Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Shit, yeah.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: Really, really excited. This is gonna be shoot episode seven of the Shit yeah Show. We just launched this a couple weeks ago.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Can I make a suggestion?
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Can't they all be like episode 26.7, 26.8, 26.9, like there's always 26 point.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: I actually like that a lot.
Yeah, we probably should do that.
Very good. From a marketing expert who we've got here. So I've got rev really become a fantastic friend going around the the circuit of restaurant industry. Sure. We'd be talking about that. And we've got Simone. And you're an influencer, correct?
[00:00:38] Speaker C: Yes. A content creator. And I focus on pizza and running pizza.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: So pizza is actually one of my favorite foods, if not my favorite food, if you ask my daughter.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Wait, hold on. Are you alive and a human?
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Yes. What an amazing. Right, right, right. So I think statistically burgers is number one and fries number two. And going back to how I got in the restaurant business with five guys, that's actually why we went into that business because it was flip flopped. Men and male, female. But so excited to have you in town. You guys are in town because you're.
[00:01:05] Speaker C: Running the Savannah every woman's marathon.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Every woman's marathon. Right. And then supporting.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: I'm here to see you. Thank you. There's a reason this is the reason I came now is to support Simone.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Here's an excuse to go see Chris.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: No. Well, just really appreciate it. Thanks for the last minute. Hop into the podcast. You know, we talk all about the restaurant business and I've shared why we're in the business and we talked about what sucks about it. But you know, as we always talk about really, we'll start off about how you got in the restaurant business if you've ever worked in it. Kind of told those stories. Always fun. A lot of horror stories of the first job in the restaurant business, whether it's onboarding or whatever happened, we're talking about what sucks about the restaurant business. You know, it really is a death by a thousand cuts business. If you're not really in love with it and really just really into it and then talk about what makes a day. Shit. Yeah. So, you know, the restaurant business touches everybody. I haven't met a person who hasn't eaten in a restaurant before. Right. So everybody is involved in this business. And then finally, what are you guys doing to really enhance the restaurant business? Even as a customer, you could be coming in and just making sure you're very pleasant. There's always something we can do to make it better. So, so excited to have you guys here from New York City.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Greatest city in the world.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: Pretty great.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: There you go. All right, Savannah, second best. We'll go ahead and say that it.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Is hard for me to deny my hometown. So I'll give you a third after Detroit.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:02:28] Speaker C: I've been here three times, so it's got to be good.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Nice. And I'm actually headed to New York in two weeks. So I got engaged in New York, so it has a super special place in my heart. We try to go back the same time every year around Christmas. And so I'll be hitting up your restaurant. You got a spot.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Handcraft Burgers and Brew, Bryant Park.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Smash Burgers, fresh cut fries, deep fried hot dogs, loaded tots and beer.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: There you go. I think you said that before.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: Pizza recommendations, please.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Because pizza really is my favorite food. Really good with shit. Yeah. Sauce, by the way. Oh, yeah. Pepperoni pizza with that is okay. Bueno. But yeah. So let's just go ahead and talk about. We try to keep this at 26 minutes. Delia couldn't make it today because she's got actually our 26 club. We did a promo on that for a free igloo at our locations. And we've got like 500 responses of why people should be getting an igloo. So pretty incredible result there. So went viral in our text program. So make sure to go to 26 Club if you haven't already and join with that. But restaurant business. Have you worked on restaurant business before?
[00:03:26] Speaker C: I have. After graduate school, I wanted a job with health insurance, so I actually managed a coffee shop. And I did this for five years. It was really great to learn how to manage people. I learned a lot. I also, you know, it's very difficult working with the public, and I was somewhere that was very high volume. So I got everything, you know, coming into the store.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: Right. And so where was that?
[00:03:53] Speaker C: It was in Brooklyn, New York.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: In Brooklyn. Okay. So I'm sure it was busy. And people from New York, you know, I love people from New York. My mom grew up in Long island, have family up there, but they can be a little bit, you know, more curt maybe than maybe in Savannah, Georgia. A little faster pace, for sure. So I'm sure there was a lot of experiences there with that.
[00:04:15] Speaker C: Oh, yes, yes.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: I mean, espresso sodas are native to New York City. So, like, think about that. It's a town where somebody was like, hmm, how can I drink an espresso at lunch? Or dinner. Oh, let me turn it into a Coca Cola.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: Love it, Love it. All right. And then Rev, so for you, what was your first restaurant job?
