The Impact of Food: Cultural Insights with Jeffrey Schlissel
Episode description
Get ready for a feast for your ears as we journey through a mouthwatering exploration of worldwide cuisine. This episode is bursting with delightful bites, from our upcoming Walk- In Talk Media Food/ Party event to the tender allure of octopus from Acropolis Greek Taverna. We're joined by the brilliant Jeffrey Schlissel, whose culinary talents will headline the party. You'll hear us muse about the exciting prospect of a brick-and-mortar location for Walk -In Talk Studios, a space where we can cook, chat, and click, all under one roof. We've got 50 spots - and they're filling fast!
Our culinary adventure doesn't stop at our food party event. We'll be whisking you off to Serbia (actually in Orlando) for a massive Serbian Food Festival, where our very own video producer extraordinaire, Willie will wow the crowd with his camera prowess. This event is going to be one for the history books, and we can't wait to share the experience with you. Let's not forget about our tantalizing discussion about the sumptuous world of pork kata and the intriguing concept of food bondage. We promise, it's all as appetizing as it sounds!
In this gastronomical journey, we also take a deep dive into the business side of food and the impact it has on culture and mental health. We kibitz about the cost of processing credit cards, the merits of cash discounts, and the art of being an excellent host. Plus, we share our plans to create a chef coat for our cookbook and the exciting prospect of snapping a picture with our delightful neighbors. And, we wrap up our chat with a reflection on our successful ventures, a sneak peek into upcoming events, and a heartfelt thank you for joining us on this flavorful ride. Don'
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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!
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Transcript
Hello Food Fam . This is the Walking Talk Podcast and I'm your host , carl Feeding . We're podcasting onsite at Acropolis , rigtabern and South Tampa . It is busy , it's jamming , it's lunchtime , baby , oh yeah . So if you haven't been to this deliciously freaking fabulous restaurant , you need to get here . Check them out . Acropolisfrictivernacom Jefferson . Yeah , bub yeah .
So they're rocking in here , huh .
Yeah , in fact , from the last podcast we went out without power for almost 15 minutes . Yeah , we had like a 12-top walk in . The 4-top is right next to us . It's kind of funny when we're live and people are looking over and you hear different people like are they filming ? I don't want to be filmed .
Right , well , screw them no . But so I mean , I feel like we're going to have to go back here and help .
I'm kind of like , and then he's like , he walked away from the table and was like what do you eat ? Does it look ?
like we stop at anything . I don't know this you know bourbon is good , let's do that , alright . So what we're going to do now is like let's have fun , dude . You know , we're not cooking , we're not doing photography , let's um , it's almost a day off .
It's like hooking . I feel kind of dirty Well .
Well , that's for other reasons , yeah , I mean remember that commercial back in the 80s and it was like the mom and the daughter walking on the beach and you know .
Oh God , yes , and she was trying to find out about it . I'm not so fresh . Mom do you yeah whatever .
Alright , so uh .
Massageill . Yeah , that's what it was . That's what it was too .
Um , you know , 1987 , whatever . Alright , so we got a lot of really cool things going on .
Yeah , lots . What's up with this party ? Party's going as forward . We're just going to figure out what Jonathan I got to get with him . We did talk . We had a lock , stock and barrel . As far as the location at Sally Maher , it's going to be part in a in a , uh , the Yale room , a catering room , and then parts going to be on the balcony .
It's going to be really dope . We've got um 30 spots that we're going to be filling for people of the industry between uh , like Tampa food mom who just got into that thing that chef was uh , that uh Joey was talking about for the Bay .
Yeah , best of the Bay .
Yeah , best of the Bay . So big shout out to Tampa food mom , who just got in the finals for that . We got a bunch of different other food people that need to be there as well . Then we have 20 openings for you , the listeners , if you want to come . So all you have to do believe it or not is when Carla or I pop this out , send us .
Hey , how do we get there ? What do we need ?
to do so . First of all , hold on a second . We um what we're doing for , because this is kind of relatively and we're doing this last minute , if you ask me okay , like I would want to plan this out like a year in advance .
Well , you want to do it for a year ?
No , yeah , anyway , so this is going to be our first walk in talk um food party event . Um , jeffrey Schlissel , the one and only , is going to be doing some cooking . We're going to have appetizers from . You know , we're going to have a lot of our uh , vendor , partner products there . You know , sponsor and whatnot . So there's going to be great food .
