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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of butteron Nomics. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Brandon Butler found the CEO of butter at Yellen. Today,

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Speaker 1: got somebody special in the building man, the one, the only,

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Speaker 1: Miss Tasha Bell Surreal.

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Speaker 2: Tasha, how are you doing?

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Speaker 3: I am doing amazing, Brandon, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for coming pulling up. You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 3: Of course, I know.

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Speaker 1: I see Tasha out there moving around, you know, the restauranteur, entrepreneur.

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Speaker 1: I have my days, have stuff going on. Look, this

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Speaker 1: is gonna be a great conversation. You know, sometimes people say,

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Speaker 1: you know, introduce yourselves or you know, come in.

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Speaker 2: What we do over here is a little bit different.

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Speaker 2: We do a little different at Button Nomics.

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Speaker 1: Tasha, we we we We asked chat Cheapt to tell

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Speaker 1: us who our guests are. So I asked chat Cheapt

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Speaker 1: to write me a bio about Have you ever chat gibt' yourself?

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Speaker 2: For no?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 2: You should do it because let me tell you what

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Speaker 2: Chatchy you had to say about you. Okay.

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Speaker 1: Tasha Bell Surrell is a hospitality entrepreneur with more than

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Speaker 1: fifteen years of experience building restaurants across Atlanta, New York City, Jamaica,

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Speaker 1: and Saint Lucia in Atlanta. She is the founder of

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Speaker 1: it makes You There's a Juvet, Caribbean Kitchen and Bar,

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Speaker 1: a Caribbean concept rooted in traditions, service and community.

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Speaker 2: She has operated for restaurants.

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Speaker 1: Each shape by a belief that hospitality is not just

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Speaker 1: flow on the plate, but how we make people feel

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Speaker 1: when they walk in the room. Her work since at

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Speaker 1: the intersection of culture and operations, staffing, food costs, customer

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Speaker 1: service margin pressure, customer community expectations. She understands all the

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Speaker 1: things that restaurants are under from an emotional standpoint, but

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Speaker 1: they are also economic engines beyond the dining room. She

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Speaker 1: leads the Family Table, a monthly initiative feeds working families

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Speaker 1: with dignity, not as a marketing play, but it's infrastructure

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Speaker 1: for the culture. Tatasha brings a grounded perspective to the

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Speaker 1: conversation about black owned restaurants in Atlanta, when it actually

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Speaker 1: takes to sustain them, and how operators balance pride, pressure

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Speaker 1: and profitability.

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Speaker 2: What do you think about what Chat Chief you had

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Speaker 2: to say about you?

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Speaker 3: I might have to ask chat to say some more

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Speaker 3: things about you that sounded good.

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Speaker 1: You know, tell everybody got a chat cheaper to yourself.

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Speaker 1: You know you set to google yourself? Now you gotta

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Speaker 1: chat GBC yourself because it all rolls up.

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Speaker 3: Now. I've googled myself before for sure, but check. You know,

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Speaker 3: chat summed it up real nice?

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Speaker 2: Did it leave anything out?

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Speaker 3: I've written two books. Okay, yeah, I'm big on mental wellness.

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Speaker 3: I'm an avid meditator. So I wrote. I wrote a book. Dang,

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Speaker 3: how long ago? It eleven years ago called Beginning with

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Speaker 3: Myself is a self self improvement book. I don't like

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Speaker 3: to say self help because it makes you feel like

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Speaker 3: you're completely broken. So I did that, and I have

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Speaker 3: a customer service book dropping soon, which I should have

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Speaker 3: been done.

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Speaker 1: This is like for the restaurant industry, every customer service thing, right,

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Speaker 1: and I kind of mixed it in with my experiences

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Speaker 1: in the restaurants.

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Speaker 3: It's kind of like a story and not just like

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Speaker 3: do this, don't do that because that's no fun, right,

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Speaker 3: people don't learn that way, Okay, I don't think.

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Speaker 1: So okay, now, how did you first get involved in

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Speaker 1: the restaurant business?

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Speaker 3: So it's random. So I moved to New York from

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Speaker 3: Saint Usha and one of my friends from back home

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Speaker 3: who had a friend in New York who's a chef.

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Speaker 3: It's like, do you need a job. I'm like, yes,

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Speaker 3: nobody's paying for my fun money and daddy's gonna pay

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Speaker 3: for school, but I gotta pay for the rent in

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Speaker 3: my life. So I had no experience. He's like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: go speak to this girl over there. Still Caribbean, don't

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Speaker 3: speak to this girl over there. I happened to be

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Speaker 3: on that side of town, and I was just like, damn,

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Speaker 3: I'm not dressed for an interview. I'm in shorts. I'm

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Speaker 3: in like the shortest shorts. And I walked in and

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Speaker 3: one of my friends, she's my friend now at the time,

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Speaker 3: I didn't know them obviously, and she goes back. She's like,

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Speaker 3: this girl is here to see you, and I hope

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Speaker 3: she's not here for an interview looking like this. Heedless

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Speaker 3: to say, I was. So they hired me, but everything

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Speaker 3: I learned was on that job, so of course I

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Speaker 3: had no experience. So they put me on the phones.

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Speaker 3: There was no Uber eats and door dash. Of course,

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Speaker 3: this was I'm aging myself that this was like nineteen

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Speaker 3: years ago. So I was a telephone girl. While I

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Speaker 3: was in college for forensic psychology, and then they taught

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Speaker 3: me to host, they taught me to bartend, they taught

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Speaker 3: me to serve. So everything I learned about restaurants was

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Speaker 3: at that first job at mcgrill Chelsea cut.

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Speaker 1: Now I got to ask, and I'm guessing the answer

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Speaker 1: is college, but please correct, like, why would you leave

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Speaker 1: Saint Lucia to go to New York?

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Speaker 2: Like I would never leave Saint Lucia.

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Speaker 3: No, So yes, that was the reason to go to school,

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Speaker 3: because you know, there's only so many things you can do,

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Speaker 3: and so that I was interested in, I should say,

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Speaker 3: and I've always been fascinated with the human brain helping people.

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Speaker 3: So I was like, oh, I'm going to do forensic psychology.

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Speaker 3: Did I use it? Look at me now restaurants. Everyone's

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Speaker 3: just like, so you're not gonna probably not. I'm like,

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Speaker 3: I use it enough on people every day. But fast

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Speaker 3: forward years later, I had moved to and you know,

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Speaker 3: I just ended up all in love with it because

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Speaker 3: I was like, oh, I could be of service in

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Speaker 3: this way. So that's kind of how it grew. So

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Speaker 3: how I ended up in Atlanta. One of my friends

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Speaker 3: who's my business partner, now is just like we had

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Speaker 3: just consulted on a restaurant, like after years of us

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Speaker 3: working together. He's like, I'm going to go down to

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Speaker 3: Atlanta to help sim and Marva open another in a grill.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, have fun. He's like all right. So then

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Speaker 3: he calls me like three months later, like Tash, you

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Speaker 3: need to come down and help. We need the help.

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Speaker 3: I was like, I'm not coming to Atlanta. I'm not

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Speaker 3: doing it. He's like, why you're not doing anything in

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Speaker 3: New York. It's like, who says I wasn't doing anything.

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Speaker 3: I had actually just moved back from Jamaica from st

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Speaker 3: I had moved to Jamaica that didn't work out. So

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Speaker 3: the restaurant that opened in Jamaica that didn't work out.

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Speaker 3: Then I moved to Saint Lucia for like go back

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Speaker 3: home for like three months. Then I went back to Brooklyn.

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Speaker 3: So I ended up coming to Atlanta spent a month.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, no, goodbye. I hate it here. Culturally. I

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Speaker 3: just felt like it wasn't for me convenience wise. I

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Speaker 3: was just like, where's the food? At two am? When

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Speaker 3: we're done with work, I'm like, I can't walk anywhere.

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Speaker 3: I hate driving this train doesn't go anywhere, like I

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Speaker 3: had all the complaints. You hear me, I go back

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Speaker 3: to New York. Clive calls back, like two weeks, like,

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Speaker 3: all right, now, stop fooling around, just pack up your

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Speaker 3: stuff and move. I just came up. I just came

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Speaker 3: back to New York to pocket my pack up my

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Speaker 3: apartment to come back. I'm sorry, Sure, I came back

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Speaker 3: and I'm still here. You know.

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Speaker 2: That's one thing.

