#theroundup Father’s Day edition Featuring Ben Whitlock

00:00And if you'd like to record your podcast in a professional studio, DM me at Brandon underscore NRR as we rent out this studio, we do monthly plans, which puts you at $25 an hour for the studio. We are so excited to welcome a new sponsor to Nashville Restaurant Radio, Volunteer Welding Gas and Supply. Volunteer Welding Beverage Carbonation began serving bulk CO2 and beverages systems in 1976. They're a service oriented company that is passionate about and dedicated to beverage only gases. How does a gas company provide service? Well, you either know or you don't know until it's too late. And they use telemetry to monitor your system. Let's say that you're in the middle of a busy lunch and then you realize, hey, there's no carbonation in our Coke, this is a problem. What do you do? You call an 800 number, be put on hold to be told that maybe sometime in the next 24 hours, somebody will get out to you.

01:01Well, that's where the telemetry works. Volunteer Welding is monitoring your tank for that. If it gets low or there's a leak, they're gonna let you know beforehand. Imagine that call before lunch, so you never have an 86 situation when you definitely don't need that. Wanna learn more? Give David Perry a call at 615-306-7455 or email him at dperryatvolunteerwelding.com. Hey guys, we are talking about Sharpier's Bakery and Erin Mosso and her family have been operating Sharpier's Bakery for 37 years. They've been delivering fresh baked bread to the back of locally-owned and operated restaurants every single day for 37 years. They are doing amazing things. Today, I have a call to action. What I want you to do, if you're fed up with buying frozen bread from a broadliner that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't work, if you're baking bread and there's flour everywhere all over your kitchen, I want you to go check out their website, sharpiers.com.

02:06That's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S.com. You can see all of the different round buns that they've got. You can look at the specialty round buns, loaf bread, specialty loaf bread, boullies, baguettes, sweets. They do cheesecake, flourless chocolate, tortes. They have all kinds of amazing things. I need you to go to sharpiers.com right now and check them out. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I'm gonna be joined with, I have two co-hosts today.

03:17One is Caroline Galzin, the other is Ben Whitlock and we are absolutely powered by Gordon Food Service. We are always and literally like powered by Gordon Food Service. They give us the wind beneath our wings. These guys are amazing. We just love them so, so much. Today's an episode of The Roundup. We don't, it's not like an interview, it's just a roundup and we're gonna talk about all the things, topical things that's going on. What's going on with me, what's going on with Caroline, what's going on with Ben. Ben is the president and owner of Mobile Fixture. So they're an equipment company. They set up restaurants. They do amazing, amazing things and this guy is all over the place. You're gonna learn more about what he's doing. Keen insight as to everything that's happening in this industry is why we really love it when he comes on the show and that's the show today. We're gonna have a blast. If you don't know about The Giving Kitchen, you need to know about The Giving Kitchen.

04:20There's nothing you need to do. We're not asking for money, we're not asking for anything but we want you to know if you have somebody that you work with in the restaurant industry who's in trouble, maybe they need to go to rehab. Maybe they've had an accident. Maybe there's something that has happened to them and they are forced, they're unable to pay their bills, whatever it might be, check out thegivingkitchen.org because what they do is they help restaurant workers. Okay, simple as that. They don't ask for anything back. They just help restaurant workers and part of the thing we need to do is just let you know they are here to help. They are really, really doing amazing things. Go check out our episode with Jen Heidinger Kendrick. She's their co-founder and executive director. That's a fun episode but also they're just doing amazing things and I want to support them and let you know they're here to help. That's it, we're going to jump in right now. You guys ready? Ben Whitlock, Caroline Galzin, let's do the roundup.

05:23I'm super excited today to welcome everybody in to the roundup. We haven't done a roundup in a minute, Brenda. No, because you've been gone. I'm not going to say it another way. You've been gone. Well, I have been traveling a good amount and then we're all just busy, man. It's a busy season. It is a crazy busy season. So it is nice to get a chance to do a roundup. We have a celebrity guest today. He is a celebrity spoon salesman. That's right. It's also his Instagram handle at Celebrity Spoon Salesman. Ben Whitlock is in studio right here. Oh, wait, wait, that's not the right one, here we go. Ben Whitlock is in studio today. Good morning. Good morning. I'm so happy to have you here on our Father's Day edition of the roundup. I love it. I love this weekend. It's my favorite weekend of the year next to the master's weekend.

06:24Really? Father's Day weekend is your favorite? Yeah, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. Okay. It's US Open week. So we've got the US Open going on this week. Lot of news coming out of the golf world that nobody cares about except me, because I'm a nerd, but Father's Day for me and my family is really cool this year, because the US Open is essentially at night. It's on the West Coast in LA. So I'm gonna spend all day with my family on Father's Day, doing whatever it is I wanna do. And then when coverage starts, they can go do whatever they want. And that's Father's Day. It's okay, it's fine. I have a question. The US Open is a golf event? Well, there's many US Opens, in this reference he's talking about. Yes, it is a golf. There's a US Open of surfing. There's a US Open of tennis. Tennis, poker, everything, yeah. The US Open of poker. There's all kinds of US Opens. Just checking. When Ben references any kind of a sporting event, it's gonna be golf. We're talking about golf.

07:25I should know that. He is a former professional golfer. That's right. Are you really? I am. I never knew that. Two kids ago. Come on. Yeah. Really? And now I sell spoons. Look at me. Look at me go. What a transition. You know, kids, miracles do happen. It's okay. And dreams do come true. Yeah, yeah. If you wanna get out of the golf world and sell spoons, you could do it. It's not that hard. Well, I really had no idea. Were you in the PGA? No. No, I wasn't good enough, obviously, cause I do this now. But there was a time I was, I was pretty good. I was okay. Were you a golf pro like at a club or? I was a, so I played golf for a living for a little while until I ran out of money. And then I decided to be what we call a shop chop. So I decided to still be a professional golfer, but work at a country club in Mobile. Which club? And it was at Heron Lakes. Wow, Ben. And that's actually where I met my wife. I can't believe I've known you for almost, I wanna say maybe almost 10 years now.

08:28And I never knew that. Yeah. That's very cool. Look at that. And now he's the president of Mobile Fixture. Yeah. I know, right? Mobile Fixtures. I'm completely joking. He does this every time. Every time for three years that we've known each other. We just had Carter Ha on the podcast and that episode hasn't come out yet. It's gonna come out in another week or two. But Carter is the owner of a place called Streetcar. And then his grandmother's name was Phyla Ha. But it's spelled H-H-A-C-H. So he has this hot chicken, which is H-A-C-H-T as in the way they pronounce last name. Hot, it's like a hot chicken dish. But people can't grasp the concept that it's hot. It's hot. That's hatched chicken is what they said. But in the South, people tend to have a way they wanna say something and then they just say it that way. Yeah, yeah. And so Mobile Fixtures very easily, phonetically it says Mobile Fixture, but.

09:30You wanna say mobile. Most people say Mobile Fixture. I will say as a native South Alabamian, people who have the real Alabama coastal accent do say Mobile. Yeah. We don't say Mobile, we say Mobile. Mobile, yeah. Mobile. But I think you would actually be okay if it says Mobile Fixture. I don't really care at this point. You know, and all joking aside, I mean here we are in Nashville. You can call it whatever you want. If you buy stuff from us, you can call it whatever. You can call it a bagel for all I care. Because as long as your check clears. That's fine, yeah. You can call me whatever you want. Yeah, they do too. So I was just at the restaurant show a few weeks ago and was very graciously hosted by your company, Ben. You guys got me some passes to go to the show and there's a little bit of a mix-up when we. Sort of. Well, there was a little bit of a mix-up when we got there to get our badges to go walk around the floor and I was texting Ben and we wound up just getting your badge that just had your.

10:32I hope I'm allowed to say this. Oh yeah. Who cares, right? Yeah. And Tony was wearing a badge that said Ben Whitlock, President, Mobile Fixtures. And you texted me back, tell him to turn it around because someone might punch him in the face. Yeah, there's no telling. I mean, he could either get high-fived or punched. Who knows? At that show, there's tons of people around. Yeah, who I've never met in person. But you know they hate you. It's possible. Is that what you're saying? It's possible. For what is the reason? Because I will say I've worked with you a few times. You know, I don't know. It's really hard to not get along with me, I know. Well, I think we should. I don't think that's the best question of the day right now. Geez. Let's get into this. Why would somebody hate you? Did you tell them that grill's gonna cost $5,000? And they're like, fuck you, man, $5,000. You're like, that's what I have to charge you for. And then they get angry. Or did you tell somebody you're gonna have a grill when their restaurant opens and the restaurant doesn't get to open because the grill didn't arrive? Something like that? Like I don't. If it were to happen, it's not usually with a customer. It's usually with a vendor where we may have had a bad experience with a vendor.

11:35I may have told a customer, hey, we don't want to provide this vendor anymore because I've had trouble with them in the past. And it does happen. And somehow it inevitably gets back to the vendor. And then I get the phone call from somebody who's older than my grandfather chewing me out saying, why are you talking bad about my company? Because your company sucks, man. Any companies you'd like to put on blast here? No, not today. No, they're all fantastic. He's like, no, if I accidentally get punched, that's one thing. I'm not gonna broadcast my face with a target on it. How about some companies that you'd like to, maybe one or two companies that you're like, this is just a solid brand. If you're opening a restaurant, if you're buying equipment, here's one or two brands that are just the aces in your book. What's funny is the industry has changed since COVID, obviously everybody's has, but our side of the industry has changed since COVID because there's been consolidation, there's been publicly traded companies going private and then vice versa.

