Lessons from the Other Side of the Bar with Cam Burke

On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, sits down with Camaran Burke, founder of Holiday in Atlanta, to talk about what really goes into building a bar that becomes a community hub. Cam shares his journey from physics major to bartender to owner, and how the business of hospitality demands more than most people realize. From grief and burnout to building systems and culture, Cam gets honest about what it takes to survive in an industry where 16 bars in West Midtown have closed in just the last year. If you’ve ever thought about owning a bar, this conversation is your reality check—and your blueprint.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Money is the least valuable thing that you invest in
a business, And no one realized that money is the
least valuable thing the pieces of you that you bear,
especially in the food and beverage industry. Everybody goes to
a bar to celebrate or to do something. We're there
for work. So what you do as a regular interaction
is my job. Yeah, right, and that's happy, sad, whatever.

(00:22):
I gotta give a piece of myself to you, because
that's what good hospitality is like you let people in.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I gotta give a piece of myself to you.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
And people take these pieces, take these pieces, take these pieces,
and they usually don't come back here.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Everybody.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Welcome to another episode of butter Noms Amy Holls, Brandon
Butler found the CEO of Butter atl And today we
got my guy cam in the building and mister cam
Hey holiday bar and many other things.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I'm good, I'm good. I'm good.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
There's been a long time coming.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
It's been a long time. I feel like we've had
this interview informally several times, so now we're just recording it.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
The drink's help.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
I'm not.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
You know, but we can still.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I think we can still some stuff I'm excited.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Well, for those of the auto know man, Cam owns
the amazing Holiday Bar here in Atlanta, as well as
some other amazing things he's working on. But Cam, I've
been doing a new way to intro my guests. Okay, okay,
So I asked chat cheap et does it know who
Cameron Burke, the founder of Holiday Bar in Atlanta is,
And this is what it said. So you tell me

(01:31):
if chat GBT is right about you.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Okay, we go see.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Cam Burke is the founder and guest relations president of
the Holiday Bar and Open Air Especially Coffee and Craft
Cocktail Bar, located at the Interlock in West Midtown, Atlanta.
With over a decade of experience in the hospitality industry,
Burke is consistently advanced within various companies, starting from entry
level positions. His dedication and expertise have contributed to the

(01:56):
success of Holiday Bar, providing patrons with a unique and atmosphere.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
That's scary, that's insane.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
That's what I said. That's that's the chat knows about
you man.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's okay, that's that's pretty good. That's vague enough.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Big enough for it doesn't really say anything, but like
important enough where it hits all the notes right, like,
so because I feel like Cam and Holliday Bar being synonymous,
and really it's Holiday Bar is the and.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
We call it Holiday.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
So we dropped the bar because when people drink coffee
there to you and come there more often. But Holiday
is like the thing, right Like Cam's kind of scilitator.
So now you're seeing me be like, oh, I'm more
in the background, Like here's these other guys, here's the
general manager, here's you know, like you know, only see
me if you want some free shots. Everyone man me.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
The Cam discount is.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
You know you've made it, like I've left I've left
friend of cards up there in the Friends of Cam
line on the receipt. That's why you know you've made
it when they just when I go in and it's like, Brandon,
give me your credit card because I know you're gonna
leave it, and you know I'm good for leaving it
and just canceling it in order.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, it happens a lot. Nuts. It's we've got there
by a community so that when we first started it,
it was always meant to be community. For Yeah, I
saw the partners have their own discount and stuff like that,
and Yeah, if you're a friend and you come in
and you show support, you deserve to get a little
money off your drinking.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
Man.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well, just so y'all know that's my trophy and the rafters, now.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
That is your trophy. It's up there. It's yeah, it's
for bowling. Yeah, it's still a little with trophy. We
want to get bowling shirts now because of you like
holiday butter bowling shirts.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
It's on the way that Kim.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
What's funny is I was doing my own research, man,
and I know you went to Morehouse.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Did go to Morehouse again?

Speaker 3 (03:44):
I tell people all the time.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
People always say I'm the most successful Moorhouse dropout in Atlanta.
I went there for a year and I was like,
I just got to get out the city to Georgia.
I still love it though, you know what I mean.
I'm always I'm always jealous of my friends that have
kind of went and gone through because I think I'll
have like some strong, amazing net.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Of people out here.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
It's cool.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
But one thing I noticed, man, it said it said
you got a degree in physics.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, so applied physics with a specialty in aerospace.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
So you know what's funny is that was actually my
major when I was at More because I actually was
going to be in the dual degree program.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yes, yeah, yeah, so I started on a dual degree.
I didn't want to be in school for five years,
and they're like, you could just do this right and
get out for four years. Like it's not an engineering degree,
but yeah, when you're hiring, like it's three classes off
from an engineering degree. From like, that's the biggest is.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
So how do you go from applied physics to hospitality?

Speaker 4 (04:32):
Man?

Speaker 1 (04:33):
So I was broke in college and originally I was
in the military before college and stuff like that, so
military paid for school and then I was supposed to
go back and.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Something. One of the big things that happened and during
school is my dad died.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
So you know, if anybody's had a parent, loss a
parent and stuff like that, that dynamic in your household changes,
especially for young men. Right. So I went from like
being this college student to like being the patriarch of
a household.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Right, Bill's difference and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
So like I went from hey, I got to do
well in school to now I gotta do well in school,
but I also gotta make some money. I gotta be
able college students call home, Hey Mom, I need X,
Y and Z. Can you send me a care package whatever?

Speaker 2 (05:20):
I don't have any of that.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah. So, but what I was able to do. I
got into the food service industry to make some ends
meet and stuff like that. And I start off baking
pizzas up in Sandy Springs. I was a pizza baker. Okay,
I learned from this ex buffalo Bill. He was actually
really cool. Side note, I can make really good pizza.
But yeah, I ended up bet doing bacon pizzas and

(05:44):
stuff like that, and then I ended up being a
busterer at a sushi restaurant. From there, got in the hospitality,
working my way up to server at a bar, back
to bartender. By the end of it three years later,
I was the bar manager of the sushi restaurant and
I got a lot of awards for just being black
and sushi, like it's not something you see commonly. And
I kind of went from there and then we we

