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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
hello food fam.
This is the walk and talkpodcast, where you will find the
perfect blend of food fun andcooking knowledge.
I'm your host, carl fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country.
We're recording on site at ibisImages Studios, where food
photography comes alive, and Iget to eat it in-house.
We have a dear friend of theshow, Chef Thomas Parker from
(00:31):
Hotel Tampa Riverwalk man.
He's cooked up two dishes todaythat are stunning.
You know what else is stunning?
The photography.
I say it every week, John, Idon't know Like I don't get
tired.
We said it today in studio.
I don't get tired.
We said it today in studio.
I don't get tired of looking atbeautiful photos, man.
The food is awesome.
The talent that we have cominginto the studio right now super
(00:55):
elevated, beautiful, and you doa great job, man.
You deserve to hear that, myman.
It's been a long time.
Chef Thomas Parker, welcome tothe show.
Thanks, brother, Glad to beback.
I know me too.
We've been talking about thisfor a long time You've been gone
.
What about a year?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, a little over a year.
I came back to Tampa in Augustabout six months ago, took on an
awesome role that I was superfortunate to find in short
timeframe because my wife and Ifound out we were expecting our
second daughter, so it was athree-year plan in Georgia, but
it turned into a one-year plan.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, congratulations on the new package, thank you.
You're a daddy, you're a chef,you've got a lot of really great
things happening to you, butyou went to Georgia to open a
hotel open a beautiful hotel,beautiful luxury property, a
Marriott property, and I had somuch fun doing it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
The company I was working for I honestly, I
thought I was going to be withthem for a lot longer, but
family called Hotel.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Tampa Riverwalk.
They're doing renovations.
There's a lot of stuff going onover there and you're
overseeing the culinary aspectof it, correct?
I'm?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
actually overseeing all food and beverage aspect of
the property.
My title is executive chef andbead director.
If any of you are familiar withthe hotel dynamic, there's
normally the executive chef andthe food and beverage director
and they form a beautifulpartnership and run the all food
and beverage.
It's all tied into one.
With me that's a big role, Huge.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Stressful.
The two dishes that you madetoday on the menu On the menu?
Yeah, both of them are on themenu.
Thomas, you've got renovationsthat are going to be going into
the next year or so.
How are you keeping your staffmotivated?
And I really want to get intothe recipes of what you did
today.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
It's just an excitement.
They've been talking aboutrenovating this hotel.
This hotel was built in 1966.
To put it into real perspective, it's before we landed on the
moon, so that's how old of abuilding it is.
So it's in dire need of someupgrades and the talk over the
last three, four, five years islike when is it going to happen?
(03:12):
When's it going to happen?
Well, it's finally going tohappen.
It's going to start thisSeptember.
It'll take roughly a year andthen the plan is for September
2026 relaunch.
It's going to be a brand newhotel concept.
We are a baseline Hilton rightnow.
We're going to take a step upinto the Curio collection, which
(03:32):
is their boutique-y kind ofluxury line.
New name, new restaurant names,new bar names, everything that
goes with it.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Let's talk meatballs.
I mean, you'd put together thismassive, beautiful baby of a
meatball.
Tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I didn't want to do a normal meatball appetizer, a
normal meatball dish.
That you see.
You know, normally you get acouple, two, three, four ounce
meatballs, even per plate.
I wanted to do one stupid giantmeatball on the plate.
I didn't realize it until Istarted doing it.
It's actually genius.
Think of it in the form of aburger.
Right, you go to McDonald's.
(04:09):
You get the thin, dried outpatty.
You go to a real burger joint,not knocking McDonald's at all,
but you get a eight ounce burgerpatty and it's juicy through.
You can control the cookingmore on it.
That's exactly what I do.
So there's, it's just a verymoist, flavorful meatball.
The sauce is made from scratch,put a beautiful truffle
(04:33):
pecorino over top of it and thenit sits.
It sits on a puree of ricottaand parsley Tell me about the
sauce recipe.
I was super fortunate years andyears ago, early in my career, I
I was kind of getting burnt outa little bit, so I took a step
down and I became a sous chef ata little mom and pop Italian
(04:57):
restaurant for six months, and Iloved it.
The family was amazing.
My favorite part about it,though, was the mother of the
chef that I was working for.
She was 90 years old.
She still worked in the prepkitchen every single day.
It was an incredible sight tosee.
She taught me the sauce recipe,which is the sauce you had
(05:18):
today, but just seeing her wasso cool, because she would make
the fresh bread every day.
She would make the meatballsevery day, like so many recipes
Like you had to really touch herheart to have her let you in on
those recipes.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, I mean, you touched our heart.
We've been eating your food forat least a couple of years now.
I think it's a great story and,you know, what's interesting to
me is that it's a they'resicilian and albanian and
albanian, yeah, and I, you know,I'm second generation italian.
I have had my share ofhome-cooked uh sauces and
whatnot.
This is really good.
(05:57):
And when you told me about thatthat heritage combo I was kind
of like, oh man, a littledisappointed at first, but then
I was like you know what?
That's actually really cool andgreat for a story.
Pasta shrimp, what about that?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So I wanted to do a play.
I mean, it's basically a shrimpAlfredo, a blackened shrimp
Alfredo.
The theme that we're kind ofgearing towards in our
restaurant at the hotel is kindof Mediterranean on the sea, a
lot of Italian influence, a lotof Spanish influence.
You know me, I don't like doinganything basic.
I did a little bit of Asianfusion when it comes to the
(06:34):
shrimp alfredo, so it getsfinished with a chili butter
that is made with Chinesefermented chili paste.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, that chili butter.
Let me tell you something, whenI had the camera, I'm doing the
video, the close-ups on that,as it's melting into the rest of
the dish is dope.
It's going to be beautiful,thomas.
I mean listen, you're talkingabout, you know, burnout, taking
(07:06):
a step down from exec to Sue.
Clear your head, get yourthoughts together.
Well, as you know, we haverestaurant veteran Jamie Wyckoff
on hold.
We're going to usher her on ina second.
Today we're going to talk abouthow chefs deal with everyday
problems, children, all of it,with an ambassador of the Burnt
Chef Project, jamie, welcome tothe show.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
We met a couple of weeks ago at NAFM and your story
, your energy, everything wasjust super cool, not just you,
but Imran and Colleen and andChris, the whole gang.
You guys are super cool.
I said it on last week'spodcast with uh, with Imran.
We really appreciate you guysand what you do like sincerely.
(07:47):
And I just want to saysomething I would normally never
run like you guys are BurnedChef Project.
We're doing two weeks in a rowwith you guys and I think it's
because I feel like the industryneeds to hear more from you,
about you.
Our audience needs to hear morefrom you and about you.
Our audience needs to hear morefrom you and about you, and I'm
(08:07):
compelled to do it.
At the end of the day, I'm gladthat we met and I'm glad you're
on the show today.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Me too.
Thank you for that lovely intro.
That's what happens when weshare water with people.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Thomas.
What you don't know is you knowwe were at the show, we were
just.
What you don't know is you knowwe're, we're at the show, we
were just.
John was inundated withphotography and there's videos
and interviews and you know wehad about a half a dozen people
in our booth, you know part ofthe crew and everybody's pulling
their hair out.
It's crazy and I guess it wasobvious.
We were definitely not hydratedand a burn chef project folks.
(08:41):
They were like they dropped offprobably six cases of water for
us.
Let's talk about the impact ofchildren and the work-life
balance in the food industry.
How often do children affectthe balance between professional
responsibilities and personaltime?
I mean we already have hardlyany time at all.
I mean you're working, you know, 10 hours, 12 hours on a shift
(09:04):
in a restaurant, then you have afamily duty at home.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, it's taxing and you can see it.
Some people don't have children, some people do.
I look at it more as anythingthat is kind of distracts you,
that requires additional timefrom you, is a commitment,
because some people have, somepeople have a second parent,
they have to take care ofanimals, anything that demands
(09:31):
your attention.
As soon as you walk throughthat door, like you're coming
off a shift, you're hot, you'vegot your adrenaline going and
you're trying to come down alittle bit bit, and then you
walk through your house, whichwe all would love to say that
it's namaste, candles burningand it's relaxing, but then you
(09:51):
walk into this world and it isjust moving.
It is going in a direction thatyou may not know.
Shift of priorities can be verytaxing, especially when you're
trying to find if you have tofind daycare or if you have to
find somebody else to kind ofhelp you out that day.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
How do you deal with it?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
There's others out there that have walked your path
or walked your walk.
Sometimes it's hard to reachout for help or ask.
Sometimes I would just waitfive more minutes before I
walked to the door just togather my thoughts and
understand what I was walkingthrough, or I'd sit out in the
car for five to 10 minutesbefore I had to go in.
The night will end eventually,and I guess that's kind of some
(10:37):
of the stuff that I use to lookforward.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I still am in a sales capacity.
When you're doing outside salesand you're knocking on doors
and you're going to see clients,it's pretty stressful because
you have, let's say, 30, 40clients.
