BJ Lofback

00:00Trust20 is the new standard of restaurant safety and diner comfort. Trust20 restaurants are part of a national network of restaurants that meet a high standard of cleanliness and safety, giving diners confidence in the measures you're taking to keep them safe. Trust20 restaurants receive expert guidance, operational resources, and benefit from diner-focused promotion on behalf of Trust20 network of participants. So how do you get certified? It's easy. First, go to trust20.co and request a certification appointment. Then, a Trust20 specialist will reach out and arrange a visit. The specialist conducts a 60-minute review and consultation according to Trust20 tactics. If adjustments are needed, the Trust20 specialist will provide guidance to assist. Now that you're certified, have peace of mind that you're doing everything you can to keep your restaurant safe and start enjoying the benefits of Trust20 certification. Remember, visit trust20.co to request your certification appointment today.

01:09Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, a podcast for and about the people of the Nashville restaurant scene. Now here's your host, the CEO of New Light Hospitality Solutions, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City! And welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. Happy Monday to you and yours. Now some of you may be listening to this on Sunday because I released this episode on Sunday ahead of Monday. And if you were a subscriber, you got a notification. So if you would like exclusive content when I release it early, go ahead and click that subscribe button. I also released the YouTube version of this episode a couple hours before I released the audio version. So it was out Sunday at football time. So go to the YouTube channel, subscribe to the YouTube channel as well.

02:10I keep putting videos up there, back issue kind of older videos. I keep going back and finally getting time to edit and putting them up there. So we just appreciate you guys listening completely for any part of it. So that gets us to today. We have BJ Luffback and BJ is the owner of Pinchy's Lobster Company. And he was the he was kind of one of the OGs back in the food truck days. He had Riff's Fine Street Food. And he then pivoted over to Funk Soul Brother, which was just a fantastic Korean food kind of street truck that turned into kind of a brick and mortar. And he's kind of just been a leader and innovator in the hospitality industry for several years now. Since 2011, he's been somebody who you have to listen to story. It's really fantastic. I just enjoyed talking to him so much.

03:10Couple little news outlets for you. Is it Alabresia? Edgar Victoria's pop-up is going to be tonight. And that tonight is Monday, October the 12th. He is doing a pop-up at the Southern. It is an industry night, a Mezcal industry night. And it says last pop-up with Julio and Julio Hernandez from Mais de la Vida. So that's going to be tonight from 5 to 10 at the Southern or until they sell out. Another big thing is opening on Tuesday at the farmers market. Succulent Vegan Tacos is going to be opening their doors. So if you like that, if you like Succulent Vegan Tacos, they're going to be opening Tuesday for service at the farmers market. I've heard nothing but good things about them. And then the Continental, Sean Brock's new spot in the Grand Hyatt is officially open for takeout and delivery.

04:11So if you're dying to try that, get in there, do takeout, do delivery and let us know. If you're out there eating really cool things and you're seeing cool things in the restaurant industry, take a picture of it, put it on your socials and use the hashtag One word, Nashville Hot List. Hashtag Nashville Hot List. And let us know what you think is awesome because the new hot list will be out in November. And we are looking for you to help us identify who needs to be at the top of that Nashville Hot List. That being said, you heard an advertisement there at the beginning from Trust 20. These guys are coming out and certifying restaurants right and left. Just ask Amarshall Hospitality's Puckets and Deacon's New South who are officially Trust 20 certified. There are 20 tactics you can do to ensure the safety of your guests as well as your staff.

05:12So make sure we're doing that. Let's be proactive in doing that. And I hope that you guys enjoy this episode today. It's a good one. One of my favorite episodes. And go online to our Instagram and our Facebook page and you can see one of our he did a one star video. So I talk about it in the interview, but he did a one star. He read a one star review. We've put it out there. Also go check us out on TikTok. That's where I put all of our restaurant reviews and it's good stuff. So thank you guys again for listening. Let's jump right in. With much enthusiasm and excitement, I want to welcome in B.J. Loftback, the owner of Pinchy's Lobster Company to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Welcome, B.J. Thank you, Brandon. It's really, really cool to be on with you. I've been I've been watching so many people get interviewed on here and going, come on, man. And finally here I am. Here you are. You've made it. I'm very humbled by that statement.

06:12And I hope that there's nobody out there who feels like I am sliding them by having not interviewed them yet. Oh, trust me. There are. I think this is a lot more about you than how many people can you interview in a day? You'll get to them. I mean, you've run out of people before you can even before we can even get anywhere with it. So it's funny you say that because this is an intentional thing. I mean, like I was doing four to five interviews a week when I first started. We're in the middle of COVID-19 thing. And I was like, I just got to do this. And finally, after about four or five weeks, I was incredibly exhausted, like physically and mentally. And then I thought, if I do five a week, I'm going to run out of people. And so and I made it a Monday, Wednesday, Friday deal really to give myself some sanity and not overload everybody. But I didn't want to run out of people. Well, it's kind of cool. You've gained viewers. You've gained a following.

