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Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she

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Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and

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Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me

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Speaker 1: advice to many occasions in ocasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.

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Speaker 1: You know. He'll be interview with celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and

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Speaker 1: industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do, it's

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Speaker 1: what he likes to share. Now it's time to hear

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Speaker 1: from my man, Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations. Here we go.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I'm your host from Sean McDonald,

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Speaker 1: and it's time to stop reading other people's success stories

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Speaker 1: and really start writing your own. Now you can be

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Speaker 1: motivated by their success because their stories can offer direction

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Speaker 1: and help you reach your goals through their planning. Now

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Speaker 1: remember this is their planning that we're talking about. You

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Speaker 1: have to realize that they are different from you, and

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Speaker 1: that's the only way you're gonna be successful. My interviews

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Speaker 1: provide the consumer and business owner, which is you access

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Speaker 1: to celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. My next

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Speaker 1: kicks is my co Scholson. The Showson collected. That's what

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about today is a restaurant empire that's

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Speaker 1: built in his vision and has made him want of

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Speaker 1: Philadelphia's most successful hospitality professionals. We also discussed COVID nineteen.

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Speaker 1: When you're in the restaurant business, you have to bring

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Speaker 1: up that whole thing. But most importantly we're to talk

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Speaker 1: about he's made these business adjustments because we're hear about

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Speaker 1: it on the news. You can hear about how the

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Speaker 1: you know, social distancing, limiting and sometimes even shutting down

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Speaker 1: service in the restaurant business has been overtly affected by

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Speaker 1: COVID ninteen. But more importantly, during this period of COVID

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Speaker 1: nineteen where everybody in the world, including me, was gaining weight,

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Speaker 1: Michael decided it was time to lose thirty five hounds.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna learn about that, and he did it

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Speaker 1: in less than three months. So please welcome to Michael

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Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations. My good friend, Michael Scholtzon. How you doing, Michael,

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Speaker 1: good good, Thanks for having me on. How are you

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Speaker 1: doing well? You know, you know, I'm a big I'm

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Speaker 1: a big restaurant guy. Really, let me get personal a

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Speaker 1: little bit about COVID ninteen and uh, my wife, I

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Speaker 1: have a wife, and I have a lovely daughter who's

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Speaker 1: wrapping up a college years and you know, at these

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Speaker 1: once or twice a week, we will always go to

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Speaker 1: one of our favorite restaurants and COVID hit and uh

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Speaker 1: it just like the world, it flipped us all and

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Speaker 1: gave us a new approach to the whole business. Actor.

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Speaker 1: In fact, my wife still will not go to an

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Speaker 1: all door restaurant. And she still you know, we can

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Speaker 1: do take away, take out and curveside, but she will

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Speaker 1: not go in the restaurant. And with that, I was

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Speaker 1: just want to open up the whole journey of being

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Speaker 1: shut down, if you can share with us the shock

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Speaker 1: of how COVID ain'teen and how you kind of built

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Speaker 1: your way out of it and started to read I guess,

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Speaker 1: I guess reassessing a new way of doing business moving

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Speaker 1: forward with your shows and collective empire. Yeah. So, so

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Speaker 1: when we first tarned about it, the thought process was like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna have two or three weeks of something will

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Speaker 1: be shut down, um, and then we'll go from there

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Speaker 1: and see how it goes. And unfortunately three weeks has

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Speaker 1: turned into two over a year now, so where every

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Speaker 1: day it's kind of a new lesson and we're gonna

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Speaker 1: do and we're big into setting goals for ourselves here

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Speaker 1: as a company. The first goal was to make sure

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Speaker 1: to just take care of everyone, to be safe and

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Speaker 1: set up systems where people felt comfortable, whether it was

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Speaker 1: coming to work, whether they didn't have food and they

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Speaker 1: needed food, whatever our resources were. Is to take care

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Speaker 1: of the employees. And that was kind of the beginning,

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Speaker 1: and as we kind of progress through the process, it

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Speaker 1: was Okay, we kind of see this is it's not

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Speaker 1: gonna be a money making thing, unfortunately. It's about survival

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Speaker 1: and getting to the other side. And we kind of

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Speaker 1: put in some goals for ourselves if what does it

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Speaker 1: look like for us when we get to the other side.

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Speaker 1: The biggest goal that we put in there was to

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Speaker 1: have the best people that we could possibly have working

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Speaker 1: for us, and that has kind of been our our

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Speaker 1: whole theme during this. We've hired some new people, we've

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Speaker 1: hired some better people. Um. The good thing about this, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: is unemployment. You think about what the unemployment rate was

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Speaker 1: going into this and now what it is. The other

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Speaker 1: side of it, and if we could hire good people

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Speaker 1: to come out of this, we're going to be a

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Speaker 1: better company at the end than when we were when

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Speaker 1: we started. And that's kind of what our goal has been.

