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My graduates from my school being forced bad and drop drop Mike.
Drop bad drop.
All right, guys, welcome back e y L Legendary episode. I'm pretty sure. So this is this is a while in the making. So if you're from New York, you've heard of the name Jimmy. It's ironic because it's like Jimmy is one of these names, is one of the probably most popular names in the world. So, I mean, Jimmy is like anybody will be named Jimmy. Right, Well, if you from New York, there's one, Jimmy, that's a fact. Jimmy Jones, Jim Jones, Jim Jones is jim This is different, this.
Is this is legend.
So yeah, it's so many different rappers. Well, you know a z So shouts to so Soid that comes to the firm album follow Me, and Jimmy is up in the Bronx. So it's just one of these things that just became such a staple in New York, from Jimmy's to Jimmy's seafood to donkle Kee to some free throw to get sold row to. Akrie said that correctly, Yes, a cree now in back in the Bronx and Jimmy Rodriguez had has a legendary career as a restaurant tour.
A legendary restaurant tour, I believe how long over thirty years something like that.
Twenty years, let's keep the number down. A would have been more than forty though, you know what.
I'm saying, you know, yeah, for sure culture I car in New York City. So I was in the spot a few months ago, probably like four or five, maybe six months ago, I don't know, a while back, and I was with a good friend of mine shout out to tell us, and we was in there and we was waiting. They was they was full. So we're sitting at the couch like just waiting for you know, somebody to see us. So the waitress comes over like, you know, you know, we got some shots for you, like free drinks.
I'm like, all right, cool. He's like it comes from Jimmy. I didn't know that it was that Jimmy. So I looked, I'm like thanks, because the last time I saw him he waged a lot more weight, so he.
Lost a lot of weights.
Yeah, so I didn't recognize that was a heavyweight. He gave me, you know, the mafia nod.
Like what's up. I'm like, what's up?
So long story short, it turns out that his son is a huge support of our Alesia and his son told him like, that's Unerleisia.
You can't have him waiting. I like that, So we chopped it out.
He came over and we spoke for like two hours, and you know, I was just letting him know who we were. It was just you know, just trading stories and it was just a really dope experience. And I told him, you gotta come on the podcast. Man, he asked me at the time. He's like, I heard you got you know, a big podcast. And he's like I'm like, yeah, it's number one. And he was like number one where and I'm like in the world.
I come, I don't know, said you number one guy.
It's then a couple a couple of months later, we hit number one in the world. So I spoke that into existence. So and then a couple of weeks ago, our friends was in there shout out to Mike, Damn Rich the whole crew, and they was like, yo, you're never gonna believe who we got to come on on Alesia and they faced something. I'm like, I already spoke to him. He said, you already committed. We was just waiting for the Okay, So, long story short, we finally
got this done. So I'm looking forward to an exciting conversation. So, first and foremost, thank you for joinings. Appreciate it.
I'm excited, you know, just to see be part of your show and number one show, and I know your audience wants to hear different topics and I think that you know, what I've done over the last forty years is interesting. You know, I've done it you know, at different times. And I know there's a lot of people out here that have a Jimmy story.
That's true.
I told you before we started that my first ever beverage, alcoholic beverage was at Jimmy's. It was the first time I ever tasted a Long Island iced tea. And for the next ten years, that's the only thing I had.
It was only the real ID or fake ID.
I don't want to get it statue limitations.
I don't want to get anybody.
Still, we still got to respect.
That she was a little too. Yeah, it was a fig.
We tried out. We tried our best to make sure that I did do right.
But I looked a lot older. I always had a bid. I always looked a lot older than I was. So credit to your bouncers at the time, they didn't make a mistack.
Yeah, for sure.
So we got I want to about a variety of different things, just you know, the state of restaurants and on COVID, your experience, all of the different stuff. But I want to go back to where it started. So how did you start and kind of you selling? You just told me you were selling fish in the streets originally, Like how did you start in the restaurant business.
Well, I started working for my dad as a young kid, about fifteen sixteen years old. We were selling fish in the street on the Crossbronx and Webster, but before that was west Chester and the Bronx River, and we got kicked out because it was so popular, and they we went to the Crossbronx and Webster under the bridge, and then from there we rented the building across the street. We started selling fish on the side of the building, and then we took the building over and that was
my school. It was Jimmy's Seafood, and then from jimmy Seafood we went to Madi'scholar Carribe Then eventually we looked to expand and we took over the Jimmy's Bronx Cafe and Fordam Road, the Major Deacon. That was a forty eight thousand square foot building. We tried to borrow the money from everybody and anybody in the world, and I remember buying the building for two point four million dollars.
So I got it.
So this is that story is pretty crazy because I read it was it was two point five million, and then mother nature took its course. Yes, and just kind of like messed the building up a little bit to your favorites, and the price got dropped.
It was three point two and then we got it for two point four. And I remember trying to raise the money and I'm like, we're doing so well at Jimmy's, at Madi's collar Cardiebe it wouldn't be a problem to like, you know, borrow the money from the bank. But you know, every bank that I went to was a roadblock, and it was like redline, you don't lend money to certain
people in certain neighborhoods because they cannot be successful. And at the end of the day, I winded up putting the deal together with Leon Katz, and he lent me the money at twenty four percent. I almost had it at thirty two percent from a group in Connecticut, but he gave it to me for a million one. I got three hundred from the seller and then a million dollars they held back in paper, so I was paying
twenty four percent. And the fun part about it is I remember leading to the fun part, you know in life afternoon, like they're just challenges. It's not how many times you fall us how fast you get up so for me, it was like, I'm going to buy this building. I don't know how, but I'm going to buy the building. So I remember going into contracting to the property and I gave them three hundred thousand, and the three hundred thousand was from Reuben Sierra.
Ah, so the Salica king, yes, baseball players as.
A king, and so he gave me the money as a deposit. He was supposed to be partners with our family, and he backed out. But before he backed out, I borrowed the money from Leon Kats. And the fun story it was that Leon Katz came to he sent his nephew Lenny, and Lenny pulled up and he looked at the property and he's like, what are you doing. I'm like, I'm building my restaurant. He said, but you don't own it.
How do you put so many people to work? I said, because, like you said, you talk it into existence, you make it happen. So I said, I'm going to own this property. And the only way you're going to believe in me and this property is by me turning around and putting everything on the table. Win all, lose all. And I did that. So he went back. He told his uncle what was going on. He took pictures, looked at some paperwork, and he said, I want to go to your house.
I want to see where you live. He came to my house Michell La Parkway. I want to see your family. Back he told his uncle. He likes to deal. He said, the guy will do the twenty four percent, which twenty four percent is the most interest they could charge. It's like a loan shark. But that's professional loan shok like the credit card companies right now. If they could charge you fifty percent, they will, So twenty four percent was fine. So he called up. At the time was Freddy Ferrare.
He was borough president, and Freddy said he asked Freddy, what do you know about him? And he's like, that's the that's the Latin restaurant guy. He that's what he does. He works every day, he has a family. He just that's all he does. He says none but good things about him. So he goes back. He says, we'll lend you the million dollars million one, but you got to come up with forty four thousand dollars. So I asked my dad for the forty four thousand. He gave it
to me. So basically, we bought this property with forty four thousand out of our pocket, besides the money that we used to start the construction. So I went to all my vendors. I says, hey, guys, I need some money, Like I buy one hundred thousand from you can instead of thirty days? Can I go to ninety? And I said nope, nope, nope, nope. So I doubled my order trip and my orders, and all of a sudden, like I can't pay you right now, We're gonna have to
work out some payments. So I really basically leverage every credit card I borrowed from everybody to make this happen. I remember, like a lot of my friends that I would go to him, like, dude, could you lend me? Can you give me a check for like twenty thousand? Let it bounce. I just needed I don't really want the money, let it help. You Gotta do whatever you gotta do to make it legally, just to get over that pace. So they're the fun part about it. So
I remember going out to Arizona. That was the first time the World Trade Center got like attacked, and I'm sitting with Rick Ruben Sierra and Ricky Henderson and that's the time. But I picked up the check so I can get into this deal. So I took fifty thousand. I put it towards the air condition. I put fifty thousand or one hundred thousand towards construction. And then Ruben had a brother in in Puerto Rico and he called him and said, I want you to check this property.
