March 16, 2020 • 32 mins
In episode 15 Brandon and Sebastian talk food, philanthropy, military, and business with one of Food Networks strongest chefs, Chef Robert Irvine! Please note that we had a slight sound issue towards the end this interview but we’re hoping you can turn up the volume and listen to one of the most passionate men in the food industry.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Are You Kidding? Podcast? I can listen with
my kids with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez for are
kids Helping kids? And thank you Enricer and Enrique Santos
through that amazing intro, Um Brandon guests who were so
so guess where we are interviewing today? We were interviewing. Well,
first of all, he's the chef, a business owner, and
(00:21):
he's a philanthropist. Who could be um he had a
show restaurant. Impossible, He's Robert Irvine. Yeah. Clap clap, clap, clap, clap,
clap clap. So, as I said, I have a joke
in the beginning, which can't wait for this girl for it? Okay,
So i just retired from the military and now I'm
working to become a chef. Now you can say I'm
(00:43):
a seasoned veteran, but I'm um, I like Sebastian, that
was the worst joke on the planet. Dude, come on,
you're gonna get back now, go back and work on it. Okay. Um,
I don't know are you ready? But I'll help you.
I'll help you. So I'm not going to rewrite it.
(01:07):
Now you're going to do an interview it's a podcast.
We can't the listeners want to hear all about what
you want to ask. Before we begin, we want to
tell you a little bit who we are. Okay, well,
first of all, my name is Sevashion Martinez. I'm the
CEO of CEO. Thank you. What are you like? Nine? Five? Seven? Well?
(01:27):
I started when I was five, but I'm twelve. Twell, okay,
so now you make more money as the CEO. Yeah good,
I like that progression. What about Brandon, I'm the director
sales or you could call me the d O S
because I like the letters. It sounds cooler. And I
started when I was seven and fourteen. You guess small
girlfriends me? Okay, I don't know. I don't know. So
(01:51):
we are super excited to have you here in our hometown, Miami.
So how do you like it here? I love Miami.
Come here every year for Food and Wine Festival. Um
and what Food and Wine Festival brings to Miami not
only a lot of people but also a lot of
you say philanthropy, but charity. There's a lot of money
made here from the tickets and Southern wines and spirits.
(02:12):
Um Lee makes makes the money and donates the money
around to all the charities. So Food Network has a
huge part in that with all the chefs that you
see and the and the listeners, like when we do
demos and we do dinners and parties and all that
kind of thing. So it's great. It's the one time
of the year that we get to spend time together
as chefs. Just come from the dinner a lunch. I'm sorry,
(02:35):
with every Food Network celebrity that you can imagine. So,
who's your best friend of the chef? I've got a
lot of best friends. Garrett guy Fieri was my best
man at my wedding. Um, Bobby play is a great
friend of mine. Amborell is my nemesis. We like to
fight with each other, but there's some great people. Was
(02:57):
your biggest competition when it comes to there is no competition,
see that. I have said that. So, so anybody can cook, right,
but nobody can jump out of a plane. Nobody can
cook for thousands of people in the middle of a
desert except me because that's what I did for a living.
I was in the military. None of these, none of
these Food Network guys can do that. Whether we cook
(03:17):
for five or for five thousand. I mean last week
last Saturday covered eight thousand folks a military hospital. So
I don't think it's any competition. I think we're all
differently unique, just like you and your brother. Thank you.
So so you've fed eight thousand people. So that's a
lot of cooking and you made it. No, I have
a lot of help, Okay, So I don't think anybody
(03:39):
cooks that many. The most we've cooked for on the
show is six thousand with six people, and we've done
a dinner for twenty thousand with six people. Um, but
technology is really cood. So we have these microphones, but
in cooking we have what we call suvite, so we
can cook it in advance and rewarm it. Wait what
(04:00):
is it called suvie suvite French? And never heard of that.
See you've learned something. Yeah, I just learned something right now.
It's like I Margine cooking people and you have six
people to cook that. That's amazing. It's pretty cool. What
was the occasion? So we we do Skyball every year,
which is a big charity in Dallas. So we take twelve,
(04:21):
twelve to twenty folks and we do a Friday night
where we feed about seven thousand and then we do
sit down dinner for three and a half thousand and
we do a brunch and they're all veterans, K givers, families,
medalmunor recipients. UM. And this week was with I worked
with Gary Sinee. You don't know who he is, but
have you heard of Lieutenant dan h No? Probably not
(04:46):
your young for that, mom, please get him that movie.
It's about a veteran. It was disabled and Gary Sinisee
who played in many many movies, Apollo eleven, Atlout thirteen,
very famous actor. UM started foundation and me and him
are in partnership where we feed window wars and care
give us all around the country and the world. Wow,
(05:10):
that's amazing. So why do you why is it important
for you to feed all these people? Well, I think
it's important just like you do with socks, right, you
do great things with socks. And we'll get that in
a minute. But it's important that that we understand what
people do and how we have to to thank them. So,
and you're very young, but the Vinm War, they have
(05:33):
Ghany war, the Iraqi war, people didn't really say thank
you to our troops. So we have to make sure
that when we go and do things that it is
saying thank you to them, right, we care about you,
We love you, and we love your families and your
care give us because some people when they go to
war zones, they don't come back the same way, whether
it's postomatic stress or a loss of a limb or
(05:55):
an I write, um, we have to make sure we
take care of them. So we my foundation with builds homes.
