Julio Hernandez

00:00Very 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 have 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. And so you may say well every year they must raise the price on this seven-year contract, right? No, because they don't do any contracts. There's no gas fees, there's no clean green service fees, there's no replacement cost, there's nothing. The only price you pay is the price that you pay for the actual product. I know it's too good to be true. No contracts. They do formats. They'll make custom formats for you. They do fresh linens, cleaning supplies and guys I just did a tour of their facility and it is immaculate. It is state-of-the-art. I'm gonna post pictures on my Instagram. You can go find them and you can see how absolutely gorgeous this is to the point that they even wash and sanitize every one of their used laundry carts. It's just absolutely amazing. If you're looking for a linen company you can trust, who wants to earn your business every single week, go back and listen to our episode with Jason Cruz, the owner of CNBLenny. Hear it from his, straight from his mouth, exactly what they do. Or you give them a call at 931-722-7616 or you can DM me at Brandon Styll on Instagram for my exclusive pricing through the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance.

01:50Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service and I am excited, excited, excited to bring you this episode today. We have got Julio Hernandez. He is the owner and chef over at Maize de la Vida and this is kind of a homecoming. This is fun because he was on the show, I think it was May 27th, 2020, one of my first kind of group of people. When he came on the show he was the executive chef of Nectar Urban Cantina and it was during that episode that he announced he was going to be doing Maize de la Vida. It was Cinco de Mayo and it was his birthday and the special that night was the corn tortillas that he was making, nixtamal method, and he was buying a, what's it called, the mill from Mexico was being built and it was coming and he was going to be doing this thing and then it took off, then it started. We talk about that in this episode. He also came on the show when he announced he was doing a brick and mortar restaurant. So he announced that he was doing the brick and mortar on Nashville Restaurant Radio. And so today's episode, is there going to be an announcement? Yes, there is. There's going, it's not a hundred percent, but he does announce his plans for his next location and it is buried in this episode and you will be able to hear it and it sounds really, really good and it's gonna be something that's really cool. It's gonna be in the Wedgwood, Houston area and you gotta listen to the

03:52show to find out the details. I'm sure we'll be talking about this one. This is a tough day to put out a brand new episode because I'm sharing the day today with Taylor Swift and her The Life of a Showgirl album and so I don't know if you're gonna be listening because I know that that's getting all of the airtime from pretty much everybody out there and good for you Taylor and for all the Swifties out there. I am not like a big Taylor Swift fan, but I am a fan of her and I'm a fan of what she's doing and her super sleuth fans are amazing. I love how they figure out all of her little hidden messages, just is the coolest thing. So big, big stuff coming up if you are a restaurant out there and you are struggling, we've got some really cool episodes coming up. We're gonna be speaking with Debra Sunderland next week and she owns Sunderland Coaching and we're gonna be talking about 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. Debra is a great friend of mine. She's my business coach and we are gonna be talking about a really cool opportunity for you to help your leadership team and to help overall operations in your restaurant. Really fun stuff coming up. So stay tuned on the channel here. Like and subscribe guys and we're gonna be having another gentleman named Justin Cook who is an EOS implementer coming on here very shortly. So two different people doing different things but also helping culturally, helping you with your leadership. Coming on there's discounts for NARA members. If you want to learn more about NARA, the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance, please go check us out at naranashville.com.

05:37That's N-A-R-A-Nashville.com. There's a little submit form on there that you can type in your name and email and I will get in touch with you and we will get you guys set up. We have been doing, this thing's going crazy. We are working right now, we just signed up German Town Pub just finished their vendor negotiation and Naima is really happy about that over there. We've been working with Rose Pepper, we've been working with the 51st North Tap Room, 12th South Tap Room, McGuffin Catering. We've got lots of different people that we are working on RFPs for right now and our dance card is getting full so we would love to have you there also. If you would like to make it a little extra money, save some money on what you're currently paying, take advantage of the negotiations that we do. It doesn't cost you anything so it does not hurt to reach out. We would love to hear from you. With that being said, we're gonna jump in right now with Julio Hernandez from Maiz de la Vida.

06:43Super excited today to welcome in our guest Julio Hernandez, James Beard nominated chef. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Hello, hello. Still, still I'm not used to it when you know you hear that. Before we started you told me that the first time on the show was 2020 so like none of that was nowhere near you know. You know it's crazy I went back today on the way here I was telling you I was on the way here and I listened back to our first episode which was on Cinco de Mayo 2020. Now if you can take yourself back you were the executive chef at Nectar Urban Cantina and we did we had it that conversation was amazing because we talked a lot about your living situation moving from Nashville from New York to Nashville you woke up one day your wife said hey I don't want to be a mom I don't want to be a wife and she just bolted. Well ex-wife. Your ex-wife yeah yeah your ex-wife yeah your first wife.

