#60 - Chef Tyler Florence, A Passion for Beef

Tyler Florence has hosted shows on Food Network, Discovery and several other networks for nearly three decades. He owns restaurants in California, Hawaii and cut his teeth in kitchens in South Carolina. He’s a chef, a businessman, a creative mind, an amazingly nice guy and he LOVES beef and the families who raise it.

Miller & Lux (millerandluxrestaurant.com)

Episode Transcript

Microphone (Yeti Stereo (00:05):
Welcome back for this episode, 60 of
Practically Ranching.
You know, we used to call theseseparate seasons, but I gotta be
honest.
There are some times in the yearthat, uh, the real job doesn't
allow me to record and editthese things, so we took our
normal summer break frompractically ranching to do some

(00:28):
actual ranching.
And that break just lasted alittle longer than I'd planned,
but we're back.
And we are back in a big waywith a guy that may not be a
household name and the ranchingculture.
But he sure is in the foodculture.
Tyler Florence has hosted showson food network discovery and

(00:50):
several other TV networks fornearly three decades.
He owns restaurants inCalifornia, Hawaii, and he cut
his teeth in the kitchens inSouth Carolina, where he grew
up.
Tyler's a chef he's abusinessman.
He is a creative mind andamazingly nice guy and he loves
beef and the families who raiseit.

(01:13):
Now.
This is going to be asignificant departure from our
typical practically ranchingguest.
But if you haven't figured itout, I like these
conversations...
Whether they're live in personor a podcast episode, I love
these conversations that are abit out there.

(01:34):
And so this one was right up myalley.
And in fact, I loved everysecond of this conversation.
We talked restaurants,consumers, but more than that,
we talk business andentrepreneurship and reality
television and people and life..
You know, as a chef in SanFrancisco, tyler has a much

(01:55):
different perspective on thebeef industry and probably a lot
of other issues than I do.
And I promise you, this is notone of those episodes where
you're going to learn any cowmanagement or marketing tips,
but I bet you might pick up abusiness or marketing tip or
employee management or evencreative thoughts.

(02:16):
Most of all, I hope that thisepisode will do what it did for
me.
And that is invigorating usabout our passion for our
product and renew our focus onthis high end beef consumer
that, uh, that we're all after.
You know most.
of you have likely heard thepanel that Tyler put together at
south by Southwest last spring,if you didn't, I go back and

(02:40):
give a listen to episode 57.
And you'll see just howpassionate Tyler is about beef.
When you hear someone like thistalk about the cattle business,
our livelihood, it's, it'spretty powerful.
Tyler.
And I recorded this episodeseveral weeks ago.
So a couple of our referencesmay sound a bit dated, but the

(03:02):
information and the discussionsin here...
they're timeless.
The nuggets of wisdom that Tylershares throughout their golden.
And I think you'll see that, um,restaurant and ranching cultures
have a lot more in common thanany of us really realize.
So welcome back.
Thanks for listening to so manyof our past episodes over the

(03:25):
last few months.
And enjoy this week'sconversation with my friend.
Tyler Florence.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (03:32):
By the looks of your Instagram page
you've been a little busy sinceI last saw you in Austin.
Tell me, uh, tell me first whatyou've been up to and then we'll
backtrack and go a little, alittle further back.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (03:45):
Well, Matt, first of all, it's so
great to see you again.
My friend, you look, you lookgreat.
Um, I'm glad we're doing thisand I appreciate your patience.
I know we had to reschedule acouple of times, um, but, um,
you know, we're always rolling.
I always feel like if we're not.
You know, flying at 180 miles anhour, like nobody loves us.
Right.
And I, cause we're just alwaysbusy.
We got so much stuff in thepipeline.

(04:07):
Um, I'm heading off to Hawaii,uh, on Friday, as a matter of
fact, uh, you know, we opened upa steakhouse at the four seasons
Hualalai on the big Island.
So we're going to be there for10 days.
We've got a bunch of stuff inthe pipeline.
We got like, I think three,three new restaurants.
We have deals closed on thatwill be opening between now and
2026, which is very exciting.

(04:27):
And, uh, and I launched a brandnew barbecue festival.
We shot a pilot for that.
The barbecue festival is calledmasters of fire.
Uh, which is kind of cool.
Um, it's like this live firecooking festival.
You can be part of, which isgreat.
Anyway, we got so much stuffgoing on, but, um, I'm just so
excited to talk to you.
How's the family?
How's Amy?
How's everybody?

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (04:44):
We're good.
We're good.
Got back from Austin in onepiece and seems like that was
light years ago.
But no, kids are great.
They're off school for thesummer and already getting ready
to start back here in lateAugust

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-20 (04:56):
Oh, it's, isn't the summer so short?
The summer is so short.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (05:00):
Yep.
Yep.
And yours, yours is busy as well

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (05:03):
Yeah.
Well, well, our daughter, uh,who's going to be Dorothy is
going to be a 16 and.
August, she got a job thissummer, which I'm very excited
about.
So she's, uh, she's beendancing.
I, I, I want to sayprofessionally, I mean, she
doesn't get paid for it, butshe's been part of this like a
competitive dance team since shewas like six and it's like hip
hop and theatrical and.

(05:24):
And ballet and all kinds of funstuff.
So she's actually teaching dancethe summer to younger kids.
So, so she's, you know, andshe's got such impeccable work
ethics because she's working thesummer, which is kind of fun.
And then our, our middle son,um, Hayden is in Hawaii right
now.
He's at this writer's camp, teenwriter's camp, uh, in Waimea,
which is a cool little town onthe big Island.

(05:46):
So my, I'm actually picking himup on Saturdays.
He's been there for four weeks,which is kind of fun.
And then my oldest son, Miles is28.
He's a, uh, an engineer withGoogle, which is kind of wild.
So he's, yeah, he's in, uh, inSan Francisco living in, you
know, Hayes Valley doing likethe whole cool tech thing with a
girlfriend and, and just lovinglife.
And, and, uh, yeah, we're, we'rejust super happy.

(06:07):
Everybody's good.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (06:09):
Well, you said your daughter has an
amazing work ethic, uh, by thelooks of your schedule and
everything that you've done justsince I've known you, uh, not to
mention everything before that.
Uh, I'm in the geneticsbusiness, so I understand
exactly why she has such astrong worth that work ethic
and, and what they can do.
So you've been on Food Networkfor what?

(06:32):
Nearly three decades, 20 someyears.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17 (06:35):
almost 30 years.
Yeah, that's my 28th year on thenetwork.
Uh, in June as a matter of fact,so yeah, it's, it's been a
while, you know, it's, you know,started in 1996, you know, it's
been a crazy ride.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (06:48):
You were just a kid.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (06:49):
It's 25.
Yeah, it sure was.
I mean, I was, yeah, it wasjust, I was the executive chef
of some restaurant and there's areally cool Italian restaurant
called Chibo.
Uh, it's on 42nd Street and 2ndin New York City.
And, um, you know, the, the, uh,uh, executive producer name was
Laurie Green.
I'll never forget her.
She walks into the restaurantone night and after service, um,
I flipped, you know, the reasonthat chef's coats are double

(07:11):
breasted because there's a dirtyside and clean side.
You flip it over, you rebuttonup, you grab a handful of
business cards, you go walk theroom and say hi and introduce
yourself.
And, and, uh, and I met LaurieGreen one night at the
restaurant.
She goes like, I thought thatwas really great.
You know, New York City istalking about you.
We'd love to have you.
On, um, you know, this newnetwork called Food Network and
that's back in 1996.

