Max Knoepfel

00:00At What Chefs Want, they deliver the seven most needed product lines to meet the unique needs of chefs and restaurateurs. From local to global and from staple items to gourmet rarities, they have the variety of products to cover all of your needs. Produce, seafood, meats, gourmet, staples, to-go and dairy. At What Chefs Want, they're transforming food service by eliminating minimum orders, offering split cases, and providing daily deliveries with 24-7 customer support. This means chefs have the flexibility to order what they need when they need it. Experiment with new ingredients and keep their kitchens consistently stocked with fresh supplies. It's all about empowering culinary creativity while streamlining operations. Check them out at whatchefswant.com or give them a call at 800-600-8510. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City.

01:06Now, here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City, and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service, and today we are talking with the executive chef of the Music City Center since day one, and his name is Max Knupfel. And I've known Max for like the whole time he's been here, since before really he even started, and he is an absolute gem. He is a treasure to the city, and I think we're all better at everything we do because he's here. And this is the first time he's been in studio, and I've asked him like a hundred times. It's the first time we got him in. And I lured him in under the guise of Tennessee flavors, because I knew he'll do anything to help another culinarian. And then I said, well, let's just keep going. Let's just keep going on this conversation. And we ended up talking for another 40 minutes. So this, if you listen to the Tennessee flavors, the first 15 minutes or so is gonna be basically the Tennessee flavors, and then we're gonna add in the rest of the story. And man, is it a good story. This guy, he has stories. We even got off, we stopped recording, and then sat and told stories again for like 30 more minutes. I'm like, why didn't we record that? Damn it, these are really good things. Literally could have Chef Max in every month and would fill a easily 10 episodes. I mean, he used to be the executive chef at the Kennedy Center. He used to be the executive chef at the Westchester Country Club. I mean, the stories from those two things are just absolutely incredible. Hey, speaking of Tennessee flavors, that's gonna be Tuesday night, tomorrow night, and Reebs, we did a contest on Instagram, and Reebs502201, they find her exact name. Sorry for not

03:13having this on the point here. Reebs64 is the person who posted that they would like to go to the event, and they're gonna get to go to the event. Congratulations, Reebs64. Had a fun week this week. Got to go to Louisville on Wednesday, no, Thursday is when I went to Louisville, and I sat down with a man named Kelly Probst, and he is the seafood buyer over at What Chefs Want. This guy is absolutely incredible. Like his story, and like his passion for seafood, and growing up at the beach, and he lives in New Smyrna Beach in Florida, and he goes surfing all the time. He tells shark attack stories, that was pretty fun. He talks about being on the dock, and what the best fish is, and some common things that go on in the seafood industry, and what he's doing over at What Chefs Want, and most importantly, halibut, fresh halibut season from Alaska, and they own their own dock in Kodiak Island, Alaska. He talks about all of this. So if you are looking for insider information as to how this whole seafood thing works, and what they're doing with their fresh seafood program over at What Chefs Want, this is a really fascinating interview. I drove to Louisville for this interview, brought up, took the whole studio with me, because he's such a busy guy, and man, it delivered. It was so much fun. I will tell you, that's going to come out next week, because the halibut season starts March 15th. So we're going to do this episode today. My birthday is Friday, which is March the 8th, celebrating one year since we interviewed Will Goddara. That was so much fun. And then next week, we're going to have Margot McCormick on Monday, which is the 9th, 10th, 11th, the 11th, and then on the 15th, we're going to go ahead and release the episode

05:14with Kelly Propes. And then after that, we're going to have Chad Newton and Gracie Nguyen from Eastside Bond Me, and then I'll probably put out another bonus episode from all the interviews that we do over at Tennessee Flavors. We have tons of content coming at you, and hopefully you stick in there and hang out and listen to these episodes, because this is so much fun to do, guys. I'm so jealous I get to... I'm just humbled. That's the word, not jealous. Humbled that I get to do this particular, these conversations. It is so much fun. Yeah, I hope that you have a wonderful week. Sorry, these things... This keeps getting pushed later. So it's Monday today. I'm actually doing this intro on Monday. I'll release this 10 minutes after I do it. Typically, I try and do these on the weekends. I think I'm going to push these, the episodes to be either released Monday afternoon or Tuesdays. I've tried to have them done on Sundays, and I'm sorry, it's just too hard to get here to the studio on the weekends with everything I've got going on. So Monday afternoon, I usually have a little bit of time after our manager meetings and stuff, and I can come in and do this and wrap everything up for the day. And so start looking for Monday afternoons, and if I do get them done early, if you're a follower or a subscriber, wherever you listen to podcasts, it'll notify you. It'll notify you as soon as this episode comes out, because that's what technology does. It's pretty damn cool, but you've got to subscribe. You've got to follow. Also, if you follow us on Instagram, you can see there, because I'm going to post the post with me and Chef Max here shortly, and I'll let you know this episode is out. So wherever you're following, we want to get the notifications out, and hopefully we see you tomorrow night at Tennessee Flavors. Please come by and say hi, and we'll see you next week with Margot McCormick. Well, let's jump in right now with Chef Max Knopfel.

07:07Super excited today to welcome in my good friend Max Knopfel. Did I say that right? Yes. Actually, some friends tell me, how do you say your name? And I say Knopfel is like a cupful, so just say Knopfel. Oh, so the K is not silent? No. Knopfel. Yes. Like a... Say that again. Knopfel. Knopfel. Yeah. Okay, Max, Knopfel. Thank you. This is one of these things I get in here and like how hold them back. Whoever says how hold... It's how hold them back. And I learn these little things. You say, hey, how do you say your name? And that's what it is. Welcome in studio for your first ever visit in a Nashville Restaurant Radio. Brandon, great to be here. We're gonna do... We're gonna talk about Tennessee Flavors. Yes. That is what we are here to do, but we're gonna extend this conversation out in this episode. We're gonna have a full episode with you that's gonna come out in a few weeks. But Tennessee Flavors is coming up, and you guys are gonna be there supporting the Randy Rayburn School for Culinary Arts at Nashville State. Yes. How many years have you guys been doing this? We've been doing it for six plus years. I've been co-chair now for four years with Andy Marshall. Okay, from A. Marshall Hospitality? Yes, yes. Great, great, great team there, and Andy's fantastic. Randy Rayburn, obviously a culinary school at Nashville State. It is amazing how he's taken off. We have some great students, and obviously, as you know, since the explosion of Nashville since 2013, we need professionals, and it's a great school. I think one of the things that people say is that there's just not enough people, and it's like, well, we need to create those people. Send them in, send them to culinary school, send them out into the job world, and let's go. Do you hire a bunch of people straight out of school? I hired apprentices, and I hired people straight out of school, yes. And there's actually the

09:09Culinary School, and then there's the Hospitality Management School, which is run by Tom Truffle, and he used to be a general manager. He's a city council, and he's really involved in it now since about two years. Fantastic. And you know what I didn't do at the beginning of this interview is say who you are and what you do. Max Knupfel is the executive chef for the Music City Center, which is no small undertaking, and the ACF Chef of the Year last year. Congratulations. Thank you, Ben. And you come via... Where are you originally from? Where's this accent from? I'm originally from Switzerland, and thanks to my dad. We loved him very much, but we thought that our two... My two sisters and I thought that there was something wrong with him because we were born in Zurich. My mom was Hungarian. She left in 57 Hungary, got a refugee in Switzerland, fell in love with my dad. And so I grew up around Swiss language, which is German, French, and Italian, but I grew up speaking Hungarian and Swiss German. Then we moved to Lugano, so I had to learn Italian on top of that. And in school, obviously, all immersed Italian. And then we moved to Geneva, and it was French. So by the age of six, I had three languages.