We buy dogs to train them for you, and they
give them the way to post them extress. Um. We
take care of kids, we cancer, so all those kind
of things. That's great and what you're doing is just
amazing helping those who first like fought for us, like
(06:16):
they gave us our freedom that we have today, and
they do need help because they've gone through things that
nobody else has. And it really right, absolutely and we
have to acknowledge that there's people like serving for our
country and serving for our freedom and it's just great
what they do and what you're doing to um let
(06:37):
them know that you're cared for. Toy just feed. I'm
still shocked, but it's just not you know, I do
the millage, and I do kids, and I do the
things that I do. But but it's there's a lot
of people less fortunate in our world. So we have
nice houses to live in, right, we have clothes, we
can do things. There are people out there less fortunate
in our world, in your own communities where you live,
(06:58):
just up the road here in Ami, in Wisconsin, wherever,
they don't have those, they don't have meals, they don't
have homes. And it's our responsibility when we have a
platform to use that platform to help other people. We
learned because when we were researching you, we found out
you like one of your main like things that you're
talking about selfless service, and how it's very important in
(07:21):
the military, and basically it's like a core factor. So
how selfless service? How because of that, why would you
get back to the community. Well, I believe that selfless
services is a bigger thing than any one of us. Right,
whether you believe in God, whether you believe in in
higher beings, it doesn't matter. We are, we are putting
(07:41):
this planet. We were, we're birth with grown, we grow,
and our job is literally to to help other people succeed. Right,
So as a chef, my job is to teach. If
you come and work for me, I don't reew My
job is to teach you to be better than me,
and if I don't do that, then I haven't done
my job. I want you to succeed and everybody has
(08:04):
to have the same chance. And unfortunately, due to you know,
whether where you grow up or the money you have,
some people don't get that. And it's our job to
make sure that we try and give that to everybody,
that selfless service, because if if you give back to
everyone and you teach other people to give back, then
the world view different places. You've got it and you
(08:26):
guys are doing it, which impresses me more than anything.
You're doing the same thing. But you're a lot younger
than me. Mine. Mine took a long time. I was
very successful up until fifteen years ago. You know, when
you make a lot of money, it's all about you,
and then you realize that it's not about you, it's
about other people. And I think you've got you've you've
(08:48):
already got that at a young age. So so you
you started way ahead of me. Well, once you have
the money, you you know that that people like have
like no money, So it's important to give not even
money like you could give socks, like what we did
when Hurricane Katrina. Wait, no norma, Hurricane Irma, Yes, hit Florida.
(09:11):
We went to the shelters and gave two two thousand,
no five thousand pairs of socks to the shelters and
we just walked around handing the socks to people and
we just we loved Like one this what I'm gonna
ask you a question that you're interview with me. But
at the same time, what did you feel and what
did when the people said thank you to you? Well?
(09:32):
I felt like I felt good about myself knowing that
I was helping other people who are less fortunate, especially
a lot of them. And once I walked out, like
gave all the thoughts away. I just had this big
smile on my face knowing that I did something good.
What about you, Brend. When I was giving the socks
and people were like, thank you, don't know how much
(09:52):
it missed to me. It made me feel some way
like I'm doing something good in the community. Like so
imagine that in a large scale, five thousand pairs of
socks and somebody that's lost everything mainly has said to you,
thank you for giving me a pair of socks, or
thank you for me for cooking a hot dog or
hamburger or a piece of chicken. Isn't that kind of ironic?
(10:14):
They're thanking us when we're really trying to help with them.
It's crazy, right, but it does make you feel good
and euphoric feeling we have in that brain when we
do something good, we sleep well at night. And I wish,
I wish there were a lot more kids out there
doing and adults by the way, because you're way ahead
of the game, but doing what you're doing, because the
more you do, the more we have a chance of
(10:35):
helping so many other people. Right, Yeah, it's true, it's true.
And when hurricane what was the hurricane I just hit
the Bahamas? When the hurricane a Bahamas, we went to
the like there was like an event, and we donated
more socks to the Bahamas. How much was it like
(10:58):
another five? Another five? And so because a hurricane just
hit the Bahamas and they're like like blew everything away.
So we're trying to do our part and do something good.
So we we know that everyone's feet are cozy, and
there's a chef you need to talk to. His name
is Jose Andres So right now in the Bahamas. Way
(11:21):
after that, hurricane adhere almost nine months ago. Right, we
still have people cooking kitchens there, the World World Central,
World Chef's Kitchen, Central Kitchen, and they're still there now
nine months later. Not funded by the government, they're funded
by the public, thousands and thousands of meals because the
island is still distraught. And Jose runs that. In fact
(11:44):
that I was at a meeting there this morning, just
up the road from here, um with him, very very
amazing guy. Yeah, great things for other people. Yeah, especially that,
because one thing you need in life is food, and
and well there's more things you need, water, shelter and food.
You can go without food for six weeks, you can
(12:04):
go without water for a week. Oh really yeah, really
trust me. So food, whilst it's good, water is even
more important. So what happens in the hurricane or there's
not enough water so we can boil water, but you
have to transport water, so not everybody gets bottles of
water like this. So yeah, lots of things. That's the
(12:27):
thing is happening in the world right now, and people
don't really like understand it until they go and see
it because it happened like a long not that long
ago months ago, but people don't really realize that it
doesn't happen quickly, like they don't recover that. I think
about Houston, think about Houston. Houston is the United States.
They had the same issue. We couldn't feed, We couldn't
(12:49):
we couldn't give water because there are a lot of
red tape in our government that doesn't allow that. Chefs
are the most philanthropic group of people on the planet.
They get together, they go, they'll find food and they'll
feed people. So and you've made a living on changing
people's lives through food, and how has had has anyone
(13:12):
like helped you on your path to success in this industry?
I think everybody helps you, no matter where you come
from or who you meet in the day. Right, So
you're meeting me today, Tomorrow you'll meet somebody else and
you'll take something from what I say today, something that
you mom says today, And as you get older, you'll
create your own personality that says, you know, I grew
(13:34):
up doing this, but now I want to do more.
And and everybody gives you an idea or a piece,
you take from it and you use it. So I
think there are a lot of people that made me successful.
The military was huge for me because I served many,
many years and learned an awful lot about my craft
and about leadership. And one thing that I teach in
my shows and in my life is leadership skills. You
(13:56):
can cook, or you can drive a truck, or you
can drive a tank, but if you can't lead people, um,
it doesn't work. So if I say to you and
you're my team, and I'm saying, oh, we gotta go
up to that hill and we gotta get into that
that that machine gun post, and I walk up there
and you're not behind me, I'm a very good leader,
am I. You gotta you gotta, you gotta make people go.
