September 13, 2024 • 18 mins
What if your passion for rock climbing could morph into a thriving local business? On this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, we welcome Max Poppel, the ingenious mind behind Ernest Chinese and the Crash Pad in Chattanooga. Max takes us along his entrepreneurial journey, sharing how his love for climbing led to the creation of the Crash Pad, a unique hostel that melds communal living with boutique hotel charm. He also reveals how he transitioned from the beloved Flying Squirrel restaurant to living his dream of eating dumplings every day at Ernest Chinese.
Our conversation with Max delves into the core philosophy of his ventures, emphasizing the importance of fostering a vibrant community for travelers. Discover the significance of 'third places'—environments where people can connect outside of home and work—and learn about the irresistible offerings like 'dumpling hour' at Ernest Chinese. Max also shares the touching story behind the name Ernest Chinese, named after a cherished cat, embodying the spirit of his businesses. Tune in and find out how supporting local establishments like Max’s can invigorate our community and enrich the Chattanooga region. Don’t forget to nominate your favorite local businesses to be highlighted on our show!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello, good neighbors , welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast brought to you by theFriends and Neighbors Group of
the Greater Chattanooga Region.
We appreciate you being on theshow today.
Of course, my name is ScottHowell and I'm your host, and
you know the purpose of the GoodNeighbor podcast.
We get asked this a lot what isthis all about?
Well, what it's about is tostrive to bring awareness to the
(00:32):
residents living in ourcommunities about locally owned
and operated businesses that arein those same communities or
across, in another little town,or all the way across the
Chattanooga region.
We just want to highlighteverybody that we can.
Got a lot of new people cominginto the area and we need them
to know you know who are outthere and what's offered and
(00:52):
need them to understand that allthese things are available to
them.
And so we.
But we want to focus on thoselocally owned and operated
companies.
You know, too many times downthis big corporate giant world
we're living in, they get lostand people overlook and forget
there's actually people who livehere, that own their businesses
(01:13):
and work here, and it might bebetter customer service, might
be a bigger smile or it might bea warmer thank you, but
whatever it is, we want to makesure that everybody knows
they're here, because everylocal business has a story to
tell and on the Good Neighborpodcast, we want to just help
them tell it loud and proud toall the Chattanooga region.
And today we got one of ourneighbors here.
(01:33):
His name is Max Popple, withErnest Chinese and the Crash Pad
.
Max, thanks for being with ustoday.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Hey Scott, Thanks for having us on Love what you're
doing here.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, I love it too.
It allows me to meet new peoplelike you, and just so glad I
got the opportunity to do that.
And, max, I know we're heretoday to talk about your
business and what all you offerand what it's all about, but at
the same time I want to give youan opportunity to start off the
podcast.
Just maybe tell a little bitabout yourself and your family
(02:05):
oh, that's, uh, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I love starting there .
I've got a beautiful wife,katie.
I have two children coming upon seven and ten, parker and
hattie.
And uh, yeah, today was thefirst day of school, so life is
back to real life is calmingdown again, right right.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
As they say.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
For everybody, except for the teachers.
They're calming.
The storm is over now, right.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Maybe after these first few days of chaos.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
All right.
Well, I want to hear all aboutit, man, I want you to just
start where you want to Tell usabout your business, tell us
about your journey, how you gotthere, and just kind of just
give us all the details.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Sure thing.
Well, I guess we started ourChattanooga journey 19-ish years
ago.
We came here for the rockclimbing and fell in love with
it.
Ended up moving here aftercollege my business to support
the climbing and sushi habits.
And eventually saw the need forthe base camp for climbers who
were coming to stay, with nokind of iconic either campground
(03:19):
or any you know largeraccommodations.
So we modified that and thatgrew from the idea of a
campground out by some of theclimbing to well, there are all
these other outdoor enthusiastscoming through town and we know
these things called hostels andwe think they have some
redeeming qualities and maybethis would be a good fit for
downtown Chattanooga.
So that's where the kind ofidea was born for Crash Pad.
