February 05, 2024

Hidden Speakeasy in St. Louis | Interview with Gerard Craft

58 minutes

Join us as we delve into the captivating story of Gerard Craft, renowned chef, and entrepreneur, as he shares his remarkable journey from a troubled childhood to becoming a highly successful chef and business owner. In this thought-provoking podcast episode, Craft opens up about his early passion for photography, his decision to pursue a culinary career, and the challenges he faced along the way. Filmed at the hidden speakeasy, NOTA, located at The Foundry in St. Louis, this episode offers a unique backdrop for Craft’s inspiring insights. Discover the key values, training methods, and empowering leadership strategies that Craft implemented to create a positive company culture in his own restaurant. Gain valuable insights into the importance of embracing change, building a strong foundation in business, and the power of continuous learning. Craft’s inspiring experiences will leave you motivated to embrace failure as an opportunity for growth and to lead with honesty and feedback. Don’t miss this engaging conversation that explores leadership, culture, and the transformative power of following your passion, all set against the backdrop of the hidden speakeasy, NOTA, at The Foundry in St. Louis.

Check out the video interview here!

TRANSCRIPTION

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I am your host,

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Brett Gilliland, and today I’ve got Gerard Craft

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with me Gerard what’s going on, my man.

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How are you? I’m great. Thanks for having

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me. You probably don’t know this because I

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don’t even know if you check your own

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Instagram messages, but I sent you a message

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in April two thousand eighteen.

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Really? I did. That’s Craft. And now here

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we are. No. January of two thousand twenty

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four.

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That’s alright, man. You’re a busy guy. I’ve

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been good at checking my, like, normal message

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you know, my emails, my texts.

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I like to share those messages because it’s

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life’s about persistency as you know. You guys

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stay pleasantly persistent, but our mutual friend, Katie,

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call your introduce to two of us and

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thank you, Katie, for sure.

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Why don’t you explain to people that are

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watching this right now? Where are we at

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right

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so we are at Noda, which stands for.

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None of the above. It’s our speakeasy

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here at the city foundry, but we’re kind

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of through some tunnels in the basement Yeah.

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Hidden away. It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing. Do we

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share how we get down here or is

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that kind of a secret?

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You can yeah. I mean, there’s a there’s

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a door up at the top on foundry

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Way with,

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a red light Gilliland

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if that light is on,

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then you can pop in and, you know,

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hopefully we have some some space.

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I love it. And if it’s not on,

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it means you’re just not open, or does

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it means it’s full? Yeah. It means we’re

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not open. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Well, hey, man.

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Let’s dive in if we can and, get

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listeners a little lay of the land. I

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told you I’d start with kinda what’s your

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backstory of what’s made you the man you

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are today.

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Yeah. So,

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you know, grew up in Washington, DC.

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And,

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you know, got into

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far too much trouble as a kid. And

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ended up,

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finishing school, I should say, out in, Northern

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Idaho

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at a,

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at,

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school for, you know,

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troubled kids.

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And when I was there, I got to

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sort of an apprenticeship

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with a photographer. And so I started getting

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really into snowboard photography. We were up in

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the mountains, so it was kinda perfect for

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all of that. I had always been interested

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in photography and done a lot,

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growing up. And so got to really, you

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know, see kind of the professional side of

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it. And, you know, we were doing everything

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from skiing and snowboarding

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to wake boarding,

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on skateboarding in in the summer.

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And then I moved to Salt Lake City

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after that school to go to Gilliland

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to continue my photography.

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And while I was there, I ended up

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dropping out of college. And

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you see a pattern of school not working

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out for me.

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But I

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took a job

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just kind of in the morning, I took

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a job washing cars.

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And at night, I took a job washing

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dishes. And, you know, still was doing my

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photography. Gilliland

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everything, but the photography wasn’t really paying any

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money. It was, you know. Right. Right. Yeah.

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It was like a trade stuff trying to

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get in the door with different professional hot,

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snowboarders and stuff like that. But

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really fell in love with the kitchen when

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I was in there and a

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career advisor

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told me I should think about, going to

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culinary school.

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And so I want to,

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Salt Lake City Community College. Mhmm. And

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studied culinary arts while I was still kind

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of working

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at this this place called Fats Grill. I

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mean,

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super high end luxury.

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Nothing like Nota. This was Although it was

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a very clean,

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you know, bar with pool hole,

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you know, pool Gilliland,

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But but it was it was definitely not

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a a real refined spot. Right. And didn’t

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you go on to work at one of

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the best restaurants in San Fran and some

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other places around the country? I did not

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go to San Francisco. So I, from there,

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I actually went in,

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did a work study at the Ritz in

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Paris

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and,

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went out to Los Angeles to the,

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Chateau Mamont Hotel. That’s what I was thinking

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about. Yeah.

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And so I was a sous chef out

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at the Chateau Marmont,

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and

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stashed at a place in New Jersey for

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a while called Gilliland Inn which was kind

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of on a five acre organic,

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farm

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and,

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just outside of New York City. So It

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was a Relay Chateau property,

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all tasting menus.

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And I think that was about the the

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scariest place I ever

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ever worked.

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But it was amazing. It was just a

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very intense,

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atmosphere.

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And, you know, very driven people you know,

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all the people that worked there are all,

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you know, super successful today. You know, so

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I was I was definitely in over my

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head, but, you know, in the best kind

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of way. Right?

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So did you look to those guys and

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gals for leadership and advice, or was it

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cut throat and it didn’t work that way?

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Like, what what was the environment like in

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a restaurant like that? Yeah. I mean, they

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they were all, like, pretty cutthroat, but it

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was, you know,

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you know, everybody was helpful. And,

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as long as you were trying and and

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pushing and,

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you know, so everywhere you went, you were

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just trying to kind of learn as much

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as as humanly possible.

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So I’m a go back to when you

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went,

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out from from the East Coast to the

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West Coast to finish school. Like, what was

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it about you or maybe your upbringing? I

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don’t know what it is, but my fascinated

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by guys, that and guys and gals that

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that do something like that and have a

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pretty dramatic, you know, event happen. And then

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all of a sudden, now you fast where

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you’re at in two thousand twenty four. Right?

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Like, what do you think it was specifically

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about you that made you

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go a different route than maybe you could

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have gone?

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I don’t know. You know, I think I’ve

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always been, you know, a fan of the

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road less traveled. And,

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and I don’t know if that made all

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the difference. You know, but,

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I’ve I’ve definitely always appreciated

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the struggle.

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And I I don’t know why that is

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because there’s probably a horrible trait. Probably something

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I should talk to a therapist about, but,

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but I, you know, I always wanted to,

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you know, do things on my own and,

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you know, do things the hard way for

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some reason.

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And

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I think when I was looking to finally

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open a restaurant,

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I didn’t wanna go back. You know, my

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old family’s from New York Gilliland

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DC,

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and I didn’t wanna go back there and

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kind of fail in front of everybody. I

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kinda wanted to, you know, branch out on

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my own, do my own thing.

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And again, you know, I it worked out

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somehow, but god,

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probably not the smartest way. You know, I

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could have opened in New York City around

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family. And,

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yeah, you know, had all sorts of family

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friends coming in. But, thankfully, Saint Louis really

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welcomed me. So And talk about that. So

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what brought you to Saint Louis? I read

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that story. I think that’s pretty cool. Yeah.

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I mean, it was, again, I was twenty

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five years old. So,

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I look at twenty five year olds now,

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and I’m, like, oh my god. What the

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hell is that? Like, I was, like, twenty

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five.

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You know, so, you know, wasn’t always thinking

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entirely clearly, but, you know, I, I knew

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I wanted to do something on my own.

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I wanted to get out. And,

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you know, I had seen some stuff, and

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I think, like, Bonapati magazine or something like

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that about Saint Lewis, and I think an

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American place had just opened,

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Monarch restaurant was

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was doing really Brett. And I just read

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about Kevin Nash in buying Sydney Brett Craft,

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and he had just come from, like,

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Martine Barastaghi

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in Spain and Daniel Gilliland

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New York. And so

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I was like, oh, that’s kind of a

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cool Gilliland now I used to have a

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weird hobby of

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I still have a weird hobby of staying

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up late and looking at real estate.

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And,

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just kind of started looking at real estate

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Saint Louis and stumbled upon this ad that

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was, wine bar for sale, which

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looking back at niche, when niche was not

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at, it was dirt floors, hole in the

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ground, no

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electricity.

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I was like, how was this a wine

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bar? Right.

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But, yeah, then I, I just kind of

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came here on, New Year’s Day,

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two thousand five. And I I literally signed

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it on the spot. And I remember my

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brother, like, do you have a lawyer?

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Are you what are you doing? What’s a

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lawyer? How are you looking for?

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So,

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thankfully, I had my brother,

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investing and on my side because he was

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able to at least he local at all?

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Dear me. No. My brother lives in London.

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Okay. But he was at least able to

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to, you know, help me make some,

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my brother’s like you. He’s in finance. Okay.

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So That’s funny. Yeah. Yeah. So what I

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mean, when you think about that that move,

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did you did you picture success in your

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or was that just something you’re like, this

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is my passion. I’m gonna follow it, and

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then it’s successes happen? Like, what, like, what

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was it like if you look back to

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the twenty five year old Gerard? I think

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I always envisioned six success, but I think,

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you know,

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that vision of success is

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is continually

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changing. Right? You know, I think my my

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first vision of success was know, a successful

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neighborhood restaurant. And,

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you know, I had been eating a lot

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at a restaurant called prune in New York

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Gilliland

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there was a place called the tasting room

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in New York, and these were kinda like

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very small, but but kind of progressive and

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different restaurants.

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And and that’s kind of the between that

00:10:01.000 –> 00:10:03.000

and kind of what was going on in

00:10:03.000 –> 00:10:06.000

some of the small restaurants in Paris at

00:10:06.000 –> 00:10:06.000

the time,

00:10:07.000 –> 00:10:07.000

And,

00:10:08.000 –> 00:10:10.000

in Spain, you know, that’s kind of where

00:10:10.000 –> 00:10:12.000

I was where I was looking to. I

00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:15.000

think what happened was a lot different.

00:10:15.000 –> 00:10:17.000

And, you know, I think,

00:10:18.000 –> 00:10:20.000

I I didn’t quite understand. I think the

00:10:20.000 –> 00:10:23.000

demographics that I was gonna be serving

00:10:23.000 –> 00:10:25.000

when when we opened these. I thought I

00:10:25.000 –> 00:10:27.000

thought we were gonna be serving a lot

00:10:27.000 –> 00:10:28.000

of younger people,

00:10:28.000 –> 00:10:29.000

you know,

00:10:29.000 –> 00:10:30.000

young professionals Gilliland

00:10:31.000 –> 00:10:32.000

you go to New York. What what do

00:10:32.000 –> 00:10:35.000

you see in HIP new restaurant. And I

00:10:35.000 –> 00:10:37.000

think I actually got a much older client,

00:10:37.000 –> 00:10:38.000

though, coming from,

00:10:39.000 –> 00:10:40.000

ledoux

00:10:40.000 –> 00:10:42.000

and, you know, the suburbs.

00:10:42.000 –> 00:10:46.000

And and not entirely from my area. And

00:10:46.000 –> 00:10:46.000

and

00:10:47.000 –> 00:10:49.000

and I think there there was definitely a

00:10:49.000 –> 00:10:51.000

little bit of a of a struggle in

00:10:52.000 –> 00:10:54.000

in what people wanted out of us and

00:10:54.000 –> 00:10:56.000

what we were actually doing. Yeah. Isn’t it

00:10:56.000 –> 00:10:57.000

funny when you think you Brett this business

00:10:57.000 –> 00:10:59.000

plan and and what’s you think’s gonna happen

00:10:59.000 –> 00:11:02.000

that it rarely ever works that way. Yeah.

00:11:02.000 –> 00:11:04.000

So we were successful. Yeah. But

00:11:05.000 –> 00:11:07.000

not in the way that we had planned

00:11:07.000 –> 00:11:10.000

on being successful. What do you think, being

00:11:10.000 –> 00:11:12.000

the entrepreneur that you are in places like

00:11:12.000 –> 00:11:14.000

this, which is amazing. I absolutely love this.

00:11:14.000 –> 00:11:15.000

And the walk down here is one of

00:11:15.000 –> 00:11:17.000

the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I’m not

00:11:17.000 –> 00:11:18.000

just saying that.

00:11:18.000 –> 00:11:21.000

From an entrepreneurial standpoint, what what do you

00:11:21.000 –> 00:11:22.000

think that you can share from a restaurant

00:11:23.000 –> 00:11:24.000

world to the to the business person or

00:11:24.000 –> 00:11:26.000

the, you know, the lawyer that whoever’s watching

00:11:26.000 –> 00:11:28.000

this right now? What do you see the

00:11:28.000 –> 00:11:30.000

similarities that can be learned from your world

00:11:30.000 –> 00:11:32.000

into the business world?

00:11:32.000 –> 00:11:34.000

Oh my god. I mean, you know, we

00:11:34.000 –> 00:11:35.000

are in the business world. So,

00:11:36.000 –> 00:11:38.000

you know, I think it’s all

00:11:38.000 –> 00:11:39.000

applicable,

00:11:39.000 –> 00:11:41.000

really, you know, and I think,

00:11:42.000 –> 00:11:45.000

flip that around a bit. I have learned

00:11:45.000 –> 00:11:48.000

a lot from the quote unquote business world.

00:11:48.000 –> 00:11:51.000

And I think it was in two thousand

00:11:52.000 –> 00:11:52.000

and twelve.

00:11:53.000 –> 00:11:55.000

We were opening pasteria,

00:11:56.000 –> 00:11:57.000

which was our fourth restaurant

00:11:58.000 –> 00:11:59.000

at the time, and

00:12:00.000 –> 00:12:02.000

I was really, really struggling.

00:12:03.000 –> 00:12:05.000

And I was struggling to to really manage

00:12:05.000 –> 00:12:08.000

them all. They were all doing really well.

00:12:09.000 –> 00:12:11.000

But all of a sudden I was managing

00:12:11.000 –> 00:12:11.000

four places

00:12:12.000 –> 00:12:14.000

and figured out I couldn’t really micromanage

00:12:15.000 –> 00:12:18.000

four places. Yep. And and I didn’t quite

00:12:18.000 –> 00:12:19.000

see it like that. I just at the

00:12:19.000 –> 00:12:21.000

time saw it is, everybody sucked.

00:12:23.000 –> 00:12:26.000

And why was everybody sucking and and not

00:12:26.000 –> 00:12:28.000

doing what they were supposed to do? And,

00:12:28.000 –> 00:12:29.000

you know,

00:12:29.000 –> 00:12:30.000

you know,

00:12:30.000 –> 00:12:32.000

after a little bit came to the realization

00:12:32.000 –> 00:12:33.000

00:12:33.000 –> 00:12:35.000

because I sucked.

00:12:35.000 –> 00:12:37.000

Yeah. It looks thin. Yeah. You know, I

00:12:37.000 –> 00:12:39.000

sucked. That was a horror manager.

00:12:39.000 –> 00:12:40.000

And,

00:12:40.000 –> 00:12:42.000

I’d never really learned how to

00:12:42.000 –> 00:12:43.000

to manage.

00:12:44.000 –> 00:12:45.000

Right? You know, like,

00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:47.000

in a restaurant when you’re being trained as

00:12:47.000 –> 00:12:49.000

a chef, at least back then. It was,

00:12:49.000 –> 00:12:51.000

you know, again, it was very cutthroat. It

00:12:51.000 –> 00:12:54.000

was very kind of military brigade system.

00:12:54.000 –> 00:12:57.000

It was, you know, I’m the chef. Yes,

00:12:57.000 –> 00:12:57.000

chef.

00:12:58.000 –> 00:13:00.000

You know, if I tell you to do

00:13:00.000 –> 00:13:00.000

something,

00:13:00.000 –> 00:13:02.000

you better fucking do it and you better

00:13:02.000 –> 00:13:04.000

do it fast and you better do it

00:13:04.000 –> 00:13:04.000

right,

00:13:05.000 –> 00:13:06.000

to be pissed,

00:13:06.000 –> 00:13:08.000

you know, and you, you know, it was

00:13:08.000 –> 00:13:09.000

it was a lot of leading out of

00:13:09.000 –> 00:13:12.000

fear and and stuff. And, you know, I

00:13:12.000 –> 00:13:15.000

had I re read this book called Delivering

00:13:15.000 –> 00:13:17.000

Happiness. Have you ever read that one? Sean

00:13:17.000 –> 00:13:18.000

Anchor, maybe. Tony,

00:13:19.000 –> 00:13:22.000

Shay Okay. Who, found out I never know

00:13:22.000 –> 00:13:24.000

if I’m saying his last name, right? But

00:13:24.000 –> 00:13:26.000

founded Zapos. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And,

00:13:27.000 –> 00:13:31.000

and, you know, that that just clicked all

00:13:31.000 –> 00:13:32.000

of a sudden. I mean, it was it

00:13:32.000 –> 00:13:34.000

was sometimes you read a book

00:13:34.000 –> 00:13:35.000

right when you need to read a book.

00:13:35.000 –> 00:13:37.000

Yeah. And that was that book. And it,

00:13:38.000 –> 00:13:40.000

then introduced me to,

00:13:44.000 –> 00:13:45.000

tribal leadership.

00:13:46.000 –> 00:13:48.000

And so tribal leadership then kind of like,

00:13:49.000 –> 00:13:51.000

gave that a voice, gave that a language,

00:13:51.000 –> 00:13:52.000

you know, and, you know, we started to

00:13:52.000 –> 00:13:54.000

talk about, you know,

00:13:56.000 –> 00:13:56.000

we.

00:13:56.000 –> 00:14:00.000

Right? You know, and and your language and

00:14:00.000 –> 00:14:03.000

and how the way you speak really kind

00:14:03.000 –> 00:14:04.000

of affects,

00:14:04.000 –> 00:14:07.000

you know, everybody around you, and it also

00:14:07.000 –> 00:14:08.000

affects

00:14:08.000 –> 00:14:11.000

the way that you’re acting. Right? So everything’s

00:14:11.000 –> 00:14:12.000

kind of like a language.

00:14:13.000 –> 00:14:15.000

And so, you know, going from eye to

00:14:15.000 –> 00:14:18.000

we was the biggest shift in our culture.

00:14:19.000 –> 00:14:21.000

And I think that’s the most the culture

00:14:21.000 –> 00:14:23.000

part of it’s the most applicable part across

00:14:23.000 –> 00:14:25.000

the board. I love that, man. Because I

00:14:25.000 –> 00:14:26.000

it’s so true. We talk about our firm.

00:14:26.000 –> 00:14:28.000

You know, so is it my firm is

00:14:28.000 –> 00:14:30.000

our firm and and my business partner and

00:14:30.000 –> 00:14:31.000

I, we’re we’re very locked in on that

00:14:31.000 –> 00:14:33.000

one because people wanna be a part of

00:14:33.000 –> 00:14:34.000

something. Right? I mean, And and at what

00:14:34.000 –> 00:14:37.000

point did you believe in hiring people? I

00:14:37.000 –> 00:14:39.000

look back at the amazing Claire back there

00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:41.000

who upset all this up. Hi, Claire. And,

00:14:42.000 –> 00:14:44.000

like, in in believing in other people and

00:14:44.000 –> 00:14:45.000

letting go. Right? Cause that was a big

00:14:45.000 –> 00:14:47.000

one for me is when you started having

00:14:47.000 –> 00:14:48.000

multiple teammates

00:14:49.000 –> 00:14:51.000

is, you know, coming from the janitor to

00:14:51.000 –> 00:14:53.000

the CEO, and now you’ve got all these

00:14:53.000 –> 00:14:55.000

people, like, at at what point was it

00:14:55.000 –> 00:14:56.000

for you? What was the a moment? Do

00:14:56.000 –> 00:14:58.000

do you recall that? Yeah. I mean, I

00:14:58.000 –> 00:14:59.000

think this was the

00:15:00.000 –> 00:15:02.000

a moment. I mean, I was so stressed

00:15:02.000 –> 00:15:04.000

out. I was stressed out.

00:15:05.000 –> 00:15:06.000

Seriously overweight,

00:15:07.000 –> 00:15:08.000

just

00:15:08.000 –> 00:15:09.000

angry.

00:15:09.000 –> 00:15:10.000

And,

00:15:10.000 –> 00:15:13.000

you know, I was just overall miserable, and

00:15:13.000 –> 00:15:13.000

I knew

00:15:14.000 –> 00:15:16.000

I think, you know, in reading this stuff,

00:15:16.000 –> 00:15:18.000

you knew that I had to do a

00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:21.000

better job at training people. Right? Yeah. And,

00:15:22.000 –> 00:15:25.000

you know, it’s started. It started with me,

00:15:25.000 –> 00:15:27.000

but then, you know, as we kind of

00:15:27.000 –> 00:15:29.000

started to come together as a group, we

00:15:29.000 –> 00:15:31.000

realized that if we can

00:15:31.000 –> 00:15:33.000

train people the right way,

00:15:34.000 –> 00:15:35.000

you know, and if we can,

00:15:36.000 –> 00:15:38.000

instill our values,

00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:39.000

across everybody,

00:15:40.000 –> 00:15:43.000

then everybody can kind of be thought leaders.

00:15:43.000 –> 00:15:45.000

Everybody can kind of start to make their

00:15:45.000 –> 00:15:47.000

own decisions based on those

00:15:47.000 –> 00:15:50.000

values. Right? And and I think that that’s

00:15:50.000 –> 00:15:52.000

the real key. It was kind of like

00:15:52.000 –> 00:15:53.000

distilling our core values,

00:15:53.000 –> 00:15:56.000

figuring out what made us tick. Yeah. And

00:15:56.000 –> 00:15:59.000

then maybe how to teach people how to

00:15:59.000 –> 00:16:01.000

think like that. Do you articulate those values

00:16:01.000 –> 00:16:02.000

to people? Like, would would they be able

00:16:02.000 –> 00:16:03.000

to say, hey, maybe they’re on the wall

00:16:03.000 –> 00:16:05.000

or whatever? Like, They’re they’re not on the

00:16:05.000 –> 00:16:07.000

wall. We we’d we’d do our Brett. And

00:16:07.000 –> 00:16:10.000

we we keep it pretty Brett simple. We

00:16:10.000 –> 00:16:11.000

only have five

00:16:11.000 –> 00:16:13.000

five core values.

00:16:13.000 –> 00:16:15.000

So That’s awesome. Yeah. But they can articulate

00:16:15.000 –> 00:16:17.000

those, which is a big deal. So how

00:16:17.000 –> 00:16:18.000

how do you then adapt to change? So

00:16:18.000 –> 00:16:20.000

that was a change. Right? Now, hey, I’m

00:16:20.000 –> 00:16:22.000

moving forward. I’ve got these amazing people. I’m

00:16:22.000 –> 00:16:24.000

a be a better boss. How did you

00:16:24.000 –> 00:16:26.000

adapt to change now to take it to

00:16:26.000 –> 00:16:28.000

the level you’ve taken it to today? Yeah.

00:16:28.000 –> 00:16:30.000

I think that was kind of a one

00:16:30.000 –> 00:16:31.000

foot in front of the other. You know,

00:16:31.000 –> 00:16:33.000

I think I came back from, you know,

00:16:33.000 –> 00:16:35.000

I at that time, I was on this

00:16:35.000 –> 00:16:37.000

long Gilliland,

00:16:37.000 –> 00:16:38.000

came back from this trip, you know, just

00:16:38.000 –> 00:16:41.000

charged, right? And, you know, let’s go. We’re

00:16:41.000 –> 00:16:43.000

gonna change everything overnight.

00:16:45.000 –> 00:16:46.000

And, you know, quickly realized

00:16:47.000 –> 00:16:48.000

that that

00:16:48.000 –> 00:16:51.000

that doesn’t happen. Yep. In fact, I think

00:16:51.000 –> 00:16:54.000

when I told her now director of service,

00:16:55.000 –> 00:16:57.000

but she was a a server at the

00:16:57.000 –> 00:16:58.000

time. I told her that we were, you

00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:01.000

know, gonna be making these changes. She just

00:17:01.000 –> 00:17:04.000

laughed. Yeah. She Right? I believe when I

00:17:04.000 –> 00:17:05.000

see it, dude.

00:17:05.000 –> 00:17:07.000

Absolutely. And rightly so. Right? You know? But

00:17:07.000 –> 00:17:08.000

I think you gotta show up every day.

00:17:08.000 –> 00:17:10.000

Right? I mean, that’s the thing I think

00:17:10.000 –> 00:17:12.000

about when growing a business is even on

00:17:12.000 –> 00:17:14.000

the days you don’t wanna show up, you

00:17:14.000 –> 00:17:15.000

show up. And you gotta walk the walk,

00:17:15.000 –> 00:17:16.000

you know.

00:17:17.000 –> 00:17:19.000

Yeah. That’s amazing. So, again, change, talk about

00:17:19.000 –> 00:17:21.000

COVID, man. That that had to be of

00:17:21.000 –> 00:17:23.000

any business that had to be one of

00:17:23.000 –> 00:17:26.000

the biggest people, I think, in hospitality, to

00:17:26.000 –> 00:17:28.000

make a change, right, during all that. What

00:17:28.000 –> 00:17:29.000

what did you learn

00:17:29.000 –> 00:17:31.000

as a leader, as an owner, as an

00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:31.000

entrepreneur,

00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:33.000

as a dad? Like, what did you learn

00:17:33.000 –> 00:17:36.000

during that time frame? In COVID? Yeah. Oh

00:17:36.000 –> 00:17:37.000

my god.

00:17:39.000 –> 00:17:41.000

God, that was really horrible. Wasn’t it? Yeah.

00:17:42.000 –> 00:17:44.000

No. I, you know, I think we were

00:17:44.000 –> 00:17:44.000

fortunately

00:17:47.000 –> 00:17:50.000

you know, hitting hitting peak culture

00:17:50.000 –> 00:17:52.000

at that time, which was awesome because it

00:17:52.000 –> 00:17:53.000

really

00:17:54.000 –> 00:17:55.000

You know, it really no. I really mean

00:17:55.000 –> 00:17:58.000

it was awesome because it it really,

00:17:58.000 –> 00:18:01.000

everybody was working so well together.

00:18:02.000 –> 00:18:04.000

And I think we needed that. Right? We

00:18:04.000 –> 00:18:06.000

needed that to get through. We needed everybody

00:18:06.000 –> 00:18:09.000

kind of, you know, firing on all cylinders

00:18:09.000 –> 00:18:11.000

thinking about everybody else. And,

00:18:12.000 –> 00:18:15.000

you know, thinking about ourselves is is one

00:18:15.000 –> 00:18:17.000

large team. And I think that’s what really,

00:18:17.000 –> 00:18:19.000

you know, if if if COVID taught me

00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:21.000

anything is that that works.

00:18:21.000 –> 00:18:24.000

Yeah. You know, and that that’s really important.

00:18:24.000 –> 00:18:26.000

And you saw, I think a lot of

00:18:26.000 –> 00:18:28.000

other businesses, all of a sudden, trying to

00:18:28.000 –> 00:18:29.000

kinda scramble,

00:18:30.000 –> 00:18:32.000

you know, to to work on this culture

00:18:32.000 –> 00:18:33.000

thing,

00:18:33.000 –> 00:18:36.000

when all their employees left, you know, and

00:18:36.000 –> 00:18:38.000

I think we were in a great great

00:18:38.000 –> 00:18:38.000

position,

00:18:39.000 –> 00:18:41.000

because of that. Yeah. It’s funny you talk

00:18:41.000 –> 00:18:44.000

about that culture is during COVID for us,

00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:46.000

it was, you know, being in the finance

00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:47.000

world. We were able to obviously have conference

00:18:47.000 –> 00:18:48.000

calls and Zoom calls and do a lot

00:18:48.000 –> 00:18:50.000

of stuff with clients, but,

00:18:50.000 –> 00:18:52.000

you know, as a as a leader, we

00:18:52.000 –> 00:18:53.000

had to make a decision that people weren’t

00:18:53.000 –> 00:18:55.000

gonna come in the office Gilliland by about

00:18:55.000 –> 00:18:57.000

July, I think it was July of twenty

00:18:57.000 –> 00:18:58.000

twenty. So only three or four months into

00:18:58.000 –> 00:19:01.000

this, our culture said to us,

00:19:01.000 –> 00:19:02.000

we wanna be back together.

00:19:03.000 –> 00:19:04.000

You know, and so it’s like it was

00:19:04.000 –> 00:19:06.000

starting to have a negative effect by not

00:19:06.000 –> 00:19:07.000

being together on us. Right? And so it

00:19:07.000 –> 00:19:08.000

was cool to be able to make that

00:19:08.000 –> 00:19:11.000

change and be like, alright. Signed this form

00:19:11.000 –> 00:19:12.000

every day. We’re not taking responsibility to show

00:19:12.000 –> 00:19:14.000

up and get sick because nobody knew at

00:19:14.000 –> 00:19:16.000

that time. And Yeah. People started showing back

00:19:16.000 –> 00:19:18.000

up, and it was amazing how that culture

00:19:18.000 –> 00:19:20.000

and those values and that connection was super

00:19:20.000 –> 00:19:22.000

important to people Yeah. That made our our

00:19:22.000 –> 00:19:24.000

culture start to go in in the right

00:19:24.000 –> 00:19:27.000

direction again, which was a big moment. Yeah.