10:41Of the Swiss language, Switzerland has four official languages. One of them is Romanish, which is a mountain language, not used that much, maybe about 15% of population. I don't speak that language. But I grew up, and then I learned Spanish in the kitchens and traveled to Canada and arrived in Canada in 1982 with $20 in my pocket and had to learn English. So... So English was your fifth language? Fifth language, yeah. Wow. That is incredible. And so I'm from Switzerland originally. I did my apprenticeship, very classical, but I did my apprenticeship starting at almost 15 years old, so 14 and a half. I dropped out of school, told my dad I wanted to be a chef. He tried to promote that in a way, my dad's way, which was tough, put me with the most top chef in Geneva that he was a good customer of. It was the Intercontinental in Geneva, Rene Rastello, had traveled the world for Hilton and Intercontinental hotels. We started the apprenticeship, and I was 14 and a half years in a man's world. The kitchenette was very classical, like a little brigade and so on. And so that's why I like to talk to students. I like to talk to my teams that I work with and so about the classicals and what happened and how it was and how classical cuisine has developed and so on, the flavors and so on. You need to know Escoffier, you need to know the basics, and then you can go crazy and do the today's stuff.

12:18You really have the heart of a teacher. And 15 years old, you said you're 66 years old? I'm 66 this year. So that was over 50 years ago you started in this industry? No, no, no. In my head, okay, so every morning I wake up, I go to the bathroom, I look at the mirror and I say, who is this old guy? Because I think I'm 20 years old. I'm the same. Dude, I am exactly the same way. I turned 45 in like two weeks. Now, you're like, I'm a spring chicken, right? I get that. But I feel like I'm 18. I just have fun. I look in the mirror and I do this. I'm like, who is this gray bearded dude? I just have fun. I still absolutely love what I do every day. I love walking to restaurants. And I love meeting that young 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 year old kid, I call him, who has a great attitude and loves hospitality and just is a sponge. Like, I cannot get enough of that person.

13:20Right. And I mean, I tell them, we have apprentices. So we have one apprentice, Dee, she was spent to us two and a half years. And she's graduated. And I mean, from a background that was socially on the borderline and good family and so but really wanted to find her way and she went to school and I interviewed her. She had worked somewhere in Nashville for about six months didn't learn much was peeling stuff and putting away stuff and just setting it up but no education. We brought her in. And I mean, it was amazing. And Paul, who is the Dean of the Kuhn High School in Nashville State, told me says, I think we have somebody great day. And I sat down with her. The first 10 minutes, I just heard her saying, what does she want? What she's looking at? She was a open book of show me, teach me, make me go through it. I want to see, you know, and I want to feel it, you know. And so we brought sea urchins in, we bought a whole scallops, you know, in the shell we bought in. Oh, boy, we bought in pheasants, you know, I mean, it was she she's like, oh my god, I said, you might never see this again, your life, you might never use it, you know. But what I tried to convey, and that's also this, the students and so on, is, you know, be adventurous and open, you know, have your blinders off, you know, take it in. And I think Nashville State and the organization, the people that are behind and so Dr. Jackson is the head of Nashville State just put so much energy also into the campus and all the stuff, it's growing and so on. And, you know, we had these years of COVID, COVID-19. And, you know, I have a 24 year old Maxine, my daughter, and it was tough for her and she's in engineering, you know, and I lived through

15:22that and seeing what she had done. And so we said, okay, let's put them to work, you know, I mean, at MCC, we all stayed working. But my role was parking cars and parking attendants, doing tastings, face shields, face masks, you know, and we didn't know when we're going to restart. But during that, we also talked to the students, you know, and we actually, school went back, you know, and was off, you know, remote. Well, I think you, the Music City Center donated their space to the Department of Health to really set up like a hospital. And I want to get into all of that. Yeah, that's going to be the meat of what we're talking about here in just a second. I'm going to pause you because that is really good stuff. I want to get back real quick because I want people to know when they go to Tennessee flavors, and they are you going to be there? You'll be when they walk by the Music City Center booth and whatever you're doing. I want them to know who they're meeting, because I want them to come by and say hi and shake your hand because I think you're a treasure. And we are we are a better culinary city because of you. You were 15. You started working at the Intercontinental you said, Yeah, in Geneva.

16:34I know that you were in New York, and you had to let's go into your progression a little bit into some of the places you've been before you came to Nashville. I want to just let's do like a 90 second, two minute, three minute. What is your history? What are some of the places you've been? So I worked in I took my apprenticeship in Switzerland, then I stayed one more year and I did charcuterie and meat fabrication and so on. Then I started working as a professional as a chef de partie in Basel at the Hilton and and where at the Hilton Basel in Basel, Switzerland. Okay, then I did a stunt at Paris in St. Moritz for about winter season. And at that time, we had no CVs. We didn't send resumes out. The chef picked up the phone and said, Hey, I have a Garmanger guy and the guy said, I need a saute guy. Okay, you know, and then he told you is that a next week, two weeks from now, pack your suitcase and you're going to show up to that chef at that hotel, you know, and I mean, you didn't know how much we were making nothing. And then I did my Swiss Army service at the age of 19 and a half became sergeant in the Swiss Army. And they want because of my languages, they want to keep me. I didn't see the pleasure of that. I was involved in food, and I loved it. And then in 1982, my chef called me and says, Hey, we have a job in Brazil at the Copacabana, Copacabana Hilton in Ipanema, like in Rio. Yeah, right on the other side of Ipanema right there. Yeah. In the Copacabana. Yeah. And so I flew to Brazil. I was there for three months and I got blood poisoning. Oh, really bad went to the hospital there was not good experience. And after 10 days, the general manager, the HR person came and said to me, Hey, we really think you go back

