NRR presents Talking Shift! Jess and Trey from Two Ten Jack, and Mikey and Brian from The Mockingbird

00:00Alright, welcome to Talkin' Shift, the only podcast that allows you to call in and tell your stories live on the air. We are Talkin' Tonight, we're Talkin' Shift with Jess and Trey from 210 Jack, located in East Nashville. We're also talking with Mikey and Brian from The Mockingbird on 12th Avenue, close to downtown. We are getting ready to have a blast. So if this is your first time listening, this is the first episode that we have ever done, Talkin' Shift, and we are gonna be doing it again on August the 1st from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock. Guest host to be announced. This was a lot of fun. I hope that you enjoy this. I hope you can catch us next time. You can watch the video right now on our Facebook page, the Nashville Restaurant Radio Facebook page. You can also watch it on the Nashville Restaurant Radio YouTube page. This is a Nashville Restaurant Radio production.

01:32We need your help, however, and I want to help you. So here's what I'm looking for. We have a new contest that we are starting with the first episode, the Talkin' Shift logo. So we have a Talkin' Shift logo. It's a microphone. The guy is just speaking. It's something I had done cheap through Fiverr, but you know what? I want to support somebody who's in the industry right now, and if you like to do logos and you work in the restaurant industry, I want to pay you. I'm giving $250 cash to anybody who can come up with the best Talking Shift podcast logo. So we're doing a logo contest. Are you somebody who does graphic design? Do you also work in a restaurant with $250? Work really well for you right now. So here's what we're gonna do. I would love for you to create the logo. You can email me, but I'd love for you to post it on social media what you think. I would like you to post it to our account. We have a Facebook page as a Facebook group. It's called Talkin' Shift. It's a group, and we also have an Instagram page, Talking underscore shift underscore podcast. Tag us. Tag us in your logo. We want to see it.

02:51We're gonna be taking submissions up until the August 1st show, and we are gonna vote live on the show, and we are going to be giving somebody $250 for our new logo. If you are amazing with music and you're a musician, we are in Music City here. This show is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and you want to write us an entry song. I'm down for that too. I don't care if it's a hip-hop song, a rap song, a rock song, but if you want to do our intro song, I'm gonna do offer the same thing. Another $250 to the person that comes up with the best beats. Whatever it is for our intro, we're gonna put it back in your hands. So that, that's the kind of some of the announcements on the front end of this show, but we are excited. We talked about, listen, this show is is fucking whatever you want to talk about. It does not matter. It is uncensored, so if you don't like to hear f-bombs and bad words, then this is not gonna be the show for you. This is uncensored, just like you'd hear it in the restaurant. The first hour we talk about, we get into some good stuff. The first hour, the second hour, we kind of go off the rails, and that is like my favorite thing in the world. So if you're a regular Nashville restaurant radio listener, hope that you enjoy this. This is a sneak peek into the minds of what people in the restaurants really think. We'd love to have more contributors to the show. It's our first show. We had a couple people call in, get on the show. For episode two, we'd love to hear your stories. You got stories about Karens, about celebrities, employees, whatever it might be, something that tells the story of what your life is like working in restaurants. We're excited to hear it, and we are gonna jump in right now to our show, Talkin' Shift. What's up, Trey? Is that a St.

04:40Ide's hat? Yeah. Dude, that is OG right there. What's St. Ide's? Is that the soap? St. Ide's is like a malt liquor. Edward 40 Hands yesterday. They're like, oh, you've never played Edward 40 Hands? I'm like, no, I haven't. I've never played Edward 40 Hands. It's whenever you have to take 40s to your hands, and you can't take the tape off until you finish the 40s. Very good game. With duct tape. Yeah, I hate that I've quit drinking now. I have not quit drinking. I have sake here. Yeah. I'm on bourbon, but sake sounds pretty fantastic. What kind of bourbon are you drinking? So we went to go visit some family, and they gave us this bourbon to try, and I'm kind of on it now.

05:50It tastes very caramel-esque. It's very... Freedom juice. Yeah, it's freedom juice. Oh, gosh. It's called Soldier Valley Bourbon Whiskey. What's that guy's name? That guy that's saying I'm proud to be an American. Oh, Lee Greenwood. Yeah, this is his blues. It's Patriot Whiskey. Why? From like the... Very Patriotical. But they gave it to us. It's very sweet of him, so I was like, I'm going to enjoy it. And it's in the shape of a canteen, so I was like, that's pretty cool. And my dad was in Vietnam, so I can respect that. But it's not part of a hashtag that would describe me. Well, it is fantastic to have you all here. We have... People are actually watching this right now, so I'm going to give a little update to the people that are watching. Welcome to Talk and Shift. I know it says Nashville Restaurant Radio everywhere because you're on the Nashville Restaurant Radio page, but this is officially the first episode of Talk and Shift. And the idea I was just telling Mikey came to me when I was like 20 years old when I worked at the Boundary, and I went to MTSU, and I would drive every day from the Boundary to MTSU. And every day you get off work, you go drink, and you just talk about all the crazy shit that happened throughout the shift. And I thought, man, how fucking cool would it be if I was on Lightning 100 and I had like a call-in show, and servers could call in and be like, dude, let me tell you about this guy that took a shit on the table and then threw it at the chef tonight.

07:29Those type stories I wanted to hear in real time, and there was some kind of a platform for that to happen. So long story short, we started Nashville Restaurant Radio with kind of, I kind of want to do something along those lines. And then Caroline Galzin called me, you know, almost a year into the show, and she's like, hey, we should do a podcast and do it this way. And I'm like, yes, let's do it. So we came up with everything, but then we both got way too busy to really do it. Until I was talking to you, Jess, and you said you're going to open for lunch. And I said, all right, you do that, and I'm going to do this next podcast. So this is it. This is the initial inaugural episode. And thank you guys so much for joining me. Yeah. I don't remember what the date was. You put a date on me for opening for lunch. I have to re-listen to the podcast. Are you open for lunch yet? Absolutely not. Same. But thanks for having us. This is really exciting. I'm excited. And if you hadn't gotten Brian and Mikey, I would just not do it. You know, I can't do it. I'm just kidding. But I was really excited that they were coming on.

08:32Yeah, me too. No, this is great. This is great. I love it. This is so fun. If you're listening out there, you're watching out there, and you want to join in, if you have a story that you want to tell, there is a link. If you look in the comments section here, there is a link to streamyard.com backslash J9QZ, whatever it is. You click that link and it's going to put you right here in the green room. I always see you come in. Now here's a couple rules today. I don't necessarily want to know the name of your restaurant. If you come on and you want to tell a story, obviously we know you guys are 210 Jack and Mockingbird. I'm Maribor and Green Hills Grove. We want to tell stories. I don't want to disparage restaurants. If you come on and go, yeah, I work at the 10 Angel and this happened to me last, like, I don't want the 10. Obviously it's not the 10 Angel because they're not open, but rest in peace. I'm not trying to bring any restaurants down here. So anonymity is totally cool. We're just here for randomly crazy stories.

09:35Can they leave it in the comments or something? Cause I want all the tea, all of it. Don't fear tea in the comments. Get wild, get wild. No, I'm with you Jess. I'm going to be the straight laced Dr. Drew type guy over here. Yeah. Well, if you haven't made a drinking game out of every time I'm going to drop a cuss word then on a live podcast, then you should, you know, Hey, just suggesting that now, not suggesting over drinking or driving, be responsible. But yeah, could be a fun one. Yeah. 20 minutes. Well, I will, I'm going to give an official toast to you guys just to say cheers. Thanks for being here. Inaugural episode. This is a ton of fun. I love that you guys are here.

10:36Thank you so much. Thanks for having us. Cheers. There's some more people joining us. Would you like to join the show? We've got Mikey and Brian from Mockingbird and Jess and Trey from 210 Jack. And we're hanging out waiting to hear your stories. If you click the link in the comment section, you can come on the show live and tell your story and we'll all talk about it. But I'd like to kind of keep it at a topic here. So for the first hour, as we kind of get this thing going, I don't know how long we're going to do this for. If everybody just falls off, then we'll just stop. But I want to talk about one of the main things I wanted to do was guest etiquette. Okay. So if you're listening to this and you work in a restaurant, great. You know what guests should and shouldn't do. But if you're listening to this and you're somebody who dines in a restaurant, I want you to know, I want to hear stories about guests that do stupid things. And I, I, I'm setting you up really well over here, Mikey and Brian. Yeah, it's very well publicized. The people in your restaurant don't like to pay attention to rules. Oh, yes. Do you guys want to lead this one off? Our restaurant is kind of like nom. There are no rules. Take no prisoners. Yeah. No, it is. It is a battleground. Yeah, it is. Jess, y'all aren't as close to Broadway as we are, girls. No, right? Yeah. The front lines there. I mean, just the like 13, 14 months of Green Pheasant, I was like, Oh my. Yeah. Cause that y'all were super, that was, yeah, y'all were in the trenches there. It's a different world. Yeah, it is. And that's the thing here with Nashville. Like we keep letting everybody like that, that ask us, we tell them the same thing. Like it's, it just depends on what neighborhood you're in, I think is what is going to attract a certain demographic. And it's, it's just, it's just so wild. Like, I don't think the tourists really go

12:40into East Nashville as much. And so like, they do come honey. They show up. I feel like we have different experiences as far as the guest is concerned, like guest experience is concerned. I mean, cause we do parties of like 15 people for like Bachelorettes. Yeah. I don't think a lot of people in left and right. I mean, they'll be like, I don't think a lot of them in the dining room at the same time. Yeah. They don't know what to do. Oh, you can't hear anything. It's just like, what's the number one thing that Bachelorettes do that Bachelorettes shouldn't do split checks? Yeah. I mean, to me, I, we haven't had a horrible experience with it, but like, lots of places, they, they just make it like an Instagram thing. So, and they want to get drunk later for, for cheap. So they'll make reservations and there'll be like 14 of them and they'll come in and spend a hundred and four dollars and they'll be there for like three hours. And, you know, they just want to take pictures at your cute restaurant if you've got something. And then they want to go downtown and get wasted. So they're not really trying to eat. So yeah, that happens quite a bit, which is important. We have a major, that is a really like ongoing daily battle that we have with that. Like to the point where we've actually had conversations about like a minimum. Yeah. We used to have a minimum. Yeah. I mean, we had to because that's a very real thing. And when you are considering taking up three or four tables or like some large table in your dining room, especially throughout COVID and the last 18 months, like, you know, that's precious space regardless in any time, especially kind of these days. And we're all trying to play catch up this year and next year to make up for last year. So.

14:39Are you guys, are your server, is your team still wearing masks in the restaurant? We, if you are fully vaccinated, we are in a grant that we're comfortable not wearing masks right now. There are a few who have chosen not to get vaccinated and they are wearing masks. So, but with all the Delta variant stuff, we're kind of going back and forth. It's really right now, the heat. I think we're all trying to, we're hopeful that it, you know, any Delta variant stuff or any other pop-ups of, you know, COVID flare ups, maybe wait until October's happen, if they're going to happen. So that it's not a hundred thousand degrees in the surface of the sweaty sun in here trying to work. So yeah, right now that's, we're not, we're not wearing masks. Same. That's the same. We still like do screenings for the employees when they come in, but the masks are optional for them. Yeah. We haven't like. We have a couple staff who wears them. Yeah. But I just, I don't know, I don't feel comfortable asking the team, like each person, if they're, if they're vaccinated or not, cause I don't want to open up that can of worms. Sure. Because then it's like, I'm not, and so blah, blah, blah. This is why I'm like, I just want to get into it. So if you're wanting to do that, then that's fine. But so it's optional.

