019. SAMBOOK & CO [VIDEO]

Robyn from Sambook & Co is the woman who does it all—entrepreneur, caterer, and the driving force behind one of Sydney’s top-tier catering companies. She’s been the backbone of multiple businesses, handling operations for one of Australia's leading hairstylists and supporting one of Sydney’s most in-demand bridal hair artists—all while running her own thriving catering company.

From luxury bridal breakfasts to full-scale wedding feasts, Robyn breaks down the realities of wedding catering, the pressure of creating Instagram-worthy food experiences, and the biggest mistakes couples make when planning their menus. Plus, an exclusive look at her newest venture, TOASTED—a café concept that’s been years in the making.

HOSTED BY @georgejohnphotography
PRODUCED BY @danieljohnmedia
FEATURING @sambookco

Episode Transcript

(00:12):
Shake it out, George. I'm good.
I need to shake it out. No, I'm fine.
You're fine smiling at me with all your teeth.
Yeah, I need to get my knees done.
No, like your teeth don't do that.
The woman that can do it all. Robin, welcome to the crew
table. Thank you for having me.
Feel like I had to drag you in here.
You did a little bit. Gosh, she said no to me.
Morgan I. Might still run out the door.

(00:33):
That's OK, run out. That's going to be the segment
that's. Going to be like chasing me
outside. That's going to be the Madhulk
TMC running you with the camera A Current Affair.
Why do you think you would come?Just down the street.
Guys who we have at the table, her name's Robin, she's my
friend. This is Robin.
Hi. But she's the owner of Sambuk.

(00:54):
Is it Sambuk or Sambuk and Co? No, it's Sambuk.
Sambuk right? I always get confused.
Sambuk. Sambuk and Co, yeah.
Yeah, but the reason why I said she's the woman that can do it
all is because she's the woman that can do it all.
Quite simply, she was the backbone and currently is the
backbone of multiple businesses,whether people know it or not.
I'm going to call myself as one of them because you're like a

(01:15):
lifeline of a friend. But in a realistic standpoint,
you were like the in house administrator for your cousin
Natalie Ann. And even though she's here in
the room, talk shit about her Dodie J, you're a backbone in
the support system to your sister.
Unofficially more with Dodie than you were with Nat on an
administrative level level. But you know, you have the

(01:38):
capacity somehow to put on thesehats more than anyone I know
you. Have so many hats, yeah.
You have a closet of hats. So many hats.
Before I do your plug, happy birthday Dodie.
If I haven't wished it enough publicly, guys, it's daddy's
birthday today of recording eventhis is we're coming out in like

(01:59):
3 weeks time. Yeah, day of recording.
Happy birthday today. But you know, you specialised in
catering. That is what everyone knows you
as. Yes.
Food queen connoisseur. Oh.
Thank you. But you know, I've correcting me
if I'm wrong. Most people would really
recognise you for your bridal tables.
Yeah, right. Yes, correct.

(02:20):
However, you do catering for a lot of corporate companies.
We do like all types of all types of catering and a lot of
corporate but mostly recognise for bridal tables.
Yeah. Would you say that percentage
wise you do more for corporate or for bridal?
That's a hard one. Sometimes it's in between,

(02:41):
sometimes it's more than the other.
But I would say like a very big majority of our business is the
bridal market now venturing likenot just the bridal table, the
bridal shower, the pre wedding majority of the bridal, the
bridal tables. I feel like in the last year
I've seen you everywhere do morecorporate in a good way, but

(03:02):
maybe because I know you're on the back end.
I think more so that we never used to put out there as much
that we do corporate and I thinkbecause with corporate it's not
as Instagrammable. What's going to get to that?
Oh, sorry. No, no, Yeah, keep.
Going OK, it's not as Instagrammable and marketable as
a bridal table would be. A lot of our corporate is like a

(03:25):
takeaway option, something that needs to be convenient in and
out for either small amount of people or a really large one.
Whereas bridal is more, it's more beautiful, it's more an
experience, it's more colour, it's bright, yeah.
Yeah, I get it. It it's it is easier to share
and it is sometimes more shareable.
But we're going to tap into everything catering guys,

(03:45):
everything bridal, a lot of business talk, past experiences
and stories. But also Robin is not stopping
there. She's starting to launch a new
brand venture and I'm not sure if it's going to be announced
before this episode drops. I hope it's not for my sake, but
she is opening up a cafe called Toasted, yes.
Toasted by Samu. I was there last night.

(04:07):
You're like still setting up thesetting up age and it's, it's
amazing like it was. I was so taken back.
I'm still taken back. Even though OK, wait premise
here guys, Robin lives one blockfrom me.
She literally lives behind so I think the street behind you,
she's that street behind my house.
So I see her on a weekly basis. Out of all my friends including

(04:30):
Tanya and Dodi in this room and everyone here, Robin's my OG.
Like this is very originated. Long time.
If anyone is wondering this is very originated.
I was friends with Robin 1st andthen everyone else leeched onto
our friendship because it were like leeches right?
They want to be like me and George.
They want to be like me and George.
It's. Not rude, it's the truth.
Yeah, it's factual history. Yeah, and your mum loves me.

(04:53):
What is it? No, She was packing down my
engagement and you came and helped her pack down the
engagement. Yeah, anyways, fact checking
over there, so if we are blurring the lines, we'll try to
correct each other. Deal.
Yeah, deal. OK the listeners are going to be
like, what are they talking about?

(05:13):
OK, Anyway, so I was at Robin shop yesterday.
It was incredible. Even though I've seen everything
in the works of you showing me, I'm gobsmacked at how it's come
together. Yeah, and to be honest, I'm
surprised at the spaces size. Like it felt very airy and very
incredible. Yeah, I think for me, when we

(05:34):
took the space, so just a background, I've been looking at
that, that block of shops for about four years.
The real estate is sick to deathof me.
He knows everything about me. So the reason why was because I
like the size of the shops on that side of the strip.
And when that shop became available, it was more so the

(05:55):
size that enticed me to take it.For me, I don't, I'm a bit of a
claustrophobic person and I liketo have things organised in a
certain way where people have room to move a standard.
Smaller cafes, smaller takeaways.
I don't think that I could have.I can't open my HQ there as
well. And that was a really big

(06:16):
reason. Yeah.
One of the biggest reasons why like I need space for props, we
need space for. Like the kitchen is bigger than
the actual cafes. It is.
It is the kitchen and the store room is bigger than the cafe
space. But hence by the reason I took
it because of the space and the.Size.
So you're going to now run Simbuk from there.
So like when you're prepping andstuff, it's all going to take.
That'll be our official HQ. That is sick.

(06:37):
Yeah, so. Like it'll be pick up drop off
location, it'll be where all thecatering leaves from, everything
leaves from and comes to one place.
And it's down the road from me, baby.
Yeah, I'm going to be coming. Down the road from job.
Ozempic sponsor me. We've got your face on the door.
Tanya's looking at me like you're a cooked person.

