The Music City Roundup Feat. Kahlil Arnold, Karl Worley, Levon Wallace, and David Cronin

00:00Hello, Music City and welcome to the Music City Roundup. My name is Brandon Styll and I am joined with Kelly Sutton. Hi, Kelly. Hi, hi, how are you? I'm really good. I think that the Thanksgiving holiday was really nice. And how was yours? How were you doing? It was really great. It was actually a really good day. I cooked all the things. You did it. I did it. And I've done it for a couple of years now. So that's kind of the norm as I do the turkey and I'll do like, you know, just all of the normal sides that you would normally see at Thanksgiving meal. My mother-in-law does a few, my mom does a few, but yeah, between the three of us, we pulled it together. And you know, the moment that you take the turkey out of the oven and you look at it and it looks good and you cut into it and you see that it's not completely like that, you know, national- Just a vacation?

01:05Yeah. If it doesn't do that, then you're like, okay, thank you. Another Thanksgiving is gonna be just fine. So yes, the turkey was great. So I was fine. I think that movie gave everybody that standard. Like- For sure. If this turkey looks half, if it tastes half as good as it looks, I'm just- All right. So it didn't do that. And I was really happy that it didn't do that. And you were actually at Mayor Bowl. How was it? Oh, it was fantastic. You know what? We had so much fun and we had spaced it perfectly. Never went on any kind of a wait. We were so proactive in getting every single thing done. Everybody felt so comfortable. I mean, 99.9% of Everett's one guy was like, I don't wanna wear a mask. And I was like, oh, okay. That's fine, dude. You're going to, but of the multiple people that came in, a couple hundred people that came in, we had one guy. So it was really nice.

02:05Everybody was thankful. It was a really fun time. Of course, missed being with my family for the most of that, but they came home that night. I think my wife's probably watching right now. So hi, honey, if you're out there. Hi. It doesn't look like it was a meter in person. I stopped by. You guys were at Cheekwood though. So I need to say hi. She's in the car rider line right now waiting and she listens while she waits for the kids. You know what that's about. I know everything that that's about. I did that world. And if you are not there at least an hour before they get out, forget it. You're out on the road and you're waiting and waiting. And your poor child is standing there thinking they've been abandoned and you feel like the worst mom in the world. So go early and you sit in the car with it on until they tell you to turn it off because they are smart and they make everybody turn off their cars. And you're not supposed to be on your phone. There's a bunch of rules for a car rider. I had no idea. You know what's really funny though? Your kids are still little and they are in elementary school and when they middle school, it is a free for all.

03:10It's completely different. It's like, yeah, just keep rolling, open the door, push them out. They're fine. It's no big deal. They'll be okay. They're real resilient at that point. Middle school, they're very resilient. They're fine. They're fine. So yeah, get ready. Middle school is as chaotic as elementary school is organized. I missed the elementary school pick up line. My wife is sitting in the car rider land right now getting anxiety as we speak. Oh, sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. We have so many things to talk about today. I am really kind of surprised because we're in the holiday season I didn't know that we would get this many guests this close to the holidays because it feels like things are really starting to ramp up in some places. So I'm pretty pumped about all the people that are coming on to talk to us today. Who's coming on today? Well, two of my friends, Carl Worley. You guys probably have been to Biscuit Love. Biscuit Love is in the Gulf, amazing.

04:12You've been there. Biscuit Love, what is that? I don't know. I haven't. Stop. You've been there. It's amazing. Of course, yes. Biscuit Love, in the Gulf, they've got one in Franklin and then he also has Za, incredible, incredible food. And one of my favorite people, I just did this virtual cooking class with him and we'll talk all about it, but he's gonna come on and tell us how things are shaping up in the gulch and how things are working in his world. And then one of my friends, LaVon Wallace. LaVon has been a chef in town for years and he's just like everybody else. We had to pivot when all of this happened and he was home and I'm not gonna tell his whole story because I really want him to tell it. But he just pivoted in a direction he never thought he would and now he has a brand new business. He's doing gangbusters and the community is just rallying around him. So get ready to be introduced to Fat Belly Pretzel. Yeah. I am so excited.

05:13I've never met him before. So I am like super duper excited to meet him. He's amazing. I guess you've left kind of the cat out of the bag. Kristy Cookie is bringing us today to the gulch is gonna be our neighborhood focus. So yeah, biscuit love, Fat Belly Pretzel and we're gonna be, I think we've got one other guest I know of. His name is David Cronin and he is gonna be, he is the general manager at the brand new W Hotel. He's, we can all blame him for all of the traffic down there. It's his fault. So 12th Avenue is that's going right through there. That is what he's doing but he's gonna come on and give us an update as to everything that the W is gonna bring to that neighborhood. And I think it's gonna be an amazing anchor there next to the Thompson and it's gonna have some really cool amenities which we're gonna learn about today. So I'm really excited to introduce him to this audience and I'm excited.

06:14We may have another guest. I don't know a hundred percent but like I'm not gonna jinx it. If he wants to pop on, we'll let him jump on and it'll be lots of fun. Maybe we'll have a surprise guest. I like surprises. Who knows? They're fun. Yeah, we'll just have to wait and see. We're gonna be talking to Charlie McPherson at four o'clock. He's gonna be at a location pouring wine samples. See, this is always the crux of this. Why are we not where Charlie is? Or vice versa, why is Charlie not where we are? I can't wait till the day where you're gonna say, where's Kelly? And you're gonna log on and I'll be sitting next to Charlie sampling all the miracle wine. I have a feeling that that might happen next week. Okay, I wouldn't be mad about it. You don't have to be mad about it. We will be, the show next week, Germantown, is gonna be our feature next week.

07:18And we're gonna say all about that here in just a moment. Should we jump into the show? We got so much to cover. Let's do it. So we're gonna start off this week with kind of a preview because we've changed the format of our show, the Nashville Restaurant Radio. We typically have a Monday show, a Wednesday show, and then we do the roundup, this Music City roundup on Thursdays live. We're gonna start doing Monday being Nashville Restaurant Business Radio and Wednesday is Nashville Restaurant People Radio. So kind of a business format. We talk about the industry, what's going on on Mondays. We're gonna talk about just different thought leaders and that's gonna start Monday, but we're gonna start doing our on-brand segment, kind of talking towards that. So first segment is brought to you by SuperSource. This is our on-brand segment of the show and it's our first segment of the show. SuperSource is the answer to your dish machine and chemical needs to your restaurant. They have zero minimums and zero contracts. Those are big things with what we're about to talk about.

08:18They have to earn your business every single week. Jason Ellis is a hardworking guy and he is here to save you money and increase the cleanliness of your dishes. They provide the best service in Nashville. Check him out at our website, NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com and click the sponsor tab for a link to SuperSource where they have amazing deals. The deals are so good. Tell me if this doesn't sound cheesy, like I'm some kind of a sales guy. The deals are so good. They're only available online. Can't even tell you what it is. You have to go to the website to find out and it's probably gonna be a deal on your dish machine rental, which starts us off with this show. The on-brand segment today is gonna have to do with the end of the year. The end of the year is coming and one of the things that most restaurateurs do is we look at the end of the year at what our numbers look like for the year and we go, it's 2020. There's probably gonna be some crying and some big decisions that need to be made.

09:23One of those decisions are what are we gonna do going forward with some of our contracts? If you are fortunate enough to have a restaurant in 2021, the smart way to go about it is to negotiate new deals. You have these big vendors. You've got produce vendors. You've got seafood vendors, beef vendors, linens, dishwasher, dish machine. The cool thing about SuperSource, there's not a lot of negotiation because he doesn't do contracts. He just comes in and saves you money on the front end, which is pretty cool to extend that ad. But the guest that I have coming on Monday, his name is Tom Parker and he's a senior vice president at the Yukon Group and we talk about negotiations. We're gonna talk about all of the subtle nuances between negotiations, the tactics that people use during negotiations, why they use them, what it's all about so that if you are going to the store, you're buying furniture, you're buying a car, or if you're a restaurant, negotiate and deal between vendors, this is an episode you've got to hear because the beginning of the year is coming and this is the time to renegotiate so many of those deals and I think this is such valuable information that I just cannot wait to bring it to you guys.

10:37So on brand this week, we want to talk to you about your vendor negotiations. You're gonna need to do it. Check out our show Monday. We've got a special offer coming Monday to help you with those and we are so excited SuperSource was able to sponsor this segment and the show coming up Monday morning. Let me ask you this because this is so outside of my wheelhouse of anything that I've ever had to deal with but is that a huge pain point? I mean, is that like the one thing that restaurants or restaurateurs most dread? Because it would be the one thing I would dread the most if I owned a restaurant. So here's the crazy thing. A lot of people dread it and a lot of people don't like doing it and one of the things we talked about in this interview is the different styles of negotiation that there are but the problem is most people don't, they think right now they're doing it really well. The thing is a lot of people think they're doing it right now and they're not.

11:38These companies train people how to negotiate and how to make you think that you're winning the negotiation when you're really not and it's a huge source. So I think that's the big takeaway is a lot of people think, what do you mean? I'm already winning and then when they really get into it, they go, oh my gosh, there's like 100 things I could be doing right now that will save me money immediately just through a couple phone calls. I mean, I can probably save most restaurants right now, five grand from three phone calls that I could do right now. A lot of people don't recognize that that is even a thing. Wow, that's incredible. Well, and I think when you're looking at a year like this year in particular and you know that every dollar is going to count, that's huge, $5,000, that's a huge swing. It is and I think that it's gonna be interesting. It's interesting who we can help and I'm looking for lots of feedback on this one. It's gonna be great. I'm super excited about it. That's happening Monday, what time?