07:45We just want to highlight that one. Of course but like it was so it was kind of like wow I didn't know all of that was going on and you talked about your friends and how you made it through and towards the end I said what are you guys gonna be doing at Nectar tonight for Cinco de Mayo for your birthday it was your birthday also and you said you know I've been working on this new thing it's this nixtamal method and I want to do stuff with corn and I've bought a mill and it'll be here in five weeks it's gonna be called Maiz de la Vida okay so that was five and a half years ago you said on the show I've got this new thing I'm gonna start called Maiz de la Vida and today we are sitting down in the dining room of Maiz de la Vida you know we're here in your brick-and-mortar and then there is you know there's we had our very beginning on Instagram selling tortillas we would sell it was 12 tortillas for nine dollars hand press to your door 30 mile radius that was the first transaction I remember leaving the house with about 250 dollars worth of tortillas to deliver in one one day so that was the first time we made well we didn't make any money but but you actually started your dream did you have any idea it would take off like this no idea sometimes I'll ask myself like could I if I was to start again could I do it again you know it's taking it's taking a toll right it's taking a lot of time it's taking a lot of thinking there's a lot of stress in between and then you need to like slow down and see yourself too like how do I deal with stress you know like you mentioned earlier I think one of the things that helped me to get here was the pest I already kind of deal with the most stressful situation I could have ever

09:49been put in and it's not money you know a lot of things people go for get destroyed by money you know money's not even real lives in a cloud is that the mentality you have to have is that the man if you if you're chasing money is that does that become your number one focus if you're chasing money or is it providing a service and hospitality to people that if when that becomes your driving force does that catch on better than yes can people see through that yes the money you were only thinking money I think you're gonna take the wrong turn you know you always got a hospitality the people where you are your locals right I think if you take care of that you're unstoppable right you got to be money smart to some point of course you're gonna pay people's I mean I'm about to go to payroll next I got three payrolls to knock out after this so so there's the money important part but it shouldn't be your focus and then don't let it stress you out that's that's key man how does it how do you not let it stress you out family people's faces you know there's real people out there I mean help you gotta stay healthy after building all this you know like when we shook hands this morning I like my legs are sore like I'm going to the gym I'm not trying to become a bodybuilder but you need to stay healthy you need to take care yourself you know yeah I want to keep eating tacos it's that simple no kidding right yeah you want to keep making tacos you got to eat them to make sure they're good but yeah that's uh I think that's a big part why my ease is where it's at you know we we think of people just last Mexican independence September 16 which is not Cinco de Mayo right no it's my anniversary though and my birthday that's all we celebrate

11:52right that's uh and then there's the whole I mean beautiful thing about everybody comes out to celebrate Cinco de Mayo but you know let's be honest we're celebrating margaritas and tacos really it's it's Cinco de Mayo like a hallmark holiday is it something that like we do in America way more because I got married September 16th and we go to Mexico to wherever and I'm like they throw us a huge party on our anniversary every time we're in Mexico for our anniversary yeah Cinco de Mayo really think of it this way a very small state defeated the French and they won that battle so that's what they celebrate la batalla de Puebla so let's think of a small state in the u.s. winning so it's a big it's a big celebration but it's a the full Mexican Independence Day is on September the 16th yeah so like half of July 4th so one of the things we did and this is where it's okay to not be money smart for September 16 the tag truck outside chopper which is five years old next week still there we haven't been kicked out of the sidewalk it's awesome do you anticipate that coming no I don't think I hope not okay is that something you think's gonna happen happy we even but yeah it's we've done a lot outside on that sidewalk you know from all the parties to shoot in Netflix to celebrating star chefs out on the sidewalk with everybody I mean we got the first James beer nomination out of the tackle truck so this September 16th I just passed we did three Casabirias for the neighborhood well for anybody really just anybody that showed up got an order for free just like hey and everybody going hey happy Mexican Independence and you're bringing that holiday to you're kind of really shining a light on

13:54how we appreciate you guys we did 310 orders Wow like full-on console man everything so you know to do that I think it's Macy and everybody left everybody was tipping to our staff they were super happy that's see that's being a local restaurant you can do stuff like that once a week because no but I mean like you care about your community the community comes in here and supports you all the time it's nice to give back to the community and do this sort of thing is that one of your driving focuses here I think so and like we did it too you know with the climate of everything happening you know which we don't have to get too into it but it doesn't take too much to put it together you know you got a tackle truck out there you know what well we just have this little tiny tackle truck take care of everybody maybe one day they'll take care of us you put that that's that's karma right you put good energy out in the world and it returns to at that point no matter how much we spend your food costs it's a great spent you know it's a it's a marketing expense but at the same point it's really just because you love your community so so it's good good to see a lot of people and give it back you know so from Cinco de Mayo 2020 announcing kind of hey look I have this passion to being nominated for a James Beard award what was that experience like for you when you know you get you've how did you find out first of all you know I'll be honest text message back then what year was it was it 23 22 22 so back then you know a Mexican cook tortillero doesn't really check the list every year you know yeah the list exists and you see your friends there you see the people you know somebody you work with and eventually you see it there on the list I remember the first person who texted me the list was Lisa Dunn man really yeah Lisa was like check this out did

15:58you know it was already 11 ish a.m. fucking shit what went through your mind like what was the feeling I had to go verify right go see it go find out see the views legit because it was the national category emerging chef you know yeah and that opened a lot of doors that opened so many doors I first couldn't believe it then I called the first person that everybody should call you know their mom mom had no clue she what James beer or anything like that she's not on Google so she's like cool all right good for you good for you like did you purchase the beans for tonight's dinner you're like mom I don't think you understand what this means yeah but just to see her excitement once I explained to her I was like wow like she gets it and well the rest you know how's your life changed since that day it's changed a lot a lot you know one of the things now that I do is manage a lot of people you know there's the staff group from because it started with myself and an Emma so it was two of us and then mom started helping a little bit so there was two and a half and now we're up to close to 60 wow you know so so from you know kind of working in New York and going to some different country clubs and working your way up and then starting this thing you've gone from a busboy to somebody who's was an executive chef to kind of an entrepreneur what do you think the most important lesson in leadership that you've learned since all of this has gone down is leadership I mean you always there's no days off there's no days off like you know you can be on vacation you can you can put your email on you know I'll be right back but you know there's no days off you always