(06:58):
What? There's so much good food to me.
I'm gonna get that. Don't be so sad.
It's OK. Oh.
He was such a Yeah, I'm not. You're supposed to say no,
George. You're beautiful the way you
are. Yeah, we love him just the way
he is. Anyways, to be open and honest
and raw, right off the bat I'm going to smoke pull smoke up
your arse but a little bit. But I think you are so freaking

(07:19):
talented. Thank you.
And I know I'm your friend so I know it's bias but like you are
so creative and so OCD it's sickening.
Like I've seen you on the jobs and you're just so annoying
about how perfect you like things.
So I'm excited about this conversation as much as you are
not. Yeah.
And I'm just waiting for the next question after you've been

(07:40):
nice. This is the first question.
I haven't really asked the question.
That was just like the background.
But you've been involved with somany businesses.
So Nat, you're doing admin for so many years.
You're still all forever be involved with your sister's
business, helping her as a sister.
Yeah. What do you feel like or how has
it been like juggling the role as being your own business
owner, a mother, a wife and support system to so many other

(08:03):
business at one time? How's that been like?
It's fun. It's fun.
Let's say first it's fun. I think for me, the biggest
thing for me is I love seeing people succeed.
I wish well on everybody. So when I see someone in need or
if there is something I can support with, I'll put my hand

(08:26):
up and I'll try my best to support that person.
It does take its toll though when you are a mum, a wife, a
business owner, have a full timejob and all of these things.
There are times where I want to throw all my hats in the bin.
But it's quite rewarding seeing the growth.

(08:48):
Does that make sense? It's not easy.
Never going to say it's easy andI'm never going to say to walk
in the park, to be a part of so many things and doing so many
things at the same time. Is that making sense?
Yeah, it is. It's not easy at all.
But you, I'm a very chaotically organised person, so although

(09:10):
it's all chaos all the time, it works for me.
But you just need to be consistent, and finding that
consistency sometimes can be very hard.
Yeah. If you're not organised, you
can't do that. Yeah.
Where did you find? Well, how did you imagine
yourself into the catering industry?

(09:32):
Like where did that path lead to?
How did you get into work? How did we get into catering?
There's a bit of a back story tohow we got into catering.
Yeah, all right. Depends how far we want to go
with the conversation. That's up to you.
Right, so story my parents got separated and my mum needed to

(09:53):
work right? I had just gotten married, I had
a baby, they were living overseas.
She came back. So we needed to figure out as a
family how we were going to makethis new path work now.
So my mum was always cracker at Lebanese foods.
Sambul seeking could be everybody knew her for everybody
knew she made the best sambul seek the best could be.
My mum was known for it so she started making Kabir and Sambul

(10:17):
sick from home and selling it frozen to people.
Oh, there. You go.
So we right, so she started selling Sambul skin kabi from
home turned into trays of the trays of Kabir frozen.
And then it turned into can you also make us a fructosh?
Can you also make us a chicken and rice?

(10:37):
Can you also make us a salad? And then it kept going and then
it was can you come and set it up for us so it looks nice on
the table? My mum can't do it by herself.
The woman's scared of driving, so like she's scared of driving
outside of like the the five kilometre range.
So I was then delivering food for her.

(10:59):
I was then going and placing food out for her.
And at that time it was just helping mum out and then it grew
and it grew and it grew. Itself when you took over.
Yeah, to a point where she couldn't handle it on her own
and it needed management. It needed a lot of things.
We were simply by word of mouth.We were never online.
So then I took over and that's when Sandburg was born, sort of

(11:24):
thing. That's awesome.
That's a great story. Yeah.
So credit to your mum. Credit to Mum.
Yeah, Mum's like the backbone. And she's still in the kitchen.
She's refuses to get out like mymum is there I.
Don't think she should get out, ever.
No, absolutely not. The reason why?
My mum loves to work so she's definitely still in the kitchen
and she is like the single hand that goes through all of our

(11:46):
food. She cheques everything.
She's got like severe OCD as well, which is great and
everything comes from the same hands.
So for our clients, they love that that's the case.
Like it goes through the same hands all the time.
Even though we have staff and we've grown and everything else,
my mum's still there. The quality's always, you know,
the quality's over there and my mum has like such a taste for

(12:06):
food. She's like, God bless her hands,
such hands for food. And we keep that consistency and
we've kept it. But that was pretty much how
sandwich started are. You laughing at me?
Oh, you're not laughing at me? OK, just checking.
You better not be laughing at me.
Sorry guys, just getting the minions in trouble over there.

(12:29):
Like what? What is happening?
I saw someone laughing like whatdid?
I do say something. Did I fucking say something?
Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Yeah. So that was pretty much how how.
Strong persona that you have about like always a willing and
able to do it all. Do you think you you got that

(12:50):
trait from your mum or was that something that just like you
built like it came within yourself?
No, I think that that kind of personality, that kind of
persona came from, I think it came from need to, to have to be
that way, to have to pick up thepieces.
You know. So then what happens when you

(13:11):
need the support? Who do you turn to?
Thank God I have a great supportsystem around me.
I have to say like I have, I wasvery blessed with my in laws.
My mother in law is like, and the prayer I didn't know that I
I was praying for my sister in law's the same.
My mom is the same. My sister is the same.
Like as much as we work, as muchas I, you know, have always tied

(13:35):
myself into people's businesses,tied myself into ventures, help
people out. My support system, no matter how
much I supported people, my support system has always been
stronger, if that makes sense. Like the people around me
constantly have my back and I guess I'm very blessed in that
way, if that makes sense. Well, speaking about your
support system and family, you obviously have your mum in the

(13:56):
kitchen and everyone around you helping out.
What's been the best and the hardest part with working with
family? So we all work together like my
mum, my husband, like my auntie's in there.
Like it's, you know, it's familybased.
There's a lot of lot of family in there.
The best part is that we all know each other really well.
So everybody knows each other's don't do that.

(14:19):
Do you know what I mean? Say everybody knows not to do
that, not to do this, do this, do that.
Like we all understand each other on a personal level so
well, we understand that. If I've got a certain look on my
face without saying it, then no,I'm upset.
And it's the same with them. I think the hardest part is also
knowing that because if somebody's disappointed or

(14:39):
somebody's upset and you're in the thick of catering and it's
chaos in the kitchen and it's hot and the oven's on, there is
an emotional attachment there. And the last thing you need with
business is an emotional attachment.
Like because business should be black and white.
We've always been taught business should be a straight
transaction, but in my business there is a lot of emotion, good

(15:02):
emotion and. Bad emotion.
There's a lot of grey area, likeeven working with my husband,
like sometimes, sometimes it's amazing.
And sometimes like I'll know secretly my husband has like,
you know, he's upset about something, but we can't talk
about it there and then. That's hard in itself, feeling
people's energy and emotion on apersonal level when you know
what they're like. That's probably the good and the

(15:24):
bad part of working with family.It's incredible to know.
Yeah, as you can tell by the thing my questions that I've
been asking in the next one, it's around family and your
background, but you've obviouslyspent a lot of time around a lot
of powerful, successful women, specifically, obviously the two
that I've mentioned, Nat and Dodi.

(15:44):
I'm sure there's so many others,your mum, so many other women
around you that maybe I'm not even aware of.
What's been the biggest lesson you've learnt from them when it
comes to running a business? It's a good question.
George Oh, that's what I'm here for, baby.
It's a. Good question.

(16:04):
There's so many ways I could answer that question.
My brain's frying out. Just take your time.
Yeah, now's your chance to answer it.
I think the biggest thing I've learned over the years, there's
multiple things you learn over that many, that amount of time.
Yeah, learnt patience. Patience is one of the things
that you have to have patience in business.

(16:27):
I think it's important that I, over time, be always try and be
the best version of yourself andalways try and be the better
person in any situation. Does that make sense?
It does elaborate that for. A living, OK, so, so many ways

(16:48):
being the best version, like always try your best to give
your best in business when when in business, you can't let
emotion get you down. So put that aside.
I already mentioned that, but always try and be the best
person you can be. So if you're servicing a client
and that client gets upset, try and be the best person you can

(17:09):
be and the better person in that.
If you're doing well, when someone next to you is doing
well, try and be the best version of yourself.
Don't worry about what's happening over there or what
that person's doing or what somebody else is doing.
Try and be the best you can be all the time.
It's refreshing to hear. Does that sound does that?