[00:04:35] Speaker A: My first, literally my first job, I was a busboy at Victor's Novi Inn in Novi, Michigan.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: All right.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: And I hated it. But I love the business. Like, I really was like, I like this, like, fast paced, make a decision in the moment. We're all on the same team. It's crazy. And you gotta rely on everybody. At the end of the night, you're like, I am exhausted. What's in the kitchen? Or, you know, like, it really is.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: The restaurant business will tax all facets, mind, body, spirit. I think especially there's just those times where it's all running and it's like a euphoric experience. And so it kind of, you know, you'll get that bug of the restaurant business. But there's of course, that downside of what sucks about it. So let's kind of hear talk about what, you know, from now with what you guys are doing as an influencer, content creator. Right. It's pretty fun role, I think. But there's still, I'm sure, you know, you're coordinating. You know, influencers are awesome, but they can also, from our perspective, be diva sometimes. So let's kind of talk about it.
[00:05:31] Speaker C: I don't think I'm a diva at all.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: I would agree with that. With a very short window of us.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: Hanging out, I understand that a restaurant can be busy and things can be happening. So I try to be understanding and I've come back to restaurants many times due to circumstances, but I. Let's see, where do I start?
I love the creativity. Every day I can tell a different story about a restaurant. I love learning about, let's say, creating the different pizzas and people's training. And I think the people in the pizza industry are just great. So I love being surrounded by it.
Editing videos, though, you know, that's not always fun.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Tedious.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: No, we've as we've launched into this podcast venture and editing videos, you've got a great team that's. That's doing it. But I've already seen how it can be very tedious to really get it dialed in. And so, yeah, for sure there's a lot of time and really to produce content that I would say makes your followers and fans say shit. Yeah. Is the goal. Just like it is for us. Okay, so. And then, Reverend, how did I get.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: In the restaurant business?
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Yeah. So how'd you get into it?
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Well, you know, Standard teen, first job. But my first, like, moment where I was like, I want to be in this business.
My dad loved hanging out in dive bars. Like, that was my dad's bag. And even when I was like 8, 9 years old, my dad would take me to his favorite dive bars to hang out. Now, my dad was not a drunk. He didn't drink drunk driving, that stuff. But like, we go at like two in the afternoon after he's done golfing. I drink Shirley Temples. But like, I grew up loving dive bars with my dad. And my dad was really, he was a proud Germanic man. So he also really loved beer. All right, so there was this thing that we had for a long time that we were going to own this father and son German American craft beer pub. And like, that was our dream. And so from age, like 13 till 18 or 20, we talked about it all the time. And then my dad passed away, having never lived that dream. But we talked about it all the time.
Years later, I ended up buying a bar and getting into a bar. And my motivation was 100% to make promise good on my promise to my dad.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: That's really cool.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: My first owning a hospitality business was making good on a promise to my dad.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: That's awesome. No, I think there's that blood, sweat and tears in this business. And there are so many stories of that that people got into it for various reasons. So. All right, so we know what sucks about the restaurant business for you. Editing. It's a lot of content. You're producing a lot of content. There's volume and you're dealing with the algorithms and trying to, trying to do all of that and keep it on brand with how you do it.
I know what's awesome about it. Pizza. We'll talk about that. Being able to taste pizza. And it's also, you're very smart to carb load with pizza and then you can go do marathons.
So what sucks about it now? So right now you've got Handcraft burgers in Bryant Park.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: And then you also.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Yep. I'm the chief marketing officer for Salad house. They're a 20 unit salad brand based in New Jersey.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: And I'm the head of marketing for Crazy PETA, which is a multi unit, fast casual Mediterranean brand based in Las Vegas.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Got it. Okay. So you're dealing with multiple brands.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: And then also you're constantly, you know, on the move. I see you at a bunch of conferences as we try to grow our brand, as we are growing it. Right. But you know, it's tough to gain attention. I think with your shirt, you know, you're, you're a personal brand, you know, in that. And so with that going on, what sucks about your role because you're now it's kind of outsourced to some degree, right? A little bit or.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: Yeah. As a CMO and an owner and a consultant, a lot of my job is telling people what to do or what the strategy should be. You know, honestly the hardest part, because I'm also a content creator is the content creation. Like I look at it every day as like I have to be George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and Mark Hamill. Like every single day. I have to produce a one minute Star wars about burgers and pizza every single day. It's a ton of work.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: And you put a lot of content out. Yes, I mean we've talked at length about it every single day. So it's, you know, and you have to, I mean it's one of those things that just the way the algorithms work and it's an art and a science and you gotta be really, really good at both. And it's constantly changing. I would say from a marketing standpoint, you know, you've got to be, you know, a student of that craft and doing it and then you're advising other brands to do it and you have a vision and you have to connect that. So that's gotta be tough.
