The Music City Roundup Featuring Matt Herrick, Cory Coleman, and Jim Myers

00:00Hello music city Welcome to the music city roundup My name is Brandon still and I could not be happier to be in 2021 with you miss Kelly Sutton. Hi for being here. How are you? You know what? We're good. We are Yeah, we're good. We were just talking about the fact that when we do this I'm in my basement. You are in a room in your house and We have to turn the heat off in our home because mine the The main unit is right here beside me. And so when it's on it's really loud And I don't want that to overpower our conversations. So I turn it off. So My child's upstairs like mom. Are you done yet? Are you done yet? She's putting blankets on it'll be fine. You're fine So yours is completely yours is completely different because mine Like my central heat and air works throughout the house But this is like a bonus room above the garage and they did not wire central heat and air to this room So there's like an external I have like one of those like holiday in Heaters, you know that like when you lay in holiday and it like turns on randomly and as loud as hell Yeah, and it's like a it's like a heater in the room So I have like one of those built into the side of my room and it turns on Randomly At least you're only freezing yourself. I'm freezing my entire family It's I got I got like my house shoes on I dress all warm in here because by the time we get to five o'clock I'm like, it's freezing at this room. Everybody else is toasted. They got fire going to the house. They're all fine I get cold so the end of this episode you'll see me like Okay ready to go My kids upstairs bundled up my husband comes down. He's got a little beanie on or something to keep himself warm It's like are you guys wrapping up?

02:01It's kind of golden here But it's fine. I mean, here's the thing though. I'm just really thankful that I do have the space to do this This is kind of amazing and I you know, that's just it. We're remote this week Williamson County is remote learning this week. I think most of Davidson County is also remote parents that are at home with their kids and they're trying to work from home and they're trying to help their children with All of the you know, whatever they're dealing with math or science or the things like I just I don't know how you do it I really don't it's too a lot. It's a whole whole lot. It's tough I've been up here kind of just work in this afternoon I can hear my wife down there going because she's got two We've got a five-year-old who's in kindergarten and a first grader and they both have like simultaneous zoom schedules Both of them don't know how to do zoom like Independently, so she's like running in one room Okay, you're good and then as she goes in the other room and then she I come in to check on him and I got one who's like laying on the floor with dinosaurs during a zoom like what are you doing and he's like, I Didn't want to be on it I'm like get your tail up and get in here and start watching the zoom and she's like, what's he doing in there?

03:13And I'm like nothing. It's okay. It's fine He's he's playing with his Tyrannosaurus Rex he's having a good old time, but you know what and I told her I said listen it This this it's fine. Like if they do that like it's okay Like that doesn't make anybody like less of a mom or less of a person like we're not used to this No, this is like let's be real. Like my dad didn't go to kindergarten. That wasn't even a thing years And he's fine So we're good. It's yeah the whole thing I think so. I mean the kids are smart. They have the internet and you know what if anything I think that this is a ploy by teachers And I'm not I'm not saying anything bad about teachers Like if I could do this like we've said it for years if I could if every in the world would wait tables They'd have a little more empathy in life. Like this is like every single teacher in the country is like You all get to be teachers for a day What do you think now and it's like yes, I totally understand like you're right I saw there was somebody that sent an email out Like teachers need to be paid a million dollars a day And I just laughed I was like not not far off not far off there. Look I'd pay him I mean this this any it taught us like that twenty five dollar Target gift card We give them for Christmas ain't crap. Like we can do much better. We got to come stronger than this That is I would love to hear if you're watching right now and you have been a teacher you are a teacher You're related to a teacher, you know your spouse or loved ones or teachers What are the gifts that they really want and I I am no bones about like I will straight up ask What is it you want because they don't want candles Lord forbid you give them something with an apple on it. Just know They want cash and what can who doesn't want cash

05:19Amazon gift card Visa card, although I don't like the Visa gift cards because there's all these like hoops every time I've ever gotten one of those. I feel like I get duped out of money. Somehow. I don't know There's like a cost like three dollars to do it. It's dumb. It's just dumb So but but I won't turn it down. So, you know, but I'm just saying teachers Amazon Target this I'm contemplating like this is what I would want if I was a teacher and Cash card just give me cash Yeah, and I don't even think restaurant. I mean cash I think can be what are you? Are you trying to pay the teacher that there's a side of that's like, oh you just gave the teacher you know a hundo like Fine with it. My little Jimmy's getting an a like I mean, is that a thing but like it's all good Just just hook up whatever it is Hook them up hook up your teachers So a friend of mine did this a couple I think it's two years ago. She had Wine labels made and she gave the teachers money But then she like wrapped it around a wine bottle and so it was like in a you know in a pouch You know you give somebody in a little like gift wine pouch But the wine label said this is because my kid makes you want to drink See that's a great that should be in the comment section right now somebody should be like Yes Wine bottles wrapped with cash Yes, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes If you're in the Green Hills area, you could even get a growler full of miracle one wine From Green Hills Grill and you could take that to your teacher Miracle and then that's the gift. She can just go get refilled whenever she wants at a value What a segue. Where's Charlie is Charlie out? Where's he at?

07:13Charlie is not gonna be on there's not gonna be a happy hour today. He messaged me. He said dude. I'm traveling today He's very he's he's very important. Yes, and he has he has many leather bound books his house smells of rich mahogany He's He owns a wine company He he's the best. I love Charlie to death He is traveling today. He said he will be with us next week Okay, next I think we have to make do we make the announcement that next week's gonna be kind of our last weekly episode I think you just did did I just do that? I think you just did So we don't know the so I have some news I guess I should share my news right should I share that news? I think you should okay, so I I Have accepted a position with the Green Hills Grill in Mirable as their director of operations Which is a job that I've previously held and I'm coming back To that job to really kind of get back in after this pandemic and really drive us through to the next level and I'm really Blessed I'm excited. There's so many emotions that are going on. However, that is gonna be a full-time job So I will not be able to do three shows a week Will not be able to do the roundup this show well, I love doing it and I love seeing your smiling face We could still see we can still like have coffee and stuff because you know, we're neighbors We could do this We're gonna do one more episode of the roundup. Then maybe we do like a monthly thing. I don't know I don't know. We're not saying it's gone forever. We can just stay with it It's here and there's still lots of fun stuff talk about I think once we get through the pandemic There's gonna be a lot more stuff talk about maybe bring it back full-time But we're gonna do this episode today and they're gonna do next week and then we're just gonna kind of play it by ear And I like that. That's fine. That's how my whole life is right now That's how I've been for the last year. Yeah, what time is it 342? What are we having for dinner?

09:19Play it by you. I don't know. I'll tell you what we We got a few people giving a shout out so I want to say hi to Ray Hunter What's up, Kelly Sutton? Hi, Ray How are you friend? Nick cried What's Nick doing? He says how I don't know if that's like a mini pearl thing in there, but he's How D and then candy Davidson says hi Kelly and she included me. Oh Oh Brandon I'm so excited. She's watching. That's my mother-in-law. Oh, hi mother-in-law. Hi candy Great to have you watching You know what? I did today. I went and I got it's a Philly thing What's your your head that cheesesteaks the cheesesteak there in Bellevue? Yeah, I know exactly where it is I've heard nothing but amazing amazing things about it and we keep saying Because one of Paul's favorite things is a cheesesteak so he keeps saying we gotta try gotta try and we just forget Zaire Baker is the owner and talked to him today. I'm gonna do a full interview with him coming up. Okay, fantastic They do this thing called it's like a it's like a ice like, you know, it's like a slushy type thing But they gave him this cherry so it looks like I'm wearing lipstick today. They just finished like my cherry slush thing So it is what it is, but I wasn't anything but you know fine Since you brought it up But maybe you were going for something different Legit cheesesteaks Which brought me to think like that. I was craving it. I don't know what it was, but like I was Craving this food today. Like I needed a cheesesteak the Jersey Mike's is a cheesesteak this I just needed like a hot Sandwich with like meat and cheese And I don't know sometimes I just like crave things. Do you have anything?

11:20Yeah, everyone smile. You just like crave like I need this margaritas That is definitely a a one thing yes, is that is that okay? No, honestly Yeah, I do but most of mine are usually sweets. I am I am such a sweet tooth. Oh my gosh I'm such a sweet tooth and I hate that about me because I don't like all of the sugar but Yeah, there I there are days where I'm like I just I need chocolate I need something chocolate I don't care if it is a small piece of chocolate or a large piece of chocolate sometimes But I need chocolate and I have it in different places like I'll keep things strategically in Throughout the house, but I'll tell you my go-to now and my friend Landon had put it on her blog But yeah, if I really have like that sweet tooth attack like I'm oh, I need some chocolate right now I will go and do it a spoonful of peanut butter and you put some chocolate chips on top of it Because you're getting the protein Yes with the sugar it tastes you're basically eating a smaller size risi cup, right?

