Randy Rayburn

00:00hey guys before we start the show if you're hiring you need to listen to this because poached is the nation's top jobs marketplace for the hospitality industry with innovative on-demand staffing technology and permanent hire solutions poached gives employees the flexibility and control needed to decrease labor costs and increase productivity and here's what you want to hear the month of September your job post is free in Nashville so head over to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com click the sponsors tab and go down and find poached and click that link you can post any job this month the month of September you better hurry we got 12 more days left poached jobs you can hire for free in the month of September I have another testimonial for you guys Corson fire and safety they're doing amazing things they have come into both of my restaurants and it's just amazing when you bring somebody in Kevin Rose is your guy he went through and did a thorough check of everything and the company that we were currently using who I thought was fine no big deal but they didn't do half of the work that they said that they were doing they didn't put half of the tags so if I had the fire department come in I would have had some major issues plus they're charging me for stuff that they never did so I immediately called them which I had to press one to get an operator and then I got another operator who had to call me back and they couldn't explain why they charged me all things anyway I got a couple hundred dollar credit because they're very sorry that their tech had charged me way over this doesn't happen when you have a guy that's what Kevin Rose is for go get a pen you want to write this down 615-974-2932 this is what they do anytime there's a fire extinguisher issue fire suppression issue you just want to know if your emergency exit lights work you need to get things checked out and you need to be able to call a person and ask the questions something goes wrong I

02:00want to call a person that's what Kevin Rose is for he is their restaurant division specialist at Corson fire and security they do fire extinguishers general fire products emergency exit lighting fire alarm systems fire sprinkler system fire suppression systems they do security monitoring communications man they're all over it I am so excited to have Corson fire as a sponsor again go to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com click that sponsors tab and go find Corson fire welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio the tastiest hour of talk in Music City now here's your host Brandon Styll hello Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio we are powered by Gordon Food Service my name is Brandon Styll and I am your host super honored today and humbled to have one of my favorite people in this industry just somebody who I've looked up to so much Randy Rayburn is gonna be on the show today you want to talk about a guy has made an absolute impact on this industry in Nashville Tennessee Randy Rayburn is your guy he's the owner of the Midtown Cafe he's been owner of so many restaurants though I mean the guy's an absolute legend he's the namesake behind the Randy Rayburn School of Culinary Arts at Nashville State and he joins us today we're talking about the 35 year anniversary of the Midtown Cafe you know the guy's good restaurateur he's got restaurants going for 35 years that is absolutely amazing and today we're talking about he's got a brand new book that he has written about the 35 years in Midtown Cafe it's got lots of stories it has recipes kind of all the stuff you want and that's gonna be available October

04:00the 1st at Midtown Cafe he talks all about we talked about the state of the national restaurant industry how he made it through the pandemic and lots of lots of ideas and things that he's doing right now want to say a big congratulations to memos Mexican kitchen we just celebrated the best Mexican restaurant in Nashville in Middle Tennessee we had a bracket challenge and they were our winners and we're so excited voted by you the people over 10,000 votes is a pretty big deal we were really excited for them got through a really nice dinner there at their restaurant on September the 16th Mexican so we had quite the party you've probably seen people talking about it on on the social media get ready because they're doing a day of the dead I think I'm never the second and so follow memos and and you want to get tickets that the food is outstanding hey I want to talk about Gordon food service these guys are the title sponsor for this podcast but they're also really good friends and they're great guys you know one of the things I also do is I negotiate vendor contracts for people so sitting down looking over what you use why you use it what you're using and we put we put some numbers together and I help you save some money but one of the things Gordon food service does is they understand exactly what I'm looking for and they understand exactly what it is and they've been an amazing amazing partner so if you're looking to do a negotiate you're looking to go to one company I'm happy to have a conversation with you kind of explain what to look for there's some some insider jargon 17 years inside that industry I'm happy to help you out send me a message at my Instagram Brandon underscore in our are that is where you're gonna find me you can also find a lot of the cool random things that I'm doing like last night I had extra killers tickets who wants them fun little things like that as I went to Louisville to go see Pearl Jam what an amazing trip just so much fun crazy I went by myself I've never been to like a concert by myself I just hopped in a car randomly last minute said I'm just gonna go to a show and that was crazy that

06:04was just a crazy thing I've never been to a festival with like a hundred thousand people just by myself walking around but it was outside my comfort zone and it was a lot of fun had a great time so glad to be back glad to be putting on an amazing show today for you with Randy Rayburn and we we're gonna jump right in this Friday we are gonna have Chad Mueller he is the busy the master brewer over at tenfold and then on Monday we're gonna have flora and fauna a week from today we'll have flora and fauna hunter and Juliet they're amazing amazing people I cannot wait for you to hear their story lots and lots of good things happening thank you guys for listening hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you I will be in Dallas for the food service technology conference so get ready as I'm gonna have lots of technology stuff coming at you in the next couple weeks new content from me out of my brain I'm excited about that hey let's jump in right now with Randy Rayburn super excited today to welcome in the one and only Randy Rayburn welcome back to Nashville Radio Randy we weren't even on zoom I'm gonna I listen to this episode that we did I think it was April of 2020 okay we are not even we you were like my sixth interview that I've ever done you were just starting I remember brand new and when I talked to you I was in my bonus room and we weren't even on the computer I recorded it on my computer but I had a cheap mic that I bought on Amazon and I had my cell phone in my hand I actually was like one of these tripods right here and I had the cell phone next to the same microphone we were talking on a cell phone you were on speakerphone next to a microphone and you can listen to it today and it's like Randy so bad and I was I listened to it

08:10and I was it was funny because that interview shaped a lot of my other interviews I was a big Howard Stern fan and I thought I have to do so much research on every single person because I wanted you to know how much I respected you and I wanted to do all this research so that when you came on the show I could say let me tell you I wanted to go in depth about your career and all these things I just had this reverence for what you've done and so here we are a month into night maybe not even a month into the biggest thing that's ever happened to any of us and I'm like Randy tell me about the Midtown Cafe back when did you buy that and when did you go I want to talk about F Scott's and all this stuff and I wanted to tell your story and it's like I missed so many cues you were you were the best interview I think I ever could have had and I'm listening back to it today and I'm like damn it why didn't I ask him this question why didn't I go back and oh it's so frustrating because I had this agenda that I wanted to I had all these questions I wanted to get through and you answered them and there were so many amazing leads in these things I'm like wow right you just said a lot so tell me about cabana it's like man what am I doing and so it's nice to have you back in studio well you know almost 30 months later at that point I was just I didn't know if I was gonna lose everything that I had you know we had two restaurants at that time cabana and Midtown Cafe and fortunately the PPP we finally got the first one but we were late in filing for the original deadline on that because Craig Clift my business partner and protege of cabana had COVID the day we closed March 17th called it's like I'm gonna close what do you want to do the cabana well I just tested positive today we probably ought to close well it's funny because you announced that I I in that old interview I said I just I love Craig and I love chef Brian Ewell and I said I want to talk about them and you said Brandon I need to tell you something Craig and his wife have COVID and I was

10:15like what I mean it was a bombshell at the time because it's the first person I knew that had it it was this thing that we all knew about but we're all closing and it were all there was a bunch of fear but I didn't know anybody yet they it and you said Craig has it and all of a sudden like this wave came over me like oh shit like this could actually happen to me it was very real it became very real in that moment talking to you well you know fear is amazing thing and the fear of the unknown was what we were dealing with during the shutdown time and period and we were fortunate to be able to somehow Craig was able through the fog literally the fog to get the financial information to our CPA so we could submit it to the bank and I wound up docu signing online for the first PPP grant at 845 that night after we could miss the deadline for our bank you know at midnight the night before thinking it was noon and we were wrong so we switched banks and without the PPP both times and with the grants from the Tennessee Economic Development of 20,000 and then $30,000 to small businesses and we were one of the few of the fortunate few that were able to receive a RRF grant of which there's a hundred and seventy seven thousand businesses out there restaurant hospitality industry businesses that applied and it ran out of money that morning you know and a lot of these people now are having difficulty paying rent and otherwise and that's on a macro scale but the reality is you know the industry is still 700,000 jobs down from you know March of 2020 that's a lot a lot of people yeah and a lot of people are using these opportunities to be able to grow and advance because you know the labor market of national was super tight going into that time period finding people was the hardest thing as you know from your own the number one thing if