12:38And then what happened at the end of last year, beginning of this year, a huge, what we call a shakeup in our territory in the Southeast, where certain conglomerate manufacturers were partnered with certain rep groups and marketing agents, then they all started pivoting and making changes and now rep group A is not representing this company anymore that they've represented for 20 years. And there's been a big change with who is representing who. And what's so funny is these rep groups, who I love, I love working with rep groups and I'm gonna say that whether I do or not, but I really do, they come into our store and they come into your restaurant and they talk about brand A and I'm not gonna mention brands because they no longer represent brand A. Well, they would try and sell brand A against brand B for 20 years. Then on February 1st, they come in, hey, let me tell you about brand B and this is why you need to be selling brand B versus brand A.

13:44And I'm like, okay, can we just at least pretend for a minute that you believed in that first brand instead of dropping them, going to brand B. So to answer your question, at least I'm gonna attempt to, there are still solid companies in our industry that can hit lead times that are not gouging us on price anymore and they do stand up and make things right. Middle B is a huge, massive conglomerate company that has about 65 or so brands within its umbrella. Very well-known names, Pitco, Blodgett, South Bend. And then you've got other conglomerates like Well-Built who owns Delfield and Frymaster and Garland. Tons of conglomerates out there. And if you are partnered with one or more of those conglomerates, you're gonna be okay. But if you're not partnering with them, you're selling brand X, Y, and Z and you're probably gonna get left in the dust.

14:46Yeah. Do you partner with them? I'm doing everything I can to, yeah. I mean, and I believe in them. You know, I'm not gonna sell one brand today and then another brand tomorrow because they gave me a better deal tomorrow. I'm gonna try and stick with the people that believe in me and believe in my growth and your growth and your growth. I mean, ultimately, the things that are gonna bring you success are, as results, bringing good quality product to somebody and believing in a brand and then standing behind it. Yeah. And I think people miss, we talked about this morning, I think companies miss that today. Well, what happens is you get these regionals and these vice presidents and national account managers or whatever their titles are, they sit in their offices in Chicago or Dallas or wherever they're based and they don't get out, not necessarily to see me. I don't care about them seeing me. They need to be out seeing Nicky's or Josephine's or, you know, NoCo or whoever it might be and ask the question, what are we doing right and what are we doing wrong?

15:49You're gonna give them the honest answer. I would think, hey, you guys are great with this, this and this, but when I had a service problem, nobody came and fixed it and I had to pay it out of my pocket. Those larger companies, when I have a relationship with those companies, I can call the man or the woman and say, you're gonna fix this or we're gonna have a problem. And it's not like I'm threatening them. I'm just trying to be open and honest and be transparent with them and say, I need some help because I'm gonna look bad to you, Caroline, if I don't fix your problem, you don't care that it's a Pitco issue or a Delfield issue, it's a mobile fixer issue. And I don't like that. I mean, I will say for what it's worth, I will give you a plug then and say that you guys really are so wonderful to work with. I've worked with you on two projects. Three. Three? You don't remember it. I don't, what? Tell me, what was it? Oh no. You came into my store, God, it's probably been 10 years.

16:53You were working with Sarah. Okay. Over at Otaku in East Nashville. Okay, that's how we met you. Yes, okay, all right. So that was the first one. Yeah. You don't remember the second one then, do you? 51st. 51st, yeah, okay. So we do. Oh, could I forget? But actually, when we worked together on that project, this is, have you ever put together a smaller kitchen? I have done one smaller kitchen than that. Okay. And it was amazing. It was amazing that it could actually be done. Wow. Well, we had a kitchen that was about the size of a walk-in closet. At 51st? At 51st. Or I've been in there, yeah. And your team was so professional. Johnny on the spot, absolutely made it happen. And set up such an efficient kitchen for us. I think that when you are putting together a new project, of course, Tony and I have been working in restaurant operations for 20 plus years. We know how a kitchen needs to run. We know how a service needs to run. Okay, well, if it's busy and this happens and that happens and how are you gonna move around here and there?

17:57But the benefit of working with a company like yours is you can help operators who even have the experience that we have think about things and look at things that we haven't considered. We've been through that exercise with you a few times and could you possibly get a cheaper experience if you're just picking things yourself and hey, I'm gonna go to this used equipment store, I'm gonna buy all my own equipment, I'm gonna install it myself, whatever, but you get what you pay for. Yeah, and what's funny is we say this all the time, we get a lot of second dates. We get a few first dates, but we get a lot of second dates because of what you just described. Husband, wife, couple decide they're gonna open up a restaurant. She's a great cook, he's made money, whatever. So they start looking at what everything costs and they quickly realize they are undercapitalized, they do not have nearly enough money to open, so then they start looking on the internet or they start looking at used or Amazon or whatever it might be.

18:59So they go through the process of opening up this restaurant. They've hired a handyman to build it out, they skirted the permitting process, whatever all the corners that they were gonna cut are, and then it's time for equipment to show up and they realize this shit's heavy and it's bulky and it doesn't go together the way it's supposed to. So they go through all those motions and they have saved money, yes, but it takes forever and it sucks. So then they've opened up the restaurant, they've had some success, they put some money in the bank and now it's time to start looking at another location in Franklin or Madison or wherever it might be. That's when we get the phone call. And it's not like we're gonna go in and raise the price because you didn't use this the first time. No, we understand as a restaurateur, when you're opening up your first restaurant, you don't have enough money. I don't care how much money you have, it's not enough. It's just not, everything costs way more than you think. So we kind of let them be on their first location. You know, we still work with a lot of restaurateurs on their first locations.

20:02But when it is a budget thing and they have to save money at every point, they're gonna learn and that's fine. The second restaurant comes around, they've got some money and okay, hey Ben, let's sit down and let's talk. And that's great, we love that. Well, and also because you don't buy equipment once and then never buy equipment again. If you have a restaurant that hopefully is successful and open for a long time, unfortunately you're gonna have to buy equipment again. And you know, I mean, our relationship with you has always been ongoing just in terms of, hey, we need a referral for a repairman or you know, hey, we've changed our operations a little bit. Now we need this new piece of equipment or we think this would be more efficient. So I really, for what my two cents, anybody out there who's looking to open a restaurant, I really think it's very beneficial to go the mobile, the mobile fixtures route called Ben. Look at this is like a, and now we're back to the show. Yeah, yeah, let me send you all a check later. No, I actually, I don't mean for it to be an advertisement at all. I really do mean that. I've talked to a lot of people who have come to me and said, hey, can I pick your brain?

21:06Wanna open a place, whatever, and I do always recommend. Yeah, so your friend up in Chicago. Oh, Zoe. Yes, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Great restaurant. One of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. Shout out to Split Rail in Chicago, yes. I will say every time I bring your name up, which is, I mean, all the time, I talk about you everywhere I go. I bet. We are actually gonna take a quick break to hear a few words from our sponsors. We're gonna do several short commercial breaks. They'll be fast, hang out. We have John Ho with Parks Realty, Housepotality on Instagram in studio to tell you why as a restaurant worker, you can buy a home. John. Thank you, Brandon. There's three things that are fallacies when it comes to buying a home from the hospitality industry. Number one is that you need perfect credit. Number two is that you need tens of thousands of dollars for down payment. And number three is that you need two years of work history in the same place. John, you're a restaurant veteran, been in the industry a long time.

22:07How do you, as a real estate agent, overcome those three myths? The first thing we do is we pick a premier partner for lending, and that's Foundation Mortgage. They're gonna be our first stop to get people pre-qualified in the hospitality industry. Number two, we understand that hospitality workers don't work nine to five, so our phones are on 24 hours a day. Amazing. So if I wanted to call you, how do I do it? You can get me at my cell phone, shoot me a text, or give me a call. It's 615-483-0315, 615-483-0315, or Amanda Gardner at Foundation Mortgage, 865-230-1031, 865-230-1031. Follow John on Instagram at Housepotality and follow Amanda on Instagram at MortgageAmanda. What chefs want story is incredibly unique. The owner, Ron Trenier, met with a bunch of chefs in Louisville back in the early 2000s and asked them one simple question. What do you want?

23:09And the chefs, they responded emphatically. We want deliveries on Sunday. We wanna be able to split any item that you sell. We want a frictionless experience where we feel like we're being served. And so you know what he did? Something crazy. He did just that. So What Chefs Want is not only a company that's delivering fresh produce, fresh seafood, fresh custom cut meats, specialty items, dairy, gourmet, all of that seven days a week, they also offer 24-7 customer support. You wanna call, you wanna text, you wanna email, you can talk to somebody 24-7. Get your delivery seven days a week in an amazing selection of products. That is What Chefs Want. So if you ever wonder why do they call it that? That's your reason. Check them out at whatchefswant.com. I've never heard anybody say it bad. Everybody that I've ever met who knows you is like, dude, I love that guy. I mean, that's great.

24:10That's how I judge people. I hope that's the case, yeah. That's my experience with you. Well, thank you. And thank you for being here today. You put me on the spot in, what was it? September of 21 at FIDA. Where was that? At the Hyatt, Grand Hyatt. Grand Hyatt, yeah. And how did I put you on the spot? You were doing some kind of Q&A with Manit. Yeah, I was on stage with Manit. Yeah, and somehow it turned into, let's put the spotlight in this huge room on Ben. I don't even remember what you were saying. Something about all these restaurants, they like to use Ben and this and that, and I'm like, okay, there's 2000 of my competitors sitting in this room, and they're naming off every single one of my customers. I'm like, please stop talking about me. Talk about the industry. Do not talk about us anymore. I don't think I did. I don't remember doing that. That was great. It was fantastic. I know Manit, there was like this, it was like a breakout type thing where there's speakers, and we were the last people to go on.