18:36to Switzerland, take care of yourself. And so they flew me back to Switzerland. I was in the hospital for about a month, got better, went back to work at the intercontinental, the chef there said to me, Okay, get better. We worked about six months. And then he said to me, Okay, are you ready to go back? I said yes. So you know, I thought Brazil, I know where I'm going back. No, he gave me a plane ticket to Montreal, Canada. And I immigrated to Canada in 1982. arrived in Montreal with $20 in my pocket. I was three. Yeah, I had a job. I had a job and I had a hotel night at the hotel for three nights paid and then it was probably about 120 people at the Queen Elizabeth. The chef Albert Schnell was an amazing chef. I mean, he was a pioneer in the culinary world in Canada. And I worked with him for about two years as Chef Garnier 19 people in Garnier, the youngest one 17 deals 167 and I was like, you know, 20 years old. We did everything from scratch from patties to all the dressing, mayonnaise, I mean, mayonnaise was cracking eggs and you know, making, you know, oil, mustard and make sure you have the reason seasoning right and so learned a lot of things and so so then I started working for Canadian national hotels. I was the chef at I worked I went to Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta Alberta was the sous chef there the clubhouse. I worked at the Hotel Vancouver. I was a chef with the roof hotel which is on top of the Hotel Vancouver iconic hotel downtown Vancouver I was the team captain of culinary team competing on culinary competitions for Vancouver. I moved back to Ottawa and in Ottawa, I was the chef the lawyer which is an old hotel. It's a Fairmont Hotel now

20:40fantastic hotel fantastic crew kitchen had 120 foot ceiling with a plate up I mean it was iconic. We did events we did almost $27 million in catering and and I was 2627 years old my executive sous chef was 61 Italian guy as wide as high mean looking fantastic guy though people would come in the kitchen and he would point and said now the chef is this guy and I was a skinny little guy 26 years old but I mean intense and I had so much experience already because you know 11 years in at that point I mean yeah at 26 that's impressive $26 million and so anyway so I did love competition still we did love exposure we did cooking demos and so on we did ice carvings going down to the river and cutting out ice blocks and putting ice carvings during the winter in Canada you know apprentices would have to go down to the river and cut out ice blocks and then you make carvings out of that yes and we put them outside the hotel so the apprentice had to come in the morning and they would dust off the snow we know the ice carvings and you know every three four weeks we would do new ones I guess it was a fun time we did death by chocolate buffets on nights and I mean we would egg each other on what could we do else and so anyways I wrote a I wrote a letter in the Canadian Chef Association magazine about working with unions because I had worked in hotels in Canada as well unions and Kevin Doverage general manager of the Capitol Hilton in Washington DC read it and said I want to bring this guy in to talk to us because we had some union issues in Washington DC I was invited to come down I was like okay Washington DC should never be in.

22:32Let's go. Landed in Washington DC got to the Capitol Hilton the chef that didn't want to talk to me at all he was just I was an intrusion and so on everybody else was very welcoming I left there the whole kitchen was like hey hope we see you again you great chef and so you know I told the chef I said listen I'm not here to disturb anything I'm here to just let you know my experience maybe you can pick up of that and that's what your GM wants sure I crossed back flew out of national airport and I said to myself this is a fantastic place that's the center of the free world you know and what opportunities and so had some dinners in Washington DC met some chefs and so on and you learn from every experience you know and I said to myself okay what could you do what could I do next what can I learn from this and so on but I had met some fantastic individuals at the hotel three weeks later I got married we purchased a house with my wife and two days later after we came back from our honeymoon I got an offer to go work in Washington DC at the the chef had left and I said no I just bought a house I just this I know and he said to me well all this is negotiable and he made me an offer that I could not refuse to give my one month resignation and worked out and went down to Washington DC so I was a chef there for about two and a half years at the Hilton then I went to be the chef at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with restaurant associates who was a group out of New York which did fantastic jobs they had the United Nations at Carnegie Hall they had all these big venues in New York and Max Pine was the owner of restaurant associates worked with him for about seven years and you're the executive chef at the Kennedy

24:34Center yes like they do the Kennedy Center honors yes and every year the honors six years and you get to meet all the presidents and people and all the celebrities yes I picture the presidents I did inaugural for example for Clinton and go and remember doing that it was crazy but funny story Paul Newman got honored at one of the things I come around the corner we had orders and that they had misplaced the orders we redid them I'm running down the hallway I come to this end that there's this guy with his blue eyes staring at me and almost had all the orders on his lap you know and he looks at me and I say he says hello chef and what do we have here and I'm like oh and the guy says to me and I said nice to meet you you know and Paul Newman I mean I mean I went into one of the rooms and it is just amazing we I watched probably Phantom of the Opera about 25 times from the rafters upstairs you know but we did some amazing stuff and Jose Andres you know obviously I invited him in for the for operas and so on to do food in collaboration Jean-Louis was a Jean-Louis restaurant at the Watergate across the street you know and I mean it was a who's who that you were working pretty exciting time as a chef is oh yeah it was great so anyway so then I opened my own restaurant with a partner we had a restaurant called Times Square in Bethesda we had this for about two and a half years I had some great ideas and we did great food but the investors were really a little bit over the top and after two and a half years I said that's not how it's gonna work no so then I went to work at the convention center in Washington DC the new convention center was built they had hired a chef didn't work out about two weeks after that I started as the chef I loved this the

26:39magnitude of it and the intricacies of opening this new convention center featuring obviously Washington DC and then after that about two and a half years in I got offered a position at the Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria exclusive Country Club thirty seven million dollars of innovations John Marger came from Whits Carleton and we wanted to really do wow the customers because across the street we had the new Gaylord opening and I mean the members were just amazing a lot of senators congressmen political you know it was a busy busy busy club and in 2010 Westchester Country Club which is one of the top ten clubs in the world opened up the chef position and I took the position you're the chef at the Westchester Country Club yes and the year I made the most money I worked with most incredible by buying power I mean there was no money was no object and so on best teams and so on I was the most unhappy so really my my home life was very difficult my daughter had was about 12 years old she went through some difficulties in schools and so on a bullying and all this stuff my wife was working crazy I didn't spend any time at work I was always at work and you know in a club it's a little bit different so the members you know really dictate what they want and so I was looking for something else after two and a half years I got a call and they asked me if I knew somebody for Nashville and I looked what was going on here in Nashville and so didn't really know exactly what was happening I came down for an interview the week of Thanksgiving 2012 met with Charles stocks was the CEO

28:41of the president of the music city center and explained me his vision of what's going to happen here in Nashville and so we spent about two hours talking and so and I asked a lot of questions and he said to me I need a really good command center chef and I told him I said Mr. Charles if you want a good command center chef I'm not your person I'm an event chef I want to do food farm to table I want to do organic we want to bring this out and so you know and I spent 24 hours in Nashville flew back filled up five pages of questions on the flight back to New York and I spoke to my daughter and my wife about Tennessee they both looked at where the hell is this you know Washington DC for 23 years New York for three you know and so by long story short I came down to Nashville a week later we spend a week we'll park somewhere in a hotel near Franklin drove around and so and we said this would be great and I accepted the job okay so we're going to pause it right there we're going to pause it right there because I wanted people to know when they show up to Tennessee flavors and they walk up to your booth who they were talking to and who they got to see an absolute legend somebody who used to run the candy center and the West Chester Country Club and the Washington Hilton and all of these things and that when we come back from this break we're getting into when I met you and what your experience in Nashville has been like and we're going to talk about all the things thank you Callie sober the totally legal THC infused mocktail Callie sober was created to provide a better alternative to alcohol no dependence no ulcers no liver damage and no night you want to forget or mornings asking what happened they only use nonsynthetic all natural Delta

