Seema Prasad

00:00Hey guys, today we are talking about Robin's Insurance, and restaurants carry a very unique set of risks. We can customize a menu of insurance solutions to meet your specific needs. Reviewing the options and developing a plan for restaurant insurance coverage is a perfect recipe. Every restaurant owner has heard the statistics about how tough it is to survive and thrive in the business, but getting adequate insurance at least gives you a fighting chance to mitigate some of those risks. It's well worth considering a custom-built restaurant insurance policy as it'll not only make life simpler, but it may even overcome some risks you haven't even considered. For example, you'll usually want to cover risks to properties such as the building and equipment along with liability to customers and staff, right? Yeah, that's easy. But remember, there's an important difference between general liability such as a customer slipping on a spoiled drink and a professional liability such as about a food poisoning from bad food or inadequate preparation. Other elements that are easily overlooked include the risk of fraud and data theft that come with handling cash and card payments, the risk of spoiled food you have to throw away, if there's a power outage or refrigerator failure, and the risk of lost business if you close for repairs after a fire.

01:07Protect your restaurant business by contacting them today. It's so easy, and when any of those situations happen, what you don't want to do is get and dial an 800 number and be put on hold to talk to somebody you have to explain your business to. That is why you call Matthew Clements, Matthew Clements at Robin's Insurance. When any of those scenarios happen, you pick up the phone, you dial 863-409-9372. Matthew answers, he goes, how can I help you? You tell him your problem, he's your friend, you know him. Why would you not have an agent that you work with every single day? Any of these situations right here, you need guidance, you need support, and Matthew Clements and his team at Robin's Insurance are there to provide it. You should call him today. I'm going to put that number down one more time, that's 863-409-9372. Call Matthew Clements today.

02:08Welcome 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. Big shout out to all my friends over at Gordon Food Service.

03:08They have sponsored this show for like three years and they are amazing. I just want to say thank you. Sometimes I want to say thank you. It is the week of Thanksgiving and I'm feeling thankful. I am feeling so incredibly thankful. Today we're speaking with Seema Prasad. She is the owner of Miele over in the Charlotte Corridor over there, I guess it's technically Sylvan Park. We cover that kind of right in the front of the episode. This was an absolutely lovely conversation. I did not know Seema that well beforehand. We met a couple of times and she was on the podcast like four years ago when we did an episode of The Roundup Live. This is how long ago it was from the from Autos with Delia Jo Ramsey. We were doing a show called The Roundup and it was before Autos even opened. We did like a preview of what Autos was like and Seema joined us live and she was just awesome. And I tell you what, after this conversation, like I'm such a big fan. I'm such a big fan of what she does and who she is and her advocacy and just everything about what she does.

04:15She does it the right way and I cannot wait to share this story. I also want to say on the front end, people that I am thankful for. So many of my NARA members are just amazing and it means so much to me that you have entrusted me with so many things. A little shout out to Sean Lyons out there from UpHospitality. I want to say thank you to Naima over at Germantown Pub, Stephen at MacGuffin Catering, an amazing guy. We've got Michael Hanna over at St. Vito for Kosharia, Andrea Cherez at the Rose Pepper. So many people, Will and Jamie, 51st North, Taproom, 12th South Taproom, just amazing people. Let me tell you what we're doing. We've not only negotiated vendor deals for these people, but we've also, when you sign up for NARA, when we sit down, we do our conversation, we get a copy of all of your contracts and before you have a contract that auto renews at a 10% increase in price, I'm aware of that and I will even help write the letter that you need to say, hey, we're not going to continue with this company or we're going to renegotiate.

05:32We want to get out of the current contract we're in and start something new. It doesn't have to be with one of our NARA companies, although CMB Lennon and Super Source are just really crushing it right now. So many people, Robin's Insurance, they're really able to help restaurants and not everybody knows about them. They just think it's like an ad that I do and we sit down and talk about what these companies can do and what their current companies are doing. We do an analysis and we see where we can help. So if you're in a contract right now with a dish machine company or a linen company and you are unhappy with them, I am very familiar with these contracts and the things that they do. And even if you're in a contract, you feel like you can't get out, I can still save you money with the company you're currently working with. That's something we can also, we can renegotiate contracts you're in the middle of. I didn't know if you didn't know if you knew you could do that, but we have been doing that and we're saving real money for real restaurant people out there who need it. And it's just been awesome. It's really awesome to hear people go, wow, man, that's really cool.

06:34That cost me nothing. And it really helped us a lot. So if you're out there and you are listening to this going, I didn't know you could do that. All I have to do is send Brandon an email and he will come and we'll have this conversation and he can save and make me a whole bunch of money. That is a true story. And this is what the Nashville Area Restaurant Alliance does. We only work with local restaurants. We only work with people that want to build something bigger than themselves. And we are going full on at it. We have got an amazing episode for you coming up with Jake. I can't even think of Jake's last name right now. Jake is over at Butcher and B. And man, we talked for like an hour and 20 minutes and it's going to come out right after Thanksgiving. And I'm thankful for that guy because we could have talked for three hours and we may do like a marathon, three hour episode. So awesome. Such a good dude. Really loving these conversations.

07:34And we have got so many more booked already in December. We're going to be talking with Aubrey Olasky. She owns Paren and they're here locally in Nashville, originally from Reno. I'm really curious to hear that story as she's making her family and everything right here in Nashville, Tennessee. Brad Hopkins from the Titans is opening a sports bar and we may be having a couple of ex NFLers on the channel talking about what brought them into hospitality. If you have somebody you would like to hear, send us a DM. Go follow us at Nashville underscore restaurant underscore radio and go follow at Nara Nashville. And we would love to follow you back. So if you follow us on Nashville restaurant radio, we're going to follow you back and definitely stay tuned for more. And if you want to learn more about Nara, send me an email. Brandon at New Light Hospitality dot com. That's N-E-W-L-I-G-H-T hospitality dot com.

08:35B-R-A-N-D-O-N. That's me. All right. There we go. So many so many grateful things happening here. Go back and we did an episode like four years ago called Grateful Nashville, and we had several restaurateurs on just talking about what their Christmas and holiday traditions are and what they were. That was a fun episode. But today I am grateful for everybody out there. I'm grateful that we are alive. I'm grateful that we are all working together to build a better Nashville, one restaurant at a time. That is what we're doing. And I'm grateful for all of our amazing sponsors, especially people like CNB, especially people like SuperSource. Erin Mosso over at Sharpies Bakery. Just so many amazing, amazing people. Matthew Clements at Robin's Insurance just had a second kid. Congratulations, Matthew. Lots of great things going on out there. So hopefully you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving and maybe you got to drive somewhere along and you're listening to this episode.