12:18you ask any chef restaurateur what's your biggest challenge people was there won't answer well 2019 a coach without players has no team you know I mean so many restaurants now as well as hotels you know don't have the staff to be open all the shifts that they want front or back of the house and so they're cutting back or people have more tables than they can reasonably accommodate that give great service to the guests so it's a real challenge last summer I've found myself you know really having difficulty trying to hire people as you know the relative size had returned because of you know not having half the tables that we had and and I'd not reopened with myself on days and one server and one manager was able to come back to work because of health considerations and one server on nights that was our front of the house crew this is where at Midtown at Midtown Cafe and this is in 2020 yeah in 2020 May of when you were you didn't open in May you waited no we wait we reopened May 12th we okay was the day that you may 12th was the day that you could open so you open that day well actually we could have opened up a little bit early but I bought the kitchen crew in and we took everything out of the kitchen stripped it down because we had already cleaned it prepped it and got it ready to shut it down it for an indefinite period of time sure but I took it back to the walls and we fixed everything did everything because we haven't been able to do that since I bought it 25 years ago kind of nice to be able to do well it was it was overdue it was very overdue and at the same time it was just an impossible thing but my kitchen crew need that and I knew I didn't have staff and we were in the process of lining up you know online ordering and doing the menus and all those things to be able to accomplish that and where do we put the tables and oh well I got to erect this barrier over here with plexiglass so that people aren't too close to each other and you know all the elements of that and Craig was going through the same thing at cabana which we wound up

14:18selling in December that year for ten cents on the dollar because as I told you a little while ago I wouldn't sign a personal guarantee for another five year lease option and after 15 years I sold it for ten cents on the dollar it's now cabana taps it's they're nice people they're doing well it's still in the village and I'm glad to be right here close to the village again and I still have an interest in the village I own a percentage of the moxie hotel across the street from where Sunset Grill did you own that lot there I don't know yeah I bought that lot in 2007 and rolled my interest in that parking lot into the moxie hotel because I always wanted some retirement money that wasn't dependent upon cat you know how many people came in across the transom that day and is that I mean how's that working out I finally got an owner's distribution you know in June of this year for the first quarter because it opened in January of 20 and then whoops and there was a deal actually to sell it at the end of February for a pretty substantial return I mean it cost 36 million dollars to develop there's a hundred and thirty three rooms at 47 studio apartments and retail space and it was going to sell for about 86 million dollars and it would have been about four hundred ninety thousand a key is the term used in the industry because hotel prices in Nashville have been astronomical considering the W Hotel and other my god which was almost a million dollars a room and the reality is is that February 24th just right a week before that deal was supposed to close which was a number of hotels together in a package that a rate was going to buy hey the Ukraine War happened Wall Street said thanks for playing what do you stand to gain you sell that you sell your owner interest it's what I would call I would be able to have an affordable assisted living facility eventually okay so it will be really advantageous for you right right now it's not on my financial statement because it has no net value per se other than a few thousand dollars that I got you know this year for the first time ever on it and I've been putting money into that literally since 2007 but we

16:21had a building permit in 2008 and there was that whatever happened in that September of 2008 Lehman Brothers and all this I've tried to forget that whole month 2008 was a crazy I mean that's what took down sunset grill essentially right well the debt from that yeah did I funding the construction of a 1.6 million dollar renovation in addition to cabana was an expensive project and cabana was wonderful I'm glad we did it and Craig and block were chef Brian Yule who unfortunately passed away from cancer in 2016 at age 52 was just devastating but you know it was a good operation and you know Craig's been working with me since 1987 when he was 19 years old going to MTSU getting his degree in aerospace engineering and he's you know one of the best restaurateurs in town currently general manager of Ellison place soda shop he's amazing yeah I mean which I put that together for Tony Girantana but came back because we postponed indefinitely you know literally January 1 weekend of January 1 of 2021 Tony wanted to wait till 2023 and I said no let's let's wait and let's see what happens you know we'll postpone again indefinitely and wound up opening May 12th of last year and it's doing well it's it's profitable let's say how is how is the the soda shop to see all kinds of posts there your social media is fantastic this guy Jim Myers you know some some media rookie who's he I've heard it I've heard of him that name sounds familiar it was at the yeah just been around but I needed someone to be you know the face one of the faces other than miss Linda the biscuit lady of the front of the house because Craig's busy running the restaurant and doing things and Jim is the storyteller the you know the person that goes and you know interacts with the customers seats them and otherwise knows a little bit about social media from his time at the Tennessee and otherwise as well probably one of in my opinion the smartest hires I've ever I've ever seen and the innovation behind that knowing that we're taking the soda shop we're putting in a new next door I

18:26mean essentially it's next it's not really a new place by the way we couldn't get the lease for the original soda shop look yeah and the guy would only give a five-year lease option you can't put a million dollars into a five-year lease the people that have talked shit about that really pissed me off the people that I'm like well it's not the same thing it's like it's the preservation and the people I've heard people talk shit about Tony Tony Jaretana too like this this millionaire it's like dude he's preserving a piece of the national like he's one of the if you draft the house my village right now it pisses me off it makes me sad driving through because I'm an old school Hillsborough village those are villages in my spot man you could go to Sam's in the village or sunset any given night and it was a who's who of chefs was the melting this where people those were the actual people in Nashville who worked in the industry or anybody this were locals hang you go to Jackson sit on the patio you go to Sunset Cabana the trace was right there I just got triangle yeah the bucket triangle Bosco's Sam's I mean the villager you go through Hillsborough village it was just this special place and you walk there now and there's ruby sunshine and it just hurts me hop dotty and it's like this isn't this isn't the Hillsborough village I remember sadly I had tried to talk to Jimmy Granberry of HG Hill I had a great relationship with John Hardcastle as predecessor we helped form the overlay with to keep part of the village from being torn down and 30-story towers being built on 21st Avenue there where the McClures property was originally but I tried to say you John Hardcastle's approach was there were plenty of great credit worthy local businesses that could go into the bit village and Jimmy farmed that out to some people and they brought in outside businesses and you know it isn't what it was because the local the local factor is not there as much and it's some of

20:28it's moved down to 12 South now quite frankly yeah you've still got a lot of people in the village now again and it's it's evolved but part of the problem was the price of the dirt becomes so expensive if you can't generate what the dirt's dirt's worth you get torn down yeah you know same same with Elston Place Tony's bought you know they'll go rush space and there will eventually be 90 studio apartments workforce apartments and parking behind the then renovated space with the gold rush and the sushi places the pizza place is not withstanding but all the way down to elders bookstore because he got permission to go up you know only six stories which is the same in the as in the village and the overlay but it was going to get torn down otherwise but he found an innovative way working with planning and zoning to be able to accomplish that because I told him that Elston Place was just like Hillsborough Village back in 1990 it when I branded Sunset Grill for five dollars a foot the national bicycle us that's insane well I got on a tangent there we kind of can do that I know you and I'll do that all day long the higher of Jim Myers the wherewithal that you had knowing going into there that you need somebody who I we call it remember me our core value is called remember me and people love walking into a restaurant and hearing their name people love hearing dr.

