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Join us as we delve into the captivating story of Gerard Craft, renowned chef, and entrepreneur, as he shares his remarkable journey from a troubled childhood to becoming a highly successful chef and business owner. In this thought-provoking podcast episode, Craft opens up about his early passion for photography, his decision to pursue a culinary career, and the challenges he faced along the way. Filmed at the hidden speakeasy, NOTA, located at The Foundry in St. Louis, this episode offers a unique backdrop for Craft’s inspiring insights. Discover the key values, training methods, and empowering leadership strategies that Craft implemented to create a positive company culture in his own restaurant. Gain valuable insights into the importance of embracing change, building a strong foundation in business, and the power of continuous learning. Craft’s inspiring experiences will leave you motivated to embrace failure as an opportunity for growth and to lead with honesty and feedback. Don’t miss this engaging conversation that explores leadership, culture, and the transformative power of following your passion, all set against the backdrop of the hidden speakeasy, NOTA, at The Foundry in St. Louis.
Check out the video interview here!
TRANSCRIPTION
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I am your host,
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Brett Gilliland, and today I’ve got Gerard Craft
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with me Gerard what’s going on, my man.
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How are you? I’m great. Thanks for having
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me. You probably don’t know this because I
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don’t even know if you check your own
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Instagram messages, but I sent you a message
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in April two thousand eighteen.
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Really? I did. That’s Craft. And now here
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we are. No. January of two thousand twenty
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four.
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That’s alright, man. You’re a busy guy. I’ve
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been good at checking my, like, normal message
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you know, my emails, my texts.
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I like to share those messages because it’s
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life’s about persistency as you know. You guys
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stay pleasantly persistent, but our mutual friend, Katie,
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call your introduce to two of us and
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thank you, Katie, for sure.
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Why don’t you explain to people that are
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watching this right now? Where are we at
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right
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so we are at Noda, which stands for.
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None of the above. It’s our speakeasy
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here at the city foundry, but we’re kind
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of through some tunnels in the basement Yeah.
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Hidden away. It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing. Do we
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share how we get down here or is
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that kind of a secret?
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You can yeah. I mean, there’s a there’s
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a door up at the top on foundry
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Way with,
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a red light Gilliland
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if that light is on,
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then you can pop in and, you know,
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hopefully we have some some space.
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I love it. And if it’s not on,
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it means you’re just not open, or does
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it means it’s full? Yeah. It means we’re
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not open. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Well, hey, man.
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Let’s dive in if we can and, get
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listeners a little lay of the land. I
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told you I’d start with kinda what’s your
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backstory of what’s made you the man you
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are today.
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Yeah. So,
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you know, grew up in Washington, DC.
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And,
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you know, got into
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far too much trouble as a kid. And
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ended up,
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finishing school, I should say, out in, Northern
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Idaho
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at a,
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at,
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school for, you know,
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troubled kids.
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And when I was there, I got to
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do
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sort of an apprenticeship
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with a photographer. And so I started getting
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really into snowboard photography. We were up in
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the mountains, so it was kinda perfect for
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all of that. I had always been interested
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in photography and done a lot,
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growing up. And so got to really, you
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know, see kind of the professional side of
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it. And, you know, we were doing everything
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from skiing and snowboarding
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to wake boarding,
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on skateboarding in in the summer.
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And then I moved to Salt Lake City
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after that school to go to Gilliland
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to continue my photography.
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And while I was there, I ended up
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dropping out of college. And
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you see a pattern of school not working
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out for me.
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But I
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took a job
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just kind of in the morning, I took
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a job washing cars.
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And at night, I took a job washing
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dishes. And, you know, still was doing my
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photography. Gilliland
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everything, but the photography wasn’t really paying any
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money. It was, you know. Right. Right. Yeah.
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It was like a trade stuff trying to
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get in the door with different professional hot,
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snowboarders and stuff like that. But
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really fell in love with the kitchen when
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I was in there and a
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career advisor
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told me I should think about, going to
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culinary school.
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And so I want to,
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Salt Lake City Community College. Mhmm. And
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studied culinary arts while I was still kind
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of working
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at this this place called Fats Grill. I
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mean,
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super high end luxury.
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Nothing like Nota. This was Although it was
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a very clean,
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you know, bar with pool hole,
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you know, pool Gilliland,
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But but it was it was definitely not
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a a real refined spot. Right. And didn’t
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you go on to work at one of
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the best restaurants in San Fran and some
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other places around the country? I did not
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go to San Francisco. So I, from there,
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I actually went in,
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did a work study at the Ritz in
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Paris
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and,
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went out to Los Angeles to the,
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Chateau Mamont Hotel. That’s what I was thinking
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about. Yeah.
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And so I was a sous chef out
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at the Chateau Marmont,
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and
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stashed at a place in New Jersey for
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a while called Gilliland Inn which was kind
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of on a five acre organic,
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farm
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and,
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just outside of New York City. So It
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was a Relay Chateau property,
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all tasting menus.
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And I think that was about the the
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scariest place I ever
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ever worked.
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But it was amazing. It was just a
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very intense,
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atmosphere.
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And, you know, very driven people you know,
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all the people that worked there are all,
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you know, super successful today. You know, so
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I was I was definitely in over my
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head, but, you know, in the best kind
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of way. Right?
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So did you look to those guys and
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gals for leadership and advice, or was it
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cut throat and it didn’t work that way?
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Like, what what was the environment like in
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a restaurant like that? Yeah. I mean, they
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they were all, like, pretty cutthroat, but it
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was, you know,
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you know, everybody was helpful. And,
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as long as you were trying and and
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pushing and,
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you know, so everywhere you went, you were
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just trying to kind of learn as much
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as as humanly possible.
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So I’m a go back to when you
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went,
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out from from the East Coast to the
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West Coast to finish school. Like, what was
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it about you or maybe your upbringing? I
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don’t know what it is, but my fascinated
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by guys, that and guys and gals that
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that do something like that and have a
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pretty dramatic, you know, event happen. And then
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all of a sudden, now you fast where
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you’re at in two thousand twenty four. Right?
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Like, what do you think it was specifically
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about you that made you
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go a different route than maybe you could
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have gone?
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I don’t know. You know, I think I’ve
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always been, you know, a fan of the
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road less traveled. And,
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and I don’t know if that made all
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the difference. You know, but,
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I’ve I’ve definitely always appreciated
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the struggle.
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And I I don’t know why that is
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because there’s probably a horrible trait. Probably something
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I should talk to a therapist about, but,
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but I, you know, I always wanted to,
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you know, do things on my own and,
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you know, do things the hard way for
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some reason.
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And
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I think when I was looking to finally
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open a restaurant,
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I didn’t wanna go back. You know, my
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old family’s from New York Gilliland
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DC,
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and I didn’t wanna go back there and
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kind of fail in front of everybody. I
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kinda wanted to, you know, branch out on
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my own, do my own thing.
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And again, you know, I it worked out
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somehow, but god,
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probably not the smartest way. You know, I
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could have opened in New York City around
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family. And,
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yeah, you know, had all sorts of family
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friends coming in. But, thankfully, Saint Louis really
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welcomed me. So And talk about that. So
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what brought you to Saint Louis? I read
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that story. I think that’s pretty cool. Yeah.
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I mean, it was, again, I was twenty
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five years old. So,
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I look at twenty five year olds now,
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and I’m, like, oh my god. What the
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hell is that? Like, I was, like, twenty
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five.
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You know, so, you know, wasn’t always thinking
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entirely clearly, but, you know, I, I knew
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I wanted to do something on my own.
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I wanted to get out. And,
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you know, I had seen some stuff, and
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I think, like, Bonapati magazine or something like
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that about Saint Lewis, and I think an
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American place had just opened,
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Monarch restaurant was
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was doing really Brett. And I just read
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about Kevin Nash in buying Sydney Brett Craft,
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and he had just come from, like,
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Martine Barastaghi
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in Spain and Daniel Gilliland
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New York. And so
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I was like, oh, that’s kind of a
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cool Gilliland now I used to have a
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weird hobby of
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I still have a weird hobby of staying
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up late and looking at real estate.
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And,
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just kind of started looking at real estate
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in
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Saint Louis and stumbled upon this ad that
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was, wine bar for sale, which
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looking back at niche, when niche was not
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at, it was dirt floors, hole in the
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ground, no
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electricity.
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I was like, how was this a wine
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bar? Right.
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But, yeah, then I, I just kind of
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came here on, New Year’s Day,
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in
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two thousand five. And I I literally signed
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it on the spot. And I remember my
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brother, like, do you have a lawyer?
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Are you what are you doing? What’s a
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lawyer? How are you looking for?
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So,
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thankfully, I had my brother,
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investing and on my side because he was
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able to at least he local at all?
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Dear me. No. My brother lives in London.
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Okay. But he was at least able to
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to, you know, help me make some,
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my brother’s like you. He’s in finance. Okay.
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So That’s funny. Yeah. Yeah. So what I
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mean, when you think about that that move,
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did you did you picture success in your
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or was that just something you’re like, this
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is my passion. I’m gonna follow it, and
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then it’s successes happen? Like, what, like, what
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was it like if you look back to
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the twenty five year old Gerard? I think
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I always envisioned six success, but I think,
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you know,
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that vision of success is
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is continually
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changing. Right? You know, I think my my
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first vision of success was know, a successful
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neighborhood restaurant. And,
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you know, I had been eating a lot
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at a restaurant called prune in New York
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Gilliland
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there was a place called the tasting room
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in New York, and these were kinda like
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very small, but but kind of progressive and
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different restaurants.
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And and that’s kind of the between that
00:10:01.000 –> 00:10:03.000
and kind of what was going on in
00:10:03.000 –> 00:10:06.000
some of the small restaurants in Paris at
00:10:06.000 –> 00:10:06.000
the time,
00:10:07.000 –> 00:10:07.000
And,
00:10:08.000 –> 00:10:10.000
in Spain, you know, that’s kind of where
00:10:10.000 –> 00:10:12.000
I was where I was looking to. I
00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:15.000
think what happened was a lot different.
00:10:15.000 –> 00:10:17.000
And, you know, I think,
00:10:18.000 –> 00:10:20.000
I I didn’t quite understand. I think the
00:10:20.000 –> 00:10:23.000
demographics that I was gonna be serving
00:10:23.000 –> 00:10:25.000
when when we opened these. I thought I
00:10:25.000 –> 00:10:27.000
thought we were gonna be serving a lot
00:10:27.000 –> 00:10:28.000
of younger people,
00:10:28.000 –> 00:10:29.000
you know,
00:10:29.000 –> 00:10:30.000
young professionals Gilliland
00:10:31.000 –> 00:10:32.000
you go to New York. What what do
00:10:32.000 –> 00:10:35.000
you see in HIP new restaurant. And I
00:10:35.000 –> 00:10:37.000
think I actually got a much older client,
00:10:37.000 –> 00:10:38.000
though, coming from,
00:10:39.000 –> 00:10:40.000
ledoux
00:10:40.000 –> 00:10:42.000
and, you know, the suburbs.
00:10:42.000 –> 00:10:46.000
And and not entirely from my area. And
00:10:46.000 –> 00:10:46.000
and
00:10:47.000 –> 00:10:49.000
and I think there there was definitely a
00:10:49.000 –> 00:10:51.000
little bit of a of a struggle in
00:10:52.000 –> 00:10:54.000
in what people wanted out of us and
00:10:54.000 –> 00:10:56.000
what we were actually doing. Yeah. Isn’t it
00:10:56.000 –> 00:10:57.000
funny when you think you Brett this business
00:10:57.000 –> 00:10:59.000
plan and and what’s you think’s gonna happen
00:10:59.000 –> 00:11:02.000
that it rarely ever works that way. Yeah.
00:11:02.000 –> 00:11:04.000
So we were successful. Yeah. But
00:11:05.000 –> 00:11:07.000
not in the way that we had planned
00:11:07.000 –> 00:11:10.000
on being successful. What do you think, being
00:11:10.000 –> 00:11:12.000
the entrepreneur that you are in places like
00:11:12.000 –> 00:11:14.000
this, which is amazing. I absolutely love this.
00:11:14.000 –> 00:11:15.000
And the walk down here is one of
00:11:15.000 –> 00:11:17.000
the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I’m not
00:11:17.000 –> 00:11:18.000
just saying that.
00:11:18.000 –> 00:11:21.000
From an entrepreneurial standpoint, what what do you
00:11:21.000 –> 00:11:22.000
think that you can share from a restaurant
00:11:23.000 –> 00:11:24.000
world to the to the business person or
00:11:24.000 –> 00:11:26.000
the, you know, the lawyer that whoever’s watching
00:11:26.000 –> 00:11:28.000
this right now? What do you see the
00:11:28.000 –> 00:11:30.000
similarities that can be learned from your world
00:11:30.000 –> 00:11:32.000
into the business world?
00:11:32.000 –> 00:11:34.000
Oh my god. I mean, you know, we
00:11:34.000 –> 00:11:35.000
are in the business world. So,
00:11:36.000 –> 00:11:38.000
you know, I think it’s all
00:11:38.000 –> 00:11:39.000
applicable,
00:11:39.000 –> 00:11:41.000
really, you know, and I think,
00:11:42.000 –> 00:11:45.000
flip that around a bit. I have learned
00:11:45.000 –> 00:11:48.000
a lot from the quote unquote business world.
00:11:48.000 –> 00:11:51.000
And I think it was in two thousand
00:11:52.000 –> 00:11:52.000
and twelve.
00:11:53.000 –> 00:11:55.000
We were opening pasteria,
00:11:56.000 –> 00:11:57.000
which was our fourth restaurant
00:11:58.000 –> 00:11:59.000
at the time, and
00:12:00.000 –> 00:12:02.000
I was really, really struggling.
00:12:03.000 –> 00:12:05.000
And I was struggling to to really manage
00:12:05.000 –> 00:12:08.000
them all. They were all doing really well.