(14:19):
I have to know. I have to inspire you right
and nurture you, just like your mom does right when
you do bad things, she tells you off. When you
do good things, she passed you on the back. She
gives you lots of love, but she may get angry
with you at times. But that's the same in life.
As you go through life with people, and I think,
I think, as you learn these lessons, that's what life is.
(14:40):
And there are many many people and it could be
the janitor cleaning the floor, it could be the bus
driver taking me somewhere. You learn something from everybody that
you touch it that touches your life. Yeah, to learn
something like right now, we're learning from you and I'm
learning from you, right So it's a it's a mutual,
it's a two way street, it's not. It's never a
(15:01):
one way street. And did you ever feel like we
was there any time? Was there a time where you
just wanted to like quit or give up. I was
in the Majesty's Royal Navy and I was remembered cleaning
a deck the top of a boat, falling asleep, tired,
and I will be sleeping and still doing this. I've
(15:21):
never given up. And I don't think that there's um
that doesn't even come into my vocabulary. You know, I
have a show, restaurant and possible dinner impossible. Um, there's
nothing impossible in the world. You just have the mindset
and the attention to detail to get it done, and
the attitude. So you can be famous and have a
(15:42):
really bad attitude and there are a lot of people
out there like that, or you can be famous and
I have a good attitude and go and help people.
And speaking of a restaurant impossible. I always watched that
and it's so like good what you're doing your I
don't want to say failing GP. You're changing people's lives
and making the restaurant look more fancy. Okay, So what
(16:05):
does mean What is changing people's lives mean to you?
The restaurant looking fancy? No, what does it mean to you, Brandon?
Changing like their lives, like making something that wasn't really
going well? You change the way the restaurant Randy made
from nothing to something. Okay, So I'm going to give
you a different perspective. Okay. So we have a mom
(16:27):
and dad, the I've been married for twenty years and
two kids. Not too much different from you. The kids
don't want to be in that business, but the mom
and dad created that business, so they're in it by
the facto they have to be there. Right. So if
mom and dad don't talk because they're arguing at work,
what does that do to the two kids? It makes
(16:49):
me want to our usual. It's not very comfortable for
a family. So what I do is I try and
fix the family. First, find out what the issues are
with mom and dad, and it's normally money, and I
find out what the kids like to do. Soccer, um,
game boy, whatever it is. And they're not allowed to
(17:09):
do that because mom and dad make them work in
the restaurant. So that keeps a really unhappy scenario. Yes,
I do make over the restaurant. It looks pretty to
make over the food. But what I do is put
families back together so they can enjoy life more. That's
that's what I do with people. And I do that
in the military. I do it in civilian life. In
the restaurant impossible. But it's more about how do you
(17:32):
make how do you how do you fix problems? Bye,
you need a solution. Yeah, So you look at the issue,
you find a solution to fix it, and then you
implement the solution to fix it, and then you follow up. Yeah,
and that's great what you're doing. You're making families love
(17:52):
each other again. And it only sounds funny, but yes, yeah,
every week. And I've done this two hundred seven times
in restaurants and more and more to come. But it's
really important to fix the family unit. And families are
more important than brick and water. So your mom, it's
more important than any business than any person, right because
(18:15):
she she's your mom, and you only get one of them. Yeah,
so you have to take care of her. And that's
how I feel with the families. When I meet the
families and I see that they they're all upset and
they're fighting. That upsets me because I have two beautiful
daughters and a beautiful wife and and that's how I
live my life. My family is my life. So I
have to make sure that they're fixed. Then I can
fix the restaurant. Yeah, you gotta do once about a time.
(18:37):
You have to make sure that they want to do
it before you change. Well, sometimes they don't, right, So
what do you do? Then I get angry? Right, but
I can't. I can't put them in time out and
I can't do that. They don't want to move, And
I have to show them that if they don't do this,
then their house will be gone, their carl be gone,
their family begone, that mom and dad will divorce. So
(19:00):
I make that very clear to them that if they
don't follow what I'm telling them, these things are going
to happen. They're real things. So most people listen, so
it's like scaring them sort of. Yeah, And we found
this um on the internet when we were researching. You
spent three d and forty five days a year in
(19:21):
a car. In a car, I would go crazy if
I was in a car. Yeah, So I do about
a hundred and fifty days a year without military around
the world from Syria, Afghanistan, I rank, Poland, Spain, career,
um and and anywhere else we serve and then the
rest is TV. So it's kind of fun. So you
(19:42):
only have twenty days in the year. So what do
you do? Like? You just sleep? Sleep? Well, you need
the uni rest, you do. I sleep on planes like
it's it's crazy. Yeah, So where's your Where's the best place?
Like you've traveled to? Oh, well, the best place to
(20:03):
me may not necessarily be in the best place to you,
so you know it's back on. So if you think
for me, I can be in Afghanistan cast a rapid
Christmas's to take care of you. Un food is giving
you a piece of me to someone not necessarily? No,
(20:26):
But now did you know I'm known emerging in any
country in any anything. I'm guessing, Well, I don't. I
don't think, So you like, don't like, tell peoples no
(20:52):
the food I don't like, and then everybody knows whatever.
So if you need your research that cinnamon. Do you
hate Simon because what we do with you in America's
when we put pepper in cinema. But if you like
the regional cinnamon from sea or your anchor, that's real
awful part of a tree which is natural, you would
(21:14):
probably like it. So there are two things I don't like.
It's a long cinema issatrilanka. Some ms great. So what
advice to give to that one? S? Business? It depends
on business. You know, you've got to know when you
start a business. Got the backing of you our Rcason parents,
(21:37):
but you have to have the money to be able
to start. You know, if you're going into a restaurant,
in your restaurant and think it's gonna make a million
dollars a year, which is not where a month y um,
and you worked ninety hours a week, you're working for
about a hundreds went about worst net revenue or gross
revenue to which means you're making a list of minimum
(21:58):
wage for the hours of weak. Yeah, so why would
you do that business? Neither loss or that people? So
I don't always say the inn enough money to be
able to produce your products, price the price the product,
correct yourselves and make sure that you're away making the man,
don't then your charity. Yeah, I don't let anybody ever
(22:29):
tell you if you're not making money, it becomes of charity.