12:40Monday morning, it's gonna be Monday. We'll have the podcast, it'll be available. It's just gonna be on a podcast. So if you go to nationalrestaurantradio.com, click the watch or listen tab and you can listen to this podcast coming up. All right. Chances are I'll put it out Sunday night. Just if you're a subscriber, you get the notification. Chances are. Chances are. Sunday night after football, it might be out. Stay tuned. So I'm excited to talk about what's new in town. Yeah. Cytex, another one of those companies who is a great company that if you are doing negotiations and you use a company that you're not happy with, they're a company that would love to come in and sit down and talk to you about your linen business. So they are a third generation, family owned and operated linen mat uniform company. They really are the good guys in the linen business. When last time I did a negotiation where I spoke with many linen companies, they were the ones that won. They came to the table with all of the most reasonable things and their quality is second to none and their delivery guys, their drivers, the route managers are just the nicest people in the entire world.

13:50Matt Bowles on a show, he was like, I don't wanna know what my Cytex guy is on because you're not legally allowed to be that happy. Like it's not even a thing. Oh, see and that's the thing again, looking at overall cost. I mean, how much and I'm putting you on the spot. How much of an overall budget do things like that, do linens really start to factor in? I mean, are we talking 2%, 5% or it could it be as much as 15%? You know, it's, I mean, a lot of that varies. I mean, depending on if you're just using linens, then I think you're under 1%, but if you're using linens as well as tablecloths and you're using kitchen towels and microfiber towels and you're using first aid kits plus your uniforms are there. I mean, all of that stuff can kind of factor in. So I mean, you can take a couple of different things and put it together, but the more of those things that you use and the more, the problem is a lot of people use a bunch of different companies.

14:50So they say, I'm gonna use this guy for this, this guy for this and this guy for this. And I'm gonna hold, if I use all three, then they'll all hold each other accountable. And it's like, that's not the way it works. If you put all of it together for one person, they deliver all on one truck. That's how you actually save the money. And this negotiating that aspect of it is where you really can start saving when you consolidate, which these guys will do, they'll do for you. So 1% is typically at most people budget for linen. Okay. It's to about 1%. I'm learning so much. I'm gonna end up opening a restaurant if I do the show with you for another year. I mean, that's just gonna be, it'll be it. I'll help you, it'll be fun. My husband just walked in and he's like, what just happened? What? What happened? Listen, you cook one turkey girl, that's about it. That's all you get a year. I don't think that makes you a restaurateur. That's the funniest thing I've heard all day. My husband walked in like, you are not opening a restaurant. Not opening a restaurant. No, don't even think about it.

15:50So if you do, if you're interested in site techs and you should be, cause they're amazing, this should definitely write this number down because this is one of those companies you need to call at the beginning of the year, site techs, call Ross Chandler at 270-823-2468 or site techs-corp.com. They are also at nashrestaurantradio.com. You can click their tab and find them there. They like to sponsor what's new. They wanna get out there. What's new? What's going on? If you're a new restaurant, give them a call. They'll set you up. All right, what's new? What's new, Kelly? Do you, you got anything out there? This is interesting. Okay, so Anzee Blue. I went to the first Anzee Blue and I actually went to their opening and got to meet them and they are the most lovely couple. And now they had to expand, which is so incredible considering, everything that we've been going through in so many places are just kind of like shuddering, unfortunately. So they moved from, they were in Belle Meade and they were behind B Hughes.

16:52All of you let it go in Belle Meade every once in a while. So they were behind B Hughes and now they're over by the Bell Court. And I actually, I didn't get a chance to go over and see it yet, but I have heard that it's fantastic. And they've just, I've seen like sneak peeks on their Instagram of what it looks like on the inside and a beautiful mural. So I'm very excited for our friends at Anzee Blue. And they have all kinds of really amazing products. But the one thing that I took home, they do like this great charcuterie to go. And we grabbed it. And I mean, this was at the beginning stages of everything going on. And we weren't really going out much at all. So to be able to walk in and take that home and just, it was something, it was nice. It was just nice to have something from outside of the house. Of course. Yeah, no, it was fantastic. So we're super excited for them. And I can't wait to check out the new place. Everything I see, it's gorgeous. It's a beautiful space that they're in. Again, couldn't be more happy for them. That's awesome.

17:53What's next? You tell me. Julia Jaksic, who owns Cafe Rose in East Nashville, who has been on the show. We did a big episode, talked about people, did a fantastic job during the pandemic. They kind of transitioned their location there to kind of like a bodega. And they were selling all kinds of stuff out of there. They're one of the best brunch places in town. They have a new location, the Rose Pony. It's open in Belmead and they are rocking and rolling. So just more of an announcement that if you are a fan of Cafe Rose and you live on the west side of town, the Rose Pony is now open. You can go check them out. I do love a new place on our side of town. Well, I say our side of town. It's close. It's closer than the East side of town. We're not quite Belmead. We're Belmead adjacent. Adjacent, the other side. Belmead adjacent. Gaylord, Aubrey Lane, Country Christmas is in full swing.

18:55If you haven't been out to see the lights, take your family. It is such an incredible scene. It's beautiful inside and out. Gorgeous points at a tree as soon as you walk into the Magnolia lobby. It's fantastic. But if you really want a chance to just kind of step away during the holidays, so our buddies, the Oak Ridge boys are doing their dinner show. And I got a chance to go the opening night. It's a really great meal. You get to sit down. You don't have to cook anything. Fantastic. And you get to hear the Oak Ridge boys and they're singing Elvira and My Baby's American Maid and all of the hits that you grew up on. But then they also, the Oaks had seven Christmas albums, which was astonishing to me. I didn't realize that, but they've had seven different Christmas albums. And so they have a huge repertoire of just Christmas music. Plus they're singing some of your favorites and it's just, it's a good time. So if you want a chance to take the family somewhere and feel safe, that's the other thing. It's such a huge ballroom.

19:56You're really, really spread out from anyone else. You're sitting at your own table, mask policies in a full effect. So you walk in and you sit down and it's just, it's just a nice break, I think, for people during the holidays to go and have that normalcy and that holiday feeling. But yeah, it's all happening right now so you can buy the tickets online. They also have ice skating and tubing outside and the I Heart Christmas movies, which I walked through and guess what they have in there, Brandon? What? They have the scene from Christmas Vacation with the turkey. They have the entire table. It is set just like it is in the movie and they have a mechanical turkey. And when you walk in, it opens up and smoke comes out of it. It's so great. You got it. For that alone, it's worth the price of admission. Wow, what an amazing setup that was previously in this episode for that moment right there. I had no idea. This is how we do. You think this is not set up?

20:56This is totally what we were doing when we said that, didn't we? Sure. Of course we did. Yeah, that was in the script. I came by to see you and you were not there because you and your lovely family went to Cheekwood, which I still haven't had a chance to do. But you went at night because you wanted to see Julie all lit up, right? We wanted to. One of the things we talked about in our episode last week in our Grateful Nashville was holiday traditions. And one of ours is going to Opryland and then the other one is going to Cheekwood. And our kids, since they were three and five, now five and seven, this is our third year going, maybe our fourth year, wife will correct me. But they have reindeer. So the parking is free. It's easy to walk up. It's very socially distanced. They do ask that you wear a mask the whole time that you're there, which I'll be honest with you was fantastic because it was kind of cold. Cold, yeah. And you're walking like the mask, like really doubles as like a face covering. And I was like, this is fantastic.

21:58But yeah, they have Chihuly right now and it's all lit up at night. And then of course the millions of lights that they have, the mansion is set up. Santa Claus, I don't, Santa Claus is not there this year. They do have the trains are going and they've got this little suspension bridge and they've got a whole area to walk around. Just the most amazing time. My kids are five and seven and they had an absolute blast. Like they were just like completely full of love and excitement and like happy Christmas spirit. It's just one of those things that I told you, I said making new traditions with my kids. This is one of those things that every single year you gotta do. It's just that great. Yeah, when we went to Opryland, we stayed out there and we used to do that almost every year with my daughter and she looked at me and she goes, I remember when we did this every year and I'm so glad we're doing it again. And I thought, oh, okay, so you do remember. We do all these things when they're little.

22:59You think they don't latch onto it, but they do. So that's awesome. I wanna tell you a story. We went two years ago and they have Santa Claus there and the Santa Claus is like, he's like legit. He's like a dude, like he sat down and like he spent like 15 minutes with the kids, like telling them stories and I was like, wow, like this is amazing. And this was at Opryland? This is at Cheekwood. At Cheekwood, okay. Cheekwood, yeah. Oh, he's a fantastic Santa. He's like the best Santa ever. But then we walked out and they have Santa's workshop right there and you can write letters to Santa. My kids can't really write, but they're writing this letter to Santa. And I'm in my brain, I'm over here going, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. Like I am gonna save this and I'm gonna give this to them on their wedding day, this list of I want this and I want that, I want this. And he wrote it all down, he packed it up. And I'm like, all right, we'll take that home and we'll mail it, right?

