March 7, 2025 • 40 mins
The inaugural US Culinary Open at NAFEM in Atlanta brought together world-class chef talent, premium ingredients, and a media team determined to document every moment of culinary excellence.
Have you ever wondered what happens when top culinary professionals compete on a world-class stage? Our team spent five intense days (working upwards of 18 hours daily) capturing the tornado of nonstop action that defined this prestigious competition. What made this event truly exceptional wasn't just the beautiful dishes—it was the caliber of competing chefs who earned their spots through credentials and credibility rather than simply paying entry fees. Thank goodness for Royal Cup Coffee for keeping up energized! Along with SupraCut System and Citrus America for being wonderful booth partners!
The competition featured a unique chef-commis partnership format, pairing established chefs with apprentices in a meaningful mentorship structure. Behind the scenes, kitchen design by James Camacho earned universal praise from competitors, while premium ingredients like Verlasso Salmon from Patagonia gave chefs the finest materials to showcase their talents. Even culinary icon Thomas Keller made an appearance, donating knives to the competition winner.
From a media perspective, our team balanced multiple responsibilities—conducting interviews, photographing dishes, capturing video footage, and building relationships with industry professionals. The human element proved most powerful, as chefs shared emotional stories about their culinary journeys. These authentic moments, captured through our documentation, added profound emotional depth to our coverage, reminding us that beyond the technical ex
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The following brands and companies help us continue supporting the food industry - have a look below!
Thank you for listening to the Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and Company. Our show not only explores the exciting and chaotic world of the restaurant business and amazing eateries but also advocates for mental health awareness in the food industry.
Our podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we'll continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important topics, including mental health awareness.
Be sure to visit our website for more food industry-related content, including our very own TV show called Restaurant Recipes where we feature Chefs cooking up their dishes and also The Dirty Dash Cocktail Hour; the focus is mixology and amazing drinks!
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll catch you next time on the Walk-In Talk Podcast.
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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 fiadini.
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.
Here's a humble request to giveus a follow on instagram at
(00:29):
walk and talk show, please, andthank you.
Today I'm joined with john,pooch and glenn and we'll be
sharing our highlights andbehind the scenes stories from
this inaugural culinarycompetition that is the us
culinary open team.
Walk and talk media spent fiveintense days in Atlanta, working
upwards of 18 hours a day, plusworking at the Airbnb.
(00:49):
It wasn't always easy.
Things got heated at times, butour shared goals and
professionalism helped usdeliver amazing content.
Ultimately, we counted on oneanother to get things done.
We captured every detail, fromengaging interviews to stunning
food photography and highquality video footage.
This was a tornado of nonstopaction and work.
(01:10):
Let me tell you that I feel itwas all worth it.
That's my opinion.
These guys might differ, but Idoubt it, my goodness.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, welcome to the show.
Poochie boy, glenn, thank youfor having us again dude.
Hello, carl, and so we meetagain.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Glenn and I flew right into New Orleans, into
Mardi Gras.
I'll tell you what it was a bigserotonin release out there at
NAPA in Atlanta and then comingback to New Orleans and having
to do it all over again with ourfamily and whatnot.
So it was definitely arduousbut amazing and we feel
triumphant At least I do.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
So we went from one environment of business and work
, of intensity, to a little bitof work but a lot of fun, but
intensity nonetheless.
A little recovery right now.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I've been seeing the pictures, Pooch, of your Mardi
Gras experience and it lookslike a great time and I wish I
could be there, and I know youjust invited us for Sunday, but
it's like impossible.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, our Mardi Gras got delayed, actual Mardi Gras
day.
Some of the parades gotcanceled and whatnot, due to
high winds and high winds in NewOrleans are very triggering I'm
sure the same with you guys,being that we all get pounded
with hurricanes.
They are delaying some paradesinto St Patrick's Day time and
some are going to be this Sunday, but what you guys really
should do one day is come ridein a mega parade like Bacchus or
(02:37):
Orpheus and really experiencethe fun.
There's just no other feelingthan riding in a parade.
I mean, it's something that'sextremely unique and culturally
New Orleanian.
We definitely invite you Onbehalf of Glenn and I and New
Orleans Company.
We invite you.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I do need to insert one thing as a New Orleanian,
for many, many years I havenever ridden on a float.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
We are a parade Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I've always experienced it from the ground.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Sounds to me like we're going to have to take you
up on this offer and makesomething happen.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I think y'all would enjoy it.
I really would enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Pooch.
We just came from this USCulinary Open From a chef's
perspective how do you think thecompetitors did?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I was really impressed with the comies the
whole time.
Normally a chef would choose asous chef, but a comie in the
brigade system is someone who'san apprentice, who hasn't yet
kind of made it to someone onthe brigade.
In this case, a lot of thesepeople work with these kids, but
it was just that that, to me,was so, so spiritual in a sense,
that you allow the top of theline person with someone who was
an assistant to come in on thiscompetition and you know, kudos
(03:39):
to Polly and Nick for evenchoosing that and making a lot
different than any of the othercompetitions that we follow or
we were part of.
From a chef's perspective, Ithought it was great.
I thought the dishes wereoutstanding, I mean beautifully
done.
You can tell that everyone wasqualified to be in the
competition and that's whatreally meant the most to me was
that a lot of people weren'tjust spinning their wheels.
They weren't there because theypaid a fee or they did
(04:01):
something to be a part of it.
They actually were invited, ontheir credentials and their
credibility as a chef, to be apart of the event, and that
meant the most to me.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Glenn, you were kind of the de facto producer.
We were all doing differentroles.
John was just deep into all ofthese dishes.
I don't even know how manydishes he shot, but there were
just tons of dishes.
Pooch is out there doing theinterviews, jordan you know,
killing it with the videocameras.
(04:32):
You were kind of puppet,mastering a lot of what was
going on there, and I think youdid a terrific job With that
said, what sort of challengeswere you facing?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well, the challenges are in any environment like that
a lot of exhibitors there, it'sa huge show.
You have the culinary open kindof back in the stage area.
One you have to kind of have aplan and be organized and then,
working with you guys, everybodyhas their talents and their
role and it's just sitting backand kind of identifying that
(05:03):
early on and trying to knowwhere something might be falling
behind.
To no fault of anyone, it'sjust we were busy and I wasn't
expecting that as busy as wewere, it took me a second to
kind of calibrate and go okay,who needs help, who needs
direction?
(05:23):
It was intense from the get upand I think a lot of that had to
do with just walk and talk.
It's history, it's popularity.
The setup itself was reallycool All of the lights, and so
it was kind of a wow factor fora lot of people.
I don't know about you guys, butI thought we got hits with
(05:44):
spectators wanting to come bythe booth, wanting to talk,
wanting to know what we were upto.
And you're balancing the workthat we have to do with talking
to people, and that's kind ofthe point, you know and
continuing the relationships orbuilding new relationships, and
so there's really two things atonce going on.
We couldn't just focus on one.
(06:04):
It was balancing both the NAPMshow itself and then our
production for the culinary open.
So you know, from Jordan'sperspective, he and I have been
working together for eight yearsnow, knowing how he operates
and making sure that he had whathe needed, because he was being
pulled in a bunch of differentdirections.
I was really focused on Jordanearly on, knowing that he needed
(06:29):
certain things to keep moving,to be organized.
At the end of the day, he's theone who's storytelling this.
I just needed to figure outthat and then start lending my
skill set into organizing it forJordan and then for the
interviews with Pooch, makingsure he had the questions.
You know, it's just, it's justsitting back and understanding
(06:51):
where we are.
As the show went on, thatbecame more and more difficult
because I know we wanted to getout, go see exhibitors, meet
sponsors, go say hello to thesponsors, do some work with them
, and we were just so busy withthe culinary open that it was
very difficult to do that, butwe pulled it together.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
You, john Jordan and Pooj killed it.
I've never been so comfortableat a show ever.
We were all swamped the factthat things were being done,
everything was being executedproperly.