16:08Like Brian said, we still do have people that are, that are wearing their masks to be on the safer side. But it is a relief that we don't have to like mask police people, like as far as guests are concerned. Oh my God, that was so draining. Like every day you'd open the doors and I guess, cause you're in the back of the house, you didn't have to face it as much, but like, it was just like, we were bracing for impact cause we knew there would be like 25% of guests coming in that we're going to try to like come in without it or like have it below their like nose or. They love to take it off to talk too. Yeah. They would come in and pull it down and talk to you. I was like, just keep it on, keep it on table or like, yeah, people would take it off to sneeze. Yeah. Yeah. Just wild, but, or they, it would have like this mask is useless. Right. Or like, like crayon on the front of the mask. Yeah. It's like, got it. Okay. Cool.

17:17We saw the other day, cause one said scandemic on it. Yeah. I mean, it was at the point where people would come in and like, they were just like, oh my gosh, how are you? And I was like, great. I've only been called a bitch twice tonight. So we're good. I was like, things are great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was pretty bad. I mean, this is already stressful enough, right? Like having to deal with every single guest that has a different personality and that's fine. That's why we got into this place is we love that excitement of the everyday, but adding that element of like, okay, now we're dealing with like a health risk, not only of myself, but of my team and other guests that are in here. And it was like, we were damned if we do damned if we don't, because you have guests that are like, oh, that person's not wearing their mask. And it'd be like, okay, I'll go talk to them. Then the person would be like, this mask is stupid. So it's like, you couldn't, there was no pleasing anybody. I mean, to me, it was quite like, I would imagine if you were teaching a kindergarten class full of like 45 year olds and it was, I mean, how do you do that? Yeah. I was just like, okay, Timmy, okay. Okay. Johnny, you know, he has a breathing thing and his mommy sent a note. And so he can't, you know, keep his mask on all the time or I mean, Jesus, it was like, it was just wild. No, it was the most insane thing. It's like guys, guys, this is not the hardest thing that we have to do right now. Weird. What the, I am dumbfounded. So dumbfounded. I totally came out of this last year and a half, totally on my field. I missed the mark on everything.

19:08I thought, and there was so much like spotlight pressure on restaurants in the beginning. There was a lot of like media exposure and oh, like restaurants actually make like a roll of nickels a week. Right. If they're lucky and no one like makes any money and there's all these horrible conditions and blah, blah, blah. Okay, great. So everyone's going to be so like much nicer. There's going to be humanity and it's going to be like this whole like Shangri-La. You mean Kumbaya better. No, no, no, but it's complete opposite. Everyone comes in and they're all assholes and everyone's like meaner and more demanding and more entitled. It's, it's just like, it's crazy. And then you throw like, Oh, you put a little piece of paper over your, over your chin. Come on.

20:19I don't want to discount. Like I'm being tucked back in the neighborhood, especially I think the neighborhood that we are, according to Yelp, you know, apparently hipsters are very, very nice people. Thankfully. So the East national hipster group over here. I mean, I would say that like, you know, at least 95% of our experience was positive. It's just difficult because that 5% really, really aggressive and really out of line. And like, it's, it's, it's kind of, I think, especially for nice people who are doing something for a living that is like very demanding physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually on a daily basis for that, you know, for people to kind of come at you. In those times, especially it was just, it was kind of exceptional. You know, it just didn't, it really carry a lot of weight, but those, that 95% of the other people kept us going every day that were thankful and gracious and kind and patient. And, you know, we reopened pretty slowly as far as our max capacity and things like that when we were allowed to, because that's what our clientele, you know, during the week was asking for. They were asking if we were going to be putting, you know, all the tables back in, if we were going to be smashing barstools together. And, you know, I mean, before COVID, if you were in here on a Friday, you remember, I mean, it was very much shoulder to shoulder and it's wonderful. But, you know, we still haven't gone back to that. I don't know that we will anytime soon. It's nice to have a little room.

22:01Yeah, it just feels better. And our local neighborhood folks have been really, you know, grateful for that, I think. Yeah, I feel better. Yeah. Well, we, my first experience with it was Thanksgiving, the Maribor. We're in the middle of, right in the heart of Brentwood. And, you know, that's a, that is, that is a very Williamson County. And I had the idea, I said, there's a lot of people who, it's their tradition to come eat Thanksgiving dinner there. And I said, let's stand out front and we'll tempt people as they walk in. And then I had like a little thing. I said, Hey, thank you for coming. We ask that you wear a mask while you're up and around the building. If you're sitting at your table, you don't have to wear your mask. But if you see something that makes you feel uncomfortable, please let a manager know. We want to make sure that we address it immediately. Just to, I wanted to let people know on the front end that we're being proactive about it and kind of disarm them before they came in with any kind of anxiety. And 99.6% of the people were amazing, but I'll never forget the one guy. I was so out of left field and I said, sir, go ahead and take your temperature. And he's like, he kind of looked at me weird and I was like, okay, like you're good. And he goes, I know. And I said, all right, well, let me tell you, um, this, what we're doing. If you come in, if you feel uncomfortable, please let me know. And he goes, this, this right now, this makes me uncomfortable.

23:26Put his finger in my face. And I was like, get him branded. I mean, who, okay. For those of you who don't know Brandon and can't aren't watching, but listening, how tall are you? I'm six foot six. Anybody is up there shoving their finger in your face. I'm five foot two on a good day. And I can see that happening, but I would just never come and put my finger wagged up in your face. It was incredible. I was like, Whoa, okay. Yeah. It's shocking. It's shocking. It is. It really is. So if they're doing that to you, imagine what they're doing to other individuals, not six. Exactly. Yeah. It's ludicrous. So if you want, if you want, if you're watching this right now and you have a story, anything you want to talk about work, we're kind of the topic right now is guest etiquette. You know, when you go to a restaurant, if there are people listening, what are some things that guests do that just wear you out? Or if there's any story that you have about unruly guests coming into the restaurant, spill the tea, as Jess said earlier.

24:35It is the Boston Tea Party in these comments. I want to see it. Let's go. Also, if you're watching, uh, click in the comments, just say hi, let us know who's there. I'd love to know who's there. Uh, just to, to conversate, come back. I'm happy talking to Mikey, Brian, Jess and Trey all night long. But if you have a story that you want to, uh, tell, we invite you just click the link in the comments. Or if that link doesn't work for some reason, cause I haven't clicked it on the talking shift, uh, re Facebook group page, there's a link you can click to jump on the show. You'll come right here into the green room. You'll be right next to Jess and Trey telling us your story. So do that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm texting some of like my industry peeps as we speak now that we have a link that's live to like tell them to jump on and get in here and tell us these stories that we've heard throughout the, uh, throughout the years. So you guys, you guys, Mikey, you guys actually, are you guys like in litigation with people for this? Okay. You had like these, you, you, I mean, I was reading in the news about this batch web party that wind up together and like last year, it was a long time ago, but it was, it was a year ago. Well, the mayor's office of course was involved because they made a public announcement about it. It was so stupid. It was stupid of that person to have done what they did.

26:12It was stupid for that person. That person had done that. Wow. Like what a poor life decision. And I've made my share. Yeah. I mean, so for me to cast doubt on this decision, like not all high and mighty, but it was like, this is, we're not asking the world of you really. It's just so hard. It's like, but once you cough on somebody, it's like during a pandemic, it was like, that's a whole different level. That's assault. I mean, it's during a pandemic. Like you're like in the middle of the pandemic, not like now with vaccinations and the fact that like, you know, our team member had to then miss work and go and get tested and, you know, make sure she was fine. I, there was not a joke in my eyes at all. I'm still very, I took it as a joke. I, what I was referencing was the reason that they were upset that they couldn't have their table of 10 altogether. Or making the reservation at a wrong restaurant. So we're not going to have to cough on you in a pandemic. On purpose. It was crazy. It's stupid in the way that it's created.

27:34It's like, why, you know, like, how is this occupying my life? Like, why is this happening? Why are you acting like a lunatic? None of this is linear. It's just, it was crazy. What this reminds me of is, I remember we had the NFL draft. Of course we remember we had the NFL draft, but they were interviewing, they were interviewing bachelorettes that were pissed off that they came to Nashville the weekend of the NFL draft and everywhere was busy. It's just not fair. It's like, you booked it the weekend of the NFL draft. That's all you do. You're coming to a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic with 15 people. What the fuck? If I had been a potential groom and watched that interview on the news, I would have taken that weekend to pack quietly and disappear, flee into the night. I've been calling the caterers, calling all of them. So what is the refund policy exactly? I don't even know. I'd probably just pay for it and slip right away. You'll never see me change my name. Like she's not fun. That's what I was getting at.

28:48Yeah, exactly. We have, I don't know if you guys know, Amanda Celeste. She says, hey! Yes, I love Amanda. She's the bartender here in Nashville. Sorry for you. Duane Moser, watching with Anna at Del Frisco. Guys, click the link. Come on and tell us some stories. What are your experiences that you've been having for lunch? I had a kick ass salad there actually. Oh, good. It was so good. It's so close to our restaurant too. So at Del Frisco? Yeah. Yeah, it's on 12th. We never get to escape. And so like the fact that like we did, it was, of course it had to be like only a two block radius of where we could. So we picked her up from the airport and took her to lunch. So I heard that some people that have left just as like two weeks ago from Nashville industry, and they want to know if they can come on and talk about why they left the Nashville mentality world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fill the tea.

30:02Yes. We said spill all the tea. Oh, look at this. Somebody joining. How do I join folks? Click the link. I wonder if we have a charger in the kitchen for this. We might have to switch over on your computer. That's so funny. Okay. I'm going to stop texting. You already know. I think I got all of the industry people I wanted to get out here. The only ones that matter are right here. I know. That's so true. Does it help if I close out everything else? Cool. That's why I did this. Okay. Where's your IT person, Jess? Oh, he's right here. Let me just tell you, please, because restaurant industry, I was in a full blown, like clean sheeted nap, and woke up and it was like 826. And I went, Oh, my God. Yeah, I come running out of the bedroom. And I was like, try to get everything get a ring light. We got to go. All this crap and literally threw it in the car and ran up here.

31:16And somehow like managed to put on like a little rouge for you. I mean, I was so I don't have a charger. I have like 14 computers. Hey, I'm going to end up. Hey, there's a Gordon Coutil. You guys know Gordon. He's trying to join Gordon. If you go to the talking shift group in Facebook, there's a Facebook group called talk and shift. If you go to that, like the first comment that I make on there has a link you can just click on to stream yard. Also at the very top of the comments here, you will see it says there's a HTTP slash slash stream yard.com. That is the link will send you straight to the green room here, where I can put you on the show to start talking to tell your stories. It looks like it looks like Steven smithing's trying to pop on here. He's the owner of the group. He's my my boss. He's probably calling in to say, Hey, don't don't tell marbles. He's like, ex name.