09:42Enjoy this episode with Seema Prasad. You are listening to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Super excited today to welcome in our guest. Her name is Seema Prasad. Did I say that right? You did. Yep. Good job. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. The crowd is so excited you are here. This is out of control, I'm telling you. Seema is the owner of Miele over off of Charlotte. Fifty first, the nation's area, the Charlotte Corridor. Do you call that Sylvan Park? What is that area? You know, we've we've been talking about that for like the last 10 years. I don't know. What are we? We are we are technically Sylvan Park, but yeah, Charlotte Corridor, I think, is probably better describing the space right behind the legendary Bobby's Dairy Dip. Right behind. And you've been around now for 18 years. How long? September was 17 years.

10:42Seventeen years. What day in September is there like a day? September 9th, September 2008. Wow. Stock market crashed. Nashville ran out of gas and we had a housing crisis start. So how brilliant time to open a higher end restaurant. Crazy was it. So it was like September 18th on in that year that we ran out of gas. The city shut down because our gas pipelines had to be closed for safety. My my anniversary wedding anniversary, September 16th, which is also Mexican Independence Day. And we went to Mexico and that was our three year wedding anniversary. And we landed and my brother picked us up and he's like, yeah, there's no gas in the city. And I was like, what? Like and you couldn't go in there. We ran out of gas. It lasted for a while. But you know what, when we opened, I think we were one of the only higher end restaurants in the city at that time. Nashville was going through, I don't know if it's an identity crisis or what, but we had we'd had previously some higher end restaurants.

11:45They had closed or some were getting ready to close. And I think there was a lot of anticipation. Wild Boar, Mario's, those type places, Julien's, Bonds Courtyard. I mean, F. Scott's was still going. Yeah. But soon when they went over to table three. And so we had a lot of people waiting for us to open. And even without gas, people rode their bikes. I mean, Sylvan Park was not the Sylvan Park of today. People rode their bikes, piled in Prius's and and they supported us. It was really it was an amazing first quarter for us. Fourth quarter, but first quarter first open. Wow. So that's that's just in in like dog years or restaurant years. That's like a 50 year stay. I mean, 18 years. Have you been in the hospitality industry your entire life? Like what pulled you towards this industry? Oh, my gosh. Such a good question, because I haven't. I mean, I've been in it now for over 30 years, but I had a previous career very much. You start when you were three.

12:46Yeah, I'm just a bit. I'm like, I'm just petite. I'm very old. Don't believe you. I I had I did start like in in college. But like, you know, that wasn't serious. And it was really a high end deli. I'd never worked in a proper restaurant until I owned one. So think back, I mean, I made a lot of mistakes, learned the hard way. But the good thing is, is I I loved restaurants and I was very observant. And so I mimicked what I liked and what seemed to work and asked a lot of questions, found a lot of great mentors and had no shame in asking questions, which I think is something I learned previously working in political consulting and PR. And like you got to ask questions, otherwise you don't survive and you definitely don't thrive. So and be vulnerable, be vulnerable, be humble, be humble, be vulnerable. Hey, look, I don't I do you think that people that just have to speak or tell an answer because they're a leader, they feel like they should know, like I think one of the biggest traits of leadership is being able to say, I don't know.

13:56I don't know. I'll find out. Can we work on it together or whatever? Ask the questions. Raise your hand. Yeah. And I'm I'm never afraid to do that. And it might probably my whole life. I've just like because I want to know. I'm like, I'm super curious and my curiosity can get me in trouble. But it can also definitely answer questions and shortcut challenging situations. So I think. Yeah, I mean, hospitality 30 years in. I'm still asking questions. I'm still learning every day, and there are still people out there that I'm like, gosh, that's just a smarter way to do that. A why did I not think of that? Well, because I had I was too close to it, but really fun when everyone is still like this community is so great about sharing what's working for them. And sometimes it doesn't translate, right? Like it works for them, but it doesn't work in this other situation. So there are enough variables that are different. But for the most part, this Nashville restaurant community has been from the day I entered it, really supportive.

14:57And so, yeah, we're all growing together. So the day you entered it was 18 years ago, 17 years ago. How much has that landscape in that community changed? Because I have been in this my whole life was here in 30 years in this Nashville hospitality and being in all walks. It's changed a lot. What do you think the biggest change is right now in that community? You know, right now we're experiencing massive growth, right? So we have so many new restaurants opening. I got an email last week that said, see, the 22 restaurants that have opened this month, like God, we didn't have 22. Restaurants in a month. Yeah, like that's that's insane. And so it's happening really rapidly, right? What's different now is. That we have an excited, large public that really wants to go to all of them, I think before we had maybe a more trepidatious public to go on the adventure, like dining was sustenance and maybe a social experience, but culinary wine, bar, beverage, food wasn't the focus as much.

16:08I think these days people understand food, culinary. They are way more curious, way more adventurous guests than I've ever seen. What do you attribute that to? What do you think that is? You know, I think we can credit the Food Network a lot. I mean, honestly, it might be a lot of drama, but it's also a lot of real content. I mean, Anthony Bourdain, I a big part of that. Yeah, huge part of it and making it fun and making connecting the fact that these cultures also have food. It's a food culture and that travel can be a huge part of it. Like when you go someplace, check out the culture there. Don't just stick around in the resort or like what, you know, is on the tourist list. Or stay on Broadway the whole time you're there in Nashville. Come on, people, come on. Did you eat anywhere? Oh, we just stayed on Broadway the whole time like. Or you have the opposite. We have the guests that are like, oh, no, we didn't really have Broadway on our agenda. I'm like, are you serious? Like, you've got to at least drive down it. Come on. Like that's a huge part of who we are as well. It is. But like, thank you for coming out to the neighborhoods.

17:11Thank you for preaching, appreciating our park system. Like walk around Centennial Park. It's amazing. Like we should, you know, these are proud points for me as a Nashvillean. Don't go to Edward, Edwin Warner and Percy Warner Parks, though. If you're a tourist, there's lots of bears there and people getting attacked right and left. Definitely don't go on the white trail. Definitely don't do the white, the red trail. Maybe go to the blue trail is a good one. But like the white and the red trail are just really dangerous. Don't do them. Right. We're keeping a vice for ourselves. Keeping those. I'm just going to keep that for ourselves over there. It's fun. You know, Nashville's parks, I think, are one of the most special things that we I don't know that we take for granted. But like when you have a new person moving here, they don't know about or like for me, like in my real estate side of my business and my life, I'm like, you're moving from L.A. Do you you want to be more outdoorsy? Like, have you seen the parks here? I'm like, what? Are you serious? I'm like, yeah, we're going to drive through the Warner Parks for the next 20 minutes. Like, check this place out.

18:12I mean, they're a huge part of what at Miele we also interact with and harvest my wine store. Like we're right there by the Warner Parks. We do as much as we can to support them. I think it's their real jewel of our city. And I believe it. I my one of my favorite things, we will come to town and they say, what's there cool to do around here? And I go, if you're in the summertime, finding an outfitter and canoeing or kayaking in the Harpeth is one of the most beautiful things. It's so relaxing. It's just gorgeous. You see wildlife. But then just like the actual geography of where you are is so opposite of Broadway and that perception of just getting drunk and partying in Nashville, like Nashville, if you leave that area, has a lot of really amazing spots. And it kind of makes me sad when people only stay on Broadway because you're like, there's so much more to offer. I also think the evolution of dining in Nashville, there's a lot of people moving here from other cities who are already ahead of the curve. You know, I think they bring dining experience and and not just not just the culinary that they expect, but the level of service that they expect.

