March 14, 2025 • 38 mins
What does it take to build a 50-year legacy in a competitive industry? Brian Foreman, founder and president of Performance Kitchens and Home, reveals his extraordinary journey from determined young carpenter to established kitchen design visionary in this captivating conversation that bridges craftsmanship with entrepreneurship.
When Brian couldn't afford prime real estate for his showroom, he secured an SBA loan to purchase a three-story building for just $40,000—a property now worth exponentially more. His persistence and commitment to excellence allowed him to revolutionize kitchen design presentations in 1980 by building intricate miniature models of every cabinet and appliance when computer design didn't exist. "In every couple, there's one who can visualize and one who cannot," Brian explains, sharing how his innovation reduced presentation times from 12 hours to 45 minutes while dramatically increasing conversions.
What truly sets Brian apart is his methodical "Gold Standard" approach to kitchen design, symbolized by a diamond within a circle. The diamond represents four essential elements that must be approached in sequence: architectural design (how the kitchen relates to the home), cabinetry layout, interior design (where most designers mistakenly begin), and lighting design. This system guarantees kitchens that not only look stunning but function perfectly and maximize property values—crucial knowledge for real estate investors seeking maximum returns.
Beyond technical expertise, Brian shares remarkable stories of mentorship, including his relationship with legendary furniture designer George Nakashima, for whom he sourced and cut walnut that would later become dining tables worth $30,000-$60,000. His cross-disciplinary learning approach highlights how entrepreneurs in any field can achieve extraordinary results by combining specialized knowledge with artistic sensibility and relentless pursuit of excellence.
Ready to transform your kitchen or investment property with design that guarantees maximum value? Connect with Brian and his team at performancekitchens.com or 215-482-0700 to experience the difference that 50 years of passion and innovation can make.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Wealthy AF podcast, where we
dive into what it takes to buildreal wealth and develop a
powerful mindset, whileexploring the entrepreneurial
journeys of those who've madetheir mark in the world.
I'm your host, martin Perdomo,and today we're excited to
welcome a guest who trulyembodies excellence and
(00:20):
innovation in his field.
Excellence and innovation inhis field.
Today we're joined by BrianForeman, the founder and
president of PerformanceKitchens and Home.
With over 50 years in business,guys, there's a lot of wisdom
here.
Brian has been transforminghomes in the East Coast with
luxurious, high-performancekitchen designs, not only in the
(00:42):
East Coast but worldwide, andhe has some stories he'll share
with that in a moment, with youguys.
His company is known as thegold standard in kitchen design,
and today we'll be discussinghow his journey began, how he
built a lasting legacy, and howdesign and craftsmanship
intersect with entrepreneurshipand wealth building.
Brian, welcome to the show.
(01:03):
Sir, it's my pleasure to haveyou and, by the way, thank you
for being a sponsor of theupcoming Wealthy AF event meetup
in the Allentown area.
Sir, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, thank you very much.
I'm happy to be participating.
I've always had ties with thereal estate industry.
I've been an investor myself,and when I really only had a
minimum amount of money in thebank, I scrounged enough money
(01:38):
with a loan from the SBA to buymy three-story showroom for
$40,000, which is now worthquite a bit more.
And the importance of owningwhere I work was always
important to me and I'veconstantly been investing in my
little town to bring it up andalso to build the business.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, let's start there.
Tell us about, I mean, 50 yearsin business is a very long time
, right, I mean self-made, it'sa really big accomplishment and
I want to know that story.
Tell me that story.
How do you go from, I mean,being a leader in your field?
You know, having professorsfrom Wharton calling you from
(02:19):
Japan to go design theirkitchens.
Tell us that story.
How did Brian become such anexcellent leader in his field?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, you're taking me down memory lane and I'm
blessed that most of thosememories are good memories.
So I have to share a couple ofphilosophies that have guided me
a long way, and one is theharder you work, the luckier you
get.
So a lot of times, honestly, Ijust didn't know what I was
(02:57):
doing, but my heart was good andmy intentions were good and my
perseverance and indomitablespirit pushed me through to be
able to be successful, even whenthe odds might have been
stacked against me.
Even if it was a mess, I wouldwant to have it as my piece of
(03:30):
real estate that I would thenrent to the appropriate
corporation.
And the showroom was built at atime when I, interestingly, was
a little bit of a wild kid inhigh school and I didn't think I
was going to college.
