June 26, 2024 • 31 mins
Aja "Lynn" and chef Brandon of Lynn's Chicago Pizza in Hazel Crest, IL are the definition of trailblazers!
With a focus on quality ingredients, love of the craft and wanting to let a light shine on their community, Lynn's Chicago Pizza has everything you need from thin crust to deep dish, wings, pasta and more.
Hear all about their story and get a slice of your own pizza heaven at 17561 Kedzie Avenue in Lux Resto! Click here for more info!
With a focus on quality ingredients, love of the craft and wanting to let a light shine on their community, Lynn's Chicago Pizza has everything you need from thin crust to deep dish, wings, pasta and more.
Hear all about their story and get a slice of your own pizza heaven at 17561 Kedzie Avenue in Lux Resto! Click here for more info!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hello everyone, and welcome
back today. I'm here with Brandonand Lynn of Lynn's Chicago Pizza. How
are you guys today? We're doingwell? Good good, Thank you guys
for being here. So now wehave to talk about what we came here
(00:23):
for lynn Chicago Pizza. I alwayslike to start off with the story behind
it. So where did the inspirationcome from to open up a pizza place?
Yeah? Probably one of my favoritestories is hell. So Brandon and
I not only are we like partnersin this business, but we are also
partners in love beautiful. I lovethat. So just like one day last
(00:47):
year, we were deciding on likewhat to eat, Like it was like
our anniversary dinner, you know,like we didn't want to like go out,
and Brandon is a chef, youcan make anything, so you know,
we just decided of like, insteadof like ordering out like for food,
especially Pisa, we just decided welove deep dish pizza, let's try
(01:10):
to make it. So we didthat and it turned out to be amazing.
So in that very same weekend,we just started making free pieces for
our closest family and France. Theyloved it. They co signed, they
were coming to the house to likeget a pisa and like literally the next
week we're like, let's start apiece of business. We've been on the
(01:33):
road every since. So interesting aswell, like when we decided to start
the business. Super Bowl weekend waslike that very next weekend. And we
also just like had some relationships atone of our local like bar establishments in
our neighborhood and they were very openshout out to the Odyssey. They were
(01:56):
very open to like letting us comein and sell our pieces. And from
there we talk to some people.We gain a customer base with them very
quickly because of Super Bowl weekend camearound. This one lady ordered like ten
pieces and just like being like veryconsistent, like you know, showing up
meeting people. Also shout out tothe Cove in High Park, like they
(02:17):
also supported us like let us comein like pop up with our pieces as
well. The Cigar Lounge and I'msorry I can't remember their exactly business name,
but this cigar Lounge of forty thirdin Prairie and yeah, just like
making these relationships and they supported us. So shout out to all lit those
businesses. But yeah, so likethat's how we started. Like it started
(02:38):
from just a at home dinner dateand it just quickly like came into a
successful business. Just believed in aproduct, you know. Yeah, yeah,
like had super confidence in it thatit was amazing that we can do
well. Brandon retesting the recipe,the ingredients over and over agains to make
(03:04):
it perfect. And yeah, likehere we are. That's a blessing.
Yes, I love that. Idon't go buy chef anymore. I go
buy pizzolo. Okay, wait,what does that explain? Ptolo is Italian
for pizza chef. Oh fancy upin here? Okay, I'm okay pronounce
this. I don't say. Ijust wanted to know that. Nice.
Nice Okay, So what would youguys say? The mission of Ly Chicago
(03:28):
Pizza is. So the mission ofLan Chicago Pizza is to serve the best
delicious pieceas like on our Chicago SouthSide and surrounding suburbs. I'm on the
south Side absolutely, yeah, usingthe best high quality ingredients. Like I
said, like, we do careabout the products. So we're not buying
(03:49):
anything store aball or frozen. Weliterally make the dough from scratch. We're
rolling it out. We literally makethe sauce. And the sauce is the
number one best thing about the pisa. It tastes like something that like you
would get like from your mom's,like lasagna, you know, like it's
just that rich, that just homemadefeel, and we put that on a
(04:11):
pizza and it just hits like it'sjust lit right. Yeah. But yes,
like our mission and our inspiration isthe community. Like we want to
be known as a premiere piseria,you know, like we want to be
not only just like the next TimeFiesta And we always get like shout outs
to Reggie's for being in the firstblack owned piezeria in Chicago, and we
(04:33):
also like want to make a namefor ourselves. Absolutely yeah, And it's
hems like you are already so you'redoing something right. Okay, So let
me ask a little bit like whenyou guys first started, when you move
to doing it for you know,family and friends and we're like, okay,
let's do this business for real.What were some of those like business
aspect challenges that you went through andhow did you get past them. Yeah,
(04:57):
Like it's definitely been a journey.At time, Brandon and I we
were both working full time in ourrespective fields. My field is higher education
shout outs to here and watch thisin college. Yeah, and Brandon like
has a fifteen year career in restaurantindustry. So like it's me trying to
(05:18):
learn this restaurant business. So alot of listening to my partner here,
Yeah, a lot of watching,a lot of disagreements in those statements,
a lot of disagreement in those placementstoo. Yeah, like working full time
because like how much time, likecan we devote like to this business?
(05:42):
Is it a side business? Likewhat are our goals? And we had
to like match what our goals arebecause if Brandon is like full force in
and I'm kind of like, likethere's just something I want to do on
a Saturday, and then you know, those two things like don't really match.
So it just like took us alot of time and like practice again,
like just being the relationship, butif you shot the romantically and then
also apparent that with operating a businesstoo, it could present like some challenges
(06:08):
at home. Just like we're arguingover pepperoni and I spill over into like
our actual relationship. So just tryingto like cut off, not like cut
it off, but more so yeahboundaries. Yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes, that makes sense. That makes sense. But as I
said, you guys are thriving fromwhat it seems like, so you're you're
(06:30):
figuring it out. It's a it'sa journey. As you said, it's
a process and when that comes withevery single business. So another thing when
you were talking about like your goalsaligning and things like that, how did
you guys go about finding like theperfect team to help you guys, you
know, achieve those goals. Soright now, we have no team.
We are the team. We arevery small, like still you know,
(06:55):
in many ways considered a startup businesshad all of this like major success,
but we are steel you know,just going through the process of getting to
the end goal, right which isbreak and mortar and just like doing this
thing like full time. But yeah, it's just us really just yeah,
(07:15):
like we were taking orders like fordelivery, you know, like at one
point, you know, like outof our home, and you know,
that's just like how everyone starts,to be honest, that's how everyone starts.
And I would like just pack upmy malibi or like all of these
pieces and the equipment and whatever,and like I would be the delivery girl,
like Brandon would make the pieceas andlike I said earlier, like we
(07:39):
would go out to our local establishment, so he'll make the piezas and I
would go any streets selling them.Teamwork makes a dream more absolutely, so
that's what we had to do.We don't have a big team, you
know, like in the future,that's something we aspire to do. Like
even if it's just our close friendsand family who we can like super rely
on, Like we just want tohave good people in our circle. Like
(08:01):
for right now, like it's justus making it happen. And it's really
just shout out to Brandon because Istill work full time, you know,
and here on watchingson college and heis making it happen day in and day
out. So yeah, there's noLand Chicago Pizza without mister Brander Bruner here.