(17:30):
No, no, it's it's great. Do you know what I mean?
It's great. I feel like great things come,
Yeah. When you try and be the best
version of yourself and always try and be the better person in
every situation. Want to touch on like the
business of catering and the business of bridal in your
world? Because catering is, no pun

(17:51):
intended, one of the most high pressure jobs that people will
define anything in hospitality when it comes to food or that
kind of element of work. What is something about the
business that people don't realise that's kind of a
challenge or a reward? It's hard work.
UK. It's long work, it's very long

(18:15):
work, it's hard work. It looks pretty when you look at
it in a photo. But there is a lot of hours that
go into catering. There is a lot of preparation
that goes into catering. There is a lot of admin work
that go into catering. Like there is a lot that goes
into the background to where youget to the finished product.
What you see on Instagram, the pretty table, some fruit and

(18:35):
some vegetables and it looks so nice and whatever.
But there is so much that goes into it.
I mean, by the time you discuss with the client, make an
agreement on the menu, make changes to the menu several
times, adjust for numbers, source the product, make sure
it's perfect, draw it out. There is so much more that goes
into it than what you see. Yeah, Yeah.

(18:58):
So then what, What is the biggest challenge when like
trying to decipher the experience versus the actual
tangible product when it comes to the client?
I'm getting at this because I know your business, so I know
the process and the protocol andI know the challenges you face
when it comes to changes. Maybe we'll make that the tone

(19:23):
of conversation right now. I think.
Because something you deal with,I'll speak on your behalf for a
little bit and correct me if I'mwrong, that is challenging is
the constant change required when it comes to bookings,
right? And I'm talking about menu
changes. Literally like something so
simple but on the back end when someone actually takes the time
to realise you're talking about market fluctuations, market

(19:46):
availability, labour cost changes when it comes to certain
food requirements. Some bookie, some bookie, some
bookie. Sambusic is hard, it's labour
intensive. The bull is hard.
The douche might be a little biteasier.
Greek Southern might be a littlebit easier to make.
Like there's changes that require different costs.
That's it. I'm about to win a little

(20:07):
business of lasting. OK, let it out walking.
Let it out, let it out. Can we just say it 50 more times
because Sambuki and go? There goes the Tiktok comments
racing me obviously so. Hard.

(20:27):
It is, Oh my God, back to this great question that I took 90
years to write. What is the greatest challenge
when it comes that people don't even realise?
When it comes to like the whole pressure around changes and
costs and communication and bridal breakfast?
I think I'm stunting on your question because I even
sometimes fail to not recognise.I know that they're there, but

(20:53):
we do it so often that I kind ofsweep it under the rug now.
But there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that you
just become so accustomed to it.But the biggest challenge is
changing menus is so hard. Having to bust out the job is so
hard. Taking on too much work is so

(21:13):
hard. I find a lot of the time the
biggest challenge would be time.Time is one of the biggest
challenges I face with our line of work because how far advanced
are you booked for photography? 12 to 16 months, OK.
Usually we might get booked a bridal breakfast 12 to 16
months, but we have sample options that are
straightforward. They might make little tweaks or

(21:35):
changes. Whereas there's the other side
of our work that a lot of the time people don't see on a daily
where we're getting orders 24 to48 hours prior and we're talking
big orders. Time is one of the challenges I
face because by the time you sitdown with a client, go through
their menu, change their menu, and then the auntie calls and
says, you know what, don't do this.
I just, you have to do my stuff because our family likes that

(21:55):
better. And then you, you're talking
about two to three hours admin time with the client.
And then you have time to sourcethe stock in time to prep the
stock time to get the job out. I find a lot of the time time is
one of the biggest challenges. Like you don't ever have enough
of it. Yeah.
Do you know what I mean? No, I get it.

(22:16):
The amount of hours and the timewe put into the work is also a
big challenge because it's so. Preparation heavy, right?
Preparation heavy and it's so labour intense.
I mean, sometimes we pull out 1617 hour days, Yeah, you know,
like we'll be on our feet from 3:00 or 4:00 AM and we won't
finish till 9:00 or 10:00 PM. No word of a lie.
My next question word for it is time is everything on a wedding

(22:36):
day. Do I keep answering your?
Questions. How do you manage the pressure
of timelines to ensure everything's perfect for bridal
breakfast? Time, organised time.
So you manage time like it's just about.
Just comes down to time. With me.
Me personally, everything is scheduled.
And I think this is like one of the big things going into a cafe
because I don't get a menu 24 hours in advance, so I can't

(23:00):
schedule my time. So with the bridal table, for
example, we'll say, OK, what time is guest arrival?
Not photographer arrival. Guest arrival.
Don't have the thing at me. I don't give you a hard time.
Photographer arrival Get what time's your guest arrival?
We'll work backwards and then once we understand that, I can
work out. How many more bridal breakfasts

(23:20):
can we take on that day? How many other jobs can we take
on that day? It all for me personally, for me
revolves around time. Scheduling.
Scheduling it is the hardest thing.
You need to find it all the timebecause by the time you it's not
only, it's after the job, you got to go back, you've got to
pack it down, you've got to bring everything back, you've
got to clean it all, make sure it's all presentable for the

(23:42):
next one and then do it all overagain.
So when brides are wanting that luxury look and feel, do you
feel like they focus more? Like you get that pressure of
it? This is a hard question.
It's kind of like on the risky side to ask you, but do you feel
like they focus more about the how it looks on Instagram than
how it actually tastes? A lot of the time I feel like

(24:07):
that's changed slightly. The last maybe six months
previous to that, I would get anInstagram photo and I want this
for my bridal morning and it would be the florals and it
would be the table and they wouldn't want much food, but
they'd want that look and they'dwant mainly the florals.
I feel like now, I don't know ifit's become an education thing
because we try, I try so hard. I talk to my clients one on one.

(24:32):
I'm the point of contact, they talk to me.
So over time I've educated the client like if you only have
this amount of food, you're onlygoing to get X amount of pieces
per person. So now that's it's.
About re educating. It's about re educating.
It's about educating the client on the service that you're
paying for and what you're goingto end up with on the day.

(24:55):
So I feel like now people are still wanting something that
looks beautiful, but I think I've set a tone for my business
so people when they land on my page and they enquire with me,
they already know the look that they want, if that makes sense.
It does make sense because I'm going to be very honest to your
face, it's not with your work, but just in general in the

(25:17):
catering space because whenever we have guests in certain
fields, I feel like a lot of caterers might listen to this.
Now I'm going to be dead honest.There is some food pieces that
bridal breakfast is that I'm like, why is this on here?
No one's going to eat it. Like it's it's what people are
dressed up in suits or girls have their hair and makeup done.
No one wants to eat this food like it's too difficult to eat.

