June 5, 2026 • 31 mins
Franco Rauseo - CEO of Sorora Land Development & Oak Hill Farm & Global Director of Real Estate at Haddad Brands & Hadson Realty
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the CEOs You Should Know podcast. My name
is Shelly Rome. Today we have a very special guest.
I'm so excited. Uh. Director of Business Development at Hadad
Brands Global, Director of real Estate at Hats and Realty,
CEO at Sorora Land Development and o Kill Farm, Franco Rauseo.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank hi, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I said your last name right. I was a little nervous.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Don't be nervous.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's easy, Okay, I feel better. How are you doing? Welcome?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you doing good? A little nervous.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm not gonna lie you're nervous. I think that's so funny.
Not funny, but like we're friends and you know so
I know you now well at this point. And it's
funny because you're so charming and you can talk to anybody.
You walk into a room and people are automatically drawn
to you, which is a really great quality and not
everybody possesses that quality. But yeah, I guess speaking to
(00:52):
a larger audience or a bigger crowd, it makes you
like a little a little what's the word maybe self conscious?
Would that be? Would that be a right word?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah? I don't I don't like to fail and I
feel like when you're not used to doing something, and
you master the things that you're good at, you're good
at doing them. Right. So I'm good at talking making
people comfortable, but yet I'm not good at doing it
in a large, you know group where I know I'm
the only person, the only.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Focus, all the focus is on you.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
What's so interesting also is that I feel like somebody
who's in your position, a very successful person, I feel
there's a lot of control, I would say, right, like,
maybe you're in control. You are the leader, and everyone
thinks to control is like a negative thing. Oh you're
such a control freak. Not necessarily, but maybe speaking makes
you feel a little bit out of control because it's
(01:45):
kind of like spontaneous and you don't know which way
you could go.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a good way of placing it.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, I'm so glad I just there about But.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
The control, right, you learn to control the things that
you're good at, so you don't act out of control
and the things that you're not good at. So that's
why I kind of like to stay away from publicly
speaking when I have to.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Gotcha, Well, we appreciate you being here today.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So I before we get into all of your businesses
and what do you do, I have to say you.
I tell you this all the time. You were impeccably dressed. Always.
Everybody always comments on how you're like the best, first,
best dress person in the room. Does that Is there
a lot of thought that goes into how you present yourself?
You know, because your business is all about details? Is
that part of does that sort of uh go with
(02:32):
the details of you know, you walk into a room
like everything's important?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yes? I think how you present yourself is it speaks
more than what you could actually say. And you know,
the brands that we represent on one of our entities
and the people that I represent, you know, the family
and the company that I represent, it deserves to stand out.
So I feel like if you present yourself as a standout,
(02:59):
then everything else falls, you know, into place behind it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah. Well yeah, the first thing, It's like, the first
thing I see about you is what you look like.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I remember just one more thing we I was at
your building and you were doing an event. It was
the Nicole Miller Fashion Show and you were wearing a
flower and I asked you what the flower was and
didn't you say it was something connected or was a tie?
It was thing?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, so it was. It was a tie that she made,
you know, probably in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So so it was a nice being like this was
like a way to be like, hey, it's all in
the details, all the details.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That was my decoration. It really wasn't my tie, okay,
And she noticed it and.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That was the point, right, this is something personalized for you.
I'm paying attention exactly. I love that. All right, So I've.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Worn something that represents the radio.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, you didn't. Really, you didn't put detail into that.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
My decoration should have been like a jew box or something.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yes, or like a microphone or something. You didn't fail.
Don't don't be a don't fear that you failed. So
you're a leader in all of the companies that we
talked about earlier, real estate, construction, retail farming. Is there
a through line that just connects you to all these ventures?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I think when you have it, like when you put
your heart into it and your heart comes first, I
think the success will follow. You have to love everything
that you do and love the people you do it for,
and then it really success will follow instantly.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Where does that passion come from. I mean, were you
always a passionate person a child the teenager?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I always looked at everything as a mission that I
was going to accomplish or conquer, and that was it
from you know, digging a hole from my neighbor's house
to my house was one of my missions when I
was a kid, and then that maybe that's what got
me into construction. My father used to always say, I remember,
we couldn't find you, and I had literally dug a
tunnel under the fence, like you know, a fox to
(05:01):
get to my neighbor's house because I wanted to go
swimming and I wasn't allowed, so I found a way.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, there is. Do you think that it's sort of
you're kind of just born that way or is there
a moment or is it something that shifts in you
or something that happens, or is that something that you
you intentionally hone in on.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I think I think a lot of it is, how
like I guess the environment that you're raised in. You know,
I've although I was born here in you know, in
the US and America, my family was from Italy and
I used to go to Italy every summer and I
saw a much different type of life there than I
had here, you know, like it was a lot more
(05:39):
like slower farm uh not fast paced, and a harder,
much harder life. You know, my grandparents worked very hard.
My father worked very hard. So I felt that given
the opportunity that my parents came here with nothing, that
somebody had to make something out of it. So I
always made that my mission.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And that's beautiful, that's really cool. So we did a
little research on you, and you once said I build
what others walk away from, which I think really is
a characteristic of who you are. Just like, walk us
through maybe one deal or a project where somebody saw
as too much of a risk, but you were like,
(06:20):
I see the path, I see the vision this, and
you know, something that made you confident in making a
decision to go forward with something that somebody else might
be like not too risky or I don't see it.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So a lot of the projects, especially in construction and development,
require a tremendous amount of money. So the ones that
are already like seasoned to be ready to build are
very expensive. So I always looked for projects that I
could build value into by either you know, there's always
(06:53):
a ton of challenges in any property that you that
you buy, but there's one in particular that I'm about
to start developing. I was driving down the street and
there was a man shoveling fertilizer into bags, and I
pulled in and I asked the guy, I said, who
owns this crappy property? Do you know? And he was
like I do, so I was like, oh, I'm sorry, Well,
(07:18):
I'd like to buy it. And the guy said, why
would you want to buy this It's been owned by
my family. We were a fertilizer plant we have. The
state is coming after us. There's so many challenges here.
