Feasting on Knowledge: The Secret of Comfort Cuisine and Art of Food Sales
Episode description
Ever wanted to master the art of food sales? Or wondered what the secret is behind the perfect Cuban sandwich? We promise you'll savor every minute of this episode as we cover these topics and more. Our guests, the seasoned culinary experts, Jeffrey James and the Wild Chefs, guide us through the enticing world of comfort cuisine, illustrating the subtle differences between Tampa and Miami's versions of the famed Cuban sandwich. We also touch on the magic of Eastern European food and how a simple brown sugar vinegar cabbage can inspire culinary creativity.
Brace yourself for a spicy shift as we journey to Jamaica, exploring the secrets behind a drool-inducing Oxtail meal, marinated in the island's famous jerk spice. Jeff and John masterfully explain how to balance the heat of the pickles, jerk spice, and other ingredients. From there, we plunge into the intricate world of sushi, sharing our unique take on traditional sushi-style preparation. Plus, we spill the beans on our exciting plan for a service industry bash in Midtown Tampa coming up in October.
We wrap things up with some valuable nuggets for both salespeople and chefs alike. We bring to light the significance of treating salespeople
Introducing the SupraCut System - the automated solution that enhances safety, quality, and efficiency, cutting up to 120 perfect citrus wedges per minute, 6 times faster than manual. Patented tech delivers uniform slices, reducing waste and eliminating plastic, while the hygienic, contactless design lowers contamination and injuries, integrating seamlessly to transform your operations and improve profitability - get started at SupraCut.com and ask about risk-free trials.
Elevate your dining experience with RAK Porcelain USA! As the exclusive tableware brand for the Walk-In Talk Podcast, RAK combines exceptional craftsmanship with innovative design. Whether you’re a chef, a restaurant owner, or a food enthusiast, RAK’s high-quality porcelain products will enhance every meal. Discover the artistry of food presentation and make every dining occasion special. Visit rakporcelain.com today and see how RAK can transform your table
Get ready to innovate and organize your work space with Metro ! As the industry leader in storage & productivity solutions, Metro is here to transform and organize your kitchen
With their premium solutions, you'll experience the Metro difference. Metro's sturdy and versatile shelving units, workstations, holding cabinets, and utility carts are designed to streamline operations and maximize your productivity.
Don't settle for imitators! Metro products last lon
The following brands and companies help us continue supporting the food industry - have a look below!
Thank you for listening to the Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and Company. Our show not only explores the exciting and chaotic world of the restaurant business and amazing eateries but also advocates for mental health awareness in the food industry.
Our podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we'll continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important topics, including mental health awareness.
Be sure to visit our website for more food industry-related content, including our very own TV show called Restaurant Recipes where we feature Chefs cooking up their dishes and also The Dirty Dash Cocktail Hour; the focus is mixology and amazing drinks!
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll catch you next time on the Walk-In Talk Podcast.
https://www.TheWalkInTalk.com
Leave a review and rating, please!
Transcript
Hello Food Fam . This is the Walk and Talk podcast and I'm your host , Carl Fiedini . Today we're podcasting on site at Ibis Images Studios , where food photography comes alive . Get with John Hernandez . Check him out at IbisImagescom . Today , I think we're going to touch on sales . What is the good , the bad and the ugly ?
Whoa pro tip , Less talking , more listening , and get the product in their mouth . We're talking food sales here On today's menu . First , comfort food . I'm talking sweet , I'm talking savory . That means we're talking happy eats with Jeffrey James and the Wild Chefs . All right , hey , cowboy , what are we talking about today ? What did we cook up ? We ?
did .
New six-suiters , sob . What do we do today ?
We did some great stuff today . I love playing with food that normal people wouldn't think of . That's so delicious , those quote unquote awful cuts . You've got the oxtail and then you've got the chuck short rib , which short rib in itself is not one of those that's not a throw away or anything like that but it's just wonderful to play with .
We did it with Caribbean style , obviously with the oxtail , but we served it two different ways . In a short rib we did a riff on stuff cabbage .
Yeah , it was delicious . Those are good stuff . Cabbage yeah , all right , so let's do this . John , if you could cut the music , get that out of here . Let's jump into this Cuban sandwich first , because it was good . It was super good , thanks . Now this is like the Jeffrey Schlissel version of the Cuban sandwich . Yeah , all right get into it .
So there's this whole fight between Tampa and Miami . Who has the better ? One between lettuce , tomato and salami , which we don't do salami , because I'm from Miami . The bread here is a little bit different too . Can't find good Cuban bread , lusso Godot . Sorry , it's good but it's not what I'm used to .
But I have to admit , just elevating , having that smoked pork butt with that black cherry bourbon from Jim Beam and then the hickory smoke . I have to call this out . Red Gold sent me that Sacramento Plenty Mary Mix and I'm marinated with the brine and that's how I brined it and then we smoked it , and then you have that smoke house ham layered in between .
We talked about it last podcast , about Gruyere , the difference between Gruyere and Swiss cheese . That wanted to elevate it . So we went Gruyere . And then there's those damn , those wickle pickles .
I mean there's some heat in that , yeah .
There's some nice heat to it too , and it's just , it's got that crunch , the sourness , the acidity and that heat that brings to it , and then they cool it all off . You've got a guava aioli and then the yellow mustard , but you got to make . You know , I have to pay respects to the Cuban cuisine , so I had to make the yellow mustard .
It was not a traditional Cuban sandwich , but it was super delicious , yeah , yeah , I mean , I dug it my , you know , my wife , you know she would probably like you . This is good , but you know this isn't Cuban .
No , no , she would probably . Her mother would probably take the chimacasas . She would just take the chancla . Yeah , she would want to .
Yeah , I would just simply get the wooden spoon , because that's where I come from . You know Well yeah , that's , that's what I got to and , by the way , or the pow pow a little pinch behind the arm , I pinch . Yeah , I do all that stuff . My , my children , I'm happy to say , are they . They react better on the spoon than the chancla .
Really Yep Shot collars work too , but I'm not sure .
I'm not a proponent of it , so all I have to do is pick the spoon up and kind of like roll it a little bit like roll it in , you know , in my , in my fingers as I look at them , and it works wonderfully . I love it . See where I , when I grew up , it was actually used like they used that stuff , like they break your ass with that .