All right.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: I think what sucks about on being on this side of the restaurant business is like I don't think you probably get this and you get this, but most other people probably don't. Running a restaurant is two businesses at one. It is an on demand factory and an entertainment like you have to like, hey, make me this right now. Now make me dance monkey. Right, right now. And like that is one that is probably the hardest business in the world to make. Manufacturing on the spot and manufacturing happiness minutes later. The expectation that people have when in that scenario is way higher than people realize until you're on the inside.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: And the key is as a business, you always want to be over delivering. So exceeding the expectations. And yeah, so we have our six stakeholders in our team is number one, franchisees are number two. Then we have our fans, we've got our community, our vendors, investors. That's how we make decisions so we don't get caught into a five dollar footlong problem that's not good for our franchisees. You got that going on or what? Private equity, bad private equity can is. Then all of a sudden they buy it, they flip it and now it's the investor, it's all investor focused. And the team, it sucks for them. So you've got. There's so many moving parts. And I think that's what you're saying is probably, you know, that's changed a lot. I think it's good. I'm having. I'm starting to have better experiences in restaurants than I have in the past couple of years. I think Covid drastically changed the experience side. It went really product focused. It was like, here's your product, right. And then it almost trained you to stay away from, you know, the customer. And. And now trying to get that back. It's a retraining. And I think that's where, you know, our success and what we're seeing right now is we're just so obsessed about probably that. That monkey dance you're talking about, right. Is just. Just making sure that each individual customer isn't just getting the great product, but they're leaving just really feeling good. You know what we say as they come in at a seven, they're leaving at a higher number no matter what. If we do that, then it's a good transaction.
Yeah.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: So. And with that, again, into what I think is really hard. I don't want to say sucks, I know that's the question, but hard is, I think for the first time in the history of the hospitality business, literally ever, the prices that customers are paying for that, for the first time ever, they're paying actually for the experience. And so people are like, oh, my God, this is so expensive. Because now you're judging it on like, oh, this chicken sandwich was 10 versus that chicken sandwich was 12. The reason it's 12 is I got 10 people back there who. Whose lives I'm in charge of that I gotta pay for that, need a salary and have a wife and a kid and a husband, all those things. And for the first time ever, diners are paying the price of what it takes to be entertained, not fed. And they haven't made that connection yet.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: And so I think that's important to communicate that. And so for us, what we've done is we put the shit. Yeah. Experience out there. It's on our menu. We actually charge you 2.6% on your, you know, on your check for it. Because we feel that by leading with, hey, we want you to have a shitty experience and we're charging you for it. That it puts pressure on our team, but it also empowers them to where when you have a bad day, right, there's just. There's a call out or whatever it is. They know they can also follow through. And, hey, we just dropped the ball. We serve thousands of customers a week. Hey, it's on us today, right? So sorry about it. It empowers them when you have those bad days, but it's constantly experience focused. And, you know, one of the things that I've. I've really focused on is as a brand, I think it's important to name your experience. I think, you know, when you go in, I talk to a lot of restaurants and like, yes, we want them to have a awesome experience. Like, well, doesn't everybody want awesome experience? Like, what is your unique one? And for us, shit, yeah. There's just an emotion tied to it. It's hard to say. Shit, yeah. Wah, wah, wah. Right? It's. It's shit, yeah. Is in high fives. It kind of naturally flows. But maybe let's talk about that. Is, like, what we've really seen an improvement is in our reviews. We launched something called 26X I've been talking about in the past couple podcasts, but it really is a fanatical focus on the two most important relationships you have in the business. Number one is our team. Two is our fans. I think that's what's why I'm in the business. I believe that's why God planted me in this business, is because there's so many relationships that we get to have. And so I don't believe that you get more of what you're not a good steward of. And so, you know, with that, I've asked a lot of, you know, restaurant owners, and, you know, we've talked about it. How many people do you think when they go to restaurants, are actually getting the exact experience that the founder or the owner is actually wanting them to have? Percentage basis? What do you think?
