Hard To Heart with Mikey and Brian from the Mockingbird

00:00One of my favorite sponsors on this podcast is Sharpier's Bakery. Not because they're delivering the best fresh baked bread in the city, six days a week, like they've done in their family-owned operation for 36 years, but because, I don't know, I just love Erin Mosso. I love what she does. I love her take on service. I love her take on how she wants to provide the best quality bread to your restaurant every single day. She stands by her core values and she does what she says she's gonna do. And those are things that you just can't find every single day. So if you work right now with a bread company that isn't doing those things, or if you're buying frozen bread from your broadliner, you need to check out fresh baked bread on a daily basis. Give Erin Mosso a call. Her number is 615-319-6453. And you can check them out online at sharpiers.com. That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. Do you know what the most intimidating thing for a guest or even a server is in a restaurant?

01:02Yes, it is the wine list. Countless bottles of wine, pairing them with food. When guests walk into a restaurant, they want to be able to make this at ease. Please have a pairing in front of you. 80% of dining guests say they would drink more wine if it was recommended and or paired for them by a server. If somebody only made an app that would make this accessible, well, you've guessed it, the WineView app. The WineView app will pair all of your food menu items with three individual bottles of wine that pair with each item at your fingertips. So this is a great resource for the guests to listen to and identify where they want to eat, but it's also a great resource for your managers and servers to look over the app and identify which wines to pair. If you don't have a sommelier working for you, this is like having a sommelier on your phone. This is really an amazing technology. All you have to do is download the WineView app. And if you would like to have your restaurant signed up for the WineView app, it's that easy.

02:03All you have to do is give Rachel a call. Her number is 215-262-5685 and tell them that Nashville Restaurant Radio sent ya. ["The Tastiest Hour of Talk"] 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 not your host again today. We are still powered by Gordon Food Service. Today is our final installment of the Boys of the Bird podcast, Hard to Heart. They're talking with John and Basha today. John is, he is the lead concierge at the Dream Hotel. And Basha is the owner of Adagio Spa.

03:04So they are, and they have a son, his name is Josh, and he works in the industry, used to work in the industry. You may know him, but they talk all about that in this episode. And I just wanted to send out a hearty thank you to both Brian Rigenbach and Mikey Corona for coming in and hosting these episodes. I wish that, I was in Cuba, and I wish that I had lots of time on my hands to enjoy the white sands and such. You'll get that here in a minute. But we are not, we are hustling away. And it's funny, because this episode's coming out on a Friday, and it's Friday at like midday. And typically I like to put these out the day before. But y'all, whoo, I have been slammed. I have absolutely been slammed. And I was laying in bed last night, and I didn't get this done, and I was feeling so much anxiety. I was like, I didn't get it done, I hate not getting it done, and I'm such a perfectionist, and it's gotta be done. And you know what, I stopped for a minute, I took a deep breath, and I gave myself grace. I gave myself, I said, you know what, man, it's okay.

04:07It's okay, it's okay if this doesn't come out the day before, on time, all of that stuff. Got a pretty good track record of getting these things out on time. And this one, I was just a little bit late. So I thought that was a reminder to everybody out there, if you're stressed or going into the weekend, you haven't got stuff done, it's okay to give yourself some grace. It's okay to say, you know what, I'll get to it, I'm gonna get to it, but I'm not gonna beat myself up for it. And I am notorious for beating myself up for some things. And sometimes you just gotta stop and give yourself some grace. So there it is, there's your moment of zen moment going into the weekend. Hopefully you can take that, listen to it, feel it. It's okay, man, it's okay. Whatever you got going on, it's gonna be all right. Don't worry about it. We'll get it done and give yourself some grace. I do wanna give a shout out to the Germantown Cafe. Germantown Cafe was the winner of our contest. I neglected to put this out there, but we did a contest in the month of December where we, if you call any of our sponsors, we're gonna give away tickets to a Preds game.

05:11And Germantown Cafe has been a massive supporter of the show, him and Sean and everybody over at the Germantown Cafe. And I just wanted to give him a special shout out. You have won tickets to a Preds game coming up. I will contact you with the information on that. That is courtesy of Gordon Food Service, our good friends over at Gordon Food Service. Thank you so much for calling in in this particular situation. You are a Gordon Food Service customer, and we love that. But also they called Corson Fire, and they've got Corson Fire set up in their restaurant. And they use a lot of our sponsors, and we're really excited to be friends with our friends over at the Germantown Cafe. If you haven't eaten at the Germantown Cafe, they are doing amazing things over there. And their French onion soup is the best damn French onion soup you will ever eat. So I wanna give a shout out to Chef Jeffrey as well. He's one of my friends, and I love the guy. And they're just doing amazing things. If you wanna support a locally-owned and operated restaurant that's been doing it for years and years and years, go check out the Germantown Cafe.

06:16Love them. Also wanted to tell you that coming up on Monday, you can hear Steve Cavendish on the show. He is the CEO, President, Editor of the Nashville Banner. He has resurrected the Nashville Banner with Demetria Kalidimas, and he comes into the studio, and it is a rousing episode, I'm telling you. This is, we finished the episode, and Steve left, and I looked at Caroline, and she goes, that was awesome. That was fun. That is a true story. Finished that, and I was like, wow. He needs to come back every month. That was so much fun. We did that episode live, by the way. That episode is live. We streamed it live on YouTube. So if you don't follow us on YouTube, you will not get the notification when we go live. If you ever wanna join the show, if you wanna be part of the show, when we stream live episodes, we open the comments section. If you wanna jump in, if you ever felt like you're listening to one of these episodes, you're like, man, I wish they'd asked this question, or I wish they'd do this. Feel free to chime in when we go live on YouTube, but you're probably not gonna know that we're live on YouTube, unless you hit that subscribe button on our YouTube channel.