So he says to him, pull out the deal. I'm like, women caused me. He said, like, listen, I got to pull it out the deal. I'm like why, I said, because my brother called. He didn't tell me the story. So this cab driver was a good friend of my mother in law, thought or whatever. He said, his brother killed the deal on you. I'm like, what happened? He's like he I found out later that he checked the
assessment of the property, not the appraisal. The assess for tax purposes different from what it praised property, and it was it was assessed for a million dollars or a million five. So he pulled out of the deal. I said, well, but I don't have the money. I'll pay you when eventually I get into this deal. And you know, I remember, like going to one hundred black men and asking them for help, and that said, we can help you, but
we can't help the whole village. We will help you because we know who you are, and that's how we'll do it. And I remember, like little things that you learned from your elders, the ogs, the master g's that come to you, and you always look up to these guys. And that was the beginning of Jimmy. So that became an amazing property, busiest thing in the world. And then at the Jimmy's Downtown, Jimmy's Uptown, Jimmy City Island, which where they were all amazing places to go. I remember
running up and down around the city. But you know, one of my craziest stories was stay away from Jimmy's Cafe where the Yankees. Major League Baseball was so upset that every major celebrity, basketball, football, hockey, every major celebrity in the world went to Jimmy's. But why because I became the caterer for the Yankees. So could you imagine feeding every major celebrity star in the yank that came to New York, not only the Yankees but visiting team.
So I was voted the best food in America for clubhouse. So what do you think they wanted to go afterwards with their family mind So instead of them making sure that we wouldn't have problems with none of these celebrity figures anything, they told him not to come to my place. And that hit the front page and that went from three hundred thousand dollars a week to less than one hundred thousands.
So who started this campaign? So let's go into this a little bit. So you were in the Yankees clubhouse as a vendor food vendor.
Yeah, because I read that your uncle was the plug, right. Your uncle was the guy that knew the Yankees players.
He played. He played Yankees for one two years, he remember. I remember him telling them the story with Mickey Mantle let him get his his locker right next to him because they really wanted him out the locker room because he was the only Spanish guy there. So racism within Major League base couch has always been there for me. I'm like the Yankees, great dynasty, amazing team, but I believe in my heart that one of the most racist teams in America. And I mean, you look at the
deal that the Yankees got in the Bronx. They ain't giving back. They just keep taking and taking and taken. I mean, it's a sad situation that you get these major companies come into our community, rape it and put nothing back, you know what I'm saying. But that's a separate story. So the way I got into the Yankee Stadium was at the time was an Italian restaurant, and all the food that ever went into the Yankees was Italian. Imagine Sylvia's or Jimmy's Bean and Yankees damn never gonna happen.
So one of the ways that happened was Bernnie Williams is a rookie. So I'm like, hey, I sent them a stuff lops to the next day, I send them baa and a whole bunch of food, and de w G's like, we don't want this food. We want this food. And all of a sudden, I get a phone call from Luke Cucuza and Robbie like, yo, we want a meeting with you. Like what's up. It's like, oh, guys want your food. And that was the beginning where you know,
we just became legendary. I did the nigs, I did the meds, you know, and you just have to let people know that you know, what you do is it's great, it's quality, and you got to open doors for others. And that was how I got my foot in the door with there.
Bernie Williams Puerto Rican, Bernie Williams Marianna.
I remember the World Series they win where they going to Jimmy's with their family and that drove people crazy because that's what they wanted to be within their own people.
From the outside, it was like we saw those people going there, and so as the public, it was like, there might be a chance if we go there tonight that we might see there.
You never know who's you never know who's going to be in there.
Plus the jerseys are everywhere. It was like the first place where you had the players would come, they give you the jerseys on the wall. It's like, there might be a chance tonight.
Peyton Martinez, Vegas, Tito plant their cruise, Mark Anthony J. Low.
I mean, if you name it, you didn't you miss you missed one guy, the King of the Bronx.
Oh Joe, that was.
We can't, we can't.
We had stories there but.
Joseph Carter Gin Yeah, we even have to Castro I'm glad you mentioned that because I read that in nineteen ninety five, and that was at the time.
Mayor Giuliani is the mayor of New York. Yes, didn't want him eating anywhere in the city anyone.
Wanted to leave his room. I mean at the point where he locked him out of everywhere. So it was him and another European coffee or nine or something other coffee was he was restricted from everything. So I'm like, Serrano asked me if we can invite Fidel Castro to the Bronx, and when I hosted, I'm like sure. I'm like, I'm already known for the place where unsavory characters like Enemy number one of the United States a Phidel Castro, Like,
how better can I get? Like, I'm going to really And I remember like deciding the media people like New York Times scene, I had more cameras and everything. I was like the most amazing, you know, starty, and then the death threats came in and to you, yeah, of course humans like yo, get me me like yo, but I'm not I'm not in politics. I'm just a restaurant guy. So you have the guys that are for Cuba on this side and you have the ones against Cuba or
Fidel on this side. And the next day after this whole historic meeting, where Fidel came to the Bronx, you know, he went to three places. He went to Abysiny and Baptist Church, he met with the Times, and he went to Jimmi's. So those are these places. So no matter what, you can't ever take away that we had the number one enemy of the United States at that time, which was Fidel there and for the row. Yeah, I'll tell
you want to go even crazier. A couple of years later, I went to Cuba for any Moore Theell concert, and I was in I was sitting in the in the in the in the audience, and Toronto said, if Fidel is going to if you're going to meet Fidel again in Cuba, it's going to be a night. He doesn't meet people in the daytime. So I'm not thinking. I just put that in the back of my head. So it was like ten to eleven o'clock at night, somebody taps me on my shoulders. Is Commandante would like this here?
What that what that means?
Like you know, the like he wanted that is the commander of the command.
That's so I get out from the hotel, I get up from the concert. They take me across. I got a prison for him. I know it's his birthday. So I bought him this, this piece with all these famous baseball pictures and balls Nolan Ryan, and so I give it to him and I go to the White House in Cuba and we sit down. We have a couple of drinks and he's like, you know you hungry. I'm like, hey, if you cook weeding, they called chew me I remember that.
I don't know why I still remember this name, like so many years later tom Me so chummy comes over. We set it up and we're sitting down with I remember drinking cocmeo for the first time of life and salad and this that. So we wrap up the meeting and you know, I'm a collective of jerseys, like you could tell like that's where it collect So I said, come man, Dante, if you don't mind, would you give me would you allow me to have one of your shirts, like just for what I could imagine, like his shirt,
like the army shirt, like the general. So he whispers to somebody and he comes back in two minutes he gives me the jersey, the jacket and the past, the fatigues, the whole shit. Bam. I'm like crazy, crazy crazy. So that was my little Fordell story. I had David Bowie concert there.
I mean, wow, So why did why did the Yankees tell people not to patronize your restaurant?
Wasn't the Yankees? It was major League Baseball? Why did major League Baseball tell peoples we had They felt that unsavory characters visited my place and they didn't want something some street street activity. In other words, if you have two beepers, you're a drug dealer. You have two buds, you're a drug dealer. You can't have one for business. So I remember one time Waltarie said he was ahead
of Hispanic Police Association and he had two beepers. I guess, I guess you're a drug dealer because you got you look like one. So at the end of the day, it's like, you know, you don't stop them or unsavory characters going to the Yankees, You don't stop them going to see the next You don't stop from going anywhere New York City. But now you want to stop them from going to Jimmy's because it's out of control. I
don't understand. It cost me a lot. And I remember sitting down with Van Woods from Sylvia's and it was funny. You know, for the one time in my life, I felt bad being Hispanic because as influential, I felt that our business was in the Hispanic community. Now one Hispanic leader came to support us, not one spoke out, but yet there were Sylvia's. I said, listen, we're here. Whatever
you want. And if I would have known now what I know now, if I would have known it, then I would assume major League Baseball and the rest would be history, because you know this discrimination that they have against us, Like.
