#theroundup 12-2-22

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am joined, as always, with Caroline Galzin. Hi, Caroline. Hey, Brandon. How's it going? I'm great. How are you? I'm good. You're just good. I'm good. You know, I've been battling vertigo. Oh my gosh. Have you, really? I have. Like, I've been, like, we haven't seen each other in a little while. Yeah, no. Yikes. And over the last eight days, like, Thanksgiving's a really busy day at the restaurant, and I left at, like, two o'clock because I kept— In the morning? No, in the afternoon. Oh, in the afternoon. I was there at, like, eight. But, like, I left at, like, two o'clock in the afternoon just because I'm walking around the restaurant, and I'm just walking into the individual dining rooms, because we've got, like, nine of them at Maribor, and I just—I was just dizzy.

01:07I would just be like, I don't know what—I'm walking into rooms, just aimlessly looking around, trying to keep my balance. Yikes. Have you been to the doctor? I went to a specialist in June of 2021, and he diagnosed, like, yes, you have vertigo. This is what it is. And it's, like, it comes on and off, and I don't know what it is that causes it, but there's a thing called the Epley Maneuver where you can, like—it's like this exercise you do that, like, keeps the crystals right in your head, and I have a medicine called meclosine, which is supposed to be anti-dizzy, but it makes you want to sleep. Anyhow, I've learned to live with it at this point, because it's not gone away, but it has, like—in 2021, like, I was on a couch in a dark room in a fetal position. Like, I opened my eyes, the room would just start spinning, and I would get vomit. That's honestly one of my worst nightmares. My grandmother had it really terribly, and I'm always terrified of getting it. So I have been anxious and, like, scared, and then I start getting dizzy, and I'm like, oh, shit. I'm so sorry. I had no idea. It's been a thing. But I feel much better today, and I'm like, I'm excited to be here in this room with you because we did a few interviews, like, in one day, and we had, like, two or three weeks of interviews that we did, and I miss this.

02:19I miss getting in here. There's an energy, I feel, when you turn the mic on and you hit record. I think so, too. I think this is so fun, and I just—I actually ran into Andy and Ciaran Little from Josephine came by Nicky's last night, and they were chatting, and they're saying, oh, congrats on the podcast, and I was just telling them it's so nice for me to have a creative outlet besides the restaurant. Yeah. It's kind of like—I wouldn't call it a hobby, but it's just like—I don't know. It's something else to kind of funnel my energy into. It's great. I really love it. It is a different kind of an outlet, and you're live, and when I hit publish episode, I push that button. Get a little thrill. I do. I get, like, this little tingle, and I'm like, okay, it's out there. All this stuff we just talked about and all the things that are—everything you do in this interview, like, it's out there now. Like, I can't turn back. There's something freeing about it. Well, I do go back and listen to the episodes sometimes, and I'm just like, oh, God, what did I say? I don't.

03:20Well, and I guess I was kind of thinking that, especially after the last episode when we kind of got into some spicier topics at the end of the episode, but I was like, oh, you know what? I feel fine about what I said. I ran into Margaret Lippman the other day. Oh, yeah. Okay. I went to Cheekwood with my family, and we're walking into the mansion, and this woman walks up to me, and she said—Brandon and I said, hi, and I looked at her, and I was like, I know you. And I was like, yes, of course. Like, how are you? And she said, hey, I just wanted to say thank you, I loved hearing you talk about my article. And I go, that was all Caroline. She brought it up. Like, it was really nice. I said, do you listen? Oh, that's awesome. She's like, of course I listen. I was like, oh, my gosh. She was like, no, I really appreciate you guys talking about it. That was an important article, and I said—I thought it was a great article. I went back and read it, and it was really good, and I'm glad that we did talk about it. Oh, that's really nice. Well, I sent her the episode, and she sent back a very nice message saying that she always appreciates when people have thoughtful discussions about journalism. I love that.

04:21Even though I'm in the restaurant industry, and I'm very passionate about restaurants and food and hospitality, and I love discussing all of this, my secret deep-down desire, dream job is to work for FiveThirtyEight politics podcasts. And so even though we're in the restaurant realm here, anything to do with topical issues or politics or current events or anything like that is kind of my secret love and passion. Well, I think that's a great segue, because today's episode is going to be kind of a renaissance of an episode we used to do back in the day called The Roundup. It's The Roundup. This is The Roundup. This is it. We're going to bring back—we call it the hashtag The Roundup, the Music City Roundup. We'd love for you, if you have topics out there you'd like us to tackle, post about it and then use the hashtag Music City Roundup. And that hashtag, I'll see it. I'd love to know what you want to talk about out there. If there's a new—if you have a new—something really cool happening with your restaurant, you're doing a pop-up, you have this, you have this, use the hashtag Music City Roundup.

05:28And from there, I will see it and hopefully we can talk about it on this show. We're going to try and do this show twice a month, so kind of like the first and the fifteenth of the month where we're going to delve into the treasure. Just what's going on. This is kind of—can I tell them our inspiration behind this kind of? Of course. So I'm a Howard Stern fan. Same. We both love Howard Stern. We bonded over this early on. I have been listening to Howard since I was 15. I would take my Walkman to high school to listen to Howard in between my morning classes and like try and get my little tidbits in the five minutes walking between classrooms while it was still on. Yeah, when I was in sales, you drive around the city all the time, but like he was my co-worker because I would just work, I would listen to him all the time. I was just interviewed by Charlie Eblen from Single Tree Barbecue, he has a new podcast called Single Tree Nation. And he said, if I could interview anybody in the world, if I could pass president, anybody in the world, who would it be? And I go, I would probably interview Howard Stern.

06:29And I said Eddie Vetter also from Pearl Jam. But I go, I know you're supposed to say like Abraham Lincoln or somebody who's posthumous and a huge change. I go, but Howard Stern, like from day one, everybody in the world has hated this dude. Or loved him. It's extremely polarized. There's not a lot of people have no opinion. But the FCC, like he had religious groups raising money to lobby aggressively the FCC to block him from being on the air. And he basically leaned in with a middle finger and said, let's go. And like the balls it takes, like just like the guts it takes to do that. Yeah. And I don't mean to use the term balls it takes, like the guts it takes to do that. Like the things he's overcome are just amazing. I love it. But they do this thing at the end of the show. They used to. I don't think they'd even do it anymore. They don't. After they went remote from COVID, they stopped doing it, sadly. We do the news with Robin. And the news with Robin is arguably like the best.

07:31The best part of the show. Best part of the show. If there were days that once he switched to satellite radio and you could stream the episodes, you didn't have to hear them live. If there were days that I was too busy to hear the whole episode, I would always skip just to hear Robin's news. Because I always love hearing. I love hearing their take. Like, you know, I'm a news junkie, so I usually knew kind of what the headlines were already. But I love to hear them discuss the headlines. I want to know what Howard thinks about what's happening, you know, whether it's serious or funny or. And I feel like even now, still, I'll tune in and kind of skip through segments. And it's like, oh, I want to hear what Howard had to say about, like, Donald Trump announcing that he's running for president again or, you know, something like that. I just love to hear their takes. Always. That's why I tune in. Because his take, it's a honest take that isn't. There's no filter there, but he's like a good human being. I agree. Howard is a good human being. People like he's a pervert. He's like, no, he's not. He just says what goes through most people's minds and it's all I don't know.

08:32It's filtered. It's it's it's amazing. I love the guy. But their episode, their show where they do the news with Robin kind of is, I think, a perfect thing to do for the Music City Roundup, because you love following a lot of this stuff. You know what's going on in the world. And we always sit in here and have these. We just had an hour long conversation. We really did. I go, why didn't we record this shit? Like this is what we should be doing. So we're going to do that. We're going to bring the Roundup back. Maybe we'll bring in some guest hosts from here and then. But we're going to talk about the news of Nashville. The things are happening in this industry that we're going to give announcements. We're going to give updates on things. But then if there's other hot topic items that we don't do a full show on, we'll talk about them here. Maybe they expand into a full show. Totally. Well, so the first kind of topic of what's happening right now is, you know, I know that this is something that's very topical for you and I, is all of the holiday happenings around town. We're doing St. Nicky's at Nicky's. I know you guys are doing Mary Bowles.

09:33Is that right? Yeah. Tell me about St. Nicky's. Let's get our own plugs out of the way before we start plugging everybody else. Hey, everybody. We're going to take a quick break to let you in on a promotion that we are doing in December of 2022. We're trying to set you up for December of or January of 2023. And what we're doing is we've partnered with Gordon Food Service and they are donating four tickets to a Nashville Predators hockey game. These are great seats. It is going to be Sunday, March 26th. And if you want to win these tickets, it is so easy. All you have to do is contact sponsors. It's that easy. So if you are somebody out there who you're trying to plan, you're putting together a budget and you need to talk with Corson, this is the time to call Kevin Rose. If you want to look at your dish, machine and chemical leases, this is your time to call Jason Ellis. We're also working with NetChex, Gordon Food Service, What Chefs Want, Justice Industries, Just.Glass, the compost company, Poached Jobs. I don't know if I said What Chefs Want, but all of these companies you can call.