You're never going to be able to build anything on
this piece of property. I said, well, when you're ready
to talk, here's my number. Let's talk. I might be
able to help you out of a situation. And I
(07:41):
just it's on the turnpike. I just saw such a
vision there, and.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
The deal went through.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Deal went through, and I'm about to start developing. I'm
also going to place a park that's going to be
like a national historic monument for our CEO who passed
the way way last year, and that's going to become
like another legacy project of mine.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Wow, I think of it from the man's perspective. You
probably don't. I'm assuming you changed his life.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
The man.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Man, you bought it from right a building that was
I don't know, he called a piece of crap, and
you're like, I see something here, let me let me
pay you for it.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes, that's basically how I went down.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Actually I had to meet him in the hunting field
really like two saturdays from the day that I saw him,
and we had breakfast together. And I still say, he
can't believe what's happening, you know, And because if property
was in his family for a long time and he
saw I'll get demolished now and now something else is
(08:48):
coming there. It's kind of like, uh, I guess, bittersweet
for him.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
And emotional as well.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Wow, I love that you're late and I'm kidding and
I failed. We're filming, and you guys really are magic.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You're supposed to be my feather like thumbball in my ear,
so I wouldn't fail to fly and I crashed.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Why are you guys magining? I love it so. Building
off of what we were talking about just before Alex
interrupted us, your approach is very hands on. We see
that in you know, one of your buildings that you
own here in New York City, two Park Avenue as
a leader, So how do you kind of scale that
mindset because as your business grows across all of these industries,
(09:41):
how do you how do you make it so that
your team keeps that same intensity. While you can't be
a thousand places at once.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I am still fear in them, okay, because they know
if they don't, I don't want to not fear. They
know that I could do it right. So like sometimes
when I see my guys struggling, even in the suit,
I will jump on the machine and show them, look,
if you just do it this way, it'll be easier.
And I guess through all the experiences through actually doing
(10:13):
the work before having to wear a suit, I did
start from the very bottom. I think that's one way
of getting the respect from the team and being able
to accomplish all the things that I have. So it's
like I have a thousand hands to do a thousand
things that I obviously couldn't do with only two hands.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So you're a mentor, like you mentor the people that
work for you, would you say that that's accurate.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yes, we build a family. It's more like, you know,
it's a lot of companies or the people are expendable,
if that's the right word. And I try and build
a family, like you can't leave, you know, you're my brother.
Now you're not my employee, you know, so let's work
through whatever challenges and whatever problems we're having as as
(11:04):
a family. That's how That's how I look at every
you know, entity and every little project that we have
going We build families.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, that feeling is very apparent. So you you do
emphasize building teams. So how do you identify those values
that you have in yourself and that you look for
in your team members, like during the hiring process.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Well, I try and look at their history. Obviously, when
you hire people, you review a lot resumes and see
if they have longevity, their age. There's a lot of
things that got into play in that. But the real
thing that I've used to build like my families, are
to put them to work right away. Like I it's
(11:45):
hard for me to say no to anyone at first
to hire them. I'll hire anyone that has a you know,
a legit resume, let's call it, and then their performance
really speaks their resume. Especially today, anybody can make up
a lot of your resume will look incredible and then
you can't even tie a shoe. Yeah, when you come
to work. So I think the real resume is when
(12:07):
you come, you feel the environment that you're working, and
you get comfortable, then you shine. So I try and
bring the people in, put them in a position to shine,
and then there's no looking back.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah. They say, who you know gets you in the door.
What you know determines how long you stay there.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, So in your industry, you know, well, some industries
in general are kind of slow to change with like
the times. What do you see the biggest opportunities to
innovate in real estate specifically like real estate development.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So I think in real estate there's a ton of
people in the in the business, and the innovation kind
of comes with the market and what's happening in the world.
So you have to be very fluid, you know, and
be able to adapt to what's happening. It's not consistent.
(13:02):
You can't go back to like, you know, what the
Rockefellers did, you know, you have to see what's happening
and kind of try to have a vision of what
you see to be ten years from now, because that's
really what should be the focus in any development. You're
not really developing for now, you're developing for tomorrow. Most
of the stuff that we do and that we build,
(13:23):
it's not really for us. We're never going to reap
the benefits of it. Our children are or the people
who are going to come behind us are not really us.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I think that's such an important quality in somebody who
is aiming to get into, let's say, a position that
you're in, because a lot of us do only see
what's right in front of us, and like, I don't know,
visionaries are able to predict the future. I mean every
successful CEO will probably, I feel like, have the same answer.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You didn't know that you were interviewing Dion Warwick.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I can't read the future.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I was gonna say, can you can you give me
a reading? You can tell me what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think you're going to be very successful in the
radio business.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Thank you, Frank. Though, I want to talk about your
building two Park Avenue, which is just stunnying. We had
an event there a couple of weeks ago, and just
everybody that walked in, even everybody who you've been meeting
in our hallways who was there, was like, oh yeah,
of course, best building in New York. I've talked to
a lot of people who were just so impressed. The
building at two Park Avenue blends historic Art Deco architecture
(14:26):
with modern hospitality. So how do you balance preserving the
legacy of the building while evolving it for like today's
creative and corporate brands.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
So the building is a landmark building. There certain features
of it that I can't touch or we would never
touch anyway, but you still need to keep up with,
you know, the times. So we found ways to keep
you know, the beauty and the nostalgia of the building
while incorporating all the things that a modern day company
(14:59):
would need to have a great work place. We also
are owner operators, so we're moving our company into that building,
so we're kind of had the opportunity to pave the
streets to who our neighbors were going to be. And
obviously all of anyone in the building reaps the benefit
(15:21):
of having an owner occupied building because the things and
the changes that we made to make the building better
for us gets passed down to them as well. So
it was like, I think it's more unique in a
New York real estate than it is, like, you know,
maybe in Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, I mean you don't really you don't really hear
that a lot, you know, and you have a beautiful
lounge on the roof, yes, called Eddie's Lounge.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
The view is spectacular, right, you know a lot of
people that come there didn't even know that the building
had a view.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It changes everything, it really does. You know. I was
there during Golden Hour when the sun was just beginning
to set, and it's one of the most fantastic views
in New York City.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And we're actually expanding on that. Really, yeah, we're going
to make it. There's gonna be more to view somehow well, you.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Just don't stop. So so you're as you were you
were mentioning, you're kind of reimagining what a workplace can
be in New York City. So what is the future
of mixed use or experiential real estate look like to you?
