Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What's up, everybody? What's up?
Happy, happy New Year. I think we can still say that. Really excited. First podcast of 2025.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: That's a weird number to say.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: It is. Yep. Really excited to be here.
Episode 10, right. Of the Shit yeah. Show.
Yeah.
Shit yeah. So I'm Chris Smith.
My passion is making everybody around me say Shit yeah. Side to our business. Dalia, co host.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Shit yeah.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: Shit yeah. Passionate about it, too. Keeps me on track as I go on wild tangents and go down rabbit holes and get excited about what we're.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Doing, which is my passion.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Yes. So I will get lost and you will get me back to center so I can land the plane and try to stay within 26 minutes. And then our guest today is really, you know, to me, the secret sauce behind the show that's happening is, you know, it's really empowered me to move forward with it. The timing of the idea of this Shit yeah. Show and the way everything's gone is you came into my life and the business at the perfect time. So we've got Tyler Cook.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: Hey, guys, what's up?
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Very casual. Very casual.
As you'll find out, big personality. If you've seen on our social media some of the best content we have put out, especially about our sauce as of late. And if you look at some of our clips, some of the fun things you've done with the exploding sparkling sauce.
Not a concern from any sort of food safety issue or anything like that, but just a quality control issue. That was pretty funny, actually. It might make sense to bring that back up, but super excited to have you on here. You've been putting out, taking the clips, chopping it up, doing all of that to. To share what we have going on in short form. Instagram, TikTok, expanding on that. And so, you know, the main things we talk about on the Shit yeah. Show is what sucks about the restaurant business. Right? It's a shit show. What makes you say Shit yeah. So what do you love about it? And then what are you doing? What do you think we're doing? Why are you here? That's different. And, you know, at this stage of your career, you're 19 years old, right? You, you know, you've. The way I found you. I think we get to talk about that is pretty cool. It's like. It's like how people, you know, I think I'm the way. I found you, you found me. We found each other. There we go. There you go.
[00:02:31] Speaker C: This is such a wholesome.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: We'll share sauce later. People Break bread. We share sauce, so we'll touch on that. But, yeah, I guess you know how that happened. And it's a really cool way of. Just the way the world works.
It was social media. It was. You kept. For what? And I were showing up in my feed, and I was like, that dude's funny. And.
And then I think you actually. You hit me up in DMs or I hit you up. It's not like we're.
[00:03:01] Speaker C: You know, it was a weird thing.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Who hit each other up for sure, but it was weird.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: I messaged Zunzies, like, the actual Zunzies Instagram account, like, months before. And I was like, hey, I heard y'all were looking for some content creators, if y'all want to work together. Hit me up. And then I got a response, and they were like, I don't think we're looking for anyone right now. And then, like, months later, I got a DM from Chris, and he's just like, hey, how can we work together?
So there you go, crazy, like, turn of events there. Um, and then later on, like, I talked to Chris about it, and he said that he never saw my message to Zunzies.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: I can speak on that.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Oh. Ooh, the lore.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: No.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: This is gonna be scandalous. Guys, everyone sit back in your seats.
No, we have people reach out and say, hi, are you looking for a social media manager? And the person who reads it is the social media manager. So she's like.
She makes the joke, she shows it to me, and she's like, they're trying to take my job.
And obviously that's a no. So you. Unfortunately, that message probably fell into that category, because social, like, content creators, we've never gotten that.
That's the lore. It wasn't that interesting.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And so when that happened, it was timing, because for my vision, looking at what we're doing and where. If you're watching this, it's because you saw us on Instagram, TikTok. Right. And so that's where all the attention is. And with the growth of the company that we have and what I had as a vision of this, of the restaurant business, sucks. We're here to change. We want to talk about why we're in business, not just what we're doing.
