Madison Murrian & Kristine Mylls

00:00Running a restaurant is tough. Staff turnover, rising costs, and the endless tasks that bog you down and take you away from what you love. Let Adams Keegan lighten that load. Their privately held Tennessee-based restaurant and hospitality-focused outsourced HR, payroll, and benefits firm. The team at Adams Keegan removes the administrative burdens of HR administration, payroll benefits management, garnishments, unemployment claims, compliance, 401k, and so much more. From their proprietary HRIS 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 about Adams Keegan is that unlike big publicly traded companies out there, they have an incredibly high standard of customer service, and 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.

01:04They 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 free HR consultation and see how they can create a customized solution to help your restaurant thrive. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City, and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. So excited today to bring you Maddie Murian.

02:05And Maddie is the fundraising and event manager over at Core. So Core is a nonprofit that helps restaurant workers, similar to like a giving kitchen or even Big Table. You're gonna learn all about them today and what they do, and they've got some really cool events coming up very soon. But with SNAP benefits being taken away, I don't know how the whole thing is working right now. I've loved seeing everybody jumping in and helping. They have a new initiative called Groceries with Gratitude that they are helping people get groceries this holiday season. And so stay tuned. If you know somebody who might be dealing with some food insecurity, that is something, this is a great episode. And if you're a leader in a restaurant, I said in the episode, if you are somebody who does a schedule, you need to know these things. If you're somebody who writes the schedule for your restaurant, you need to know about giving kitchen, you know about Core, you need to know about Ben's Friends, and you need to know about Big Table.

03:13These are four nonprofits that are helping restaurant workers and the people who do the schedules. You're the ones who know what's going on with people, and this would be a great tool to be able to offer them to go get some help. And raise your hand. Raise your hand. It's good to ask for help. This is a thing. So we're gonna get into that here in just a moment. Do wanna say a big congratulations out there to so many restaurants. We have a, CMB Lennon was sponsoring us. They have a couple different companies at the end, but they had a suite at the Bridgestone Arena, and we brought in a bunch of chefs and restaurant owners on Monday, a bunch of chefs and restaurant owners on Thursday, and then we'll do it again tomorrow. So if you're a NARA member, you wanna learn more about NARA, and you wanna go to a hockey game, and you have four tickets left, reach out, send us a DM at NARA Nashville on Instagram. We would love to have you come hang out with us for the Preds game tomorrow.

04:14It's an afternoon game. But one of the things that prohibited a lot of people from going to this game was the fact that they were in Greenville, South Carolina. The Michelin Guide has officially come out for the American South, not just Atlanta, all over the South, and Nashville is all over it. And I wanted to give you a full rundown of what these things are. So Michelin stars, you can get a Michelin actual star, two stars, I think there's even a third star. And then if you're right underneath the star, you get Bib Gourmand, which means you're amazing value, amazing quality food, not quite one star, like a Michelin star worthy, but definitely right there, you're on the cusp. And then they have recommendations, places you're recommended. There's 36 restaurants in Tennessee that made the Guide. There was three restaurants in Nashville that actually got Michelin stars.

05:14So big congratulations to Strategic Hospitality. Our good friends, Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Hobbiger. They got Bastion, got one star. The Catbird Seat got one star, as did Locust. So we have Michelin star restaurants in Nashville. They're all strategic brands, and all great people who run really tight ships over there and just massive congratulations to all of you. I wanna go over kind of the full list, let you guys know. We got a green star for January. January is a restaurant over in South Hall in Franklin, where they actually grow a lot of their own food and it's farm to fork kind of a situation. And I've got some good friends, Jenny Chikawa, who used to be my co-host on the show. She's over there doing amazing things. So congratulations to everybody from South Hall for your green star.

06:18Bib Gourmand, Show Pizza Bar. I think that is Sean Brock's pizza bar. They got Bib Gourmand. SS Guy, you can listen to SS Guy on the podcast. I'll tell you if they've been on the show before, then you can go back and listen to them because a lot of these people have been on the show, which is pretty cool. Bad Idea was a recommended place. They said that this is a Colby Rassivong and Alex Birch have done amazing things. Bad Idea recommended. NARA members, love those guys over there at Bad Idea. I don't even, is it Uzbekum? Which is an Uzbekistan cuisine. Got Bib Gourmand. It is in Nashville. Bad Idea, like I just said, in Memphis, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen got recommended.

07:20Taylor here in Nashville, Vivek Serti's place, he got recommended. Iggy's in Nashville is recommended. Hog and Hominy got Bib Gourmand in Memphis. Shotgun Willie's Barbecue got recommended by the Michelin Guide. Great deal for those guys over at Shotgun Willie's. Just the best people. And you heard them on the podcast like three weeks ago. So they're on fire. Hattie B's Hot Chicken is recommended. St. Vito Focaccia Ria, our good friend Michael, Hannah and Nara member. They are, no they're Bib Gourmand. They made it. Peninsula, just heard Jake Howell on the show. They got Bib Gourmand. Rolf and Daughters was recommended. And let's keep finding, Cafe Rose recommended. Arnold's Country Kitchen recommended.