Yeah , oh , yeah , all right , so I just want to . I just want to say that was pretty cool intro there . We did it's impromptu , totally impromptu . Jeffrey James over here , uh , you know well , and that's the thing .
Like you , look at some of the awful cuts that we were talking about before , you know when you're on the trails . Back then , and they didn't have refrigeration or anything like that , they smoked not only cigarettes and other things , but they smoked the food , because that's the way it preserved , you know .
But the way we do it today might be a little bit different because we're adding so many different ingredients to things , but at the end of the result is still magical . I mean , you've got to think of stuff . Cabbage , for instance , is a Eastern European descent , me being a Jewish descent . Ashkenazek , you know Russian , german .
My dad , you know , loved brown sugar vinegar and you know making the cabbage and all that . So I paid homage to that .
I just want to say shalom , thank you , okay , thank you .
Um , but I wanted to pay homage to not only that but the cuisine itself , because for me , growing up , I never really associated Jewish cuisine as something that's going to be really good to eat . I always kind of gravitated to Asian or Italian .
That's what we actually ate in my house , I mean , you know who does it , yeah , who doesn't you know the last name , like yours .
Right , but I will tell you and I think I don't know if I mentioned this on air or off air when I was living in New York as a kid we would have canishes .
Yeah , we talked about that .
It was a hot lunch , yeah , and I loved those things . And now , when , every now and again , when you know you happen to find one , the nostalgia of that smell and that flavor profile , especially with the mustard yellow , mustard man , yeah , yeah , bring it to me , just literally right back .
Well , and that's the magical thing about food , we don't have yet time travel , but I can pick up a pasta visual and if it hits me the right way , I think of a Catoldo's off of Pembroke Road and the term pike . I was three years old , so we're going back in 1973 . And I still remember that chicken parm and that pasta visual .
There I was , by step by step by step , 1973 . Yeah . And that's what's magical about food , but what was so ? What did you do different on the stuff ? Yeah because it was different and it wasn't traditional . No , not .
And look at me , I'm not traditional . I mean , I'm a Jewish tattoo with a pig .
Can't stop looking at you . Oh my , what are you talking ?
about .
So besides smoking it , I rubbed it with goguerang , which is Korean powder for making the kimchi , and I let that sit there for about four days and kind of like penetrate the meat , and then I had it brine in the Bloody Mary mix , first dried it with this rub on it and then we smoked it for about seven hours and I pulled it and then added in black garlic
puree with a little citrus and that would really , instead of adding red wine vinegar or sugar because I didn't want to have anything in sugar in there or apple cider , which is traditionally some of the stuff that's used , now I used Yuzu and that's that Japanese lemon meets a tangerine , meets a grapefruit . So I had brought this .
It brought the acidity that I was looking for and then the tomato sauce had no sugar in it , so it was just the natural rice mixed together with some cabbage and that's like the caramelization of the meat , or I should say the cabbage and the malard reaction with meat mixed together , and brought everything together and it just jived really well .
Yeah , that's . That's some serious comfort food right there .
Yeah , and I think the other comfort food I wanted to pay homage about my wife is Jamaican , chinese , polish , and I can't make that joke up there's so much great humor .
So basically , your wife walks into a bar , right ?
Exactly so . So I wanted to you know , when I saw the Oxtail and we were talking about this early off of air , you know , a couple of weeks ago it was like $14 a pound and I saw it for like five , 99 a pound I was like I'm buying this because you went back in the day was just nothing , it was a throwaway .
Yeah , it was poor people food , exactly , and you know now it's by the way .
By the way , that was something that we had growing up , when my grandmother was , you know , with us and you know she was so amazing in the kitchen man , but her , her Oxtail was freaking fire , so good yeah .
And you know you can do Oxtail in an Italian way . But I wanted to show again respect to the cuisine of Jamaica . You have the jerk and in that itself it's got so much flavor . But I didn't make the sauce this time . So my wife's family they own a sauce company called Eaton E-E-A-T-O-N . There's a little picture of a Chinese girl on the front of it .
That's actually her cousin and it's a very popular jerk spice that they use marinade . It's a wet marinade because I know they have the dry spices now , but it's called Boston and it's not like oh , it's so wicked .
It's not like the .
It's not like pocket Havocat , it's just that that that jerk that they do , and if you look at it it's got a red tinge to it . So you know it's really got some bite to it .
But I yeah , well , wait , wait , wait , wait . Those pickles had more fire to it Heat than the freaking jerk .
Yeah , I know , yeah , those , those pickles are like they have . What birds ?
I peppers and I don't know what was in there . You know , delicious Propane with a little I don't know .
But it's not even a ghost pepper .
It was hot , yeah , super hot , and I wasn't expecting because . And so , first of all , you take a bite of the pickle , right . You're like , no , this is pretty tasty . It's got a little different appeal to it , right . And then , all of a sudden , you're like let me swing . Why is my nose running ? Why is my nose running ? I'm like what the hell ?
is that pickle All of a sudden ? Get the vid . What's going on here ? Yeah yeah . But I think the biggest challenge for me was how to how to balance that heat . And so what I did was more than likely most people in the they have . It's two , right , it's the Latin's call it guandules , the Jamaicans call it pigeon peas , so pigeon peas and rice .
So I just didn't make any rice . We actually infuse the rice with Malibu coconut rum , coconut shredded coconut without sweeten , then garlic and you fried it and then , well , that was the appetizer . So then , once the rice was cooked , I added some more spice , spices to the , not like heat spices , but flavoring , seasoning . A doble .
Some time I wanted to accentuate the some of the quote unquote guts of what is in a jerk , so it's onion and some time and scallions . So I added that into it . Egg , and then I put it in and seared that as a cake , and then I wanted to showcase that as an appetizer and then I put that in the half the coconut and then use that .
What I did I didn't tell you is I was trying to figure out the best way to take and peel the meat out of a coconut . So I was doing some research , one . You can actually take it and throw it in , and so boiling water for about five to 10 minutes . Pull it out and it's supposed to be easy to crack .
You didn't want to do that .
