Amanda Virgillito

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City! Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host. Happy New Year 2021 is here. And I am excited like anybody else. I feel like great things are on the horizon. You know, I was watching the Titans game this past Sunday with my dad, and the whole game, we're doing well. At the end of the game, I was like, got that familiar feeling, and I was like, no, no, this isn't happening. Not to us, not in 2021.

01:00And I looked at him and I go, you know what, man, 2021 is a new year for Nashville, and you know what's going to happen? Something freaking good. We're going to win this game. We're getting the home game. We're getting a home game. This is going to happen. Nashville's turning over a new leaf, damn it. And the first play, 55 yard pass or whatever it was. And then we hit the field goal barely. We can't just do it easily, but Nashville got a win. We're going to have a home playoff game this Sunday. Just so excited, so excited. Something positive is happening for our town. Thank goodness. Hopefully, that's the first of many, many trends to happen here. It's been a good start to 2021. I sat down with Amanda Virgilito. She's the owner of Squeaky Wheel Public Relations. And we talked about a lot of stuff. We talked about her life.

02:00She's an amazing person and she represents some amazing restaurants and raising companies. She works with Christie Cookie Company, Haythorn, ML Rose, Cinema, 8th and Roast, Honeyfire. I don't want to forget anybody, but she talks about them all. This is going to be a two parter. Part one is today and I'll put out part two probably tomorrow. Just as a, and we, really part two is just her really going in depth and talking about all of her clients. And it's kind of a fun episode. So I hope that you enjoy today's first episode of 2021. I want to start off on a positive note and celebrate somebody who I have a ton of respect for. And I like sharing the behind the scenes kind of people, you know, everybody knows the big chefs out there. But I like finding the people who are behind the scenes just running their asses off, making it happen in the business that you might not know about. And people that I learn about and I got to meet like Amanda, who represents so many restaurants of people who have been on this show.

03:05And I just want to kind of share what their stories are because not everybody knows what a PR firm does or how you start a PR firm or any of that stuff. So that's what we did today. This show is going to be brought to you by Super Source. They are your go-to for your dish machines and chemicals. It is a brand new year, 2021, if you're not out negotiating a new deal for your dish machine and chemicals, this is a time to look at it. Look at your contract, look at your usage, see what you're purchasing right now. Are you paying for too many racks? Are you paying? Are you in a bad contract? Do you need to go renegotiate that contract? Jason Ellis is the guy you need to call. You need to check him out at supersource.com or go to our website, nashvillerestaurantradio.com. Click the sponsors tab and go find the Super Source website. Get Jason Ellis to come in and do just kind of an assessment. Let him look at everything you got. This guy is saving people money right and left. He is going to be, I'm telling you, Super Source is that company that is just, I say either the next what chefs want, just a company that came out of there, hustled their tail off and really cared about, cared about you, cared about doing things differently.

04:21Wanted to bring a personal touch to what they're doing. So that's what they're doing over at Super Source. These guys are amazing. I couldn't be more honored to partner with a company like them. We use them in our restaurants that I work with and he's just amazing. So we're excited to have you guys here. Please go check us out on YouTube. You can watch these videos too. I will have the full hour and 30 minute video for me and Amanda up here in the next little bit. So go watch it. Go subscribe to it. You'll see whenever we get new videos that get put up. And now we're going to jump right into our show. So happy new year. I hope that this year is amazing for you and we're excited. We've got lots of ideas, lots of fun stuff coming up in 2021. So here we go. So excited today to be talking with Amanda Virgilito. She is the owner of Squeaky Wheel Public Relations.

05:23Welcome to the show, Amanda. Thank you. Good morning. Happy to be here. Thank you. I'm so excited because you're one of those people who I've talked to on multiple occasions. We email mostly, but you represent a bunch of restaurants and I've interviewed most of your clients. You're amazing. And you're one of those people who is behind the scenes. You're churning the water. You're doing all of these things. I don't know how many people know you or what you do. And I love talking to people that like make it happen. First off, where does the name Squeaky Wheel come from? Okay, so it's personal and that's kind of how it always had to be. I think a lot of agencies will go to naming after themselves. And I considered something kind of cute like A, B, P, R for a minute. But Squeaky Wheel came from kind of two distinct places.

06:24One, my favorite music artist of all time is James Taylor. And there's a line in one of his songs about the squeaky wheel always getting the grease. And that has always stuck out to me as a positive. I think sometimes squeaky wheel is viewed as a negative thing, like needing attention or what have you. But in the PR world, especially, I've always kind of lived by if you want to ask for it. And so that's what I do on behalf of my clients. The other side of that is I'm just sort of known in my family and in my world as the person that they go to when somebody needs to speak up. So if there's a customer service issue, if something's not happening, my mom will call and say, I need my squeaky wheel. I'll make the call and I kind of make things happen. I'm not afraid to speak up, I guess, when things are needed. So it's a dual purpose. In my former PR life, my nickname, which was loving, was Demanda.