07:21On top of that, if you're listening to Nashville Restaurant Radio for the first time, and this is the Boys of the Bird podcast, and you're with them, we'd love for you to hit that subscribe button, and you get notifications when new episodes come out. We've got some amazing shows coming up. Again, Steve Cavendish this Monday. Next Monday, we're gonna have Claire Crowell, who's the president of La Dame Descafier, Nashville, as well as she's the owner of Hattie Jane's Creamery. She's the former COO of A. Marshall Hospitality and the daughter of Andy Marshall. So she is just a leader in this industry. It's her third appearance on the show, and we had so much fun, and she brought us farm fresh eggs and ice cream. So, I mean, that's a win, no matter what you do. But a lot of good things is happening. Hope to see you. I will be at Jotis Park on Saturday for the new Nashville SC opener. And if you see a big tall guy with some kids running around, feel free to stop by and just say hi, yell at me, whatever. Hope to see you there supporting our Nashville Soccer Club.

08:23That's gonna be a lot, a lot of fun. And thank you guys for listening. Again, thank you so much to Mikey and Brian for spending the time to do this. And I'm really excited to put out this episode right now of Hard to Heart. ["Hard to Heart"] Hello, everyone. It's Mikey Corona again. So I'm here with- Brian Wiggenbach from Mockingbird. Yes, we are the boys of the bird, and we have taken over yet another episode of Nashville Restaurant Radio. Brandon and Caroline are in Cuba, and they are enjoying the nice white sands of such area. So while they're away, the birds will play. This is February, and it is the month of lovers. And being that we're in the restaurant world, we are bringing some of our buddies together that have worked in the restaurants together, that have owned a restaurant together, and asking them about some of the woes and pros of that situation.

09:33With us today is John and Basha. I think everybody that has worked in a restaurant or owns a restaurant knows these two. They are synonymous with the word restaurant in Nashville. So I'll let them introduce themselves and tell you a bit about who they are and what they do in town. Hi, John. Hi, Basha. Hi, how are you? Hello. Amazing. Good. Thanks for coming and joining us for February, kind of Valentine's month of us taking over this podcast and talking to lovebirds. We appreciate y'all. So tell us a bit about where you all met and what got y'all involved into the restaurant world here in Nashville. Take us on that journey. It was a long time between when we met and how we got into restaurants together. Oh, you're an OG. Oh, yeah. I'm an old OG.

10:34You're an OOG? I'm an OOG. We had a bit of a strange start. Okay. We did. I was looking for a place to hike that I had been before and I couldn't find it. So- Is that because somebody told you to go take a hike? Or what? Right, go take a hike, get out of here. But of all people, my dad told me to get into a chat room. Okay. And I didn't know what a chat room was. It was like a hundred years ago. Okay. And so I got onto a chat room, a hiking chat room and John was on it and that's how it started. Okay, awesome. And that's here in Nashville? Well, I was here in Nashville. Okay. I was still in the military up at Fort Campbell. Okay, awesome. And then you lured him to the music city with your songs of love. I would love to be able to say yes, but it was so far from that.

11:36I actually, we talked on the phone for months and then we decided to meet. And every time he would ask me to meet him somewhere, it sounded like a date. So I kept saying no. And finally I agreed to meet him for breakfast and I didn't show up. Oh no, what restaurant was it? Do you remember? We were gonna meet, well, because he didn't know Nashville, we were gonna meet at a McDonald's on Charlotte and go somewhere for breakfast. But I- And you were vegetarian at that time? Yes, I was. And I still, but I stood him up. And then about a month later, we actually met at the pancake pantry. No way. We did and we spent the entire day there from about nine o'clock in the morning until about three o'clock in the morning. The pancake pantry does inspire a lot of- We were out in the parking lot talking and having a great time. You're like- And we, that's kind of become our special place. Yeah, it has to be if that's like- Every time something really important happens in our life, we go to the pancake pantry.

12:37That's wonderful. It's not that it's a favorite place per se, but it's the place. It's like we met there. We went there right after we got married because we got married by a judge in the courthouse. And we went there when John adopted Josh, our son. And so big occasions. I'd love that. And so like we've been talking a bit about that since we've taken over this podcast with the other guests. And at a restaurant, it does not necessarily mean like the best food. It's like the best experiences and feelings you get when you're in there. So like you can't put that on a business plan. It's either got it or it doesn't. And like that place, it does have it. And so yeah, you don't go in there to like do with like pancake flights or a tasting menu. It's like, yeah, you're going in there for the nostalgia, the memories that it holds and the memories that you continue to create there. I'd love that. So from that date on to fast forward when y'all are married, you're together.

13:41And then one of y'all had an idea of like, hey, you know what Nashville's missing? A French restaurant. Let's open that. This was before the current boom of all. What year was this? Our wonderful restaurant. We opened in 2012. 2012. Yeah. Ahead of your time. Definitely not only ahead of our time, but in an area that people didn't want to go to. Great restaurant, great food, bad location. Not even a bad location. It was actually a great location, except that as far as location goes, it was above Germantown, above North Nashville. It was right between like Whites Creek and Jolten. But people had to drive through North Nashville. And things were very different back then. And so really- Was Uber a thing yet? There was no Uber. I mean, there was, but they would never go out there. Wow. So if they see that that's a destination, they'd like decline that ride.

14:44Oh, well, that's another kind of barrier in front of you for the restaurant. And is that something that you thought about in the planning of the process, or did you think, hey, if we build it, they will come? Because that's exactly what we thought. Yeah. And nowadays that'll happen for sure, because everything is connected to like Uber or Lyft or whatever to take you wherever it is you need to go. We had our people that would come there and they were our favorites. They would always show up, they'd show up, they'd have dinner, and then they'd go somewhere else. Sure. And now you guys are that to many establishments around the city, but we'll get to that later. So during the restaurant's opening and operation, were y'all both hands on deck there, or did y'all have your other kind of businesses like Adagio going on at that time? And John, were you still delving in different businesses as well? Yeah, I was, you know, my son and I, Josh and I, we built the restaurant.

