#theroundup 10-23-20 Featuring Andy Little, Will Shuff, and Caroline Galzin

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, a podcast for and about the people of the Nashville restaurant scene. Now here's your host, the CEO of New Light Hospitality Solutions, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to the Nashville Restaurant Radio Roundup. My name is Brandon Styll and I am not joined as always with Delia Jo Ramsey, who is the editor of Eater Nashville. I, she is a little under the weather today, so she is bowing out and we have the incomparable Caroline Galzin. Hi Caroline. Hi Brandon, how are you? I'm, you know what, I'm wonderful. I want to just send all of the best vibes and good times over to Delia at home and hopefully she's resting. And if you're out there, send her good vibes too. Absolutely. It's not the Rona I checked with her. Oh, well that's, that's a positive thing. It's positively negative. We still want to feel them so hot. So Delia, we hope you feel better soon. And thank you for letting me be here.

01:21You know what, thank you for joining. You know, you're like practically a part of the show anyway every week. I really don't mean to be. I hope everybody's not sick of hearing my name or the name of my restaurant, but you and Delia are both great friends of mine. So I feel like we just kind of are all interacting outside of the show anyway and it just comes up. So thanks for keeping us relevant. Thanks for giving us content to talk about. I mean, we can just absolutely jump right in right there. How have you been? Like, let's get an actual, we talk about you all the time as to all the things you're doing. Let's get an actual update from you. We're doing great over at Nicky's. You know, we are still only open four nights a week for dinner, but that's going really well. And then kind of the biggest thing that we have going on is our bagel shop expansion. I know that you guys mentioned last week on the roundup and thank you for the shout out. But we are by the end of November going to be in five locations in Nashville. And we are continuing to look for opportunities to thoughtfully expand. But so far it's been going great. We have, besides our West Nashville location, we have East Nashville and 12 South, which we'll talk some more about 12 South today. I know. And we'll be adding Gulch on the 31st and then Wedgwood Houston shortly after that.

02:45So that's kind of our big excitement over at Nicky's. You are hustling out here. You are taking over Nashville as far as the bagels are concerned. You're on fire. Yes. We aim to provide every Nashvilleian with all the carbs they need between the bagels and the pizza. And we got you covered. You're the best. Like all the things that we need right now. Thank you. I'm like, if you just sold booze, hey, you do. Hey, we got that too. We got everything you need. It is amazing out there. We've got a fun week this week. I'm so excited that you get to be here this week. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, this is such a fun thing for me to do this week. You know, I've been thinking lately. I've been trying to make some new hobbies. I don't because all I do is work and then I'm at home and there's just not really going out and socializing. Tony and I used to travel a lot. We used to spend time with friends a lot. And you just can't really do those things now. So I've just kind of been looking for some new hobbies. I've actually been doing a lot of cooking and baking at home. A lot of people assume because of the restaurant that I also cook, but you can ask Tony. He will assure you that I don't. But yeah, I've made a banana bread and I'm actually baking bread today. Very ambitious. And I'm going to be honest, it doesn't look so great, but we'll see how it turns out. Well, you know what? You got to just try it. You can't just be afraid of it. You got to try it. You got to make mistakes. You got to look ugly. And then you can go, okay, I need to do this next time. And then as you go, that's why these amazing pastry chefs that create this stuff, I'm so in awe because I'm like, I can't do that. It's amazing. 100%.

04:38Yeah, I agree with you. So we've got a really cool show today in the sense that today's going to be, we have a couple of new sponsors, but our newest sponsor, Christie Cookie Company, is sponsoring a new segment called the Neighborhood Highlight, the Neighborhood Spotlight. And we're going to be spotlighting the 12th South District. And we're going to be going all over this. We have Andy Little coming on the show live at four o'clock and he is the chef and partner at Josephine. And at 415, we're going to talk with Will Shuff, who is the owner at the 12 South Tap Room as our local legend of the week. So we've got some really great guests coming up later in the afternoon. We're going to do a whole spotlight on the whole neighborhood of 12 South. And coming up next week, I'm going to give you a little teaser. We have a company called Miracle One Wines. Okay, Miracle One Wines, the owner, Charlie McPherson is going to be sponsoring a new segment for Happy Hours.

05:42Miracle One Wines are so cool. They're keg wines that you can pick up and you can do by the keg. They're amazing. And they're distributed, I believe, by Empire. We have keg wines at Nicky's. And I have to tell you, it is so great. We do it for Happy Hour. We do it for glass pours. Love keg wines. So this new segment we're going to do, check this out. It's going to be called Where's Charlie and Julie? And he is going to check in with us. He's going to pop in on the show every single week to lead off our segment. We're talking about the best bars in Happy Hours. He's going to start off the show and he is going to tell us where he is. And wherever he is, you then need to hightail it to the bar that he's at. And he's going to be pouring, he's got wine for you to drink. That is so fun. I love it. If on this show he pops on, he's going to come on live from a bar. He said, I am at Nicky's Coalfired. You need to come here right now for the next hour and a half. You can come drink wine with me for free. I love this.

06:55Please put us in touch. I want to do this. This is awesome. So he's amazing. It's going to be such a fun segment. Everybody, we're going to have this massive following of people hanging out online until he comes on and then everybody's going to be gone. They're going to be like, oh no, we're heading over to that bar. Right, right. So that's going to be so much fun. And then today, just this whole 12 South deal, I do want to start the show here today with our newest sponsor, Cytex. Cytex is going to be our new sponsor for the What's New segment. And the What's New segment is just going to be everything that's new, everything that's going on. And we're going to get into that here in just a second. But I do want to tell you, Cytex is a third generation family-owned linen, mats, and uniform company. And it doesn't matter if you're a bar or restaurant, five-star hotel, Cytex has you covered. They have towels, aprons, mats, mops, table linens, and a wide variety of uniforms, as well as COVID-19 safety PPE. We are very excited to have them sponsor the roundup. Check them out. Go to Cytex-corp.com or give Ross Chandler a call at 270-823-2468. These guys are so legit. Of all the people, when I did my whole thing, I met with everybody. This was the family-owned, third generation family-owned company right out of Henderson, Kentucky, just north of us. They have a facility here in Nashville and they do things the right way. I was so excited to have them come on as a sponsor. I was talking to Ross the other day and he said, I would love to sponsor the new openings, everything, the what's new segment. And he goes, you got to let them know, let everybody know BrickTops is one of our customers.

08:37We love BrickTops. We feel BrickTops is making decisions. They choose Cytex. You know it's legit. That's so crucial too because I mean, I certainly know, I know you know too, Brandon, that a linen company can be one of the biggest nightmares to work with. So when you have a good company like that, that you have that good relationship with, it saves you so many headaches. It's amazing and when I chose them at my last two restaurants, when we went in and we negotiated everything and we chose everything, their drivers are so friendly. They just come in, their quality of their product is second to none. They do what they say they're going to do and that's just the best part about them. He wanted me to let everybody know that BrickTops has a new location called the River House and they are going to be opening December the 7th. Breaking news, we have an opening date for the River House located right on the river, up on the hill, downtown Nashville and December 7th, so bro. And so that's how we're going to break up. That's how we're going to start off the what's new segment. Caroline, what else you got? Well, so this isn't exactly new, but I definitely want to give a shout out to St. Vito Focaccia. Have you had one of these incredible focaccia pizzas yet?

09:54No, I know what you're talking about. They specialize in an Italian style of pizza called a Sfinchione. So a Sfinchione is like a focaccia pizza that has a cooked tomato sauce with just a little bit of anchovy. It's not fishy. It just gets it like a really salty umami flavor and then it's topped with breadcrumbs. It's just really rich and delicious. It's an amazing, amazing thing to eat when the weather starts to cool off, although it's 80 degrees today, but theoretically we'll cool that off again soon. But they used to be a pop-up only and they now have a permanent location in Hunter Station and you can place orders and pick up pizzas from them within 30 minutes. So if you're listening to the show right now and you haven't made dinner plans tonight, you can go on their Instagram, click the button, place an order and pick it up in 30 minutes and they'll bring it right out to your car curbside. So these are really special pizzas. You got to try them. That's awesome. Good heads up. Yes, yes. So really excited for those guys.

