Rob Floyd

00:00Today we're talking about Cytex and let me tell you for a company that sells linens, uniform services, kitchen apparel, they do restrooms and mat services, first-aid kits, they're amazing. The quality is amazing and their service is amazing but I want to talk to you today about a good friend of mine. His name is Ross Chandler and Ross is kind of their sales manager over at Cytex and Ross has been somebody I've known for four years. We had a terrible experience with our linen company. Way too high pars, super long contracts and they just did us wrong. That's when I met Ross. He came in and did everything right. First off he cares. He actually cares about our business. He cares about making sure that our guests have the linens they need and that they're stain-free, the color is consistent and they do an amazing job. They did that throughout the pandemic and he has become one of my good friends and I'm so honored that they sponsor this podcast today. If you want to feel that way about your linen company, I suggest you give Ross a call. His number is 270-823-2468 and he's waiting for your car. Now if you're a locally owned and operated restaurant and you're unhappy with your linen company, I'm telling you you'll be really happy if you give Ross a call and tell him that you heard about him right here on Nashville Restaurant Radio.

01:29Welcome 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 are talking with Angel and Rob Floyd. They're not married couple. Angel is his assistant, executive assistant and Rob Floyd is a celebrity mixologist. So what does that mean? Celebrity mixologist. He has worked with Jose Andres, worked on his team when he won the James Beard Award. He has worked with Gordon Ramsay. He currently has a product called Whip Shots that he works with Cardi B. He was on the show Bar Rescue, been on that show a lot with Jon Taffer and he does a theater where he actually does a whole show around mixology and bartending. It's a really fascinating thing and I'm really excited to bring him on the show today because this guy is sharp as a tack and we had so much fun talking about all things, just his life, like the things that he's been through, the things that he's done and it's been really fascinating. I met him at Mayor Bowl. He was the celebrity kind of guest for an event that we did the other night and he just blew me away. We had such a great time talking. I said, man, you should come on the show. So this is a show that I'm doing without Caroline again. She is on assignment and she will be back next week. So we are going to be doing some episodes. We'll bring her back and excited to have her back. I really want to do a round up because I have so much to talk to her about. Are you guys watching the bear? Oh my gosh, this show, you know, it came

03:31out. I've been hearing mixed reactions about the bear and I want to talk about it with Caroline because I have so many thoughts. I'm not going to give any spoilers right here, but I will tell you in season two, episode seven, it is basically about unreasonable hospitality. And we've had Will Gadara on the show and that book has been so amazing to this industry and just everybody out there. But I just, I want to talk about it for a second because I felt seen, I felt triggered. I felt so many things watching this show and we don't say yes, there's, listen, there's things about the show that are nothing to do with anything that I do. But some of you may be, I don't know, but I love the fact that in season one, they come in and they bring in Sid, who's a sous chef. And I just love the fact that they bring structure and they bring organization and they bring passion and they, they motivate people and they come out of, they come out of nowhere. These people were line cooks at a shitty kind of a, a Chicago beef place, an Italian beef restaurant. And you see these people that are in every restaurant, people that are there, they're just hustling, don't necessarily come from the best backgrounds, but they're so talented and they're so amazing. And you see when somebody believes in them, what they can do. And that's everywhere in the show. I love the brilliance of everyday people who work in restaurants and then they find their thing. They find the thing that they're really good at and they, they put everything into it. And it was just so amazing to me. I see this all the time. I see people who are in a restaurant and then you challenge them and you give them an opportunity and they step up and they crush it. And some, maybe some people for the first time,

05:35they look and they go, oh my God, I'm good at something. I'm great at this. And they lean into it and they realize that hospitality is not that they can do it, that they can create pastries that they can create in this particular case, donuts and amazing desserts. And in season two, there's a moment where one of the sous chefs gets a, gets a new pan. And I don't know, it was just, there's just some really, really special things in this show. And I was inspired by it. I was inspired by season two, everything that goes into running a restaurant. I felt like there's so many things on a daily basis that we go through. There's so many things that you experience and you don't get a chance to really think about stuff. You just react and you just go. And I felt like that was everywhere in the show. And I just, I loved it. I absolutely loved season two. I love season one. If you're not watching the bear, I'd love for you to watch it. And I reference some things in, in this interview, maybe not actually from the bear, but some of it is brought up ideas from the bear and creating magic in what we do and how the guests sees us. And I talk about some of that. So there's one question I ask him where I ask him, what is the thing that any bar, any restaurant anybody can do through all the episodes of bar rescue, all the stuff. What's the one thing that people could do right now to change their bar to fix it right now?

07:10What's the number one thing that people just don't do? And I'm going to talk about his answer after this episode. So stay tuned because I have some thoughts and I want to give that to you. I do want to say that there's some great nonprofits out there. Core is one of those children of restaurant employees. And there's another one called big table. And there's another one called the giving kitchen. I am on the engagement council here in town for the giving kitchen. And all three of these nonprofits are just absolutely amazing. And they are helping restaurant employees every single day. And I implore you to go look them up because if you have a restaurant, you're a leader in a restaurant, you work in a restaurant. These people are helping restaurant workers in crisis and it is free and they are giving real help. And I really want you guys to check them out because this is an amazing benefit that is offered to every one of your employees here in Nashville. And we're honored that these companies are able to do it. If you have the ability to do anything is where you are, you know, run a feature, run a drink special, something that benefits any of these. I just got a message from core the other day that there's a there's a taco place that has now trademarked taco Tuesday and they're going to be donating a portion of their proceeds to core. Anything like that that you can do, please reach out to these companies and help them out because they're helping you. And it would be really, really special if you were to be able to help them out. And if you didn't know that these were nonprofits that were available to you right now, then there you go. Now, you know, and now you can look into them. And if you have an employee who's in crisis, somebody who's been injured, somebody who can't work and they need help, these are resources that will absolutely help them.

08:58And I love working with all three of them here in town. They're just amazing. That Children of restaurant employees, big table and the giving kitchen. So with that being said, I'm so excited. We're going to have a wonderful week this week. I am heading to Florida at the end of the week and I'm going to be interviewing some restaurants in Florida down in 38 area. And I cannot wait to bring you those houses. We're going to do kind of like, Hey, if you go down there, these are the places you need to go. And I'm going to tell you some stories about what they do. And I'm really excited to get kind of embedded and do some fun things over next weekend. So I've got some fun things coming up. New episode coming out following Monday. We'll have Caroline back and thank you for listening. If you love the show and you hear this and you want to share it, I would love that. I would love to build this audience as big as we possibly can, because I think we're telling some stories here. And my goal is to build this community and share each other's strengths and our weaknesses and our failures and our successes. These are things that restaurateurs I hear all the time that they are, man, I just love that story. I learned something here. I pulled something from that. And I love that you guys are calling our sponsors. I love that you guys are understanding that, Hey, these are people that that Brandon trusts and that he works with and that they are here to help. These aren't people that just advertise with me. These are people that I know that are my friends that I highly recommend. So I endorse everybody that we talk about.

