February 16, 2022 • 21 mins
Big Teach gives his secrets on how he started his world famous House of Mac food truck and the goals he set to owning his first brick and mortar. He goes over everything it took to get moving from the unmatched value of social media to how the Covid 19 Pandemic has impacted his pricing. Tune in...
Host IG: @itstanyatime
Guest IG: @bigteach718
Guest website: House of Mac
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, Money Movers. Welcome back. Today's deep dive into
entrepreneurship and our community is brought to you by our
partners at MasterCard Bridging the Wealth Gap Together retreat with Yeah, Derek,
I want to ask you a question because you know,
(00:21):
I admire your courage in this. So what were the
first steps you took to You're like, Okay, people like
my food. I'm gonna buy a food truck. Like, tell
me about that process. Well, the music business actually was
very helpful in my in my um my process because
the music business taught me um critical thinking. And you know,
(00:42):
I managed artists, so I basically managed their lives and
every day it was a different day. So it wasn't
really a challenge for me to kind of look into
something because I've looked into business ventures for pit like
things that I don't know anything about. I had to
start from the ground up and try to put the
pieces together. The good thing about being an entrepreneur I
don't have to have been the person that went to Harvard.
But I can hire somebody who went to Harvard, right,
(01:04):
I can hire the best attorneys, like, so I don't
have to be the person that knows how to put
the best business plan together, but I can find the
person that is and hire them. So the first thing
I had to do was just put together a plan, um,
because regardless of whatever you're doing, you gotta have some
type of target on the wall and know what you're
shooting at. And and I know you ever you ever
(01:25):
seen the meme where it's like what people think, it
looks like it's like the straight line. It looks like
that's like in real life. But you still gotta kind
of have like like when I when I started, I said,
in two years, I want to have my first brick
and mortar. I went through hell and high water, went
through a lawsuit with these I went through a lot, right,
you know, just the the unexpected things. Almost two years
(01:50):
to the date, I opened up my first brick and mortar.
So regardless of like how how it went and how
crazy A got, like, I still hit my target, right.
So the first things for us, I had to put
together a business plan and just kind of like research
the business because I started as a and the reason
why I started on the food truck versus just a
brick and mortar first because I come from the music
(02:12):
street street team kind of um, and and right. And
so what the food truck allowed me to do is
approach the market from a grassroots standpoint and kind of
move around and figure out what worked for me what
didn't work. Because there's locations I went into that I like,
I was like, oh, whatever, you know, like they're not
gonna and it was crazy for us. And it's location
(02:34):
we went into that that would be crazy for us,
and and and it was okay. So the food cluck
allowed us to kind of move around before we planted
seeds and like, okay, cool, I'm locking in a ten
year lease. Ye so um and it was and it's
way more coarse effective, like I spent my first food truck.
(02:55):
I want to say, I play like ninety tho allars
like fully built out, but like wow, okay, will stop
right there, because nine dollars it's a huge investment. I
actually had no idea how much of food truck costs.
I didn't know if it was nine thousand or ninety
it Well, it's it's really the equipment that because most
most food trucks that like these used like the old
like ladies trucks and let you buy a brand new truck,
(03:16):
which now you're talking about a hundred and change whatever.
But my so I'm gonna tell you, like my first
food truck, it was a used like Chips truck Ladies
and something like that. I put a brand new kitchen
inside it. So most of most of the cost was
the equipment, but the truck was a limit. So I
put like, you know, nineties some thousand dolls into this
(03:37):
truck with permits and everything like that, and every seven
days the truck was breaking down. So I had to
learn that, Um, you never purchased a truck from anywhere
above Memphis because in anywhere above Tennessee, because it snows,
and wherever it snows, it rushed the chassis of the
(03:57):
of the thing, which poses a bunch of electric problems.
Are writing that down because that's a tiny tip, but
it's gonna save you a lot of money, let me
tell you something. And then and then when I bought
the truck, because you know, I'm a I'm a music dude, right,
So she's like, well, how are you gonna financing? And
I walking there with the bag, I walking there with
the with the buffalo, like I ain't financing nothing buying it.
(04:18):
But what I did with that is she was trying
to get me to sign and as his clause, and
because she had all this money on the table, I'm like,
I don't feel comfortable signing that right now. I'll come
back to it, but I know I wasn't gonna sign it.
So what happened was when all the truck kept breaking down,
she tried to go on the draw and pull a
clause back out, like, well, the contract clearly stays, and
I'm like, well, I ain't sign that, so um, yeah,
(04:39):
we need to talk about that. And then the transmission
went and then she had to fix the transmission because
I never signed off on the ass pause. But then
you know, that truck was just like So I ended
up buying a new truck and I paid a hundred
and for that one. But the first year with the
new truck, I did one. I did too point four million? Right? Wow?
(05:02):
What wait? Wait? Wait? You sold two point four million
dollars in mac and cheese on a food truck. Yeah. Wow,
that's a lot of mac and cheese. There's some people
walking around with some big hips and booties in Miami.
