Mario Carbone On The Militant Culture Of Fine Dining Restaurants, Criticizes Men's Fashion + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up as way up with Angela Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Angela Yee, and this is very exciting because we
have the very famous, well known chef Mario Carbone here
with us today. We've all heard of Carbone, and we're
going to get a lot more inside information from you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You don't mind sharing right into.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It, okay, because I love the fact that you as
an entrepreneur. Some people might think as a chef that
this is something that was like a restaurant that was
passed down from generation to generation, but this is something
that you really built from the ground up, from scratch.
And what I love about your story is from a
young kid not knowing what you were going to do
later on in life. It's not like you came from,
(00:40):
you know, a family that owned restaurants. You were kind
of letting this direction without knowing that one day this
is what you would do. So let's talk about that
for a second. When you were younger, and if you
had to envision your life, Like when I was young,
I thought I would be a writer. What did you
think young Mario Carbone would be doing.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I thought I was going to play for the New
York Okay, at around eight or nine, I realized that
was probably out of the cards.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
That's how you know he's from Queens. By the way,
he said Mets, not Yankees.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
That's not Mets. So I was I was convinced that
I was going to be on the Mets. And then
when position when that was catcher. Okay, So when that
news was broke to me by basically everybody that that
was not possible, we needed to work on what was next.
And I think the next thing I knew I had
(01:30):
love for was food. I didn't know what that meant yet,
but I knew I had love for it. My grandparents
were born in Italy, and food and the table and
family was always a really high priority for us. So
I took that and I started, you know, odd jobs
in the kitchen with my grandparents as a little baby,
(01:51):
like cleaning peas and doing things like that. And I
parlayed that into working like after high school, like after
school and high school local rushstaurants on weekends just to
make a little bit of money. And I found I
found love for like the professional commercial restaurant, even if
they weren't great. Like I loved the environment. I love
the pace of it, I love the you know, I
(02:12):
love the action of a of a of a professional kitchen,
and I got addicted to that. I was like, wow,
this is this is cool. This is something that like
I'm really I'm really interested in. And I didn't love school,
Like traditional school just wasn't like wasn't for me, Like
I didn't apply myself. There wasn't anything there that like
I found value in, okay, and so I was just
(02:34):
kind of like killing time in school. I wasn't really
heading in any particular direction. So like, as I was
heading towards graduation of high school, I decided, you know what,
I'd rather take a chance on this unknown thing that
I have a lot of passion for and I don't
know where it's going to take me, instead of like
traditional academics, because I've seen what that's given me so far,
(02:57):
like what and what I've given it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And it's about that because you weren't really applying yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I wasn't applying myself at all. Yeah, so it's like
at least I love this. I think I love this.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
You know, were you when you talked about the odd
jobs that you had working in restaurants?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I know you worked at like a.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Crab shack, yeah, and seafood restaurants and things like that.
Were you at all ever, like cooking the food or
just prep prepping or sweeping up?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Like what were those odd jobs?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It took a while till they let me cook anything.
I was probably not fourteen fifteen sixteen when I started
working in kitchens in the neighborhood, and the first few
jobs are like, you know, yeah, it's like the introduction
to the salad station or I worked on a raw bar.
I had no idea how to do that, you know,
(03:43):
really small tasks, a lot of prep work, learning how
to use a knife, really, you know, for the first time.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So you were like a sous chef kind of.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
No, No, sous chefs go all way away. Sous chef's
the right hand.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Man, like the sususu to the sous chef. I was.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I was the I didn't know the name of Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
But this is all a great education though without you
even realizing it, because I think when running a business,
even knowing how to do all the things that it
takes is important because some people invest in businesses or
open a business and they don't know all the ins
and outs of it. So how can you train staff
to do things that you don't know how to do.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
How can you ask them want to do something that
you don't know how to do yourself?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And so then you did, however, after school go to
culinary school?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And what made you think that that was the next
move to do? Because you already didn't like traditional schooling
and you knew you wanted to be in the culinary business.
But some people, I think, I know chefs who have
never gone to traditional culinary school, and then some who have.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
What made you say this is the next route?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I think it was really that there was, to be
honest with you, back then, I think it was really
that there was a degree involved, so that felt like
there was a level of legitimacy there. Okay, but I
agree with what you're saying, Particularly for my business, I
don't think that's necessary. I don't think my route needs
to be followed exactly. I think that you can go
(05:09):
to the University of choose your great restaurant, knock on
the back door, tell them I'll start at the bottom
and I'll work my way through in lieu of going
to a major school. There's nothing against it. I think
the great culinary schools of the country have a tremendous job.
They do a great job. They're influencing a lot of students.
(05:31):
I just don't think it's necessary. I think it's a
great thing. And there's networking there with other colleagues that
are going to go on and work in the industry,
and you're going to have a leg up in that way.
But if you want to just go to Danielle on
sixty fifth Street right here in Manhattan and knock on
the back door and ask Chef Danielle if you can
(05:51):
start by appealing potatoes, that's a pretty great university too, right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
You know that's interesting you say the networking part, because
I always feel like going to college for me, the
networking aspect of it was one of the most beneficial
things when you get out of school. Some of the
first opportunities I got were from people who I went
to school with. And I know you met your partner
in culinary school, Yeah, first day of school.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
That's to me.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You look at that as fate like this was, you know,
enough reason for me to even be here. And so
partnerships is another thing that I want to make sure
that we discussed. But first I want to talk about
movies like I see all these culinary movies now like
the menu. Do you watch movies like Okay, is it
really like that? Because I see how strict it is
(06:34):
like with the food preparation, and they make it seem
like the restaurant owners are like the top head chefs
of everything are so rigid and like this whole you know,
have you come across that in your experience?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yes, I mean, I would say in the fine dining
world of restaurants, traditionally kitchens and even the front of
the house staff, it's a very militant environments. Things have
to be really, really well respected. I think the consistency
(07:09):
of your day, the consistency of your products, the consistency
of your work. It has to be nearly identical every day.
So there's somebody above you who's got a very keen
eye on your work all day long. And you as
a student, you as an employee. There you've chosen that path.
(07:30):
I want to work in this restaurant of great excellence
because I want that on my resume. I want that
for my skill set. It's no different than you. I
want to go be a Green Beret. I want to
go work in the marine'd this, you've made this selection.
You want to be the best of the best, so
you go work at the best of the best. And
(07:51):
there's a reason why they've separated themselves from the pack
and and and it's that sort of it's treating their
work with that sort of discipline.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
You like that?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Have you ever been like that in any way as
a Are there some level of Okay, I have to
be militant with my staff as I'm training when you
were first starting and training your staff.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yes, I think that there's absolutely a level of precision
that we demand. I'd like to believe that we do
it in a very humane way. I think where the
students are there to learn excellence, that's why they've chosen
work for us. But you want to make sure that
you're doing it in a way that is the most
(08:33):
nurturing as well. Okay, So finding that balance, and I
think that my generation is doing a great job of that.
I think the old days, it was environments that were
much less desirable, and I've seen them, I've been through them,
and I've learned from them. And I think our generation
of chefs is doing a great job of still keeping
with the tradition of old school like it's got to
(08:56):
be exact while being really respectful people.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I also feel like for you, there's a lot of
things and details that you have when it comes to
your restaurants. You have forty restaurants, now, is that correct?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Forty Yeah, forty give.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Or take some, Okay, And so even when it comes
to the uniforms, when it comes to the dishes, like
all these little things that other people might not even notice,
how much Karen thought goes into it. That is very
detailed on your end. Can you talk about why that's
so important to you?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Absolutely? I think that we're in the entertainment business. So
you're coming to one of my restaurants for a night out.
You know, you didn't happen to walk by and you
were like, I'm hungry, let's go in right.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, Because you have to make a reservation months in it.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
You've made this commitment the customer to like spend time
to wait thirty days to make the reservation. You're coming
for a night out. And what we do, what I
preach to my team and talk about as often as possible,
is what we do is most to me, most similar
to theater right Broadway we put on We build a stage,
(10:03):
We set uniforms, costumes, we have actors, employees. We put
on a show at the exact same time every night.
We do the exact same things every night for a
different group, for a different audience. Two hundred people come in.
It's a different group of people every night. We're the same,
the timing is exactly the same, the food's the same.
(10:24):
We put on the same outfits. So we're setting a stage.
So for Carbone, it's nineteen fifties, New York City, Italian American? Right, Okay,
so nineteen fifty So what would be the music? Then?
What would be the color of that uniform? Right? What
would be the floor tile? How big would that menu be?
How would we write that menu? And you start asking questions.
(10:46):
You know, you build this, you build this really tight narrative,
this story, and then you have to ask a question
about every detail you're choosing, does that make sense in
our story? So that hopefully at the end result is
you walk in the door, are at six thirty for
your reservation, and you feel like you're Raallyota walking in
the back of Copa cabana because we put all that
(11:08):
intent into.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It, right, because that's a real night out.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I mean, I know people who go to Carbone and
they literally are like, I'm coming into New York just
to go have dinner here. And now people can have
that experience in Miami. And you guys, you did that
during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
We did right right in the heart of it.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, a lot of people were trying to make sure
there are businesses because New York I think we were
so slow to open back up, but if you went
to other cities and other states, things were a little
bit more.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, we just wouldn't accept that we couldn't do business.