08:21International Market. You can hear Khalil Arnold on the show. International Market, you can hear Arnold Mint on the show. Audrey was recommended. Folk was recommended. Kisser, Bib Gourmand and my good friend Brian Lee Weaver, redheaded stranger, Bib Gourmand. What I think is the best hamburger in the city. I mean, the green chili burger over there is out of this world. Bad Luck Burger Club has some amazing burgers also. Loving Cletus Burger too. If you haven't been to Cletus over in Bellevue or over off of Elmhill Pike, definitely one you will want to go to. So big, big congratulations to everybody out there. I know a lot of these people were in Greenville and getting much deserved recognition for all of their hard work. I will tell you a lot of Nara members in that list.

09:22I'm very proud to call these people friends and members of Nara. This is the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance and we are making waves, folks. We are disrupting the industry. We are out there sitting down with restaurant owners and the main thing that I'm doing is I am sitting down, I'm looking at your broad line spend, how much money you're spending through your broad line vendors and then I create an RFP for you and I submit it to the vendors and we negotiate your pricing down. Every single one we've done so far has netted us a bunch of money for our restaurant owners and much better deals and we're building relationships. We're getting them really cool stuff but we had our first one where a broad line vendor has gone around the parameters of what we're doing because they wanted to, they just couldn't handle what we were doing here and I'm not gonna say who it was. I'm not gonna say who it was but I will tell you folks, we are disrupting.

10:24We are out there disrupting. People are, they're getting scared because they're losing margin. They're losing margin. In some cases, they're losing cases because you know what they're doing is they are overcharging you. If you're a smaller restaurant, they are overcharging you right now and they know that when I call, when I send that email that says, hey, we have an RFP for you, they know that their margin is gonna reduce but the smart companies recognize this is a really good opportunity to build relationships and save a bunch of money and lean into one company and make a bunch of money and all of those things allow you to spend more time doing the things that you love as to reason why you got into this business and that's taking care of your guests and providing genuine hospitality but we are really, really excited about this episode with Core. We're really excited about all of the restaurants we've been able to help with, Nara and we'd love to help you too. So if you would like to learn more about Nara, you wanna learn how you can join a group of local restaurants who are banding together to save money, then send us a DM at Nashville or at Nara Nashville on Instagram or go to naranashville.com and there's a little contact card.

11:36Click the contact card and say, hey, I'd like to learn more. It'll send me an email and I will get back to you ASAP. So we would love to have you do that. We would love to help restaurants be more sustainable here in Nashville so that you can win and we talk about that today in this episode with Core. I think you're gonna love it and I would love for all of you to stay tuned for it. You are listening to Nashville Restaurant Radio. ["Nashville Restaurant Radio Theme Song"] Super excited today to welcome in our guest, or guests, this is plural. We are talking today with Maddie Murian. I said it 42 times before this, Maddie Murian. Yes, yeah. Maddie Murian. She is the fundraising and event manager at Core. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. The crowd goes wild. We are also joined with Christine Miles. Hi. Christine, you're the one who introduced me to Core.

12:38Yes, yes, yes. Core, as you know, I've been on here before. I work with restaurants. That's how I met you. Yeah, exactly. Was because of Core. Yes, yeah, that's true. Yes, we met. Core is one of my clients and we have worked together for years and we were doing a photo shoot and we wanted to go somewhere nearby where we could do some back of the house and get some video and all this for one of our videos and we went to Mayor Bowles and we asked Brandon if we could shoot back there and you were so kind and let us shoot and that's how we did. Have a good time, yeah. And now I work with you. It's a crazy world the way that this thing happens. Yes, how everything is all just kind of intersected and all that, so yeah. Well, welcome into the show again. Thank you, happy to be here. Maddie, tell us about Core. Sure, yeah. Well, Core was founded 21 years ago at the NRA Conference, actually, in Chicago. Restaurants, not rifles. Yes, yeah, National Restaurant Association. You have to be specific. You do, you do.

13:39I was shocked when we first went, actually. I was like, we're going to what conference? But a bunch of executives and I guess colleagues in the industry came together and saw a need to support the restaurant industry and their families specifically and so things started. We hired our first employee in 2015 and now we have a staff of four and a half, so it's just grown. A staff of four and a half. You're the half, Christine. I'm the half. Nice. Where are you based out of? Brentwood, but we are nationally focused, so all US states and territories, yeah. What does Core do? Yeah, Core provides financial grants to food and beverage service families during times of crisis, so we have three criteria. You have to have worked in the industry for at least 90 days and you have to have a legal dependent and that's under the age of 18 or mentally, physically dependent over the age of 18 and then a qualifying crisis, so that can be house flood, fire, natural disaster, mental health, and honestly, there's a lot of things we consider and it could be you, if you work in the industry, your spouse, partner, or your child is having this crisis, so you get one grant per lifetime.

14:58The average grant is around $2,400, but we take everything into consideration and we encourage everyone to apply because even if we can't help you, we will refer you and make sure you have the resources to apply somewhere else and get the grant. So give me an example of a crisis. If I'm a restaurant worker, what are some examples of when people would call you? Yeah, well, the biggest one I can think of is the California wildfires, losing your home, having to be put out of work, maybe your restaurant burned down. They can reach out to us and say, hey, this is what's going on, but even if, say you work in the fast food industry and you broke your hand and you have to take off work and a lot of these industry locations don't offer PTO or sick time, so we help you kind of stay afloat while you're getting back on your feet to recover. Just put your mind at ease. And we do, and again, even if your child had broke their foot and they can't walk and you have to take time off work, we consider that a crisis as well.

