November 23, 2024 • 21 mins
What happens when community spirit meets culinary passion? Join us for an insightful conversation with Tim Thielen, Midwest City Rotary Club member and proud owner of Pelican's Restaurant. Tim shares how his involvement in heartwarming community events, like the Thanksgiving dinner at Autumn House, has created a profound sense of belonging and purpose. We also address the significant shifts in the restaurant landscape, from the impact of COVID-19 to the new entertainment dynamics reshaping Midwest City. Discover Tim's strategic pivot towards catering and his thoughts on adapting to changing consumer habits.
Our episode takes a delicious turn as we explore the renowned flavors of Pelican's Restaurant, where prime rib and homemade soups reign supreme. Beyond the kitchen, Tim opens up about his life as a father of six, celebrating milestones such as a new grandchild and a son's performance at Carnegie Hall. Passionate about cars, Tim's involvement with the Heartland Camaros car club reflects how shared hobbies can unite diverse communities. As the holiday season approaches, he offers both personal and professional insights, highlighting the importance of dedication and financial acumen in the restaurant industry. Tune in for a hearty blend of community, cuisine, and personal triumphs.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast.
With me today I have TimThielen from the Midwest City
Rotary Club and owner ofPelican's Restaurant.
Hey, tim, thanks for comingback.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Good morning Brian.
Great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So, tim, tell us a little bit about how you
discovered Rotary and whatRotary means to you.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, we've been helping with Rotary and you know
kind of part of Rotary for along time.
We've helped with the shrimpboil, I think almost since the
inaugural one.
A lot of you know folks inMidwest City come to the
restaurant and we've done a lotand supported Rotary over the
years and I had somebody come tome and say that you all had
(01:09):
lost your lunch person for theMonday meetings and asked if I
would like to take over doing,you know, doing the food for the
Rotary meeting on Mondays.
And I said, sure, that soundslike a good deal, and that first
meeting.
And I said, sure, that soundslike a good deal, and that first
meeting.
After going through that andhearing you know what they had
to say, the start of the meeting, you know, I just really liked
(01:32):
how they started everything witha prayer, with the Pledge of
Allegiance, the.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Rotary 4-Way Test.
You know after just being partof that and seeing that I went
home that first day and told mywife.
I said I think this is meant tobe.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I said, this is a place where I think I'm supposed
to be.
This seems like a really goodorganization to be a part of
good people, a lot of people Iknow already and doing a lot of
good things.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Are there any projects that you are working on
with the Midwest City RotaryClub right now?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
are working on with the Midwest City Rotary Club
right now.
We have the Thanksgiving dinnercoming up at Autumn House this
next week.
I'm helping to do some of thefood for that, as well as our
own Christmas party coming up.
They're not really a projectthat we have, but we do have an
event coming up for ourChristmas party and I've been
asked to do the food for thatand I'm not really sure what
(02:23):
else we've got going on at themoment.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Can you tell us a little bit more about the Autumn
House?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Autumn House is a retirement community.
Sherry is one of our membersruns that over there and I think
it was was it the Interact kidsthat talked to Chili about
doing that and serving a.
Thanksgiving dinner for themover there and so we've gotten
together.
I know a lot of the membershave signed up to volunteer to
bring things and I told Chilithat I could help with the meat.
You know, having the restaurantit's easy to fix that and, you
know, easy to help out and dothat part and let them take care
(03:00):
of the sides and kind ofcoordinate and all of it and it
takes one big, you know bigchunk of it off their plate up a
bend in Chile.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
That's great.
Tell us a little bit more aboutyour industry as a whole.
What were, what are, what weresome of the challenges that you
had building your business?
Oh gosh restaurant businessit's not for the faint of heart,
for sure you know it's up anddown.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know things lately seem more like they did
back in the beginning, whenPelicans first opened and we've
been open since 1980.
I've been involved there since1984.
I know my partner got to knowhim by babysitting his kids
actually and got brought in backin the early days of Pelicans
and, like I said, you know kindof businesses up and down and
(03:52):
you know, as we got moreestablished we had probably
about a 15-20 year stretch whereyou could almost set your watch
to how many people were goingto be in on a certain day and
then as the dynamics of MidwestCity started to change, the mall
shut down, things moved downtowards the Air Force Base, down
towards the highway and 29thStreet.
You know our business haschanged.
(04:14):
Bricktown has had a massiveeffect on people's habits.
Eating out Our holidays aren'tquite as busy as they used to be
.