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Speaker 1: It really is, because you know there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of them. I'm not trying to get any financials or

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Speaker 1: anything like that. He's just talking about the attitude and

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Speaker 1: the approach to this because when I invite people on

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Speaker 1: money making conversation, not just want other people to know

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Speaker 1: that other people, whether it's successful or they're small individual entrepreneurs,

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Speaker 1: they were impacted by COVID eighteen. And we all have

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Speaker 1: different stories and how we will impact it also affects

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Speaker 1: how we can be successful. Now from a personal standpoint,

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Speaker 1: can you walk us through those steps how you and

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Speaker 1: your and your immediate family was dealing with COVID nineteen

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Speaker 1: before you can go back to the first first it was,

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Speaker 1: I mean our immediate family when we were in knee

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Speaker 1: deeperness was employees um and now we're down to about

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Speaker 1: we're back up to about five now and our goalege

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Speaker 1: to get again right UM. So it was to protect

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Speaker 1: everybody and make everyone feel safe and to getting of this.

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Speaker 1: We were opening up a couple of the restaurants and

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Speaker 1: giving away food to the staff for freeze, so this

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Speaker 1: way they could take it home and give it to

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Speaker 1: their families and feed their families. So that was the

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Speaker 1: first step of trying to make sure everyone has a

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Speaker 1: place to go, in place to eat. Um. And then

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Speaker 1: as we got through this, it was with our family.

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Speaker 1: It was we have two boys fourteen years old and

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Speaker 1: ten years old, UM, and it was making sure that

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Speaker 1: they felt comfortable and we were being safe and wearing

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Speaker 1: your mask and understanding the importance of this and getting

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Speaker 1: out to the other side and not becoming computer zombies

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Speaker 1: and dealing with electronics every day. And it was entertaining

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Speaker 1: them and and keeping busy and doing our thing together

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Speaker 1: as a family. And we made a lot of bread,

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Speaker 1: we made a lot of pizza. It was kind of

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Speaker 1: things that would take us a long time. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think red was that thing that's like red could

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Speaker 1: be a three day process between the starter, letting it

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Speaker 1: rest and letting it rise and breaking it down and

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Speaker 1: baking it. So it kept us busy. But but after

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Speaker 1: a while we said, like, what are we doing here.

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Speaker 1: We're just gonna get into this run of figuring it

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Speaker 1: out or are we gonna have a purpose. And I'm

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Speaker 1: definitely a person about purpose. Usually it's let's open a restaurant.

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Speaker 1: This is our goal. Uh, let's get it going. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna open the next one. So you can't, unfortunately, do

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Speaker 1: that during this time, So the purpose shifted to the

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Speaker 1: family and shifted to myself of I'm gonna eat better,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna exercise, I'm gonna take care of myself. Um,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna work together as a family to make

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Speaker 1: sure that we're playing some board games, doing puzzles and

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Speaker 1: all that stuff to entertain ourselves and not get caught

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Speaker 1: up in depression and electronics. I would tell you this, Michael. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know when it when I like you, like all

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Speaker 1: of America, when the COVID and eighteen hid and just

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Speaker 1: not going anywhere, it's going to change the way we

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Speaker 1: we have handled a lot of hygiens publicly and privately.

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Speaker 1: Moving forward, I know I would always approach things differently.

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Speaker 1: I don't think I would hug strangers like I used

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Speaker 1: to come close to people that I don't know, even

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Speaker 1: people I do know. I'll be cautious in my behavior.

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Speaker 1: But as a leader, you know, we all look for guidance,

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Speaker 1: we all And you're a leader, A leader of a

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Speaker 1: successful collective is based out of the restaurant collective is

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Speaker 1: based out of Philadelphia. And were you one of those uh,

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Speaker 1: one of those proud towels? You know there's out there

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Speaker 1: a success story. I should say, how did that really

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Speaker 1: affect you emotionally? When you say did you get into

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Speaker 1: or why me? Why now? Are you just look? I'm

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Speaker 1: never that guy. I mean I'm not I'm not a

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Speaker 1: pity guy. Nobody wants to be that pitty guy. Nobody

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Speaker 1: wants to be around that pitty guy. Nobody pity doesn't

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Speaker 1: get you success right fighting through it. And I think

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Speaker 1: one of the greatest quotes I've got it it was

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Speaker 1: Um said, the best thing that you could do during

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Speaker 1: adversity is the right thing. The second best thing that

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Speaker 1: you could do is the wrong thing, And the worst

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Speaker 1: thing that you could do is nothing. And I think

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Speaker 1: that was kind of our message to live by. Let's

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Speaker 1: try and do the right thing. If it's the wrong thing,

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Speaker 1: then we'll readjust and do something else. But we're not

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Speaker 1: gonna sit around do nothing and have a pity party

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Speaker 1: and just sit here and go life stinks. Um, we're

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Speaker 1: all dealing with it. It was the reality of the situation.