12:36So it's straight peanut butter with some chocolate chips on it and usually that satisfies and you don't feel like you just Indulged in a 400 calorie candy bar. You just ate peanut butter with the with the protein and then you've got the chocolate on top That's a good call if you're out there watching right now and you have I'm curious to know like what is your Go to crave that you got to have like everyone's wrong. Is there a place out there? Is it sugars sweets? Is it whatever it is? Like is there a place you have one dish out there? You just got to have is it hot chicken from Hetty B's or Helen's hot chicken? Is that the segue there but I'm gonna ask our first guest today who's been patiently waiting mr Cory Coleman, who's the director Cory's the director of operations for the corner pubs? And a good friend of the show and a good friend in general What do you have a crave that you have Cory that you just you gotta have? I am a salty sweet combination guy. That's I Know I mean like a good salted caramel chocolate. Oh, come on now you know, there's the Parkinson's like chocolate with Pumpkin seed or chocolate with almonds. Yeah, I've had those Every time I go like I have no shame when I get to the checkout how many of those are in my cart I Can honestly say I'm not saying this because you're here Cory. This is 100% the truth. My husband can attest I think he may have already gone upstairs We crave the hot chicken sliders from corner pub. Okay. Yeah, the hot chicken sliders from corner pub little provolone on the top melty Dunking that in either cheese Did all day long so good Yeah, you know, um, we're excited about that's a good segue into some things I don't want to talk about our new menu options you know, we got healthy new menu options and and don't be scared all the things that corner pub is known for and and

14:41What the brand is built on all those menu items are still there, but we have healthy menu options now You know, we got some shrimp skewers on the appetizers. We got a Warm grain bowl down in the salad section. We got a Polynesian chicken and some pork chops You know, we we've expanded the menu a little bit And if you don't see something on the menu ask your server we can always make it if it's in-house We will make it for you. I promise we are a we are a yes Company and a yes industry for that matter Yeah You know what? You know, I love about you guys Cory and if you didn't catch my interview with Cory and the owner of the corner pubs Taber lucky that was I think last month month before last One of the best like most listened to interviews that we've done by the way one of our highest viewed YouTube videos If you apparently people were dying to know what you guys look like Or all of your family shared that video, I don't know whatever it might be. However Since Taber bought the corner pub, I think that that you know I don't know what people's perception of the corner pub was before then But you guys are our restaurant tours I mean you guys are professionals who buy quality ingredients who run a very tight ship in that kitchen Taber has some jail Exander's background He was with infinity you were too but like all of your Your you guys are operate really at a high level so people out there that may have a perception of what the corner pub was You guys have completely turned that place around me We live right over here not close to the Bellevue one and Kelly I mean that Bellevue store is a completely different restaurant It really is it really you know, we were really hoping people didn't recognize the place when they walked in And I think we succeeded, you know a lot of people you did write it about it and appreciative of what we've done there and you know same thing for the new Cool Springs location, you know, we completely gutted it And and it was the old Franklin Abbey before we took it over and you know, I think

16:42The response from the community so far has been overwhelming I mean, you know everyone comes in is like this isn't even the same place anymore and you know We like to hear that we like to know that we've made a change and an impact and you know, we we are family-friendly We we doubled the size of the patio and expanded it. We are no smoking inside We are no smoking outside on the patio either You know, that's important to us because after all we are a family-friendly sports bar You know we're gonna become a staple in the community and and we really are happy with what we've heard from the community so far and Excited to keep expanding the brand corner pub to a community near you And you know what? I think it's really interesting to Cory every corner pub that I go to has its own flavor because it is kind of it It's a part of that community So, you know our corner pub that's out here close to us is different than the one that's downtown And I'm sure it's gonna be a little bit different than the one that's in Cool Springs What does that mean to you? And what are you guys really kind of honing in on to make sure that you are a part of the community and that you do Get accepted as like yeah, that's our that's our neighborhood hang Yeah, so, you know this week and next week I'll be getting face time with all the local businesses because you know lunch is a great is a great time for us to get the local business and Professionals in to the corner pub and show them. Hey, you know, we are here for you guys and You know, we'll have a little bit different of a dinner crowd too because there's some great communities around here as well working closely with the chamber obviously of Franklin and You know more than anything I think Having obviously our 21 TVs in the place to know that we are a sports bar. You're here to watch the game We are the place for that but also, you know that is there a game this Sunday?

18:30We are having a game this Sunday Five the game do their pregame show from corner pub Cool Springs. Oh, yeah We're excited to have them at the at the Cool Springs location We'll be you know, raring up for the 1205 kickoff for the Titans Ravens game But one of two five will be doing a live broadcast from our from our newest location. We're excited about that You know, we're sorry go ahead No, I was just gonna say you you've you said that you've got a very positive response from the people so far What's? so some people say I What is the best compliment you can get? What's the best comment you can receive from somebody? Best compliment I'd say we're gonna tell everyone that you guys are here and you guys are open Word of mouth is the best marketing still, you know old school I mean, you know with the with the wave of technology and everybody has a phone in their hand, you know Five six twenty hours a day You know knowing that they're gonna get on their phone. They're gonna get on their social media And they're also gonna tell their neighbors and their family that a corner pub is open and it is awesome You guys need to come check it out That's that's sort of what we've gotten over the last five days and we just love hearing that You know, we were talking earlier Because we are kind of in our own little world in our own little pocket of where we live One of the things that really stood out to me and it's so small Cory, but it made a big difference We are You know ordering out so much more and we're doing takeout We're doing the curbside and the fact that you guys are doing curbside when I pull up they see it's my car They've asked me what my car making model are they see it's my car. They come out Double check that it's me bring me my food and then this is so small, but it made a huge difference He said I'll just put it back here and open to the back seat of my car and send it in the back seat instead

20:33Of like me trying to drag it through the window Little things like that are really they go a long way in customer service And I would love for you to talk more about how you guys are really trying to train Everyone at all of the different locations to make sure that that kind of customer service is is everywhere Sure, you know, it's it's something that is important to us and we know it's important to each community We're in that, you know If they want to have that that no touch experience the the hands are off where hey You know I would love to order food from you guys and some of people aren't comfortable coming back and some people have you know Family reasons health reasons we completely understand that but but we we also you know are really appreciative when people Calling their order directly to us or order directly online In order to be able to get food from the corner pub so the training of the staff, you know I let them all know look we're we're here and we want you to make sure that everyone is comfortable Everyone has a different different level of comfort at this point I mean, you know what everybody's a little on edge too, but Being able to make sure that you know, whatever your need is for you know Whether it's ordering out or ordering in if you have a certain place you want to sit or you know, some people You know would would like us to Handle food in certain ways we can do that. Like I said, we're a yes company we're here for the needs of the guests and They come first every time That's been my experience It's been consistent throughout your entire time with every experience I've had with you guys And I'm just excited that you get you came on the show today. I'm glad you're here to talk about Your new location in Cool Springs now, it's on Caruthers, right? It is on Caruthers exactly where you're located So we are on 9200 Caruthers and Cool Springs We are in the old Franklin Abbey. We have Wilson Bank and Trust

22:36Hungry Howie is in our shopping center there right near the Dunkin Donuts, which is I mean that place now We know where it is next. Okay by the Dunkin Hungry. I don't know what that stuff Dunkin Donuts Yeah, we're good. That's what I'm saying. That place is packed 24-7, you know what I mean? I mean, it doesn't matter what time of day that Dunkin Donuts is going crazy, but we're excited to be in this Cool Springs location You know where we roll out our new craft cocktail menu. We have a great beer selection there. We have wine on tap You know we we This this new year. We're really looking to expand our relationships with local partners Whether it's breweries or distilleries or even food purveyors, you know, we're gonna be sourcing a lot of ingredients locally as well So just just really building those relationships this year You know 2020 was kind of a year of reaction and this is gonna be a year of being proactive and really You know sort of bonding with all the local people that we can From all sides of what we do, you know, catering is gonna come full force It's kind of Tabor now has bread and butter. So we're really gonna expand our catering and and get that off the ground running So it's a it's a good cheers to 2020 and we're super excited about it What couldn't be more excited for for better people?

23:59Please wish Tabor the best of success tell him we're sorry we missed him today I'm so excited that you got to come and be on the show and I look forward to grabbing coffee with you and seeing you at the corner pub over here in Bellevue and I cannot wait to come down and check Out the new corner pub in Cool Springs. How do people follow you? Do you have a bunch of different social media sites? Is it all on one or you can search most of them? I mean corner pub downtown corner pub Brentwood Franklin Bellevue Cool Springs All of those esquina canteen as well, but that our corner pub Brentwood location Check out our Mexican concept as well. And then www.cornerpubtn.com you can hit all of our online ordering and Links to social media our menus all that good stuff So you can check us out all there hit a like share it and come see us at the corner pub The neighborhood meets at the corner as we say, I love it. All right, Cory before we let you go What's your favorite thing on the menu? My favorite thing on the menu, you know, I love a good salad I mean, that's you know, it's it's something I need to eat more of in 2021 Like to do the salad with grilled chicken tossed in our honey sriracha sauce Oh Okay Oh, yeah, you have me at honey sriracha. Yeah It's one of our new ring sauces we brought to the menu so we're excited for everyone to come out and try it But thank you guys so much for having me on it means so much and like I said, we're all excited about 2021 Congratulations to you Brandon on the on the new gig Thank you so much Thank you so much for your support and we will we will bring the food out to you and put it in the back Of your car every time Thank you so much, it's great to see thank you y'all take care. Thanks, brother