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Speaker 1: It's one thing about New York I always kind of say, right,

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Speaker 1: It's like one thing about that I love about New

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Speaker 1: York is it's always something going on. I feel like,

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Speaker 1: if I need a leather jacket at three o'clock in

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Speaker 1: the morning and a slice of pizza, I could probably

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Speaker 1: get a leather jacket and a slice of pizza at

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Speaker 1: three o'clock.

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Speaker 2: In the morning.

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Speaker 1: I kind of wonder, too, like with you coming up

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Speaker 1: in the restaurant space in a city like that and

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Speaker 1: then coming down here to Atlanta, it seems like things

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Speaker 1: will probably feel a little bit slower down here. Or

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Speaker 1: is that Is that accurate or is that you know

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Speaker 1: I'm not accurate.

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Speaker 3: Slower in the sense of not the pace for the

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Speaker 3: guest slower in the sense of the workers. Okay, so

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Speaker 3: we have a go go go, go, go go go

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Speaker 3: mentality because money's coming through the door, right, And I

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Speaker 3: would joke about this all the time. I was like,

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Speaker 3: the rent down here is just too cheap. That's why

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Speaker 3: y'all don't want to work. Because you could make four

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Speaker 3: hundred dollars in a day and your rent is paid

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Speaker 3: in New York's That's just not what it is, right,

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Speaker 3: So that was that was one of the things I

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Speaker 3: would say was probably a big adjustment to like the

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Speaker 3: people were there, like people were coming out like when

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Speaker 3: we when we opened, when when I came in, the

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Speaker 3: girl was about six six to eight months old, and

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Speaker 3: within like three months, like once we got everybody on

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Speaker 3: the same page as far as like the money is

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Speaker 3: coming through the door, you need to have all your

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Speaker 3: energy to work every Sunday. I don't know if you've

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Speaker 3: ever been to a girl on West Third ye on

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Speaker 3: not Western that's in New York on North.

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Speaker 2: Avenue, on North Avenue, right, yeah.

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Speaker 3: And house, so you if you've seen a Sunday brunch

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Speaker 3: in there that was like a thirty thousand dollars day

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Speaker 3: on one floor, you know what I mean? So people

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Speaker 3: are coming. It was a zoo in there, so it's

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Speaker 3: like once the people are people are outside in Atlanta,

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Speaker 3: they are so the pace of people being like when

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Speaker 3: you ask if it's slower, not from a customer standpoint

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Speaker 3: but from a work faster standpoint, it was it's a

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Speaker 3: little different.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: Okay, okay, now you own multiple restaurants. Now, when when

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Speaker 1: you first kind of opened your first restaurant, what was

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Speaker 1: the inspiration behind that and what did you kind of

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Speaker 1: think was missing in the market or what did you

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Speaker 1: see the kind of gave you a unique perspective around

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Speaker 1: open that first spot up.

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Speaker 3: So the first spot was a collective effort. Truld Be

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Speaker 3: told Sim was sim who's marvessn like this, We're like

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Speaker 3: family at this point, so I always like kind of

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Speaker 3: break it down. But when I came down, it was

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Speaker 3: to work with the girl. And then within like a

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Speaker 3: year and a half two years, someone's just like, I

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Speaker 3: think it's time we go look for our own space,

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Speaker 3: right And Sim is the son of the lady who

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Speaker 3: started megrill, So we're like and he's saying, this is

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Speaker 3: myself and Clive, and I'm like, okay, you want to

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Speaker 3: do this weekend, like you know. So the good thing is,

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Speaker 3: and I tell people this all the time because you know,

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Speaker 3: sometimes people work in a certain space and they're like, Oh,

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Speaker 3: I don't like my job, or I don't I don't

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Speaker 3: want to be here. I'm just like, if you're in

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Speaker 3: a space that allows you to learn more than what

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Speaker 3: you're what you know, take advantage of that. And that's

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Speaker 3: kind of what I did, right, because it was never, oh,

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Speaker 3: we're not going to teach you to do this, so

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Speaker 3: we're not going to teach you to do that. So

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Speaker 3: I took full advantage. So when the time came, myself

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Speaker 3: and Clive, and Clive works at the same pace that

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Speaker 3: I do all the time, no matter what's happening, if

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Speaker 3: it's busy or it's slow, we're working. So I think

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Speaker 3: what sim saw is that right? It's like, well, who

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Speaker 3: am I going to ask to come on this this

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Speaker 3: trip with me to open a restaurant without my mom?

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Speaker 3: You know what I mean. So it was like his

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Speaker 3: time to step out on his own and off of

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Speaker 3: sweat equities, like you and Clive, come on, let's do this.

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Speaker 3: And his younger brother, who was the chef at Miss

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Speaker 3: Icy's Kitchen, so that's how Miss Icy's Kitchen was born. Actually,

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Speaker 3: Apartment four by was the first idea we were looking

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Speaker 3: at trying to execute, but we just couldn't find a

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Speaker 3: space that we felt was right. And the idea behind

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Speaker 3: Apartment four B was we wanted somewhere that felt like

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Speaker 3: New York to us because we didn't feel like we

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Speaker 3: could find that in Atlanta. But that took forby. It's

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Speaker 3: not five years. That took another three years after Miss

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Speaker 3: Icy's Kitchen, Quinn for that to even happen. So Miss

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Speaker 3: Icy's Kitchen was his grandmother. So he's just like, you

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Speaker 3: know what, this is the grand children's house. This is

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Speaker 3: what you're gonna feel when you walk in, you come,

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Speaker 3: you have fun. Still Caribbean, but we're in the South.

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Speaker 3: We know the Caribbean population is not as big down here,

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Speaker 3: so it's like, how do you include everybody? And that's

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Speaker 3: pretty much what we did with with Miss Icy's Kitchen.

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Speaker 3: That was the first concept.

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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, now when you open these spots up,

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Speaker 1: like what role do you typically kind of play in

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Speaker 1: this restaurant?

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Speaker 3: So I am operations director, So I'm the person who hires,

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Speaker 3: I'm the person who damn what don't you do.

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Speaker 2: Get you get it done, operations, get stuff done.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I get They for a while they were like,

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Speaker 3: you're the glue. I'm pretty much the person who keeps

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Speaker 3: everybody intact, you know, and together. I oversee ordering. I'm

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Speaker 3: also the beverage directors outside of operations, all the bar

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Speaker 3: programs at all the restaurants. I do that because I

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Speaker 3: love mixology. Out of all the roles that I've filled,

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Speaker 3: that was probably my favorite to bartend until I get

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Speaker 3: in trouble bartended, of course. But yeah, so I'm the

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Speaker 3: I hire, I fire, I recruit, I make sure my

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Speaker 3: business partners or in check by plating cocktails, relationships, market,

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Speaker 3: all the things.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, get all the things.

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Speaker 1: Okay, when did you as you kind of like continue

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Speaker 1: to like work on these restaurants and build them. Like

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Speaker 1: what is it about the restaurant business that people don't

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Speaker 1: know what they should?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 1: Like? I think people think that it's just flashy and fun.

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Speaker 1: They don't understand the margins can be kind of tough.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I've I've managed or I've owned a restaurant

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Speaker 1: in the past and helped manage one, and let me

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Speaker 1: tell you, it was a lot, a lot that I

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Speaker 1: didn't even know, and I kind of did it from

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Speaker 1: the point of getting in devolved for experience. But I

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Speaker 1: mean just even around just managing the people. I mean

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Speaker 1: we're not talking about the food, right, Like what do

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Speaker 1: people need to know about the restaurant business before they

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Speaker 1: go down that path?

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Speaker 3: You know, I people don't do it. First of all,

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Speaker 3: if you like yourself, don't do it. But like truly,

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Speaker 3: and I think that's that's kind of been the the

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Speaker 3: fad in Atlanta lately is like a lot of people

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Speaker 3: think that, oh, I'm going to get a restaurant just

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Speaker 3: for the hype of it. Broh, there is no hype

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Speaker 3: for real. It's getting an ass beating every day. It's

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Speaker 3: like you just you're a massachist, Like why are you

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Speaker 3: doing this to yourself? Right? But I think people need

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Speaker 3: to Unless you're somebody who believes in serving others, this

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Speaker 3: is not the job for you. It is fully a

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Speaker 3: job where you serve people, whether that's your guest, whether

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Speaker 3: that's your staff, and then the person the people you

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Speaker 3: really have to serve also are your staff. You know.