And I somehow turned aroundafter a lot of menial jobs and
(03:57):
got into college and thentransferred to Boston College, a
very good college, thentransferred to Boston College, a
very good college and at thattime I was pretty much focused
on architectural design and Ihad always been a carpenter.
I kind of made money for myselfby when the other kids were
taking summer vacations andstuff.
I was picking up work and evenwhen there was no work, I would
(04:21):
go onto a job site and say tothe foreman was no work?
I would go onto a job site andsay to the foreman, hey, I need
some work for a month, but wedon't need any when we're not
hiring.
I said, well, those two guysaren't doing too much up there.
How about I come on and if Ican't outwork them, you just
fire me and don't even pay me?
And they just thought I wascrazy.
And then the next day theydidn't tell me to leave and I
(04:43):
had a month worth of work and Ikind of took that attitude
through life and some peoplereally embraced it and I was
blessed to learn the value ofmentorship by having people who
believed in me and in some of myless than orthodox ways of
(05:10):
doing things.
But, as I said, theperseverance and indomitable
spirit and the love of what youdo, as I'm sure many people have
heard that if you love what youdo, you never really work a day
in your life, and so I've kindof always believed in that.
Have I gone off topic yet?
(05:32):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
You're good.
You're good.
So you've been in the kitchendesign business for over 50
years, Brian, starting longbefore it became a trendy
industry.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Before there was a kitchen business.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yes, so there was no Home Depot design, right, there
was no.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Home Depot design.
What mindset andentrepreneurial strategies
helped you build and sustain abusiness that has stood the test
of time?
Because how were you doing itback then?
You were just drawing it withdoing it back then you were just
drawing it with your hands,like you were free, drawing it
like you know I actually and Iwish I had it now.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I've been looking all over the internet for anything
even closely read.
I actually built every littlecabinet, every wall cabinet
cabinet, every appliance, everyfurnishing in miniature and put
up artificial walls before therewere computers, built it on a
(06:34):
work table in front of theclient and then photographed it
with a Polaroid instant, andthat was the contract.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Wow, what year was that what?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
year was that, were?
You was that?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
What year was that?
Were you doing that?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
What year was that?
1980.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
1980.
Whoa, that is how long didsomething like that take you?
What three hours, four hours todo, how long did that take.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Well, I built it over a couple weeks.
It was quite a decorativelittle piece, but the
presentations went from 6, 8, 12hours down to 45 minutes.
Because I learned, in everycouple there's one who can
visualize and one who cannot.
The question is getting them toagree on which one that is, and
(07:22):
, by me submitting a visualwhich allowed them to capitalize
on their strengths and playdown their weaknesses, didn't
have to admit to the other onethat they didn't know what the
heck I was talking about.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Here it is.
I got to ask Brian, as abusinessman, businessman to
businessman what difference didthat make in your margins early
on?
I mean, you stood you probablystood head and shoulders above
everyone else as it pertains toto um, to presentation, but also
(07:57):
your margins must have beenextremely healthy because I
gotta tell you, you come to myhome, um to me and my wife, and
you present me something likethat.
Holy crap, am I impressed?
Am I impressed?
I was shocked.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What made it a little better was I was the first one
who didn't treat himself as ahome improvement contractor and
would not enter somebody's homewithout being invited and being
respected and actually hired.
So therefore, I converted thefirst floor of a 100-year-old
turkey ranch into an office andhad an adjoining barn where I
(08:34):
actually built the cabinets forthe company and I would invite
people to show them the shop.
The shop was heated by theremnants of the production of
the wood with sawdust, and itwas also done by logs that I had
created.
I was the inventor of theoriginal door flame log you know
that they use in the fireplacesand I have several patents
(08:55):
actually hardware patents, wowyeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Pretty brilliant guy, sir.
You're a pretty brilliant man,that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I don't know about the brilliance, but I'm pretty
stubborn and when I get an ideaI try to make it practical.
And I don't always make themoney.
The motivation I really thechallenge of overcoming
obstacles.
I don't know why I like it somuch, but I do, to this day when
(09:28):
something is, someone says well, you can't do it that way, I, I
don't challenge them, I justthink and think and think until
all of a sudden I go well, whynot?
Here's a way and here's anotherway.
And I've used that in mypresentations.
I never show people one conceptand then say this is what you
(09:48):
should do, it's fabulous, it'sfabulous.