There's going to be cocktails . It's going to be pretty , pretty bad ass . We're bringing it's going to be basically all chefs , foodie , influencers and a few guests that we're going to choose to come . You know that we're going to pick and have come out to this thing . Um , it's going to be cool man .
Yeah .
Yeah , and you know , and if this goes over well , then you know we're going to do this . You know I like to do it fairly often .
Yeah , definitely , you know , at least twice a year and you know be like a ramp up and then the ramp down , so the end of the year for the season for the restaurant industry , If it's just a ramp up and a ramp down .
it needs to be like something in the middle too . You know what I'm saying . Maybe that could just be like a cocktail party . You know ?
I like the thinking , yeah , and you can do it like um at a weird hour , you know , after shift you know three hour hardcore , jam it in Boom 11 o'clock at night to like one o'clock in the morning , yeah , and then that happens at 12 after 12 . True story . Yeah , we got to protect everybody , keep them off the streets . You know what I mean .
Yeah , that's I'm . I'm so good with that .
Okay , we can figure three of that out , so that's coming up . Um , and I'm super excited about that . We have property to look at . Yeah , we have property to look at . We're going to have a brick and mortar , we're going to have a uh , I don't know which one . It's going to be like a , just a massive walk and talk studios .
I guess you call it walk and talk studios Um podcast studio photography , studio kitchen , kitchen mics , cameras , everything ready to rock and roll and , um , it will be cool .
It will be cool , and everybody who I've spoken to about this in terms of like um , you know , chefs and people who we'd want to come and play , everybody's excited , you know , we could do their two private dinners too .
Oh yeah , for sure . I think we know a couple of chefs that can help out at one or two , you know definitely yeah , it's .
It's going to be a big thing , it's going to be huge you know , as they say huge , huge and uh , it's just something that you got to follow along , keep in track , we'll keep you updated on that . Uh , you , the foodie public , you know um , we have a good bread maker . Oh , amy , amy , yeah , are you kidding me ?
Yeah , Um , just so , you know that she dabbled into um Carla , what ?
Chala , oh Chala , because it's Rosh Hashanah , my throat , sorry , Exactly it's .
Rosh Hashanah and she gave it to one of our neighbors . The next thing she knew . She just told me she's like how do you go about making 30 loaves of Chala bread ? Wow , I'm like batch cooking , baby batch cooking .
So I mean just from one person . She got 30 orders . That's pretty awesome .
Yeah . So we got to kind of convince her Amy , you need to come over and bring the bread .
This is going to be two podcasts in a row where I say is this going to be unleavened bread ? Is that what that is ? No , no .
OK , this is . She does a true sourdough bread . She doesn't use any yeast in it and she , you know , lets her ferment , yeast , goes into the flour and starts doing its thing . Yeah , the old style way of doing things .
So , and I know Manny Delgado , a chef over on the East Coast , loves her bread , that actually he buys it for when he does his pie of a dinner . So look at this .
Look at this Snap . Oh my gosh , we got to take pictures of this .
Yeah , and he's on the phone too , which is hysterical , right , that's wow , all right , you going to take a picture of that . Yeah , I got it .
All right , great and so . So , anyway , look , I want to get into something . First of all . We're very fortunate and blessed to have the vendor partners that we do have for the program , and I kind of wanted to get in , I wanted to kind of get into that a little bit , you know you can get into that .
I'm getting into this .
Get into that octopus , yeah . So Peninsula Peninsula Food Service right Meat provider here in the central Florida area . They were a . They were a vendor partner first and the opportunity came up for me to actually help to build the sales team and the marketing team which you're part of Jeff , as you know .
Yes , I do .
It's pretty cool . We've got I've got a couple of hires in already . I've got , you know , richard on the west side .
I've got Kurt , who was a chef down in Fort Lauderdale he's now on the Orlando side and , you know , veronica , she's coming in strong as as myself manager , and I've got a couple other people who I'm probably going to be bringing in here within the next couple of months .
Yeah , it was funny because Veronica called me when I was away talking about short rib and the chuck short rib and the short rib itself . So right , it's kind of fun when you have to fill those calls when you're out .
Well , and that's , and that's the cool part about , like the whole , that's the cool part about how we're doing our marketing .
You know , when we do our podcast not today , but when we do our podcast and we're at the studio and you know you're cooking up delicious stuff , john's doing the photography and we're using that for you know , for the sake of not just walking talking about peninsula right .
