From Sydney to Nashville – The Journey of Two Hands with Henry Roberts

00:00Sharpier's Bakery is a locally owned and family operated wholesale bakery providing bread to Nashville's best eateries. They have operated in Nashville since 1986. Yes, next year will be 40 years. They providing high quality fresh bread daily for restaurants, catering companies, hospitals and universities. The bread is also free from any preservatives and artificial flavors. The right off of White Bridge Road, Erin Mosso and her team have been doing this for a long time. And you know what I love about them is that they're local and they care. They care about your business. That's like the number one thing you're gonna hear me talk about is, do they care about your business? And I 100% believe that they do. If you would like to be working with a bakery that cares about your business, give them a call. 615-356-0872. That's 615-356-0872. Now you can always visit them at sharpieres.com.

01:01That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. And they have pictures of all of the bread that they can have for you and contact information. Go check them out, Sharpieres Bakery. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. The tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City. And welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. And I'm excited to bring this episode to you today. We are speaking with Henry Roberts. He is the founder and owner at Two Hands. Now I didn't know what Two Hands really was. I had lunch there with my son several weeks ago in the factory at Franklin.

02:07And it was delicious and it was very Australian and I didn't quite get the concept. And I will tell you if you go eat there for lunch or brunch, the schnitzel sandwich is to die for. The Brussels sprouts are amazing. And then they have this espresso coffee cake thing that is, it's fantastic. Anyway, I ate there and I was kinda like, this isn't local, I don't know, we'll try it. Everything else was slammed. And then I got to meet, I was at a Together Hospitality, I believe it's what it's called, Together Hospitality Nashville. And it was at Two Hands and I met Henry and he was such a lovely guy. And I just really enjoyed our conversation. I said, man, you should come on the show sometime. And he was in town from New York and he said, I'd be in Franklin this afternoon. So we just recorded this. It was like off the cuff that day, let's go. And this is such a fantastic conversation. We go through like his whole life. And if there's a story of believing in yourself and really hustling and the rags to, we had one little location, I slept in the back room and then I made it to, now we're opening our number nine.

03:16It's just a really fun story and I really enjoyed talking with him and he's such a great conversation. So enjoy this conversation. I do wanna say that we had an absolute blast at Tennessee Flavors. We had an absolute blast at Team Heidi. Team Heidi in Atlanta, the big fundraiser for the Giving Kitchen was amazing. I got to speak with the head of marketing for Tzikis, the owners of ASW Distillery. I spoke with Empire Distributing. So many people just stopped by where we're talking. I think we have 10 or 12 different interviews. I'm gonna get that out as soon as I can, as well as the Tennessee Flavors episode. I am just swamped with editing and putting stuff together and my dance card is really full right now. So I will get those out. I promise they'll be coming soon. And I'm excited to put this one out right now. Honestly, I don't have much more to talk about. I'm excited about this interview I did this morning with Lisa LeClair.

04:19She's the president of the Greater Nashville Hospitality Association. And we talk a lot about Nashville and why, I feel like so many decisions about Nashville are being made around downtown and so many local restaurants aren't downtown. They're all around. And so we're, she mentioned that they're looking at changing the, for safety reasons, changing our certifications for the ABC to two years instead of five years. And so we're talking about how we can have more training and it's like, but look, so many people in the suburbs don't, that just creates way more work and more hassle for everybody else. And so we talk about a lot of interesting things in that episode and that's gonna come out in a little bit. We're gonna have Vince Lanni coming up and he's the GM at Green Ring Co. And he owns Serve Up Strategies. We have Jason Cruz, who's the owner and president at C&B Lenin's. And guys, I'm telling you, I went to his facility and met with him and it's immaculate. I've had a lot of you reach out to me about C&B Lenin's as, and I'm enjoyed, I have their price list.

05:24I've negotiated a price list for NARA. It's all ready to go. No minimums, no contract. You don't have to sign a seven year deal with them. You can order, there's no fees. They're not charging you fees for anything. And I got to learn how they do this from the man that started the company himself. And it's just a genuine passion for this industry. And he also owns some other businesses and he's able to own the land. So he's not paying a massive rent downtown. He's in Waynesboro, but their level of service and their commitment to excellence is beyond. And I got to see it firsthand. I walked through their facility. I've been to other Lenin facilities and they kind of feel like sweatshops because they're hot, they smell, all that stuff. There's this fully indoors. It is state of the art. It is brand new because their other warehouse burned down a few years ago. So everything is completely, I've never seen Lenins that looked like this. They have inventory. And Krista who runs the thing is an absolute gem. You guys, this is legit.

06:25If you want to save thousands upon thousands of dollars and have much better Lenins with a company that wants to work with you, message me, message me and we can talk. Send it to me at Brandon Styll on Instagram, or you can email me at, it's Brandon at newlighthospitality.com. That is my email address and you can get ahold of me and I'll be happy to introduce you to them. They're the super source of Lenin companies. Okay, that's the best way I can put it. If you've used super source and you're like, wow, Brandon was right. These guys are amazing. And you need to be using super source for your dish, machine and chemicals. They are the super source of C and B of Lenins. C and B, like the letter C and the letter B, Lenins. Go look them up online. They're awesome. Let's jump in right now. We're talking to Henry Roberts. He's the owner and founder of Two Hands. Super excited today to welcome in Henry Roberts. Henry is the founder and owner of Two Hands.

07:26Welcome Henry. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Excited to have you. Dined at your restaurant the other day in the factory over in Franklin. And then today I met you at your location on Eighth Avenue, right across street from Arnold's. Correct. We had a meeting kind of assembly today for Together. Hospitality. Hospitality, yes. Thank you for hosting that. Oh, it was a pleasure. Yeah, they're good people. And so by the sound of your voice, you are Australian. Yes. Born and raised. Born and raised in Sydney. Tell us your story. I always tell people, we'll start off with the 90 second elevator pitch. Oh, 90 seconds. Whatever you want. I don't care if it's 10 minutes, just whatever. Tell us about yourself. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I was born in Sydney, Australia. Grew up in the suburbs. And yeah, I kind of, I went to a private boys school.

08:27I kind of had a great upbringing, great family. And wasn't very good at school. Didn't really have sort of a talent. Wasn't book smart. So I never really knew what I was gonna do when I left school. What did you least not like about school? I hated school. I hated sitting through school, my least favorite thing. Yeah, I just, I hated the structure. I didn't like, I couldn't concentrate. I had ADHD and- Guilty? And which now I feel is like my super power in terms of what I do now. But- Do you think that drove you to the restaurant industry? Well, I think it definitely felt like a place where I could strive with where my concentration levels were at. Because now I wear many hats. I juggle a lot of tasks on the go. And I give snippets of time to things and I cover a range and where I'm not so good at focusing in on one thing for a whole day and finishing it, I kind of jump around.

