EXPERIENCE 143 | Dishing Up Great Food & Stewarding Legendary Restaurants with Alan Jantzen, Owner and Restaurateur at Silver Grill Cafe and Vern’s Place - The LoCo Experience

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
For almost 30 years, AlanJanssen was the man behind the
scenes for what became one ofFort Collins Restaurant
Industries most dominantorganizations, Hot Corner
Concepts.
Featuring amazing brandsincluding Moothouse, Austin's
American Grill, Big Al's Burgersand Dogs, and Comet Chicken, Hot
Corner Concepts set the standardfor quality and consistency in
our region.

(00:20):
Along the journey, Alan wasgiven many opportunities and
lots of responsibility.
But was never granted anopportunity to become an owner.
And in the spring of 2021, hestarted looking for what's next.
In September of 2021, he shothis shot asking 42 year owner
operator, John or an awful, ifhe could buy the silver girl
cafe.
Absolutely not, was John's quickanswer.

(00:42):
But within a few weeks, they hadBack to the Napkin Deal worked
out, and by December, Alan wasthe proud owner of Dish Up, LLC,
DBA Silver Girl Cafe.
In the meantime, Alan wasapproached by Val and Nick
Lanteri, owners of Vern's Placesince 1990.
To see if he was interested instewarding their restaurant into
its next chapter.
He pushed pause on thatconversation in the moment, but

(01:04):
by mid summer of 2022, Alan andhis wife, Jackie started dish up
to LLC DBA Verne's place, andnow operate two classic
restaurant institutions with atotal of 167 years of history.
90 years at silver grill and 77at Verne's place.
Alan got his start in therestaurant business as a
teenager, and his mom drove himback and forth to Greeley from

(01:25):
his hometown of Ault for adishwashing job until he'd saved
enough money to buy a car.
He later moved to Fort Collinsand got a job at the Mood House
in his early 20s, and was soonthe right hand man for Scott
McCarthy and Steve Taylor, thenpartners in their first
restaurant.
His stories of restaurantlaunches and turnarounds and
successes continue from then,and based on our conversation,

(01:45):
the successes at Silver Grilland Verne's are very likely to
continue.
So please tune in and enjoy myinspiring conversation with Alan
Jensen.

(02:31):
Welcome back to The LocoExperience.
I'm honored today to be joinedby Al Jansen.
And Al is the proprietor andrestaurateur of Silver grill and
Vern's in Northern Coloradodoing business or a dish up and
dish up, LLC, uh, doingbusinesses to stall, stall work,
classic restaurants.

(02:51):
Thank you very much for havingme.
Great to have you here.
And, uh, just really excited tohear about your journey into,
you know, being the caretaker,the host of Vern's and silver
girl.
I think it's such an interestingplace in the world to fill those
shoes.
It's yeah, no pressure, right?
Don't screw it up.
Don't screw it up.

(03:12):
First thing.
I tell myself in the mirrorevery morning.
Don't screw these restaurantsup.
Just have a good day.
If you have a good day, workhard every day.
The rest of it takes care ofitself usually.
Yeah, you know, fortunatelythose two places every day is a
pretty good day.
Yeah, great people.
We have the Best guests in theworld.
So, and, uh, it's, it makes itpretty easy.

(03:32):
What do you think your guest mixis maybe even respectively.
So I guess for context, can wejust describe the silver grill
in brief?
And we'll talk more about thebackground and stuff, but just
describe it as a restaurant andthen Verne's.
And I want to.
Focus in much especially on liketourists and non tourists and
things like that Regulars andjust your guests at what your
breakdown is.

(03:52):
That's a great question, youknow, silver girl being 90 years
old Happy birthday.
Thank you But I'll take it itwas you know Silver girl has
just it's kind of I'm not surewhat downtown looks like without
silver grill anymore.
You know, it's just, uh, it'sbeen there since I remember my

(04:15):
first trips into Fort Collins.
And, uh, so that being a 90 yearold business, uh, my wife and I
are the fourth owners of thatbusiness, which I think is a You
know, just really a fascinatingright.
Dis discussion all on its ownbecause there hasn't been too
many people that have owned it.
But all of the families that isprovided for over 90 years is, I

(04:35):
think, a, a really amazingRight.
Interesting study on, on how,how important that restaurant is
to, to Fort Collins and thedowntown, um, started off as a
one room cafe.
Mm-Hmm.
and has grown now into fivebuildings.
Is that right?
We're breakfast and lunch only.
So we're 7:00 AM to.
Two p.
m.
Um, and the interesting thingabout that is that the

(04:57):
restaurant's really functioningfor 24 hours a day, even though
we're only open for seven hours.
Is that right?
You're prepping and baking rollsand different teams are coming
on at night shifts and whatever.
The size of the restaurant wesee nearly 250 people when we're
full capacity, really patioscounters when everything's a

(05:17):
real all full, full, we're justa shade under 250 people.
So it takes a lot.
How many square feet?
That's a great question.
We'll have to dial up John.
I need, I need to phone afriend.
Seems like maybe 5, 000.
It's it's probably, it's gottabe in that five to 6, 000 range
of the, you know, you factor inpatios and kitchen space and

(05:37):
office space, it, uh, it gets tobe a pretty happy vibe.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I, I think it does too.
And that was really one of thebig attractions to, to be in
part of that history.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You don't have to come in andfix the culture.
You just have to come in and notbreak it.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Just have some fun with it.

(05:57):
And, uh, unfortunately we have alot of people that like to play
along with Verns.
Verns is, you know.
Completely the same, butcompletely different, you know,
10 minutes away and a very, um,you know, much more agricultural
rural feel to that restaurant,but the same kind of appeal
it's.

(06:18):
It's great for me to be able tosee people that dine three days
a week in one building and twodays a week in the other.
You know, it's, it's fantastic.
Uh, so many people cross overcause they have their, their,
their favorite breakfast spots.
Yeah.
So, and unfortunately we, wehappen to be, um.
Two of the more popular for, forthat meal part.

(06:41):
Um, I never go to breakfast atBurns because it's always on my
way home from a motorcycle rideor something like that.
I, I guess I should havebreakfast first and then go on a
ride.
Yes, you should.
It's, it's, you know, I hear alot of those people that are,
you know, I'm, uh, I'm silvergrill all during the winter.

(07:01):
Uh, but in the summer I eat atBurns because I can sit on the,
on that deck and see themountains.
Now, did you build that deck?
No, I wish I could take creditfor that because I think it's
truly one of the most specialplaces.
It is amazing to be able towatch the sun come up behind you
and light those mountains up.
It's, I'm not sure there's manybetter places in Fort Collins.

(07:22):
And Burns is.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinnerthough, right?
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Early dinner.
Uh, we just actually launched afried chicken program where
we're, uh, we bought an old, newtechnology into an old piece of
equipment.
So we bought some broasters.
So, the pressure fryers.
And so we're doing broastedfried chicken.
I had some.
That was a special when I wasthere a month ago.

(07:45):
It was delicious.
It was amazing.
It's a, it, that's been reallyfun.
And, you know, for me, a, aplace like that, you know, kind
of that roadside diner feel, uh,Oh, it just screams fried
chicken.
So, uh, so that was, that wasreally fun to bring that in and,
um, and show that to, to thatclientele and the reception that
we've got there has beenphenomenal.

(08:07):
You sell a lot of chicken just.
Pick it up and take it to go.
That's growing.
It's growing.
I wouldn't doubt it.
You know.
We kind of, it's been a soft,kind of a quiet launch.
We special day and then we'vestarted kind of releasing more
and more of it out.
Now it's on our online ordering.
Okay.
We're hoping that, you know,it's kind of our, our bump for
the winter months.
Well, and I could see honestly,like going by Vern's on the way

(08:30):
up for a camping weekend and belike, I want to get the 14 piece
chicken.
Uh, family meal or 10 piece orwhatever and, uh, you know,
we'll eat that when we get up toRedfeather.
Exactly.
We, any of the, um, chicken thatwe don't sell, you know, we have
a time limits that we limit onour chicken.
And when it gets out of timelimit, we cool that down and we

(08:50):
sell it cold.
And that's been fun to watchpeople grabbing cold fried
chicken.
It's one of my favorite things.
It's one of my favorite thingstoo.
Cold pizza and cold friedchicken.
For sure.
It never gets old, Vern.
I never warm up cold pizza.
No.
No.
I'm not sure you're supposed to.
Is Vern's a similar size as faras operation and then it's got a
gift store and stuff too, right?

(09:10):
It's smaller.
Uh, in the, in the size ofnumbers of people, you know,
inside we see it about a hundredand the, uh, the deck will be,
you know, another 50 to 60,depending on the configuration
out there.
Um, so a little bit smaller innumber of bodies, kitchen's
quite a bit smaller.
Um, and then we do, we have, westill have the gift shop.
It, uh, it kind of went awaythere for a little while.

(09:32):
Oh.
Um, and Nick and Val brought itback and I'm so glad they did.
That's the previous owners, Iguess.
Previous owners, yep.
And were they, like how old isVern's in contrast?
Vern's is 46.
Okay.
So, you know, again, here we'recoming up on an 80th for
celebration for that place,which is going to be exciting.
How do we top the 90th?
Well, we're going to have tofigure out an 80th.
Right.
Um.
So yeah, that's going to bepretty fun.

(09:53):
You mean it was started in 46?
Started in 1946.
Gotcha.
And, uh, you know, and again, alot of foresight into, into that
and grabbing that great piece ofproperty and putting something
there.
And, you know, again, you know,just a few, a few times has it
changed hands.
And is it a gas station too?
Used to be, used to be.

(10:14):
And that was my trick, you know,in high school, stopped there
for gas up, grab a cinnamonroll, bottle of pop, go fishing.
You know, I could get mylicense.
I could get some bait.
I could get, you know, I couldeven get a fishing rod there if
I, if I had to.
But that's all out now?
That's all out.
It's a little bit more, um,refined now.
It's a, it's shrunk down alittle bit from the size it used

(10:34):
to be as far as that gift shop.
And, uh, for a while they did,they were doing so much in the
way of.
Lottery tickets and, you know,all license Oh, oh, the C store,
gas station fishing licenses.
It was, it really?
Yeah.
It really was a full C-store anduh, you know, now it's more just
a, um, you know, a lot ofmemorabilia.
Yeah.
Um, and some, you got great, Idon't know who your designer is

(10:55):
for your T-shirts and stuff, butI was like kind of wanting to
buy.
A few of those when I was inthere last time, we may have to
get you one.
The Kirsten, uh, she's one ofthe, one of our management team
out there.
She is responsible for thatentire place.
And I tease her constantlybecause it's like, uh, it's like
going into Santa's workshop, youknow, it's always different.

(11:18):
I never, she never has anythingin the same place.
You know, it's, she's alwaysmoving things around, keeping it
interesting.
And it's just a passion that shehas to make it look nice, look
interesting, and always berelevant.
Right.
Well, and you know, stuffbecomes irrelevant and then
becomes worth nothing.
It becomes worth negative moneyin a retail setting because you
can't even hardly give it awayif people don't want it.

(11:39):
Exactly.
Coming from selling food all thetime where, you know, you have
this fixed amount of time to tryto sell the product when it
comes in the back door to havehaving a retail element now.
Right.
A whole different.
Animal for me to try to figureout, you know, I guess if you
hang on to it long enough, itbecomes cool again, maybe, but
you really don't want to dothat.

(12:00):
We talk about inventory turntimes and stuff like that,
especially with retail.
So always gotta be moving.
So your background, um, forquite a few years, over 10, 20
years, almost maybe was with hotcorner concepts.
I'm going to blow your mind.
It was actually 30 years.
Oh boy.
30 years I was with Hot CornerConcepts.
So you started there just as apuppy.

(12:21):
Oh, I'm a mature puppy.
I was 22 when I started at HotCorner and it was really
basically just the moothouse atthat time.
Oh really?
They were doing some othersmaller projects.
Okay.
And, uh, I think the timing wasgood for me.
I had started in the restaurantbusiness when I was 15.

(12:45):
Um, I worked as a pot and pandishwasher for the holiday.
That was my first job for thegranary restaurant in, uh,
Fargo, North Dakota.
Ah, I'm going to want to jumpall the way in the time machine,
um, to, and like, learn whereyou came from even, but I want
to talk about the, the.
transition out of Hot Corner,uh, and into Silver Girl first

(13:09):
and Verne's next.
And then we'll jump in the timemachine.
You told me part of that storyand I was like, oh, that's
really cool.
I don't know how much you arewilling to share in a public
forum.
But John Arnolfo?
Is that how you say his name?
Yep.
Um, John, um, I kind of alwaysknew John, but I didn't know
John.

(13:29):
Okay.
Uh, John was, um, in my mind,You know, for 30 years of
working in downtown restaurants,uh, he was kind of the
godfather, you know, he, youknow, kind of had his own
special thing going, you know,he was very well known, very
well liked, um, but, you know,he was, yeah, he could be very
easy if he wanted to easily,easily, he just, uh, he knows

(13:50):
everybody's got such a, a charmand an ease about him that you
just want to.
Be near him and yeah, he's got amagnetism for sure I've never
really gotten to know him, beenintroduced a couple times in
passing, but wonderful man Yeah,and I can't I can't really say
enough about him because withoutJohn I wouldn't be here today
talking to you about SilvergrillYeah Yeah, he really made it

(14:10):
possible.
So we, uh, and when did heacquire the silver back?
He's had it for 43 years.
Really?
Yeah.
So he, he will tell you 42.
I give him 43 cause he was twomonths shy of 43, but he only
says 42.
I give him, I round up.
Was it the size that it is nowalready then, or did he grow it?
And his stories about that,about his.

(14:33):
foresight in and seeingopportunity and being such an
entrepreneur and acquiring thosebuildings It's it's one of the
most amazing stories That I'veever heard.
It is really a man who pulledhim up by his bootstraps Really?
Future guests he needs to bewell his stories need to be told

(14:54):
You know his his vision forBringing a cinnamon roll to
downtown Fort Collins.
You know, I mean, I can't thankhim enough.
I'm glad, whatever, whatsomebody was helping me because,
uh, they tapped him on theshoulder and said, make cinnamon
rolls.
And he listened and, uh, andit's grown.
Oh, so he brought the cinnamonrolls that wasn't part of the

(15:15):
silver girl experience beforethen.
That was not part of the lore.
He brought that on.
Okay.
So he developed, that, developedthe, the recipe and everything
that was, uh, happening.
There were the Verne cinnamonrolls.
Created completelyindependently?
Yes, there was.
Those are the best two.
Johnson's Corner has anargument, but they're way down
there, right?

(15:35):
Yeah, they're not up here, youknow.
And yours are a little betteranyway, probably.
Well, you know, I might be alittle biased.
They were the two heavyweightsduking it out every year for the
best cinnamon roll.
And, uh, there was a briefamount of time where a baker had
left, uh, Burns.
Oh.
And had gone to silver grill.
So, you know, I think in andamongst the baking world, there

(15:58):
was some thought that maybe theywere the same recipe.
And I can confirm and assure youthey are completely different.
There's not, aside from thecinnamon, sugar, and flour,
that's about where, about whereit ends.
Okay, I like it.
The special sauces are muchdifferent.
Yes! But you're not sharing.
Uh, you know, we'll see what theepisode two looks like.

(16:19):
Let's see if I can get you on tosome more bourbon.
Yeah, some more bourbon.
Keep me talking long enough.
We, we just did the, uh, at the,uh, tailgate during the
homecoming football game.
Oh, sure.
Yeah.
We did, um, our first ever, uh,cinnamon roll showdown.
Oh.
And we let people try one ofeach and, and vote, um, Of your
pecan and your regular, youmean?
Just of Burns and Silver Grip.

(16:40):
Oh, yeah, duh.
And it was, it was really, uh,The energy was amazing.
It was very, very fun to watch.
Is the results public?
The results are public.
So, uh, the cinnamon rollshowdown annual event, number
one, Silver Grill took this one.
Oh, so a little bit of a hometurf advantage there, right?

(17:02):
At CSU.
Got the Leporticans coming down,but not as many of them.
Uh, it was, it was a boy inthere.
People are just.
It's so fun to watch people beso fanatical.
No fights broke out or nothinglike that.
No, but I certainly had fingersin my face.
Don't screw up this cinnamonroll.
And it was on both sides.
I like it.
It was really fun.
And to be able to, to be able torepresent both and, uh, and just

(17:25):
enjoy the show was really fun.
I like that.
So to get back to John, encircleme a little bit when, when this.
Cause, I mean, John was, Johnlooks younger than he is.
I introduced him as my youngerbrother.
He's 72 years old.
But, I mean, it was kind ofobvious to, probably even the
community at large, that John'snot going to want to work here
as much as he does for too manymore years.

(17:46):
Yeah, I think John had a very,um, He was in a very good place
at the, at the, at that time,even coming out of COVID.
Cause remember when I boughtthat, we were still table spaced
in masks and we had a lot of,uh, regulations still imposed on
the business.
Um, a little, you know, a littlebit frightening to.
To undertake that at that time,but John had weathered most of

(18:08):
the storm already.
Right.
And, uh, you know, the businesswas really showing signs of a
lot of life.
And what circuit me here?
This is like, maybe mid 21 uh,December 17th, 2021.
Don't ever ask me for advice onhow to buy a restaurant.
Christmas week, during apandemic, we decide to jump ship
after 30 years and buy our ownrestaurant.

(18:29):
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
It was, it was an education.
That's for sure.
I'm sure.
But the team was, our staff wasamazing.
They lifted us right up, adoptedus right in, and we just ran
with it.
And we've been running eversince.
Is that when the conversationstarted or that was the close?
That was the close.
The conversation started, Ibelieve, you know, it would

(18:50):
probably be late August of thatyear.
Do you think navigating thatpandemic was part of his
willingness to sell or would he?
Or just getting to know you ortell me what his motivations
were, do you think?
You know, again, I, I wish Iknew a lot of people that wanted
to just quit being in businessafter that Covid stuff.
Well, I think, yeah, I thinkthat kind of ran through all of
our brains.
I wasn't, I wasn't, you know,necessarily shopping for a

(19:12):
restaurant when I, um, decidedto make my exit.
It was a, I was, I was shoppingfor, you know, something.
Something.
Oh, something else.
And I didn't know what it was.
Oh, gotcha.
At the time.
And, um, John and I have amutual friend who's in banking.
Okay.
And, um, I would show him all ofthese great ideas that I had and
he would shoot them down oneafter another and tell me that

(19:33):
that was not a great idea.
And, uh, I had came to him witha, uh, Uh, sandwich shop, um,
that I thought, ah, this wouldbe perfect for me.
I could have this sandwich shop.
And he sat me down.
He said, I'm absolutely notloaning you money for that.
And, uh, You'll be a slave tothe sandwich shop and you're
going to hate your life for therest of the time.
It's not going to work.
And he said.
The words, and I'll neverforget, um, Rex's words to me.

