker 1: this is a black owned business, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: But inclusive though, so like that's very important for us

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Speaker 1: to make sure that you know, as black as it is. Man,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is an inclusive business. So you know

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Speaker 1: there is green you feel me. So you know, we

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Speaker 1: ain't turning nobody away or you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: But but our culture is uh, you know, we set

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Speaker 1: the trends in America, you know what I mean, from

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Speaker 1: the food, to the music, to the clothes. Uh you know,

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Speaker 1: uh you know the film you know, education, all those

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Speaker 1: type of things.

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Speaker 2: Man, We set the trends.

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Speaker 1: So so it's no so so it's no uh like

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Speaker 1: we don't apologize for it, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 2: It's just instead of instead of hiding behind uh you know,

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Speaker 2: some walls, man, we put it out out on the front. Man.

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Speaker 1: And so the music, we gotta Unplugged series that we do, uh,

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Speaker 1: which we feature local and artists from from out of town.

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Speaker 2: Man. And we do that once every other monthlyin so so.

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Speaker 1: And it's it's a huge deal man. And we do concerts.

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Speaker 1: We got a park called Piece of Park. We do

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Speaker 1: concerts with a live band. Uh so, so music is very

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Speaker 1: much important.

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Speaker 2: To to slim a Huskies.

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Speaker 3: I love that, and I want you to go a

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Speaker 3: little bit deeper because I was I was reading a

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Speaker 3: lot about your story and this idea of gentrification. Like

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Speaker 3: you think that there's so many parts of our country

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Speaker 3: that are historically black, and you know, affluent white people

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Speaker 3: are moving in, and you found success in areas that

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Speaker 3: you know, are in the middle of that. And so

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Speaker 3: while they may love our culture, they love our music,

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Speaker 3: they love you know, the colors and all the things.

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Speaker 3: They may not always love us, but you guys have

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Speaker 3: found success in areas where that are being gentrified and

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Speaker 3: our you know, you got fluent white people moving in,

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Speaker 3: but we're still here trying to hold onto those properties.

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Speaker 2: So talk about how.

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Speaker 3: How slim and Huskies fits into geographies and how you

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Speaker 3: bridge the gap in those communities.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, what's crazy is when we first opened up, you know,

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Speaker 4: it was it was stemming from the sale of our

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Speaker 4: initial business, which was a moving company, and a moving

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Speaker 4: company was like you know, community base.

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Speaker 2: We were hiring our friends that have been incarcerated.

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Speaker 4: Uh, you know, we had a we had a big

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Speaker 4: just you know, focus on giving back to our people,

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Speaker 4: right and giving them jobs, providing opportunities.

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Speaker 2: And so, you know, we sold.

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Speaker 4: That business and now we had this, you know, this

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Speaker 4: money that you know we need to you know, do

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Speaker 4: something with and that we couldn't just ride off from

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Speaker 4: the sunset. Man, we're entrepreneurs. It's like, man, what we're

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Speaker 4: gonna do? So we decided to open up a restaurant.

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Speaker 4: So we started, you know, we had the funds to

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Speaker 4: go in any of Nashville's fluent areas, right, Like, we

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Speaker 4: went and looked at them all and you know, solid

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Speaker 4: real estate prices, you know, and that wasn't an issue.

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Speaker 4: But what was an issue was we just didn't really

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Speaker 4: feel connected to any of the areas. Like it's like

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Speaker 4: we were lacking purpose if we went to one of

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Speaker 4: these areas that you know, we're about to reinvest all

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Speaker 4: of our you know, money and time into. And so

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Speaker 4: you know, we started really think like do we have

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Speaker 4: to open up in these areas that are already booming

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Speaker 4: or do we want to open up somewhere that's need

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Speaker 4: and like, you know, what we can bring value? And

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Speaker 4: so that's when we decided to open up UH in

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Speaker 4: ZIP code three seven two zero eight, which is North

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Speaker 4: Nashville historic African American side of town, home to you know,

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Speaker 4: severalations we cused Tennessee State University, Fish University, Maherry Medical College,

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Speaker 4: but also home to you know, some of the highest

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Speaker 4: you know rated uh highest rate of crime, uh, you

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Speaker 4: know in America. And so you know, there's reasons for that,

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Speaker 4: and it was not our culture. The reason was that

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Speaker 4: our city wasn't you know, just like other cities, wasn't

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Speaker 4: reinvesting the time, money and resources into our neighborhood the

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Speaker 4: same way as they were the others. Uh and also

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Speaker 4: taken away from the neighborhood by you know, changing infrastructure

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Speaker 4: and you know, running interstates throughout the middle of our neighborhoods,

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Speaker 4: cutting off economic you know, uh commerce and things like that.

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Speaker 4: So uh, you know, we said, you know what, like

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Speaker 4: this is where we want to go. We want to

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Speaker 4: bring life, energy, business jobs back to our own communities

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Speaker 4: because not just because it feels good, because it's needed, right.

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Speaker 4: And so we opened up on the tenth block of

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Speaker 4: a street called Buchannan And you know, Bucannon had suffered

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Speaker 4: for a long time from you know, crime.

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Speaker 2: Drug use, and there was not an open business.

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Speaker 4: For probably like ten blocks and not you know, it

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Speaker 4: was considered a food desert in a very populated area,

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Speaker 4: you know, populated you.

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Speaker 2: Know, African Americans, and so we decided to open up.

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Speaker 2: And you know.

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Speaker 4: From day one we saw what it meant to, you know,

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Speaker 4: to open up a black business in a black neighborhood,

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Speaker 4: you know, by providing jobs. We had a fifteen year

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Speaker 4: old come apply for a job and we told them like,

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Speaker 4: you know, hey, man, unfortunately, you know, you got to

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Speaker 4: be eighteen to work here, you know. But he gave

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Speaker 4: us a spell. He was like, man, I've been getting

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Speaker 4: off this bus for three years. You know, I'm sorry

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Speaker 4: for Yeah, it wasn't fifteen, he was seventeen. Yeah, he

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Speaker 4: was seventeen. We couldn't hire because it was eighteen. He

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Speaker 4: hadn't you know, he'd been riding the bus for three

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Speaker 4: years and couldn't get off the bus and find a

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Speaker 4: job close to the way he works. So he had

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Speaker 4: to get on another bus ride to go find you know,

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Speaker 4: work to help support his family. So I said, you

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Speaker 4: know what, man, if you show up tomorrow on the

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Speaker 4: dock at three o'clock, man, and you know, we'll see

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Speaker 4: you know, we'll see what you're talking about, and we

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Speaker 4: may hire you know what I'm saying. And he ended up,

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Speaker 4: you know, being one of my best employees, turned around,

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Speaker 4: became an entrepreneur itself, you know what I'm saying. Now,

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Speaker 4: He created his own business, can start, you know, supporting

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Speaker 4: his own family. And you know, we just realized that, Man,

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Speaker 4: if it will work, If this works in North Nashville,

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Speaker 4: it could work anywhere. You know, it could work in Atlanta,

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Speaker 4: it can work in Memphis, it can work in Miami, Houston, Dallas.