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Speaker 1: COVID is terrible. It's not fun. Nobody's having fun. It's

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Speaker 1: a nightmare. But how do you adjust your life to survive?

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Speaker 1: Not just to survive, but you kind of have to

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Speaker 1: try and thrive through it. And my wife and I

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Speaker 1: would like to travel a lot, and we like to

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Speaker 1: ski and do things and with the kids and be

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Speaker 1: outside and take trips and all that stuff. And what

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Speaker 1: have we done, Like I'm not a camping guy, but

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Speaker 1: we started to go to airbnbs and go camping up

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Speaker 1: state New York. And we stayed in a York for

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Speaker 1: the first time in my life, which I never thought

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Speaker 1: I would do. We stayed on a farm, which I

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Speaker 1: never thought I would do. But to do these things

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Speaker 1: and just figure out how to live your life. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we just drove to Bramant. The longest car out I

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Speaker 1: ever did in my life was three hours. We just

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Speaker 1: drove eight hours with two kids in the back. I

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Speaker 1: got a hitch on the back of my car, which

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Speaker 1: I never thought I would do. I mean, my friends

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Speaker 1: are laughing at me. But you know what you have

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Speaker 1: to adjust to, like get through this, not just survive

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Speaker 1: and have a pity part. And I laughed because I

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Speaker 1: was an old school road comic when I was out,

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Speaker 1: when I left ib AM to pursue a left IBM

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Speaker 1: to be a standard comedian, and I was on the road,

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Speaker 1: so I know about those uh eight ten hour joints

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Speaker 1: and then, but I didn't have two kids in the back, okay.

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Speaker 1: And that's the different story of the restaurant. The restaurant.

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Speaker 1: The restaurant stops. You know, when you can go from

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Speaker 1: four or five hours, they want to stop, they want

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Speaker 1: to complain, And I think that's what it's about. It's

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Speaker 1: about it's about persevering and getting to the other side.

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Speaker 1: And UM have goals. I mean, what am I gonna

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Speaker 1: sit here and yell at the gun? I mean, you can't.

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Speaker 1: We can't sit here. Everyone wants to yell at the

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Speaker 1: cities or the states or or the federal government. You're

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Speaker 1: not doing enough, You're not doing this, you're not doing that.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not going to suggest that I disagree or agree.

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Speaker 1: What I am gonna tell you is the only person

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Speaker 1: who could control what you do is you you. And

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Speaker 1: that's kind of the goal, is to get control what

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Speaker 1: you could do, do the best of your ability, and

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Speaker 1: don't sit there at the end of the day going

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Speaker 1: I wish I would have. Right, Really, I'm talking to

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Speaker 1: Michael Schultzen the Shows and Collected with restaurant chain, which

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Speaker 1: is based out of It's a chain because he has

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Speaker 1: a lot. It's not like a burger king because he

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Speaker 1: had a lot of different restaurants. Let's talk about the

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Speaker 1: whole creative process of doing so many different styles and

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Speaker 1: not being a chain. Well, you know, we going one location,

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Speaker 1: you get the same thing. Why the versatility, Why the

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Speaker 1: different approaches to these different restaurants. You know, some people

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Speaker 1: will call me an idiot for doing it. I don't

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Speaker 1: have it figured out. It's like you figure out the

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Speaker 1: business model, you like, put it in a box, and

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Speaker 1: then you do it again and again and again and again,

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Speaker 1: and it's just like right across level Field and they

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Speaker 1: nail it. Um the US creative people and people who

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Speaker 1: have passionate about what we do in terms of creating

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Speaker 1: something that's unique and different. That's why we do this.

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Speaker 1: We we just have this passion of creating an experience

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Speaker 1: and we like I like to say it transports the

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Speaker 1: customer to a different place and they feel special. And

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Speaker 1: I think that that's why COVID has been so hard,

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Speaker 1: is people don't feel like they're being transported anymore. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't feel like it's this unique experience. And that's what

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Speaker 1: we like to do and here here at the collective.

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Speaker 1: And I think the thing that people miss often is

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Speaker 1: the concept doesn't come first. The space comes first. And

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Speaker 1: you can look at a space and it doesn't speak

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Speaker 1: to a pub, it doesn't speak to a French restaurant.