So how do you meaning like and creating this experience
for people as opposed to just some passive space that
you know, people go to work in or have events.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It so especially in the New York real estate market.
You know, in traveling the world also, you see a
lot of things that people are drawn to and when
like our vision is always like you want to bring
people to work. Right, the work from home mentality that
(16:57):
was like an anomaly because of COVID, and we learned
something that probably was more damaging than the actual virus itself,
was what happened because of it. And when you love
where you are and you spend more time, you know,
at your office than most people spend at home, you
want to make it a place where you love to
(17:19):
be and you're comfortable being. You know, like I love
seeing the kids in the hallway.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Today, Bring your kids today.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I mean, it's just it's the same kind of concepts.
So when you you're not looking at it pinching every penny,
like to be the most profitable or you know, you
answer to like a book, right, because you have to
answer to investors and things like that. As as a
family owned entity, you kind of make decisions a little
(17:49):
bit differently than most other you know, companies do. So we,
like I said, kind of pave the roads to have
a biluilding where people want to come and love to
come to work.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah, even you know Eddie's lounge again, the beautiful lounge
on the roof. Imagine, I mean you've talked to me
about this. Like tenants in the building, they want to
go have lunch. Normally, you know, you may want to
leave the building and go outside get some fresh air.
But you can just go up to the twenty seventh
floor and sit in this beautiful lounge, playpool, watch TV,
(18:27):
go outside in the summer, sit on the roof. I mean,
who needs to ever leave the building?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
That?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Right, there is an amenity that you don't really get
in corporate office buildings.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Right, And we try to again look at the employees,
not necessarily the owner tenants, but their employees because getting
around New York City is expensive. Food is expensive, So
we try to put price points in where they don't
have to leave and they still kind of feel like
they're not at their office anymore, and you know they
(18:55):
can get away from their bosses.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah. Also, like what if people only get like thirty
minutes for lunch and you have to go out, and
like thirty minutes is go ordering the food, eating the food,
rushing back upstairs. It's like so it's convenient.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, and then you know, like also you interact with
the other people in the building. That was you know,
it's kind of a social social environment. You bring your
lunch in you even if you bring your own lunch,
you go up there and you meet other people. You're
not just sitting in the cafeteria of your own office
where you see the same people every day.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So if I'm looking for a husband, I can come
and hang out in the lounge.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
And they get to run into me too. I go
up there a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's very true. Yeah, you're just kind of in the
building walking around, and.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I show people that, you know, we're still leasing the building,
so it's one of our you know, amenities, so I'm
always walking people through it.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I also notice people are not afraid to come up
to you, obviously in a respectful way, but they're like Frank, oh, hey, man, shaken,
what's up? How's your day? Like it's not like the
owner's here, we have to it's more like, hey, what up,
Like let's chill, you want to have a coffee, like
let's hang out or whatever. Well, how's your day going?
How was business? I don't know, what do you guys
talk about?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
So that's like one of the other things that I
learned is that Eddie, who we named the Lounge after
he was our CEO. He was always accessible. He wasn't like,
you know, blockaded by security. His office was right across
from mine actually since I started in this business, and
anyone could come to him, whether it was a cleaning crew,
(20:25):
construction crew, top executive. You always have to be accessible
to everyone. And when you're at the same level, even
though you're not at the same level, I think that
makes people comfortable to come to speak to you about anything,
even though I'm more uncomfortable than they are most times.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
But yes, I love that. Okay, so you've built sort
of a reputation of resilience. Obviously somebody in your position
has to have a certain amount of resilience. Was there
a moment where things like didn't go to plan and
how did you course wreck that you know some specific
time whereas like this is chaos, but you know, I
(21:04):
gotta make it work, or I mean.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That happens always daily. Yeah, but I guess you compartmentalize
the chaos and then you find, you know, like what
the biggest problem is and fix that first and then
don't look back, just keep moving forward. If you keep
harping on the problem and going back, like I should
have did this, it would have been much different. Then
(21:27):
you're always gonna screw up what's about to happen, so
you should just fix what's wrong and move on.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So it's easy for you to kind of let things
go roll off your back. You're not a super overthinker.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Well yeah, I overthink things that might create the problem
at first, but then I fix it.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Gotcha. So if somebody is entering real estate or construction today,
what mindset or habits separate those who succeed in the
industry from those who may stall?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So you have to be the first one there and
the last one to leave, probably in any business day
you own, And you can't be lazy, you know, you
can't push things to tomorrow. You have to get as
much as you can get done every day because then
the stuff starts to pile up, and then you're going
to become overwhelmed and they'll become chaos.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, you let things slip through the cracks and, like
you said, creating problems that could have been.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Avoided and fix them immediately.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You are You're like, Okay, this is it, Alex, get
it done. So what's more difficult acquiring like some complex
asset or aligning people around you to execute the vision
you have because there's somebody who is so hands on,
and I know there's a lot of CEOs who are like,
like you just said, I'll do it myself if I
(22:43):
have to. But obviously, again, as your business grows, it's
hard to be able to do everything yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
So the acquisition only becomes complex when you start to
look for things that are wrong. Right when you want something,
we ever look for the things that are wrong. We're
going to find them and fix them. So the acquisition
part of it is probably the easiest part because we
(23:10):
don't really buy things as like an investment. We buy
things as a legacy property or project for the company
because it's a forever thing. So it's a little different
when you when you look at an asset as like
an investment, because then you try and nipick what's going
to cost money, how we're going to lose money, and
(23:31):
things of that nature. But when you're buying it as
like a passion or a project that you know is
going to be a legacy project, it's the acquisition part
of it is the easiest part. Do you think, Oh,
you're compiling the team or family to make it run
the way you want. That's the challenge.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
That's the challenge. This is something just popped into my head,
and maybe it's completely irrelevant or completely false. Do you
do you find that CEO in that position is a
luxury or is almost like a privilege, because if if
I'm investing something, let's say I'm investing money in something,
like I'm only thinking about what am I getting out
(24:11):
of it or how much money am I going to make?