10:57Also, amazing news that at long last, Attaboy is reopening. They unfortunately lost their building or a portion of their building was really damaged in the tornado. Very, very sadly, they lost a couple of their team members as well. So let's definitely get out there and support Attaboy in their reopening this week. Can't wait. One of the most anticipated, I think the most heart-wrenching bars that everybody in East Nashville just loves, everything about them, their vibe, the people. They've just been hustling so hard just to stay open and get, or to get back open. And I know that this is an emotional time for them to have this happen. They put a good Instagram post out today. So go follow them on Instagram and read about it, but definitely go support them. They are just the best people. Absolutely. Great folks. Some more great people that I just love is our neighbors down the street at Hathorne. Chef John Stevenson just reopened. So happy for those guys. I have to tell you, there's three or four people in town that are kind of touchstones for me and Tony that we text and talk to a lot about business and what are you doing and need some advice, whatever. And John's always been one of those people. And I was just texting with him this morning. He said their opening is going really smooth so far and that they're looking good and busy for the weekend. So really happy.

12:30You know, John is such a great leader in this industry. Obviously he's been in Nashville for such a long time. He is the person that made me feel like it was okay to close Nicky's at the beginning of the pandemic. He was one of the very, very first people in town to step up and say, hey, I'm closing the restaurant. We're not doing this. And I kind of, you know, everything happened so fast. It was so crazy. I felt like I needed someone else to kind of jump on their team and say, hey, it's okay. You're not crazy for wanting to close because we're going to close too. And I have a very vivid recollection of being at home having a phone call with him and him being like, yes, we're closing. I said, okay, thank you. We're going to close too. And then within 24 hours, unfortunately everybody was closed. Yeah. And he was one of those guys that came on the show right in the middle of the pandemic and was just so honest and open. And you can just tell, I've known him for years, but he's just such an amazing guy. I'm so excited for them to be back open. And so they were just getting to a point where they were really rocking and rolling in February. You said their first real profitable month and then boom. So I wish all the success in the world. Totally. They were such a great spot. They're so beloved by the neighborhood.

13:47I have no doubt that they'll get right back there. So it looks like the Dempacat's new place in the old Saltine space over there on West End, Jaspers, not sadly not named after Delia's cat, named after Deb's dog, I believe. Jaspers is opening soon. I saw on my Instagram, some people were at what looked like a preview of the space. So do you know an opening date for them, Brandon? I don't. If they're doing preview days, I mean, I imagine next week, some point, but maybe, I think actually, I think I saw maybe Monday. Oh, Monday. I think they're going to be open next week. Don't quote me on that, but I think they're open Monday. Go check them out on Instagram. They're posting all the time, Jaspers. Nice. And then For Top Hospitality is their parent companies. Oh, yeah. Opening Monday. There you go. There we go. So speaking of openings, I know you went to an opening preview this week. Oh my God. I'm so jealous. Oh, you mean, are you talking about the, which one? Oh, oh, have you been to multiple openings this week? Excuse me.

14:59No, I went tonight, but I don't, I mean, I had a dinner at Gil Lawn this week. You went to an opening last night, a preview. I did not go. Oh, you didn't go. Oh, I thought you said you went. Well, what I was trying to say is that Locust, Trevor Moran's very, very hotly anticipated new spot is getting ready to open in 12 south. No, I was there yesterday. I was not there to eat. I didn't get to eat, but I was there yesterday afternoon while they were getting ready. Got it. Got it. Okay. My bad. I misunderstood. But at any rate, it looks like they are finally opening soon. We, I'm so excited. I mean, I would say that's got to be one of the top, you know, most anticipated openings for the last year or so. I think it's the most anticipated opening. What Jordan told me is that they are going to be opening next weekend, next Friday is their official opening. They're doing some kind of testing stuff this weekend where they're just kind of inviting some people in to kind of work out some kinks, but they're going to be open to the public next weekend. Awesome. Well, everybody get there early because this place is going to be packed. I know it. Yeah. You're going to hear a lot about Locust in the coming weeks, for sure. I hope so. I can't wait. I'm so excited. Okay. Let's see. What else did Miss Delia send to me that is new and opening? I Love Sushi is coming to the former Nama Spot on Elliston.

16:40It looks like Elegy Coffee is open in East Nashville. So this is really cool. The Fox Cocktail Bar folks have opened a coffee shop that's in their same building. You know, the Fox is kind of off of the parking lot in the back there. And then Elegy is their coffee shop that's right on the front on the Gallatin side of the building. And I haven't gotten a chance to go by, but they are open now. And if they pay any kind of, you know, put the sink here into their coffee that they do in their cocktails, which I can only imagine they will, it's going to be awesome. So, yeah, they've got, they're doing that Pelican and Pig thing with Pelican and Pig slow hand coffee right there. Just totally together. Totally. What else? Oh, this is exciting news. So Martins is yet again expanding down in Nolensville. So, you know, their original, the first ever Martins opened 14 years ago, I believe it was 14 years ago last week in Nolensville. And they have a new space that is now going to house Hue Babies. So Hue Babies is going to go into the old barbecue restaurant space and the barbecue restaurant is going to go into a brand new building. So they're keeping that BBQ rolling down in Nolensville. Love it.

18:02Love it. All right. Yeah. Want to pick one for the list or you want to jump in with something, Brandon? Yeah. Yeah. I was just going to, yeah, we got, we got a couple more than we got to get into our 12 style spotlight so we can get Chef Andy and Will on. Please go for it. There's a Dotto Tacos coming to Capitol View. Build your own tacos bar and a new international grocery store, A&M Marketplace opening at the Farmer's Market. Soft opening is this Friday and the Green District Louisville based salad concept coming to downtown next year. Just announced. I'm sure Delia will have more information on that. Yeah. So lots of new things happening. Lots of good stuff going on. Thank you to Cytex for bringing that to us, which is going to bring us to our neighborhood spotlight. So we had Fleming Wilt, who's the owner or the president of Christie Cookie on the show a couple weeks ago. And he was just talking about neighborhoods and put out like the Germantown neighborhood and how much these apartments being condemned hurt the neighborhood and the neighborhood needs help. And it just kind of was this organic fit. He goes, I'd love to help promote individual Nashville neighborhoods and shine a spotlight on local businesses right now because we're Nashville.

19:19We love Nashville. This is our home and we want to help. So I said, amazing. We would love to do that. So they have two locations. They have their Germantown location as well as the location in 12 South. So we're going to start there. And I will say that they are amazing. Christie Cookie, they've got holiday treats for you and yours. And I want to show you something they gave me here. Look at this cookie. That is so cute. It's a Halloween cookie and it's got like sprinkles and like gum in the middle. That is a Halloween cookie as well as this bad boy right here. This looks like a cinnamon or like a snickerdoodle cookie and it's got like a little monster on it. And it's so cute. That's adorable. I'm going to have to eat these right in front of you. And if you are trying to figure out what you need to do for the holidays, when you give Christie cookies, you let people know you care. And I love this. This is full of cookies. You're going to see me eating cookies. This is the point of the show where I get to eat cookies for the rest of the show. Delia would be showing her cookies right now. We're going to have to hook you up, Caroline. Please, I need these cookies. Cookies is my very favorite of the sweets. If all the cookies, cake, ice cream, whatever, I always pick a cookie. So I got to get some of these Christie cookies. And I love that tin. That's so cute. I think I'm going to send that to some of my relatives in Chicago for the holidays. That's a great idea. I love that.

