Rob Higgins

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02:05That's the Chandler James retail team at Lee & Associates. 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. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am going to be your host today. We're going to be powered by Gordon Food Service, and we'll be joined shortly with Caroline Galzin, who is our amazing co-host. Excited to have her on this episode as we talk with Rob Higgins. Rob is the owner of a few, several restaurants, but he's the owner here in Nashville of the Supper Club on Belcourt, as well as the Bungalow 10, which is where Cabana used to be.

03:11And then in the back of Bungalow 10, they have like a, it's a cocktail bar, but it's called Jar, and it's really cool. Excuse me. We're going real today on this intro. Hey, I want to give a shout out to somebody out there. I want to give a shout out to all the Bills. We went and had, I took my wife on a day date the other day. It was really fun. We had a great time. But we went to lunch over at Bill's Sandwich Palace, and if you have not been over to Bill's Sandwich Palace yet, whoo, my goodness. They're doing really, really good stuff over there, and you just got to love them. Everybody's a Bill. Go to Bill's Sandwich Palace. You will not be upset, I'm telling you right now. Then we got to go. We went over to Bungalow 10, and we went over to Jar, and we went over to the Supper Club, and I wanted to see them, and I took some pictures, because I just wanted to check it out. And man, they have done some really, that Cabana, what it used to be and what it is now, they've added so much color and life, and Jar in the back.

04:18They have like these velvet couches, and it's like, that's really nice, and they have like a DJ, and it's like a nice club. You can do like bottle service there, man. It's nice, and I love what they've done with it. So you can go to our Instagram page, and you can see the post about this. You can see pictures, because I will be posting those pictures to go with everything else. Do you want to tell you, we're going to have a bonus episode coming up one day this week, and if you're listening to this, I put this episode out, I think on Saturday night. If you are a follower, wherever you listen to this podcast, if you follow, you will get the notification saying, hey, there's a new podcast out, because I put these out every once in a while, but we're going to be partnering this year with Tennessee Flavors. So this is a big event. It's the annual fundraiser every year for Nashville State, the Randy Rayburn School of Culinary Arts at Nashville State. This is not a paid gig. This is not something, they're not paying me to do this, but I love to help them, because what they're doing is really cool over there, and their school is great.

05:20They're teaching kids a ton, and any help that they can get comes from this fundraiser. So I wanted to do something really cool for them. So I put together an episode, and in this episode, we're talking to Dr. Paul Brennan, and he is like the dean there. He's the guy that runs the whole culinary school. And we also talk with, and he kind of explains what Tennessee Flavors is, and what he does, what they do at the school. It's a really cool intro to this episode. And then we're going to talk with Chef Max Knupfel, and he is the executive chef at the Music City Center. And we talk for about 20 minutes, and then we talk for another 45 minutes. We're only posting 20 minutes of this in this episode, and we're going to have the full episode with Chef Max coming out in a few weeks. We also spoke with Alyssa Ganjeri, and these are all people that will be at Tennessee Flavors. I wanted to kind of talk to them before the event, which is on March the 5th, by the way. Tickets are still available at Tennessee Flavors. I think they're at tennesseeflavors.com. I think there's a whole website for it.

06:23So Alyssa Ganjeri, she's a partner over at Buttermilk Ranch. She came in to talk about what she's doing, and she brought me some of the most amazing pastries. Guys, if you have not been over to Buttermilk Ranch yet, God bless, go on like a Tuesday, because if you go on the weekends, it's just insane. But their chocolate croissant, and their almond croissant, she brought me a whole thing of it, which I'm just, whatever, it's just ridiculous. I hate all of it, it's a true story. Thank you, Alyssa, for that. We also have Margaux McCormick and her executive chef, Hadley Long, in the studio, and we talk for about 20 minutes about their dynamic and their world and what they're gonna be doing at Tennessee Flavors, and there's, you're gonna like what they're doing at Tennessee Flavors. And then we talk for another 45 minutes, and that episode is gonna be a full episode that's gonna come out in a few weeks. So we've got one with Max Knopfell, and we have one with Margaux and Hadley from Chateau, or Chateau Margaux, from Margaux Restaurant over there in East Nashville.

07:29And the final guest on the episode is gonna be Chris McCorkle, and she is the owner over at Black Diamond Culinary in Cool Springs, and she is just an amazing woman, and what they're doing over there is really cool, and she's gonna be, all these chefs are here to support Nashville State, and that's what we did too. So we're gonna have these five different people come on this episode, it'll be about an hour and a half long, and that'll come out at some point this week. And if you're a follower, you'll get the notification, otherwise I'll post it on our Instagram page, but that's really fun. And then on March the 5th, I am going to be at Tennessee Flavors. I'm gonna be at Tennessee Flavors where I will have my own table, and I'm gonna bring the microphone, I'm gonna bring the mixer, and we're gonna sit down, I'm gonna interview people there at Tennessee Flavors Live. And then we're gonna make an episode out of that, kind of what are people experiencing, what are they seeing? We'll see what chefs stop by, because there's gonna be like 30 chefs, it's insane the amount of restaurants and bars, it's a 21 and over event.

08:30So go check it out, and you can come, I would love to see you. So if you go to the event, stop by and say hello, I'd love to shake your hand, I'd love to tell me the podcast sucks or whatever you wanna do. Or if you wanna be on the podcast, if this is your shot, come on down and say, hey, I'd like you to interview me and then tell me why. I mean, if we sit down and have a conversation, it'd be a lot of fun. You could get on Nashville Restaurant Radio. Yes, it's the highlight, there it is. So guys, I just can ramble on for days because I love doing this, it's like my own personal little diary here. Thank you for listening to me. I hope that you have a wonderful week. This episode with Rob Higgins is so much fun. He's a really, he's just a great dude. I really enjoyed our conversation. It's always fun having Caroline in studio and she will not be in studio for the next ones with Chef Max. I did all these kind of really quickly on the fly and she wasn't available. So we'll bring her back, but it's gonna be a couple episodes from now.

09:35But so that's it, that's all I got. I can't think of anything more to say. Let's play some intro music and talk with Rob Higgins. Let's go. Super excited today to welcome in Rob Higgins. And Rob is the owner of Make a Play Hospitality, which includes the Supper Club on Belcourt, Bungalow 10 and the newly opened Jar. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, Rob. Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you, I appreciate it. As always, I'd like to welcome back Caroline too. Hi, how's it going? Fantastic. I'm super excited to have you here, man. Cause we had the opportunity to have you here and I have a very special place in my heart for Hillsborough Village. I lived there for three and a half years. But this is back in the day when Sam's in the village was there and Bosco's and Sunset Grill and Cabana and the Trace and Jackson's. Yes, it was like, we go play darts at the Villager.

10:37It was like the best place in the world to hang out. And I've often said like, what's happened to Hillsborough Village is like the worst thing that's happened in Nashville. Because that used to be where like the locals would hang out. That was like the place where locals, you sit on the outside Jackson's and have a beer and like their pasta Alfredo was awesome. And Jeffrey Martin was the chef there and he is now at Germantown Cafe. But like I did my rehearsal dinner at Sunset Grill in 2005. You know, like that was a special place. And now you're kind of making it awesome and local again. Right, right. And all these big chains came in and now it's like, no, you're revitalizing it and I love that. Right. I was actually in Nashville around that time as well. And I seen all those restaurants and everything that's happened in Hillsborough Village. And I always used to say like, I used to tell people like, man, this area right here used to be like popping. The place, man. Everybody wanted to be there. And then after a while, it just, it was like, I was telling my partner, I was like, I remember this place used to be happening.