And again, I'm not a CEO for many reasons. But
do you think do you think that that is a
privilege as a company that's gotten to a certain level
of success, But.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I think it only got to that level of success
because it was never The decisions were never made based
on how much money we were going to make. The
decisions were made like literally from the heart, like if
we don't there's twenty of us, right, if we don't
get into a business where all twenty of us can
sustain our families, then we're in the wrong business. So
(24:42):
the decisions were always made for others and for the future.
They were never really made, like I said, for the
moment or for the money. That's where I think the
success has really been built and what I've learned so
much from.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Gotcha all right, So you have all these you have
all these companies, you know, real estate and the dad
brands your farm o' kill farm, which looks amazing, which
is a project strictly from the heart. You talk a
little bit about the farm.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So yeah, very like close to my house, right up
the street. Farm came for sale and they they were
probably struggling to sustain it. It's in a surrounded by like,
you know, very big houses, and I was afraid that
it was going to definitely turn into houses because it
(25:33):
just makes sense so small to really farm you know, crops,
or to make any type of profit with it. And
there were a few animals on it, and I just
decided to take that on as another project, you know,
with my daughter and my girlfriend, who are doing a
great job so far. And yeah, we added a bunch
(25:56):
of animals and it's going to be more kids programming
for like special needs kids that can interact with the animals.
We haven't fully opened because we're still socially training the animals.
Cows are not that easy to socially train, but we're
working on it.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Sony cows, we do, yeah, ponies, goats, Clydesdale.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
It looks I'll paca pincock.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
His name is Peter, Peter the Peacock.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And my Clydesdale's name is boots Boots because he looks
like he has boots on.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Isn't someone named Penelope? Who's Penelope?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's my donkey and my cows an o to your well,
I mean I think if I called the pig it'd
be a problem. But a cow he can never be right.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, you already had an Easter Bunny day right for
the kids. They got to come and take pictures with
the Easter bunny.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And collect eggs.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Very sweet, It was fun.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
It was a good evou.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah. If there's one thing that you want people to
take away from your mission and what you do, is
there something that you kind of want to people want
to take away from this? What would that be?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I mean, you should always love what you do, that's
the most important thing. If you don't, if you're not happy,
find what makes you happy and just do it.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah, I mean, clearly that's kind of your whole essence.
I feel like everything you do, as you said multiple times,
it really just you can feel that You're not just
saying that, like you really feel that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I mean, if you're miserable, then you're just you're fighting
yourself every day and that's not that's not going to
lead to success. I don't care how much money you make. Yeah,
at some point, you.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Still got to get up, put the suit on, travel
all the way into the city.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
You know, at least one day a week. I'm not
wearing a suit right now. Really, I'm wearing overalls. Okay, okay,
because I am a farmer.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You are, I've seen the overalls. Do you what do
you wear when you're like not working and not on
the farm, Like, do you ever wear sweatpants?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I think I have a pair or.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Two, no doubt, designer, I don't.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I'm not. I mean I don't know what they are
because I don't. I can't remember the last time I
wore them. But again, I feel like now I've created this.
You know how I present myself and I just I
present myself the same way every day.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Brand consistency.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
That's who I am.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
One more thing, take it or leave it. This is
who you are, one more thing something that that so
I follow you on social media. You're so funny on
social media. It's probably a side that a lot of
people in your business world maybe don't see.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I try and separate it.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, and it's so cool to see like the different
sides of you. You like to like cook in your
underwear and you like to share it with us, So yes, Yeah,
does the food come out better if you're like not
wearing pants when you're cooking?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
So? I because I have an outfit for everything that
I do, right, I'm a farmer, I have overalls. I'm
a businessman. I wear a suit when I cook. I
felt like the apron thing was that everyone does it,
and I like to be comfortable and it gets hot
in the kitchen. So yes, I cook in my underwear.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
What is your best dish that you make while you're
cooking in your underwear?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I like to cook things that like won't burn me
down there because I'm in my underwear, right, true. I
cook a lot of pasta, yeah, chicken, easy stuff, steak.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yeah, it all looks really good.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I can't thank you enough for coming by.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Is there before I let you go? Is there like
some sort of call to action or something that you
just want to share, like how people can engage with
you or support anything that you're doing. I know there's
a two Park Avenue Instagram, yes, that people can follow
over there, and you know, how do people want to
see two Park Avenue and they want to book an event? Like,
you know what, how do they go about that?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Or so I have a hospitality manager, Alexandra, who does
a phenomenal job. She's on the website.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
They should what's the website?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
W w W do.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
You w w W? I'm gonna kill you. What's the size?
I mean, it's very like it's very boomer. You're not
You're not a boomer that was so boomer.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I did everything right up to this point.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
There there's no failure. Yeah, what's the site?
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Tu Park av dot com, Avenue dot com.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Okay, yeah, and like check out the instagram and yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
And okillfarm NJ dot com.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
When do you have any idea when that's going to
open to the public.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
We're going to try and open mid May, right after
We're gonna have an event for Mother's Day and then
open right after that.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Franco ROUSEO, I got it. I'm getting good. Thank you
so much for being here. You're definitely a CEO that
everybody should know.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And if I ever become a singer, maybe you'll play
my music on your.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Radio only if it's good. It has to be good.
