November 22, 2025 • 45 mins
We trace Jimmy’s leap from teenage line cook to respected food rep and unpack how servant leadership, speed, and accuracy keep restaurants running when the market and deliveries don’t play nice.
Scallops, yields, and coaching culture all get the blunt, practical treatment.
• chef-to-rep journey grounded in accountability and timing
• servant leadership as the core of effective food sales
• coaching drivers and setting key drop standards
• substitutions that work when the product is scarce
• pricing, yields, and how to compare by usable ounces
• scallops and water content affecting sear and quality
• competition among vendors and realistic loyalty
• kitchen culture, passion versus anger, standards under pressure
• learning by asking, not hiding behind YouTube
• ending with taking care of people to sustain the craft
Your food reps can make your life hell or heaven, listen to this episode for some blunt talk on how to treat your customers and what it really takes to be successful in the food industry right now!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
All right, so this is Jimmy Babbs, the legend, the
man, the myth.
We're talking to him today.
And he comes from us from theother side of the world, the
food rep.
The salesman.
The salesman.
The asshole.
Yeah.
The one everybody loves the day.
The guy who's a hero one minuteand the enemy the next.
In the same fucking sentence.
That's right.
That's right.
Right.
So we sit here and it's good totalk to the guys like you
(00:46):
because you're an outstandingdude.
I'll tell you that right now.
Thank you.
We can talk with our, we cantalk.
Um we talk, we have the shitside of the storm, right?
So we have uh we have some goodstories, you have good stories,
but your your biggest storythough, we got to talk about is
how why, how, and hell did youbecome a food salesman when you
(01:06):
started as a chef.
Where'd you start?
How and where's your history asfar as culinary world?
God, man.
SPEAKER_03 (01:12):
So it started um Okay, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (01:17):
Now moving on.
No, I'm just yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (01:19):
So I was like what year was I was 15 years old.
I wanted some money.
Um uh a friend up the street uhwas a waitress at a little uh
breakfast place called Mr.
B's Family Restaurant.
And uh Mr.
B was the owner's name.
And um I went in as adishwasher.
(01:40):
Um, all I knew how to cook waswhat my mom would cook on Sunday
breakfast.
That's all I knew.
Eggs, bacon, eggs, bacon, justall that, all that bullshit.
And um about two weeks into thegig.
SPEAKER_00 (01:53):
That's good at 15 still.
SPEAKER_03 (01:54):
You're still cooking something at 15, okay.
So two weeks into the gig, man,I'm loving it.
I'm making money, I'm washingdishes, it's easy.
I wasn't really big into sports,so I needed some money to buy a
new glove, you know, to youknow, because dad won't get any.
You had to go out and get ityourself.
Sure.
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
And um, I wanted to anyone with gray hair today had
that experience.
SPEAKER_03 (02:12):
Yeah, I wanted to save money for a car.
It was a car up the street.
I really wanted it.
It was a little 260Z.
I wanted it, so I had to getsome money.
I had to get a thousand dollars.
And um, so I started working inthis place about two weeks into
two or three weeks in.
Um, Abby, who's the server, whowas my best friend's sister,
(02:32):
came to me and she was like,Rick is not here.
I'm like, okay, what do you wantme to do?
She said, You have to cook.
And I will drop the toast andthe English muffin, but you have
to cook the sausage, the bacon,the eggs.
I'm like, all right, I'm not, Iwas never a type that was scared
us.
I'm like, okay, let's go, let'sdo it, let's have fun.
(02:55):
There's no pressure.
Let's go.
You know, just do the best youcan.
Long story short, about 11o'clock came.
Mr.
B walked in, we did 80 covers.
Perfect, everything was great.
Um, he was like, where's Rick?
Rick ain't here.
Jimmy cooked.
He was like, I had no idea hecould cook.
Long story short, and uh gettinga position there.
(03:16):
Worked there for about sixmonths, and I'm like, I really
like food.
It's fucking easy.
My brain just goes with it.
It's easy.
And um, I was like, I started toto look at salaries of a chef.
You know, just just looking, andI'm like, huh.
I can get paid to do somethingthat's really fun, and it's not
(03:39):
hard.
It's easy, you know, it's it'sjust timing, it's just doing it.
And um, there was a Europeanchef named Joseph who ran a
deli.
I don't know if this was thebiggest blessing or the b the
biggest curse, because if when Ileft school, I had to be at
(04:02):
Joseph's at 2.20.
School let out at 2.08.
So I had to ride my bike, and Iremember the first time I was
late, I literally had to sweephis parking lot where he pulled
his car out.
It made me sweep.
I did I learned how to turncarrots and potatoes and
(04:23):
rutabagas.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Sure.
SPEAKER_03 (04:25):
For a long time after that.
Bags and bags and bags and bags.
Just total punishment forRutabagas, too.
Yeah, but he taught me the wholebrigade.
He taught me everything.
SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
Um accountability.
Yes, yes.
Kitchen accountability.
It's look at me in the camera,everybody.
And then from there, kitchenaccountability is a lost thing,
so get it back.
SPEAKER_03 (04:46):
I went from there um to Scale it well in Portsmouth,
which was a very busy seafoodrestaurant.
When I say busy, it's five tosix hundred covers every Friday
and Saturday.
That's crazy.
unknown (05:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (05:02):
The old people would know what scale to whale was.
SPEAKER_00 (05:04):
And you were cooking.
SPEAKER_03 (05:05):
Yeah, so I was a line cook there for about three
months, and then I was thewrite-up in the paper, all that
youngest chef and tie water at18.
I took over that.
SPEAKER_00 (05:16):
So that that's back in the day where you say that
like it's like it's so far away,but now with the internet and
stuff, it's hard.
But I missed the days of havingall the the write-ups in the
newspapers and the magazines andbeing able to put these back to
the Visions magazine.
And be able to be able to putthese things on the wall, frame
them, they were really goodwrite-ups.
And it we don't do that muchanymore.
We barely even have thenewspaper anymore, you know?
(05:37):
Correct.
So back then we had the walls oftrophies, and I have a lot of
them, right?
Right.
But but right now it's hard.
You have to almost print offwhat was written on the internet
about you if you want to put itup on the wall.
It's kind of sad.
Yeah.
Because it's uh it's justanother time of time gone.
So when you you worked your waythrough that, chefing it up,
dealing with food reps, dealingwith purveyors, seeing the whole
(05:58):
realm.
What made you step out of thekitchen and into that?
How long ago?
What where did you start?
What was your deal?
SPEAKER_03 (06:05):
So um 2002, I thought I had pretty much I was
a corporate chef for a hotelfirm also.
Um some places, you know,Calcutta's Red Maple In Three
East, all that stuff.
Um I thought I had dideverything I was bored with the
(06:28):
area.
I was like, it's time to vote.
So at the same time, my dad wasnot doing well.
But I had this grandiose ideathat I'm I'm leaving.
I'm I'm gonna go to a big city,and I got an opportunity to
interview for a corporatespecial chef position at the
Buckhead Life Group in Atlanta.
Okay flew me down, met him,looked at all the restaurants,
(06:53):
accepted the position.
Flew back.
Went home.
And I'm like, oh boy, I can'tleave my dad the way he is.
I literally can't leave.
So I called the guy back up andoh my god, he was it wasn't a
(07:15):
good conversation.
We're friends now, um, but itwasn't a good conversation.
So a friend of mine was a foodrep, and he's like, Jimmy,
listen to me.
Work with me one day, and you'lllove it.
He goes, he's an ex-chef.
He goes, all we all we do ishelp people throughout the day
(07:39):
of what they need of what wealready know.
So the product knowledge we'vealready got.
SPEAKER_00 (07:44):
So product knowledge is a huge thing.
It's coming from the world.
Now that that's my nextquestion.
Do you feel that coming out ofthe world with all that product
knowledge going into the worldhas helped you be a successful
food rep?
And two-part question.
Sure.
How many of those people you seecoming into your industry now do
not have the culinarybackground, but they got the
sales background?
What's the difference betweenthe two?
SPEAKER_03 (08:06):
Um, well, we're in food sales and other sales, but
we're really not salesmen.
To be good at this job, you'renot a salesman, you're a
servant.
You you are ready to go at anytime when you need something.
Because when you need it, you'renot waiting.
SPEAKER_00 (08:24):
Well, uh, you know, the reason why I deal with you
is because you speak that wayand think that way.
You don't realize how many otherpeople in your industry don't
feel that way.
SPEAKER_03 (08:33):
Yeah, so if I do a lot of peer-to-peer stuff at at
work.
Also, I did with my past lifetoo, the past job um of just the
day in the life that I rememberteaching a class, the day in the
life of a chef, which I mean asa salesman, what you do from the
time you wake up to the time yougo home.
And one thing is home is yourenemy.
(08:58):
So I'm gonna say it.
There are a lot of people inthis industry in my side that
will go home at 12, 1 o'clockand sit and wait for an order.
I get home at 7 p.m.
every evening.
I leave the house at 7.15.
I act like there's a big orangecone in front of my door when I
(09:21):
walk out.
I open the door and I kick thatfucking cone down because we
gotta go.
Because my chefs are ready.
They they're not gonna wait.
If I don't give them an answer,somebody else is going to.
And I'm correct.
SPEAKER_00 (09:32):
And we will find it.
Yes, we will find the answer.
If I ask for something, I'llgive you, I'll know my reps
pretty well, and I'll know whatpart of the day they're in, and
I'll give them that grace.
But if I don't hear back fromthem, you'll know this.
I'm on, I'm moving on.
I'm going, gotta go on.
I gotta get with my answer.
SPEAKER_03 (09:47):
I've learned this about you.
That's no offense to me.
You just gotta get it done.
That's it.
Yeah, that's that's fine.
Um, I've learned in thisindustry, you have to be 100%,
you gotta be accessible all thetime.
If you don't know the answer,you better find it now.
Um and be correct.
Because if I convince you to dosomething and it doesn't pan
(10:08):
out, pan out the right way,yeah.
You're up my ass.
SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
You know, you say it's it's good you say that
because you know how manyfucking reps that I've fired
because they led me on tobelieve something it was gonna
be just off word of mouth.
And I designed a whole menuspecials, wine pairing, staff
training.
And when the product shows uplate and frozen, and there's
nothing I can do with it, and Igotta kick it the fuck out the
door, it really pisses me off.
(10:32):
And that'll get me fucked,that'll get somebody fired
quick.
SPEAKER_03 (10:34):
Absolutely, you know, and it should.
SPEAKER_00 (10:37):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (10:37):
It's true.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
So if someone's gonna tell me I'm getting fresh
uh Osobuco coming from this farmhere and this da-da-da-da-da.
Right.
And it was fresh when theykilled it and put it in the
freezer, right?
But when you came to me, it wasnothing of what you said, right?
It wasn't on time, it was late,and there's nothing I can do
with this, right?
Period.
Right.
Because I'm not cooking itanyway.
However, you know what I mean?
Right.
So you just spent money fornothing.
(10:59):
Or wasted a lot of time onsomething else because I've got
to do that.
Absolutely.
You know, absolutely.
Yeah.
Going into a Friday night withwrong information is not easy.
unknown (11:06):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:06):
It's not a it's not a good pill to swallow.
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:10):
And some reps are coming.
You know, and and then, youknow, you guys gotta deal with
everything because what's worsethan some reps sometimes, and
I'm just gonna say it herebecause I hope they're
listening, is the fuckingdisrespectful nonsense drivers,
the delivery guys who bang theircarts off your walls and drop
things off that are supposed tobe in the fridge and they're
putting them out back justbecause they don't want to be
there.
There are so many people likethat that you know, you guys
(11:31):
take a heavy rap for a lot ofthat.
Right.
You know, right.
So what do you feel about thatshit?
SPEAKER_03 (11:35):
I mean what I feel about it is it's in my
situation, I feel like there'san open door policy to to have a
coaching lesson with thatdriver.
In other words, like in thebeginning with you, we told him
where to put things.
Yeah, yeah.
You have to do that every placeyou go.
(11:57):
And especially with these thingscalled keydrops.
So key drops are they don'tdeliver at 11 or 12 or 1 or
whatever.
They deliver at three or four inthe morning.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
When nobody's there and you trust them to have a key
to your fucking restaurant.
Yeah.
That's a hard thing.