(07:32):
And, um, you know, that was myfirst guest appearance and I got
my first show in 1999.
And, and so, yeah, it's justbeen this really kind of
wonderful long ride.
So, The Great Food Truck RaceSeason 17 is out right now.
Number one show on the network,it always is every summer.
Uh, super fun season.
Uh, we, we, uh, drove fromHouston all the way to Miami

(07:53):
around the Gulf of Mexico.
Call it games on the gulf, whichis kind of cool.
Um, amazing season, crazycontestants, fun challenges,
delicious food, you know, likeall the wackiness and
seriousness that kind of comesalong with a great food truck,
right?
So if you're like an, anindependent entrepreneur, you're
going to get this and it's all,it's everything you learned in
business school on day one,right?

(08:14):
It's buy low, sell highlocation, location, location,
you know, treat others as you'dwant to be treated.
And And, uh, and, and workharder than everybody else.
Right.
So there's all this like crazywork ethic and really good,
basic one on one business rulesthat applies to everything.
And I think a lot of people thatwatch it end up, um, kind of
armchair quarterbacking theshow.
Like, what would you do?

(08:35):
You know, if you had thatlimited amount of money and what
would you do if, you know, yourlocations were limited and what
would you sell?
If you know, if you had those,uh, uh, items, uh, as an
opportunity to make menu itemsout of, and it's just kind of a
fun show.
It's, it's a great familyfavorite.
It's always somebody to cheerfrom.
There's always somebody to cheeragainst, is kind of

matt_2_07-17-2024_12042 (08:56):
noticed that.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-202 (08:58):
We always.
Seem to have kind of a bad guyand, and, you know, it, and the
show is so funny because, uh,uh, their casting tapes are not
exactly who they are in, in reallife because they're casting
tapes are like, Hey, we're thebubble bot team.
And we're super excited and wecan't wait.
And then around day two or daythree, they totally forget that
the cameras are there.

(09:19):
And then they left their guarddown and then they let it fly.
And it is great.
It's great television.

matt_2_07-17-2024_1204 (09:25):
Awesome.
Yeah, that is, that is fun.
I mean, there is still a bit ofreality left in reality TV and
you see it, you see it come outeven in the, in the season,
don't you?

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-202 (09:35):
Oh yeah.
I mean, it's, it is reality.
I mean, the show is programmedin a way.
I mean, so it's not, cause likesometimes, sometimes reality,
reality is a little boring towatch, but, um, so we, but
there's like challenges andthings that they got to jump
into, but, but their reactionand their decisions are totally
theirs.
And we don't get in the way.
There's actually very, very fewrules on the great food truck

(09:56):
race.
And number one rule is justdon't cheat.
You know, and we've had a coupleof people cheat over the years.
We always catch them.
Um, there's so many eyes and somany cameras locked in.
There's, you know, people have,we had one season.
Gosh, I can't remember exactlywhat it was.
It was like we were in Memphis,Tennessee.
I can't remember what season itwas.
It was like six or seven,something like that long time
ago.
But we had this one team, theywould like take bathroom breaks.

(10:19):
And then they would go, they goto the ATM machine and they pull
out a couple hundred bucks eachtime and then they would

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (10:25):
Oh ho

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (10:25):
stack their,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (10:26):
ho ho ho ho ho

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-202 (10:28):
no receipts for it.
Nice.
Exactly.
Exactly.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (10:32):
You caught em.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-202 (10:33):
We caught him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Always do.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (10:35):
So whether it's, it's the Great
Food Truck Race, or your Mastersof Fire Festivals, your American
Grill book, or at yourrestaurants, um, you've got.
Countless different ingredientsyou could be using.
And yet, especially on yourrestaurant side of things,
you've kind of staked your claimon the age old steakhouse

(10:58):
concept.
Have you not?

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (10:59):
Yeah, I just I love steak houses.
I have ever since I was a littlekid, there was a restaurant in
my hometown of Greenville, SouthCarolina called the Peddler.
And it was like the fancy placethat everybody went on prom and
like the fancy place that youwent on date night.
And it was the first time that Ihad tasted a filet mignon

(11:21):
wrapped in bacon.
As, as like a young foodenthusiast, 13, 14 years old,
kind of really, really lovedfood, but didn't really know I
wanted to be a chef yet.
But like one of those magicalmoments that you never forget.
And I love the ceremony becausethey would bring the whole
ribeye out and you can kind ofpick your cut, the king's cut
and the queen cut, and they'dcut it right in front of you and

(11:43):
then grill the steak and bringit back out.
And they have like fantastic,like baked potatoes and salad
bar and all that kind of supertraditional stuff.
But I just love the ceremony,and I honestly don't think
there's an ingredient that Ienjoy more than beef, and I
think it's absolutely delicious.
And I think our steakhouse andwe just got named best

(12:03):
steakhouse in the San FranciscoBay Area by San Francisco
Magazine for the second year ina row.
I think our 45 day dry ageprogram is second to none.
Um, I think our beefprocurement, uh, program, uh,
working with our ranch partnerin South Dakota called Demkota.
Um, I, I think it's, um, it is asuper curated program.

(12:26):
You can't get our steaksanywhere else on planet earth
other than Miller and Lux in SanFrancisco with the Chase Center.
And also Miller Lux of the FourSeasons Hawaii on the Big
Island, our steakhouse inHawaii.
And that's it.
And then I say, I think oursteaks are just the hands down
the best steaks I have everyyear.
And, and I, I think the proof isin the pudding.

(12:48):
Um, I just love it.
And I think it's, uh, it's oneof those classic things now on a
business side of it, right?
Like if you're, if you're anentrepreneur and you're, you're
putting together concepts, youwant to make sure the concepts
are simple.
Right?
Steak, sushi, Italian, right?
Because like you, you can't comeup when you say like, I'm
California farm to table.
I don't even really know whatthat means.

matt_2_07-17-2024_12 (13:10):
Especially today.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (13:11):
Well, yeah, I mean like, like I can, I
can kind of figure it out, but Ineed a subtitle.
I need a paragraph to explainit.
You know, California farm andtable, I kind of understand, but
it's not like when you saysteak, steakhouse, like, Oh,
boom, I got it.
I got it right away.
And you need to really make thatconnection with people for
people to understand what you'retalking about.
And so we just, you know, I, Igave them, um, the keynote

(13:35):
address at a travel and tourismconference in Greenville, South
Carolina, my hometown, when Iwas on book tour, um, um, a
couple of weeks ago.
And, um, uh, and I spoke aboutthe analogy of the comet versus
the comet tail.
So when you see a comet light upthe sky, do you see the comet or

(13:57):
do you see the comet tail?
What do you say?

matt_2_07-17-2024_12042 (14:01):
usually you see the tail or that's what
makes it different thaneverything else.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (14:04):
Well, it's the comet tail that lights
up the sky because the comet wasthe decision you made a long
time ago.
So I think everything that we'reworking on right now.
All the, um, all the new wave ofsuccess and sunshine and, you
know, ink and, uh, coverage andeverything that we're getting
right now is the comet tail ofus making a really good decision

(14:26):
back in 2019 to do a steakhousein San Francisco at the Chase
Center, home of the Golden StateWarriors.
And we put our flag in theground and said, okay, we're
doing beef.
We're a steak restaurant.
We're gonna, we're gonna, uh,celebrate, uh, American.
Uh, cattle ranchers across thecountry.
We're going to really kind ofget involved in this program and

(14:48):
and everything that we're doingnow, American grill, uh, our
cookbook, which was the numberone, uh, bestseller in the
grilling and barbecue section onAmazon, number one, new release.
Um, new barbecue festival, newtelevision show on the barbecue
festival.
Um, lots of interest in hotelsacross the country.
We're looking at property inPhiladelphia right now.

