Nick Guidry

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service and today we have Nick Gidry. Nick is the owner with his wife Audra of the Pelican and Pig, as well as the Slowhand Bake Shop, the Slowhand Bake House, and Olivia in Lebanon. I wish that today's circumstances were different. Today Nick is going to come on to announce some news that I wasn't excited about, but you know what?

01:01He's closing Pelican and Pig and he's going to do it this Saturday and I wanted to get this out immediately. The idea of having him on the show when he told me that he was closing the restaurant, I said, do you want to tell your story about kind of what you're going through? He said, yeah, let's do it. I think that so many restaurants close and we get an article here and an article there, but I really wanted the person that made the decision to be able to come on the show and have the opportunity to have a full conversation about what's going on, why they're just making this very difficult decision and really talk about the staff, the people that work for him and all of the things that go with it. So this is going to be an unedited 42 minutes or 43 minutes of him and myself having a conversation around what's going on there. So this is not, I'm not going to throw any commercials in the middle of it. It's just going to be a straight episode. But with that being said, I do want to say that we do have some amazing sponsors. I will talk about them really fast because they're awesome and I feel like they need to be shouted out.

02:08And first I want to talk about Robin's Insurance. One of the things that is out there right now is insurance prices. Everything is going crazy and Robin's Insurance and Matthew Clements do just an amazing job at communicating everything that's going on. So if your insurance rates are rising and you need help, look up robbinsinsurance.com. I also want to talk about SuperSource. I met with a restaurant today and they had a, we use this current company and the chemical makes our floor feel kind of sticky. Do you think he can help with that? Like, absolutely. This is something I called Jason Ellis and I said, Hey, will you go buy this restaurant and will you check out all of their things and just help them find exactly what they need? And he's like, absolutely, dude, I'm on it. So it's just, I love working with companies like SuperSource and CNB Lennon. Again, SuperSource works with no contracts, so does CNB Lennon. They are taking over Nashville by storm right now. If you are with a Lennon company that you do not like and you're in some long-term contract and you're paying fees like crazy, give us a call here at NARA or send me an email.

03:15That's Brandon at NaraNashville.com, that's N-A-R-A-Nashville.com. We can see what we can do to help you out in that regard. Fresh baked bread from Sharp Yeas. If you're buying frozen bread and you'd like to up your bread game, definitely check out Sharp Yeas Bakery. If you're looking to increase or work with your payroll systems, we work with Adams Keegan. They're our vendor, our recommended vendor for HR and payroll. Adams Keegan does an amazing job and all of these vendors are people that we vetted, that we trust, that are here to ensure that you get the best experience and they want to help you win. I also want to talk about Justin Cook and EOS. One of the things we're doing with NARA when we work with somebody who needs help with their meetings, needs help with their organization, how they're operating their restaurant, because so many restaurants operate and they're like, we don't know who's doing what. We get sidebarred to death in our meetings. Justin Cook is a full-on EOS implementator, implementer, and will come and help you do all of these things.

04:22You can check the show notes for contact information for all of these people, but these are people that we love and trust. The last one is the retail team at Lee & Associates. Miller, Chandler, and Megenglazer are just absolutely amazing. If you're looking for a new spot or you're looking to expand or whatever you want to do, they are the CRE in town that you need to be calling. So check them out. The retail team at Lee & Associates. Oh, I also want to talk about Shared Spirits. Shared Spirits is an amazing new website where you can send people drinks. It's a marketplace. If you're a restaurant owner and you want to be on this marketplace where people can send people into your restaurant, go check out SharedSpirits.com. It is the coolest thing and everybody will be on it. Be an early adopter. Get on that website now because it's super, super easy to do and it doesn't cost you anything and it will add sales to your restaurant. So that is Shared Spirits.

05:23Okay, I do want to quick say that my birthday was on Sunday and I had an amazing, amazing day. Thank you for all of the wonderful birthday wishes. I also share my birthday with International Women's Day. And I want to give a shout out to all the amazing women in my life. First and foremost, my amazing wife, Jennifer. She's so supportive. Does everything in the world. She's one of the hardest working people I've ever met in my entire life. And she just deserves all the praise. I also want to shout out my mom, who's an amazing woman in her own right. Having to deal with me her entire life is a lot. And she is just absolutely awesome and the most supportive people I can ever come across. There's so many amazing women that we work with every single day out here. I just want to shout out to all of you badass women who are just running it and we have all the love and all the praise for you. Not just on March 8th, but on every single day. So yeah, let's jump in right now.