00:19:27.000 –> 00:19:29.000

I think kinda let everybody take it the

00:19:29.000 –> 00:19:29.000

way they

00:19:30.000 –> 00:19:32.000

they were ready to take it. Yeah. Right?

00:19:32.000 –> 00:19:34.000

You know, I think there were people that

00:19:34.000 –> 00:19:35.000

were ready to come back and

00:19:36.000 –> 00:19:39.000

and and work, and we all kind of,

00:19:39.000 –> 00:19:41.000

you know, did that. And we tried to

00:19:41.000 –> 00:19:44.000

do that in the safest way possible, and

00:19:44.000 –> 00:19:44.000

and,

00:19:45.000 –> 00:19:46.000

you know, worked a lot with, you know,

00:19:46.000 –> 00:19:50.000

a lot of the community leaders, the doctors

00:19:50.000 –> 00:19:51.000

in the area that were kind of advising

00:19:51.000 –> 00:19:54.000

us and in in giving us good intel

00:19:54.000 –> 00:19:56.000

on on how we could maybe do it

00:19:56.000 –> 00:19:57.000

more safely

00:19:58.000 –> 00:20:00.000

and, trying to help our friends do the

00:20:00.000 –> 00:20:01.000

exact same things.

00:20:01.000 –> 00:20:03.000

And, you know, I think,

00:20:04.000 –> 00:20:05.000

again, we we we had a lot of

00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:07.000

voices on the team, and,

00:20:08.000 –> 00:20:10.000

we all worked together really well to kind

00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:11.000

of push ourselves

00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:15.000

through a really, really rough time. So on

00:20:15.000 –> 00:20:16.000

the adapting to change,

00:20:17.000 –> 00:20:18.000

talk about needs. You you’ve talked about the

00:20:18.000 –> 00:20:20.000

restaurant. And and you decided to close it

00:20:20.000 –> 00:20:21.000

when it was

00:20:22.000 –> 00:20:24.000

booming. Right? Successful. And so, again, last night,

00:20:24.000 –> 00:20:26.000

I’m doing my work. I’m researching you. And

00:20:26.000 –> 00:20:27.000

I know the story. Right? I was in

00:20:27.000 –> 00:20:29.000

St. That happened and and like, hey, there’s

00:20:29.000 –> 00:20:31.000

a successful restaurant close, and you normally hear

00:20:31.000 –> 00:20:33.000

the other way. Right? So it’s a head

00:20:33.000 –> 00:20:35.000

scratcher as a business leader. This thing’s working

00:20:35.000 –> 00:20:37.000

the guy had the guts to go out

00:20:37.000 –> 00:20:39.000

there and close a successful restaurant.

00:20:39.000 –> 00:20:41.000

Walk me through that. What the hell was

00:20:41.000 –> 00:20:43.000

going on in your mind when that happened?

00:20:44.000 –> 00:20:47.000

You know, I think Nish was always tough.

00:20:47.000 –> 00:20:50.000

Right? And Nish was a very tough restaurant

00:20:50.000 –> 00:20:51.000

00:20:51.000 –> 00:20:54.000

operate. And, you know, we started in two

00:20:54.000 –> 00:20:56.000

thousand five, and I think we

00:20:56.000 –> 00:20:59.000

closed it in in what, two thousand, and,

00:21:00.000 –> 00:21:01.000

seventeen.

00:21:02.000 –> 00:21:04.000

You know, so that that’s a very long

00:21:04.000 –> 00:21:06.000

run for that restaurant. It was a very

00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:06.000

personal

00:21:07.000 –> 00:21:08.000

restaurant.

00:21:08.000 –> 00:21:09.000

And, you know, I know

00:21:10.000 –> 00:21:12.000

that I had just passed the reins off

00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:15.000

in two thousand fifteen as chef to Nate

00:21:15.000 –> 00:21:19.000

Hariford, who now is the successful chicken scratch

00:21:19.000 –> 00:21:19.000

restaurant.

00:21:22.000 –> 00:21:23.000

And I just

00:21:24.000 –> 00:21:26.000

You know, it was it was

00:21:26.000 –> 00:21:28.000

it was it’s such a good point that

00:21:28.000 –> 00:21:29.000

I never really wanted this this restaurant

00:21:33.000 –> 00:21:36.000

to start falling backwards. Yep. And I never

00:21:36.000 –> 00:21:38.000

wanted to, you know, be ten years down

00:21:38.000 –> 00:21:39.000

the road from there

00:21:41.000 –> 00:21:44.000

with everybody being like, oh, yeah. There’s there’s

00:21:44.000 –> 00:21:46.000

niche. It’s still there.

00:21:46.000 –> 00:21:48.000

You know, like Same old thing. Not the

00:21:48.000 –> 00:21:50.000

hot spot anymore or whatever. You know, I

00:21:50.000 –> 00:21:53.000

just I I I wanted it to, you

00:21:53.000 –> 00:21:55.000

know, I wanted the legacy of niche,

00:21:56.000 –> 00:21:58.000

you know, to, to end right there. It

00:21:58.000 –> 00:22:00.000

was kinda like that. That moment. We had

00:22:00.000 –> 00:22:02.000

won the James Beard award two years before.

00:22:03.000 –> 00:22:04.000

It was just kind of

00:22:05.000 –> 00:22:07.000

it just felt like that time. Yeah.

00:22:07.000 –> 00:22:09.000

Well, take some guts, man. Well, I don’t

00:22:09.000 –> 00:22:11.000

know if it’s guts here. Just so we’re

00:22:11.000 –> 00:22:12.000

always here. I I think it it is

00:22:12.000 –> 00:22:14.000

amazing, but it but you’re right. It’s like

00:22:14.000 –> 00:22:15.000

you were talking about our, you know, you

00:22:15.000 –> 00:22:16.000

have a senior, I have a senior.

00:22:16.000 –> 00:22:18.000

Is it’d be like holding our kids back,

00:22:18.000 –> 00:22:20.000

right, not letting them go. And I think

00:22:20.000 –> 00:22:22.000

your decision to close that was probably has

00:22:22.000 –> 00:22:23.000

catapulted you into another level of belief

00:22:26.000 –> 00:22:28.000

growth and expectations. Would you agree with that?

00:22:28.000 –> 00:22:30.000

Yeah. And I think, you know, it’s just

00:22:30.000 –> 00:22:33.000

kind of it’s it’s allowed us to change

00:22:34.000 –> 00:22:36.000

what we do and what I do specifically

00:22:36.000 –> 00:22:38.000

Yep. For the company, you know, as opposed

00:22:38.000 –> 00:22:39.000

to, you know, being on the line or

00:22:39.000 –> 00:22:40.000

or whatever on on

00:22:42.000 –> 00:22:44.000

such a regular basis,

00:22:45.000 –> 00:22:47.000

and kind of, you know, traveling to represent

00:22:47.000 –> 00:22:49.000

niche around the country, which I was doing

00:22:49.000 –> 00:22:50.000

all the time.

00:22:51.000 –> 00:22:53.000

You know, this allowed me to kind of

00:22:53.000 –> 00:22:54.000

really be the CEO

00:22:55.000 –> 00:22:57.000

of the company. Yeah. And I actually

00:22:57.000 –> 00:22:59.000

do the things that I needed to do

00:22:59.000 –> 00:23:01.000

to to grow the company and to, you

00:23:01.000 –> 00:23:02.000

know,

00:23:03.000 –> 00:23:05.000

give back to our investors and and

00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:07.000

and help us Brett to the next level.

00:23:07.000 –> 00:23:09.000

How hard was it for you to leave

00:23:09.000 –> 00:23:11.000

the kitchen and get into, again, the the

00:23:11.000 –> 00:23:13.000

boardroom, if you will, how hard was that

00:23:13.000 –> 00:23:14.000

for you? It’s still hard.

00:23:15.000 –> 00:23:17.000

Yeah. That’s your passion. That’s your baby. I

00:23:17.000 –> 00:23:20.000

I enjoy cooking. I really do. And,

00:23:21.000 –> 00:23:23.000

I wouldn’t say I’m the best CEO in

00:23:23.000 –> 00:23:23.000

the world

00:23:24.000 –> 00:23:26.000

You know, I’m I I know there there’s

00:23:26.000 –> 00:23:28.000

there’s far better than than me out there.

00:23:28.000 –> 00:23:31.000

I’m constantly trying, but, you know, it it’s

00:23:31.000 –> 00:23:33.000

tough to to step away and just kind

00:23:33.000 –> 00:23:35.000

of do what you need to do at

00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:37.000

the time versus what you want to do

00:23:37.000 –> 00:23:40.000

at the time. So talk about building brand.

00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:42.000

Obviously, the the the niche group, because there

00:23:42.000 –> 00:23:44.000

are heavy restaurants total are there right now?

00:23:44.000 –> 00:23:44.000

God.

00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:47.000

Well, we have some shifting going on right

00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:49.000

now. So it’s it’s messing with my car

00:23:49.000 –> 00:23:51.000

at the end of January. A little bit.

00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:54.000

You know, we’ve, cinder house, has closed.

00:23:56.000 –> 00:23:58.000

And Rockwell. It’s my favorite chicken sandwich downtown

00:23:58.000 –> 00:24:00.000

here. So the period period? Yeah.

00:24:01.000 –> 00:24:02.000

I’m sorry. I don’t know what that is,

00:24:02.000 –> 00:24:03.000

but it’s some good stuff. I do a

00:24:03.000 –> 00:24:06.000

meeting there once a quarter. Yeah. Every quarter,

00:24:06.000 –> 00:24:08.000

I do a meeting there, an off-site retreat.

00:24:08.000 –> 00:24:10.000

So I anybody listening. Take your team off-site.

00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:11.000

You go somewhere. You learn. You you think

00:24:11.000 –> 00:24:12.000

you strategize.

00:24:13.000 –> 00:24:14.000

We always went there, and that’s a chicken

00:24:14.000 –> 00:24:16.000

sandwich I had every time. Yeah. No. I

00:24:16.000 –> 00:24:18.000

s senator I was one of my favorite

00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:19.000

places.

00:24:20.000 –> 00:24:22.000

But, you know, it it’s business. We,

00:24:23.000 –> 00:24:25.000

you know, we had a five year contract

00:24:25.000 –> 00:24:26.000

and,

00:24:26.000 –> 00:24:28.000

you know, they’re owned by,

00:24:29.000 –> 00:24:31.000

Caesar’s Palace, Okay. And, you know, they wanna

00:24:31.000 –> 00:24:33.000

do something, I think, a little more bagasse.

00:24:34.000 –> 00:24:36.000

And, you know, it’s not your style.

00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:39.000

Well, I, you know, I it’s also just

00:24:39.000 –> 00:24:41.000

not me. I’m not I’m not from Vegas.

00:24:41.000 –> 00:24:43.000

You know, I am not a Vegas restaurant.

00:24:43.000 –> 00:24:44.000

Oh, it’s funny.

00:24:45.000 –> 00:24:47.000

But a brands for what strategies,

00:24:47.000 –> 00:24:49.000

maybe mindset, thoughts do you have when you

00:24:49.000 –> 00:24:52.000

think about your brands, you name your brands,

00:24:52.000 –> 00:24:54.000

you design your brands, what what does that

00:24:54.000 –> 00:24:56.000

look like? What’s that process look like for

00:24:56.000 –> 00:24:56.000

you?

00:24:57.000 –> 00:24:59.000

Yeah. So I a lot of research,

00:25:00.000 –> 00:25:02.000

you know, we really wanna kind of dive

00:25:02.000 –> 00:25:02.000

into

00:25:03.000 –> 00:25:04.000

that world,

00:25:04.000 –> 00:25:07.000

whatever that might be. And,

00:25:07.000 –> 00:25:10.000

you know, so for the, you know, Craft

00:25:10.000 –> 00:25:13.000

cocktail world. Fortunately, it’s one that we’ve been

00:25:13.000 –> 00:25:15.000

in for a long time because

00:25:15.000 –> 00:25:18.000

taste, you know, was one of the

00:25:19.000 –> 00:25:21.000

one of the, you know, kind of original

00:25:21.000 –> 00:25:23.000

craft cocktail bars in the country. I mean,

00:25:23.000 –> 00:25:26.000

there was, you know, there was a couple

00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:28.000

dozen at the time that we that we

00:25:28.000 –> 00:25:29.000

opened. So,

00:25:30.000 –> 00:25:34.000

really kind of immersing ourselves in that experience

00:25:34.000 –> 00:25:36.000

and just kinda going through all the details,

00:25:36.000 –> 00:25:38.000

you know, what What what does the menu

00:25:38.000 –> 00:25:40.000

look like? What do people

00:25:40.000 –> 00:25:43.000

really enjoy? What do people want?

00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:45.000

Is this a, you know, luxurious

00:25:45.000 –> 00:25:47.000

experience, or is it a kind of divey

00:25:47.000 –> 00:25:50.000

experience? Is this, you know, which this is

00:25:50.000 –> 00:25:50.000

decidedly

00:25:51.000 –> 00:25:52.000

luxurious?

00:25:53.000 –> 00:25:54.000

Know, how do we want the service to

00:25:54.000 –> 00:25:56.000

be? How do we want the

00:25:56.000 –> 00:25:58.000

the servers to

00:25:58.000 –> 00:26:01.000

to dress? How do we want

00:26:02.000 –> 00:26:04.000

the ice to look. What is the lighting?

00:26:04.000 –> 00:26:06.000

You know, I mean, there’s we we try

00:26:06.000 –> 00:26:08.000

to really dive into every little piece

00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:12.000

of that restaurant in that genre,

00:26:13.000 –> 00:26:15.000

to try to get it right. Big guys

00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:16.000

are little eyes for the bourbon.

00:26:17.000 –> 00:26:20.000

For me, no ice. No ice. Yeah.

00:26:20.000 –> 00:26:22.000

But, you know,

00:26:22.000 –> 00:26:25.000

for if I’m drinking gin and soda,

00:26:26.000 –> 00:26:28.000

I have a thing where I actually don’t

00:26:28.000 –> 00:26:30.000

like the big ice cube because I kind

00:26:30.000 –> 00:26:32.000

of want it to to keep melting a

00:26:32.000 –> 00:26:35.000

little bit. Yeah. I think the big ice

00:26:35.000 –> 00:26:37.000

has its place. Yeah. You know,

00:26:37.000 –> 00:26:39.000

when you don’t want any dilution, you just

00:26:39.000 –> 00:26:41.000

want it kind of cold.

00:26:41.000 –> 00:26:43.000

But if you wanna kinda dilute it, I

00:26:43.000 –> 00:26:45.000

like the, I like the little eyes. I’m

00:26:45.000 –> 00:26:47.000

a big ice guy in the bourbon. Yeah.

00:26:47.000 –> 00:26:48.000

Not that you really care, but,

00:26:50.000 –> 00:26:50.000

so,

00:26:51.000 –> 00:26:52.000

locations. So I think for me, we have

00:26:52.000 –> 00:26:54.000

eight office locations, and I think, you know,

00:26:54.000 –> 00:26:56.000

the hardest part is when you had one,

00:26:56.000 –> 00:26:57.000

you could walk to go get a cup

00:26:57.000 –> 00:26:59.000

of water and and touch everybody in your

00:26:59.000 –> 00:27:02.000

Right? Now with eight locations, you can’t do

00:27:02.000 –> 00:27:03.000

that. And you may go months, right, without

00:27:03.000 –> 00:27:06.000

seeing somebody. So how do you, one,

00:27:06.000 –> 00:27:09.000

touch everybody in in the company, but number

00:27:09.000 –> 00:27:12.000

two, how do you, expect the the customer

00:27:12.000 –> 00:27:14.000

service to be this, not necessarily the same,

00:27:14.000 –> 00:27:16.000

but high value, high customer service at all

00:27:16.000 –> 00:27:17.000

the locations?

00:27:17.000 –> 00:27:19.000

Yeah. I mean, number one, your manager is

00:27:19.000 –> 00:27:22.000

everything. Yeah. Right. Your your GM

00:27:23.000 –> 00:27:23.000

00:27:24.000 –> 00:27:26.000

is the place. You know, whether you whether

00:27:26.000 –> 00:27:28.000

whether you think you’re the place or or

00:27:28.000 –> 00:27:29.000

not, like that your

00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:32.000

your GM is is the person for better

00:27:32.000 –> 00:27:35.000

or worse. So, you know, hiring that person’s

00:27:35.000 –> 00:27:36.000

huge.

00:27:38.000 –> 00:27:39.000

You know, I think always trying to keep

00:27:39.000 –> 00:27:40.000

communication

00:27:40.000 –> 00:27:42.000

channels open somehow.

00:27:42.000 –> 00:27:44.000

Something that we’ve always kind of worked on

00:27:44.000 –> 00:27:46.000

and, you know, we’ve we’ve used to different

00:27:46.000 –> 00:27:48.000

things like the local company here, Bonfire,

00:27:50.000 –> 00:27:52.000

or even just kinda like WhatsApp threads Mhmm.

00:27:53.000 –> 00:27:55.000

Stuff like that to really try to

00:27:55.000 –> 00:27:57.000

to keep that connection

00:27:58.000 –> 00:28:00.000

going. You know? So even if you it,

00:28:00.000 –> 00:28:02.000

you know, be there in person. Like, for

00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:02.000

instance,

00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:05.000

Nashville, I I can only get there. Usually

00:28:05.000 –> 00:28:08.000

for one week, every five weeks. It used

00:28:08.000 –> 00:28:10.000

to be once a month. Now it’s every

00:28:10.000 –> 00:28:10.000

five weeks.

00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:14.000

You know, so you you still have to

00:28:14.000 –> 00:28:16.000

kind of keep some dialogue. And so you

00:28:16.000 –> 00:28:18.000

know, and I’ll I’ll go through different things

00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:21.000

where I’ll set up, one on ones, you

00:28:21.000 –> 00:28:24.000

know, phone calls or group phone calls with

00:28:24.000 –> 00:28:27.000

different people to try to again, start talking

00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:28.000

about

00:28:28.000 –> 00:28:31.000

food, talk about dishes. Let’s talk about wine.

00:28:32.000 –> 00:28:34.000

Let’s talk about service. Let’s talk about finance.

00:28:34.000 –> 00:28:36.000

Yeah. You know, so try to connect with

00:28:36.000 –> 00:28:38.000

people at different levels

00:28:38.000 –> 00:28:41.000

at different times too. So I don’t want

00:28:41.000 –> 00:28:42.000

it to always be like,

00:28:42.000 –> 00:28:45.000

just me calling about why the P and

00:28:45.000 –> 00:28:46.000

L list sucks.

00:28:46.000 –> 00:28:48.000

But, you know, I want it to be

00:28:48.000 –> 00:28:50.000

like, yo, you know, let’s let’s talk about

00:28:50.000 –> 00:28:53.000

Amelia Romagna. Yeah. Let’s talk about food and

00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:56.000

How how much do you let them decide

00:28:56.000 –> 00:28:57.000

what’s on the menu?

00:28:57.000 –> 00:28:59.000

A lot. You have a lot

00:29:00.000 –> 00:29:01.000

lot of leeway.

00:29:02.000 –> 00:29:05.000

You know, again, you’re you’re hiring professionals Gilliland,

00:29:06.000 –> 00:29:07.000

you know, I think

00:29:07.000 –> 00:29:10.000

honesty is one of our core values.

00:29:10.000 –> 00:29:13.000

And I think that’s where, you know, we

00:29:13.000 –> 00:29:15.000

get the these conversations going. Right? You know,

00:29:15.000 –> 00:29:18.000

we we’re all very honest with each other

00:29:18.000 –> 00:29:19.000

about what’s working.

00:29:19.000 –> 00:29:23.000

What’s not working, what’s good, what’s not good.

00:29:23.000 –> 00:29:25.000

You know, we added hospitality

00:29:26.000 –> 00:29:26.000

into those,

00:29:28.000 –> 00:29:30.000

core values because I think, you know, in

00:29:30.000 –> 00:29:32.000

the early days, I was not so nice

00:29:32.000 –> 00:29:34.000

about how honest I was Yeah. About everything.

00:29:34.000 –> 00:29:35.000

More delivery.

00:29:36.000 –> 00:29:36.000

Yeah.

00:29:37.000 –> 00:29:39.000

Yeah. Way better delivery. And

00:29:39.000 –> 00:29:42.000

Working on your side. Yeah. But, you know,

00:29:42.000 –> 00:29:44.000

but it You know, when we when we

00:29:44.000 –> 00:29:46.000

first shifted our culture and we were trying

00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:48.000

to kinda, like, soften the culture,

00:29:49.000 –> 00:29:51.000

like, that honesty piece started to go away

00:29:51.000 –> 00:29:52.000

for a little bit. And that what we

00:29:52.000 –> 00:29:53.000

realized how

00:29:54.000 –> 00:29:54.000

crucial

00:29:56.000 –> 00:29:58.000

that piece is. And it’s really hard for

00:29:58.000 –> 00:29:59.000

people to

00:30:00.000 –> 00:30:00.000

00:30:01.000 –> 00:30:03.000

come to if they’re coming from somewhere else.

00:30:03.000 –> 00:30:04.000

Yep. It’s hard for them to hear all

00:30:04.000 –> 00:30:07.000

that honesty, and it’s hard for them to

00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:07.000

give

00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:10.000

all that honesty. But, yeah, I think that

00:30:10.000 –> 00:30:11.000

piece is critical

00:30:11.000 –> 00:30:12.000

when you have multiple.

00:30:13.000 –> 00:30:15.000

Yeah. The feedback’s big. Gilliland if you’re not

00:30:15.000 –> 00:30:17.000

opening the feedback as a leader, they’re not

00:30:17.000 –> 00:30:18.000

gonna they’re not gonna bring it up to

00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:20.000

you as well. Yeah. No. Which is tough.

00:30:20.000 –> 00:30:22.000

If you gotta it’s a this is

00:30:22.000 –> 00:30:24.000

a fair game over here, you know, this

00:30:24.000 –> 00:30:26.000

is, when when you say we,

00:30:27.000 –> 00:30:29.000

you know, that means that everybody should be

00:30:29.000 –> 00:30:33.000

honest. Yeah. You know, if you’re crappy CEO

00:30:33.000 –> 00:30:35.000

and somebody wants to tell you, you know,

00:30:35.000 –> 00:30:38.000

why you gotta listen. Yeah. Yeah. And not

00:30:38.000 –> 00:30:40.000

respond. Right? Listen is not response.

00:30:41.000 –> 00:30:42.000

So if I followed you around, my boy

00:30:42.000 –> 00:30:44.000

Matt over here follows you around with cameras,

00:30:44.000 –> 00:30:46.000

let’s say, for, you know, the next week.

00:30:46.000 –> 00:30:48.000

What what am I gonna see day in

00:30:48.000 –> 00:30:49.000

and day out

00:30:49.000 –> 00:30:51.000

that that Gerard Craft is not missing.

00:30:52.000 –> 00:30:54.000

That I am not missing. Yeah. Like, are

00:30:54.000 –> 00:30:56.000

there daily habits for you that are, like,

00:30:56.000 –> 00:30:57.000

kinda non negotiables?

00:30:59.000 –> 00:30:59.000

Coffee,

00:31:00.000 –> 00:31:03.000

a lot of coffee. I have to have

00:31:03.000 –> 00:31:05.000

three cups of coffee before I do anything

00:31:06.000 –> 00:31:07.000

in the day.

00:31:09.000 –> 00:31:10.000

You know, I

00:31:10.000 –> 00:31:13.000

go through every single morning and and check

00:31:13.000 –> 00:31:14.000

the shift notes.

00:31:14.000 –> 00:31:16.000

And so I see, you know, what happened

00:31:16.000 –> 00:31:18.000

in every single restaurant the night before

00:31:19.000 –> 00:31:22.000

from sales to to, you know,

00:31:23.000 –> 00:31:25.000

who might be in that we know, what

00:31:25.000 –> 00:31:26.000

kind of regulars we’re in,

00:31:27.000 –> 00:31:28.000

you know, anything bad that happened

00:31:29.000 –> 00:31:30.000

in that service.

00:31:30.000 –> 00:31:32.000

Oh, they making notes that, you know, John

00:31:32.000 –> 00:31:34.000

and Sally were in and they’re gonna be

00:31:34.000 –> 00:31:37.000

okay. So that just shows up Yep. So

00:31:37.000 –> 00:31:39.000

it it at the end of every night

00:31:39.000 –> 00:31:41.000

or end of every shift,

00:31:42.000 –> 00:31:45.000

each manager puts in their shift notes. And

00:31:45.000 –> 00:31:47.000

so, again, that goes sales, that goes,

00:31:47.000 –> 00:31:49.000

you know, and just what happened. Yeah. You

00:31:49.000 –> 00:31:51.000

know, give me give me a synopsis

00:31:52.000 –> 00:31:53.000

00:31:53.000 –> 00:31:54.000

00:31:54.000 –> 00:31:56.000

what went down last night. And what does

00:31:56.000 –> 00:31:57.000

that do for you in that moment? Did

00:31:57.000 –> 00:31:59.000

do you do anything with that information? Or

00:31:59.000 –> 00:32:01.000

is that more of just let’s let’s watch

00:32:01.000 –> 00:32:03.000

this, keep eye on it, or does it

00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:04.000

actually change your daily,

00:32:05.000 –> 00:32:07.000

Yeah. Some things might need a a direct

00:32:07.000 –> 00:32:07.000

follow-up,

00:32:08.000 –> 00:32:12.000

you know, or quick quick conversation. Like, what

00:32:12.000 –> 00:32:12.000

the hell?

00:32:13.000 –> 00:32:13.000

Last night.

00:32:15.000 –> 00:32:15.000

You know,

00:32:16.000 –> 00:32:18.000

or it’s just starting to kind of see

00:32:18.000 –> 00:32:20.000

patterns. You know, this is where you really,

00:32:20.000 –> 00:32:23.000

you know, just start to get a feel

00:32:23.000 –> 00:32:25.000

for for what’s going on. You might say,

00:32:25.000 –> 00:32:27.000

Hey, I need to spend I think I

00:32:27.000 –> 00:32:28.000

need to spend a little more time

00:32:29.000 –> 00:32:31.000

in this restaurant. Right? I need to to

00:32:32.000 –> 00:32:34.000

shift more of my energy over here.

00:32:35.000 –> 00:32:37.000

You know? Yeah. So I think that that

00:32:37.000 –> 00:32:40.000

always kind of like starts my day

00:32:40.000 –> 00:32:42.000

with the direction. Then I usually look at

00:32:42.000 –> 00:32:43.000

my calendar

00:32:44.000 –> 00:32:46.000

which I usually do right before I go

00:32:46.000 –> 00:32:49.000

to sleep so I can set five million

00:32:49.000 –> 00:32:49.000

alarms.

00:32:51.000 –> 00:32:53.000

Because because my memory is really, really bad.

00:32:53.000 –> 00:32:55.000

So I need five million alarms through the

00:32:55.000 –> 00:32:58.000

day to to remind me that I have

00:32:58.000 –> 00:32:59.000

something else

00:32:59.000 –> 00:32:59.000

after.

00:33:00.000 –> 00:33:00.000

But,

00:33:01.000 –> 00:33:04.000

yeah, and then I then I usually kinda

00:33:04.000 –> 00:33:04.000

head into

00:33:05.000 –> 00:33:08.000

to either my office, which is over at

00:33:08.000 –> 00:33:09.000

Boe wood,

00:33:09.000 –> 00:33:11.000

or kinda pop into one of the restaurants.

00:33:11.000 –> 00:33:12.000

And

00:33:12.000 –> 00:33:13.000

Is it exercise,

00:33:14.000 –> 00:33:15.000

eating? Is that a I mean, obviously, the

00:33:15.000 –> 00:33:17.000

restaurant whatever the heck you want. But is

00:33:17.000 –> 00:33:18.000

that is that to be a focus for

00:33:18.000 –> 00:33:19.000

you?

00:33:19.000 –> 00:33:21.000

Yeah. You know, so

00:33:21.000 –> 00:33:22.000

I try to

00:33:23.000 –> 00:33:26.000

work out every other day. Yep. It it

00:33:26.000 –> 00:33:27.000

a minimum.

00:33:27.000 –> 00:33:29.000

And, you know, that’s

00:33:29.000 –> 00:33:32.000

usually on, like, a stationary bike trainer.

00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:35.000

I live on some mountain bike trails. So,

00:33:35.000 –> 00:33:37.000

you know, when the weather’s a little nicer,

00:33:37.000 –> 00:33:39.000

I try to try to pop out on

00:33:39.000 –> 00:33:41.000

the trails. Nice.

00:33:41.000 –> 00:33:42.000

Get outside a little bit. But but that’s

00:33:42.000 –> 00:33:43.000

definitely important. And when I’m not doing

00:33:47.000 –> 00:33:48.000

that,

00:33:48.000 –> 00:33:49.000

is bad. Yeah.

00:33:50.000 –> 00:33:51.000

Need to get out. Need to Brett moving.