He's really be very nice right now. She must want something maybe a
(08:24):
deep dish pizza later. But wealso have a really interesting partnership with lux
Rust though. Shout out Elaine Moore'sowner of the lux group out there.
She has a couple of event spacesand a restaurant space that she opened up.
It came it was a random,random situation where I went to see
someone in there, like, that'sa chef, niky y chef Niki Brian
(08:45):
for inviting me to go try herwings. And then I walked in and
there was like all this pizza stuff. They wanted to hire someone, and
I'm like, you know, I'mnot. I quit my job at a
respective restaurant right here downtown to tryto get this off the ground. I
did not, unfortunately hurts financially,but yeah, but yeah, having that
partnership allowed us to actually get wherewe are right now, like this.
(09:07):
For you to even hear about us, like for anyone to hear about us
now, it's like because we werein a physical ideal, Okay, people
can see see it right now,it just seemed like a ghost ghost.
It's like, well, who areyou? You know, we see you,
but who are you? So nowthat this year was able to just
so much has happened in the lastcouple of months just by having that space.
(09:30):
Now, Yeah, you know,profitability still one of those things we're
working on, but and uh,but it's just having that opportunity to be
seen has been able to push usand get us a lot more, a
little more attention people. Our headsare turning. But that is from that
one partner them from the start ofwhat Lynn said of the selling in the
lounges without food and now having thispartnership with Missy Langmore's out of lux Rusto
(09:52):
that has put us, has propelledus. Now we're like, people are
like, oh, okay, youdon't got pizza, so you know that's
awesome. That's just to piggyback ofwhat you were saying there. Yeah,
yeah, it seems like, youknow, making those relationships or like everything
when it comes to business and thecollaboration, which in Chicago you guys can
(10:13):
correct me if you think differently,but we have this thing where it's like
everything has to be a competition.We can thrive so much better together if
we collaborate, you know, worktogether, learn from each other. Everything
does not have to be a competitionat all. It really doesn't. And
that's one thing like that is importantto Braindon and I like and the Chicago
(10:35):
pieces just when we make it whateverthat means to us. We definitely want
to put other people on you know, so when we get like our like
own brick and mortar, like wedefinitely want to invite people like who are
your small entrepreneurs you know currently likeif you seell soaper jewelry, like come
through and you know like set upa table like be a vendor, you
(10:56):
know for a day or for aweekend like whatever. I know, like
a lot of people they are verystingy with resources and information and they just
sell you will I just apply fora grant and like I want specific information.
I want to know what a grant. I want to know what did
you say to get it? LikeI want to be coaching like just kind
(11:16):
of like help me out, andthen it goes like left, like it's
just like not very helpful at all. So when we get into the position
even like now just you know,even being here today, like if I
know somebody like hey, like getup, Jess. Yeah. Yeah,
Like when we get put on andeverything that we're learning, like we're not
going to just hold it for ourselves. We are definitely like want to give
(11:39):
back to other people. And that'swhy you guys are going to thrive.
That is a big reason why.Of course other reasons, but that's a
big one. Wanted to give back, Like we built our company name our
Dba's Pizza, but our company nameis Southial Restaurant Group because that's where she's
(12:00):
from. But the idea, it'slike, all right here we got as
myself being a chef in the cityand a black chef in the city.
It's I'm blessed that I've gotten reallyfar, like at the higher end of
my profession where I'm like, okay, I make real money. Yeah.
So and but like I new remember, like even now, I'm like,
hey, yo, chef, Ihear you're doing a pop up with this
guy with this guy Crickets. Letme do a pop up with you know
(12:22):
what I get down Crickets. I'mlike, well, now now I can
be in the position as a chef. Oh what's up man? Hey and
chef, I love your work.I saw you doing pop ups. Yes,
come on every Sunday night, We'regonna have a you know, dinner
series where you know, I showyou how to take your ideas and maybe
elevate into a different style of playing. What I do you know River North
(12:43):
for you know, west of allthe my experience, so definitely now and
then hey, you have a project. No, now that we got to
that point, and I love whatyou're doing with your your egg roll dish,
and like, how can we howcan you bring us under your umbrella?
We you know, we put youon, and you know, we
kind of keep building an umbro tokeep building people like let us Entertain You
is the biggest restaurant group in thecountry based out of Chicago. Everyone knows
(13:05):
the letters entertaining restaurant you already know. But they work. They start with
one and they just build other peoplethat have what they call chef partners.
You know, all the abbas andthe emas and you know, studio pairs
whatever the things they have. Thoseare all different partners. Yeah, but
they have under the lets and thentenure umbrella because they have the resources they
(13:26):
can say, all right, I'mgonna put you here. You know summer
House. Santa Monica's Summer House isin like four states. Yeah, Like
it's a Chicago based company, SoI'm like, why can't we do that
on the South Side too? Andyou can. And so that's kind of
like what again for bringing when there'sno gatekeeping on this end right now?
Getting the information so hard I'm Hey, how you do that? Let me
(13:48):
tell you. I'm not going totell you, let me show you.
Yeah, Like I tell right nowthat you know, really being a small
business owner and when someone say,oh, you should get a grant and
like infuriates you in your mind,like that's so big that you know,
you're like basic and it's so vague, and it's like insulting, insulting.
It is insult it's exulting, likeit's two of us, Like you don't
(14:09):
think that we thought about getting agrand like that, right right? Not
even not just anyone I talked toin a small business you know, like
startup world. I'm sorry, aminority. Let's the same minority, to
be honest, we all are sayingthe same thing. It's nothing worse than
some person that just says, oh, you're starting a business, cute,
you should get a grant. Ohyou're starting you're starting a little business.
(14:31):
Oh that's like I was telling herabout the key words like cute and little,
Like all something goes that's cute,You're like, oh, you just
like you should get a food truckagain. And that's the hard that's one
of the hardest things to do inChicago, Like No, it's the hardest
thing like that. It's not assimple as to sound people. Yeah,
maybe in other cities, like inthe suburbs, we're seeing it a lot
(14:52):
of processes that you have to do, like in the city, and if
you want your business to be legitimate, like you have to do it the
right way. So it's not Igot some money, let me just get
a food truck and now like I'mprepping and doing all this stuff in my
truck, the city says, no, you cannot do that. You have
to get a share kitchen license.You have to go through all of these
steps to do it, you know, And it's just what it is,
(15:13):
like is the process. So forpeople on the streets to be like get
a grant or like you should blahblah blahs, like first, I've already
done it, Like like I'm smart, I'm intelligent enough. I'm just not
you know, like this girl inyour face selling his pizza, right,
I have all this stuff going onas welllous I said it out loud.