17:59gotta be a couple weeks ahead you always gotta be planning ahead you don't get the clock out you really don't you know there's perks as well there's really good perks that comes with it but you're always on the clock you're always because if you're not because there's always you want to surround yourself with really talented people and in order to do that you need to keep growing you know talented people also go up so you gotta keep creating opportunities so you did the taco truck and then James Beard nomination we got to do a brick and mortar was that was was everybody screaming for you to do a brick and mortar well it happened so quick right like this location that we have here in 8th Avenue it just was nothing here there was no it was like Arnoles and then this building was the all-intake building nothing was there so we had to dream really hard to make it happen really really hard it's a really cool spot Nashville's not you know 2020-2022 Nashville wasn't cheap to build anything here so still even harder now yeah lots of dreaming lots of pushing creative keep pushing and then you know we had the tortilla shop that we had to build we built everything so this could happen the taco truck does what it does but we needed a commissary kitchen which is our tortilla shop if you go in there it's insane huge walk-in stockpots tortilla machine they're printing 800 tortillas per hour 40 hours a week so that's where North Nashville's are hard are you selling those tortillas to other restaurants not yet that is we mean 800 that's just us wow you know we're doing a 40-hour shift with the machine so like

20:01to make all these happen we had to really really focus on dream hard so we could make everything seem seamless because I mean it's not no it's not so you know you got a dream of large walk-in and make it happen you gotta think the machine that came from Mexico get it here talk to the fire marshal get the huge gas line I mean yeah there's a million things that a lot of people don't even realize that goes into this what do you say your biggest challenges right now with all of this what what are what is this something that you deal with on a daily basis that is a problem problem we think we think while he's thinking we're gonna take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors running a restaurant is tough staff turnover rising cost and the endless tasks that bog you down and take you away from what you love let Adams Keegan lighten that load they're privately held Tennessee based restaurant and hospitality focused outsourced HR payroll and benefits firm the team at Adams Keegan removes the HR administration payroll benefits management garnishments unemployment claims compliance 401k and so much more from their proprietary HR IS platform to seamless payroll and competitive benefits that keep your team smiling they've got you covered Adams Keegan lets you focus on what you do best creating unforgettable dining experiences while they handle the rest essentially think of Adams Keegan as your back office HR department right here in Music City one of the many things I love that Adams Keegan is that unlike big publicly traded companies out there they have an incredibly high standard of customer service and that that's what we all need is really good customer service in these areas they don't give you a 1-800 number and make you fill out an IT ticket submission they surround every client with a team of experts all based right here in Tennessee you can call them today at 615 627 0821 or visit adamskeegan.com that's A-D-A-M-S-K-E-E-G-A-N.com for your

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25:28I used to so now what I did three years ago I made a I made up to the given kitchen Brian introduced me to Usher Brian Trader uh-huh the man man the myth the legend. He introduced you to who? To Usher who is the he's in charge of farm here in Tennessee so you know we came friends had a few tacos so he manages the farm of the Algor family on the Cumberland River really crazy you know and does he grow like that heirloom veritable corn for you so we started talking in over three years ago about it he would you know we took a trip to Mexico together it was just a French trip it wasn't R&D it was just you develop good friendships so you yeah of course hang out came back and he gave it a go you know he asked me for my favorite corn Mexican corn we tried it and what is your favorite Mexican corn like the bull is called bolita it's the best corn that we use to make things crispy because I can get into this hour long conversation how they work but long story short every single origin grain has a different use some are good for thickening you know corn cornstarch comes from a different kernel and then you got all the corns like the dented corn who's gonna be less starchy meaning when you make masa that masa should become a chip should become a cassava you know crispy versus if you use a starchy corn that should become maybe a sauce because you can thicken with it because it's starchy or table tortillas because they'll stay pliable longer on the table so okay but let's go back to the you know that's really

27:28see I think this stuff's fascinating you know because I don't make tortillas I don't this is not something most people don't make it most people buy tortillas from somewhere they don't know how it's even made and that's kind of crazy we kind of dive in into all this like we took one day we took and this we kind of learn this too by mistake right we were making casperias of the truck and they were just not crisping up and you know days went by and they were just not crisping up we finally finished the corn that we had the batch and then they were crisping up again so we figured it out we're like holy shit is we're not doing it wrong it's not a flat top it's not a tallow you're asking the wrong guy for the wrong job yeah you know it makes sense so then we started taking each kernel and cut it in half to look into it and that's how holy shit so this should have a purpose right I'll probably want to use the the kernel the corn the starch you want to make tamales I can add more stock I can add more lar I can add more salsa and make a more flavorful it'll hold all of that better so we kind of work that way so Asher candy for farm first year that he had corn we fell you know together we only had 200 pounds that's that's like doesn't do a lot for you yeah it's like two days of work you know it was great that's a whole season you got 200 pounds yeah yeah but you know it's first year sock for him sorry thankfully now we're up to 10 tons 10 tons we're doing 10 tons of corn so really I would say 75% 60% no it's Tennessee corn now and you know organic it is heirloom it is native to this area the corn that we found that likes to grow here we were asking a corn from Mexico to grow in this climate in