16:01Definitely a crisis. So it's, so if I work in a restaurant and if I have children or illegal dependent, and these are pre-qualifiers, you have to have a child or a legal dependent in order to receive benefits? Yes. Okay. And what's the reason behind all of that? Like how did that get started? I know family is a major focus for what you guys do, but can you go into a little bit about that? Yeah, sure. Why the? Well, basically if there's, we, how I'm gonna say, 55% of our grants go to single moms, and if the single mom cannot work or, what are you going to need to do? There's no, there's a lot of things, they don't have any kind of resource, they don't have any family, they don't have any other kind of fallback. And so then you have a child who is dependent on the single mother who isn't working. And so it's really, we just try to embrace the entire family because the children are the most vulnerable. And so that's, we help, we embrace that aspect of it. I love, no, my wife's on, my wife's out of town last week and I was like default mom for the week.

17:03It was a lot, I was busy as hell all week long. I didn't stop taking kids to school, picking them up and all of the stuff around the house and laundry and like, I was really busy last week. I don't know how I could have gone to a full-time job and kept up with any of it. I have mad, mad respect. Yeah, and that's what I was gonna say. And you were on vacation that week. You weren't supposed to say that. Sorry. You were just supposed to say, well, yeah, I knew I had to take time so that when I also spent some good quality time with the kids, but like, there's a whole, I wanted to be able to do that, but just having the ability to spend all my time doing it, it took up all of my time. There's no way I could have gone and worked a full day. Right. And I should note, it does go to full-time and part-time employees. So we do consider both options. That's awesome. So what's the, like, so they were at the NRA and what was there like a seminal moment where they were like, they met somebody or something happened? Like, how did they come up with this idea? From our understanding, and we were not there 21 years ago, but they were just as, you know, you go to these conferences and you all just kind of meet up and start talking.

18:08And I don't recall if there was like a specific instance that I've been told that they were just kind of, they just noticed a void, that there was something not supporting the children of our industry. And so it was more of a, hey, let's give back because these are primarily people in the beverage vertical. And they're saying, hey, well, we need to try to give back to people in our industry who are struggling, the families in our industry who are struggling. And so they were like, let's see what we can do. And so they came up with it at a club, at a cocktail cocktail. It's a napkin idea. It's a napkin idea. Nice. Yeah. I mean, there's several different charities out there now that help with restaurant workers. We have Giving Kitchen, Big Table, there's Core. What differentiates you guys? Do you guys work together with all those other people or like what differentiates Core? When would I know if I was a restaurant worker in crisis who I need to call? Because there's three different things that everybody does, right?

19:08Yeah. Essentially. And a lot of them are small, and a lot of them, you can apply. We refer people to Giving Kitchen all the time. I mean, there is no reason that some, it's not like it's, oh, Core versus Giving Kitchen versus Big Table. I'm not saying, yeah, I'm just saying. Oh, no, no. We want people to feel that- That's competitive. It's a competitive, it's not at all. We want- You're all here to help restaurant workers, no matter what. Absolutely. And something crazy happens, like the Texas floods, everyone was on a call talking about how they can share resources and get the word out. So it's not competitive in that way. Not at all. We work together frequently, and we often, as I said, we refer people to other organizations all the time. And they don't necessarily even have to be restaurant-based organizations. If we have some other resource that we know of that someone might need, then we'll forward them on. Yeah. Okay. I think that answers my main questions that I was kind of wondering. I'm gonna get into you, Maddie. Sure. What brings you to this industry?

20:09Why is this the perfect job for you to be doing? That's a great question. Well, I came from catering sales and hotel background, and my passion was events. I just found going over to the nonprofit side is I get to do what I love, and I'm making a difference. And the team's great. I don't think I could have made a better shift. Hopefully that's not too short of an answer, but really that's it. I just saw the opportunity. I was like, this is amazing. This is exactly what I want to do. And it's so positive compared to catering sales, where there's a price behind planning a beautiful event or a fun event. So is that what you, I mean, you're the event and fundraising manager. What does your day look like? What do you do in a day? Yeah, so I'm the newest to the team. I was brought on in February, and I work with Jill, our director of partnerships, to kind of make new connections and bring on new partners. But we kind of want to start building self-sustaining annual events that people can learn more about us, have fun.

21:13And we also raise dollars for our general care and natural disaster funds. So we have a couple coming up we're super excited about. My day, I guess, is connecting with people I've met at conferences, and then going back and trying to promote the event and make sure we have the public there, but also some corporate sponsors to show off their swag and just have fun. Well, and also what's nice of them, and she's been an amazing addition to our team as speaking from behalf that I am there, but yeah, she's been great. And also what's nice is that one thing that we've been trying to do is get more individuals involved with CORE. And so it's great, we have a lot of amazing corporate sponsors, which are fantastic, and we wouldn't exist without them. But also we want to let people know, especially a lot of the individuals in the restaurants know that we're here, and by having smaller events, example, the rodeo. Madison put together this great event with the rodeo when they came in town, and we met with, and you can talk to it better than I can probably, but with Yahoo.