15:46With your own hands. Yes, and Basha took care of putting it together and making it a restaurant. That's wild. But then did you still had Adagio to run just as well? I did, but I was at the restaurant every night. So I worked all day at Adagio and worked every night. Burned that midnight oil. That's Sunday brunch. But after Sunday brunch came, there was a great bar on Woodland Street. And we would all, like everybody in the restaurant business would always go there. So you'd work brunch, you'd leave, you'd meet everybody from the restaurant industry. Yeah, and we would go there and drink Bloody Marys and eat really good bar food. And just talk shit about the industry and how wild it is. I think that's what really bonds us together. It's such an addictive world that we're in in the restaurant industry and hospitality industry is because those highs and lows are so fun. High and low.

16:47Yeah, they're high and low. Because they're so high and low. I definitely agree with that. And it's not just the restaurants. It's all of hospitality. It's kind of like, once you're in it, you kind of. You can't get away from it. No, you can't get away from it. Some people do, like our son is out of it. And has a really good. Oh, he was damn good at it though, but he's also fucking fantastic. Absolutely. For those, I'm sure a lot of y'all in the restaurant world know Josh. He is, oh my gosh, this guy was in almost every bar in Nashville behind the bar, making you your favorite concoctions. It was damn good at it. And I'm sure he's like best friends with a million of y'all in this town. Are we allowed to say his name? Give him a plug. Oh, for sure. Our son is Josh Rue. And most people just know him as Rue, but he did a lot of things back in the day with Watermark. He was the beverage director at Watermark, and he worked, oh my God.

17:49Bar 23. Bar 23. He opened Bar 23, and these guys are looking at me like, what the fuck is that? Yeah, what? Oh, you can cuss on that, it's fine. Okay, good. It's location boots now. But Bar 23 was the first velvet rope bar and club in Nashville. It was in the Gulch. When nobody came to the Gulch, nobody knew what the Gulch was, and he opened that bar. He was there opening night and he was there closing night. That was the beginning of strategic hospitality and an A-Ray restaurant group. It was Austin Ray and Benjamin Goldberg. That's wild. And so y'all poached him from there to take him to the family restaurant. Is what y'all did. Not exactly. And not only to help with the beverage program, but to build the restaurant as well. Oh yeah, absolutely. And as the story goes, John likes to say that Josh could not even draw a straight line at that time, much less like.

18:56Hammer. Yeah, hammer and cut things precisely to build, and so to know that now that's his specialty and that's what he's honed in on. Custom furniture. His custom furniture. A little foreshadowing into his future endeavors. It is beautiful. And we always used to say that his motto was, measure once, cut thrice. So he had it flipped around. But listen, even great chefs, I'm sure, sucked at an omelet before. You have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet. Yes, so that's kind of where Josh is now, but now he's at the pinnacle of that world and what he's doing. So he helped y'all at the restaurant as well as building it, but also working there as well. He ran the restaurant. Josh and I were there every night. Josh was always behind the bar. I was on the floor. And he made, you know, all of the cocktails were from his head and his heart.

20:01That definitely, I can see from the heart, I've had his drinks before and you can taste it. You can taste the love in it. So Brian and I, you know, running Mockingbird together is an interesting dynamic. So with the three of y'all, and then especially with you and Josh in operations in that restaurant, that had to be like quite the dynamic. And when do you leave kind of a restaurant talk at home and then, I'm sorry, restaurant talk at the restaurant and then get back to like family time and that special like relationship you have. That's a hard balance to do. Did y'all, did you feel like you ever strike that balance correctly? We did once in a while, but not all the time. Well, not all the time, because when we had differences at work, sometimes it would come home. But the one thing that we had back then that we have now is that we have a really strong family. And so, you know, sometimes you mouth off and you say something that you shouldn't, but I've had those three o'clock phone calls from Josh saying, mom, I'm sorry, I fucked up.

21:09Oh, I love that. You know, and I do the same with him. I'll get on the phone with him and cry and say, oh, this is shit, I'm really sorry. You know, and so even when we worked together, we were really able to walk away when it was time to walk away and be a family. But because- Which is hard to do. Absolutely. It is very hard to do. You have to really remind yourself and remember constantly like what's really important. And it's not that somebody complained that their creme brulee was overcooked and y'all are mad at each other about that, you know? But it is small stuff like that that could cause like a big riff and, you know, sometimes be something that you don't wanna talk to somebody for two days about. And it's ridiculous in the big picture. Right. And then so ultimately the restaurant was open for how long? About a year and a half. Okay. And whenever Nashville had just decided it wasn't ready for it and y'all were like, we can't pour this much more love into it anymore. It's draining us and it's gonna take us under.

22:10That's exactly what happened. Yeah. I mean, that's exactly what happened. And the weird thing was that it's very hard to be sad about something when we were getting these reviews. I mean, the Tennessean had a full page review on us, pictures on the front page of the style part of the paper. You know, we used to have newspapers. Do you remember those things that were newspapers? But you know, we had these great reviews all over the place. I mean, but it was very hard because of the location. It was really hard to keep it open. So that must've like messed with your mind a bit because you're like, wait, everybody's saying we're fantastic. Everybody loves us, why aren't we full? Yeah. Yeah. And I will say, and this is something that we don't really think about very often, but the show Nashville was filming just as we had the restaurant. And a lot of the people that were on that show were all living out in White's Creek and Jolton. And they used to come to the restaurant all the time.

23:11All the time. And so that was a majority of our clientele. Yeah. Interesting. Because they could drink and they didn't have to drive back to Nashville. Did y'all do any advertising or was it all word of mouth? Yes. We didn't do any print advertising or anything because back then that's what people did. But we had Yelp. Okay. This is where I can plug Yelp and say we hated them. They were horrible and they were so mean to us, you know. It was all about pay us, pay us, pay us. And there is kind of a weird underside to that, to the review sites. And sometimes they do kind of hold hostage to businesses if you don't advertise with them or not, which is so unfair and just ridiculous. And that's one of the questions that we ask all the couples is if you could create a website or an app where you as the business owner or employee get to review the guest, what would the name of that app or website be?