(03:40):
And then we wanted to be ableto serve food and drink to our
guests at the end of the day butwe weren't going to be able to
get our liquor license with thesetup of Crash Pad so that grew
into its own sister businessthat was Flying Squirrel.
That was our restaurant that wehad for the last 10 years or so.
(04:00):
And then we just did a totalrebranding, shut that concept
down in favor of eatingdumplings every day, which was a
dream of mine, and I'mfulfilling it.
So we are now.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Ernest.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Chinese and last year we opened up.
So we are American Chinese foodwith some Sichuan cuisine, and
then we have a tailored tikidrink menu to go with it, as
well as still a full bar.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Sounds like fun, sounds like a fun place yeah, we
got something for everybody.
Tell me.
I want you to talk about oneword that you said that a lot of
people might not know what itmeans, and that's the hostel.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
What a great question .
A hostel, born in Europe out ofschool groups traveling on the
cheap and staying in kind ofbunk beds in larger style rooms
that's the general concept isyou're going to go.
It's like a hotel overnightaccommodation but shared spaces.
You might be in a bunk roomwith some other people A lot of
(04:57):
them, like ours, also haveprivate rooms, if you're not
into that sharing spaces as muchthing, but it's basically a
more economical way to go andexperience a city and not spend
all your money on a hotel room.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Okay.
So the basic concept is you'rebasically renting a bunk in a
room that there are other bunksin.
That's the basis of thehospital, exactly the most basic
form of it.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
But then again ours, we try to, we call ours the
uncommon hostel.
We try to take the best of thattraditional model, you know the
communal nature and thecamaraderie, but blend that with
the boutique hotel on, like thecleanliness style, charm front.
So and then again we do haveprivate rooms and we actually
have one full, one bed, one bathsuite.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Nice, okay, and so when people come to town,
there's an alternate place tostay, if they are really going
to be like that family that sayswe just need the room because
we're going to be outside allthe time, going to the river, on
the creeks, on the rock kind ofwall, wherever it's at we just
want a place to sleep.
This is a good place to look at.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yep, Come get a comfy bed for a reasonable price.
And the other one of the keysto a great hostel is being
centrally located, being able tobe walkable if you are in a
city as opposed to like one,that you know some that are on
that Blatchen Trail of their ownkind of charm and are a
different nature.
But you know, for us you canpark in our lot and walk
(06:22):
wherever or get your publictransport to us and not need a
car and have a full Chattanoogaexperience.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
What part of town are you in, Max?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Another great question.
We're on South Side, we're upMain Street behind Meat Loaves.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, okay, I was over there the other day, but I
wanted you to tell it, not me.
That's a great location too,because you can get to a lot of
things in a pretty short periodof time from that area.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It is nice there's the classic riverfront that
still has a lot of appeal andfun stuff to do with the family.
So you know, head one way, thatway Head the other way.
You're on Lookout Mountain.
Any other direction, you're onthe hills and trails.
It's paradise.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So, when it comes to the hostel, are there any myths
and misconceptions that peoplehave about what it is that you
might could share with us?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
yeah, uh, some of the biggest are because, you'll
hear, within the hostel realmthere's youth hostels, elder
hostels.
We are for everybody.
We're for if you have anadventurous spirit and that
doesn't just mean like you'resharing spaces and that's like a
euphemism for like anuncomfortable experience, but
it's like you know those whowant to get out there and like
(07:33):
actually meet people interact,like, uh, you know, just form,
form bonds, and you'll have,like some, a group of older
ladies that are down for, uh,hanging out doing a ladies wine
night, and then you'll have agroup of motorcyclist dudes and
they're all kind of hanging outand swapping stories.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
They're just a lot of kindred spirits.
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And then, uh, but there's a restaurant there close
by you're talking yeah, it's onthe uh, it was on the property
as well, so the property as well, right right through the
landscaping.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You get right on over there yeah, so they did not far
to walk to find something goodto eat or good to drink, and
there's other good businessesaround that area too, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
A lot of great stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, we've had a lot of restaurants have come in
there, but also tons ofnightlife, so you can really
have a kind of full experiencedown there.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, I've interviewed a few of the
businesses on Main Street beforeyou.