(19:56):
They were, Alan, you're adowntown restaurant guy.
Buy a restaurant in downtownFort Collins.
Yeah.
And I was like, well.
This is a Rex Smith call, Iguess.
Rex Smith call.
And, uh, and I said, you know,Rex, I had.
The ones I thought I was goingto buy aren't for sale anymore.
You know, what, now what do Ido?
And he said, there's other greatopportunities down here.
And I'm ratcheting through mybrain all of the other

(20:17):
restaurants that are downtown.
I'm not coming up with anything.
And he said, dummy, call John.
Call John at Silver Grill.
I sat back and I was like,nobody calls John.
Oddly enough, I did have John onmy phone.
I don't know why, uh, but I didhave John on my phone.
I sat on that for about a monthand, uh, decided, you know, I
better, you know, I, I bettermake a call.
And, uh, so I called John andasked him out for breakfast.

(20:40):
So was this like a pocketlisting?
Basically, John must havementioned to Rex that he was
interested in entertaining or itwasn't even that far?
Wasn't even that far.
Yeah.
It was just, uh, I think...
Rex was just his customer.
Yeah.
Just recognizing both.
Well, and when you're a goodbanker, you recognize the value
of the win win and, um, justseeing an opportunity for a

(21:03):
really good caretaker to be thenext phase.
That's a, that's a greatcompliment.
Um, I'll take it.
Uh, you know, and, uh, uh, Ithink that's, that's what Rex
had told me.
And, uh, it was a.
We were kind of off to theraces.
You know, I asked John out, uh,about an hour into my breakfast.
I was stammering around tryingto come up with more things to

(21:25):
talk about.
And he said, why am I here?
So I'd love to buy yourrestaurant.
He said, Oh, absolutely not.
Um, and I said, well, at least Imade a good friend today.
And he said, you absolutely didthat.
And I said, uh, you know, I'll,I'll see you around.
Let's, you know, I'm, I'm, yeah,I'm, yeah.
And he said, I'm probably goodfor this for another two to five

(21:46):
years.
And he had a good thing going,solid management team in place.
He's obviously had it dialed in,you know, doing it for 40 some
odd years.
He was, uh, he was prettyclicking along pretty good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, and I mean, he'll nevermake as much income off of his
investments from whatever hesold it to you as operating the
restaurant well.
And you still got to operate itthen.

(22:06):
Exactly, exactly.
And how many chips do you want?
Yep.
Ultimately.
It was...
And so you had left Hot CornerConcepts already.
No.
You hadn't, but you had decidedto.
Yeah, I had, I had decided itwas time for me to move on.
Yeah.
And, uh, uh, you know, after 30years and there's a place on
Mountain Avenue that has my nameon it.
Yeah.
Um, it was a, it was a very...

(22:29):
I met my wife in the Moothousein 92.
We started dating in 93.
Um, we didn't get married ofcourse, until 2017, which is a
different story.
That's episode three for us.
And, uh, so there was a lot ofgreat memories, a lot of great
connections, you know, really,it was, uh, my family, my

(22:49):
friends, um, I want to gothrough a lot of that journey as
well, I think.
Um, and then.
So you work out a deal with Johnin a few months, really.
Yeah.
He calls you back and says, youknow, maybe we should talk
again?
Yeah, it was, he called me backmaybe the next day and said,
let's, let's get together again.
Um, we, uh, we set a time and itwas, it was a little bit.

(23:11):
It's a little tricky.
I'm still employed.
I'm still very gainfullyemployed.
And I don't want to screw thatup.
You can't use your Mood Houseincome or your Hot Corner
Concepts income to qualify forthe loan that you need from Rex.
Exactly.
So, I was in a little bit of afunny situation.
John hadn't really discussedthis with his management team

(23:31):
or, you know, any future plans.
So John was in a little bit of afunny situation.
So we were trying to figure outwhere to go, where to meet.
So where did you meet?
We, we, first we were going tomeet at, um, uh, the, uh, Oh,
The steakhouse out by the mall.
And I can't think of it.
It's so the long, long horn.
So we're going to meet atLonghorn cause nobody was there.

(23:52):
Nobody, we didn't know anybody.
Okay.
That could be safe.
Uh, so we got about halfwaythere and, uh, he said, change
of plans.
Let's go to Chalvino.
So we decided to go to Chalvino.
We walked in and they were.
Closed on that day, whatever itwas, it might've been a Monday
or something.
They happened to be closed.

(24:13):
And, uh, John and I both lookedat each other and I was like, I
don't know.
What, what do we do now?
Do we go to the library?
What do we do?
Cause I don't really, I, I, Ican't go to a coffee shop.
I, you can't go to here there.
We just know too many people.
So we ended up back at hislovely house.
He's got a great house.
So we went back to his house andthat's where all of our future
meetings happen.

(24:33):
It's just at his, and it was, itcouldn't have been more perfect
for me to be honest with you,because we did all of the deal
in about.
or three meetings across hisdinner table.
And that was about as good as itgets for me.
It was a handshake.
It was literally, but you know,it was done.
I knew it was done.
He knew it was done.
I trusted him.

(24:54):
He trusted me.
Um, I had some things I had toget done.
He had some things he had to getdone.
Uh, we struggled with.
COVID running through hislawyer's office twice, my, my
lawyer went to hike volcanoes inHawaii on a great COVID deal.
Uh, so our, our, our, we had aNovember one, uh, kind of a
timeframe that I wanted to takeit, uh, that ended up getting

(25:16):
pushed out about six more weeksinto December.
Got it closed before the yearend though, so that's a success.
Exactly, we got it done, and uh,and it all worked out for the
better, but, and it wouldn'thave happened without John
though, and that's, I thinkthat's the, the thing, John, you
know, really pushing it, andbeing such a creative thinker on
the financial piece of it, causethat's not, that's not me,
that's not my world, I am a, I'mwhat's in front of me.

(25:38):
I tackled the problem and Imoved forward.
He's thinking about thesecreative financial opportunities
for both of us to make it a win,win, minimizing some taxes on
him, minimizing taxes for him,helping me in the long run.
Uh, I mean, I didn't, uh, afterwhen I gave him the down
payment, I was flat broke.
We were, I had nothing.
I had nothing.
I'd never written a check thatbig in my life.

(25:59):
You can't even understand my,my.
My signature.
I'm not sure what it looks like.
Most of your net worth.
It was, it was everything I, wehad bought off my wife and I had
convinced my wife coming out ofthe 2009, um, housing debacle to
buy 42 acres in Loveland andfarm.
Wow.
And so we had done really wellon that and we used that to

(26:22):
finance the whole thing.
So here I am, um, Riskingeverything leveraged up as much
as you've ever leveraged up andnot a comfortable job and quit
my job.
So we, uh, then John turnsaround and says, you know what,
I'm going to give you myinventory.
So you're making money day one.
I, I, I can't say enough aboutthe man and how he invested in

(26:47):
me over just such a short timeand, and allowed me to take on,
well, you know, it's his legacyin a lot of ways.
And that sets his legacy up forsuccess under its new caretaker.
Well, I hope so.
And how long before the Verne'sconversation came along?
Verne's.
This, okay, I'll let the cat outof the bag.
The Vern's conversation actuallystarted while I was negotiating

(27:09):
with John.
Oh, really?
I got a call one day and said,you know what?
We're in this, this situation.
We'd like to exit thatsituation.
We'd love for you to buy ourrestaurant.
Had to go, wow, this is crazy.
You know, I'm here.
I've never had four weeks and Ihad to say, I'm sorry, I can't
do it.

(27:29):
And I said, Oh, you're buyingsomebody else's restaurant.
Aren't you?
And I said, Oh, how now that'sgreat.
How would you ever guess that?
How would you come to thatconclusion?
But, uh, did you know?
Uh, Nick, I had known Nick forquite a while and Nick and Val,
salt to the earth, great people,great operators, um, wonderful

(27:51):
family, um, just, you know, kindof in the same boat coming out
of those two or three years of,uh, of COVID and the stresses
and all of that.
And they were just like, youknow, it's, it's time for us to
do something.
Like we've built enough wealthto retire comfortably and now
let's.
do that before.
And, you know, for a lot ofpeople, we've seen people die,

(28:12):
like not more, not from COVIDthan from COVID in the time
since that time.
But it like heightened ourawareness of, you know, I only
got so many more trips aroundthe sun in me.
And so why am I working myfingers to the bone when I've
got enough resources to do whatI need?
And My kids and my grandkids canfigure it out.
I'm going to spend some of thisBless every one of them first

(28:37):
for coming to that conclusionTerrible stories about people
that retire and then within ayear there they've passed.
Yeah, and I'm like, oh man,that's what a You work that hard
for this reward at the end, andthen you don't get to reap it.
I couldn't be more happy forboth of them.
Both of them have taken great,wonderful.
I was going to say, John's beentaking, shaking his tail feather

(28:58):
from what I hear.
He's been doing all right.
Probably Nick and Amy too.
Or Nick and Val, sorry.
And they just came back from aEuropean trip.
So you put them on pause andthey're like, okay, did they
never went public with it beingfor sale or anything?
They kept that to themselves.
And, uh, I, my.
One of my great stories about,uh, Nick and Val are, they were

(29:21):
such great supporters of mineand when they found out I was, I
was going to do something else.
And, uh, their restauranthappened to be closed on
Mondays, uh, and Silver Grillworked seven days a week.
And, uh, they ate.
Breakfast.
If there's 52 Mondays in theyear, they ate 48 of them.
And so really, and would fill mein.
They would, first thing was, howare you, how are things going?

(29:42):
Uh, and how's the business, howyou feeling?
Um, all of these wonderfulquestions.
We kind of just, you know, kindof just kept consulting one
another.
And, uh, then it became, youknow, we're going to, we're
going to jump back in all theway in the restaurant, take it
back over and we'll do thatunder the auspice that you buy
it from us.

(30:02):
And I said, Oh, sure.
Yeah, that's great.
I can do that.
Yeah.
You know, I'm not, I'm fourmonths into my own game.
I'm pretty sure my banker saysmy financial statement is tapped
out.
And they said, well, you know,we'll, we'll be there.
We'll, we'll do it for a year.
And they, um, Bless them on, uh,you know, 1st of January, they
came in with a letter and said,here's, here's our offer to you

(30:23):
to buy our business.
And I can't imagine, you know, acompliment, um, that's that,
that's that deep, you know,from, from here.
Adopt my child.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was, it was, I can't takecare of it anymore.
I just see what you can do.
And so we, you know, that was,well, that's a lot tougher deal
because Verne's wasn't, I assumethey must have had some not them

(30:46):
management for a season orsomething at least because it it
wasn't I I'm an old banker,right?
Yeah, I can tell when arestaurant's making a lot of
money and when it's not making alot of money And they were doing
okay But there was at leastseasons there where it wasn't as
fun as it used to be exactlyexactly And I think you know,
there's always a new You know,there's a thousand ways to skin

(31:08):
the cat, right?
A new sense of energy and, uh,and just a different set of eyes
on things.
Breeds a little bit of energyback into the building and into
the team.
And, uh, um, my, my managementteam, Paul Hudson, who's, who
runs a place for me.
Kurt, I can't, I can't think ofa guy better, more suited and
more capable.

(31:28):
One of my best friend, you know,to, to go run a, a location.
Oh wow.
You know?
So, uh, we really Do you stilllive from Mo House or Hot
Corner?
He did come from Mo.
I, I was, stool is a harsh word.
He makes his own decision.
I'm not borrowing him either,though.
Uh, he's lacked.
Um, no.

(31:48):
Well, that, you know,unfortunately, or to whatever
extent that's.
A great social capital resourcefor you because nobody trains
them better hardly than we, youguys did.
Well, we, we, uh, we, we did alot of great work and, you know,
I think, um, even, even managersthat worked for me in the past
that contact me still talk aboutthe coaching tree, you know,

(32:09):
and, uh, And, uh, how, you know,they, they learned and were able
to develop from me, and thenthey learned and developed other
people as well, and, um, I, Ithink that's a, another great
compliment, and, uh, That'sreally cool.
I think we should, uh, we'reapproaching that time, we should
jump back in the time machineand kind of, Learn about the
coaching tree and things likethat.
I mean, a lot of thisconversation will be your career

(32:32):
in hot corner, I imagine.
But there's a lot of chapters tothat.
I didn't realize mood house wasfirst.
I thought Austin's was first.
Honestly, mood house was first.
That was, must've been way onthe South side of town at that
time.
Oh, it was down in the boonies.
It was out there.
Remember it had the old hotelwrap.
Well, I didn't get here until99, but I know Spiro since I
moved to town.
And you know, when he builtPalmer flowers, not too far

(32:53):
away, that was like.
At the end of the gravel road,just about right on harmony.
You were up to no good, right?
Nobody goes out there.
Um, so, you know, Mood Househad, uh, it was, again, it was a
unique, interesting time.
Um, I came about four years intoScott and Steve, um, having
purchased the Mood House.

(33:14):
So they were getting their feetunderneath them and they're, you
know, getting a little bit of awar chest put together.
Um, but they lacked was, uh, youknow, manpower and, and people.
And I came from, as I said, Istarted as a, let's start, let's
go five, uh, five years old,five years old, grew up young
man, Nebraska, uh, uh, out byBeatrice in between Beatrice and

(33:37):
Beatrice.
And, uh, yeah, you say it,right?
Steve Wenzel, uh, is a.
Kid that I went to banker schoolwith, and he, he was from
Beatrice.
It's a great place to grow up.
Yeah.
It's a great place to grow up.
He talked about, uh, catchingcatfish, noodling.
Did you ever do any noodling?
Didn't do any noodling.
We used to hook.
That's smart.

(33:58):
So we, yeah, we grew up there.
We had a family dairy.
It's like south of Omaha, almostkind of.
South of Lincoln.
South of Lincoln more.
Yep, yep.
About a little over an houroutside of Lincoln.
Um, you know, right in that.
Blue river, Missouri rivervalley area, great farm, ground,
hills, very green, very humid,very hot, very, very cold, 10

(34:19):
foot tall corn, 10 foot tallcorn.
We had, uh, you know, very, verymodest.
My, my mom and dad had a trailerhome set up on our acreage.
Okay.
We had, uh, the only thing youcould see from our front porch
was the Lutheran church, whichis about a mile away from our
house.
And, um, Was he a farmer?
Um, dad was a, a farmer.

(34:40):
Okay.
Um, you know, and dairyman.
Okay.
Yeah.
And, uh, and had, um, we have toget him in here now.
Uh, but he had, he was, he wasalso raising sheep at the time.
Oh really?
And, uh, one of my favoritememories of being a very young
man was the Nebraska snowstormthat came in and, um, wind
blowing, very humid, lots ofsnow.

(35:01):
And the snow piled up.
And you're being from Fargo, youknow this Yeah.
Snow.
It actually worked perfectly tocreate stair steps up and down
for the sheep to walk right outof that pen Exactly dad just you
know out there doing whatever ittakes to make sure that those

(35:23):
animals are safe and where theybelong Well in for Most people
don't know anything about thelife of a dairyman, especially
back in those days.
I mean, was it 30, 50, a hundredcows, something like that?
A hundred, about a hundred cows.
Okay.
And that's, that's a lot.
About as many as one man.
Yeah, yeah.
Can handle.
It was the two brothers workingtogether.

(35:44):
Okay, yep.
And, uh, my dad had a youngfamily and my uncle was just
getting married.
Okay, yep.
And, uh, now it became, okay,can you support two families.
Yeah.
With a hundred cows.
Right.
And milk prices going up anddown.
And, uh, my dad was a substitutemilker for his best high school
friend.

(36:05):
And so four days a year orsomething dad would go.
Um, and he would do it like giveWendell, uh, a week, uh, a
weekend away with his wife andsomething like that, you know,
because otherwise you're marriedto it.
It's like, you're up at 5am or4am and working until.
Noon, and then you do a secondmilking in the afternoon or

(36:26):
something like that.
And then you're done at eightand then you're done.
It's just what it is until youwake up at five or four.
That's just how it works.
And you don't.
I guess you don't think of itand stuff in the middle of
raising corn or gathering sheep,whatever.
Get to rest when you're sittingon the track, actually turn the

(36:48):
radio on and actually shut downfor a little while.
Just, I got to just keep in astraight beautiful place to grow
up and be from, you know, not alot of the same advantages that
you offered here.
Yeah.
No, yeah.
My dad saw that and, uh, exitedthe, uh, the family business.
That was part of the, Hey, wegot one dairy with two families

(37:09):
and it's just, isn't going towork.
It just doesn't, how, how doesthat work?
And, uh, they were smart enoughto, to, um, separate and, uh,
um, We came to Colorado and, uh,How old were you then?
Oh, I was, I was young.
I was in that probably eight toten years old.
Okay.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, I canremember the first time, uh, my

(37:29):
brother and I were outside andwe heard sirens, you know.
Right.
Never heard a cop car before.
Right.
That was crazy.
And, uh, um, and where'd youmove to?
We moved to, uh, first place wasin Lakewood, but they're briefly
settled in Thornton, um, beforeit was Thornton.
Um, it was really, it was kindof the boonies of North Denver
at the time.
You could hop on your bike andride to the lake and fish.

(37:51):
And so even though we hadneighbors and there was a lot of
people living around us, it wasstill allowed me, you know, a
little bit of a, a childhood.
Yeah.
To go do things.
So you have a free range.
So I still have some free range.
That didn't last real long untilwe came to Northern Colorado and
my dad, uh, relocated us back uphere and, uh, and.
And what did he get into after?