Charity begins a pot particular of pot yourselves, votes and
the secularity ls. So now we're talking about businesses. What
do you think about kids and businesses? I love it.
I think kids are very smart. I know a lot
of po kids, but they're just wants to show up.
(22:50):
And there are entrepreneurs that their parents actually work with.
Their kids have two five year olds, two sixteen year olds?
Who makes sixteen eighteen more yet from the garage? So
you create a fut also slat whether at sorts. There
are as lots of things. I mean when you find
(23:15):
something that the side make a nap to loo kids
with up entrepreneurial and you have that spirit to change
and not be so set as these kids are our kids.
(23:35):
You don't have that k on the dog, but not
bad kid and yeah being kids eating it's not be
(23:56):
master me about sixteen. Then you've been coming out to
pay a way two more years. You know change as quickly.
I don't. I'm trying to get to a predefinitely Well
if you could go back to kid kids visible Bundy
(24:20):
types don't really different because it's I'm going to give
you a life lesson number sixty two. You are going
to make mistakes, and if people tell them you don't,
they're lying to you. You will make mistakes. Um, you keep.
The success is not making the same mistakes, right. If
(24:41):
you make the same mistake twice, then you're not being vigilant.
You move, if you set a pair of stocks, you
lose your mind, then you have to adjust it for
the max Poss's coms. So I think once you once
you understand the successes as a kid, all you need
to do is learn from your mistakes and people exactly
(25:03):
and acceptables and older and so we know your wife
with the times professional profession, so would winning as I
will let them. Well, one thing you'll learn is to
get older when you get married. Your wife is always correct,
(25:26):
not literally about nine nine percent that time. But my
wife is is pretty um tough, yes, yeah, and she
want did she want to do nothing system us. She's
the cheesy first full of famous. It's it's pretty hard
(25:47):
to get most where and we have you have to
feel um and yeah, pretty true. So I I want
to know you're super jacked, right, I'm okay, I'm okay.
(26:09):
So do you cook to match people's cravings or do
you cook to promote healthy lifestys? I cook to cook
the food do I love and which you turn from
looks and healthy live staff. I don't want people to
eat round food. I don't want people to to start
going guys and people to eat healthy food and in
joyful Um, you're at the moment. But if you're having
(26:33):
a glass of wine, the advantage of cane at the glass,
one's okaye, happened to so kaye to eat cheese? So
kay to eat? Want say a portion that you're allowed
to eat and not above that, you know, so we
don't go to sixteen pounds of cheese every from the
nail or twenty UNTI of state there's a there's a
(26:56):
an acceptiment in it. I look at every day because
I would were doing children, I mean young adults. I
should being a children twenty years old to jump out
of planes and cheap guns and drive tanks from um.
So my jobs an issue if they stayed in open
and they see it as its time to progressives. When
we get older, you can slower do the same thing. Yeah,
(27:19):
well after seeing they don't lear anybody cheery where we
have anti so so I mean a level a minute
you were you have found with the military, and so
what if you make a saw a military working with
your phones? Would you mean what it? I thought you've
(27:41):
already done it. Yeah, the oldmate sack, I didn't do it.
But I don't want. I mean you'll start to cool, right,
and the cancer and make a wish. I mean amazing things,
but I want to really cool sh they go. Some
of my people they don't have legs, ye right, they
have they have proceets, so I want their prosthetics. So
(28:03):
it really cool um in stacks. So yes, I would
love to read at that. But you I don't want
just any willing lily. You know, I want real cool stuff.
I don't yet, but I couldn't have. But that was
not difficult. I mean, don't You're gonna be a little bit,
(28:24):
my goodness, a little bit more creative than I. Come on,
you can be got. You have to think. I don't
want the spot. You've got to think about it, and
then we can make four or five US apples. In
other words, duty, well, I'll give your feet back and
then I'll have some of my never moderate sis which
you should read about, okay, and if you can't read
(28:44):
about it online, we should should get a metal Bone
Foundation dot com or in my magazine and if you
look at that magazine dot com and then learn about
these guys, and that's where it's gonna make a themselus.
These aren't and seventy eight and there a living many
of one said it's in the floor right, which is
(29:07):
huge because they have given an ultimate sacrifice. They've been
shockingly blown up for you. Nay so um got in
fourth grade even start the metals metal right when people
look met up and each force has a different head
on right, the army area was moving from his rank
(29:29):
was only one woman in history as a minimar, making
him that we can pushing when it next ended me.
You were really cool back because do you make it cool?
And we can set them on my website so you
can possibly can say them to make way for your
charities and into my dad characters like grandfather and by
(30:05):
just say you're about it is important. But do you
represented really well? Yeah? For the reason I like you?
What what was he underposed in the second you have
no idea? Well that's terrible because I've just done for
(30:26):
Brad video for Brad. Brad. Actually he's trying to bend
unpossible course. Yeah, because I know the general commanding generals
dining out thank you to some people to U. So yeah,
I have to poll, thank thank you for yourself. Thank you.
(30:59):
I want to know we view the times of all
the kids or the people to listen to you. You
can way say, think of somebody's mom talk at our
service and us and they're families. And you look around
you when you see people rot everybodys in those poets
and challenging continue you to it. You want to do
(31:22):
one good thing every day somebody that you do not know.