26:04It's more like probably twice a week Right there and it's so awesome and we love their food, I mean we just it's easy It's easy. It's always good And they put it in the back seat Like that's amazing. That's kind of the best So before we started talking to Cori we asked the question Is there anything out there that you just like crave that like throughout the day if you haven't had it in a little bit You're like I just need to me. It was a cheesesteak today. I needed like a hot sandwich with meat and cheese on it You said you have to have chocolate like chocolate their times You just crave chocolate smush you put peanut butter on a spoon with chocolate chips and you just go to town and we have a couple Of other responses your mother-in-law has jumped on and she said I got Chocolate from anywhere. She's right here with me. We know she like knows where you hide it in your house Paul Paul Brennan has chimed in and he said at least smoked chicken wings. Oh Oh Yeah, I totally see that I tell like just that meat for me, it's just sometimes I just need like a Good meat, right? I gotta tell you if I'm doing if I'm gonna go that route One of the things that I I can say that I have craved lately That's delicious is the smoked sausage from our buddy Shane at Honeyfire. Oh my gosh The the Diablo Jones I mentioned it last week the Diablo Jones one of the sandwiches that like I just I'm like I gotta I got it. It's got the jalapenos and the white sauce Alabama white sauce. Oh my gosh It's it his sauce and I am you know, like I'm used to really really good barbecue I'm in that vein and I love that and that's one of my things and Shane his barbecue across the board is delicious But when I had his smoke the smoked sausage to me was like a game-changer and it was really kind of shocking It was one of those where we just got the sampler and we you know

28:05It came with I wouldn't have ordered the sausage if it wasn't with the sampler and then when I tasted I was like, oh Wow. Yeah, that's insane Candy said she knows where some of your hiding places are. Yeah, and she she also says that she loves She also loves my praline mix and hides it from Paul. Yeah, we're getting a little more inside baseball and you're like She makes this amazing praline mix and it is like checks, you know the checks cereal and then it has The pecans in it and it's all got like this beautiful glaze that she puts in and then puts it in the oven So it's it and you just eat it. You just keep eating it. You can't stop It's truly so good and it is that sweet and salty mix And I do hide it because my husband will eat it all. I Know I know what that's about. I'm a husband and I eat that stuff to my wife makes these cheese krispies that I'm like Yes, I have to have more of those James rate radar radar bustle He likes cornbread flutters and buttermilk What are flutters is that I don't know is that uh, I don't know let me turn off my That was my email that made a big ding. Oh nice. Sorry thought I had it turned off. Yeah, it's gone Three phone calls since we've started Are you live let's call them just kidding I love you guys Hey, I want to give a shout out to my buddy Ross Chandler who's out there That's a cool profile picture Ross. So you look like a like you're on a motorcycle or something Ross is one of my my buddies and he is also I don't even know what his title is But he's that he's one of the most amazing guys. He's over at Cytex Cytex which we all know is the linen company in Nashville. So if you are

30:13Somebody out there and you have a restaurant and you need tablecloths linens first-aid kits uniforms mats any of that stuff and you don't like your current company and your current company isn't Cytex, but if you had Cytex, you're gonna love your linen company But if you use somebody else and you don't like them and chances are if you use somebody else you don't like them You want to give Cytex a call you want to find them at cytex-corp.com or you want to call Ross Chandler? I don't have Ross Chandler's phone number right up right here, but you can see his picture right there Ross Chandler He is the guy Who you need to get ahold of to find the best in linens? They are the good guys in the linen company and I've interviewed them all and these guys were legit and I just love them I'm so happy that they're a sponsor of our show first talked to him and he was like dude We'd love what you're doing. Like we loved that you're helping out restaurants and supporting restaurants Like how do we get involved? I was like, this is great. Come on. Let's go well, and you know, I know you've mentioned it before but that is one place that a lot of restaurants end up spending way too Much money like they overspend for those things Yeah. Oh, yeah it's a thing I Don't live in that world, but I will take your word for it so we've got a guy named Matt Herrick coming up at 415 and He is the owner and make sure I pronounce his last name correctly He's the owner of a company called may pop And may pop is a Matt Herrick. Yeah, he was the may pop is a sparkling water That is on draft That you can get at restaurants and for me people like me who are like non-drinkers. It's great You can go to a bar and order it on draft and get like a pint of water But it's like a grapefruit sparkling water that you can sit and drink and be like normal like everybody else I don't have to have alcohol or you if you are a drinker. It goes great with vodka apparently. Wow

32:15Taking over the city. I did I not heard of it. So basically it's It's all of the canned like sparkling waters that everybody loves to buy but now it's on tap and you can have it in a restaurant Amen that is exactly what it is. And I don't know if he uses like water from the Himalayas I don't I don't know what it is, but I love his stuff and they have it at Otto's bar I had it at Otto's when we did a live remote there and they I just had this stuff It's like I could drink like nine of these like I was sitting in a bar like I was like, I love the stuff I can't wait I want to meet the guy that makes this stuff and I want to bring him on the show and today is the day We get to talk to him in ten minutes the water from the Himalayas He's probably listening right now going it's not from the Himalayas. Don't don't don't start that. Yeah, that's probably not it That's probably not it. But that's kind of great. I love that out there I Think later on in the show and I'm hoping that he'll join us. I reached out to somebody that I was watching Tuesday night. I don't know if everybody got a chance to watch but Tuesday night. There's a new program on it's called streets of dreams It is your BFF Marcus Limonis Who is also on the profit which is on CNBC?

33:33And I kind of knew of him that I kind of didn't and I wasn't really sure and you know long story short After everything that happened in downtown Nashville He was one of the first people that really stepped up and said I want to help the businesses in downtown Nashville I'm gonna come up with the Nashville 30-day fund. It is No repayment loans for businesses that were directly affected by what happened on Christmas Day about the bombing downtown No red tape He just wants to help businesses and he put five hundred thousand dollars of his own money in it So now he's got this new show called streets of dreams and he just featured Nashville on Tuesday So as I was watching that I was like, oh We really need to see if we can get somebody from the show to come on with us And so I reached out and the owner the founder of Helen's hot chicken Hopefully joining us in a little bit. I think he's gonna come on around 445 So I'm excited to find out what that was like to shoot because that was back in 2019 when they shot it So it's been wow Yeah, so we'll find out more about what's going on with Helen's coming up to Yeah, so we'll find out more about what's going on with Helen's coming up to Helen's hot chicken is a Fantastic fantastic place. Their hot chicken is really really good. You've got a store over there on Jefferson Street and I've eaten there like ten times random like I love it like Helen's hot chicken. I've eaten there more than I've eaten a Hattie B's So I'm excited to have him on the show for sure. That's amazing. Well, I'm one of those people like I like to eat there If it's mild I can't do the super hot I know I can't do the super hot I'm not even gonna pretend like I can so I go in there pretty just like I just want to do the mild or My trick that I did at Prince's and I've done this also at Hattie B's is just get the plain chicken No anything on it, but get the sauce and that way you can dip and you can kind of go. Well, here's the mild All right, here's the next and you know work your way up the ladder until you find where your tolerance is

35:37I love it Hey, we were talking earlier and I wanted I'm gonna change the topic real quick on you great We were talking about restaurants and how we support restaurants and gift certificates and all of those great things. Yes Yes, we got about eight minutes before before we get to Matt with may pop right you want to jump into that real quick I think we should I mean, here's the thing that's so interesting So many people really want to help right now. I know it's not just you and me It's everybody that we talked to you. They they are worried about the state of our local restaurants What does that look like? How can we help them? But we are also in the midst of a pandemic with the numbers rising It's not looking great for us around here. In fact, we're kind of Seeing it spike. So how do you go about helping these restaurants? Is it ordering the takeout? Is it doing the gift cards? Is it you know house? What is the best way to help them? And so I asked you because you've had so much experience in restaurants and running restaurants me a part of that world Is the best option to go get gift cards because that's what we were hearing people Really going on and on about for Christmas gift cards to your favorite place And I just wanted to know what does that look like for a restaurant that is operating?

36:58Let's say I go out to corner pub and I buy a $50 gift card today to give to you How does that factor into their bottom line? And what does that look like for them later on? So I love that question because I think that there's a lot of misconceptions and I wanted to I would love to be able to share exactly what it means and how you can help restaurants right now Gift cards are great. Okay gift cards in any given time of the year are great What you're doing is is your purchase you're making a commitment to purchase food from a restaurant And later on people are going to cash it in now. The great thing is in any normal economic situation You buy a gift cards. It's no problem because the restaurants busy. We're making profits. It's great When you purchase a gift card, it adds to cash flow. It gives them cash immediately And then it's like a savings well later on somebody comes and cashes it in now The thing is is that on a typical day most gift cards like, you know, 20% of them never get turned in So there's also that factor so that helps the restaurant But right now I think that what the narrative people are saying is hey go if you're gonna eat Let's just let's just use the greenhouse grill for example because I'm aware of this restaurant If you're gonna go eat there for the next year and you typically spend $3,000 there If you go spend $3,000 right now and buy gift cards and then use them throughout the year I don't necessarily know how well that helps restaurants innocent. It's a restaurant to restaurant individual basis It keeps the restaurant afloat. It gives them cash to maybe make payroll this week But eventually you're gonna cash in all of those gift cards when they could be even in a worse situation They're in so much debt right now and they're trying to stay above water and giving them a nice cash influx is great But when you go in to turn in those gift cards You're still gonna be trading them for goods and services no matter what the financial situation is like They still have to pay for that food whenever you come back to do it So it can actually put the restaurant in stress that's not saying don't go buy gift cards