00:33:51.000 –> 00:33:53.000

You gotta keep your body moving. Do you

00:33:53.000 –> 00:33:54.000

have any of those moments? Like, I I

00:33:54.000 –> 00:33:56.000

hate to call them pinch me moments, but

00:33:56.000 –> 00:33:58.000

where you kinda you slow down and think

00:33:58.000 –> 00:34:00.000

about some of the things that you’re doing

00:34:00.000 –> 00:34:02.000

and some of the situations you find yourself

00:34:02.000 –> 00:34:04.000

in now from from where you’ve come from

00:34:04.000 –> 00:34:06.000

to where you’re at now. Because I I

00:34:06.000 –> 00:34:07.000

try to do that. Right? I’m like, like,

00:34:07.000 –> 00:34:09.000

this. For me, this is freaking cool. Like,

00:34:09.000 –> 00:34:10.000

this is really cool to do this. These

00:34:10.000 –> 00:34:12.000

are pinch me moments is what I would

00:34:12.000 –> 00:34:13.000

call them. Like, do you have any of

00:34:13.000 –> 00:34:15.000

those moments? And do you slow down and

00:34:15.000 –> 00:34:16.000

appreciate them enough?

00:34:17.000 –> 00:34:18.000

You know, I’m I’m pretty hard on myself.

00:34:19.000 –> 00:34:19.000

Yeah.

00:34:20.000 –> 00:34:20.000

So,

00:34:21.000 –> 00:34:23.000

you know, I I’m very grateful

00:34:24.000 –> 00:34:26.000

for everything. Yep.

00:34:27.000 –> 00:34:29.000

But, you know, I I think it’s really

00:34:29.000 –> 00:34:31.000

hard to kind of

00:34:32.000 –> 00:34:32.000

look back

00:34:33.000 –> 00:34:35.000

and just be like, oh, this is awesome.

00:34:35.000 –> 00:34:38.000

Yeah. When when something’s currently not awesome. Right?

00:34:38.000 –> 00:34:40.000

You’re like, you know, and there’s kind of

00:34:40.000 –> 00:34:43.000

always something that is currently not awesome.

00:34:44.000 –> 00:34:44.000

00:34:45.000 –> 00:34:47.000

every now and then, I definitely try to

00:34:47.000 –> 00:34:48.000

do that.

00:34:49.000 –> 00:34:51.000

You know, but it is tough. I I’m

00:34:51.000 –> 00:34:53.000

I do some stuff with,

00:34:54.000 –> 00:34:55.000

for team USA

00:34:55.000 –> 00:34:57.000

with Boku store, Oh, cool. And and those

00:34:57.000 –> 00:35:00.000

are usually pinch me moments because I’m like,

00:35:00.000 –> 00:35:02.000

oh my god. What’s going on? Thomas Keller’s

00:35:02.000 –> 00:35:05.000

over there? Daniel Blues’s over there. Like,

00:35:05.000 –> 00:35:06.000

Paul Bartelodos

00:35:06.000 –> 00:35:09.000

over there. Like, you know, we’re all just

00:35:09.000 –> 00:35:12.000

talking. And so so some sometimes, you know,

00:35:13.000 –> 00:35:15.000

I get in those moments where I’m like,

00:35:15.000 –> 00:35:18.000

I probably shouldn’t be here, but somehow I

00:35:18.000 –> 00:35:19.000

am.

00:35:19.000 –> 00:35:20.000

Yeah. Which is awesome. Can I give you

00:35:20.000 –> 00:35:22.000

an exercise on work? Uh-huh. Yeah. So I

00:35:22.000 –> 00:35:24.000

do every ninety days. I do what’s called

00:35:24.000 –> 00:35:26.000

a gratitude worksheet. I go are you a

00:35:26.000 –> 00:35:27.000

pic do you take a lot of pictures?

00:35:27.000 –> 00:35:29.000

Yeah. So I go through every ninety days

00:35:29.000 –> 00:35:31.000

the calendar quarter. So I just got done.

00:35:31.000 –> 00:35:33.000

I go through and look at every picture

00:35:33.000 –> 00:35:35.000

I took the last ninety days. And I

00:35:35.000 –> 00:35:37.000

actually write down in my journal, like, what

00:35:37.000 –> 00:35:38.000

I did. Hey, I’m sitting over here at

00:35:38.000 –> 00:35:40.000

this thing, right, for Team USA.

00:35:40.000 –> 00:35:42.000

Pretty cool. I did this. I had dinner

00:35:42.000 –> 00:35:45.000

with friends here. And so for me, it

00:35:45.000 –> 00:35:47.000

helps me every ninety days to look back

00:35:47.000 –> 00:35:49.000

on those things that normally I don’t look

00:35:49.000 –> 00:35:51.000

back on my pictures. Right? And you just

00:35:51.000 –> 00:35:52.000

take them and then you never look at

00:35:52.000 –> 00:35:53.000

them again. But what it’s helped me over

00:35:53.000 –> 00:35:55.000

the last four or five years, is to

00:35:55.000 –> 00:35:57.000

slow down to speed up, but slow down

00:35:57.000 –> 00:35:58.000

so I can look at all the things

00:35:58.000 –> 00:36:00.000

to be grateful for. And I find myself

00:36:00.000 –> 00:36:03.000

in moments like this, knowing I can’t wait

00:36:03.000 –> 00:36:05.000

to write this down on March thirty first

00:36:05.000 –> 00:36:07.000

that I Brett with Gerard Craft, and we

00:36:07.000 –> 00:36:09.000

had an awesome kick ass podcast. Right? Like,

00:36:09.000 –> 00:36:11.000

helps me be in the moment. So That’s

00:36:11.000 –> 00:36:13.000

cool. For whatever that’s worth, I should definitely

00:36:13.000 –> 00:36:14.000

try that. Maybe give it a shot. I’ll

00:36:14.000 –> 00:36:16.000

text you March thirty first and tell you

00:36:16.000 –> 00:36:17.000

to look at your camera.

00:36:17.000 –> 00:36:20.000

Any moments for you stick out where you,

00:36:20.000 –> 00:36:22.000

like, this failure, this this thing that wasn’t

00:36:22.000 –> 00:36:24.000

going well that sticks out for you that

00:36:24.000 –> 00:36:26.000

you wanna share that that you could share

00:36:26.000 –> 00:36:28.000

that had a really big moment in defining

00:36:28.000 –> 00:36:31.000

moment for you. Oh my god. How many

00:36:31.000 –> 00:36:33.000

how many failure moments do I have? You

00:36:33.000 –> 00:36:35.000

know, so failure is one of our core

00:36:35.000 –> 00:36:36.000

values. Okay.

00:36:37.000 –> 00:36:39.000

I love that. Yeah. Well, embracing

00:36:39.000 –> 00:36:40.000

it. And,

00:36:41.000 –> 00:36:43.000

and and not to say, you know, failing

00:36:43.000 –> 00:36:45.000

over and over at the same same thing,

00:36:45.000 –> 00:36:48.000

but But, you know, we we all really

00:36:48.000 –> 00:36:50.000

learn from our failures. Yep. Right? You know,

00:36:50.000 –> 00:36:51.000

I think,

00:36:52.000 –> 00:36:54.000

I I heard somebody talking recently about you

00:36:54.000 –> 00:36:56.000

know, kids who maybe,

00:36:57.000 –> 00:36:59.000

everything was easy for them in high school

00:36:59.000 –> 00:37:00.000

or something. Right? Like,

00:37:01.000 –> 00:37:01.000

you know,

00:37:02.000 –> 00:37:03.000

guy who, you know,

00:37:04.000 –> 00:37:06.000

you know, always had a date who, you

00:37:06.000 –> 00:37:08.000

know, captain of the football team or whatever

00:37:08.000 –> 00:37:12.000

often struggle later in life because they’re just

00:37:12.000 –> 00:37:14.000

They just never had to, like, hustle or

00:37:14.000 –> 00:37:16.000

figure it out to, like, get to that

00:37:16.000 –> 00:37:18.000

Yep. Next level. And,

00:37:18.000 –> 00:37:20.000

so so I think so many of the

00:37:20.000 –> 00:37:22.000

failures in my life So maybe maybe I’m

00:37:22.000 –> 00:37:25.000

more successful because I’ve failed so damn much.

00:37:26.000 –> 00:37:28.000

It’s like, let’s get a sky break. Yeah.

00:37:28.000 –> 00:37:29.000

You know, and and,

00:37:30.000 –> 00:37:32.000

increasingly in still do. So I think failures

00:37:33.000 –> 00:37:33.000

are always,

00:37:35.000 –> 00:37:38.000

always huge. You know, I think niche Nish

00:37:38.000 –> 00:37:41.000

was a huge lesson in failure.

00:37:42.000 –> 00:37:44.000

And, you know, I think Nish, everybody looked

00:37:44.000 –> 00:37:46.000

at Nish, is this, like, trajectory

00:37:47.000 –> 00:37:49.000

from two thousand five to, you know, James

00:37:49.000 –> 00:37:51.000

Beard award, Foon wine, best new chef,

00:37:52.000 –> 00:37:54.000

and just kind of like just kept seeing

00:37:54.000 –> 00:37:56.000

these things rack up.

00:37:56.000 –> 00:37:57.000

But I think

00:37:59.000 –> 00:37:59.000

definitely

00:38:00.000 –> 00:38:01.000

there were two times that we were

00:38:02.000 –> 00:38:05.000

hairs away from going out of business

00:38:05.000 –> 00:38:07.000

that I was talking to people in New

00:38:07.000 –> 00:38:09.000

York and DC about jobs.

00:38:11.000 –> 00:38:12.000

You know, so

00:38:12.000 –> 00:38:14.000

Like, I have been,

00:38:15.000 –> 00:38:17.000

you know, two thousand eight financial crisis.

00:38:20.000 –> 00:38:21.000

Was was definitely,

00:38:22.000 –> 00:38:24.000

you know, it was actually probably two thousand

00:38:24.000 –> 00:38:27.000

ten. Right? So, like, the tail and when

00:38:27.000 –> 00:38:29.000

everything I feel like in Saint Louis was

00:38:29.000 –> 00:38:30.000

was way harder.

00:38:32.000 –> 00:38:34.000

And they had just shut our highway down.

00:38:35.000 –> 00:38:37.000

Highway forty, which is like the main way

00:38:37.000 –> 00:38:39.000

to get to niche back then,

00:38:40.000 –> 00:38:40.000

and,

00:38:41.000 –> 00:38:43.000

and it was brutal. And, you know, I

00:38:43.000 –> 00:38:44.000

think working

00:38:44.000 –> 00:38:47.000

working our way through that, you know, taught

00:38:47.000 –> 00:38:48.000

us a lot. I mean, it taught me

00:38:48.000 –> 00:38:50.000

a lot about finance because Yep. Because I

00:38:50.000 –> 00:38:52.000

think I did not

00:38:53.000 –> 00:38:54.000

understand finances

00:38:54.000 –> 00:38:56.000

as well as I needed to

00:38:56.000 –> 00:38:57.000

at that point.

00:38:58.000 –> 00:38:58.000

And,

00:38:59.000 –> 00:39:00.000

you know, I

00:39:00.000 –> 00:39:02.000

you you learned so many of these lessons,

00:39:02.000 –> 00:39:04.000

and we call a lot of these things

00:39:04.000 –> 00:39:05.000

failure capital.

00:39:06.000 –> 00:39:07.000

And,

00:39:08.000 –> 00:39:10.000

you know, one one of our biggest failure

00:39:10.000 –> 00:39:11.000

capitals was Pirano.

00:39:11.000 –> 00:39:15.000

Which we’re reopening now. And it’s like this

00:39:15.000 –> 00:39:17.000

this stock that you have. All these failures

00:39:17.000 –> 00:39:19.000

are things to build on later. So Pirano

00:39:19.000 –> 00:39:20.000

didn’t make it downtown.

00:39:21.000 –> 00:39:23.000

You know, but here we are seven years

00:39:23.000 –> 00:39:24.000

later

00:39:24.000 –> 00:39:26.000

about to open, you know, in a few

00:39:26.000 –> 00:39:28.000

months and to pair

00:39:28.000 –> 00:39:29.000

with another one.

00:39:30.000 –> 00:39:32.000

You know, I think it’s

00:39:33.000 –> 00:39:35.000

sometimes things don’t happen

00:39:35.000 –> 00:39:38.000

the way they’re supposed to happen because of

00:39:38.000 –> 00:39:39.000

the time.

00:39:39.000 –> 00:39:42.000

Right? You know, maybe it was too soon.

00:39:43.000 –> 00:39:46.000

Or something like that, you know. So I

00:39:46.000 –> 00:39:48.000

don’t know. I stack all my failures

00:39:48.000 –> 00:39:50.000

away in a file that I can kind

00:39:50.000 –> 00:39:53.000

of reach back to at any point in

00:39:53.000 –> 00:39:55.000

time. Would would you say you’re a guy

00:39:55.000 –> 00:39:55.000

that

00:39:56.000 –> 00:39:57.000

do you dwell on the failure for a

00:39:57.000 –> 00:39:59.000

long time, or is it kind of bounce?

00:39:59.000 –> 00:40:01.000

I because I called the bounce theory. Right?

00:40:01.000 –> 00:40:02.000

If I get bad news, I go to

00:40:02.000 –> 00:40:03.000

my journal

00:40:03.000 –> 00:40:05.000

I mean, literally, it could be within the

00:40:05.000 –> 00:40:07.000

hour of, like, alright. Here’s how I’m gonna

00:40:07.000 –> 00:40:09.000

get out of this Right? And I try

00:40:09.000 –> 00:40:10.000

to create a plan. I’m a planner. Right?

00:40:10.000 –> 00:40:11.000

So I try to create a plan of

00:40:11.000 –> 00:40:13.000

how I’m gonna get out of that. Is

00:40:13.000 –> 00:40:14.000

that something that you do? Are you more

00:40:14.000 –> 00:40:15.000

of a,

00:40:15.000 –> 00:40:16.000

yeah, maybe I’ll

00:40:17.000 –> 00:40:18.000

let it sit there for a while, and

00:40:18.000 –> 00:40:20.000

eventually I’ll think of something or like, how

00:40:20.000 –> 00:40:22.000

does that work for you? No. I’m a

00:40:22.000 –> 00:40:23.000

fighter. Okay. Yeah.

00:40:23.000 –> 00:40:25.000

The same way. Right? You’re just gonna put

00:40:25.000 –> 00:40:27.000

a plan together and fight. Let’s go. Going

00:40:27.000 –> 00:40:28.000

after it in some

00:40:28.000 –> 00:40:31.000

way in some way, shit. Probably sometimes I

00:40:31.000 –> 00:40:33.000

should probably should step back. No problem. But

00:40:33.000 –> 00:40:37.000

you’re confirming. Deeper Brett. And, you know, and

00:40:37.000 –> 00:40:38.000

and really think it through. But, you know,

00:40:38.000 –> 00:40:40.000

I think in those moments, you know, the

00:40:40.000 –> 00:40:42.000

fight or flight kinda comes out and you

00:40:42.000 –> 00:40:44.000

start going for it. You’re confirming what I’m

00:40:44.000 –> 00:40:46.000

saying. The bounce back theory is what I

00:40:46.000 –> 00:40:48.000

call it. Right? Because the I’ve seen it

00:40:48.000 –> 00:40:50.000

now for twenty two years in business now

00:40:50.000 –> 00:40:51.000

three hundred. And when I say earlier, three

00:40:51.000 –> 00:40:54.000

hundred and sixty nine interviews later, like, the

00:40:54.000 –> 00:40:56.000

most successful people bounce back immediately. Right? They

00:40:56.000 –> 00:40:58.000

don’t dwell on it. They don’t have a

00:40:58.000 –> 00:40:59.000

pity party. They just get up and they

00:40:59.000 –> 00:41:01.000

go and they fight. And whether that’s fighting

00:41:01.000 –> 00:41:03.000

or putting your plan together, whatever it is,

00:41:03.000 –> 00:41:04.000

you gotta go take action and go make

00:41:04.000 –> 00:41:06.000

things happen. And and that’s what, again, I’ve

00:41:06.000 –> 00:41:09.000

seen for two decades now the most successful

00:41:09.000 –> 00:41:11.000

people don’t dwell on it. They go make

00:41:11.000 –> 00:41:13.000

it happen. So I definitely have a little

00:41:13.000 –> 00:41:15.000

private pity party for myself.

00:41:16.000 –> 00:41:18.000

Pick up customers, you know, get pissed off.

00:41:19.000 –> 00:41:22.000

Let’s talk about work life integration. Most people

00:41:22.000 –> 00:41:23.000

laugh when I say that because there’s work

00:41:23.000 –> 00:41:25.000

life balance. I don’t believe in there’s work

00:41:25.000 –> 00:41:27.000

life integration. Right? So you’re opening a new

00:41:27.000 –> 00:41:27.000

place.

00:41:28.000 –> 00:41:30.000

There’s no balance, man. You’re you’re probably here

00:41:30.000 –> 00:41:31.000

doing a lot of stuff. Right? So how

00:41:31.000 –> 00:41:34.000

do you work on that work life integration

00:41:34.000 –> 00:41:35.000

part in life.

00:41:35.000 –> 00:41:36.000

Yeah. You know,

00:41:37.000 –> 00:41:41.000

I don’t believe him work like balance. I

00:41:41.000 –> 00:41:43.000

don’t think that’s a Yeah. It’s not that

00:41:43.000 –> 00:41:45.000

I don’t believe or want it. Yeah. Right.

00:41:45.000 –> 00:41:48.000

I just don’t know that it’s always entirely

00:41:48.000 –> 00:41:50.000

possible. You know, you For sure.

00:41:51.000 –> 00:41:53.000

And I hate for people to tell people

00:41:53.000 –> 00:41:55.000

that it is. Right. Right? Like, oh, yeah.

00:41:55.000 –> 00:41:57.000

You can be super successful and do all

00:41:57.000 –> 00:41:58.000

these things, but

00:41:59.000 –> 00:42:01.000

but you’re also only gonna work eight hours

00:42:01.000 –> 00:42:03.000

a day. And then, like, that’s never gonna

00:42:03.000 –> 00:42:05.000

happen. I mean, I’m sure it does, yeah,

00:42:05.000 –> 00:42:08.000

occasionally, but it’s is definitely the exception of

00:42:08.000 –> 00:42:10.000

the rule. And,

00:42:10.000 –> 00:42:12.000

I don’t know. You know, I try to,

00:42:12.000 –> 00:42:15.000

do things that that I enjoy doing. I

00:42:15.000 –> 00:42:16.000

enjoy creating

00:42:17.000 –> 00:42:20.000

You know, I really enjoy this Yep. This

00:42:20.000 –> 00:42:20.000

work.

00:42:21.000 –> 00:42:23.000

I enjoy the people

00:42:24.000 –> 00:42:26.000

that I get to to work with

00:42:27.000 –> 00:42:28.000

you know, and then I try to, you

00:42:28.000 –> 00:42:31.000

know, like my business partner and I’ll pretty

00:42:31.000 –> 00:42:34.000

much do our meetings, like, on a bike

00:42:34.000 –> 00:42:36.000

or something like that. So, you know, that’s

00:42:36.000 –> 00:42:38.000

always a a great way to do it.

00:42:38.000 –> 00:42:39.000

I I met up with somebody from meeting

00:42:39.000 –> 00:42:42.000

yesterday on a bike, and it was awesome.

00:42:43.000 –> 00:42:45.000

You know, so, you know, I would say

00:42:45.000 –> 00:42:47.000

to your point of integration, that’s kind of

00:42:47.000 –> 00:42:50.000

one of those those types of moments. But,

00:42:51.000 –> 00:42:52.000

or, you know,

00:42:53.000 –> 00:42:54.000

is some of the things I get to

00:42:54.000 –> 00:42:56.000

do, you know, some of the the boards

00:42:56.000 –> 00:42:59.000

I join or or whatever, you know, involve

00:42:59.000 –> 00:43:02.000

some some travel to some really cool places.

00:43:02.000 –> 00:43:03.000

And,

00:43:03.000 –> 00:43:04.000

you know,

00:43:04.000 –> 00:43:07.000

or events, you know, in really cool places.

00:43:08.000 –> 00:43:09.000

So I don’t know, you know, try to

00:43:09.000 –> 00:43:10.000

have fun with it.

00:43:11.000 –> 00:43:13.000

At the same time, but, you know,

00:43:13.000 –> 00:43:14.000

it’s,

00:43:14.000 –> 00:43:16.000

you know, it’s it’s what you choose in

00:43:16.000 –> 00:43:18.000

life. I don’t think everybody needs to choose

00:43:18.000 –> 00:43:20.000

that, and I don’t think it you know,

00:43:20.000 –> 00:43:22.000

I don’t think being an entrepreneur is for,

00:43:22.000 –> 00:43:25.000

as you know, is not for everybody. No.

00:43:25.000 –> 00:43:27.000

And that’s where that balance is BS. Right?

00:43:27.000 –> 00:43:29.000

Because, again, you could have I I just

00:43:29.000 –> 00:43:30.000

got back from a seven or eight days

00:43:30.000 –> 00:43:31.000

on vacation.

00:43:31.000 –> 00:43:33.000

My work life balance was not there was

00:43:33.000 –> 00:43:35.000

no work. Yeah. Right? All fan And then

00:43:35.000 –> 00:43:37.000

but then when you got something going on,

00:43:37.000 –> 00:43:38.000

you could have a lot more work than

00:43:38.000 –> 00:43:40.000

family time. So I agree. I think it’s

00:43:40.000 –> 00:43:42.000

BS, and that’s why I like the integration

00:43:42.000 –> 00:43:44.000

part. What How do you how do you

00:43:44.000 –> 00:43:46.000

personally continue your passion, your drive,

00:43:47.000 –> 00:43:47.000

your purpose,

00:43:48.000 –> 00:43:50.000

staying a student in the game? How do

00:43:50.000 –> 00:43:51.000

you how do you do that?

00:43:51.000 –> 00:43:53.000

One I read a lot.

00:43:54.000 –> 00:43:54.000

You know,

00:43:55.000 –> 00:43:56.000

and that’s everything from,

00:43:57.000 –> 00:43:58.000

you know, cookbooks to,

00:44:00.000 –> 00:44:01.000

to,

00:44:02.000 –> 00:44:04.000

leadership books and,

00:44:04.000 –> 00:44:06.000

you know, I try to study a lot

00:44:06.000 –> 00:44:09.000

and, you know, diving into, to internet, you

00:44:09.000 –> 00:44:12.000

know, just to to continue to

00:44:12.000 –> 00:44:14.000

learn whatever that may be, that may be

00:44:14.000 –> 00:44:17.000

business, that may be leadership, that may be

00:44:17.000 –> 00:44:19.000

a new recipe that maybe,

00:44:20.000 –> 00:44:20.000

design,

00:44:21.000 –> 00:44:22.000

but I’m kind of always

00:44:23.000 –> 00:44:23.000

always

00:44:24.000 –> 00:44:27.000

looking, always have my eyes open, always

00:44:27.000 –> 00:44:28.000

thinking,

00:44:28.000 –> 00:44:30.000

and I travel I try to travel as

00:44:30.000 –> 00:44:33.000

much as possible, because I think travel Gilliland

00:44:33.000 –> 00:44:36.000

reading have been the two biggest influences

00:44:37.000 –> 00:44:39.000

in my career period.

00:44:40.000 –> 00:44:41.000

Seventy two hours from now, where are you

00:44:41.000 –> 00:44:44.000

gonna be? I’m gonna be in Italy. Yeah.

00:44:44.000 –> 00:44:45.000

So I guess when this airs, I’ll be

00:44:45.000 –> 00:44:46.000

back from Italy, but,

00:44:47.000 –> 00:44:48.000

but that’s, you know,

00:44:48.000 –> 00:44:50.000

Europe’s my favorite place in the world.

00:44:52.000 –> 00:44:54.000

You know, and so getting getting to Italy

00:44:54.000 –> 00:44:56.000

is always always a treat. Let’s put it

00:44:56.000 –> 00:44:57.000

on the list.

00:44:58.000 –> 00:44:59.000

How do you balance risk versus

00:45:00.000 –> 00:45:01.000

caution? Right? Cause

00:45:02.000 –> 00:45:03.000

this is a risk. Right? The the next

00:45:03.000 –> 00:45:05.000

place is a risk. But I think so

00:45:05.000 –> 00:45:07.000

many times what I’ve seen is people, the

00:45:07.000 –> 00:45:10.000

old saying paralysis by analysis, right, is you

00:45:10.000 –> 00:45:12.000

don’t trust your gut. You don’t trust your

00:45:12.000 –> 00:45:14.000

business part. You don’t make the decision to

00:45:14.000 –> 00:45:17.000

go. How do you manage those two things?

00:45:17.000 –> 00:45:19.000

I probably don’t manage. I probably take

00:45:20.000 –> 00:45:22.000

too I I lean on the too much

00:45:22.000 –> 00:45:22.000

risk.

00:45:23.000 –> 00:45:25.000

Side of things, and it drives me crazy

00:45:25.000 –> 00:45:27.000

when So you’re always looking to risk yourself.

00:45:27.000 –> 00:45:28.000

Analytical

00:45:28.000 –> 00:45:30.000

about it? No. I’m I’m always taking risks.

00:45:30.000 –> 00:45:32.000

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m like, yeah. Let’s

00:45:32.000 –> 00:45:34.000

let’s do it. Yeah. I think sometimes sometimes

00:45:35.000 –> 00:45:36.000

I should, you know, step back a little

00:45:36.000 –> 00:45:38.000

more and ask more questions but It doesn’t

00:45:38.000 –> 00:45:40.000

wanna walk down a really cool hallway in

00:45:40.000 –> 00:45:42.000

this place, man. I mean, this was an

00:45:42.000 –> 00:45:43.000

easy one. This the

00:45:43.000 –> 00:45:45.000

some some are a little harder

00:45:45.000 –> 00:45:46.000

than others.

00:45:47.000 –> 00:45:49.000

But, you know, I think I as I

00:45:49.000 –> 00:45:52.000

get older, I’m I’m trying to train myself

00:45:52.000 –> 00:45:54.000

to take a little less

00:45:54.000 –> 00:45:56.000

Yeah. Risk.

00:45:57.000 –> 00:45:58.000

And

00:45:58.000 –> 00:46:01.000

and that won’t be obvious to anybody looking

00:46:01.000 –> 00:46:03.000

at all of our plans because we’re

00:46:03.000 –> 00:46:06.000

constantly opening, but it’s maybe what I’m opening.

00:46:06.000 –> 00:46:06.000

Yep.

00:46:07.000 –> 00:46:08.000

That that shows

00:46:09.000 –> 00:46:10.000

how I’m pulling back.

00:46:12.000 –> 00:46:14.000

Love that. So last few questions here.

00:46:15.000 –> 00:46:17.000

When when you hear the word fear, I

00:46:17.000 –> 00:46:19.000

ask this question almost everybody is, how many

00:46:19.000 –> 00:46:21.000

of the fears you’ve put in your mind

00:46:21.000 –> 00:46:23.000

have actually blown up to the magnitude you

00:46:23.000 –> 00:46:24.000

put them in your mind to be?

00:46:27.000 –> 00:46:27.000

Oh, that’s

00:46:28.000 –> 00:46:29.000

that’s interesting.

00:46:34.000 –> 00:46:35.000

Well, so far,

00:46:36.000 –> 00:46:39.000

so far none of them have. You knocked

00:46:39.000 –> 00:46:41.000

out a little earlier. Right? Yeah. And, and

00:46:41.000 –> 00:46:42.000

I am a very superstitious

00:46:43.000 –> 00:46:45.000

human being. I usually do five knocks on

00:46:45.000 –> 00:46:47.000

the bed for some reason. Three on wood.

00:46:47.000 –> 00:46:48.000

I don’t know. It’s a weird thing.

00:46:49.000 –> 00:46:51.000

I’ve probably driven Claire,

00:46:51.000 –> 00:46:53.000

absolutely insane with all of the lines. I

00:46:53.000 –> 00:46:55.000

noticed it. I said a couple things Gilliland

00:46:55.000 –> 00:46:56.000

you did the three knock in the wood.

00:46:56.000 –> 00:46:58.000

And I’m like, god, that guy’s just like

00:46:58.000 –> 00:46:59.000

me, my son, my second son, especially, man,

00:46:59.000 –> 00:47:01.000

where he does the five knocks on his

00:47:01.000 –> 00:47:03.000

head as well. That, for some reason, that

00:47:03.000 –> 00:47:04.000

thing that works, it just puts me at

00:47:04.000 –> 00:47:06.000

peace, and I feel good about it. Yeah.

00:47:06.000 –> 00:47:09.000

You know, I think fear fears, again, one

00:47:09.000 –> 00:47:11.000

of those things that I probably need a

00:47:11.000 –> 00:47:12.000

touch

00:47:12.000 –> 00:47:14.000

touch more of, you know, and I think

00:47:14.000 –> 00:47:14.000

that

00:47:15.000 –> 00:47:17.000

that quite honestly, you know, going through the

00:47:17.000 –> 00:47:20.000

great recession as a business owner and going

00:47:20.000 –> 00:47:21.000

through,

00:47:22.000 –> 00:47:24.000

COVID have definitely, you know,

00:47:25.000 –> 00:47:27.000

added a little to that. You know, they’ve

00:47:27.000 –> 00:47:28.000

they’ve helped me,

00:47:29.000 –> 00:47:31.000

be like, hey, everything can be gone

00:47:32.000 –> 00:47:32.000

tomorrow.