Even so, I found out somethings I didn't know about
business down there, so it'spretty cool.
It's a growing area.
I mean Southside is a greatplace.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
It's amazing to see all that's going on downtown in
our little pocket.
And then all these otherprojects that are going on
revitalize other little areas.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Anything in the works , coming down the road, coming
down the pipe, or are you justkind of focusing on this right
now?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
For us, us just trying not to go crazy with two
businesses and two youngfamilies.
My business partner also hastwo kids that are on the younger
end, and so, uh, yeah, justtrying to trying not to go crazy
, I'll work every day.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I heard that well, me well.
Tell us that max when you'renot, when you're in your family,
not going with these businesses.
What do y'all do for fun?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Sure.
Well, right now my family and Ihave moved on out to the
country a little ways, about 30miles north of town here, so
nice to have a little bit ofspace and get our recreation on
out.
Here we have chickens, which isnew to me, but the kids are
taking off and loving it.
So right now it's just beenfamily mode out in nature.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Now you just need some goats and cows and get you
a donkey.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I hope my wife's not listening.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
It's a little mini farm going there, max, we're
well on our way.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
The barn cats just showed up, so we're good.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
We came packing with three dogs already and you said
your kids are, what ages uh,about to be seven and ten, so
it's are they any kind of stuffare they any any kind of hobbies
at school or clubs, or?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
oldest, she is into volleyball and the youngest he's
into baseball.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So that's oh good taking up time on those fronts
two great sports that help kidslearn about teams and working
together.
So that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It's been fun to watch them grow with it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, you know it's what yousaid about the earnest Chinese
and the crash pad and then kindof being married together and
going together and everythingyou offer.
Now I do want to ask you aboutone thing that you told me
before that we started recording.
I hope this is okay.
You said that it's out-of-townpeople only right.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, we are not here for the locals.
We are here for travelingpeople.
So tell your.
If you have traveling familythat you don't want sleeping on
your couch, tell them to gosupport local business and stay
at the crash pad, there you go,but you know there's a reason
for that, right.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I mean, if people there's no reason for people to
be offended and go, oh mygoodness, they don't want us
local, but there's a reason forthat.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right, yeah, again, it's a protection just that
we've learned from the hostelindustry and bigger cities
really any cities just to helpmake sure that you are there for
the travelers and the clientelecoming through town.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
You're not.
In other words, you're not aplace where people can just take
up residence.
You're there for people thatare traveling through.
Yeah, exactly, and along thoselines.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
We also have like a maximum night stay rule as well,
just because we want people tonot basically move in and these
communal spaces and makeeverybody else feel
uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Like we're here to make friends.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
We're here to go enjoy the city and then go about
our business.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And there's plenty of hotel that do allow those type
of things.
So no need for anyone to beoffended, just keep it in mind.
Want to be offended?
Just just keep it.
Keep it in mind.
You got somebody travelingthrough, friends passing through
or whoever, and you say, hey,there's a great place to to stay
downtown and all kind of thingsaround for them to do, got a
restaurant and just all kind ofgood things.
So there's no reason and we'lldo a shameless plug.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Now you can go next door seven nights a week for
dinner at earnest chinese.
We also do lunch now on theweekends.
Oh really cool, we deliverthrough Uber Eats and, most
excitingly, we just launcheddumpling hour.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
So weekdays five to six.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Oh yes, and weekends three to five you get half off
dumplings, crab rangoons and ourdraft tiki drinks.
So come check it out.
And that's what time during theweek?
Weekdays five to six.
So once you get off work comeon down and then weekends at
three to five, spot betweenlunch and dinner cool high price
dumplings say it ain't.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So I'm telling you, and the crab rangoons, if I may
say.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I was never a fan growing up, but they were always
kind of cream cheese wads,never did it for me.