Right .
And we'll introduce stuff in there from , you know , Malina International . You know , with that , the Calabrian oil we did a couple of weeks ago . Man , that stuff is awesome . Actually , the other day I made what did I do ? I made rice and shrimp .
So the shrimp , you know , a Florida shrimp , awesome had the rice , I put a bunch of different spices in it and but I used that oil as the base , that spicy oil , Yep , Lobby oil , and again it was like a kind of like a refried situation that had going on here . Man , it was freaking delicious .
Yeah , it only takes great products to play with food and make it great . It doesn't take that much .
Yeah , especially like me , you know as everyone knows , I am not the chef . I am not the chef . Everybody thinks I am . On social media . They're like hey , chef , I'm like no , I always have to tell them no , I've been . I've been working with chefs for 30 years , but I am not a chef . I eat the stuff . I'm concerned .
I can testify to that . So can your belly yes .
Yes , my belly indeed . What do we bring it into ? What do we bring it into the fold ? On the next episode .
Food wise . I guess we're going to be bringing in porketta . We're going to be doing brisket two ways . Porketta do two ways . We're going to do a pork tenderloin as well .
I got some other things I'm working on too that Vorst will be actually introduced to , but that's going to be something that we want to make sure we can stand out to be different , that people have never seen before .
So it's got to be before Before . Yeah , yeah , I mean it's so . The restaurant is jamming and I see a lot of happy faces here too , so this is usually when we are live podcasting at a hotel or something like that , or usually in the corner . We're in a corner somewhere , or a room or some in an area that's closed off . This is like a happening .
You know it's 1240 right now . We're right in the peak of lunchtime .
And everybody in there listening is probably going are those guys two idiots ? Why would they do this ?
Yeah , that's right .
They're looking at , well , the one idiot they're like , yeah , one guy , but yeah and as soon as we walked in , they're like oh , we're going to put you in the corner . My response was what Do ? Nobody puts baby in the corner .
But it worked out well , because they're you know how many people . People are not going to recognize that .
Yeah , that quote . Yeah , yeah , I feel that pain .
Yeah .
Where's that from Dirty dancing ? That's right .
Dirty dancing was like 1987 .
Yeah , that was what Swayze right .
Patrick Swayze and a chick from Ferris Billers Day .
Yeah , I care , whatever it is .
Yeah , did you have a crush on her ?
No , not her . No , no , I don't know who it was . She was kind of off . Yeah , that's from back in the day .
Yeah , no , locklear , heather Locklear . Heather Locklear was down with the Locklear .
You blonde hair got .
Well , I mean hair color . Never was . I don't care about the hair color . You know , good looking is good looking , no matter what . You know , you could have be a redhead . You know , I kind of draw the line at purple , just saying , no , I'm kidding , you can have pretty bro hair people too yeah .
And she did . If we go to Sophia Vergara and you have , Some a hike .
Sophia rook you know my about 20 years ago I I bought her mom's condo and pitara . Don't you have something of her ? It was like . Left . I try to give it back . Nobody responded to me . I have , I have ї We告 few the guys x-ray cause , this X-ray doctors letter , and I was like , hey , I have this , this , and nobody responded back . I don't know .
I would frame it , put it in the man cave .
You know , I'd probably gotta do that . Yeah , have it framed . And I mean , and I can say that I've seen parts of so far nobody else has it , Nobody else has .
Yeah , we can put it up in the Walk and Talk building when we get it yeah . It could be .
I mean , that's a nice article .
You know , it'd be even cooler if she signed it .
Yes , absolutely , I'm totally down for that . I am too yeah everybody can get her on the show and we can give it back to her in a , you know , like a ceremonial sort of way . Yeah , here's your pelvis back here . Had your pelvis for a long time . All right , this is getting out of control . All right , so back to food . So the pork kata .
You showed me some pictures of them .
Yeah , so pork kata is this ? I mean , I posted it online . One of the guys commented really quick . He's like I love that , it's just the best of both worlds . I mean you can't get anything better Pork tenderloin with pork belly and then you kind of score both sides of it . It still has a skin on it .
It's actually sitting and marinating in a lemon agave , a lemon cello agave glaze . And then I had some herbs that I wanted to go ahead and dehydrate to get more intense .