10:37You can go to our website at NashvilleRestaurantRadio.com, click the sponsors tab and any of these people that you contact say, hey, I heard about you on Nashville Restaurant Radio and I'd like to learn more. All we're asking you to do is to call these people, get them to come into your location and do an audit. Just check out what you're doing, put together a bid, just have a conversation with you to see if what you're doing currently makes sense. This is a no-brainer. We're going to be giving away gift cards. We're giving away some cash. It depends on how many people engage. Now, here's the deal. If you've already done this, hey, Brandon, in November I called Jason Ellis and I got SuperSource set up. That is fine. Send me a DM at Brandon underscore NRR on Instagram and say, hey, these are the vendors I've contacted already or this is what I'm doing and I will enter those names in to be part of this contest. I'm so excited about this right now. I feel so fortunate to have such amazing people sponsor the show and they're the ones who are sponsoring you out there and I really want to give them some love and I want to set you up for success in 2023.

11:39So that's it. That's it for the advertising day. I've got a couple of our sponsors. They're going to just have a couple of messages to tell you throughout the podcast and those will jump in pretty quick, but we're just excited that you're here. Enjoy the rest of this episode of The Roundup. Well, so at St. Nicky's, we have just an insane Christmas decorations takeover. We kind of- It's pretty amazing. We want it to look like your tacky Italian grandmother's Christmas decorations went nuts in the restaurant and I think that we've come pretty close to achieving that status, but it's just really fun. We have some special holiday menu items. We have some special cocktails. We have holiday movies playing in the restaurant. We have Christmas music. We have Santa coming one day. Just all sorts of stuff. So come check us out. Give us a follow on social media and see what's happening. Tell me, tell us about Mary Bowls or Mary Bowls, sorry. Mary Bowls. Every year.

12:40We decorate the house. It's a 7,500 square foot mansion in Brentwood. It was the house for Maryland farms. The house is the Maryland Manor is what it's called. Every year we decorate it and we just decorate to the nines with holiday Christmas stuff, really. There's Christmas trees in every room. It's a huge decoration. So this year, I was like, we got to formalize this and so we named it Mary Bowls, a Brentwood holiday tradition. Our whole theme is we have a new lounge. The Magnolia Lounge is inside of Mary Bowls and it's this really cool cocktail lounge. We have a very great bourbon menu. I mean, tons of allocated stuff. We just got the Boss Hog and all of, we have all the pappies and all this stuff. But our goal is for you to come and have an elevated holiday experience. Love that. So you come in, we're doing a holiday brunch on the 11th and the 18th, which is a huge buffet brunch. All you can eat prime rib and the whole thing, but Santa will be there. He's going to be at your place the day after, but he's going to be at our place on the 11th, your place on the 12th.

13:41I wonder if we're using the same Santa. We'll have to compare notes. There's no, what do you mean? Santa's only one. Okay, sorry. There's only one Santa. Sorry. Christmas spoiler alert. Come on, y'all. There's kids listening. There's only one Santa. He has... I hope kids aren't listening. I feel like you just said balls like six times. So there's only one Santa. No, Santa lives next door to me. Oh, okay. Lucky you. He's amazing. He lives next door. I live in the north. I have a question for you. I feel like I should know this. What is Mirables? What is that name? It's a mystery. Is it really? The scholars maintain. Okay. A whale's vagina. No. Oh, God. What? Anchorman. Come on. No. Oh, no. I've never seen that. I'm sorry. You've never seen that? No. I have to explain this movie because that was a really random reference. That's okay. Will Ferrell and Christine Applegate are sitting there in a car, like in a makeout kind of setting.

14:41And she goes, ah, San Diego. She's like, drink it in. She goes... And then Will Ferrell goes, San Diego. Scholars maintain. They still don't know what it means, but it translates to a whale's vagina. And she goes, no, I think it's St. Diego, actually, is when he was like, well, agree to disagree. It's like a whole scene. Sorry. The line... It went way over my head. I'm so sorry. It's a reference from a movie. There's a bunch of people out there like, ah, the whale's vagina, but you're like, did you just say a whale's vagina? Come again? We'll figure this stuff out. But Maribou's is Mother Bubbles. Okay. So back in the day, Maribou opened in 1984 on Second Avenue. And there was a French family and this woman who owned this hotel, and every who came to the hotel, she would pour champagne, and she was known as Mother Bubbles. And French would be Mariboules. Oh, that's cute. I love that. The actual enunciation in French is like, Mabou, Mabou. So a correct way to say it is Maribou, but people call it Mariboules.

15:44Sure. So we thought Maribou, Maribou will be perfect for the holidays instead of like Jingle Bull, you know, like Jingle Bulls. Yeah. We like Mariboules. Sure. There's a way that the... It's a natural effect. Process behind it. But yeah, so the idea is this woman who came in, and so we had a champagne bar for a really long time, and the number one thing we sell is champagne, we sell a ton buckets of champagne. It's crazy how much champagne gets poured in the restaurant. But that's what Mariboules is, is this woman was Mariboules. I'm glad to know. No reference to the Ward family who owned the home, Truman Ward and his wife, Mary, who owned the home. She's not the Mary. She is the Mary. No, no, no. Mary of Maryland Farms in Brentwood, like Maryland Way, the Maryland Manor, it was a 400 acre horse farm. It wasn't a plantation, nothing like that. It was a horse farm. His wife wanted a horse, and so he bought her a horse, and then... Sounds like a nice life. They liked the horse. Well, he owned WSM or WSIX, one of the radio stations, so he had money.

16:50In 1942, there was a war going on, and so he bought this property, and there's three other properties on this 300 acres that he bought. Nashville in 1942 was not, I mean, a lot of... So he had to tear down the houses that were on the property to build this house because there was a war going on, so you couldn't buy materials to build houses because everything was rationed. I see. So he bought this 300 acre horse farm, and they built this house out of it. Like Elvis has been to the home, Jerry Lee Lewis, like all these stars. Yeah, it's really beautiful. If you haven't made the trip down to Brentwood, I really recommend for everybody to do it, especially the holiday season. I've been down there for Christmas season before, and you guys do such a great job. It's really beautiful. Go have a little champagne toast in honor of Mother Bubbles. I love Mother Bubbles. Mother Bubbles. Do you guys have a cocktail named Mother Bubbles? We do. I love it. It's our number one... Do you really? How did I know? It's a champagne cocktail. Perfect. The Mother Bubbles is our number one selling drink. I know you said that you went to Cheekwood. I did. And did you guys do the holiday lights? Yes.

17:51How was that? What was even cooler was we did the mansion. Oh, okay. Cool. I've never done that before. I have neither. We did the holiday lights and we did the mansion. And they had... Oh, God. I can't think of the guy's name. Adams. I want to say... Not D. Patrick Adams from the scene. Damn it. I don't know. Charles Adams. Okay. Charles Adams. His art exhibit is in there. Who is Charles Adams? It's a great question because we were there and it's all these sketches and drawings and it depicts weird family scenes. And I'm like, this is weirdly odd. And at the very end, they have all these sketches of the Adams family. And I'm like, Charles Adams. Like the spooky Adams family? Like Morticia and Wednesday. Oh, the Adams family. This is the dude who created the visual for the Adams family. Wait, is this what's always there or is this like a touring? No, I think it's a limited edition. Oh, my gosh. That's so cool. I didn't get it till the very end. And I'm like, Charles Adams is the guy that created the Adams family and all of his dark humor and all these other sketches.

18:56And then you get to the very end and it's like all these original Adams family pictures that he drew. The sketches for Morticia and Wednesday and Pugsley and the whole thing. And it was just like, all of a sudden, my kids were really interested. They're like, this is really cool. That's amazing. Well, it's not exactly Christmas, but it's still very cool. It's like leftover from Halloween. Yeah. But like, hey, we're still here. We're still going to do it. It's really neat. And they have so much artwork inside that mansion. I know I did the artwork from the 1600s. I'm looking at a picture that was made in 1622 and you're like, what the hell was going on in this world in 1622 that this person drew this nine foot portrait of woman holding bird? You're like, what? That's amazing. So just the history inside the mansion was really cool. And I dug all of that. The lights, it's like my fourth or fifth year going in a row, kind of the same lights I've seen every year. But they're really, really cool. If you go to my TikTok page, I did like a recap video of all the cool stuff on the Nashville restaurant. We do a TikTok page.

19:57Did you do any TikTok dances or anything? No. No. No. So some other fun holiday happenings this week actually is the Winter Warmer Beer Fest in 12 South, which is so, so fun. And you know, I don't think. That is Saturday, December 3rd. Oh, no, it's actually in Germantown. I'm sorry. I was confused. It used to be in 12 South. It is in Morgan Park in Germantown from 11 to 4. And tons of breweries, live music, food trucks, all sorts of fun stuff. So that's definitely a Nashville holiday tradition. So this is going to be out Friday, so that's tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow. I'm sure there's still tickets. I think it's kind of like an open thing, right? Or did they sell out? I don't know. I don't know. But that is if you look for something to do tomorrow on Saturday, you can go to the Winter Warmer. Winter Warmer. Yes. So I am also doing a fun holiday thing this week.

20:59And Tony and I have created a new holiday tradition where we go spend the night at Gaylord and do all of the holiday stuff and see all of the lights and go on the hokey Delta River cruise. Oh, OK. We love it. It's me and Tony and like lots of elderly people. And I say a lot of other people. We are just like in our element. So what you got to do is the outside stuff there. Oh, well, so we are doing we got to be ice skating. Yes, we're doing all of that bumper cars and bumper cars. Not for me, but they're pretty cool. I don't like to get ice bumper cars. Yeah, I just don't like to get like jerked around and jostled about heard. That's not a weird thing. That's yeah. Every time we go to like Florida and we go to like one of the track or whatever the place is, the track.