25:12It was like an hour and a half long thing. We were the last 15 minutes. So everybody's been sitting there for an hour and 15 minutes. You can see people, ANC on their phones, and me and me, I'm gonna go up and ask Manit questions, or like a Q&A, and I'm facilitating the thing. And she goes, let's just get up there and dance. And I was like, you wanna get up there and dance? And I go, fucking let's go. If that's what you wanna do, then that's what we're gonna do. And our goal was to, and this was off the, literally was the second before we went up there. Our goal was, these are the FIDA, which is the Equipment Distributors Association. Food Service. Equipment Distributors Association. Yep. All of his contemporaries, people worked with him. And so we wanted to let them know what the restaurateurs were thinking. And so we were supposed to get them on the same pace. So I made everybody stand up and then clap in sync. Or I made everybody clap. Everybody clap at your own pace, go. And it was just this crazy, everybody clapping, stomping or whatever.

26:15I said, okay, stop. Now everybody clap with me. And I did like this. And everybody clapped and go, now start dancing. We all started dancing. That was a good icebreaker. And then I was like, so see how much better it is when we're on the same page? And so what we wanna do today was we wanna get you on the same page with us, the restaurateurs. And then I asked them to eat some questions. Then we took questions from the audience. But I don't remember being like, and Ben Whitlock over here, I mean, we may have, but I don't think I wasn't too tough on you. I don't know if it was you that started or Manit. It was one of you, but you both definitely contributed, which was great. I loved it. Did you walk around with your, like? I did. It's me and the rest of the show. What's up? I'm the one they were talking about. That's right. Don't even look at me. Don't even look at me. What's up? So I don't wanna get too sidetracked, guys, because this is the roundup show. Father's Day edition. Father's Day edition. So we've got a few topics that we wanna cover today. Can I get your perspective? We gotta do work. Let's do it. All right, well, earlier we were talking about, we were both at the restaurant show a few weeks back, and I wanted to talk about what did you see at the show that you got excited about or that you feel like, you know, is gonna be coming our way?

27:26Yeah. A lot of robotics. As much as we hate saying it, a lot of robotics, and it's good robotics. I'm an idiot, okay? I don't know anything about robots, but when I watch a robot do the work of a fry cook and never move and never ask her a raise and never calling sick and, you know, you gotta start thinking about all those things. Yeah, that robot may cost, I don't know, 100 grand. Well, so I actually was at the robotics booth because it was fascinating. It was one of the biggest booths there, and they have just these like Rosie the robot from the Judson. It's basically a Roomba with shelves rolling all over and talking to these guys about, you know, the robot staff. And I was thinking, well, this is an interesting idea. What a cool piece of equipment, but this thing's gotta be $100,000. This is so, you know, unrealistic. No restaurant is gonna use this. So I asked him, how much does this cost? And he said, well, we actually work with a leasing program and it's $400 a month.

28:31So if we are already at only $400 a month for this technology, it's only gonna get less expensive. And when you compare the cost of a busser to a $400 a month robot. Yeah. Yeah, or a server or whoever it is. I don't think that they're at a point where they can replace servers, but the robots that I saw can food run and can bus. Yeah. And we have QR codes that are, I can be my own server if I got some of them that can bring my drinks and my food. Yeah. I wanna know if those robots that are running food and servers, do they flip the tablet over and ask you to tip them like humans do? Like if they did, I would probably tip that robot. You would tip the robot. Yeah, why not? I'd tip everybody. Yeah. I don't even wanna guess. Yeah, okay, great. Yeah. Do you think it will like go back into the server station and like talk to the other robots and be like, that guy didn't fucking tip me. That guy's an asshole. He's probably gonna yell without me. 1000%.

29:31And if they don't, then that shit needs to be put in there. Whoever has that. So if you go to 615 Chutney in Bellevue, they're using this technology right now. They have it, it's a robot cat. It's that machine that comes out, but it has like little ears on it and it meows at you and you order your food and then it comes out and brings your food and like, you like start purring when you take the stuff, I think like it's a whole thing. Nice. So outside of robotics, because that's the extent of what I know about robots. Real estate. Real estate in Nashville is stupid, crazy expensive. Out of hand. It's not quite to Atlanta, but we're getting pretty close. I bet, I would be willing to bet that you can get better prices on commercial real estate in Atlanta than you can in Nashville right now. Depends on the part of town. We literally just opened up a branch in Atlanta last week. Well congrats. Yeah, thanks. And it's not cheap. I'm not gonna lie. But in Nashville and the way that, how we get involved with restaurants is, it always starts with design, obviously.

30:35And if you have a 3,000 square foot restaurant in the Gulch, that 3,000 square feet is expensive. So the larger the kitchen, the less butts and seats and the less revenue and so on and so forth. So inevitably the kitchen always gets cut down to an absolute minimum. So what we have started looking at is more of the European model of kitchens, which is condensed kitchens that you have multi-use pieces of equipment. No more of the six burner range, one fryer, grill, flat top convection oven. That's a 15 to 20 foot line of equipment. People are going to combi ovens. They're going to these vector ovens, these ventless pieces of equipment that on the surface are extremely expensive. But when you don't have to spend 100 grand on a hood and you're taking up a less of a footprint, the all in value is, it's there. And I don't think that's going to go away. I think that's only going to get bigger and more popular in that the kitchens are gonna get smaller and we're gonna have less staff working in kitchens.

31:41So we as designers and as distributors have to recognize early on, we're not doing the same model that we did pre-pandemic. It's just, the world's changed. Yeah, absolutely. I didn't go to the show, but I was, you know, I think it's funny how you go these things and robotics, technology, I think that there's a, while those things are really cool, I think people like me and my generation who are operating restaurants and have a good feel for doing this for almost 30 years, I can walk into a building and my sense is I can, I know what's going on. The whole time they're trying to convince you that you don't and that you, hey, look, stop. We get it, you're smart. You're an older dude who's been in the business a long time. Our technology will give you all the stuff that's in your gut on your phone and then you can make decisions based upon real data, not your gut.

32:43And it's almost like this whole vibe around it is them trying to get you to realize how much your gut doesn't work. And it's crazy because they're right. I mean, yeah, the world has changed. Give us an example, Brandon, what do you mean? I can walk in a restaurant and see how busy we are, get a feel for what's going on, where do I need to be in the restaurant, what do I need to do? But I can look at the second people walk in the door, they're generating data. How many people came with you? Did you make a reservation? How long did you have to wait to be greeted? How long did you have to wait to get to your table? How long before your first drinks got there? Did you order appetizers? Did you order a bottle of wine? Did you order sodas? All of that data you can now capture and then you can make intelligent decisions based upon marketing and staffing, all of this stuff. How many people do I need per square? You can use that data to identify how you operate every single thing that you do. But I don't wanna do that because that seems like more work than, so like I go to these conferences, they're trying, the hurdle for these guys is to get past your own ego.

33:50Yeah, yeah. That's the thing, I'm like, people get over yourself. Our technology is gonna give you everything and it's almost like, well, then what do you need me for? And that's, I think, what they're, that's the thing that these big conferences are trying to overcome. Like, what do you mean? I don't need a robot. The robot, it's cool, but I can't do that. Like, well, no, this is the future and you're- Whether you like it or not. Whether you like it or not, this is what's coming and this, somebody who's smarter than you in a different way sat in a room and figured out the solution to your problems that you think you're so great at that you know because you've done it so long, well, now there's a dashboard that'll tell you everything that's in your brain. We don't have a complicated industry. I mean, it's really not. We order food, we cook food, we sell food and we pay for the food, that's it. So if you took that same philosophy that you just described for the front of the house, you can still capture the same amount of data in the back of the house from the cost perspective where a combi oven will keep a log of what's being cooked.

34:52It'll tell you how many times the door was open prematurely. It'll tell you if it was overcooked. You know, whatever that data is, that data will directly correlate to the guest experience. So where at the front of the house, your job is to maximize profits, the back of the house, your job is to minimize expense and minimize your food costs and labor costs. So I think we talked about this on a recent episode but I do think it's a really interesting topic that kind of aligns with all of this, which is that there's a New York Times article not too long ago about all kind of what we're talking about now, restaurant technology and how the technology is evolving so quickly and all these changes people have made but how there's been kind of a diner backlash to it and how Chili's Corporation has taken the technologies they were using, kind of gotten rid of it and seen really, really positive results from hiring more staff and increasing human- Going back to basics. Going back to basics, really, increasing human interaction, putting more bussers on the floor, putting more servers per, smaller sections for servers, all of that kind of human connection.

36:03What do you guys think about that kind of whiplash effect? I think that's great for our generation and older. My daughter's generation ain't going to Chili's because of that, they're just not. I agree with you. I feel like, like I said, I know that we talked about this on another show as maybe with Ford Fry, I can't remember, but that's what I kind of said too. I think for our age group and older, we like to put our phones away and have a conversation and enjoy going out to dinner. I don't know that younger people do. I don't think they do. And the biggest potential victim to that generation, I think is Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel is built on human interaction. It's built on going back to basics. It's built on the overall atmosphere experience. They're not getting a whole lot of younger generation diners, hence why they're buying and starting other concepts to try and capture millennials. They've got a real crossroads that they're going to be hitting. And they are just the first of many.

37:04You've got Outback, you've got Chili's, you've got Applebee's, you've got the big box restaurants that are, they've been dying a slow death over the years anyway, but it's going to really start accelerating as millennials start getting into the working world and really making careers and making some money and being decision makers. They're going to move the market, whether we like it or not. Well, I think another way that the technology has maybe been detrimental, especially to the kind of more big box restaurants, is I think that the quality of the food has gotten so poor. And I think a lot of that is because places are relying too much on technology to cook and prepare food. And we used to go to Ruby Tuesday, so it was like the nice restaurant in my town growing up. And it was really, really good. It's not just that my taste buds have changed, which I'm sure they have, but it was also good. You felt like food was being cooked and prepared. But now if you go to, not Ruby Tuesday specifically, but a big box restaurant, you don't get the sense, it's like microwave food. It's like a lean cuisine. You know, it's just, it's gross. Well, you have, you take all personal feeling, because food is emotion.