Chef made the first prototypesand I just haven't stopped
eating them, so they are one ofour best items.
And yeah, those are also atprice.
Come check it out.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I need to try those out.
I've never heard of that before, so I need to try that out,
yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Oh they are.
They will be your new addiction.
You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Thank you, sir.
I appreciate that my newaddiction.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Like I needed one more Right, Semi-healthy when it
comes to food.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
We all need an addiction, right, Right?
So I always like to ask thisquestion, Max, of everybody that
I talk to on here If there wasone thing that you wish our
listeners knew about the heartof Max Popple, Ernest Chinese
and the Crash Pad and yourpartner too, of course, about
the heart of the business, butyou probably wouldn't know
(13:49):
unless you shared it with themand you'd like to state it loud
and proud here on the Good NeverPodcast, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Well, I guess you wouldn't know unless you came
down, but we are your thirdplace.
So your first place, your work.
Second place, your home.
Your third place is now comingback, breed of establishment
where you go to, like, not stareat TVs but to go interact with
people and to go live life.
And that's what we are at thecore.
We are hospitality through allof our businesses, be they
lodging or be they restaurants,food and beverage, be they
(14:17):
lodging or be they restaurants,food and beverage.
So just come on down, and Imean full disclosure.
We're a couple of damn Yankeesbut we are bringing the Southern
hospitality.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
As long as you're nice, we won't hold that against
you, max.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
All right.
Well, max, I want you to justtake a moment to share with
people how they can find outmore or reach out to you or
whatever, online or offline.
Just just tell us all about it,sure?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
thing.
Uh, crash pads website iscrashpad at chattanoogacom.
Uh, earnest chinese is earnestchinesecom.
We've got instagrams and thingsthat are run by younger people
than me who actually know how torun those, and you can probably
find them yourselves easierthan I can point that to them,
but there are pictures out there.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I love how you say that, because I feel the exact
same way.
So one more question how didyou come up with the name Ernest
Chinese?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Ernest was a cat, so the elephant cat in the room is
that we named our Chinese foodrestaurant after a cat.
But that's because Ernest livedwith Dan, my business partner
on the property, back when weopened Crash Pad.
Dan lived there for a few yearsbefore he got domesticated and
he came with Ernest just tookover the patio.
(15:38):
If there ever was like a mascotor an icon of our overall
business, it was Ernest.
So when we were trying to comeup with a name, trying not to do
something generic, trying notto do something offensive,
trying to do something that kindof true to us and our roots,
it's like, oh well, ernest, andthen Dan, kind of hand drew a
(16:01):
portrait of him and dragonizedhim a little bit and that became
our logo.
You'll notice there's a paw init with a little sixth claw.
The dewclaw Ernest was aHemingway cat that was famous
for the six-clawed cats, dewclawcats, so that is where the name
comes from.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
That is awesome.
I love that story.
That is cool.
I just thought we'd throw thatone in for good measure, because
that's a.
I knew there had to be a goodstory behind that.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, it's better than some of our other ones.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh, max, I appreciate you, man.
I can't wait to come down thereand get some of that Yankee
Southern hospitality.
We're waiting for you, scott.
All right, max.
Thanks for being with us today,buddy, it was wonderful meeting
you.
Hey, thank you again.
Absolutely.
And to all the good neighborsof the Chattanooga region.
After listening to Max talkabout Ernest Chinese and the
(16:57):
crash pad, I know that him andhis partner hopes that y'all
will keep them in mind.
You know, go down there and eatwith them.
You don't have to stay at thecrash pad to eat at Ernest
Chinese.
Go down there and order UberEats.
Go, enjoy the ambiance, checkout their hospitality, however
you want to do it, but try themout.
And, of course, keep that crashpad in mind when family or
friends are coming to town.
That crash pad in mind whenfamily or friends are coming to
(17:18):
town.
Let them know about it.
Let them know that it'savailable and, like he said, it
is a locally owned business.
So I know they appreciate yoursupport.
And, of course, before we signoff, I'd like to thank all you
listeners for taking the time tobe with us today and listening
in on the podcast.