06:25We've got Nick Gidry and he's going to tell a story. You're listening to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Nashville Restaurant Radio. Starting this one off, because I am not super excited to be here today at Pelican and Pig. We are recording live. I've got Nick Gidry as our guest. The crowd follows me wherever we go. They just they love you, man. They love you more. How are you today? I am I don't know. I don't know how I am. I'm I'm numb a little bit. Yeah, yeah. It's a heavy day, but. Well, it's not very the lead. Well, let's just go out there and just we have kind of breaking news for you today. What what are we here today to talk about? We are here, unfortunately, to talk about the final chapter of Pelican and Pig.

07:32We will be unfortunate closing our doors after Saturday service. Saturday will be the last run of our seven year stint in East Nashville. Wow. Yeah, that's that's that's not what we want to be talking about today. What's is there an underlying cause as to why you had to make this difficult? Decision? Well, I mean, as as anybody's paid attention in the last few months last year. There's a lot of factors here. Ultimately, the increase in property taxes that Nashville has been hit with. You know, the rising cost of doing business, rising cost of labor, rising cost of goods, rising cost of insurance, every aspect of running a business has gone up in the last few years. And it just continues to do so. But ultimately, the the unfortunate increase in property taxes was the final nail in our coffin.

08:35We just reached the point that we just can't. We can't bear the weight anymore. When did you make this decision? Monday, today. What's the day to yesterday? What does that look like? Um. Pretty heavy conversations between my wife and I. And you and your wife, Audra, own this business. You also have Olivia's, Olivia's, Olivia, Olivia in Lebanon and Slowhand Bake Shop in Lebanon. Now, attached to Pelican and Pig is a slowhand bake shop as well. Yes. Lebanon is slowhand bake house because it's an old house. Semantics, I know. But yeah, it it it. It kind of came with we thought there was a number in mind that that the increase was going to go to. And it was just so much more than we thought it was going to be.

09:35And ultimately, it was just what do we do? You know, we we've tried to be honest people and honest operators. And when we saw that bill, it just became, man, what's what is we've got to decide now what that future looks like. How much was dollar amount increase? So I know Tom Morales had said he was paying one hundred twenty five thousand to six hundred thousands, like five hundred and fifty plus thousand dollars a year. Yeah. Like this is unsustainable. Do you know what that how much of an increase it was? I do. I don't have to say it. I don't really want to say the number, but it was it was enough to kick our knees out. You know, it was rising costs in general. I talked to my insurance broker last week and unfortunately, insurance was going up again this year. That's just the the insurance market. So we already had that. Our rent goes up every year. We still I mean, our rent is still lower than what the majority of Nashville is.

10:39We've got a very, very kind, very generous, very gracious landlord. So we're very appreciative of that. But, you know, with with just cost of goods increasing, labor increasing, rent increasing. And then the final straw of that that property tax, it was like, what do we do? You know, and I don't want to put. I called all my staff yesterday and. Talked to every one of them, and I just told them all, look, I don't want to put. I don't want to be the guy that puts false hope that we can see if it works beyond this. Because I don't think it will. And. Just the dollar amount going out the door. Has gone so far up that it's it's already been a point of how do we continue business and. With this property tax increase, like I said, it was really the final, final straw.

11:41And, you know, the conversation was was heavy, emotional, lots of tears. This has been this has been our baby, you know, and to. Have worked so hard for the last 13 years. You know, I've been self-employed for 13 years and we started as a food truck and we have just grown. To this point from there and been able to celebrate that every year. This was the first last year was a hard year. This year has just been kind of gut punch after gut punch after gut punch. And 2026 has probably been the hardest. And I say this with covid having happened. This has been the hardest year as a business owner that we've experienced in 13 years. What do you attribute to that? I mean, obviously with the rising cost, but is this tariffs? Is this what are you hearing? And what are you hearing from other restaurateurs? Everybody feels like they're in the same boat. Anybody I've talked to, it's they're changing their pay structure.

12:44They're decreasing their labor. They're bringing less people in. They're seeing less covers. They're seeing less revenue, but increasing cost of goods. And anybody that I've talked to is is just in the same boat of how much longer can we continue this? And it sucks because these are the places that gave Nashville so much character and so much soul. And, you know, I'm not tooting our horns just speaking as the small business community as a whole. You know, when you operate independently and you operate with small business budgets and you don't have deep pockets, you don't have big investors, you don't have Chicago and New York and L.A. money. You have a lot less. I don't want to say you have a lot less. You have it means a lot more. And there's a lot more emotion tied to it. And. Yeah, I mean, I don't know anyone that's just blowing it out right now, you know, and I think the small business community of of restaurants is just feeling.

