how to hire and navigate your business during covid with alex belew

full transcript

auto-generated from the audio, so expect a few typos. the audio is the source of truth.

Hey, podcast family. Really stoked to bring this specific episode of guidance counselor 2.0 to everyone. The main reason that I am very excited for this episode is I am speaking with my dear friend Alex Blue, chef and owner of Dallas and Jane down in Murfreesboro. He is not in technology and he and I bonded over tacos, which you will find out what that means. when you take a listen. Alex and I really just talk about the state of business. We talk about what he looks for in hiring his employees and some hurdles he has had to face, opening up a restaurant over the last year and navigating it during these times.

I hope you enjoy it and really excited to bring another episode next week. It is going to be around the virtual development meetup that I am doing and so really excited to show that as well. If you need to reach me, Taylor at VACO.com is the best way to reach me. If you want to follow me on all social media platforms because I am on all of them at Tdessintdesny and please as always rates and review this in the App Store. It would mean the absolute world to me because I really really would like this to gain some traction and be discoverable for others. I hope y'all enjoy this episode.

Thanks. Super excited to have my dear friends who we connected over tacos that he made for my wedding where my wife and I were trying out vendors and and Alex's tacos were so good. Still friends three or four years later. So it's the power of food. So Alex, thank you for joining me on my podcast where it's primarily my mom listening to me if you know, take care. So Alex, I guess everybody, a rundown about yourself. What do you do? I know people are going to be kind of fascinated. The fact that I don't have a tech person, you're my first non software developer tech person on this podcast.

But obviously, you're your dear friend of mine. And I wanted to get a kind of a different, you know, an outsider's opinion on hiring right now. So give everybody kind of your background and kind of what you do. Yeah, and please don't ask me any questions about software development because as far as I go is logging into Instagram as much as I can. I am a chef and restaurant owner in Nashville at a Nashville Murphy'sboro. We are soon moving to Franklin, but I've owned a restaurant here for two years. in Murphy'sboro since I was four. I've been working in restaurants since I was about 14.

And currently I have a takeout only restaurant, which is very strange because, you know, when you're fine or dining, it's weird trying to put seared sea scallops in a styrofoam box for people to eat at a later date. So we're trying to figure that out, but that's who I am. I have a beautiful wife that I've been with for 14 years and I've got two children, two boys, a five-year-old and a three-year-old. It's absolutely crazy. That's awesome. Yeah, hey, in the testament to being married for so long in the restaurant industry, it's not easy. So congrats on that, especially with two boys. So I would agree with that.

So Alex, I mean, so the point, and for those of you who are listening, the point of this podcast is specifically around hiring, vetting talent. I think personally that nobody has it more difficult than the restaurant industry when it comes to hiring. So my dad obviously in the restaurant industry, Alex obviously in the restaurant industry and the amount of turnover and what you have to deal with is incredibly difficult. I would say one of the biggest pain points that you have had in Kritmian Front wrong is hiring. Pretty people to show up for their actual interview is a complicated matter. Yeah, absolutely. So I guess I guess the first part, so let's talk about I guess what are some qualities that you look for when you hire.

So let's let's just talk about that. What are some, you know, some some traits and some principles that you hire by? Breathing is good. That's that's our first key key factor. I love that. Honestly, just in the beginning, initial communication, actually responding to a confirmation email or text saying, looking forward to see you tomorrow. And in the beginning of opening this restaurant, I would say 65% of the people that we confirm that we're going to meet with the next day just didn't show up with the interview. And it's just bizarre. I mean, I don't understand. I just don't understand that. But for me, I think talent is important, but you can teach talent.

You cannot teach work ethic. You cannot teach personality. You could not teach self-awareness. Those are things that are intrinsically in you. And they've started from your childhood. And sometimes you can develop those things as you grow and mature into an adult. But for the most part, you want someone with integrity and with self-awareness. And with, you want them to be naturally inquisitive. You want them to ask questions and want to learn because you can't teach someone the desire to learn. You can teach them things, but if they don't actually wanna learn it, it's like talking to a skillet. There's just no point. Talking to a skillet, I think that may be the podcast title for this episode, talking to a skillet featuring.