What it allowed me to do was togo and talk to potential
partners and sponsors, get out,see Metro, see RAC, put some
(07:33):
things together and line someother stuff up.
But typically speaking, youknow I'm a nervous wreck If I
have to leave the booth.
I'm very nervous On this shownot at all.
Sincerely, I want to thankeverybody who was part of it on
our side because it was amazing.
Obviously, nick and Polly, intheir execution of the show was
(07:55):
almost flawless.
I mean there were some hiccups,but you wouldn't know it unless
you were behind the scenes withit.
Really, everybody did aterrific job.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I want to commend Jordan because, at the end of
the day, when you think aboutchefs and culinary competitions
and all these different things,and if you take all the
ingredients that make a, say,gumbo, jordan is the one who had
to take all those ingredientsand make something out of it
After working 12 hours, 14 hours.
Then we'd stay up another fourhours and argue about cuts and
music and sounds and this andthat and quotes and all these
(08:26):
different things, and Jordan wasa trooper and just basically
lots of caffeine from Royal Cup.
So thank you, royal Cup.
I woke up with the confidencein the morning seeing the
finished product that he put outon Instagram and on social
media saying, wow, this is whywe do it, and it was so
inspiring to see the culminationof our day before half the
stuff that I didn't evenremember we did, because the day
(08:48):
just keeps going and flowingand flowing.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Jordan, finally, we love you, babe Pooch what do you
think trade shows bring to theculinary scene?
I know trade shows for you arerelatively new.
It's not something you werepartaking in in your previous
life.
But how are they helping chefsgrow and get noticed?
Well, I can you know.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I haven't.
I still don't know as of yet,because we've been to a bunch of
competitions that were kind ofpoised as trade shows.
Now we're at trade shows thathave a competition.
I think it was great to see allof these world-class chefs from
all over the world be noticedby these actual big, huge
companies.
You know, trade shows for achef are usually you're hired by
(09:28):
a brand to utilize theirequipment to cook something and
show how that equipment worksand all the bells and whistles
and whatnot.
It's a growing experience forme as a chef.
It's ever evolving and I thinkthat's one of the reasons why we
really attracted a lot of thesebig brands is because they knew
we had chefs, you know, in ourconglomerate.
But at the same time it's amedia outlet and it's a way for
(09:51):
them to express themselves toother chefs and express their
brand to other chefs.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I thought NAFM was spectacular.
I was at the last NAFM inOrlando two years ago and that's
actually where we met Nick andPolly.
As it goes forward you know weare the official podcast for the
US Culinary Open and goingforward, man, I see some really,
really great things that we'reall going to do together.
(10:17):
I'm glad NAFM got to see how weall operate and execute and, of
course, nick and Polly, theyalready knew, but the reality is
we put out a finished productand it was and I, man, I'm
really excited and relieved howgreat of a job everybody did.
Glenn, there's tons ofmemorable moments For you.
Do you have anything specificwhere you would point to and say
(10:40):
this was really cool?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
You know you come into it, you have a job to do
and you're really focused onthat and you know, two things
really stand out One, and we'vebeen self-congratulatory of our
team and just being able to workwith all of you guys and the
talents from behind the scenes.
You know that was a lot of fun,that was very memorable.
(11:02):
That's something I won't forget.
That was a lot of fun, that wasvery memorable.
That's something I won't forget.
Everybody had their role inthis and we all put it together
and that was really a lot of funto be a part of Outside of our
team.
These big shows it's alwaysabout the people and that was
really one of the challenges too, because you're holding
conversations, you're preppingpeople for interviews and off to
(11:24):
the side, I might be talking tothem after the interview and
you want to hold thatconversation and these are great
people.
You've got a job to do.
There's another interview and,as we said, we all kind of
touched on how busy we were.
I really wanted to have moreconversation or length of
conversation with a lot of thesepeople, but you know quickly
you find out who are realprofessionals and dynamic in
(11:50):
their roles, whether that's CEOs, presidents of these companies
to a salesperson or someonethere, just for the show itself
to man the booth.
You kind of get lost in a showof that size and at the end of
the day, when you walk away,it's always about the people.
You and I went over to Middlebyand MasterChef Russell Scott
(12:13):
toured us.
That was a lot of fun.
He didn't have to do that withyou and me and it was really
cool, but it was him taking thetime talking to us when he's
there judging the competition.
You have Chris from Burnt ChefProject.
He's dynamic and you can tellhe cares.
He's probably the one I talk tothe most off camera and I was
(12:36):
really curious to know how theystarted, what they're doing, how
they're growing, hisdifficulties in growing.
That was a lot of fun.
That was a memorable moment.
Matter of fact, he and Ichatted on LinkedIn yesterday.
I'm hopeful that's a lastingrelationship that comes from
Crown Amanda Bad Birdie onInstagram Coming over, kind of
(12:57):
just talked about the lights andwhile we map and show with our
setup, I asked her.
That was the only reason shecame over, just because of all
the lights and so just to get tomeet her, her coming back over
John working with her on somestill photography, which came
(13:18):
out beautiful, john.
And then her introducing us toKyle, the owner, third
generation.
He's young and he's taken overthe company and you can see it
in the booth, you can see it intheir energy, dynamic company
going forward.
So I'm hopeful that that's arelationship that can continue.
(13:39):
So, just a lot of differentpeople.
And then, obviously, you knowseeing Metro and RAC Citrus
America.
You know your sponsors.
That was a lot of fun for meand very memorable.
And lastly, is the celebritythat Carl Fiatini is.
You know you had fans comingover and I always joke about
(14:04):
well, I hear your voice, that'sthe celebrity's voice, but these
guys knew you by face must beInstagram followers.
So Romel from DePaul Universityin Chicago, just very, very
nice guy you can tell.
Talk to him for a few minutes.
And then from Chicago all theway to Hong Kong.
You know, yeah, hong Kong, thatwas crazy man.
(14:24):
That was a lot of fun, she wasa blast.
You know that was crazy man,that was a lot of fun, she was a
blast.
She really dove into Putting onthe headset and talking on the
mic and taking pictures Holdingthe handheld.
So I'm not sure if you knew Ofthe extent of your celebrity.
But that was a lot of funHaving fun with that.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
And happy birthday, by the way, carl.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Well, thank you, it's all happening.
I'm flush right now.
All right, so no, there isn'tany celebrity or anything like
that.
It would be so ostentatious forme or anybody in our group to
be like, hey, celebrity, this orcelebrity that we are not at
that kind of level.
(15:04):
With that said, we are doingreally great things and our team
is strong and getting so muchstronger.
So, you know and that's atestament to the newcomers in
the Glens and the Pooches andthe old timers, you know, like
the Johns and some of the others, man, I tell you I couldn't be
more, I couldn't be happier withthe direction that we're going
(15:28):
in right now.
Everything has changed andeverything is so positive and
there's just this like reallygreat, overwhelming feeling of
positivity and that's what weneed.
We don't need the negative, weneed the positive.
So, with that said, I did havesome great conversations in the
(15:48):
last few days since we've beenback, gonna do some, some stuff
together and help bringawareness to a lot of uh, a lot
(16:09):
of challenges, and I and we'regonna bring the positivity and
we're gonna we're gonna do whatwe can do to help promote, to
promote the uh, the program,with everyone carrying high tech
cameras these days and I'mtalking about chefs in
particular, people in thekitchen, john, do you think that
the role of the professionalfood photographer has been
diminished?
Or do you think because there'sa sea of people with the same
(16:34):
phone in their pocket taking thesame picture, with the same
angle, with the same stinkylight and all lighting and all
of that, is this something whereyou, the food photographer, can
, you know, just shine aboveeverybody else?
That's a great question.
So the food photographer canjust shine above everybody else.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
That's a great question.
So the truth is is that thephones of today have certainly
closed that gap tremendously.
Phones just take really, reallygreat photos now, but at the
end of the day, lighting iseverything and if you don't know
how to light it, you're stillnot going to get great images
thing.