32:19Hey, the mirror. My pig latin is fucking horrible. Yeah. Okay, wait, so are they still trying to join? I hope that like, our industry peeps are better at like, carrying drinks on the trade than they are trying to work technology. I'm sure it's going to get on here in just a second. Amanda Amanda says that we're good at mocking. We're closing it down like. No, shit. These girls are saying the holiday weekends. No, get out of there. Yeah, Jen discounted. I don't want that. I don't want our inventory to be off. off. That's a good thing. Well, I love my man. Uh, I love her so much. It's like whenever you have that like cord team of, of, um, just good people, you, you do everything, anything you can to try to, to hold on to them. Um, and we, I think, I think we try to, that's also so hard to sit down, like really good retention, but we have, you guys lose a lot of people over the whole pandemic and coming back and everybody, um, I mean, yeah, that shifted things around, but I think the sous chef came back. Yeah. The amount of people that did come back and let stage, you know, that we were able to juggle and piece things together with. And now that are with us full time, it's, I mean, the crew that I have right now, it's the best. You better knock on wood. That is like, I know that's awesome. I'm knocking on wood for you. Thank you. Just where it's like, but same. I mean, that's, it's better here than it ever has been. I mean, both front and back of the house. It just keeps saying

34:19all the time that we've got like an actual 18. It's incredible. I expect the van to like roll around the corner, the 18 van to come wheeling up in the parking lot any minute. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's so good. The food's never been better. The service has never been better. I agree. And maybe a couple of times I text you whenever we're there. Um, and it's, I agree. Like the food there has been just, I don't know if it's because I've missed it so much. It's the best guys. I mean, like if you, if I could hand pick them from 25 years of working in Nashville restaurants, this is the crew that I would have. Um, which is unbelievable. So, yeah. Oh, great. I mean, like little things like, like last Saturday, we had a, you know, a dishwasher situation like you do. Um, and there was a guy who had started and he, you know, didn't have a ride, wasn't going to come, whatever it was. And I was out of town for the first time in forever. I was trying to have like a weekend with my family. And, um, at the lake and they were texting me, you know, that that had happened, but they had already some, you know, somebody else had called somebody else and got somebody else who showed up and they fixed it. They solved it. Like they, you know, I mean, it just totally without me solved all of these problems, solved getting a new person into work.

35:48It's just wild and I'm super thankful. Yeah. That's kind of like the dream spot. Yeah. Oh, like problem solving can happen. Right. Right. Well, to me, I feel like that's honestly, that's where this industry can get. Like that's where it can be. Um, you know, I think it starts with working like for folks that we have on the screen right here, um, you know, who are wonderful at their jobs and considerate and kind and, you know, want to make sure everybody is happy and making living, um, and really like stand up for their team. I mean, to have your teams back, I've worked, certainly worked for people who didn't, um, stand up for me and I didn't feel safe working there. I didn't feel confident. Um, I didn't feel like anybody had my back. And so now when things like that happen or somebody gets, you know, name called, um, which has happened over this COVID period. You're like, that's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. We've had to ask people to leave and, you know, get super mad because they're already mad, but, um, they get super ticked off then. And I'm like, look, everything probably could have gotten worked through until you started calling women names. And that's just where we draw the line. Um, that's really like, that's just in life. That doesn't make any sense. So, um, you know, taking care of people, uh, is what we do. And I think, I mean, that very obviously it starts with your own team, starts in your own house, you know, and of course, like not every house is perfect, right? You have your spats and like, of course not. We're still family. They're all going to, we're going to bicker like family, but it's the whole, like you have to make up and you have to like squash that beef. Um, and it's so hard. Like it, it once, once a guest like starts cursing, it's like game over.

37:41Right. There's nothing left to talk about. We can't, we, we're not going to do this. You've disrespected our house. So that's not okay. Well, I'm not going to come and cuss at you. So clearly we're not a fit. We're not a match. Correct. You know, we're swiping left or whatever. Hi guys. How are you all? You're fresh out of Nashville. I know. Yeah. This is, so I just moved to Phoenix or Scottsdale. So from Nashville, I was with Brian and Brian. Definitely like to integrate what I know about Nashville and everything. Well, you don't have to mention any names that I don't know if you missed that part, but like don't mention any, any restaurant names. If you don't want to Jess and I are advocates of spilling the tea. I'll give you my number on live air and you can text me the restaurant. There's some guys that I like here and there's some guys that I love here. Everything is great. I mean, whatever y'all need, let me know.

38:46Well, you got a story Gorda, you got a, you said you left Nashville. What did you leave? I left probably about three weeks ago. So me and my wife, the story is we had been in China for 10 years. So I owned the restaurants out there. And then when we came back, I had met up with Brian and Mikey to open their place as an AGM. So, and it was wonderful. I had an amazing time. And then I pursued opportunity with SDK, a vibe dining steak house, just because I'm a world traveler and that's what I do. And they moved me out here. So, I mean, it's a, it's interesting, interesting lifestyle right now. I can tell you that. I mean, it was a completely different shift. And like, what is like, I always tell our team, like, Hey, if you get a better opportunity than like, for sure, with our blessings, go like make, make 10 times more money than, than I can ever give you. Like that's, if that is what you have to do, but going from like, you know, little gay old restaurant like us to like a corporate place is probably a bit of a culture shock. It is a culture shock. And I like the gay old restaurant. I love that with you guys. I mean, you're still my favorite people in the world. So weekly visits and like, it was so sweet to see you in there. It's like all the hugs we could possibly get, you know, looking at you in your spiffy suit. It was like, wow. Yeah. I think it's a different atmosphere. I mean, I even being here, it's a different atmosphere from what Nashville was. Nashville is like, I explained to also customers that are here. It's like Nashville is a very driven tourist place and a lot of bachelorettes.

40:32I'm talking millions. And it's fun. It's an experience and having your, you know, your loyal client base, which, you know, me growing up having a country club around the restaurant and having big restaurants is just a different style of it. And it's just to learn and adapt what is going on. I think the world's changing in the restaurant industry so much, which is it's confusing. And it's also a bright and light for me, but you have to adapt. You have to be a chameleon. And that's what we're about. Now as many bachelorettes there in Phoenix as here. So I think that's like, I don't know if it's just a Nashville thing or like it probably is just a Nashville thing right now. It is right now. I've never seen the growth of a company like that I've seen in the past six months that I've been in the industry of like the growth of everything of like how Nashville has progressed to be like from what our restaurant was doing, like SEK in general, like our restaurant, sorry, I don't mention names, but it's quadrupled in Nashville from what it was two years ago. Quadruple the amount of people that are coming in. It's ridiculous.

41:54So there's still something for everybody. Like 210 Jack is still busy. Mockingbird is still busier than ever. So there's still so much, you know, it's like, oh, there's another place opening. It's going to suck away from our clientele, but it doesn't. It's like anything. It's if there's there's more, I thought fifth and broad might take away from our clientele because we're kind of close to that. And I was like bachelorettes are going to love that because they can each go save whatever they want. They can have whatever they want. They can get separate checks. They can do all of it. It's still busier than ever still. Like we're actually opening and fifth and broad is still doing good. So like everybody's doing good still. So it's like, you know, it's a blessing and a curse. You can't pick your clientele. There's no such thing. Like you can build your business plan. I love that part of a business plan where it's like, you know, what do you envision your clientele? It's like people with money. Yeah. It's like you kind of have to adapt to your guests in a certain aspect. And I mean, we don't have like dick straws or anything like that. What do you guys think about the industry now? Because I'm super interested in the industry because it is everywhere I've been. And like I told you, I'm a traveler is like, I'm dealing with a different style clientele now compared to Nashville. And it's ever changing because people are moving to Scottsdale. People are moving to Nashville. People are moving to Texas from what I see from the demographic from everything. It's definitely a different demographic everywhere.

43:42Yeah. Like, I mean, nobody's New York. People are moving to Nashville, California, Scottsdale. They're moving to Nashville, like not there anymore. So like New York, LA, Chicago, San Francisco. And they're like, this is this is this doesn't feel like, like what we thought Nashville is. This feels like we're in, you know, like a bigger city. And it's like, well, that is what I guess the New York school is being coined as, or just as like what restaurants in the past five years that have opened in this city are going to be coined as. And it's like, you know, the guests I always go the extra extra miles for are locals, because locals are who you want to be. You're tried and true. And it takes a lot to get locals to come into the Gulch area because of like, you know, East Nashville, Jess, like, like, it's locals are going to are going to go there. You're probably I don't know what 70 30 70 locals. We're the flip side. We're 70 or 30 locals. And so the locals that do come in, we try to grasp those. And we noticed whenever we had to shut down, we were miserable because we didn't have a big local base because of our area and just because what we were on the day to day catering to really kind of switched my mind of like, okay, we need to just really focus on locals and not so much like, you know, the tourists. And so it's so interesting because at the Green Hills Grill in Maribu, I'm probably 95% locals. Every single day, I'm seeing people two, three, four times a week.

45:30And one of the things that we did at the Green Hills Grill throughout the entire pandemic was we have our own vehicles to do delivery. So we would do delivery, but we own the process. We didn't use third party people. It's not that expensive. It really isn't that expensive. It's just the risk of, you know, some 18 year old drinking and, you know, doing something crazy, but yeah, I mean, the benefit is company cars are like the 18 year old car. Like who's, no, we have company cars. We have a wrapped Green Hills Grill wrapped cars, Maribu wrapped cars that we send them out and we deliver it's $2 to deliver within four miles of the restaurant. I think that's the point. They do it. They're a lot cheaper than that. Okay. That's the thing. It can't, we can't be like, Oh, let's go buy Mockingbird cars to deliver this stuff. You know, we sort of tried to get like, um, use of the pedal taverns, taverns for delivery during all of that. And that would drive them. Everybody was on unemployment. Cause it was like, I know it was, it was, it was helping them, which it should have. And I am totally not mad at that.

46:35Like they needed that. And they, I, I'm glad they had that option, but we wouldn't have had anybody to do it. Like as it is, I was driving out like one, I think the first mother's day that after the pandemic, I was personally driving and making deliveries for, for like the Mockingbird stuff. Um, you know, you just had to get as creative as you possibly could during that time. Yeah, exactly. Like, I mean, I've went through that process because we were getting paid a little bit because we were open like all the time and doing stuff like that. But the other process is like people who are on employment, it was so hard to staff. Like we weren't met as managers or owners. We were doing everything, which was very like, it, it, you know, I feel like it makes us stronger, but it was a lot of stuff to do. And like, do I know that these people that were on employment, so they're going to start getting jobs now? Cause although employment's gone, so what do you, I mean, are they still in, they've been gone for like a year? How's their mindset compared to ours? Yeah. I mean, my energy level is still stuck so dry from that year. I will fully recoup. I feel like there's like some of my soul that's been just like chiseled away at that. I don't know how. Yeah. I mean, Trey and I talk about that a lot. It's, we are at the point where, you know, working 80 hour work weeks and things to, it's just not, um, it's just, I don't want to say we're just not willing to do it because I'm willing to do whatever it takes, but that's not part of my norm and it's not in my psyche anymore. And, um, I'm super protective of my free time, my home life. Um, I don't think that I'll miss any more of like my niece and nephews, like birthdays and celebrations and things like that. I just don't see that for my future again. Um, I don't think I'll go back. And you know, that's a lot. It's, it's, you know,

48:36there's a lot of like deep kind of, I think just painful things that we choose. We know going, you might not know going in, but after several years of being in this industry, you know, you're going to miss holidays and birthdays and things like that. And it, you know, you- Mother's days. Mother's days. And it gets kind of sad, you know, and because those, I mean, that's really what matters, right? Like, do you want to miss your kids like first birthday or your, you know, your wife's first mother's day? Like that's horribly sad, you know? So like, why do you have to do that? Which makes it all that much, um, better. I think, I mean, we have just regrouped and as we just kind of looked at it as like a rebuilding, um, and we now, I mean, I'm super comfortable, um, closing small sections of the restaurant, closing off parts of the menu, saying earlier, closing off takeout and things like that. Whereas earlier it was just like all systems go all the time. It has to happen. It has to happen. And now it's just like, no, you know, we have people who want off for any specific reason, whatever it is, or I want to offer something.