Sometimes I call my three year old a ham sandwich because he listens to me like a ham sandwich would. I love that. Jackie would probably say the same thing about me to be totally frank with you. So let me ask you, it's like, what do you look for? Because I know, I mean, obviously the applicants that come into the restaurant industry, I mean, you deal with a wide variety of individuals and skill sets and backgrounds. And I mean, what are some things that you look for, kind of some intangibles? Like if they played sports or if they've done X, Y, and Z, like do you have anything off top of your head that you can think of from that regard?

I mean, sports are always a good thing because you can tell that they've been engaged in team activities and so that's great. But I mean, band is the same way. You have to practice and rehearse for things and you have to show that you have a vested interest in becoming better. I think you don't necessarily want someone that's never had a job, has no experience, but then again, where do they get that experience if you don't give it to them? And that was something that I dealt with when I was 18. For some reason I just wanted to be a bartender and everybody was like, do you have any experience?

Nope, see ya, call me in two years and it's like, well, how do I get experience if you won't give it to me? So I think there's something to be said about allowing someone to start from the bottom. And at first, there has to be a little bit of trust involved because that's all you've got on this stranger that you've never talked to before. But after a while, you do realize that trust is a bridge and it takes a long time to build it and seconds to blow it up. I mean, you can ruin a relationship that you've had for multiple years. in 10 seconds.

And it's happened, it's happened here. People have stolen things, they've come in extremely intoxicated and they've, you know, it doesn't take much to ruin a relationship. But for me, I mean, the resume, it matters. You can't say that it doesn't. If there's somebody that just came from Shonies, no offense to Shonies, but that's not what we do here. So, and you know, and we've had people that have come in from the chain restaurants, the Olive Gardens and the Longhorns that have said, man, I can work a two or three man station by myself. And I'm like, well, this is a little bit different style of cooking here.

And they find out that the night they staged that it is a different indeed style of cooking. And so I think for me, personality goes a long way. And I think even more so than talent, because they might not have been exposed to the things they need to have the talent yet, but they may be able to absorb very quickly, learn, and put the work in. So for me, it's having the personality, it's having the drive, it's having the ambition, and having the honesty to... I would much rather someone come into an interview and say, there's a lot I don't know, but I am willing to work, and I am willing to put it in, and I'm probably going to screw up.

I don't know everything about this. I want to work versus, look, man, I can kill it. I can work a three man station in the middle of Friday night in our service by myself. For the people viewing this on our listening, on audio, you missed Alex's gregarious faceless. And that was fantastic. No, I mean, I think that's important. So I guess your two cents, why do you think people are so afraid to be vulnerable and to be open on us? And again, wrong answers only as I like to say. Yeah. I mean, there's a few things people don't like. Admitting their faults is one of them.

No. No. Never. Having taking ownership and something that you are lacking, I think it shows its fear, its natural fear inside of you, to be able to say, you're afraid you won't get the job if you don't know how to answer that question. But if you tell me, I have a perfect example of this. There's a guy that came in that wanted to work here. And we ask everybody that wants to work here to do a stache for one night. And what's a stache for the non-restaurant folks? It's basically an internship. Like a shadow. Right. So it's a one day. Some great restaurants do them for months, but it's basically you come in.

It's like going to the fitting room at Banana Republic. Right. I don't know why I specifically use that. work there. Hey, shout out to Ann Powak if they want to sponsor the you work there too. Yeah, I've been milling. I don't wonder why we're friends. No wonder why we're friends. So, I mean, everybody involved in getting hired needs to try try it on, right? If you're going to go take a job somewhere, see if it's the right place for you to work. Go in there, work for two or three hours, see if you like what they're producing, see if you like the culture or the environment that you're in.

And And likewise, the employer is going to see, do you have what it takes to be here? Is it the right environment for you, for us? Is it going to be a good fit? Personalities matter. I mean, you don't want to bring in a major drama-kinger queen that's going to disrupt the whole culture that you've got because one cancer cell can destroy what you've built. And it doesn't take but one. One bad seed. So I'm interested. How have you dealt with bad seeds before? Because I think that is, you know, I think in the restaurant industry, I think, and again, I mean, I truly say this.