20:51It's such a great way to support a local company and send a little piece of Nashville across the country. We love to get Nashville stuff. Anything that's Nashville they think is super fun. And, you know, yeah, and they're really good cookies too. It's no joke. Really good cookies. So we got to spend some time in 12 South. I got to walk. I got to walk 12 South yesterday and I went around and I visited all of the businesses. And just to do like a spotlight on the neighborhood, 12 South starts right at like Severe Park, Severe Park, which does farmers markets all throughout the summer. Love Severe Park right there at Kirkwood Avenue. You start going up and you've got Jeremy Barlow's spot, which is now with Slow Co. Insert Chef here. He is doing so many amazing little pop ups and cool little things over there that if you follow on Instagram, follow. I don't know if it's Insert Chef. You call it Slow Co. Sammy's Instagram.

21:53Yeah, follow the Slow Co. Instagram. He's posting all these cool pop ups that he's doing. And I was walking down the street and Jeremy's just sitting out front with his sunglasses on, hanging out. And I'm like, he's like the mayor. What's that? He's the mayor of that block. He's I have known him forever. And you know what? He's one of like the OGs in Nashville. In my opinion, like you talk about local legends, what he did over at Taste was just so ahead of its time and sustainability. And this guy has been on the forefront of so many things. So he's got his place right there. It's a few doors down from Burger Up. It's across the street from a piece. And you start walking down the street and you got Burger Up. Then you've got Halcyon, which is the bike shop. There's a bike shop right there. Now they do not rent bicycles, but you can get your bicycle fixed there. You can buy all kinds of stuff for your bike, like water bottles and just little knickknacks. I don't know. There's a lot of accessories that go with biking that I'm not aware of. Are you a bike guy? I'm not really. I have a bike. When I lived in Hillsboro Village, I used to ride my bike to the YMCA every day. That was like an adventure and a half. And I loved it, but I never got into like bike. I don't have the clothes. I think when you get, when you buy the clothes, you're a biker, right? Sure. So Halcyon is a local shop. If you need, please visit them. Right next to them is Edley's Barbecue and the Filling Station, which we all love at least barbecue. They were kind of a focal point or a fixture of 12 South. They came in really early. They're amazing. One of my favorite things is at Edley's, they're bushwhacker. They do a little mini version. A mini version? Yeah. So you don't have to get the entire full big bushwhacker. You can do like just a little, like they have like a little, it looks like the same giant frosty mug, but it's a little tiny version. Nice. You need just a little bushwhacker. I used

23:58to go there and they put like creme de menthe and it was a mint whacker and they had these. And it was like a bushwhacker with like a hint of mint and it was fantastic. It was like a whole thing. I was like, this is, this is amazing. I'd say what we're going to jump in because we've got him here right now. We're going to put a pause on our 12 South conversation. We're going to get back to it. But what chefs want creation gardens is another sponsor of ours and they are brand new and they are bringing a local spotlight. So we have a neighborhood spotlight and then we have local spotlight. And on this local spotlight, we're going to bring another 12 South chef, Josephine chef, Andy Little, but they're brought to you by what chefs want creation gardens, what they're formally called and having a non-commissioned sales team means you get daily delivery seven days a week, competitive pricing, broken cases on all lines, late cutoff times, 24 seven live customer service, simplified ordering processes, real time pricing and catalog and more creation gardens. What chefs want has been serving the Nashville community since 2005.

25:08That's 15 years of truly being what chefs want. Their goal is to get your deliveries to you as quick as possible so you can run your business efficient, efficiently, no pesky sales folks bothering you for an order or upselling you just order what you need. When you need it, you can check them out at whatchefswant.com or give them a call or text them at 502-587-9012. You want to get involved with what chefs want every independent restaurant in the whole city uses what chefs want. We work with them a ton. We're going to bring in a guy who also works with them right now. Chef Andy Little. Welcome, sir. Hey, how's it going? Pretty good. We're excited to have you on the show today. We're highlighting 12 South and you have one of the best restaurants in 12 South and we thought we'd come in and just check in with you today. I'm currently in it so I'm wrapped up to the top, wrapped up to my bald spot in masking. Which is a good thing. Yeah.

26:12We're just checking in with you, man. How have you been? You've been on the show in April. It's been a long time since we've got to check in with you. How are things in 12 South? How are things at Josephine right now? Currently, we're in the middle of debate land. Lots of trucks, lots of cameras, lots of let's just say state police and people with things in their ears. That's exciting. In general, things have been going pretty well, obviously. We want them to get better faster for everyone and for the country, but we're just doing our thing. We always have been just about if you can make great food and have great hospitality, the rest of it hopefully will come along. That's just been our deal. It's tough times for everybody. We really just want to focus on the food and the wine and present an atmosphere that people can maybe stop thinking about everything for a while while they're inside the door. We're seeing some slow growth, which I feel pretty good about, but again, we've got to keep our eye on the ball.

27:24We've got to get fully over all of this before I think any of us can really feel good about getting back to the business of fully doing hospitality and being in restaurants. It's a tough thing. We need people in the restaurant in order to make money, but I also don't want a ton of people side by side with each other. I don't want to go out and start. Karen and I were just talking a couple of weeks ago about this is normally the time on our calendar where we're reaching out and trying to promote holiday dinners and holiday lunches and then looking into the first quarter next year for business dinners. I don't feel entirely comfortable doing that. It's a tough place to be. I think that anytime in your life when you have these tough hurdles to go through, you can always go back to the food and the hospitality part of it. We know how to cook and we know how to welcome people. Certainly, Karen knows the shit out of wine. That's always a good place to be at the end of the night.

28:35A hundred percent, Caroline. Yeah. I keep meaning to get over there to see you guys, Andy. You know how it is. We haven't been getting out much as I'm sure that you guys haven't either. What you guys do over there is so special. I have such a great memory of we came there for my mom's 60th birthday. It was a really special night. When we got there, you guys had gone out of your way to go to the store and buy flowers and balloons and put it on the table and just make sure we had such a special evening. I have always loved coming to Josephine because it reminds me so much of the restaurant that Tony and I met when we were in Chicago, the restaurant that we worked in. I feel like it's a restaurant that reminds me of a way that people used to do things that is of such a high standard and high quality and has so much care and attention that a lot of people don't do it like that anymore. I miss that and I love that about you guys. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you.

29:43Something that I sort of feel like we treat the kitchen a little bit like a machine. The food ought to be perfect. If you can't cook delicious food, maybe be an actuary or firefighter or do something, but the food should be automatic. Anything that we can do to create a special experience, that's what we want to do. Then when our friends in the industry come in, we really make every effort to ... I know what it's like. I think that we've been out less than five times since March. Anytime you can get away from the restaurant is special. We want to make sure that everyone who's working really hard to serve other people and provide great hospitality, when they come in here, they can just feel like a million bucks, even if it's just for a cheeseburger at the bar. Oh, sorry. Please go ahead, Brandon. No, I was just going to say we're in the middle of a segment right now where we're really focusing on 12 South, and we're talking about the neighborhood in which your restaurant is in.

30:50How would you sum up 12 South? If you were to give just a description of the neighborhood you're in and what the vibe is and what your feelings are about it? Yeah, I mean, before we moved here, and Josephine was just a cinderblock building. It was still under construction. I remember turning onto the street, and it was late at night. We had gotten into town, and it was raining, and I think it was a Wednesday, and the street was filled with people, umbrellas up, walking around. There's an energy to 12 South that feels, one, it feels certainly like a tourist destination. When people come to Nashville, I feel like 12 South is one of the places that they want to go because of the boutiques and the restaurants, but it also feels very much like a neighborhood. I mean, right off of 12 South, there are beautiful homes and condos and apartments. So it has a very small town, small neighborhood feel, not necessarily in the middle of Nashville, but definitely in Nashville. I mean, the minute that you hit 12 South, I feel like you can almost feel like you're in your own little enclosed areas. And frankly, I feel that way about 51st and the nations, too. I think that 51st has a lot of similar qualities. I certainly wish that we had four lanes here. Well, that's kind of something that I feel like people have been saying about the nation since we first opened in that area. Everybody said, oh, it's the next 12 South. I definitely see the potential of the neighborhood. I think we've still got a little ways to go. But it's growing. How have you seen 12 South grow and change since y'all first opened?