00:47:33.000 –> 00:47:33.000

Yeah.

00:47:33.000 –> 00:47:35.000

And I think that’s,

00:47:35.000 –> 00:47:37.000

you know, some of those things are important

00:47:37.000 –> 00:47:40.000

to to take into account when you’re when

00:47:40.000 –> 00:47:43.000

you’re building an actual business. Like, are you

00:47:43.000 –> 00:47:44.000

really building a foundation

00:47:45.000 –> 00:47:47.000

that you can that you can stand or

00:47:47.000 –> 00:47:49.000

you’re just kind of building a ton of

00:47:49.000 –> 00:47:50.000

stuff on quicksand.

00:47:50.000 –> 00:47:52.000

And I think that that’s really my focus,

00:47:53.000 –> 00:47:55.000

you know, for the next five years is

00:47:55.000 –> 00:47:57.000

is all in in real

00:47:58.000 –> 00:47:59.000

large foundational

00:47:59.000 –> 00:48:00.000

work.

00:48:00.000 –> 00:48:02.000

Yep. So our name of our firm is

00:48:02.000 –> 00:48:04.000

visionary wealth advisors. So a name like at

00:48:04.000 –> 00:48:07.000

by definition, it’s, you know, helping helping people

00:48:07.000 –> 00:48:08.000

achieve a future, right, greater than your past.

00:48:08.000 –> 00:48:10.000

And that’s our mission statement, helping you achieve

00:48:10.000 –> 00:48:12.000

a future greater than your past. So when

00:48:12.000 –> 00:48:13.000

you hear those words,

00:48:14.000 –> 00:48:16.000

future greater than past, what comes to mind

00:48:16.000 –> 00:48:16.000

for you?

00:48:17.000 –> 00:48:19.000

I mean, so, you know, my five year

00:48:19.000 –> 00:48:19.000

plan.

00:48:22.000 –> 00:48:24.000

Would would kind of be just that. You

00:48:24.000 –> 00:48:24.000

know, I think

00:48:26.000 –> 00:48:27.000

we we have a pretty set vision of

00:48:27.000 –> 00:48:30.000

where we wanna see this company be.

00:48:30.000 –> 00:48:32.000

In five years and who we want it

00:48:32.000 –> 00:48:34.000

to be competing with and,

00:48:35.000 –> 00:48:37.000

what field we want it to be playing

00:48:37.000 –> 00:48:38.000

on.

00:48:39.000 –> 00:48:42.000

And and that is a lot bigger than

00:48:42.000 –> 00:48:43.000

it is today.

00:48:44.000 –> 00:48:46.000

You know, so so growth is a big

00:48:46.000 –> 00:48:47.000

part of our

00:48:48.000 –> 00:48:48.000

our vision,

00:48:49.000 –> 00:48:50.000

but it’s also,

00:48:52.000 –> 00:48:54.000

a very very focused growth.

00:48:55.000 –> 00:48:57.000

Yeah. Is that who’s in that room? Like,

00:48:57.000 –> 00:48:58.000

how many people are in that room, not

00:48:58.000 –> 00:49:00.000

necessarily names? But who how many people are

00:49:00.000 –> 00:49:02.000

in that room? And what’s that process look

00:49:02.000 –> 00:49:04.000

like for you to to build that vision

00:49:04.000 –> 00:49:05.000

out?

00:49:05.000 –> 00:49:06.000

Sure.

00:49:06.000 –> 00:49:08.000

You know, so our CFO

00:49:08.000 –> 00:49:08.000

and,

00:49:09.000 –> 00:49:12.000

and our chief operating officer, Kate Wolverton.

00:49:13.000 –> 00:49:15.000

I mean, she’s really kinda like

00:49:16.000 –> 00:49:17.000

you know, my right hand,

00:49:18.000 –> 00:49:20.000

and then the business partners, you know, our

00:49:20.000 –> 00:49:21.000

investors,

00:49:23.000 –> 00:49:24.000

So they’re sitting here kinda deciding, here’s what

00:49:24.000 –> 00:49:26.000

we’re gonna do. Here’s how many restaurants we

00:49:26.000 –> 00:49:28.000

wanna open or whatever it may be deciding

00:49:28.000 –> 00:49:30.000

that. And then how often are you looking

00:49:30.000 –> 00:49:31.000

at that?

00:49:31.000 –> 00:49:34.000

All the time. Yeah. Yeah. We’re we’re constantly

00:49:34.000 –> 00:49:34.000

evaluating

00:49:35.000 –> 00:49:38.000

different different deals on a regular basis. You

00:49:38.000 –> 00:49:40.000

know, if I I told people, you know,

00:49:41.000 –> 00:49:44.000

Sometimes I think it is worrisome to to

00:49:44.000 –> 00:49:47.000

people because because we’re constantly talking about deals.

00:49:47.000 –> 00:49:49.000

Yeah. You know, I mean, they’re like

00:49:49.000 –> 00:49:51.000

every week. They probably come across your desk

00:49:51.000 –> 00:49:53.000

all the time too. Right? And so, you

00:49:53.000 –> 00:49:54.000

know, when

00:49:54.000 –> 00:49:56.000

I think at first, it’s really hard for

00:49:56.000 –> 00:49:59.000

some people to be have those conversations and

00:49:59.000 –> 00:50:01.000

then you turn those down or whatever. Well,

00:50:01.000 –> 00:50:03.000

what happened to that one? Yeah. I’m like,

00:50:03.000 –> 00:50:05.000

yeah, it’s gone. Yeah. I didn’t feel right.

00:50:05.000 –> 00:50:08.000

You know, so I think we’re we’re evaluating

00:50:08.000 –> 00:50:10.000

all the time. So you are the chief

00:50:10.000 –> 00:50:11.000

flavor officer

00:50:11.000 –> 00:50:13.000

for the hat you’re supporting there. So I’m

00:50:13.000 –> 00:50:15.000

a City SC, baby. That was awesome. Great

00:50:15.000 –> 00:50:17.000

for a year. So talk to us about

00:50:17.000 –> 00:50:17.000

soccer. What’s,

00:50:18.000 –> 00:50:20.000

what are you excited about there? So funny.

00:50:20.000 –> 00:50:22.000

I was not a soccer fan growing up.

00:50:23.000 –> 00:50:25.000

I played one season of soccer. No. And

00:50:25.000 –> 00:50:27.000

I suck. And it really made me mad.

00:50:27.000 –> 00:50:30.000

I was I was a great baseball player

00:50:30.000 –> 00:50:31.000

at the time, and,

00:50:32.000 –> 00:50:33.000

I did not like,

00:50:34.000 –> 00:50:36.000

how bad I was. And so that was

00:50:36.000 –> 00:50:39.000

it for me. And so it wasn’t until

00:50:39.000 –> 00:50:40.000

I got involved with,

00:50:41.000 –> 00:50:43.000

Carolyn Kindle. Yep. And,

00:50:44.000 –> 00:50:45.000

and

00:50:45.000 –> 00:50:49.000

and, Lee Brett over at City SC. Mhmm.

00:50:49.000 –> 00:50:51.000

That I started to really fall in love

00:50:51.000 –> 00:50:52.000

with soccer.

00:50:53.000 –> 00:50:55.000

And, you know, it’s been an amazing journey

00:50:55.000 –> 00:50:56.000

so far. I think,

00:50:59.000 –> 00:51:00.000

I’ve been working with them for, I guess,

00:51:00.000 –> 00:51:04.000

four years. Wow. Now on this. And,

00:51:04.000 –> 00:51:06.000

you know, we’re got a lot of really

00:51:06.000 –> 00:51:09.000

exciting things planned for the next season.

00:51:09.000 –> 00:51:12.000

Season one was was the coolest experience. You

00:51:12.000 –> 00:51:13.000

know, I think,

00:51:14.000 –> 00:51:16.000

I I missed one game. I think I

00:51:16.000 –> 00:51:18.000

was out of town, but,

00:51:18.000 –> 00:51:20.000

And you know, getting to see those games,

00:51:20.000 –> 00:51:21.000

the energy,

00:51:22.000 –> 00:51:24.000

feeling, you know, getting to work with so

00:51:24.000 –> 00:51:25.000

many great local

00:51:26.000 –> 00:51:29.000

restaurant partners. Yeah. You know, in in setting

00:51:29.000 –> 00:51:31.000

that up. It’s it’s just been it’s been

00:51:31.000 –> 00:51:33.000

one of the highlights of my career for

00:51:33.000 –> 00:51:35.000

sure. Talk about that real quick. For the

00:51:35.000 –> 00:51:37.000

person maybe has not been there or that’s

00:51:37.000 –> 00:51:39.000

from another town or city, listen to this.

00:51:40.000 –> 00:51:42.000

What’s different about it than say the traditional,

00:51:42.000 –> 00:51:44.000

you know, professional sports stadium? Yeah. So it’s

00:51:44.000 –> 00:51:46.000

it’s different in a number of ways. When

00:51:46.000 –> 00:51:49.000

you go to a a professional stadium

00:51:49.000 –> 00:51:51.000

and you see, say, one of you, you

00:51:51.000 –> 00:51:53.000

know, some local restaurant there. And and there’s

00:51:53.000 –> 00:51:56.000

usually maybe like one or two in that

00:51:56.000 –> 00:51:57.000

in that spot.

00:51:57.000 –> 00:52:00.000

Oftentimes, it’s actually being run by

00:52:00.000 –> 00:52:04.000

the stadium itself. So the stadium managers. Yep.

00:52:04.000 –> 00:52:07.000

And so we’ve done things a lot different.

00:52:07.000 –> 00:52:09.000

It at, City Park,

00:52:09.000 –> 00:52:11.000

and all of our

00:52:12.000 –> 00:52:13.000

all of our vendors

00:52:13.000 –> 00:52:16.000

run their own stalls So these are all,

00:52:16.000 –> 00:52:17.000

you know, local businesses.

00:52:17.000 –> 00:52:20.000

And and I think we have something like

00:52:20.000 –> 00:52:23.000

twenty four. Wow. Right now, local restaurant partners

00:52:24.000 –> 00:52:25.000

throughout the stadium.

00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:26.000

And quite often, you see the owner of

00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:27.000

all of these businesses right there

00:52:31.000 –> 00:52:33.000

you know, whether it’s,

00:52:33.000 –> 00:52:36.000

Steve viewing handing out hot dogs, Lauren Nalek,

00:52:36.000 –> 00:52:38.000

over there at Balkan

00:52:38.000 –> 00:52:39.000

Treatbox.

00:52:40.000 –> 00:52:42.000

You know, when they’re standing right there,

00:52:42.000 –> 00:52:45.000

you know, working working the events and and

00:52:45.000 –> 00:52:46.000

is really made for a unique experience because

00:52:46.000 –> 00:52:47.000

I think not

00:52:49.000 –> 00:52:50.000

only

00:52:50.000 –> 00:52:53.000

are you getting the best of the best,

00:52:54.000 –> 00:52:56.000

you know, as far as restaurants, but then

00:52:56.000 –> 00:52:59.000

you’re also getting the highest quality from those

00:52:59.000 –> 00:53:00.000

because they’re doing it themselves. Yep.

00:53:01.000 –> 00:53:02.000

Which is in line with the values of

00:53:02.000 –> 00:53:04.000

that organization, hence the name of the team.

00:53:04.000 –> 00:53:06.000

I mean, they could have chosen anything, the

00:53:06.000 –> 00:53:08.000

logo, the rivers, the arch. I mean, all

00:53:08.000 –> 00:53:09.000

the stuff that goes with that, I think,

00:53:09.000 –> 00:53:11.000

is cool that they’re connected to the city

00:53:11.000 –> 00:53:12.000

the way. And then what they’ve done for

00:53:12.000 –> 00:53:14.000

the city is as a family’s you know,

00:53:14.000 –> 00:53:17.000

ridiculous. I mean talking about a group of

00:53:17.000 –> 00:53:20.000

people who walk the talk. Yeah. I mean,

00:53:21.000 –> 00:53:23.000

the the the owners of the ownership group

00:53:23.000 –> 00:53:25.000

at City SC and everybody

00:53:26.000 –> 00:53:28.000

who works there, you know, my my

00:53:30.000 –> 00:53:32.000

My main point of contact is always Matt

00:53:32.000 –> 00:53:34.000

Seabek, and I don’t know if you know

00:53:34.000 –> 00:53:36.000

him. No. But he’s the chief experience officer.

00:53:36.000 –> 00:53:39.000

Down there. So everything you touch at the

00:53:39.000 –> 00:53:39.000

stadium,

00:53:40.000 –> 00:53:43.000

you know, he’s kind of waiting on in

00:53:43.000 –> 00:53:45.000

in some way, shape, or form. And he’s,

00:53:45.000 –> 00:53:46.000

you know, obsessive

00:53:46.000 –> 00:53:48.000

know, whether it’s, you know, the lighting and

00:53:48.000 –> 00:53:49.000

the music and,

00:53:50.000 –> 00:53:52.000

you know, you know, when the all the

00:53:52.000 –> 00:53:53.000

lights go out at the stadium, you know,

00:53:53.000 –> 00:53:55.000

like Such a cool. You know, he’s obsessing

00:53:56.000 –> 00:53:58.000

about all that stuff. And it’s it’s really

00:53:58.000 –> 00:54:00.000

cool. You know, their whole they have their

00:54:00.000 –> 00:54:00.000

own,

00:54:02.000 –> 00:54:05.000

production team. You know, making videos and everything,

00:54:05.000 –> 00:54:07.000

and all of those guys are like movie

00:54:07.000 –> 00:54:09.000

level producers.

00:54:09.000 –> 00:54:12.000

They’re they’re incredible. And and again, all you

00:54:12.000 –> 00:54:15.000

know, so obsessed with with what they do

00:54:15.000 –> 00:54:18.000

and making that experience Brett. And there’s just

00:54:18.000 –> 00:54:20.000

no way when you have that many people

00:54:20.000 –> 00:54:23.000

who care so much about what they’re doing,

00:54:23.000 –> 00:54:24.000

but you’re not gonna have a great experience.

00:54:24.000 –> 00:54:26.000

Right. And and the and the experience of

00:54:26.000 –> 00:54:28.000

what the fans got from the team. Yeah.

00:54:28.000 –> 00:54:30.000

And then the team. Right. I mean,

00:54:30.000 –> 00:54:32.000

clients who hold the pitch. Right?

00:54:33.000 –> 00:54:35.000

Show up so big and are just also

00:54:35.000 –> 00:54:37.000

so nice. Yeah. You know, you know,

00:54:38.000 –> 00:54:40.000

definitely took a page from the the cardinals

00:54:40.000 –> 00:54:42.000

and stuff like that. These guys are, you

00:54:42.000 –> 00:54:44.000

know, class acts. Yep. So talk to us

00:54:44.000 –> 00:54:46.000

about what’s gonna be happening stairs here. We’re

00:54:46.000 –> 00:54:48.000

we’re in the basement of, city foundry right

00:54:48.000 –> 00:54:50.000

now, but you got expats,

00:54:50.000 –> 00:54:52.000

expats coming in there. Right? Yeah. If I

00:54:52.000 –> 00:54:54.000

say that correctly. Pat Barbecue. Yeah.

00:54:55.000 –> 00:54:56.000

Talk to us about that. And that’s opening

00:54:57.000 –> 00:54:59.000

sometime this summer. Yeah. So we’re looking at

00:54:59.000 –> 00:55:01.000

at June opening. K.

00:55:02.000 –> 00:55:04.000

And in the tag line for expats,

00:55:04.000 –> 00:55:05.000

expat,

00:55:05.000 –> 00:55:07.000

well traveled barbecue.

00:55:07.000 –> 00:55:09.000

And, you know, the idea behind it is

00:55:09.000 –> 00:55:10.000

00:55:11.000 –> 00:55:14.000

look through the eyes of American barbecue with

00:55:14.000 –> 00:55:16.000

a filter on it. And that filter is

00:55:16.000 –> 00:55:18.000

how would you cook American barbecue

00:55:19.000 –> 00:55:20.000

if you were living

00:55:21.000 –> 00:55:24.000

in Spain. If you were living in Africa,

00:55:24.000 –> 00:55:26.000

you know, if you were living in,

00:55:27.000 –> 00:55:28.000

in China,

00:55:28.000 –> 00:55:30.000

And so, you know, what would your pantry

00:55:31.000 –> 00:55:31.000

look like?

00:55:32.000 –> 00:55:32.000

And,

00:55:33.000 –> 00:55:35.000

you know, how would you season your meat?

00:55:35.000 –> 00:55:36.000

How would you

00:55:37.000 –> 00:55:38.000

do all of that

00:55:39.000 –> 00:55:41.000

to get it close to what you wanted

00:55:41.000 –> 00:55:43.000

to cook from home. So this this isn’t

00:55:43.000 –> 00:55:44.000

really about

00:55:44.000 –> 00:55:47.000

trying to say do Chinese barbecue. Right? That’s

00:55:47.000 –> 00:55:50.000

not our our intent. We have no clue

00:55:50.000 –> 00:55:51.000

how to make Chinese barbecue.

00:55:51.000 –> 00:55:53.000

But this is

00:55:53.000 –> 00:55:55.000

about how do we use

00:55:56.000 –> 00:55:56.000

those

00:55:57.000 –> 00:55:58.000

spices

00:55:58.000 –> 00:55:59.000

to create

00:55:59.000 –> 00:56:00.000

American barbecue,

00:56:01.000 –> 00:56:03.000

like you were living abroad And, you know,

00:56:03.000 –> 00:56:05.000

I think when when you talk about those

00:56:05.000 –> 00:56:06.000

kind of like flavor

00:56:07.000 –> 00:56:09.000

transfers, you know, all of food, I’ve been

00:56:09.000 –> 00:56:11.000

obsessed with this kind of forever.

00:56:11.000 –> 00:56:13.000

Is that all of food,

00:56:14.000 –> 00:56:14.000

is connected.

00:56:15.000 –> 00:56:17.000

Right? If you really, really start to look

00:56:17.000 –> 00:56:19.000

at, like, all the noodle dishes,

00:56:20.000 –> 00:56:22.000

around the world and you don’t see a

00:56:22.000 –> 00:56:23.000

connection. You’re insane.

00:56:24.000 –> 00:56:26.000

You know, but but you see it all

00:56:26.000 –> 00:56:28.000

over the place. You know, you look at,

00:56:28.000 –> 00:56:30.000

like, Mexican cuisine and the

00:56:30.000 –> 00:56:32.000

the trumpo for the,

00:56:33.000 –> 00:56:33.000

al pastor

00:56:34.000 –> 00:56:36.000

tacos, but you also

00:56:37.000 –> 00:56:38.000

you know, go to,

00:56:39.000 –> 00:56:42.000

you know, go to Istanbul and you’ll see

00:56:42.000 –> 00:56:44.000

the exact same the exact same thing, but

00:56:44.000 –> 00:56:47.000

with different different flavors. So these techniques get

00:56:47.000 –> 00:56:49.000

kind of passed around and the flavors

00:56:50.000 –> 00:56:52.000

all get passed around. So I’ve I’ve always

00:56:52.000 –> 00:56:55.000

been very obsessed with travel and how that

00:56:55.000 –> 00:56:56.000

influences

00:56:57.000 –> 00:56:59.000

cooking. You know, I think The the word

00:56:59.000 –> 00:57:01.000

fusion was thrown around in a lot of

00:57:01.000 –> 00:57:03.000

very bad ways for a for a long

00:57:03.000 –> 00:57:05.000

time, but quite frankly,

00:57:06.000 –> 00:57:07.000

you know, it is you know, some type

00:57:07.000 –> 00:57:09.000

of fusion. And,

00:57:09.000 –> 00:57:12.000

and I think done done with respect, it

00:57:12.000 –> 00:57:13.000

can be really,

00:57:15.000 –> 00:57:18.000

really unique and really fun, I think, at

00:57:18.000 –> 00:57:20.000

the same time. And a cool location too.

00:57:20.000 –> 00:57:21.000

Right? You got a big big balcony up

00:57:21.000 –> 00:57:23.000

there, Port. Yeah. So this is a three

00:57:23.000 –> 00:57:24.000

story.

00:57:24.000 –> 00:57:25.000

Restaurant.

00:57:26.000 –> 00:57:28.000

And on the first floor, it’s all,

00:57:28.000 –> 00:57:30.000

table service, server,

00:57:31.000 –> 00:57:34.000

more like plates of food. Yep. The second

00:57:34.000 –> 00:57:35.000

floor is an event space.

00:57:36.000 –> 00:57:38.000

And then on the third floor, it’s all

00:57:38.000 –> 00:57:39.000

kind of fast casual

00:57:39.000 –> 00:57:41.000

giant bar,

00:57:42.000 –> 00:57:42.000

huge

00:57:42.000 –> 00:57:44.000

patio with garage doors,

00:57:45.000 –> 00:57:46.000

astroturf

00:57:46.000 –> 00:57:48.000

out there in the stage,

00:57:49.000 –> 00:57:50.000

and, you know, more sandwich

00:57:51.000 –> 00:57:51.000

oriented.

00:57:52.000 –> 00:57:54.000

So, you know, kinda taken from the downstairs,

00:57:54.000 –> 00:57:55.000

full plates of barbecue

00:57:56.000 –> 00:57:58.000

to how do we, you know, how do

00:57:58.000 –> 00:58:00.000

we make that into, you know, kind of

00:58:00.000 –> 00:58:01.000

fun handheld

00:58:01.000 –> 00:58:03.000

experience upstairs. Yeah. Well, I can’t wait to

00:58:03.000 –> 00:58:05.000

be there this summer. That is awesome. Last

00:58:05.000 –> 00:58:06.000

question for you.

00:58:07.000 –> 00:58:08.000

What would you tell

00:58:08.000 –> 00:58:10.000

the Gerard of, the guy that was washing

00:58:10.000 –> 00:58:12.000

dishes. Right? Just got out of college. Not

00:58:12.000 –> 00:58:14.000

got out of college. Just dropped out of

00:58:14.000 –> 00:58:17.000

college and then, was washing dishes. What what

00:58:17.000 –> 00:58:17.000

advice

00:58:17.000 –> 00:58:19.000

would you give that guy or the person

00:58:19.000 –> 00:58:20.000

listen to this right now, man, that may

00:58:20.000 –> 00:58:22.000

be in a spot that they think, how

00:58:22.000 –> 00:58:25.000

is that guy’s success possible for me? What

00:58:25.000 –> 00:58:26.000

advice would you give him? I would say

00:58:26.000 –> 00:58:29.000

that the work ethic you are putting in

00:58:29.000 –> 00:58:29.000

today,

00:58:30.000 –> 00:58:31.000

will directly

00:58:32.000 –> 00:58:32.000

translate

00:58:32.000 –> 00:58:33.000

into,

00:58:35.000 –> 00:58:38.000

to your work ten years from now. Yeah.

00:58:38.000 –> 00:58:40.000

Awesome. Awesome, man. Well, thanks so much for

00:58:40.000 –> 00:58:41.000

being on the circuit of success. It’s been

00:58:41.000 –> 00:58:43.000

awesome having you. Oh, thank you for having

00:58:43.000 –> 00:58:44.000

us. Great.

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4.8

3838 ratings

February 05, 2024

Hidden Speakeasy in St. Louis | Interview with Gerard Craft

58 minutes

Check out the video interview here!

TRANSCRIPTION

00:00:13.000 –> 00:00:15.000

I am your host,

00:00:15.000 –> 00:00:18.000

Brett Gilliland, and today I’ve got Gerard Craft

00:00:18.000 –> 00:00:19.000

with me Gerard what’s going on, my man.

00:00:19.000 –> 00:00:22.000

How are you? I’m great. Thanks for having

00:00:22.000 –> 00:00:23.000

me. You probably don’t know this because I

00:00:23.000 –> 00:00:24.000

don’t even know if you check your own

00:00:24.000 –> 00:00:27.000

Instagram messages, but I sent you a message

00:00:27.000 –> 00:00:28.000

in April two thousand eighteen.

00:00:28.000 –> 00:00:30.000

Really? I did. That’s Craft. And now here

00:00:30.000 –> 00:00:33.000

we are. No. January of two thousand twenty

00:00:33.000 –> 00:00:33.000

four.

00:00:34.000 –> 00:00:35.000

That’s alright, man. You’re a busy guy. I’ve

00:00:35.000 –> 00:00:38.000

been good at checking my, like, normal message

00:00:38.000 –> 00:00:40.000

you know, my emails, my texts.

00:00:41.000 –> 00:00:43.000

I like to share those messages because it’s

00:00:43.000 –> 00:00:45.000

life’s about persistency as you know. You guys

00:00:45.000 –> 00:00:48.000

stay pleasantly persistent, but our mutual friend, Katie,

00:00:48.000 –> 00:00:50.000

call your introduce to two of us and

00:00:50.000 –> 00:00:51.000

thank you, Katie, for sure.

00:00:52.000 –> 00:00:53.000

Why don’t you explain to people that are

00:00:53.000 –> 00:00:55.000

watching this right now? Where are we at

00:00:55.000 –> 00:00:55.000

right

00:00:55.000 –> 00:00:58.000

so we are at Noda, which stands for.

00:00:58.000 –> 00:01:00.000

None of the above. It’s our speakeasy

00:01:01.000 –> 00:01:03.000

here at the city foundry, but we’re kind

00:01:03.000 –> 00:01:06.000

of through some tunnels in the basement Yeah.

00:01:07.000 –> 00:01:09.000

Hidden away. It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing. Do we

00:01:09.000 –> 00:01:11.000

share how we get down here or is

00:01:11.000 –> 00:01:12.000

that kind of a secret?

00:01:12.000 –> 00:01:14.000

You can yeah. I mean, there’s a there’s

00:01:14.000 –> 00:01:17.000

a door up at the top on foundry

00:01:17.000 –> 00:01:18.000

Way with,

00:01:18.000 –> 00:01:20.000

a red light Gilliland

00:01:20.000 –> 00:01:22.000

if that light is on,

00:01:22.000 –> 00:01:23.000

then you can pop in and, you know,

00:01:23.000 –> 00:01:24.000

hopefully we have some some space.

00:01:28.000 –> 00:01:29.000

I love it. And if it’s not on,

00:01:29.000 –> 00:01:31.000

it means you’re just not open, or does

00:01:31.000 –> 00:01:32.000

it means it’s full? Yeah. It means we’re

00:01:32.000 –> 00:01:34.000

not open. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Well, hey, man.

00:01:34.000 –> 00:01:36.000

Let’s dive in if we can and, get

00:01:36.000 –> 00:01:38.000

listeners a little lay of the land. I

00:01:38.000 –> 00:01:39.000

told you I’d start with kinda what’s your

00:01:39.000 –> 00:01:41.000

backstory of what’s made you the man you

00:01:41.000 –> 00:01:42.000

are today.

00:01:42.000 –> 00:01:43.000

Yeah. So,

00:01:44.000 –> 00:01:46.000

you know, grew up in Washington, DC.

00:01:47.000 –> 00:01:47.000

And,

00:01:50.000 –> 00:01:51.000

you know, got into

00:01:52.000 –> 00:01:54.000

far too much trouble as a kid. And

00:01:54.000 –> 00:01:55.000

ended up,

00:01:57.000 –> 00:02:00.000

finishing school, I should say, out in, Northern

00:02:00.000 –> 00:02:01.000

Idaho

00:02:01.000 –> 00:02:02.000

at a,

00:02:03.000 –> 00:02:03.000

at,

00:02:04.000 –> 00:02:05.000

school for, you know,

00:02:06.000 –> 00:02:07.000

troubled kids.

00:02:07.000 –> 00:02:10.000

And when I was there, I got to

00:02:10.000 –> 00:02:11.000

00:02:12.000 –> 00:02:13.000

sort of an apprenticeship

00:02:13.000 –> 00:02:15.000

with a photographer. And so I started getting

00:02:15.000 –> 00:02:18.000

really into snowboard photography. We were up in

00:02:18.000 –> 00:02:20.000

the mountains, so it was kinda perfect for

00:02:20.000 –> 00:02:22.000

all of that. I had always been interested

00:02:22.000 –> 00:02:24.000

in photography and done a lot,

00:02:25.000 –> 00:02:27.000

growing up. And so got to really, you

00:02:27.000 –> 00:02:29.000

know, see kind of the professional side of

00:02:29.000 –> 00:02:32.000

it. And, you know, we were doing everything

00:02:32.000 –> 00:02:34.000

from skiing and snowboarding

00:02:34.000 –> 00:02:35.000

to wake boarding,

00:02:36.000 –> 00:02:38.000

on skateboarding in in the summer.

00:02:38.000 –> 00:02:41.000

And then I moved to Salt Lake City

00:02:41.000 –> 00:02:44.000

after that school to go to Gilliland

00:02:44.000 –> 00:02:46.000

to continue my photography.

