The Office Hours Interview w/ Ernest Wilkins

If you live in Chicago and have eaten a hot dog at any point, odds are one of 3 businesses in town got it into your hands. From the distribution strategy to the raw economics of opening a hot dog stand in town, we're joined by food writer/Hot Dog University graduate (yes, that's a thing) John Carruthers to talk about how the sausage gets made in Chicago and what the larger culture around hot dogs and street food as a business

If you live in Chicago and have eaten a hot dog at any point, odds are one of 3 businesses in town got it into your hands. From the distribution strategy to the raw economics of opening a hot dog stand in town, we're joined by food writer/Hot Dog University graduate (yes, that's a thing) John Carruthers to talk about how the sausage gets made in Chicago and what the larger culture around hot dogs and street food as a business

(NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis)

OFFICE HOURS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND MADNESS CONTINUES!

A bonus podcast for you beautiful subscribers! Consider this the audiobook version of #20.

Brands profiled:

Secretly Group (07:13) 

The National Wrestling Alliance (17:06) 

SPLX Apparel (24:19) 

Overtime (31:56) 

Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken (35:53) 

Also, we discuss the ZACK SABRE JR. DOJO STYLE WORKOUT and how I almost died trying to do it.

You can find every episode of Office Hours w/Ernest Wilkins here. To never miss an episode, subscribe via the link below. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at officehours.substack.com/subscribe

Ernest and Alex spotlight 5 brands doing cool things in culture and business.

Ernest and Alex spotlight 5 brands doing cool things in culture and business.

Office Hours is a newsletter and podcast about the business of culture.

WELCOME TO MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND MADNESS.

The way I see it, Most folks are going to be traveling this week. Car trips, flights, etc.

To meet your demand for stuff to listen to/read, I’m flooding the block this week: Office Hours subscribers will be getting two new podcast episodes and a newsletter this week. Make sure you don’t miss anything:

Podcast #1 =

Hulu, ESPN, Marvel Studios, ABC...all owned by one company. We discuss Disney and the idea of "monoculture" aka how one company can "own" nostalgia across demographics and generations.

Think about it this way: Out of the 20 worldwide highest-grossing films in history, a company owned by Disney made 12 of them.

(I also debut the single worst Terrence Howard impression of all-time!)

FOR MORE INFO ON THIS WEEK'S TOPIC, CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING LINKS: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoculture

-https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/money-finance/companies-disney-owns-worldwide/- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/business/media/disney-hulu-comcast.html

Thanks as always for reading and if you liked this episode, pass it to a friend and tell them to subscribe so they don’t miss out on the rest of MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND MADNESS.

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at officehours.substack.com/subscribe

Hulu, ESPN, Marvel Studios, ABC...all owned by one company. We discuss Disney and the idea of "monoculture" aka how one company can "own" nostalgia across demographics and generations. Ernest also does the single worst Terrence Howard impression of all-time!

Hulu, ESPN, Marvel Studios, ABC...all owned by one company. We discuss Disney and the idea of "monoculture" aka how one company can "own" nostalgia across demographics and generations. Ernest also does the single worst Terrence Howard impression of all-time!

NOTE: The podcast is shifting format a bit. To maximize all channels and bring you better stuff every week, we’re gonna get a lil’ strategic. Each Office Hours podcast episode will be a “case study” about the business behind culture. I’m also no longer flying solo, as Mess’s Director of Strat Alex Menocal will be riding shotgun.

This week: It was reported Wednesday that the Chicago Fire —  the cities Major League Soccer franchise — would be moving back to Soldier Field after paying the city of Bridgeview $65 million dollars to break the teams lease at Seatgeek Stadium (formerly Toyota Park).

The team is one of the well-known franchises in MLS, having won the championship in their first season back in 1998. Since then, the team has had some success, but mostly has fallen on bad luck. As Major League Soccer expands — the league currently has 24 teams with FC Cincinnati becoming the 24th with Miami and Nashville getting teams in 2020 — our case study this week is “Chicago’s soccer team is coming back to Chicago, how would we market them to the city?”

We also discuss the Bad Boys movie franchise and I lay out the plot of Top Gun 2 (starts at 1:00) because WHY NOT?

If you love this episode, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Thanks as always for reading and if you liked this episode, pass it to a friend and tell them to sign up for the newsletter!

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at officehours.substack.com/subscribe

This week, Ernest is joined by Mess Director of Strategy Alex Menocal to discuss the Chicago Fire and strategize on how the team can build a larger fanbase locally with marketing