No , it doesn't work . So then it was one that I freeze it . So I froze it whole . I didn't take the water out .
How many coconuts did you ?
waste None .
To get OK .
So I was actually really good . Ok , I kind of jimmied the rest of it so it didn't look like poop . But the best thing of the whole thing , when I froze the coconut , the water inside was like a slicey .
Oh cool .
And my daughter has no idea . So I'm going to make something when I get home and I'm going to put that icy on top and it has that like the residual coconut . It's just delicious . And I was thinking how can I manipulate this into something ? And I'll figure that out later . But I wanted to do something with an appetizer .
So we pulled the meat up , put it on top of the cake and did a great presentation . John took some phenomenal shots . I mean , it was a pain in the butt to take that shot .
Yes , listeners . Thank you for following us , by the way , john Hernandez and I have his images dot com . You know , check them out , he we . So what we do here on this podcast is when he says we .
We have to clarify , John and I .
I really resent that . I res , I resemble and resent equally that . Thank you for clarifying . Yeah , but , by the way , this doesn't happen without All right .
All right , so without the the goomba and Jeff , all right , so , yeah , so what we do is we , you know , we tell Jeff , jeff come up with awesome stuff to cook on podcast day and he comes up with the recipes .
We get mostly get all of our stuff from Peninsular and some of the other you know , vendor partners that we , that we work with , and then Jeff just does this magical stuff , he cooks these beautiful dishes , hands it over to John in the studio . John , you know , photographs everything Beautifully , beautifully .
Wait , wait , john , what time we start shooting today 10 . I think we started shooting about 10 o'clock . And then we got done . At what time ? It is currently four o'clock . So , yeah , I just want everybody to notice it's that long to take shots and , by the way , I'm going to say this all the time who doesn't move In ?
All fairness , that's four dishes , True , but still I mean four dishes . People think I want people to realize that it's not just taking a camera , taking a shot and that's , that's the end of it .
It's there's a lot of filter on it for crying out loud no filter , no filter , all right .
Or over , or what do you call it ? Over filtering Over filtering who does that ? Over filtering over saturation .
Over saturation . That sounds so stupid . All right , so what ends up happening ? That's me guys , by the way . So what ends up ? What ends up happening is we have all these beautiful shots of the dishes that you know Jeff creates and we put that out on social media and you can really follow along .
It's quasi interactive really , and I don't know that any other you know podcasters are doing anything of the sort . So we put a lot of effort into the quality of the dish and , by the way , it's not like where we're using chemicals or fake stuff . We eat this food .
Like what did you just post recently that somebody commented on it was your happiest , what or 25 .
I gained 20 something pounds doing this , I'm 25 pounds almost yeah .
Yeah , that's a big one I am , it's fat ass .
Yeah , it's crazy , but it's the happiest weight gain ever . I can't .
Well , weight gain . Sometimes weight gain is the happiest is when you have to lose the weight . It sucks , it's unhappy yeah .
I mean I breathe in everything . It's terrible . I don't know , I don't know . Look what you did to me . Anyway , I didn't put a gun to you to say eat that . Yeah , so anyhow . So we do this , we put it out there and you guys can just really follow along . You know Chefs , foodies , food groupies , what everyone can call yourselves .
Listen , we're all on the same team . So , jeff , the rice I just want you to know that rice was great and I think you could do more with the rice , you know , in how you put it together , how it was bound together right , the cake , the rice cake .
Yeah , I don't think a rice cake like crunchy , crispy , crackly , like you're on a diet rice cake . It's like a potato cake or a pancake , but it was done with rice .
You know what that reminded me of ?
The coconut .
No , so at the holidays when my grandmother would make rice . It's the part that gets stuck at the bottom .
But Dominicans call coconut . Yeah , so my ex-wife was Dominican . She called it coconut . Her father loved it . It's like really crispy , crunchy , crackly . Yeah , that's the good stuff . My mom used to do something with like cheese and added some of his melted cheese and it was stretch and that would caramelize .
Holy Toledo , I'm okay with that , oh , we need to try that . Yeah , I mean , I like even when somebody did something recently and they , what was it ? I forget what rice it was , but there was like chicken broth that they cooked it in somehow . Was it congee , or juk ? What do you call me ?
No , I don't know . Sorry , it's Chinese I just ate it . Was it like a soupy kind of no , no , okay , so it was like a porridge .
No , no , no , no . It was legit . Like sticky rice , right , but it wasn't sticky white rice . It bound together . Well , but it was . I know that it was cooked , because I asked it was so good it was cooked in . Huh , was that great ? No , no , no , this was at my friend's house . It's Filipino . So I don't know much I got to ask them .
It's probably like a riff on the joke and then congee . Then Maybe , but it was so .
Man , it was so good Because , look , I prefer pasta , right , but I wonder why ? Yeah , I don't know . But the rice , man , I would eat that every single day . It was that good . You sound like my wife she's rice . She can eat rice every single day . Well , she could pretty much eat anything and it fits into her background , yeah .
She could pretty much 100% on that one .
Yeah , so jump into the other dish , go the pot , the 420 .
So the 420 was the dish we had on her menu back when I was in West Palm with the restaurant that I had . I don't like naming things straight up in the oh , it's pot roast . I named it 420 . It's a smoked short rib .
It had a puree of celery root . All these entendres going on . Exactly , it had celery root . Do you like the M&M version ? Chef version of M&M , with the double and triple entendres . I have to . I got to be different .
So I wanted to do something different . I didn't want to do whole carrots , so I did carrot peels and ribbons and we rolled them up into a beautiful flower or a flower egg . And then , instead of doing celery , we did celery root . Instead of mashed potatoes or whole potatoes , we did potato chips .
So I played with the textures and the flavors and the colors Coming in and doing these shots . What's important for me now as a chef is especially for the photography is how can I break up colors , how can I make John happy and also have some beautiful shots ? And then we go and choose the plates , and we had a green one today , so we had English peas .
I had to make sure the English peas were touching the white part and then threw in the pomegranate because I wanted something red . But I don't also want to throw stuff in there that's not edible or that doesn't jive with the dish . The pomegranate would actually add the acidity , that tartness that you're looking for .