29:31this altitude and that's where we messed up okay we needed to find somebody similar that already belongs here to grow and once we you know found the guy I mean yeah next year we should have more so so next year you hopefully will have more and you can create more and sell to other people well that would to open the market to sell to other people we would need to open it just tortilla really right now our little spot you know our tortilla that we have is kind of too small it is what it is we would need to do a warehouse so it's never say never right so never say never you've got the taco truck you've got the commissary kitchen you've got this location what's next we might it's not final but you know you always get the first scoop you did announce you were doing this location on the show you announced you're doing my's de la vida on the show you announced you were doing the brick-and-mortar on the show on the roundup when we used to do the roundup is there another announcement coming so I didn't think we would do another one but it's looking great man you know you always and this was gonna be very special because this is gonna be like the you know like your child where you're like you know what this is what I want a lot of locations gonna work like the you know like the commissary has to do what a commissary does the taco truck can only do what a taco truck does the restaurant full service you gotta do it that way this one now I think it's gonna be what I want it to be I want to be like the like a proud kid right like I want it to be a video we're looking into a spot in Wedgewood Houston right near Gabby's okay so that would be amazing yeah that Wedgewood Houston's so hot too

31:32it is hot but the opportunity came about and I think and not too far from here it is not and if you make that a beautiful taqueria like straight up just like many on the wall I think there's a lot of potential there will be fun I think and it's different too when you're building something now when you have roots now you can build fun stuff so so here is this the first place you're announcing this have you talked to anybody we have yet to sign the lease so there's that but you know every day that goes by the conversation is growing so so a authentic taqueria taqueria does it that right well here's a tough one this was gonna be called my ease beer area my ease beer yeah beer area yeah that's that's a dream right how do you say this word because I've always said it was beer yeah like beer be be er why a beer yeah beer yeah just gotta roll the R baby beer yeah there you go it's not beer yeah let's just say I'll have that beer yeah taco it's good it's good you got it there beer yeah it's good okay so that's the dream you know having a pot of beer yeah simmer it in there grab that chop it have a tortilla next to it grab it right there from freshly chopped onto your table I think that that will be there's nothing like it nothing like it there's nothing like it at all so I think that if it happens would you have a bar mm-hmm we're thinking beer keeping more like a cantina so the beer yeah beer yep yep and this one would really just be like like a melancholic missing a taqueria in Mexico you know like I'm thinking of course there's the beer yeah but I'm also thinking tribe I'm thinking I'm thinking all these very original Mexican dude like at this point I'd be

33:32like this is the menu like I'm sorry if you want something else go over there well you had this dream back in the day you said that you know from age 2 to 11 was that right you lived in Mexico mm-hmm so you're you've actually lived your grandmother from 2 to 11 and in Nashville I think in our first conversation since I just listened to it you said I don't know what I said so I'm actually interested to hear well no you said I I like Mexican food I like traditional Mexican food and everywhere I go in Nashville nobody does it the way that they do it when I was a kid and you really wanted to bring these tortillas that were authentic Mexican tortillas and then that's where Mais de la Vida came from it's just kind of evolved to that but is this these are just traditional this is how you would get it in Mexico well let me add to that flavors at least now that we're here now that we have the truck the restaurant I still get people that go this is not original I'm like well fuck I mean it's just the never ending chasing black hole that keeps you in the business right yeah I think it is okay because really what you're chasing is that little bit memory of home how it was done at home and I mean shit everybody is from somewhere else so it's like a never-ending something that you want to reach and I think that's a really fucking cool so that's that's your goal you you want to keep searching for that flavor and that that feeling of home when you were a kid yes yes keep going and keep trying to show it to more people and the more people that we find I think they'll relate and use it you know like I think we have like I say we haven't achieved it yet I don't think we ever will but that means we still in business you know well even if you do achieve it what does that mean correct I mean just now you can just eat and is there a feeling you're trying to get from you dining in the restaurant when you taste the food when would you have

35:33that feeling when a guest says I think Mexico I grew up Mexico and this is it yes I think definitely more it has to transform into a guest experience versus mine I think I already found mine I think I'm good like I'm very happy now it's just like okay every you know I mean not everybody's right but they could have some truth to it so let's dig in you know I really do enjoy bad reviews I like them you can learn a lot from yeah yeah they don't piss me off I straight open it and I am open-minded so I just kind of try to see the whole perspective of the day what could happen was where we're missing a host where we down a cook was you know was the lines that came in that they not a good product you know like you got to give him the benefit of the doubt some you can just scroll away you know people are trying to be funny they're trying to do something and it's like but you got to read it you got to take you got to take a few there's elements of truth in all of them yeah yeah they just you know some people might be just I remember to listen to your show one day and I don't a specific episode but it was about if you are upset and you already came in upset as a guest to the restaurant it's probably not even the restaurants fault it started outside and it's now here and no matter what you do no matter what my shit could be help I just learned I have cancer let's say that right I don't know if any pancakes are gonna make it you know you have no idea what a guest is thinking when they walk in the door you could just do your best every day to make them to have an amazing experience and that's what you're trying to do you're trying would it be safe to say you're trying to bring every guest in these buildings to your kitchen at your grandmother's house because it seems like that's the level of hospitality I want to bring everybody into my