No, I show them three, at leastthree different concepts and
then discuss the merits of each,making sure that not only are
their immediate needs satisfied,but that the concept in
fruition would actually addvalue to the home, to the
(10:13):
investors out there, maybe theluxury developers that listen to
us, maybe the homeowners thatlisten to us.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
We recently sold our house in Pennsylvania, my wife
and I and we were very strategicand I'll share the story with
you.
When we were remodeling, we hadin 2021, we had a big storm
over there in Pennsylvania.
I don't know if you remember alot of water in September.
My basement got flooded, mysump pumps failed.
I had to replace the walls, allof the basement, because my
(10:45):
basement got flooded, so I hadto replace all of the sheetrock.
So at that point I decided toremodel the whole basement.
And, of course, while I wasremodeling the whole basement,
my wife was like why don't weremodel the kitchen?
And then why don't we remodelthe bathroom?
Why don't we put new floors?
So I wind up pretty muchremodeling the whole house.
(11:06):
But we were strategic inremodeling the house,
specifically remodeling thekitchen, because we knew that
the kitchen is what would sellthe house.
And my wife had an idea thatshe was going to sell it for a
number and I was like there's noway in the world you're going
to sell it for this number.
And she said, absolutely I willbecause of my kitchen and what
I've done to my home and thekitchen.
(11:26):
Sure enough, she was a realtor.
The kitchen sold the house.
There was no numbers, therewere no comps in the market to
justify it, but she sold it at apretty high price compared to
what everything else was sellingand we believe part of that was
the kitchen.
So I want you to speak to theinvestors and the homeowners
(11:48):
that might want to sell theirhouse.
In your opinion, how does ahigh quality design impact of a
kitchen impact the propertyvalue and play into a real
estate?
You know investment success.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
First of all, I want to thank you for giving me the
platform to discuss exactly whatyou're talking about.
I've had this issue.
I mean it from the bottom of mysoul.
It's something that peopledon't realize that if you can
associate with the right type ofpeople with the right
(12:26):
experience and target what'smost important, it may cost you
a little bit more on the frontend but, as your wife proved, it
(12:48):
comes back at the end.
Gold standard to performance,kitchens that I've painstakingly
developed that you can't expectanyone to hit on all these
points.
It took me at least 35 years toeven know what I was doing.
So people get into a business.
(13:08):
They've been doing it for sevenyears, 11 years.
What they're really doing is aglorified decorating exercise.
They're not looking at thebones of the property and saying
was this house built originallyas a left-hand driveway but
they couldn't fit it on the lot,so they flipped the kitchen and
(13:30):
put it over here?
Look at the ingress-ingress tothe perishables versus the
non-perishables that go in thepantry.
The traffic flow is not goodand it's not feeling like the
core of the house.
Instead, the way they look atit is my cabinets are old, my
floor is dirty.
I need new stuff in here.
(13:51):
Well, you're going to spend thesame amount of money if you put
new stuff in your old kitchenthan if you make little tweaks
that improve the layout.
And I don't make terriblypublic until I deal with my
(14:16):
clients because I tell them andit's very, very obvious they
won't know exactly why theirkitchen looks better than their
neighbor's gold standard inkitchen design.
You will see things like,instead of having an appliance
(14:37):
that's 24 inches wide, like adishwasher, and a range that's
30 inches, like a range is, or36, and the accompanying wall
cabinet above it following suit,with two 12-inch doors to go
over the 24-inch dishwasher andtwo 18-inch to go over the
36-inch range, now you havethree, two, three, four
(14:58):
different sized wall cabinets.
Well, man is not built that way.
His eyes it's a predator.
They're on the side.
He doesn't look up and down,like the architects are taught
at school.
He looks across, and the visualplane of wall cabinets and the
symmetry of the doors is whatmakes a small space look
expansive.
(15:18):
You see the intensity and thelove and passion for this that
we have.
It's not about selling stuff.
I don't care if we make lessmoney.
I don't care.
What I care is that people sayif you go anywhere else, you're
crazy, you're wasting your time.
You're wasting your time,you're wasting your money
Because we cross the T's and dotthe I's in the beginning so
(15:41):
that you don't have extendedbuild time, incomplete plans,
cost overruns, all that nonsensewhich is a typical headache in
a kitchen renovation.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I mean true expert speaking here, and I can feel
your passion.