49:41And so that means we're not going to have sushi that night, or that means we're not going to do takeout that night. And that's okay. And that's what I mean. You know, so it's like, I'm, I'm at that point where I don't think I'll ever be able to go back from that. We closed for 4th of July this, this past last week, last Sunday, and it was glorious, but like Sundays are a big day for us because brunch is bonkers for us. And it was just like, but good for you. Like the fact that the team was able to go and enjoy a holiday. Absolutely. It's so special. Yeah, it is. And I don't, yeah, it's so special. I think we're going to have a puppy cam here for a second. Give me a puppy. I think we all have our pups like around, you know, a couple of listeners are chiming in Aaron Clemens. What's up, Aaron, says those type of words are not sustainable, not sustainable mentally and physically. And then Basha says, we're happy you're saying that Jess, you can't sacrifice your life for your work. There has to be balance. Yay. You, oh, look at the puppy. I know. That is so true.

50:50And those little, those little fur babies need us to be home a bit more than what we want, you know? But it's, yeah, I mean, and I have, I've, you know, it's been difficult and like, thankfully my nieces and nephew are so wonderful. And you know, we train, I just celebrity status don't, when we see them, it's, it's, they're, they're just awesome. But, but you know, I mean, they're, it's, I'm sure it's hurt me more than it's hurt them to miss those things, you know, you can't get them back. And now like, they're like 12, 18, 20. We're working on a model that was set up a hundred years ago, but it's like, yeah, maybe you don't have to work 80 hours a week. Most of the people, like the rest of society does not, when I was doing it was just me in the kitchen for a couple of months and then just Mikey in the front. Like that's what we were down to. There weren't even both there.

51:59Well, yeah, cause the other restaurants are open and so the other teams were like helping those. And so like each restaurant had to have its own, but I was, and that's fine. You know, whatever we got through it, we survived, we all survived. And, but during that time I was working about 40 hours a week, but I felt like I was on vacation. That's how, that's kind of how I feel now. It's exactly. I'm like, yeah, you do feel guilty. I feel, I get that. I'll tell you what guys, I'm good. Now I'm, I have forced myself to not feel guilty. And so maybe I've just told myself so many times that I'm not going to feel guilty for it, that I just don't, maybe I just drink enough sake that I just don't. At this point, you know, I have wonderful people in place who also need to make money and I do my job and they do their jobs and you know, nobody in this building is working more than, you know, 35 to 45 hours a week. And we're great. You know what I mean? Like we're all making good money. We're all happy. We're all just like plotting along and the business has never been better. I mean, I don't, you know, we're, I think we've kind of like found a little sweet spot with it because it's, I'm better when I'm working 45 hours a week. Nobody wants an hour a week. Yeah. It's like the whole like, oh, be open seven days a week, lunch, brunch, dinner, late night. Like why? Why? Why are you trying to cater to like that? We're long in Las Vegas. Why?

53:39Do what you do and do it well. Yeah. What did I, I saw this the other day. I read it somewhere. Somebody said that Nashville is like, Nashville is like if Las Vegas and Miami had like a love child in a field. I mean, who doesn't like a love child in the field or back? I mean, it was a secret brothel in the back of a show. I mean, it is as long as I'd be like, like you said, the money is great at the end of the day. So yeah, I think, I think it's time for a cultural shift. I think a lot of people came out of this pandemic and we're getting into it now. We're saying, you know what? I enjoyed spending time with my kids. I enjoyed, I learned that my wife is doing all that I get to do. I got to spend so many, so much time with the people that I love that coming back in and getting back into that 80 hour work week where you're just constantly there, constantly about it. I think we're able to recognize right now how, just how unhealthy that is. It is unhealthy. Yeah. Very, very.

54:57Yeah. I mean, that's why I like my, my place is actually really good about that right now. It's like, you know what? You need your time. You have to have your time. Like you have to, like your life outside of this is your life. Even though I choose, my choice is to open restaurants and that's what I do. And it's the hardest thing to do ever. Like I, that's all I do is like help people and open restaurants, but it's hard because I don't see Sarah, my wife a lot because I've having to fix a lot of things and do a lot of things, but like I chose it and I love it. And then once it's done, then not, then I relax. Yeah. Y'all are also both industry husband and wife. Yeah. Which is easier, but not at the same restaurant, which is a whole different dynamic in itself. I don't even know, Trey and I would never see each other. Yeah, it's hard. We didn't work together. But yeah, I mean, I'm saying I'm super defensive of, of days off taking time off for our staff here. And they're always willing to jump in and say, you know, I'll, I'll work six days next week. I'll do this if you need somebody. And I'm like, no, you know, it's not that bad.

56:06We'll do something else. But, you know, I really encourage people, you know, to, I, I, I protect their time when they aren't able to, I guess that is part of my job. I don't think I've defined a vacation ever. Basha, I love you. I see your comment by the way. How come I can't see Basha's comments? I want to see. Basha is my chosen mom. It was so funny too. Quick story with Basha met my mother for the first time. They were both in Green Pheasant at the same time having lunch and books next to each other. And I, I came over and Basha saw me first. I guess my mom's back was to me and Basha jumped up to give me a hug. And my mom jumped up and was just like, who is this woman? My daughter is hugging her mother. My two moms are in the same space. I love it. I mean, whatever, if you have to buck up against her, then you have to buck up against her, you know? Yeah. I love her. Well, I guess that makes you my sister then. Yay! So yeah, what's crazy is I think Basha had like eight years ago or 10 years ago had a French restaurant here in Nashville.

57:24And it was, it was ahead of its time and not in like, you know, in downtown. It was the right restaurant in the wrong time. And it didn't work. And she said that back then she would have a hard, hard time like convincing diners, you know, about what, you know, some of the food was that they were serving that was like authentically French. And, you know, you still to this day are having a hard time. I'm sure you get that dress with like, you know, people coming in and wanting to get, I don't know, Rance dressing with one of their like ramen bowls or something. I don't know, but like, there's nothing wrong with Rance. I think Basha used to jump on. Yeah, Basha does. Because she's an OG of the industry for sure. To click that link a few comments back and just jump on.

58:29Deserves your own episode. Oh, there's Aaron Simmons. Hi, Aaron. I see you in the comments. Oh, I love it. Hey guys, I gotta jump off for just a second. I've got a call. So I'm sure you get that Jess where people like, I mean, you have this concept, right? But then you have to cater to what the guest wants that you don't have to, but you want to. And so if they, you know, modify the dish to like high heaven and you're like, well, it kind of loses its soul in its meaning of what that dish is. And then they're like, uh, yeah, you know, this is okay. And it's like, well, you've modified it. And then they like, you know, like, oh, the food was like, you know, just okay. And it's like, well, fuck, because you changed everything about it. You know, it's so funny. I had, I mean, I waited tables for years and hosted for years and years at one of the best restaurants in the entire world at Rio Bravo on West End Avenue.

59:46Dude, there's none of love for that restaurant. Holy shit. I mean, if you, yeah, if you didn't love Rio Bravo on West End in the nineties, I don't know. What was the concept? What was the cuisine? Tex max wasted. I don't know if you, it was just wasted. Yeah. I mean, I think that it's set, I could have set it like in the restaurant, like plan, like who is your demographic wasted people. Hi, all of us. But yeah. So, you know, there it was like a free for all. Anything goes just, I mean, whatever anybody wants, never say no. If they could eat entire plates of things, it'd be like, I didn't like it. And it was like, great. It's free. I mean, it doesn't matter. Just move them out of the, in and out of the seat, that place. I mean, but we were doing a hundred, hundred and twenty thousand dollars 20 years ago on a Friday. You know what I mean? I mean, it was like, yeah, it was just, it was crazy. Like 20 on a Friday. It was insane. That's where Stony river is now. It used to be 120 K on a Friday. Yeah. It was nuts. So, you know, we, going from that, then I waited tables and bartended at Blackstone and like, I was still in training at Blackstone when God rest her soul, Stephanie Wines, who she, I mean, you know, so many fights with her over everything. But one of the redeeming qualities that was my favorite was that she would not take that shit from people. And like, I remember during training, I was like having this training table during lunch and this guy did a build your own pizza and put all this weird crap on it. And I was like, I mean, it didn't sound good. It wasn't going to be good. I didn't love the pizza crust at Blackstone. Sorry. All that much at the time. I do now, but I didn't then. And, you know, I was just like, this is like, not going to be good. So it comes out. And of course he hates it. He eats one piece and he doesn't like it. And he wants it off of his bill. So I had to go back in

01:01:47the kitchen to Stephanie and tell her, and she just stood there straight faced and was like, so what did he get? And I was like, it's like, he had a pizza with like this, this, and this. And she goes, so he built his own pizza. And I was like, okay. And so she storms out there and she asks him all these questions and then was like, so you created this pizza and you didn't like it. And now you want me to pay for it. And I was like, I've never, oh my God. You're like, and then a hero comes along. So like, I wouldn't go about it necessarily the same way, but that was my first introduction to like, oh, you know, you can actually step back and be like, be reasonable about this. You know, this is not, you just made something gross happen. And now you want it to be my fault. And if you went and bought those ingredients from Kroger and went home and made your own dinner, dinner back to Kroger and be like, I want my money back. I don't like what I put together.

01:02:51Stephanie was a gangster. Stephanie was a gangster. Love that. Oh my God. Like I, I didn't fear her. Like I think I should have, I was a manager at Amerigo next door. I was terrified every minute of my life. When Jess worked there? Every, yeah. Wait, how long has Amerigo been there? We've only lived here five years. Has Amerigo been here? Oh yeah. It's been there since like mid eighties. My favorite restaurant is Optimist right now. Amerigo on West End has been there for at least 23, 24 years now, right? No, longer than that because they have been there longer. I know it to be there for like 2003. So I mean, I'd say 1988, 89. That's why I love it. Cause I'm a fan of everything. They're really on time. Like I love 90s everything. Oh, it's so good though. I mean, they do it. Amerigo is fantastic. Amerigo, I don't think they'll ever change it, but the secret is to like go in and get, you know, whatever you want and all this stuff, but get just like a side of meatballs. It's the best kind of secret. They'll give you meatballs for like a couple dollars a piece with the sauce and they're the best. But tip your servers double on those meatballs.