38:08Sharing food, I invite you guys over to my house tonight and I cook food. I'm going to buy quality ingredients, but it's more of a sharing of love. It's us breaking bread together and it's an experience that is lost when it comes to chain restaurants, in my opinion. At some point, there's a dude who's in Houston, who's looking over every single ingredient he needs. Because when you have 500 restaurants and you move your profitability by half a percent, that equates to like $10 million. That's a number. So when you look at broccoli and you're like, we can buy fresh broccoli from a produce company. And then what we can do is we can have somebody, you know, cut it and then they have to put it in a little bag and then they microwave it. Well, the chances that they cut their finger are some percentage of a thing. And then there's a worker's comp claim. And then the actual baggies that they have to put them in, there's a cost for that. And then the actual produce, there's a variance for how much of it actually go versus what they have to throw away, then there's waste.

39:09Or we can start buying this frozen broccoli from this company that's flash fried, that's already prepared that we can put it in a thing and nine out of 10 people can't tell the difference. They're moving to that because that's the economical thing to do. And it's all about numbers. In a local and operated restaurant, we're not doing that. We're buying fresh broccoli. We're preparing it. We're doing, and that's just broccoli is a metaphor. I mean, you could use any product for that. But in these big chain restaurants, it's all about efficiency and money. And that's what you taste. I did have an experience at a chain restaurant recently that I will say was a really good experience. We were traveling and we had to stop somewhere for the night. And the only place in town to eat was a Texas Roadhouse. I have never been to Texas Roadhouse before. Really? I was very suspect, but it was genuinely the only option. It's good. It was really good. The food tasted like it was prepared fresh. It did not taste like microwave food.

40:10I really got the sense that there were human beings in the kitchen cooking fresh food. Now the waiter did ask me how I wanted my wine cooked. But- Your wine? That is correct. How you want your wine cooked? That is correct. I said, I'll have the Sauvignon Blanc. And he said, how would you like that cooked? And I said- No way. Very rare, please? I would like it almost cold. Like it like 36 degrees. Yeah, but besides that, I was really surprised by how good the food was. That's a staffing issue, a training issue. But getting back to your point real quick, and then we can move on obviously, but if those big box restaurants, the rule of thumb is kind of, if your restaurant has a ticker symbol, you are no longer a restaurant. You are a business. And you have shareholders to report to. And that cutting out one French fry per order, that moves the needle with shareholders. And it does. And if you do reduce one French fry times, I mean, I was talking about using jiggers, like in restaurants.

41:16And I think that you'd need to use a jigger because a two ounce pour. When you make drinks, I think I'm all about a consistent drink. I had somebody ask me this question that we can make this conversation. Do you guys free pour or do you use jiggers? We use jiggers. Although I will say, I was a bartender most of my restaurant career, you know, before I had my own place. And I came up in a world where everyone free poured. That, you know, that's my age. That was just, that was a thing. But we, you would get extensively trained to bartend and you had to take pour tests on a regular basis. And I just, I don't feel like people have the resources to allocate that anymore. And when craft cocktails started to become a trend is when everybody started using jiggers. I think it's for efficiency and consistency. And I had somebody that I say, I think we should go to free pour. And I go, why is that? And they go, I think it looks cooler. And I just think it's faster. It's more efficient. It is definitely faster. Versus going like this or going, I mean, I don't know.

42:18I mean, can it be faster? But is it faster enough to move? They know the chance of somebody over pouring a half ounce of liquor into a cup. And you go, I make 400 drinks a week. Hype that it's 400 drinks a week, right? If I over pour half ounce. It's 200 ounces. That's almost 10 bottles. That's nine bottles of liquor I'm over pouring. And I go, that's not worth the consistency. Then you get the, oh, well, Janie makes it better. Janie makes it, oh, so she hooks you up. And somebody's like, well, sometimes you gotta hook people up. And I'm like, I see that from the bartender standpoint. And I see that from it, but it's stealing. Yeah. I mean, it's theft. And if you, I don't know why in our industry we look at over pouring and giving away free drinks so that people can get bigger tips as like a rite of passage. Do you understand that? I do. I think it's rooted in an old school bartending culture. I do. I mean, that's kind of what it was like when I was bartending in my twenties.

43:21I'm okay giving people drinks. I just want you to comp it. I want you to ring it up and hand it to me and go, hey, I bought Dr. Johnson a glass of wine. Here's the ticket for it. And I go, thanks. I'm sure he'll appreciate that. I think it also depends on what kind of place you're in too. Like if I was bartending at Mirror Balls, I think it makes all the sense in the world to use a jigger. You know, bartending at Nicky's Cold Fire, it makes all the sense in the world to use a jigger. If you're bartending on Broadway and you are the kind of place where you need to use like four bottles at a time between your fingers, you don't need jiggers. You need to, that's a place where literally two seconds in making a drink makes a difference. I agree with that. Yeah. But I mean, I don't want to step on anybody's toes, but if you're bartending on Broadway, you're more of a drink slinger, I think. Absolutely. And if you're at Nicky's or Mirror Balls or- They're making a craft cocktail. They're making their margins on Broadway. I think it's okay if people are accidentally over-pouring a little bit. Like in Vegas, like in Vegas, they free-pour and it's like, well in Vegas, they want you to get drunk. Like they're not even charging you for the drinks at all.

44:21They're not making their money on the alcohol. They want you to get drunk and go make bad decisions on the gaming floor. Yeah. That's a different story. All right, guys. So I'm going to switch gears a little bit if I may. I have another topic for us. A little bit of a controversial topic. Great. Sweet. I can't wait. We love getting the opportunity to get punched in the face in public. Wow, okay. I hope it's politics or religion. That would be great. Well, it's neither, but it is a bit of a controversial topic in the restaurant world, I think. And without using any sort of specific examples, just kind of a general question. What do you guys think about, Brandon, I see your face already. You can cut this if we need to edit, we'll edit. What do you guys think about restaurant employees putting their employers on blast on social media? And we're going to take one more short break on that cliffhanger to answer that question in just a moment. We are supported by Robins Insurance, a local insurance agency providing customized insurance policies, sound guidance, and attentive service.

45:25Robins Insurance is the go-to agency for hospitality professionals in Nashville. Listen, Robins knows how hard industry professionals work every single day. They also know how devastating accidents can be. Be it a grease fire that damages the kitchen, a severe storm that cuts off power, or a customer slip and fall incident. Both the extensive experience and the savvy to create a policy that protects your business from accidents like those, you can rest easy knowing that the work you've put in will not be for nothing. Visit Robins website at robinsins.com to request a consultation or call Matthew Clements directly. His number is 863-409-9372. Protection you can trust. That's Robins. Hey, this is Jason Ellis with Nashville SuperSource. We're so proud to be a sponsor for Nashville Restaurant Radio. We would love the opportunity to discuss your chemical and dish machine program with you. If you have any needs or any questions about your current program, opening a new restaurant, or just need a double set of eyes on that, we'd love the opportunity to help you with that.

46:32My number is 770-337-1143. We don't do any contracts, no minimums, weekly service to make sure that all your equipment is functioning properly. Make sure you have everything that you need. Again, my name is Jason Ellis, 770-337-1143. I think a lot of people would argue if you are a bad employer who's doing a bad thing, you deserve to be put on blast on social media for the world to hear. Are you referencing a Reddit thread? I am not giving any specific examples here. I am just asking a question. I will say, obviously, I am a restaurant owner. I am an employer. I think that whether it's this situation or any kind of disagreement, a lot of times there's two sides to a story, or maybe somebody is just a bad person deserves to get called out on social media. What do you guys think about this? Do you want me to go first or do you wanna go first? No, far away, far away. I think it's not just a restaurant issue.

47:35I think it can be put on the same way does a restaurant deserve to be put on blast because they served a bad steak. I think you have to handle things internally. I think there's way too many sides to a story to have. I think that the ability to go online and put somebody on blast is after you've done everything under the sun to try and reconcile whatever it is without doing that because there's too much at stake. And because when we have a culture of, oh, I don't have to actually talk to somebody. I'll just go online and leave them a bad Yelp review. Oh, I don't have to actually talk to somebody. That person may have pissed me off. There could have been zero intention in that one person. I'm just gonna go online because that's how I'm gonna. I think that's a really dangerous president to set that that's the way we're gonna handle communication today. You've got to have conversations with people. There's gonna be disagreements in every single industry and every single, my wife and I, your husband and you.

48:39Everybody has disagreements. We work through them or we agree to disagree. That's what healthy people do in relationships. If you're an employer, an employee, that is a relationship. And there's roles that are there. One of them is when you sign on to work in a job, this is the job I'm gonna do. If you don't do those things and you lose your job because you broke that contract or the employer, but whatever it is, to be able to go online and just blast somebody is defamation. And I don't know. I don't think that that's something you should do. Now, if on the other side of this, if you're sexually harassed by somebody and you've gone to the person and you've gone to everybody you need to go to and you're getting nothing and this person is a harm to other people and this person is actively harassing people and it's whatever and you're getting nothing. And the only way you're gonna get traction the public safety is that that's an issue, then you gotta do what you need to do to help people and you need to stop monsters because those people need to be stopped.