[00:14:31] Speaker A: What do you think?
[00:14:32] Speaker C: Very low.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Very low. You think we get a higher degree of that in New York City than you do like in other parts of the country?
[00:14:39] Speaker C: Yes. I think the service hasn't come back after Covid, and I think it's really hard for restaurants to find great employees now.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Well, you know, I think they're out there. I think a lot of them, they've taken different career paths. Right. And so there's a lot of people that feel that it's what they've always done. Maybe they're stuck in it. I always tell my team, I go, we don't have to employ 10,000 people. We have one restaurant in one city. It's our job to get 50 or 60 people in that one restaurant, we gotta be a brand that can attract those best people, but then we have to be a great steward of that. And so when you're bringing more people in, and I've been on the other side of this in my career, 17 years in the business, there's been people that have come in still probably coming in, where we don't provide a shitty experience for our team and they leave. Right. And so I think it's important to focus on. It's people serving people. Right. And so if you're not providing that, and let's say maybe most restaurants, what's the average percent that you think are getting the exact experience they want?
[00:15:43] Speaker A: 78. I don't know. I'm trying to be high.
[00:15:44] Speaker C: I was going to say 50, maybe.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: I'm thinking of my place. Probably 50. Yeah.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: And so then you think about resources and things that you want to do. So it's like, you know, there's, there's, it's whack a mole. A lot of times in this business, where do you put your attention? And so what we've done is we've just gotten fanatically focused, what we say 26x passion about those two relationships. And it's really been revolutionary. We've seen, you know, period 11, we had outstanding results. We averaged 5.0, 4.9999 at 680 reviews for our four locations. Wow. At a 4.999 rating. Right. The nine months before was a 4.7. And, you know, I think it's. It's actually easier to focus on other things. It's actually like the old school way of doing business where it's like, you got to roll up your sleeves, get in there, talk to your fans, get behind the, you know, the bar, get. Get in the kitchen, actually see how the burgers are being made.
You know, does your team have the supplies they need? The squeegee works, right? All of these things that, that really go into the guest experience. And even what we found, I was, I was working out on Saturday and I was like, man, I feel like there's still more juice in this. Right. And so what we have in our company, we have two phone numbers. We have the 26 Club. And so that's for our fans. And then I've had a phone number through the same platform, which is the community app. It's been my number. We're about to Change it to 26x club just for our team. And so it's a way that we can text our team Members all the time.
And so we've even seen this week of launching it of. I'm a huge believer that engagement equals ebitda. The more engaged your stakeholders are, the more profitable your business will be. So if your team is engaged and they're reading the emails and they're showing up and there are team meetings and they're talking, it's good for your business. If your fans are engaged in your social, they're texting our club, they're doing that. Good for business community, vendors all around that. And so by having their relationship and via text, right, we're able to come at them where they are. The last thing they're going to probably delete. And I think on the iPhone, you actually can't delete your text messages, right? It's on there.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: Can you? You probably turn them off.
[00:17:48] Speaker B: I'm not sure. You probably turn them off. But it's like nowadays, people don't even call anymore. It's all text. So as long as we abide by the platinum rule is treat people the way they want to be treated, especially with our team, then the engagement rises. And so I've tried to figure out for months how to do it. And what we do is we just ask them what their number is, 1 to 10, and then it opens up conversation. When John and Hilton head is a 5, I can text them, hey, man, I'm so sorry, you're a five. What's going on? And all of a sudden we can have this personal dialogue, leveraging technology. Because in this business, you know, most of the time you're just talking to your customers, your fans in the four walls. But a relationship, right, if they're only coming once a week, well, it's a small window and you might miss it. But having that available and constantly engaging them with. With fun things that they want to see, I think is important. So restaurant business sucks. I. You won't say it. Actually, Kevin are, you know, my partner and coo. His. His number one goal is for me to say it doesn't suck anymore. And so that's also my goal is to unsuck the restaurant business.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: It certainly doesn't have to suck.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: It doesn't have to suck, but it's tough. It's a very tough business. I think. You know, I think all of the time, you know, the most fun I ever had was when I had one location and I was behind the counter and I was slinging sandwiches at York street, and I was able to make our team say, shit, yeah, and have fun. Then you want to grow it. And now you can't do that as much. Right. And then you're an emerging brand, so you're dealing with pain points and scaling and doing all of that. And finally you get big, and then there's a disconnection. That's why we're so focused on having that text relationship and trying to scale that. Be a good steward. But certainly makes you guys say, shit. Yeah, I know that. And then what are you guys doing to make it better? Because I. So many people get trapped in the restaurant business. Obviously, if you're a content creator influencer, it's. It's something that hopefully you're not trapped into a fun, you know, role like that. You're trapped eating pizza on a daily basis.