I've said this and I've said this to you. I've said this to so many people. I think the restaurant industry is more stressful than any desk job. Like I like to me, you know, with how many people I'm balancing at one time and getting jobs for people, I still joke and I say nothing is more stressful than a Friday night. Outback steak house for everybody wants their bloom and onion and they all sat at the same time They all want their blooming on the same time like to me. There's nothing more stressful than that And so you know, I know a lot of times in the restaurant industry, you know, you're already going a thousand percent every night Tensions usually high right you have cook times you have to get the food out things have to look good And then something happens and sometimes you can blow up right and and and I know I've done it both in my I dashed out, but also, you know, when I worked restaurants and I'm sure you've done it too.

Sure. How have you addressed just collectively from a culture perspective? Because you have great culture. I've been to your restaurant a ton. I'm not, if I'm surprised I'm not your number one fan on Facebook, but. I don't know how to give that out. If I can talk to you. No, Facebook like awards you. It's crazy. You get a notification. So you're like, great. You're like, great. I'm on Facebook too much. But how have you dealt with preserving culture at your store? We had one person in particular maybe a year ago that really everybody liked this individual, but they didn't put the work in. It was one of those things where like during lineup, I would ask questions, hey, what's a good wine that would go with our pan-seared duck breast?

And literally looked at me and goes, I don't know, man. I was like, okay. Are you mad at me? Because I just asked you a question and you didn't know the answer. That's literally your job. And turns out this person was in a relationship with a few different people that worked here. And it just wasn't the bad attitude mixed with a few specific incidents just led to, you know, we had a conversation outside and that was the end of their employment. And just that one person just created threads of drama that went spreading misinformation and just dissension. It just doesn't work. I mean, because that starts to build up things in people's minds and then scenarios start to get run and it's things that are built on untruths, but they build these towers out of them and then the whole tower collapses.

But I think it's important to note that you had a conversation. You had a conversation essentially behind closed doors, right? Yes. important when managing a team and building culture. I think there's a lot of individuals that like to yell and cuss and scream in front of other people and that's just never good. So I think it needs to be noted that you took time out. Now with that conversation, were there multiple conversations or did it just come to a head with that conversation? There were two but the last one was just and it was very calm. It was actually in the parking a lot, but she was walking in for her shift and I just knew that that was going to be the day.

And it ended with me giving her a given this person a hug. I think I slipped up there, but I gave this person a hug and I said, if there's anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to ask. Unfortunately, this is just not the place for you to be. And I've really never yelled or cussed at anyone here. But I mean, cooking is a very, it's a sensitive, emotional thing. When you're a cook, you're a little bit of a creative. And so when you are putting yourself on a plate, if it's not right, and at any given restaurant, right is defined by the owner's vision, right?

So if it's right to you, but it's not right to the boss, then it's just not right. And It took me a long time to understand that. And, you know, when someone had a few things here and I was like, that's not the way we do it, that's not right. And there was some back and forth. And I'm like, because this is your job, this is the way you do it here. It might not be the way you do it there, but this is the way we do it here. And there's sometimes there's a lot of pushback from some people that, and I would have been one of those people when I was 24, right?

Like very type A, very, I, You're type A. Yeah, I don't for a very long time that I'm not a good employee because I am a free thinker. I want to I want to challenge the status quo. I want to do things a little bit differently. I want to find ways to do other things and I've just got too many ideas. So, you know, that's and I think now realizing that it's not a bad thing, but I thought it was a bad thing when I was working at jail examiners in 2002 and you know my manager's got on to me all the time and I was like I just suck at everything but it just turns out you're an entrepreneur you're not a you're not a you're not a follower.

Well and I think you just brought up a great point for the individuals out there that feel like they mess that you know that they kind of have your background right and that they're like I'm not I feel like I don't fit in anywhere I feel like I'm just kind of lost you know, what advice would you give to those individuals who probably are great entrepreneurs, but haven't been brought up in a household where entrepreneurship is even really either presented to the individuals or they even know what it is. I mean, what are maybe some advice that you would give? For me, perseverance is, I mean, you just got to keep on going.

The thing that drives me every day is that and I'm kind of a I would say I'm a bit of a lone wolf in Murfreesboro right like there's not there's not a ton of chefs here there's a lot of restaurants but there's not a lot of people doing what I'm trying to do. I would agree. And for me I envision this wall right and on the other side of this wall is success and you can define success as however you want it's It's not about money for me. I mean, it's about paying my bills responsibly, but it's about knowing that you're what you've built is going to be successful, appreciated.