That's crazy because if you think of the sport dominated by Latin American and Hispanic players.
Yeah, so where would they I mean, what they eat.
Where they take their family? Where would they feel comfortable in the radicon? Yeah, because we're gonna go downstairs and have some sandwiches or just like in other words, not but nothing. Our food is made from scratches fresh. You know, the service, the hospitality, the music, the environment, the energy. So you have all the money in the world, where you want to go where you don't feel comfortable? Where you do feel comfortable. Where would you want to visit?
You know, but you feel like all the prejudice, Like you see all the checkpoints. Checkpoints are not below ninety six Street, they're above ninety six Street. So you look at the discrimination on like you know, you cross the bridge, they wait for you over there, they waiting for you over they get on the high we get out of here, like in other words, it happens still to this day. In other words, you know, it's it's a crime, it's a shame. What happens.
Do you feel that taking to detour the restaurant industry, just the night life in New York City. I feel like even before Corona it is dead. And I feel like, you know, all of the clubs closed, La Ladina closed, the gentlemen's clubs, clothing with all of that, and I just feel like New York has become so buttoned up. And you go to other places like Atlanta. This is
why Atlanta is thriving, Miami is thriving. It's like they letting, you know, they're letting things happen, where New York has just become so buttoned up that nothing is like nothing's going on anymore it's lost its culture.
And we don't have no voice. Like in other words, right now we have a problem. We have no voice. If something happens in one of our establishments, we have no one to support and stand up for us, like if like you know, if there's something happened today in the Hispanic community, the best we got, in my opinion is Fernanda my tale. The best we got is Fernando Mattel and AOC. So what happened to the rest of
our leaders? What happens to our businesses? Like in other words, you know, if something happens in it's on the community. We have no leadership. But you know something Black community, our shoppers right there, So he gonna put the break right on of say slow down, you're doing this, you understand. So we're going to change the mentality. What's going on
in our businesses are suffering right now. The culture from the top down is like the abuse of power, like you shut down the City of New York's like the restaurant industry, the hospitality, bus boys, waiters, cooks, I mean, you name everybody in our industry suffered this whole year. Why but you can go to the anchors in party you can go to my running and party. But right now, why are you holding us down? Why you're holding us back because it ain't based on the science. So the
governor has a problem with the mayor. So why are we being kicked around? Why are we being abused because of it? Like right now Friday, New York City's going to fifty and the state is going to send.
Why capacity based on what science? It's just just random. You know, this whole thing has been extremely random. The governor of Texas just decides Corona's over no mass required.
Dumb. Atlanta never had three weeks. Three weeks.
They've been done with it for monthseventy It's like they just thrown out a number. Sounds good to me, seventy five. Let's go for it. Let's see what happens.
You know, at the end of the day is it's challenging and those that stay with it are gonna win. Like in other words, I just my advice to everybody out there is like, Yo, hang in there, Yo, it's gonna get better, it's gonna get great. This was just of course we took in life that's gonna strengthen us. I mean, whether you bowed out and failed get back in it, because this is gonna turn around. This is gonna be amazing. There's gonna be a lot of great opportunities.
You're gonna learn from the mistakes that you took for granted. Now to take advantage of them, you're gonna make. You're gonna do great coming out of this. I mean, I'm looking forward to going around the world.
With this, yeah said. I mean that there's two things there.
Number One, you've been in the game so long that you've probably seen almost everything, and now, including this, I can't imagine anything else that you haven't seen. But going back, you said that you were working with Sylvia's and that's interesting too, because you're both in the restaurant field, but you're not looking at each other as competitors.
You're looking at You're looking at his family.
I go there and I tell them, listen, you got to change your computer system. I'm going to get you some equipment you need to do this, and Van and family and so we just that's what we do to the height and do the same thing.
Is that common in this game?
Because I feel like, you know, when you have restaurants, it's like this is my competition. If there's a dynamic of people or a culture of people that are going to these restaurants. It's looking at like, well, you're taking away from my customers, But what changing your relationship to say, you know what, we're family, We're going to do this together.
Let's all rise.
Oh you look at opportunities, like the opportunities that are out there for everyone. Like in other words, the podcast industry, there's there's so much you can do. Let's teach someone, teach one, let them grow, show them the tricks. It's like going to school. What we're doing right now is I'm going to school. I'm the teacher. I teach the students. So if I learned something quick, I give it to them. Now they give it to their kids, and they helped
street change and evolve. You know, we're responsible. Like one of the biggest problems we have right now in this day and age with this young men and women. I blame us. I blame us as adults that didn't put our foot up there ass because that's what happened to us growing up. In other words, your biggest fear of growing up is if they told your parents you were going to get whooped. Like another word, you embarrass me. I'm move.
You know. You got to do it back then.
Now, I was like, there's no one to tell these young men and women, hey, you can't do this. That's not how you do things. So we we're gonna have to step up our game and grab them under the wing and say, yo, slow down, chill. This is how you build a restaurant. This is how you build the clothing store. This is how you build a label, this is how you do a studio. You got to teach everyone. We got to share our information, we got to share
our contacts, and we got to help each other. Like I do a lot of consulting all the time with restaurants, and I'll tell you, guys, listen, you know, I'll come in and I'll assess your whole restaurant and look at your sales, and I'll look at your nightlife, and I'll look at your equipment, and i'll look at your habits. And this is what I'm gonna charge you, and the money you pay me ten, I'm gonna save you one hundred. And this is how easy it is. I'm want to
show you how easy it is. I'm gonna just save you ten in a minute, and I just show them debling. But I'm okay because they're going to be able to grow and each one helps each other. We're going to grow together as one big family. So let me ask you this.
As far as we've interviewed a few restaurant owners, and everybody has different philosophies as far as what makes a restaurant successful. Because I think it's like ninety five percent failure rate for restaurants. It's extremely tough business. Food cost shot of Derek Falcon. He's the first person that actually broke down food cost. Chef Calvin talked about food course also food costs, extremely important, managing systems, things of that nature.
So what is some.
Like commandments that a restaurant has to have in place in order for to be successful?
Based on your experience, Team, there's no I in team. If you don't have a great team around you, you're going to Like a basketball team, you can't you can't succeed, you can't win that championship. You need a fold, you need a center, you need the team. Baseball the same thing. You need the best of the best. So if you're going to do something small, make sure you have a good team. I mean you want to have someone that understands the kitchen. But you cannot let that front of
the house rule the back of the house. The back of the house can't rule the frond of the house. It has to flow. And a lot of times what we have is a great cook that doesn't listen to the clientele. You understand that you think that your food.
Like in other words, for example, you're going to put a menu together, first thing to do is sit down with five or six foodies, people that no food and tell the chef prepare that dish five times for five people, and we're gonna critique the protein, the vegetable, the salad. We're gonna we're gonna critique the presentation, the flavors, the layers. No, I learned, Like in other words, keep going to school, keep learning, and keep putting people in your life that
can help and support you. So, for an example, tomorrow I decide to open up something other than the restaurant business. I'm gonna hire the best person that does that. I'm not gonna turn it around and said, well, I'm gonna start from ground zero. It's not happening. A lot of times people will open up a restaurant they'll put everything into this restaurant and then leave no reserve for the next six months or a year.
Talk about that, Talk about that as far as like, I think that's one of the reasons why restaurants fail because, you know, and the business is up and down, you know, and you make most of your money, correct me if I'm wrong. You make most of your money in a couple of days, like weekends or like happy hours like that. You can have ups and downs, but you still gotta pay. You gotta pay stef you got to pay security, You got to pay all these things. So you don't have
enough money, and then it's like your bankrupt. So how much money should you have like three months, six months? How much money should you have in savings before even starting a restaurant?
Well, that number is going to depend upon your team, your leadership, your concept, your mission statement, your projections, all of these things are going to determine what you need.
