Ben Stix

00:00You know, what chefs want, some people still call it creation gardens, but what chefs want has been, was our first advertiser on the show. Monty Crawford saw what we're doing, he goes, I wanna be part of it, dude, I love it. And I just, I love that. They're so perfect, cause 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 any time. 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.

01:01Give them a call, 800-600-8510, or visit them at whatchefswant.com. (*upbeat rock music*) Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. (*upbeat rock music*) Hello, Music City. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host. And I have joined today with somebody new to the show. We have a major announcement to make today. I'm gonna go ahead and welcome in Caroline Galzin. Hey, Brandon. How you doing? I'm great, how are you? We have a new co-host on the show, and I'm gonna get into our conversation. I wanna talk about this for a second.

02:03I used to do a show called Music City Roundup, and I did it with Delia Jo Ramsey, and it was wonderful. I loved having the banter back and forth, and it was really fun. And then Delia had the thing with the Eater, and then we brought in Kelly Sutton, and Kelly Sutton graced us with her presence for a little while. She was amazing with the Roundup. I had so much fun with those. I just needed something more for the show, so I was working with Jenny Chikawa, and I was like, hey, do you wanna come on the show? And she was like, sure. And so we did this, and she's had just a lot of stuff. When she did a show, she talked about it. She needed a break, and I've just been missing that. And I haven't been searching for that. It's not something that's been on my, I need to find somebody. And part of my whole recovery thing is I pray, and I meditate, and I just said, I'm not gonna push it. I can't control this. When the right person comes around, I'm gonna talk to him. And I know Caroline is one of the busiest people in the world, but I kind of, it was a very vulnerable thing for me to even call you and be like, hey, can we have coffee? I'd like to talk to you about something. And then asking was very scary.

03:04And the fact that you accepted was a major moment. It was very, very special for me. Wow. Wow, thanks, Brandon. That is so nice. I'm very flattered. Well, you know what? This is a labor of love, what I do here. And I spend, I say a lot of time, it's a lot of energy, physically and emotionally, to put together a full episode. And there's a lot of creativity in a lot of these things. And in the past, my co-host just kind of showed up. And when we were talking, you were like, I have so many ideas. And I have this creative side, and you're like, is that okay? And I was like, it's not only okay. I could have cried, because I've wanted to share some of this creativity and I need somebody to help me get in here and be part of this thing. And you were like, yeah, dude, I'm in. Well, thanks, I have a lot of opinions. And I appreciate that you appreciate that. Thank you so much. I do, I think you're an amazing person.

04:05And every time we've talked, I've just been like, I really, she is so sharp. And I just, I don't know, something about it. I just really enjoyed. Wow, Brandon, that is so nice. I'm so appreciative. And I am really excited to be your co-host officially and to come on board. I've been a fan and supporter of Nashville Restaurant Radio since you first started when we first met back in 2020. I think we first met and commiserated over bad Yelp reviews, if that sounds right, which I love to make fun of a bad Yelp review. All day. All day. You and Tony both read one for me. Oh, we did, yes. It's hard to remember that far back three years ago. We're trying to forget about it. We're trying to forget. I've forgotten a lot of it, I think. But yeah, I'm so excited to be here. I think that you and I are people who just love this industry and we love to talk biz. And we'll get together over a cup of coffee and just start tangenting on all sorts of different restaurant related topics.

05:10I'm so excited to be here. You know, one of the greatest things, I think, when you're talking to somebody or you have coffee, every time that you meet with somebody, you have to end the conversation with, seriously, I have to leave. I have a thing in four minutes. I feel like that's every time we talk, it's like, dude, it's not like you're trying to get out of the, oh, I got 30 minutes, 15 minutes, I'm done. We just talked for a long time, which is great. And I was like, let's do this on air. And we're gonna talk for a long time here. Yeah. That is the key. So I am honored to have you here and it's, I haven't told her any of that stuff. Wow, that's truly, that's so nice, Brent. And I am really honored to be here. Like I said, I'm so flattered that you thought of me and that I know that this is your baby, your pet project. So it really means a lot to me to be here. And thanks, Nashville. I'm just excited to talk biz and talk Nashville and get to know some new people and get to chat with some old friends and that's it.

06:13So that is our big announcement today is that Caroline Galzin, who is the owner of Nicky's Coal Fired, I didn't announce that if you don't know who Caroline Galzin is, she owns Nicky's Coal Fired in the nations. I'll try not to talk about Nicky's too much, but let's be real. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen and I love that. I love anything that one of my things is that you just gotta be real. Like we gotta be real, we gotta be, unapologetic sometimes. I love real talk. I feel like there's so much BS in this industry and listen, I'm as guilty of it as anybody. It's a PR driven business. So we've all got to BS a little bit, but I think that the more real conversations we can have about the industry, about the struggles of being a business owner, about what it's really like, the better off we all are. And that's what I hope to bring to the table. What do you think people can expect? We've had some different ideas. I mean, coming up in the next couple months, you'd mentioned we talked about hot topics. Yeah, I think that there's a lot of interesting topics on the table that are interesting topics for the Nashville community, but really for the restaurant industry as a whole.

07:24And I think that there are some topics that maybe you and I have strong opinions about. And maybe there's some topics that we don't quite know where we're gonna land on those thoughts. But yeah, whether it's tipping or restaurant unions or the sustainability of what's happening to the Nashville landscape and what does that look like for the future of independent restaurants, those are all topics that I'm very interested in and I'm really excited to explore and learn more about with you and with other people here in town. 100%, you're in this thing and you're like, I wanna do really some real journalistic pieces where we really get in, which I love. So this is the way the conversation goes. She's like, I would love to do these. And I'm like, I wanna play more games. I wanna play more newlywed games and I wanna do funny, schticky kind of things with interesting people. Well, I'm also- You see where we're both coming from here. I think I'm also right now in this moment in time, very mired in the NPR Politics podcast and FiveThirtyEight podcast of it all.

08:31So maybe that's where my head is at right now. I'm like, let's dive deep on some hard hitting issues. But I don't know. I think that I love to play a game. I love a bad Yelp review, like we said. There's gonna be, I think the overall here is that it's not gonna be the standard Brandon interviewing somebody show. I think you're gonna bring a lot of color and a lot of excitement and a lot of a different perspective as I'm a, you know. And you and I have a lot of different opinions on things, which I think is really cool, you know. You've certainly given me things to think about. I hope the same is true for conversations that I've had with you. And I think that will keep it interesting. And you know, but I think that you and I are also both very open-minded people who are open to having our minds changed about things. 100%. And so that's an interesting segue into today's show. So we talk with Ben Sticks. Ben is the owner of the Beehive Deli. And then they also do plant-based products.

09:36And they ship them all over the country. They have a huge facility in Donaldson there. Ben, you know him. I do know Ben. Ben and I got to know each other in 2019, but really got to know each other a lot better over the pandemic. The Beehive makes wonderful products that we use on our pizzas at Nicky's. And Ben was just a really great supporter of Nicky's throughout the pandemic. When we were trying this thing and that thing, he was always open to taking products at the deli and let's see if it sells, and how can we support each other and collaborate, so. I've met Ben one time before this. You knew him really well. So I love that for like your first interview. Let's jump in. And I'm really excited for our listeners to kind of watch the maturation of your and I's kind of interview ability together because we're gonna learn our dance. Yeah. And I'm excited. This is the first one. Okay, so I have to ask, we were talking about being open-minded. Do you think Ben changes your mind about anything?

10:38I've had like five conversations with people about our conversation already. Really? Oh yeah, 100%. Love that. I was really impressed with him. Like I was smitten with him. My old coach, Jen, she says, you fall in love with everybody who walks in the door. And I'm like, look, I told you, I said, you sit in this room, you've got headphones on, you're locked into a conversation. It's, I can get deep in a conversation and just really feel the moment. And I love that. And this was one of those interviews that like we didn't even, I don't wanna announce what he does until like 55 minutes into the, we just hit the ground running. He walked in and we just got right to it. We're like, let's go deep right away. I was, I didn't, I don't know if he's a drinker, but I asked you after I go, is he sober because he's so vulnerable. He's so available to talk about his emotions and things that are going on. I don't see that except for in these special rooms I go to on individual nights. And I said, I don't know, so. I don't know, and it doesn't matter. I just, that's the kind of interview this was.

11:40Totally. I loved it. It was one of my favorite that we've done in a really long time. Sorry to anybody I've done an interview with the last. There's been a great ones, but no, this was a lot of fun. And I'm excited to share it. Love it. I think it was a great conversation. I could have talked to him and you for two more hours and I hope, right? But it's not two hours. I think it's only an hour. Hour plus, but stay tuned because we're going to bring him back real soon. I can tell you we're going to get some feedback from this one. And I told my wife the day I said, I want to do January. I want to do a meatless January. I don't think I could go vegan, but I think I could go meatless. I would like, and not because- Well, Brandon, earlier in the day, you told me that you struggled to not eat meat one day a week. So no shade, but if you do a meatless January, I will be very impressed. I think I'm going to do it. I'd love for you to do it. I like to try hard things. I'm down. Do it. What is it, salads and cheese pizzas? I'm in. But I don't think I could go vegan. Maybe that's the one day of the week I'll do vegan.