You'll have customers, you'll have memories, you'll have a team, that's success to me, right? In the beginning, there's a struggle. I mean, you're trying to be all these things. You're trying to be the mechanic, the manager, and the entrepreneur, and that's a really hard thing to be when you're not designed to be all those three things. And every day you run as hard as you can and you hit the wall. And then you hit the wall and then you hit the wall and then you hit the wall. And then one day the wall breaks, I think most people give up before that wall breaks. And I, every day I tell myself, what if today's the day that the wall breaks and I quit?

And I can't, I can't live with that. Just, that's just me. I cannot live with myself knowing that I did not give everything I've got to make it successful. So good. And I think too, and there's so many good nuggets that you just said. So I'm trying to zero in on the most important one. I think it's good to be motivated by money. I'm not gonna say don't be motivated by money, but I think one thing that separates you from a lot of individuals, and maybe this is entrepreneurs in general, is building something that you're proud of, right? I know our favorite guy Gary Vaynerchuk always talks about like it doesn't matter how much you make.

It matters how you made it. Right. Right. And I think, you know, his thing is I don't care how much money I make. It's how many people show up at my funeral. And I think, I think you hit a spot on. I think for those individuals who are struggling to, you know, yeah, I just feel like I can't make money. Right. If you were building something, you were doing something you love, keep at it. Right. Cause yeah. And I think this kind of just, you know, it kind of goes into my next topic is I mean, COVID's obviously been terrible for the restaurant industry for, I mean, businesses in general, I mean, they're saying the unemployment claim has passed a great depression now.

You know, and I mean, tell me how, I mean, has your mindset shifted? Are you even hunger than you've ever been? I mean, you know, I'm going to give you a shout out. I think you're one of the few restaurateurs in Nashville collectively that is actually innovated and pivoted. And I mean, you're doing things like selling, you know, your, your meats, Alex's meats, I like to say, um, to, to, to individuals, right? And, and I, hey, listen, man, I just had one of your port shops of the night. So freaking good. I cooked it great, by the way. Um, you know, like you're doing that.

Jackie cooked it. I do that. I cooked it. I cooked it. Believe it or not. Did you not? You see her Instagram posts? I listen, I crushed it from others day. I cooked it. It was great. So we're getting on topic, but you've pivoted, right? You're selling your butcher boxes, your engagement on Facebook, I mean, if you totally honest with you, I look to you with how much engagement that you are getting on Facebook, right? And you're posting things, you're posting things that are thought provoking, you're posting things that probably just start up a little bit of reaction, right? I think you're doing an incredible job.

So let me ask you this. I mean, has your mind session, are you hungrier? Are you more defeated? I mean, where's your head at right now? I'm definitely not defeated. I think I would love to say I have all the answers and I've got it figured out, but I'll be honest. Every day, I think I'm a little bit more confused. Like, there's just so much gray area that it's really hard to know what's the right thing. And public perception is strange. And some people are like, yeah, let's open up. Let's go. And some people were like, no, I'm staying in my basement, even if I'm living in my house by myself, I'm wearing a mask.

Like there was a guy walking around our neighborhood the other day with a masking gloves on by himself. I'm just, okay. Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, there's, you know, I've been saying it all along like, wrong answers only during this time, right? Cause like nobody's truly right and no one's truly wrong. You know? You know, I'm only Alex is right and everybody else is wrong. Well, I'm on a WhatsApp thread with most of the restaurant tours and chefs in Nashville, and they're all pretty much on the same page. I mean, they're not going to open their dining rooms for the next few weeks because either fear of their staff getting sick, if customer's not wanting to come in or just the labor costs don't make sense with the capacity issues that we're having.

And for me, I mean, I've been doing these online cooking classes live on Facebook almost every day since March the 16th. I mean, that's a long, that's a long time. And a lot of cooking classes. It is a lot of cooking. It's a lot of free. And some people have donated to our cause through Venmo, but Mountain Valley actually sponsored us. So they cut me a $4,000 check for, you know, I was going to ask you about that. Are you sponsored by the way, Mountain Valley's got some legit. So I'm a soda water connoisseur. It's good. Well, yeah, they sponsored us for eight weeks. It's about, I think it was well, it'd be like $125 an episode.