00:02:46.000 –> 00:02:48.000

And while I was there, I ended up

00:02:48.000 –> 00:02:50.000

dropping out of college. And

00:02:52.000 –> 00:02:54.000

you see a pattern of school not working

00:02:54.000 –> 00:02:55.000

out for me.

00:02:56.000 –> 00:02:57.000

But I

00:02:58.000 –> 00:02:59.000

took a job

00:02:59.000 –> 00:03:01.000

just kind of in the morning, I took

00:03:01.000 –> 00:03:03.000

a job washing cars.

00:03:03.000 –> 00:03:05.000

And at night, I took a job washing

00:03:05.000 –> 00:03:07.000

dishes. And, you know, still was doing my

00:03:07.000 –> 00:03:09.000

photography. Gilliland

00:03:09.000 –> 00:03:12.000

everything, but the photography wasn’t really paying any

00:03:12.000 –> 00:03:15.000

money. It was, you know. Right. Right. Yeah.

00:03:15.000 –> 00:03:17.000

It was like a trade stuff trying to

00:03:17.000 –> 00:03:19.000

get in the door with different professional hot,

00:03:19.000 –> 00:03:22.000

snowboarders and stuff like that. But

00:03:22.000 –> 00:03:24.000

really fell in love with the kitchen when

00:03:24.000 –> 00:03:26.000

I was in there and a

00:03:27.000 –> 00:03:28.000

career advisor

00:03:29.000 –> 00:03:31.000

told me I should think about, going to

00:03:31.000 –> 00:03:32.000

culinary school.

00:03:32.000 –> 00:03:33.000

And so I want to,

00:03:34.000 –> 00:03:37.000

Salt Lake City Community College. Mhmm. And

00:03:38.000 –> 00:03:41.000

studied culinary arts while I was still kind

00:03:41.000 –> 00:03:41.000

of working

00:03:42.000 –> 00:03:44.000

at this this place called Fats Grill. I

00:03:44.000 –> 00:03:45.000

mean,

00:03:45.000 –> 00:03:46.000

super high end luxury.

00:03:48.000 –> 00:03:51.000

Nothing like Nota. This was Although it was

00:03:51.000 –> 00:03:52.000

a very clean,

00:03:54.000 –> 00:03:56.000

you know, bar with pool hole,

00:03:57.000 –> 00:03:59.000

you know, pool Gilliland,

00:04:00.000 –> 00:04:02.000

But but it was it was definitely not

00:04:02.000 –> 00:04:05.000

a a real refined spot. Right. And didn’t

00:04:05.000 –> 00:04:06.000

you go on to work at one of

00:04:06.000 –> 00:04:08.000

the best restaurants in San Fran and some

00:04:08.000 –> 00:04:10.000

other places around the country? I did not

00:04:10.000 –> 00:04:13.000

go to San Francisco. So I, from there,

00:04:13.000 –> 00:04:14.000

I actually went in,

00:04:15.000 –> 00:04:17.000

did a work study at the Ritz in

00:04:17.000 –> 00:04:17.000

Paris

00:04:18.000 –> 00:04:18.000

and,

00:04:20.000 –> 00:04:23.000

went out to Los Angeles to the,

00:04:23.000 –> 00:04:26.000

Chateau Mamont Hotel. That’s what I was thinking

00:04:26.000 –> 00:04:26.000

about. Yeah.

00:04:27.000 –> 00:04:28.000

And so I was a sous chef out

00:04:28.000 –> 00:04:29.000

at the Chateau Marmont,

00:04:31.000 –> 00:04:32.000

and

00:04:32.000 –> 00:04:34.000

stashed at a place in New Jersey for

00:04:34.000 –> 00:04:37.000

a while called Gilliland Inn which was kind

00:04:37.000 –> 00:04:39.000

of on a five acre organic,

00:04:41.000 –> 00:04:41.000

farm

00:04:42.000 –> 00:04:42.000

and,

00:04:43.000 –> 00:04:46.000

just outside of New York City. So It

00:04:46.000 –> 00:04:47.000

was a Relay Chateau property,

00:04:48.000 –> 00:04:50.000

all tasting menus.

00:04:50.000 –> 00:04:52.000

And I think that was about the the

00:04:52.000 –> 00:04:53.000

scariest place I ever

00:04:54.000 –> 00:04:54.000

ever worked.

00:04:56.000 –> 00:04:58.000

But it was amazing. It was just a

00:04:58.000 –> 00:04:59.000

very intense,

00:04:59.000 –> 00:05:00.000

atmosphere.

00:05:01.000 –> 00:05:03.000

And, you know, very driven people you know,

00:05:03.000 –> 00:05:05.000

all the people that worked there are all,

00:05:05.000 –> 00:05:07.000

you know, super successful today. You know, so

00:05:07.000 –> 00:05:10.000

I was I was definitely in over my

00:05:10.000 –> 00:05:11.000

head, but, you know, in the best kind

00:05:11.000 –> 00:05:12.000

of way. Right?

00:05:13.000 –> 00:05:14.000

So did you look to those guys and

00:05:14.000 –> 00:05:17.000

gals for leadership and advice, or was it

00:05:17.000 –> 00:05:18.000

cut throat and it didn’t work that way?

00:05:18.000 –> 00:05:20.000

Like, what what was the environment like in

00:05:20.000 –> 00:05:21.000

a restaurant like that? Yeah. I mean, they

00:05:21.000 –> 00:05:23.000

they were all, like, pretty cutthroat, but it

00:05:23.000 –> 00:05:24.000

was, you know,

00:05:25.000 –> 00:05:28.000

you know, everybody was helpful. And,

00:05:28.000 –> 00:05:30.000

as long as you were trying and and

00:05:30.000 –> 00:05:31.000

pushing and,

00:05:32.000 –> 00:05:34.000

you know, so everywhere you went, you were

00:05:34.000 –> 00:05:36.000

just trying to kind of learn as much

00:05:36.000 –> 00:05:38.000

as as humanly possible.

00:05:39.000 –> 00:05:40.000

So I’m a go back to when you

00:05:40.000 –> 00:05:40.000

went,

00:05:41.000 –> 00:05:42.000

out from from the East Coast to the

00:05:42.000 –> 00:05:44.000

West Coast to finish school. Like, what was

00:05:44.000 –> 00:05:46.000

it about you or maybe your upbringing? I

00:05:46.000 –> 00:05:48.000

don’t know what it is, but my fascinated

00:05:48.000 –> 00:05:50.000

by guys, that and guys and gals that

00:05:50.000 –> 00:05:52.000

that do something like that and have a

00:05:52.000 –> 00:05:55.000

pretty dramatic, you know, event happen. And then

00:05:55.000 –> 00:05:57.000

all of a sudden, now you fast where

00:05:57.000 –> 00:05:59.000

you’re at in two thousand twenty four. Right?

00:05:59.000 –> 00:06:00.000

Like, what do you think it was specifically

00:06:00.000 –> 00:06:02.000

about you that made you

00:06:02.000 –> 00:06:04.000

go a different route than maybe you could

00:06:04.000 –> 00:06:05.000

have gone?

00:06:06.000 –> 00:06:07.000

I don’t know. You know, I think I’ve

00:06:07.000 –> 00:06:09.000

always been, you know, a fan of the

00:06:09.000 –> 00:06:11.000

road less traveled. And,

00:06:12.000 –> 00:06:14.000

and I don’t know if that made all

00:06:14.000 –> 00:06:15.000

the difference. You know, but,

00:06:17.000 –> 00:06:19.000

I’ve I’ve definitely always appreciated

00:06:19.000 –> 00:06:20.000

the struggle.

00:06:21.000 –> 00:06:23.000

And I I don’t know why that is

00:06:23.000 –> 00:06:26.000

because there’s probably a horrible trait. Probably something

00:06:26.000 –> 00:06:28.000

I should talk to a therapist about, but,

00:06:29.000 –> 00:06:30.000

but I, you know, I always wanted to,

00:06:30.000 –> 00:06:33.000

you know, do things on my own and,

00:06:34.000 –> 00:06:36.000

you know, do things the hard way for

00:06:36.000 –> 00:06:37.000

some reason.

00:06:37.000 –> 00:06:38.000

And

00:06:38.000 –> 00:06:40.000

I think when I was looking to finally

00:06:40.000 –> 00:06:41.000

open a restaurant,

00:06:42.000 –> 00:06:43.000

I didn’t wanna go back. You know, my

00:06:43.000 –> 00:06:45.000

old family’s from New York Gilliland

00:06:46.000 –> 00:06:46.000

DC,

00:06:46.000 –> 00:06:48.000

and I didn’t wanna go back there and

00:06:48.000 –> 00:06:50.000

kind of fail in front of everybody. I

00:06:50.000 –> 00:06:53.000

kinda wanted to, you know, branch out on

00:06:53.000 –> 00:06:54.000

my own, do my own thing.

00:06:55.000 –> 00:06:58.000

And again, you know, I it worked out

00:06:58.000 –> 00:07:00.000

somehow, but god,

00:07:00.000 –> 00:07:02.000

probably not the smartest way. You know, I

00:07:02.000 –> 00:07:05.000

could have opened in New York City around

00:07:05.000 –> 00:07:06.000

family. And,

00:07:07.000 –> 00:07:10.000

yeah, you know, had all sorts of family

00:07:10.000 –> 00:07:13.000

friends coming in. But, thankfully, Saint Louis really

00:07:13.000 –> 00:07:15.000

welcomed me. So And talk about that. So

00:07:15.000 –> 00:07:17.000

what brought you to Saint Louis? I read

00:07:17.000 –> 00:07:19.000

that story. I think that’s pretty cool. Yeah.

00:07:19.000 –> 00:07:21.000

I mean, it was, again, I was twenty

00:07:21.000 –> 00:07:22.000

five years old. So,

00:07:23.000 –> 00:07:25.000

I look at twenty five year olds now,

00:07:25.000 –> 00:07:27.000

and I’m, like, oh my god. What the

00:07:27.000 –> 00:07:28.000

hell is that? Like, I was, like, twenty

00:07:28.000 –> 00:07:29.000

five.

00:07:30.000 –> 00:07:33.000

You know, so, you know, wasn’t always thinking

00:07:34.000 –> 00:07:37.000

entirely clearly, but, you know, I, I knew

00:07:37.000 –> 00:07:39.000

I wanted to do something on my own.

00:07:39.000 –> 00:07:40.000

I wanted to get out. And,

00:07:41.000 –> 00:07:43.000

you know, I had seen some stuff, and

00:07:43.000 –> 00:07:46.000

I think, like, Bonapati magazine or something like

00:07:46.000 –> 00:07:48.000

that about Saint Lewis, and I think an

00:07:48.000 –> 00:07:50.000

American place had just opened,

00:07:51.000 –> 00:07:53.000

Monarch restaurant was

00:07:53.000 –> 00:07:56.000

was doing really Brett. And I just read

00:07:56.000 –> 00:07:59.000

about Kevin Nash in buying Sydney Brett Craft,

00:07:59.000 –> 00:08:01.000

and he had just come from, like,

00:08:02.000 –> 00:08:03.000

Martine Barastaghi

00:08:03.000 –> 00:08:06.000

in Spain and Daniel Gilliland

00:08:06.000 –> 00:08:07.000

New York. And so

00:08:08.000 –> 00:08:09.000

I was like, oh, that’s kind of a

00:08:09.000 –> 00:08:11.000

cool Gilliland now I used to have a

00:08:11.000 –> 00:08:13.000

weird hobby of

00:08:13.000 –> 00:08:15.000

I still have a weird hobby of staying

00:08:15.000 –> 00:08:17.000

up late and looking at real estate.

00:08:17.000 –> 00:08:18.000

And,

00:08:19.000 –> 00:08:21.000

just kind of started looking at real estate

00:08:21.000 –> 00:08:21.000

00:08:22.000 –> 00:08:25.000

Saint Louis and stumbled upon this ad that

00:08:25.000 –> 00:08:28.000

was, wine bar for sale, which

00:08:29.000 –> 00:08:31.000

looking back at niche, when niche was not

00:08:31.000 –> 00:08:33.000

at, it was dirt floors, hole in the

00:08:33.000 –> 00:08:34.000

ground, no

00:08:34.000 –> 00:08:35.000

electricity.

00:08:35.000 –> 00:08:37.000

I was like, how was this a wine

00:08:37.000 –> 00:08:38.000

bar? Right.

00:08:39.000 –> 00:08:42.000

But, yeah, then I, I just kind of

00:08:42.000 –> 00:08:45.000

came here on, New Year’s Day,

00:08:47.000 –> 00:08:47.000

00:08:48.000 –> 00:08:51.000

two thousand five. And I I literally signed

00:08:51.000 –> 00:08:54.000

it on the spot. And I remember my

00:08:54.000 –> 00:08:55.000

brother, like, do you have a lawyer?

00:08:56.000 –> 00:08:57.000

Are you what are you doing? What’s a

00:08:57.000 –> 00:08:59.000

lawyer? How are you looking for?

00:09:00.000 –> 00:09:00.000

So,

00:09:01.000 –> 00:09:02.000

thankfully, I had my brother,

00:09:03.000 –> 00:09:05.000

investing and on my side because he was

00:09:05.000 –> 00:09:07.000

able to at least he local at all?

00:09:07.000 –> 00:09:09.000

Dear me. No. My brother lives in London.

00:09:09.000 –> 00:09:10.000

Okay. But he was at least able to

00:09:11.000 –> 00:09:13.000

to, you know, help me make some,

00:09:14.000 –> 00:09:17.000

my brother’s like you. He’s in finance. Okay.

00:09:17.000 –> 00:09:19.000

So That’s funny. Yeah. Yeah. So what I

00:09:19.000 –> 00:09:20.000

mean, when you think about that that move,

00:09:20.000 –> 00:09:23.000

did you did you picture success in your

00:09:23.000 –> 00:09:25.000

or was that just something you’re like, this

00:09:25.000 –> 00:09:26.000

is my passion. I’m gonna follow it, and

00:09:26.000 –> 00:09:28.000

then it’s successes happen? Like, what, like, what

00:09:28.000 –> 00:09:30.000

was it like if you look back to

00:09:30.000 –> 00:09:31.000

the twenty five year old Gerard? I think

00:09:31.000 –> 00:09:33.000

I always envisioned six success, but I think,

00:09:33.000 –> 00:09:34.000

you know,

00:09:34.000 –> 00:09:36.000

that vision of success is

00:09:37.000 –> 00:09:38.000

is continually

00:09:38.000 –> 00:09:40.000

changing. Right? You know, I think my my

00:09:40.000 –> 00:09:43.000

first vision of success was know, a successful

00:09:43.000 –> 00:09:45.000

neighborhood restaurant. And,

00:09:45.000 –> 00:09:47.000

you know, I had been eating a lot

00:09:47.000 –> 00:09:49.000

at a restaurant called prune in New York

00:09:49.000 –> 00:09:50.000

Gilliland

00:09:50.000 –> 00:09:52.000

there was a place called the tasting room

00:09:52.000 –> 00:09:54.000

in New York, and these were kinda like

00:09:54.000 –> 00:09:57.000

very small, but but kind of progressive and

00:09:57.000 –> 00:09:58.000

different restaurants.

00:09:59.000 –> 00:10:01.000

And and that’s kind of the between that

00:10:01.000 –> 00:10:03.000

and kind of what was going on in

00:10:03.000 –> 00:10:06.000

some of the small restaurants in Paris at

00:10:06.000 –> 00:10:06.000

the time,

00:10:07.000 –> 00:10:07.000

And,

00:10:08.000 –> 00:10:10.000

in Spain, you know, that’s kind of where

00:10:10.000 –> 00:10:12.000

I was where I was looking to. I

00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:15.000

think what happened was a lot different.

00:10:15.000 –> 00:10:17.000

And, you know, I think,

00:10:18.000 –> 00:10:20.000

I I didn’t quite understand. I think the

00:10:20.000 –> 00:10:23.000

demographics that I was gonna be serving

00:10:23.000 –> 00:10:25.000

when when we opened these. I thought I

00:10:25.000 –> 00:10:27.000

thought we were gonna be serving a lot

00:10:27.000 –> 00:10:28.000

of younger people,

00:10:28.000 –> 00:10:29.000

you know,

00:10:29.000 –> 00:10:30.000

young professionals Gilliland

00:10:31.000 –> 00:10:32.000

you go to New York. What what do

00:10:32.000 –> 00:10:35.000

you see in HIP new restaurant. And I

00:10:35.000 –> 00:10:37.000

think I actually got a much older client,

00:10:37.000 –> 00:10:38.000

though, coming from,

00:10:39.000 –> 00:10:40.000

ledoux

00:10:40.000 –> 00:10:42.000

and, you know, the suburbs.

00:10:42.000 –> 00:10:46.000

And and not entirely from my area. And

00:10:46.000 –> 00:10:46.000

and

00:10:47.000 –> 00:10:49.000

and I think there there was definitely a

00:10:49.000 –> 00:10:51.000

little bit of a of a struggle in

00:10:52.000 –> 00:10:54.000

in what people wanted out of us and

00:10:54.000 –> 00:10:56.000

what we were actually doing. Yeah. Isn’t it

00:10:56.000 –> 00:10:57.000

funny when you think you Brett this business

00:10:57.000 –> 00:10:59.000

plan and and what’s you think’s gonna happen

00:10:59.000 –> 00:11:02.000

that it rarely ever works that way. Yeah.

00:11:02.000 –> 00:11:04.000

So we were successful. Yeah. But

00:11:05.000 –> 00:11:07.000

not in the way that we had planned

00:11:07.000 –> 00:11:10.000

on being successful. What do you think, being

00:11:10.000 –> 00:11:12.000

the entrepreneur that you are in places like

00:11:12.000 –> 00:11:14.000

this, which is amazing. I absolutely love this.

00:11:14.000 –> 00:11:15.000

And the walk down here is one of

00:11:15.000 –> 00:11:17.000

the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I’m not

00:11:17.000 –> 00:11:18.000

just saying that.

00:11:18.000 –> 00:11:21.000

From an entrepreneurial standpoint, what what do you

00:11:21.000 –> 00:11:22.000

think that you can share from a restaurant

00:11:23.000 –> 00:11:24.000

world to the to the business person or

00:11:24.000 –> 00:11:26.000

the, you know, the lawyer that whoever’s watching

00:11:26.000 –> 00:11:28.000

this right now? What do you see the

00:11:28.000 –> 00:11:30.000

similarities that can be learned from your world

00:11:30.000 –> 00:11:32.000

into the business world?

00:11:32.000 –> 00:11:34.000

Oh my god. I mean, you know, we

00:11:34.000 –> 00:11:35.000

are in the business world. So,

00:11:36.000 –> 00:11:38.000

you know, I think it’s all

00:11:38.000 –> 00:11:39.000

applicable,

00:11:39.000 –> 00:11:41.000

really, you know, and I think,

00:11:42.000 –> 00:11:45.000

flip that around a bit. I have learned

00:11:45.000 –> 00:11:48.000

a lot from the quote unquote business world.

00:11:48.000 –> 00:11:51.000

And I think it was in two thousand

00:11:52.000 –> 00:11:52.000

and twelve.

00:11:53.000 –> 00:11:55.000

We were opening pasteria,

00:11:56.000 –> 00:11:57.000

which was our fourth restaurant

00:11:58.000 –> 00:11:59.000

at the time, and

00:12:00.000 –> 00:12:02.000

I was really, really struggling.

00:12:03.000 –> 00:12:05.000

And I was struggling to to really manage

00:12:05.000 –> 00:12:08.000

them all. They were all doing really well.

00:12:09.000 –> 00:12:11.000

But all of a sudden I was managing

00:12:11.000 –> 00:12:11.000

four places

00:12:12.000 –> 00:12:14.000

and figured out I couldn’t really micromanage

00:12:15.000 –> 00:12:18.000

four places. Yep. And and I didn’t quite

00:12:18.000 –> 00:12:19.000

see it like that. I just at the

00:12:19.000 –> 00:12:21.000

time saw it is, everybody sucked.

00:12:23.000 –> 00:12:26.000

And why was everybody sucking and and not

00:12:26.000 –> 00:12:28.000

doing what they were supposed to do? And,

00:12:28.000 –> 00:12:29.000

you know,

00:12:29.000 –> 00:12:30.000

you know,

00:12:30.000 –> 00:12:32.000

after a little bit came to the realization

00:12:32.000 –> 00:12:33.000

00:12:33.000 –> 00:12:35.000

because I sucked.

00:12:35.000 –> 00:12:37.000

Yeah. It looks thin. Yeah. You know, I

00:12:37.000 –> 00:12:39.000

sucked. That was a horror manager.

00:12:39.000 –> 00:12:40.000

And,

00:12:40.000 –> 00:12:42.000

I’d never really learned how to

00:12:42.000 –> 00:12:43.000

to manage.

00:12:44.000 –> 00:12:45.000

Right? You know, like,

00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:47.000

in a restaurant when you’re being trained as

00:12:47.000 –> 00:12:49.000

a chef, at least back then. It was,

00:12:49.000 –> 00:12:51.000

you know, again, it was very cutthroat. It

00:12:51.000 –> 00:12:54.000

was very kind of military brigade system.

00:12:54.000 –> 00:12:57.000

It was, you know, I’m the chef. Yes,

00:12:57.000 –> 00:12:57.000

chef.

00:12:58.000 –> 00:13:00.000

You know, if I tell you to do

00:13:00.000 –> 00:13:00.000

something,

00:13:00.000 –> 00:13:02.000

you better fucking do it and you better

00:13:02.000 –> 00:13:04.000

do it fast and you better do it

00:13:04.000 –> 00:13:04.000

right,

00:13:05.000 –> 00:13:06.000

to be pissed,

00:13:06.000 –> 00:13:08.000

you know, and you, you know, it was

00:13:08.000 –> 00:13:09.000

it was a lot of leading out of

00:13:09.000 –> 00:13:12.000

fear and and stuff. And, you know, I

00:13:12.000 –> 00:13:15.000

had I re read this book called Delivering

00:13:15.000 –> 00:13:17.000

Happiness. Have you ever read that one? Sean

00:13:17.000 –> 00:13:18.000

Anchor, maybe. Tony,

00:13:19.000 –> 00:13:22.000

Shay Okay. Who, found out I never know

00:13:22.000 –> 00:13:24.000

if I’m saying his last name, right? But

00:13:24.000 –> 00:13:26.000

founded Zapos. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And,

00:13:27.000 –> 00:13:31.000

and, you know, that that just clicked all

00:13:31.000 –> 00:13:32.000

of a sudden. I mean, it was it

00:13:32.000 –> 00:13:34.000

was sometimes you read a book

00:13:34.000 –> 00:13:35.000

right when you need to read a book.

00:13:35.000 –> 00:13:37.000

Yeah. And that was that book. And it,

00:13:38.000 –> 00:13:40.000

then introduced me to,

00:13:44.000 –> 00:13:45.000

tribal leadership.

00:13:46.000 –> 00:13:48.000

And so tribal leadership then kind of like,

00:13:49.000 –> 00:13:51.000

gave that a voice, gave that a language,

00:13:51.000 –> 00:13:52.000

you know, and, you know, we started to

00:13:52.000 –> 00:13:54.000

talk about, you know,

00:13:56.000 –> 00:13:56.000

we.

00:13:56.000 –> 00:14:00.000

Right? You know, and and your language and

00:14:00.000 –> 00:14:03.000

and how the way you speak really kind

00:14:03.000 –> 00:14:04.000

of affects,

00:14:04.000 –> 00:14:07.000

you know, everybody around you, and it also

00:14:07.000 –> 00:14:08.000

affects

00:14:08.000 –> 00:14:11.000

the way that you’re acting. Right? So everything’s

00:14:11.000 –> 00:14:12.000

kind of like a language.

00:14:13.000 –> 00:14:15.000

And so, you know, going from eye to

00:14:15.000 –> 00:14:18.000

we was the biggest shift in our culture.

00:14:19.000 –> 00:14:21.000

And I think that’s the most the culture

00:14:21.000 –> 00:14:23.000

part of it’s the most applicable part across

00:14:23.000 –> 00:14:25.000

the board. I love that, man. Because I

00:14:25.000 –> 00:14:26.000

it’s so true. We talk about our firm.

00:14:26.000 –> 00:14:28.000

You know, so is it my firm is

00:14:28.000 –> 00:14:30.000

our firm and and my business partner and

00:14:30.000 –> 00:14:31.000

I, we’re we’re very locked in on that

00:14:31.000 –> 00:14:33.000

one because people wanna be a part of

00:14:33.000 –> 00:14:34.000

something. Right? I mean, And and at what

00:14:34.000 –> 00:14:37.000

point did you believe in hiring people? I

00:14:37.000 –> 00:14:39.000

look back at the amazing Claire back there

00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:41.000

who upset all this up. Hi, Claire. And,

00:14:42.000 –> 00:14:44.000

like, in in believing in other people and

00:14:44.000 –> 00:14:45.000

letting go. Right? Cause that was a big

00:14:45.000 –> 00:14:47.000

one for me is when you started having

00:14:47.000 –> 00:14:48.000

multiple teammates

00:14:49.000 –> 00:14:51.000

is, you know, coming from the janitor to

00:14:51.000 –> 00:14:53.000

the CEO, and now you’ve got all these

00:14:53.000 –> 00:14:55.000

people, like, at at what point was it

00:14:55.000 –> 00:14:56.000

for you? What was the a moment? Do

00:14:56.000 –> 00:14:58.000

do you recall that? Yeah. I mean, I

00:14:58.000 –> 00:14:59.000

think this was the

00:15:00.000 –> 00:15:02.000

a moment. I mean, I was so stressed

00:15:02.000 –> 00:15:04.000

out. I was stressed out.

00:15:05.000 –> 00:15:06.000

Seriously overweight,

00:15:07.000 –> 00:15:08.000

just

00:15:08.000 –> 00:15:09.000

angry.

00:15:09.000 –> 00:15:10.000

And,

00:15:10.000 –> 00:15:13.000

you know, I was just overall miserable, and

00:15:13.000 –> 00:15:13.000

I knew

00:15:14.000 –> 00:15:16.000

I think, you know, in reading this stuff,

00:15:16.000 –> 00:15:18.000

you knew that I had to do a

00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:21.000

better job at training people. Right? Yeah. And,

00:15:22.000 –> 00:15:25.000

you know, it’s started. It started with me,

00:15:25.000 –> 00:15:27.000

but then, you know, as we kind of

00:15:27.000 –> 00:15:29.000

started to come together as a group, we

00:15:29.000 –> 00:15:31.000

realized that if we can

00:15:31.000 –> 00:15:33.000

train people the right way,

00:15:34.000 –> 00:15:35.000

you know, and if we can,

00:15:36.000 –> 00:15:38.000

instill our values,

00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:39.000

across everybody,

00:15:40.000 –> 00:15:43.000

then everybody can kind of be thought leaders.

00:15:43.000 –> 00:15:45.000

Everybody can kind of start to make their

00:15:45.000 –> 00:15:47.000

own decisions based on those

00:15:47.000 –> 00:15:50.000

values. Right? And and I think that that’s

00:15:50.000 –> 00:15:52.000

the real key. It was kind of like

00:15:52.000 –> 00:15:53.000

distilling our core values,

00:15:53.000 –> 00:15:56.000

figuring out what made us tick. Yeah. And

00:15:56.000 –> 00:15:59.000

then maybe how to teach people how to

00:15:59.000 –> 00:16:01.000

think like that. Do you articulate those values

00:16:01.000 –> 00:16:02.000

to people? Like, would would they be able

00:16:02.000 –> 00:16:03.000

to say, hey, maybe they’re on the wall

00:16:03.000 –> 00:16:05.000

or whatever? Like, They’re they’re not on the

00:16:05.000 –> 00:16:07.000

wall. We we’d we’d do our Brett. And

00:16:07.000 –> 00:16:10.000

we we keep it pretty Brett simple. We

00:16:10.000 –> 00:16:11.000

only have five

00:16:11.000 –> 00:16:13.000

five core values.

00:16:13.000 –> 00:16:15.000

So That’s awesome. Yeah. But they can articulate

00:16:15.000 –> 00:16:17.000

those, which is a big deal. So how

00:16:17.000 –> 00:16:18.000

how do you then adapt to change? So

00:16:18.000 –> 00:16:20.000

that was a change. Right? Now, hey, I’m

00:16:20.000 –> 00:16:22.000

moving forward. I’ve got these amazing people. I’m

00:16:22.000 –> 00:16:24.000

a be a better boss. How did you

00:16:24.000 –> 00:16:26.000

adapt to change now to take it to

00:16:26.000 –> 00:16:28.000

the level you’ve taken it to today? Yeah.

00:16:28.000 –> 00:16:30.000

I think that was kind of a one

00:16:30.000 –> 00:16:31.000

foot in front of the other. You know,

00:16:31.000 –> 00:16:33.000

I think I came back from, you know,

00:16:33.000 –> 00:16:35.000

I at that time, I was on this

00:16:35.000 –> 00:16:37.000

long Gilliland,

00:16:37.000 –> 00:16:38.000

came back from this trip, you know, just

00:16:38.000 –> 00:16:41.000

charged, right? And, you know, let’s go. We’re

00:16:41.000 –> 00:16:43.000

gonna change everything overnight.