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Speaker 2: You know. You see, it doesn't matter because you know,

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Speaker 2: neighborhoods are.

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Speaker 4: Being gentrified everywhere, and what they need the most to

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Speaker 4: sustain and continue to keep the heritage in history is

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Speaker 4: ownership of those that live in the community.

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Speaker 2: And so that's what we've dedicated ourselves to do. Now.

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Speaker 4: All of our restaurants aren't in you know, areas that

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Speaker 4: are being gentrified right now, but we are still very

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Speaker 4: focused on those areas and committed to serving them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I want you to. I want to spend some

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Speaker 3: more time because I think this is important because I

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Speaker 3: was thinking about like the belt line in Atlanta when

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Speaker 3: I was thinking about this questions because you talk about uproars,

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Speaker 3: like when they are a whole around around that belt

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Speaker 3: line is you know, property values are skyrocketing there, for

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Speaker 3: property taxes are skyrocketing. Therefore people are getting pushed out

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Speaker 3: and then you see, you know, new cultures come in,

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Speaker 3: And I wonder from your perspective, what role does small

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Speaker 3: business play? What role do entrepreneurs like yourself play and

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Speaker 3: protecting that heritage and creating opportunities. So if you can

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Speaker 3: go in there, I think I.

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Speaker 1: Think the role for entrepreneurs especially you know, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: just single out, you know, I want to I don't

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Speaker 1: want a general realize it. What role for for Black

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Speaker 1: African American entrepreneurs, UH, to maintain that culture is is

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Speaker 1: at the highest level, you know what I mean, Like

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Speaker 1: we have to do that.

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Speaker 2: It's our responsibility to do to do that.

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Speaker 1: As well as take part in the in the economic uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, advantages and benefits of being a part of

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Speaker 1: an area such as you know in the line where

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Speaker 1: the belt line is, right, it's it's our responsibility when

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Speaker 1: it comes to owning property. But if you can't do that,

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Speaker 1: put your business in these areas to allow the culture

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Speaker 1: to continue to be there, continue to thrive because as

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Speaker 1: just to be honest, when you when you have a

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Speaker 1: black owned business, nine times out of ten, your employees

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Speaker 1: are gonna look like you, you.

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Speaker 2: Know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: So that allows that allows you to number one, uh,

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Speaker 1: maintain the culture by the people that work there. Maintain

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Speaker 1: the culture by giving your employees on the opportunity and

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Speaker 1: economic opportunity, Uh so they can go out and replicate,

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Speaker 1: you know, what you've done in your business. And then

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Speaker 1: also ownership, just ownership of the street, ownership of the business.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's for us, it's detrimental in

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Speaker 1: our community that we start and not start because we

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Speaker 1: had a mentality, but continue to advance the mentality of

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Speaker 1: ownership in our communities and not just allowed to be

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Speaker 1: not just be allowed to be pushed out, you know

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Speaker 1: what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: Like and you and and you know it's his thing.

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Speaker 1: Like you know, we talked about a little bit about

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Speaker 1: the family and in La you know that sold.

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Speaker 2: The beach bag right to the city.

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Speaker 1: But you know we can say, well they should have

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Speaker 1: went with a developer, they should have diddas, they should

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Speaker 1: have did that. But man, lord knows how much the

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Speaker 1: taxes were was right? You know what I'm saying, Lord

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Speaker 1: knows how much you know, how much infighting or maybe

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Speaker 1: disagreements it was with the family, they just had to say,

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Speaker 1: you know what, we just got give it up, you

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: But so so I'm saying that to say it's like.

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Speaker 1: At times, you know, we can talk about being not

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Speaker 1: being pushed out, we're giving up Grandmama's house and all

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Speaker 1: that type of stuff. That's not necessarily true all the time,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. We literally can be pushed

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Speaker 1: out by how much it costs just to maintain to

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Speaker 1: live in that neighborhood, you know what I mean. So

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Speaker 1: we have to like form these groups, just like you know,

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Speaker 1: some of these other cultures that help each other out.

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Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to always be a monetary help,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. It could be, Hey I

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Speaker 1: gotta account, They can show you how to save some

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Speaker 1: money this way. You know what I'm saying, Hey, I

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Speaker 1: got a we got an opportunity. We can do this

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Speaker 1: on the street together. Like, we have to maintain these

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Speaker 1: working relationships in order to stay in these neighborhoods that

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Speaker 1: are being gentrified because it is unaffordable. You know what,

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Speaker 1: I'm saying, so it's to ask your question, man, we

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Speaker 1: have a true responsibility as black entrepreneurs to maintain and

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Speaker 1: to hold on to a little bit of peace of

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Speaker 1: what we have because as you know, you know, we'll

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Speaker 1: like these property values.

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Speaker 2: You know they go up. You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: So right, So if you got a restaurant, a busy like, man,

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Speaker 1: I need some help with just with just the property itself.

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Speaker 1: Get you a partner, get you somebody that had it up.

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Speaker 1: Don't necessarily want to be in the operation side. But

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Speaker 1: hold on to the property because it's going up, that's

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Speaker 1: absolutely if that's if that's the case, but don't sell

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Speaker 1: it to the to the lowest to the lowest bitter.

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Speaker 3: And one thing you said was so important is because

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Speaker 3: it's so it's important to know about the economic advantages

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Speaker 3: to be in in these areas. Is because when I

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Speaker 3: bought my three commercial real estate properties right in the

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Speaker 3: same neighborhood, lower economic disadvantaged area, but it's on the rise.