24:23We gotcha. We gotcha? Okay, that's a good one. I think the word that always comes to my head is when I see some of the results, some of the reviews, when I read your reviews and stuff and every other place, the only word is like, really? Do you have nothing to do, nothing else to do? So the name of your app would you call it really? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Big question mark. Yeah, I love that. So that experience did not shy you all away from staying in the hospitality industry in world. You still wanted to show Nashville the love that you have for it and the longest arms that you possibly have to give it a big old hug. So what avenues have you found yourself in now that you're able to still have that hospitality shown to the city that you love?

25:29Well, I own a day spa, so I get to show a lot of love. I also sit on a lot of boards and most of my passion is for the future. I chair the education committee of Greater Nashville Hospitality. I sit, again, just sit on a lot of boards, but to me what's really important is that right now workforce development is at such a crazy time. How do we keep people, how do we get people, where do we get them from? Do we go and recruit from California? Do we recruit from high schools or do we get these kids to be able to go to college? That's where I come in. I work a lot with culinary programs and hospitality management programs, getting kids to be scholarships into college because there are so many colleges now who are offering hospitality management and half of it is like hotel management, but the other half is culinary and that's where.

26:37That's where your heart is? I love it. Well, it's so wonderful too because everyone is moving to Nashville, 150 people a day, but they're not line cooks and receptionists and servers. It's wonderful for all the tech companies and the people that can afford to live downtown, but with that and with all the amenities to come along with it and all the restaurants and the whole hospitality industry, where does this workforce come from? So I think it's really great and it's a really important avenue to explore. That is, and dealing with the hospitality world and nurturing those that are younger and introducing them to a lot of what Nashville hospitality has to offer. What values do you think are the most important that you try to relate to this younger generation or to somebody that's wanting to get into the hospitality world? And so what values do you tell them like, hey, be on the lookout for this because that means you're in cahoots that's a kick-ass restaurant or that's a kick-ass place because they believe X, Y, Z.

27:49Well, I think that, and I think you guys did it, you guys do it very well by making your whole, all your staff, a family. You talk to each other and they get involved in what's going on and they're not just workers, they're part of the family. And I think that's so important in the industry and that goes for hospitality and restaurants across the board. I think as long as those people feel as though they're loved and they're wanted and they're needed, they'll be there. Because I think everyone says it, but then it's just lip service. So actually following through and kind of doing the legwork and the hard work and having the one-on-one conversations and just building that culture and that synergy between everyone is super, super important. Yeah. I think also something that's really important is that with every business that I've ever been in, I think that the most important thing is that after a while, everybody, everybody from the bottom to the top, everybody gets complacent.

28:53You go to work every day, you do this, although it's different every day, you do basically the same thing. And so what I think is the most important is reminding the team every day that the people who come to see us have maybe not seen us before. And we have to act as excited every day that as they are to come and see us. And it's in restaurants and spas and hotels and everything else. And I just think to give people everything that you can while you're at work. Yeah. And we really do that in hospitality. We give our entire selves, like it is said at every almost restaurant that I've worked at is like, hey, if you have any problems, leave that at the door. And it's so hard whenever you have real life problems that are happening, but you're like, I need to go to work. I need to make money. And you have to, once those doors are open and it's four or five o'clock and it's go time, you're on stage.

29:57And every guest that comes in is looking to have a good time. And so you need to exude that and your energy needs to change and reflect that because your guests will pick up on it. It's a very difficult thing to do because we're human. But yeah, you're right. But if they see that you're excited, most of the guests that come in are gonna be excited too. You come in there and you start telling them what's going on, boo, boo, boo, boo. Yes. Yeah, and it is all of a sudden you got the table laughing. You're having a good time. And then it also is reciprocal. And then they've also made you feel good. And you're like, you know what? I needed that. I really needed that because what is happening outside of those doors is kind of shitty right now. But what's happened here tonight and the smile I've been able to break and the good time I've been able to have with them, it's those moments like that that I think that make this industry so hard to get away from for a lot of us because we do enjoy that. You're just really able to form those bonds.

30:57And so those are some great values that you've mentioned there. So being that y'all are still kind of tied into restaurants, I swear, I don't they Basha does cook at home pretty often. We are. We have been privy to to some Passover meals. Lucky, God, we're lucky for those latkes because they are so damn good. However, ninety five percent of the time you will catch them at a restaurant around town. And it's not their first time going in there. Like the the people that own the place or that work there, know them by name. And if you're in a hurry, you better not go out to lunch or to dinner with Basha because there's going to be five people that stop her at least on the way in. And you will be late to wherever it is that you're trying to get to. So that being said, in y'all's opinion, what is your favorite part of the restaurant life? And what's the least favorite part?

31:58I think I think the guests, OK, you know, they they lift you up and, you know, I mean, you have those down points, but 99% of the time they lift you up and you walk out feeling good. You walk back into the kitchen going, yeah, yeah, I got a really good group out there today. Yeah. You know, as far as the things that I don't care for. Yeah, the hours are kind of tough. Yeah, the hours are the hours are the most ideal. Yeah. But and listen, I feel like since 2020, though, a lot of restaurants, not just here in Nashville, but at least in the nation, have realized, listen, we don't need to work ourselves to death to death. Absolutely. We can have abbreviated hours and have more of a work life balance and actually be more productive. And guess what? The guests have catered to that as well. And they've been like, fine, if you're going to close an hour earlier, then I'll make a reservation for an hour earlier. It's going to be fine. And everybody ends up being being happy as an end result.

32:59And so I think that you're right. Those those hours can be brutal, but something has changed since 2020 that needed to because you can't be everything to everybody. Seven days. You can't be seven days, 24 hours. And that's the most important thing. You can't be everything to everybody. I mean, getting personal here, I mean, you can't be everything to everybody. I mean, getting personal here. I remember when you first opened the restaurant, when you guys first open and you got a review that wasn't five stars. Yeah. And it really hurts because I think that everybody who works in hospitality has where we're like a certain breed. We are. We are just all of a certain breed. We don't live that very. Yes. And we don't live that very, you know, the very straight corporate life. And I think that what happens is that we're kind of thin skinned because we take great pride, especially if you own a business. You take this amazing pride in what you do. And when you first open and someone doesn't absolutely love you, you get crushed.