So we have oregano , rosemary sage , some thyme blended that up , then dusted that up with some fennel pollen , then it has some pickled fennel , pickled garlic that I put in the center with some sun-dried tomatoes and sun-dried tomato oil . Then you roll that sucker up and then you trust it . Hmm , and it's just .
I trust it is it's gonna be .
I can't wait for tomorrow , because that's when I'm gonna start smoking it . That way I can preserve the food , so I don't lose it , hi .
But I don't think a lot of people are gonna know the trust , trust so trusting is basically a way that we Tie the product up .
It's , it's food bondage , bondage of this best . I called it fist 50 shades of pork when I posted this morning . And it's just what you're doing . Is your eat . What is this kind doing ?
I know .
Jesus .
Sweet Jesus , oh my god , it's the chicken on this gear . Yeah .
Yeah , again , if you've never been here , you definitely need to get your butts here , because this is incredible . Thank you , chef , appreciate it . Wow , I could smell the char in there too . It's phenomenal , but it's one of those things he's got . The best of both worlds . I'm seeing at this table is the best of both worlds right now .
Well , what we didn't get to do sexy food talk why don't you do it right now ?
on sexy food talk . I don't know you , have you tried this octopus ? Why don't , as I talk about sexy food talk ? You need to try this octopus .
I don't know if you sous vide at first , but it is so tender it's like melt in your mouth Like butter , and then , instead of using butter , either , using olive oil on there and some lemon juice fresh squeeze lemon juice they char lemon , some capers and tomatoes .
It's absolutely stunning Looks like her profile , and then the beef and the rice and the chicken skewer and the beef skewer . That's what I'm talking about . It's it's a food porn , unbelievable , yeah you know this place .
It's happened .
There's a go for top to my right , there's a two top behind me . Yeah , am I right ? There's a 12 top to my right behind me there's like Five or six tables . Why are people eating outside right now ? I don't understand it . Yeah , they must have an AC out there . They probably a problem or they don't shits like me .
How do you do a podcast that eat ? I don't even know how to do this very carefully , oh my god .
All right , so I'm already tasted the octopus twice I know you , you're pretty good at this , you're pretty , you know you , just you , back away , don't you ? You know , chew with your mouth .
You don't chew with your mouth . This is really bizarre for me . People are looking at us .
We , don't really care , but I mean , people are always considered yeah , I mean I'm beautiful .
Yeah , since I'm about forever , you know really you know true story . Yeah , it's a true story , but so this is a bizarre episode . I'm not gonna lie . Yeah , I'm not gonna lie .
You were talking about peninsula and what it's going on and everything we have in the pocket , by the way yeah before the food kind of threw a soft track right and the power going off .
Yeah , so Right . So peninsula there , it's a great situation . I took a director , sales and marketing position , but I can do it from afar and still manage , walk and talk and the vision is still there . They're very supportive in what we're doing and because of that there's a lot of synergies .
So it's , it's amazing , mm-hmm , yes , amazing so Don't we have something coming up that we need to talk about you , about what the festival ?
Oh , this the Serbian , yeah , yeah , but that's in October , that's it's . It's a Milan , it's a Milan's from Serbia , and and Milan's a president of Peninsular food service , and there's a big event . Every year , thousands of people go to this thing and you know , we're gonna send Willie out there . He's gonna do some recording , we're gonna , we're gonna cover it .
It's gonna be pretty cool .
Yeah , I can't wait . Yeah , and I know John has some of the product that is , it's at the house and we're gonna plate up and stuff like that too as well .
Yeah , we were gonna . Yes .
Yeah , I've done some research on some of the the condiments that go with it . There's like a sour cream , feta cheese and something else like four ingredients that's like a creamy sauce that goes on it . Then there's a like a Paprika with a red pepper , roasted red pepper Kool-E sauce that they do as well .
So I asked John , I reached out to him and specifically asked Do you have these ? Because if not , I'll bring them and I'll make them . So I mean , I'm really amped up about it because I get to learn about another culture and I think when you that's . The great thing about food is when you're learning about and getting fed .
Like Anthony Bourdain said , when someone's cooking for you in their house , they're cooking from their soul .
And that shows respect and and that's why , when Joseph brings food to the table , people listen . People listen . No , I mean you got a . I mean he brings it out of love 100% , yeah , 100% .
And that's what a good host is about , and that's what our industry is about yeah , about being a good host .
It's being the best post right . You have to be .
Chicken's not even dry , I mean , it's just full flavor at most , especially for white meat .