And if you don't know how tolight it, you know you're still
(17:09):
not going to get great image.
So I think that there's alwaysa role for you know a really
good food photographer, and thatdoesn't mean that you can't
still capture really great stuffat home with your phone.
But if you want to go nextlevel, I think that there's
always a role for somebody likeme.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Well said, Pooch, now that you're moving from kitchen
into the media world, what areyou most excited about when it
comes to hosting interviews orfilling in on the Walk Talk
podcast and all of the differentthings that you kind of do for
Walk Talk media?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think the best part about it is the human stories
and being able to relate toanother chef who.
Most of the time you have yourstaff, you have your upper
management or you know businesspartners or people who own the
restaurant or what have you, butyou still feel like you're
trapped in these four walls ofthe kitchen.
I love being able to see a chefexpress themselves to another
chef and that means the most tome.
(18:02):
I mean them telling theirstories, whether it be war
stories.
You know those were tears,there were laughter, there was a
lot of things going on in theseinterviews because people never
really were able to expressthemselves and I think it was
just a unique opportunity forthem to see their food being
photographed by a professionalfood photographer and John,
while I'm interviewing them, Ithink they were just overwhelmed
(18:23):
with satisfaction in the factthat a lot of that dedication
and and sacrifice pays off inthese moments and they're
finally being recognized andit's something they can go home
and show their family, theirspouse, their whoever it may be,
and say look, there's a reasonwhy I do this and this is why it
might not be the late nightsall the time.
It might not be being gettingpaid really horribly in this
(18:46):
industry.
It might not be any of allthese other things, but this is
why I do it and I love for us tobe able to be that vessel and I
think that was the mostimportant part for me with the
chef on this being at NAFM.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Glenn, this NAFM show was huge.
The US Culinary Open was prettydynamic.
What do you think are the keyelements to a show of this
magnitude?
Prep work.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
And you know we walked into the US Culinary Open
with at least for myself Idon't want to say I didn't know
exactly what was going to godown, but you know it took it
took a minute to figure it allout Stepping back, understanding
really working backwards, whatare the goals of what we're
(19:35):
trying to accomplish For videoand the final deliverables,
understanding what that is andthen working backwards and
Jordan and I do that a lot.
You know it's like you don'tstart at the beginning, you
really start at the end and thenyou, you understand what the
deliverables are and you knowmatch to hit your goals and then
create in a run of show.
(19:56):
And you know, if you'reorganized up front, as
everything starts to happen andwheels start to fall off because
we were busy, you still havesome body of work to keep you
organized and know what you know, keep you in line to where you
(20:16):
want to go, and so I think eachtime we do this, that
organization in advance is goingto get better and better in
advance is going to get betterand better.
And, with that being said, doinginterviews, honestly, you never
know what that person's goingto come to you with.
We tend to stick to a script ona number of questions and they
(20:41):
could be all over the place andyou just have to know what
answers you're going to use,what answers you're not going to
use.
I mean, you talk aboutpositivity.
Everything we do is aboutcreating, making everyone look
really good, and so during theinterview, making sure that I'm
(21:01):
engaged with Pooch who's doingthe interview, making sure that
we're prepared enough that wecan ask us the same question a
different way to get the answerwe want it's really about
preparation and knowing what thegoals are and then working back
.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I think you're 100% correct, glenn.
We've had people associatedwith walk and talk where we made
them stars and it would havenever happened otherwise.
And I'm not tooting a horn,it's just that you take somebody
with some talent and when youput them through this digital
(21:39):
content filter, you turn theminto a star.
And that's the power of audio.
Turn them into a star andthat's the power of audio video
and all the things that we doWith.
That said, I just want to makea mention of Kevin at Supercut,
(22:00):
because he's a new partner withWalk Talk.
He shared the booth with usalong with Citrus America.
Their units, their machines,were in our booth and they
brought into the booth layers.
We had fresh juice, we had allthe citrus and I just wanted to
thank them both both of thoseoperations for taking the time
to be a part of it with us.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Earlier talking about digital cameras and just how
prevalent and easy it is tocreate with John with pictures
or video with us from your cellphone.
In Citrus, america, jay,walking around, he's really good
, interviewing him is easy, he'sgot his soundbites, he knows
(22:40):
what he's doing when, he knowswhat he's selling, he knows his
product and that's a perfectexample of everyone getting more
and more comfortable with acamera in their face, because
that's just the way we live now.
That has helped us out a lot.
Now you bring a big camera insomebody's face and they kind of
freeze right.
You can see it.
(23:01):
There's a lot of times we'llpull out a cell phone just to
get some sound bites, becausethey're not intimidated by it.
You know, as soon as you bringout the big camera, they all of
a sudden get squirrely.
But but no people like like Jaywalking around doing that.
That's exceptional content thathe puts out there.
So I just wanted to make amention of that.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Well, the more that you actually work with people
who do shows, call it on acircuit.
You know this is what they doeight, 10, 12 times a year.
They know exactly what to focuson, what to say.
They're not camera shy andthey're accustomed to doing you
know their own iPhone video andwhatnot for their, for their
social media platforms.
Easy to work with those guys.
(23:41):
Jay is awesome, kevin isawesome.
Pooch Glenn earlier brought upcelebrity in our field.
What do you think makes acelebrity chef and who do you
think really falls under thatmoniker?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Well, to start that off, I think the word chef is
actually not appropriatedcorrectly.
A chef in the brigade systemmeans chief, it's the chef.
The chef means the French wordfor chief in the brigade system
that was created by Escoffier.
So you have to be a leader.
You have to know all thecoffier, so you have to be a leader.
You have to know all thestations in your kitchen and you
have to be a leader.
To be a chef, you have to havemade it through really shitty
(24:22):
services and you have to havemade it through really great
services and you have to buildyour people up in order to get
through the next day or the nexthour, the next, anything that
happens in the kitchen, and beable to work through anything
that goes haywire in a kitchen.
So I think the word chef ismisused a lot of times because
if you're a private chef oryou're a personal chef, you're
(24:42):
really at the end of it just tocook.
I guess the media world wantsto make everybody a chef because
that way they can make a lot ofmoney off of that.
Certain networks that havecapitalized on making people who
aren't chefs chefs in order tosell ads To me.
I really don't know what makessomeone a celebrity chef.
I think when you can't walkdown the street without people
knowing you and bombarding youwith questions and autographs, I
(25:02):
think that's the day you'retruly a celebrity.
I would never consider myself acelebrity chef, nor would I
consider anyone that was atNAFTA this weekend a celebrity
chef.
Everyone that we had the honorof interviewing on the red
carpet for the Super Bowl, atthe NFL tailgate those were all
true, legitimate celebrity chefs.
Calling yourself somethingdoesn't make it real, and other
(25:27):
people calling you that doesn'tmake it real as well.
You have to actually be acelebrity and people treat you
as if you are that.
That's just my opinion.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I'm open to anybody else's opinion we missed a true
celebrity chef at the show andthat would be the chef thomas
keller.
He he was at nafum.
He came in for specific therewow he was there and he was gone
.
It was almost like if youstared at it too long it it
would disappear, and that's whathappened.
We didn't get a chance to meetwith him or anything.
(25:57):
I found out about it after thefact.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
He's at the NRA every year and he is probably the
most personable chef out of anycelebrity chef and I think that
he's surpassed the celebritychef status to icon.
So for him to be such an iconicperson that everyone puts on
their wall and says, I want tobe this guy.
When we spoke to a lot of thecommis, their goal was to go
stage at either the FrenchLaundry or Per Se, his two
(26:24):
restaurants, his two majorMichelin star restaurants.
That was their goal.
So for him to be there.
I'm sure those commis didn'trealize he was there, they were
so busy.
To me he's an icon.
He's not a chef or a celebritychef, he's truly an icon, up
there with the true great.
It's amazing that somebody likehim is so humble enough to go
to these shows and shake hands,sign autographs, because he
(26:44):
could be anywhere in the worldright now counting money.