09:35And it eventually gets done, but I'll get 10 things done instead of one. And now I have a great team of people that kind of fill the gaps of what I don't do well. And so, it's kind of worked out, but it was daunting because yeah, I was like, what am I gonna be good at? What am I gonna do after school? What am I gonna even study? And- Did you go to college? Yeah, I went to university and did a bachelor of music. I played guitar, I loved music. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wasn't gonna be a music major in any way, but I wanted to, I thought maybe the music industry, the business side of it would be where I'd be comfortable. And so, I did that, graduated, worked for a great little company in Sydney in the music industry. And there was no money to be made. And it was kind of felt like my passion and my hobby, like the thing that I enjoyed being music, listening to music, became my work.

10:42And it didn't gel the way I thought it would. It sort of, it became stressful, it became a pain in my ass. And so, I was like, I don't wanna lose this beautiful thing of music and loving it. And I don't wanna have that not gel well with my work. So, I was like, look, again, I don't really know what I'm gonna do, but I'm gonna travel to the States and just figure out what I wanna do. And once I run out of money, I'll come back home and figure it out. So, let me stop you right there. So, you wanted to travel to the States. What was the draw to the States from Australia? What opportunity was there for you? Did you perceive at the time? No, I didn't see it as an opportunity. I saw it as more of a vacation. Like an adventure? Yeah, an adventure. Yeah, I came over here with a good friend of mine and we road tripped in a camper van and we bounced around, we flew into LA, then we went down to Newport Beach and spent.

11:44That's where I grew up. Really? There you go. Well, Laguna, my grandparents lived in Huntington, my other grandparents lived in Newport. There you go, yeah. 52nd Street in Balboa, baby. That was my, the jetties right there. That was me. Yeah, so we, a buddy of mine was playing rugby and for the Newport team, whatever. And he was like, look, we're all living down here. And we kind of had flown into LA and we were like walking down Hollywood Boulevard and we were like, this isn't as good as we thought it would be. It's kind of gross. Yeah, this is disgusting. And so he's like, dude, come down to Newport, it's beautiful, like, you know. And so, yeah, we spent a month down there. Then we went to San Diego, bounced around, and then we eventually drove from LA to Miami. Oh, wow. Just took Highway 10 all the way across? We went like, we went down south through like college towns, basically. Yeah. You're having an adventure, I like that. Yeah, we went to, I got my wallet stolen in Nashville, actually, on Broadway when we visited.

12:44Apropos. And anyway, stayed with a chef in Charleston, and then we were in Tallahassee because a buddy said Tallahassee's great. I don't know, you know, anyway. And- Doesn't sound like it is. I've never been in Tallahassee. No. It's like, eh. There's not much there. But yeah, we eventually got to Miami and from Miami we flew up to New York. And yeah, as soon as I got to New York, I kind of fell in love with it and started working in hospitality in New York and, you know, got a real feel for it, met some cool friends. And at that point it wasn't like, oh, I want to open a restaurant, but it was, oh, I want to stay for longer than a year because I only had a year long visa. Okay. And so the restaurant I was working at, they, you know, I was lucky enough, they sponsored me for a two year visa. So I was able to renew my visa for another two years and I worked for them for over two years, I think it was down in Soho.

13:52And whilst I was working there, every day I was kind of like starting to spin the wheels on this idea of opening, you know, an Australian style cafe in New York that was something that I was looking for in the city, but I wasn't finding that kind of community cafe with good coffee and good food and a good vibe. And yeah, it was probably two years of spinning the wheels on that idea before executing. When you got into, when you're in New York and you start working in the hospitality industry, did you find, for me, it was kind of like, these are my people. Like these, this is the pirate ship I want to be on. But I kind of, as I get older and I start researching my ADHD and all these things, nothing ever made sense sitting in a computer, doing these like desk jobs or retail, like didn't really work for me. When I got in a restaurant, there was this chaos that was already in my brain.

14:52And then all of a sudden, the chaos of a restaurant just kind of mellowed it. And I went, oh shit, I'm good at this. Like, this is something I'm good at. Did you find that when you got into that, was that the thing that, like what about hospitality working in a restaurant really did you like feel? Yeah, I, so yeah, I felt that exact same way. I was never a good speller. So I never wanted to, I felt embarrassed putting pen to paper or typing an email. And I never wanted that to be part of my life, you know, which it kind of is now, but in a way. Well then now there's auto correction and chat GPT. So anybody can sound like a professor. Absolutely. But yeah, it was that chaos. I remember I started, my first position in New York was I was a host and putting the puzzle pieces together and telling someone they had 10 minutes to wait for a table and then, you know, getting them in that table and seeing that, dropping a check there and just, you know, playing like the coach, you know, almost it was- Air traffic controller almost. Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, exactly.

15:53It was like thrilling and, you know, just meeting people along the way and having a good time. And, you know, I was 23 years old from Sydney, kind of, you know, had lived this protected life. And, you know, I'm in New York City and Soho and I'm in this cool restaurant where, you know, famous people were walking in and I was just like, yeah, living a dream. And you're an attractive guy. You got the Australian accent. You're kind of hanging out. You probably had a good time. It was great. Yeah, I mean, it was amazing. It was, I mean, I still think so fondly of those days. And yeah, you know, and then I went and I was working, you know, I kind of graduated to work in the day shift and then I worked behind the bar in the day shift and then worked the night shift. And, you know, back then, I feel like it's kind of changed now, but with the labor market, but, you know, we used to have to line up for like fairs, for job fairs. And you'd, you know, there'd be a line down the street cause they'd say, hey, you know, we're hiring. Come at, you know, Thursday at three o'clock. And, you know, you'd hope you get the job.

16:55And then when you got the job, you kind of start down the bottom and you'd have to prove yourself and work your way up. Now I'm just waving people in on the street, you know? It's like, whoever, you know, come on in. You're like checking their pulse. You're like, yep, you're alive, let's go. Give it a go, you know? But, so yeah, I worked through that. And then, yeah, and, you know, they sponsored me, which was great. And you had this idea, you really wanted to do this. Yeah, I had this idea. And my dad had unfortunately passed away the day I left school, high school. And he had, my brothers and sisters are a little bit older than I am. And so sort of years prior, he had helped them. He had like loaned them like $150,000 to put a deposit down on an investment property, like an apartment. And because I was still in high school, that money was just put aside for me. And then he passed away. And then when I went to my mom and I said, hey, you know, I wanna open a cafe. You know, this is my idea here in New York.

17:56And, you know, again, I was 23, 24. So she was like, okay, let's see where this idea goes. But she said, look, you do have that money if you wanna use it, but you need to sort of show me that you're serious about this. And so, you know, I did that for a year and a half, nearly two years, I was working at it and putting business plan together and talking to people and looking at real estate. And, you know, eventually we found a place, the first space that we found, I found on Craigslist. It was half, it was only 600 square feet. The first 300 square feet was a Thai hair salon. The back half was an illegal like mahjong, like gambling den in Chinatown. So we were on the border of like Chinatown and Little Italy, but it was just around the corner, like three blocks from where I had worked in Soho. So it was like, it was in the neighborhood that I knew the best.