34:03And I think that it takes time. And sooner or later, you say, you know. OK, I kind of please everybody. I just couldn't please you. Sorry. And I think that people who write bad reviews. They just need to let off steam. And I'm being really nice about that. Yes, I get that. You know, so why would you why would you hate publicly if you don't like something? Then just don't go back. Yeah, don't go back. Say something to a manager. Yeah. You know, but don't email them if you don't feel like that's but don't not say anything and then just rag somebody. We're going to take a one commercial break during this episode, and it starts now. Are you looking for health insurance? Are you looking to offer your employees health insurance? Either way, Dan Moore with Southern Health Insurance wants to help you accomplish this goal, whether you're an individual who's looking for health insurance on the marketplace or you're a restaurant that doesn't quite have the ability to do it yet or you really want to offer insurance, but you're just not really sure.

35:12This is your opportunity to get it done. Let me tell you improved employee retention. Happier team members means a longer tenures and less training time and costs. Listen, when your employees take care of their health, they're less likely to take sick days. This means reduction in loss productivity and revenue for your business. A healthy workplace with opportunities for growth is a happy workplace. Encouraging your team's well-being will result in higher morale and better work performance. Also being able to offer them dental vision and health insurance, as well as life insurance. I think life insurance is the one that gets missed. Dan can offer all of that to you. He does it by combining a bunch of policies together to give you the best possible group rate to offer it to your staff. Guys, this is this is two thousand twenty three. You've got to be doing this on a regular. You've got to have health insurance for your staff. Let me tell you, you can call Dan at eight three two eight one six eighty six oh two, or you can email him at Dan at Southern Health INS dot com.

36:18He's doing amazing things out there, guys. Give him a call and tell him you heard about him on Nashville Restaurant Radio. We are supported by Robbins Insurance, an independent insurance agency known for providing customized insurance policies, sound guidance and attentive service. Robbins is also known for delivering exceptional coverage to Nashville's restaurants and bars, whether it's a fryer fire that sets off the sprinkler system and leaves your restaurant sopping wet on a busy Saturday night, or it's a once in a decade tornado that cuts off your electricity and subsequently spoils all the food in your walk in. Robbins has seen it all and they know how to create policies that will get your business back on its feet as quickly as possible in the event a disaster strikes. Look, when it comes to insuring your restaurant, bar, brewery, bakery, grocery store, hotel or whatever, you need someone who knows the industry, who understands your business and who will create a policy that protects your space, your staff and your concept. That's Robbins.

37:20Visit Robbins website at Robbins INS dot com. That's Robbins INS dot com to request your insurance consultation. Once again, that's Robbins INS dot com. When you hear that sound, it's probably too late. You need a guy. I want to be your guy. I'm Kevin with Course in Fire and Security, and I'm a restaurant territory account manager. Do you know who's doing your inspections at your restaurant? Please reach out to me at 615-974-2932. I'll be glad to come out and take a quick look and look at all your fire safety inspection needs. If you're building a new restaurant, we can help with that too. As far as kitchen suppression, fire extinguishers, emergency lights, we do it all. One stop, one shop. Call Kevin at 615-974-2932. Let me be your guy, Nashville. What chefs want has been changing the game in Nashville and how you get your groceries, fresh produce, gourmet items, specialty items, meat, seafood since 2004.

38:29They've been growing steadily and they're absolutely covering the marketplace here in the southeast. And they do it seven days a week. They do it with no minimums. They do it with 24-7 customer support. Need to talk to somebody? Great. Pick up the phone. They'll answer. They have a diverse product line and their logistics are second to none. They're doing amazing things. And they really are what chefs want. So check them out at what chefs want dot com and sign up today. So that's probably the least favorite part of a restaurant life than is like having to deal with that. So but you got it. You got it. You got to make it happen. Like, you know, I get like we get a bad review. I call the person. Oh, find out what's going on. You know, what really happened. And, you know, I said, you know, I try to figure out why did this happen? Yeah. So it won't happen again. And I always leave them in most of the time they leave. When we end the conversation, they're appeased. OK. Sometimes they'll rewrite the review. Sometimes they won't. Yeah, because I mean, things do happen.

39:31Everyone's human. We're dealing in a human. There's a lot of spinning plates. Yeah, absolutely. No pun intended. Any in any aspect of hospitality. But yeah, if it's constructive criticism in a way to like really march forward with them and learn from a situation, I think that's one thing. But I think a lot of times it is blowing off steam, too. So the other part that I think is like the worst part about kind of owning a restaurant is that whenever you do dine out and are able to disconnect, you can't really fully disconnect because you're looking around and you're like, oh, that table's got some dishes that need to get fast or that drink at the bar needs to get round. We were sitting with somebody at dinner last night and or a couple of nights ago, and she was stacking her plates. For this to make it easier for the server. Yeah. And John said, don't do that.

40:33So it looks like you're impatient. You want it like, yeah, it makes it look like they're not doing their job. So even though you think that you're helping them, you know. So so he said to her, don't do that, because it could be seen as a bet. Yeah, I can see both sides to that, for sure. Do y'all ever and this might be just be because we're weirdos. Do y'all ever flip the plateware over to like read what Brandon does all the time? I do, because I'll go, why didn't we have this in the restaurant? Wait a minute. I really like this. What is this? I do it all the time. And I have I have been known to get so excited about a plate that I will turn it, you know, like I'll hold it up above me and try to, you know, do that so that so I can see it. But I've been known to spill a little food at a table, you know, looking at where you get this. Yeah, so we're not the only we're not the only weirdos that know that. So I'm sure some experts in the industry might think that that's that's fantastic. And you're noticing those little details.

41:36But in Europe, especially the equipment supply. Yeah, exactly. Oh, they're very, you know, just it's like the flatware. Yeah. I really like this one where they got it. Yeah. Like, what's this brand? Oh, Fortessa. Wow. They spent some money. Oh, yeah. Oh, you know what? That's why our burger is going to be two dollars more than next door because we got to pay for the silverware. You know what, though, I noticed that in every single restaurant, you know, oh, this is this is heavy, heavy flatware. You know, this is nice. And and I mean, I haven't owned a restaurant in 10, nine or 10 years. But I still every single restaurant I go to, this thing was 14. I remember this. Oh, yeah. Is this going to get thrown in the trash accidentally whenever they clear this? Oh, it's insane. So, yeah, having that that kind of like detail is what the experts probably assume that you're going to be looking at. So we have followed for it. But in your opinion, what is one of the ideas that experts have that you disagree with?