38:59A lot of restaurants still want you to buy gift cards But don't do it like that if you're gonna buy a gift card for a gift for somebody who's gonna come and use it great They're gonna use it in the next month great The best way to help a restaurant right now is to go and physically eat there order food spend the money Tip really well and leave to go food works the same way go online place your order go to the restaurant Like you're do at the corner pub Let them put in your car take it away whatever you do and then take it home to eat it or take it or eat it In your car like we always go to a hue babies and pull across street to that park and eat it right there. Yeah But if you do uber eats or if you do Door dash or any other things also they charge such hefty fees on the restaurants now a lot of restaurants I've heard hate it and a lot of restaurants also are loving it right now because the uber eats and door dash is also a marketing company Right. So right if I'm a restaurant I need to build sales and I go on uber eats They will I go to the website and my restaurants gonna show up on their website where people who go to uber eats It's also like a shopping place. It's a marketplace that people can choose where they're gonna eat So they're gonna get sales. They didn't have before but there's not gonna be sales. They're gonna make any money on They're just gonna get the sales. So if I sell a hamburger for $15 Yeah, and I sell it through uber eats the end user is paying like $24 the restaurant gets 10 of that So they're not making any like real money on that. But what they are doing is they're making enough money to pay The guy behind the grill and they're not making enough money to pay the people the hourly to go ahead and sell it So that it's keep like the new game right now is can we all keep our heads just above water?

40:41Nobody's really making a lot of money right now But just keeping our heads above water and uber eats will get you there if you want to help restaurants succeed and make profit and the margins are super thin as it is go dine in the restaurant or Order to go and pick up that is the number one best thing you can do right now Gift cards are great If you're gonna buy gift cards for friends go buy gift cards for friends do that stuff But buying like your entire year's worth of we're gonna eat there at one time Is also kind of risky because you never know if that restaurants gonna make it the entire year. That's that's very true Well, and I mean, I think you know people do feel like they they want to help They just don't really know the best way to do it So the other thing that you had mentioned to me, which I think is really interesting. There are things that you can purchase Outside of food like let's say that you still are, you know, very immunocompromised And you don't feel comfortable eating in an establishment yet. We're not there yet So, you know, one of the things that you had mentioned look to see if they have merchandise like If you're gonna buy a really cool shirt that says mayor bowl on it Then you can you know do some merch there because that's a big thing and the other thing I'd never thought about this But then it clicked and I was like that makes so much sense If they are selling wine by the bottle like that can be a good way to help boost their profits Yeah, a lot of people have you know, we spent a lot of money on inventory I mean that wine that we buy just sits in a closet or in a rack somewhere So purchasing that wine from them also helps them get more expensive wine sits on inventory at the longest And that's the thing that's just cash sitting on a shelf so more you can get that off of their hands, too That's also become now you're paying a huge You know rate increase when you buy that but I mean it does help the restaurants I wonder what may pop Matt has to say about all of this. Did we bring him in?

42:30I think we should hey, there he is How are you? Wonderful. This is fun. Thanks for having me on man. We're so excited. Have you yeah Okay, tell us about may pop Brandon was filling me in that I want more definition Yeah, I'm doing I'm doing a cool thing right now. You know, I'm so I started I you know, I worked in the beer industry for six and a half years here in town local small craft distributor Bounty Bev. Oh, yeah Loved Kurt Strickmaker's my boys my boss just really gave me the platform to kind of Just grow the restaurant scene and I you know as sales rep downtown and 8th Avenue 12 South all those restaurants Really bolstered a lot of relationships and got and got got my feet under me Doing that and then you know kind of just got a little like just drawn out with you know The consistent kind of drinking which is the job, you know You have to kind of taste sample, you know go into bars and you know grow relationships You know kind of taste the new the newest release craft beer has 15 new releases every week as you guys know So that that got a little taxing and there wasn't there wasn't any way to patronize you guys are talking about patronizing the restaurant What with drinking a non alcoholic beverage, right? So this is something that I was like, hmm Okay. No one's really doing this in the restaurant scene. People are opening cans, you know Ginger beer mixers, you know, very wasteful type stuff And I was like, what if I can like create a sparkling water add real fruit juice and put it on tap, you know And and really just kind of spin the market around on its head and be in and the way people think about going walking up to a bar Right. They're like, oh I have to get alcohol. No, you don't Now that now we you know, now we have this going it's a you know, it's on tap and craft brewed You know, it's on tap and craft brewed, you know 12 south tap room, you know, kind of a Mitchell's deli Some of our my favorite restaurants are supporting this because it's a local, you know

44:30Non-alcoholic option that starts a tab right and you can sure you can tip on it And you know, if you can pace yourself, you know a child can walk up to the bar in order of may pop So there's there's a lot of fun Ways to rethink the beverage scene in Nashville with my with what I'm doing, you know And I'm really I'm really happy and proud to be here, you know alive six months just into it You know, I just got my first sale was in June of 2020, you know middle the pandemic Had no idea the pandemic was coming when I left bounty, obviously So this this all kind of happened with getting partners with Jackalope I'm producing this over at Jackalope Brewing Company in Wedgwood, Houston So I have tank space there where I own tanks and I get to go in there and in order basically order from their from their brewers and they and they put me on the schedule and keg it up and and I go out and sell it and deliver it and then self-distribute all here in town and And I started all this just from an idea of scarcity, right?

45:33There's nothing there's nothing out there that tastes good. That's non-alcoholic, you know Besides, you know, I've got some really great, you know sweaters coffee Walker Brothers kombucha, you know They have a wonderful non-alcoholic draft and on that kombucha scene But nothing like it just a simple sparkling water and I'm using like sourced real fruit juice That I you know, I get that I get kind of down in Florida Real grapefruit juice real orange juice real lime juice real lemon juice, you know And it comes it comes in pasteurized and I and we treat it again at Jackalope So we're doing a lot of stuff, you know, kind of like with the with the volatile juice itself You know to kind of make it shelf stable, you know, and there's a lot of I did a lot of research You know to kind of get to where I am today with a shelf stable product And yeah, you know and just my next big step is getting into cans, you know, like kind of I want to honor do cans and We're and we're just gonna I just I'm literally in this new space this new warehouse over I got the keys yesterday. I mean Congratulations, man. It's unbelievable Can you see the live can't like Give us a tour, you know, there's the may pop may pop mobile, you know And I'm working on the racks and it's just in a little bathroom. It's just fun, you know, and this is just a new space And I first thing I did was installed speakers and I've been jamming and To the to the to the max Boston more than a feeling, you know, just And but yeah, so here I am, you know, you're seeing me live it's midweek and it's a new year and I just got a new warehouse And you know, we're we're raising for funding raising money right now. So it's just there's a lot going on But tell us about what flavors you have right now because honestly and I Man when you're saying this like my head is going in so many different directions of things that you can do with this and you know

47:36it's amazing that you do have an option that's not alcoholic, but That little vodka is not to hurt anybody either. That's the big thing, right? So it's not a one-dimensional thing. It's yeah It's a multi-revenue Beverage that a bar can put on and you know serve it non-alcoholic, you know and right now autos Which is a really cool new cocktail bar that opened up on Charlotte. Yeah a few months ago the owners of headquarters coffee opened up that James and Louisa, they're amazing. They're they're using it in their cocktail. It's on the menu, you know, they have like a better vodka soda They call it where it's just may pop whatever the flavor is that they they rotate flavors And Just a little bit of like cat head honey suckle vodka, you know, it's very simple simple thing so yeah right now I have lemon a lime a Grapefruit orange blend which is a blend of grapefruit orange and lemon juice and that's really just the banger right there And then I most recently released a tangerine Which is really nice. So it's a real California tangerine juice that we're using in our water there So just like a nice core for yeah that we're kind of starting with it's simple and You know, it's affordable to you. It's had these are half the price of beer kegs, you know, and it's just you know It's been fun and I'm excited to blast into this year and kind of really work with bars and restaurants and really rethink menus and you know Because when you put me on tap it becomes this thing where you like oh I can up charge a cocktail or oh I can I could you know a Martin's barbecue, you know, the children can have a Bay Pop, you know walk up to the bar so a lot of a lot of things, you know that I'm really excited about and and when I'm doing it, you know, especially in this new space and You know, that's so cool man. I we did a remote from autos right before James and Lisa opened and I Was like I need a I want since I don't drink. Yeah, you know, so I was like, what do you have and Delia had like some champagne

49:38She was coasting back then and then we had a I had a May Pop and I was just like This is fantastic. I love this. This is so great. I could go to a bar and order this drink from a keg Yeah, like in a pint glass I could sit at a bar with people who could be drinking Yeah, and I could not be drinking and not feel like a pariah like this weird person. It's like yeah, I mean it is it's so interesting you brought that up because I Have been in the music world of Nashville for 20 years There's not an event that you go to where you have a non alcoholic beverage It's part of the social scene. It's part of like oh, you're gonna go up to the bar if you have that it's available You're exactly right. That's just part of the social fabric of talking to people and networking and you're all there. I That's a brilliant brilliant idea to have Well on that show that we did we did a thing called on brand or what's the dealer where we did like a rant And one of my rants that day was what is going on with non alcoholic options?