18:57And so I knew it would work location wise. It was in our budget and, you know, it was kind of small enough to not be too daunting and kind of hole in the wall style coffee shop was what we wanted to do. And so we, you know, we dove into that lease, spent the 150 I spent, all of it, obviously. Pretty quickly, I imagine. But literally, I think I borrowed $5,000 from my roommate and I think we got another 10,000 somewhere. So, you know, 170, let's say. And, you know, we were doing, we got one Albanian contractor and he did everything. And then we did everything else and there was a lot of plywood and a lot of, you know, sort of like, let's get this up, the basement we didn't even touch because we couldn't afford it. So then, yeah, we opened and basically- Was this two hands? This was two hands. The first one. In 2014, so it was nearly 11 years ago now.

20:01And we kind of like were busy from the get-go and it just, people responded to it really well. And then, you know, we sort of just put every dollar back into the business. And we sort of have done that ever since. Was there a large Australian contingency there in New York of people that wanted that? That were like, oh my God, finally, there's a place that I feel like at home and then you're also introducing other people to what you're doing? Yeah, it was, yeah, there's a combination of a good Aussie community and then, you know, this kind of move into the healthy wellness space. It also was right around the time where Instagram was becoming a place where people would take pictures of their food, which we hadn't really seen before. You know, that was becoming one of the main things on Instagram was- Food. Yeah, food, people dining out. The camera eats first. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

21:01And so we, you know, we had built this kind of like light, bright, whitewashed, you know, beachy sort of cafe in the middle of this kind of dark, dingy big city. And so it was this juxtaposition of bright, healthy food popping off these kind of white interiors and kind of like people were able to escape there a little bit from their small apartments or, you know, their kind of, their hustle and bustle life in New York. How did that make you feel when you have this vision, you have this dream and you spend every dollar, all the sweat and time to see that come to fruition, to see people coming in. Alyssa Ganjeri, who owns Buttermilk Ranch on the street, said, I feel such a responsibility because a lot of times we're the first people that anybody talks to in a day. And so they walk in the door and if we say, what do you want? Then it could start their day off in a negative way, but like to see people leaving happy for you to create this, what did that make you feel like?

22:06Yeah, I mean, I feel like, you know, I feel like still to this day, I'm trying to like take note of that because I feel like sometimes I don't stop and think like, how did that make me feel? How, you know, we just opened another restaurant. It was a great success. Like, how are you digesting that? You know, cause it's just- Do you get to digest that? Well, I feel like I'm not so good at that. You know, I feel like I need to keep reminding myself, you know, back in the first one, we were so exhausted, you know, opening to close, cleaning, you know, doing all the things then, oh, I gotta do payroll and I gotta catch up on this. So I haven't even looked at emails like, cause we were, you know, I was working the coffee machine, you know, and so- Role in the restaurant. And then, you know, we opened our second location and I was working in the kitchen, you know, and I was struggling to get myself out of the kitchen. And, you know, I had kind of, it went in waves of that. And so, yeah, it is kind of hard to sit back and be like, you know, enjoy it or see the success.

23:14And I also feel like, you know, what still keeps me up is the idea that, well, I'll just wake up tomorrow and everyone will move on, you know, like they'll turn around and be like, yo, two hands was cool, but now it's not cool. I'm going to this place or, you know, whatever. So in a way that kind of keeps me on my toes and, you know, keeps striving to be relevant and, you know, coming up with new stuff and, you know- Certainly a drive. It's definitely a drive and, you know, just not resting on our laurels. Why don't you take like 10 seconds right now and just stop and go, man, we created something really freaking cool. The one in Franklin that was out there at the factory, like the whole community was there. Like people were there in their little cowboy boots and whatever, you know, they do at the factory at Franklin. But people were connecting and they were like, really, it was, it's a really cool vibe in there. Like, thank you. How does that, like, take a second, like- Yeah, no, it is, it's awesome.

24:15It's definitely like the hard work's paid off and, you know, now we have this thing that's working and it's my responsibility to not eff it up, basically. Cause it is like, you know, not to use the word like plug and play, but, you know, if we open a new one, we're just about to open in Dallas. And it's like, you know, the kind of blueprint's there for success. We just need to make the consistent quality products. We need to create a great culture to, you know, retain staff and cause, you know, we can't emulate what we do at Two Hands or what we strive to do if we don't have that staff retention and we don't have that consistency with the food and the aesthetic and the vibe. And, you know, from music volume to lights, everything, you know, it all is a dance, right? And so, you know, that's nail biting stuff that, you know, you can't take your eye off the prize with that.

25:20When did it change? When did it change from, I'm waking up today, I'm gonna be a barista and I'm making coffee and I'm hustling to the second location. When did you stop and say, okay, we need an SOP for like everything. How do you get from, I'm exhausted, I can't even take this into, we're almost plug and play now. Was there a tipping point for you? Yeah, I think so. You know, we talked a little bit about this earlier, but like, you know, we were six years old when the pandemic hit. The business was, we had four locations and we were just about to open in Austin, Texas. Did you have Nashville by then? No, we didn't have Nashville then. And so it was, you know, leading up to the pandemic, there was this weird time where things just didn't feel right for like a month and a half, two months before the actual pandemic hit. People were getting sick and there was all this like, you know, and I was working the line at the kitchen, you know, I was back on the line six years in to the business as the owner.

26:28And, you know, I was tired and I was kind of back where I was three years ago or whenever. And I was like, you know, how are we gonna launch this business outside of New York and be successful in Austin? Like, how are we gonna take on that challenge if I'm just like, you know, scrambling eggs? Like, and so that was like the low point. And then kind of COVID hit and we just like shut all the stores. We didn't even try and stay open, we just shut. And we were like, we gotta figure this out. And... It's probably a whole podcast, what was that like? Yeah, well, I have a, where I live now, I have a house, a farm up in upstate New York. And I got two of my good friends loaded up my truck full of supplies. And I got my wife and my, I had one kid at the time. We jumped in the car and we went and lived up there together with this little family, like bunkered down, watching movies, not knowing what was gonna go on. And it was almost like a release. It was like, oh, this pressure, where the business was going, you know, and then it kind of like stopped and reset.

27:37And then I started the business with a partner and he decided in 2020, in July of 2020, that he would leave the business and move back to Australia with his family. And he was gonna be the one that was gonna move to Austin and kind of head up that expansion outside New York. And I was gonna be based in New York. And so I was like, shit, you know, it was like another kind of blow. And I was like, shit, what am I gonna do? And then he was like, well, I could like stay on and like launch Austin and then fly back and then move back to Australia. But his wife was pregnant. And I was like, look, ultimately, if you're gonna be gone, I should be the one opening the store because I need to know how it runs. I need to be there on the ground. So Lucy, who you met this morning, she had been working at the company and was kind of climbing the ranks. And she stayed back in New York and kept the businesses afloat there.