13:52Kind of the tightening of of the operational cord, if you will. Do you think that's just due to I think that I've said this many times, Nashville's under attack. When I say Nashville's under attack, I mean, being the city is great and all. I mean, you think that it brings a ton of people to town, but what it also brings is the sharks. You've get these chains that come in with private equity money and they're I mean, I just went to a restaurant opening two weeks ago and they had one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars of meat hanging in a dry aging room that's just that they just have. And it's wagyu and it's all prime. And you're just going, man, that must be nice to have that kind of capital to have one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars in meat hanging on display for everybody to see. It almost is like a art installation. They've got this big windows that look into this room and you're like, wow, I don't know of any local restaurants that could do that. No, I don't either. And, you know, I sit here in the middle of the restaurant and I look around and, you know, there's there's repairs that need to be made and, you know, our our benches are wearing and.

14:58You know, just the just the cost of being here, whether it's. Cost of goods or it's just the physical aspect of I mean, we've been in this building for we've been open for seven years, but we open slow hand next door the year prior, six months prior. And it took us about a year and a half to build this out because we did this at the kind of the height of Nashville's boom. And. Eight years, ten years into a space, you start seeing the where and. There just gets a point that it's like the the honeydew list just grows and grows and grows and it it. I can fix three things and six more things need to be fixed and. You just start going, man, like, what is what is the end of this chapter look like? You know, and I don't want this chapter to end, but those were certainly conversations in the last year and a half that we've been having is. What is the end of our story look like?

16:01Well, and you have to take that money and reinvest it into new. Have this all resurfaced and you've got to spend money on that stuff. And then when you get a tax, when you finally get to a point where you feel like I'm getting squeezed everywhere, if we're making it by a little bit and I can now reinvest X amount of dollars back into my business, then you get a tax bill that takes all of that. I can see where the air just gets let out of the room and you're like, right when we thought we were caught up or we could do it, or even if you weren't there, if you're working on that because you know it has to be done and then the government comes and says, no, we'll take all that. Thank you. And you get absolutely nothing for it. None of your boots get refinished. None of the leaks in the ceiling. I don't know if that's a thing, but I'm just making that up. Get fixed. Nothing gets done, but that money's gone. Yeah. And it's like, that's a gut punch. The air coming out of the room, I think perfectly describes what yesterday felt like.

17:03You know, it was we got that bill and it was like standing in a vacuum and the air got sucked out of my lungs. You know, it was just. Well, you know, like I said, the last year and a half, we've been talking about what, you know, do we get to the end of this because we still got, I think through July of next year on this lease. Do we get to the end of that and how much do you write in between that? I mean, correct. Do you come into work every single day to lose ten, twenty thousand dollars a month? Right. And that's that's the ultimate conversation is. How much what's the opportunity lost? You know, what's the opportunity cost? And you have small children and small children we have, you know, we've got a lot going on. And I'm very active in all of our our spaces and. You know, it's. It becomes the thought of how much more effort do I have left?

18:09And and that's what sort of sparked the conversation, but we thought we would at least get to the end of it and write our own ending. Unfortunately, you know, our ending was forced and. It is what it is, you know, I mean, that's I've said that a dozen times in the last two days, it just is what it is. That's the point of numb, I think, right now that I'm at where everything hasn't quite set in. What emotions are you feeling right now? Are you feeling relief? Are you feeling anger? Are you feeling sadness? What are you what are you feeling right now? I'm feeling such a gamut of emotions. But talking about like right now, what emotions are you feeling? There's, you know, especially sitting here in this space, knowing what we've built and how many people we've touched. And I mean, we've had engagements happen here. We've had two engagements we've had last year. I had engagement photos, you know, some regulars came in, they took engagement photos as their favorite restaurant. I've had I can this is the hard part of of being an owner operator is I can name names.

19:18You know, I know these people. I don't I may not know them personally, but I know them through the restaurant and I've seen their lives continue. And, you know, we've we've been celebration points for there is one couple in specific. They got married. This is where they celebrated. They adopted a baby. This is where they celebrated. They had another baby. This is where they celebrated. This became such a communal point of celebration for so many people. And, you know, the people we've met, the people that that have supported us, the friends that we've made, the staff that we've had. You know, I can with every fiber of my being, I can say the last four years of this restaurant are the best version of this restaurant we've ever had. You know, and I attribute that heavily to the staff that we have. We have had incredibly low turnover for the last four years. You know, my my bartender has been here seven years, you know, and she means a lot to us.

20:19You know, she has put in so much work and so much effort into this place and really cared about everything going on. You know, she started out as a barista and a server assistant and worked her way up into a bartending position and she's just completely made it her own. And what's her name? Alana. Give a little shout out to Alana. I love that. Alana, one of the hardest phone calls I made yesterday was to Alana, you know, to see not just her professional growth, but her personal life and her personal growth. And, you know, she got engaged last year and we know her fiance. And, you know, it's to see to be a part of someone's life in that way that you get to see their personal growth. And and their development and then you see their professional growth and professional development and you see where they get into that pocket, you know, where it's like at first they're kind of I'm figuring this out, but then they really get in their groove.