It was a move in probably the next step of the company, so I couldn't learn all of that. You were already doing it, you know, young, hungry. You were doing amazing stuff with the bananas local, locally in Savannah. So I saw that, and they do unbelievable things. They are definitely disruptors and, you know, just really, really cool. So, Jesse, awesome job with that. And, you know, I think you'll still be doing some stuff with them also, but I want him to be over here. So I said, hey, help me with this podcast. I've got this idea. And then it's just really snowballed into it. And so a couple days a week. And, you know, the goal is for this to really just keep on growing, growing, and then also for. For you to use this as an opportunity to learn and expand what you're doing. So now we're here, the restaurant business. So let's talk about how you got in the restaurant business. Your first stint was.
[00:05:44] Speaker C: Yeah, so this is my first, like, restaurant job. But as far as, like, food, like industry or, like, food wise, it was the Savannah Bananas.
I started there and I went straight into, like, the all you can eat areas. So I was out, like, handing out food. Oh, what's up? Welcome. Here, you want a chicken? There you go. Like, whatever. Just, like, handing out food.
And then I got the second season. Like, the first day of the second season, Neil came over to me, like, pulled me aside and was like, hey, you want to be team lead for left field? Because left field, like, just opened up. We just had that area, like, built over there, new stands and, you know, like, bar, ice cream, whatever.
So, yeah, now I got to be team lead for the second season, and we're about to start the third season. So excited about that. That was my first, like, food industry, like, job, I guess.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: So now, you know, you're in the restaurant business, but you're not in the restaurants per se. Right? So I think that's one of those things that people think of the restaurant business and they go, oh, you're in the restaurant business. But it's like, when's the last time you made a cocktail or made some food? It's been a while. It takes an army of people doing different areas of responsibility to run a great restaurant at this stage. Unless you're, you know, a one location and you're just, like, living in the past, you've got to really do a lot of different things and wear a lot of different hats. And as the company grows, we get to expand this, and then everybody gets to get in roles that they love. And then as we grow, also, we're going to be hiring people that are really good at specific things and different stages of their career and have different perspectives. So, you know, this opportunity that we were able to have with you got me really excited because I like to Pour in people when they're at this stage of their career, create those opportunities. I'm a big believer. You can't teach hunger, and you can't teach vision. Right. I believe both of those come from a higher power. And so when I met you, it was very clear that you wanted to do more. And when you can get with a company, the bananas with us, companies that want to do things, different people that have that vision, that hunger, you want those people on the team in all different stages of their career. Kevin, our CEO, he's as hungry and driven in vision as anybody. Right. And he's fill in the blank gauge. Right. But we have these perspectives that are on the team, and we're all trying to do the same thing. We're trying to make everybody say shit. Yeah. Right? So. So that's how you got into it. Now you're with us. You're in the restaurant business really doing more of what your passion is. You've been a huge piece of creating the awareness of what we're doing with the shit. Yeah. Show Most recently, which it was, to me, it was one of the best things, is when our mission of the company is to inspire you to live your dream. Okay. And so we had the gift of sploaters, which is what we call our sparkling sauce, that the lime juice pH was just a little high and it was causing fermenting. And we have, you know, we're just trying to have fun with something.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Episode nine.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Episode nine. At the end of that, just go back to probably minute 26 and keep on going. But we've communicated via 20th disc club. What's going on with that? But you had a lot of fun with it. I said, all right, Every problem, right, Is a gift, right? There's something good in it, or you have to find it. And so for us, it was, how do we create awareness about our sauce? Well, here you go. This was this fun opportunity. And so with the kind of quirky marketing and things that you've done, I was like, all right, you know, this is your time to shine. And we did saw through let, and you really, you know, popped the top off of it. Yeah, it was really, really fun to see. So after we did all that and you were shaking sauce and you were covered in sauce.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: In a hazmat suit.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: In a hazmat suit, yes. And you did get glasses that were like, $40. I was like, those glasses.
[00:09:46] Speaker C: The goggles are on your face.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: O right. So we have any other time. We have issues. We have bulletproof glasses.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Man gets the company card one time.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: There you go. Right.