00:16:45.000 –> 00:16:46.000

And, you know, quickly realized

00:16:47.000 –> 00:16:48.000

that that

00:16:48.000 –> 00:16:51.000

that doesn’t happen. Yep. In fact, I think

00:16:51.000 –> 00:16:54.000

when I told her now director of service,

00:16:55.000 –> 00:16:57.000

but she was a a server at the

00:16:57.000 –> 00:16:58.000

time. I told her that we were, you

00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:01.000

know, gonna be making these changes. She just

00:17:01.000 –> 00:17:04.000

laughed. Yeah. She Right? I believe when I

00:17:04.000 –> 00:17:05.000

see it, dude.

00:17:05.000 –> 00:17:07.000

Absolutely. And rightly so. Right? You know? But

00:17:07.000 –> 00:17:08.000

I think you gotta show up every day.

00:17:08.000 –> 00:17:10.000

Right? I mean, that’s the thing I think

00:17:10.000 –> 00:17:12.000

about when growing a business is even on

00:17:12.000 –> 00:17:14.000

the days you don’t wanna show up, you

00:17:14.000 –> 00:17:15.000

show up. And you gotta walk the walk,

00:17:15.000 –> 00:17:16.000

you know.

00:17:17.000 –> 00:17:19.000

Yeah. That’s amazing. So, again, change, talk about

00:17:19.000 –> 00:17:21.000

COVID, man. That that had to be of

00:17:21.000 –> 00:17:23.000

any business that had to be one of

00:17:23.000 –> 00:17:26.000

the biggest people, I think, in hospitality, to

00:17:26.000 –> 00:17:28.000

make a change, right, during all that. What

00:17:28.000 –> 00:17:29.000

what did you learn

00:17:29.000 –> 00:17:31.000

as a leader, as an owner, as an

00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:31.000

entrepreneur,

00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:33.000

as a dad? Like, what did you learn

00:17:33.000 –> 00:17:36.000

during that time frame? In COVID? Yeah. Oh

00:17:36.000 –> 00:17:37.000

my god.

00:17:39.000 –> 00:17:41.000

God, that was really horrible. Wasn’t it? Yeah.

00:17:42.000 –> 00:17:44.000

No. I, you know, I think we were

00:17:44.000 –> 00:17:44.000

fortunately

00:17:47.000 –> 00:17:50.000

you know, hitting hitting peak culture

00:17:50.000 –> 00:17:52.000

at that time, which was awesome because it

00:17:52.000 –> 00:17:53.000

really

00:17:54.000 –> 00:17:55.000

You know, it really no. I really mean

00:17:55.000 –> 00:17:58.000

it was awesome because it it really,

00:17:58.000 –> 00:18:01.000

everybody was working so well together.

00:18:02.000 –> 00:18:04.000

And I think we needed that. Right? We

00:18:04.000 –> 00:18:06.000

needed that to get through. We needed everybody

00:18:06.000 –> 00:18:09.000

kind of, you know, firing on all cylinders

00:18:09.000 –> 00:18:11.000

thinking about everybody else. And,

00:18:12.000 –> 00:18:15.000

you know, thinking about ourselves is is one

00:18:15.000 –> 00:18:17.000

large team. And I think that’s what really,

00:18:17.000 –> 00:18:19.000

you know, if if if COVID taught me

00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:21.000

anything is that that works.

00:18:21.000 –> 00:18:24.000

Yeah. You know, and that that’s really important.

00:18:24.000 –> 00:18:26.000

And you saw, I think a lot of

00:18:26.000 –> 00:18:28.000

other businesses, all of a sudden, trying to

00:18:28.000 –> 00:18:29.000

kinda scramble,

00:18:30.000 –> 00:18:32.000

you know, to to work on this culture

00:18:32.000 –> 00:18:33.000

thing,

00:18:33.000 –> 00:18:36.000

when all their employees left, you know, and

00:18:36.000 –> 00:18:38.000

I think we were in a great great

00:18:38.000 –> 00:18:38.000

position,

00:18:39.000 –> 00:18:41.000

because of that. Yeah. It’s funny you talk

00:18:41.000 –> 00:18:44.000

about that culture is during COVID for us,

00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:46.000

it was, you know, being in the finance

00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:47.000

world. We were able to obviously have conference

00:18:47.000 –> 00:18:48.000

calls and Zoom calls and do a lot

00:18:48.000 –> 00:18:50.000

of stuff with clients, but,

00:18:50.000 –> 00:18:52.000

you know, as a as a leader, we

00:18:52.000 –> 00:18:53.000

had to make a decision that people weren’t

00:18:53.000 –> 00:18:55.000

gonna come in the office Gilliland by about

00:18:55.000 –> 00:18:57.000

July, I think it was July of twenty

00:18:57.000 –> 00:18:58.000

twenty. So only three or four months into

00:18:58.000 –> 00:19:01.000

this, our culture said to us,

00:19:01.000 –> 00:19:02.000

we wanna be back together.

00:19:03.000 –> 00:19:04.000

You know, and so it’s like it was

00:19:04.000 –> 00:19:06.000

starting to have a negative effect by not

00:19:06.000 –> 00:19:07.000

being together on us. Right? And so it

00:19:07.000 –> 00:19:08.000

was cool to be able to make that

00:19:08.000 –> 00:19:11.000

change and be like, alright. Signed this form

00:19:11.000 –> 00:19:12.000

every day. We’re not taking responsibility to show

00:19:12.000 –> 00:19:14.000

up and get sick because nobody knew at

00:19:14.000 –> 00:19:16.000

that time. And Yeah. People started showing back

00:19:16.000 –> 00:19:18.000

up, and it was amazing how that culture

00:19:18.000 –> 00:19:20.000

and those values and that connection was super

00:19:20.000 –> 00:19:22.000

important to people Yeah. That made our our

00:19:22.000 –> 00:19:24.000

culture start to go in in the right

00:19:24.000 –> 00:19:27.000

direction again, which was a big moment. Yeah.

00:19:27.000 –> 00:19:29.000

I think kinda let everybody take it the

00:19:29.000 –> 00:19:29.000

way they

00:19:30.000 –> 00:19:32.000

they were ready to take it. Yeah. Right?

00:19:32.000 –> 00:19:34.000

You know, I think there were people that

00:19:34.000 –> 00:19:35.000

were ready to come back and

00:19:36.000 –> 00:19:39.000

and and work, and we all kind of,

00:19:39.000 –> 00:19:41.000

you know, did that. And we tried to

00:19:41.000 –> 00:19:44.000

do that in the safest way possible, and

00:19:44.000 –> 00:19:44.000

and,

00:19:45.000 –> 00:19:46.000

you know, worked a lot with, you know,

00:19:46.000 –> 00:19:50.000

a lot of the community leaders, the doctors

00:19:50.000 –> 00:19:51.000

in the area that were kind of advising

00:19:51.000 –> 00:19:54.000

us and in in giving us good intel

00:19:54.000 –> 00:19:56.000

on on how we could maybe do it

00:19:56.000 –> 00:19:57.000

more safely

00:19:58.000 –> 00:20:00.000

and, trying to help our friends do the

00:20:00.000 –> 00:20:01.000

exact same things.

00:20:01.000 –> 00:20:03.000

And, you know, I think,

00:20:04.000 –> 00:20:05.000

again, we we we had a lot of

00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:07.000

voices on the team, and,

00:20:08.000 –> 00:20:10.000

we all worked together really well to kind

00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:11.000

of push ourselves

00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:15.000

through a really, really rough time. So on

00:20:15.000 –> 00:20:16.000

the adapting to change,

00:20:17.000 –> 00:20:18.000

talk about needs. You you’ve talked about the

00:20:18.000 –> 00:20:20.000

restaurant. And and you decided to close it

00:20:20.000 –> 00:20:21.000

when it was

00:20:22.000 –> 00:20:24.000

booming. Right? Successful. And so, again, last night,

00:20:24.000 –> 00:20:26.000

I’m doing my work. I’m researching you. And

00:20:26.000 –> 00:20:27.000

I know the story. Right? I was in

00:20:27.000 –> 00:20:29.000

St. That happened and and like, hey, there’s

00:20:29.000 –> 00:20:31.000

a successful restaurant close, and you normally hear

00:20:31.000 –> 00:20:33.000

the other way. Right? So it’s a head

00:20:33.000 –> 00:20:35.000

scratcher as a business leader. This thing’s working

00:20:35.000 –> 00:20:37.000

the guy had the guts to go out

00:20:37.000 –> 00:20:39.000

there and close a successful restaurant.

00:20:39.000 –> 00:20:41.000

Walk me through that. What the hell was

00:20:41.000 –> 00:20:43.000

going on in your mind when that happened?

00:20:44.000 –> 00:20:47.000

You know, I think Nish was always tough.

00:20:47.000 –> 00:20:50.000

Right? And Nish was a very tough restaurant

00:20:50.000 –> 00:20:51.000

00:20:51.000 –> 00:20:54.000

operate. And, you know, we started in two

00:20:54.000 –> 00:20:56.000

thousand five, and I think we

00:20:56.000 –> 00:20:59.000

closed it in in what, two thousand, and,

00:21:00.000 –> 00:21:01.000

seventeen.

00:21:02.000 –> 00:21:04.000

You know, so that that’s a very long

00:21:04.000 –> 00:21:06.000

run for that restaurant. It was a very

00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:06.000

personal

00:21:07.000 –> 00:21:08.000

restaurant.

00:21:08.000 –> 00:21:09.000

And, you know, I know

00:21:10.000 –> 00:21:12.000

that I had just passed the reins off

00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:15.000

in two thousand fifteen as chef to Nate

00:21:15.000 –> 00:21:19.000

Hariford, who now is the successful chicken scratch

00:21:19.000 –> 00:21:19.000

restaurant.

00:21:22.000 –> 00:21:23.000

And I just

00:21:24.000 –> 00:21:26.000

You know, it was it was

00:21:26.000 –> 00:21:28.000

it was it’s such a good point that

00:21:28.000 –> 00:21:29.000

I never really wanted this this restaurant

00:21:33.000 –> 00:21:36.000

to start falling backwards. Yep. And I never

00:21:36.000 –> 00:21:38.000

wanted to, you know, be ten years down

00:21:38.000 –> 00:21:39.000

the road from there

00:21:41.000 –> 00:21:44.000

with everybody being like, oh, yeah. There’s there’s

00:21:44.000 –> 00:21:46.000

niche. It’s still there.

00:21:46.000 –> 00:21:48.000

You know, like Same old thing. Not the

00:21:48.000 –> 00:21:50.000

hot spot anymore or whatever. You know, I

00:21:50.000 –> 00:21:53.000

just I I I wanted it to, you

00:21:53.000 –> 00:21:55.000

know, I wanted the legacy of niche,

00:21:56.000 –> 00:21:58.000

you know, to, to end right there. It

00:21:58.000 –> 00:22:00.000

was kinda like that. That moment. We had

00:22:00.000 –> 00:22:02.000

won the James Beard award two years before.

00:22:03.000 –> 00:22:04.000

It was just kind of

00:22:05.000 –> 00:22:07.000

it just felt like that time. Yeah.

00:22:07.000 –> 00:22:09.000

Well, take some guts, man. Well, I don’t

00:22:09.000 –> 00:22:11.000

know if it’s guts here. Just so we’re

00:22:11.000 –> 00:22:12.000

always here. I I think it it is

00:22:12.000 –> 00:22:14.000

amazing, but it but you’re right. It’s like

00:22:14.000 –> 00:22:15.000

you were talking about our, you know, you

00:22:15.000 –> 00:22:16.000

have a senior, I have a senior.

00:22:16.000 –> 00:22:18.000

Is it’d be like holding our kids back,

00:22:18.000 –> 00:22:20.000

right, not letting them go. And I think

00:22:20.000 –> 00:22:22.000

your decision to close that was probably has

00:22:22.000 –> 00:22:23.000

catapulted you into another level of belief

00:22:26.000 –> 00:22:28.000

growth and expectations. Would you agree with that?

00:22:28.000 –> 00:22:30.000

Yeah. And I think, you know, it’s just

00:22:30.000 –> 00:22:33.000

kind of it’s it’s allowed us to change

00:22:34.000 –> 00:22:36.000

what we do and what I do specifically

00:22:36.000 –> 00:22:38.000

Yep. For the company, you know, as opposed

00:22:38.000 –> 00:22:39.000

to, you know, being on the line or

00:22:39.000 –> 00:22:40.000

or whatever on on

00:22:42.000 –> 00:22:44.000

such a regular basis,

00:22:45.000 –> 00:22:47.000

and kind of, you know, traveling to represent

00:22:47.000 –> 00:22:49.000

niche around the country, which I was doing

00:22:49.000 –> 00:22:50.000

all the time.

00:22:51.000 –> 00:22:53.000

You know, this allowed me to kind of

00:22:53.000 –> 00:22:54.000

really be the CEO

00:22:55.000 –> 00:22:57.000

of the company. Yeah. And I actually

00:22:57.000 –> 00:22:59.000

do the things that I needed to do

00:22:59.000 –> 00:23:01.000

to to grow the company and to, you

00:23:01.000 –> 00:23:02.000

know,

00:23:03.000 –> 00:23:05.000

give back to our investors and and

00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:07.000

and help us Brett to the next level.

00:23:07.000 –> 00:23:09.000

How hard was it for you to leave

00:23:09.000 –> 00:23:11.000

the kitchen and get into, again, the the

00:23:11.000 –> 00:23:13.000

boardroom, if you will, how hard was that

00:23:13.000 –> 00:23:14.000

for you? It’s still hard.

00:23:15.000 –> 00:23:17.000

Yeah. That’s your passion. That’s your baby. I

00:23:17.000 –> 00:23:20.000

I enjoy cooking. I really do. And,

00:23:21.000 –> 00:23:23.000

I wouldn’t say I’m the best CEO in

00:23:23.000 –> 00:23:23.000

the world

00:23:24.000 –> 00:23:26.000

You know, I’m I I know there there’s

00:23:26.000 –> 00:23:28.000

there’s far better than than me out there.

00:23:28.000 –> 00:23:31.000

I’m constantly trying, but, you know, it it’s

00:23:31.000 –> 00:23:33.000

tough to to step away and just kind

00:23:33.000 –> 00:23:35.000

of do what you need to do at

00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:37.000

the time versus what you want to do

00:23:37.000 –> 00:23:40.000

at the time. So talk about building brand.

00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:42.000

Obviously, the the the niche group, because there

00:23:42.000 –> 00:23:44.000

are heavy restaurants total are there right now?

00:23:44.000 –> 00:23:44.000

God.

00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:47.000

Well, we have some shifting going on right

00:23:47.000 –> 00:23:49.000

now. So it’s it’s messing with my car

00:23:49.000 –> 00:23:51.000

at the end of January. A little bit.

00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:54.000

You know, we’ve, cinder house, has closed.

00:23:56.000 –> 00:23:58.000

And Rockwell. It’s my favorite chicken sandwich downtown

00:23:58.000 –> 00:24:00.000

here. So the period period? Yeah.

00:24:01.000 –> 00:24:02.000

I’m sorry. I don’t know what that is,

00:24:02.000 –> 00:24:03.000

but it’s some good stuff. I do a

00:24:03.000 –> 00:24:06.000

meeting there once a quarter. Yeah. Every quarter,

00:24:06.000 –> 00:24:08.000

I do a meeting there, an off-site retreat.

00:24:08.000 –> 00:24:10.000

So I anybody listening. Take your team off-site.

00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:11.000

You go somewhere. You learn. You you think

00:24:11.000 –> 00:24:12.000

you strategize.

00:24:13.000 –> 00:24:14.000

We always went there, and that’s a chicken

00:24:14.000 –> 00:24:16.000

sandwich I had every time. Yeah. No. I

00:24:16.000 –> 00:24:18.000

s senator I was one of my favorite

00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:19.000

places.

00:24:20.000 –> 00:24:22.000

But, you know, it it’s business. We,

00:24:23.000 –> 00:24:25.000

you know, we had a five year contract

00:24:25.000 –> 00:24:26.000

and,

00:24:26.000 –> 00:24:28.000

you know, they’re owned by,

00:24:29.000 –> 00:24:31.000

Caesar’s Palace, Okay. And, you know, they wanna

00:24:31.000 –> 00:24:33.000

do something, I think, a little more bagasse.

00:24:34.000 –> 00:24:36.000

And, you know, it’s not your style.

00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:39.000

Well, I, you know, I it’s also just

00:24:39.000 –> 00:24:41.000

not me. I’m not I’m not from Vegas.

00:24:41.000 –> 00:24:43.000

You know, I am not a Vegas restaurant.

00:24:43.000 –> 00:24:44.000

Oh, it’s funny.

00:24:45.000 –> 00:24:47.000

But a brands for what strategies,

00:24:47.000 –> 00:24:49.000

maybe mindset, thoughts do you have when you

00:24:49.000 –> 00:24:52.000

think about your brands, you name your brands,

00:24:52.000 –> 00:24:54.000

you design your brands, what what does that

00:24:54.000 –> 00:24:56.000

look like? What’s that process look like for

00:24:56.000 –> 00:24:56.000

you?

00:24:57.000 –> 00:24:59.000

Yeah. So I a lot of research,

00:25:00.000 –> 00:25:02.000

you know, we really wanna kind of dive

00:25:02.000 –> 00:25:02.000

into

00:25:03.000 –> 00:25:04.000

that world,

00:25:04.000 –> 00:25:07.000

whatever that might be. And,

00:25:07.000 –> 00:25:10.000

you know, so for the, you know, Craft

00:25:10.000 –> 00:25:13.000

cocktail world. Fortunately, it’s one that we’ve been

00:25:13.000 –> 00:25:15.000

in for a long time because

00:25:15.000 –> 00:25:18.000

taste, you know, was one of the

00:25:19.000 –> 00:25:21.000

one of the, you know, kind of original

00:25:21.000 –> 00:25:23.000

craft cocktail bars in the country. I mean,

00:25:23.000 –> 00:25:26.000

there was, you know, there was a couple

00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:28.000

dozen at the time that we that we

00:25:28.000 –> 00:25:29.000

opened. So,

00:25:30.000 –> 00:25:34.000

really kind of immersing ourselves in that experience

00:25:34.000 –> 00:25:36.000

and just kinda going through all the details,

00:25:36.000 –> 00:25:38.000

you know, what What what does the menu

00:25:38.000 –> 00:25:40.000

look like? What do people

00:25:40.000 –> 00:25:43.000

really enjoy? What do people want?

00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:45.000

Is this a, you know, luxurious

00:25:45.000 –> 00:25:47.000

experience, or is it a kind of divey

00:25:47.000 –> 00:25:50.000

experience? Is this, you know, which this is

00:25:50.000 –> 00:25:50.000

decidedly

00:25:51.000 –> 00:25:52.000

luxurious?

00:25:53.000 –> 00:25:54.000

Know, how do we want the service to

00:25:54.000 –> 00:25:56.000

be? How do we want the

00:25:56.000 –> 00:25:58.000

the servers to

00:25:58.000 –> 00:26:01.000

to dress? How do we want

00:26:02.000 –> 00:26:04.000

the ice to look. What is the lighting?

00:26:04.000 –> 00:26:06.000

You know, I mean, there’s we we try

00:26:06.000 –> 00:26:08.000

to really dive into every little piece

00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:12.000

of that restaurant in that genre,

00:26:13.000 –> 00:26:15.000

to try to get it right. Big guys

00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:16.000

are little eyes for the bourbon.

00:26:17.000 –> 00:26:20.000

For me, no ice. No ice. Yeah.

00:26:20.000 –> 00:26:22.000

But, you know,

00:26:22.000 –> 00:26:25.000

for if I’m drinking gin and soda,

00:26:26.000 –> 00:26:28.000

I have a thing where I actually don’t

00:26:28.000 –> 00:26:30.000

like the big ice cube because I kind

00:26:30.000 –> 00:26:32.000

of want it to to keep melting a

00:26:32.000 –> 00:26:35.000

little bit. Yeah. I think the big ice

00:26:35.000 –> 00:26:37.000

has its place. Yeah. You know,

00:26:37.000 –> 00:26:39.000

when you don’t want any dilution, you just

00:26:39.000 –> 00:26:41.000

want it kind of cold.

00:26:41.000 –> 00:26:43.000

But if you wanna kinda dilute it, I

00:26:43.000 –> 00:26:45.000

like the, I like the little eyes. I’m

00:26:45.000 –> 00:26:47.000

a big ice guy in the bourbon. Yeah.

00:26:47.000 –> 00:26:48.000

Not that you really care, but,

00:26:50.000 –> 00:26:50.000

so,

00:26:51.000 –> 00:26:52.000

locations. So I think for me, we have

00:26:52.000 –> 00:26:54.000

eight office locations, and I think, you know,

00:26:54.000 –> 00:26:56.000

the hardest part is when you had one,

00:26:56.000 –> 00:26:57.000

you could walk to go get a cup

00:26:57.000 –> 00:26:59.000

of water and and touch everybody in your

00:26:59.000 –> 00:27:02.000

Right? Now with eight locations, you can’t do

00:27:02.000 –> 00:27:03.000

that. And you may go months, right, without

00:27:03.000 –> 00:27:06.000

seeing somebody. So how do you, one,

00:27:06.000 –> 00:27:09.000

touch everybody in in the company, but number

00:27:09.000 –> 00:27:12.000

two, how do you, expect the the customer

00:27:12.000 –> 00:27:14.000

service to be this, not necessarily the same,

00:27:14.000 –> 00:27:16.000

but high value, high customer service at all

00:27:16.000 –> 00:27:17.000

the locations?

00:27:17.000 –> 00:27:19.000

Yeah. I mean, number one, your manager is

00:27:19.000 –> 00:27:22.000

everything. Yeah. Right. Your your GM

00:27:23.000 –> 00:27:23.000

00:27:24.000 –> 00:27:26.000

is the place. You know, whether you whether

00:27:26.000 –> 00:27:28.000

whether you think you’re the place or or

00:27:28.000 –> 00:27:29.000

not, like that your

00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:32.000

your GM is is the person for better

00:27:32.000 –> 00:27:35.000

or worse. So, you know, hiring that person’s

00:27:35.000 –> 00:27:36.000

huge.

00:27:38.000 –> 00:27:39.000

You know, I think always trying to keep

00:27:39.000 –> 00:27:40.000

communication

00:27:40.000 –> 00:27:42.000

channels open somehow.

00:27:42.000 –> 00:27:44.000

Something that we’ve always kind of worked on

00:27:44.000 –> 00:27:46.000

and, you know, we’ve we’ve used to different

00:27:46.000 –> 00:27:48.000

things like the local company here, Bonfire,

00:27:50.000 –> 00:27:52.000

or even just kinda like WhatsApp threads Mhmm.

00:27:53.000 –> 00:27:55.000

Stuff like that to really try to

00:27:55.000 –> 00:27:57.000

to keep that connection

00:27:58.000 –> 00:28:00.000

going. You know? So even if you it,

00:28:00.000 –> 00:28:02.000

you know, be there in person. Like, for

00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:02.000

instance,

00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:05.000

Nashville, I I can only get there. Usually

00:28:05.000 –> 00:28:08.000

for one week, every five weeks. It used

00:28:08.000 –> 00:28:10.000

to be once a month. Now it’s every

00:28:10.000 –> 00:28:10.000

five weeks.

00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:14.000

You know, so you you still have to

00:28:14.000 –> 00:28:16.000

kind of keep some dialogue. And so you

00:28:16.000 –> 00:28:18.000

know, and I’ll I’ll go through different things

00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:21.000

where I’ll set up, one on ones, you

00:28:21.000 –> 00:28:24.000

know, phone calls or group phone calls with

00:28:24.000 –> 00:28:27.000

different people to try to again, start talking

00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:28.000

about

00:28:28.000 –> 00:28:31.000

food, talk about dishes. Let’s talk about wine.

00:28:32.000 –> 00:28:34.000

Let’s talk about service. Let’s talk about finance.

00:28:34.000 –> 00:28:36.000

Yeah. You know, so try to connect with

00:28:36.000 –> 00:28:38.000

people at different levels

00:28:38.000 –> 00:28:41.000

at different times too. So I don’t want

00:28:41.000 –> 00:28:42.000

it to always be like,

00:28:42.000 –> 00:28:45.000

just me calling about why the P and

00:28:45.000 –> 00:28:46.000

L list sucks.

00:28:46.000 –> 00:28:48.000

But, you know, I want it to be

00:28:48.000 –> 00:28:50.000

like, yo, you know, let’s let’s talk about

00:28:50.000 –> 00:28:53.000

Amelia Romagna. Yeah. Let’s talk about food and

00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:56.000

How how much do you let them decide

00:28:56.000 –> 00:28:57.000

what’s on the menu?

00:28:57.000 –> 00:28:59.000

A lot. You have a lot

00:29:00.000 –> 00:29:01.000

lot of leeway.

00:29:02.000 –> 00:29:05.000

You know, again, you’re you’re hiring professionals Gilliland,

00:29:06.000 –> 00:29:07.000

you know, I think

00:29:07.000 –> 00:29:10.000

honesty is one of our core values.

00:29:10.000 –> 00:29:13.000

And I think that’s where, you know, we

00:29:13.000 –> 00:29:15.000

get the these conversations going. Right? You know,

00:29:15.000 –> 00:29:18.000

we we’re all very honest with each other

00:29:18.000 –> 00:29:19.000

about what’s working.

00:29:19.000 –> 00:29:23.000

What’s not working, what’s good, what’s not good.

00:29:23.000 –> 00:29:25.000

You know, we added hospitality

00:29:26.000 –> 00:29:26.000

into those,

00:29:28.000 –> 00:29:30.000

core values because I think, you know, in

00:29:30.000 –> 00:29:32.000

the early days, I was not so nice

00:29:32.000 –> 00:29:34.000

about how honest I was Yeah. About everything.

00:29:34.000 –> 00:29:35.000

More delivery.

00:29:36.000 –> 00:29:36.000

Yeah.

00:29:37.000 –> 00:29:39.000

Yeah. Way better delivery. And

00:29:39.000 –> 00:29:42.000

Working on your side. Yeah. But, you know,

00:29:42.000 –> 00:29:44.000

but it You know, when we when we

00:29:44.000 –> 00:29:46.000

first shifted our culture and we were trying

00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:48.000

to kinda, like, soften the culture,

00:29:49.000 –> 00:29:51.000

like, that honesty piece started to go away

00:29:51.000 –> 00:29:52.000

for a little bit. And that what we

00:29:52.000 –> 00:29:53.000

realized how

00:29:54.000 –> 00:29:54.000

crucial

00:29:56.000 –> 00:29:58.000

that piece is. And it’s really hard for

00:29:58.000 –> 00:29:59.000

people to

00:30:00.000 –> 00:30:00.000

00:30:01.000 –> 00:30:03.000

come to if they’re coming from somewhere else.

00:30:03.000 –> 00:30:04.000

Yep. It’s hard for them to hear all

00:30:04.000 –> 00:30:07.000

that honesty, and it’s hard for them to

00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:07.000

give

00:30:07.000 –> 00:30:10.000

all that honesty. But, yeah, I think that

00:30:10.000 –> 00:30:11.000

piece is critical

00:30:11.000 –> 00:30:12.000

when you have multiple.

00:30:13.000 –> 00:30:15.000

Yeah. The feedback’s big. Gilliland if you’re not

00:30:15.000 –> 00:30:17.000

opening the feedback as a leader, they’re not

00:30:17.000 –> 00:30:18.000

gonna they’re not gonna bring it up to

00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:20.000

you as well. Yeah. No. Which is tough.

00:30:20.000 –> 00:30:22.000

If you gotta it’s a this is

00:30:22.000 –> 00:30:24.000

a fair game over here, you know, this

00:30:24.000 –> 00:30:26.000

is, when when you say we,

00:30:27.000 –> 00:30:29.000

you know, that means that everybody should be

00:30:29.000 –> 00:30:33.000

honest. Yeah. You know, if you’re crappy CEO

00:30:33.000 –> 00:30:35.000

and somebody wants to tell you, you know,

00:30:35.000 –> 00:30:38.000

why you gotta listen. Yeah. Yeah. And not

00:30:38.000 –> 00:30:40.000

respond. Right? Listen is not response.

00:30:41.000 –> 00:30:42.000

So if I followed you around, my boy

00:30:42.000 –> 00:30:44.000

Matt over here follows you around with cameras,

00:30:44.000 –> 00:30:46.000

let’s say, for, you know, the next week.

00:30:46.000 –> 00:30:48.000

What what am I gonna see day in

00:30:48.000 –> 00:30:49.000

and day out

00:30:49.000 –> 00:30:51.000

that that Gerard Craft is not missing.

00:30:52.000 –> 00:30:54.000

That I am not missing. Yeah. Like, are

00:30:54.000 –> 00:30:56.000

there daily habits for you that are, like,

00:30:56.000 –> 00:30:57.000

kinda non negotiables?

00:30:59.000 –> 00:30:59.000

Coffee,

00:31:00.000 –> 00:31:03.000

a lot of coffee. I have to have

00:31:03.000 –> 00:31:05.000

three cups of coffee before I do anything

00:31:06.000 –> 00:31:07.000

in the day.