Cheese the cheap day man, I'm the cheap day done
right man? Like you know, every anybody, everybody gotta come
get their cobs and it's it's nothing worse than going
(05:24):
to uh go get a bad sliced pieza or some
of Okay, so how much does your lobster mac and
cheese cost? Well, right now, because it costs a lobster
is high? Are you not? Not? Yeah? I think it's
I don't remember all right now, I gotta seafood mac.
That's forty nine. And this is something I mean, this
(05:47):
is what blows my mind right, Like, there's so many
there's so many gems that you dropped here, like number one,
this was a great way for you to test your market,
Like you invest in the truck, you said, okay, this
is gonna work. You found different locations and you went
to break and mortar. But the fact that are paying
fifty dollars to walk up and walk away with a
little thing of mac and cheese is incredible, that little
but but not only that, it's one of my top
(06:09):
five sellers. So like we sell a lot, like like
you know, when you think about it, though, it's it's
because you go to problem one twelve, You go to
one of these restaurants, like a lobster mac just a
lots to mac is like thirty dollars. I got lobster
shrimp and crab and lump crab inside of and cheese.
Cheese is not cheap either, good cheap, definitely not cheap.
(06:31):
I mean that. And that's something that we're dealing with
a lot right now with you know, post COVID is
like just inflation and you know, and and trying to
get that to translate the customers because you know, chicken
wings are super high right now, right and really yeah,
chicken wings. That's why that's why um wings stop? Did
um dive? Stop? You trying to push dies because the
wings is high. And like you know, when you got
(06:53):
to raise the prices on things and people are accustomed
to paying a certain thing, they don't understand like all
the back end. You know, I'm a business man, I'm
gonnaed to make mone you I can't yeah like for
for for tennalge because you know what I mean at
that point, I'm working you so when you got to
like make these so all that stuff is just like
understanding the business. And I sat down with your Gotti
one time because like I was involved with um Got's career,
(07:17):
like from like really like the beginning. And he sat
down one day and he was like asking me course
and well, how much of course you didn't make this
how much? And then he started telling his team. He
was like, you see, like because he knows me from music,
and he's like, you see like he knows his ship,
Like he could tell you how much a chicken wing. Course,
he telling you he knows what his profit marginal Derek,
(07:38):
you're like preaching to the people because I don't think people.
I mean a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of business people,
and when you sort of dig in and ask them questions,
they don't know their business. And it's like that's such
a simple phrase. But when I say, like, no, the business.
I know the cost of chicken on Tuesdays. I know that,
you know, you know every little detail of it. And that,
I think is how people win. You know, you can
(07:58):
have this great idea and you can love it, but
you have to know the business, the market, your customers. Well,
you know, restaurant business, the margins are not the margins
are really small, so you really gotta count Penny's really
got our you know, because just because you made you
know you it's not what you make it's about what
you keep. And it's like, yeah, yeah, I made I
made eight million hours I made you know whatever. Okay, cool,
(08:19):
how much of that did you actually retain? Like you
know what I'm saying, and and and that's what's important.
So that's why you have to know the business. And
you've got to pay attention to those courts, like I mean,
and I've dealt with like a lot of stuff, Like
I had. One point I had, like during COVID, I
had dudes was like stealing lobster. We had we they
were leaking from so we couldn't figure out where it
was going. I had. I bought six hundred lobsters and
(08:43):
three hundred and ton of them went missing. No, okay,
stop because I'm gonna be thinking about this. How do
you steal a lobster? So? Um, the the the guy
who's taking a garbage out, he takes the double bag
it is the garbage, those those the box lobster and things,
(09:04):
and then put the garbage on the top of it
so it's double bag, and then goes to the garbage.
Can those in the garbage to cause his homeboy tell
them to come around and corna. That's what I found
out was happening. Then we have to put systems in
place to stop all that. Something like now we do
inventory every three hours on all high price items. So
you know, if if I had a hundred lobsters at
(09:27):
twelve o'clock and then I compared my I compare my
my sales to my inventory, so you know what I mean.
It's like you your cross checking so many things against
each other, and if it don't check out, then it's
like a three hour freight. There's only a three hour window,
so you gotta go back and look at tapes and
all that stuff. Y'all were the only ones that was working.
(09:48):
So okay. First of all, the fact that there's a
black market for lobster, oh man, yeah, dude. And it
was so dumb. They were just going to the hood
and and and then it was it was coming back
to me from the hood, like, oh, you need to
watch these dudes. That's working for you. Man. They're selling
uh you know, they sell them for half. They don't
like what the boost is be doing. They sell them
for half, they sell for whatever. But then you know,
(10:10):
I'm tapped into my community, right, Like I'm like, I
put a million hours back into my community and employment
last year. So it's a lot of people. Thank god
they they have a job, so they're looking at absolutely
so you know they were just dumb, a reckless man.