Like in other words, you know, I I was in an establishment yesterday where the guy spent two hundred thousand dollars building a place, and I'm like, I wish you would have known you six months ago because it would only cost you seventy five, So you just put one hundred and twenty five that you didn't need to put into this concept, and that money could have went into the development of the mark, the labeled the brand. A lot of people picking name, they don't realize that that
name's already taken. Got to take a step back, So you have to do a lot of work from the very beginning of the inception of the name. Can you own the name? Can you register the name? Can you build a name? Where's where are you going with your restaurant? Are you looking for a livelihood? Are you looking for long term? What are the goals? What are you looking to make from this restaurant? Are you looking for just
the salary? Then you think about security. Why would you want to build a restaurant that you won't feel safe in yourself? Why would your security need bulletproofs? Why would they need like another way, and one of the problems that we have, like in New York City, that we don't have in Florida. Just a very simple example. I don't know Atlanta yet, but why can't we have a
cop at the front door. Why can't we have a cop at the front But you can because it's it has a liquor license, but you can have at a Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden.
And Atlanta definitely has cobs the front door and it deters the violence. Heavily armed and it deters the violence.
You can't have it in New York. So we got to change little things like this. So we tell the young men and women, you're not coming any here with the weapon, and if you do, you're gonna leaven handcuffs and don't even think about it. So you stop it at the front door. Like when I had Jimmy's. You knew my guys were retired at the front door that were not street ducks.
This is true.
Yeah, we're gonna pat you down and if you got a weapon, you're going to jail. And you knew that if you got stupid, we're gonna find you because we got cameras everywhere and you didn't come in with it. And one of the things we stopped we stopped the Posse's, Like, yo, ain't no Posse's tonight. Wa ain't forty fifty. We got ten security. Why I want forty you guys to run my show. It's not happening. Never happened. Yeah, exceptions to everybody.
That's an exception.
So when you expanded, what do you Because you moved to Harlem and you had the downtown place, we want to talk about the doggie barn sect. But what are you looking for when you're expanding into different areas?
Right?
Is it the prime real estate? And are we trying to own the land or are we leasing the area?
We want to own the land, but if we can't on the land, we want to go negotiate a deal that the revenue we're going to pay is going to be basically just as much as a mortgage that you're not overpaying. That's one way to look at it. Another way is that you want to find the neighborhood that's going to support your concept. The craziest thing is I opened up Chimneys downtown on fifty seven and first, Now, if you look at anybody that lived below ninety sixth Street,
then look at you and say you retarded. How is fifty seventh Street downtown? It's fifty seventh Street downtown.
Midtown is midtown?
Midtown? Where'd you grow up? All? Right? Below ninety sixth Street was what midtown?
No?
No, below ninety sixth Street, below ninety sixth Street what we call that. That's mahad all right, But growing up, if you went above ninety six that was uptown.
Yeah, No, where do uptown start?
Well, Harlem starts at one hundred and Town Street. Way did uptown start? And the sixth Street that's where the money was, that's the nicest houses and properties, or below ninety sixth Street. So there was three places that we went to growing up as a kid. We went below fourteenth Street, that's the village. Below ninety sixth Street, that's downtown. Above ninety sixth Street were going uptown. So it was only three. So when I said Jimmy's downtown, I'm like, dude,
that's how That's what we knew. Downtown was below six.
I got So you were just saying downtowntown because that's what you grew up knowing.
So it's just a low halem. So it's downtown. We want above six we want to Harlem. Right, So Jewish lady walks up to me. Chimans downtown Puerto Rican cuisine. She goes, why don't you call it Spanish? I'm like, what do you mean? I'm like, why don't you just call a Spanish restaurant? I said, because it's a Puerto Rican restaurant, but wouldn't it be easier for you to call it Spanish?
So the problem is like, well, we go out to eat. We don't say, let's go to a white restaurant. We said Italian or Greece say Irish.
No Greek.
We call it what it is. So he's nothing wrong. We're calling it what it is.
He trying to just lump you in the bucket with Peruvian Dominican when we.
Said Spanish, that's a that's like, you know, it's wrong because Mexican, Puerto Rican is not Spanish. Europe is Italian, Russian, and German. It's not European, right it is.
And it's not really even a correct word Spanish because Spanish is a language. It would be like the equivalent of saying English.
Or it has to or the origin has to come from Spain.
Well Spain, right, we do exactly. Yet the way they like a soupy we do with difference is totally different. You know what I'm saying. It's funny story, like even like soul food like funny thing. I was talking to Van Wards, you know, ran ran Sylvia's and we talked about restaurant stories, and he opened up Sylvia's in uh, South Carolina and it failed, and I'm like, why did it fail? He's like, how you gonna teach Southern people from southern Southern? Oh my god, and it's not gonna work.
So like people said, why don't you open to the Puerto Rican restaurant in Puerto Rico. I'm like, yo, I learned one thing from man. Don't do that.
Don't We're not coming at I was.
I was gonna ask you that. Actually, if you I was gonna ask you.
That's funny you say that I was gonna ask you if you ever thought about opening a restaurant in Puerto Rico.
And if I did, it would be where the tourists come in. So I heard him be for the people like by the by the Doe, by the docks. I've heard fact Joe say this before. What's your take on it?
He said that some Puerto Ricans or a lot of Puerto Ricans and Puerto Rico don't look at Puto Ricans in New York as really Puerto Rico.
You call a New York creakan. In other words, you're not one of us. So it's a disconnect. It's a whole disconnect, you know. And I think New York and Atlanta you look at each other different. You're from the south, not from the East coast, like the East coast West coast, you're not. We just don't connect. We create barriers, We create walls that don't need to be there.
M Yeah, So let me ask you this as far as like how difficult was it or what was the two part question? Your spots have become like very popular sparts, like you said, with celebrities, rappers. All that goes to what was the marketing? Did you do any marketing or that was just natural? That's the first question.
Yeah, so marketing then to marketing. Now, back then you couldn't Instagram, you couldn't Facebook, there was none, So it was pretty much flyers and promoting. But the one thing that I learned, like back in the days, was like just be genuine, sell a real, true experience, because then the cheapest form of advertising is true advertising when you sell someone to experience their telephone and they tell a
friend and it goes on and on. And I believe that to this day, tele friend is the best concept for marketing because you come in and all of a sudden, it's like you want to tell someone to celebrate their birthday. I Mean, I remember times I go to the restaurants and I'm like, how many reservations, how many birthday parties
we have? Like we have seventy birthday parties tonight, I'm like, oh my god, Like everybody celebriting there and you're going to see everyone thing and you're going to dance and you're going to have fun and you're just gonna make sure the food comes out on time. And it's just a lot of little little details. You gotta pay attention to the details. You know, you have to like put a nice team of people together. Like if I'm opening up a new restaurant tomorrow, I'm looking for my chef.
I'm looking at the front of the house. I'm looking at the white staff, I'm looking at the help in the kitchen, and I'm looking at the whole team together. What the food course is going to be, what's the presentation, what's to talk more audience. One of the things that I did wrong was when I down Cokay, for example, was I built them too close to each other. So when I had which ones newishell? Was the first one that was the one you couldn't get into if you
even dreamed about it, because that was just crazy. But then I built from there. I did a story, so that took a little bit away because it too close, and a lot of people from Queens and Brooklyn didn't come to the Rochelle. You know what I'm saying, because now you're in Westchester and now this is the city. Then I did White Planes, and then I did City Island exactly, so now I was too close to the
mothership and I couldn't be in all of them. And then the people that you bring into the team and partners, if they don't understand to how to take care of your clientele where they're your family and you've you got to make a promise and keep a promise. Like in other words, one thing you have to tell people is like your word is your bond. So if you make a reservation and there's going to be ten and six, you can't walk into six with ten people and know
what I'm saying, I ain't got your table. And you know I had a partner that he didn't.
Earn its what's up?