37:34grandmother's kitchen and that warm feeling you had eating that food and helping cook that food if that's something that you did you want them to experience that because it brings such fond memories to you you know when you fall short in that it can be a real challenge yes yes and you know of course they understand too we have people that just name a random state Iowa Wisconsin and then they're walking by because there's a lot of people on the streets in Nashville nowadays everywhere and they're exposed to this very different style of Mexican food you know what if Brandon from Iowa really wanted fajitas then we're shit out of luck you're at the wrong place yeah and that's okay you know like you can't be all things to all people no no no and that is that is that that's why you gotta go with your heart go with your idea execute it to the best you can and that's that's it it's on the table literally on the table literally on the table and yeah after that you can go home and sleep you know but to me back to the chasing money versus chasing passion you know when your vision is I'm chasing to see my guest experience my childhood dinner table it's not I'm every guest is there's not dollar signs in every person it's it's an experience that you want them to feel when they're in the building and if you can get enough people to feel that you don't have to worry about money it just comes pretty much it's a very easy way right sounds so simple but it's not it's not that simple I think the invoice is making that that simple no well and I think that's also you know lightning in a bottle of doing something that's unique having the passion to do it I don't think a James Beard nominee hurts yeah that whole situation I mean you do you feel pressure now that you have that title in front of you James Beard nominee that you have to perform or people are coming in with some sort of

39:35expectation that this is this has to be some James Beard restaurant the hardest challenge is not the food man the hardest challenge is we have an open kitchen we keep it clean we keep it nice but that's you should anyway but now the hardest part about it is you have to engage with people you know I really wanted an open kitchen because that is part of my culture you talk to everybody and you have seats at that we have seats right there like at the kitchen so you're right there with us so no matter how much I'm in the weeds people want to talk man and that's part of the business and very often I have to cook saute because I want to my so tech crew will be like hey there's this show happening and I really want to go to the show it's a Saturday night I like fuck yes dude go to your show I got a saute do you how often do you cook in the restaurant I get on the line so unfortunately I get to run expo a lot you know I try now they are tried me playing musical chairs because my team is building we have the pretty much the same crew front of house back of the house as a year ago I would like to think 80% are around which is huge because when you open many restaurants when they open they go through you know 50% on the first oh yeah it's crazy you have no idea what to expect so we have 80% of our original crew here including kitchen so now it can be like hey chef Melissa you want to can I cook taco you do window you want to expo she's like oh no that's your job like you've got it cross-training is important but there's I call it playing restaurant mm-hmm okay like I do the business side of our restaurants and I negotiate all the vendor deals and I manage the German I don't have like a role in any restaurant like I don't the restaurant

41:38functions without me well so when I get to be there and be a part of it I call it playing I get to play a restaurant today or I get to come in and actually interact with guests or all expo or running food bussing tables those kinds of things that's the stuff I love doing and I every time I do it I was at the Green Hills Grill last night was our 10 year anniversary and man I just had so much fun being in the restaurant like playing restaurant do you find it that same way yes I get to do that at three locations like you do you know I'll go to the truck and I'll stand on the plancha and try to keep up with the case of areas and I'm like I'm done playing here like holy shit I think back and I like wow like five years ago that was my station that's where I was crushing and like you guys got it like okay do you ever do you ever feel like cuz I feel like this weird guilt sometimes like people don't know that I can do the job like how'd this guy get that job how does he get to be the guy that doesn't have to work in a restaurant when he comes in he just talks to guests and has a good time like the days that I have to like get in there and hustle and people go oh shit look at this guy knows what he's doing like and I get it when you when you get back in that position and you just hustle and like oh look at that's why that dude's where he is I think that's why I like working saute here and there right because that was my favorite station as a young cook that was my favorite so there's other people that can do it but you know what hey yeah go to your show on Saturday but prep that shit up so when I get here on Saturday night I can like keep doing my playing around the restaurant and then plug in from you know 4 till 9 10 yeah so there's there's perks too you know there but it is so much fun but at the same time you have people at chef's counter who are like oh wow okay I mean it's I'm still not I don't see it but you know you got a it's part of the job so I'll

43:42be cooking and they want to engage in conversation and you have to what does that feel like though for you I mean like humble guy I look I'm just doing what I love for people to want to come up and take selfies with you and to just oh my god there's Julio let me talk to Julio and all of that like what is that are you able to are you able to feel that and feel the appreciation I give it back I put them on the spot very often if the time is right I make them come into the line and pretend they're cooking and then guests come back there and do that for a tiny time here come over you've been sitting there for an hour you can see what this hot over here they're like oh my god okay here move this up tip and like this okay cool you want to take a picture and then they take the picture from there and then they go away and that's hospitality I think they go away with a picture inside of the kitchen and I mean it is intimidating to be in there if you are not in the business oh yeah you know I mean I'll be intimidated to go into somebody else's kitchen let's be honest you know you're going to somebody's house and saying I'll use your grill like this is my grill at my house though I got it but I really feel like it helped me a lot to have the front of the house experience first before the back of the house because you can engage you know you that's not a easy wall to take down once you're only back of the house well I thought it was really interesting in our first conversation where you said I was running food but I was a terrible food runner because I would always go to the tables and I dropped the food off and I go hey do you want more wine do you want more of this and you would start selling and you just wanted to connect with the people and so many people I see and I think it's generational so you're probably you're a millennial right and so I'm a Zen on Gen X kind of person but I think Gen Z you hire him for a job and I just want to go do the job and you saw the job but you