07:26And I take it a lot of ways, obviously, but it really was kind of a remark on the fact that I just get results. So well, I will attest to that. I will say that, you know, when I first started this podcast, I was like on Instagram and I would just Instagram message people and I would say, hey, I have a podcast. Would you like to come on? Or if I had friends in the business, I would just call them. And then I contacted Shane Nasby, because I'd known him for a long time. And I said, hey, love to have you on the show. And he's like, sure, no problem. And then after that episode, you reached out to me and you were like, hey, I do his public And I would love to talk to you about, but it was like this. You were like the first person that I really realized, like, oh, there's a channel here. Like you can go through people to make stuff happen.

08:27And I almost felt like I went behind your back to do this completely unknowingly that there was a, oh, I could just go to their PR firm and they can set everything up. Does that happen a lot? It does. And I honestly welcome it when there is a genuine connection between a chef or restaurant and somebody in the media and they work directly. I welcome that. So you don't do anything wrong. However, the role that I take is to remember all the strategic and timely things that a working chef with lots of wheels spinning, right? Like they're thinking about what food they need to order and if their payroll is done for the week. And, you know, if you know what's going on in the dining room, obviously with a pandemic, there's much more to consider. So why I'm necessary and where I come in in that regard is not to necessarily be the first point of contact if there's already a natural relationship there, but to help kind of streamline and organize.

09:32So the right things are talked about and you make the most of this interview opportunity. That's kind of my whole podcast is I want to avoid the PR. I want to avoid everything you're going to tell them to say. I want to get the other side of the story. But really, though, I mean, they hire you because these are personalities, you know, as much as they're chefs and they have a spirit of service and they take care of people, they create experiences. They're also personalities that walk around restaurants. They shake hands. They have regular people that come in and they have a lot of different relationships. And when you have that many people with hands out saying, hey, I need you to do this, you just you got to streamline that through somebody. And is that really where you mean? I don't want to encapsulate your business that way. Let's get into that. What would you say you do? Like, I that's a bad way to put it. No, it's not. People ask me all the time. Yeah, like, let's break it down.

10:34You know, I'll tell you, my impression, you know how they have like those memes. It's like my mom, what my mom thinks I do, what the public thinks I do, what I really do kind of a thing. Right. My my what I think you do comes from like entourage. OK, you've watched the show entourage. It's been a really long time. She is like there's like a PR there's a there's a PR girl. And everything that she does is like, you tell them. And she's just like this animal. But she's constantly the people keep screwing up. And then she comes in and creates this narrative that makes everything nice and puts it nice little package so that the the optics look really good. The public relations are nice. So it's kind of my perception that you're in there like hushing up the eyes and, you know, you're just behind the scenes. I have been fortunate that there have been very few. That's what you would call crisis management scenarios where my job is to pull focus away from something negative or maybe do some damage control and something bad happens.

11:47That's a definite facet of PR and happens a lot. And I would think in other areas, not as much restaurants. And I think part of that is because Nashville and as a whole, our residents love restaurants and want them to succeed. So I would say more. The the job that I have and the way that I go about working with clients is to take what they're doing best and make sure as many people as possible know about it and also help them look for ways to share that in non-traditional public relations ways, which is, you know, their social media, their interactions with their guests directly, their, you know, when they're out in the community and doing outreach and that sort of thing. So it's I think PR has changed a lot, especially in the past, I'd say five to 10 years. And that's been the bulk of my restaurant work.

12:47So I've been like adapting and changing along with it. But I think, again, you're not wrong with your entourage kind of thought and PR as a general definition. But as far as what I do, that crisis management part is a very small part of it, thankfully. So as a sole proprietor and kind of one person shop, what's great about what I do is the ability to just meet people where they are. Some clients have a very great understanding of media relations. They know and are comfortable in giving interviews. They have really great ideas that they bring to me and say, this is what we're doing and we want you to put it out there. And then there's some who say, we know we need what you do, but we don't know what we're doing and we need help from the beginning. So it kind of can run the spectrum from media training, helping them feel more comfortable and confident in interviews and kind of stay on topic all the way to actual earned coverage or earned media, which is essentially media coverage that's not paid for.