07:12So everybody that hasn't been on yet gets to get a little bit more of your platform. So it's probably a good thing. Anybody out there that feels slighted, feel lucky that you got to wait a little bit. It's just going to get better and better. I like what you do, man. Well, thank you so much. I like what you do. And I've liked what you've done ever since Funk Soul Brother, which is just such a cool concept that you did. And you used to have was it right off of like right like by Ben and Jerry's right there was did you have a little spot that was right there? Yeah, you know, so I mean, just to kind of bring the very brief history into it. When I opened my food truck in 2011, I called it Riff's Fine Street Food, Riff's obviously for Nashville and all that kind of stuff. But also because I didn't know what to circle in on. I left my cooking career when I was but a wee lad and became a family man and did what I had to do to support a family.

08:15And then when I turned 40 years old, I was like, OK, now it's my turn. I'm going to take all these things that I've learned and just do what I want to do. And but when I made the the Asian food, that's the things that resonated with people more than anything, specifically Korean fried chicken, which is fried chicken. It's almost cheating. It's such an easy thing to to make people like. But that's when the idea of Funk Soul Brother was born. And, you know, do I dare as a white guy from Detroit? Go ahead and mess with the cuisine that that is from a culture that's not mine, a cuisine that I didn't grow up eating. You know, and so that kind of grew into a very, very brief stint with with a brick and mortar location that focused on poke and sushi burritos.

09:17If there's one thing that I've always done, it's jump on food trends as early as possible and not so much intentional. It was just kind of I was used to doing that through the years with Riff's doing whatever I wanted. I would change on a dime and Riff's afforded me that luxury. I don't know if that's necessarily what it was, but I have a short attention span. And that and so I did that briefly over there with Vanderbilt was not the best business decision I've ever made and got out of that. And that's kind of been the theme of my career in the in professional culinary. The world is, you know, throw it up against the wall, see if it sticks and if it does, cool, but I'll get bored and I'll do something else. But the reality is there's a lot of scars and there's a little bit more smarts.

10:18Well, there's so much there to unpack. I don't even know what my next follow up question is going to be with you on that. You're right. But the food truck thing like you, you've always been passionate about the food trucks, right? And I always will be. I love this world. I love the most of the people in it. The in 2011, we were a group of rag tag, you know, almost it felt almost like like being pirates a little bit. We're going out to property owners and explaining what a food truck was. I mean, this is this is pre food network making it a thing. This is pre, you know, it just started hitting in in L.A. and New York City in 2009 where people were taking the taco truck model that was always successful and putting other cuisines in it. And that's when I went. This is my way of being able to get into the food world and have a career and show people what I can do with food.

11:23And so I started watching that in 2009. In early 2010, I had a truck in my driveway that I bought in New York City in a very, very sketchy deal. Super sketchy. And after never driving a truck that size, I drove it from New York City to back to here in Nashville and started building a food truck, started putting a kitchen in the back of a truck. I didn't know what I was doing. I had no idea. And when I finally had something that the health department said, OK, yeah, you you can you can make food in this and it won't make people sick. Hopefully. Right. And I thought I was going to be the first food truck to open in Nashville, Tennessee. Then all of a sudden, I found out that most tacos had already been doing it for quite some time and was credible. There were a couple of other people doing it. Grilled Cheesery opened about five months before I did.

12:24I was it's kind of a funny story with them because I thought, well, my truck's ready, my menu's ready. And but who would be insane enough to open a food truck as soon as winter is starting? Grilled Cheesery and Grilled Cheesery did it beautifully. They're an incredible story. I really hope they tell you. And I mean, you'd probably have to do a two parter with them from the food truck situation on into their brick and mortar. And Joseph and Crystal are are amazing. We've had definitely a roller coaster relationship, competitors, friends, competitors, friends. But in April of 2011, I opened a truck, not having a clue how, not having a clue what. Didn't know how it was going to resonate, but it did. And I guess I was shocked and not shocked all at the same time. So why not brick and mortar? Because I couldn't afford it.

13:25There's there's no way I could afford it. I almost want to go back. I want to go back now because you skipped over a large part of your life. You said I did this. Then when I turned 40, you said at an early age, you were in the culinary industry or you worked in restaurants, probably like any of us did when we were young. And then you left that business. What did you do in that time frame from I left working in restaurants as a kid to I'm 40. I've done the family thing. I've got wife and kids. Now I want to go follow my kind of my passions or my dreams. What did you what did you do? Well, like any young 20 something, you know, if you're single, you can work at a restaurant. And I loved I worked at a pizza place, an Italian place and loved loved that life. But when family comes along, you're like you not only can't live that kind of schedule, but you also can't make that kind of money. You have to make more money. Well, at that time in in the greater Detroit area, if you could pass a drug test, you could walk into many different buildings that made parts for for cars and trinkets and things.

14:39And you could make really good money. It was hard work. But and you earned that money, but you could do it. And so that's what I did. I got a job at at a place that made axle shafts for Ford Mustangs and Ford F-150s and and just worked and brought home money and took care of the kids and did what I needed to do. And I did that up until 2001 when a friend of mine was starting an Internet marketing business. You think of 2001, everything's just kind of everybody's figuring out how to do Internet with business. It's not just, you know, pictures of kittens and other nefarious things on the Internet. People are starting to figure out how to to use it for business. And so it was kind of a really serendipitous thing for what would ultimately take me into the food truck world to be in Internet marketing and convincing people who've been making money for a long time that the Internet was a way to make more money.