45:42had this passion so you would run the food but then I want to get more involved and then you said hey I don't want to run food I want to be a server and then you're like I'm really bad at serving and you ended up hanging out with the guys in the back of the house and that was your home it was crazy dude like I think about it I got to serve for four years in Times Square right I started at the age of like 17 and I got to the experience right like high volume I would have server nightmares let's just put it that way you forget the ranch or whatever I just wiped this 16 top curry car on the other table like something like that yeah I forgot to ring in the order you know where's our food let me go check on it oh I never hit send yeah oh imagine that for a 16 top oh we had that happen the other night and I walked in the restaurant said this tables at 40 minutes right now and she forgot to ring the order and I just went to the table and I went I have good news and bad news and they said okay what's the bad news and I said well we forgot to ring your order in so they're making it now and it's gonna be out shortly I'm very sorry about that and they go in the good news and I go it's on us so you get free dinner tonight there you go you got bad news there's gonna be a few and they were super cool like oh dude thank you for being honest and pretty sure I didn't make up and that's the thing just be honest with people mm-hmm honestly I mean it goes it goes a long way raise your hand mm-hmm hey we screwed up sorry about that we'll own it so that was my server career right and then like you said and then I became a very bad server because the more I learned about food the more I kept spilling specials I was like I want to see how like how do you do the double-cut pork chop how do you cook that so go hang out with Raul at the grill and check it out I'll be like damn rose like ten dip holy shit then I look at Chino I'd be like wow Chino's got all these chicken all these airlines and then like just he knows which ones coming out of the oven which one winning first and then yeah my

47:43tables were suffering at this point because I was just hanging out there's hanging out in the kitchen you're very curious mm-hmm so you're running food but I still want to talk to tables I want to wait tables but no no I'm curious about the kitchen you go stand back there and watch the kitchen where does that curiosity come from is that something your grandmother taught you I think it's just my personality really just curious I think comes with like you know where am I from you know I'm a kid that was born in the Bronx that was sent to Mexico at seven months and then now in Mexico and they're like well you're pretty white you must not be from here so then I go back to the Bronx and they're like whoa you're not white kind of brown dude where you from you gotta know you can't speak the language and they well I guess I'm not from here either and then I moved to Tennessee you know like oh you're not from here you're not so I think it's just a forever thing right like trying to find my place like where am I from where do I fit in and then just you get used to it you know you get keep moving keep looking do you think you found it did you find the place where you fit in yeah yeah tortilla world dude that finding the next amount of tortillas that's exactly where you know I need to be it's somebody has to do it and thankfully he was here but just to finish the server conversation I went from I went from making I think was 1800 a week back then to getting paid ten dollars an hour you know 1800 a week serving to making ten dollars an hour in the kitchen an hour like you know what and you know now you gotta work overtime was you know I'm very grateful I did it you know I could afford to do it back then didn't have four kids take the pay cut there's a new way to drink whiskey it's called pony boy slings these bourbon based canned cocktails are fully carbonated and only 7% ABV so light and refreshing all you have to do is chill it pop it giddy up follow us on Instagram or online at

49:45drinkponyboy.com hey guys today we are talking about Robins insurance and restaurants carry a very unique set of risks we 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 every restaurant owner has heard the statistics about how tough it is to survive and thrive in the business but getting adequate insurance at least gives you a fighting chance to mitigate some of those risks it's well worth considering a custom-built restaurant insurance policy as it'll not only make life simpler but it may even overcome some risk you haven't even considered for example you'll usually want to cover risk to property such as the building and equipment along with liability to customers and staff right yeah that's easy but remember there's an important difference between general liability such as a customer slipping on a spoiled drink and a professional liability such as about a food poisoning from bad food or inadequate preparation other elements that are easily overlooked include the risk of fraud and data theft that come with handling cash and card payments the risk of spoiled food you have to throw away if there's a power outage or refrigerator failure and the risk of lost business if you close for repairs after a fire protect your restaurant business by contacting them today it's so easy and when any of those situations happen what you don't want to do is get and dial an 800 number and be put on hold to talk to somebody you have to explain your business to that is why you call Matthew Clements Matthew Clements at Robbins insurance when any of those scenarios happen you pick up the phone you dial 8 6 3 4 0 9 93 72 Matthew answers goes how can I help you you tell him your problem he's your friend you know him why would you not have an agent that you work with every single day any of these situations right here you need guidance you need support and Matthew Clements and his team at Robbins insurance are there to provide it you should call him today I'm gonna put that number down one more time that's 8 6 3 4 0 9 9 3 7 2 call Matthew Clements today y'all today we

51:51are 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 services floors restrooms laundry basically your entire facility clean bright and smelling and feeling new this 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 7 7 0 3 3 7 11 43 and he would love it if you 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 7 7 0 3 3 7 11 43 I'm sure you've heard the news keeping your restaurants finances in check shouldn't feel like an endless juggling act at Grimberg accounting we specialize in full cycle bookkeeping for food service businesses we handle every sale invoice expense and payment from open to close plus we provide real-time reports meals tax filing and expert consulting to help your business grow with clean accurate books and custom financial analysis you'll always know where your business stands no setup fees nationwide service let us handle the numbers so you can focus on serving great food and creating unforgettable experiences book your free consultation today grumburg accounting calm specialized bookkeeping and financial services for the food industry wow I just think it's I think so many people make so many calculated decisions based around money and you've kind of just always made these I'm following a passion I'm following something that I believe in and you've put everything into it and it's worked out really well I mean like I said I'm not that smart

53:51when it comes to money I just do it it comes back yeah just do it do it don't worry too much by the money that comes wow and this is such a neat story man and I've known you for so long I mean you know like you said then I saw then I was a nectar I did the contract clubs and all that that shit was really cool I'm glad I did it I learned purchasing I learned costing I learned sourcing and then I got to hang out with Hunter I think that was great Hunter Hackinson we just saw at the Nara connect event was there thanks for coming to that by the way that was great good time I I came in with a very limited time so we snuck through the back say hello to all the vendors first make it to the room got to hear all of you guys and we ran away and you won some free shoes you got your free you got you you want a pair of Nara custom dunks do you like them but finally got to get them to you I love this dude so I I usually do these are super long conversations I really want to just stop by today I wanted to get kind of the rest of the stories five years ago you kind of said hey look we're doing my East Elvira crazy you announced we're doing this thing here and then I wanted to bring you the shoes and and just catch up with you say congratulations we didn't even talk about the giving kitchen we could talk for hours there's just endless conversations that we could have I mean from we were also together before we and we were together at the best friends lunch yeah and that's important that's really that's huge man the the amount of alcohol that is consumed in restaurants you know I'm guilty too I enjoy it but it's a thing I think that you know I just was at the GFS food show I was talking to a line cook