32:48It's a little strange. We've been here for seven years. Well, the restaurant will be seven in December. And I've talked to people who knew 12 South before it was 12 South, the original 12 South. And even in the seven years that I've been here, we've seen so much growth now, even a little more construction. But the thing that I really enjoy about it is there is such a wide range of things that you can do and experiences that you can have. You could go to 12 South three or four times in a week and have a different experience. You could go to Svear Park on Tuesdays and go to the farmer's market. You could go and shop the boutiques. Now, today is Trevor's first day open at Locust. That's another fun thing for us to have. You can do mocks on Tuesday nights and do two for ones. There really are a lot of different things to do. And it's super walkable. It's real fun. I don't necessarily... Look at me. I'm no spokesperson for what's hip, but it's fun. I can tell you what's fun.

34:00Flannel is hip though, man. Not in this body, it's not. Flannel's hip for everybody, I think. But it is an interesting, fun time. And that's the thing I think we see the most. We obviously do a lot of bachelorette parties on Saturdays and Sundays at brunch. And you can see people coming up and down the street and they're just happy to be here. There isn't the stress and strain of maybe going from meeting to meeting or work where they're here to have a good time. And we can provide so many different ways to do it. Ed Lee's and Christie's Cookies is fun. And now we have Trevor doing his thing. And even across the street, I mean, it's just... There are a lot of fun options. And then it's also in close proximity to both Belmont Boulevard and Eighth. And Eighth is becoming... Melrose area is crazy. So this side of town, I don't necessarily want to be... Although if someone wants to cut me a check, it'd be cool, be the spokesperson for this area. But it can compete. A lot of the conversations go to East Nashville and Germantown.

35:16And I think that's the fun of Nashville, right? There are so many neighborhoods where you can get into so many different things, but each one of them really brings it. Each one of them, you're not going to be disappointed. So I just feel like it's a... And also I have this weird thing. I'm not sure if I'm going to get in trouble for saying this, but hey, let's promote things that aren't lower Broadway. There's a lot to Nashville. I've tried to get on this. I would like to build a hashtag that's broader than Broadway. Because I feel like sometimes we sell ourselves short by only promoting that. I mean, people are going to go to Broadway anyway, but what about the art museum? What about all the great... If people come to Nashville and go to lower Broadway and don't go to Radnor Lake, why are you missed out? Or the Harpeth River or Green Door Gourmet or... I mean, we could go way over my time talking about all the things that are... And I'm not saying don't go down to lower Broadway. Not at all. But what I am saying is that we are broader than Broadway. So we should promote that.

36:24One of the great things that we're doing is that exact... I don't know if it's broader than Broadway, but I will say Christy Cookie has identified individual neighborhoods around Nashville that they want to spotlight, which is why we're talking about 12 South today. And every single week on this show, The Roundup, we're going to focus on another neighborhood inside of Nashville. We're going to go in depth. We're going to continue talking about 12 South today and all the boutiques and across the street, you've got Trim and we're talking about Halcyon. We're talking about all of the different cool things that make 12 South unique. And we're going to do that every single week with a different neighborhood. And we thank you, thank you, thank you, Chef Andy Little from Josephine for coming on today and telling us, just catching us up a little bit with you. So good to see you. Thanks for having me on. We have your other next door neighbor, Mr. Will Shuff, who's jumping in right now. There he is. Hi guys. Thanks for having me. So we're going to jump over to Will, but Chef Andy, thank you so much for jumping on today.

37:25For sure. Thanks. Good to talk to you. Hi, buddy. And here we welcome Mr. Will Shuff. Will, you are the owner. The 12 South Tap Room. And I have to say that you were brought on today as our local legend. And I do want to say real quick that our local legend every week is brought to you by the fine folks over at Mobile Fixture. Mobile Fixture. Visit mobile fixture.com for all of your kitchen equipment needs. They're located in Smyrna and they will help you create your dream commercial kitchen. Ben Whitlock and his team have helped build some of the best kitchens in Nashville and beyond. Give them a shout for all your kitchen needs. You can head them up at our website, www.nashvillerestaurantradio.com. There's a link. Set up an appointment. Go talk to them if you have questions about what you need to be doing. And they are honored to host our local legend segment. Like I said, Will Shuff is joining us. We're focusing on 12 South, the legendary 12 South Tap Room. Well, thanks for having me guys. It's hard to believe we're the legendary status now. It's been there coming on 15 years in June. So, you know, I made it 12 South, started the market in Delhi there in 2003. So I've seen the evolution of that neighborhood from start to where we are now. It's just, it's hard to believe what it's become. What has it become? What are you doing right now? How has your world changed? You know, we're doing good. Our demographics have definitely changed. You know, like Andy said earlier, the bachelorette party scene is hot and heavy in our neighborhood, you know, which is good. It brings, you know, lots of interesting interesting people into our world. You know, rolling with the punches of the current situation with the, you know, we're all in the hospitality industry trying to just, you know, keep it going,

39:27keep our employees, you know, employed and, you know, keep doing what we're doing, trying to put out the best product we can, like keeping focused on, you know, doing what we do best. So it's been an interesting time. So for sure. Now, Will, I have to really give you a big shout out and thank you because when we were forming Nashville Action for Hospitality and, you know, doing the work to try to kind of lobby the mayor's office and and get some help and relief for bars and restaurants in Nashville, you were one of the very first people that I know stepped up and said, whatever it takes, anything I can do, I don't care what it is, just tell me I want to help. So, you know, that's just a testament to you and how you run your business. I know we connected about that, but how are you guys doing? What kind of adjustments and pivots have you all had to make during this time? You know, we've just kept plugging along, you know, at the beginning, we stayed open the whole time. We are, you know, plugging along doing produce boxes and family meals and just anything we could do to keep some money coming in, keep our, you know, employees working. And then from there, we've just kind of, you know, our to go business is off the charts right now. You know, we do a ton of to go, which has been great for us, as far as, you know, just keeping the doors open.

40:56We just keep pushing, you know, trying to adjust to that, getting, you know, all the orders correct, trying to, you know, make sure people get the right food you got between postmates and online orders, trying to keep it all, you know, it gets complicated just being on the to go end, you wouldn't think it's as hard as it is, but it's really, you know, tough. To doing the majority of your business to go, and then you have to transition to that. That's definitely a challenge that we've had. Yeah, it's just really tough. I mean, we'll get, you know, we've been getting where our business has been steady lately. It's been really good. I'll say doing a lot better than I thought, you know, coming into these months after May, April, May. So our business, you know, numbers wise, it's pretty good considering we're at 50% capacity. But yeah, just trying to organize all that, setting up new systems to try and get the right people the right food, people walking in grabbing bags and like, you know, it's been it's been a challenge. It's for sure. But people do that a lot. People will just come in and grab a bag. Is this my order or check? They'll just grab it and go. Definitely had issues with that. You know, we've kind of got a system down. We're always tweaking, you know, just trying to roll with the punches. But you know, we're hanging in there doing well. I've got great staff and a lot of longtime staff members, you know, at both my restaurant on 12th and the way at the 51 North half room over by you guys. And, you know, we've got great employees. And that's key, you know, we're we're a family, as we all are in the hospitality community, really, just, you know, we're all trying to do the same things, but not great product. And, you know, have a great time doing it. So can I ask you to put some of those employees on the spot? So one of the things I like to do is there's a lot of unsung people out there who have hustled their asses off throughout this entire thing. And as I have restaurant owners on, you're going to forget people. I totally understand that. Like, and God forbid, like, could you just name some of the people that have been like just absolute champions for you?