49:51I don't like the me too. There's some moment people put on blast that need to be put on blast because too many people are getting away with shit they shouldn't be getting away with. That's egregious. That is ugly and it is wrong. Now, as far as just in general, oh, I don't like him. I'm gonna go online and just try and ruin as I'm trying to cancel somebody. I don't think that's the right way to do it. I think you gotta look into a little more deeper than that. There's my quick off the cuff opinion. Caroline's looking at me like, what did I do? No, nothing, nothing. I'm just enjoying listening to your responses. All right, Ben. So I gotta talk, huh? Okay, so I think we're talking about two different things. We're talking about a bad employee that goes on Facebook, Instagram, wherever, and blasts either their employer or their former employer. I think there's a little bit of separation there or their employer who's about to be their former employer, I guess is a better way to say it. You know, as a business owner, it's tough and it's hard to read those things.

50:57I'm sure you've read that review. Yeah, oh, it's happened to us before where we've had a disgruntled employee put something on social media. It is painful, it does. You always wanna say, it's just business. I don't care, I don't take it personally. And you know, there is always gonna be a part of you that takes that personally a little bit because you are a human being. Yeah, and we've had it. It's been a long time, knock on wood, but we've had instances where we've had a former employee, either social media or they've talked to other people and it's gotten back to us and they've said just completely false. Complaints, whatever it is. We typically just take the high road and if it's on social media, we have to, you know, reply either me personally or I'm gonna reply or the mobile fixture Facebook app. The administrator is gonna reply, hey, I'm sorry, you feel this way. Please, please don't hesitate to reach out and we'd like to talk. You know, taking a high road as a business owner is both obvious and in my opinion, the correct way to do it.

52:02I could always become Wendy's and go back on there and blast them back, but I'm not Wendy's and I don't feel like I wanna have a whole blast department for social media within my company. So I'm just gonna take the high road. Yeah, we've had a couple of times where a disgruntled employee at various levels of disgruntlement, let's say, has, you know, made a Facebook post or social media post and there's been a couple of times that I've just reached out to that person directly and I've said, hey, it seems that there's something that you had an issue with that I wasn't aware of. I'd welcome a respectful, you know, direct conversation if you'd like to discuss something with me and I'm here to listen to you. Never have I gotten a response to that. No, and you won't because the, what do they call it? The anonymous complaint or something anonymous and it gives everybody the right to a microphone, you know, and put somebody on blast. I don't know, sometimes somebody will just say something.

53:04I'm like, okay, there's, I know why you're not here anymore. I'm not really worried about what you have to say. What about you, Brandon? Have you guys ever experienced that? No, not yet. I'm sure at some point we will. I like difficult, I like chaos. I like difficult conversations and so when something like I always do exit interviews with people and I try and get in there and go, I'm the first one to raise my hand and say I did something wrong, right? Cause I'm not perfect and I fuck up all the time. And my intention is to do everything the right way with everybody's feelings in my four thoughts and I'm trying to do the right thing. I don't always do the right thing. So if I do somebody wrong, I'm the first one to say, hey, that was on me. I did not communicate that well or I did not know that you felt this way and I poked even more or you know, sometimes poking looks like accountability but my dog just died and you were upset I was late.

54:07Like I didn't know these things were going on and yes, my job was to hold you accountable for these things. It didn't take into consideration what was happening outside of work. Those are all things that I really focus on and I'm easy to raise my hand and say, yeah, I was wrong in that regard. So I haven't yet, but I'm sure at some point somebody will. I don't disagree with what you said earlier too though. I do think that there are definitely those instances where it's like, you know, maybe something really bad or really egregious is happening to you at work and it's just you're working in a culture where there aren't people that you can take it to. There isn't anyone that you can talk to to try to rectify the situation and you know, maybe while I'm not somebody who really likes to put a lot of kind of personal information on social media, you know, some people, I think especially for a lot of younger people, that is really an outlet for people to, you know, express themselves, get support from others who have maybe had a similar experience or maybe get the word out to their peers about, hey, this is a bad situation, don't get involved in this.

55:14But there's also, you know, what's the Facebook page? Nashville Hospitality, whatever it is, that one is notorious for having these random complaints about things. You also have to take it with a grain of salt. Who is it that is making this complaint? If it starts, and I don't want servers to come after me, but if it starts out by saying, I was a server on Broadway at X restaurant, okay. I mean, if you're gonna complain, it better be good. If you're gonna complain about, you know, the tip issues and the things that we've read about over the past few years, yeah, that's legit. But if you're going online and you're putting somebody on blast for an outrageously false accusation, I think most people are smart enough to realize they're just venting, just keep scrolling. I think too, there's like, I feel like I've seen some posts where people will say like, I worked at this place for nine months, and from day one, they were stealing my tips and doing coke in the office and this, that, and the other.

56:18And it's like, well, then why did you work there for nine months? Everyone's hiring all the time. I got fired for this, and I came back to work there and I'm like, so you got fired for the manager was harassing you, but then you went back to work there once you figured it out. And I don't say that to victim blame in any way. I just, I do also think that, hey, sometimes if you're in a bad situation, don't do anybody any favors. If nobody's doing you any favors, don't do them any favors. You know, and as a business owner, and I'm not, I like to think that I'm not in a position where I'm gonna get complaints from former employees or customers, but as a business owner, my number one responsibility, and so is yours and so is yours, our number one responsibility is to protect the assets of my company. And if that means taking the high road with somebody, so be it. If that means getting a lawyer involved and pressing on that person, then so be it. But at the end of the day, I have to look out for the assets of my company because I've got 130 families that are relying on those assets to be intact.

57:24So if I get some crazy person who's threatening to sue us for something, I'm gonna look out and if I have to go to the mat, I will to protect those families. Absolutely. 100%. I also think there's a viral culture we live in. This is the dangerous side I was talking about. We all have the friend who posts way too much stuff on Instagram and Facebook. And you're like, I didn't even know about your bowel movement today. Like that's not what this app is for, you know? And I think there is a real epidemic in our country with endorphins and getting likes and the dream. I think this is a made up number right now, but for some thing they ask kids around my kid's age, I have eight, nine year old boys, like what do you wanna be when you grow up? And like 89% of them said they wanna be an influencer. And so like right now, we're trained that kids want to go online and go viral and be instantly famous.

58:28They see these people that have worked their asses off their entire lives to do all these things to get to this point where they can actually influence you because they've gone through everything and they're there. They want that easy track of, oh, I'm gonna make a viral video or I'm gonna, I saw somebody do something, I'm gonna go online and I'm gonna get likes and comments. To what peril are they thinking about what the collateral damage of them going viral and the endorphins you're gonna get from, oh, look at all these people commenting, they got my back. Like that's not what it's for. Like that's doing more harm than good. You're living in a big old glass house when you do that. Yeah, I mean, it's really dangerous. And I just see kind of that is the other side of this to me. I think that people do that. If that's what they're doing because they want to go viral, they want to be an agitator, then fuck them. If they want, I mean, I'm serious.

59:30If you wanna be, if you wanna help somebody because somebody's doing something wrong and you've gone, you've asked yourself and the word I use in our restaurant is QBQ, right? And the question, if you've asked yourself, what can I do to fix this situation? And the only answer, you've tried eight of the things, the only answer is, I'm gonna put this person on blast because then I will be able to get some traction and more people around me to help stop the atrocities that are happening from this toxic situation. Then you gotta do that. Then I love reading that thing going, wow, I didn't know that. That's, we gotta get behind this. That's how you start a movement. I was bartending here and this guy yelled at me and there's coke happening here. It's like, that's just the restaurant business though. That's it. There's yelling and there's coke. I mean, what else? If you don't like yelling and coke, then- And there are restaurants- Go sell spoons. Go sell spoons. And there are restaurants that don't yell and don't have coke. I mean, that's part of it.

01:00:30We are in a yelling and coke restaurant to the extent of my knowledge, but- You are? We are not. I thought you said, we're a yelling and coke restaurant. This is a rabbit hole I was not expecting to go down today. Okay. Oh, wow, no. No, no, no. Are you a yelling and coke type atmosphere? No, I'm really not. I mean, but I've worked in so many and you know, some of them were toxic as fuck and some of them were really great fun work experiences, you know? I'm with you. Back in the day, Jay Alexander's, my first restaurant job in 1997 was Jay Alexander's. Yelling and coke? I don't know about the coke thing, probably, but there was a lot of yelling, but very, very strict. And I kind of think like, we all want to live in this really nice, comfortable 72 degree world. And sometimes that's not the way the world works. And if you put yourself in these scenarios where that was a really fucking hard job and I did get yelled at and there was people on drugs, like navigating through that and being successful in that atmosphere means you can go do anything in the world because I can navigate through that.

01:01:36But if you just have to go and I have to tell everybody about this because it's wrong, then maybe just find something different. I mean, I'm not saying that that's okay, that that's your work environment and we need that. I think as an industry, we've got to change that. But I don't know. Look, if I work downtown, I've said this on the show. You go to Jason Aldean's. There's definitely yelling and coke. But you drive by there. No, allegedly, I'm just making a joke. I'm not saying. Tomas has been on the show. He's the chef there. I'm not saying that he's this guy at all. But if you look at 11 o'clock at night, there's a line outside. There's a thousand people standing at the front door to try and get in. And there's a line that wraps around the back of the building, right? And you go, dude, since like 8.30 at night, that line has been there. And those bartenders are three deep at a bar from 8.30 to 3.30 in the morning. Yeah, they're in the show. Do you know what? Seven and a half hours of three deep, nonstop, no help. Yeah, so if you're a bar back, you might get yelled at. Yeah, I mean, that's where like, how do you have the energy to do that?