28:42We were basically the only two original employees keeping things alive. And then gradually people came back and we started building the team again. I went and lived in Austin for four months and opened that store. And then Barney, who's our culinary ops manager, he sort of opened that restaurant with me. And he was a bit of a saving grace to have him there, based there. Just having good people makes a world of difference. And so we were able to get that store up and running in October of 2020. And instantly it became our best store and still to this day, it's our best unit. So it almost, taking the risk of going through with that store and opening it still during 2020 actually was a blessing because it floated a lot of the New York stores as they got back on their feet. And has sort of inspired the expansion plan for the business, which isn't as sort of traditional as one would expand out of New York.

29:59But it's been challenging, but it's been a success for us to venture out and sort of capitalize on what our concept brings to our consumer into markets where it wasn't as prevalent or there at all. This idea of a healthy community cafe with good coffee and good food under the one roof. And an all day experience like breakfast, lunch and dinner, which is also somewhat unique. We're gonna take a quick moment to hear a word from our sponsors and guys, these are the sponsors that allow me to do this podcast. So we ask you please support them. These are companies that we have vetted that we love that are supporting the community and allowing me to share these type of stories. Hey guys, today we are talking about Robin's Insurance and restaurants carry a very unique set of risks. You can customize a menu of insurance solutions to meet your specific needs. Reviewing the options and developing a plan for restaurant insurance coverage is a perfect recipe.

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35:23Yes, this is a true thing. So pick it up. Find liquor stores everywhere. Look for Black Sheep Tequila or order it today through Ajax Turner. And an all-day experience like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is also somewhat unique. So that was kind of my motivation. And we still love New York, and we still think that there's opportunities to expand there in the future as well. But yeah, the focus was on how do we capitalize on these great emerging cities outside New York. Where'd you meet your wife? I'm gonna take a detour. Sure. I met my wife in New York. She is from Murfreesboro. And she grew up in Murfreesboro. Then she moved out to California to go to USC film school. And she always wanted to be a writer. And so she worked in Hollywood for a couple of years at CAA.

36:24And then she decided, this isn't for me. I wanna write. I've always wanted to be a middle grade writer, middle grade book writer. And so she decided that she'd do a master's degree. And she happened to choose one in Australia. So she went to Sydney, didn't know anyone in Sydney and didn't know me either. So she went to Sydney for a year and did her master's at Macquarie University and then decided to move back to the States after that. But she didn't wanna go back to California. So she chose New York. And that was around the same time I had moved to New York, but we didn't, again, we didn't know each other, but because of her Australian connections that she'd made whilst living over there, we eventually got connected and met. And so- Was this before you opened the first location? It was just before. So I asked her, I think it was like the fourth day that we were open. I asked her out on a date at the restaurant cause she was helping out.

37:24She was like working the till. She was just helping us out as we opened. And we went on our first date to Smalls Jazz Bar in the West Village. I had to meet her late at night cause I was closing and cleaning the restaurant. That's what we do. I didn't even have time to have a shower. And I'm pretty sure our first couple of dates, like I fell asleep a couple of times. But so yeah, we met right at the start. So she's been there for the whole, you know, the entire journey and she's been a part of the business and she still is part of the business. And so yeah, we worked together as husband and wife on the business and yeah, it works really well and- And you have three children now? Three boys? Three boys, yeah. Three boys and she's in, you still have that farm in upstate New York? Yeah, that's where we live now. So I'm doing this because I just, I feel like wives sometimes get out of these things. And when you open restaurants in other cities where you're in Nashville, you're in Austin, you're going to Dallas and you have three kids, she's a major part of the ability to be able to do this.

38:33Yeah, no, it is tough. And we actually just, we moved back to our farm upstate New York, August last year. So we were living in Nashville for nearly three years. And you know, our connection here, just to go back a little bit, we got married at the Belmead Winery. Belmead plantation? Former plantation. Yeah, yeah, at the time it was the plantation. And so we got married down there in 2016. I was one of my first friends to get married. So everyone was like in for the trip to the States. Let's go South. They went Austin, they went to Nashville. We did Buck's party in Vegas. And we had like this amazing time and everyone was young, single, like ready to party. And so we had a great time down here and everyone had such great fond memories of Nashville. And then, you know, obviously her being from here, when the opportunity came up, you know, we decided that, you know, we definitely would love to have a restaurant down here and we would definitely love to, you know, move down here and live here for a while, or if not forever.

39:38And so that was the last three years. And then for a couple of reasons, we decided to move back to the farm. But, you know, we now have three kids. We just had our third. He's only three months old. Oh wow, congratulations. We're like in the thick of it. And it's a lot, but, and she's amazing. And she's been on maternity leave, but she's coming back next week. And we just locked in a nanny, like part-time nanny to help, you know, because we don't have family around. And that'll allow me, you know, a little bit less pressure when I do need to travel and whatnot. But we also try and, you know, when the kids at break, we try and build the restaurant visits into, you know, some form of travel or holiday. We'll, you know, we'll all get in the car and we'll drive. They're pretty good in the car. And we, you know, we'll spend, we're spending a week here in April. You know, we've got friends down here. So all the kids will come and, you know, we'll catch up with everyone. They'd also be doing work as well.

40:39So we try and fit it into the lifestyle as much as possible. So it's not just like work is completely separate. It's, you know, it's, yeah, it's, we try our best to juggle it and, you know, so. Well, I think that's one of the hardest things to do is when this, cause this business will run your life. I mean, every day when you're open, especially breakfast, lunch and dinner, because there's not really a, I mean, only close while you're sleeping seven days a week. I mean, I'm seeing your phone over here is just blinking every 30 seconds. There's a text or something coming through. Yeah. And I mean, it's a lot, it's a lot to balance all of that. You have to kind of work it all in, but I think it's so important to have a partner in this thing and a spouse who can understand those demands and doesn't, do you ever feel guilty? I mean, is this, is this a? No, I mean, yeah, I guess I do. I do feel guilty sometimes, you know, I'm trying to, just make sure that my, my travel, you know, my wife is very understanding if I need, if I need to be called one way or the other, shit hits the fan.

41:52But, you know, now with, we're in four markets and six cities. So, you know, I just have to be strategic about my travel plans and intentional, you know, I can't fluff around, I can't waste time. So, you know, I'm here for two days, then I'm going to, and I'm visiting Kansas City next week, because that's a potential site. And then I'm back in Nashville, but we'll all be together. And then we're opening Dallas, so I'll be there. And hopefully they'll be there for some of that. So, you know, just, just juggling it. It's a lot. And, you know, it'll be interesting, like just as we evolve as a family, as we evolve as a business, you know, how that adapts and changes. But. So you go from one restaurant to two restaurants to three restaurants. You have nine now? You're about to have nine? Yeah, we're about to open our ninth location in Dallas. And we, yeah, we, we, we opened four in New York before we then ventured outside.