19:20They they've experienced things on such a different level. And and I love that. I love it because I would like for us to get better every single day. And this team, like this new team that I've kind of brought in, we had we have a bunch of people that have been with us forever at Miele. But we've also got like four new hires. And some of them are a little more novice in the industry. So we're going through what service really means. Like, what is the dining experience we want that guest to leave with and and remember? What is it? Well, you know, one thing that we were talking about just yesterday is we always have time for the details. The details set the dining experience apart. That's little. I know you gave me a couple of questions because I asked you, I'm like, what do you ask me? And I mean, one of the things that you said, like, what is typically like or quintessentially SEMA, like, what is that thing? And, you know, it's definitely the wine list. But when it comes to service details, what sets the tone for me is that place setting has got to be sharp. And I know that's the uptight SEMA, like and anyone that's ever worked for me, they're all smiling and laughing right now, because that place setting, when it looks great, that napkin is like sharp.

20:26That sets the tone for you. You know what? We care. We want this to be something where you just were taken care of. Yes, we're very intentional about every step of this. Your silverware is always replaced. Like everything just is special. Excuse me, special feeling, because you're not doing that for yourself at home. You're coming out. This is special. We want you to feel like it's worth it. Like you got a good value of your experience. Have you read Unreasonable Hospitality? I have listened to some of the podcasts. I have not read it. I know everyone on my team has, and I'm I'm the bad one. Well, it's he talks about perfection. And it's these little things like every day. Marble is a big house, you know, and there's a lot of trees and leaves fall in the front of the house. And every day I have them go and blow the leaves off all the walkways and the steps leading up to it in the whole front of like the parking lot. I guess I have them blow all the leaves off. And everybody's like, dude, nobody's going to care if there's leaves in the front yard.

21:26And to me, it's like. It's not that they're going to notice that there's leaves in the front yard. It's not that they're going to notice if one fork has a spot on it or if they have to, you know. It's not that they're going to notice that one thing. But they feel it when you pull up and every everything else has leaves all over it. And then this one, the whole house is spotless. And it's it's clean. And then you sit down at your table and it's pristine. It's not that they're going to notice that one thing that isn't. But it's it's perfection is a feeling. And when they sit down and towards the end of the meal, they go. Every there's been no friction. Everything has been perfect. And then they start noticing all those little details of things that seemingly don't make sense for one individual thing. But you put them all together and it's a feeling of perfection that people feel. And that's part of that hospitality. That is that is a huge part of hospitality. This experience for that guest should feel special.

22:27It should feel attended to in every absolutely every angle. Should be thoughtful. I part of this podcast I love so much is picking owner's brains and finding what are the details that they do, not only because I'm curious, but I'm also looking for ideas. What are you doing? Because I can add something to this. I think about like, OK, so something that Jason and I talked about just this last year was I've always had salt wells on the table. So this great little salt well, and I would have like kosher salt in it or something because that was the most common salt was had to go away during the pandemic because you couldn't touching use. I brought them back recently and we have Fleur de Sel in them. So we just blind tasted a lot of different salt. Like, what do we think is best to have on the table? And Fleur de Sel doesn't have an anti-caking agent in it, doesn't have. But so we have to manage, I guess, expectations on what it is in that little salt well. But a beautiful salt well, a really great pepper grinder with toasted tellicherry peppers, peppercorns.

23:29I mean, this is like those little details of like this is how your meal is going to be that much more special, something you would not do again for yourself necessarily at home. I love those. I recognize those things when I go out to eat. And I go, oh, somebody thought about this. I ruins experiences for me because I'm constantly thinking about what was the meeting like where they decided to because everything when it's intentional, I go they sat in a meeting one day and said they did a blind tasting for salt and they chose this salt and it works. And this pepper, this peppercorn is to like everything about it. And I just geek out on that stuff when I go eat and I just I love seeing it. But on the other side, when they when it's just thrown together and it's not intentional, it will ruin my experience. And I think that not everyone is going to be as no, not everybody tells us. We and we know that we know that going into it. But I think what you said earlier is is the real point. You may not be able to put your finger on it, but you feel the experiences. The experience was attended to. It feels better.

24:31I mean, I know we we do the same thing. We blow off everything on the patio and everything on the front of the restaurant and pick up every bit of trash and every little weed every day. OK, this is again, my team going to see this seriously. And, you know, yeah, the semi eye roll happens. And I'm like, yes, every day we dust the ledges on the outside of the restaurant every day. We wipe that dust. We wipe them down. We, you know, just the mailbox gets wiped down like the planter gets wiped down. And they're like, this is crazy. But I'm like, right. But when you walk up, you it sets the tone for we care about details. You walk in. You could just be having a burger at the bar for happy hour. And that still needs to feel like you care about every part portion of your experience, just like you come in and have an eight course meal. What's your vision there? Like the vision that, you know, like going for it, if I was to say, tell me about the experience there, is there a one line vision or mission that you guys have that kind of outlines what somebody should expect? You know, I think it's.

25:33People to feel like they can break away from their day and just be cared for like this is it's a culinary adventure, possibly, possibly just getting nourished. Yeah, it is where you feel transported. You sit down and you are cared for from start to finish. You you know, your decisions aren't made for you, but you are guided. Like your experience is curated without you even knowing it sometimes, because we overheard that, oh, it's an anniversary just being celebrated late. OK, well, we have beautiful sunflowers growing in the garden. And we go pick some and we put fresh mint with it and we tie it with a little butcher's twine and just as they get their check, just happy anniversary guys belated or not. Just celebrate that. That's a big deal. That's part of unreasonable hospitality. That's listening to your guest and going above and beyond what the standard is, because you genuinely you're describing caring about your guests when people come in.

26:34We actually care about your experience. And it's not on a poster board in the kitchen that says we care about our guests. It's heart, it's heart and hospitality. It's finding people that genuinely have that spirit of service that can recognize it's your anniversary. And we're so honored that you're sharing this experience with us because it's a lifelong experience celebrating an anniversary. Like you remember these things. And when you choose to go somewhere, you're essentially sharing that experience. And if the server or the manager, whoever the chef can lean into that and say, wow, you're sharing this. I'm going to lean in and I'm going to be a part of this. And I'm going to make it the best I possibly can. Because when you leave here, I want you to feel warm and happy. And that was everything that I didn't even know it could be even better. That's exactly, exactly it. So think about, OK, in 17 years, we've had families have weddings, anniversaries, births of their children.