22:22Yee-haw. Yee-haw, sorry. It was all smokey and yee-haw. There you go. They're space right behind Bridgestone Arena and Red Bull. So we got Red Bull to donate product, and one of our main fundraisers that we've done in the past with our corporate partners are Poor for CORE, so they create a cocktail or maybe just, it's a glass of wine, and every one purchase, a dollar or two goes back to CORE. So Red Bull and then worked together on that. And then we did bull riding. Bull riding. And lassoing, and we brought in some vendors, and it was really fun. Our first kind of public-facing event put on by CORE in the Nashville area. Now bull riding and lassoing, these are professionals doing this. Isn't like sign up and you get to ride a bull? Oh, it's a mechanical bull. Yeah, mechanical bull. Oh, okay, I'm like, because that sounds very dangerous, but also weirdly intriguing. Like, I want to do that for some reason. I don't know why. It was a mechanical bull. The lassoing we did kind of take on ourselves, teach, I mean, it's actually kind of fun. I think we caught on pretty quick and we just kind of helped everyone.

23:24How to lasso? The lasso. The fake bulls we had out of haystacks. So it was a lot of fun. So that does sound more fun. That's as long as it's interactive, like we can get involved and do stuff. Yes, and that's a great way, because that's what they're, you know, there are people there that does, they don't know that CORE exists. And so we're trying to, you know, Maddie's integrated, getting us out there into the public. And so to let people know about our mission and how we help food service workers. Yeah, and hiring your, sorry, first employee in 2015, I think we're right on track from trying to stray away from relying solely on corporate partnerships and grants, building the individual donor base is super important and just getting our name out there as much as we can. And even with the employees, our back house posters, kind of how people find out about us. We send them to managers and Facebook groups everywhere we can. If we meet people at conferences, we give it to them and it just lets them know we're a resource and you can put it in your kitchen. And there's no quid pro quo for a CORE grant. You don't have to pay us back. The company doesn't have to donate to us in order to receive our benefits.

24:27Yeah, yeah, that's very important. That's one of them with our sponsorships. It's funny, because you go to these conferences and we all saw each other at CREATE a couple of weeks ago and we were talking to a restaurant group and they just kind of, you know, we kind of just told them that we're here as a resource and they walked away. And then we happened to be sitting down and having lunch at a table with them and we were telling someone else about CORE and that, hey, we're here as a resource. And they're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What's the catch? What's literally the, what's the catch? We're like, what do you mean? So you donate back to our workers. You know, if they have a crisis, what's the catch? Like, there isn't a catch. There's no catch. You don't have to, you know. That's it. That's it. We're here to help you. Right, right. You don't have to, as a restaurant, have to donate to us in order for us to help your employees. So if there's one thing you could get across to anybody listening to this episode today, what would that be? That you exist? Sharpier's Bakery is a locally owned and family operated wholesale bakery providing bread to Nashville's best eateries.

25:31They have operated in Nashville since 1986. Yes, next year will be 40 years. They're providing high quality, fresh bread daily for restaurants, catering companies, hospitals, and universities. Their bread is also free from any preservatives and artificial flavors. They're right off of White Bridge Road. Erin Mosso and her team have been doing this for a long time. You know what I love about them is that they're local and they care. They care about your business. That's like the number one thing you're gonna hear me talk about is, do they care about your business? And I 100% believe that they do. If you would like to be working with a bakery that cares about your business, give them a call. 615-356-0872. That's 615-356-0872. Now you can always visit them at sharpiers.com. That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. And they have pictures of all of the bread that they can have for you and contact information.

26:34Go check them out, Sharpier's Bakery. Y'all, today we are talking, as always, about SuperSource. And you know, one cool thing about SuperSource 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, smelling, and feeling new. This is just one of the many reasons SuperSource is taking over this city for dish machine and chemicals. You need to call Jason Ellis. His number is 770-337-1143. And he would love it if you would give him a call and let him come down and just check out your operation, meet him, say hi, see if there's any way he can help. He is here to help you succeed. That's Jason Ellis with SuperSource, 770-337-1143.

27:39Very excited to be partnering with C&B Linen. If you know me, it's my number one topic of conversation is linen companies and how shady linen companies can be. I am just disgusted with how the business practices work in this industry, which is why I was so excited when I found C&B Linen. They're out of Waynesboro, Tennessee, and they don't charge any fees. So the linen price that you have, whatever that first linen price is, that's your price. 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.

28:41And 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 CMB Linen. Hear it from his, straight from his mouth, exactly what they do. Or you give them a call at 931722-7616, or you can DM me, at Brandon Styll on Instagram for my exclusive pricing through the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance, NARA for short. So if there's one thing you could get across to anybody listening to this episode today, what would that be? That you exist? Yeah, we're here to help. We're trying to put ourselves out there in the community and we want people to be involved and learn more.

29:41We're building our ambassador program. If there's something you wanna help out with, with more events comes more volunteer opportunities because we're solely grant-based. We don't have a lot of hands-on volunteer opportunities. So it's kind of, there's ways to get involved, spreading the word and now helping out where we're putting on events and just trying to build that community internally, externally. Yeah, and also as you said, you have a very powerful voice in the Nashville restaurant area. And so just to let people know, because I know you are a giving kitchen, I don't wanna say an ambassador. I'm a restaurant people guy. Right. And you know, I'm with you. It's not just one or the other. I'm not a, as much as I'm on the engagement council for giving kitchen, I love what they do. I also love the people of this industry and anybody who's trying to help them, I want to promote and get out there. It doesn't have to be giving kitchen. I'm in no competitive sort of a way. It is just a, if you need help, I don't want you to be, I know that feeling of sitting there at nighttime, wondering how you're gonna pay the bills and the phone keeps ringing and people are calling, asking for money and you like, I can't go to work.