You know, when there's bigevents going on down in
Bricktown on the weekends andstuff that seems to take a lot
of people away.
That's one thing we've noticedhere recently.
You know businesses seem tocome back up a little bit but
(04:36):
the weekends are kind of slowerthan they used to be the lunches
anddinners during the week, about
the same.
But the weekends have kind ofslowed down and you know I
attribute that to there's justthere's a lot more going on in
Oklahoma City these days.
We've got a lot more things todo, a lot more, you know new
entertainment districts here andthere that have come up and you
(04:58):
know just, there's just a lotmore to do.
And you know people don't justhang around the Midwest City
area, they want to go experiencewhat Oklahoma City has to offer
.
And that's again.
You know we're kind of out ofthe way in Midwest City too,
whereas the mall used to be kindof the center of the shopping
in Midwest City along Reno,there you had Walmart, target
(05:18):
and then the mall, and now youhave a couple grocery stores and
everything else has moved downthere to 29th Street.
So it's really kind of changedthe dynamic and we've
concentrated a lot more oncatering, doing things outside
the restaurant, just tocompensate for that loss of
business on the weekends.
But you know things overall arelooking pretty good.
(05:40):
You know, covid really took atoll on us and they really
seemed to change people's eatinghabits, you know, going out a
lot more deliveries, a lot moreto-go orders than we used to do.
We have customers that reallyI've got a few customers that
we're just starting to see comeback in the restaurant, you know
, after they, you know, stayedout from COVID.
(06:01):
So you know, I think that'sjust that took a toll on a lot
of businesses and you know, justreally, kind of changed, I
think the dynamic of howeverybody goes out, you know,
just really is.
Things aren't like they werebefore, for sure, but you know
we just got to adapt and move on, just like anything else.
You know things are going tochange, things are going to
(06:22):
progress, different things comeup and if you're going to
survive you're going to have toadapt to it and move along with
it some of the changes, at leastwithin the last couple of years
(06:47):
.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
What, if anything, do you think that businesses,
consumers or really anyone inbetween can do to collaborate to
bring more business intoMidwest City or at least kind of
smooth the transition out tothe next phase of development?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, I think that's just it.
With all the development that'sgoing on and with us getting
more amenities and more thingsto do in Midwest City, that kind
of does help keep people inMidwest City.
You know, you've got movietheaters available sports venues
whatever that are closer to you.
You know you utilize that versus, you know, driving across town
(07:31):
to go see movies or drivingacross town because you want to
go, you know, to a certain areawhere there's a lot of
restaurants.
You know, we've always kind offelt that if years ago, that
seemed to be the thing you know.
Everybody would always say oh,if you want a good meal, you
know there's nothing good inMidwest City, you know, and a
few people go oh, don't youPelicans?
(07:52):
And you know I was always.
Oh, yeah, I forget aboutPelicans.
You know they're all the way upthere, on up there by the mall.
You know, and you know peopleoutside of Midwest City too that
kind of forget that we're at.
It's just not a well-traveledspot.
Reno gets quite a bit oftraffic but we're just far
enough back.
And with the decor of therestaurant, with that wharf
(08:15):
house look on the outside, thatweathered cedar it just kind of
blends in with the background.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, no, I have noticed that ground.
Yeah, no, I have noticed that.
I do, personally.
I do like the way that it looks, but I could see from a
newcomer's perspective.
It may just look like it'sblending into the scenery.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, it's, that's been tough and that's one of the
things.
We've always tried to have someneon up.
Lately I did some bright likecobalt blue rope lighting that
we put up and that that helps.
You know, especially in theevening I really makes that, uh,
you know, really makes thebuilding pop and, you know,
stand out and that's that'sdefinitely important, so people
can find this.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Are there any events coming up in uh or at Pelicans
and also maybe as a self plug uh, talk about uh one or two of
your favorite meals at Pelicans.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Upcoming.
You know, of course, it'sholiday season, so we're geared
up for Christmas parties.
Holiday parties We've got quitea few that are booked, but
there's still, you know, spaceavailable.
Again, catering, doing a lot ofcatering for people, for
Christmas parties.
One of our most popular items,our prime rib, that's always
been something that we've always, you know, tried to highlight
(09:30):
and, you know, tell people thatit's just hands down.
It's one of the best prime ribsI think you'll eat anywhere.
We have a specific piece ofequipment that is used for
cooking you know, slow cookingroasts and meats and it really
makes a difference than justcooking it straight in an oven,
plus using all you know, topquality choice black Angus beef.