01:04:00Well, of course, everybody listening to this. I mean, I don't, I tip so much money. It's like insane. I'm like a star. I'm like, I'm out there. Like I'm an oil tycoon. I have no idea. I have no idea why. I just throw it. So I have a question. Do you guys tip? Like, do you guys ever feel like weird about tipping when you go somewhere and it's just like a transaction where you're like, I'm getting a pack of gum and then they flip the little screen around and they go, would you like to leave a tip? And I go, but you just handed me a pack of juicy fruit. But they flipped the screen around and they put it right in front of you. And you're like, I got a tip on that. Like, do you think that's getting out of control? I mean, well, I'll let Mikey filled that. I used to feel that way. I don't anymore. What's insane is I had 2004, there was a sous chef who asked me, because I was a server at that time. And he asked me why he's like me and my wife to dinner, you know, the other day, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, I left X amount and, you know, she's like, oh, I can't believe you did that. And he was like, why should I leave 20% on a bottle of wine? That's a hundred dollars.

01:05:22Or if it's $20, the server is doing the exact same presentation. Nothing is changed on that. But I'm like, then why didn't you order the $20 bottle of wine? Because it's an unspoken rule that like, whatever the total is, is what you tip on. And he was like, yeah, I don't know. And I was like, see, we're just furthering that divide between FOH and VOH. Don't be an asshole. Yeah, I'm against the system of having to tip like insane amounts of money just to be able to have literally any experience. I'm for fair pay. I'm for people being paid more. I'm for charging more for these services, for more for food, more for these experiences. Everything is so easily accessible because in this country, you keep all these prices super low and everybody wants to go out. You have, I mean, an extra 20, 25% on top of your bill to like help pay people. And then still, there's like kitchen guys not making any money. I mean, that's, it's just messed up. The whole thing is messed up. I think the entire tipping economy should be eliminated. I don't like it.

01:06:30I don't like any of it. I would rather just go in and pay $15 for a kale salad and have a fucking kale salad. That's it. You know, that's it. But it's so messy because I know that the person who brought it to me, refilled my water and prepared it, probably paid a fairer wage. I'd much rather prefer that than to go in and pay, you know, $11. For sure. But it's all lip service until we can actually put it into play. But so many places have tried to do it, like, you know, in New York, Danny Meier's tried it and then they went back on it. It just has to be a full cultural thing. And I don't know that it'll ever happen here. Well, ANSI Blue does it because we went to go have lunch through the day and like, they don't accept it. It was very weird. After we paid, I was like, wait a minute, there wasn't anywhere for me to leave a tip. How do I go back and leave a tip? So I actually got up and went to go ask, I put my mask on and went to go ask. And I was like, I was like, so we didn't get, there was an option to leave a tip. Like, did I miss that? Like, can I leave a tip? And they're like, it's a no tipping atmosphere. So I was like, wow, cool. Okay. Refreshing. I mean, it feels like a little uncomfortable, but then yeah, it was. But then I did wonder, like, why our lunch was like, you know, $65. I was like, well, that's why I'm still there. Some of the best experiences I've had obviously have been in Japan. But what I love the most is that so many places you can make reservations ahead of time.

01:08:04And they kind of have like an idea of a menu, an idea of, you know, what types of how many courses you're going to have and things like that. And so you just pay online. And then if you add things, they just add it to that card that they have on file. So literally, when you're done, you just stand up and leave. In Japan, is there is there gratuity or nowhere, no gratuity. One of my favorite little places is this adorable little pizza shop called New York Pizza. And it's modeled after a New York pizzeria, like where you like a slice shop, you know, not like, you know, you just go in, you get a slice at a window. And they have the cutest little cup at their little register. And it says like, it has a piece of paper taped to it. And it says tips written on it and a Sharpie. And they had like, a couple pennies and like a dollar bill in it. And we would go in there quite often. And we would walk by there. It was right by the house that we stayed at the last trip we went to. And we wondered about it all the time. And one time I like left something in it. I was like, this is so weird. And then we realized later, Trey, Trey is infinitely more intelligent than I am. So he was like, they are doing that because that's what a New York pizzeria looks like. It would have the little tip.

01:09:20Oh, that's a prop. It's a prop. And so they always had the same like two pennies and the same US dollar bill in there every day. And it was just adorable. So then it back is a question because I did see somewhere as well when somebody went to like another country and they're like, oh yeah, there's no tipping and I can get so much food for like $5. That's like great. But are those individuals working there making a living wage? And are they living in, you know, where they're like thinking, oh, this is great. I get all of this and it's so cheap. But like, what are they living in? So I wonder, I think that's where my mind goes. You know what I mean? Absolutely. I want to know. Well, Matt left. You guys got to read the comments. We got like a whole conversation. Everybody's going on in the comments right now. I will say that Chris, Jolomo, Chris, hello. Hey, Mikey and Brian. Matt left who you guys all know, Ryzone productions. I don't know if you're familiar with Matt left or not. It's amazing, dude. Locust is doing a grat standard and you can't add a few of you guys been to Locust yet. We haven't been able to go there because I think they're open the same day as we are. So we can never escape the restaurant, but they only have like maybe 10 tables or so. It's a pretty, it's real small. They've opened inside though. But yeah, I mean, again, like that's one of the places where you make the reservation online. They have your card. So you basically, unless you want to change your form of payment, they just charge your card and you just sign for it. And that's, there's it's a restaurant. There's like maybe 12 menu items.

01:11:01Like it's very small, right? Like that is a dream restaurant. Like you can have that. Do you guys do a tip pool in your restaurants or do servers keep their individual tips? We are still tip pooling. The bartenders tip pool, but our servers do not, unless there's like a private event or something along that line. We've moved both of our restaurants to tip pooling and we absolutely love it. It's amazing. There, I mean, yeah, there's still some, you know, some, some dragging a little bit behind it, but I think that we found a sweet spot and it has helped. It's, I mean, it just makes so much more sense. Now, Jess is like one floor. How many servers do you have in a floor at a time? Like five or six? Six. Yeah. Okay. What about your place, Brandon? Like how many? Gosh, we both our restaurants hold north of 250 people and we do a ton of events at Maribor. So we found that pre pandemic, you know, 20% of the staff was making 80% of the money.

01:12:04And if you worked a party, then yeah, you made a ton of money. You got cherries, but if you're downstairs and you're hustling on four or five tables and just really making it happen, you kind of, it just, it just didn't make sense. And after the pandemic, we just, we really wanted people to stop thinking about that moment when they flipped the card over to see what their tip was. We wanted them to focus on the guest. Wasn't just a focus a hundred percent on what do I need to do to take care of the guests. And if everybody's central thought is mine, I'm here to move towards service. If everybody does that, we'll all be fine. Like everybody's funny. And what happens is we've eliminated. It is the recipe for a better guest experience. It is. It is. But it's all this infighting between your team because if there's somebody that doesn't sell as much, but I think then they will need each other out. Whoever's not doing it. They read each other out. But in the meantime, rising tide raise all shirts. For sure. But then in the meantime, the stronger ones, like a break, they can have a smaller section and easier sections on night on a slower night.

01:13:11And not feel like they are just tied in to, you know, and it makes it so that like you can have a Friday, Saturday, because we do it weekly. And so it's, you can have a Friday, Saturday off and not feel like you're not going to be able to pay rent. You can turn that really horrible Wednesday night into great money. It doesn't matter. Cause we just do it by hours, but we include now everyone. So we have hostesses, expos, food runners, bartenders, everybody just typically making different hourlies based on like where in the restaurant, how many jobs basically they can work. So if you've got someone who can do every job in this restaurant, they're making more hourly. And then, you know, an equal share of tip pool and they're making great money. Well, and our kind of one of our also thought processes was mental health, right? So if you're pervert and you go into work and say you're a double and you're like, okay, I need to make $150 today. And you go in and you get two little ladies at a table that split a soup and salad. Right. And you get one more of those tables and it's not busy because you're on the patio and you go, Hey, you're cut. And you're like, damn, I was here for four hours and I made $9.

01:14:20Night shift. You're like, am I going to be able to make the money to make my car? We've eliminated that. Like everybody who comes in makes at least X amount of dollars per shift. So like it's, it's, it spreads everything out. So, and everybody contributes. It's just a, it's been on the way to lead through the change. But when I was a server and if I had somebody leave me, you know, a $500 tip and then to know, you have to like split that between everybody. You're like, fuck. Sure. I mean, that happens, but it, you know, is that the norm? Is that some, I mean, bad tips happen too, right? That happened to us the other night. We had this group of folks who was completely wonderful, loved their servers so much. I mean, it was, they were so happy. Everything's wonderful. Um, left her a $300 tip. And after having done this for, I mean, we've been doing this the entire pandemic and never stopped. So it's been 18 months now. Um, and it's taken a while and we've worked out a lot of kinks and we still have kinks to work through. I still get feedback from them, but yeah, he left her a $300 tip and she came in so excited about that for the team and the whole team was talking about it and was super excited. And they, you know what I mean? Like, so now it's, it's definitely better where now we just look at it.

01:15:33And there have been nights that I've several nights, lots of nights that I've waited tables that I host upfront that I'm doing stuff just to fill in spots. Right. And so when I'm waiting tables, I'm just like, hell yes. I made $250 tonight for the team. Like I don't take a part of that. So I'm just stoked to offer that back to them. And, um, you know, it's just great. I don't look at it that I don't have to look at tips. Like when I'm cleaning a table, I'll just grab everything off of it. We all put it in the same place in the server station. It just goes there. And at the end of the night, it's always or did y'all switch to that after to it. Okay. We were only open, you know, we closed down for two weeks and we were open to take out for everything. So you're like months. Yeah. And then when we opened back up, it was like, we couldn't have any bar seating, but we still needed a bartender to be able to do take out stuff and drinks and things like that. And so we were, um, you know, they didn't have any customers. So it was like, how are you going to have, you know, no guests and make any money? So wave goodbye to Basha. She's leaving so much. She's eating dinner right now. That is truly, truly Basha. I mean, that is very, truly Basha 10 16 and she's sitting down for dinner tomorrow.

01:16:48And I love, love the optimists right now. They are doing and we just had an incredible dinner there. Also Aaron in the comments, if you don't request me as your server, next time I'm going to be best because I'm very good. Yes. I've had you as a server. I've had you as a table mate and as like, well, I'm 42 now, so I can only handle about eight or nine guests at a time. Girl, listen, I'm older than that. And whatever, I'll go to table to do table touches and then they're like, Oh yeah, we're ready to order. I'm like, sure. I can do this for you. It's a party like eight people. I'm like, fuck. They're like, okay, so I want, I want to do this. I want this, this, this. Oh, can I change this to that though? I'm like, no, it's all in my head. I'm like, Oh my God, server me could do 10 top with like three courses. Remember I still had a server nightmare dream like two nights ago selling tray and where I couldn't bring anything in. It was a brand new POS system and they're running along. I'm like, I have like six new tables that I can't agree. I can't get to you. Do y'all use toast? We just switched from micros to toast. It is like a world of a different. Yeah. We use toast. Yeah. We use toast Jess. No, we use breadcrumb, which is now called absurd, but similar. Yeah. Micros is difficult. I don't want to talk shit about micros, but it's difficult. It's like, it's like 1985 and then 21. It's a time capsule.