But that's and and and that's also you know for
me going back to the purpose thing, right, Like it's
(10:31):
it's really important to me to be able to go
into communities like Overtown and going in communities like Beach.
Overtown is like historically black neighborhood Miami UM. And you know,
like if you look at the news and stuff like that,
they paint the picture because it's like that's that's what
you see on First forty eight and all this kind
of stuff. But Overtown is the first established black community
(10:55):
in Miami UM that when when when UM when they
wouldn't allow black entertainers on South Beach and stuff like
Sammy Davids Jr. And like usically walking the streets and
Overtown doing it promptu performances, all that kind of stuff.
A lot of wealthy black people come from Overtown and
then it got displaced. They ran ninety five through it,
they did the whole gentrification and whatever, and then the neighborhood.
(11:17):
So so now there's a lot of gentrification happening, Like
and Winwood Overtown, they started to go back in the building.
They just put on the red rooster in open. A
lot of stuff happening. But it's important for me to
be able to go on these communities and open up
businesses and add jobs and and and because that's the purpose, right,
And that's that that's what gives me more purpose and
(11:38):
um the money at this point in my life, you
know what I'm saying, Like for me to go in
and go into the community, be able to give somebody,
you know Pooky that got a record but absolutely changed
his life, and like you know, like he you know,
he made a mistake when he was sixteen, but who
was the same person at at at thirty and that
they were when they was sixteen. So he needs an opportunity.
(12:00):
But okay, cool, he got a record, So these people
don't want to hire them, These people don't want to
have you need an opportunity, and then I end up
hiring dude and do end up being one of my best.
He just needed an opportunity, right, So that kind of stuff,
it shifts demantle because like if he doesn't have a
job to feed his family. He's going to the streets
and it's going to translate into something something else. So
(12:23):
so by us bringing in these jobs and taking people
off the streets, it it's it's helping the community. It's
adding something to the community. And and it's it's challenging
sometimes because you know, you don't want like the bad
apples to change you, right, like when these dudes that's
my joint and it's getting lobsters for me. I don't
want to look at everybody like that because anybody you know,
(12:45):
you you you're funk up and you you know you
you you you, you don't you don't understand appreciate with
what you've got. But it's other people that really need
the opportunity. And it's it's a challenge. It's really a
challenge sometimes, like not letting that stuff change you, like y'all.
You know, I ain't rack with nobody, I'm you know
what I mean, Like, but there's so much more good
in the world that you see. It's just yeah, exactly,
(13:06):
and what you're doing, I mean, even just the way
you say you would it would get back to you
because other people would recognize that and see your grand
scheme and the bigger plan that you had not just
for your business and your family, but for your community
as well. And like that's why it's like so imperative
to share these stories on money moves, because it's not
just about building wealth, you know, in your in your home,
(13:27):
it's your building wealth and community like throughout Miami and Overton, etcetera.
And people see that. All right. So Derekson, now you've
had these food trucks COVID hit and you also have
brick and mortar restaurants. Can you tell us a bit
about the transition from leaving the food trucks and going
straight to brick and mortar. So, well, it's actually my
(13:48):
first brick and mortar. It wasn't even my It wasn't
even It kind of happened the way I guess it
was supposed to happen. So we we had there was
there was like this food court in Miami called the Win.
We are one of the one of the first food
courts out here, and we we kind of revolutionized Miami
with that. But it was like in a big open land,
(14:11):
a big open um a lot, but they had a
bar in the middle, and and what happened was, um,
you know, the gentrification stuff is happening when we so obviously,
you know, we make it cool, and then they come
in and buy it and build on it. So somebody
came in bought a lot that we were on for
eleven now as they built like these luxury condos on it.
And when when when we went in public that um,
(14:32):
they were coming to purchase that. I had a bunch
of reals is just started calling me and saying, Hey,
I got a location, I got boom. So Winwood is
Winwood is like, I don't know what to what you guys,
based on your based in Atlanta. In Atlanta, but we're
in Miami too, so I'm totally familiar with Winwood. I
know like a bunch of the big developers there that
(14:53):
have come in and bought it all up. There's like
a couple of key guys, so I know a bit
of the background story to it. Yeah, okay, So so
basically second avenue, that whole strip is you know, Winwood
and Winwood is, like, what's what's dope about Winwood is?
Winwood has like, um, a good mixture of locals and
(15:16):
tourists versus like the beach is more like just tourists
driven and stuff like that. So, um, there was a
spot that was a pizza spot on Second Avenue, but
from twenty three going down it turns into overtime, right,
So when people are normally walking on the strip, they
kind of stopped like around like twenty something and they
(15:37):
turned around and say, hey, things are kind of looking
a little different there, turning back around going all the way.