00:12:09.000 –> 00:12:11.000
But all of a sudden I was managing
00:12:11.000 –> 00:12:11.000
four places
00:12:12.000 –> 00:12:14.000
and figured out I couldn’t really micromanage
00:12:15.000 –> 00:12:18.000
four places. Yep. And and I didn’t quite
00:12:18.000 –> 00:12:19.000
see it like that. I just at the
00:12:19.000 –> 00:12:21.000
time saw it is, everybody sucked.
00:12:23.000 –> 00:12:26.000
And why was everybody sucking and and not
00:12:26.000 –> 00:12:28.000
doing what they were supposed to do? And,
00:12:28.000 –> 00:12:29.000
you know,
00:12:29.000 –> 00:12:30.000
you know,
00:12:30.000 –> 00:12:32.000
after a little bit came to the realization
00:12:32.000 –> 00:12:33.000
is
00:12:33.000 –> 00:12:35.000
because I sucked.
00:12:35.000 –> 00:12:37.000
Yeah. It looks thin. Yeah. You know, I
00:12:37.000 –> 00:12:39.000
sucked. That was a horror manager.
00:12:39.000 –> 00:12:40.000
And,
00:12:40.000 –> 00:12:42.000
I’d never really learned how to
00:12:42.000 –> 00:12:43.000
to manage.
00:12:44.000 –> 00:12:45.000
Right? You know, like,
00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:47.000
in a restaurant when you’re being trained as
00:12:47.000 –> 00:12:49.000
a chef, at least back then. It was,
00:12:49.000 –> 00:12:51.000
you know, again, it was very cutthroat. It
00:12:51.000 –> 00:12:54.000
was very kind of military brigade system.
00:12:54.000 –> 00:12:57.000
It was, you know, I’m the chef. Yes,
00:12:57.000 –> 00:12:57.000
chef.
00:12:58.000 –> 00:13:00.000
You know, if I tell you to do
00:13:00.000 –> 00:13:00.000
something,
00:13:00.000 –> 00:13:02.000
you better fucking do it and you better
00:13:02.000 –> 00:13:04.000
do it fast and you better do it
00:13:04.000 –> 00:13:04.000
right,
00:13:05.000 –> 00:13:06.000
to be pissed,
00:13:06.000 –> 00:13:08.000
you know, and you, you know, it was
00:13:08.000 –> 00:13:09.000
it was a lot of leading out of
00:13:09.000 –> 00:13:12.000
fear and and stuff. And, you know, I
00:13:12.000 –> 00:13:15.000
had I re read this book called Delivering
00:13:15.000 –> 00:13:17.000
Happiness. Have you ever read that one? Sean
00:13:17.000 –> 00:13:18.000
Anchor, maybe. Tony,
00:13:19.000 –> 00:13:22.000
Shay Okay. Who, found out I never know
00:13:22.000 –> 00:13:24.000
if I’m saying his last name, right? But
00:13:24.000 –> 00:13:26.000
founded Zapos. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And,
00:13:27.000 –> 00:13:31.000
and, you know, that that just clicked all
00:13:31.000 –> 00:13:32.000
of a sudden. I mean, it was it
00:13:32.000 –> 00:13:34.000
was sometimes you read a book
00:13:34.000 –> 00:13:35.000
right when you need to read a book.
00:13:35.000 –> 00:13:37.000
Yeah. And that was that book. And it,
00:13:38.000 –> 00:13:40.000
then introduced me to,
00:13:44.000 –> 00:13:45.000
tribal leadership.
00:13:46.000 –> 00:13:48.000
And so tribal leadership then kind of like,
00:13:49.000 –> 00:13:51.000
gave that a voice, gave that a language,
00:13:51.000 –> 00:13:52.000
you know, and, you know, we started to
00:13:52.000 –> 00:13:54.000
talk about, you know,
00:13:56.000 –> 00:13:56.000
we.
00:13:56.000 –> 00:14:00.000
Right? You know, and and your language and
00:14:00.000 –> 00:14:03.000
and how the way you speak really kind
00:14:03.000 –> 00:14:04.000
of affects,
00:14:04.000 –> 00:14:07.000
you know, everybody around you, and it also
00:14:07.000 –> 00:14:08.000
affects
00:14:08.000 –> 00:14:11.000
the way that you’re acting. Right? So everything’s
00:14:11.000 –> 00:14:12.000
kind of like a language.
00:14:13.000 –> 00:14:15.000
And so, you know, going from eye to
00:14:15.000 –> 00:14:18.000
we was the biggest shift in our culture.
00:14:19.000 –> 00:14:21.000
And I think that’s the most the culture
00:14:21.000 –> 00:14:23.000
part of it’s the most applicable part across
00:14:23.000 –> 00:14:25.000
the board. I love that, man. Because I
00:14:25.000 –> 00:14:26.000
it’s so true. We talk about our firm.
00:14:26.000 –> 00:14:28.000
You know, so is it my firm is
00:14:28.000 –> 00:14:30.000
our firm and and my business partner and
00:14:30.000 –> 00:14:31.000
I, we’re we’re very locked in on that
00:14:31.000 –> 00:14:33.000
one because people wanna be a part of
00:14:33.000 –> 00:14:34.000
something. Right? I mean, And and at what
00:14:34.000 –> 00:14:37.000
point did you believe in hiring people? I
00:14:37.000 –> 00:14:39.000
look back at the amazing Claire back there
00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:41.000
who upset all this up. Hi, Claire. And,
00:14:42.000 –> 00:14:44.000
like, in in believing in other people and
00:14:44.000 –> 00:14:45.000
letting go. Right? Cause that was a big
00:14:45.000 –> 00:14:47.000
one for me is when you started having
00:14:47.000 –> 00:14:48.000
multiple teammates
00:14:49.000 –> 00:14:51.000
is, you know, coming from the janitor to
00:14:51.000 –> 00:14:53.000
the CEO, and now you’ve got all these
00:14:53.000 –> 00:14:55.000
people, like, at at what point was it
00:14:55.000 –> 00:14:56.000
for you? What was the a moment? Do
00:14:56.000 –> 00:14:58.000
do you recall that? Yeah. I mean, I
00:14:58.000 –> 00:14:59.000
think this was the
00:15:00.000 –> 00:15:02.000
a moment. I mean, I was so stressed
00:15:02.000 –> 00:15:04.000
out. I was stressed out.
00:15:05.000 –> 00:15:06.000
Seriously overweight,
00:15:07.000 –> 00:15:08.000
just
00:15:08.000 –> 00:15:09.000
angry.
00:15:09.000 –> 00:15:10.000
And,
00:15:10.000 –> 00:15:13.000
you know, I was just overall miserable, and
00:15:13.000 –> 00:15:13.000
I knew
00:15:14.000 –> 00:15:16.000
I think, you know, in reading this stuff,
00:15:16.000 –> 00:15:18.000
you knew that I had to do a
00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:21.000
better job at training people. Right? Yeah. And,
00:15:22.000 –> 00:15:25.000
you know, it’s started. It started with me,
00:15:25.000 –> 00:15:27.000
but then, you know, as we kind of
00:15:27.000 –> 00:15:29.000
started to come together as a group, we
00:15:29.000 –> 00:15:31.000
realized that if we can
00:15:31.000 –> 00:15:33.000
train people the right way,
00:15:34.000 –> 00:15:35.000
you know, and if we can,
00:15:36.000 –> 00:15:38.000
instill our values,
00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:39.000
across everybody,
00:15:40.000 –> 00:15:43.000
then everybody can kind of be thought leaders.
00:15:43.000 –> 00:15:45.000
Everybody can kind of start to make their
00:15:45.000 –> 00:15:47.000
own decisions based on those
00:15:47.000 –> 00:15:50.000
values. Right? And and I think that that’s
00:15:50.000 –> 00:15:52.000
the real key. It was kind of like
00:15:52.000 –> 00:15:53.000
distilling our core values,
00:15:53.000 –> 00:15:56.000
figuring out what made us tick. Yeah. And
00:15:56.000 –> 00:15:59.000
then maybe how to teach people how to
00:15:59.000 –> 00:16:01.000
think like that. Do you articulate those values
00:16:01.000 –> 00:16:02.000
to people? Like, would would they be able
00:16:02.000 –> 00:16:03.000
to say, hey, maybe they’re on the wall
00:16:03.000 –> 00:16:05.000
or whatever? Like, They’re they’re not on the
00:16:05.000 –> 00:16:07.000
wall. We we’d we’d do our Brett. And
00:16:07.000 –> 00:16:10.000
we we keep it pretty Brett simple. We
00:16:10.000 –> 00:16:11.000
only have five
00:16:11.000 –> 00:16:13.000
five core values.
00:16:13.000 –> 00:16:15.000
So That’s awesome. Yeah. But they can articulate
00:16:15.000 –> 00:16:17.000
those, which is a big deal. So how
00:16:17.000 –> 00:16:18.000
how do you then adapt to change? So
00:16:18.000 –> 00:16:20.000
that was a change. Right? Now, hey, I’m
00:16:20.000 –> 00:16:22.000
moving forward. I’ve got these amazing people. I’m
00:16:22.000 –> 00:16:24.000
a be a better boss. How did you
00:16:24.000 –> 00:16:26.000
adapt to change now to take it to
00:16:26.000 –> 00:16:28.000
the level you’ve taken it to today? Yeah.
00:16:28.000 –> 00:16:30.000
I think that was kind of a one
00:16:30.000 –> 00:16:31.000
foot in front of the other. You know,
00:16:31.000 –> 00:16:33.000
I think I came back from, you know,
00:16:33.000 –> 00:16:35.000
I at that time, I was on this
00:16:35.000 –> 00:16:37.000
long Gilliland,
00:16:37.000 –> 00:16:38.000
came back from this trip, you know, just
00:16:38.000 –> 00:16:41.000
charged, right? And, you know, let’s go. We’re
00:16:41.000 –> 00:16:43.000
gonna change everything overnight.
00:16:45.000 –> 00:16:46.000
And, you know, quickly realized
00:16:47.000 –> 00:16:48.000
that that
00:16:48.000 –> 00:16:51.000
that doesn’t happen. Yep. In fact, I think
00:16:51.000 –> 00:16:54.000
when I told her now director of service,
00:16:55.000 –> 00:16:57.000
but she was a a server at the
00:16:57.000 –> 00:16:58.000
time. I told her that we were, you
00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:01.000
know, gonna be making these changes. She just
00:17:01.000 –> 00:17:04.000
laughed. Yeah. She Right? I believe when I
00:17:04.000 –> 00:17:05.000
see it, dude.
00:17:05.000 –> 00:17:07.000
Absolutely. And rightly so. Right? You know? But
00:17:07.000 –> 00:17:08.000
I think you gotta show up every day.
00:17:08.000 –> 00:17:10.000
Right? I mean, that’s the thing I think
00:17:10.000 –> 00:17:12.000
about when growing a business is even on
00:17:12.000 –> 00:17:14.000
the days you don’t wanna show up, you
00:17:14.000 –> 00:17:15.000
show up. And you gotta walk the walk,
00:17:15.000 –> 00:17:16.000
you know.
00:17:17.000 –> 00:17:19.000
Yeah. That’s amazing. So, again, change, talk about
00:17:19.000 –> 00:17:21.000
COVID, man. That that had to be of
00:17:21.000 –> 00:17:23.000
any business that had to be one of
00:17:23.000 –> 00:17:26.000
the biggest people, I think, in hospitality, to
00:17:26.000 –> 00:17:28.000
make a change, right, during all that. What
00:17:28.000 –> 00:17:29.000
what did you learn
00:17:29.000 –> 00:17:31.000
as a leader, as an owner, as an
00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:31.000
entrepreneur,
00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:33.000
as a dad? Like, what did you learn
00:17:33.000 –> 00:17:36.000
during that time frame? In COVID? Yeah. Oh
00:17:36.000 –> 00:17:37.000
my god.
00:17:39.000 –> 00:17:41.000
God, that was really horrible. Wasn’t it? Yeah.
00:17:42.000 –> 00:17:44.000
No. I, you know, I think we were
00:17:44.000 –> 00:17:44.000
fortunately
00:17:47.000 –> 00:17:50.000
you know, hitting hitting peak culture
00:17:50.000 –> 00:17:52.000
at that time, which was awesome because it
00:17:52.000 –> 00:17:53.000
really
00:17:54.000 –> 00:17:55.000
You know, it really no. I really mean
00:17:55.000 –> 00:17:58.000
it was awesome because it it really,
00:17:58.000 –> 00:18:01.000
everybody was working so well together.
00:18:02.000 –> 00:18:04.000
And I think we needed that. Right? We
00:18:04.000 –> 00:18:06.000
needed that to get through. We needed everybody
00:18:06.000 –> 00:18:09.000
kind of, you know, firing on all cylinders
00:18:09.000 –> 00:18:11.000
thinking about everybody else. And,
00:18:12.000 –> 00:18:15.000
you know, thinking about ourselves is is one
00:18:15.000 –> 00:18:17.000
large team. And I think that’s what really,
00:18:17.000 –> 00:18:19.000
you know, if if if COVID taught me
00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:21.000
anything is that that works.
00:18:21.000 –> 00:18:24.000
Yeah. You know, and that that’s really important.
00:18:24.000 –> 00:18:26.000
And you saw, I think a lot of
00:18:26.000 –> 00:18:28.000
other businesses, all of a sudden, trying to
00:18:28.000 –> 00:18:29.000
kinda scramble,
00:18:30.000 –> 00:18:32.000
you know, to to work on this culture
00:18:32.000 –> 00:18:33.000
thing,
00:18:33.000 –> 00:18:36.000
when all their employees left, you know, and
00:18:36.000 –> 00:18:38.000
I think we were in a great great
00:18:38.000 –> 00:18:38.000
position,
00:18:39.000 –> 00:18:41.000
because of that. Yeah. It’s funny you talk
00:18:41.000 –> 00:18:44.000
about that culture is during COVID for us,
00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:46.000
it was, you know, being in the finance
00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:47.000
world. We were able to obviously have conference
00:18:47.000 –> 00:18:48.000
calls and Zoom calls and do a lot
00:18:48.000 –> 00:18:50.000
of stuff with clients, but,
00:18:50.000 –> 00:18:52.000
you know, as a as a leader, we
00:18:52.000 –> 00:18:53.000
had to make a decision that people weren’t
00:18:53.000 –> 00:18:55.000
gonna come in the office Gilliland by about
00:18:55.000 –> 00:18:57.000
July, I think it was July of twenty
00:18:57.000 –> 00:18:58.000
twenty. So only three or four months into
00:18:58.000 –> 00:19:01.000
this, our culture said to us,
00:19:01.000 –> 00:19:02.000
we wanna be back together.
