Arnold Myint-Owner

00:00Hey guys excited to have you here for this episode with Arnold Mint But first I want to tell you that Tuesday November the 8th is election day It is vital that you get out there and vote no matter who you're voting for get out there It is your right as an American as a human being to get out and vote So my ask of you is to make a plan Request off get a shift covered ask your manager Can I have the middle of the day whenever it might be but make a plan to go vote? If you're a manager make this a lineup topic that your people go out and vote. It is more important than ever Right now, especially in these midterm elections that you cast your vote. It is vital So that is my ask of you on this Monday is to let everybody know and for you yourself to get out there on Tuesday, November the 8th and vote Welcome to Nashville restaurant radio the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now, here's your host Brandon still Hello Music City Welcome to Nashville restaurant radio, we are powered by Gordon food service My name is Brandon still and I am joined today with Caroline Galzin. Hi Brandon. How you doing? I'm great. How are you? Oh Man, I'm good. I'm doing really really well excited to put this interview out there Oh my gosh, so much fun. Yes, absolutely Arnold meant It was on Top Chef He's I mean he's he's just me he has international market over on Delmont and And what just an interesting guy Nashville icon Nashville icon. I was definitely for sure

02:01How are you doing I'm good, oh my gosh, I just feel like this entire month has been a whirlwind And it's only begun and it's only begun Yeah, maybe I feel maybe it's better to say this entire year has been a whirlwind Is it really almost Christmas am I really panicking because I feel like It's so close to Christmas and I haven't even begun to do half the things that I need to do. So I'm already on Christmas decoration watch Oh same because not I'll tell you what I get anxiety every year because I am a massive Christmas decorator Okay, so I have lots of really big trees in my front yard. You've been to my house Yeah, large mature trees and I'm going to wrap one of these huge cedar trees with lights okay, like a Christmas tree sure fun. I'm like renting like a sizzle like a lift. Oh, do you do this every year? No, this is the first year, but every year. I mean, I have a whole storage shed full of stuff Okay, like my yard we have new friends down the street like four houses down and he was like dude So nice to meet you because like somebody on our street like brings their Christmas game strong and I'm like, yeah well, he's like so I have mine this year too and like it's a whole thing like my Christmas decorations, but I get anxiety around Halloween like Okay. Oh, it's getting too late. It's getting well. No, it's it's it's the actual process of doing it So I start when I say I'm on Christmas decoration watch I'm waiting for a 70 degree Saturday. Got it I need to be like a nice weekend day and you need to be prepared. You need to be ready to jump into action So like I'm watching the weather I'm waiting for that time like I usually put up mid-october But it was always like a day after Thanksgiving thing, but now I just look for the good day Okay, cuz they're Thanksgiving. It could be 25 degrees. Well, the day after Thanksgiving is when we decorate Nicky's for st. Nicky's so you guys do st. Nicky. Yeah, we're doing a big Christmas pop-up again this year st Nicky's and last year we decided that we were gonna decorate on Thanksgiving and

04:03It was really just me and Tony and like two employees and it was oh, yeah It was too much It was too much and Tony and I were bummed because we didn't get to enjoy Thanksgiving because we were at the restaurant Legitimately for 12 hours decorating, you know, I spent 12 hours every year at the restaurant on Thanksgiving. Oh Really doing what do you guys do a Thanksgiving service? Yeah, it's the business the busiest day of the year at Marable. We do I think we do like 1100 guests that day Maybe I'll come to Marable for Thanksgiving if you want to you want you late to get my razzle in I don't think so. My dad's coming in town. It's pretty full. But I mean I can we still have spots available Okay, good to know. Yeah, okay Make that happen like for Nicky's plug for Marables. Yeah We're actually changing the name so our big day we're closed on Black Friday at Marable We do a huge day on Thanksgiving and then Black Friday were closed and we decorate entire place. Yeah Yeah, that's what we figured out you can do that so we do we close on Black Friday, but we're reopening on Saturday as Mary bulls. Oh, wow. It's not gonna be marable. It's gonna be I can't like you do st. Nicky's. We're now in e rry Me re so we're gonna be Mary bowls the whole Brentwood. Oh, you guys do great Christmas decorations I have been there for the holidays before and it's It is festive. We're gonna have Santa Claus My next-door neighbor like does professional Santa Claus stuff, okay, he's gonna be there on the weekends He's gonna be there for holiday parties. We're gonna actually convert a room for people to come and see Santa Claus We're gonna have a step-and-repeat with Santa Well, this can be a step-and-repeat which is like the big backdrop that's gonna say Mary bowls 2022 yeah, so every year you can come and take pictures for the family the whole thing like celebrate the holidays at Mary And it becomes part of people's holiday tradition, that's the goal love it It is already like so many people booked Thanksgiving years in advance cuz that's what they do. Oh, wow It's a mate. It was amazing to me how many people go out to eat on Thanksgiving I know that is that is surprising to me as well You know, I feel like in recent years I have become one of those people after thinking it was strange for a long time

06:08Well, you know what logically you think about it and you're like, okay, so why would you like? So you can just show up here and you have a full Thanksgiving dinner, right and then you get to go home, right? There's no brining a turkey. There's no cooking all day long. There's no cleanup Totally so you get to watch football all day and then everybody hops in the car You go have this wonderful feast, right then you go back home to more football and nobody cleans Well, it's just become such a hectic time of year that I'm like, oh god. It's just one more thing to do It's a whole it is a growing thing and every and every that comes in It's the best day too because everybody's grateful and they're sure I mean sure they're really busy day But everybody's like so it's like the opposite of the Sunday crowd Okay well See that's good to know because I would think that people coming in on Thanksgiving would be crabby because they're with their family members That they don't want to be wet. No, everybody seems to be super kind Yeah, I mean they do you have a hard time getting people to work or do people want to work it's a money shift It's a prerequisite got it. It's in the interview process. We let people know like there's a couple days Thanksgiving day. It's an all hands on deck day every manager every person works And then do you always get a couple people who are like, ooh, I forgot. I mean there's no they don't forget I mean, there's always people there's always extending circumstances. Somebody's like hey, my grandmother just passed away It's our first Thanksgiving without grandma and she cooks and my mom's cooking the food and it's really a big deal. Yeah I mean it's it's it's not even a matter of like, okay, I mean like that's fine But really this is the day that you solidify your team Sure It's one of those days if you work in an environment like we work in They're like you want to be there because this is the day that it's kind of like your other family Yeah, everybody's working on Thanksgiving together and we do like a whole family meal kind of a thing But like this is the day where you put up or shut up kind of thing And if you miss it you kind of let your team down sure, you know, so it's not even it's like if you need to miss it I'm okay. Well, I mean it sounds like you guys have created great culture that that's the yeah

08:12I mean, that's the it's almost like it polices itself because it's like hey look I want to be part of this with all of you and so it's a celebration for everybody together Also, it's not just a get here and do your fucking job kind of a thing. It's like a we get it We get that it's a more giving. It's a team day. It's a day. We all come together It's busy and it doesn't stop Sometimes things like that when you work in the restaurant industry do you become part of your holiday tradition the restaurant that Tony and I met working out in Chicago MK their biggest day of the year was Christmas Eve and Every kind of the same thing everybody had to work on Christmas Eve You knew you were gonna work and it became kind of like a fun team day So when we get in all of the managers would serve family meal to all of the employees is kind of like a thank you for Being here and it just became For years part of our Christmas Eve tradition was that we work and we're gonna be with our friends and our team and Tony And I actually wound up getting engaged after service on Christmas Eve. No kidding Yeah, so that kind of became has you know incorporated itself into our Christmas Eve traditions. Well, I love that Okay. Well, so we have an episode a day with Arnold men. We do nothing to do with Christmas Well We may talk about it we might we may tell what he's doing for Christmas That's right. I don't know if he celebrates this season or if it's a whatever holiday people celebrate Stay tuned after the show and we're going to we're gonna talk about more stuff. We're stuff probably like this. I don't know I feel like we're always just gonna be talking like this. Yeah, that's a good thing. Enjoy this episode with Arnold I Super excited today to welcome into national restaurant radio. We have Arnold meant who is the owner of the international market Welcome to national radio. Thank you

10:14We made it happen All right. So this is a long time coming. Yeah, I messaged you in April maybe May of 2020 okay, I had done like 10 episodes and I was like He's busy. Well, I mean this was a long time ago and I was right in the middle of pandemic and I was like I would love to get your take on this thing and you were like dude sure. I'm in Joshua tree Yeah, and I'm not here and I was like, that's great But it just you were doing all kinds of stuff and we've checked back in and you're a busy guy Yeah, I was in Joshua tree hiding I have a house in Palm Springs that my business partner took over during the pandemic So then I had to find a place to live Close by I guess and so I moved into Joshua tree and then the whole country shut down the world shut down and The landlord was like live here for free for the summer and I'm like, okay So you were there before the pandemic I went in because the pandemic just to go like to take a weekend in my house in Palm Springs and then All of a sudden we couldn't do anything and I literally was like the only person me and my friend were the only ones Living in Joshua tree. It was crazy. It was awesome. What did you do while you were there?

11:27Um, I started my social media. I that's at that time. I had a whole 700 followers on Instagram I think and then I took it to like 80k how did you do that? Cooking a lot Being stupid and getting noticed on it and then it's only one morning it just clicked and it just started building and building and then At the time BuzzFeed Tasty was doing a lot of content. They didn't have studios. The studios were closed So I noticed that people were doing stuff from home and I reached out. I was like, hey, do you want to buy my content? They started publishing my content Consistently and so that was like every day. It was like 2,000 more 5,000 more 10,000 more, you know It went from like 700 views to like 4 million views and so my standard now was like if I don't hit a million in The first hour I suck, you know so like it literally kind of built that way just by getting their learning their following and Then just kind of that's what I did. I mean I hiked every day which I never did so I kind of lost weight but I literally had the entire an entire mountain to myself and I would like shoot on top of a mountain take my Kits and my one I'd won my one burner and make dishes on top of a hill and just go crazy out there. That's incredible Yeah, it was fun. It was really fun. So what was your What were what did you think you were gonna be doing before the pandemic? What was the plan that you had?

12:48Interrupted by this wonderful experience. Yeah, I have been out in California for a while I don't know if you know a little bit about my past But I mean I was born in the restaurant business here And I did some like Hollywood dream stuff for television and I had just finished a cycle of Food Network Star Which got me to Los Angeles? I had an apartment that was doing pop-ups downtown LA and I was just working with auditioning and getting shows going So I thought I would be in a show. Yeah, I thought I was out there for a reason I was also teaching culinary school in Pasadena to pass the time So my my school in New York opened an LA campus and I was one of the professors teaching culinary And during that time, you know, my mom had just passed and all that stuff So we're trying to figure things out. So in a way the pandemic was a nice break From everything from all the madness we could actually stop and breathe for a second. I think we had just decided to close p.m mainly because we were like Let's not be a sob story and just tap out on top Yeah, and so we did and we were just basically using the that time to kind of plan our next move Which is international market point 2.0, right?