(09:53):
That really helps out.
The flavor is outstanding.
The slow cook process that weuse 99% of the time it is just
tender mouth to mouth.
You know we do get thatoccasionally, even with the
black Angus.
You know occasionally might geta tough piece in here or there,
but very few and far betweenand especially, like I said,
(10:13):
with the process that we do tocook.
Cook that primary a bit really,you know, makes it nice and
tender.
I'd say probably our chickentenders.
That's something that hasalways been a huge seller, been
a very popular item.
Hawaiian chicken you know thoseare probably three of our most
signature items.
(10:34):
I think that people come in andknow us, for the Hawaiian
chicken is a teriyaki chickenand that's really good.
That's a really good cateringitem that we do for a lot of
folks.
I just had one last night andthat was one of the items they
ordered.
It was a big hit.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Well, thanks for sharing that.
I haven't tried too many things.
I love your burgers and yoursalads are fantastic, so I'll
definitely have to check out youknow the prime rib and chicken
tenders and yeah, no, Iappreciate you kind of putting
that seed of thought into mymind.
Yeah, definitely, Salad bar.
I should have met you.
I'm glad you kind of puttingthat seed of thought into my
mind.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, definitely Salad bar.
I'm glad you mentioned that,because that's another thing
that we're known for our saladbar, not a buffet, it's a true
salad bar.
It is salad and you know thetoppings and fixings that you
would put on salad.
And then we do have homemadesoups all the time that are out
there.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
But that's definitely one of the things.
Things too, that's put us onthe map.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
People have always liked our salad bar.
I think we've gotten a mentiona few times in the Gazette for
best salad bar runner up forbest salad bar and, like I said,
even though it is just astrictly a salad bar, there's no
, we don't do you know entreesout there or anything like that
for a buffet, but is includedwith all the dinner items that
we the dinner entrees that weserve, as well as at lunchtime a
(11:47):
lot of people come in and justget the soup and salad bar for a
meal at lunch.
It's a quick, easy bite.
Everything's always nice andfresh.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, no, thank you for the promo.
Anyone in Midwest City oroutside of Midwest City check
out Pelican's Restaurant.
I've had great experiences andI know personally from the other
people that you know join usfor board meetings or any uh
customers that come in there,that everyone's generally
pleased.
So, yeah, thanks for sharingthat.
Tim, welcome, uh, let's see so,um, not one, that's great.
(12:18):
On going over to the personal,but just out of curiosity, what
are some things that you and oryour family kind of do in your,
I don't know, balance you outand make Tim Tim.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
One thing we enjoy doing.
We're involved in a HeartlandCamaros car club here in
Oklahoma City and we try to do alot of events with them.
That's something that I enjoydoing, I enjoy getting out and
driving and that's a fun thingthat we do.
My wife has, graciously, youknow, become more involved in
that and you know she enjoys thepeople that are there and she's
(12:55):
become more involved in that.
She enjoys the people that arethere and she's become more
involved.
I don't know how enthused shewas at first when I told her
that I wanted to go hang outwith these car people.
She didn't know she'd haveenough.
in common with them, she's foundthat we've got people in that,
just kind of like Rotary, fromall different walks of life,
just a fun atmosphere to be in.
Other than that, I've got sixkids, so that keeps me busy
(13:22):
running around and keeping upwith them.
My oldest just had my firstgrandchild.
She just turned one this pastsummer.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I have two kids currently in college, one's at
OSU.
He keeps me on my toes withstuff he just started.
He's a freshman and he's justgoing to pursue with a plant and
soil science degree, but she'sworking on her master's doing
(14:01):
research and has gotten to go to.
Scotland and present herresearch Been to San Antonio and
I think she said she's going toCalifornia later on for another
presentation that she's goingto do.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
She seems to be really liking it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
She'll graduate and have all that stuff done this
next spring.
Another son here in OklahomaCity works for UPS and I've got
one in high school.
Still, he's my musician.
My other boys were my sportskids.
My son Ace and he's my musician.
He's a very, very good oboeplayer.
Son Ace and he's my musician.
(14:31):
He's a very, very good oboeplayer.
Just made first chair for theSouth Central Oklahoma Directors
Association honor band as well,as he's involved in a couple
others.
He's actually going to be goingwith the Choctaw High School
band to a competition atCarnegie Hall in the springtime,
and so that's something we'relooking forward to is getting to
(14:52):
travel to New York City.
I've never been, my wife'snever been, so we're excited
about that.