13:58And I think that's where a lot of people in general who aren't in our world get a little bit confused about PR and marketing and social media and how they're different and then also how they intersect. Okay, so let's break it down. You work primarily with restaurants. Is that like your forte? It is. It was a natural progression. It's not the extent of my experience. I actually spent seven years doing non-profit PR work at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. So I got to work with Broadway shows and concerts and it was a really exciting time, not conducive to somebody with small children, which is why I kind of made the shift. I've done agency work. So I've worked with a lot of different retail, luxury brands, that sort of thing. But food has always been my passion. It's the thing that makes my eyes light up. And it was a time obviously in Nashville when restaurants were just, they were opening every day.

15:02So it was a good time to shift my focus. It was the best time. I have worked exclusively, we'll say, with restaurants and food and beverage brands for, it'll be seven years next month. So who's your ideal client? My ideal client? Yeah, let's say you're, I don't know if you do targeting or sales or if people just call you and be like, we need help. But like if you were to look for a new client, like how would you start breaking, how would you start figuring that out? Sure. So I made a commitment to myself to really try to keep all or most if not all of my clients locally owned and operated and have been really successful with that. I like to connect with the people who are making the decisions. And I like to really see these kind of success stories build. I like seeing people who dream up a concept to do the work. And I like to help them in the ways that I'm able.

16:05So an ideal client to me would be that, would be somebody with a really focused concept that has been doing great work and needs help getting more eyeballs on what they're doing and ultimately more butts in seats, right? At the end of the day, everybody's goal is that we succeed not only with attention and positive accolades and what have you, but people actually coming in and that's where they're choosing to spend their dollars. So when it comes to finding clients, I have been really fortunate that pretty much all of them have been word of mouth or recommended to me, which I never, ever have gotten used to that feeling or take for granted. It's pretty amazing. I kind of started Squeaky Wheel as an accident. I left an agency job to go back into nonprofit work and I thought it was going to be a dream job.

17:10And a couple weeks in realized that it was a dream job for somebody else. It was just a poor fit. I think I'm good at what I do and I think they're good at what they do, but it was a poor fit. So eight weeks later, I found myself with one small freelance client and I need to figure things out. So I just put out a couple of feelers and said I was going to freelance until I found my next job. And within two months had a full-time workload, which bored me. And so I didn't really go about this the traditional way. I didn't write a business plan. I didn't really intend to start an agency. But found that the flexibility and ability to make my own choices, be my own boss was very appealing and needed at the time. My kids were pretty young.

18:10Life was pretty up in the air and it made sense at the time and still going. So it's not the trajectory that other agencies in town take. And I think that's what makes this work. Because there are quite a few, I would say, hospitality-focused publicists in this town. I think there's a fair number. And what I like about it is we all have different strengths and different personalities and skills that we bring to the table. And I kind of liken it to dating. Restaurants hire the one that's best fit for them. And so I'm not a fit for everybody. I'm very local in my focus. Some restaurants have a need or desire for national press or attention. There are some wonderful people in town who do that beautifully. I have chosen to stay local in my focus. And I think that served me well. And I think there are quite a few restaurants in this town who that's what they need and that's what they want. So it's the direction that I've chosen to go.

19:15Okay, so there's a lot there. I'm trying to, I had like four different questions I've like wanted to go through as I'm drinking my coffee, learning about what you do. So you started a job. I'm just going to kind of go back into your past. You started this job that you said that was a great company, but you were passionate, just wasn't a good fit. And then you decided to freelance. You had one client. And then within two months, you had a full workload. You kind of alluded to the fact you said everything's up in the air. Like life is crazy. When was this at what year? Where were we when this was going on? 2014, early 2014. Wow. Okay. So this wasn't like recently, this was, this was six years ago you started. Yeah. So Squeaky Wheel will turn seven officially in February. Wow. Okay. When I took out the business license, you know, just kind of decided, okay, this is what I'm going to do.

20:19So, so just about seven years. Yeah. Life was life was up in the air. I mean, you know, you and I talked about this pre-interview, but my personal life and my professional life are not the same, but they certainly do overlap. And I think that's something that we all should feel a little more comfortable and less guilty about. And I mean, I'll be, I'll be honest at the time that I started the business, it was also the year I was going through a divorce and changing homes and adjusting my kids to that new life. And so it was, it was a scary time and it was an exciting time. And that flexibility again, to have office hours at home and be there when I needed to be there was, was really important. So I was fortunate that it worked out that way. At the time, I didn't feel so certain that this was a great thing, but, but looking back, it was probably a best case scenario for being able to be a mom and provide for them.

21:22Wow. And that was, gosh, almost seven years ago. Yeah. We went through a lot, starting a new business, going through a divorce, getting a new house, like all of these things. What got you through all of that? Like, is there just, is there anything that, any kind of, we all just came through 2020, which it sounds like you were prepared for 2020, but like, any advice, anything like that you were able to do? Wine is the answer or is it? No, I mean, if we're, if we're going to say a drink is the answer, it's going to be, it's going to be coffee. It's, it's certainly helped. Amen. I think that sometimes in our lives, when we're faced with various hardships that we didn't ask for and that adrenaline kicks in, right? Like if somebody is chasing you and you're not a runner, suddenly you can run because you have to. I think we all have those moments in our lives to varying degrees.