42:41I don't know. I don't know. I think it changes by the day. When I when I listen, when I sit in on board meetings and I listen to restaurant owners say certain things. I mean, I know. I don't I don't know. I don't know if I really have a good answer for that, because I take everything really personally. And so to me, I understand the bottom line. Yeah, I mean, you can have a great time in your great restaurant with great food. But if you're not making money, you're screwed. It's all because it makes it not fun, but it also right. But it also makes it not fun. Correct. So to me. When when restaurant owners are talking about just the bottom line, I disagree with them to go more toward the personal side. OK. Because then if you make it more personal, people come in. That's what makes the restaurant. Well, it does. But it is also a business. You can't pay your bills. Yeah, right. And you can't turn your back on that.

43:41But yeah, but. I mean, if you ask 100 people, I think 100 people would agree that if you go to a restaurant and you had great service and the food was OK, you'd be more apt to go back to that restaurant than if you went to a restaurant that had really good food and shitty service. So I I I agree with you 100 percent, Brian. I think that that I mean, you have to think about the bottom line. Yeah. But I mean, what you just said, I've been saying this my entire career, one of the first like three star Michelin chefs that I'd worked with would always preach to us. Great service recovers bad food. It never reverses. So it is a service industry and you are going for an experience. And hopefully the food is delicious. Well, the four of us had a really bad experience at a restaurant. You know, and now we've been back since. Same place. And the service has been fabulous.

44:42Yeah. It was just that one night. Yeah. Yeah. And there are one offs. And God, we had been there like 20 times before. And so like, why is it so like, yeah, it happens. We know it happens. It's unfortunate when it does. But it just goes to show that people that know all of the ins and outs. Service still affects our experience, no matter what we want to say. And I understand why it's happening. I'm not flipping tables or writing a one star review. No, I still wrote them a five star review and then just kind of in a private note said, hey, these this might be a learning lesson for you to bring up with your team, because I think it's important to hold those pre shift meetings to know. Yeah. And we make it a point to go over at least one good review and then one review that that shows where we can grow, because like it's not all rainbows and unicorns. And so we do have to to continue to grow as a team. And as people or else you're lying to yourself and then you'll become stagnant.

45:45And so I never do it as like, oh, it's the one star. Y'all suck. It's like, hey, this is what we can do different because you're in the industry, because you're in forget about the service industry. You're in an industry and as a business owner and as a human being, it is not your nature to go out and just rag somebody. And those people who rag are going to rag. And we were all we were there that night. And we were very upset. We were all very upset. But I do know that when we were there last night, someone came over to me and said, I'm really sorry about what happened. Oh, that changes everything now, because that's all I think that's all because they were aware because that they were all aware. Yeah. Owning the situation. And then you can always like we had plans to go out afterwards. But the thing is, they had drugged on so dragged on so long that we missed. And we had a drag show to go like we were like, no, I'm not in a fun mood anymore. Like I just I'm in a shitty state of being. And like all of us work. And we really, you know, it was funny because we couldn't appreciate the good food that.

46:48No, you're right. We just didn't. Because by the time that the food came, we were so upset. And you're right. We didn't even feel like going out afterwards and having a good time. And so the fact that sometimes that happens to guests in our four walls, like really was like. OK, this is something I need to share with our team. And of course, I did for the next week. It was part of our of our pre shift meetings. I didn't mention the establishment because I never would do that. It's a local establishment. We want to support them. But hey, this is what could happen. And this is how we felt. And we don't want our guests to ever feel like that. And so this is how we could have been treated to change that. All it would have taken that night was for a manager to come over and say, I am so sorry that yes, that is why we were all in a really bad mood afterwards. Yes, because the manager didn't. And when the manager did come to the table, they blamed it on someone else.

47:50Yes. And I think in it, I mean, you got to take responsibility. Oh, it was a it was a prefix of excuses. And I'm like, oh, no, I've seen this movie before. Yeah, we've gone there so many times before and had fabulous times. Yeah, great service, great food, enjoyed it. And we always walked out of there laughing and having a good time. Yeah, one time. I know. And like, listen, you know, I will go back. And now that you said that, oh, yeah, we went back and they apologize. Because they specifically walked up to the table last night to the root, to the personal message I sent. And I was like, God dang. Like at least since I've been back saying like, sure, we'll bring it up in a meeting. Something like there was nothing. And I was like, where is kind of like, oh, and so I feel the pain. And it's great to be on that other side. Sometimes that's why I encourage our team members to come in on their day off and have a meal with us so they can sit down and get a perspective of what our guest sees. Because it is imperative that you you do that every once in a while so that you can put yourself in the guest position.

48:52And then never lose sight of that. Exactly sides of it. Oh, yeah, some really good stuff coming up. Awesome. Great. So that being said, and kind of what we touched base on already with like restaurants having a rep of a high turnover and hospitality in this town doing that, because this is a tourist town and it's hard to attract talent to to stick around and not get sidetracked with the next shiny thing that's opening. So how do you keep good team members around and how do you keep them interested in sticking around your business? Well, I think a big part of it, you have to make sure that they understand how important they are to you and to the to the guests. You know, make them that's that's what they're doing. They need to be the important person at the table. So much more than monetary situations like. Make them feel.

49:53They are truly part of the team. Absolutely. And you know, and when a decision is made, include them, get their ideas on it. You know, it's important. Yeah. And I think people will feel better at it because they're involved in it. Yeah, that is very true. And I feel like at the restaurant, we do kind of do that. And maybe I feel like sometimes like, oh, we're sharing too much. But I'm like, no, listen, I want you to know this because this is not anything to be hiding. You'll think that, you know, we're just making money hand over fist. But that toast system we're using, that, you know, that's X amount of money per per month. And, you know, this every time we run a credit card over, you know, this amount, this is how much we pay on that. And not to like burden you all with that, but just to give you all insight. Like, but I will say from that, I've owned businesses for a long time. And people. Who are on your team, they don't understand. They know that you pay rent, they know that you buy the food, they know.