12:43Okay. Not for anything, but I love the idea of reducing carbon footprint. And then the other side of just trying something hard, like knowing, I told my wife last night because my three-year sobriety date is like today. Congrats. Thank you. That's a big deal. Congrats. I came home last night and I got my chip and I gave it to her. One of the things I do is I give her the chips kind of as a commitment to my like, hey, look, I told you I was going to do this and I'm going to do it. And I give her the chips just because it's a thing that I like to do. And I don't, first time I've ever told anybody that. Yeah, that's so nice. It's really meaningful. But I gave it to her last night and it was this moment where I was like, I can't fucking believe it. Like initially starting off the sobriety thing, I was trying to save a marriage. I was trying to get people on my side that wanted them to know I was serious. I'm going to go to meetings, you know, kind of a thing. And I think what started off as something I was doing for somebody else quickly morphed into, holy shit, this is amazing for me.

13:48And the fact that I've hit three years is just like, I never, I guess initially doing something for somebody else you didn't think three years was never going to be something you would do. Like I'd do this for six months and then nobody's going to care anymore and I'll move away from it. But quickly it became a, this is a life-changing thing for me in three years. I don't know, just kind of all these emotions kind of hit me like, wow, sticking to something for that long and meaning it and doing it, like just, I don't know, wasn't in my DNA before. I was kind of a piece of shit and it's nice to, but I can say that looking back on me, how much I've learned over the last three years, how much of a metamorphosis you can have, one person can have when you stop numbing every bad feeling you have, when you have to start facing shit and dealing with it and going, okay, that's, I think the biggest thing is self-talk, like how you change your self-talk. My self-talk was so bad. I mean, it was so bad. And now it's not great. I'm still working on it. Holy shit, but.

14:49It's a work in progress. It was a big moment last night. One day at a time, right? Yeah. That's awesome. Congratulations, Brandon. I met you at the very beginning of this journey is the first time that you and I connected and what a long way you've come. That's really, really exciting. Well, thank you very much. All right, we've lost all of our listeners now. I'm like, dude, we've heard enough about you being sober. And you know, I was thinking about that. I was mowing my yard the other day and I was like, I've got to stop mentioning that. Like it's really obnoxious. Why? And then I said that, I go, that's my self-talk. I'm like, nobody gives a shit about it. But you're just being real. I don't want to be that guy like, hi, my name's Bruno. By the way, I'm sober. Like, I don't want to be that guy, but it comes out in these conversations a lot. And I'm like, oh, fuck it. I'm going to be just me and that's relevant in these time moments. So I'm sorry if that bothers you out there, but that's just me. It's just me. That's what I do. It's just you. You do you, Brandon. Yeah. And you drink, right? I do. Okay, so there you go. So we got the yin and yang. Yin and yang. Yes, yes, I do.

15:50I do. Not as much as I did in my 20s or in 2020. Not in my 20s. No, I mean, yes, I do drink. My alcohol consumption has certainly changed a lot as I get older. And I think that, you know, this rush, this industry, maybe this is a topic for a different day, but there's a lot of pitfalls. And I think it's very easy to get into bad habits. It's a lot of stress, a lot of pressure. And, you know, I've really had to make some very conscious choices about, you know, how I want my health to be, my body to be, you know, I turn 40 in two weeks. So that's kind of a big deal for me. And- That's amazing. Congratulations. Well, thanks. Well, I guess I made it 40 years. That's something. But, you know, that's a big deal to me turning 40. And I've had to think a lot over the last year about, okay, I did not take care of myself at all during the pandemic. And I don't beat myself up for it. I mean, who did? We were all just getting by, but, you know, this last year I've spent really focused on my health and on wellness and on, you know, what am I putting into my body?

16:58Not just alcohol, but, you know, my food choices, all of that. So- Well, that's a good segue into this episode- Yeah, yeah, definitely. He's the owner of the Beehive. I think you're going to absolutely love this one. Typically our intros are not going to be this long, but I- No, we got into it. Well, that's what we do, right? That's what we do. We just start talking. So here's what I'm gonna tell you. Going forward with the show, we're gonna do these intros, probably gonna be longer than normal, but then we're gonna, at the end of the show, we're gonna kind of do a recap. So we'll be doing these type conversations at the end of the show. So now I invite you to enjoy this interview with Ben Stix, but hang out after the show if you want to hear Caroline and I banter more about whatever the hell we're talking about. Who knows what kind of tangent we'll get on. All right, let's jump in. ["The Last Name"] Super excited today to welcome in Ben Stix. I am here. That is my real last name for the record. I've got- It is your real last name? Yeah, I'm a drummer, and I've had to tell people, especially when I tell other drummers, it's like, oh, hey, that's my real last name, just for the record.

18:01I'm a little breezy, or like Dallas rains on weather. These people, these- Dallas rains. I think he's a guy in LA, but there's all these names, like weathermen, that's like, that's a very appropriate name for a weatherman. Yeah, that's weird. Well, it's also a thing, too, like drummers kind of take this, you know, the Stix thing, there's a bunch, there's like Stix Finney in town as like Marcus' badass drummer, but yeah, it's his nickname, and I'm like, no, this is my real name, I'm sorry. I'm not hot shit. I'm just just my real name. So Ben is the owner of the Beehive, and Caroline, you work with Ben. Yes, we do. We've carried Ben's products for a long time. We did a great pop-up with you in, I think, 2019, I believe. Yeah, that was fun. It was really fun. I think it's the best pop-up we've ever hosted at Nicky's. That's awesome. I remember you saying something, how you did like more to go that night than you had ever done or something. It was wild, yeah, it was great, and you know, I really feel like we got to know each other a lot better during the pandemic. Yeah, for sure. We found a lot of ways to collaborate, and you were so supportive of us, and I've told you so many times before that you remind me so much of my brother-in-law, Nick, who my restaurant is named after.

19:08I actually called, I saw Tony at the event the other day, and I was like, Nicky, and I was like, oh shit, that's not your name. It happens all the time. People call me Nicky. People will email me, and they'll be like, hey, Nicky. I'm just gonna call both of you guys Nicky. You don't know me. Great. That's what people would always, some people is Mr. or Brandon Styll. You're like, this is a sales call. Thanks. Sure. So thanks. So Ben, you play drums. I do play drums. Are you in a band? Have you been in a band? Anything you've heard? No, I'm not in a band currently. I kind of play randomly. I just played a showcase last week. I'm going to Napa next week for a couple showcases. Nice. But I kind of just pick and choose what I want to do if somebody asks me to do it. I've had a lot of drummers in here. Oh, interesting. I was a drummer for one year. That's cool. In middle school. Drums are tight. I like drums. I was the first female drummer at my school. Oh, no shit. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of that. You know, we had a guy, Sandy Gennaro.

20:08Do you know who that is? He wrote a book called Beat the Odds, and he was the drummer for Cyndi Lauper. Oh, nice. The drummer on Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. That sounds fun. Who's also a drummer. He was Joan Jett's drummer. Oh, back in the day. Yeah, that's crazy. That sounds awesome. This is definitely 80s. So he's seen some shit. And then he filled it. He was the drummer for the Monkeys for like multiple years. And he wrote a book, and he's a regular at one of my restaurants. And he was like, I'd love to be on your show. And I'm like, fuck, let's do it. Yeah, that's crazy. Tell me some stories, man. Oh, he's probably got some crazy stories. You know, he's very, he's very, you know, I'm not gonna, he's very motivational, and he's a really good guy. Like, he's one of the nice, he goes, I understood my role as the drummer. Yeah, you have to. I wasn't, I didn't need to be. I'm fine being in the back. I'm fine. He was, most people don't realize the drummer is the leader of the band. Like, we keep the beat for, like, I have to be the responsible one. Are you a drummer too? I am not.

21:09Okay. But I'm a, I just, I have Dave Grohl's book sitting over there too. Oh, yeah. I'm a huge Dave Grohl fan. And I just had, oh, come on, what is the guy's, Cook, Andrew Cook. Okay. Do you know Andrew Cook? Andrew, the, like, from the Fox? Yes. Yeah, yeah, he rules. He's also the drummer for Dan and Shay. Yeah, I know, that whole, that whole, us and the Fox have, like, a similar story as far as, like, musicians gone into, like, the restaurant food industry. I think that in Music City, there's such a, I think there's such a parallel between writing music and the creativity that it takes to create music, kind of like a chef creating a dish, and then the vulnerability of creating something and then putting it out there for people to hear, and chefs creating a dish, and then putting it out there on a menu and, like, accepting this, it's a whole thing. Yeah, that's the artistic side of it, the creative side of it, but then there's the whole thing of the logistical side of, like, you learn to, like, live in a van and eat shit, but, like, have the best time of your life, but make it work. You're able to, like, have the logistical side of, like, trying to push for this art thing that you want to make it happen, even though you're eating shit and, like, defying the odds, right?

22:20I remember one of my good friends, Salim, he's now Billy Eilish's monitor engineer, like, during the pandemic, I remember talking to him, he's like, fuck this, he's like, man, I'm going to school, and he, like, went and he got his coding degree right afterwards, and he did that, and then, like, went back on tour with Billy, and he's just been a band dude, and I remember him saying, like, yo, like, I lived in a van and ate shit and made zero money, and I had the time of my life, it's like, I ain't afraid of shit, you know? Like, I, like, this everything can kind of fall to shit, but, like, I know that I can sleep on someone's couch and, like, make my way up and have fun and love my life, so it's like, whatever, let's go, and I really loved that, and there's, like, a resilience with the musicians, like, there, that have actually toured. There's a book I just, we just did, I think Brandon's book club is called The Comfort Crisis, by a guy named Michael Easter, and the whole book is about, this is your, I'm holding my hand, this is where you live, and this is your potential if you're willing to get uncomfortable.