21:57Johnson great to see you would you like your normal table we know who you like to wait on you we know when you know those people and Jim is so keen on that walk in the door saying hi understanding who the people are greeting them making them feel warm making them feel welcome got miss Linda too but like well Craig is great at that too but that was on the forefront that wasn't like an afterthought that was a intentionally we want to create this culture in this vibe continue the culture and the vibe inside there and getting a guy like Jim Myers to do that I just think was a brilliant and the whole the whole thing I think it's brilliant one of the things I've preached for decades to my staff and they'll tell you they're tired of hearing it in lineups through the years is that James Beard when asked his favorite place replied wherever I am known best perfect and that's the key relationship building friends and neighbors and repeat customers whether they're travelers who come back time and time again knowing what they drink if you're a bartender knowing what they want to eat you know I've got a lot of longtime employees because I take care of good people they they determine who gets to stay in the family and who does it you know we may hire some people and we were able to fortunately hire some last year but seven of them came back who had worked from us before because I raised my wages that's the reason I don't have any openings front or back of the house right now because supply and demand it's a real question of if you need people you got to have good people and if you pay them well everybody's happier everybody's the customers can feel the body language they can feel the tonality they go where people are comfortable and happy I may not make as much money but I'm making good money and my reviews are great I've got a four point eight open table and other good things on Google and all the other nonsense and that's what self repeats itself and brings people back in the doors well I think you've nailed you've nailed it because when you have that

23:59that retention and you have the people that stay there a really long time the guests know it the guests that come in they go hey this is Bobby's waiting on me again today this is Sarah waiting on me again today and when you have a lot of churn when people leave those regulars come in and they go I don't know anybody anymore and you you lose that like the idea of like just oh well you looked at me wrong fuck out of here I don't need you here like this whole firing culture like you keep people you treat them really well your guests recognize that they're able to build the relationships and that's as much of your culture as anything and part of it is also for some types of restaurants why did you take away my signature dish that I come here for why did you change it or why did you get rid of it I mean it's about people in relationships people go where they feel comfortable they only have three to five choices that they go to normally unless they try someplace new which has got to be geographically convenient or special event or otherwise so it's all about the people and it's you know it's not rocket science Stephen smithing who owns both of my restaurants mayor bull in the green hills girl amazing man my best friends in the world always been very nice to me I he's a bunch of healthy respect over there I think he's absolutely say the same thing he he says when they say what kind of food do you serve a mayor bowl he goes we serve good food that people like to eat I mean that we serve good food that people like to eat we're not trying to reinvent the wheel people love a good fillet and they love potatoes and green beans and broccoli like we don't have the ego that says we can't serve that now I do have a duck dish and I have a fall menu and I have a chef that creates really cool but there's a handful of items on that menu the shrimp and grits the fillet with mashed potatoes and in green beans that people will come back for years to love the salmon and corn cakes it's just a dish to go I love that dish and ain't going anywhere and I'm not gonna let it in another thing like wine and liquor is

26:00one of those things that's crazy we still sell Kendall Jackson people Kendall Jackson's no I'm contrarian people can wind up all the time why are you still selling that dinosaur and I go cuz I pay nine dollars a bottle and I sell it for thirteen dollars a glass and I can't keep it in stock and then customers know what it is and they won they lose it's a known brand and they love it and it's like why would I get rid of that our chef Christopher he goes in every time I've been to a thousand bars with him every time we walk into a bar he looks at me and we kind of joke there's a smirk and he's like bar chin walks over says what can I get you and he goes I have a blue moon and then the joke is nobody has blue moon anymore because well we've got something that's like blue moon it's a look at this this is like but it's but I want a blue moon it's the number one selling bear in the nation why don't you just have blue moon well because we like to be a little kitschy and different and it's like okay I'll what about those people who want Budweiser or what Corona or want a Why do I have to out there like if that's what you want if that's what everybody wants then I'm gonna carry that I'm gonna have it what I found in my career is that at one point I was trying to be super cutting-edge and haute couture of cuisine and the reality is is that high-wire act you could stumble and fall quite easily and the customers don't necessarily want that because I call it the 80-20 rule and I'm not trying to go to the cheapest most affordable segment of the market nor the highest price segments where it's 100 $150 per person you know and 20 courses you know of Audrey you know Audrey's doing that's great I saw Sean yesterday yeah Publix grocery store June is a 28 dishes and two young kids I'm proud for Sean I remember when he was chef at the Hermitage Hotel where that stinky-ass New York Yankees cap that I just hated smelling and he's a great innovative person but not every restaurant can be that you know what I've tried to do in recent years at Sunset Grill we really tried to have a wide variety of appetizers salads and pasta to cover all the categories and then have really aggressive cutting-art specials and the

28:03ones that people like they wound up on the menu funny how that works you know it's amazing but I can't educate everybody I'm trying to run a business and survive and have all my team pay bills and the key for me right now is I'm thankful that according to my wholesale rep from PFG not a paid announcement that I have one of the few I'm one of the actually the only client that my rep has that has a full crew front and back of the house and that's critical to stability to be able to execute the menu to be able to put food out on the table in a timely manner and make people happy particularly if you're open for breakfast a lot of breakfast customers are going to be in and out in 30 minutes you know and I'm thankful frankly that a lot of the hotels in the Midtown area that have grown up over the 35 years the Midtown has been there they've closed their restaurants because they lose money on three-meal restaurants they make money on banquets if you're a big hotel like the Hutton or otherwise that haven't reopened their restaurants and the marketing director was in last week and the great guy and I was we were joking they had lunch and I was like he said what kind of do for I said keep your restaurants closed said you're not gonna be able to find staff anywhere because you're gonna have to steal them from somebody else it's a true story how close did you how close did you come to having to close Midtown Cafe throughout all this did you ever get to a point where you were like holy shit we might lose this I had the dip into my own retirement funds and fortunately and I had the consulting job with Tony it started in January of 20 which I was using to max out the college tuition funds for my now as of yesterday 15 year old Duke and in November and I fortunately had that consulting gig throughout 20 which allowed me to pay my bills allowed me to chip in on Midtown and keep the door open and cabana as a matter of fact and without that I would have had to have gone into

30:05my retirement funds which were never sufficient or you know are they ever no I can't imagine that I wouldn't know what to do and it really that saved my you-know-what because there was really scary moments of emotional dread and fear or what are my boys going to do what am I going to do what does that feel like I mean you're sitting there I mean this is this is one of the things I wanted to do this podcast for because I think people look at restaurant owners and like oh look at Randy he's this this rich guy he owns these restaurants he's got to have all the money in the world he's just this and I don't think people say it's about you I think rest like greedy restaurant owners in general these people own restaurants like that moment where you're sitting there and you have all these employees that aren't working that are coming back and your your heart is broken for them because you're a provider you for so many years have provided for so many people you've mentored people I can't tell you how many chefs in the city came up through the ranks of your restaurants that are now incredibly successful but you have these employees and then you've got a family and you're this this thing you're sitting there going how am I gonna take care of my family like what does that feel like what in that moment like what mind and everything it was humbling it was devastating emotionally as a parent first whose first priority in life are my two sons and my restaurant in business for the last 15 years has been second priority yeah unquestionably the greatest joy in my life for my two sons and I can care with my two sons also in my life I've been a workaholic and an alcoholic workaholic combination before the end and thank God I slowed down my drinking at the end of 89 and and then a couple cycles later on but I never drank like I drank before you know being just stupid you know after work you go out and you know it's a thing it's an

32:08industry part of it other industries are not immune to it either but people who go to work and go home at five don't go to bed at six and for me on my website for midtowncafe.com I wrote an epistle just before the March 17th anniversary of the two years of closing and it's pretty heartfelt and I wrote it out a few days before the second anniversary I started out at lunch on a Saturday when the boys were with their mother and I just started it and it's it was painful but it was cathartic and it's there and I'm proud of what I wrote and it's there and actually I've got an addendum of that coming out because that's online on there but we've got a book coming out in October first week in October it's a self-published book because I didn't want to do what Vanderbilt Press and other publishers wanted me to do in terms of a book and so a former assistant of mine Karen Pell who's worked with me three different times who's got a master's degree in literature from down at University of Auburn in Montgomery used to be a songwriter here for Reba McIntyre and other things but she's a good bookkeeper and an even better host really she wanted to tell the story of Sunset Grill because she loved the people there so we've got a book coming out people places and recipes and it's 112 pages and it's stories by Craig by Jerry Baxter who did Sperry's and Julian's and other restaurants in his career all a lot of the key people from both Midtown Cafe and Sunset Grill in my history because this is about the stories that we tell to each other and make the industry fun and joyous because I've had some great times in the industry and I want to we wanted to relive that and this is my idea of I'm going to give those to my friends we have them for sale one-third goes to proceeds of $15 $5 will go to the National State Community College