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Dealer care and basically he turned the Don Koque and Queens into a shit show, you know what I'm saying. And you can't have people that value money more than the concept and what you're selling because and then you're going to dilute the brand. You can dilute you know what people are expecting, and they're going to talk bad about you. And that's what a lot of people do in restaurant businesses. If you don't focus on the food, you don't focus on the service, forget about the happy hour.
Happy hour is just part of an experience. So I tell people, listen, if you want to learn how to really do this, go work for somebody that really knows how to do this, Like learn the ins and out of the business. Just don't decide because you can make a cheese burger, you're going to open up a restaurant. It doesn't work that way.
So as far as balancing it, because your your spots is also like a nightlight, especially like the Don Cokey's of the world, Jimmy's balance in a restaurant with night life, how is that.
Besides your audience? Like in other words, I'll give you a perfect example. I love all the new music. I understand all the new music. Do I want to listen to that when I'm having dinner. You understand, Like when is too much? Too much? I mean, can you listen to hip hop for three hours? You know, just straight
hardcore straight. So the funny thing is, like, you know, there was a guy called one of my mentors, Robert Isabelle, was a big mentor mine, Richard Turley, Ian Schrager, Charlie Rangel, wants b ls oh, Percy Sutton, one of the most amazing in the world. I don't and I was part of the Great Chamber, and I would listen to all my mentors and this guy, Robert Isabelle, they called him the flower God. And I remember back in the days when I had the Spanish band and he came up
and he's like, the bands can't play two sets. They only pay one set. I'm like, but that's what we do uptime. That's wrong, Michael Kyle, try it. I booked the band one set. He said, you don't introduce him, but that's what you don't introduce them. But well, why don't you introduce him? It's because you interrupt the flow, You interrupt the energy. People start looking at their watches like okay, he says, when they finish, it's only forty five minutes, not an hour and a half. Not because
you're paying them for one set. No, no, forty five minutes and the minute that song is finished, and it better be only five or six amazing hits, no new songs, and then you go right into the set, don't. So I'm like, okay. It changed the whole game in Heights because now you only book a band for one quick show, and you were able to bring in diferent people. So I remember one time I tell one of my tejs, I said, listen, I want you to play some Michael Jackson.
He goes, I ain't playing Michael Jackson. I said, you think you ain't gonna put you ain't playing Michael Jackson. You know you out of here? Like right now, I'm like you and you're gonna play Michael Jackson. He looked at me like I'm crazy, because that's what Robert said I should do. And it's like the old school, so you know what you used to all the new music.
But he said, no, you gotta give people twenty to thirty minute mixes so that they don't get yeah, I knowed that was a don Keys special started rocketing.
It felt like, oh, like changing the music.
That was kind of annoying to me and be honest in full transparency because they will play hip hop, but just enough. And then they went back to the to the south said yea, I teach, I put it back on and jumped.
Up and if we being like and then it felt like the land music would go for like an hour and a half and I was like, I don't know one word.
I gotta go.
Yeah, but you went to the south Side. You went to and I was like, you start playing some white, some white music, and all of a sudden you go to hip hop and it's like that.
I'm like, okay, here we go.
A little flip, you know what I'm saying. So it's like he says, you play this music for twenty minutes, and then everybody goes on the dance floor. It goes crazy. Put the heat on. I'm like, put this He said, no, put the heat on. They're gonna start sweating, right, I said,
twenty minutes the ball put a what Guy song? But now they're all gonna run to the bar, I said, about ten minutes later, you put a great song and it's like, oh shit, But like I understood because he and Ian Traeger Studio fifty four, Like he is the god of night life. Like that guy knew what he was doing and he knew how to deme the nights, the music, the concept. So I'm like, I have the best teacher in the world teaching me how to play
it the game. How can I mess up? Like so in other way, I always said, listen, pick him into us, make sure they know what they're doing, Understand what they're teaching you, and adopt that of what they're teaching you to what you need to do today, and before you know it, well it is yours. Like right now, if I go to Atlanta, if I go to Miami, if I go to Long Island, who's the best. And I'll sit there, I go two or three nights, take my notes.
I'm like, they don't know what's coming because I know everything they're doing wrong, So I'm not looking at everything they're doing right. I'm going to go in there today. I'm going to do my homework like I'm going to be the student and I'm going to be the waiter. I'm going to be the host. I'm going to be the manager, the most important. I'm going to be the client,
the guy who spends the money. And I'm going to sit with the big willies and I'm going to sit with the regular folks and I'm going to see how they feel. I'm going to see their energy. I'm gonna see how what's going on in their world, and before you know it, you have a winning, successful here. What's coming in twenty twenty one? It's Corona taught me a lot, you know what I'm saying. One of the things that taught me is to be closer to my family, children,
my grandchildren. But like you know, the love of real people that in your life. But then you got to do your homework and says, Okay, I'm busting out. I'm going crazy. And what's coming next? If you thought Jimmy's was crazy, don't cokeyo. So freedom was crazy. What's coming is out of this world? Because I already see I'm already planning and I'm going slow. I build a foundation,
not building it. I'm saying, I'm getting ready. And one of the things in the restaurant or any business, build yourself cut strong foundation coutend, it's easier to build from, you know what I'm saying.
So at the height of Jimmy's, you had celebrities coming in and obviously that boosted the amount of revenue you can bring in and then the food became the thing. And so I'm thinking now, especially like in the down coo quy locations, how profitable is that or how properle are The location doesn't just matter based on where they're located.
No, it doesn't matter where they're located.
It's just going to be a hit.
Because I figured, like you got at the height, you had over three hundred employees. You got again, you have balances, have all this staff that you're paying, and most restaurants people don't walk into till about six seven o'clock if they don't go happy shout out to your happy hour. The two dollar drinks during the somewhere are great. But at what, like, how we what's the revenue model in a good a good year and a down year.
For me, it's like, if I'm gonna it's not so much about the number. So it's about what you can offer. So like, let's say, if the location can do breakfast lunch and dinner. Now you have three revenues. Then you add in takeout, then you add in happy hour, then you adding private events, then off premise catering, than you the nightlife. So the more components you could put, the
more sources of revenue you can bring in. Okay, Now, one of the most important things that you have to understand is you have to sell an experience, and the experience has to be genuine. It has to be real. People have to be able to touch and feel and know that it's real, because then they'll do the marketing for you. You know. One of the things that I created, like you want to celebrate your birthday in my place because it's going to be an experience. Like it's going
to be an experience. So at five o'clock, I had a seating four hundred and forty. It was boked and guys, you got to get up at seven because my next group is coming. And then nine o'clock was my next group, and eleven o'clock my next group, and one o'clock was my next group. And I would sit with my daughters and I'm like, what are we doing today? Give me the list? Okay, who's running?
La? No?
No, you got to tell them that they got to be up and like, you know, we get that food out like now, like you create such an experience, but you like people wanted to celebrate because it was happy birthday. It was happy there. The music played was happy birthday song, then another happy birday so and people just felt like part of one big family. You create an experience. I think now post COVID, what's going to happen is outdoor
is going to blow up. Like whoever has the nicest outdoor experience is going to take advantage of this market huge.
So now that things have changed as far as like how how has that shifted your business, not only with COVID but just in general as far as like marketing, Like you said, now it's social media. Now it's influencers. Like influencers is like more important than rappers or entertainers.
These days, you may not even know.
Who Nobody knows who any athletes are if you're not in the NBA because NBA players, even if you're not notable, you're tall and you stick out, so it's obvious who you are. But that still doesn't really mean anything these days unless you're like a celebrity NBA player.
But it's even toughing even then, Like I went to a restaurant it was for next players and you wouldn't even.
Know have the mascot? Right?
Yeah, well I was like I know them because I found sports, But like they're just they necessarily right next to you.
Yeah, athletes aren't. Are aren't moving the needle these days? Rappers but only a select fewer rappers. But influencers are moving the needle a lot. So do you are you marketing on social media? Are you marketing to influencers? Are you marketing bartenders? Startenders, star tender star?
You know it's crazy because star tenders. You know, I tell you a funny story. So now what changed in the night life? But you're asking the question, what do you think changing night life?