22:03Yeah, the kids love that. I actually grew up with the guy whose family owns the track. That was like he had a he had a dirt bike when he was 14, seven that he drove to school every day. That's awesome. Well, the the the bumper cars, if you just watch the bumper cars like five minutes, like that looks like it looks horrible. It's like every chiropractor's dream. They're like, oh, I'll see you tomorrow because you're going to be messed up. No, that's not for me. Any other fun holiday stuff that you guys like to do? Do you hit all of the, you know, we do the operating thing every year and we do the bumper cars, the snow tubing, the whole we have a blast. Yeah. Kids love it. It is. Listen, it is really fun. Even if you don't have kids, it is the way that they do it up with the lights and the activities is it's wild if you've never been to get a reserve it like way in advance. Yeah. Because it's it sells out. Yeah. You have to buy tickets. The dancing lights of Christmas in Lebanon is the thing you drive through. Have you done this? OK, so we used to have a holiday tradition every year of going to the dancing lights of Christmas when it was over in Lebanon.

23:10You're like, what the hell? It moved to Lebanon. I'm just going to be really honest. We went a couple of years ago. It was horrible. I'll never go again. Oh, that's a hot take. Yeah. Why was it horrible? Um, I have yet to go, by the way, to the one in Lebanon. I went to the one when I was over here, the Yogi Bears. Well, my wife always goes and she goes with her brother and like because he lives in Lebanon. Now, here is what I think is a much better option if you live in town than going to Lebanon for dancing lights is jinglebeats at the fairgrounds is amazing. Are they doing it again? Yes, they're doing it again this year. That's awesome. Did you go on the racetrack? Yeah. Yeah, I did that. So we do all the I got seven and nine year old kids. So we do all the holiday stuff. I have no children. I just have a husband who's obsessed with Christmas, which is awesome. So there's a new thing at the not a new thing, but they're doing it at First Horizon Park. Oh, I saw that. Enchant, which is like a whole enchant.

24:12Is it a new thing? No, they've done it. Have you been? No, I've never been. This is the one thing I've never done. Yeah, I think we're going to try and go. It looks fun. Enchant at First Horizon Park. The Bobby Hotel has the igloos on the roof. Oh, yeah. And that's fun. We have done that before. The Noelle Hotel. So I want to talk about this. OK, they have a Christmas vacation hidden bar. Oh, I heard of this. I saw it on social media. OK, so there's a Christmas vacation. You have to go into the bar and you got to walk like down the stairs. You make a left and then there's a door that's marked like storage. You got to walk behind the storage door. And there's a whole bar that's like completely themed after Christmas vacation. All the drinks are named after Christmas vacation. There's like a half body hanging through the ceiling. Like I saw some pictures that look it really looks like the living room. They did a really good job. That's awesome. So they always bring it for Christmas bar on the rooftop. They have snowbirds, which is a rooftop holiday bar.

25:14Oh, fine. They have like a fireplace. There's like a it's like a winter chalet pop up, like a Christmas chalet pop up. And they've got a fireplace outside. They got blankets and you can have like warmer style drinks. That's very cute. Good views of downtown. So they're doing a really the the Noel. You imagine Noel. Oh, of course, for Christmas. Right. Of course. So Noel is doing that. Bobby Enchant, Germantown Cafe has a they've trans. Last year they did the Germantown Cafe Polar Bar. OK. And this year they're doing the Nutcracker Bar. Oh, cute. They do it legit. Like you walk in and you're transformed into the Nutcracker. It's amazing. That's awesome. And it's their theme is like, hey, look, we're a neighborhood bar and we want we're neighborhood restaurant. We want to like and like you walk in and you're transformed into a magical world. That's really fun. But I love the spirit behind people that are doing that, like the spirit behind St. Nicky's, like you're going to walk in and you're just it's not it's like a Christmas pop up. It's really it's really wild.

26:21Honestly, whenever we take the decorations down every year, it's always like, oh, it's it's like a deflated balloon. You know, it's just it's it's so over the top for a whole month and you get really used to it. Then when you take everything down, it's like, oh, it looks so empty in here. It is a true I every time I drive home in my Christmas lights are up. And when they take them down in January, I'm like my wife goes through seasonal depression. She's like, I don't like it. You know, I used to really be a Christmas grinch. I have warmed to Christmas over the last several years, mainly because Tony is such a crazy Christmas super fan. Tony is the person who is trying to listen to Christmas music in mid October. Nice. OK. Yeah. You're like, no, that's not nice. I I'm like a strictly let's wait until after Thanksgiving. Kind of go. I'm trying to look up right now, just anything I'm missing.

27:22There's a Christmas pop up bar at the Holston House. Which is an unbound collection by Hilton is December 3rd to December 23rd. They're doing a Christmas pop up bar unbound at the Holston House. Do you know that? I did not know that we've been to the Holston House. I don't think so. There's a goat yoga, Happy Holidays class going to have to pass on that one. Yeah, if you're out there and you've got some more Christmas stuff going on, let us know. Tag us in any post that you have about it, and I'd be happy to share it. Use the hashtag Music City Roundup. Yes, tag it up. OK, a couple more things just before we put a bow on holiday house. Put a bow on holiday happenings out there. December 11th and 12th. Jackalope Brewing is going to be doing a viewing of Christmas Vacation. This is so much fun. This is one of my favorite holiday traditions, and they sell this out.

28:25I was like, I think it might already be sold out. It's probably already sold out. You can like do everything you can to get in there because it's going to be there. December 2nd, which is today. If you need plans tonight, there's an ugly Christmas sweater party at the Picnic Tap from this afternoon from like four to six. And on December the 10th, there is a Mariah Carey. All I want for Christmas is you drag brunch at Electric Jane. What? This is December the 10th. That sounds like so much fun. Yes, I thought I would be remiss if I did not mention that that was going on. On December the 4th, Sunday from two to four, the Nashville Symphony is going to be hosting Home Alone in concert. It seems like a lot of fun. That's my favorite Christmas movie. Home Alone is? Fun fact. Fun fact about me that nobody asked for.

29:26I love that. Do you have a favorite Christmas movie? Yes. OK. Die Hard. OK, I'm just kidding. That's not my favorite Christmas movie. Probably Elf. I knew you were going to say Elf. I love. Don't tell me how I knew. Maybe because of the Anchorman reference earlier. I just I knew that it was Elf. It's a great movie. I love so many of them. I kind of like all the Christmas. We have so many that we watch as a family. Do you like get into the Hallmark Christmas movies? No, no, no, I don't get it. Like we watch the classics. I think Home Alone is the first one we watched this year already. And we just we have this funny thing at the very end. We watch with like the kids where I'm like, this is so stupid because they would be dead. Like you drop an iron from three floors down into somebody's face. I think this is also Tony's commentary. Like you die. Like when you drop a paint can and it hits him in the face and they fly back nine and they just land on their backs, like you don't just get up and chase a kid.

30:28Like you're dead. Comedy gold. And then in Home Alone 2, Lost in New York, also a great film. Everything they do in that movie, those the robbers like would be. He throws bricks from the fourth floor. He gets hit in the face with four bricks from the fourth floor. And he's just like, oh, like, you know how much blood would be coming out of your face? Also, you know, no shade, but those guys are no spring chickens in that movie. You know, I'm 40 and I can barely, you know, get around. Happy birthday. Oh, thank you. You celebrated 40 since last time we've talked. I did. I'm 40 now. How was your birthday? I had a great birthday. We had dinner at Yolan, which is honestly just one of my favorite restaurants on the planet. It is every single bite is absolutely flawless. The service is perfection. The wines are incredible. Kathy and Tony could not be more gracious hosts.

31:31It is just everything about it is perfection. Amen. And it was just the best place I could have spent my birthday. It's inspiring eating there. It is. Here's what I love about Yolan is I know that everything that they do is so, so technical and so hard to create. And they make it feel absolutely effortless. And that is just, to me, perfection. And I mean, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Chef Tony has been doing this for how long? I mean, he's truly one of the most important chefs in America. And but it just when you eat at a place like Yolan and you have that food, it just it's just like a transcendent experience. I can't say enough about it. If you work in a restaurant and somebody says, I like to win a James Beard Award. Being nominated, if Tony was nominated for a James Beard Award, how do you think he would feel? My Tony? Yeah. Oh, oh, I mean, over the moon, right?

32:34I mean, sure, he'd be thrilled. What an honor to be. It's it's of course. I mean, now our restaurant is not, you know, it's not that type of place. But I mean, but just Tony Montuano has been nominated. He's won a James Beard Award. Right. Right. He's been nominated 12 times. Right. A dozen times, he's been nominated for a Beard Award. My dude is Michelin stars, you know, he's got it. Like it's it's a really special place. If you're if you're out there and you haven't been to Yolan and you have a special occasion coming up or you just have a free night and you want to treat yourself, you can get their full menu at the bar as well. And Tony and I long story, but randomly wound up just popping into the bar on our 10th wedding anniversary and having our 10th wedding anniversary dinner there just kind of randomly. And it was phenomenal. And they have a really cool rooftop bar called Denim. Yes, it's so cool. It's a really great view. It's so beautiful. Incredible. Well, Kapan is up there really. And they can be more gracious.

33:35So I love Yolan. I guess more my favorite dining. I left the first time I ate there. I left there and I was like, I'm back in Nashville. Yeah, I didn't even realize like I feel like you're in New York or Chicago. Yeah, like I felt like I was in London in Chicago. And I walked out of the restaurant. I was like, oh, I'm back to Nashville that fast. Yeah, it didn't feel like I was in Nashville. And I was like, they've completely made a place inside of our city that takes you away. Well, so speaking of special places in Nashville, I don't know if you saw that Sean Brock and his restaurants, Audrey and June, one Esquire best new restaurants this year. That's huge. Yes, it's a really big deal. It's it's a really important list of all the restaurants in the nation. And the only winners from Nashville were Sean's restaurants, Audrey and June. Have you had an opportunity to go to either? Yes. OK, I've eaten at Audrey. OK, June was not open. Oh, sure.