I'll practice, FRANKO. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Thank you guys,
Welcome to the CEOs You Should Know podcast. My name
is Shelly Rome. Today we have a very special guest.
I'm so excited. Uh. Director of Business Development at Hadad
Brands Global, Director of real Estate at Hats and Realty,
CEO at Sorora Land Development and o Kill Farm, Franco Rauseo.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thank hi, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I said your last name right. I was a little nervous.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Don't be nervous.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It's easy, Okay, I feel better. How are you doing? Welcome?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you doing good? A little nervous.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm not gonna lie you're nervous. I think that's so funny.
Not funny, but like we're friends and you know so
I know you now well at this point. And it's
funny because you're so charming and you can talk to anybody.
You walk into a room and people are automatically drawn
to you, which is a really great quality and not
everybody possesses that quality. But yeah, I guess speaking to
(00:52):
a larger audience or a bigger crowd, it makes you
like a little a little what's the word maybe self conscious?
Would that be? Would that be a right word?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah? I don't I don't like to fail and I
feel like when you're not used to doing something, and
you master the things that you're good at, you're good
at doing them. Right. So I'm good at talking making
people comfortable, but yet I'm not good at doing it
in a large, you know group where I know I'm
the only person, the only.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Focus, all the focus is on you.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
What's so interesting also is that I feel like somebody
who's in your position, a very successful person, I feel
there's a lot of control, I would say, right, like,
maybe you're in control. You are the leader, and everyone
thinks to control is like a negative thing. Oh you're
such a control freak. Not necessarily, but maybe speaking makes
you feel a little bit out of control because it's
(01:45):
kind of like spontaneous and you don't know which way
you could go.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a good way of placing it.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, I'm so glad I just there about But.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
The control, right, you learn to control the things that
you're good at, so you don't act out of control
and the things that you're not good at. So that's
why I kind of like to stay away from publicly
speaking when I have to.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Gotcha, Well, we appreciate you being here today.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So I before we get into all of your businesses
and what do you do, I have to say you.
I tell you this all the time. You were impeccably dressed. Always.
Everybody always comments on how you're like the best, first,
best dress person in the room. Does that Is there
a lot of thought that goes into how you present yourself?
You know, because your business is all about details? Is
that part of does that sort of uh go with
(02:32):
the details of you know, you walk into a room
like everything's important?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yes? I think how you present yourself is it speaks
more than what you could actually say. And you know,
the brands that we represent on one of our entities
and the people that I represent, you know, the family
and the company that I represent, it deserves to stand out.
So I feel like if you present yourself as a standout,
(02:59):
then everything else falls, you know, into place behind it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah. Well yeah, the first thing, It's like, the first
thing I see about you is what you look like.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I remember just one more thing we I was at
your building and you were doing an event. It was
the Nicole Miller Fashion Show and you were wearing a
flower and I asked you what the flower was and
didn't you say it was something connected or was a tie?
It was thing?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, so it was. It was a tie that she made,
you know, probably in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
So so it was a nice being like this was
like a way to be like, hey, it's all in
the details, all the details.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That was my decoration. It really wasn't my tie, okay,
And she noticed it and.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
That was the point, right, this is something personalized for you.
I'm paying attention exactly. I love that. All right, So I've.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Worn something that represents the radio.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, you didn't. Really, you didn't put detail into that.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
My decoration should have been like a jew box or something.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yes, or like a microphone or something. You didn't fail.
Don't don't be a don't fear that you failed. So
you're a leader in all of the companies that we
talked about earlier, real estate, construction, retail farming. Is there
a through line that just connects you to all these ventures?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
I think when you have it, like when you put
your heart into it and your heart comes first, I
think the success will follow. You have to love everything
that you do and love the people you do it for,
and then it really success will follow instantly.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Where does that passion come from. I mean, were you
always a passionate person a child the teenager?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I always looked at everything as a mission that I
was going to accomplish or conquer, and that was it
from you know, digging a hole from my neighbor's house
to my house was one of my missions when I
was a kid, and then that maybe that's what got
me into construction. My father used to always say, I remember,
we couldn't find you, and I had literally dug a
tunnel under the fence, like you know, a fox to
(05:01):
get to my neighbor's house because I wanted to go
swimming and I wasn't allowed, so I found a way.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, there is. Do you think that it's sort of
you're kind of just born that way or is there
a moment or is it something that shifts in you
or something that happens, or is that something that you
you intentionally hone in on.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I think I think a lot of it is, how
like I guess the environment that you're raised in. You know,
I've although I was born here in you know, in
the US and America, my family was from Italy and
I used to go to Italy every summer and I
saw a much different type of life there than I
had here, you know, like it was a lot more
(05:39):
like slower farm uh not fast paced, and a harder,
much harder life. You know, my grandparents worked very hard.
My father worked very hard. So I felt that given
the opportunity that my parents came here with nothing, that
somebody had to make something out of it. So I
always made that my mission.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And that's beautiful, that's really cool. So we did a
little research on you, and you once said I build
what others walk away from, which I think really is
a characteristic of who you are. Just like, walk us
through maybe one deal or a project where somebody saw
as too much of a risk, but you were like,
(06:20):
I see the path, I see the vision this, and
you know, something that made you confident in making a
decision to go forward with something that somebody else might
be like not too risky or I don't see it.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So a lot of the projects, especially in construction and development,
require a tremendous amount of money. So the ones that
are already like seasoned to be ready to build are
very expensive. So I always looked for projects that I
could build value into by either you know, there's always
(06:53):
a ton of challenges in any property that you that
you buy, but there's one in particular that I'm about
to start developing. I was driving down the street and
there was a man shoveling fertilizer into bags, and I
pulled in and I asked the guy, I said, who
owns this crappy property? Do you know? And he was
like I do, so I was like, oh, I'm sorry, Well,
(07:18):
I'd like to buy it. And the guy said, why
would you want to buy this It's been owned by
my family. We were a fertilizer plant we have. The
state is coming after us. There's so many challenges here.