Always remember to support thelocally owned and operated
businesses in the greaterChattanooga region.
(17:39):
From Cleveland to Dalton, fromJasper to Benton, there's a lot
of businesses out there.
Let's remember them all and seeif we can't support them.
Thank you for being with ustoday.
My name is Scott Howell of theFriends and Neighbors Group
Signing off.
Everyone, go out and make thisa remarkable day.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom, or call423-380-1984.
Thank you.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Scott Howell.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello, good neighbors , welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast brought to you by theFriends and Neighbors Group of
the Greater Chattanooga Region.
We appreciate you being on theshow today.
Of course, my name is ScottHowell and I'm your host, and
you know the purpose of the GoodNeighbor podcast.
We get asked this a lot what isthis all about?
Well, what it's about is tostrive to bring awareness to the
(00:32):
residents living in ourcommunities about locally owned
and operated businesses that arein those same communities or
across, in another little town,or all the way across the
Chattanooga region.
We just want to highlighteverybody that we can.
Got a lot of new people cominginto the area and we need them
to know you know who are outthere and what's offered and
(00:52):
need them to understand that allthese things are available to
them.
And so we.
But we want to focus on thoselocally owned and operated
companies.
You know, too many times downthis big corporate giant world
we're living in, they get lostand people overlook and forget
there's actually people who livehere, that own their businesses
(01:13):
and work here, and it might bebetter customer service, might
be a bigger smile or it might bea warmer thank you, but
whatever it is, we want to makesure that everybody knows
they're here, because everylocal business has a story to
tell and on the Good Neighborpodcast, we want to just help
them tell it loud and proud toall the Chattanooga region.
And today we got one of ourneighbors here.
(01:33):
His name is Max Popple, withErnest Chinese and the Crash Pad
.
Max, thanks for being with ustoday.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Hey Scott, Thanks for having us on Love what you're
doing here.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, I love it too.
It allows me to meet new peoplelike you, and just so glad I
got the opportunity to do that.
And, max, I know we're heretoday to talk about your
business and what all you offerand what it's all about, but at
the same time I want to give youan opportunity to start off the
podcast.
Just maybe tell a little bitabout yourself and your family
(02:05):
oh, that's, uh, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I love starting there .
I've got a beautiful wife,katie.
I have two children coming upon seven and ten, parker and
hattie.
And uh, yeah, today was thefirst day of school, so life is
back to real life is calmingdown again, right right.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
As they say.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
For everybody, except for the teachers.
They're calming.
The storm is over now, right.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Maybe after these first few days of chaos.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
All right.
Well, I want to hear all aboutit, man, I want you to just
start where you want to Tell usabout your business, tell us
about your journey, how you gotthere, and just kind of just
give us all the details.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Sure thing.
Well, I guess we started ourChattanooga journey 19-ish years
ago.
We came here for the rockclimbing and fell in love with
it.
Ended up moving here aftercollege my business to support
the climbing and sushi habits.
And eventually saw the need forthe base camp for climbers who
were coming to stay, with nokind of iconic either campground
(03:19):
or any you know largeraccommodations.
So we modified that and thatgrew from the idea of a
campground out by some of theclimbing to well, there are all
these other outdoor enthusiastscoming through town and we know
these things called hostels andwe think they have some
redeeming qualities and maybethis would be a good fit for
downtown Chattanooga.
So that's where the kind ofidea was born for Crash Pad.
(03:40):
And then we wanted to be ableto serve food and drink to our
guests at the end of the day butwe weren't going to be able to
get our liquor license with thesetup of Crash Pad so that grew
into its own sister businessthat was Flying Squirrel.
That was our restaurant that wehad for the last 10 years or so.
(04:00):
And then we just did a totalrebranding, shut that concept
down in favor of eatingdumplings every day, which was a
dream of mine, and I'mfulfilling it.
So we are now.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Ernest.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Chinese and last year we opened up.