(38:12):
My dad's always been a smallanimal specialist.
So he was a lamb buyer when wefirst moved to Colorado.
Uh, he managed, um, uh, what isnow the double J feedlots
outside of, uh, of Alt, uh, whenwe first moved there.
Big sheep operation.
Big sheep operation there.
10, 000 sheep or something.
Oh yeah, it's unbelievable.
And, uh, you know, great family.
I also know them.

(38:32):
I, Jeff, uh, was, I graduatedhigh school.
You could probably introduce meto three years worth of podcast
guests if you wanted to.
It's wonderful people.
I'm blessed to know them.
A lot of great people.
And uh, so yeah, so we settledthere.
I graduated.
You know, from Alt high school,1987, about 30 kids, um, great,

(38:54):
you know, a unique little town,a unique little town.
Um, Alt's about as close to myhometown as, as anything right
around here.
I mean, we don't, we're not as,mine wasn't as big, but it
wasn't quite as independent fromother towns around it.
Alt was, you know, 30 years agoor something.
You didn't leave all to go toFort Collins for things, but

(39:15):
once a month or two orsomething.
No, no, no, no.
Yeah, it was a, it was a, youknow, it's a very, it's a very
tight knit.
town, you know, probably 30 or50 families that mostly make up
all of it.
Yup.
Yup.
Back in the day.
Yeah.
Back in the day.
And now, now it's a thrivinglittle, yeah.
Yeah.
Great.

(39:35):
Uh, I mean, they're buildinghouses like crazy around there
and it looks great.
Yeah.
Uh, my mom, um, uh, my dadstayed on, you know, Ended up at
Centennial Livestock as a smallanimal specialist.
Um, and, uh, my mom ran theSalvation Army store in Greeley,
Colorado for 35 years.
Yeah.

(39:56):
Well, you guys are, uh, stickwith one thing, don't, don't,
don't jump around hunting forjobs.
I like it.
Well, what, what a, what ablessing to that organization
though, right?
Like I, I, you know, my, my momand dad are obviously, you know,
my heroes.
Um, they're what they did for mewithout even knowing what they

(40:17):
were doing for me.
Uh, it was, it was amazing.
You know, the, yeah.
You know, watching my mom, um,I'm not sure my mom ever made
more than 12 bucks an hour forSalvation Army.
And it was, uh, it was a passionand a love for the people that
shopped with her.
She knew most of them by name.
Um, and she would introduce usall.
Uh, it was, it was really, itwas very, um, It was very

(40:41):
touching when you think back onwhat my mom did for that
community.
Right.
It was really all aboutcommunity for my mom.
Yeah.
So, stuck with it forever.
That's really cool.
And the same for my dad, youknow, it was all about community
for him.
Yeah.
It was that ag community, thatsmall animal community.
You know, he, there's somebodythat had, Sheeps or goats or
any, anything from, oh,anything, anything from, you

(41:03):
know, Texas to Montana, fromUtah to Iowa.
He knows them all, you know,yeah, he just knows them all.
That's in each state.
That's his community.
Yeah.
So, um, it's, it's great, youknow, and at Vern's now I get to
see all those people that workedwith my dad or met my dad and
now I get to reconnect withthem.
That's a cool thing.
On a different side.
Plus they think you're young.

(41:26):
Maybe.
I hope so.
I've got them fooled.
So, 15 years old.
Tell me, before we go there,what kind of a kid were you?
Were you, like, in that kind ofagriculture, rural environment?
Yeah, I think I'm like all...
Well, I'm not all of them.
I think I'm like a lot of thosekids, you know, you spend the
first 18 years of your lifeworking like heck to get off of

(41:47):
the farm to spend the next 20years of your life trying to get
back on.
You know, I think, yeah, I thinkI'm like a lot of those kids.
Uh, I wanted, you know, I would.
My friends all lived in town,uh, they had cable TV and they
got pizza delivered to theirdoor.
Uh, if we forgot to buy milk, Iprobably didn't get milk that
week, you know, till we wentback to the grocery store on

(42:08):
that Saturday.
So it just kind of was.
And, uh, um, so there was a lotof, uh, things that, that there,
I, I wanted to experience, youknow, that I thought town would
bring to me.
Um, and, uh, in school.
Very active in a lot of stuff.
I was, uh, an athlete, um, and,uh, enjoyed that, you know,

(42:29):
always into student councils andkind of I was fortunate to be
kind of, you know, be a captainor on student good athlete and
you were pretty smart.
So, all right.
You know, I faked it way.
It was a small school, smallschool, low bar for me.
Uh, so, and I, and I had, and Ihad great.

(42:51):
Peers, you know, I had, I hadsome really great kids that I
grew up with.
And, uh, um, so it was, it was,it was a Wonderful childhood,
you know, really my parentsdidn't have anything, but I
never wanted for anything.
Yeah.
Yeah, I didn't know any better Ithought I had everything fair,
you know, so it was great.
So tell me about this first jobfirst job I can't say enough

(43:13):
about my parents my I wanted acar mom and dad said great.
How you gonna do that?
You know I guess I'm going toget a job.
So my mom let me hitch a ridewith her into town, into
Greeley.
Uh, I walked up and down eighthAvenue and I filled out
applications at every place Icould.
Uh, about three days later,Danny Shaver from the Holiday
Inn called me and offered me adishwashing job.

(43:33):
Uh, trick was, I don't have acar and it's all nights and
weekends because I'm in school.
Oh, right.
So, and it's about a.
Two hour bicycle ride for all toGreeley.
It's about a two hour bicycleride, and that wasn't going to
happen either.
Um, and so my, my mom would getoff of work, come home, pick me

(43:53):
up, drive me all the way back toGreeley, drop me off, so I could
wash dishes for the, HolidayInn.
Two and a half bucks an hour Iwas making.
Wow.
And, then she'd come back atten, ten thirty, eleven o'clock
at night.
Wow.
Pick me up.
Take me home.
Good thing gas was cheaper then.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Otherwise I wouldn't havepenciled.

(44:14):
No.
No, no, no.
And especially because it wasall just for me to learn a
lesson.
You know, and how to, how to buymy own stuff and take care of my
own things.
And, uh.
It was, you know, that, thatwent on for months.
Um, and, uh, you know, do thesame thing on the weekends, haul
me in first thing on a Saturdaymorning.
As soon as you had enough money,you could get a car.
Yep, I had to I had to get adriver's license, and then it

(44:36):
was off to the races.
Yeah.
And of course, I didn't leavethere until I was 22.
Is that right?
I left there as the assistantgeneral manager of the property.
Well, at least they moved youup.
Yeah, I did graduate, uh, a fewstops on the way.
Uh, I, I was then I was at 22years old.
Um, the company sells and Iworked for a small group.

(44:57):
There was eight properties.
Uh, the, all the properties wereselling one by one, mine sold.
And.
I was fired and they brought ina team of people to replace me.
Some of the people that they hadbrought from other locations.
Uh, so they, in the sameconversation, they fired me, but
I was in charge of all the foodand beverage operations.
So at 22 years old and, uh,they.

(45:18):
Uh, then asked me to stay on,uh, in a consulting role and
then retrain all those folks.
And, uh, so, so I was like,well, I, I don't have a job, so
if you're offering, I guess Ishould take it.
You should have probablysqueezed it for a little more
dough than they were offering.
Yeah.
Now that you know more.
Now that I know more.

(45:39):
The years of education.
Yeah.
Uh, so that, that's happeningand, but at least you get like a
four month or a three month kindof.
Exactly.
I have a little, I have a littlerunway and, um, not, not saying
that I did great at being aconsultant because now I'm like,
I don't know, mostly looking forother jobs, me to consult for

(45:59):
myself.
Um, and, uh, again, you know, alot of fortunate times in my
life where the.
People I was connected to justwere kind of looking out for me.
Um, and one of my, uh, salesreps happened to be a guy by the
name of Kevin Yancey, uh,Yancey's produce and Fort
Collins.

(46:19):
Um, and he said, Hey, buddy, I'mI know you, I know you need a
job and I'll take care of you.
So I've got a job for you.
And that job is on the docks,learn how to do the docks and
work your way up.
And I was like, well, great.
I can start that right away.
And it was five 50 an hour.
Loading trucks overnight.

(46:40):
And, uh, my end of my consultingtime was coming up.
I had another friend who is myCisco sales rep and said, I know
these two guys in Fort Collinsthat are always looking for good
people.
You should go meet with them.
So I got my day job.
So I was working from eight tofour at the moothouse Tuesday
through Saturday as the grillcook.
And then I was working fromaround six or seven o'clock at

(47:03):
night till whenever we finishedloading trucks, which could be.
Anywhere from two in the morningto six in the morning, and I was
doing that from Sunday to Day,Sunday to Friday.
So you were literally workinglike 80 hours a week.
I was literally working 80 hoursa week and I was sleeping in my
car before I'd go into work atthe mood house and they would
wake me up.

(47:24):
I had, uh, I'd gotten amembership at the gym, uh,
across the road and so I couldshower in between.
Right.
And, uh, fortunately Scott andSteve allowed us to eat free
salad bar if we worked there.
So I ate some free salad barsand, uh, my mom and dad let me
move back into their house so Iwould get off Saturday.
Did you just save money?
I just saved money.
I was, I was deep in debt.

(47:47):
I was, uh, I had found every wayto spend money.
Um, including, uh, you know,being the, the biggest partier
in town as well.
I see, we missed part of this.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, and that was thedays when, like, you couldn't
walk across a campus or evenacross most intersections
without somebody putting acredit card application in your
face.
Oh, exactly.
Free jacket or some bullshit tosign up and yeah, American

(48:12):
Express and a visa all maxedout.
Oh boy.
I was, uh, about 20, 000 in debtwhen I lost my job.
And, uh, so, which seemed like amountain.
That seemed like a hole I wasnever going to get out.
Probably didn't even make 20,000 a year.
No, no.
I was making, at my peak, Ithink I was making 18, 000.
Right.
So, uh, how was I going to dothat?

(48:32):
And so now I go from making, youknow, at least a salary.
So do you find responsibility orwhere did you find time for
partying?
In the midst of this, um, thepartying during work, probably.
Just kidding, Steve.
Oh yeah.
That dried me up pretty quickwhen you're making five bucks an
hour.
Well, 80 hour weeks will dry youup pretty good.

(48:53):
Yeah, that definitely did it.
So, uh, yeah, so I was, I waslike, you know, I, I made this
mess, uh, I'll clean it up, uh,so I just started working and
paying bills and, uh, learninghow to.
Yeah.
You know, for the first time inmy life.
Yeah.
You know, at 22 years old there,I'm finally, you know, having to
figure out some stuff that mostpeople have figured out when

(49:14):
they're 15, 16 years old.
You used to have figured out.
Now it's about 28 is the averagecurve, I think, in our society.
I think you might be right.
That's when people move out oftheir parents house.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Oh.
Unfortunately, my mom and dadlet me move back in.
I slept, uh, you know, from sI'd get home Saturday evening
around 5, 6 o'clock and, uh,I'd, uh, had, had Sleep most of

(49:37):
Sunday.
Basically 24 hours until I hadto go back to work.
Wow.
And so, uh, I'd slept on therollaway in my, my old converted
bedroom that my mom had turnedinto her sewing room and, uh
Wow.
And, uh, that's what I did untilI got out of debt.
And, um, then it was time tofigure out the next steps.
And, uh, I was going to be acop.
Really?
Yep.
Okay.

(49:57):
I thought that was my calling inlife.
It was a great community way toserve and take care of people.
Um, I'm a little bit bigger of aguy, so I thought, you know,
that's great.
You know, of course, a littlemore intimidating for 22 years
old, of course.
I'm bulletproof and, uh, I cando no wrong, so I'll be a cop.
And, uh, I decided, you know, Ican go down to one job, um, go

(50:19):
to front range.
You got most of the debt paidoff.
Yep.
I'm starting to feel, see my wayclear of that.
And, uh, and, um, it was, uh,you know, kind of, uh, those,
those life moments, you know, Ithink I'd really found my
calling and, uh, I, uh, I was.
Trying, trying to choose betweenwhich job to keep and, uh,

(50:39):
Yancey's came to me and said,we're going to take you to 575
an hour and, uh, I was like,okay, it looks like I'm working
overnights.
You know, they're the highpayers, you know, getting five
bucks an hour at the mood house.
So I went and turned my noticeinto the mood house and, uh,
Scott McCarthy said, no, no, no,no, no, we can't do that.
You're not clean.
Do you really want to workovernight?
I was like, yeah, so I'll matchit.

(51:03):
And you've got to have a littlebit of responsibility.
It's time for you to get alittle bit of responsibility
here.
So, so if you're going to matchit, I can take afternoon
classes.
Perfect.
All right.
That's what I'll do.
I might take afternoon andevening classes.
Found out I'm still a terriblestudent.
So that didn't last very long.
And then, you know, uh, It, itcame to a point where, you know,

(51:23):
I was like, Like you had to geta certain certificate amount or
associates or something to be acop.
I wanted to get a little bit ofa, you know, an education so
they would take me seriously.
Oh, I see.
Cause it's very, fairlycompetitive.
If I could get a two year, youknow, yeah, and a little bit of
a criminal justice, you know,something like that.
And see where I can go, youknow.
Yeah.
Don't want to just be.
A guy, you know, you want to bethe guy.

(51:44):
We'll see what I could do.
And, uh, but they didn't likeyour D's and yeah, school was
not, I was just not, uh, youknow.
That just never really was mything.
Even in high school and stuff?
I thought you said you were likein student council and was, I
was, student council didn't meanI had to be an A student.
I wasn't, I was, I was, I wasthat guy.
You know, typically didn't haveto crack a book and I could

(52:06):
muddle through with B's.
Right.
C's and B's and I could muddlethrough, but you know, I had to
work.
You know, I wanted to go makemoney.
I wasn't good.
I didn't have time for homework.
You know, I could pencil thatout in the morning, you know.
Between classes, you know, andthen even when you went back to
front range, you're pretty busy.
I mean, you still got a fulltime job taking some afternoon
classes.
Study time is hard.
I'd never learned, you know, I'dnever learned how to study and

(52:29):
how to buckle down to that.
I knew how to work, but I didn'tknow how to work, but I didn't
know how to Learn how to learn.
Learn how to just learn.
I didn't know, I didn't know howto do that.
Learn by doing more.
Exactly, and that's, I thinkthat, that's where the majority
of my education came from, iswatching people do things wrong,

(52:50):
and then saying, I'm never goingto do it like that.
Right.
And, uh, and just by doing itand failing and going, That
hurt.
Don't do it like that.
I say, uh, at Loco Think Tankwhen I'm telling people about
it, sometimes I say it's, it'snice to learn from other
people's mistakes once in awhile.
It's great.
Instead of just your own.
Yeah, those are a lot lessexpensive.
They are a lot less expensive.
Sometimes a 20 minute story saveyou from two years of paying

(53:12):
back that debt.
Whatever.
Yeah.
That would have been nice.
So, yeah.
And I think my timing was goodat.
Uh, at Hot Corner for a lot ofreasons for me to walk through
their door.
And, uh, So was it just Scottand Steve at that time and they
were kind of the managers andyou were, became kind of the
first other manager?

(53:34):
I didn't really know Steve verywell.
Okay.
Steve was kind of always doingsomething else.
Scott was my, he was my generalmanager.
Okay.
You know, for all intents andpurposes.
I met I was a general manager.
When Scott and Steve weretogether, I met them both way
back in the, my early days inFort Collins, but just like once
or something.
And then I knew about the, yeah,yeah.
Like they split some years andit was probably 2010, 15.

(53:57):
Yeah, probably about that.
Somewhere in there.
I've been close to 10 years now.
Yeah.
And he, uh, Scott, um, again, Ican't say enough about Scott.
Scott's been a great friend.
We probably talk.
At least almost once a weekreally still so great great guy
We still we still do a littlefootball pool and golf together.
Yeah, stay connected I was justat his son's wedding.

(54:19):
I remember when he was born,right?
So it's a you know, it's a veryreally super special very
special when you work in therestaurant It's gonna be
sometimes too close.
Yeah.
Yeah Scott move me up One day I,Steve came, comes in and, you
know, we're having some problemsout at this time, we had the
management contract for theSundance Steakhouse.

(54:41):
Oh, right.
And they said, man, we needsomebody to go in there and work
that kitchen.
You've done a lot of that.
Why don't you go out there andmanage that kitchen?
So I got seven bucks an hour togo be the uh, kitchen manager
for Sundance.
So, that was fun, you know, Iwas like, here, I can show you
guys how to cut steaks, and, youknow, we can bake some bread,
and, you know, we can have somefun with it, and, um, it was,

(55:02):
you know, again, a great team ofpeople to work with.
Some of them are still myfriends to this day.
Was this in the 25 cent ladiesnight at Sundance?
I think there was some of thatgoing on.
College night! going on.
This was, this was early 90s.
My first couple of years here,there was some mayhem going on
around there.
There was some mayhem, um, and,uh, which we'll leave.
But also really good steaks.
Great steaks, you know, and atthe time it was, it was really,

(55:24):
it was one of those sneakylittle places that if you didn't
know about it, you didn't knowabout it.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
It was just, uh, but we weredoing some good food and we were
having a lot of fun and, but itwas a bar, you know, it was a
rowdy.
Right.
Cowboy bar.
Yeah, they had a mechanicalbull.
Yeah, oh yeah.
In the room.
Oh yeah, it was.
It was a honky tonk, basically.
Yeah, it was, it was.
And it was a big place, and yougot to see a little bit of

(55:45):
everything there.
It was a fun place.
Like I said, still have a lot offriends that, uh, that I,
that'll be lifelong friends thatI, I met while working there.
Yeah, yeah.
And, uh, and, you know, again,it was pretty ag central, so I
knew a lot of people.
Yeah, you fit right inculturally.
I fit right in.
And, uh, so that, that workedout good.
And, um.
It was, you know, it was a, itwas a great spot.