You're never going to be able to build anything on
this piece of property. I said, well, when you're ready
to talk, here's my number. Let's talk. I might be
able to help you out of a situation. And I
(07:41):
just it's on the turnpike. I just saw such a
vision there, and.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
The deal went through.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Deal went through, and I'm about to start developing. I'm
also going to place a park that's going to be
like a national historic monument for our CEO who passed
the way way last year, and that's going to become
like another legacy project of mine.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Wow, I think of it from the man's perspective. You
probably don't. I'm assuming you changed his life.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
The man.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Man, you bought it from right a building that was
I don't know, he called a piece of crap, and
you're like, I see something here, let me let me
pay you for it.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes, that's basically how I went down.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Actually I had to meet him in the hunting field
really like two saturdays from the day that I saw him,
and we had breakfast together. And I still say, he
can't believe what's happening, you know, And because if property
was in his family for a long time and he
saw I'll get demolished now and now something else is
(08:48):
coming there. It's kind of like, uh, I guess, bittersweet
for him.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
And emotional as well.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Wow, I love that you're late and I'm kidding and
I failed. We're filming, and you guys really are magic.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You're supposed to be my feather like thumbball in my ear,
so I wouldn't fail to fly and I crashed.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Why are you guys magining? I love it so. Building
off of what we were talking about just before Alex
interrupted us, your approach is very hands on. We see
that in you know, one of your buildings that you
own here in New York City, two Park Avenue as
a leader, So how do you kind of scale that
mindset because as your business grows across all of these industries,
(09:41):
how do you how do you make it so that
your team keeps that same intensity. While you can't be
a thousand places at once.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I am still fear in them, okay, because they know
if they don't, I don't want to not fear. They
know that I could do it right. So like sometimes
when I see my guys struggling, even in the suit,
I will jump on the machine and show them, look,
if you just do it this way, it'll be easier.
And I guess through all the experiences through actually doing
(10:13):
the work before having to wear a suit, I did
start from the very bottom. I think that's one way
of getting the respect from the team and being able
to accomplish all the things that I have. So it's
like I have a thousand hands to do a thousand
things that I obviously couldn't do with only two hands.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
So you're a mentor, like you mentor the people that
work for you, would you say that that's accurate.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yes, we build a family. It's more like, you know,
it's a lot of companies or the people are expendable,
if that's the right word. And I try and build
a family, like you can't leave, you know, you're my brother.
Now you're not my employee, you know, so let's work
through whatever challenges and whatever problems we're having as as
(11:04):
a family. That's how That's how I look at every
you know, entity and every little project that we have
going We build families.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, that feeling is very apparent. So you you do
emphasize building teams. So how do you identify those values
that you have in yourself and that you look for
in your team members, like during the hiring process.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Well, I try and look at their history. Obviously, when
you hire people, you review a lot resumes and see
if they have longevity, their age. There's a lot of
things that got into play in that. But the real
thing that I've used to build like my families, are
to put them to work right away. Like I it's
(11:45):
hard for me to say no to anyone at first
to hire them. I'll hire anyone that has a you know,
a legit resume, let's call it, and then their performance
really speaks their resume. Especially today, anybody can make up
a lot of your resume will look incredible and then
you can't even tie a shoe. Yeah, when you come
to work. So I think the real resume is when
(12:07):
you come, you feel the environment that you're working, and
you get comfortable, then you shine. So I try and
bring the people in, put them in a position to shine,
and then there's no looking back.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah. They say, who you know gets you in the door.
What you know determines how long you stay there.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, So in your industry, you know, well, some industries
in general are kind of slow to change with like
the times. What do you see the biggest opportunities to
innovate in real estate specifically like real estate development.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So I think in real estate there's a ton of
people in the in the business, and the innovation kind
of comes with the market and what's happening in the world.
So you have to be very fluid, you know, and
be able to adapt to what's happening. It's not consistent.
(13:02):
You can't go back to like, you know, what the
Rockefellers did, you know, you have to see what's happening
and kind of try to have a vision of what
you see to be ten years from now, because that's
really what should be the focus in any development. You're
not really developing for now, you're developing for tomorrow. Most
of the stuff that we do and that we build,
(13:23):
it's not really for us. We're never going to reap
the benefits of it. Our children are or the people
who are going to come behind us are not really us.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I think that's such an important quality in somebody who
is aiming to get into, let's say, a position that
you're in, because a lot of us do only see
what's right in front of us, and like, I don't know,
visionaries are able to predict the future. I mean every
successful CEO will probably, I feel like, have the same answer.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You didn't know that you were interviewing Dion Warwick.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I can't read the future.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I was gonna say, can you can you give me
a reading? You can tell me what's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think you're going to be very successful in the
radio business.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Thank you, Frank. Though, I want to talk about your
building two Park Avenue, which is just stunnying. We had
an event there a couple of weeks ago, and just
everybody that walked in, even everybody who you've been meeting
in our hallways who was there, was like, oh yeah,
of course, best building in New York. I've talked to
a lot of people who were just so impressed. The
building at two Park Avenue blends historic Art Deco architecture
(14:26):
with modern hospitality. So how do you balance preserving the
legacy of the building while evolving it for like today's
creative and corporate brands.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
So the building is a landmark building. There certain features
of it that I can't touch or we would never
touch anyway, but you still need to keep up with,
you know, the times. So we found ways to keep
you know, the beauty and the nostalgia of the building
while incorporating all the things that a modern day company
(14:59):
would need to have a great work place. We also
are owner operators, so we're moving our company into that building,
so we're kind of had the opportunity to pave the
streets to who our neighbors were going to be. And
obviously all of anyone in the building reaps the benefit
(15:21):
of having an owner occupied building because the things and
the changes that we made to make the building better
for us gets passed down to them as well. So
it was like, I think it's more unique in a
New York real estate than it is, like, you know,
maybe in Nebraska.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, I mean you don't really you don't really hear
that a lot, you know, and you have a beautiful
lounge on the roof, yes, called Eddie's Lounge.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
The view is spectacular, right, you know a lot of
people that come there didn't even know that the building
had a view.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It changes everything, it really does. You know. I was
there during Golden Hour when the sun was just beginning
to set, and it's one of the most fantastic views
in New York City.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And we're actually expanding on that. Really, yeah, we're going
to make it. There's gonna be more to view somehow well, you.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Just don't stop. So so you're as you were you
were mentioning, you're kind of reimagining what a workplace can
be in New York City. So what is the future
of mixed use or experiential real estate look like to you?