So we're just like, we're your shut down and we're like, okay,
well where can we keep the wheels moving. I was like,
all right, well, well Florida, Miami, that's that's those doors
are open. So we told everybody in the company that
was New York based, We're like, there's an opportunity right
now for anyone that wants to uproot and come to Miami.
(11:58):
We're gonna we're gonna go down there right now. We're
going to pivot immediately, and we're going to do business
down there, and there's jobs available, and we moved a
ton of people and we opened immediately.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And to have Carbone Beach. Yeah, now as well, because
that's about to happen. So let's talk about what Carbone
Beach is before we go back into I want to
discuss partnerships with you because of the partners that you
have and how you guys linked up. But first let's
talk about Carbone Beach. Since we're in Miami right now.
All right, how did you guys come up with this
Carbone Beach? I guess experience that's going to be happening
(12:32):
during Formula.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
One, So it's in its third year now, so as
well as the actual race. So the first year when
the Formula One race was coming to Miami three years ago, now,
we sort of decided, well, this is going to be
the biggest week of the year in Miami. We need
to do more than what we're doing. It's not enough
to just operate the restaurants. This is the biggest week
of the year. What can we do? So we hatch
(12:55):
this plan to build this giant structure on the actual
sand of Miami Beach, and we wanted to do a
over the top sort of extravaganza, a throwback to like
the days of a supper club dinner in a show,
but dinner in a show turned way up right where
(13:18):
it's it's almost like a Roman feast where there's giant
ice sculptures full of like you know, seafood delights and
caviar stations, and there's musical performances happening everywhere. There's like
fifty chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Looks beautiful the pictures right now, Okay, go ahead, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
So it's just it's taking the idea of Carbone, the
idea of the restaurant, the idea of the theater we
just talked about, and amplifying it to the max for
this weekend that is the max of Miami. So I
just wanted to do something that met the standards that
I felt that needed, that weekend needed.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And everybody can't go you know, clearly, like you have
to make your resids in advance.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
And I'm be honest with y'all. It's not cheap. Okay,
it's definitely.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
An American Express cardholder. It makes it a little easier.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I'm an American Express car holder. But it is something
that you know, it is not just that like you said,
walk by, Oh, let me try to get into this.
This is something that has to be planned in advance
along with being able to go.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And you also never know who you might see.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And I know that you know lebron Ken, Griffin, I
mean some of the you know krem de la Creme
of society, but also in entertainment, those are the type
of people that show up, so you never know who
you'll be there with. I was reading and a lot
of people will say this when they fly. They're like,
I fly first class because you know, you put yourself
in a position you never know who you're going to
(14:44):
meet on the flight and who you'll be rubbing elbows with,
and how that can help you if you have a
business that you're starting. Were you ever early on in
your career, before carbone became what it became and major
food group became what it became, do you feel like
there were times that you were living beyond your means
to try to get to a point because you weren't
born with a silver spoon in your mouth. This was
(15:05):
something that you had to work to get to. So
where there's stressful times when you're like, man, my cards
are all maxed out. I'm trying to get into the
space that I don't even know if financially I should
be here. I know a lot of times we talk
about things like, you know, not feeling like we belong
where we're supposed to, where we're at right now.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Did you ever experience that.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I felt comfortable on the path that I was on
And it was a grind, But I think early on
I made peace with myself that it was going to
be that, and I tried not to get to down
on myself when I was in the middle of it.
You know, working as a cook in New York after graduating.
(15:48):
You know, you're getting paid, you know, just a few
hundred dollars a week, but you're living in New York,
You're commuting to work at all crazy hours, You're working
crazy hours. But it's a common of the passion is
going to pull you through it. And I made a
sort of I made peace with myself early on, and
I said, it's it's going to take years. You know,
(16:09):
it's the it's the ten thousand hours thing. It's going
to take a really long time for me to be
anywhere near where I think I I where I think
I need to be, or I want to be in
this city. It was really always about New York. It's
like I want to be known in New York. I
want to be a known chef in New York who
left a mark. And I knew how much work it
was going to take, so I tried and tarred when
(16:30):
when you're in some some tough moments, right, But I
tried not to get too down on myself when it
was that grind, and I was like, I'm I'm here for.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The grind, and that does build a lot of character.
I think sometimes things happen really quickly for people and
they may not be prepared for it too as well.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
I told myself it was going to be a while,
like this is going to take time, This is not overnight.
And this is before a lot of the lot of
the social media sensations, right, I mean we're talking about
nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, so like the idea that
you could just like pop off and get like a
huge following out of nothing, or like a catchphrase or
something that wasn't an option. I was following the path
(17:07):
of the masters that sort of taught me and the
ones that I idolized, and all of those were really
long processes. It took them years and years working for
incredible chefs all over the world, and I was like, Okay,
that's what it takes, that's what I got to do.
So I wasn't looking for this for this quick answer,
because that wasn't that wasn't something that was that I
even knew about.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, because I mean, and for people to understand the timeline.
Carbone has been eleven years now since that opened, but
before that, you've had other.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Than I mean, my first job in New York, like
real job in a real restaurant was nineteen ninety eight.
So yeah, you're looking at all those years where there's
you know, there's no money in it. You know, you're
good with that, like it is what it is. There's
no money. There's a lot of hours you got to
put your head down, keep your mouth shutting your eyes open,
and and work for the best. It's a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Years, yeah, that is.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And fortunately for you you did have your first step
of a partner who you met on the first day
a culinary school rich and so what is that like
to have somebody that does what you do in the
field that you're in that's also trying to make it
and then you guys end up becoming partners because I
think that's helpful too.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
When we're both grinding it out. We both ain't got
it like that.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
We both haven't had this silver spoon in our mouths,
but we're you know, working towards the same goal and
encouraging each other.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I think there's zero percent chaince I'm sitting here talking
to you if I didn't meet Rich that day. To
have him there as everything, as your brother, your business partner,
your crutch, your sounding board. To have that there so
that you don't feel alone in that journey was the
(18:48):
luckiest day of my life.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, that doesn't happen for a lot of people, you know.
And then you guys took on a third partner.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
We did.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
How hard is that to do? Because sometimes you have
this concept of what you're doing. Y'all have been working
together for quite some time. You had the sandwich shop together,
you know, prior to opening Carbone. But now we're letting
in another person, a different energy, somebody who brings something
different to the table, who comes from a different world. Right,
So Jeff was the third partner.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Jeff was the third partner. He came in. He was
like an early customer of ours. We had opened our
first restaurant, just Rich and I together. We didn't know
Jeff tiny restaurant the rest of the size of the studio, and.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Did you just call our studio tiny?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Well studio was a restaurant and we had six tables
and we was just me, Rich and like two or
three other employees total. And Jeff had heard about the restaurant.
We had some mutual friends. So he came in one
night and really liked what we were doing and asked
if he could like talk to us after dinner and
(19:45):
buy us a drink. And so Rich was like, go,
he's Rich. Set me. He was like, go check this
guy out, Go buy a drink, have a drink with
this guy. And we spent all night talking about our
hopes and our dreams. And I went back and told Rich,
I said, I mean, I think this guy, you know,
is kind of in line with what we're talking about.
And to your point, it's scary, you know, I've known
Rich my whole life and I just met this guy.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
So we could have just been saying things sound.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Good and and and once again, like got got so
lucky with with the ideal third person, because if it
wasn't if Jeff wasn't the third partner, I wouldn't be
sitting here talking.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
To you, right, And so what did he bring that
was different to the table, because I know, financially, you
all were trying to figure out, like what what are
we doing?
Speaker 3 (20:28):
He brought that I'm gonna go figure it out attitude
that Rich and I had about about the restaurant. He
applied that he had that very same i'm gonna go
I may not know the answer, but i'm gonna go
figure it out attitude about building this thing into an
actual business. And he's like, I'm young, I come here.
He had a banking a banking background Cornell grad. He's like,
(20:50):
but I don't I don't know all the answers, but
I'm gonna go figure him out, right. And while Rich
and I were grinding in the kitchen, you know, making
the best food humanly possible, he was out there trying
to get all the other answers that we we didn't have,
we didn't have time for, we didn't even know, we
didn't even know what the questions were forget about the answers.
So he helped us make this into a legitimate business.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, because that is scary, You're like, we like you said,
y'all had know you and Rich knew each other for
so long, and I'm sure other people had approached to
you guys trying to work with you also.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Yeah, but you know, and it's heart said about it.
It's like, I don't know this four of this guys,
guy or girl, I don't know them. I'm not sure
what are their intentions. His intentions felt pure. It was like,
we're going to do this together, side by side, you know.