22:25And when you have to survive, you just do. And through that, you learn that you can. And I think you also learn some ways to, to manage that. I mean, burnout is real. And I think that's something I've had to get really honest with myself about. And, you know, days where I feel less productive or, you know, I compare my success to the success of others, that sort of thing. It gets really easy to fall into that. But, but mostly I think going through like hard years, that's, that's the thing I've learned is that adrenaline that kicks in and that sort of survival mechanism, it's not ideal. It's not good in the long run for your health, but it does show you that you can if you have to. And, and really, I mean, that was a tough year, but as you know, we've talked about a little bit. I still will maintain that 2019 was, was the worst and hardest year because my daughter got significantly ill.

23:28And we spent most of that year in the hospital. And that was really the year that I knew what I was made of. Because I had to keep every ball in the air and they kept falling. So it, you know, I had to make a decision. I could have pretended like everything was fine with my clients and kind of covered it up and kind of made, you know, I mean, they all knew she was sick, but then like everything's fine. I'm good. But I didn't do that because it's not really how I operate. And so I made the decision to just be completely honest about how much of a struggle things were. And I was really amazed at the support and patience and grace that they gave. And I think at the end of the day, the work still got done maybe at odd hours of the night or in spurts. But when you asked me earlier about the ideal client, I guess that's why I like local business owners because they do have their people and they have a lot at stake and they have families and their life and their professional world bleed into each other and they get it, right?

24:48It's not a figurehead in another state who hasn't humanized me and I haven't humanized them. And I think that's a really important and integral part of a PR relationship. Getting to know the people as much as you're getting to know the restaurant or the food. I wanted to ask you that question. What do you do? Is it prayer? Is it meditation? Is it some deeper place that you go? Because I see you. I see you and you're not somebody that I've really seen before because I'm in my own little world. But since we spoke that first time and I've interviewed a lot of your clients and I've got to know, I've known a lot of your clients for a long time. But once I really got to meet you and kind of learn a little bit about you through them and through what you do, you absolutely inspire me. You're one of those people that I see through social media and through what you're doing through other people.

25:51And I know some of the trials and tribulations that you've been through and your attitude is there. And you're just one of those people through 2020 has been one of those people that I haven't got to hang out and all that stuff. But I don't know if people get to tell you that often that I see what you're doing. And I have kids, I can't imagine just how hard you have the tenacity and how hard you've had to work. And I know that it's a challenge. And I want you to know that I see you and you inspire me and I think you're amazing. Thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, I don't think I do anything more or less than any parent who loves their kids would do. And I think any parent who is faced with raising a kid with a chronic severe illness of any kind will admittedly say, you know, we do it because we have to.

26:51I mean, it's, you know, nobody wants this. Nobody asks for this. I am an oversharer to a fault probably as far as, you know, but I think that's needed and I think that's okay to be forthcoming. And, you know, with social media, especially, I think we all feel a pressure to look at the one like, you know, gorgeous image of a family outing and share that one where your kids are happy or smiling and you know yourself that the other two hours there was arguing or, you know, 30 minutes spent in the bathroom line. Just look at the damn camera. Whatever it is where we fall and those are great too because you need to see your kids in those moments and see like how happy and thriving and wonderful they are. But at the same time, I don't know how to not just be who I am and anybody who knows me for longer than five minutes knows that regardless of what I try to say, whatever I'm feeling is right here.

27:54Like there is no hiding it. If I am pissed, you see it. If I'm happy, you see it. I cry a lot and I think that's okay too. So I just kind of have to roll with it. And I think I was uniquely prepared for a pandemic year in that way. 2019 was very isolating. My daughter's condition leaves her immune compromised. And so we were already in the mentality of being like diligent about health and hand washing and not being around sick people. That was already a question before coronavirus ever even entered my mind as a thing that existed. I was already asking people that we were planning to see like, are you sick? Has anyone coughed? Like, you need to understand that a common cold can set us back, that sort of thing. And we spent a lot of time at home because she was not able to function in a lot of settings. So when March came around, I was like, all right, business as usual for us in a lot of ways.