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Speaker 1: So you kind of have to see the space. You

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Speaker 1: look around, you see what you feel. You come up

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Speaker 1: with these ideas and then it's like okay, then you

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Speaker 1: plug away and figure out what's next. But each one

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Speaker 1: has a different uh you know, profit margin or profit

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Speaker 1: and loss margin. So that's what I guess when people say, okay, hi,

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Speaker 1: how can you define success when you know you can

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Speaker 1: put stake restaurant has a different uh profit margin versus

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Speaker 1: a Chinese restaurant. I'm just using an example or text

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Speaker 1: mex restaurant and all this property margin different. How do

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Speaker 1: you balance that? Michael? Look, I think you have to

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Speaker 1: take each one individually. Um. I think sometimes some of

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Speaker 1: the things that that's more challenging is the smaller the restaurant,

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Speaker 1: the harder it is to create a larger profit margin,

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Speaker 1: which people don't realize. But the other difficulty with that

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Speaker 1: is in order to do a bigger restaurant, you need

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Speaker 1: to raise more capital. So it's like that double edged

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Speaker 1: sort of do I raise more capital and money that

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Speaker 1: I have to pay off via returns or am I

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Speaker 1: raising less money the returns are lower? So yeah, you

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Speaker 1: kind of have to figure it out that way. And

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Speaker 1: you want to balance it. I mean, if you're nobody,

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Speaker 1: I mean people talking about it to get into politics.

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Speaker 1: But people talk about like, Okay, we're gonna raise the

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Speaker 1: tax rates, we're gonna raise minimum wage, we're gonna raise

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Speaker 1: all that stuff. And I always say, to people who

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Speaker 1: want to get in this conversation, let's not kid ourselves.

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Speaker 1: People who are in business, who are operating, say at

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Speaker 1: a ten percent margin, if they raise taxes and they

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Speaker 1: raise employment, pay roll, and they raise all that stuff,

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Speaker 1: we're not gonna operate a two. We're gonna still operate

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Speaker 1: a tem per cent and something is gonna be cut

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Speaker 1: if you want to raise minimum wage to fifteen dollars

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Speaker 1: an hour, like okay, But but let's be realistic, like

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Speaker 1: you're not gonna have two employees to do that job.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna have one employee to do or the guests

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Speaker 1: is gonna have to pay twice as much to get

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Speaker 1: that food. The the operator or the business person or

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Speaker 1: owner isn't gonna let it hit their pockets totally. Now,

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Speaker 1: when we talk about the whole process, because in my mind,

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Speaker 1: you know, for a restaurant business, like because you're not

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Speaker 1: a casual restaurant business, you know, and so the whole

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Speaker 1: take out of the whole curve side experience wasn't part

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Speaker 1: of the business model before COVID nineteen. How is that

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Speaker 1: settling into your business model? Now? Look, I think I

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Speaker 1: think for us our business model is there is design service, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: lighting which creates this beautiful ambiance okay. Um, you have music,

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Speaker 1: which creates this other piece of the ambiance okay, and

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Speaker 1: then you have food. Okay. So if you take all

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Speaker 1: of those pieces, those five pieces, the only one that

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Speaker 1: you could put in a box is food. So if

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Speaker 1: you think about a business model of like, only one

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Speaker 1: fifth of the things that we do well can translate

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Speaker 1: to a house and that's not even going to translate

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Speaker 1: into the house as well. It's a really difficult situation

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Speaker 1: for us. So I mean it's pivoting in terms of UM,

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Speaker 1: what what we put into that box, the type of

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Speaker 1: box that we use. UM. But honestly, like we we

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Speaker 1: haven't made a huge push to get into that takeout

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Speaker 1: delivery because I just think that it really destroys the brand.

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Speaker 1: And as you know, it's like you, your brand is

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Speaker 1: is something that you could never recreate. Well, once you

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Speaker 1: get that negative opinion on that or that piece, that

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Speaker 1: E r Ai. Well, you know it's really uh. I

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Speaker 1: have to agree with you, Michael. You know, it was

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Speaker 1: just so my wife and I we have a favorite restaurant.

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Speaker 1: We tell your restaurant we go to, and of course

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Speaker 1: she doesn't want to go in the restaurant, so we did.

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Speaker 1: We did curbside, and we when we picked it up

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Speaker 1: and and brought it home again and for the second

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Speaker 1: time in a row, it didn't taste like the experience

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Speaker 1: that we had in the restaurant. And I had to

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Speaker 1: tell her last like, hey, you know, when we get it,

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Speaker 1: it's usually warmer, you know, usually dealing with a nice atmosphere.

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Speaker 1: We're having a conversation, there's a lot of people around.

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Speaker 1: It feels, you know, like you're saying, I have to

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Speaker 1: agree with your Michael, because a lot of things go

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Speaker 1: goes into the food experience. Sometimes people want the romance,

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Speaker 1: Sometimes people want the the music, the loudness, the activity.