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Speaker 3: I think people do it because they want to be

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Speaker 3: in a certain position of oh, I'm a boss and

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Speaker 3: I'm this, no broh. This is a job of service.

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Speaker 3: And I think that, more than anything else is what

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Speaker 3: people miss out on when they go into it not

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Speaker 3: realizing how much it requires of you as a person.

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Speaker 3: And like you said, the margins are not that great

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Speaker 3: if you're not good with managing labor, yeah, food cost,

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Speaker 3: food waste. It's just not easy. Like restaurants are like

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Speaker 3: top five most failing businesses. And if you think it's

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Speaker 3: just going to be a walk in the park, there's

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Speaker 3: so many moving parts that makes for a good restaurant.

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Speaker 3: And even when you are a good restaurant, it becomes

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Speaker 3: it becomes stressful. You're still probably gonna see some bad days.

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Speaker 3: I don't know, And I know a lot of restaurant owners,

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Speaker 3: whether it's people that I follow, whether it's people that

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Speaker 3: are down here in Atlanta and New York. And the

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Speaker 3: one thing everybody could say is it's not easy. And

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Speaker 3: they always say like, don't do it by yourself, right,

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Speaker 3: don't do it by yourself. So you know, I think

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Speaker 3: you need to be good with people management for sure,

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Speaker 3: you need to be good with money for sure, and

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Speaker 3: you need to be good with strategy. Right, a good restaurant,

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Speaker 3: I think requires three things to make it great. Great ambiance,

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Speaker 3: great service, and great food. And it's very hard to

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Speaker 3: get these three all in one happening at the same

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Speaker 3: time because again it's a lot of moving parts, right, Like,

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Speaker 3: really your staff is in control of what happens once

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Speaker 3: those doors open, and even when the doors are closed,

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Speaker 3: if the means applause is not ready, they're running around.

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Speaker 3: That's sometimes you know, there's things that people don't know,

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Speaker 3: like why does food take long? Sometimes food takes long

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Speaker 3: because the men you set up might be crappy, the

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Speaker 3: kitchen didn't prep fully, or they're doing things in reverse.

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Speaker 3: So like it's like if you're taking a shower right

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Speaker 3: and you put your clothes on and then get in

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Speaker 3: the shower, that doesn't work right. So you know, I

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Speaker 3: think all these things if you've never worked in and

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Speaker 3: I tell people this, if you want to be in

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Speaker 3: the restaurant business, go work in a restaurant like one

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Speaker 3: month and see if you really actually like people, See

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Speaker 3: if you actually like people, see if you actually enjoy serving,

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Speaker 3: and if you do, then by all means like jump in.

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Speaker 3: But just know, you know it's a lot it's gonna look.

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Speaker 1: I rememb right I used to work at a restaurant

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Speaker 1: when I was in college, and I tell people all

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Speaker 1: the time, like, yeah, everything.

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Speaker 2: I think everybody should do a quick.

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Speaker 1: Stint in food service services some capacity, right, because one,

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Speaker 1: it just shows you how things kind of operate behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes, but also just gives you, you know, consideration,

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Speaker 1: a little bit more empathy for I think the people

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Speaker 1: on the other side just be kind of people, right,

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Speaker 1: Like there's a lot of things that are kind of

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Speaker 1: outside there their control. But you know, I mean, but

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Speaker 1: I know you look, look Tash, I know you're sitting

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Speaker 1: there talking about you know, ambiance and all this stuff.

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Speaker 1: You know, all it takes to make a restaurant work

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Speaker 1: in Atlanta is grass wall, some limon, pepper wings, and

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Speaker 1: some hookah. Now why is it like that?

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Speaker 3: I don't know, because I don't have any of these

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Speaker 3: things at any of my restaurants. And I refuse, I refuse,

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Speaker 3: We're not gonna have hookah. I'm sorry for one. I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, well, not just one thing. I think several

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Speaker 3: points on that, right. I think when something becomes popular,

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Speaker 3: it kind of also becomes a little easier to run

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Speaker 3: to it, right when when times get tough in a

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Speaker 3: restaurant and you're not making money and you see the

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Speaker 3: things that are making money for other people, you're probably

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Speaker 3: gonna run towards it because one, you probably didn't have

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Speaker 3: a strategy, You probably didn't have a backstory, You probably

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Speaker 3: didn't have a why, right, so you're not standing in

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Speaker 3: who you are in your identity as a restaurant owner, Like,

359
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Speaker 3: what was your backstory like for us? For apartment? For me,

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Speaker 3: the backstory was, this is a couple's apartment. You come here,

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Speaker 3: you feel like you're in New York and a loft,

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Speaker 3: and that's our identity. Like, we're also Caribbean, so we're

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Speaker 3: gonna give you Caribbean food. We wanted to be sexy,

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Speaker 3: we wanted to be grown. We want people to come

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Speaker 3: in and be respectful and not break our stuff and

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Speaker 3: treat it like garbage because we look like you. But

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Speaker 3: we also expect you to respect our space. Right, So

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Speaker 3: there's a certain standard that we aspire for and no

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Speaker 3: matter how hard it gets, that's kind of where we're

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Speaker 3: standing because, Okay, we might have to change some things

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Speaker 3: to get people through the door, but I still think

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Speaker 3: there's a group of people who don't want to be

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Speaker 3: around Hookah smoke. I'm one of those people. I'm around

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Speaker 3: hookah for fifteen minutes, my voice is gone. You know

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Speaker 3: what I mean. I'm one of these people who I

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Speaker 3: want good food. I don't want to have wings every day. Right,

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Speaker 3: And granted wings are an Atlantis staple. I get it cool,

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Speaker 3: but how do we still pay homage? Right? We have

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Speaker 3: lemon pepper turkey wings. We don't have chicken wings, but

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Speaker 3: we have lemon pepper turkeys people love like we had

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Speaker 3: it write up in Bone happyte you know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: So I think figuring out what's still true to you

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Speaker 3: but could still appeal to people, and that takes work.

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Speaker 3: That doesn't take Oh, I'm just gonna wake up it.

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Speaker 3: It takes some thought. It takes knowing who you are

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Speaker 3: and what you're putting out and not just being a bandwagonist,

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Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So who it works, but

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Speaker 3: works so great by all means. We all here to

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Speaker 3: make money. I'm not knocking it, but I just know

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Speaker 3: what I represent. Yeah, you know.

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Speaker 1: When you talk about that, it makes me think about strategy.

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Speaker 1: Like I was actually thinking about that a lot this

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Speaker 1: week because one of things I even realize as I

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Speaker 1: work with people and just even people in our community,

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Speaker 1: right is there's this kind of apprehension sometimes to like

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Speaker 1: doing the strategy and the work up front, and I

397
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Speaker 1: tell people like, well, sooner or later it's gonna have

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Speaker 1: to kick in. You got to figure it out sooner

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Speaker 1: or later. And what you don't want to do is

400
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Speaker 1: just have to figure it out while while the plane

401
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Speaker 1: is flying. And so again, like even how you speak

402
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Speaker 1: to kind of the intentionality around like figuring out the

403
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Speaker 1: story and like what makes us different, like all that

404
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Speaker 1: stuff should be infused and what the kind of the

405
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Speaker 1: space becomes. Otherwise you're kind of figuring out like why

406
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Speaker 1: do you And it was fun. I was actually had

407
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Speaker 1: another person who having got Biddi on here one time.

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Speaker 1: We were kind of talking about just yeah, like a

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Speaker 1: lot of folks they rush into kind of opening it

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Speaker 1: and they don't do the marketing, the work everything to

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Speaker 1: kind of make it and then you can kind of

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Speaker 1: see it happen, like why do you think that? A

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Speaker 1: lot of times people just kind of jump in without

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Speaker 1: having kind of really figuring out what it's going to

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Speaker 1: take to make it successful.

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Speaker 3: Well, sometimes some people are just doing things for the

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Speaker 3: sake of doing it right, for whether it might be

418
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Speaker 3: for flout. Whether it is, I don't really know what

419
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Speaker 3: I'm doing, but I'm just gonna open. Sometimes if you

420
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Speaker 3: are short on funds and you need to get some

421
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Speaker 3: money going, you might cut some things back, like I've

422
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Speaker 3: been in that situation before where I lost some of

423
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Speaker 3: my marketing dollars because something bigger came up in the moment.