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Speaker 3: And if I was, if I was not aware of

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Speaker 3: and things like opportunity zones and things like we have.

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Speaker 3: I'm blanking on the name right now, but it's a

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Speaker 3: program you can lock in your property value tax for

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Speaker 3: ten years off to fifteen, up to fifteen depending on

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Speaker 3: how many improvements you made, and et cetera, because they

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Speaker 3: want you to invest in these areas. But you can

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Speaker 3: buy the property and not know these things are available

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Speaker 3: and end up getting your taxes raised. But you got

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Speaker 3: to understand how to play with governments, and so have

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Speaker 3: you ever had to, you know, engage with politicians to

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Speaker 3: make these things work at the scale that you're at.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, we you know, unfortunately where we're from Nashville, there

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Speaker 4: hasn't been as many advantages to engage the politics, especially

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Speaker 4: when it comes to reinvesting in our own communities.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 4: At one point, there was the opportunity zones that they

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Speaker 4: were you know, trying to push, and there was I

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Speaker 4: think there was a blight and property grant where if

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Speaker 4: you if you spent one hundred thousand, uh, you know,

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Speaker 4: on on your property exteriors and can get to the.

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Speaker 1: Tem percent back how many how many how many you

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Speaker 1: know startups got one hundred thousand just to burn to

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Speaker 1: get temperacent.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: But then but then I have a friend and uh,

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Speaker 4: you know in d c. Uh, you know, she's a

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Speaker 4: restaurant tour as well. Uh that was telling me about

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Speaker 4: you know, a program there that uh, you know, if

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Speaker 4: you want to open up a concept and you have

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Speaker 4: you know, history of being a business in business, then uh,

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Speaker 4: you know you can get a grant for eighty thousand

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Speaker 4: you know in certain neighborhoods to be able to open

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Speaker 4: up you know, your your business, uh, to improve the

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Speaker 4: economy there. And so I think a lot of it

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Speaker 4: depends on, you know, what the city is looking for

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Speaker 4: and what they were going to do and what their

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Speaker 4: leadership already looks like.

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Speaker 1: We gotta yeah, yeah, we got a grant from Memphis. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know it's in the exterior. It was black like

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Speaker 1: almost like a bland and property grant. But but you

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Speaker 1: didn't have to you didn't have to have a spin.

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Speaker 1: It was automatic. If you if you open a business

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Speaker 1: in this area, you know we're gonna give you sixty

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Speaker 1: eighty eighty grand uh, you know for your exterior for

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Speaker 1: your facade.

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Speaker 2: That went. That went a long wait for us, Yeah

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Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. And then you go vice versa.

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Speaker 2: You know here in town.

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Speaker 4: You know we've had and there's articles about it where

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Speaker 4: uh you know they bring in an economic development person

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Speaker 4: within the like mayoral's office, and that person came out

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Speaker 4: publicly it was basically like, man, I don't have any power.

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Speaker 4: I'm here to be a to be a face, uh,

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Speaker 4: you know for an administration. And you know, so that

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Speaker 4: takes a lot out of you when you think about

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Speaker 4: going and you know, fighting because at the same time,

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Speaker 4: we have responsibility to make sure we're seeing to open

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Speaker 4: up uh businesses and run them.

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Speaker 2: You know, well that right, Yeah, So I think it depends.

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Speaker 4: On the place a lot of times versus you know,

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Speaker 4: the person that wanted to fight the battle.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it did come to me it was what

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Speaker 3: I was talking about. It's called a community reinvestment area CRA,

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Speaker 3: and a lot of geographies across the country have them.

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Speaker 3: So if you're looking into buying commercial real estate, it

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Speaker 3: is something to look into, whether it be calling your

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Speaker 3: mayor's office or the city administration economic development offices looking

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Speaker 3: to community reinvestment areas. They are often in the lower

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Speaker 3: income zip codes and they because they need them to

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Speaker 3: turn around, So we need that investment. Clinton, you had

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Speaker 3: said something a couple of times about investing in these areas,

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Speaker 3: particularly historically black areas. You said it's needed, and it's

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Speaker 3: one thing for it to be needed, it's another thing

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Speaker 3: for it to actually make money in that area. Because

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Speaker 3: you could have something that's needed and you can't get

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Speaker 3: two nickels out of it. How do you balance what's

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Speaker 3: needed in a particular geography, whether it's be your pizza

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Speaker 3: shop or whether it be one of your other businesses

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Speaker 3: and having the need to turn a profit.

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Speaker 2: I mean, well, I got a piece of damn.

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Speaker 1: It's it's It is a it's a tough balance, man,

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Speaker 1: because on one end, you want to do what's right

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Speaker 1: for the people in the neighborhood. You want to do

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Speaker 1: what's right just for your people, right, but you know

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Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta make a profit. And I think

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Speaker 1: that for us, we found a good formula uh two

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Speaker 1: to be able to do both. And that is it's funny,

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Speaker 1: but it's true when we talk about these these gentrified areas. Right,

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Speaker 1: so when we go find a spot, the spot in

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Speaker 1: Atlanta on Metropolitan, this one on but Cannon, Man, we'd

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Speaker 1: be like, man.

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Speaker 2: If you see, uh, if you.

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Speaker 1: See some little black kids running around and you see

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Speaker 1: a white a white woman walking the dog or running

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Speaker 1: on the street, you found it right, because it's it's

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Speaker 1: the perfect mix when you know, you know, you know

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Speaker 1: that the affluent they moving in. You know what I'm

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Speaker 1: saying that number two, they don't fear the people in

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Speaker 1: the neighborhood.

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Speaker 2: They feel safe enough to run with you know what

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Speaker 2: I'm saying, take a run early in the morning.

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Speaker 1: But you see these black kids and they still here,

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Speaker 1: you feel what I'm saying. So so we we we

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Speaker 1: that formula has worked for us. It's getting a little

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Speaker 1: bit more tricky because you know, gentrification is on the rise,

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Speaker 1: and it's and it's a fast rise, so a lot

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Speaker 1: of that is going away, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: But if we can find that, then then that's that's

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Speaker 1: then we know we got some balance. We can provide jobs,

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Speaker 1: but we also got these affluent people here that can

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Speaker 1: afford our product. They feel safe and they want to

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Speaker 1: be a part of the neighborhood.