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Speaker 1: I'm an activity guy. I like I like to walk

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Speaker 1: into a bustling. I like to play with the waiter

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Speaker 1: or waitress, you know, I'd like to have a relationship

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Speaker 1: with that person. And I like to be around people

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Speaker 1: who are talking, and that's lost if you do a

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Speaker 1: curbside so so. But it all comes back to the food.

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Speaker 1: The food did not taste like the same experience I

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Speaker 1: have when I go into that restaurant. It's one of

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Speaker 1: our favorite restaurants. And that's all you're saying right now, Richard.

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Speaker 1: We can do that, but stuffing's gonna be missing. And

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Speaker 1: you don't want to be victimized by the missing part

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Speaker 1: of saying your food quality has changed all the experiences

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Speaker 1: you think about it. You look at the food. It

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Speaker 1: comes out on a plate, right, you're doing anything to

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Speaker 1: and you don't have to clean it up. You have

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Speaker 1: great music, you have great lighting, you have great ambiance,

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Speaker 1: you're in energy. Like all of those pieces are part

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Speaker 1: of the puzzle. When you take that, you have to

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Speaker 1: literally get in your car, you drive to the place,

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Speaker 1: you get home, you take it out, you open it up.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't look as good as it looked on a plate.

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Speaker 1: You have to put it on a plate. You have

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Speaker 1: to get your silverware out, your kids are yelling and

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Speaker 1: screaming because they're hungry, like something has missed, something's not

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Speaker 1: at your disposal. It's just like the whole process is

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Speaker 1: just lost. And by the time you eat the food,

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Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, this isn't working for me right, And

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Speaker 1: it's you know, first of all, you you're hit so

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Speaker 1: many positive nerves would be right now because I experienced

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Speaker 1: this last night, Michael, and I'm going like, I put

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Speaker 1: the pepper on the pizza, I put the power Jian,

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Speaker 1: and again it was you know, I pulled up. I'm

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Speaker 1: setting it up myself. So I've lost some of the

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Speaker 1: ambiance because I'm doing all the work. And you know

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Speaker 1: for a fact, when you do all the work, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna do it or whatever style, whatever, just whatever gets

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Speaker 1: the job done, you're gonna do it. You've lost all

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Speaker 1: standards of servers for yourself. And that that's really funny

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Speaker 1: because like I said when I when I pushed the idea,

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Speaker 1: and I'm always talking to different people about how they

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Speaker 1: are trying to be successful with their business, but you're

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Speaker 1: the first person I've talked to that really hit a

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Speaker 1: button with me, that said, ri shot. The problem you're

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Speaker 1: having is that curb side work, but you lost the

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Speaker 1: experience when your turn affected high and enjoyed the food. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I say to my business partners,

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Speaker 1: and I'm a chef. Okay, I've been cooking my whole life.

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Speaker 1: I went to culinary school. I worked in restaurants, some

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Speaker 1: of the top restaurants in America. I work in Japan.

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00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,200
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. Okay, there's three elements to a restaurant. Okay.

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Speaker 1: There's food, there's service, and there's design. Okay, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: ask you this question. I'm a chef. What's the most

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Speaker 1: important piece in my mind? Food? To me? No design?

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Speaker 1: What's the second most important in my mind? I'm a chef. Well,

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Speaker 1: when when you say design, service, and I'm gonna tell

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Speaker 1: you food is third. And I'm gonna tell you why

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Speaker 1: you're walking through a design service dan food, design service,

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Speaker 1: food and that on walking to a restaurant. It's the

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Speaker 1: most beautiful restaurant in the world. It's fun. There's like

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Speaker 1: three people in there. You're having a great time. It's energetic.

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Speaker 1: The hospitality is off the charts. We're like, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: like I'm playing with this server. The server was awesome.

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Speaker 1: I'm having such a great time. I'm smiling. You get

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Speaker 1: the food, you're with your friends, You're like, it's okay,

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Speaker 1: it's okay. You walk out, You're like, Wow, I had

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Speaker 1: a great time. My place was good looking, it was fun,

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Speaker 1: it was awesome. Okay, are you going back? Wow? You

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Speaker 1: know're going back? This is where I'm called of right now, Michael,

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Speaker 1: because you hit me in the jaw right now, because

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Speaker 1: I lost the design and I lost the service when

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Speaker 1: I did curve side and and guess what, I don't

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Speaker 1: want to do that anymore. I don't want to go

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Speaker 1: back and have that experience because I don't know. So

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Speaker 1: so it's left a bad taste in my mom because

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Speaker 1: it's happened two times in a row. So, so you're

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Speaker 1: fighting for that. Has it been successful for you? Look,

427
00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:44,919
Speaker 1: it's nothing is successful right now. I mean, to be

428
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,760
Speaker 1: the definition of success is survival and getting to the

429
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,440
Speaker 1: other side. Uh, we're not. I mean, our food isn't

430
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 1: doesn't translate into takeout most of our restaurants. I mean,

431
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,119
Speaker 1: the only one that we have that really works for

432
00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 1: takeout that people get take out of is sushi. I'm

433
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,240
Speaker 1: if you think about take out, it's like we want

434
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,760
Speaker 1: some pizza, we want some sushi, we want some burgers. Like,

435
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,399
Speaker 1: if you confine dining Italian restaurant, you're never going to

436
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 1: compete with the local Italian place that does chicken farm

437
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:16,120
Speaker 1: for twelve dollars, So like why why try and compete

438
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: with them? Like it's just gonna lose. It's a losing mob.