A lot of things changed, but bartender's definitely changed because bottle service. Bottle service changed everything. That changed the whole world.
Well, the bottle service was around with Jimmy's because you got a section of VIP if you were buying four or five, six.
But that everything became vi Bottle service used to be exclusive, then it became mandatory.
You can't get into a club unless you're a lot. But what changed the most. Let me see if you.
I would say bottle service club to what, oh club to like lounge like a club to strip club?
Oh yes, growing up right, going to a strip club was frowned upon. It was like look fast, no, no, you don't.
Go to the strip clubs, strip club yours, especially in New York and New York like that was looked.
Upont like you don't go to the strip club? Like, yo, who goes to the strip clubs? Then all of a sudden the clubs disappeared, and then all of a sudden, it's all the strip clubs, and all of a sudden, it's like if you didn't go there with how many stacks to throw and you didn't buy like how many bottles? The shoes round vous the one of the bronx up. You know, you looked at all the strip.
Clubs all of that, like everything was like, so now you don't go to a club on a Friday, saiday, that way, you go to the strip club and the girls enjoyed drawing money.
At the girls back that back then it didn't look like so then that's how the clubs disappeared in our communities, because then the strip club started getting closed down. But then the strip club started to close, right, But why did they gets because they catered to a certain audience that now the strip clubs are closed, and that's now where the lounges and the restaurant and the restaurants turned coming back, because before you couldn't open up a club because nobody came.
The bottle server is the VIP was one thing, but then the entire club became VIP and now you're just standing there back to back with your friend like, hey, you want to drink? These guys popping bottles behind you. It just was like, wow, we're here. We're just standing here.
Yeah.
But what he said about the strip club thing is very pointed, and because in Atlanta it's been a part of the culture Southern coature for a long time. They break records down there, like you listen to a new record, you got to be playing the strip club first.
Before first fight. Jo will be like, yo, we got to drop it in all the strip clubs because if all the strippers are dancing to it, it's a hit. And now it's like social media. But the strip clubs changed the whole game. But what happened was the violence shut them all down everything. You see how few were left?
Yeah matter in New York on the clubs closed in New York, club became the only option, and like you said, shootouts and stabbings and violence, and then that got shut down and.
Then Corona and then Corona came.
Yeah, yeah, basically that's how That's how it happened. Now they have the underground strip clubs. They have like everything's happening underground, and so you think they're really gonna stop it. But I don't know, but I think that the next big move is going to be like now that the city opened up and allowing outdoor, it's changing people. But I was talking to one of my friends, he's a captain in the four three four, and he's like, the problem that we see is going to develop is people
now learn how to party outdoor. They don't need to go to a club until it gets cold. Well that was lo Marena. That was the That was the lure of.
Loam Marena was that you in New York City, but you feel like you're in Miami, Miami, like you know, you gotta you got the water you got saying yeah, it was a vibe that whole Diyakman strip was a vibe.
It was amazing. It was like the whole strip was like a whole not so, what's going to be the next now move? It's going to be interesting this twenty twenty one is whoever prepared to come out.
I think Jimmy knows what the next move is.
It's happened. It's in the worst, it's in development of the development right now.
And you know, it's interesting because it's like I remember when Lo Morena first started the pop and I heard about it. I think if I really heard about it, when jay Z went this was years ago, like they was like Jay was in Lot Marina. It was like every weekend I was him about lot Morena and at that time, like it was all the way uptown, so it was kind of out the way and location wise, you wouldn't think that that would be the best location, but it ended up working out.
Yeah, it was. I would pull up all the time.
But so location isn't really location isn't always the most important fact. If you can make something hot, they'll country. Like even sus rendezv was in Mount Vernon, you know for us, I mean that's that's hometown. But people in the city, they look at Westchester like that's upstate.
That's uptown. That's really uptown.
That's upstate.
Yeah, upstate, Bronx is uptown and west Chester's upstate.
You're right, So that was cool to live upstate because nobody wants to live in a box room in the city. Not everybody's looking for properties upstate. But you know the fun thing about upstate and it's not upstate, it's west there's no place to really party.
No.
No, that's why down Coquy was important because before you came, it was Pearl and Pearl was official. We had the two for one drinks in there, and they shut that down because I guess again maybe the client tell of people that were coming in.
But then that Coki came and was like all right.
But you know what happens that something to get shout to my man cave party extraord in there promoted but anytime in White Plane because it's white so it's oversaturated with restaurants. I know when the restaurants in trouble when they start throwing parties. Just before Corona obviously, but they would through parties for a couple of months and then it'd be like a stabbing or something like that and then they would the cops would come shut it down.
But I knew that the only reason when they were doing parties is because they wasn't making at that point.
Like like I like, I seen industry and it messages it up for our community. Perfect example, you just said, you know, I had a place in White Planes down Cokie up there. I thought that that was going to be like the next best, most amazing thing. But the town is racist. You ain't gonna like. They don't want people of color to go up there in parties. So they have checkpoints are everywhere you go. So you get a couple of checkpoints, you ain't going back. One guy
gets a resident kills your business. So at the end of the day, it's like, you know what, I stay away from upstate and little towns because little towns have people that will they will come after you. They'll shut you down. They don't care. I mean, and that's around America. I'm not gonna say just New York City, anyone in this world. Like you go to Jersey, Connecticut. If you don't really you're not an influence and you're not down with the town, they will shut you down real quick,
you know. And if you're of color, you're even faster. You're gonna get shut down. But one of the biggest problems that we have is that when somebody's doing bad, they think that the way to get out of the debt is to bring in promoters. What's the problem with the promoters. Promoter doesn't care. He has no investment. He makes his money today, he's in, he's out, have a nice day. So if your capacity is two hundred and he brings in five hundred, what does he care. He
makes more money. You feel better that you made more money. But you have an incident, the cops walk in. You over capacity all of a sudden. So you know there has to be like yo, it's a double edged sword. Got to know what you play with him when these places they do these parties because they know they got four months they're going to go to the Lives Day. Now, that sets a stigma for the next owner. So that's what we heard each other, because if something is out
of line, shut him down. You know, like I said, club owners, guys, you know you feel that the caps are against you, But do you know who's out of community board? No, do you know who the price and commander is? No, have you ever met with them? No, you wait to meet them when they're coming down on you to shut you down. You ain't doing your homework. So if you're going to open up an establishment, know your neighbors, know the community board leaders, know the police department.
Hire a retired cop. Listen blue, I'm blue is different. If they don't know you, they can come after you. But if you have a bulletproof vest, it ain't going through you. So hire someone that can help you. So hire people, know your team, know what you're going up against. If you don't do your homework, you're gonna get hurt. Don't call it after the fact. Oh day man, Like if you look at the Heights of Heights was out
of control for a very long time. You walk into these places and I'm like, how do you how did this happens? And then all of a sudden they all got shut down and it was only a matter of time. So you have to know what you need to do in every neighborhood. But you know, if you're of color, you're more likely that they're going to attack you than if you're American, you're white, or you're a retired cop. Listen, there's just different set of rules.
Did you ever think, all right, I'm just going to keep it strictly a restaurant and not have that nightlife component as part of the establishment.
Yeah, because right now is like if you're going to go out for dinner and you have like I'm building outdoor spaces where you're going to have dinner and you're going to enjoy your music and your space and your fans. So you're going to You're going to build something different for the day and age of people that we're living with today. You know what I'm saying. So it's that big night life went to a small nightlife went to a strip club. So what's the new what's going to
be the new deal. It's going to be with social distancing. A lot of people are not going to take the vaccine for I don't know what reason. I already had Corona. I went through it. It was tough for me and a lot of people enjoying privacy because we move so recklessly so fast before Corona. Now we look we slow down,
We like our company. We pick our company now, so we're going to go to places that we feel that the energy in the room is good and we can have our own different little parties, and I think that's going to be the move moving forward. So part part of it.
And you said the word development during this whole process, started your own construction team.