24:00There you go. And so we walk out of the shop right as Santa was leaving. My son goes, oh, there's Santa right there. Gives him the letter and I was like, yep, there's Santa. Take the letter. Santa was like, thank you for the letter and just like left. And I was like, I want that, I want that. That's like a special thing. Oh, man. That's awesome. But then the memory that he actually got to hand deliver the letter to Santa, I was like, damn it, now I have to go buy everything on that list. Well, let me tell you what mine did. When this is a little older, she's 11 now. So when she was probably eight or nine, she wrote the list out and sent it. And then when she went to see him, he said, well, what would you like? And she said, well, I sent you the list. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's not gonna fly. And he goes, well, you know, and he was great. I don't remember what exactly he said, but he was like, refresh my memory.

25:04I've got a lot of kids that are sending letters and blah, blah, blah. So she told him, but she didn't let us read it. Sister got the stamp and put it in the mail. So I didn't even know what was on it, Brandon. So it was a shot in the dark to see if I even hit one of those targets at all. So. You're like Barbies? Yeah, what are we aiming for this year? Now it's a TV in her room and her own Netflix. Subscription. That's what you get when you're 11. Is that this year? That's what she wants now? She wants, I'm like, I don't think so. Your own Netflix subscription. Like just the little tab that says her name isn't enough. Clearly, I don't know. Maybe she just meant she wanted Netflix on the TV that she wants on her. I was like. I think that was it. See, my son, I would have to be like, he wants his own because he doesn't want me seeing what he's watching. Oh. He would be like, no, I just want me.

26:05I don't think he'd watch anything bad. He just wants that. I want my own. I don't want yours. I want my own. Okay. And he's adorable. I know. I know. Oh, hey, we mentioned our buddies in Germantown. I don't know if we mentioned it. You and I talked about it before we actually went on the air, but Christie Cookie is back up and running in Germantown. And that's incredible, incredible news because that has been a minute. They had severe damage after the tornado went through back in March. Gosh, has it been? Where are we? The time space continuum has completely closed in on me. I don't even know what day it is today, but yeah. The fact that they've been trying to rebuild and reopen in the middle of COVID and everything else that's happening. And now they are back open and that just does my heart good. It does my heart good too. I think it should do that neighborhood good and our city good because they've been there since 1995, I believe.

27:06And that storefront did get heavily damaged and you know the cool thing about them reopening right now. Today is Thursday. Tomorrow is Friday, December the 4th and tomorrow is National Cookie Day. Oh, how perfect is that? So tomorrow or today, depending when you're listening to this, this will come out on audio on the podcast on Friday, December the 4th. If you're listening to this today, if you go to the Christie Cookie location in Germantown and smile at them or wave eye smile with them or however you do it with a mask on. Eyes. What's that? Smiles, smile with your eyes, smile. Yes. If you smile, you are, with any purchase, you get a free cookie. They're giving away free cookies tomorrow. That's a way to reopen your storefront. That's a great way, that's a great way. And you know what? It's just in perfect timing too because the holiday is happening. You know, they are just getting bombarded with all kinds of orders and all kinds of people wanting to come by and sample and see and do all the good things.

28:12So it's just perfect timing. Absolutely. I'm so excited for them. We're gonna talk a little bit more about them. You know what? This is probably a pretty good transitioning point because they are our sponsor for the Neighborhood Spotlight this week. And while we're waiting for Charlie to jump on here, Charlie McPherson is gonna let us know where he is right now for you to go and drink wine. We're focusing on the Gulch today. And like we said, the Germantown Bakery is going to be reopened. You can go get your free cookies, but you know, we're just so excited that there's such a Nashville tradition and it was really born, this whole segment was born out of the fact that they saw how the tornado affected Germantown and how it wasn't just them. It was the entire community. It was everybody around them. They were just, guys, please come to these neighborhoods. And they said, we'd love to sponsor an individual neighborhood at a time because Nashville is more than Broadway, you know?

29:16And Nashville is more than just this one strip in town. There's so many unique neighborhoods that are supported by local restaurants. And they said, we wanna support those restaurants whom a lot of them, you know, have Christy cookie desserts on their menus and different things, which is a possibility. If you want to create your own Christy cookie dessert, give them a call, check them out at ChristyCookies.com. They will, they would love to do that for you. They're the amenity cookie at the double tree. I know. Well, and I think I told you this, but years ago, because I'm old and I've been here for a long time. Years ago, I interviewed Christy. He, Christy Hauck, he was the founder. And he told me the whole story. When he was a little boy, he would walk home and there was a lady that lived around the corner and she made cookies. I believe she may have been a German, I can't remember. But he said that there was just something about her cookies that he had never had before. And when he got older, he went on a quest basically to figure out how to make that cookie.

30:22He tried to bake that cookie. And he said he was just experimenting with all of his friends. They would come over and he would just make batches of cookies and give them away and say, what do you think of this one? What do you think of that one? And he remembered the day that he stumbled upon a missing ingredient that he put in there. And that was it. That was off to the races and Christy Cookie was born. And his friends kept saying, you should sell these. You should sell these. These are fantastic. And that is much like the story that we're gonna hear from our friend LaVon coming up in just a little bit, LaVon Wallace. But yeah, it was awesome. And let me tell you something, Christy Hauk is a lovely person. Oh, wait, was that Charlie? That was, he's loud again. That's my favorite. He's the one with the party. Here we go. I'm not really that loud. It's not really that loud, is it? No, it's good, man. I was just messing with it. Yeah, well, it was loud for a second because I was talking to Chris Smithing and I was having to yell because I had you guys in my ears and he was trying to communicate with me.

31:27But anyway, how are you? I think we're fine. I think the question of the day is, where are you? I'm at the Green Hills Grill. We're in Green Hills. You're a good friend and mine, Steve Smithing's place. Yes, Steve Smithing, who is just on the show with his wife, Jolene. And you are sampling your wine for Miracle One Wine Company, Green Hills Grill. It's on Richard Jones Road and lots of free parking and are you pouring like full glasses of wine as samples? We've got, here's what we've got is we've got, we've got three, we're pouring like this, like we're pouring samples of wine for stuff because we don't want to take revenue away from the restaurant and you do certainly get an opportunity to taste whatever you want. We've got all three Faith, Hope, and Love here today. And one of the reasons that we're here is because Green Hills Grill is actually gonna, towards the end of this year and the beginning of next, they're gonna start a neighborhood growler program.

32:29So when you guys think of growlers, you think of the 64 ounce handle jugs. They don't have to be that big. So we've got, they're gonna be about this size. This is about a 375 milliliter bottle here. It's just a regular street craft. It's for all winemakers and stoppers who got samples in, keep it good for a few days. And they'll be poured off of the new Micromatic Tap System that they have, which I'm gonna show you right here, I think anyway. If you can see, well, I don't know if you can see it. Oh, I can see it, yeah. It's got that tower right there. It's got four taps on it and it's got two different temperature control areas. So one side's for white and or rosé and the other side is for red. So they're gonna be pouring the Chardonnay, the Rosé and the Pinot Noir. We'll probably start with the Chardonnay next week. And as we ease into the end of the year, we're gonna start doing a growler program. So if people are here and they wanna take a half a bottle home, not a whole bottle, we can accommodate that.

33:29And also to add to their curbside offering and delivery. We hope that it'll be kind of one stop shopping for that. It satisfies all the ABC rules, even pre-COVID. So what we're hoping it'll be is a real revenue driver for Green Hills Grill and rock and roll. We'll have faith, hope and love all on tap here at the Green Hills Grill by January of 2021. So when you say you're all out of faith, then it's gonna be a good deal. Yes. I like it. Yeah. He's got this thing down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's excellent. So we'll be here until about 5.30 if anybody wants to come down and taste some wines. Also Green Hills Grill has a really killer happy hour. They've got some awesome food for not very expensive pricing. And you get free wine if you come down the next hour and a half or so. So I'd really like to sample some free wines down to the Green Hills Grill until 5.30.

34:34Be there for an hour and a half and you can go. I think everybody's Thursday. Just get a little bit better. Yeah. Hopefully so. And as we move through December and January, if people want to see firsthand what keg wine technology looks like, it's standing right here behind the bar at the Green Hills Grill. Wow, that's awesome. We will definitely be sending more people that away. Charlie, get ready. You're gonna have a ton of people just start showing up right now. Stay socially distant, stay safe, and we thank you so much. Absolutely. You guys have a good afternoon. Thanks, Charlie. Bye. That's closer. We could go there. Like Green Hills Grill. How far? How far? What time? And they got a big bar too and that whole big bar area. They do. That sounds like a really lovely option for tonight when I don't have anything planned for Gwinnard. You know what? I really love that, that they're gonna start doing like the growlers to go and stuff.

35:34That's smart. So smart, yeah. I really, because if you really, if that's your favorite and it's only available in a keg, then you have to go get it and you don't have an opportunity to have it at home. So that's smart. That is fantastic. I'm gonna have them close my door so that it's loud. I had the wife who was, there you go. Everybody is in line with the kids. They just arrived to the studio. Amazing. Large closet. Here we are. I don't think anyone's, no one's come down here since the hubs. I'm in the basement. They leave me down here. I'm like a troll. He's gonna start checking on you now that he's gonna think you're starting to plan your own restaurant. Right. I'm starting to get nervous. He's like, I don't know what she's talking about down there. It's always something random with me. All right. So we have people commenting over here. Uh-oh. Keisha Johns is very excited because Biscuit Love is good. So good. Jason and Candice Ellis says, hey y'all.