And I liked that. We liked that he was young.
It wasn't like some some some restaurant tour coming to
like buy our business or like take our business. It
(21:42):
felt it felt really honest and genuine, right, and you
could look in his eyes and see like that he
wants the same.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Things now when you guys first opened, right, clearly this
was going to be a huge undertaking, a big deal.
You want to make sure people are coming, you want
to make sure the reviews are good. You want to
make sure the right people are coming. You're also marketing
it well, and you know there's a lot that goes
into it. I would assume, I know you use the
best ingredients because it all starts with that.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Right for the food to be great.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You can't skimp out on anything when it comes to
your ingredients. So what were some of the biggest challenges
Because I feel like we learned a lot from things
that didn't go right, probably sometimes more than when things
do go right. So when you guys first open, what
would you say were the biggest challenges that you faced.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Well, we were going from this now six table restaurant
to Carbone, which at the time felt like a stadium.
It felt giant. It was like eighty seats. Now we
look back on it and it feels small again to us,
but back then it was this huge thing. We weren't
even we didn't even hand out menus back in the day,
Like it was just we told you what we were making.
(22:45):
So we were like we had this big menu of
all these options and all these seats and what felt
like a huge staff. We weren't doubling. We were growing
way beyond the means of where we were, and we
were growing into a price point very quickly, a luxury
(23:06):
price point that immediately garnered a little bit of who
do you guys think you are?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, it gets a little hate, like, yeah, you're charging
fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
For And I had guys in Touxedos and we were
like doing table side service and things were expensive, and like,
aren't you the same guys that were just doing like
that sandwich shop, and like yeah, but like we can
do this too, like because because rich and I trained
for the best chefs in the world and we have Jeff, now,
like we can do this. So there was definitely a
little bit of initial pushback of like, you know, don't
(23:38):
you know Ill Millino's right down the block, what are
you doing?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Likelina is still there? Yeah, okay, sorry, I haven't been there.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So it was like, you guys, aren't you guys aren't
part of that pedigree. You're you're too you know, you're too.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Young for that, right, Yeah, And you guys definitely showed
everybody because that is true.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
And I've learned this too. In business.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You can't go from a lower price point in a
run and then raise it. It's easier to go from
like a higher price point and lower it, you know,
than the other way around, So you can't. But the
price of ingredients has gone up so much and things
like that have happened. What happens when you have to
change your menu and people are so used to coming
in and getting, you know, what they're accustomed to. How
(24:18):
does that affect business? And some people will say the
customer is always right? Is that true in the restaurant?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I believe that. I believe that we try to cater
to everybody's requests as best we can. You know, I
don't I don't like to say no to a guest
as a chef, and we train that. So if we
have the ingredients and you want something and we can
do it, love that I want to say yes to you.
Changing the menu is tricky, you know, especially at Carbone
now because you know, like you said, people wait thirty days,
(24:46):
they're probably looking at the menu online. They've already figured
out what they're going to order.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
They can't run out of stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
I've seen the dishes on social media on Instagram, like
I'm going to have that. So that's why we kind
of created this new version of Carbone called Carbone Privado,
which is in Hudson Yard in our members club.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I've been there at ZZ club and you can request
certain things the day before and they'll make it for you.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I went for my birthday.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Will make anything you want. And the Carbone there is
almost all new dishes and we change them all the time.
So that's sort of our that's our avenue for creation
under the Carbone brand, knowing that the OG menu kind
of needs to be the way it is.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, I've actually been to ZZ Club a few times.
I want to talk about these private members clubs too,
because I would say every single time I've gone there,
what I like about it is the vibe that everybody
feels like you can talk to whoever. Like if I'm
sitting at the table, Like I said, it was my birthday,
so they brought like a little cake out for me
and everything. But the people on both sides of me
were so friendly and everybody's like talking to you. I
(25:48):
mean the people on this side, they were like seventy
years old and they live in the building and so
they were just having like a whole conversation. It's a
nice family type of feeling to be in a space
like that. And then on this side, one person like
owned a jewelry company, and the other guy, I think
he worked in sports. It was something like that. But
everybody is just kind of like kicking it and talking
to each other. You don't have to worry that someone's
(26:10):
going to go and post you on social media, take
a picture of you, or you tell your business. Because
everybody's there trying to do their own thing.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And it seems like in New.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
York, I was just reading an article about how these
private clubs are such a thing here right now.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
What made you decide to get into that space? Because
there's a Zez.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Club in Miami, and now we have one in Hudson
Yards in New York, So what made you decide that's
the next step.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It felt like a natural evolution of hospitality. It felt
like building these clubs, you're doing more than just a restaurant.
You're building like a little ecosystem. You feel it when
you're there. So in these ecosystems, it allows us to
do more. I'm programming it more. I have these different
little bars and lounges and private dining rooms. System like
(27:00):
being able to working with the chefs directly, like the
members are working with the chefs directly to curate food experiences.
I'm changing the menus all the time. We're served. We're
open all day so that we can accommodate guests or
members that are coming in who just want to have
a meeting and a coffee. So to be able to
create this little ecosystem was really interesting to us and
(27:24):
to provide that as an amenity to our guests that
have been so supportive to us for over ten years now. Right,
it's kind of like a gated community, right, Like, It's like,
that's why you covet that when you're buying real estate.
You're in this space that feels very comfortable and safe.
And for us, we need to do the highest level
(27:46):
of accommodations. We need to be able to provide you
with the very, very very best food and beverage service possible.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah, it's great because I also feel like you work
hard to be able to make money, to be able
to enjoy like luxurious things, and so I think being
able to to get a membership there, you know. I
mean different people have it that way for different reasons,
but when you're working really hard to get to where
you get to to be able to be like, Okay,
I'm going to be able to, you know, do this
and come here and enjoy myself and always have a
(28:12):
nice time and always have a reservation and be treated
like family and things like that. I do feel like
it is important and the networking that can go on
in a space like that, if you choose to network
or if you choose not to, you know, that's definitely
all up to you. Now, I also want to talk
about Michelin Stars, because Carbone did get a Michelin Star,
and so what are the rules when it comes to
(28:34):
getting a Michelin Star. I think it was in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Twenty thirteen we got a Michelin Star. Two years ago
they took it away. I could go down a rabbit
hole with you on Michelin. That is the opinion of one.
But yeah, I have a very I wouldn't say contentious,
(29:01):
but I have a very particular opinion on systems like
that and how they affect the industry. I honestly think
that this day and age, the power of the food
critic is really in the hands of the person. It's
in the hands of the people through social media. Right,
never before have food critics mattered less.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Okay, I could see that.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I like the a lot of food critics are going
viral and they're not, like, you know, trained in a
certain way and being able to give out these like
stars and credits. And I know, even like with the
James Beard Foundation that was created as a different way
to acknowledge, you know, because I don't even understand, Like
I know that they'll say if it's not played it
(29:48):
a certain way, if certain things don't happen, if somebody
I don't even understand how a Michelin star works, like
it might not necessarily just be about the food, but
I've heard like different things about it.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah, I think how Michelin used to judge restaurants back
in the day and how it does it now is
very different in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Okay, but Ye're like, it doesn't matter. We're still booked
and busy, so.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
It doesn't matter. It doesn't. But to my point, the
powers and the people right right where we're back in
the back in the day, Like if you got an
unbelievable New York Times review, you used to be able
to take the physical newspaper or the bank and get
a loan out against it.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Wow, which you did, I mean, yeah, you did get
I mean you did get it.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Amazing. We got The New York Times has blessed us,
which was like always my holy grail is in New Yorker.
All I want to do was be blessed by the
New York Times. But I think It's a really good
thing that the momentum of a restaurant, the judgment of
a restaurant, is in the hands of the people.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
That actually go to them and reviews online.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Because that's really what I do when I want to
go to eat someplace, like, I will definitely go and
look at the reviews and be like, you know, I
can see if a lot of people gave and I
like to look to look at how many reviews it has,
so you know, if it has like thousands, hundreds of reviews,
you're like, Okay, a lot of people have gone here
reviewed this restaurant versus you know, sometimes people might give
you a bad review because they couldn't get a table,
(31:14):
or they felt like, you know, somebody didn't treat them well,
all different kinds of reasons. But when there's more reviews,
I feel like it gives more of an even, you know,
balance of what's really happening.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
And that's that's that's the actual customer. That's not one
person sitting in an office saying this place is great
and that one's not right it.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
There's a lot of power to one person.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Don't We just don't need that anymore, Okay, we all
have our own audiences. We all have our own followings.
Everyone can say I went to this restaurant tonight and
it was great, and for all the people that followed it,
they just got a review.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Now, you're also in the real estate business now too.
I remember I heard you a couple of years ago
saying that was the next move for you.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
So how is that going?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Where's how does the restaurant and real estate go hand
in hand for your business?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
They're both part of they both fall from me under
the umbrella of hospitality. So we're working on a branded
resident right now residents right now in Miami in the
Edgewater neighborhood called Villa Della Miami, And it's a residential
tower that's right on the water that faces South Beach.