10:33And it's a random line on a P and L that you're not really looking at. And we've got this volunteer welding and supply. These guys are amazing. They come in and so many people use this company called New Co, which I don't even know where they're out of. But the prices they're charging people are astronomical. We went to volunteer welding and we were paying four times as much for our CO2 with New Co. But the way that they structured their deal, it's so long. And then they put in all these random prices and volunteer welding is very straightforward. They do a great job. They're local and they can save you thousands and thousands of dollars. And all it takes is a phone call phone call and go, Hey, can you come check this out? And I'm telling you guys, David Perry over there does such an amazing job, but it's a little it's companies like that, that just make me so proud to do what we're doing over here. Let me tell you, if you want to call David Perry, his number is 615-306-7455. That's what the volunteer welding and supply. They're your CO2 specialist for all of your Coke and beer and all the different things that you might need CO2 for. Give them a call. What does it hurt? What does it hurt? Give give them a call over at Superstore, Sharp Yeas Bakery. These people are doing amazing things.

11:46You all know Gordon food service. You all know what chefs want or what some of you know is creation gardens. There's just some amazing companies out there. Corson Fire has done such amazing things for us, you know, and people opening new restaurants and I can't get somebody to come do my suppression system. Corson's on fire, man. These guys do great, great job. I trust them. And if there's anything that you need from them, Kevin Rose is your guy. You're going to hear an ad for them here in a minute, but give them a call. I implore you call these people because they are doing the right thing and they want to take care of you. They want you to succeed. It's all right. I know you're done with me talking. I get Let's jump in right now with Rob Floyd. Super excited today to welcome in Rob Floyd and Angel Jennings. Now, Rob is a celebrity mixologist and Angel is your executive assistant. So I'm so excited to have you guys in studio. I'm thrilled, thrilled to be here. This is awesome.

12:49I'm going to tell a little bit of backstory. So at Marable, we had an event the other night and you were there really as a showman. I mean, you were the entertainment. Absolutely. So as it was a big birthday party, we had this, they're bringing in a celebrity mixologist, which my eyes immediately roll. I'm not going to lie. I'm like celebrity mixologist. What the hell is this, right? And so I come in because I wasn't really going to be there, but I wanted to meet you because I was like, let's check this thing out. And as I met you and I saw what you're doing, I was like, oh, this guy's next level. Oh, thank you. He's doing really cool things. I immediately found you interesting. And I went, I think you need to come on my show. So here we are. Yeah, here we are. You know, most people know me from Bar Rescue. I've been on there for 10 years about, and I'm usually yelling at people, making them cry, all that. However, I do those live shows and I've done them at Caesar's Palace for 3000 people a pop. And so they're really fun. This was just a really intimate one. I love now living in the Nashville area. And so when friends reached out and said, hey, listen, this is a really special birthday coming up. Would you do a little evening? I was like, sure, I will definitely. So Angel coordinated it all. I immediately felt lucky that I knew that like we're about to see greatness in a very small venue. It's like, you know, when you see like Metallica play at the end or something and you're like, what is this? It felt like it was like we have a guy here who's doing big things in our little place. And you could tell. I mean, I immediately could just tell. And so I want to jump into Bar Rescue. We just start there. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because I love the show and I saw a meme the other day that said this was my favorite bar until it was rescued. You know, that's so funny. People have a bar until it's rescued. Now I'm paying for everything. You know, I want to go through the whole process of how the show works. You work with Jon Taffer, right? Right. And he wants you to invoke a response out of people that you've read his book. It's amazing. Yes. I've

14:52heard him speak. Yeah. But he's so emphatic and you watch the show. How much prep is done? Do people submit that they want to be on the show? How does it work? No. So they sometimes submit, but we also have teams that search everywhere and they're all over the nation, especially now because the show has been such a dynamic hit. And he's legit. He's the real deal. Lots of fun to work with, but incredible to watch. I mean, he's very compelling. So you have people that want to be on the TV show desperately. And then you have people that they think they should be on it and that their place is amazing. And Jon would never yell at them. And that's where the gold is. That's where when you're going to do a show and they're like, I can't believe he's yelling at me. They're usually drunk or stoned or both. And it's a, it's very fun. How often does that happen? I mean, like, okay, I'm getting ahead of myself because I have, I want to, I want to slow this all good. All good. You identify there's a bar that you want to go rescue, right? Whether they submit, however it is. Yeah. The initial, like, do you, do you go in and scout it pre I mean, or when you, when you walk in the door, right, we're going to bring in Rob Floyd and he's going to help you. Are you going in with him? Are you going in as the specialist once he's already gone in and disrupted the whole thing?

16:12We all see it the first time, the first night, and literally it is four days of absolute madness. It is 18 to 20 hours a day. We haven't seen it. We don't know anything. It is a pressure cooker. Like there's no other. And I think one of the secrets of the show is there's, there's no safety net. So you're not sure if we're going to be able to do it. There's one we didn't that people just fought us the whole way through. So it's, you're there to help. John's got insane knowledge. We've got a fat pocketbook to be able to help you, but you have other people, just their egos get in the way so much. And so it's really a fun dynamic that always plays out differently each time that we walk in there to see it. And it is the first time we're there. What's the thing you see at every place? Like what's the number one cardinal sin? You walk in somewhere and like everybody does this thing. You see it in regular restaurants too, that needs to be fixed now. I think that they don't take personal responsibility for failure. And I think that's the biggest thing is, is even for us as we do a thing, whether it's a live show, whether it's a TV show, whatever it is, we always go good, bad and ugly every day. Good, what was good, what was bad and what was ugly. We really try to face the music because we can't grow without it. You have so many bar owners that I mean, everyone and John really stresses this is that personal responsibility. Hey, you know, this is this is your you did it. And if you did it, you can fix it. And if he if you buy into that, you can fix your place. So there's another TV show I do to call back to the bar, where I go and I investigate the bars that we've rescued. And it's fascinating to see the ones that really buy into his his work. They're striving, they're thriving, they're doing really well. But there's that personal accountability they didn't have before. Then there's others that have just they should have never been in