34:36But I did see a nice preview of what it was. Nice. And I'm a fan. Awesome. I. I've heard of Sean's a very interesting guy, and I hear a lot of mixed reviews on his stuff on his restaurants. I hear I don't get enough food or pretentious or this. I hear the gamut. But what I see when I see what he's doing is I see love and I see compassion and I see passion for preserving the way things used to be, but also recognizing the way that it's going. Like his Jimmy Red Corn, the way that he's preserved this heirloom corn. And I I got a tour of the restaurant when I was there. And did you know that he has a library inside of Audrey? Oh, I did not know. He has a whole room. It's a library full of cookbooks and everything that you can just go and close the door and be quiet.

35:38And like you can sit in there and ideate and like do the whole thing. He has a full podcast studio upstairs. Really? Yes. We can do recordings and be on people's shows and like record his own stuff. And then he has another room upstairs that's like a break room. It's like a it's like a mental health room. So it's this whole room has like a massage table in the middle of it. Has shag carpet. And then it has like noise canceling headphones. So if you just need a quiet, safe space for a few minutes, it has a place for you to go. That's wild. But if you're busy, it's like, I'm stressed. You can just go upstairs. Somebody will cover you like I'm going to go to a quiet room where it's safe, that I can like I can be OK. I'd love to pop in for a little sesh. He has an R&D room that like it looks like a lab. Like it's a whole room that's based around just food, R&D. We're doing molecular gastronomy stuff. He has a machine that he can extract alcohol from liquor. Interesting. So like his zero proof menu is like Jack Daniels.

36:39Or Jack Daniel, like a Jack and Coke. But there's zero alcohol in it, but it's real Jack Daniel. He just has extracted the alcohol. So like you don't lose the flavor, you just lose the alcohol. Like he's doing stuff there that is so progressive and so forward thinking and so caring. And it's so intentional. Every single thing that he does is so intentional with what he's doing at June. Like they don't have a bar you can walk in and go, these are the drinks we have tonight. Like he's creating individual cocktails for the night, his program. The level of intentionality he has with every single detail, every single thing that he does is mind boggling and it's brilliant. And it's an homage to everything that is Sean Brock. That's I think that Sean is no doubt one of the most important chefs in America. And I haven't had an opportunity to eat there yet, but but I would love to, you know, hopefully, hopefully sooner than later.

37:41Maybe let's do it. Let's go to June. I want to go to June. Let's go. I would love to call it R&D. Perfect. It's a write off, right? Yes. I have been to the Continental a couple of times, and that is fantastic. I have not done the Continental yet. Oh, it's great. I loved it. I had wonderful meals there. The atmosphere is so beautiful. It's another one of those kind of like Yolan where you're like, oh, wow, I'm in Nashville, you know, it's it's a really, really cool concept. A lot of fun throwback stuff that I really get into. Very kind of French driven, which even though I have an Italian restaurant, French cuisine is my favorite. And it's it's awesome. So, yeah, Audrey and June, I totally get it. I get why it would be the level of time it took for him just to open that restaurant and the reasons why he waited to get everything right. Yeah, I am. That's awesome. I'm a big fan. Yeah. Would love to get him on the show. I'd love to I'd love to interview Sean. I don't know. He's a sober guy, too. You know, I'd love to hear kind of his story.

38:42I think that his story has been told so many different ways. I don't know how we would interview him because I don't want to tell the same story again. Like I would that would be a dream of mine to sit him down in this room and really talk to him about his history in Nashville and what he thinks about national. I like to go back to the Hermitage Hotel days. Like I have so much I'd like to talk to Sean about. So if you're out there and you can make that happen. I met Sean. I used to when he was at the hotel, I sold produce to creation gardens. And I saw him the very beginning of the pandemic when I was getting food at Joyland. I gave him a hat and I said, hey, I've got this new podcast. I like you to come on. He's like, OK, man. And he like walked away. But I know he's been very busy. It sounds like he's been a little busy. He's on one of those. He's on like that wish list of people that like I really want to bring in studio and pick his brain for an hour. I think it would be awesome to have him on the show for sure. I think I think he's a good guy and, you know, kind of what you were saying about sometimes people have criticisms of his restaurants and what he's doing. But I think whenever you are an innovator and you're doing something different that hasn't necessarily been done before, there's always going to be critics.

39:47You know, I remember maybe a month or so ago, the Tennessean came out with their list of the best restaurants in Nashville. And it was kind of Brad said, no. Hey, we're going to take a quick break to hear a short message from Jason Ellis. Hey, everyone, Jason Ellis, Nashville Supersource. I want to say thank you all so much for your support and partnerships throughout the year of 2022. It's been a fantastic year for us. We appreciate the hospitality for us, our business, our families and the community. So we just want to say thank you so much for a fantastic 2022. Let's make a great 2023 together. I well, I feel like his criticism of all of Sean's, you know, of Audrey and June in the Continental was that they were expensive. And it's just like, what? I don't know. What do you expect? I I don't know. Is that me being too harsh? I just know. Listen, I don't think it's inexpensive to eat anywhere these days. My restaurant is an inexpensive and we're a casual family place.

40:49Just shit's expensive. We're paying our employees more. We're trying to create a, you know, more sustainable business model. I don't mean we, I mean, everyone, you know, it costs money. It does. Everything costs money. I actually texted Brad after I read that, after I read the article. And he and he called me beforehand as a what we kind of talked about the article before he wrote it. And Mackenzie Lunsford, who writes it with him, was like, kind of takes my my view on Sean Brock. And he kind of took a different approach. And I text him, I said, congratulations. I said, I'm glad that you said that, because I think some people are afraid to voice their opinion. If that's his opinion, then that's what I think you should say. Sure. I don't think you should change it because there might be backlash, whatever. Right. Whether I agree with him or not. I was just glad that he said what he said, because that's what he felt. And I think that's one of the hardest things to do in this industry is to say what you feel, even though it's not the popular opinion.

41:51Well, I don't disagree with you. I do think that it's important for people to speak their minds. I also think that. What exactly did he say? I do think that sometimes maybe people should think about. Potential consequences of the things that they say, for example, you know, if you're trying to call out a mom and pop business during a pandemic for charging five dollars for a bagel and all I didn't know we were going to go here in a very public forum with your very large audience that might consider you to be an influential food writer. All right. So here I take personal responsibility in this because I was I was I was I was part of this. I'm trying to find the article right now from the Tennessee and of the best restaurants.

42:51Yes. What was the article written? I think it was the 25 best restaurants, maybe. I don't want to bring this back up. That's all right. Listen, we'll save this one for another time. Aren't we going to do an episode about like confront a Yelper or something? Maybe we'll revisit this topic. Hey, I'd like to do that. Yes, there was a time during the pandemic when this is only available subscribers, but I'm a subscriber, dammit. Why am I not here? Just keep it on. Or you can just listen to us, Google on a podcast. So Brad, Brad had gone to had gone to your restaurant to have Nicky's coal fired bagels, and he posted. Hey, I'm all for bagels, but 350 a bagel. Come on. Like something along those lines. I I could be wrong, but I believe it was our bagel and cream cheese is five dollars and he. Took so I messaged, I posted back on that and I said, hey, man, this is a company and a small, small company who's really hustling.

44:03And I know Caroline and I tagged you and I know and I put at Caroline Galzin. I appreciated that really hustling out there to make this happen. And I just I don't know. I don't think that this is I don't think this is going to age well. Kind of a thing. And then like everybody jumped on board there. And then you kind of jump back and like, hey, man, like, yeah, this is we were. We're not gouging people like this is what the costs are right now. And we are trying to find a new avenue. I need to lead it as post. So the next day. So then I think that people were tweeting about it. Why are food like it was a whole thing. Oh, that's right. I think somebody did tweet about it. Yes. And. So where there's I'm looking. Well, listen, you know, what's here of Audrey Yolan was number five. I'm open. I'm open to criticism. Come at me. So I actually took Brad to lunch the next day and we deleted it in front of each other.

45:07No, you didn't. He's like, I said, I never knew that. Hey, man, I love because I love Brad is one of the most amazing human beings. Like as a human being, I actually don't know him. I don't believe that we've ever met. He's going to come in and tell a story because he's 10 years over. And he's gone through a lot from Brad about you days to now. OK. He is one of the most amazing human beings that, like, I know. I like I love him. Like I talk to him all the time. We just check in with each other. Like I just I just love him. And I think it's a challenging thing for his job. That's why I was really proud of him, because this is what he wrote. There definitely are some amazing and unique tasty dishes being served at these spots for me, though. I feel unwelcome at Sean Brock restaurants, except for his wonderful East Nashville burger shack, Shake Joyland from the borderline rude text we get before eating at the continental to the number of times Audrey servers invoke the chef's name during the meal. The message seems to be you're pretty darn lucky. You got a reservation instead of we value you as a customer. Mackenzie, I did not have the same experience, but OK.