14:00Yeah, so we basically were like living and just trying to still try to lock down that TV deal and then the world shut down So but that's okay because things are really good. No, sometimes things work out. Oh, totally I love that perspective though. Just kind of looking back on it thinking what this these are what my expectations were But then the idea of I kind of needed a break Yeah And I think everybody needs that we call them clarity breaks like you need a break to take a moment and go Let me reassess see where which which I mean, I need you know this you don't get up You don't know what a break means, you know Like what is a break as soon as I'm laying down when you think you have eight hours to rest your brain thinks about your Next concept while he's talking about breaks. We're gonna take our first break. That's a quick one to hear from our sponsors I just shared in our stories how The compost company is just taken off and so many people are composting their food waste We want to thank you for that and we also want to talk about just glass Justice industries is a company. It's a nonprofit that helps employ people who are somewhat Unemployable if you're you know, if you've had some down Trudden times in your life This is the place that's gonna hire you and their biggest company that they do is called just dot glass What they do is they recycle your glass and they come pick it up all this Used glass that you have that you're throwing into dumpsters. They will come pick it up and take it away Here's here's what you need to do. You need to go check out justice industries org on there You can learn everything about just glass and then when you want to learn how to get it set up you need to email Ellen Peterson her email is Ellen at justice industries dot org Do it now another company that you need to be checking into if you're looking at hiring right now and Hiring is expensive. No matter where you are is the industry professionals at poached Hospitality jobs poached is the number one job site for

16:02Hospitality workers and you can post right now on poached for free Here's how you do it You go to Nashville restaurant radio.com you click the link on the sponsors page You go to the sponsors page find the poached ad click the link right there And then when it asks you for a promo code type in Nashville restaurant radio, you're gonna get your post for free Guys, there's no gimmick here If you want to post if you need to hire professionals industry, you need a manager. You need a host You need a server you need bartenders poached jobs is where it's at go visit us at Nashville restaurant Radio.com click the sponsors tab again. Click the poached your promo code is Nashville restaurant radio Happy hiring. You know this you don't get up. You don't know what a break means You know like like what is a break as soon as I'm laying down when you think you have eight hours to rest your brain Thinks about your next concept Like you're honestly like you're not stopping and so for me I was forced to break and I was forced to really reevaluate what I was doing I had a cookbook deal which I still have which I didn't realize takes so long to write a cookbook But it takes forever when you're doing it the necessary ways, right?

17:12So I had this book deal and I had this really lofty bougie in very much But the breath of Arnold Mint's vision of like I want a coffee table book That's untouchable and eccentric and after the pandemic I was like no I need a book that people can cook with and like want to eat and make so like this like Golden Brussels sprout and the centerfold is no longer Like a how-to cookbook But I had to take the time to step back and realize not everybody's as pretentious or bougie as you like calm down You know and so like like really like they might have to do that Why who gives a shit about what you have to realize every time it's bougie is you so calm down I leaned into more discovering the other side of me meaning I could actually be domestic and make things that people want to do okay, you know so like instead of being aspirational I can be inspirational and actually make people like want to cook with me as opposed to like Roll their eyes and like there he is again doing something crazy You know so so now it took the time also to be like wow all these Recipes that I'm putting out on social media are actually the new the segue to my cookbook This is what people want that's what the receptive to yeah And so it taught me a lot and literally it took the pandemic for me to realize that that breath was so important sure So where do you think that that kind of like bougie side came from have you always been like that?

18:26I think so I think you know my family has really worked hard for us to not to struggle My mom and dad were always like you know my dad came here as a professor from poverty my mom came from nothing and they were like our children are never gonna suffer or Experience what we will always experience we never got to and I think we took that kind of or I did I took it the wrong Direction I was a punk growing up. I partied hard. I was a rebel You know I was in the industry like money just came like it just there like I just like my mom would always say be Like you know do you how many egg rolls mom has to make for you to buy that and I'm like I know exactly how much 2600 you know Give me the jacket. You know that kind of shit, so but I also you know, but I live this very like eccentricly bubbled life Because of them and but also afforded me to travel the world and see things but The humbling part of that is that luckily I I came out of the bubble burst and I can see Where it got me and where I where I was and it's not necessarily good or bad Like you know it's just the reality that I had you know, so You know yeah, I think if this industry too We spend so much time taking care of other people that I know for me personally when I go out That same bougie side comes out of me like oh I really want to treat myself and you really want someone to take care of me the way that I'm always taking care of other People right yeah, I mean I like spoiling my friends, so it's like it's the spirit of service you have that in you You're you're a visionary I can tell this on the front end Where do you get you because you have a level of confidence move so first since we've been talking you said I?

19:57Just wanted to build my Instagram followers, so I did it and then I wanted to do this so I did it but like there's there's there's a Psychology behind that like where did this come were you always this like a go-getter like and you said when you take a break You can't take a break because while you have eight hours I'm thinking about what's happening in one week two weeks three six weeks a year down the road. Yeah, it's exhausting like There's a level of confidence now like I can do these things were you always that confident Do you think confidence as do you think confidence comes from insecurity? I mean the I mean in a way because for what I what I present is definitely you know If you peel the layers or peel the layers of the onion back There's definitely an insecurity that that kind of is hidden through this little security blanket called Heirs like putting on airs right yeah, so my confidence comes through me trying to prove myself Not just to myself, but like in the industry you know My dad being a scholar my mom being super successful. I never finished college I am under my dad's to my mom's shadow right so like I'm trying to prove myself and prove my worth every day By hustling working hard harder and doing more to justify my presence and what I'm doing Yeah, their success is in that process, but It's never enough because I just need to make sure that I'm Always pushing to just to be better. You know I didn't ask myself So it's so cycle. I mean it's so like You know I'm the same way I have the happiest people that smile on camera aren't necessarily the happiest people behind behind the scenes Yeah, definitely. Yeah, we just talked about this in kind of an outro We did for another episode like I have an older brother, and I love him to death He's six foot eight three fifteen right he's he's a yeah huge and Justin I'm sorry for saying your weight. I don't know he could you could weigh less than five I feel like I'm three sixteen at five six But he was he's two and a half years older than me So he was always bigger faster and stronger than me and we were very hyper competitive And I was never as good as him and so I constantly was competing you know

22:00To this day like I'm never okay with like myself talk is not good You may hear me on the podcast and be like like I know he's talking he's confident Yeah, but like at the same point I finished and I'm like I gotta do better. I gotta do better I gotta do better, and I'm constantly I'm never just able to sit down and say hey, man. That was good enough Yeah, that was really good like yeah stop for a second and hear that do you ever get that moment where you get to just stop? And go hey, that was a really good thing. I did. I'm gonna just in stop for a minute and enjoy it No, I I definitely enjoy the successes that come through these opportunities. I just don't want to miss an opportunity Okay, right. Yeah, sorry my phone is like people must know that I'm here. They're like let us in No, I think I think that you know yes, I I appreciate everything that happens But I also know that it comes from hard work, and I don't want it to disappear So that's why the hustle is like I said when you have like eight hours You're thinking about the next move because let's say I'm doing this today This can't be the last one no you know I mean that there's no way the momentum is too good So I'm always thinking about the next one the next one the next one But I definitely appreciate every opportunity that I have that's come because I know it comes from hard work it comes from the hustle You know So and you can't get it, and you can't get your foot in the door if you don't hustle right now There's no way there's so many people that are good out there, and even ones that aren't good or good right you know You can always be hungry. Yeah, you have to be hungry no pun intended in this industry, but you have to be hungry You have just an energy. I love it like it's just I love yeah the energy that you're bringing into the room right now I mean, it's just a There's a positivity, but there's like a frenetic like I'm doing it man. Yeah, I'm doing this every day. I'm going I'm going There's just a lot of opportunity in this industry now that wasn't that I wasn't set before that we had I mean my like I don't think back in the day anybody wanted their child to become a chef right you know There was definitely especially in my Asian background It was like you play an instrument you become a doctor maybe a lawyer But that's a little bit too smart like let's let's be a doctor instead then that was it and now they're like oh

24:03My uncle who's a big name dropper and status person like my nephew He's a chef like not a cook like a chef. You know and there's a status that The stigma wasn't the same in the past you know and now there's opportunity to really flourish in this industry But because of that there's so many facets of our profession That are you a chef or are you a cook are your personality or are you a chef like do you actually lead a kitchen? Like like the things that I aspire to have half these people have never even had to balance a checkbook on ordering before you know Like things like that so it's like where do we all stand and there's a there's a place for all of us And I'm still and I'm lucky to be able to tap into many facets of it of the industry that I don't want to Be complacent in one part of it if that makes any sense it does What do you think the state of the industry is right now? You just mentioned we're at right now like where do you and that's the question that I stole your question no go for it She was like I want to find out I want to see what it is something that I've been thinking about so much I don't know if you saw an article that came out recently in the Nashville Business Journal about lower Broadway and kind of like what? Happened to Nashville and yeah, well all of that and and something that's so interesting to me is kind of You have seen the Nashville restaurant industry from day one so not only where how we've grown to get to this point, but Is the future sustainable for independent restaurants in Nashville? What what's your take on that because I worry Yeah, I don't know if necessarily Nashville will ever we could be the magic that it was once before yeah But that's the same in entertainment I mean don't you miss the gritty country vibe that we had before and how polished and beautiful it is now Yeah, you know it's like there's a glass building Yeah, I mean there's there's just something about that we've really we've really tapped into our the tourism sure of it all and the Generalization of what it is I feel for the food industry here because like you said I was raised in a time where there was about five chefs in town, you know and I Feel like it's weird to say that like I speaking to my sister earlier today

26:03I heard my mother coming out of my mouth spot talking to her She's like she's younger than me and we're in this together, and she's not part of the industry But she is now so like I'm slowly kind of helping her get to where things need to be and us both learning together to work Together sure, but I was like why I sound like mom right now. It's totally crazy, but the industry in Nashville For me is never gonna go back to where it was But I think the consumer in Nashville is savvy enough to support what still can hold on Sure if that makes any sense because we can always go to the shiny new thing which I try not to do anymore I just hope that that I hope that moment of Time in the months that the new restaurant opens up people don't forget about the ones that are still standing around You know because it's really hard for us as independent restaurant owners and Local chefs and people that were from are from here to see people not only move in and scoop up all our accolades and all Of our press but also take dollars from our business on a daily and we can't keep up. There's no way I mean we're talking today. I need to I need I need what we call a maitre d Not just a high school girl being a hostess and an expo at this point This is our conversations literally before I got here and my sister's like we don't have that money And I'm like Taco Bell's pays their manager 200k like she's like yeah, like we don't have that to invest How can we do this and I'm like, well, I went to bed last night at 5 p.m Exhausted until until now for the first time ever I crashed hard because I mentally spent on how to pull this off We're blessed to be busy. We have a great product, but we don't have a huge rolodex of help one because we're all going to the hotels and getting going for benefits to The talent pulls low because they're all They went from frying at my restaurant to being head chef at a hotel, you know Well, I think we lost a lot of the really good talent during the pandemic I think people had this time off and they went hey look I want to be a real estate agent the people that Number one job here is a bunch of multi-factor if you're really talented in this industry and you have good people skills There's a lot of other careers you could potentially do but when you're in the grind of it

28:05It's too I don't a lot of people are paid I can't spend a month and go learn how to do this Well, god everybody had six months and the government paid him while they did it and I'm gonna go find a different career I think we lost a lot of the really talented people that could do a lot of other things that can lead Have went to other industries. They want to move on. I can't force them to have to cook for me at their local restaurant That's that's on them. I can go over to the house for a nice meal It's the ones that are that are still trying to push through and still keep up with the Jones's which are in huge new Florida ceiling glass complexes with debts. They'll never pay off on a salary that we make making pizza, you know Like there's there's there's no there's no comparison literally back to how many egg rolls does mommy have to make my mom sold? Egg rolls for a dollar a piece That's a fuck ton of egg rolls to pay it to pay off the bill even to reopen our restaurant as a tribute to her You know, so like that's the that's the main that's the main thing that I see in terms of Nashville We'll be able to recruit recoup or rebuild or have what we had before I don't know if that's gonna ever happen I think that you know, we really have to depend on Nostalgia to keep us alive if that makes it and educating people like we have when we closed the restaurant international market The kids that were at Belmont were freshmen Now they're seniors and they're seeing it for the first time so they don't even know the history of international market So we're even retell the story you we have to retell it every day Yeah, you know and then when they hear it and they like it one they like it now because of what it is But then they also are like wow, that's a really cool story, you know, but we lost a whole four years of people we lost a whole generation of my mom feeding for 40 plus years because of Everything graduated. Yeah, but the community is dense though. The community's got to be supporting you really well I think we're in a good a good location spot and a good time to do with us Because like we said people are kind of like they like the new shiny thing, but how many times can you go to Yolan for dinner?