It took me many, many.
It should not be though.
It should not be.
No, it shouldn't be.
But it's not that I trust thatthey're gonna go and steal or
anything like that.
Right.
It's I'm gonna trust thatthey're I am so particular with
my ingredients.
You know, if something belongsin the fridge, I I don't know
their time, the temperaturecontrols and their and their
(12:28):
danger zones, and I don't knowwhere the hell they've been.
I don't know how long theirtruck has been sitting outside.
Or if they got here at three inthe morning, did they take a nap
in the truck and they got my keyand they're I don't know that
stuff.
So there's a lot of things Idon't know about it.
So the key drop to me was alwaysscary because I never knew what
the hell they were doing whenthey once they dropped.
You know what I mean?
It's not so much about are theyin here stealing your stuff.
I'm not worried about that.
You know what I mean?
(12:48):
That's that's easy, that's easyto find out.
SPEAKER_03 (12:50):
I personally think nowadays you can let that guard
down and know that the freezerstuff's gonna go in the freezer
to cooler stuff's gonna go intocooler to dry, it's gonna go
into dry.
And it's gonna be exactly theway you need it.
Yeah.
Every time it's a good thing.
That's the way you transfer.
Yes, because we're we'recoaching.
Yeah.
And and look, our drivers arethe best in the business.
I know people say that theyreally are.
SPEAKER_00 (13:11):
Your drivers do a good job.
There's no doubt.
You can definitely tell thedifference.
I'm not gonna call any othercompanies out by any means, but
there I've thrown drivers out ofhere.
Right.
And a matter of fact, there'sone back there right now, I know
who he is, who keeps slammingthe fucking door while we're
recording, where it clearly saysdon't do that.
SPEAKER_03 (13:27):
Directly on the door when you walk down.
SPEAKER_00 (13:29):
So he's literally doing because he's he's a
fucking moron.
Right.
And I want to go out there rightnow because I'm telling you
right now, if I wasn't spentmoney on recording this, I'd
probably tell him to get thehell out of here.
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Calm down, dude.
SPEAKER_00 (13:40):
He's a moron.
You're a moron.
I hope you hear me.
But he's here right now.
As we're talking about it, he'sslamming.
SPEAKER_03 (13:48):
I've got 11 more stops to go out of here.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean the towel in the door.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
That's just the type of guy he is.
He doesn't give a shit aboutnothing.
Right.
You know what I mean?
unknown (13:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
He doesn't care if your packages are broken,
busted.
He's like basing in churra,kicking the damn box down here.
SPEAKER_01 (14:04):
Shaking it, throwing it on your porch, right, right,
right.
Delivery, that's okay.
SPEAKER_03 (14:08):
Yeah, so I think in our world, just being accessible
um is very important.
Uh, being current, keeping upwith the times.
And to me, from the chefbackground, that's fun.
SPEAKER_02 (14:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (14:19):
You know, no, because I'm not touching it and
feeling it like you are everyday now.
Right.
But I am seeing through all thetraining we have is all the new
products as soon as I can.
Okay.
See what I mean?
So that's kind of cool.
That's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00 (14:35):
Well, you you also know what you're talking about.
So that's the thing.
I only surround myself with repswho literally have been in the
field, and it's not becausethey're in the field that I'm
being biased.
Have you been in the field?
Okay, you can come here.
I know it by talking to them.
When I'm asking them theirproduct, when they have product
and catalog knowledge, or theyknow what they're talking about,
or they know what it is you'relooking for.
When when you're looking for acertain cut of meat, they may
(14:56):
you may not have what they'reasking for, but you know, you,
you know, this this hanger stakemight work in this application,
or this culat or something mighttake up for that hanger we don't
have, try a cool art.
Something like that.
You know, that that's what I'mlooking for.
And and that's what I think mostchefs are looking for.
No nonsense people who canredirect the narrative when the
narrative ain't going in yourfavor.
You know what I mean?
Do it now.
(15:16):
So if I if I need Romanesco andyou can't get it, you can tell
me something off like a purplecauliflower or something.
You can offer something, and Ieither say no or yes, but to
offer nothing comes from lack ofexperience in the kitchen, you
know, and lack of care.
Correct.
You know, I if I talk to a if Italk to a food rep and I ask
them, Do you guys carry castorsugar, for instance, right?
(15:37):
No, we don't.
Um, but just run this reallyfine sugar through a processor,
bring it down as much as youcan.
Okay, good.
That's somebody who knows whatthe hell's going on.
They've been in the industry,they can help push through it,
and they know that you have asugar finer, right, but it's not
castor, and we can maybe makecastor out of it.
That's your next option.
Right.
Or I go to another rep, but atleast they have the intel and
(15:58):
knowledge to be able to saysomething.
unknown (15:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
You know what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
And that's that's where we lookat when we're looking at our um
our people, you know, that thatare reps.
And I think any reputable chefor any chef who has a has a uh a
love and passion for the actualingredients themselves are gonna
have a connection with thatreps.
It's so fun.
It's fun, yeah.
And and talking to reps likeyou, you know, me and you don't
see smother uh each other asmuch as we have to because we
(16:21):
don't have to.
Correct.
You know what I mean?
We have an understanding, youknow what you're doing, I know
what I'm doing, I know what Iwant.
Right.
My chef de cuisine who ordersknows what he wants.
You guys speak, and when I havean issue, I call you, and it's
typically fixed within minutes,right?
SPEAKER_03 (16:33):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
Uh, there's other reps out there who constantly
cause the problem, don't answerthe phone, and they're the
reason why the whole fuckingproblem is.
SPEAKER_03 (16:39):
Well, here's a question for you.
And in in the case, let me hearit, Jimmy.
Do you think it do you thinkthat you can get them better by
you giving them a coachinglesson of, hey, listen, man,
you've got to be faster.
You've got to be more um, do youthink, or do you, or would you
(17:01):
rather just call me and be andbe done with it?
It's it's see my point like thecomments.
So it all depends.
That's an individual answer.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
Yeah.
So that that that answer relieson the individual themselves.
Are they are they up forconstructive criticism or is
everything a defense, which istypically the case most of the
time?
SPEAKER_01 (17:17):
Most people are very defensive nowadays, anyway.
So when people I don't wantthat.
When people everything offendsthem.
SPEAKER_00 (17:21):
So it's okay to be wrong.
If if you stand up forsomething, not even in a in a
derogatory way, not even beingmean or being whatever you want
to call this shit.
If you're not even beingoffensive, you're just blunt.
I'm just blunt.
Right.
Look, a little bit.
This, this, this, this, andthis.
They get upset, they getoffensive, they get they get
offended that you talk to themlike that.
How dare you?
(17:42):
You're not their boss.
Da da da.
And in and essentially, yes, Iam your boss because I'm not.
You work for me right now.
You may work for them, but youwork for me.
Because how about this?
Get the fuck out.
Right.
Now go explain to your boss whyhis account is no longer here.
SPEAKER_03 (17:56):
Yeah.
Right.
Who's the one?
I'm gonna say something.
Yeah.
Actually, I love your point, andI think it goes deeper.
You're actually not my customer.
Your customer's my customer.
SPEAKER_00 (18:10):
True.
Same way.
SPEAKER_03 (18:11):
Your customer is my.
I have to make sure you canplease your customer with the
products that you're asking for.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
And that's exactly rooks both ways.
I'm looking at you.
You are the quarterback for theplay.
I need this play to go down.
You're the quarterback.
You need to send me and deliverthe fucking football so I can
make the pass.
Now fucking do it.
You know what I'm saying?
My customer needs this, and Ineed to give them what they came
here for.
And if I can't give them whatthey came here for because your
ass didn't bring it, I'm introuble.
(18:39):
You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03 (18:40):
Yes.
And we both look horrible.
SPEAKER_00 (18:42):
Right.
Yeah, we both look bad.
Right.
So well, luckily we we'll neverget there.
No, we we do good.
Now, you know what else is funnythat a lot of people don't
realize is the battle that goeson amongst behind the scenes
with the different companies andtheir reps and vendors.
I'll be sitting at the bar likeyesterday.
I was sitting at the bar withone company, and then he walks
in and I'm like, all right, it'sgonna be a rumble.
(19:03):
Fuck them up, Jimmy.
Let's do this.
And and you know, I'm trying toegg it on as best I can.
SPEAKER_03 (19:08):
You are laughing.
I went back there.
I laughed my ass off.
I'm trying to get him to fight.
I want to see a fight.
The funniest thing, and nooffense to who was here, but no
offense, and this is the way Ilook at all competing reps.
I look, people go after myaccounts all the time.
All right.
I welcome it.
It's not like I'm saying I'm thebaddest guy to ever walk, but I
(19:30):
don't worry about it.
I cannot worry about it.
SPEAKER_00 (19:34):
I have way too much going on.
Let me tell you why you can'tworry about it.
Especially here in this area.
Okay.
You guys have allocations.
A lot of them are runconcurrent.
So there are certain things thatyou cannot provide me that
someone else can, vice versa.
Sure.
It's the way it is.
Sure.
I can't just go buy everythingfrom one company.
(19:55):
Though there are a lot of repswho think I should, right?
Sorry, you don't offer what Ineed, right?
And that's the end of it.
So now because you may only haveor they may only have three or
four items I need,unfortunately, that's not enough
to make a damn package.
Right.
So I need to give them a couplethings more.
It's just the way it is.
Right.
But when you're in a when you'rein a good situation and there's
a good loyalty between a rep anda and a purveyor and a chef or
(20:19):
owner, right, you're you don'thave to worry about losing that
because you're always gonna lookout for you.
SPEAKER_03 (20:25):
I didn't worry about that with you.
SPEAKER_00 (20:26):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:26):
But just don't he's like, I don't need to fight
today.
SPEAKER_03 (20:28):
Yeah, I I'm not uh actually I'm going to back to
talk about an order guide we'rebuilding to help them order
faster and better.
Perfect.
I'm not worried about two itemsthat are gonna be missing that
you know they're gonna charge.
SPEAKER_01 (20:41):
They may come back for come back for anyway.
SPEAKER_00 (20:43):
Yeah, so there's certain things I need that you
know they have, and there'scertain things that I need that
you have.
End of story.
That's just the way it is.
You know, then we go to theother ones, the more uh the more
small um boutique style of thesevendors that you guys can't even
touch.
Right, and they can't providewhat you guys provide, and
that's bulk on other things Ineed.
So that's right.
It just works the way the fuckit is, man.
(21:03):
And every place what has tohappen is guys guys and girls,
because there's a lot of female,right?
There's a lot more female foodreps now than there ever has
been, which is good, yeah.
Really, and yes, and I like itbecause they they're out there
driving and and they get shitdone.
Yes, too.
You know what I'm saying?
I think it's been such aman-dominated field for so long.
Yes, that a woman comes in andwhatever she's going through, no
(21:24):
disrespect here, but whatever itis she's going through as a
woman that feels they need tofight with the man again, good.
I don't, I'm not complainingbecause I think it's all great.
SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
Oh, you're talking about it on the positive side.
Okay, I thought you're trying togo from like what what cycle
you're in of the month and howmuch of a bitch you're gonna
make.
That's where I thought you weregoing.
You don't have to deal with.
Well, yeah, you don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
Typically when a woman has to be a little bit
more than a child.
No, they have to provethemselves more.
It's a male-dominated thing,yeah.
So it's a male-dominated thing.
That makes it and they're andthey're out there hustling.
Yeah.
So I'm all for it because I'mI'm here for that.
You know what I mean?
I'm supportive of it.
I love it.
Yeah.
So, and I'm not saying itbecause you need to outwork a
man by any means.
I'm just fucking happy thatsomeone's working.
Wants to work.
I'm just happy someone'sworking.
And you happen to be a woman.
(22:03):
So that's great.
You just happen to work.
So I don't give a fuck what'sdriving you.
Wouldn't it be funny if just doit?
SPEAKER_03 (22:08):
If if they could literally just see everything
you go through every day.
It I mean, they they pick up thepace instantly.
Yeah.
I mean, I know what it isbecause I've been through never
freaking.
SPEAKER_01 (22:19):
Well, that was the other part of your question.
Like, what's the percentage ofreps that that were chefs or
worked in or like had thatbackground?
SPEAKER_03 (22:25):
That's a good question.