21:26And it, you know, our cocktail program just became this really incredible cocktail program because of what she's done. And I'm so proud of that. I'm so proud of of who she is and knowing her as a person that was. She was the first phone call I made and my wife and I both said that's that's going to be that's going to be the hard conversation. All of them were hard, but that was the hardest. You know, when somebody's been in your life for almost a decade and. Is she the only one who's been here the entire seven years? She is either next longest employee. Blake is just shy of three years. Mike Mike was kind of poetic timing Mike's last day. Mike is our grill cook. If you've come in and you've had steaks from this restaurant in the last three and a half or so years. Mike cooked them and I called him yesterday and told him I would put you up against anyone in the city as one of the best grill cooks in Nashville.

22:35Steaks come out beautifully. Meat comes out beautifully. You know, he was here three and a half years when my other kitchen guys, he was two and a half years. He he started in dish and worked his way up. One of our I had another line cook that was here three years, but he moved to Louisville and Shane, who was in dish, put his name in the hat and said. I wouldn't mind that position, so I gave him a chance and you know, Shane is such a positive light, you know, and and positive attitude, can do attitude, works hard, gives a shit about everything he's doing. And and he's another one I'm so appreciative of. My server, Blake, I said, you know, he's coming up on three years and him to, you know, hard worker comes in the door. Always has jokes, great person. I love those guys, the ones that always have jokes.

23:37Ian, you know, Ian is I call Ian a ray of sunshine. You know, he was. He was with us for quite a while and then departed. Some point last year because he got an offer to go on tour with an a cappella group and then he ended up getting a job with a or get through that got offered an ambassador position of sorts for a new whiskey that was being released. So he went on tour with I believe Dirks Bentley. It was Dirks Bentley's whiskey went on tour with that. And then I, you know, I told him, if you ever need a place, even temporarily, call me, make me be your first call. And he got off the road and he called me. He said, hey, I'm back in Nashville. If you have anything, I'd love to come back. No question, absolutely no question. So he came back, you know, he's probably been back three or four months now. And then Kate, my server, Kate actually worked for me at Olivia, and we hit a slow point in the year right after I hired her on, I think, a Saturday or Friday.

24:47And the next week, spring break hit. It was post Valentine's Day. We just took a dip and we just didn't need as many people out there. And I said, well, you've got a great attitude, great personality. You hustle what you love being in these now. So you hang out there. What do you think about coming to my other restaurant? So she came on board over here through hiring at Olivia. She's been here. Probably a year and a half. You know. Front of house, especially to have such low turnover in front of house. Really means a lot to me because it means you believe in what we're doing and this is a place you want to work. And every restaurant is going to have turnover. You're going to have people that are, you know, this is a temporary landing place for them. They're students, they're musicians, they're whatever. But to have a front of house that's been here that long and through so many things, you know, that's.

25:48I don't want to say unheard of, but I think it's rare in this industry. And. You know, that was something one of them said yesterday was like, you know, I think the the longevity of everybody in this building is a testament to what y'all are doing. And that sparked some serious emotion in me because. I try to be somebody that I want to work for and I don't get it right all the time. I I'm not faultless. I'm not perfect. You know, none of us are. We're we joke all the time that I talk to my other business friends. And we joke that we're all just figuring it out, you know, and you think you have it together, but you're kind of figuring it out as you go. Yeah. And and, you know, it's not that different from parenting. You know, you look at your parents as a kid and you're like, they've got their shit figured out. No, they don't. No, they don't. You know, and then we have kids like we don't know what the hell we're doing. Business ownership is no different.

26:48You've got a good baseline, but you're kind of, you know, you get thrown curveballs and you just have to figure it out. And we've tried to figure it out in the most honest and best way that we could. And, you know, we've I I've been on this program in the past and I've said this, you know, there were people in early years of this that I could have done things differently. And we lost some good people because decisions I made or decisions I could have made. I could have been more lenient on something, whatever. But, you know, to see who we were in 2018 versus 2026, we are different people. And I, with everything in me, believe we are different people because of the people that have come through these doors. You know, everyone's taught us something. You know, if it's how to be better, how to communicate better, how to whatever, you know, if if we're just so much stronger as people because of the last seven years.

27:54And that's why I say I think the last four years I truly believe have been the best version of this restaurant between the food, the service, the just the overall attitude of of the people that we have. And for me, that's the hardest part is knowing that next week I don't come in and see these people, you know, and and restaurants like to say, oh, we're we're a family and restaurants aren't family, you know, but you you you kind of are in your own way. We almost spend more time with people in restaurants than you do your own family because you hear so much. Yeah, that that's absolutely true. I mean, I I see these people more than I see my wife. Yeah, you know, I mean, so that kind of the they're not family, but at the same time, but you're invested in their lives, you spend a lot of time with these people and side stations and pre meals and, you know, all the different areas. You get to know everybody really well. You know what's going on in their lives. You know, like you work as a team, you see somebody get engaged and you've seen their life development.