(06:06):
opened up a bar called Barmargo in the four seasons.
Help write that menu and stuff like that, and then
we got best hotel bar in the city and stuff
like that, and then kind of my my stats went
up from there, so I was able.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, I was able to turn that into ownership.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Okay, yeah, I didn't know, Okay, I didn't know. I
didn't know you were involved, like with the whole Barbargo thing.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
So yeah, I ran that bar for two years and
stuff like that. So they're good guys over there, and
I think they just opened up a new one. Yeah,
and then kind of turned that and then we come
to Foxshire like a bar in tiki tango. Yeah, rest
in peace, man, that's where I really earned my strike.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
That's a different crowd.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I had some I
had some guys that some partners there who really helped
me rock, let me rock and stuff like that. Really
trusted division because a lot of people didn't realize that
we had a partner from a craze. Okay, he was
the brain child all that, the guy from a crazy
and the guy who created Halo.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Wow mm hmmm.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
So yeah, you you've really been like deep in this man,
you know what I'm saying, Like, you know the people
that are making this thing happen and like really building
some of the the like the institutional places around Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
I was lucky. I was lucky a lot of.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
The same time, a lot of a lot of luck
and timing, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
But if you know, if you know the history, then
you could tell the future, right Like so I do
a lot of research on drinking and drinking culture within Atlanta,
like particular Darting, and I call him the Golden years
from from ninety six to.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Nine, drinking in Atlanta was it.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Parties, you had, all Star you had oh man, I
remember that compound open before Fox Show on Tikit Tango
was Cosmo Lava. And people don't realize that Cosmo Lava
was the longest running nightclub in the city, even longer
than Tonguing grew roof because I never switched locations. Oh okay,
They've always been there and they were there since nineteen

(08:04):
ninety eight. Damn, so we changed it to Fox Sean
twenty seventeen.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Well they seen it all, m hm.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
And can one thing I've learned about you man again,
you were definitely a man of hospitality, because.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Bro, when I saw you doing those flower.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
I was like this medicine, he's organized everything, wrapping him
like you really do know, like a lot of different
elements of just the hospitality space like, yeah, just the
bar side, right, But like, really what hospitality means you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, I pride myself on hospitals just show right, Like
you know what I'm saying, Like it's it's people think
it's just like serving drinks or serving food and so
that now you're just order takers. Like it's like learn
different skills that make you make people feel comfortable and
that way we're able to talk to more people and
things like that. I've had very bad meals before and

(08:53):
had very good service and still left fulfilled, you know.
So it's not yeah, how you deliver has to be
good and stuff like that, but also like you as
a product in hospitality has to be good. And I
think that's the biggest thing I see people losing sight of,
Right They're like, oh, well you want this, so I'm
just gonna give you this and there's nothing else, right,
And then yeah, but what did you do something to

(09:16):
make that person's day better?

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Did you find out something about that person or something.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Like that, Especially in the bar industry because people come
to the bar industry for everything, right, Like you go
to the bar, someone dies, You go to the bar
someone's born, You go to the bar you graduate. Like,
so if people are in the bar, they're in the
bar for a reason, So find out why they're there. Yeah,
and maybe you're able to help it. Maybe you're not
able to help it, but at least you try.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
No, that's the difference with experience.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
I mean, you know, I remember there was a time
when I like I would I would always go to
this one spot that was over my house, and I
would always say, like I like going here because I
liked the bar. I got cool with the bartenders, sure,
and I really I started like knowing people there and everything.
I was probably there a little bit too much, but
like I was saying, you know what I'm saying all
the time, but like I just appreciated that I actually
kind of had a relationship and they kind of. It
was just something about like when I'm a go in,

(09:59):
they know I drink and we would talk about other stuff,
and like it's funny, like even when those bartenders left
to go to other places, like I still talk to them.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
I talked to one of them last week. You know
what I'm saying, Like.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
You still build those relationships, cause again, like but that's
when you really meet people that know how to do it.
On the flip side, there's some people just like, yo,
here's a drink. Here's a drink, you know, And and
it's funny like I went back to that same location
a couple of years ago after everybody left, and I
had a terrible experience. Yeah, you know, it was the
same spot, but again, the bartender was rude. Like I
think they took like a smoke break in the middle

(10:30):
of like, you know, I walked in, they were like, yes.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
My break, and like they like walked out, and I'm like, bro.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
Just can I have a drink real quick? And you know,
and it's like it's so different you can kind of
see like when people really have that intentionality versus just
I'm here.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
You know.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, man, my biggest fip peeve is you take the
drink and then you get on your phone. Yeah, Like
and especially if you're in a slow bar and it's
like you're the bartender and you have one guest.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, you're not talking to the one guest. It's like,
what else are you doing?

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Like you have one job here and see it all
the time, and you it's just today's day and age.
You know, phones have become such a commonplace.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
I'm in my thirties, but I'm really sixty, right like,
so like you know, I try to I just came
from an age without a phone. I remember not having right,
I remember how to interact with people, and you just
don't see those skills again. So we're trying to build
a lot of that stuff.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
Well, you just think about, you know, outside of holiday, right,
like when you think about what's just a spot whether
it Atlanta or just in general that just does it right.
But you just like you like, you know, what if
I just know I want to go have an amazing experience,
and like what what spot do you go to?

Speaker 3 (11:34):
What do you think just does it right?

Speaker 1 (11:36):
So a spot that I want to I'll do a
reach spot, a spot that does it right all the time.
I'll do an everyday spot, and then I'll do the
spot middle right Like, So a spot that I went
to the other day that just hits it.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Hit it was mujoh, bro hit it.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
I have been.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
I got a buddy of mine that goes up he
goes up there so much like when you walk in,
everybody was like, oh.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
You're waiting for him? Yeah, And then you know I
went to the little bar area out front.

Speaker 4 (12:01):
But then it was crazy and we went to sit
down and eat, Like even though they were making like
this all the you know, the normal courses, they were
literally like creating custom things for him because they knew
just what he liked, and so we were eating totally
different stuff than everybody else in the restaurant.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, keep going hit it.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
I love that spot, know your name and stuff. One
they come in a spot.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
In the music there is like I mean they're playing
Project Pat one day.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Trying to take a spot that I can go to
every day that hits it. That's a little biased for
me because I make friends with people so like old
Faithful leven Street pub man. Yeah, okay, bartenders are friendly enough,
product is good enough, but you never feel ostracized when
they're in there and stuff like that. Have the same

(12:52):
staff for a long time and stuff.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
So like they they hit it for me.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
For me, different people have different experiences this and another
spot that's a little bit more in the middle that
does it that kind of hits it to Kin Joe
Room surprising, Uh not to keep it all Midtown and
West Midtown localized. It's just what my ecosystem is. Yeah,
but even from a non even if they didn't know me,

(13:18):
the way they interact with guests, like they very rarely
get service complaints. They do it well. They do it
well from a service aspect.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, I've passed it many times. I haven't been in there,
but I've got I've got some friends that have talked
to me about it. I got to check that spot out.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah please, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
So how did holiday come about?

Speaker 1 (13:39):
So three guys, So we all lived abroad before. And
what people sometimes, what people need to understand is like
I'm the face of holiday and stuff like that. We
have a guy who created holiday, and he was the
idea guy. And then we had the money, right like,
and that's how we all came about. So like, I'm

(14:00):
not a creative person. You only call me when you
want to start making some money, right, Like, Kansas is
what I have? Right? Can you sell this milk to
this cow? Yeah? I can sell the milk to that cow.
So how it came about?