So we are American Chinese foodwith some Sichuan cuisine, and
then we have a tailored tikidrink menu to go with it, as
well as still a full bar.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Sounds like fun, sounds like a fun place yeah, we
got something for everybody.
Tell me.
I want you to talk about oneword that you said that a lot of
people might not know what itmeans, and that's the hostel.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
What a great question .
A hostel, born in Europe out ofschool groups traveling on the
cheap and staying in kind ofbunk beds in larger style rooms
that's the general concept isyou're going to go.
It's like a hotel overnightaccommodation but shared spaces.
You might be in a bunk roomwith some other people A lot of
(04:57):
them, like ours, also haveprivate rooms, if you're not
into that sharing spaces as muchthing, but it's basically a
more economical way to go andexperience a city and not spend
all your money on a hotel room.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Okay.
So the basic concept is you'rebasically renting a bunk in a
room that there are other bunksin.
That's the basis of thehospital, exactly the most basic
form of it.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
But then again ours, we try to, we call ours the
uncommon hostel.
We try to take the best of thattraditional model, you know the
communal nature and thecamaraderie, but blend that with
the boutique hotel on, like thecleanliness style, charm front.
So and then again we do haveprivate rooms and we actually
have one full, one bed, one bathsuite.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Nice, okay, and so when people come to town,
there's an alternate place tostay, if they are really going
to be like that family that sayswe just need the room because
we're going to be outside allthe time, going to the river, on
the creeks, on the rock kind ofwall, wherever it's at we just
want a place to sleep.
This is a good place to look at.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yep, Come get a comfy bed for a reasonable price.
And the other one of the keysto a great hostel is being
centrally located, being able tobe walkable if you are in a
city as opposed to like one,that you know some that are on
that Blatchen Trail of their ownkind of charm and are a
different nature.
But you know, for us you canpark in our lot and walk
(06:22):
wherever or get your publictransport to us and not need a
car and have a full Chattanoogaexperience.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
What part of town are you in, Max?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Another great question.
We're on South Side, we're upMain Street behind Meat Loaves.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, okay, I was over there the other day, but I
wanted you to tell it, not me.
That's a great location too,because you can get to a lot of
things in a pretty short periodof time from that area.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It is nice there's the classic riverfront that
still has a lot of appeal andfun stuff to do with the family.
So you know, head one way, thatway Head the other way.
You're on Lookout Mountain.
Any other direction, you're onthe hills and trails.
It's paradise.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So, when it comes to the hostel, are there any myths
and misconceptions that peoplehave about what it is that you
might could share with us?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
yeah, uh, some of the biggest are because, you'll
hear, within the hostel realmthere's youth hostels, elder
hostels.
We are for everybody.
We're for if you have anadventurous spirit and that
doesn't just mean like you'resharing spaces and that's like a
euphemism for like anuncomfortable experience, but
it's like you know those whowant to get out there and like
(07:33):
actually meet people interact,like, uh, you know, just form,
form bonds, and you'll have,like some, a group of older
ladies that are down for, uh,hanging out doing a ladies wine
night, and then you'll have agroup of motorcyclist dudes and
they're all kind of hanging outand swapping stories.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
They're just a lot of kindred spirits.
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And then, uh, but there's a restaurant there close
by you're talking yeah, it's onthe uh, it was on the property
as well, so the property as well, right right through the
landscaping.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You get right on over there yeah, so they did not far
to walk to find something goodto eat or good to drink, and
there's other good businessesaround that area too, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
A lot of great stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah, we've had a lot of restaurants have come in
there, but also tons ofnightlife, so you can really
have a kind of full experiencedown there.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, I've interviewed a few of the
businesses on Main Street beforeyou.
Even so, I found out somethings I didn't know about
business down there, so it'spretty cool.
It's a growing area.
I mean Southside is a greatplace.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
It's amazing to see all that's going on downtown in
our little pocket.
And then all these otherprojects that are going on
revitalize other little areas.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Anything in the works , coming down the road, coming
down the pipe, or are you justkind of focusing on this right
now?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
For us, us just trying not to go crazy with two
businesses and two youngfamilies.