So how do you meaning like and creating this experience
for people as opposed to just some passive space that
you know, people go to work in or have events.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It so especially in the New York real estate market.
You know, in traveling the world also, you see a
lot of things that people are drawn to and when
like our vision is always like you want to bring
people to work. Right, the work from home mentality that
(16:57):
was like an anomaly because of COVID, and we learned
something that probably was more damaging than the actual virus itself,
was what happened because of it. And when you love
where you are and you spend more time, you know,
at your office than most people spend at home, you
want to make it a place where you love to
(17:19):
be and you're comfortable being. You know, like I love
seeing the kids in the hallway.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Today, Bring your kids today.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I mean, it's just it's the same kind of concepts.
So when you you're not looking at it pinching every penny,
like to be the most profitable or you know, you
answer to like a book, right, because you have to
answer to investors and things like that. As as a
family owned entity, you kind of make decisions a little
(17:49):
bit differently than most other you know, companies do. So we,
like I said, kind of pave the roads to have
a biluilding where people want to come and love to
come to work.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah, even you know Eddie's lounge again, the beautiful lounge
on the roof. Imagine, I mean you've talked to me
about this. Like tenants in the building, they want to
go have lunch. Normally, you know, you may want to
leave the building and go outside get some fresh air.
But you can just go up to the twenty seventh
floor and sit in this beautiful lounge, playpool, watch TV,
(18:27):
go outside in the summer, sit on the roof. I mean,
who needs to ever leave the building?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
That?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Right, there is an amenity that you don't really get
in corporate office buildings.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Right, And we try to again look at the employees,
not necessarily the owner tenants, but their employees because getting
around New York City is expensive. Food is expensive, So
we try to put price points in where they don't
have to leave and they still kind of feel like
they're not at their office anymore, and you know they
(18:55):
can get away from their bosses.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah. Also, like what if people only get like thirty
minutes for lunch and you have to go out, and
like thirty minutes is go ordering the food, eating the food,
rushing back upstairs. It's like so it's convenient.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, and then you know, like also you interact with
the other people in the building. That was you know,
it's kind of a social social environment. You bring your
lunch in you even if you bring your own lunch,
you go up there and you meet other people. You're
not just sitting in the cafeteria of your own office
where you see the same people every day.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So if I'm looking for a husband, I can come
and hang out in the lounge.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
And they get to run into me too. I go
up there a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's very true. Yeah, you're just kind of in the
building walking around, and.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I show people that, you know, we're still leasing the building,
so it's one of our you know, amenities, so I'm
always walking people through it.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I also notice people are not afraid to come up
to you, obviously in a respectful way, but they're like Frank, oh, hey, man, shaken,
what's up? How's your day? Like it's not like the
owner's here, we have to it's more like, hey, what up,
Like let's chill, you want to have a coffee, like
let's hang out or whatever. Well, how's your day going?
How was business? I don't know, what do you guys
talk about?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
So that's like one of the other things that I
learned is that Eddie, who we named the Lounge after
he was our CEO. He was always accessible. He wasn't like,
you know, blockaded by security. His office was right across
from mine actually since I started in this business, and
anyone could come to him, whether it was a cleaning crew,
(20:25):
construction crew, top executive. You always have to be accessible
to everyone. And when you're at the same level, even
though you're not at the same level, I think that
makes people comfortable to come to speak to you about anything,
even though I'm more uncomfortable than they are most times.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
But yes, I love that. Okay, so you've built sort
of a reputation of resilience. Obviously somebody in your position
has to have a certain amount of resilience. Was there
a moment where things like didn't go to plan and
how did you course wreck that you know some specific
time whereas like this is chaos, but you know, I
(21:04):
gotta make it work, or I mean.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That happens always daily. Yeah, but I guess you compartmentalize
the chaos and then you find, you know, like what
the biggest problem is and fix that first and then
don't look back, just keep moving forward. If you keep
harping on the problem and going back, like I should
have did this, it would have been much different. Then
(21:27):
you're always gonna screw up what's about to happen, so
you should just fix what's wrong and move on.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So it's easy for you to kind of let things
go roll off your back. You're not a super overthinker.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Well yeah, I overthink things that might create the problem
at first, but then I fix it.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Gotcha. So if somebody is entering real estate or construction today,
what mindset or habits separate those who succeed in the
industry from those who may stall?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So you have to be the first one there and
the last one to leave, probably in any business day
you own, And you can't be lazy, you know, you
can't push things to tomorrow. You have to get as
much as you can get done every day because then
the stuff starts to pile up, and then you're going
to become overwhelmed and they'll become chaos.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, you let things slip through the cracks and, like
you said, creating problems that could have been.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Avoided and fix them immediately.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
You are You're like, Okay, this is it, Alex, get
it done. So what's more difficult acquiring like some complex
asset or aligning people around you to execute the vision
you have because there's somebody who is so hands on,
and I know there's a lot of CEOs who are like,
like you just said, I'll do it myself if I
(22:43):
have to. But obviously, again, as your business grows, it's
hard to be able to do everything yourself.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
So the acquisition only becomes complex when you start to
look for things that are wrong. Right when you want something,
we ever look for the things that are wrong. We're
going to find them and fix them. So the acquisition
part of it is probably the easiest part because we
(23:10):
don't really buy things as like an investment. We buy
things as a legacy property or project for the company
because it's a forever thing. So it's a little different
when you when you look at an asset as like
an investment, because then you try and nipick what's going
to cost money, how we're going to lose money, and
(23:31):
things of that nature. But when you're buying it as
like a passion or a project that you know is
going to be a legacy project, it's the acquisition part
of it is the easiest part. Do you think, Oh,
you're compiling the team or family to make it run
the way you want. That's the challenge.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
That's the challenge. This is something just popped into my head,
and maybe it's completely irrelevant or completely false. Do you
do you find that CEO in that position is a
luxury or is almost like a privilege, because if if
I'm investing something, let's say I'm investing money in something,
like I'm only thinking about what am I getting out
(24:11):
of it or how much money am I going to make?