Um I'd say 25%.
SPEAKER_01 (22:30):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (22:31):
I'd say 25%.
But that's a good percent.
That's a that's a foundation.
unknown (22:34):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (22:35):
Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (22:35):
That's enough knowledge on the bottom level to
be able to make other men aroundyou kind of educated and held
them accountable.
SPEAKER_01 (22:42):
Yeah.
And you use that to mentor andhelp help people that are your
other people like learn.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (22:47):
And there's a way to do that.
You got to be very um productivein your delivery.
That's a good way to put it.
Oh.
I like that level.
You need to be more productivein your delivery.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
We use that here.
Yeah.
Sir, can you please be a littlemore productive in his delivery?
You're boring us and you'reputting his fucking show to
sleep.
SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
You need to be more productive.
Right.
That's gonna be, yeah.
That should be your that shouldbe your t-shirts.
You can get that on the bag.
Production.
Somebody's argument making it.
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
So, what about all the, you know, I always hear
this is one thing I've alwaysheard about the food.
I was a wine rep for a long, fora while.
Okay.
All right.
So I sold wine for a while umback in the day.
Okay.
So it's kind of the same.
So what about all these things Ihear of these reps going on
these, you know, winning thesetrips to go to Europe and die?
Is that a true thing?
Or is that a does that happensometimes?
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
Well, uh, 100% transparency.
Um, I just came back fromCancun.
Uh I want to I want to trip.
I mean, it was only a three-daytrip.
It was great.
SPEAKER_00 (23:43):
Um so is that like back in school when you when you
sold so many cookies, you gotthe bicycle?
SPEAKER_03 (23:48):
You got the or you got the bracelet, depending on
what you sold.
No, it it's it's just based onum your your growth against the
year before.
SPEAKER_01 (23:57):
Your like you have set KPIs that you guys have to
have.
SPEAKER_03 (24:00):
Yep, and you're your child, you're competing against
yourself in a sense.
Yes, compete, and and I don'tneed them to ever show me that
because I do that automatically.
Yeah, I write down weekly what Idid last year last week, and I
go after that number myself.
And that's just the competitiveside of that's integrity,
though.
That's that's how you roll.
(24:20):
That's just the way I do it.
I cannot go to sleep knowingthat um, you know, I just have
to work hard.
I don't know what it is or why.
I just have to.
I feel like I ain't I feel likeI'm a piece of shit if I don't
absolutely come home destroyed.
I don't know where it is.
No, that's good.
That's the time they're wiredwhere that came from.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
That's just what you like, man.
Some people like to serve, somepeople do heroin.
Well, yeah, you like to work forit.
So it's you know, let me ask youthis with the rising costs of
everything, the eggs, the dotthat the whole shit.
Yes, everything.
It how you are you watching thenews, seeing what's going on, so
you know what argument you'regonna get into today.
You know, like you go why isbroccoli up this week and da da
(25:04):
da da.
SPEAKER_03 (25:05):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (25:05):
When is it gonna get to the point where we can't make
money off of it anymore?
When you cannot make money, usas the owner.
So we have we have to run it a30, 29, 30 food, right?
We have to do all that.
It's getting to the point now ifwe're charging$75 for a basic
plate of food.
SPEAKER_03 (25:20):
Never.
And this is why.
The consumer that goes to thegrocery store understands what
they're paying at the market.
When they go to buy their food,they understand that you are
going through the same thing.
Don't ever listen to me when Itell you this, please.
Don't ever think they don'tunderstand that.
Because they do understand that.
(25:40):
And in your situation, um, yourand a lot are they're smart
enough to know if broccoli isdoing this or broccoli is doing
this, then you can move over toa different vegetable for a
while until that comes.
(26:01):
You it's it's it's the shellgame.
And and listen, in our world,I'll be 100% transparent about
this.
It's it's rough because we wehave to buy it.
We have to buy it.
You have a choice.
You gotta buy it.
You've got a choice not to buyit.
We have to buy it.
So we have to spend the money onit.
(26:23):
Um, so we can't go without youknow certain items.
We we we have a 99.8% fill ratefor a reason.
Sure.
And that's because we our buyerscare.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
The things you're talking about more for those
people listening, I would gowith uh halibut.
unknown (26:38):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (26:38):
Avocados, eggs, milk.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
Um high price.
SPEAKER_00 (26:44):
Those are the ones that fluctuate where you have to
have it.
You have to have avocados withall the Mexican restaurants you
provide.
You have to have eggs becausewho doesn't have eggs in a
restaurant?
You have to have all thesethings.
And now the chef or the ownerscan shop between the who has the
best.
But I'll be honest with you, onthis side of it, there's only a
couple that have substantiallydifferent prices.
(27:05):
Pretty much everyone's in thesame ball game.
You know what I mean?
Right.
It's almost like you all areworking together or something.
Right.
No, bastards.
SPEAKER_03 (27:11):
No, what I think what I think what that is, is is
it's just how the we're ridingthe market and the you can't
charge but so much.
You know what I mean?
So and that gives you decisionto know, okay, if it's$40 here
and$39.95 here, I'm just gonnabuy from the person I like.
(27:35):
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
I think, but when it becomes$40and$55, then you gotta make a
decision.
SPEAKER_00 (27:41):
Well, it's a decision has been made.
Right.
If you're if you're if you'refrugal enough to understand food
costs and really care aboutthem, the decision's made for
you a lot.
Right.
So that that's what I kind ofbase it on.
When someone walks in and Istarts asking me why I'm buying
this from this, just bring theprice down.
I can't bring it down that low.
There's your answer.
Yeah, right.
It's we're if you want to see mehere next month to buy from you,
I need to buy this now today.
SPEAKER_03 (28:02):
Another thing is yields, chefs understanding
yields that, yeah, this pricemight be this, especially
lettuce, 40 pound against 40pound.
Well, then you got where it camefrom, what was the water weight,
you know, what is the boxweight, and then you literally
break it down per ounce, andwe're the same.
(28:22):
Yeah.
See what I mean?
Yeah.
So the yield on products and andbeef yields, and you know, you
get it.
Um, but as my job, I have toshow those yields.
I have to prove those yields.
Numbers.
Yeah, I have to, and when you dothat, then from servant to
salesman.
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (28:40):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
Well, you thought you were talking about it before
we started recording of youknow, you're choosing how much
of that cost to pass on.
So you guys have to deal withthat too.
Yes, you can't pass it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:51):
You can't pass.
I mean, how can you pass thefull cost at one time?
You can't pass the full cost atone time because you can't
afford to do it.
unknown (28:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (28:59):
You know what I mean?
And then you go to selling none,right?
Yeah.
So that's not the answer.
So it's a it's a teeter game,you know, it's a seesaw.
You gotta learn how to ride thatseesaw and not hit the ground.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (29:13):
You know, exactly.
So when when it comes to arguingwith chefs and stuff, do you get
and you find yourself inarguments at all with anybody?
Does anybody disagree?
I don't argue.
SPEAKER_03 (29:21):
I give them, you know, I I think God, man, that's
a hell of a good question.
Because my arguments are notarguments.
We have conversations, we havereal conversations.
Um in the chat.
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
A debate, if anything?
SPEAKER_03 (29:37):
Yes, yes, there's definitely a debate.
Um, but we always come to a verygood end game.
In other words, scallops.
Fucking God.
Right, right, right.
Right.
No, don't hit me.
Um God damn it.
U-tins, you know, we rememberwhen they were$85.
(29:59):
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
The can.
SPEAKER_03 (30:00):
Now add$150 to that.
And that's where they're at.
SPEAKER_00 (30:05):
But the customer still thinks it's$85 for us.
They don't understand.
Yeah.
Why is it$38 for scallops?
You fucking tell me.
I was doing good selling a lotmore cheaper.
What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_03 (30:15):
Right, exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So then you get to the watercontent of the scallop.
Is it a dry pack?
Is it a true dry pack?
Is it 7%, 17%?
24%.
Who the hell knows, right?
Well, you got to get thatscallop.
You got to sample that scallop.
The chef, the chef part comesout.
You got to pull it out of thecan.
You got to put it on a towel.
You got to let it sit rest.
You got to let it dry.
You got to sear it in the pancorrectly.
(30:36):
You got to get sandpaper on it.
And then you see what it lookslike against the other scallop.
And you go, okay, this looksthis big, and this looks this
big.
This is why this is$5 a casecheaper.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:49):
Because it's 10% more fucking water in it.
And you're so searing becomes asteam and you're boiling them
now with the liquids releasing.
And you're having an absoluteconniption over Japan because
now you're steaming.
Now you're burning, yeah, it'sjust a pain in the ass.
So you're not getting a goodsear.
So and then you get into theJapanese scallops where that's
(31:09):
the big hit right now, which notbad.
I mean, they're okay.
I don't understand thedifference between the two.
I get they're from two differentparts of the world, but why the
price is so different and thequality isn't that much
different on a U-10.
Right.
You know?
So it's a little sweeter out ofChina, actually.
Right.
So what's up with that, man?
What's the game?
They just haven't figured outthat they could rob us yet
there.
(31:30):
I think it's fine.
It is good product.
And but the thing is, they justwhy is it so much cheaper?
Because they haven't figured outthat they can play the game yet,
or what?
SPEAKER_03 (31:38):
No, I think that it's just the amount that they
can get compared to what theAmerican product can get from
the Boston and Massachusettsside.
I think it's just you've got anarea this big against an area
this big.
Yeah, yeah.
I think that's the difference.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
There's a lot more scallop in them waters.
SPEAKER_03 (31:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know that that thatproduct was actually an American
scallop at one time that wasdropped off the back of a navy
boat.
Sure.
Yeah.
So it is these.
Some brought it there.
Yeah, now the what the nowscallop is a filter, so it's
gonna filter that waterdifference.
So that's gonna be the taste andthe color difference.
(32:15):
Um but a very interestingproduct.
It's it's it's not bad.
Um it's actually good.
I don't even want to say it'snot bad.
I'm not sure.
No, they're good.
SPEAKER_00 (32:23):
The the only difference you can really tell
is in their their texture,maybe, but really in the depth
of the sweetness of this of themeat.
You can tell I can blind itblind taste it out that way too.
I see a little difference in theheight.
Yeah, the height is less, Ithink.
Yes, yeah.
So an American scallop has amuch more height to it.
Yeah.
But then again, are those thethe water-filled ones you're
talking about?
Are these true U10s or U8s orwhatever they are?
(32:45):
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03 (32:46):
I I mean I think they're true.
I I believe in this in thescallop world, and I've been to
a few scallop plants that youknow, there are no games.
There, they're people might saythey're games, these guys are
working their ass off.
They're starting with a product,they're everything about a
scallop is a lot of work, bro.
It is a ton of work.
SPEAKER_00 (33:03):
Just opening up the damn shell that they're in all
the way through, cutting themout.
And me and you have worked withfresh scallops.
We get it.
They're great.
I wish I could get shelves,fresh scallops.
It's hard.
unknown (33:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:11):
Well, it'll be nice if I have a plate.
I know a guy.
Do you?
Yeah.
Oh, you gotta get it.
JB.
Yeah, I know a guy.
Yeah, yeah.
We can't.
I love it.
No, I love working with freshscallops, and that's a great,
great, uh, that's a great thing.
You open that up, yeah, cook itthat on the shell, serve it in
the shell.
You can do some really goodstuff with that.
Smell the side.
Oh, yeah.
Rendered guanchali on there, alittle bit.
I'll make a little double day.
SPEAKER_01 (33:32):
Welcome to scallop talk.
SPEAKER_00 (33:33):
Scallop.
Scallop.
SPEAKER_01 (33:34):
We just got real into scallops.
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (33:36):
Scallop town.
SPEAKER_01 (33:37):
Sexy scallop time.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
So, what do you think about the whole thing that
do you think about um as youtravel around from restaurant to
restaurant to restaurant torestaurant, you get a good
bird's eye view of what's goingon really in the industry?
Um, I know what's going on.
I'm talking to other chefs, so Iknow what's going on.
But I really only know what'sgoing on in my kitchens, right?
Correct.
So, my kitchen that you see allthe time compared to others.
(34:00):
Do you think that this wholewoke movement and stuff is
hitting kitchens the way thatthey're talking about it through
your eyes?