18:13the bar business. They're they're still they may be better, they may be still losing money, but it's always someone else's fault. Wow, I did not expect that answer. Yeah, I think that's so spot on to say and the book QBQ. Are you familiar with the book QBQ? The question before the question question. John Miller. Oh, brilliant book. He's been on the show. Oh, I love he's amazing. But stop asking incorrect questions. How come? How come they never do this go? What can I do to change that? What can I do to see myself being successful? What can I do to provide better? What can I do to be a better listener? Right? How can I understand what they're bringing to me and I can really apply these things? I mean, that's, that's such an amazing insight. Okay, so besides people's own personal accountability, is there an egregious thing that if I'm a bartender today, I can stop doing? You know, if you're a bartender today at to stop doing the first thing is, you're never selling anything. That's the important thing is, is it sounds ridiculous. And I, I do about a quarter billion in alcohol sales through my company. And I tell all my teams and I have 7000 bartenders I train is that you never sell you're providing an experience and that experience is based on a reaction. If people don't react to the way they're not connected to you. And if they don't have a connection, they're never coming back. So for my teaching is I base it a lot of off a Yale study that says the rule is 17. The rule is 17 says people laugh and smile about 17 times a day, but no great bar, they do it 17 times an hour. That's why we go to a great bar doesn't necessarily mean that the old fashion is this way or the, the IPA is incredible or that it's that reaction, the way that experience exactly that experience that connection. And once you get that and it could be a dive bar, it could be one of the highest ends, it could be a James

20:15beer bar, it could be any of that. But without that, you're going to fail. And you can do that anywhere, right? Like you said, that's not limited to a bar. Correct. I went to a twice daily yesterday just to buy a water. I was going to a meeting and I had, I was just like, I'm thirsty and get a water. And I went up and I got the water and the woman just, she just scanned it and then she, and she just kind of was like cash or credit kind of a thing. And she was like, swipe the card and I didn't have to thank you. And she went, mm hmm. Yeah. And it's like, I, in that moment I turned around and I walked out and I went, what a missed opportunity just for a person to, and I don't know what she's going through. I don't, I don't know anything about anything there, but like, what an opportunity to be like, thank you very much or have a good day or, and I kind of like, thank you. Like, thank you very much. And it's like, just connecting that, just that little thing, even at a gas station, anybody out there just are genuinely caring or wanting to create, you can do this anywhere. No, it's so true. And, and it's not just the feeling, but you can create a vertical off of that. I was working for sales, I was working with a buddy of mine who had a, basically a gas station that they're selling from. So we gave the person a really sweet, thank you. Can't wait to see you again. By the way, you want an icy water and they had bottles of water on ice there. And it was amazing. We were selling an extra hundred to 120 bottles of water, which costs us nothing, which bringing an extra hundred, you know, a day at least it to, you know, sure. So it was fascinating, but also we just saw people come back again and again. And then they would remember, it was really that they had a positive reaction to that. Somebody actually invested in me and asked me if they want to just engaged me, but there was a reaction. It wasn't transactional. There was a reaction to the way you treated them. Yeah. I see this angel in your daily life with him, with this guy here, just in everything you do. Like, I mean, what are your observations? Do you go with him on these shoots and do you see what happens at bar rescue? And I do go with him on some

22:17of the trips for the events that we do. Bar rescue was before my time and I keep him so busy. He hasn't had a chance to get back on there here lately, but I mean, it's true. It's very funny how we had a conversation with someone yesterday whose bar we're thinking about rescuing here in Nashville. And the the biggest problem that we see is the turnover in staff. And they don't understand how important that is because if I go to a restaurant or a bar and I see the same bartender that I have something in common with, or I can have a conversation with, they, you know, make a joke or make fun of me, whatever it is, you know, I'm going to go back. Even if I have a bad experience or a bad drink or whatever it is, my I managed a restaurant for 18 years. And I mean, half of the people that came in there came just to see me or one of the bartenders or some of the staff that was there. And it wasn't specifically for the food. So I mean, that's like one of the biggest things in my mind that people need to do.

23:19Turnover is a big issue, right? I think I saw a poll on LinkedIn yesterday said, what's your what's your biggest issue in your restaurant? Is it implementing technology? Is it leading your team or is it staffing? And like 80 percent of the because I put implementing technology is mine, right? Because leading to leading through change and identifying what technology you need, learning the tech and then installing the tech and then teaching the tech to everybody, which is the evil word of change. That is really hard. Keeping staff and staffing shouldn't be the hardest thing if you're doing the right thing. What advice would you give to somebody? What are you seeing out there? Why? Why is staffing such an issue? Well, staffing such an on a global scale, we noticed with one of my clients is Princess Cruises. Amazing experience, really incredible. But that with the shutdown, the pandemic is we lost all of our staff. So it was the big challenge of hiring tens of thousands of people and then all of a sudden getting them up to speed to slowly sort of launch and all and then to train them.

24:25So the staffing for us was the first big challenge was a lot of our teams come from very rarely the states. So you're looking in Asia, you're looking in in Europe, and that's where a lot of our teams come from. But it's all of a sudden it was crazy to get them. And then we were also competing at the same time with every other cruise line out there. Then it's like so you really had to listen to find out what everyone was looking for. You know, it was it just money? Was it more time off? Was it more time off on the ship? Was it experience of being on the ship like the it's an experience in itself working on a cruise ship. Yeah, and some people that's their dream. Like I just want to go be on the seas and go out and do I mean, if you're a young person, you don't have to be a young person, you can be an old person. I don't care. But like if you just want that experience young before you get married and have kids and kind of settle into your career, you want to go work on a cruise ship for a couple years? What an amazing opportunity. I wish I would have known this guy a long time ago. And then so for me, staffing in the States hasn't been a problem because I always take my bar teams. And honestly, one time I was rescuing a bar in San Francisco, not on the show. But by the end of the day, I'd fired everybody in the bar. And so I went to Starbucks, and I hired a whole bunch of baristas. And then I taught them how to bartend in about four days, you know, so they could get because if you can remember half calf, double decaf, you know, it's skinny this or what? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So but that structure and that passion and that excitement, getting them to be able to provide those experiences we talked about was key. So for me, then with my bar teams is I try to build them to stars, I try to put them on whether it's john shows or my TV shows, whatever it is, I try to put them on that and elevate then I also try to find out what their goals are, whether it is in in hospitality or not. But I have so many bar teams that are actually working around the world right now, because a lot of these guys come up to me and say, well, I've never traveled. And I'm like, where do you want to go? And you want to go to Europe? Do you want to go to Asia?

26:28And they look at me like I have a third eye in the beginning. But then it's like we start to work out a plan so that I can put them either with a ship or with a group that I'm working with so that they can spend a month in Paris or a month in London, and it really changes them forever. So if I get people out there listening right now, I've got somebody out there is like, I am into this, I want to do this. Should they contact you? Absolutely. Absolutely. How would they contact you? Instagram? Send you a message? Instagram drink with Rob is easy or the website? And what is that? Yeah, if you actually go to the website, robfloydent.com, there's a contact us page and it actually comes straight to me. There you go. So there's they're going to Europe and Asia to find people. We have people right here in Nashville. If you want to be part of that experience or you want to work with Princess Cruises, I know you're still working with them and they train. What do they do? All their training. So now they do it all in Nashville. So fly teams in. We have a team right now at the studio working right now. Sarah Turbert, one of one of our amazing mixologist is there. I have a whole mixology. Sarah's been in here.