You know doing his thing, buthe truly believes in his craft
and he truly believes in thenext generation of his craft and
it's admirable, truly admirable.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Wow yeah.
Plus he donated knives to theevent and to the winner, so that
was pretty cool.
Could you imagine getting Wowyeah, can you imagine that as a
gift from Thomas Keller?
Can you really?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I've never been at a competition where everyone had
the caliber to compete.
A lot of these competitions youhave your all-star people who
are really really good, and thenyou have your other people that
would just build up theapplication and they needed
people to compete.
There truly was a vettingprocess and they got the best of
the best from all over theworld at this competition and it
(27:32):
shows in the photos that johntook.
It shows shows in and I hate tosay it this way, but it truly
showed in the disappointment ofall the chefs who didn't qualify
, because they all knew thatthey were grade A chef.
You know, the top three wasreally really tough and it kind
of stunned me to see some of thepeople being that.
I saw the dishes come out andall of the above, but you know,
(27:53):
I didn't.
I don't know how those dishestasted, I don't know all those
different variables that thejudges did and they had such
world-class judges, allcertified master chefs, all
great people known in theindustry.
I've never been part of acompetition or got to witness a
competition that was just puttogether so well and the caliber
of talent was just amazing,absolutely amazing, and I think
that helped us mesh well.
(28:13):
It's just amazing, absolutelyamazing, and I think that helped
us mesh well, you know, beingthat we're all talented people
in what we do.
Bringing it to like a culinaryworld or culinary observation,
all these ingredients cometogether are going to obviously
make a great dish, and that'sreally what happened at Natham.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
We've shot some really amazing dishes over the
years.
These dishes were and I don'twant to say it in a way where it
disparages anybody who we'vetaken photos of in the past.
But this competition, I guesswhen you're, when you're
practicing, when you go intothis to a competition like this
and you're practicing twice aweek to execute one dish in a
(28:52):
certain period of time and youknow that dish inside and out
they were beautiful, like reallybeautiful world-class dishes.
I don't know, for me, I wasincredibly humbled.
This was a very humbling event.
I feel like I can stand 10 feettall and pound my chest and
(29:14):
with a bullhorn and scream outlook at us.
But the reality is, look atthem.
These people are amazing.
These chefs were terrific.
Everybody involved, from thecompetition to the sponsors, the
partners in NAFM, in the USCulinary Open, everybody on our
team, like dude, everybodyreally came together and held
this competition up, held thesechefs up and it was a huge
(29:39):
success 100%.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
It made me also realize how well this was put
together and coordinated.
And then you know obviously wewere at Bocuse you can see the
caliber of chefs there from allover the world and how technical
that is, down to the correctcolor of shoe you're wearing, to
all kinds of differentvariables, but also to see how
well when you see something thisgelled from inside the actual
(30:03):
box, it makes me realize howwell mark turnway, eaton, mike
mcleod, all these people howwell they put their things
together.
And when you see all thevariables and how something's
supposed to run, we realize thateverybody out there that's
putting these competitionstogether are really putting
their first foot forward, theirbest foot forward and making it
happen for all different levelsof the culinary aspect.
(30:25):
I think it's a great thing andI just want to give those guys a
shout out because they doamazing work as well.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
The WFC cats, they'll be a thousand competitors.
You WFC cats, they have.
You know there'll be a thousandcompetitors, you know, you know
three person teams.
I mean the logistics Toorganize all that is just.
Yeah, the logistics must beoutrageous.
Well, it is outrageous.
You know, we we got to see alittle bit behind the scenes
there a couple of years ago inDallas when we went.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
But One thing I did want to bring up as we were
talking about the open and thechefs, carl, you had mentioned
just the beauty of their dishesand when we were interviewing
each of them, several of themtalked about the design of the
kitchen, the layout of thekitchen and how efficient it
efficient it was.
And you know, kudos to uhcamacho.
(31:11):
They, they obviously did awonderful job laying this out,
to give the chefs everythingthey needed, and it was just
about every chef talked aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
So shout out to James Camacho and his design firm to
lay this out properly and theingredients and the ingredients
Belasso salmon, which is reallythe top-notch salmon that you
get, farmed in Patagonia, downin South America, basically
close to Antarctica.
So you're going to get thefreshest, not adulterated salmon
that's out there.
You're getting the best.
(31:46):
So that ingredient right there.
They had all that USDA primebeef fillets, all the farms and
purveyors who came through withall the vegetables.
Everything was just top topnotch, absolutely top notch.
When you can get that manypeople together, I've never
really seen that before.
I've never seen everything gowithout a hitch, from the
(32:07):
suppliers to the sponsors, tothe actual competitors, to the
judges, to everything.
Everything was so, so, so wellput together.
And I tell you what it's.
Kudos to Polly and Nick, whothey did this.
You know they didn't have awild idea and said next year
let's do it.
It took them five years, fiveyears to put this together and
(32:28):
it shows, and this is somethingthat's going to last to the test
of time.
It's a brilliant, brilliantidea and I'm so happy that we
were able to be a part of it.
You know one more thing I justwant to say that it was the
coolest thing.
That really made me realizethat it was well worth what
we're doing.
You know the time that wededicate to the podcast and that
John puts in, you put in GlennJordan, all of us of us.
You know everything.
(32:49):
John and I were on our way to wegrabbed a cup of coffee from
Royal Cup thank you, royal Cupand we were on our way to go
visit Tina over at RAC and justkind of see how things were
going.
We were waiting on some thingsto happen.
We were there early and on ourway we ran into Mike Delane with
Air King, who we hadinterviewed the day before, and
he was so ecstatic about thefact that he got Bella, who was
(33:13):
their social media person, tocreate him a Instagram page, a
LinkedIn page, all of thesesocial media pages that apply,
and he was so excited to saylike, hey, man, I reposted
everything that you gaveYesterday.
We got all the behind thescenes of our interview and that
made me so excited.
That made my day, because thatwas the last day.
I was obviously exhausted, weall were exhausted, but just to
(33:35):
see, you know, a, a vicepresident of business
development, saying that I, orwe, motivated him in his
business development wasparamount, you know, and it
really made my day.
It really made me realize likethis really came together well
and it motivated me for the restof the day.
Shout out to Mike Delaney Greatdude, love you baby.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
You know what this is akin to.
When you're a creative, whetheryou're doing photography,
videography, whether you're achef, if you're creating
something, when you getacknowledgement of what you're
doing and that people areaccepting it and embracing it,
it's the best feeling in theworld.
(34:16):
Obviously, we all do the thingswe do to earn a living and
that's a whole nother story anda whole nother topic.
But when people from within theindustry that you're working,
your peers and whatnot, whenthey give you the thumbs up and
the attaboy and somebody comesto you like that, with that sort
of energy, it is fulfillingthis, what we do is so
(34:43):
fulfilling, it's so much work Isay it fairly often People do
not realize the amount of effortthat goes into creating real
quality content and what we dois special, and what you just
said, pooch, was special and Ididn't know that story.
So thank you for sharing that.
Glenn.
Lessons learned what do youfeel we should reflect on from
(35:03):
this experience?
How do we make it better forfuture projects Internally?
Speaker 3 (35:08):
just have a plan going into it.
We did and we refined it earlyon.
The biggest challenge was beingable to do our work but also go
out and meet, say hello.
We've talked about that.
It's about the people at theend of the day and knowing that
and finding the time throughorganization up front that we
(35:30):
create some time and some spaceto really hold those
conversations.
There was many people that Iwould have loved to have engaged
in conversation more Greatpeople doing great work.
We talk about the work thatwe're doing.
A lot of these people are intheir office, in their kitchen,
and I love the fact that we canshine a light on them.
(35:51):
You talk about being proud ofthe work we do.
It's storytelling.
Everybody's got a story andsometimes no one's telling it.
That's the beauty of what we do, so the more time we have with
people to be able to do that is,I think, it's going to make us
feel a lot better about the workwe're doing.
Like you just said, you knownot hearing the story that Pooch
(36:11):
talked about.