(56:07):
So was it just Mood House andSundance?
Just Mood House and Sundance atthat time.
Um, and, uh, you know, thingswent really well and things
happened really fast.
You know, we got food costsfixed.
We got the place cleaned up,good health inspections, you
know, and all of a sudden, sixmonths in, Hey, we have another.
Worked yourself out of a job.
Worked myself out of a job.
We have something else for you.
Uh, we're going to open up asports bar, an Irish themed

(56:30):
sports bar over in Campus West.
Oh.
And, uh, it ultimately wasSullivan's, which is now Mojo's.
Yeah, yeah.
So I used to go to Sullivan's.
I never go to Mojo's.
Yeah.
Sullivan's is a fun place.
It was.
After softball, we went toSullivan's.
Uh, I was in a co ed banksoftball team.
I saw a lot of those folks.
Yeah, pretty much everybody thatwas over at Lee Martinez came

(56:52):
over to Sullivan's afterwards.
Came right over.
So that was, so I took that anduh, so that was my first, you
know, like, real, Real full GM.
I guess I could really show themwhat I was.
What I could do.
Yeah.
And, uh, but I, I went overthere under the auspice of being
a, you know, their kitchenmanager.
Well, we had the kitchen figuredout in all of about three weeks

(57:14):
and we hadn't even opened, butwe were hired and ready to go.
And you know, we're like, we'rejust waiting on, let's just open
the door and see what we can do.
And they pulled me aside andsaid, all right, Hey, listen,
the front of the house is amess.
Listen buddy, uh, why don't youjust run the whole show and
what, why would either one ofthem, two small families at
home, young family.

(57:34):
Do either one of them reallywant to be locked into running a
college sports bar at all?
And neither one of their wiveswants their husbands out there.
No, no.
Kind of thing.
So it was, uh, it was prettyeasy before we even got the
doors open.
They, you know, promoted me up,made me the general manager, uh,
of the place.
We had, uh, you know, The firstcouple of months were scary and,

(57:57):
uh, you know, I took it verypersonally.
It was kind of a slow start, alittle bit of a slow burn.
I would sit, I would sit at thebar.
There'd be nobody in there.
It was for the day bartender,one cook and me.
I would go through the old whitepages.
And see if I recognized anynames.
If I thought I recognized yourname in the white pages, I was
calling that phone number going,Hey, I'm, I don't know.

(58:20):
I got this bar over here incampus West.
You should come see me.
I could use some help.
That's pretty affordableadvertising.
It was.
Yeah, I don't know if it worked,but it was something for me.
I killed some time.
Uh, and then I looked busy.
Yeah, that's rough.
So yeah, we got, and then it wasjust.
Well, these guys aren't terriblywell heeled yet at that time,
right?
So, Sullivan's losing five granda month or something like that.

(58:43):
I felt very responsible forthem, for their families, to my
team.
All these people that I hiredand made them all these
promises.
And we just, what we...
We just kept going down thepath.
You know, we didn't try to doother things.
We knew what we were.
We stayed in our lane.
We kept doing it, kept doing it.
And all of a sudden it just hit.
People kept learning, learning.
It just hit and then it took offand it was when it did.

(59:07):
Holy cow.
Oh yeah.
That place was pretty busy too.
Uh, it wasn't quite the mayhemmaybe of the Sundance mid to
late nineties, but it was somedays it was, uh, but we got
going, we got going big and, uh,Um, and then I started to, you
know, all right, now I'm datingmy future wife.

(59:28):
Okay.
And so she's leaving work.
And this is like early 2000s?
This is, this is early 90s, like95, 96.
Okay, still mid 90s.
So mid 90s.
And so she, uh, she, Would comeover and she'd leave her job.
She was working at the moothouse.
She closed the bar there at 10and then she'd come over, sit in
my office just so she could seeme.
Cause I worked seven days aweek.

(59:49):
Right.
I was, I was not going to letthat place fail.
I was there every day as much asI could be there.
Um, just going to will it tosuccess.
And uh, so you're like.
And you got no ownership, nopromises, really just a job.
It was just like, here's yourjob.
Yeah, and you're like, I'll bedamned if I'm going to let this
place fail.
Yeah, I'm not going to let thisfail.
My name's attached, no way.

(01:00:10):
You're like a dream employee.
If I had a job that you coulddo, I would totally hire you for
it right now.
It was, it was, it was reallyfun.
I had great, again, now, again,there, I've got.
All these kids that are, youknow, I've hired made promises
to, and now they're still myfriends and, uh, and we'll see
each other, you know, on littlereunions and stuff like that.

(01:00:31):
And, uh, it's, it's, they'rewonderful, wonderful people.
So fun to see what they've donewith their lives.
Grinding through something hardwith people will really, I've
been, I've run the wild westrelay a few times.
It's a running race and like.
They're like, you're pretty muchmy friend forever if I've been
on a Wild West Relay team withyou.

(01:00:52):
Absolutely.
And it's not that much differentlike grinding out a business,
you know.
Me and Alma have been working onLoco Think Tank for almost three
years together now.
You know, even if she left menext year.
I'm going to know her forever,unless she tells me to leave her
alone.
That's enough.
Anyway, yeah.
I need a little break.
But, but I mean, it's verygalvanizing to any relationship,

(01:01:15):
I think.
Absolutely.
I, I think that those, thememories that we have and the,
and the things that they tell,you know, stories about, you
know, me and being theirmanager, you know, you know, I'm
a pretty young guy, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
You should have been chasingyour wife out of your office and
put her at the bar at least.
Yeah, yeah, that's a lesson,you've never met my wife.
She's a very attractive woman.

(01:01:36):
You stay in the office, you shutthe door.
So, so you make it work.
So we made it work.
So we made it work.
So we made, uh, you know.
Kept the, kept the relationshipworking, uh, and the, and the
bar worked really well.
And, uh, now it's, you know,it's busy, it's going well,

(01:01:57):
everybody's making money and mybartenders are all making, oh,
shoot, Kurt, what are those guysmaking then?
They're probably all making 40,000, 50, 000 a year over the
bar.
Right.
When, when I was working at thebank for 22, 000 or 26, 000.
And I was making...
About 34 and, uh, and I'm like,okay, that's the hard part about
being a manager in thosesettings.

(01:02:19):
Yeah, you gotta, you gotta playthe long name and you can't let
people, you know, thoseinstances.
And it got hard because, youknow, there were things that I
was giving up.
I couldn't, I couldn't go out oftown.
I couldn't buy a house.
I couldn't, I couldn't, youknow, I couldn't, I couldn't, I
couldn't because I was, I wasn'tmaking enough money.
And, uh, I can remember, uh, I'dgotten.

(01:02:40):
I wasn't making very much and Iwas trying to live a life, you
know, I was trying to try tohave your debt paid out for me
for, but you were still a littlebit eager, still had nothing,
you know, and I can rememberthere was a time where I got
some, I got behind on my carpayments on my car and so I was
hiding my car in other parkinglots and then walking into work

(01:03:00):
and I was like, I don't know, Iwas like parking it, you know,
walking, I don't know if my caris going to be there when I get
home.
Yeah.
And I'm like, but, and all thesekids are making, 45, 50, 000
over the bar.
And I'm like, you know, maybeit's maybe, you know, I've done
a good job here.
I can, I can leave this job nowand feel good about what I've
done.
And so I, I pursued a jobselling food.

(01:03:23):
I was like, okay, you know, Iknow how to do food.
Like working for your aunties orsomething.
Cisco, okay.
And, uh, I was like, I know howto do this.
You know, I'm a lot of times,you know, I was asking
questions.
I knew the answer to people likeme more than they like a lot of
people too.
And I'm a good communicator.
You're learning this aboutyourself is what I'm guessing at
this time.

(01:03:43):
And those guys are, they'retelling me what they're making
and they're making them sixfigures, right?
And they're all going, what areyou doing Bozo?
You should be doing this job.
My job is way easier than yourjob.
And I make three times as much.
Exactly.
That makes me smarter than you.
Exactly.
And that is very, that's exactlywhere my head was.

(01:04:04):
And, uh, I was like, there's, Ihad, uh, again, a friend that I
worked with at the hotel.
His dad was a salesman.
For Cisco out on the EasternPlains of Colorado.
No, that's where I grew up.
And, uh, he, uh, he and I bumpedinto each other.
He said, you know, at some pointI'm going to have to retire.
You sure would look good in thisterritory.

(01:04:24):
And he was telling me what hewas making and how his lifestyle
was, you know, I got a house inEstes park.
I.
Drive out to Eastern Coloradothree days a week.
I stay in Sterling.
I sell some food.
I go home.
I live in my beautiful house andI'm like, Oh, what am I doing?
You know, what am I doing tomyself here?
So I, I gave notice and I cannever, I'll never forget this.

(01:04:46):
Uh, uh, I went, I had.
Finally worked up the gumption.
I worked my shift all day.
I went to the moothouse becauseI knew Scott was there.
Scott was closing that night.
Uh, I tracked Scott down intothe liquor storage room.
Uh, and, uh, he was handing mebottles of, uh, Blue Nun down
for me to, uh, to, uh, so hecould stock the bar.
And I said, Scott, I need togive you my notice.

(01:05:08):
And he said, Oh, that'sterrible.
I understand, but that'sterrible.
You know, you're, you'll bemissed.
Yeah.
Great.
Right on.
Pretty easy.
So, I feel pretty good about mydecision and everything's good.
I didn't get the same reactionfrom Steve.
Steve was not happy about this.
Um, I didn't know that they wereworking on another project,
which was going to be theAustin's location downtown.

(01:05:31):
So they had kind of, you know,they had penciled me in to
another move.
And I told them that I wasn'tsuper happy mending a college
bar.
Well, they should have paid youmore.
It was pretty...
Pretty rough, you know, at 24,25, 26, 000 a year, you're not
really, you're not really, andworking six, seven days a week,
not taking vacations, all thatstuff.
Like, my job in my, my firstbanking job was about, about

(01:05:54):
that when I moved to FortCollins, I think it was 26, 000
in the late nineties.
But my job was way easier, I hadan expense account, and an
assistant virtually, and like, Iwas at, Sullivan's, and the
trailhead, and the moothouse,and stuff like that.
Also writing up my credit cards,because 26 grand a year wasn't
cutting it in Fort Collins, witheven just a basic apartment and

(01:06:18):
a roommate.
Yeah, no, my rent was 300 bucksa month, and that had to be
paid.
I could hide the car.
Had to sleep.
So, it was, you know, it's whatit was.
So Steve, uh, So Steve contactedme and said, It was, uh, um, I
think the first call was toCisco and said, If you hire him,

(01:06:41):
we'll be doing business.
Oh, no shit.
And the next call was to mesaying, You and I need to have a
conversation.
So said, yeah, so, uh, so wekind of, um, went through, he's
one of the, he's like the, thegame of war games or war
strategy.
What is that kind of like, Idon't know, but he was good at
it.
Right?
Like, and said, you know, allright, let's, uh, let's, let's,

(01:07:04):
let's retalk about this.
So, uh, you know, I'll pay, uh,32, 000, um, a year and you go
back to the moothouse and youtake over the moothouse because
Scott and I are going to go openup this new concept we've got
and it's going to be Austin's,which is, you know, basically
Maine and Maine, you know, and,uh, Oh yeah, probably a big rent

(01:07:25):
check, uh, even already backthen, even though old town was
absolutely old time.
Wasn't what it was.
Wasn't.
I mean, it was because I gothere in 99 and it was starting
to get pretty sexy.
Yeah.
People could tell it's coming.
It's coming.
Uh, and you know, the houses hadturned from being kind of nobody
wants to live there to everybodywants to, and the buildings have

(01:07:47):
become kind of changed fromnobody wants to, you know, in
the late eighties it was wherebusinesses went to die.
Yeah.
There was all brown paper on alot of those rooms.
And, uh, not anymore, boy.
Totally.
It is, it, and...
So they saw that trend coming.
They saw it coming, and I thinkthat, you know, they were, they
had, uh...
So 32...
I guess your other alternativewas, well, I was getting a shot,

(01:08:12):
getting that job, what I wouldhave done, maybe I could have
done that.
Um, where were you all thoseyears ago?
A relationship there.
Anyway, I'm that guy.
So I'm the 30, 000 foot guy.
You're the right in front of meguy.
A little bit.
I don't know how to quit a job.
How do I do this?
Yeah.
Okay.
I already quit, but you justhired me right back.

(01:08:33):
So, uh, I guess that's what Ido.
So, um.
I, uh, I went back to the MoodHouse and, uh, again, your now
wife there.
She had already left.
Okay.
So she had moved on to otherthings.
She had moved on into retailand, uh, and was doing very
well.
And she was getting promoted andgetting opportunity.
And, uh, and we were, you know,starting to think about, you

(01:08:53):
know, buying a home and tryingto figure out that process.
Uh, and I, you know, she was outearning me substantially, which
is humbling.
And, uh, and, uh, and she, shewas worth every penny.
She's.
She's, she's amazing.
Really good at her work andlife.
Anything she touches is, is justgold.
She's one of those, one of thosefolks that, it all works out.
She should be really glad thatshe touched you.

(01:09:15):
I am.
I am very fortunate.
And, uh, so I, I went back tothe Moothouse again.
Great run.
You know, long story short, youknow, it was, uh, uh, a lot of
fun.
We, I, I was blessed to hiresome amazing people and we, you
know, we were here, we are, andyou know, restaurants getting,

(01:09:38):
we had, uh, and we're growing.
We had a bank meetings at themoon house, like our Christmas
parties and stuff would be therea lot of times when in those
years, like the late nineties,early two thousands.
Yup.
The crab legs and the filet thatyou guys would do.
Oh, it was, it was crazy.
So good lamb.
I still think about the saladbar gives me nightmares, never

(01:10:02):
clean enough.
There's no such thing.
So, yeah, so we, uh, so we wentthere and, uh, and, and it was,
uh, it was.
Awesome.
You know, I was very proud ofthe restaurant and what we were
accomplishing growing and, youknow, clean restaurant, great
reputation in town, you know,had a, you know, had great

(01:10:25):
relationships, uh, all overtown.
And so it felt really good.
And I was, I was finally like, Iwas on, you know, a plane.
Austin's was kind of brand newwhen I moved to town.
Yeah.
It seemed like it was alreadythe anchor of the downtown.
Business lunch community.
It really became that, you know,pretty quickly.
Yeah.
And, um.
So I was, you know, I, I guessyou're always looking at, you

(01:10:48):
know, geez, Austin's, you know,sexy and new and different here.
I am at the mood house.
And so it started to happenagain.
You know, maybe it's time for meto, you know, now I've been
there, you know.
going on close to 10 years andthey raised your salary from 32,
000 to 33, 500.
I think I was 36 and uh, youknow, and I was, and I thought,

(01:11:13):
okay, you know, they're growing.
I don't, there's no room for me,you know, I'm not going to, I
don't fit into this equation.
So I, uh, I started, you know,looking for another job and what
could, you know, what couldpotentially happen for me?
What would, you know, nextcareer be for me?
And um, they came to me and, youknow, now my feelings were hurt.

(01:11:34):
Uh, they opened up the secondAustin's on harmony road.
Um, just asked me for people anddidn't ask for me.
So I'm like, wow, here, I'm, youknow, pretty long term guy.
Um, and, uh, you know, you don'twant me to be part of it.
The old town or the AugustHarmony.

(01:11:55):
I wanted the new one, you know,who doesn't want the new one?
Right, right.
Nope, we need you to, we needyou to be here, Al.
I'm like, eh, you know.
I know what that looks like, youknow, and that's, uh, I don't
want to be the one.
You're a fixer or builder alittle bit.
I like that part, you know, and,uh, and I'd been there for six,
seven years, you know, now allof a sudden at the, at the

(01:12:17):
moothouse and I was like, ah,that, that stung, you know,
there's a blow to the ego and,you know, and have people come
in and ask me, you know, I don'tthink I ever verbalized it like
that.
I guess I'm, I'm a person that II'm not.
I shouldn't have to say that,you know, I've, I've, I've let
my body of work speak foritself.
Well, and you're, you're kind oflike me a little bit where

(01:12:40):
you're kind of people first, Isuspect.
Yeah, absolutely.
Where you have a strongintuition of what other people
are thinking, what they might befeeling in a circumstance.
And you.
Sometimes we expect other peopleto have that same intuition, and
they just don't.
I guess that's fair.
Yeah.
I guess that's, you know, Iwould say I've learned.
I don't know.
I think I'm probably guilty ofthat.
I would say.
I know I've been.

(01:13:01):
That would be a fault.
I could, I could definitely own.
Um, you know, I just, I expectmore from people that I'm close
to.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think that's probably whywe're hardest on the people that
we, for sure.
If my wife listens to this one,which she won't, but, uh, I've
definitely been guilty of thatfor sure.

(01:13:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I want her to know exactly whatI'm thinking.
Yeah, exactly.
Cause I know what she's thinkingmost of the time.
Cause that's the way I'm wired.
Yeah.
A little bit.
I think so.
Yeah, exactly.
So you're starting to get.
So thinking about what's next,if this isn't going to be the
right thing, feelings are hurt,you know, you're 15, 12 years in

(01:13:43):
something like that by thistime, whatever you've been
helped them grow in therestaurant, you know, Sullivan's
Sundance, et cetera, pretty goodtrack track record of building
and being successful.
Uh, so it was about a year into,not even, it was a few months
into that opening at, uh, atAustin's and the, and the

(01:14:04):
general manager didn't like thevolume, the vibe, it was, um,
not really a good career fit forhim.
So he opted to step down.
Um, they put a kind of a, anintro.
Oh, step down.
Just didn't want the obligationof it.
Yeah, he, he left.
He wanted to be a bartender fortwice as much money.
Yeah, exactly.
Twice as much.
So he left, uh, they put anotherguy, another young man in place

(01:14:26):
and, uh, boy, that really stunghere's a guy had never been a GM
and he's going to run the place.
And I'm like, well, all right,that's all I need to know.
Right.
You know, that's, that's whatthey think of me.
So that didn't go real well.
So then they came to me.
So now I'm the third, thirdchoice, uh, to go, to go run,
run the place.

(01:14:47):
And, uh, um, So I, I, you know,thought long and hard about it
and, uh, it was, uh, you know,certainly something I wanted to
prove to myself and to everybodyelse.
You know, I have, uh, whenpeople would tell me, you know,
you're probably not going to bea first team, you know, County
football player.