Pro tip anytime you have something fattening , you want to add some acid to it , like we were talking about with awesome buco grommelata . It's just basically flat leaf parsley chopped up , nice with lemon zest , and then they throw it out on top of the awesome buco , the floor shank or hinge .
And they do that because of one reason really it really cleans the palate and it enhances the flavor from the fat . It takes away from the fat .
Instead of doing that with the oxtail , I want to do something differently , so I tried something with English cucumbers Dude that was phenomenal because I was eating , happily , happily eating , without the cucumber on it , and then once you're like no man don't make sure you use this , that it changed everything , but for the it made it even better .
That was genius , that was really great , thank you .
And that's the thing . I mean , it's something I've never done before . I wanted to see if it worked . Number one , number two my , is the thinking going right ? Am I still on top point doing certain things ? And that's the thing . When you're experimenting , you can't just do it and think , oh , it's going to be done .
I kind of can't wait till you mess up so I can tell you that you suck . I mean it hasn't happened yet , but we're going to get there . We're going to get there it will happen eventually .
I think the other thing , too , that I have to look at is when we're doing stuff . Now is important for me . With the book coming out , I want to make sure that everything is on point .
So the next phase for the book is actually giving the recipes to people to try and , once they're able to make it and if it's like , worded properly in it if anybody could do it .
It would be easy for me because I would just be like Jeff , just do it . You could even cook this up .
Exactly , I mean .
I would be able to read that recipe like quick , fast and in a hurry Wait until you have the tuna , I'm going to be what .
So I do a riff on sushi tuna . So nigiri sushi . And instead of being the white rice that's soft and supple , I do one that's fried , so it's crunchy , and then I do a spicy tuna that's chopped really nice , and put that on top with some caviar , on top of that with some scallions or some chives , and you pop it in your mouth .
I didn't come up with this one . There's that sushi restaurant down in Hollywood that's in the , not the Qatar hotel . The other one , it's called some of the hard rock . There's a sushi restaurant in there I think it's called Kuru . I don't remember that . Oh my God , dude . That dude came out .
I remember there was one of my birthdays one year when I was working for the vendor and there was 12 of us . We had 19 orders of this spicy tuna crunchy tunas app and I think five or six of them were for dessert . We didn't even have like the traditional . That's how good that stuff was and I kind of like morphed it into my own thing .
In fact , when I worked for the broadliner and said , making it with a sticky rice , I would make it with rice crispy treats , but instead of making it being sweet , I added Sriracha , farakaki and scallions . Farakaki is a seasoning they put on sushi rice that's got kombu and seaweed in it Give it that nice flavor . I'm not had that .
Wait until you , that's what I'm saying . Wait until you have that tuna . By the way , if anybody wants to go ahead and donate the tuna , I'll take it . Not canned tuna .
I'm sure we have sushi gray tuna .
Oh my Calantas , we can get it from him . Yeah , my he . Hey , I think we know somebody that can get some sushi in .
We got to get him over and just kind of play around in the kitchen , you know .
You know who that would be . There's probably good segue into something else that we need to talk about later on and can't wait to have him there over in Midtown Tampa that we have to talk about today .
Why don't you break it go ?
You mean about the party ?
Yeah .
We should have had like a good like night of the Roxbury .
Go ahead , go baby .
So we are working very diligently . We actually just talked to somebody that works at a hotel in Midtown Tampa . We're looking at a date sometime in October , monday specifically .
It will be a service industry kind of bash for the chefs to kind of come out and hang out , cook and have a great time , and we're going to bring some people from around the country in too . So hey , if you're one of those want to fly all the way down to Tampa to have a great time .
Yeah , I'm thinking between 50 and 100 people . All right , We'll get a bunch of our friends over here who were into the foodie social media .
Well , you got Tampa food . Mom is number one , that's definitely .
Yeah , a whole bunch .
There's a whole bunch Cookie Licious that you just told me about . That would be nice to have her here . I think so . Yeah , she's in Orlando , yeah .
I'm just thinking , yeah , yeah , anyway .
So it's going to be a big bash , a lot of , a lot of photography , a lot of phones with , you know , taking pictures , and everybody drinking and eating and have a great time , and the chefs are all going to be , you know , of the walk and talk family , you know , and maybe some of that are on the way in , something like that .
So I'm really excited about this .
Yeah , especially because moving it from the farm was a great idea , because September is very sketchy as far as weather .
Yeah , because we're going to bring people in . I want to get with Marvin and figure something out for season . You know , when the weather is cooler and we can't do it , that it's going to be , you know , chef or food industry focused . You know that we're going to have to open up to , you know , just kind of our food groupies and stuff .
But yeah , I definitely want to get to the farm , I want to get to Marvin's place , but the weather's got to be there .
Man , I don't want to take a shot , but the rain you got to be December , January , February .
And nobody likes 2,000% humidity . I don't .
We were just talking about that . Walked out to the car to get the jacket and I was dying . 90 , what five degrees out today ?
Yeah , you walk outside , you just want to quit life .
Like I'm done 71% humidity , 95 degrees .
Yeah man .
Well , it's a wet heat . You never hear a Floridian say that . You always hear Arizona or Nevada . It's a dry heat , no , it's just hot .
It's hot .
Yeah .
Now , but this is a waffing hot where you can't breathe you know what I mean .
Yeah , you know what I said before and I'm not going to say it because we're on air , but it's definitely the taint .
Yeah , Well , I mean you should have just went with it . You chose the wrong word to go .
Well , I don't , you know , I mean .
I just do that for John Satan's taint , which is funny as hell . But see how I did . All right , anyhow , I rebuke you with my name . So listen what I'm trying to say here . Yeah , let's bring this , let's come back , let me back in guys . All right , come in John . Poor John , look at him . We got to start recording again . We got to start getting video .
I was going to want to . That's definitely .
And it has to just be on John Video on John only . Well , what I said earlier that was hysterical .
I wish we had a camera on him then . Yeah , no , we can't .
God that was funny , don't you ?
I'm not , don't I'm not , that's not nice .
You bring it in , let's go . No .
I have you brought it . No , we're going back to what you wanted to bring in , remember , oh , the party the party .