36:37Hey y'all. And then Keith Johns, yay Christy for Christy Cookies. And then, oh, oh my gosh. You will never believe what just now happened. What? We had a special guest just pop up. Who? Oh, I'm excited now. Look at this guy right here. Hi. What's up? A little Arnold. Hi. Hey. Always a pleasure to see my friends. How's it going? Going fantastic. It's gonna be, I mean, you know, it is what it is. I'm alive, I'm well. Get to hang out with you guys for a few minutes. I mean, making my day. Yeah, dude. Making our day too. I gotta tell you a story. Are you ready? I'm ready. So I have a really good friend that lives in San Francisco and he was coming here to celebrate his birthday and you know, all the plans got jostled, whatever. So he finally makes it here. And I said, well, I'll come and meet you downtown and I'll take you anywhere that you wanna go.

37:38Where do you wanna go? And he looks and he's like, we gotta go to Arnold's. That was his number one place. He's been researching. You have really good, smart friends. We're going to Arnold's and I was like, let's go. And we got done. I mean, he looked at me and he's like, man, this did not disappoint. And I said, never does, honey, never does. So you are top of the list. He's telling everybody in San Francisco. I'm like, bring them all back. Bring them all back to business. Hey, I'm just glad to be a part of this great community with the food community, with so many good restaurants. That's awesome. Appreciate it. So good. A lot has happened since the last time that we spoke. You made an announcement last time you were on the show. You said that we're gonna open up on the weekends and at night times and we're putting in a bar and we got a lot of exciting stuff happening. Yeah, yeah. Edgar Pendley's been doing the construction. We're not far away from the bar. We had a Zoom meeting with the beer board today and we had a few things that we were left not done that we didn't realize.

38:41So anyway, they've been great. We should have another meeting the middle of the month and hopefully have a beer permit. Then shortly after with the liquor permit, if everything works out. So the plan is either late December, early January, start the nights and the weekends, you know? So not far away. That's so exciting, man. We're not one of the, I mean, just to say some other news, we're not one of the only people. I know that Pancake Pantry also plans on doing nights coming soon. So drop that off too. Yeah, Pancake Pantry talking about it. My friend Crosby, he just posted it on his page yesterday. So we're not the only ones that are looking to expand the hours. I guess everybody's kind of adapting to it. It's great when you see places like Falk and places like, I mean, there's so many restaurants here that are doing it, doing the brunch thing. It's like, dude, I mean, I never thought I'd ever go to Roffendotters and have brunch. I mean, it's like, there's so many places that are adapting. I mean, it's great because you get your favorite places are expanding to more hours and they're just doing the best they can to stay afloat.

39:44And it's like, but me being someone who likes to eat out, it's like being guilty pleasure because then it's places that I don't get to typically eat, get better, you know, more chances. Absolutely. When you started down that road, what was the one big hurdle? Like after you started really thinking, all right, we're gonna do this. We're gonna add these nighttime hours. We're gonna add the bar. The big hurdle was just me mentally preparing myself to be working a lot more. You know, it's like, you know, getting the permits. The city's been great as far as helping us with everything and figuring stuff out. I wanna definitely say that the beer board and everybody with Metro has been fantastic trying to help us navigate through all the paperwork and everything. And just, I guess the big hurdle is, you know, figuring out the menu for night. Is it gonna be exactly the same in the daytime? You know, there's been like my good friend Davis who actually works for Sean Brock. He's been working with me on the menu and getting me some ideas. And just, you know, it's just a lot to navigate because it's like, do you do the exact same thing at night in the daytime or do you kind of change it up a little bit and, you know, incorporate what, you know, like your roast beef and some of the stuff that you're typically known for, how to incorporate that in the nighttime menu.

40:56So it's gonna be exciting. You just recently had a big event with Sean Brock. How did that go? Yeah, I'm actually wearing a shirt right here. Actually, that was a recipe. It's funny you say that. It went fantastic. You know, Sean's brilliant. You know, working with Sean, getting to work with Sean and get to pick his brain and hang out with him is just, you know, any chef or anybody in the culinary industry's dream. You know, Sean is a great guy and his knowledge of and his excitement for what he does kind of re-energizes you. I mean, hanging out with somebody who just their passion is parallel to nobody. I mean, I don't know too many chefs that are just, I mean, the guy's knowledge and the guy's thirst for knowledge of food is just, I mean, it's amazing. So hanging out with him and went fantastic. We sold out all three days and it was just, it was fun to work with him. You know, we appreciate him. We got to keep a lot of that money and which helped us pay for the bar. So, you know, Sean's a brilliant guy. You know, so it was a lot of fun.

41:59So basically you're telling me that in the future I could come to your place. I could have your chicken and I could have a beer at the same time. That's exactly true. That's 100%. We haven't had the beer from right yet, but that's the plan anyway. It's going to be pretty exciting. You know, Friday, Thursday night, hours plan on being Thursday night, five to five to 10, Friday night, five to 10, Saturday from like 11 in the morning till 10 at night. And then, then possibly a Sunday brunch. Oh, did I hear brunch over there? Is there going to be a brunch? Correct. We heard brunch. We heard seven up pancakes. We heard all kinds of new stuff. It's been a long time since I made biscuits. So, you know, pulling the rolling pin back out and dust it off, getting ready to make some good old, you know, some sausage biscuits and all that kind of fun stuff again. I tell you that we're about to have a guy on the show who is the master at that. Carl Worley is going to be jumping on any second. He's the best. I love some Carl Worley. I mean, the biscuit master.

42:59He is, right? The biscuit master, the biscuit whisperer, we should call him. You know, and just, and just, he means such a great, great person. I mean, so it's like hard to be his restaurants and then be such as just a positive fondue like he is. Love it. Real quick, we're focusing on the Gulch today. Kristy Cookie is our sponsor, bringing us to the Gulch. And I didn't know, I was doing a little bit of research and you, Arnold's is in the Gulch. You are part of the Gulch. You know, I really think that I love being a part of the Gulch. I mean, they take care of their area very well. It's, I mean, look at the restaurants that are there. 404 Us, Peg Lake Porker, you know, Monique's Places. You know, it's some really cool, it's just a really cool area. Love being a part of the Gulch. Yeah, I really think that, I don't think 10 years ago we were part of the Gulch. I think we expanded. I was like, really, that's how far the Gulch goes?

44:00We weren't originally part of the Gulch, but hey, we'll take it any day of the week. Carl, do you allow them, you think that Arnold's is part of, they're part of the Gulch, right? If I can get Greens, Arnold's is wherever they wanna be. They can be in Franklin. Exactly right, that is exactly right. It could be your neighbor one day, Carl, over there. You know, we might just, what you should do is just start sitting at Biscu 11 Arnold side by side across the country. That's what it really would be. Don't tease. I mean, that would probably- Yeah, Arnold, do not tease. If something happened, is this collab gonna be a franchise? I'm happy about that. Well, you never know. I mean, I do love the Worleys. They are the best family in Nashville, I tell you what. Especially his wife, she kind of makes up a lot for him. She makes up for all, it's, yes. Much like your mother, it's a whole lot. Oh, you got it. The matriarch of any industry is, I mean, this is the focal point. Without them, I don't think the rest of it all crumbles. Especially in the art industry. At least you know. For sure. Faking the truth. Yes. Well, Khalil, thank you so much for joining us today.

45:04And we're gonna say goodbye to Khalil and welcome to Carl. Hey, Khalil. I got him warmed up for you, Carl. Take it from here. It was nice talking to you guys. Always a pleasure. See you, brother. Love you, dude. Good to see you. All right, bye, guys. See you. Well, this is just super fun. Carl and I did this event. And Brandon, I don't know if I had a chance to tell you about. I think I did. We did like a virtual cooking for the city. And it was the first time I ever made biscuits from scratch that turned out great. Now I've done it before, but they were horrible. But with Carl by my side, I can truly say they were the best biscuits I've ever made. And he walked us through the whole process. So thank you, Carl. Have you made them since? No, come on. No, Carl. Just frozen. I'm gonna come buy them. I'm not gonna actually make them. I'm glad, girl. Hey, that's great. How are you? I'm good. How are you guys? We're doing great.

46:04We are doing great. We're focusing on the gulch. And of course I was like, oh wait, no, we gotta get Carl on here being right there. So give us the scoop on how things are going with the store there. And then I know you've got the other place as well. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting times. It's fun, strangely. It's a whole new set of problems every day that you're working on. It's exhausting, but it's amazing that we still attract a lot of people who want to come see our city and come visit our city and yearn to visit the city and do it in a good way and do it in a safe way. During this time, we have a lot where a lot of the bachelorette parties and things have slowed. The locals have really picked up and really supported small business. It's an amazing thing to see right now. That's so good to hear. I have a question for you, Carl.