(25:38):
There is there's like no thoughtprocess of like what a guest
actually wants for it's not a sit down.
It's like a. Quick nibble.
That was why we pulled. Do you, do you understand where
I'm getting at? 100% because I can't even think
of the pieces. But like I'll always, I'll
always go for like the cleanest item, like a wrap or something.
Look, I can't talk. I'm I'm, I'll eat, I'll eat the

(25:58):
whole table if I could, but. We we know, but.
Did you cut it out? Love it.
Love it. She goes.
We know. Oh.
Forgot what you were saying. Forget what I said, whatever,
I'm going to go to my next question because it's touching
on the same. Topic but point on that you.
Can what? What's 1 mistake couples keep

(26:19):
making when planning their wedding?
Catering for the morning of their wedding.
Oh, good question. Again, you're great with the
questions today, George, you're doing a great job.
Great job. Thank you.
OK, one thing that I'm finding alot, and this comes back to re
education as well. So they will say that they have
50 people coming to the house each way on the morning of the

(26:40):
wedding. 50th, the bride, 50th the grim.
Now, whether or not they're having whatever ceremony they're
having, whether it's, you know, if they're having a church
ceremony, they're not having a church ceremony, whatever
they're having, they don't anticipate that their guests are
going to come back to their house after the ceremony and eat
again. Do that again.
They still do that. They definitely still do that.

(27:01):
Back to the bride's house. Back.
To the bride's and the groom's house, like the families will go
to whatever ceremony that they're doing, whether like I
said we will be church or whatever and they'll go back to
the family's houses to wait for that waiting period between the
church and the reception. And that's 50 or 60 or 70 people
coming back to your house again to eat again.

(27:25):
So that's something the the misconception you're catering
for the morning, but you're onlycatering for the morning.
And this is something that we'vestarted asking our clients is
everyone coming back to the house because if they are and
you're expecting 50, you have toovercater.
Otherwise your your parents or whoever's hosting that segment

(27:46):
of the day. I never.
Thought of it that. Way are going to be scrambling
to find food and they've got some leftover from the morning.
It's not a lot. It's not enough.
They're going to be scrambling like they're going to have to
fill the need of that, like hospitality and be hospitable to
their guests. Yeah.
Yeah. Talking about pricing, how do
you price your food when the market constantly changes?

(28:06):
Because obviously you literally run off the markets like if
you're having oysters, like the price of an oyster changes or
vice capsicums and avocados, whatever it may be.
Whatever. Yeah, like, I mean, fluctuation
has come down slightly six months ago, seven months ago.
I mean, we will. It's got more stabilised.
It went through the roof like a couple of months ago.
We actually didn't put up our prices.

(28:27):
We tried to stay as consistent as possible because obviously
it's not going to stay that way,even though like you know, with
all the, everybody was saying like, you know, that's it, the
price has gone up, they're nevergoing to come back down.
It was so unrealistic at the time for me and I was like, I'm
going to put my prices up for a short period of time to clients
that have been loyal to me for so long for we're talking 789

(28:48):
years now. So we kept our pricing
consistent when it came to things like prawns and oysters
and that we price market price so that that's individual
pricing. But for everything else, we have
set pricing. So when that time came, we
didn't. In hindsight, we probably should
have, but we try and keep it as consistent as possible and

(29:09):
estimate with the fluctuation what it's going to be so that
we're not constantly changing the pricing on people.
So have you found playing the long game more rewarding or more
of a challenge when it comes to running the?
It's why it's, it's sometimes you win with food, sometimes you
lose. That's a given.

(29:29):
You don't know. I could price a job this week
and next week we could have severe rain and all the parsley
could go. Yeah.
Well, you think of Queensland right now, it's.
A. You know what I mean?
You can. Give like all the crop there.
So what do you do? You could go from having a bunch
like a market bunch of parsley for three or $4.00 and it could
shoot up to $16.00, yeah, withina week.
So what are you going to do? Are you going to ring the client

(29:51):
and say or guess what, you're going to have to add X amount of
dollars, yeah, onto it or are you going to keep it consistent?
People often compare home cookedfood to to high end catering
right? Yeah.
Do you think clients underestimate your work that
goes into event catering? I don't.

(30:13):
I don't really think so. I think anybody who's going to
reach out to us is because they want more of a home cooked meal.
I don't have an event. Also, depending on the menu they
choose George, like, I mean, if they're choosing more of a
canape menu, it's a little bit different to a home pulled meal
because you're not getting, you know, if you're not going to
choose the mains and the salads and things like that and you're
going to choose the canapes, it's very different.

(30:35):
Yeah. But if you're calling us for the
main meals, you are pretty much getting a home meal because what
we put on our own tablet at homeis what we give to our guests.
The same way we prepare for homeis the way we prepare for our
clients. I'm going to talk about toasted
for a little bit. That's what I think of when I
say the word toasted. You know, when the Breville, the

(30:57):
cheese hits the Breville, it looks like it's ready.
Anyways, You've mastered large scale events.
Yeah. I don't even need to list your
corporate clients or, you know, the bridal work you've done.
It's I don't want to, I don't want to give that flex.
I want to be humble. Yes, it's keep it humble.
Keep it humble. But what's what do you predict

(31:18):
is going to be the biggest challenge from moving into
events to now like a daily cafe business?
I'm going to say time. That should be time.
I am, yes. It's time be quite 2Y with my
catering events. I know ahead of time what jobs
I've got on, what my menu is, what time it needs to be there.

(31:40):
I'm very organised. I know exactly what's happening
on that day. There is.
It's a controlled environment. No changes.
It's very controlled. We know what we're doing from
start to finish. Everyone has their job.
When you're going into daily service, it's so different
because it's on the minute. Any order for anything could
come in at any point in time andyou have no control over it and

(32:02):
you need to get it done now in areasonable amount of time.
It's not on the card. I'm just curious, are you going
to go? On Uber, Yeah.
Like, yeah. Like those services?
Yeah, of course. Yeah, definitely, but not
straight away. I heard a lot of like fussing
about from a lot of food people in the hospitality industry
about Uber. This is young to go though, like

(32:24):
2 years three years ago. In regards.
To like pricing and you know the.
The pricing is like 3030% additional.
Yeah, it's 30% on top. The reason why I'm not choosing
to go onto Uber straight away isbecause I can't control how an
Uber driver gets, how quickly the driver gets to you.

(32:44):
If you order food from me, I canmake it straight away, but
nothing's saying that he's not taking two or three orders.
From everyone on Uber will understand that, right?
You just got, Yeah, you just gotta, you gotta close off your
circle of radius for where you're available.
But if you ordered a burger fromsomewhere.
Whenever I order Uber, I don't wanna sound like an idiot here,
but I always order a priority just because I want the food to
be. Even if you ordered a priority,
right? So this one if you ordered from

(33:06):
Uber and your burger came cold, right?
When they were on a bike. Yeah, and it's like all the wind
when they're travelling. Yeah, you know what I mean?
But if you get that burger cold for me when I first opened, I
don't want to allow the opportunity for anybody to have
a bad experience with the food. I want them to come and try it
in house so that they get the best version of.

(33:28):
Or take away. The food that we're offering
right in house or take away, butcome and pick it up and eat it.
Yeah, as soon as it's ready because we want them to see the
best version of that product. Do you feel like people are
going to see Toasted as an extension of Sambuk, or are you
going to try to intentionally make them as two separate
brands? Right now, Toasted is an
extension of Sambuk because we're all under the one roof

(33:49):
down the track. What happens with it?
I don't know. Like, I mean in one mind I'm
like looking and thinking about the third and 4th location and
how we can grow it. And then in the whole other
mind, I'm like, I think this is going to be fast.
Like, we're going to open this shop and we're going to work
together and it's going to be, you know, this is the expansion
of Sambuk and it's all under oneroof.

(34:10):
So if Toasted becomes as successful or more successful
than Sambuk, are you going to potentially look at the idea of
franchising or expanding? I'm getting all the tea here.
I. Kind of feel like cross that
bridge when we come to it. Like, let me worry about now.
I get it. I'm a very now person.