(15:08):
We're looking at property in LosAngeles right now, which is
really exciting for Miller Lutzrestaurant.
So all this stuff right now wasthe comet tail of us deciding
that we want to do a steakhouserestaurant in 2019.
That was the comet.
And so, you know, putting ourflag in the ground, uh, uh,
going, we're, I'm distinctivelyan American chef.
There's no doubt about it,right?

(15:29):
I don't stand behind theItalian.
I don't stand behind the Italianflag.
I don't stand behind theJapanese flag.
And although I love thosecuisines, I really, really do.
I think Americana and Americanfood is fabulous, and I think
there's lots of tradition andlots of really great ceremonies
there that feel distinctive.
Because I've traveled all overthe world.
I've been to Japan, I've been toSpain, you know, I've been all

(15:50):
over France, all over Italy andEngland, and And, uh, and I just
love the cuisine of thoseparticular countries
specifically when it's somethingthat I can't get anywhere else.
And then when you get into thislike heartland of Americana and
you go, okay, Texas barbecue,calm on.
You can't tell me that it's notlike a world class technique of

(16:11):
world class cuisine.
And then you kind of get intosteak and all the things around
that.
Like I, it just, it's my jam.
I love it.
I put my flag on the ground.
I, I, I'm a restaurateur and achef, but we have steakhouses
Miller and Lux, which is such aninteresting, uh, real brand.
This is a book called the cattleKing written in 1936, um, about,

(16:33):
uh, Henry Miller and Charles Luxknown as the cattle Kings of
California, that we considerthem our founders as a real
people.
And so we just try to be asauthentic as we possibly can.
And then, and then just, youknow, celebrate.
The steakhouse genre as ifyou've never had it before.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (16:50):
And do it in San Francisco, California.
One of, probably, arguably, themost liberal, progressive cities
in the United States.
And, and a place where there's alot of questions and curiosity
about how beef is produced, andwhether they should be eating
beef because of, you know, whatthey've heard about its effects
on climate change.
You name it.
That, that's the part thatfascinates me or impresses me

(17:13):
the most.
You didn't, you didn't justdecide to have a steakhouse.
You decided to have a steakhousein an area that, uh, Probably is
not state country.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (17:21):
Well, listen, every, everywhere,
steak, everywhere,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (17:24):
That's a good answer, chef.
I like it.
I like

squadcaster-ifee_2_ (17:26):
everywhere, steak country, everybody likes
steak.
Everybody loves steak, right?
And, and, and yes, we were aliberal bastion out here on the
West coast and we have veryprogressive values.
And I see eye to eye on a lot ofthose situations, but also when
it kind of comes to our, Foodsources and our food culture
kind of, you know, and it's notlike people are against it.
People are just against the,the, the unnecessary cruelty of

(17:49):
the, of the animal itself.
And I think that the industryhas really, really come a long
way.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (17:54):
Yeah, I was gonna say as are we as
producers.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07- (17:57):
exactly.
And that's what you and I andDr.
Temple Grandin and, and, uh, andfolks from, uh, Allen brothers
got a chance to talk about onour, uh, um, our panel, better
beef at South by Southwest lastMarch.
And it was, it was soenlightening because I, I said
to myself, this is going to be agood one.
Let's get some really smartpeople around the table and talk
about the industry and kind ofwhere it was 50 years ago and 20

(18:20):
years ago and where it is today.
And, uh, and I learned so muchin that whole process.
And I learned even a deeperlevel of respect, Matt, for what
you do and your family and yourheritage, your family.
third generation, you know,Kansas rancher on Fifth,
generation, excuse me, fifthgeneration, Kansas rancher on,
and, and you're, you're, uh,ranching on, on ancient American

(18:43):
Buffalo grazing land.
And to me, like that's such a, aspecial point of view that I
think we've got to get acrossand we've got to talk about.
So to answer your question,second couple of San Francisco.
Like, there's a level ofauthenticity and purity that
kind of comes along with walkingthe walk and talking to talk and
that we do every single day.
And as long as people kind ofunderstand that, like there's a,

(19:05):
there's a respect for theanimals, uh, that, that we, we
have for sure.
And it's best quality that youcan possibly get your hands on.
People are okay with that.
I mean, obviously there's, youknow, there's, there's vegans,
there's vegan activists and allthis kind of fun stuff.
And I think there's room in theworld for everybody, you know,
it's free speech, say what yougot to say, uh, you know,

(19:25):
whatever.
Um, but, but people, people lovesteak in San Francisco.
We crush steaks.
We sell a lot of steaks.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (19:34):
We're glad you're there and doing it.
And I think it's beneficial toall of us as producers too, who
may not understand what it isthat you have to do and see and
accomplish on a daily basis.
But I mean, let's face it, we'repretty good at raising cattle
and producing beef and gettingit to the pack processor and to

(19:54):
Allen brothers, and then on toyou.
But as far as being able tocelebrate that ceremony, as you
called it, We're not very goodat it.
We're nervous.
We're afraid somebody's going toask us hard questions.
And the fact that you went Southby Southwest, what, two springs
ago and decided that, hey,there's some information here

(20:15):
that simply isn't right.
And we need to change thenarrative and then did
everything that you did behindthe scenes to make sure and
bring that, uh, bring that storyto life this past March.
To me, that's, it's justawesome.
I'm so glad you did it.
And I'm even more glad that Igot to be a part.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (20:31):
It's a great place to have a
conversation.
And yeah, cause you really kindof like put yourself into like
the lion's den of, you know,conversations and questioning,
you know, what status quo is allabout.
And so everyone at South bySouthwest is, you know, they're,
they're very opinionated andit's just a good place to just
kind of jump into it.
Let's just jump into it.
So instead of having Aconversation in, you know, in a,

(20:53):
um, information silo of, youknow, singing to the choir in a
way, right.
Preaching the choir, like, like,let's just have a great
conversation about progressivebeef and what makes a difference
and, and what, um, you know,what, uh, solutions are.
And the mindset of rancherstoday that are addressing a lot
of the climate issues, right?
Because it's not, they're notreal.

(21:15):
It's not that it's not a realissue, but they're not as bad as
a lot of people say they are.
And they're not as, um, they'renot as bad as they used to be in
a way.
So it's reason we didn't call itbest beef.
We call it the better beef,right?
And so the, the, the industryhas changed in so many different
ways.
And, and we, Just wanted toshine some light on that and not

(21:35):
hide in a way as if we're afraidof activists or we're afraid of,
you know, anybody in particular,because, like, listen, we're,
you know, beef is a very,important food source in
America, right?
And honestly, can I tell you,it's my favorite ingredient in

(21:56):
the world.
Is that like be nothing.
Um, like, cause we were, I wasjust cooking some, uh, uh, some,
uh, videos for our, our, our potpan partner, Heston up at their
lab in Napa yesterday, as amatter of fact, and we kind of
did this whole thing where howeasy it is to clean a pan.
And uh, and I was searing asteak and then we let it rest

(22:16):
for a little bit.
And then right at the end of thevideo, we just ripped it alive
like lions on the Serengeti.
You know what I mean?
We just salt and olive oil andit's just something about like a
really good steak.
It's just like.
Come on, man.
It's just so, so incrediblydelicious.
And, um, anyway, we're, we'rejust really excited to kind of
keep the conversation going and,and I'm so grateful that you and

(22:40):
I are friends and and I, I thinkanything that we can do to just,
you know, in a sort of astoicism kind of way, just like
meet everything head on, let'shave a conversation.
You know, let's not hide behindit.
Let's just talk about, yeah,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (22:56):
those folks looked at things a lot
differently than I did.
I mean, you and I probably lookat a lot of things a lot
differently.
However, there was a level ofcuriosity and quest for
knowledge that I, you just don'tsee a lot.
And they had questions.
They had hard questions.
They wanted answers to them andsome of them that may not have

(23:19):
necessarily changed their mindon beef production.
They at least saw a reason thatwe do what we do and how much
passion we have for it, and Ithink that was the part that
coupled with hearing yourstories and the impetus of this
better beef.
Panel that told me, Hey, it'snot just a bunch of cowboys out
here that want to, I hate to saydefend, but talk about what it

(23:43):
is we do every day.
Here's, here's a.
Food network chef and hugeentrepreneur that is talking to
hundreds, if not thousands ofpeople every day that wants to
defend that way of life as well.
And that gave, that gave mehope.
And I think it should toanybody, any of our producers
that are listening to this.
It is, we're not here on anIsland.