46:09And so there's a fine line that you carry there when you're I don't think he said it's too expensive. He didn't say anything. He just said, I feel like they go welcome to Sean Brock's Audrey. This is Sean Brock, this Sean Brock versus we're so honored to have you. Like, you're lucky to be here. And I. I mean, that's something that that is something that. Was that your experience? Are we getting into the topics? No, that's fine. I think it's fine. I think that's an interesting take because that is something that can happen. It's an it depends on it depends on so many individual factors, right? Because I can show up and there could be a different person working at the front door who has a different mentality. And then the server could be a different server. I don't know. It all depends on what there's such. Well, and, you know, maybe different people interpret things different ways based on their own kind of like, you know, personal life experiences, whatever that may be. I've never eaten at June and Audrey, but I ate at Husk many times when Sean was there. And I have eaten at the Continental a couple of times.

47:12I've always had great experiences. I have a lot of respect for Sean as as a chef and as a restaurateur. And, you know, I've I I certainly don't know him well, but I've met him many times. And, you know, I've always had a very nice experience of him. And. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe that's all I have to say about that. Obviously, Brad had a different experience, but maybe maybe he'll come on the pot and tell us about it. Yeah, he will. He already talked to him. He said he'd love to the Mackenzie Lunsford, who's been on the podcast, says Audrey is my favorite of the two because it's more relaxed vibe and the fact that it handily evoked my nostalgia for the Southern Appalachian roots. It's my abiding love for that restaurant, in fact, that earned a place on this list because Brad has thoughts. And then it goes into the deafness, amazing, unique, tasty dishes being served these spots. But for me, there's an attitude around it. And that's something that can get out of hand if you don't if you're not very intentional and manage it. OK, because everybody says their own things.

48:16So when you're I don't deal with it because I'm not a celebrity chef. So I don't know that. But it apparently hit him the wrong way. So I was proud of him for saying what he said, because I think that's a hot take when it comes to talking about a Sean Brock restaurant. There it is. There it is. It's my take on it. OK. So, yes, no. Congratulations to Sean Brock and Audrey and June for being Esquire. Esquire. Yeah, I mean, that's a really, really big deal. That's that's so exciting for him. And it seems like it's really well deserved. I know that he's been working for such a long time through the pandemic to, you know, to get open. And and I think it's awesome for him. And I think it's awesome for Nashville, really. You know, I think he is somebody who's who's helped elevate the status of the natural dining scene in so many ways. So, yeah, cheers. Cheers to you, Sean. Yeah, cheers to you, Sean. In completely different type of restaurant news, sweet. I don't know where we're going. I'm excited. I was kind of looking back through some old eater articles of, you know, kind of like the most read articles this year.

49:22And it came across an article from a couple of months ago about some celebrity restaurant bars opening in the illustrious lower Broadway. And are you familiar with the Walker Hayes song Fancy Like? We're going to take a short break to hear a word from Michael Carter from Gordon Food Service. Hey, this is Michael Carter from Gordon Food Service. I just want to thank the Nashville community for letting us be a part of your restaurant business and needs. We love taking care of the independent food service operator. And our heart to serve shines through in your willingness to put food on the table and bring your customers together. And we appreciate you so much. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with Brandon and Nashville Restaurant Radio in just helping us get our message out of how much we love to help you succeed.

50:25So thanks a lot for what you're doing, Brandon and Nashville Restaurant Radio and just bringing the community together. You know, I love you guys so much. You do. You've done so much for me. You've done so much for my restaurants. But I know all the stuff that you guys do for this community. And I'm honored, honored to have you guys as our title sponsor again in 2023. I'm so excited to see what we can do. Yeah, we look forward to it, too. We've got great things ahead. We are looking forward to helping others. And so, you know, just the partnerships that we can put in place, the abilities for us to work with our customers and deliver. You know, we never want to over promise under deliver. We want to do the the opposite of that. And so we appreciate the platform to be able to spread our message and continue to work with great operators throughout the city of Nashville. Amazing. Well, thank you, Michael. And I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your family and a happy new year.

51:29And we're going to do a short episode with you guys coming up soon. I'm so excited about it. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. You got it. I don't know how you wouldn't be familiar with that song. Should we like play it for people that don't know? Can we play it? Are we going to get like a copyright? Probably something. Can we insert it? Can we insert a little clip of the song into the episode here? Yeah. OK. So, of course, in the song, you know, as you hear, he says fancy like Applebee's. And apparently he has partnered with the Applebee's Corporation to. Are you ready? Oh, OK, we're going to play it now. Here's your basic main part of it. You got the. She says fancy like Applebee's. It's a whole we'll play in the background. Go ahead. OK, so he is opening a fancy Applebee's, I guess, on Broadway.

52:35Is he going to be part owner in this thing? Or is he the using his? Are they using the popular to that song to see this? This is the type of shit that I hate. OK, this. I'm against everything about this. I am adamantly against this. I am angry about this. I have opinions. OK, there it is. You want to hear them? I love Layla's and I love Robert's Western World because they're independently owned and they focus on bluegrass music and real country and they are locally owned and operated. They're amazing bars. When you start bringing Applebee's into Broadway and you start taking a song like Walker Hayes, you're you're you're using this guy who has affiliation with Nashville to open a chain restaurant on Broadway to bring in. What does that do to the authenticity of Nashville? It just waters it down. It makes it a joke.

53:36It's like that fucking tractor that pulls the party. Like, I don't even care. I don't care about party. I'm going to be honest. I think that looks really fun. Yes, it looks really fun. I just the tractor, though, there's some there's one that literally makes me dry. He's when I see it and it's a hot tub bus. It's a bus with a hot tub. How disgusting. How many people have thrown up in that hot tub? I think the transportation thing is great. I have no issues with transportation. Right. There's a lot of people that have a lot of opinions about transportation, but if you watch because when I was driving Uber a long time ago and you just drive around the city, you see the people in the back of these things and they are having the time of their lives. There is so much fun. I got nothing against that. I don't live downtown. I get if you live downtown and it's like. Yeah, but then you also just to live downtown and you hear it at like two o'clock in the morning in the world, the girls like. I mean, at this point, you at this point, you can't move to Nashville and not know what's happening if you live downtown.

54:36People are just having a blast. Like, let them do that. When you bring an Applebee's into the whole thing, like I get having a Hattie Bee's downtown. Even the 1230 club is a cool kind of a vibe. Oh, red is a Ryman hostile, but that's still a Nashville company. You have I don't know. I don't know. You bring an Applebee's a fancy like Applebee's. It just too stupid. It just oh, there did you hear in Nashville? It's like Branson, Missouri, right? Stupid shit. And it's like now we're a joke, right? Well, now in Nashville, not that we're going to we're going to do that, too. But like to me, it's just bastardizing the entire it's now it's it's literally put in the middle finger at everybody coming to town. You're going to go to an Applebee's and spend money at Applebee's because it's Nashville and you're going to take pictures there. There's going to be selfies. I'm at the fancy and it's just dumb. Well, here's my thought on the like celebrity bar, you know, thing in Nashville is I am a huge country music fan. I love old country.

55:36I love the 90s country I grew up with. I actually like a lot of contemporary country that people really hate. You know, I love to in their summertime. I'm on a boat. I want to hear Luke Bryan. I want to hear Florida, Georgia line. I know that's not a popular opinion, but I do. I love it. I think it's fun. I like all of that. So I like a lot of these musicians, but I also growing up a country music fan, I think there's too many bars by people who haven't necessarily proven that they are legends of country music yet. You know, I think that if there was like, like who? I don't know. Jason Aldean, like are is there some popular music is, you know, I'm sure he's won Grammys and whatever. I don't know the stats, but has he been around long enough? You know, I think that like AJ's downtown, I don't know if you've been to AJ's. That's a really, really fun bar. It feels like a dive bar. It's got good energy. I believe it's independently owned by Alan Jackson's family. I don't know for a fact, but I think it's independently owned.

56:39It's a ton of fun. And Alan Jackson is a legend. He's a legend of country music. He deserves to have a bar on Broadway. Garth Brooks is another one. A Garth Brooks bar is opening in the former downtown sporting club space. Garth is a legend. He deserves to have a bar. Hank Williams, he's going to house a metro police department there. I saw that. That's, I mean, probably needed down there, right? That I think it gets wild. But does but does somebody who's not a legend does Walker Hayes would be somebody to me that has one song. He's got a couple other songs. And I'm not this is not against Walker Hayes. No, nothing. Listen, I love that song. It's on my summer drinking on the boat playlist. It's a fun song. If somebody wanted to open a restaurant around Nashville restaurant radio and I'm like, they want to pay me millions of dollars to do it. If it was Charlie's, I'd be like, let's open a Nashville restaurant radio. Oh, Charlie's. I mean, like, I'm not going to turn down in a second.

57:40Yeah, I'm not. This isn't a Walker Hayes thing. This is an Applebee. This is just a whoever sold them that property. I don't know. I just it just sucks. Garth Brooks, on the other hand, buying the buying the downtown great. Can't wait to go. Garth Brooks and then him being a legend. But what he's going to do with the space, I think, is amazing because he cares about the integrity of Nashville and the country music and the whole thing and then housing a metro police department inside of that building to give metro a space on Broadway. I think is just I think it's cool. I think it's I think it's great. Can we get rid of Kid Rocks and turn it into a George Strait or a dollies? Or, you know, just a Brooks and Dunn. Why? Where's the Brooks and Dunn? I agree. There you go. I definitely agree with those things. Do we need a Redneck Riviera? Does John Rich need a place? No, no. I don't think that is they had like, I mean, listen. Sorry, John, right?