15:50And and learning how that process worked. So I had nearly a 10 year career, a life sucking. I didn't I didn't enjoy this at all. It wasn't anything that was satisfying me. That creative person that was dying to do something, especially with food. And I wasn't a good enough musician to to ever support myself with that. So that wasn't going to be a problem ultimately for me. So I did Internet marketing and then so the it was the collision of of social media and food trucks. The genius of Roy Choi in L.A. taking everything he knew about his Korean culture and what he learned in and being around the Latino culture as well. And then being able to reach out to these people that were communicating in this brand new medium to say, hey, we're going to be at this street corner at this ungodly hour.

16:57And so people that were coordinating themselves, coordinating friendships and all these types of things, all of a sudden that collision and it was a collision. It just skyrocketed this cool thing. And again, it was it was on the outskirts. It was it was if it allowed you to be in the know where maybe not everybody else was in the know. And then this really cool food, this exciting, interesting food that people had up in their brains, it gave them license to be able to do that. You wouldn't risk it. You know, you couldn't convince an investor. I'm going to take Korean food and put it in a taco. No, nobody with lots of money is going to go, that sounds amazing. Let's do that. But but you could convince someone to put it in a truck and take that risk. Risk only a few thousand dollars as opposed to hundreds of thousands of millions. And it resonated with people wildly.

18:00And then people like me who were sitting at home going, I really, really like to be a chef one day. I'd really like to be able to do what I want to do without anyone telling me, no, a food truck and being able to talk directly to my potential customers. Well, just imagine realizing what that was in that moment at the point in my life that I was at. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't leave it alone. And so that's what caused me to be frustratingly. If I told you how many times I was sitting in the back of this truck, frustratingly trying to make plumbing work, I can imagine in a three compartment sink. So the health department would give me their blessing. There were tears. There was blood. There was tons of sweat because at that time I had no idea where to buy a food truck whatsoever. So I'll do it myself. That's how badly I wanted to do this thing.

19:01And that's that's the story that's been repeated across this country multiple times. I'm especially fond of those people that did it like me in 2010, 2011. But that's what makes that. I mean, that's America and what you just described. I mean, that's the American dream is the ability to be able to do that. So it's fascinating to me. Why? What is it about being a cook? What is it? Because you're you you didn't go to culinary school. You're not a classically trained. You know, you didn't stage it. So, you know, per se, in New York for years, you just you had this passion. And I'm kind of putting I'm putting the puzzle pieces together here to kind of make up exactly who you are and to really tell your story because I love this. Yeah, you're innovative. You recognize the Internet 2001 as a way to, you know, functionalize business. I was at that point trying to figure out like that. I learned that computers were for other things other than solitaire at that point.

20:03You know, it's like you mean you can do other things besides play solitaire. This is great. You're already on that. And then you get into 2009, you identify food trucks. Where was this like, I want to be a chef. I mean, where did that come from? That started long, long before when I was a kid. I loved eating and my mom hates it when I say this. Well, I think she kind of has accepted it. She laughs about it now. But food was not. I don't have a lot of nostalgic things growing up where it's like my mom made the best this. My mom was a career woman, as many career women were in Detroit, greater Detroit in the 70s and 80s. When I grew up, I made my own Kraft macaroni and cheese. And that was the culinary pinnacle of everything. And we didn't have tons of money.

21:04So it wasn't like I was, you know, dining out a lot or anything like that. I often look at people like, you know, you're Sean Brock or even like David Chang, these people that grew up with this rich culinary culture. And now they're creating that in fine dining experiences. You know, I didn't have that. I didn't have that upbringing. My upbringing was just add water. You know, my upbringing was pour a can of cream of mushroom soup into, you know, some noodles and some beef. And you've got a quick dinner for you and your children. You know, that was that was my upbringing. And but but occasionally I would go to my friend's houses where where their moms, you know, did cook and I'd go. You can do this. This can happen. One day I found what I think was just a wedding gift from my mom. And in the early 20s, I found the Betty Crocker cookbook.

22:06And I'm talking this is eight, nine years old. And so I was going through that cookbook and I'm finding things with just a few ingredients or a few steps. And I read the title and I'd be like, pancakes, you can make pancakes at home. And I would make them. And when I didn't like them, I would keep trying. And sometimes I would be at home making shortbread and lying to my parents when they said, why is the oven warm? And I'm like, I don't have any idea. I didn't want to get in trouble. But eventually, because of necessity, because my parents would get home, my mom and stepdad would get home, you know, five thirty six o'clock. They'd say, make, make this, make this dinner. And I was going, well, this recipe sucks. And I'm kind of tweaking it and things just because I felt like I could make that better. And sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn't. And I would get told, you follow this recipe the way we tell you. And I'd go, OK, I'm just going to do what I want to do.