01:18:21Insane. Well, I, we, we had a server two weeks ago and we do a lot of private events. Like I said, we had a, we had an eight o'clock breakfast, like a breakfast meeting for 70 people and all like high tops. It was like this whole, all the food is out. People walk by, grab and go coffee, morning mixer. And, um, one of the servers didn't show up. Of course the other server was there at like 7 30 and nothing was set up the night before. So that server had 70 people while he was like setting the party up. And I was like, Holy shit. He had the literal server nightmare. He like actual server nightmare that happened. I was like, dude, was it just soda only or was it like, oh, was it open bar? I mean, no one's drinking it. Well, some people just open coffee bar, but like it was supposed to have. I need a bloody Mary bar, Mikey. I don't know. Oh God. Iced teas and coffee everywhere. Like, oh, that is like yours. And we, yeah, that was a, that was Brendan. Why are you shocked? Like I would know if I set something up at eight o'clock that I'm going to have half the stuff, have half the staff not show up there. I would have bought, like I would have gotten on Amazon. I would have, I would have had full on blow up mattresses. We would have had a full on slumber party. I never would have let them leave. That's a lot, you know, like it's a normal thing.

01:19:54Like it's normal. Yeah, just go. We do. Yeah. We, every night we have to set up. It's a whole lot of things. Who do you have working for you? Nobody that works for us is up at eight in the morning unless they are up. I'm barely up at eight. We let them know it's a good, it's only two people working it. So it's like, it's just a past thing. It's really easy to do. I did the other podcast, Mikey with Brandon. I had to think it started at eight 30 and I literally said like five alarms. Yeah. And I was like, why the fuck would you do an eight 30 every day? I don't know. I go to work early in the morning. I'm an early guy. So I challenge you, but I'm just kidding. Yeah. I waited tables, um, two weeks ago on a Friday night, me and another manager, we split this big room and I was like, I can do this. I came in as a racer to you left dinner. All of my clothes were like dry cleaned with like the creases and I'm like Johnny on the spike, like seven pens. And I was like, I cannot, I cannot fuck up thing. Like I'm full hands in full hands out. I'm doing the, and the, and the host is like triple seating me. Like, what do you got there? Big guy. Let's see if you can still run up. It was, it was, I had a lot of fun, but, um, I certainly had a massive amount of respect for what these guys do on a regular basis. They were doing like 57, 67 covers. And my cover count was like 24. And I was just like, I killed it. I think at any given time, at least once a month management should like take a server section. Absolutely. Let the server run or essay or whatever. And then you take a section so you can see what their operation is. Like I am, I'm done with that. I get a whole new respect for it all over again. You forget what I mean. And,

01:21:56um, I know instantly, like while I can, I mean, I can take orders and I know a lot about the menu and things, but, um, I, I am very aware of how little I'm still contributing to the team. I'm, I in those moments where I'm doing it, I'm not doing running side work. I'm not polishing glassware. I'm not doing the, you know what I mean? I'm just not good enough to do it anymore. And so I know these guys are, I appreciate the hustle. Like I appreciate that. It takes a village girl, cause it's like, while they're at their tables, I'm like, somebody's stopping me like, Oh, one of the toilets downstairs is overflowing. So I'm like, fuck, I gotta go over here. Give me the plunger. I gotta do this. And then it's like, Oh, I have a guest that has allergy, but they got pistachios. I don't pay. I'm just like, yeah, cool. Done with that. Now all of this. Right. So it's, my guy is sorry. I'm listening to you, Mikey. I have a second laptop that is, has more charge. We just got that going. He's getting me some more sake. I'm here.

01:23:03You're in this. Are we going all night? No, we have 30 more. Are we doing a fundraiser? In fuller guys, she said lead by example. And she is so freaking true with that. Yeah. So Jen Fuller is my right hand. Like, so she, she's my AGM. And it's her first management position. She used to be a bartender down on Broadway and then was a bartender at show on. And then whenever we were opening Mockingbird, my needs and Vivek were like, listen, Jen wants to get into management. Like, would you consider her? Like we highly recommend her. Although she has no management experience. Like she's hungry for it. And like, sure, let's, let's do it. And she's been with us since before day one. And I would be able to live without her. I love you, Jen, but like me and her are on the floor. We're going to drinks, we're busing. We're doing whatever it takes.

01:24:04See, I love that. That's like the old, that's to me, that's what I love going to the restaurant and doing. Like just, you see, so you see something. I don't look at, that's my section. I look at the entire restaurant and I just go, what needs to be done? And I just move there. I just go towards it. And that's like, that's fun to me. It's busy. You're just hustling. 19 things happening at one time. Like, yes, I'm in my time. Tell me. I'm not gonna say who or where, but that's not my job. Do not. No, I mean, he, he, I was like, I came up and he was busing my table and like a busy Friday or Saturday night or something. And I, you know, I was just like, Oh my God, thank you. And he was just like, you don't need to thank me. If you see me busing your table, it's a problem. And I was like, Oh, why? Cause you're back there. Like, I don't look, do I say thank you and just say, fuck you. I mean, exactly. I was like, I guess it's just cause you're a piece of shit. That's a really good problem. But that's weird is if I'm busing and then my team is just like shooting this shit or whatever. I'm like, okay, now we have a problem. That's a different story.

01:25:17That's insane. Yeah. Like if it's, if I'm busing your table and you, and there's like four folks outside, like smoking and doing stuff, then we have a problem. Like, you know, Hey guys, like we're still on a wait or we're still something, but I'm still like not an asshole about it. I think neither of I, I think I'm just gay snarky. It's just in my broadest. I'm like, Oh cool. I didn't know we were closed. Yeah. Let's just everyone get to the desk to leave. They didn't know that the restaurant was still open. They're bad. You know, I just, yeah, no, I'll tell you what. I mean, I just, I've never seen people hustle like they do inside this building ever my whole, almost 30 years in this business. I couldn't ask for better folks to be around every day. Matt rough. I would like to see some more shit talked right now. You said that is the name of the show, right? Talking shit. Yeah. I mean, we're not talking about events. If we're going to talk about, I mean, Matt left isn't doing events right now, as far as I know, but I mean, back in the day, those were the only, I mean, two years ago, we were down to only, only doing events with Matt left. Like if other things are coming up, we were like, ah, maybe. Um, but you know, I could go on and on. That's a whole nother podcast is how to not throw an event. Um, how to not ask chefs to bring a thousand portions of some shit to say it louder for the people. Do not. I mean, for real, for real. Oh, email ask of like, oh, and it's only 15 portions and you'll get all this exposure.

01:27:05And let me tell you from someone who has tried, I tried letting Wells Fargo know that I was going to put them on Instagram also from our Toots and Jackie account and that they would get great exposure for me and hopes that they would somehow discount my mortgage that month because I was doing everything. Uh, and it doesn't work. It's currently exposure is not worth as quite as much as some of these folks think. Yeah. Love you. Yeah. So like, those are always fun to respond to like, okay, so what is the budget? And it's like, oh, well, there's no budget, but the exposure is this. I'm like, okay, God dang it. Like that's, uh, and stop, stop with exposure. Don't fucking say that word one more time. I hate it. I mean, you guys, I know that, um, over on the East side at Pelican and Pig, Nick Guidry gets so many, he gets these people that, that say, Hey, I'm a blogger. I'm an influencer. Let me eat for free and I'll talk about you. And he just like straight screenshots it and puts that show and he like just says, I think that's different for everybody. I mean, again, it doesn't get, it's not money and it's not assets and seats, which is money. Um, but it is kind of the way that things are happening now, right? Like it is the way that marketing happens now. I mean, you can pay $2,500 for a one-time full page ad and something in a print, um, that is shot out to a specific demographic that they see once. And then where does it end up in recycling on the back of their toilet? I don't know, but it's only once. And so with, you know, things like, for instance, the last weekend, two weeks ago that I did weight tables, the entire section I had, which was like nine people, um, I was like, what the hell is going on? Every single one of them was ordering the exact same thing. And when I say the exact same thing, I mean, literally down to the cocktail,

01:29:06the exact same thing, it was the same, like four or five things. And one of them finally, like an hour and a half into it left and they were just like, well, I'm just here for the TikTok meal. And I said, what are you talking about? And we had somebody come in a few days before that. And they had, you know, and I looked and it was like 400,000 views when I'm sitting there, they had made some like semi-little viral TikTok over our food. And so all of these people came in to get the TikTok meal. And that's how that works. I mean, I will work with a certain amount of them. Um, is that what they were going there for that? Like, what is that potato dish you have there? Yeah, well, the fries and then, um, it was like the spicy crab noodles and, um, the short rib skewer, the number two cocktail and the volcano roll. And that's, I mean, everybody was ordering the exact same thing and it was wild, but you know, that is how marketing is kind of happening now. And it is the least expensive on us. So like, if I can get somebody who's, you know, it depends on their dynamic and, or it depends on their following to their demographic. Are they local? Do they go towards a local crowd? Are they fashion bloggers who are in Chicago? I'm not interested in that, but do they do like food and like happenings and things? And do they live in Nashville? And are they in here, um, you know, with 400,000 followers in Nashville or people who want to come to Nashville and are looking for it with all the right hashtags. And what do they want me to do? Like buy them a bowl of ramen. That's great. Like, yeah, I mean, that's, you know, so it definitely depends, but you get a lot of asks that don't make any sense and you get a lot of in mixed defense was right in the middle of a pandemic that they were there just scrounging to like, keep the, I didn't get any in the, during the pandemic. Oh no, I did get one and I was in, yeah, it's rude. It's like, we're hoping to, I don't, I don't know if I can schedule you because I don't know if we'll be open. Yeah. Yeah. We might close the pandemic might close

01:31:06this out. I have no idea what's going on. So yeah, I mean, it was, you know, they don't tip your staff either. So we do. I mean, well, some of them do. I mean, I, you know, I've done it a few times and worked out deals with them and I'm like, I'll buy you a dinner and whatever. And let's say it's, you know, two of them will do a hundred dollars, but you're going to leave a $25 tip. So I'm like, so bring 25 bucks in cash. You have one hour, take your shot. I'll feed you. And that's great. And, you know, they're usually like, we'll come early and things like that. So, I mean, it's, I think you have to dig, you have to dig through them because there are a lot of asks and a lot of them are insensitive and stupid and just don't make any sense, make any sense. But I don't want to like say that it doesn't make any, you know, sense for, as far as marketing goes, because that is the way of marketing now. And it is the way that you have reach much further reach when you're talking about reaching 400,000 people and that stays there forever. You know, because it's like, we had a group of women come in and they were in their fifties and they're like, Oh, there's 10 of us. And I was like, there was almost a situation.