I can see it in your eyes.
I can see that you know whatyou're talking about and it just
shines through in your wordsand through your soul.
How do you keep innovating andevolving, and what advice would
you give to entrepreneurs aboutstaying relevant, as you've done
(16:18):
over the course of 50 years?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
your questions are.
You know they make you think um, most of the things that you
ask me have been instinctual, sofor me to verbalize them, it
gives me the same sense ofreward as it does when I teach
(16:46):
the design students at Drexel orJefferson or Harcum how to
focus and to personalize thespace yet add value to something
that's going to be there a lotlonger than the person who
initially hired you to do it.
So to stay relevant, you haveto kind of go to basics, and to
(17:12):
me a lot of it is the return onthe investment, Because if
you're investing good money insomething that's going to look
dated, that could just mean adecorative idea, but it could
also have to do with the layoutof the kitchen.
Sometimes an encapsulatingU-shaped kitchen could be
(17:35):
improved with a peninsula thathad seating.
When the kids were young youcould just throw a sandwich at
them, but as you got older itcould actually be turned into a
bar.
One of the things that we dothat I do not believe is done by
anyone else that I've everheard.
I know it's not taught NationalKitchen and Bath Association.
I was a founding member of that.
(17:56):
I know it's not part of theAmerican Institute of
Architecture, because I went toschool for architecture and they
never taught me anything aboutthis stuff and I know it's not
in the books that I've read orthe ones that I've written,
because I really don't want tomake all my knowledge publicly
out there, except for closedaudiences like what we have here
out there, except for closedaudiences like what we have here
(18:19):
.
That I love.
But to just get out there andto bring average to imply that
it's better is not really mymission statement.
It's very difficult to carrythis on and keep it relevant,
because everyone wants new andeverybody wants to follow trends
.
For example, there's a doorthat they call the shaker door.
(18:43):
Well, if you know anythingabout shaker cabinetry, you know
that the shakers were a smallgroup of and seen how they did
their joinery way before I evencommitted to being focused on
(19:09):
kitchens.
At that time I was exhibitingwith the Pennsylvania Guild of
Craftsmen and went to places,small venues like the Walnut
Street Gallery, and I did one-ofof a kind type art pieces.
So when you tell me I want ashaker style, to me you have no
(19:30):
idea what a shaker style is, butI understand it's the trend to
have a simplistic framed doorthat looks like it could go with
any style.
But when you realize that theconstruction of that shaker door
could be done with a veneeredframe, or it could be done with
(19:50):
a hardwood, or it could be donewith a substrate that is
composed of something other thanwood it could be compressed
sawdust and resin.
It could be all different waysto do it and there's advantages
and disadvantages to both.
You can't just make blanketstatements that I don't want
medium density fiberboard in mykitchen because it gets
(20:10):
carcinogen, and you can't justmake those statements because
the off gassing is different.
I know that I've worked inthere, I've had my eyes tear
from the different shops and Iknow by my eye-tear meter how
much gas is coming into thatroom and how dangerous it is.
So if I live in a shore housewith a high humidity content
(20:33):
somewhere in the 11% to 14%range, which I always carried my
moisture meter to check wellthen why would I put in an
unstable product just because itwas popular and it had the same
name as a culture from the1800s?
(20:54):
It's craziness.
It's like this.
I'm good at a lot of things.
I'm really bad at insurance.
I don't get it.
You pay all this money.
You have a problem.
You don't get paid, you don'tget paid, I don't get it.
So what I do?
I go to an expert and I say Idon't want to deal with a
(21:14):
company, I want an agent.
I want you to guide me, justlike when you try to find a
really good realtor and you letthem guide you through the
process.
I have one of the best realtorsin the business Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
You might know her.
That's important.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's very important .
That's very, very important,and it's funny how, like
personalities like that attract,like you and I, the passion
that we obviously both have forwhat we're doing.
It's if you let that energybloom.
Um, I think that's part of ofof of letting the, allowing the
(21:54):
legacy to continue, instead offorcing it and saying I know
that this is better.
Well, guess what?
It's not better for everyoneall the time, and you know we
have various degrees of quality,but our top quality things are
(22:15):
things that the average personthey're not even aware of.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I get that most people aren't, are not even you
know, they don't know about themoisture density and all of
these things you're talkingabout, which you said something
you hit on that's reallyimportant early on and you said
I don't, I'm not good atinsurance.