27:46Funerals of grandparents. Huge celebrations of beating cancer. Celebrated with us, and that's all in one family. I'm thinking of one person in particular. Wow. And just two weeks ago, she came up to me and she's just like, you know, I just had a really awful day and I came in and I got to sit at table 10 because I know you saw me and you put me there because you know, I love it. And you could tell I didn't want to want anyone to talk to me. But slowly, you guys made me smile and laugh. And thank you that I can always count on coming here. And this is like my home base. This is the place that you know me. You care for me. You could have not even said anything. And I knew you were caring for me by every little detail that you that you did to take, like, just serve me. And I just like smile and like, good. That's that's exactly what we want. I mean, I want you to feel like this is a place you can call home. Is this why you do this?

28:47It's completely why I do this. I mean, this is this is the restaurant industry. I mean, there's money to be made. But like the reality is almost everyone in this industry could go make a lot more money doing something else. We choose this. We choose making people happy. We choose curating a beautiful experience is challenging to us as well. We're challenging ourselves. But when you have a neighborhood place where you know them, they know you, where you're making a difference in people's lives. And at the same time, we're challenging ourselves with this great culinary adventure and these great products we get from local farmers. I just I honestly can't think of anything better to do in life. Like that is that is that's my dream job. Well, I think this is when we talk about chain restaurants and we talk about locally owned and operated restaurants. You talk about supporting local restaurants. And there is a financial side to this thing. But also, when you go to a local restaurant and you have somebody at the helm whose North Star is making you feel this way, there's service and there's hospitality and hospitality is making you how you feel about the service. Right.

29:55It's creating an emotion around it. When you have a choice and go to a place there's a guy in Chicago who's typing out numbers and he's on AI figuring out how to psychologically get you to spend more money. And they're giving the servers prompts on what to say to get you to buy more versus somebody who's genuinely listening to your experience and creating a custom. We just want you to leave happy because we're in this community and this is what we do this for. It's a no brainer where you go eat. You know, I think that's so when people say buy local or they go, who really cares? Like, because this is it. Your experience is 10 times better. I mean, I think experience local experience where you're cared for. Yeah. Go and have those experiences. Gosh, and there's so many great new restaurants. And even at like the Sylvan Park, you know, like we were talking earlier, like, what's new? I'm like, well, Tentee Smoke, like that's cool and new. And I love to think about this. We are bringing different cultures to Nashville and people are experiencing different foods that they may never.

30:56Someone may have never been to Puerto Rico. I mean, it's an easy flight. And but it just hasn't been on the list yet. OK, go and taste that great food. We have all these. You'll learn what mafongo is. Exactly. You know, like what's mafongo? I don't know. You can do that here. You don't have to go to Puerto Rico, which is I mean, that's a fun little escape for the day. Right. I mean, I think dining can be an adventure. It can be an escape. It can be it can just be a place that you hang and talk to some friends. But. The experience should feel like it's wrap around, like every little bit of it was thoughtful. So being thoughtful, sourcing sustainability stewardship is something that's really big to you in this position of operating a restaurant. There's a lot of waste. There's a lot of things that go on. You can buy commodity products. You can do a lot of different things. You've championed sustainability long before it became a buzzword. What does true sustainability mean to you?

31:59So sustainability, like from day one, is looking at every action we have and making sure that the reaction, the compost off the plate is something smart is being thoughtful, is being done with it, just like thoughtfulness at the table with details and service. Like, let's just take food waste for an example. So the first thing we do is we buy more thoughtfully. We buy package sizes that make sense. And, you know, sometimes it's negotiating with a purveyor. Like, we don't need a whole case of lemons. We only need a third of a case. I'm like, oh, you're going to pay the same amount as the full case. And then you throw those away. I'm like, OK, or maybe we figure out what to do with a full case. But we also negotiate a lower price, like price per each. It's lower. So we're not bringing in product that we will then waste. So number one, you're respecting the food. Right. I mean, I think that's a thing like you can go, oh, well, we'll just throw away if we don't need it. But you're saying I'd rather not throw it away. Somebody grew this. It grew from the land and I don't want to waste it.

33:02There are hungry people out there. I don't I also don't want to pay double for what is. So if you go and be very intentional and negotiate that price or find a purveyor that's willing to sell you two dozen lemons at a reasonable price because they recognize what you're doing. And that's that synergy also with those relationships with your vendors. Well, and from that conversation came, wait, I guess we could probably sell these by the pound as well. I'm like, how about you sell me a third of a case for this price? I mean, this is a discussion that can be had. And I don't know that everyone knows that's possible. That is absolutely possible. And OK, we saved on lemons and we weren't wasting. Now, the alternative there is we give the rest of national food project, which that always works for me, too. Yeah. But but let's not pay more on the front end. So, OK, procurement is a big part of sustainability. How we process that food. So when we're cooking it, are we utilizing it all? I mean, you just need lemon zest. Of course, you use the lemon juice as well. You might save it and not use it right away. Three days from now, you need the lemon juice or we need the zest in the kitchen, the juice of the bar, like just being thoughtful and communicating amongst the staff about how we can best use.

34:08We're constantly having that challenge with oranges. Like we take the peel off at the bar and we're like, we have all these oranges. So the kitchen has a great marinade that they want to use with orange juice. Now, I'm like, great. Perfect. We're using it all back to respecting the ingredients. Yeah. So when we choose portion size for the dining room, it doesn't need to be huge. And maybe that's not enough for one guest for a main plate. Maybe that four ounce portion or five ounce portion is enough. Well, that's great. The servers are trained to help guide them to ordering the right amount for them. Now, the good thing is a lot of people only want four to five ounces. So that way, there's not waste on their on their plate that they're leaving and sending to the compost bin. So that way, we're minimizing what goes to the compost bin in the first place. One really fun thing that we do with servers and the new servers kind of get a kick out of this. Teach them how to use their leftovers. And servers like, well, I don't know, I'm not a cook. I'm like, how do I? Well, what would you do with that little bit of short rib the next day?

35:11What would you do with those like creamed turnip greens the next day? And like, I get this blank look. I'm like, well, I heat them up in the morning for breakfast and I put a poached egg on it and I get it. I was to say, with your eggs, you could make a killer omelet with that. I mean, so good. I'm like, and then you get some crusty bread and you dip in the greens. And then, you know, like, oh, my gosh. Now, can I take some home just to do that? Yes, you can do that as well. So like, yeah, helping the guests learn because, you know, they're there sometimes because they don't cook. And, you know, these little tidbits are kind of fun for them to learn. And then when they come back and tell you that they did it, what I love is, yeah, they take out the next time intentionally for that dish that was originally just leftovers. I love that. And we we're still talking about true sustainability. And you talked about relationships with vendors you buy from local farmers. Yeah, pretty much exclusively. So how do your relationships with those local farmers really? I don't know, to be kind of clear, shape the soul of what Yale is.