29:01That said, I never had any idea what was in store for the country or the world and how our lives would need to adjust in the ways that they do. And especially seeing it affect the restaurants that I work with and how they've had to just think on their feet and change their business models day after day to stay at work. So it's been interesting. I mean, it kind of, if I can say this without sounding selfish, everybody being forced to stay home and change kind of their expectations of what a professional working life looked like, it put me in a level playing field again because I was holding conference calls from a hospital bedside, right? I was asking people to meet or to talk at odd hours and working around that and worried that people wouldn't understand.

30:10So now suddenly everybody's having to do that. Whether their kids are sick or not, they're still home and they're still making noise and there's still lots of challenges there. So it almost normalized your life. Yeah. I mean, I don't wish this. I, you know, I would love to. No, I understand. It's not like you're saying the pandemic was a blessing. But you're saying, hey, look, I was doing this social distancing thing well before it was a mandate and we had a pandemic. So, I mean, it kind of helped you. It normalized the life I was already living. And that's been helpful in a lot of ways. So how is your, so if you don't mind, and you can say no, I don't want to, but I'd like to bring some sort of awareness to what your daughter has gone through, or not necessarily what she's gone through, but just about her illness. Is there anything? I know you did a bake sale a few months ago where you helped raise money and I think you had an amazing turnout and sold all of everything real fast.

31:14I did. So fast, I didn't even get a chance to buy one. I know, I just got a few people who were like, is this a Ticketmaster like public on sale? What is going on? It was an amazing response, not only from people who wanted to support the bake sale, but also the restaurants and bakers in town who donated in a year that they have already lost so much. And that was the thing that really floored me with the bake sale is when I went to everyone, what I said was I would like to buy dessert from you at cost and then sell it for a retail price for a fundraiser. If that's needed. And not one single person took me up on that. Every single person donated. And I think in again, in a year where their livelihoods have been affected so heavily, it really is a testament to Nashville. This is not the only charitable, this is a tiny one in the scheme of when you look at fundraisers for charities or really just in the way that the restaurant community takes care of each other, whether it's meals for hospitality employees or food drives or what have you.

32:27Some of these people are chefs and restaurant owners that I've known a very long time. Some were strangers to me. And they all came back with not only yes, but yes and what else can I do? And I know you wanted to ask about my daughter and we'll get to that, but I just don't ever want to miss an opportunity to thank publicly these people who gave, who didn't have to and who really went above and beyond. And not only that, but then when it was time to amplify and spread the word, here I was suddenly not a publicist shedding light on something I'm excited about, but asking people to share news about something personal to me. And so many people did that to great success. I was happy to see when I looked at the sales from the bake sale that I know personally in some capacity about half of the people who bought, which I expected. And then the other half were strangers to me.

33:29And that was pretty amazing. Do you want to go through? I'm just looking at the list of people that donated. There's like 30 people. I will inevitably leave someone out. I've got the list. I would do it. But like, I think it would take like, and I'll tell you what, you had 8th and Roast, Arnold's Country Kitchen, Bastion, Jessica Bidor of Proper Bagel, Biscuit Love, Katie Pies, Shohan, Ale and Masala House, Christy Cookie, City House, Deandre's Bakery, Dessert Designs by Leland, D.Kate's Catering, Fat Belly Pretzel, Goo Goo Cluster, Haythorn, Jasper's, Little Gourmand, Loveless Cafe, Monja, Nashville, McCabe Pub, Mockingbird, Nicky's Coalfired, Pink Door Cookies, Cinema, The Painted Cupcake, Lisa Marie White of Biscuit Love. Wow. Yeah, it was an all-star list. It was an amazing spread. I had to call out a couple.

34:33I went to Caroline at Nicky's and she came back. I asked for a dessert and she said, how about six? And I thought, at first I thought, am I going to be able to sell six pies? Well, clearly people love. And it was an amazing thing. I've known Caroline and Tony a long time and clearly I don't have to tell you how much good they're doing for the restaurant community on a daily basis in lots of ways. Another one that I feel just compelled to thank is Matthew at Pink Door Cookies. So his business hadn't opened yet, officially he was kind of doing like through Instagram, have never met him before, reached out and not only did he donate but he said, you know, I've been brainstorming. Here's some other people you should ask. If you want me to ask on your behalf, I'll do it. This is somebody I've never talked to before this kind of cold call request for a donation and just went out of his way to help and be supportive.

35:41Lisa from Biscuit Love. Biscuit Love gave but then Lisa was like, I also want to give personally and I'll bake some things just on my own. So I could go on and on and that would take up all of our time. And, you know, I just really, this is why I'm in the business I'm in. It is meaningful. Obviously talking about food that is delicious and the amazing things that people are doing with food in Nashville is a dream job. But really it's the people that keeps me in this business. But that's really the heart of what our industry does. You know, we talk about this, eat local and buy local and vote with your wallet and these restaurants need you right now. Independently owned and operated restaurants need you right now. You have this bake sale and you reach out to a couple people and the response is amazing. The way that people love and care for their community within this community to me is unlike any other.