27:31She's a good friend. Oh, she's she worked. She worked at Mary Bull with me for a little while too. No way. Turbots are turbots. Yeah, she's just awesome. And so I also you know, I do the I have a contract with the NFL. I have a contract with a resort that's coming out plus international golf courses. So for us, you know, hospitality and beverage is huge. We can't wait. But we try to send teams out that make people just fantastic behind the bar. Very different approach. They just have to have that excitement, passion to learn. And personal accountability. Yeah, absolutely. The other side of that coin. And I think when you have that, you can work anywhere when you stop blaming other people for everything. Yeah, for the energy. And I'm an alcoholic, right? So I'm not but I'm also a level one sommelier. So I drink a lot in my life and I know fair amount about alcohol. But the serenity prayer, right? That God grant me the serenity of accept the things I cannot change and the courage to change things I can. That's personal accountability. I can't change I can't change you. I can't change anything else I do. I'm not going to stress about it. I'm not going to blame anybody for that.

28:40That's energy in the world. That's what it is. But the things I can change. And the number one thing you can change is looking at you in the mirror. It's so true every day. Now what so like with cocktail theater, the big shows that I do all over the world and and I whether it's Caesar's Palace, it was about 10 years ago, my brother john was a recovering alcoholic. He came to a show and loved it was so much fun. And he said to me, it would be so cool if I could try the drinks, but I couldn't. And so that was just such a light bulb moment for me and my company is as you were at that event, there was 10 people not drinking alcohol yet they were served every drink. It was just made zero proof, which is one of our biggest trending things was huge. We call them a designated driver drink, so that they get a special whether it's a flower or about so our team always able to recognize and it's scalable. But as long as they have that on, they're getting the same drink. It has no alcohol to it. It has that same experience that same fun taste that you know, adventure in a glass, if you will.

29:50Are you are you paying attention to the non alcoholic trend? It's gone from on the on the global scale, it's gone from about four to four and a half percent to about 12%. It's staggering the numbers. My sister owns the first bottle shop here in Nashville, that is a non alcoholic bottle shop called killjoy. And it's right over off Wedgwood, but she has it's called it's a fantastic name, but she has all non alcoholic spirit spirits in there and wines and beers and the whole thing. And it's a you can come in there, you can talk about your recovery, do all the stuff, but she's blown up. She's just was in food and wine the other day. I mean, she's got all kinds of stuff going on. And the non alcoholic thing, I think a bunch of people and I was sober before the pandemic started. Yeah. But I think a lot of people went through the pandemic and they went, wow, when I didn't have anything else, I turned to drinking. Yeah, I think a lot of people instead of going to a bar and getting announced and a half pour or pouring themselves four and five ounce pours. And I think over a year, they went, hey, maybe I need to stop doing that. I think there's a lot of people over did it a little bit. And I think that's part of the movement that healthy alcohol is poison kind of a thing. But I think healthy alcohol consumption is fine. I am not against alcohol by any means. I'm just against I can't just have one. That's my problem.

31:04The for us, it's trying to educate and one of our core values is changing the way people approach alcohol. Most of the time we learn to drink in high school or college. And there's one reason why you're drinking then. Yeah. Why you have a funnel, right? There's a thing for that. It's not because you're like the subtle nuances of this Natty ice are fantastic. No, it's 5.9%. And I can drink it in 1.7 seconds. I put three of them in there. Yeah, go stand upstairs. We'll make the funnel go downstairs. I mean, that's right. Right. What we learned to drink. It's not I think that the cocktail culture is changing. I think over the past 10 years, craft cocktails and craft beers, microbreweries, I think people are savoring and enjoying more. Yeah. But I think that I think what you're doing is more of the experience of it, right? Right. No, absolutely. We're going to take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors. When you hear that sound, it's probably too late. You need a guy. I want to be your guy. I'm Kevin with Course in Fire and Security. And I'm a restaurant territory account manager. Do you know who's doing your inspections at your restaurant? Please reach out to me at 615-974-2932. I'll be glad to come out and take a quick look and look at all your fire safety inspection needs. If you're building your restaurant, we can help with that too. As far as kitchen suppression, fire extinguishers, emergency lights, we do it all. One stop, one shop. Call Kevin at 615-974-2932. Let me be your guy, Nashville.

32:42We are joined with Jason Ellis from SuperSource Nashville. They have been a sponsor for this podcast for almost three years. We are so honored to work with them. This is a great company and a great man. Jason, what can people expect if they give you a call? Come out, do a complete audit of their facility, see in which ways we could help them approve, if any, and see what we can do as far as helping them save some money. So the first thing they got to do is just give us a call, 770-337-1143, or they can email me directly at jellis at supersourceinc.com. We'll come out, take a look at your operations, see in which ways we can help. That's amazing. So if you're out there right now listening to this, call Jason Ellis or email him today. Hey guys, we are supported by Sharpier's Bakery and we've been supported by Sharpier's Bakery for the last year. And I tell you, I couldn't be more proud of this partnership. Guys, they're a locally owned and operated bakery right here in Nashville for the last 36 years. Yes, they deliver fresh baked bread daily to your restaurant's back door. And man, is it good. You want to know what kind of bread they make? Go check them out at Sharpier's Bakery dot com. That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S Bakery dot com. So they have over 200 types of bread. And if you're wondering, well, hey, look, it's a special recipe that I like to use that, you know, we bake it in our house and it's just, it's a kind of a pain, but we like to do it.

34:10They can take your recipe and make that bread for you without any of the hassle, the mess, the labor. They'll just deliver it right to your door every single day. It is freshly baked. They'd love to give you a tour of their facility. Give Erin Mosso a call. Her number is 615-319-6453. You should do it now. And speaking of zero proof cocktails is there's now a bar in New York City that is a zero proof bar. Phenomenal. It's a regular bar, just no alcohol. Yeah. They just, they opened it. There was a, she's probably 22. I forget her name offhand, but she, she started it as a, as a joke, as a lark of like, Hey, I don't drink, but I want people to find a place. It is blown up. It is blown up. It's amazing to see. That's awesome. All right. We're not here to talk about non-alcoholic. Tell me about yourself. Like where'd you grow up? How'd you get into this? What's kind of your background? So my dad was a, a doctor, a pediatrician, brilliant, brilliant guy. A bunch of my brothers and sisters are doctors.