So they've been great to work with and just doing the butcher boxes and trying to do curbside pickup. But in a lot of ways, our restaurant, a lot of restaurants in Nashville, they're just not designed for, I mean, can you imagine cane prime to go? Like you, $300. Let's go, yeah. a one ounce of a five wagyu and a styrofoam box. It's just steaming to death. I mean, it's just not. Oh man. Put in some ranch when you got on this $40 with steak dip it in some ranch. But you know, we're and we're trying to to mix it up. We've realized people don't want the same old things that we were cooking.

They want smoked chicken sandwiches with. Yeah, which by the way, that look, that look lit. Whatever you post the other day. I'm gonna drive, my butt down the, down the Murphard bar. I'm gonna knock on your house and know the night. You got any of those chicken sandwiches? We uh, but I mean the, the cooking classes have been, have been going well. It's, I think that's kept us at the forefront of people's minds. We've been actively engaging people. We've been giving, um, knowledge and entertainment to our community for, for free, um, selling the, you know, I didn't realize how valuable the butcher boxes would be because the food chain wasn't broken when we started doing them, but due to, you know, there's seven companies that manage all of the food supply in the United States, that's kind of ruined a lot of things right now.

So grocery stores are limiting the number of meat that you can buy. Our cost, restaurants cost of beef is insane right now. I mean, I, two weeks ago, I got a choice New York strip loin and it was about $108. yesterday I checked it and it was $167. Holy smokes. Yeah. I mean, everything's getting more expensive because the commodities are going away. And all these farmers, they're having to euthanize their chickens, they're having to drain milk down the toilet. Their crops are getting burned and decimated. I mean, they can't take their cattle to get processed. It's a nightmare right now. And it's not just the restaurants, the farmers, producers, it's all of it.

And I think you said, I want to go back to something you said, about staying on top of everybody's minds. Where are your ideas coming from? Is this stuff that you're just like, I mean, do you have friends you're talking to? Is this all your ideas? I mean, like, that's what I want to figure out. Like, is this you? Is it like, are you up at 4 a.m. with your kids? You're like, you know what? I must sell meat. I mean, I think inspiration comes from a lot of different places. The cooking class was actually a guy that works at Second Harvest, who lives in Murpiesboro, said, I think it'd be cool if some of the restaurant owners here showed us how to make some of their dishes while nobody's eating at your restaurant.

And I just kind of took that from there and created cooking and cocktails with Corona. And started going with it. The butcher boxes, that was my rep from Creation Gardens. They reached out to me and said, we got a lot of meat, we can't sell it. Would you help us do this? And so I pretty much was like, yeah man, I mean, that's where we get our stuff. And you know, they're willing to do it. I'm willing to do it and put the work in. So as far as that, that's where those two ideas came from. That's awesome. Are you thinking about any other ideas coming out soon?

At the time, we're just, we are. that that three people who are listening to this can. We are contemplating opening our dining room for reservation only next week, and it would be no servers, very like Panera, right? Interesting. You place your order at the bar, the bartender takes your orders. We'll have seating for 25 people. I'll run your food. The bartender will kind of take care of your drinks, make your cocktails, and then we'll have basically one front house person and one dishwasher. But there are, we've been asked by a lot of people, honestly in the last two weeks, when are you gonna open your dining room?

And that's, I think it's a fair question because our food is just not made for to-go boxes. I mean, it's not, it's not how we're supposed to operate. And I think people would be willing to spend $30 on a great prime grade steak if they were able to eat it in house versus taking it to go. I would agree. I'll agree with that. So do you think, um, and going back to what you said, I think it's important to highlight, I think right now businesses need to be top of mind for everybody. And I think now a brand is more important than anything else. I, I think, you know, you're, you're all over Facebook.

You're, you're making these videos, you know, I mean, I think I call it the great Alex Baloo video of, of, it was it 2019 when you posted that, that potentially Dallas. January 7th. Yeah, 2020, where Dallas and Jank could potentially go under. How many views on Facebook, just views, not like comments or likes, just views of the kids? 76,000. 76,000, right? I mean, and again, I mean, listen, but you got some slack, slack or whatever the word is for that too. Definitely. Yeah, I mean, people told me I was pandering and people complained that, you know, your location sucks, that's why blah, blah, blah, blah, but yeah, maybe, yes.