Speaker 2 (14:11):
It was three of us and I was the last
one in.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
I've been friends with you know, two of my partners
for a long time. They're like, hey, I think you
could really sell this. You were on this corner and
stuff like that. It's based on vacation. Me being tropical,
you know, I'm Jamaican, so like I was, like, I
love vacation. It's a way of It's a way of
life for me, and that is how Holiday was born.
So it's being on vacation and escape from the concrete

(14:36):
jungle to kind of be your own, you know, whatever
you want to make it right.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
And that's kind of the coolness of it, like the casualness.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
What it has started, what it started at, and what
it's turned into no one really expected and stuff like that.
So what we kind of see it now, like yeah,
we get raw rau on the weekends and stuff like that,
but we.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Kind of become like the facto community.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Right like, and stuff like that. Or we have people like,
oh I just closed a big deal. We're going to holiday.
Oh we got We've had umteenthd amount of weddings there
right like, especially from people are going to college with
and stuff like that. The offices come down whenever they
celebrate a big win, and that's been really cool to
even though it's vacation, it's really it's turned more into

(15:23):
celebration and celebration within your community, and that's been a
really cool thing.

Speaker 4 (15:28):
Yeah, I think that's something like that's that's something I've
always noticed that Atlanta kind of misses in a sense,
Like I think about a city like Chicago, where you
have a lot of offices with bars and restaurants on
the first level, and you know, when people get off work,
they just go downstairs and they hang out, and you know,
they got certain spots they go to and they go

(15:49):
to the spot like in the lobby or on the
first floor or whatever it is. But like you know,
in a lot of spots, Atlanta doesn't have a lot
of spots like that. So that's why, especially like downtown,
Downtown it's a go after like five six o'clock. Yes,
but like it's always interesting. Again, look I'm I'm always
at holiday, trust me, you know, but like it's always
interesting to your point, Like you in there, you see

(16:10):
people that are actually working in the office buildings around
interlocking around that area to your point, coming down after
with their coworkers or they're celebrating something or like I say,
it's a deal or whatever. So it's really kind of
created that community aspect. And I don't know, I don't
really see that a lot in Atlanta. So I think
it is definitely kind of a unique space, and it's.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
It's made us. Yeah, it's made us unique. It's really humbling.
I don't talk about that often. It's it's super humbling
just when people like stopping like, hey, you know you're
with holiday or something like that, right and I saw
this there. I celebrated Suchessers there. We've had two holiday babies,
so we we do keep track of that stat, like
you know, I met I met my wife or my

(16:50):
partner at holiday. So that's always a fun that's always
a fun stat. So like they come back, we have
people celebrate anniversaries there.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
It's it's been super cool.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
It's been super cool, super humbling the way that the
community embraced us, the way West Mintown embraced us. Sorry
about the noise sometimes, guys, but h so, but I
learned something new every day.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Just out of curiosity.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
If if you meet somebody there and you'll end up
having a holiday baby, like do you get like a
discount you get grandfather?

Speaker 3 (17:17):
You know, something like it's like automatic thing.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
Definitely some like some celebratory drinks like every every birthday, right,
Like there's definitely like some bubbles involved and stuff like that.
Sometimes I feel like I care about it more than
anybody else because about it.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Like, hey, they had the first holiday, baby.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
I have pictures on my phone of like our first customers,
people celebrating their first anniversary. Now that like I've become
a dad, Like I'm super I'm the picture dad, right,
Like so I take pictures of all the dumb stuff
that happens there, like way more than what people realize.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Oh man, but again, those are those just like the
little things like that. Yeah, you know, I mean it's
little things like that. Again, I think that people don't
fully understand, especially in this world where gratuity is automatically
added everything.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, it's like it's.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
It's those are the things that make you come back.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
Those those relationships to people, like I say, knowing the bartenders,
just being able to laugh and talk about different stuff.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
You know.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Again, I just always think it's cool. Like I grew
up watching Cheers.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
Yeah you know, so it's like, yeah, a part of
me always kind of wanted to be norm in a sense,
you know what. I'm like just coming in like, hey,
it's brand and that. Man, You're like, you ain't got
to say nothing. It's just like you just looking.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
It just comes for you. Love.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
That is what we're trying to do. Man, It's uh,
it's been cool.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Ken. Now we gotta get into what we really came
here to talk about.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Let's talk about it.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
You gotta look me and you've been plotting on this
for a minute. We gotta get this man.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
Look man, a lot of people just see the finished product,
you know, they see y'all, they see y'all jumping on
the weekend. We're not gonna talk about what it might
see on social media. You know, they see the finished product. Right,
But like, what's been a moment just in this whole
journey with Holiday that you've kind of stepped back and
been like, first of all, like what did I get

(19:12):
myself into?

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah? So we're always we try to be the first
at stuff at Holiday, and we've definitely gotten ourselves in
some in some TIFFs, I'll say, So I'll tell everybody
the story about the first weekend Holiday, right, Like, so
we holiday people don't realize Howiday opened in August. We

(19:36):
didn't get our liquor license till October. So if you
ever try to open up an all day coffee shop, right, like,
I mean you're not one of these big boys. It's rough.
So we were losing money left and right. We got
down to like our last like two hundred dollars. It's
we have one employee, it's me, my partner. We're all

(20:00):
sitting there one day and I'm like, I don't know
if we're gonna make it, Like well, my partner put
up his condo.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
It's like I could be homeless. So we're stressed out.
But we got the liquor license that.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Weekend and we just opened up the doors. We didn't
tell anybody. It wasn't a social media thing. We just
opened up the doors and we just got bombarded. Which
was good. It was we're able to cover payroll that week.
But also like I looked around and was like, oh,
this is gonna be an issue. Like this is gonna
be a problem. So from jump, it's kind of been

(20:34):
like every day has been been new. You know. Now
we've ventured into a few other things, like we do
we do these morning parties. Yeah, and that was a superviral,
super superviral. I was in d C.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
I was we made the news.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
We made the news in d C, which has insane.
They sent me a little bit have you heard of
this holiday in Atlanta? I said a ship, go ahead, ship.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
I was like, what what what did I do?

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Like shout out to Ape Hot and Jerremany. Yeah. Yeah.
So that's that's the most recent been like all right,
what is going on? And it's all fun during the
weekends and no one, no one, everybody has a blast
of these things and no one knows.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
What you have to do on Monday when people are like, so.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
What did you do this weekend? Who you know? So
that's the flip side of all this. It's like you
have to go. I don't like using the word code
twitch because that didn't it's not taking on like a
racial connotation, but like you have to go and like
represent this business and you're doing what you have to

(21:45):
do for your business to stay open in these times,
and sometimes the powers that be don't understand that, nor
do they care. And that's been kind of the biggest
crunch of the last year and a half two years.
It's like, we're doing what we have to do for us,
right and to be good neighbors and partners and stuff
like that, and people want you to do what they