11:42And then now it's like, for like years, it was like a sandball came and just took everything away. And they just all went to different corners of Nashville. But I tell people, Nashville was not Broadway, but it was the place like Broadway for locals. Where locals hung out, where locals ate, where a lot of people used to be, even as much as they probably went to Broadway, Hillsborough Village was like, and then Pancake Pantry, you can go drive down there any day the line is to Broadway, but. And Fido was always, Fido's been there forever too. Fido was fantastic. I still go to Fido as much as I possibly can. Yeah, those are kind of the last bastions of the old, what Hillsborough Village used to be, right? Yeah. I remember the day we were sitting, and we literally had, we have one of those condos, it was on Belcourt, and it was directly behind where Sam's was, I don't even know what's there now, Hop Dottie or something, it was in that parking lot, which is now like a whole building where Anzie Blue is, that was just a parking lot. But our building looked over that, and the morning that they tore down the building, this old, I mean, we sat in Fido right in the corner and watched the cranes come and just tear down the shoe repair store in that whole building, and it was just like, this is, it was sad, like it was one of those sad moments where you're seeing history in Nashville just getting crumbled down to build up a brand new, neat place for these chains to come in.

13:05Right, yeah, and I tell, like, one thing that I saw happening is a lot of chains come in and they push away local restaurants, local bars, because chains have a way they can afford these high rents because they look at things from a corporate view. Like that one store may be losing a ton, but from a corporate standpoint, they're winning. So they can afford these high rents, and landlords don't care, they're just like, hey, come on, I'd rather have this big Landry's hospitality group come in and buy the whole block, and it loses its identity. We were just having this conversation, excuse me, on our last episode, I think, about, there was an interview in the Nashville Business Journal recently about 12 South, and these brands were saying, we don't even have to make money for us being on 12 South is a marketing play for our brand. You know, it's like the visibility of, we have a store on 12 South, so these aren't stores that we expect to make money.

14:11We'll pay the over 100 square foot rent, you know, which is crazy. So they can say Nashville is one of the locations that they have. Exactly, exactly. So in this era of all of the corporations kind of taking over some of the prime spaces, it is really great to see somebody who's been a local operator. Really, you've been in Nashville for how long now? Well, 20 years now. 20 years. And what, so you're originally from Memphis, is that correct? No, I'm originally from St. Louis, but I lived in Memphis for a year, high school, then I came here to college, I went to Tennessee State. Okay, and then you do have concepts in Memphis? Yes, yes. Oh, okay, great. Sorry, I think I got confused. Yeah, I have concepts in Memphis, I have something in FedEx for them as well. So. Really? Yeah, and we actually. I'm gonna be there Thursday. Oh, really, you're going to see Grizzlies gang? Yeah, I'm gonna see the Grizzlies and the Bucks. Where do I need to eat? So, right now we have a supper club on second in Memphis as well, but we're doing a, we're renewing the ceiling, like failing.

15:14Oh, that's not good. Yeah, it's not, it's not, but. Was there gas in the building when that happened? No, it was actually closed, it was around the snow storm. So we have to, you know, repatch, repair. But downtown, there is, I like flight if I'm not going to my restaurant, I like flight. Well, I want to go to your restaurant. So I go to supper club, it's closed though, you said? Yeah. What do you have in the forum? So we have a weekend hang suite in the forum on the bottom level. Okay. And then we have a supper club on second, on second across from Peabody. So it's where supper club on bail court started. We just opened it in Memphis first. And we actually, our chef was a James Bearden award semi-finalist. So he's a, it's a pretty good restaurant to be recognized for that. But yeah, heck yeah, man. That's a massive accomplishment. Yeah, yeah. What's the origin behind the supper club? Like what was your, when you decided to do the supper club, what was your intention of it?

16:14Like why a supper club? Cause it was different. We think that the supper clubs are fun. I just feel like they're not your traditional restaurants where you just eat and talk and have no like music or nothing or no ambiance. So we wanted to create a place where you can sit, eat. And you know, maybe something comes on you might sing along to it or something. So it'll just give you a different, a different experience when you eat. So, and each one is just supper club on whatever street it's the buildings on. Okay. So supper club on Belcourt. Yeah. Okay, I got you. So I'm curious, maybe the supper club here hasn't been open quite long enough for you to have a big answer, but I know you've been operating businesses in Nashville for such a long time. What's the main difference in between doing business in Memphis and doing business in Nashville? Like what are the pros and the cons? Okay, Memphis.

17:14Have you guys been in Memphis before? Memphis is Nashville 10 years ago, still. Like I think that it's a lot of culture in Memphis from, you know, Elvis to BB King to Bill Street to the music. And I feel like they have so much culture in Memphis, but it's the culture is still there. You know, it's kind of like a New Orleans where New Orleans has so much culture and I haven't been in New Orleans in a while, but last time I was there, it still looked like the culture in the 70s and 60s, like very historic buildings and very, it looks like, still looks like when it was the happening spot, like in the 90s and the 80s, like Memphis holds on to its culture. It never lets it go, in my opinion. I think it just holds it forever. Whereas Nashville forgets its culture and wants to grow to something that, you know, revitalize themselves or rebrand themselves as something different every 20 years.

18:17So, you know, the things that made Nashville what it was in the 90s and the 2000s is not what makes Nashville now, you know, because it has went through a revitalization. And whereas you don't, you would never see the buildings downtown Memphis that you see downtown Nashville and vice versa, like downtown Nashville, you got the W, Weston, the one hotel, you got all that. Downtown Memphis, you got, you know, they still got the Lorraine Motel, you know, in the center of, like literally. In the Peabody, in the Ducks, I mean, there's. Yeah, like it's, they don't have that, but that's the history, that's the culture. When you bring in these corporations and what we just talked about, they don't have the corporations. So when you bring in that corporation, yes, it drives big revenue for the city, but it loses the culture of the city, you know? So you don't get as many, you don't get as much culture. So I think Memphis still has this culture, whereas Nashville is trying to regain the culture because they, you know, they realize they may have grown a lot, but, you know, they pushed away some great concepts that were like the reason why these big concepts wanted to come to Nashville.

19:30See, I think it's interesting. I think that's an interesting perspective because I feel similar to that. I don't disagree with you. Every time you go to Memphis, there's definitely, it's awesome and I love, man, we're gonna take our kids to Graceland and do the whole, we're gonna go visit the whole city, but Nashville downtown is completely different than the rest of the city. Like if you go downtown Nashville, I don't recognize downtown Nashville. Like the Nashville I live in every day over here in Hillsborough Village or in West Nashville or Cool Springs, Franklin, Brentwood, East Nashville, the nations, that's not downtown. Every time I go to downtown, I feel like I'm in a different city. And so I think the perception of what Nashville is, if you look at downtown Nashville, I think people would think, well, this place is crazy, but it's like, I don't ever experience all the stuff that happens downtown. See, I actually disagree with that a little bit. I think that downtown does look like other neighborhoods. I think what's happening is what's happened downtown is what all the other neighborhoods are starting to look like.