And you know, it's our job to make sure that
it's programmed and thought of in the same way that
(32:22):
we would think of a restaurant. From the moment somebody
wakes up to the moment they go to sleep. I
need to make sure that from an hospitality, from a
food and beverage perspective, that they're interacting with all the
things that I would want if I was one of
the tenants there, right So they have optionalities to work
with me and my team to fill their spice cabinets
(32:44):
the way I would I designed the kitchens in each condo.
We have restaurants and clubs and amenities in the building
that are all done by my company. So it's taking
another look at what hospitality can mean. Know, it could
be a private club, it could be a restaurant, It
could be branded residents. It could be a country club,
(33:05):
you know, it could be it could be so many
things that for me, are part of the DNA of
my company. We don't want to be necessarily pigeonhole to
just a traditional restaurant.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Right Listen, you have definitely diversified because you also have
products in stores and now I can cook at home
like a Mario carbone, but not quite because I'm going
to still use box noodles and stuff. But and this
is great because you actually have these different sauces and
I personally not put this on everything, have cooked with
this at home myself, and it's really amazing to be
(33:37):
able to bring that experience.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
To my house.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Thank you appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
So what are some of the products that you guys
have in stores and are you expanding that as well, so.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
It jarred sauce line right now, and we're expanding the
flavors as we go, you know, myself and Rich we
go to the factories ourselves and we teach them exactly
how we want these things done. There's also a lot
of learning for us too. We've never cooked on those
on those scales that they're producing the sauces on, so
(34:05):
it's been a lot of training and we continue to
do that with them. I'm really happy with the way
it came out, and it sort of gives it gives
us an opportunity, you know, to share a little bit
of our product, a little bit of our company, a
little bit of this restaurant across the country for all
those that that aren't going to make it to New York,
you know. So it feels, you know, it's when I
(34:28):
walk into a store somewhere, you know, when I'm traveling
and I see the sauce, it's still puts a huge
smile on my face that that that's a that's a
real thing that exists.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, I go to the supermarket, I'm like, okay, and
I definitely purchase this now because I think of the
sauces I used to buy. I didn't think that hard
about it. It was just but now I'm like, all right,
we got to get the the I can't even say
a rabbiata?
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Abata?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Okay? I gotta get my accent down. Pat.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
In addition to that, you have a clothing line, I do. Okay,
So can you talk about what made you decide? Because
you are definitely we always dress impeccably, and I know
you pay a lot of attention. We discussed this earlier
to even the uniforms that are Warren inside of your restaurant.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
So talk about the cloning line.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
So I think you know it started with me working
with designers to create uniforms for the restaurants. Okay, That's
where it started. And then the thing that that really
set me off is I struggle with the way men
dress in my restaurants, particularly younger meant my age and
(35:31):
a bit younger, okay. And what they think nice is
to go out to dinner is just would not have
been acceptable in my house walking out the door. If
I told my father I was going to a nice
restaurant and he'd ask me why I'm dressed that way?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
So if I can do anything to affect the way
this generation of guys dresses at my restaurants. I thought
maybe I should try and try my hand at doing
something about that. So we created a small you know,
it's a small men's wear brand right now called Our
Lady of Rocco. And it's the.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Intent is why is it Our Lady of Rocco Because.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
The original restaurant that Carbone in habits was an old
restaurant called Rocco. You can see it on the on
the on the side of the jar. Okay, so it
was called Rocco Restaurant. It was from the twenties, and
we wanted to keep this the old sign as an
homage to the original place that it was there, and
that that building has been so good to us that
I started to sort of treat it like a like
(36:30):
a cathedral and treat it almost like a Catholic school.
So there's our So we created Our Lady of Rocco
and sort of to give thanks to this great building.
And so the clothing is kind of the uniform of
the school of the restaurant.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
You're right, though, when people go out now, it's like, okay,
let me put one, you know, a nice sweatshirt, some jeans,
some nice new sneakers, but it's not.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Necessarily it's worse than Okay, I gave it to much
like ladies try. Ladies try. They go out and they
spend time, and they put the clothes together and their
makeup and their outfit. They think about it. Guy will
put a hoodie and hat on and come to the
restaurant and it's just.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
That's But you know what I'm going to tell you this.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I like the fact that you can tell a restaurant
is great when you can come dressed. However, but I
understand what you're saying as somebody who they're.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Stressed however, and then there's like dressed however, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
I can see what you mean.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
But you know, I think also sometimes we feel like
the people that have the most money are not always
the ones that are dressed well too, if that makes sense, Like.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
And that's okay, yeah, because you know, you know, yeah,
there's plenty of households that don't have a ton of
money that won't let you leave the house.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Know you're right, but you know what, I think it
is too.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
And because I'm trying to figure like decipher this in
my own head as we're having this conversation, right. I
think that for a lot of times, like they'll make
it seem like if you're not dressed a certain way,
like no, the worst place to me are the ones
like know this, know that you can't wear this, and.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
It feels like I think even when we were coming.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Up, it was always like the people that were the
most famous, like hip hop artists and stuff like that,
they were able to go anywhere dressed however they wanted
to go, and and they just look like a star
no matter what. And I think there's a way that
you can wear things like even like a dope sweatsuit
and still definitely yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
There's a way to make it look right, like look
crisp right.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Right now, like you don't care.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
But then I also feel like like Kanye West has
gone to your restaurant and been photographed, you know, with
his new girlfriend many times, and sometimes his clothing from
his like designer lines, looks like, you know, it just
came off from somebody sleeping on the.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Street, and that's not a huge amount of thought and
effort went into it. I appreciate that, right, But like
you go to Wimbledon, you dress a certain way, like
you come to Carbone like you're living in Sinatra's lifestyle here,
Like he wouldn't have been happy about that. It's the
theme you Yeah, you're not you're not appreciating my theme here.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Let me ask you this, with your partners, what do
you guys bump heads about the most? Because that's the
point of partnership, right. It's a system where it's checks
and balances, and so it's not a dictatorship where some
person gets they weigh like, what, what's something that you've
been really passionate about but got shot down they were like,
that's not going to work.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Well. Sometimes you get really passive if you're the if
you're the creator of something and you're bringing it to
the group as an idea, you have extra passion into
like you're you're, you're, you're personally connected to this idea,
whether it's a dish or a or a uniform or
something like I made this. What do you guys think?
And if they don't like it, you take that way
(39:42):
heavier than something else because it's you. Yeah, So it's
it's still really hard, even after all these years to
make something and have it be like not well received
or more kind of like wishy washy well received, but
we all kind of trust the process. In process, sometimes
you need that.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Could I have an idea that you think it's great.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Totally and then they're like they've shot down some really
not great ideas that I've come up with, and thank
god they did.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Well. Listen, I appreciate you so much for coming through.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
I know we could sit here and chat it out
because I love talking about business and partnerships and expanding,
and I love the.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Way that you've been moving.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Major Food Group is another company that you guys have together, right.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Yeah, that's the mothership.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
That's the mothership of everything.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
And you guys have been acquiring acquiring other companies, including
some of your competitors.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Well the colleagues.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Colleagues, Okay, you know there's nothing more of a competition though.
That is what it should be about, a healthy, nice
competition where you can go check out their stuff and
be like, Okay, you know, I give you props even.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Though we may be in that lane.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Talent comes with it. So if you can identify.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
You're my competition, you're talented, and I.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Could use you and we could work together and I
can I can maybe make you know, bigger and more
successful and more money under our flag than you could
have a loan, and I get your talent. So you know,
it only works if it's a win win A good deal.
A good deal should be a good deal on both sides.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Where do you see this evolving to next?
Speaker 3 (41:10):
I think you know, we are going to continue to
ask the question of like what what can hospitality mean
to us? And and can we affect these these areas?
So I think you're going to see more, Yes, you're
going to see more of an expansion of our of
our restaurant portfolio and in other major markets around the world.
That's something that we're in process of. Hotels are absolutely
(41:34):
something that we're working on right now. We love it
so our own branded hotels, branded residences internationally too. Absolutely
absolutely all right.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I love that you guys have Primit what Berry Commons
now too. By the way, I used to go, well,
I still do. I love shopping at the outlets, but
they never had good food options up there, so that's
a relief today.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
That's good right next to see.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
All right, well, Mario Carbone, thank you so much, and
again for a carbon beach. Is it going to be
possible for people to still use their MX.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
It's absolutely possible. Okay, American Express is more than happy
to sell you some.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Tickets like don't call me, don't ask.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Me, American text me no, but we would love to
have you Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's going to be special.