28:58And that's so that has been one of the most rewarding things, I think, of doing all this is. Yes, I'm proud of everything we've done here. I'm proud of the accolades and, you know, restaurant of the year 2019. Great. That was amazing being on somebody fulfilled. That was really fun being in Bon Appetit magazine and all these these accolades and articles and these things that that organically came to us are all great. But the people are the most rewarding part for me, you know, to to have people invest in you and believe in you and truly enjoy what you're putting out and the atmosphere that that you've tried to create. That's more rewarding than anything to me. You know, I'm really glad you said all that because that's what I wanted you to say today. You know, so many restaurants close and I want to when I said, hey, when I talked to you yesterday, when I said, hey, I'd love to have you tell your story on the podcast, it wasn't a tell me how you fucked up or what you've done wrong and how angry you are.

30:11It was tell me what this feels like. And to talk about all of the people that made this something special, I think it's something the restaurant owners rarely get to do when they close a restaurant. People start to create a narrative and they go, oh, well, this is what happened. Like, I wanted you to be able to say it exactly what's going on in what this place means to you, because I know what it means to you. You have one of the biggest hearts of anybody out here and you care so much about your people in this community. And you've you've been always a great supporter of us, but I love our feedback every time that I call you for whatever reason it is. We're on the phone for 40 minutes and I'm like, OK, I'm at my location. I got to go. We got to talk like it because you're just passionate. You're passionate about this stuff. And I know that this is a tough thing to have to do when you decided to call everybody. One of the big controversial things that people do when they close a restaurant is they don't tell anybody and they just close the door. I think the theory here is, well, if we tell everybody nobody will show up or they'll steal all my liquor.

31:15Well, did you have any part of that is your like what was your process for? I'm going to tell the entire staff and we're going to let it be known before we close, not just wake up to padlocks on the doors. Well, I think that goes back to what I said earlier. You know, we've we've tried to be we've tried to be honest people. We've tried to be good people and we don't always get it right. You know, and there's people that have come through our doors that, oh, man, they're pieces of shit. You know, but we're not. It's just situations arise and, you know, they create different narratives. But but for me, it was I'm not I can't do that. I don't want you to walk up to a sign on the door, you know, that I'm too emotionally invested in everyone here. And I know that sounds cheesy and people are going to roll their eyes at that. But it's it's absolutely true. And. I think we just heard it. I think you just talked about how emotionally invested you were in all these people.

32:15When you when you've spent this much time with the same group of people, you become emotionally invested. And for me, it was I I wish I had had this information last week. You know, I wish I had had more time, but. And every person I called yesterday, I said I wanted to have this conversation person, but we're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The next time I would be able to have this conversation is Wednesday. And I didn't want you to show up and go, hey, guys, here's what's going on. We've got four days. You know, so. I wanted to give as much time as possible. I've even reached out to other restaurant friends. You know, I reached out to Hal at Loughlin Table and we talked to him last night. Hey, are you looking for anybody? Are you looking for a bartender? I've got somebody I'd love to place. Are you looking for a cook? I've got somebody I'd love to introduce you to and, you know, various other friends tray it at Farmhouse and Black Rabbit and other restaurant owners that that we know that we know enough to that you trust is a good atmosphere for people to go work at.

33:20Yes. And, you know, I've I've developed a few leads for a few people. You know, whether they choose to pursue those leads, I at least put it on the plate. But you have any opportunities that like Olivia or anywhere, your other restaurants where you might be able to transfer somebody that's a long drive away. I mean, Lebanon. Well, so Lebanon, one of my servers actually lives out in Lebanon. And, you know, like I said, Kate, I had hired her at Olivia first. And, you know, her schedule, I unfortunately did not get to talk to her until this morning. But, you know, that was one of the first things she asked. Do you need any help out there? I said, let me look into that. I would be happy to have you out here. You're a hard worker. You bust your butt. You've got a great attitude. If I can make that happen, I will make that happen. You know, again, we were in that post Valentine's Day. Spring break is happening this week out there. So everything's slower. But I said, let me look into it. If I can make something work, I want to make that work. But yeah, I mean, that that was really just the mentality going into these phone calls was.