I mean, I wasn't pandering. I was legitimately trying to communicate with our followers what was gonna potentially happen because what happens when restaurants close? They don't tell their staff. They just shut their doors one day. Yeah. I mean, everybody is surprised. I think three crow did that in East. They like, you had to, no, no, it was 10, 16. And literally the employee showed up and they had to go next door to get their check. It was like a post it, no, written on the door. Yeah. I didn't wanna do that. I believe in communication. And so we had been struggling for a few months and I wanted to let the people that follow our page know this may well happen unless something changes.

And for the next seven weeks, it was great to be honest. I mean, Valentine's week, we did, we're a 50 seat restaurant, right? So big numbers aren't really our thing. But Valentine's week, we did 25,000 in sales. Is that usually like two X with what you do? Yeah, we were doing about 18 when we were busy last year. And so Valentine's week, we did 25,000. The next week, we did 15, and then 13, and then 12, and then 10, and then Corona. And so, you know, does our locations suck? That's subjective. Well, I mean, but I think more than anything else, forget the location. I think it's important to know that you put something out there from the heart.

And I think people, I think that that's not normal, especially in the restaurant side of things. No, I mean, and people don't, people want to hear the fuzzy, people want to hear the warm, they don't want to hear the harsh reality of this, this, this, this is struggling. I mean, it's my life's work, my family's on the line, my 20 employees are on the line, I'm going to go down fighting for them. And people don't think about that, right? They're like, oh, it's a restaurant, they have a ton of money. Yeah, you own a restaurant. You're loaded wrong. I'm in my money's in the restaurant.

I refinanced my house. I sold my truck like, you know, I haven't taken a paycheck in two years, but those are all sacrifices I'm willing to make. But I mean, there was a gym. There was a private gym owner in like Chapel Hill, North Carolina that shared that video. And she crazy. And she shared it because there were clients of hers that complain that she wasn't the same price as Planet Fitness. And she's like, does Planet Fitness support your son's baseball team? Does Planet Fitness, how are your kids, Girl Scout cookies? Does Planet Fitness sponsor your yearly cancer? Heartball thing, you know, I mean, no, the answer is no.

Heartball. That's great. But I mean, it's true. The main big companies often don't take care of the community that they're in versus the independent businesses do. And so for me, it was just trying to communicate and be honest. And then two weeks later, I posted the video saying thank you. I mean, we've had a tremendous amount of turnover, not turnover, but people turn out to support us. I mean, the night that I posted that video, we only had 30 reservations for the entire weekend. That whole weekend, we wound up doing 350 people. It was insane. We were slammed. And it was a great feeling. That's awesome.

So, so, so to wrap it up here again, mainly because I need to have lunch also too. Uh, we could talk for the next six hours. Um, I think what you just said, I think it is kind of the last major question. What do you think businesses need to do or, or be mindful of moving forward, even, even after COVID just, well, I mean, cause this is going to change how businesses operate, I would say, for the foreseeable future. So what are your thoughts on that? I think a lot of times the general public is generally clueless on what businesses go through that they are not specifically lined up with.

I mean, if you never worked in a restaurant, you don't understand how restaurants work. I've never worked in the medical field. I have no clue how hospitals work. And I wouldn't be offended if somebody told me you're not a doctor, you don't get it. You're right. I'm definitely not doctor. But I think people don't understand how razor thin restaurants margins are. We're not loaded. We're not running around with Gucci purses and you know flying to Paris and taking these elaborate vacations. We do all we can to take care of our people and to take care of the community. I think more restaurants need to be more honest about their communication with people.

And, you know, even the biggest restaurants, the best restaurants may not reopen. When you read about 11 Madison Park, the number one restaurant in the world multiple times may not be able to reopen their doors. That's unreal. If the cheesecake factory can't pay their rent, what are the independence supposed to do? And I think there's just this belief that because you're a restaurant, you're successful and that's not necessarily the case. So do you think, and outside of restaurants, too, do you think this whole time COVID is going to force businesses to become more open about the internal workings of their business. I mean, I mean...

Yeah, I think it's been a perspective. I think yes, I think people are realizing that it's okay to be honest about who you are and what you've got going on. And I think it's also given... I read somewhere that somebody called this the circuit breaker, right? So it just stopped the flow of life for a little bit of time. And I think it's given people time to think about their careers, people, time to think about do I like where I work and who I work for? Maybe I've got the time to go back or go find another job. It's given employees, employers, time to think about is just the right way to operate business.