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Speaker 2: They just don't really know how. So we we Yeah.

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Speaker 4: And then on the you know, on the young investment side, right, well,

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Speaker 4: we found is you know, it's hard, you know, it's

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Speaker 4: a young African American to go out and you know

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Speaker 4: areas that already thrive and purchase property. But what we

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Speaker 4: can do is find areas like moj just suggested where

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Speaker 4: you know it's still affordable, right, and you can find

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Speaker 4: some commercial real estate that's affordable, uh, you know, fits

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Speaker 4: your budget, and you open up a business in it,

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Speaker 4: then you can play the prop co OpCo game.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 4: So like for us, for example, we own about fifty

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Speaker 4: percent of our properties. Well, we come in, we purchased

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Speaker 4: a property, let's take Atlanta, a there park close to

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Speaker 4: the story West End for example. I think we you know,

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Speaker 4: we purchased that property for what about three hundred and

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Speaker 4: thirty thousand. Where can you find, you know, buy an

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Speaker 4: entire corner in a huge metropolitan city for three hundred

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Speaker 4: and thirty thousand, right, But we found that in West Atlanta,

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Speaker 4: So uh, you know, we reinvested, got some financial with

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Speaker 4: the bank to build a brand new restaurant on.

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Speaker 2: Top of it. We come out of there.

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Speaker 4: You know, the building's worth over two million dollars at

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Speaker 4: this point, right, But that's an extreme amount to be

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Speaker 4: able to have the mortgage. But when you have a

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Speaker 4: business that can come in as a tenant initially and

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Speaker 4: do business, now you're paying your mortgage at the same

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Speaker 4: time you're paying your rent.

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Speaker 2: So we own two companies on that block.

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Speaker 4: We on the real estate side of it, and we

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Speaker 4: own the operational side of it. And the operational side

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Speaker 4: is paying the bills. And so playing that game in

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Speaker 4: the right areas with the right deal can be very advantageous.

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Speaker 2: And you know, look at that area that I was

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Speaker 2: just describing.

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Speaker 4: Now, when we first went there, there was nothing on

435
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:46,480
Speaker 4: the street that we invested. Now there's a multi use,

436
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,280
Speaker 4: a huge project being built across the street. So that

437
00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:52,760
Speaker 4: two million dollar evaluation is going to probably go up

438
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,199
Speaker 4: to about you know, hopefully three or four, you know,

439
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,919
Speaker 4: in the next six months with that, once that's complete.

440
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 4: And that's all about just taking uh an opportunity on

441
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 4: reinvesting in the hood. And so I think it's very

442
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,240
Speaker 4: important to learn that game if you own a business

443
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,399
Speaker 4: and you're looking to you know, by property. Uh you know,

444
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:12,560
Speaker 4: prop co op co game was taught to us by

445
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 4: our mentors we were coming up, and.

446
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 2: It really works.

447
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,600
Speaker 3: Too often entrepreneurs, especially black entrepreneurs, are asked about what

448
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,440
Speaker 3: makes them so passionate about an idea that they need

449
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,120
Speaker 3: to start a business around it. However, it is an

450
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 3: idea called opportunistic.

451
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,440
Speaker 2: That we don't perceive as possible for ourselves.

452
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 1: Mo.

453
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 2: Clinton E. J.

454
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,000
Speaker 3: Didn't grow thinking about starting a moving company or a

455
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,640
Speaker 3: pizza restaurant. They saw an opportunity.

456
00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 2: That's it. Most speaks on it as as black folks.

457
00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,640
Speaker 1: Man, we don't always have the opportunity to be opportunistic,

458
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 1: right because once we graduate college, man, we thinking about

459
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:06,840
Speaker 1: these loans that we got to pay back.

460
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,639
Speaker 2: We got to go get this job. We you know,

461
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:11,280
Speaker 2: we got to do.

462
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 1: All the things that our counterparts don't have to worry about.

463
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:17,639
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. We got to go back

464
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 1: and get mama some money. We got to help MoMA

465
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,880
Speaker 1: on the bills. So we take on jobs even though

466
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,399
Speaker 1: we had these grand ideas. But we take these jobs

467
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,000
Speaker 1: just based off responsibility, you know what I'm saying, and

468
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:31,719
Speaker 1: what we don't have. So we don't have the opportunity

469
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,960
Speaker 1: to be don't have, yeah, a chance of the opportunity

470
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,040
Speaker 1: to just be opportunistic.

471
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 2: Whereas if I had a nest egg and.

472
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: My family set me up, you know what I mean,

473
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,120
Speaker 1: I can go out there and make a hundred thousand,

474
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 1: two hundred thousand dollars mistake, you know what I'm saying.

475
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,959
Speaker 1: So but for us, I mean, I think that we

476
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,439
Speaker 1: were young enough, didn't have as many responsibility as we

477
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:59,120
Speaker 1: have now to take advantage of of opportunities that came

478
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 1: our way, and and we didn't go in looking at

479
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,120
Speaker 1: when we started a moving company. We were twenty five

480
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 1: when we started our first company, and we started that

481
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 1: company with three thousand dollars, right, So we were naive.

482
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 2: Enough to think that this would work.

483
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,040
Speaker 1: You feel what I'm saying, And it did, you know

484
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 1: what I mean? But it's how can I say it?

485
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 1: We just wanted to solve a problem.

486
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 2: You know what I mean. We saw a need.

487
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 1: It's it's not like we were passionate about moving furniture,

488
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, But we had we but

489
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 1: we had a passion of being entrepreneurs and we had

490
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 1: a passion for solving problems and filling voids and the need,

491
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 1: and that trickled down to a great business. So that

492
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,200
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, for seven figures something that

493
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: we started with three thousand dollars into what we're doing

494
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 1: now with slim and huskies. And again we see avoid

495
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: We see avoided in our community socially, but we see

496
00:25:56,119 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 1: avoid economically because we have the these all these restaurants

497
00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 1: we have, you know, Chinese restaurants, Messtern restaurants, all these

498
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 1: cultures have their identity within the restaurants, and we needed ours.

499
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 1: So we feel the void a need there and then

500
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,920
Speaker 1: also an economic or opportunity void by providing our people

501
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:18,440
Speaker 1: to look like.