So in my mind, I'm like, well, this is still
on the strip and people still kind of consider it
um um Winwood. So we had a following from the
food truck. So what happens when we was able to
there was a little pizza restaurant right then by us
(15:58):
securing that we was able to drive traffic down to
none of the other businesses that were in that, including
the pizzas, so they all they all died because they
were relying on the foot traffic. They didn't have the
foot traffic. But we had a following again from the
food truck. You know, you gotta think about it. When
we had the food truck, we would use social media
and say hey, we're gonna be on the corner of
blah blah blah, and before we even pull up, there's
(16:21):
lined up. Yeah, like and I see like another meta
before which I like to meet Pinky the Pink lud Vegan.
I was like really impressed by like what she was
able to do with She's incredible. Yeah, when you build
that engagement with people where they're willing to wait in line,
follow you wherever you go. Oh yeah, like that's amazing.
So what she was doing out there, we was doing
(16:43):
something similar to that out here, and so um so
when we're like we got a breaking mortar, people went
crazy like okay, now you know. And so the first
day we opened up, and another thing Bunby told me
when he when he when he had his little talk
with me, he was like, man, we opened up their
restaurant's gonna be the first person line. I'm gonna be there.
And we were cutting the ribbon, had a commission out there.
(17:07):
We were cutting the ribbon and then Bumby pulls up
in uh suburban and jumps out of the car and
gives a speech and cuts the ribbon with me. And
he's the first customer in line in my restaurant. You know,
I'm very I'm very I'm very grateful for for him.
But then um, during covid um you know, so now
(17:29):
we had now we had a brick and more than then, Uh,
there was another location that we got on one skin,
which is like if you know Miami, that that one
bit scan is like I'm right next to a Starbucks
and I'm next to a Sprint store, like I'm in
a I'm in a key location in North Maine Beach.
I was able to buy somebody out of that space. UM,
and we got that one. And then we also got
(17:50):
into the UM the Bright Line train station, which they
had changed the name of it to the Virgin Trains
and then they changed it back the bright Line. But
that's the only one we had like some issues with
it because um, they've been closed since the beginning of COVID.
So you got into most of these properties pre COVID
because it's crazy. I don't think anybody saw COVID in
(18:14):
the playbook. Like you know what, I'm I try to
be smart, like I I keep six months reserves, like
I'm I try to I try to, you know, I
try to move smart. But like COVID was crazy, Like
even if you have six months reserves, it's like, wait
a minute, it was scary time a year, fourteen months
in some places, like you know, just just places that
(18:37):
were open since I was a kid in New York
and they just couldn't do it. I mean, even just
a city like Miami would have so much tourism and
now has an influx of people, it hasn't like there's
huge hotels that were like the like the Doubt they're
still closed. It blows my mind. And it's just it
was such an unpredictable thing. Yeah, so so you know,
(18:57):
we just had the just man, you know what I mean,
it's it's it's you know, it is what it is.
Um And again, like that's one of the things like
with the music business that like, you know, really conditioning
me for a lot of this stuff. I never really padicked.
I never laid off not one employee, never, not one solar,
even though my accounting uh said I needed to. I put,
you know, what we felt short of I cracked my
(19:17):
safe and and and I got you know, and that's
that's that's also part of it that hurts like with
people too, write because you know, it's like, you know,
the sacrifices that you make with school things, and some
people some people they don't they don't get it, and
they don't understand it. That's so like like so, so
think about what I'm telling what these guys still in
lobsters for me, right, Like you're still in lobsters for
(19:38):
me in a time where like that's a lot of
businesses that's closed, like actually closed, and like you're still
you still got a job. I didn't tell you, like yo,
you still got the same hours I was actually hiring
during COVID and and you know, instead of appreciating that,
like yo, you know what, like yo, I ain't you know, dude,
ain't mess with my money like my checks on time
every every week, like it's out are doing that? You
(20:00):
steal from me during that, like you know, and I'm
saying though, like I'm COVID, I got you know, everything
went digital, so now I got Uber Eats, Postmates, all
this kind of stuff. It's cool, it's coming in, but
they're taking so that's a bottom line. So and then
in cash flow like I'm used to like you know,
three thousand, five thousand, I was walking through the door
(20:21):
every day. Now I got away for Uber to pay
me and taking a three M x F and da
da da da da da da. You know this is
what people don't understand, Like when they say entrepreneurship, it's
lonely at the top because you know you're trying to
provide for all these families. You're trying to like look
out and say listen, I'm taking care and taking care
of all you. But at the same time people are like, well,
(20:42):
let me take a little bit more. It's hard. It's hard.
It's a lonely job. Thank you so much for teaching
us all about your business. Can you tell us where
to find you on social and where your restaurants are?
You have two locations like I have one in UM
in Overtown which is five month or second Avenue. We
have one UM in North Mindy Beach which is only
(21:03):
one bis game one three five to one Biscame Boulevard.
My Instagram and my Facebook is at world famous House
of Mac Money Movers. Thanks for joining us here on
the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. I don't know
about you, but Big Teach definitely taught me a few
things I can use in my own money Moves. But
while you're making those big plans for your financial and
(21:24):
professional future, make sure you stay right here tuned into
Money Moves because we've got a whole lot more coming up.