(22:08):
want you to do with the perimeters on them and
they're not trying to help you.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
They don't know unders saying the other part that you
got to kind of, you know, manage.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
In order to help make that stuff happen, right, correct.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
And that's so every year I have a like why
am I in this thing? And this year it's been
like we had sixteen bars closed in the last year.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah, especially in the West Midtown, in the West Midtown.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah. So that's just in West Midtown. Sixteen bars within
a square mile of West Midtown. That's an insane statistic.
That's a scary statistic. So then you see us.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Kind of like pivoting, pushing that envelope.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Like all right, cool, well you know if they say
we can't do it this, we we're gonna do it
this way, right like And the pivot, the pivot has
always been like all right, we don't have to stop pivoting.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
When can this just be just be this thing?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Right? Like? You know what I'm saying. If people plays
have been there for thirty years and they just they
have the thing. Since our thing is based around people,
and our thing is people, our thing always changes. And
that's been an interesting fact with.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
All those bars closing in West Mintown, just you're like,
what do you think is the common thread with all
that stuff? Because it's like a lot of them just
seem to happen like overnight too. It's not even like
a it's like there one minute, the next day you
come up, it's just a piece of paper on the door.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
You know what I'm saying. I think that people got
a lot of money during COVID. However they got the money,
I think that money made you a little bit less
risk averse to go into these areas and the area,
let me say the area wanted us to come in, right,
The area wanted all these bars here and stuff like that.
They wanted to be an entertainment hub and stuff like that.

(23:42):
I think the dream that the areas sold and that
the product that actually landed in the area were two
different things. I think people had the money, so they
did these deals that gave them a decently long runway,
but they didn't plan for you know, the price of
eggs going up, right, it's a business altering change, and
a lot of people don't see that cost. You just

(24:02):
see the cost that you get as a consumer, but
no one knows the cost that actually goes in on
the back end. Right, Yeah, yeah, there's well there's no margins, right,
like you after after you pay your your employees, after
you pay your rent, after you you know, forget even
paying yourself. Right after you pay all that, all that
has to come out.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Of your one dish of yeah, your one.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Omelet, right, That's that's what it is, right, Like, so
three eggs pay.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
For all this.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Yeah, and then like if you didn't have I call
it the crunch, If you don't have the crunch based
into your business plan, you'll never survive the crunch. Yeah, right,
like and that's yeah, I think that's what happened. Like
these guys came in and a lot of them from
out of town, some of them local brands and stuff.
You don't survive the crunch, you know, And how do

(24:52):
you plan out thirty years ahead if you're like West
Egg was there for seventeen years, eighteen years, how do
you plan that act into your You just close the doors. Yeah,
it's just it's not sustainable anymore, right.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
No, it's interesting when you talk about the crunch because
you know, again that's a that's just a perspective that
comes from experience. And so yeah, a lot of people
don't build that part in but then on the other
side even that said, like, what is something that you've
experienced in here, like with this whole journey that you
didn't know about that like nobody warns you about.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
The kind of surprised you in doing this.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
I guess I didn't realize how much location matters, right like, and.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
That sounds stupid. We're on one side of the interlock.
There's other business on the other side of the inter lock.
All the business on that other side clothes, none of
the business on my side clothes. Is there that big
of a difference between one it's not even a block
one block there. Yeah, that corner on has a lot

(25:54):
to do with the success of holiday and that's not
everywhere else has kind of been like isolated. I've been
in a hotel, or I've been like behind you know,
I was on another corner that had no foot traffic
at all.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Right, So it's really easy to get a big head
to be like, oh I did all this.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
And stuff like that, and now you're just able to
be seen from the one of the business corners in Atlanta.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
That's what I how to go there.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Yeah, and all the businesses on each one of those
four Corners is still open right like and doing decently well.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
So I think the location like it it was.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
Humbling right like you're like, oh, yeah, like I'm this
great business operators like no, you're not. You know, like
it's like now people can just see you and you
have a decent enough product where people are.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Like, oh, let's go here. You're loud enough to get
people's attention.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
Back when I was in New Jersey, there used to
be a spot called Jose Tejas and you'd be driving
down the highway and then it doesn't say Jose Tajas
is a huge kneon sign. It's probably like one hundred
feet in the.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Air and it just says The sign just says eat here.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
It's a big sign, right like you pull up as
Osea's a TEXTBACS restaurant, nothing special and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
But that was how my mom and I went to eat.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
There the first time. About it, Yeah, So like location,
until you've profited from a location, a lot of people
lose because of a location. Until you've profited from a location,
you don't really realize how much it matters, like how
much you're not out of sight, out of mind.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
So that's been a huge.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
Learning thing and then age matters now like so like
this is my fifth, fifth project and now I'm tired
all the time. It's you know, I got my first
bar at twenty five, right like you know, now I'm
thirty three and it's like, nah, I need to go home.

(27:52):
I can't do what Yeah? Yeah, yeah, so that's the
coming of age. It's happened at holiday. I got gray
hairs now, shit stressed out the coming of age at holiday,
which people shout out to the staff at holiday because
they've seen that in real time and it is ugly.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
It's like the president, Like you've seen those pictures of
the president and he.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
Comes out office. Man, that's that's ugly.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Seeing a person having self actualization in real time is
not The movies do not sell it, right. It is
an ugly bad process.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
A shout out to.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Them for dealing with me doing all but that that's
been something that I did not anticipate. That like it
has forced me. Circumstances forced me into no man.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
Look like I said, when they say whenever a president
gets out of office, they all get like a free
heart transplant.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Or something, you know what I mean. Life, Yeah, just
just the amount of stress. They deal with it.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Like you can go look at pictures of Barack Obama
when he went in versus like when he came out,
he's like he's aged thirty forty years and just you know,
eight years, you know what I'm saying. And I feel
like as an entrepreneur, like when you especially when you
really have something that's I mean hell, even if it's
not working, you know just the amount of it, you
know the amount of just stuff that goes into it.
I mean I remember, like even to your point about location,

(29:13):
I used to own a web design agency and the
idea that I had was like, you know what, like
what if I put this in a mall? Because you
know this is you know, back in like the early
two thousands. I was like, you know, there's a lot
of foot traffic, and like web design has always been
like a very referral based business. Like even now, if
you need a website, like where do you go? There's
not like a person that you go to. So I
got this crazy idea, I'm build a website shop and

(29:34):
put it in the mall. And like it worked, but
let me tell you, stressed me the hell out, Like
to the point to where and a part of it
too was and I'll even talk about this, was like
I don't think I did a great job of hiring
because a lot of that stuff fell back on me.
And you know, there was literally a point in my
life where I would have anxiety attacks anytime my phone
would go off. I mean, and think about how many

(29:55):
times your phone goes off over the course of a day, Emails,
text messages fall like you're just like, oh God, what
is it now? You know what I'm saying, and you're
looking at this stuff. And so that was something that
I had to learn to manage because I said, you
know what, I can't do this again, Like I'm not
going to survive this if I do it like this again.
And I don't think people see that. Like I literally
used a lot of people and tell them I don't

(30:17):
own this place, like the guy who owns it lives
in Florida all the time, and I just work here
like I'm not the owner, like you saying it was
the worst mistake I ever made was making business cards
to said owner on them. And I will never make
that mistake.