502
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,119
Speaker 2: Us with jobs, you know what I'm saying.

503
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 1: So I think our thing is man We see an

504
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,320
Speaker 1: opportunity to solve a problem and we and we jump

505
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:27,480
Speaker 1: on it.

506
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,879
Speaker 3: And sometimes you know, when you you just know a

507
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,960
Speaker 3: market and you go after an opportunity, do you feel

508
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 3: the need to go deep into.

509
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:37,879
Speaker 2: Like market studies.

510
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 3: It's like when I started my social club here, like

511
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 3: I didn't do a whole market study. I knew the community,

512
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,240
Speaker 3: so I guess from that perspective it was a market study.

513
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:50,400
Speaker 3: But how do you when you say there's Chinese restaurants,

514
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 3: there's other types of restaurants, How did you know pizza

515
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 3: was the one to lean on that you could actually.

516
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:56,840
Speaker 2: Add value to?

517
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 3: And so what I think about is you started the business,

518
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 3: there's this you know phrase tech, like you got to

519
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 3: lean into the thing that you have a unique value proposition,

520
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 3: Like what do you what makes you the person to

521
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 3: solve this problem, right, And how do you think about

522
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,480
Speaker 3: from your perspective starting in Nashville, what made pizza the

523
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,800
Speaker 3: thing that you're going to tackle versus the other opportunities

524
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:20,119
Speaker 3: that could have been in front of you? And that

525
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 3: word for you?

526
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 2: I'm sure, Yeah, I think there's several reasons.

527
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 4: The first reason was, you know, we grew up those

528
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 4: TGIF kids, you know, watching you know, our favorite shows

529
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 4: on Friday night, watching wrestling, you know, with a sleepovers,

530
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:42,040
Speaker 4: you know, with our friends, and always eating pizza, you know,

531
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 4: and like pizza was just one of those things that

532
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 4: we love. So that kind of falls into you know,

533
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,240
Speaker 4: we were talking about being authentic. I think pizza is

534
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 4: just one of those things that you know, if you

535
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 4: don't like pizza, man, I get a trust you. So

536
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,159
Speaker 4: we already had a love for pizza. Other thing, you know,

537
00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 4: growing up in the South, you know, and a lot

538
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 4: of our neighborhoods, you know, a lot of our black

539
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 4: owned restaurants and concepts offer a lot of similar things.

540
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 4: So you know, you got your wing spots, you got

541
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 4: your soul food spots.

542
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 2: We wanted to come.

543
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,840
Speaker 4: At something in Nashville home with hot Chicken, you know,

544
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,639
Speaker 4: we got tons of hot chicken spots, and you know,

545
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,719
Speaker 4: we loved those places, but we wanted to come, you know,

546
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,120
Speaker 4: with something different, something that we knew everybody would love,

547
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 4: and something that we could just really put our culture

548
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 4: behind that wasn't done before. And also something that's not

549
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 4: too expensive. So you know, knowing that we wanted to

550
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 4: serve our people, we wanted something that was affordable, they

551
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,960
Speaker 4: could be created in a healthy way, fulfilling and you know,

552
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 4: just just offer who we are and our best way possible.

553
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:46,560
Speaker 2: And we and we did as far as like the

554
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:47,880
Speaker 2: research part about.

555
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: It, man, we we knew, we did research on what

556
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: do Americans eat, you know what I mean, what are

557
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: the popular foods? And that was Hamburger's, hot dogs, piece

558
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,440
Speaker 1: of tacos. You know what I'm saying. It was we

559
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 1: didn't want to new Hamburgers. It was it was it

560
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,160
Speaker 1: was during the time where craft Burger spots was popping

561
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:06,000
Speaker 1: up all over the place in.

562
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 2: The city, you know what I'm saying. And then and

563
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 2: then hot dogs.

564
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 1: Man, we you know, we we didn't feel like we

565
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 1: could jazz that up enough.

566
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 2: To where you know, it would feel good to us.

567
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, we already in our community,

568
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: you eating the glizzy.

569
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:19,760
Speaker 2: You know what I'm.

570
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: Saying, already behind the eight ball, right, you know what

571
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: I'm saying.

572
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:30,400
Speaker 2: You can't be then you know what I'm saying, So

573
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:32,239
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So it was like we're

574
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 2: gonna leave it. We're gonna leave it alone.

575
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 1: And then uh, you know, and then you know the

576
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 1: tacos man. You know, we didn't feel like we could

577
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 1: do we we could do anything, but we didn't want to.

578
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 1: We wanted to leave that to where where where it

579
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 1: was already working. So it was like pizza, man, We

580
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: Americans eat pizza, eating the bondics of pizza.

581
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 2: It has high growth, high growth raised as far.

582
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: As an industry or food industry, and and we understood

583
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 1: the costs, and you know, it's it's not so like

584
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: it's not segregated into like, you know, like a demographic

585
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 1: of people that will won't eat pizza.

586
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 2: Everybody's eating pizza, you know what I'm saying. And so

587
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 2: it's like, man, we can dive into that and make

588
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 2: that cool. It fits us. We grew up on pizza.

589
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:20,840
Speaker 1: We grew up on pizza parties, Ninja turtles, all that

590
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 1: type of stuff like, we could do that, you know

591
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, and it worked out for us, you know,

592
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 1: And so it was a little bit of research, a

593
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:28,520
Speaker 1: lot of bit.

594
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:33,360
Speaker 2: Of chance, and we knew that we didn't just want.

595
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,320
Speaker 1: To depend on pizza to be the selling point of

596
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 1: to bring people in the doors. It was the music,

597
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 1: it was the art, it was the community aspect of it.

598
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: So and we understood that that that was the need

599
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 1: to be felled in all of those areas.

600
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 3: You know, how do you decide because you're in multiple

601
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,120
Speaker 3: states even now, and forget your cities, but how do

602
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 3: you decide which markets to explore for new locations?

603
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 4: Well, you know, that's a very good question because you know,

604
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 4: we when we initially start going places, I think our

605
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:08,239
Speaker 4: first city we went to ventured into was Atlanta, and

606
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,160
Speaker 4: so we just knew that, man, Atlanta's gonna hit. It's

607
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 4: six million people down there. Uh, you know, it's the

608
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 4: you know, arguably the new mecha of hip hop. You know,

609
00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 4: we got a hip hop you know based brand, like,

610
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 4: it's gonna work, right. We so we started off doing

611
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,239
Speaker 4: the eyebib tests, you know what I'm saying, just kind

612
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 4: of filling it out, and then also using social media

613
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:31,959
Speaker 4: and seeing you know, what kind of traction were we're

614
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 4: getting from different places outside of you know, Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee.