You're getting phone calls,emails, texts.
There's always going to bechallenges in the food industry,
in food distribution andwhatnot.
It doesn't end and it doesn'tend when you get home and your
(11:02):
phone's always ringing, Eventoday.
I typically never go straighthome.
I have two little children, thewife and whatnot, and I will go
out of my way, spend an extra15 minutes in travel time to
make sure when I walk in thedoor, I can greet everyone
(11:22):
without being aggressive, eventhough I'm not in the restaurant
anymore, and I used to be.
I did 10 years of that, uh, andI recall I didn't have children
then.
But I can tell you that at thisstage I definitely need to
decompress before I get home.
I don't want to go to the bar,I don't want to do any of those
things.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Thomas, you know I have two young children so I
never know what I'm walking inthe bar.
I don't want to do any of thosethings.
Thomas, you know I have twoyoung children so I never know
what I'm walking in the door itcould be.
You know Jamie was saying youknow we're in that high
adrenaline, high energysituation.
Sometimes you walk in the doorstill with that adrenaline going
.
My wife will look at me and belike, calm down.
Other times you walk in thedoor and it is just mass chaos
(12:07):
in your house and no matter whatlevel of adrenaline you are on,
they're above you.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Well, that's what's interesting, jamie.
I know that you could shedinsight on this, but when I come
home, she's already had thechildren you know for at least a
couple of hours.
I know my children.
They don't stop Like they're athours.
I know my children.
They don't stop, like they'reat an age where the energy
levels they don't ever give it abreak.
There's now WWE going on in thehouse, like there's wrestling
(12:33):
and people getting punched inthe mouth, and it's like you
know, it's rough.
These kids are incredible.
So I know, when I'm coming, Iknow what I'm walking into.
I'm walking into an elevatedroom and that I have to remain
as calm as possible.
It's not easy when everybodyelse it's the danger zone, like
they're all revved up and andred lining, I guess you can call
(12:57):
it.
You have to, though.
You have to go in there with aclean head as possible,
immediately, grab a child and,you know, give the hugs and hey,
what happened today?
And you do these things in thehopes of diverting their
attention is the best I can say.
Jamie, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
So funny being on the opposite end of that.
Like I remember as a kid my dadcoming through the door for
work and in that phase, like inthat moment of don't talk to me,
we were so excited to see himlike jumping up and down and
then like he would just be likeno, I can't write this moment
and I never understood thatuntil later in life and I don't
(13:38):
know like I don't think he knewhow to express that either.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
People who grew up in the 70s and 80s, even into the
90s, our parents were different.
Our parents were able to opendoor, throw you out of the house
for the entire weekend and notsee you.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Maybe for a couple of hours in the evening time.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So it was a different life, it was a different breed,
and I'm not saying it's betteror worse, but you know, at this
stage I wish I could do that.
My parents had it easy in thatregard.
All they had to do was say getout of the house and don't come
back until it gets dark.
So they had all this time.
They had quality time.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah, they had quality time.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And now we're all helicopter parents.
I never thought I would be this.
I mean I had my children laterin life.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I never thought.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I would be a, you know, a worrying parent.
But as it turns out, I'm aworrying parent.
I'm like, okay, well, you can'tput the kids in the front of
the house, cause it's all youknow.
Who knows what's going on outthere?
And you know there's danger.
It seems that a stranger danger.
At every turn, every, at everyintersection.
(14:48):
It's bad.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
The world is is changing and it's going to ever
evolve too, and we're not hereto stop it.
It's got to go, but findingways that we can go all right.
I know this person at home hasjust been sitting there all day.
Their hair's frazzled as welland they need a break.
How can we make this happen?
Where do we find our grounding?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Jamie, you were front of the house, right, you did
some stuff in the front and alsoin the back right In the
industry, correct yep.
When stuff in the front andalso in the in the back right In
the industry, correct, yep.
When you were a server orbartender, you would touch, I
don't know, probably 200, youknow, I'm guessing whatever.
But let's just say your averagetouch was like 200 people on a
shift that you had tocommunicate with a customer.
(15:34):
Part of that is always going tobe during a rush, like you're
going to go through the.
You know whether it's a lunchrush or dinner rush and you just
get completely obliv.
Your mind gets completely torn.
You're ripped.
You go home thinking, oh man, Iforgot to bring lemons to table
three, and you know all thethings, that all these things
kind of come up as you're onyour way home.
There's no time to put thingsinto a defrag scenario where you
(16:00):
get your mind ready to walk inthe door.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
No matter what something is distracting your
focus at home, whether it's achild, a wife, a dog, whatever
it is.
That's not allowing you tocreate like a priority balance
in a way, because I shift alittle bit from work-life
balance just because it kind ofsegments into three things.
(16:23):
When sometimes your prioritiesdo shift, like you get home, it
might not be your kid at thatparticular moment it might be
like oh shoot, I got to pay thebill or the electricity is going
to go off, right, like thatsometimes is what it distracts
you from taking care of yourself.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
I remember vividly before my parents I was I don't
know.
Let me see here.
I was four when my parents weredivorced, were split, and I
remember living with themtogether at that age.
And then I remember what it waslike when, you know, my father
was outside of the house but nolonger there, and it was, it was
(17:05):
.
It was horrible.
Now everybody had, you know,the family, the support staff,
everyone explains things to afour or five year old that they
can understand it, and that'swhat happened with me.
But as I got older and Istarted to recognize like, hey,
all this stuff is I don't wantto say a lie, but you realize,
(17:27):
you see, the fabrication thatadults tell their children in
order to kind of appease themoment.
And now, as an adult, I do mydamnedest to tell the truth
about the situation.
Obviously, I don't use harshlanguage to do it, but what they
did in the seventies andeighties the parents it was just
(17:49):
different.
Not only did they throw you outof the house, but, you know,
everything was kind of a secret.
They used to leave the room inorder to have an argument, Like
you didn't even know what wasgoing on.
Where today it just seems likeeverybody's business is
everywhere on social media.
It's out there and it lendsitself to very difficult
(18:11):
scenarios.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
And that is a super challenging situation.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Today you can have a couple that works in the
restaurant business because ofthe fact you're sharing the same
schedule, or it could beopposing schedules day shift
versus night shift, front of thehouse versus back of the house
and it makes life incrediblydifficult.
I think the odds of arelationship surviving something
(18:35):
like that are incrediblydifficult.
What do you think, thomas?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm super fortunate.
My wife also worked in therestaurant industry and she was
front of house.
She was a GM of a restaurant.
She has that little bit ofunderstanding of what I go
through, but it's so funny howquickly she's forgotten, because
she's a stay at home mom now.
(19:00):
There's just a misunderstandingof what we really go through
nowadays because she's so farremoved and this is an industry
that's forever evolving.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I know my moment when I found the burnt chef and it
was because of this pressurethat was coming on me in my
personal life which I've neverhad before.
I've never had that completelyout of whack.
And then you've got yourprofessional life, which is at
the time I'm throwing events, soI'm doing a lot of the event
planning.
(19:32):
So it's event planning, cooking, making sure all of that is
going cohesive, being on duringthe day like greeting people,
talking to people, engaging, andit was so impactful that I
thought I was okay and I wasmanaging it and I failed to
realize that ripple effect thatit was having on the team.
(19:53):
It just rippled through themand, as a leader, they're not
going to come and tell you,they're going to talk amongst
themselves and they're going totry to figure out what's going
on.
And then I leaned into theBurnt Chef Project because I
needed, I wanted to try to findfolks that have been in that
position before, that couldrelate, that had that
(20:13):
hospitality background, that hadthose hours, that had that
drive the demand on them.
That's what I did and I foundthe project.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
And how did that help you?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Oh my gosh, it changed my perspective.
It helped so much.
Eventually I went for cognitivebehavior therapy because I
wanted to understand what myicks were, because it wasn't
someone else's issue that wasgoing on, it was mine and I need
to understand how my stuff washappening.
And then the project helped mebecause then they made me
(20:46):
realize it was okay.
It's okay.
This isn't going to be forever.
You should be proud of yourselfbecause you built a team that
allowed them to say hey, I thinkyou're in trouble.
We still believe in you.
We know you can do more, but weneed you to get help.
(21:07):
They didn't say it in thosewords, but it showed in support
when they pulled me asidebecause it was challenging for
them to say something to me.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, it's part of the adage.
They say this too shall pass,and it's the truth.
The way that that happensfaster is when we recognize we
hold the key.
It is us.
It is the individual.
We've all worked with peoplewho are difficult, and whether
(21:36):
that's we're the difficult partyor it's someone else, we've all
worked with somebody who'sdifficult, and whether that's
we're the difficult party orit's someone else, we've all
worked with somebody who'sdifficult.
In many cases we don't realizewe own our feelings, we own our
own health and we own thedirection that we want to go in
and we get dragged down by otherpeople.
(21:57):
But it doesn't have to be thatway.
What I try to tell my childrentoday is and I don't hear about
it anymore is the whole sticksand stones Like what are you
worried about?