42:57And that was kind of circumstantial. We had a, we had a friend who had a development, who, you know, was a big supporter of us, who, you know, was like, hey, I've got this development. You'd be great for it in Austin. And that was shortly after we'd opened our second location. And we went down there, we checked it out. We met with everyone. It was a hole in the ground. But ultimately we were like, look, we're not ready for this. Long story short, the whole development took longer than expected. Took four years or whatever it was. And so 2020 comes around and. You were ready. And we were like, yeah, we could do this now, I think. And so we jumped in and, you know, again, like I said, so glad that we did. And yeah, we've, we've kind of, yeah, proven that we can expand or dip our toes into markets. And then, you know, and it has been challenging, but we, we now can focus on what it looks like to infill those markets and, and, you know, grow, grow economies of scale in each city that we've kind of dove into.

44:07When you had two restaurants, what was your biggest stress on a daily basis? When you think back to the day, you had two restaurants. What was the thing that stressed you out the most? Two things I would say. One was call outs. Cause I just, I feel like back then people were just calling out and it was always on the weekend and you know, brunch is our busiest service. And it was just like, and it was just frustrating because I was like, the, you know, yeah, it was just constant. And, and the second, and, and because I was also involved with like working the line still and being involved, it was like, all right, well, I'm going to have to come in on my Saturday and work the line and cover you, you know? So it's like personal, you know? But, and the second was once we really soon after we opened our first location, second location, sorry, we experienced our first like lawsuit situation.

45:12So we had, we had, we had an ADA lawsuit. We had a trademark lawsuit and we, yeah, we had, basically, I don't know what you'd call it, but basically we had, we had a staff member say that we were paying managers with tips, which we weren't. But I mean, for anyone listening who doesn't know the hospitality industry, basically like when accusations like that come your way, you basically just have to settle whether you're right or wrong. So it just is, it's kind of depressing. And the same with the ADA lawsuits in New York where, you know, most of New York is not ADA compliant because it's so old. And we are in a landmark district with a landmark building, you know. It's difficult. It's difficult. So, you know, we were just young and, you know, we'd kind of, I mean, back then, you know, we'd get by on a dime, you know, in terms of build outs and everything still.

46:19So we didn't have a bunch of cash sitting around for when stuff like this did happen. So that's a lot of stress. What about today? Like today, eight, about to be nine stores. How has your life changed on a daily basis? Like, obviously lawsuits are still some that probably stress you. Cause nine, there's a lot more than that. But like, what is something today that, you know, is something you worry about? Or what's a fear that wasn't a fear back then? Yeah, I guess like my, you know, I guess what keeps me up at night, so to speak, is trying to make the best decision moving forward for the company, because, you know, there is more, there is more to it. There's more employees. We have, you know, nearly 250 employees. We have- That's a massive responsibility. Yeah, we have, you know, yeah. But money, I have 30 odd investors. And, you know, it's like, you know, and the business is 11 years old now.

47:23So it's like, what I gotta make the next, all the moves that I need to make need to be the right ones, because who knows like, with the world we live in, like who knows whether, you know, how long you're gonna be good. Like how long people are gonna wanna, you know, be interested in your brand or coming to a restaurant. You know, being cool, being relevant, all these things like, you know, as I get older and I kind of get more detached, you know, I'm just like a dad now. I don't really care about all that stuff. But like, it's important because we're a brand that is, you know, needs to appeal to people to be a good business and make money. So that's always daunting because it's, you know, particularly in New York where things can be hot and then not hot like instantly. Like that, I was thinking like real quick. Yeah, and that's why I've never, you know, we don't wanna strive to have viral moments like, because viral moments come and go. I just want slow consistency, you know, with our growth, with everything that we do.

48:26And that's why, you know, I can, you know, rest easy if we open a store and there's not a line out the door on day one. It's like, we got this, you know, we just need to prove ourselves. If you do good stuff, people will come for the good stuff, you know? Yeah. And we just gotta keep reminding ourselves of that. But it does, you know, it does keep me up at night because, you know, you can get influence on your peers or other competition, whether they're growing faster than you or they're, you know, whatever the case may be, there's always that comparison. But I think it's important to, you know, for me, to stick to, you know, what are our company goals? What's our vision? What's our mission? And have that as a sort of north star and nothing else really matters, you know? And so just, I guess, kind of bringing myself back to that, but also the team, you know? So we're all on the same page, but. It's a lot of pressure. Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, the kind of day to day, the nuts and bolts, the business, like, you know, I know how to do that now.

49:31It's like, that doesn't sort of stress me out and things come and go. You know, when we used to get our, when I had one store and we used to get our health inspector, you know, that would stress me out. You know, I'd be like on the floor stressing out about that. Now, I don't stress out about that because, you know, they come, they go, we execute. We've got all the procedures in place, you know? So that's all fine, you know? They come and go, it is what it is. But the, yeah, the idea that this thing that you've built and is getting bigger could one day just crash to the ground, you know? That's like a, yeah. That's one of the things where I'm laying in my pillow at night and I just, my brain won't stop and I'm like, just stop. Totally. That's when you do breath work and you're like, speaking of breath work, how do you de-stress? What are the things, do you have hobbies? Like, what do you do when you're not running this company? So yeah, I mean, I do love having hobbies and little things that I sort of get obsessed with.

50:37And, you know, we've been farming on our property for, since we bought it in 2017. And my wife and I did an online course at Cornell and learned basically everything from scratch about regenerative agriculture and grazing. And then we, you know, we bought eight cows and we raised them for a year and a half. We butchered them, we sold, you know, they all went into the restaurant. You raised cows, you didn't butcher them. You sent them away to be butchered? Yeah, USDA certified, yep. I'm like, what was, I gotta know the story behind that. This is Bessie, Bessie, come here. Yeah, no, no. We're gonna harvest you now. Put him in a trailer and drove him to an abattoir that was USDA certified so we could resell it, you know, through the business. And yeah, then we got pigs and chickens and then we got sheep and then we got, you know, what else did we have? Was it ever a dream that you could be self-sustainable and raise all of your own stuff for all your restaurants?

51:42I guess it was for a minute, but it's definitely not achievable because it's just too much and our farm's too small. But, you know, what we did was, we found that a lot of people, you know, coming for interviews, you know, we have a little snippet on our website and people would always ask about, oh, I wanna learn more about the farm. What's going on with the farm? And, you know, people still to this day, if they know that I have a farm, they wanna talk about it. You know, it's very interesting to people. And so I was like, well, how do I build this into the company in a way that's not, hey, we're gonna have every piece of beef that you have at Two Hands is from the farm. But how can I use it as a tool to, you know, educate, to, you know, talk about sustainability and talk about, you know, how does it, you know, wind in with our vision and our mission? And so, you know, we were living, we moved down to Nashville for three years.