00:19:03.000 –> 00:19:04.000
You know, and so it’s like it was
00:19:04.000 –> 00:19:06.000
starting to have a negative effect by not
00:19:06.000 –> 00:19:07.000
being together on us. Right? And so it
00:19:07.000 –> 00:19:08.000
was cool to be able to make that
00:19:08.000 –> 00:19:11.000
change and be like, alright. Signed this form
00:19:11.000 –> 00:19:12.000
every day. We’re not taking responsibility to show
00:19:12.000 –> 00:19:14.000
up and get sick because nobody knew at
00:19:14.000 –> 00:19:16.000
that time. And Yeah. People started showing back
00:19:16.000 –> 00:19:18.000
up, and it was amazing how that culture
00:19:18.000 –> 00:19:20.000
and those values and that connection was super
00:19:20.000 –> 00:19:22.000
important to people Yeah. That made our our
00:19:22.000 –> 00:19:24.000
culture start to go in in the right
00:19:24.000 –> 00:19:27.000
direction again, which was a big moment. Yeah.
00:19:27.000 –> 00:19:29.000
I think kinda let everybody take it the
00:19:29.000 –> 00:19:29.000
way they
00:19:30.000 –> 00:19:32.000
they were ready to take it. Yeah. Right?
00:19:32.000 –> 00:19:34.000
You know, I think there were people that
00:19:34.000 –> 00:19:35.000
were ready to come back and
00:19:36.000 –> 00:19:39.000
and and work, and we all kind of,
00:19:39.000 –> 00:19:41.000
you know, did that. And we tried to
00:19:41.000 –> 00:19:44.000
do that in the safest way possible, and
00:19:44.000 –> 00:19:44.000
and,
00:19:45.000 –> 00:19:46.000
you know, worked a lot with, you know,
00:19:46.000 –> 00:19:50.000
a lot of the community leaders, the doctors
00:19:50.000 –> 00:19:51.000
in the area that were kind of advising
00:19:51.000 –> 00:19:54.000
us and in in giving us good intel
00:19:54.000 –> 00:19:56.000
on on how we could maybe do it
00:19:56.000 –> 00:19:57.000
more safely
00:19:58.000 –> 00:20:00.000
and, trying to help our friends do the
00:20:00.000 –> 00:20:01.000
exact same things.
00:20:01.000 –> 00:20:03.000
And, you know, I think,
00:20:04.000 –> 00:20:05.000
again, we we we had a lot of
00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:07.000
voices on the team, and,
00:20:08.000 –> 00:20:10.000
we all worked together really well to kind
00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:11.000
of push ourselves
00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:15.000
through a really, really rough time. So on
00:20:15.000 –> 00:20:16.000
the adapting to change,
00:20:17.000 –> 00:20:18.000
talk about needs. You you’ve talked about the
00:20:18.000 –> 00:20:20.000
restaurant. And and you decided to close it
00:20:20.000 –> 00:20:21.000
when it was
00:20:22.000 –> 00:20:24.000
booming. Right? Successful. And so, again, last night,
00:20:24.000 –> 00:20:26.000
I’m doing my work. I’m researching you. And
00:20:26.000 –> 00:20:27.000
I know the story. Right? I was in
00:20:27.000 –> 00:20:29.000
St. That happened and and like, hey, there’s
00:20:29.000 –> 00:20:31.000
a successful restaurant close, and you normally hear
00:20:31.000 –> 00:20:33.000
the other way. Right? So it’s a head
00:20:33.000 –> 00:20:35.000
scratcher as a business leader. This thing’s working
00:20:35.000 –> 00:20:37.000
the guy had the guts to go out
00:20:37.000 –> 00:20:39.000
there and close a successful restaurant.
00:20:39.000 –> 00:20:41.000
Walk me through that. What the hell was
00:20:41.000 –> 00:20:43.000
going on in your mind when that happened?
00:20:44.000 –> 00:20:47.000
You know, I think Nish was always tough.
00:20:47.000 –> 00:20:50.000
Right? And Nish was a very tough restaurant
00:20:50.000 –> 00:20:51.000
to
00:20:51.000 –> 00:20:54.000
operate. And, you know, we started in two
00:20:54.000 –> 00:20:56.000
thousand five, and I think we
00:20:56.000 –> 00:20:59.000
closed it in in what, two thousand, and,
00:21:00.000 –> 00:21:01.000
seventeen.
00:21:02.000 –> 00:21:04.000
You know, so that that’s a very long
00:21:04.000 –> 00:21:06.000
run for that restaurant. It was a very
00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:06.000
personal
00:21:07.000 –> 00:21:08.000
restaurant.
00:21:08.000 –> 00:21:09.000
And, you know, I know
00:21:10.000 –> 00:21:12.000
that I had just passed the reins off
00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:15.000
in two thousand fifteen as chef to Nate
00:21:15.000 –> 00:21:19.000
Hariford, who now is the successful chicken scratch
00:21:19.000 –> 00:21:19.000
restaurant.
00:21:22.000 –> 00:21:23.000
And I just
00:21:24.000 –> 00:21:26.000
You know, it was it was
00:21:26.000 –> 00:21:28.000
it was it’s such a good point that
00:21:28.000 –> 00:21:29.000
I never really wanted this this restaurant
00:21:33.000 –> 00:21:36.000
to start falling backwards. Yep. And I never
00:21:36.000 –> 00:21:38.000
wanted to, you know, be ten years down
00:21:38.000 –> 00:21:39.000
the road from there
00:21:41.000 –> 00:21:44.000
with everybody being like, oh, yeah. There’s there’s
00:21:44.000 –> 00:21:46.000
niche. It’s still there.
00:21:46.000 –> 00:21:48.000
You know, like Same old thing. Not the
00:21:48.000 –> 00:21:50.000
hot spot anymore or whatever. You know, I
00:21:50.000 –> 00:21:53.000
just I I I wanted it to, you
00:21:53.000 –> 00:21:55.000
know, I wanted the legacy of niche,
00:21:56.000 –> 00:21:58.000
you know, to, to end right there. It
00:21:58.000 –> 00:22:00.000
was kinda like that. That moment. We had
00:22:00.000 –> 00:22:02.000
won the James Beard award two years before.
00:22:03.000 –> 00:22:04.000
It was just kind of
00:22:05.000 –> 00:22:07.000
it just felt like that time. Yeah.
00:22:07.000 –> 00:22:09.000
Well, take some guts, man. Well, I don’t
00:22:09.000 –> 00:22:11.000
know if it’s guts here. Just so we’re
00:22:11.000 –> 00:22:12.000
always here. I I think it it is
00:22:12.000 –> 00:22:14.000
amazing, but it but you’re right. It’s like
00:22:14.000 –> 00:22:15.000
you were talking about our, you know, you
00:22:15.000 –> 00:22:16.000
have a senior, I have a senior.
00:22:16.000 –> 00:22:18.000
Is it’d be like holding our kids back,
00:22:18.000 –> 00:22:20.000
right, not letting them go. And I think
00:22:20.000 –> 00:22:22.000
your decision to close that was probably has
00:22:22.000 –> 00:22:23.000
catapulted you into another level of belief
00:22:26.000 –> 00:22:28.000
growth and expectations. Would you agree with that?
00:22:28.000 –> 00:22:30.000
Yeah. And I think, you know, it’s just
00:22:30.000 –> 00:22:33.000
kind of it’s it’s allowed us to change
00:22:34.000 –> 00:22:36.000
what we do and what I do specifically
00:22:36.000 –> 00:22:38.000
Yep. For the company, you know, as opposed
00:22:38.000 –> 00:22:39.000
to, you know, being on the line or
00:22:39.000 –> 00:22:40.000
or whatever on on
00:22:42.000 –> 00:22:44.000
such a regular basis,
00:22:45.000 –> 00:22:47.000
and kind of, you know, traveling to represent
00:22:47.000 –> 00:22:49.000
niche around the country, which I was doing
00:22:49.000 –> 00:22:50.000
all the time.
00:22:51.000 –> 00:22:53.000
You know, this allowed me to kind of
00:22:53.000 –> 00:22:54.000
really be the CEO
00:22:55.000 –> 00:22:57.000
of the company. Yeah. And I actually
00:22:57.000 –> 00:22:59.000
do the things that I needed to do
00:22:59.000 –> 00:23:01.000
to to grow the company and to, you
00:23:01.000 –> 00:23:02.000
know,
00:23:03.000 –> 00:23:05.000
give back to our investors and and
00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:07.000
and help us Brett to the next level.
00:23:07.000 –> 00:23:09.000
How hard was it for you to leave
00:23:09.000 –> 00:23:11.000
the kitchen and get into, again, the the
00:23:11.000 –> 00:23:13.000
boardroom, if you will, how hard was that
00:23:13.000 –> 00:23:14.000
for you? It’s still hard.
00:23:15.000 –> 00:23:17.000
Yeah. That’s your passion. That’s your baby. I
00:23:17.000 –> 00:23:20.000
I enjoy cooking. I really do. And,
00:23:21.000 –> 00:23:23.000
I wouldn’t say I’m the best CEO in
00:23:23.000 –> 00:23:23.000
the world
00:23:24.000 –> 00:23:26.000
You know, I’m I I know there there’s
00:23:26.000 –> 00:23:28.000
there’s far better than than me out there.
00:23:28.000 –> 00:23:31.000
I’m constantly trying, but, you know, it it’s
00:23:31.000 –> 00:23:33.000
tough to to step away and just kind
00:23:33.000 –> 00:23:35.000
of do what you need to do at
00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:37.000
the time versus what you want to do
00:23:37.000 –> 00:23:40.000
at the time. So talk about building brand.
00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:42.000
Obviously, the the the niche group, because there
00:23:42.000 –> 00:23:44.000
are heavy restaurants total are there right now?
00:23:44.000 –> 00:23:44.000
God.
00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:47.000
Well, we have some shifting going on right
00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:49.000
now. So it’s it’s messing with my car
00:23:49.000 –> 00:23:51.000
at the end of January. A little bit.
00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:54.000
You know, we’ve, cinder house, has closed.
00:23:56.000 –> 00:23:58.000
And Rockwell. It’s my favorite chicken sandwich downtown
00:23:58.000 –> 00:24:00.000
here. So the period period? Yeah.
00:24:01.000 –> 00:24:02.000
I’m sorry. I don’t know what that is,
00:24:02.000 –> 00:24:03.000
but it’s some good stuff. I do a
00:24:03.000 –> 00:24:06.000
meeting there once a quarter. Yeah. Every quarter,
00:24:06.000 –> 00:24:08.000
I do a meeting there, an off-site retreat.
00:24:08.000 –> 00:24:10.000
So I anybody listening. Take your team off-site.
00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:11.000
You go somewhere. You learn. You you think
00:24:11.000 –> 00:24:12.000
you strategize.
00:24:13.000 –> 00:24:14.000
We always went there, and that’s a chicken
00:24:14.000 –> 00:24:16.000
sandwich I had every time. Yeah. No. I
00:24:16.000 –> 00:24:18.000
s senator I was one of my favorite
00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:19.000
places.
00:24:20.000 –> 00:24:22.000
But, you know, it it’s business. We,
00:24:23.000 –> 00:24:25.000
you know, we had a five year contract
00:24:25.000 –> 00:24:26.000
and,
00:24:26.000 –> 00:24:28.000
you know, they’re owned by,
00:24:29.000 –> 00:24:31.000
Caesar’s Palace, Okay. And, you know, they wanna
00:24:31.000 –> 00:24:33.000
do something, I think, a little more bagasse.
00:24:34.000 –> 00:24:36.000
And, you know, it’s not your style.
00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:39.000
Well, I, you know, I it’s also just
00:24:39.000 –> 00:24:41.000
not me. I’m not I’m not from Vegas.
00:24:41.000 –> 00:24:43.000
You know, I am not a Vegas restaurant.
00:24:43.000 –> 00:24:44.000
Oh, it’s funny.
00:24:45.000 –> 00:24:47.000
But a brands for what strategies,
00:24:47.000 –> 00:24:49.000
maybe mindset, thoughts do you have when you
00:24:49.000 –> 00:24:52.000
think about your brands, you name your brands,
00:24:52.000 –> 00:24:54.000
you design your brands, what what does that
00:24:54.000 –> 00:24:56.000
look like? What’s that process look like for
00:24:56.000 –> 00:24:56.000
you?
00:24:57.000 –> 00:24:59.000
Yeah. So I a lot of research,
00:25:00.000 –> 00:25:02.000
you know, we really wanna kind of dive
00:25:02.000 –> 00:25:02.000
into
00:25:03.000 –> 00:25:04.000
that world,
00:25:04.000 –> 00:25:07.000
whatever that might be. And,
00:25:07.000 –> 00:25:10.000
you know, so for the, you know, Craft
00:25:10.000 –> 00:25:13.000
cocktail world. Fortunately, it’s one that we’ve been
00:25:13.000 –> 00:25:15.000
in for a long time because
00:25:15.000 –> 00:25:18.000
taste, you know, was one of the
00:25:19.000 –> 00:25:21.000
one of the, you know, kind of original
00:25:21.000 –> 00:25:23.000
craft cocktail bars in the country. I mean,
00:25:23.000 –> 00:25:26.000
there was, you know, there was a couple
00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:28.000
dozen at the time that we that we
00:25:28.000 –> 00:25:29.000
opened. So,
00:25:30.000 –> 00:25:34.000
really kind of immersing ourselves in that experience
00:25:34.000 –> 00:25:36.000
and just kinda going through all the details,
00:25:36.000 –> 00:25:38.000
you know, what What what does the menu
00:25:38.000 –> 00:25:40.000
look like? What do people
00:25:40.000 –> 00:25:43.000
really enjoy? What do people want?