34:23I want to be honest with you. And, you know, I'm I'm probably transparent to a fault with everybody and probably give them more information than they need or want. But again, I think transparency comes with honesty and just trying to navigate all this as best as I can. And, you know, to the last minute, I'm sorry I couldn't give you a two week heads up. You know, we we did not anticipate that number. We didn't anticipate this tax increase being that high. But, you know, it's it's legitimately kicked our legs out and it's completely out of our hands. You know, I mean, we searched for answers and the answers we found just weren't going to cover those increases. And, you know, I want to be honest with you all and just say, look, I don't want to give you a false sense of hope that maybe we can make it out of this. Maybe next week we have a really great week this week and maybe next week it'll be fine.

35:24I want to I want to know we can meet payroll. I want to know that that you're all going to get paid. And I know that we can do that through Saturday. That's what I can guarantee you. That's what I can guarantee. I have no guarantee beyond Saturday. And and I can't go on blind faith. You know, I I have to have guarantees if you're going to trust me with your personal life, with your bills being livelihood, your livelihood. So I mean, that was that was really the the catalyst for I've got to call everybody. I've got to call them now. You know, I I don't want to wait another day. I don't want to wait two more days. I would rather face to face this, but I'd rather give you two more days heads up if I can. You know, and I mean, you're right, there's so many restaurants that just you see it online every day. I showed up to my job and they were closed. I don't know how anybody in good conscience can do that.

36:28You know, and I think that's the difference between corporate and literal mom and pop establishments. Hundred percent. How's Audra taking all this? How's she doing? She's she's it's been pretty emotional for her. You know, I tend to I tend to hide my emotions a little bit, but I also wear my heart on my sleeve at the same time. But she's definitely been far more emotional, understandably. And I think it's just the unknown, you know, the the you know, I asked you when when you walked in here was like, man, like, where does all this go? You know, what do we do with these physical items when all this is over? And part of our conversation, you know, between my wife and I is just what is the next step? You know, I mean, this is this is our livelihood, too.

37:30And what do we do? Where do where do we go? What do we what's our next step? And we haven't figured that out. You know, it's it's we're in a weird space, man. It's it's we're in a weird space. Personally, we're in a weird space as an industry. We're in a weird space as as a national economy. You know, it's this is we've got wars starting. We've got there's this is a lot of uncertainty. There's a lot of uncertainty. And, you know, it's for us as people, that's hard because it's, you know, we have kids. And I saw my wife and I. I'm so thankful for the bond she and I have, you know, and I saw something online a couple of weeks ago that was I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like, you know, our kids will never know the roof leaks. They'll just know the structure was there, you know, and and.

38:35That's. I think that's kind of how we live our life is. Personally, we we don't want our kids knowing anything going on. We're just continuing and. We'll figure it out, you know, and I don't know how we figure this out. I don't know what the next steps look like. I don't I don't know. I don't have an answer for the uncertainty, but you know, it's. We're in we're in a weird period where everybody's hiring, but nobody's hiring. And, you know, everybody's everybody's got job postings, but nobody's actually hiring those job postings. And I mean, we see we see that online every day. It's I've sent my information to 12 different places and, you know, nobody seems to actually be hiring these positions or hiring for. And it's. Are you talking about for yourself? Are you actively looking for something? I am. I am. You know, we do have the other place on Lebanon, but they're pretty self-sustaining, you know, and. We can show up and do the owner thing and just be there and support and whatever.

39:42But, you know, this is this was our livelihood. This was how we paid our bills and, you know. Trying to navigate that now on top of navigating the decision to close the how do we close the what do we do? How do we cover the expenses that we know are coming beyond this? And, you know, we're going to be personally liable for a lot of this. And this this came at a we were talking this morning. It's just the timing is odd because, you know, I'm starting classes through LSU in April just as like a backup plan. Again, we had we had started talking about maybe at the end of this lease, maybe that's the final chapter. You know, maybe that's where we close the book. And and that was in July or next July. I believe next July.

40:42OK, so we thought we had time. So it was like, all right, well, I'm going to I'm going to enroll and start taking some classes that don't have to do with this industry. And just thinking about the kind of the volatility of entrepreneurship and small business and restaurants as a whole. And it's a very that's what a lot of people don't see when they're getting into it is this is a volatile, not just industry, but small business ownership as a whole. It's very volatile. You know, it's it's if you don't meet sales, that's your money. You know, you don't get paid. You've got to make sure everybody else gets paid. But so that, you know, we started thinking like, what's. What's the exit plan for us as people? And, you know, so now it's navigating, OK. Where do we look that also allows those classes to happen?