34:10culinary school program imagine that and you know Randy Rabin Rayburn school yeah Paul Brennan's been there six years this August and have the largest first-year class ever we've got six first-year culinary one classes and the dual enrollment programs are really strong right now from Wilson County one will start up from Liberty and some in Sunder County and in wintertime after Christmas Metro we'd love you to come on board you know get your act together because these other people are because these are careers and earn while you learn dual enrollment get advanced programs because why go to the culinary school you know I went to Hyde Park tuition there's probably now 50 60 70 thousand dollars a year like Vanderbilt same for Johnson and Wales you can't earn that coming out of school so why spend that kind of money because a lot of it is you and I know her mentorships learning where you work and learning is an ongoing lifetime process but that's honestly to me that book was cathartic because we interviewed key staff people like Dale King is a server for me midtown he started with me in 1989 at moonbeams Wow and opened up Sunset Grill with me and is now at Midtown Cafe which we used to call you know Sunset Village for the older you know Sunset the slower quieter version of Sunset Grill instead of pulling doubles or turnarounds you know it's just like we're really glad to be here they're really good at what they do but you know it's about the people Doug Stevenson has been with me 27 years at Midtown Cafe who was there the only holdover left from both before when John Petruccioli and Kurt Cole opened it up in 1987 you know Gina Koshevar who worked for Jody and Arthur's restaurants and all kinds of places has been there 21 years her daughter is the host at night who was a sous chef for me at Midtown Cafe and Sunset Grill and the intern before going to the J&W I mean you know what it's like it's having a family and it's and these are the stories from my

36:13family about the hospitality business and about I think a Becker's dozen 13 recipes including our shrimp and grits what's how much two years he any damn time oh I'll give you the title all day long you're here you got it the book is called Midtown Cafe 35th anniversary stories people and recipes Midtown Cafe Sunset Grill it is written by Karen Powell and Randy Rayburn you can pick it up at the Midtown Cafe in October October and then this is this is why you're here today I think ultimately we want to talk about the 35 years of the Midtown Cafe and let people know that you're doing a big celebration in the month of October well I decided it was you know the locals have been coming back ever since vaccination started last year slowly but surely and more so and our business you know a year ago right now Delta was raging throughout the nation and our business hit a low point we had really grown up and really finally breaking even break literally breaking even in June of last year and then July hit and it's like oh my and then we peaked again in November and then we troughed again and from Omicron in January and then we went on and peaked again because business was growing tourism was returning national was getting close back to normal and then the R word hit you know in mid-may which is recession not Randy and so everybody started putting their hands on their pockets and started spending less and traveling less and going out less although overall according to the open table numbers I saw last week you probably saw them too you know the Nashville you know amount of people going out really searched because people had cabin fever they've been wanting to go out and enjoy themselves 20 million dollars a day I read yeah 20 million dollars a day is what tourism and we're tourism is spending in Nashville and we'll be back up to about I'm not sure the numbers for the end of the physical year but there'll be over six around 16 million guests coming to town but also the reality of getting back to a sense of normalcy but John are the Brandon the

38:18problem is I talked about your dad there sorry it was like a long-time customer the reality is is that the office towers aren't occupied as much no there may not be 50 to 60 percent on Wednesday which is the highest day of occupancy national studies show that Mondays and Fridays are the lowest day some businesses are bringing back everybody five days a week some none at all because they could save money and they found that they could operate you know remote and so it's really changed our business model so I wanted to find a way to reach out to the locals and say reach out reach out and touch the people who have supported Midtown Cafe over its 35 years which I bought like I said 25 years ago and I loved it so much I bought it yeah I used to go there you know one or two nights Sunday nights a month on to enjoy a nice quality meal in a casual fine dining environment which the dining room had the same number of tables as the Sunset Grill main dining room or the patio dining room 17 tables that's all we got now and it's just really intimate it's intimate and it's casual affordable fine dining which is what I try to do I'm not trying to be the hottest newest thing in town because it's easy to follow up and well you got to have the people wanting to do it and the burnout factor and I've gone I mean I guess a lot of folks have matriculated with me in the Randy Raven school with hospitality charm some have learned and grown from it and I'm proud of everybody but it's a tough blue-collar business as you and I know very physical oh my gosh every single day it's it's definitely a grind you've touched so many people you just mentioned that you said you know this there's like a six degrees of Kevin Bacon like I think if there's definitely a six degrees of Randy Rayburn in the city if you meet anybody who's been here for any amount of time you've had some sort of an influence on them indirectly or directly what are you most proud of right now if you look back on your career and if you want to know about Randy's career and everything that he

40:22does and it is a lot like people that you a restaurateur if you don't know about all like everything else that you're constantly doing for this industry what are you most proud of I think I'm probably most proud of the culinary school at National State in 98 I was told that after opera land had shut down the culinary apprentice program which I call the indentured servant program which had started when I was in management of a Lord in the you know like an 83 there was nowhere for people to go in Middle Tennessee and they told me they couldn't expand because there was a freeze on it I just love for people to tell me I can't do something just favorite this by my greatest motivators and so my friend Charles Smith was Chancellor at the time over the Tennessee Board of Regents and funny how Charles was we're friends to this day and I met him when I was an undergraduate in college at UT Knoxville and we were able to work that out because as I reminded him the hospitality industry employed one out of ten people in the state of Tennessee and we may not have the lobbyist and spoke with the strength of the automotive industry in order to get what we needed but it worked and that's when it started and so the program has grown since then that's went from one kitchen out on the Whitebridge Road campus to a great nice facility out in Antioch at the new campus that opened up there in 20 2011 with two twin kitchens and we're going to need to expand that capability in the next if people continue to come back through the programs overall enrollment in national state is down about four percent but we just opened up the new Rivergate campus in August which we broke ground on four years ago which I was integrally involved in and trying to secure because Cart Mayor Carl Dean wanted to make education accessible at K through college in all parts of town and with transportation issues you know having somewhat regionalized capability for port of entry abilities for students was part but I was probably most proud of Sunset Grill because I had just turned

42:2740 and I sold my home here just three three blocks from here Wow right behind you on 19th Avenue South I had my account at Gary W Smith music industry guy crazy enough to have restaurant people that's why I went with him because the music industry and a lot of similarities and he said that you'll only be able to borrow 20% I mean 80% 20% they won't loan you and you're gonna wind up needing that money well he was right he said the worst thing that can happen is you're looking for a job and you're paying rent so I like what the hell why not let's go and so he said if you're not committed to it who else is going to you know invest in you and I wound up you know picking my best friend who was the maitre d that I went to work for as a busboy in 1975 well going the night law school and Rick Sanjik was head of writer publisher administration of BMI in New York under Francis Preston and Rick is it is in the book too because he believed in me enough to make an investment and wound up you know quadrupling his money because I wanted to buy in the property in 90s 94 and bought him out a few years later and he was very happy and we're best friends to this day and we'll have lunch together on this Friday you know Wow it's amazing how you've kept all these relationships and just well not all but the ones that count in life you have your blood brothers and sisters and family that you're born with but as you go through life you would find people that are part of your adopted family in life that stick with you through the ups and downs because you learn that a lot of people are nice to you only when you're up it's the people who are there for you and besides you and caring for you and care about you throughout the times that stick around in your life and hopefully you're lucky if you have a handful of friends and I'm talking they have a core and then you've got it's like an onion you know a lot of different people at different levels but how many people are really going to be there for you in life and I'm blessed to have more than a handful and maybe two handfuls maybe I'm

44:31too hopeful but I'm blessed you know at my age to still be physically able to be doing what I'm doing and still sore from going to the gym you know two blocks that way up towards I-40 and steps to stay fit to be able to be in this industry because literally I'm in better shape than most of my peers that I've you know went to high school with not all but because I've been an athlete and I dropped out for a while but I had to rehab an EF Scott's back in 88 and I've been generally working out since no matter what the size of my belly was I I do the same thing I can't seem to get my belly to go down my kids joked and my kid always grassy goes jelly belly and I'm like that's not funny well that hurt son he'd lost a thousand pounds in his life you know it's a yin and yang and you know the depression of COVID I dropped a lot of weight and then I put a lot of weight on and then I got last summer I got very serious about it because I'm a type 2 diabetic and so I had my first hypoglycemic reaction it's like oh I'm eating too many carbohydrates I think I know better I know what I'm doing but I'm not doing it and that's the difference in life is walking the walk that you talk so on that front you just said that even during your the toughest times the toughest times when people stick with you those are the people that really are your are your that's your tribe yes do you think that that I think that's such an amazing opportunity not just finding people when they're doing their best but when they do fall when they slip and fell I mean I'm not perfect that we've all kind of had these moments but those people who leaned in put their arms around me I know I'll never forget I'll never forget those moments when I'm at my lowest and I think that every single day we as people in general miss opportunities to be that person I think