30:04Sure, it's definitely special, you know And ours is still this like we're giving the stellar food in a casual environment Where you want to go every other day or you can go every other day? That's our business model at Green Hills Grilla Maribol Yeah, I mean that's what we do. We don't cater to tourists We're the people that same we we cater to people they're gonna eat here two to three times a week and we remember their Names and I have a mater D and then my number one thing is I want you to know every serp Every person's name and they walk in the door. It's like hi. Did you have a reservation? You want to say hey buddy. Good to see you One of our regular name is buddy and it's like, you know, I want you to use his name when he walks in the shower Very intentional. It's hard to find people that can focus that are really good at that Yeah See something that I think is really interesting that you made me realize that I think is true of all of us here is I Feel like all three of us are from a restaurant era. That's kind of Straddling a line just the fact that we're using the word mater D Nobody nobody is in our age. Yeah, even no I know exactly what you mean when you say I need a mater D But I feel like if I were to say that to a 30 year old or 25 year old working the restaurant industry They don't know exactly what that means They think that just means a host somebody that seats people they gotta wear a tuxedo Exactly, or you know a French waiter with the tray and I think that we kind of in this generation live in a very interesting World where you especially where you grew up in this restaurant world that at one time had a stigma attached to it Where you know a waiter is just a thing you do to get through college or if you're cooking that's just because you know It's just unskilled labor something like that And then all of a sudden the celebrity chef culture comes around food networks popular all of this and There's been some great transitions in the culture of restaurants because of that there's so much more respect and admiration for what we do, but also with that comes these other changes of oh Customers have different expectations employees have different expectations about what this world is So how has that been for you to be such a part of that kind of hey?

32:04I know the old-school how it used to be but now I'm also Transitioning into this world of celebrity chef culture, man. I wish you were on the phone conversation I was like well me with my sister in the car. We literally had an hour I was sitting in the parking lot talking to her about this you know issue. Let's get her It was more it was more about you know Can you do a training session with our front of house to let them know exactly what you want? And I'm like yes, but what I want isn't something I can teach what I want is something you have that's intuition from being in The industry you know it's like yes you you stop you've stacked the staff when you were out of town. That's great But they didn't know what they were doing right so I left the kitchen to expo to go host to go Pour wine while people are waiting for tables while I was waiting for the servers to catch up while I was taking orders for The tables that have been touched and you make a look after and I went to go cook You know and then I turned the music down or up or change the station because Beastie Boys was on and I forgot You know like it was like you know that's great All the time, but you know but you know it was a whole the whole groove of the restaurant had wasn't just by Stations and people in warm bodies you know so We are supported by Robins insurance Offering protection you can trust Robins insurance is an independent insurance agency known across the southeast for their customized insurance policies sound guidance and attentive service They're also known here at Nashville restaurant radio for protecting some of the music city's best restaurants Look when it comes to insuring your restaurant or bar You don't want to leave the job to some strip mall insurance agency with no background in hospitality and expertise in the local market You need someone who knows the industry who understands your business who will create a policy that protects your physical space and Protects you and your staff too Y'all Matthew Clements is that guy?

33:55He's the agent at Robins insurance for the hospitality industry with extensive industry experience himself Matthew has the knowledge to create a policy that will protect you and your business no matter what comes your way visit Robins website at Robins ins com that's Robi ins ins com to get in touch with him or reach out to Matthew directly at eight six three Four oh nine ninety three seventy two protection you can trust that's Robins We absolutely love partnering with sharpies bakery Aaron Mosso has been selling Bread fresh baked bread to locally-owned operated restaurants six days a week for thirty six years Yes, her father started the company thirty six years ago, and Aaron took it over Five years ago, and it is doing amazing things I have so many guests that come in the studio that are like I love sharpies They saved me so much time and the bread is so good So we we've got round buns specialty round buns dinner rolls hoagies baguettes They do cheesecake they do flourless chocolate torts. They do specially loaf breads and regular loaf breads and bullies bullies bo u l es sourdough long Tuscan wheat multigrain They got everything you should go check them out at sharpies dot com that is sharpie as ch har p i e r s dot com or you should give them a call at six one five three five six zero eight seven two Supporting local is so damn important and Aaron Mosso in all of our friends over at sharpies bakery Do that daily give her a call right now. I Think one of the most overlooked things that you can do on a P&L Which is your profit and loss statement is dish machine and chemicals It's just one of those things you don't focus on until it's too late Let Jason Ellis from super source come in and do an audit of what you're currently doing and why you're doing it his number is

35:55771 337 1143 we believe here at nash restaurant radio that every single thing that you do should be done intentionally in a restaurant and allowing some company to come in and just Fix your dish machine without you knowing what's really happening is exactly what we're talking about The thing Jason does the best is he can help educate you on exactly what's going on with all of your dish machines and chemicals He can do staff trainings to understand why you're using what you're using again to be intentional They don't make you sign any type of contract They are week to week and can get you a brand new dish machine with three free months of dish machine rental You need to check them out go to Nashville restaurant radio comm click the sponsors tab and then you will see Super source click that tab for a special or give Jason Ellis a call at seven seven zero three three seven eleven forty three I heard Billy Bean. I heard Billy Bean speak the other day. Okay, do you know who he is? He's the general manager for the A's the Oakland A's baseball team. He also works. Yeah. Well the book There's a movie called money ball money ball Brad Pitt played this guy in the movie him and Jonah Hill Basically, he took everything in baseball that they did and they flipped upside down and he figured out that the on baseball Percentage is the number one thing that wins games. That's the that's the stat That wins games. So he went and looked at all numbers and did an entire draft with no scouts all the scouts What do you mean? This guy looks good on he's like, no, no, I'm doing it all on the stat on base percentage That's who we're signing and he did and he won the ale pennant Like it was a whole thing that that one stat and so got me thinking I heard him It was a restaurant it was at FS tech food service technology conference in Dallas a few months ago And he said I started thinking I go what is the number one stat in?

37:44Front of the house staff, right that would translate into making every guest or repeat guest there's gotta be one common denominator that is the Largest driving point behind that and after thinking about it for a while. I thought about this This was my answer that I came up with full-time employees Tenure yeah, because if you come in and work two shifts a week You're not engaged in all this stuff But if you're a 32 to 45 hour a week person, you're in the building You know what the specials are you learn the food you're dealing with it every day You see the same people every day you're able to build relationships You're you're engaged in the entire thing and I go that's probably the biggest Differentiator when you have a staff of full-time people that work there for extended business That work there for an extended period of time I think you can drive that engagement and I think I think everything starts to work after that right part-time people Don't necessarily and there's nothing wrong with that. I and this industry is there's tons of people that come in I'm a musician I need a couple nights I need to work to make some money and we need warm bodies We need people to do that There's talented enough people but how talented can you be two nights a week?

38:53Like I need people that can be there 40 hours a week to fully engage and get involved I think that's kind of what you're saying Yeah, especially something that's not neighborhood driven like our clientele is this like they come in they know I love our customer base because they are local. They're in the neighborhood if they're if we're busy They're like we'll see you tomorrow or we'll come back We'll do take a walk and come back or they'll come at five and just take over the bar Which they do a lot now They just ambush before reservations come in which is great because for us money wise that's great, too You know, sure. Um, but I I do appreciate the full timers We we do our our kitchen is a one staff in one staff out kitchen Um our hours are based on that like we all like just like i'm i'm out for a week. You're out for a week That's okay. I cover you you cover me. We all do everything together. That's great The front of house we have our our loyals as well But we have you know, just this two or three that are not and that they're the ones that don't That don't tune in or tap in as much and that's exactly like that. That's what you're saying. I think full timers um, something else i'd like to actually ask you your opinion on is um, What are your thoughts on Pooling the front of house we do that you do the whole house both my restaurants. How How do we pool like with the host would the host and the expo also be part of that pool? No, it's It's servers and bartenders in banquet. So marable and greenhouse girl. We have Does we run eight to ten servers a shift? Yeah, and I mean, you know Yeah What I wanted to do was I wanted to eliminate the nine dollar lunch Person that comes in who's working a double who gets the two old ladies that have a soup and salad and then they get cut Because we weren't that busy and they made nine dollars and they're there for four hours Sure, we wanted there to be a hey look if I come to work and I just focus on the guest What do I get and the way that we do that is we use a um a system called grat share It's a technology that does everything for us does all the numbers for us I didn't want there to be human error to fuck up somebody's paycheck I wanted all of it to be legit We take all the hours that they work and then we divide that by the amount of tips Yeah, and literally you get a share So, I mean the people that work the most hours make the most money when I was working in new york That's how we we did it at like the larger like it worked for john george and we did with the point system

40:55And it really worked Well, I tried to do it when I first did some stuff here and it wasn't it was too before the times people couldn't quite grasp It it was before twenty dollars for reservations existed, you know that kind of thing Um, but I was this is another conversation. We just had an hour ago I'm like, how can we get people like the front the whole front of house? To be more proactive in the service because what I did this weekend really shouldn't have been me It should have been the expo and the host and so I had mentioned casually to anna my sister Maybe we should pool everybody That way if the expo needs to grab a table or run a drink, they're not going to be like it's not my job Anybody has to be customer facing the person has to be customer facing where they could actually receive a tip typically, right? So if you're in the house and you can go grab a table obviously no managers on involved in that um Hosts they get a tip share they get a tip we tip them out one percent So they don't they're not part of the actual pool, but they do get a percentage of the tips It's just different. This is like my my my staff meeting like we're really Completely clear like no because what happened was this weekend?