Thank you so much for tuning in Money Moves audience.
If you want more or a recap of this episode,
please go to the bank Greenwood dot com and check
out the Money Moves podcast blog. Money Moves is an
(21:45):
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What's up, Money Movers. Welcome back. Today's deep dive into
entrepreneurship and our community is brought to you by our
partners at MasterCard Bridging the Wealth Gap Together retreat with Yeah, Derek,
I want to ask you a question because you know,
(00:21):
I admire your courage in this. So what were the
first steps you took to You're like, Okay, people like
my food. I'm gonna buy a food truck. Like, tell
me about that process. Well, the music business actually was
very helpful in my in my um my process because
the music business taught me um critical thinking. And you know,
(00:42):
I managed artists, so I basically managed their lives and
every day it was a different day. So it wasn't
really a challenge for me to kind of look into
something because I've looked into business ventures for pit like
things that I don't know anything about. I had to
start from the ground up and try to put the
pieces together. The good thing about being an entrepreneur I
don't have to have been the person that went to Harvard.
But I can hire somebody who went to Harvard, right,
(01:04):
I can hire the best attorneys, like, so I don't
have to be the person that knows how to put
the best business plan together, but I can find the
person that is and hire them. So the first thing
I had to do was just put together a plan, um,
because regardless of whatever you're doing, you gotta have some
type of target on the wall and know what you're
shooting at. And and I know you ever you ever
(01:25):
seen the meme where it's like what people think, it
looks like it's like the straight line. It looks like
that's like in real life. But you still gotta kind
of have like like when I when I started, I said,
in two years, I want to have my first brick
and mortar. I went through hell and high water, went
through a lawsuit with these I went through a lot, right,
you know, just the the unexpected things. Almost two years
(01:50):
to the date, I opened up my first brick and mortar.
So regardless of like how how it went and how
crazy A got, like, I still hit my target, right.
So the first things for us, I had to put
together a business plan and just kind of like research
the business because I started as a and the reason
why I started on the food truck versus just a
brick and mortar first because I come from the music
(02:12):
street street team kind of um, and and right. And
so what the food truck allowed me to do is
approach the market from a grassroots standpoint and kind of
move around and figure out what worked for me what
didn't work. Because there's locations I went into that I like,
I was like, oh, whatever, you know, like they're not
gonna and it was crazy for us. And it's location
(02:34):
we went into that that would be crazy for us,
and and and it was okay. So the food cluck
allowed us to kind of move around before we planted
seeds and like, okay, cool, I'm locking in a ten
year lease. Ye so um and it was and it's
way more coarse effective, like I spent my first food truck.
(02:55):
I want to say, I play like ninety tho allars
like fully built out, but like wow, okay, will stop
right there, because nine dollars it's a huge investment. I
actually had no idea how much of food truck costs.
I didn't know if it was nine thousand or ninety
it Well, it's it's really the equipment that because most
most food trucks that like these used like the old
like ladies trucks and let you buy a brand new truck,
(03:16):
which now you're talking about a hundred and change whatever.
But my so I'm gonna tell you, like my first
food truck, it was a used like Chips truck Ladies
and something like that. I put a brand new kitchen
inside it. So most of most of the cost was
the equipment, but the truck was a limit. So I
put like, you know, nineties some thousand dolls into this
(03:37):
truck with permits and everything like that, and every seven
days the truck was breaking down. So I had to
learn that, Um, you never purchased a truck from anywhere
above Memphis because in anywhere above Tennessee, because it snows,
and wherever it snows, it rushed the chassis of the
(03:57):
of the thing, which poses a bunch of electric problems.
Are writing that down because that's a tiny tip, but
it's gonna save you a lot of money, let me
tell you something. And then and then when I bought
the truck, because you know, I'm a I'm a music dude, right,
So she's like, well, how are you gonna financing? And
I walking there with the bag, I walking there with
the with the buffalo, like I ain't financing nothing buying it.
(04:18):
But what I did with that is she was trying
to get me to sign and as his clause, and
because she had all this money on the table, I'm like,
I don't feel comfortable signing that right now. I'll come
back to it, but I know I wasn't gonna sign it.
So what happened was when all the truck kept breaking down,
she tried to go on the draw and pull a
clause back out, like, well, the contract clearly stays, and
I'm like, well, I ain't sign that, so um, yeah,
(04:39):
we need to talk about that. And then the transmission
went and then she had to fix the transmission because
I never signed off on the ass pause. But then
you know, that truck was just like So I ended
up buying a new truck and I paid a hundred
and for that one. But the first year with the
new truck, I did one. I did too point four million? Right? Wow?
(05:02):
What wait? Wait? Wait? You sold two point four million
dollars in mac and cheese on a food truck. Yeah. Wow,
that's a lot of mac and cheese. There's some people
walking around with some big hips and booties in Miami.