615
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 2: Atlanta was that city where everybody's like, non, y'all got

616
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:39,719
Speaker 2: to come here.

617
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 4: Y'all gotta come here, right, So we listened to the

618
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 4: consumers through social channels and engaging it that way. But

619
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 4: I think you know now that we you know, got

620
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 4: to you know, about ten units and looking to grow

621
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 4: even more. Now we're starting to dive in because it's

622
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:55,800
Speaker 4: it's gonna become a lot of you know, a lot

623
00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,720
Speaker 4: more about dollars and cents now than ever before. As

624
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:02,160
Speaker 4: we you know, grow the more locations and so you know,

625
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 4: now we're taking you know, advantage of the studies that

626
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 4: are out there, you know, getting with real real estate

627
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 4: and community you know professionals to say, can you guys

628
00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 4: give me the data that we need to ensure that

629
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 4: this location is going to be a hit, because you know,

630
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 4: we've had some locations where we went where you know,

631
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,960
Speaker 4: we honestly, you know, thought that our brand and our

632
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 4: stories and marketing has been done on us would carry us.

633
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 2: But we started off a little slower than what we expected.

634
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 4: And so that was a learning curve and business to say,

635
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 4: you know what, like you know, we're starting to get

636
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 4: up there with the big dogs.

637
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 2: We got to do what the big dogs do.

638
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, and so so you know, data is key for

639
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 4: us now.

640
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 3: And it was one thing to open up a shop remotely.

641
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 3: It's another there to manage it, you know from a distance.

642
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,720
Speaker 3: And how do you do that because you got to

643
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 3: scale at this point.

644
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we got a great team. So first the

645
00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 1: way the skill is processes. Man, you know what I'm saying,

646
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:06,160
Speaker 1: So sps right, So no matter where you are, what city,

647
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:11,840
Speaker 1: what time zone. You know, at nine o'clock in Atlanta, uh,

648
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 1: they're doing the same thing. Uh you know when it's

649
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,400
Speaker 1: nine o'clock in Nashville, when it's nine o'clock at nine o'clock,

650
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 1: don't matter. We should be at a call at their

651
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,080
Speaker 1: time zone and look on the camera and they're doing

652
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: exactly all the same things, you know what I'm saying

653
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 1: at the specific time. So so process is important, document

654
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: those and training those is the most important thing we

655
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 1: thinking about scaling, right, and I think as a community

656
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 1: we missed that.

657
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:44,920
Speaker 2: Like we go into it with the mom and pop attitude.

658
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 2: You know what I mean. You know, mom and pop

659
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 2: gonna go open the doors, turn.

660
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 1: The lights on, and operate the business right and we

661
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 1: never scale, you know what I'm saying. With great ideas,

662
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 1: never scale. So for us, we knew that we didn't

663
00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:57,920
Speaker 1: want to be in a building all the time. We

664
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 1: knew that we wanted to go take advantage of of.

665
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:02,320
Speaker 2: What we have and grow it.

666
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 1: So we start these processes so the way you cook,

667
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:08,800
Speaker 1: the temperature of the oven is the same, where you

668
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:10,000
Speaker 1: get the product is the same.

669
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,240
Speaker 2: All those things allow you to scale.

670
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,359
Speaker 1: And we did that with the moving company, even though

671
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:20,839
Speaker 1: we stayed in Nashville. We started building these SOPs at

672
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,319
Speaker 1: the ten age of twenty five twenty six, man, and

673
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 1: we understood.

674
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:24,800
Speaker 2: That we wanted to scale.

675
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:26,560
Speaker 1: One day we read a book called Built a Seal,

676
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:29,839
Speaker 1: which helped us out a whole lot. And uh So,

677
00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 1: but anyways, man, that's how you scale, and that's how

678
00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:36,600
Speaker 1: you manage UH in these other locations.

679
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,279
Speaker 2: As well as having a good team, you know what

680
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 2: I mean.

681
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 1: So you got a good team with general manager, you

682
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,840
Speaker 1: got a good good director operations and UH and UH

683
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:49,879
Speaker 1: and chief Operations, and those two guys make sure that

684
00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:54,000
Speaker 1: what we what we implemented what we built is happening

685
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 1: all across all across our stores in these different states

686
00:34:58,080 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: and time.

687
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:00,719
Speaker 2: Zone, and then it's all it's so important to know.

688
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,040
Speaker 4: Like when we had the moving company, as most said,

689
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,799
Speaker 4: we were building those SOPs, but as guys were coming in,

690
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 4: we're training and we're giving them paper package like you

691
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 4: take that home, you know, read you know, read the handbook,

692
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 4: look at this training module.

693
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.

694
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,640
Speaker 4: But now with the restaurant, we've been able to take

695
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 4: advantage of technology because you know, we know that you know,

696
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,799
Speaker 4: papers are things in the past, but you know, we

697
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,359
Speaker 4: work out checklist that you know, as he said, every

698
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:26,000
Speaker 4: store is doing the same thing at the same time,

699
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 4: and we can put up on our cell phones and

700
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 4: log into the app and see which GM at this

701
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 4: store didn't do what, or you know, who's at one

702
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:35,960
Speaker 4: hundred percent completion rate? You know, so it You know,

703
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,800
Speaker 4: technology is so important to a doc when you're starting

704
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 4: to talk about scale nowadays, especially within hospitality, because it

705
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 4: saves us so much time.

706
00:35:44,800 --> 00:36:01,239
Speaker 1: And money.

707
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:57,439
Speaker 3: And for the people who are listening, who are thinking

708
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 3: about anything in the near the vertical. You guys, I

709
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,120
Speaker 3: want you guys to leave them with some words about

710
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 3: partnership because obviously.

711
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,719
Speaker 2: You guys, three of you guys you know.