So , yeah , the party . So it's going to be bad ass . Oh yeah , everyone's going to be there Food galore , cocktails , everything . Beautiful venue . It's going to probably be a banquet room attached to a balcony . I mean it's , you know , it's freaking nice . It will be , yeah , so we're putting that together . That's going to be in October , it'll be a Monday .
So chefs and food industry peeps , it's not going to interfere too much , you know ? And if you have a day off , you know what , it's a great day to spend it with us . All right , I don't want to hear any crap . Just show up and enjoy yourself , all right . So sales , um , john , tell me about sales .
I hate sales .
How come ? It's just not my thing , man . And he got nervous Just like he swallowed .
That's why .
Swallowed . Like you Like that .
But he's when you said earlier you're , you don't like people . I resemble that and that's that's .
There's a lot of chefs out there that are like that too .
But here's the thing , Um , because you know , I find myself saying sometimes like man , I just , I hate everybody .
But then on , on the other side of it is like I love everyone , you know what I mean , but there's certain times when one episode of something , one happens to hence and you hate the entire society , right , and you're like I'm not going to be able to do that . I'm not going to be able to do that . That's the全 year of society .
Right , you know which is crazy you can condemn the whole group .
Everyone . It's stupid . Yeah Of that one person Correct .
Which is cute , which just wrong .
Yes , Um right , so anyhow , sales I I'm trying to get John and and some other people to that we talk to every day , to kind of get into the idea that sales isn't like the 1972 car salesman with plaid pants and a bullhorn . You know what I mean . It is more of a provider .
You're a provider of something , whether that is a service or a product , and it's like hey , I have this and hey , do you need it ? Yes , here's what it's here , here's the value proposition . No , no problemo , move on . You don't know what I mean .
You know we Jeffrey Veronica , you and I we went to a place yesterday , a very , very prestigious golf club , and it was a surprise that . Let me in Me too . I don't know .
Obviously , you're good .
Good , wear jeans , that's true . Your reputation did not proceed you did not proceed with anything , thank God . So that was a terrific call and we brought peninsula samples and you know , chef cooked them up . His underlings , you know , cooked , cooked everything up , did a great job . And it was not a high pressure situation , nope , not it it like 0.0% pressure .
It was just hey , chef , here's your , here's what's good , here's what you could , here's what you could use it for . And you , jeffrey , you kind of lived in that moment . Obviously you , being a chef , you have , you've worked in this capacity before , as a manufacturers rep or you know , in this case Rob Hunter .
Yeah , Meets specialist rep and you did a fantastic job , thank you , yeah , yeah , tell me about it . So here's the thing , me . Tell them these people , the ones who are , listening Right , pro tip .
I think you know , as a chef , one of the biggest things I always said to people that were coming in the sales people that were . First of all , let me back up as a chef . In a kitchen you have sales reps coming in . As much of a pain in the butt they are , they're still there to do their job and let them come in . Don't be an idiot to them .
Don't treat them like garbage . They're the ones that are getting you in half the time . By the way , they used to be in your shoes cooking in the kitchen and they left , for whatever reason they did . Don't put them down because they left the kitchen . That's the biggest thing that we could do as chefs in the kitchen today is to keep on doing that .
You got to stop this cycle of glorifying the crap that we go through . I think if you are salesperson , you also have to read your audience . I remember when I was support for sales . We walked in . The owners were scrambling , the chef was scrambling , the whole team was scrambling as we walk in and this one rep had no clue .
He was just focused on trying to sell his DSM . As a district sales manager wanted him to sell . I grabbed him on the shoulder and pulled him around and said sorry folks , obviously you're busy with the catering gig . We're going to leave .
Then I was saying he goes what ?
did you do ? I said , dude , read your audience . That's not the right time , because if you kept on talking you were going to lose the account . You weren't even going to be there as a rep . You have to read your audience .
Number one , number two Don't go in there being the cocky one and saying , hey , this is what you can do , because chefs don't like that .
Don't beat .
Don't be that used car salesman , don't give us strong sales , we are going to be out , we're going to shut you down , call you out . I think the biggest compliment I was ever given before I got into that side , the meathead for the previous employer I had was Ron McTye .
The rep that I had , sandra Lau , she was like hey , I want to bring my meathead specialist , saying , do you mind ? I'm like well , I'm going to vendor property . There's only things , certain things I can do , but we have bring them in . Maybe you might have something for me . Set up the appointment , did everything , we did . Guy walks in turn around a couple .
About a year later , whatever it was , I got the job and we started working together and people are like hey , you worked with him , how was he ? And he's like the most professional guy I've ever been with . And I think that's what you need to do when you set the legacy out for yourself and who you are as a chef .
You have to treat people the way you want to be treated . Maybe treat people like garbage . You know that's not the way to go because eventually karma is going to get you and that's it . Listen when you're in the food distribution sector you're a pariah , well , yeah , but well , especially if you're a chef that you left , you're a pariah .
Well , here's the thing If you make yourself useful , that you answer your phone and you make yourself available , you're , you're gonna be accepted immediately because the the problem that I've always had with salespeople and this is my wheelhouse is you know , all of a sudden , their phones , they can't find their phone . You know what I mean .
Yeah , you got , you got clients reaching out and in the crunch , and that salesperson would know this is the crunch moment and they refuse to engage , they don't answer the phone or reply to the text or do whatever , and there's always gonna be some silly excuses to why .
And that chef has to ride out you know that that that , that that particular moment , where it's , you know , high stress , critical point in time , those sales reps Don't , don't do anything good , like they're not , they're not bringing any value . No , everyone knows like the reputation is usually poor .
The man I say what you answer your damn phone at 9 o'clock at night , 10 o'clock at night , or 5 30 in the morning , something like that , and you'll have a friend for it the rest of your life . Well , I mean , it goes , no matter where they go . Right , they'll bring you along here .
Here's another pro tip , and we did this yesterday when you walk into a kitchen , you better be saying hello to the dishwasher .
Oh God , yeah , you better be saying hello to every single cook that's on that line , because you know what one day that cook might be running that damn , or even that that dishwasher that that might be one running that kitchen one day .
I don't know how it is in other states , I only know Florida and South Florida especially . But in Florida , you know , within weeks you can go from dish pit to run in the thing Like , just like that , yep , which is amazing to me . But I mean , at the end of the day , you never know what the situations are with person , warm body yes , indeed so .