Or is that something that'sstill far reached from the
kitchen?
SPEAKER_03 (34:10):
Explain the local movement.
What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00 (34:11):
The local produce, the local like woke, like not as
much of an old school brigadestyle.
Being nice and not yelling andall that stuff that you know the
culture.
Look, yelling to be an assholeis never cool anyway.
I've done it when I was younger.
A lot of chefs did it back inthe day just because they can
get away with it, but I don'tbelieve it ever made anyone.
SPEAKER_03 (34:31):
Some of my people that used to work for me could
watch this and chime in.
There's the thing as a leader inthe kitchen, everything is on
the la how good you are the lastplate.
(34:53):
You have to be good every plate,every time, because if you're
not, another restaurant is gonnabe.
Right.
And chefs that are chefs.
I'm not talking about the guythat works as Applebee and his
mom calls him a chef.
I'm talking about the chef thatknows the brigade and knows what
it means, right?
Like yourself, that youunderstand what that means.
(35:16):
And I think that employees thatwork for chefs get mixed up in
thinking passion is anger.
Yeah.
No, you're right.
Nothing is wrong with beingbeing forceful about passion
(35:37):
that you want to go out becauseyour fucking name is on that.
And that means something to youand to your to your diners.
And it would be really nice,really nice if they would just
say, you know what, chef, I getit.
You're just passionate.
You're not being an ass.
Even if you are being ass,you're just being an ass because
it's what we have to do rightnow, right?
(35:57):
It doesn't mean you're you thatthey're any less.
It just means this is what weneed to do right now.
You're not doing this correctlyright now.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
And so do it right now, and then we'll talk about
later later.
SPEAKER_03 (36:09):
Yeah, yeah.
So now there are some cooks thatunderstand that they need that
lesson, and they're the onesthat really shine.
They're the ones who go, youknow what?
You're right.
I didn't do right.
I didn't do that right.
That pan wasn't hot enough.
I didn't clean that shrimpright.
You know what I mean?
I didn't do the I didn't cutthat beef right.
You know what I mean?
I just cut down a six down, uhsix-pound uh pismo, tenderloin,
(36:33):
and I got nine pieces.
That means I'm gonna be light,so somebody's gonna a light
piece of beef.
I did that wrong.
You know what I mean?
Nothing's wrong with that, youknow.
Um so but to answer yourquestion, there's a lot of
tiptoeing going on.
SPEAKER_00 (36:50):
Is there?
In comparison to my kitchen.
I mean, I I'm not I don't tiptoemuch, but I don't have to.
My my brigade that comes to meand works for me is educated.
They're they've been in theindustry, they come to me
because they want to work in aspot with someone like me who
who has a passion.
That's right.
So I'm I'm fortunate enough tohave that.
I I don't have to be dealingwith the lying cooks of the
world and the assholes and thedrug addicts, and I don't have
(37:11):
to, I don't need them people toget by.
I've already been that person,so I already know what I don't
need.
You know what I'm saying?
Right, right.
So I was that person back in theday, and then I grew in out of
it and then became mature andunderstood accountability and
responsibility, and it got me towhere I am today.
So I could just imagine rightnow, it's so hard for an
up-and-coming kitchen managerslash chef or whatever you want
to call them to deal with what'sgoing on because if you don't
(37:33):
own the place and you're justworking there, you can't say
anything to these people withoutthem.
I feel bad for them.
Getting up so I feel bad forthem.
I feel bad for a kitchen managerwho works for an owner, and the
owner is not a chef, and he'snot in the kitchen and they're
not there, but they're relyingon this guy, and they all know
he's not a chef.
They're not the boss of him.
There's nothing they can do.
He can't fire him.
(37:54):
There's no respect.
So the second you tell thatperson to stop being an asshole
or grow up or stop being a pussyor let's get the fuck together
here.
Let's go.
Let's get your shit together.
They want to run off and cry.
It's it's a hard world right nowfor our industry because this is
what I tell everybody, Jimmy.
Absolutely.
And I'll tell it again out therefor everybody.
The problem is you can be aswoke as the fuck you want.
You can be as upset as you want.
(38:16):
You can be as, you know, you canbe uh as frustrated as you want,
you can be as um uh caring andas empathetic as you want.
But the problems in the kitchenhave never fucking changed.
Okay?
You can be woke and deal withthem differently now, but it
doesn't change the problem.
When a pan's on fire, you got agrease fire, when the fucking
stack of tickets are out, whensomeone gets sick or someone
(38:37):
cuts their hand in the middle ofa rush, uh, someone drops a
plate on the last plating of aof a something going over the
past, and now the whole you whenthat happens, how the hell is
that problem any woker than theway you want me to respond to
it?
You see what I'm saying?
The problems didn't get weaker,the problems didn't get more
soft and empathetic.
The problem's still the fuckingsame as when we were yelling
(38:58):
about him fucking uh 20 yearsago, right?
So how are the how are wesupposed to stop?
Consider the problem isdifferent now, and we have to
worry about her feelings thatdropped it or his feelings that
dropped it on the floor in themiddle of a rush.
That problem didn't change.
SPEAKER_03 (39:13):
So, how the hell is our reaction to it supposed to
change?
A pan of burnt bacon is still 33slices of bacon that is burnt.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:20):
So, how do we well you next time don't let's not
burn it again?
Yeah, no, fuck that.
Right.
There is no next time.
How do you burn bacon?
Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03 (39:30):
Yeah, it's funny when you really think about it.
It is funny.
SPEAKER_00 (39:33):
There's a lot of things you can laugh at.
SPEAKER_03 (39:34):
Put it in, you pull it out, right?
SPEAKER_00 (39:36):
You know, I could sit here and laugh at all the
things I've done, right?
Or all the things people havedone.
Right.
And I can laugh at my reaction,but it was all necessary at the
time.
That's what happened.
Of course.
Natural.
SPEAKER_03 (39:47):
You gotta go through the fail, dude.
SPEAKER_00 (39:49):
So I don't believe that being woke in the kitchen.
There's different things.
When you're talking about youremployees, when you're being
empathetic towards theirsituation at home, their home
life, they're maybe they'resick, or maybe they're going
through some things.
That's different.
Maybe their car blew up and theydon't have a ride home, or maybe
the Uber, they can't afford Uberanymore because they live on the
other side of town.
All those things are somethingdifferent.
That that's something more I canhave empathy with and sit down
(40:12):
with and talk about.
But when you're dropping thingsout of carelessness and you're
consistently doing the samething wrong, or you're showing
up late all the time, you aregoing to get the unwoke, wide
awake fucking reaction to that.
unknown (40:23):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (40:23):
You know what I'm saying?
Because the reaction, the theproblem you created is no
different than if you would havecreated it 20 years ago.
Right.
So why do I have to actdifferent towards the problem?
It's the same problem.
Right.
You know what I mean?
You create a problem, you getthe reaction.
SPEAKER_03 (40:37):
Do you think some of the differences nowadays is when
we were going through it andgetting taught, it meant
something when that chef taughtyou how to make the consummate
for the first time.
SPEAKER_00 (40:53):
Absolutely.
When you learned how to actuallybraise properly.
Do you know I have a guy that'sbeen working with me for a long
time who still hasn't asked mehow to make one thing, but he'll
watch, watch, watch, and thenpractice, but he won't have the
fucking balls.
And I taught him how to do mostof the stuff in this industry,
and he and he still won't.
And this goes on all the time.
This happens all the time.
There are people that are afraidto ask chefs now because they
(41:13):
they think they're fooling thechef that they already know or
they don't want to.
SPEAKER_01 (41:18):
Nobody knows everything.
SPEAKER_00 (41:18):
Of course.
That's exactly what it is.
They watch it on TV, and now youdon't have to ask a chef because
instead of asking the chef andlooking like you don't know, you
go to the bathroom and act likeyou're taking a piss and then
YouTube what you're doing, soyou don't have to fuck it up.
My brain don't even go there.
I catch them all.
I catch them all doing it.
You know, that's hilarious.
You you think I don't have to goon things in YouTube?
Of course.
Of course.
Of course, but you gotta stayit.
Of course, I look in recipebooks.
(41:40):
Of course, I look back at mybooks from back in the day and
and of course I reach out tochefs.
Right.
The only ignorant fuckers noware being taught that you don't
have to do it.
I guess it's the I don't know ifit's social media or the
accessibility to all thisinformation to where you
shouldn't have to ask.
But people are learning how todo things going on YouTube,
they're learning how to make ademi or or braise something, and
then they're passing it off likethey knew this already.
(42:03):
They've they have so muchexperience instead of just
asking the fucking chef orworking with them.
You know, look, we can all sithere and cook Italian food or
braise meats or do anything likethat.
But my style of doing it isdifferent, is what makes my
braze different than theirbraze.
My osubuco is gonna be differentthan their osubuco.
You can watch on YouTube how tomake it generally, right?
But my cooking method is whatyou're taking.
(42:25):
Right.
You see what I'm saying?
When you work for me for 10years, seven years, six years,
five years, you have picked upmy style of my kitchen, of my
method of what is going on andwhy people come here, right?
Then you're gonna carry on withthat.
Yes, you learned how to cookosubuco, but you've also learned
how to cook it my way, whichfills my restaurant nine times
out of ten.
Right.
You see what I'm saying?
Right.
So you may have learned how tocook osubuko your way, and it
(42:47):
may not be hitting as good asmine, vice versa.
Right.
Maybe you can make it betterthan me.
Right.
But it the method of making it'sthe same.
Right.
But the extra twists we take,the extra timing, the extra
charge.
SPEAKER_03 (42:57):
You might put finno in your braids, I might put
carrots.
SPEAKER_00 (42:59):
Correct, right?
Exactly.
Or I may, I may uh brown minelonger, deeper.
I maybe I figured out a lowertemperature to cook it than you,
and maybe I learned how tofucking render fats differently
so they're not breaking up asmuch, and I'm getting more
protein out of them.
There's a bunch of things you'relearning by watching me that
you're not even learning.
You don't even understand you'relearning.
SPEAKER_03 (43:15):
That's funny you say that because when I used to do
my beef stock, I would actuallytake ground beef and burn it to
get that deep smoky flavor.
Sure.
That people were like, whoa.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
What is that?
Just get that carbon, you got acarbon, get that carbon on it,
you know.
But listen, we're gonna we'rewe're starting to talk about
food now as chefs, and that's myfavorite thing to do.
So I'm gonna stop now becauseanother episode.
SPEAKER_02 (43:37):
Right.
Sorry.
SPEAKER_00 (43:39):
We know you're busy being a food rep, and you're a
damn good one.
I will say that you work for agreat company.
I won't say that because Ireally do unless they pay me.
Um but you know, it's it's youdo a great job.
We appreciate you.
You have a lot of knowledge, youhave a lot of industry
knowledge.
Thank you.
Period.
And that's why I like workingwith you.
But I think it's good for peopleto listen to someone from your
side of the house when it comesto this, because you're a person
(44:02):
too, and you need a hug.
You know what I mean?
You need a hug, buddy.
SPEAKER_01 (44:05):
Sometimes you need a hug.
SPEAKER_00 (44:06):
Sometimes look, he's looking at me like I'm fucking
crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (44:09):
Until he tells you, like fighting.
SPEAKER_03 (44:11):
I mean, I guess sometimes I do, sometimes I
don't.
I mean, it's it's okay.
I mean, we get beat up everyday.
It's it's it's it's just whatyou go through, you know?
Yeah, it's just part of it.
You get beat up every day, too.
So, I mean, it is what it is.
Look, it's no secret for me.
I work my ass off for my twingirls at home and my wife that's
(44:31):
the bond advantage.
She gets hotter, honey.
I love you.
She's absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:35):
That's and that's the beauty of the restaurant
industry.
No matter what part of it you'rein, we're all kind of on that
same common ground.
We're all working our ass offfor the betterment of our
situations at home.
And just like any blue table.
SPEAKER_03 (44:46):
Be honest, I work for my I love my company.
I love the people I work for.
Sure.
They're amazing people.
They get it.
Um, I left one to come to theother.
It's the best move I've evermade.
No offense to anything.
I didn't want to talk about it,but it just naturally came out.
The people I work for now, theythey're just they're simply hard
(45:09):
working care.
SPEAKER_00 (45:10):
And we'll end it on that.