23:25If you can be uncomfortable and learn to live uncomfortably. Yeah, that's the whole thing. And I think you just nailed it, like, if I can live in a van and eat shit, and I can do that, everything else in this world is amazing to you. Especially if you can do that and love it. Yeah, if you can do that and love it. That's some of the best times I've ever had, and waking up in the fucking Walmart parking lot, like, eating nothing, you know, and then just going off and playing shows. Like, I think about when I was a server in Chicago, living in a, the tiniest studio apartment, where I literally had to walk through my closet to get to my bathroom, and thinking, man, I can't wait until I own my own restaurant one day, and here I am, in that world, and thinking, man, those were some really good times. Exactly, you have everything that you wanted, and then it's like, yeah, now we're just like. Well, and sometimes we almost create a monster, of like, you know, here's all the things that I want, and now that I have them, it's like, oh, fuck. That's a- Yeah, no, 100%, like, you nailed it. That's a thing that I keep saying to myself, because it's like, the business has been, like, really hard for me the last year, just life in general, but like, it's ironic that the thing I've set to, like, built to, like, set me free has, like, currently enslaved me.

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28:44Like I was talking to my accountant and just like everything's down. I bought my building and I'm going through a big construction thing. And it's just, there's a lot of, there's a lot of competitors now. Like plant-based is so cool that there's a lot of big money coming in and flooding the market with like, they've got a shitload of money. So it's like, I'm like the self-funded kind of guy. And then you have like Field Roast or Morningstar Beyond or Impossible and they come in, they can buy a shelf. They have like hundreds of thousand dollars for promotional. They can afford to like innovate and not make any money where it's like, I can't send anything and not get paid for it and like really, it like hurts. And so now also like, I've grown to a point where it's like, we're a smaller business still but we're playing in a much bigger pond with like, with Beyond and Impossible and all these players. And so that's just a really expensive game to where it's like pieces of equipment that I need to be able to automate things or just, it's not just like a couple thousand dollars for a freezer or something.

29:47We're talking about like a minimum of 20, 30 for like one piece of equipment. And I just don't have- Having to go from small steps to taking those big steps. Yeah, and then every step I've taken I've been funding it myself and taking out loans. So like, I'm just leveraged to the gills. And so there's that thing. There's like a whole personal thing that's been going on. I feel like just this year I've kind of been gutted and like my, just been like a, yeah, my entire being has been gutted this year and I've had to like put it back together and trying to figure it out. And I feel like a slave to it. And it's ironic because all these things are kind of pushing me in that direction. I still love it. I'm stoked about what we're doing. I'm really proud of what we're doing, but it's rough. Yeah, like if I just had the deli, it'd be so easy. The deli is so easy. And I was just talking to another chef the other day and I go, it's for me, because I'm not a business owner in a restaurant sense, but it's lonely.

30:50Oh man, that's been killing me. It's lonely because you're, as a visionary, as somebody who's constantly looking six months a year, 10 years, 20 years down the road, like what do I need to do? And you have people that you're providing for. Like I'm trying to maintain this business so that I can provide for all of these people who've entrusted that into me. And the things I'm looking at, the things I'm doing, I'm out there trying to figure it out. And it's like, I don't, who do I talk to about this? Like I'm going through all this stuff and it's, I just feel like it's lonely. Like it's hard. I say to Tony all the time, I always feel like I'm on an island by myself. And even though Tony and I are business partners, we're both kind of so focused on different aspects of the business. But at least you have him. And that is true. I have always been grateful to have him as a partner, but I feel like, especially over the last year, I have quite a few friends who are in business independently and it's something I've probably taken for granted.

31:51Yeah, I think that's kind of like one of the things is cause I like got out of this relationship and then I have this business and then all my relationships with like my friends, but like they're also my employees or it's like everything's just transactional. And for the business, I just have to be the guy that like solves everyone's problems and pays everyone and figures this out and has to be calm. And I have to approach everything with like this like a logical approach to make sure I say the right thing and get them to be motivated and stoked even after having to like tell them that they just fucked something up or something. And it's just like at the end of the day. And then I just like go home and I'm like, don't even have time for me. I don't have a lot of time to give or energy to give to anyone else. But then I'm just like, okay, like call my sister, call my moms. I can't do that. It's like, I love my dog so much. I fucking love that dog so much. And then, so one thing I am grateful for though is I've joined EO, which is like an entrepreneur organization. And that has been really great to be able to talk to people that are going through the same thing that I'm going through.

32:55Because a lot of people, you don't know about EO? It's an entrepreneur organization. It's a global network. And then there's chapters all over the country. And so Nashville is actually the largest chapter in the country behind New York. New York should be it, but there's like separated into two chapters. Do you know Jolene Smithing? No. Okay, she's a big into EO. I don't know if there's different groups. She's one of the owners of our restaurants. Oh, okay. And the other owner, Steven, we do Vistage. Oh, nice. Either side. It's a more deal. Yeah, so it's been cool. And like, you know, I'm not a club guy. And a lot of my friends, I'm like kind of punk musician, like, fuck that. But like the forum that I have, where you basically get put into like forums of like up to eight people. And you just like dive deep into like talking about this. You help each other and you like, you know, from relationships to like your children, to like, I need to fire this person or like, what do I do with the economy or everything? Yeah. And so that's been like really cool because they understand what I'm going through.

33:56And they have speakers that come month. It's a monthly meeting, right? It's yeah, we meet monthly. I'm actually like leaving tomorrow for like a retreat in Boston. So we do like a long retreat and I'm in the retreat planner. So that's been kind of stressing me out. That's awesome. But it's like, it is really cool. I've got to learn more about this. It's really cool. Yeah, I know. It's a godsend for the owners of our restaurant. I had to, I say it's lonely. I had an employee the other day. And I'm in the restaurant. I try not to manage too many people, but I had to manage somebody. And I'm like, hey, like, I need you to do this. And she's like, you don't pay me enough to do that. And it was this moment for me that I didn't like snap because I was like, what? And then she went on this like eight minute diatribe about and kept using the words, they, them, you guys, this place and all this stuff. It absolutely defeated me. It's really hard. People, you know, the classic thing, my contractor owns his business. He's like, what are you talking about?

34:57It's like, we make all the money. We like vacation all the time. What do you, what are you saying? Like we're rich. And it's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Like I struggle every single week to like pay everyone. And you don't even understand. I keep that from you guys. I've been saying for years to my other restaurant owner friends, you know, I think that for whatever reason, so many employees have the perception that every restaurant owner is Danny Meyer and that we're all just endlessly resourced and traveling and living in nice places and driving nice cars. I'm like, if you guys knew what I really made and what my, what things really are like for people who own restaurants behind the scene, it's not that. And I think that a lot of times there's a lack of sympathy for business owners for that reason. I think that we also have an industry where PR is everything and you have to give this image of success. And there are, the thing is, is that there are definitely industries and businesses that take advantage of their employees and like don't pay them enough.

35:57And like, you know, that's like big business and like people should be pissed about that, like for sure. But it's, you know, sometimes they don't see that's like the small business owners are just like, I feel like I've been treading water for the last year, like straight up and it doesn't stop. And my analogy is like, man, every time you get like a win, like you're playing a video game, you get like, you unlock this door. You're like, you get to go to this door to the next level. So I walked through the door. Oh no, I just get punched in the face. Like straight up, I walked through the door and I just getting socked and I'm like, fuck. And it's like, it's okay, cool. Like, here we go, get back up and go. You know? I used to learn this level. It's wild. There's like no, there's like seemingly no wins when like everyone's like, man, you're killing it. I'm like, thanks. You're like, yeah, everything's great all the time. And it is cool. Like, you know, I'm doing some cool shit and I'm stoked about it. And I kind of like the craziness, but it's yeah, it's from the other side of it. It's just like, it's relentless. Well, it's interesting. Cause I just went to this event two weeks ago, the day of the Tennessee Vols big victory over Alabama, the beehive presented a huge plant-based event.

37:07What was it? We call it a gathering of the plant. A gathering of Nashville's plant-based community. It's a barbecue. That's what it's called, the bar-bee-cute. Those things are fun. I had a blast by the way. I learned a lot. It was really cool. Tried some amazing food. Just, it was a neat vibe there. I loved it. But one thing that I could tell, I don't think people recognize is how stressful that is. Oh man. I met you that day. I met you that day for the first time. And I was there kind of as an invited, I was there early. And there wasn't anybody there yet. And I could see you were like, man, I hope that there's a massive turnout. And you didn't say, here's the difference. You didn't say, I hope there's a massive turnout because I need to make a lot of money. You said, I really hope that a lot of people show up because I really want to show all these people who have come to this event, like the vendors who are there. Yeah, I want it to be a good vibe. I want everybody to do well today.

38:08And like even most mostly as like, I want the out of town vendors to like make some money. And I want people to see that and be like, damn, the vegan community. Like there's a lot of people here. This food is good. This is a fucking party. Like that's what I want. And I got that vibe there. Yeah, thank you. That's awesome. I got that for sure. Yeah, and I'm always like worried if people aren't gonna show up, but we started with events like 11 years ago. That's how we started. Like my Seitan company, the Seitan division call it that, came from events after doing it for a year and a half. The deli came from events and from other things, like all of these things we've just stumbled into. So it's always been like a community outreach be like, we started at Wild Cow with like on Tuesdays, they were closed, $10 vegan buffet, all you can eat, different nonprofit, gave a percentage to Wild Cow. And then we just built it like that and got our chops up and just brought people in. And the reason why I like that community event is because talking doesn't really like make people listen.