And all of a sudden , the , the person that you , you know , walked by and paid no attention to , and it's visibly , it's noticeable , they remember , they remember , all of a sudden you'll get no , no love from from that new Chef or kitchen manager or whatever and they wonder why they lost the account .
I think the other thing too , and if you're own a company that's a bevender of a purveyor , you need to bring your drivers involved . And I'll give you a point in this past week I went back into the gym and I'm working out and there's a guy next to me . He's wearing a Cheney brother shirt and you've been lift bro .
Yeah , yeah , not much , but I still left . It's mostly bourbon and bacon curls . But uh , brian , I met Brian and I saw the shirt immediately . I'm like , hey , what are you doing ? What do you do for Cheney brothers ? Like I'm a driver , like it's seven o'clock in the morning , what are you doing here , you know , because they're not usually on the road .
He's like all on my vacation . And your response was who works out on their vacation ?
Obviously you Want to try it .
But I did twofold . I wanted to make sure he got the podcast and we can talk about it . But here's the option now . The most Places that have drivers don't do . They don't feed them . They feed them food , but don't talk about the food , if they feed them at all . They don't talk about the specials that might be going on .
They don't give them spits , because you guess what ? They see your clients More than your salespeople do . Oh yeah , they could see them twice a week , if not more , depending on how many times they're going there .
What depends on the ? It depends on the . You know produce or meat or whatever produce . You see them every day . Almost could be yeah 100% , but there's an .
There's a huge opportunity for companies that they're not even getting into and , by the way , that's free . I'm not going to charge you guys . Well , maybe I will eventually , but I'm not gonna . That's one of those things that I think Vendors and purveyors are not doing the right thing .
They need to get their truck drivers involved in it so they can help with sales . Hey , I had this , you know this short rib they cooked up . It was just unbelievable . You should really . Here's the here's some scratch on this , on whatever . Here's the number on it .
Yeah , you know , you know the good and the bad of that is Should I play that again ? They . So , when you're talking about your drivers , when you have a good driver , a good driver Actually sticks their head in the door of the of the location next to their drop .
Right , so they'll poke their head in the door and say , hey , by the way , guys , you know I'm over here , I come here a few times a week . I'd love to get one of my salespeople to come in and check you out , the , there , those are diamonds , those , those , those cats .
But I'll tell you , and I in in the position of hiring salespeople , I never wanted to take , I Always wanted to give , you know , like to help , help up and and , kind of , you know , bring somebody along and get them a better situation . But you don't really want to give up your good drivers either . They're so it's so hard to get a good driver , you know .
So you have to come up , you have to be Creative , right ? So I would . I would work out deals with with the drivers where you know , if they were assist , if they would assist in a new account , then you know , here's a bonus , x amount , whatever .
Yeah , you know , but I don't want to get them off the road because you know , and it's not talking about getting them off the road , it's talking about how , having that next level of service , you know , and that's the thing at the end of the day , in the food industry , we're not performing bearing surgery , we're serving food and we're buying food , we're
delivering food . Yeah , I get across the board and I kick and all the drivers that drive for any Prevent vendor or purveyor who does large pallets . You know , the biggest thing is those damn selectors don't know how to put that in the truck and they select wrong . And I have to climb over this and it's this never-ending thing .
Guess what it's all over , mm-hmm . But the end of the day is we are we all have to work in a community that when the driver is doing something like when I was up in Detroit we had US food dropped at 200 case Order on our back dock and , by the way , the back dock was a parking lot- Mm-hmm and they drove off .
That was the thing , that that . So that is one of my biggest pet peeves , because you know when , when one of your chefs Calls you to tell and again , we're not living .
This isn't that we don't live on the tundra , right where it's Florida , and it's hot and , you know , wet , and there's animals everywhere , of the humankind and of the animal animal kind man , let me tell you something , hey Carl , do you know that your driver left the whole order on the duck outside of my door , like , are you kidding me ?
See that To me , your , your card gets pulled , you're out . I don't even want you to . I don't even get into the truck . Leave it there and don't come back .
Well , and that that goes about ? How we hire whether you're hiring a cook or you're hiring a driver , your salesperson , it's all the questions you need to ask . I mean , listen , if you like them or don't like them , chick-fil-a , I respect the crap out of them because they have the best customer service hands down .
They don't say you're welcome , they say my pleasure . They look for kids that have extra-curricular activity . They want to be in church or synagogue or whatever they're doing , because it shows that they have responsibility .
It seems that they're happy people .
That's the other thing . Yeah , you know it doesn't seem like they're . You walk into one . They don't like hum glum and oh , I hate myself . They want to do it because they're there . It's not a fast food job , it could be a career , the .
If they work themselves up to getting their own store , that's a lot of money in their pocket , sure , I mean think about the buy-in .
If people in restaurant tours treated their people better and Did it this way , like that way , overstaffing , because they wanted to make sure their guests were taken within that , whatever their SOP is I don't know what their SOPs are for how long and how many minutes a burger will take , or chicken burger , a chicken will take to get Out there and the fries is
smoothie or shake or whatever . They have all that written down . They got that . They live it breathing . That's what we need to do in the other half of the restaurant industry , and especially for sales man if you guys mess up . Just admit it oh eat it or eat it or both .
I'm saying eat it . Yeah , just take the responsibility .
Yeah , you get caught with your pants down . You've been . We call it speeding when you jack up your prices too much . Hmm , first of all , be in line .
You know , sometimes there are . That's actually a great topic because Oftentimes price changes don't come from the rep , Right it because ? And a lot of that is automated anyhow , right ? So Unless there's some sort of a physical override on that item for that particular customer , you know it's gonna . It's gonna fluctuate based on whatever the percentile is .
Yeah , so I'm smiling because one of my reps just friended me on LinkedIn . He's now a purchasing agent for a country club and he used to be my rep when I was in the actual restaurant industry and he used to call me my nickname was the bastard . Because it's funny , we call you that too right , it travels because I , I was the one like chef yesterday .
I never had one vendor , I had three .
Oh .