20:32The whole city, unfortunately, is really getting very homogenized. Yeah, I totally agree with you, Rob. I'm originally from Mobile, Alabama. And so Mobile, New Orleans, and Memphis kind of all have that similarity of that heart of the city. You're right, it's like the culture of the city. And Nashville, there's such great culture here, but it seems that a lot of times we've kind of set it aside, which is unfortunate, so. Right, and just to, I feel like as far as, I remember when Nashville got its Topgolf. I remember when Topgolf came here. Everyone was excited, like, oh my gosh, we're getting a Topgolf, the greatest thing ever. This little city, this big little city, at that time a little city, but we're getting a Topgolf. And I think from there, it just went up. Everybody just wanted to come, and they wanted to come, and the more it came, I think that people became, when you get these big corporations that's coming, it's hard for locals to compete with that.

21:44You just can't, so that's what the city has become. And I think it's stretched away from downtown. I don't disagree at all. I mean, and I think that when it comes to that, what does that mean, right? So what that means is large companies that have 50 restaurants, 100 at Landry's, whatever it is, they can come in and they can pay that because they have purchasing power. They have a guy in Iowa and Houston who's negotiating a deal for every restaurant they have across the country, and they've got 125 restaurants. They're gonna purchase $80 million worth of products from you this year. They go to the negotiating table with that, and they're paying pennies on the dollar for what most independent restaurants are paying, because I have my one spot or two spots. You're lucky because you have two spots right next to each other. You could negotiate a deal to get both those delivered at the same time and do the whole thing. You actually have a little more leverage, but most restaurants don't have that. And then they come into the city and they can't leverage that, and so they get the better deals.

22:46Local restaurants get pushed out, and it's a thing. Yeah, that's been the thing. So my whole thing when I negotiate with any vendor, I know my, I don't have 120 restaurants, but I act like I do when I talk to them, because I always tell them, I say, listen, if I allow you to treat me like the mom and pop, then I won't last, because you guys don't show, you guys don't embrace the mom and pops. You embrace the corporations, and you give them a lot, and you take care of them, and you make sure, I mean, like you said, they have 100 restaurants. You're gonna give them the best price. On our end, we're not gonna get that much leverage, because you're like, well, I make this much money off them. Well, if you divide it per restaurant, you're not making that much. You're just looking at the totality of it. So I think that it was actually an article in maybe the Business Journal, too. My operation manager sent it to me, and it was explaining why so many restaurants in Nashville are closing.

23:50They did this big piece where, maybe the Tennessean, but so many restaurants are closing. Probably the Journal. Yeah, they were explaining why so many restaurants have closed this past year, and we've lost a lot of big restaurants. A lot of restaurants that were considered the culture of Nashville, and the main reason is because they can't keep up with the inflation. The cost of foods has went up completely, and the cost of labor has went up, where everybody's like, well, minimum wage is only $7. Well, who pays anybody $7 these days? So labor has went up, and then just the property values of everything has went up. And landlords, instead of becoming, in the restaurant business, they're becoming your partners because they charge so much for rent, you know what I mean? And they're becoming business partners, and they just like, hey, I'll just buy the building and rent it out for X amount, and I'll get my fair share. But in all totality, as a restaurant, you can't, like $100 a square, like this ridiculous square foot.

24:55It's like, how can anyone even, and people wonder like, man, why is a piece of chicken $133? How come my hamburger's $24, right? Well, and I went to Jay Alexander's, and like an iced tea is $4.50. I'm like, iced tea is $4, $4 for $4.50? Maybe it was north of $4. It's a pricey iced tea. I hope it was bottomless, at least. Oh yeah, but I'm just saying like, I think that's a major issue, is the perception that the general public has of what food should cost versus what it actually costs to do. And I think that's, as a restaurateur, when you create that menu, that's the hardest thing that you're gonna do, is if I put a $22 hamburger, which is what I need to charge, if I'm gonna put a premium hamburger out there, I can buy a shitty hamburger that just frozen meat and the whole thing, and I can do it less expensive. If I'm gonna put a good quality product out there, it's gonna be north of $20 if I'm gonna make a profit. And the general public could, this is crazy, it's expensive, it's this, it's that.

25:56It's like, that's what it costs to eat out now. And I think it's brave to put the actual price out there and see what, I don't know why the restaurant industry is crazy like this, because people don't wanna pay that for food, but that's what food costs today. Right, and you can go to Chick-fil-A and you can pay $10 for a chicken sandwich, easy. And that's with no servers, that's frozen. No matter how good people say Chick-fil-A is, it's $10 for a chicken sandwich. That's no, that's just coming straight in the bag to you. So if you at a restaurant that has servers and cooks and plates and utensils and napkins, how can they charge $12 for a hamburger and still be in business? It doesn't make sense, and people don't know that the cost of food has just went up and skyrocketed. People still have the pre-pandemic mentalities, whereas, yes, everything was cheaper. After the pandemic, everything went up.

26:57The cost of doing business just went up for whatever reason, and it has not went down. So we can't- Inflation's real. I think that so many people have that expectation of everything about my life is like it was before the pandemic, except for this thing. So I expect the rest of my life to be like that, and it's not, and I will say at my restaurant, we've really seen kind of people hunkering down a little bit, like Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Sorry, I don't know when the episode comes out, but our Valentine's reservations are not as kind of popping as they normally would be. And I think I'm hearing that from a lot of other people as well. But with all of this said, with all of this kind of bad news and difficulties of operating a restaurant these days, and especially in Nashville, you have really kind of doubled down on Nashville, or tripled down, I guess, because you have three new concepts in Hillsborough Village. What has been the deciding factor for you to make this big investment and kind of take this big leap right now?

28:00So everybody's like, man, that's crazy. Why you doing three spots at once in Nashville with the cost? I'm like, it really didn't happen like that. It really didn't happen like that. That wasn't the original plan. The original plan was to get one. We originally had a supper club, and we was like, okay, we're gonna do this. Well, Cabanas became open. And every businessman knows that it's not about, sometimes the right concept next to you can help you. Sometimes the right concept next to you, I'm not gonna say no one's concept's wrong, but the right concepts next to you can also hurt you. And we've been in both positions. And we didn't wanna roll a dice to think who's gonna be next to us. This building became open. They're opening a clown-themed hookah bar. You're like, no! Yeah, and then it just blows me up. So I said, look, I have to, we gotta try to get this building, because if not, we're gonna be in a situation where we're trying to open this steakhouse here and someone comes in, opens something else, and it blows us out.

29:14So that's what we did. And we had to think what could we put there to make this make sense. Excuse me. And it has to be totally different from supper club. So in that way, that's when we opened Bungalow 10, which is more like a vibe dining, cool dining, music, sports, TVs, and stuff like that. Then we opened Yard, which is more like your cocktail club, drinks, fun, dance, DJ. And we wanted them all to be different. So that was kind of the reason why we opened three. Will I ever do it again? No, never. But it was a thing, and it's done. But I wouldn't probably go through this process again. It's just, it's a lot. Opening one is tolling. Trying to focus on three consistently and never taking a break. Yeah, I don't wanna do that. I wanna continue to grow one at a time. I don't wanna do three.