Were some great surprise guests coming out performing for us.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Oh, I can't even imagine what that's like because I've
seen the list of who's performed in the past, so
we already know it's going to be amazing. Well, thank
you so much for coming through. We're going to continue
to follow you. I'm sure I'll see you at the
restaurants one day. And thank you for my sausage so
I can make it out. Mario Carbone, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
My pleasure,
What's up as way up with Angela Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm Angela Yee, and this is very exciting because we
have the very famous, well known chef Mario Carbone here
with us today. We've all heard of Carbone, and we're
going to get a lot more inside information from you.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You don't mind sharing right into.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It, okay, because I love the fact that you as
an entrepreneur. Some people might think as a chef that
this is something that was like a restaurant that was
passed down from generation to generation, but this is something
that you really built from the ground up, from scratch.
And what I love about your story is from a
young kid not knowing what you were going to do
later on in life. It's not like you came from,
(00:40):
you know, a family that owned restaurants. You were kind
of letting this direction without knowing that one day this
is what you would do. So let's talk about that
for a second. When you were younger, and if you
had to envision your life, Like when I was young,
I thought I would be a writer. What did you
think young Mario Carbone would be doing.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I thought I was going to play for the New
York Okay, at around eight or nine, I realized that
was probably out of the cards.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
That's how you know he's from Queens. By the way,
he said Mets, not Yankees.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
That's not Mets. So I was I was convinced that
I was going to be on the Mets. And then
when position when that was catcher. Okay, So when that
news was broke to me by basically everybody that that
was not possible, we needed to work on what was next.
And I think the next thing I knew I had
(01:30):
love for was food. I didn't know what that meant yet,
but I knew I had love for it. My grandparents
were born in Italy, and food and the table and
family was always a really high priority for us. So
I took that and I started, you know, odd jobs
in the kitchen with my grandparents as a little baby,
(01:51):
like cleaning peas and doing things like that. And I
parlayed that into working like after high school, like after
school and high school local rushstaurants on weekends just to
make a little bit of money. And I found I
found love for like the professional commercial restaurant, even if
they weren't great. Like I loved the environment. I love
the pace of it, I love the you know, I
(02:12):
love the action of a of a of a professional kitchen,
and I got addicted to that. I was like, wow,
this is this is cool. This is something that like
I'm really I'm really interested in. And I didn't love school,
Like traditional school just wasn't like wasn't for me, Like
I didn't apply myself. There wasn't anything there that like
I found value in, okay, and so I was just
(02:34):
kind of like killing time in school. I wasn't really
heading in any particular direction. So like, as I was
heading towards graduation of high school, I decided, you know what,
I'd rather take a chance on this unknown thing that
I have a lot of passion for and I don't
know where it's going to take me, instead of like
traditional academics, because I've seen what that's given me so far,
(02:57):
like what and what I've given it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And it's about that because you weren't really applying yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I wasn't applying myself at all. Yeah, so it's like
at least I love this. I think I love this.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
You know, were you when you talked about the odd
jobs that you had working in restaurants?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I know you worked at like a.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Crab shack, yeah, and seafood restaurants and things like that.
Were you at all ever, like cooking the food or
just prep prepping or sweeping up?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Like what were those odd jobs?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It took a while till they let me cook anything.
I was probably not fourteen fifteen sixteen when I started
working in kitchens in the neighborhood, and the first few
jobs are like, you know, yeah, it's like the introduction
to the salad station or I worked on a raw bar.
I had no idea how to do that, you know,
(03:43):
really small tasks, a lot of prep work, learning how
to use a knife, really, you know, for the first time.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So you were like a sous chef kind of.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
No, No, sous chefs go all way away. Sous chef's
the right hand.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Man, like the sususu to the sous chef. I was.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
I was the I didn't know the name of Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
But this is all a great education though without you
even realizing it, because I think when running a business,
even knowing how to do all the things that it
takes is important because some people invest in businesses or
open a business and they don't know all the ins
and outs of it. So how can you train staff
to do things that you don't know how to do.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
How can you ask them want to do something that
you don't know how to do yourself?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And so then you did, however, after school go to
culinary school?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And what made you think that that was the next
move to do? Because you already didn't like traditional schooling
and you knew you wanted to be in the culinary business.
But some people, I think, I know chefs who have
never gone to traditional culinary school, and then some who have.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
What made you say this is the next route?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I think it was really that there was, to be
honest with you, back then, I think it was really
that there was a degree involved, so that felt like
there was a level of legitimacy there. Okay, but I
agree with what you're saying, Particularly for my business, I
don't think that's necessary. I don't think my route needs
to be followed exactly. I think that you can go
(05:09):
to the University of choose your great restaurant, knock on
the back door, tell them I'll start at the bottom
and I'll work my way through in lieu of going
to a major school. There's nothing against it. I think
the great culinary schools of the country have a tremendous job.
They do a great job. They're influencing a lot of students.
(05:31):
I just don't think it's necessary. I think it's a
great thing. And there's networking there with other colleagues that
are going to go on and work in the industry,
and you're going to have a leg up in that way.
But if you want to just go to Danielle on
sixty fifth Street right here in Manhattan and knock on
the back door and ask Chef Danielle if you can
(05:51):
start by appealing potatoes, that's a pretty great university too, right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
You know that's interesting you say the networking part, because
I always feel like going to college for me, the
networking aspect of it was one of the most beneficial
things when you get out of school. Some of the
first opportunities I got were from people who I went
to school with. And I know you met your partner
in culinary school, Yeah, first day of school.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
That's to me.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You look at that as fate like this was, you know,
enough reason for me to even be here. And so
partnerships is another thing that I want to make sure
that we discussed. But first I want to talk about
movies like I see all these culinary movies now like
the menu. Do you watch movies like Okay, is it
really like that? Because I see how strict it is
(06:34):
like with the food preparation, and they make it seem
like the restaurant owners are like the top head chefs
of everything are so rigid and like this whole you know,
have you come across that in your experience?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yes, I mean, I would say in the fine dining
world of restaurants, traditionally kitchens and even the front of
the house staff, it's a very militant environments. Things have
to be really, really well respected. I think the consistency
(07:09):
of your day, the consistency of your products, the consistency
of your work. It has to be nearly identical every day.
So there's somebody above you who's got a very keen
eye on your work all day long. And you as
a student, you as an employee. There you've chosen that path.
(07:30):
I want to work in this restaurant of great excellence
because I want that on my resume. I want that
for my skill set. It's no different than you. I
want to go be a Green Beret. I want to
go work in the marine'd this, you've made this selection.
You want to be the best of the best, so
you go work at the best of the best. And
(07:51):
there's a reason why they've separated themselves from the pack
and and and it's that sort of it's treating their
work with that sort of discipline.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
You like that?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Have you ever been like that in any way as
a Are there some level of Okay, I have to
be militant with my staff as I'm training when you
were first starting and training your staff.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yes, I think that there's absolutely a level of precision
that we demand. I'd like to believe that we do
it in a very humane way. I think where the
students are there to learn excellence, that's why they've chosen
work for us. But you want to make sure that
you're doing it in a way that is the most
(08:33):
nurturing as well. Okay, So finding that balance, and I
think that my generation is doing a great job of that.
I think the old days, it was environments that were
much less desirable, and I've seen them, I've been through them,
and I've learned from them. And I think our generation
of chefs is doing a great job of still keeping
with the tradition of old school like it's got to
(08:56):
be exact while being really respectful people.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I also feel like for you, there's a lot of
things and details that you have when it comes to
your restaurants. You have forty restaurants, now, is that correct?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Forty Yeah, forty give.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Or take some, Okay, And so even when it comes
to the uniforms, when it comes to the dishes, like
all these little things that other people might not even notice,
how much Karen thought goes into it. That is very
detailed on your end. Can you talk about why that's
so important to you?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Absolutely? I think that we're in the entertainment business. So
you're coming to one of my restaurants for a night out.
You know, you didn't happen to walk by and you
were like, I'm hungry, let's go in right.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, Because you have to make a reservation months in it.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
You've made this commitment the customer to like spend time
to wait thirty days to make the reservation. You're coming
for a night out. And what we do, what I
preach to my team and talk about as often as possible,
is what we do is most to me, most similar
to theater right Broadway we put on We build a stage,
(10:03):
We set uniforms, costumes, we have actors, employees. We put
on a show at the exact same time every night.
We do the exact same things every night for a
different group, for a different audience. Two hundred people come in.
It's a different group of people every night. We're the same,
the timing is exactly the same, the food's the same.
(10:24):
We put on the same outfits. So we're setting a stage.
So for Carbone, it's nineteen fifties, New York City, Italian American? Right, Okay,
so nineteen fifty So what would be the music? Then?
What would be the color of that uniform? Right? What
would be the floor tile? How big would that menu be?
How would we write that menu? And you start asking questions.
(10:46):
You know, you build this, you build this really tight narrative,
this story, and then you have to ask a question
about every detail you're choosing, does that make sense in
our story? So that hopefully at the end result is
you walk in the door, are at six thirty for
your reservation, and you feel like you're Raallyota walking in
the back of Copa cabana because we put all that
(11:08):
intent into.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
It, right, because that's a real night out.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I mean, I know people who go to Carbone and
they literally are like, I'm coming into New York just
to go have dinner here. And now people can have
that experience in Miami. And you guys, you did that
during the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
We did right right in the heart of it.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, a lot of people were trying to make sure
there are businesses because New York I think we were
so slow to open back up, but if you went
to other cities and other states, things were a little
bit more.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, we just wouldn't accept that we couldn't do business.