And then that brings me to mywife and I have a little one,
ethan.
He's pre-K, going to be five inJanuary, so that guy keeps us
on our toes for sure.
So if I'm not doing stuff withkids, it's uh, it's usually
restaurant stuff or, you know,fixing things around the house.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Well, I'm excited about your New York trip.
I used to go almost every yearas a kid.
My family's from Brooklyn, Uh,so you know, offline I'm more
than happy to give you as manyor as little recommendations as
you'd like.
And uh, just curious uh, forour non-car people, tell us a
little bit more about, uh, theheartland, uh camaro thing that
(15:38):
you were discussing okay, it's,uh, it's just a great.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It's heartland camaro , so it's what it is, it's a
camaro club.
Uh, we do a few things.
Uh, again, you know, kind oflike rotor, we always put
together a couple of charityevents each year, maybe have a
car show I think we've gotanother car show planned again
for next year and then usuallyinvolved with the Marine Corps
Toys for Tots and we usually dothe toy drive each year for that
(16:03):
.
But it's just a fun group,everybody has a Camaro in there,
from the first-gen, you know1967 on up to you know brand new
ones.
We've got a guy that has aspecialty Yanko Tribute 1,200
horsepower Camaro.
So I mean, it's everything frompeople with you know Camaros
(16:25):
that have the four cylinders,six cylinders, all the way up to
this guy that's got a crazy1,200 horsepower Yanko tribute
car and it's beautiful.
I wish I could afford somethinglike that One of these days
maybe.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Thank you for that information.
Let's see so.
Any plans for the holidays oh,probably just hanging around.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
My kids are coming back that are out of town.
My son will be back fromStillwater, my daughter will be
back from Tennessee Thanksgiving.
My sister's actually comingdown from Minnesota with her
kids, so we'll get to have thewhole family together.
That doesn't happen too oftenaround the holidays, where I get
to see my sister and her kidstoo, so I know my mom's excited
(17:07):
about that, about that.
And then my sister's married toChris, his nephew of one of the
girls that was one of mymanagers years ago, and her
family and ours, we've alwaysbeen real close, even before
they got together, but you know,we have a kind of extended
family with that and they'restill down here, so we'll all
(17:30):
get together and have some funand Sue Chris's aunt always has
all the kids come out and stayat her house and they bake
cookies and then do a bunch ofstuff usually the day after
Thanksgiving.
So I know all my kids arelooking forward to that.
My daughter loves to do that.
She'll be there with some ofher other cousins and they'll
(17:51):
have a lot of fun with that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
That's great.
I'm happy that you guys have afull schedule, so I guess last
thought that I have come to mindany tips for people that are
brave enough to enter therestaurant industry.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I'm just being prepared for a lot of hard.
But you know, I think that'swith any, you know, with any
business that you're going toget into, if you're going to
make it successful, you're goingto have to pour your heart into
it.
You're going to definitely pouryour time into it.
Be, you know, committed andready to be there 24-7 when you
have to be.
That's you know.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I get that a lot from people these days.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know, they'll tell me well, you're always out
of town, you're never working,are you?
And I say no, it's just thatyou happen to see me on Facebook
and I'm out of town for theweekend, and the last time I was
out of town last month, Ihaven't had a day off between
times, so you know it's kind ofdeceiving.
Yeah, I like to get outwhenever I can, and usually I
run so that I'm away wherenobody can get a hold of me.
(18:55):
It's a fun business, butdefinitely something, I think,
if you're not very passionateabout, I see why so many fail?
quickly.
People either aren't preparedfor the long hours, prepared for
the work they have to put intoit or, a lot of times, to not
not not have enough funding toget through those first few
months.
(19:16):
They may be the busiest monthsthat you open up, but with
everything that you're goingthrough training staff, you know
, going through menu items, youknow teaching, you know your
staff to cook the menu items andand doing all that, you expend
a lot of money up front that Ithink a lot of people don't
realize.
You know they think, oh, we'regoing to open up, all these
things will come in.
(19:36):
You know we're going to runthis good food cost and it might
look good on paper but inactuality, you know, when things
actually go down, you'reprobably cooking a lot more food
up that you're not going torecoup any money for because
it's all in training, trainingthe staff that you're paying,
while you're not open to geteverything ready.
(19:56):
So there's a pretty good amountof you know cost up front with
that and I think a lot of peoplearen't ready for that and don't
have the cash flow necessary tosustain themselves for, you
know, for a length of time.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
That's really good input.