(34:30):
Let me worry about what's happening in front of me.
Oh. Trust me, I get it.
What was set Sambuk Sambuk toasted apart?
Oh sambuk from every other cafe in Sydney.
What's your point of difference?See, it's a hard question.

(34:52):
Did you try and make this like as hard and thoughtful as
possible? So I pause like this every time
you ask me something. Yeah, pretty much.
I think what sets us apart is that we have been in the food
game for a very long time, like nine years.
We're quite experienced in it. I feel like we're known for
fresh, very fresh food. But in the same token, that's

(35:14):
not taken away from everybody else's cafes and saying that
they're also not fresh. I feel like coming to toast it,
you're coming to not just fresh food, you're coming to
personality and somebody that you've already heard about.
Do you know what I mean? I mean, we're going to try and
you know, make the menu as diverse as possible.
We're going to try and have likeas many diverse items that set
us apart from other people. But more so my whole concept

(35:39):
with this business is to keep itabout the food.
So we just want to have good food.
And I feel like that is one point because we're working in
it single handedly. The directors are going to be in
there single handedly working inthere, working with their hands.
We're offering out something that we want you to love.

(36:00):
We obviously have a serious lovefor food.
I have obviously got a serious love for food and we want to
deliver that on a daily basis. To me, food means family.
Yeah, I don't know how to. There is no blurred lines in
between. Well, it's such a culture.
It's such a massive part of our culture.
I don't think that it's gonna even it's gonna culminate to
you. Like it's just gonna, the

(36:21):
family's gonna shine through thefood.
I was there yesterday and like Dirty's scrubbing a fridge.
Sister in law was like organising something.
Sarva was in the pantry. Packing.
Packaging. I was just being Eddie was like
doing this. And then you, you're cleaning.
The family's just so involved I'm that it's just going to
transcend through the walls and through the food.

(36:42):
I feel like food is always has always is always going to be
such a central part of our culture.
I mean, every occasion we celebrate with food.
Everything we do, we celebrate with food.
You wind down over a table of food with us.
There is food is like a central part of our life and this is
what you know, like you said like yesterday, you saw them,

(37:02):
the whole family's in there and everybody's on top of each other
and everyone's putting their hand in and help each other out.
This is what we want to offer sothe general public can be able
to give out on a daily basis. Yeah, talking about family,
working with family can be then a blessing or a nightmare.
What's the hardest part about running a business with family?

(37:22):
And has there ever been a time where the stress from work came
home? Yeah, of course it is hard to
work a family. I mentioned it before.
When you know somebody on a personal level, you read all of
their emotions and you read what's going on with them, if

(37:42):
that makes sense. And then a lot of the time, if
things don't go your way, you come home with it sitting on
your shoulder like a dead boulder.
Like it's not easy, especially when it's like with your mom or
with your husband or, you know, sometimes my sister stepped in
and and worked with us in the kitchen.
We'll have an argument in the kitchen, which is so normal,
but. How dare she?

(38:04):
Like it's my kitchen, get out ofmy kitchen, tell everyone to do.
You're getting dug. Eyes don't even look that way.
I'm so sorry. But no, I mean, it's, it's one
of the hardest things when you come home.
Sometimes you're still angry from the job, but it's angry
with somebody that you're so close with.

(38:24):
It's not like a black and white relationship where you leave the
job and you walk away and you click off and see you later.
No, not about family here, but tell me Robin, do you ever get
guests sneaking into the kitchenand trying to change things last
minute? Into the kitchen.
Like when you're setting up. We have, yeah, I've had, I've

(38:45):
had some interesting experience.Oh, I know you've had
interesting experiences. Yeah, we have some time.
Does it like, do you just brush it off your shoulder?
Really, I'm asking this to be a sneak because I know that it's
a, it's a, it's a funny, I'll tell you what, but like
genuinely, when you're setting up bridal breakfast or
something, is it like infuriating when someone's like

(39:06):
tasting the food or like do thisor do that or like.
Depends on their tone. If I'm doing.
A table of Lebanese food and I'mdoing taboule and Data walks in
and Data wants to see how I've made my taboule.
Data has been making taboule forthe family for God knows how
many years Data has been, you know, doing that for the family.

(39:26):
And what's most likely happened,and I'm like very, very
conscious of this, is that the families had an argument because
Theta wants to make the food. Yeah.
Or auntie wants to make the foodand they've hired an external
caterer because they don't want to trouble that family member.
So one understand why so? When that family member comes
in. And sits on my shoulder trying
to see how I'm mixing the tumbleand am I mixing it with fresh

(39:49):
lemon and how I'm mixing the fatouche and how, how did you
make your, you know, Sankhara? Sometimes, depending on the
tone, I think give them that time.
And I try my best to explain to them and involve them so that
they were a part of the process.Do you know what I'm saying?

(40:09):
Yeah. I'd try and involve them as much
as possible because I understandwith, like I said, our culture
is really based around food and a lot of these events, the
family is usually very involved.Traditionally when you had a big
event, if you didn't get catering, the whole family would
step in and somebody would make something and everybody would
make something, right? And This is why another point,

(40:30):
if ever a family member or a bride or like, you know, an
event person having events says to me, my auntie really wants to
make the sambol Sik or my mum really wants to make the taboli.
I'll never say no, it's fine. Let them make the taboli.
Give them their moment. They want to make something from
their heart because to them that's their gift.
It's their, it's a gift. And I like gift of love.

(40:51):
It's their duty. To.
Add them, we say in Arabic. It's their duty to bring
something to the table because this is culturally what we used
to do. So like I said, depending on the
tone, sometimes I'll walk them through it and I will give them
all the time because I understand there's times and
somebody's going to be a bit rude and you know, can you put

(41:12):
that there in? I'll try my best to keep a nice
face on. I never want to have conflict.
I'm not a person that likes conflict.
I don't like it. I like to suck it.
Like just no, OK, no, you want it upside down, No problem.
You want it over there next to the air conditioner where it's
going to go stale? Up to you.
I'll advise you, but ultimately I'm not going to have an

(41:33):
argument with the client over something that's just not not
worth that argument. Do you know what I'm saying?
I'm asking. This question honestly, just to
help out and get that client that's probably listening to
this and wanting to pick a caterer's brain.
But you know, like, you know, some, some clients of mine or
bride or grooms of mine, they get stuck with the numbers of
guests they have at their wedding.
It's not really a choice as muchas people think that it is.

(41:55):
You know, the family is big, thefamily is big and catering can
get expensive just like every other thing when it comes to
running an event. Are there any tips or tricks you
could say about cutting costs? Or like finding ways to be smart
with money when you can't cast cut guest numbers?
Yeah, it depends on the meal that you're.
Serving. If you're saying like let's say,

(42:17):
let's say it's bread. Like a bridal breakfast or a.
Yeah, yeah, whatever, either. One it.
Just depends. What Sometimes what?
We say is when say, for example,if it's a bigger family, they
don't know if they're going to have 50 or 200 people 1000 in
the morning. And you never know if like you

(42:38):
never know how many people are going to show up to the house in
the morning. Some people might say, yeah, I'm
coming. And then another 20-30 people
might show up that never said that they were coming.
It's very unpredictable who's going to come to the house in
the morning. My whole thing is either you are
firstly, I, I remind them that you're having a bridal
breakfast. It's based on a bridal breakfast

(42:59):
is an extension of your generosity.
Once Upon a time they used to only do chocolates and loz and
lumbers right? Like the?
Coated. Almonds, decorated chocolates,
alcohol table, call it a day made of bit lewer.
That was it. Now we've introduced like, you
know, this bridal breakfast to the market and now it's just

(43:19):
like become such a normal thing to have such a big display of
food at the house. I told them it's I first asked
them, are you catering to feed everybody or you catering to
have something there? This is an this is a
determination that the client needs to make.
Do you want to have food in abundance where people go to
your house and have breakfast inquantity and gets very full?