439
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,400
Speaker 1: So you know, when you're talking about ambiance, you talked

440
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,200
Speaker 1: about the experience, You talked about servers, your your time

441
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 1: you spend in Japan, talked to us about that because

442
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,399
Speaker 1: it seems like it shaped a lot of your vues.

443
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,399
Speaker 1: So so for me, living in Japan was just the

444
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: most amazing experience. I worked at the Spotto over there

445
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:38,720
Speaker 1: in the four seasons, and it wasn't necessarily about working

446
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,400
Speaker 1: in those restaurants. To me, it was about understanding the culture.

447
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: And once you understand culture of what something is, you

448
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 1: could create something here in the States that that feels authentic.

449
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,000
Speaker 1: And I think that's what people are really looking for

450
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: in today's society. They want something that feels authentic, um

451
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 1: and not like it's contrived or made up, or or

452
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 1: just or Disney World or something they wanted to feel authentic, um,

453
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,639
Speaker 1: and that's probably what we do really well, and I

454
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 1: think it's really important to us as a business. Well

455
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: it works for me. Now, before we got on there,

456
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,280
Speaker 1: I brought up the fact that, uh, you know, doing

457
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 1: COVID hit. You know, I'm at the house and my

458
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,200
Speaker 1: wife is asking me what I want for breakfast, what

459
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 1: I want for lunch, And I'm gonna tell you, I'm

460
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,439
Speaker 1: a kind of a one and a half meal a

461
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,919
Speaker 1: day guy. So finally I was eating a breakfast and

462
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,159
Speaker 1: then a lunch and a dinner, and all of a

463
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:37,560
Speaker 1: sudden I realized I was gaining weight, and I went,

464
00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:39,680
Speaker 1: hold up, hold holdo, hold on, hold on. We gotta

465
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:41,239
Speaker 1: cut out one of these meals. So I got rid

466
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:43,480
Speaker 1: of the because usually what I do, Michael, I get up,

467
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:45,399
Speaker 1: I get up at four o'clock Monday to Friday, get

468
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,440
Speaker 1: up at four o'clock, and so usually I eat about

469
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,159
Speaker 1: ten and eleven o'clock. And she had me eating about

470
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,199
Speaker 1: eight o'clock in the morning, and she came back with

471
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,919
Speaker 1: another meal a right noontime, and then she wrapped up

472
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,560
Speaker 1: the third beal about six o'clock. Now, then I switched

473
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,239
Speaker 1: the story, because here you are about to embarrass me,

474
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,240
Speaker 1: because is that a gaining weight? You lost thirty five

475
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 1: pounds and three months during the COVID, it's COVID timeline.

476
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: Let's talk about what made you do that and what

477
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,120
Speaker 1: was the motivation. Did you gave weight and you said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

478
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,359
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lose weight. What was the motivation? Yeah? So

479
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:20,879
Speaker 1: so for me, it's we do restaurants, and we're opening

480
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,760
Speaker 1: a lot of restaurants, and in restaurants, you're obviously tasting

481
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,960
Speaker 1: tons of food every day. So when I'm able to

482
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 1: eliminate the tasting of food, that was just a huge

483
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,439
Speaker 1: starter for me. The other pieces pre COVID. I mean

484
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 1: we had we had fourteen restaurants, we were looking open more,

485
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 1: we were we were burning it all hours of the day,

486
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:41,439
Speaker 1: and finding time to go to the gym was just

487
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 1: a nightmare. So I started to eat well, I ate

488
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,679
Speaker 1: the right foods, I stopped the tastings. I started to

489
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 1: exercise more. UM and it was figuring out. I mean,

490
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,439
Speaker 1: everyone has these diets that are like they're literally like

491
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 1: this um, Like I'm gonna do with this juice in

492
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 1: the morning, and I'm gonna start myself and then gonna

493
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:02,920
Speaker 1: eat at night, like everyone has something for me. It

494
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 1: was finding something where it's just like eating well, eating

495
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,400
Speaker 1: at the right times, and exercising. And the key keeping

496
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 1: in there is the exercising as long as you're exercising.