55:51there and I said you know we don't teach people emotional regulation and shifts or trauma and they're crazy and they get real busy and you know at the end of the day we leave the restaurant we don't have like a way to come down or to leave not angry or whatever it might be and alcohol is a really easy solution to a lot of things in this industry because you get really up the endorphins are going really high and it's late at night and then how do you wind down at 11 30 12 o'clock at night you know I learned that what helps me still run away I just leave I don't say bye you Irish goodbye I say see you later dude because if I stayed around and it's 10 p.m. that's when the fun begins you know that's a cook that's kind of like your wind down time and so I just go out to the back door see you tomorrow yeah they run away but yeah it's a real thing man so so Ben's friends yet there they do amazing things giving kitchen you're on their national engagement council right I'm on the Tennessee engagement council but you're national they've got some great things anything you want to say about giving kitchen I mean we have first of all is real it's the hardest thing to believe right like it's it sounds too good to be truth like hey they pay your medical bills or pay your rent and you don't have to pay it back it is real we have people on the staff here that before getting here have unfortunately had the need to use it car crash injured spine couldn't work and guess what giving kitchen came in and help came through man and I learned is well here so we just finished doing our giving kitchen raising money for giving kitchen we did carnita tacos for almost the whole month of September really yeah we're at your goal in no time I'll bet yeah so like we made a little flyer people said it was a little add-on to the menu it was instant sell people read

57:55it and where the money's going they're having one and they'll still have their appetizer they'll still have their main course they will still have their other drink so like this was just an extra one and this is something that any restaurant can do anytime now they do something called dining with gratitude it's in the month of September which we're in right now and they've asked people to create a menu item and donate a portion of the sales that are all the profits from that to giving kitchen and this I saw a comment on our on my page was like all he does is talk about giving kitchen now and it's like well you know what this is a podcast for restaurant people in them in the giving kitchen gives back to restaurant people and if you're a restaurant you need to know about giving kitchen go to giving kitchen org and learn more because if you have an employee who's hurt or they can't come to work they will come in and they will pay their bills while they're out they'll pay the rent they'll pay their electric bill they'll buy them groceries so that they can live while they're not able to work and every restaurant that's able to contribute this is for every restaurant whether you contribute or not but any restaurant that can contribute we'd love for them to contribute all you have to do is go to giving kitchen org and sign up for it yeah or just make something and then donate the money and again it all comes back to you I promise you what you know what goes around comes around so I love that that's almost like the whole thing today dude yeah we didn't plan this I don't know I used to have plans going in a podcast now I just walk in and go hey what's happening where we're gonna go with this but it's putting good energy out into the world brings you back good things yeah yeah I mean I've seen you know like podcasts where they talk about like if you call your staff family you're doing it wrong well that will be for chain restaurants it doesn't apply does not apply to real places I think that some of these chain restaurants call their staff family so that they can treat them poorly yeah and when you're with

59:58somebody for 40 50 60 hours a week and you're in these buildings you get to know you're with them more than your family and when you respect each other and you work in an environment that respects you it does feel a lot like family yeah especially when the owner recognizes your hard work and puts it back into you you know there's one thing that I do every single day say hello to everybody individually not just wave like walk towards this person say hello hello good morning you know I always walk behind the line mm-hmm morning Domarice good morning Hugo yeah morning Jose I go through the whole line you got to like it just it takes two seconds no it doesn't take long at all do it do it it means a lot to them I love it well we do the Gordon food service final thought here this is something I don't know if you've done before you've heard it before I'm sure you knew it was coming the final thing you get to take us out Julio whatever you want to say to the community do it so October 4 the truck turns 5 we're gonna be doing goat birria out of the taco truck and we're gonna be charcoal grilling some steak to make bambitos that's be very exciting and then I'm really pumped about this one October 7 we turn one so we're going to and this is where it's really fun we all love Woodstock 1969 so we came out with corn stock we're having our own corn stock even corn stock live music like music so we have a very talented crew here happens that we have four musicians in here so we are giving them we're getting everything situated so they can play there'll be four bands starting at 5 p.m. and they get to perform they get to use the space they get to like you know have a place to showcase their abilities other than whooping some margaritas real fucking

01:02:01fast you know I'm very excited to see the staff shine how cool is that it's gonna be great well we have you know from Spanish alternative rock to bluegrass October 5th October 7 October the 7th on a Tuesday night Tuesday night corn stock here at this location off 8th Avenue really excited about that and then for the menu we're gonna do so we are very seasonal we're very special driven so we're gonna do our best of the best of 2024 best dishes you know best things we practice that we took away that we pissed off people like where where do my where do my dish go well it's back it's back this night we can do it you can get it what day is that's gonna be the same down same day October the 7th so og dishes that went away that were your favorites are gonna be back limited menu and that's always serving you know we can execute it really well and that's why we serve it so you get one day you get one go duck molly comes back do we need to make reservations for this is it just come in come in but make reservations but come in anyway corn stocks gonna be live outside so you can't miss that anyway that's I mean I guess final words man just do good do good you'll come back around there's not much really to think about take care of your people take care of your staff take care of your neighborhood and they'll take care of you money isn't real it lives in a cloud it comes back it'll be nice if that was true my kids are very real that they need very real money and finally I guess and then I'll add one more recently as a small business owner I had my 14 year old started working with us I got my first job 14 he works on Saturdays here you know like six hours shift he's helping