424
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Speaker 3: But again, everyone is not a strategist, and I think

425
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Speaker 3: people forget that to be good at anything, there's certain

426
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Speaker 3: qualities that you need and if you don't have it,

427
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Speaker 3: then find somebody who's strong in that area. Right. So

428
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Speaker 3: like in our partnership, I am the organizer of things,

429
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Speaker 3: Clive is the trainer of full on hospitality. You ask

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Speaker 3: Clive any question about hospitality, he'll tell you, Like we

431
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Speaker 3: were just on the show and he's like, yeah, drink

432
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:51,399
Speaker 3: us from the seventeen hundreds. I'm like, why do you

433
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:54,720
Speaker 3: know this? You know what I mean? So he could

434
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:58,480
Speaker 3: answer certain questions. Sim is an idea guy, you know

435
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,120
Speaker 3: what I mean. So if you if there's something that's

436
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,600
Speaker 3: needed and you don't have it, find somebody else that

437
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 3: could fill in where where you might be short. But

438
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:11,399
Speaker 3: I think some people believe that oh, I could do

439
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,359
Speaker 3: it all. No, it takes two hands to clap right.

440
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:20,840
Speaker 3: So I think it's a combination of people wanting to

441
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,879
Speaker 3: be the hero. Sometimes it's a lack of funds and

442
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:25,960
Speaker 3: you just need to start making some money. But then

443
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:30,439
Speaker 3: you kind of forget to go back and tweak. Like

444
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,840
Speaker 3: you said, it's it's a lot harder to stop a

445
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,960
Speaker 3: ship from sinking if it started going down then, from

446
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,119
Speaker 3: before organizing things properly.

447
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:41,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, what what do you kind of you know now

448
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,800
Speaker 1: that you're kind of owning and managing multiple spaces, like

449
00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 1: between your first restaurant and now where you're at now,

450
00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:48,399
Speaker 1: Like how's that?

451
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:49,160
Speaker 2: How have you changed?

452
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,320
Speaker 1: Like what's different how you approach even like opening up

453
00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:52,840
Speaker 1: a spot now and managing it now.

454
00:21:55,400 --> 00:22:01,679
Speaker 3: That's a loaded question. Everything a lot changed. So for

455
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:03,919
Speaker 3: the first restaurants, so Miss icy S Kitchen, I was

456
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 3: in there daily and I was in charge of a

457
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:15,600
Speaker 3: lot of the personnel. So and it's funny because I

458
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,359
Speaker 3: was thinking the other day because you know, I was

459
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,879
Speaker 3: having a really hard time just like Bruh. I felt

460
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 3: like I wasn't doing anything fulfilling, And I was like, well,

461
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:28,800
Speaker 3: what did we do with Miss Icy's? Because you know,

462
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,120
Speaker 3: the last three months have been really slow at all

463
00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:35,119
Speaker 3: the restaurants. I'm like, we're we're about to sink. And

464
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:37,920
Speaker 3: one of the things that I would do at miss

465
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,280
Speaker 3: Icy Skitchen that I felt like I didn't I don't

466
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:42,200
Speaker 3: do anymore, which is a good thing. It's one of

467
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 3: the good things that I'm like, I need to go

468
00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:46,639
Speaker 3: back to doing this. When we had our pre shifts

469
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 3: and for people who don't know, a pre shift is

470
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 3: essentially you're briefing before the shift starts. Like that is

471
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 3: a mandatory for me, like we have to talk about

472
00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 3: what the game plan is, what our reservations look like,

473
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 3: what are we focusing on today. But I would always

474
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,480
Speaker 3: ask my team what do you want to work on

475
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 3: today that you felt you didn't do as well as

476
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 3: the day before, or how much money do you want

477
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,399
Speaker 3: to make today? And we would have post its right

478
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,919
Speaker 3: or it would be an affirmation Sunday, whatever it was

479
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,200
Speaker 3: for the day. But there was something that everybody had

480
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,879
Speaker 3: to look to for the day. And I stopped doing that,

481
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,680
Speaker 3: And I'm like, it's not like that was a big

482
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,120
Speaker 3: part of why Miss Icy s Kitchen was successful because

483
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 3: the team and I don't even mean management and ownership

484
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,880
Speaker 3: my front of the house and the back of the house.

485
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,120
Speaker 3: We all got together and we all will working towards

486
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,920
Speaker 3: the same thing, but something different if that makes sense,

487
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 3: And there was you know, we always give the team

488
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,479
Speaker 3: ownership of this space, like I would tell them all

489
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 3: the time, like I'm not at the front lines, right,

490
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:51,520
Speaker 3: So that's one of the things that I would do

491
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:52,919
Speaker 3: that I don't do that I need to go back

492
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,640
Speaker 3: to doing. But also knowing that I cannot do everything

493
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 3: on my own, ye right, So that that led me

494
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:05,200
Speaker 3: to teach in my team more things how to handle

495
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,639
Speaker 3: problems better because I'm not going to every single table

496
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 3: if there's an issue, right, you have to know, okay,

497
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:13,920
Speaker 3: so and some things as small, right and I'm not

498
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,360
Speaker 3: saying it's a big, a big to do that I'm

499
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 3: not going to go, but some things are small. So

500
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:22,159
Speaker 3: I pretty much teach them the strategy of how the

501
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,520
Speaker 3: problem solve if this happens, here are the tools we

502
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:27,679
Speaker 3: have in place that you could use. You do not

503
00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 3: need to call me. So just like now giving a

504
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:36,560
Speaker 3: little more independence to the team, that's that's one of

505
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:41,360
Speaker 3: the other things that I do. I set boundaries now

506
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 3: and have phone hours, do not call me before nine am.

507
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,640
Speaker 3: Do not call me past eight pm. And that's strictly

508
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,560
Speaker 3: for my style, Like, do not call me unless the

509
00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:57,160
Speaker 3: building on fire, somebody dead. Do not call me because

510
00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 3: I've given them right, I've given them given all the tools.

511
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:05,399
Speaker 3: I've given them the blueprint. Like everybody who works specifically

512
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,400
Speaker 3: at Juve and even at Belle and Lilies, anybody who

513
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 3: works in those two restaurants specifically, they know how and

514
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:16,360
Speaker 3: where everything is, how to do everything, how to who

515
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,439
Speaker 3: to call like they do. I'm just like, I'm not

516
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,640
Speaker 3: here to make my life harder, but I'm also here

517
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 3: to teach you. So let's put the two together and

518
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,679
Speaker 3: make it happen. Because one day you might want to

519
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 3: move on from here, which is fine, but I could

520
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 3: give you some tools that you could take with you, right,

521
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 3: And that's my way of also serving right, serving them

522
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,639
Speaker 3: like you come in here. I don't make money because

523
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 3: of me, partially maybe, but I make money because of you.

524
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:47,879
Speaker 3: You know what I mean. You're the one at the

525
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,679
Speaker 3: frontline selling. So it would do me a disservice to

526
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,119
Speaker 3: not teach you everything that I know to make you

527
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,679
Speaker 3: independent or to make you feel like this restaurant is yours, like,

528
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 3: and it's so good that I have a guest today day?

529
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,520
Speaker 3: What if the bartenders? She sends me message, She's like, hey,

530
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:04,879
Speaker 3: what do you think of this? I picked up some

531
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:06,679
Speaker 3: stuff of Valentine's then, and here's the cops that she

532
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,400
Speaker 3: sent me your picture. I was like, oh my god.

533
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 3: I literally wanted to share the teer because I'm like,

534
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 3: I had gotten some stuff, but then the fact that

535
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,480
Speaker 3: she took the initiative and another one of them is like,

536
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 3: oh I got some balloons. But I was like, yeah, yo,

537
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 3: thank y'all. You know what I mean. And I know

538
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 3: there's a lot of people who have complaints about their team,

539
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 3: and I'm not saying they're perfect, but the fact that

540
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 3: without me saying anything, they will just go and get

541
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 3: little things that they know adds to the ambiance and

542
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 3: the guest experience. Like that's big. Yeah, it's big.

543
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 2: I mean you need you need people that take initiative.

544
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:39,359
Speaker 1: I mean I was, you know, I was kind of

545
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:41,320
Speaker 1: talking to my daughter about this and just saying, like,

546
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 1: the people that are successful, it's not what they do.