01:02:39And you're like, do you really want to know? Yeah, I mean, that's a question you don't ask. I don't mean, that's just a thing. I mean, I don't know if I could do that. And I don't know if anybody, that's such a highly, I mean, those guys are making 1,500 a night. When you look at that highly competitive environment and you go, hey, I think I need to take a break. Like, fuck you. Like, that's an environment where you figure out that's a survival of the fittest. You're not getting your fifteens at Jason Aldean's. Anywhere on Broadway. No, anywhere. I mean, it's just, you're just fucking slammed. And you're talking about maybe a Tuesday night. You're not talking about Friday and Saturday nights. You just have to, I think that- Any night down there is like that. I think maybe the point is people maybe need to think about what their expectations are from a job going in and maybe ask those questions ahead of the job. And maybe employers need to be a little more transparent about the intensity and expectations of the work. Yeah, getting, just real quick on that, the Broadway thing and the bartenders being three deep and it goes back to your free pour idea.

01:03:47When we're designing restaurants and we're, you know, the kitchens are the kitchens. Those are pretty simple and self-explanatory. But when we get to bars, no two bartenders have ever agreed on a bar layout. You can probably attest to this at Nicky's. I remember we changed the bar equipment around, I don't know, scores of times. So when you start talking about Broadway, Broadway is a whole different animal because those people that are tried and true about working down there, they know exactly how a bar needs to be laid out. I take more away from bartenders on Broadway than I would from Nicky's or Josephine or Mary Bull's because they are, those, your bartenders are probably much more structured and they understand and you know, they're providing a service. Those folks down Broadway are slinging. They're slinging drinks as fast as they can because it's three deep. I'm going to listen to every single word that they say whether they're full of shit or not, whether I agree or not. If that's how they want it, that's how they get it because they're making $1,500 a night and they really do need to be able to sling drinks one second faster.

01:04:50And that's honestly it. It is. I'm the nerd who likes to go downtown if I am downtown at one of those bars and I just watched the, and Tos invited me to come spend a Friday night with him at Jason Eldean's and go visit his different locations, the TC group, and just watch because I am just fascinated by that. And you know, then I have my restaurant, we have 120 guests on a Wednesday night. I was like, oh, it's going to be busy tonight. Like, I don't think you have any idea. Like, isn't perspective the most amazing thing on this planet? Like just perspective, like it's cold in here as compared to what? Yeah. Standing in a walk-in for an hour, it's really not that cold in here or it's hot in here versus what? Being in Death Valley, if you've been to all these different extremes, you can, your perception can change how you feel. And Broadway is an extreme, there's no doubt. I mean, when we have to make a delivery down there, we're not going during the day after 11 a.m.

01:05:51We're just not. You know, if we have to replace three or four pieces of equipment at a Jason Eldean's or an Old Red or wherever it might be, we're going in at 2 a.m. And we know that we have from 2 a.m. till 7 a.m. to get the work done. It sucks. 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. It's part of life though. If you're going to be the man on Broadway and you're going to sell food or drinks or equipment or whatever it's going to be, you better be ready to be working overnight. And Broadway is a really different experience when you're sober and when you're trying to work and you're really battling against all the traffic and the Ubers and the freaking pedal taverns and the bros in the hose at 2 a.m. is tough. But there is a new- Did you just say the bros in the hose? I did. That's cut. That's trademarked. Oh my God. All right guys, I'm going to- Anyhow. I'm going to switch it up again.

01:06:52Do it. Because this is our Father's Day episode. All right. So our last topic today, I want to talk to you guys because you guys are fathers about Father's Day. Let's do it. So Ben, you told us you're perfect Father's Day. You're hanging out with your fam. Does that involve hanging out at home or you guys, do you do like, do you brunch on Father's Day? Like Mother's Day? Father's Day. Is that a, okay. Do you really? I go to Mirabell. It's a busy day. Yeah, that's true. And it's- It's Sunday. It's just Sunday. Like what's the traditional Father's Day thing? Like I know Mother's Day, you brunch. Does Father's Day, like what, you grill or what? I don't want it. I don't want anything. Like, I just want it to be a normal day. I'd like a little bit of attention from the kids. You know, maybe we go to lunch. Maybe I get to decide where we go to lunch. Stop it. Once a year. Stop it. I know, right? Where are you picking? Careful. Oh boy. I gotta be really careful with this. Now, keep in mind, I live in Murfreesboro. Okay, so I live at the other end of the world. What's that, the scene? She's going to the alley.

01:07:53No, I'm not, I'm not a big downtown Murfreesboro guy. I don't like downtown situations. Now that I think about it. It's like, this is a recurring theme. I just don't, he just, I don't think I like downtowns. I tell you, if I'm gonna bring my kids and my wife somewhere for lunch, there's a decent chance I'm going to nukes. As silly and as unsexy as that might be, it's hard to be to nukes for lunch. That might be the unsexiest answer I've ever heard somebody say on the show. Like y'all were on the edges of your seats and I just hit you with nukes. Like, where is it going? Nukes? Like, really? Yeah. You might as well, like Jason's deli or something, you know? That's not a bad one. I don't even know if they have one in Murfreesboro. There is. There is one. There is one. Oh yeah. It's right by Medical Center Drive right there off of, yeah. It's great too, it's a nice little location. Yeah. It's hard to beat the Medical Center in Murfreesboro. Seriously, it's like Broadway. It's Rutherford County's Broadway. It's like Broadway. I don't know if the, Peter, there was like a- Yelling and Cook. Demases or there was like the Goat or there's- Yeah, Peter Dees. But there were Peter Dees, is that place still open?

01:08:54No, that- I thought they closed. They closed that and McAllister's is there. Okay, so these delis are thriving in Murfreesboro. See? Murfreesboro is trying to see a deli store. Nukes, McAllister's, Jason's. So can we get off the nukes situation for a second because I feel like this is getting really weird. Nukes has a really good Italian sub, like an Italian. The nukes queue is hard to beat. And the sweet tea. And it's in a big cup, the big old plastic cups that you can take with you. I am with you. I love it. There's a nukes in Brentwood. They pulled you right over. Big ass lemons, it's hard to beat those. Yeah, and they have the little breadsticks too that you can eat while you wait with all the different sauces. I've never been to a nukes. Are you serious? Compare it to another restaurant. It's not like a Brick Tops. No, no, no, it's more like a deli. Nukes, deli, deli. You counter service, you order, and they have lots of tons of cells, really good cells. Like a Panera? Yeah, it's a lot like a Panera. It's similar to like a Panera, but like nicer, more, like Panera with more flavors. Like they have like lots of flavors. Like they have like Muffalatas and different like tapenades and vinegars and things.

01:09:57I don't know, it just seems like the flavors at nukes are better. Does that make sense? So after nukes, we'll just move on past nukes. We're probably gonna go to the neighborhood pool or we might go to the lake for the day and spend the afternoon together, but come coverage for US Open. Get out. Time to say bye to the fan. Get out. I love you guys. Y'all go do whatever you want here. Here's my check card. You guys go to nukes again if you want. Go get some real Chinese. My family likes the Chinese and you know, it's fine. What about you, Brandon? What's a great father's day for y'all? All right, so I'm a crazy person. First of all, and I'm not just gonna give you a straight answer, there's nothing like that because days don't mean anything to me. Mother's Day, I'm busy as fuck. I don't get to spend Mother's Day with my wife. So we do Mother's Day the week after and we just say, look, it's just a day. It doesn't matter. It's the thought of doing something special for somebody. It's like Valentine's Day, like doing something special for somebody else.

01:10:58So for Father's Day this year, I wanted to do some alone time with each one of my boys individually. So this past weekend, I went to Cincinnati and I took my youngest to a Reds game. And so we drove and we went to Cincinnati. This is a road trip itself with them alone. Isn't it? So we went to Cincinnati and we stayed at the graduate Cincinnati with this really cool, with like this bunk bed and it was like this whole like kid's room. They have like butcher paper to draw on and all that. It was really cool. We went and saw the new Spider-Man movie. Then we got up the next morning, went to the Newport Aquarium right across the street in Newport, Kentucky. So we had the aquarium, we had lunch and then we drove back home to Nashville. And we, it was a nice time away from everybody else. And when I, he has an older brother and they're, you know, with the competitive and the wife, take any of them all together and it's kind of a shit show. It's a wonderful shit show, but it kind of can get a little out of control. But isolated, me and him had the best time ever. And then, so we're gonna go on vacation next week and then we're gonna, me and my oldest on the 30th are gonna go to Atlanta.

01:12:02We're gonna go to the new Truist Park. We're going to Atlanta. And then we're gonna go to the Georgia Aquarium. So I get to do two separate little road trips with each one of my boys. And it'll just be us, that alone father son time. Real bonding. And so that was kind of, and I got, and I asked, I got some new Jordans for Father's Day. It was like my gift. So I, for Father's Day is just a, what do I wanna do? I kind of wanna spend some time with each one of the kids. And then the grace from my wife to go, okay. Because obviously she would love to go on those trips with me. She would love to go with me. So for her to have the grace to say, no, I think you should do that and I'll stay home with the other one and we'll make it fun for them. That's what I wanted for Father's Day. Something special. But in general, like what is Father's Day? I could go either way. I could spend a day at the pool with the kids or I could just be completely alone. You know, I think that I'm around people all the time, every single day. And then I get home and I'm just around people and it's always tumultuous. It's always crazy.

01:13:02Sometimes I just like, I just wanna be alone. I just wanna be alone for like a couple hours and maybe hop on a kayak and go down the Harpeth River by myself at the fishing pole and not have to be anywhere at a certain time. Go, I'm gonna go fish over there and then just paddle over and fish there and not have to think about other people and what, just to be selfish for like a three hour span on a river by myself, sounds like a dream. Yeah, and getting back to what you just said, you barely touched on it, but us being in the restaurant business like we are, the last thing I ever wanna do is go out to dinner. I am in restaurants all day, all night, not all night, you guys are in it all night, but I'm in there every day. The last thing I really wanna do is go out to dinner. It just, I like eating at home. I like cooking. I like it when my wife cooks. But on a day like that, I don't want my wife cooking. I sure as hell don't wanna cook. So, okay, I'm gonna go out to lunch. Nukes, nothing like it.