The time, that's really goodinput.
It's one of my favorite thingsabout Rotary and any
professional organization thatI've been exposed to is you
really get to connect withpeople that have been through
most, if not all, of it first.
So no thanks for that input.
Well, thanks for coming out,tim.
I really appreciate it.
I want to take this opportunityto thank the Almonte Library
(20:33):
for letting us use this space.
Thanks to ITSpark for being thebrains behind this thing, and
also thank you to RotaryInternational and District 5750
specifically for supporting thisadventure.
Happy holidays, everyone, andhave a great day.
Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast.
With me today I have TimThielen from the Midwest City
Rotary Club and owner ofPelican's Restaurant.
Hey, tim, thanks for comingback.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Good morning Brian.
Great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So, tim, tell us a little bit about how you
discovered Rotary and whatRotary means to you.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, we've been helping with Rotary and you know
kind of part of Rotary for along time.
We've helped with the shrimpboil, I think almost since the
inaugural one.
A lot of you know folks inMidwest City come to the
restaurant and we've done a lotand supported Rotary over the
years and I had somebody come tome and say that you all had
(01:09):
lost your lunch person for theMonday meetings and asked if I
would like to take over doing,you know, doing the food for the
Rotary meeting on Mondays.
And I said, sure, that soundslike a good deal, and that first
meeting.
And I said, sure, that soundslike a good deal, and that first
meeting.
After going through that andhearing you know what they had
to say, the start of the meeting, you know, I just really liked
(01:32):
how they started everything witha prayer, with the Pledge of
Allegiance, the.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Rotary 4-Way Test.
You know after just being partof that and seeing that I went
home that first day and told mywife.
I said I think this is meant tobe.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I said, this is a place where I think I'm supposed
to be.
This seems like a really goodorganization to be a part of
good people, a lot of people Iknow already and doing a lot of
good things.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Are there any projects that you are working on
with the Midwest City RotaryClub right now?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
are working on with the Midwest City Rotary Club
right now.
We have the Thanksgiving dinnercoming up at Autumn House this
next week.
I'm helping to do some of thefood for that, as well as our
own Christmas party coming up.
They're not really a projectthat we have, but we do have an
event coming up for ourChristmas party and I've been
asked to do the food for thatand I'm not really sure what
(02:23):
else we've got going on at themoment.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Can you tell us a little bit more about the Autumn
House?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Autumn House is a retirement community.
Sherry is one of our membersruns that over there and I think
it was was it the Interact kidsthat talked to Chili about
doing that and serving a.
Thanksgiving dinner for themover there and so we've gotten
together.
I know a lot of the membershave signed up to volunteer to
bring things and I told Chilithat I could help with the meat.
You know, having the restaurantit's easy to fix that and, you
know, easy to help out and dothat part and let them take care
(03:00):
of the sides and kind ofcoordinate and all of it and it
takes one big, you know bigchunk of it off their plate up a
bend in Chile.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
That's great.
Tell us a little bit more aboutyour industry as a whole.
What were, what are, what weresome of the challenges that you
had building your business?
Oh gosh restaurant businessit's not for the faint of heart,
for sure you know it's up anddown.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know things lately seem more like they did
back in the beginning, whenPelicans first opened and we've
been open since 1980.
I've been involved there since1984.
I know my partner got to knowhim by babysitting his kids
actually and got brought in backin the early days of Pelicans
and, like I said, you know kindof businesses up and down and
(03:52):
you know, as we got moreestablished we had probably
about a 15-20 year stretch whereyou could almost set your watch
to how many people were goingto be in on a certain day and
then as the dynamics of MidwestCity started to change, the mall
shut down, things moved downtowards the Air Force Base, down
towards the highway and 29thStreet.
You know our business haschanged.
(04:14):
Bricktown has had a massiveeffect on people's habits.
Eating out Our holidays aren'tquite as busy as they used to be
.
You know, when there's bigevents going on down in
Bricktown on the weekends andstuff that seems to take a lot
of people away.
That's one thing we've noticedhere recently.
You know businesses seem tocome back up a little bit but
(04:36):
the weekends are kind of slowerthan they used to be the lunches
anddinners during the week, about
the same.
But the weekends have kind ofslowed down and you know I
attribute that to there's justthere's a lot more going on in
Oklahoma City these days.
We've got a lot more things todo, a lot more, you know new
entertainment districts here andthere that have come up and you
(04:58):
know just, there's just a lotmore to do.