Who cares what people thinkabout you?
Who cares what they say?
It means nothing.
If you're focused and you'redialed in on on a goal or a path
, matters not at all what otherpeople have to say about it.
(22:19):
You just kind of pick yourselfup and go.
But the thing is, if you have ateam around you that can kind
of give you insight or guidanceand say you know, like if it's,
if it were me and and you know,John came up and said you're the
problem right now, then I wouldhave to stop assess, see if
it's.
You know John came up and saidyou're the problem right now,
then I would have to stop assess, see if it's.
(22:40):
You know well, is it really me?
And if I'm honest with myself,I would have to make a change.
I don't know that a lot ofpeople are doing that.
You know, jamie, if you have a,if you're able, if you had that
support and you got thatsupport and and burnt chef
(23:10):
project was there to help you,kind of give you a path and walk
you through.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
That's amazing, it or not, like tools that the burnt
chef has and understanding that,like you might not always get
the problem, but you can teachor create an environment for
your staff, for anybody who'sinvolved, to kind of look out
for certain little things.
You know, a psychologicallysafe environment is huge.
(23:33):
That means I can come up tosomebody out of respect and say,
hey, listen, I've noticedyou're not doing so hot over the
last couple of weeks.
What's going on?
And it could be something justas simple as hey, I haven't
found daycare for my kids.
I'm always running late.
You know it could be somethingmore and they might not even
(23:54):
realize they're doing it.
So it's just being able tocreate this environment that we
need.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Do you feel like the industry is getting better?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I know everyone complains about the younger
generation and like theirworkload and stuff like that,
but they're actually the onesthat are going hey, this doesn't
feel right.
How do we work around this?
How do we make this happen?
How do I look out for theperson next to me?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I completely agree with that.
The ones that are on the comeup now are the ones that are
really making it aware.
The struggle in the industry isthat it's being brought up and
made aware, but the youngergeneration isn't the ones at the
tops of these corporationsmaking the decisions, so I don't
think it's being heard as muchas it needs to be.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I feel like there's a middle ground.
It's being heard as much as itneeds to be.
I feel like there's a middleground.
Over the last few years,there's been a lot of talk,
social media conversation aboutthis generation versus that
generation and boomer this andGen Z that and all this.
What I think is really sillyEvery generation has to deal
(24:56):
with things that are the sameand are just as part of humanity
and a society, but each one isunique because all the different
technologies and knowledgesthat come to fruition over time
and perspectives are what change.
(25:17):
The sun comes up, the sun goesdown.
In the end, our perspective ofthings change.
So we're in this space, in thisperiod of time where you know
Generation X, we're gettingolder, you know we're in our 50s
and 60s and stuff.
You know we're coming to apoint where we're running things
(25:38):
in a way, but our parents arestill in charge of stuff,
corporations, wise and things.
It's just a weird dynamic.
And in the end, you have some ofthe younger ones who I would
have a couple of years ago, said, yeah, they're kind of weak to
me, but maybe not now, I don'tknow.
(26:01):
I feel like my viewpoint ischanging a little bit because
some of the ones who I thinkwere loud a few years ago.
The two, three, four or fiveyears of life experience has
shown them you shouldn'tnecessarily expect things and
you do have to put a little bitof elbow grease in it to get it
(26:23):
to be yours.
But I think they are looking atit in a way where it's the
right way, like, hey, treat mebetter.
There's nothing wrong withbeing treated better.
Why wouldn't we want to gettreated better at work or you
know, just in general.
So I feel like I'm coming to adifferent place in my opinion of
some of the younger crowd.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
It's cool when you see it all mixed together,
because I know the generationbefore me was probably crabbing
and complaining about stuff thatwe were doing, so I think
there's always something.
But when you put that alltogether, the perspective that
you can pull from that isincredible.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Well, we thought it was normal, but it's not In
retrospect.
When you have commercials on TVand I remember these you know,
hey, it's 10 o'clock at night.
Do you know where your childrenare?
I remember the commercial.
It's like why do we have toremind our parents, why do they
need a reminder to find out orthink about where their children
(27:17):
are at 10 pm?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Because you kicked them out of the house earlier in
the day.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
My point?
Yeah, exactly.
So you know everything isdifferent and everything has
changed.
That particular thing about,like, hey, it's 10 o'clock, you
know your children are that wasso normal to me growing up.
And now I'm thinking about, wow, I have these kids, I want to
know where they are every minute, like you know, I don't go as
(27:43):
far, you know I won't do thetracker thing, but it's out
there, people do it and maybe Iwill do the tracker.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Oh, that's too much.
Too much Sometimes they do.
I mean they need to exploretheir own spaces as well.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
As long as they're not hurting each other, they're
fine.
That's just my view, thoughit's too late for that.
Thomas, you're in charge of agood amount of people at the
hotel.
Yeah, various ages.
You got your older folks andthen you got your youngins.
How are you seeing the twocollide?
How are they mixing togetherand working together?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
they, uh, they, uh, they don't mix well.
You laugh, but it's the truth.
Um, it is the truth, it reallydoesn't, and there's just two
completely different mindsets.
You know we're talking on thetopic of the younger generation
is voicing their opinions moreand trying to make themselves
(28:38):
heard and trying to have a nicer, safer, more friendly work
environment.
But the older generation comesfrom a style of restaurant, a
style of kitchen that thosewords didn't exist.
You know, even myself, like I'm37, but my mentor, like I, had
(28:59):
empty five gallon buckets kickedat me.
I had empty, I had saute pansthrown at me like I was screamed
at over and over and over againuntil I got it right.
You can't even think of doingthat this day and age.
And that's where that oldergeneration that are that are
still working in restaurantscomes from.
So they, like you alluded toearlier, they look at it as, oh,
(29:24):
this soft new generation ofworkers is like they're going to
ruin this for us.
They're not going to work hard,they're going to be worthless
to us.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
When you're running things and you're looking down
at the playing field and and whoyour players are.
You have to connect the dots.
You need to separate the peoplebecause look, here's the thing
the older folks that have someof that viewpoint or issue with
it.
They serve a purpose and thereality is they probably won't
(29:58):
be the ones calling out of ashift you have to have them
Facts.
Yeah, you have to have themthere when some of the younger
you know well, for, whatever thereason is, they're going to
actually pull the trigger andcall out.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Look, I've done hotels for the last decade and
let me tell you nobody wants tosee their alarm go off at 445 in
the morning because they're theopening cook and they have to
be there at 530 or six.
To find somebody thatconsistently shows up all year
long at 536 o'clock in themorning is very, very hard to
(30:33):
come by.
And when you do find the personthat is reliable that does it
yeah, 90% of the time it issomebody from the older
(30:57):
generation.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
And the younger ones coming up.
They look at the older folksand they do it with like mockery
.
There's some I can.
I can look at the humor in thatbecause I do recall myself.
I remember me.
I was cause I was 15 when Istarted in the.
You know I was a bus boy andyou know you would see, like the
(31:18):
lifers, the, what I would calla lifer like these.
You know 40, 50, 60 year old.
You know adults who are stillon the line, who were still like
doing dishes.
Yeah, and I would.
Just I would look at him and go, what the hell are you doing?
And I wouldn't say that to them, but in my mind I'm like, what
the hell are you doing?
Yeah.
Why are you here at this age?
(31:38):
What is your?
But now I understand and youhave responsibilities and life
and you need to whatever you can, wherever you can make your
money to pay your electric bill,that's where you gotta go yeah,
you, you know what's funny,something that I just started
noticing.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
So I I have a good mix of a younger and older staff
in my current restaurant andsomething you know, as we were
coming into 2025, you know youalways budget for any pto time
that's paid time off that'sgoing to carry, carry over when
you're budgeting for thefollowing year.
The older generation when itcomes to paid time off, you know
(32:17):
your, your benefit that yourjob gives you allowing you to
take vacation time or whateverit may be.
They have a hundred 120 hoursthat they get to carry over into
the following year because theyjust don't use it, because they
are those lifers, they don't.
They don't look at it as I needto take time off.
But the younger generation theydon't carry any of it over.
(32:37):
They use every minute of timeoff that they get.
They go on vacation all thetime, take weekends off,
extended weekends, and it'sreally funny to me.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I look at myself.
I haven't taken a vacation.
Let me put it this way I'vetaken one vacation in probably
10 years and I only did that toappease my wife.
I owe her a ton.
I really do.
I owe her a ton.
And you know, when I'm wrong,I'm wrong.
(33:12):
I just don't want to.
I don't.
I just enjoy working, I enjoydoing the things that I do.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
I don't want to go on a vacation.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I think honestly, me, I think vacations are silly in
a way.
Not taking time off, there's adifference.
If you want to travel, travel.
If you want to go somewhere, gosomewhere.
But to to to think like, oh, ifI don't take, you know, my
vacation this year, that I'mwell year, that well, I'm trying
to build something.
When I want to build something,all my energy goes into it.