01:04:04us in dish he's got kitchen feet now super proud of that I told him I was like this is a plan dude you're gonna come hang out with us it's an open kitchen you learn to talk to people you gotta do like this you can add your spin and then the game plan is then before 15 he'll be doing some prep prepping in the back by 16 I'll get you your own knife you'll be we'll start training you on the line and when you go to college you can have your own knife kit your own knife bag choose anywhere you want to go do what you want to do but you can get a job anywhere you can make a living anywhere yeah you know you could be a cook at any city they choose to go I love that so a lot of people you know my wife's kind of like I don't want my kids in this industry but my 12 year old comes with me he come with me to Chagos and he will work full shifts with me and it's fun yeah also maybe scared hopefully scared him away too hopefully what maybe scared him too maybe Leo will come to work here and he goes home on Saturdays and he just crashes yeah well it's a tough business instead I want them to learn that it's tough and there's a lot of people skills like I have him play a sport every year just because I want them to learn how to be on a team I want them to learn that it's you know you lose sometimes it's okay to lose what do we learn from losses been that all this stuff can be taught in a restaurant yeah there's a life skills you're teaching I think it's great you know work ethic and like we're picking parsley the other day it's Saturday night we're picking parsley so he's like you're gonna do this like yeah but we're not done we got more to do and then we gotta chop it it's crazy think he was nine years old when we were on the first episode yeah so now now he's on the payroll here you know what a special moment yeah dude so you know that's a I think that's part of how you keep a place happy too you know like a hundred percent add some family values to it I think that's all really good

01:06:08stuff man thanks for taking the time today I know you're busy as hell and so fun catching up with you well we'll see you man thank you so much so great we'll give you a little look at Hernandez look at this the crowd loves you man crowd absolutely what else you got there what else do I have here I've got to get the laughter my jokes get this here and then we can also do a like when we talk about me yeah then I have if you tell a dad joke I have a rimshot and then if I was to tell you a scary story let's start the scary story off with all right can we do that again and I got something to say all right November 2nd we're having our next industry night here at my ease Dia de los Muertos we are thinking of getting somebody to do a face paint candy skulls for whoever comes you're doing a day of the dead we always do our industry nights on a Sunday night starting at 9 p.m. and they go through like whenever they go till yeah and this one happens to be Dia de los Muertos so I'm thinking you know like fog machine and karaoke you're listening to the guitars playing guitar yeah yes so it's Carter vintage guitars upstairs oh I'm like I feel like there's a band starting to play in here and it's somebody upstairs playing guitar okay the other day I keep looking around like where is this guitar coming from so industry night November 2nd and then I'll take it away with this cool story I'm hanging out my office in the back and I start smelling this amazing aroma of this flower that you can smoke and the smell kind of skunky yeah like okay

01:08:11like okay what's going on so I call upstairs because it's coming from upstairs and like like you guys challenging me like friends I can call well sorry chef we have a post Malone in one of the rooms upstairs and he's testing out $20,000 guitar and well you know you're enjoying yourself you're gonna be yourself and we're gonna let him be himself I was like you know what yes a hundred percent did you get to go up there and see him no no I try to stay away you know yeah it's it's the neighborhood we see a lot so trying to respect the I understand that but but yeah I was like all right he's got the good stuff man I'm telling you all right October the 7th they are doing corn stock here at Mayes de la Vida wait to see the flyer November the second is industry night day of the dead industry night top-shell margaritas best of the great deal and then five dollar Mayes burgers oh hell yeah last one we did we had over 300 people in and out throughout the night so you see everybody you see all your friends you work with you see the friends from every single restaurant I'm in I'm gonna be here everybody's here so it gets it gets wild we should bring the podcast he's talked to all the industry people throughout the night you're more like a live podcast that night be fun let's bring you in because you'll find everybody here yeah and we just have like 20 people and then we don't talk about what anything that happens we just nobody nobody knows you know you get free dessert when you go to places after you make friends here too oh yeah yeah come over I love it we just don't talk what happens we could do this all day Julio I know lunch is starting people are coming in thank you for joining us today on Nashville restaurant radio I tell you Julio loves the sounds that we make on the show we had so much

01:10:20fun in that conversation so lots of things going on there we got corn stock coming up we've got the industry night and a new location in Wedgwood Houston over by Gabby's a barrier yeah I think I said that right that's gonna be amazing and you heard it here first on Nashville restaurant radio thank you for listening today I really really appreciate it if you need marketing help you need to call miles hospitality marketing that's my lls h m.com and don't call them visit the website and you can click the contact button Christine miles is amazing we have got some big episodes coming up for you that will help you if you are a restaurant owner and that's who so I won't listen to the show if you're not a restaurant owner then maybe it helps you in your business or whatever it is but hopefully you get an inside scoop hopefully this episode helps you understand the life of a restaurant owner and how fast it can change and some of the things that go on and if you're out there focusing on money and all the details of all the things that go into this job and you need to be out talking to guests and really working on hospitality that's where you need it's where you need Nara and we're here to help you with a lot of that stuff and go take care of your guests make them happy and thank you you make me happy by listening especially this far into the episode we as always hope that you are being safe out there love you guys bye