30:15I love that space where Cabana was, where Bungalow 10 is now. I went to the Friends and Family opening night of Cabana. Wow. Like when it originally opened, we used to do our New Year's party, because we live right there. Plus Craig Clifton and Randy Rayburn and Chef Brian Yule was one of the opening partners. He passed away, but that was it. And by the way, the electrical in that building, if it's all jacked up, my brother-in-law did it all. Oh, really? So if you need any questions like, who the fuck, what is this? I'll give you his number, you can call him, because he'd be like, oh yeah, I did this, this, and this. I know the guy that did a lot of the original electrical in that building, that might help you one day. Yes, yes, yes. I don't know. It's actually good electrical. Well, there you go. Then there you go. Ryan, you're hooked up, buddy. It's still holding place, so. How's the neighborhood treating you? How's the business been? Business has been good. Business has been good. The neighborhood has come out, they've supported.

31:17We're adjusting to the neighborhood, because it's different. You know, you got the Moxie across the street, whereas when they had it, it was a parking lot across the street. It was a park. So it's like, one big thing is figuring out how to place everyone between all those restaurants. It's becoming very dense. So you're always looking for parking there. How do you do it? We have LA. We have something worked out with the Moxie. They allow us to use their parking garage. And then some businesses around allow us to utilize their lots when they're closed. But we're finding a way with the density of the, because it's already busy over there. You know, you go down there at 12 o'clock on a Saturday. It's crazy. It's crazy. So it's like, but that's actually a good problem to have because it's showing that people are in the area. People are walking. And that was our whole purpose to say, hey, if we can pull this off right, we can make this place dense again and have people walking and hanging out in Hillsboro Village again.

32:26So that's the plan. Hopefully it'll be a time where people just Uber there and just walk around and visit. I just opened a place in Belmont called Chago's Cantina and we have literally no parking. Oh, really? And I way underestimated that. I underestimated just that. I figured Uber, we're right across here from Belmont University. There's a college right there. We'll be fine. And it's like, it's difficult because we have two in our two other restaurants. People want to come visit us. And the number one thing, well, we came out and checked out Chago's the other day, but that parking is not, you know, we had to walk a hundred yards or we couldn't find parking and parking, parking. It's like, yeah, it's a thing. How big is it? How big is Chago's? We got about, we see about a hundred people. I mean, it's small. I mean, it's not like we have Maribou and Green Hills Grill, which are all 200 plus seaters. I mean, it's a small, it's our first time doing a small restaurant. And we, when there's events cross street, it's great. People walk over. But just on generally kind of Tuesday lunch. Like where do people park? Cause all the college kids take all that space during the daytime and there's no, Right, right.

33:29Literally you have to walk there. Yeah, I remember when we first moved here 12 years ago and we're talking about like trying to open a restaurant. Our friend, Scott Atkinson, who was one of the original owners of Flight on 8th Avenue was like, wherever you go, make sure that you have parking. He's like, I have seen restaurants in Nashville open and closed cause they didn't have parking. I mean, those 12 years ago. So it's a little different now, but it is still a huge thing. It is. I learned that I had a building on Lafayette maybe eight, nine years ago. It was like a fast, casual restaurant and I had no parking. I couldn't survive. I had, I said, I told him, luckily my landlord was real cool. He was like, man, find somebody else you get. I said, I got you. I'm gonna sell somebody on this place. I'm gonna get out of here. It's a wonderful location. You're gonna love it. Right. Don't worry about the parking, not a big deal. Yeah, parking is crazy. That's a huge component. So I'm curious, maybe just to switch gears a little bit.

34:30How did you get into the hospitality business? Is your family in hospitality? Did you work in restaurants or? So no, I actually, I was in college. I used to throw parties for, all through college, but I was going to school to be a dentist and I have a twin sister. She was going to school to be a dentist as well. She's actually finished. She actually became a doctor. I chose to, yeah, college was like hard for me, like not hard in a way, but I was, I didn't want to be a dentist no more. And I was already a junior, gonna be a senior. And I'm like, I don't want to do this no more. I'd rather just get into like, let me see where this hospitality thing takes me. So I graduated. I actually got accepted into a couple of dental schools, but it was just like the thrill and the rush of being in hospitality and being an entrepreneur at that time was amazing to me. So I just stuck with it and it just became me.

35:33But yeah, I don't have any family that ever did hospitality. I never had like this mentor that said, look, this is what you need to do. I just jumped off the bridge. Like, look, I'm not going to dental school. So I got to get into this. I got to stick at this now. How does that conversation go when you go to your family and you say, I'm not going to dental school. I'm going to get into the hospitality business. So some of my sisters was like, I knew you wasn't going to dental school. She was like, I knew you weren't going to dental school. You just wanted to, you know, a lot of people do things for comfortability. She was like, you just know that they pay well and you will be comfortable, but that wasn't where you wanted to be. My mom like, are you sure you want to do this? Cause everyone says, everyone knows that people say, restaurants are the hardest business in the world. Like restaurants, that's no one makes. So it's like, when you keep hearing that and they say that, I think it's just become muscle memory what people say to this point. They're just like restaurants are, but I know a lot of people that have been successful in restaurants, I know people that haven't, but it's no formula to it.

36:39It's just, it is what it is. So I was like, I'm going to give it a try. And they just, you know, my mom said, okay, whatever you like it, I love it. And here you are. Right. I think you have the right attitude for it because you seem like a very laid back person and to make it, to survive this business, you have to just take it and let it go. Take it and let it go. You know, you can't let anything get you so worked up. We were actually just talking about that before you came in. How old are you? 36. 36, so you're technically a millennial. Yeah, I guess. Right? Yeah, I don't know. Some generation, millennial, I think. Well, you're at the top of the millennial. No, I'm an elder millennial. I am the first year of millennial. So you're an 80, 81, 82. So I think I'm a millennial too. Okay, I'm a zennial. No, you're not. Zennial is like 30 year olds. No, no, no. Zennial is generation X and millennial. It's that three year gap in the middle.

37:39I'm 79. Oh, I think that's X. It is X, but we're considered zennials, which is a weird middle subsection of people that got to go, like their mom sent them outside in the morning and just like come back by nighttime kind of a thing. No parenting at all. Just go do your thing. No parenting, but just go play. And then we also got like computers when we were kids. So we had that, we're not quite boomers. We're not just generation X, but we had the computer stuff, but it wasn't all computer stuff. It's like a healthy blend of it. But there's a side of us that when shit happens, we respond to it really well. We're okay in stressful situations because we kind of had to fend for ourselves when we were kids. And that's a thing. So that's what's wondering like, people can have a general attitude when it comes to running a restaurant because things change every, you have no idea when you wake up what's gonna happen today. Oh, the ceiling fell through. Oh, awesome. That's a Tuesday, you know, like. Man, how do you deal with that? I had a chef recently.