(24:04):
We can say, yeah, we're only 1percent of the population, but
we have a lot of friends likeyou who want to help us tell
that story and we, you know, cancontinue together and do that.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (24:13):
well, let's cover some of those issues
today if you want to.
I mean, honestly, I'm, I'm justsort of thinking about this and
trying to dust off my memoryfrom March, but what were some
of the issues that, that, thatsome of the, cause you know, we
had, We were on stage for anhour and we talked for 45
minutes and then we had, uh, 15minutes of Q and a, and the Q
and a was super interesting.
And some of the questions were,okay, that's a bit predictable.

(24:34):
Um, and then some of thequestions were interesting.
Do you remember them off the topof your head?

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (24:38):
Well, and I ran, actually I ran the
recording, the audio recordingas a podcast here on Practically
Ranching like a month and a halfago.
And, you know, a lot of themwere about, I would just say
management and, uh, productionpractices, grass fed versus
grain fed, and lots of prettypointed questions about, uh,

(25:00):
climate change and cattle'seffect on that, and we get those
a lot, and we're doing a betterjob of trying to quantify and
characterize as an industry justwhat kind of carbon footprint
beef has, but, you know, the,the We've, we've been through a
lot of those.
Heck, like I said, I had TempleGrandin on the show a couple
months ago, I believe, and werehashed a few of those as well,

(25:23):
but they were mainly productionpractices.
They, they, none of them wereextremely surprising to me, I
guess, as a, as a producer, Iguess the one thing that I would
like you to touch on, this wentwith one of those questions, but
you mentioned it also in thatBetter Beef panel.
Was when you went with chef TimLove there in Fort Worth to the

(25:45):
processing facility and howimportant that was to you as a
chef to see that animal go fromliving breathing animal to food
source and how important youthink that is for folks to see
and understand that may not, inour world, may not get to see
that on a daily basis or ifever.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (26:07):
Well, I, I, I don't think it's
necessary that everybody seethat.
You know what I mean?
Like, because it it is, it isvery, you know, it's, it is,
it's, it's, you know, you're,you're watching what you're

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (26:17):
It is what it is.
It's gruesome.
Yeah, exactly.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-202 (26:19):
it is what it is.
Right.
But, um, if you are in theculinary space or if you're a
chef.
I do think it's very importantthat you understand how precious
those primals that you getCryovac'ed delivered to your
restaurant are and whatsacrifice, the ultimate

(26:40):
sacrifice that animal made foryour sustenance and the life
lesson is don't ever waste a oneounce of it.
Don't, don't throw anything inthe garbage can.
And it is your job to, uh,prepare that beef with the, the
up, utmost level of respect andprofessionalism and, and make it

(27:05):
perfect and make it deliciousbecause you're celebrating that
animal's life and you'recontinuing its energy flow.
Energy never dies.
Right.
Energy never dies.
It just, it just remorphs itselfinto another opportunity.
And so when, when this animalloses its life or your
sustenance, and all of a suddenit becomes like a food source
for somebody else, that energygets passed on to someone else.

(27:27):
And I, I think it's reallyimportant that chefs do
understand that.
And it was one of those lifechanging moments for me as a
chef that I'll never forget.
And I've taken other chefs todifferent like processing plants
and, and seeing like pigs andchickens and like, you know, go
through the whole process and,and, and you really kind of see
that and you kind of understandlike, these things are really

(27:48):
precious.
This thing was alive fiveminutes ago, and now it's up to
me to make sure that I roastthis and take care of it and
clean it and prep it and prepareit in a way that that I'm not
going to disrespect thisanimal's life, and I'm not going
to throw anything away.
I'm going to use every bit ofit.
And I'm going to make this asdelicious as I possibly can.

(28:11):
And I think that is the lifelesson that every chef should
take away from that opportunity.
And that being said, I don'tthink everyone should go watch
that.
You know, it's a little, it's alittle brutal, but, but I, I
think if you are in the foodindustry and if you are a chef,
I think you're going to get alot out of it.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (28:28):
And that's what, in my opinion,
makes, you know, Sets you apartfrom some of your counterparts
and those folks that maybe justaren't cut out to be where you
are and who you are because youdon't just want to sell the
steak.
You want to sell, as I say, thesizzle.
You want to sell the story, andwhen you build the trust, like

(28:52):
you're able to build with yourco workers, with your customers,
with your partners andsuppliers, and everybody else
that's part of that team, that'swhy you're seeing that comet
tail burn as brightly as whatyou're seeing right now, in my
opinion.
And I'm not just blowing smokeup your dress.
We need more folks to get wayoff of just ranching and, and

(29:16):
restauranteurs...
We need more folks like yourselfwho don't just do their job, but
take so much pride and invest somuch passion to make sure that
they can answer every questionand make every person feel like
they're part of the processinstead of just staring at their
phone and passing the food outand whatever the case may be.

(29:39):
I mean, you've, you've got to,as you said, make it a ceremony,
especially when we're talkingabout steaks and beef and as
expensive as what it is, there'sgotta be more than just
sustenance.
There's, there's got to be that,that connection, uh, that
ceremony.
And, and, and, uh, You just, tome, you do a fabulous job and
that's, it's refreshing.

(30:00):
Again, it was refreshing for meto see and as we discussed and,
and continue to watch from anInstagram standpoint and social
media and everything else.
I haven't gotten to come out,but if I ever get back to San
Francisco, I'm, I'm going to bein line at Miller and Lux for
Sure.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-20 (30:18):
it.
And I just love what I do andour team and our staff love what
we do together.
And I think when you get good athospitality, it's fun and we
have a great time when peoplewalk in the door and our service
is spectacular.
The ambiance of the room isamazing.

(30:38):
And the rubber meets the roadwhen you order dinner and the
food comes out and it's just thebest steak experience I've ever
had.
so so what we have, um, uh, I'ma kid of the 80s, right?
I'm 53 years old.
So I grew up in restaurants andmy first job was like 1987, 86,
something like that.
I started washing dishes and thenicest restaurant in my
hometown, this French restaurantcalled the fish market.

(31:00):
Um, and, uh, they had likelobster tanks in the dining room
and the tablecloths were pinkand, and all the waiters wore
tuxedos and, um, and.
Uh, cummerbunds and like very80s and they had a lot of table
side service, which is great.
And so they had, they had likethese like finished sauces and
like seared scallops.
It kind of came out table sideand things that got flambéed.