It doesn't have to be money, the community. It could
be very sovery postage people movie, It could be open
the card you own months with them. You will see
something in the grocery store and you can't fo or
something and your mouth compare for work as the moments
(31:43):
you know, all these things make a difference and bullying
and watch the videos which was absolutely tell the screens
as a young man who fans whats go if we
see that to say something, you have to do something
there with movie giving away, holdingness and help, and you're
(32:09):
tootle change the little, one person at the time and
you're doing a great one way. Or I'm challenging a
right challenge accepted. Right, I'm gonna see you next. All right,
you good if you just heard? Are You kidding? Podcasts
(32:31):
with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez who are kids helping
kids
This is Are You Kidding? Podcast? I can listen with
my kids with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez for are
kids Helping kids? And thank you Enricer and Enrique Santos
through that amazing intro, Um Brandon guests who were so
so guess where we are interviewing today? We were interviewing. Well,
first of all, he's the chef, a business owner, and
(00:21):
he's a philanthropist. Who could be um he had a
show restaurant. Impossible, He's Robert Irvine. Yeah. Clap clap, clap, clap, clap,
clap clap. So, as I said, I have a joke
in the beginning, which can't wait for this girl for it? Okay,
So i just retired from the military and now I'm
working to become a chef. Now you can say I'm
(00:43):
a seasoned veteran, but I'm um, I like Sebastian, that
was the worst joke on the planet. Dude, come on,
you're gonna get back now, go back and work on it. Okay. Um,
I don't know are you ready? But I'll help you.
I'll help you. So I'm not going to rewrite it.
(01:07):
Now you're going to do an interview it's a podcast.
We can't the listeners want to hear all about what
you want to ask. Before we begin, we want to
tell you a little bit who we are. Okay, well,
first of all, my name is Sevashion Martinez. I'm the
CEO of CEO. Thank you. What are you like? Nine? Five? Seven? Well?
(01:27):
I started when I was five, but I'm twelve. Twell, okay,
so now you make more money as the CEO. Yeah good,
I like that progression. What about Brandon, I'm the director
sales or you could call me the d O S
because I like the letters. It sounds cooler. And I
started when I was seven and fourteen. You guess small
girlfriends me? Okay, I don't know. I don't know. So
(01:51):
we are super excited to have you here in our hometown, Miami.
So how do you like it here? I love Miami.
Come here every year for Food and Wine Festival. Um
and what Food and Wine Festival brings to Miami not
only a lot of people but also a lot of
you say philanthropy, but charity. There's a lot of money
made here from the tickets and Southern wines and spirits.
(02:12):
Um Lee makes makes the money and donates the money
around to all the charities. So Food Network has a
huge part in that with all the chefs that you
see and the and the listeners, like when we do
demos and we do dinners and parties and all that
kind of thing. So it's great. It's the one time
of the year that we get to spend time together
as chefs. Just come from the dinner a lunch. I'm sorry,
(02:35):
with every Food Network celebrity that you can imagine. So,
who's your best friend of the chef? I've got a
lot of best friends. Garrett guy Fieri was my best
man at my wedding. Um, Bobby play is a great
friend of mine. Amborell is my nemesis. We like to
fight with each other, but there's some great people. Was
(02:57):
your biggest competition when it comes to there is no competition,
see that. I have said that. So, so anybody can cook, right,
but nobody can jump out of a plane. Nobody can
cook for thousands of people in the middle of a
desert except me because that's what I did for a living.
I was in the military. None of these, none of
these Food Network guys can do that. Whether we cook
(03:17):
for five or for five thousand. I mean last week
last Saturday covered eight thousand folks a military hospital. So
I don't think it's any competition. I think we're all
differently unique, just like you and your brother. Thank you.
So so you've fed eight thousand people. So that's a
lot of cooking and you made it. No, I have
a lot of help, Okay, So I don't think anybody
(03:39):
cooks that many. The most we've cooked for on the
show is six thousand with six people, and we've done
a dinner for twenty thousand with six people. Um, but
technology is really cood. So we have these microphones, but
in cooking we have what we call suvite, so we
can cook it in advance and rewarm it. Wait what
(04:00):
is it called suvie suvite French? And never heard of that.
See you've learned something. Yeah, I just learned something right now.
It's like I Margine cooking people and you have six
people to cook that. That's amazing. It's pretty cool. What
was the occasion? So we we do Skyball every year,
which is a big charity in Dallas. So we take twelve,
(04:21):
twelve to twenty folks and we do a Friday night
where we feed about seven thousand and then we do
sit down dinner for three and a half thousand and
we do a brunch and they're all veterans, K givers, families,
medalmunor recipients. UM. And this week was with I worked
with Gary Sinee. You don't know who he is, but
have you heard of Lieutenant dan h No? Probably not
(04:46):
your young for that, mom, please get him that movie.
It's about a veteran. It was disabled and Gary Sinisee
who played in many many movies, Apollo eleven, Atlout thirteen,
very famous actor. UM started foundation and me and him
are in partnership where we feed window wars and care
give us all around the country and the world. Wow,
(05:10):
that's amazing. So why do you why is it important
for you to feed all these people? Well, I think
it's important just like you do with socks, right, you
do great things with socks. And we'll get that in
a minute. But it's important that that we understand what
people do and how we have to to thank them. So,
and you're very young, but the Vinm War, they have
(05:33):
Ghany war, the Iraqi war, people didn't really say thank
you to our troops. So we have to make sure
that when we go and do things that it is
saying thank you to them, right, we care about you,
We love you, and we love your families and your
care give us because some people when they go to
war zones, they don't come back the same way, whether
it's postomatic stress or a loss of a limb or
(05:55):
an I write, um, we have to make sure we
take care of them. So we my foundation with builds homes.