30:429 THC derived from the hemp plant it is the real deal the same buzz the same chill you'd expect from THC best of all Callie sober is federally legal because it is made with hemp derived THC which is a legal substance under the 2018 Farm Bill if you're a restaurant you can pick this up through Lippman Brothers they offer three different flavors Paloma spritz ranch water and buried ginger fizz all with less than three percent THC by volume with five milligrams of THC per serving please enjoy responsibly Hey guys we're talking about the Chandler James retail team at Lee and Associates we're talking about Miller Chandler and Leanne James they are here to be your broker to find your next retail space they're located downtown in the heart of it all at the Batman building they're serving all of Middle Tennessee both Miller and Leanne are both Tennessee natives so you know they know the neighborhoods they know everything you're looking for they can help you find and negotiate terms on your next restaurant location they represent both retail tenants and landlords in our market which means they can also help you with lease versus buy decisions and act as your leasing agents should you ever decide to go all in and purchase commercial real estate and know what you're wondering how do I get a hold of these amazing people because I am looking for retail property you're gonna call Miller Chandler 615-473-2452 or Leanne James at 731-335-1121 that's the Chandler James retail team at Lee and Associates the boys and gold are back and we're talking about the Music City Beer Company yes this is Nashville's local domestic beer made in Nashville by Nashville for Nashville and the official local beer of the Nashville SC who are back in

32:43action this beer is brewed for the boys and gold we want to tell you today about the Music City Light this is a local domestic beer for Nashville Music City's own local light beer in the Music City Amber the beer for adventures in Music City well-rounded flavor from beginning to end that leaves you wanting more and if you're going to Geodes Park to check out Nashville SC you've got to order the Music City Pitch ice cold refreshment while you cheer on our boys and gold if you're a restaurant you'd like to pick up any of these products you can purchase them through best brands and if you're a consumer wherever you consume ask for Music City Light and Music City Amber please enjoy responsibly y'all today we are talking as always about super source and you know one cool thing about super source is did you know that they develop most of their cleaning products and chemicals in their in-house facility they're environmentally conscious and only use dyes that are safe for the employees and the environment they carry a number of products for keeping your dishes flatware 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 770-337-1143 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 was super source 770-337-1143 and we are back with Chef Max Knutfel and man we just got to hear your story we just got to hear where you've been and how you've been and now we're you're in Nashville you've moved your family to Nashville and I will

34:44tell you what I was doing at this time I was a manager for Freshpoint I had been selling produce in town and I was working with a country club called Hillwood Country Club and there was an executive chef there his name was Perry Seal and Perry every year him and his sous chefs would do a game dinner a wild game dinner for all the members and this was a annual event it was a big huge thing I mean they have like alligators and all kinds of stuff they have this like Bayou setting and they have elk and they have all these different game foods the sous chef who I think is this still Mark who is the chef there now he actually shot deer like he would go on hunting and like they would use that deer it was a big deal but Chef Perry came to me and he said hey there's a guy coming to town and he's he's bae his name is Max Knoppel and he's going to be running the music city center and this is going to be our new convention center I've got him coming to the game dinner and I want to invite you and you can sit next to him and I was like really because obviously I'm a produce guy and music city center is the biggest account in the entire world and the opportunity to even meet you would have been amazing so I'm this maybe I'm 30 at the time I don't know maybe I'm 29 30 years that maybe I'm had to be 15 what year was this it was 2013 13 so okay so it was 11 years ago yeah okay 11 years ago that was 33 so I'm not too far off but I remember sitting down and talking you know so excited because I look at chefs because you guys do something I can't do and I'm so in awe of it like you're artists to me like something about I just love what you do and your history like you were an absolute like icon when I got to meet you and to sit next to you I was just like nervous like I get to talk to you and we I was so shocked because I've met so many chefs who are just so full of

36:45themselves and there there was a lot of ego there and you sat down and you were the nicest person I think I've ever met like you were just so nice but you weren't who were your salesman you leaned in and you were like hey and I think that you saw something in me where you were like this guy's not like everybody I don't know what it was but I think we had like an instant friendship in that moment and since like to this day I'll every time I get to see you I just cherish it and I can't believe it's been almost four years before I get you on the show and it's not because I haven't asked oh you ask many times because you're a very busy guy so do you remember that day yes I remember that day and actually I remember the event and Perry of course who I think is at the Brentwood Country Club now I don't know I think he is yes and it's amazing I mean you look back at 2013 and then what's happened now you know 11 years and what this city has done and so I think me arriving at the music center was a good compliment and not saying that of Max but I'm putting myself out of that the team obviously you know what we have done at MCC from the management team to the thinking about what is this and how is going to represent Nashville and so you know and the events that has come to Nashville and I mean every day I look at what Nashville has to offer but also of who is coming in and I look at this horses of international conventions that we have we also do a lot of obviously day to day events for charities in Nashville and natural businesses natural events and so on I mean there's just this amazing hub of music city center and what it represents the building is so great I mean I still think it's a sexy building with the roof and all that when you first walked me through that building because I got to tour it before it officially opened you walked me through the building the

38:46sense of pride you had walking in that building was almost like you built the thing like you took such ownership in it is that part of that because you were the original chef there you're the only executive chef the music city centers ever seen yes do you like everything that happens in a culinary sense in that building and they're probably so much more is because of you so I got I got to music center I hired on the second and also the fifth of January 2013 arrived here my car loaded stuff and we thought we're going to be about two three months that's family separated so my wife flew down a couple times she ended up moving here in August when we bought a house in Adams Tennessee 56 miles away from work but so I was sitting in the meeting room across the Ryman auditorium and I was writing menus we had suppliers coming in we were hiring people I mean it was a crazy time but a good time very productive and so music city center and the company that we were food service with I mean we were partners we were seeing eye to eye we were talking about things we were selecting China we were selecting you know the the suppliers were going to be using and so on you were an open tent really we actually use about 32% of local vendors and so on you know minorities small businesses and so on and that's part of the contract that's the city made with the Nashville conventions and music city center was that X amount of your contractors and vendors need to be minority or woman owned right local yes and then the whole part of sustainable the whole part of composting the whole part of giving back to community the whole part of being involved and that's where I came and said okay what do I do Randy Rayburn was a fantastic introduction to me early on Max Goldberg also you know I mean the the whole strategic group was part of also