23:09And it was born from that. Well, my cousin was also very interested. He was a couple of years ahead of me and had a few more opportunities. And he went to culinary school and I was like, I can't wait to go to culinary school. It's going to be so great. And he he he went where a bunch of dudes that couldn't do it themselves, couldn't be successful themselves were teaching French techniques and things and said, this is the way you have to do it. And they're they're grading you on something that ultimately is creative. That's your technique driven. But they're they're beating that out of you and telling you this is the way things need to be done. How do you grade someone on meatloaf? My meatloaf, my favorite meatloaf and your favorite meatloaf could be two different things. And how do I sit across the table from you and go, your meatloaf is garbage. It's a C minus. I don't know. But that whole theory, after they beat that out of him and he stopped his love of cooking, I said, forget culinary school.

24:15I want to go learn from people that are doing it. People that are making it happen. That resonates so strongly with me. I was at MTSU and I left my third year MTSU. I was waiting tables and I recognized that I don't want to do anything else. I want to be in this business. And I had the opportunity to get into management at 22. They're moving different city to be in management where the owners were. And I made a decision to leave college in versus sitting in a classroom where somebody told me about their experiences with business. I knew I wanted to be in the restaurant business. I knew I wanted to own a restaurant one day. That was going to be my goal. And I said, you know what? I'm going to go. I'm going to go start doing this thing and start living that life and get the hands on experience. And while it's not I'm not recommending you leave college to go work at a restaurant for me. That was my passion. I didn't want to learn somebody else's experience of running a business. I wanted to go do it and get my hands dirty and touch a hot stove and go, oh, I'm not going to do that again.

25:18I wanted to go make mistakes while I was young and I had the ability to do that. And that's what I did. And so it's but I also, you know, I look back on it and I also see kind of what you're saying. I know the classically trained chefs, there's so many people miss so many detailed fundamentals that are absolutely necessity in business that I've had to learn over many, many, many years. And I'm sure you're you're have learned if you're not in the middle of learning that there are some good technical things that you need to know that those guys beat into you because so many people I use this reference all the time. So many people in restaurants, they just want to do they want to get in there, do the 360 dunk and they want to and that's like no, no, no, the bounce pass. You need to learn the 60 second greet. You got to learn to have all the light bulbs burning. You got to learn all the things that are fundamentals and running an effective restaurant. It's like no, no, no, I want to do this amazing stuff that you can't do that until you have a foundation. And some of that is what I think they teach you in culinary school is just this foundation of how to how to work with vendors, how to do all these other different things, which, you know, there's six and one and a half dozen the other that people kind of feel like this is how you should do it.

26:32I went the same route you did. And I like that. That's awesome. Well, there's certainly something to that in the in the sense of at the end of the day, they do teach you some fundamentals. It's kind of funny, but it's true that I learned many of those fundamentals from some really amazing people, one being Julia Child, one being Jacques Pepin, Martin Yang, Justin Wilson, because before Food Network, PBS was Food Network. And before Food Network started hitting people a paperclip and some chewing gum and saying make a three star Michelin dish in five seconds, which I think is it's just food and I'm embarrassed by it personally. That and Yelp, I think are two of the worst things that ever happened to and there are many worse things that ever happened to professional cooking. But I digress. You're going to read a Yelp one star review for me later today, aren't you?

27:34Oh, I would love to. I've got so many and a recent one that I that I will will hopefully it's still up, although I think I may have beaten the man down to delete it. I mean, it comes to you taking that stuff anymore. But the the whole idea here is is that I I took in the you know, those those early cooking TV shows. And then when VCRs became a thing, I started recording them and rewatching them and and working on those techniques. And then I would beg for the cookbooks. And I never told my friends in high school what I was doing, because it was. If you I don't know how old you are, but I was forty one forty one. I got I got nine more years on. I'm going to be 50 in March. You want me to get that? No, I can't believe my ringer is on. How did that even happen? I was literally afraid I was going to do that.

28:36I've never done that. The whole idea here is, is that you can learn fundamentals and and it's it's a hard road. But it's one thing that I didn't have to do was unlearn things. And so many times I'll be hiring people and they'll come from a culinary program. And these people are coming in saying, you know, thinking in their minds, they're going to be on Food Network next week. And and I and I have to teach them, you know, and they're coming in while in culinary school. What we did was, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just start like I told you. You know, it's you know, there's a lot of that now. Don't get me wrong. There are some very amazing culinary programs out there that make amazing, talented people into people that are going to be successful. But, you know, B.B. King didn't need to go to Juilliard. You know, I don't think Clapton had to go to, you know, I mean, you know what I'm saying?

29:40I know. Yeah, I know. There's there's some things that just you got that. I wish I had it in, you know, the way they do in music. That would be my first. But probably the to me, the same creative juices when I'm doing anything with music, which is purely a hobby and a joy, nothing else. They're the same brainwaves, same part of the mind that work in food. Their chords, their their their notes. This this note is too high. This this this flavor is too muted, you know, things like that. It's the same thinking for me personally. And and and so you can you can learn that from you can I can or, you know, a young guitar player can learn by watching and listening to Masters. And I feel like I did that for a long time.