Would you say , for white meat , would you come ? Yeah , I'm Latin .
I told you , bob , a good news .
You know , I had a guy that I worked with 20 years ago . He was a produce buyer to company that I worked for , and and , somehow or another , my nickname was Bob again .
I told you my nickname earlier . Yeah , well , yeah but people . And unfortunately people have that calm it and I can't use it .
Thank you , sir . Thank you , you know , and , and the fact that we're getting treated so nice in here . Yeah , I hope you brought your wallet .
I did okay . I have cash okay , so I know it's an uncommon thing to think of .
Cash . I think we should stick to it .
Tell you truth . What's that ?
cash .
Oh , you know you don't want to go cryptocurrency .
I mean , I'm okay with it , but as a secondary , whatever , but I think that we shouldn't be so quick to give the cash up . And I'm the first person there . I haven't you know we'll use cash ever , but I think I'm gonna start going back to it .
Well , you gotta think about it . They're processing , you know , credit card fees that the owner of the establishment has to pay for . So there are credit card companies now that are processing that give cash discounts , and there's a way for the owner To actually take those fees and give them to their guests convenience ?
Yeah , so they're not .
they're not hit getting hit so they can control their their profit margins a little bit better in the industry . Because you got to think about America ? Express is the most expensive one out there . It's like 3 . Something percent .
So generally speaking , if you can cover that one and on down and let turn that cost to the guest , you're making that much more money at the end of the day .
Yeah , I mean , I would even want to look at you know , doing something like that and turning it back to the staff , exactly , you know . Yeah , I mean , I'm all about the , the win-win for everyone .
Yeah , well , you talked about the titillation .
On the last one we talked about , yeah , I mean , listen , I just have the the ace , so I have my AC's done . Finally , that was . They did a great Crap . So , I'll get the name . Shame on me , but they're guys . That a great job and they came in , did the work fast . Oh yeah effective , concentrated focus . You know whatever you want to say .
And yeah , it was great man , Good company fair .
Yeah very fair and the guys that came over my house did mine . They were .
The same ones that did mine .
Yeah , they were in and out like nothing , mm-hmm . Well , I only had the one you had to yeah , but they were like .
I was like I think you did a buddy mine , jeffrey . You're like oh yeah , the chef . I'm like yeah . Did he feed you up there ?
like no , like oh sorry I wasn't cooking that day . It was , but they would upset like a month . I was on Monday . I was prepping Chris Gotti their boss .
That's nice , be the boss he gives discounts , true story . Yeah , that's it . That is a true story . Mm-hmm , man , I'm digging the food .
It's . It's outrageous .
No , it's not easy , though , to it's not easy to do the podcast here , with the food and people and the staring and and selfies man selfies and stuff like the one next door . Yeah , I feel like I should take a picture .
I think you should have . That would have been absolutely if you stood up and actually like , oh , you couldn't because they were facing the other way .
No , I'll do a play-by-play . No .
I'm I , I'm okay , they're there , are you I ?
Want to take pictures when they're yeah but we're more pigs .
Well , I have one on my shirt .
Yeah , we're gonna get some more . We're gonna get some gear . Well , we're gonna call your buddy over there new chef .
Yeah , victor , they're actually working on the the , the cover for the book . I came up with this weird Thing that I want to do and they're actually designing . It was chef coat With some other stuff on it for me for the book . Hopefully the book will be coming out January .
Oh , they're gonna do it . They're making a shirt that you're gonna hide , that you're gonna photograph for the cover of the book , correct ?
Yeah , it's , it's really impactful , very powerful I was . It was . The question was posed to me what's your book cover gonna look like ? And I had no idea at the time and In all sudden , this picture of me sitting at a table full of food in this jacket and like duct tape over my mouth and said attic , that's that's where I want to go with this the food .
Just so everyone knows , I have a book that's gonna be coming out . It's gonna be called credible , obsessed memoirs of a food addicted chef . It's basically my journey and how to get healthy again and get a better relationship with food . But it's also a hybrid .
So we talk about self-help and then it also talks about when I say we saw the voices in my head If the food aspect of it , if I mentioned something when I grew up as a kid , it's actually gonna be in the book as well . So I family recipes there . It's gonna be really cool .
That is awesome . I'm looking forward to it as well , and , if you know , the relationship that I have with food is purely physical .