58:40He's had like, I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry, John Rich. He's had like two songs as a part of a duo, not even as a solo artist. I can't even name one of them. Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy is Big and Rich. Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy. OK. I've never heard that song. I think that he's at this point most well known for kicking it at Mar-a-Lago, which what does that have to do with Broadway? Didn't he win? He won the Celebrity Apprentice. The Celebrity Apprentice. Aubrey O'Day was robbed. OK, yeah, I he was Celebrity Apprentice. So why isn't it? Does that need to be a bar? I was going to say, why isn't it a Donald Trump bar? But aren't they all at this point? Well, there's a couple of them. Not all of them, but there are definitely some that are. There's like three that aren't. So Walker Hayes opening a fancy like Applebee's. I'm not I'm not excited about. I think it's stupid. You won't be attending the friends and family. No. And if you invite me, I will go.

59:42We're definitely not getting an invite after this. Well, if you want to invite, but hey, Garth Brooks, because I want to know Garth Brooks will be there with bells on. Yes, Garth Trish. Let's go. I want to be there. Oh, man. So Brennan, I was looking. So this is the stuff you're going to get. I like this. And here's here's a seamless transition. We're going to take a short break to hear a word from Kevin over at Corson. Hello, everyone. This is Kevin Rose with Corson Buying and Security. I am the restaurant territory account manager in the Nashville market. And we have had a great 2022 year. We are so grateful to be a part of the National Restaurant Radio podcast. And we can't wait to talk to you in 2023. If you have not spoken with us yet, we want to talk to you about your fire safety needs at your restaurant. From everyone at Corson, we would like to wish you a happy holiday season and a happy new year.

01:00:43Look forward to talking to you in 2023. So when I was looking back through Eater to look at some of the, you know, kind of headlines of the year, I found back in January, there was an article that came out with some different kind of chefs and food people around town that said, what is your biggest hope for the restaurant industry in 2022? And there's a lot of good little, you know, kind of sound bites from people. The two that really stuck out to me, one is Chris Chamberlain, of course, friend of the pod, said that he hopes for a return to stability in terms of inflation and staffing issues. And then he very wisely said, I'm not predicting it, but I'm sure hoping for it. I don't know when we ever had that. So when he says a return to stability, I mean, I don't remember a time that we had like staffing stability. It is Nashville has been growing like crazy for 10 plus years. That's true. I would say it's been 10 years for the staffing piece.

01:01:47At least 10 years that we've been outpacing our growth for actual people that will work in the industry and do a great job. And like it is, it's just it's just always been a challenge. And so I think that the hope would be like it's there. We have some of it. Do you feel like if you think about staffing before the pandemic compared to right now today, I think it's worse. I think it's much worse. You know, my take on this, it's a long answer. I think that there is staffing and then there is culture and there's leadership and general staffing is not it's not good. It's not terrible. I'm getting a lot more people coming in. Are you getting a lot of applicants? A lot of applicants. And is this in both Green Hills and Brentwood or mostly Green Hills? I mean, I've got mostly Green Hills. I'm doing an orientation today for six employees. That's great. I got six new employees are starting. I'm doing an orientation today at three o'clock. I do all the orientations. I'm very excited. I sit down.

01:02:47We tell a tell a story. It's a lot of fun. But as leaders, we have to be setting an example. We've got to have we got to be better leaders. That's I think a lot of the staffing issue is centered around bad leadership. But that's my own take. So what do you say? When, you know, like, let's say you put up an ad and you just get zero responses. I think everybody in the world is doing the same thing. I think if you do the logical thing, then you get where everybody else is. If you go on Facebook and you post, hey, we're hiring for bartenders. I can scroll in the Facebook hospitality page and see 25 posts that somebody says, hey, we're hiring for bartenders. What's the differentiator there? I saw Kerry Bringle one day did a video. He made a video that was like, hey, man, do you like work? And he was like, hey, I got money coming out the wazoo. And it was like money machine things that like those little things that shoot money and the cash gun.

01:03:48It was like this guy just had money coming out of his backside. And he was like a peg like pork or weight. And he just made the video was hilarious. I love that stood out. You know, I've always said I don't want to use the pandemic as an excuse for why we don't have employees. There is enough workers in town. You got to talk about there's people working there. There's workers everywhere. What are we doing to attract those people and then keep them? So do you have a. Staffing strategy, like when you need new employees that you would be willing to share, like I know I have a couple of strategies. I don't mean to lose them in the first place, but I don't mean I don't, you know. We use something called culture index that we do personality test for everybody before we hire them. We make sure that we're hiring the right people for the right positions. And then I give something called performance based compensation to my leaders. I actually pay them to retain people. I don't do bonuses for the standard food costs, their cost, beer costs. I do have some of those things in place, but really I pay the managers to retain staff.

01:04:53So if they fire somebody, they lose money. So I want them to seek to understand. I want to sit down and listen to you. I want to clearly explain exactly what the expectations are. And I want to hold everybody accountable in the same way so that if I'm an employee and I come to work and these three people get treated differently than these three people and I don't know what my expectations are. But every time I come to work, I get yelled at by a different boss. It's kind of like office space like you have four different managers. How are they communicating and are they on the same page? And are you holding everybody to the same thing? And are you having fun like there's a whole culture involved. And I think that so many restaurants miss because we're busy, we're busy. And it's like, it's hard to do that on a consistent basis. But that's where leadership being better in putting your arm around somebody versus going, you're late three times, you're gone. Being late three times going, hey, what's going on? Are you OK? Yeah, I'm a single mom. Like, well, let's change your in time. Let's make sure that maybe this person can help you do this. Let's let's figure you can do more closing work instead of opening work, like finding solutions for people to good people that care.

01:05:57If you're if you don't give a shit about a restaurant and you come in, you're just going to be lazy and you're going to do everything you can because it's all about you, then I don't have a place for you. I don't want you there. But if you're going to come in, you're going to care. I'm going to show you that I care, too. Like it goes both ways. And I think that leadership is the biggest challenge in restaurants. So my hiring strategy is to not lose people. My hiring strategy is retention. And then when I get people hiring the right people and not losing them, yeah, showing them that we care and we do all the things that we need to do, this is a job you can count on. We're a healthy company. You're going to make a really good paycheck and you're going to feel respected when you leave here every day. Yeah, I think that some of that is kind of my strategy, too, is, you know, we try and make Niki's a really nice place to work. And, you know, there's definitely places in town where you can make more money. Yeah. But I think that the reason we, you know, knock on wood, do have very little turnover is because it is just a nice place to work. And we have a really nice team. We have a great management team.

01:06:59And, you know, sometimes I tell people that in interviews when we do hire, say, hey, listen, I, you know, I know that here's what the pay average is. And you can probably make more somewhere else. But this is just a nice place to work. Nobody's going to scream at you. You know, it's about culture. It's about quality of life. Everybody's treated with respect. Yeah, I want you to leave here and feel like, you know, wow, I really we offer insurance and we do a 401K and we offer paternity leave and maternity leave and paid. I think it's but I think it's more than that, because I think that you can go work at most places now and get those things. I think that it's about, you know, kind of the vibe of the people, you know, is this a place where everybody's kind of, you know, clicky or talking shit about each other or drama or this thing or that thing. And we try we try. But, you know, it is hard to like like right now with St. Nicky's, we are so much busier and we need a couple of people to, you know, help out through the month. And, you know, just kind of sometimes you just need one or two people. It's so hard to find. We we're lucky that we have a couple of people that we kind of like don't work for us, but maybe used to work for us and are kind of always in the background and willing to pitch in and lend a hand and say, you know, we have somebody who worked for us like back in 2020 that we've always stayed friendly with.

01:08:13And we've said, hey, can you please pick up two shifts a week for the next three weeks? Just like, yeah, sure. I'm like, oh, thank goodness. You know, but but we have a couple of people like that that are just really kind of like part of the Nicky's fam. Well, if you need people and you need a few people for the holidays. Really? Oh, then we should say that right now. Oh, oh, I thought you were going to offer me people. Well, I might. No, I'm just kidding. No, one of the one of the blessings that we have being in Brentwood and in Green Hills is that we're very community focused, kind of like you guys are in the nations. But we have a ton of kids that go to college. Yeah, that come in and work for the holidays. They're there all summer and they work summer and holidays. And when they come back in town from college, we employ them, whether it's a server assistant or a line cook or whatever. If it's a server either way, but we always welcome them back. But right now we don't need all those people. So I actually might have some people coming back. Well, let's let's let's chat. I'm knock on wood.

01:09:14I'm feeling confident that we've mostly got it covered for the month. But, you know, we'll see. Anyway, I think I think that there's a book I read by Rory Sutherland. It is called Alchemy, and it's about the dark art and wizardry of marketing. And it's just this whole crazy way to think about things. And one of the things said, if you do things, if you do everything you do is the logical thing to do, you'll get exactly where everybody else is. Right. So if everybody else goes on Facebook and posts, hey, I need a server. And they go on LinkedIn and post, hey, I need a server. The main thing you can do right now is you can go to poached, poached job, poached jobs. If you go to poached jobs right now and you use the promo code Nashville Restaurant Radio, then you can hire somebody for free. You can actually go on to a hospitality hiring website. You can post your job manager server as a host, whatever it might be. And it is free for the month of December if you use the code Nashville Restaurant Radio. And honestly, now is such a great time to do that, too, because, you know, a new year is coming up.