(43:42):
Or do you want to just have something there out of your
generosity where they are allocated a piece or two?
That needs to be determined first before they consider a
budget because you can't have 200 people at the house and
expect to to spend this much because you're going to get this
much. You have to be really stick with
your expectation, right? This is, it's like a point of,

(44:05):
you know, education for the clients.
The biggest thing I would say istry and estimate based on your
immediate family members, because your immediate family
are going to come to your house an hour or two before the rest
of the guests are going to come.Does that make sense?
By the time the immediate familycomes in, they come in.

(44:25):
If, say for example, the ceremony is happening at 1:00 or
the whole thing is happening at 1:00, immediate family is going
to arrive at about the 101030 mark.
They want to be there for the hustle and bustle.
They want to be there for the photos.
They want to be there to hang out with everybody.
Whatever. The rest of everybody else is
going to come now before you leave. 30 minutes now.
Before you leave and. At that time, there's photos,

(44:47):
there's chaos, there's videos, there's this, and there's
everything running around everything.
Those people that come at that time are most likely not going
to eat because they're going to come in and out.
They've only come for that part.So base it on your immediate
family members and the people that you think are going to come
an hour or two, correct? Is there?
Any food trend that. You think needs to die off?

(45:08):
I kind of feel like. As caterers as a whole, we're
moving at the same pace. I like what I'm seeing.
OK, that's good. Do you know what I'm saying?
Like. Wish I could say the same about
my English. Just kidding.
Just kidding. I mean, I'm not to.
Be honest, I'm on Instagram a lot.
Just honestly I'm. Just taking the pills.
I'm on. I'm on.

(45:29):
Instagram a lot to post to promote my business like
Instagram does it's job. It's a marketing tool for me.
I don't want you too close to see what else is going on around
me, if that makes sense. But from what I have seen,
everyone's kind of moved in a way that like I wouldn't offer
chicken and rice for breakfast if that makes sense.
What I need is not a. Thing for breakfast like stuff
finally imagine eating it and like the oil dripping on like a

(45:51):
woman's dress but like there's alot of things that I've seen for
the mornings again we're basing this on the breakfast is.
This come down to finger food items.
That you can just grab and eat, like what you were kind of
saying before about crickets. Crickets.
Something wraps, little things kind of pace.
Nothing. Too big, nothing too messy, not

(46:13):
that bully in the morning. Like, you know, I mean, some
cultures have it, but it's it's such a different, different
setting to, you know, the predominant market, which is my
predominant market that we have.I might be wrong.
I just find. It's difficult to eat.
It's very difficult to eat. It's.
Difficult to eat, It's difficultto walk around.
Not just that you've got little kids running around, the house
is spotless. You feel like you don't.
Want to dirty someone? That's what I mean.

(46:34):
And then you have to consider. Plating, like proper plating and
forks and cutlery knives and then somewhere to sit because
where are they going to lay in their plate?
It's less is more. You don't have the type stuff
and the IT is. Yeah, the better it is.
This is why we offer such like we've.
We've come up with the options that we did, the same options
that we did, because it's like you can't have these certain
foods, like you can't have a fried drummer first thing in the

(46:57):
morning. It's going to be very hard to
eat with your make up on or withyour suit on, all your white
shirts on. And we try to base it on like a
canape base menu. That's going to be easy for you
to grab, carry and go with a like a serviette.
Random question. What's your death row meal?
I didn't even write this down, just hit me.
My what? Your death row meal?
My death row meal? Yeah, like.

(47:17):
You're what that is right? If I was on death row, what am
I? Yeah, yeah.
It's like the like. If you were to have your last
meal ever or that. Sounds gloomy.
I don't. Know if there's a better way to
word it? She'll eat one thing for the
rest of your life. What?
What's your meal? Do you have a?
Meal that you'd eat. KFC man.
'Cause you'd eat fucking we could eat.
George, your last meal, that wouldn't be my last, but that's

(47:40):
the first thing that. Just came to my head.
You thought of KFC straight away, right?
Away. And that's terrible.
I don't even know. What's your death meal?
So we think. About it, George.
So if I was. Going to die, be put down.
What am I going to eat? Sandwich.
Can someone Google famous death row meals?

(48:01):
There's like an actual link. There actually is a swear
Tanya's on it. I can see her fingers typing
like rapid fire because like there's obviously been people
that have been executed and liketheir their their death row
meals have been famous. Do you know that they've stopped
death row meals? I think there's a prisoner who?
Who requested his meal with likethe whole series of Star Wars?
Because he gave him like 7 hoursor something like that.

(48:22):
No, there was. Do you know that that's
actually? Fun fact, they actually stopped
the death row meal. Now it's illegal in America.
They don't give you a death row final dinner anymore.
Do you know why? Because this one guy ordered
like a four other. Yeah.
Then he started to finish and then he didn't eat.
Not one single bite. Mint.
Chocolate chip ice cream? Yes, mint chocolate chip ice.
Cream. Yum.
I don't know how would you eat? Knowing that you're gonna, I

(48:42):
think maybe beef cappaccio is always like.
Something that's a good idea with rock.
Curtios in the street, yeah. Azela blah and my sister.
Like a homey Hardy. Meal.
Yeah, yeah, like a wicked. Wing a gravy, I feel like.

(49:03):
Maybe maybe like do you want wicked wings after these?
Maybe. Guys, this episode is not
brought to you by Wicked Wings. By the way, in case you're
wondering, I'm not big enough for KFC to sponsor me.
But maybe one day. I don't even know what I would
eat. That's right, I.
Think I'd be able to eat knowingthat I'm just going to get like
a nice? What was the meaning of It's not
that deep? OK, fine.
Maybe a? Salad.
A salad. OK, mad salad.

(49:23):
But it has to be a hectic. Salad.
Yeah, like it has to be amazing.Caesar, like great Caesar with
like a pound of like, Parmesan Reggiano fresh shaved off the
bat. OK, we're getting somewhere.
And then like, do you remember Harry?
Sorry, sorry. Hurricane.
Did you talk man? My stomach is.

(49:44):
Rumbling Is there someone getting something to eat?
Oh, wicked wing, I should have. Brought something I'm so rude.
OK, I'm going to get back to these.
Questions if you don't mind, if that's OK with you.
Take a job. You do need to let it out.
A bit more about the wings. I'm good sweet.
Just checking OK, we're. Back, baby.
All right, but food is deeply tied to culture and identity.

(50:05):
What do you think cooking says about your heritage and who you
are? Food is such a central part of
our. Our lives, it's such a central
part of our heritage and our culture as being Lebanese.
Food has always been the centre part of every event.
Easter food, Christmas food, birthday food, everything is
around food with us. We enjoy our best moments and

(50:27):
our saddest moments around food,so you've got to remember that
like any celebration or you know, as a or sad situation is
celebrated and stuff. Yeah, so it's like a huge.
Part of our culture, I think that's why for us, for me being
a mum, I mean, some of my happiest times is my kids coming
home from school and me having prepared a fresh meal for them

(50:48):
and sitting down with them on a table and eating with them.
Like this is one of my happiest moments with my kids.
And we share their entire day and their entire experience on
whatever it is around a mule. So it's such an important part
of our culture and our heritage.Yeah.
Yeah. Because you.
Really are like and not just you, but your business is in the

(51:09):
service where you're a part of people's most important moments
and like feeding them because they're really special
absolutely like going into theirhomes and well majority of our
majority. Of the events we do are happy
ones, I mean we have done a few select funerals.
We don't do them often. We Is that a personal choice?
By the way, kind of sometimes, yeah.