00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:45.000
Is this a, you know, luxurious
00:25:45.000 –> 00:25:47.000
experience, or is it a kind of divey
00:25:47.000 –> 00:25:50.000
experience? Is this, you know, which this is
00:25:50.000 –> 00:25:50.000
decidedly
00:25:51.000 –> 00:25:52.000
luxurious?
00:25:53.000 –> 00:25:54.000
Know, how do we want the service to
00:25:54.000 –> 00:25:56.000
be? How do we want the
00:25:56.000 –> 00:25:58.000
the servers to
00:25:58.000 –> 00:26:01.000
to dress? How do we want
00:26:02.000 –> 00:26:04.000
the ice to look. What is the lighting?
00:26:04.000 –> 00:26:06.000
You know, I mean, there’s we we try
00:26:06.000 –> 00:26:08.000
to really dive into every little piece
00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:12.000
of that restaurant in that genre,
00:26:13.000 –> 00:26:15.000
to try to get it right. Big guys
00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:16.000
are little eyes for the bourbon.
00:26:17.000 –> 00:26:20.000
For me, no ice. No ice. Yeah.
00:26:20.000 –> 00:26:22.000
But, you know,
00:26:22.000 –> 00:26:25.000
for if I’m drinking gin and soda,
00:26:26.000 –> 00:26:28.000
I have a thing where I actually don’t
00:26:28.000 –> 00:26:30.000
like the big ice cube because I kind
00:26:30.000 –> 00:26:32.000
of want it to to keep melting a
00:26:32.000 –> 00:26:35.000
little bit. Yeah. I think the big ice
00:26:35.000 –> 00:26:37.000
has its place. Yeah. You know,
00:26:37.000 –> 00:26:39.000
when you don’t want any dilution, you just
00:26:39.000 –> 00:26:41.000
want it kind of cold.
00:26:41.000 –> 00:26:43.000
But if you wanna kinda dilute it, I
00:26:43.000 –> 00:26:45.000
like the, I like the little eyes. I’m
00:26:45.000 –> 00:26:47.000
a big ice guy in the bourbon. Yeah.
00:26:47.000 –> 00:26:48.000
Not that you really care, but,
00:26:50.000 –> 00:26:50.000
so,
00:26:51.000 –> 00:26:52.000
locations. So I think for me, we have
00:26:52.000 –> 00:26:54.000
eight office locations, and I think, you know,
00:26:54.000 –> 00:26:56.000
the hardest part is when you had one,
00:26:56.000 –> 00:26:57.000
you could walk to go get a cup
00:26:57.000 –> 00:26:59.000
of water and and touch everybody in your
00:26:59.000 –> 00:27:02.000
Right? Now with eight locations, you can’t do
00:27:02.000 –> 00:27:03.000
that. And you may go months, right, without
00:27:03.000 –> 00:27:06.000
seeing somebody. So how do you, one,
00:27:06.000 –> 00:27:09.000
touch everybody in in the company, but number
00:27:09.000 –> 00:27:12.000
two, how do you, expect the the customer
00:27:12.000 –> 00:27:14.000
service to be this, not necessarily the same,
00:27:14.000 –> 00:27:16.000
but high value, high customer service at all
00:27:16.000 –> 00:27:17.000
the locations?
00:27:17.000 –> 00:27:19.000
Yeah. I mean, number one, your manager is
00:27:19.000 –> 00:27:22.000
everything. Yeah. Right. Your your GM
00:27:23.000 –> 00:27:23.000
is
00:27:24.000 –> 00:27:26.000
is the place. You know, whether you whether
00:27:26.000 –> 00:27:28.000
whether you think you’re the place or or
00:27:28.000 –> 00:27:29.000
not, like that your
00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:32.000
your GM is is the person for better
00:27:32.000 –> 00:27:35.000
or worse. So, you know, hiring that person’s
00:27:35.000 –> 00:27:36.000
huge.
00:27:38.000 –> 00:27:39.000
You know, I think always trying to keep
00:27:39.000 –> 00:27:40.000
communication
00:27:40.000 –> 00:27:42.000
channels open somehow.
00:27:42.000 –> 00:27:44.000
Something that we’ve always kind of worked on
00:27:44.000 –> 00:27:46.000
and, you know, we’ve we’ve used to different
00:27:46.000 –> 00:27:48.000
things like the local company here, Bonfire,
00:27:50.000 –> 00:27:52.000
or even just kinda like WhatsApp threads Mhmm.
00:27:53.000 –> 00:27:55.000
Stuff like that to really try to
00:27:55.000 –> 00:27:57.000
to keep that connection
00:27:58.000 –> 00:28:00.000
going. You know? So even if you it,
00:28:00.000 –> 00:28:02.000
you know, be there in person. Like, for
00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:02.000
instance,
00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:05.000
Nashville, I I can only get there. Usually
00:28:05.000 –> 00:28:08.000
for one week, every five weeks. It used
00:28:08.000 –> 00:28:10.000
to be once a month. Now it’s every
00:28:10.000 –> 00:28:10.000
five weeks.
00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:14.000
You know, so you you still have to
00:28:14.000 –> 00:28:16.000
kind of keep some dialogue. And so you
00:28:16.000 –> 00:28:18.000
know, and I’ll I’ll go through different things
00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:21.000
where I’ll set up, one on ones, you
00:28:21.000 –> 00:28:24.000
know, phone calls or group phone calls with
00:28:24.000 –> 00:28:27.000
different people to try to again, start talking
00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:28.000
about
00:28:28.000 –> 00:28:31.000
food, talk about dishes. Let’s talk about wine.
00:28:32.000 –> 00:28:34.000
Let’s talk about service. Let’s talk about finance.
00:28:34.000 –> 00:28:36.000
Yeah. You know, so try to connect with
00:28:36.000 –> 00:28:38.000
people at different levels
00:28:38.000 –> 00:28:41.000
at different times too. So I don’t want
00:28:41.000 –> 00:28:42.000
it to always be like,
00:28:42.000 –> 00:28:45.000
just me calling about why the P and
00:28:45.000 –> 00:28:46.000
L list sucks.
00:28:46.000 –> 00:28:48.000
But, you know, I want it to be
00:28:48.000 –> 00:28:50.000
like, yo, you know, let’s let’s talk about
00:28:50.000 –> 00:28:53.000
Amelia Romagna. Yeah. Let’s talk about food and
00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:56.000
How how much do you let them decide
00:28:56.000 –> 00:28:57.000
what’s on the menu?
00:28:57.000 –> 00:28:59.000
A lot. You have a lot
00:29:00.000 –> 00:29:01.000
lot of leeway.
00:29:02.000 –> 00:29:05.000
You know, again, you’re you’re hiring professionals Gilliland,
00:29:06.000 –> 00:29:07.000
you know, I think
00:29:07.000 –> 00:29:10.000
honesty is one of our core values.
00:29:10.000 –> 00:29:13.000
And I think that’s where, you know, we
00:29:13.000 –> 00:29:15.000
get the these conversations going. Right? You know,
00:29:15.000 –> 00:29:18.000
we we’re all very honest with each other
00:29:18.000 –> 00:29:19.000
about what’s working.
00:29:19.000 –> 00:29:23.000
What’s not working, what’s good, what’s not good.
00:29:23.000 –> 00:29:25.000
You know, we added hospitality
00:29:26.000 –> 00:29:26.000
into those,
00:29:28.000 –> 00:29:30.000
core values because I think, you know, in
00:29:30.000 –> 00:29:32.000
the early days, I was not so nice
00:29:32.000 –> 00:29:34.000
about how honest I was Yeah. About everything.
00:29:34.000 –> 00:29:35.000
More delivery.
00:29:36.000 –> 00:29:36.000
Yeah.
00:29:37.000 –> 00:29:39.000
Yeah. Way better delivery. And
00:29:39.000 –> 00:29:42.000
Working on your side. Yeah. But, you know,
00:29:42.000 –> 00:29:44.000
but it You know, when we when we
00:29:44.000 –> 00:29:46.000
first shifted our culture and we were trying
00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:48.000
to kinda, like, soften the culture,
00:29:49.000 –> 00:29:51.000
like, that honesty piece started to go away
00:29:51.000 –> 00:29:52.000
for a little bit. And that what we
00:29:52.000 –> 00:29:53.000
realized how
00:29:54.000 –> 00:29:54.000
crucial
00:29:56.000 –> 00:29:58.000
that piece is. And it’s really hard for
00:29:58.000 –> 00:29:59.000
people to
00:30:00.000 –> 00:30:00.000
to
00:30:01.000 –> 00:30:03.000
come to if they’re coming from somewhere else.
00:30:03.000 –> 00:30:04.000
Yep. It’s hard for them to hear all
00:30:04.000 –> 00:30:07.000
that honesty, and it’s hard for them to
00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:07.000
give
00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:10.000
all that honesty. But, yeah, I think that
00:30:10.000 –> 00:30:11.000
piece is critical
00:30:11.000 –> 00:30:12.000
when you have multiple.
00:30:13.000 –> 00:30:15.000
Yeah. The feedback’s big. Gilliland if you’re not
00:30:15.000 –> 00:30:17.000
opening the feedback as a leader, they’re not
00:30:17.000 –> 00:30:18.000
gonna they’re not gonna bring it up to
00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:20.000
you as well. Yeah. No. Which is tough.
00:30:20.000 –> 00:30:22.000
If you gotta it’s a this is
00:30:22.000 –> 00:30:24.000
a fair game over here, you know, this
00:30:24.000 –> 00:30:26.000
is, when when you say we,
00:30:27.000 –> 00:30:29.000
you know, that means that everybody should be
00:30:29.000 –> 00:30:33.000
honest. Yeah. You know, if you’re crappy CEO
00:30:33.000 –> 00:30:35.000
and somebody wants to tell you, you know,
00:30:35.000 –> 00:30:38.000
why you gotta listen. Yeah. Yeah. And not
00:30:38.000 –> 00:30:40.000
respond. Right? Listen is not response.
00:30:41.000 –> 00:30:42.000
So if I followed you around, my boy
00:30:42.000 –> 00:30:44.000
Matt over here follows you around with cameras,
00:30:44.000 –> 00:30:46.000
let’s say, for, you know, the next week.
00:30:46.000 –> 00:30:48.000
What what am I gonna see day in
00:30:48.000 –> 00:30:49.000
and day out
00:30:49.000 –> 00:30:51.000
that that Gerard Craft is not missing.
00:30:52.000 –> 00:30:54.000
That I am not missing. Yeah. Like, are
00:30:54.000 –> 00:30:56.000
there daily habits for you that are, like,
00:30:56.000 –> 00:30:57.000
kinda non negotiables?
00:30:59.000 –> 00:30:59.000
Coffee,
00:31:00.000 –> 00:31:03.000
a lot of coffee. I have to have
00:31:03.000 –> 00:31:05.000
three cups of coffee before I do anything
00:31:06.000 –> 00:31:07.000
in the day.
00:31:09.000 –> 00:31:10.000
You know, I
00:31:10.000 –> 00:31:13.000
go through every single morning and and check
00:31:13.000 –> 00:31:14.000
the shift notes.
00:31:14.000 –> 00:31:16.000
And so I see, you know, what happened
00:31:16.000 –> 00:31:18.000
in every single restaurant the night before
00:31:19.000 –> 00:31:22.000
from sales to to, you know,
00:31:23.000 –> 00:31:25.000
who might be in that we know, what
00:31:25.000 –> 00:31:26.000
kind of regulars we’re in,
00:31:27.000 –> 00:31:28.000
you know, anything bad that happened
00:31:29.000 –> 00:31:30.000
in that service.
00:31:30.000 –> 00:31:32.000
Oh, they making notes that, you know, John
00:31:32.000 –> 00:31:34.000
and Sally were in and they’re gonna be
00:31:34.000 –> 00:31:37.000
okay. So that just shows up Yep. So
00:31:37.000 –> 00:31:39.000
it it at the end of every night
00:31:39.000 –> 00:31:41.000
or end of every shift,
00:31:42.000 –> 00:31:45.000
each manager puts in their shift notes. And
00:31:45.000 –> 00:31:47.000
so, again, that goes sales, that goes,
00:31:47.000 –> 00:31:49.000
you know, and just what happened. Yeah. You
00:31:49.000 –> 00:31:51.000
know, give me give me a synopsis
00:31:52.000 –> 00:31:53.000
of
00:31:53.000 –> 00:31:54.000
of
00:31:54.000 –> 00:31:56.000
what went down last night. And what does
00:31:56.000 –> 00:31:57.000
that do for you in that moment? Did
00:31:57.000 –> 00:31:59.000
do you do anything with that information? Or
00:31:59.000 –> 00:32:01.000
is that more of just let’s let’s watch
00:32:01.000 –> 00:32:03.000
this, keep eye on it, or does it
00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:04.000
actually change your daily,
00:32:05.000 –> 00:32:07.000
Yeah. Some things might need a a direct
00:32:07.000 –> 00:32:07.000
follow-up,
00:32:08.000 –> 00:32:12.000
you know, or quick quick conversation. Like, what
00:32:12.000 –> 00:32:12.000
the hell?
00:32:13.000 –> 00:32:13.000
Last night.
00:32:15.000 –> 00:32:15.000
You know,
00:32:16.000 –> 00:32:18.000
or it’s just starting to kind of see
00:32:18.000 –> 00:32:20.000
patterns. You know, this is where you really,
00:32:20.000 –> 00:32:23.000
you know, just start to get a feel
00:32:23.000 –> 00:32:25.000
for for what’s going on. You might say,
00:32:25.000 –> 00:32:27.000
Hey, I need to spend I think I
00:32:27.000 –> 00:32:28.000
need to spend a little more time
00:32:29.000 –> 00:32:31.000
in this restaurant. Right? I need to to
00:32:32.000 –> 00:32:34.000
shift more of my energy over here.