Cheese the cheap day man, I'm the cheap day done
right man? Like you know, every anybody, everybody gotta come
get their cobs and it's it's nothing worse than going
(05:24):
to uh go get a bad sliced pieza or some
of Okay, so how much does your lobster mac and
cheese cost? Well, right now, because it costs a lobster
is high? Are you not? Not? Yeah? I think it's
I don't remember all right now, I gotta seafood mac.
That's forty nine. And this is something I mean, this
(05:47):
is what blows my mind right, Like, there's so many
there's so many gems that you dropped here, like number one,
this was a great way for you to test your market,
Like you invest in the truck, you said, okay, this
is gonna work. You found different locations and you went
to break and mortar. But the fact that are paying
fifty dollars to walk up and walk away with a
little thing of mac and cheese is incredible, that little
but but not only that, it's one of my top
(06:09):
five sellers. So like we sell a lot, like like
you know, when you think about it, though, it's it's
because you go to problem one twelve, You go to
one of these restaurants, like a lobster mac just a
lots to mac is like thirty dollars. I got lobster
shrimp and crab and lump crab inside of and cheese.
Cheese is not cheap either, good cheap, definitely not cheap.
(06:31):
I mean that. And that's something that we're dealing with
a lot right now with you know, post COVID is
like just inflation and you know, and and trying to
get that to translate the customers because you know, chicken
wings are super high right now, right and really yeah,
chicken wings. That's why that's why um wings stop? Did
um dive? Stop? You trying to push dies because the
wings is high. And like you know, when you got
(06:53):
to raise the prices on things and people are accustomed
to paying a certain thing, they don't understand like all
the back end. You know, I'm a business man, I'm
gonnaed to make mone you I can't yeah like for
for for tennalge because you know what I mean at
that point, I'm working you so when you got to
like make these so all that stuff is just like
understanding the business. And I sat down with your Gotti
one time because like I was involved with um Got's career,
(07:17):
like from like really like the beginning. And he sat
down one day and he was like asking me course
and well, how much of course you didn't make this
how much? And then he started telling his team. He
was like, you see, like because he knows me from music,
and he's like, you see like he knows his ship,
Like he could tell you how much a chicken wing. Course,
he telling you he knows what his profit marginal Derek,
(07:38):
you're like preaching to the people because I don't think people.
I mean a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of business people,
and when you sort of dig in and ask them questions,
they don't know their business. And it's like that's such
a simple phrase. But when I say, like, no, the business.
I know the cost of chicken on Tuesdays. I know that,
you know, you know every little detail of it. And that,
I think is how people win. You know, you can
(07:58):
have this great idea and you can love it, but
you have to know the business, the market, your customers. Well,
you know, restaurant business, the margins are not the margins
are really small, so you really gotta count Penny's really
got our you know, because just because you made you
know you it's not what you make it's about what
you keep. And it's like, yeah, yeah, I made I
made eight million hours I made you know whatever. Okay, cool,
(08:19):
how much of that did you actually retain? Like you
know what I'm saying, and and and that's what's important.
So that's why you have to know the business. And
you've got to pay attention to those courts, like I mean,
and I've dealt with like a lot of stuff, Like
I had. One point I had, like during COVID, I
had dudes was like stealing lobster. We had we they
were leaking from so we couldn't figure out where it
was going. I had. I bought six hundred lobsters and
(08:43):
three hundred and ton of them went missing. No, okay,
stop because I'm gonna be thinking about this. How do
you steal a lobster? So? Um, the the the guy
who's taking a garbage out, he takes the double bag
it is the garbage, those those the box lobster and things,
(09:04):
and then put the garbage on the top of it
so it's double bag, and then goes to the garbage.
Can those in the garbage to cause his homeboy tell
them to come around and corna. That's what I found
out was happening. Then we have to put systems in
place to stop all that. Something like now we do
inventory every three hours on all high price items. So
you know, if if I had a hundred lobsters at
(09:27):
twelve o'clock and then I compared my I compare my
my sales to my inventory, so you know what I mean.
It's like you your cross checking so many things against
each other, and if it don't check out, then it's
like a three hour freight. There's only a three hour window,
so you gotta go back and look at tapes and
all that stuff. Y'all were the only ones that was working.
(09:48):
So okay. First of all, the fact that there's a
black market for lobster, oh man, yeah, dude. And it
was so dumb. They were just going to the hood
and and and then it was it was coming back
to me from the hood, like, oh, you need to
watch these dudes. That's working for you. Man. They're selling
uh you know, they sell them for half. They don't
like what the boost is be doing. They sell them
for half, they sell for whatever. But then you know,
(10:10):
I'm tapped into my community, right, Like I'm like, I
put a million hours back into my community and employment
last year. So it's a lot of people. Thank god
they they have a job, so they're looking at absolutely
so you know they were just dumb, a reckless man.
But that's and and and that's also you know for
me going back to the purpose thing, right, Like it's
(10:31):
it's really important to me to be able to go
into communities like Overtown and going in communities like Beach.