50:59But in their hearts, they don't know it, because if they did know it, they would be business owners. And so it's very, very that's the hardest part, I think, because I mean, I mean, I love my team and I'm very lucky in my industry that that people have stayed for a very long time, which in the spa business, doesn't happen. And I love my team. But I also know that there is a certain level that they understand and they don't really want to understand past that level. Oh, there's some team members that we have that have been in like management or ownership, and they're like, fuck that. We want to come in, work for seven hours, make more money than in management or ownership and peace out. And I'm like, maybe they've cracked the code. Mikey, you didn't know that they have cracked the code. Maybe they make more money than we do. They always have. Maybe we should just leave price tags on every fork and tong.

52:03I was going to say, leave it on the bottom of that plate. Every plate and glass that I hear break behind me. Oh, God, that was $12.95. Well, you know what? When you go to a to a different restaurant, when you go as a customer, and you hear a bus stop, go down or you hear some glasses break. Don't you just like? Yes, I, I, I. My wallet shudders more than right now, physically. But yeah, it's true. I do. I can't help it. Now where I'm working, you know, they they do a lot of a lot of bubbles. Yeah. All the time. So they get all these flutes lined up and invariably somebody will knock into them. And all of a sudden, they're all over the floor. And I mean, this happens every week. And these are the old school, like nineteen like eighty five years. So guess what, you guys, because we just we serve coupes. But then we came across like a box of flutes that we had. And I was like, hey, let's use some of these for some, you know, mimosas or whatever.

53:04If they break, my heart won't won't hurt as much. So they became pretty like popular and sturdier than the coupes. And so I was like, let me order another case or so. Do you know how much those things are now? It's almost four to like five dollars per coup per per flute. I mean, Brian thinks I'm living in like 1980 with my prices still. I'm like, what? It's not 50 cents a fucking clue. I need to talk to somebody. I was just watching Ronald Reagan the other night. State of the Union speech. I don't want to pay over a roll of time for everything we do. Everything we do is gotten more expensive, regardless of what it is. But the fucking champagne flutes that are like so generic. So funny. OK, so I love a coupe. I do. I think they're beautiful. However, when I get a martini in a coupe or a glass of champagne in a coupe, yeah, I feel like I'm not getting what I paid for me as a customer.

54:12Yeah, absolutely. Perception is so much. Absolutely. And it's so weird because I know it's not true. Yeah. You know, but but I really do feel that like when I get if I order a glass of champagne. Yeah, I want it in a champagne glass. I want it in a flute. It's just me. But but I think that that, you know, when we talk about perception and you're thinking, you know, oh, my God, it's it's five dollars for a flute. We only serve bubbles and flutes. That's all we use. But. But and that's the reason I don't do coupes, because I mean, I love coupes and they're beautiful, but I'm afraid that people are going to go, is that all I get? Yeah. Well, that's why I like getting a big rock when I order some whiskey. Yeah, because it looks like there's more in the glass. That is very true. Even though that's not the purpose. It's right. But you're like, that's fine. But you look at the nice, big, nice pour here. Perception is the key. Perception is the key. Oh, my gosh. OK, cool. So we've almost spent like 45 minutes just kind of, you know, chit chatting around about the restaurant and hospitality world.

55:22And if you want to talk about the retention of employees, I'm currently about to order an Uber for my dishwasher tomorrow morning. Perfect. We're WhatsApping in Spanish. So there's a real world example. Oh, for sure. There's to retain. Oh, there's been times where I've stuck around the restaurant until like twelve thirty at night to drive some of the dishwashers home because, you know, they need they need a ride home. Like the restaurant where I'm working with the Golden Star on our side, we get the J ones. Yeah. Oh, so they live in and they, you know, and they work and work in the restaurant, work, they work all over the building. They're living in the hotel. No, they're living there. We got to give they have apartments close by. I have anything in them, but yeah, they're pretty close. They have they're all within walking distance. See, that's fantastic. And I feel like we're there for a year. And that's and they are this they want this to be their career. Yeah. So they're they're invested in it. Yeah. And I love that. And I feel like it's very difficult.

56:23And that that speaks to that is like the transportation that's happening in this town is not catching. It's not happening in this town. Well, it's not happening for sure, but it's not catching up with what's how it's growing. And it needs to be whoever the new mayor is coming on board. Sir, ma'am, they please keep this in mind and add some more bus stops. Try to get a rail in, do whatever you got to do, because we can't. Most of them have to live outside the city. For sure. It is a very expensive city to live in. And that's fine. Not everyone has to live in the gulch. Right. But everyone needs to have transportation to the core. That is the economic engine of Davidson County, middle and the state of Tennessee and Broadway is like that's for the billions of dollars that it generates. It's unfortunate that we don't have the proper transportation for the people that literally fuel the economy. I'm going to put on my political board member hat for a minute. Yeah, because we we do have some.

57:26OK, that unfortunately, I don't think that enough enough attention is given to independent restaurants, whereas the hotels we go has special buses that the hotels pay for. They pay like, you know, like in New York when you have a card, you know, a metro card. Well, the hotels pay and these your team members, if they live like in Clarksville, for example, they're brought in every day. And I think that what's happening is that not that is not known by enough people. It should be not only given a benefit to the to the hotels, but it should be a benefit to an area, specifically to an area specifically. All the small businesses around there know about it and to the hospitality industry and say, like, hey, let us help support you. We are the backbone to to Nashville and especially to its growth that we've seen in the past, you know, five, seven, ten years or so.