547
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 1: And I'm saying they're nine to five, they do in

548
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,199
Speaker 1: their five to nine, because like I was telling her

549
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,399
Speaker 1: there's nobody that successful that only does the minimum at

550
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,679
Speaker 1: the necessary times. So like me, for example, like I've

551
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 1: learned a lot of things in tech in general, like

552
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 1: at my job, like Rob Shin is when I go

553
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 1: home and I've done things on my own and educated myself.

554
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:05,919
Speaker 1: Like that's the difference, right, And I think it's kind

555
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: of the same thing. It's it's like bringing those other

556
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,919
Speaker 1: intangibles in as you kind of think about Atlanta, Like

557
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: I don't want to just talk about because I know

558
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:14,920
Speaker 1: lots of people have lots of opinions about Atlanta restaurants

559
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff, right, but like like

560
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,480
Speaker 1: what what does Atlanta do well? And from your opinion,

561
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 1: like what what does it take to have a really

562
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,880
Speaker 1: successful restaurant in a space like this?

563
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,600
Speaker 3: Listen, Atlanta has a lot of great food. I think

564
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 3: what we do is we put a lot of things

565
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 3: in like boxes. So people love to use the black

566
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,920
Speaker 3: owned This why I don't go to the black owned

567
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,560
Speaker 3: lesstance and that you know that really, And I don't

568
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 3: even want to say people because it's mostly our people, right,

569
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 3: it's our own folks saying they're not going or they

570
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 3: go leave a review and everybody's so scared about AI,

571
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,159
Speaker 3: but nobody wants to give grace to human era, right.

572
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 3: So I think Atlanta does a lot of things well,

573
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:04,400
Speaker 3: especially around food. There are some super talented chefs who

574
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,240
Speaker 3: are real chefs, right, I think I think where the problem,

575
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 3: part of the problem lies is there's people calling itself

576
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:14,159
Speaker 3: chefs who are actually not chefs. Right, And people always

577
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,440
Speaker 3: to me are just like, you're, oh, I'm not a chef.

578
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,879
Speaker 3: I no means. I have way too much respect for

579
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 3: people who went to culinary school with people who are

580
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 3: actually artists. Like cooking food is an art. It's not

581
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:29,400
Speaker 3: just tortice on it. It's an art. So when people

582
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 3: call me a chef, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no,

583
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,520
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm by no means a chef. Because one

584
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,399
Speaker 3: day chef asked me to cut something. He's like Julian.

585
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 3: I don't think he said Juliane was something else. A chef.

586
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 3: I don't know what that means. Just give me the

587
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 3: basic because there's there's nice skills. There's so many things

588
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,960
Speaker 3: that there's sautee, there's saring, there's so many terms and

589
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,960
Speaker 3: types of ways to cook that I'm not. No, I'm

590
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:56,960
Speaker 3: not doing that. So that's the first thing I think

591
00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 3: that everybody thinks that, oh I'm a chef, you're a cook.

592
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 3: There's a difference. I think people are just throwing things

593
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:10,240
Speaker 3: together that make the people who are actually working hard.

594
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 3: Look they kind of just like box everybody in while

595
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 3: I went hair, it's a black omed restaurant, and like

596
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 3: you said, the grass walls and the hookah, right, I

597
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 3: think time and place for everything culturally if it is

598
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 3: your things. I mean obviously hookahs Africanoman the least in right,

599
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:27,920
Speaker 3: that's where it comes from. But it's like it's just

600
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 3: being blasphemed. There are restaurants that don't have a DJ

601
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 3: that are black owned. There are restaurants that have very

602
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 3: elevated a cuisine that are black owned. Right, And I'm

603
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 3: very specific with what food I put in my body

604
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 3: and what I eat, So that's probably the ones I

605
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 3: end up at because I don't there's certain things I

606
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 3: just don't eat right. For the people who are doing

607
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 3: it well, I think the people who are not doing

608
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 3: it well kind of overshadow with those people who should

609
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 3: be getting the praise for running a good restaurant with

610
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 3: chef owners, with properly trained staff, with great food and

611
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:14,920
Speaker 3: great atmosphere and treat people like human beings. Like one

612
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:16,960
Speaker 3: of the reasons we wanted to open this space is

613
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 3: because there's not a lot of nice restaurants that we own,

614
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 3: or a lot of restaurants that we could go to

615
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 3: and be treated like ourselves or treated well. And it

616
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 3: hurts when you open a space that's nice and has

617
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 3: good service and has good food and some people come

618
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 3: in and are disrespectful, you know what I mean. So

619
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 3: there are a lot of great restaurants in Atlanta, Like

620
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 3: I love McK. McK has amazing food. I've never had

621
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 3: bad food at McK, and some people might have. I've

622
00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,080
Speaker 3: never had a bad experience. I've never had I've never

623
00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 3: not gotten my hot towel. Like and I know it's

624
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 3: hard to keep that restaurant is busy, you know what

625
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,520
Speaker 3: I mean. That's one of my favorite restaurants I love.

626
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:08,640
Speaker 3: And these are black restaurants that I'm the naming, by

627
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 3: the way, go for I love the Consulate, which is

628
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 3: on tenth Street. Food. That restaurant has been there for

629
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,880
Speaker 3: over ten years. Like a lot of people don't know

630
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 3: that it's black owned. The food is delicious, they said,

631
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 3: everything about it is beautiful. Right Where else do I

632
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 3: like to go? I was about to say some wings

633
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 3: that I'll go to Jamerica because it's okay, that's all right,

634
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 3: you know what when I'm drunk, which I don't really

635
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,720
Speaker 3: get drunk, and because drinking just takes me off of

636
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think I think Atlanta also does well

637
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 3: with experiences, right, And I think that's that's been a

638
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 3: big shift since COVID, that people don't necessarily just want

639
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,280
Speaker 3: to go sit down and eat like these pop up museums,

640
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 3: Like there's a lot of things to do in Atlanta,

641
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,200
Speaker 3: and it's a cultural hub, you know what I mean.

642
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 3: I think I think people are so stuck in the

643
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 3: little pockets of what they're used to that they miss

644
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 3: out and all the great things that's happening that are

645
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 3: culturally heavy, Like you go to the museum, is there's

646
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 3: a lot of culture there that you don't expect to

647
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 3: be in a museum, you know what I mean. So

648
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 3: I do think when it comes to incoperating cultural cultural things,

649
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,120
Speaker 3: Atlanta does that very very well.

650
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 1: We got to make sure we give grace though, and

651
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 1: you kind of hit on it a little bit, like

652
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:28,800
Speaker 1: even when it comes to you know, black owned restaurants

653
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,440
Speaker 1: or whatever. Right, I think there's a it's so weird again,

654
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 1: Like somebody has a bad experience at Marcel, they're not

655
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 1: necessarily running there. I mean they're gonna obviously talk to

656
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 1: the manager and do all that kind of stuff. They're

657
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 1: not running social media or running to give a bad review.

658
00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 1: You have, you know, you have to wait an extra

659
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: five minutes, sit down. All of a sudden it's a

660
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 1: one star. And I can't believe this, And I don't

661
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,840
Speaker 1: think people really understand that reviews are definitely currency for

662
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,360
Speaker 1: these restaurants. But grace is also so important too, because

663
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: things happening. Y'all give that same grace to people outside

664
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 1: of our community. But you hold our stuff to a

665
00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 1: certain standard, and a lot of times you'll only want

666
00:32:59,280 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 1: to meet the standards.

667
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:00,960
Speaker 2: All what would you doing?

668
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 3: They don't even follow the rules for the reservations. You

669
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,840
Speaker 3: have a ten minute grace speriod. You need all of

670
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 3: everybody to be here, and you know, like what in mind?

671
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 3: I can only speak from my experience, right, there are

672
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 3: people who think that we're the one making up making

673
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:20,320
Speaker 3: up these rules. No, this is regular restaurant policy across

674
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 3: the board, no matter the color. Like if you tell

675
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 3: somebody you have an hour and a half dying time,

676
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 3: that is the norm across the United States of America.

677
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 3: Now they may not ask you to get up like

678
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 3: you gotta think, right, tables are real estate. Right, If

679
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 3: you don't flip tables, you're not making money. So for

680
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:40,400
Speaker 3: you to think you could sit here all day, it's

681
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 3: crazy because who's paying this rent? You? Because I need

682
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 3: there's other people trying to come in the same way

683
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,560
Speaker 3: you had a great experience, Like, allow somebody else to come. Now,

684
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 3: come in and have that experience.

685
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 1: Especially if you an't spend no more money.