38:40He didn't work out. But he was like, it is not gonna work out because everything is just changing. And I looked, I said, you know what? We appreciate it. It's fine. Because obviously you don't understand the restaurant business. If nothing could, if not, I would want nothing more than things to be consistently the same. But in this business, unfortunately that doesn't happen. You know, things change every day. And I've become immune to it at this point. Customers, like, I can, how do you deal with, you have to, you can't internalize things. You gotta have thick skin. You gotta be able to move and just keep going because I always tell my staff, like, you know, people come into restaurants sometimes and they make your staff cry. Like, I've had customers that have made my staff cry. And it's like, they don't understand why they're so mean to them. And I say, sometimes the way people treat you is not a reflection on you.

39:42It's a reflection on them, you know. 100% of the time, that's the case. Yeah. And I said, you can't, you can't take what, you didn't just, you're not bringing, the CO2 and the Coke not coming out correctly and making their Coke a little flat shouldn't be enough for them to treat you that way. You know what I mean? That doesn't matter because that shows who they are as a person. You can't take that personal. So I've always learned to have, just let things go because when it's all said and done, truth never, my mom always told me, don't ever defend yourself because a lie never sticks and the truth will always find wings. So it's like, when I go through things and stuff happen, I just let it be because lies never sticks and the truth finds its way back and always circles around and when that happens, the people that are always mean, maybe a day, maybe two days, maybe three months, they come around and they say, I apologize, I was wrong, but what had happened was I was going through this that day or this is what happened and you didn't get mad at me and you didn't get upset and I appreciate that.

40:54I'm like, it's fine. Well, whereas I think that like emotions and those kinds of things you have to express in some way, I was thinking about this the other day, just with relationships between restaurateurs and vendors and just different people, all day long, you have to walk up to guests and it's kind of rare for me to walk up to an angry guest. I don't get a lot of angry guests, but like you encounter every once in a while somebody, Thanksgiving, I had one walk up and she's like, your carpet's dirty and I was like, well, happy Thanksgiving to you too. Like the carpet in the elevator, you need to clean your elevator and it's like, I haven't, oh yeah, like I'm glad you're here, but when you deal with that a lot, the servers, people in our industry, we have to smile and face it. What do you do to release that? Because that goes in. That goes in. That goes in, you have to process that and I feel like sometimes people, then your truck is late and you're like, you're already, I got yelled at nine times a day for some shit that wasn't my problem or just because somebody else was mad at me and then we turn on our driver and go, where have you been?

42:00What are you, why aren't you here? And it's like, we have to learn better as restaurateurs how to internalize that and how to safely express that or we don't take somebody else's anger, bottle it in and then let that out on somebody else. Do you know what I mean? I feel like that happens a lot. I don't know, I wish I could say how I've managed to do this, but I've become in recent years so immune to problems in a way, I just, like, I literally got a call from one of my managers, excuse me, about an hour into service one day last week and she said, hey, nobody can get on the street, like there's nobody here, nobody can get on the street because there's been a radioactive truck accident and so nobody can get on the street. I'm like, okay, that's fine. Well, you know, let's give it an hour, see if anybody comes in and, you know, what am I gonna do?

43:03I'm not gonna ruin my night. I don't know how to clean up a radioactive spill, you know, what are we gonna do? Right, right. And it's one thing I've tried to do because it works both ways. Angry people can, you know, you can go in with a happy mood and somebody's energy can throw you off, but you also can wake up with outside influences on your own and bring them into your restaurant and it can display on your customers and staff as well. So, I mean, both ways you're dealing with it. So on my end, I try to breathe. Deep breathing, baby. Deep breathing. So deep breathing. It works. I breathe in, breathe out. And the situation, whoever the situation is with doesn't even know it's occurring or I'm doing this, but our practice has become muscle memory. After you breathe, you give yourself time to respond rather than react.

44:04And most times when you do that, you're also internalizing the situation real quick if you can get a good five second breath. You're internalizing the situation. So instead of you just letting it out, you're thinking, no, no, I'm not gonna say that. I'm not gonna do that. That's what's going through your head. I'm okay. And by the time you're finished breathing, that person's probably finished talking. And now you could think of a formalized response that's not like emotional. So my biggest thing, I just, I always take deep breaths. And people, and they don't even know. Like you heard it because the mic is right there. But if the mic wasn't right there, I'm so, I do it so much that it's like, all right, now let me respond. Cause most people react, good or bad, they react. I try to- We're gonna take a quick break to hear a few words from our sponsors. We are supported by Robins Insurance, offering protection you can trust. Robins Insurance is an independent insurance agency known across the Southeast for their customized insurance policies, sound guidance, and attentive service.

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46:16Cali Sober was created to provide a better alternative to alcohol. No dependence, no ulcers, no liver damage, and no nights you wanna forget or mornings asking what happened. They only use non-synthetic, all-natural Delta 9 THC derived from the hemp plant. It is the real deal. The same buzz, the same chill you'd expect from THC. Best of all, Cali Sober is federally legal because it is made with hemp-derived THC, which is a legal substance under the 2018 Farm Bill. If you're a restaurant, you can pick this up through Litman Brothers. They offer three different flavors. Paloma spritz, ranch water, and berry ginger fizz, all with less than 3% THC by volume with five milligrams of THC per serving. Please enjoy responsibly. Y'all today we are talking, as always, about SuperSource. And you know, one cool thing about SuperSource is did you know that they develop most of their cleaning products and chemicals in their in-house facility?

47:23They're environmentally conscious and only use dyes that are safe for the employees and the environment. They carry a number of products for keeping your dishes, flatware, services, floors, restrooms, laundry, basically your entire facility clean, bright, and smelling and feeling new. This is just one of the many reasons SuperSource is taking over this city for dish machine and chemicals. You need to call Jason Ellis. His number is 770-337-1143. And he would love it if you would give him a call and let him come down and just check out your operation, meet him, say hi, see if there's any way he can help. He is here to help you succeed. That's Jason Ellis with SuperSource, 770-337-1143. On the book, Unreasonable Hospitality. Have you read Unreasonable Hospitality yet? I haven't. Are you familiar with it? No, I never heard of it. Who wrote it? Will Gadara wrote Unreasonable Hospitality, but they had a DBC, these shirts that they made, the Deep Breathing Club, and that was something they incorporated into their restaurant, was to inhale, exhale twice, but it resets your emotions, essentially.

48:35If you can stop and take two deep breaths, everything resets in your body, and you can then go forward. So, I mean, I love that. That's a great method. So, I ain't never read it, but I'm gonna read that. Unreasonable Hospitality. But yeah, it's just, it gives you that, because you normally, most people don't understand how hard that is in the midst of emotions. How do I stop to think or to breathe because you're so upset or you're so mad, you don't even think to breathe. So, my thing is, look, Rob, breathe. Then internalize the situation, and once you do that, you'll be fine. You'll be fine. Rob, are you a single guy? I'm in a relationship. I'm not married, but I'm not single. Do you have any children? I don't have any children. I want children. I wanna have, I just got three new children, just to be exact, and they're called Subway Club and Bungalow, and- You have three kids. I got three kids, but yes, I do want kids, but I don't have any right now, though, no.