52:45So we kind of, we kept the farm and we slowed things down a bit. But since moving back, the goal is to, you know, intertwine that fabric into the rest of the business in a way that, you know, is meaningful and educational. And, you know, for me, it is sort of like my hobby. And, you know, if I'm stressed out or I don't wanna sit at my desk and take this next meeting, then I'll just put my headphones on and I'll go look at the sheep or, you know. Get in the gator and go for a ride? Yeah, put the hose on and fill up the water, like whatever, or just walk through the woods and, you know, yeah, get that fresh air. And so, you know, yeah, I like to do that. You know, I always like to, you know, keep up with my exercise to get the good endorphins. So I like to run. I don't know how. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been running lately because of the new baby, but, and it's like, you know, upstate New York at this time of year is not ideal to go running outside.

53:46So, but, yeah, try and keep fit and then, yeah, you know, just, yeah, just enjoy, you know, the family, I guess, and, you know, try and switch off, you know, on the weekends. I definitely, my, after, you know, probably eight years, you know, I was able to like take weekends and not be bothered and not be stressed or, you know, which is amazing. I mean, I sort of take that for granted, I feel like, but it's, it is, you know, yeah, I do have weekends to myself and, you know, if I'm not traveling or whatnot, but, but, you know, that's a time where we just, we decompress and yeah. That's good. I was just curious. What's your, what's your favorite movie of all time? This says a lot about somebody right here. This was one of my favorite get to know you questions.

54:47Like, what's your favorite? I'll tell you mine is a tie between Silence of the Lambs and The Shawshank Redemption. Okay, they're good ones. So I've got like a top three. All right, give me a top three. Okay, I'll give you a top three. So probably my favorite movie of all time is a movie called High Society with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. I can't say I've seen it. And Louis Armstrong, all the top dogs of their time. And it's basically, it's this cute old movie musical about this traveling jazz band that goes to play jazz for the rich and famous in Newport, Rhode Island. And then Frank Sinatra is like a reporter. And anyway, it's just a great movie. High Society. High Society. Okay, that's one. Second would be Prisoners. Have you ever seen Prisoners? I don't think so. Excellent film. Who's in that? Like is that? Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Terrence Howard.

55:50I feel like I should have seen this. Paul Danko. Is it Paul Danko? Yeah. I don't know. Awesome thriller, amazing film. And then I love that movie, A Place Beyond the Pines. Have you seen that? I don't know that I've seen that. That's an all-star cast too. I'm gonna go back when I edit this. I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna watch all, next time I see you, I'm gonna be like, holy shit, dude, The Prisoners was the best movie I've ever seen. It is like, it's kind of went under the radar though. But yeah, I like, yeah, Place Beyond the Pines is sort of a long movie that spans a generation in time. And it's got Bradley Cooper in it. It's got Ben Mendelsohn. I feel like I may have seen that one. It's about motorbike. Anyway, it's, so Schenectady, which is not far from where we are upstate New York, just outside Albany is Schenectady, the Native American word Schenectady means Place Beyond the Pines.

56:55And that's where the director grew up. He's a director that's done other stuff. I can't remember off the top of my head, but anyway. So it kind of, it's just a cool movie. But- Probably because you're close to there and you understand it. It probably has a little bit of a home feel to it. It does. But my wife is, yeah, she, as I mentioned, she worked in Hollywood. She loves movies and she loves like the Oscars and all the award shows. And she can actually recite every best picture winner since like 1920, whenever the Oscars started. You throw out 1984, she'll be like Amadeus or whatever. Really? Yeah. And so the Oscars were just on Sunday. So- No, I watched, yeah, Enora. Enora won the best picture, which I have not seen. Yeah. And I told my wife, so we have to watch Enora and The Brutalist cause those are like- Yeah. I haven't- Swept. I haven't had the time. I did watch The Complete Unknown and I thought it was good.

57:56I didn't think it was great. But yeah, so we love our movies and we love talking about like top five and different things. And it always kind of chops and changes, but- What's the best concert you've ever attended? I'm a big music guy. I love concerts. For me it was 92, 94, U2, Zoo TV at the Georgia Dome. Public Enemy opened for them. Wow. And I had third row seats. Dude, I went to U2 in like 2006 and Jay-Z opened for them in Sydney. In Sydney. What's that about? Amazing. Well, I'm like Public Enemy. I was like 14 or something and Public Enemy comes out and I'm like, fight the power. And I'm just over here. I don't know what the fuck this is. But like, I mean, I loved Public Enemy because that was, but you know, Chuck D and Flavor Flav and the whole thing. But like to see them right in front of you and then U2, for me, it was just the spectacle of everything.

58:56I really want to go to the sphere and see anybody play. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. So I go to a lot of concerts I love. I've been to a bunch that are amazing and probably some that stand out was, so my first concert when I was a kid, I was probably like eight or nine. My parents took me to ELO. Really? And I have since seen them again. I saw them at Madison Square Garden a couple of years ago and I loved them and that was amazing. Electric Light Orchestra. Yeah. Good shoot. All right. And then I love James Taylor and I've seen him twice. Both times I loved. I actually saw him in Nashville last year. I saw James Taylor at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay. Oh yeah. Randomly. Nice. Yeah. Good show, good storyteller.

59:56Yes. I love the, I love- Good humor. He's got a good, like witty humor, but like kind of storytelling and cute. Like he just seems like a nice guy. He'd be a really cool grandpa. Yeah, totally, totally. But recently, like two weeks ago, I went and saw Hans Zimmer. At Barclay in Brooklyn. And that was pretty special to see, he basically played sort of the hits from his movies, but with a giant orchestra of many different people. Y'all today we are talking as always about Super Source. And you know, one cool thing about Super Source is did you know that they develop most of their cleaning products and chemicals in their in-house facility? They're environmentally conscious and only use dyes that are safe for the employees and the environment. They carry a number of products for keeping your dishes, flatware, surfaces, floors, restrooms, laundry, basically your entire facility, clean, bright and smelling and feeling new.

01:00:59This is just one of the many reasons Super Source is taking over this city for dish machine and chemicals. You need to call Jason Ellis. His number is 770-337-1143. And he would love it if you would give him a call and let him come down and just check out your operation, meet him, say hi, see if there's any way he can help. He is here to help you succeed. That's Jason Ellis with Super Source 770-337-1143. Very excited to be partnering with C&B Linen. If you know me, it's my number one topic of conversation is linen companies and how shady linen companies can be, I am just disgusted with how the business practices work in this industry, which is why I was so excited when I found C&B Linen. They're out of Waynesboro, Tennessee, and they don't charge any fees. So the linen price that you have, whatever that first linen price is, that's your price.