46:33that's one of my life goals right now is when people are at their lowest to go and just but literally put your arms around and say it's gonna be okay this is a moment a season in life we're gonna get through it together that's probably why you're fully staffed one of the things I fully believe in is the whole concept of this too shall pass yeah you've got to be there for people and and be there for them emotionally or physically or financially to be able to to develop a team coaches either have relationships or they're up here and it just they're not in touch I know I as an owner manager I get the least amount of information because to you people don't want to tell me the truth you know it's oh hey how do you really find out what's going on well it's it's not necessarily easy but it's like sit down and one-on-one what's really what's what's really bugging you what's the problem here how can how do you want to solve this I don't solve things I try to let people fix the problem and I've evolved as a manager I mean early in my career people will tell you yes I was a top-down this is the way it's done but that's about opening a restaurant I learned because I've done turnarounds and openings I've done 14 openings in my career in 47 years and part of what you've got to do is start with that but until you make it bottom up so it is the staffs restaurant both front and back of the house it will not function properly for very long because unless there's buy-in unless all right as I tell people do you want to go somewhere else and start over again get with it you know yeah get get along with everybody here and make happy or you know get the fuck out of here or as I used to say or open your own damn restaurant there you go why that's an interesting it's an perspective as a way to look at it I don't I don't know I don't that seems

48:34like there'd be more challenging to me like that scares me to put the restaurant to have that much control in to do it that way one of the things I learned and finally implemented while going to graduate school I've got part of a degree in public administration was you've got to learn to delegate to be able to grow and what I do is I've learned to trust my managers to make good decisions out if there was a problem I'll try to talk to them afterwards how could we do better otherwise but if you try to micromanage everything nothing happens you gotta let go of the vine no it's like the Russian army if the generals could don't call something or the sergeants and privates do they just they don't know what to do unless they're told what to do which is right now is probably flee back to the motherland because they were doing the new triathlon which is you know biking swimming and running back home you know yeah I was more in reference to I think you said in our last interview you said that really the you let the staff make those decisions you let the service staff when they come in you've got this core of people and new people come in you let them go hey you can't make it or you're not putting the effort in get them out of here and you kind of allowed your service staff to kind of help make some of those decisions no they make all the decisions because I don't work beside them in the wait station I'm busing tables or hosting the door or you know expediting or doing other things but the reality is they know what's going on and know who people are putting in effort or slacking and they know who fits in and who doesn't that's why I'm so thankful so many people returned to us some of whom hadn't been there in in years but they came back because they're making a good living and everybody gets along and that's the key some of the people that came in from the outside some of them a couple of them have worked out wonderfully but that's not my decision it's the my team make the decisions and all I do is help follow through on them whether let's give them

50:35another chance or you know let's define what the expectations or I I'm the one that says it's not working out yeah you know I'll be glad to give you a great reference but it's just not working out here because you're not happy here and we're not happy my team isn't happy with you and I'm not trying to fit a square peg through a round hole right so it doesn't work that way you know that no it doesn't work that way at all what do you do in the restaurant every day like what is your like are you actually in the building hosting busing tables like working every day we are gonna take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors I think one of the most overlooked things that you can do on a P&L which is your profit and loss statement is dish machine and chemicals it's just one of those things you don't focus on until it's too late let Jason Ellis from SuperSource come in and do an audit of what you're currently doing and why you're doing it his number is 771-337-1143 we believe here at Nash restaurant radio that every single thing that you do should be done intentionally in a restaurant and allowing some company to come in and just fix your dish machine without you knowing what's really happening is exactly what we're talking about the thing Jason does the best is he can help educate you on exactly what's going on with all of your dish machines and chemicals he can do staff trainings to understand why you're using what you're using again to be intentional they don't make you sign any type of contract they are week to week and can get you a brand new dish machine with three free months of dish machine rental you need to check them out go to Nashville restaurant radio com click the sponsors tab and then you will see SuperSource click that tab for a special or give Jason Ellis a call at 770-337-1143 we absolutely love partnering with Sharpies bakery Aaron Mosso has been selling bread fresh baked bread to locally-owned operated restaurants six days a week for 36 years

52:39yes her father started the company 36 years ago and Aaron took it over five years ago and it is doing amazing things I have so many guests that come in the studio that are like I love Sharpies they saved me so much time and the bread is so good so we we've got round buns specialty round buns dinner rolls hoagies baguettes they do cheesecake they do flourless chocolate torts they do specially loaf breads and regular loaf breads and bullies bullies B O U L E S sourdough long Tuscan wheat multigrain they got everything you should go check them out at Sharpies.com that is Sharpies C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com or you should give them a call at 615-356-0872 supporting local is so damn important and Aaron Mosso and all of our friends over at Sharpies bakery do that daily give her a call right now you know what chefs want some people still call at creation gardens but what chefs want has been was our first advertiser on the show Monty Crawford saw what we're doing he goes I want to be part of it dude I love it and I just I love that they're so perfect because they work with locally owned and operated restaurants better than anyone and let me tell you how they do it no minimums no fees no fuel surcharges no surcharges any time they deliver seven days a week they have 24 7 customer support you can call text chat email anytime from anywhere or you can reach them at 502-587-9012 they have a diverse line of products their chefs have access to thousands of items across many different categories that allow them to receive fresh product daily what chefs want is the perfect addition to any broad line company as they've got all of your fresh produce delivered daily plus custom meats anything that you need that your broadliner can't get give them a call 800-600-8510 or visit

54:41them at what chefs want calm we are supported by Robbins insurance a local insurance agency providing customized insurance policies sound guidance and attentive service Robbins insurance is the go-to agency for hospitality professionals in Nashville listen Robbins knows how hard industry professionals work every single day they also know how devastating accidents can be be it a grease fire that damages the kitchen a severe storm that cuts off power or a customer slip-and-fall incident both the extensive experience and the savvy to create a policy that protects your business from accidents like those you can rest easy knowing that your work you've put in will not be for nothing visit Robbins website at Robbins ins com to request a consultation or call Matthew Clements directly his number is 863-409-9372 protection you can trust that's Robbins oh yeah I'll go in this morning fortunately the Tricia Basso came back she met her husband you remember by Mike Basso yeah horse who died of a heart attack four years ago but her son who's now a senior got a car last year going to he and fog was able to drive so she came back having left us maybe 12 13 years ago I mean she was there in 99 as a server bartender manager and so she's running the door now because she came back last August because she was bored one could get out of the house sure and so I'll go back and I'll run the door when she's not there on weekdays Christie Rickard who worked for me at Sunset who worked for Park Cafe for Willie and the event for years joined us on the host on weekends and she's serving now and hosting on weekends but I would go in and I bust tables I greet people I I love to be the active owner hands-on because it's a blue collar business and the harder I work leading by example the harder my team

56:43works and I'd have to sit down and occasionally because you know I'm not as young and as fit as I you I'm fit but I my legs and the Lord I have smell four five problems sure of course but for me my job my job is check the bathrooms be everywhere and during service and being active and but the key is that I don't have to be there for them to work properly I can take a day off with my boys I'm planning my you know fall break time with them this morning what I finally got to the calendar what's gonna happen what are we gonna do and where are we gonna go but I trust my people to do their job which is which is very important you've got to do that you have I think in any any job if you're a leader what you have to do is you have to explain expectations you have to train people appropriately and you have to trust them you have to you have to empower them to make this you have to educate them on all of the things that you do and then you empower them to make those decisions if you just do that blindly that can lead to something but if you're if you're empowering people to make decisions and you're engaged in the business you can come back and have follow-up questions hey I know she made that decision the other day where you bought that table or whatever it might be and you go let's talk about that you're in trouble I just want to talk about the decision-making process and go over what I might do in that scenario and I thought that you did a great job here reinforcing or a little bit of it I'm big right now on the one minute manager I know it is so elementary it is this one hour read Blanchard I went through that with sunset grilled my staff got tired of me like we are we are going to explain you have zero I want every manager every person to explain every single thing that is expected throughout the shift super easy lineups let's communicate what it is I want them to inspect what they expect like follow up don't just say it and don't talk at people and then disappear to the office all day like actively get in there and help bus