36:12I mean. Buying from local farmers is it's selfish in some ways. I mean, it's the best flavor. Like, let's let's be real, like when it's picked. Just two days ago versus picked, stored in cold storage, shipped across. Hydro cooled. Yeah, hydro. Oh, gosh, it's like we need to like put a tick tock out about what hydro cooling really is. Like, come on, people, do you really want food? It's been in that situation. But yeah, I mean, it has the most flavor. Plus, there is something to be said about supporting your local economy. I mean, we have a closed loop economy. When we order from a local farm, we compost back into the soil and those nutrients support that farm. Like we're we're being so much more sensible about how we manage both our economics as well as our nutrient load. I mean, our nutrient economics are are much more minded when we source locally. You know, the menu at meal is really malleable.

37:13Like we can change in the middle of service. And you may have been there where all of a sudden the menu is different. I don't know. You may have gotten an email earlier in the day, but we sold all out of all of that. We can print it in back these days. Yeah. So I think that's one of the things most people miss. I think you need to be printing your menus because prices change all the time and different things. And you need to be able to update based on what the market is doing. But like also finding good ingredients. Yeah, I mean, and our seafood is shipped in. I mean, obviously, you know, it's not local. Well, you get that local swordfish is interesting. That halibut grown in the Cumberland. Yeah. But it's yeah. So yeah, it's a unique flavor that halibut that Cumberland halibut is. It's really unique. A lot like catfish. Yeah, it's a lot like catfish. It's yeah. So we're you know, the local produce is definitely it is selfish. It's so incredibly flavorful. And, you know, we're lucky because we do change the menu based on what the farmers are bringing in now. Like Farmer Dave was like last summer.

38:14He's like, yeah, we planted a bunch of this. It didn't work. Now we don't have it. We always had it. So like, OK, well, we're going to switch because what do you have? And what do you have that's affordable so that the plate costs that we have out to the customer is a value? So, you know, a good example, we can go even go back to seafood. Like when halibut is twice the price as normal, we're not going to serve it. Like, that's not a good value to our guest. And so we're going to look at what is being fished. I mean, black grouper was a much better price and fabulous. Just caught that day being shipped to us. Let's just go with the black grouper. But who are you buying your seafood from that's getting it shipped that fast? Sometimes it's coming directly from the farmer or from the fisherman. Sorry, I'm from the fisherman. And sometimes it will come from inland seafood out of Atlanta. Sometimes it, you know, from I mean, we have a number. I mean, seafood. I mean, we're the only surf rider like seafood watch, seafood safe. And we would call it restaurant in Tennessee right now. And then I think there are a number of others that would adhere to the same rigorous kind of assessment.

39:19But, you know, we're really, really particular about making sure it's only sustainable seafood. And, you know, that's that's not just being mindful of our farms out there, but mindful of the ocean and what is being overfished so that we have seafood for generations to come. There's a term BAP certified best aqua cultural practices, I guess, which is BAP certified fish, which is where you're doing those things. And there's definitely programs around that. I had how Holden Bache. Yeah. Oh, that was awesome on the show. And I had him and Chris from White Squirrel Farms on the show together. Oh, I got to listen to that one. If you're out there listening and you don't and you didn't listen to this episode, you have to go back and find how Holden Bache. And Chris, I forget his last name from White Squirrel Farm. The most interesting this dude from White Squirrel Farms does like he puts like different rocks in the garden to like give different energies to his product.

40:23I asked how I said, what makes your produce so good? Because every time you go to Loughlin Table, like the vegetables are just like, dude, I've never had a squash. And he said, I buy vegetables that are grown as locally as possible in the peak of the season in which they're supposed to be grown. And I partner with a grower and he literally tells me what he's growing. And then I write menus around what he's growing. And then when it grows, he brings it to me and I have a menu written for that in the season. And I go, that makes a lot of sense. Buying asparagus in December is not in season. You're buying it. It's coming from Chile and it's going on a boat for several days. It's hydro cooled and you're getting it like it's not when it's supposed to be grown. But you get it in the end of April and May and you're like, this asparagus is really good. You're like, because it was growing yesterday. Yeah, it makes a difference. It has so well, you know, we even we grow so much on the property where we've got this great raised bed that has like plexi that goes over the top.

41:27So it's a little little green house of sorts. And we grow carrots in there very specifically so that when children are out on the patio, they can pull one, they see where a carrot comes from and then they can taste it. And that carrot, I don't know how many times I've had a kid say. That tastes not like a carrot. And I'm like, OK, exactly what a carrot should taste like. Yeah. I'm like, so the carrots that you get in those little nubs in the grocery store are they're they're just raised differently. So this has all of the nutrition. And, you know, if you go in a lab and you analyze both, the nutritional content is vastly different. You would not even recognize the analysis to be the same product. So, you know, we are buying locally at the peak of season. Yes. And writing menus right around exactly what those foods are. You referenced Jason earlier, Jason Iacona is your chef there. Yeah. What's his philosophy? What's it like working with Jason? Oh, my gosh. Jason is the ultimate creative. He is. But, you know, I say that he's also this really sharp business person, incredibly driven.

42:35And it's such a great teacher, like he's a very patient instructor, which, you know, you don't always find someone that's so creatively talented. So really, I mean, Jason is a gem of a human. He he just took on for three years a kid in the kitchen that he just he and Michelle. I mean, you cannot leave out Michelle. Michelle's a sous chef, Michelle Caro and. Their patience in instructing and re-instructing and guiding someone that is truly mentoring someone new and young. We always try and have like one person that we are able to really focus on. Small operation. You know, it could be 25 percent of the team. Sure. They. They just nurture. They're kind. I'm like, this is. People come in just to stash or to hang with us for a day just as friends, like maybe from out of town and like they're the most calm kitchen I've ever witnessed.

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46:45So these guys are amazing. They're doing amazing product. Everybody I've tasted on has said this is the best tequila I've ever had. There's zero burn. It is just delicious. You need to call your Ajax Turner rep today. They have a brand new Amogrande, which is their their entry level lines. You can have the best tequila in the world as your well. Yes, this is a true thing. So pick it up. It find liquor stores everywhere. Look for Black Sheep Tequila or order it today through Ajax Turner. They're just oh, yeah, we can swear on your radio, right? I've been. Oh, yeah. I bet. Have you heard me like I'm just biting my tongue? Say whatever the fuck you want. Oh, Brandon. OK, now we can be normal. Yeah, this is uncensored. Let's go. Right. I forgot Jason told me. OK, I'm just thinking back. I'm like, yes, I mean, Jason's not the one that really swears. I'm it. I am. I'm the one that they need to reel in. So, yeah, he is not the chef that he doesn't have a hothead. He doesn't like this is a he is a total creative that comes from left field sometimes to meet like, you know, like, where did you even think of that?