So we're just like, we're your shut down and we're like, okay,
well where can we keep the wheels moving. I was like,
all right, well, well Florida, Miami, that's that's those doors
are open. So we told everybody in the company that
was New York based, We're like, there's an opportunity right
now for anyone that wants to uproot and come to Miami.
(11:58):
We're gonna we're gonna go down there right now. We're
going to pivot immediately, and we're going to do business
down there, and there's jobs available, and we moved a
ton of people and we opened immediately.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And to have Carbone Beach. Yeah, now as well, because
that's about to happen. So let's talk about what Carbone
Beach is before we go back into I want to
discuss partnerships with you because of the partners that you
have and how you guys linked up. But first let's
talk about Carbone Beach. Since we're in Miami right now.
All right, how did you guys come up with this
Carbone Beach? I guess experience that's going to be happening
(12:32):
during Formula.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
One, So it's in its third year now, so as
well as the actual race. So the first year when
the Formula One race was coming to Miami three years ago, now,
we sort of decided, well, this is going to be
the biggest week of the year in Miami. We need
to do more than what we're doing. It's not enough
to just operate the restaurants. This is the biggest week
of the year. What can we do? So we hatch
(12:55):
this plan to build this giant structure on the actual
sand of Miami Beach, and we wanted to do a
over the top sort of extravaganza, a throwback to like
the days of a supper club dinner in a show,
but dinner in a show turned way up right where
(13:18):
it's it's almost like a Roman feast where there's giant
ice sculptures full of like you know, seafood delights and
caviar stations, and there's musical performances happening everywhere. There's like
fifty chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Looks beautiful the pictures right now, Okay, go ahead, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
So it's just it's taking the idea of Carbone, the
idea of the restaurant, the idea of the theater we
just talked about, and amplifying it to the max for
this weekend that is the max of Miami. So I
just wanted to do something that met the standards that
I felt that needed, that weekend needed.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And everybody can't go you know, clearly, like you have
to make your resids in advance.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
And I'm be honest with y'all. It's not cheap. Okay,
it's definitely.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
An American Express cardholder. It makes it a little easier.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I'm an American Express car holder. But it is something
that you know, it is not just that like you said,
walk by, Oh, let me try to get into this.
This is something that has to be planned in advance
along with being able to go.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And you also never know who you might see.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And I know that you know lebron Ken, Griffin, I
mean some of the you know krem de la Creme
of society, but also in entertainment, those are the type
of people that show up, so you never know who
you'll be there with. I was reading and a lot
of people will say this when they fly. They're like,
I fly first class because you know, you put yourself
in a position you never know who you're going to
(14:44):
meet on the flight and who you'll be rubbing elbows with,
and how that can help you if you have a
business that you're starting. Were you ever early on in
your career, before carbone became what it became and major
food group became what it became, do you feel like
there were times that you were living beyond your means
to try to get to a point because you weren't
born with a silver spoon in your mouth. This was
(15:05):
something that you had to work to get to. So
where there's stressful times when you're like, man, my cards
are all maxed out. I'm trying to get into the
space that I don't even know if financially I should
be here. I know a lot of times we talk
about things like, you know, not feeling like we belong
where we're supposed to, where we're at right now.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Did you ever experience that.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
I felt comfortable on the path that I was on
And it was a grind, But I think early on
I made peace with myself that it was going to
be that, and I tried not to get to down
on myself when I was in the middle of it.
You know, working as a cook in New York after graduating.
(15:48):
You know, you're getting paid, you know, just a few
hundred dollars a week, but you're living in New York,
You're commuting to work at all crazy hours, You're working
crazy hours. But it's a common of the passion is
going to pull you through it. And I made a
sort of I made peace with myself early on, and
I said, it's it's going to take years. You know,
(16:09):
it's the it's the ten thousand hours thing. It's going
to take a really long time for me to be
anywhere near where I think I I where I think
I need to be, or I want to be in
this city. It was really always about New York. It's
like I want to be known in New York. I
want to be a known chef in New York who
left a mark. And I knew how much work it
was going to take, so I tried and tarred when
(16:30):
when you're in some some tough moments, right, But I
tried not to get too down on myself when it
was that grind, and I was like, I'm I'm here for.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The grind, and that does build a lot of character.
I think sometimes things happen really quickly for people and
they may not be prepared for it too as well.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
I told myself it was going to be a while,
like this is going to take time, This is not overnight.
And this is before a lot of the lot of
the social media sensations, right, I mean we're talking about
nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, so like the idea that
you could just like pop off and get like a
huge following out of nothing, or like a catchphrase or
something that wasn't an option. I was following the path
(17:07):
of the masters that sort of taught me and the
ones that I idolized, and all of those were really
long processes. It took them years and years working for
incredible chefs all over the world, and I was like, Okay,
that's what it takes, that's what I got to do.
So I wasn't looking for this for this quick answer,
because that wasn't that wasn't something that was that I
even knew about.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, because I mean, and for people to understand the timeline.
Carbone has been eleven years now since that opened, but
before that, you've had other.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Than I mean, my first job in New York, like
real job in a real restaurant was nineteen ninety eight.
So yeah, you're looking at all those years where there's
you know, there's no money in it. You know, you're
good with that, like it is what it is. There's
no money. There's a lot of hours you got to
put your head down, keep your mouth shutting your eyes open,
and and work for the best. It's a lot of.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Years, yeah, that is.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And fortunately for you you did have your first step
of a partner who you met on the first day
a culinary school rich and so what is that like
to have somebody that does what you do in the
field that you're in that's also trying to make it
and then you guys end up becoming partners because I
think that's helpful too.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
When we're both grinding it out. We both ain't got
it like that.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
We both haven't had this silver spoon in our mouths,
but we're you know, working towards the same goal and
encouraging each other.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I think there's zero percent chaince I'm sitting here talking
to you if I didn't meet Rich that day. To
have him there as everything, as your brother, your business partner,
your crutch, your sounding board. To have that there so
that you don't feel alone in that journey was the
(18:48):
luckiest day of my life.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, that doesn't happen for a lot of people, you know.
And then you guys took on a third partner.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
We did.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
How hard is that to do? Because sometimes you have
this concept of what you're doing. Y'all have been working
together for quite some time. You had the sandwich shop together,
you know, prior to opening Carbone. But now we're letting
in another person, a different energy, somebody who brings something
different to the table, who comes from a different world. Right,
So Jeff was the third partner.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Jeff was the third partner. He came in. He was
like an early customer of ours. We had opened our
first restaurant, just Rich and I together. We didn't know
Jeff tiny restaurant the rest of the size of the studio, and.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Did you just call our studio tiny?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Well studio was a restaurant and we had six tables
and we was just me, Rich and like two or
three other employees total. And Jeff had heard about the restaurant.
We had some mutual friends. So he came in one
night and really liked what we were doing and asked
if he could like talk to us after dinner and
(19:45):
buy us a drink. And so Rich was like, go,
he's Rich. Set me. He was like, go check this
guy out, Go buy a drink, have a drink with
this guy. And we spent all night talking about our
hopes and our dreams. And I went back and told Rich,
I said, I mean, I think this guy, you know,
is kind of in line with what we're talking about.
And to your point, it's scary, you know, I've known
Rich my whole life and I just met this guy.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
So we could have just been saying things sound.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Good and and and once again, like got got so
lucky with with the ideal third person, because if it
wasn't if Jeff wasn't the third partner, I wouldn't be
sitting here talking.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
To you, right, And so what did he bring that
was different to the table, because I know, financially, you
all were trying to figure out, like what what are
we doing?
Speaker 3 (20:28):
He brought that I'm gonna go figure it out attitude
that Rich and I had about about the restaurant. He
applied that he had that very same i'm gonna go
I may not know the answer, but i'm gonna go
figure it out attitude about building this thing into an
actual business. And he's like, I'm young, I come here.
He had a banking a banking background Cornell grad. He's like,
(20:50):
but I don't I don't know all the answers, but
I'm gonna go figure him out, right. And while Rich
and I were grinding in the kitchen, you know, making
the best food humanly possible, he was out there trying
to get all the other answers that we we didn't have,
we didn't have time for, we didn't even know, we
didn't even know what the questions were forget about the answers.
So he helped us make this into a legitimate business.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, because that is scary, You're like, we like you said,
y'all had know you and Rich knew each other for
so long, and I'm sure other people had approached to
you guys trying to work with you also.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Yeah, but you know, and it's heart said about it.
It's like, I don't know this four of this guys,
guy or girl, I don't know them. I'm not sure
what are their intentions. His intentions felt pure. It was like,
we're going to do this together, side by side, you know.
And I liked that. We liked that he was young.