30:52I've had this happen. And to think that there are people out there that understand that and want to help you through that moment. And if I'm in that moment and I don't know that there's somebody right there who wants to help, my entire goal is to let everybody know about every option that they have when they're struggling. So if it's core, if it's big table and you need counseling, if it's giving kitchen, if it's Ben's friends, whatever the thing is that's gonna help you, that's gonna give you the resources that you need to get back on your feet so that you don't make really bad decisions in that moment, especially if you have the responsibility of a dependent. I mean, that's one of those things that's so, I think that's where that dependent side really comes into play. I mean, you need, it's more than just one person. And I should note our turnaround time for grants is about a week. So we work pretty diligently to get you the funds you need to keep your lights on.

31:55Or be evicted. Yeah, exactly. I mean, cause that's the thing. A lot of these people, if they don't pay their rent, they're going to be evicted on the street with a child, with a dependent child. And so that's what we do try to turn things around very quickly to make sure that people can stay in their homes. The one thing I would want people to get from this is that if I was a leader in this industry, if I was a manager, if I was an owner, I'd want to research, I would go to your website, which is? Corgives.org, C-O-R-E-G-I-V-E-S.org. I go to Corgives.org. I go to givingkitchen.org. I go to Bigtable. I would look at all of these and have all of these in my brain. Because the other day somebody in one of our restaurants couldn't work and was in the hospital. And I was just like, man, that's terrible. And I just gave her some, she came into work and I gave her some cash and said, here, just go home. And you're not well. Like here's a little something, you know, just for, and it didn't even dawn on me. Hey, you should call, like givingkitchen, you should call CORE.

32:57This is really important that you do this because they can help you in this moment while you're unable to work and mounting medical bills. I did come back and say that, but in that moment I even forgot. And so I mean, the more I can talk about it, the more that leaders can hear this and go, I have options to tell my staff when they come to me. Anybody who does a schedule knows there's a crisis every single day in somebody's life that, I can't work, I can't this, this happened, this has happened. The schedulers of the world who know what's going on with everybody and what their lives are, those are the people I need to know about this stuff because they're the ones who can reach out and ask for help. Absolutely. And again, as Maddie mentioned before, we do have back of the house posters. So any restaurant out there, if you wanna have more information and just have this, we can email it to you where it's just a PDF you can print out that just has our information on it and how to help. There's a QR code that people can link to it. We have it in English and in Spanish. So if people want, need more information, they can just hit the QR code and send it right to our website.

33:59Now, is that something that you can get on the website, get downloadable PDF on the website or do I have to send an email and get that emailed to me? You can get it on the website. Okay, so if you go to coregives.org, you can find that flyer. And on the outdoor of the kitchen is a great place to put that. Just right there, everybody who walks by sees it. In lineup, mention if you're struggling, if you know somebody who's struggling, Core Gives, you need to be going to this website and asking for help. I mean, that's the hardest thing. You know, we all have this intense level of pride and I can make it, I can do it, I'll figure it out. And you never know, hey, look, raise your hand. Ask for help. It's the manliest thing you can do when you really need it. And there's people out there, I love what you guys are doing in helping people do that. So what initiatives do you have out there right now? Do you have something new coming up with like groceries? We do!

35:00Amazing! It's almost like that was a setup. Yeah, Groceries with Gratitude is our newest program and it's actually really exciting because Core Grants are one per lifetime, per family. So this is another opportunity for us to give back to previous grantees and new grantees. And the premise behind it is food insecurity during the holidays. We did some research and we found that $200 provides up to five holiday meals, meals in general, for a family of four to six on average. So that could be two meals for 10 people, right? You, your parents, your siblings. If you wanna throw a party. Yeah, yeah. For example, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Or it could just be five standard meals for a family of five or six. And so it's been pretty successful. We've found it's I guess more of a personal touch than just our grants in general. People are resonating with it because they understand food insecurity during the holidays and prices go up and things like that.

36:05Yeah. And you can find that on our website. Christine did a great job. Our primary sponsor kind of backing us through this initiative is Cisco. And then, excuse me, Rodney Strong and HEI are kind of really pushing behind it too. So we're super excited to partner with them and just help people stay fed during the holidays. Yeah, and we also, if you would like to help out, we have three different levels. If you wanna help out, we have a $1,000 level. Again, if you wanna help five families, that's $1,000. Three families for $600. If you wanna support one family, it's $200. And they receive these funds in the form of e-gift cards that are available only at, that go to any grocery store. And so that's how they can just go in and get their groceries from there. Or if you are a family that is going to be facing food insecurity during the holidays, we do have, again, the qualifications. It's the same core qualifications, but instead of a crisis, you have a, in need, essentially, if you make less than $30,000 a year.

37:08So it's, there's a level of income level. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's awesome that you're doing that. And if I'm a restaurant and I wanna support that, I mean, are you seeing more people reaching out right now with our governments? I wanna phrase this the right way. Unwillingness to work together to keep SNAP benefits available for families. I know there's a reserve fund for that, but I mean, right now, it doesn't seem like our federal government really cares about people under that poverty level. Are you seeing people reach out because of SNAP benefits being suspended? Yeah. Well, I mean, we, in general, the program raising money for sponsorships, right? It's October 1st to November 15th. We've already opened it, and we've received dozens of applications. So I think the word is definitely spread about the program. And- So it ends on November the 15th? No. This program?