712
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:12,879
Speaker 3: With EJ, and talk about how because you mentioned, you know,

713
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:14,839
Speaker 3: you went in the scale a little bit, and how

714
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 3: we get stuck in the mom and pop, you know,

715
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,360
Speaker 3: here in MO and so part of why partnerships get

716
00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,719
Speaker 3: broken up is because we don't understand our responsibilities. You know,

717
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:26,839
Speaker 3: Clint's doing what most should be doing, Mos doing what

718
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 3: EJ should be doing, and.

719
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 2: Et cetera, et cetera.

720
00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:32,680
Speaker 3: How do you guys designate who does what so you

721
00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 3: don't feel like you're stepping on each other's toes. In

722
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,319
Speaker 3: order to continue to build a great partnership with the

723
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:41,880
Speaker 3: three of you guys, we define roles early on, you know,

724
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:43,280
Speaker 3: and we.

725
00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 2: Understand each other's strength and weaknesses. Right.

726
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,399
Speaker 1: So, uh so Clint Clinton, out of all of us,

727
00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: he is he's a lot more social, you know what

728
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:55,560
Speaker 1: I mean, Not a lot because me and Clinton by

729
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:58,880
Speaker 1: here and there. But but but I mean, he's but

730
00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:02,600
Speaker 1: I understand and I have the mind for logistics and

731
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,960
Speaker 1: operations more because I was an air traffic controller, you.

732
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:06,399
Speaker 2: Know what I mean.

733
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:08,479
Speaker 1: At one point in time in my life, I worked

734
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:10,160
Speaker 1: in sales. At one point in time in my life,

735
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,839
Speaker 1: I had all these jobs that I got fired from

736
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: at what point of time in my life that prepared

737
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:17,279
Speaker 1: me for what I am what I can do now,

738
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, construction.

739
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 2: Jobs, all that type of stuff.

740
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: So so you know, we define roles really early on

741
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:25,959
Speaker 1: and don't step in.

742
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 2: And made it made it a goal to not step

743
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:29,960
Speaker 2: on each other's toes.

744
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:33,439
Speaker 1: Now, sometimes these roles intertwined where I need to pull

745
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: on Clan or I need to pull on EJ for something.

746
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:39,720
Speaker 1: But but we we define these roles and we trust

747
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,880
Speaker 1: each other to do these roles the right way, you

748
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:46,480
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, as well as you know, forming

749
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 1: the form of these operating agreements before we open the door,

750
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:53,080
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So so uh so we

751
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:57,960
Speaker 1: make sure the legal paperwork is right and that that

752
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:02,279
Speaker 1: that alleviates, you know, so there's one worry that we have.

753
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,799
Speaker 1: You know, we go into it as partners making sure

754
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,440
Speaker 1: that that's right. You know, we can that freeze us

755
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 1: up to think thing forward and start thinking about new

756
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:14,920
Speaker 1: ideas and stuff like that. And you know, we just

757
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:17,399
Speaker 1: like I said, understand each other strength and weaknesses, man,

758
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:18,400
Speaker 1: and define these.

759
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,840
Speaker 2: Roles, and that allows us to work.

760
00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:25,440
Speaker 1: Not it's not always great together, because I mean we're

761
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 1: human beings, but that allows us to grow and scale

762
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 1: and and when and when things get go straight, we're

763
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,680
Speaker 1: able to fix it a lot faster than if we

764
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:37,879
Speaker 1: were intertwining all these roles and I was doing Clint

765
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:39,359
Speaker 1: job and I was doing EJ job.

766
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 2: Like, so yeah, yeah, that's how we That's how we

767
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 2: pretty much work the partnership. Man. And what would you

768
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 2: leave the audience with.

769
00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:49,680
Speaker 3: Things that they should do if they're interested in getting

770
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:54,399
Speaker 3: hospitality anywhere? Hospitality, food service? What kind of things were

771
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:57,080
Speaker 3: the things that you wish you would have known in closing?

772
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:04,800
Speaker 2: Uh? I wish I wish I would have under understood. Uh.

773
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,600
Speaker 2: You think about taxes.

774
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,200
Speaker 1: Man, you know the you know businesses and in the

775
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:10,480
Speaker 1: movie industry, we didn't have.

776
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 2: Nearly as many taxes as we have now.

777
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:16,279
Speaker 1: You know, liquor tax, food tax, you know, franchise and

778
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:17,840
Speaker 1: excise tax, all these taxes.

779
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 2: Man.

780
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:22,840
Speaker 1: I wish I would have understood that early on, you know. Uh,

781
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 1: as well as uh doing more market research, site selection research. Uh,

782
00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 1: those type of things you know as a restaurant are

783
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: very important.

784
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:35,680
Speaker 2: Uh.

785
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:37,920
Speaker 1: And sometimes man, like like you can go back to

786
00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 1: the opportunities thing like, sometimes we just have an idea

787
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: and we just need to.

788
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:44,520
Speaker 2: Bust it open and try it right and learn as

789
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:44,839
Speaker 2: we go.

790
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 1: So I never want to say know everything or know

791
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 1: all these things before you start, because then you start

792
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 1: to talk yourself out of it. But but but definitely

793
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:58,399
Speaker 1: do your research, have a have a have a good

794
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 1: working idea, not just an idea, but the go working

795
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:02,640
Speaker 1: idea of what you're.

796
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:03,520
Speaker 2: Getting yourself into.

797
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:06,640
Speaker 1: And then I mean, just go for it, man, and

798
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 1: you know, to try and to feel man, you know,

799
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 1: you gotta do it.

800
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,600
Speaker 2: So, yeah, a couple of things.

801
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:15,719
Speaker 4: First thing, if you're looking to go into a partnership,

802
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,840
Speaker 4: kind of stemming off the last question, don't think that

803
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 4: you know everyone in your friends is gonna be a

804
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 4: great partner, right, Like, I think what makes us great

805
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 4: is that, you know, we all bring something different to

806
00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 4: the table.

807
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:29,359
Speaker 2: We all have a certain level of responsibility.

808
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 4: Of you know, and you know we we know that

809
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,000
Speaker 4: you know, we're working with good guys on the other side,

810
00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 4: right Like, we we trust each other and so you know,

811
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 4: we all got friends that you know, have a lot

812
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:42,560
Speaker 4: of fun with, but they ain't gonna make a great

813
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:45,440
Speaker 4: business partner, So you gotta know how to you know,

814
00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:46,920
Speaker 4: cipher through that a little bit.