01:10:17Sometimes you're ready for that fresh start. Maybe you have somebody who has been a great team member for a really long time, but it's just time for everybody to move on and you're ready to start the new year with kind of some new fresh energy. Hit post jobs and, you know, find some new energy for the new year. I made some posts. I'm not going to lie. They were good. I got some great responses for a bartender and I found amazing bartender this way. So I'm really excited about poached. They've been a really great partner for us. Absolutely. So one other 2022 hope for the year all the way back in January came from Andy Little at Josephine, and he said, my hope for us is that the dining public at large finds some grace. A men. Should we just end on that? I mean, there's just so much. Do you feel like throughout the year, people have gotten nicer, meaner or stayed the same?

01:11:20God, that's a tough one. You know, second mention of Andy Little today. It is the second mention, and he's really having a moment. He's somebody I would love to get back in the studio, him and Karen. So here's here's my take on that. I think it's getting worse. I completely agree. I think that the. God, it's so tough because there's diamonds in a rough. Oh, it is. It's it's hard to help. The way that people respond, we got a reply back the other day from Thanksgiving from somebody you got a review posted review posted. OK, they did not speak to us. They did not send you an email, not do anything logical to get rid of in like three different places. They went to three separate sites and posted how angry they were with their turkey. So passive aggressive. But it's like, oh, I totally understand your review.

01:12:21Like, I get it. I understand why you're upset. I do. I get it. Like why you said, I'm a regular at these places and I love them typically. But let me tell you how mad I am at the turkey that we received. And it's like. If you love us and you love to support local and operated restaurants, why are you going to three different websites to blast us like like you guys have to go on a treasure hunt to find out if somebody's satisfied, pick up the phone and call me and go, hey, I really was relying on this turkey and it what it missed the mark and we really didn't like it. And I'm upset by it and I can go. I never was our intention. I'm so sorry. She said I had to go buy a honey baked ham and this and that. I go, well, I'll refund you for the honey baked ham. I'll refund you for the turkey. I certainly wouldn't want you to do that. That's not our intention here. Right. Let me know. It's not like they let us know. And I told her to go pound sand. And then she then decided to like, you're a regular and you love these restaurants.

01:13:23Then why would you feel the need like there's just this need? Like what the why? Why would you want to go slander us on three separate websites? Because you didn't like your like, you can just call me and I'll totally make it right. It wasn't our intention to do that. A lot of people loved it. A lot of people really loved it. This particular was a to go. She ordered it a couple of days before. There's a pick up before the event. And then she opened it on Thanksgiving and wasn't happy with it. Like, OK, like we are. You guys aren't sitting in the office twiddling your thumbs thinking, how can we ruin someone's Thanksgiving? No, not at all. But so it's like. Do I want grace there? I understand you being upset. That's Thanksgiving. It's a big moment for your family. You didn't want to cook and you trust us with that. Like, I get that we let you down. And that and you know what? To be completely fair. That really sucks. It really sucks to be disappointed on the holiday. I don't want that to happen to you. Right. Like, let me know that and let me share in that and understand that.

01:14:27And let me get better for next time for somebody else who might be thinking that. Like, let me improve. You going to three of us, like not only does that like we're locally on an operated restaurant, not only does that like hurt us and hurts our our, you know, our impression online, but like. Like, why would you want to do that? Well, what do you what does she get out of that? Right. Do you get something great from that? Is that like where you're going? I feel so much better than I've I've tried to ruin people from going to this beloved Nashville institution that's been here for 30 years. Right. Like. So somebody doesn't come here on a Tuesday when they would have had amazing experience because of your one Thanksgiving experience. Like, is that your goal or is your goal to just. Express anger and pain through this thing like what? I don't understand what you're looking for. I agree with you. My my favorite is when a couple of times we've gotten reviews or there's been a time or two that I've had an in-person interaction with somebody who is disgruntled for one reason or another, and they say.

01:15:33Obviously, you don't want my business. Why? Why? And why is this obvious? Why? Why do I obviously not want your business? Do you think do you think this is a nonprofit? Yeah, we had there. Somebody came in with your name. Ye. I we we had this was Candace Owens. I've yeah, right. Obviously, you know, obviously, obviously, you know, I actually don't. No, I just I've said to people a couple of times, I said. I'm the owner. I assure you that I want you to be here and have a great experience. And you can and I actually it's disarming to people because people, you know, don't assume that I'm the owner. And and when I say that, they say, oh, OK, but you're a woman. Oh, God, don't that listen. We'll get that. That's another time. That's a whole other episode. That's a whole other episode.

01:16:33Well, I don't know what it is. I don't know why it seems that people are out of patience and out of. Kind of out of kindness, I don't know if it's a readjusting to society. And again, I think you said something important at the beginning of this when we first started kind of on this topic is that it's really not everyone. It's almost like the people who have always been nice and kind have gotten nicer and kinder. But the people who are maybe not inclined to be so nice and kind have gotten less nice and less kind. Why? Why? What's happening? I feel maybe we just live in a crueler world. I I see it. So this, I think, is a bigger conversation for how Nashville is. Right. So when you expand your city and more people come to your city, it's harder to keep that friendly charm. And I think that online bullies and people who are trolls, who want to stir shit up and then it's like somebody in their car who flicks you off, you know, it's like you're driving along and you like make a mistake.

01:17:35Nobody's perfect. Where's grace? That's the word he used. Right. Yeah. They find some grace like guys. Nobody out there is perfect. And just because you find somebody not being perfect doesn't mean you have to go and shove it down their throat. Nobody out there. Every time I look in the mirror, I see flaws, which is wrong because I need to love myself. But like every time I know I'm not perfect, I know I make mistakes. That's how we grow. Today's world is such a online. I'm like, look me in my face and tell me the things you're going to say. OK, let me ask you this. Have you ever written a Yelp review? Yes. OK. What inspired? What was the thing that pushed you to writing a Yelp review? Well, I write a lot of Yelp reviews. No, you don't. I do. Really? Yeah. No, no. OK, sorry. I read a lot of five star reviews. OK, all right. All right. Let let me rephrase. I read a lot of them. All my my Yelp is I've got like 800 reviews, but they're all five star reviews.

01:18:38I phrased the question correctly. Have you ever written a bad Yelp review or a bad Google review? I wrote one. OK, I deleted it, though. Can you share? Sure. I wrote about Chewie's in Opry Mills. And I love Chewie's. I love Chewie's. And they're a chain. Listen, I I feel like you say no more. I got I got I got to Chewie's. My family, we were at Opry Mills and I was like, let's go. There's a Chewie's here. Let's do it. And there was a wait. And I was like, they don't seem that busy, right? Which is the standard like this was like before the pandemic. Talking 2018. And we wanted to sit on the patio. They said is first available, I said, wherever you got. And they said, we can probably get you on the patio. And I looked at the patio and I watched the patio. There's literally 16 tables outside and there was 16 dirty tables. The server who was waiting, that section was standing at the door of looking outside the server, standing in their door, looking outside.

01:19:42And I was like, I looked at him and I was like, I was like, he was like, yeah, our bussers backed up. He looked at me, he looked at me and said, yeah, our bussers backed up right now, but he'll get to it shortly. And I was like, the server standing there in the waiting area, looking at the dirty table, saying, yeah, our busser gets to it, you guys will get to get sat. And I was like, is it possible that there's some sort of like, I don't think so. But is it possible there's some sort of like corporate structure of like you do this job, because I know a lot of corporate places are very like very cookie cutter. You do this exact thing, this exact way. It was there's no right. It just lays just pure. Not my job kind of a thing. I got a tip out of Busser, like the thought of, hey, if I bust my ass and go clean all these tables for pre-bus better, if I get these tables cleaned up, I'll get sat a lot faster. The mentality there was I'm tipping them out. I'm paying them to do the job. They need to do the job, not, hey, if I clean these tables, I'll get two full turns and make an extra hundred dollars. There's like, hey, if I'm paying this guy six dollars, I'm going to wait for him to do his job.

01:20:45And the whole restaurant was like that. Right. And I tried to talk to the manager and, you know, hey, man, can I like, what do you do? OK, so did you speak to the manager? But that was very dismissive. You know, it's like, hey, man, we're busy. Like, I get it. Like, just wait. You can wait or you can leave. Yeah. I wasn't like, hey, man, I'm special. I need a table. But I was I mean, what do you do at that moment? Like when I can clearly see the whole restaurant's filthy, they have staff standing around watching, waiting for bussers. The managers are hanging out at the bar and you're like. What's happening here? Well, I mean, what am I going to go change the world, make a walk? I'm like, hey, man, get your shit together. You need to lead your staff. He's just going to go, hey, I know the answer to the question. I can't walk up and say, hey, there's a 30 minute wait, a bunch of dirty tables. Can you get up and move? Like, what do I do? What can I complain about? So when you go on Yelp and place the review that was like, I took pictures and I was like, this is literally you.

01:21:45You helped it. Well, but I was like, hey, Chewie's corporate. Like, this is what's happening in your building. I think you should know. Wasn't a hey, if you're out there, never eat at Chewie's again. It was a if you're somebody who works for Chewie's, you need to know that your man, like this is what's happening. Because you got a good your food is good and everything. And I love your chips and the creamy jalapeno is great. I love Chewie's. Chewie's executes really well. It's a great restaurant. I'll be honest with you. I actually feel like Chewie's is a place that I have consistently been impressed with the service. Yeah, me too. West End or the one on Broadway. Yes. Midtown. So open one on White Bridge Road. Have you been to the new one? We did. We went the other night. We have our dog. I submitted a picture of our dogs. Our dog is on the wall in their Chihuahua bar. Amazing. They sent us like a hey, come get a free appetizer. We was like an hour wait, but it was good. Like we waited. You had a good experience. We had a great experience. I've been waiting a beat to go. It was really good. Because, you know, back to the staffing issue, I want to give them a second to get settled in.