[00:10:00] Speaker C: I asked for just like cheap science fair, like goggles. Like, that's what I was looking for. I didn't want like any like fancy, like bulletproof. I don't know what you were styling in your eyes.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: So, long story short, you said this was the best day of your life after.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: And you were so happy. And for me, when I can put people in positions and they are thriving at that level. Right. Like, I'm excited to be here doing this. This is the best part of my day to get to do it outside of being home with my kids and family. Right. This is for work. This is the peak life for me. And so for you to say that, it just got me really excited. I'm like, so how do we do more of this? Right?
[00:10:42] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: And so then, you know, we're gonna keep this going. And you know, hopefully once a week we can get you doing something that's really content creation out there. Hopefully it's not solving sploater problems that we have. These are not sploaters.
I think so I hope. Okay. So you're in the restaurant business. You are really the engine. We're gonna keep on expanding what we're doing with this. Everything in business and in life is just about constant and never ending improvement. So we started right, and we'll get better and better as we go. And you're a key part of that.
Okay, so that's why you're here. What sucks about the restaurant business? A little bit of just your glimpse of what you've seen. Right. And this is being recorded and I haven't pre screened this, so. And you do share an office with me and. Yeah. So.
[00:11:35] Speaker C: I.
It's bananas.
No, I think there is a lot that can go wrong as we've seen, especially with like the exploding sauce and stuff. But I. I think we're really good at turning that around. And that's something that I appreciate. I kind of flip the question, but like. Okay, so no, I think we have those opportunities for a reason. And I think we're doing the best we can to just kind of make good out of that.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: And yeah, like, well, so I think that applies to this life. It's like life is the only time problems will end is when we're no longer above the ground. Right? That's it. So life is just dealing with problems. The restaurant business, I think the reason why it's one of the hardest businesses out there is right. People say it's the highest failure rate. Whatever it is. It's just because it's death by a thousand cuts. I've said it before. There's so many different problems that can happen, and it wears on you over time. And so I think you've seen it. In my role, I always say my job, one of my roles, is to solve the biggest problems of the company. Right. As we grow, one of those is alignment of culture. So we're doing this right. We have our team coming on. It's a great way for us to promote our culture and what we're doing. Create alignment.
The 26x club, which is our team text, there's communication on that, and they're seeing it. The amount of feedback I've gotten from our team is awesome. And you've been able to really enhance that with that. So, yeah, seeing all of the problems and then saying, okay, there's gotta be good in it. Let's find it, hunt for it until we figure it out, I think that's it. And applying that to your life, I think is a critical life lesson that I didn't have that at your age. I didn't know that at your age, when a problem would happen, I would probably be like, ugh, you know, getting overwhelmed. That was probably not. I probably didn't ever go like that, actually. It's probably.
Actually, it's this. And I go like this.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: It is.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: That's my. The hair, you know.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: It is all right, I think, actually. All right, all right, all right, all right.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: So to come back, let's try to land this plane.
The restaurant business is like, there you go. The restaurant business is a lot of problems. Life is a lot of problems. You're seeing that firsthand. And I think it's just about constantly fixing them. You're a little bit of the bananas of that you probably saw, because what they do there is new. I mean, they're always pushing limits. I think I saw, you know, on Jesse Cole's recent post, as of this morning, he was talking about. Of actually exactly this for the all you can eat that he's got.
And he was saying how it's like, no one's done that before in a ballpark that's gonna have problems. You don't know what a $15, all you can eat food menu looks like.
That's tough, but it's good. But hopefully, if that works, what would that look like? Right? And so you can stay as a. As a business, staying in your lane. But if you Want to grow and do things different. And in this world to get attention now, you've got to do things different. You've got to be, you know, walking around in a yellow suit or you've got to be, you know, shaking bottles of sauce exploding. Right. You've got to embrace these things when they happen and run with it and hopefully build relationships with everybody along the way. Okay, so you're here. You know, the, you know, you've got your whole life in front of you.