Speaker 5 (30:32):
Every time you do you own holiday, who's asking? Because
now I'm the bus boy. I just work here, Yeah,
let me throw that out for you.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
Boss.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
Well, that's what saying, even you know, even hiring people.
That's what I've learned is like a whole skill set
in it within itself. And you know, having even worked
in like the hospitality space, I've done some restaurant stuff.
I mean, I've seen it firsthand. Like, what's the biggest
challenge that you've experienced, Because we have a lot of
people come on who have built businesses and they all
kind of say a team, but like from a from

(31:05):
a hospitality restaurant bar send, Like, what's the biggest challenge
in getting that right.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Group of people for that kind of team?

Speaker 1 (31:11):
Systems? Systems systems, right, like, So the biggest challenge that
we've had, I've the biggest time is that I've seen
hospitality And the biggest challenge that I've had, right is
self automation. Right Like, so like I'm a pretty good bartender,
you know, pretty good server and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
I'm not a good accountant, you know.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Like and once you're at the top, right you shift,
we tell people who's the same we use there? You
got to use more of this instead of using this,
right like, so like you could be the best bartender
in the world. If you can't pay your staff on
they're not going to stay. Uh. So one of the
big yeah, the biggest challenges has been like systems and
taking myself out of like, oh, I could just do

(31:51):
this because I've been so used to working with this, right,
I could just make this cocktail this way, I could
just do this, or like seeing the gaps in the
service and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
And getting like the admin done, like returning returning emails right.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Like they're going from working in the business to on
the business.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
On the business right like uh, and preparing yourself to
be scaled.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Right. So that's why a lot of restaurants never get
past one because yeah, you could have all the success,
you can't prove it you get I can tell you
I made this much like so y and Z, Well
how'd you do that? Well, you know, I just do no.
Like it's not so learning like project managing software learning
like uh, getting you know, payroll in on time, getting

(32:34):
permits filed on time, and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
That's been the what you don't realize.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
And that's been my biggest hurdle is doing that stuff
or automating the stuff that I want to do right
and passing it off to other people so I could
do this other big stuff to prepare to you know,
the next iteration of holiday.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
You know, for a lot of folks, especially because I've
worked in like the agency space, Like that's what you
see all the time. Like you have somebody that's a
really good designer, and you know you want to promote
them because they want to grow, they want to you know,
they want to move up in an organization.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
At a certain point though, if you in order to
move up, you.

Speaker 4 (33:22):
Had to start managing people, You had to start doing
more of the administrative stuff. So you get further away
from the work because you're working on the business. You're
doing reports and you're in meetings and like you don't
get to spend as much time doing the creative stuff.
And it's always interesting, right, Like seeing is this a
challenge for a lot of people because I had the
same thing. Like I remember when I had the website shop.
You know, I went to the bank one day being like, yeah,

(33:42):
I want some money, and they were like, let me
see a P and L And I said, what the
fuck is that? And you know I literally went to
you know, office depot and I bought a copy of
quick Books and then I installed it and I said, okay,
I still don't know what this is. You know, like
literally one day, like on my way home, I used
to pass this accounting firm every day.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
It was just I would just see it.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
And I just went over there one day and knocked
on the door and this guy comes to the door
and I'm like, look, I own a business down the
street and they told me I need a P and
L and I I don't even know how to use
quick Books. I said, I'll just give you like one
hundred bucks if you show me how to use it.
And he was like, man, take your dumb mass.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
In the back.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
And I'm just exactly exactly.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
It's like you don't even know those those things that
it takes, like really you had and you got to
do it through trial and error and bump your head
and it's it's tough.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
And a lot of I think something that makes Holiday
a little bit different or any of the businesses we
do that I'm learning and it's been growing pains with that.
Something we implemented in the last I guess eighteen months.
If you're an employee of Holiday, you have to start
a business within a year.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
Oh wow, Okay, so most of our employees are starting
a business or working on a business and stuff like that,
because if you're investing or in the food service industry,
it's not like a it's not like a lot of
upward momentum unless you really want to do this for
the rest of your life, and not many people want to
do People do it out of circumstance, but not many
people were like me, like, not, I want to serve

(35:08):
people for the rest of my life, you know.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Like, So if you're investing this much into our business,
right like, and we know you're going to leave, then
you have to be investing equal amount of time into
yourself and then we can pivot then turn us into
a client.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Right like, and then stuff like that. So that way
the relationship doesn't end.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
Yeah, when you leave, and that people leave.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
That's that's support of momentum for us, right like.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
So you only have x amount of managers, right like,
So like, if you have fifteen employees and then two
can be managers, and if we already have managers and
they don't leave, then like this is going to end.
Right So, but in teaching people how to start a business,
is very much a reflection on yourself if you're running
a business and be like, oh I could tell you
how to do this better. If I don't do it well,
then you're not going to think you have to do it.

(35:52):
So like it's a lot of like that's why I
say like the self actualization of like what the employees
and stuff have seen has been us cleaning up and
it's been a mirror right, Like so cleaning up in
real time how you interact with people, how you know,
how you manage people and stuff like that. So I
hope I'm getting better, But that's been a really cool,
but really challenging thing is because you're now we've now

(36:14):
gone a step from like managing people like at work,
so like hey you could do this and they do
that and stuff, and now we're like we're creeping into
their off time and be like, hey, well what do
you do to do this?

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Talk to us about your business and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
So a lot of our one on ones that we
do with them is like what are you doing outside
of work? Yeah? Right, because I can see what you're
doing inside of work? Correct that? Or are you right?
Like what are you doing outside of work? Like why
are you acting this way or why you know, why
don't you dedicate more time to this and maybe you'll
be happier here, like and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Now, when y'all, when y'all have that, I've never heard
like a policy like that in a sense before, Like
do you how does holiday then supporting kind of pour
into people to help them start that business, because everybody's
in a different place in that journey.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Right. So our first employee he was he's in the
coffee space and stuff like that. And our first employee
taught everybody coffee. He now trains all the staff on
all of our coffees and stuff like that. He services
our coffee equipment and we buy coffee from.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Oh wow, okay, so you train that ecosystem, you know
what I'm saying to your point.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Yeah, so we our second employee wrote books and stuff
like that. We bought We bought the books. We have
other employees who.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Start like production companies or organization companies.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
We utilize all of them. Still, let's still try to
We try to utilize everybody if it's an applicable business.
You know, you want to be a realtor not saying
to buy a house, but uh, but we'll try, but
we might refer you.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, holidays is a tool, right like?

Speaker 1 (37:39):
And we start we started the company like we're going
to sell it the next day. If we sold it,
if we had a liquidation event the next day, what's
it going to look like? Right like? And now we
hire employees like their last day is going to be
the next day, right so if you put in that time,
what's your last day going to look like?

Speaker 2 (37:57):
And we can't just put you out? Is a demand job.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
I don't think a lot of people it's a it's
a it's a hard it's a bar, but it's a
hard bart of work, right like. So full time for
us is three days, wow, So and people still get
their butts kicked and you can't work like your three
days can't be Friday, Saturday, Sunday too much, right like?