30:40Thankfully, I I had a TV. I had cable TV. Alton Brown teaching me some of the basic the way he did. It's amazing. Screw culinary school. Just get get in a box set of goodies and go to town. I have said that those words to many, many people. And, you know, yeah, if you can go to culinary school, do it. But don't go into debt. That's insane. These things are businesses. Realize that they're businesses. A hundred percent. Let me ask you. So you when did you move to Nashville? 2001. OK, so 2001 you moved to. Literally before World Trade, like two weeks before the 9-11. Yeah. So it was a it was a weird time to hit. So coming up here in Nashville, let me ask you this question because, you know, it sounds like you've you worked hard. You're intelligent. You're innovative.

31:40You're willing to to pivot on a dime. So this I can imagine that the quarantine all this stuff will get into that. Yeah. You move into the food scene. You do your food truck. You've got riffs. Find food. How did the other people in this town in the culinary industry treat you? Because there's this industry is an interesting. There's a lot of people. There's a couple different. We discussed the different types of chefs that there are for somebody who's from out of town initially to come to Nashville and to do something new without formal culinary training, without a hey, I used to work at F. Scott's and I worked at the Hermitage Hotel and I worked at these places. And now I'm going to do a food truck where you've got 50 people who you've worked with that are like, yeah, man, that's awesome. Congratulations. You kind of come out of nowhere, a self-taught cook who's opening a food truck.

32:40Now you're going to be kind of pray. I don't know what the perception was. If it's your praying on brick and mortar restaurants business, how were you perceived? Like, what was your did you feel like you were welcomed into the community? Or do you feel like people were like, go away? All right. I'm going to make a very bold statement right now. And then I'm going to answer your question, but it's kind of packed up into this. OK. And I love the question you just asked. You would have a nearly impossible time convincing me that the spark that ignited Nashville's food renaissance, Nashville's food boom was not food trucks. And I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to back up that statement while answering what you what you just asked me. The culinary scene in Nashville was I mean, what did we have?

33:42Midtown Cafe, Sunset Grill in 2001, 2001. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't in 2001. It certainly wasn't in 2005, 2006 restaurant started open. I think that's when it really there was kind of a boom. Right. Well, I'm sorry. I meant 2011. Yeah. You know, 10 years after I moved here. And I'm by no means suggesting that I was that spark. I was I was but a mere piece of Tinder in making that happen. But there was a post recession kind of we're going to climb out of this thing. Everybody's super lean. There was people that were coming in. It was just it's all of a sudden. It's true. People didn't care. There wasn't a there. There wasn't. I mean, look at when it happened. Look when people started putting Nashville as its city. Food trucks started showing existing restaurant culture that people wanted more.

34:45People wanted interesting. People wanted exciting. We kind of took the risks in it. Kind of take the risks. We did take the risks and put ourselves at the forefront. So much so that in in in late my lobster just showed up. Nice. In late 2011, the the Tennessee Hospitality Association pushed by a man who I now respect very much in what he's done for the culinary community. But at the time, we were pitted against each other. Mr. Randy Rayburn. Hey, Randy. How you doing? I hope you're watching. I hope you're well. Hope to see you soon. I like Randy now. But I was sitting at the the Traffic and Parking Commission meetings hearing people say that food trucks are dangerous.

35:46Good trucks want to park next to restaurants and steal our business. Food trucks, just a bunch of just garbage. And then I as as as someone who's not afraid to shoot his mouth off or better for worse, I'm now sitting in front of this group of politicians saying, no, that's not true. Street food is a good thing. Look at any any city in the world. New York, L.A., Bangkok. You know, I mean, where are we talking that where street food isn't celebrated? Awesome. Nashville will benefit from street food. And we don't want to steal customers from restaurants. And we love restaurants. I love restaurants. I don't want to take anything from them. What I want to do is find my place and find my people. And and they're like, well, you can just come into an area and and serve there.

36:47And if it's not good, you can go somewhere else. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I can do that. And it's true. However, I also have to put a restaurant in the back of a truck. If you know how many times, Brandon, that I would work all morning on a certain sauce that was going to be on the special. And I'm so excited about it. We turn a corner and the fridge opens up that I thought was locked and falls on the floor. And there's all the sauce. And then we go, oh, my God, what do you do now? And then you talk about pivoting. You talk you're showing up and you've told Twitter and your your your growing number of fans that you're going to be a certain spot. And they walk up and they want that thing. And you have to figure out how to make that thing now with next to nothing. That's that's fallen on your wits right there. That's fallen on on your talent, your skills and whatever you think you have.

37:48And sometimes something amazing came out of that. And sometimes it didn't. But going back to what that was, the bell had already rung and getting some politicians and some high priced lawyers to come in as Goliath. And here we are just I think there was only like eight or nine of us at the time. And I'm shooting my mouth off. I'm sitting in front of these politicians saying these guys don't have anything to be afraid of. Yeah, they pay property taxes, but we pay sales taxes, too. We are inspected. We are safe. We just want to go out and have our place. I don't want to share my customers with them either. I also stood there in front of them and said, we're not going to go park on Broadway. That's a that's an iconic part of the city and it shouldn't be mucked up with food trucks. And so I was trying to give them the city everything that they needed to hear. And that negated everything that that the established restaurant community was trying to do to stop us because they were afraid.