686
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 2: Your advertisers now sit here talking for three hours.

687
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's the thing, right, And I think part

688
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 3: of why we stick to our standards so much is

689
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,880
Speaker 3: because if you have a certain standard, people come in

690
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,439
Speaker 3: act in a certain way. Right, They're gonna either meet

691
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:16,399
Speaker 3: the standard or they'll come and realize, oh, I don't

692
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:17,960
Speaker 3: want to do all that and not come back, which

693
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 3: for me, I'm okay with that. Right. I don't have

694
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,240
Speaker 3: to have everybody as a customer all money and good money.

695
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 3: But if i'm what I'm going to do is stick

696
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:29,359
Speaker 3: to my standard. If I say that this is what

697
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 3: we're gonna do. That's what we're gonna do. You have

698
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 3: a ten minute grade spiod. I'm gonna call you to

699
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 3: confirm your reservation. I'm going to give you a reminder.

700
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,319
Speaker 3: But I do need all your people to be here,

701
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 3: because sometimes somebody says, oh, they're five minutes away. I

702
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,839
Speaker 3: sit you at the table. It's busy, and your person

703
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:46,239
Speaker 3: doesn't get here for forty five minutes.

704
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,319
Speaker 1: And that's a question about that. I think about, why

705
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 1: do all people have to be present before somebody can

706
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 1: sit down? Could you please educate people? While all everybody

707
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 1: in the party, ort least most of them got to

708
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 1: be here before they.

709
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:55,160
Speaker 2: Can sit down.

710
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,919
Speaker 3: So that's dying time that I just spoke about, and

711
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 3: your table being real estate. Let's say you and I

712
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 3: go out and we're waiting for a third person. The

713
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:07,759
Speaker 3: host is gracious enough to sit you. You said the

714
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 3: person's five minutes away, you're sitting there, and now it's

715
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,240
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes. All right, I have other reservations who follow

716
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,960
Speaker 3: your table. Right, your person doesn't show up for an hour,

717
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,520
Speaker 3: your time got the table pretty much is almost expired. Right,

718
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 3: So now your other person just got here you're expecting

719
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 3: now you're gonna sit there for another two hours. That

720
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:30,920
Speaker 3: doesn't work because we have reservations that follow you. Now,

721
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,680
Speaker 3: if everybody in the restaurant did that, showed up late,

722
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,840
Speaker 3: and we sat you, we would only have one seating

723
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 3: for the day while all the other reservations. And sometimes

724
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,520
Speaker 3: when people are mad that they can't sit, that's probably

725
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 3: what's happening. Somebody is at the table longer than expected.

726
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:50,839
Speaker 3: So it's like when you think of it, when people

727
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:52,640
Speaker 3: are just like, well, I gotta get up, you gotta

728
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:54,960
Speaker 3: also think, well, why do I have to wait? Because

729
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 3: probably that last time you didn't get up, somebody else

730
00:35:58,040 --> 00:35:59,440
Speaker 3: was in your position at the door waiting.

731
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:01,120
Speaker 2: It's like a traffic jam.

732
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 1: See, there's reasons why these things happen people. They're just

733
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 1: not doing it to give you all a hard time, because.

734
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 3: Who wants to do that? Like, why I want to

735
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 3: give you a hard time? I have enough other stuff

736
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 3: to worry about it. There's no need to give you

737
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,239
Speaker 3: a hard time out the door when you're choosing to

738
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:17,279
Speaker 3: come spend your money with me. Yeah, you know, And

739
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 3: even I've had I've had people want to complain about

740
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:24,280
Speaker 3: customer service. But when we try to fix if something

741
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,960
Speaker 3: is wrong. They're like, well, no, well why did you complain?

742
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:29,840
Speaker 3: We have somebody the other Dare's like this burker is

743
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,359
Speaker 3: not good? Would you like to know? I'm gonna eat it?

744
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 3: Why why you want to eat it? Why did you complain?

745
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 3: If I'm giving you a chance, But well, give us

746
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:41,359
Speaker 3: a chance to fix it, because I'm asking. I didn't

747
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:45,760
Speaker 3: ignore you. Why you say no, just don't complain because

748
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 3: there are and then it's still going to turn around.

749
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 3: Be like, well, a customer service was not good. Actually,

750
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:54,040
Speaker 3: when we try to exercise our customer service, you denied

751
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:57,399
Speaker 3: us that opportunity. And that's that's something that happens a

752
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,640
Speaker 3: lot with some customer. We don't get. We don't get

753
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:02,279
Speaker 3: this a lot. But I remember when we first moved

754
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,399
Speaker 3: down here, that was the thing and they were like, well,

755
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,160
Speaker 3: I'm not sending my food back. Y'all gonna do something

756
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 3: to it? Girl? Where do you eat?

757
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 2: Right?

758
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:11,359
Speaker 1: This is weird process, Like like you know I'm gonna

759
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 1: send it back? I mean, look, I remember there was

760
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: a time again which I owned a restaurant. I kind

761
00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:17,320
Speaker 1: of tell this story all the time, and I remember

762
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 1: I was I told my partners I said, look, I

763
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:22,120
Speaker 1: don't want to manage. I'm just here to have an investor.

764
00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 1: But I you know, I just happened to be there

765
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,320
Speaker 1: one day. Nobody else was there, and when the service

766
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:27,960
Speaker 1: came to me, she's like, Brandon, we got a problem.

767
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:29,440
Speaker 1: Can you go talk to this table? And it was

768
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 1: these three ladies sitting there and I'm like, hey, you

769
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:32,960
Speaker 1: know what's going on?

770
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:33,640
Speaker 2: How y'all doing?

771
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:39,480
Speaker 1: And I look at three completely empty plates. I mean

772
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:41,760
Speaker 1: I think they licked the plates clean. And the first

773
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:46,120
Speaker 1: one was like, yeah, this whatever it was jerk lamb

774
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 1: chops or something like, you know, it don't taste like

775
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 1: my grandma's did.

776
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:51,680
Speaker 2: Like, I don't like it. I'm looking at the play

777
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:52,560
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, the plate.

778
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:54,400
Speaker 3: Is empty, man, Like did it fall under the table.

779
00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:57,240
Speaker 1: The other lady was like, well, you know, I ordered

780
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:01,520
Speaker 1: something in the portions were too small. Again, the plate

781
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:03,320
Speaker 1: is empty, man, you know. And the third lady, I

782
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 1: think she just was embarrassed. She was like, don't even worry.

783
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:06,000
Speaker 2: I'm good. I'm good.

784
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:08,680
Speaker 1: So so I told him I said, look, I can't.

785
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 1: I mean, y'all ate the food. It'd be different if

786
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:13,279
Speaker 1: you'd be taking a bite and send it back, but

787
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: like he ate the food. That's like, I can't comp food.

788
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:16,960
Speaker 2: That is eating.

789
00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:20,759
Speaker 1: So I said, but look, here's what we'll do. How

790
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: about just around of mimosas on me and you know,

791
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,040
Speaker 1: we'll just call it even. It was like okay, cool,

792
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 1: I said, great, but everybody three mosas please. So they

793
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 1: go get their mimosas. The server brings them back. Then

794
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:31,759
Speaker 1: she comes back in a cople minutes and she's like, Brandon,

795
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 1: they want to see you again.

796
00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:34,839
Speaker 2: I'm like, what is this. I go back over there.

797
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,799
Speaker 1: Now I'm looking at three empty mimosa glasses in three

798
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,320
Speaker 1: empty plates, and they're like, actually, we didn't want mamosas.

799
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 1: We wanted something different drinks. I said, look, look, I'm sorry,

800
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,239
Speaker 1: and that'll gonna be enough of security. He goes stand

801
00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:49,680
Speaker 1: by the door and make sure and run out of it.

802
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 1: But again, I'm just saying, like, those are things we

803
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: wouldn't do at other restaurants. And I think that when

804
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,319
Speaker 1: people sometimes you know, you see people that look like

805
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 1: you or we just they see an opportunity to take

806
00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 1: advantage of it. And I just really wish that people

807
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:01,839
Speaker 1: would really understand you're trying to run a business here too.

808
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 3: And it's important and it's a legitimate business.

809
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you employ people, you sustain people, So we

810
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: want to be in these communities.