(33:43):
I see nothing else.
It's a good and a bad equal.
It's equal parts good, equalparts bad, because at some point
something here is going toclick and things are going to
really be great and thenvacation will be different.
It won't be vacation, it be.
This is the kind of life we'rejust living.
We're living a life is good.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Until then.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
I don't want to take a vacation.
I understand that people wantthem.
God bless, I'm a new father.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I have been off work for the last three weeks
supporting my wife and the newbaby at home.
I couldn't tell you the lasttime I took a week off of work.
And let me tell you, you arededicated, like when you truly
love what you do, you throwyourself into it and you're
dedicated to it.
And I was terrified not to havea baby to be out of my kitchen
(34:36):
for three weeks.
And you know, I stopped theretoday to grab some ingredients,
grab my chef knives, to to comehere and cook for you guys today
.
And just that feeling of ofwalking through the lobby and
like that sheer terror that wentthrough me as I opened the door
(34:57):
to the kitchen and like what amI, I going to see?
Because, like I've, I'vetreated every kitchen like it's
my own, like it's my ownpersonal restaurant, like that's
how much I care about what I do.
And like you're just my eyeswere peeled everywhere.
Ceiling floor, tiles did have.
Did they deck scrub the floorlately?
(35:18):
Like, let me look at the grouthave did they deck scrub the
floor lately?
Like let me look at the groutLike it's?
You're looking at everythingand you know I they definitely
are not holding my standards.
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
They never, nobody ever does.
And you know what.
You can't blame them.
You can only.
The only time I would, I wouldattach a blame to a staff is if
it's your, your number two.
If it's your number two, it'sif it's like the person who, who
you're mentoring, let's sayyou're giving them the extra
information, the extra timebecause they want it.
(35:52):
If that person doesn't hold itto the right standard, there's a
problem.
I look at everyone else likelike a red shirt or on Star Trek
.
You know it's a problem.
I look at everyone else like ared-shirted on Star Trek.
They're expendable, meaningthey're probably going to get
killed on an episode.
It's just what it is.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
But that's the industry.
A cook leaves a job for $0.25more an hour, and that's all it
takes is $0.25 more an hour.
Oh, the restaurant's.
All it takes is 25 cents morean hour.
Oh, the restaurant across thestreet is going to pay me 25
cents more.
I'm gone.
Here's my two weeks, if youeven get a two weeks.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Yeah, I remember I used to work in hotels and I
loved it.
I loved it and I think theydeserve a little bit more credit
, honestly, but like there'sjust so many different facets,
you can but the benefits thatcame along with it, like the
health insurance, time off, allof that which a smaller
restaurant won't do a lot moreexpensive for them to do, they
(36:48):
don't do it because it is more asmall restaurant, it is a much
bigger cost.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
But from a hotel perspective that they do they
they have the best benefits.
You know for a chef, it's thebest benefits.
Know for a chef, it's the bestbenefits.
It's the highest pay, it's themost yeah, it's the the most
personal benefit, that that youcan get working in a hotel.
However, what I've found is thethe reward of that I get from
(37:15):
being a chef.
It's the least rewarding.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Growing up, I would never want to work for a large
corporate because they want toomuch from you.
There isn't any bond.
The smaller, or I should saythe independent places you would
typically have some sort of arelationship that you're
fostering.
You know the ownership or thepeople in charge.
(37:38):
You know they know that well, Igot to keep staff and I can't
compete with benefits and allthis other stuff.
So they allow you some moreflexibility, maybe on schedule.
They allow you the opportunityto maybe work more, earn a
little bit more money, whatever.
And so, growing up, when I wasin that restaurant phase of my
life restaurant phase of my lifeI wanted only the smaller
(37:59):
places.
I did.
Well, as I'm older now you knowI mean, granted, I, you know I
do work for a.
I have my own company with WalkTalk Media.
That coincides with theposition Director of Sales and
Marketing at Peninsula FoodService and they both work very
well together.
(38:19):
Well, they're an independentplace but they've been around
for 30 years so it's very stable.
But as I'm older, I want thestability.
The money is going to be there.
If you put the effort, you'regoing to earn.
So, with that said, I don'tknow, I think I want the
security.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I should say it different though I want the
security.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
You know, I don't know, I think I, I, I want the
security.
Yeah, I should say it different, though I want the security,
you know, I think that's a thing.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
You hit the nail on the head because that's exactly
it.
That's why I've as I say it'sthe least rewarding in my entire
career working in a hotel.
I've done it for the stability,for the benefits for my family
and and had to put that personalgoals, personal success, aside.
(39:06):
For that reason.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I know that you want a star.
I know that's in your bag.
You want that.
I'm hungry for it.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Jose Andres is right here in the Waldorf Historia.
He has Bazaar.
He also has it in Las Vegas, Ifyou look at, and he's a rated
chef.
Some of them are starting to dolittle pop-ups, but you have a
platform to perform and I thinkyou can get it if you want it
and you can curate your team todo it.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
No, you can, and I take pride in mentoring my team.
I actually disagree with you onthat.
I it's it's much harder in ahotel environment.
Um Jose.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Andres.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Jose Andres.
He carries a name that thatname means something.
So when when he puts arestaurant and partners with a
hotel, it's a little differentthan just a normal hotel
restaurant.
And you know hotel restaurantshave gotten a bad rap for a long
time.
You know, I ask people all thetime when's the last time you
thought of going to a hotel fordinner?
(40:12):
You don't, most people, justthey don't think.
It doesn't even cross theirmind in that hotel there's, you
know, a hundred employees.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
The hundred employees need to be in line and on in
lockstep with trying to get astar like I don't know that it's
even possible.
Is that even possible?
I don't think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
A normal hotel it's I it's said all the time it's
about heads in beds, it's notabout the food that you're
putting out.
The restaurants and bars arelooked at as just an amenity
that that comes along with withthe bed that you're sleeping in
that night, unless it's a small,unless it's a small boutique
style hotel that thataccentuates their food and
(40:53):
beverage program, that theyreally want to portray that to
the community.
Then then yeah, there's portraythat to the community.
Then then yeah, there's,there's a chance but those types
of hotels are few and far tocome by.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
What say you, Jamie?
Speaker 1 (41:08):
You build it, they come.
That is the absolute trueststatement ever and it's and it
is.
It's.
So if you put it out there andI can, I can look at walk and
talk media.
There was once there was nowalk and talk media and now
there is, and with it we end upgetting.
We end up getting some Michelinchefs, some beard chefs, we get
(41:29):
a bunch of food network winnersthat come through the, that
come through the show and and we, it opens doors.
You know, it's funny.
You build it, they will come.
If you produce it, they'llwatch it.
If you produce it, they'lllisten to it If it's good be
(42:03):
enough If you show up every day.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
take the, take the you know your competitor out of
the way and focus on just doingit right and building it right.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
And a lot of times it's just a person, it's
yourself you got to remove.
You got to, you got to getyourself out of your own face.
Take, you're going to get hit,you're going to get punched in
the face.
Like it's going to happen.
Life is going to punch you inthe face and if you have a
career or a desire or you have apath you want to go down,
(42:32):
chances are you will get kickedin the belly on your path.
And if you understand that andyou take the hits and you keep
going forward, you can win.
You can win it, whatever thehell it is that you want to win
at.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, and this is where the burnt chef project
comes in.
That's what the game changer,changing the mentality of like
how we do it.
And yes, I know there'schallenges and there's red tape
and all these things, but I Idon't know.
I feel that if you wantsomething, bad enough, it might
not.
It might be a bumpy road.
(43:02):
You could take turns and youknow things, down paths that you
never thought that you could,but you could get there.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
What's your favorite thing about Burn Chef Project?
Speaker 3 (43:12):
That camaraderie of the that you can do it.
You can get there.
The support that you have ofjust going yes, it can, and we
all know that it's gritty, itcan be gnarly, you're going to
face challenges, but if you havesupport that says, okay, you
(43:34):
can't do that right now, but youcan do this.
And I think it's just havingthat recognition and being
completely honest and allowingyour team to be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Jimmy, I think you're a hundred percent correct on
that.
How do we find Burn ChefProject?
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Well, you're on social at the Burn Chef Project
on Instagram.
We have our own webpage.
You can just put that in andfind us.
We also have a YouTube channelas well.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
I think it's compelling.
Everyone should check it out.
They're great.
Support them, Thomas.
How are we finding you At ChefThomas Parker on Instagram?
I'm going to have some reallygreat video of today.
I'll probably have that in aday or so.
I might have it tonight, man.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
I took some uh, some cool candid behind the scenes
photos of you guys doing yourwork too, Did you really?
I'm going to throw up there too.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Oh, hell yeah, hell, yeah, make it happen.
All right, listen, guys.
I appreciate you.
Jamie, thank you for being onthe show.
Thomas, thanks for coming in.
John man, I got a man crush onyou in the most straightest way
possible.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Alright, we are Out.
We'll see you next time.
hello food fam.