58:44tables seat tables do all of that stuff but I think when you clearly explain what the expectations are this is what we'd like to do today or you have a one on one and say can we work on this or I thank you for doing all of these things but then when they don't do it they call it a read we called it the old one minute manager they called it a one minute well now it's a redirect reprimand is what they used to call it now it's a woman at redirect but like when you tell people to do stuff for you add a certain expectation let them know they did a great job when they do it it's really easy it's really easy to go hey thank you for doing that not just well that's your job you're expected to do that like but show gratitude and occasionally reward people you know without expectation yeah pray not only praise but reward you know that's the thing I know that my management team who all weight tables are ten bar I mean that I don't have a manager standing around doing nothing that's me and I'm not essential to be there that's the key part all of my general manager Doug is behind the bar or on the floor waiting tables lead by example and they're the ones that I trust to make the decisions and I don't even follow up that much anymore because I have that much faith and trust it's kind of like when you've got a Peyton Manning at quarterback you don't tell them what play to run you know you get up to the line all right let's try this one I know we did it this way I have to support my people in order to gain their trust and they have to do a pretty good job I don't expect perfection but what it's about is I've learned too later in life that all the you know the Blanchard books and all the other books about process help but it really matters about giving people a chance to prove whether they care and are capable and can do the job and enjoy doing the job or not yeah either positive reinforce that or negative

01:00:44reinforcement doesn't work very well and let me tell you negative reinforcement of the middle of shifts grows anybody up and I never do it in the middle of the shift you know I screwed up years ago and I will see all these young managers going around flipping their keys and you know just oh my god you know you know how I wish I knew I wish I knew ten percent of what I know now from 40 years ago because well this is but you're so good at sharing that information and you have a passion for taking what you've learned and sharing with other people one quick question because I want to get more into that what's your compensation model at Midtown Cafe how are you paying your server are you on like a tip pool or is it each person comes in and they have their tables and they take their tips like how does how are you did that change over the pandemic yes it did we went from individual you know tipping and a tip out to door or bartender or expediter to it's a tip pool now okay and basically one of the things we did too by the way I love this great model one of the things I did last summer was raised the base wage from 213 to 725 or 10 or 1250 or 15 or $20 an hour plus tips Wow I don't make as much but I'm making something sure better than nothing and everybody's happy and making great money I mean walking with scads of cash because let me tell you what I mean a little 75 seat restaurant you know total 21 tables you know four in the in the bowl six bar stools we do ten thousand people a month and we're not even busy right now because of the recession Wow ten thousand people a month I'm up over two-thirds over 2019's numbers wow you're crushing it happy staff happy life it's so much better than walking in a restaurant seeing empty tables and saying can I sit there and like oh we don't have enough staff like well if you could seat those extra nine tables maybe you pay him a little bit more right you pay people them or you'll have staff you

01:02:46can seat those tables and like you said I can make something but I can you know what you but you know what you do there and I think this is something that we haven't really alluded to it's not everything isn't about taking home stacks of cash I think for you and this is just you haven't said this out loud to me today but I think that you're more concerned with people coming in and having an amazing experience and feeling comfortable and feeling warm and when they leave there one of our one of our things that we do is I want you to feel nourished yeah when you leave I don't I don't want you to feel full I don't want you to feel happy I want you to feel nourished and nourished means say shit and it means you're full but you're also whole happy you're whole like there it was an experience I leave there better than I was and I feel like with you that's the most important thing that when you leave here you feel like you just had an experience with family with people you know I'm leaving here comfortable better than when I got here and I think that's the most important thing to you and then you build around that well you're right because part of and I was talking about it last night with the crew because I came back for after the gym because we were talking about just some things that we needed to do but that are upcoming and I said it's all about the climate if you're happy in the weight station if you're happy in the bar everybody knows it I said if everybody in the bowl can hear what's going on at the bar and table 21 and table 23 can hear it and in the 50s they can hear you know what's going on in the weight station and if you're not having a good time you know and working together and having a good time everybody can feel it because it is the climate and I don't create the climate they I'm the one that hopefully puts together the pieces to allow that climate of nourishment and a servant friendly Kurt you know because that's who we are right we are Bob Dylan said

01:04:47you got to serve somebody it took me a long time to realize that I'm doing what I prefer doing which is making people happy that having finished law school and living through an adversarial environment that none of my lawyer friends enjoy practicing law thank I'll still go enjoy going to work 99% of the time there's 1% it's like oh well you know disappointment or can make you know I hate it when it's dead yeah I hate it when it's I think we all do yeah and it's just slow and you're like you know they're cycles now but one of the best things I ever did was open up for breakfast at Midtown Cafe probably because I was always envious of the Lions out the door for David Baldwin at the pancake pantry and but the whole idea of breakfast and lunch and late night at Sunset Grill didn't make sense but at Midtown when Nashville closed I'm like let's go I need to do it and thing is a lot of restaurants you've got one right over here next to you Christopher's there's a lot of breakfast lunch brunch restaurants that aren't open at dinner because they don't have that sell at nighttime that's what Midtown Cafe did but had an existing core lunch business that was pretty good but I added clientele and covers on days seven days a week finally we added a Saturday and Sunday and October of 21 or 20 and and did it because there are people that living there there are more people living in Midtown than Germantown now Wow oh there's that right behind you there's that what's a new story every the new there's 300 units 34 huge but you know what it almost killed us because people couldn't get to us during construction with deliveries and everything else but the number of apartments and the condos that have developed in the Midtown area from really Charlotte all the way up to up to music row and from the interstate and out to 440 yeah it's just have they been good to you what happens in that situation I'm curious what happens in that situation because I've never had it where you have this gigantic hotel condo this mixed-use building going up

01:06:48right next to you they close off the streets do you get subsidies for that do they do they do they come in and at least say we are so sorry we're closing your street today how's your relationship with them it was adversarial but okay we were able to deal with it but there's stuff you can't deal with I was fortunate that I knew ahead of time that the construction was going to happen and I went to public works with a good lawyer you've got to have someone who is you know relationship driven with that and I was able to keep my alleyway open or we would be closed my landlord was like what's the problem with that I said it's an existential threat to your rent yeah okay if I don't people can't get to me and park in my business and we don't have enough parking but I was able to eventually bring that lay back and we have a relationship with the Marriott Hotel so we can park overflow in their parking garage across the street now I'm working great with the new general manager of the apartment building there's a 200 room Hilton Hotel of Allen over on Broadway across from the MC suites and otherwise and I've met with those people in the marketing director used to work across the street Marriott courtyard with that's gonna work out he's a nice guy he worked in the hospitality business he cares he knows what's going on Cory's a great guy is that rare today to find people that genuinely care yeah it is not sad well yeah but his Nashville has never been that way Nash I think Nashville is taking this turn now like and I love sharing stories like you're sharing today like I love I have a very romantic I look back and I think about all my years in the restaurant business and Hillsborough village a very romantic feel about that whole time and just the way the which those locally operated community comes together and I think there's so many people coming to town that don't give a shit about any of that and they care about them and money and we're gonna take over and kind of just scares me it makes me sad sometimes

01:08:48I would say that what I've seen is there's always been a caring and giving spirit in the hospitality community that you know I've remained great dear friends with Deb Paquette who was my chef a long time ago with Margo and Heather and friends and just Willie Thomas and there there were great chefs before 2000 in Nashville Tennessee I don't tell all the newcomers revisionist as it were that you know the national had some decent food service here really good back to the 80s Jody's a friend talked to him a few weeks ago Adam Dredd and I were three of us talked on a conference call and you know the reality what do you guys talk about oh I'm not allowed to talk about that on there we just friends shooting the shit or is there a business venture you guys are just shooting the shit you go but you guys just friends you know here's a here's a stand-up comedian and Adam you know turn lawyer you know you know there's not gonna be a whole lot of serious conversation going on you know gosh and you follow I follow once but you know it's part of what it's about is that there are great alliances of communities there's some great leadership from like Julia over at Henrietta red and other gosh with the independent restaurants and Sean and others out there working in the communities and doing good things there's a lot of people doing that ton of it a lot of them are new people and a lot of them are great locally owned chef but a lot of really chains that have outposts here now because why we're a tourism city we are now the sales tax our property taxes were going to be growing exponentially higher because back around 2000 the sales tax because of this thing called the Internet the percentage of the sales tax and Metro's budget went from 20% down to 16% in the 90s and then it needed to grow and we wound up convincing people that we needed a new convention center downtown and that's part of what caused the sales tax to grow for Davidson County now none of us expected what happened to lower Broadway I really I told my friend Steve