I'm good at a lot of things,but I'm not good at insurance.
So I go to an insurance agentto help me with insurance.
Right, I'm not good at selling,I'm not good at insurance.
(22:42):
I'm good at a lot of things,but I'm not good at insurance.
So I go to an insurance agentto help me with insurance.
I'm not good at selling.
I'm not good at selling myrealtor, so I go to my pro.
I sell in real estate.
I can redevelopment, but hey, Igot my people that sell them
for me.
I got a property management,but I got an expert that manages
my properties.
So you hit on that, which leadson to mentorship and early on
(23:04):
the discussion you said you hadgreat mentors and here in this
podcast we believe in mentorship.
We have a community, we have aprivate community where I mentor
people and I teach people and Icoach them on mindset and I
coach them on how to get theirfirst deal and how to create
wealth through real estateinvesting.
In fact, mindset and I coachthem on how to get their first
deal and how to create wealththrough real estate investing.
In fact, that event that youguys sponsored, that Design
Kitchen sponsored, is exactlythat how to become.
(23:27):
We're going to be talking abouthow to become financially free
in under three years throughreal estate investing.
By the way, if you guys, ifyou're listening or watching
this, make sure you go towealthyafai register.
Design Kitchen, performanceKitchen is the sponsor of that.
But mentorship I want to talkabout mentorship.
Mentorship has clearly been asignificant part of your life.
(23:48):
Please talk about that.
How did your mentors shape yourjourney?
Because we can't do thiswithout mentors.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
I have had mentors.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I still have mentors.
Please tell us on that.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Well, that's one of my favorite topics but if you
wouldn't mind, I just want todigress a little bit to
something that I might havemisled or not been real clear on
the importance of having aprofessional lay your house
floor plan out, as opposed tothe realtor or the contractor or
(24:23):
someone who says they're akitchen expert doing that.
It's a hard thing for people tolet go of.
It doesn't cost a lot of money,but you can get a lot more for
that real estate without havingto put the most expensive
cabinetry in there.
We have very modest.
We don't sell things that arejunk or service issues and all
(24:45):
of our cabinetry even our lowerprice has a baked top coat which
is a conversion varnishaccelerated by heat.
That's very unusual today.
I can talk about that later ifyou want.
But I don't want to get awayfrom your real topic, which is
the mentorship.
But I didn't want to skip overthat part that I left out
because it just sounds kind oflike well, everybody knows you
(25:08):
do a new kitchen, you sell thehouse for more money.
No, it's not that simplistic.
If you follow the rules of thegold standard in kitchen design,
you are guaranteed to get topdollar for that.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
You want to move in it yourself.
It's so fun.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Okay, before you answer that mentorship question,
give me three of the goldenrule standard for top kitchen to
guarantee that return on yourmoney.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Okay, it's very easy.
I don't have any visual aidsbecause I'm not looking at this
as a sales tool, but theperformance logo is comprised of
a diamond with a circle aroundit and the diamond represents
the four elements of design inthe order that it must be
approached.
It must be approachedarchitecturally.
(26:01):
How does that space in thekitchen relate to the rest of
the architecture of the home?
It must be looked at in thecabinetry layout.
How does that cabinetryspecification fit the space that
you've dedicated in thatarchitectural design?
(26:24):
The third part is the interiordesign, which is where everybody
wants to start the process,which is totally inappropriate,
and that is the cohesiveness ofthe dissimilar materials and the
decorative items that make upthe kitchen.
Very important, very personal.
(26:44):
Everybody wants to talk aboutit.
But if you don't start witharchitectural design, move into
your cabinetry design and theninto your interior design, you
cannot enter the fourth elementof the design diamond and that
is your lighting design.
You need to have a combinationof peripheral lighting, task
lighting and decorative lightingso that you're not following
(27:05):
shadows of yourself around Toconstantly be saying I need more
windows or my kitchen's dark orwhatever just says you have an
inappropriate lighting plan.
Number one and number two.
You're not aware that you'renot only in your kitchen in the
daytime, you're actually inthere in the nighttime.
So it's very, very importantthat you pull this all together.
(27:27):
And that's what the circle isthat goes around the diamond.
That circle represents the goldstandard of kitchen design in
the design management.
How do you make a design thatwill be orchestrated so that
it's done with the intentionthat it was designed?