815
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:47,880
Speaker 2: You know.

816
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 4: On the hospitality side, man, I think one thing that

817
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:52,040
Speaker 4: anybody can do.

818
00:40:52,040 --> 00:40:54,359
Speaker 2: That's interested in, whether it's you know.

819
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,800
Speaker 4: Food service or you know, opening up their own spot

820
00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:01,480
Speaker 4: or lounge or whatever the case is, go working one.

821
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 2: You know, go working one.

822
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,600
Speaker 4: Take take the opportunity to like see what it's like

823
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,760
Speaker 4: on the inside out of operating a business.

824
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,400
Speaker 2: When it comes to hospitality, that's the best way you

825
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:13,440
Speaker 2: can learn. You know.

826
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 4: If somebody would work for us for you know, for

827
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 4: five years, they could easily leave here, you know, with

828
00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 4: enough tools to go open up, you know, a restaurant,

829
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:25,360
Speaker 4: just based off of general knowledge, you know. And the

830
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 4: last thing I would say is, uh, you know, we

831
00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:31,200
Speaker 4: we haven't put a business plan together in a while.

832
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:34,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we just got a knack now we

833
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:36,239
Speaker 2: want to open up a business. We know what needs

834
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:36,960
Speaker 2: to be done.

835
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,520
Speaker 4: But the very first one that we did, you know,

836
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:41,880
Speaker 4: it took us a while to put it together because

837
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:44,440
Speaker 4: we were doing so much research on everybody around us,

838
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 4: and we did we did market research on pizza restaurants

839
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:51,799
Speaker 4: from the East Coast to West coast from you know,

840
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,120
Speaker 4: all of Carson, United States to right here locally, we

841
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:57,719
Speaker 4: broke everything down. We got you know, I never forget

842
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 4: we were creating our sauces. We went around, got about

843
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 4: ten different pizza sauags from places, did blind taste tests,

844
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,200
Speaker 4: figured out which one we liked the best, you know,

845
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 4: measure that out to who was doing, you know, getting

846
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:09,480
Speaker 4: the most sales.

847
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:10,399
Speaker 2: And you know, we.

848
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,080
Speaker 4: Were just doing different things man to figure out exactly

849
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:17,000
Speaker 4: who we wanted to be as a business and exactly

850
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,320
Speaker 4: what you know, the potential competition.

851
00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,080
Speaker 2: Would look like in the marketplace. And so a lot

852
00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:22,880
Speaker 2: of people don't realize that when we opened.

853
00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:25,279
Speaker 4: Our first business, I'm sorry, our first restaurant, we had

854
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,879
Speaker 4: been working on it for two years. If you look

855
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:30,800
Speaker 4: at any one of our original locations, we got a

856
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:33,759
Speaker 4: seal on the front. This is established twenty fifteen, but

857
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,040
Speaker 4: we didn't sell our first pizza open our doors until

858
00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 4: March twenty seventeen. But that established what represents us in

859
00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:47,120
Speaker 4: the lab, figuring this thing out, testing pizzas, passing them

860
00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:49,400
Speaker 4: out to the community at different events, getting the word

861
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:53,760
Speaker 4: out of you know, figuring out our training program, working

862
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:57,200
Speaker 4: on our floor plans, and going back and forth with

863
00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 4: the architects man.

864
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:00,840
Speaker 2: At that point we felt like this is when it

865
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:02,920
Speaker 2: got started. And I think that, you.

866
00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:06,239
Speaker 4: Know, entrepreneurs in any field need to know that, like

867
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:10,000
Speaker 4: sometimes it takes a little time to build success before

868
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:11,279
Speaker 4: you actually jump into it.

869
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:12,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I would leave you.

870
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 1: One other thing is, man, I tell people all the time,

871
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 1: you got to fall in love with the sacrifice, right,

872
00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 1: so like like if you don't love h if damn

873
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 1: love what you do, you gotta love the sacrifice. You

874
00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:26,920
Speaker 1: gotta fall in love with it because it's gonna be

875
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:31,320
Speaker 1: so many times, so many hours, uh uh, in days

876
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:34,799
Speaker 1: where your friends are able to go kick it, you

877
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:38,520
Speaker 1: know in Jamaica or the Bahamas, or or take trips

878
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 1: to Italy and you want to be a part of

879
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,160
Speaker 1: it's so bad. Or you got the homie that that

880
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,640
Speaker 1: just popped up and pulled up in the new and

881
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,200
Speaker 1: the new whatever, you know what I'm saying, or this

882
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 1: type of stuff, right, you know. But but but but

883
00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:53,960
Speaker 1: for what you're doing and what you're what you can't do, now,

884
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,160
Speaker 1: that's the sacrifice, you know what I'm saying. Because you

885
00:43:57,239 --> 00:44:00,200
Speaker 1: setting yourself up for longevity.

886
00:43:59,600 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?

887
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,840
Speaker 1: I mean years and years and generations of wealth, you

888
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:04,560
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Not saying that your homies just

889
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:06,960
Speaker 1: taking the trips. They're not doing the same thing, but

890
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,080
Speaker 1: it just ain't your time, you know what I'm saying.

891
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:12,360
Speaker 1: So you gotta follow in love with the sacrifice or

892
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,839
Speaker 1: you'll you'll just be living in a moment and all

893
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 1: the work that you put in is just be no

894
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 1: all the void.

895
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:34,320
Speaker 3: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro

896
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 3: Tech on the Black Effect podcast network in iHeart Media.

897
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:41,000
Speaker 3: It's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with

898
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:44,200
Speaker 3: additional production support by Sarah Ragan and Rose Mick Lucas.

899
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:46,400
Speaker 2: Special thank you to Michael Davis.

900
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,160
Speaker 3: If that's a surroundo, remember by Mike cast the Other

901
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,960
Speaker 3: Tech Disruptors an Innovator's afro tech dot com.

902
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:53,760
Speaker 2: The video version of this episode will.

903
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:55,879
Speaker 3: Drop to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube next week,

904
00:44:55,920 --> 00:45:00,120
Speaker 3: So tap in enjoying Black Tech Green Money Shad with

905
00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:04,719
Speaker 3: Somebody Go get your money, Peace and love.

906
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:09,680
Speaker 1: H