36:48And so when you think about like them asking and nobody ever asks for help. Nobody ever says, hey, we need you to come eat here, do this. Like restaurants need you right now. This is the time for the general public to really step up and give back. And they, restaurants just give, give, give, give, give, give, give. I love the, I don't know if it's a meme but it says, you know, all those gift cards that the restaurants donated to help your swim team or the restaurant that helped you donate this to get this. Like they need your help now. Like now's the time to go do it. And it's the locals that, who give, who have less and who give, you know, I have a good friend who's a social worker and she is constantly looking for things to take care of the families that she serves. And a lot of times there's, there's food insecurity in the mix. And so these are, you know, just kind of one-offs, right? Like there's one family who needs Thanksgiving covered or there's one family who needs groceries this week.

37:48And she reaches out to corporations frequently and gets no response. And then the locals constantly just step up and give. And I think that that's, kind of says it all, right? I mean, it's, it's so very important. And I think it's easy to be very frustrated and disheartened with a lot that's happened this past year, justifiably so. There are a lot of things that have really infuriated and saddened me about how humans treat each other this year. But then there's good, right? There are people who in their own ways, whether it's just helping one family that isn't seen or isn't talked about, who are reminding me that human kindness exists and that we do take care of each other.

38:53So I think, you know, again, where life and real life and work kind of overlap, that's been the case in my world, right? The bottom fell out and people showed up. And what's interesting is a lot of people who I now call dear and personal friends, I have met through work. A couple of my dearest friends in the world were food bloggers or media interested or food adjacent people that I met on Twitter, which is, excuse me, worrying to me that, you know, you meet people on social media and then they become real life and lifetime friends. But here we are. Yeah, I mean, that's legit. I mean, people are, I mean, not everybody just has these accounts where they're just like trolls. I mean, a lot of people are genuine. I love your last post about the bombing on Christmas.

39:54So much so that I tailored an intro to a show about it. I don't know if you heard that. But, you know, you said just your memories on Second Avenue and what you remember being. I mean, I thought that was such a great take on just remembering, you know, the good times. Yeah, I grew up in Clarksville an hour away. And, you know, we a trip to Nashville was a very big deal. It was usually a celebration, usually something we saved up for. And at the time that was there were two places we went in Nashville. It was downtown to Second Avenue or to the like Vandy Centennial Park area. And we'd go to Kobe Steakhouse and around Centennial Park. That was also a big deal. But Second Avenue was a thing. You know, my family from New Jersey would visit the summer and we would, you know, go to the melting pot.

40:55And that was such a huge deal for us. Prior to that, it was Spaghetti Factory. That was such a huge deal for us, you know. And gosh, I won't aim to have an insightful take on what happened down there. It's really hard. It's hard to see. And the effects of what happened, I think, are still yet to be known, you know, cohesively. I mean, it's affecting people in real and tangible and immediate ways with, you know, loss of business, loss of homes, loss of income, that sort of thing. And then the emotional effect it's having on our city as a whole is beyond comprehension at this point. I think so many people forget that Second Avenue used to be like the Broadway. Like Broadway used to be kind of seedy. Like there wasn't a whole lot of, like all the honky-tonks. The only honky-tonks that were really there was Legends Corner, Laila's Bluegrass in Robert's Western Road, The Stage, and then Tootsie's.

42:03And maybe Rippy's. Like there wasn't like a lot to do. There was a planet Hollywood that came in that was where Margaritaville was. And then Second Avenue was the place. Like Second Avenue was like Graham Central Station. And, you know, there was all these really, like Second Avenue used to be the place, melting pot. Yes, Old Spaghetti Factory. I mean, for years, that was the place you would go. I think there's so many iterate. Like, you know, Nashville, downtown Nashville has had so many seasons and people have varying memories and associations. And, you know, and they all matter and they're all meaningful and they're all special. And I'll be hopeful that, you know, the rebuilding efforts are... All right. So here's what I want to do. I want to move to a positive space. We're going to retrain our brains for a second.

43:05We're going to get into public relations. Okay. We're going to get into your squeaky wheelhouse. Let me shift my brain. Okay. No more emotions. We're going to talk business and we're going to help some people. Okay. I'm looking for you for free advice. Okay. So if I'm a restaurant out there, no matter who I am, because there's a ton of mom and pop restaurants that are trying to get by right now that are just, they're just hanging on. And hopefully they listen to this episode and they've got this far in the episode. And now we're going to play ask the PR specialist. Oh God. Okay. What is the most impactful thing you can... Bit of advice. You can give somebody right now. Just a broad scope in the PR world.