I was like, well, expandingon the process that you were just talking
(15:41):
about a little bit, some advicefrom both of you on somebody that might
be thinking of starting their own pizzabusiness, but some of the first like
serious experience. I'm really big.I call it my dream job. It's
really to be an R and Dchef. Now I could do it for
my own company, thank god.It is that R and D research and
development like that. It's always beenlike in our field, Colinard Field.
(16:04):
It's whoever gets those jobs, theydon't let them go to a retirement because
you are literally just going over recipes, testing, testing, testing. You're
gonna start a pizza business. Onething I tell people, you gotta get
your hands dirty a little bit.I don't know. You gotta have put
your foot in the door. Insome places. If you're a server,
(16:25):
go be a server, Go bea host, Go maybe be a dishwise
something. I know it sounds sominute, but if you're not in that
space to understand that space, you'rejust another And this happens. This is
why a lot of our restaurants onthe South Side closed. We don't understand.
No one yes, because you havethe money to do it, but
you don't have the experience. Thenthat's where you're eighty five percent gonna fail.
(16:47):
It's just no way around it.It's I've talked to many people I've
offered my services to a lot,but in their mind, well we're busy,
we're busy, and then I'm like, then they're closed, right,
And there's a lot more to itthan just being busy. It is food
costs. Man's been inventory management,labor. The only thing we can control
a restaurant is labor, and foodcosts was the only controllable thing. Everything
else is for God to take careof her. But so my suggestion always
(17:11):
if I always find people to tryto get some experiences. If you got
one day a week, not onlycan you get a couple bucks extra,
you also can keep your eyes onwhat's happening. Yeah, I'm myself.
I am work more higher in restaurants, but I just recently was at Lavriola
because you know what they make donuts, they make bread, and I wanted
to make sure that how can Iwas asking questions. I'm hired as a
(17:33):
chef. I know a lot ofstuff, but there's some things on the
pizza business I did not know.Let me tell you something. I took
things that they do that's a multimilliondollar restaurant and I'm able to apply it
to my little thousand dollars restaurant,and I'm seeing the difference and just the
way we package, the way wemove that timing. I made pizzas before,
but I never at that high notat that high volume level. So
(17:56):
then I'm looking at things I didn'tknow about. Do yeah, I got
paid, don't be there, butthat meanwhile, I'm taking those Okay,
all little light skinned cousins can teachyou some things. They can teach us
some things. But that's my veryfirst thing is like, find some form
a way. I know it mightseem beneath you, but if you're gonna
step in this world is arena,you need to have some type of physical
(18:19):
mental training. I can't step onan NBA court. I can't step on
you know. I can't step inyour your shoes either. I'm just like,
I want to go talk on bea podcast or radio personality. I
can't do that. I need atleast be an intern. Let me carry
your bags. You need the experience. How can I help you if I
wanted it as a young person orany person who I want to get in
(18:41):
this field, but you do,I'm gonna find someone I can least trail.
It might be a month, itmight be a couple of weeks,
but links if you're getting a knowledge, so that's the first thing, and
then find something that's gonna be yourniche like, we have a signature pizza
and it was based off I sawa need. I'm not a trendy chef.
I'm not. I don't care what'shappening. Oh everyone's doing jerk stuff
(19:03):
or like everything. Yeah, yeah, so what's missing? I don't want
to do turkey? Everyone do turkey, and I'm like, I get it.
But chicken is great. It isand it has more fat, so
it has more flavor when you makeit to a sausage to caramelized onions.
Took Our number one pizza has threemain components chicken, sausage that we make,
(19:25):
caramelized onions, spinach, and thedor Chester is the most popular pizza
that we sell every review you've everseen. So, but that also came
from just kind of like exploring,getting the knowledge, getting the research,
seeing what's around, looking at thetrends, what's gonna fit. It's a
lot than just saying, oh,I can make something good. Fifteen people
liked it, How can you makeit for you to sell it in a
(19:47):
mass level? Of high volume.And that does come from even if you
don't have the time, in myopinion, to go and work at a
restaurant, there's a lot of TVshows and just to get on you can
actually watch the bear, watch theBarons. Now she's traumicized, she's understanding
what she's understanding my verbice, myattitude now and now it's like, oh
(20:08):
yeah, because whoever wrote it andthen chef consultants, they did a great
job to make it. As really, everyone I know who working in my
industry we don't watch it because wehave PDSD. We know what's gonna happen
next. So we very so likethat even if you did things like that,
you have to get your study on. You can't just I honestly,
and I don't mean to be likehigher a mighty. I don't mean to
(20:30):
be like up the or you can'tdo it. But I also believe that
every time I see restaurants fail,especially on the South Side community, it's
because they had an idea but didn'thave the right experience. You always you
don't have the manager. You hiredyour cousin to be the manager, You
hire your auntie to be the chef. But then she doesn't know how the
(20:51):
numbers work. I can tell youright now. I can. I see
a P and L sheet and I'mlike, all right, this is where
they're going wrong. This is whatthey need to do, this is what
we need to do. We doit every Monday. I go over P
and L and tell her what's happening, what I'm going to cut back.
We might fuss about it. I'mlike, nah, it's not working as
we keep it. But you won'tknow that unless you're actually understanding what you're
doing. And so you got toget experienced, get a book, trail
(21:15):
something this kid. It just don'tthink you can just do it and it's
going to be great. Yeah.Absolutely everything you just said was one hundred
percent real. So I hope ifyou're listening out there and you're thinking about
starting this piece of business, listento Brandon, because he just gave you
some gems. Research, experimentation,also consistency, you know, like we
had some challenging times, like weweren't as consistent as we could be,
(21:40):
and then we picked it back up, and you know, Brandon obviously said
like we got to be consistent,Like even if you're just doing this like
one day a week now, likewe have to say, mondays, this
is what we're doing right and that'srespect right there Also a lot what's happening
right now is the social media influencers, like our foody influencers and shout out
(22:03):
my boy at Soul can Eat onTwitter, Instagram, TikTok, like he
we we've been going viral for thelast month and it's still as we're looking
at our phone right now, it'sthat same. So Sol Can Eat.
You guys need to follow him,really very articulate gentleman. He knows he
really likes what he likes. Anduh, if you don't follow him,
(22:25):
you better period. If you're arestaurant person, you're ready to get them
by Today's prices are today's price.Today prices ain't gonna be today, Yeah,
exactly. Yeah. And then wealso like had some other social media
influencers as well last year and thisyear and you know, shout out to
Missmaya Whitney Lian and the bloodies.Yeah, the black foodies. Yeah,
(22:48):
that's a beautiful couple. Yeah.So like if anybody is out there and
the interested in you know, likejust getting their product off the ground,
like kind of just see like what'shappening like on social media. Like that's
just kind of like where we are, like Brandon said earlier, you know,
like we had our social media influencerslike come out like try our food,
and then people just started coming inthe door and calling asking for this
(23:10):
Dorchester pizza and then they say okay, and also what's on it? So
it's just like you're just like you'rejust asking for stuff like you just saw
right on the internet. You don'teven know what it is for real,
but the product, you know,like it speaks for itself. So like
if you have good faith and likeyou're proud of your work, like Brandon
(23:32):
said, like the research is important, consistency is important, collaborations is important,
and also runner in the business,Like I just spent twelve weeks in
this Community Business Academy. Shout out, Shout out to some shine enterprises.