(01:15:09):
Let's see if I can just changethat.
And, uh, you know, that, thatalways really motivated me.
So, so we, uh, so I went toAustin's on harmony and I will
tell anybody to this day, uh, mycareer through hot corner, that
was the best job I ever held forthem.
It was absolutely the, the.

(01:15:30):
Greatest job everything is agreat restaurant.
It's a great restaurant.
It was all great, you know thedesign of it They they did a
great job, you know thinkingabout it and putting it together
It was just fun the food fit meIt was I was able to really
imprint a lot of my was theredifferent food down there Nope,

(01:15:50):
it was at the same time.
It was the same menu as the onein Old Town.
Yeah Um, it, it, everything justsuited me, you know, it was the,
the style of food, the style ofservice, the building,
everything suited me.
It was the greatest job I everhad.
I had an unbelievable team.
I was just, I was trying alittle bit of everything, you
know, as stylistically as amanager, you know, and

(01:16:13):
everything was working well and,and Harmony Corridor is filling
out with businesses and it'slike, as sexy as Austin's old
town has been for lunch.
For business lunch Austin'sharmony was even sexier for the
season and we we that was bydesign You know, we put a lot of
focus and time into making sureDinners were not really that

(01:16:35):
busy there.
Yeah.
My philosophy was I'm going tobeat everybody's pants off for
lunch.
I'm going to deliver lunch fastwith a great looking kid who
knows what they're talkingabout.
And you're, I'm going to, serveyou fast.
These business people that arespending their company's expense
account.
For lunch are going to actuallyspend their family's income for
dinner on a regular basis.

(01:16:57):
And that was, that was solely100 percent my mission walking
in there.
I'm like, I'm going to, I know Ican beat anybody at lunch.
You know, that was, that was thegame.
So it went after that and itwent great.
Well, and you crushed it.
Crushed it.
Crushed it.
For sure.
Sales grew like crazy.
Costs were amazing.
Um.
That's funny.

(01:17:17):
I didn't realize because it.
I mean, it did launch as kind ofa dud, because I was working on
the bank when Austin's Harmonyopened over at Community First,
or Capital West National Bankover there, and it wasn't that
great, and then I imagine a fewmonths after you arrived is when
it became kind of Boy, it wasfun.

(01:17:39):
It was fun.
It was, it was a blast.
And again, have this amazingteam.
They're building that bigbuilding over there.
Everett real estate moves overand stuff and the group and what
not, right?
It was just one thing afteranother.
And, uh, you know, they allbecame friends and believers and
supporters and, um, you know,everything we touched just.

(01:18:00):
It just worked, you know, andthat was, I was, by then I'm,
you know, writing recipes,writing the menus, you know,
rewriting training, writing howto train managers.
I'm training all the managers.
I'm, you know, hiring all themanagers.
I'm, you know, I've really, youknow, I really in my sweet spot,
you know, and it's just goinggreat.
And it's 10 minutes from myhouse.
You know, it was a great, it wasan unbelievable fun job.

(01:18:24):
And, uh, Then everythingchanged.
Um, I, uh, I was approached bySteve to, uh, uh, to take on
another project and, uh, for thefirst time I was like, I don't,
I don't think I want that one.
I don't, I don't want it.
I'm having too much fun here.
Yeah.
It's really suiting me.
I'm getting a little older now.
Right.
You know, I don't really needanother project.

(01:18:46):
Project, you know, I don't, Idon't need to prove myself now.
Yeah.
Right.
I'm four for four.
Pretty good.
I, I don't really need that one.
And, uh, I said, you should askall the other guys first.
And it was to do the foodservice in water Valley.
Oh, right.
Yeah.
The homestead.
Yeah.
We did the homestead out there.
Yeah.
And, uh, I really didn't, youknow, It was further drive and I

(01:19:09):
mean, it's a golf course and,you know, there's things, there
was aspects of it that were veryinteresting to me because it was
a big beast, you know, it wasdoing banquet service, golf
carts, pool service.
I had, oh, I had no idea how bigof a beast it was.
Super complex.
Yeah.
Um, and, uh, And of course,Martin's like, Well, just do
this.
Yeah.

(01:19:30):
Cause he's that kind of guy.
He literally has the Midas touchon everything.
Right.
Uh, it's, it's just that easy.
I want to just do it.
And I'm, oh yeah, okay.
Um, and so I, uh, It's all thesethings cost money that you want
me to do.
Yeah.
I got a, I got a call.
I had taken a week off.
I got a call on Wednesday thatsaid, uh, you're not going back

(01:19:51):
to the Austin Sun Harmony.
Um, you are now the generalmanager at.
The homestead in Windsor.
So, was Steve the sole owner bythis time?
No, he was still, he was stillwith Scott, Steve.
Okay.
And, uh, and so I don't know.
Sounds like Scott, Steve was thebad cop, and Scott was the good
cop in your, uh, story a littlebit.
Yeah, well maybe, yeah,probably, probably, probably so,

(01:20:13):
and in some ways, yeah.
Um, and, uh, so I, I, I'll neverforget.
I was just devastated.
You know, I was excited for anew challenge and all those
things, but I never, you know,you don't get to say goodbye to
your friends and this team thatyou had built and that had gone
to war with you.
And I believe I didn't even getto say goodbye to him.
I literally came back into townand drove to the, uh, Uh, the

(01:20:36):
homestead for my, my first day.
Wow.
So that was, that was hard.
That was, that was difficult.
And you know, I went solo.
I didn't bring over anytrainers.
I, they, they were full ofstuff.
It was a turnkey operation.
So I, I just got to fix it.
I just got to go in and fixterribly broken.
Yeah, it was, it was crazy.
I mean, I, I, I fired six kids.

(01:20:57):
On my, one of my first weekendfor all smoking weeded in the
pool shed, uh, So I'm like, oh,great.
Now pool shed's right there.
Yeah, we invited thatopportunity, you know, uh, So it
was, uh, that was, uh, aneducation and really stretched
my, my limits, you know, uh, forhow to manage.

(01:21:19):
Such a multi faceted thing andthen, you know, try to kind of
manage the relationships withmembers with a club owner.
Because they think they havespecial privileges and the
owners are different level.
Yep, so.
I've got a boss, and then I'vegot the guy that owns the club
and owns everything.
Right.
So he's my boss, he's my boss.

(01:21:39):
And any friend of Martin's isyour boss.
Is your boss, and uh, and theywould tell you that.
No offense, Martin, if you'relistening.
No, not at all.
Not at all.
And I met great people.
I can just imagine how thatworks.
Oh, yeah.
Inherently it does.
When you're, when you, when you,when you think you know the man.
Right.
You become the man.
Well, somebody wrote on Twitterthe other day, which is the only

(01:22:02):
place you could ever readsomething like this, but, uh,
even Hitler had a boss.
Uh, somebody wrote, and I waslike, you know, fuckin probably.
Probably so.
For sure.
I'm not sure you listen to hisboss.
Right.
We don't, yeah.
Um, but anyway, I digress, but,like, there's definitely an
interesting, uh, You know, this,we'll, we'll flash forward to

(01:22:25):
the, the politics segment ofthis, but like there's, there's
power and there's using power,right?
Like there's, there's strengththrough attraction and magnetism
and whatever, and there'sStrength through actual power
like you will go away if youdon't do this thing and make it
work absolutely and there'sdifferent types of Dynamics, I

(01:22:48):
prefer the the softer gentlerpower But yeah, it's it that was
It, it pushed me.
Yeah.
It, it was, it was a, that washard.
I, I go from having the job I, Icherish the most in my adult
Yeah.
Life to the job.

(01:23:08):
I, I hated the most.
Yeah.
You was pressure from SteveFresh, the club.
Oh, it constantly, you know, I,whatever I, I, I had, uh, one
day off, one summer, uh, fromum, March 1st till.
It was about October 1st.
Oh my.
I had one day off.
Fuck that.
And that day.

(01:23:29):
Excuse my French.
Oh no, you're right.
Uh, that day, I probablyreceived 15 phone calls.
What?
One of which from Martin tellingme about how crappy his lunch
was for the day.
Yeah, thanks.
And I'm like, I only.
It's a Tuesday, it's rainyoutside, there's no golf.
How can we screw up this?
Right.
Plus everybody knows who thefuck Martin is.

(01:23:50):
Make his the best one everytime.
Don't screw that one up.
Right.
So, yeah, so, so it was, uh, itwas hard.
I mean, it was, you know.
All of those.
And then, you know, we're, we'redoing this catering.
And so, so again, you know, ifyou're going to do it, you, you
better do it, you know, youbetter own it and you better do
it.
So I approached it with, if it,you know, like I did every other

(01:24:13):
job, I own this, you know, Scottand Steve own it, but I own it.
You know, I, it's me, it's myresponsibility.
It's my deal.
And, um, So again, we, you know,sales were great, sales grew,
uh, very, very profitable place.
Um, you know, summer monthsreally carry for any mistakes
you're making over the winter.

(01:24:34):
Uh, there was long days of, Bigspenders.
Sure.
All summer long.
It was, yeah, it was great.
You're selling cans of beer andright.
I mean, it was, it was right.
That's the easiest thing ever.
Like here.
Exactly.
5 here.
5 here.
5.
Don't take a whole lot of brainwork, you know?
Right.
So we would, we would.

(01:24:56):
Just, just shotgun blast throughthe place.
And I, you know, there were dayswhen I would be coming into work
and my closing manager waswalking out.
So we were doing these shiftchanges at 4 30 in the morning
with each other.
Uh, and it was, you know, allthe crazy stories that I have,
you know, the raccoons stealingthe trash and port a potties on

(01:25:18):
fire.
And I mean, it was all of mycrazy stories, the Cisco truck
that backed into the pool duringa remodel.
A lot of them go back to thehomestead.
They're almost exclusively ourstory.
And, uh, at least the businessstories, the personal stories.
There's probably some hiddenback there in the credit cards.
Lots of good ones there.

(01:25:39):
So it was, it was.
Uh, not my most enjoyable time.
It was, it was fine.
And I, I told Steve, I would doit for two years.
I said, I'll do it for twoyears.
And about two and a half,getting close to three years
into it.
I was like, I'm no, I'm my.
My integrity was starting to becompromised.
I felt my brand in Austins thatI'd worked so hard to build for

(01:26:01):
the previous two years was beinga little bit sullied because we
couldn't really be in Austinsout there because you're doing
too many other things.
So it was, so I didn't reallylike that dynamic.
Um, and, and I was, you know, Iwas, I was being asked to do
things that I was really, itjust really didn't fit my, my
deal.
You know, running a club wasn'treally the guy I wanted to be.

(01:26:22):
It just didn't fit me.
You know, I'm a, I'm more of a tshirt jeans guy, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's me.
Yeah.
And, uh, so I was like, youknow, I, so I sat down with
Steve and for the first time Isaid, Hey, I can't do this
anymore.
You know, I told you two years,it's been two and a half.
I'm out.
And, uh, I don't know how youwant to play this, what you want
to do.

(01:26:42):
Uh, so he said, give me a week.
I'll figure it out.
Came back and said, you knowwhat?
I'm gonna, I'm gonna have yourun.
The, the restaurant operationfor me.
So the whole thing.
Yep.
So I started, so I started withjust the Austins and then over
time I grew into, we opened upBig Als and then, uh, Scott
retired and I inherited MootHouse and Nios at the time.

(01:27:06):
Oh yeah.
nios.
Yeah, nios.
The fig salad at EOS was Jill'sfavorite for years.
And then it went away and we'vebeen sad, mostly.
It affected our relationship.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry about that.
I have the recipe.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
So, yeah, so I, uh, so that's,that started the next, you know,

(01:27:26):
and I didn't realize probablyhow much.
Being in the position that I'dbeen in for the previous two and
a half years where you're, youknow, managing all that
multitude of chaos and workingon those personal relationships
with so many people and tryingto keep everybody happy, how

(01:27:47):
much that had prepared me to bea multi unit restaurant manager.
And so, so that's where I kindof ended my career was multi
unit running all the locations,director of operations,
basically for the whole thing,restaurant entity, you know, so
it was, it was a blast, youknow, I got to see, um, got to
come back to work with a lot ofthese managers.

(01:28:08):
So how's that look like then?
Now you're mostly just managingall those managers, managing
managers, but also digging intothe weeds a little bit.
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Stuff that I really.
Love to do diving into thenumbers.
What, when you move this needle,what, what is the net result?
You know, why, when I make allthese changes, I should see this
projected 2 percent increase infood costs and nothing changes.

(01:28:30):
You know, why, why is that?
What is really happening?
And, uh, along the way, we hiredone of my, um, all time favorite
people, chef Blackwell.
I, um, he, you know, he came tous and, uh, couldn't, you know.
I was blessed to have him withus and, uh, you know, to work
with.
So does he like serve with allthe, all the restaurants kind of

(01:28:51):
helps their menus be right.
He was doing all that.
He's now moved on.
Um, and, uh, and, and I'mexcited to watch his career, uh,
take off and what he can do, butit was, you know, it was fun to
have those relationships.
And you do that for maybe fiveyears or something?
God, they do that for him.
Can we kind of re pick up thestory again or more than that?
I'm probably 18.

(01:29:12):
Oh, as the director ofoperations for the whole thing?
Yeah, 16, 18 series.
Wow, so you went through openingcomic, Chicken, and Big Al's
was...
Named after you is what I heardnamed after me.
Yeah.
Yeah, so you were like I wouldhave rather had a 5, 000 rate
That would have been perfectOwnership, you know anything and

(01:29:34):
it was that part of I sensedthat a little bit like you
wanted to be an Owner sooner of,yeah.
Yeah.
I thought, you know,organization, he, when Scott
left, you know, um, and I tookover his, uh, his
responsibilities.
I thought that was really, youknow, finally, um, the door is
open for me to, to, to earn, um,some ownership and, uh, into

(01:29:56):
these, these, and did you saythat at the time or?
You know, I, I, I brought acheckbook, um, a couple of
times, um, and, uh, so I madeit, I made it pretty well known
that I, you know, I'd like tolearn a little bit more.
I knew, I know how to runrestaurants, you know, I had, I
know how to build a relationshipwith somebody and, um, and I
know how to, you know, do those,those things that, um, that.

(01:30:20):
What I'm good at, what I don'tknow how to do and what I never
learned was the, you know, thatdeeper dive into the cash flows
and stuff like that.
And so I was aching to learnmore of those types of things.
How do you get paid?
You know, what is, how do youpay for an investment like this
and still make money and howdoes that work?
You know, and those are thethings that I never, and you
didn't really get behind thescenes.
Never behind the scenes.

(01:30:41):
No, it was, it was always heldpretty close to the vest and uh,
Um, you know, it was like,you'll, you'll learn that when
the time is right.
And, uh, um, you know, I did,uh, fortunately for me, I'm
doing it on my own and, and, uh,with, with, uh, with silver
grill, but that was a hardlesson.
You know, I didn't know some ofthose things, you know, I didn't

(01:31:02):
know, you know, I, I went a longtime.
Um, without, uh, knowing how topay myself full comprehensive
view.
I'm like somebody else writes acheck and they give it to me and
they pat me on the head and say,good job, bad job.
Right.
Right.
You know, and I, you know, it'sa different thing becoming an
owner, right?
It's a, it's a whole differentperspective on things, you know?
And, uh, you know, I, I ranthose restaurants.

(01:31:23):
I'm very proud to say that I ranthose restaurants.
Like I owned them and, uh, and Idon't regret that.
And you know.
With your eyes and your ears andthe reviews left online, whether
you're doing a good job or badjob, absolutely.
And by, you know, turnover and,you know, do your staff look at
you and engage you right awaywhen you're walking in the back
door?
Yeah.
So I knew we were making money.

(01:31:43):
I didn't know how much money wewere making, you know, and I
didn't understand, you know,that cash flow piece of the cash
is always coming in.
It's always going out, you know,it's just, it's just this
endless waves of in and out ofmoney.
And I didn't, I didn't reallyunderstand that.
So I'm saying, I would say I'mstill learning that two years
in, I'm still, you know, 20years in sometimes people are

(01:32:04):
still learning that a little bitbecause it changes business
changes so much and Yeah, I wecould talk endlessly about how
much the food and beverageindustry has been changed in the
last Oh my gosh, five ten yearsI was so I just talked with my
friend Sean Nook from BlackBottle Brewery Uh, which was the
last startup that I financedwhen I was in my banking career.

(01:32:27):
And they're, they're, they'reclosing.
Uh, Verboten is taking over,having a second location.
Uh, so Sean sold all of hisequipment and, you know,
basically nothing for the brandeven though he...
Made that corner into asuccessful corner, you know, El
Monte sucked for years beforeBlack Bottle made it a good
corner.
And then they lost it, kinda.

(01:32:48):
You know, COVID kinda killedthem.
They lost the neighborhood pub,kinda busy, kinda place, and it
just never came back.
It's funny how certain placestook the hit so much harder than
others.
And you know, were there, werethere cracks we didn't notice
before, you know, and we, or weoverlooked and you know, it was
just, I mean, it was, we, mywife and I used to go to black

(01:33:09):
bottle every Wednesday night forhalf price growler night, not
every Wednesday night, 30 ayear.
And we would go out to dinner,get a growler, you know, and,
uh, like we were a mainstay andnow, you know, the last couple
of years, if we go on Wednesdaynight, it's like, well, there's
14 people here, you know, andthey haven't done much

(01:33:31):
different, but anyway, Idigress, but it's, it's just
been really interesting to mehow much shift has been in the
winners and losers in the spaceof restaurant touring and, and
bars, you know, I actually gotacquainted with Tim at stakeout
not too long ago.
And we were talking about, youknow, how he was like, everybody
just goes home at midnight nowand smokes weed and plays video

(01:33:53):
games or something.
And then Nook, I was telling himkind of this story, the dynamic,
and he's like, well, yeah, andTinder.
Like, you don't have to go tothe trailhead of the stakeout to
look for girls anymore.
You just swipe left or swiperight.
And legal weed and Tinder, yeah,legal weed and Tinder have
disrupted the bar industryterribly.
Never thought about it.
Yeah.
Never thought about that.

(01:34:14):
That is a funny.
That's a social study that needsto happen.
I'm pretty sure it's accurate.
Um, I'm going to call a shortbreak and we're going to come
back into this conversation in acouple.
Awesome.
Thank you.
All right.