(27:51):
How many times do you hear well, the carpenter just cut that
filler down and moved it over,and now it doesn't work down
here.
It says right on our plans, ina big plan, with a saw blade,
with a line going through it, nochanges, called performance.
They may not think of all theintricacies or the domino effect
of changing one little thing.
(28:13):
They may have decided to packout a wall to get rid of a pipe
chase and not realize that itpushed their minimal space
between their opposing countersdown to a space that it's not
comfortable to have someonesitting in an island and someone
walking behind it.
This is all part of that extralittle special gold standard of
(28:35):
design.
This is what maybe someday I'llwrite a book about when I feel
like.
But I learned my lesson of ofover-educating too soon.
People have to like you andwhat you have and they have to
understand the value of yourcabinetry.
So I feel unfair that I'm notanswering.
I don't want to, I don't wantto, I don't want to um no, this
(28:55):
was a great answer.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
I mean, this is one of my main takeaways.
This is really good stuff.
It's showcasing excellence.
What I'm seeing here, what I'mgathering, is showcasing what
excellence looks like and partof my.
One of my core values isexcellence right, Live life with
excellence and run my businesswith excellence.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Well, you're going to love this.
You're going to love this story, then, because this is I do not
have the visual, maybe Quinncould pull it up.
Maybe you'll tell me it'sirrelevant.
In my office, in two placesthere's a placard of dedication
and it says something like I'mjust paraphrasing fundraising.
(29:49):
These are the five mentors whoestablished the DNA of every
performance kitchen as far asquality and adding value to the
home, something like that.
It shows five pictures of fivepeople who I had no idea at the
time.
I was in the company of legends.
I was 20-something years old.
George Nakashima, the father ofmodern furniture, was a friend
of a friend of mine who was atree, an arborist, and in my
(30:15):
struggle to have diversifiedincome, I worked as a tree
arborist and I actually built myown sawmill.
I took the walnut, which wasGeorge Nakashima's favorite wood
, and took a suburban home andleveled the house and built a
(30:37):
whole acre of wood just curingso that he could use it.
He taught me how to read thegrain so that he could take what
he called flitches and turnthese beautiful slabs of nature
into furniture.
Now that his dining room tablesafter his death are worth
$30,000 to $60,000.
It's beautiful and they arewith my wood.
(31:00):
I cut that wood.
It's very.
I didn't know at the time, Ididn't know that I was one of
the few people who was ever evenallowed in his shop, let alone
supplying him his wood.
And it all happened because myfriend was a tree cutter and had
no artistic inclinationwhatsoever.
And every time I cut a tree Iwent do you smell that
(31:23):
inclination whatsoever?
And every time I cut a tree Iwent do you smell that?
Oh my god, do you look at thatgrain?
You thought I was crazy.
You just want to cut it up,make it into firewood.
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
So this is, um, that was so what impact, what impact
did that mentor have on youearly on?
You're a 26 year old kid andand you're an artist, obviously,
obviously, and you have this,you have this passion and this,
you know, this drive forexcellence.
How did that relationship withhim have an impact on you and
(31:51):
your success today?
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Right, Well, as I said earlier, I was a member of
the Pennsylvania Guild ofCraftsmen and one of my goals
was to build.
I was always into repurposingthings.
I would find an old dining roomset of chairs, but the backs
(32:16):
were all hand-carved, so I wouldtake all the backs together and
alternate the curves one afterthe other and make something to
hang your blanket at the end ofyour bed or some weird thing
that I creation.
That you know, only one personsaw art in.
It was willing to pay.
Needless to say, I couldn't verywell make a living.
I was a very happy starvingartist.
(32:37):
To pay, needless to say, Icouldn't very well make a living
.
I was a very happy starvingartist, but somewhere my more
materialistic gene and need forresponsibility overshadowed it.
But you know, I never reallylost that thing.
And after George Nakashimathere were four other.
I don't know if you want me toget into them, but they were
just as remarkable of people andI'm sure everyone has some
(33:02):
connection to one of the fivepeople who helped me become
Performance Kitchens at Home andestablish the gold standard in
kitchen design.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I love that.
Well, thank you so much.
We are out of time, brian,thank you so much.
I'd love to have you come much.
We are out of time, brian,thank you so much.
I'd love to have you come back.