01:22:46Yeah, no, they crushed it. Our server's name was Josh and he was really, really good. I'm not going to lie, I tried to steal him. Okay. I was like, hey, man. I think that a corporate place is the only place I would try and poach an employee. It would have to be like somewhere corporate for sure. A thousand percent. Like a national chain corporate. National chain corporate. Yeah. Well, this guy, I knew him from another restaurant and I was like, what are you doing at Chewy's? He's like, oh man, you know, they tapped me to open the place and this, that, and I was like, okay, cool, okay. You want to make more money? I think you'd be perfect at the grill. Like, I think you'd be like the guy like, because we're very much regular since this dude is a lot of history in the industry. And I was like, you, you, you should, hey, come on. What are you doing? Yeah. But I'm gonna regret saying that because I- Now Chewy's is going to yelp about you. Oh yeah, the Nashville. Poaching our employees, you're an asshole. Like, hey, that's fine. Well, Brandon, I am going to have to head over to Pink Door Cookies shortly to pick up a giant box of their eggnog, cream sprinkle- That sounds delicious.

01:24:00Specialty holiday cookies. But before we go, do you have a hope for 2023 or a prediction for 2023? I have a similar hope from Chris and Andy. Um, I think we have lost personal accountability. I want to see people stop blaming they and them. I would love for people to start looking in the mirror and saying, what can I do to change me? Stop trying to change everybody else and just look in the mirror and start being the best version of you you can. I would love to see personal accountability play a much bigger role in people's lives in this industry. I would love for this podcast in some way to be a way for people who are guests of restaurants to listen and go, oh, I need to stop doing that.

01:25:00I was hoping that we can be a beacon for, I don't think people know. I don't think there's any, there's not a forum that tells people how to be better guests. I'd like to do that. I'd like to be that forum that kind of helps people understand that maybe I need to find some grace. Maybe I'm really hard on people for no apparent reason. Maybe I'm angry and I'm taking out on people in the service industry and I should stop doing that shit right now. There was, I want to see it was a food and wine article. It might've been Bon Appetit from a couple years ago that was, if you're always having terrible experiences in restaurants, you're the problem. Yes. Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you remember that article? No, but I believe that wholeheartedly. You can create your own drama. You can make whatever you want. So I would say that my hopes are those two things, that we can look at ourselves in the mirror and change ourselves, not try and change everybody else, not try and change they and them. And then that I would love for everybody to find more grace. And you know what I want to celebrate? I think one of my hopes is that we stop focusing on the squeaky wheel.

01:26:08You know, I was in a management meeting the other day and we were talking about half the meeting, three quarters of the meeting was about squeaky wheels. And I went, have we stopped? There's like most of the staff that are rocks that come in every day. They do the job, they care, they do the right thing. They're amazing. Like, do we spend time thinking them? Like, what are we doing? I want to focus on catching people doing the right thing instead of, that's not the sexy thing though. People want to, what's wrong and who's doing the wrong thing and let's fire this guy and do that. Like, I want to lean in towards positivity. And if we can make that something that happens in this industry, like let's focus towards, wow, you're really doing a great job. I want to proactively do something special for you. And the people that are always complaining, give them a mirror. I would just like have a mirror. Oh, it looks like you need a mirror. That would be awesome. Maybe that's something I'll incorporate. Just give people mirrors. Why don't they do this better?

01:27:10Oh, oh, here's a mirror. Go ahead. Go look in the mirror and what can I do? Listen, I'm going to let you be the pilot program for that and get back to me and let me know how it goes. Yeah, I don't think we should put this episode out. What? No, come on. What about you? What hopes, do you have hopes? Do you have predictions? What do you have for 2023? Gosh, I really don't know. I feel like my hopes are the same as, you know, just wanting people to be nicer, wanting people to be kind to each other, wanting people to be more patient with each other. You know, I feel like it's kind of a, you know, it's been said before. It's not anything new and innovative. I think my predictions for the new year would be based around technology. I think that technology is continuing to evolve for restaurants and I think that we are going to see things getting less personal and more automated for better or worse. I just, I think that that's the direction that the industry is headed in.

01:28:14I think that fast casual has, you know, really experienced a boom and I think that we're going to keep going in that direction. I haven't been to the restaurant show in quite a few years, but I'd love to go again this year just to, you know, kind of get my eyes on all the new stuff. So that's, I guess that's my prediction for the new year in terms of hopes. I don't know. Just, y'all be nice to each other. Everybody be nice. Well, I think we should definitely go to FS Tech this year, even in Chicago going to the NRA show. I love the NRA show. We could do some live shows from there. It'd be really fun. Oh, let's do it. But yeah, I agree with you. Technology is going to take over. Yeah. It's out there. I saw it. Yeah. Once there's adoption and people start recognizing what technology can do for them, this is the most controversial thing I'll say all day long. I think that a lot of people's staffing issues are going to go away. Because technology will do it for them.

01:29:20We're going to put the power back into the hands of the people coming into the restaurants. They can do their own orders. They'll do everything themselves. Yeah, I don't disagree again for better or worse. I think that there will, yeah, I think there will always certainly be a place for traditional restaurant models when it comes to more high-end dining. Yeah. But who knows? You need the tour guide, the person that can help identify what all the stuff is and what you can still do with QR codes. Yeah. But there, I mean, technology is going to take over eventually. There's a new place over here by Fisk. Okay. That has like 30 kitchens in it and they just do takeout. Oh. 30 kitchens, there's 30 restaurants you can have in this one place and it's all going to be on Uber Eats. Is it already live or no? Oh yeah, it's live. Oh, interesting. It's going right now. I went and toured it the other day. What are the, do you know what the brands are? There's not 30 and there's only 10 in there right now. Only 10. But there's 20, they're going to fill it up real fast. Wow, that's very interesting. It's from the guy who started Uber, the original guy that created Uber.

01:30:22He's doing these, they're just in three cities, but it's a huge facility. It's got 30 kitchens. You can come in if you're a small restaurant and you want to do it. A guy named Matt Gase is running the thing and I think when we have him in here, he's- I was going to say, it sounds very interesting. He's getting approval from them to come in and tell kind of the story about it. Wow. It's very interesting stuff. Let's get it on the docket. Look, you have 30 new restaurants in one space that is all delivery. I mean, that's- That's something. That's crazy. Yeah. Wow, what's going to happen? I mean, that's just people sitting at home ordering food. I don't know. It's just interesting. It's a crazy thing. Wait and see. Yep. Have a wonderful Christmas. Yes, indeed. You celebrate Christmas? Is that your thing? You mean- Yes. Okay, I don't know. No, yeah, we do Christmas. Not religiously, but- Holidayly? Culturally. Culturally, we do Christmas? Yeah. We do the same thing.

01:31:22We're Christmas. We're not Jewish. We're not Muslim or Hindu. We don't do any other- Holidays. Holidays. Not for any other reason. You guys celebrate whatever you celebrate. It's awesome. Well, happy holidays. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, happy holidays. To you, I'm speaking to you. I can say- Oh, thank you. Merry Christmas to you. Well, you can't. So, you know, nevermind. That's a topic for a different show. Guys, you can see there's a ton of stuff we have to talk about here. We just can't shut up. But I do have to go get my cookies. And listen, let me just give Pink Door a shout out. If you have not, this is not a sponsor. This is not anything other than I just love Matthew Sweet and Pink Door Cookies over in Wedgwood, Houston. If you haven't had their cookies, you gotta go get some. And they have like five or six holiday specialty flavors that are just to die for. And I gotta go pick up a bunch of cookies and you should order some for your holiday table. They're amazing. Deal. Hope that you guys have a wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year if I don't hear you before. Then we're gonna be putting out lots of episodes, just little things that have- We got a Brandon's Book Club episode coming up.

01:32:30Just some random stuff this month. We're gonna kind of take the month off because- There's so much going on. I have put out an episode, like a new episode every week this year. Like I haven't taken- It's impressive. Even when I go on vacation, I have new episodes of why I've been working really hard to give you guys fresh content every week. Nice work, Brandon. It has been a- Hey, how about you hit that round of applause button for yourself there? Oh. I know you've been dying to use that. Look at my laughing there too. Yeah. So it's been a crazy year. We're gonna take a month and kind of just put out a bunch of stuff that's been sitting out there. I'd love for you guys to visit our sponsors. This is the month where you really got to- You got a plan for 2023? Absolutely. And we're gonna put a lot of sponsor content out there this month, or I am, and we'd love for you to go sponsor them. If you guys, I've got a contest up, you're gonna hear about these in some of the ads I put in.

01:33:33Course in Fire, two tickets to a Preds game. Ooh. We're gonna give those away to people. So what you do is you have Course in Fire come in and they do just an analysis of what you're currently using. Let them work it up a plan for you, and you can say yes or no or whatever, but you can learn a lot from it. Costs you nothing. And then throughout the month, everybody that calls them and sets up an audit, I guess you'd come in and check out what they do. We're gonna draw a name at the end of the month, and you're gonna get two tickets to a Preds game. Their tickets are right behind the penalty box. Can't lose that. It's a fantastic deal. And I've got all kinds of other little specials from people, and we're giving away some cash. Ooh, cha-ching. Yeah, so I'll be talking about those throughout this episode, and commercials I add after the fact. Oh, is that how that works? All right, thank you guys. Hope that you have a safe and wonderful holiday. Love you guys. Happy holidays. Bye.