But, you know, what are you guys doing to really improve it?
[00:19:41] Speaker C: I think I'm raising awareness for small pizzerias. Some are so thankful they've never had an influencer even come in. And right now I'm doing a project where I'm running to every zip code in New York City. There's over 200 to these pizzerias. So there's neighborhoods that aren't frequented by the typical influencer. So if I'm helping out a small business, it's very satisfying, and hopefully I'm making it better that way.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Yeah. In this day and age, I mean, there's probably some of the best pizza in these little hole in them all places where. Because there's passion in it, there's families that are doing it might be a recipe and, you know, you can be a great restaurant, but if you're not playing the marketing game right, you aren't out there like, you're. You might go out of business, but you're doing, you know, the best product. You might have a great service, and, you know, that's all kind of that secret sauce, the art and the science of this business that makes it difficult. Yeah.
For you. I know you're doing a lot of things to make it better because you're on panels and you're hosting panels and you're out. You're like, you're pushing all the right buttons, getting and extracting all of the right answers from the panelists when you're moderators.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Amen. So my mission is to be thought of as the world's number one hospitality marketer, because then that means I can command the attention of other people who want to be better hospitality marketers, and then I can teach the things that I've learned and the best practices. I've known my Thought is this. If I can elevate the marketing experience at other restaurants, that will elevate the guest experience and then we all dine better. So at the end of my mission, is the guest having a. Being led to a better place?
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Awesome. No, that's phenomenal. So that's a very high level. So that's what you're doing every day, and then it goes down to what you're actually doing every day. But it's probably a aspirational vision, you know, like ours. The restaurant business sucks. We're here to change it. That it's this, I guess, battle that we have that, you know, once we're gone, it's, you know, hopefully we can pass the epiton on to, you know, inspire other brands. And I think that's, for me, when I go to these, is it's such a hard business. And, like, after I talk to some people, I'm like, hey, you know, there's some fire that's in them that wasn't there. And you certainly do that, you know, at these different conferences we go to.
[00:22:00] Speaker A: So, you know, and with that, like, I'll give you a couple of quick anecdotal stories. So, like handcraft, it's a single unit. Smash burger shop. But we don't think of it as a hamburger restaurant. That comes out of my mouth internally. We think of it as a gratitude machine. And so we teach everybody the importance of thank you. And so if you've ever gotten a text message from us, if you've ever read anything we put on social media, you got any email from us, you've walked in the store, you will hear the words thank you over and over and over and over. We thank each other, we thank the guests, we thank everybody. And so we are grateful to serve. And so that's like a core value there. Jump over to Salad House. And what's important to Salad House is empowering the youth. Commitment to athleticism. Not accomplishment or achievement, but commitment. And so if you are a youth and you're committed to whatever the thing it is, that's Salad House is behind you. That's what we care about. And at Crazy PETA, you've met Mehdi. Like, he cares about great guy. He cares about being kind. That's it. Like, to him, when he sent me his manual for the first time, the whole first section is just about being kind. And you walk into a crazy pediatrician, there's be kind everywhere. Like, those are the hospitality businesses that make a difference. Like, you're like, look, we're Gonna make sure you're having a shit. Yeah. Time. Many wanna make sure that you're feeling kindness. We care about gratitude. Salad House cares about inspiring, you know, achieve or not achieve commitment in sport. Like I think those are the places. But you could also be inspired. Like somebody walks in is like, I'm going to make you the best Giancrina. What does Gian Gristina care about?