I know it's . Would you say that one day ? You said the only I don't know how to grow anything and I'm like , no , you do my belly , yeah , I can .
Exponentially the handles . It's not my , it's not the front so much .
But the sides , oh , we know what that means . I don't know if the Gen Z's or millennials know what that means , but the definitely Gen X does oblique , oblique so you're gonna go there not the love handles .
No , okay , Okay . I don't have love , like you know . Oh , you don't have love . No , okay , no , there's nobody that's .
She would have the love handle and we don't . Why do women have the love handles ? Why can't men ?
by nature of the dynamics there at the . You know who's on top ?
Yeah , I guess literally , literally and figuratively figuratively the figure of stop it . Yeah , there we go . So we have Cater source just came out . Oh , here's another one . Those of you that want to be present , we're gonna put a link up to this one . We've made a post this . There's gonna be a zoom call with them .
Last Los Angeles chapter of the American Culinary Federation . Fiona is the president out there . She reached out to myself , l J Clink , susan Greer and Gathers Kenneth , and I got I think it's Albert , I can't remember the last gentleman's name .
We're gonna be on a panel about mental health , talking about the industry and what it means and how important is that we talk about mental . That's gonna be September 25th . The reason why we're doing that is because September is a national suicide prevention month . This week happens to be it as well . I got a great story for what happened in New Hampshire .
It was absolutely killer . It started out really Dark and dismal . One of the guys comes out there and he's to say that dishwasher been there , I've got to remove all her shoelaces , getting a few sharp away from her . I and I kind of looked and I'm like what do you mean ? And then Robert , who's the pastry chef for the team up there ?
It was Brent that said that and I said what do you mean ? And he went over . It's like she hates the world . I'm like , well , maybe she's an emu , maybe she's , you know , a goth , who knows ? Because it was only like a bullet that they were talking about it . So each time somebody went into the restaurant to wash something to bring back to us it was more .
You know , talk about this young lady . So it finally became my turn and I grabbed the stuff and Keith looks over me and he goes hey , can you do me a favor ? Can you work your magic ? This is kind of your , your , your field of expertise . And like yeah , no problem with the right back chef , thank you . Walked in and the machine was really temperamental .
It's like you close the door and it wouldn't turn on . And normally , what do you ? When you close the door in a dish machine , it will turn on , wash the dishes in less than five minutes and you're done . So I put the stuff in there . I say you know my name is Jeffrey , if you do mind if I would use . She's like no , I'm like how are you ?
She's like I hate the world . I'm like oh , so it's true , I put the stuff in . She's my wife , yeah , right , oh wait , no . So I shut the door and it doesn't work . So I look over at her and I'm like , hey , carrie , can you do me a favor ? I don't know what's going on here . Um , can you help me out ? She's like oh yeah , it's really temperamental .
And I went oh , just like women . She's like , well , there's a switch back here and you got to play with it . I go that's what she said . So , just within that time period , you get slapped in the face . No , she started laughing hysterical and she looked over at me . I said well , hey , did you know how long you've been working there ? She goes three years .
I said , well , did you ever think about getting on the line and doing something else in the restaurant industry ? She goes . Well , I wanted to do something in the industry . I wanted to go to culinary school , but I have such social anxiety that I couldn't . There I was , I found out this woman has two kids one that's going to be turning two , one is three .
It's going to be turning four . Um , she worked in manufacturing . She's done all this stuff , but she loves and has a passion for the industry . But the moral to the story is we have two ears , we have one mouth . Sometimes we just need to ask the right questions . Shut up and listen , because you know what .
I think she's a person that she has the right person mentoring her . I think she's got just an incredible presence in the kitchen , just to what she was doing . Forget about , I hate this . I hate that . Just having the presence and being there and doing our job , that's a huge win for any chef . That's what we want .
So see , this would be one of those things where we can help An actual person get her . Let's get her down here , and you , we could do some .
Oh , keith , uh Keith has already been introduced to her . Keith is going to mentor her .
So I mean that's I mean you couldn't ask for a better person to mentor and I think that's one of the biggest things is a chef that we could do for For us is getting getting younger chefs to be the mentor , that we mentor them , but , on the flip side , they need to mentor us , because it's been 40 years in the business for me and there's so many things
that are coming out that are new and different . You know ashton and the gentleman from the young chefs , president of their , ryan Manning , knows him and I'm just my . His name is completely is a Isaiah . Those guys are young , talented . I mean ashton is the r&d guy for um , thomas keller .