We buy dogs to train them for you, and they
give them the way to post them extress. Um. We
take care of kids, we cancer, so all those kind
of things. That's great and what you're doing is just
amazing helping those who first like fought for us, like
(06:16):
they gave us our freedom that we have today, and
they do need help because they've gone through things that
nobody else has. And it really right, absolutely and we
have to acknowledge that there's people like serving for our
country and serving for our freedom and it's just great
what they do and what you're doing to um let
(06:37):
them know that you're cared for. Toy just feed. I'm
still shocked, but it's just not you know, I do
the millage, and I do kids, and I do the
things that I do. But but it's there's a lot
of people less fortunate in our world. So we have
nice houses to live in, right, we have clothes, we
can do things. There are people out there less fortunate
in our world, in your own communities where you live,
(06:58):
just up the road here in Ami, in Wisconsin, wherever,
they don't have those, they don't have meals, they don't
have homes. And it's our responsibility when we have a
platform to use that platform to help other people. We
learned because when we were researching you, we found out
you like one of your main like things that you're
talking about selfless service, and how it's very important in
(07:21):
the military, and basically it's like a core factor. So
how selfless service? How because of that, why would you
get back to the community. Well, I believe that selfless
services is a bigger thing than any one of us. Right,
whether you believe in God, whether you believe in in
higher beings, it doesn't matter. We are, we are putting
(07:41):
this planet. We were, we're birth with grown, we grow,
and our job is literally to to help other people succeed. Right,
So as a chef, my job is to teach. If
you come and work for me, I don't reew My
job is to teach you to be better than me,
and if I don't do that, then I haven't done
my job. I want you to succeed and everybody has
(08:04):
to have the same chance. And unfortunately, due to you know,
whether where you grow up or the money you have,
some people don't get that. And it's our job to
make sure that we try and give that to everybody,
that selfless service, because if if you give back to
everyone and you teach other people to give back, then
the world view different places. You've got it and you
(08:26):
guys are doing it, which impresses me more than anything.
You're doing the same thing. But you're a lot younger
than me. Mine. Mine took a long time. I was
very successful up until fifteen years ago. You know, when
you make a lot of money, it's all about you,
and then you realize that it's not about you, it's
about other people. And I think you've got you've you've
(08:48):
already got that at a young age. So so you
you started way ahead of me. Well, once you have
the money, you you know that that people like have
like no money, So it's important to give not even
money like you could give socks, like what we did
when Hurricane Katrina. Wait, no norma, Hurricane Irma, Yes, hit Florida.
(09:11):
We went to the shelters and gave two two thousand,
no five thousand pairs of socks to the shelters and
we just walked around handing the socks to people and
we just we loved Like one this what I'm gonna
ask you a question that you're interview with me. But
at the same time, what did you feel and what
did when the people said thank you to you? Well?
(09:32):
I felt like I felt good about myself knowing that
I was helping other people who are less fortunate, especially
a lot of them. And once I walked out, like
gave all the thoughts away. I just had this big
smile on my face knowing that I did something good.
What about you, Brend. When I was giving the socks
and people were like, thank you, don't know how much
(09:52):
it missed to me. It made me feel some way
like I'm doing something good in the community. Like so
imagine that in a large scale, five thousand pairs of
socks and somebody that's lost everything mainly has said to you,
thank you for giving me a pair of socks, or
thank you for me for cooking a hot dog or
hamburger or a piece of chicken. Isn't that kind of ironic?
(10:14):
They're thanking us when we're really trying to help with them.
It's crazy, right, but it does make you feel good
and euphoric feeling we have in that brain when we
do something good, we sleep well at night. And I wish,
I wish there were a lot more kids out there
doing and adults by the way, because you're way ahead
of the game, but doing what you're doing, because the
more you do, the more we have a chance of
(10:35):
helping so many other people. Right, Yeah, it's true, it's true.
And when hurricane what was the hurricane I just hit
the Bahamas? When the hurricane a Bahamas, we went to
the like there was like an event, and we donated
more socks to the Bahamas. How much was it like
(10:58):
another five? Another five? And so because a hurricane just
hit the Bahamas and they're like like blew everything away.
So we're trying to do our part and do something good.
So we we know that everyone's feet are cozy, and
there's a chef you need to talk to. His name
is Jose Andres So right now in the Bahamas. Way
(11:21):
after that, hurricane adhere almost nine months ago. Right, we
still have people cooking kitchens there, the World World Central,
World Chef's Kitchen, Central Kitchen, and they're still there now
nine months later. Not funded by the government, they're funded
by the public, thousands and thousands of meals because the
island is still distraught. And Jose runs that. In fact
(11:44):
that I was at a meeting there this morning, just
up the road from here, um with him, very very
amazing guy. Yeah, great things for other people. Yeah, especially that,
because one thing you need in life is food, and
and well there's more things you need, water, shelter and food.
You can go without food for six weeks, you can
(12:04):
go without water for a week. Oh really yeah, really
trust me. So food, whilst it's good, water is even
more important. So what happens in the hurricane or there's
not enough water so we can boil water, but you
have to transport water, so not everybody gets bottles of
water like this. So yeah, lots of things. That's the
(12:27):
thing is happening in the world right now, and people
don't really like understand it until they go and see
it because it happened like a long not that long
ago months ago, but people don't really realize that it
doesn't happen quickly, like they don't recover that. I think
about Houston, think about Houston. Houston is the United States.
They had the same issue. We couldn't feed, We couldn't
(12:49):
we couldn't give water because there are a lot of
red tape in our government that doesn't allow that. Chefs
are the most philanthropic group of people on the planet.
They get together, they go, they'll find food and they'll
feed people. So and you've made a living on changing
people's lives through food, and how has had has anyone
(13:12):
like helped you on your path to success in this industry?
I think everybody helps you, no matter where you come
from or who you meet in the day. Right, So
you're meeting me today, Tomorrow you'll meet somebody else and
you'll take something from what I say today, something that
you mom says today, And as you get older, you'll
create your own personality that says, you know, I grew
(13:34):
up doing this, but now I want to do more.
And and everybody gives you an idea or a piece,
you take from it and you use it. So I
think there are a lot of people that made me successful.
The military was huge for me because I served many,
many years and learned an awful lot about my craft
and about leadership. And one thing that I teach in
my shows and in my life is leadership skills. You
(13:56):
can cook, or you can drive a truck, or you
can drive a tank, but if you can't lead people, um,
it doesn't work. So if I say to you and
you're my team, and I'm saying, oh, we gotta go
up to that hill and we gotta get into that
that that machine gun post, and I walk up there
and you're not behind me, I'm a very good leader,
am I. You gotta you gotta, you gotta make people go.
(14:19):
I have to know. I have to inspire you right
and nurture you, just like your mom does right when
you do bad things, she tells you off. When you
do good things, she passed you on the back. She
gives you lots of love, but she may get angry
with you at times. But that's the same in life.