(31:20):
And so, um, you know, we're allsort of, um, um, you know,
collectors and curators of ourown individual story, especially
when it comes to the hospitalityworld, because we, We built
movie sets for people to kind ofwalk in and have this like
experience.
Right.
So a lot of these like wonderfulmemories that I have from
tableside, um, service, uh, Ibrought to Miller and Lux and
that's kind of like one of ourold school refreshes that feels

(31:44):
so fun again, as if you've neverseen this kind of stuff before.
So you get greeted with achampagne cart.
Um, as you sit down, so oursommelier, uh, that you curate
some of the most beautifulbottles, uh, of, of, you know,
sparkling bubbles, butspecifically champagne from the
champagne region.
And, uh, and you know, you, youcan just celebrate when people
come in for dinner, they're,they're coming into dinner for a

(32:05):
reason, you know, they want to,they want to celebrate with
their friends.
Something.
Big milestone happen.
And even if it's just a Fridaynight, like, let's just get
together and let's just dosomething.
So we, you know, get a chance tocelebrate the experience with a
glass of champagne.
And then, um, our oysters.
Um, I think our oysters are ouroyster program is incredible
too.
I built this estuary inside thekitchen.

(32:26):
So, um, and it's one of one.
I don't know of anybody else inAmerica that has this because I
had it custom built because Isaw one in Hong Kong about 10
years ago and it blew me away.
But the water is salinated andpH balanced to the ocean and
it's, it's chilled to, I thinkit's about 37, 38 degrees.
So, and it rains on top of theoysters.

(32:46):
The oysters don't think they'rein an estuary.
The way you still think they'rein kind of like this live water
system, so they're not stressed.
So when you crack them open,they're just plump and full as
if you just pull them out of thewater and you've never had a
better oyster in your life.
And we sort of kind of mix upthe, the many net that comes
along with that.
Like right now we have kind of aPickled strawberry, uh, shallot,

(33:09):
minionette, which is just blackpepper.
So you get like a little bit ofthe sweet, a little bit of the
black pepper bite on top ofthat.
But with the brininess of theoysters, like it's just like
that spectacular salty, sweetcombo, which is just amazing.
All of our oysters come from,um, uh, Marin County, uh, in
Tomales Bay.
So they're all super local.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (33:27):
they are close.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (33:28):
Yeah.
exactly.
And then, um, If you don't orderthe Caesar salad at Miller Lux,
did you even go?
Did you go?
So the Caesar salad, yeah,exactly.
So the Caesar salad cart rollsout and our cart, our carts
cost, um, um, 7, 000 bucks apiece.
I have 10 of them and, uh, andthey're, they're all custom made

(33:49):
carts.
And uh, and so it's a sevenpoint, um, ceremony that kind of
goes into the making the Caesarsalad.
The lettuces are hand grown forus, uh, in a ranch in San Jose.
And then they're trucked upevery day of San Francisco.
And so the lettuces, which is ahybrid in between a little gym
and a romaine, and the rootsystem is still attached and it
kind of comes out in this pot.

(34:10):
And so it's like as fresh as youcould possibly get lettuce.
And then the, the, the dressingis made kind of right in front
of your eyes.
We use quail eggs instead ofchicken eggs.
I think the flavor profile isdifferent.
We use Meyer lemon instead oflemon.
So we, we kind of create thisand we, uh, we have the world's
most expensive Parmesan cheese.
It's a 36 month old ParmigianoReggiano from Emilia Romagna.

(34:30):
Like it's insane.
Like the, the, the funk, the,the salt crystals, the flavor
profile, like it's reallyspectacular Parmesan.
And then the anchovies fromBarcelona and the Meyer lemons
are from Watsonville and justall just like really great.
So we kind of build this stuffup and Forbes Magazine said it
was the best cedar salad inAmerica.
I agree.

(34:51):
So that comes out and then, uh,and then I missed one step
because like to me, you know,that, that, uh, moment when I
was a kid at the peddler, whenthey would bring the, the, uh,
ribeye loin out and you couldpick how thick you wanted to
cut.
We kind of do a similarexperience, but I think classic
steakhouse that brings the cutsout.
So you can see them and talkabout them because like our, our
motto is marble makes money.

(35:13):
So you want to see the car inthe showroom before you drive
it.
So especially some of the, like,if you see it when it's like
roasted and Brown, yeah, itlooks delicious.
But

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (35:20):
too late.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (35:21):
Well, yeah, because you're kind of
missing the nuances of why thesteak is so great.
And that's the marblingstructure, right?
So you kind of, so we have this,uh, spectacular 52 ounce, uh,
uh, West home red Wagyu, uh, uh,Tomahawk, uh, from Australia,
from Brisbane, which isunbelievably delicious.
That's like.
A 400 steak, but it feeds thefamily.

(35:41):
It feeds four people, fivepeople.
And so you start doing the mathand chopping it up.
It's not, it's not, it's like,it's like you're, you listen,
you're going to spend the moneyone way or the other.
Right.
But it's definitely, it's asuper fun experience.
And then, uh, then we have our,our, uh, our, um, our, uh, uh,
uh, 48 ounce.
Uh, Tomahawk, uh, from our, ourbranching partner in South
Dakota, which is our signaturesteak, uh, and our New York

(36:02):
strip is from the same partner.
Our, our filet mignon is from aranching partner in, uh, in
Butte County in California.
And then we have a couple ofother cuts, which is kind of
fun.
We have a Dover sole fromFrance.
Uh, which gets the bone tablesides.
That's another reallyspectacular table side service.
And so we just want to, youknow, and our dining room was
built by Ken Falk is one of themost, one of the most amazing,

(36:24):
uh, you know, uh, uh, designersand public space designers in
the country.
He's just fantastic.
And so you kind of get thiswhole big thing.
You kind of walk in the door andsomebody who gets steakhouses.
AKA me knows what the F they'retalking about, and they're
delivering this world classexperience as if you've never

(36:46):
had it before, as if you'venever seen it before and missing
nothing, missing nothing.
Our popovers or bread serversare like fresh baked out of the
oven, so you kind of touch them.
They're warm.
You crack them open.
You get this little burst ofsteam.
Um, our, our salted grass fedbeef butter, which is really,
really great.
Our desserts are amazing.
And so I just, I love it.

(37:06):
I feel like even in SanFrancisco, because there's, um,
maybe there's like, I think two,two, two other notable
steakhouses.
So San Francisco magazine,December, the best steakhouse
and the San Francisco Bay areaand, uh, the Chronicle said
we're one of the top fivesteakhouses in San Francisco
because a few other, that was avoters poll.
And there's a few others thatare, that are, uh, that are
really good too.

(37:27):
There's like an old school, uh,place called house of prime rib.
Um, which is just, just haslike, you can get beef, but it's
prime rib.
And then there's another one,which is like a super fancy
Japanese steakhouse called Niku,um, which is really great as
well.
And that, that's more of like aJapanese omakase kind of beef
experience with a really greatA5 Japanese Wagyu.

(37:48):
But if you want an Americansteakhouse experience that
misses nothing, are you joining?
And, and also we're at the ChaseCenter, uh, home of the Golden
State Warriors.
So every basketball game, myGod, is that restaurant a scene?