40:49working with us and so on I went to Green Hills and Max and I did chow chows and and and showed me how to do the his style of Nashville hot chickens and some of the things that are Nashville you know and I saw Max two days ago and you know we talked about this and wow it's 11 years you know and so but what a great people you know and I the best the best guys that packet came over you know when we opened with an apple pie you know and she says hey welcome to the neighborhood I'd met Deb about three or four times in a restaurant and you know we are good friends and she texts me says do you have any truffle oil you know a Friday night at five and I'm like I have truffle oil the odd is I've been running it over to a restaurant so she can have it because he didn't come in or whatever you know it just it's a small little neighborhood still but it's massive about what's happening in the city you know Sean Brock is talk to my staff but when he was in in in the meeting here about a year ago at the music center and I told him I said Sean can you come upstairs and talk to my staff you know he inspired them just about why you want to be in this profession and what do things for the right reason and so you know but every day there's just amazing chefs. I live in East Nashville now and I mean you talked about Hal quickly you know and Hal is just Laughlin Tables like one of the best restaurants and Hal is one of the best people. Margot across the street you know almost I mean it's just Margot is there and it's just amazing what the city has to offer you know. And those are some of the I call them OGs like the people have been doing this in Nashville for a long time and Margot was just on the show last week and she was at Tennessee flavors.

42:35But I told her I said you know you are part of the reason East Nashville is what it is. Yes like you are an absolute legend we talk about these local restaurants and how important they are to communities. I don't know if there's any more important than Laughlin Table and Margot. I mean their community are giving back to schools a place for people even throughout the pandemic what they did and then Margot right there there's a cornerstone at Five Points. I mean she set what this culture is and just as a community gathering point place like I think that's so special. And even the tornado you know I mean it was just I mean I'm driving to work you know and then the next day this building is gone you know and I look at Margot and so and I mean I have friends I mean it just went crazy you know what can we do what can we provide you know and then we shut down obviously for COVID you know we donated I think almost 22 tons of food you know and it was gradual because we didn't know I took my I wear a chef's hat in all truth okay honest I wear a chef's hat every day at work and my chef hat is 11 inches tall. You said I have no ego I have a lot big ego but it's strange you know but I we all do to some degree I want the professional look so when somebody comes to the convention center I want them to see you know and I want them to know that the chef is there and my culinary team the same thing I you know everybody buttons that button up here for the jackets you know it's a culture you know and I want that culture to happen and also this look that people don't see often you know of professional chefs.

44:17But what what I what I want to do is that you know what can we do with the community how can we forward pin that knowledge of being a professional and what it represents and how to forward the industry and the rules of engagement of being a professional you know and there's so many chefs I mean I talk to my apprentices or I talk to young students and you know they tell me oh look at this look at this Instagram and so and I said but do you know how to make that reduction do you know what it takes to make that flavor do you know how do you emulsify this you know and they tell me oh yeah this and this and this I had a I did a review on one on my cooks three months ago and I said to him I said so what cookbooks do you have it's a chef he's 37 he says I only cookbooks I have the internet I said I said okay but you still need to look at this you know you still need to open the Escoffier from time to time and look at the base of the sauce or how it's made or whatever you know and it's great do you still do that yes I had three thousand cookbooks I I got divorced from a 25 year old marriage six years ago I downgraded to about 700 books now and you know I built my house in East Nashville from plans in my head went to three contractors three years of construction COVID was in there so you know prices of everything increased change and so but what I built was a main room which is the kitchen and then three bedrooms and I have a garage and it's actually a kitchen that's it you walk into a kitchen the whole house is just a kitchen it's a kitchen the main thing is a kitchen and bedrooms around it yeah I'll show you some pictures but we should do a show out of my house one day I'm down let's do it yeah this stuff can go anywhere yeah so so very

46:20involved you know living in East Nashville is fantastic my girlfriend now is very world traveled she's fantastic cook she knows hospitality she's she's really involved and every day I mean I wake up I'm like how lucky am I with this person you know but also we have fun you know and oh my god I celebrated last year my 65th birthday in France and we went to Paul Bocuse and the reason why is because two years ago we were planning on taking a great vacation and so on and I have the original Paul Bocuse book which is signed by Paul Bocuse 1976 he signed a freaking book for me the book was moved 25 times and I looked at the book and for a reason that I wanted to have the recipe of the Valerie Giscard d'Estaing soup with the puff pastry on top I was going to do that for something and I saw the book and I said how cool would it be to 65th birthday at Bocuse in France and we booked and you did it and we did it and we had a fantastic time but what's your favorite thing to eat you know what if you could eat your your death row they're giving you a last meal what are you eating so a sad story my mom passed about five years ago she was Hungarian obviously I would like to have mom's goulash with her Spetzli and her paracinta which is like a crepe that's Hungarian style that would be my favorite to do I always people ask me all the time are you a chef what's your favorite food to cook and so and so and you know it's like music this morning driving to your studio I was listening to Led Zeppelin Foo Fighters you know and Metallica you know but I'm a drummer so I have a drum set at home really yeah I have an electronic drum set and then I

48:23added to that Rototums acoustic drums cymbals and so I go to a store in West Nashville that has books use books Legos musical instruments you can buy every time I'm there I come out McKays yeah that's my that's my drugs McKays off Old Hickory and Bellevue yeah yeah yeah I go there and get some I look at some books there and I pick always Lego pieces I love Legos do you yeah yeah yeah that's interesting my kids obviously kids love Legos but I they're too complicated for me I can put together any piece of furniture I love projects but my wife is the Lego put together with them yeah there's some those are expensive they expensive but what I do McKays are probably a better deal yeah McKays good and then there's a Lego store in Mount Juliet where you can sell use Legos and so I sell these Legos and I buy Legos so it's like trading Legos but I don't have much time for that but do you also like Pokemon cards no oh no okay so anyway so I do I'm a drummer and the reason why I'm saying that is because music so I grew up obviously you know 70s 80s and I had tickets to go see Led Zeppelin in Paris and I had to work that night and my chef said you cannot go how crazy is that and you didn't go I didn't go I should have called out sick but oh my god you should have I know all my friends went and they came back you know at that time there was obviously pictures was photo pictures you know Polaroids and they show me and they're like oh my god and here I am 40 years later buying the album again on vinyl you know to play it with the creeks and all that stuff and I'm like I could have been there do you know what my concert was like that no Vanderbilt universe at Vanderbilt Stadium back in the 90s Pink Floyd came yeah and I had to work and I couldn't go that night similar kind of a deal like I had to go to work