01:10:52Buchanan whose niece worked for me that unfortunately the TV show Nashville was a tremendous hit and was the best soap opera since Dallas if you look at the tourism numbers they grew in 2012 as we were really coming out of the post-flood environment of May of 2010 and that's when the New York Times and created us as the its city and the true and the bachelor and bachelor ed party started coming to town and that's okay but that's not Nashville and there was no control over the transport payment downtown and it's got it was to laisse a fair and they couldn't because the state law regulations couldn't do that and I won't go into bore you with the details of it but it you know I was really asked about this yesterday and it's just it really too much too soon and a lot of downtown Nashville just now reminds me of the French Quarter which is a theme park for adults that's exactly what it is that's what Broadway is yeah and now and now it'll go downtown you walk down Broadway on any given night but like on a Saturday night you walk down the middle of Broadway's it closed it off now you can't even drive on it I don't recognize it well I don't recognize it at all what you wound up having was licensing of brands and and creating Jason Aldean's I mean already 21 million dollars in sales in the first year you know Blake really likes his royalty percentage a la Vegas which chefs have been doing out there for a long time yeah country music artists or musicians and other artists don't have those kind of situations well and you know here's I think I think a lot of people think that like Blake owns that no like he's a licensing deal that's a Ryman hospitality owns that and then they license isn't there's one in Tishminga Oklahoma that he actually owns that was like his then that concept is taken on Ryman Hospital and they've opened one in Gatlinburg and they got the money but he has the contractually has to be there twice a year but it's not his nobody's the genius of Narvel

01:12:55Blackstock who manages him yeah who was Reba's ex-husband right yeah yeah and Narvel's a brilliant regular probably at Midtown and I know at my restaurants once or twice yeah and there a few times great guest the valet knows what his car looks like you know 1245 okay we'll be there yeah doesn't have to call but anyway the reality is what there are a lot of good people and they're very creative because Nashville is a gathering spot for creative communities you've got all these Millennials and drunk professionals moving here from around the country because we're a Sun Belt town the 800 pound gorilla is the health care industry with 23 24 publicly traded companies 400 plus privately owned health care companies you've got the technology industry growing here now dramatically with Oracle and Amazon and everybody else and yes it's a bit too much but traffic is still better than it was in 2019 or you know because there's not as many people on the road coming into town but it's we still don't have the infrastructure to handle it and may never because of Tennessee Department of Transportation don't get me started on them we'll buy but we'll save that we'll tuck that away for the next I want 840 North to come back I wish we hadn't not done that but that's another story you seem spry as ever how old are you I'm 72 holy shit I would never think you were 72 I would look at you and I think you're in your 50s the restaurant industry is good for you if you're active if you stay in the back and hide it's one of the reasons I just put an air conditioner in the office I don't want people in the office that's the myself yeah no I we were talking the day I said I had a manager in the office at 120 in the afternoon and I go I walked in I said who's saying goodbye to guests right now is there another person now I didn't know I thought that was like is there why do we have a manager in the office at 120 like but I'm the only manager and I go I need you to get out there like this this not the time to eat lunch no money no money is generated in office go made out in the front of the

01:15:00house talk to people right just be present when are you gonna hang it up man you see you if I talk to you right now if I was to guess you do this another 30 years you are the energy the passion that you're still exhibiting at 72 years old you're out here hustling like when are you gonna when are you gonna say I'm done I love what I'm doing now I'm already slowed down because I don't have to be there at 6 in the morning anymore the way it was two years ago but you still go all the time because it's in your blood you love it when are you gonna stop do you have a number do you have a day in your brain I've got a 15 year old and assumed to be nine-year-old a retirement doesn't exist what I've already doing is slowing down a little bit so that I can go in at 830 or 9 o'clock I can get a lot more done at my kitchen table in terms of emails and replying to things rather than being at work with all the distractions and trying to accomplish the running of the business parts of that plus my life and I still enjoy it and but that's why I'm working days now and not nights anymore because I don't have to be a hospitality vampire yeah I why do you think I called it Sunset Grill that's when I woke up but you know breakfast changed my life for the better because I'm working on the same schedule as my two sons and I enjoy it and I turned it over to Doug now Doug will be the general manager no matter what and the goal right now I'm working on something so Craig will wind up being the secretary treasurer of the corporation and he'll be the executor of my trust in my estate anything happens to me we're not selling we've got a great business yeah if I'm not able to work as much I'm gonna need income and I want it to work and I don't have to be there to run it I've got great managers in the front of the house my chef's been with me 17 years my sous chef started with me in 2000 as a dishwasher they're fabulous people that's why we've got their stories in the book because the

01:17:02restaurant is about the people the people that work there and the people that we serve and the stories and interactions with him again 35 years 35 years the Midtown Cafe that's just celebrating you bought it in 1997 after it been open 10 years and now we're 25 years later you've written a book and I was trying to look here I was looking on my computer at the I've got a little press release that hasn't quite it's gonna go out today actually yeah this isn't gonna air today so I don't know if people this will be a I love that you had Chris Chamberlain right kind of a says discovering the stories that have usually only been shared between close friends over a glass of wine after closing makes for a fascinating and entertaining narrative crack open a bottle of California Cabernet find a comfortable chair to read in and dream of voodoo pasta which is a classic dish Chris is such a great guy and his house is just you know literally one block over behind you here is he really close to me I don't have never been to his house oh yeah it's right over there he used to be my neighbor behind me because I was there well he needs to get his ass in here and do some more shows with me well I love that guy reach out reach out touch someone that's what the Internet's for now instead of a touché but it's about I mean it's like the stories of one of my favorite stories Jerry Karen tells the story of a hostess whining and bitching one day about she did want to be there and you know and Jerry called Karen said come on up to the front and Karen got there as Jerry said she the little girl said I don't want to be here Jerry tapped her on the shoulder and said wish don't ever come back yeah bye bye that's wish granted Karen came out of the accounting office and hosted that day but those are the kind of stories that are real because it's kind of like we don't want you here if you don't want to be here but I think it's such a unique insight I think that some of my fondest memories are after a really

01:19:02tough shift or after whatever going to whatever the bar is and for me it was Sam's in the Village sitting in that bar with Jesse or Maha or any of the people and like having a drink and just sitting with people who understand what you just went through and it sounds like in this book there's those stories you don't you didn't have to come with me and get the alcoholism and all the stuff that came along with it you can just read this book and transform yourself back into those times share the stories there's some great recipes you can get the book at Midtown Cafe you can you got a can you buy it online and no no I didn't I decided not to do that I know my friend Mike Kelly's book is available on Amazon and I decided my whole goal is to get people in the doors at Midtown Cafe and if you want a copy of the book it'll be there I may take it a I may go speak to some women's club here on Hillsborough Road if they want me back at some point or some other things but my goal is come experience what we have to offer I'm going to give copies to my regulars and because it's better than a t-shirt and I want to say thank you and that to me is part of what it's about but part of what it's about in all this is that Karen did the interviews with the people and I wasn't present because I wanted them to be comfortable talking about what what made them happy what do they remember the most what what were the great fun times of what what you know what what nightmares do you have you know from those days you know I can't wait to read it myself I mean I have so many memories of the bar at Sunset Grill to me was a very special place I'm more of a Sunset Grill guy versus Midtown I like the and I have a rehearsal dinner at Sunset Grill I mean this Friday was my 17 year wedding anniversary congratulations 17 years it's crazy so 17 years ago Thursday I was at the Sunset Grill doing a big party in addition to the book which you can go to the book you can get the book starting October 1st yes October 1st you can