And you know people don't justhang around the Midwest City
area, they want to go experiencewhat Oklahoma City has to offer
.
And that's again.
You know we're kind of out ofthe way in Midwest City too,
whereas the mall used to be kindof the center of the shopping
in Midwest City along Reno,there you had Walmart, target
(05:18):
and then the mall, and now youhave a couple grocery stores and
everything else has moved downthere to 29th Street.
So it's really kind of changedthe dynamic and we've
concentrated a lot more oncatering, doing things outside
the restaurant, just tocompensate for that loss of
business on the weekends.
But you know things overall arelooking pretty good.
(05:40):
You know, covid really took atoll on us and they really
seemed to change people's eatinghabits, you know, going out a
lot more deliveries, a lot moreto-go orders than we used to do.
We have customers that reallyI've got a few customers that
we're just starting to see comeback in the restaurant, you know
, after they, you know, stayedout from COVID.
(06:01):
So you know, I think that'sjust that took a toll on a lot
of businesses and you know, justreally, kind of changed, I
think the dynamic of howeverybody goes out, you know,
just really is.
Things aren't like they werebefore, for sure, but you know
we just got to adapt and move on, just like anything else.
You know things are going tochange, things are going to
(06:22):
progress, different things comeup and if you're going to
survive you're going to have toadapt to it and move along with
it some of the changes, at leastwithin the last couple of years
(06:47):
.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
What, if anything, do you think that businesses,
consumers or really anyone inbetween can do to collaborate to
bring more business intoMidwest City or at least kind of
smooth the transition out tothe next phase of development?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, I think that's just it.
With all the development that'sgoing on and with us getting
more amenities and more thingsto do in Midwest City, that kind
of does help keep people inMidwest City.
You know, you've got movietheaters available sports venues
whatever that are closer to you.
You know you utilize that versus, you know, driving across town
(07:31):
to go see movies or drivingacross town because you want to
go, you know, to a certain areawhere there's a lot of
restaurants.
You know, we've always kind offelt that if years ago, that
seemed to be the thing you know.
Everybody would always say oh,if you want a good meal, you
know there's nothing good inMidwest City, you know, and a
few people go oh, don't youPelicans?
(07:52):
And you know I was always.
Oh, yeah, I forget aboutPelicans.
You know they're all the way upthere, on up there by the mall.
You know, and you know peopleoutside of Midwest City too that
kind of forget that we're at.
It's just not a well-traveledspot.
Reno gets quite a bit oftraffic but we're just far
enough back.
And with the decor of therestaurant, with that wharf
(08:15):
house look on the outside, thatweathered cedar it just kind of
blends in with the background.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, no, I have noticed that ground.
Yeah, no, I have noticed that.
I do, personally.
I do like the way that it looks, but I could see from a
newcomer's perspective.
It may just look like it'sblending into the scenery.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, it's, that's been tough and that's one of the
things.
We've always tried to have someneon up.
Lately I did some bright likecobalt blue rope lighting that
we put up and that that helps.
You know, especially in theevening I really makes that, uh,
you know, really makes thebuilding pop and, you know,
stand out and that's that'sdefinitely important, so people
can find this.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Are there any events coming up in uh or at Pelicans
and also maybe as a self plug uh, talk about uh one or two of
your favorite meals at Pelicans.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Upcoming.
You know, of course, it'sholiday season, so we're geared
up for Christmas parties.
Holiday parties We've got quitea few that are booked, but
there's still, you know, spaceavailable.
Again, catering, doing a lot ofcatering for people, for
Christmas parties.
One of our most popular items,our prime rib, that's always
been something that we've always, you know, tried to highlight
(09:30):
and, you know, tell people thatit's just hands down.
It's one of the best prime ribsI think you'll eat anywhere.
We have a specific piece ofequipment that is used for
cooking you know, slow cookingroasts and meats and it really
makes a difference than justcooking it straight in an oven,
plus using all you know, topquality choice black Angus beef.
(09:53):
That really helps out.
The flavor is outstanding.
The slow cook process that weuse 99% of the time it is just
tender mouth to mouth.
You know we do get thatoccasionally, even with the
black Angus.
You know occasionally might geta tough piece in here or there,
but very few and far betweenand especially, like I said,
(10:13):
with the process that we do tocook.
Cook that primary a bit really,you know, makes it nice and
tender.
I'd say probably our chickentenders.
That's something that hasalways been a huge seller, been
a very popular item.
Hawaiian chicken you know thoseare probably three of our most
signature items.