And again, I'm not a CEO for many reasons. But
do you think do you think that that is a
privilege as a company that's gotten to a certain level
of success, But.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I think it only got to that level of success
because it was never The decisions were never made based
on how much money we were going to make. The
decisions were made like literally from the heart, like if
we don't there's twenty of us, right, if we don't
get into a business where all twenty of us can
sustain our families, then we're in the wrong business. So
(24:42):
the decisions were always made for others and for the future.
They were never really made, like I said, for the
moment or for the money. That's where I think the
success has really been built and what I've learned so
much from.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Gotcha all right, So you have all these you have
all these companies, you know, real estate and the dad
brands your farm o' kill farm, which looks amazing, which
is a project strictly from the heart. You talk a
little bit about the farm.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So yeah, very like close to my house, right up
the street. Farm came for sale and they they were
probably struggling to sustain it. It's in a surrounded by like,
you know, very big houses, and I was afraid that
it was going to definitely turn into houses because it
(25:33):
just makes sense so small to really farm you know, crops,
or to make any type of profit with it. And
there were a few animals on it, and I just
decided to take that on as another project, you know,
with my daughter and my girlfriend, who are doing a
great job so far. And yeah, we added a bunch
(25:56):
of animals and it's going to be more kids programming
for like special needs kids that can interact with the animals.
We haven't fully opened because we're still socially training the animals.
Cows are not that easy to socially train, but we're
working on it.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Sony cows, we do, yeah, ponies, goats, Clydesdale.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
It looks I'll paca pincock.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
His name is Peter, Peter the Peacock.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And my Clydesdale's name is boots Boots because he looks
like he has boots on.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Isn't someone named Penelope? Who's Penelope?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's my donkey and my cows an o to your well,
I mean I think if I called the pig it'd
be a problem. But a cow he can never be right.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, you already had an Easter Bunny day right for
the kids. They got to come and take pictures with
the Easter bunny.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
And collect eggs.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Very sweet, It was fun.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
It was a good evou.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah. If there's one thing that you want people to
take away from your mission and what you do, is
there something that you kind of want to people want
to take away from this? What would that be?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I mean, you should always love what you do, that's
the most important thing. If you don't, if you're not happy,
find what makes you happy and just do it.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah, I mean, clearly that's kind of your whole essence.
I feel like everything you do, as you said multiple times,
it really just you can feel that You're not just
saying that, like you really feel that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I mean, if you're miserable, then you're just you're fighting
yourself every day and that's not that's not going to
lead to success. I don't care how much money you make. Yeah,
at some point, you.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Still got to get up, put the suit on, travel
all the way into the city.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
You know, at least one day a week. I'm not
wearing a suit right now. Really, I'm wearing overalls. Okay, okay,
because I am a farmer.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You are, I've seen the overalls. Do you what do
you wear when you're like not working and not on
the farm, Like, do you ever wear sweatpants?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I think I have a pair or.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Two, no doubt, designer, I don't.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I'm not. I mean I don't know what they are
because I don't. I can't remember the last time I
wore them. But again, I feel like now I've created this.
You know how I present myself and I just I
present myself the same way every day.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Brand consistency.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
That's who I am.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
One more thing, take it or leave it. This is
who you are, one more thing something that that so
I follow you on social media. You're so funny on
social media. It's probably a side that a lot of
people in your business world maybe don't see.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I try and separate it.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, and it's so cool to see like the different
sides of you. You like to like cook in your
underwear and you like to share it with us, So yes, Yeah,
does the food come out better if you're like not
wearing pants when you're cooking?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
So? I because I have an outfit for everything that
I do, right, I'm a farmer, I have overalls. I'm
a businessman. I wear a suit when I cook. I
felt like the apron thing was that everyone does it,
and I like to be comfortable and it gets hot
in the kitchen. So yes, I cook in my underwear.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
What is your best dish that you make while you're
cooking in your underwear?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I like to cook things that like won't burn me
down there because I'm in my underwear, right, true. I
cook a lot of pasta, yeah, chicken, easy stuff, steak.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yeah, it all looks really good.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I can't thank you enough for coming by.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Is there before I let you go? Is there like
some sort of call to action or something that you
just want to share, like how people can engage with
you or support anything that you're doing. I know there's
a two Park Avenue Instagram, yes, that people can follow
over there, and you know, how do people want to
see two Park Avenue and they want to book an event? Like,
you know what, how do they go about that?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Or so I have a hospitality manager, Alexandra, who does
a phenomenal job. She's on the website.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
They should what's the website?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
W w W do.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
You w w W? I'm gonna kill you. What's the size?
I mean, it's very like it's very boomer. You're not
You're not a boomer that was so boomer.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
I did everything right up to this point.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
There there's no failure. Yeah, what's the site?
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Tu Park av dot com, Avenue dot com.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Okay, yeah, and like check out the instagram and yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
And okillfarm NJ dot com.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
When do you have any idea when that's going to
open to the public.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
We're going to try and open mid May, right after
We're gonna have an event for Mother's Day and then
open right after that.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Franco ROUSEO, I got it. I'm getting good. Thank you
so much for being here. You're definitely a CEO that
everybody should know.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
And if I ever become a singer, maybe you'll play
my music on your.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Radio only if it's good. It has to be good.
I'll practice, FRANKO. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Thank you guys,
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