49:38I love it. You said Valentine's Day was coming up. What's your favorite place to go eat? Do you have any- Valentine's. Well, just any- Any place to eat. Because this is gonna come out way after Valentine's Day, so it won't be relevant. All right. Two weeks after Valentine's Day, essentially. All right, so where did I go eat on Valentine's Day? Yeah, what did you do for Valentine's Day last week? Oh, oh, so for Valentine's Day, I just went, we went and grabbed dinner. We went to, at most, restaurants were booked up. Of course, I can get a seat at my own restaurant, so that was the great thing about that. But we actually, I actually gave her tickets to Usher's concert that's coming out. Yeah. So he had- What a transition to talk about the Super Bowl. I did text my husband the moment that dropped, and I said, if you want to get me a gift, this is what I want. I don't, I haven't gotten my surprise yet, so I'm still waiting- To make sure you got those tickets. I hear that he got me the Usher tickets I requested, but I'm not holding my breath.

50:42Tomorrow night. I would die. Did you watch the Super Bowl? I did. And y'all, we have guests in the studio as well. Lorraine and Hannah are back. Did you guys watch the Super Bowl too? Did you guys all watch Super Bowl? I had to. You can pull the mic up. Oh yeah, so I'm originally from the Kansas City area, so I had to wait for my hometown. Okay, so Kansas City wins. Yes. What does that mean? And we don't want to talk about the game, do we? No. Halftime show? What'd you guys think of the halftime show? I love the halftime show. I did too. I thought it was the best halftime show we've had that I can maybe ever remember. Really? I really loved Rihanna's also, actually a lot of people hated on it, but I thought it was great. Snoop and Dre? I mean- What, all right, because I think we all watched some good Super Bowl halftimes. What was your favorite? All time. And you can say Usher if that's what your favorite. I mean, I'm having a hard time recalling ones. I'm not a huge Super Bowl watcher, so other than the last three, I can't really remember a lot, so definitely Usher of the last three.

51:51I thought that the Snoop and Dre one, I was a little disappointed, honestly. I didn't feel like 50 Cent needed to be there. I don't know, it was kind of short. I was waiting for Hologram Tupac to come out. Oh, wow. That would've been cool. That would've been cool. But it's a Super Bowl, they had the budget for it. Why not? Right, they should do a Hologram. Do you know they pay the entertainers zero dollars to do that? Oh. Yeah. They don't get, but they get the exposure. They make their money. Yeah, they make it. They make it off the advertising. They get a 13 minute commercial for free, so. I thought the halftime show was excellent. I enjoyed it, and then, I thought it was a good show. I thought he did a good job until Lil Jon came out. And when Lil Jon showed up, it became a great show. All of a sudden, it was like, okay! And I was like, this is, it elevated at the very end. I loved it. I think. That era of Usher. My elevated moment of Usher's was when Alicia Keys came out.

52:54Oh, that too. And her, she was great. I think that most people are like, wow. That was the everything people was talking about. That was the mic drop. Yeah. Oh, sorry. You were back on. Good, she was just saying that was the mic drop when Alicia Keys came out. Yeah, that was like, wow. What about you, Carolyn? Was that your spot? I just enjoyed the whole thing. Like, Usher's first album came out when I was a freshman in high school, which was just like the right time for it to hit. He's been one of my favorite artists of my whole life to this day. So, I just loved it. I loved it. It was, I'm the elder millennial. It was made for me. Everybody, I was at a party a couple houses down from mine and everybody was like, yes, that was it. And I was like, I think we're the demographic they're shooting for now. I think we're officially the demographic of people that they want the advert to, that they wanna bring to the show by having Usher on. Cause that was my whole adolescent years. Well, and I think that he's such a great artist too, because he has reinvented himself, not completely, but he's evolved so much over the years.

53:56And I think that even the Super Bowl performance for people who haven't been to his Vegas show or maybe seen him a lot recently, was another kind of like little reinvention, just with like his fashion and his performance. It was like, you could see it was a little bit of a shift from what he's always done, you know? So, I think he's great. Yeah. I agree. You know, at his age, I think that if he could just get in shape. Good Lord. Dude takes his shirt off, I was like, I could do it. I think I could get in shape if the guy looks that good. He's gotta be older than me. You're the same age. He's gonna be older than me, right? He's 46. Is that younger than you? He's older than me. Oh. I'm 44. Oh, I thought. I turned 45 in like less than a month, but. Sorry, I thought you and Tony were the same age, my bad. We're right there, it's all good. Anyway. You thinking about doing a performance or something? Taking your shirt off or something? Hell no. Something in the future. No, no, no, no, no. You wanna tell us about that? No, I didn't know.

54:58No, not at all. Where is your favorite restaurant to go out to eat? Like where's your general, see I changed the subject there. In Nashville? Yeah. I think my favorite restaurants have changed over time. At one point, starting off, it was Outback. Then it evolved to Roof Chris. Then it kinda went to Southern Steak and Oysters. Okay. And then, you know, I was stuck on, where did I go eat at all the time? Well, that was about my three. I liked Char for a second. Okay. For a second, cause I fell in love with their crab claws. And then, you know, I was a cane guy for like six months. So, I've been all over the. You like steak? Yeah, I like steak, but I like, I don't eat red meat. So, that's the crazy part about it.

56:00But some restaurants just have that one thing that I like, and I just continue to go there all the time. So, I think most people will, myself, I like something, a dish about a restaurant that'll make me go back consistently forever. I've never been nowhere like that. I got 30 things on this, or five things on this thing that I like, but if I like that one thing, I'm gonna go there all the time. What's the thing right now, if I was to say, what's your favorite dish in Nashville? That one thing that you like that you could go eat anytime, what is it? It is still the chicken fried chicken from Southern Steak and Oyster. Chicken fried chicken from Southern Steak and Oyster. I am a sucker for chicken fried chicken. That's like the best damn thing. Every time I go to like Cracker Barrel or something, I'm like, chicken fried chicken or chicken fried steak. Yeah, I've been eating that for country fried steak, not chicken fried steak, 10 years. But you know, it used to be my favorite, it's a restaurant, but it used to be my favorite place to go that I could eat like five things, Whiskey Kitchen.

57:07Oh, Whiskey Kitchen was great, man. Man, they couldn't miss, they had so much, man. Chef Tony over there, Whiskey Kitchen, man. What is Whiskey Kitchen now? What is that space? Is it a parking lot? It's a parking lot now, I'm trying to remember. That's terrible. Well, they needed to be torn down. That kitchen was the size of the studio. I'm not kidding, the whole kitchen was the size of what we're sitting in right now. I didn't know that. For that whole place. I mean, there was a tiny little window in it, I mean, it was tiny. But they- The walk-in was the size of the kitchen. Yeah, they were there for a while. Oh yeah? Yeah, they were there, but they tore it down. I believe they're putting a hotel right there and maybe bringing Whiskey Kitchen back, I don't know. I think I read something about it, but they had their good run. Well, M Street back in the day, that street is called, what's his, Gallatin? It's the name of that little street right there. Meridian? No, there's a little street that's all the Whiskey Kitchen and everything is on. Market Street.

58:08Is it Market Street? Yeah. Well, they wanted to change that to M Street, like the name, and then every single thing, they put a hotel, like that be their street, M Street, all of their stuff on, and it was a whole, like maybe they're still doing that. So I thought, I may be wrong, but I thought the M and M was, because the street is Market. Is it? Yeah, it's Market Street, and that street, that small size street, that's Market. And I thought that they got M from Market Street, Hospitality, but. It might be, I've not had one person from M Street, Hospitality on this show. I was gonna say, why not? 362 episodes and not one person from M Street on the show. Wow. Be an interesting guest, let's do it. Yeah, we'll have to find somebody from M Street to bring up, yeah, interesting. Okay, Rob, you've been amazing. I appreciate it. We wanna play a game.