35:17There's nine kids in my family. Where are you on the pecking order? There's one younger. So you're like the baby. You're one of the babies. Yeah, exactly. And the thing, the reason I loved it so much, you know, school, regular school wasn't really for me. Where it was for a lot of my brothers and sisters were, you know, again, doctors, lawyers, Wharton grads and brilliant. For me, it was, my dad would always be this incredible storyteller during dinner and he would tell the most wild, amazing stories, whether they are history, whether they were about Shakespeare, whether it didn't matter. So for me, the dining experience, even as a little kid was never about the food, although my mom was a great cook and had to be for nine kids, but it was the story. It was the moment. It was that sharing time together. And then I guess really then what happened was my dad got tired of getting the same gifts for his birthday or father's day.

36:19You know, it's like, oh, a bar of soap or, oh, the same cologne. So he came up with the most brilliant thing in the world. And that was for all of us to memorize poetry. And so we all had to memorize poetry for his birthday. And it was incredibly hard because you had to say it to him and whether it was Yakes or Sullivan or Shakespeare, but all your brothers and sisters were back at dad and you know, they were making faces at you. So you had to get through it. And now that you know, my, it was just one of those points where both my parents have passed and my brothers and sisters all still get together and we still remember all of these things and we can, you know, it's just that connection and that bond that we have together of those gifts that we gave to him for those father's days or birthdays for all those years. Wow. That's fascinating. Do you have any traditions around that? Like you growing up, Angel? No, not that I could tell you. I grew up in the country and my parents just worked and believe it or not, we had a pig farm. Can you believe that?

37:24You had a pig farm? We did. My grandfather, he made shoe heels to put on shoes for like two dollars an hour. I think it's just that the craziest thing to see where you come from. And when you really think about it, it's amazing, like where you guys are now and food industry. And who would have ever thought that, you know, mixology and would get you to the celebrity styles that Rob is right now. Well, it's an accidental profession. I think that's the biggest thing is like you didn't. How did it happen for you? So you tell that story, like how did you get into, when you talked about the reading poetry and your brothers and there was doctors, Wharton School, all these things, where did you being the youngest man, so I'm just envisioning you being in a house with all these overachievers being like your dad, was there a rebellion in you that was like, I'm not going to do everything that they did because. Not necessarily. It was more. I love the storytelling aspect so much that I became an actor. I went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. I performed at Carnegie Hall and it was always that core of the storytelling that from my father. And then I was working with James Cameron on a TV show called Dark Angel and Jessica Alba.

38:44I mean, at this point, I've already won an Emmy with all my children and done. But I was a single dad with two kids and I was working 1617 hours a day and I really wasn't being the dad that I needed to be. So I ended up quitting acting and I didn't know what to go back to do. And years earlier, I became a bartender because somebody didn't show up. So I was like, I can bartend, you know, and that's how most people learn. And so I went back to trial by fire. Exactly. And so what happened, though, was I loved the storytelling part and I ended up taking over a place eventually called the Chateau Marmont in and every day across the bar, there would be McConaughey, there would be there would be Drew Barrymore, there would be every single star in Hollywood. And it would be this this amazing time to share. And they would just be looking forward to meeting people and talking and really, for me, I realized I was becoming more of like a puck in Midsummer Night's Dream and coordinating these wonderful nights and these wonderful experience. You're not part of the party, but you're of the party, you're coordinating it through. Sure. And I absolutely realized that I was still the storyteller was just a different way of telling that story. Well, you're a magician. Yeah, you're you're a performer.

40:05You're a performer. You're an actor, but you're you're providing a service to people. But you've taken something that can be transactional. Right. I'd like a Bud Light and you're making it theatrical. And you're creating that experience to make that. And then that is kind of where you found your niche. Like, I'm a performer. I'm an actor. I love creating these experiences with people, but I can do this around alcohol. I can do this around a bar where I feel comfortable. And that's interesting. It's like a magician feels comfortable on stage doing his act. He's doing a similar thing. Yeah, I had this. Are you guys we talked about this, isn't it? You're not watching The Bear? No, I'm dying to see it. I'm dying to see it. And I'm in the intro of the show. I'm going to talk about this. But I feel like every day, people, we get into a grind. And if you're a working bartender, you're working like I'm working in a restaurant, you know, like every day a manager walks in, they punch in, and they turn the lights on and they turn the music on. Then they count the money. Then they put the bar door down there. Then they did that. There's a checklist for everything. And it becomes a grind. And then when guests come in, we're so used to seeing the behind the scenes stuff that we don't realize that we're magicians. Yeah, like everybody in the building, like what we do every day, we are the magicians. The problem is, we're also the woman who's laying there with her legs on the side when they're sawing her in half acting like she's and we know that it's not real.

41:34Yeah, we know we're creating the magic and we forget what the guest sees. I think that's a major problem. And it's something that as leaders, we have to we have to like bring people back in and remind them to level set that guys, we're the ones on stage, them out there see what we do as magic. We don't see it as magic because we know the behind the scenes and this is what we do and becomes routine. When you start realizing that you're on stage and that you're a magician and people are watching you create magic, you put you you put that extra in there and you can't forget that every day because we do it every day. Yeah. And it sounds to me like you get that crystal clear that every single day you're in front of people. You're a magician and you're creating a show and people are watching you and they're with the awe and wonder I think are the two emotions people feel when they watch you because I saw it the other day. You're a showman. You put the the glasses on you have these like minions glasses and he works with with uh what's nitrogen? Liquid nitrogen and he's got this drink and the woman's stirring it and it's creating all this steam is vapor and you're blowing it and it's going right in people's faces and everything you could just watch in their eyes. It was awe and wonder. It wasn't I can't wait to drink. Yeah. It wasn't about getting drunk.

42:53It was about the show. Yeah. It's funny whenever we start an event most of the time people they're just you know hanging out. They're having fun but it's it's just talking. They know that Rob's coming out and they're like okay who's this guy? How many ways can you make a drink? Well you know how exciting but after the the first drink that he makes everybody just like you said they're they're like amazed wow how how's this happening? He's a bartender. What's he doing you know? But the thing is I've never met a person that hasn't invited us back. When I started working my partnership with Cardi B right um that's one we'll take off the air because there's some great stories. She is a genius but the stuff she says goes completely viral. Oh so can I stop you for one second? So you and Cardi B developed a drink. Yeah. Drink I'm using air quotes for drink. It is called whip shots. Right. And it is a whip cream that comes in a can that's pressurized you can spray it out. Right. And it's whipped cream but it has alcohol in it. What's the ABV on that? It's 10% vodka. So it's a 10% vodka. So your whipped cream that you can actually pour on your put in your hand and eat it. And it's organic shelf stable non-dairy. So background in molecular gastronomy working with José Andrés was all these years is how do you make the home bartender a rock star? How do you make them just unbelievable? And so that's one of the for my company our innovation and stuff we work with all the time is what is the next big step? What is the next crazy thing that we can do that becomes these unforgettable moments even at home? Yeah and so you made whip shots. Yeah. What are fun products you can google you can find you can find it here in Nashville.