47:07Everybody knows Biscuit Love should do biscuits. What's the best thing that you cook like in your personal life that's not biscuits? What's your favorite thing to cook? Two to three times a week at home we'll have, one of the blessings of being connected to local farmers is Bear Creek will bring us by steaks and pork chops. And so many nights we're rushing home, we're here by five and we'll fire the grill up and we'll do just very easy salt, pepper on steaks or pork chops and then a very simple veg. And that's usually what we're eating a few nights a week. That's probably my favorite thing also to cook just because it's real, it's salt, pepper, olive oil and really good ingredients, so. I love it. You and I had so much fun doing that class and beaming it out for 47 other people who were all cooking at the same time. Yes. But just the conversations that we had after the fact and really talking about how it is a sense of community.

48:16I mean, obviously we're focusing on the Gulch but when you have a place and it becomes a part of a community, it becomes a part of that neighborhood, talk to us a little bit about that and really having, like you said, all of these people come and rally around you. The Gulch is still a relatively new area when you're thinking about Nashville proper. So what did that start to look like to you and when did you really start to feel that sense of community there? It was, I think when we started to feel it, the first time I felt it was one of the first months that we opened in the Gulch, somebody had responded to something on Twitter with a picture from their balcony looking down. And of course I went outside and I'm trying to figure out whose balcony this is. It took me a few weeks to figure it out. Good friends of ours who have become friends live right across from, up until like a year ago, lived right across from the Gulch store.

49:18And it's amazing after 2008, the people have been here Nashville a little while, when 2008 happened, it kind of slowed the Gulch growth down a lot for a while. It was fun to be a part of when they approached us and said, hey, would you think about putting your first location in the Gulch? Sarah and I went and looked at it and we were just so excited to possibly have a brick and mortar I think we would have taken anywhere. But it was, however you want to divine providence, dumb luck, but we were in the right place in the right time and we were able to get our feet there. And of course it's become such a tourist destination that a lot of the locals that are there in those high rises just kind of do their thing and they go to work and they go eat somewhere and they come home. And it's been fun to connect with those people and watch them kind of reenter their neighborhood, which is the Gulch, the neighborhood that they call home and kind of go, okay, now I can actually get in here and eat.

50:24That's a real thing. One of the things I've been talking about is these downtown businesses are without the tourism, they're kind of struggling. And places out in Brentwood and Franklin are doing okay by any standards just because of, there's so many people live there, there's so many neighborhoods of people that just go out and support the local places that you guys don't necessarily, you have so much tourism that have, I was gonna ask if you've noticed that, just a group of the locals refinding all of these, just these neighborhoods because they can now. I've been saying go downtown, if you live here and you're one of those people that says, I never go downtown, like right now is your time. Right now is the time you need, if you say, I don't wanna go to the Gulch, I don't wanna deal with batch rep parties, dude, right now is your time to go do that because it's not full of batch rep parties and once all this stuff is over, you're gonna go, damn, I missed my shot to go eat at my favorite places. And I will be so thankful for bachelor parties and I'll never say another bad word about it.

51:29Yes, exactly. Yeah, but now is the time to go to Robert's Western World and get a bologna sandwich and enjoy it and actually be able to dance and go do the things and do it well and do it safely and go to Arnold's three times a week and walk right up and get your stuff and sit down and actually have a spot to sit down instead of waiting. Absolutely, well, and that's one of the places, I love that place. Let's talk a little something about what you and I discussed as far as the culture in your restaurant because I think everybody loves coming in there. There's a feeling when you come into Biscuit Love and you can't put your finger on it. You don't really understand what that is but after talking to you, I know it's the way that you treat your employees and the culture that you have at Biscuit Love and all the locations and at ZAW. So give us a little insight into how that came about and why that really does kind of permeate and you feel it when you walk into your building.

52:38Thank you, I appreciate that. My wife refers to us as the very worst entrepreneurs ever and so maybe we'll get that award one day. But at some point during this process, we thought, man, we've done this, it's really cool. We've captured lightning in a bottle some way. People love our food, people adore this place and it's like having a popular kid and we had this brilliant idea that we're gonna grow to 30 and sell it and along the way we found out what we already kind of knew but it was kind of thrust front and center that the people to get in the restaurant industry, typically it's a environment that is very militaristic, very up and down. You're gonna get abused, you can hide very easy, you can have your demons very easy and other people have demons and it's a very dysfunctional family and how do we write that and how do we leave the world a little better place and forget money?

53:53And so we've tried to take, like you said, we've tried to take a little different approach and we can see, especially right now in this environment when people are, on a good day, you're waking up in orange. If I've done everything right, I went to bed early, I am on top of the world, I've paid all my bills and I have a little bit of money left, I go to bed. Next morning, I'm in orange automatically and so we've been able to see some of the fruits of our labor of having a full-time person that does nothing but the staff care and so certified therapist that is on staff and does that and our Spanish-speaking community, we have a part-time for that and things that we've set in motion and we've seen help now all of a sudden are integral parts of our restaurant that we are so thankful that years ago we've had these ideas and we put the money towards investing.

54:54We've been able to pull stuff out from it so it's been a great, great time to see that. Wow, that's so refreshing and so amazing to hear because this community, I think so many people don't understand that aspect of it, that the people are what make this community what it is and they're not just these workers that are there to make you money, like treating these people with respect and treating us like they're giving so much love every single day to the people and I talk love languages and the spirit of service is something that we all share, just that wanting to help others and we give, give, give, give, give and to see somebody put it back into their own community, whether it be your community as the Gulch but your internal community which is your team to really show care, it's really special and I just thank you for that, that's awesome. Thank you, no, it's fun to watch people go and do other things and Sarah and I have always said it's kind of like a college and some people are gonna come and flunk out after two weeks because it's a really weird, strange place.

56:06Some people are gonna stay for a few years and go off and graduate and there's gonna be those crazy few that kind of stay and wanna be professors and we've had those and we've been lucky enough that the people that go off, oftentimes they'll come back and say, man, I have used the class about customer complaints in my new job or I've used the class about how to have healthy conflict in my life. I got married and I actually got to use that on my husband or my wife and it's fun to see it click and it may not click at the time but a year down the road when they get to actually use it, it's like, oh my God, okay, this is working. Are you a Patrick Lencioni guy? I'm sorry, Kelly. Yes. All right, fine. Okay. Yeah. Heard that, I was like, that's a five dysfunction, I love it. Yes. Well, I think that everything that you just said fills out into the vibe of where we walk in and we feel that. I mean, it's not a tangible, it's not we've got shiny new chairs or that we have this wonderful new thing that we added to the menu.

57:11It's not a tangible, but it's a feeling and that is just as important and is just as- You can't buy it. Exactly, you can't buy it. You can't buy it, it's either genuine or not and as a restaurant, I can have incredible food and horrible service and it'll be a very mediocre experience. I can have pretty good food and insanely great people and people will come back over and over and over again. Yeah, but you have both because your biscuits are ridiculously good. Thank you. It definitely is a good thing to have both and Carl, just wanna say thank you so much for joining us on the show. I'd love to do a longer interview on our people show in another day. So if you wanna do that, I'd love- You'll have to get my wife for that one. She's the smart one. She's pretty special. She's pretty special, love it. Man, thank you so much. Thanks for making time. And I'm gonna put this out there into the universe. You and I talked about this.

58:11We are gonna do the whole biscuits and boo at the haunted Franklin location someday. Done, done. You let me know when and we'll do it. I definitely want to. I love, love talking to you. Thank you, Carl. Thank you, guys. Bye, Carl. Bye-bye. That guy's amazing. He's incredible. They both are. I know we just didn't have enough time, but hopefully you can do more with him coming up on a different episode. The origin story of Biscuit Love, starting from a food truck, there's just this incredible encounter that happened. And they were going to close the food truck. They were done. We're not gonna do this anymore. This isn't for us. We tried it. It was fun, whatever. Boom, we're out. And I'm not gonna spoil it, but the story of why they didn't quit and how like within probably a month from that one initial, we're gonna quit.

59:12No, we're not. They ended up on the Today Show. So yeah, it's phenomenal. If Carl and Sarah don't write a book, they're missing out because it's just such an incredible story and they are amazing people. I cannot wait to do that. We have Mr. Leavon Wallace, Leavon Wallace. He is hanging out right here. Before I bring in Leavon, you're right there. I see you. I do have to say we just now had Carl Worley. He was on today as our local legend. He was brought on as a local legend, brought to you by Mobile Fixture. Established in 1927, Mobile Fixture and Equipment Company has always prided itself on providing the best product, services, and communications with their clients. Their focus is simple. They wanna provide their client with everything they need to create the perfect meal. To achieve this, they have to learn everything there is to know about all parts of the food service industry, from storage to handling, prep to cooking, to serve the perfect meal, whether dedication to clients comes first, always. If you are building a kitchen, you need anything at all, please call Mobile Fixture.

01:00:18Go to our website, nashvillerestaurantradio.com, and from there, you can set an appointment. Go look at their showroom in Smyrna. Our next guest is brought to you as our local spotlight. He is brought to you by What Chefs Want, Creation Gardens, What Chefs Want, and his name is Leavon Wallace, and he is here right now. Look at you. Hey, Brandon, hey, Kelly, how are you? Honey, I'm so good, how are you? I am much better now. Brandon, Kelly, how are y'all? You know what? We are happy to see your smiling face sitting in front of a Christmas tree. Is that a Christmas tree? I love it. Look at it. Oh, yeah, you know, gotta get into it. Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you so much for having us on. I'm so happy, so, so happy to talk to you, and I, you know, I filled Brandon in a little bit on everything that was going on, and I said, man, Leavon's doing it. He's killing it right now, but when you and I talked last, gosh, it was probably, what, June, I guess, maybe?