It wasn't like some some some restaurant tour coming to
like buy our business or like take our business. It
(21:42):
felt it felt really honest and genuine, right, and you
could look in his eyes and see like that he
wants the same.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Things now when you guys first opened, right, clearly this
was going to be a huge undertaking, a big deal.
You want to make sure people are coming, you want
to make sure the reviews are good. You want to
make sure the right people are coming. You're also marketing
it well, and you know there's a lot that goes
into it. I would assume, I know you use the
best ingredients because it all starts with that.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Right for the food to be great.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
You can't skimp out on anything when it comes to
your ingredients. So what were some of the biggest challenges
Because I feel like we learned a lot from things
that didn't go right, probably sometimes more than when things
do go right. So when you guys first open, what
would you say were the biggest challenges that you faced.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Well, we were going from this now six table restaurant
to Carbone, which at the time felt like a stadium.
It felt giant. It was like eighty seats. Now we
look back on it and it feels small again to us,
but back then it was this huge thing. We weren't
even we didn't even hand out menus back in the day,
Like it was just we told you what we were making.
(22:45):
So we were like we had this big menu of
all these options and all these seats and what felt
like a huge staff. We weren't doubling. We were growing
way beyond the means of where we were, and we
were growing into a price point very quickly, a luxury
(23:06):
price point that immediately garnered a little bit of who
do you guys think you are?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, it gets a little hate, like, yeah, you're charging
fifty dollars.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
For And I had guys in Touxedos and we were
like doing table side service and things were expensive, and like,
aren't you the same guys that were just doing like
that sandwich shop, and like yeah, but like we can
do this too, like because because rich and I trained
for the best chefs in the world and we have Jeff, now,
like we can do this. So there was definitely a
little bit of initial pushback of like, you know, don't
(23:38):
you know Ill Millino's right down the block, what are
you doing?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Likelina is still there? Yeah, okay, sorry, I haven't been there.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So it was like, you guys, aren't you guys aren't
part of that pedigree. You're you're too you know, you're too.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Young for that, right, Yeah, And you guys definitely showed
everybody because that is true.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
And I've learned this too. In business.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You can't go from a lower price point in a
run and then raise it. It's easier to go from
like a higher price point and lower it, you know,
than the other way around, So you can't. But the
price of ingredients has gone up so much and things
like that have happened. What happens when you have to
change your menu and people are so used to coming
in and getting, you know, what they're accustomed to. How
(24:18):
does that affect business? And some people will say the
customer is always right? Is that true in the restaurant?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
I believe that. I believe that we try to cater
to everybody's requests as best we can. You know, I
don't I don't like to say no to a guest
as a chef, and we train that. So if we
have the ingredients and you want something and we can
do it, love that I want to say yes to you.
Changing the menu is tricky, you know, especially at Carbone
now because you know, like you said, people wait thirty days,
(24:46):
they're probably looking at the menu online. They've already figured
out what they're going to order.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
They can't run out of stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
I've seen the dishes on social media on Instagram, like
I'm going to have that. So that's why we kind
of created this new version of Carbone called Carbone Privado,
which is in Hudson Yard in our members club.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I've been there at ZZ club and you can request
certain things the day before and they'll make it for you.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I went for my birthday.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Will make anything you want. And the Carbone there is
almost all new dishes and we change them all the time.
So that's sort of our that's our avenue for creation
under the Carbone brand, knowing that the OG menu kind
of needs to be the way it is.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, I've actually been to ZZ Club a few times.
I want to talk about these private members clubs too,
because I would say every single time I've gone there,
what I like about it is the vibe that everybody
feels like you can talk to whoever. Like if I'm
sitting at the table, Like I said, it was my birthday,
so they brought like a little cake out for me
and everything. But the people on both sides of me
were so friendly and everybody's like talking to you. I
(25:48):
mean the people on this side, they were like seventy
years old and they live in the building and so
they were just having like a whole conversation. It's a
nice family type of feeling to be in a space
like that. And then on this side, one person like
owned a jewelry company, and the other guy, I think
he worked in sports. It was something like that. But
everybody is just kind of like kicking it and talking
to each other. You don't have to worry that someone's
(26:10):
going to go and post you on social media, take
a picture of you, or you tell your business. Because
everybody's there trying to do their own thing.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
And it seems like in New.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
York, I was just reading an article about how these
private clubs are such a thing here right now.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
What made you decide to get into that space? Because
there's a Zez.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Club in Miami, and now we have one in Hudson
Yards in New York, So what made you decide that's
the next step.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It felt like a natural evolution of hospitality. It felt
like building these clubs, you're doing more than just a restaurant.
You're building like a little ecosystem. You feel it when
you're there. So in these ecosystems, it allows us to
do more. I'm programming it more. I have these different
little bars and lounges and private dining rooms. System like
(27:00):
being able to working with the chefs directly, like the
members are working with the chefs directly to curate food experiences.
I'm changing the menus all the time. We're served. We're
open all day so that we can accommodate guests or
members that are coming in who just want to have
a meeting and a coffee. So to be able to
create this little ecosystem was really interesting to us and
(27:24):
to provide that as an amenity to our guests that
have been so supportive to us for over ten years now. Right,
it's kind of like a gated community, right, Like, It's like,
that's why you covet that when you're buying real estate.
You're in this space that feels very comfortable and safe.
And for us, we need to do the highest level
(27:46):
of accommodations. We need to be able to provide you
with the very, very very best food and beverage service possible.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah, it's great because I also feel like you work
hard to be able to make money, to be able
to enjoy like luxurious things, and so I think being
able to to get a membership there, you know. I
mean different people have it that way for different reasons,
but when you're working really hard to get to where
you get to to be able to be like, Okay,
I'm going to be able to, you know, do this
and come here and enjoy myself and always have a
(28:12):
nice time and always have a reservation and be treated
like family and things like that. I do feel like
it is important and the networking that can go on
in a space like that, if you choose to network
or if you choose not to, you know, that's definitely
all up to you. Now, I also want to talk
about Michelin Stars, because Carbone did get a Michelin Star,
and so what are the rules when it comes to
(28:34):
getting a Michelin Star. I think it was in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Twenty thirteen we got a Michelin Star. Two years ago
they took it away. I could go down a rabbit
hole with you on Michelin. That is the opinion of one.
But yeah, I have a very I wouldn't say contentious,
(29:01):
but I have a very particular opinion on systems like
that and how they affect the industry. I honestly think
that this day and age, the power of the food
critic is really in the hands of the person. It's
in the hands of the people through social media. Right,
never before have food critics mattered less.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Okay, I could see that.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I like the a lot of food critics are going
viral and they're not, like, you know, trained in a
certain way and being able to give out these like
stars and credits. And I know, even like with the
James Beard Foundation that was created as a different way
to acknowledge, you know, because I don't even understand, Like
I know that they'll say if it's not played it
(29:48):
a certain way, if certain things don't happen, if somebody
I don't even understand how a Michelin star works, like
it might not necessarily just be about the food, but
I've heard like different things about it.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah, I think how Michelin used to judge restaurants back
in the day and how it does it now is
very different in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Okay, but Ye're like, it doesn't matter. We're still booked
and busy, so.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
It doesn't matter. It doesn't. But to my point, the
powers and the people right right where we're back in
the back in the day, Like if you got an
unbelievable New York Times review, you used to be able
to take the physical newspaper or the bank and get
a loan out against it.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Wow, which you did, I mean, yeah, you did get
I mean you did get it.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Amazing. We got The New York Times has blessed us,
which was like always my holy grail is in New Yorker.
All I want to do was be blessed by the
New York Times. But I think It's a really good
thing that the momentum of a restaurant, the judgment of
a restaurant, is in the hands of the people.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
That actually go to them and reviews online.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Because that's really what I do when I want to
go to eat someplace, like, I will definitely go and
look at the reviews and be like, you know, I
can see if a lot of people gave and I
like to look to look at how many reviews it has,
so you know, if it has like thousands, hundreds of reviews,
you're like, Okay, a lot of people have gone here
reviewed this restaurant versus you know, sometimes people might give
you a bad review because they couldn't get a table,
(31:14):
or they felt like, you know, somebody didn't treat them well,
all different kinds of reasons. But when there's more reviews,
I feel like it gives more of an even, you know,
balance of what's really happening.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
And that's that's that's the actual customer. That's not one
person sitting in an office saying this place is great
and that one's not right it.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
There's a lot of power to one person.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Don't We just don't need that anymore, Okay, we all
have our own audiences. We all have our own followings.
Everyone can say I went to this restaurant tonight and
it was great, and for all the people that followed it,
they just got a review.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Now, you're also in the real estate business now too.
I remember I heard you a couple of years ago
saying that was the next move for you.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
So how is that going?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Where's how does the restaurant and real estate go hand
in hand for your business?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
They're both part of they both fall from me under
the umbrella of hospitality. So we're working on a branded
resident right now residents right now in Miami in the
Edgewater neighborhood called Villa Della Miami, And it's a residential
tower that's right on the water that faces South Beach.