01:14:03I'm telling you, you're missing out on the nukes right here. You've been pointing at her. I love that. I'll have to go, I'll have to go. Who knew? What about you? Right after street car. What about Nicky's? For Father's Day? Is Nicky's busy? You know what, we do get busier on Father's Day than Mother's Day, I wanna say. I feel like pizza is a little more like, stereotypically, dad, family, food. We don't do, but we don't do anything like, special Father's Day, anything, and same for Mother's Day. We don't, other than December and Christmas, which of course is absolutely bananas with St. Nicky's, and we, you'll hear more about this later this year, but we might have an addition to St. Nicky's this year. So stay tuned. But, yeah, we don't really do anything for holidays. I don't know, we just kinda open for regular service and let it ride, so. Well, I love, my wife loves holidays, and she really gets into holidays, and it's been an adjustment for her.

01:15:07Just this, I think it's, holidays are a mindset. It gives us an excuse to be intentional with somebody and to not get, to get out of your normal grind. So if you can take a holiday, it doesn't, we're a very destination-driven restaurant at Mirabole, so we do massive holidays. Holidays are huge there. So I work on most holidays, and I don't necessarily have to be there, but those are the days that you build your team, and everybody comes together, and you're slammed, and those are the moments that I don't wanna miss. You know what I mean? So I like being there on holidays, cause it's like, every one of your senses are just going, and it's a high. So I do holidays on just different days, but I think holidays are really important, and I think that they're really fun, and I think it's, they're really, to me, it's not about the day, it's more of a reminder to be intentional with somebody that you care about. Yeah, exactly. And that's what holidays are to me. Christmas morning, different. Thanksgiving, I work on Thanksgiving, so we do Thanksgiving on a different day also.

01:16:07I mean, like, it's just a matter of, are we gonna be intentional around something together as a family? I challenge you to make up a holiday. Make up a holiday for your own family in the middle of summer that's not Fourth of July, or do something in July 31st. It's like your end of the summer holiday that you're intentional with your family, and go do something. It's like, you don't have to wait for what the government announces as a holiday. Do holidays every month. Do your family holiday a month, and do something special. It's go out to dinner, go canoeing, or go on a road trip. I don't know, but like, holidays are just a day. I have a question. This might be a dumb question, but I don't have kids. Do you have to spend holidays with your kids, or is there ever a holiday where you can just be like, this one is like not a family holiday. This one's just like, we're gonna do our own thing. I think there's maybe like an anniversary or a birthday. Yeah, I think there's an understood obligation. And I don't mean that in a bad way, that, you know, if it's a holiday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Easter is always a big one.

01:17:10You know, you are spending the day with the family. The anniversary, it's you and your spouse. That's it. Father's Day is kind of a, 61 and a half. You could spend it by yourself or with them. Or a combination. Part of the thing is, it's a day for you to do whatever. It's a recognition of your hard work throughout the year and what you've contributed as a father. So there doesn't need to be a, you need to do this on that day. Whatever the fuck you wanna do. This is the one day where you as a dad can say, I wanna be by myself watching the US Open. I don't wanna be bothered. We need to respect that. That's not frowned upon. If you're like, it's Father's Day. I don't wanna be with my family. No, whatever you want. I mean, in my house, I have a very unique house in that my father-in-law is a retired golf professional. My brother-in-law is a former golf professional.

01:18:13My wife grew up in that house with golf. Golf, golf, golf, golf, golf. It was always golf. So when we got married, I recognized immediately, dude, I've got a hall pass for watching golf or playing golf as long as either her dad or her brother's involved. Yeah, I'm in. So. Yeah, Pat. Yeah, so as the years go on and we've been married long enough now, she knows Masters Weekend, US Open Weekend, British Open Weekend, PGA Weekend. I'm done. Like I'm worthless. The only weekend that I really get away with it is this weekend. And that's okay. Okay. And this is gonna be our very last commercial break for this episode. Let's do it. When you hear that sound, it's probably too late. You need a guy. I wanna be your guy. I'm Kevin with Course in Fire and Security and I'm a Restaurant Territory Account Manager. Do you know who's doing your inspections at your restaurant? Please reach out to me at 615-974-2932.

01:19:17And I'll be glad to come out and take a quick look and look at all your fire safety inspection needs. If you're building your restaurant, we can help with that too. As far as kitchen suppression, fire extinguishers, emergency lights, we do it all. One stop, one shop. Call Kevin at 615-974-2932. Let me be your guy, Nashville. It is testimonial time as we talk about Sitex Linen and Uniform Company. If you need a linen, if you need a chef coat, I will tell you, we just had an amazing episode with Rachel Hale from American Idol. And she has Hale's Kitchen and she messaged me and she goes, hey, I really need an apron with the Hale's Kitchen logo. I'm going on TV. So I called Ross, I called Ross Chandler and I said, hey, look, I need some help. Can you make me an amazing apron? And in 48 hours, he had a denim apron with the Hale's Kitchen logo ready for me. That is service. They would do that for anybody. I mean, the ability for them to make it happen on a daily basis, service is key.

01:20:22And I knew making that phone call that Ross would be able to come through for me like they've done when I ran out of linens or I didn't have enough or I needed extra. I had a party that wanted a chartreuse linen. I mean, they really perform. And I'm telling you guys, if you are not happy with your linen company, your uniform company, your first aid kit company, they have latex gloves, they kind of have it all, you need to give Cytex a call. 270-823-2468 is gonna get you in touch with Ross Chandler and he is the man you guys get taken care of. You need somebody who has your back in the linen business. That's Cytex. I'm the football season. I give NFL football season Sundays for those 18 weeks or whatever. And you know, it's just Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays and sometimes on Saturdays. But NFL season, but I don't watch college and I don't watch any other sports. It's like the one thing I ask for. Listen, I brought this point up during football season and this year I'm like, I think that when we're talking a very stereotypical gender norms perspective of men watching football and their wives not loving it, I do think the NFL is fucking up by putting football on too many days.

01:21:40Because- I agree with that. Thank you. Thank you. Because especially for us who work a lot and have limited time off together, just because you work with your spouse does not mean that you ever see each other spend time together. Oh, that should count double. When there is football on every fucking day of the week that's a problem. That's the problem. You think it's a, I think it's great. Well, listen, and listen- Why don't they have Tuesdays footballs? I don't want to- They do, the Mac. I don't want- Tuesdays. I don't want a tangent, guys. That's NCAA. We'll save that conversation for another time. NFL. Yeah. We'll save that conversation for next time. We can wait till we get to the actual NFL season. We will. Yes, we can talk about it. Fantasy football to me is like the best. We'll talk about it another time. Nerd. I love it. She doesn't. I'd like the Titans, but I don't really care about the Titans.

01:22:41I like my football team the most. I'm not like a Bears guy or like I have to watch. I mean, I watch the Titans, I do, but I care more about my fans team than I do the Titans. I'm just being real. I make zero decisions for the actual Titans. They don't care about what I think. You know why they have football on every night? Vegas. Gambling. I mean, it is. And that's why golf, going back to golf, but sports is sports. And if there's a sport, somebody's betting on it. So football is on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday all year or during the season. Mac Tuesdays, huge betting opportunities. I don't bet Mac games unless I'm down. If I'm down and I'm trying to get even, I might bet on, you know, Marshall against whomever. Real, we're about to get real. I like this. Yeah, no, seriously. Unless I'm down, then I got to get my fix. I got it, you know, Hawaii in the second half on Saturday night at 2 a.m. I might need to get some of that. He's betting the coin flip.

01:23:42He's like, oh, Marshall's gonna get the ball. Tails never fails, seriously. Always bet tails. And always take over in the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl. Always take over. Wow. This is the kind of hard- These are hot tubs. Seriously, I think it's 203 and a half seconds is what they normally set it at. Or two minutes and three seconds, something like that. It always goes over. Always. Aren't you glad you brought that up? Hell yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. It's gonna make me some money next year. We'll bring you back for another Hot Topics and when it's football season and we'll get into that. Great. What about, I got a question for you guys. Let's go. So a few years ago, we did the Bad Yelp review at Nicky's. That was so much fun. That was really fun. They hate us on Yelp. I- People hate us on Yelp. People hate us on Yelp, yeah. What? That was what it was called, people hate us on Yelp. Is that what it was? Yeah. My whole TikTok page is based on that. I love that night. It was so much fun. Y'all need to do that again and do it on the blasting, you know, when you brought it up earlier, the former employees blasting people on social media.

01:24:47I know it's a touchy subject. Oh, that might be a little too spicy. Maybe. That would have to be like, you'd have to do that the way they do like that like cloak and dagger society or whatever, where everybody has to come in with like a mask on and you can't like say who you are and like, nobody can know that it's happening and- This just got real because I can envision a bunch of restaurant owners in one place, all wearing like these crazy masks and like cloaks. Like not- Death masks. Yeah, with like the, like not announcing who you are, just being in the room and you have to read one of them candles and nobody's speaking. Yeah. Maybe an altar or somewhere. A blood oath. Yeah. Ooh, blood oath. I remember the one thing I remember from the bad Yelp review night or whatever it is, people hate us on Yelp. It was, I think it was either Carrie Pringle or Pat Martin. One of those two, they got up there on the stage and they're looking at their phone, they got their glasses on. He gets about halfway through the first sentence.