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01:03:04Or you give them a call at 931722-7616, or you can DM me at Brandon Styll on Instagram for my exclusive pricing through the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance. Nara for short. Hello, this is Jen Heidinger Kendrick, founder of Giving Kitchen. Let me tell you a little more. Giving Kitchen is a James Beard award-winning nonprofit that provides emergency assistance to food service workers nationally. Headquartered in Atlanta since 2013, Giving Kitchen has served over 19,000 food service workers and awarded over $12 million to food service workers in crisis. Giving Kitchen helps food service workers that get hurt or sick, lose a family member, or suffer a housing disaster like a flood or a fire by offering financial assistance to cover rent and utilities. If you know someone that works in a bar or restaurant that is in crisis, tell them ask for help from Giving Kitchen by visiting givingkitchen.org slash help. Wanna get involved and support Giving Kitchen?

01:04:06Dining with Gratitude in October, GK's month-long campaign where the food service community pledges to raise critical funds and spread the word about their mission. Learn more by clicking the link in this episode's notes, givingkitchen.org slash DWG. But we went last summer, we saw Young the Giant at Ascend and Milky Chance opened for them. Yes. Milky Chance blew my mind. Really? To this day, anytime a Milky Chance song comes on the radio, I get this warm feeling and I remember that show and I just start going, God, that was an awesome show. I mean, it was, they rocked my face off. It was so amazing, it was so great, man. I went to So You Like This probably five years ago we went to a festival, I don't know if you heard of it, it was called Desert Trip.

01:05:08Nope. And it was, so day one, Bob Dylan, Neil Young. Day two, Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. What? Day three, Roger Waters and The Who. Oh, dude. Three day festival, that was pretty special. I can't even fathom. Different than a concert in terms of like best of, but like that was pretty special. But to say that you've seen just those six people is like the Mount Rushmore. I know. Did you see Mick Jagger come out in the Oscars the other day? Yes. My kid walked in the room and I go, let's Mick Jagger. And he goes, who's that? Right, and he's 11, he doesn't know Rolling Stones. And I went, that, if you ever hear the term, like party like a rock star, like, oh, you're a rock star. Like that's the dude, that's the rock star. And he's like, oh, so he's like famous, famous. And I went, let me, I rewound it.

01:06:08And I went, everyone stood up. This is a movie, this is a movie crowd. And this dude walks out and gets a standing ovation for like a minute. I'm like, that's how famous he is. He walks out, I go, if I could just be Mick Jagger for one day, I don't think I can do it. One day, I would love to just walk into a room as Mick Jagger to know what that feels like. Do you ever think like that? Yeah, 100%, yeah. Yeah, it's interesting, the younger generation, in my bathroom at my house, I have that famous picture of John Lennon in the New York singlet at the top. Well, he's like standing at the top of a building and he's kind of got his curly hair and his sunglasses on. And my sister was in town with her youngest kid and staying with us. And he looked up and he goes, mommy, is that Benson Boone? No, dear, that's John Lennon. You'd be the other guy next to Mick Jagger. You're like, no, that's the ultimate. Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, those type guys are.

01:07:11Yeah, yeah, I love 60s and 70s rock and soft rock. I love soft bread and the Eagles, I love all that stuff. The Eagles are in this fear right now. I love talking, we have this cantina in Belmont, Chago's Cantina, and I have a bunch of college kids. And Pearl Jam, I'm a 90s alternative grunge. That was like my era, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Soundgarden, all those people. And I went and saw Pearl Jam last year outside Indianapolis and I came back and I was like, how was your weekend? And I went and saw Pearl Jam, I'm like, who's that? And these kids have no idea. Anytime Tom Petty is on the radio, whose thing is this? I don't know, I'm like, it's Tom Petty. How do you not know who Tom Petty is? We saw Tom Petty live a week before he died. My wife and I, my wife loves Tom Petty and he was playing at this in Queens in New York and we went and saw him and then a week later he died.

01:08:19And so my wife, she's always big on the like, I'm so glad we did that and she loves Prince but she left Coachella one year early and missed his show. Now he's gone. And so we were talking about Paul Simon and she was like, I wish that we'd seen Paul Simon. I don't think he's gonna tour again. Anyway, he just announced the tour and we bought tickets. So we're going, I think it's like June. But anyway, you never regret that stuff. And I guess you do if you don't do it but I think, yeah, we have that in common. So we enjoy our concerts for sure. We used to have an amphitheater here in town called Starwood Amphitheater. I don't know if you remember that but it's kind of like a send but it was much bigger and it was out like halfway to Murfreesboro and it was called Starwood Amphitheater. If your wife, if she's like from here, she'll remember it. But I think I saw Tom Petty, I think it was the Wildflowers Tour at Starwood.

01:09:21And it was so, we bribed, we didn't get tickets but we bribed like one of the security guys, we gave him like 40 bucks, he got like eight of us in the side door, kind of a thing and it was a big lawn area and man, that was just a good time. I just get happy thinking about going to shows back in the day and just all your worries, all that stress that we feel every day. I don't feel any of that when I'm doing a show and I'm just watching, I'm just experiencing something like that. Yeah, that's a beautiful thing. Well, we've gone way off topic and we're almost at that hour mark but I talked to a lot of local restaurateurs and when I ate at Two Hands, I like to only eat at local restaurants because I'm a big, that's what we do, I wanna support our local restaurateurs. So I kind of felt like- Guilty. I was a little bit of like, I don't want anybody to see me but after talking to you this morning, I was like, no, this dude, his wife's from here, this is a restaurant tour, this isn't some big conglomerate who's just, I really felt like your story was really cool and I love just your vibe and everything that you were doing and you had a real passion for this and I thought it was a really neat story and how you kind of started with the one and you've just built this thing and it's just your business that you're building like anybody does and I loved that story and I just wanna say thank you for coming in today and kind of- Thank you for having me.

01:10:54Indulging all of this and I'm excited to be able to share this story with everybody in the community to kind of hear it, they don't know, what is this Two Hands, whether they're coming in, is this some carpet bagger coming in and I think it's a neat story and I really appreciate your time and- Thank you. It was a lot of fun. Thank you, yeah. I don't know what I've missed, I like to just go like, what did I miss? Is there some big thing you wanna talk about that I just completely glossed over? No, I mean, I think we covered all the major bases. Yeah, we're just, as I said, we're just plugging away, we're opening in Dallas in April and then after that, we're gonna sort of take a breath and we've just done, we just opened three stores in 12 months, so we're kind of, our little team has been at capacity and I think it's important, whatever my goals are in terms of growth of the business, it has to relate back to where my team's at.