00:31:09.000 –> 00:31:10.000

You know, I

00:31:10.000 –> 00:31:13.000

go through every single morning and and check

00:31:13.000 –> 00:31:14.000

the shift notes.

00:31:14.000 –> 00:31:16.000

And so I see, you know, what happened

00:31:16.000 –> 00:31:18.000

in every single restaurant the night before

00:31:19.000 –> 00:31:22.000

from sales to to, you know,

00:31:23.000 –> 00:31:25.000

who might be in that we know, what

00:31:25.000 –> 00:31:26.000

kind of regulars we’re in,

00:31:27.000 –> 00:31:28.000

you know, anything bad that happened

00:31:29.000 –> 00:31:30.000

in that service.

00:31:30.000 –> 00:31:32.000

Oh, they making notes that, you know, John

00:31:32.000 –> 00:31:34.000

and Sally were in and they’re gonna be

00:31:34.000 –> 00:31:37.000

okay. So that just shows up Yep. So

00:31:37.000 –> 00:31:39.000

it it at the end of every night

00:31:39.000 –> 00:31:41.000

or end of every shift,

00:31:42.000 –> 00:31:45.000

each manager puts in their shift notes. And

00:31:45.000 –> 00:31:47.000

so, again, that goes sales, that goes,

00:31:47.000 –> 00:31:49.000

you know, and just what happened. Yeah. You

00:31:49.000 –> 00:31:51.000

know, give me give me a synopsis

00:31:52.000 –> 00:31:53.000

00:31:53.000 –> 00:31:54.000

00:31:54.000 –> 00:31:56.000

what went down last night. And what does

00:31:56.000 –> 00:31:57.000

that do for you in that moment? Did

00:31:57.000 –> 00:31:59.000

do you do anything with that information? Or

00:31:59.000 –> 00:32:01.000

is that more of just let’s let’s watch

00:32:01.000 –> 00:32:03.000

this, keep eye on it, or does it

00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:04.000

actually change your daily,

00:32:05.000 –> 00:32:07.000

Yeah. Some things might need a a direct

00:32:07.000 –> 00:32:07.000

follow-up,

00:32:08.000 –> 00:32:12.000

you know, or quick quick conversation. Like, what

00:32:12.000 –> 00:32:12.000

the hell?

00:32:13.000 –> 00:32:13.000

Last night.

00:32:15.000 –> 00:32:15.000

You know,

00:32:16.000 –> 00:32:18.000

or it’s just starting to kind of see

00:32:18.000 –> 00:32:20.000

patterns. You know, this is where you really,

00:32:20.000 –> 00:32:23.000

you know, just start to get a feel

00:32:23.000 –> 00:32:25.000

for for what’s going on. You might say,

00:32:25.000 –> 00:32:27.000

Hey, I need to spend I think I

00:32:27.000 –> 00:32:28.000

need to spend a little more time

00:32:29.000 –> 00:32:31.000

in this restaurant. Right? I need to to

00:32:32.000 –> 00:32:34.000

shift more of my energy over here.

00:32:35.000 –> 00:32:37.000

You know? Yeah. So I think that that

00:32:37.000 –> 00:32:40.000

always kind of like starts my day

00:32:40.000 –> 00:32:42.000

with the direction. Then I usually look at

00:32:42.000 –> 00:32:43.000

my calendar

00:32:44.000 –> 00:32:46.000

which I usually do right before I go

00:32:46.000 –> 00:32:49.000

to sleep so I can set five million

00:32:49.000 –> 00:32:49.000

alarms.

00:32:51.000 –> 00:32:53.000

Because because my memory is really, really bad.

00:32:53.000 –> 00:32:55.000

So I need five million alarms through the

00:32:55.000 –> 00:32:58.000

day to to remind me that I have

00:32:58.000 –> 00:32:59.000

something else

00:32:59.000 –> 00:32:59.000

after.

00:33:00.000 –> 00:33:00.000

But,

00:33:01.000 –> 00:33:04.000

yeah, and then I then I usually kinda

00:33:04.000 –> 00:33:04.000

head into

00:33:05.000 –> 00:33:08.000

to either my office, which is over at

00:33:08.000 –> 00:33:09.000

Boe wood,

00:33:09.000 –> 00:33:11.000

or kinda pop into one of the restaurants.

00:33:11.000 –> 00:33:12.000

And

00:33:12.000 –> 00:33:13.000

Is it exercise,

00:33:14.000 –> 00:33:15.000

eating? Is that a I mean, obviously, the

00:33:15.000 –> 00:33:17.000

restaurant whatever the heck you want. But is

00:33:17.000 –> 00:33:18.000

that is that to be a focus for

00:33:18.000 –> 00:33:19.000

you?

00:33:19.000 –> 00:33:21.000

Yeah. You know, so

00:33:21.000 –> 00:33:22.000

I try to

00:33:23.000 –> 00:33:26.000

work out every other day. Yep. It it

00:33:26.000 –> 00:33:27.000

a minimum.

00:33:27.000 –> 00:33:29.000

And, you know, that’s

00:33:29.000 –> 00:33:32.000

usually on, like, a stationary bike trainer.

00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:35.000

I live on some mountain bike trails. So,

00:33:35.000 –> 00:33:37.000

you know, when the weather’s a little nicer,

00:33:37.000 –> 00:33:39.000

I try to try to pop out on

00:33:39.000 –> 00:33:41.000

the trails. Nice.

00:33:41.000 –> 00:33:42.000

Get outside a little bit. But but that’s

00:33:42.000 –> 00:33:43.000

definitely important. And when I’m not doing

00:33:47.000 –> 00:33:48.000

that,

00:33:48.000 –> 00:33:49.000

is bad. Yeah.

00:33:50.000 –> 00:33:51.000

Need to get out. Need to Brett moving.

00:33:51.000 –> 00:33:53.000

You gotta keep your body moving. Do you

00:33:53.000 –> 00:33:54.000

have any of those moments? Like, I I

00:33:54.000 –> 00:33:56.000

hate to call them pinch me moments, but

00:33:56.000 –> 00:33:58.000

where you kinda you slow down and think

00:33:58.000 –> 00:34:00.000

about some of the things that you’re doing

00:34:00.000 –> 00:34:02.000

and some of the situations you find yourself

00:34:02.000 –> 00:34:04.000

in now from from where you’ve come from

00:34:04.000 –> 00:34:06.000

to where you’re at now. Because I I

00:34:06.000 –> 00:34:07.000

try to do that. Right? I’m like, like,

00:34:07.000 –> 00:34:09.000

this. For me, this is freaking cool. Like,

00:34:09.000 –> 00:34:10.000

this is really cool to do this. These

00:34:10.000 –> 00:34:12.000

are pinch me moments is what I would

00:34:12.000 –> 00:34:13.000

call them. Like, do you have any of

00:34:13.000 –> 00:34:15.000

those moments? And do you slow down and

00:34:15.000 –> 00:34:16.000

appreciate them enough?

00:34:17.000 –> 00:34:18.000

You know, I’m I’m pretty hard on myself.

00:34:19.000 –> 00:34:19.000

Yeah.

00:34:20.000 –> 00:34:20.000

So,

00:34:21.000 –> 00:34:23.000

you know, I I’m very grateful

00:34:24.000 –> 00:34:26.000

for everything. Yep.

00:34:27.000 –> 00:34:29.000

But, you know, I I think it’s really

00:34:29.000 –> 00:34:31.000

hard to kind of

00:34:32.000 –> 00:34:32.000

look back

00:34:33.000 –> 00:34:35.000

and just be like, oh, this is awesome.

00:34:35.000 –> 00:34:38.000

Yeah. When when something’s currently not awesome. Right?

00:34:38.000 –> 00:34:40.000

You’re like, you know, and there’s kind of

00:34:40.000 –> 00:34:43.000

always something that is currently not awesome.

00:34:44.000 –> 00:34:44.000

00:34:45.000 –> 00:34:47.000

every now and then, I definitely try to

00:34:47.000 –> 00:34:48.000

do that.

00:34:49.000 –> 00:34:51.000

You know, but it is tough. I I’m

00:34:51.000 –> 00:34:53.000

I do some stuff with,

00:34:54.000 –> 00:34:55.000

for team USA

00:34:55.000 –> 00:34:57.000

with Boku store, Oh, cool. And and those

00:34:57.000 –> 00:35:00.000

are usually pinch me moments because I’m like,

00:35:00.000 –> 00:35:02.000

oh my god. What’s going on? Thomas Keller’s

00:35:02.000 –> 00:35:05.000

over there? Daniel Blues’s over there. Like,

00:35:05.000 –> 00:35:06.000

Paul Bartelodos

00:35:06.000 –> 00:35:09.000

over there. Like, you know, we’re all just

00:35:09.000 –> 00:35:12.000

talking. And so so some sometimes, you know,

00:35:13.000 –> 00:35:15.000

I get in those moments where I’m like,

00:35:15.000 –> 00:35:18.000

I probably shouldn’t be here, but somehow I

00:35:18.000 –> 00:35:19.000

am.

00:35:19.000 –> 00:35:20.000

Yeah. Which is awesome. Can I give you

00:35:20.000 –> 00:35:22.000

an exercise on work? Uh-huh. Yeah. So I

00:35:22.000 –> 00:35:24.000

do every ninety days. I do what’s called

00:35:24.000 –> 00:35:26.000

a gratitude worksheet. I go are you a

00:35:26.000 –> 00:35:27.000

pic do you take a lot of pictures?

00:35:27.000 –> 00:35:29.000

Yeah. So I go through every ninety days

00:35:29.000 –> 00:35:31.000

the calendar quarter. So I just got done.

00:35:31.000 –> 00:35:33.000

I go through and look at every picture

00:35:33.000 –> 00:35:35.000

I took the last ninety days. And I

00:35:35.000 –> 00:35:37.000

actually write down in my journal, like, what

00:35:37.000 –> 00:35:38.000

I did. Hey, I’m sitting over here at

00:35:38.000 –> 00:35:40.000

this thing, right, for Team USA.

00:35:40.000 –> 00:35:42.000

Pretty cool. I did this. I had dinner

00:35:42.000 –> 00:35:45.000

with friends here. And so for me, it

00:35:45.000 –> 00:35:47.000

helps me every ninety days to look back

00:35:47.000 –> 00:35:49.000

on those things that normally I don’t look

00:35:49.000 –> 00:35:51.000

back on my pictures. Right? And you just

00:35:51.000 –> 00:35:52.000

take them and then you never look at

00:35:52.000 –> 00:35:53.000

them again. But what it’s helped me over

00:35:53.000 –> 00:35:55.000

the last four or five years, is to

00:35:55.000 –> 00:35:57.000

slow down to speed up, but slow down

00:35:57.000 –> 00:35:58.000

so I can look at all the things

00:35:58.000 –> 00:36:00.000

to be grateful for. And I find myself

00:36:00.000 –> 00:36:03.000

in moments like this, knowing I can’t wait

00:36:03.000 –> 00:36:05.000

to write this down on March thirty first

00:36:05.000 –> 00:36:07.000

that I Brett with Gerard Craft, and we

00:36:07.000 –> 00:36:09.000

had an awesome kick ass podcast. Right? Like,

00:36:09.000 –> 00:36:11.000

helps me be in the moment. So That’s

00:36:11.000 –> 00:36:13.000

cool. For whatever that’s worth, I should definitely

00:36:13.000 –> 00:36:14.000

try that. Maybe give it a shot. I’ll

00:36:14.000 –> 00:36:16.000

text you March thirty first and tell you

00:36:16.000 –> 00:36:17.000

to look at your camera.

00:36:17.000 –> 00:36:20.000

Any moments for you stick out where you,

00:36:20.000 –> 00:36:22.000

like, this failure, this this thing that wasn’t

00:36:22.000 –> 00:36:24.000

going well that sticks out for you that

00:36:24.000 –> 00:36:26.000

you wanna share that that you could share

00:36:26.000 –> 00:36:28.000

that had a really big moment in defining

00:36:28.000 –> 00:36:31.000

moment for you. Oh my god. How many

00:36:31.000 –> 00:36:33.000

how many failure moments do I have? You

00:36:33.000 –> 00:36:35.000

know, so failure is one of our core

00:36:35.000 –> 00:36:36.000

values. Okay.

00:36:37.000 –> 00:36:39.000

I love that. Yeah. Well, embracing

00:36:39.000 –> 00:36:40.000

it. And,

00:36:41.000 –> 00:36:43.000

and and not to say, you know, failing

00:36:43.000 –> 00:36:45.000

over and over at the same same thing,

00:36:45.000 –> 00:36:48.000

but But, you know, we we all really

00:36:48.000 –> 00:36:50.000

learn from our failures. Yep. Right? You know,

00:36:50.000 –> 00:36:51.000

I think,

00:36:52.000 –> 00:36:54.000

I I heard somebody talking recently about you

00:36:54.000 –> 00:36:56.000

know, kids who maybe,

00:36:57.000 –> 00:36:59.000

everything was easy for them in high school

00:36:59.000 –> 00:37:00.000

or something. Right? Like,

00:37:01.000 –> 00:37:01.000

you know,

00:37:02.000 –> 00:37:03.000

guy who, you know,

00:37:04.000 –> 00:37:06.000

you know, always had a date who, you

00:37:06.000 –> 00:37:08.000

know, captain of the football team or whatever

00:37:08.000 –> 00:37:12.000

often struggle later in life because they’re just

00:37:12.000 –> 00:37:14.000

They just never had to, like, hustle or

00:37:14.000 –> 00:37:16.000

figure it out to, like, get to that

00:37:16.000 –> 00:37:18.000

Yep. Next level. And,

00:37:18.000 –> 00:37:20.000

so so I think so many of the

00:37:20.000 –> 00:37:22.000

failures in my life So maybe maybe I’m

00:37:22.000 –> 00:37:25.000

more successful because I’ve failed so damn much.

00:37:26.000 –> 00:37:28.000

It’s like, let’s get a sky break. Yeah.

00:37:28.000 –> 00:37:29.000

You know, and and,

00:37:30.000 –> 00:37:32.000

increasingly in still do. So I think failures

00:37:33.000 –> 00:37:33.000

are always,

00:37:35.000 –> 00:37:38.000

always huge. You know, I think niche Nish

00:37:38.000 –> 00:37:41.000

was a huge lesson in failure.

00:37:42.000 –> 00:37:44.000

And, you know, I think Nish, everybody looked

00:37:44.000 –> 00:37:46.000

at Nish, is this, like, trajectory

00:37:47.000 –> 00:37:49.000

from two thousand five to, you know, James

00:37:49.000 –> 00:37:51.000

Beard award, Foon wine, best new chef,

00:37:52.000 –> 00:37:54.000

and just kind of like just kept seeing

00:37:54.000 –> 00:37:56.000

these things rack up.

00:37:56.000 –> 00:37:57.000

But I think

00:37:59.000 –> 00:37:59.000

definitely

00:38:00.000 –> 00:38:01.000

there were two times that we were

00:38:02.000 –> 00:38:05.000

hairs away from going out of business

00:38:05.000 –> 00:38:07.000

that I was talking to people in New

00:38:07.000 –> 00:38:09.000

York and DC about jobs.

00:38:11.000 –> 00:38:12.000

You know, so

00:38:12.000 –> 00:38:14.000

Like, I have been,

00:38:15.000 –> 00:38:17.000

you know, two thousand eight financial crisis.

00:38:20.000 –> 00:38:21.000

Was was definitely,

00:38:22.000 –> 00:38:24.000

you know, it was actually probably two thousand

00:38:24.000 –> 00:38:27.000

ten. Right? So, like, the tail and when

00:38:27.000 –> 00:38:29.000

everything I feel like in Saint Louis was

00:38:29.000 –> 00:38:30.000

was way harder.

00:38:32.000 –> 00:38:34.000

And they had just shut our highway down.

00:38:35.000 –> 00:38:37.000

Highway forty, which is like the main way

00:38:37.000 –> 00:38:39.000

to get to niche back then,

00:38:40.000 –> 00:38:40.000

and,

00:38:41.000 –> 00:38:43.000

and it was brutal. And, you know, I

00:38:43.000 –> 00:38:44.000

think working

00:38:44.000 –> 00:38:47.000

working our way through that, you know, taught

00:38:47.000 –> 00:38:48.000

us a lot. I mean, it taught me

00:38:48.000 –> 00:38:50.000

a lot about finance because Yep. Because I

00:38:50.000 –> 00:38:52.000

think I did not

00:38:53.000 –> 00:38:54.000

understand finances

00:38:54.000 –> 00:38:56.000

as well as I needed to

00:38:56.000 –> 00:38:57.000

at that point.

00:38:58.000 –> 00:38:58.000

And,

00:38:59.000 –> 00:39:00.000

you know, I

00:39:00.000 –> 00:39:02.000

you you learned so many of these lessons,

00:39:02.000 –> 00:39:04.000

and we call a lot of these things

00:39:04.000 –> 00:39:05.000

failure capital.

00:39:06.000 –> 00:39:07.000

And,

00:39:08.000 –> 00:39:10.000

you know, one one of our biggest failure

00:39:10.000 –> 00:39:11.000

capitals was Pirano.

00:39:11.000 –> 00:39:15.000

Which we’re reopening now. And it’s like this

00:39:15.000 –> 00:39:17.000

this stock that you have. All these failures

00:39:17.000 –> 00:39:19.000

are things to build on later. So Pirano

00:39:19.000 –> 00:39:20.000

didn’t make it downtown.

00:39:21.000 –> 00:39:23.000

You know, but here we are seven years

00:39:23.000 –> 00:39:24.000

later

00:39:24.000 –> 00:39:26.000

about to open, you know, in a few

00:39:26.000 –> 00:39:28.000

months and to pair

00:39:28.000 –> 00:39:29.000

with another one.

00:39:30.000 –> 00:39:32.000

You know, I think it’s

00:39:33.000 –> 00:39:35.000

sometimes things don’t happen

00:39:35.000 –> 00:39:38.000

the way they’re supposed to happen because of

00:39:38.000 –> 00:39:39.000

the time.

00:39:39.000 –> 00:39:42.000

Right? You know, maybe it was too soon.

00:39:43.000 –> 00:39:46.000

Or something like that, you know. So I

00:39:46.000 –> 00:39:48.000

don’t know. I stack all my failures

00:39:48.000 –> 00:39:50.000

away in a file that I can kind

00:39:50.000 –> 00:39:53.000

of reach back to at any point in

00:39:53.000 –> 00:39:55.000

time. Would would you say you’re a guy

00:39:55.000 –> 00:39:55.000

that

00:39:56.000 –> 00:39:57.000

do you dwell on the failure for a

00:39:57.000 –> 00:39:59.000

long time, or is it kind of bounce?

00:39:59.000 –> 00:40:01.000

I because I called the bounce theory. Right?

00:40:01.000 –> 00:40:02.000

If I get bad news, I go to

00:40:02.000 –> 00:40:03.000

my journal

00:40:03.000 –> 00:40:05.000

I mean, literally, it could be within the

00:40:05.000 –> 00:40:07.000

hour of, like, alright. Here’s how I’m gonna

00:40:07.000 –> 00:40:09.000

get out of this Right? And I try

00:40:09.000 –> 00:40:10.000

to create a plan. I’m a planner. Right?

00:40:10.000 –> 00:40:11.000

So I try to create a plan of

00:40:11.000 –> 00:40:13.000

how I’m gonna get out of that. Is

00:40:13.000 –> 00:40:14.000

that something that you do? Are you more

00:40:14.000 –> 00:40:15.000

of a,

00:40:15.000 –> 00:40:16.000

yeah, maybe I’ll

00:40:17.000 –> 00:40:18.000

let it sit there for a while, and

00:40:18.000 –> 00:40:20.000

eventually I’ll think of something or like, how

00:40:20.000 –> 00:40:22.000

does that work for you? No. I’m a

00:40:22.000 –> 00:40:23.000

fighter. Okay. Yeah.

00:40:23.000 –> 00:40:25.000

The same way. Right? You’re just gonna put

00:40:25.000 –> 00:40:27.000

a plan together and fight. Let’s go. Going

00:40:27.000 –> 00:40:28.000

after it in some

00:40:28.000 –> 00:40:31.000

way in some way, shit. Probably sometimes I

00:40:31.000 –> 00:40:33.000

should probably should step back. No problem. But

00:40:33.000 –> 00:40:37.000

you’re confirming. Deeper Brett. And, you know, and

00:40:37.000 –> 00:40:38.000

and really think it through. But, you know,

00:40:38.000 –> 00:40:40.000

I think in those moments, you know, the

00:40:40.000 –> 00:40:42.000

fight or flight kinda comes out and you

00:40:42.000 –> 00:40:44.000

start going for it. You’re confirming what I’m

00:40:44.000 –> 00:40:46.000

saying. The bounce back theory is what I

00:40:46.000 –> 00:40:48.000

call it. Right? Because the I’ve seen it

00:40:48.000 –> 00:40:50.000

now for twenty two years in business now

00:40:50.000 –> 00:40:51.000

three hundred. And when I say earlier, three

00:40:51.000 –> 00:40:54.000

hundred and sixty nine interviews later, like, the

00:40:54.000 –> 00:40:56.000

most successful people bounce back immediately. Right? They

00:40:56.000 –> 00:40:58.000

don’t dwell on it. They don’t have a

00:40:58.000 –> 00:40:59.000

pity party. They just get up and they

00:40:59.000 –> 00:41:01.000

go and they fight. And whether that’s fighting

00:41:01.000 –> 00:41:03.000

or putting your plan together, whatever it is,

00:41:03.000 –> 00:41:04.000

you gotta go take action and go make

00:41:04.000 –> 00:41:06.000

things happen. And and that’s what, again, I’ve

00:41:06.000 –> 00:41:09.000

seen for two decades now the most successful

00:41:09.000 –> 00:41:11.000

people don’t dwell on it. They go make

00:41:11.000 –> 00:41:13.000

it happen. So I definitely have a little

00:41:13.000 –> 00:41:15.000

private pity party for myself.

00:41:16.000 –> 00:41:18.000

Pick up customers, you know, get pissed off.

00:41:19.000 –> 00:41:22.000

Let’s talk about work life integration. Most people

00:41:22.000 –> 00:41:23.000

laugh when I say that because there’s work

00:41:23.000 –> 00:41:25.000

life balance. I don’t believe in there’s work

00:41:25.000 –> 00:41:27.000

life integration. Right? So you’re opening a new

00:41:27.000 –> 00:41:27.000

place.

00:41:28.000 –> 00:41:30.000

There’s no balance, man. You’re you’re probably here

00:41:30.000 –> 00:41:31.000

doing a lot of stuff. Right? So how

00:41:31.000 –> 00:41:34.000

do you work on that work life integration

00:41:34.000 –> 00:41:35.000

part in life.

00:41:35.000 –> 00:41:36.000

Yeah. You know,

00:41:37.000 –> 00:41:41.000

I don’t believe him work like balance. I

00:41:41.000 –> 00:41:43.000

don’t think that’s a Yeah. It’s not that

00:41:43.000 –> 00:41:45.000

I don’t believe or want it. Yeah. Right.

00:41:45.000 –> 00:41:48.000

I just don’t know that it’s always entirely

00:41:48.000 –> 00:41:50.000

possible. You know, you For sure.

00:41:51.000 –> 00:41:53.000

And I hate for people to tell people

00:41:53.000 –> 00:41:55.000

that it is. Right. Right? Like, oh, yeah.

00:41:55.000 –> 00:41:57.000

You can be super successful and do all

00:41:57.000 –> 00:41:58.000

these things, but

00:41:59.000 –> 00:42:01.000

but you’re also only gonna work eight hours

00:42:01.000 –> 00:42:03.000

a day. And then, like, that’s never gonna

00:42:03.000 –> 00:42:05.000

happen. I mean, I’m sure it does, yeah,

00:42:05.000 –> 00:42:08.000

occasionally, but it’s is definitely the exception of

00:42:08.000 –> 00:42:10.000

the rule. And,

00:42:10.000 –> 00:42:12.000

I don’t know. You know, I try to,

00:42:12.000 –> 00:42:15.000

do things that that I enjoy doing. I

00:42:15.000 –> 00:42:16.000

enjoy creating

00:42:17.000 –> 00:42:20.000

You know, I really enjoy this Yep. This

00:42:20.000 –> 00:42:20.000

work.

00:42:21.000 –> 00:42:23.000

I enjoy the people

00:42:24.000 –> 00:42:26.000

that I get to to work with

00:42:27.000 –> 00:42:28.000

you know, and then I try to, you

00:42:28.000 –> 00:42:31.000

know, like my business partner and I’ll pretty

00:42:31.000 –> 00:42:34.000

much do our meetings, like, on a bike

00:42:34.000 –> 00:42:36.000

or something like that. So, you know, that’s

00:42:36.000 –> 00:42:38.000

always a a great way to do it.

00:42:38.000 –> 00:42:39.000

I I met up with somebody from meeting

00:42:39.000 –> 00:42:42.000

yesterday on a bike, and it was awesome.

00:42:43.000 –> 00:42:45.000

You know, so, you know, I would say

00:42:45.000 –> 00:42:47.000

to your point of integration, that’s kind of

00:42:47.000 –> 00:42:50.000

one of those those types of moments. But,

00:42:51.000 –> 00:42:52.000

or, you know,

00:42:53.000 –> 00:42:54.000

is some of the things I get to

00:42:54.000 –> 00:42:56.000

do, you know, some of the the boards

00:42:56.000 –> 00:42:59.000

I join or or whatever, you know, involve

00:42:59.000 –> 00:43:02.000

some some travel to some really cool places.

00:43:02.000 –> 00:43:03.000

And,

00:43:03.000 –> 00:43:04.000

you know,

00:43:04.000 –> 00:43:07.000

or events, you know, in really cool places.

00:43:08.000 –> 00:43:09.000

So I don’t know, you know, try to

00:43:09.000 –> 00:43:10.000

have fun with it.

00:43:11.000 –> 00:43:13.000

At the same time, but, you know,

00:43:13.000 –> 00:43:14.000

it’s,

00:43:14.000 –> 00:43:16.000

you know, it’s it’s what you choose in

00:43:16.000 –> 00:43:18.000

life. I don’t think everybody needs to choose

00:43:18.000 –> 00:43:20.000

that, and I don’t think it you know,

00:43:20.000 –> 00:43:22.000

I don’t think being an entrepreneur is for,

00:43:22.000 –> 00:43:25.000

as you know, is not for everybody. No.

00:43:25.000 –> 00:43:27.000

And that’s where that balance is BS. Right?

00:43:27.000 –> 00:43:29.000

Because, again, you could have I I just

00:43:29.000 –> 00:43:30.000

got back from a seven or eight days

00:43:30.000 –> 00:43:31.000

on vacation.

00:43:31.000 –> 00:43:33.000

My work life balance was not there was

00:43:33.000 –> 00:43:35.000

no work. Yeah. Right? All fan And then

00:43:35.000 –> 00:43:37.000

but then when you got something going on,

00:43:37.000 –> 00:43:38.000

you could have a lot more work than

00:43:38.000 –> 00:43:40.000

family time. So I agree. I think it’s

00:43:40.000 –> 00:43:42.000

BS, and that’s why I like the integration

00:43:42.000 –> 00:43:44.000

part. What How do you how do you

00:43:44.000 –> 00:43:46.000

personally continue your passion, your drive,

00:43:47.000 –> 00:43:47.000

your purpose,

00:43:48.000 –> 00:43:50.000

staying a student in the game? How do

00:43:50.000 –> 00:43:51.000

you how do you do that?

00:43:51.000 –> 00:43:53.000

One I read a lot.

00:43:54.000 –> 00:43:54.000

You know,

00:43:55.000 –> 00:43:56.000

and that’s everything from,

00:43:57.000 –> 00:43:58.000

you know, cookbooks to,

00:44:00.000 –> 00:44:01.000

to,

00:44:02.000 –> 00:44:04.000

leadership books and,

00:44:04.000 –> 00:44:06.000

you know, I try to study a lot

00:44:06.000 –> 00:44:09.000

and, you know, diving into, to internet, you

00:44:09.000 –> 00:44:12.000

know, just to to continue to

00:44:12.000 –> 00:44:14.000

learn whatever that may be, that may be

00:44:14.000 –> 00:44:17.000

business, that may be leadership, that may be

00:44:17.000 –> 00:44:19.000

a new recipe that maybe,

00:44:20.000 –> 00:44:20.000

design,

00:44:21.000 –> 00:44:22.000

but I’m kind of always

00:44:23.000 –> 00:44:23.000

always

00:44:24.000 –> 00:44:27.000

looking, always have my eyes open, always

00:44:27.000 –> 00:44:28.000

thinking,

00:44:28.000 –> 00:44:30.000

and I travel I try to travel as

00:44:30.000 –> 00:44:33.000

much as possible, because I think travel Gilliland

00:44:33.000 –> 00:44:36.000

reading have been the two biggest influences

00:44:37.000 –> 00:44:39.000

in my career period.

00:44:40.000 –> 00:44:41.000

Seventy two hours from now, where are you

00:44:41.000 –> 00:44:44.000

gonna be? I’m gonna be in Italy. Yeah.