Those are the things that arespecial and those are the things
that make our work.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Worthwhile man.
I don't think you could havesaid it any better.
I'm so happy that Walk TalkMedia and Pius Media are doing
work.
Okay, glenn, you are an amazingdude.
Your team is amazing.
(36:39):
Everybody knows how I feelabout our team.
I tell you just real quicklyshout outs to uh, chris parker
and lisa from barfly kyleforeman from crown bad birdie.
She was working with uh, withthose cats over at crown nancy.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Hello, yep nancy riding dan.
Welch all great people we metat this show.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
There's so many.
I mean with those cats over atCrown, amanda Cologne, yep,
nancy Ryden, dan Welch, allgreat people we met at this show
.
There's so many.
I mean I didn't want to takethe whole ending here, the outro
for this.
But anyway, gentlemen,appreciate you all being on the
show.
There's more of this to come.
John, as always you're quietand we love you.
(37:15):
And guess what folks we are out.
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 fiadini.
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.
Here's a humble request to giveus a follow on instagram at
(00:29):
walk and talk show, please, andthank you.
Today I'm joined with john,pooch and glenn and we'll be
sharing our highlights andbehind the scenes stories from
this inaugural culinarycompetition that is the us
culinary open team.
Walk and talk media spent fiveintense days in Atlanta, working
upwards of 18 hours a day, plusworking at the Airbnb.
(00:49):
It wasn't always easy.
Things got heated at times, butour shared goals and
professionalism helped usdeliver amazing content.
Ultimately, we counted on oneanother to get things done.
We captured every detail, fromengaging interviews to stunning
food photography and highquality video footage.
This was a tornado of nonstopaction and work.
(01:10):
Let me tell you that I feel itwas all worth it.
That's my opinion.
These guys might differ, but Idoubt it, my goodness.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, welcome to the show.
Poochie boy, glenn, thank youfor having us again dude.
Hello, carl, and so we meetagain.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Glenn and I flew right into New Orleans, into
Mardi Gras.
I'll tell you what it was a bigserotonin release out there at
NAPA in Atlanta and then comingback to New Orleans and having
to do it all over again with ourfamily and whatnot.
So it was definitely arduousbut amazing and we feel
triumphant At least I do.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
So we went from one environment of business and work
, of intensity, to a little bitof work but a lot of fun, but
intensity nonetheless.
A little recovery right now.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I've been seeing the pictures, Pooch, of your Mardi
Gras experience and it lookslike a great time and I wish I
could be there, and I know youjust invited us for Sunday, but
it's like impossible.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, our Mardi Gras got delayed, actual Mardi Gras
day.
Some of the parades gotcanceled and whatnot, due to
high winds and high winds in NewOrleans are very triggering I'm
sure the same with you guys,being that we all get pounded
with hurricanes.
They are delaying some paradesinto St Patrick's Day time and
some are going to be this Sunday, but what you guys really
should do one day is come ridein a mega parade like Bacchus or
(02:37):
Orpheus and really experiencethe fun.
There's just no other feelingthan riding in a parade.
I mean, it's something that'sextremely unique and culturally
New Orleanian.
We definitely invite you Onbehalf of Glenn and I and New
Orleans Company.
We invite you.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I do need to insert one thing as a New Orleanian,
for many, many years I havenever ridden on a float.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
We are a parade Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I've always experienced it from the ground.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Sounds to me like we're going to have to take you
up on this offer and makesomething happen.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, I think y'all would enjoy it.
I really would enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Pooch.
We just came from this USCulinary Open From a chef's
perspective how do you think thecompetitors did?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I was really impressed with the comies the
whole time.
Normally a chef would choose asous chef, but a comie in the
brigade system is someone who'san apprentice, who hasn't yet
kind of made it to someone onthe brigade.
In this case, a lot of thesepeople work with these kids, but
it was just that that, to me,was so, so spiritual in a sense,
that you allow the top of theline person with someone who was
an assistant to come in on thiscompetition and you know, kudos
(03:39):
to Polly and Nick for evenchoosing that and making a lot
different than any of the othercompetitions that we follow or
we were part of.
From a chef's perspective, Ithought it was great.
I thought the dishes wereoutstanding, I mean beautifully
done.
You can tell that everyone wasqualified to be in the
competition and that's whatreally meant the most to me was
that a lot of people weren'tjust spinning their wheels.
They weren't there because theypaid a fee or they did
(04:01):
something to be a part of it.
They actually were invited, ontheir credentials and their
credibility as a chef, to be apart of the event, and that
meant the most to me.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Glenn, you were kind of the de facto producer.
We were all doing differentroles.
John was just deep into all ofthese dishes.
I don't even know how manydishes he shot, but there were
just tons of dishes.
Pooch is out there doing theinterviews, jordan you know,
killing it with the videocameras.
(04:32):
You were kind of puppet,mastering a lot of what was
going on there, and I think youdid a terrific job With that
said, what sort of challengeswere you facing?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Well, the challenges are in any environment like that
a lot of exhibitors there, it'sa huge show.
You have the culinary open kindof back in the stage area.
One you have to kind of have aplan and be organized and then,
working with you guys, everybodyhas their talents and their
role and it's just sitting backand kind of identifying that
(05:03):
early on and trying to knowwhere something might be falling
behind.
To no fault of anyone, it'sjust we were busy and I wasn't
expecting that as busy as wewere, it took me a second to
kind of calibrate and go okay,who needs help, who needs
direction?
(05:23):
It was intense from the get upand I think a lot of that had to
do with just walk and talk.
It's history, it's popularity.
The setup itself was reallycool All of the lights, and so
it was kind of a wow factor fora lot of people.
I don't know about you guys, butI thought we got hits with
(05:44):
spectators wanting to come bythe booth, wanting to talk,
wanting to know what we were upto.
And you're balancing the workthat we have to do with talking
to people, and that's kind ofthe point, you know and
continuing the relationships orbuilding new relationships, and
so there's really two things atonce going on.
We couldn't just focus on one.
(06:04):
It was balancing both the NAPMshow itself and then our
production for the culinary open.
So you know, from Jordan'sperspective, he and I have been
working together for eight yearsnow, knowing how he operates
and making sure that he had whathe needed, because he was being
pulled in a bunch of differentdirections.
I was really focused on Jordanearly on, knowing that he needed
(06:29):
certain things to keep moving,to be organized.
At the end of the day, he's theone who's storytelling this.
I just needed to figure outthat and then start lending my
skill set into organizing it forJordan and then for the
interviews with Pooch, makingsure he had the questions.
You know, it's just, it's justsitting back and understanding
(06:51):
where we are.
As the show went on, thatbecame more and more difficult
because I know we wanted to getout, go see exhibitors, meet
sponsors, go say hello to thesponsors, do some work with them
, and we were just so busy withthe culinary open that it was
very difficult to do that, butwe pulled it together.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
You, john Jordan and Pooj killed it.
I've never been so comfortableat a show ever.
We were all swamped the factthat things were being done,
everything was being executedproperly.
What it allowed me to do was togo and talk to potential
partners and sponsors, get out,see Metro, see RAC, put some
(07:33):
things together and line someother stuff up.
But typically speaking, youknow I'm a nervous wreck If I
have to leave the booth.
I'm very nervous On this shownot at all.
Sincerely, I want to thankeverybody who was part of it on
our side because it was amazing.
Obviously, nick and Polly, intheir execution of the show was
(07:55):
almost flawless.
I mean there were some hiccups,but you wouldn't know it unless
you were behind the scenes withit.
Really, everybody did aterrific job.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I want to commend Jordan because, at the end of
the day, when you think aboutchefs and culinary competitions
and all these different things,and if you take all the
ingredients that make a, say,gumbo, jordan is the one who had
to take all those ingredientsand make something out of it
After working 12 hours, 14 hours.
Then we'd stay up another fourhours and argue about cuts and
music and sounds and this andthat and quotes and all these
(08:26):
different things, and Jordan wasa trooper and just basically
lots of caffeine from Royal Cup.