00:32:35.000 –> 00:32:37.000
You know? Yeah. So I think that that
00:32:37.000 –> 00:32:40.000
always kind of like starts my day
00:32:40.000 –> 00:32:42.000
with the direction. Then I usually look at
00:32:42.000 –> 00:32:43.000
my calendar
00:32:44.000 –> 00:32:46.000
which I usually do right before I go
00:32:46.000 –> 00:32:49.000
to sleep so I can set five million
00:32:49.000 –> 00:32:49.000
alarms.
00:32:51.000 –> 00:32:53.000
Because because my memory is really, really bad.
00:32:53.000 –> 00:32:55.000
So I need five million alarms through the
00:32:55.000 –> 00:32:58.000
day to to remind me that I have
00:32:58.000 –> 00:32:59.000
something else
00:32:59.000 –> 00:32:59.000
after.
00:33:00.000 –> 00:33:00.000
But,
00:33:01.000 –> 00:33:04.000
yeah, and then I then I usually kinda
00:33:04.000 –> 00:33:04.000
head into
00:33:05.000 –> 00:33:08.000
to either my office, which is over at
00:33:08.000 –> 00:33:09.000
Boe wood,
00:33:09.000 –> 00:33:11.000
or kinda pop into one of the restaurants.
00:33:11.000 –> 00:33:12.000
And
00:33:12.000 –> 00:33:13.000
Is it exercise,
00:33:14.000 –> 00:33:15.000
eating? Is that a I mean, obviously, the
00:33:15.000 –> 00:33:17.000
restaurant whatever the heck you want. But is
00:33:17.000 –> 00:33:18.000
that is that to be a focus for
00:33:18.000 –> 00:33:19.000
you?
00:33:19.000 –> 00:33:21.000
Yeah. You know, so
00:33:21.000 –> 00:33:22.000
I try to
00:33:23.000 –> 00:33:26.000
work out every other day. Yep. It it
00:33:26.000 –> 00:33:27.000
a minimum.
00:33:27.000 –> 00:33:29.000
And, you know, that’s
00:33:29.000 –> 00:33:32.000
usually on, like, a stationary bike trainer.
00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:35.000
I live on some mountain bike trails. So,
00:33:35.000 –> 00:33:37.000
you know, when the weather’s a little nicer,
00:33:37.000 –> 00:33:39.000
I try to try to pop out on
00:33:39.000 –> 00:33:41.000
the trails. Nice.
00:33:41.000 –> 00:33:42.000
Get outside a little bit. But but that’s
00:33:42.000 –> 00:33:43.000
definitely important. And when I’m not doing
00:33:47.000 –> 00:33:48.000
that,
00:33:48.000 –> 00:33:49.000
is bad. Yeah.
00:33:50.000 –> 00:33:51.000
Need to get out. Need to Brett moving.
00:33:51.000 –> 00:33:53.000
You gotta keep your body moving. Do you
00:33:53.000 –> 00:33:54.000
have any of those moments? Like, I I
00:33:54.000 –> 00:33:56.000
hate to call them pinch me moments, but
00:33:56.000 –> 00:33:58.000
where you kinda you slow down and think
00:33:58.000 –> 00:34:00.000
about some of the things that you’re doing
00:34:00.000 –> 00:34:02.000
and some of the situations you find yourself
00:34:02.000 –> 00:34:04.000
in now from from where you’ve come from
00:34:04.000 –> 00:34:06.000
to where you’re at now. Because I I
00:34:06.000 –> 00:34:07.000
try to do that. Right? I’m like, like,
00:34:07.000 –> 00:34:09.000
this. For me, this is freaking cool. Like,
00:34:09.000 –> 00:34:10.000
this is really cool to do this. These
00:34:10.000 –> 00:34:12.000
are pinch me moments is what I would
00:34:12.000 –> 00:34:13.000
call them. Like, do you have any of
00:34:13.000 –> 00:34:15.000
those moments? And do you slow down and
00:34:15.000 –> 00:34:16.000
appreciate them enough?
00:34:17.000 –> 00:34:18.000
You know, I’m I’m pretty hard on myself.
00:34:19.000 –> 00:34:19.000
Yeah.
00:34:20.000 –> 00:34:20.000
So,
00:34:21.000 –> 00:34:23.000
you know, I I’m very grateful
00:34:24.000 –> 00:34:26.000
for everything. Yep.
00:34:27.000 –> 00:34:29.000
But, you know, I I think it’s really
00:34:29.000 –> 00:34:31.000
hard to kind of
00:34:32.000 –> 00:34:32.000
look back
00:34:33.000 –> 00:34:35.000
and just be like, oh, this is awesome.
00:34:35.000 –> 00:34:38.000
Yeah. When when something’s currently not awesome. Right?
00:34:38.000 –> 00:34:40.000
You’re like, you know, and there’s kind of
00:34:40.000 –> 00:34:43.000
always something that is currently not awesome.
00:34:44.000 –> 00:34:44.000
So
00:34:45.000 –> 00:34:47.000
every now and then, I definitely try to
00:34:47.000 –> 00:34:48.000
do that.
00:34:49.000 –> 00:34:51.000
You know, but it is tough. I I’m
00:34:51.000 –> 00:34:53.000
I do some stuff with,
00:34:54.000 –> 00:34:55.000
for team USA
00:34:55.000 –> 00:34:57.000
with Boku store, Oh, cool. And and those
00:34:57.000 –> 00:35:00.000
are usually pinch me moments because I’m like,
00:35:00.000 –> 00:35:02.000
oh my god. What’s going on? Thomas Keller’s
00:35:02.000 –> 00:35:05.000
over there? Daniel Blues’s over there. Like,
00:35:05.000 –> 00:35:06.000
Paul Bartelodos
00:35:06.000 –> 00:35:09.000
over there. Like, you know, we’re all just
00:35:09.000 –> 00:35:12.000
talking. And so so some sometimes, you know,
00:35:13.000 –> 00:35:15.000
I get in those moments where I’m like,
00:35:15.000 –> 00:35:18.000
I probably shouldn’t be here, but somehow I
00:35:18.000 –> 00:35:19.000
am.
00:35:19.000 –> 00:35:20.000
Yeah. Which is awesome. Can I give you
00:35:20.000 –> 00:35:22.000
an exercise on work? Uh-huh. Yeah. So I
00:35:22.000 –> 00:35:24.000
do every ninety days. I do what’s called
00:35:24.000 –> 00:35:26.000
a gratitude worksheet. I go are you a
00:35:26.000 –> 00:35:27.000
pic do you take a lot of pictures?
00:35:27.000 –> 00:35:29.000
Yeah. So I go through every ninety days
00:35:29.000 –> 00:35:31.000
the calendar quarter. So I just got done.
00:35:31.000 –> 00:35:33.000
I go through and look at every picture
00:35:33.000 –> 00:35:35.000
I took the last ninety days. And I
00:35:35.000 –> 00:35:37.000
actually write down in my journal, like, what
00:35:37.000 –> 00:35:38.000
I did. Hey, I’m sitting over here at
00:35:38.000 –> 00:35:40.000
this thing, right, for Team USA.
00:35:40.000 –> 00:35:42.000
Pretty cool. I did this. I had dinner
00:35:42.000 –> 00:35:45.000
with friends here. And so for me, it
00:35:45.000 –> 00:35:47.000
helps me every ninety days to look back
00:35:47.000 –> 00:35:49.000
on those things that normally I don’t look
00:35:49.000 –> 00:35:51.000
back on my pictures. Right? And you just
00:35:51.000 –> 00:35:52.000
take them and then you never look at
00:35:52.000 –> 00:35:53.000
them again. But what it’s helped me over
00:35:53.000 –> 00:35:55.000
the last four or five years, is to
00:35:55.000 –> 00:35:57.000
slow down to speed up, but slow down
00:35:57.000 –> 00:35:58.000
so I can look at all the things
00:35:58.000 –> 00:36:00.000
to be grateful for. And I find myself
00:36:00.000 –> 00:36:03.000
in moments like this, knowing I can’t wait
00:36:03.000 –> 00:36:05.000
to write this down on March thirty first
00:36:05.000 –> 00:36:07.000
that I Brett with Gerard Craft, and we
00:36:07.000 –> 00:36:09.000
had an awesome kick ass podcast. Right? Like,
00:36:09.000 –> 00:36:11.000
helps me be in the moment. So That’s
00:36:11.000 –> 00:36:13.000
cool. For whatever that’s worth, I should definitely
00:36:13.000 –> 00:36:14.000
try that. Maybe give it a shot. I’ll
00:36:14.000 –> 00:36:16.000
text you March thirty first and tell you
00:36:16.000 –> 00:36:17.000
to look at your camera.
00:36:17.000 –> 00:36:20.000
Any moments for you stick out where you,
00:36:20.000 –> 00:36:22.000
like, this failure, this this thing that wasn’t
00:36:22.000 –> 00:36:24.000
going well that sticks out for you that
00:36:24.000 –> 00:36:26.000
you wanna share that that you could share
00:36:26.000 –> 00:36:28.000
that had a really big moment in defining
00:36:28.000 –> 00:36:31.000
moment for you. Oh my god. How many
00:36:31.000 –> 00:36:33.000
how many failure moments do I have? You
00:36:33.000 –> 00:36:35.000
know, so failure is one of our core
00:36:35.000 –> 00:36:36.000
values. Okay.
00:36:37.000 –> 00:36:39.000
I love that. Yeah. Well, embracing
00:36:39.000 –> 00:36:40.000
it. And,
00:36:41.000 –> 00:36:43.000
and and not to say, you know, failing
00:36:43.000 –> 00:36:45.000
over and over at the same same thing,
00:36:45.000 –> 00:36:48.000
but But, you know, we we all really
00:36:48.000 –> 00:36:50.000
learn from our failures. Yep. Right? You know,
00:36:50.000 –> 00:36:51.000
I think,
00:36:52.000 –> 00:36:54.000
I I heard somebody talking recently about you
00:36:54.000 –> 00:36:56.000
know, kids who maybe,
00:36:57.000 –> 00:36:59.000
everything was easy for them in high school
00:36:59.000 –> 00:37:00.000
or something. Right? Like,
00:37:01.000 –> 00:37:01.000
you know,
00:37:02.000 –> 00:37:03.000
guy who, you know,
00:37:04.000 –> 00:37:06.000
you know, always had a date who, you
00:37:06.000 –> 00:37:08.000
know, captain of the football team or whatever
00:37:08.000 –> 00:37:12.000
often struggle later in life because they’re just
00:37:12.000 –> 00:37:14.000
They just never had to, like, hustle or
00:37:14.000 –> 00:37:16.000
figure it out to, like, get to that
00:37:16.000 –> 00:37:18.000
Yep. Next level. And,
00:37:18.000 –> 00:37:20.000
so so I think so many of the
00:37:20.000 –> 00:37:22.000
failures in my life So maybe maybe I’m
00:37:22.000 –> 00:37:25.000
more successful because I’ve failed so damn much.
00:37:26.000 –> 00:37:28.000
It’s like, let’s get a sky break. Yeah.
00:37:28.000 –> 00:37:29.000
You know, and and,
00:37:30.000 –> 00:37:32.000
increasingly in still do. So I think failures
00:37:33.000 –> 00:37:33.000
are always,
00:37:35.000 –> 00:37:38.000
always huge. You know, I think niche Nish
00:37:38.000 –> 00:37:41.000
was a huge lesson in failure.
00:37:42.000 –> 00:37:44.000
And, you know, I think Nish, everybody looked
00:37:44.000 –> 00:37:46.000
at Nish, is this, like, trajectory
00:37:47.000 –> 00:37:49.000
from two thousand five to, you know, James
00:37:49.000 –> 00:37:51.000
Beard award, Foon wine, best new chef,
00:37:52.000 –> 00:37:54.000
and just kind of like just kept seeing
00:37:54.000 –> 00:37:56.000
these things rack up.
00:37:56.000 –> 00:37:57.000
But I think
00:37:59.000 –> 00:37:59.000
definitely
00:38:00.000 –> 00:38:01.000
there were two times that we were
00:38:02.000 –> 00:38:05.000
hairs away from going out of business
00:38:05.000 –> 00:38:07.000
that I was talking to people in New
00:38:07.000 –> 00:38:09.000
York and DC about jobs.
00:38:11.000 –> 00:38:12.000
You know, so
00:38:12.000 –> 00:38:14.000
Like, I have been,
00:38:15.000 –> 00:38:17.000
you know, two thousand eight financial crisis.
00:38:20.000 –> 00:38:21.000
Was was definitely,
00:38:22.000 –> 00:38:24.000
you know, it was actually probably two thousand
00:38:24.000 –> 00:38:27.000
ten. Right? So, like, the tail and when
00:38:27.000 –> 00:38:29.000
everything I feel like in Saint Louis was
00:38:29.000 –> 00:38:30.000
was way harder.
00:38:32.000 –> 00:38:34.000
And they had just shut our highway down.
00:38:35.000 –> 00:38:37.000
Highway forty, which is like the main way
00:38:37.000 –> 00:38:39.000
to get to niche back then,
00:38:40.000 –> 00:38:40.000
and,
00:38:41.000 –> 00:38:43.000
and it was brutal. And, you know, I
00:38:43.000 –> 00:38:44.000
think working
00:38:44.000 –> 00:38:47.000
working our way through that, you know, taught
00:38:47.000 –> 00:38:48.000
us a lot. I mean, it taught me
00:38:48.000 –> 00:38:50.000
a lot about finance because Yep. Because I
00:38:50.000 –> 00:38:52.000
think I did not
00:38:53.000 –> 00:38:54.000
understand finances
00:38:54.000 –> 00:38:56.000
as well as I needed to
00:38:56.000 –> 00:38:57.000
at that point.