Hello wow if .
Thomas keller has a kid . That and I'm not saying he's a kid , he's in his 20s . He's got a 20-something year old as an r&d person . That's beautiful and huge respect for Thomas keller to doing that .
Yeah , but that speaks volumes .
Yes , yeah , and that's what we need to do in the industry . We can't build ourselves up that I've worked in the industry x amount of time and I don't need to do this . No , you , you need to .
I think and it's a freshman .
Yeah , hell yeah . And I think Stefan from over at Disney is the same way . He's the same type of person that he Mentors people and he told Ryan get out of this business , get out of Disney , go on your own and do what you need to do . Because he saw something that he needed to get out and spread his wings . And he did .
And congratulations to Ryan for being the Now the chef for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers . We got to get him on the show . Yeah , he , we're working through that . Um , we got . We got another person we want to get on the show too Jesse of jessica Jacqueline . Uh , passenger , she's the .
She just got invited to the beard camp and ryan just got back from the beard camp , so I'd love to have the two of them on . So we're trying to work on them as well . And then when I say beard camp , I don't mean like the bearded , not non guy that was from the last episode , joseph , I mean james beard dude . His beard is fierce .
Yeah you know , I'm kind of jealous because he doesn't have any of that Beard envy I have . He has salt , no salt , no salt .
No , it's all pepper . I mean it's good to be , you know not .
Oh , you know , I knew there was something missing in that equation . Yes , yeah , so , uh , we've got cater source . Uh , huge announcement .
Uh , I was actually , uh I posted to get two different Uh events or sessions that I want to teach , ones on mental health , and then I'm actually going to be presenting in austin texas , which is the barbecue capital for me , gives a verand , franklin , franklin barbecue . I'll be presenting plant-based barbecue to hopefully a couple hundred , maybe a thousand chefs .
That's so cool in uh february , so I'm really psyched about that one as well .
We've got to get like willy to go out with you .
Uh , man , it's . I'm trying to work out so the whole team can go out there . That's what I'd love to have , so that we they have upwards of 8 000 members go to a cater source .
I love their conventions . That would be terrific , right .
And then , uh , november , the weekend of veterans day . What's beautiful is the la chapter . Uh , their chef , that they were wanted to kind of highlight , is busy , so they asked me , and they're gonna fly me in , to do their gala event for 120 chefs , eight courses , wow , pooch you might be on standby .
You gotta get big . Yeah , get big pooch in this .
So pooch pooch , actually pooch knows the woman it's fiona Um the reddish , fluorescent , reddish hair . That she's the the roller derby girl .
She's the one who just she really . Yeah , she's been very much engaging in on our stuff .
Yeah we get a lot of people that engage in our social media . We got aiming , we got fiona Susan . Oh well , yeah , you know , I told you .
But uh , we peaked , we hit number four again . We're two days in a row , that's awesome . Yeah , number four , apple podcast yards , kind of a big deal , oh people , yeah . So what we really need to do is just keep building this community . Yeah , like this , you know , chefy , chef , foodie , food Community of ours , because it's food entertainment .
That's what we are . Well , and food brings people together . Mm-hmm , there's no , there's no discrimination when you sit down on the plate and you have rice and chicken , or rice and beef , or or even octopus right , I mean . It transcends different cultures .
Oh man , sounds so good . It's true story . Um , I'm so excited for all the beautiful things that are happening .
I mean , I just got a text from Veronica and I I'm not going to name the , the uh , the outfit , but , um , she just got , she just she's got a deal with a very large , very large , um , mexican themed uh group and that really looks like we'll be doing some business with . So I am .
You're in here in Tampa , or in Orlando .
Um , I'm not going to be so specific , uh , right at the moment , but I will tell you that it's pretty amazing and um , it's . Taco Bell that no , the team , the team is doing phenomenal .
I mean , I really can't ask for a better group of people , um , and not to mention some of the other companies that you know we're kind of uh , you know partnering up with , so to speak , in terms of some , some marketing . I mean , I'm really really happy with this .
You got Jason Schofield from high , which is your non food . Yeah , um , he's got all your paper goods and stuff like that , listen , I know . So that's where a lot of the broadliners will like Keep their other stuff low , and that's where they get you on . Is that those non food items ?
Because they know they can get you there and that's a high profit larger man's room for everybody .