They do. You're getting a lotof help, guys, sh yeah,
(23:53):
surprises. They offer Community Business Academytheir next going around with in the fall,
I think, like starting in August, and what they really do,
like they have coaches that are currentlyin the field, like say help you.
They go over like your business plan, like riding it like cash flow
(24:14):
projections all like the numbers and themoney and like how much does it cost
to make your product? Which isimportant too because how you know, like
how much money you're making, youknow, and versus how much money is
going out the door every time.So yeah, so that is a program
that's really really good and they're reallyhands on with you. Yeah, listen,
(24:34):
Lynn and Brandon were not playing,They are not gaatekeeping. Y'all are
just laying all the gems out rightnow. I appreciate that because more people
need to be like that. Seriously. It's enough bread for everybody. It's
enough room at the table, oryou can make your own table, which
you guys are doing. So Ilove that for you. And that's her
line. That's her line for me, especially when I start getting like,
man, let's get this. I'mgonna go get my chef job. I
(24:55):
can go get eighty k right now. Tomorrow. We have to pave our
own life. You said you don'twant to go back. You're paving your
own way. I'm like, man, man, man, you can't wait
for opportunities to come to you.This is a story for another day,
but a small thing about me beforeI got this podcast. Before I got
(25:15):
on the radio. I was doingmy own podcast on the side, and
that's how you know, the higherups started being like, what's Jasmin doing?
Maybe she can do this, youknow, So I totally agree.
You have to make your your ownlane. You cannot wait for things to
fall into your lap. If youwant it, go get it. And
I just want to piggyback and nowthat like I'm doing. I always say,
(25:37):
if I gave us sixty hours thatI give our other friends, like
other cousins, I can get thisto move. And I have been able
to give it to sixty hours.That's sixty hours a week that it's almost
required for us to work on asalary position in a restaurant. That's you
know, like we always say,oh you know we've met. We don't
get ready for forty hours. Weget it's fifty five is what they tell
you when you first sign your dalto be a chef in a restaurant.
(26:00):
But we do way more than that. So if I took that same energy
and apply it to us, andI have and it works, I mean
every so it works and to beable to all right, this is what
I'm done. I'm like I lovethis new word and it's not a new
word, but it's word I liketo use. Now, framework, I'm
sitting here building a framework to giveto my next bloody huh bro now come
(26:22):
here here, So like, no, we're definitely, I'm not. We're
doing this. It's a bigger purposethan just having profit. It is to
build a hospitality group that is southSide black owned based group, which we
don't have a lot. There's afew guys out there like I love,
like the group fourteen Paris group,but they're doing great with their second restaurant
done fourteen. Like we're like,okay, that's the level we need to
(26:45):
be at as a restaurant, asa as a just restaurants on the south
Side, as we notice, isgetting gentrified quickly on certain areas and we're
watching it. We live in Woodlawn, so we're watching my man and uh
rest for like our first target iswe're looking at south Shore. That's like
another target. Like we don't getin now, we won't. We won't
be able to get in at nopoint because if you don't have like we
(27:07):
don't have that kind of money.Once it gets you know how it goes,
once it gets going and you werein the beginning. You gotta pay
it today's prices, exactly, yougotta pay today's prices. So thank you
Fat Joe for that. That makesso much. Basically, strike while the
iron is hot, right yeah,yeah, yeah, And if you just
(27:30):
want to have like other projects too, Like I am dead serious on like
how can we get our tomato saucein stores? So, like how can
we bottle this up? So,you know, like just getting information on
consumer packaged goods like ourselves, youknow, eventually with some more research and
development like frozen pizza, you know. So it's just not just you know,
(27:53):
us selling pieceas and serving the straitsof the customer. We have like
other ideas of other projects that wewant to get off the ground as well.
Yeah, shout out to all myfriends in Atlanta. I'm coming an
expansion as well. So yes,I know everything that you guys want to
do, it will happen. Ican tell. I feel the energy from
y'all. Y'all are serious and Ilove that. So my last and favorite
(28:17):
question, so just for each ofyou, what does brillantly black man to
you? I can go first.To me, it means waking up every
day and striving for success and itmeans empowerment. Yes, beautiful Brandon,
how about you, I'm going toput it towards what I do for a
living. It's being able to say, yes, I am a black chef
(28:42):
or black you know, a personin the kitchen, but I'm not regulated
to just soulful barbecue pretty much.That's what the that's what they automaticly see
you in front of us, andthat we are. And I'm so glad
to see so many black talented chefsstepping up doing different things. And that
to me is like, you knowthe guy that does the young man that's
(29:02):
doing Korean food, he's have blackhalf Koreans on it, and bridge part.
The young lady that was running thesushi plays with want to Michelin.
Now she's gone. But you know, mm hmm. We are more than
soul food and barbecue. And Ithink even us tepping into what I like
to call the Italian Arena, AmericanItalian area, it's still it's always a
shocker, like what you guys areblack doing pizza. We're like yeah,
(29:26):
So like being brilliant is coming upseeing there, Yes, there's trends and
also just bucking the trends and doingyour own thing, like you said,
creating our own lane. As wesay a lot around here, something we
have to keep saying. I forgotto keep telling me. And so that's
what I think about it, youknow, just being like you said,
bold, brave, brilliant and blacklike it's there it is. You gotta
be bold, you gotta be abraid to try something different. Absolutely.
(29:48):
Oh, I've been loving this conversationseriously, Thank you guys. And before
you go, you have to dropthe social media where they can follow you,
guys, where they can come inperson and get some Lynch Chicago pizza.
Absolutely, So everyone can follow uson Facebook and on Instagram and tiktock
Lyann Chicago Pizza. One word likewe said earlier, like we are currently
(30:12):
in partnership with lux Rusto that isone seven five six to one, Kezzy
Avenue in Hazel Crust, Illinois.That we may have some other news,
we might have some big news poppingup. So you've got to stay on
our social because some things you're gonnabe moved around. We don't want to
feel like we're not being inconsistent,but if you're paying attention to our social
(30:33):
sugar and be like, oh,they got something big, so you might
not catch us at lux. I'mcertain coming up shortly on a consistent basis,
so it's kind of like stay tuned, yo. We have an amazing
catering menu on our website Lynchhypizza dotcom, so please check it out.
We do it a multile pizza bar. We come. We can make all
your guests their own personal little minipizzas and things like that, and they
(30:55):
can pick their own toppings, orwe can bring pizza. We have amazing
pastas. What we say is wedo pizza, pasta salads. That's our
work. So please check us outon our website and check out our catering
menu with that is Lansshipizza dot com. Beautiful. Thank you guys so much
for joining me today, and seriously, I'm wishing y'all all the success in
(31:15):
the world because you guys do deserveit. So thank you. Thank you
so much for having us anytime.Thanks for listening to the Brilliantly Black podcast
produced by Jasmine Bennett and Ryan LacExecutive produced by Eco Robinson and Derek Brown.