01:01:22It was, yeah, like end of July. Yeah, I think so. End of July, okay, and, you know, you were like, I just, we just started doing this pretzel thing, so back up and tell everybody what was going on and how it all got started. Yeah, so, obviously, you know, we're kind of in this unprecedented time, and then we have to kind of think outside of the box and really think about what's essential, and I found myself sitting at home, unemployed for the first time in my career, which has always been just nonstop hip hop, and so I decided to get out of my funk and out of all this like self stuff going on and made pretzels for my kids, and they were in love with it, and my wife and business partner, Kim, had the grand idea to like, hey, let's have a bake sale, let's have a pop-up, and I think you reached out to me a week or two after we started, Kelly, and we had no idea what we were getting into because here we are now a few months later, and so blessed to be, I mean, we're, you know, paying bills and eating well, and that's about all I can ask for at this point, but we're having a really great time, so that's what matters most, so.

01:02:33It's really fun. Just from cooking with your kids and seeing, like, I'm having fun doing this, turning that into fat belly pretzel, and selling out every time that I want to order anything, it was already sold out when you were getting to get out, you're gonna be around, man, that's so cool, that's amazing. Yeah, we're having a lot of fun, and that's all that matters. At some points, that is all that matters. I mean, in a time like, I keep, everything you see on is 2020, and it's terrible, and it's like, if you can have fun right now, if you can maintain a level of a positive demeanor, and you can get through this right now, I mean, I think that's so vital, isn't it? It's entirely vital. You know, we can sit around and state the obvious, and yeah, this whole thing was born from the kind of discomfort and the unease that was, you know, the restaurant industry falling through, falling out, Nashville taking a huge hit, when that's so much of our core is hospitality, come on in, sit, stay awhile, you know, we wanna take care of people, and then we all of a sudden, we lose the opportunity to do that.

01:03:42But like I said earlier, I think it forces us to really think about what's essential, how can we take care of the people that we can take care of, and then think about the next steps. You know, and I heard the previous guest, Carl, who I'm a huge fan of, and I'm fortunate enough to call him friend, you know, it would take care of people, and you can't take care of people unless you take care of yourself and the ones around you. So, you know, yeah, we'd love to grow this as a business, but more importantly, we just really like to make people happy, because that's all we've got right now, is right now. You know, we've got right now. I just have a question for you, Carl, or Carl, LaVaughn, because when- I wish. I know, sitting here like, oh, we're fangirling over Carl. Yeah. But LaVaughn, when you and I met, you were all in, and you have been in the restaurant industry for years, and, you know, from our city to other cities, being a chef, a head chef, and now looking back and looking forward at the same time, what are the things that led you to where you are, and what are the things that are now non-negotiable?

01:04:55Like, if you were to get a job offer tomorrow, what are the non-negotiables for you now? I think the non-negotiable has been this opportunity to share not only my passion for my craft, right? So whether it's making pretzels or charcuterie or any of the things that I've done in my career, it's my passion, right? So every single fat-bellied pretzel, it's got a little bit of love. They're all perfectly imperfect. But being able to share that passion with my wife, with my kids, to watch them get invested in the project, I mean, that's something that I can't walk away from anymore, you know, to really kind of have the two worlds meet, you know, the family unit and the passion thing, you know? Being a chef doesn't define me as a person. It's how I translate that as a hospitality, you know?

01:05:56That's the part that I love the most about it. But, you know, I don't know. I don't know if I can go back. That's a tough question, you know? I'm having way too much fun. That was such a great question and such a great answer. Oh, geez, go on. Over here, just like, I'm gonna ask you one of those questions. What's the secret to making the perfect pretzel? Oh, I think the whole thing with the fat-bellied pretzels, and I kind of gave you a teaser earlier, like the perfectly imperfect part is the thing that gets me. Like, it drives me nuts when you go and get a piece of food. You know, you see it at a restaurant and it looks like it's been way overhandled or if it's like too perfect or, you know, it just doesn't seem real. And that's what I love about our pretzels is that they're not like this, you know, no dish on the mall, but, you know, it's not like the same cookie cutter over and over and over again.

01:06:56You know, our pretzels have, you know, these thin, chewy arms and this big, fat belly and this, like, smile, and they're all just a little bit different. I don't know, man, I hate to sound really cheesy, but to me, the perfect pretzel is one that's made with a lot of care and attention, so. I had a, I used to work for a large food company. You can, I guess you could Google it. But one of the things that people, we had this big feature one time and they had these pretzels and one of the selling features was, you ready for this? The machine that makes the pretzels moves the pretzels every time so they look handmade. Yeah, exactly. And they had a machine that made it look imperfect because that was the make of a real pretzel and I was like, eh, okay, I don't know about that. It's a good product, yeah, but it's a good product. Well, when we first met, Kelly, when we first met about fat belly pretzel, you know, we kind of talked about how this was, like, this little bit of comfort that we're all kind of wanting and needing right now and every single time we hand someone a fat belly pretzel or a bag of fat belly pretzels or, you know, at this point, it's fat belly pretzel cookies and fat belly pretzel danishes.

01:08:16Now, I've saved the cookies, I still have a hat on, LaVon, what's up with that? I keep seeing Instagram, I'm like, oh, they look so good. Well, maybe Santa will bring y'all, both of y'all some stuff. But the whole thing was really born from this, like, okay, look, things are really weird right now. Like, let's not worry about all the stuff that we can't, that we have no control over, let's just focus on feeling good in a wholesome way. And so that's all it is. We just wanna make people feel good. Well, this is what I love too. Okay, so I think we're underselling it just a little bit because Brandon, I've had these pretzels and I've given them to the children in the neighborhood and I have video of them jumping up and down and squealing the pretzels. So he has regular pretzels, he has a beautiful, like, cinnamon sugar, like if you're gonna have a breakfast pretzel that's fantastic. The everything bagel pretzel, which was like all the things. But then you had like this fantastic beer cheese that you did that was amazing. And then the, oh, the sweet one, the cream cheese that you could dip it.

01:09:20I mean, like, they're elevated. They're not, it is so incredible because it's perfect. It's imperfect, like you said, but there's something for everybody too. If you're not the regular, I just want the regular salt pretzel. There's a little bit of something, something for everybody, which makes me super happy that you branched out like that too. Thank you, yeah. Again, we're just trying to keep it simple and it's going back to the mechanically shaped pretzel. Our whole thing is hand rolled homemade pretzels with sauces made from real ingredients. So whatever it is that we're making as simple as it may be, we're just trying to keep it as honest and straightforward. So again, if it's pretzel danishes or we do this like pretzel donut thing that's filled with Nutella, like you didn't know you needed that in life. You didn't know you needed it, but now it's here for you and we're here for you. We want to give that to you, so yeah. We're just having fun. I swear, we're just having fun. So for people that are interested, because I think everyone's salivating right now, where do they order it and what does going into the holidays look like for you?

01:10:27Because it's one thing, you know, you're doing this during the summer and you're like, great. And now if you get closer to the holidays, I mean, are you still doing everything, you know, in one location? Are you able to scale? How is this looking? So for the moment, for the rest of the month, we have taken residence at the East National Farmers Market. That's every Tuesday from three to six. That will end before December is over. You know, we do a lot of community and pop-up sale events. So another thing with, you know, the state of affairs and COVID and things of that nature, we'll go to a community and get them worked up and set up at their clubhouse or whatever it may be. We're also really fortunate to have some really great friends in the national restaurant scene. You know, Margot McCormick had helped us out by letting us set up in her parking lot. I would just talk to Hal from Loughlin Table and we'll probably do Saturdays at Loughlin Table.

01:11:27So any opportunity we can to kind of, you know, bring, spread love like mustard is what we like to say. Like spread love like mustard. So. So good. Yeah, I got an opportunity for you. I wanna talk to you after this. Awesome. How old are your kids? My son is 14 and my daughter is 12. Okay, so what is, I have five and seven. Yours is 11, Kelly. What is your holiday looking like here for 2020? We have like two minutes left before we get on to our next guest. What is your holiday look like this year? Do you guys have traditions you can prepare? Well, it's so, because all that stuff's like out the window, right? Like Thanksgiving was gonna be this like huge bacchanalia like it always is. And this year it wasn't. This was just like we made enchiladas and we were super happy. So for us this year, it really is truly, we're just gonna keep it nice and quiet and just gonna be the four of us and really enjoy each other's company. You know, my kids are so excited about the business and they work as much as they can.

01:12:28And so for us to just kind of stop and chill and enjoy each other's company is pretty great. And they love the pretzels. They can never get enough. So we don't get a break, but it's all good. We enjoy it. We really enjoy each other. Listen, I hate the circumstances that everything, put you to where you are, but man, I'm so happy for you because you look like you are happier than you've ever been. Thank you so much. And I'm with you, I accept I don't. I don't hate any bit of it because it all happened the way it's supposed to. And here we are talking about our pretzels, which you can find at www.fatbellypretzel.com. And that'll tell you where you can find us and how to pre-order. And what are your socials real quick? We've got Instagram at fatbellypretzel, singular, not plural, fatbellypretzel. Southerners like to throw the S in there, like Kroger's and whatnot. Fatbellypretzel or Facebook at fatbellypretzel.