42:59Oh, well, my GM Cody, she's taken over now of both GM of both restaurants at 12 South and 51 North. She's been awesome. Joe is our beer guy. He orders all our beer, keeps the taps rotating, you know, does a great job. He was in the kitchen with me during we're shut down. We're working on the line doing that. He learned a whole new role, you know, working online, just trying to keep going. This is partner Jamie, who's been my partner through this whole, you know, almost 15 years now. She's awesome, by the way. She's great for sure. And then, you know, I, like I said, I got my Roman that runs my kitchen over 12 South is just a monster keeping it all together. You know, we prepare everything fresh. I mean, we don't do anything canned. You know, it's all homemade, fresh. Ernan, who's Jamie's husband's our chef over at 51st. He's awesome. I got there's so many.

43:59Rachel, who was my manager before at 51st. She's plugged through this whole thing. I mean, bunches of great people that work for me. I'm very fortunate to have them all. As you all know, for being in this industry, it's, you know, it's all about building a great team and, you know, meshing and trying to keep it all together on the same boat, you know, I'm going to give a shout out to Casey yesterday for, for connecting us and getting us together today as I've known you for many, many years, but didn't have your number in my cell phone and she was an old fresh point number. Yeah, that's not my yeah, that's a number. I got that fixed in my phone now. So oh, perfect. Well, well, thank you so much. Is there tell me in your perspective, because we're talking about 12 South, what does the neighborhood mean to you? What is this like, because you've been that's that's your home, man. You guys have been there for 15 years, seen this whole thing. What is what is the neighborhood? If I'm listening to this and I'm they say I live in Skokie, Illinois, and I'm coming into Nashville. What is the 12 South neighborhood the vibe? What does it mean to you? Well, I mean, for me personally, I grew up here, my I went to Christ the King for grade school on Belmont. My mom grew up down the road on Gray Bar.

45:19That's where I go to my grandmother's every Sunday for dinner, go to Becker's bakery for cakes, cookies. So I've been, you know, 12 South has been special to me my whole life and to see it evolve as it has. And it's truly we knew it was going to be a special place when we started this basically 2003 when I started over there, but never really imagined that it would blossom into this, you know, from the neighborhood people, the locals to the tourists. And it's just got a really positive happy vibe. People are out walking around so many little great shops and restaurants. And, you know, there's just endless, you know, like Andy was saying earlier, there's so many things that you can spend a week there almost and just hang out, go to all the different restaurants, shop, hang out the park. Yeah, it's it's a wonderful place with great energy between the universities like Delmont and Lipscomb right there and Vandy's Close. I mean, it really embodies kind of Nashville, you know, it's just Nashville's a great place. It's got a really positive feel, really nice people. And I think 12 South really has brought all that together into one little, you know, session. Is the Secret Service drinking at the tap room tonight for the day? I hope so. I've been over at 51st. I spend a lot of my time over here now. Jamie's over 12 South a lot, but we hope so. We were prepared for anything over there, which you have to be now in 12 South. You never know from day to day what, you know, how crazy it'll get. So it's just all that's always some action going on over there. Indeed. Yeah, always. Well, I would love to have maybe you and Jamie come on and do a full interview. We do full interviews with restaurant owners on Mondays and Wednesdays. I'd love to follow up to and get you guys down. We can tell I want to I want to hear your whole story. Get in depth. Get in there. And that would be good.

47:20We've got a lot of stories for sure. It's been, you know, 15 years in this business at one place is a pretty good run. And we're looking to stay in it for the long haul. So yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on our special 12 South edition of the roundup. Well, thank you. Have a great afternoon. Thank you. See you. All right. Well, that was we just jumped right in there for Andy Little as well as Will Shuff. Folks next door neighbors in 12 South and couldn't find better guys. That was cool. Totally. Love that. I wanted to get Andy's full take on Locust because he was posting all these pictures of dumplings the other day. Like apparently Trevor was like, hey, come over here and eat like all my food. And I was just like drooling through my phone. It was horrible. He's living the life between the cheesesteaks and the dumplings. Oh, he's got it all. And, uh, uh, and crispy cookie.

48:28My gosh. Great. I'm going to green teeth now, but it's okay. How did we not plan this better? I got to get those cookies, Brendan. I'm having cookie FOMO. It's a thing. That is a legit thing. All right. So we are where we were here. We're in the middle of talking about 12 South. And I think that there's, I'm not seeing you. So if you guys are out there watching, I'm not seeing something. I don't know if something's wrong. Normally we have up here in this whole corner. You can see there's normally like a bunch of people watching. It's not showing any counts of people watching. I'm wondering if we're actually broadcasting because it hasn't been showing people at all. I think so. Uh, cause we had somebody comment at the very Charlie commented. So if you're watching out there, say hi to us, say hi, let us know that you're here. Um, or you'll just get to listen to it on Friday and we'll just, you'll get to hear all of this secondhand versus being live right now. So we were talking about 12 South. We were talking about, um, at least barbecue and the filling station. I was just about to say how much I love the tuck special, um, at, uh, at least barbecue when we were going to get into some of the boutiques because boutiques is a, is a whole thing. I didn't even know what a boutique was.

49:48You didn't know what a boutique was? Well, I mean, I, I, I can hear the term. I'm a dude, you know, I don't go into boutiques. Like I, I go to 12 South, like 12 South taproom. Everyone Brandon. Well, there used to be a boutique in 12 South. I'm going to be honest. I can't remember if it's still there or not called the label. And that's where all the country music guys, uh, got their, their clothing. They had a lot of puffy shirts, you know, like the Seinfeld puppy. Oh yeah. I don't, there's a TV show. We didn't get to talk about your, your, your whole thing going with your TV shows, but we'll get into that here in a minute. Yeah. So there's, there's a Madewell and a Marine layer. Yeah. Like national brands, right? Those are national brands. Madewell is kind of, I want to say that they're affiliated with a, another brand. I can't remember who their parent company is, but Madewell is kind of like the new version of the gap. I feel like it's a place where you get, um, a lot of your basics. Okay. And then they're right next to, then right next to them is Forks drum closet.

50:53They've been around for ever over there in 12 south. So we've got a bicycle shop. We've got a couple of, uh, fashion stores, national brand fashion stores, and then you've got Forks drum closet. And across the street from those things, you're going to find a amazing cookie shop called Christy cookie company, a cookie where you can get these really cool Halloween boo cookies and cookie tins. I've got chocolate chip cookies. I'm eating right now. And you've got chocolate chip FOMO. So I went into a place yesterday called Draper James. Okay. Did you have sweet team? Do they have sweet tea at Draper James? Oh, I wonder if they stopped. So they might've stopped doing this because of COVID, but normally when you go to Draper James, as soon as you walk in, there's someone there to offer you sweet tea. Oh my God. That is just adorable. Yeah. As we would say in the south, isn't that cute?

51:57And that's, that's amazing. So I will tell you something. It's my first time in a boutique, right? So come on, that was your first time in a boutique. My first time in a boutique. So I walk in and I'm looking around. I felt like my first day, um, you know, you just walked, I stuck out like a sore thumb on this gigantic guy. What's that? By yourself. It was by myself. Just walk in a little notepad. I'm like, hi, I'm asking questions. They're like, okay, who is this guy? I have to give a shout out to, um, to Elizabeth and Robin and Emily, who were all amazing and helping. Elizabeth is the manager there. And she said that they have, I think they have a few locations now, but the one in 12 south is the flagship location. Reese Witherspoon is the owner of Drake and Reese's. I love her. I did know that. Yes. Reese Witherspoon is the owner. It's not exactly my personal style. I don't feel like, but, um, but I think- Wasn't mine either.