This is the walk and talkpodcast, where you will find the
perfect blend of food fun andcooking knowledge.
I'm your host, carl fiodini.
Welcome to the number one foodpodcast in the country.
We're recording on site at ibisImages Studios, where food
photography comes alive, and Iget to eat it in-house.
We have a dear friend of theshow, Chef Thomas Parker from
(00:31):
Hotel Tampa Riverwalk man.
He's cooked up two dishes todaythat are stunning.
You know what else is stunning?
The photography.
I say it every week, John, Idon't know Like I don't get
tired.
We said it today in studio.
I don't get tired.
We said it today in studio.
I don't get tired of looking atbeautiful photos, man.
The food is awesome.
The talent that we have cominginto the studio right now super
(00:55):
elevated, beautiful, and you doa great job, man.
You deserve to hear that, myman.
It's been a long time.
Chef Thomas Parker, welcome tothe show.
Thanks, brother, Glad to beback.
I know me too.
We've been talking about thisfor a long time You've been gone
.
What about a year?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, a little over a year.
I came back to Tampa in Augustabout six months ago, took on an
awesome role that I was superfortunate to find in short
timeframe because my wife and Ifound out we were expecting our
second daughter, so it was athree-year plan in Georgia, but
it turned into a one-year plan.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Well, congratulations on the new package, thank you.
You're a daddy, you're a chef,you've got a lot of really great
things happening to you, butyou went to Georgia to open a
hotel open a beautiful hotel,beautiful luxury property, a
Marriott property, and I had somuch fun doing it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
The company I was working for I honestly, I
thought I was going to be withthem for a lot longer, but
family called Hotel.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Tampa Riverwalk.
They're doing renovations.
There's a lot of stuff going onover there and you're
overseeing the culinary aspectof it, correct?
I'm?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
actually overseeing all food and beverage aspect of
the property.
My title is executive chef andbead director.
If any of you are familiar withthe hotel dynamic, there's
normally the executive chef andthe food and beverage director
and they form a beautifulpartnership and run the all food
and beverage.
It's all tied into one.
With me that's a big role, Huge.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Stressful.
The two dishes that you madetoday on the menu On the menu?
Yeah, both of them are on themenu.
Thomas, you've got renovationsthat are going to be going into
the next year or so.
How are you keeping your staffmotivated?
And I really want to get intothe recipes of what you did
today.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
It's just an excitement.
They've been talking aboutrenovating this hotel.
This hotel was built in 1966.
To put it into real perspective, it's before we landed on the
moon, so that's how old of abuilding it is.
So it's in dire need of someupgrades and the talk over the
last three, four, five years islike when is it going to happen?
(03:12):
When's it going to happen?
Well, it's finally going tohappen.
It's going to start thisSeptember.
It'll take roughly a year andthen the plan is for September
2026 relaunch.
It's going to be a brand newhotel concept.
We are a baseline Hilton rightnow.
We're going to take a step upinto the Curio collection, which
(03:32):
is their boutique-y kind ofluxury line.
New name, new restaurant names,new bar names, everything that
goes with it.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Let's talk meatballs.
I mean, you'd put together thismassive, beautiful baby of a
meatball.
Tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I didn't want to do a normal meatball appetizer, a
normal meatball dish.
That you see.
You know, normally you get acouple, two, three, four ounce
meatballs, even per plate.
I wanted to do one stupid giantmeatball on the plate.
I didn't realize it until Istarted doing it.
It's actually genius.
Think of it in the form of aburger.
Right, you go to McDonald's.
(04:09):
You get the thin, dried outpatty.
You go to a real burger joint,not knocking McDonald's at all,
but you get a eight ounce burgerpatty and it's juicy through.
You can control the cookingmore on it.
That's exactly what I do.
So there's, it's just a verymoist, flavorful meatball.
The sauce is made from scratch,put a beautiful truffle
(04:33):
pecorino over top of it and thenit sits.
It sits on a puree of ricottaand parsley Tell me about the
sauce recipe.
I was super fortunate years andyears ago, early in my career, I
I was kind of getting burnt outa little bit, so I took a step
down and I became a sous chef ata little mom and pop Italian
(04:57):
restaurant for six months, and Iloved it.
The family was amazing.
My favorite part about it,though, was the mother of the
chef that I was working for.
She was 90 years old.
She still worked in the prepkitchen every single day.
It was an incredible sight tosee.
She taught me the sauce recipe,which is the sauce you had
(05:18):
today, but just seeing her wasso cool, because she would make
the fresh bread every day.
She would make the meatballsevery day, like so many recipes
Like you had to really touch herheart to have her let you in on
those recipes.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Well, I mean, you touched our heart.
We've been eating your food forat least a couple of years now.
I think it's a great story and,you know, what's interesting to
me is that it's a they'resicilian and albanian and
albanian, yeah, and I, you know,I'm second generation italian.
I have had my share ofhome-cooked uh sauces and
whatnot.
This is really good.
(05:57):
And when you told me about thatthat heritage combo I was kind
of like, oh man, a littledisappointed at first, but then
I was like you know what?
That's actually really cool andgreat for a story.
Pasta shrimp, what about that?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So I wanted to do a play.
I mean, it's basically a shrimpAlfredo, a blackened shrimp
Alfredo.
The theme that we're kind ofgearing towards in our
restaurant at the hotel is kindof Mediterranean on the sea, a
lot of Italian influence, a lotof Spanish influence.
You know me, I don't like doinganything basic.
I did a little bit of Asianfusion when it comes to the
(06:34):
shrimp alfredo, so it getsfinished with a chili butter
that is made with Chinesefermented chili paste.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, that chili butter.
Let me tell you something, whenI had the camera, I'm doing the
video, the close-ups on that,as it's melting into the rest of
the dish is dope.
It's going to be beautiful,thomas.
I mean listen, you're talkingabout, you know, burnout, taking
(07:06):
a step down from exec to Sue.
Clear your head, get yourthoughts together.
Well, as you know, we haverestaurant veteran Jamie Wyckoff
on hold.
We're going to usher her on ina second.
Today we're going to talk abouthow chefs deal with everyday
problems, children, all of it,with an ambassador of the Burnt
Chef Project, jamie, welcome tothe show.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
We met a couple of weeks ago at NAFM and your story
, your energy, everything wasjust super cool, not just you,
but Imran and Colleen and andChris, the whole gang.
You guys are super cool.
I said it on last week'spodcast with uh, with Imran.
We really appreciate you guysand what you do like sincerely.
(07:47):
And I just want to saysomething I would normally never
run like you guys are BurnedChef Project.
We're doing two weeks in a rowwith you guys and I think it's
because I feel like the industryneeds to hear more from you,
about you.
Our audience needs to hear morefrom you and about you.
Our audience needs to hear morefrom you and about you, and I'm
(08:07):
compelled to do it.
At the end of the day, I'm gladthat we met and I'm glad you're
on the show today.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Me too.
Thank you for that lovely intro.
That's what happens when weshare water with people.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Thomas.
What you don't know is you knowwe were at the show, we were
just.
What you don't know is you knowwe're, we're at the show, we
were just.
John was inundated withphotography and there's videos
and interviews and you know wehad about a half a dozen people
in our booth, you know part ofthe crew and everybody's pulling
their hair out.
It's crazy and I guess it wasobvious.
We were definitely not hydratedand a burn chef project folks.
(08:41):
They were like they dropped offprobably six cases of water for
us.
Let's talk about the impact ofchildren and the work-life
balance in the food industry.
How often do children affectthe balance between professional
responsibilities and personaltime?
I mean we already have hardlyany time at all.
I mean you're working, you know, 10 hours, 12 hours on a shift
(09:04):
in a restaurant, then you have afamily duty at home.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, it's taxing and you can see it.
Some people don't have children, some people do.
I look at it more as anythingthat is kind of distracts you,
that requires additional timefrom you, is a commitment,
because some people have, somepeople have a second parent,
they have to take care ofanimals, anything that demands
(09:31):
your attention.
As soon as you walk throughthat door, like you're coming
off a shift, you're hot, you'vegot your adrenaline going and
you're trying to come down alittle bit bit, and then you
walk through your house, whichwe all would love to say that
it's namaste, candles burningand it's relaxing, but then you
(09:51):
walk into this world and it isjust moving.
It is going in a direction thatyou may not know.
Shift of priorities can be verytaxing, especially when you're
trying to find if you have tofind daycare or if you have to
find somebody else to kind ofhelp you out that day.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
How do you deal with it?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
There's others out there that have walked your path
or walked your walk.
Sometimes it's hard to reachout for help or ask.
Sometimes I would just waitfive more minutes before I
walked to the door just togather my thoughts and
understand what I was walkingthrough, or I'd sit out in the
car for five to 10 minutesbefore I had to go in.
The night will end eventually,and I guess that's kind of some
(10:37):
of the stuff that I use to lookforward.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I still am in a sales capacity.
When you're doing outside salesand you're knocking on doors
and you're going to see clients,it's pretty stressful because
you have, let's say, 30, 40clients.