38:54And, you know, Brandon, they damn well should have been afraid because the talented people that were taking this risk were hungry and and good. And they made something awesome happen. And even though we're not on Food Network all the time, and even though it's not new and exciting, there's still some really, really cool things happening in food trucks right now. And and and so again, the community wasn't very receptive or excited as far as the culinary side. But the the customers, people who eat food. I'm loving it wildly. So that's gosh. I mean, as you're talking and I asked that question because I just started imagining what you probably went through. I put myself in your shoes and I went, OK, I'm going to open a food truck in town and I'm going to do all of the things I'm going to go around to different areas. I've created this new, innovative thing that's happening in L.A. and New York, bringing it to Nashville.

39:58And here we go. And I just imagine the opposition that you could have come across. So then was it you that created the Nashville Food Truck Association? Not necessarily. You know, I I was kind of thrust in a leadership position very early. And again, that is got more to do with my willingness to talk in my in my seeming lack of fear to stand in front of a group of people and say words. And that I mean, you got to understand when you take every bit of money you have and something you've been waiting to do for a really, really long time in your life and you've been a little bit of a loan from your dad that he didn't really have either, but he believed in you and you've got that in a vehicle. It puts some boldness, it puts some fire, you know, in you.

41:01And so it became pretty easy for me to stand up for what I wanted to do for better or for worse. And thankfully, it was mostly for the better. But the fear was there. So it drove me. And so the the talented people that were also doing cool things said, OK, you be president of our association. And I went, OK, I'd rather it be in my hands, my future in my hands than anyone else's. So I said, OK. And the funny thing is, is is you think about an association, you know, like a legal entity, you think, you know, like there should be some paperwork involved or something. And in and it's hilarious to me that we sat in a room and said, OK.

42:02The Nashville Food Truck Association and and that guy's president and no one said, is there is there like, you know, do you have a form filled out? Is there any documentation? No one there. Was there a quorum somewhere that happened? Nothing. I mean, literally, it was only because the few food trucks, there was more of them that said, yes, we should have an association. And yes, that has the president than any others. It just that was, you know, so BJ, you're the president of the Food Truck Association. I suppose I am. Sure. Why not? There was this kind of cool media support happening. You know, the media loved this story. And because I was suddenly this president, you know, of the association, you know, when when when people were seeing, you know, the political, the Nashville scene and and things that I would get a phone call and says, hey, we want to get your comment on the latest traffic and parking commission meeting.

43:08And I'd be OK. And they'd show up outside my truck at 11 a.m. as I'm getting ready to serve and they go, can we get a comment on this? And I just start talking. And then they put my face on TV and my name would get in the paper. And and that just added more kind of momentum to what we were doing as food trucks and kind of put me in a in a profile position for it, which was looking back is kind of cool for for my popularity and for the popularity of what we were doing. But I made no delusions that it was me. But also, you know, set yourself up to be vulnerable also to take the hits. You know, with all that's what I say with all the restaurant tours and people in Nashville is notoriously a tight community of restaurant tours. I mean, notoriously, everybody that comes here is like, hey, you own a restaurant. Awesome. Let's give each other hugs like we're how can I help you?

44:08You need a cup of butter. I got you. Like everybody kind of loves each other. Right. And do you feel like the restaurant, the brick and mortar restaurant community is finally accepted? Yes, like food trucks into that brotherhood or that family try to deny that a guy like Carl Worley. Well, you know, if you want to list the, you know, the I know you're listing the best restaurants in Nashville. But if you want to talk about the list of restaurants that people come here or routinely visit, try and put not put biscuit love on that list. That's a food truck. You started that in a food truck, grilled cheesery. Same thing. But then we've got we've got existing restaurants like M.L. Rose. They have a food truck. You babies, they got a food truck. You know, I mean, it's it's an accepted business model now. And it's not it's not something anybody's embarrassed of.

45:10And they and they should not be. And so I'm the one standing here still as a food truck guy. And I don't want to stop being food truck. You know, people say Chef B.J. Loftback and I'm going, yeah, thanks. But I really am more proud of the fact that I've been an industry leader in the food truck world and what I've been able to continue to propel than anything. I'm no longer involved in the National Food Truck Association because like anything, organizations become watered down and pointless. And that is certainly one of them. That's a whole other story. But the reality of the situation is, is that there are some talented, impressive things happening in the back of trucks right now. It's not just brick and mortar locations. So some like with anything, there's also some, you know, well, let me ask you, it's awesome.

46:13What do you think the state of the union is right now? I mean, we've gone through a pandemic. We're in the middle of it today. Well, they announced, you know, President Trump has this thing. And we closed every restaurant for dine in for for set for a few months back in March and April and beginning of May. How is the food truck business model? I mean, we're not doing events. I mean, that was the big thing. Events, weddings, and there's food trucks at all of these things. And now those things aren't happening. Can you give us kind of an update as to? I can't. I can't. Let me tell you what happened. Let's back up to to the tornado and what it did to East Nashville, Mount Juliet and Cookeville. It's not widely known that at that time. Well, I'll tell you my personal experience. I got a call from World Central Kitchen, Chef Jose Andres, an incredible organization. I got a call from from a representative from there and they said, hey, you're a food truck guy and you wrangle a lot of things.