01:13:30You can't miss the black and yellow. Yeah. Gotcha. Man, I just, I love seeing your face. Thank you so much for jumping on here. Brandon, Kelly, thank you guys so much. And I wish you guys a really happy holiday and thanks for the time. We appreciate you. Thank you so much too. It was much fun. Good to see you. Yeah, thanks. Take care. Bye. I am not kidding you when I tell you that, first of all, the everything bagel pretzel is incredible. And then like the cinnamon sugar one. Oh my gosh. I really had to fight my kid for it because we had a couple and they kept disappearing and I was like, you need to lay off my pretzels. These are mine. You know what? I think I know everybody in the restaurant scene and there are some people that I haven't met but then you meet guys like Carl and LaVon and I'm just like, I have an immediate love with those guys are just so amazing. I know. You know, I'm excited to meet this next guest too and we're gonna go ahead and bring him in because he's here. I know he's a very busy guy.

01:14:32This is David Cronin. Hi David. Hi everybody. David is the general manager at the brand new W Hotel in the Gulch. Oh, fantastic. I love everything that's happening down there. So how's it shaping up? It's moving full steam ahead. So we're hoping to open the beginning of Q1 of next year. It was one of my questions. I follow you on LinkedIn and you are quite an active gentleman. You are so fun, man. You know, you see these big hotels open but you are out there with hard hat and you're showing videos of all of the cool stuff that's happening. Like the genuine excitement that I see in your eyes talking about your hotel, I was like, I gotta get this guy on the show. I wanna hear all about what he's doing. Yeah. Well, it's really an exciting project and W Hotels are now 21 years old and obviously Starwood was acquired by Marriott International.

01:15:36We have over 50 hotels worldwide. But what's really exciting for me, two things. One is, and so much so that I was willing to uproot my family and move here to Nashville but one is to be in Nashville. I've been here now three months and it's just so much creativity, so authentic. I love it. And number two, this will actually be the next generation of W from a design, from a room type, moving away a little bit from some of the neons. We used to be beverage and food but now we're gonna flip and have a lot more focus on food. So this is the prototype for the next generation of W and potentially our flagship in North America. So very exciting to be a part of the team. Looking at the landscape of what's happening in Nashville, it's not surprising that this would be one of the places that you would wanna land but what is it about this particular flagship, hopefully, that really sets it apart from other places?

01:16:36You said that you're really gonna put a lot of emphasis on food. I think that that's brilliant because we're starting to become such a culinary town. Right, so first and foremost, this location and I believe the Gulch is one of the best locations. So I've not always been that fortunate in my career. I've worked at some amazing hotels but there was always something you could critique and I just love the Gulch as a location. Secondly, it's the design of the hotel. So this hotel is gonna be very heavy on food and beverage. Obviously, we'll have eight bars, multiple restaurants, several Andrew Carmelini restaurants but we're doing partnerships also with locals. So for example, our coffee concept is going to be a barista parlor. We are licensing to use that name so I'm really excited about that. I mean, my whole career I've been in hotels, large convention hotels with several thousand rooms, boutique hotels all across the United States and in Europe and this to me is just a combination of a lot of wanna have items on a checklist, right?

01:17:39So as a general manager, so you get to do a lot of things that are local and in addition to the location, from a design standpoint, I just think it's really well done in terms of the restaurants, the wet deck. It is actually, so one of our restaurants with Carmelini that we will manage, we're licensing to use the name and they will obviously do the menu and so on and so forth is going to be the specialty restaurant, Carney and it's open for dinner only but what excites me is it's almost impossible to access that restaurant from within the hotel. I can take you down an emergency stairwell and get you in there of course, but you access it from outside and so these are all designed to bring in the community. I've gotten approval to create positions that the vast majority of our hotels don't have so I want that freestanding type restaurant general manager managing that restaurant. So I've created, we've got three GM positions throughout the hotel and it's not following the traditional hotel hierarchy.

01:18:45So very, very excited about some of the food and beverage components in addition to a 10,000 square foot wet deck with a 2,000 square foot pool, amazing guest rooms. It's the next generation of guest room which is really just, it's a beautiful room. We should have some pictures shortly to show from our model room but really excited about that next level of W Hotel. Wow. So you mentioned that you moved here from out of town. I wanna get more back to the hotel but this is something that just struck me. You said I uprooted my family and moved here. Where did you move from? If you moved from Nebraska, I'm not that impressed, but if you moved from Miami to Nashville, I just wanna know where we stand. So I took this off right beforehand but this is how I've been walking around all day right here because it is, I am adjusting to these temperatures. So I moved from Scottsdale and- Oh, wow.

01:19:45I feel special. Yeah, and I'm an avid cyclist so I love the climate down there. Now we've done a lot of moves, my family and I. So, and then we do have children so it gets hard obviously when you have kids. And, but I really thought that this project was so unique. I really thought it's not gonna come along again, something like this with all the amenities and given the location, the city itself. So it's obviously an unprecedented time for our industry and the most difficult time in by far well over a hundred years, but we will come out of this. And I do believe in Nashville and people wanna get out there and travel again. So once we move out and I'm hoping that, by midway through next year, I'm hoping that landscape will look a lot brighter for all of us. And I think Nashville is roaring back. So I'm putting a lot of hope in Nashville. Okay, so I have to ask David, when did you sign on to this project? Because if you signed onto this and then 2020 happens and you're like, okay, what have I done?

01:20:45Was there a moment where you thought, I just wanna go back to Scottsdale? No, I signed on and I think I was approached in, it was probably, was it July? It was probably July and we probably, and towards the end of July moved here at the beginning of September. So yeah, I mean, we were already obviously deep in pandemic mode in Scottsdale, just like every city was. Right, okay. That makes more, I was just thinking to myself, oh my goodness, to be ambitious like this and sign up for it before you knew what was happening would be kind of an eyeopening experience. You touched on this a little bit, but I do wanna ask, I mean, the punch list has got to be two miles long for everything before you actually are ready to open your doors. What is it going to look like to you and what is gonna be a big win? Do you already have that written on your board somewhere? Like if we can do this number, I feel really good about that in the current circumstances.

01:21:49Yeah, I think if we open in April or May, I am obviously from watching the news. I am very hopeful that the landscape will look much different than it does today. Are we out of the woods? No, but I think there's gonna be a lot of optimism based upon vaccines, et cetera. I've seen the weekends, what they look like here now, and you will see how the city transitions on a Thursday evening. I mean, we've just moved into our house a few weeks ago, but up to that point, I was living in a hotel here downtown and officing out of a hotel and the weekends, I was like, okay, I'm gonna go run for cover. So that just shows how popular Nashville as a drive market is, which is why I really believe in it. The drive market should really bounce back very, very quickly. What part of town did you settle in? Where'd you get a house? We're in East Nashville. Nice. Have fun! Yeah, love it out there. I don't love the train. I'm getting used to it, but it's very hard to escape the train. So, but are the noise of the train, but otherwise it's a great area. Yeah, walkability is great.

01:22:49So being new to town, where have you discovered so far that you are in love with? Have you gone out to anybody, have you had any great food? You met anybody amazing? Like what have you experienced so far? Yeah, so kind of a two-fold answer. And it's a great question, because typically the first thing you do is you get out. Now I have, we've got two kids with us, my wife who works out of home. And so I think given everything that is going on, we're not, we don't have the same dining patterns that we did before. I think it's a lot of people are probably in that same ballpark, right? So it has changed all of our life. So I can't wait for that to change. I have walked to some of the neighboring places, I've picked stuff up, taken it to go. But I think, you know, I have gotten a chance to meet some of the, so it's a kind of a two-fold answer. I have gotten a chance to meet some of the individuals that we are working with, now working within the hotel, whether it's, you know, Gordon lives in East Nashville.

01:23:52He is a sound consultant. So we've worked with him on coming in and taking sound readings on our various areas throughout the hotel. And what a passionate guy. I mean, you know, he came out with a full DJ setup and people with walkie talkies. And we just wanted to see what's it like when we have a full DJ setup on the wet deck. So it was pretty funny actually, because we're in a, it was about a month and a half ago, a Thursday night, you're in this construction site, it's dark and there's people walking down towards the gulch obviously. And we've got a full DJ setup going on. And yeah, and there are no lights on, so. I'm surprised people can queue up out front just waiting. They're like, just let me up. Yeah, that's biscuit love, right? So, so they, he's just such a passionate guy and it is Joseph who does custom leather. And we're working with him to, we have this piece of art in the guest room that depicts, it has the Nashville skyline, it's got the Batman building, AT&T tower, and it's got this picture of a girl who is a entertainer trying to break through.

01:24:55And then on the right hand side, and she's taking a break and her guitar is down and it is a picture of the wolf, which is the entertainment industry. It can be a little tricky. So make it some, some don't. So we had said, hey, this is a great piece of art and it speaks to Nashville, which is what we want for the hotel. We also want to be local and which is a little tricky because W is also not as a hotel brand. Yeah, you wouldn't see a lot of cowboy hats, right? In a W hotel. So, and we don't, we want it to be genuine. So we also don't want to say, well, we're in Nashville y'all. So, you know, howdy. I mean, that's not, that's not who we are. So we, in working with some local talent and Joseph is a great example of this. He makes this amazing leather, what is, you know, all by hand and his shop is in East Nashville as well. It's across the street from that, that really quirky burger joint. What's it called? It looks like it's been there for like a hundred years. It's a little- The pharmacy? Say again? Pharmacy? No, it looks like a little hut that's in the middle of a parking lot with an odd shape to it.