44:31Yeah we're in 36 states now uh the genius behind the company itself is Ross Sklar. He's one of the best people I've ever met to work with. Brilliant brilliant guy. But yeah we launched originally in California which is a challenging place to launch and you have to put the aerosol factory and the alcohol distillery under one roof for compliance. So that was a that's a build out and then of course with this everything slowing up took a while to be able to get to demand. But when 36 states we should be in every state by the end of the year it was just a supply chain was a little challenging for us. I can imagine. Yeah. So I love I love Cardi B. Let me tell you why I love Cardi B. I'm not like a huge fan of her music I'm not like I didn't listen to it on the way here that's not a thing. I don't dislike what she does but I heard her on Howard Stern and the amount of realness that she brings like she's not PR trained and if she was PR trained I don't think she would listen. Yeah. She is so authentically just who she is and deal with it tough shit kind of a thing.

45:41I'm so impressed. How do you get hooked up with her and what the hell is it like sitting in a room with her working with her because there's a whole bar. She and her husband are absolute geniuses. They're they're phenomenal they're wonderful to work with. So you know I said to my wife I said you know baby this is and my wife's so brilliant. I said baby this is this is great this is amazing for the launch. We've got you know of course Cardi B now is on board. We're really gonna you know take it to another level. We're gonna do the cocktail theater show. We're gonna do it on on my TV show with Spirits Network. So this is really exciting but I have no earthly idea why I'm working with Cardi B. This makes no sense. So she said think of it this way. You are Martha Stewart and she's Snoop Dogg and you will always be Martha Stewart. So every time she says something outlandish or wild I just channel my inner Martha Stewart and keep driving on and it works out really wonderful. Tell me something she said that's kind of been outlandish or wild that you could share and this is uncensored so whatever she said it's okay we're not. All right there we go. Come on Martha tell us what she said. So we're rolling and so I do this TV show called Home Bar Hero. We're in our third series season with Spirits Network and as we launch she is on our first episode on the on that season and she's you know she's approved the script. She's done all that. We're rolling. We're in New York. We also have press there and of course you know she's really not looking at the script that I've written and not paying attention at all.

47:25You're like that's not on the prompter. That's not on the prompter. So I'm like you know Cardi you know and the flavors are amazing and it's selling like crazy now and all that but I'm like Cardi you know why do you like it? She goes Rob I really like it because you know it has no dairy to it so you won't have to take a shit in the club and all the girls know which girls takes shit in the club. The place goes crazy and laughs like for in front of everybody not everybody on camera but we had 1.6 billion impressions that day and so everything she did was so outlandish and genius and amazing and you see why it goes viral and as I'm being my Martha Stewart I'm in utter awe that she can just make everybody now is eating out of her hand and she is just controlling the entire room of at least 100 and every time we do these live events she's unbelievable. She says some outlandish thing but she knows when to bring it back. She knows when to go back. She I've never seen anybody like it that is that it can that can just control a room or and you're talking sometimes you know a thousand people in that room and she's unbelievably brilliant. Wow and so the whip shots are selling really well and the whole thing's going great? Yeah yeah. That's good so you're probably making some coin off that I imagine doing your partner with that? Well doing pretty well yeah. Good stuff man so there's I don't know I think this is inspirational I think that there's a lot of lessons in here and what you're doing. Yeah. You know it doesn't I think everything is about perspective and what we think of it and if you look at things as I'm a fucking bartender versus I get to bartend. Right it's so true. You know what I mean like oh I gotta go to work and if you think that way maybe that's the wrong culture of a place you're at. Yeah. Like it should like I feel like before you go to work you get really excited about going to do what you do.

49:30There's never a day that does he ever show up and he's like I don't want to do this shit today. Never. Is that ever a thing? No. My biggest complaint that I give people is they go I can't handle you today like I'm having a tough day I can't handle your positivity today. I'm like tough you're gonna deal with it again today because it ain't stopping and it's too much sometimes for people and it's not a show. Right right so true. It's not a show like it's not something that I'm like sitting in my car crying and I'm like put on a brave face I can do this like and you have to like that's not a thing like I love getting ready for work and I love walking into the building and I love seeing guests and I love I love I love watching the awe and wonder of setting that plate in front of somebody or blowing their mind with something that's why did you do that? I'm like I was at a meeting last night and a woman who's a vegan she goes oh I hate going out to eat because I'm so extra and everybody hates it and I went you're my favorite guest. Yeah that's brilliant. Because everybody maybe you think that everybody doesn't want to deal with you but I like to lean into people like you. Right. Because everybody feels that way I love the two little old ladies because everybody doesn't want to weigh on them because they're gonna split a soup and salad and I love blowing their minds where they're like if my grandmother was there I'd want somebody to do that for her. Absolutely. And there's a there's a genuine part of service I feel like you a hundred percent get. No I love it and you know for me with the cocktail theater it's all the sudden is I became a bartender and everyone made fun of me because they could still see me on TV.

51:06What is cocktail theater? Cocktail theater is the what you witness on a smaller scale. Cocktail theater is a show it's a it's an actual cocktail show. I now have thousands of them that run where I've scaled it so someone else plays my part but it is history channel meets rocky our picture show and you drink your way through. It is scripted with a back house in front of house script and so I it's what I developed over the past 10 years and when I started running the SLS and taking over Jose Andres's program I launched this and the first time I launched it they were going to cancel it because nobody bought a ticket for it so I bought every ticket in house and then I couldn't get anybody to go and then six months later it was the hottest ticket in Los Angeles but you had to believe and you had to be okay with failing and then you had to know that you're going to create an experience that is just unforgettable and then also you're going to be able to have measurables to it is that you're going to drive people to a place they're going to be so excited and I think our last measurables were that or at least for that property was on a Sunday night we used to do five grand in FNB but on cocktail theater night we do 29,000 in FNB and we that doesn't include ticket sales because people couldn't wait to be a part of it and then they would stay instead of the the half hour afterwards they'd stay up to four hours afterwards because they've met everybody they're part of something so that's what cocktail theater has become and it's something that we always work on and we always bring back I bring in directors I bring in other writers so that we can always build it out so that it can be themed from pirates to roaring 20s to mad men to crazy 80s but it is an experience that lasts at exactly 52 minutes and then we pour them out into the dining room and it's a lot of fun that way wow and this is in LA or is it other cities all over the country I do it all over the country now as I fly all over