As you go through life with people, and I think,
I think, as you learn these lessons, that's what life is.
(14:40):
And there are many many people and it could be
the janitor cleaning the floor, it could be the bus
driver taking me somewhere. You learn something from everybody that
you touch it that touches your life. Yeah, to learn
something like right now, we're learning from you and I'm
learning from you, right So it's a it's a mutual,
it's a two way street, it's not. It's never a
(15:01):
one way street. And did you ever feel like we
was there any time? Was there a time where you
just wanted to like quit or give up. I was
in the Majesty's Royal Navy and I was remembered cleaning
a deck the top of a boat, falling asleep, tired,
and I will be sleeping and still doing this. I've
(15:21):
never given up. And I don't think that there's um
that doesn't even come into my vocabulary. You know, I
have a show, restaurant and possible dinner impossible. Um, there's
nothing impossible in the world. You just have the mindset
and the attention to detail to get it done, and
the attitude. So you can be famous and have a
(15:42):
really bad attitude and there are a lot of people
out there like that, or you can be famous and
I have a good attitude and go and help people.
And speaking of a restaurant impossible. I always watched that
and it's so like good what you're doing your I
don't want to say failing GP. You're changing people's lives
and making the restaurant look more fancy. Okay, So what
(16:05):
does mean What is changing people's lives mean to you?
The restaurant looking fancy? No, what does it mean to you, Brandon?
Changing like their lives, like making something that wasn't really
going well? You change the way the restaurant Randy made
from nothing to something. Okay, So I'm going to give
you a different perspective. Okay. So we have a mom
(16:27):
and dad, the I've been married for twenty years and
two kids. Not too much different from you. The kids
don't want to be in that business, but the mom
and dad created that business, so they're in it by
the facto they have to be there. Right. So if
mom and dad don't talk because they're arguing at work,
what does that do to the two kids? It makes
(16:49):
me want to our usual. It's not very comfortable for
a family. So what I do is I try and
fix the family. First, find out what the issues are
with mom and dad, and it's normally money, and I
find out what the kids like to do. Soccer, um,
game boy, whatever it is. And they're not allowed to
(17:09):
do that because mom and dad make them work in
the restaurant. So that keeps a really unhappy scenario. Yes,
I do make over the restaurant. It looks pretty to
make over the food. But what I do is put
families back together so they can enjoy life more. That's
that's what I do with people. And I do that
in the military. I do it in civilian life. In
the restaurant impossible. But it's more about how do you
(17:32):
make how do you how do you fix problems? Bye,
you need a solution. Yeah, So you look at the issue,
you find a solution to fix it, and then you
implement the solution to fix it, and then you follow up. Yeah,
and that's great what you're doing. You're making families love
(17:52):
each other again. And it only sounds funny, but yes, yeah,
every week. And I've done this two hundred seven times
in restaurants and more and more to come. But it's
really important to fix the family unit. And families are
more important than brick and water. So your mom, it's
more important than any business than any person, right because
(18:15):
she she's your mom, and you only get one of them. Yeah,
so you have to take care of her. And that's
how I feel with the families. When I meet the
families and I see that they they're all upset and
they're fighting. That upsets me because I have two beautiful
daughters and a beautiful wife and and that's how I
live my life. My family is my life. So I
have to make sure that they're fixed. Then I can
fix the restaurant. Yeah, you gotta do once about a time.
(18:37):
You have to make sure that they want to do
it before you change. Well, sometimes they don't, right, So
what do you do? Then I get angry? Right, but
I can't. I can't put them in time out and
I can't do that. They don't want to move, And
I have to show them that if they don't do this,
then their house will be gone, their carl be gone,
their family begone, that mom and dad will divorce. So
(19:00):
I make that very clear to them that if they
don't follow what I'm telling them, these things are going
to happen. They're real things. So most people listen, so
it's like scaring them sort of. Yeah, And we found
this um on the internet when we were researching. You
spent three d and forty five days a year in
(19:21):
a car. In a car, I would go crazy if
I was in a car. Yeah, So I do about
a hundred and fifty days a year without military around
the world from Syria, Afghanistan, I rank, Poland, Spain, career,
um and and anywhere else we serve and then the
rest is TV. So it's kind of fun. So you
(19:42):
only have twenty days in the year. So what do
you do? Like? You just sleep? Sleep? Well, you need
the uni rest, you do. I sleep on planes like
it's it's crazy. Yeah, So where's your Where's the best place?
Like you've traveled to? Oh, well, the best place to
(20:03):
me may not necessarily be in the best place to you,
so you know it's back on. So if you think
for me, I can be in Afghanistan cast a rapid
Christmas's to take care of you. Un food is giving
you a piece of me to someone not necessarily? No,
(20:26):
But now did you know I'm known emerging in any
country in any anything. I'm guessing, Well, I don't. I
don't think, So you like, don't like, tell peoples no
(20:52):
the food I don't like, and then everybody knows whatever.
So if you need your research that cinnamon. Do you
hate Simon because what we do with you in America's
when we put pepper in cinema. But if you like
the regional cinnamon from sea or your anchor, that's real
awful part of a tree which is natural, you would
(21:14):
probably like it. So there are two things I don't like.
It's a long cinema issatrilanka. Some ms great. So what
advice to give to that one? S? Business? It depends
on business. You know, you've got to know when you
start a business. Got the backing of you our Rcason parents,
(21:37):
but you have to have the money to be able
to start. You know, if you're going into a restaurant,
in your restaurant and think it's gonna make a million
dollars a year, which is not where a month y um,
and you worked ninety hours a week, you're working for
about a hundreds went about worst net revenue or gross
revenue to which means you're making a list of minimum
(21:58):
wage for the hours of weak. Yeah, so why would
you do that business? Neither loss or that people? So
I don't always say the inn enough money to be
able to produce your products, price the price the product,
correct yourselves and make sure that you're away making the man,
don't then your charity. Yeah, I don't let anybody ever
(22:29):
tell you if you're not making money, it becomes of charity.