01:11:55Can we handle it? Am I gonna burst the bubble here? And I've been so happy with my team and proud of them and all the rest of it. The cat has put a bracelet under the door of the studio and we're looking at the door of the studio and there's just this cat hands sticking underneath the door, sorry, I don't know. We got our first cat the other day because when we moved back to the farm, I was walking through the barn with the boys and we just stumbled across two, three week old kittens. Oh my God. And they were like, can we have one? And I was like, you can't say no. I was like, let's leave them here for a day and see if their mom's around and then we'll make a decision. So the next day we come out, one of them's gone and there's just one there. And I was like, well, I guess maybe there's a mom around here somewhere. Let's leave them another day. The next day we come out, they're both gone. And a week later, we don't see them, nothing. A week later, we're in the barn and we hear this meow meow and this little cat comes up, no, just the one and we're like, all right, you're coming with us.

01:13:03Now he's six months old and he's, yeah, he's great. He's great. What's the cat's name? Winston. Winston, great. Chill, Winston. Great cat name, man. Ours is Mr. Mischief. Mr. Mischief. There you go. That's our cat. I never thought I'd be a cat person. I thought, no, I'm a dog guy. And then we got this three week old cat in the house and it's doing its thing in the kitty litter. It's cleaning itself. I don't have to do anything. I'm like, cats are easy. You go on vacation, you just put extra in the bowl. How easy are cats, man? They make you work for the affection. Every time I'm in bed and the cat comes up to me and lays down, I'm like, oh, you see this? The cat likes me. Wait a minute, the cat is over here. My wife's like, I hate you. I'm like, the cat loves me. It's a whole thing. And the kids, the kids love the animals. That's the most important thing. Yeah, it's good for them. Well, the final thing, I didn't ask you, how many restaurants do you want to end up at?

01:14:07What is your vision? 10 years from now, you want 100? No, that's a good question. Honestly, I just want to grow a good business. I want people to walk into store number 10, 15 and be like, hey, I got a similar experience. There's consistency here, there's quality. I want to be proud of them. And I know that with growth that you got to be cautious because it's difficult. And there's a lot of people I look up to like the Sam Foxes of this world that I, not only a good product, but a good culture. And I'm kind of at a crossroads now of that, like, okay, what's the next five years look like? How quick do we want to take this? And I guess I still battle with that and I talk to my team a lot about that and my wife. And, but yeah, ultimately it comes back to, just wanting to create a consistent quality product that is something that I can be proud of.

01:15:20So, I don't know, I don't know. I don't have, yeah, a sort of five, 10 year plan of like grow, sell, this, that. It's all very emotional driven at this point. But I'm happy, I love what I do. I've never been happier doing what I do. It's challenging, but I just like, I feel like I've gotten over that hump of like the real grind and now I can kind of run a company. And with that I can learn and I can just, I can dive into like just soaking up, like how can I do this better? How can I communicate better? How can I, you know, all those things and that's exciting because that's like a whole nother side of what I do, you know? Love it. And that's also, it's what an exciting thing to look forward to in the future also. I mean, the sky's the limit with that. And you get to support so many creating jobs and creating an income for people that they can, you know, feed their families and all of the things. I mean, that's gotta be something also that. Yeah, and look, I'm a big advocate for, I think, you know, the idea of working in hospitality gets shunned in terms of like, oh, you can't make much money or this is that.

01:16:29It's like, you know, I know what my servers make. It's good money. And I know that we give people an opportunity to grow. So you can grow into a salary. You can grow into getting healthcare. You can grow into, you know, increasing that salary every year or moving into a higher position and sharpening your tool, you know, sharpening your tools to grow your craft. And, you know, that's something that's been exciting for me to sort of see naturally happen as the business is growing, just to create these rungs in the ladder for my staff to climb if they want. And, you know, at the end of the day, it can be a really great career, you know? Fantastic career. I don't know why we don't normalize retiring in this industry. Yeah. You know, it's, there's so much people that move around and around, I think, as a responsible restaurateur. You put these things in place with health insurance. And, you know, we do a 401k in our restaurants. Like, I want to celebrate Bob, who's been here for 29 years. He's got half a million dollars in the bank or more.

01:17:29And he's retiring from his job as a server because he's made 75k or 100k, whatever it is for the last 20 years. And he's put his retirement in there and he's going to retire and we can celebrate him. Like, I just don't, you don't ever hear about that. You don't ever hear, oh, you retired from the restaurant. Like, it's normalized, I think, in other businesses, but we could do that. That's a thing that I love to see, that loyalty and the people that really get in there and put it all, put everything, leave everything on the table. Yep, 100%. All right, last thing we do, final thing. Okay. I swear to God I'm gonna let you leave. Gordon Food Service. We love Gordon Food Service around here. They're our presenting sponsor. I do the Gordon Food Service final thought. And that is the soundbite moment where you get to leave our listeners with whatever you wanna say. I could say anything that you want, you get to take us out, putting you on the spot. Mike is yours. Whew, pressure.

01:18:32I guess I'd like to say this. For everyone listening who is in the industry or would like to open their own restaurant or cafe or coffee shop, whatever, whatever it is, I've found that patience is the key to success. Your five-year plan will look like a seven to 10-year plan. And the sooner you realize that and can live with that, the better. And I can guarantee you this, the more time your dream took, you're gonna look back and be like, damn, I wish I had that. I wish I had more time. Don't rush your dreams. And because you'll be set up for success a lot easier, just being patient and consistent. There it is. Wise words to leave us on. I like that.

01:19:33Henry Roberts. Thanks for having me. I was like, wait a minute, Henry Roberts. Yes, like Julia Roberts. Like Julia. The Dread Pirate, the Dread Pirate Roberts. If we're gonna go another classic movie, Princess Bride, the Dread Pirate Roberts. Thank you for joining us today. And look forward to going back to Two Hands proudly and not sheepishly. I believe I told you that. I love it. Have a safe trip home and we look forward to seeing you. Best of luck in Dallas. Thank you. All right. Okay, there it is. Henry Roberts, thank you so much for joining us on Nashville Restaurant Radio. Impromptu, so fast. And I told you, he's just a lovely guy. Just a great conversation. I like talking about bands and movies and all that good stuff kind of there towards the end. But what a neat story. You can just kind of walk through his whole life with him and see how perseverance and every day getting together.

01:20:35I mean, a lump sum of money helps to get things started, but nevertheless, what you've got, you gotta make the most of it. And I think he did that. And I really enjoyed that conversation and meeting a new friend. So thank you for listening today. We're gonna be back. Vince Lanni, Jason Cruz, Lisa LeClaire, Dining, I say dining with gratitude, Giving Kitchen, Team Heidi. We've got our episode with Tennessee Flavors. We got lots of stuff coming up. So make sure that you subscribe wherever you're listening to this and follow us on Instagram so you can be aware when the next episode drops. Hope you guys are being safe out there. Love you guys. Bye.