811
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's you know, And I think when people

812
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,960
Speaker 3: write reviews, they really think that they're you know, they

813
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,239
Speaker 3: use it as their their power tool for whatever the

814
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:23,080
Speaker 3: self recognition they're looking for. But I'm like, you're actually

815
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 3: people work here, Like we employ a lot of people,

816
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:28,920
Speaker 3: so you're not necessarily hurting me. Like for me, I know,

817
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 3: I'm always gonna be fine, but I have people who

818
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 3: work here. I have team members who take care of

819
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,520
Speaker 3: their parents who are sick at home. Like, you're not

820
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,240
Speaker 3: adding any value by being an idiot, especially if nothing

821
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:43,279
Speaker 3: was wrong, especially if you came in and you know,

822
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:49,799
Speaker 3: like some people come in with this attitude that they

823
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:51,640
Speaker 3: don't even say the door, you greet them. They don't

824
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:54,839
Speaker 3: greet you. You say, you go to the table. They're

825
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,960
Speaker 3: just talking, they don't acknowledge you. Very strange. It's no,

826
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,439
Speaker 3: it's rude. It's not strange. It's actually very rude. And

827
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:04,440
Speaker 3: these I'm not even talking about young people. These are

828
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,160
Speaker 3: adults over fifty.

829
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:08,040
Speaker 1: You know.

830
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:10,200
Speaker 3: People like to complain that all these young inns these

831
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:12,279
Speaker 3: days da da da da da. I don't get that

832
00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 3: from the younger people who come to our spaces, which

833
00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 3: and that's that's the strange thing for me, because you know,

834
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,640
Speaker 3: we love to talk about the young the younger folk

835
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:23,880
Speaker 3: and be like, well they desn't they that? But I

836
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 3: don't get those problems from them. I really don't, not

837
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:29,760
Speaker 3: even the ones who work with me, Like the older folks,

838
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:33,239
Speaker 3: they bring a little more stress than the younger folks.

839
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,200
Speaker 3: I'm not even gonna lie. And both as guests and

840
00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:40,000
Speaker 3: as teammates, I don't. I don't know where that's from.

841
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:41,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not sure what goes on like that.

842
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:44,160
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I just wish that, like I said,

843
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:45,919
Speaker 1: people would just have grace about it. Like I said,

844
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 1: it's very interesting how people. And again I think a

845
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:49,719
Speaker 1: lot of that too is because I have had the

846
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 1: opportunity to actually work in a restaurant in service and

847
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,239
Speaker 1: seen it. And you know, even me, I'm like, come on,

848
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,239
Speaker 1: y'allint gotta be like that. Like you tell a lot

849
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 1: by person about how they treat the people that are

850
00:40:58,040 --> 00:40:58,799
Speaker 1: like serving.

851
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,080
Speaker 2: Them and kind of being around them, you know, And

852
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:00,680
Speaker 2: I don't know why.

853
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 1: It's very weird energy, but you know, at the same

854
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,200
Speaker 1: time when I go to How's you know what I mean,

855
00:41:05,239 --> 00:41:07,279
Speaker 1: Like I don't get that same energy, Like why didn't

856
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:08,480
Speaker 1: I bring that energy up in here like.

857
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 3: They sit them marry behind down, you know, but you know,

858
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 3: outside of the bat. So if we have I could

859
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,640
Speaker 3: say that we have ninety five percent of our customers

860
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 3: of great customer yes, you know, And I'm so thankful

861
00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 3: for that because I know some people who have to

862
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 3: deal with a lot. But I think it definitely just

863
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:29,839
Speaker 3: is what is the standard how we treat people, and

864
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:31,880
Speaker 3: it just has to go both ways. And sometimes some

865
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 3: of them I just be having a bad day and

866
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:35,760
Speaker 3: I have staff who know how to turn that around

867
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 3: me not so much. I'm like, you handle it.

868
00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, I used to.

869
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 1: I used to do what's called a online reputation management

870
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:42,719
Speaker 1: through like social media and stuff like that. And one

871
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 1: of things we found out, especially restaurants, is a lot

872
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 1: of times when people go to social media to complains

873
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 1: because they felt like they didn't have an outlet, and

874
00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:52,920
Speaker 1: so we would actually do is we actually built this

875
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:54,719
Speaker 1: system where we would kind of like reroute it to

876
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:57,640
Speaker 1: where like we do something like you know, put put

877
00:41:57,680 --> 00:41:59,319
Speaker 1: a on their check, like put a link or something

878
00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:01,160
Speaker 1: in a QR code anyboud to ask them right then,

879
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 1: like how was your experience one to five? And if

880
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,280
Speaker 1: they put anything less than a four, it would instantly

881
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 1: be like, okay, well, hey, here's the maner's email. Listen

882
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:10,880
Speaker 1: a message then right now, because we found out that

883
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,799
Speaker 1: just routing people so they could be heard would stop

884
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:16,399
Speaker 1: them from taking that negativity and putting it on social media.

885
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,320
Speaker 1: But then if they said something they had a good experience,

886
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:20,200
Speaker 1: like a four better, it would automatically route them to

887
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 1: like somewhere to leave a review. So it's about finding

888
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:24,920
Speaker 1: a way to kind of capture that early and not

889
00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:26,680
Speaker 1: letting it end up on social media so they feel

890
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:27,680
Speaker 1: like they didn't have an outlet for it.

891
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:30,480
Speaker 3: And I'm glad you mentioned that because when we started,

892
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 3: I'm glad you said it because I need to implement

893
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:34,680
Speaker 3: it again. We're about to turn to our juvet and

894
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:36,560
Speaker 3: just like put it back at four B. But we

895
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,960
Speaker 3: had the actual commic cards that you could write on,

896
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,360
Speaker 3: because you know, when you have passionate writing is different

897
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:45,600
Speaker 3: than you typing. So that actually helped us a lot

898
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:49,000
Speaker 3: because it you know, and I think reviews are not

899
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:51,880
Speaker 3: just for the customers. Right, The reviews are also for

900
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 3: the business if the business owner cares like I don't

901
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 3: like reading reviews, but what happens when I do read reviews?

902
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,839
Speaker 3: I'm say, okay, well, I could see how we could

903
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 3: have done this different and we kind of go back

904
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:05,920
Speaker 3: to a training on what of a point if the

905
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:08,560
Speaker 3: point made sense, because sometimes people are just rambling and

906
00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 3: you can't really make sense out of nonsense, if there

907
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 3: was any sense at all. But there are people who

908
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:17,080
Speaker 3: give it critique and not just criticizing, and I'd be like, Okay,

909
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,479
Speaker 3: here's where we dropped the ball. Let's invite them back.

910
00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:24,200
Speaker 3: How could we have done this differently? How what tools

911
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,640
Speaker 3: did you guys not have in the moment that we

912
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,719
Speaker 3: can now implement So if this happens again, we all

913
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:31,359
Speaker 3: know how to handle it. So you know, I think

914
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:34,680
Speaker 3: reviews aren't all bad. If it is a negative review,

915
00:43:34,719 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 3: it's it's a learning moment, right.

916
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 1: I mean that you need that insight. Like I said,

917
00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:40,680
Speaker 1: a lot of people they kind of run away from it.

918
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:42,520
Speaker 1: But just knowing how your customers are thinking about if

919
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,920
Speaker 1: you can do something with that, that's super helpful.

920
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:45,880
Speaker 2: Now I know.

921
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 1: We also have another spot called the family Table, Like

922
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:49,840
Speaker 1: tell me, like, how how did that come together?

923
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 3: So the family table it is not another spot, it's

924
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:58,440
Speaker 3: an initiative. Yeah. So, like two weeks ago, I was

925
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:00,480
Speaker 3: feeling like really down on myself, just like I just

926
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,440
Speaker 3: feel like I'm not really doing anything to benefit anybody, right.