41:59I had a lot of a long wait And so I was instead of losing these people or reservations that were came in second round that were having to wait for the tables to clear I I lined them up and let them all have cocktails. Obviously. I didn't have a server number But their ticket their tickets were already 100 bucks before they sat down. Yeah, so I did that You know So if I if I did that the hostess the hostess could be doing that sure. Where's her cut in that respect? We actually do a a tip share um what's a gratuity share where we pool the entire house both front and back a house and the way that we do it is We pay everyone hourly our lowest hourly is ten dollars an hour and then they share Whatever additional service charges come in on top of that And then people get the a higher hourly rate based mostly based on how long they've worked there you get a raise every Um every six months and then we have a couple of back-of-house positions that qualify for a higher hourly as well based on skill level Um, but it's worked quite well for us, especially with back-of-house retention You know, I have back-of-house employees making 25 plus an hour which previously is not something we could have afforded Right, um, and I have a couple of front-of-house people that are maybe making a little less But we have kind of a variety of ways we work it out. We we can chat off No, there's just so much You know I mean I think this is good for the audience for the viewers for the people are here too like what we go through on a daily As as bosses like none of this has been about our livelihood at all You know, it's like how to one this how do we retain it?

43:26How do we keep the magic that was in the restaurant industry that we've had in the past that was old nashville? You know, this is so crucial That's a whole different story something something I said to brandon when we were talking to ben sticks last week was uh, I think that a lot of times restaurant employees, you know even employees of independent restaurants have this perception that the ownership is Rolling in dough and living the high life and and some are and god bless but The majority of the time that's just simply not the case. Yeah, I don't pay my I don't get paid My job is my social media. Yeah, like my income is traveling out of the state Making my money for myself and then coming back to do my passion, which is the restaurant Yeah, so so how are you in nashville? How much right now? In a month probably two to three weeks. I end up um With this schedule that I have currently I leave the second the restaurant closes and I go to la and then I come back for The next service so i'm usually in la monday tuesday wednesday, and then i'm cooking I made my i've made a promise to my staff that would be there for the week every weekend. So So, um, we curate the menu based on that. Our menu is written monday through wednesday We execute thursday friday saturday. You're so um, no, it's fun though. It's it's good that we have an audience It's that that appreciates that that's receptive to that. Um, and it's it's super fun for my staff too because There's always something new on the menu so you leave nashville when you land in la what happens Um, I usually take a nap I usually sleep I usually sleep the best when I get on the plane I get to my apartment because I can't come to the restaurant. I'm too far away. Yeah, so my my mind shuts off my body actually shuts down Um, where's your restaurant in la? I don't know. I don't have a house. I mean I have I have a test kitchen now. I have a house that i'm selling To permanently move back to nashville You know Where are you like in la la downtown los angeles is my is my loft and then I have a place in eagle rock Which is on the market if anybody wants to buy it. It's for sale. Yeah

45:28But basically my whole with the new restaurant opening with international market opening here I am going to move back here permanently. Oh great for sure I have other plans family-wise and things that I need to do. I think nashville's a better city for it. Yeah But it was not planned my mom passing away was not part of the plan So like I had just established myself just purchased a house started a culinary teaching career You know and ironically all the hollywood stuff that I want to do they film on elmhill pike now So I don't I no longer have to chase the hollywood dreams. I can just drive down the street and go to set That's awesome or go to noxville and that's it, you know So it's funny that like i'm literally literally full circle and being forced to come back. Oh, yeah Because food network is doing everything is everything's in tennessee all the productions left and now that i'm established in la whenever I need to be out there. I just fly out there to do stuff with the company that i'm working with. That's great So yeah, it's crazy So i'd love to hear a little more about your experiences doing reality tv. I personally i'm just a reality show Junkie and I love any kind of like inside dish or dirt or what you thought it was going to be how it actually was Um, do you know andy cohen? Yeah, I do. Do you want some tea so you can spill it?

46:41We're gonna go like that Um, so, you know when I did top chef that was so many years ago It was in the one digits of episodes now. They're like in like season 37 or whatever. Who was the season winner? My i'm kevin spraga I was in dc And the the star of that show right now the breakthrough was tiffany dairy Oh, yeah, she didn't win but she was in the top and she's one of my really good friends She's doing all kinds of stuff now all over the place and it's great. She has a rush. She was yeah james beard nominee last year Um her restaurant roots is really really nice. It's taken her a while to find her groove in her voice But this restaurant really reflects who she is. It's beautiful food um but When I did it then I literally Didn't know what I was going to do on reality tv, but I knew I was going to be on reality tv like I didn't know if I was going to be for sewing or for just being a brat or for Whatever. I was going to do one like i'm getting on television one way or another, you know Like we're gonna do this and so like when the cooking thing came around I was like And I don't sing so I couldn't do american idol. It was an option so it was like I was like i'm gonna do this and I got on and I was like wow, this is like Way better than paying the nashville scene a thousand dollars for an ad You know like it's or back in the day. I think it's more now But like you know, it's way it was like this is like free press and as it was on there the momentum was like You know really really cool Just to see marketing wise the advantages of having this in our back pocket having left new york coming here knowing that Importance of pr, you know how much publicity like publicity costs. This is free publicity um Personally, I think I took it too personal. I think I took it like I thought it was going to define me as a chef Back then which I think it kind of does now because the chefs now on the show are more cooks And personalities that I feel aren't really Like i'm one of the only ones that had a restaurant back then and i'm one of the only ones that still have the same One standing. Oh, wow, if that makes any sense, you know Like they go on the show They they win the show they get partnerships and investors. They lose the partnerships. They lose the investors

48:43They lose the restaurant the rest concepts closed and now they're working doing consulting everywhere But consulting what you can't make yours float with all respect to all my friends. I love you all but hey, there's the t Right. Sure. I've i've been i've had the same paychecks same payroll same ein since the 70s So, you know, it's it's it's so if what the word chef means is what leader, right? So if that's the case then I should have won the show but they're not looking at my pnls They're looking at who's going to win this challenge. Um, so that's my insight on what the show actually Defines as a chef which in society now, it's a little different like what a chef is Um with food network star, obviously I knew that they were looking for a host You know, it's a more it's a more defined role like we're looking for a television to host Which seems very much in your wheelhouse just personality wise. I appreciate that It's still a goal that i'm working towards I have some fun things coming up soon Um because of it and it's but then again It's like that's more like sharing your love of food and your knowledge and within your within your wheelhouse not trying to prove that You're the best in this vocation But just really celebrating what you do and do well and what you love right? So I liked that but in both scenarios Here's the t They have this thing called like a book. Oh my god. I'm gonna get sued Um, they have this thing called a book like your own like talent book and you have a producer that works with you one on One that interviews you when you're not on camera And you start to notice that different talent on the show have different thicknesses of the books Oh interesting, which means they kind of like Anticipate how much they're investing in you in the right of the show Interesting not that it's not scripted It's not I mean not that it's a scripted thing But it's like doing am I going to have time to ask you all thousand questions that I should be asking you for 12 episodes No, I think I only need to ask you three interesting, you know They are predicting how you're gonna do before you get there, right?

50:32And then you start like throwing them curve balls and things like that like for me like oh I need more pages Yeah, like for me with food network star It was like I didn't get kicked off. So it was like they got 14 weeks of me. Yeah, you know, and it was I don't know if they expected in the book to have such cooking chops But I went in there for redemption from top chef and nobody else has had the experience that I had from cooking On a reality show before so I was like i'm coming to fucking throw down I'm ready like you can't if I suck on camera, you're gonna eat my food. It's gonna be okay I'm gonna get through every single time then that's kind of my stride was my strategy You know, and so it's kind of fun. Like it was It's fun to be already already in it And then already know how it works because I went in with a totally different mindset. I'm like, yeah, I got this It's fascinating. I had all my dishes already planned But I didn't know what the protein and the vegetable and the sauce were going to be yet, but I already had 14 sketches of dishes that the way they were going to look the way they're going to be the technique I was going to use Not knowing what the challenge is going to be. That's what I was getting. That was like stole my question I was going to say how do you prepare a literal strategy and then one guy that I really liked a lot He's from louisiana. He's a food blogger and I was like guys so eloquent with his words so beautiful And I didn't know him at all And then when after I got off the show and I started researching him he just repeated his cookbook Like he just the whole time he was just like growing up in the south I would make this mock shoe with my grandma and i'm like, oh my god, this is great Like how did I how did he know to put this together and I was like, oh my god That was chapter one Like he fucking read chapter one. He's told this story a lot a million times, you know And so now I tell his story and I do well with it But are you watching right now the uh hell's kitchen? No, I can't do you ever ever watch that show Did you know you met gordon ramsey?

52:17I actually did do a pilot with studio ramsey. Um Earlier this year. Oh and they wrote and we shot it during the pandemic which is crazy To think that they would invest that much money during a during covid to have a whole crew shoot a pilot with me. Yeah, um So I like him because because of that, um, he's quite the personality well alex blue Who is a chef at a murphysboro? He had a restaurant called dallas and jane Uh, he's on there and he's on the show and I think We just talked about this. I think hands down. He's by far the favorite. I think he's gonna win. Okay, he's Better I think than everybody on that. He just seems to have such a it's very obvious He has a much stronger skill set. I'm imagining his book is this thick. Yeah Compared to other people on that show. I kind of go Clearly gordon likes him and clearly like He's an attractive guy and he's got personality and i'm like, I think they want him to win I was wondering like is that a thing? So it's a thing. Okay, so let's go We'll take this back a little more more of casting right cast. I auditioned for top chef four times What does an audition actually three times three times the first audition?

53:26I flew myself to la I stood in a line and they literally pointed at people and who stood out And I was one of them and they said who owns a restaurant in this line And they come out of line. They put us into a room the rest got to leave They were just like boom because they were looking for a certain thing Then I got through and then I got flown out to la um I got flown out to la for an interview and as soon as I walked in the room Andy was there and all this huge panel was there and I literally froze It sucked and I was like, that's it back on the plane two hours later. Not going to happen the following year um, I they were doing castings again, they called me back and I thought I was going to be on the show. They had a camera crew out everything It was kind of like this is the year i'm going to be on the show And then it was actually my birthday if I remember and we were we were bar hopping around nashville with the with the camera crew And then I got the call that I didn't make it on the fucking show And I was like, okay, there's got to be a reason for this whatever I you know What and so that's the year I decided to open susie wongs and try to build my portfolio a little bit more The third year crystal deluna bogan who owns grilled cheesery. She was she came to work for me at cha cha or yeah cha cha and um her in her her Cousin worked for me or something too. So she moved from california to come work for me and she's like hey by the way I can start working for you, but I might be going on top chef And I was like crazy and they're like, well tell them I said hi So she did and they called me down to atlanta. I just opened cha cha and I wasn't even thinking about it And I ended up getting on the show and she ended up working my my spot For the restaurant which wasn't a big deal, but I was like, oh my god That's so funny and that like they ended up casting me because she auditioned. Oh, that's amazing She goes i'm working for this guy named arnold. Oh, we know arnold He auditioned before haven't come back and see us and then like that was the year I went on the show And then she held fort while I was filming. She would be great on the show. Oh, she's great. She's so talented She really is. Yeah, she's really really good Um, and so like that was kind of like where that got me, you know Then when I went on the show, I started I started to realize The people that were on the show didn't do the process that I did