39:11It doesn't really change their minds. If you can, I watched people walk into that place in Wild Cow like 11 years ago, and they'd be like, I don't know about this vegan shit. I'm, this is vegan. And they'd be like, it smells good, it looks good. I was like, dude, just go put a little bit of each thing on your plate, like 10 things. And so they would do that. They would take a plate and they put like 10 different things on there just a little bit. And they're like, all right, they eat it. And then they would be like, I like this one and this one and this one. So they go back and they like pile their plate full of that. And then they might even go back for a third one. And then on the way out, like so many times people would be like, man, this is crazy. Like I just ate so much and I'm full and it tasted good. And I also like, if I would have eaten that much meat, I would have to go take a nap right now, but I feel good. And that alone made them think, whoa, this is maybe not just rabbit food. Maybe I can actually like, maybe vegan isn't bullshit. Maybe I can try this, it's possible. And then that leaves them open-minded to start trying stuff. So being able to have those community events and build it to like a bigger Nashville thing where, you know, Nicky's, you're not fully vegan, but like you had that event that we threw and it was like, oh, whoa.

40:20Yeah, and that totally inspired us to change our menu. We never had regular plant-based offerings before. And when we saw what an incredible turnout you had, what an incredible following that you had. And how grateful like everyone is and stoked about it. People were so excited. They were so kind, everybody was so kind at that event. So now we always have multiple plant-based items on our menu and it's been great for us. People know you for it. Like, I mean, I know like hardcore vegans, they're just like, yeah, you know, pizza is where I go to Nicky's type of thing. Love that, thank you. And I think that's like, that's kind of like what we try to do. And I think that's the one cool thing about food is that like, you could just give someone a sandwich and it's like, ah, thanks. And it opens up, you're like, just like, fuck everything else. It's like, here's some good food. And if you just start with that, it's just a way to like kind of just take everyone off guard and just be able to eat food. And then we can talk about whatever we want. You know what I'm saying? But it's like a real communicative thing where you can kind of just like, it's like kind of an activism thing for me. But it's like really just like, here's some foods. Nourishment. It's really good, yeah.

41:21Something I think that's really special about what you do that, you know, I think it's overlooked in a lot of plant-based food. And I'd love to hear your take on this is that you make really, really delicious food. It has to be. And I think that unfortunately for such a long time, no, you really do. I think for such a long time, a lot of people who don't eat plant-based not only have the perception that plant-based food isn't delicious, but have had bad experiences with plant-based food. I mean, this EO group, I was like really nervous to take them food eventually. Cause they're just like, literally one of the guys had some food in his mouth. He like, was about to eat. He's like, wait, this is vegan. And he almost put it down. And I was like, shut the fuck up. Like eat this thing. Yeah. And like one of the guys, like three or four times he's like, this is so good. And they were blown away. And I was like, wait, they were like, I've never had vegan food like this. And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, good. It's like not even like, it's just like, it's never been good. Why is that? Why is there so much bad vegan food out there?

42:22Is there? I don't, here's the thing. I don't know if that's a true statement. It's kind of a true statement. It's kind of a true statement. Like I just, oh man. Before we worked with you, we had brought in, I feel like one or two times before for like a food allergy for a party or something, we brought in like a, I won't name names, but a plant-based cheese for a pizza. Oh yeah. This is terrible. Why is it so bad? The cheese is like, most of the brands are kind of just like a starch-based where they'll like stick to the roof of your mouth and they're really bad. Why is it so bad? I like, I don't know. I think it has definitely come a long way in the past five years, you know? And I think that's awesome. And I think it's way more accessible beyond and impossible. Like they've done a lot for the community and just the world. Like I can talk a little bit of shit about them and the same, but they really just like, that impossible burger is tight. It's not like the most healthiest thing. It's like a bunch of processed ingredients, but it like is so good. And the first couple of times I ate it, I was like, wait a second, is this really like vegan? And it looks.

43:23Yeah. There's a look to it that also like the beets and how it like is red and that like there's a hole. It bleeds. It's crazy. It changes. It disguises really, really well. Does that weird you out? No, it doesn't weird me out, but it, I mean, it did the first time. Yeah. And I'm not like anti-eating meat. I'm a little bit different than like most kind of like the vegan activist type of people. I'd love to hear you talk about that. Cause I actually, that's something I didn't know about you. I think eating meat can be done sustainably. And I think that that I think the human race wouldn't have gotten to the point we are without having animals and animal products in their life. And I don't think we should like totally disregard that. I think we can eat as vegan as like a population because whole foods and places like that exist. And like how great is life to where we can go to a grocery store and do that. Like that's kind of like a really privileged thing. I remember being at tin roof, like probably 10, 12 years ago and running into Jordan Tutu's like best friends and he was a hockey player for Prez.

44:29And I was like, and they were so amazed that I was vegan. And that was like super hardcore vegan at that point. I was like, everyone should be vegan. Like you humans should not ingest animals. It was just like hardcore about it. And they were like, wait, I was like, I don't understand. Like how are you vegan? I was like, what do you mean? I'm like, it's easy, bro. And they were like, we don't eat vegetables at all. And I was like, what are you talking about? And he's like, they show me their Inuit card. They're like native, like Eskimos. And I was like, whoa. And it was like, this guy drives a snow mover, like 10, 11 months out of the year. I eat caribou, like seals, whales, like that's it. When I became a man, like I killed a caribou. They don't have plants. And I ate an organ on site. It's like, we don't have it. And I was like, whoa. And I think at that point, it kind of just made me think. And I was like, wait, this is kind of a situational thing. And I don't think also, I don't think like, I think PETA and like the Militant Vegan kind of has a place in the community to kind of shock people to make like that kind of like led me on my journey, like seeing like some of the industrialized farming stuff.

45:31And that led me to where I'm at. But I think in general, like being able to have a compassionate and understanding mind of and rewarding people for doing good is a huge thing. At the same time, I will say I am very against and the like industrialized animal agriculture. I think it's atrocious. I think it's bad for literally everything it touches. And I think it needs to be demolished. And that's where my like veganism comes from. But like if you were to have chickens in your backyard, or like just the whole like old school farming principle, like I don't think that is necessarily wrong. I think people should pay a premium for it. I think like, and I also think if I were to come on here and be like, no, fuck those guys, then they would never be, they would never listen to me. I would never be able to communicate with these people. And I think they would never want to listen. I think that's such a smart approach too. Because if you're like, you were kind of saying earlier about different things you can do to change people's mind is being so open-minded and being willing to have this conversation that is accessible to a lot more people as opposed to saying, no, this is the only right way.

46:38And I think that is a macro approach to what the way I think about it is because I don't want everyone to become vegan. I think that's like unfair to ask of people. I don't think it's possible. Like I don't think like people who are super hardcore meat eaters are gonna be like, all right, I'm gonna be vegan, like, cool. Like screw all this stuff. I don't think it's like an attainable goal. What I think is attainable is for most people to like eat less meat. And I think that would have a much bigger impact on a global structure of like trying to reduce climate, trying to reduce the factory farming. That's the goal that I'm looking for. And I think that's what like Impossible and Beyond are going for. And that's why I respect them is because they're just trying to make it accessible. It's like, if you have two options, it's like, I just want you to be like, to think that the non-meat option is like plausible. Like, oh, wait, this is gonna be good. I'm gonna do this. Rather than like support this kind of like this shitty thing over here. And then like, if you can have that mind state and like maybe you're gonna, if you have like 10 people, like maybe one of them like will go vegan, right?

47:42But like, if you can get four or five or six of them to like eat like six, you know, three to five meals a week that are vegan, that does way more for the total like global economy and just the like the impact of not eating meat and reducing that. And that's, I think that's more, I think that's more attainable. And that's kind of like what I want. I think you have so many non-vegan allies too who are working towards that same goal, you know? I think there's so many chefs and farmers here locally who are so passionate about that same thing of, you know, not sourcing from factory farms, and you know, Wedge Oak Farm, Bear Creek Farm, you know? And so if I were to like take this hardcore militant vegan approach, like then you would like penalize those guys for doing something that was like in the better direction, knowing that like, you know, the world isn't gonna just go vegan. Like, this is not gonna just pop off one day. Can you give us some stats and some facts? Because I hear you say things like, hey, if, and I'm looking introspectively and I'm like, I could probably not have that.

48:48I could probably move to a Beyond Burger and I could easily replace, you know, I have a Caesar salad every single Monday. Sometimes I had chicken, sometimes I don't. But like- Brandon needs more vegetables in his life. I could easily not do that. Yeah, you could really easily- That's not a big stretch. No, it's not a big ask. You're not saying- People think it's so much harder than it really is. They eat our cookies and they're like, whoa, there's no, like, they don't even know what's in there. There's no egg or dairy. He's like, no, dude, it's just like sugar and oil. And it's really easy. You say environmental impact. You say, you know, this. What are the things? What is the environmental impact? How, if I decide to do that, if I say, you've inspired me today, I'm gonna reduce my meat intake by 25%. One of every four meals, no meat in it. I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna make that decision today. What does that impact? So classic, like, and I'm not like, don't take any of these numbers, like, you know, I'm not like- We're gonna fact check.