01:25:47He goes, yeah, you know what? We really fucked up on this one. I remember this. Do you remember that? He was like, yeah, I can't really say anything about it. We really fucked this one. That was Pat Martin that did that one. I wasn't there, but I know because Carrie did, he read his one, it was from Jimmy, from Jimmy whatever, and he read it for me on, and then he was back in the show and we did it again. And it's the funniest, it's the funniest thing that you've ever heard. Cause he finished it and he's, what a dick. That's my favorite line of the whole thing. He reads the review from Jimmy and then at the end of it, he goes, what a dick. And it's just the greatest, it's like the greatest little moment. Good stuff. So good. But you can see a lot of those if you go to the Nashville restaurant radio, TikTok. Caroline has read one, Tony read one. We have Carrie, Pat Martin, all those people reading one star reviews on our TikTok page. You can go look at those right now. So I gotta tell, I have to, my wife is gonna give me shit if I don't bring this up about TikTok.

01:26:50I do not have a TikTok account, but I'm on TikTok all the time. Here's my problem. When you don't have an account, you can't follow anybody. You can't save anything. You can forward. So me being me not having an account, if I see a TikTok that I like, I have to send it to somebody so that I can see it again. You can make an account and not post. No, it's too late. The ship sale. It's not too late. No, the window has closed for me. A lot of people have TikTok accounts where they don't have a photo or post anything. It's just to watch. See, now it's the principle of it. So I like, my daughter makes fun of me because I take screenshots of the TikTok so I can go back and remember who it was. Seriously, it's a shit show, but the, I don't even know where I was going with this on the TikTok. Oh, because I don't have an account. Yeah, so I have to send TikToks to people. The problem is I don't remember who I send the TikToks to. So I have to go back through like every text message and scroll, scroll, scroll. Oh yeah, that's who I send it to. So there's no way I'm ever gonna be able to follow Nashville Restaurant Radio on TikTok unless it just shows up on my screen, which I'm sure it will tonight because they're listening.

01:27:53Well, you can search Nashville Restaurant Radio and it'll pull up my account and then you can just watch all the videos. Yeah, yeah, and I will. I can't like them. I don't have an account. Well, then I want you nowhere near it. I don't care. All right, Ben, before we go, I have to ask you, give us your current Trash TV recommendations. Marry Me Abroad. So what? I think it's Marry Me or Match Me Abroad. Marry Me, yeah. So my wife and I got into this a couple weeks ago. We were- Is that like overseas or is that like an old antiquated term for women? It's like 90 day the other way. It is, it's a lot like 90 days. We've only finished one episode. It is going to be a train wreck. So these people live in America and they've gone overseas to find people on the internet. Well, they are just straight up moving to Czechoslovakia, somewhere in Mexico or South America, somewhere in these weird ass places that speak no English.

01:28:56This one lady, I say a lady, this one woman, she is moving to somewhere in Eastern Europe. She does not speak the language. She does not know the culture. She doesn't know anything. She's just moving. She's never met the guy either. It's amazing. It's a great show. And does the guy speak any English? He speaks English. Or they use the translator? No, he speaks English. She does not speak his native language, whatever it is. Yeah. Okay. Marry me abroad. Marry me abroad. Yeah, that's a good one. I'm gonna get on it. Yeah. It's hard to beat love after lockup too. I love love after lockup. Love after lockup. That's a good one. People are sleeping on that. It's tough. Now you gotta be dedicated to it. Yeah. Cause it's a long season and they have life after lockup. You gotta invest. Yeah. You gotta invest. It's not easy. I love this, Ben. I was very sad when the first thing I asked you when you walked in the studio today was, do you watch Vanderpump Rules? And I was so sad that you. I've never seen that. Is that like a Real Housewives kind of show?

01:29:56We'll talk about it when we get off there. There's a lot to tell you. Great. I have two more episodes of Ted Lasso. That's a little high brow for our taste. I like Ted Lasso. If it didn't have so much swearing in it, I would want my kids to watch it. Yeah. Roy Kent. Yeah, he makes that show. Oh my God. This guy, he has the whole voice. He's, he just talks like this. It's great. I like it. I'm working on my Roy Kent accent. That's strong. That's a good accent. Get the fuck out of here. So that's what he does. That's what he says. That's what he says. I don't understand. Yeah. Fuck. Fuck. I have no words. Have you seen Ted Lasso? I have not. That's not for me. Oh my God. That's just not for me. Dude, listen, she, she is the trash TV queen. She is my go-to. Thank you for recognizing me for my proper title. Yeah. Well, I got to, I got to, maybe I'll start watching Vanderpump Rule.

01:30:57I've got so many shows I want to watch, but yeah, I have to finish Succession. I've got all these, I'm close on a bunch. I'll give you guys a watch guide. Oh, yeah. I'll give you an episode guide. Maybe you could start doing like a monthly like watch guide on the Roundup. No, well, no, it, it's not restaurant radio, but off the air, I'll give you guys a watch guide and anybody who's interested in getting into it, DM me. I'll give you a watch guide. I think you should do your own podcast around it. No, no, no, no. The Caroline Galzin Trash TV. And you have people call in and talk about. I mean, this sounds like my, my dream pursuit, but I barely have time to do this podcast, Brandon. That's right. That's right. We're going to keep it with this one. We want her on this one. Yeah. Let's not give you any more work. You don't want to give her a trash. Very happy you're here, Caroline. The last thing this world needs is a trash TV podcast to recap everything that. I mean, there's already like 400. I listened to all of them. Wow. Do you really? Oh yeah. How do you have time to listen to all this stuff? Cause I'm always in my car. Oh, well you got a lot of drives. You've got to really want it.

01:31:58Like you've got to want to listen to a podcast like that. I mean, you guys know that like some of the top podcasts on every platform are reality recap podcasts. Like watch what crap ins bitch sash. Like these are some of the truly crap ins. These are truly some of the top podcasts out out in the world today. Well, after this episode airs, we're going to be up there. Cause this, I think is a, is a gym today. Crushing it. I just slay, slay. Oh my God. You guys, we got to go. As for you, Abby. Ben, would you like to take us out with a Gordon food service? I didn't do any ads in the show. Was meant to do ads. The first thing you said was I'm going to do ads throughout the whole show. He was going to do live commercials. Not a, I didn't do one. We kind of did one for you, Ben. Yeah, we did. Thank you. Yeah. Mobile. Yeah. Fixture. Yeah. Is your company. And if you're opening a restaurant. You got to call me. These are the guys. These are the guys that will outfit you with everything you need to be.

01:32:59You know, we, cause you used to be a sponsor of the show back in the day, which thank you. In the middle of pandemic, that was really important. Really helpful for me. The most important thing I think that is like having people who understand, who've done this a thousand times, come in and go, this is how you should lay out your kitchen or can we do this things? Like there's just so many things. You've seen everything happen. You've seen all the things that are good and bad and you can come in and help guide people in the right direction. Yeah, that's true, but. Consulting. But also it's, I believe in community. I believe in supporting local. I don't go to a lot of chains. Nukes is different, yes. The only one you promoted on the show was a chain, but hey, it really is. No, you know what though, Ben, I will say you are a huge supporter of your clients. Every time I see you, you're like, have you guys been to Logo yet? It's amazing. You got to go. It's incredible what they're doing over there. And just really, you are a huge advocate. And one of the things that we try and tell people is the internet doesn't say thank you. You know, our job is to make sure that we support the people that support us.

01:34:03I'm going to spend money with the people that support, that spend money with me. And if they don't spend money with me, they're dead to me. Not really, okay, I'm just kidding, but. But hey, when I used to sell food. Yeah. People are like, well, you should come and eat sometime. Like, I don't spend money with people that don't spend money with me. Yeah. If you spend money with me, I'll spend money with you. But otherwise, I'm not going to eat there. It's a partnership. I'm in it. Yeah, like I, 100% as I'm in sales, like if you're going to actively put your trust in me and spend money with me, why would I go eat at a restaurant that doesn't? Like I'm going to go to the place that actively supports me and I'm going to support them. And we used to say that about Amazon. The problem is Amazon is everywhere now and I see Amazon drivers in restaurants. And it's like, okay, well, I can't say that about Amazon anymore. But my competitors that are online, they don't come in and support Nicky's. They don't come in and support Mary Bowls. True. No, that's my final thought. That's my Gordon food service final thought of the day. There you go. It's a good one. Dude, you're on fire. Hey, I've got hats for y'all. I need y'all to put hats up here.

01:35:06I've got two hats for you guys in the car. All right, well, I will put it up there. I'll put a hat up there. You could have your own whole thing up here. Yeah, I knew this was coming. We can talk about that afterwards too. You could put like a mini kitchen in one of these and then I can have like- Put a drawing, I'll put a drawing in there. You could do that. Yeah. You could have the mobile fixture cubby. Yeah. Uh-huh. All right. We're gonna end it at that. Thank you, Ben and Whitlock. Happy Father's Day to you guys. Happy Father's Day. Thanks for having me. Yeah, happy Father's Day to you guys. Thanks for coming in and this was a lot of fun. I'm gonna do this again. It's good times. Let's do it. See you, man. Thank you so much to Ben Whitlock and Caroline for joining us on this fun episode of the Roundup Father's Day edition. Again, to all of you out there, Father's Day is this weekend. I hope that you have a wonderful, wonderful day. I know that I will. I'll be working, because it's a fun day to work. I am, I'm on vacation right now.

01:36:07But when I get back, we'll start working. And remember, this Monday, we will have Ford Fry on the episode. Ford Fry coming up this Monday on Nashville Restaurant Radio. So stay tuned. Hope that you guys are being safe out there. Love you guys. Bye-bye.