SPEAKER_03 (45:11):
It makes it so much fun.
SPEAKER_00 (45:13):
We'll end it on that.
What he's saying is take care ofyour fucking people.
Being listen to them, hear them,and they'll take care of you.
And that's the end of that fortoday.
So, ciao for now.
All right, so this is Jimmy Babbs, the legend, the
man, the myth.
We're talking to him today.
And he comes from us from theother side of the world, the
food rep.
The salesman.
The salesman.
The asshole.
Yeah.
The one everybody loves the day.
The guy who's a hero one minuteand the enemy the next.
In the same fucking sentence.
That's right.
That's right.
Right.
So we sit here and it's good totalk to the guys like you
(00:46):
because you're an outstandingdude.
I'll tell you that right now.
Thank you.
We can talk with our, we cantalk.
Um we talk, we have the shitside of the storm, right?
So we have uh we have some goodstories, you have good stories,
but your your biggest storythough, we got to talk about is
how why, how, and hell did youbecome a food salesman when you
(01:06):
started as a chef.
Where'd you start?
How and where's your history asfar as culinary world?
God, man.
SPEAKER_03 (01:12):
So it started um Okay, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (01:17):
Now moving on.
No, I'm just yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (01:19):
So I was like what year was I was 15 years old.
I wanted some money.
Um uh a friend up the street uhwas a waitress at a little uh
breakfast place called Mr.
B's Family Restaurant.
And uh Mr.
B was the owner's name.
And um I went in as adishwasher.
(01:40):
Um, all I knew how to cook waswhat my mom would cook on Sunday
breakfast.
That's all I knew.
Eggs, bacon, eggs, bacon, justall that, all that bullshit.
And um about two weeks into thegig.
SPEAKER_00 (01:53):
That's good at 15 still.
SPEAKER_03 (01:54):
You're still cooking something at 15, okay.
So two weeks into the gig, man,I'm loving it.
I'm making money, I'm washingdishes, it's easy.
I wasn't really big into sports,so I needed some money to buy a
new glove, you know, to youknow, because dad won't get any.
You had to go out and get ityourself.
Sure.
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
And um, I wanted to anyone with gray hair today had
that experience.
SPEAKER_03 (02:12):
Yeah, I wanted to save money for a car.
It was a car up the street.
I really wanted it.
It was a little 260Z.
I wanted it, so I had to getsome money.
I had to get a thousand dollars.
And um, so I started working inthis place about two weeks into
two or three weeks in.
Um, Abby, who's the server, whowas my best friend's sister,
(02:32):
came to me and she was like,Rick is not here.
I'm like, okay, what do you wantme to do?
She said, You have to cook.
And I will drop the toast andthe English muffin, but you have
to cook the sausage, the bacon,the eggs.
I'm like, all right, I'm not, Iwas never a type that was scared
us.
I'm like, okay, let's go, let'sdo it, let's have fun.
(02:55):
There's no pressure.
Let's go.
You know, just do the best youcan.
Long story short, about 11o'clock came.
Mr.
B walked in, we did 80 covers.
Perfect, everything was great.
Um, he was like, where's Rick?
Rick ain't here.
Jimmy cooked.
He was like, I had no idea hecould cook.
Long story short, and uh gettinga position there.
(03:16):
Worked there for about sixmonths, and I'm like, I really
like food.
It's fucking easy.
My brain just goes with it.
It's easy.
And um, I was like, I started toto look at salaries of a chef.
You know, just just looking, andI'm like, huh.
I can get paid to do somethingthat's really fun, and it's not
(03:39):
hard.
It's easy, you know, it's it'sjust timing, it's just doing it.
And um, there was a Europeanchef named Joseph who ran a
deli.
I don't know if this was thebiggest blessing or the b the
biggest curse, because if when Ileft school, I had to be at
(04:02):
Joseph's at 2.20.
School let out at 2.08.
So I had to ride my bike, and Iremember the first time I was
late, I literally had to sweephis parking lot where he pulled
his car out.
It made me sweep.
I did I learned how to turncarrots and potatoes and
(04:23):
rutabagas.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Sure.
SPEAKER_03 (04:25):
For a long time after that.
Bags and bags and bags and bags.
Just total punishment forRutabagas, too.
Yeah, but he taught me the wholebrigade.
He taught me everything.
SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
Um accountability.
Yes, yes.
Kitchen accountability.
It's look at me in the camera,everybody.
And then from there, kitchenaccountability is a lost thing,
so get it back.
SPEAKER_03 (04:46):
I went from there um to Scale it well in Portsmouth,
which was a very busy seafoodrestaurant.
When I say busy, it's five tosix hundred covers every Friday
and Saturday.
That's crazy.
unknown (05:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (05:02):
The old people would know what scale to whale was.
SPEAKER_00 (05:04):
And you were cooking.
SPEAKER_03 (05:05):
Yeah, so I was a line cook there for about three
months, and then I was thewrite-up in the paper, all that
youngest chef and tie water at18.
I took over that.
SPEAKER_00 (05:16):
So that that's back in the day where you say that
like it's like it's so far away,but now with the internet and
stuff, it's hard.
But I missed the days of havingall the the write-ups in the
newspapers and the magazines andbeing able to put these back to
the Visions magazine.
And be able to be able to putthese things on the wall, frame
them, they were really goodwrite-ups.
And it we don't do that muchanymore.
We barely even have thenewspaper anymore, you know?
(05:37):
Correct.
So back then we had the walls oftrophies, and I have a lot of
them, right?
Right.
But but right now it's hard.
You have to almost print offwhat was written on the internet
about you if you want to put itup on the wall.
It's kind of sad.
Yeah.
Because it's uh it's justanother time of time gone.
So when you you worked your waythrough that, chefing it up,
dealing with food reps, dealingwith purveyors, seeing the whole
(05:58):
realm.
What made you step out of thekitchen and into that?
How long ago?
What where did you start?
What was your deal?
SPEAKER_03 (06:05):
So um 2002, I thought I had pretty much I was
a corporate chef for a hotelfirm also.
Um some places, you know,Calcutta's Red Maple In Three
East, all that stuff.
Um I thought I had dideverything I was bored with the
(06:28):
area.
I was like, it's time to vote.
So at the same time, my dad wasnot doing well.
But I had this grandiose ideathat I'm I'm leaving.
I'm I'm gonna go to a big city,and I got an opportunity to
interview for a corporatespecial chef position at the
Buckhead Life Group in Atlanta.
Okay flew me down, met him,looked at all the restaurants,
(06:53):
accepted the position.
Flew back.
Went home.
And I'm like, oh boy, I can'tleave my dad the way he is.
I literally can't leave.
So I called the guy back up andoh my god, he was it wasn't a
(07:15):
good conversation.
We're friends now, um, but itwasn't a good conversation.
So a friend of mine was a foodrep, and he's like, Jimmy,
listen to me.
Work with me one day, and you'lllove it.
He goes, he's an ex-chef.
He goes, all we all we do ishelp people throughout the day
(07:39):
of what they need of what wealready know.
So the product knowledge we'vealready got.
SPEAKER_00 (07:44):
So product knowledge is a huge thing.
It's coming from the world.
Now that that's my nextquestion.
Do you feel that coming out ofthe world with all that product
knowledge going into the worldhas helped you be a successful
food rep?
And two-part question.
Sure.
How many of those people you seecoming into your industry now do
not have the culinarybackground, but they got the
sales background?
What's the difference betweenthe two?
SPEAKER_03 (08:06):
Um, well, we're in food sales and other sales, but
we're really not salesmen.
To be good at this job, you'renot a salesman, you're a
servant.
You you are ready to go at anytime when you need something.
Because when you need it, you'renot waiting.
SPEAKER_00 (08:24):
Well, uh, you know, the reason why I deal with you
is because you speak that wayand think that way.
You don't realize how many otherpeople in your industry don't
feel that way.
SPEAKER_03 (08:33):
Yeah, so if I do a lot of peer-to-peer stuff at at
work.
Also, I did with my past lifetoo, the past job um of just the
day in the life that I rememberteaching a class, the day in the
life of a chef, which I mean asa salesman, what you do from the
time you wake up to the time yougo home.
And one thing is home is yourenemy.
(08:58):
So I'm gonna say it.
There are a lot of people inthis industry in my side that
will go home at 12, 1 o'clockand sit and wait for an order.
I get home at 7 p.m.
every evening.
I leave the house at 7.15.
I act like there's a big orangecone in front of my door when I
(09:21):
walk out.
I open the door and I kick thatfucking cone down because we
gotta go.
Because my chefs are ready.
They they're not gonna wait.
If I don't give them an answer,somebody else is going to.
And I'm correct.
SPEAKER_00 (09:32):
And we will find it.
Yes, we will find the answer.
If I ask for something, I'llgive you, I'll know my reps
pretty well, and I'll know whatpart of the day they're in, and
I'll give them that grace.
But if I don't hear back fromthem, you'll know this.
I'm on, I'm moving on.
I'm going, gotta go on.
I gotta get with my answer.
SPEAKER_03 (09:47):
I've learned this about you.
That's no offense to me.
You just gotta get it done.
That's it.
Yeah, that's that's fine.
Um, I've learned in thisindustry, you have to be 100%,
you gotta be accessible all thetime.
If you don't know the answer,you better find it now.
Um and be correct.
Because if I convince you to dosomething and it doesn't pan
(10:08):
out, pan out the right way,yeah.
You're up my ass.
SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
You know, you say it's it's good you say that
because you know how manyfucking reps that I've fired
because they led me on tobelieve something it was gonna
be just off word of mouth.
And I designed a whole menuspecials, wine pairing, staff
training.
And when the product shows uplate and frozen, and there's
nothing I can do with it, and Igotta kick it the fuck out the
door, it really pisses me off.
(10:32):
And that'll get me fucked,that'll get somebody fired
quick.
SPEAKER_03 (10:34):
Absolutely, you know, and it should.
SPEAKER_00 (10:37):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (10:37):
It's true.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
So if someone's gonna tell me I'm getting fresh
uh Osobuco coming from this farmhere and this da-da-da-da-da.
Right.
And it was fresh when theykilled it and put it in the
freezer, right?
But when you came to me, it wasnothing of what you said, right?
It wasn't on time, it was late,and there's nothing I can do
with this, right?
Period.
Right.
Because I'm not cooking itanyway.
However, you know what I mean?
Right.
So you just spent money fornothing.
(10:59):
Or wasted a lot of time onsomething else because I've got
to do that.
Absolutely.
You know, absolutely.
Yeah.
Going into a Friday night withwrong information is not easy.
unknown (11:06):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:06):
It's not a it's not a good pill to swallow.
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:10):
And some reps are coming.
You know, and and then, youknow, you guys gotta deal with
everything because what's worsethan some reps sometimes, and
I'm just gonna say it herebecause I hope they're
listening, is the fuckingdisrespectful nonsense drivers,
the delivery guys who bang theircarts off your walls and drop
things off that are supposed tobe in the fridge and they're
putting them out back justbecause they don't want to be
there.
There are so many people likethat that you know, you guys
(11:31):
take a heavy rap for a lot ofthat.
Right.
You know, right.
So what do you feel about thatshit?
SPEAKER_03 (11:35):
I mean what I feel about it is it's in my
situation, I feel like there'san open door policy to to have a
coaching lesson with thatdriver.
In other words, like in thebeginning with you, we told him
where to put things.
Yeah, yeah.
You have to do that every placeyou go.
(11:57):
And especially with these thingscalled keydrops.
So key drops are they don'tdeliver at 11 or 12 or 1 or
whatever.
They deliver at three or four inthe morning.
SPEAKER_00 (12:07):
When nobody's there and you trust them to have a key
to your fucking restaurant.
Yeah.
That's a hard thing.
It took me many, many.
It should not be though.
It should not be.
No, it shouldn't be.
But it's not that I trust thatthey're gonna go and steal or
anything like that.
Right.
It's I'm gonna trust thatthey're I am so particular with
my ingredients.
You know, if something belongsin the fridge, I I don't know
their time, the temperaturecontrols and their and their
(12:28):
danger zones, and I don't knowwhere the hell they've been.
I don't know how long theirtruck has been sitting outside.
Or if they got here at three inthe morning, did they take a nap
in the truck and they got my keyand they're I don't know that
stuff.