Speaker 2 (38:17):
So people get burnt out and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
You get burnt out because you're not spending enough time
on yourself at home or investing in what you want
to do and stuff like that. And then you don't
get burnt out because you're physically tired, because we don't
work anybody that much. You get burned out because you
feel like you have nowhere to go, So for us,
you need somewhere to go, right and that you should
go to yourself or to your business or stuff like that. Right,

(38:42):
So we have artists, so we you know, we buy
their art like it's.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
But yeah, we've been we've been pretty successful with it
since implementing it and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
I like to think that the stats a little bit
happier and stuff.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
So it's uh yeah, and people get to make real
money that we don't touch right right like, and that's
seeing money come to you that's your own as opposed
to money that we pay you.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Totally, it's a different it's a different feel.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
It's different feel, a different feeling.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
I mean, I kind of you know, it's funny like
that's that's that's a really interesting policy. That might be
something I gotta I about to steal that idea.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Hey man, we need more business out there.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
And and it's almost like a coaching tree, you know
if you kind of think about it, like like looking
like a I don't know, like a Bill Belichick or
somebody right like when they actually map out like all
the other coaches now that at some point coached under
him or work for him, and now they're actually running
teams and doing stuff like yeah, literally treating that whole
just amazing ecosystem of just you know, and everybody kind

(39:38):
of has that common thing, that common thread in places
I spend time here, but this is what also helped
me kind of launching go on to my next thing.
And everybody has that commonality. You know, it's like a
really it's a really special thing. It seems like it's cool.
It helps us get better.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Everybody knows each other's businesses, they utilize each other for stuff, and.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
People think like business owners too at a certain point,
which also.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Probably helps you all because once you switch your thinking
from an employee to a business owner, you're like, oh, no,
Like I get it, because there'll be times well they'll
be doing stuff and I'll just look at them and
be like, I know. I was like, yeah, yeah, remember
when you fuckings you see this gray hair? This is
your gray hair, right like You've yeah, They're like damn.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
I'm like, yeah, what's been the most surprising or kind
of unexpected feedback you've gotten from a customer?

Speaker 1 (40:27):
At holiday two years ago, we had a guest come
in not sad, but like exactly like a little off,
Like they tell her weren't having the best day and
stuff like that, and get to talking. I'm like, what's
going on?

Speaker 2 (40:38):
So it's my birthday to day?

Speaker 1 (40:39):
I'm like, okay, you know, like whatever you know and
stuff like that. They're like, yeah, I think a few
people are meeting me and no one came. Oh man,
no one came, and so the staff was there. Happened.
I think it was like a Thursday or something like that.
It was busy enough, but it wasn't like crazy busy.

(41:00):
So we do that young Ladio birthday party and we
had a black we got drunk, but yeah, that was
That's probably one of the most not surprising, but I
guess fulfilling things that we did that was really cool.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
And now she comes back all the time surprising.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
I think the success of it that's happened, going from
like serving coffee in the morning to cocktails at night.
That's super surprised. Every day that people come in there
and decide to drink with us, and like what and
how people decide to drink.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
So like we don't close, we're always open on the holiday.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
So like we're busy on holidays like the Monday holidays
and stuff like that. We're busy. We're open on Christmas,
busy on Christmas, you know, and every year the holiday's grown.
So that's been the most surprising thing is seeing like
how we resonate with the community and stuff of that,
because originally, like we're always open Christmas and Thanksgiving, right,
like if you come in on Thanksgiving and you have
nowhere to grow. We originally started it for industry people

(42:02):
because they're usually the only people working. Yeah, so if
you're in the industry, you get off work, you should
be able to come into holiday, get a drink. We
usually have some food there if you get some if
you get food early, if you get there early enough,
you'll get to play the food, sit out and relax.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Let us take care of you.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
This thing same we had to have a security guard
cause like there was like two hundred three hundred people
that oh wow, yeah eight food.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
I cooked two forty five pound turkeys.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
So that like that's been a Christmas has been a thing,
like and now it's become so like community based, where
like we were cooking for people. Now people are bringing
the staff plates. If you work on holidays, and we
don't allow any of the employees to work on holidays,
so it's just managers. So it's like me and the
GM or me and the AGM just bartending.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
Like and we're getting our asses. Like it's supposed to
be an easy shift.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Yeah, no, it's like a real deal shift. And like
it's us bartending. We asked the staff to come in
to enjoy, but like they don't need to work, et cetera,
et cetera. So that's been really cool just the way
that people have kind of embraced that stuff, or like
some of the little things we've been doing, same thing.
We have a I have a cookout every year a

(43:10):
moral Day and Labor Day or we just cook for
the community and stuff like that, and what that's kind
of turned into has been really it's been a blessing.
But it's been super sprongling. You just take something that
start out as like ten to fifteen friends, Yeah, now
it goes to like one hundred and fifty people.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
Man, Yeah, I mean, but again, it just that just
speaks to you know, the place that you all kind
of have in people's hearts and minds, right, Like, this
is a place that I can come even as a
person who again is in the industry or whatever, like
this is also a place for me, not just the
place that you know I see and pass by, Like
when I need a break, I can go there.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, So that's that's been it. I think personal.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
Wise, like has been the growth, right like because we
always going to then assumption that the more money you have,
like that solves all your problems, right like you know,
like and then like Biggie pattt right like more money,
more problems. So like you said it earlier about everybody
sees the finished product and stuff like that, and they

(44:10):
don't see like the hotel bars or the fox Trot
and Tikky Tacos before then and stuff like that and
all the fails and stuff and then.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
No one We've talked about this, and I know it
took a long time to get here. The cost no one,
no one sees.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
No one sees the cost.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Nobody sees it.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
And I now with holiday, like I'm more open about
talking about the cost. Yeah, man, because the sacrifice is rough.
It's it's rough, it's humbling, it's scary, it makes you
not want to do it. There's days where you feel
like giving up, and no one talks about that. And
it that was the most surprising part that even though

(44:52):
you get bigger, the cost gets higher. Yeah, and no
one tells you that you think the cost only stays
here from lots of.

Speaker 4 (45:01):
Levels though, right, Like it's the cost, it's the you know,
you you realize how much you got, you've invested in this,
You got on the line, like you know, like you
can't get up and just and you can't get up
and just walk away, you know.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
You know, it's like I can't even just I don't
I'm just here.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
I gotta keep going because I can't go back, I
can't quit, I can't do so I can't just not
do this what I'm gonna do next? You know, I gotta,
I gotta how do I evolve this if I'm gonna
do something next.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
The toll that this industry has taken on me mentally
and physically has been astronomically.

Speaker 4 (45:45):
When I was gonna ask you, like burnout is a
real thing, Like so it's really real And again, like
you know, I know people talk about mental health and
taking breaks, so like how do you manage that stress
and burnout as best as possible?