You're 19.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: I'm 19.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: 19. So 126 minus 19. You have a lot of time left in life, which is pretty awesome.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: No, five. I'm very, very blessed to be here, for sure.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Sorry.
[00:15:34] Speaker C: There aren't a whole lot of people, especially like age 19, just getting to do this for a living, like making videos and getting to be on podcast. Like, stuff like this is really cool.
I'm very thankful for it. So.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: Well, that makes me happy. Cause that's just being able to do this and being able to put people in positions that they might not be able to get. Right.
It might be uncomfortable. Right. But that's where growth happens too. But, man, you're very comfortable here right now, which is good.
And I believe everybody has a unique gift. And with the company that we have, we obviously do things different. Let's get weird. We got dank sauce. Shit. Yeah, sauce. We got all this. You know, you're really in a great spot to be able to help us with that. So with the company and what you've seen so far, you know, what do you think is the biggest thing that we do that might be different, that we're doing different from the restaurant business that you've seen, because everyone's a customer of the restaurant business. So now you've seen what we strive to do, what we focus on. What do you think it is?
[00:16:41] Speaker C: I think the podcast is a big one. Like, we are the only restaurant that has a podcast. Can we talk about.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: I still haven't found a restaurant that has a podcast. If you're out there, I would love to get on your podcast and talk about it. Prove me wrong. And I would love to encourage everybody to go ahead and do this, because imagine if we were talking about sandwiches the whole time. It would be quite boring.
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Right?
[00:17:05] Speaker B: And then it has bread and lettuce and cheese.
[00:17:10] Speaker C: Wait, I gotta try one of these tomatoes. Yeah.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: No, miserable. That'd be miserable, right?
[00:17:15] Speaker A: But every business, in my opinion, especially when they're founder led, there's another reason why they're Doing it right and telling that story is really important. And you know, my story is the restaurant business sucks. We're here to change it. I've seen the dark side of the restaurant business. We've got a business that we can do things different and we want to create awareness with that. And what you are doing, Tyler is doing that for us. I think, you know, you are tip of the spear helping me pave waves for that. We're going to be expanding our platform as we go. Certainly LinkedIn is a big push this year. We're expanding our franchising. We had 17 franchises sold last year. We're expanding in Florida big time and we're going to be expanding in the southeast 10 states. We're going to be opening up. So LinkedIn is going to be a big push for us there. So I'm excited to work with you on that. Yeah. You know, to kind of wrap this up.
What's your big takeaway and what are you excited about in 2025?
[00:18:12] Speaker C: Big takeaway.
The restaurant business sucks and we're here to change it.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: There you go. That's good. That's good shit. Yeah. My man.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: Love. Thank you.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: Yep. You know what I'm most excited about is all of the craziness that is going to happen as we open. Probably between four and six locations this right, We've got them opening. Looks like definitely four in Florida, hopefully a couple more in Georgia, South Carolina. Get that going. You know, we'll see what happens. All of that's going to require a lot more amazing people. It's going to, you know, have a lot of ups and downs as we go.
And we're going to be able to share it here and we're going to be using this guy to hopefully narrate and create some creative content.
[00:18:57] Speaker C: Let's go.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: That makes those stories and enhances those and it's fun for you guys. So thank you so much. Let's go ahead and do what we do. Last time we had a sploter. This is a different batch. That's why we do small batches and not big batches.
It is early.
There we go.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: This is my first food for the day.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: One, two, three.
All right, there we go.
[00:19:25] Speaker C: I hope I win.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: All good.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: I hope I win.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: I hope you don't.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: That was good, watching you open like 26 bottles. Cheers. Shit ya.
[00:19:33] Speaker C: Everybody, let's do it.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: All right.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Breakfast.
[00:19:42] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: That's breakfast.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: It's pretty good.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: Wow.
It is good. It's better on a sandwich, but technically we can drink this and we are drinking it. So technically, episode 10. Shit. Yeah. All right. Thank you.
That's a wrap.