59:09I'm with it, I like games. We did this last time, and thank goodness we have Lorena and Hannah here also because we get to play the game with them. There's two games. We're gonna do a little different one today, okay? One of them is called Worst Case Scenario, right? And these are just cards I'm gonna flip up, and then I'm gonna read these five worst case scenarios. And you have to tell us which is your particular worst case scenario. You're like, uh-uh, that's the worst one of all the worst ones. And we'll talk about it, then I have three hot takes. I'm gonna read the hot take, and then we're gonna discuss the hot take and whether or not you agree with hot take or disagree with hot take, all right? I'm with it. Here we go. These are the worst case scenarios. Scenarios. You ready? You're on a plane that is hijacked. You have to free your leg from a bear trap. You have to remove a fish hook from your lip. You lose all of your photographs and keepsakes, or you poop your pants in public.

01:00:16The worst note to ease. What is the worst one on that one? A plane is hijacked. Okay. That's what I say, too. I actually have a fear of flying, so just being on the plane is enough for me. Okay, so the plane being hijacked for you, plane being hijacked for you, and what about you, Lorena? I also feel hijacked plane, that's terrifying. I feel like that's a death scenario, whereas the others, you could maybe still get along, but a hijacked plane, that's pretty scary. What's number two for you? That's right. I think it would be a tie between the fish hook and the bear trap just because that's elongated pain. That lasts a while, like it's stuck. The fish hook from your lip sounds just horrific. That your leg in a bear trap would be, it would probably break the leg, too. I'm gonna say free your leg from a bear trap would be mine.

01:01:23See, that's the least bad one to me. Really? I mean, it sounds unpleasant, but you know. Hannah, what about you? Um, it's a tie between the bear trap and the hijacked plane. One being the bear trap, a lot of blood, I can't do blood, and then your leg might be amputated, right? Could lose a leg, I mean, that's a real thing. But losing all of your photographs and keepsakes? So, that was gonna be my second. And that's a, if I didn't have any pictures of my children? Right. I'd lose all of them? So, I thought about the bear trap line. All right, it'll hurt for a second, but I'll get over it. Fish hook, same thing, but I'll get over it. When you lose all your pictures, like, I lost a lot of my pictures. And keepsakes. Yeah, going from college, high school to college, I lost a lot of stuff. And I was like, why? I don't have, like, I look for pictures, I can't find them, because they're gone.

01:02:24So, it's like, you don't, yeah. That type of pain, it stays with you, because like, you know how I used to have that picture? You don't have it no more. So, it's like, the greatest thing ever, to whatever generation we're in now, is that they have iClouds and social media and Facebook and all that stuff. Like, if I had that when I was three, all my pictures would be in one place, on the internet. It's like, nah, we used to have to have photo albums and stuff, and when you move. See, I'm super grateful for that. That those pictures are nowhere that anybody can see on any kind of a cloud. Because I didn't have social media after college. I mean, there was no social media for me. Like, when I was dating my wife, we didn't have, there was no Facebook, there was none of that. I mean, I never have dated in the Devon, we've been together for 20 years. Like, we've never dealt with any of that stuff. So, I'm glad that I don't have all the stupid shit that I did in high school and college online anywhere.

01:03:31No trace. No trace. It's only post-adult married Brandon that is online. I see. And I'm okay with that. Yeah. I mean, when I, and I say, I'm even talking about your phones though, too. Like, not even if it was on the internet, even if you had them in your phone, in your vault, like, you remember I did this right here? You still have it. But like, when you got those photo albums and you gotta keep moving them from house to house, sometimes they can get lost. Yes, they can. So. All right, well, good stuff. We have this hot take. I've got three hot takes, you guys, Tim, why don't you think about these? Number one, the drinking age should be lowered. Hot take. No, no, I think it needs to be raised. I think it needs to go up. I just, no, no. You better 18-year-old with some tequilas and Casamigos, bad combination. Or some Campo Bravo tequila.

01:04:33Right, so that's what I'm saying. That's fantastic tequila. Lorena, what do you think? Should it be lowered? I can see both sides, right? Like, on one hand, I totally agree with Rob, and I mean, I was already immature at 21, so me immature at 18 with having access to alcohol would probably not be the best, but I don't know. There's other things that we can access as 18-year-olds that make us an adult. So at that point, I'm like, well, if we get to do those things but we can't drink, that's, I don't know. I could go either way with that. All right. I do not think it should be lowered. I kind of, my whole thing has always been if you're allowed to vote, if you can serve in the military. Why can't you serve in the military? Yeah, why can't you drink? It also comes from, I'm sure that there's data about car accidents and that sort of thing that makes a difference, but also, I think a lot of it comes from, as Americans, we have a lot of conservative puritanical systems in place, whereas European countries, Canada, other places have a much more lenient attitude about this stuff, and I actually think a lot of times, if you allow people to have a certain amount of responsibility, they won't abuse it necessarily in the way that you think.

01:05:53You kind of demystify it a little bit by saying, well, you can have it. It's not like, ooh, this sneaky thing you gotta try to get away with. I'm tracking. I'm tracking that. Yeah, I would've changed my response to what you said. Yeah, I did, too. Well, because you go to Europe, and you go to Europe, it's completely different. I'm just thinking about your amygdala and how it's developed, and then you think an 18-year-old, I'm envisioning Broadway, but if you open up to 18-year-olds, what's Broadway gonna look like? Yeah, but I think this, too. Think about when you're in college or when you're a young person, and you know that person, you can tell that person who did an experiment with alcohol in high school is the person who gets blacked out at the party, because they don't, it's their first time having alcohol, and it's kind of dangerous, actually. So I think teenagers should experiment with alcohol is my hot take. Yeah. Not really. Right, Canada, you can drink at 18. All over Europe, too. Mexico? Yeah, it's like, I don't think they abuse it. I think people naturally gonna go to, if you say the stove is hot, don't touch it, people touch the stove.

01:06:59Can you buy cannabis at 18, or is it 21? No, it's 21. Oh. No? I don't know. Oh, go ahead. I will say, as someone who has just turned the legal drinking age, that people who are underage and who want to drink will find a way to drink anyways, regardless. Oh, yeah. And I agree, if at 18, you can go off into the military, or own a gun, or have other responsibilities, I think it shouldn't be a double standard, but other countries, for a lot of them, it's 18 and up. Those are really good points. I think that, oh gosh, I was gonna make a point. When I was under 21, it was so much easier to get weed, because you're 18, you're in a social setting, you can go to clubs, or whatever, you can go out places. It was harder to get alcohol than it was for me to get an eighth of weed. I knew people would give me an eighth. I didn't have an ID to go into a store to buy it, and nobody's willing to buy you, because it's heavy.