(01:35:04):
Okay.
We're back.
And when we left, um, we werekind of wrapping that full
circle basically on your careerjourney.
You spent, um, a good amount oftime just kind of making sure
all of the hot cornerrestaurants worked right.
Yeah, it was, it was, you know,going into COVID, I would, I
don't, I would say it was.

(01:35:25):
Interesting, again, I startedreading about this coronavirus
in China and, uh, startedthinking about what would that
look like if it came here.
And, um, I started having aconversation with my chef to
say, This might, this might be areal thing.

(01:35:46):
And this was probably October,November before the shutdown.
Oh, so you were getting into it.
We were way ahead of this.
Yeah.
You were getting onto the onlineforums or something that wasn't
public information yet.
It was, I was way ahead of this.
Interesting.
And it was, it was, it was, itwas super interesting to, to
think about.
Like January was the first Iheard of it.

(01:36:07):
It was.
It was for most people.
I, I contacted Cisco foodservice and said, what is your
pandemic protocol?
And they said, what are youtalking about?
Right.
I said, I need to see yourpandemic protocol because I need
to write one for me.
And so my district manager for,for, for Cisco said, I don't

(01:36:29):
even know what that is, but I'llsee what I can find out later
that afternoon.
He sent me their pandemicprotocol.
So we started thinking aboutwhat can we do?
And in their protocols was, youknow, like kind of shrink down,
get to the basics.
So we started writing menus.
What would it look like if, uh,you know, if we could only run
with, Half the number of people,because everybody's sick, you
know, and, uh, what would thatlook like?

(01:36:50):
And, uh, so we wrote, uh, youknow, kind of a plan a and then
like, okay, let's say, you know,we can't get a lot of these
foods.
What can we write for a menuthat would look even more
assisting still provide, youknow, Enough to keep people
interested, but shrink it down.
So we got to about plan D onsome, some planning, what it

(01:37:12):
could look like for schedulinghours of operation.
And is Steve thinking thatyou're like spending a bunch of
time screwing around?
I think so.
He's like, you are just in theweeds, buddy.
Um, but it was, it was, it was areal thing.
You know, you're watching entirecities are shut down, you know,
and they're, you know, they'renot allowed to leave their

(01:37:33):
homes.
Well, our world's not that big,it's pretty small anymore.
You can travel anywhere.
And, uh, you know, so it was,uh, it was kind of becoming, you
know, interesting.
And, and sure enough, when wewent, we got to our, what I
thought was going to be plan a,and then I went to plan Q that
was fire everybody and try tohold on, try to keep this

(01:37:58):
business alive.
And it was, uh, um, you know,probably one of the worst days
of my life.
That was, uh, We did a, uh,webinar, like, probably March
20th or something, 20th, 30thmaybe, uh, and I came on as kind
of the former banker guy, and Iwas, before the PPP had been

(01:38:21):
announced or anything, and I waslike, you are stewards of your
businesses here, and your job isto Like make sure your business
survives to hire people back.
So, uh, I don't care how muchyou love these people.
You got to get rid of them ifyou don't have any work for them
to do.
And, uh, yeah, we did 300people.

(01:38:43):
Wow.
Terrible.
It was awful.
I can only imagine.
It was, it was awful.
And, uh, you know, people thatrely on you, count on you and,
but they're all looking at youand they're feeling bad for you,
you know, sorry.
You're the one that has to tellme this.
I'm sorry.
This is what it is.
And I didn't even begin to knowwhat, what the next few months
look like for us.

(01:39:05):
Do you want to talk?
Like more about that.
I've had a few restaurant peopleon.
I think it's all been said oldnews.
Now it's kind of been the thingfor me coming out of it.
What we didn't realize was, youknow, this mixed blessing of
what we could do with thatbusiness here.
We have a hard reset where, youknow, make lemons out of your
lemonade.
Right.
You know, and so here we havethis hard reset.
We were able to change out apoint of sale system.

(01:39:27):
We were able to.
Add online ordering and see the,you know, this delivery thing,
work its way into full serviceinstead of just quick service at
like big al's.
Right.
Um, we came out of that and I'llnever forget it was towards,
there was that summer kind ofwhen mask restrictions had
finally eased up.
Right.
Before they came back on, beforethey came back on and my phone

(01:39:48):
goes off in the middle of thenight.
Typically I'm not somebody thatwakes up when the phone goes off
in the night.
For whatever reason, the phonewent off.
I woke up, I rolled over, openedit.
I am only on one place in socialmedia, and that is X or Twitter.
And there was a Twitter feedsaying that the Rio Grande was
on fire.

(01:40:10):
Oh, I am like, you've got to bekidding me.
It's like two 30 in the morning.
So I.
So somebody texted you this linkor something?
No, it just came up on my feed.
Cause I'm on the, I'm on, that'swhere I get all alerts and
stuff?
Yeah, I get all the alerts forthe, for police and fire and all
that stuff.
Interesting.
Okay, I need to learn how to usemy Twitter better.
Yeah, I'm good at Twitter.

(01:40:30):
And, uh, the uh, um, I was, Isat up in bed and my wife was
like, what on earth are youdoing?
Yeah.
And I said, I'm doing Twitter.
Going to work because it's goingto be a busy day, uh, Rio's on
fire.
So we came out of that here,where, you know, this doom and
gloom tables are spaced and, youknow, it's, it's just, you know,
it's hard time, but masks areoff, you know, it's summertime,

(01:40:52):
it's beautiful outside.
People are starting to comearound.
We, we had one of the.
Greatest years in the history ofthe company.
And, uh, I'm very proud to saythat, you know, I was a big part
of that.
You know, we shepherd peoplethrough, there were days that I
was waiting tables.
There were days that I wasbartending a lot of days when I
washed dishes, um, you didwhatever you could do to keep

(01:41:13):
the staff there to serve all thedemand that we had was fueling.
Yep.
We switched to a tip poolsystem.
We were incredibly profitableduring this time.
Um, so I'm hearing, you know,my, you know, Other friends in
the restaurant business aretelling me, you know, their
struggles and I have to kind ofbe the wallflower going.
Yeah.
There was a lot of profit guilt.

(01:41:34):
Oh my gosh.
My friend, Dave from recycledcycles.
He was selling bikes.
Hand over fist and he just likehe knew like some of his fellow
local think tank members wereStruggling or closed by
government action and he's likeI've never made more money in my
life Exactly, and that's athat's a guilty feeling.

(01:41:55):
It was terrible.
Yeah Yeah.
And I'm, I'm telling everybody,I'm like, let me tell you every
one of my secrets, right?
I don't care if it works foryou.
Great.
Take it.
I don't care.
Be successful.
Yeah.
And they all were in their ownrights.
And, but, but we had a, PPP camearound and that helped a lot of
people get through at least.
And you know, I wish they neverwould have.

(01:42:16):
Shut us down, but I guess atleast they tapped everybody's
money to keep everybody'sbusiness open.
I don't know.
I I regret that I'm gonna be 55years old because I think that
you know 20 years from now thehistory That's gonna be written
about this time is gonna betruly fascinating, right?
I really wish I was a little bityounger so I could watch that

(01:42:39):
historical perspective.
I think it would be fun.
You know, it'll be differentfive years from now than it is
20 years from now.
I'm pretty sure.
Absolutely.
Depending on who, by who'swriting the control, who's
writing the narrative on thisthing, but for sure there's
going to have to be some good,just scientific data that comes
out about what happened duringthis time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, uh, I think it's going tobe really.

(01:43:00):
Fascinating and uh, I regretthat I won't be able to see him.
He'll probably be around atleast to see it.
Uh, you might not be operating arestaurant anymore by that time.
I am looking forward to, uh, tomy trips.
What do you think, uh, you got?
10, 15, 20 more good years andyou, how long are you going to
be a caretaker for these brands?
And how will you know whenyou've found your caretaker to

(01:43:24):
follow you?
You know, I mean, that's,that's, that's the first thing I
started thinking about when I,when I bought the place, I had
about one week to enjoy it.
And then I'm like, how do I getout?
What do I do?
I mean, I don't know.
How do you unwind this?
Yeah.
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm doing this towind up my career and, uh, and
to really have fun.
Well, for you to build yourlegacy and your wealth.
Yeah.
And retirement.

(01:43:44):
You know, you've built a lot ofwealth, frankly, for, for Scott
and Steve.
Absolutely.
I'm very proud of that.
I made them very wealthy guys.
I'm, I'm very proud of the workwe did.
And, uh, um, I'd like to do thesame for myself.
I don't think I have as long, Idon't have 30 years to do it.
Right, right.
Um, so I got to do it fast.
Well, you've got really strongengines behind you though.
So, uh, as long as John isn'tcharging you too much rent over
there.
I have two of the best.

(01:44:05):
So, uh, so, and we.
Well, we'll see where it goes,but I think that's, you know,
kind of the always, you know,uh, tickling the back of my
brain is to go, you know, these,these restaurants cannot leave.
Um, they are, they cannot goaway and I, I, and they can't
really be owned by somebodythat's just a remote completely

(01:44:25):
owner either.
No, no, you know, you can havegood managers, you can have a
good job, a good lifestyle.
John did for many years after agreat manager, you know, a lot
of people have, but.
Okay.
You can't just be, you're notgoing to be a bought by a hedge
fund.
Nope.
You know, they'll wreck it realfast and then they'll both be
closed.
Exactly.
And then that's not what I wantto live with.

(01:44:45):
No.
You know, I, you know, I adoptedmy baby to a serial killer, you
know, and they stopped my baby'shead.
What the hell is that?
What the hell?
So yeah, I think that that'sthe, the, you know, already
working on what is thatstrategy?
Your one big project over thenext 10, 15 years, whatever, is
to find that right next home.
I think selfishly, you know, Iwould, I would like to see

(01:45:07):
silver grow through to ahundred.
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's reasonable.
If I find the right person, youknow, and not to disparage
anyone or any, my situation ismy situation and it is what it
is, but if I find the rightperson.
And it's really the rightperson.
If I exit in eight years, isthat so bad?
You know, why, why stick around?

(01:45:28):
If you find the right person,they'd probably let you stick
around for a couple of years.
At least as a partial owner orsomething.
You would think so.
And I think, you know, I'm notgonna, I don't have a, I don't
have a pre designed anything.
It has to be the right person.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think that's probably mybiggest realization, um, with
both of these places is, um,It's an incredible
responsibility to have, youknow, those, those places and

(01:45:52):
have to take care of thembecause they are so entrenched
in the community, 100 percentpeople that are so, you know, I
only, I bring everybody that Iknow here and I can't thank him
enough.
Well, I'll just say.
for everybody's sake that'slistening.
Um, we're glad they're in suchgood hands.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah.
I'm, I'm glad I get to be theone that shepherds them through

(01:46:12):
till we find the next Johnny Ato take them.
I'm going to call a real shortbreak and we're gonna come back
with our faith family politics.
Love it.

(01:47:05):
So, uh, faith family politics,uh, as, as an ex user and
subscriber, I suspect that youhave the same appreciation for
free speech.
As I do, uh, and that's kind ofwhy we have a Faith, Family,
Politics segment, honestly.
Bless you.
Shouldn't, shouldn't be topicsthat we can't talk about.
Exactly.

(01:47:25):
I think that's baloney.
We don't understand each otherif we get in silos built by
these social media machines.
Exactly.
And, and I hope there's still alot of crazy ass leftists on X,
even though it's not Twitteranymore and the rules are
different.
Right?
And I know there are, because Isee them.
Oh, absolutely.
And I like them there.

(01:47:45):
You know, it's, since when can'tyou just not have a conversation
with somebody and, uh, and agreeto disagree on certain things
and, you know, the loser has tobe the one that gets shouted
down and, um, accused of beingevery negative thing in the
book.
Right, right.
Just because you have adifferent opinion doesn't mean
you're racist or bigot, or, orwhat, or homophobic or anything.

(01:48:08):
It just means you have adifferent opinion on how, how
things operate and you have adifferent view on, on life.
And, uh, um, that doesn't meanit's right or wrong.
It just means it's different.
Yeah.
And, uh, it's a shame that thoseconversations get lost.
Well, we need a framework forboth, both and everybody.
to feel comfortable with.
You know, that's the rule oflaw.

(01:48:28):
That's the promise of America.
That's the, the unity of statesthat have a small federal
government.
Absolutely.
In my opinion.
Absolutely.
I think that that was, that wasthe design.
And, uh, you know, here we areon election day and, uh, and,
you know, um, It is electionday.
Yeah.
And what a great day to talkabout this.
We're banding about, you know,uh, the, the, the exact, exact

(01:48:53):
thing you're talking about here.
We have this proposition HH thatis just a veiled.
Tax increase for sure that butit's it's packaged.
So all the words in the wordingis Oh God makes it just oh It's
a slime of that.
It's it's do all thisadministration.
Unfortunately, I hate to say itbut they're like they package
like anything.

(01:49:14):
That's positive Jewish mankilled at Protest in Los Angeles
was a headline on Saturday Yep.
Or, no.
Jewish man dies.
Well, no.
Palestinian protester went overand killed him.
You know?

(01:49:35):
And, like, I'm sorry, but...
It's written...
Right.
The spin.
The spin.
And the spin on thatproposition, HH.
It'll be long past the electionand they'll probably win.
Cause I'm sure they spent moremoney and, and, and with the
wordsmithing, like it's, it's1984.
Oh, it is.
It's, it's, it's a shame that,you know, I think that there's a
lot of brilliant people outthere and, and, you know, I, I'm

(01:49:58):
very, I, I probably find myselfin the opposite camp.
You know, I, I, I think ourfuture is going to be amazing,
but we're in a rough patch rightnow.
Yeah.
We're in, we're in a really.
Interesting time in our worldthat, uh, it's, it's hard to see
clear of sometimes.
And it's frustrating and itmakes people angry.
And, uh, and you lose sight ofwhat a great country we, we live

(01:50:19):
in and we should have theability to, to see clear of some
of these things.
Oh, why can't they just write abill that says, Hey.
If you pass this, this goesaway, but we'll do this.
It's, it's, it's akin to the uh,the other, I live in the county
so I didn't get a whole lot tovote on.
Right.
So I had that and the uh, thecigarette money and the school

(01:50:40):
district stuff.
And I'm like, you know, wait aminute.
Well, but we got, like on anational stage, we got so much
politics going on right now withthis kangaroo court.
And, uh, not that I, like, I'venever voted for Trump.
I've not voted for Trump twice.
And I recognize this as akangaroo court that's set up to
steal his voice and money,literally, like take his money

(01:51:04):
in New York, in the state of NewYork.
It is, it's crazy.
It is a crazy, crazy world thatwe live in right now.
And, uh, you know, since when dowe question our FBI?
Right?
Wasn't that the epitome ofexcellence for many years?
I think it started goingdownhill during Obama, and it's

(01:51:24):
continued to go downhill rapidlysince there, uh, with a steep
decline since Biden.
Oh my goodness.
Well, and, and the FBI was,like, informed before, just
right after Biden announced, ofall of his Ukrainian funny
business.
Well, let's see where that goes.
We'll see.
It's gonna take a, yeah, it'sgonna take a Republican

(01:51:45):
administration.
Then we gotta drag this all inand instead of doing the work
that we need to be doing, whichis, Hey, let's get to work on
us.
Right?
Yeah.
Let's, let's, let's be well,but.
What we were do we actually likewe shouldn't have to require a
Republican administration toprosecute crime No, no, we
obvious crime.

(01:52:06):
We should like blackmail andbribery and stuff like that Like
but it's you know When was thelast time we had a government
that we really looked up tothat?
We were like this is I believein them.
We're all united Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan That's, that would
be my guess.
That was a long time ago.
A long time ago.

(01:52:27):
Yeah.
I was just a little boy.
Oh yeah.
The stories of him, you know,having the leaders of the
Democrat party over for steaksso they could talk about policy
and practice and negotiate,break bread and negotiate and
find that happy medium somewherein between that everybody can
live with and we can.
And JFK before that.

(01:52:48):
Just to put a Democrat in theconversation, honestly, like
those are the two presidents ofthe last and, and before that,
um, Eisenhower, like those arethe three from the last hundred
years that I actually, and TeddyRoosevelt, but he was at the
very beginning of this century,and then Wilson.

(01:53:09):
You know, was the worstpresident of the last hundred
years, for sure.
I am not going to try to debatehistory with you.
Yeah, I probably know too muchabout it.
Um, but anyway, so politics,you're kind of, you would slate
yourself, I suspect, in the,just let us.
Yeah, and spend less money.
Yep.
Don't make war.
I am, I am, uh, I am a veryfiscal conservative, um, you

(01:53:33):
know, and, uh, um, and, andbelieve in smaller government
and more state control, morelocal control.
Um, I, and I believe that here,even.
Even in a state that's trying tograb all the power, I still want
less power for the federal andmore for the state, even in a
state that's trying to grabpower from communities in a
terrible way, like some of thishousing code shit and stuff,

(01:53:54):
it's like, what the hell are youdoing?
Why?
Why?
You want to increase housingcosts?
Well, that's a good way to doit.
Yep.
Let's, let's do this.
Let's fix the roads.
Let me not, let me not rattle myteeth out when I drive down to
Denver.
When we like have been growingfor the last 30 years, we should
actually have a very positivequality of life engagement.

(01:54:16):
Yeah.
Exactly.
And engagement, you know, from,from all levels.
It's.
it's, I would, I'm definitely,you know, conservative, believe
in small government.
Um, I believe in God and, uh,um, all those, all those things
that, that would make me, youknow, a Republican.

(01:54:37):
Um, the things Except for thefact that the Republican party
is also kind of nasty.
It's gross right now.
You know, I'm like Where do Ifind myself?
You know, and, and, you know,you try to be in, in, in the
restaurant business, you know,I, I find myself, you know,
being a little bit moresocially, um, liberal, sure.
You know, I think that you're acloset libertarian to 60 percent
of my guests are closetlibertarian.

(01:54:58):
I think you're right.
I think you're right.
But there's no money in it.
Exactly.
So they never have power.
It's never going to happen.
So quit dream.
Right.
Somebody's got to manipulatesomething to be able to have the
wherewithal to get funded to winour elections now.
Exactly.
Don't you think a lot of thatgoes back to the, how the
structure has been set now?