49:52We're gonna fact check. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get the shit out of this later on. But like classic vegan 101 for years has been like the entire meat and animal agriculture produces more carbon dioxide than every single automobile on earth. That's like classic. And the reason why the guy got into Impossible Burger was because he was a scientist and he was trying to battle climate change. And they say that the animal agriculture is responsible for 15% of climate change, if not higher. Why? Well- Is it like cow farts, really? Well, no, that is a huge thing. It's like, well, farts, but also like all the manure goes, has to go somewhere and it's just pools of manure that are just like releasing carbon dioxide. All of the automobiles that are used to like transport them constantly. The amount of food that they eat could, they say like, and you know, this is like vegan 101 type of thing, but they say the amount of food that you can feed to like animals could get rid of starvation and like- Corn and grain. In the country. Yeah, in the country or world.

50:53So most of the food and corn and grain we produce for this, for our animals, like, oh wait, sorry. Most of the corn and grain that we produce in the world goes to animal agriculture, animal agriculture and not actually to humans. And it's kind of, and also the fucked up thing is that like cows don't eat corn. They eat grass. Like it's very simple. So like, then you like inject them full, like they inject them full of hormones to be able to like get as plump as possible and as quick amount of time, because it's just a product. And then they get sick because they're not supposed to be eating corn. They're supposed to be eating grass. So they get cancer. And then they like put antibiotics into them. So now you're eating sick cows that like go into humans that like, you know, this is like a cancerous cow that like you're eating. And it's like, oh, this is great. That's some cows, not all cows. I mean- It can happen. I would argue that it's like above 90% of the animals produced in this country and world are sick and it's industrialized animal agriculture.

51:57Like you named a handful of like small local farms in Nashville, but like you gotta realize that's only going to like boutique restaurants. Absolutely. And they can be hard to source from at times. I don't say that as a criticism of them at all. It's just that they are small farms. They can only produce so much. But like, you know, if you like fast food, any generic like Ruby Tuesdays, any chain, like you gotta realize that every restaurant out there wants to keep costs down as little as possible. And so they treat these things like factories and they're living, breathing animals. Pigs are smarter than dogs. I saw it. I was at a chicken farm. Oh yeah. Chickens are bad. Like you can get- Two months ago. It's really gnarly. I'm not going to say the farm producer, but we flew out there to check it out on their private jet. But cause it's in the middle of Georgia, the poultry capital of the country, but they all, there's a whole airport for chicken farmers. Like they all have private jets. They have to fly into Atlanta and then drive a car and like, no, we just have our own airport.

53:00And like Tyson has like six jets. Yeah. Like that they have- Oh it's big business. But they have, we did the whole thing. They hatch all of the 350,000 a day are hatched. And then those, and they're producing, I think 325,000 birds a day through the entire process. Yeah. And the amount of corn, like the silos that they have trains just coming in. Oh yeah. It's insane. I watched a train, they just pull this thing out the bottom and it all just comes out the bottom. There's these huge holding tanks. And there's compartments and they can make all this feed and they- It's not sustainable and it's really, really fucked up. But to me to think about it, like what you just said, yeah, I mean, airplanes take a lot of fuel and they make a lot of waste and then all the 350,000 a day. Oh yeah. And I was talking to a guy where they were saying that this one pork processing facility does 35,000 pigs a day. Wow. That's gross. That's slaughtering 35,000 pigs a day. And people get upset when you look at your dog wrong. Yeah.

54:01You know what I'm saying? And it's like, and, but they don't want to see it. They don't, they don't want to watch these videos because if like, if any conscious human being sees any of this shit, they'll be like, I don't want to eat that. But like, oh, but my like hot chicken or my like my barbecue. Well, I still eat chicken that was there. Right. I saw it. But I mean, the thing is, I think that you need to see if you're going to eat meat and I think the opinions like hunting, I'm not against hunting. If you're a hunter gatherer and you're hunting because you're supplying your family with food, I think so. But if you're going out and shooting deer so you can put a big trophy on the wall. Right. I don't agree with that. And it's like the circle of life exists. You know, it's like, we are all on this earth using the earth and we should use it in a sustainable way. And I just think that's like, it's possible. We're just so far from it. And then how do you like make a dent when like Tyson and all those companies are just like making the laws and just running the industry and making it so cheap that like any of these restaurants are like, oh yeah, like $2, $3 a pound for chicken.

55:05Like, let's go. Where like, I don't like. I mean, yeah, it's like, when I'm trying to sell pepperoni in New York pre COVID, I don't know what it is now, but they were like, hey, yeah. So all our pepperoni is like $3 a pound. Like that's what we get used to. And so I'm trying to sell it for like $8 a pound. So I have to compete with that. But it's like, when you have these big businesses that it's not, they're not products. I mean, they're not animals. They're not conscious beings. They're products. Like you grow those chickens to like, you pump them full of hormones and they like plump up and they can't even stand because it's just not natural. And then people wonder why like we're so sick as a society because we don't eat real food. There's a lot of conversation right now, obviously about inflation and the cost of doing business and how expensive things are. But there's a lot of things that I think right now are as expensive as they should be. I think eggs is a great example. You know, eggs are wholesale right now, 50 cents a piece. And a lot of people are freaking out. That is much more than we're used to paying. But that's how much eggs should cost.

56:06My mom said that. She's like, man, groceries the other day. It's like, you know, eggs cost like $5. And I was like, mom, I was like, you're not the right person to talk to me about eggs being more expensive. Like that's what I said. Cause I was like, you don't want to get meat. I know you don't want to hear what I have to say, but they should be more expensive. And meat should be more expensive. They should live longer lives. They should like live healthily. They should be, it should be done in a sustainable way. And that costs money. Ben, what are your thoughts about, you know, kind of, you know, things costing, should be costing more money and sustainability as it relates to access and people who maybe don't have the same access that the three of us sitting here at this table have to fresh, healthy food. And you know, kind of what's your take on that if you know what I'm asking. Man, that's an interesting one. Getting into the politics of things. Sorry, am I getting too heavy first thing in the morning? No, I love it. It's a, It's important. This is what we need to be talking about. You know, I think Nashville is a great example. We have a lot of food deserts here in Nashville. Oh, for sure. And people who have no access to vegetables, organic or otherwise, you know, or fresh food at all.

57:12I mean, I think it, I think it all goes back to the industrialization of this, of these systems, you know, where it's like the government rewards and subsidizes these big corporations, the corn, they subsidize like non-food. And then these companies get so much money that they just like buy the shelves up and then they're have, they just, they can produce all this stuff. And so when you have these, the stores or restaurants, they just want sustainability and they want it for as cheap as possible. So it's like kind of from a top down thing that like we reward the people that take advantage of humans and give us shitty food and then don't reward or help out like the small guys. So it's hard. And I think the interesting thing about like GMOs and organic is a hard one too, because it's like everyone, most people like hate GMOs and they hate this, the animal agriculture and everything, but it's interesting because all of these things were started in the name of just trying to feed humans. And then it's like a kind of an unknown side effect of just making sure that plants didn't go bad in like a bad winter or something like that, that just grew and now you have GMO.

58:22And yeah, I mean, I think, I think the access in the food deserts kind of conversation is like a completely different thing, but it's heightened because of the options that we have. And I don't like people, we just teach them the wrong things. You know what I'm saying? Like we just put the emphasis on the wrong things. And so people don't know how to grow their own food. They don't know what to look for. They just buy shit. They're only like given the shitty options. So what do you think about fast food places now offering plant-based options? That's an interesting one, because a lot of vegans kind of hate the fact that like Burger King took over the Impossible Burger because it's like, oh, well, they don't care about humans. They don't care about like not serving chicken. And I guess I'll be the first one to say like, fuck Burger King and fuck all those places. Like none of that is good for people, but it also does provide people with a really cheap meal that they can eat and people need to eat.

59:23And like, you know, you could say eating shit is better than eating nothing. So there's that side of it. But I do think just to finish that statement, I do think that like in some ways good on Burger King for now having that option, right? So now like Burger King basically has an impossible option. So now those people, anybody can go to Burger King. I have gone to Burger King because it's actually pretty good. And it's like, you can get like a really cheap Impossible Burger that's vegan and like, you know, a little bit morally sustainable and better. And so now you're giving those people options. So I don't feel like putting them up on a cross and just like, just basically kind of just like punishing them for doing that when they don't really care about it, but they're actually like taking some of their big money dollars and being like, nah, like here's an option. Like I'm pro option. If your basis behind this is creating a better future for our ins and people that are coming after us and reducing carbon footprints. And accessibility. 25% of my meals, if I'm gonna go to being impossible and now there's an option for me to go get that on every street corner.

01:00:30Like that I can just, the accessibility to getting a vegan option. I don't have to drive, I live 26 minutes from East Nashville or other, you know, I'm not close to the farmer's market. And it's not accessible. So like in those neighborhoods. I got a Burger King five minutes from my house. So I mean, if my 25% of my meals is I'm gonna go to Burger King, like, well then good for them for giving that option because that over all the Burger Kings across country, however much they sell is all reducing that, right? Yeah, oh, for sure. Because I mean, you gotta think like fast food places are probably one of the biggest purveyors of meat in the country. So it's like, if you could just get them to take a couple of percentage of that and transfer it over to plant based options, that's a huge impact. If they did 1% of a Burger King does. And it's also gonna change people's minds. It's gonna be like, oh, wait, I can do this. And then maybe I don't feel as shitty afterwards. Maybe people who don't have access to go to a Whole Foods can still try those products at a place like Burger King. So I'm pro that, like I personally am pro that, you know?