00:38:58.000 –> 00:38:58.000
And,
00:38:59.000 –> 00:39:00.000
you know, I
00:39:00.000 –> 00:39:02.000
you you learned so many of these lessons,
00:39:02.000 –> 00:39:04.000
and we call a lot of these things
00:39:04.000 –> 00:39:05.000
failure capital.
00:39:06.000 –> 00:39:07.000
And,
00:39:08.000 –> 00:39:10.000
you know, one one of our biggest failure
00:39:10.000 –> 00:39:11.000
capitals was Pirano.
00:39:11.000 –> 00:39:15.000
Which we’re reopening now. And it’s like this
00:39:15.000 –> 00:39:17.000
this stock that you have. All these failures
00:39:17.000 –> 00:39:19.000
are things to build on later. So Pirano
00:39:19.000 –> 00:39:20.000
didn’t make it downtown.
00:39:21.000 –> 00:39:23.000
You know, but here we are seven years
00:39:23.000 –> 00:39:24.000
later
00:39:24.000 –> 00:39:26.000
about to open, you know, in a few
00:39:26.000 –> 00:39:28.000
months and to pair
00:39:28.000 –> 00:39:29.000
with another one.
00:39:30.000 –> 00:39:32.000
You know, I think it’s
00:39:33.000 –> 00:39:35.000
sometimes things don’t happen
00:39:35.000 –> 00:39:38.000
the way they’re supposed to happen because of
00:39:38.000 –> 00:39:39.000
the time.
00:39:39.000 –> 00:39:42.000
Right? You know, maybe it was too soon.
00:39:43.000 –> 00:39:46.000
Or something like that, you know. So I
00:39:46.000 –> 00:39:48.000
don’t know. I stack all my failures
00:39:48.000 –> 00:39:50.000
away in a file that I can kind
00:39:50.000 –> 00:39:53.000
of reach back to at any point in
00:39:53.000 –> 00:39:55.000
time. Would would you say you’re a guy
00:39:55.000 –> 00:39:55.000
that
00:39:56.000 –> 00:39:57.000
do you dwell on the failure for a
00:39:57.000 –> 00:39:59.000
long time, or is it kind of bounce?
00:39:59.000 –> 00:40:01.000
I because I called the bounce theory. Right?
00:40:01.000 –> 00:40:02.000
If I get bad news, I go to
00:40:02.000 –> 00:40:03.000
my journal
00:40:03.000 –> 00:40:05.000
I mean, literally, it could be within the
00:40:05.000 –> 00:40:07.000
hour of, like, alright. Here’s how I’m gonna
00:40:07.000 –> 00:40:09.000
get out of this Right? And I try
00:40:09.000 –> 00:40:10.000
to create a plan. I’m a planner. Right?
00:40:10.000 –> 00:40:11.000
So I try to create a plan of
00:40:11.000 –> 00:40:13.000
how I’m gonna get out of that. Is
00:40:13.000 –> 00:40:14.000
that something that you do? Are you more
00:40:14.000 –> 00:40:15.000
of a,
00:40:15.000 –> 00:40:16.000
yeah, maybe I’ll
00:40:17.000 –> 00:40:18.000
let it sit there for a while, and
00:40:18.000 –> 00:40:20.000
eventually I’ll think of something or like, how
00:40:20.000 –> 00:40:22.000
does that work for you? No. I’m a
00:40:22.000 –> 00:40:23.000
fighter. Okay. Yeah.
00:40:23.000 –> 00:40:25.000
The same way. Right? You’re just gonna put
00:40:25.000 –> 00:40:27.000
a plan together and fight. Let’s go. Going
00:40:27.000 –> 00:40:28.000
after it in some
00:40:28.000 –> 00:40:31.000
way in some way, shit. Probably sometimes I
00:40:31.000 –> 00:40:33.000
should probably should step back. No problem. But
00:40:33.000 –> 00:40:37.000
you’re confirming. Deeper Brett. And, you know, and
00:40:37.000 –> 00:40:38.000
and really think it through. But, you know,
00:40:38.000 –> 00:40:40.000
I think in those moments, you know, the
00:40:40.000 –> 00:40:42.000
fight or flight kinda comes out and you
00:40:42.000 –> 00:40:44.000
start going for it. You’re confirming what I’m
00:40:44.000 –> 00:40:46.000
saying. The bounce back theory is what I
00:40:46.000 –> 00:40:48.000
call it. Right? Because the I’ve seen it
00:40:48.000 –> 00:40:50.000
now for twenty two years in business now
00:40:50.000 –> 00:40:51.000
three hundred. And when I say earlier, three
00:40:51.000 –> 00:40:54.000
hundred and sixty nine interviews later, like, the
00:40:54.000 –> 00:40:56.000
most successful people bounce back immediately. Right? They
00:40:56.000 –> 00:40:58.000
don’t dwell on it. They don’t have a
00:40:58.000 –> 00:40:59.000
pity party. They just get up and they
00:40:59.000 –> 00:41:01.000
go and they fight. And whether that’s fighting
00:41:01.000 –> 00:41:03.000
or putting your plan together, whatever it is,
00:41:03.000 –> 00:41:04.000
you gotta go take action and go make
00:41:04.000 –> 00:41:06.000
things happen. And and that’s what, again, I’ve
00:41:06.000 –> 00:41:09.000
seen for two decades now the most successful
00:41:09.000 –> 00:41:11.000
people don’t dwell on it. They go make
00:41:11.000 –> 00:41:13.000
it happen. So I definitely have a little
00:41:13.000 –> 00:41:15.000
private pity party for myself.
00:41:16.000 –> 00:41:18.000
Pick up customers, you know, get pissed off.
00:41:19.000 –> 00:41:22.000
Let’s talk about work life integration. Most people
00:41:22.000 –> 00:41:23.000
laugh when I say that because there’s work
00:41:23.000 –> 00:41:25.000
life balance. I don’t believe in there’s work
00:41:25.000 –> 00:41:27.000
life integration. Right? So you’re opening a new
00:41:27.000 –> 00:41:27.000
place.
00:41:28.000 –> 00:41:30.000
There’s no balance, man. You’re you’re probably here
00:41:30.000 –> 00:41:31.000
doing a lot of stuff. Right? So how
00:41:31.000 –> 00:41:34.000
do you work on that work life integration
00:41:34.000 –> 00:41:35.000
part in life.
00:41:35.000 –> 00:41:36.000
Yeah. You know,
00:41:37.000 –> 00:41:41.000
I don’t believe him work like balance. I
00:41:41.000 –> 00:41:43.000
don’t think that’s a Yeah. It’s not that
00:41:43.000 –> 00:41:45.000
I don’t believe or want it. Yeah. Right.
00:41:45.000 –> 00:41:48.000
I just don’t know that it’s always entirely
00:41:48.000 –> 00:41:50.000
possible. You know, you For sure.
00:41:51.000 –> 00:41:53.000
And I hate for people to tell people
00:41:53.000 –> 00:41:55.000
that it is. Right. Right? Like, oh, yeah.
00:41:55.000 –> 00:41:57.000
You can be super successful and do all
00:41:57.000 –> 00:41:58.000
these things, but
00:41:59.000 –> 00:42:01.000
but you’re also only gonna work eight hours
00:42:01.000 –> 00:42:03.000
a day. And then, like, that’s never gonna
00:42:03.000 –> 00:42:05.000
happen. I mean, I’m sure it does, yeah,
00:42:05.000 –> 00:42:08.000
occasionally, but it’s is definitely the exception of
00:42:08.000 –> 00:42:10.000
the rule. And,
00:42:10.000 –> 00:42:12.000
I don’t know. You know, I try to,
00:42:12.000 –> 00:42:15.000
do things that that I enjoy doing. I
00:42:15.000 –> 00:42:16.000
enjoy creating
00:42:17.000 –> 00:42:20.000
You know, I really enjoy this Yep. This
00:42:20.000 –> 00:42:20.000
work.
00:42:21.000 –> 00:42:23.000
I enjoy the people
00:42:24.000 –> 00:42:26.000
that I get to to work with
00:42:27.000 –> 00:42:28.000
you know, and then I try to, you
00:42:28.000 –> 00:42:31.000
know, like my business partner and I’ll pretty
00:42:31.000 –> 00:42:34.000
much do our meetings, like, on a bike
00:42:34.000 –> 00:42:36.000
or something like that. So, you know, that’s
00:42:36.000 –> 00:42:38.000
always a a great way to do it.
00:42:38.000 –> 00:42:39.000
I I met up with somebody from meeting
00:42:39.000 –> 00:42:42.000
yesterday on a bike, and it was awesome.
00:42:43.000 –> 00:42:45.000
You know, so, you know, I would say
00:42:45.000 –> 00:42:47.000
to your point of integration, that’s kind of
00:42:47.000 –> 00:42:50.000
one of those those types of moments. But,
00:42:51.000 –> 00:42:52.000
or, you know,
00:42:53.000 –> 00:42:54.000
is some of the things I get to
00:42:54.000 –> 00:42:56.000
do, you know, some of the the boards
00:42:56.000 –> 00:42:59.000
I join or or whatever, you know, involve
00:42:59.000 –> 00:43:02.000
some some travel to some really cool places.
00:43:02.000 –> 00:43:03.000
And,
00:43:03.000 –> 00:43:04.000
you know,
00:43:04.000 –> 00:43:07.000
or events, you know, in really cool places.
00:43:08.000 –> 00:43:09.000
So I don’t know, you know, try to
00:43:09.000 –> 00:43:10.000
have fun with it.
00:43:11.000 –> 00:43:13.000
At the same time, but, you know,
00:43:13.000 –> 00:43:14.000
it’s,
00:43:14.000 –> 00:43:16.000
you know, it’s it’s what you choose in
00:43:16.000 –> 00:43:18.000
life. I don’t think everybody needs to choose
00:43:18.000 –> 00:43:20.000
that, and I don’t think it you know,
00:43:20.000 –> 00:43:22.000
I don’t think being an entrepreneur is for,
00:43:22.000 –> 00:43:25.000
as you know, is not for everybody. No.
00:43:25.000 –> 00:43:27.000
And that’s where that balance is BS. Right?
00:43:27.000 –> 00:43:29.000
Because, again, you could have I I just
00:43:29.000 –> 00:43:30.000
got back from a seven or eight days
00:43:30.000 –> 00:43:31.000
on vacation.
00:43:31.000 –> 00:43:33.000
My work life balance was not there was
00:43:33.000 –> 00:43:35.000
no work. Yeah. Right? All fan And then
00:43:35.000 –> 00:43:37.000
but then when you got something going on,
00:43:37.000 –> 00:43:38.000
you could have a lot more work than
00:43:38.000 –> 00:43:40.000
family time. So I agree. I think it’s
00:43:40.000 –> 00:43:42.000
BS, and that’s why I like the integration
00:43:42.000 –> 00:43:44.000
part. What How do you how do you
00:43:44.000 –> 00:43:46.000
personally continue your passion, your drive,
00:43:47.000 –> 00:43:47.000
your purpose,
00:43:48.000 –> 00:43:50.000
staying a student in the game? How do
00:43:50.000 –> 00:43:51.000
you how do you do that?
00:43:51.000 –> 00:43:53.000
One I read a lot.
00:43:54.000 –> 00:43:54.000
You know,
00:43:55.000 –> 00:43:56.000
and that’s everything from,
00:43:57.000 –> 00:43:58.000
you know, cookbooks to,
00:44:00.000 –> 00:44:01.000
to,
00:44:02.000 –> 00:44:04.000
leadership books and,
00:44:04.000 –> 00:44:06.000
you know, I try to study a lot
00:44:06.000 –> 00:44:09.000
and, you know, diving into, to internet, you
00:44:09.000 –> 00:44:12.000
know, just to to continue to
00:44:12.000 –> 00:44:14.000
learn whatever that may be, that may be
00:44:14.000 –> 00:44:17.000
business, that may be leadership, that may be
00:44:17.000 –> 00:44:19.000
a new recipe that maybe,
00:44:20.000 –> 00:44:20.000
design,
00:44:21.000 –> 00:44:22.000
but I’m kind of always
00:44:23.000 –> 00:44:23.000
always
00:44:24.000 –> 00:44:27.000
looking, always have my eyes open, always
00:44:27.000 –> 00:44:28.000
thinking,
00:44:28.000 –> 00:44:30.000
and I travel I try to travel as
00:44:30.000 –> 00:44:33.000
much as possible, because I think travel Gilliland
00:44:33.000 –> 00:44:36.000
reading have been the two biggest influences
00:44:37.000 –> 00:44:39.000
in my career period.
00:44:40.000 –> 00:44:41.000
Seventy two hours from now, where are you
00:44:41.000 –> 00:44:44.000
gonna be? I’m gonna be in Italy. Yeah.
00:44:44.000 –> 00:44:45.000
So I guess when this airs, I’ll be
00:44:45.000 –> 00:44:46.000
back from Italy, but,
00:44:47.000 –> 00:44:48.000
but that’s, you know,
00:44:48.000 –> 00:44:50.000
Europe’s my favorite place in the world.
00:44:52.000 –> 00:44:54.000
You know, and so getting getting to Italy
00:44:54.000 –> 00:44:56.000
is always always a treat. Let’s put it
00:44:56.000 –> 00:44:57.000
on the list.
00:44:58.000 –> 00:44:59.000
How do you balance risk versus
00:45:00.000 –> 00:45:01.000
caution? Right? Cause
00:45:02.000 –> 00:45:03.000
this is a risk. Right? The the next
00:45:03.000 –> 00:45:05.000
place is a risk. But I think so
00:45:05.000 –> 00:45:07.000
many times what I’ve seen is people, the
00:45:07.000 –> 00:45:10.000
old saying paralysis by analysis, right, is you
00:45:10.000 –> 00:45:12.000
don’t trust your gut. You don’t trust your
00:45:12.000 –> 00:45:14.000
business part. You don’t make the decision to
00:45:14.000 –> 00:45:17.000
go. How do you manage those two things?
00:45:17.000 –> 00:45:19.000
I probably don’t manage. I probably take
00:45:20.000 –> 00:45:22.000
too I I lean on the too much
00:45:22.000 –> 00:45:22.000
risk.