So there's a lot of things Idon't know about it.
So the key drop to me was alwaysscary because I never knew what
the hell they were doing whenthey once they dropped.
You know what I mean?
It's not so much about are theyin here stealing your stuff.
I'm not worried about that.
You know what I mean?
(12:48):
That's that's easy, that's easyto find out.
SPEAKER_03 (12:50):
I personally think nowadays you can let that guard
down and know that the freezerstuff's gonna go in the freezer
to cooler stuff's gonna go intocooler to dry, it's gonna go
into dry.
And it's gonna be exactly theway you need it.
Yeah.
Every time it's a good thing.
That's the way you transfer.
Yes, because we're we'recoaching.
Yeah.
And and look, our drivers arethe best in the business.
I know people say that theyreally are.
SPEAKER_00 (13:11):
Your drivers do a good job.
There's no doubt.
You can definitely tell thedifference.
I'm not gonna call any othercompanies out by any means, but
there I've thrown drivers out ofhere.
Right.
And a matter of fact, there'sone back there right now, I know
who he is, who keeps slammingthe fucking door while we're
recording, where it clearly saysdon't do that.
SPEAKER_03 (13:27):
Directly on the door when you walk down.
SPEAKER_00 (13:29):
So he's literally doing because he's he's a
fucking moron.
Right.
And I want to go out there rightnow because I'm telling you
right now, if I wasn't spentmoney on recording this, I'd
probably tell him to get thehell out of here.
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Calm down, dude.
SPEAKER_00 (13:40):
He's a moron.
You're a moron.
I hope you hear me.
But he's here right now.
As we're talking about it, he'sslamming.
SPEAKER_03 (13:48):
I've got 11 more stops to go out of here.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean the towel in the door.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
That's just the type of guy he is.
He doesn't give a shit aboutnothing.
Right.
You know what I mean?
unknown (13:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
He doesn't care if your packages are broken,
busted.
He's like basing in churra,kicking the damn box down here.
SPEAKER_01 (14:04):
Shaking it, throwing it on your porch, right, right,
right.
Delivery, that's okay.
SPEAKER_03 (14:08):
Yeah, so I think in our world, just being accessible
um is very important.
Uh, being current, keeping upwith the times.
And to me, from the chefbackground, that's fun.
SPEAKER_02 (14:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (14:19):
You know, no, because I'm not touching it and
feeling it like you are everyday now.
Right.
But I am seeing through all thetraining we have is all the new
products as soon as I can.
Okay.
See what I mean?
So that's kind of cool.
That's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00 (14:35):
Well, you you also know what you're talking about.
So that's the thing.
I only surround myself with repswho literally have been in the
field, and it's not becausethey're in the field that I'm
being biased.
Have you been in the field?
Okay, you can come here.
I know it by talking to them.
When I'm asking them theirproduct, when they have product
and catalog knowledge, or theyknow what they're talking about,
or they know what it is you'relooking for.
When when you're looking for acertain cut of meat, they may
(14:56):
you may not have what they'reasking for, but you know, you,
you know, this this hanger stakemight work in this application,
or this culat or something mighttake up for that hanger we don't
have, try a cool art.
Something like that.
You know, that that's what I'mlooking for.
And and that's what I think mostchefs are looking for.
No nonsense people who canredirect the narrative when the
narrative ain't going in yourfavor.
You know what I mean?
Do it now.
(15:16):
So if I if I need Romanesco andyou can't get it, you can tell
me something off like a purplecauliflower or something.
You can offer something, and Ieither say no or yes, but to
offer nothing comes from lack ofexperience in the kitchen, you
know, and lack of care.
Correct.
You know, I if I talk to a if Italk to a food rep and I ask
them, Do you guys carry castorsugar, for instance, right?
(15:37):
No, we don't.
Um, but just run this reallyfine sugar through a processor,
bring it down as much as youcan.
Okay, good.
That's somebody who knows whatthe hell's going on.
They've been in the industry,they can help push through it,
and they know that you have asugar finer, right, but it's not
castor, and we can maybe makecastor out of it.
That's your next option.
Right.
Or I go to another rep, but atleast they have the intel and
(15:58):
knowledge to be able to saysomething.
unknown (15:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
You know what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
And that's that's where we lookat when we're looking at our um
our people, you know, that thatare reps.
And I think any reputable chefor any chef who has a has a uh a
love and passion for the actualingredients themselves are gonna
have a connection with thatreps.
It's so fun.
It's fun, yeah.
And and talking to reps likeyou, you know, me and you don't
see smother uh each other asmuch as we have to because we
(16:21):
don't have to.
Correct.
You know what I mean?
We have an understanding, youknow what you're doing, I know
what I'm doing, I know what Iwant.
Right.
My chef de cuisine who ordersknows what he wants.
You guys speak, and when I havean issue, I call you, and it's
typically fixed within minutes,right?
SPEAKER_03 (16:33):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (16:33):
Uh, there's other reps out there who constantly
cause the problem, don't answerthe phone, and they're the
reason why the whole fuckingproblem is.
SPEAKER_03 (16:39):
Well, here's a question for you.
And in in the case, let me hearit, Jimmy.
Do you think it do you thinkthat you can get them better by
you giving them a coachinglesson of, hey, listen, man,
you've got to be faster.
You've got to be more um, do youthink, or do you, or would you
(17:01):
rather just call me and be andbe done with it?
It's it's see my point like thecomments.
So it all depends.
That's an individual answer.
SPEAKER_00 (17:08):
Yeah.
So that that that answer relieson the individual themselves.
Are they are they up forconstructive criticism or is
everything a defense, which istypically the case most of the
time?
SPEAKER_01 (17:17):
Most people are very defensive nowadays, anyway.
So when people I don't wantthat.
When people everything offendsthem.
SPEAKER_00 (17:21):
So it's okay to be wrong.
If if you stand up forsomething, not even in a in a
derogatory way, not even beingmean or being whatever you want
to call this shit.
If you're not even beingoffensive, you're just blunt.
I'm just blunt.
Right.
Look, a little bit.
This, this, this, this, andthis.
They get upset, they getoffensive, they get they get
offended that you talk to themlike that.
How dare you?
(17:42):
You're not their boss.
Da da da.
And in and essentially, yes, Iam your boss because I'm not.
You work for me right now.
You may work for them, but youwork for me.
Because how about this?
Get the fuck out.
Right.
Now go explain to your boss whyhis account is no longer here.
SPEAKER_03 (17:56):
Yeah.
Right.
Who's the one?
I'm gonna say something.
Yeah.
Actually, I love your point, andI think it goes deeper.
You're actually not my customer.
Your customer's my customer.
SPEAKER_00 (18:10):
True.
Same way.
SPEAKER_03 (18:11):
Your customer is my.
I have to make sure you canplease your customer with the
products that you're asking for.
SPEAKER_00 (18:18):
And that's exactly rooks both ways.
I'm looking at you.
You are the quarterback for theplay.
I need this play to go down.
You're the quarterback.
You need to send me and deliverthe fucking football so I can
make the pass.
Now fucking do it.
You know what I'm saying?
My customer needs this, and Ineed to give them what they came
here for.
And if I can't give them whatthey came here for because your
ass didn't bring it, I'm introuble.
(18:39):
You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03 (18:40):
Yes.
And we both look horrible.
SPEAKER_00 (18:42):
Right.
Yeah, we both look bad.
Right.
So well, luckily we we'll neverget there.
No, we we do good.
Now, you know what else is funnythat a lot of people don't
realize is the battle that goeson amongst behind the scenes
with the different companies andtheir reps and vendors.
I'll be sitting at the bar likeyesterday.
I was sitting at the bar withone company, and then he walks
in and I'm like, all right, it'sgonna be a rumble.
(19:03):
Fuck them up, Jimmy.
Let's do this.
And and you know, I'm trying toegg it on as best I can.
SPEAKER_03 (19:08):
You are laughing.
I went back there.
I laughed my ass off.
I'm trying to get him to fight.
I want to see a fight.
The funniest thing, and nooffense to who was here, but no
offense, and this is the way Ilook at all competing reps.
I look, people go after myaccounts all the time.
All right.
I welcome it.
It's not like I'm saying I'm thebaddest guy to ever walk, but I
(19:30):
don't worry about it.
I cannot worry about it.
SPEAKER_00 (19:34):
I have way too much going on.
Let me tell you why you can'tworry about it.
Especially here in this area.
Okay.
You guys have allocations.
A lot of them are runconcurrent.
So there are certain things thatyou cannot provide me that
someone else can, vice versa.
Sure.
It's the way it is.
Sure.
I can't just go buy everythingfrom one company.
(19:55):
Though there are a lot of repswho think I should, right?
Sorry, you don't offer what Ineed, right?
And that's the end of it.
So now because you may only haveor they may only have three or
four items I need,unfortunately, that's not enough
to make a damn package.
Right.
So I need to give them a couplethings more.
It's just the way it is.
Right.
But when you're in a when you'rein a good situation and there's
a good loyalty between a rep anda and a purveyor and a chef or
(20:19):
owner, right, you're you don'thave to worry about losing that
because you're always gonna lookout for you.
SPEAKER_03 (20:25):
I didn't worry about that with you.
SPEAKER_00 (20:26):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:26):
But just don't he's like, I don't need to fight
today.
SPEAKER_03 (20:28):
Yeah, I I'm not uh actually I'm going to back to
talk about an order guide we'rebuilding to help them order
faster and better.
Perfect.
I'm not worried about two itemsthat are gonna be missing that
you know they're gonna charge.
SPEAKER_01 (20:41):
They may come back for come back for anyway.
SPEAKER_00 (20:43):
Yeah, so there's certain things I need that you
know they have, and there'scertain things that I need that
you have.
End of story.
That's just the way it is.
You know, then we go to theother ones, the more uh the more
small um boutique style of thesevendors that you guys can't even
touch.
Right, and they can't providewhat you guys provide, and
that's bulk on other things Ineed.
So that's right.
It just works the way the fuckit is, man.
(21:03):
And every place what has tohappen is guys guys and girls,
because there's a lot of female,right?
There's a lot more female foodreps now than there ever has
been, which is good, yeah.
Really, and yes, and I like itbecause they they're out there
driving and and they get shitdone.
Yes, too.
You know what I'm saying?
I think it's been such aman-dominated field for so long.
Yes, that a woman comes in andwhatever she's going through, no
(21:24):
disrespect here, but whatever itis she's going through as a
woman that feels they need tofight with the man again, good.
I don't, I'm not complainingbecause I think it's all great.
SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
Oh, you're talking about it on the positive side.
Okay, I thought you're trying togo from like what what cycle
you're in of the month and howmuch of a bitch you're gonna
make.
That's where I thought you weregoing.
You don't have to deal with.
Well, yeah, you don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (21:42):
Typically when a woman has to be a little bit
more than a child.
No, they have to provethemselves more.
It's a male-dominated thing,yeah.
So it's a male-dominated thing.
That makes it and they're andthey're out there hustling.
Yeah.
So I'm all for it because I'mI'm here for that.
You know what I mean?
I'm supportive of it.
I love it.
Yeah.
So, and I'm not saying itbecause you need to outwork a
man by any means.
I'm just fucking happy thatsomeone's working.
Wants to work.
I'm just happy someone'sworking.
And you happen to be a woman.
(22:03):
So that's great.
You just happen to work.
So I don't give a fuck what'sdriving you.
Wouldn't it be funny if just doit?
SPEAKER_03 (22:08):
If if they could literally just see everything
you go through every day.
It I mean, they they pick up thepace instantly.
Yeah.
I mean, I know what it isbecause I've been through never
freaking.
SPEAKER_01 (22:19):
Well, that was the other part of your question.
Like, what's the percentage ofreps that that were chefs or
worked in or like had thatbackground?
SPEAKER_03 (22:25):
That's a good question.
Um I'd say 25%.
SPEAKER_01 (22:30):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (22:31):
I'd say 25%.
But that's a good percent.
That's a that's a foundation.
unknown (22:34):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (22:35):
Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (22:35):
That's enough knowledge on the bottom level to
be able to make other men aroundyou kind of educated and held
them accountable.
SPEAKER_01 (22:42):
Yeah.