01:08:02It's like, you can do a 20th suitcase of butt ice. You know what I'm saying? It's cumbersome. It takes up a lot of space. An eighth of weed, you can just hand somebody, and we can roll joints, and drive around in the car, whatever it is. That was the thing for me. But if you could drink at 18, I think you should, first of all, I think you should legalize everything, but that's a whole separate issue. All right, I think that this is a hot take. You should live with your partner before marriage. I just think everything is, I think everyone is different. I don't think that it's an absolute, in my opinion. I would definitely want to live with my partner before marriage, because I would want to know, what am I marrying? At that point, when you live with somebody, you get to see them more. You see everything. You wouldn't want to know, after you married, that this person was doing stuff that you may not agree with. They sleepwalk, or they, you know?

01:09:04There's a bunch of crazy things people could do. I didn't know you did that. Yeah. So at least marrying, I would want to know what I'm getting myself into. Ladies? I mean, everyone's relationship is different, obviously, and has different dynamics on how to operate. I think, for me personally, I think it would give me peace of mind going into marriage if I do have, you know, at least the six-month dry run of how do we operate on the day-to-day together, and are those quirks that we can get over, or is it deal-breakers, that kind of thing? So, yeah, I would be in support of that. Never been married before, but I have heard that the first year of marriage is usually the hardest, and I think that is because the newlyweds are getting used to living with each other. But on the flip side, I feel like there are other ways of finding out if you're compatible in that sense without having to fully move in with one another.

01:10:10But either way. No, I agree. I had lived with people before I met my husband, and when we were dating, he wanted to move in together, but I was like, I'm not gonna move in with you unless we're getting married. And that's not like an ultimatum, we have to get married, but just like, I have my own place, I have my own life. Like, unless this is serious, then I'm not interested in playing house, you know? That makes sense. 100%. Our last one, this one might be a little close to your heart. Me? Yeah. Okay. You have a place that does this. Oh. I mean, pizza. Okay. The crust is the best part of the pizza. Okay, I'm gonna say in a way, yes, because at Nicky's, I think that we have a very flavorful crust, and I'm so used to eating our pizza that when I eat other pizza that doesn't have like a naturally fermented crust the way that we do, we do a sourdough crust. It's not that flavorful to me. So I think the crust, not just being the outside crust of the pizza, but also the crust underneath the toppings is an important part of the flavor.

01:11:17And I think that, you know, toppings can be delicious, but if the crust is shitty, then you're in trouble. What do you think about a stuffed crust pizza? I've never had one that I like, but they might be out there. You never thought about doing one? I actually recently texted our chef de cuisine this video of somebody made a pizza that like two thirds of it was a regular pizza. And then the last third, they like spread with Nutella and folded up. So it was like a pepperoni pizza and then Nutella on the side. And I was like, can we make this? And he's like, oh, ha ha ha. That looks terrible. Thinking I was sending him a joke, but I was like, no, I'm serious. No, that looks wacky. Like, let's try that. He's like, what's wrong with you? What about you, Rob? Crust the best part of the pizza? I do think the crust the best part of the pizza, but I'm from St. Louis. I don't know if you guys ever had Emo's pizza before. It's not- Hannah has apparently. That's like, oh man, I don't know what makes that.

01:12:21You gotta be from St. Louis to understand why people go crazy over Emo's pizza, but they have no crust. So if I wasn't- There's no crust at all? No crust. It's thin crust pizza. So if I wasn't from St. Louis, I would say yes, crust makes the pizza. But since I'm from St. Louis, nah. Oh, okay. I think that my opinion, the cheese makes the pizza. Is there a better kind of cheese? Provel. Provel, not grande. Grande is a big, everybody says grande cheese. You're not going grande cheese? Nah, I like Provel. Okay. Provel. Also very St. Louis. Yes. Very St. Louis. It's a St. Louis thing. Ladies? I would agree. I think the crust is the best part of the pizza, just cause it's the foundation, right? And like, it can make or break. If you have a good crust, you're gonna remember it. And that's also traditionally like the last part of the pizza you'll eat. So that last bite. So you want it to be left with a good last bite.

01:13:23But are you guys like thick or thin crust people? I know that's a whole- I'm a deep dish guy. Okay. Thin crust for me. Yeah. I like a good fold too, to the pizza. Like if I can fold the crust, that's- This is where we learn these things about each other. This is why we play this game, you see? Have this conversation. Hannah? I'm going to say no. Well, are we talking about like the end part of the pizza only or just like the whole part of the- The whole crust. The whole crust, okay. Well, personally I'm a deep dish person. And so I guess 50% of that is, or I guess 50% of that is mostly cheese. And then, yeah, I just have never eaten the crust off of the pizza. Or like I've always just separated the crust from anything, the pizza or the sandwich. Lorraine is looking at me like crazy. I never understood why people do that. They get all the way to the end of the pizza and don't eat the crust.

01:14:24You go to tables, all these crusts, and you're just like, what are you doing? I'm sorry. My wife cuts the crust off of my kid's sandwiches. And so she like cuts the crust off. And I'm like, you're leaving off like one of the best parts of this. Then you have the chance to start enjoying a crust because you've taken that from them. Right. Maybe that's what started it for me. My mom did that. Oh, see? See, this is her parenting, you see? I'm like, just give them the damn crust. But they don't like it. They have to eat it to know if they like it. Right. It's a thing. All right. Well, guys, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you guys so much for joining us. All of you joining us here today. We do one final thing here on the show, and this is the Gordon Food Service final thought. You ready for this? I'm ready. This is your time to shine. Okay. Final word, whatever you wanna say, you get to take us out of the show.

01:15:24So you are speaking to our audience. You can say whatever you want. This is just open mic time for Rob to take us out. Say whatever you want. The mic is yours, go. All right. Well, first, I appreciate you guys. I learned a lot today. You said something today that made me like, wow. You said, I haven't had a situation, an angry customer in a while. And I was gonna say, I need to figure out what you're doing. I need to figure that out. Like, cause that's crazy. But I appreciate it. I enjoyed you guys, learned a lot about you guys as well. You know, both of you guys, great restaurants, been in the game a long time. Appreciate Brand House as well. You guys come out to Supper Club on Bale Court and Bungalow 10 Dining and Jar Cocktail Club. I enjoyed it. I still will not be on a plane with a hijacker. I appreciate it.

01:16:26The thing is, you can't choose that. We all would choose that. And I'm gonna end with that. I will not be on a plane with a hijacker under those circumstances. All right, well have a wonderful rest of your week. And I would say have a happy, wonderful Valentine's Day. But that was two weeks ago. So I will be a silly thing for me to say. Right, why would you say that? I've already had a happy Valentine's Day. Yeah, I'm glad you had a happy Valentine's Day. All right, thank you all very much. Have a good one. Okay, thank you again to Mr. Rob Higgins for joining us here on the show. Thank you, the listener, for listening. This was a lot of fun. What do you think of the games? Did you guys know that there is a poll? If you go to Spotify or wherever you listen to the podcast, there should be a button on there that says poll. Would you like to take a poll? And you can leave comments. You can take a poll. Sometimes I'll put like, hey, what do you think about this?

01:17:26Or what do you think about that? I'll make a poll. You can go on there and you can vote. I'd love to know your thoughts. Go back and listen to any episode. Any of the old episodes have that. And make sure you stay tuned this week for our Tennessee flavors episode. Thank you guys for listening. It means the absolute world to me. And hope that you guys are being safe out there. I love you guys. Bye.