53:04It's not enough for you. Um, but it's, it's a lovely story. I think it's a great addition to Nashville because it seems always packed. I know that there's a mural there that people who are visiting love to take pictures with. Um, I believe in Nashville mural right next in between the alley and then they have their own mural right next to it. Yes. Did you get a selfie with the mural? Well, no, but you know, for the roundup, Delia and I went and took pictures for the roundup. I got cover shots and they're all of right there in that there of the, I believe in Nashville and then across the street. The, um, on the other side, I think it is the made well building, which has the, yes, a pretty music city. That's it. That's a cute mural. So, um, I did their five year anniversary today. Today is the five year anniversary of Draper James. Cheers to them. Yeah, salute. Um, so big shout out to them. They were, they could not have been nicer ladies in there. They just were so helpful. And as I started talking to them, they all just kind of came over and just started telling stories. They were just adorable. So if you, if you leave there and you want coffee, you're in luck because there's a white bison coffee, which is owned by dailies, which is like a convenience store direct across the street. And then next to them is a Portland brew. Um, and then right down the street is the frothy monkey. I think the frothy monkey is the one that everybody goes to. You've got a frothy monkey right next to you. Yes. Thanks. Thankfully we're so lucky to have frothy next door to us. Uh, great coffee, great food, great, great folks. Good. So, and that's a really, I mean, that frothy has, you know, talking to Will with the tap room, I believe that that frothy has been there almost as long as the tap room. I've been there a long time. Yeah. That's one of the OGs of 12 south as well. So I was there and across the street,

55:04you've got bar taco, which is right there. And as we're going up the street, there's another boutique called Finley's. I don't know. So there you go. Finley's originally, they have, they have three stores. They have one in 12 south. They have one in Franklin and then one in the Gulch. It is a woman's boutique. And, uh, I got to say hi to Brenna and Alicia who were amazingly helpful to me. I told them, I give them shout outs on the show, Brenna and Alicia. I'm going to put you on the spot. You've been in all these boutiques. Did you get something for your wife? Of course. I got something for my wife. Oh, that's good. I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I got something for my wife at the very end in a place called Serendipity. Oh, I have been in Serendipity. We went to Serendipity and I got her a little, like a little charm. And then I got my kids a book, like a little book. My, my youngest is having nightmares when he sleeps. He doesn't like to sleep. He sleeps in the room with his older brother. And my wife let him watch, um, Thriller, the video. Oh God. I'm going to totally throw her, chuck her right under the bus right now and be like, I'm just chucking around in the bus. Um, I'm sure it's more than that, but it's Thriller that he's afraid of. So I bought him a book about dreams and it's a book that you read to children before they go to bed. And it's, and it's a book that brings them good dreams. Oh, that's very sweet. We've been reading it at nighttime. Uh, we read it last night, first time. And so hopefully I didn't get to follow up them this morning on whether or not he had great dreams. I hope he did. Hopefully he did not dream of Michael Jackson turning into a monster. He's been good. He's been good. So, so yeah, so they're awesome. Uh, Finley's and then across the street from that is Moda and Moda was pretty cool.

57:02Uh, big, big shout out to Liesl who works there. She was very nice. Let me know about it. Now they have stuff for men there. These other first two boutiques, nothing for men. These are, these are, these are women's, women's boutiques, Finley's and, um, Finley's and Draper James. But then you go into Moda, sunglasses and jewelry. What's that? Go ahead. We have like sunglasses and jewelry, all kinds of stuff happening in Moda. Yes. Lots of fun. Uh, it's a store for anyone. It's a store for everyone. Now, did you go into the vintage store? Which one? Savant, I believe is the name of the store. No, I missed that. That's a little bit farther. I really wanted to. That is an incredible store. I ran out of time and it was, it was a little warm. I mean, it was a really nice, gorgeous day. Um, so yeah, so there's also a Jenny's ice cream. There is a classic trim, which is a, a kind of a stylish place to get your hair did. And, uh, Serendipity, uh, Serendipity is a really cool store. It's my favorite store. I think that cause they just had knickknacks, all kinds of little Nashville stuff, lots and lots of trinkets, lots and lots of like face masks and funny stuff. And like really just a ton of things. I was like, okay, yeah, I need this. Um, which I thought was kind of fun because, uh, the definition of Serendipity is, um, what is it? Make fortunate discovery by accident. Oh, it was very serendipitous that you wandered in there.

58:39And that's where I bought the stuff. So they were amazing. You know, restaurant wise, 12 south tap room, again, local, you gotta go eat there. Urban grub is right there. It's like the gigantic restaurant. It is gorgeous. I had brunch there this past weekend and, uh, they have chef Bob, who used to be over Kane prime and all of M street is now over there. And, uh, I got to see him, but they have a, they have like a buffet. It's not a buffet. They have a seafood buffet and all you can eat seafood buffet. Now they've got a big plexiglass and you go up and you, the guy gets a plate and you go through and you go and give me some crab legs and give me, you know, shrimp. And they had just all kinds of this whole seafood buffet, which you could add to your brunch items. So if you're branching it, urban grub right now has an all you can eat option for like a seafood buffet. And I was like, yeah, there we go. Awesome. So that too, uh, there is a, um, restaurant wise there. There's an Ember ski lodge, which is kind of like a, um, you know, like a winter themed place. If you want to go, if you love the winter and you want to go to a ski lodge, that's happening all throughout there. They're building up on Ember ski lodge, a whole different level. I believe there's always a t-shirt company parked with like a Volkswagen bust out front. They're building a t-shirt company that's going to go upstairs. Oh, okay. I've actually, I drive by there pretty frequently because I was close by. Um, I've been wondering what that construction was.

01:00:11So it's going to be a t-shirt company. I don't know if it's owned by them or not, but then that's right next to mafios as mafios is another, like, you gotta go forget about it, right? Mafios is for pizza, um, across the street. Like you said, taqueria Del Sol. And then of course, Locust. And I walked into Locust. Yes, I walked in, I was just like, oh my gosh, you guys, I'm so excited. And I got the full scoop that they're going to be doing kind of the fun things this weekend. And then next weekend was the, uh, the opening. So I think they're actually technically open, but you know, don't tell, don't tell anybody. Don't, don't like go on a podcast and tell anybody. Um, yeah. So there's another place I went into that was really cool and it was called outdoor voices. Uh, Marley and Cassidy there were super helpful. What is that? Is that a clothing store? Okay. So are you familiar with Lulu lemon? Yes. Okay. So this is what she described to us. It's athletic gear. That's like Lulu lemon, just not as expensive as little lemon. And it's all there. They're a company based out of Austin, Texas. Okay. They're doing good things. Their clothes are really cool. It's really cozy.

01:01:20Like I, you know, I run a podcast, so I can't afford that, but, um, it's really comfortable clothes. And, um, I was definitely, they have like clothes for guys like me too. They have in the back area is clothes for dudes and upfront is all clothes for women. So it's like athletic gear, outdoor voices. Yeah. Cool. Um, let's see. So 12 south and it's just packed. There's that big building, by the way, across the street from 12 south. That's like a, like a fortress right there. You don't really notice things are getting gated. That apparently is Dolly Parton's. I was going to say that I was actually just going to bring that up. I'm still glad you said that. I remember when Tony and I first came to Nashville, it's actually before we moved here, we knew that we wanted, we wanted to move here and open a business. And we met with a commercial real estate broker and he drove us around to different neighborhoods and kind of gave us a little tour of Nashville. And I remember that was one of the places we saw. And he pointed out, that's Dolly Parton's place. And what is it? Is it a studio or a house or?