01:01:30I mean, Tyson has like a line of like vegan chicken now. Yeah, and same with like Hormel, they have a whole line, Happy Little Plants, where they're like just switching over and they have like a line. So they're putting some of their money, and I don't think they're really good. I think they're really processed. But it's showing that like these big corporations are seeing the drop of profits and they're trying to put some of the money there so they can provide them options as well. And although I could say like- It's a business decision though. It has nothing to do with- But see, that's the thing when you- The reasons behind it. Yeah, and so that's why my approach is like diverting dollars. Because I come from the approach of like activism being like, unless you change the flow of money and take the money out of those big dog's pockets, they will not listen to you. They do not care about anything unless they're making money. You can riot, you can like go hit the streets, you can vote. But if they're still making the same amount of money from yesterday after this and that, doesn't matter.

01:02:30They're just gonna pay their way into making it law for them to do whatever the fuck they want. I think a lot of times when people want to see a big change in something, they want it to happen instantly. And I think that what's really important is to make lasting change is it has to happen incrementally. It has to happen in small steps. It's not gonna happen overnight. So, while it doesn't mean, hey, stop trying, it means be grateful for small wins. Right, and spend your dollar on the things that you care about. Because if you're voting against something, or like, this is one thing I think about, if you're like pro climate to be like trying to save the planet, but you like eat a shit load of shitty meat, it's like, it's hypocritical, you know what I'm saying? To me, it's just like doing these things and spending your money and supporting the industries that are destroying the things that you're talking on Instagram about. You're not doing anything. You're just talking. Well, I think that's, I want myself into that category. I drive an electric car, but I love meat. I feel like I'm doing something right, but I'm not, and I support, I have several sponsors of the show that I don't know their ethical standards and what they do as far as that's concerned, but that's just because I'm not educated.

01:03:44Yeah. I mean, that's just because, I mean, it's not because I don't believe that, or I think that, it's just because I don't, I'm ignorant to it. And you also just have to like keep your business alive, and you gotta be able to like, you're trying to do some good, and there's the bottom line of like, you know, I'm not, like nonprofits are awesome, but if they're not sustainable financially, like they, like, you know, then you can't just rely off grants. Some do, but it's just like the idea of like social entrepreneurship is where it's like, you know, like Beehive, like I've got, I'm big advocate, but it's like, if I don't make enough money to like keep my business afloat, my impact is nil, because I'm not doing shit anymore. So like, you have to be able to survive, and it's hard as a small business owner trying to do things that you care about, because, you know, it's a, everything is kind of set against you. You have to hit all these hurdles, and you have to like pick and choose which things you care about and which things you don't to try to be able to like find your lane and mission to be able to make things happen.

01:04:46How long have you been doing this? We hit 11 years within like, I started the LLC, I think October 11th, we threw our first one, November 11th, 2011. So like, I'm about to hit 11 years. Congratulations. 11, 11, 11 was the day? Oh shit. You say November 11th, 2011? Yeah, that's cool. So it was 11, 11, 11? Did you not realize that? No, I didn't realize that. Oh my God. That's fucking funny. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that was our first event. An easy day to remember, like one, one, one, one, one, one. So, I'm just, I'm thinking about all this, and I'm, my brain hurts right now, because I feel, no, I feel so. So political, like it's nine o'clock in the morning. It's good. No, I love this, but I feel so small and uneducated. I feel like I focus on so many things. I just, I'm so intrigued right now that I want to learn. It feels like an uphill battle. It is definitely an uphill battle. Every person that you meet, you're constantly trying to educate them, because.

01:05:48I don't, like we're having this meeting because you guys asked this question, right? And then when I brought that stuff up, so like, I don't try to educate people, I just try to put something in their mouth that tastes good in a sandwich. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, just to clarify that. It's like, this is good food, and that alone will allow them to think that options are available. Yeah, you're definitely not that like preachy. Oh no, I'm not, I'm not. That's not what I'm saying at all. That's not what I'm saying, but people are naturally inquisitive. Oh yeah. So when they stumble upon you or they learn about you, there's naturally a bunch of questions that people ask. And then that stokes conversations where you, yeah, where people ask you to say, what is the environmental impact? And you have to go, you don't have to, but I mean, 11 years of going through this, like there's a tenacity there. And I mean, I think there's something more that says about you of just like a passion for this and a grit and determination of, I'm gonna, do you feel like you're slowly changing the world?

01:06:50Do you feel like you're doing, do you get satisfaction at the end of the day? Do you, when you lay your head on your pillow, are you like, I did the right thing today and I continue to do the right thing and I'm empowered by what I'm doing or is it exhausting? Oh, it's totally exhausting. And I could like kind of, I'm a huge devil's advocate where I could be like, oh, none of our efforts are like, the fact that I try to recycle at home doesn't mean shit if like the industries don't do anything. Like my not eating of meat like doesn't do shit if like a population doesn't change it. So like, there's like the idea of being like, oh, the feudalism where it's just like nothing, everything is feudal, like nothing matters and then idealism where it's like, oh, if I do this, I've changed the world. So I like get stuck in this thing. I think where I come from is that like, really what happened for me was like I grew, like 9-11 fucked me up. I was in DC when it happened and Maryland when it happened. My dad's in press, it kind of messed me up.

01:07:50It made me thinking about, it made me look at different things in a different world. And then I became this like kind of conspiracy theorist. Everyone's out to get me, oh no, like, oh shit. And then I realized, I was like, if I like, this is just ruining me. This is ruining my head space. So what am I gonna do about it? I can either just live my life and be ignorant or I can like join the government and try to like fight, but then I have to play their game to be able to change something. And it left me in this whole thing of like, what do I do? And it's just like, you know what? I'm gonna do my shit. I'm gonna play music. I'm gonna do art. I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I wanna do and try to make as much money as possible doing it, but do it in a sustainable way where I feel good about it and I try to make a difference and I try to really divert dollars away from the things that I don't support. And I don't think like, you know, talking on Instagram, there's so many people that think they do something, but unless you're like diverting money or like kind of actively opening up conversations and changing minds, I don't feel like you're doing anything. And I feel like it's the industries that need to change.

01:08:51So I'm basically trying to create an industry and divert money that way. Yeah, I think a lot of people think that posting memes is. Yeah, it just makes them feel better about themselves. And that's fine. And I think even with you, you're like, oh, I gotta think about this. And I don't think people should be like hard on themselves for not knowing or staying in their lane or just like being comfortable with certain things. It's like what we know. And if you grew up eating meat and that's what it was and that was the norm, there's nothing wrong with that. You just maybe should be a little bit more conscious about it or maybe like look into it. And if you don't know, you shouldn't be punished for it. But yeah, if you can learn about it and then maybe, you know, you learn about it, you're like, oh, this is good. I'm gonna try this. And then you just start spending more morally and consciously and then you're more aware that is just like really what I ask from anyone. It's just like just to like be more aware and conscious and think about what you do and then go from there because I can't control shit.

01:09:57I just do what I'm doing. The most powerful thing is that I can only control one person in this world. And it's the person I look at every morning in the mirror. And it really hit me really hard during the civil rights movement in 2020 was everybody's, are you racist? You're a racist. There's all these fingers pointing, everybody's trying to identify a thing and I stopped and there's a really great book that I love. It's called QBQ, The Question Behind the Question. And it's about personal accountability. And it comes back to rephrasing questions you ask yourself. So a lot of it's self-talk, but what can, it's inserting yourself into the answer versus how come everybody's a racist? You change that to what can I do to not be a racist? What can I do to help others, whatever it might be. But I think the question is it doesn't matter what anybody else does. Everybody else in this world is gonna do what they're gonna do. If every single person in the world just looked in the mirror and said, what can I do to be a better person today?

01:11:00And what can I do to educate myself on the really big social? What can I do? Not what can you do or what can you do, but what can I do? I think so many people are so focused on other people I gotta change you. And it's like, well, just change yourself. And if everybody did that, if everybody out there just said, I'm gonna look in the mirror today and I'm gonna see, I'm gonna ask myself these, what can I do to be an anti-racist? Ask yourself that, not let me tell you what you can do. No, what can I do? Everyone gets defensive in that approach. That's a thing. But I mean, it's just to me, that's what I'm going through. I'm like, what can I do today? And recycling is one of those things. We recycle all of our stuff and I drive it down to the convenience center and I sort it and I put it away. And I'm like, does this really matter? I'm like, it does. Probably not. It doesn't matter. It's something that if everybody in the world did this, if everyone in the world said, what can I do to help create a more sustainable earth? 20 years ago. Yeah, I mean, China doesn't take the recycling anymore.

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01:14:18This is amazing. This is for medical, dental, vision, and even life insurance. If you have a house, if you have a wife, you have kids, you have a husband, whatever it may be, you need life insurance. You need actual health insurance. It is so vital. Here's how you do it. You get a hold of Dan Mar. His number is 832-816-8602. Tell him Brandon from Nashville Restaurant Radio Cintia and he will make sure you get the absolute best rates possible. If you don't wanna make a phone call, you can email him at dan at southernhealthins.com. Yeah, what can I do to do this or not like what can you do because then you're just putting the blame on everyone else. It's about accountability for your own fucking actions. But then also at the end of the day, if you're accountable for your actions and you are a good person and you're just aware and you try to do the best you can do, it doesn't fucking matter what anyone else does because then you can find that, because what I've been dealing with is that the world is chaos.