00:45:23.000 –> 00:45:25.000
Side of things, and it drives me crazy
00:45:25.000 –> 00:45:27.000
when So you’re always looking to risk yourself.
00:45:27.000 –> 00:45:28.000
Analytical
00:45:28.000 –> 00:45:30.000
about it? No. I’m I’m always taking risks.
00:45:30.000 –> 00:45:32.000
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m like, yeah. Let’s
00:45:32.000 –> 00:45:34.000
let’s do it. Yeah. I think sometimes sometimes
00:45:35.000 –> 00:45:36.000
I should, you know, step back a little
00:45:36.000 –> 00:45:38.000
more and ask more questions but It doesn’t
00:45:38.000 –> 00:45:40.000
wanna walk down a really cool hallway in
00:45:40.000 –> 00:45:42.000
this place, man. I mean, this was an
00:45:42.000 –> 00:45:43.000
easy one. This the
00:45:43.000 –> 00:45:45.000
some some are a little harder
00:45:45.000 –> 00:45:46.000
than others.
00:45:47.000 –> 00:45:49.000
But, you know, I think I as I
00:45:49.000 –> 00:45:52.000
get older, I’m I’m trying to train myself
00:45:52.000 –> 00:45:54.000
to take a little less
00:45:54.000 –> 00:45:56.000
Yeah. Risk.
00:45:57.000 –> 00:45:58.000
And
00:45:58.000 –> 00:46:01.000
and that won’t be obvious to anybody looking
00:46:01.000 –> 00:46:03.000
at all of our plans because we’re
00:46:03.000 –> 00:46:06.000
constantly opening, but it’s maybe what I’m opening.
00:46:06.000 –> 00:46:06.000
Yep.
00:46:07.000 –> 00:46:08.000
That that shows
00:46:09.000 –> 00:46:10.000
how I’m pulling back.
00:46:12.000 –> 00:46:14.000
Love that. So last few questions here.
00:46:15.000 –> 00:46:17.000
When when you hear the word fear, I
00:46:17.000 –> 00:46:19.000
ask this question almost everybody is, how many
00:46:19.000 –> 00:46:21.000
of the fears you’ve put in your mind
00:46:21.000 –> 00:46:23.000
have actually blown up to the magnitude you
00:46:23.000 –> 00:46:24.000
put them in your mind to be?
00:46:27.000 –> 00:46:27.000
Oh, that’s
00:46:28.000 –> 00:46:29.000
that’s interesting.
00:46:34.000 –> 00:46:35.000
Well, so far,
00:46:36.000 –> 00:46:39.000
so far none of them have. You knocked
00:46:39.000 –> 00:46:41.000
out a little earlier. Right? Yeah. And, and
00:46:41.000 –> 00:46:42.000
I am a very superstitious
00:46:43.000 –> 00:46:45.000
human being. I usually do five knocks on
00:46:45.000 –> 00:46:47.000
the bed for some reason. Three on wood.
00:46:47.000 –> 00:46:48.000
I don’t know. It’s a weird thing.
00:46:49.000 –> 00:46:51.000
I’ve probably driven Claire,
00:46:51.000 –> 00:46:53.000
absolutely insane with all of the lines. I
00:46:53.000 –> 00:46:55.000
noticed it. I said a couple things Gilliland
00:46:55.000 –> 00:46:56.000
you did the three knock in the wood.
00:46:56.000 –> 00:46:58.000
And I’m like, god, that guy’s just like
00:46:58.000 –> 00:46:59.000
me, my son, my second son, especially, man,
00:46:59.000 –> 00:47:01.000
where he does the five knocks on his
00:47:01.000 –> 00:47:03.000
head as well. That, for some reason, that
00:47:03.000 –> 00:47:04.000
thing that works, it just puts me at
00:47:04.000 –> 00:47:06.000
peace, and I feel good about it. Yeah.
00:47:06.000 –> 00:47:09.000
You know, I think fear fears, again, one
00:47:09.000 –> 00:47:11.000
of those things that I probably need a
00:47:11.000 –> 00:47:12.000
touch
00:47:12.000 –> 00:47:14.000
touch more of, you know, and I think
00:47:14.000 –> 00:47:14.000
that
00:47:15.000 –> 00:47:17.000
that quite honestly, you know, going through the
00:47:17.000 –> 00:47:20.000
great recession as a business owner and going
00:47:20.000 –> 00:47:21.000
through,
00:47:22.000 –> 00:47:24.000
COVID have definitely, you know,
00:47:25.000 –> 00:47:27.000
added a little to that. You know, they’ve
00:47:27.000 –> 00:47:28.000
they’ve helped me,
00:47:29.000 –> 00:47:31.000
be like, hey, everything can be gone
00:47:32.000 –> 00:47:32.000
tomorrow.
00:47:33.000 –> 00:47:33.000
Yeah.
00:47:33.000 –> 00:47:35.000
And I think that’s,
00:47:35.000 –> 00:47:37.000
you know, some of those things are important
00:47:37.000 –> 00:47:40.000
to to take into account when you’re when
00:47:40.000 –> 00:47:43.000
you’re building an actual business. Like, are you
00:47:43.000 –> 00:47:44.000
really building a foundation
00:47:45.000 –> 00:47:47.000
that you can that you can stand or
00:47:47.000 –> 00:47:49.000
you’re just kind of building a ton of
00:47:49.000 –> 00:47:50.000
stuff on quicksand.
00:47:50.000 –> 00:47:52.000
And I think that that’s really my focus,
00:47:53.000 –> 00:47:55.000
you know, for the next five years is
00:47:55.000 –> 00:47:57.000
is all in in real
00:47:58.000 –> 00:47:59.000
large foundational
00:47:59.000 –> 00:48:00.000
work.
00:48:00.000 –> 00:48:02.000
Yep. So our name of our firm is
00:48:02.000 –> 00:48:04.000
visionary wealth advisors. So a name like at
00:48:04.000 –> 00:48:07.000
by definition, it’s, you know, helping helping people
00:48:07.000 –> 00:48:08.000
achieve a future, right, greater than your past.
00:48:08.000 –> 00:48:10.000
And that’s our mission statement, helping you achieve
00:48:10.000 –> 00:48:12.000
a future greater than your past. So when
00:48:12.000 –> 00:48:13.000
you hear those words,
00:48:14.000 –> 00:48:16.000
future greater than past, what comes to mind
00:48:16.000 –> 00:48:16.000
for you?
00:48:17.000 –> 00:48:19.000
I mean, so, you know, my five year
00:48:19.000 –> 00:48:19.000
plan.
00:48:22.000 –> 00:48:24.000
Would would kind of be just that. You
00:48:24.000 –> 00:48:24.000
know, I think
00:48:26.000 –> 00:48:27.000
we we have a pretty set vision of
00:48:27.000 –> 00:48:30.000
where we wanna see this company be.
00:48:30.000 –> 00:48:32.000
In five years and who we want it
00:48:32.000 –> 00:48:34.000
to be competing with and,
00:48:35.000 –> 00:48:37.000
what field we want it to be playing
00:48:37.000 –> 00:48:38.000
on.
00:48:39.000 –> 00:48:42.000
And and that is a lot bigger than
00:48:42.000 –> 00:48:43.000
it is today.
00:48:44.000 –> 00:48:46.000
You know, so so growth is a big
00:48:46.000 –> 00:48:47.000
part of our
00:48:48.000 –> 00:48:48.000
our vision,
00:48:49.000 –> 00:48:50.000
but it’s also,
00:48:52.000 –> 00:48:54.000
a very very focused growth.
00:48:55.000 –> 00:48:57.000
Yeah. Is that who’s in that room? Like,
00:48:57.000 –> 00:48:58.000
how many people are in that room, not
00:48:58.000 –> 00:49:00.000
necessarily names? But who how many people are
00:49:00.000 –> 00:49:02.000
in that room? And what’s that process look
00:49:02.000 –> 00:49:04.000
like for you to to build that vision
00:49:04.000 –> 00:49:05.000
out?
00:49:05.000 –> 00:49:06.000
Sure.
00:49:06.000 –> 00:49:08.000
You know, so our CFO
00:49:08.000 –> 00:49:08.000
and,
00:49:09.000 –> 00:49:12.000
and our chief operating officer, Kate Wolverton.
00:49:13.000 –> 00:49:15.000
I mean, she’s really kinda like
00:49:16.000 –> 00:49:17.000
you know, my right hand,
00:49:18.000 –> 00:49:20.000
and then the business partners, you know, our
00:49:20.000 –> 00:49:21.000
investors,
00:49:23.000 –> 00:49:24.000
So they’re sitting here kinda deciding, here’s what
00:49:24.000 –> 00:49:26.000
we’re gonna do. Here’s how many restaurants we
00:49:26.000 –> 00:49:28.000
wanna open or whatever it may be deciding
00:49:28.000 –> 00:49:30.000
that. And then how often are you looking
00:49:30.000 –> 00:49:31.000
at that?
00:49:31.000 –> 00:49:34.000
All the time. Yeah. Yeah. We’re we’re constantly
00:49:34.000 –> 00:49:34.000
evaluating
00:49:35.000 –> 00:49:38.000
different different deals on a regular basis. You
00:49:38.000 –> 00:49:40.000
know, if I I told people, you know,
00:49:41.000 –> 00:49:44.000
Sometimes I think it is worrisome to to
00:49:44.000 –> 00:49:47.000
people because because we’re constantly talking about deals.
00:49:47.000 –> 00:49:49.000
Yeah. You know, I mean, they’re like
00:49:49.000 –> 00:49:51.000
every week. They probably come across your desk
00:49:51.000 –> 00:49:53.000
all the time too. Right? And so, you
00:49:53.000 –> 00:49:54.000
know, when
00:49:54.000 –> 00:49:56.000
I think at first, it’s really hard for
00:49:56.000 –> 00:49:59.000
some people to be have those conversations and
00:49:59.000 –> 00:50:01.000
then you turn those down or whatever. Well,
00:50:01.000 –> 00:50:03.000
what happened to that one? Yeah. I’m like,
00:50:03.000 –> 00:50:05.000
yeah, it’s gone. Yeah. I didn’t feel right.
00:50:05.000 –> 00:50:08.000
You know, so I think we’re we’re evaluating
00:50:08.000 –> 00:50:10.000
all the time. So you are the chief
00:50:10.000 –> 00:50:11.000
flavor officer
00:50:11.000 –> 00:50:13.000
for the hat you’re supporting there. So I’m
00:50:13.000 –> 00:50:15.000
a City SC, baby. That was awesome. Great
00:50:15.000 –> 00:50:17.000
for a year. So talk to us about
00:50:17.000 –> 00:50:17.000
soccer. What’s,
00:50:18.000 –> 00:50:20.000
what are you excited about there? So funny.
00:50:20.000 –> 00:50:22.000
I was not a soccer fan growing up.
00:50:23.000 –> 00:50:25.000
I played one season of soccer. No. And
00:50:25.000 –> 00:50:27.000
I suck. And it really made me mad.
00:50:27.000 –> 00:50:30.000
I was I was a great baseball player
00:50:30.000 –> 00:50:31.000
at the time, and,
00:50:32.000 –> 00:50:33.000
I did not like,
00:50:34.000 –> 00:50:36.000
how bad I was. And so that was
00:50:36.000 –> 00:50:39.000
it for me. And so it wasn’t until
00:50:39.000 –> 00:50:40.000
I got involved with,
00:50:41.000 –> 00:50:43.000
Carolyn Kindle. Yep. And,
00:50:44.000 –> 00:50:45.000
and
00:50:45.000 –> 00:50:49.000
and, Lee Brett over at City SC. Mhmm.
00:50:49.000 –> 00:50:51.000
That I started to really fall in love
00:50:51.000 –> 00:50:52.000
with soccer.
00:50:53.000 –> 00:50:55.000
And, you know, it’s been an amazing journey
00:50:55.000 –> 00:50:56.000
so far. I think,
00:50:59.000 –> 00:51:00.000
I’ve been working with them for, I guess,
00:51:00.000 –> 00:51:04.000
four years. Wow. Now on this. And,
00:51:04.000 –> 00:51:06.000
you know, we’re got a lot of really
00:51:06.000 –> 00:51:09.000
exciting things planned for the next season.
00:51:09.000 –> 00:51:12.000
Season one was was the coolest experience. You
00:51:12.000 –> 00:51:13.000
know, I think,
00:51:14.000 –> 00:51:16.000
I I missed one game. I think I
00:51:16.000 –> 00:51:18.000
was out of town, but,
00:51:18.000 –> 00:51:20.000
And you know, getting to see those games,
00:51:20.000 –> 00:51:21.000
the energy,
00:51:22.000 –> 00:51:24.000
feeling, you know, getting to work with so
00:51:24.000 –> 00:51:25.000
many great local
00:51:26.000 –> 00:51:29.000
restaurant partners. Yeah. You know, in in setting
00:51:29.000 –> 00:51:31.000
that up. It’s it’s just been it’s been
00:51:31.000 –> 00:51:33.000
one of the highlights of my career for
00:51:33.000 –> 00:51:35.000
sure. Talk about that real quick. For the
00:51:35.000 –> 00:51:37.000
person maybe has not been there or that’s
00:51:37.000 –> 00:51:39.000
from another town or city, listen to this.
00:51:40.000 –> 00:51:42.000
What’s different about it than say the traditional,
00:51:42.000 –> 00:51:44.000
you know, professional sports stadium? Yeah. So it’s
00:51:44.000 –> 00:51:46.000
it’s different in a number of ways. When
00:51:46.000 –> 00:51:49.000
you go to a a professional stadium
00:51:49.000 –> 00:51:51.000
and you see, say, one of you, you
00:51:51.000 –> 00:51:53.000
know, some local restaurant there. And and there’s
00:51:53.000 –> 00:51:56.000
usually maybe like one or two in that
00:51:56.000 –> 00:51:57.000
in that spot.
00:51:57.000 –> 00:52:00.000
Oftentimes, it’s actually being run by
00:52:00.000 –> 00:52:04.000
the stadium itself. So the stadium managers. Yep.