I kept everyone in line and I would always that go . I want the Jeff price and I'd look over the shoulder and See their calm price , that bottom calm one , what's that ? That's the price I want , because I didn't feel like I wasn't trying to be it .
So if you're bad , yeah , I'm not doing you can't well , it's okay to be that guy if you have the volume to back it up I did right , I did it's . It's the , it's the low volume folks that ask for it . You know you walk away , gotta walk away .
Oh , my favorite is like well , I can go to restaurant depot and get it for this price . Go , but you're not managing man .
I learned that young in my career . You know to try , I was always looking to try to flip those . You know , guys and gals , you know that would go to depot or a box store to shop oh my God , biggest waste of time in your life . And even if they do buy from you , it's not worth it . Those are the slow pays , the no pays .
Oh , they're so difficult to work with and that makes such a big difference . So when you are high volume , whatever volume of an account you are if you're a slow payer you make everybody's life difficult . And you know there are valid reasons for a slow pay . It happens . You know what I mean .
But if it's a habitual sort of a thing , you're not gonna get the fullest potential of service . You could just not own pricing , especially because you know you're all of a sudden we're the bank , you know , and it's not a healthy , it's not healthy .
And then when you want the extra service , hey , you know I made a mistake can you bring me this or that , or it's after a cutoff or it's . You know the truck's already gone . I need another truck or a bailout or something . How can you ask that ? Right , how's that possible ?
You know , but on the same token it's give and take , because when you know when the house makes a mistake , when that distributor makes a mistake , you better fix it you gotta eat it . And if that means you know work until six o'clock on a Friday night or seven o'clock on a Friday night , cause you're doing a bailout somewhere , that's how you do it .
Yeah , that's another misnomer we didn't even talk about with sales . A lot of chefs , people in the restaurant industry , think the salespeople work five days a week and they don't . They work six .
Or seven Hands down or seven .
Hands down and they don't work . I mean , when I work for my broadliner I work from in the car from like seven something until five o'clock in the afternoon . When I got home and my daughter went to bed at eight .
I had then had to do all my paperwork you know , In putting all the stuff I did in computer and that was could take you up until about 11 , 12 o'clock at night , depending on how many people .
you saw , true , and you know one thing that gets missed . You know , glazed over , I should say when let's just say you're on what kind of glaze ? Honey Bourbon , always bourbon , let's just say that you're a six day operation , right , and you , you know your sales guy might get off on a Sunday , right , but not really because people are calling .
He's gotta do orders , yeah , or she has to do orders .
Well , let's just say the chef , as many hours as they work , they get a day off , they get a day off and what ends up happening is the sous chef or the underling or whoever's in charge of ordering , they take over the ordering .
So the ultimately the sales rep is responsible every day for an order for that property , for that establishment , and nobody realizes that you're connected to the phone .
Now , these days , like you know , any old days I mean because I started when you know maybe next tells were I was getting into sales when , when there were still next tells right , you might want to explain next tells we do have a walkie talkie cell phone . It was really cool . It was actually pretty cool . It was actually , it was a funny story .
So I have a funny story about the next tell .
Remember what's his name , the comedian ? He went to Africa , he quit comedy . Oh , it's Dave Chappelle . Dave Chappelle , right , couldn't think of his name , so he'd just come out and he had that . Rick James .
Well , rick James , you know like .
So One of the guys I worked with we were just a couple of sales guys , you know , and we had these next tells and we did this thing where , middle of the day , we were , just because you just hit the button and you break into , whatever's happened .
And if it was loud , everyone in the restaurant heard you .
Right . So we did . We had this thing going where we'd just break in with crazy stuff like that . And I hit him one day when he was actually he was , he was with a chef , he was holding cases and I broke into some Dave Chappelle and it was epic , epic , it was great , yeah , whatever .
So I worked at a place called and in Boca , called Stir Crazy Cafe and we had just put a stock down on the phone . I remember that place . Yeah , we just put a stock down somewhere .
I couldn't remember it wasn't on the floor , it was kind of being six inches above the floor and I was walking over and I clipped my phone , but I didn't clip it all the way Cause I , I 3C or whatever it was called at that point .
And , all of a sudden , the next thing I heard was loop .
I looked and went oh , just bought the phone . What ?
happened ? Where'd it go ?
I went right into the stock .
Oh no .
Ha ha ha , gone Brandy phone . Had no phone yeah .
That was fantastic . That's not nearly as funny as my story , but it's still a great story .
I had to go right into the hot hot , by the way , hot stock .
You knew . You know that it's funny because it's great . It's like that .
Yeah , well , you're going to do Mickey Mouse next . No , I'm not going to do it .
Oh , all right , yeah , it's . It's funny . Actually . I saw was with a couple of weeks ago . I was with the family , a couple of friends with other kids , so we were like six kids right , and I went into the whole Mickey Mouse clubhouse thing and it was , I'm a hit , I am a hit .
You know what ? Maybe he should do that voice as the emcee for the party John Yep , I think so .
Really yeah . What do you mean ?
like to , I'll talk to JR too and make sure he knows yeah .
All right , you party people , ha ha .
You know , like that .
Exactly yeah . Ok , everybody get on the dance floor .
In fact , if you guys listen to this , please comment . You want Carl to do that . If we get enough people to respond , I'm doing it now . I'm ready . No , be the emcee that that whole night .
No , I don't want to be , I don't want that responsibility . That's too much , that's just . That's actually absolutely . I think it's .
Chef Jay Z down from North Carolina . He can be the emcee he loves emcee or Rocco Paradicio from Sarasota . With a name like that , you got to be a DJ . You know what he does have a DJ voice . He was the voice of the ACF for years .
Yeah .
Yeah , and actually I just saw him in New Orleans , great guy In New Orleans , in New .
Orleans . That's how you usually say it In New Orleans .
Yeah , what's going on about Fruity Boutoudi ? Oh , fruity Boutoudi , we talked about that .
He's got to be coming for that he did a deal with his cheese wheeze , cheese wheeze , yeah With Juvenile . Oh , remember the rapper . Yeah , yeah , he did a deal with with juvenile Regarding the , the chips and all the stuff from awesome yeah good for him . Congratulations , brother . Yeah , that's awesome man . Oh , all right .
Yeah , no , it's um so anyhow could you ?
have no idea what you're involved for . Get me on a track .