(51:29):
You know, for me it's just. Like I said in Happy.
And bad times, food is a centralpart of like our culture.
But for me, I prefer to be around not not the funerals,
even though like I said, we do do them.
We do offer the service for themsometimes if we have the
capacity between corporate and our other events.

(51:49):
Sometimes we honestly, we truly don't.
When we do, we do, we can do them.
But for me being a mum, being a wife in my house and you would
know like a central part of my home is eating at the table and
sitting down at the table and sharing a meal together.
When we go out to clients housesand we are serving food and

(52:10):
we're putting our pretty much home cooked food on the table
for people to enjoy. And that being the central part
of the event for me, like it's avery big happy point.
Like it's a very, you know, I feel like it's such a blessing
to be a part of such beautiful events where families are coming
together, whether it be like, you know, for a christening or
for a birthday or for like, you know, for a KK, whatever it is.

(52:31):
And everybody's like having, youknow, such a milestone moment
that we've just catered for and seeing everybody eat and smile.
And, you know, they thank us forthe food and we hear the MMS and
Ahs and we hear the yam. And I'm starving this for me.
I think being a mum and being a wife is like a very important
point for me. Do you know what I mean?
What's your ultimate dream for? Sambuk and Co and toasted if you

(52:53):
could take them anywhere. What's the vision if I could
take? Them anywhere.
I'd love to see Sambu grow. Sambuk's grown like so much over
the years. We've served so many people,
we've done so, so many events. I would love to see Sambu grow
further. And when I say further, I mean
we would love to eventuate into a market where we can start

(53:15):
giving meals, home cooked meals daily to people.
So do you know what I mean For the people that can't work, for
the people that you know, so sorry for the people that work,
they don't have time every day to cook or whatever, but do want
to home cook meal. If we could provide right to the
point where we could have like something like that and we could
provide that service daily, obviously, but that would take

(53:37):
time. I mean, I guess for me, my
growth has been very stagnated over time because I was a mum
first. So when Sandburg started, we
kind of shut off very quickly. But I had a baby so I could
work, but I was limited to how much I could work because I
think for me, I didn't want to sacrifice my time with my

(54:01):
children. I did want to see my business
grow, but it had to be on my terms because I didn't want to
miss out with my kids, with any of them.
And I had three, right? So.
My, I was always a mum first when we went into this business
and then no matter how much it grew, I kind of pulled it back

(54:22):
like, no, I'm not going to do that yet.
Opening Toasted now we should have opened Toasted years ago
and we almost did open Toasted so many times years ago.
And every time we went to open, something would pop up and kind
of stop that process. And then I would literally get
scared. I'm going to be so honest and be

(54:43):
like, maybe that's a sign. It's not the time.
Oh no, what am I going to do? I'm going to lose my kids.
My kids are going to be left. Like, this was a big fee for me.
Like it was a huge fee for me. And having the kids, like
putting them in childcare and not being there to pick them up
or drop them off. Like I know that to some, this
might be saying, it sounds so mundane and so many people do it

(55:03):
on a daily basis. They drop their kids off.
And it's just such a normal thing for me, though I selfishly
didn't want to miss those moments.
That was, I think, one of the biggest things why I pulled
Sambuk back from growing now. Do you feel like it's flourished
a little? Bit more now that my kids are
older. I mean, I gave myself the
opportunity to raise my kids andbe with them.

(55:25):
And you know, I've opened the shop 1-4 minutes from my house
purely because the schools are around the corner and my
daughter's bus stops in front ofthe shop.
And it's so convenient for me because I want to stay as close
to my kids as possible. If I get a call from the school,
I want to be the first point of contact.
But this is my kind of, let's call it selfish behaviour.

(55:47):
I don't think it's selfish. At all regards to business.
Growth, I'm saying the business should have grown so much more,
but and it will win. It's due course, right?
Right. So my whole thing was.
You can wait. So now we've gotten to a point
where my kids have set in into school.
They understand the concept of mums at work.
They understand the concept of mum left 3:00 in the morning.

(56:08):
She's a bit tired today. They get it.
We've like, you know, we've worked together.
We've, you know, done so much together.
They've been to work, they've seen what we do.
So now this kind of next step isthis was time for me to move
into this step. My kids kind of understanding
business. They're asking business
questions. It's cool.
And I want them to experience the growth with me and
understand if that makes sense. Like, yeah, it does.

(56:31):
I want them to look and say my parents work hard to give us
what we have and understand the value of that.
That's awesome, if that makes sense.
It does. But I still get to be next to
them, if that makes sense. Yeah, looking back the last 10.
Years. What do you think's been the
greatest change in your life from where you were ten years
ago to the Robin today? January Where do you want me to?

(56:54):
Start Which changed? We had so much changed over this
the last decade of your life. Last decade, so much has.
Changed even, like I'm going to say, I'm going to push it back
to let's say the last 15 years, right?
Because 15, we'll say about around about that time, a lot

(57:16):
changed. My parents got separated.
That was like one of the biggestthings.
It was a big thing because my mum was always a housewife.
She was just a housewife. She didn't work.
Like, I mean, she worked early in her life, but then throughout
marriage she didn't really work.Dad was the breadwinner.
He was, you know, the provider. He did all that and then we got
separated. Like I said before, my mum won't

(57:39):
drive beyond 5 kilometres. She's literally scared of
everything. Sorry, it's such a microphone.
So when they separated, my dad stayed living overseas and my
mum came back here. When they separated, they were
living overseas. My sister stayed with me.
So that was a big change becauseshe's my little sister.
And then I took on like this mumrole at the same time because

(58:02):
she's my responsibility. I have to take care of her.
She was like 16 or 17 at the time something or 8 something
like she was quite young. So we had that and then I had a
baby in the thick of it. So I had the separation, that
baby and then working full time,working at NUTS, dealing with

(58:24):
the separation, having my sisterworking full time at Nuts.
I mean, there's been so many changes that happened even
though it's been over like a 15 year period.
The changes happened so quickly that it was like.
Going through the motions. All the time, if that makes
sense and I think through all ofthose things.

(58:45):
I mean then, you know, we were working, you know, head first
into Natalie Ann growing her business and you know, working
so hard with them. I had like this, found love and
found obsession. I think over time with
everything that was happening, Ibecame more and more excited
about the prospect of success and think seeing things work
out. That might be my own little

(59:05):
thing. It might, you know, be something
that I grew over time. Not going to unpack it right
now. I see that.
Do you know what I mean? I.
Get it? But I love seeing.
You know, even people in my own industry, I love seeing people
succeed. If somebody says to me, I'm
going to open this, I'm like, doit, do it.
What do you need? What do you need help with?
You've got an accounting programme, do you need this?
What are you using? Who's your accountant?
Like, you know, let's help you get get there.

(59:26):
Let's get there, let's get there.
And I think over time. Doing that and building up that.
Business. My sister got sick, you know.
We had to deal with that whole. Situation.
She's another spanner in the works.
Another one I had another baby. After that, while my sister was
recovering and my mum was still adjusting and working full time

(59:47):
at Natalie Ann and starting Sandburg.
I mean everything kind of it waslike change, change, change.
And I think the more changes forme, one of the big thing,
biggest things I say now is stoptrying to control things that
are out of your control. Stop.
Trying to plan for. Things that haven't happened yet

(01:00:07):
because you don't know how it's going to play out.
Just take each step as it comes.I think over time, what I
learned over the years and the big like, you know, having kids,
having it all, it just made me more.
I think that's why I always try and.
Stick my fingers everywhere to try and help everybody.