50:47yeah, you know you go to it you go to one of those parties Kelly and you walk up and you go to the bar and You're like hi, and they're like would you want wine or do you want beer and I'm like, oh, I don't drink and they go Well, there's a kid's cooler over there. It has like waters and sodas and you're like God I'm an adult like you can't pour me a coke. Oh, no, this is for alcohol If you want water or soda go to that little there's like an igloo down there Snoopy it's Snoopy igloo that you can go get your drink out of It's like yeah, if I had like a may pop I could just it's right there. It's like yeah I'll do one of those it's perfect and it's something that is like we need more of that. We need more people encouraging people To drink non alcoholic stuff. I don't I don't care if you drink out. I'm not like anti alcohol But for people like me, it's nice to not feel Like I'm weird for not drinking, you know Absolutely and and what we and what one thing we really worked hard on was our branding to make it make it modern and And not like kitschy and you know, so it's like it's a it's a premium super kind of premium looking brand where you're like Whoa, what is that?

51:52You know Walker Brothers does a really great job with their branding too. And and it's something that I look up to those those brothers Sam and Luke they're the best and they and There's something about our label which I'm so that's why I'm so excited to kind of get get it into a can and get that Label on there and get it out into Whole Foods, you know turnip truck You know citizens market places like that that are that you can just pick up a six-pack and it's it looks like looks like a craft Something, you know, but it in will you make tall boys? so yes Tall boys like 16 or 19 twos, you know, there's so many different sizes now. Yeah 16 ounce cans 16's. Yeah, is that what you like? I mean, I've been going back and forth on and so many 16 ounce koozies 16 ounce 12 ounce 16 You know like you you make these decisions and they're like, oh wow. Yeah, but What right now? Yeah, so We'll do like a small batch Where we add like ginger to our lemon or we we we do like hibiscus or and we'll do those in 16 ounce cans You know four-pack kind of like one-off stuff. That's that's like it's way down the road right now I'm just trying to get the core into in the package right now. We're just so new to this right now, but one one really neat thing that we're wanting to do with that 16 ounce offering is The may pop is the Tennessee State wildflower, right?

53:14So it's a big ode to the state and we're big naturalist my wife and I who's 50% of the company She does all the finance and I do all the operations So it's a really it's a really beautiful team that we've that we've done here and it's why we've been so successful to this point, but The may pop being a Tennessee State wildflower We want to do our small batch four packs with other Native species that grow in Tennessee, right? So persimmon, you know is a native tree So we would use like maybe have a persimmon flavor or you know down the right, you know Just kind of ginger is also something that is that grows natively here as well. So just Cut we're kind of playing on that You know You know for the water conservation for the water source We're huge with the Cumberland River compacts, you know, our our metro. Is that your water source? It is Yeah, we're filtering multiple times at Jackalope Of course, but it but we're using, you know And I'm trying to change the the the negativity that comes from oh, it's a dirty river and oh man And I'm trying to kind of like turn that a little bit where we give 1% of our total profits each year to the Cumberland River Compact which keeps our river clean and you know kind of picking up trash and all that type of stuff Is a huge part of what what I'm doing and what Claire and I are doing. I You got to so a is not the Himalayas Laughing earlier he goes I swear I think this water comes from the Himalayan mountains You've got you've so when I used to wait tables back in the day when people would order Water because I was a jerk. I would say alright one Cumberland punch coming right up Right because that was water a Cumberland you gotta do You gotta do a flavor called Cumberland punch

55:17There's already it's already out there. There's East National Beer Works already makes a wheat beer called Cumberland punch I'm gonna reach out and just say my favorite thing whenever I'm like doing anything. I love cucumber I have a cucumber addiction so you can work that in somewhere Matt. Yep I'm on board right writing it down. I know Kelly's cucumber Is one of those polarizing? fruits, right vegetable It's one of those where people love it and hate it, you know that that what that's definitely on the small batch There you go, you know Well, and you know, here's a question for you too when you look at this overall and and obviously it's starting to take off And you see it going in so many different directions. What's what is your goal for the end of? 2021 and then what do you see in five years? Where do you hope you you land in five years from now? Yeah, that's a great question you know a lot just happened in the past just just from the holidays really and but Really by the end of by the end of this year. I really want you know there to be kind of all You know throughout Middle, Tennessee For sure without with our cans and have grown the draft program quite quite a bit, you know I really want to be a part of that fifth and Broadway, you know thing that's opening it And I can't wait till people get vaccinated and people can start going out and you know, cuz that's a big part of they pop success, you know, it's not just You know grabbing cans and this is a grocery brand like I want this to be like a people come from around the country We're like, oh there's I heard this is sparkling water company I want to try it on tap, you know, and like that's an experience right there that really nobody else in the country is doing So that that's something I really want to see have see grown Where it's on tap and high high vis high vis locations, you know the the new grand Hyatt Hotel, you know places like that where it's just kind of like, you know, be on tap that are a Sean Brock restaurant you know things like that where I I have like white whales, you know of Visibility and wanting it to be more than just a sparkling water in a can and the sparkling water aisle, right?

57:24This is way more. There's a lot more going on and I've got a lot more experience In that beverage on-premise beverage scene that I took from bounty bev That I'm really wanting to take it to new like to new heights where you know, those kegs can kind of be seen More like your experience Brandon, you know where you're sitting there and it's like in your drink it and you're like, ah, you know And like this is mind-blowing, you know And I want more of that people would be more kind of like blown away by it because it is a really unique thing I'm so excited for you, man. I love your enthusiasm. I love like just your positivity. You're so ready for this Like I really am I love it entrepreneurs have dreams and they follow their dreams and they're like hell. Yeah, man We're doing it 2020 we got our own spot. Look, I got my own van. This is it dude. My wife and I were making this thing happen Yeah, it's something to root for honestly like yeah, we've we've we've thrown everything at this You know, like we've we're fully invested as a as a family of Claire and I no children just a big Bernie's Mountain Dog you know, so what we've really just kind of Put everything in on this and and and I'm so confident in it really and it's it's it's scary but also fun And and but like I'm so good at this that it's just like I can't wait to kind of take it to the next step Especially, you know, imagine when this kovat thing, you know cross your fingers that you know It just kind of starts to improve and then goes back to where you know that that booming 2019 2018 Nashville That was just like eye popping when you know remember the craft brewers conference when they were here like That was that an unbelievable experience for me and just you know, the Predators playoffs like all of that like momentum that Nashville had I want I can't wait to get back to that and then and be ready with my water, you know, and so it's just Do you have room for a tap room there? Yeah, so there I there's like two offices and like one's mine And then there's like a space by the door where I'm gonna have like a mobile bar Where may pop is all the four may pops are gonna be on tap, you know, and so I'll invite you know accounts here and be like

59:31Hey, look at my cute little Warehouse space and here's the water and you could sample it and you know, it's just we're also I'm also sharing this warehouse area Which is really amazing with sweaters coffee and right wood hard cider They are like in there like two units over so there's a little beverage compound here right here on Elm Hill Pike We're like right next to purity dairy and Kind of right there on Murfreesboro Road and it's just the worst centrally located and I'm five minutes from the brewery where my water is being Produced and it's it's a really really good spot where we're at right now. That's fantastic. Yeah, we got lucky good That's amazing man. Congrats Can't wait So we've been asking we've been asking people what they're they have like a craving out there Like if there's something that there's someone food in the city that like every once in a while You're like I got to eat like I got to eat this thing from this place. What is it for you? It just happened. So we went on a two and a half week Vacation in the southeast we towed a camper It was a lot of fun went to six state parks and it was so that that three week time away from Nashville That the this is the answer to the question We came back and we were like what what is that that we missed so much and it was tie you son, right?

01:00:45Oh, yes, we went to that Midtown location and got the Bangkok wings. We got the red curry we got the crab rangoon and like we just loaded up this bag took it home and watched Wonder Woman and It was amazing, you know Good, what did you think about Wonder Woman? I was on the fence You obviously the first one was unbelievable the second one I felt like got a little long and I was like really like what it's a little lovey-dovey. I don't know But I liked it, you know There was the action scene at the end was pretty amazing that like that that humans can pull that off, you know, like Unbelievable with the with that super that super boss or whatever that yeah Yeah, is there a spoiler alert coming here? I didn't do it. Okay. I will just say Pedro Pascal Gave me so many old-school Lex Luthor vibe from Original Superman like he was really he was almost campy. It was just great. I loved seeing that it made me feel and it was like that Nineteen was a really unique villain. Yeah, he was bad. He was really neat looking. Yeah, absolutely It was it was not what I expected at all, especially seeing him all the time in Mandalorian Like I just didn't mm-hmm seeing him but not seeing him and the Mandalorian Candy Davidson has been very active today on the comments and she would like to say congrats Matt on a new business venture We miss you much. We wish you much success. Thanks. Candy. See you there. Thank you so much Well, and I let you go the one thing that I know is when you panned over and you showed me the van and I saw Like what your logo looks like look at that logo, you know that logo Here's what I love about it. Okay, this is my first experience with your logo I Love the look of it because it has a cool retro vibe to it totally and I I mean to me like I just Envisioned if you were going to do a really fun, you know shop of your own at fifth abroad