38:08We sell sponsorships up until the 15th, but the program actually is open until the new year. Yeah, you can apply throughout the new year. We just aren't taking any more donors until the 15th. The sponsorships end on November 15th, but you can still apply for a grant up through new years. And this is the first year of the program, so we don't really have anything to benchmark it on. I would assume there's probably more this year, but we honestly don't have anything to benchmark that. Well, so if you're a restaurant out there, I've seen a lot of restaurants, bagel shop did something where they say, hey, if you need a bagel, come in and eat. There's a, we just posted that Italian restaurants that come in, we'll feed you. A lot of people, Cletus has said, come in, we'll give you a burger, no questions asked, we'll do. A lot of restaurants are doing that. If you are a restaurant that doesn't have the ability to just open your door to feed all these people, an opportunity to make a small donation to CORE would really help a lot of people in need because you're specifically targeting the people that need those.

39:11And it stays within our industry and their families. So it's not just anybody, it's really feeding people. It's really building up and propping up people who are every day going out and serving other people, which is really special. Yes. Absolutely. Yes. And I think we picked this season, especially schools out. A lot of children aren't getting their lunch meals provided by the schools. So it really is a full circle give back. Yeah. I mean, it's a time when people are most vulnerable and they need help. And so that's why, that's what we chose this time of year. So. And they need help. Yeah. I love that. Anything, any other big initiatives you have coming up or anything you want to talk about? We have something really fun coming up soon on Giving Tuesday. Is it a bowling tournament? It is a bowling tournament. Yeah, we're so excited. It's our first annual event put on, promoted by CORE. We're working with Kings Bowl out in Franklin. Yeah. They've been a great partner. It's gonna be really fun. They're donating all of their arcade games. So I believe the only thing you'd actually have to put money out for is the claw machines where you get your prizes.

40:15But like the air hockey, the Pac-Man, Call of Duty, all of that's free. There's free bowling. I know. No, it cracks me up. I was at a hockey game last night and Andrea Cherez from Rose Pepper said, air hockey is, I think it was her who said this. She goes, air hockey is the first moment where children realize what real anxiety is. Yes, oh my gosh, that's so funny. That's so funny. That's where you learn real adult anxiety is when you're a kid playing air hockey. And I was like, that is so true. It just was one of those random moments that just cracked me up. And I was like, I didn't give me that. But she's like, your arms are like, go across the whole thing. And I said, that's true. That's true also. There's people on the other side of the table again. Yeah, don't hate it so hard. It flew off the table. Sorry. But so free games, free, except for the claw games, you gotta pay for your rubber ducks that you win. And they're doing open bowling.

41:15We're calling it the Sparesome Love Bowling Bash. It is a tournament and some part of it. We're working with local and national companies to compete in this tournament and we're selling sponsorships for it. And then the rest of the event's open to the public. We're gonna have live music. We have the lineup coming out soon. And then there's also open bowl after the tournament's over. No additional costs, I think, except for your shoes, which are, I think like $5. I wouldn't even know. Yeah, I know. What if you bring your own shoes? I'm sure that's fine. Totally acceptable. I would think so. And we're providing food as well. So the only additional cost, right? Rubber ducks from the claw machine, maybe your shoes. And then beverages. And we are gonna have some of our sponsors are Old Smoky, Areas, Hospitality, I believe. And then BH2 Consulting and drum roll, Miss Christine. Miles Hospitality Marketing. And we're still selling sponsorships. And Old Smoky will be sampling their product and giving out swag.

42:18And so that's an option for any potential partners out there. You can showcase your product and even have drinks sold at the bar. So who are the people that will be bowling? Those are the companies. They're building their teams. Or if they wanna sponsor a lane, but don't wanna build a team, we do have the option available. If you want a bowl, let us know. I was gonna say, for me personally, I'm like, I guess, you know, my team can't make it. So my team of one can't make it. So I'm like, oh, Brandon, you want a bowl? I'll come bowl with you. Wanna come bowl? I have my own shoes and my own balls though. That would not surprise me actually. It's like a spare ball. And I have like my strike ball. And I'm like a bowler. Are you a bowler? Yeah. You're a ringer. You didn't know this? No. Yeah, I haven't bowled in years, but I. He could take your team to the win. I was gonna say, you are on my team because I am not. So you know, the Genesis, this is not taking over the podcast for a second. We used to work at Merchants in Cool Springs.

43:21There was a Merchants restaurant in Cool Springs. It's now a Pinnacle Bank right in front of Costco. There was no Costco there then, it was Merchants. And I worked doubles five days a week. It just was there, I'm working a double. And every day in between our double, we would go to Chili's and drink two for ones. And then we would come back to work a little sloshed and work that night shift. Well, it was very expensive because you spent all the money you made on the day shift drinking in between shifts. Look, I wasn't always a saint, okay? This is not a. This is a long time ago. I'm just being real. Yeah, this was a very, this was 1998, okay? I mean, this was a long time ago. Well, then we decided one day, hey, let's go bowling. And we went to Franklin Lanes. Okay. Right, the old Franklin Lanes. It's still there, but Franklin Lanes. And we're like, pitchers of beer were like eight bucks. We were like, we could do pitchers of beer and bowl dollar games and actually come back to work with money in our pocket. So we started doing that. We did that like every day for like a year and a half.