[00:23:29] Speaker C: The best pizza in the world.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Pizza fenici. It's literally. He has one table.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: In Pelham. But you walk in, that's incredible. You walk in there like you feel he want you to eat a pizza and have your life change like it is.
[00:23:42] Speaker C: It's my favorite.
[00:23:43] Speaker B: And that's actually one of the hard things is, you know, when you have a product that's. That's like that. And for, for Zunzies, we've won all of these awards and you know, people come in and they expect like they come in, you know, and they're, they're a couple on the rocks. That's going to solve their marriage right now. It's a sandwich, right? You know, if you don't like chicken, right, then you're not going to like this sandwich. You know, certainly put some shit. Yes. Also on it and it'll probably help the cause.
But yet the expectations are so high and so content creators, they go in and they're actually blowing it up. And you gotta meet those expectations. And it's a constant focus with your team to say, hey, people are coming in. They have high expectations. If we're a 4.8 rating, right. And we have that many reviews, they're coming in because of that.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: We ate at a restaurant in Orlando last week that had 10,000 reviews and they had a 4.8. I've never seen that in my life. 10,000 reviews.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: So you look at that and go, it's very Rare to have 10,000 low reviews. Right. And so it's like this self fulfilling business model that the more reviews you have, people go to that because there's reviews. And probably the people that look at reviews are people that leave reviews. And so you want to create this virtuous cycle with that. And it's been such a huge focus of ours and it's really been a key to our business. And then from a marketing standpoint with Google, it's so important because if you're a highly rated restaurant and you search happy hour near me or pizza near me, it's going to look at that. Because in their business they want to push restaurants that are performing well Right. Is that right? Is that my understanding?
[00:25:16] Speaker A: 6,000%.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: It's also why it bugs me, like, oh, man, you're scratching on a deep nerve now. When I talk to independent restaurant owners and the only thing they care about is how many followers they have. And I'm like, that is not how this works.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: Right.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: You should care about how many five star reviews you have because that means you have happy guests. And then the Internet will reward you for having happy guests.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: Right. And it's a lot harder than you think, you know, because it goes back to that. You know, you've got to be in the store, you've got to be talking to your people, you've got to get them excited about it. And, you know, you're certainly doing with Handcraft, the amazing brands that you're working with, and also different conferences, you're spreading the good, you know, the good word. Because there aren't. There are marketers out there that don't understand it and they're getting a paycheck and they're not adding value. And it's a constantly changing business. And I think out of all of this, you have to be passionate about what you're doing. I hope it comes across that I'm passionate about it. I know you are. You wear it on your sleeve. Literally. There you go, you've got it. And then, you know, with what you're doing, running from pizza joint to pizza joint, that's, you know, one of our values is living the dream. I think that's my dream.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: I think, I think you should tell a little bit more of the story.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, let's hear it.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Talk about the time you ran to Chuck E. Cheese.
[00:26:29] Speaker C: There is a neighborhood in Brooklyn called the hole and it's 30ft below sea level. It gets constantly flooded.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: It's four by six blocks, the whole neighborhood.
[00:26:40] Speaker C: There's only one pizzeria and it's Chuck E. Cheese. So I had to go there. It was a 10 mile run. I run from my house to the pizzeria. That's part of my rules of this project.
Gee, I don't even know what else to say.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: So really funny about Chuck E. Cheese. So Larry, who's our project manager for 20th success in Atlanta, his first job was at Chuck E. Cheese.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: And so he, his first job, I think he was like 16 and first day he was in the suit. Oh yeah. But he lasted four years there. So, you know, the pizza must have been good.
[00:27:13] Speaker A: When I was.
[00:27:13] Speaker B: Some funny stories of Chuck E. Cheese.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: When I was 16. I won a breakdancing contest at Chuck E. Cheese. So that's my Chuck E. Cheese clip.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: Nice. Yeah. I'm not sure if they're still expanding, but their pizza was good. Back in the day, at least. When I was, like, 10 years old.
[00:27:28] Speaker A: I went to this adventure with Simone. I did not run, but I didn't hate the pizza. I wasn't angry at it.
[00:27:33] Speaker C: It wasn't terrible. I've had worse. We just stayed at the three worst pizzerias in New York City. They were worse.