My business partner also hastwo kids that are on the younger
end, and so, uh, yeah, justtrying to trying not to go crazy
, I'll work every day.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
I heard that well, me well.
Tell us that max when you'renot, when you're in your family,
not going with these businesses.
What do y'all do for fun?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Sure.
Well, right now my family and Ihave moved on out to the
country a little ways, about 30miles north of town here, so
nice to have a little bit ofspace and get our recreation on
out.
Here we have chickens, which isnew to me, but the kids are
taking off and loving it.
So right now it's just beenfamily mode out in nature.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Now you just need some goats and cows and get you
a donkey.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I hope my wife's not listening.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
It's a little mini farm going there, max, we're
well on our way.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
The barn cats just showed up, so we're good.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
We came packing with three dogs already and you said
your kids are, what ages uh,about to be seven and ten, so
it's are they any kind of stuffare they any any kind of hobbies
at school or clubs, or?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
oldest, she is into volleyball and the youngest he's
into baseball.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So that's oh good taking up time on those fronts
two great sports that help kidslearn about teams and working
together.
So that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It's been fun to watch them grow with it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, you know it's what yousaid about the earnest Chinese
and the crash pad and then kindof being married together and
going together and everythingyou offer.
Now I do want to ask you aboutone thing that you told me
before that we started recording.
I hope this is okay.
You said that it's out-of-townpeople only right.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yeah, we are not here for the locals.
We are here for travelingpeople.
So tell your.
If you have traveling familythat you don't want sleeping on
your couch, tell them to gosupport local business and stay
at the crash pad, there you go,but you know there's a reason
for that, right.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I mean, if people there's no reason for people to
be offended and go, oh mygoodness, they don't want us
local, but there's a reason forthat.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Right, yeah, again, it's a protection just that
we've learned from the hostelindustry and bigger cities
really any cities just to helpmake sure that you are there for
the travelers and the clientelecoming through town.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
You're not.
In other words, you're not aplace where people can just take
up residence.
You're there for people thatare traveling through.
Yeah, exactly, and along thoselines.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
We also have like a maximum night stay rule as well,
just because we want people tonot basically move in and these
communal spaces and makeeverybody else feel
uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Like we're here to make friends.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
We're here to go enjoy the city and then go about
our business.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And there's plenty of hotel that do allow those type
of things.
So no need for anyone to beoffended, just keep it in mind.
Want to be offended?
Just just keep it.
Keep it in mind.
You got somebody travelingthrough, friends passing through
or whoever, and you say, hey,there's a great place to to stay
downtown and all kind of thingsaround for them to do, got a
restaurant and just all kind ofgood things.
So there's no reason and we'lldo a shameless plug.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Now you can go next door seven nights a week for
dinner at earnest chinese.
We also do lunch now on theweekends.
Oh really cool, we deliverthrough Uber Eats and, most
excitingly, we just launcheddumpling hour.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
So weekdays five to six.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Oh yes, and weekends three to five you get half off
dumplings, crab rangoons and ourdraft tiki drinks.
So come check it out.
And that's what time during theweek?
Weekdays five to six.
So once you get off work comeon down and then weekends at
three to five, spot betweenlunch and dinner cool high price
dumplings say it ain't.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So I'm telling you, and the crab rangoons, if I may
say.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I was never a fan growing up, but they were always
kind of cream cheese wads,never did it for me.
Chef made the first prototypesand I just haven't stopped
eating them, so they are one ofour best items.
And yeah, those are also atprice.
Come check it out.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I need to try those out.
I've never heard of that before, so I need to try that out,
yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Oh they are.
They will be your new addiction.
You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Thank you, sir.
I appreciate that my newaddiction.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Like I needed one more Right, Semi-healthy when it
comes to food.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
We all need an addiction, right, Right?