01:32:16We're good. We're back with me saying there was a 10 top walk-in. So 10, 10 women in there, and they're like fifties and they're like, Oh, we just came for the punch bag. And I was like, well, I'm sorry, I can't see you at a table for if you're just going to order like 10 punch bags. Right. You know, we can have you at the bar, but I don't have 10 seats there. So this is a little tricky. Let's try to figure this out. But I'm like, how did you hear about it? So like, Oh, it's, it's on TikTok. Like, right. And I was like, okay, cool. But then we have like 21 year olds that are on that same TikTok that are coming in for some, like the demographic that it's like, that is like 50 to 21 year olds. And I'm like, and so if you, if you do a print ad anywhere, um, you know, for like a full page print, that is a demographic that is likely to not reach 21 year olds unless they go to their parents' home and it's on the back of their toilet in their dancer's corner room, you know, be fair. And it's, um, yeah. And so, and they, and it's not even your story to tell that, you know what I mean? Like most of these places are in your restaurant. They see live bustling things. Like it's kind of real time. Um, I don't know. I kind of enjoy it. I don't hate it. Um, I mean, some of the asks are outlandish and ridiculous. No, I don't, I don't hate it either. I don't know how to use the, you know, the TikToks or whatever. I don't know how to do it. I get very Instagram. It's like, it's a Instagram. I'm like, ah, the middle of the service. I'm like, oh, I'm gonna get a picture of that. How do I, I'm like, fuck. I'm like, I mean, I guess part of it for me too. I don't know who runs anybody's, but I mean, I've been running our social media for years now. Yeah. So it's, I've learned a lot. Again, I take it seriously and it's a nightmare to learn about. And I am nowhere near. Um, wait, are you tick tocking? I'm, I'm going to, I love it. I love TikTok. You love it. I'm afraid to

01:34:21love it. I am obsessed with TikTok. I love it. I mean, I'm obsessed. I mean, I love TikTok. Can you put music to it? Like, uh, the old Facebook, because I love doing that to let people know my face. Oh, sure. No, it's not like that. Exactly. Matt said our print ads are next to the Pouperie spray. Matt left. Anyways. Yeah. I mean, I love TikTok and I, I don't, I don't hate, um, um, the influencer situation quite as much as we need to go film some, uh, one star reviews for you. My TikTok be fun. You know, you halfway ruined my day. I'm Sunday afternoon. I'm sitting out on this beautiful rainy afternoon trying to, yeah. And I was like, let me look up some of these reviews. I screenshot it. Really good ones. I just want to read the very beginning of one of them because this is how my favorite ones begin. Not even, I mean, first of all, this is like, I don't even know, like a 550 word dissertation in ramen from this person. And it begins, I am a renowned ramen cook in Seattle. That's what you need to know. You have my attention.

01:35:50Yeah. Um, and he's also a white guy. So interested. And then this guy, Kevin, I mean, I, I'm sorry, Kevin, I did put you on the internet and I'm pretty sure that other people talk to you on the internet as well after it, because he got us, this was late March 2020. So we were closed. We had just reopened, um, for takeout only. And he ordered, you know, this was again, like when these places like, um, Postmates and Grubhub and all this stuff, they put you on their, they put you on their platforms without even, without you knowing, like you, yeah, it's not even a non-consensual thing. Like you have absolutely no idea that's happened. And so you just have people showing up and they're just like, hi, I'm here to pick up a Grubhub order. And you're like, I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about. And so then they have to place the order. And because the driver doesn't know either, the driver thinks that the order has gone through. I mean, and so they show up 20 minutes after the order has been placed to pick up this order. And then we're like, we don't know what you're talking about.

01:36:50So we're like, you know, slammed with takeout orders. And so it's 25, 30 minutes until they get that order ready. And that driver usually cancels it because that's really shitty, um, because that's 30 minutes of their time wasted. You know, they, they are not making any money in that 30 minutes. That's not fair to them. So they cancel it. So yeah, this guy left this amazing review about ordered from two 10 Jack early in the day yesterday for delivery due to the virus shutdown. And he just lives down the street and the order was abruptly canceled by the restaurant. He ordered for delivery at five 45. The order was abruptly canceled by the restaurant at approximately five 30. So, you know, my thing is that like, I'm pretty impressed that we have a space time continuum that is inside of here. That was, I mean, I didn't even know about it. I'm still looking for that hole to Carl into. Um, but yeah, I mean, now Grubhub says it might be five to 10 business days before they, you know, credit his card and it's all what the fuck and blah, blah, blah. And it's custom on Grubhub, but it's given us a one-star review. I had nothing to do with this. Like we have nothing. Yeah, this is a Yelp review. It's a one-star Yelp review that we got because of get those erased. Oh, I know, but it's funny. And I kind of, it's funny. So let's just leave it there.

01:38:08Well, Shane, you know, Shane Nasby is awesome at honey fire barbecue. We got a one-star review from a woman who tried to go online at 10 30 in the morning before they opened. And she was like, this place is terrible. They wouldn't even take my order. And it's like, we're not even open. And she goes, and they were out of barbecue one star. And so Shane got on, he's like, um, yeah, we're closed. We have plenty of barbecue at 11 when we're open. Target 30 minutes before they're open and like bangs on the door and is like, um, that's one star target. We get reviews knocking us saying like, oh, it was hot outside. They didn't open their doors. Like they saw us out there. It's like, yeah, because we're not ready for y'all yet. We open at four. And so the doors open at four. And also like, Hey guys, we have nothing to do with the weather. No. And people cast us out all the time. Like they're just like, well, Google says you're open until 11. And I'm like, I don't, let me tell you, if I had any control over Google, it would not be standing here having a conversation with your stomach.

01:39:23It would not be happening. And if I had any control over the weather, or if I knew in advance what kind of weight we were going to be on at seven 30 next Wednesday, I would not be working here. I would not be having a conversation with you. Can I just tell you that like the, the happiness, I don't know what the, what the term is for this, but it's, it's, it's happiness as well as stress. Like when we were, before we opened for brunch, a line forms outside of our door at like 10 o'clock in the morning, we open at 10 30. We open at 10 30 in the morning. So there, I know they're gonna be waiting out there for 30 minutes. And I'm just like, oh my God, I'm very happy that we have these guests. But I'm also like stressed, like how the fuck all those people don't have reservations. Cause I see our reservation. Yeah. And we have 40, but out there it looks like it's 60. And how are we going to handle this? A I'm going to come storm the line soon and just be like, excuse me. I know the shaft. He takes them all. I'll show you the seating chart. I tell them you know, please like a table, maybe another 15 minutes or so, just let me get the 10 30 reservations in. And they're like, oh, the bar is right there. Can we go sit at the bar? And I can't say no. I can't be like, oh no, the bar is off limits. My lips are closed. I was super glued.

01:40:48I do, I do take it in as, as, as on the basis, but like, so that I can get more gray hair and have a heart attack before I'm 50. Well, cause we are a business. I love this down here, this comment, Jason Ellis, but you have open tables. That is, that is exactly what they're looking around. They're like, oh, but that one is open. No, no, no, that's reserved for somebody who has foresight. And there's also, even if not, there's like 28 names ahead of you. So thank you so much for pointing that out. I'll see any of them. It's like, oh, it's hot outside or it's raining outside. I'm sorry. Hey, facts are facts. Oh, people we get, I didn't even like screenshot any of the reviews, but like sometimes people are just like, oh my God, I got my food and I was swarmed by flies. I'm like, you're outside. I don't know why you chose. I don't know why you were willing to sit outside in August. We haven't, we have a guest is going to come on just to tell stories, but Aaron Clements comments here. I'd like to point out this really cool article here and the brand new edible Nashville issue. Look at this sandwich.

01:42:13Aaron Clements, I think that's you right there. Aaron, isn't that love me some Aaron, the, uh, the man, the myth, the legend Bill, it's true. Hey, we got Bobby T wants to jump on here. All right. Where's Bobby? Bobby. Bobby. Are you at work? There's a lag. There's a lag. Okay. Okay. Can you hear me? Oh, yeah. Okay. It looks like St. Stephen. Oh, yeah.

01:43:14Yeah. Something's happening. There's weird feedback. Yeah. Call us back. I just mute it. So this is the caller. I can't hear you color. I just busted him out. Um, um, Matt, let's say he's on dial up. So, um, three weeks ago, I went to, um, this place in East Nashville for the first time ever. It's a karaoke place, but a very small hole in the wall place. Okay. And, uh, I had Miller light for the first time and I was like, this is tiny, like France or France. You went to France. I was like, okay, they only have Miller light. They didn't have, they didn't have a bourbon. So I was like, okay, cool. I'll do a Miller light. And I was like, this tastes like sparkling water. I like it. So then we went to, um, the, it's like sparkling water. It's like a topo chico with a little topo chico with a twist. But then we went to have burgers after that at Dino's. Yeah. And, uh, I was like, you know what? I'll have the champagne of beers because I just had one for the first time and I kind of like it. And they, there was a shorting and I finished it and I was like, this is such a cute fucking glass. And I wanted to take it and do something with it.

01:44:43And so like, I had finished it and I was taking it with me and they were like, yeah, good try. You're not taking that with you. And I was like, what am I trying? And she was like, yeah, no. And I was like, it's empty. Like, I swear, like, I know all the ABCs. I'm not, you know, out of my hand. I was like, what? I really, I really wanted to take it to work and use it. And I was like, is that against the law? You should definitely leave a one star review. Yeah. But like, is that against the law? Like bottle with me? Is that against the law? I don't know. No, I don't think so. Oh, oh, look at the puppy. Oh, he's so pretty. I'm gonna do it. I'll be right back. Okay. Are we bringing our puppies? Yes. Puppy cam. We can bring dogs. Puppy's so pretty. Yeah. And speaking of Dino's, they did the dog calendar. I know. It's so good. Forever Friends stuff. Abby, she's wonderful. Did you do it? Yeah. She makes all these little like collars.

01:46:07I asked for it and they were sold out. And I was like, fuck, because Brian and I are in the back of there with like, with our Helen Sarvey, Helen Sarvey, Hal and Harvey. Hal and Harvey, but they were sold out. Did you get a copy? Oh, Brandon. No, I didn't get any. Okay. What is her name again? Is it like Dolly? This is Dolly. Yes. She's like a Bernadoodle. She's a Bernadoodle. Yes. God, I love her. We didn't know this was going to be a dog park. But here we are. Our dog party broke out on our podcast. Mine's wiggling. Oh my god, mine's going wild. Tell me this is where mine's effective. We all got them now. This is awesome. Where's Trey?

01:47:19Trey's over here. He's watching. He's my tech support and hanging out. I think one of them. He's on dog duty. I think one of them passed again. He's being such a good boy. We need to weigh a bowl of ramen. I'm going to have Trey weigh a bowl of ramen. Before we get completely off of reviews, which I totally want to do. One of the common themes is like that our ramen are small portions and I don't know who these people are. I am not a small human. A bowl of ramen fills me up and I eat a lot of food. I don't know who these people are saying that a bowl of ramen is a small portion. Trey is on his way to the kitchen right now to weigh the contents of a bowl of ramen so that we finally know here and now, live on this podcast, how much this small portion of ramen is that we said. Is it a recent review chat? Oh, it happens like a couple of times. People just get pissed about anything and they're just like, and the ramen, like it's so small and I left hungry.

01:48:34I don't know who the fuck is leaving hungry. We're going to find out. We're going to find out. Is it being weighed right now? How much does the bowl weigh? You know he's going to do it right. He's going to weigh the bowl. We're going to tear the scale. We're going to weigh the broth. We're going to weigh the toppings. He's in the kitchen. Oh, this is exciting. I'm very excited. Can you hear us? Are you there? Can you hear me? Yeah. I'm still hearing feedback. I'm hearing my voice. There's a big echo. I just mute him. Hey, does that work? I can hear you. I think I can hear you in real time now. Is there like a bit of an echo or what? No, it's not really. You guys, what food is there to order this late? I completely forgot to order dinner. Matt Leff, you stay out of this with your two bowls. I've never seen you eat two bowls here. That's a lie. Wild Val does not. I tried to order from there before. If they did not. There's a bit of an echo.