44:22And you go bowling every day for like a year and a half. Eventually you're like, these balls suck. So then you. Go get your own. Some of that money you saved and bought a ball. Then you get shoes and you get all the stuff. And then before you know it, you're bowling with a spin and you're, you know, I think my best game's like a 267, something like that. You know, like. Wow. But you start like learning the oil patterns on lanes and. No, I didn't. I had no idea. I didn't like take bowling or anything. But as part of my alcoholism, I learned I am deadly at any game you can do while drinking. Darts, pool, bowling. I mean, you name it. I am deadly. Watch out. Bar games. My hospitality marketing is the team to be. I know. Well, like I said, I haven't bowled in a long time. And I'm horrible. So he's going to have to carry the team. Well, we do. I bet I'd get a strike or two. Amazing. Probably. Kings, I'll shout out to them. On Mondays every week, they have an industry night where you, if you work in the industry, you can bowl for free. And so we had been going.

45:23You want to say that again? Yeah, Kings Bowl. If you work in the industry at all, you can, you know, show proof or ID or something. And Monday nights, I think from eight onwards, you can bowl for free. Hell yeah. That's like the coolest thing I've heard. I mean, sorry, CORE gives us cool, but that's amazing. Well, and we went this past week and I'll probably go again a couple of times before the event. And we're just promoting it to them because there are so many. Training. Yeah, training, I suppose. There's a lot of companies out there. Their teams bowl weekly. So we wanted them to know like on December, that first week of December, don't come Monday, come Tuesday. And if you work in the industry, tickets are only $10. So you get food, free bowl, live music, arcade games, all of that. And you're giving back to your community. Yeah, so just kind of to be clear. If you sponsor a lane, you get four people to bowl. And then you also get eight general admission tickets. So you can bring eight other people to come play the arcade games and cheer you on.

46:26So you get 12 tickets, essentially about four people get to bowl. Correct, yeah. And bowlers, they have VIP food and beverage while they're bowling. Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. And their logos are gonna go above their lane throughout the venue. We're going on channel four in a week or so to kind of promote the event. So if you're a sponsor, we do need to know by Monday. We'll shout you out on TV, so that's exciting. And radio. And radio, yes. We're partnering with Cumulus Media. They're 104.5, the zone. And they're official Titan sponsor. And they're gonna be promoting the event before and announcing the winner afterwards. So we're super excited to work with them. So a couple other incentives, aside from having a good time on Giving Tuesday, we are gonna promote you and shout out your support. And then again, as Maddie said, if you just wanna come and hang out and have fun, if for general admission ticket, if you don't have any connection to a sponsor, it's $20 to come in.

47:28If you're not in the industry, $10 if you are. But I would say there's probably gonna be a lot of sponsors out there that are gonna, because again, I need bowlers and I need people to come just hang out. So, you know. What day is the bowling thing again? December 2nd. Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday. The annual day of giving, I suppose. Yeah. It's probably intentionally done that way. You think? Yes, absolutely. So how much, if I, let's just say I give you $1,000. How much does that goes towards feeding and helping families? Do you guys, I mean, like what, you say, do you get most money from grants or from the government? How do you guys fund giving money to all these people? Primarily corporate sponsors. Corporate sponsors, yeah. We have different levels, you know, our bronze partnerships have starts at $10,000 and it goes as far up as anybody wants it to. We're not putting a cap on it. No, of course. If you wanna put a billion dollars in, we can help a lot of people. We do a lot of corporate private grants.

48:31I don't think we've tapped into the government grant section. But donations, I mean, of course there's restricted funds. So you could donate specifically to Groceries of Gratitude and whenever you donate, we're going to make sure it goes to that program. But if you just wanna donate to CORE in general, it will go back into one of those grants. And then I think I said earlier, the average grant is around $2,400. That's so awesome. And to answer your question there, we do have, I don't recall the breakdown unfortunately as far as, okay, if you give $1,000 X amount, the operating costs and all that, I will say we are a very lean team. With four and a half employees or five and a half employees, I mean, there's not a ton of overhead there. No. When you start having 30 and 40 employees, you gotta pay a lot of people. Right, we have a very small office that is very nondescript and it's in Brentwood, but I mean, it is small and it's not very fancy. And we really, we try to keep everything down, our overhead down so we can give as much back to the families as we can.

49:33And you're Middle Tennessee based too, which is really cool. I mean, you're the only one that's based in Middle Tennessee. Yeah, yeah. Of all these different brands. I mean, you understand what's going on with the people of Middle Tennessee. So I really like that. Yeah, we're half a mile away from Mayor Bowl. Yes. Yep. Yeah, and that's another thing. I mean, with us being local, but even if you're not, we can do orientations. We can come and tell your employees as they're getting brought into your community that we're a resource or. Can you come speak at lineups? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Yeah, whenever they're needed. I mean, I'm sure we could even prerecord a video if you ever just wanted to play it. Like in training or something like that. Yeah. Or orientations, but yes, absolutely. We'd be happy to come out and talk to your staff about what we are and how we can help. Yeah. Christine, would you do the honors? Of course, I'd be happy to. Next lineup you're in, come on. Sure, absolutely. She's in a few lineups from now and time and time again.