47:50And it's just because it's something that he's he's been observing for a while. And then it comes out. He's like, yeah, I think we could really capitalize on the soil over in that area. Do you see how shady it is? We could grow more dark greens. We could, you know, there's just something random that'll come up. And I'm like, yes, thank you for always being thoughtful. Thank you for reorganizing the kitchen after our 10 day break last January, thinking there's a better way for us to do this. That'll be it'll be more efficient. It'll be easier to clean like whatever it is. Like he's always, always thinking. What's his approach to food? Is there a dish that he made one time that you were just or maybe it's every day? I don't know. Is there something that he makes that you're just like, dude, this guy is a genius. So, yeah, like all the time, like seriously all the time. And then, you know what? You know where it turns out sometimes or actually quite often family meal. So family meals every day at meal, it's four o'clock, the whole team sits down. The kitchen makes us something with scraps that is outstanding.

48:54And there are days I'm like, I just look over like we are so spoiled. We are just spoiled. And it's like it's scrap. And it's like, you know, you think, OK, are we just like killing our food cost? But absolutely not. Our food cost is it's it's brilliantly low. And I mean, I double check it, triple check it. I'm like, did we miss something? But no, you know what we missed? We put chemicals in food and that we just got miscategorized. So I was like, not in the food, people, anyone listening, we get categorized in the accounting. We accidentally put like, you know, oh, you know, you know, we put like accidentally something got categorized improperly. I'm like, no, it's actually lower than I thought. OK, well, well, if you're using like the tails and tips of different fillets and, you know, the salmon, there's little pieces of it that aren't going to be part of the fillet that you can repurpose and use. I think that's part of what you're talking about, respecting the food and not every little bit of it. Nothing goes to waste. And I mean, carrot top pesto, little bits of salmon made into a tartar. I mean, a lot of times that will make it on a menu. But sometimes it's just, you know what?

49:55We've got a great price on it. We're making great money on it. That can then be put into family meal. How important is family meal to you? It's top of the list. Why? That is where we set the tone for the culture at the restaurant. That is how we start our teams like coalescing for the day. Like, yes, everyone walks through the door earlier, receive orders, everything. It's where we all sit down together front and back of the house. We talk about the guests that are coming in, any special needs, any anything that pertains to serving that guest as best as possible. We talk about the menu, but we sit down together. We look each other in the eye and we become a team for the night. There's no divide between front and the back of the house. It doesn't sit me out at all. Jason will come out to a table and help. Sean, one of our lead servers, he jumps back in the kitchen. It is truly interchangeable parts and everyone working in concert to take care of the guests.

50:56It's an open kitchen. So guests can come up to the kitchen, talk to the cooks. I mean, sometimes Expo will be like, hey, just let me clear off these 19 tickets real quick and do not break their concentration. But, you know. I'm all about the hyper focus as an ADHD guy. I'm like, when I'm in that hyper focus and I'm knocking things out, like, leave me alone, let me just do it. Yeah, and it's hard to get that focus back, especially. And you've got pans on, you know, you've got hot pans on. You can't break your focus then in order for the food quality to not be compromised. But yeah, family meal, it's non-negotiable. Like that is a time we all sit down. And if it needs to be bumped a little earlier, because we might have an early party in the barn coming in, it gets bumped earlier and everybody knows. And we, I mean, I am strict about sitting down at four o'clock or whenever time has been designated so that we have that time. I mean, wine education happens then. We study all week. It's like eating dinner as a family. Like you, how was your day? Like, it's a can you.

51:58Restaurants are frenetic and crazy in a lot of ways. And to truly connect with people, to sit down and say, how's your day going? How's your kid when the soccer game last night? Cause you get in that kid, you learn about people. And then when you're running around in a restaurant and it's crazy, you don't see them as coworkers or that's, you know, Susie, I don't like her. You know, it's a, you genuinely, that's where that care comes from. That's where caring about not only, I mean, I think it's so widely important that you love your community and you care about the guest. But if you don't care about each other, your internal community, you can never really pull it off because then you're acting. Yeah. If you genuinely care about each other, then it all kind of comes together. I think family meals, that moment for real, true connection. And a guest will know it. Oh yeah. You recognize it immediately. That team is a real team. They support one another or, Oh, I'm not going to water their tables.

52:58I'm only going to water my tables. Like, not my section. I'm like, Oh, that's not my section. Excuse me. You love this. Everyone think it's like a chef that will hit the roof. And I mean, we all chefs that, well, Jason, absolutely not. That's not Jason or Michelle. Michelle will give you a look of like, no child. You're not allowed to do that. But, but I am the one that with, I'm the one with the more volatile, like I'm not even keel. I wish I was more even keel. I'm the much more like if someone was said, it's not my section, the look, they're like out. Or that's not my job. Oh. Hey, hey, front door, front door. You ever got the front door? Like, Oh, I'm not the host. Yeah. Well, and what we, I mean, we identify people that have that attitude early on and hopefully we never hire them in the first place because that just doesn't have a fit, but, um, yeah. Um, so you're the one I'm, I'm probably the hottest. Yeah. You don't seem that way. Like I wouldn't see the public doesn't see that. No, I would not see that. We're just talking to you seem very pleasant.

54:00Like there's nothing. And I'm not saying you're not pleasant. I'm saying, but in that moment, I'm grounded. But when I see something that does not work in, especially, I mean, for me, it's a defensive mechanism for my team. You know, my team does not deserve to have someone with that damn attitude on their team. You know what they work too hard. And it's disrespect to my team members that are doing what they're doing. Right. To allow someone like that to continue or to allow behavior like that. I mean, it's just not okay. Every hire sends a message. Absolutely. Right. Every time that you allow that type of behavior, it sends a message to everybody, whether you realize it or not. When you hire that person who's toxic or you continue to let that person work there, well, they're a great salesperson. So what way more detrimental to your team. And that sends a message to everybody else that, Oh, as long as you perform, you don't have to do these things. So if I get held accountable for something, I guess I'm not performing because, and it's weird how it just goes across the board.

55:06Everybody knows that everybody, whether it's front of the house, back of the house, the cook that can like, Oh, they are, I mean, everything's accurate, beautiful, like every time, but has an attitude and undermines others. And doesn't clean, like, forget it. I'm like, I have no patience. Like you can't do that to me. Like, come on, like be a good, be a good team member. And so, I mean, I think it seems easy. You would think it seems like it's like, that's easy. But what I've learned is, you know, it's my fault for hiring someone that I didn't recognize that in the beginning or not cutting it off soon enough. So what I've learned over the years is what questions to ask in an interview. And then also how to check references. And I will say, this is one of my, one of the things I've learned in the last decade or honed in the last decade. That has served me the best is I don't check the references they give me. Those are great. I'm sure they cherry picked those don't you think and told their friend what to say. And I love when they're like, they give me, Oh, this was my manager.