You're getting phone calls,emails, texts.
There's always going to bechallenges in the food industry,
in food distribution andwhatnot.
It doesn't end and it doesn'tend when you get home and your
(11:02):
phone's always ringing, Eventoday.
I typically never go straighthome.
I have two little children, thewife and whatnot, and I will go
out of my way, spend an extra15 minutes in travel time to
make sure when I walk in thedoor, I can greet everyone
(11:22):
without being aggressive, eventhough I'm not in the restaurant
anymore, and I used to be.
I did 10 years of that, uh, andI recall I didn't have children
then.
But I can tell you that at thisstage I definitely need to
decompress before I get home.
I don't want to go to the bar,I don't want to do any of those
things.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Thomas, you know I have two young children so I
never know what I'm walking inthe bar.
I don't want to do any of thosethings.
Thomas, you know I have twoyoung children so I never know
what I'm walking in the door itcould be.
You know Jamie was saying youknow we're in that high
adrenaline, high energysituation.
Sometimes you walk in the doorstill with that adrenaline going
.
My wife will look at me and belike, calm down.
Other times you walk in thedoor and it is just mass chaos
(12:07):
in your house and no matter whatlevel of adrenaline you are on,
they're above you.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Well, that's what's interesting, jamie.
I know that you could shedinsight on this, but when I come
home, she's already had thechildren you know for at least a
couple of hours.
I know my children.
They don't stop Like they're athours.
I know my children.
They don't stop, like they'reat an age where the energy
levels they don't ever give it abreak.
There's now WWE going on in thehouse, like there's wrestling
(12:33):
and people getting punched inthe mouth, and it's like you
know, it's rough.
These kids are incredible.
So I know, when I'm coming, Iknow what I'm walking into.
I'm walking into an elevatedroom and that I have to remain
as calm as possible.
It's not easy when everybodyelse it's the danger zone, like
they're all revved up and andred lining, I guess you can call
(12:57):
it.
You have to, though.
You have to go in there with aclean head as possible,
immediately, grab a child and,you know, give the hugs and hey,
what happened today?
And you do these things in thehopes of diverting their
attention is the best I can say.
Jamie, what do you think?
Speaker 3 (13:16):
So funny being on the opposite end of that.
Like I remember as a kid my dadcoming through the door for
work and in that phase, like inthat moment of don't talk to me,
we were so excited to see himlike jumping up and down and
then like he would just be likeno, I can't write this moment
and I never understood thatuntil later in life and I don't
(13:38):
know like I don't think he knewhow to express that either.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
People who grew up in the 70s and 80s, even into the
90s, our parents were different.
Our parents were able to opendoor, throw you out of the house
for the entire weekend and notsee you.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Maybe for a couple of hours in the evening time.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
So it was a different life, it was a different breed,
and I'm not saying it's betteror worse, but you know, at this
stage I wish I could do that.
My parents had it easy in thatregard.
All they had to do was say getout of the house and don't come
back until it gets dark.
So they had all this time.
They had quality time.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah, they had quality time.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And now we're all helicopter parents.
I never thought I would be this.
I mean I had my children laterin life.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I never thought.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I would be a, you know, a worrying parent.
But as it turns out, I'm aworrying parent.
I'm like, okay, well, you can'tput the kids in the front of
the house, cause it's all youknow.
Who knows what's going on outthere?
And you know there's danger.
It seems that a stranger danger.
At every turn, every, at everyintersection.
(14:48):
It's bad.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
The world is is changing and it's going to ever
evolve too, and we're not hereto stop it.
It's got to go, but findingways that we can go all right.
I know this person at home hasjust been sitting there all day.
Their hair's frazzled as welland they need a break.
How can we make this happen?
Where do we find our grounding?
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Jamie, you were front of the house, right, you did
some stuff in the front and alsoin the back right In the
industry, correct yep.
When stuff in the front andalso in the in the back right In
the industry, correct, yep.
When you were a server orbartender, you would touch, I
don't know, probably 200, youknow, I'm guessing whatever.
But let's just say your averagetouch was like 200 people on a
shift that you had tocommunicate with a customer.
(15:34):
Part of that is always going tobe during a rush, like you're
going to go through the.
You know whether it's a lunchrush or dinner rush and you just
get completely obliv.
Your mind gets completely torn.
You're ripped.
You go home thinking, oh man, Iforgot to bring lemons to table
three, and you know all thethings, that all these things
kind of come up as you're onyour way home.
There's no time to put thingsinto a defrag scenario where you
(16:00):
get your mind ready to walk inthe door.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
No matter what something is distracting your
focus at home, whether it's achild, a wife, a dog, whatever
it is.
That's not allowing you tocreate like a priority balance
in a way, because I shift alittle bit from work-life
balance just because it kind ofsegments into three things.
(16:23):
When sometimes your prioritiesdo shift, like you get home, it
might not be your kid at thatparticular moment it might be
like oh shoot, I got to pay thebill or the electricity is going
to go off, right, like thatsometimes is what it distracts
you from taking care of yourself.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
I remember vividly before my parents I was I don't
know.
Let me see here.
I was four when my parents weredivorced, were split, and I
remember living with themtogether at that age.
And then I remember what it waslike when, you know, my father
was outside of the house but nolonger there, and it was, it was
(17:05):
.
It was horrible.
Now everybody had, you know,the family, the support staff,
everyone explains things to afour or five year old that they
can understand it, and that'swhat happened with me.
But as I got older and Istarted to recognize like, hey,
all this stuff is I don't wantto say a lie, but you realize,
(17:27):
you see, the fabrication thatadults tell their children in
order to kind of appease themoment.
And now, as an adult, I do mydamnedest to tell the truth
about the situation.
Obviously, I don't use harshlanguage to do it, but what they
did in the seventies andeighties the parents it was just
(17:49):
different.
Not only did they throw you outof the house, but, you know,
everything was kind of a secret.
They used to leave the room inorder to have an argument, Like
you didn't even know what wasgoing on.
Where today it just seems likeeverybody's business is
everywhere on social media.
It's out there and it lendsitself to very difficult
(18:11):
scenarios.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
And that is a super challenging situation.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Today you can have a couple that works in the
restaurant business because ofthe fact you're sharing the same
schedule, or it could beopposing schedules day shift
versus night shift, front of thehouse versus back of the house
and it makes life incrediblydifficult.
I think the odds of arelationship surviving something
(18:35):
like that are incrediblydifficult.
What do you think, thomas?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm super fortunate.
My wife also worked in therestaurant industry and she was
front of house.
She was a GM of a restaurant.
She has that little bit ofunderstanding of what I go
through, but it's so funny howquickly she's forgotten, because
she's a stay at home mom now.
(19:00):
There's just a misunderstandingof what we really go through
nowadays because she's so farremoved and this is an industry
that's forever evolving.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
I know my moment when I found the burnt chef and it
was because of this pressurethat was coming on me in my
personal life which I've neverhad before.
I've never had that completelyout of whack.
And then you've got yourprofessional life, which is at
the time I'm throwing events, soI'm doing a lot of the event
planning.
(19:32):
So it's event planning, cooking, making sure all of that is
going cohesive, being on duringthe day like greeting people,
talking to people, engaging, andit was so impactful that I
thought I was okay and I wasmanaging it and I failed to
realize that ripple effect thatit was having on the team.
(19:53):
It just rippled through themand, as a leader, they're not
going to come and tell you,they're going to talk amongst
themselves and they're going totry to figure out what's going
on.
And then I leaned into theBurnt Chef Project because I
needed, I wanted to try to findfolks that have been in that
position before, that couldrelate, that had that
(20:13):
hospitality background, that hadthose hours, that had that
drive the demand on them.
That's what I did and I foundthe project.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
And how did that help you?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Oh my gosh, it changed my perspective.
It helped so much.
Eventually I went for cognitivebehavior therapy because I
wanted to understand what myicks were, because it wasn't
someone else's issue that wasgoing on, it was mine and I need
to understand how my stuff washappening.
And then the project helped mebecause then they made me
(20:46):
realize it was okay.
It's okay.
This isn't going to be forever.
You should be proud of yourselfbecause you built a team that
allowed them to say hey, I thinkyou're in trouble.
We still believe in you.
We know you can do more, but weneed you to get help.
(21:07):
They didn't say it in thosewords, but it showed in support
when they pulled me asidebecause it was challenging for
them to say something to me.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, it's part of the adage.
They say this too shall pass,and it's the truth.
The way that that happensfaster is when we recognize we
hold the key.
It is us.
It is the individual.
We've all worked with peoplewho are difficult, and whether
(21:36):
that's we're the difficult partyor it's someone else, we've all
worked with somebody who'sdifficult, and whether that's
we're the difficult party orit's someone else, we've all
worked with somebody who'sdifficult.
In many cases we don't realizewe own our feelings, we own our
own health and we own thedirection that we want to go in
and we get dragged down by otherpeople.
(21:57):
But it doesn't have to be thatway.