50:33Yes. Yes, I'd be happy to. Well guys, thank you so much for coming today. You know, the final thing that we do here is the Gordon food service final thought. Okay. Which means you get to take us out. Whatever you want to say, as long as you want to say it. So some final thoughts about CORE, whatever you want to say, promote anything. And then after we're done, we'll get all of your contact information for everybody if they want to get involved. Okay. Well, thank you. I think, you know, CORE is a great organization. We're so excited to put on our first annual event here in Tennessee. I didn't mention earlier, but free parking at King's, okay? There's a lot of free parking available. There is, there's a lot of free parking. That's a huge thing. We're just so excited to get CORE's name out there and hopefully more people in the industry and in the community can learn about us, have a great time and of course come out this year, but also next year and all the years to come. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, if you want more information about CORE, please visit coregives.org and there's information about all these different things, you know, on our website.

51:34And also just, I guess, thank you, Brandon, for allowing us to come on here and spread the message. You know, just, again, we're all here to help. We're all restaurant people. We're all, you know, industry people and we just want to help out the industry as much as we can, no matter how we can do it. And so, you know, this is one way of doing it and I just appreciate you allowing us to come on and help and spread the word. It is my absolute pleasure. Anytime I can help get the word out for what you guys are doing or any nonprofit that's just, it just, it tugs at my heart that this is- I agree. It gives me teary. We went through the pandemic where everybody needed help and it was like, what are we gonna do? And, you know, it's great to learn. I didn't know about CORE back then, you know, and there's a lot of people that need that assistance. So, I mean, just letting people know is amazing. And if you want to learn more about CORE, go to coregives.org. Is there, if you want to sponsor any of these events, Maddie, do you want to give your email address?

52:39Yeah, it's madison at coregives.org, M-A-D-I-S-O-N, COREgives. Madison at coregives.org. And Groceries with Gratitude, you can do right on our website. It's a pop-up, but for the bowling, just reach out to me and we can talk about it. Black Sheep Tequila. It shares six exclusive styles with the oldest-released tequila with a line of six artisanal handcrafted luxury tequilas. Labor-intensive, old-world handcrafted process produces a single estate, small batch line of tequilas for perfect flavor and balance. No salt, no lime required, a true flight. Black Sheep Tequila cultivates Highland Blue Weber Agave that requires seven to 10 years to reach full maturity under the brilliant sunshine of Los Otos de Jalisco. As done in the old-world approach, Black Sheep Tequila continues the handcrafted heritage, so much so that they have won double gold at the world, San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

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58:00I would like to just sit down and spend 30 minutes to an hour with you and talk about what we're doing about marketing. If there's something, if that's a question that's jump dancing around in your brain, Christine Miles would be happy to come talk to you. I would be happy to. And that was a very wonderful plug. Thank you, totally unexpected. But yes, I'd be happy to sit down with any restaurant. Cause again, I want restaurants to succeed. It's hard for restaurants, especially independent restaurants. It is hard for them to succeed. So yes, I would be happy to sit down with any restaurant who wants to talk marketing. Be happy to. And all you have to do is email Christine. That's K-R-I-S-T-I-N-E at mileshm.com. That's M-Y-L-L-S, M-Y-L-L-S, not M-Y-L-E-S, M-Y-L-L-S-H-M as an acronym for hospitalitymarketing.com. You are so good, Brandon. Right? Yes. Well, look, you help me a lot and you help our restaurants a lot and we would be nowhere without you.

59:02And I hate to even share you with other people. She goes above and beyond for core. She goes above and beyond for everything. And you know, as so many people out there are like, well, we just have our hostess post on social media or something. And it's like, look. Don't do that. Bring somebody in who can sit down and strategize with you and talk to you about it. So that's what Christine would love to do for you. I'm gonna let you guys off the hot seat. Thank you for joining us today. And everybody out there, go to coregives.org and sign up to go bowling and come out and let's have a party. Be good time. Looks like I'm gonna be there. That'd be great. We'd love it. Love it. Celebrity bowlers. That's right. Not even close. Well, you guys have a wonderful afternoon. Thank you all for listening. We will talk to you soon. All right. Thank you so much for listening today. And hopefully you got to learn lots about core. Thank you so much, Maddie and Christine for coming out to the studio and sitting down and having this conversation.

01:00:03So much fun. Again, congratulations to everybody who was in Greenville and all of the restaurants who are recognized by the Michelin Guide. Big, big, big, big props. Do you want to say Alex Birch won the Michelin sommelier award? I didn't say that earlier, but that's, I don't know what that means or it's kind of like the green star. Like I'm not really sure what that means, but it's a hell of an accomplishment and Alex is a hell of a nice guy and you got to go check out Bad Idea. So let's go celebrate those people. And if you're not on the Michelin Guide, know that Michelin is now here and they're going to be out dining at restaurants and they're going to be looking for more places to recommend and more places to rate Bib Gourmand or maybe even get your star if you're one of those people who is Bib Gourmand now and potentially want that star, they're here. So this is something that I think Nashville's wanted for a long time. And I'm really excited for it.

01:01:06So again, congratulations to everybody. We will be back with Matt Molanski. He is from Margin Edge when our next episode from the Create Conference. If you don't know what Margin Edge is, this will be a fun one for you to learn all about it. We as always hope that you guys are being safe out there. Love you guys, bye.