01:02:51Since we're putting this into the universe Do this amazing like retro almost almost a soda shop feel Just water that would just be incredible and it would attract kids and parents and all the fun stuff all the colors Yeah, great job on that logo. It's beautiful Well, are you with the best we work with fresh branding who are the absolute best in the city when it comes to branding? So Jesse Goldstein Yeah, so they are they are the best team, you know, they work all with fresh hospitality green The grilled cheese aree the Hugh Babies logo all that is there a beautiful work and they they really took our logo and what we Wanted out of it and just crushed it, you know And we just he's amazing Yep And we can't I cannot wait to get this whole team touch with him in the next couple weeks so he can start on our On our package label, you know, that's our next big step, right? So we're gonna go back with them and and have them develop us 12 ounce can kind of label package with all of our flavors so Yeah, I'm really excited about that Excited for you, man. I love your genuine enthusiasm I love everything about what you're doing if I the second that I said I'm thinking like I'm the whole time. I'm like I Could get a kegerator. Yeah Because we buy so much, you know, if you go to my outside fridge right now, there's like nine eight packs of Spindrift Yeah, okay. I drink Spindrift. Yeah That's my jam. Yeah, absolutely I would love to trade that for may pop I would so much rather support may pop I'm like wonder cuz I drink those things that the 16 ounce thing like oh love that cuz 12 ounces isn't enough for me I'm drinking water like I want to drink a 16 ounce can it would make me feel normal, too But like just to have like my own may pop tap in the house I'm like, ooh, I'm like my brains moving over here going honey. We won't have to go to Target and continue to buy the mango Spindrift like we do and I'm gonna make that happen man. I'm excited. Thank you. Yes Have you have you have you talked to Jim Myers over at the Elliston soda shop?

01:04:56No, but I love that. That's it. That's a classic How great to have like your soda on like to have that there like oh man the bread row it's everything. Yeah, absolutely That's a great call, you know, I'm gonna make that introduction if you don't know them. Yeah, I love that Yeah, I think they do have like Sprecker sodas on tap You know Maybe like that because I know the Sprecker brand has their sugar forward sodas that that come in kegs That are sold look are here in town as well. But yeah, that's a putting them on the list for sure Mentioned something and it reminded me of a question that I didn't get a chance to ask you But when you're putting in the the natural fruit juices, like what is the calorie like for? You know just a may pop if I was gonna go get one calorie count look like yeah So lemon and lime are like they're like very low percentage juice, you know, they're about 3% and it's just It's like zero calories on on those ones You know, like maybe one or two, you know You kind of we have to write one or two on the label or something because there is something from the real juice But the grapefruit and or the grapefruit orange blend that I have is about 17 calories per 16 ounce pour You know, and that's like three grams of sugar three grams of carbs all that's natural in those juices, right?

01:06:11Those juices run sugar forward and and the the tangerine is about the same about 15 calories, you know in that so nothing over 20 in these pints and It's it's hydrating and healthy and a way to pace yourself If you're if you are at a bar or if you don't drink then it's an amazing way for you to you know Approach a bar with your friends and be you know exactly fit in and like not that you you know, don't fit It's just like there is a stigma about it, you know, and I'm trying to break that There's a lot of things that this is doing that I'm excited about with the bar the standard bar, you know kind of What the way you or even in the music industry, you know, kind of like the standard party thing where it's like, oh the social Aspect of it is a real thing. So You guys are already keen on that and I and that's something I'm proud to to kind of mix up a little bit Well, I will say that you I don't need to make an introduction anymore Because if you can see them on the screen Jim Myers is listening so he's He's over there at the Elliston place soda shop. He goes I'm listening. I got you. I'm here That's amazing much yes to you this year friend it I'm so excited for you I love your guys show you guys you guys are crushing it You know and what a beautiful city and you this concept in this radio show is Really kind of needed, you know, so there's there's a lot of gems in the city, you know, so you guys know that very well So thank you so much for this opportunity, you know Anytime man, anytime you want to come on anytime you ever need anything, please let us know where we're a big supporter Jim says come over right now I'm here right now. I want your water. Let's go Work this was a great show All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on man happy 2021 to you and Stay in touch. Let us know when you rule the world. We want you to come back. So I got your number

01:08:12We'll text, you know, I'd love to come on again. This is great. All right, brother. Thank you guys I'm thirsty now. I'm really thirsty I'm Gonna do another ad right now, but yeah It's a natural segue because I'm sitting here talking to him and his enthusiasm and it's infectious He's positive. He's just like one of those guys. I'm like, I want to hang out with him. He reminded me of Jason Ellis Jason Ellis of SuperSource just one of those guys you start talking to and you're like, I really like this guy like he's genuine He's got a great attitude. He wants to hustle. He wants to do the right thing He doesn't come like across as like, you know, I Don't know. He's just a great guy I was so much fun But Jason Ellis is that guy for SuperSource and every time I see him in the restaurant, he's just like hey man What's going on? And he's he's working. He's just doing so he's like, oh, hey I checked this out and I did this and I did that and I did this and I'm heading over here and just want To say this was and it's like Where do you get this energy? Like where are you so positive all the time? Like this is the the dish machine and chemical guy Why are you so nice? Like he's I don't know what he's doing. But like I'm like you're going to rule this city one day He's just so good. That's I get that same vibe from him You're doing it the right way you're good people like keep keep doing that that's so so cool. Oh, that was fun. I love that I think that people like that are You're automatically rooting for them. You're automatically rooting for Matt, you know, I want him to win and I'm not kidding I'm gonna go look at like kegerators. I didn't think I'd ever have a keg in my house, but like and now I can for water like

01:10:14You know what, hold on I'm gonna go see cuz you said you have spender I think I have Are you are you LaCroix? Yeah, it just tastes like water like sadness water I Like spender if it's made with like the real fruit juices and they have a blackberry Spendrift and then they have a mango spender and they have a raspberry lime, which is really good, too But I love just like the the flavored waters and the Spendrift only has like two calories It's not no calories, but it has like two calories I couldn't even find I I've had one LaCroix and I think it's gone. Here's the thing I just don't usually drink those things. But if I had something that I knew tasted good, this is what I had down here It is the suja Costco you got that at Costco. Yeah, the uber greens with cucumber celery grapefruit green chard and lettuce I'm gonna drink my greens. Are you really? Yeah, I mean I got one of those I drank one and the other five that came in that pack. Yeah, like at the end like a month ago I was like these I wonder if these oh, yeah, they're expired. Yep, but I mean it tastes like grass But it's good for me Cheers. Is it is it good for you?

01:11:40Who knows I'm drinking it I mean and I used to I was really big into juicing for mmm, probably about four or five months We were doing celery every morning celery juice and I really liked it. And then Honestly, there was like a celery shortage because I think people really got turned on to you know, the health trend It's supposed to be really good for you and it's supposed to you know, if you have strep throat It helps kill the bacteria in your throat. This is not been proven by the FDA. So don't take my word for it who do I know but So I stopped because I couldn't get the celery anymore. But now that I can I guess buy it I'll drink it. But this is no this is not even close to what it may pop would be so I'm just Drinking right now. Yeah, I did a juice cleanse like three weeks ago like right before the holidays See that that look in your Joyable, it's not something that you drink because you like it you drink it because you feel like you're doing Something good for your body. So there it is How awesome is it that Jim Myers is listening? Hi Jim Jim. Oh my gosh. I haven't been to Austin in a minute. I need to go. Yeah, we need to go We need to go. I told him that we would do a remote from the Elliston place soda shop to like Break it in and like hey, here we are at Elliston place soda shop. Don't do that great with boats About We did a good one from autos was actually pretty good. The audio was pretty good. Okay Maybe maybe we do maybe we do that. Maybe maybe we come over there and do that I think that would be fun. Check it out. I have not been in a minute and the last time I went Reese was pretty small and I remember taking her and she Loved it. That was like one of her favorite things. She just liked how it looked and you know the food she had a good time So that's definitely it's a staple in Nashville everybody if you're listening and you have not been you need to go Hey

01:13:41Definitely for sure and they're just reopening like right now Jim put in the comments Hat is the new Elliston place soda shop reopened yet? Or is it like I think I want to say it was like the seventh or the ninth like they open tomorrow or something Or they open today. I feel like it's like they just now opened or they're just about to reopen Like any minute So go check that out a Nashville tradition the Elliston place. Oh shop reopening Like maybe at five o'clock today. I don't know when they're opening But it's but he's he said it like six times on the show when they're opening I just were sending people there and it's not open and then that would be bad He says come over right now, but that was he was talking to the may pop Matt Okay So Opening later this spring see I told you opening later this spring. Okay, so don't go there today Put it on the list, but when they do open you'll need to go check it out You know who did reopen today our friend Matt our friend Trey Trey the farmhouse or at the black rabbit Yeah So Tracy Acha owns black rabbit and we talked to him last week and he was one of the businesses affected He's on Second Avenue. He's not right where it was You know the bomb had gone off But he was close enough to where he had damage and he came on and told us, you know What it looked like and then he broken some windows. I did see today they reopened so he is now open for business and that is such a weird mission to be in because Hardly anyone is gonna be going down there thinking everything is still closed So if you are looking for a great place to eat to hang out to have a beverage or just to you know Go say hi go to black rabbit right there on second. It's great. Yes You know downtown restaurants just need Support so bad right now They just need you to go downtown like we talked about last week