56:06And I'm like, yeah, you know, it's a small town. They never managed there. Come on. Like, and so you call and I mean, very legal and honest, like, is this person eligible for rehire from the person that was in charge of HR at the time that they worked there because not all small restaurants keep really good records. So you find the person at the time. Was this person eligible for rehire? No, you call the reference that they gave me, ask the same question. Oh yeah, sure. So I've learned like, do your research, you know, the internet is your friend. Um, it's, I mean, it's, it's not devious. I think at all, you look at Facebook pages, you look at their Instagram, you look at where they go, um, who they, who are their friends with. If you ask, you know, this place that this bartender, where they hang out all the time, how do they behave? I, you know, I think that's such detail. That is all good. Legal. I think you need to do that. That's respecting your staff to do that work before you bring somebody in.

57:08And I mean, that's why it took me eight months to hire a manager. And I, you love it. I had certain guests and they're like, see, I'm like, you're never going to find someone that you like. You will never, no one is going to be you. And I'm like, no, no, it's not going to be me. I'm going to find someone better than me. I'm like, are you kidding me? No, I don't want me. Like what? And they're just like, you are on a ridiculous quest. So eight months of interviewing, staging, and we had great people. I mean, I'm not saying that they weren't great, phenomenal people. They just weren't right. And, and, and also it's timing, you know, what they want out of their career and what's going to be a match for me now, but now Evan Steen is the manager and she is better than me. Wow. She has skills and operations and patience and organizational skills that the restaurant needs. Um, she's learning wine, so she can learn wine. She's smart. Like, so you're probably a pretty good teacher. I can do that.

58:09I got that down. You have the wine thing down. So yeah, I found the right person and everyone on the team will agree. They will say, we love her. Thank you. That's so exciting. That's so exciting. We only have 10 minutes left. Maybe a little less than that. Cause you have something in 11 minutes. Oh, I do. Yeah. I've got to be cognizant of these things. Um, what's next? What's next for me? Oh, and I know you told me something before this. I'm sure it is that public knowledge. It's public knowledge. Okay. So what's next for you? Yeah, I'm so excited. So, um, probably this will come out in about a week. In about a less than a week, possibly. So you can just say it's like opening now. Opening soon. Crush bottle shop in the Wedgwood Houston neighborhood. Crush, crush bottle shop in the Wedgwood Houston neighborhood. I am so excited. This is, um, so this is the second wine store and wine and spirit store for me. The first is Harvest in Belle Meade. So Brian Hadfield, my business partner and I, um, purchased Harvest from the previous owners and revamped it two years ago.

59:16Um, and at the same time, you know, we were kind of looking, we weren't sure if that was going to happen. We were looking at other options and we signed a lease on a place in Wedgwood Houston that was yet to be built. Not knowing if that was all going to work out. I mean, it still had to be built. We had a bunch of contingencies in the lease. Um, it worked out. We've built it out and it's getting its CFO hopefully today and liquor license tomorrow, and I think we'll be open this next week. Wow. Yeah. There's a lot of competition over there in the Wedgwood Houston area. You know, I think we're going to be the only wine and spirit store. The only wine and spirit store. There's a little tiny one closer to the stadium. So we're on fourth Avenue south. We're right in between Wedgwood, East improper and the stadium. You have to be by law in Tennessee on a major thoroughfare on the first floor door opening out to the facing out. So the laws kind of prohibit a lot of stores from opening. Yeah. For wine and spirits. So I didn't know that. I know. So, but if you think about it, like where are all these stores located? You think of grand crew on Murphy road, major thoroughfare.

01:00:19You think of, you know, harvest in Belle Meade. We're on highway 100. So, um, yeah, super excited for the opening. It's, um, it's not exactly like harvest. It's definitely a version of, but I think I told someone recently it's a, it's like harvest cheeky, younger cousin. It's got a little attitude. What are people buying these days in liquor stores? I mean, I know what we sell in our restaurants, but like, what are, what's the hot thing right now? So I've learned so much in the last eight, nine months, um, about CBD and THC drinks. I mean, I am, yeah, I'm seeing what it collects. So I've tried that one too. Yeah. So it's really good. It tastes good. I think that's the thing. Like for me, I'm, I'm all about flavor, right? It tastes good. Yeah. And some of them tastes like weed and that's not delicious. It tastes like bong water for all of us that have the best experience, but yeah, collects a good, yeah, I mean, me too. Why do we know what bong water tastes like? Because we've done it. Um, but, um, CBD, THC, just non elk completely, like no, no altering effect kind of beverages that are delicious that have a backbone that have some acidity to them that have some bitterness that have beautiful fruit.

01:01:35I mean, we have such a large portion of the store dedicated to these products that I'm, I'm new to the game. I mean, I'm an avid wine drinker, an avid cocktail drinker. Um, probably drink less than I used to. That's might be age. My, it might be wisdom, might be age. Um, but, um, I'm also still a hundred pounds. So also being cognizant of that, but, um, yeah, the store, the store will have everything, but, and it also has food because now we can, we can have a little bit of food as long as it's snacks in the store, but that means caviar. That means caviar and champagne together. That means potato chips and prosciutto and olives and almonds. And so, you know, watch, watch us, um, watch us go on Uber Eats soon. It'll be, uh, it's a whole new game and a really fun, new thing to learn. But so crush is what's new, um, in my portfolio, but at Miele we have really fun, we have staffed the kitchen such that Miele will regularly be available to cook in your home.

01:02:40Really meal food, like at that level. So duck leg confit, like these really, and it's very much a, we come into your home and cook at that level. It's not, it's not made to just be simple for the kids. It is cooking the beautiful dinner party in your home. Are you doing that through placemat? We're not. So like we talked to Kim and she's amazing and we will, and we might do that as well. But you know, the one thing we learned from those conversations is we don't want to do something that the first intro to meal in someone's home, cause maybe it's a guest of that, of that customer is not the typical meal experience. Okay. So we really want it to be that elevated and we can't do that for that format. It has to be a little different and be tailored to who we are. And you know, we've done this, we've done this for regular guests. Um, for charity events and things will come to your house and cook. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, I did this prior to meal opening to even learn whether we had the right audience in Nashville to open a restaurant like this. So, I mean, this has been going on for over 20 years, but we're now organized such that we in staffed really at staffing such that we can do that, um, more regularly.

01:03:51That's super cool. And then one last little thing that launches this winter, but really for looking ahead to the spring and getting a scoop here, I like that super scoop and the PR people learn about this and you know, what is it now? Eight minutes or something. They will learn about it. Um, we have organized ourselves because we, again, we've done this for friends, but we hadn't done it in a more organized fashion, but we have a beautiful space at meal with the barn and the patio that's now covered and heated, um, for micro weddings. Wow. So think about having a wedding for 20 people. I mean, just this is like. Second wedding. The second weddings are great, or just, do you want a small first wedding and then maybe a big reception like later, but you really want to keep your wedding tight and you really maybe want to just keep it more on a budget. I mean, we've had full wedding, 20 people, floral, everything there for under $10,000 that was stunning. Like we have pictures of these weddings that you would think that they spent three, four or five times as much, but no, I mean, the space is there.