47:18You do a lot of things. Will you could you wrangle food trucks and and help us help people? And I went, yeah, this sounds incredible. So I took three weeks off and and myself and a bunch of other food trucks took an entire tractor trailer worth of food that was donated by Cisco and coordinated by World Central Kitchen. They sent a guy down and said, I'm here to assist you. And I was like, once again, I am not qualified for this. I'm going to fake it till I make it. Got some help from from Biscuit Love and Martin's Barbecue and a lot of other talented and wonderful good hearted people. Community comes together. Yeah. Oh, man, it was fantastic. We were in a unique position because we have mobile kitchens and we could serve fresh, hot food to people that needed it desperately. And we did. And it was awesome. And a lot of us said, don't worry. We'll we'll we'll do this. We'll we'll, you know, take our income and put it off, you know, late March is coming.

48:21April's coming. Those that's some of our most profitable time of the year. We'll get that money back then. Well, then then we got a pandemic. And that was scary. And I sat in a room with a bunch of other industry leaders and some talented and concerned food truck owners. And we said, what are we going to do? And well, the answer was this, you know, food trucking is all about go to where the people are. And so where are the people there at home? OK, we have mobile kitchens, you know, suck it up, man. Let's go find out how we can go pull into neighborhoods and give these people some good food that they're probably very sadly missing. And while was that exactly the case? Don't feel bad for food trucks, because when we had that idea and we started contacting HOA's and and and soon we started getting contacted directly from people that were like, will you come to our neighborhood, too?

49:24And and we started setting up through this wonderful program called Best Food Trucks that whole other conversation. My friend Matt Geller, the president of the National Food Truck Association, has this incredible program that that organized these things. We started setting up where food trucks could could could schedule and be organized. And we went out and we started pulling into neighborhoods that like clubhouses and pools and things like that, apartment complexes. And people were so thrilled to be quarantining. We had a contactless ordering system. So all people had to do was order online. We get the order on our phone. Technology was a wonderful thing. We we didn't have to touch them. They didn't have to touch us. We just handed out the food. Some people were just setting the food on tables outside their trucks with name on it. People would come and pick it up. We did quite well. We almost couldn't work enough. We couldn't get to enough people. And we've been doing that continually.

50:25Funny thing is, about a month ago, the Associated Press did a story on this and I was one of the people interviewed. Today's show caught a wind of what was happening as this here's this small business community pivoting and in in a unique position to continue to support ourselves and stay alive and help people get some some comfort by way of food in where they're living rather than going out. And the Today Show picked it up and they came here and filmed a segment with me in my new truck, Pinchy's Lobster Company. And that segment aired probably, I don't know, 20 minutes ago. I haven't even seen it yet, but it's pretty exciting because they went to several cities across the country, including Nashville. And just to show how cool this thing is.

51:25And it's a it's a cool thing what we all did. And it started happening all across the country. We were one of the epicenters of having that idea and making it happen. Food trucks are awesome. That's so awesome, man. I mean, I mean, that's what a great story. And I, you know, I've heard that and I've seen that the food trucks in different neighborhoods, but just learning how that came about and what that looked like. And we're kind of at that point here in the interview where we got to start wrapping up. But I just want to say we got to do this again. We have absolutely scratched the surface, I feel like, of so many things. And thank you. I just want to say thank you to you for coming on the show. But thank you for your your leadership through all of that. And, you know, I think it's people like yourself who are innovative, that are willing to challenge the status quo, who have ideas and that stick up for their ideas.

52:26And we'll go stand in front of legislators and we'll take the burden of leadership on to further something they absolutely believe in. I think more people need to be exactly like that. And I just want to say thank you for your 10 years of hustling and making that happen. I want to know all about Pinchy's Lobster Company. Let's give what you're doing now at the factory in Franklin. Let's talk about that for a couple of minutes. Let's do a full plug. Real quick, real quick. I would be remiss if I let you say all those nice things about me. And I just want to say that I am but one of a very, very talented group of people and other leaders that accomplished that. I just happen to get my name in the paper and get my face on TV a little more than others. And while I'm proud of what I've done and I'm proud that I'm still here and I'm proud that I'm still an industry leader, I love these people. I love this industry. I'm not an island and I'm in a band and I'm thrilled that I'm in that band and I'm thrilled that I'm somebody that gets to talk a little bit more.

53:35So thank you for that. But yeah, let's talk about Pinchy's. I love that. I'm in a band. I'm in a band. That's a good way to look at it. I love that. Pinchy was born because what I was doing with Funk Soul Brother was me cooking and then finding ways to stop and then put it in other people's hands and have that be assembled and served. When quarantine hit, I couldn't continue to employ people and I certainly couldn't do all of that anymore. So Funk Soul Brother, which is my love. I love Korean food. I love Japanese food. I love the Korean culture. I'm thrilled that I've been embraced and supported by the Korean community because I am not Korean. I am very, very not and I'm proud to be able to have friends that support me in that way.