55:28They didn't go to an open audition. They didn't do this cattle call thing. They were placed on the show Yeah, tony actually my husband tony was a pastry shop in chicago for many years and was friends with some of the people in the top chef world and Got scouted for the first season of top chef just desserts and it was a very different thing He just had to fill out a questionnaire and submit a video and then People came to the restaurant tried his desserts and talked to him. He didn't get it Which he's in retrospect really glad because he watched the show and he was like, oh, that's not good for me Yeah, but yeah, you're right. It's it sounds like a very different process Yeah, it's a different process and you can do it many ways The other one was you know after top chef I moved to la trying to do to get my foot in the door And i'm I was talking to my talent manager and i'm like, what do I do now? And she's like hold on one second. She goes. Oh my gosh food network star is actually auditioning right now In new york their last day of auditions for the whole season is tomorrow get on a plane So I went to new york Got off the plane sat outside a cafe in the cold again number 360 something waiting in line Not knowing what I was doing but going i'm i'm i'm Beyond the rest of the people here You know the girl in front of me is a home cook that cooks with weed that makes one recipe This person behind me was you know, and they all had a story. Can you cook with weed and feed it to the Judges. Um, I that's your that's your differentiator if I mean, I think I hope now you can You know sure Um, I definitely in this last show that I just got done judging. We had somebody that was a cannabis cook, which is amazing Okay, um But so I went through the cat at the cattle call again. I went through the whole like waiting in line I got my number I sat down. I go. Hey, i'm only here for the day actually i'm here for four days You're probably gonna call me back tomorrow I'm arnold. I was on top chef You're gonna want me to do and they're like, yep And they took my picture And put it in a pile of three people and literally an hour later They're like, can you come see us at studio tomorrow bring us a dish that you already made be prepared to make another dish on camera

57:29Let's move this right along and literally I knew from that moment that I was going to be on that season of food network star I just knew it. I was like i'm one of the 16 on this show of the thousands you've auditioned I know it and I told them And me telling them got me on the show I think that's so fast. Well, they're looking I mean I think we in the industry watch it with a different lens than people who are outside of the industry watch it And if you're casting these things You're looking for the outliers looking for the interesting people that's going to captivate your audience. I mean If i'm if i'm a great i'll go back to the movie a league of their own Have you seen that movie both? I've seen i've watched the series and the original movie. I always look at the marla hooch Yeah, yeah, remember they go there. She's just crushing home run. Yeah, then she comes around she looks up Yeah, okay, we're leaving like imagine that that's the cutthroat type of thing that you've got to have in an industry You come in and like look at the way I can cook your food's delicious, but you're boring as shit Like you you're not going to translate on camera, right? I think you with this Confidence in this i'm going to be on the show. This is me then like oh Yeah, people are gonna like him. How many people do we know that are incredible chefs?

58:40But just like oh you're not made for television. Yeah Yeah, I don't can we start naming names Or just a face for radio or a face for radio Well, that's me the um, you know, I don't I didn't learn all of this from cooking though I was definitely a child act a child performer. I skated all my life before I cooked I toured the world as a professional figure skater. Oh, that's why I didn't know that doing shows So like I was you know in costumes and on light stage lights all my life So that's just second nature i'm lucky to have found cooking These days helps me do what I do. Well, and then Sorry, so i'm a drag suzy wong. Yeah, you're a drag queen also. I'm also a cross dresser That's a thing I love it. Yeah, cool. Have you ever gone into like the drag reality? Yeah, i'm gonna start twitching now. Let me let me start twitching with that with that, uh that conversation. Um Yes, and no, I have a lot of friends in the drag reality route Um, I don't do what they do. Yeah, you know, i'm not i'm not thirsty in that way for lack of better words You know, you know learned about thirst traps. Yeah, i'm not trapping that one. No, just learned about thirst traps I maybe the maybe i'll ask you another time how you learned about So i've got these two games here. I've got these two cards Well, maybe we'll do this with you in a minute hot takes and then the hot seat and I was looking through them trying to find Interesting questions of that's all the good questions of the whole stacks And one of them was Is it cheating to click on a thirst trap and I looked at my wife and I go What's a thirst trap? She goes Oh, you know what a thirst trap is and she named three people That are i'm not saying a name. Oh talk about naming names that post thirst traps and I was like Okay, I know what a thirst trap is now. Thank you like three people, you know personally or three people in nashville Okay in this industry. We'll talk about it when we get off mic And I was like, oh yeah, that's it i'm like do I I don't do anything she's like no no no

01:00:42That's not it I did I look I am sheltered. I mean listen there are there are a lot of not necessarily nashville, but just in general There's a lot of chefs that love to post their bodies on on instagram and it's just like listen You do you but I don't know. There's just a lot of dude chefs chefs posts and bodies. You know, it's interesting I um, I just recently lost my tiktok account. I don't know what happened like you just cleared off my phone I went to go post something and it disappeared and I can't figure out how to get it back on like I I have a social team that works with me to see this is the bougie part of me talking Um, and and and I was like hey guys I can't find my thing and they're all logged on and we're all trying to find it. We're all it's not there And so I think I lost my tiktok page. Can you find it as like somebody else? Can you find your page on there? It still exists, but it's but I can't get in there myself Like it reroutes me to a new account and so i'm like Wow I go maybe we should just take this opportunity for me to get naked and like just put up like a fake picture and like Start a new one and gain like a million followers in two seconds. Is that all it takes? Yeah I mean, I I mean, I don't know if we'll see I mean anything. That's Yeah, yeah, yeah Like it's like, you know just a chest with an apron and just like be like arnold's back like art like art smith's naked chef Yeah, yeah Have you met him? Do you know him? I've met art before but I haven't met the naked no, but tony did an event oddly enough, there was a fundraiser event in boca for um, the parkland families and The naked chef was there. I've done. I think two events with him Ironically both at the james beard house and they had they asked him put up underwear on Okay, just because we didn't want like ass crack out in the middle of a james beard event I don't know about the health code. Just james beard event. Yeah, I don't know and I did I did a nash the new york food and wine We did a brunch together and he was naked chef there for sure. It was all on naked. He has an apron on Yeah, he's completely naked Okay, the back side the back sides there Okay, the front's covered It's got a nice body and he cooks and he cooks which is interesting good good chops Good

01:02:44I mean enough said I think the marketing point is the naked chef. What's better the body or the food? I think the body sells the gorgonzola pasta. That's it. Well, it's a different Like gorgonzola pasta in the middle of a brunch in the middle of a brunch how'd you do it gorgonzola pasta I'm like, yeah, that's real I'm dying. I'm loving it. It's better if you're watching this out there You can see all of us in the in the studio is just cracking up Wow, okay. So do you Do you incorporate susie wong into any of? Your your cooking or any any side of that do you think that's something the producers like? Yeah, they love it. They love it too much. I think um, it does that bother you? Yeah, it does. I I definitely put my use susie. I exploit susie to get my foot in the door. Okay Definitely susie came about as my version of ronald mcdonald for susie wong's when I had the restaurant I was definitely kind of like the spokesperson for that. But what it took people to For me was not only marketing but also kind of lost my cloud as a chef I felt like it made me a little clownish and a little not too serious Okay, and on susie's never cooked before ever to be honest Like she never would touch food or could think about it and the thought of me as susie doing that. I mean Nightmare. Yeah, no, I lose a nail lose a lash Glitter in the food like it's not gonna happen. Right? It's way too serious when I when I cook i'm Into the food. So for me the whole hollywood aspect of this is that they want to produce this world of susie wong cooking But for me, I have to separate it where susie might be able to do front of house But there's no way arnold's gonna give away his career to this glamorous woman Gotcha, you know and it's been a hard sell because definitely the interest sparks with my branding But then i'm like you guys can't lose the sight lose sight that I actually Cook hard. Yeah, you know like it's not a gimmick. It's not a gimmick like There's a lot of soul chef. There's a lot of soul in my food well, I mean

01:04:46Actually, it's less of a gimmick because he's not got he's naked. He's pretty he's pretty exposed. He's pretty But yes, yes same thing, you know, it's like he'd be there if he was the clothed chef But I don't think he would be there if he I don't I mean I mean, he's such a good guy in marketing and he's such a nice guy But I don't know how much cooking chops he actually has to want to do that. I'm trying to put out there Sure, you know like he's not running a restaurant you're saying you want to be taken more seriously He's a legitimate chef as opposed to just like oh, here's it. Here's my gimmick Which I think I am actually cook which I think I am it's just when susie comes in and she takes part of the conversation Yeah, you know and and literally like You just spoke of sports and it's like it's For me drag for me is my is my golf. I call it my golf It's my very expensive hobby that people seem to think they can mix together with my cooking career But they're two totally separate careers got it, you know, it's like They don't mix they just don't mix even though i'd made one. I guess i'm contradicting myself now When did you open susie wong's?

01:05:49Right after top chef, okay right before around top chef. So whenever that was okay, but it's closed now, right? No, I know I knew that I guess i'm just curious when you because it was before I moved to I moved to nashville Ten years ago. Yeah Um, and I think that i'm fortunate that I saw some of the old nashville like yeah right before the tipping point happened What was what was it like when you opened susie wong's was it all great reception? Was there some uh, you know kind of negative feedback from some more conservative people around or well Luckily, we live in this bubble called davidson county You know, I mean I live in this bubble and reality of being this like There are I have more battles in my life and I have them being a drag queen chef owner Like literally I was i'm a gay boy thai asian born in the south like come on My dad founded the buddhist temple like it was not a normal path per se growing up southern Um, but I never felt much adversity in any of that. So for me Embracing who I am and always being encouraged to embrace who I am through my environment Just made that organic like I I had no time to hear the naysayers. Yeah, I think that's great I I grew up in alabama originally and You know, it's nice to be back in the south but in a city that feels so much more open-minded Receptive the thing is about you know The thing that I learned from my mom is being on belmont next to music row all of our All the people that grew up with me were all music industry people that were savvy and world traveled and moved in And there's and there's kids Grew up with me with the same mindset we'd leave town come back share our stories So it wasn't really there was no there was nothing to look to judge. Yeah, you know, uh, we were just more excited to see more Yeah, um So I didn't really see much actually. I think I did the other day I mean maybe at last night I was thumbing through like something and something archived up about controversy of me having a drag restaurant in nashville You know what chefs want some people still call it creation gardens, but what chefs want has been Was our first advertiser on the show. Uh, monty crawford saw what we're doing. He goes. I want to be part of it, dude

01:07:50I love it And I just I love that they're so perfect because they work with locally owned and operated restaurants better than anyone And let me tell you how they do it no minimums no fees no fuel surcharges no surcharges anytime They deliver seven days a week. They have 24 seven customer support. You can call text chat Email anytime from anywhere or you can reach them at 502-587-9012 They have a diverse line of products Their chefs have access to thousands of items across many different categories that allow them to receive fresh product daily What chefs want is the perfect addition to any broad line company as they've got all of your fresh produce delivered daily Plus custom meats anything that you need that your broadliner can't get give them a call 800 600 8510 or visit them at what chefs want.com Proud sponsor of the titans and the predators coarsen fire and security is also a sponsor of nashville restaurant radio We love coarsen and you know who else we love we love kevin rose that is the specialist He is your restaurant specialist over at coarsen fire and security if you Don't know who your company is who services your hood suppression systems or your fire extinguishers That might be your first indicator that you're not using the right company Let me tell you kevin rose You would know if he's your guy because he's going to visit you. He's going to do staff trainings He's going to make sure that every single thing is up to code So if you ever do need to use your hood suppression system or you do need to use your fire extinguishers You can be rest assured they're going to work and you're going to know how to use them And now the next question i'm thinking is well How do I get a hold of kevin because I want to call him right now Let me tell you his cell phone number is 6 1 5 9 7 4 29 32 If you prefer to send him an email you can email him at kevin dot rose At coarsen.com. That's k-o-o-r-s-e-n