I've always built. I've always been you know, I've always loved building things. And I have had fortune of having some great designers in my life. Eat Alt Watsburg, he did Cafeteria Republic, Bond Street, Dublin, Mexico. W So he's like a designed the interior guy. And once he tells me how to design it and do it, then I get my Chinese crew and we just make it happen.
It's like the one thing I'm gonna tell you in the restaurant business, the most important thing when you're gonna build a restaurant anywhere in this world, to not do it without a plan. The biggest mistake restaurant owners do and people ain't even homes like, just if you have a dream, put it on paper, make the mistake, erase it. It costs you a lot less to do it this way. Then to turn around and says, well, I have an idea.
I want to put a lamp over here and this over there and get a rendering spend the money on a designer and architect. Look at it before it's going to open and change whatever you're going to change now, don't make don't waste the money. Trust me, I've done this so many It's cost me millions of dollars to turn around and think that. I know. No, no, no, no no. Put it on a paper because then you can cost the material, the labor. A contract is not going to rob you. He signed on the dotted line.
Don't give a contractor too much money. Buy your own material if you can pay him weekly, and don't let him rip you off. There's a lot of bad people out there. There's a lot of bad people out there. Trust me, I deal with them all the time. I don't deal with them. I know who they are. You can see those weaves in the But design it upfront, like anything in your life. Put it on paper. Design and see what's going to cost you, and spend some money which
hire someone that can consult. Hire. There's a lot of great consultants out there that will save you so much money you think upfront is going to cost you. If you go down that, that's a money pit. When you start building these places, they become money pits and it doesn't make sense.
So you had spoke about before, like the way that the cops had treated different like when you started the soul food restaurant as opposed to the lat restaurant. Talk about that a little.
Bit, you know, you know it's listen so you know I'm from the Bronx. I'm Puerto Rican. My grandchildren are black and Puerto Rican. I have Dominican grandchildren as well. So you can't tell me like I shifted one way. Listen with all brothers. At the end of the day, when I have black cops and white cops looking at soul food restaurant differently, you know it exists. We can't say it doesn't exist. I said, you don't want a great soul food restaurant with music and a little bit
of everything. That's what we do every day. Anyway, I just called I just changed the name. All of a sudden, I changed the name. I'm different different. I did the same concept. I did a little Latin food. I did a little soulfood. What's the difference? Why was that treated different?
That was that was Don Cokey turning into gets old. So and you know it was a nice situation betifl. It was a beautiful situation. You had a nice VIP room, the food was great, the music was great. I actually liked it a little bit more than the Don co Kee White Planes. Then you had the upstairs downstairs if you had to do brunch during the day. So it's unfortunate that that that happened.
Unfortunate and fortunately because I got a great experience and I could still do it again, and I can, and I see myself sometime in the future doing another soul food Latin restaurant combo because I got it under the wing. I took the course, I got the class, and it's and the demand is there. The demand is there, Like I've seen some soul food restaurants that have never had I've never taken it to that level. I already seen what's missing. So for me, it's in the bandage.
Did you tap into the Sylvia's team when you went ventured into SOFO or now?
Is it your direct competition?
No, they're never, they're never. There's no, But that's my family. Those are my family. Anything they need they can call me tomorrow. I'm like, yo, I'm there, I'll help you out whatever you need. I hire a soul food chef, you know, because I think everybody has their own chefs and their own and then you have to tweak what chef is going to do because just because you know how to cook soul food doesn't mean is that what everybody gonna want. So you got to tweak that and
that's how you learn these things. But I think that a great soul food with a a bougie nightlife would be a great head in New York anyway in this world.
Yeah, that definitely wouldn't because it's not there's not really too much like that going on.
That we really need. What's the the cuisine? Oh hot class I love the grill is nice, but it's only in the city, so we need something out here.
I love what's in it food. If you don't understand, I'm a food I love. I love great food. I love like when chefs present food and the taste, but the energy. It has to be a vibe. You gotta be a vibe. That's what we need. That vibe. We need that vibe.
Yeah, I mean the tough spot. It's difficult because it's like how do you control how do you really control it? You try to do dress code, but there's no dress code anymore, so that that one away you do the eye test. The eye test is that leads to just racism on a whole different level of playing. Like you
know what I'm saying. So it's like, I see if from both perspectives, because I've seen places where they're like, yo, no sneakers, you can't get in, and every single person that's white in there has sneakers on.
And the sneaker you get, you put out a load for a fact, that's a fact. So how do you do that? How do you control crowd?
Like because like I said before, you could just do dress code, but there's no more dress code, So how do you control the crowd?
Music? Music, all okay, you set the tone, yo, I tell listen? Okay, So I tell a cloth bone all right, nick A license is till four o'clock in the morning. Okay, when should you change the music at three fifty nine? You understand? So if you go from hardcore taboogie dancing too slow and sexy to turning on the lights, people leave in this tone. But if you leave with you, we all know the great DJs of New York City
in the world. If you bring that DJ in at three thirty to rock out for that last half hour. I need a bottle, and that what they do with the bottles, they're chugging it. If you look at the most violence in the clubs anywhere in this world, and I'm talking about anywhere, and this is like science, it's half hour before you close to an hour after you close. Why the juice kicks in? Now what do you do? You just set yourself up for failure. So what do
I do? The hardest music? If I close it for it ends at three, then at three o'clock you do a little souce a little bit. They don't get people stop bugging out, like yo, I want to go hardcore. You don't bring them, you know, because you're going to create a problem. I just thought about something. I just had a great idea.
So when we go to the land and shout out to alx butad Energy, always bring them to this party. Cause R and B only party and they only play R and B and it's a vibe and it's an R and B. So it's not like, you know, no violence, not no violence. We should do earn your Lisia. We should do what we should have a night. We should collaborate on the night, Bring the night. R and B is only going to be only R and B is a vibe.
No, But I think, listen, if you do, you do a little freestyle, you do a little house, you do a little like old school hip hop. Listen. I always tell this is funny because back in the days, I'm like always fight it with Joe. You know, Joe's my little brother. Like I love Joe. Joe's like he's family. I mean, he's been to my daughter's weddings, like everybody knows. And I always say, listen, Joe, all my friends love you because they met you. But your music it's too hardcore.
You need to start doing some some hip hop. And all of a sudden, what do you think he's changed? And he flipped the light and then all of a sudden, it's like every year he has a hit. And what is it about dancing? It's not about violence. All of it is like everybody started changing the vibe. So if you did a hip hop show, it has to be a dance on it can't be it has to be positive energy. That's where the R and B kicks in.
That's where a little bit everything kicks in. It's all about the energy you bring to the tech and.
Then we promote it because everybody I follows is positive. It's a business platform. We played the good R and B music.
We have R and B. We don't even need right Well, like he said something something, you can mix it.
You can make it so No, but that's too like and then it's like you got to mix it. I said, listen. I tell everybody listen, mix it, mix it up. But you have to know if, like you said, if I only played a little bit hardcore hip hop, that's it, that's it. Just do to too, that's it. But it kept everybody like the one thing I earn this body energy.
Everybody's chilled. Like the fun part about being in the restaurant of Don co Key is like I'll be on my DJs and I'd be like like, and they knew, like they gotta change it up because if I see the energy in the room, change I change my mood. Change. I want to go. I want to work like I'm happy. I'm good. Everybody's moving and dancing, Like the nicest thing that I see in my world is when I see people dancing on the table and they eating. That's like that's fun.
Like you know what I'm saying, Like it's crazy.
We've been going to dance on the table.
About I'm about to help bring New York back. Man, once this Corona thing is over, I think we're.
Gonna have to earn your leisure night. I serious, I'm serious. I know it's gonna be that night. We're gonna say it.
It's gonna be. It's gonna be a vibe. Yes, it needs to happen. So what's your what's your visions moving forward? What's on your your plan for the next five years, ten years, one year? What do you what are you looking forward to in the future.
Well, you know, first and foremost, I'm just happy to like have made it through this corona and stay healthy. And one of the very important story of my life. So I have this young crazy daughter, her name is Joelle and crazy because she reads, she knows a lot. And one day, about seven years ago, we were by the pool and she's reading a book she loves to read.