01:25:58I can't remember the name, but he's got his shop right across the street from there. And so he is working on the inlays for our lifts, W speak for elevators, where there will be a embossing of the girl and the wolf. And so we're pulling it through throughout various areas of the hotel. So, you know, I know I haven't answered your question about any of my favorite restaurants because we're not dining out as much as we used to, but I have gotten out just through work to meet some of these individuals. And I'm just, I'm really blown away by the, you know, sense of creativity that these people have and the stuff that they're building with their bare hands and creating businesses out of it and loving what they're doing. So I think that's amazing and definitely something we want to be a part of, even though we are certainly not a, you know, mom and pop hotel. I mean, we're a smaller brand, but we belong to the largest hotel company in the world. So that's not lost on me, which is why I really value that. Well, you know, I love the fact that you're really embracing and trying to find those types of Nashville because that's why people want to come here.

01:27:05They, you know, to stay in a W hotel, of course it's going to be beautiful, but to stay in a W hotel in Nashville and to feel that it's Nashville based, you know, that particular one, that's very, very smart. And we thank you for embracing the community like that. I want to hear more about this wet deck. So the wet deck is W speak for pool deck. So as mentioned, it's over 10,000 square feet. It has a 2000 square foot L shaped pool. So it is on the, technically it's on the second floor. We have two first floors because it goes up pine street, right? So there's an elevation. So the wet deck is in, you know, I always thought it was on the third floor, but it's really the second floor because you've got a lower first floor and an upper first floor with an elevation. On the wet deck, you have, there's a bar, there's a casual eatery. There is on the backside of it, there is fit, which is our branded fitness. It's about 1900 square feet.

01:28:06You have a yoga lawn. And then behind all of that is our meeting space. But the wet deck is a great area for our customers to hang out. But I also look forward to bringing the occasional pool party to Nashville on the weekend, something we had a lot of success with at Scottsdale. So I think that's a great way to showcase music and for people just to have a good time. It is, I've gone and visited other properties and there's some great pools on the smaller side. So I think this is an opportunity to really host, a great Saturday pool party. Now, it's not really a Nashville hotel unless you have an amazing rooftop. Yes. What's going on on the roof because that's a thing. It is, and the hotels I've toured, there are many, including our sister right across the street. And you shouldn't mention competitors, but great hotel, the Thompson, they've got a great rooftop.

01:29:06And so our rooftop is on the 13th floor and it is basically all bar, indoors and outdoors. So there are two bars. And what I really like about that is it's been designed so that if we were to get a buyout, we will accommodate a group, we will never close it down completely. They will get one section and we will always leave a section open for the public because there's nothing worse than finding your new favorite spot and then you decide to go back and it's shut down for a group. Right. So it's literally almost 360 degree views. It's an amazing, you can look out over downtown, the Gulch and you've got the other side of the building. There's a drink rail that goes around. There will be an amazing LED display that the Shillman Gordon is working on as well and his company. So really a very exciting, has its own kitchen. So you'll have some food served up there as well, but also some entertainment. A great place in the evening at a certain time where we just take the party upstairs from the wet deck to the rooftop.

01:30:09I'm envisioning some epic dance-off with LA Jackson and then your rooftop bar. If you see each other, some selfie-off type thing where you're like- Point to everybody. We got spirit, yes we do. We got spirit, how about you kind of a thing? Yeah, well, we could always zip line down to their rooftop seeing as we are. That was subtle music. We're a little higher than they are, but it's okay. I have a great appreciation for their GM XA. So XA, much love to your brother. No, we could definitely do zip lining, possibly a insurance or risk management concern. It would be awesome. Yeah, yeah. David, listen, I just can't wait to come and see it when it opens up and just thank you for being a part of the community. Thanks for joining us and telling us all about it. It's pretty cool. Yeah, it's my pleasure guys. Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait to get you guys out there and give you a tour once we start our tours.

01:31:11Absolutely. David Cronin, thanks for joining us on Nashville Restaurant Radio. Thank you so much, have a great evening. Thanks, man, you too. All right, bye-bye. Bye. I wanna go hang out at the W. Yeah. What? That sounds really cool. Like, I love how he says the wet deck. I'm like, the wet deck? Yeah. I imagine that's a pool, but it sounds cooler. And the lift instead of an elevator. I'm gonna call it a lift from now on. Doesn't that just sound so much better? Yes. On the lift? I'm adopting that. I'm too, that's just- Speaking of which, I gotta plug this because this is pretty cool. So yeah, I'm gonna start writing for a publication based in London and it's called Holler, H-O-L-L-E-R, Holler. It's Holler Country and they go live December 18th. So I guess I need to learn all this speak, you know? So I can write it into all of my articles.

01:32:11That is a thing. But no, you can't write it in because then it just sounds, it's gotta sound like you're- I know. You have to put a gratuitous y'alls in there. Oh, for sure. Well, I write that way anyway because that's how I speak. But I am the worst and I don't mean to do it and I know it's gotta be something, there's probably a name for it. When I talk to someone that has an incredible accent, whether it be British or Scottish or Irish or German, I don't mean to, but I feel like I start to mimic them. Do you get that? If it's for extended periods of time, yes. I don't mean to and it's not, I think my brain just starts kicking in like, oh yeah, you should sound like that. Well, it's a version of Spanglish, right? I mean, we all kind of get into that. It's so bad. I don't mean to do it and Paul gets so embarrassed. He's like, please stop. You sound British. When you were in London, I started to adopt a little bit of a British accent and he's like, please, what are you doing?

01:33:14Please stop. And I said, I don't mean to. We- I'm not talking about it. It just comes out. It's so funny because that's so much, like if we were in London, I would do that exact same thing. My wife would be like, dude, like, no. Yeah, you must stop. We have to go out like as couples, like we'll all go out and then your husband and my wife would be like, we can't take them anywhere. Right. Don't mean to, it just happens. David's butt, I can't wait. I really am excited though. That's gonna be an incredible, incredible place. And when you start to think what that's gonna bring in, I mean, with each one of these, when I drove downtown the other day, I was down there for something and I'm looking around, I'm like, oh my gosh, there are so many cranes. And what is that? And I haven't even seen this. And you know, the more you see come up, the more you have to think, okay, that's just gonna be one more amazing addition that's gonna bring more people and hopefully help the city rebound even faster when all this is over.

01:34:17100%. I'm so excited. I was telling somebody the other day, I said, once everything's back to like, I really do miss all of this stuff in town. Like I miss all the, just like the normal Nashville, like the stuff that everybody takes for granted. Yeah. I'm ready for it to come back. Like I want it all, like let's go. I am about to order a t-shirt for myself because I'm all about buying other Christmas presents for other people and then also buying something for yourself all the time. Like one for you, one for me. I'm buying a t-shirt for myself. It's from Musicians Corner, which if you haven't done Musicians Corner on the Parthenon, like over near the Parthenon, Cincinnati Park. So you go over and you live music and it's incredible, but they have a t-shirt that says, I miss live music and hugs. And I'm like, that's me. That's me. Those are the two things I miss the most, live music and hugs. Well, we are entering a time right now where I think we have to hunker down a little longer.

01:35:20Yeah. I think we gotta hunker down a little longer. They haven't closed restaurants yet. We don't want them to close restaurants yet. And it's all based upon spread and how fast it goes. So if you are out there, please be safe. Please social distance. If you feel sick, if you have the virus, please don't go out in public. Stay home. And if you're a boss and somebody says there's, somebody is sick, like let them stay home because that's how we're gonna be able to make it through this thing. We have to do another shutdown. I'm afraid of what might happen. So if you're out there, please be safe. And we had a hell of a show today. Oh my gosh. Thumbs up. And Khalil Arnold, Karl Worley, LeVon Wallace, David Cronin. Oh my gosh. I know. All superstars in their own right. Can you- Charlie McPherson?

01:36:22If they all got together and did a pop-up dinner. How awesome that would be. I'm dreaming right now what that would be like. We need to start like really storyboarding for 2021 and putting some cool collaborations together because that's the fun of this show is all the people I know, all the people you know, all the things that they all do differently but all do extremely well. And then if we like kind of help put those together, that would be really cool. Now we're giving away business plans. That's Monday show, right? No, you are so amazing, Kelly. Thank you so much for joining today. And I'm just excited. Next week, Germantown. Oh, that'll be fun. We're gonna, you know what? Next week is gonna be a two hour show. I'm gonna warn you right now, but next week we are gonna, next week, we are gonna come with all that we've got because of all the neighborhoods in this city that we've covered so far.

01:37:25Germantown needs us to come strong next week. Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, I went down the day after the tornado and walked around and talked to a lot of the families that were there and saw the damage and it was incredible to see people checking on each other. And that's a really, that's a really strong community and they take care of each other. And the fact that hopefully now a lot of those places are starting to bounce back, at least damage wise. And if we can come together and help them start to come back a little bit financially, that would be amazing. We're gonna do our best next week to try and bring as much attention to Germantown as we possibly can from the Christie Cookie Company. Love it. Thank you guys so much for joining us today. We hope that you are being safe out there and I love you guys, Kelly. Bye, we'll see ya. Bye everybody.