01:09:54Dot com please tell him that brandon from nashville restaurant radio sent you and he will take great Care of you call him today And our final advertisement for the day is going to go to my buddy dan mar over at southern Health insurance guys if you work for a restaurant that doesn't offer health insurance You need to go tell your manager or tell your owner about southern health Let me tell you southern health insurance is the the health insurance provider for so many small companies They can do small companies if you have one restaurant if you have 10 restaurants They join together with a larger group to offer you group savings guys. This is a no-brainer You can get life insurance up to a hundred thousand dollars dental vision health Major medical these are the things that you need as a business owner to retain your staff But also it's the right thing to do to offer to your staff Now here's the deal if you work for a restaurant or you work anywhere and you don't have health insurance That is okay dan can take care of individuals as well I know the next question is how do I get a hold of dan again? This is eight three two Eight one six eighty six zero twos directly will get you a hold of dan You don't have to call some big company and hit the number one to number seven to find the right guy Dan mar is the man Please tell him that you heard about him from nashville restaurant radio And if you want to email him his email is dan at southern health ins.com Because you never know you never know when something's going to happen to you and you need to be protected That is why health insurance is so vital So if you own a restaurant give dan a call if you just need health insurance give dan a call Please let him know you heard about him on nashville restaurant radio We're now going to jump back in with arnold mint. Are you guys having as much fun with this interview as I am? Oh my gosh This is just a blast

01:11:55Uh enjoy so I didn't really see much actually. I think I did the other day. I mean maybe at last night I was thumbing through like something and something archived up about controversy of me having a drag restaurant in nashville Like an article that just popped up because I was reading something else an old article an old article Interesting and I was like, oh wow And I didn't even think twice to read it again because it didn't faze me then it shouldn't faze me now, you know, sure um But it was I mean, yeah, it was a drag queen restaurant because it was next to a gay bar But it's so nice that it it's so nice to hear that work. Anyway, I mean there should be there should be no article written about Why that's something that's bad or I mean I think I think it was because of all those there's a lot of conservative things going on right now about Transgender laws and things like that happening and there's that idiot marcia blackburn is like doing whatever bullshit people in texas Are losing their minds over drag branches Why are you so obsessed about what I put on like why are you so obsessed about what I wear? I think there's a reason why well At least I get to wear it they're just jealous Yeah, like oh we know what it is. Yeah Jealous jealousy. I don't know. It's envy. Yeah Usually the things that bother you the most are the things that you have a lot of insecurities about so yeah True well, it's nice to hear that there was so little negative reaction around it that you don't even remember it Yeah, and the thing is like think about this We were one of the first like drag restaurant We had drag queens and stuff that came in after as an afterthought but it ended flourishing and now they're everywhere You can throw a drag brunch out to every music venue in town, you know And that's they're not even identified as gay owner operator alternative lifestyle It's just a restaurant that has drag queens and if you can't handle it, that's your problem. I mean then stay at home You know what? I put on your heels in your closet Yeah, um chef star star may and marcia who owned the place they came in here and I was so refreshed and just they're I don't know. They're just so unapologetic like we're gonna be who we are And if you don't like us go fuck yourself

01:13:56Yeah, and it's like and they're gonna reach for female empowerment and they're gonna do drag brunches and they're gonna really advocate for the lg BTQ community, you know There's so many there's something that I love about this whole social media Era right now that like I love doing it too with that subtle clap back that we can do as business owners that we never Got from yelp back in the day that we were never allowed. It was it's been a passive Thing where we just had to kind of take it But now we can just kind of like be like no yo, this is how it's gonna be you've been good at that I know i'm very good Thank you for following me Yeah, no, I love following you because I love your thing. Hey guys, look what this asshole just wrote Look at this idiot. This is my response and you're like, hey asshole like this. That's not okay Or you you actually do it much more eloquently I might just do it your approach next time. I'll quote you I've been given a permission to say this. Yeah, it's all I mean I had jim meyers in here and he used to be the the the critic restaurant critic for the tennessean and I said What did you have to do because I took it very very seriously and I visited a place multiple times And I did an accurate critique and now today Every single person with an iphone is a is a food critic And they don't do it the right way and there's you can't trust the intention behind it do they want something for free do they want to be outlandish and and Maybe some producer is going to see them like oh we want them on a show I don't know what people are auditioning for like the idea is Let people know a genuine honest if you love it I think it's a if you love it if you don't like it reach out to the actual restaurant tour and say hey This was my experience And if that restaurant tour tells you to go pound sand then let people know that but for the most part I'm a if you come to me and tell me about your experience I'm gonna genuinely care and I want to make it right because that's not when I wrote when I wrote the business plan It wasn't well, we'll piss off 20 percent of people and go and then they can just suck it like that's not it Yeah, I genuinely care That's what we do this for I want you to have a good experience But when you don't tell me but you decide to tell the world

01:15:58I got a problem with that and especially now I think I think we have a little bit more. Um Power than we had in the past mainly because because of the pandemic we're not at the we're not at the mercy of The consumer anymore like literally if we're doing this right now We're doing it because we love it and because we have something that we stand by and we believe in It's not like the four times where it's like whatever you want. We'll make you happy We'll do what we need like i'm giving you what I can give you and i'm not going to waste my time giving you Some bullshit i'm going to invest into what I do. Well And this is it and if you if you don't like it or something went wrong Let's have a conversation about it because it's not going off the menu. I'm not changing my point of view I'm not changing my approach, but I can try to get you to be on the same page as me, you know, and it's like We have a little bit more power now too, you know, I think people are very grateful that we're open You have to understand right you like I was going to give you an example of what she did during the pandemic with just She said I was very conservative with who I would say something to and there's a point to where human rights meant More to me than you dining in my restaurant, right and she said I at this point I don't really care. I mean you said this on the show you like I don't care I'm gonna stand up for my people. Yeah, i'm a lot quicker to draw a line now. I I don't think that there was ever a time that You know, I would tolerate, you know people using slurs or anything like that But but there was definitely I wouldn't draw a line if I felt like people were being abusive usually to me quite frankly because if somebody's You know being out of control. I'm the one to intervene and say hey, what's the problem here?

01:17:29And I would just let people honestly treat me like shit me. Oh, i'm so sorry. How can I fix this? How can I make it better? And now it's a point where it's like hey, i'm being kind and respectful trying to help you If you if you can't receive that then you gotta go. Yeah, because i'm not here for this Yeah We had we had a situation the other day and it was late It was our last table of the very busy night And it wasn't going right and I already knew it was I mean from the moment this person walked in I was I knew something wasn't going to happen and I told my staff like do this make extra precaution be you know And then and I finally halfway through something got sent back Nothing ever gets sent back and I was like fuck here we go And I told my server she looked at me like what do you do? I'm like, i'm not going to give them another 45 chicken I'm not going to waste my staff's time. I'm not going to waste my par. It's a 45 fucking chicken Tell her it's not going to work out order something else on the menu and it's on me and just get her out of here Yeah, and so she was like really i'm like, yeah, i'm not going to make another chicken Like no, absolutely not and and she did that and I was like, you know what? We have that right now, you know Even when we're too busy on the weekends, we don't do takeout in the middle of service because I only have four cooks Right. We we started limiting our takeout on certain services I'm not the only one people don't let we do our ten dollar tuesday and we got to where we used to do it for everything But now we've limited it to dine-in only and people don't love that. But it's like hey, we're we're not a factory, right?

01:18:51But by saying that they appreciate they have to appreciate it people are being abusive to our team members And that's part of the reason not now. Listen, not everyone. We are so lucky. We have an amazing clientele It's very few and far between but it happened enough times that people were rude to our team members over Long wait times for pizzas that i'm like, I just I can't create this situation My favorite thing about these interactions though, I have to say Is when you do have to kick somebody out or kind of cut somebody off, you know 86 a customer is the way that the other customers who witness it react Yes, because it is Overwhelmingly positive and they're like, hey, are you okay? Hey, I saw what happened there. You guys did the right thing. We're so sorry that he was so mean to you Sorry, no offense, but it is always a he Okay, not always but For me most of the time um, you know and I just It actually does something to kind of boost you with your other good clientele because they like to see you drawing those boundaries And they they see what you're going through they see what you have to put up and you're giving them that fantasy of reality tv They're like, oh my gosh, i'm living it live in action. They're like, oh my god, it's kitchen No, but I you know, I I tell people on the phone I mean whenever this happens, I always make it a point to answer the phone and I go hi international market It's arnold and they're like they're like we'd like to make a takeout order. I'm like we're not doing takeout right now We're just really busy and they go More times than out than none. They're like, oh my gosh. We're so happy. You guys are so busy. We'll call back tomorrow I love that and i'm like, but I also have to say it's arnold. You can't yell at me for this I made the decision there's a there's a level of empathy. I think that yeah the general public I think that we did a good job of publicizing one of the reasons I wanted to this podcast was is um, I wanted to educate diners I wanted people who are guests in restaurants to listen because where do they learn?

01:20:40Where do people that are casual that go out casually? Where do they learn not to do the bad things where they like hey, don't snap don't treat people this way Don't right. These are things that are common and I I drove uber for a while just because I I love doing it It was a fun thing for me But I learned so much because I didn't know i'd call ubers and be like hey, man We'll be out in like 10 minutes like no no motherfucker. You need to be waiting outside by the car They don't get paid for you like but I how would I have known that? Yeah, every other car service you call I need you from these times and they but like it's different It's different in a restaurant the things that you do don't necessarily fly and I want to share Etiquette because there were people we're people that are here to serve you And it's a whole thing. I I have to say too something that was that I think is Maybe not as much of a problem in nashville when it used to be but when I moved here 10 years ago there was definitely a different vibe than When I was working in restaurants in chicago and when I was in chicago I felt it felt like there was more appreciation for people who were servers and bartenders So it's like hey, you're somebody who you know is educated about food and beverage and you know I respect what you're doing And then when I came to nashville my first impressions working in fine dining in nashville It felt much more of like a servant type of position you know where it's like you're here to serve me and like Why are you at my table talking to me? And and again i'm generalizing but it was just it was very different vibes, I wonder if you see that in la at all, um, I It's interesting you say that because In cities of entertainment based but entertainment based cities like nashville like la and even like in new york when I was in school In new york, even though new york is a big restaurant a food town You still get the idea that the servers aren't career servers They're more like just doing it to get their next break. And so they're not as invested But when you do have a more boutique restaurant I do tend to see that people are more invested in in terms of their delivering but again, that's on the server not on the