50:23and I was like you know 17 I was a young kid I should have just not gone to work but that was like my yeah I gotta go do this and I couldn't go oh I'll catch him next time they're in town you know kind of a thing and it was the most epic to this day like oh Pink Floyd at Vandy was like the most epic concert that ever happened in Nashville and I missed it yeah so you know but so food for me is almost like music it depends on your mood and so on right now my little crack cocaine on flavor is SS Guy oh my god it is so good is it not it's Thai fried chicken I know Monday there's a pop-up with Noku and I bought tickets to go but yeah I finished working in my 12 hour shift I drive home and I'm at the window there at 9 30 at night or the chicken you know and he looks at me and he knows exactly who I am you know and sometimes we exchange some words but he's busy always you know is it Chris in the back Emma and Chris are the owners of that place yeah Chris yeah and Chris comes out and shakes my hand how you doing busy day I said yeah we did three thousand five hundred for breakfast four thousand for lunch and a reception of eight hundred for the dinner for two thousand seven thousand people today yeah you know okay it's an easy day and tomorrow is it gonna be more you know and I take the chicken and ask for two sauces and you know extra this and it's just amazing that car wash has drove by it for four years it was dilapidated I'm like this what are you doing there you know seven bays yeah it's just amazing Tyler Cobble do you know who he is yes he's the mind behind and he drove by the same as you and went I'm gonna make this something cool yeah yeah and and that's what Nashville is just amazing you know the what's happening now looking back at 11 years in Nashville I think being the chef at Music City Center obviously it's a command

52:26center you know people say our command center you know it's the Robert Chicken and so on and I said no no no no weird we brought it up a different way you know we we are thinking about what is the customer we're thinking about what the impact is of how we can impact the food obviously their budgets we work with every budget you know and then how can we give them the experience of the South how can we get the experience of Nashville Sylvia Gagne and you know Green Door Gourmet I mean best friends we have brought out her watermelon production one summer you know but Michael Green's we we do these displays and so on and that's one Hassan from Hydro House you know and you should talk to this guy actually he is a hydroponic growing out in Mount Juliet and I do need to talk to him I don't know we had Sylvia on the show but I don't yeah so he's he's actually having five or six lettuces that he's growing for us and so on we had a fantastic relationship you know where we buy his products and so and I get to do tastings and I tell our clients what we're doing and so and you know pick Tennessee you know and what that represents and so on and then we do a lot of things which are not the standard thing that a community center for thousands of meals would do you know but you probably buy out a farm's whole product I mean seven thousand people on a Tuesday or what I mean you right local farms probably can't even produce that much well there's the question is what is local so you know I want to create that the carbon footprint really shrinks on on purchasing and purveyors you know so we buy a lot of stuff from different wholesalers and so but we are always asking them like which ones are the companies that really do it right you know the flavor for us and it has to be that they can sustain what we are asking for and then obviously doing things for the right reasons you know

54:28and we want to make sure that we give a chance to everybody at the same time they need to understand that our needs are you know bourbon sugar you know for example you know the bourbon bale company from Kentucky came to see me in 2011 2013 and they said to me we have this sugar that we're making and so and so you know and I looked at them and I said so how much have you produced they said we did 50 pounds you know and I said well my usage would probably be about 300 pounds a month you know and they're looking at me like what you know and then they gave me a price and so on and I told them I said you need to recalculate your price because you're not going to make any money and in three weeks from now you're going to tell me your other business you know yeah and so so so you have those those things and I mean but that's dude that that's that's there's there's that there's a there's some experience and there's some real wisdom in what you just now said and I think this is something I want to I want to touch on real fast okay you have a company the bourbon barrel company out of Kentucky they're making a bourbon barrel sugar sugar salt paprika and they come into you and they say hey we'd like to sell your stuff and you said well you made 50 pounds I'm going to use 300 pounds a month and they their eyes probably get real big yeah and they go whoa this is jackpot we're going to sell a ton of this and they give you a price 90 percent of people would go that's a hell of a price we're going to make some money on this cool they don't know what they have but you don't you say hey your price is too low you're not going to this isn't sustainable and I want you to be around for a long time so if I'm going to use your product I'm going to want it for more than a month right so you need to charge more for it and you're but that's what a good relationship that that is a win-win in business where you have the foresight to say hey I want you to be around for a long time this is too cheap you need to charge more and it's okay I'll get mine for it but that's that's how relationships get formed for the long term

56:30right and then also you you provide them with some insight you know how you own the packages and so you know I mean for me I don't need 16 ounce jar I need the five gallon bucket you know yeah or put in a bag or something you know I don't want you to spend money on packages for me you know and then how you're going to distribute it to us you know how is it coming you know and and also who is working on those things you know and they told us it was a church group you know in the basement who and I said how do you get the smoke I mean you know oh our husbands work for you know a distillery which we cannot dispose who it is but we get to buy the the bales and so you know and so now you understand the story behind and so and they did a lot of good in their community employing peoples and so and now you can get it on amazon I think Whole Foods has it on their shelves and so on I buy it myself for my home you know love that stuff you know it's it's great we put on a lot of desserts and so on and you do the right things we I wanted to have beehives on the music center and we agreed that we can have four beehives at music city center and so we associated ourselves and we looked around and the Nashville beekeeper association was fantastic at coming in and working with us on our roof the green roof which collects all our water for flushing our toilets and so we have four beehives the kitchen team and some of the associates at music center we are beekeepers our apprentices in the kitchen have to be part of the bee team so they're working with that and they're learning apiaries and so on they go to the training and all that but we produce about 160 180 pounds of honey you know but the rest of the honey we buy it from the beekeeper association you know so profiting again local you know and I brought you a little sample today to taste I'm looking at this jar the music city center honey and I'm really excited because I go through a massive amount of honey

58:34it's a weird I put honey in my coffee every morning right and I put probably an ounce or two I mean not too much but I buy a Costco big jars of honey because we go this morning I ran out of honey and I was like do we have more honey and she's like no I told you I'm having a day date as we're probably gonna go to Costco because we need to buy honey it's funny and you bring me honey right well I wanted to bring you a little bit of honey a little bit of sweetness from from our teams to you you know it's very kind of you thank you you're welcome so you know music city center and the thought behind it is really working and being I would say we we work with our clients and we ask them you know where do you want to go with this and then we come up with ideas you know and we have to then obviously deliver this idea we have to make it so we make some money obviously but also that it's done for the right reasons and when I look at an event I love and I'm a very precise person and so on I'm crazy sometimes sometimes my sous chefs tell me like we're gonna do this I said yeah and I kind of say yes and walk away you know figure it out they're looking at me and I remember this side we were doing for a thousand nine hundred people and he had just the gourmet chef called side chef comes to me and his name is allies french good good good guy and he had put three dots of sun-dried tomato puree on it you know and I looked at him and I said it would be nicer with 12 dots you know so four and three you know in a square you know perfectly dotted and he looks I mean he says it's for 1650 I said that's a lot of dots I said so what you know and I just walk away I know that I'm complete ass you know at the same time I know so that that plate's gonna look fantastic you know and it was not the dots you know but it was just like