So thank you, royal Cup.
I woke up with the confidencein the morning seeing the
finished product that he put outon Instagram and on social
media saying, wow, this is whywe do it, and it was so
inspiring to see the culminationof our day before half the
stuff that I didn't evenremember we did, because the day
(08:48):
just keeps going and flowingand flowing.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Jordan, finally, we love you, babe Pooch what do you
think trade shows bring to theculinary scene?
I know trade shows for you arerelatively new.
It's not something you werepartaking in in your previous
life.
But how are they helping chefsgrow and get noticed?
Well, I can you know.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I haven't.
I still don't know as of yet,because we've been to a bunch of
competitions that were kind ofpoised as trade shows.
Now we're at trade shows thathave a competition.
I think it was great to see allof these world-class chefs from
all over the world be noticedby these actual big, huge
companies.
You know, trade shows for achef are usually you're hired by
(09:28):
a brand to utilize theirequipment to cook something and
show how that equipment worksand all the bells and whistles
and whatnot.
It's a growing experience forme as a chef.
It's ever evolving and I thinkthat's one of the reasons why we
really attracted a lot of thesebig brands is because they knew
we had chefs, you know, in ourconglomerate.
But at the same time it's amedia outlet and it's a way for
(09:51):
them to express themselves toother chefs and express their
brand to other chefs.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I thought NAFM was spectacular.
I was at the last NAFM inOrlando two years ago and that's
actually where we met Nick andPolly.
As it goes forward you know weare the official podcast for the
US Culinary Open and goingforward, man, I see some really,
really great things that we'reall going to do together.
(10:17):
I'm glad NAFM got to see how weall operate and execute and, of
course, nick and Polly, theyalready knew, but the reality is
we put out a finished productand it was and I, man, I'm
really excited and relieved howgreat of a job everybody did.
Glenn, there's tons ofmemorable moments For you.
Do you have anything specificwhere you would point to and say
(10:40):
this was really cool?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
You know you come into it, you have a job to do
and you're really focused onthat and you know, two things
really stand out One, and we'vebeen self-congratulatory of our
team and just being able to workwith all of you guys and the
talents from behind the scenes.
You know that was a lot of fun,that was very memorable.
(11:02):
That's something I won't forget.
That was a lot of fun, that wasvery memorable.
That's something I won't forget.
Everybody had their role inthis and we all put it together
and that was really a lot of funto be a part of Outside of our
team.
These big shows it's alwaysabout the people and that was
really one of the challenges too, because you're holding
conversations, you're preppingpeople for interviews and off to
(11:24):
the side, I might be talking tothem after the interview and
you want to hold thatconversation and these are great
people.
You've got a job to do.
There's another interview and,as we said, we all kind of
touched on how busy we were.
I really wanted to have moreconversation or length of
conversation with a lot of thesepeople, but you know quickly
you find out who are realprofessionals and dynamic in
(11:50):
their roles, whether that's CEOs, presidents of these companies
to a salesperson or someonethere, just for the show itself
to man the booth.
You kind of get lost in a showof that size and at the end of
the day, when you walk away,it's always about the people.
You and I went over to Middlebyand MasterChef Russell Scott
(12:13):
toured us.
That was a lot of fun.
He didn't have to do that withyou and me and it was really
cool, but it was him taking thetime talking to us when he's
there judging the competition.
You have Chris from Burnt ChefProject.
He's dynamic and you can tellhe cares.
He's probably the one I talk tothe most off camera and I was
(12:36):
really curious to know how theystarted, what they're doing, how
they're growing, hisdifficulties in growing.
That was a lot of fun.
That was a memorable moment.
Matter of fact, he and Ichatted on LinkedIn yesterday.
I'm hopeful that's a lastingrelationship that comes from
Crown Amanda Bad Birdie onInstagram Coming over, kind of
(12:57):
just talked about the lights andwhile we map and show with our
setup, I asked her.
That was the only reason shecame over, just because of all
the lights and so just to get tomeet her, her coming back over
John working with her on somestill photography, which came
(13:18):
out beautiful, john.
And then her introducing us toKyle, the owner, third
generation.
He's young and he's taken overthe company and you can see it
in the booth, you can see it intheir energy, dynamic company
going forward.
So I'm hopeful that that's arelationship that can continue.
(13:39):
So, just a lot of differentpeople.
And then, obviously, you knowseeing Metro and RAC Citrus
America.
You know your sponsors.
That was a lot of fun for meand very memorable.
And lastly, is the celebritythat Carl Fiatini is.
You know you had fans comingover and I always joke about
(14:04):
well, I hear your voice, that'sthe celebrity's voice, but these
guys knew you by face must beInstagram followers.
So Romel from DePaul Universityin Chicago, just very, very
nice guy you can tell.
Talk to him for a few minutes.
And then from Chicago all theway to Hong Kong.
You know, yeah, hong Kong, thatwas crazy man.
(14:24):
That was a lot of fun, she wasa blast.
You know that was crazy man,that was a lot of fun, she was a
blast.
She really dove into Putting onthe headset and talking on the
mic and taking pictures Holdingthe handheld.
So I'm not sure if you knew Ofthe extent of your celebrity.
But that was a lot of funHaving fun with that.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
And happy birthday, by the way, carl.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Well, thank you, it's all happening.
I'm flush right now.
All right, so no, there isn'tany celebrity or anything like
that.
It would be so ostentatious forme or anybody in our group to
be like, hey, celebrity, this orcelebrity that we are not at
that kind of level.
(15:04):
With that said, we are doingreally great things and our team
is strong and getting so muchstronger.
So, you know and that's atestament to the newcomers in
the Glens and the Pooches andthe old timers, you know, like
the Johns and some of the others, man, I tell you I couldn't be
more, I couldn't be happier withthe direction that we're going
(15:28):
in right now.
Everything has changed andeverything is so positive and
there's just this like reallygreat, overwhelming feeling of
positivity and that's what weneed.
We don't need the negative, weneed the positive.
So, with that said, I did havesome great conversations in the
(15:48):
last few days since we've beenback, gonna do some, some stuff
together and help bringawareness to a lot of uh, a lot
(16:09):
of challenges, and I and we'regonna bring the positivity and
we're gonna we're gonna do whatwe can do to help promote, to
promote the uh, the program,with everyone carrying high tech
cameras these days and I'mtalking about chefs in
particular, people in thekitchen, john, do you think that
the role of the professionalfood photographer has been
diminished?
Or do you think because there'sa sea of people with the same
(16:34):
phone in their pocket taking thesame picture, with the same
angle, with the same stinkylight and all lighting and all
of that, is this something whereyou, the food photographer, can
, you know, just shine aboveeverybody else?
That's a great question.
So the food photographer canjust shine above everybody else.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
That's a great question.
So the truth is is that thephones of today have certainly
closed that gap tremendously.
Phones just take really, reallygreat photos now, but at the
end of the day, lighting iseverything and if you don't know
how to light it, you're stillnot going to get great images
thing.
And if you don't know how tolight it, you know you're still
(17:09):
not going to get great image.
So I think that there's alwaysa role for you know a really
good food photographer, and thatdoesn't mean that you can't
still capture really great stuffat home with your phone.
But if you want to go nextlevel, I think that there's
always a role for somebody likeme.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Well said, Pooch, now that you're moving from kitchen
into the media world, what areyou most excited about when it
comes to hosting interviews orfilling in on the Walk Talk
podcast and all of the differentthings that you kind of do for
Walk Talk media?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think the best part about it is the human stories
and being able to relate toanother chef who.
Most of the time you have yourstaff, you have your upper
management or you know businesspartners or people who own the
restaurant or what have you, butyou still feel like you're
trapped in these four walls ofthe kitchen.
I love being able to see a chefexpress themselves to another
chef and that means the most tome.
(18:02):
I mean them telling theirstories, whether it be war
stories.