41:45And so that I can get those that degree and that certification, whatever. So, yeah, I mean, we we are looking both of us are looking at this point and just trying to figure out where we go from here. Do you think you want to just exit? Do you see the volatility of the vulnerability of this industry in itself? And kind of like, look, you know what? It's not good for our psyche. It's not good for our mental health. Yeah. When you don't know when you kind of live month to month on people coming in or, hey, there's a new restaurant that opened down the street and our sales are down. And that comes directly out of your pockets. I mean, I think this is when the ice storm happened. And this is why I do Nara, like the whole idea of promoting local in a town that is just inundated with chain restaurants who have endless marketing budgets to fill your Facebook and Instagram feeds to let you know you need to come eat at this place. It's the new place. It's this. It's like I think I mentioned this with an interview with Caroline and Tony Galzin the other day. And I said. So I made that post.

42:47I think I said I don't care about new restaurants. I care about the restaurants that have been here and have shown up for the community, the pelican and pigs of the world. And I try and send people here whenever I can if they're coming to Nashville. But you've been in this spot for seven years. You've been a pillar of the community. This is where people come to celebrate things. All the schools that come in, you donate gift cards to all the little things. These are the people that need support. But the new restaurants and then all of a sudden, they'll listen to this podcast go, man, I wish I'd gone in there. Well, that happens. Oh, I never got a chance to go in. Well, they've been around, you know, when Arnold's closed the first time. Yeah. Oh, man. I've been meaning to check Arnold out. Arnold's been here for decades. 30 years talking about go check them out. Yeah. I mean, it's your your. Well, I drove by Outback on Sunday morning in Cool Springs, Sunday morning, like noon. I drove past an outback in Cool Springs. The parking lot was packed. Parking lot was packed. There's an Amerigo across the street. There's other local restaurants right down the street.

43:49But Outback, like you're going to go to Outback and spend your money there when you have local restaurants who are all around you, who just would love to have that support, who are people in your community that would love to have that support. And it's like Outback, but I haven't been to an Outback in 15 years. I went on probably six or so months ago. It's not what it used to be. But I agree. But I also differ from a lot of people in my thought process towards chains. You know, and this industry has to have balance. You've got to have the important local places that support the local community and, you know, all of that. But chains kind of in a way balance the industry, you know, because price points or a chain kind of brings a sort of a guarantee to people. It's consistent. I don't want to say consistency. Consistency in I know what I can get there.

44:52You know, our restaurant, we change our menu seasonally. If you came a year ago from out of town and you had XYZ steak, and then you come again this year for spring break, and you come in and the steak's different, you're still going to like it. But if you were looking for that exact thing, you're probably not going to find it. Chains bring a bit more of that consistency where, you know, if I'm in Nashville, if I'm in Miami, if I'm in whatever, I know what I'm getting at an Applebee's. I know what I'm getting it out back. The chicken no tenders taste the same at every Charlie's. Right. So there is that. And I think chains hit a they hit a price point that kind of fills the middle portion of the industry. You've got local fast casual. You've got local fine dining. You've got local that fit in that middle, too. But chains do provide something to our industry. I'm not saying I am a supporter of chains. I'm supporter of local. We're a small business.

45:52That's that's where I push people. I get people come sit at the counter all the time. Where should I go after this? And I will always there's five or six restaurants locally within two miles of here. That's where I push them. Go support these guys. They're doing something really great. Go to a cool cocktail bar. Walk next door. Walk next door there. You know, go to the restaurant down the street. Go to go to Loughlin Table. Go to Gramps Garage Tiger. Yeah, go lots of stuff, especially on this road. There's numerous amazing places on this road. But, you know, I think the I think the overall topic as of the last two years is just over saturation. This town is over saturated. There's not enough people to staff these restaurants. There's not enough people to support all these restaurants. Well, I think the number I saw maybe two or three years ago was Nashville was increasing by 100 people a day. I don't know if that statistic still applies, but it doesn't feel like it. I don't feel like there's 100 new people moving into Nashville at this point.

46:55But, you know, one of the things I kind of joke about is before we open this, Audra and I, our hobby was dining out. You know, we went to local restaurants, local bars, whatever. And we had been to the vast majority of them. We knew where to go, what was great, what was good, what was, you know, and then we opened this place and all of a sudden it was like somebody kicked an anthill over. We'd go to one restaurant and then 10 more open the next week and then 10 more open and 10 more open. And the over saturation, unfortunately, is not over saturation of small businesses coming in. It's L.A. budgets, New York budgets, Chicago budgets, Miami budgets that, you know, if this place lasts two years, we got two years out of it or we're riding the wave of Nashville and we're riding the tourism increase and we're riding the the population increase. But, you know, at the end of two years, it's you're just going to write it off and it helps your corporate bottom line that, well, that's a tax break for us, you know?