If you're a black business and wouldlike to be featured, register your
business or service now at ninety threenine light fm dot com. Slash brilliant,
(31:38):
The Brilliantly Black Podcast is a productionof iHeartMedia, Chicago,
Putting the spotlight on chicago Lands growingblack businesses. iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Brilliantly
Black Podcast. Here's our host,Jasmine Bennett. Hello everyone, and welcome
back today. I'm here with Brandonand Lynn of Lynn's Chicago Pizza. How
are you guys today? We're doingwell? Good good, Thank you guys
for being here. So now wehave to talk about what we came here
(00:23):
for lynn Chicago Pizza. I alwayslike to start off with the story behind
it. So where did the inspirationcome from to open up a pizza place?
Yeah? Probably one of my favoritestories is hell. So Brandon and
I not only are we like partnersin this business, but we are also
partners in love beautiful. I lovethat. So just like one day last
(00:47):
year, we were deciding on likewhat to eat, Like it was like
our anniversary dinner, you know,like we didn't want to like go out,
and Brandon is a chef, youcan make anything, so you know,
we just decided of like, insteadof like ordering out like for food,
especially Pisa, we just decided welove deep dish pizza, let's try
(01:10):
to make it. So we didthat and it turned out to be amazing.
So in that very same weekend,we just started making free pieces for
our closest family and France. Theyloved it. They co signed, they
were coming to the house to likeget a pisa and like literally the next
week we're like, let's start apiece of business. We've been on the
(01:33):
road every since. So interesting aswell, like when we decided to start
the business. Super Bowl weekend waslike that very next weekend. And we
also just like had some relationships atone of our local like bar establishments in
our neighborhood and they were very openshout out to the Odyssey. They were
(01:56):
very open to like letting us comein and sell our pieces. And from
there we talk to some people.We gain a customer base with them very
quickly because of Super Bowl weekend camearound. This one lady ordered like ten
pieces and just like being like veryconsistent, like you know, showing up
meeting people. Also shout out tothe Cove in High Park, like they
(02:17):
also supported us like let us comein like pop up with our pieces as
well. The Cigar Lounge and I'msorry I can't remember their exactly business name,
but this cigar Lounge of forty thirdin Prairie and yeah, just like
making these relationships and they supported us. So shout out to all lit those
businesses. But yeah, so likethat's how we started. Like it started
(02:38):
from just a at home dinner dateand it just quickly like came into a
successful business. Just believed in aproduct, you know. Yeah, yeah,
like had super confidence in it thatit was amazing that we can do
well. Brandon retesting the recipe,the ingredients over and over agains to make
(03:04):
it perfect. And yeah, likehere we are. That's a blessing.
Yes, I love that. Idon't go buy chef anymore. I go
buy pizzolo. Okay, wait,what does that explain? Ptolo is Italian
for pizza chef. Oh fancy upin here? Okay, I'm okay pronounce
this. I don't say. Ijust wanted to know that. Nice.
Nice Okay, So what would youguys say? The mission of Ly Chicago
(03:28):
Pizza is. So the mission ofLan Chicago Pizza is to serve the best
delicious pieceas like on our Chicago SouthSide and surrounding suburbs. I'm on the
south Side absolutely, yeah, usingthe best high quality ingredients. Like I
said, like, we do careabout the products. So we're not buying
(03:49):
anything store aball or frozen. Weliterally make the dough from scratch. We're
rolling it out. We literally makethe sauce. And the sauce is the
number one best thing about the pisa. It tastes like something that like you
would get like from your mom's,like lasagna, you know, like it's
just that rich, that just homemadefeel, and we put that on a
(04:11):
pizza and it just hits like it'sjust lit right. Yeah. But yes,
like our mission and our inspiration isthe community. Like we want to
be known as a premiere piseria,you know, like we want to be
not only just like the next TimeFiesta And we always get like shout outs
to Reggie's for being in the firstblack owned piezeria in Chicago, and we
(04:33):
also like want to make a namefor ourselves. Absolutely yeah, And it's
hems like you are already so you'redoing something right. Okay, So let
me ask a little bit like whenyou guys first started, when you move
to doing it for you know,family and friends and we're like, okay,
let's do this business for real.What were some of those like business
aspect challenges that you went through andhow did you get past them. Yeah,
(04:57):
Like it's definitely been a journey.At time, Brandon and I we
were both working full time in ourrespective fields. My field is higher education
shout outs to here and watch thisin college. Yeah, and Brandon like
has a fifteen year career in restaurantindustry. So like it's me trying to
(05:18):
learn this restaurant business. So alot of listening to my partner here,
Yeah, a lot of watching,a lot of disagreements in those statements,
a lot of disagreement in those placementstoo. Yeah, like working full time
because like how much time, likecan we devote like to this business?
(05:42):
Is it a side business? Likewhat are our goals? And we had
to like match what our goals arebecause if Brandon is like full force in
and I'm kind of like, likethere's just something I want to do on
a Saturday, and then you know, those two things like don't really match.
So it just like took us alot of time and like practice again,
like just being the relationship, butif you shot the romantically and then
also apparent that with operating a businesstoo, it could present like some challenges
(06:08):
at home. Just like we're arguingover pepperoni and I spill over into like
our actual relationship. So just tryingto like cut off, not like cut
it off, but more so yeahboundaries. Yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes, that makes sense. That makes sense. But as I
said, you guys are thriving fromwhat it seems like, so you're you're
(06:30):
figuring it out. It's a it'sa journey. As you said, it's
a process and when that comes withevery single business. So another thing when
you were talking about like your goalsaligning and things like that, how did
you guys go about finding like theperfect team to help you guys, you
know, achieve those goals. Soright now, we have no team.
We are the team. We arevery small, like still you know,
(06:55):
in many ways considered a startup businesshad all of this like major success,
but we are steel you know,just going through the process of getting to
the end goal, right which isbreak and mortar and just like doing this
thing like full time. But yeah, it's just us really just yeah,
(07:15):
like we were taking orders like fordelivery, you know, like at one
point, you know, like outof our home, and you know,
that's just like how everyone starts,to be honest, that's how everyone starts.
And I would like just pack upmy malibi or like all of these
pieces and the equipment and whatever,and like I would be the delivery girl,
like Brandon would make the pieceas andlike I said earlier, like we
(07:39):
would go out to our local establishment, so he'll make the piezas and I
would go any streets selling them.Teamwork makes a dream more absolutely, so
that's what we had to do.We don't have a big team, you
know, like in the future,that's something we aspire to do. Like
even if it's just our close friendsand family who we can like super rely
on, Like we just want tohave good people in our circle. Like
(08:01):
for right now, like it's justus making it happen. And it's really
just shout out to Brandon because Istill work full time, you know,
and here on watchingson college and heis making it happen day in and day
out. So yeah, there's noLand Chicago Pizza without mister Brander Bruner here.