Overtown is like historically black neighborhood Miami UM. And you know,
like if you look at the news and stuff like that,
they paint the picture because it's like that's that's what
you see on First forty eight and all this kind
of stuff. But Overtown is the first established black community
(10:55):
in Miami UM that when when when UM when they
wouldn't allow black entertainers on South Beach and stuff like
Sammy Davids Jr. And like usically walking the streets and
Overtown doing it promptu performances, all that kind of stuff.
A lot of wealthy black people come from Overtown and
then it got displaced. They ran ninety five through it,
they did the whole gentrification and whatever, and then the neighborhood.
(11:17):
So so now there's a lot of gentrification happening, Like
and Winwood Overtown, they started to go back in the building.
They just put on the red rooster in open. A
lot of stuff happening. But it's important for me to
be able to go on these communities and open up
businesses and add jobs and and and because that's the purpose, right,
And that's that that's what gives me more purpose and
(11:38):
um the money at this point in my life, you
know what I'm saying, Like for me to go in
and go into the community, be able to give somebody,
you know Pooky that got a record but absolutely changed
his life, and like you know, like he you know,
he made a mistake when he was sixteen, but who
was the same person at at at thirty and that
they were when they was sixteen. So he needs an opportunity.
(12:00):
But okay, cool, he got a record, So these people
don't want to hire them, These people don't want to
have you need an opportunity, and then I end up
hiring dude and do end up being one of my best.
He just needed an opportunity, right, So that kind of stuff,
it shifts demantle because like if he doesn't have a
job to feed his family. He's going to the streets
and it's going to translate into something something else. So
(12:23):
so by us bringing in these jobs and taking people
off the streets, it it's it's helping the community. It's
adding something to the community. And and it's it's challenging
sometimes because you know, you don't want like the bad
apples to change you, right, like when these dudes that's
my joint and it's getting lobsters for me. I don't
want to look at everybody like that because anybody you know,
(12:45):
you you you're funk up and you you know you
you you you, you don't you don't understand appreciate with
what you've got. But it's other people that really need
the opportunity. And it's it's a challenge. It's really a
challenge sometimes, like not letting that stuff change you, like y'all.
You know, I ain't rack with nobody, I'm you know
what I mean, Like, but there's so much more good
in the world that you see. It's just yeah, exactly,
(13:06):
and what you're doing, I mean, even just the way
you say you would it would get back to you
because other people would recognize that and see your grand
scheme and the bigger plan that you had not just
for your business and your family, but for your community
as well. And like that's why it's like so imperative
to share these stories on money moves, because it's not
just about building wealth, you know, in your in your home,
(13:27):
it's your building wealth and community like throughout Miami and Overton, etcetera.
And people see that. All right. So Derekson, now you've
had these food trucks COVID hit and you also have
brick and mortar restaurants. Can you tell us a bit
about the transition from leaving the food trucks and going
straight to brick and mortar. So, well, it's actually my
(13:48):
first brick and mortar. It wasn't even my It wasn't
even It kind of happened the way I guess it
was supposed to happen. So we we had there was
there was like this food court in Miami called the Win.
We are one of the one of the first food
courts out here, and we we kind of revolutionized Miami
with that. But it was like in a big open land,
(14:11):
a big open um a lot, but they had a
bar in the middle, and and what happened was, um,
you know, the gentrification stuff is happening when we so obviously,
you know, we make it cool, and then they come
in and buy it and build on it. So somebody
came in bought a lot that we were on for
eleven now as they built like these luxury condos on it.
And when when when we went in public that um,
(14:32):
they were coming to purchase that. I had a bunch
of reals is just started calling me and saying, Hey,
I got a location, I got boom. So Winwood is
Winwood is like, I don't know what to what you guys,
based on your based in Atlanta. In Atlanta, but we're
in Miami too, so I'm totally familiar with Winwood. I
know like a bunch of the big developers there that
(14:53):
have come in and bought it all up. There's like
a couple of key guys, so I know a bit
of the background story to it. Yeah, okay, So so
basically second avenue, that whole strip is you know, Winwood
and Winwood is, like, what's what's dope about Winwood is?
Winwood has like, um, a good mixture of locals and
(15:16):
tourists versus like the beach is more like just tourists
driven and stuff like that. So, um, there was a
spot that was a pizza spot on Second Avenue, but
from twenty three going down it turns into overtime, right,
So when people are normally walking on the strip, they
kind of stopped like around like twenty something and they
(15:37):
turned around and say, hey, things are kind of looking
a little different there, turning back around going all the way.
So in my mind, I'm like, well, this is still
on the strip and people still kind of consider it
um um Winwood. So we had a following from the
food truck. So what happens when we was able to
there was a little pizza restaurant right then by us
(15:58):
securing that we was able to drive traffic down to
none of the other businesses that were in that, including
the pizzas, so they all they all died because they
were relying on the foot traffic. They didn't have the
foot traffic. But we had a following again from the
food truck. You know, you gotta think about it. When
we had the food truck, we would use social media
and say hey, we're gonna be on the corner of
blah blah blah, and before we even pull up, there's
(16:21):
lined up. Yeah, like and I see like another meta
before which I like to meet Pinky the Pink lud Vegan.