01:15:45This is if you are so one of those people that's like I don't go downtown like this is the time to do it Mm-hmm, because Ain't nobody down there They need you We just did on So Saturday Saturday the second I'm like, what day is it? Yes Saturday. I went to Yolande That was my first experience with Yolande downtown. Oh my gosh Tell me about it. Was it amazing? It was incredible. I I'd never really experienced anything like that Dining wise it was absolutely next level and does not you were exactly right You nailed it when I told you that we were going there and you said you're gonna feel like you are in a different city You're gonna feel like you're in Chicago. It did it felt like I was in a very Fine dining establishment in a huge city not in Nashville. It's not like crazy It's not like crazy pretentious like they welcome you but like they hit every detail and it's just It's like unexpected you get through like whoa, like this is really amazing yeah, in the service in the bread service and the presentation of everything and Was Tony there? Did you get to see Tony? Good to see Tony. I didn't get to see Tony, but it was an incredible night You know we I can't even remember everything that we ate I took a lot of pictures because it was beautiful I was taking pictures of my friend's food. My friend Mandy is sitting beside me and I'm like don't eat that yet I want to take a picture. So I was taking pictures of everyone's food and it was truly gorgeous, but just the combination of flavors and the things that you just never think that you would fall in love with That was we had veal and that was really some of the best veal But it was not only the presentation of it But just the the way that the flavors blend it was incredible And my husband was over the moon with everything that he had to so it was it was a great night. I

01:17:49Love that. I love hearing stories like that when we did we did something called the Nashville hot list Which we started doing on this show like a top Ten restaurants in Nashville right now the places that you will not be disappointed with if you go eat right now in Yolande I only did it one time. I Did it one time and Yolande was my number one restaurant in the city Like if you're gonna go anywhere, they are the number one. I think number two Was Loughlin table and number three was Bastion But they could have been flip-flopped to me It could have been really any of those Yolande was definitely a number one But Bastion and Loughlin table were like my two and three at the time But there's so many amazing restaurants in our in our town that so it's so hard part of the goal of the show was We want to introduce people we want to keep people to date one of the things I hear all the time is There's just so many restaurants. I don't even know how to keep up, right? And I want to do a weekly show or we caught you up. You could just catch this show and go Oh, I know where I need to go. I need to go eat at Yolande. I need to go check out You know else people need to go Helen's I figured he's here. Let's just bring him on. Hey folks. How are y'all? Happy New Year. Happy New Year Where are you right now? I'm at the soda shop. You are look at you. Oh It looks fancy and nice look at that. Oh Jim tell us everything Well, oh man, we are people in there. We need people. Oh, man. It's just There's there's a sadness in these empty spaces that When you don't have people in them that energy of people coming out and eating and dining and restaurants play such an important role in the culture of the places where they are and

01:19:49In people's lives and it's it's it's it's just hard to see an empty restaurant And you feel for everyone out there who is struggling right now. So But yeah, we need people will be opening a little bit later this year We we did decide to push things back a little bit when we made the decision to open on and you were right Brandon it was it I mean we were on the cusp of Opening we had talked about January 19th as the opening day. Okay that decision was made before the covid Surge that happened you know putting Tennessee on top of a list it doesn't want to be on and Before the bombing before everything else going on So we just decided that it's just one of those hard decisions that every restaurant out there has to make now is You know how What's going to be more beneficial being open or being closed and how does that affect your overall?

01:21:00Bottom line, so we want to get the opening right and we want to do it at a time when it can be a little more celebratory and Doing that mid-january just didn't seem like the right time. So You know in thinking about all of the things That you've seen over the years I mean this has to be at the top of some of the hardest hits that we've taken as a city and that you've Seen as a restaurateur like tell us about you know Looking at the ebbs and flows we've seen the best in times and then we've seen some of the worst of times as well what is it about our city that Really makes you feel proud and knowing that you guys are gonna survive this because the city's not gonna let you fail Yeah, no, that's a great question. It's Nashville has tremendous resilience more more resilience than any city that I've spent any time in and The whole Nashville strong and we are Nashville. It's not just a hackneyed Hashtag to stick on t-shirts and the sides of buildings. It's something very real here There's a real sense of pride in this city and they care about What happens to it they care about each other and and we're hoping they you know, they care about institutional restaurants that have been around for We're coming up on 82 years this year. So We just project projects like this are our true passion projects and They places like the soda shop and and other Browns diner, you know, I know is getting a new lease on life and I worry about rotiers down the street from us That's remained closed And and since I mean they have not reopened since the pandemic hit and you know, you you you worry Restaurants go through life cycles. They you hope that they can continue

01:23:03You hope that either someone in the family wants to carry it on or if it's a multi-family Or if it's a multi-generational property like that or whether someone has interest in it and It's it's hard to do. So We can't wait to open and have people back in here um, we had we I think I told this story brand and I Can't remember Uh, we had a girl who wanted to celebrate her birthday here, but we were closed we were actually under construction we didn't even have the the bar up yet and She wanted to celebrate her her sixth birthday here. She celebrated her other birthdays and she came in She was a fourth generation Soda shop customer her great grandfather's first job as a teenager um When he was going to father ryan when the old father ryan was down the street was at the soda shop So, you know when you When you look at having four generations of customers, um, that's amazing Um And so and it's a it's a responsibility too So i'm so thrilled that we can keep a place like this open and bring people back in and offer them some Some comfort food and a little bit of joy with a milkshake, you know I think we all need a little more comfort and joy these days You know what i'm excited about for you jim Pardon, we've been talking about this for for several months. This has been in the works for so long And I just know How excited you are inside like of your heart?

01:24:38To be welcoming people back into that building And and those five generation people the four generation people that are going to come in and tell you those stories You've got maybe a handful of now, but in a year How many people and how many experiences you're going to have in that building? And just the stories you're going to be able to tell and just for you Being such a major part of that. I know that you are just so excited and I just can't wait for that for you Oh, I can I love it. I mean, I love the classical places the places that define the city um Growth is great. Uh but we can't lose sight of what what makes nashville nashville and um, you don't want every you know, you don't west end to turn into A road that looks like every other road In every other city, um with nothing but uh chain restaurants up and down so Yeah, it's so important to me to help preserve these institutions and i'm very thankful that That uh, tony giratana had the had the insight to In the passion to say hey i'm gonna buy a restaurant He tells a great story about how he broke that news to his wife Who reminded him that he knows nothing about running restaurants and uh but he's he's uh He's been so good to us and and made sure that everything we do is first class here And uh, I don't think I would have been involved if it weren't. Uh, but yeah, no, it's exciting. Can't wait to To get open again and uh, i've only had one milkshake disaster and there's a there's some pink strawberry ice cream still under the ceiling I had my first disaster, but uh, i'm learning I'm, okay All right get it. Listen. Hey if you need me my first job was at a dairy queen when I was 14 I learned how to use that shake machine. I'm really good at that. So if you need me i'll come down jim. I can help

01:26:39Kelly bring it come on. Come on down. We'll put you to work behind the The soda fountain I can do that And i've eaten i'm so good at the the soft serve at jason's deli Like i'm always like the guy making the ice cream cone people around me are like have you done this before i'm like I It's a sales 15 years. I ate a lot of salad bars, but I always get i'm i'm pretty good with the soft serve man So i'm gonna volunteer myself as well right on come on anytime we can have some fun Now we don't have soft serve here. It's all hand hand dipped on ice cream. I could do that, too Yeah, you know What's your favorite thing what's your favorite milkshake flavor jim Oh, that's a good question. I've been uh strawberry focusing on a strawberry. I'm sorry Not well, the strawberry is really good but um a chocolate peanut butter, uh with little pieces of nutter butter in it, so That's my favorite and then i'm bringing back. Uh An old sundae that I grew up on in In the midwest it was it was a deal in the midwest and it was a deal on the east coast Called a dusty road And a dusty road was two scoops of ice cream one covered with Uh hot caramel sauce the other one with hot fudge and then you uh put a dusting of malt powder on top Oh, it's so good I can get a whole conversation about how A chocolate malt is a lost art form and you cannot find a good Chocolate malt hardly no one does that anymore and that's one of my favorite things ever and my dad's favorite thing I'm going to give you the first sneak peek look at our Malt dispenser Oh, what oh look at that It's mounted on the milk machine that holds the big bags of milk like your old school cafeteria

01:28:42But yeah, oh wow So that's kind of fun it's interesting, um that that malts, um Malt shops were a big deal in the 1800s in cities like new york and I always thought it was malted milk but the old malt shops uh used liquid malts like barley malts that you use to make beer and um And it's uh, sorry i'm sitting down I'm about to lose power here. So i'm gonna talk and plug in at the same time Well, we impromptu got you on the show here. So I mean we understand we're excited this is like Behind the scenes. I love bonus Yeah, so the so the history of of soda shops and And uh in fountains and it was great hearing, uh matt talk about may pop and everything um It's pretty cool stuff, huh? Yeah, it's fascinating and you think about what how sodas evolved they they started in pharmacies And they started they evolved in pharmacy lunch counters and soda shops and soda parlors and they evolved from you know something sweet to take your medicine with to Tonics for different things and then that turned into this whole Hey, we can we can make money just selling these as sweet sweet fountain treats before the soda industry caught up or or you know began bottling and canning and that changed everything but um But yeah, just coming up with ideas for different sodas. Uh, we we got in our shipment of phosphate I was just about to ask you that's my favorite. I grew up So I grew up in a tiny town in indiana and we had a very old school Place that we would go and they had cherry phosphates and those were my favorite and again another thing You can't find anywhere. Yeah, I even know what that is So phosphate so the early sodas were just soda water carbonated water with syrup, right?