You know those were tears,there were laughter, there was a
lot of things going on in theseinterviews because people never
really were able to expressthemselves and I think it was
just a unique opportunity forthem to see their food being
photographed by a professionalfood photographer and John,
while I'm interviewing them, Ithink they were just overwhelmed
(18:23):
with satisfaction in the factthat a lot of that dedication
and and sacrifice pays off inthese moments and they're
finally being recognized andit's something they can go home
and show their family, theirspouse, their whoever it may be,
and say look, there's a reasonwhy I do this and this is why it
might not be the late nightsall the time.
It might not be being gettingpaid really horribly in this
(18:46):
industry.
It might not be any of allthese other things, but this is
why I do it and I love for us tobe able to be that vessel and I
think that was the mostimportant part for me with the
chef on this being at NAFM.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Glenn, this NAFM show was huge.
The US Culinary Open was prettydynamic.
What do you think are the keyelements to a show of this
magnitude?
Prep work.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
And you know we walked into the US Culinary Open
with at least for myself Idon't want to say I didn't know
exactly what was going to godown, but you know it took it
took a minute to figure it allout Stepping back, understanding
really working backwards, whatare the goals of what we're
(19:35):
trying to accomplish For videoand the final deliverables,
understanding what that is andthen working backwards and
Jordan and I do that a lot.
You know it's like you don'tstart at the beginning, you
really start at the end and thenyou, you understand what the
deliverables are and you knowmatch to hit your goals and then
create in a run of show.
(19:56):
And you know, if you'reorganized up front, as
everything starts to happen andwheels start to fall off because
we were busy, you still havesome body of work to keep you
organized and know what you know, keep you in line to where you
(20:16):
want to go, and so I think eachtime we do this, that
organization in advance is goingto get better and better in
advance is going to get betterand better.
And, with that being said, doinginterviews, honestly, you never
know what that person's goingto come to you with.
We tend to stick to a script ona number of questions and they
(20:41):
could be all over the place andyou just have to know what
answers you're going to use,what answers you're not going to
use.
I mean, you talk aboutpositivity.
Everything we do is aboutcreating, making everyone look
really good, and so during theinterview, making sure that I'm
(21:01):
engaged with Pooch who's doingthe interview, making sure that
we're prepared enough that wecan ask us the same question a
different way to get the answerwe want it's really about
preparation and knowing what thegoals are and then working back
.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I think you're 100% correct, glenn.
We've had people associatedwith walk and talk where we made
them stars and it would havenever happened otherwise.
And I'm not tooting a horn,it's just that you take somebody
with some talent and when youput them through this digital
(21:39):
content filter, you turn theminto a star.
And that's the power of audio.
Turn them into a star andthat's the power of audio video
and all the things that we doWith.
That said, I just want to makea mention of Kevin at Supercut,
(22:00):
because he's a new partner withWalk Talk.
He shared the booth with usalong with Citrus America.
Their units, their machines,were in our booth and they
brought into the booth layers.
We had fresh juice, we had allthe citrus and I just wanted to
thank them both both of thoseoperations for taking the time
to be a part of it with us.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Earlier talking about digital cameras and just how
prevalent and easy it is tocreate with John with pictures
or video with us from your cellphone.
In Citrus, america, jay,walking around, he's really good
, interviewing him is easy, he'sgot his soundbites, he knows
(22:40):
what he's doing when, he knowswhat he's selling, he knows his
product and that's a perfectexample of everyone getting more
and more comfortable with acamera in their face, because
that's just the way we live now.
That has helped us out a lot.
Now you bring a big camera insomebody's face and they kind of
freeze right.
You can see it.
(23:01):
There's a lot of times we'llpull out a cell phone just to
get some sound bites, becausethey're not intimidated by it.
You know, as soon as you bringout the big camera, they all of
a sudden get squirrely.
But but no people like like Jaywalking around doing that.
That's exceptional content thathe puts out there.
So I just wanted to make amention of that.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Well, the more that you actually work with people
who do shows, call it on acircuit.
You know this is what they doeight, 10, 12 times a year.
They know exactly what to focuson, what to say.
They're not camera shy andthey're accustomed to doing you
know their own iPhone video andwhatnot for their, for their
social media platforms.
Easy to work with those guys.
(23:41):
Jay is awesome, kevin isawesome.
Pooch Glenn earlier brought upcelebrity in our field.
What do you think makes acelebrity chef and who do you
think really falls under thatmoniker?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Well, to start that off, I think the word chef is
actually not appropriatedcorrectly.
A chef in the brigade systemmeans chief, it's the chef.
The chef means the French wordfor chief in the brigade system
that was created by Escoffier.
So you have to be a leader.
You have to know all thecoffier, so you have to be a leader.
You have to know all thestations in your kitchen and you
have to be a leader.
To be a chef, you have to havemade it through really shitty
(24:22):
services and you have to havemade it through really great
services and you have to buildyour people up in order to get
through the next day or the nexthour, the next, anything that
happens in the kitchen, and beable to work through anything
that goes haywire in a kitchen.
So I think the word chef ismisused a lot of times because
if you're a private chef oryou're a personal chef, you're
(24:42):
really at the end of it just tocook.
I guess the media world wantsto make everybody a chef because
that way they can make a lot ofmoney off of that.
Certain networks that havecapitalized on making people who
aren't chefs chefs in order tosell ads To me.
I really don't know what makessomeone a celebrity chef.
I think when you can't walkdown the street without people
knowing you and bombarding youwith questions and autographs, I
(25:02):
think that's the day you'retruly a celebrity.
I would never consider myself acelebrity chef, nor would I
consider anyone that was atNAFTA this weekend a celebrity
chef.
Everyone that we had the honorof interviewing on the red
carpet for the Super Bowl, atthe NFL tailgate those were all
true, legitimate celebrity chefs.
Calling yourself somethingdoesn't make it real, and other
(25:27):
people calling you that doesn'tmake it real as well.
You have to actually be acelebrity and people treat you
as if you are that.
That's just my opinion.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I'm open to anybody else's opinion we missed a true
celebrity chef at the show andthat would be the chef thomas
keller.
He he was at nafum.
He came in for specific therewow he was there and he was gone
.
It was almost like if youstared at it too long it it
would disappear, and that's whathappened.
We didn't get a chance to meetwith him or anything.
(25:57):
I found out about it after thefact.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
He's at the NRA every year and he is probably the
most personable chef out of anycelebrity chef and I think that
he's surpassed the celebritychef status to icon.
So for him to be such an iconicperson that everyone puts on
their wall and says, I want tobe this guy.
When we spoke to a lot of thecommis, their goal was to go
stage at either the FrenchLaundry or Per Se, his two
(26:24):
restaurants, his two majorMichelin star restaurants.
That was their goal.
So for him to be there.
I'm sure those commis didn'trealize he was there, they were
so busy.
To me he's an icon.
He's not a chef or a celebritychef, he's truly an icon, up
there with the true great.
It's amazing that somebody likehim is so humble enough to go
to these shows and shake hands,sign autographs, because he
(26:44):
could be anywhere in the worldright now counting money.
You know doing his thing, buthe truly believes in his craft
and he truly believes in thenext generation of his craft and
it's admirable, truly admirable.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Wow yeah.
Plus he donated knives to theevent and to the winner, so that
was pretty cool.
Could you imagine getting Wowyeah, can you imagine that as a
gift from Thomas Keller?
Can you really?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I've never been at a competition where everyone had
the caliber to compete.
A lot of these competitions youhave your all-star people who
are really really good, and thenyou have your other people that
would just build up theapplication and they needed
people to compete.
There truly was a vettingprocess and they got the best of
the best from all over theworld at this competition and it
(27:32):
shows in the photos that johntook.
It shows shows in and I hate tosay it this way, but it truly
showed in the disappointment ofall the chefs who didn't qualify
, because they all knew thatthey were grade A chef.
You know, the top three wasreally really tough and it kind
of stunned me to see some of thepeople being that.
I saw the dishes come out andall of the above, but you know,
(27:53):
I didn't.