01:04:58The chairs are there. The silverware is there. Everything is there. You can rent all this stuff. You don't have to rent anything. And the kitchen is there. We do this at Maribor and it's, it's, we do a lot of these. Yeah. Oh, we don't need, well, we should talk. I want to learn. Yeah. Tell me the pitfalls. What do we need to know a little bit more about? Yeah, there's not a lot. I mean, it's, it's again, it's a mentality of understanding that this is a lifelong memory that these people are making and they want it to be perfect. And if you have to abandon your own agenda, you have to abandon your own agenda because they have a vision, they know what they want. And if you try and make it your agenda, well, we only do this or we only do that. Like if you can say whatever you dream, we'll figure it out. And if you want to bring in your own stuff or you, whatever food drink, obviously that's not like negotiable, but I want to bring in a altar that has cool. Like whatever I want, my own flower arrangement. I want this color linen.

01:05:59I want this, I want this, I want this. Any of that stuff you dream it, we will figure it out and we want this to be as fairytale as possible. I think people tend to get stuck in their own constraints and say, well, that's not the way we, it's like, it doesn't matter the way we do it. I don't have a way we do it. I have the way you want it. And then we make that happen. I think, you know, when you have a team that when you bring up the topic of weddings, cringe, or you have a team, like the team I have at Mio right now, that's like, that would be so much fun. I want to serve at that one. Can I bartend for that? I mean, can I help with like making it all really beautiful? Do we get to come in early and help them decorate? That's awesome. The team is excited. And when they are glowing, when that bride and groom walk away with pride, that they were able to participate in such a special moment for someone. I mean, that I cannot wait. I cannot wait to book more of them. We've, we've done so many for friends and, and it's, you know, I even had a friend that she's like, can you just plan it?

01:07:01Because I don't want to, I don't do this. She was, I just want it to be stunning and delicious. I'm like, okay, I've got a lot of questions. I can't go, I can't just go with your wedding and not, and not ask questions, but it was stunning and it was delicious. And they had so much fun. And they just came in, you know, for their seven year anniversary. Remember when we did the wedding? I'm like, you know what? We should do this. We should really like, we should lean in, you know, we can do this. Well, I think you, yeah, I, my favorite moment that I ever have at Miracle is, um, we do, we're like the rehearsal dinner capital. We do so many, because we have such a great private house. It's a great space for it. And so every single Friday night, we have like two or three rehearsal dinners and weddings are, you know, I've seen people do their first dances in our living room and to see people do their first dances. But my favorite is, I don't know, three weeks ago, I had this moment of a new manager and I was like, come here, come here, come here. And I pulled her over and I go, this is the moment. And there was a uncle in the living room and there was the bride.

01:08:05And I think the bride's father had passed when she was younger and the uncle was giving his speech and he was saying, you know, since you were a little girl, I've raised you as if you were mine. And I mean, I get choked up thinking about it, but like, he's like tearing up. She's tearing up and he's giving this heartfelt speech about giving away his daughter, so to speak, his niece. But like, this is somebody that clearly, and you just sit there in that moment. And I was watching it and I said, come here, you got to see this. And you can, cause we're working the event. You can see it, but you go, this is a memory that they're going to remember for the rest of their lives. There's never the rest of their lives. If you've seen them in the inside out, this is like one of those core memories that it's like going down the vault and like, we get to share that with them. Like, this is what we get to do. And this is kind of back to the origin of our conversation. Like, this is why I do this. This is this moment right now, being able to facilitate this and being them, letting us in to that moment that we all get to share in this lifelong memory that they have is like, what gets me up in the morning?

01:09:17That's the special thing. I mean, what is life? What is life? But not a bunch of special moments. We either get to participate in and help curate and allow, we provide the venue for them to happen. I mean, is this going to happen at someone's home? A lot of times? No, you need the space. We provide the space. We do the support to make it so special, so memorable that, you know what? In 20 years, I love it when someone comes in like, remember, like I have restaurants from Seattle from like almost 30 years ago, when I run into someone, when I'm there, like, do you remember? Do you remember when you catered my wedding 30 years ago? I'm like, oh my God, we were down on the water. We were at this little beach club. Yeah. Do you remember my family came in and they were first generation and no one spoke English and this is how we're, you know, and I'm like, yeah, oh my gosh, like, yeah, well, we, we just celebrated our 30 year anniversary. Wow. We're grandparents now. We're like, oh my gosh, like out.

01:10:18And you know, these are, these are the moments in life. Um, this is what makes it special. Well, this interview today was a moment in my life. I thank you so much for coming in. This has been enjoyable. I enjoyed the conversation before we started talking. I wish we would have recorded everything we said before we actually hit record because it was all wonderful. And you're doing so many things, uh, with the Nashville convention center. We didn't get into it. I do this a lot. We've got to do this again. And we'll jump into a lot of the other things that you were involved with. You are absolutely amazing. 17 years of meal. Uh, anything else you want to promote any way to get a hold of you? Are you on open table? Do you do Rezzy? What are we on? We're on talk. So you're on talk. Go explore talk. So you can find us on explore talk. If you want to make a reservation, um, keep an eye out for all the January classes. You know, we closed the first 10 days and then we come back with tons of wine cooking, um, classes that are just great holiday gifts.

01:11:23So great holiday gifts. I mean, they're perfect. Well, it's a great way to spend time. Yeah. Spend time with people, create moments, create the moments. It says that we want to be the venue for it. Brandon, thank you so much for taking time to have me on. Hey, it, the pleasure is all on this side of the table. As he says in the movie, uh, office space, no, no, no. Peter pleasures all on this side of the table. So enjoyable, so much fun. Uh, got to do it again. Standing invitation. Anytime you want to come on anytime you want, you're welcome to love to have you. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and, uh, we'll see you soon over at meal off of, uh, Charlotte Pike right behind Bobby's dairy dip. Perfect. Go see, uh, Seema over there. Thanks for joining us. Big thank you to Seema Prasad for joining us on the podcast. Stay tuned after Thanksgiving. We're going to hear from Jake Mogelson. See, I found out his name cause I felt terrible that I forgot it on the front end.

01:12:25Jake is, uh, one of the partners over at butcher and B and fancy pants. He's also involved with redheaded stranger to a degree. Uh, I don't know, but I could talk to him again for hours and hours and hours. They're celebrating their 10 year anniversary at butcher and B and they've got some really cool things going on that he's going to tell you all about again. I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are officially into the holiday season. Uh, this episode with Jake will come out, uh, probably the weekend, uh, this coming weekend after Thanksgiving. And I'm so excited. Some great episodes coming up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for being a loyal listener. We really appreciate you. Hopefully you are learning about this industry and hopefully you're learning some things about the other people in the industry and hopefully you don't feel alone if you do this time of year, know that you are not alone, that you are, you have an amazing group of people out here that love you and think that you are special and, uh, this can be a tough time of year for a lot of people.

01:13:31And I want you to know that I think that you're amazing and I really just am thankful for you, the listener, whoever is listening to this right now. And I hope that you will be safe because, uh, I love you guys. Bye.