(10:34):
I think that people come in andknow us, for the Hawaiian
chicken is a teriyaki chickenand that's really good.
That's a really good cateringitem that we do for a lot of
folks.
I just had one last night andthat was one of the items they
ordered.
It was a big hit.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Well, thanks for sharing that.
I haven't tried too many things.
I love your burgers and yoursalads are fantastic, so I'll
definitely have to check out youknow the prime rib and chicken
tenders and yeah, no, Iappreciate you kind of putting
that seed of thought into mymind.
Yeah, definitely, Salad bar.
I should have met you.
I'm glad you kind of puttingthat seed of thought into my
mind.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, definitely Salad bar.
I'm glad you mentioned that,because that's another thing
that we're known for our saladbar, not a buffet, it's a true
salad bar.
It is salad and you know thetoppings and fixings that you
would put on salad.
And then we do have homemadesoups all the time that are out
there.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
But that's definitely one of the things.
Things too, that's put us onthe map.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
People have always liked our salad bar.
I think we've gotten a mentiona few times in the Gazette for
best salad bar runner up forbest salad bar and, like I said,
even though it is just astrictly a salad bar, there's no
, we don't do you know entreesout there or anything like that
for a buffet, but is includedwith all the dinner items that
we the dinner entrees that weserve, as well as at lunchtime a
(11:47):
lot of people come in and justget the soup and salad bar for a
meal at lunch.
It's a quick, easy bite.
Everything's always nice andfresh.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, no, thank you for the promo.
Anyone in Midwest City oroutside of Midwest City check
out Pelican's Restaurant.
I've had great experiences andI know personally from the other
people that you know join usfor board meetings or any uh
customers that come in there,that everyone's generally
pleased.
So, yeah, thanks for sharingthat.
Tim, welcome, uh, let's see so,um, not one, that's great.
(12:18):
On going over to the personal,but just out of curiosity, what
are some things that you and oryour family kind of do in your,
I don't know, balance you outand make Tim Tim.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
One thing we enjoy doing.
We're involved in a HeartlandCamaros car club here in
Oklahoma City and we try to do alot of events with them.
That's something that I enjoydoing, I enjoy getting out and
driving and that's a fun thingthat we do.
My wife has, graciously, youknow, become more involved in
that and you know she enjoys thepeople that are there and she's
(12:55):
become more involved in that.
She enjoys the people that arethere and she's become more
involved.
I don't know how enthused shewas at first when I told her
that I wanted to go hang outwith these car people.
She didn't know she'd haveenough.
in common with them, she's foundthat we've got people in that,
just kind of like Rotary, fromall different walks of life,
just a fun atmosphere to be in.
Other than that, I've got sixkids, so that keeps me busy
(13:22):
running around and keeping upwith them.
My oldest just had my firstgrandchild.
She just turned one this pastsummer.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I have two kids currently in college, one's at
OSU.
He keeps me on my toes withstuff he just started.
He's a freshman and he's justgoing to pursue with a plant and
soil science degree, but she'sworking on her master's doing
(14:01):
research and has gotten to go to.
Scotland and present herresearch Been to San Antonio and
I think she said she's going toCalifornia later on for another
presentation that she's goingto do.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
She seems to be really liking it.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
She'll graduate and have all that stuff done this
next spring.
Another son here in OklahomaCity works for UPS and I've got
one in high school.
Still, he's my musician.
My other boys were my sportskids.
My son Ace and he's my musician.
He's a very, very good oboeplayer.
Son Ace and he's my musician.
(14:31):
He's a very, very good oboeplayer.
Just made first chair for theSouth Central Oklahoma Directors
Association honor band as well,as he's involved in a couple
others.
He's actually going to be goingwith the Choctaw High School
band to a competition atCarnegie Hall in the springtime,
and so that's something we'relooking forward to is getting to
(14:52):
travel to New York City.
I've never been, my wife'snever been, so we're excited
about that.
And then that brings me to mywife and I have a little one,
ethan.
He's pre-K, going to be five inJanuary, so that guy keeps us
on our toes for sure.
So if I'm not doing stuff withkids, it's uh, it's usually
restaurant stuff or, you know,fixing things around the house.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Well, I'm excited about your New York trip.
I used to go almost every yearas a kid.
My family's from Brooklyn, Uh,so you know, offline I'm more
than happy to give you as manyor as little recommendations as
you'd like.