And you use that to mentor andhelp help people that are your
other people like learn.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (22:47):
And there's a way to do that.
You got to be very um productivein your delivery.
That's a good way to put it.
Oh.
I like that level.
You need to be more productivein your delivery.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
We use that here.
Yeah.
Sir, can you please be a littlemore productive in his delivery?
You're boring us and you'reputting his fucking show to
sleep.
SPEAKER_01 (23:06):
You need to be more productive.
Right.
That's gonna be, yeah.
That should be your that shouldbe your t-shirts.
You can get that on the bag.
Production.
Somebody's argument making it.
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
So, what about all the, you know, I always hear
this is one thing I've alwaysheard about the food.
I was a wine rep for a long, fora while.
Okay.
All right.
So I sold wine for a while umback in the day.
Okay.
So it's kind of the same.
So what about all these things Ihear of these reps going on
these, you know, winning thesetrips to go to Europe and die?
Is that a true thing?
Or is that a does that happensometimes?
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
Well, uh, 100% transparency.
Um, I just came back fromCancun.
Uh I want to I want to trip.
I mean, it was only a three-daytrip.
It was great.
SPEAKER_00 (23:43):
Um so is that like back in school when you when you
sold so many cookies, you gotthe bicycle?
SPEAKER_03 (23:48):
You got the or you got the bracelet, depending on
what you sold.
No, it it's it's just based onum your your growth against the
year before.
SPEAKER_01 (23:57):
Your like you have set KPIs that you guys have to
have.
SPEAKER_03 (24:00):
Yep, and you're your child, you're competing against
yourself in a sense.
Yes, compete, and and I don'tneed them to ever show me that
because I do that automatically.
Yeah, I write down weekly what Idid last year last week, and I
go after that number myself.
And that's just the competitiveside of that's integrity,
though.
That's that's how you roll.
(24:20):
That's just the way I do it.
I cannot go to sleep knowingthat um, you know, I just have
to work hard.
I don't know what it is or why.
I just have to.
I feel like I ain't I feel likeI'm a piece of shit if I don't
absolutely come home destroyed.
I don't know where it is.
No, that's good.
That's the time they're wiredwhere that came from.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
That's just what you like, man.
Some people like to serve, somepeople do heroin.
Well, yeah, you like to work forit.
So it's you know, let me ask youthis with the rising costs of
everything, the eggs, the dotthat the whole shit.
Yes, everything.
It how you are you watching thenews, seeing what's going on, so
you know what argument you'regonna get into today.
You know, like you go why isbroccoli up this week and da da
(25:04):
da da.
SPEAKER_03 (25:05):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (25:05):
When is it gonna get to the point where we can't make
money off of it anymore?
When you cannot make money, usas the owner.
So we have we have to run it a30, 29, 30 food, right?
We have to do all that.
It's getting to the point now ifwe're charging$75 for a basic
plate of food.
SPEAKER_03 (25:20):
Never.
And this is why.
The consumer that goes to thegrocery store understands what
they're paying at the market.
When they go to buy their food,they understand that you are
going through the same thing.
Don't ever listen to me when Itell you this, please.
Don't ever think they don'tunderstand that.
Because they do understand that.
(25:40):
And in your situation, um, yourand a lot are they're smart
enough to know if broccoli isdoing this or broccoli is doing
this, then you can move over toa different vegetable for a
while until that comes.
(26:01):
You it's it's it's the shellgame.
And and listen, in our world,I'll be 100% transparent about
this.
It's it's rough because we wehave to buy it.
We have to buy it.
You have a choice.
You gotta buy it.
You've got a choice not to buyit.
We have to buy it.
So we have to spend the money onit.
(26:23):
Um, so we can't go without youknow certain items.
We we we have a 99.8% fill ratefor a reason.
Sure.
And that's because we our buyerscare.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
The things you're talking about more for those
people listening, I would gowith uh halibut.
unknown (26:38):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (26:38):
Avocados, eggs, milk.
SPEAKER_03 (26:41):
Um high price.
SPEAKER_00 (26:44):
Those are the ones that fluctuate where you have to
have it.
You have to have avocados withall the Mexican restaurants you
provide.
You have to have eggs becausewho doesn't have eggs in a
restaurant?
You have to have all thesethings.
And now the chef or the ownerscan shop between the who has the
best.
But I'll be honest with you, onthis side of it, there's only a
couple that have substantiallydifferent prices.
(27:05):
Pretty much everyone's in thesame ball game.
You know what I mean?
Right.
It's almost like you all areworking together or something.
Right.
No, bastards.
SPEAKER_03 (27:11):
No, what I think what I think what that is, is is
it's just how the we're ridingthe market and the you can't
charge but so much.
You know what I mean?
So and that gives you decisionto know, okay, if it's$40 here
and$39.95 here, I'm just gonnabuy from the person I like.
(27:35):
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
I think, but when it becomes$40and$55, then you gotta make a
decision.
SPEAKER_00 (27:41):
Well, it's a decision has been made.
Right.
If you're if you're if you'refrugal enough to understand food
costs and really care aboutthem, the decision's made for
you a lot.
Right.
So that that's what I kind ofbase it on.
When someone walks in and Istarts asking me why I'm buying
this from this, just bring theprice down.
I can't bring it down that low.
There's your answer.
Yeah, right.
It's we're if you want to see mehere next month to buy from you,
I need to buy this now today.
SPEAKER_03 (28:02):
Another thing is yields, chefs understanding
yields that, yeah, this pricemight be this, especially
lettuce, 40 pound against 40pound.
Well, then you got where it camefrom, what was the water weight,
you know, what is the boxweight, and then you literally
break it down per ounce, andwe're the same.
(28:22):
Yeah.
See what I mean?
Yeah.
So the yield on products and andbeef yields, and you know, you
get it.
Um, but as my job, I have toshow those yields.
I have to prove those yields.
Numbers.
Yeah, I have to, and when you dothat, then from servant to
salesman.
SPEAKER_01 (28:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (28:40):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
Well, you thought you were talking about it before
we started recording of youknow, you're choosing how much
of that cost to pass on.
So you guys have to deal withthat too.
Yes, you can't pass it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:51):
You can't pass.
I mean, how can you pass thefull cost at one time?
You can't pass the full cost atone time because you can't
afford to do it.
unknown (28:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (28:59):
You know what I mean?
And then you go to selling none,right?
Yeah.
So that's not the answer.
So it's a it's a teeter game,you know, it's a seesaw.
You gotta learn how to ride thatseesaw and not hit the ground.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (29:13):
You know, exactly.
So when when it comes to arguingwith chefs and stuff, do you get
and you find yourself inarguments at all with anybody?
Does anybody disagree?
I don't argue.
SPEAKER_03 (29:21):
I give them, you know, I I think God, man, that's
a hell of a good question.
Because my arguments are notarguments.
We have conversations, we havereal conversations.
Um in the chat.
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
A debate, if anything?
SPEAKER_03 (29:37):
Yes, yes, there's definitely a debate.
Um, but we always come to a verygood end game.
In other words, scallops.
Fucking God.
Right, right, right.
Right.
No, don't hit me.
Um God damn it.
U-tins, you know, we rememberwhen they were$85.
(29:59):
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
The can.
SPEAKER_03 (30:00):
Now add$150 to that.
And that's where they're at.
SPEAKER_00 (30:05):
But the customer still thinks it's$85 for us.
They don't understand.
Yeah.
Why is it$38 for scallops?
You fucking tell me.
I was doing good selling a lotmore cheaper.
What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_03 (30:15):
Right, exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So then you get to the watercontent of the scallop.
Is it a dry pack?
Is it a true dry pack?
Is it 7%, 17%?
24%.
Who the hell knows, right?
Well, you got to get thatscallop.
You got to sample that scallop.
The chef, the chef part comesout.
You got to pull it out of thecan.
You got to put it on a towel.
You got to let it sit rest.
You got to let it dry.
You got to sear it in the pancorrectly.
(30:36):
You got to get sandpaper on it.
And then you see what it lookslike against the other scallop.
And you go, okay, this looksthis big, and this looks this
big.
This is why this is$5 a casecheaper.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:49):
Because it's 10% more fucking water in it.
And you're so searing becomes asteam and you're boiling them
now with the liquids releasing.
And you're having an absoluteconniption over Japan because
now you're steaming.
Now you're burning, yeah, it'sjust a pain in the ass.
So you're not getting a goodsear.
So and then you get into theJapanese scallops where that's
(31:09):
the big hit right now, which notbad.
I mean, they're okay.
I don't understand thedifference between the two.
I get they're from two differentparts of the world, but why the
price is so different and thequality isn't that much
different on a U-10.
Right.
You know?
So it's a little sweeter out ofChina, actually.
Right.
So what's up with that, man?
What's the game?
They just haven't figured outthat they could rob us yet
there.
(31:30):
I think it's fine.
It is good product.
And but the thing is, they justwhy is it so much cheaper?
Because they haven't figured outthat they can play the game yet,
or what?
SPEAKER_03 (31:38):
No, I think that it's just the amount that they
can get compared to what theAmerican product can get from
the Boston and Massachusettsside.
I think it's just you've got anarea this big against an area
this big.
Yeah, yeah.
I think that's the difference.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
There's a lot more scallop in them waters.
SPEAKER_03 (31:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know that that thatproduct was actually an American
scallop at one time that wasdropped off the back of a navy
boat.
Sure.
Yeah.
So it is these.
Some brought it there.
Yeah, now the what the nowscallop is a filter, so it's
gonna filter that waterdifference.
So that's gonna be the taste andthe color difference.
(32:15):
Um but a very interestingproduct.
It's it's it's not bad.
Um it's actually good.
I don't even want to say it'snot bad.
I'm not sure.
No, they're good.
SPEAKER_00 (32:23):
The the only difference you can really tell
is in their their texture,maybe, but really in the depth
of the sweetness of this of themeat.
You can tell I can blind itblind taste it out that way too.
I see a little difference in theheight.
Yeah, the height is less, Ithink.
Yes, yeah.
So an American scallop has amuch more height to it.
Yeah.
But then again, are those thethe water-filled ones you're
talking about?
Are these true U10s or U8s orwhatever they are?
(32:45):
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03 (32:46):
I I mean I think they're true.
I I believe in this in thescallop world, and I've been to
a few scallop plants that youknow, there are no games.
There, they're people might saythey're games, these guys are
working their ass off.
They're starting with a product,they're everything about a
scallop is a lot of work, bro.
It is a ton of work.
SPEAKER_00 (33:03):
Just opening up the damn shell that they're in all
the way through, cutting themout.
And me and you have worked withfresh scallops.
We get it.
They're great.
I wish I could get shelves,fresh scallops.
It's hard.
unknown (33:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:11):
Well, it'll be nice if I have a plate.
I know a guy.
Do you?
Yeah.
Oh, you gotta get it.
JB.
Yeah, I know a guy.
Yeah, yeah.
We can't.
I love it.
No, I love working with freshscallops, and that's a great,
great, uh, that's a great thing.
You open that up, yeah, cook itthat on the shell, serve it in
the shell.
You can do some really goodstuff with that.
Smell the side.
Oh, yeah.
Rendered guanchali on there, alittle bit.
I'll make a little double day.
SPEAKER_01 (33:32):
Welcome to scallop talk.
SPEAKER_00 (33:33):
Scallop.
Scallop.
SPEAKER_01 (33:34):
We just got real into scallops.
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (33:36):
Scallop town.
SPEAKER_01 (33:37):
Sexy scallop time.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
So, what do you think about the whole thing that
do you think about um as youtravel around from restaurant to
restaurant to restaurant torestaurant, you get a good
bird's eye view of what's goingon really in the industry?
Um, I know what's going on.
I'm talking to other chefs, so Iknow what's going on.
But I really only know what'sgoing on in my kitchens, right?
Correct.
So, my kitchen that you see allthe time compared to others.
(34:00):
Do you think that this wholewoke movement and stuff is
hitting kitchens the way thatthey're talking about it through
your eyes?
Or is that something that'sstill far reached from the
kitchen?
SPEAKER_03 (34:10):
Explain the local movement.
What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00 (34:11):
The local produce, the local like woke, like not as
much of an old school brigadestyle.
Being nice and not yelling andall that stuff that you know the
culture.
Look, yelling to be an assholeis never cool anyway.