(01:00:28):
Do you know what I mean? Because I've been through like a
broken phase where we've seen our house fall apart.
We've seen, you know, things happen throughout our family
that have been like, whoa, that was a lot.
And we've just every single timehad to, I've had to just pick it
up and keep going. Do you know what I mean?
Throw a punch, knock me down andget up.
Keep going. Let's go.

(01:00:48):
We've got to keep going. We've got to keep going.
I think now it's just. You got to go through the
motions. Do you know what I mean?
You just got to keep rolling through it.
Like no matter what happens, I learnt that you have to pick
yourself up and keep it going ifthat makes I think it's just
what you want to make some amount of.
Resilience is what I'm gathering.
Yeah, huge resilience to the. Point where like, you know, I'm

(01:01:08):
not going to say that I'm, I'm not going to sit here and say
that, you know, I can handle everything so well.
No, I'm a big bottler. I'm a massive bottler.
Like, I will hold a lot of things in and I, you know, as
much patience as I have in everything, but I try my hardest
not to let things let me. I think my husband plays a
massive part in that as well because my husband is like this

(01:01:29):
awesome support system. Like he will sit down and talk
me down. He'll tell me like, it's not
worth it while you're angry, getover it.
Just move on. Carry on.
You know what I mean? Just get, get it, get it moving.
Like don't let it affect you. Don't let it get to you.
Just keep going. You know what I mean?
So yeah, I think you just over time, what I learned is you just

(01:01:50):
have to keep rolling. Like no matter what happens, you
eventually have to pick yourselfback up and keep rolling.
Yeah, whether you like it or not.
It's a bit of a message. It's.
A great way to put it, Robin. Yeah, I really like that
message. Thanks.
You keep rolling. Pick yourself up and try again
you. Just have to keep beating any.
Song do you even? Do you even have an?
At first you don't succeed. Yeah, but I mean, do you?

(01:02:13):
Really have an option at that point.
Like, you mean if something's, if everything around you is
falling apart? Like I felt like my sister was
my biggest responsibility at onepoint, my kids were my biggest
responsibility at another point where so much stuff was going on
all the time. What can you do?
Like, I mean, I've, I've obviously seen people and tried
to walk them through it. Like, you know, some people
break down and they can't get back up.
But I didn't have the opportunity to do that at the

(01:02:36):
time. I didn't have the time for it.
I think that's my obsession withtime.
Like there was no time for it between, you know, running like
a business that was growing at arapid pace at the time.
Started having my own business that was growing at a rapid
pace. Having my kids to worry about,
having my sister to worry about,having everybody around me had a
problem that needed solving. I think that's I just always

(01:03:00):
did. Time was one of the things that
I always find a challenge because I always feel like I
don't have enough of it. I always ask parents.
What's 1 advice? I'd want their kids in the
future, but I'm going to ask you.
What's 1 advice? I'd want to give you a sister.
Keeping yourself because you arethe when you're yourself, you

(01:03:29):
are the one of the best people Iknow and you are always like,
I'm not sanctioning myself, but keeping yourself, being your
authentic self because your authentic self is very, very
beautiful and you should be so, so proud of who you are.
That's so sweet. I think that's.
What I'm saying it's so cute. Happy birthday to dirty fucking

(01:03:55):
Jay the backless Queen The. Fuck, I can't.
I went from the moon. She's backless.
So she's backless if you don't know that.
Video Yeah, you're fucking missing.
You see me laughing? In the background, like, Oh my
God, George Hull, us, she's single.

(01:04:16):
Do you want to? Pick one of.
These What is this card? It's a card, yeah.
Can I play out right? Me.
Yeah. Love to.
If this is bad I can I put. Can I put it back?
No. Do you want to read it out
though or do? You want me to read it out?
I can read OK, do you want? To read it, No.
OK, I can't read. When was the?

(01:04:38):
Last time you. Felt alive.
I feel alive all the time. That's good.
I feel like alive. By all the time.
George OK, I think I do so much all the time.
I'm definitely. Here, I'm awake.
It's all good. Can I sleep now I'm alive?

(01:05:00):
Can I have 5 minutes? Can I have 5 fucking minutes to
myself? Yeah, that's good.
Yeah, all the time. Can you give me a question for
our next? Guest, a question for you.
I'm always forgetting to get questions from the previous
guest. Can I know the next guest?
Like no I. Can't.
OK. No, no.

(01:05:20):
I can't release. That on air, I'll tell you
laughter. No, I'm saying the trade.
Like what? What's their field that's giving
away too much? OK, right now, don't worry about
it. Wait before.
Your question actually sorry. One last thing, can you just,
this has to be the best arrangement we've done since
starting this podcast. I can't breathe over it.
Montana goes. Who's the guest?

(01:05:41):
I said 2 because guys, this is the second recording of the day.
And I said this. Like I said, JP and and Sambuk,
she goes, she goes. Sambuk, Robin.
And I'm like. Yeah, she goes food.
I'm like we have another guest. Leave it with me, I literally
left. It with her, I love her, she
pretty much. Put grapes and.
Can I mushrooms? What do you mean stop it?

(01:06:02):
She's like. Used the most beautiful
placement of mushrooms dead. She's done a great placement.
Like she's insanely. I do my grazing tables and like
it's the most beautiful. Yeah, she's not on beautiful
grave. Placement the.
Radicio, she's pulled the whole thing apart.
Like when I first walked in, Yeah, I couldn't stop staring at
her. And it's like, obviously I
picked through every single betashe did.
No, no. This is like one of the most

(01:06:24):
beautiful flower and food arrangement and for my listeners
who. Asked me to bring Montana onto
air. I'm gonna do her dirty.
And I'm gonna say that she's toonervous.
So sly. I don't blame her.
V Ms. I do not jump in this comment and tag her and whatever
real you wanna find. We gotta convince her.
We gotta rally her to get on. I think she should.

(01:06:44):
I think. She should.
She's too creative. She's like so creative and she's
made such waves, like such beautiful, beautiful waves in
the industry. And she's such a beautiful
person, too. Like, so beautiful to both.
It's incredible. You know it's hard.
To find like some. Suppliers, you work with them on
set, and it's some suppliers aremuch easier than others to work
with. Some just want to do their job

(01:07:06):
and get out, which I respect, and some are there to have a
laugh along the way. Montana's one of those people.
Yeah. Do you know what I mean?
So you know me. I'm always feeding everybody I
know. You're always feeding someone
throwing. A sambusik across the room.
Sambuski Sambuki. Sambuki, can you please?
Give a question to the question.Yes, OK.
In your field of work. My question to the next person

(01:07:29):
in your field of work. How do you?
Or do you plan to keep your workauthentic and show?
You and your. Creativity through your work?
That's a great question. I really like that question,

(01:07:52):
thank you. I might not put it at the end of
their episode. You might not.
No, you might. Just here's my question.
Just wanna stop it though. I won't even say you.
Did it might have a bro you can take just.
See if they watch this it's. Fine, you'll see they don't.
It's fine. Just pull it down.
Thanks for coming, Rob. Thanks for.
Coming, Robin. Thank you.
I love you, mate. I love.
You too. See you tasted tasted 6 weeks.