01:02:27I don't know the choice. I'll get tour bus parked there and then just all kinds of, uh, things happening. I don't know. I don't know. It's like this, it's like the Wonka factory, like nobody ever comes out. Nobody ever goes in. You know what else 12 south that I don't know about this or not. And I want to see Delia is the person who told me about this. Um, there's supposedly like a secret bourbon club in someone's private residence in 12 south. Have you heard of us? I have not. I guess it's somebody's private residence, but like they don't live there and it's a secret club that you have to have a membership and you can go in and they have all these like rare bourbons that you can drink. Nice. Anybody got the scoop on that? Let us know. Yeah, for sure. Um, it doesn't show there's anybody watching. So I can't say, Hey, you should ask me. I don't know if this is even broadcasting right now. Well, you know what? It's going to air. Shoot us a deal towards the bourbon secrets. Okay. So, um, we're going to go to our final segment today, which I'm pretty excited about.

01:03:35Typically we do a, uh, what's the Delia segment and it's brought to you by super source. We're going to move what's the Delia to once a month. We're going to start a new segment called on brand with Brandon. Ah, I see what you did there. See what I did there. So this is going to be kind of an unbranded thing. This is for restaurants and operators, kind of just as I'm working, this is kind of the business side of it. We have a lot of fun talking about new, if you're a guest and you want to just know what's happening in Nashville, the whole show is what that's been about so far. This, we kind of get into some of the inside baseball side of it, which is stuff that you and I can geek out and talk about all the time because that's our life. It's so much fun. So this is going to be the on brand segment and it is brought to you by super source. Uh, super source is the company you need for all of your dishwashing and chemical needs. No minimums, no contracts, which means they earn your business every single week. Give Jason Ellis a call today. 770-337-1143 or go to our website, nashvillerestaurantradio.com.

01:04:49Click the sponsor tab. And if you do it that way and you use, and you, when you talk to Jason, you give him the code word, which is restaurant radio, he's going to give you three months with a free dish machine rental and 15% off your first order of chemicals, which is a huge discount because your first order of chemicals is always a big one. And that's where you're saving the most money. That is what he's doing right now for Nashville restaurant radio listeners. Only Jason Ellis is amazing. Uh, everybody that he's working with just, just loves him. I've never got, heard one bad thing about him. Um, he works with us at our restaurants and he is just, he's just killing it. He's doing all the right things. And I love partnering with him and I love talking about him because I love telling you guys out there about really bad ass companies. They're going to help you succeed. I mean, that's a great deal. And there is truly no time like the present, especially with winter coming up to cut some expenses and find new people to work with that are going to save you money. So he's averaging like 20% right now. So he comes in and just identifies what you're doing. He's saving people 20% on average. The other day that he's got people he walks into and they're just like, Hey, just tell me what you can do. And he looks at them and there's a 50% savings. And I'm like, that would have been nice throughout a pandemic, right?

01:06:15Yeah, not too late. We got some time left on this thing. I think. Well, that's, so that's what we're going to talk about today. Um, we're going to talk about being on brand and we're going to talk about some of that. So we're going to jump right in. This is kind of my little time to rant. And, um, today I'm going to talk about to go and delivery because while I do consulting and I'm working with restaurants, um, one of the things that I try and do is I try and identify trends and what's going on. And while, um, well, we all know that restaurants closed for three months in, um, March, April and beginning of May. Uh, if you stayed open, you move to a to go and delivery model and dining rooms reopened and a lot of places, um, work towards, they changed their focus to on-premise, which as normal would be, I mean, you got people coming in the dining room. That's what you do. And that's just kind of what everybody has been doing while to-go and deliveries have still maintained. I think that they've definitely been more than they have been in the past. A lot of people are focusing on the dining rooms and I was talking to Stephen Smith into the day who owns the green Hills grill and this past Sunday, 56% of his sales were to go and delivery. And that's just a really big number. And you are trying to identify with him just exactly what, um, like why 56%? That's just a big number for the day. And we were kind of looking at it that, um, it's getting darker earlier. Um, coronavirus cases are ramping up. It's getting colder. You have limited outdoor seating for those with gas heaters.

01:07:57You, you're still going to be reduced, but you can still see people outside. And the fact that everyone now knows that ordering to go and delivery is this easy. I mean, I think right now is the perfect time to not forget about doing to go and delivery. And so many people are not focusing on it. And this is me telling you right now to go and delivery are going to come back in a big, big way in the next two months. You need to be focusing on putting together a plan to be really ready to do it. And I'll tell you what I mean. Mediocrity starts to set in. You're focusing on the people inside. There's only so many hours in a day. Hey, John's doing to goes today. You got one person in the middle of pandemic, maybe had four or five people. Now you've got one guy taking the orders and one guy putting it out. This is the time to ramp that up. We've got to do a better job. I still order to go food a lot in the places that I go that do just a kind of a half ass job. I immediately I'm like, I don't like this. I don't feel comfortable. And people that just mailing it in like, I guess we'll just go back to doing to go and delivery. And then there's the places you go that you pull up to your car and somebody's outside with a walkie talkie. And they're like, Mr. Still, we're happy to have you here. Your food will be out in just a moment. You're like, wow. Okay. And they go, would you like to have, would you like a glass of a tiny little bottle of water while you wait? If you had bottles of wine set up on ice outside where you could actually say, can I add a bottle of wine to your dinner tonight? Can I add this ice cold Chardonnay?

01:09:30Would you like me to add anything? If you had somebody outside greeting people who then had a walkie talkie community inside and they brought your food out, set it in your back of your car, like what could you do to do a much better job right now to separate your restaurant from everybody else? And that's, that's what I'm talking about right now. You've got to be focusing on to go and delivery. If you're creating a ghost kitchen right now, it's probably another great idea, but ghost kitchens to go delivery. I think you need to be putting more energy into that, getting better at that, because that's going to be the thing that's going to help you continue through this time. Carolyn, what are your thoughts? Yeah, I agree with you, Brandon. You know, I think I've mentioned on this show before the, before the pandemic to go and carry out really only accounted for about 10% of our business. And now it is close to 50%. And I think you're right with the winter coming, you know, I don't mean to be pessimistic. I think that everyone in this industry would just have to be realistic about what's going to happen over the next few months.

01:10:36I had a friend from Chicago texting me today who's afraid that they're headed for another shelter in place. And while I certainly hope that isn't the case, you know, we just, we have to be prepared for what might be around the corner. But I don't think that it's all bad news. You know, I think that one of the silver linings of this time, because we do have to look for silver linings and not just focus on all the bad, because unfortunately there is so much bad. I think one of the silver linings of this time for us at least has been the ability to get really creative and come up with lots of new ideas. I love what you said about, you know, trying to hand sell wines, you know, set up outside and maybe that's something that doesn't work, but maybe it's something that does work. And it's a cool, fun, creative way to get your staff engaged. You know, just this past weekend at Nicky's, our restaurant manager, Jeffrey, who is just absolutely incredible. We're so lucky to have him on the team came up with such a great idea. We had a ton of bagels leftover from service. We had kind of a slow Friday and he said, Hey, I know we really want to spread the word about the new bagel shops. Why don't I bag up all of these leftover bagels? And I'm going to print out a little note with our logo that tells everybody the locations and the times of all of our bagel shops. It's a note that says, please enjoy these bagels. And we're going to send them with every single to go order tonight, they're going to get a free bag of bagels thrown in their bag. And I'm just like, yes, that's awesome. What a great idea.

01:12:03You know, I think that if you have a special promotion that you're doing, print some flyers and throw it in there. You know, anything you can do to get creative. It's a time where I think before covid sometimes we hesitate to to take those risks and, you know, try lots of new things because it's the failure felt so much bigger than I think right now. It's OK to take those risks because everybody's trying different things. So if you fail, nobody's really going to be that hard on you. You know, some things will work and some things won't. But but don't look at to go. It's just kind of your same to go that you've always done. Think of new creative ways to do it. And I don't know, just anything you can do to to make that money and survive the next couple of months. You know, and I, you know, and yes, a thousand percent and do it well. Next week on the on brand segment, we're going to talk about mediocrity and we're going to talk about why do things if you're going to do something half ass, don't do it like that. If you're going to do something, do it to your fullest ability and make sure that you are you're hustling and don't use the pandemic as an excuse. So and I'll and I'll give some examples as to where I think there's some legitimate times where we can't do things because of a pandemic. But I think that also what I'm seeing is a lot of people going, well, it's a pandemic. And I go, OK, if that's the way that you're going to feel, then that's the way you're going to feel. We're going to talk about mediocrity and how you can get above it and how you can move past it and how it can be something that doesn't need to hold you down. That's going to be next week on the on brand. So there we go to go and delivery. Put it back up to the front of your brain because it's something I said it here today, the 22nd of October. Watch. It's going to be a big deal. So thank you, SuperSource for sponsoring that segment. And we've got we've got all kinds of fun things we can now talk about. I don't know.