Speaker 3 (45:57):
Because it's always gonna be a challenge for folks like us.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Right, Uh, you know, like get a good therapist.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
Some of the best money I've spent is on a
good therapists.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah. So you're the people in your life
aren't meant to be your therapist. And sometimes entrepreneurs we
tend to use it that way. Our wives, our kids
or whatever. Right, Like, they're not your therapists, and they're
not equipped to deal with some of the stuff that
you were dealing with, especially if they're the source of

(46:25):
some of the strait, right, Like you know what I'm saying.
So like that's therapy has helped out a lot, being
able to giving it all that I've got, right Like,
so before you kind of hold stuff back and you're like, hey,
you know, if this doesn't work out, then I have
a contingency plan for that. There's planning and then there's
just like being like, hey, I gave it the best

(46:47):
I could do, Like I left nothing on the table, right,
Like last year was a crappy year sales wise, and
what I said to my partners, and I was like, look,
we're not going to hit the number, but I gotta
be honest with you guys. I gave it everything I got. Yeah,
And I was cool with that. I left it all
on the field, right, like so and accepting that, right,

(47:10):
So that has been giving yourself grace, like giving yourself.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah, like that has been the one of the more
challenging things for me.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Like it's be like, all right, cool, I hit it there,
I hit it there, I hit it there, you know,
especially where you you know, I've had seven projects have
only closed down one, right, like you know, and five
projects have hit Yeah. So then you're like, all right, well,
why is this not hitting right? And you're like, it's me,
it's and sometimes it's just like a life man, and
no one sees that when you're there by yourself and

(47:40):
like you just it's you that in a bottle.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
There.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Yeah, so like and like you know, people like you
still four thirty in the morning, Yeah, leave me alone.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
You ain't seen anything.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
So yeah, just living and let live and be like
you know, sometimes it's just gonna run its course. And
being able to trust other people, trust other people with
your vision and be like people are investing in you
and accept that. Like sometimes people are gonna like stab
you in the back and that's okay.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
That says more about them than it does about you.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
But oh man, yeah, there used to be times I
was taking all that to heart, and like twenty twenty three,
even parts of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
Just it's hard to take it personal though, especially when
you absolutely invest so much in it, so much of
your time, yourself. They like, people don't know what you've
sacrificed to make this possible.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Yeah, money is the least valuable thing that you invest
in a business. And no one realizes that money is
the least valuable thing. Yeah, like the pieces of you
that you bear, especially in the food and beverage industry.
The piece is like everybody goes to a bar to
celebrate or to do something. We're there for work. So

(48:55):
what you do as a regular interaction is my job, right,
and that's happy, sad, whatever. I got to give a
piece of myself to you, because that's what good hospitality is,
Like you let people in.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
You know, I got to give a piece of myself
to you.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
And people take these pieces, take these pieces, take these pieces,
and they usually don't come back.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
And then one day you wake up and you're empty
and you're like yeo and that and that's the burnout
right there, That's that's the crash. And then you're running
on empty and you still got to do all this
stuff and you're not telling anybody you're empty, right, so
no one has any grace for that, right, or like
no one understands that. So then you're just you're the
shell of yourself, right, And then you hear people just

(49:39):
having a heart attack or like whatever, because it just
that's some like I've had to talk to doctors.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
About, like I've been like we've been worried about like
the cost that it takes on you to give yourself
to people every day and expect people to treat it
with respect and they don't, and like you got to
go back and do it again.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
Yeah, especially as the world we live into it, you
know what I mean? You know your your world is
a little bit different than mine in the sense of
like even something as simple as a Google review, it's like, yeah,
if you if you're having if you as the person
that is working there and providing the service, is not
having the best day, and you know you're trying or
you're trying to show up, and you know somebody has

(50:19):
what they consider to not be a great I mean,
even if it's something stupid, you know what I mean,
It's like, oh, this table is wobbly, Like so now
I'm gonna go and leave a bad comment and review
and like that sits there and that affects your business
and you're like come on, man, like come on, like seriously.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
And then you got to call that person be like hey, sorry,
you had a bad time, right, what can we do
the fix this? Well, I want to come in all right.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
Like you you can feel when people, you know, So
I owned, I owned part of a restaurant for a
very short time. I learned my lesson.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
I was there.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
I learned my lesson, you know, and like I remember, bro,
I remember the even when I got into it. My
partners I got involved, I told them, I said, look,
I'm really here because I have another idea and I
just want to kind of learn. So I was very
clear that like I'm not here because I want to
work in this space, and I'd have no desire to.
Like I was like, I literally said, don't call me

(51:10):
if there's like something's going wrong. So like one day
I was there and for whatever reason, I was the
only owner there. You know, we go get into that,
but like everybody was supposed to be there, Like I
was the only one there and they didn't show up,
and you know, and I was like, this is exactly
what I didn't sign up for.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
And but I never forget this moment.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Like I was in there and I was just at
the bar.

Speaker 4 (51:33):
I was actually talking to Jada because Jada used to
be there, and I was, you know, talking to the bar,
and somebody comes to when of the waitress's service comes
to me and she's like, uh, Brandon, you know, I
know you don't deal with this, but these ladies over
here they want to talk to a manager. And I'm like,
here we go. So I go over right, and there's
three ladies sitting down eating and I walk up and
I see three empty plates. You would have dry, You

(51:56):
would have thought they licked the plates clean, right. So
the first lady says, I ordered the whatever the jerk
chicken or whatever it was, and she was like, I
didn't like it because it doesn't taste like my grandma's.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Well this ain't your grandma's house. But again, the plate
is empty.

Speaker 4 (52:19):
The next lady is like, I ordered the salmon and
the portion was too small, so I'm still hungry. Again
the plate is empty, and the third lady it was
like the three bears and a third lady. I could
tell she wanted to say something. She was like, I'm
good because she was even I could tell she was
embarrassed by them, and so I told him. I was like,
look like, I'm Beyonce, y'all, I don't really handle this stuff.

(52:41):
You know, I'm just kind of here for something else.
But I said, look, I can't give y'all. I can't
comp food that y'all ate. It's not like you ate
a piece of it. We could have that, and I've
I've worked in restaurants before, Like I get it, I said,
but you know, like you literally and you licked the
plate clean.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Like I was like, so, I'm sorry that it was
like that.

Speaker 4 (53:00):
But you know, if y'all, I can't really do anything
about this place, I said, but here's what I do.
How about just the round of mimosas, Like I want
y'all have a good experience. You know, sorry you felt
that way, you know, I mean round of mimosas and
you know, let's just call.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
It even cool.

Speaker 4 (53:14):
It was like cool. I tell the waitress. I was like,
all right, can give them a round of mimosas please.
She's like all right, absolutely, so put on my tap
to make some mimosas they give them over. I go
back and sit down at the bar doing what I'm doing.
She comes back, Brandon, they want to see you again.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
Oh really, I.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
Go back over to the table.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
Now I see three empty plates and three empty glasses
of mimosas well. Actually I wanted a Cosmo? Can I
just have that instead?