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (38:01):
I'll bet.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (38:02):
It's a scene with all of our, because
like here in the Bay Area, likeall of our, you know, our tech
entrepreneurs, like they're kindof our local celebrities.
So it's like the CEO of thatcompany and the, you know, the
CTO of that company and the, youknow, the founder of that
company and all our, we havelike fantastic music scene here.
So all of our hip hop artistsare in and like, I'm like, you

(38:23):
just kind of walk the diningroom.
I'm like, this place is drippingright now.
Like, wow,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (38:27):
uh, Every step that you have given
me, now mind you here in centraltime zone it is 1239 p.
m.
And I usually record these overlunch.
I am flipping starving to deathright now after hearing you go
step by step.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-20 (38:43):
and you know what I want?
I want to.
I want a steak.

matt_2_07-17-2024_1204 (38:46):
attaboy, me too.
I want, I want the Caesar saladfirst though and maybe, maybe
the champagne to start it.
Um, Um, but every one of thosesteps along the line, you
mentioned one, if not boththings.
And that was where theingredient came from and who it
was you worked with to sourceit.
And that brings to mindsomething that you said to Amy,

(39:09):
I think when we were in Austinand she was just in awe of all
the things that you had going,not just that weekend, but back
home and everything you were upto.
And she said, Tyler, how do you?
keep all these balls in the air.
How do you get all this done?
And you said, if you rememberthis, I believe you said, I

(39:32):
surround myself with people withB positive blood

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (39:35):
Yep.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (39:36):
And it took us both a second or so to
think about B positive.
Wait a second.
He's not talking about bloodtype.
He's talking about person.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-1 (39:43):
talking about your attitude.

matt_2_07-17-2024_1204 (39:44):
Exactly.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-1 (39:45):
talking about either you love
hospitality or this is not theright professional for you.
Either you love it.
Like you love air or this is notfor you.
And, uh, and, and, and thank youfor that.
Because like I was just talkingabout this, um, a couple of
minutes ago, right before Ihopped on, I had a quick little
call with our, uh, operationsdirector.
And like, so like, if there'slike.
Somebody in our team who doesn'tquite get it or doesn't quite

(40:08):
fit in.
You can just tell that theyjust, we have, they have a
different blood type than we do.
And so, and, and, and likehospitality is in your blood.
You love to give joy for aliving, or this is not your
profession and you should gofind something else to do.
Either you love it or you don't.
And if you don't, that's okaytoo.

(40:29):
You know, I mean, the, therestaurant industry can feel
transient.
So you get a lot of people thatare just kind of like buzzing
through because I need a quickgig, but our servers and our
captains are professionalservers.
They, they're the highest paidcaptains in the city of San
Francisco, uh, uh, because they,they are professional
restaurateurs, right?

(40:50):
And then, and then our top linemanagement team Um, we kind of
pull the curtains back in a lotof ways and kind of show where
all the money goes.
And we're really super open withour P& Ls because I want this to
be the most important thing thatever happens to you
professionally in the restaurantworld.
And when you walk through thetimeline of us working together
and everybody has a for sale bydate, everybody eventually moves

(41:13):
on.
We want to work with everybodyforever, but eventually
everybody moves on somethingelse.
And that's okay too.
But I want you to be ready toopen up your own restaurant when
you're done with this, right?
And I want to be friends withyou forever You know It's like I
have so many great relationshipswith like associates that have
you know Grace our presence withtheir their professionalism for
a while and then they've gone onto do other things and I'm their
biggest cheerleader Right and soand and if and if you're not

(41:36):
that type of person Then you canbe a drag on the group.
Right.
And, and, and, and so we'rereally, really particular.
I think one of our greateststrengths is our hiring
practices.
You know, we're, we're very,very particular about who we
hire because it's really easy tohire somebody who just doesn't
quite fit in sometimes.
And it's really hard to get themout.

(41:58):
Um, but, but that being said, myteam is amazing, right?
Like I do all this fun stuff.
Because my team is great and itmay seem like we're just kind of
popping up with something newall the time.
If we launch something in thepublic world where everybody can
see it, know that we've beenworking on it for two years.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (42:17):
I'll bet.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (42:18):
Know, know, that like every
restaurant, every book, every TVshow, every everything has been
cooking slowly in a crock pot onthe on the back stove for two
years before it ever kind ofgets to the public because
everything that we do is at asuper high level and it create,

(42:38):
we need partnership.
You know, we, we need foodnetwork.
We need four seasons.
We need all these people.
And, and then there's just alevel of, um, uh, scrutiny, uh,
that kind of comes along withall these ideas too.
You know, we, if we come up witha good business model, we really
want to try to break it.
Before we said, okay, we'regoing to go.
And everything that we launchedhas been thoroughly vetted that

(43:00):
we're, you know, if, if itdoesn't succeed, it's because
we, we screwed it up.
Right.
But on paper it works.
Right.
And so, uh, but my team areamazing.
My, I love my group of peoplethat I work with every day.
And, and when we come up with areally good idea, we'll
circulate it, put it in thehopper, and then figure out a
really good time to start toexecute the process.

(43:22):
And then just begin the wholething.
Like I've got dude, I could, Iwould blow your mind.
If I start talking about thingswe got in the hopper right now.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (43:30):
Well, you can't let it all, can't let
it all out

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (43:32):
well, cause I, cause honestly, like,
cause we only talk about thingswe're doing, we don't talk about
things we're thinking about and,but, but we've got so much stuff
like, like, holy shit, we've gotso much great stuff.
Like you, you wouldn't believethe, the, the, the, the partners
and the deals and the otherthings that we got cooking up,
like I'm so.
Excited and bullish on thefuture.

(43:54):
Like we've got so many goodthings that we're kind of
cooking up.
And, and, and again, so manythings have been working, we've
been working on for like a yearor so, you know, so it's all a
slow process, but to answer yourquestion, thank you so much for
that, like, cause I always wantto try to figure out some way in
a public forum to thank my team.
I, cause I never feel like Ithank them enough.
Uh, but all of our, um, the, thegreater organization or TGO is
our corporate company and, uh,our operations director and our

(44:17):
CFO and my lovely wife and, uh,my chief of staff, like.
Everybody is just like on theirgame every day.
And then, uh, in our individual,like restaurant managers, like
everyone just loves what theydo.
And I'm so excited to go toHawaii to kind of revisit that
team again.
And, uh, and we just try to, wejust try to walk the walk and
talk the talk every day.
Like we love hospitality and,and we prove it, you know, every

(44:40):
day.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (44:41):
Well, my, my opinion is that is partly
why you are drawn to the storyabout the steak and to the
ranching culture because there'sa ton of crossover with what you
have just described about takinga long time to get something to
market, making sure that you'vegot all the I's dotted and the
T's crossed, having a teamthat's almost like family and,

(45:05):
you know, decades, sometimesgenerations deep.
There are more similarities, Ithink.
than any of us realize betweenranchers and restauranteurs.
And I think you have illustratedthat, and I mean, even when you
were talking about why a chefhas a double breasted coat,
because you got a clean side anda dirty side, I'd never heard

(45:27):
that, but that's fascinating.
Um, most ranchers will have aclean hat and a dirty side.
Dirty hat.
They'll, they'll, you know,they'll go right from one thing
into another that they may haveto change one piece of the
garment just so they don't looklike they're completely out of
character.
Um, but you know, buy low, sellhigh.

(45:48):
I mean, there's several thingsthat you've mentioned just in
the last 30 or 45 minutes that,uh, demonstrate to me the
passion that you have to haveabout the hospitality industry
and about your brand, the, thefocus and the trust that you
have to have of those around youjust to get things done.
And one other thing is, I thinka lot of times in the restaurant

(46:11):
business, you all hide yourstruggles that you might be
dealing with, um, internallyranchers are just as bad or
worse.
Um, so maybe that's why we makepretty good partners.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (46:21):
Well, listen, um, um, you know, every,
every business kind of, um, PhilKnight, who is the founder of
Nike.
Um, I was listening to a podcastthat he was on, I think it was
an older podcast, but somebodyasked him like, what, what's the
most important attribute ofbeing an entrepreneur?
And Phil Knight, who's like, youknow, CEO and founder of like,

(46:42):
like a billion multi billiondollar company like Nike.
He says that you have to lookinto the face of adversity and
and handle really dark times ina very professional manner.
All right.
And if those things scare youand if because you never know
what's coming out of thepipeline, you never know what
pandemic is going to hit orwhat.
Market corrections going tohappen or, and, and it seems

(47:05):
that I wish, cause I rememberwhen I was a kid, I remember
like when 1987 there was like aneconomic, economic downturn, you
know, there was a recession in1987, but I don't think we saw
one for a long time after that.
Not until like the.
com bubble

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (47:18):
Oh wait.
Yeah, that's true.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17 (47:19):
Right.
And so there was like a reallong gap in between 20, 25
years.
It seemed like it was likealmost generational.
Now it seems like there's a bigmarket correction every five
years or three years.
Right.
So, so, you know, we just haveto be prepared and smart and
sharp to be able to pivot when,when, and to be able to read the
tea leaves of the economy in away.