01:14:10I've got a I've got my new T-shirts. Yes, I love like this. So you go to NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com, you can click on the merch tab where I've got all of my hats. We've got four different types of hats. I've got stickers and now T-shirts and these are the tri blend canvas. So they've got rayon, polyester and cotton and they are so soft, super soft. They're like that. Like I got one of my kid was like, Can I sleep with it? He just wanted to like snuggle because he has like shirts. As long as there's no nightmares, he can wear the shirt, but you can buy them right now at NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com. I really appreciate everybody who's been purchasing hats. It helps so much. It's just amazing. Everybody out there, please go today. If you if you order today, if you order one of each, a shirt and a hat, I will take care of the shipping.

01:15:16So there you go. Save you like six bucks. Good deal. Hey, why not get a shirt and a hat. Go around, support NashvilleRestaurantRadio. What else you've got? You've got some more things happening, don't you? Oh my gosh. What else do I have happening? Well, you know, I'll be honest, just the main thing that I have happening right now is I need to get through the next couple of weeks so I can break my very toxic news and politics podcast addiction because that is when I'm not working, that's really consuming the majority of my life. I really I need a break from it, but it's just I can't I can't stop. I can't stop. I don't know how to to, you know, to let it go. You voted already. Oh, yes. How was that experience for you? I've been seeing a lot of people who voted posting that like it's been this amazing kind of a cathartic experience.

01:16:25I felt very emotional voting. I think that I always feel emotional voting to me. I've never not voted. I voted in every single election or opportunity I've ever had, whether it's a primary, a midterm, a general, any time that I can vote, I vote. I think that women and minorities, especially it's so important to make sure that you vote just because think about all the people that have come before you that have had to fight so hard to make it so that we can vote. So I think that we can't take that for granted. And we really, really have to exercise that right at every opportunity. So we need to vote for people who are going to continue to fight for those rights. Correct. One hundred percent. You know, I voting for me personally is always really emotional just because I think it is so important and it means a lot to me. I felt very emotional in the last election voting for Hillary. You know, she was my candidate. I felt so proud to vote for her as a woman. And I also felt very emotional. I love Joe Biden. I think that voting for Kamala, seeing her name on the ballot really got to me. And I just think that, you know, this beating a dead horse here because everybody's saying, but it is such a consequential election in a different kind of way this year, you know, as it relates to the restaurant industry, I think that it's critical for our industry that we elect people who are going to support the Restaurants Act, who recognize and care about the struggles that we have as small business owners that are tuned into the unique needs of our industry and care about that and are going to do something not to bail out Wall Street or the auto industry or the airlines or other industries when the restaurant industry is one that employs so many and is struggling so hard right now.

01:18:30So I'm praying that things turn out the way I want them to and that we can get the help we need because the way I'm feeling, honestly, is I feel like we're not going to get any help anytime soon, unfortunately. And I know a lot of other people are feeling that same way. And, you know, not to be a downer, but it's frustrating. And we need that help. I think, unfortunately, if we don't get that help, we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of restaurant closures. So something's got to give. Well, we will continue to monitor that situation here on the Roundup. And thank you, Caroline, downer at the end of the pod. I don't mean to be, but no, look, that's real life. You know, I mean, I think that we can't just we don't live in just a land of sunshine and rainbows. I mean, I think that this is a serious issue that's happening right now. And we've got to we got to bring it up. We got to talk about it. I'm glad you brought it up. Thank you for having me on the show today and just in general, giving so many people in our industry a platform to talk about what we do, the good, the bad and the ugly.

01:19:40And you know what? We're going to continue to do it. I have so much fun doing this. And hopefully, if you're out there listening, you've learned something today. You've learned a little bit about the 12 South neighborhood courtesy of Christie Cookie. I know that I have gained in a pound today because I've eaten these cookies and it's been amazing because these are really good cookies. I'm still having cookie FOMO. I've got to get these cookies. I want that Frankenstein cookie. That's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm going to get a hold of the people over at the Christie Cook Company because they're amazing people and they're going to hook you up. We're going to hook you up. We're going to do a Caroline Galzin special. We'll do a bagel trade. Totally. I'll do it. We'll trade bagels for cookies anytime. I'm so excited. Next week, tune in for our Miracle One. They're a new wine company headed by Charlie McPherson and he is going to come on next week and tell us what bar he is at and you need to stop what you're doing and go to that bar and he will play you with wine. So now we're giving back. We were just kind of talking about things, but now you can listen to the show and by listening, you'll get free wine.

01:21:00Love it. I'm going to listen next week and go get my free wine. Yeah, you can go check it out. So if you want to try Miracle One wines, listen next week for Where's Charlie and I believe Julie is his wife's name. Thank you, Caroline Galzin. Thank you so much, Brandon. This was so much fun. It's always a pleasure. I really appreciate you having me on. You have a podcast now, right? I do have a podcast now. You want to promote it? Well, earlier in the show, I was talking about how I'm looking for new hobbies because we don't have anything to do other than work and I need a break from that sometimes. So Tony and I are big television consumers. I personally have always been a huge consumer of junk television and Tony also has a love for horrible TV like I do and we have started a podcast. We've kind of, you know, tried to figure out exactly what direction we're going to go, but I think what we finally settled on is we are deep diving into some old programs that were some favorites. We're scouring the internet and all these awful apps for terrible shows that you've probably never seen or heard of before that maybe no one should ever see, but we're finding them and we're watching them and we're reviewing them and talking about them on our podcast, sometimes under the influence of alcohol. But it's fun. It's just a fun little hobby for us and we just released our first episode today and the name of our podcast is Have You Seen? So if you would like to, if you're a lover of reality television, of junk TV shows and you,

01:23:01like me, have run out of things to watch and you're looking for some new garbage to get your eyes on, give it a listen. Have you seen, would I find that on Apple podcasts or where would I find that? Spotify. It is on Spotify and yeah, Apple podcasts as well. Sorry. Are you doing it through Anchor? I'm doing it through Anchor. So all of the podcasts that you can find through Anchor. Yeah. You can find it there. Spotify, Apple podcasts. Give it a listen. It's, I think it's pretty funny. I imagine it's the way to go. I'm excited to listen to it. Thank you again for filling in today. Delia Jo Ramsey is under the weather today. If you weren't here at the beginning of the show, Caroline's been filling in. You've done a fantastic job. Well, thank you, Brandon. We are off to the Goat. Oh, fun. The new Goat, Nelsie. We're going to go down there and see the space and then try to get in at Peninsula tonight, but they're full and I'm like, maybe we'll go crash somewhere else. We're going to have some fun tonight. Wife and I are date night. I'll be out. Yeah. Maybe hair up high.

01:24:19Oh my gosh. This always happens. Every time I record something, I get through the entire thing and then at the very end, my dog starts barking. Well, we appreciate everybody out there and we appreciate you. You got a sign off? Me? Yeah. Do you want to do Delia's? What is Delia's? She is Stay Pretty Music City and you can stay pretty with a mask on. Oh, stay pretty music city. You can stay pretty with a mask on and I will say go support a local independent restaurant this weekend. That'll be my sign off. Heck yeah. Now I always want you out there to stay safe and we love you guys. Bye. Bye bye.