He's really be very nice right now. She must want something maybe a
(08:24):
deep dish pizza later. But wealso have a really interesting partnership with lux
Rust though. Shout out Elaine Moore'sowner of the lux group out there.
She has a couple of event spacesand a restaurant space that she opened up.
It came it was a random,random situation where I went to see
someone in there, like, that'sa chef, niky y chef Niki Brian
(08:45):
for inviting me to go try herwings. And then I walked in and
there was like all this pizza stuff. They wanted to hire someone, and
I'm like, you know, I'mnot. I quit my job at a
respective restaurant right here downtown to tryto get this off the ground. I
did not, unfortunately hurts financially,but yeah, but yeah, having that
partnership allowed us to actually get wherewe are right now, like this.
(09:07):
For you to even hear about us, like for anyone to hear about us
now, it's like because we werein a physical ideal, Okay, people
can see see it right now,it just seemed like a ghost ghost.
It's like, well, who areyou? You know, we see you,
but who are you? So nowthat this year was able to just
so much has happened in the lastcouple of months just by having that space.
(09:30):
Now, Yeah, you know,profitability still one of those things we're
working on, but and uh,but it's just having that opportunity to be
seen has been able to push usand get us a lot more, a
little more attention people. Our headsare turning. But that is from that
one partner them from the start ofwhat Lynn said of the selling in the
lounges without food and now having thispartnership with Missy Langmore's out of lux Rusto
(09:52):
that has put us, has propelledus. Now we're like, people are
like, oh, okay, youdon't got pizza, so you know that's
awesome. That's just to piggyback ofwhat you were saying there. Yeah,
yeah, it seems like, youknow, making those relationships or like everything
when it comes to business and thecollaboration, which in Chicago you guys can
(10:13):
correct me if you think differently,but we have this thing where it's like
everything has to be a competition.We can thrive so much better together if
we collaborate, you know, worktogether, learn from each other. Everything
does not have to be a competitionat all. It really doesn't. And
that's one thing like that is importantto Braindon and I like and the Chicago
(10:35):
pieces just when we make it whateverthat means to us. We definitely want
to put other people on you know, so when we get like our like
own brick and mortar, like wedefinitely want to invite people like who are
your small entrepreneurs you know currently likeif you seell soaper jewelry, like come
through and you know like set upa table like be a vendor, you
(10:56):
know for a day or for aweekend like whatever. I know, like
a lot of people they are verystingy with resources and information and they just
sell you will I just apply fora grant and like I want specific information.
I want to know what a grant. I want to know what did
you say to get it? LikeI want to be coaching like just kind
(11:16):
of like help me out, andthen it goes like left, like it's
just like not very helpful at all. So when we get into the position
even like now just you know,even being here today, like if I
know somebody like hey, like getup, Jess. Yeah. Yeah,
Like when we get put on andeverything that we're learning, like we're not
going to just hold it for ourselves. We are definitely like want to give
(11:39):
back to other people. And that'swhy you guys are going to thrive.
That is a big reason why.Of course other reasons, but that's a
big one. Wanted to give back, Like we built our company name our
Dba's Pizza, but our company nameis Southial Restaurant Group because that's where she's
(12:00):
from. But the idea, it'slike, all right here we got as
myself being a chef in the cityand a black chef in the city.
It's I'm blessed that I've gotten reallyfar, like at the higher end of
my profession where I'm like, okay, I make real money. Yeah.
So and but like I new remember, like even now, I'm like,
hey, yo, chef, Ihear you're doing a pop up with this
guy with this guy Crickets. Letme do a pop up with you know
(12:22):
what I get down Crickets. I'mlike, well, now now I can
be in the position as a chef. Oh what's up man? Hey and
chef, I love your work.I saw you doing pop ups. Yes,
come on every Sunday night, We'regonna have a you know, dinner
series where you know, I showyou how to take your ideas and maybe
elevate into a different style of playing. What I do you know River North
(12:43):
for you know, west of allthe my experience, so definitely now and
then hey, you have a project. No, now that we got to
that point, and I love whatyou're doing with your your egg roll dish,
and like, how can we howcan you bring us under your umbrella?
We you know, we put youon, and you know, we
kind of keep building an umbro tokeep building people like let us Entertain You
is the biggest restaurant group in thecountry based out of Chicago. Everyone knows
(13:05):
the letters entertaining restaurant you already know. But they work. They start with
one and they just build other peoplethat have what they call chef partners.
You know, all the abbas andthe emas and you know, studio pairs
whatever the things they have. Thoseare all different partners. Yeah, but
they have under the lets and thentenure umbrella because they have the resources they
(13:26):
can say, all right, I'mgonna put you here. You know summer
House. Santa Monica's Summer House isin like four states. Yeah, Like
it's a Chicago based company, SoI'm like, why can't we do that
on the South Side too? Andyou can. And so that's kind of
like what again for bringing when there'sno gatekeeping on this end right now?
Getting the information so hard I'm Hey, how you do that? Let me
(13:48):
tell you. I'm not going totell you, let me show you.
Yeah, Like I tell right nowthat you know, really being a small
business owner and when someone say,oh, you should get a grant and
like infuriates you in your mind,like that's so big that you know,
you're like basic and it's so vague, and it's like insulting, insulting.
It is insult it's exulting, likeit's two of us, Like you don't
(14:09):
think that we thought about getting agrand like that, right right? Not
even not just anyone I talked toin a small business you know, like
startup world. I'm sorry, aminority. Let's the same minority, to
be honest, we all are sayingthe same thing. It's nothing worse than
some person that just says, oh, you're starting a business, cute,
you should get a grant. Ohyou're starting you're starting a little business.
(14:31):
Oh that's like I was telling herabout the key words like cute and little,
Like all something goes that's cute,You're like, oh, you just
like you should get a food truckagain. And that's the hard that's one
of the hardest things to do inChicago, Like No, it's the hardest
thing like that. It's not assimple as to sound people. Yeah,
maybe in other cities, like inthe suburbs, we're seeing it a lot
(14:52):
of processes that you have to do, like in the city, and if
you want your business to be legitimate, like you have to do it the
right way. So it's not Igot some money, let me just get
a food truck and now like I'mprepping and doing all this stuff in my
truck, the city says, no, you cannot do that. You have
to get a share kitchen license.You have to go through all of these
steps to do it, you know, And it's just what it is,
(15:13):
like is the process. So forpeople on the streets to be like get
a grant or like you should blahblah blahs, like first, I've already
done it, Like like I'm smart, I'm intelligent enough. I'm just not
you know, like this girl inyour face selling his pizza, right,
I have all this stuff going onas welllous I said it out loud.
I was like, well, expandingon the process that you were just talking
(15:41):
about a little bit, some advicefrom both of you on somebody that might
be thinking of starting their own pizzabusiness, but some of the first like
serious experience. I'm really big.I call it my dream job. It's
really to be an R and Dchef. Now I could do it for
my own company, thank god.It is that R and D research and
development like that. It's always beenlike in our field, Colinard Field.