I've done it when I was younger.
A lot of chefs did it back inthe day just because they can
get away with it, but I don'tbelieve it ever made anyone.
SPEAKER_03 (34:31):
Some of my people that used to work for me could
watch this and chime in.
There's the thing as a leader inthe kitchen, everything is on
the la how good you are the lastplate.
(34:53):
You have to be good every plate,every time, because if you're
not, another restaurant is gonnabe.
Right.
And chefs that are chefs.
I'm not talking about the guythat works as Applebee and his
mom calls him a chef.
I'm talking about the chef thatknows the brigade and knows what
it means, right?
Like yourself, that youunderstand what that means.
(35:16):
And I think that employees thatwork for chefs get mixed up in
thinking passion is anger.
Yeah.
No, you're right.
Nothing is wrong with beingbeing forceful about passion
(35:37):
that you want to go out becauseyour fucking name is on that.
And that means something to youand to your to your diners.
And it would be really nice,really nice if they would just
say, you know what, chef, I getit.
You're just passionate.
You're not being an ass.
Even if you are being ass,you're just being an ass because
it's what we have to do rightnow, right?
(35:57):
It doesn't mean you're you thatthey're any less.
It just means this is what weneed to do right now.
You're not doing this correctlyright now.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (36:06):
And so do it right now, and then we'll talk about
later later.
SPEAKER_03 (36:09):
Yeah, yeah.
So now there are some cooks thatunderstand that they need that
lesson, and they're the onesthat really shine.
They're the ones who go, youknow what?
You're right.
I didn't do right.
I didn't do that right.
That pan wasn't hot enough.
I didn't clean that shrimpright.
You know what I mean?
I didn't do the I didn't cutthat beef right.
You know what I mean?
I just cut down a six down, uhsix-pound uh pismo, tenderloin,
(36:33):
and I got nine pieces.
That means I'm gonna be light,so somebody's gonna a light
piece of beef.
I did that wrong.
You know what I mean?
Nothing's wrong with that, youknow.
Um so but to answer yourquestion, there's a lot of
tiptoeing going on.
SPEAKER_00 (36:50):
Is there?
In comparison to my kitchen.
I mean, I I'm not I don't tiptoemuch, but I don't have to.
My my brigade that comes to meand works for me is educated.
They're they've been in theindustry, they come to me
because they want to work in aspot with someone like me who
who has a passion.
That's right.
So I'm I'm fortunate enough tohave that.
I I don't have to be dealingwith the lying cooks of the
world and the assholes and thedrug addicts, and I don't have
(37:11):
to, I don't need them people toget by.
I've already been that person,so I already know what I don't
need.
You know what I'm saying?
Right, right.
So I was that person back in theday, and then I grew in out of
it and then became mature andunderstood accountability and
responsibility, and it got me towhere I am today.
So I could just imagine rightnow, it's so hard for an
up-and-coming kitchen managerslash chef or whatever you want
to call them to deal with what'sgoing on because if you don't
(37:33):
own the place and you're justworking there, you can't say
anything to these people withoutthem.
I feel bad for them.
Getting up so I feel bad forthem.
I feel bad for a kitchen managerwho works for an owner, and the
owner is not a chef, and he'snot in the kitchen and they're
not there, but they're relyingon this guy, and they all know
he's not a chef.
They're not the boss of him.
There's nothing they can do.
He can't fire him.
(37:54):
There's no respect.
So the second you tell thatperson to stop being an asshole
or grow up or stop being a pussyor let's get the fuck together
here.
Let's go.
Let's get your shit together.
They want to run off and cry.
It's it's a hard world right nowfor our industry because this is
what I tell everybody, Jimmy.
Absolutely.
And I'll tell it again out therefor everybody.
The problem is you can be aswoke as the fuck you want.
You can be as upset as you want.
(38:16):
You can be as, you know, you canbe uh as frustrated as you want,
you can be as um uh caring andas empathetic as you want.
But the problems in the kitchenhave never fucking changed.
Okay?
You can be woke and deal withthem differently now, but it
doesn't change the problem.
When a pan's on fire, you got agrease fire, when the fucking
stack of tickets are out, whensomeone gets sick or someone
(38:37):
cuts their hand in the middle ofa rush, uh, someone drops a
plate on the last plating of aof a something going over the
past, and now the whole you whenthat happens, how the hell is
that problem any woker than theway you want me to respond to
it?
You see what I'm saying?
The problems didn't get weaker,the problems didn't get more
soft and empathetic.
The problem's still the fuckingsame as when we were yelling
(38:58):
about him fucking uh 20 yearsago, right?
So how are the how are wesupposed to stop?
Consider the problem isdifferent now, and we have to
worry about her feelings thatdropped it or his feelings that
dropped it on the floor in themiddle of a rush.
That problem didn't change.
SPEAKER_03 (39:13):
So, how the hell is our reaction to it supposed to
change?
A pan of burnt bacon is still 33slices of bacon that is burnt.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:20):
So, how do we well you next time don't let's not
burn it again?
Yeah, no, fuck that.
Right.
There is no next time.
How do you burn bacon?
Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03 (39:30):
Yeah, it's funny when you really think about it.
It is funny.
SPEAKER_00 (39:33):
There's a lot of things you can laugh at.
SPEAKER_03 (39:34):
Put it in, you pull it out, right?
SPEAKER_00 (39:36):
You know, I could sit here and laugh at all the
things I've done, right?
Or all the things people havedone.
Right.
And I can laugh at my reaction,but it was all necessary at the
time.
That's what happened.
Of course.
Natural.
SPEAKER_03 (39:47):
You gotta go through the fail, dude.
SPEAKER_00 (39:49):
So I don't believe that being woke in the kitchen.
There's different things.
When you're talking about youremployees, when you're being
empathetic towards theirsituation at home, their home
life, they're maybe they'resick, or maybe they're going
through some things.
That's different.
Maybe their car blew up and theydon't have a ride home, or maybe
the Uber, they can't afford Uberanymore because they live on the
other side of town.
All those things are somethingdifferent.
That that's something more I canhave empathy with and sit down
(40:12):
with and talk about.
But when you're dropping thingsout of carelessness and you're
consistently doing the samething wrong, or you're showing
up late all the time, you aregoing to get the unwoke, wide
awake fucking reaction to that.
unknown (40:23):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (40:23):
You know what I'm saying?
Because the reaction, the theproblem you created is no
different than if you would havecreated it 20 years ago.
Right.
So why do I have to actdifferent towards the problem?
It's the same problem.
Right.
You know what I mean?
You create a problem, you getthe reaction.
SPEAKER_03 (40:37):
Do you think some of the differences nowadays is when
we were going through it andgetting taught, it meant
something when that chef taughtyou how to make the consummate
for the first time.
SPEAKER_00 (40:53):
Absolutely.
When you learned how to actuallybraise properly.
Do you know I have a guy that'sbeen working with me for a long
time who still hasn't asked mehow to make one thing, but he'll
watch, watch, watch, and thenpractice, but he won't have the
fucking balls.
And I taught him how to do mostof the stuff in this industry,
and he and he still won't.
And this goes on all the time.
This happens all the time.
There are people that are afraidto ask chefs now because they
(41:13):
they think they're fooling thechef that they already know or
they don't want to.
SPEAKER_01 (41:18):
Nobody knows everything.
SPEAKER_00 (41:18):
Of course.
That's exactly what it is.
They watch it on TV, and now youdon't have to ask a chef because
instead of asking the chef andlooking like you don't know, you
go to the bathroom and act likeyou're taking a piss and then
YouTube what you're doing, soyou don't have to fuck it up.
My brain don't even go there.
I catch them all.
I catch them all doing it.
You know, that's hilarious.
You you think I don't have to goon things in YouTube?
Of course.
Of course.
Of course, but you gotta stayit.
Of course, I look in recipebooks.
(41:40):
Of course, I look back at mybooks from back in the day and
and of course I reach out tochefs.
Right.
The only ignorant fuckers noware being taught that you don't
have to do it.
I guess it's the I don't know ifit's social media or the
accessibility to all thisinformation to where you
shouldn't have to ask.
But people are learning how todo things going on YouTube,
they're learning how to make ademi or or braise something, and
then they're passing it off likethey knew this already.
(42:03):
They've they have so muchexperience instead of just
asking the fucking chef orworking with them.
You know, look, we can all sithere and cook Italian food or
braise meats or do anything likethat.
But my style of doing it isdifferent, is what makes my
braze different than theirbraze.
My osubuco is gonna be differentthan their osubuco.
You can watch on YouTube how tomake it generally, right?
But my cooking method is whatyou're taking.
(42:25):
Right.
You see what I'm saying?
When you work for me for 10years, seven years, six years,
five years, you have picked upmy style of my kitchen, of my
method of what is going on andwhy people come here, right?
Then you're gonna carry on withthat.
Yes, you learned how to cookosubuco, but you've also learned
how to cook it my way, whichfills my restaurant nine times
out of ten.
Right.
You see what I'm saying?
Right.
So you may have learned how tocook osubuko your way, and it
(42:47):
may not be hitting as good asmine, vice versa.
Right.
Maybe you can make it betterthan me.
Right.
But it the method of making it'sthe same.
Right.
But the extra twists we take,the extra timing, the extra
charge.
SPEAKER_03 (42:57):
You might put finno in your braids, I might put
carrots.
SPEAKER_00 (42:59):
Correct, right?
Exactly.
Or I may, I may uh brown minelonger, deeper.
I maybe I figured out a lowertemperature to cook it than you,
and maybe I learned how tofucking render fats differently
so they're not breaking up asmuch, and I'm getting more
protein out of them.
There's a bunch of things you'relearning by watching me that
you're not even learning.
You don't even understand you'relearning.
SPEAKER_03 (43:15):
That's funny you say that because when I used to do
my beef stock, I would actuallytake ground beef and burn it to
get that deep smoky flavor.
Sure.
That people were like, whoa.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (43:27):
What is that?
Just get that carbon, you got acarbon, get that carbon on it,
you know.
But listen, we're gonna we'rewe're starting to talk about
food now as chefs, and that's myfavorite thing to do.
So I'm gonna stop now becauseanother episode.
SPEAKER_02 (43:37):
Right.
Sorry.
SPEAKER_00 (43:39):
We know you're busy being a food rep, and you're a
damn good one.
I will say that you work for agreat company.
I won't say that because Ireally do unless they pay me.
Um but you know, it's it's youdo a great job.
We appreciate you.
You have a lot of knowledge, youhave a lot of industry
knowledge.
Thank you.
Period.
And that's why I like workingwith you.
But I think it's good for peopleto listen to someone from your
side of the house when it comesto this, because you're a person
(44:02):
too, and you need a hug.
You know what I mean?
You need a hug, buddy.
SPEAKER_01 (44:05):
Sometimes you need a hug.
SPEAKER_00 (44:06):
Sometimes look, he's looking at me like I'm fucking
crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (44:09):
Until he tells you, like fighting.
SPEAKER_03 (44:11):
I mean, I guess sometimes I do, sometimes I
don't.
I mean, it's it's okay.
I mean, we get beat up everyday.
It's it's it's it's just whatyou go through, you know?
Yeah, it's just part of it.
You get beat up every day, too.
So, I mean, it is what it is.
Look, it's no secret for me.
I work my ass off for my twingirls at home and my wife that's
(44:31):
the bond advantage.
She gets hotter, honey.
I love you.
She's absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (44:35):
That's and that's the beauty of the restaurant
industry.
No matter what part of it you'rein, we're all kind of on that
same common ground.
We're all working our ass offfor the betterment of our
situations at home.
And just like any blue table.
SPEAKER_03 (44:46):
Be honest, I work for my I love my company.
I love the people I work for.
Sure.
They're amazing people.
They get it.
Um, I left one to come to theother.
It's the best move I've evermade.
No offense to anything.
I didn't want to talk about it,but it just naturally came out.
The people I work for now, theythey're just they're simply hard
(45:09):
working care.
SPEAKER_00 (45:10):
And we'll end it on that.
SPEAKER_03 (45:11):
It makes it so much fun.
SPEAKER_00 (45:13):
We'll end it on that.
What he's saying is take care ofyour fucking people.
Being listen to them, hear them,and they'll take care of you.
And that's the end of that fortoday.
So, ciao for now.
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