01:30:43I mean, that's how if you go to a restaurant and you go to the soda fountain machine, that's what all it's doing is adding syrup to To the water. So as they developed these soda flavors They they wanted something to help balance out this the super sweetness of it So you can do that with some kind of acid, uh, like whether it's lemon or lime juice But if you think back to the 1800s lemon and limes weren't always available. They were expensive and it was perishable so they Pharmacists were chemists and they discovered well you can do a neutralized Uh phosphate acid and it's a it's just a pure Sour note when you add it to things Um, it comes in a in a bottle Uh, and there's a guy who's a a bartender and soda aficionado in canada who resurrected this brand called horse birds of uh of Acid phosphate now acid phosphate isn't the nicest sounding thing when you're trying to sell a drink Hey, we're going to give you an acid phosphate here But it's basically just It is what they use to balance out the flavor so it gives you just that sour note without anything else You know the sour on like sour patch kids and sour gummies. That's just that straight up pucker sour That's what that's phosphate being used for that. So So when you add your syrup and then a few dashes of phosphate to it It just makes it a much more balanced and good soda. So You know Citric acid kind of replaced phosphate as when they found a way to commercially make citric acid in a powder so, um Yeah, it's a whole chemistry set of history with uh sodas and soda fountains So yeah, we'll have cherry phosphates. I'm so excited. Well and truly to me that was a magical Experience like walking in they had it on tap

01:32:47And I remember they would put the syrup in and then they would do the phosphate and they would stir and you know A little bit more and a little bit and it was it was a big presentation and it was beautiful They also had italian sodas and but just having that And knowing that you're gonna have that available and that's something you just it's a piece of history It's a piece of you know, I can share that with my dad who is 82 And he can't find that anywhere else No So that's where I talk about we're trying to bring some things back and to harness the legacy of Of history a little bit. Um, that's one of the things we'll have we'll have egg creams as well um, so uh It's just uh, we're going old school. I love all of this Couple things jim. Um, we have a listener named james bustle who says you guys need to make a boston cooler Bring down the verner from detroit Yeah, verner makes great sodas. That's a great uh brand. Um, we're gonna we're not gonna you know just Part of our thing is not to have A lot of vintage sodas and old soda brands here um Uh, we'd like to try and make some of our own. I mean we're we'll yeah, we'll have classic coke products on On tap because they've been a part of the legacy The soda shop the allison place soda shop really was a A little late to the soda game compared to what was going on nationally You know the heyday was the late 1800s and turn of the century. We came on right before world war two so, um so a lot of that that golden era had already passed but uh, but we you know, we just want to We'll carry coke products because we always have we'll carry purity products because they're local dairy and And uh, that was the last provider to the old soda shop. So yeah What are you spinning on the jukebox back there?

01:34:48So we've got a lot of great vintage stuff on the jukebox We're laughing because we've got the old wall units that we brought over from the old soda shop And we had them cleaned up and rechromed but they still don't work They actually played tiny little discs in them and they break a lot and you can't get anyone to fix them so Unfortunately, it don't work but a look at the little cards in them tells you when they quit working And it was right about the time captain and teneal were really hot. I can tell you Um Yes, love will keep us together we've got on the jukebox we've got I mean classic country contemporary country You know, it's great because we're playing with 80 years of history so pick a pick a decade You know starting with the 40s and the big band music We've got andrew's sisters um, we've got uh Uh 60s rock classic rock, you know, we wanted to make sure that it represents sort of The history of music in nashville over those years and and people who have either been customers or Or have done photo shoots here. So we've got hank jr on there. I got some george jones And then more contemporary folks too like luke combs and and uh Uh kelly clarkson who did a photo shoot at the old soda shop so A little bit of everything. It's good, but it's got a heavy dose of classic country I will be there with bells on when you open my friend Hey last time we talked you were doing a big event there that for like 40 people and you'd invited like 700 people How did that go it you know it it went well it was um We did have security to help the flow of people through the building

01:36:48Uh, we did not get overwhelmed with numbers. Thank goodness. It was for reverend enic fuzz Who's right? Pastor and leader of the community here. Yeah, it was a fundraiser for him to help him with his cancer Hi amanda um for his cancer Treatment and it was just a great event It was great to see he arrived in a in a beautiful vintage 60s cadillac convertible and um It was great for people to see him and to wish him well at a distance, um, we had him sort of ensconced in the big corner booth and people were able to kind of Walk by and wave but it went it went well. Thanks for asking and it was it wasn't Yeah, it it had gotten the an invitation had gotten to spread Uh openly through um through a newspaper so it uh, we weren't Uh, we we weren't overwhelmed. So that's good. I was worried about joe's like It's we're in the middle of covet. They're doing a test kind of a deal. They're offering this thing for somebody they're gonna have We can do this many people but then it got out and it was like, oh we may have like 600 people like Oh, that's not going to be a problem at all So, uh, we were able to control the flow through the space and and everything and and also, you know Get the kitchen working a little bit we did some great little sliders with tomato jam on them and uh Some fried green tomatoes and mini milkshakes and it was good Love it Love it jim I could talk to I feel like we could just talk to you for hours. I love your perspectives I I love hearing stories about the soda shop. This is It's such a treat fun any time and and again, you know, so right behind me here is our Well, it's age is our stage. So And we got a you know a soundboard there and everything and and uh, yes, we could do a remote there I thought you were just talking about karaoke. I was in for that too. Yeah, you can do a remote here and um

01:38:55And you know how they've got the sports shows in different restaurants and everything you could do your show from here and uh, Yeah, can we have malts? Can we have like a malted malt? Yes chocolate malt vanilla malt You name it caramel malt a dusty road, you know all of it Candy davidson his mouth is watering for a dusty road. Yeah all her favorites um Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Happy new year crash I'm always happy to talk to talk to y'all and catch up and see your bright shiny faces. I I just miss people, you know I'm tired of myself. I'm real tired of myself That's the best sentiment I could definitely say that I just miss people So, yeah, thanks for having me on and uh, we'll catch up again soon. Thank you. Yes, sir. Cheers to the best Bye jim That was so fun He just I've that was amazing I didn't know that they had phosphates when I tell you that was truly one of my favorite things I know that you're probably thinking it sounds so strange. They are amazing. They're delicious what you have on the old one I never got into the soda shop kind of a thing. They had like a diner At the belview mall when it first opened Maybe there was like a 50s diner At the belview mall like the belview center mall that would have been wait Yeah, 1989 is like 90 or whatever and um, I loved going to the diner It was a lot of fun and then uh, but I never I'm gonna say I don't know if i've ever been to the elliston place soda shop Well, I don't know if i've like ever been in there and like I may have That's a lot of years that are you know, kind of crazy to me, but I've been several times But I think the last time I went

01:40:56It's been it's been a minute and I took Reese and and she had a milkshake and we did the whole You know french fries and she was just loving everything about it It just has that vibe to it and you know, especially now that it's been redone. It looks amazing And just just all of that is a piece of nostalgia and I love that feeling I love being in a space like that that has those memories. It's like you can kind of soak it up when you're in there You know what they have there that nobody else has phosphates Jim miers, jim miers Do you know do you know that when you go to the elliston place soda shop for whatever? Jim miers is gonna be there and he's gonna greet you and he's gonna welcome you and he's gonna chat with you and you're like I get that what what no other restaurant has that like and like How fun is that gonna be yeah, well a perfect okay, so a perfect saturday Would be to go to centennial park just go hang out walk around You know enjoy it and then mosey on over to elliston place soda shop have a lunch there Like wander down the street see what's happening. It's just that little area is It's amazing and I don't take advantage of it enough I don't think many of us do but it's pretty fantastic that we've got that in our city Yeah, I guess jim is still listening. He said uh, you are too kind. Don't stop I can't wait this spring. It's gonna be a big blowout. We're gonna have a big party there I can't I cannot wait until it reopens Heck yeah. All right. Well, I guess our friend from helen's hot chicken wasn't able to get on today That's okay. We'll talk with him We will connect jim ballard jeremy. We love you. I knew he was kind of in transition. I'd Chatted with him quickly earlier today and I knew that it was going to be a stretch. So we'll get with him

01:43:00But uh, yeah, it was it was fun to see our city Front and center if you didn't get a chance to watch Streets of dreams You can watch it I believe they've got both of the the episode with nashville and then another episode which was fascinating about the diamond capital Of new york and how diamonds are bought and sold so I was Lasered in on that but to see him focus on nashville and talk about nashville and all the wonderful things that we have to offer Was pretty cool It's amazing. Uh, love you too jim and um I guess that's gonna be our show for today Right good times lots of fun. Thank you everybody for watching. Thank you everybody for listening. Thank you everybody for contributing This has been a lot of fun. This has made my thursday. I have loved it Cheers, i'm gonna drink the rest of this green juice. I've enjoyed watching you drink the green juice It's been one of my favorite things the look on your face doesn't get better. I just keep thinking it's gonna take better and it does not No, I don't doesn't Yeah, all right, I feel healthy Well, you keep staying healthy in 2021 And we thank you all for listening. I hope that you all are being safe out there socially distance wear a mask I love you guys. Bye