And you know, it's our job to make sure that
it's programmed and thought of in the same way that
(32:22):
we would think of a restaurant. From the moment somebody
wakes up to the moment they go to sleep. I
need to make sure that from an hospitality, from a
food and beverage perspective, that they're interacting with all the
things that I would want if I was one of
the tenants there, right So they have optionalities to work
with me and my team to fill their spice cabinets
(32:44):
the way I would I designed the kitchens in each condo.
We have restaurants and clubs and amenities in the building
that are all done by my company. So it's taking
another look at what hospitality can mean. Know, it could
be a private club, it could be a restaurant, It
could be branded residents. It could be a country club,
(33:05):
you know, it could be it could be so many
things that for me, are part of the DNA of
my company. We don't want to be necessarily pigeonhole to
just a traditional restaurant.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Right Listen, you have definitely diversified because you also have
products in stores and now I can cook at home
like a Mario carbone, but not quite because I'm going
to still use box noodles and stuff. But and this
is great because you actually have these different sauces and
I personally not put this on everything, have cooked with
this at home myself, and it's really amazing to be
(33:37):
able to bring that experience.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
To my house.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Thank you appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
So what are some of the products that you guys
have in stores and are you expanding that as well, so.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
It jarred sauce line right now, and we're expanding the
flavors as we go, you know, myself and Rich we
go to the factories ourselves and we teach them exactly
how we want these things done. There's also a lot
of learning for us too. We've never cooked on those
on those scales that they're producing the sauces on, so
(34:05):
it's been a lot of training and we continue to
do that with them. I'm really happy with the way
it came out, and it sort of gives it gives
us an opportunity, you know, to share a little bit
of our product, a little bit of our company, a
little bit of this restaurant across the country for all
those that that aren't going to make it to New York,
you know. So it feels, you know, it's when I
(34:28):
walk into a store somewhere, you know, when I'm traveling
and I see the sauce, it's still puts a huge
smile on my face that that that's a that's a
real thing that exists.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, I go to the supermarket, I'm like, okay, and
I definitely purchase this now because I think of the
sauces I used to buy. I didn't think that hard
about it. It was just but now I'm like, all right,
we got to get the the I can't even say
a rabbiata?
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Abata?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Okay? I gotta get my accent down. Pat.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
In addition to that, you have a clothing line, I do. Okay,
So can you talk about what made you decide? Because
you are definitely we always dress impeccably, and I know
you pay a lot of attention. We discussed this earlier
to even the uniforms that are Warren inside of your restaurant.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
So talk about the cloning line.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
So I think you know it started with me working
with designers to create uniforms for the restaurants. Okay, That's
where it started. And then the thing that that really
set me off is I struggle with the way men
dress in my restaurants, particularly younger meant my age and
(35:31):
a bit younger, okay. And what they think nice is
to go out to dinner is just would not have
been acceptable in my house walking out the door. If
I told my father I was going to a nice
restaurant and he'd ask me why I'm dressed that way?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
So if I can do anything to affect the way
this generation of guys dresses at my restaurants. I thought
maybe I should try and try my hand at doing
something about that. So we created a small you know,
it's a small men's wear brand right now called Our
Lady of Rocco. And it's the.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Intent is why is it Our Lady of Rocco Because.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
The original restaurant that Carbone in habits was an old
restaurant called Rocco. You can see it on the on
the on the side of the jar. Okay, so it
was called Rocco Restaurant. It was from the twenties, and
we wanted to keep this the old sign as an
homage to the original place that it was there, and
that that building has been so good to us that
I started to sort of treat it like a like
(36:30):
a cathedral and treat it almost like a Catholic school.
So there's our So we created Our Lady of Rocco
and sort of to give thanks to this great building.
And so the clothing is kind of the uniform of
the school of the restaurant.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
You're right, though, when people go out now, it's like, okay,
let me put one, you know, a nice sweatshirt, some jeans,
some nice new sneakers, but it's not.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Necessarily it's worse than Okay, I gave it to much
like ladies try. Ladies try. They go out and they
spend time, and they put the clothes together and their
makeup and their outfit. They think about it. Guy will
put a hoodie and hat on and come to the
restaurant and it's just.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
That's But you know what I'm going to tell you this.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I like the fact that you can tell a restaurant
is great when you can come dressed. However, but I
understand what you're saying as somebody who they're.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Stressed however, and then there's like dressed however, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
I can see what you mean.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
But you know, I think also sometimes we feel like
the people that have the most money are not always
the ones that are dressed well too, if that makes sense, Like.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
And that's okay, yeah, because you know, you know, yeah,
there's plenty of households that don't have a ton of
money that won't let you leave the house.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Know you're right, but you know what, I think it
is too.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
And because I'm trying to figure like decipher this in
my own head as we're having this conversation, right. I
think that for a lot of times, like they'll make
it seem like if you're not dressed a certain way,
like no, the worst place to me are the ones
like know this, know that you can't wear this, and.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
It feels like I think even when we were coming.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Up, it was always like the people that were the
most famous, like hip hop artists and stuff like that,
they were able to go anywhere dressed however they wanted
to go, and and they just look like a star
no matter what. And I think there's a way that
you can wear things like even like a dope sweatsuit
and still definitely yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
There's a way to make it look right, like look
crisp right.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Right now, like you don't care.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
But then I also feel like like Kanye West has
gone to your restaurant and been photographed, you know, with
his new girlfriend many times, and sometimes his clothing from
his like designer lines, looks like, you know, it just
came off from somebody sleeping on the.
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Street, and that's not a huge amount of thought and
effort went into it. I appreciate that, right, But like
you go to Wimbledon, you dress a certain way, like
you come to Carbone like you're living in Sinatra's lifestyle here,
Like he wouldn't have been happy about that. It's the
theme you Yeah, you're not you're not appreciating my theme here.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Let me ask you this, with your partners, what do
you guys bump heads about the most? Because that's the
point of partnership, right. It's a system where it's checks
and balances, and so it's not a dictatorship where some
person gets they weigh like, what, what's something that you've
been really passionate about but got shot down they were like,
that's not going to work.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Well. Sometimes you get really passive if you're the if
you're the creator of something and you're bringing it to
the group as an idea, you have extra passion into
like you're you're, you're, you're personally connected to this idea,
whether it's a dish or a or a uniform or
something like I made this. What do you guys think?
And if they don't like it, you take that way
(39:42):
heavier than something else because it's you. Yeah, So it's
it's still really hard, even after all these years to
make something and have it be like not well received
or more kind of like wishy washy well received, but
we all kind of trust the process. In process, sometimes
you need that.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Could I have an idea that you think it's great.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Totally and then they're like they've shot down some really
not great ideas that I've come up with, and thank
god they did.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Well. Listen, I appreciate you so much for coming through.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
I know we could sit here and chat it out
because I love talking about business and partnerships and expanding,
and I love the.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Way that you've been moving.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
Major Food Group is another company that you guys have together, right.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Yeah, that's the mothership.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
That's the mothership of everything.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
And you guys have been acquiring acquiring other companies, including
some of your competitors.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Well the colleagues.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Colleagues, Okay, you know there's nothing more of a competition though.
That is what it should be about, a healthy, nice
competition where you can go check out their stuff and
be like, Okay, you know, I give you props even.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Though we may be in that lane.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Talent comes with it. So if you can identify.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
You're my competition, you're talented, and I.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Could use you and we could work together and I
can I can maybe make you know, bigger and more
successful and more money under our flag than you could
have a loan, and I get your talent. So you know,
it only works if it's a win win A good deal.
A good deal should be a good deal on both sides.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Where do you see this evolving to next?
Speaker 3 (41:10):
I think you know, we are going to continue to
ask the question of like what what can hospitality mean
to us? And and can we affect these these areas?
So I think you're going to see more, Yes, you're
going to see more of an expansion of our of
our restaurant portfolio and in other major markets around the world.
That's something that we're in process of. Hotels are absolutely
(41:34):
something that we're working on right now. We love it
so our own branded hotels, branded residences internationally too. Absolutely
absolutely all right.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I love that you guys have Primit what Berry Commons
now too. By the way, I used to go, well,
I still do. I love shopping at the outlets, but
they never had good food options up there, so that's
a relief today.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
That's good right next to see.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
All right, well, Mario Carbone, thank you so much, and
again for a carbon beach. Is it going to be
possible for people to still use their MX.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
It's absolutely possible. Okay, American Express is more than happy
to sell you some.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Tickets like don't call me, don't ask.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Me, American text me no, but we would love to
have you Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's going to be special.
Were some great surprise guests coming out performing for us.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Oh, I can't even imagine what that's like because I've
seen the list of who's performed in the past, so
we already know it's going to be amazing. Well, thank
you so much for coming through. We're going to continue
to follow you. I'm sure I'll see you at the
restaurants one day. And thank you for my sausage so
I can make it out. Mario Carbone, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
My pleasure,
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