54:39But Funk Soul Brother, because I'm so proud of it, it needed to stop and it needed to be in stasis. And I needed something else. I'll tell you the story of why lobster. If we have another conversation, because it's kind of funny and it'll take a little bit of canvas for me to be honest on how it happened. Somebody pissed me off and gave me a really good idea. Somebody here in town? We'll leave it there for a second. I'm going to leave that dangling, drooling topic right there. Brandon, I'm not afraid to tell it like it is and it'll require a little bit of that. But I had this idea of what would a lobster roll look like if a white guy from Detroit did it who's never been to New England? What would lobster stew taste like if he's never tasted it before but kind of used what he thinks it should taste like and knowing what lobster is and what would lobster bisque be?

55:42And I already knew how to make homemade potato chips. I'm not going to buy my potato chips. That's not who I am. I make things that I could easily buy because I'm stupid. And I like to eat well. And so basically Pinchy's was born out of the idea during quarantine of I can do that. People like lobster and I probably can do it by myself. Maybe I could sit at the factory here and make lobster rolls and send them out through Uber Eats. Maybe I could go to my friends at Grilled Cheesery in that truck that they've had sitting outside their commissary for the last three years. Maybe they'll let me buy it and I'll turn that into Pinchy's and hold on to Funk Soul Brother. All of those things for some reason just kind of fell into place. And even some of the things we're making here now, the Nashville lobster, the Nashville hot lobster roll, for example.

56:45If you told me that I would be putting Nashville hot chicken seasonings in butter and poaching lobster in it and putting on a lobster roll, that doesn't make any sense. That doesn't work. It would take over the lobster. It would mute the lobster flavor. It would fail. It's amazing. It's unreal. And I'm proud to say that it's the signature dish of Pinchy's Lobster Company. And the other cool things we're doing are very exciting to me how they've fallen into place. I don't know how to tell you all that story in the next 30 seconds or so. Well, we are going to put a pin in it for now. I like it. And we are going to do this again. And if you're listening to this, stay tuned. Stay tuned. To be continued. Can you put that right there? To be continued. I can, actually. I love it.

57:45It's one of the things I know how to do. Click to subscribe. Yes. To be continued. Hear the Pinchy story at a future date. And I think that I like your choice of clothing today. I think that if you're not watching, you can see that we have both chose to wear blue flannels today. Right. Are you rocking the pearl snaps, Brandon? I am not. No. One day. One day I will get there. You see my to be continued now. That's right. Next time we're on, we're both wearing pearl snaps. What's that? Next time we're on, we're both wearing pearl snaps. Yes. And I will see you today because I am going to come support you and have lunch over there today. I've got a couple meetings that end at like 11.45 noon, but then I'm going to head that way. I love this. You'll get to meet me today. We're going to film your one star too. One thing I do, you may be aware of this. For all of my guests, I like to give them the final word.

58:48The last thing that we do in the interview is you get to talk and say whatever you want to whoever is listening. Unlimited amount of time. Well, we'll cut you off at like five minutes. But whatever you want to say, the mic, the floor is yours. I am going to say this, dear Nashville food aficionado, please support your local food trucks. There are some incredible, incredible entrepreneurs making fantastic food in the back of trucks. If you if you give them a chance, read about them, understand what's going on. Not everything's happened. I love restaurants. You love restaurants. It's a great time of year for the next six weeks. Get out in the fall. Enjoy some food from a truck. They they need your help. They need your support. Go to best food trucks dot com or go to your phone device of choice and download the best food trucks app and click on trucks and see what they're doing.

59:58Check out their menus. It's a really, really cool thing. I love my food truck family. I want you guys to love your food truck family, too. And by the way, if by any chance you see me out there, come buy some food because I need you to. And I really enjoy feeding people. And and I'm looking forward to feeding you in a little while. Brandon and we will we'll see you around. Yes, sir. Well, thank you so much for spending time today on Nashville Restaurant Ready, your inaugural interview. And this I can't wait to get this out there. Thank you. BJ Luffback. There it is. The interview with BJ Luffback want to say thank you to him for doing this. And thank you for listening. We will definitely have a round two of that interview as we have so much more under the surface that we are going to uncover there. We even teased maybe even doing just a YouTube, like a 10 minute YouTube interview, just to follow up on some things that that I feel like I need to know.

01:01:04So this week, big week this week, we have got Taber Lucky, who is the new owner of all the corner pubs, not the original corner pubs, just the corner pubs, as well as Askeena Cantina. He comes on and talks about his story over the last year and what that's been like and kind of who he is. His director of operations, Corey, jumps on the podcast as well. And then we've got Charlie Nelson coming up in the next week. And then we've got a guy named Justin Biltanen, who is going to be coming on the show. And he is the bass player for Three Doors Down. And he has a new solo project that he's doing. It's a country thing. But, you know, as I'm always trying to find the intersection here, he's a Nashville guy. And I want to know what his kind of thoughts are, what his quarantine's been like, why he's pivoted his type of music and what his favorite restaurants are. And just to kind of get into a different perspective.

01:02:05So I'm really excited about bringing that interview to you as well as we continue to branch out as to all things restaurant and just kind of keeping it fun. So thank you guys for listening. Again, subscribe where you can. And I hope that you are being safe and I love you guys. Bye.