01:22:45establishment, you know, um I I don't know if I agree with that. Really? I think it's all leadership Okay, I think you have to I think you have to have a foundation you have to have Core values you have to have a vision and there has to be somebody who's articulating that to people motivating them wanting them So any server can walk in any restaurant and get a job service is black and white I can bring you A water that's service but really where you create hospitality is when you it's how people feel With that service and that doesn't you can hire the the person that has that but you've got to lead people to that And you have to you have to create your culture, right? Right, but what i'm saying like in terms of what you should think about the talent pool and what we have to work with Right. Yeah, let's say we have all these people that are music students in belmont They're coming to work for me at the restaurant Their goal is not to be serving no a thai fried chicken the whole and telling us where the farm what farm it's from the rest of their life they're trying to get Okay, right. I think that The environment I was in in chicago was so many more like career restaurant people which there was a golden time in nashville Where that was it there was a there's a core group of this like randy rayburn era of Career servers that I lived for that made me love this industry even though I was born and raised in it That made me like I had a place and a voice in this You know We were I was working the show at talton porter as one of my first jobs and like I Loved the food there. I was crazy about what we're doing And I was just this like little raver kid that like wanted a job to make money to go party But like I still loved my product, you know, and it was all these like-minded people that were just in this world We all went out together after work You know, it was like is that what jody faze on it was the faze on era. It was it was the rumba era It was the pm era all this like, you know speedy over at rumba speedy at rumba all of this We would all get off work and all come to international market go to pm afterwards or go somewhere You know like granite falls was still around I think of the back, you know Maybe not but like we were like, you know, it was it was a very wanna

01:24:45Yes, it was a very core group of lifers restaurant lifers and the the food The way we communicated our food and stuff was just really a different level of what it is now You know, it's almost it's almost we all almost we made it almost too easy now, I think Because the product is so stellar Sure in town that it's almost like a cakewalk to not have to explain what things are But back then like we were very proud of things that we did. Yeah, I think it's still there Yeah, I think that is still there and I i've talked to i've done 280 plus episodes of the show i've talked to a lot of people in the industry and I think that There is still a core. I think that strategic does a great job. I think julia solivan over at Henrietta redd and and joshua hobbiger and Philip kratik if you go to folk the surface there those servers there I sat down at folk and it's been a year but like literally or maybe right before the pandemic even started But she went over the entire menu with me and explained every single thing and I go Well, I don't drink do you guys do mocktail? She's like absolutely. Yeah, and she just started naming them off and I was like Where do you find people that care at this?

01:25:53They're still here. Yeah, the key is that what can we do to preserve that? What can I do to preserve that and that's something that I want to I don't know. I don't know how to do it, but I want to preserve it and I want to promote it, you know, I If you build that they will come I guess is what is how is the cliche but like This is what's going to set us apart as the smaller independent restaurants or the local restaurants from the larger ones that are taking over You know is the proof is in the product the proof is in this the special This is something you don't put in a job manual in it. This is You can't buy this. No, you know, and that's where if we have a smaller team, I think that's Where we can curate this moment definitely and and it's hands-on as it sounds like I know you and your sister are so hands-on, you know, tony and I are in the restaurant all the time, you know that type of Connection with with the team. It's like they know who they're working for Yeah, you know, they they know the people who own the restaurant and there's a lot of places that that's just not the vibe. Yeah I don't know. We're in an hour and uh Did that feel like 12 minutes?

01:27:00Yeah 15 so fast. Um, what do we miss? What do you want to talk about? What do you want? Do you have anything you want to plug? Do you have like is there any topic that you are like I was really hoping you were going to talk about? this Anything you want to you know, I didn't know I didn't know what to expect I'm just glad that I got got in finally me too. I was I was feeling really tired yesterday Um, I hit a wall yesterday for the first time in like probably 20 years And I went to bed at 5 p.m And I woke up this morning thinking god just get through the weekend kind of thing. Um Anything to plug there's not really because i'll plug it anyway Um on my social media, I think you know, I just I like that. We're still trying to keep this Smaller not mom and pop but more like independently curated restaurant local restaurants seen alive It's nice to be back Taking a little bit of a hiatus and coming back and seeing how much it's grown. I mean in a way I want to kind of passively like snark at it all and like be like god nashville is just bullshit at this point, but There's some good pockets of nashville that I still love and i'm re i'm re falling in love I'm falling in relove. I'm reliving re falling in love falling back in falling back in love. There you go. There you go. Um Again with what I remember that made such an impression on me on me as a kid. It's still here for sure Uh, how old are you? Um older Oh, which part?

01:28:29many i've had many I'm 43 i'm older than you. Okay. Yeah, so i'm just the time I started working restaurants at uh, 18 jail exanus wipered road Yeah, hand-tied bow ties white shoes the whole thing. Yeah, and then I worked at the boundary in 97 Well, it wasn't me. That was what their uniform was their uniform was white shoes khaki pants a starched Dry cleaned white shirt hand tie bow tie and white shoes and before the shift what kind of white shoes like Like like safety shoes like server shoes like a nurse's white shoes Yeah, but you had these they had these little like erasers. So every day before the shift you had to like clean them Oh, and then you had lineup lineup There was literally a lineup you lined up in the manager about and you had to hold out your five pens You had to hold your bank your wine key do that at jay's the whole thing 24 hours when I first moved to town 24 hours, but we did not have to wear white shoes and they changed uniform now But like there's a there's there's you and I probably have a lot of the same time But I was all front of the house. Yeah, so I was always a front of the house guy I mean, I never I was always serving okay back in the day until I decided to Stop skating and go to culinary school Which is another hour to talk about but um, so we could this this is the problem See we tip of the iceberg we get all this stuff and then we're like, oh wait a minute There's another hour in that Culinary school. Yeah culinary school. I would love to do a topic show about culinary school So maybe we can have you back to talk about culinary. Oh, actually, you know, it'd be really interesting Yeah, let's yeah, we should or get a couple people in to have their ptsd and and sudden and I mean Yeah, well, where did you go? I went to ice in new york the institute of culinary education And I taught at the one I done that and then culinary school as an instructor of the same school with the same books Which is interesting wild and my cooks are actually I recruited from my classes. They're all from la. Oh, that's awesome Yeah, get that. Well, we had lunch there the other day. It was fantastic. Good. It was really good I wouldn't tell you if it was bad right now. You should not right now. Please say right now I mean it was it was honestly though. It was delicious. Thank you

01:30:32It was wonderful and there was a water that I had that was really good I don't forget what it was. I don't know what it was like a sweet tea or something that was like a It was an asian tea In a can in a can yeah, I didn't make that no, but it was just really good I never had it before you turned around something new. I was like, that's really awesome right on. I love the vibe inside there Yeah, it's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. It's clean. It's it's open. It's yeah. Yeah, so go check it out Uh international market. That's the plug go to the international market It is on belmont boulevard right next to like bongo java and proper bagel. It's right over there next to the old jagos Um, it is a uh, it's an amazing spot and you should definitely go check it out. Yeah, there's that's the plug I want to plug international market good deal reservations on weekends farm to plate pretty local low carbon footprint So yeah final thing that we do on the show is we have a the gordon food service final thought Okay, gordon food service is our fine title sponsor. They're amazing and they sponsor our final thought which is Whatever you want to say as long as you want to say it you're speaking to the city of nashville the culinary community Whoever's listening. I don't know all nine people You Get to say you get to take us out. Wow final thought whatever you want. Arnold. It is it is the mic is yours All right. Well, this is I guess um Oh my gosh, I wish I had a chance to think about this. Um And take your time, you know, yeah, no, I just think about I feel to see the pressure of like get it out Yeah, um, you know, there's one common bond that we all have and it's our relationship with food Everybody has some sort of story everybody has some sort of memory and I think with The way the world is right now. We forget that every time we have a meal. We actually have an opportunity to make a memory so Do that Love that. Thanks. I love that make a memory. Yeah, that's tight. Be it a sandwich be it on a plane be it in your car Take a moment appreciate what you're doing with that food and make a memory

01:32:33I love it. Arnold. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy busy busy day Um, it's been an honor. It's been a long time coming. Yeah, and uh, i've had so much fun Yeah, I can't wait for the next one culinary culinary school Whatever you want. We can just keep doing this. I do I love talking to interesting people. So it doesn't matter Yeah, we have no rules here. Yeah, it's kind of the fun thing. Yeah, cool Cool. Thanks. Have a wonderful rest of your week, man. Yeah. Thank you. You guys do. All right Yes, thank you Arnold mint for joining the show that was so much fun I I liked his he had so much energy. He was he's a whole vibe. He really is I love his energy too and I feel like I just I I really related to that kind of like hustler energy, you know, I I was saying to a friend Recently who owns a restaurant and I said Every day I wake up and my first thought is what am I going to do today to make money? And he was like really I was like, yeah, that's that's it And he said I don't think that I could ever do that and I thought your life is probably a lot more peaceful than mine It's a it's like a sickness. I do that. I mean it's not I don't think it's a what can I do to make money? But I think it's definitely something Like what can I do to stay busy and to be relevant and to help others and all of that Then how do you monetize that? Oh, so yours is a lot more charitable than mine well, I I mean Look, I I don't know. I just look at it and I go What can I do to and then can I is there a way to monetize that somehow?

01:34:08Because I don't want to do it for free but also you know, I feel like we're we're in a situation where we get to have these type of conversations and there's a level of Perspective that I get to have and I want to share it I want to share it with people that maybe don't get that and like can I help you with that somehow? Can I help you make more money? What can I do? I don't know. It's just a High tides raise all ships, right? A hundred percent. I think that's one of the things that like We talked about the old nashville on this show like there's this core of people and it's like we all have to support each other Definitely, you know like I don't when I go out to eat like I i've shared a brad lee and I know There's a whole thing about this guy brad. Lay. I don't know who he is, but he's like I don't ever Ask my friends like oh you want a restaurant dude hook me up like don't hook him up Pay them double pay them like leave go leave a hundred dollar tip at your friend's restaurant Don't ask your friends to hook you up. They're a struggling business. They need to make money yeah, I have a really good friend who's a small business owner and He isn't in the restaurant business But when we first started doing pop-ups, he would always come see us and we'd be like, oh, let me hook you up Let me give you a sandwich and he's like absolutely not I want you to charge me full price every time Every time i'm here to support you guys and I was just like wow that is That's a classy move and it's also just such a a kind supportive move You know and you should do that if you go to a locally owned and operated restaurant and they offer you something free Like no dude, i'll pay for it Well, I mean I do but I do also think that there's a part of restaurant culture too that that is like hooking up your friends And I think that's fine But either way either way I if I go eat at your restaurant, I want to pay Well, you did you did you did my restaurant recently and you did pay but then I sent you something else special It's my pleasure, but I also that's I don't know. That's kind of part of that culture for me It would be weird for me to have a friend or someone else I know that works in the restaurant industry come in and not we we call it we call it enhancement

01:36:09That's our restaurant lingo word that we use at nicky's is we enhance people I do the exact same thing the idea is you let them pay for the things that they order You don't want to comp something that they're already intending to pay for but you enhance their experience with something that they weren't expecting. There you go I dig that I don't know. That's a fun interview. I'd love to know your thoughts about it out there Out there out there people listening. Oh, we're actually talking to people right now Sorry, I thought you were talking to me Well, it's funny because like you do get in here and you just start talking I get what you're saying Well, you know, I think that there's a whole kind of maybe new Generation or group of people who are maybe newer to nashville, you know, I moved here 10 years ago and so when I moved here I you know Knew arnold I knew arnold's family there was you know, so much conversation around You know international market and pm and all of his brands. He's so well known for such a long time in nashville and Um, I love that. He's reviving that international market brand for people who maybe are newer to nashville that don't know him and in the history of his family and and I keep saying in nashville icon and I really mean it. He really is such an important part of the culinary history of the city Absolutely. Uh, it was an honor to have him in studio. Absolutely. Just like throw a rocket at his restaurant from here Yeah, definitely. I'll eat there some let's go get lunch like Sneak in there and eat some lunch Um, so this is your third interview. Yeah, the people are hearing next week. We're talking to succulent vegan tacos. Yes um We're on a whole vegan vibe lately ronald sardis and adriana ortega. I love those guys though And oh my gosh, I love so much fun. I love their brand. Okay, so three episodes in What are your thoughts? Tell me where where are your thoughts?