Charity begins a pot particular of pot yourselves, votes and
the secularity ls. So now we're talking about businesses. What
do you think about kids and businesses? I love it.
I think kids are very smart. I know a lot
of po kids, but they're just wants to show up.
(22:50):
And there are entrepreneurs that their parents actually work with.
Their kids have two five year olds, two sixteen year olds?
Who makes sixteen eighteen more yet from the garage? So
you create a fut also slat whether at sorts. There
are as lots of things. I mean when you find
(23:15):
something that the side make a nap to loo kids
with up entrepreneurial and you have that spirit to change
and not be so set as these kids are our kids.
(23:35):
You don't have that k on the dog, but not
bad kid and yeah being kids eating it's not be
(23:56):
master me about sixteen. Then you've been coming out to
pay a way two more years. You know change as quickly.
I don't. I'm trying to get to a predefinitely Well
if you could go back to kid kids visible Bundy
(24:20):
types don't really different because it's I'm going to give
you a life lesson number sixty two. You are going
to make mistakes, and if people tell them you don't,
they're lying to you. You will make mistakes. Um, you keep.
The success is not making the same mistakes, right. If
(24:41):
you make the same mistake twice, then you're not being vigilant.
You move, if you set a pair of stocks, you
lose your mind, then you have to adjust it for
the max Poss's coms. So I think once you once
you understand the successes as a kid, all you need
to do is learn from your mistakes and people exactly
(25:03):
and acceptables and older and so we know your wife
with the times professional profession, so would winning as I
will let them. Well, one thing you'll learn is to
get older when you get married. Your wife is always correct,
(25:26):
not literally about nine nine percent that time. But my
wife is is pretty um tough, yes, yeah, and she
want did she want to do nothing system us. She's
the cheesy first full of famous. It's it's pretty hard
(25:47):
to get most where and we have you have to
feel um and yeah, pretty true. So I I want
to know you're super jacked, right, I'm okay, I'm okay.
(26:09):
So do you cook to match people's cravings or do
you cook to promote healthy lifestys? I cook to cook
the food do I love and which you turn from
looks and healthy live staff. I don't want people to
eat round food. I don't want people to to start
going guys and people to eat healthy food and in
joyful Um, you're at the moment. But if you're having
(26:33):
a glass of wine, the advantage of cane at the glass,
one's okaye, happened to so kaye to eat cheese? So
kay to eat? Want say a portion that you're allowed
to eat and not above that, you know, so we
don't go to sixteen pounds of cheese every from the
nail or twenty UNTI of state there's a there's a
(26:56):
an acceptiment in it. I look at every day because
I would were doing children, I mean young adults. I
should being a children twenty years old to jump out
of planes and cheap guns and drive tanks from um.
So my jobs an issue if they stayed in open
and they see it as its time to progressives. When
we get older, you can slower do the same thing. Yeah,
(27:19):
well after seeing they don't lear anybody cheery where we
have anti so so I mean a level a minute
you were you have found with the military, and so
what if you make a saw a military working with
your phones? Would you mean what it? I thought you've
(27:41):
already done it. Yeah, the oldmate sack, I didn't do it.
But I don't want. I mean you'll start to cool, right,
and the cancer and make a wish. I mean amazing things,
but I want to really cool sh they go. Some
of my people they don't have legs, ye right, they
have they have proceets, so I want their prosthetics. So
(28:03):
it really cool um in stacks. So yes, I would
love to read at that. But you I don't want
just any willing lily. You know, I want real cool stuff.
I don't yet, but I couldn't have. But that was
not difficult. I mean, don't You're gonna be a little bit,
(28:24):
my goodness, a little bit more creative than I. Come on,
you can be got. You have to think. I don't
want the spot. You've got to think about it, and
then we can make four or five US apples. In
other words, duty, well, I'll give your feet back and
then I'll have some of my never moderate sis which
you should read about, okay, and if you can't read
(28:44):
about it online, we should should get a metal Bone
Foundation dot com or in my magazine and if you
look at that magazine dot com and then learn about
these guys, and that's where it's gonna make a themselus.
These aren't and seventy eight and there a living many
of one said it's in the floor right, which is
(29:07):
huge because they have given an ultimate sacrifice. They've been
shockingly blown up for you. Nay so um got in
fourth grade even start the metals metal right when people
look met up and each force has a different head
on right, the army area was moving from his rank
(29:29):
was only one woman in history as a minimar, making
him that we can pushing when it next ended me.
You were really cool back because do you make it cool?
And we can set them on my website so you
can possibly can say them to make way for your
charities and into my dad characters like grandfather and by
(30:05):
just say you're about it is important. But do you
represented really well? Yeah? For the reason I like you?
What what was he underposed in the second you have
no idea? Well that's terrible because I've just done for
(30:26):
Brad video for Brad. Brad. Actually he's trying to bend
unpossible course. Yeah, because I know the general commanding generals
dining out thank you to some people to U. So yeah,
I have to poll, thank thank you for yourself. Thank you.
(30:59):
I want to know we view the times of all
the kids or the people to listen to you. You
can way say, think of somebody's mom talk at our
service and us and they're families. And you look around
you when you see people rot everybodys in those poets
and challenging continue you to it. You want to do
(31:22):
one good thing every day somebody that you do not know.
It doesn't have to be money, the community. It could
be very sovery postage people movie, It could be open
the card you own months with them. You will see
something in the grocery store and you can't fo or
something and your mouth compare for work as the moments
(31:43):
you know, all these things make a difference and bullying
and watch the videos which was absolutely tell the screens
as a young man who fans whats go if we
see that to say something, you have to do something
there with movie giving away, holdingness and help, and you're
(32:09):
tootle change the little, one person at the time and
you're doing a great one way. Or I'm challenging a
right challenge accepted. Right, I'm gonna see you next. All right,
you good if you just heard? Are You kidding? Podcasts
(32:31):
with brothers Sebastian and Brandon Martinez who are kids helping
kids
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