(01:55:19):
I mean, no term limitations andI, you know, come on, it's all
been said.
You can't go in.
Flat broke and come out to be amultimillionaire, right?
I mean, you, you, Hey, go makesome money.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I make 200, 000 a year, but I,my net worth increases by 2
million.
Yes.
Come on, that should not happen.

(01:55:39):
And, and it should be a servanthearted, it should be a servant
hearted, servant hearted thing.
Exactly.
It's like local steak tanks.
Our facilitators.
Like, don't apply unless you'vekind of been there, done that,
achieved success, have builtwealth that you don't actually
need my ms, msly income.
Source and then do your best tohelp other people do the same

(01:56:02):
boy If we all you know ifpoliticians worked on that kind
of promise and premise Butthey're just attacked like who
in their right mind like whatwould it take for Steve Taylor?
To want to be the governor ofColorado.
Oh yes.
Or a state representative.
I used to beg him to be themayor.
Right.
I thought, you know, for some ofthe guys, he was thinking, Oh,

(01:56:23):
he'd be great at it.
Yeah, yeah.
He's got just enough.
Oh! Good guy, good cop, bad cop.
Great charisma.
Right.
And always thinking, you know,that third step.
Yeah.
You know, he's always just.
Two steps ahead.
One or two steps ahead, yeah.
And, uh, and, you know, I thinkthat, I think those people are
invaluable.
You know, sitting on.
These boards, but why would hedo that?
Why, why, why would any of us,right?

(01:56:45):
I mean, there's nothing in it.
Other, you know, what's, what istruly in it?
You got to drag through when Isee somebody running for
election.
Now I'm like, what's in it foryou?
Exactly.
Oh, okay.
No, I got it.
Okay.
Yeah.
And that's, and that's terrible.
It should be what a greatperson.
I, you know, somebody I reallycan finally get behind, but
there's always that other, Ican't wait for our first woman
president.
Yeah.
And I was terrified that that.

(01:57:06):
Example role model would beHillary Clinton that seemed like
like do not make girls look upto that person for the next
hundred years Like that's almostterrible.
Yeah, like that's almost a crimeright there.
Not to mention any of her crime.
It's not to mention any otherJust give me a good awesome
woman.
I've met lots of them that Iwould far gladly absolutely for

(01:57:28):
president over Absolutely, andnow I wonder will it happen I
mean, they're way too smart.
Women are way too smart to do,get into that.
Yeah.
Right.
No, you're probably right.
that jump into the fire.
Right.
That want power.
Yeah.
And can't confess theirmistakes.
Um, well, we've talked quite abit about politics.

(01:57:49):
Are you going to?
You're going to run maybe afteryou sell the silver girl, you
can be a mayor.
Oh boy, no, I don't know.
I'm going to be on my farm, man.
Yeah, no, I just want to getsome tractor time.
Right, that's some relax time,yeah.
I like it.
Politics has always fascinatedme, you know, and the ability to
sit and negotiate a deal and towork with people, you know,

(01:58:11):
being on different boards.
being part of our, our downtownfor 30 years and, uh, working
with such great, such greatpeople.
Our DDA D, you know, the oldDBA, which no longer exists
under the, uh, under the officeof the DDA, uh, so many great
people.
And we need to rebirth thatagain.
I definitely think so.
And it was.
I, you know, I sat around atable with, you know, 12, 14, 16

(01:58:34):
people of which I probablyshared the same opinion
sometimes with two or three.
And uh, but we could always, wealways found a way to, exactly.
I know.
Yeah.
Nobody ever.
Shouted us down, egged ourhouse, I was never arrested, put
your address on social media asa place you should rob,
whatever.

(01:58:57):
Well, it's uh, may we get backto a more civil society.
You know, it's one thing, I'm asmall town guy too, right?
And in a small town, we havepeople...
Also on every side of opinion,and they're going to be there 10
years from now.
Yeah.
And you better learn how to befriends.
Exactly.
And appreciate them for just theway they are.
Yeah.
I mean, just that, thatappreciation of the, of, of

(01:59:18):
other humans.
Of the other.
Yeah.
And from that point of view,even if you completely disagree,
you know, it's kind of a lostart.
I did a talk a while back, uh,welcoming the stranger, uh, just
about appreciating people that.
Have different thinking stylesthan you and, uh, you know, I
think that's okay and I sensethe same for you.
Like you probably like it whenyou have some tattooed up nose

(01:59:40):
ring wearing gauges girl thathas the ability to talk
philosophy or You know somethinginteresting beyond your level
and you're like, wow, you'reDidn't see that coming.
You know, and it's, it's,you're, you're right.
And that's the, again, theblessing of, of, of our, our
concepts and our restaurants iswe see so many different people.

(02:00:04):
I mean, you want to, you want toget a great cross section and
I'm so, so blessed.
You want to get a great crosssection of who lives in Fort
Collins, come spend a day atSilvergrill.
Right.
Right.
We have the greatest people inthe world that live in Northern
Colorado.
And they're way different fromeach other and they're family
with each other.
Absolutely.
At the same time.
At the same time.
Yeah.
And it is a, it is a absoluteblessing.

(02:00:24):
I dig that.
Um, let's talk about this ladythat you fell in love with.
30 years ago and then marriedfive years ago, six years ago.
Give me the credit for the year.
Uh, six years ago.
Yeah, no Jackie.
Um, uh, my best friend, um, my,my business partner, um,
everything.

(02:00:45):
Uh, she, you know, uh, stuckwith me through, uh, you know,
Toiling and, you know, it was mysounding board when she, you
know, when I would come when youwere wanting to get a different
job.
Yeah, and, uh, and you know, itwould keep me on the right path
and you guys were together thiswhole time like going back to
Sullivan's.
Yeah, all we stayed together thewhole time.

(02:01:06):
No children.
No children.
Never got married.
Never got married live together.
Mostly live together off and on.
Okay, we, uh, we, yeah, it was,it was, I mean, I think it was
always gonna happen, but Wedidn't know how and when it was
going to happen.
And, uh, I wasn't, you know, Iwasn't able to, she deserves

(02:01:27):
something so much more than whatI was.
And I had to be the right man inmy head, my heart, um, to, to
give her everything that shedeserves.
And, uh, it, it took a while forme to grow up and get that done,
but we had an amazing.
wedding.
We got married on our farm.
Uh, I proposed her in thechicken coop.
Uh, and she said, yes.

(02:01:48):
And, uh, then we, uh, I let herkind of pick from there.
I said, you know, life, life canbe whatever you want to be as
far as a wedding goes.
Um, but I just want to pitchthis at you.
What if.
We, uh, built a barn and gotmarried here on the farm and
then we get to keep our ownwedding venue and we get to be
in it every day.
And so we, uh, we, uh, we didthat and, uh, it took an extra

(02:02:10):
year for us to be able to getmarried, but yeah, exactly, but
we got it done and it wasamazing.
Um, we were surrounded byexactly the people that we
wanted, you know, when you'regetting married at 20, 21, 22
years old, 25 years old.
How many of those people arestill your friends?

(02:02:30):
And now we were surrounded bytruly the people that have been
with us for 20 years.
We, we had the greatest.
Party and wedding I could haveever imagined.
Um, still the best day of mylife.
Um, the happiest day of my life.
Um, and, uh, She's, she's myeverything.
It's so great to watch her.

(02:02:51):
She works, uh, at grouppublishing.
Okay.
So she works 40 hours a week.
Um, and then she, uh, then I lether come and work with me all
weekend.
It's Silver Girl and Verins.
So she, she works, uh, sevendays a week, right, right
alongside with me.
Never complains, always thinkingabout how to make the business
better, how to be better as a,as a couple, how to be, how to

(02:03:11):
serve each other, how to serveour staff, how to serve our
guests.
So she's an HR specialist.
Oh, okay.
So I have the unfair advantage.
Right.
You know, a lot of people in therestaurant business are not HR
people.
No.
And, uh, and it's probably theweakest part of any of those
organizations.
Yeah.
And it moves too fast.
There's too much.
Right.
And FMLHA acts.

(02:03:32):
There's so much.
And different things.
Right.
So much.
And.
My wife could be a lawyer.
I mean, I should, I should haveput her through law school when
I was, when I was not making anymoney anyhow.
And, uh, but she, she's great.
I mean, it is, she keeps us upto speed.
She does it with a gentle handwith our teams so they can
understand it and they get thereason for why we're doing it.

(02:03:53):
So we probably do a lot morepaperwork than other restaurants
do, but I know at the end of theday.
Where I stand with everythingand that I feel good about how
we're handling, you know, adisciplinary situation or, or,
uh, you know, heaven forbid atermination, which thankfully we
don't have a lot of those.
Um, but, and also just on thebeneficial side, you know, for
staff, are we doing everythingthe right way and getting as

(02:04:15):
much as we can for the size oforganization that we are, are we
doing everything right?
Are we treating.
them with the utmost care andrespect that we can give them.
And I, and I know that throughmy wife, that we're able to do
that.
Yeah, that's really cool.
She's great.
What, uh, what would you say wasthe thing that drew her to you
back in those early moon housedays?

(02:04:37):
I was a really charming, drunk,um, Um, I really have no idea.
Yeah.
I I have no idea.
It was, it was, uh, you made herlaugh.
I, you know, I, I think maybe Soshe knew you were Yeah.
Maybe she recognized in you thatyou were more than maybe what
you were appreciative for at thetime.

(02:04:57):
I could probably achieve morethan what I was doing.
Yeah.
And, uh, um, I really, you know,that's a, that's a, another
great source.
It's easy to believe somebodythat believes that.
Yeah, about you, especially ifthey're a really beautiful
woman.
Oh, she's amazing.
You know, um, you know The, Idon't, I can't say enough.

(02:05:18):
You wouldn't be here today.
I would not be, I wouldn't beremotely the man.
What, uh, other than herstriking good looks, what else
attracted you to her?
She's incredibly witty.
I will never let her know that.
Um, she's, uh, she is funny.
Um, she always says she shouldhave been a comedian.
Uh, and there is some truth tothat.
I am funnier, but, uh, she is,uh, she's a hoot, uh, and her

(02:05:41):
work ethic.
I can tell you there's a.
That her family, uh, and her,you know, that's probably one of
the things that I was veryattracted to, um, was her, her
family's work ethic and whatshe, you know, she believes like
I did when she wanted something,she went out and got a job and,
uh, that's how she gotsomething.
And then, you know, she worked,you know, 18 years to get out of

(02:06:02):
the house, um, to, to get ontoher own thing.
And, uh, did it, you know, movedaway from home and then moved
out of this very humble rootsand then came, you know, to
Colorado on a whim, um, wassupposed to be kind of a summer
short term thing.
And, um, then we met this cuteguy at Mood House and yeah.

(02:06:22):
And then she met me after that.
And, uh, it was, uh, it's just,you know, it's just worked.
You know.
There's sometimes there arepeople that you don't mind doing
things for, uh, and there's notfor any reason, even, yeah.
And you're like, I just want todo something for you.

(02:06:44):
And, uh, it's really easy to dothat for her.
Um, and she's such a, she's sucha giver and she's truly servant
hearted, you know, in everysense of the word.
And when I knew that that's whatwould make us win at.
Uh, whatever we did together asfar as ownership, we would win
because of her together.
And she's, she's, she's yourhelper, regardless of whether

(02:07:06):
the fact that she's actuallysmarter and more capable than
you, but she put herself in theposition of your helper in some
ways.
Oh, I learned something everyweek I work with her, you know,
she's, it is.
She, she can bust around thoserestaurants faster than she's
never met a stranger.
So she's, she, she will knoweverybody, everybody's story.
Um, if you work for us, ifyou've just been there for the

(02:07:29):
first time, or if you're therefor 50 years eating, she knows
your story.
She knows who you are and the.
Everybody, Wikipedia mind.
Oh, it's unbelievable.
It just sticks.
Yep.
It just sticks.
And it's a, it's a wonderfulblessing.
And then, you know, we go home,we farm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, so when I, when Ileave here tonight, I got
another two, three hours left.
So it's a, you know, it is muckinstalls.

(02:07:51):
Throwing hay, scrubbing stocktanks, you know, getting a, you
didn't tell her you're on thelocal experience.
I'm hoping that some of thatwill be done by the time I get
there, right?
Oh, she'll have it all done bythe time I get it.
So yeah, it's a, it's a greatdynamic.
Have you got, you guys.
Don't have any children.
No children.
No.

(02:08:11):
Have you thought about it?
Tried?
Uh, no, not at all.
Didn't try not to, didn't tryto, well, tried not to for quite
a while.
Yeah.
Tried not to for a while becausethere was no, don't want to
bring that guy.
Uh, so no, we never, it was.
We were always both so careerfocused and Yeah.
And work focused that, thatdidn't have a place for us.

(02:08:34):
You know, how was I going to bea great partner to her?
Have a ch having a child when Iworked every day.
Yeah.
You know, and, and for months ina row.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, that that wouldn't.
work.
And, uh, and we had, we didn'thave any money and, and not
that, you know, you need moneyto raise children.
My parents did it and they didit.

(02:08:54):
Right.
They did a very capable job withme.
They did a great job with mybrother and sister.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, so I, I think that atdifferent times, it's probably,
you know, regrets in life.
Do I have a regret?
Yeah.
I probably have a regret that Idon't have any children.
And, uh, um, it would have been,you know, now as you get older

(02:09:15):
and I think about what a greatgrandfather, my, my dad would
be, um, and how fun that wouldbe to watch that relationship.
And, uh, you know, we scratchour itch with, uh, you know, we.
We have a few, we breed a fewhorses, uh, so we get some
babies and we get to watch themand it's, it's different, but
it's the same.
And, you know, they've, youknow, it's, it's, it's a, it's a

(02:09:35):
fun way of doing it.
It works for us, you know?
And I think that, yeah, yeah.
I I'm okay.
Uh, I should have finishedcollege and I maybe should have
had a kid.
My, uh, my wife and I, for about10 years have.
expected that we wouldn't havechildren.
Um, because we're 20 yearsmarried now and, and we've been

(02:09:58):
hosting exchange students and I,I would like to recommend that
to you because in about 10years, you're going to be out of
this restaurant and you're goingto want to travel the world and
these kids that you give asemester to.
Once in a while, uh, I wonder ifthat would, cause you're kind of
in a place now where you couldbe like the most amazing host
parents ever and it's not likefoster care, like you're not

(02:10:21):
going to have all this chaos andstuff.
They're like some rich person,families, kids from Belgium or
from Germany or from Japan orwhatever.
So anyway, let me just plantthat seed with you.
We're on like number 11 iscoming in, in January, Harvey
from Australia.
Which will be our first, uh,English speaking exchange

(02:10:42):
student, or that native English,right?
First language.
But, but, I don't know, for, foryour place in life, uh, probably
right now you could be anamazing host parent.
Boy, that would be pretty funfor somebody.
Yeah, yeah.
You get a lot of advantage.
Uh, we can talk afterwards aboutthis because, uh, You know,
they're always looking forfamilies to host and stuff.
And it's pretty straightforward.
You can kind of, you can shop itlike it's Walmart.

(02:11:04):
You're like, Oh, Harvey fromAustralia, badminton and ping
pong and long hikes.
It's kind of like, uh, what'sit?
Not Twitter, but the, uh, thematch.
com or, you know, it's like youcan actually look at all these
kids and be like, Oh, I wantthat one.
I'm going to swipe left, swiperight.

(02:11:25):
Anyway, I digress.
We better move fast through the,um, faith.
Part of the conversation so thatyou can get home and muck
stalls.
Yes You're from kind of ruralColorado sounds like faith was
at least part of your journeyvery very strong for me We you
know, it was every very veryinteresting and I can make a

(02:11:46):
long story out of every shortstory So you gotta forget I take
it.
We grew up in in Nebraska andour little Lutheran church was
very close to us, moved awaypretty young, would go back and
always visit grandma andgrandpa.
And I was always the kid thatwanted to stay with grandma and
grandpa and I'd stay there allsummer long.
Any chance I could stay withgrandma and grandpa, work on the

(02:12:06):
farm, do anything, I was allabout it.
Grandma and grandpa went to theMennonite church.
Oh wow.
So, uh, so I had a lot ofexposure to the Mennonite
church, which is how my dad grewup.
And, uh, you know, so it was, itwas interesting, you know, when
you go to church, there would behalf the parking lot might be
horse and buggy.
The other half is cars.
Right.
So it was a little bit moreprogressive.
Um, where there was For aMennonite church.

(02:12:27):
Yeah.
For, there was, there was, youknow, the strict, you know, um,
you know, Mennonite followers.
And then there was, you know, alittle bit more loose, like my
grandparents were, mygrandparents, you know, spoke
German in the house.
I didn't, wow.
I did not know what they weretalking about half the time.
Uh, and, uh.
And they were, you know, very,um, very faith bound, and, um,

(02:12:48):
So was it Mennonite and Lutheranthen?
So we are, we're Lutheran here,um, and, uh, my wife is
Catholic, so, pfft, big scandal.
Right.
Uh, yeah.
Where I come from in NorthDakota, they're basically, it's
Lutherans and Catholics.
That's it, right?
And everything's cool.
Until you start dating,seriously.
Yeah, until you start talkingabout dating somebody.
Yep, that's kind of how itworks.

(02:13:08):
Um, so, um, luckily for me, uh,Jackie's mom grew up Lutheran
and her dad was Catholic.
Oh, right on.
So, so that was, uh, that waspretty easy to be honest.
So Jackie's mom was...
Basically, like she was pretty,just go back to Lutherans
school.
That's cool.
When my, when my wife, uh, wentto, uh, back home, uh, she was

(02:13:28):
going to be godfather to one ofour, uh, nieces and, um,
godmother.
I, our godmother.
Godmother, I'm the godfather,Um, and she met with one of the
nuns to, uh, and this is allkind of foreign.
For me, I don't know that youhad to get clearance.
Yeah, so she went to get herclearance, and uh, they were

(02:13:48):
decided, because we're very busypeople, the nun agreed to meet
with my wife over lunch.
And, of course, my wife bows herhead and says the Lutheran
prayer.
Right.
And then gets a, um, we need tohave a talk.
Interesting.
And so, it's whatever, she tellsthat story.