I'm saying get me on a track . No , but um yeah , so he's got that thing going , he's , he's , he want he . Okay , so I want , we want him here . Yeah , he wants to come here , yeah and we're gonna do some cool stuff together . You know , we just got to coordinate some things .
We gotta get , we gotta get on . We gotta get his manesh shot to come with him too , because manesh shot of Tava , that he , that dude , is just incredible . His food , the proof , flavor profile I would love to have those two .
we're getting a lot of cool Things happening here . We we , people from all over the country , chefs and some PR firms and everything are reaching out with you know , with their clients , chef clients and they're they want to do some stuff . It's really cool . We're gonna run a great , we're in a great spot yeah , definitely .
Yeah , and I love it because it's so different . I mean , we're not . We do listen to other podcasts . I'm not gonna . You know they're good pro cop that a podcast out there .
We were judging yesterday In the car . We was not trying to say that , bro , but okay , no , we were , we were just , yeah , we listened to like top a few of the top three , top four .
Don't , don't air it down like that . 10 .
Yeah , top 10 and one . So what we , what we came to realize is their content was pretty , pretty tight , but the delivery was . You know , a lot of people in the podcast Realm For some reason .
I would say AI everybody sounds like robotic you know , or just this like Monotone voice , that I just say it in one way and here I am talking about it and , yes , it's really cool .
I like , like Agnes from grew in the minions yeah but here's the thing their content is like spectacular , spectacular , and they're putting in efforts on Having all the data and and and those , whatever the . I'm looking at John , yeah , I'm Staring . Totally . Stare at John's like Anyhow , no , that's .
That's actually a lot of that's on me , but the truth is we're like a radio show more than a podcast show .
I don't know . I just think we're two , two guys that have good energy together , that we talk about the love and the passion for what we have , which has happens to just be food and John can corral that to make sure he takes a beautiful shots and then he's like you know , the HR he keeps us , which doesn't work . No before what I said .
Can I speak to somebody in HR , please ? I ?
What do you do now ? Oh , my goodness .
Well , you know , he does his best to keep this PG 13 . And then there's you , then then there's me . Actually , it's more you than me .
No , no , no . I said taint .
But you , you , you cuss . Well , no , I actually I don't cuss , I haven't cussed in a long time . And me saying like a you know badass or something that does not count he has . I want you to go back and you find where I dropped a bomb of no , I want the listeners to do that .
I don't want to do that .
I want somebody to do that .
I guarantee you , I know a couple people that will do that .
All the different cuss words . That would be long . I'll tell you what we're gonna , what it's watching you laugh is funny . I said it would be really long . No , it would not so look here that that's not a cuss , no , but that was HR looking at me and then did it to you . Here's what I , here's what I propose .
Some lucky , some lucky person Listener , someone in the audience , you're gonna cook for him what ? Yeah , if they put that montage together , you need to find when I dropped a bomb last , and it isn't gonna be like well , what bomb are we talking about ? It's gotta be a curse .
I haven't cursed or cussed or whatever , and depending on yeah , but you have levels of cursing , because you guys called me out for cursing and I was like , well , that's not really cursing , because I don't do that . You're talking about GD .
That's a curse .
That's not a curse for me . Oh my god .
Well for you guys not for me though , not that that's a hell of curse word , no , but . But the GD is bad , not for me , oh goodness , it's this .
For you ?
Yeah , not for me Okay , there's , okay , I'm doing like this . There's nothing that I , there's not a word that I have said in the past three months . I'm gonna say three months , because what are we in ? We're in .
August now right .
I haven't dropped a bomb in at least three months . You know , I challenge anyone to find that . I challenge you and and I'm not cooking for that person because it's your challenge you need to do .
No , I'm not gonna cook .
I don't want you to cook for them .
Get a mistake , hr , just get a mistake . Hey , I'll get him . Get him a tea , get a tomahawk .
Yeah , well .
No , no , no , no . Put your money where your mouth is , because if you think you haven't cost in three months , look at them . No .
Oh , why don't I get punished because you ?
cost . Because , You're blaming me for you cuz .
I need a lawyer here . That's John . He's HR he's close to it .
No , his wife would be the closest thing to that . Actually , mine would be the closest thing to that .
Yeah , there we go fun .
A charges said they can cook it themselves .
That's so , boy , I'd be happy with a tea with a tomahawk . I'm not right , whatever , I'm not gonna , I'm not gonna , I just think the wheels and the bus just fell right off .
That's fine .
Listen . So if anybody out there can find where I I have in fact three letter or four letter word , no , not three . Ass doesn't count , dude , sorry , nope .
No . Well then crap that I'm gonna keep on saying ass then .
Yeah , but you got to say like I don't put I usually use it in the context of bad ass . I mean I come on , dude , Give me a break . Well , how about hole no I never say that .
No , I understand that , but that and hole put together , that's a bad word . That would be about clarifying yeah , shut the front door , not the front , but that would be a bad word , I need any .
the front door , the back door , whatever . Yeah , it's all no good . Okay , it's no bueno . The female dog no bueno . Well , it depends on the context . You know , like , if I were like oh man , did you see that ? That Camaro , I rock , as you know , whatever that's , that's bitching or something like that , come on you get it .
Yeah , you went there . Yeah , wow , you just making me feel all sorts of old . You are all sorts of old you . Hr that's what did we call that Gen age discrimination , not gender discrimination .
No , because you're here . It's not like you're , you know . I let's wisdom whiskers , let's .
Yeah , as I stroke my beard , wisdom whiskers . But you know what ? Thanks for getting the short ribs , and the ox tail is a lot of fun . Yeah it was a lot of fun .
It was , and you know what I'm finally , guys .
I've been talking about that Cuban . Finally guys were able to taste it .
I like it . Yeah , thank you , yeah , I so different . Wait you see the pictures . Yeah , photography , ibis images and you can do like a dot-com . All right , stay tuned for what's coming in .
October . October is gonna be a huge bash for everybody going back to work . You know the season , yeah boy and listen people .
If you find out where , where I've dropped some bombs , let's do it . I'll get you Tomahawk . All right , create will be a Creek stone . Beautiful , like All right , we are out ski I I .