And uh, just curious uh, forour non-car people, tell us a
little bit more about, uh, theheartland, uh camaro thing that
(15:38):
you were discussing okay, it's,uh, it's just a great.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It's heartland camaro , so it's what it is, it's a
camaro club.
Uh, we do a few things.
Uh, again, you know, kind oflike rotor, we always put
together a couple of charityevents each year, maybe have a
car show I think we've gotanother car show planned again
for next year and then usuallyinvolved with the Marine Corps
Toys for Tots and we usually dothe toy drive each year for that
(16:03):
.
But it's just a fun group,everybody has a Camaro in there,
from the first-gen, you know1967 on up to you know brand new
ones.
We've got a guy that has aspecialty Yanko Tribute 1,200
horsepower Camaro.
So I mean, it's everything frompeople with you know Camaros
(16:25):
that have the four cylinders,six cylinders, all the way up to
this guy that's got a crazy1,200 horsepower Yanko tribute
car and it's beautiful.
I wish I could afford somethinglike that One of these days
maybe.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Thank you for that information.
Let's see so.
Any plans for the holidays oh,probably just hanging around.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
My kids are coming back that are out of town.
My son will be back fromStillwater, my daughter will be
back from Tennessee Thanksgiving.
My sister's actually comingdown from Minnesota with her
kids, so we'll get to have thewhole family together.
That doesn't happen too oftenaround the holidays, where I get
to see my sister and her kidstoo, so I know my mom's excited
(17:07):
about that, about that.
And then my sister's married toChris, his nephew of one of the
girls that was one of mymanagers years ago, and her
family and ours, we've alwaysbeen real close, even before
they got together, but you know,we have a kind of extended
family with that and they'restill down here, so we'll all
(17:30):
get together and have some funand Sue Chris's aunt always has
all the kids come out and stayat her house and they bake
cookies and then do a bunch ofstuff usually the day after
Thanksgiving.
So I know all my kids arelooking forward to that.
My daughter loves to do that.
She'll be there with some ofher other cousins and they'll
(17:51):
have a lot of fun with that.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
That's great.
I'm happy that you guys have afull schedule, so I guess last
thought that I have come to mindany tips for people that are
brave enough to enter therestaurant industry.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I'm just being prepared for a lot of hard.
But you know, I think that'swith any, you know, with any
business that you're going toget into, if you're going to
make it successful, you're goingto have to pour your heart into
it.
You're going to definitely pouryour time into it.
Be, you know, committed andready to be there 24-7 when you
have to be.
That's you know.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
I get that a lot from people these days.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
You know, they'll tell me well, you're always out
of town, you're never working,are you?
And I say no, it's just thatyou happen to see me on Facebook
and I'm out of town for theweekend, and the last time I was
out of town last month, Ihaven't had a day off between
times, so you know it's kind ofdeceiving.
Yeah, I like to get outwhenever I can, and usually I
run so that I'm away wherenobody can get a hold of me.
(18:55):
It's a fun business, butdefinitely something, I think,
if you're not very passionateabout, I see why so many fail?
quickly.
People either aren't preparedfor the long hours, prepared for
the work they have to put intoit or, a lot of times, to not
not not have enough funding toget through those first few
months.
(19:16):
They may be the busiest monthsthat you open up, but with
everything that you're goingthrough training staff, you know
, going through menu items, youknow teaching, you know your
staff to cook the menu items andand doing all that, you expend
a lot of money up front that Ithink a lot of people don't
realize.
You know they think, oh, we'regoing to open up, all these
things will come in.
(19:36):
You know we're going to runthis good food cost and it might
look good on paper but inactuality, you know, when things
actually go down, you'reprobably cooking a lot more food
up that you're not going torecoup any money for because
it's all in training, trainingthe staff that you're paying,
while you're not open to geteverything ready.
(19:56):
So there's a pretty good amountof you know cost up front with
that and I think a lot of peoplearen't ready for that and don't
have the cash flow necessary tosustain themselves for, you
know, for a length of time.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
That's really good input.
The time, that's really goodinput.
It's one of my favorite thingsabout Rotary and any
professional organization thatI've been exposed to is you
really get to connect withpeople that have been through
most, if not all, of it first.
So no thanks for that input.
Well, thanks for coming out,tim.
I really appreciate it.
I want to take this opportunityto thank the Almonte Library
(20:33):
for letting us use this space.
Thanks to ITSpark for being thebrains behind this thing, and
also thank you to RotaryInternational and District 5750
specifically for supporting thisadventure.
Happy holidays, everyone, andhave a great day.
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