00:52:04.000 –> 00:52:07.000
And so we’ve done things a lot different.
00:52:07.000 –> 00:52:09.000
It at, City Park,
00:52:09.000 –> 00:52:11.000
and all of our
00:52:12.000 –> 00:52:13.000
all of our vendors
00:52:13.000 –> 00:52:16.000
run their own stalls So these are all,
00:52:16.000 –> 00:52:17.000
you know, local businesses.
00:52:17.000 –> 00:52:20.000
And and I think we have something like
00:52:20.000 –> 00:52:23.000
twenty four. Wow. Right now, local restaurant partners
00:52:24.000 –> 00:52:25.000
throughout the stadium.
00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:26.000
And quite often, you see the owner of
00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:27.000
all of these businesses right there
00:52:31.000 –> 00:52:33.000
you know, whether it’s,
00:52:33.000 –> 00:52:36.000
Steve viewing handing out hot dogs, Lauren Nalek,
00:52:36.000 –> 00:52:38.000
over there at Balkan
00:52:38.000 –> 00:52:39.000
Treatbox.
00:52:40.000 –> 00:52:42.000
You know, when they’re standing right there,
00:52:42.000 –> 00:52:45.000
you know, working working the events and and
00:52:45.000 –> 00:52:46.000
is really made for a unique experience because
00:52:46.000 –> 00:52:47.000
I think not
00:52:49.000 –> 00:52:50.000
only
00:52:50.000 –> 00:52:53.000
are you getting the best of the best,
00:52:54.000 –> 00:52:56.000
you know, as far as restaurants, but then
00:52:56.000 –> 00:52:59.000
you’re also getting the highest quality from those
00:52:59.000 –> 00:53:00.000
because they’re doing it themselves. Yep.
00:53:01.000 –> 00:53:02.000
Which is in line with the values of
00:53:02.000 –> 00:53:04.000
that organization, hence the name of the team.
00:53:04.000 –> 00:53:06.000
I mean, they could have chosen anything, the
00:53:06.000 –> 00:53:08.000
logo, the rivers, the arch. I mean, all
00:53:08.000 –> 00:53:09.000
the stuff that goes with that, I think,
00:53:09.000 –> 00:53:11.000
is cool that they’re connected to the city
00:53:11.000 –> 00:53:12.000
the way. And then what they’ve done for
00:53:12.000 –> 00:53:14.000
the city is as a family’s you know,
00:53:14.000 –> 00:53:17.000
ridiculous. I mean talking about a group of
00:53:17.000 –> 00:53:20.000
people who walk the talk. Yeah. I mean,
00:53:21.000 –> 00:53:23.000
the the the owners of the ownership group
00:53:23.000 –> 00:53:25.000
at City SC and everybody
00:53:26.000 –> 00:53:28.000
who works there, you know, my my
00:53:30.000 –> 00:53:32.000
My main point of contact is always Matt
00:53:32.000 –> 00:53:34.000
Seabek, and I don’t know if you know
00:53:34.000 –> 00:53:36.000
him. No. But he’s the chief experience officer.
00:53:36.000 –> 00:53:39.000
Down there. So everything you touch at the
00:53:39.000 –> 00:53:39.000
stadium,
00:53:40.000 –> 00:53:43.000
you know, he’s kind of waiting on in
00:53:43.000 –> 00:53:45.000
in some way, shape, or form. And he’s,
00:53:45.000 –> 00:53:46.000
you know, obsessive
00:53:46.000 –> 00:53:48.000
know, whether it’s, you know, the lighting and
00:53:48.000 –> 00:53:49.000
the music and,
00:53:50.000 –> 00:53:52.000
you know, you know, when the all the
00:53:52.000 –> 00:53:53.000
lights go out at the stadium, you know,
00:53:53.000 –> 00:53:55.000
like Such a cool. You know, he’s obsessing
00:53:56.000 –> 00:53:58.000
about all that stuff. And it’s it’s really
00:53:58.000 –> 00:54:00.000
cool. You know, their whole they have their
00:54:00.000 –> 00:54:00.000
own,
00:54:02.000 –> 00:54:05.000
production team. You know, making videos and everything,
00:54:05.000 –> 00:54:07.000
and all of those guys are like movie
00:54:07.000 –> 00:54:09.000
level producers.
00:54:09.000 –> 00:54:12.000
They’re they’re incredible. And and again, all you
00:54:12.000 –> 00:54:15.000
know, so obsessed with with what they do
00:54:15.000 –> 00:54:18.000
and making that experience Brett. And there’s just
00:54:18.000 –> 00:54:20.000
no way when you have that many people
00:54:20.000 –> 00:54:23.000
who care so much about what they’re doing,
00:54:23.000 –> 00:54:24.000
but you’re not gonna have a great experience.
00:54:24.000 –> 00:54:26.000
Right. And and the and the experience of
00:54:26.000 –> 00:54:28.000
what the fans got from the team. Yeah.
00:54:28.000 –> 00:54:30.000
And then the team. Right. I mean,
00:54:30.000 –> 00:54:32.000
clients who hold the pitch. Right?
00:54:33.000 –> 00:54:35.000
Show up so big and are just also
00:54:35.000 –> 00:54:37.000
so nice. Yeah. You know, you know,
00:54:38.000 –> 00:54:40.000
definitely took a page from the the cardinals
00:54:40.000 –> 00:54:42.000
and stuff like that. These guys are, you
00:54:42.000 –> 00:54:44.000
know, class acts. Yep. So talk to us
00:54:44.000 –> 00:54:46.000
about what’s gonna be happening stairs here. We’re
00:54:46.000 –> 00:54:48.000
we’re in the basement of, city foundry right
00:54:48.000 –> 00:54:50.000
now, but you got expats,
00:54:50.000 –> 00:54:52.000
expats coming in there. Right? Yeah. If I
00:54:52.000 –> 00:54:54.000
say that correctly. Pat Barbecue. Yeah.
00:54:55.000 –> 00:54:56.000
Talk to us about that. And that’s opening
00:54:57.000 –> 00:54:59.000
sometime this summer. Yeah. So we’re looking at
00:54:59.000 –> 00:55:01.000
at June opening. K.
00:55:02.000 –> 00:55:04.000
And in the tag line for expats,
00:55:04.000 –> 00:55:05.000
expat,
00:55:05.000 –> 00:55:07.000
well traveled barbecue.
00:55:07.000 –> 00:55:09.000
And, you know, the idea behind it is
00:55:09.000 –> 00:55:10.000
to
00:55:11.000 –> 00:55:14.000
look through the eyes of American barbecue with
00:55:14.000 –> 00:55:16.000
a filter on it. And that filter is
00:55:16.000 –> 00:55:18.000
how would you cook American barbecue
00:55:19.000 –> 00:55:20.000
if you were living
00:55:21.000 –> 00:55:24.000
in Spain. If you were living in Africa,
00:55:24.000 –> 00:55:26.000
you know, if you were living in,
00:55:27.000 –> 00:55:28.000
in China,
00:55:28.000 –> 00:55:30.000
And so, you know, what would your pantry
00:55:31.000 –> 00:55:31.000
look like?
00:55:32.000 –> 00:55:32.000
And,
00:55:33.000 –> 00:55:35.000
you know, how would you season your meat?
00:55:35.000 –> 00:55:36.000
How would you
00:55:37.000 –> 00:55:38.000
do all of that
00:55:39.000 –> 00:55:41.000
to get it close to what you wanted
00:55:41.000 –> 00:55:43.000
to cook from home. So this this isn’t
00:55:43.000 –> 00:55:44.000
really about
00:55:44.000 –> 00:55:47.000
trying to say do Chinese barbecue. Right? That’s
00:55:47.000 –> 00:55:50.000
not our our intent. We have no clue
00:55:50.000 –> 00:55:51.000
how to make Chinese barbecue.
00:55:51.000 –> 00:55:53.000
But this is
00:55:53.000 –> 00:55:55.000
about how do we use
00:55:56.000 –> 00:55:56.000
those
00:55:57.000 –> 00:55:58.000
spices
00:55:58.000 –> 00:55:59.000
to create
00:55:59.000 –> 00:56:00.000
American barbecue,
00:56:01.000 –> 00:56:03.000
like you were living abroad And, you know,
00:56:03.000 –> 00:56:05.000
I think when when you talk about those
00:56:05.000 –> 00:56:06.000
kind of like flavor
00:56:07.000 –> 00:56:09.000
transfers, you know, all of food, I’ve been
00:56:09.000 –> 00:56:11.000
obsessed with this kind of forever.
00:56:11.000 –> 00:56:13.000
Is that all of food,
00:56:14.000 –> 00:56:14.000
is connected.
00:56:15.000 –> 00:56:17.000
Right? If you really, really start to look
00:56:17.000 –> 00:56:19.000
at, like, all the noodle dishes,
00:56:20.000 –> 00:56:22.000
around the world and you don’t see a
00:56:22.000 –> 00:56:23.000
connection. You’re insane.
00:56:24.000 –> 00:56:26.000
You know, but but you see it all
00:56:26.000 –> 00:56:28.000
over the place. You know, you look at,
00:56:28.000 –> 00:56:30.000
like, Mexican cuisine and the
00:56:30.000 –> 00:56:32.000
the trumpo for the,
00:56:33.000 –> 00:56:33.000
al pastor
00:56:34.000 –> 00:56:36.000
tacos, but you also
00:56:37.000 –> 00:56:38.000
you know, go to,
00:56:39.000 –> 00:56:42.000
you know, go to Istanbul and you’ll see
00:56:42.000 –> 00:56:44.000
the exact same the exact same thing, but
00:56:44.000 –> 00:56:47.000
with different different flavors. So these techniques get
00:56:47.000 –> 00:56:49.000
kind of passed around and the flavors
00:56:50.000 –> 00:56:52.000
all get passed around. So I’ve I’ve always
00:56:52.000 –> 00:56:55.000
been very obsessed with travel and how that
00:56:55.000 –> 00:56:56.000
influences
00:56:57.000 –> 00:56:59.000
cooking. You know, I think The the word
00:56:59.000 –> 00:57:01.000
fusion was thrown around in a lot of
00:57:01.000 –> 00:57:03.000
very bad ways for a for a long
00:57:03.000 –> 00:57:05.000
time, but quite frankly,
00:57:06.000 –> 00:57:07.000
you know, it is you know, some type
00:57:07.000 –> 00:57:09.000
of fusion. And,
00:57:09.000 –> 00:57:12.000
and I think done done with respect, it
00:57:12.000 –> 00:57:13.000
can be really,
00:57:15.000 –> 00:57:18.000
really unique and really fun, I think, at
00:57:18.000 –> 00:57:20.000
the same time. And a cool location too.
00:57:20.000 –> 00:57:21.000
Right? You got a big big balcony up
00:57:21.000 –> 00:57:23.000
there, Port. Yeah. So this is a three
00:57:23.000 –> 00:57:24.000
story.
00:57:24.000 –> 00:57:25.000
Restaurant.
00:57:26.000 –> 00:57:28.000
And on the first floor, it’s all,
00:57:28.000 –> 00:57:30.000
table service, server,
00:57:31.000 –> 00:57:34.000
more like plates of food. Yep. The second
00:57:34.000 –> 00:57:35.000
floor is an event space.
00:57:36.000 –> 00:57:38.000
And then on the third floor, it’s all
00:57:38.000 –> 00:57:39.000
kind of fast casual
00:57:39.000 –> 00:57:41.000
giant bar,
00:57:42.000 –> 00:57:42.000
huge
00:57:42.000 –> 00:57:44.000
patio with garage doors,
00:57:45.000 –> 00:57:46.000
astroturf
00:57:46.000 –> 00:57:48.000
out there in the stage,
00:57:49.000 –> 00:57:50.000
and, you know, more sandwich
00:57:51.000 –> 00:57:51.000
oriented.
00:57:52.000 –> 00:57:54.000
So, you know, kinda taken from the downstairs,
00:57:54.000 –> 00:57:55.000
full plates of barbecue
00:57:56.000 –> 00:57:58.000
to how do we, you know, how do
00:57:58.000 –> 00:58:00.000
we make that into, you know, kind of
00:58:00.000 –> 00:58:01.000
fun handheld
00:58:01.000 –> 00:58:03.000
experience upstairs. Yeah. Well, I can’t wait to
00:58:03.000 –> 00:58:05.000
be there this summer. That is awesome. Last
00:58:05.000 –> 00:58:06.000
question for you.
00:58:07.000 –> 00:58:08.000
What would you tell
00:58:08.000 –> 00:58:10.000
the Gerard of, the guy that was washing
00:58:10.000 –> 00:58:12.000
dishes. Right? Just got out of college. Not
00:58:12.000 –> 00:58:14.000
got out of college. Just dropped out of
00:58:14.000 –> 00:58:17.000
college and then, was washing dishes. What what
00:58:17.000 –> 00:58:17.000
advice
00:58:17.000 –> 00:58:19.000
would you give that guy or the person
00:58:19.000 –> 00:58:20.000
listen to this right now, man, that may
00:58:20.000 –> 00:58:22.000
be in a spot that they think, how
00:58:22.000 –> 00:58:25.000
is that guy’s success possible for me? What
00:58:25.000 –> 00:58:26.000
advice would you give him? I would say
00:58:26.000 –> 00:58:29.000
that the work ethic you are putting in
00:58:29.000 –> 00:58:29.000
today,
00:58:30.000 –> 00:58:31.000
will directly
00:58:32.000 –> 00:58:32.000
translate
00:58:32.000 –> 00:58:33.000
into,
00:58:35.000 –> 00:58:38.000
to your work ten years from now. Yeah.
00:58:38.000 –> 00:58:40.000
Awesome. Awesome, man. Well, thanks so much for
00:58:40.000 –> 00:58:41.000
being on the circuit of success. It’s been
00:58:41.000 –> 00:58:43.000
awesome having you. Oh, thank you for having
00:58:43.000 –> 00:58:44.000
us. Great.