44:09What do people need to be doing today? What can somebody listen to this right now? They're going to hear what you say. They need to turn the podcast off and go do this thing right now. What is it? Okay. It's a two-part answer. That's okay. Whatever you want. I think one, people are so intimately involved and focused on their businesses that they forget how the public viewpoint matters. They come up with wonderful dishes or promotions or events or you name it. And then the crossing over the finish line to get that in front of as many eyes as possible and the right eyes is a problem, is sort of a difficulty for them to accomplish. And so I think the thing they need to do if they're not working with a publicist that's doing this on their behalf is to think about the last time that they read about something that led them to go do that thing.

45:12So whether it's a movie they're considering seeing or something they're considering buying, it's like, how did you find out about that and what led you to actually take your time and your money to go do it? And then think about the backward steps of how that happened and then try to do that for themselves. And maybe that, I don't know if I answered your question in the best way, but I think just refocusing their brand from the customer viewpoint is step one. I always encourage clients to have a written sort of media fact sheet that gives everything about, it's a resume in a sense, it's something that could and should be publicly available, but basically everything about their brand that's important in one place, in a shareable format, that way if they are tasked with educating people, they have something that's already written that they feel good about that they can pull from and then tweet for the scenario.

46:20And then just assume that there's never too much communication about what you're doing. There's never too much communication about what you're doing. That is a horribly constructed sentence when said out loud. You can never tell too many people about what you're doing. Let's say it that way. You're saying some people are humble and they're like, I posted on Facebook, I don't want to sound like a braggart, but we have this really cool new thing that we're doing, but I don't want to just put it out there because it sounds like I'm tooting my own horn. You're saying beep, beep, like toot, go. Be the car alarm that doesn't stop blaring in the middle of the night because people forget that, especially in social media, that attention span as we're scrolling is so very short. So if I see, let's say a burger that a place is doing and I'm scrolling and I'm like, oh, that looks good.

47:26It's gone. It looks good. It's gone from my mind. Then if I see that Brandon ate that burger and posted about it and I'm like, wow, that burger must be something I need to seek out. Then I pull open the Nashville scene and it's been written about because of X, Y, and Z special reasons. I'm like, all right, I've got to get this burger. You hear Brandon talking about it on Nashville Restaurant Radio. Yes. I said that second time. I said if Brandon ate it and posted about it. Oh, there you go. I have to, you know. I was just kidding. I know, but I did say it. So those number of impressions are needed. I think there's like some science behind it as far as like how that works and our attention spans and there's data if you want to delve into it. Social media is not my area of expertise and so I won't speak to that officially but I think all those parts of the whole are necessary. So media coverage in our traditional and non-traditional outlets definitely matters.

48:32Social media matters and what your brand is putting out consistently as well as what others are saying about you. Update your website. I know it's a pain but if you're offering something special it needs to be the first thing I see when I go to your website. I shouldn't have to look for it. And it's just kind of like all of that collectively needs to happen to get that message across and I think that's a lot to ask of a small business again because they are not only thinking about their marketable presence but they are ordering food. They are paying attention to food costs and labor and whether their dining room is set up for whatever the current pandemic parameters are and all of the things that they have to think about as business owners. So it's a lot to ask and I understand that the bandwidth is not there but at the end of the day your customers are what keep you in business and so just finding as much room as you can to think about them and what you're doing is critical.

49:36Well, I think that what you do is fantastic because you tend to bring and I mean myself too I mean I have a consulting company but like what I like to do is I don't bring an emotional take. I don't bring an emotional take to the table, right? So when I walk into a restaurant and it's so widely apparent and this is me imploring restaurants to hire somebody like yourself who's an outside voice because they see things that you don't see. When you're inside of a restaurant for 70 hours a week you become emotionally invested in so many different aspects of the restaurant whether it's people or a process or a dish or a table whatever it might be it becomes your daily norm and you see it and it's something that you need an outside perspective from somebody you trust who isn't emotionally invested in that business. Somebody needs to be able to tell you that's not working and you need to be able to listen to them.

50:38Yeah, it's interesting you bring that up because I think my first role with every client I work with is that of a consultant to a point. I come in as a customer and experience the place and get to know things and bring it back to them. Sometimes it's really hard for them to hear what my experience is. It's hard to share that with them. I think it's absolutely imperative that mindset not get ignored. Another thing when people are talking about needing help with public relations is this assumption that that's this big huge ongoing investment. This super expensive retainer bill how am I going to spend this money when I have to make money? I want to definitely cut through that because I'm not here to sell myself. There are a lot of us in town who are independently employed and have structured our businesses around meeting clients where they are.