01:00:37to bring it up a level for them to see hey we can do it every one of the cooks they decide you know and we produce them and they all look the same they're fantastic they put out by you know preset so he was not shaking because on top of that he was a vertical side with some enoki mushrooms in it I mean you know we're talking complicated 21 steps in that side but then we went in to put the crostini on it and everyone pulled out their phone took pictures of it you know and they see it in the setting and so on because it's it's it's for them to understand that hey we just did something great you know and then the clients coming in and they look at the side and they are now putting the picture on instagram and so on and I'm like okay you know we did this it was fine what are we doing next you know and it's not every day like this but it's a lot of time like this I mean we have done desserts where with the little mcc chocolate guitar logoed you know and then we do sponge sugar you know or cotton candy on top as a garnish you know and it goes out for 1200 people you know people are just like how do you guys do this you know we had a huge huge event end of january that's going to come back multiple years to nashville 2700 people we did venison so we did a new zealand venison rack that we had marinated you know we tied it we cut it I mean we we did slice the venison as we were plating up on six live stations and so what does it take to make this happen it takes coordination it takes planning but everyone is involved you know from from the receiving you know to obviously stewarding cleaning the plates you know at 11 30 at night you know and we have the hundred thousand pieces that we need to clean

01:02:37for this dinner of 20 500 people you know and then you start the whole thing again next morning you know we are going to take a quick break to hear our final word from our sponsors unleash the wolf with campo bravo tequila campo bravo is a 100% agave tequila with a bold smooth flavor perfect for sipping neat as a shot or in cocktails campo bravo is also certified additive free which means there are no artificial flavors or sweeteners in campo bravo like there are in many other brands campo bravo gives you all the bold smooth flavor you want in a tequila with nothing you don't campo bravo is actually truly farm to bottle tequila meaning our fifth generation agave farmers meticulously control entire production process from the farm to the bottle to give you the highest quality handcrafted tequila order through best brands and please remember to drink responsibly charpies bakery is a locally owned and family operated wholesale bakery providing bread to nashville's best eateries they've been operating in nashville since 1986 providing high quality fresh bread daily for restaurants catering companies hospitals and universities their bread is free from preservatives and artificial additives learn more at charpies.com that's c-h-a-r-p-i-e-r-s.com or you can give erin mosso a call directly her number 615-319-6453 that's charpies bakery we are supported by robin's insurance offering protection you can trust robin's insurance is an independent insurance agency known across the southeast for their customized insurance policies sound guidance and attentive service they're also known here at nashville restaurant radio for protecting some of

01:04:37music city's best restaurants look when it comes to ensuring your restaurant or bar you don't want to leave the job to some strip mall insurance agency with no background in hospitality and expertise in the local market you need someone who knows the industry who understands your business who will create a policy that protects your physical space and protects you and your staff too y'all matthew clements is that guy he's the agent at robin's insurance for the hospitality industry with extensive industry experience himself matthew has the knowledge to create a policy that'll protect you and your business no matter what comes your way visit robin's website at robin's ins.com that's robinsins.com to get in touch with him or reach out to matthew directly at 863-409-9372 protection you can trust that's robin's these numbers are bad like they're just i have a restaurant that seats 263 people on valentine's day or you know mother's day thanksgiving we'll do a thousand guests for full turns of this building and it's insane it's a plan for it for weeks to execute everything really well 2,500 people how many people how many plates how many dots how many salads how many entrees how many appetizers and then to serve that and then beverage service like it's baffling to me to even imagine how to execute that it is baffling but you i have friends who are in the cruise business for example you know the crew oh yeah that's another and and i worked with a couple of chefs in russia dc they were my sous chefs and then they worked for some big cruise companies and so on there there's chefs now in on the boats and we talk sometimes and i'm like i did this and this and it says well i have 6 000 people on our boat including staff you know three meals a day three meals actually it's more than five meals you know

01:06:40because that people obviously have snacks and stuff like that you know ice cream breaks just the ice cream break but you know it's crazy but so you need to be planned you need to have a backup plan i always tell you can't get deliveries at sea no you cannot and you have to work and reflow and so on and your team is actually working hard because i mean you know that they are captive working there you know the same time they love it because otherwise they would not go back the money is obviously very good but i think you know you look at that industry and i had a restaurant i owned a restaurant i had two restaurants i've worked in five star hotels four star hotels um i i look at this and i'm like so happy that at the end of my career i don't know if it's the end yet but it's close to it i mean i'm 66 this year say it ain't so yeah but i think that i'm still learning every day and i get excited when i drive into work you know i first of all the last thing i do every night is think what was good what was bad what was horrible today and what can i do better tomorrow what can i teach what did i learn you know and those things came from me and my daughter after school you know one day i came home and i would probably do one day a week where i would have dinner with the family you know and i only have one daughter and one day i heard the story about torn and roses so i bought roses for my ex-wife and my daughter we sat down for dinner it was probably pasta because i love to do italian food and and i said how was school and she says that i really had a bad experience about this and this and this and i said so but but what was good today you know and then i took the rose and i gave it to her and i said there's a torn that hurt you know not good and then there's the rose soft you know smell nice look great and so i said what's your torn what's your roses i have transferred that to

01:08:43some of my cooks which i say what's your rose you know what's your torn today and so what's your rose and what's your thorn yes and and and and it works you know and it just you're putting the thinking in their mind trying to infect them and in fact is a bad word because of covid and people think infection is bad you know but you can infect the smile you can infect a good wish you can infect passing it forward kind of thinking and so and i think it's very very important in our society especially 2024 oh my god it's crazy life is crazy right and i look at our employees coming in i know that they have families they have kids they have schools they have you know a background they have to come with the transportation they have to pay their bills you know and they come into work and they are with us eight hours ten hours twelve hours sometimes you know we give them great wages and so but at the same time there's a life and you have to understand the person and then the nationalities we have currently now probably about 18 nationalities in our kitchen wow 18 18 yeah a lot of obviously south america you know but we have egyptians we have an indian guy you know we have uh people i mean obviously i count for three swiss can be i'm a swiss and canadian citizen so um it is important to put this all together and you know from your background i mean you know you you sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't work sometimes they just need to be an icebreaker you know and uh i i look at our staff i'm so proud of what we do and uh being in nashville now since 11 years we have had a lot of people who came work for us and after three months it does doesn't work because they need the ticket system you know they want to do the service and we don't do that kind of stuff what we do is preparation but at the same time