What I try to tell my childrentoday is and I don't hear about
it anymore is the whole sticksand stones Like what are you
worried about?
Who cares what people thinkabout you?
Who cares what they say?
It means nothing.
If you're focused and you'redialed in on on a goal or a path
, matters not at all what otherpeople have to say about it.
(22:19):
You just kind of pick yourselfup and go.
But the thing is, if you have ateam around you that can kind
of give you insight or guidanceand say you know, like if it's,
if it were me and and you know,John came up and said you're the
problem right now, then I wouldhave to stop assess, see if
it's.
You know John came up and saidyou're the problem right now,
then I would have to stop assess, see if it's.
(22:40):
You know well, is it really me?
And if I'm honest with myself,I would have to make a change.
I don't know that a lot ofpeople are doing that.
You know, jamie, if you have a,if you're able, if you had that
support and you got thatsupport and and burnt chef
(23:10):
project was there to help you,kind of give you a path and walk
you through.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
That's amazing, it or not, like tools that the burnt
chef has and understanding that,like you might not always get
the problem, but you can teachor create an environment for
your staff, for anybody who'sinvolved, to kind of look out
for certain little things.
You know, a psychologicallysafe environment is huge.
(23:33):
That means I can come up tosomebody out of respect and say,
hey, listen, I've noticedyou're not doing so hot over the
last couple of weeks.
What's going on?
And it could be something justas simple as hey, I haven't
found daycare for my kids.
I'm always running late.
You know it could be somethingmore and they might not even
(23:54):
realize they're doing it.
So it's just being able tocreate this environment that we
need.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Do you feel like the industry is getting better?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I know everyone complains about the younger
generation and like theirworkload and stuff like that,
but they're actually the onesthat are going hey, this doesn't
feel right.
How do we work around this?
How do we make this happen?
How do I look out for theperson next to me?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I completely agree with that.
The ones that are on the comeup now are the ones that are
really making it aware.
The struggle in the industry isthat it's being brought up and
made aware, but the youngergeneration isn't the ones at the
tops of these corporationsmaking the decisions, so I don't
think it's being heard as muchas it needs to be.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I feel like there's a middle ground.
It's being heard as much as itneeds to be.
I feel like there's a middleground.
Over the last few years,there's been a lot of talk,
social media conversation aboutthis generation versus that
generation and boomer this andGen Z that and all this.
What I think is really sillyEvery generation has to deal
(24:56):
with things that are the sameand are just as part of humanity
and a society, but each one isunique because all the different
technologies and knowledgesthat come to fruition over time
and perspectives are what change.
(25:17):
The sun comes up, the sun goesdown.
In the end, our perspective ofthings change.
So we're in this space, in thisperiod of time where you know
Generation X, we're gettingolder, you know we're in our 50s
and 60s and stuff.
You know we're coming to apoint where we're running things
(25:38):
in a way, but our parents arestill in charge of stuff,
corporations, wise and things.
It's just a weird dynamic.
And in the end, you have some ofthe younger ones who I would
have a couple of years ago, said, yeah, they're kind of weak to
me, but maybe not now, I don'tknow.
(26:01):
I feel like my viewpoint ischanging a little bit because
some of the ones who I thinkwere loud a few years ago.
The two, three, four or fiveyears of life experience has
shown them you shouldn'tnecessarily expect things and
you do have to put a little bitof elbow grease in it to get it
(26:23):
to be yours.
But I think they are looking atit in a way where it's the
right way, like, hey, treat mebetter.
There's nothing wrong withbeing treated better.
Why wouldn't we want to gettreated better at work or you
know, just in general.
So I feel like I'm coming to adifferent place in my opinion of
some of the younger crowd.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
It's cool when you see it all mixed together,
because I know the generationbefore me was probably crabbing
and complaining about stuff thatwe were doing, so I think
there's always something.
But when you put that alltogether, the perspective that
you can pull from that isincredible.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Well, we thought it was normal, but it's not In
retrospect.
When you have commercials on TVand I remember these you know,
hey, it's 10 o'clock at night.
Do you know where your childrenare?
I remember the commercial.
It's like why do we have toremind our parents, why do they
need a reminder to find out orthink about where their children
(27:17):
are at 10 pm?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Because you kicked them out of the house earlier in
the day.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
My point?
Yeah, exactly.
So you know everything isdifferent and everything has
changed.
That particular thing about,like, hey, it's 10 o'clock, you
know your children are that wasso normal to me growing up.
And now I'm thinking about, wow, I have these kids, I want to
know where they are every minute, like you know, I don't go as
(27:43):
far, you know I won't do thetracker thing, but it's out
there, people do it and maybe Iwill do the tracker.
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Oh, that's too much.
Too much Sometimes they do.
I mean they need to exploretheir own spaces as well.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
As long as they're not hurting each other, they're
fine.
That's just my view, thoughit's too late for that.
Thomas, you're in charge of agood amount of people at the
hotel.
Yeah, various ages.
You got your older folks andthen you got your youngins.
How are you seeing the twocollide?
How are they mixing togetherand working together?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
they, uh, they, uh, they don't mix well.
You laugh, but it's the truth.
Um, it is the truth, it reallydoesn't, and there's just two
completely different mindsets.
You know we're talking on thetopic of the younger generation
is voicing their opinions moreand trying to make themselves
(28:38):
heard and trying to have a nicer, safer, more friendly work
environment.
But the older generation comesfrom a style of restaurant, a
style of kitchen that thosewords didn't exist.
You know, even myself, like I'm37, but my mentor, like I, had
(28:59):
empty five gallon buckets kickedat me.
I had empty, I had saute pansthrown at me like I was screamed
at over and over and over againuntil I got it right.
You can't even think of doingthat this day and age.
And that's where that oldergeneration that are that are
still working in restaurantscomes from.
So they, like you alluded toearlier, they look at it as, oh,
(29:24):
this soft new generation ofworkers is like they're going to
ruin this for us.
They're not going to work hard,they're going to be worthless
to us.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
When you're running things and you're looking down
at the playing field and and whoyour players are.
You have to connect the dots.
You need to separate the peoplebecause look, here's the thing
the older folks that have someof that viewpoint or issue with
it.
They serve a purpose and thereality is they probably won't
(29:58):
be the ones calling out of ashift you have to have them
Facts.
Yeah, you have to have themthere when some of the younger
you know well, for, whatever thereason is, they're going to
actually pull the trigger andcall out.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Look, I've done hotels for the last decade and
let me tell you nobody wants tosee their alarm go off at 445 in
the morning because they're theopening cook and they have to
be there at 530 or six.
To find somebody thatconsistently shows up all year
long at 536 o'clock in themorning is very, very hard to
(30:33):
come by.
And when you do find the personthat is reliable that does it
yeah, 90% of the time it issomebody from the older
(30:57):
generation.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
And the younger ones coming up.
They look at the older folksand they do it with like mockery
.
There's some I can.
I can look at the humor in thatbecause I do recall myself.
I remember me.
I was cause I was 15 when Istarted in the.
You know I was a bus boy andyou know you would see, like the
(31:18):
lifers, the, what I would calla lifer like these.
You know 40, 50, 60 year old.
You know adults who are stillon the line, who were still like
doing dishes.
Yeah, and I would.
Just I would look at him and go, what the hell are you doing?
And I wouldn't say that to them, but in my mind I'm like, what
the hell are you doing?
Yeah.
Why are you here at this age?
(31:38):
What is your?
But now I understand and youhave responsibilities and life
and you need to whatever you can, wherever you can make your
money to pay your electric bill,that's where you gotta go yeah,
you, you know what's funny,something that I just started
noticing.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
So I I have a good mix of a younger and older staff
in my current restaurant andsomething you know, as we were
coming into 2025, you know youalways budget for any pto time
that's paid time off that'sgoing to carry, carry over when
you're budgeting for thefollowing year.
The older generation when itcomes to paid time off, you know
(32:17):
your, your benefit that yourjob gives you allowing you to
take vacation time or whateverit may be.
They have a hundred 120 hoursthat they get to carry over into
the following year because theyjust don't use it, because they
are those lifers, they don't.
They don't look at it as I needto take time off.
But the younger generation theydon't carry any of it over.
(32:37):
They use every minute of timeoff that they get.
They go on vacation all thetime, take weekends off,
extended weekends, and it'sreally funny to me.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I look at myself.
I haven't taken a vacation.
Let me put it this way I'vetaken one vacation in probably
10 years and I only did that toappease my wife.
I owe her a ton.
I really do.
I owe her a ton.
And you know, when I'm wrong,I'm wrong.
(33:12):
I just don't want to.
I don't.
I just enjoy working, I enjoydoing the things that I do.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
I don't want to go on a vacation.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I think honestly, me, I think vacations are silly in
a way.
Not taking time off, there's adifference.
If you want to travel, travel.
If you want to go somewhere, gosomewhere.
But to to to think like, oh, ifI don't take, you know, my
vacation this year, that I'mwell year, that well, I'm trying
to build something.