(47:41):
To know something's going tohappen because you've been there
before.
And I think the, the Oh, eightrecession, the 2008 market
correction, and then thepandemic has created such a, um,
such scar tissue, right.
With myself and my company thatanything that kind of comes in
the pipeline, we're prepared tostart slashing and cutting down

(48:06):
to the bone.
If you need to.
Right.
And we're prepared to pivotbecause we know what the
opposite end of the bookend,right?
So the one end of the pendulumis success.
And the other end is the brinkof failure.
And we've seen both and facedboth head on, fearlessly.
And we're prepared to do both.

(48:26):
And I think that's what it meansto be an entrepreneur.
You just have to know what thatmechanism is.
That's survival mechanism andget to that pretty quickly if
you have to, because you knowwhat's about, you know, what's
after that.
If you wait too long, you knowwhat's going to happen.
Right.
And so that's who we are as aperson.
And I don't hate it to be honestwith you.
Right.
I hate we had to go through it,but I like who I am now.

(48:48):
Right.
Like, like, like our, uh,acumen, uh, of like, especially
being in San Francisco, whichis, you know, which, which is
going through it, You know, likeif you're, if you're, if you're
paying attention to localpolitics or paying attention to
like the news of what SanFrancisco looks like right now,
it's, it's, it's I mean, it'snot, not true.

(49:09):
It's not, not true, but it's noteverywhere.
And it's not a hundred percenttrue.
It's still San Francisco,California is still one of the
greatest cities in America, butlike San Francisco is going
through it.
so so we're in a unique positionwhere we're, we're just like,
we're, we're particularlyhardened or particularly.

(49:29):
You're like, you know,scrutinizing our P and L's and
make sure we're saving everypenny and making sure that,
cause we just don't know what'sgoing to happen next in a lot of
ways.
Right.
But I think, I think that's whatit means to be an entrepreneur
and know that everybody, that'sthe reason I feel like I have
such a kind, um, sensibility tomyself because you never know
what somebody else is goingthrough.

(49:49):
Like you'll, you'll stand behindsomebody in line at coffee and
you have trying to get coffeeand you have no idea what kind
of crises they're in the middleof.
And so I think that that'soverwhelming sense of kindness.
That, that if you could justgive, um, 5%, 10 percent more of
yourself in a very, very kindway to strangers.
Right.

(50:09):
Like you're and know that that'sgoing to come back to you.
Um, at some point in time, youjust kind of owe it to the
universe.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (50:16):
Have you always had that or did that
come as a result of being in thehospitality industry?

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (50:22):
Well, it's definitely part of being in
the hospitality industry becauselike,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (50:25):
early, so

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (50:26):
yeah.
I mean, honestly, it's who I amas a person.
It really is.
Like, I love TV.
I love mentoring.
I love the great food truckrace.
I love food network.
I'm a chef, right?
I'm a chef, and I runrestaurants and that's my job,
right?
Everything else is fun, but I'ma chef and I run restaurants.
And, uh, um, and that, thatsense of hospitality and that
sense of pride and that sense ofkindness, it kind of comes along
with it.

(50:46):
Like you, you, um, um, likepsychologically honed into
reading that table,understanding where they are
right now, and then giving themthe appropriate level of
feedback.
And, and positive reinforcementto make sure that you have an
opportunity to change their day.
You have, you have anopportunity to change their
life.

(51:07):
Right there in this next threehours.
Right.
And so I, I carry that with meeverywhere I go.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (51:14):
That's awesome.
And that's, that's why I'm drawnto you so much.
And that's why I think that weas ranchers need to look to you
all, whether you're running arestaurant, whether you're
selling beef at retail, whetheryou're in a different industry
altogether, because we can learna lot.
I mean, you were talking aboutbouncing back from adversity and

(51:35):
tough financial times.
I mean, we're right now whenwe're at the point in the cattle
cycle that we are, we're in apretty good spot, but we are.
all looking at where do we needto be in three to five or seven
years when we're on the otherside of this commodity cycle.
And, um, you know, it, yourcomments reminded me of the old
quote that, uh, what is it?

(51:55):
A diamond is nothing but a lumpof coal that survived well under

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (52:01):
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (52:02):
and that brings it out.
I mean, that's, that's yourarea.
That's our area.
That's us as, as society.
So before I let you go, um, youhave an innate ability to look
at your consumers and yourcustomers, whether they're right
there in the Bay Area or in, onthe Big Island, Hawaii, or
across the world, uh, with allthe different things that you've

(52:23):
got going on.
What do you see changing interms of consumer preferences?
And let's, let's even distill itdown to my listeners wheelhouse
in the beef industry.
Where are those folks going?
What do they want going forth?
Is it any different than we'veseen the last 10 to 20 years?
And if so, how do we need toprepare to make sure and help

(52:44):
you have the best product andthe best story to, to sell to
them?

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (52:48):
Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
And, and I, I, I love havingthis audience, uh, directly with
the, the ranching community.
Uh,'cause and, and, and no.
That I have the utmost respectfor what ranchers do and their
families do and the service theyprovide and the food sources
they provide to the Americanpeople.
I just want you like from me toyou, respect, right?

(53:10):
Um, I appreciate what you'redoing.
If, if, if no one's told youthat today, I'm telling you that
right now.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (53:15):
Well, they probably haven't, but thank

squadcaster-ifee_2_0 (53:17):
appreciate you.
I appreciate what you're doing.
So that's the first message.
The second message is like, Beefis back and beef has never been
more popular, right?
And so, and that was anotherpart of our keynote address that
we're talking about.
The comment versus the commenttail, all of our data, right?
And then we don't make casualdecisions.
Our, our, all of our decisionsare based on data.
All of our data shows that beefis back and better than ever.

(53:42):
And, and in a lot of ways,because like the, the plant
based faux meats, they've allhad their moment in the sun.
And,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (53:51):
Did they?

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (53:52):
they have, Oh my God.
Well, dude, like the honestlykind of going back to like, um,
not to kind of call any brandsout by name, but like, like, you
know, being in the Bay area, II've been invited, Oh my God.
I've been offered so much moneyand like, Hey, can you be on our
board?
And gay, can you be thespokesperson for this?
You know, artificial meat, plantbased meat, and no one asks the

(54:12):
question, what do you mean byplant based plant based?
What?
Right?
And then you flip the box overand it's got 25 ingredients and
it's the most mod, you know,food modified thing you've ever
seen your entire life.
And it's so fake and the fakeflavoring and fake texture and
fake everything.
Right?
And then you flip my box overand it's got one word on it and
that's beef.

(54:33):
Right.
So there's a level of puritythat I think people are really
like into now because they, the,the, uh, I remember one company
we did a, um, uh, like a, afundraising meeting that I can't
remember what round they wereon.
I can't remember the companybecause it's probably back in
2013, but it was, it was, uh, itwas a plant based meat product
that you, you can grill it andyou press it and it bleeds.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (54:56):
Oh, gosh.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17 (54:59):
gross, gross.
And you know what it's like,like, you know what pork tastes
like?
Yeah.
You know what beef, you know,beef tastes like,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (55:06):
Yeah.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2024 (55:06):
a duck tastes like,

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (55:09):
Uh, I can't say yes, but I would if
I'd had

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (55:11):
know what lamb tastes like, right?
So this, this tasted like ananimal.
I had never had, right?
It's weird, fake, meaty.
Uh, and, and, and I, I thinkeverybody has like gone through
their fascination of like plantbased and we're going to be
healthy and I'm still going toget a burger, but it's a plant
based burger.
And, and you know, it's likedah, dah, dah.
And like it's lentil based andblah, blah, blah.