01:38:02Oh, I mean just your this is this is like you co-hosted the roundup with me You've been on the show but like being in studio having people in here What do you think like this is really fun? I I really enjoy this This is such just completely selfishly. This is such a nice outlet for me personally to do something that Is not it's it's work adjacent, but it's not what I normally do every day for work and I'm somebody who just gets in such a zone of like I work and I sit at home and I work and I sit at home and I don't have a lot of that In between time, you know, I I was actually just saying to arnold as he was leaving, uh You know when i'm in nashville, i'm working constantly and if i'm going out, it's usually when I leave town and go to another city Um, so it's nice to have something else to do it is you're doing a fantastic job. Thanks give you live feedback Okay It's so fun for me to sit in an interview and then have you bring up a topic and be like That's a great question. I want to know the answer to that too And it just stimulates so many other facets versus just my perspective. Well, thanks and I I like my perspective. Yeah, I gotta be okay with that But i'm really excited. I think that you're really good at keeping things on track because I have a tendency to tangent And look for any excuse to talk about reality television. So I'm gonna chill out on that. You had a legit reality television, but I had one in front of me How could I not how could I not he knows andy cohen?

01:39:34We didn't get to that next time You'll find that towards the end of the episode. You're just getting into it and you're like, can we talk for three hours today? Can we just do this and every time you're like, can we do this again? And like can we stop recording and leave and go grab a cocktail and keep talking shit? Yeah I've done that before not the cocktail part, but We've gone and had lunch after this thing. Love it. Um, well cool Well, we're very excited to bring you this episode with arnold and uh, Thank you guys for listening. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be here and uh To use some bachelor lingo continue on this journey with you. Oh, look at you Are you here for the right reasons? I think I am I think I am I think that's the main thing. You gotta be here for the right reasons Here for the right reasons not just for the instagram followers, but what a plot twist it would be if I wasn't Right, that would be pretty amazing. You're like i'm here for the instagram followers. I mean, that's what it is. I'm really not I have the least interesting instagram the bachelor in paradise Like it's just it can I I told my wife I go wouldn't it be better If they just showed up like I want to be a celebrity And I want you to go follow me and i'm gonna do a bunch of really stupid drunken shit on television So that you will find me interesting to follow me enough Yeah, but here's where it gets good is when they're really sincere and it's just so cringy. It's like, oh the people The irony is the people who are there for the right reasons are also there for the wrong reasons because the real reason to go on the show Is to get instagram followers, but the people who are really there to find love and it goes awry is when it's cringe Well, there's the dude and that's what I watch I don't know any of their names like literally every time Like i'm talking to my wife at breakfast and she's like, can you believe that johnny made out with sarah?

01:41:22I'm like, who are they? Like the guy with the neck tattoo and then the girl who was naked last night. I'm like, oh, okay I know you're talking about like I don't know anybody. I don't really know anyone's name none of their names like claire b i'm like which Is that different than another claire? I don't know There's more than one claire like i'm zoned out or like it's kind of a background thing for me I'm like playing on my phone while it's on but i'm I don't remember names, but but there's a guy. Well, there's also 450 people on the show. Well, there's a guy on this year and I don't know what happens I'm only an episode two or three. I don't know but he's got a beard and he's got a child and his wife passed away Oh, yeah, do you know his name matt? Is it matt or something? I couldn't tell you his name Yeah, I mean I know exactly who you're talking about but he's like Super chill and like they go through the whole intros of the people and it's like i'm here to get fucked up and party And i'm and i'm gonna find love and this guy's like, you know I've just spent some real time soul-searching and my daughter told me that I really need to be here and you're like Don't think he's I don't think he is ready for a relationship I don't I don't know but he seems like he's there to find you think he's there for the right reasons. I don't know Is that what you're saying? I think he's the most well adjusted person there who's looked at done some introspective work And has worked through grief but well reality television is no place for well-adjusted people That's what i'm saying like he sticks out like a sore thumb and he's like 40, right?

01:42:45And so I thought my favorite line is he's all these girls walking. He's like I kind of feel creepy. I don't know what he said, but he was like, I feel like the old guy here And i'm like what you are. Yeah, these are like such a 23 year old woman. I think he's like 34 35. He's at least 38 Are you sure? I think he's 38. That's like elderly for bachelor. Yeah Okay, so this is now turned into nashville reality radio. We've got it. Well, we'll get it There's people out there right now. This is this is what i'm bringing to the podcast It's fine. I love real. I this is a thing. I don't have any to talk to it about we need to we need to just like Do a sidebar podcast get it all out of our system Brandon and caroline talk about reality television and then from that point we can move forward I thought that's what the recap after the show was Is for us to talk about reality show Oh great Okay, I thought that's what after the show if you wanted to hear arnold you're out right now You've heard arnold now you've tuned into you've dipped out nashville bachelor in paradise You want to know what's going on with you and I on a regular like what are you doing in your life?

01:43:47What am I doing in my life? And I love that the answer to what are we doing in our lives is bachelor in paradise? But you know what? It's so important sometimes because I live bachelor in paradise in restaurants I mean i'm not like but like there's drama of reality life in a restaurant is like a reality show Every day, I have no idea what's going to happen when I walk into work I don't know who's fucking who I don't I I don't i'm not involved in that but somehow when I get there Somebody goes did you hear this last night and I go no what happened here? What happened there and people tell you and you're like, oh I really really go out of my way to stay out of that Like I don't usually know what's going on with anybody. I don't know the gossip. I'm the last one to find out Yeah, and i'm like, how did this happen? Like I don't understand but watching it on television. I'm not in it Right. I don't it's not part of something that i'm working on every day I'm working that that's nothing to do with me and nothing. I want to be a part of But watching that on television is kind of an escape. Oh, definitely. It's a brain. My brain gets to turn off. Definitely I always fall asleep Because I stopped thinking about all the the arnold said I try and sleep for eight hours or I try and hang for eight hours But my brain i'm thinking about next week in the next week like my brain does the exact same thing watching reality television turns you off Turns that off and i'm able to just like zone out for a minute So I might not retain everybody's names. I get to kind of watch it and it's Dumb definitely, but it's kind of you know, I think a lot of people do that Definitely and that's why the the recap at the end of the show is where people like I want to know what's happening in hell's kitchen. I want to know what's going on with this What's going on Let's talk about bachelor in paradise. If you're not watching bachelor, I started what you know, why I started watching bachelor Why is because howard stern?

01:45:30Oh, yeah He talked about the bachelor and bachelorette all the time on his show and he's like listen to this shit listen And he would talk about and I was like If howard is talking about the bachelor it's got to be good and he and he said You know, there's no time that beth is more attracted to me than watching the bachelorette. Yeah That's his wife beth. He goes because we're sitting in bed We're watching this attractive girl and there's 25 douchebags who are all roided up and they're all alcoholic idiots Who the fuck gets 30, you know who gets to take off? 10 weeks out of work to go do the bachelor like right What do you people do for a living? like what is this if I went to work and I go hang out for 10 weeks to go be on the bachelor you'd be like Well, you can re-interview for your job when you get back I guess but like how do you be an attorney and just do that or I don't like you I can't just take 10 weeks off to go do that No, so and then he goes, you know when the thing's over my wife is like, you know what? I'm so happy that I have you sure because I don't want to be in that scenario. Oh god, and I thought well That's interesting perspective So then I started watching to get my wife to start watching it just so that I could know what howard was talking about Okay And then all of a sudden I learned what he was talking about and I enjoyed hearing his recaps and then uh, the jordan guy Jordan rogers who's uh, erin rogers his brother. Okay was on the bachelor Okay, and he's actually a local nashville restaurant person. He went to vanderbilt. You know, he's a co-owner of red bicycle I did not know that yes. So maybe we'll have him on the show. There's a local show that Talked to him. So I was watching I was like, hey, I know what's going on in pop culture. I feel informed So wait, he was the bachelor. He was he was um A contestant on the bachelor. Can we get him on the show and just be like, hey, this is restaurant radio But we also talk about the bachelor we might be able to he's with jojo Jojo was jojo was the bachelorette got it. He won the season and is she the same person as jojo the singer?

01:47:22No, different person got it whole different person got it jojo. The singer was just on hell's kitchen though Yes, she was Okay, different person than jojo the bachelorette full circle. That's that's what we do on nashville restaurant radio We close the loop caroline It's caroline, right? You're asking me that now. Well, I had somebody that it was like nice to meet you carolyn and i'm like Brandon people call you carolyn people do call me carolyn, but that's not my name But your name is carolyn. My name is carolyn pronounce the final line, correct, but i don't i don't i any It's funny. I don't care enough to correct anyone But I am also somebody who takes name pronunciations very seriously because I feel like people don't and I think it's Disrespectful me too. I don't take it personally if you accidentally call me carolyn or you call me nicky Which people call me nicky all the time. I genuinely do not care But when it comes to me meeting people and learning their names You know that is very very important to me But I wanted people to know that you're carolyn i'm carolyn that you get that I know your name is carolyn. I'm not asking you that but for our listeners if you ever meet carolyn Her name is carolyn not carolyn or nicky and I would love to say hi Yeah, say hi to me 100 if you're in the restaurant go say hi to her um I have two kids matthew and william and i'm very intentional. That's matthew and william not matt and will okay, so Christopher who's our who's our he's our cto now for our company He's steven's brother his name is christopher and I don't I can't tell you probably a hundred times I've walked into a meeting with him And i've said my name is brandon this is our chef christopher and they go Oh, it's nice to meet you chris and I go. Yeah, I didn't say that his name was chris I said his name is christopher and is he annoyed by the shortening never he's the nicest they'll ever meet But when you intentionally tell somebody my name is christopher and the first time you meet them and they go Oh nice to meet you chris. It's like That's not his name sure I just said his name is christopher so it's I don't know it's a weird thing I don't

01:49:26I'm crazy That's the gist of that story was that i'm nutball, okay, and that's what I do But I stand up for people's names and I want to stand up for your name. Well, thanks. Thanks brandon caroline. Thanks brand Yes Thanks b. Thanks b. All right. I go by b b is a good one. We spent 20 minutes talking Just now just now that was 20 minutes and I really have to go everybody's tuned out. That's all right I gotta go too. Thank you for listening This is fun. We're gonna have so much more of this caroline Thank you for being here. I'm excited to do more of these next week Catch up with adriana and ronald from succulent vegan tacos. We're going more into the vegan world. Yes exciting times Hope you guys are being safe out there. I love you guys I forgot what I was gonna say to sign off. I'm just gonna say everybody have a great week There you go, and thanks for listening. Yeah, have a great week. Thanks for listening Bye