When I want to build something,all my energy goes into it.
(33:43):
I see nothing else.
It's a good and a bad equal.
It's equal parts good, equalparts bad, because at some point
something here is going toclick and things are going to
really be great and thenvacation will be different.
It won't be vacation, it be.
This is the kind of life we'rejust living.
We're living a life is good.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Until then.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
I don't want to take a vacation.
I understand that people wantthem.
God bless, I'm a new father.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I have been off work for the last three weeks
supporting my wife and the newbaby at home.
I couldn't tell you the lasttime I took a week off of work.
And let me tell you, you arededicated, like when you truly
love what you do, you throwyourself into it and you're
dedicated to it.
And I was terrified not to havea baby to be out of my kitchen
(34:36):
for three weeks.
And you know, I stopped theretoday to grab some ingredients,
grab my chef knives, to to comehere and cook for you guys today
.
And just that feeling of ofwalking through the lobby and
like that sheer terror that wentthrough me as I opened the door
(34:57):
to the kitchen and like what amI, I going to see?
Because, like I've, I'vetreated every kitchen like it's
my own, like it's my ownpersonal restaurant, like that's
how much I care about what I do.
And like you're just my eyeswere peeled everywhere.
Ceiling floor, tiles did have.
Did they deck scrub the floorlately?
(35:18):
Like, let me look at the grouthave did they deck scrub the
floor lately?
Like let me look at the groutLike it's?
You're looking at everythingand you know I they definitely
are not holding my standards.
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
They never, nobody ever does.
And you know what.
You can't blame them.
You can only.
The only time I would, I wouldattach a blame to a staff is if
it's your, your number two.
If it's your number two, it'sif it's like the person who, who
you're mentoring, let's sayyou're giving them the extra
information, the extra timebecause they want it.
(35:52):
If that person doesn't hold itto the right standard, there's a
problem.
I look at everyone else likelike a red shirt or on Star Trek
.
You know it's a problem.
I look at everyone else like ared-shirted on Star Trek.
They're expendable, meaningthey're probably going to get
killed on an episode.
It's just what it is.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
But that's the industry.
A cook leaves a job for $0.25more an hour, and that's all it
takes is $0.25 more an hour.
Oh, the restaurant's.
All it takes is 25 cents morean hour.
Oh, the restaurant across thestreet is going to pay me 25
cents more.
I'm gone.
Here's my two weeks, if youeven get a two weeks.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Yeah, I remember I used to work in hotels and I
loved it.
I loved it and I think theydeserve a little bit more credit
, honestly, but like there'sjust so many different facets,
you can but the benefits thatcame along with it, like the
health insurance, time off, allof that which a smaller
restaurant won't do a lot moreexpensive for them to do, they
(36:48):
don't do it because it is more asmall restaurant, it is a much
bigger cost.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
But from a hotel perspective that they do they
they have the best benefits.
You know for a chef, it's thebest benefits.
Know for a chef, it's the bestbenefits.
It's the highest pay, it's themost yeah, it's the the most
personal benefit, that that youcan get working in a hotel.
However, what I've found is thethe reward of that I get from
(37:15):
being a chef.
It's the least rewarding.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Growing up, I would never want to work for a large
corporate because they want toomuch from you.
There isn't any bond.
The smaller, or I should saythe independent places you would
typically have some sort of arelationship that you're
fostering.
You know the ownership or thepeople in charge.
(37:38):
You know they know that well, Igot to keep staff and I can't
compete with benefits and allthis other stuff.
So they allow you some moreflexibility, maybe on schedule.
They allow you the opportunityto maybe work more, earn a
little bit more money, whatever.
And so, growing up, when I wasin that restaurant phase of my
life restaurant phase of my lifeI wanted only the smaller
(37:59):
places.
I did.
Well, as I'm older now you knowI mean, granted, I, you know I
do work for a.
I have my own company with WalkTalk Media.
That coincides with theposition Director of Sales and
Marketing at Peninsula FoodService and they both work very
well together.
(38:19):
Well, they're an independentplace but they've been around
for 30 years so it's very stable.
But as I'm older, I want thestability.
The money is going to be there.
If you put the effort, you'regoing to earn.
So, with that said, I don'tknow, I think I want the
security.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I should say it different though I want the
security.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
You know, I don't know, I think I, I, I want the
security.
Yeah, I should say it different, though I want the security,
you know, I think that's a thing.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
You hit the nail on the head because that's exactly
it.
That's why I've as I say it'sthe least rewarding in my entire
career working in a hotel.
I've done it for the stability,for the benefits for my family
and and had to put that personalgoals, personal success, aside.
(39:06):
For that reason.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I know that you want a star.
I know that's in your bag.
You want that.
I'm hungry for it.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Jose Andres is right here in the Waldorf Historia.
He has Bazaar.
He also has it in Las Vegas, Ifyou look at, and he's a rated
chef.
Some of them are starting to dolittle pop-ups, but you have a
platform to perform and I thinkyou can get it if you want it
and you can curate your team todo it.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
No, you can, and I take pride in mentoring my team.
I actually disagree with you onthat.
I it's it's much harder in ahotel environment.
Um Jose.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Andres.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Jose Andres.
He carries a name that thatname means something.
So when when he puts arestaurant and partners with a
hotel, it's a little differentthan just a normal hotel
restaurant.
And you know hotel restaurantshave gotten a bad rap for a long
time.
You know, I ask people all thetime when's the last time you
thought of going to a hotel fordinner?
(40:12):
You don't, most people, justthey don't think.
It doesn't even cross theirmind in that hotel there's, you
know, a hundred employees.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
The hundred employees need to be in line and on in
lockstep with trying to get astar like I don't know that it's
even possible.
Is that even possible?
I don't think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
A normal hotel it's I it's said all the time it's
about heads in beds, it's notabout the food that you're
putting out.
The restaurants and bars arelooked at as just an amenity
that that comes along with withthe bed that you're sleeping in
that night, unless it's a small,unless it's a small boutique
style hotel that thataccentuates their food and
(40:53):
beverage program, that theyreally want to portray that to
the community.
Then then yeah, there's portraythat to the community.
Then then yeah, there's,there's a chance but those types
of hotels are few and far tocome by.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
What say you, Jamie?
Speaker 1 (41:08):
You build it, they come.
That is the absolute trueststatement ever and it's and it
is.
It's.
So if you put it out there andI can, I can look at walk and
talk media.
There was once there was nowalk and talk media and now
there is, and with it we end upgetting.
We end up getting some Michelinchefs, some beard chefs, we get
(41:29):
a bunch of food network winnersthat come through the, that
come through the show and and we, it opens doors.
You know, it's funny.
You build it, they will come.
If you produce it, they'llwatch it.
If you produce it, they'lllisten to it If it's good be
(42:03):
enough If you show up every day.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
take the, take the you know your competitor out of
the way and focus on just doingit right and building it right.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
And a lot of times it's just a person, it's
yourself you got to remove.
You got to, you got to getyourself out of your own face.
Take, you're going to get hit,you're going to get punched in
the face.
Like it's going to happen.
Life is going to punch you inthe face and if you have a
career or a desire or you have apath you want to go down,
(42:32):
chances are you will get kickedin the belly on your path.
And if you understand that andyou take the hits and you keep
going forward, you can win.
You can win it, whatever thehell it is that you want to win
at.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, and this is where the burnt chef project
comes in.
That's what the game changer,changing the mentality of like
how we do it.
And yes, I know there'schallenges and there's red tape
and all these things, but I Idon't know.
I feel that if you wantsomething, bad enough, it might
not.
It might be a bumpy road.
(43:02):
You could take turns and youknow things, down paths that you
never thought that you could,but you could get there.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
What's your favorite thing about Burn Chef Project?
Speaker 3 (43:12):
That camaraderie of the that you can do it.
You can get there.
The support that you have ofjust going yes, it can, and we
all know that it's gritty, itcan be gnarly, you're going to
face challenges, but if you havesupport that says, okay, you
(43:34):
can't do that right now, but youcan do this.
And I think it's just havingthat recognition and being
completely honest and allowingyour team to be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Jimmy, I think you're a hundred percent correct on
that.
How do we find Burn ChefProject?
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Well, you're on social at the Burn Chef Project
on Instagram.
We have our own webpage.
You can just put that in andfind us.
We also have a YouTube channelas well.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
I think it's compelling.
Everyone should check it out.
They're great.
Support them, Thomas.
How are we finding you At ChefThomas Parker on Instagram?
I'm going to have some reallygreat video of today.
I'll probably have that in aday or so.
I might have it tonight, man.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
I took some uh, some cool candid behind the scenes
photos of you guys doing yourwork too, Did you really?
I'm going to throw up there too.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
Oh, hell yeah, hell, yeah, make it happen.
All right, listen, guys.
I appreciate you.
Jamie, thank you for being onthe show.
Thomas, thanks for coming in.
John man, I got a man crush onyou in the most straightest way
possible.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Alright, we are Out.
We'll see you next time.
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