I was like really impressed by like what she was
able to do with She's incredible. Yeah, when you build
that engagement with people where they're willing to wait in line,
follow you wherever you go. Oh yeah, like that's amazing.
So what she was doing out there, we was doing
(16:43):
something similar to that out here, and so um so
when we're like we got a breaking mortar, people went
crazy like okay, now you know. And so the first
day we opened up, and another thing Bunby told me
when he when he when he had his little talk
with me, he was like, man, we opened up their
restaurant's gonna be the first person line. I'm gonna be there.
And we were cutting the ribbon, had a commission out there.
(17:07):
We were cutting the ribbon and then Bumby pulls up
in uh suburban and jumps out of the car and
gives a speech and cuts the ribbon with me. And
he's the first customer in line in my restaurant. You know,
I'm very I'm very I'm very grateful for for him.
But then um, during covid um you know, so now
(17:29):
we had now we had a brick and more than then, Uh,
there was another location that we got on one skin,
which is like if you know Miami, that that one
bit scan is like I'm right next to a Starbucks
and I'm next to a Sprint store, like I'm in
a I'm in a key location in North Maine Beach.
I was able to buy somebody out of that space. UM,
and we got that one. And then we also got
(17:50):
into the UM the Bright Line train station, which they
had changed the name of it to the Virgin Trains
and then they changed it back the bright Line. But
that's the only one we had like some issues with
it because um, they've been closed since the beginning of COVID.
So you got into most of these properties pre COVID
because it's crazy. I don't think anybody saw COVID in
(18:14):
the playbook. Like you know what, I'm I try to
be smart, like I I keep six months reserves, like
I'm I try to I try to, you know, I
try to move smart. But like COVID was crazy, Like
even if you have six months reserves, it's like, wait
a minute, it was scary time a year, fourteen months
in some places, like you know, just just places that
(18:37):
were open since I was a kid in New York
and they just couldn't do it. I mean, even just
a city like Miami would have so much tourism and
now has an influx of people, it hasn't like there's
huge hotels that were like the like the Doubt they're
still closed. It blows my mind. And it's just it
was such an unpredictable thing. Yeah, so so you know,
(18:57):
we just had the just man, you know what I mean,
it's it's it's you know, it is what it is.
Um And again, like that's one of the things like
with the music business that like, you know, really conditioning
me for a lot of this stuff. I never really padicked.
I never laid off not one employee, never, not one solar,
even though my accounting uh said I needed to. I put,
you know, what we felt short of I cracked my
(19:17):
safe and and and I got you know, and that's
that's that's also part of it that hurts like with
people too, write because you know, it's like, you know,
the sacrifices that you make with school things, and some
people some people they don't they don't get it, and
they don't understand it. That's so like like so, so
think about what I'm telling what these guys still in
lobsters for me, right, Like you're still in lobsters for
(19:38):
me in a time where like that's a lot of
businesses that's closed, like actually closed, and like you're still
you still got a job. I didn't tell you, like yo,
you still got the same hours I was actually hiring
during COVID and and you know, instead of appreciating that,
like yo, you know what, like yo, I ain't you know, dude,
ain't mess with my money like my checks on time
every every week, like it's out are doing that? You
(20:00):
steal from me during that, like you know, and I'm
saying though, like I'm COVID, I got you know, everything
went digital, so now I got Uber Eats, Postmates, all
this kind of stuff. It's cool, it's coming in, but
they're taking so that's a bottom line. So and then
in cash flow like I'm used to like you know,
three thousand, five thousand, I was walking through the door
(20:21):
every day. Now I got away for Uber to pay
me and taking a three M x F and da
da da da da da da. You know this is
what people don't understand, Like when they say entrepreneurship, it's
lonely at the top because you know you're trying to
provide for all these families. You're trying to like look
out and say listen, I'm taking care and taking care
of all you. But at the same time people are like, well,
(20:42):
let me take a little bit more. It's hard. It's hard.
It's a lonely job. Thank you so much for teaching
us all about your business. Can you tell us where
to find you on social and where your restaurants are?
You have two locations like I have one in UM
in Overtown which is five month or second Avenue. We
have one UM in North Mindy Beach which is only
(21:03):
one bis game one three five to one Biscame Boulevard.
My Instagram and my Facebook is at world famous House
of Mac Money Movers. Thanks for joining us here on
the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. I don't know
about you, but Big Teach definitely taught me a few
things I can use in my own money Moves. But
while you're making those big plans for your financial and
(21:24):
professional future, make sure you stay right here tuned into
Money Moves because we've got a whole lot more coming up.
Thank you so much for tuning in Money Moves audience.
If you want more or a recap of this episode,
please go to the bank Greenwood dot com and check
out the Money Moves podcast blog. Money Moves is an
(21:45):
I Heart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by
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