(55:33):
And then you start kind ofgetting like all the, the
genetically modified foodsadditives that that go to make
that patty a cohesive puck.
And then you go and then youtaste it and that tastes
disgusting.
And then, and then, so everyone,in a long winded way, I'm saying
that people have like, havetried these other things and

(55:54):
they're coming back to beefbecause there's nothing better.
There's nothing better.
Uh, and, and so we're reallyexcited about that.
Um, I think, I think the, the,the level of protein that beet
provides, I think the level ofscrutiny that the ranchers are
putting kind of through this,the, the level of listening,
which I think is really, reallyimportant, you know, to
environmentalists and theindustry.
And meeting them as, as close tohalfway as you possibly can is

(56:18):
only going to do better for theenvironment, right?
It's only going to be, we'reonly going to create like a
better, better world, a better,you know, genetics and better
beef and all this kind of stuff.
And so we're getting there.
We're getting there.
And so anything I can do to you,and this is my last message,
everybody out there in theworld, anything I can do to you
to help tell your story.
Anything that I can do to helppromote ranching in America,

(56:39):
anything I can do to, to, to, toshine a light on this heartfelt
industry that is all aboutfamily.
Like I just want to do that.
Right.
And enjoy a good steak on top ofit.
Cause I think, I think everybodyneeds their moment in the sun.
And I think the beef industry.
deserves it more than most.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (57:00):
Well, you are doing that every night
at Miller and Lux and on thetelevision and on cookbooks and
podcasts and you name it.
I mean, you have, again, I goback to it.
You have an incredible talentfor making someone want to do
business with you.
Want making someone want to buythings that you are selling.

(57:21):
I mean, I'm doggone gladpersonally that you didn't say
yes to whatever deal that, uh,the plant

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2024 (57:29):
I was close

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (57:30):
made.
Because you

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (57:32):
they were back in the truck up
brother.
I, I, I was, I was called acouple of them.
I was like, wow, really?
Okay.
That's a lot of money.

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (57:38):
Well, there's, there's a reason for
that, because I mean, luckily,uh, Nature ran it's course and
people saw it for what it wasand went absolutely not.
But,

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2 (57:50):
what I saw.
Like, this is so

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (57:51):
just glad they didn't have you out as
their front man, because it mayhave been different.
Ha ha

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-20 (57:56):
one company sent us a, they're like,
Hey, we'd love for you to be thespokesperson of this.
Like, plant based chicken nuggetcompany.
And, and our motto is alwaystake the meeting.
Cause you never know.
Right.
And so we took the meeting andit was kind of fun.
And like they, they had a bunchof money and I'm like, well, let
me try the product.
Send me the product.
Right.
And so they sent us a cut.
They were like frozen nuggets.

(58:16):
You get it like Costco,whatever, right.
In the freezer section.
And I pulled them out and putthem on the tray, pop in the
oven, toasted them, tried a few.
And then I flipped over.
The bag and read theingredients.
And I think the fourth or fifthingredient down was
microcellulose, which is woodpulp

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (58:36):
As the fourth ingredient.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17 (58:37):
fourth or fifth ingredient down.
Like, and that's the binder thatholds the stuff together, right?
It's just soylent green.
Like what kind of garbage?
Oh, you know what I mean?
What's the matter?
What's wrong with chicken?
Right.
And it's just crazy.
So I think a lot of people havelike tried that.
Been down that road.
It's last year's kale, you know,and if you don't like meat,

(59:00):
enjoy vegetables.
I love vegetarians.
I love vegans.
You know, I love we have a greatvegetable tasting menu at the
restaurant because I don't wantanybody walking to go.
There's nothing for me to eathere.
We love that stuff.
We have a vegan slash vegetariantasting menu on the menu.
Every night and the restaurantbecause that's how because like
as a chef, that's where thehonestly where the real
storytelling is from aseasonality standpoint, because

matt_2_07-17-2024_120421 (59:23):
Oh, right,

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-2024 (59:24):
a pork chop can taste like a pork
chop from January to June,right?
It's a saint.
It's a pork chop, right?
But the seasonality of all thestuff between going from, you
know, slow roasted butternutsquash and porcini mushrooms
and, you know, You know, Madeiraglaze and to tomatoes and fresh
basil and Meyer lemon.
And, and, you know, theseasonality of all this kind of

(59:44):
stuff, like I love produce,right?
But, but, um, I think a lot ofpeople have kind of gone through
this like fake protein thing andthey're coming back to the
reality of real healthy, good,sustainable protein.
And that's, that's beef, that'schicken, that's lamb.
And those are our ranchers thatare doing this for the American
public.
And I'm, I'm proud to standshoulder to shoulder with them.

(01:00:05):
I would echo the same thoughts.
I mean, we're so proud to getthe opportunity to stand
shoulder to shoulder with you.
And that passion that you haveand that understanding of, of
your customer and what it is,they want more than just food,
more than just sustenance.
You know, That entertainment,that understanding of how to

(01:00:26):
bring that beef to them.
We need to recognize here in thebeef industry, how, just how
important that is.
And, um, yeah, we just, I can'tthank you enough for being on
here today.
Uh, But for everything that youdo with those steakhouses are on
that food network show or inyour cookbook or whatever the
case may be.
Any number of the things you do.

(01:00:46):
Thank you for including beef.
In those recipes, and theneverything that you share.
But thanks.
More importantly for helping usshare the why of what it is we
do every morning.
We walk out the door.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17- (01:00:59):
Well, listen, buddy, um, um, I, I am
so, uh, proud to be friends withyou.
And, uh, please tell your lovelywife, Amy, I said, hi, and, uh,
I can't wait to see you again.
And let's get something on thebooks, man.
I want to come out to you.
You guys come up to the Westcoast.
Um, we got, uh, so the, um, um,I'm not sure when this is going
to air, but the masters of firefestival, we've got, uh,

(01:01:19):
Nashville coming up.
We have Denver coming up.
We have St.
Louis coming up and then we haveSacramento coming up and then
our finale is going to be inDallas.
on the Dallas Cowboys footballfield in October, um, which is
gonna be super fun.
Yeah, and we shot a pilot forthis with Food Network.
And so Masters of Fire, which isgoing to be the most incredible
live fire cooking competitionslash barbecue festival you've

(01:01:40):
ever seen, uh, coming to a townnear you.
Uh, the show next year, uh, isgoing to be phenomenal.
And, uh, we're just really,really happy where we are right
now.
It's a lot of hard work, um, butI love my team and, uh, we, we
just, I surround myself with abunch of fun, creative,
hardworking people that like toget things done and, uh, and,
and that's where we are rightnow.
But, um, um, but I, I'm so proudof you and thank you so much.

(01:02:03):
And I love telling your story.
Um, you know, with like fifthgeneration, you know, Kansas
rancher, come on, man.
Like that, that, that's, that'sso unique and interesting and
real.
I love it.
Well, there are plenty of othersjust like me that are out here
listening.
And.
Very very glad that we have afriend in you.
Uh, who can help us share thatstory with the world.

(01:02:25):
So again, Thanks so much.

squadcaster-ifee_2_07-17-202 (01:02:28):
My pleasure.
thank you so much, everybody.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo (01:02:31):
Thanks again for listening to
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(01:02:54):
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(01:03:15):
Once again, thanks forlistening.
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