48:04And this is not a tax break for for small businesses. This is this is livelihood for all of these people. And I'm so I'm very thankful for the small businesses. I know the small restaurants I know that are still killing it. You know, they're they're the Loughlin tables. You know, it's knowing the support that they're still getting makes me very happy because that market is still here. It's just we're seeing too much dispersing of the population amongst all these restaurants. The oversaturation has done kind of a negative. I mean, not kind of. It's it's a negative thing on the industry as a whole. And, you know, we've seen a lot of great restaurants close in the recent years and I think we're going to continue seeing at a more rapid rate now with these tax increases and with the oversaturation. We're going to see a lot of people, a lot of places that that mean something to the city go away.

49:08That's heartbreaking. Yeah, well, I guess we'll have to see what comes up next. If you're a restaurant owner out there listening to this and you're you're feeling the same way or you got that same bill and you want to come on here and kind of tell a similar story. If you want to shout out your team, if you are going to be doing something like this, I would be happy to open the podcast up for anybody to kind of tell their their side of the story as to what's going on, because restaurant owners don't typically get full page articles and they get four minute segments on the TV shows. And there's not really like a tell me about your meatballs. And so I like the fact that we get an hour to talk about all the things. And I'm really glad that you were vulnerable enough today to have this conversation. And I'm glad you got to talk about the people. I'm glad you got to tell what's going on. And I could probably go down a couple more paths, but I'm just going to write there. I'm going to I think we need to leave it right there.

50:09Finals. Final thought. Gordon Food Service. Final thought for Nick Guidry as we are saying goodbye to the Pelican and Pig, which will be serving its last service of this Saturday. Today is Tuesday, the 10th. And we're this is going to come out today. I'm going to put this out tonight. So if you don't have your I'm sure you're probably pretty full. But if you want to come by or if you want to go to Olivia, they need the support. You know, when you have this sort of thing that happens, like you said earlier, there's going to be bills that you're still going to be liable for. Go support the other locations. Come in here. Come get your coffee tomorrow morning at Slowhand Bake Shop. Come buy some pastries. Do everything you possibly can to send them out on a on a high note. Gordon Food Service. Final thought goes to you, Nick Guidry. My final thought is I just want to say thank you. Thank you to Nashville. Thank you to everyone that has invested in us, that has supported us, that has celebrated your life events with us, that all the posts we, you know, we made the closing posts earlier today, all the comments that I've seen, you know, the sadness I've seen for hearing this information.

51:24But my my my biggest final thought is Alana, Blake, Ian, Kate, Grace, Mike, Shane, and my longtime gig pro dishwasher, Akili. Thank you. Thank you for investing in us. I'm sorry. This is the unfortunate ending that we're having to write. But you all mean a lot to us. And I am so thankful that you have allowed us to be part of your lives for this long and for the effort that you've put in here and all of your hard work and positive attitudes. And just thank you, everybody. All right, Nick Guidry, thank you for taking the time today. And I may see you in the next couple of days. I can. All right, buddy, we'll talk to you soon. We appreciate it. OK, so there it is.

52:26If you wanted to know the story, there's the story. There may have been more questions I probably could have dug in deeper, but that wasn't what this episode was about. This is not a journalistic thing where I'm trying to get the real story. This is where I wanted to let a man who has served his community for seven years and continues to serve the community of Lebanon, an opportunity to talk about something that was very personal to him and very sad, honestly. I mean, he was fighting back tears through half of that interview. It was really an emotional conversation that we had. And I just kind of stood back and you could just see that he wanted to speak. He wanted to speak to so many people out there and he wanted to say thank you. And, you know, this is a good reminder that this isn't only restaurants. It's not only him that loses here, right? This is a restaurant that has a dish machine that, you know, he used a super source. And, you know, now that's going to cost one of our vendor members is to go in there and take the machine out.

53:31And he loses a customer, CMB Lennon, great customer of CMB Lennon. And they, you know, they lose business. They work with GFS and GFS loses. It's the domino effect from restaurants closing affects so many other people. And that's why this tax situation is so difficult. And so I said, if you're a restaurant there who's feeling it and there are things we can do, there are things you can do to help with this. There's ways in which we can help. So if you would like, if you're in this boat and you're just that close, please give us a call. Look us up at NARA because we are helping restaurants right now do a lot of these things. Unfortunately, in this particular situation, Pelican and Pig, they made the decision to go ahead and close. But I know there's lots of other ways in which we can help you if you haven't already reached out. Visit us at naranashville.com and then click the, there's a little tab down there that says connect with us.

54:35Click that connect to this tab. I would love to come in and talk to you about your restaurant and what you're doing because there's a lot of things we can do. And we're helping a lot of people right now, especially with their broad line vendors. A lot of money out there, guys, that's just sitting there that we can help you find. So with that, we just wanted to say thank you for listening. I want to say thank you to Nick again. We wish him and Audra the best and go to Pelican and Pig this weekend if you can. If you can get a seat and do it one last time. Let's send them off the right way. And again, hope you guys are being safe out there. Love you guys. Bye.