01:10:43we use temp agencies a lot you know uh because you need a lot of staff to do we need a lot of stuff to do sometimes you have 20 30 40 temps in you know i had monday in my kitchen i had 87 people in the kitchen uh and uh so so i take out a case of eggplant and i said we need to do eggplant parmesan you know and they look at the these three cooks so i came in you know they're working with us to do the eggplant you know and they're they're slicing it and so and i show them one that i want to do we talk about it how it's going to be presented how many pans and so on and then my kitchen steward brings out three skids of eggplant three skids with 32 cases on it you know and says this is what we need to do you know because it's eggplant for you know as a garni as a as an eggplant parmesan for 3200 people you know um so you work with those volumes and so on it gets repetitive you know for them so how do we keep them interested yeah buying into what we're going to do seeing the end product you know and so uh we create some amazing buffets i have some of my sous chefs chef oliver chef michael chef alain uh very in tuned of what the look has to be at the end and so but it has to be tasting good it has to be hot food hot cold food cold we have to maintain it and travel you know and people asking how do you go on six city blocks and do a sourcing you know in hall d you know which is on the other side of 8th avenue our kitchens is on corner of fifth and and korean boulevard we serve a meal for 2600 people in hall d you know it's a long ways away it's a long ways away and then what what do i i look at is like okay how many elevators we have to in and out is there a gap you know has the elevator stopped at the floor level or half an inch below you know i mean is it gonna rattle the sauce you know are we sourcing now in the room

01:12:45because we have to go over five expansion joints you know and that could mess it up oh exactly so all that thing works into it and then the travel time you know and at the end of day it all happens you know and that's the beauty of it but you get to share it and then i take the cooks out i show them buffet setup and so on we show them how we have decorated this and so and they see that they see the final product you know and that's so important i could talk to you for hours we've been talking for an hour can you imagine that no how fast was that chef max talks too much you talk the perfect amount you've been is this the longest you've ever been in one job yes this is the longest and this is one of these you were the first one this is your this is your place what do you want your legacy to be let's just say you retire tomorrow and you move to the south of france when people talk about the music cities when they talk about chef max what do you what do you want them to say i want them to say that we contributed to the community i want them to say i contributed to the next professional that wants to be a chef i want them to say that yes max was sometimes complicated sometimes he asked us you know to do this or this or this but at the same time there was a reason why you know and he made me a better professional at the end and i want them to know that you know it's not just me it's a team that's always behind you know and about six months ago i was doing a review for one of my sous chefs and i said you know i want to say thank you because when there's a write-ups and so last year i got awarded the ifma award international food manufacturer association lifetime achievement you know in chicago at the at the restaurant

01:14:49association show and it was great and i asked when i got the call i said you know who got the award before and said wolfgang park you know and i said okay wow you know i mean big shoes to fill obviously and a lot of applications so on but somebody suggested my name and not just for what i do at music center but for the what i've done in my career you know working via schools and i was involved a lot with boys and girls club in alexandria i know and uh charities i mean my daughter at six years old you were doing soup kitchens you know thanksgiving dinners for the homeless people and stuff like that and so that was really accounting for me but then chef of the year this year tom neville with the chef association obviously uh trying to rebuild this amazing group here in nashville you know and professionals and so but i want them to know that the music center stands for some great quality of food but also there is some great people who make it happen every day you know and knowing that we can expand on what we have done but also know where we came from you know and i tell people i said you know be very careful of staying stagnant you know and then evolve also 2024 your next employee if he is 17 years old 18 years old 25 years old or 62 you know we employ people at 62 years old to come and cook they all have different things that they have seen you know and then open up you know and and ask them what drives them and you can learn from anyone you know i have enjoyed this conversation so much it's fun that i don't think people that don't have a podcast get to understand you hang out with friends you know people in a social settings all the time but when you have somebody come into a studio and you get

01:16:49to ask them a bunch of questions and hear the answer this isn't like we would have if we're sitting around having a beer or something these aren't like that these conversations are so fun and thank you for everything that you've said today i know i want to be respectful of your time because i know you are a very busy busy guy so i'm honored that you came in today and we can do this 10 more times whenever you want to come in and just talk i'm down you just you say the word i will make it over here we can talk as long as you want and bring your girlfriend into well thank you thank you brennan i think i i want to say thank you to you what you're doing here with the national restaurant radio is just amazing i must tell you i almost had tears when you had dr jan dear on this program and you gave him the the nike running shoes the jordans the jordans yeah um he was it was moving to see that but i met him a couple of times you know and i mean what great job he has done for the city and so you know we didn't even get into everything you did for covet i mean that's what i'm saying we could do this i parked cars i parked cars and i you know we we were doing and trying to survive and not knowing i mean i took my hat off on march 18th i took my chef's hat off i put in trash i turned the lights off on instagram and i said two weeks two months i don't know i see on the other side you know yeah and i started calling my staff three four days after giving them some updates and so you know but we kept in touch and so we met that hotel that my girlfriend at the time was operating and she gave us the bed the the ball room and we were six feet apart you know writing a new menu and doing casting and things like that you know because we could not have our at our home you know and it's it's the person behind you know that has to understand that there's always another way you know there's a better way there's a different way there's

01:18:50that we are all diverse people with different backgrounds at the end of the day we come all together and that's what makes me happy you know i love it that's almost a final thought we do this thing on the show that is our final thought do you want that to be your final thought because i open it up for you to take us out whatever you want to say as long as you want to say it talking to the audience the gordon food service final thought is is for you right now chef max well thank you the final thought is really be a good person you know uh pay it forward and be professional you know and uh i i i absolutely adore how diverse you know the hospitality scene is you know and the next generation you know coming up uh just make it happen don't be afraid to take risks you know and don't be afraid to associate and get mentors which you need to have you know at the same time do good food and love what you do do good food love what you do well i know a lot of people don't understand your impact on this industry in nashville but everybody who's come through the music city center and has had the opportunity to work with you and to work underneath you and to learn from you is taking your skills and that professionalism to other restaurants in the city and making them better and that is such a massive contribution that you have made to this culinary industry the past 11 years and i can't wait to see what more you're able to do thank you for joining us today and i look forward to seeing you at tennessee flavors yes but i don't see you on march 5th at tennessee flavors thank you all right i love it bye chef max thank you so much for joining us here on the show today lots and lots of fun talking to you and um excited to see you at tennessee flavors tomorrow so yeah i mentioned that this friday is my birthday but i did not mention that

01:20:52the week after on the 14th of march is going to be the birthday for nashville restaurant radio it is a four year birthday and i don't know what we're gonna do to celebrate but i think we should do something fun i don't i don't know i don't know what we're gonna do but i just wanted to throw that out there um i do you know i'm gonna give a this is not a sponsor but sometimes people are awesome and i want to give a shout out to image life signs and graphics they are on eighth avenue and i needed a banner to post to put up here at the net at the um tennessee flavors and putting all this stuff together this guy mark horner has been so attentive and so amazing and communicated so well and made it happen and hey i need a different image this one doesn't look as good i want it to be perfect and he was just so great i don't know the guy this isn't a friend of mine this is nothing this is just a random company i found online locally here in nashville that um treated me like i was um somebody very special and i thought that was really cool and i just wanted to give him a shout out so image life signs and graphics on eighth avenue mark horner if you need any kind of banners or anything done i would give him a shout these are good people all right guys i will hopefully see you at tennessee flavors tomorrow hope that you have a wonderful week we'll see you next week with margo mccormick and her executive chef hadley long hope you guys are being safe out there and as always love you guys bye