Can I change? Right now I've got time to plan. So, you know, I don't know how companies like Starbucks, I don't know what they're thinking about changing. I know a lot of restaurants think it's gonna be like this for six months to a year where they're just gonna be doing curbside and they're turning into little corner markets. So I think there's gonna be enough ideas to go around, but it's gonna be interesting to see how it all shakes out in the next six months. Absolutely, absolutely so good. So I always try to end the podcast on kind of a fun personal question. So I'm going to kind of throw this on you.

And then so tell me what is, well, not throw it on you because I know your story. And I know what you're going to say. Tell me what your favorite meal was that you've ever had at a restaurant, who the restaurant is. I'm curious, but I think I know the answer. So Gavin Ksen is a friend of mine. He's a chef in Minneapolis. He's got three restaurants, Spoons Stable, Belkor and Demi. Demi is a 20-seat intimate catbird style restaurant. It is beautiful. It's tiny. I have never experienced hospitality like that in my life and the food was fantastic but the experience was unbelievable. And one of the things that I loved about it so much, because when you're gonna go to a restaurant like this, you're gonna spend some money, right?

Yep. And some people value different things and spend money on different things. Some people spend thousands of dollars on concert tickets and thousands of dollars on clothing and thousands of dollars on cars. I spend thousands of dollars on food. Same. Same. Food is just poop waiting to happen and yet I spend thousands of dollars on it, right? But it's so good though. It is so good. It is so good. Okay. Here's, and it's so weird to think about this, but so when you buy a, buy reservations at, at Demi or some of these nicer restaurants, you prepay months in advance, right? So I spent $600 to go eat here with me and my wife.

It's 12 courses. At the end of the, at the end of your meal, you don't have to pay for anything, right? kind of forgotten that you spent $600 two months ago on this dinner. So at the end of your meal, the chefs are like, thank y'all so much for coming in. And there's like this, there's this ease about it. Like there's like, there's no weight thinking, Oh, God, here I got it. Yeah, how much is it going to be? Right. So it's like, it's such a it's it's kind of refreshing to get up from this amazing meal and not have to pay. It's a weird way I'm thinking about it.

I love that. I love that. I would say my favorite is Alex Blue. No. No, honestly, I would say mine is my wife and I have a list. Let me pull it up real quick just so I can remember. But let's see here. What has been one of my favorite meals aside from obviously Alex Blue's restaurant? The burger, by the way, you need to get it from Alex's also. I think it was Bob again. Wouldn't it when the favican? So favican was pretty crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I would say I would say favican. And it was it's like seven hours outside of Stockholm. My wife and I rented a car and we drove through the Swedish wilderness.

It's a lot of trees. Um, it was like 30 or like 20 something courses. We ate colostrum, which I didn't know what that was. It's kind of gross. Google it. Um, we ate like dry. I had a good one. I have two children. We had, we had quills. We had quills egg wrapped in sheep shit. Um, so for, for, for an alkali purpose. So that was wild. I mean, at some point you're just being creative for creative. Exactly. And then honestly, I would say one of the other ones too was actually in Stockholm. I, you know, Jackie, Jackie and I Googled. I think whatever it is, I mean, Stockholm has got incredible cuisine from a Michelin God perspective.

And so I probably are second favorite. literally that we've had ever was allauea. They just got their second Michelin star this year without boring people with the details. We sat next to a basically a wine buyer and we ended up having five or $6,000 with a wine that night. For free. For free. Yeah, I got worried. I was like, hey man. I was like, hey man. Like I just, I want to make sure like, you know, these little too expensive for my tastes like you're more than welcome to have it. And you are copying this, right? Yeah, you are. Yeah. really cool. The restaurant was in like classroom seating and a horseshoe and it kind of looked at the kitchen and they played like rock music.

It was it was so cool. It was like loud rock music and like the kitchen was all black marble with gold accents. It was kind of the coolest vibe ever. So I would say those two are my favorite aside from Alex and Blue and Dallas and James. So Alex man, thanks for hanging dude. It was awesome. And we should we should hang out in person here soon. Yes, take it easy buddy. Let me grow.