(16:04):
It's whoever gets those jobs, theydon't let them go to a retirement because
you are literally just going over recipes, testing, testing, testing. You're
gonna start a pizza business. Onething I tell people, you gotta get
your hands dirty a little bit.I don't know. You gotta have put
your foot in the door. Insome places. If you're a server,
(16:25):
go be a server, Go bea host, Go maybe be a dishwise
something. I know it sounds sominute, but if you're not in that
space to understand that space, you'rejust another And this happens. This is
why a lot of our restaurants onthe South Side closed. We don't understand.
No one yes, because you havethe money to do it, but
you don't have the experience. Thenthat's where you're eighty five percent gonna fail.
(16:47):
It's just no way around it.It's I've talked to many people I've
offered my services to a lot,but in their mind, well we're busy,
we're busy, and then I'm like, then they're closed, right,
And there's a lot more to itthan just being busy. It is food
costs. Man's been inventory management,labor. The only thing we can control
a restaurant is labor, and foodcosts was the only controllable thing. Everything
else is for God to take careof her. But so my suggestion always
(17:11):
if I always find people to tryto get some experiences. If you got
one day a week, not onlycan you get a couple bucks extra,
you also can keep your eyes onwhat's happening. Yeah, I'm myself.
I am work more higher in restaurants, but I just recently was at Lavriola
because you know what they make donuts, they make bread, and I wanted
to make sure that how can Iwas asking questions. I'm hired as a
(17:33):
chef. I know a lot ofstuff, but there's some things on the
pizza business I did not know.Let me tell you something. I took
things that they do that's a multimilliondollar restaurant and I'm able to apply it
to my little thousand dollars restaurant,and I'm seeing the difference and just the
way we package, the way wemove that timing. I made pizzas before,
but I never at that high notat that high volume level. So
(17:56):
then I'm looking at things I didn'tknow about. Do yeah, I got
paid, don't be there, butthat meanwhile, I'm taking those Okay,
all little light skinned cousins can teachyou some things. They can teach us
some things. But that's my veryfirst thing is like, find some form
a way. I know it mightseem beneath you, but if you're gonna
step in this world is arena,you need to have some type of physical
(18:19):
mental training. I can't step onan NBA court. I can't step on
you know. I can't step inyour your shoes either. I'm just like,
I want to go talk on bea podcast or radio personality. I
can't do that. I need atleast be an intern. Let me carry
your bags. You need the experience. How can I help you if I
wanted it as a young person orany person who I want to get in
(18:41):
this field, but you do,I'm gonna find someone I can least trail.
It might be a month, itmight be a couple of weeks,
but links if you're getting a knowledge, so that's the first thing, and
then find something that's gonna be yourniche like, we have a signature pizza
and it was based off I sawa need. I'm not a trendy chef.
I'm not. I don't care what'shappening. Oh everyone's doing jerk stuff
(19:03):
or like everything. Yeah, yeah, so what's missing? I don't want
to do turkey? Everyone do turkey, and I'm like, I get it.
But chicken is great. It isand it has more fat, so
it has more flavor when you makeit to a sausage to caramelized onions.
Took Our number one pizza has threemain components chicken, sausage that we make,
(19:25):
caramelized onions, spinach, and thedor Chester is the most popular pizza
that we sell every review you've everseen. So, but that also came
from just kind of like exploring,getting the knowledge, getting the research,
seeing what's around, looking at thetrends, what's gonna fit. It's a
lot than just saying, oh,I can make something good. Fifteen people
liked it, How can you makeit for you to sell it in a
(19:47):
mass level? Of high volume.And that does come from even if you
don't have the time, in myopinion, to go and work at a
restaurant, there's a lot of TVshows and just to get on you can
actually watch the bear, watch theBarons. Now she's traumicized, she's understanding
what she's understanding my verbice, myattitude now and now it's like, oh
(20:08):
yeah, because whoever wrote it andthen chef consultants, they did a great
job to make it. As really, everyone I know who working in my
industry we don't watch it because wehave PDSD. We know what's gonna happen
next. So we very so likethat even if you did things like that,
you have to get your study on. You can't just I honestly,
and I don't mean to be likehigher a mighty. I don't mean to
(20:30):
be like up the or you can'tdo it. But I also believe that
every time I see restaurants fail,especially on the South Side community, it's
because they had an idea but didn'thave the right experience. You always you
don't have the manager. You hiredyour cousin to be the manager, You
hire your auntie to be the chef. But then she doesn't know how the
(20:51):
numbers work. I can tell youright now. I can. I see
a P and L sheet and I'mlike, all right, this is where
they're going wrong. This is whatthey need to do, this is what
we need to do. We doit every Monday. I go over P
and L and tell her what's happening, what I'm going to cut back.
We might fuss about it. I'mlike, nah, it's not working as
we keep it. But you won'tknow that unless you're actually understanding what you're
doing. And so you got toget experienced, get a book, trail
(21:15):
something this kid. It just don'tthink you can just do it and it's
going to be great. Yeah.Absolutely everything you just said was one hundred
percent real. So I hope ifyou're listening out there and you're thinking about
starting this piece of business, listento Brandon, because he just gave you
some gems. Research, experimentation,also consistency, you know, like we
had some challenging times, like weweren't as consistent as we could be,
(21:40):
and then we picked it back up, and you know, Brandon obviously said
like we got to be consistent,Like even if you're just doing this like
one day a week now, likewe have to say, mondays, this
is what we're doing right and that'srespect right there Also a lot what's happening
right now is the social media influencers, like our foody influencers and shout out
(22:03):
my boy at Soul can Eat onTwitter, Instagram, TikTok, like he
we we've been going viral for thelast month and it's still as we're looking
at our phone right now, it'sthat same. So Sol Can Eat.
You guys need to follow him,really very articulate gentleman. He knows he
really likes what he likes. Anduh, if you don't follow him,
(22:25):
you better period. If you're arestaurant person, you're ready to get them
by Today's prices are today's price.Today prices ain't gonna be today, Yeah,
exactly. Yeah. And then wealso like had some other social media
influencers as well last year and thisyear and you know, shout out to
Missmaya Whitney Lian and the bloodies.Yeah, the black foodies. Yeah,
(22:48):
that's a beautiful couple. Yeah.So like if anybody is out there and
the interested in you know, likejust getting their product off the ground,
like kind of just see like what'shappening like on social media. Like that's
just kind of like where we are, like Brandon said earlier, you know,
like we had our social media influencerslike come out like try our food,
and then people just started coming inthe door and calling asking for this
(23:10):
Dorchester pizza and then they say okay, and also what's on it? So
it's just like you're just like you'rejust asking for stuff like you just saw
right on the internet. You don'teven know what it is for real,
but the product, you know,like it speaks for itself. So like
if you have good faith and likeyou're proud of your work, like Brandon
(23:32):
said, like the research is important, consistency is important, collaborations is important,
and also runner in the business,Like I just spent twelve weeks in
this Community Business Academy. Shout out, Shout out to some shine enterprises.