Yeah , but I mean at the this room for everybody at the at the food service table to eat exactly .
And I think where Jason does right is he does right on the pricing and he's doing what he needs to do to be competitive .
He's a hustler man . He works . Oh yeah , he really puts in effort .
You can never ever take it away from that guy . Well , don't , don't forget our newest one . My little ink to princess . Oh yeah don't don't even ask me her name , because I don't even remember her name , because I call her my ink princess . I mean , I know it's Jess , yeah , but I don't know her last name . Well , I'm kidding .
Just staring at you right now like I Want to curse right now .
I know you , I want to say you can't , because there's a four top right next to four top and there's a dude looking at you .
Yeah , so anyway , Um yeah , Jess , I'm really excited about that situation too . Did you hear what she did ?
on her lunch break she had a hotel , told you today . No , like the day she was , she was in training . Oh yeah , who does that ?
I mean listen , look when you , you know , and I appreciate that you put her into this network with the introduction . You know you did a great job . That's I know listen , I'm getting to a point . Yeah , my superpower is the judge judging of people . You know what they're good for and what they're not good for , specifically in it from a sales perspective .
Right , you know other perspectives too , but I mean I'm talking now like if I meet somebody and I'm doing an interview , I'm gonna spend an hour to two hours with that person you guys spent like four , didn't you ?
It was ridiculous . It was a long time , yeah , but didn't feel that way though .
No , but you know , we got into some some off-topic stuff , which is what I liked , though , because then I can learn about the person right more , right , the individual , and then you know , you could see how somebody reacts and you know how they go about explaining certain sort of Certain types of topics Right , and then you can , you know , start it's like a
plug-and-play on how they're gonna do on the street doing , you know , food services . So , yeah , I mean it's exciting and she's cool . I'm very excited to do some , you know , do some work with her , and she's gonna probably just on the walk-a-talk , you know media she's just so hungry .
And then , just given the opportunity and I'm glad she proved it , you know like literally in training , went out for lunch , open her first , yeah , and then one guy that worked there was like how did you just do that ? It took me six weeks I think it was what she quoted me to get my first sale . She's like this is what I do .
Yeah but she's , she's a single mom . She knows she needs what she needs to do .
So yeah , and and I'm and that brings it kind of brings it back around to like this cool thing that's happening with peninsula and some of the other brands that we work with . And I come from a sales background . I've been doing do an outside food service sales for 20 , 25 years , you know .
You look like nothing , not a day over 25 .
Yeah , right . So you know what I'm saying is this is something that I know , this , but I know this business and we're gonna really it's a really beautiful space right now , you know I'm able to kind of I don't want to say transcend , but like I'm bigger than than the one , just the one outfit .
You know what I mean .
I'm able to do more for more companies and and you know it's for the betterment of the chef , because I know these brands , you know they're vetted . I'm in there , I know the presidents and owners of these operations . I've been in their warehouses , like I know .
I know their staff and their teams , so I'm very confident and comfortable to go out and , you know , start connecting in the background all these different things and I just you know well when you have a product like Greek stone with peninsula but to think about peninsula and peninsula food service , is that they have been so supportive in this venture .
Everything , everything so support and the guys when you go there they kid around with you . They just it's like being with its family . It really , it really is .
Yeah , I couldn't ask for a better situation .
I mean what we took Jonathan Rodriguez down there from Sally Mara . It's like Mike was with us . He's taking us around . And then the GM in the warehouse . What's his name ? Carlos ? He's . He's hysterical . I love that dude . You mentioned your name . He's like , oh , he's a slacker . I'm like , oh , you know him very well , yeah , sure .
Anyway , all right , we're coming up on 40 minutes . Let's , let's eat . I've been staring at this . I've had like little you know snippets . Yeah , so we're gonna , we're gonna get Roland rolling , rolling , rolling , fred Durst , yeah , I think so Could he hear him over there ? I don't know , oh man could be TV Could be Tom Brainy .
I don't . I think he might be back in town , what yeah ? Sure , All right so .
Jeff , this is a fun day today . You know why I love it . They're much , you don't have to cook exactly . Yeah , you lazy , all right , thanks . If you've been hanging in this long , thank you Appreciate you . Go to our socials , follow us , get involved in the conversation . People , I don't ask for much , I just want . I want it all . That's my wife talking .
I hear it .
All right , peace to you with everyone . We are out Out . It's pretty good makers mark yeah .