Speaker 1 (53:39):
Well?

Speaker 4 (53:39):
Actually I wanted a French seventy five. It was like,
you know what, I'm sorry, y'all, like I already, this
already is not what I did.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
But the answer is no.

Speaker 4 (53:48):
And by the way, security, can you go stand by
the door because I already know what the next thing
is gonna be, Like.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Now you're going to make me act out, act out
because I know y'all gonna try to make a move.

Speaker 4 (53:58):
And you know, I told the serve. I was like, look,
they probably gonna stiffy on the tip I got you is.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
So that was just one micro moment.

Speaker 4 (54:08):
I couldn't imagine have to deal with that on a
consistent daily basis.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
We had a surprise homecoming party. The only reason I
say surprise because no one told us, but they all knew. Yeah, so.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
Two people show up, Hey, we're coming for the party here.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
It's like the Thursday before homecoming. We're coming for the
party here. I'm like, all right, cool, whatever, we have
maybe two bartenders. Well, so about forty minutes in, the
bartenders like, hey, this party might be a thing.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
And like there's a lot of people come into this thing.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
I'm like, all right, cool, Well, let me see if
you can find the organizer and let me figure it out.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Let me try to call some staff to get in.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
Couldn't call staff again in I'm like okay, And I
was at a different location. So it turns out one
hundred and fifty people show up to this homecoming party.
Bartenders one just crashes out like she she just was
not prepared for the house, the house homecoming and like
everything that I.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Didn't tails right, Like she just was not there.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
So people's drinks are taking a long time, etcetera, etcetera.
So I had to stop. I was like, everybody stopped
pouring everything right, Like, I was like, pour one hundred
and fifty shots.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
So we pour one hundred and fifty shots.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
We gave out shots to everybody at the bar, and
I just I stopped. Everybody said, I just said, cut
the music. I'm gonna make it another I was like,
and I was like, guys, well, I really appreciate you
guys being here if we were not prepared because we
did not know this party was coming in. So everybody
bear with the service. This is not normally how we
have to do business. I'm buying everybody a shot to

(55:46):
bear with us. Thanks for coming, but we're not out
of the woods yet. Hold on. And it was and
I really was. I was preparing my skin to be
like I'm gonna get crucified for this ship. And they
all clapped and uh so I talked to some people afterwards,
like yeah, we just found out a Moraos guy was
one of the owners here. We just wanted to come support.

(56:07):
I was like, I really appreciated that.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
I'm thank you. Here's my number, please please please text me.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
So it's a flip side to it, too, right, like
is you know like sometimes we eat you know, we
have to eat that crow and stuff like that. And
that was a really were people poured back into me, right, So,
like I don't want people to think like it's so
like done on a bar, like it sucks, and so
it does a lot of it does, say but but
you have these gems that kind of sustain you. And
that was a really cool time. Whereas like they're like, no,

(56:37):
like what you did was really honorable. Most most people
don't take accountability for that stuff. And that's half the battle,
is just like what you did, Like all right, I'll
take accountability for it, Like not really my fault really
has nothing to do with me, but I gotta do
it because like this is what you being in my
establishment means to me, right like and that Yeah, and

(56:57):
we just if.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
You get enough of a team that thinks that way,
then you could create some kind.

Speaker 3 (57:01):
Of successful absolutely. Man.

Speaker 4 (57:03):
Well, Kim, look, this has been amazing therapy session slash podcast. Yeah,
because one question I have for you before we ready
to get out of here, man, is five years from now,
ten years from now, you know, whether you're still at
holiday or doing something else, Like.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
What's your end game?

Speaker 4 (57:19):
Where do you where do you want to go with
all this stuff that you're doing, and based on everything
you've worked on, like and kind of what do you
see at whatever point that is in the future where
you kind of evolve, Like what's your in game at all?

Speaker 1 (57:31):
Oh, I've had the same plan since I was like
since I started in this industry.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
I'll look at the cameras.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
No, two years am out two years amount I'm going
to open up a little sandwich shop, make sandwiches with
my kid man, and just go be a dad somewhere.
Know what. That's it. There's no get rich quick scheme.
We've I'm not saying I'm out of the food and
beverage industry altogether, right like, you know, maybe I sell,

(58:01):
maybe I don't sell, or something like that, but yeah,
you gotta have that exit playing. Yeah that's my that's
my exit, playing my EJEC button thirty five. I'm out
serving shops and sandwiches, maybe off the belt line, maybe
in another country, and my little guy with me, and
then you know, that's it.

Speaker 4 (58:21):
I always tell people when people ask me, I said,
I just want to open up a little snow cone
shop on the beach.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
I'm gonna call it Magic City.

Speaker 4 (58:30):
For no apparent reason other than just the commers. We
just we're just gonna stell snow cones and ice cream
on the beach to like tourists, you know what I'm saying. Man,
And just be and just be eat seafood and just
be happy.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
There's no one. I'll end it like this. There's the
most valuable asset that I had to learn that I
had was time.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
And once you've given up so much of your time,
people start. People go to college and then they go
to get their master's degree and they don't start their
industry until they're like twenty one, twenty two and stuff
like that. I've been in my industry for eighteen years.
That's birthdays missed, that's funerals missed. That's I missed my
own graduation because I was at work, right Like, So,

(59:11):
when you sacrifice that much, you gotta get it back.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
Yeah, and I.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
I'm getting it back. So that's that's it.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
Well you can, man, we appreciate you pulling up. I
mean people know, but just in case, how do they
how do they find Holiday Bar? How can they come support?

Speaker 1 (59:31):
Yeah? So Holiday Bar Holidays located at the interlock eleven
fifteen halmil Rope right there on the corner.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
Can't miss it.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Yeah, Well, one sign says holiday, another size says bar.
So yeah, pull up on us seven days a week. Yeah,
we have we have a good time if you if
you're able to stop me, I'm usually good for a
drink or too. Uh you know, so just be like, hey,
I heard the podcast and.

Speaker 4 (59:57):
Yeah, pull up hey man, well cam Man, I appreciate
this has been a long time and to make it
with you man talking about this over drinks some of
these and many other things. Man, I'm glad again you
came in here and really just gave people honest of
you know, viewpoint of again it like really what it
really takes to kind of build something. And you know, man,
congratulations on all the success. I know you've poured a
lot of yourself into making this thing. It's fun, it's

(01:00:19):
an important part of Atlanta, man, so you should definitely
be proud of that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Thank you. I really appreciate you saying that absolutely. Man.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
Well, with that said, that's the pod. Y'all on me out.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
Cool.

Speaker 4 (01:00:31):
You've been listening to buttteron Nomics and I'm your hosts
Brandon Butler. Got comments, feedback? Want to be on the show.
Send us an email today at hello at butteronomics dot com.
Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by
Casey Pegram, with marketing support Fromqueen and Nikki.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Music provided by mister Hanky.

Speaker 4 (01:00:47):
If you haven't already hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot at L. Listen
to Better Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
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Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
Buk bukutu