00:44:44.000 –> 00:44:45.000

So I guess when this airs, I’ll be

00:44:45.000 –> 00:44:46.000

back from Italy, but,

00:44:47.000 –> 00:44:48.000

but that’s, you know,

00:44:48.000 –> 00:44:50.000

Europe’s my favorite place in the world.

00:44:52.000 –> 00:44:54.000

You know, and so getting getting to Italy

00:44:54.000 –> 00:44:56.000

is always always a treat. Let’s put it

00:44:56.000 –> 00:44:57.000

on the list.

00:44:58.000 –> 00:44:59.000

How do you balance risk versus

00:45:00.000 –> 00:45:01.000

caution? Right? Cause

00:45:02.000 –> 00:45:03.000

this is a risk. Right? The the next

00:45:03.000 –> 00:45:05.000

place is a risk. But I think so

00:45:05.000 –> 00:45:07.000

many times what I’ve seen is people, the

00:45:07.000 –> 00:45:10.000

old saying paralysis by analysis, right, is you

00:45:10.000 –> 00:45:12.000

don’t trust your gut. You don’t trust your

00:45:12.000 –> 00:45:14.000

business part. You don’t make the decision to

00:45:14.000 –> 00:45:17.000

go. How do you manage those two things?

00:45:17.000 –> 00:45:19.000

I probably don’t manage. I probably take

00:45:20.000 –> 00:45:22.000

too I I lean on the too much

00:45:22.000 –> 00:45:22.000

risk.

00:45:23.000 –> 00:45:25.000

Side of things, and it drives me crazy

00:45:25.000 –> 00:45:27.000

when So you’re always looking to risk yourself.

00:45:27.000 –> 00:45:28.000

Analytical

00:45:28.000 –> 00:45:30.000

about it? No. I’m I’m always taking risks.

00:45:30.000 –> 00:45:32.000

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m like, yeah. Let’s

00:45:32.000 –> 00:45:34.000

let’s do it. Yeah. I think sometimes sometimes

00:45:35.000 –> 00:45:36.000

I should, you know, step back a little

00:45:36.000 –> 00:45:38.000

more and ask more questions but It doesn’t

00:45:38.000 –> 00:45:40.000

wanna walk down a really cool hallway in

00:45:40.000 –> 00:45:42.000

this place, man. I mean, this was an

00:45:42.000 –> 00:45:43.000

easy one. This the

00:45:43.000 –> 00:45:45.000

some some are a little harder

00:45:45.000 –> 00:45:46.000

than others.

00:45:47.000 –> 00:45:49.000

But, you know, I think I as I

00:45:49.000 –> 00:45:52.000

get older, I’m I’m trying to train myself

00:45:52.000 –> 00:45:54.000

to take a little less

00:45:54.000 –> 00:45:56.000

Yeah. Risk.

00:45:57.000 –> 00:45:58.000

And

00:45:58.000 –> 00:46:01.000

and that won’t be obvious to anybody looking

00:46:01.000 –> 00:46:03.000

at all of our plans because we’re

00:46:03.000 –> 00:46:06.000

constantly opening, but it’s maybe what I’m opening.

00:46:06.000 –> 00:46:06.000

Yep.

00:46:07.000 –> 00:46:08.000

That that shows

00:46:09.000 –> 00:46:10.000

how I’m pulling back.

00:46:12.000 –> 00:46:14.000

Love that. So last few questions here.

00:46:15.000 –> 00:46:17.000

When when you hear the word fear, I

00:46:17.000 –> 00:46:19.000

ask this question almost everybody is, how many

00:46:19.000 –> 00:46:21.000

of the fears you’ve put in your mind

00:46:21.000 –> 00:46:23.000

have actually blown up to the magnitude you

00:46:23.000 –> 00:46:24.000

put them in your mind to be?

00:46:27.000 –> 00:46:27.000

Oh, that’s

00:46:28.000 –> 00:46:29.000

that’s interesting.

00:46:34.000 –> 00:46:35.000

Well, so far,

00:46:36.000 –> 00:46:39.000

so far none of them have. You knocked

00:46:39.000 –> 00:46:41.000

out a little earlier. Right? Yeah. And, and

00:46:41.000 –> 00:46:42.000

I am a very superstitious

00:46:43.000 –> 00:46:45.000

human being. I usually do five knocks on

00:46:45.000 –> 00:46:47.000

the bed for some reason. Three on wood.

00:46:47.000 –> 00:46:48.000

I don’t know. It’s a weird thing.

00:46:49.000 –> 00:46:51.000

I’ve probably driven Claire,

00:46:51.000 –> 00:46:53.000

absolutely insane with all of the lines. I

00:46:53.000 –> 00:46:55.000

noticed it. I said a couple things Gilliland

00:46:55.000 –> 00:46:56.000

you did the three knock in the wood.

00:46:56.000 –> 00:46:58.000

And I’m like, god, that guy’s just like

00:46:58.000 –> 00:46:59.000

me, my son, my second son, especially, man,

00:46:59.000 –> 00:47:01.000

where he does the five knocks on his

00:47:01.000 –> 00:47:03.000

head as well. That, for some reason, that

00:47:03.000 –> 00:47:04.000

thing that works, it just puts me at

00:47:04.000 –> 00:47:06.000

peace, and I feel good about it. Yeah.

00:47:06.000 –> 00:47:09.000

You know, I think fear fears, again, one

00:47:09.000 –> 00:47:11.000

of those things that I probably need a

00:47:11.000 –> 00:47:12.000

touch

00:47:12.000 –> 00:47:14.000

touch more of, you know, and I think

00:47:14.000 –> 00:47:14.000

that

00:47:15.000 –> 00:47:17.000

that quite honestly, you know, going through the

00:47:17.000 –> 00:47:20.000

great recession as a business owner and going

00:47:20.000 –> 00:47:21.000

through,

00:47:22.000 –> 00:47:24.000

COVID have definitely, you know,

00:47:25.000 –> 00:47:27.000

added a little to that. You know, they’ve

00:47:27.000 –> 00:47:28.000

they’ve helped me,

00:47:29.000 –> 00:47:31.000

be like, hey, everything can be gone

00:47:32.000 –> 00:47:32.000

tomorrow.

00:47:33.000 –> 00:47:33.000

Yeah.

00:47:33.000 –> 00:47:35.000

And I think that’s,

00:47:35.000 –> 00:47:37.000

you know, some of those things are important

00:47:37.000 –> 00:47:40.000

to to take into account when you’re when

00:47:40.000 –> 00:47:43.000

you’re building an actual business. Like, are you

00:47:43.000 –> 00:47:44.000

really building a foundation

00:47:45.000 –> 00:47:47.000

that you can that you can stand or

00:47:47.000 –> 00:47:49.000

you’re just kind of building a ton of

00:47:49.000 –> 00:47:50.000

stuff on quicksand.

00:47:50.000 –> 00:47:52.000

And I think that that’s really my focus,

00:47:53.000 –> 00:47:55.000

you know, for the next five years is

00:47:55.000 –> 00:47:57.000

is all in in real

00:47:58.000 –> 00:47:59.000

large foundational

00:47:59.000 –> 00:48:00.000

work.

00:48:00.000 –> 00:48:02.000

Yep. So our name of our firm is

00:48:02.000 –> 00:48:04.000

visionary wealth advisors. So a name like at

00:48:04.000 –> 00:48:07.000

by definition, it’s, you know, helping helping people

00:48:07.000 –> 00:48:08.000

achieve a future, right, greater than your past.

00:48:08.000 –> 00:48:10.000

And that’s our mission statement, helping you achieve

00:48:10.000 –> 00:48:12.000

a future greater than your past. So when

00:48:12.000 –> 00:48:13.000

you hear those words,

00:48:14.000 –> 00:48:16.000

future greater than past, what comes to mind

00:48:16.000 –> 00:48:16.000

for you?

00:48:17.000 –> 00:48:19.000

I mean, so, you know, my five year

00:48:19.000 –> 00:48:19.000

plan.

00:48:22.000 –> 00:48:24.000

Would would kind of be just that. You

00:48:24.000 –> 00:48:24.000

know, I think

00:48:26.000 –> 00:48:27.000

we we have a pretty set vision of

00:48:27.000 –> 00:48:30.000

where we wanna see this company be.

00:48:30.000 –> 00:48:32.000

In five years and who we want it

00:48:32.000 –> 00:48:34.000

to be competing with and,

00:48:35.000 –> 00:48:37.000

what field we want it to be playing

00:48:37.000 –> 00:48:38.000

on.

00:48:39.000 –> 00:48:42.000

And and that is a lot bigger than

00:48:42.000 –> 00:48:43.000

it is today.

00:48:44.000 –> 00:48:46.000

You know, so so growth is a big

00:48:46.000 –> 00:48:47.000

part of our

00:48:48.000 –> 00:48:48.000

our vision,

00:48:49.000 –> 00:48:50.000

but it’s also,

00:48:52.000 –> 00:48:54.000

a very very focused growth.

00:48:55.000 –> 00:48:57.000

Yeah. Is that who’s in that room? Like,

00:48:57.000 –> 00:48:58.000

how many people are in that room, not

00:48:58.000 –> 00:49:00.000

necessarily names? But who how many people are

00:49:00.000 –> 00:49:02.000

in that room? And what’s that process look

00:49:02.000 –> 00:49:04.000

like for you to to build that vision

00:49:04.000 –> 00:49:05.000

out?

00:49:05.000 –> 00:49:06.000

Sure.

00:49:06.000 –> 00:49:08.000

You know, so our CFO

00:49:08.000 –> 00:49:08.000

and,

00:49:09.000 –> 00:49:12.000

and our chief operating officer, Kate Wolverton.

00:49:13.000 –> 00:49:15.000

I mean, she’s really kinda like

00:49:16.000 –> 00:49:17.000

you know, my right hand,

00:49:18.000 –> 00:49:20.000

and then the business partners, you know, our

00:49:20.000 –> 00:49:21.000

investors,

00:49:23.000 –> 00:49:24.000

So they’re sitting here kinda deciding, here’s what

00:49:24.000 –> 00:49:26.000

we’re gonna do. Here’s how many restaurants we

00:49:26.000 –> 00:49:28.000

wanna open or whatever it may be deciding

00:49:28.000 –> 00:49:30.000

that. And then how often are you looking

00:49:30.000 –> 00:49:31.000

at that?

00:49:31.000 –> 00:49:34.000

All the time. Yeah. Yeah. We’re we’re constantly

00:49:34.000 –> 00:49:34.000

evaluating

00:49:35.000 –> 00:49:38.000

different different deals on a regular basis. You

00:49:38.000 –> 00:49:40.000

know, if I I told people, you know,

00:49:41.000 –> 00:49:44.000

Sometimes I think it is worrisome to to

00:49:44.000 –> 00:49:47.000

people because because we’re constantly talking about deals.

00:49:47.000 –> 00:49:49.000

Yeah. You know, I mean, they’re like

00:49:49.000 –> 00:49:51.000

every week. They probably come across your desk

00:49:51.000 –> 00:49:53.000

all the time too. Right? And so, you

00:49:53.000 –> 00:49:54.000

know, when

00:49:54.000 –> 00:49:56.000

I think at first, it’s really hard for

00:49:56.000 –> 00:49:59.000

some people to be have those conversations and

00:49:59.000 –> 00:50:01.000

then you turn those down or whatever. Well,

00:50:01.000 –> 00:50:03.000

what happened to that one? Yeah. I’m like,

00:50:03.000 –> 00:50:05.000

yeah, it’s gone. Yeah. I didn’t feel right.

00:50:05.000 –> 00:50:08.000

You know, so I think we’re we’re evaluating

00:50:08.000 –> 00:50:10.000

all the time. So you are the chief

00:50:10.000 –> 00:50:11.000

flavor officer

00:50:11.000 –> 00:50:13.000

for the hat you’re supporting there. So I’m

00:50:13.000 –> 00:50:15.000

a City SC, baby. That was awesome. Great

00:50:15.000 –> 00:50:17.000

for a year. So talk to us about

00:50:17.000 –> 00:50:17.000

soccer. What’s,

00:50:18.000 –> 00:50:20.000

what are you excited about there? So funny.

00:50:20.000 –> 00:50:22.000

I was not a soccer fan growing up.

00:50:23.000 –> 00:50:25.000

I played one season of soccer. No. And

00:50:25.000 –> 00:50:27.000

I suck. And it really made me mad.

00:50:27.000 –> 00:50:30.000

I was I was a great baseball player

00:50:30.000 –> 00:50:31.000

at the time, and,

00:50:32.000 –> 00:50:33.000

I did not like,

00:50:34.000 –> 00:50:36.000

how bad I was. And so that was

00:50:36.000 –> 00:50:39.000

it for me. And so it wasn’t until

00:50:39.000 –> 00:50:40.000

I got involved with,

00:50:41.000 –> 00:50:43.000

Carolyn Kindle. Yep. And,

00:50:44.000 –> 00:50:45.000

and

00:50:45.000 –> 00:50:49.000

and, Lee Brett over at City SC. Mhmm.

00:50:49.000 –> 00:50:51.000

That I started to really fall in love

00:50:51.000 –> 00:50:52.000

with soccer.

00:50:53.000 –> 00:50:55.000

And, you know, it’s been an amazing journey

00:50:55.000 –> 00:50:56.000

so far. I think,

00:50:59.000 –> 00:51:00.000

I’ve been working with them for, I guess,

00:51:00.000 –> 00:51:04.000

four years. Wow. Now on this. And,

00:51:04.000 –> 00:51:06.000

you know, we’re got a lot of really

00:51:06.000 –> 00:51:09.000

exciting things planned for the next season.

00:51:09.000 –> 00:51:12.000

Season one was was the coolest experience. You

00:51:12.000 –> 00:51:13.000

know, I think,

00:51:14.000 –> 00:51:16.000

I I missed one game. I think I

00:51:16.000 –> 00:51:18.000

was out of town, but,

00:51:18.000 –> 00:51:20.000

And you know, getting to see those games,

00:51:20.000 –> 00:51:21.000

the energy,

00:51:22.000 –> 00:51:24.000

feeling, you know, getting to work with so

00:51:24.000 –> 00:51:25.000

many great local

00:51:26.000 –> 00:51:29.000

restaurant partners. Yeah. You know, in in setting

00:51:29.000 –> 00:51:31.000

that up. It’s it’s just been it’s been

00:51:31.000 –> 00:51:33.000

one of the highlights of my career for

00:51:33.000 –> 00:51:35.000

sure. Talk about that real quick. For the

00:51:35.000 –> 00:51:37.000

person maybe has not been there or that’s

00:51:37.000 –> 00:51:39.000

from another town or city, listen to this.

00:51:40.000 –> 00:51:42.000

What’s different about it than say the traditional,

00:51:42.000 –> 00:51:44.000

you know, professional sports stadium? Yeah. So it’s

00:51:44.000 –> 00:51:46.000

it’s different in a number of ways. When

00:51:46.000 –> 00:51:49.000

you go to a a professional stadium

00:51:49.000 –> 00:51:51.000

and you see, say, one of you, you

00:51:51.000 –> 00:51:53.000

know, some local restaurant there. And and there’s

00:51:53.000 –> 00:51:56.000

usually maybe like one or two in that

00:51:56.000 –> 00:51:57.000

in that spot.

00:51:57.000 –> 00:52:00.000

Oftentimes, it’s actually being run by

00:52:00.000 –> 00:52:04.000

the stadium itself. So the stadium managers. Yep.

00:52:04.000 –> 00:52:07.000

And so we’ve done things a lot different.

00:52:07.000 –> 00:52:09.000

It at, City Park,

00:52:09.000 –> 00:52:11.000

and all of our

00:52:12.000 –> 00:52:13.000

all of our vendors

00:52:13.000 –> 00:52:16.000

run their own stalls So these are all,

00:52:16.000 –> 00:52:17.000

you know, local businesses.

00:52:17.000 –> 00:52:20.000

And and I think we have something like

00:52:20.000 –> 00:52:23.000

twenty four. Wow. Right now, local restaurant partners

00:52:24.000 –> 00:52:25.000

throughout the stadium.

00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:26.000

And quite often, you see the owner of

00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:27.000

all of these businesses right there

00:52:31.000 –> 00:52:33.000

you know, whether it’s,

00:52:33.000 –> 00:52:36.000

Steve viewing handing out hot dogs, Lauren Nalek,

00:52:36.000 –> 00:52:38.000

over there at Balkan

00:52:38.000 –> 00:52:39.000

Treatbox.

00:52:40.000 –> 00:52:42.000

You know, when they’re standing right there,

00:52:42.000 –> 00:52:45.000

you know, working working the events and and

00:52:45.000 –> 00:52:46.000

is really made for a unique experience because

00:52:46.000 –> 00:52:47.000

I think not

00:52:49.000 –> 00:52:50.000

only

00:52:50.000 –> 00:52:53.000

are you getting the best of the best,

00:52:54.000 –> 00:52:56.000

you know, as far as restaurants, but then

00:52:56.000 –> 00:52:59.000

you’re also getting the highest quality from those

00:52:59.000 –> 00:53:00.000

because they’re doing it themselves. Yep.

00:53:01.000 –> 00:53:02.000

Which is in line with the values of

00:53:02.000 –> 00:53:04.000

that organization, hence the name of the team.

00:53:04.000 –> 00:53:06.000

I mean, they could have chosen anything, the

00:53:06.000 –> 00:53:08.000

logo, the rivers, the arch. I mean, all

00:53:08.000 –> 00:53:09.000

the stuff that goes with that, I think,

00:53:09.000 –> 00:53:11.000

is cool that they’re connected to the city

00:53:11.000 –> 00:53:12.000

the way. And then what they’ve done for

00:53:12.000 –> 00:53:14.000

the city is as a family’s you know,

00:53:14.000 –> 00:53:17.000

ridiculous. I mean talking about a group of

00:53:17.000 –> 00:53:20.000

people who walk the talk. Yeah. I mean,

00:53:21.000 –> 00:53:23.000

the the the owners of the ownership group

00:53:23.000 –> 00:53:25.000

at City SC and everybody

00:53:26.000 –> 00:53:28.000

who works there, you know, my my

00:53:30.000 –> 00:53:32.000

My main point of contact is always Matt

00:53:32.000 –> 00:53:34.000

Seabek, and I don’t know if you know

00:53:34.000 –> 00:53:36.000

him. No. But he’s the chief experience officer.

00:53:36.000 –> 00:53:39.000

Down there. So everything you touch at the

00:53:39.000 –> 00:53:39.000

stadium,

00:53:40.000 –> 00:53:43.000

you know, he’s kind of waiting on in

00:53:43.000 –> 00:53:45.000

in some way, shape, or form. And he’s,

00:53:45.000 –> 00:53:46.000

you know, obsessive

00:53:46.000 –> 00:53:48.000

know, whether it’s, you know, the lighting and

00:53:48.000 –> 00:53:49.000

the music and,

00:53:50.000 –> 00:53:52.000

you know, you know, when the all the

00:53:52.000 –> 00:53:53.000

lights go out at the stadium, you know,

00:53:53.000 –> 00:53:55.000

like Such a cool. You know, he’s obsessing

00:53:56.000 –> 00:53:58.000

about all that stuff. And it’s it’s really

00:53:58.000 –> 00:54:00.000

cool. You know, their whole they have their

00:54:00.000 –> 00:54:00.000

own,

00:54:02.000 –> 00:54:05.000

production team. You know, making videos and everything,

00:54:05.000 –> 00:54:07.000

and all of those guys are like movie

00:54:07.000 –> 00:54:09.000

level producers.

00:54:09.000 –> 00:54:12.000

They’re they’re incredible. And and again, all you

00:54:12.000 –> 00:54:15.000

know, so obsessed with with what they do

00:54:15.000 –> 00:54:18.000

and making that experience Brett. And there’s just

00:54:18.000 –> 00:54:20.000

no way when you have that many people

00:54:20.000 –> 00:54:23.000

who care so much about what they’re doing,

00:54:23.000 –> 00:54:24.000

but you’re not gonna have a great experience.

00:54:24.000 –> 00:54:26.000

Right. And and the and the experience of

00:54:26.000 –> 00:54:28.000

what the fans got from the team. Yeah.

00:54:28.000 –> 00:54:30.000

And then the team. Right. I mean,

00:54:30.000 –> 00:54:32.000

clients who hold the pitch. Right?

00:54:33.000 –> 00:54:35.000

Show up so big and are just also

00:54:35.000 –> 00:54:37.000

so nice. Yeah. You know, you know,

00:54:38.000 –> 00:54:40.000

definitely took a page from the the cardinals

00:54:40.000 –> 00:54:42.000

and stuff like that. These guys are, you

00:54:42.000 –> 00:54:44.000

know, class acts. Yep. So talk to us

00:54:44.000 –> 00:54:46.000

about what’s gonna be happening stairs here. We’re

00:54:46.000 –> 00:54:48.000

we’re in the basement of, city foundry right

00:54:48.000 –> 00:54:50.000

now, but you got expats,

00:54:50.000 –> 00:54:52.000

expats coming in there. Right? Yeah. If I

00:54:52.000 –> 00:54:54.000

say that correctly. Pat Barbecue. Yeah.

00:54:55.000 –> 00:54:56.000

Talk to us about that. And that’s opening

00:54:57.000 –> 00:54:59.000

sometime this summer. Yeah. So we’re looking at

00:54:59.000 –> 00:55:01.000

at June opening. K.

00:55:02.000 –> 00:55:04.000

And in the tag line for expats,

00:55:04.000 –> 00:55:05.000

expat,

00:55:05.000 –> 00:55:07.000

well traveled barbecue.

00:55:07.000 –> 00:55:09.000

And, you know, the idea behind it is

00:55:09.000 –> 00:55:10.000

00:55:11.000 –> 00:55:14.000

look through the eyes of American barbecue with

00:55:14.000 –> 00:55:16.000

a filter on it. And that filter is

00:55:16.000 –> 00:55:18.000

how would you cook American barbecue

00:55:19.000 –> 00:55:20.000

if you were living

00:55:21.000 –> 00:55:24.000

in Spain. If you were living in Africa,

00:55:24.000 –> 00:55:26.000

you know, if you were living in,

00:55:27.000 –> 00:55:28.000

in China,

00:55:28.000 –> 00:55:30.000

And so, you know, what would your pantry

00:55:31.000 –> 00:55:31.000

look like?

00:55:32.000 –> 00:55:32.000

And,

00:55:33.000 –> 00:55:35.000

you know, how would you season your meat?

00:55:35.000 –> 00:55:36.000

How would you

00:55:37.000 –> 00:55:38.000

do all of that

00:55:39.000 –> 00:55:41.000

to get it close to what you wanted

00:55:41.000 –> 00:55:43.000

to cook from home. So this this isn’t

00:55:43.000 –> 00:55:44.000

really about

00:55:44.000 –> 00:55:47.000

trying to say do Chinese barbecue. Right? That’s

00:55:47.000 –> 00:55:50.000

not our our intent. We have no clue

00:55:50.000 –> 00:55:51.000

how to make Chinese barbecue.

00:55:51.000 –> 00:55:53.000

But this is

00:55:53.000 –> 00:55:55.000

about how do we use

00:55:56.000 –> 00:55:56.000

those

00:55:57.000 –> 00:55:58.000

spices

00:55:58.000 –> 00:55:59.000

to create

00:55:59.000 –> 00:56:00.000

American barbecue,

00:56:01.000 –> 00:56:03.000

like you were living abroad And, you know,

00:56:03.000 –> 00:56:05.000

I think when when you talk about those

00:56:05.000 –> 00:56:06.000

kind of like flavor

00:56:07.000 –> 00:56:09.000

transfers, you know, all of food, I’ve been

00:56:09.000 –> 00:56:11.000

obsessed with this kind of forever.

00:56:11.000 –> 00:56:13.000

Is that all of food,

00:56:14.000 –> 00:56:14.000

is connected.

00:56:15.000 –> 00:56:17.000

Right? If you really, really start to look

00:56:17.000 –> 00:56:19.000

at, like, all the noodle dishes,

00:56:20.000 –> 00:56:22.000

around the world and you don’t see a

00:56:22.000 –> 00:56:23.000

connection. You’re insane.

00:56:24.000 –> 00:56:26.000

You know, but but you see it all

00:56:26.000 –> 00:56:28.000

over the place. You know, you look at,

00:56:28.000 –> 00:56:30.000

like, Mexican cuisine and the

00:56:30.000 –> 00:56:32.000

the trumpo for the,

00:56:33.000 –> 00:56:33.000

al pastor

00:56:34.000 –> 00:56:36.000

tacos, but you also

00:56:37.000 –> 00:56:38.000

you know, go to,

00:56:39.000 –> 00:56:42.000

you know, go to Istanbul and you’ll see

00:56:42.000 –> 00:56:44.000

the exact same the exact same thing, but

00:56:44.000 –> 00:56:47.000

with different different flavors. So these techniques get

00:56:47.000 –> 00:56:49.000

kind of passed around and the flavors

00:56:50.000 –> 00:56:52.000

all get passed around. So I’ve I’ve always

00:56:52.000 –> 00:56:55.000

been very obsessed with travel and how that

00:56:55.000 –> 00:56:56.000

influences

00:56:57.000 –> 00:56:59.000

cooking. You know, I think The the word

00:56:59.000 –> 00:57:01.000

fusion was thrown around in a lot of

00:57:01.000 –> 00:57:03.000

very bad ways for a for a long

00:57:03.000 –> 00:57:05.000

time, but quite frankly,

00:57:06.000 –> 00:57:07.000

you know, it is you know, some type

00:57:07.000 –> 00:57:09.000

of fusion. And,

00:57:09.000 –> 00:57:12.000

and I think done done with respect, it

00:57:12.000 –> 00:57:13.000

can be really,

00:57:15.000 –> 00:57:18.000

really unique and really fun, I think, at

00:57:18.000 –> 00:57:20.000

the same time. And a cool location too.

00:57:20.000 –> 00:57:21.000

Right? You got a big big balcony up

00:57:21.000 –> 00:57:23.000

there, Port. Yeah. So this is a three

00:57:23.000 –> 00:57:24.000

story.

00:57:24.000 –> 00:57:25.000

Restaurant.

00:57:26.000 –> 00:57:28.000

And on the first floor, it’s all,

00:57:28.000 –> 00:57:30.000

table service, server,

00:57:31.000 –> 00:57:34.000

more like plates of food. Yep. The second

00:57:34.000 –> 00:57:35.000

floor is an event space.

00:57:36.000 –> 00:57:38.000

And then on the third floor, it’s all

00:57:38.000 –> 00:57:39.000

kind of fast casual

00:57:39.000 –> 00:57:41.000

giant bar,

00:57:42.000 –> 00:57:42.000

huge

00:57:42.000 –> 00:57:44.000

patio with garage doors,

00:57:45.000 –> 00:57:46.000

astroturf

00:57:46.000 –> 00:57:48.000

out there in the stage,

00:57:49.000 –> 00:57:50.000

and, you know, more sandwich

00:57:51.000 –> 00:57:51.000

oriented.

00:57:52.000 –> 00:57:54.000

So, you know, kinda taken from the downstairs,

00:57:54.000 –> 00:57:55.000

full plates of barbecue

00:57:56.000 –> 00:57:58.000

to how do we, you know, how do

00:57:58.000 –> 00:58:00.000

we make that into, you know, kind of

00:58:00.000 –> 00:58:01.000

fun handheld

00:58:01.000 –> 00:58:03.000

experience upstairs. Yeah. Well, I can’t wait to

00:58:03.000 –> 00:58:05.000

be there this summer. That is awesome. Last

00:58:05.000 –> 00:58:06.000

question for you.

00:58:07.000 –> 00:58:08.000

What would you tell

00:58:08.000 –> 00:58:10.000

the Gerard of, the guy that was washing

00:58:10.000 –> 00:58:12.000

dishes. Right? Just got out of college. Not

00:58:12.000 –> 00:58:14.000

got out of college. Just dropped out of

00:58:14.000 –> 00:58:17.000

college and then, was washing dishes. What what

00:58:17.000 –> 00:58:17.000

advice

00:58:17.000 –> 00:58:19.000

would you give that guy or the person

00:58:19.000 –> 00:58:20.000

listen to this right now, man, that may

00:58:20.000 –> 00:58:22.000

be in a spot that they think, how

00:58:22.000 –> 00:58:25.000

is that guy’s success possible for me? What

00:58:25.000 –> 00:58:26.000

advice would you give him? I would say

00:58:26.000 –> 00:58:29.000

that the work ethic you are putting in

00:58:29.000 –> 00:58:29.000

today,

00:58:30.000 –> 00:58:31.000

will directly

00:58:32.000 –> 00:58:32.000

translate

00:58:32.000 –> 00:58:33.000

into,

00:58:35.000 –> 00:58:38.000

to your work ten years from now. Yeah.

00:58:38.000 –> 00:58:40.000

Awesome. Awesome, man. Well, thanks so much for

00:58:40.000 –> 00:58:41.000

being on the circuit of success. It’s been

00:58:41.000 –> 00:58:43.000

awesome having you. Oh, thank you for having

00:58:43.000 –> 00:58:44.000

us. Great.

...more

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Hidden Speakeasy in St. Louis | Interview with Gerard Craft

Hidden Speakeasy in St. Louis | Interview with Gerard Craft

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