51:47That's the nice thing about not working for a large agency is if somebody calls and says I want one hour of your time I will give them everything I've got in that one hour. Onto all the way to full-time work and everyone's needs are different. I think that's really important when people are looking for help in this capacity to find somebody who really sees you where you are and wants to help you fill those gaps or meet those needs. When you're a restaurant who has a pain point you want somebody who who can address that pain point. There have been times where I have met with wonderful people who I want to succeed but I know in my heart I'm not a fit for them. I can't do what it is that they're looking for and I do my best to help them find the person who can. I think we all have a responsibility to take care of each other in that way. Absolutely. I think so too. I've enjoyed learning more about what you guys do.

52:50This interview, a lot of it was A, because I think you're amazing and I wanted to learn more about you but because I wanted to share kind of what you do with people and to learn myself exactly what you do because when I meet with restaurants I talk to people and they need this type of when there is this need I like to know you need to talk to Amanda because she's perfect and knowing that you like locally owned and operated independent restaurants and the people side of it is really big. I think people forget on the restaurant side that they have to be good clients too. Yeah, you know, I mean it's a whole thing. So that's an area I come up with a lot with my clients where they'll say, hey, we have this really great thing we're doing and it starts Tuesday and here it is and they're giving it to me on Friday, right? And so the other part of my job that we haven't talked about is the media relations and getting to know and understand and be respectful of the time and the effort that our journalists put into food coverage, right?

53:56So it's not just having this great thing having somebody professional who's skilled in PR to put it out into the world but that person also needs to understand and respect the media outlets and their timelines and their deadlines and what they're interested in. And so that's a huge part of my job is paying attention to what they're writing about or what they're reporting on what they're interested in all the way to some social media following and what they personally like to eat and what they do in their spare time and et cetera. And not only that but bringing them stories that matter. One thing that I really like to do is if I have a client who's got a great story and a great thing is I'll come up with a handful of sources who are not clients. So when I bring it to that person I'll say, hey, here's this thing that's happening and here are six people in town who are doing it and this is why it's a great story.

54:56And sometimes it's hard for a client to understand why something is not written about just them but at the end of the day a good story and a success and on my part is not here's this regurgitated version of things that I've written about my client that somebody's just copied and pasted and put online. To me, that's not a win. To me, a win is like a reinforcement that what they're doing matters and that often means a multi-source story because it's showing that it's a trend or that something like bigger than just them. And I think that serves the public in the best way. And I like it when you contact me and you say, hey, Brandon, I would love you said, I think that Q Taylor who's it's his birthday today, by the way. Happy birthday Q. Happy birthday Q. You say Q Taylor is the owner at Cinema and 8th and Roast and they've had to pivot and do so many things throughout the pandemic.

55:56I think he's got a fantastic story. I think it would be a great story to tell on your show. And I was like, yes. For me, that helps me because I'm constantly trying to identify different opportunities. You listen to the show. You identify what type of interviews I do. You recognize Q as be a great interview. You contact me with a narrative. It's like, yes, that sounds great. And I mean, obviously it was a wonderful interview. He's been on the show a couple of times now, but like, thank you. I mean, like that doesn't happen without you. Well, I think, again, it's important and it's important to find their strengths. Some clients are not maybe comfortable on camera or comfortable talking in that capacity. And so finding the people who are is important and finding those good fits. But yeah, I think if you're going to be successful in PR or if you're a restaurant without PR and you want to be successful and putting your message out there, then you think with the mindset of the audience with respect to the journalists.

57:01And that gets the best possible story out in the world. There it is. I'm going to cut that out and that's going to be a special snippet to promote this episode. And there we have it. The end of part one of my interview with Amanda Virgilito. We just kept talking. It was one of those interviews where we just kept talking, kept talking, kept talking. And I said, look, let's just make this into a two-parter. So we made it into a two-parter and tomorrow you'll get part two and it's going to be her talking about all of her clients and finishing this conversation. So hopefully you enjoyed it. Hopefully you have a wonderful day ahead of you. Hopefully your week is going wonderful, sending you positive vibes. I'm here with my five-year-old son, Matthew, tell everybody goodbye. Bye bye toodoo. All right. Thanks guys. Have a great day. I hope you're being safe out there. Love you guys. Bye. Who?

58:14Hi Dada, Tiny Toot. You're Tiny Toot? Tell me more about that. Dada Tiny Toot. Can you say my name is Matthew? My name's Dada. Your name's who? Dada. You want to say anything to the people out there? Tiny Toot, hi hi. What does that mean? Say hi everybody in the world. Hi everybody in the poop world. In the poop world. Say Nashville Restaurant Radio. Nashville Dada Radio. Nashville what? Dada Radio. Nashville Dada Radio? Can't see your radio. All right.