497
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,479
Speaker 1: And I'm not a big runner. I don't enjoy running.

498
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,439
Speaker 1: I find it exhausting. So I would literally do a

499
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,440
Speaker 1: mile on the treadmill in the morning, and then I

500
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 1: would do a mile on the treadmill at night. I

501
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,880
Speaker 1: put some weights in there and I was good to go.

502
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,840
Speaker 1: So you you work out like me? That's me now

503
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,720
Speaker 1: with somehow my show has become a nice haven for

504
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: to talk to shifts. So the Rocko comes on my show, Uh,

505
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: Donna Teller comes on my show, and just to name

506
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: a few, Sammy Soon comes on my show, and now

507
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: you on my show. When I get the word eat whale, see,

508
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 1: I need to define to me what does that mean

509
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 1: when you say eating whale? Eating well to me is clean.

510
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,639
Speaker 1: I think it's it's for breakfast. I think it's eating

511
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,000
Speaker 1: some yogurt, some berries, period, and the end of conversation,

512
00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 1: having a coffee and not putting creamer in there and

513
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,359
Speaker 1: sugars in there, like I put a little non dairy

514
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: creamer in there five for launch. It's like having a

515
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,159
Speaker 1: nice salad, maybe you cheating on some dressing. Have a

516
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,919
Speaker 1: grilled piece of chicken, have some grilled shrimp, doing whatever

517
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,440
Speaker 1: you want dinnertime, having normal meal, having a normal meal,

518
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,720
Speaker 1: have some carbohydrates, have some vegetables, have some fruits. But

519
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,639
Speaker 1: to me, eating well is like you're eating a little cleaner.

520
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,200
Speaker 1: You're not depriving yourself. Your portion size as normal, meaning

521
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:28,760
Speaker 1: like you're not having sixty announces of steak, you're having

522
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 1: six to eight, and you're not eating past eight o'clock.

523
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: It depends on what time you go to bed, but

524
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,600
Speaker 1: like seven or eight o'clock should be in. Yes, Like

525
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 1: if you're done at seven eight o'clock, give up the

526
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,159
Speaker 1: bag of potaty chips, give up the sweets, give up

527
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:48,120
Speaker 1: the sugars. Like I guarantee you you will lose weight. Well,

528
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 1: you know I naturally drink a lot of water. We're

529
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: not getting into it. I know, you know died expert Michael,

530
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: but you know we're talking about losing weight. So thirty

531
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 1: five and three muths you kind of you kind of

532
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 1: leveling into a diet expert range, and you like to

533
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: say what and as you want to naturally. But I'm

534
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,480
Speaker 1: a big dessert guy. I I eat by dessert before

535
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,199
Speaker 1: my meals, and it's dunes people. I go to the restaurant.

536
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:14,360
Speaker 1: I come to a restaurant and say, excuse me, can

537
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: you give me the dissert menu before I start arguing

538
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 1: my meal. I'm that guy. I'm that guy and so

539
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 1: so a person like me who enjoys desserts. What does

540
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: that play out in your menu world? In your restaurant world?

541
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,679
Speaker 1: Am I gonna come to your restaurant, Michael and be like, man,

542
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 1: you got the dessert from me? Or you more of

543
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: an you can't. This is the problem with all diets, right.

544
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 1: Everyone wants to go on this extreme diet like you

545
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,439
Speaker 1: can't stop eating, like if they give you a cho

546
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,280
Speaker 1: I mean, you go to these restaurants and these restaurants

547
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,359
Speaker 1: are enough for three people, and people are eating the

548
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,639
Speaker 1: whole cake. So it's like eat the cake. Just just

549
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 1: have a piece of it. Have a piece of the cake.

550
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,400
Speaker 1: Every day. I have a piece of chocolate. Like, chocolate

551
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 1: is good for you, jocol it's not bad. Your berries

552
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 1: are not bad for you. Some real ice cream is

553
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,160
Speaker 1: not bad for you have it, but you don't need

554
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,919
Speaker 1: a pint of ice cream, a cap like a box

555
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 1: of cookies and a bag of the readers like you're

556
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,119
Speaker 1: just that's not what you need right right. But I

557
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 1: am a guy that I will tell you, Mike, I'm

558
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,360
Speaker 1: a guy that you know. I think I've accidentally uh

559
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 1: eating correctly because I'm a guy. I ordered three different things,

560
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 1: but I won't complete the meal, so I called myself

561
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,840
Speaker 1: a sampler, you know. I was sample this dessert or

562
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:34,120
Speaker 1: a sample that that that appetizer, or that sample that meal.

563
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,240
Speaker 1: You know. But I'm a big bread guy. I love

564
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: bread to death. I bread this type of corn bread.

565
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 1: I love that. I love veggies. But these are things,

566
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: like I said, I just accidentally eat, which I guess

567
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: in a way allows me to maintain someone healthy lifestyle.