(02:14:08):
Did you pass the test anyway?
Did you pass the test?
What's the Lutheran prayer?
I, I think there's a lot ofversions of it, you know, oh
geez, we can put me right on thespot.
I don't know.
Uh, come Lord Jesus, be ourguest, bless his food to us, be
blessed.
Oh yeah, that's, that's what wedid for lunch prayer.
Yeah.
Oh, that's a Lutheran thing?
I don't know.
I don't know, that's what myfamily did.
Uh, we were just talking aboutthat the other day.

(02:14:29):
Uh, I do like custom prayersevery time and people are like,
oh, that's fancy, you know.
We, we get custom on theholidays.
Oh, just for the holidays.
I'm more, well, I don't praymost of the time, honestly, but
like the other night, I, Ibarbecued a brisket on the grill
for 12 hours and we had a nicemeal.
For 11 and a half hours, youwere praying that came out.
Right, exactly.
It was delicious.
And so I was like, I'm going togo beyond the cohort of blood,

(02:14:53):
Jesus, be our guest.
That's, uh, I think that's fair.
How, like, you were kind of arestaurant manager party guy for
a long time.
Do you, do you, Reconcile thatwith faith and like was Jackie
and I'm not saying I'm a partyguy too, right?

(02:15:13):
And I have faith.
Yeah, I think that there's a youknow, there's a lot of room for
for, you know I thinkexperiencing life and in faith
and in all those things and lifelife should be about the
experience Yeah, my motherpassed away last February and
and it became very clear to methat We're doing this for the

(02:15:35):
experience of life.
You know, sitting here today isan experience that, you know,
I'm blessed to have, you know,who put us here?
I didn't put me here.
You know, you, you asked me hereand you asked me here because
somebody told you to ask me hereand, and I don't, I don't know.
I don't know how that all worksat all.
Yeah.
It all, excuse me, the universe,whatever, really, truly just

(02:15:57):
appreciate the experiences andbeing able to enjoy them and go
after them.
And I got to tell youfinancially.
That was those partying days.
Remember some of the dumbestthings I ever did, uh, but for
great experiences and stories,holy cow, they were awesome.
And, uh, uh, you know, are anyof those people still in my
life?
No.

(02:16:17):
Funny how that works.
There's an old joke, uh, twothirds of my money I spent on
booze and women and the rest, Ijust wasted.
There you have it.
Anyway, I digress.
The truer words never spoken.
But you think Jesus is prettyawesome.
I love Jesus.
There's no, that's, that's theonly reason I'm, uh, Jesus spoke

(02:16:41):
to me the day when I picked upthe phone and called John.
And, uh, and, uh, you know.
Yeah.
When you feel you're in theLord's call.
Yeah.
Whatever that is.
Like, you know, people talkabout the universe or this and
that.
Yeah.
You can feel it when you're inthe right place.
And you have to, you have to youwere feeling increasingly
uncomfortable at Hot Corner.

(02:17:01):
Yeah.
And it's like, okay, now I'mgoing to flow into this new
place.
And if it feels right, I shouldjust not kick against it.
No, you just have to, you haveto be, I think, aware enough to,
to, to heed those calls.
Yeah.
When they come.
Those prompts.
Yeah.
Those calls.
And then just.
Go with it.
You know, I, that's the only wayI can, I can reconcile it in my

(02:17:24):
brain, you know, is, you know,it was, it was so powerful for
me when, when it was time to go.
And it wasn't, it was, I was outof my hands.
I don't know why I'm there.
You know, I know there's anotherpurpose for why I'm there.
It's not to make money and to,to do that.
All the fun stuff.
How many people would say thatyou impacted their life over the

(02:17:46):
hot corner?
I would hope thousands, I wouldhope, I would hope thousands
and, uh, you know, people reachout to me that I haven't seen in
20 years and, uh, you know, Ihad a young man that, uh, that
was teaching, uh, he started aschool, inner city,
Philadelphia, uh, came back andasked me if I remembered him.
I was like, true.
Of course I remember you.
I'll never forget you.

(02:18:07):
Um, and, uh, he said, do youremember the conversation you
had with me when you told methat the girls were outworking
me and, uh, and I was, and Ineeded to step up my game.
And I said, I absolutely.
I remember we're standing rightat the host stand at Austin's on
harmony and those girls wereoutworking yet.
And he said, you were right.
And he goes, that was my wake upcall.
I hated you that day and I'veloved you ever since.

(02:18:27):
And uh, so I, you know, I hopethat, yeah, it was great, you
know, and he said, and he He'slike, I think about you and I'm
like, you know.
I don't think that anybody everthinks about me when I'm, you
know, when I'm out of eyeshot.
When we go through our days.
Yeah.
I'd never think, Oh, are you,people are talking about me?
Do they have something to sayabout me?
That's, that's a very foreignfeeling for me.
Yeah.
And, uh, so to have him saythose, that was, that was really

(02:18:49):
special.
Yeah.
So I hope.
You know, sometime in my career,I'm supposed to do that for
somebody there or a guest orsomething.
I don't know.
You probably changed a lot morelives than you have any idea of.
I don't know.
And, and I'll, and I'll neverknow about it.
Uh, but hopefully, you know,it's that smile that you give
somebody who's having the worstday of their life.
I don't know it.
And they go on and it's changestheir, their day and what

(02:19:10):
they're going to do.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I gotta have faith in that.
That's an interesting thingabout faith.
Yeah.
I, uh, I invited one of mymembers out for breakfast the
other day and she's like, you'relike one of my favorite people
to have breakfast with period.
Like of course I will.
And I'm like, shit, like I don'tdeserve that.

(02:19:30):
Yeah.
And that's really, but thankyou.
I'm honored and I'm lookingforward to breakfast.
I didn't that.
Oh, and we didn't do it at thesilver grill.
We're going to ginger and Baker.
I'm sorry.
Man, ginger should be recorded.
Yeah, they are doing.
Um, final segment, the locoexperience.
Yeah.
The craziest experience thatyou're willing to share with our

(02:19:50):
listeners.
Oh my gosh.
There's many.
There's a few.
Yeah.
I've been, I've been blessed tohave a lot of great experiences.
You know, I was, uh, I wasarrested on my very first date
and thrown in jail with my wife,you know, I, with my wife, I was
thrown in jail.
She stayed in the car.
So, uh, that, that's a goodstory.
Um, and the cop did me righttoo.
And I was like, listen, I'm on afirst date, buddy.

(02:20:12):
You better make this look good.
So he, he literally picked me upoff the ground and threw me
under the hood of his car andcuffed me.
Uh, and it was all for.
Uh, I had lost my, um, Ishouldn't have been driving
anyhow, but I lost my license,not for anything.
Drinking.
Mom, dad, and that was all good.
It was, uh, it was parkingtickets or something, tickets
speeding.
Um, and so, uh, so that was agood one.

(02:20:33):
She bailed me out of the show.
What's that?
How many speeding tickets do youhave in your lifetime?
Oh my gosh.
At a time, uh...
No, overall.
Overall?
When I was younger.
I haven't had one...
Yeah, I'm like 10 years in.
I'm probably 10 Or 5 years in.
But I probably had...
There was probably a 2 or 3 yearperiod where I had probably a
dozen.
Where I...
I used to get one or two a year.

(02:20:54):
And I would like...
I actually, uh, you know whereThedford, Nebraska is?
Heard it.
It's up by Valentine.
Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh, there was a time on the wayback to North Dakota.
This is a local experience I'llshare with our listeners, and
then you can do yours.
Um, but we were heading toNebraska, uh, or heading to
Jamestown, North Dakota, whereI'm from.
Heading up through Valentine on287, 281 rather.

(02:21:16):
And, uh, there was, uh, I'mgoing, like, 90.
Um.
Which is about appropriate, butit is faster than the prevailing
crowd.
Yes.
And, uh, a cop comes by on thetail end of, I was leading a
bunch of cars, and he comes bythe tail end of some cars and

(02:21:36):
flashes his lights and pulls offto the side to turn around.
But then he's gotta wait for afew cars to come by before he
can turn around and come catchme.
And I pushed it down to thefloor.
I had this Volkswagen, uh, GolfTDI.
It'll go about a hundred andten.
Sweet.
And I took it up to a hundredand ten and then I hid it in the

(02:21:57):
town of Thedford.
Like I pulled into this town,went like two and a half blocks
in and turned off my headlightsand just sat there with my wife.
And watch for the cop car to goby on the highway.
Uh, anyway, uh, that's aNebraska story.
That is a good one.
It's, not my craziestexperience, by any means, but
when you're rolling 110 and youknow, there's a cop behind you

(02:22:18):
catching up to you, it's apretty intense situation.
He's going way more than 110.
He's going more than 110.
But I had, I had a diesel Jetta,you know, basically a Golf.
I couldn't go any faster.
I had 113, I think.
Anyway.
You were the only diesel Jetta.
Golf, golf in all of Bedford.
In all of Nebraska, there wasonly a couple of Volkswagens.
Yeah, that time especially.

(02:22:39):
Hundred percent.
Everybody else had a Chevy.
Yeah, if they drove through thattown, they were gonna come get
me.
So, and I was with my wife,who's like, A rule follower,
we're just going to chill herefor a few minutes, baby.
We're just like 10 minutes.
We'll be leaving here in 10minutes or less.
It's worth it.
Trust me, because that's like a200 ticket.
I promise.

(02:22:59):
That's an awesome one.
No, I, I, that was my gettingarrested.
Um, my very first date is a goodstory to tell.
I, um, Rode, uh, rode a bullwhen I was managing the
Sundance.
Okay.
Got on the, got on the back of abull.
That was A real bull?
A real bull.
Okay.
Uh, we used to do live bullriding out there.
Uh, and somebody brought it upone time, and I was like, Man,

(02:23:21):
I'm not gonna pass that up.
Who, how many men How longReally, how many men get on the
back of a bull?
I will though.
I would, I would get them.
Oh, it's worth, I would say.
I mean, if I was 30, I'd be atLafayette.
Yeah.
They move really fast.
There is, there is somethingabout sitting on the back of a
bull and, uh, it was greatexperience all the way through

(02:23:42):
the, uh, stock handler and thestock owner let me pick my bull.
So I'm like.
What are you going to do?
I mean, what do you do?
I'm like, I go, how do I get awhip?
I'm like, give me, yeah, I'mlike, find me the biggest,
meanest looking bull you canfind.
Oh, I'd have been like, give methe slowest, oldest bull.
Retrospect again, would havebeen nice to have you there.

(02:24:03):
So I pull Tornado.
I pull Tornado is a gorgeous,gorgeous bull, big long horns on
him.
Uh, and gorgeous.
Hide smaller bowl, not a realbig bowl, but it kind of a
smaller bowl.
Still, you know, bigger than me,like 10 times, exactly.
It was, uh, you know, it was,I'm, I'm walking around kind of

(02:24:26):
in the, in the pens back withthe Cowboys and, uh, I'm like,
you know, I'm realizing that Ihave a very unfair advantage
because at the time I'm six oneand I'm going at that time,
probably three Oh five, three,10.
Oh.
And, uh, I'm like, you were bigAl more than big Al.
I was very, I was, I was a muchbigger Al.

(02:24:46):
And, uh, I'm like, this is avery unfair advantage for these,
for me, that bull is used to youlittle five foot six dudes that
weigh about 110 pounds.
And it turns out he barelynotices.
No, he did not care about that.
He put me on the groundextremely quick.
It was great.
You're not riding a sheep, Al.
No, it was not.

(02:25:06):
If you're a 300 pound guy is ona sheep, that's different.
But a bull, they don't care.
Didn't care.
It was not a, it was not anadvantage.
I was, I was sitting on the bulland we're talking about, um, how
we're gonna.
Tie me in on this bowl, right?
And I'm like, well, I'm askingthe Cowboys.
I'm like, Hey, I've never donethis before.
How do you do this?
And they're like, listen, yougot to wrap it around here.

(02:25:28):
You're going to wrap it backthrough here.
Weave it in and out between yourknuckles.
Then you're never coming off.
And I was like, great.
What if I want to come off easy?
And I'm like, I'm like.
Man, I'm not even thinking aboutthat, because I'm thinking in my
mind, I'm writing for eightseconds.
This poor bull is going to haveto...
Exactly.
tolt the three year old punk guyaround for a while.
He is going to get the biggestlesson of his life.
And, uh, I am going to do theHollywood dismount, land on my

(02:25:52):
feet, my wife's going to kiss meon the lips, and...
It's obvious your dad was asmall animal guy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I did not learn about these biganimals.
And, uh, so, we're, we've had,we've got all the discussion.
Two of the cowboys are just allabout this and they're, they're
ready to tie me on.
They want to see you ride thatbull.

(02:26:12):
They are, they're in my camp.
They are psyching me up.
They're like, it's going tohappen.
So they're getting ready to tieme on.
Stock owner comes over.
And he's, he's kind of listeningto this conversation.
He's like, absolutely.
He goes in the bubble loop.
And I was like, Oh, that's aboutthe least sexy thing you could
ever call it.
Can we call it the death grip orsomething like that?
Don't call it the bubble loop.

(02:26:33):
It is literally where you takethe bull rope up over your hand.
You make a bubble.
Oh.
Just lay it back across the Soyou can barely hold on.
You can't, there's nothing tohold on.
You remotely get a pull on it,it unstraps your hand and you're
on the ground.
And that is exactly whathappened.
Oh.
I, uh, I look at that like So ifthey interlaced your fingers and

(02:26:53):
stuff You would have a littlebit more You'd have been a lot
more bruised up when you finallyhit the ground after three and a
half seconds instead of twoseconds.
I've had a few less brain cells,you know, uh, than I already do.
And it was, it was, it wasawesome to feel the power of the
animal underneath you to belooking down at the back of his
head.
And then, you know, I'm like, Idon't even know which hand,
which hand do I tie in?

(02:27:14):
Whichever one you want.
And I'm like, I don't even know.
I'm right handed.
I'm like, you're just righthanded.
And they're like.
Well, we can make an argument,so I'm sitting on the back of
the boat and we're having this,you know, philosophical
conversation about right handed,left handed, how do you do this?
You know, well, you're, you'reon this side of the gate, you
should probably tie in your lefthand.
He's like, come out this way.
And I'm like, and he's going tocome out and he's going to spin,

(02:27:36):
and I'm like, well, alright,well let's do that.
I'll just react.
Yeah, and then there's, it kindof gets that perfect quiet.
You know, I'm, I'm, my, I'mstrapped to the bull barely in
the bubble.
It sounds so lame.
So I've got the bubble loop inmy hand.
I'm back to this big, beautiful,all muscle animal.
And, uh, you know, the,everything's just quiet and it's

(02:27:58):
just like that perfect momentwhere you're like, yeah, yeah.
And then you nod your head, thegate swings open, you look out
and everything just kind ofblurs, you know, all the people,
everything, everything just allbreaks loose.
I look down and the bull's gone.

(02:28:19):
And I'm like, I'm like that wilycoyote, you know, my legs are
moving and I hit the ground.
And the two cowboy buddies ofmine are like, Get up! Come
here! He's going to kill you!You're a dead man! And so they
hauled me out of there, and uh,you know, you could say I did
it.
You were a one buck chump,basically.

(02:28:39):
I was a one buck chump.
I'm not even sure he bucked.
I think he just, he might havewalked, I don't know.
He like side settled real quick.
And you're one, what was thebubble, the bubble hoop?
My bubble loop.
It was gone.
It was gone.
That's a pretty good story.
I like that one.
It was a, it was a great day,you know, and.
Would you try it again?
Oh, absolutely.
Would you?

(02:28:59):
Alright.
I am, I'm game.
Life is experience.
If you find an opportunity forme and you to go try to ride a
bull together, and I'm on anold, shitty, tired bull.
But I'll do it with you.
Three legged.
If you're down, I'm down.
Yeah, yeah.
Three legs would be great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There, it's a, it's a, life isabout the experience and I think
you know that.

(02:29:20):
I agree.
And otherwise we wouldn't becalled the Loco Experience.
Um, I'm going to invite peopleto go down to Silver Grill or
Vern's and look for anotherstory or more details about your
bull ride or menu.
I've got many of them.
Um, but also to just check youout on LinkedIn or whatever,

(02:29:40):
but, but just go to the SilverGrill.
Uh, or Verns.
We're very proud of what we dothere, and, uh, we'd love to
share it with everybody.
Take your people and, uh, it,it's, it's great.
Uh, my, my staff, my team, mywife, uh, our guests, they're
greatest people in the world.
Do you have any people, uh, youwanna shout out in particular
that are, I I would, it's, it'shard, hard to name'em all.

(02:30:02):
I, it would leave people out ifyou do, you know, I, yeah.
I don't want to miss anybody.
You know, I'm, I'm my, my dad.
You know, my wife, those are thetwo I can't, I can't miss.
Um, uh, the, the people, Rex andJohn, you know, the people that
didn't want to miss on me at, atsilver grill and Nick and Val,
you know, and every one of thepeople that work there, every

(02:30:22):
one of the people that haveworked for me for the last 30 at
hot corner, uh, Can't thank themenough for helping me become the
man I am today.
Uh, and giving me so many ofthose experiences to learn from,
um, sitting here with you, I'msuper thankful to get a chance
to conjure up all thesememories.
Are there any other institutionsthat.

(02:30:42):
You should care take for?
Oh boy, that's a great question.
We get, we get a lot ofquestions about that.
We might have to do that inepisode two.
There is a, I told my wife thismorning, you know, we could open
up a restaurant every sixmonths, every month for six
months straight for just theoffers we have on the table
right now.
Just to come over and take overan existing.
Uh, I think people are veryexcited about what we're doing,

(02:31:04):
um, and, and how we're doing itand the honor that we give to
the people that we did before itbecause they're the most
important people, you know, aswell.
Um, so have to, have to rememberthe past and do good in the
future.
Fair enough.
Well, appreciate you much forbeing here today.
Thank you so much for asking.
And, uh, look forward to thenext conversation.
Thanks for the bourbon.
All right.
Godspeed.

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EXPERIENCE 143 | Dishing Up Great Food & Stewarding Legendary Restaurants with Alan Jantzen, Owner and Restaurateur at Silver Grill Cafe and Vern’s Place

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