So I always like to ask thisquestion, Max, of everybody that
I talk to on here If there wasone thing that you wish our
listeners knew about the heartof Max Popple, Ernest Chinese
and the Crash Pad and yourpartner too, of course, about
the heart of the business, butyou probably wouldn't know
(13:49):
unless you shared it with themand you'd like to state it loud
and proud here on the Good NeverPodcast, what would that be?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Well, I guess you wouldn't know unless you came
down, but we are your thirdplace.
So your first place, your work.
Second place, your home.
Your third place is now comingback, breed of establishment
where you go to, like, not stareat TVs but to go interact with
people and to go live life.
And that's what we are at thecore.
We are hospitality through allof our businesses, be they
lodging or be they restaurants,food and beverage, be they
(14:17):
lodging or be they restaurants,food and beverage.
So just come on down, and Imean full disclosure.
We're a couple of damn Yankeesbut we are bringing the Southern
hospitality.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
As long as you're nice, we won't hold that against
you, max.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
All right.
Well, max, I want you to justtake a moment to share with
people how they can find outmore or reach out to you or
whatever, online or offline.
Just just tell us all about it,sure?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
thing.
Uh, crash pads website iscrashpad at chattanoogacom.
Uh, earnest chinese is earnestchinesecom.
We've got instagrams and thingsthat are run by younger people
than me who actually know how torun those, and you can probably
find them yourselves easierthan I can point that to them,
but there are pictures out there.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I love how you say that, because I feel the exact
same way.
So one more question how didyou come up with the name Ernest
Chinese?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Ernest was a cat, so the elephant cat in the room is
that we named our Chinese foodrestaurant after a cat.
But that's because Ernest livedwith Dan, my business partner
on the property, back when weopened Crash Pad.
Dan lived there for a few yearsbefore he got domesticated and
he came with Ernest just tookover the patio.
(15:38):
If there ever was like a mascotor an icon of our overall
business, it was Ernest.
So when we were trying to comeup with a name, trying not to do
something generic, trying notto do something offensive,
trying to do something that kindof true to us and our roots,
it's like, oh well, ernest, andthen Dan, kind of hand drew a
(16:01):
portrait of him and dragonizedhim a little bit and that became
our logo.
You'll notice there's a paw init with a little sixth claw.
The dewclaw Ernest was aHemingway cat that was famous
for the six-clawed cats, dewclawcats, so that is where the name
comes from.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
That is awesome.
I love that story.
That is cool.
I just thought we'd throw thatone in for good measure, because
that's a.
I knew there had to be a goodstory behind that.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, it's better than some of our other ones.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh, max, I appreciate you, man.
I can't wait to come down thereand get some of that Yankee
Southern hospitality.
We're waiting for you, scott.
All right, max.
Thanks for being with us today,buddy, it was wonderful meeting
you.
Hey, thank you again.
Absolutely.
And to all the good neighborsof the Chattanooga region.
After listening to Max talkabout Ernest Chinese and the
(16:57):
crash pad, I know that him andhis partner hopes that y'all
will keep them in mind.
You know, go down there and eatwith them.
You don't have to stay at thecrash pad to eat at Ernest
Chinese.
Go down there and order UberEats.
Go, enjoy the ambiance, checkout their hospitality, however
you want to do it, but try themout.
And, of course, keep that crashpad in mind when family or
friends are coming to town.
That crash pad in mind whenfamily or friends are coming to
(17:18):
town.
Let them know about it.
Let them know that it'savailable and, like he said, it
is a locally owned business.
So I know they appreciate yoursupport.
And, of course, before we signoff, I'd like to thank all you
listeners for taking the time tobe with us today and listening
in on the podcast.
Always remember to support thelocally owned and operated
businesses in the greaterChattanooga region.
(17:39):
From Cleveland to Dalton, fromJasper to Benton, there's a lot
of businesses out there.
Let's remember them all and seeif we can't support them.
Thank you for being with ustoday.
My name is Scott Howell of theFriends and Neighbors Group
Signing off.
Everyone, go out and make thisa remarkable day.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPClevelandcom.
That's GNPClevelandcom, or call423-380-1984.
Thank you.
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