They do. You're getting a lotof help, guys, sh yeah,
(23:53):
surprises. They offer Community Business Academytheir next going around with in the fall,
I think, like starting in August, and what they really do,
like they have coaches that are currentlyin the field, like say help you.
They go over like your business plan, like riding it like cash flow
(24:14):
projections all like the numbers and themoney and like how much does it cost
to make your product? Which isimportant too because how you know, like
how much money you're making, youknow, and versus how much money is
going out the door every time.So yeah, so that is a program
that's really really good and they're reallyhands on with you. Yeah, listen,
(24:34):
Lynn and Brandon were not playing,They are not gaatekeeping. Y'all are
just laying all the gems out rightnow. I appreciate that because more people
need to be like that. Seriously. It's enough bread for everybody. It's
enough room at the table, oryou can make your own table, which
you guys are doing. So Ilove that for you. And that's her
line. That's her line for me, especially when I start getting like,
man, let's get this. I'mgonna go get my chef job. I
(24:55):
can go get eighty k right now. Tomorrow. We have to pave our
own life. You said you don'twant to go back. You're paving your
own way. I'm like, man, man, man, you can't wait
for opportunities to come to you.This is a story for another day,
but a small thing about me beforeI got this podcast. Before I got
(25:15):
on the radio. I was doingmy own podcast on the side, and
that's how you know, the higherups started being like, what's Jasmin doing?
Maybe she can do this, youknow, So I totally agree.
You have to make your your ownlane. You cannot wait for things to
fall into your lap. If youwant it, go get it. And
I just want to piggyback and nowthat like I'm doing. I always say,
(25:37):
if I gave us sixty hours thatI give our other friends, like
other cousins, I can get thisto move. And I have been able
to give it to sixty hours.That's sixty hours a week that it's almost
required for us to work on asalary position in a restaurant. That's you
know, like we always say,oh you know we've met. We don't
get ready for forty hours. Weget it's fifty five is what they tell
you when you first sign your dalto be a chef in a restaurant.
(26:00):
But we do way more than that. So if I took that same energy
and apply it to us, andI have and it works, I mean
every so it works and to beable to all right, this is what
I'm done. I'm like I lovethis new word and it's not a new
word, but it's word I liketo use. Now, framework, I'm
sitting here building a framework to giveto my next bloody huh bro now come
(26:22):
here here, So like, no, we're definitely, I'm not. We're
doing this. It's a bigger purposethan just having profit. It is to
build a hospitality group that is southSide black owned based group, which we
don't have a lot. There's afew guys out there like I love,
like the group fourteen Paris group,but they're doing great with their second restaurant
done fourteen. Like we're like,okay, that's the level we need to
(26:45):
be at as a restaurant, asa as a just restaurants on the south
Side, as we notice, isgetting gentrified quickly on certain areas and we're
watching it. We live in Woodlawn, so we're watching my man and uh
rest for like our first target iswe're looking at south Shore. That's like
another target. Like we don't getin now, we won't. We won't
be able to get in at nopoint because if you don't have like we
(27:07):
don't have that kind of money.Once it gets you know how it goes,
once it gets going and you werein the beginning. You gotta pay
it today's prices, exactly, yougotta pay today's prices. So thank you
Fat Joe for that. That makesso much. Basically, strike while the
iron is hot, right yeah,yeah, yeah, And if you just
(27:30):
want to have like other projects too, Like I am dead serious on like
how can we get our tomato saucein stores? So, like how can
we bottle this up? So,you know, like just getting information on
consumer packaged goods like ourselves, youknow, eventually with some more research and
development like frozen pizza, you know. So it's just not just you know,
(27:53):
us selling pieceas and serving the straitsof the customer. We have like
other ideas of other projects that wewant to get off the ground as well.
Yeah, shout out to all myfriends in Atlanta. I'm coming an
expansion as well. So yes,I know everything that you guys want to
do, it will happen. Ican tell. I feel the energy from
y'all. Y'all are serious and Ilove that. So my last and favorite
(28:17):
question, so just for each ofyou, what does brillantly black man to
you? I can go first.To me, it means waking up every
day and striving for success and itmeans empowerment. Yes, beautiful Brandon,
how about you, I'm going toput it towards what I do for a
living. It's being able to say, yes, I am a black chef
(28:42):
or black you know, a personin the kitchen, but I'm not regulated
to just soulful barbecue pretty much.That's what the that's what they automaticly see
you in front of us, andthat we are. And I'm so glad
to see so many black talented chefsstepping up doing different things. And that
to me is like, you knowthe guy that does the young man that's
(29:02):
doing Korean food, he's have blackhalf Koreans on it, and bridge part.
The young lady that was running thesushi plays with want to Michelin.
Now she's gone. But you know, mm hmm. We are more than
soul food and barbecue. And Ithink even us tepping into what I like
to call the Italian Arena, AmericanItalian area, it's still it's always a
shocker, like what you guys areblack doing pizza. We're like yeah,
(29:26):
So like being brilliant is coming upseeing there, Yes, there's trends and
also just bucking the trends and doingyour own thing, like you said,
creating our own lane. As wesay a lot around here, something we
have to keep saying. I forgotto keep telling me. And so that's
what I think about it, youknow, just being like you said,
bold, brave, brilliant and blacklike it's there it is. You gotta
be bold, you gotta be abraid to try something different. Absolutely.
(29:48):
Oh, I've been loving this conversationseriously, Thank you guys. And before
you go, you have to dropthe social media where they can follow you,
guys, where they can come inperson and get some Lynch Chicago pizza.
Absolutely, So everyone can follow uson Facebook and on Instagram and tiktock
Lyann Chicago Pizza. One word likewe said earlier, like we are currently
(30:12):
in partnership with lux Rusto that isone seven five six to one, Kezzy
Avenue in Hazel Crust, Illinois.That we may have some other news,
we might have some big news poppingup. So you've got to stay on
our social because some things you're gonnabe moved around. We don't want to
feel like we're not being inconsistent,but if you're paying attention to our social
(30:33):
sugar and be like, oh,they got something big, so you might
not catch us at lux. I'mcertain coming up shortly on a consistent basis,
so it's kind of like stay tuned, yo. We have an amazing
catering menu on our website Lynchhypizza dotcom, so please check it out.
We do it a multile pizza bar. We come. We can make all
your guests their own personal little minipizzas and things like that, and they
(30:55):
can pick their own toppings, orwe can bring pizza. We have amazing
pastas. What we say is wedo pizza, pasta salads. That's our
work. So please check us outon our website and check out our catering
menu with that is Lansshipizza dot com. Beautiful. Thank you guys so much
for joining me today, and seriously, I'm wishing y'all all the success in
(31:15):
the world because you guys do deserveit. So thank you. Thank you
so much for having us anytime.Thanks for listening to the Brilliantly Black podcast
produced by Jasmine Bennett and Ryan LacExecutive produced by Eco Robinson and Derek Brown.
If you're a black business and wouldlike to be featured, register your
business or service now at ninety threenine light fm dot com. Slash brilliant,
(31:38):
The Brilliantly Black Podcast is a productionof iHeartMedia, Chicago,
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