53:08and do it and then um we have our I have my um my daughter's service dog is coming over and giving he loves you by the way Hercules is my boy over here I love this dog we're a dog in the studio today we do he's in in our studios in Franklin we always have our staff bring in their dogs as long as the dogs are decently behaved so it sometimes when days become a little crazy it's always so nice to have a cold nose come up and grab you as he's doing right now to you like give me some love I'm I'm so happy this like makes my day like having a pup in here and he is really sweet oh thank you he's just like hey no no stop don't stop petting me don't stop don't stop come back come back here we're gonna take one more quick break to hear a few words from our sponsors we have John Ho with Parks Realty House Potality on Instagram in studio to tell you why as a restaurant worker you can buy a home John thank you Brandon there's three things that are fallacies when it comes to buying a home from the hospitality industry number one is that you need perfect credit number two is that you need tens of thousands of dollars for down payment and number three is that you need two years of work history in the same place John you're a restaurant veteran been in the industry a long time how do you as a real estate agent overcome those three myths the first thing we do is we pick a premier partner for lending and that's foundation mortgage they're going to be our first stop to get people pre-qualified in the hospitality industry number two we understand that hospitality workers don't work nine to five so our phones are on 24 hours a day amazing so if i wanted to call you how do i do it you can get me at my cell phone shoot me a text or give me a call it's six one five four eight three zero three one five six one five four eight three zero three one five or amanda gardener foundation mortgage eight six five two three oh one zero three one eight six five two three zero one zero three one follow John on instagram at house fatality and follow Amanda on instagram at mortgage Amanda what chefs want story is incredibly unique the owner Ron Trenier met with a bunch of chefs in

55:15Louisville back in the early 2000s and asked them one simple question what do you want and the chefs they responded emphatically we want deliveries on Sunday we want to be able to split any item that you sell we want a frictionless experience where we feel like we're being served and so you know what he did something crazy he did just that so what chefs want is not only a company that's delivering fresh produce fresh seafood fresh custom cut meats specialty items dairy gourmet all of that seven days a week they also offer 24 7 customer support you want to call you want to text you want to email you can talk to somebody 24 7 get your delivery seven days a week an amazing selection of products that is what chefs want so if you ever wonder why do they call it that that's your reason check them out at what chefs want.com 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 the 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 that's so cool what else are you doing out there means we've got cocktail theater we've got the the spirits network you've got bar rescue shows the actual

57:22bar rescue you're doing independent shows you're working with princess cruise lines yeah i'm looking forward to continually grow looking forward to opening in nashville because i the other day i what are you doing in nashville uh you're doing a theater in nashville i'm i'm looking to right now i'm meeting with a bunch of people i'm talking to it we're looking at some properties and stuff i got a property for you oh yeah i'll tell you off there all right the um but the other day is i was working on a um on a thing for the ships and it's where i can take a garnish and make it float away from your drink and so like this this crazy stuff but again i worked with jose andres and forandre and gordon ramsey forever did you win a james beard award did i hear you say that yeah jose won it i was part of his team okay jose's the genius and like every amazing chef that i've ever worked with i've been so blessed that all they want to do is teach they just want to share it with you they want to say and if you're willing and passionate about it and you're willing to give them a couple years they will show you the keys to the kingdom and i try to do that now with all my teams is like someday they're going to leave me i want them to be better than i ever was i want them to be the best mixologists in the world i want them to win every competition or open everything or you know just be great parts of the community yeah so um you know and i think that's one of the parts of the communities and my core in the company is we do so much charity we do um uh tons of cancer research we're working with scott hamilton right now on a different things and um he showed up at the other night now i was at mirabell so mirabell's yeah mirabell's so um did he show he was there at the party the other night at the end okay because i had to leave so oh he was he's just incredible but like partnering with people to make a difference so that you know as i as you know both my parents are past it's like i know that you know another you know 50 60 years oh let's hope um i want to look back and and just know we did the best we could not only we provide incredible experiences but i think this year

59:25we've raised close to two million for cancer research and um whether it's also we do the animal shelter for williamson county whatever we're doing it's part of our culture so everyone who works with us knows that this is really important for all of us what are your core values that you have them written down like what are your core values for your company right now is the first part is to make people happy and then it's to provide an unparalleled experience so those are the first two um that that we live by make people happy provide an unparalleled experience yeah and so the experience can be whether you're opening up a can of whip shots at home and laughing and crazy or that you're at one of our places that we're working with whether it's you're you're off the coast of alaska today and having the most crazy wild cocktails or that you're here with us in nashville wow okay we are i think we're at our time yeah i think we're we've gone we talked a little beforehand so we cut into our time a little bit that angel is still good to have you thank you so much for inviting she makes it all happen thank god because like most of the time i'm like angel where am i next week and next month and sometimes like where is it for europe that was nuts you have to coordinate all of that yeah with the different time zones and i'm googling a lot of different areas just to make sure so because it's always how did you meet rob i met rob through linkedin believe it or not really you're looking for an executive assistant and she said i'll do it yeah and i always uh you know uh i i i loved it you always know pretty quickly if you're gonna mesh with somebody and all that and so when we immediately uh interviewed her i loved her thought she was brilliant and stuff and um and for me i do the dumbest questions at all and i love the way you interview people so much i thought it was genius but for me i usually ask them some harry potter questions like what house you'd be

01:01:27in if they don't know we take the test and i just because you're always like you know uh two weeks that was my first assignment yeah yeah what house are you in and just so you can roll with it it's not necessarily that you're the biggest harry potter fan but just you can roll with every day like um one day we're in austria then one day and we're in germany then in spain then back here when australia for a day or something yeah that's a lot of flying it is it is but then i leave my teams there they're set up for success and and if i can get out of there in a day and get home it's great that takes me a couple days then that's fine too is there a humility in asking people to take that test just to just to see coming there's a side of taking yourself too seriously and what we do is entertainment yes i mean for all intents there's food and there's nourishment and there's allergies there's things that are very serious about what we do but also it's it's fun like every time i have a manager who's like melting down i'm like hey it's just food yeah like so this this isn't heart surgery like when you screw up today somebody's not going to die i mean if allergies is a different animal but like that's not the end of it like it's okay and so if you give somebody a what house are you in i'm like oh i'm a hufflepuff you know you're like if they know on the front end you're like oh nice but taking a test to find out what house you'd be in harry potter is that like a i just want to find out if you're willing to just play the game are you willing to just go hey i'm down let's go let's see what i am because it's like i don't understand why that's relevant to this position you're like well then you're not the guy exactly if you're gonna have that attitude towards doing something silly like we're gonna be hanging out with cardi b doing shots of whipped cream off of our hands and wherever else i need you to be i'm gonna roll with everything here like is that part of it it's completely part of it and it's um you know we we do uh who we're with bob we're doing bobby bobby flay we're working with him doing the super bowl this year and everything that could