I don't know how those dishestasted, I don't know all those
different variables that thejudges did and they had such
world-class judges, allcertified master chefs, all
great people known in theindustry.
I've never been part of acompetition or got to witness a
competition that was just puttogether so well and the caliber
of talent was just amazing,absolutely amazing, and I think
that helped us mesh well.
(28:13):
It's just amazing, absolutelyamazing, and I think that helped
us mesh well, you know, beingthat we're all talented people
in what we do.
Bringing it to like a culinaryworld or culinary observation,
all these ingredients cometogether are going to obviously
make a great dish, and that'sreally what happened at Natham.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
We've shot some really amazing dishes over the
years.
These dishes were and I don'twant to say it in a way where it
disparages anybody who we'vetaken photos of in the past.
But this competition, I guesswhen you're, when you're
practicing, when you go intothis to a competition like this
and you're practicing twice aweek to execute one dish in a
(28:52):
certain period of time and youknow that dish inside and out
they were beautiful, like reallybeautiful world-class dishes.
I don't know, for me, I wasincredibly humbled.
This was a very humbling event.
I feel like I can stand 10 feettall and pound my chest and
(29:14):
with a bullhorn and scream outlook at us.
But the reality is, look atthem.
These people are amazing.
These chefs were terrific.
Everybody involved, from thecompetition to the sponsors, the
partners in NAFM, in the USCulinary Open, everybody on our
team, like dude, everybodyreally came together and held
this competition up, held thesechefs up and it was a huge
(29:39):
success 100%.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
It made me also realize how well this was put
together and coordinated.
And then you know obviously wewere at Bocuse you can see the
caliber of chefs there from allover the world and how technical
that is, down to the correctcolor of shoe you're wearing, to
all kinds of differentvariables, but also to see how
well when you see something thisgelled from inside the actual
(30:03):
box, it makes me realize howwell mark turnway, eaton, mike
mcleod, all these people howwell they put their things
together.
And when you see all thevariables and how something's
supposed to run, we realize thateverybody out there that's
putting these competitionstogether are really putting
their first foot forward, theirbest foot forward and making it
happen for all different levelsof the culinary aspect.
(30:25):
I think it's a great thing andI just want to give those guys a
shout out because they doamazing work as well.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
The WFC cats, they'll be a thousand competitors.
You WFC cats, they have.
You know there'll be a thousandcompetitors, you know, you know
three person teams.
I mean the logistics Toorganize all that is just.
Yeah, the logistics must beoutrageous.
Well, it is outrageous.
You know, we we got to see alittle bit behind the scenes
there a couple of years ago inDallas when we went.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
But One thing I did want to bring up as we were
talking about the open and thechefs, carl, you had mentioned
just the beauty of their dishesand when we were interviewing
each of them, several of themtalked about the design of the
kitchen, the layout of thekitchen and how efficient it
efficient it was.
And you know, kudos to uhcamacho.
(31:11):
They, they obviously did awonderful job laying this out,
to give the chefs everythingthey needed, and it was just
about every chef talked aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
So shout out to James Camacho and his design firm to
lay this out properly and theingredients and the ingredients
Belasso salmon, which is reallythe top-notch salmon that you
get, farmed in Patagonia, downin South America, basically
close to Antarctica.
So you're going to get thefreshest, not adulterated salmon
that's out there.
You're getting the best.
(31:46):
So that ingredient right there.
They had all that USDA primebeef fillets, all the farms and
purveyors who came through withall the vegetables.
Everything was just top topnotch, absolutely top notch.
When you can get that manypeople together, I've never
really seen that before.
I've never seen everything gowithout a hitch, from the
(32:07):
suppliers to the sponsors, tothe actual competitors, to the
judges, to everything.
Everything was so, so, so wellput together.
And I tell you what it's.
Kudos to Polly and Nick, whothey did this.
You know they didn't have awild idea and said next year
let's do it.
It took them five years, fiveyears to put this together and
(32:28):
it shows, and this is somethingthat's going to last to the test
of time.
It's a brilliant, brilliantidea and I'm so happy that we
were able to be a part of it.
You know one more thing I justwant to say that it was the
coolest thing.
That really made me realizethat it was well worth what
we're doing.
You know the time that wededicate to the podcast and that
John puts in, you put in GlennJordan, all of us of us.
You know everything.
(32:49):
John and I were on our way to wegrabbed a cup of coffee from
Royal Cup thank you, royal Cupand we were on our way to go
visit Tina over at RAC and justkind of see how things were
going.
We were waiting on some thingsto happen.
We were there early and on ourway we ran into Mike Delane with
Air King, who we hadinterviewed the day before, and
he was so ecstatic about thefact that he got Bella, who was
(33:13):
their social media person, tocreate him a Instagram page, a
LinkedIn page, all of thesesocial media pages that apply,
and he was so excited to saylike, hey, man, I reposted
everything that you gaveYesterday.
We got all the behind thescenes of our interview and that
made me so excited.
That made my day, because thatwas the last day.
I was obviously exhausted, weall were exhausted, but just to
(33:35):
see, you know, a, a vicepresident of business
development, saying that I, orwe, motivated him in his
business development wasparamount, you know, and it
really made my day.
It really made me realize likethis really came together well
and it motivated me for the restof the day.
Shout out to Mike Delaney Greatdude, love you baby.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
You know what this is akin to.
When you're a creative, whetheryou're doing photography,
videography, whether you're achef, if you're creating
something, when you getacknowledgement of what you're
doing and that people areaccepting it and embracing it,
it's the best feeling in theworld.
(34:16):
Obviously, we all do the thingswe do to earn a living and
that's a whole nother story anda whole nother topic.
But when people from within theindustry that you're working,
your peers and whatnot, whenthey give you the thumbs up and
the attaboy and somebody comesto you like that, with that sort
of energy, it is fulfillingthis, what we do is so
(34:43):
fulfilling, it's so much work Isay it fairly often People do
not realize the amount of effortthat goes into creating real
quality content and what we dois special, and what you just
said, pooch, was special and Ididn't know that story.
So thank you for sharing that.
Glenn.
Lessons learned what do youfeel we should reflect on from
(35:03):
this experience?
How do we make it better forfuture projects Internally?
Speaker 3 (35:08):
just have a plan going into it.
We did and we refined it earlyon.
The biggest challenge was beingable to do our work but also go
out and meet, say hello.
We've talked about that.
It's about the people at theend of the day and knowing that
and finding the time throughorganization up front that we
(35:30):
create some time and some spaceto really hold those
conversations.
There was many people that Iwould have loved to have engaged
in conversation more Greatpeople doing great work.
We talk about the work thatwe're doing.
A lot of these people are intheir office, in their kitchen,
and I love the fact that we canshine a light on them.
(35:51):
You talk about being proud ofthe work we do.
It's storytelling.
Everybody's got a story andsometimes no one's telling it.
That's the beauty of what we do, so the more time we have with
people to be able to do that is,I think, it's going to make us
feel a lot better about the workwe're doing.
Like you just said, you knownot hearing the story that Pooch
(36:11):
talked about.
Those are the things that arespecial and those are the things
that make our work.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Worthwhile man.
I don't think you could havesaid it any better.
I'm so happy that Walk TalkMedia and Pius Media are doing
work.
Okay, glenn, you are an amazingdude.
Your team is amazing.
(36:39):
Everybody knows how I feelabout our team.
I tell you just real quicklyshout outs to uh, chris parker
and lisa from barfly kyleforeman from crown bad birdie.
She was working with uh, withthose cats over at crown nancy.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Hello, yep nancy riding dan.
Welch all great people we metat this show.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
There's so many.
I mean with those cats over atCrown, amanda Cologne, yep,
nancy Ryden, dan Welch, allgreat people we met at this show
.
There's so many.
I mean I didn't want to takethe whole ending here, the outro
for this.
But anyway, gentlemen,appreciate you all being on the
show.
There's more of this to come.
John, as always you're quietand we love you.
(37:15):
And guess what folks we are out.
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