01:49:46Yeah. I know. I'm going to be on my way. I'm just going to come over and bring Robin. We're going to have a sleepover. Please. I want to bathe in it. Is Man vs. Fry is a real restaurant? Is that a ghost restaurant? Hey, what a photo shoot that would be though. You bathing in a bath tub covered in Robin. That would be pretty great. Coming soon, guys. Coming soon. Yeah, Mikey bathed in Robin. So we've been watching the show alone. Speaking of like things like that. Have you guys watched Alone? Everybody told me to watch Alone and it's psycho. It's completely crazy. People dropped off on like Vancouver Island or like in Patagonia and they're like completely alone and they have to fend for themselves and catch fish. They have like literally nothing but like a backpack and an axe and like what? Oh, okay. Maybe I'll watch it. It sounds terrifying.

01:50:48It is terrifying. There's actual bears and Pumas. And you hear that, Ron? Bears. I'm good with that. I think I could tell. Does that work? It is terrifying. There's actual bears and Pumas. Oh, Matt, I do remember that after that. Yep. I do remember you doing the two bowls at the end of the bar. You're right. Yep. No joke. No joke. But that was after lots of years and no small plates. And Kate has said man versus she was she was going in right here with this. Yeah, with a weird echo. What there is to order late night and she said man versus fries. So they have a fucking dish called Helladilla. Helladilla. It's a hella big flour tortilla with hella cheese and hella meat. I'm here for that. I'm here for that.

01:51:49But would my Mexican ancestors be rolling in their graves? Not to say that like. I think they are. They're like order that God dang it, that's a dilla. When I was 16 and stuff, it was like only 16, 19, whatever. It was literally only crystals and you had to physically go there. If somebody would have brought me a Helladilla to my actual fucking truck porch at 3 a.m. I mean, I mean. I think we missed the old Nashville charm because we've only lived here five years. We missed all of the crystals only situation. It wasn't really charming. It was more like everybody was kind of like messing around. We missed the meth days. I wouldn't call it charming. All right. It wasn't really charming. It was more like everybody was. There's still a feedback that's repeating my messing around. Good joke though. Repeat away. All right. There is the echo.

01:52:54T-Roy, I'm so sorry, man. There's still a feedback that's repeating my messing around. I'm sorry. There it is. It's backing me up. I'm going to mute it. All right, guys. Well, hey, look, we are right towards the end here. You guys are getting food and my dog just took a nice big steamer right here in front of me. Puppies. I love it. I'm like, oh, I'm in a cloud of it. Hold on. But Brandon, we have to wait because Trey is weighing a bowl. Here he comes. Okay. Bring it on. Wait, should we take bets on how much it weighs? Like, I want to say 1.25. Okay. How many, what, ounces? A bowl of ramen weigh. Not the actual bowl. But the food contents inside of a bowl that get really very overused for being so small. Yeah, liquid, everything. And you can get like, you know, an extra, you know, four ounces of noodles or whatever to soak up more liquid.

01:53:56But like a standard bowl of ramen, the food contents that are so small, they left hungry. Yeah, I'm going 1.25 pounds. What is that equal in ounces? 20. Okay. Why are you a mathematician? Yeah, I don't drink. Does make you smarter. What, you know, in some respects, it makes you smarter. No. How much is going, Trey? Okay, Kate is guessing 22 ounces. Which, Brynn, do the math there. How about that? 22 ounces? Be 1.3476972. Fucking do the math. That's like a 5.1444 shit. What are you talking about? Nobody's doing algebra here. Yeah, it's 1.375. Kate nailed it. It's 22 ounces. Was it? Yeah, it's 1.37 pounds.

01:54:581.38. 1.25. Yeah, you were just under. 20 ounces. You win prices right, but Nike wins. I think Chris wins, yeah. 4 million ounces. 100 million ounces. But yeah, that's 15 ounces. But yeah, I mean, for almost one and a half pounds of food and it takes three days to make, and it's $16. It's like, I don't, it's about the best we're going to be able to do. So. No, sorry. You win something, Kate. I don't know what you win, but you win something for nailing it literally right on the head. You win. A kiss from Harvey. Oh, a kiss from Harvey, which is like. Oh, that's weird. He never used kisses. Kate, you can come in and I'll give you a free bowl of heavy ass whirlwind. You better not go there without me. You bring Brian and Mikey to me, you can have a free bowl.

01:55:58Jess, if you still are regular, then oh my God. Kate, for the past four years, every Christmas has given us an ornament of one of our most popular dishes. I love that so much. It was an ornament. She made a dish. It said the mockingbird. It had pieces of steak on there. It had broccolini. It had a waffle on it. I was like, how the fuck did you do that? The whole thing. She did a punch bag last year. Like a little punch bag. I went around with an ornament. Kate. So she's not in the restaurant world, but she loves like local restaurateurs and she supports local. If you go there, Kate, take us with you. Yeah, you better bring him. I will take her while she's there. She will be our server while we're there. We'll be your server. Bring them in. I will wait on you. You will have free ramen.

01:56:59It could be the worst service you've ever had. Your ramen might come out. It might be like 40 minutes. I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. Zero stars if you could. Yeah. Zero stars if you could. Won't be back. I'm going to tell all my friends. I'm going to pull you out of the frame. Sorry, dude. I love when people say they're like, great, please. Because if your friends are like you, then yes, please tell them. I know that's my favorite when they're like, won't be back. I'm like, thank fucking God. Jesus Christ. What? I love you so much. Because we love hard, but also when somebody does us wrong, it's just so hard to come back from that. You know what I mean? Yeah, it is because hospitality is our blood. I mean, it's who we are. And so it's emotional. It's personal. And when you attack me, you're not just attacking me.

01:58:01You're attacking my mother, like my grandmother, her mother. I learned how to do this from generations. And it's who I am. And so when you attack that, I mean, I'm old and wise enough now. I'm old enough now to know that it's not me. It's definitely them. But I mean, of course, there are valid complaints, right? And you want to hear that. Well, 100%. And they're hard to hear. But I mean, I want to hear them. And if I mess up, I mean, if we mess up, I'm the first person to ever apologize. I mean, I'm the first person to make it completely right. But yeah, some of the comments are just so stupid. Like, they just really are. Yeah. Or if it's something like you just can't do anything about it. Like, the reason why I'm drinking half this bottle of bourbon today, I had a guest that was just like, I told my server I did not like onions. And they're still in the salad. I was like, sir, that's fennel, not onion. And he's like, then I don't like that.

01:59:02And I was like, OK. What do you want it to do? And he's like, well, they also messed up. Because there's no honey mustard. And I said, I wanted honey mustard. I was like, it's tossed in honey mustard. That's why the lettuce is wet. It's because it's in there. Yeah, it's wet. Yeah. And it's like, well, I don't like it. And I'm like, OK, cool. I think we can all agree, though. You really can't fuck around with people's honey mustard. Very true. Honey mustard is a serious situation. It is. And we make delicious honey mustard. Yeah, I could drink it. I would like it. When you come in next time and I'm going to be your server for your free ramen, will you bring me like a bottle of honey mustard? Yes, we will. Because like everybody else also has fantastic honey mustard. Wait, what place? Green Hills Grill. Y'all are welcome. Come on. Let's do this in my way. Fantastic honey mustard.

02:00:02Ted's Montana. Because Ted's Montana girl also has really good honey mustard. But you know what? They look like little chicken fingies and the honey mustard. I love green hills. Honey mustard is made from is the question. Because I just learned that recently. Where is honey mustard from? Yeah, how it's made. What you mean with honey and mustard and mayonnaise? Do you? No, there's no mayonnaise. There's no mayonnaise. There is two mayonnaise. How are you making honey mustard? What are you talking about? Right. You told me it's honey and it's mustard. And that's how you make honey mustard. There has to be mayonnaise. And it has to be mayonnaise. Wait, we don't use mayonnaise in ours. Maybe that's what they got. Yes, you do. These are telling you to keep your marriage wonderful. He's lying. That's a marriage lie right there. Because he doesn't want you to be grossed out if you hate mayonnaise or something. I love mayonnaise. He hates mayonnaise. Well, maybe the kitchen's lying to him. Somebody's putting mayonnaise in that honey mustard. It's the only way it's good. Why is it not called honey mayo? Because people think that they hate mayonnaise.

02:01:06And that it makes them fat. It was the 80s. It's fine. But it's definitely a mayonnaise-based sauce. It's like four quarts of mayonnaise, like two tablespoons of mustard and two tablespoons of honey. You can just exercise it off. It's fine. Oh, my god. Get me Jane Fonda on this podcast right now. I tell you what, guys. This has been fun. I have enjoyed the hell out of this. It's such a departure from what we normally do on the show. And I love it. I love it, too. I think this is a fun thing. And we are going to do this again on August the 1st. It's another Sunday night. It's in three weeks. I think it's in three weeks. We will have another episode of Talkin' Shift. Same format, same kind of a deal. But all the people that are here now will come back. I'm going to have different guest hosts. We're going to switch it up. But you guys can still come on and play with us. I'm going to go through to Brian and Mikey's, and we're all going to be in the PJs.

02:02:10And we're going to be, like, super high. I woke up late for my night. I couldn't find my weekend, so I'm extra normal tonight. Next time. Well, thanks so much for having us. This was a ton of fun. I love spending my Sunday evening with fellow industry peeps and friends with industry. So thank you. Well, we have to all say you guys are welcome. You should definitely come to the Green Hills Grill. Definitely come to Maribor at 7 o'clock in the morning. We won't be ready. Wow. Don't come to Mockingbird at 7 a.m. No. Don't do it. Don't do it. But do check out on the other, just to give myself some shameless promotion, Nashville Restaurant Radio. We have new podcasts every Monday and sometimes on other days when we feel like doing it. I'm going to turn this into a podcast and produce it and put it out on Nashville Restaurant Radio.

02:03:11So this will be the Talking Shift podcast we put out. And you guys can share it. Do whatever you want with it. And people can listen to the calamity and hilarity that was the last two hours. And people driving their car going, what the fuck are they talking about? It's good now. I'm just two bottles of sake in. It's only going to get more interesting. You guys want to stay and talk. I'm going to go. Listen, I'll just chew this off of the wall. So we got to go. So good. Thank you guys so much for doing this. We really love it. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. Everybody out there, thank you for listening. Come back. Go to our Facebook group. We've got a group called Talking Shift. If you have stories, you can put them in that group right there and share them. Do not post that you have a job available for anybody.

02:04:14Do not post just if you want to go post in the group silly stories, shit that went down, funny stuff. This is about people who work in this industry for an outlet. We want this to be something that's going to be fun. So please feel free to join the group. It's a wide open group. Do you have to answer any questions? I don't fucking care. Just get in there and have fun. And we'll do this again on August 1st. It's a Sunday night, 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock. Thank you all for joining us. And good night, everybody. Good night. Thanks, guys.