927
00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:08,239
Speaker 3: I felt like I opened this last restaurant and while

928
00:44:08,239 --> 00:44:10,760
Speaker 3: it's great and it's fun, it's teaching culture like Caribbean culture,

929
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:14,080
Speaker 3: It's like who does it benefit? Like what is the

930
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 3: because I always have a this is why I am

931
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 3: doing this. And then I was just like, you know,

932
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 3: I'm tired of people coming in and complaining about things

933
00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 3: that are actually good and I'm not serving them. And

934
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,120
Speaker 3: then I was like, but you know what, there are

935
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:29,120
Speaker 3: a lot of people going through a hard time right

936
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:35,080
Speaker 3: now for food. And you know, growing up, I never

937
00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:37,279
Speaker 3: I always knew where my food was coming from, right,

938
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,839
Speaker 3: We never, and I didn't grow up rich, but we

939
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,360
Speaker 3: always had food. And the reason we had food was

940
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,440
Speaker 3: because even if we didn't have food in the house,

941
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:48,680
Speaker 3: we could go to our neighbor's house and whether it

942
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:52,680
Speaker 3: was like my grandparents were farmers, whether it was the

943
00:44:52,719 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 3: neighbor brings whatever they had grown. If we didn't have

944
00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,440
Speaker 3: anything to harvest at the time. We had food. What

945
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:00,080
Speaker 3: it was, we ran out of something, we could go

946
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:03,120
Speaker 3: knock on the door next door. They would give us food. Right.

947
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:04,839
Speaker 3: I could go to my neighbor's house and have three

948
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:07,239
Speaker 3: meals for the day if they had And that's just

949
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:09,680
Speaker 3: that level of community. I'm just like, well, that's what

950
00:45:09,719 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 3: I need to do. Right there's a lot of people

951
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:13,480
Speaker 3: who don't have food right now. I went to volunteer

952
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:16,640
Speaker 3: a few months ago and this young lady walked and

953
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 3: she was a nurse, and she was just like, oh

954
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,240
Speaker 3: my god, I don't and like literally like I start crying,

955
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 3: of course, because she start crying, and I'm just like, no,

956
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 3: it's okay. I'm like, this is my first time here volunteer,

957
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,000
Speaker 3: and whatever you need, like it's okay. You don't have

958
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:32,120
Speaker 3: to be embarrassed. But like, not having food as a

959
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:35,319
Speaker 3: basic necessity is like the wildest thing to me, right,

960
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:37,839
Speaker 3: But it happens. And that same day, when I woke

961
00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:39,760
Speaker 3: up at five in the morning, I'm like, this is crazy,

962
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:44,200
Speaker 3: Like I'm not doing anything to help. So of course

963
00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:45,719
Speaker 3: the day I go and I made a bunch of

964
00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:47,319
Speaker 3: soup to go give out and I was like, well,

965
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:49,800
Speaker 3: this is not sustainable, Tasha. You can't do this every day,

966
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:54,080
Speaker 3: so let's slow down and do something that makes more sense.

967
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:57,240
Speaker 3: So that's how the Family Table was born. The first

968
00:45:57,280 --> 00:45:59,360
Speaker 3: one is going to be on the Look at me,

969
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,560
Speaker 3: I can't remember the date. Look at my calendar. It's

970
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,279
Speaker 3: gonna be the third Monday of every month. So it's

971
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:08,360
Speaker 3: the last Monday. I'm sorry. So it's gonna be to

972
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,920
Speaker 3: twenty third of February. So essentially, we're going to have

973
00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,839
Speaker 3: families sign up. They send us an email, let us

974
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:16,600
Speaker 3: know how big their family is. We make them a

975
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 3: hot meal, they come pick it up between the hours

976
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:23,239
Speaker 3: of five to eight pm. Hopefully it grows. Hopefully we

977
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:27,239
Speaker 3: could touch some people with some healthy food, because again

978
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:31,040
Speaker 3: it's not just homeless people experiencing hunger. They're people who've

979
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:34,080
Speaker 3: just probably fallen in a hard time, lost their job,

980
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:38,040
Speaker 3: they have kids. So yeah, it was just I just

981
00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 3: felt like it was a no brainer.

982
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:39,920
Speaker 2: I love that.

983
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,240
Speaker 1: I love that in Juvet, is that kind of your

984
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:45,640
Speaker 1: baby right now? Like that's your closest to your heart

985
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:46,399
Speaker 1: for now?

986
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:50,840
Speaker 3: You know, she's still young. So we're turning to next month, actually,

987
00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 3: so you know, I spend most of my time there

988
00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:56,960
Speaker 3: because it is the youngest restaurant until you know, I

989
00:46:56,960 --> 00:46:59,759
Speaker 3: feel like I could let her go a little. But

990
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:03,480
Speaker 3: I'm not there as much as before. We just thank god,

991
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:07,359
Speaker 3: but yeah, you know, it just it's I just feel

992
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:11,399
Speaker 3: like it's a time to give back a little more,

993
00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:13,879
Speaker 3: even though we might all be experiencing a hard time

994
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,120
Speaker 3: because the restaurant hadn't been that busy, right, And I

995
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,319
Speaker 3: was just like, it doesn't matter. I'm sure if I

996
00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:22,279
Speaker 3: ask my friends, if I ask anybody, they'll help me. Right, So,

997
00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:25,120
Speaker 3: and then it's food. Nobody should be without food.

998
00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:28,120
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, no, this has been good. Let me ask

999
00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:29,839
Speaker 1: you as we get ready to get about of here, like,

1000
00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:33,080
Speaker 1: if if somebody's listening, they want to start a restaurant,

1001
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:35,400
Speaker 1: they want to kind of follow in similar footsteps, what

1002
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,719
Speaker 1: should they figure out and test first before they even

1003
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:40,600
Speaker 1: think about signing the least open up the location.

1004
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:48,000
Speaker 3: Who do you have the energy? No, that's legit because

1005
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:52,520
Speaker 3: it it really is never ending, right, Are you truly

1006
00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:55,040
Speaker 3: dedicated to this? It's going to require a lot of

1007
00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:58,359
Speaker 3: you Are you gonna just be wasting time and money

1008
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:01,160
Speaker 3: because it also is expensive, so you know, and then

1009
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:04,160
Speaker 3: give yourself grace on the days that on the days

1010
00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:06,360
Speaker 3: that seem a little harder, like you're not getting anywhere,

1011
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:09,239
Speaker 3: slow down, take a breath and try to figu out

1012
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:11,640
Speaker 3: the things that you are doing right, and that'll help

1013
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:15,879
Speaker 3: push you back into your momentum. But just know that

1014
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:22,000
Speaker 3: if you're open to challenges and lessons and applying those lessons,

1015
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:24,440
Speaker 3: then by all means, go for it. If you're not

1016
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,600
Speaker 3: open to those things, you might want to give it

1017
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:35,279
Speaker 3: some more time until you get there and yeah kick as.

1018
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, we out there and make something happen. Well, look,

1019
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:38,879
Speaker 1: this has been great, Tasha. Before we get out of here,

1020
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:41,760
Speaker 1: please how can people find you? How can they support

1021
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 1: your restaurants?

1022
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 3: Like?

1023
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 2: Give them all the things?

1024
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,759
Speaker 3: All right? So I gon apartment four B since all

1025
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:50,359
Speaker 3: of you all seem to know that Apartment four B

1026
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:54,320
Speaker 3: is apartment for b atl is the Instagram apartment for

1027
00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:57,200
Speaker 3: b atl is the website. We're at two two ninety

1028
00:48:57,200 --> 00:49:02,600
Speaker 3: three Peachtree Road in Buckhead. Juve Caribbean Kitchen, which I

1029
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:05,200
Speaker 3: know it's tricky for you to say, but just pretend

1030
00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 3: you're saying duvet and put a j We're at five

1031
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:13,400
Speaker 3: five eight Main Street Northeast in Lindbergh right next to

1032
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:19,880
Speaker 3: the Lindberg Marty train station stop. Our Instagram is Juve Kitchen,

1033
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:24,520
Speaker 3: atl Talk Com. Okay, and I'm not pushing Bell and Lilies,

1034
00:49:24,560 --> 00:49:28,359
Speaker 3: but because sadly where this is all last weekend of business,

1035
00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:29,960
Speaker 3: I love that spot.

1036
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:31,560
Speaker 2: It was some great breakfast y'all had over there too.

1037
00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:34,120
Speaker 3: Thank you, but you know, hopefully give it some time

1038
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:35,399
Speaker 3: we might reopen somewhere else.

1039
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:38,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well, Tasha, look this has been great.

1040
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:39,880
Speaker 1: Congratulations on all this success.

1041
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:40,640
Speaker 2: Can't wait to check it out.

1042
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:42,400
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pull up on Juve one these days, man,

1043
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:45,120
Speaker 1: come see it. I know, I know four me very well.

1044
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:48,480
Speaker 1: I'm pulling up over there, Juve. So yo. I appreciate

1045
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:50,959
Speaker 1: you coming out with that, said, y'all, that's the pod

1046
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:51,520
Speaker 1: we out p