01:15:23Everything is chaos. Life and existence in this universe is chaos and it doesn't matter and everyone thinks we're so special but we're not. None of us in this room, I'm sorry, are special. I'm not special. I'm gonna die and some of my friends and family will be upset probably for a year or two or three or five and then the world will go on in any form and I'm just a human currently living in some skin on this earth. So the zen of that is just like, you know what? I can't change anything. Everything is just constantly happening in chaos so it's just like I'm going to just find my peace and try to be as good of a person as possible and on a scale, it's just my morality, just try to make it as better than worse and if everyone did that, that'd be great but also if everyone didn't do that, you know what? I'm going to sleep at night feeling good that I did a good life and maybe I showed some people and had some good conversations and that's really all that matters because I'm not living anyone's life either. Absolutely.

01:16:23Amen. We do a final thought on the show. The Gordon Food Service final thought. We could just backtrack this and I'll say, hey, Ben, what's your final thought? And then I'll just insert that comment. I mean, that 100% man. Life is tight. That's my final thought. Life is tight. Can you please make T-shirts? I have shirts and hoodies. Life is tight is funny because I've been saying it for years and all my friends have been like, oh no, life is not tight. Sometimes I hurt, sometimes I'm not in a good mood my dad is sick or people are starving in Africa. I was like, no, okay, you're missing the point. If you wake up, it's a good day. And if life wasn't tight, then people who were on their deathbed wouldn't be clinging to it. You want to live. Life is tight. If you wake up, it's a good day. So shut the fuck up and be grateful and do something cool. Amen.

01:17:26I want a life is tight T-shirt. I'll bring you one. I have hoodies and T-shirts. I'll bring you one. There's one with a surf and hoagie on a wave of B and E and then one with the skydiving pizza. Pizza please. Oh yeah, okay. Of course. That's easy. Do you know what we didn't do in this episode? And this is probably my favorite thing of any episode. We didn't tell people what you do. I love that. We just jumped right in. Normally there's a, this is Ben Sticks. He's the owner of the Beehive. Ben, tell us about the Beehive. We didn't do any of that. So people have been listening to this for almost an hour going who the fuck is this guy? They've Googled the Beehive. Ben needs no introduction. He's a local celebrity. Everybody knows. We know what you do. Will you, as maybe as your Gordon food service, Gordon food services name and five times I get a bonus. Gordon food service. Gordon, can I help you with that? Final thought, will you tell us all about the Beehive?

01:18:29Cause I know we got to get going here, but we do. Tell us about the Beehive. Tell us what you do. Tell us how we can contact you. Give any plugs that you have kind of, that can be your final thought. First and foremost, I kind of love that we haven't talked about what I do in the entire time. And we talked a little bit more about the head space and the mission about it, because I feel like that's ultimately what it is. The whole Beehive is B E and it's kind of like leading by action versus talking. It's, you know, be what you could be. It's just like, just, just do something, be it. Don't talk about it. Just, just, it's kind of about action and just doing stuff. So to throw that back in there, the Beehive makes vegan meat and cheeses that are all Satan based, minus the cheese is not Satan based. And we deliver and ship to restaurants and grocery stores around the country. Through that, we also developed a deli that's on the East side. And that deli uses all of our products. So we make the meat, we make the cheese, we make the sauces, and it's kind of like showcases our products.

01:19:32Basically that came about me and Diana, who's my number two. It's basically her deli. And she was like, we were, we had all these products and we were like, what if we just started a deli? Cause we started off doing events and we were like, that'd be cool. And it started off Saturdays, four hours, five hours. And then it went to Saturdays and Sundays, the pandemic hit. And then within the second week, we were like, okay, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And now it's a seven day a week deli. And then we have a big production facility on the other side of town in Donaldson. It started off with a band. That's our story. It started off with a band called Born Empty. I told you I was a drummer. That was their high school band. We lived in a house and we called it the Beehive. And we started throwing potlucks and they're all vegan potlucks. And we were touring on the road. Eric, the singer, he owns part of the company. He was Gandhi vegan when I met him. He went from a regular diet to raw fruit and veg. And I was like, all right, I'm gonna do this with you for two weeks and I didn't turn back for eight years. And I was already vegetarian, but then I went vegan.

01:20:35And we just started, on the road we'd be like, hey, let us sleep on your couch or floor. We'll cook you breakfast in the morning. It was really just a way for us to use the band tab to be able to buy groceries for us to eat. And we just got good. We started throwing vegan potlucks and then we moved out of the Beehive. I had done a couple AIDS rides in California. And I was just like, you know what? I was working at Wild Cow. I was quitting because it was hurting my wrist. And I was like, let's do an event on Tuesdays when you're closed, $10, all you can eat, different nonprofit. And then we take the money after we give, we pay for the food, we pay for the employees, we give percentage to nonprofits and we give a percentage to Wild Cow. And that's how the business started. Wow. And so it's just been a series of just being able to throw in events and reaching out to the community and just having vegan food and then seeing what worked and what didn't work and following those lines. That's the story of the Beehive. So now we make, I looked into it and we've made 178,000 pounds of product in the last 365 days.

01:21:40That's awesome. I love this guy. I've had so much fun today. Thanks. I sometimes just, you have interviews in here and they're good, you have good conversation. Like I don't know what my perception was beforehand. You didn't know me like at all. I didn't know you at all, but like I didn't, I'm not, I don't know, I just, I haven't delved into the vegan world. My perception of vegans is the person in the restaurant who's angry that I don't have a good vegan option. And I don't know, I've been so ignorant to this, but like I've just enjoyed this conversation so much. Thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having me and thanks for letting me talk about all the shit. Thanks man. I wanna do this again like tomorrow. Yeah, let's do it. I wanna totally, this will be, we've got to make this like a regular thing, man. This is awesome. I'm all about it. I like being able to talk about it in a way that like people might be interested to be able to like listen and learn is really just, it's the mission. The mission of the Beehive is to make plant-based eating more accessible.

01:22:42And that's by meeting people where they're at in like their ideology and the food that they like to eat. Ben Sticks, you've said it all today. I'm like, this is amazing. Love it, great way to start the day. It is a great way to start the day, thank you. Wish you nothing but the best of success and we'll see you again soon, hopefully sooner than later. I'm around. Thanks Ben. Yeah, life is tight. All right. Life is tight, my fave. So badass. All right, wow. Thank you so much to Ben Sticks for joining us in studio. His real name is Ben Sticks. It is. I mean, I didn't think it was a fake name. I didn't know he was a drummer though. I did know he was a drummer, but it never occurred to me for whatever reason, some things go over my head. All good. What are you eating over there? I'm eating a delicious Atkins caramel chocolate nut roll bar. That sounds delicious. Is it good? It tastes exactly like a Snickers, but it's sugar free and it's keto.

01:23:49Are you doing like a keto diet? I have been doing a diet to boost my metabolism. So it's not like hardcore strict keto. I kind of have made up my own diet that pulls from a lot of things, but I started wearing one of those blood sugar monitors. I don't know if you've ever seen, there's a lot of ads on Instagram and Facebook. It's a device for diabetics, but anybody can wear it. I'm not diabetic and it monitors your blood sugar. And so I eat a diet that is based off of trying to boost my metabolism through never having blood sugar spikes. Sorry, this is probably a lot of information. No, no, no, no. I read a book called the Diet Evolution by Dr. Gundry, right? He does like these infomercial stuff, but his book is fascinating. And he talks about back in caveman days, I'm not talking like paleo stuff. I'm talking literally caveman back in the day and the way that your body, your DNA is like the way your cells align. Because then back in the day, you could only eat sugar in one time of the year. Oh, interesting. Because that's when fruits grew.

01:24:52Okay. So when you ate sugar, your body signifies it's summertime. Oh, wow. And so it starts storing fat. So when you eat sugar, it triggers your DNA, like your cellular, it triggers your body to start storing fat because obviously it's summer and your body needs to store fat because in winter time, food is scarce. That's very interesting. So when you stop eating sugar, your body thinks it's wintertime and starts burning fat. Wow. It immediately goes, oh, it's winter. So I'll start burning that fat. So that's why the keto, all kinds of sugar and carbs, they turn into sugar. Your body converts them into sugars. Anything processed, any of that stuff. So if you're just eating meats only, I mean, meats and greens, your body thinks it's winter and starts burning fat. That's when ketosis, your body goes into ketosis, it starts burning fat. And I like the way that the guy put it was, summertime you can eat sugar, your body stores it, gets sugar, it starts storing fat. It's like, that makes sense. And then when you stop eating sugar, your body goes, it's winter, let's burn all the fat.

01:25:54Sure. But most people would do that backwards because you want to not store. Well, the thing is that there's so much sugar out there. There's just sugar. In everything. Everywhere. Yeah. Well, I like the plant-based diet really put you right there in a sense of, hey, it's a plant-based diet. See how I brought it back to the show? Great job. Great job. It was good. We're working on it. No, but I, something I mentioned, kind of when we were talking to Ben, but what I love about what he does is like, hey, this isn't just rabbit food. The food Ben makes is kind of like stoner food. It's like really indulgent. It's not healthy food in terms of like, hey, here is a piece of lettuce. It's like really craveable, you know, food. Well, I, Marsha Masula, who owns Roar. Love Marsha. You know what? Very dear friend. Very dear friend. Have to give her a big shout out. Thank you for setting up the interview with Ben Sticks. Yeah. That's how I met Ben through Marsha. She made that happen. She's a vegan herself.