568
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: But I drink a lot of water. Like you said,

569
00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 1: you held up your bottle of water. But I want

570
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 1: to transition to because you do a lot of uh.

571
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 1: You've hosted several competitions and these and I'm a big

572
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 1: fan of Coppet Issue show with Michael and so. But

573
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:07,240
Speaker 1: there's always some uh winner and a loser winner losing.

574
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,080
Speaker 1: How do you handle that? In the judging process because

575
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: you know the decision that you make. You can't ultimately

576
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: tell somebody to walk away from walk off the show. Listen.

577
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 1: I teach my kids at a young age like as

578
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 1: look like work your ass off, practice, try hard, and

579
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:27,680
Speaker 1: like if you're good enough, you're gonna win, and if

580
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 1: there's somebody better than you, they're gonna lose. And when

581
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 1: you're judging, it's kind of like, look like you're either winner,

582
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: you lose. I mean this whole thing where everybody gets

583
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 1: a trophy today and like, kids come home and you

584
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: came in last place and you got a trophy, Like

585
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: like it's b s. It's not teaching people to be

586
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,320
Speaker 1: able to lose. People ask me all the time you

587
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 1: play games with the kids, like do you lose on purpose? No,

588
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lose on purpose. Why would I do that?

589
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:56,479
Speaker 1: You need to teach them like practice, practice, practice, Like

590
00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: when you do all of those things, you'll figure it out.

591
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:00,960
Speaker 1: And it's the same thing with cooking. It's like there

592
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: are gonna be people who are better than me of

593
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:06,239
Speaker 1: cooking and you may lose, but it is what it is.

594
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: And and look, one of the biggest one of the

595
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: questions that I always ask you in interviews that has

596
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,680
Speaker 1: to do with that is what do you not allow

597
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 1: in your life? Is it harder for you? Is it

598
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 1: which is true? For you? I hate to lose or

599
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:25,280
Speaker 1: I love to win? And for me, the answer is

600
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,720
Speaker 1: I hate to lose lose. Losing is just not an answer,

601
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,880
Speaker 1: like I expect to win. So winning when I win,

602
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,240
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, let me get up again and play again,

603
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: let me play again. But when I lose, I'm furious.

604
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,120
Speaker 1: And I think that's kind of just a mentality of people.

605
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:43,040
Speaker 1: Before we go, I want to talk about you have

606
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 1: a new restaurant concept opening in Philadelphic called Midtown Village.

607
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 1: Tell us about that and why now? Yeah, so we're

608
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,080
Speaker 1: so so it's interesting and you spoke about what happens

609
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 1: during COVID. I mean there's there's a lot of restaurants

610
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: that are going out of business. I think our business

611
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 1: model used to be take space and build out a restaurant.

612
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 1: It would cost us a thousands of fifteen hundred dollars

613
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 1: of square foot to build it out. Now our business

614
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,560
Speaker 1: model is shifted. We could give restaurants that have clothes,

615
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 1: and we could spend three hundreds of five hundreds of

616
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:17,000
Speaker 1: square foot on some really good opportunities. Because COVID is

617
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 1: gonna be over, We're going to get to the other side.

618
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: So here are some opportunities that we have, and one

619
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,520
Speaker 1: of them is it's in an area called Midtown Village.

620
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: It's gonna be uh the name isn't known yet, We're

621
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: not sure the name, but it's gonna be a boutique

622
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: pizza place, brick up and pizza with some uh lots

623
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,800
Speaker 1: of seasonal vegetables, seasonal pass and stuff like that. So

624
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 1: is it more casual dining? Yeah, definitely more casual. I

625
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 1: think that that's kind of where people are going right

626
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,200
Speaker 1: now in terms of the COVID. I'm not looking to

627
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,400
Speaker 1: do any fancy, high end restaurants right now, but if

628
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 1: you could get some casual places in now, Like I

629
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: think we're good. Cool and Michael, thank you man for

630
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,479
Speaker 1: coming on my to make conversations. I hope you come

631
00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 1: back for I don't know if I want you coming

632
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 1: back skinnier though, Mike Thirt, can we stay there? I

633
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 1: appreciate you man, enjoy yourself, and I definitely tell them

634
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 1: Sinse I come to Philadelphia a lot because I represents

635
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: Steven A. Smithler. We always in that area in New Jersey,

636
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:14,239
Speaker 1: New York area, and I love to drop by. So

637
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 1: if up, okay, okay, appreciate your Michael, stay strong. Michael

638
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 1: Scholton of the Shawson Collective, the based in Philadelphia, got

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Speaker 1: want thank you for coming on the show. I'm with

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Speaker 1: Sean McDonald, I am your host. Thank you. In this

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