58:31OK, well, let's get away from all this seriousness because we're supposed to be having fun while mom while mom and dad podcasts are away. We're supposed to be having some freaking fun with the birds. So let's take this back to like fairy tale land and rainbows and shit. OK, so we're going to do speed questions. And we've asked the same questions to everybody that we've had on just to make things fair. And they have to be answered off the cuff. And you're going to answer whether you love or loathe the two the one option that we give you. I'll read the first ones, and then Brian's going to read the next set of speed questions. Ready? OK, so I think we'll be able to tell whose voice is who here. So Bosch, say hi. Hi. That's Bosch. And then, oh, that's John. OK, here we go. Speed question. Love or loathe. Automatic gratuity at restaurants. Loathe, sonic ice, loathe, music curated to the concept of the restaurant. Brittany. Brittany, it's Brittany.

59:39It's Britney Spears. Yeah. John, you better work it, bitch. You better work it. I'm an old rock and roll. Hot chicken. No, I'll take the mile. So loathe. Yes. Vegetarian. Oh. Yeah. Hot veg chicken. Hot cauliflower. Yeah. Love. There we go. Country music. Loathe. Electric stovetops. Loathe. Tasting menus. Love. Wine flights. Oh, I love it. Ditto. Patio seating. Love. Love that. Karaoke. Not so much. Love. Love. Incense. Loathe. Bottomless mimosas. Love. I think one of our friends is notorious for kind of falling victim to bottomless mimosas. Falling is the operative word.

01:00:40Exactly. Oh, yeah. Hi, Mitch. Electric scooters. Loathe. Party buses. Loathe. Egg on a burger. Love. Egg on a veggie burger. Yes. Mayo with fries. Love. Love it. Hot tea orders in June. Love. Sauce on the side. Love it. Love it. OK, OK. I love this. OK. All right. OK. So these are going to be a round of speed questions that you pick between the two options. OK. We're going to start Miley or Dolly. Dolly. Dolly. Reese or Tatey. Reese. Mild cauliflower or flocking hot cauliflower. Flocking hot. Miles. Willie or Garth. Willie. Definitely. DJ or band. Band. Band.

01:01:43Broadway or Printers Alley. Printers Alley. Breakfast or lunch. Brunch. Brunch. Oh, zing. East Nashville or the Gulch. East Nashville. The Gulch. Robert's or Kid Rock. Robert's. Demon Bruin or DeMumbrium. DeMumbrium. DeMumbrium. Toast or micros. Oh, toast. Yes. Counterservice lunch versus full service lunch. Full service. Depending on the day. Oh, my. Fifteen separate checks. Request. But they spend a lot of money or one check, but they barely purchased anything. Fifteen. Yeah, I'm going with the fifteen. And then there was another one.

01:02:43Fusion or confusion. Fusion. Fusion. Well, very good. Yes. There was one other bonus one I think I'd come up with, and I put it on there, but I don't know how it got deleted. What the heck? So it is. Martha Stewart or Snoop Dogg. No. Boy, no. Oh, my God. Now I forgot her name. Julia Child. Julia Child. Yeah, you dressed up as her. Martha Stewart or Julia Child. Yes. Julia Child. Julia Child. You are going the OG route. But then also Martha's a fucking OG, but in a different way. You know what? I love Martha Stewart. The reinvention of Martha Stewart. The reinvention of. I love her. I absolutely love her. Isn't that a story of redemption? Yes, it is. People are like, oh, her career is down the, like, no. And she went to jail and then she. Got bigger than ever. Get right back out. Absolutely. You know, absolutely. But then what would we do if none of us had ever heard?

01:03:44Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Tonight. I love that. Wild is the last guest that we had on, which was Bunny and their partner, Lincoln. Lincoln grew up with his mom being like a culinary instructor and Julia was there. Wow. Wow. Jacques Pepin, Julia Child. And then this kind of ties into it even further. When he was in prison, he would cook in prison and like come up with all these like crazy recipes that like sounded fucking delicious. So I was like, why do you not have a cookbook yet about this? So. Cooking from the prison cell. I know. I think I think it's a it's a great cooking up trouble. I don't know. Something like that. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Lots of latkes. Yeah, lots of latkes, you guys. That's going to be our next movie or idea. Be on the lookout for it. So we have a couple of quiz questions to round out. Just when you thought it was over.

01:04:46Just when I thought I was safe. Paul Bocuse, who was the Seminole French chef who introduced Nouvelle Cuisine to the world, had one mistress for every Michelin star that he gained. How many mistresses did he have? I guess it'd be three. We, chef three mistresses, 12. And there were pictures of the mistresses in the kitchen, in the restaurant where he worked with his wife. They were very French. During the Ottoman Empire, a woman had legal right to divorce her husband if he did not provide her with enough, what? Sex, food, sex, coffee. Oh, coffee. Oh, is this is this multiple choice? No, it was just coffee. Well, at a time when women's rights were not exactly paramount, this was one thing that was deemed so socially invaluable that women did have the right to to divorce over coffee.

01:05:59Well, you know, I'd like to say that I have been married to this guy for like 28 years. And although we fight like dogs, we love each other like a really lot. And we actually like each other. He brings me coffee every morning. And for 28 years, he has brought me coffee every morning. He sounds like a keeper. Yeah. Well, everyone, I think this is going to wrap up our month of love. Maybe that's apropos that there's like sirens in the back because Valentine's Day is approaching. And for those of us still in the restaurant world, sometimes it could be siren inducing whenever we think about that day. Although we love our guests terribly, the planning that goes into making sure it's a successful evening and everybody has a great time can be mind bending. So please wish us luck out there and all of our kind of comrades out there in the culinary world. We're sending out the most positive vibes and making sure that you all have an amazing Valentine's weekend and that all of your guests feel the love that you all put into your four walls and into your menus and into your beverages and into your service.

01:07:10So hang in there. February 15th, we can kind of all sit around and chit chat about the the stories from there. But y'all got this. We all got this. Basha, John, y'all are amazing. You're our most favorite couple in Nashville. They are our first best friends here. And we meet at least once a week to go to restaurants and have the best time there. And you are a treasure. We love you. We love you. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Appreciate it. Are you always. How do you say bonjour or that's not. Of all of what of what we'll get. Yes, you'll get there. Or as they say in our business, let's go eat. Let's go eat. Bye, y'all. Take care. Bye.