01:21:06start getting the book over at Midtown Cafe in addition to that you are offering something absolutely amazing if you're out there and you like the Midtown Cafe gift card sales there you can receive a 35% discount on gift card purchases of $100 or more they're available in the restaurant or online valid only on purchases made between the months of or between the dates of October 1st October 31st so you're you're giving back to people and you're saying look if you want to buy a gift card over 100 bucks I'm gonna give you $35 I want my local regulars to be able to have a discount and I also just really want to be able to say thank you I don't need the money with last year we didn't sell any discounted gift cards I learned a lot about that to pay for Franklin Cabana and it survived the flood and other things but it it's it's about I just think that it's a great way to give back good get back and give back because we're doing other donation things signature soup 35% 35% of the proceeds of all the Midtown Cafe lemon artichoke soup bring me donated to the Nashville State Community College of Culinary Arts valid on bowls or quarts of soup purchased in the restaurant October 1st through October 31st 2022 and I think that most people that hear this are gonna be the most excited about this one and that is that there's gonna be a special greatest hits menu featuring fan favorites from the over 35 years they'll be offered in addition to the regular menu items so if they're if you're one of those people they're like why'd you get rid of the this dish chances are in the month of October you can come back and feel nostalgic and try some of those dishes so the month of October we can just make this Midtown Cafe month I don't want a one-day celebration what I wanted to do was say here we are and this is what we're doing and come see what the greatest hits were you know there's a sandwich that John Woodard talks about that we used to do that was a pain to make it lunchtime because it took so long because there were so many ingredients that come out of the pantry

01:23:09and it slowed us down ultimately we got rid of the club sandwich to the greenhouse grill because it takes so we're gonna bring back the you know the tuna with appetizer which was beautiful and really eclectic and currently avant-garde kind of thing oh yeah that's kind of old-school now I guess but that's the whole thing I want to bring back the elk roasted elk I want to bring back you know the classics I'm not deciding this the staff is deciding what they want to bring back and try you know the hot and sour salmon or tuna rather just things that are really comfortable we're still in the process of finalizing that because people have got their own things that they think we should have and we've got all these recipes in written form not online because our computer got hacked last year and so lost that database so don't trust on anything unless it's backed up and in the cloud trust me and I and hell of my own Facebook posting got hacked a week before last and I may get it back this week exciting stuff yeah well you know you know welcome to the modern world Randy I am so excited for what you're doing at Midtown Cafe I'm excited for you it is always an absolute I'm humbled honestly I'm humbled having you here in this room with me sitting across from me my entire career okay and I started in 1995 at Taco Bell welcome to the border may I take your order right 95 hustling taking orders washing dishes to Pizza Hut then 1997 started at Jay Alexander's on Whitebridge Road right training learned that was my first wait job I was 18 years old just graduated from high school and I learned about you like you were you were this figure to me like you were this guy that owned these restaurants it's hugely successful restaurant tour in town and I love I love people like that I'm not a

01:25:12hater like I love Tom Brady I like the great and I love greatness and I want to go towards great people Dave Ramsey a long time ago said don't go ask somebody who's been divorced six times marriage advice you know what I mean like go find people who've been successful and emulate them do what they do and you've always been somebody who I've emulated you've you've your your passion which the way that you care not only for the city of Nashville but the hospitality industry is so incredibly selfless your contributions to what we would not be this industry in Nashville would not be what it is today without you your fingerprints are all over this thing and it is an honor to have you in this studio today talking to me and I cherish these moments and I appreciate your candor this means a lot to me thank you for being here I am as someone who's not a legend in my own mind I thank you for your kind words but for me you know people I care about are the Tom Morales is and people that I respect like the job oh lead better you know founded a he's been so now Rick Thompson and others I'm you know just and I miss the Houston Thomas's who was a mentor who did you know sparrows and with Jerry Baxter my best friend who's 84 you know who's opened up 20 restaurants in his career and and learned the business of Aspen so he could pay for us you know ski season yeah moved out there and hated being a bank teller in Los Angeles I'll tell you that and that those are the mentors the Jamie Camaro's and you know I've been blessed to know so many people in the industry and to still be friends with Jody and to still be friends with Willie and Yvette and the Katie and Stephanie Dean and Joe their mama Joe and just from the cave and just I'm I'm blessed because I still love what I do I can tell well if you don't look why are you doing it it's a great

01:27:13point you know I'm a sir I'm a servant I love to serve it brings me joy to see people leave the restaurant happier than when they came that's why I do it I do it every day because I love to serve I love seeing people come back because I recognize them and may not may or may not remember their name anymore but I know who they are and talking to them and seeing them even customers who gave him in for the first time yesterday we get a lot of two firsts and three firsts or even you know two times a day you know because hey we're here and we love your food and that's why we're back and it's like hey give us a try thank you so much because it's that compliment but I love the positive feedback that makes me feel good about what we're doing and I miss the Cabanas which I wasn't that active in I let Craig and Brian run that one and I'm proud that Amanda Gamble is now with us at Midtown who was with Craig for a total of 14 years counting came over in June after having been with Elston Soda Shop after we sold the once again I wouldn't sign a personal guarantee on another five-year lease so next moving on there you go you live you say it and you live I love that the final thing that we're gonna do because we're at our time again thank you for being here but the final thing that we do now a little different than the first interview I had with you I feel like today I'm working on it we do the Gordon Food Service final thought that is a paid advertising sorry Gordon we love Gordon food good good service is there of all my time working for all the different people GFS has been one of those companies that is just they do what they say they're gonna do as well as your rep with no I know I work with Paul Hunter Paul's an amazing guy and they're they're doing some pretty aggressive stuff here in Nashville right now but that's not what we're talking about right now we're talking about our final thought which goes to you you get

01:29:16to say whatever you want to say as long as you want to say it you can surmise the conversation you can give advice whatever you want to say as the final thought for this interview you get to take us out the the mic is yours I realize every day out blessed and fortunate I am to have reasonably good health and to love what I'm doing and to have two beautiful boys in my life to contain they are whom the book is dedicated to but it's also to all the people that have put up with me as I've grown and learned on the road of life because you got to love what you're doing and whom you're doing it with or you need to get out and go somewhere else and do something else because happiness it's life is too short to not be happy doing what you're doing and working with whom you feel comfortable because we're only here for a brief moment in time a flicker in the cosmic scheme of things but you know I'm a dreamer that maybe that's why Midtown Cafe is Gandalf LLC maybe I just read the token too much but I look forward to getting prime and being able to watch watch the latest version because I grew up on escapism because sometimes we need to escape from our lives in the dream and I was able to fulfill my dreams of opening my own restaurant or as I called it the grill of my dreams and made that happen. The grill of your dreams. And be able to enjoy my life to this day in this moment and to make friends like you and when he started in the business your father was you know was a regular customer at Sunset Grill and I'd known him before then and just that's the blessing I have is that I know thousands of people and care about 99% of them you know the other one percent generationally you're talking about you've waited on parents and now you're seeing their kids and even green kids. I've got third generation yeah I mean I mean like I said I'm in this business 47 years 48 next year. Well like I said

01:31:17Randy it is an absolute honor to have you here thank you for taking the time today I'm excited for the month of October and Midtown Cafe and beyond it's not just a one month kind of a thing but if you want to go try some of the classics at Midtown Cafe you want to pick up Randy's new book 35 years of Midtown Cafe Sunset Grill there's recipes there's stories super excited about it can't wait to read it I'm gonna have to go get a coffee and I'll go starting a little library over here of all of my favorite books and again thank you for coming in today and we will we'll talk again soon. Thanks and as one of my great throwaway lines that I say to people is keep those cards and letters coming it was good enough for Miss Minnie that's what I say to folks all the way out the door. All right Randy thank you so much. All right. Thank you guys so much for listening today I hope that you enjoyed that interview with Randy Rayburn love for you guys to give a call out we'd love you to use our sponsors the sponsors are on the show allow me to continue doing this every single week and I'm gonna keep pumping these things out I just love sharing these stories I love telling the stories I cannot wait to share the story for Flora and Fauna and East Nashville this is this the greatest cutest couple I've met they are the real American dream and I cannot wait to share this story with you thank you guys for listening again and I'll so looking forward to sharing our episode with Chad Mueller this Friday so stay tuned we hope that you are being safe love you guys bye