01:26:54Yes. She's an awesome human. I really like Marsha. But Marsha's not like, Marsha's a cool vegan. She's not like a regular vegan. She's like a cool vegan. Well, I've not seen that regular vegans aren't cool. No, I'm just teasing. It's like a mean girls. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. I watched that for the first time when I had COVID just recently. Okay. Did you like it? I thought it was hilarious. It's a great movie. All the talk about it, I'm like, my wife came up in her full hazmat suit to check on me and she's like, what are you doing? I go, I'm watching mean girls. And she's like, okay, what happened to you? I'm like, what? I'm sick. I'm laying on a couch. I'm watching like guilty stuff. I'm like, what is it? I thought it was pretty good. Great movie. Yeah, Lindsay Lohan was great in that movie. She's a great actress. Yeah. She's making a comeback. She's in a Hallmark Christmas movie this year. Very excited. Is that a comeback? Yeah, for her. She hasn't had a movie in a while. Good for her. Yeah, good for her. I'm excited about that. She had a reality show that aired during the pandemic. It wasn't my favorite.

01:27:55Listen, don't get me started on the road of reality. Well, let's get in the road of reality because let's let people know. We don't have the time. Let people know because. About me? Well, let's talk about trash TV because I'm a big fan myself. Well, first of all, I'm a big bachelor franchise person. Okay, I do watch the bachelor franchise. I'm not like a hardcore bachelor person, but I have watched the last several seasons and I am watching the current season of Paradise. I'm not caught up though. Holy shit. I'm not either. I'm like two episodes in. We just started watching. Okay. Better than last season. This is the greatest television on television, in my opinion. For me, it's not the greatest thing on television, but I'm entertained by it. For me, the greatest thing on television right now, and it's really the greatest thing on television ever is The Real Housewives of Potomac. We're back for a new season coming in hot and it is just, if you're not watching it, I don't know what you're doing with your life. Do I need to start watching this? Yeah, but you gotta start with season one. I'm sorry. How many episodes, how many seasons are there? I think we're on season seven. Like 40? No, no, Potomac's I think on seven.

01:28:55Seven seasons? You'll blow right through it. It's so good. Yeah, I don't know, but I'm right now watching Hell's Kitchen. Oh, okay. So I've watched the first couple episodes of the season and it's really a good season. It's fantastic. My buddy Alex Ballou is on the show. He's gonna win. I think there's no way he doesn't win. I've only watched two episodes and he's definitely gonna win. He's like so by far the front runner and you can tell because Gordon's really nice to him. Oh, sure. First of all, he's killing it. First and foremost, he's crushing it. Right. But you can also tell Gordon's like great job, excellent. Sure. Out of perfection. Like everything he does is like this guy and then the episode three, the same thing happens. Like he just crushes it. Well, the thing about Hell's Kitchen that's different from like a top chef is Hell's Kitchen doesn't just pull like super professional chefs. You've got some like Alex, who is definitely a professional chef that knows what he's doing, but then you've got some people who are like, I own a quote unquote catering company and it's just like, has this person ever cooked food before?

01:30:01You know, there's definitely pulling from the D squad. She said, look, I'm an owner. I don't work on the line. This is hard for me. And I was like. Do what now? One of the women said that. She was like falling behind on the meats, whatever. And he was like, come on you guys. She was like, look, I don't do this. I'm an owner. I don't work on the line. I was like. Well, surely you've seen the show before. You're glad to be on it. But I mean, if you're gonna be on the show to cook, you've gotta know what you're doing. And Alex clearly does. I think he's just gonna crush it. I agree. I'm excited for him. Well, so speaking of cooking shows, I know that in a little bit, we're talking to Arnold Mett, who was on a season of Top Chef. Yes. Do you know Arnold? I sold him produce when I was at Creation Gardens back at PM and then Susie Wongs. And just a genuine, like a super nice guy. I don't know Arnold. We have a lot of mutual friends and I can't believe that over my 10 years in Nashville, somehow we haven't met because he is such an icon of the food scene here.

01:31:03He is. I'm excited to meet him in Childhood. He's definitely a, he's polarizing. Okay. In the sense that like he's unapologetic. He's who he is. Sure. And he was one of the first people, I think to really come out and be strong about it. I mean, he has a restaurant called, he had a restaurant called Susie Wong's House of Yum, which is his, is it alter ego? Yes. Well, it's his drag persona. It's his drag persona. I mean, I don't want to, I don't know the correct term. I'll learn today. Okay. So stay tuned next week. We're going to, next Monday you'll get, Arnold Mient will be in here and you get to hear that interview. I'm so excited to talk to Arnold because, you know, something that I've been thinking about so much lately is kind of where the Nashville food scene is headed. And I think such an important part of that is where it was and where we are and where we're going. And I think Arnold is such a great person, going to be such a great person to talk to about that because he really grew up in the Nashville restaurants. Oh yeah. He's been here through it all. So I can't wait to hear his perspective on that. I'm really curious to hear his perspective on celebrity chef culture too, because he's been a celebrity chef, quote unquote, for a while.

01:32:10Definitely. I mean, he's been in LA, he's been on Food Network, he's judged things like, he's got a blue check mark next to his name on Instagram. You know, he's one of those guys. And I'm just curious, like where he's seen, all the people he's dealt with and the real players. Yeah. Like, hey, you know Bobby Flay. Oh, I hope he's got some good dishy stories for us. That's what I want. I want to get some good dishy stories as like the behind the scenes and celebrity chef culture. Yeah, I love that. Tell me about the Top Chef franchise. What do you got? Give us a dirt. I watched his season. As it happened week to week, it was awesome. I'm going to be honest, Top Chef is one that I dip in and out of. A friend of mine and Tony's that we worked with in Chicago, Demar Brown, was on the most recent season of Top Chef and was one of the runners up, a fan favorite. We share a chef mentor, Eric Williams, from Virtue Restaurant in Chicago. So Tony and I watched the most recent season, but I don't feel like we've watched it in a long time. That's the first season we've watched in a while.

01:33:11But we loved it. I watched it in a long time. It was great. I think I'll definitely watch the new seasons moving forward. And the new season is going to be in London. Did you know that? Yeah, they just announced at BravoCon that the next season of Top Chef will be, we'll talk, don't worry. I know everything about BravoCon too, if you want to get into that another time. But yeah, I think that that's going to be really exciting to have an international season. That's really fun. Do we put on the vision board to get Andy Cohen on the show? Is that something that we should do? Listen, I think that that's a dreaming too big, even for me. Even although Nicky's did get a shout out one time on Watch What Happens Live. Really? Yes, it was one of the greatest moments of my life. We had a cocktail menu that was a real Housewives themed cocktail menu. It was one of those kind of, if you know, you know, if you were just reading it, you would think they were random names. But if you're into the Housewives universe, you would have totally gotten it. And every night on his show, Watch What Happens Live to at the end, he does a mausoleum of the day, which is kind of his pick of the day.

01:34:13And Nicky's got the mausoleum of the day. For a cocktail menu, it was incredible. You need to find that clip and play it. Oh, don't worry. I have it on my Instagram. I'll play it for you later. Well, awesome. Well, this is kind of a recap of the show at the end. Yeah, I don't feel like we talked about the show much, but it's a nice little outro. Yeah, it's kind of something that you can, at the end of every show, we'll talk about trash TV. We'll talk about what's going on. Talk about your last week, what you're going through. We'll just kind of have like a little 10 minute final before we catch up. Well, and I think that the interview with Ben really speaks for itself. I feel like we left it all on the table. And we talked about it before the show. We did. We did more of an intro than we'll normally do. Normally a lot of the intro will be at the end of the show. So cool. Well, people are getting to know you and kind of what you're about. I think this is a fun time to kind of dig into who we are, what we're into, and we love your feedback. Well, first things first, I love trash TV. So you'll learn that today.

01:35:13If there is a trash TV type thing that you would like us to talk about or whatever it is, I'm sure we can. Oh God, let us know. Let us know. It's a real dream for me. Send us a DM at our Instagram page at Nashville underscore restaurant, underscore radio. Maybe one day we can have an episode where we talk about my favorite episodes of restaurant trash TV. We can do a whole episode about it. Which you know some of them. Yeah, I think that there's some really good bar rescue stuff and. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Gordon Ramsey. Yes. Yes, total hell. Kitchen nightmares. Now actually, if we're ever gonna get Tony in here one day, we should get Tony in here to talk about restaurant reality shows. Because Tony has seen every episode of Bar Rescue, every episode of Kitchen Nightmares, he is like a super fan and watches them over and over again. Well, let's do that. I would love it. There's a fun topic. He would love it. Chef contest show. So I'm excited.

01:36:13Stay tuned next week. You'll get to hear our conversation. I don't know yet. We'll probably talk about a lot of that. Yeah, definitely. All right guys, have a wonderful, you get to do your first sign off. Ooh, signing off. Do you have like a sign off that you have? Because I have one. Oh, okay. No, I don't. It's kind of a pandemic thing I say. Hope you guys are being safe out there because I want everybody to be safe and make good decisions. And I love you because I do. I love people out there. If you are feeling like you're not loved, I want you to know that there's somebody out here who does love you and it's me. Oh, that's so nice. I love that. You know what? I'm gonna say, if you're out there and you're working in restaurants, you're doing a great job because sometimes we don't get told that enough. You're doing a great job. There you go. So let's practice it. You ready? I'm ready. All right guys, we will see you next Monday. Hope that you're being safe out there. Love you guys. Asheville, you're doing a great job. Bye.