01:03:31have gone wrong went wrong but the guests don't know and we were able to fix it way before because you know it's but you're rolling with it every single moment it's completely different um but you can make it all happen as long as you have a great team you can trust and you know your destination but it's funny every time we get dropped in a different place or working or doing a show or training it's always uh dealing with the unexpected yeah i think that's why i love this is an industry you wake up every day and i'm like i have no freaking clue what i'm gonna encounter today i told somebody that day that was in an interview they said so what is your because i have people interview me and they said something like what does your day look like and i go that's the thing i don't know i don't know of a day in this industry where i've drawn up a day and it went the way that i wanted it to go right because i didn't plan for the walk-in cooler to go out today i didn't plan for the drains to back up i didn't plan for that guy to poop on the wall i didn't plan for right i mean there's all these different things that you're like no today we're gonna show up we're gonna do this this is what lineup's gonna look like we're gonna have this special execute lunch and then we're gonna have this break and then like it never works that way yeah and you gotta be okay with that you gotta be able to pivot on a dime yeah and that's a fun thing that's why that's why i love this industry yeah i i completely agree yeah and it's it's every day is you know uh is a challenge a wonderful challenge and it's how you approach it it just makes it such a success i'm excited if you'd watch the bear i want to learn more about it from what your thoughts are okay so last thing we do on the show and we're gonna let you guys out of here is the gordon food service final thought it's just like it sounds not a lot of mystery to it you get to take us out of the show whatever you want to say as long as you want to say it you're talking to the whole audience it could be inspirational it could just be a plug it could be whatever you want to say this is your time and both of you get to go so whoever wants to start the show is yours

01:05:37i'm leaving this one to you rom oh i see i see um well i you know uh because i i always think of my dad all the time um and he's such an integral part of my life and stuff so uh i always think of um one of the the poems that that become part of my brothers and sisters one is from the cremation of san magi and it says uh you know san magi from tennessee where the cotton blooms and blows why he left his home in the south to roam around the pole god only knows he was always cold but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell though he'd often say in his homely way that he'd sooner live in hell the most important part of that though the stanza coming up says you know a promise made is a debt unpaid and the trail has its own stern code and so for us our promise is we're going to create experiences in a hospitality field that that's going to blow people away it's going to make them feel so wanted loved and special and and for me that's what drives me every day and what i absolutely love about experiencing the place that you that you were overseeing the other night just floored me that this could exist in brentwood tennessee i was just so touched and every single one of the staffing came out and introduced themselves and was so helpful and they had no idea what to expect and so it was i was when you see that and when you see other people doing it it really inspires you to to even do better so thank you for having us there thank you for having us there today and um i love the trail that we're on and i love the code that we live by i've thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and you could be a regular monthly you can come in i would love to learn more about what you're doing i could have talked to you another six hours i mean we could do this anytime it's an honor to have you and angel in studio today

01:07:38um we'll see you again soon man i love it i love it so wow how fun was that uh talking with rob floyd today that guy's amazing uh just a lot of energy a lot of things going on and hopefully you were able to hear something about that i teased in the beginning of the show i said that if you would stay till the end i had thoughts and i'll tell you when i asked him what's the number one thing that bar owners restaurant owners bartenders anybody could do and he said personal responsibility is the biggest thing and i think my reaction i think i just said wow okay that's big but since this conversation with rob i've talked to four different sales reps from different companies and i'm talking big companies out there uh that work with restaurant tours and i talked about that answer to that question and every single one of them said oh my god yes and i just thought man is this is this like an epidemic that we're dealing with right now and if you run a restaurant and you're not doing well look in the mirror look in the mirror and go why am i not doing well what is going on with me why is this this restaurant this bar why is it not happening some of it's out of your control i guess some of its location some of its whatever it is but i just thought that was a powerful answer and every rep that i talked to and i said could you tell a customer that and they said oh no no i can't tell them that i'm selling food i can't do that am i going to tell you who the companies were who the people were it's not like you look at some restaurants like how come they're so good they got somebody in there who's operating it really really well who takes accountability and understands their shortfalls and has people that can fix that it's really fascinating and i just want to tell you if you're out there right now and you're

01:09:43having that struggle look in the mirror maybe it's you maybe it's not i don't know but personal accountability don't take that and go that's somebody else if you're blaming other people all the time for why you're not succeeding i can say it maybe it's you maybe you need to take a bite of humble pie and go i gotta i gotta figure this thing out i'm happy to listen i'm happy to help i work with restaurants right now i help people out and they call me and they go hey i'm having this what's going on i'm happy to to sit and talk to you whatever it might be but but that was a very insightful comment and i thought it was very good stuff and sometimes it's it's a tough medicine to take then maybe it's you so uh think about that as best you possibly can maybe that's helpful maybe you're listening is going man fuck you i don't care it's okay maybe it's my fault i don't know i just thought that was an interesting interesting take and i thought that might be something that people out there could listen to and they could go hmm what can i do differently tomorrow and uh there's a lot of solutions out there a lot of people out there that want to help you part of that is partnering with a really good uh broadliner i think partnering with them and listening because they're in gosh you guys think these broadline companies and i'll specifically talk about gordon food service and uh coincidentally one of the people i talked to was not with i didn't talk to anybody from gordon food service nobody from gordon food service said this i'm sure it would be a similar conversation but they partner with people listen to your vendors partner with stop fighting with your vendors if your vendor you don't trust then find a new vendor if you don't trust your vendors if you're not working with your vendors and find a new one find a new one that you trust that you can lean in and go because these guys are in so many restaurants there's so many restaurants and they see everything if you haven't called your rep

01:11:47recently and said man what are you seeing out there what's going on out there hey what can we do better here ask your ask your broadline rep what do you think we can do better and be willing to listen these guys know what they're doing and if you don't partner if you're using like five different companies stop doing that find a really good one and compare them all together it's like finding a you know mayor or something find the one who believes the same things you believe or will challenge you but they are they are there to help you win all of them all of them want to help you win i prefer i think gordon food service is a fantastic job because my personal experience with them is they partner really really well with you and they do an amazing amazing job but they all they all care about you they all want you to win but i i'm partial to gordon because they're they're amazing people all right there's my little diatribe and hopefully you're not too mad at me hopefully you can stop take five minutes and think about what i just now said and hopefully it helps you because look my goal is not to to to tear you down my goal is to build you up i want you guys to succeed out there and i want you to win and sometimes just these little things like these little ted bits that you get that might open your eyes and help you win because i want you to be profitable and i want you to create these experiences for your guests and i don't want you to blame everybody else i want you to i want you to to fix what's not working and if it is working you're doing all these things then awesome congratulations you're crushing it and i'm proud of you and that's amazing and if you're doing that really well contact me because i want i want to hear your story i want to know why i want to share it with other people find me on instagram at brandon underscore nrr send me a dm let's talk about it all right guys thanks for listening and i hope that you are being safe out there i love you guys bye