[00:27:40] Speaker B: So talking about pizza, what is your top pizza spot?
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Impossible.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Impossible.
[00:27:46] Speaker C: Okay, so I usually say, what type of style would you like me to tell you? And then I can go from there.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: So what's your favorite style?
[00:27:54] Speaker C: Oh, well, I like all styles of pizza, but I can give you a.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: List based on cheese and dough and red sauce.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: Most likely I will say John Gristina pizza Feniche. His margarita. I've not ever had anything like it.
[00:28:06] Speaker C: It's amazing.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. And where's that? Is that in New York?
[00:28:09] Speaker A: Pelham, New York.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: And he futzes with it too. Like, he'll be like, okay, this summer, I'm only using Jersey tomatoes. And so he'll mess. He'll totally change the recipe.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: Gotcha.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: I guess for slices New York style slices in New York City, I'd say Lindustri or Lucia.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: All right, well, in, like, three weeks when I'm up there. Oh, yeah, right. Definitely gonna have to get these.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: I'll give you the pizza list.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: So much.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Yeah. This pizza list, last time I was up there, I was going around, and Mary Kathryn was like, I think I probably had two or three pizzas on that whole trip.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: We did. You know what? Tell them about what we did in Staten Island. That was a fun one.
[00:28:42] Speaker C: Okay. So as I was just saying, my rule for running to all the zip codes is starting from my house. But Staten island is a problem, because there's no way.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: No, you could have just. Staten island is a problem, period.
Please continue.
[00:28:56] Speaker C: There's no way to get there by foot. So for Staten Island, I decided to run to every zip code in Staten island in one day. So there's 12 different zip codes. I had to go to 12 pizzerias. I ended up running over 23 miles, and rev was in this car.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: And I walked. I still did 10,000 steps.
[00:29:15] Speaker C: You did a lot of walking.
But I was worried because this was during the summer and it was hot outside. I was like, am I gonna get sick from eating all this pizza? I felt Great. There were three or four pizzerias that were really good. I had fun.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: So question. Is it true that the pizza and the dough from Italy, it will not affect you as much? Is it the gluten or you use.
[00:29:36] Speaker C: A certain type of flour. But in the US Some pizzerias also use it.
[00:29:40] Speaker B: Got it. Yeah. At home, I try to keep it as natural as possible when I go on the green egg and do that, but no. Pizza is the ultimate American.
I guess it is American, right? Would you consider it at this point? You know, it's so popular. Well, this is a lot of fun.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: You got the race tomorrow. Are you doing the half of the full?
[00:30:00] Speaker C: I am doing the full. Is there a half? I don't think I'm a half.
[00:30:02] Speaker B: I'm not sure. Okay.
[00:30:03] Speaker C: This is my 119th marathon, I think.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Really?
[00:30:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: Incredible. Well, the weather's perfect. It is so excited to have you here. Tomorrow we'll be going to the restaurant.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: Can't wait.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: I will make sure you have a personalized. Shit. Yeah. Experience. I will be there for that. We'll get you a conquistador, some slap chips, definitely some drinks.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: I'm purposely going to answer incorrectly when somebody asks me, what's my number?
[00:30:24] Speaker B: There you go. Yes. It's a negative scale, right? No. Well, so blessed to have you guys here. Thanks for making the time. And we always wrap this up and it's going to be your first time maybe having a shit. Yeah. Sauce. And it is a little rough, but we take a swig out of it, so you can. You got to open it up and.
All right. I didn't tell you about it, but this is a little. Little tradition. We. There is a little cap sometimes, so. And so we do a small batch. So this one's a little spicier. The cayenne pepper kind of. Kind of blossomed. So the one we got there.
[00:30:58] Speaker C: Should I do this before running? I don't think so.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: You get a pass. Okay. Gotcha. There you go.
[00:31:03] Speaker A: Do I go from the bottle or I pour it in the cab? What's that?
[00:31:05] Speaker B: No, you just go.
[00:31:06] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: There you go. Cheers.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: Cheers.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: Yeah, There you go.
Yeah, There you go.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: All right. Yeah.
[00:31:20] Speaker C: You were really getting in there. You must like it.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: I did not break through the cap.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: There you go. All right.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Good stuff, Stacy.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: There you go.