Me I ain't reading nothing audiobook audiobooks. So I had six months to go before I dropped out of high school, and I went right to work because I was working, I was making money I didn't think I needed, and I was on top of my game at the point seven years ago. I was three hundred pounds happy, three hundred forty two pushing forty four. My pants were real tight, and I'm like, yeah, I'm not buying forty four. So you know, Oh you said you're from business. It's forty two.
And you're not going to forty four guys.
So I'm not going to forty four waists. I was very uncomfortable because didn't work. Diet pills didn't work, portion control didn't work. Nothing worked. But I couldn't figure out how I kept like staying around at three hundred and I kept trying to lose weight. So she's reading the book and I'm like, what's the book about? She goes, dad, if you ever read this book, you'll never eat the same. I'm like, look, you know, I eat a whole week. I multi grain brown rice, I brown pasta, I do this,
I do that. She goes, dad, if you ever read this book, You'll never read the same. I'm like, So, I'm not going to argue because she's gonna win. Learn learn one thing about women. Don't fight. You know what I'm saying. You got it. Everything was fine. So you know, this is July and August, and she decides to buy me something for Christmas. And I opened up the President and I'm like, she knows I ain't gonna read the book. What's the name of the book, Wheat Belly, The Wheat Belly,
Wheat Belly by William Davis. So I take the book and see the I put it in the first CD, and the guy says, listen, go home and look at the album of your grandparents and see if anybody was overweight. Did your mother own a pair of sneakers? Did your mother exercise? Did she ever do anything but vacuum the house? And was there any nutrition?
Is?
No, no, no no. I'm like, oh shit, sounds interesting. So I turned around. I put the CD in. He tells me how they modified wheat so it doesn't grow five feet, it grows eighteen inches, and everything is thick, and everybody's thick and down all there's blood pressure, diabetes, blood cholesterol, and how the FDA and everybody's selling all
this processed jump food, this that whatever. I went home, emptied out my cabinets and five months later I lost seventy pounds and I've been two twenty to twenty five. For the last seven years, I have more energy now than ever. I feel great. I eat clean, and I just remember one thing. If the secret to life is listening to your parents and look at the way they ate. Growing up, there was no supermarket, it was all market.
Whatever it was fresh, we ate, and we ate as much as whether it was potatoes, whether it was rice, whether it was avocado, yams, or whatever. We ate it. And nobody was sick. Now everybody's sick, so they're not going to try to change your diet. They're going to try to give you medication to keep your life. So one thing is health is wealth. And if you're going to change your lifestyle and you want to feel better, I personally believe gluten free is the way to go. No wheat, no rye, no body.
So that's that's the only thing. You just stopped eating gluting products. I drink every day. I don't exercise, I don't go to the gym, I don't take it. But I don't do no diet, pill, drugs or anything.
I die and I maintain my weight, and you know, I feel amazing. I have wanted you now at this point in my life then I had twenty years ago for twenty years. So I'm just like, losing weight without dieting is amazing. Now could you imagine like losing twenty pounds in the month without having a diet, exercise and you can have a little bit of a drink or two here there listen Wheat Bully. You know that one book changed my life. And then the other day I
don't know if you what the health was crazy? Another another movie on documentary, It's crazy. The information is power.
There's a great book called How Not to Die.
You're read that book. Yeah, she's on it. Listen, health is well and you want to listen? What good is it having what we have? You know? I remember having this conversation with Cally because his wife Nicole is gluten free, she has Celiac and he's like, I should know that. And Joe another one. I fought with Joe to listen to the book. I gave him the audio books. He's like, nah, my doctor says no, don't do this, don't and guess
what he did. He's like, dude, I lost more weight in a month than I did in six months before. At what is in glue? What's gluten? What exactly is that Gluten is a protein found in wheat, writing Bali. So it triggers your exhaustents in your mind to make you want to eat more. It makes you feel better. So you're eating breakfast, thinking about lunch, lund thinking about dinner, and the minute you taste it, like I have gluten
free possibly gluten free bread. I fry my food in the restaurant, believe it or not, with almondflour, rice flower. I'm sorry, So we don't really do we don't. I don't like processed food, so I'd rather not give that to my clientele. And it tastes so much better when you when you're really putting together good food, you know what I'm saying. So that's really one thing that changed my life that gives me the energy to do what I do. Because serving if not understanding what you're serving,
it's easy for you to sell. But once you know quality food, your clientele knows because you always focus on the quality food. You go shopping for it, you serve it, you know what it is.
J Lo.
I do a lot of caning for j Lo, and I'm like, Jay, you know I'm gluten free. She goes, I understand now, you can serve me. Well, the people are coming like, oh, she wants to have dinner when today, I'm like, okay, I'll bring the food. She knows that it's gluten free. You know what I'm saying. Because you don't want to another a little connection, you want to work smarter.
We we actually sat down with one chefs. Yeah, yeah, he.
Was good, but I've been I've been cooking for a long time.
Yeah, he's much younger than us.
That. It's a great chef.
It's a great chef, Jimmy. It's been a pleasure, bro, it was mine. What would you like to tell the people? How can they find information on your restaurant, social media, website and all that stuff.
He's just way to find me is Jimmy's b X Cafe on Instagram. You could dm me if you're looking for any consulting, any ideas you want to run by me and within thirty days we're going to announce a new restaurant. And if you're in New York, you won't be disappointed. It's going to be amazing looking forward to you can catch looking forward to that to the e y L night. Yes, that's the best. I can't wait. I can't Troy housekeeping on.
Shout everybody on picture on dot com. You know that's our proud to pay program. Obviously T five members, you have access to e y L University, to the number one place. Jimmy Son is a members, remember right, Yeah, he's an official earn Jonathan.
Shout out to Jonathan.
Listen, shout out to Jonathan. Okay, because your dad's a legend. And now you're still selling sneakers.
Oh yeah, he's in the restaurant.
Hey, Jonathan, this is Troy Asia. I'm a diehard sneaker guy. Shout out to you. Uh and obviously everybody that's been supporting uh Uya University, we thank you greatly.
All our earners.
Keeps telling the friend of telephone man, the group is spread, and shout out to all of our people that are inside there, all the triads that are.
In there, all the accountability groups.
Man, it has really grown to a place that we are proud of and get to witness on a daily basis. So shout out to all the earners in there, and shout everybody supporting the merch.
Uh.
I can't say enough, man, y'all, y'all really have turned Lesia into a worldwide name. So we are forever grateful and thankful for that.
Yeah, and uh, you know, it's just this just happened. We didn't plan for this to happen. But I was talking to a friend of mine the all the day, and you know, our Alesia is not only the biggest platform in America business, but it's probably the biggest platform in Latin America too. We've reached the number one charts in Dominican Republic, We've charted in Puerto Rico, we've charted
in Colombia, I think fat Venezuela. So he was saying that, you know, it's really not like a comparable resource for the Latin community like how we have. And I was telling him I wanted to do more content with Latin entrepreneurs, Latin investors, and even eventually Latin content actually spoken in Spanish exactly. And so he gave me a list of
a bunch of different people. We already had a lot of people with Latin backgrounds, but so, yeah, we're looking to do more with the Latin community because I feel like, in my opinion, I was talking to him and he was like, nah, you're right, bro, Like there's nothing like ey l for you know, the community.
We got some stuff brewing too.
Oh he got a lot of stuffy always supposed to have been come out with, but we just want to make sure that's correct. But taking over the whole world, man. So yeah, anytime we get to sit with, you know, an entrepreneur, especially a legend, it's dope. But to have you know, somebody that is not only a legend but Hispanic icon, it's dope.
It's dope.
So, you know, looking to diversify the content, so it's important. So yeah, appreciate you, brother.
Sure, I'm so happy to be here and I'm looking forward to leave your.
Night you head, that's a fact, all right, God, thank you for rocking with us. We'll see you next week.
Peace.
Please, my graduates from my school being forced bad and drop drop, drop drop.
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