We're out of time today, butyou shared so much wisdom, so
excellence just literally shinesthrough your words and I can
see it in your spirit, in youreyes.
For those that are not watchinghim, but I'm telling you, I can
(33:35):
see the excellence just comeout of his eyes.
It's just man, he's passionateabout this stuff and it's
obvious that he knows this stuff.
So I want to share with you andthe audience just a few other
pointers and some of mytakeaways here, and there's
plenty of them more.
But you started with hard work.
The harder you work, theluckier you get.
(33:55):
Great.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Absolutely, I believe it.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Hard work.
The harder you work, theluckier you get Great.
Absolutely, I believe it Right.
You also said you didn't alwaysmake money.
Your motivation, solving theproblem, has always been your
motivation.
So solving, amen, amen, focuson that, the money will come.
And the biggest things I gotfrom this one was the following
(34:18):
your rules and I don't rememberwhat you called it, but it was,
architecturally the diamond andthe circle which was following
the rules of excellence, I think, is in a kitchen which is
architectural design, cabinetrylayout, interior design and
lighting design.
Man, these are things that as aconsumer, just a regular
consumer, even as a redeveloper,developer, I don't think about.
(34:42):
I really am not thinking aboutthese things.
I'm looking at, like you said,like everyone else, let's go
into the design.
We want this here, this there,this there, this here, this
there, and voila, it's doneright, it looks pretty and it
looks good.
But, man, you really this iswhat I'm talking about
excellence, you really hiringyour company really takes it to
(35:03):
another level.
So, for those investors, or eventhose that are here listening,
and you really want a kitchendone right, man, they got to
reach out to you.
How do they reach out to you,brian?
Where can they find you?
What's your to you?
How do they reach out to you,brian?
Where can they find you?
What's your website?
How do they call you?
Because I'm sure uh, I'll tellyou this my next kitchen,
(35:24):
brother, you guys are designingfor me I assure you that I look
forward my next kitchen.
My next kitchen you guys aredesigning for me.
I'm not going to home depot oror any of these other places.
Uh, you guys are designing mynext kitchen, so where do people
find you?
How can they connect with you?
Speaker 2 (35:42):
well, the the easiest thing is, if you forget, like I
do, is just to google search.
You know, uh kitchens,philadelphia, or the little town
that we're in, which istechnically still philadelphia.
Um is manioc m-a-n-A-Y-U-N-K,and we so
kitchensphiladelphiacom.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
is that what we're looking for?
What's the website?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
The website is performancekitchenscom.
Speaker (36:12):
Performancekitchenscom .
So look upperformancekitchenscom,
performancekitchenscom.
You can look up Brian Foreman,performancekitchenscom,
performancekitchenscom.
You can look up Brian Foreman,performancekitchenscom, and you
can connect.
Are your socials all on there,your social media platforms, so
people can see the kind ofworkmanship you?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
guys are doing yeah, and our phone number is real
easy to remember.
It's 4 times 2 is how Iremember it, so it's 482-07 0700
, it's pretty easy 482 0700 areacode erica 215 215, area code
482 0700 right, okay, perfect,we did.
(36:51):
You know we have people who'vecome to us and then they've
moved to to colorado or japanand once they go views us, they
don't want to go anywhere else,and I drop ship um a tractor
trailer a month.
So it's not.
It doesn't even cost more to doit the right way, so that's not
an issue.
Don't think you need to buy itfrom the local lumber yard or
(37:15):
something like that.
It's's not the case.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
That's amazing.
Well, thank you so much, brian.
It's been my pleasure, my honor, to have you here, and thank
you for sharing all your wisdomand all of your experience.
It has been certainly mypleasure, sir.
Thank you very, very much.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And thank you for being so easy to talk to.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
You're welcome.
Thank you for coming.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Thank you.
Welcome to the Wealthy AF podcast, where we
dive into what it takes to buildreal wealth and develop a
powerful mindset, whileexploring the entrepreneurial
journeys of those who've madetheir mark in the world.
I'm your host, martin Perdomo,and today we're excited to
welcome a guest who trulyembodies excellence and
(00:20):
innovation in his field.
Excellence and innovation inhis field.
Today we're joined by BrianForeman, the founder and
president of PerformanceKitchens and Home.
With over 50 years in business,guys, there's a lot of wisdom
here.
Brian has been transforminghomes in the East Coast with
luxurious, high-performancekitchen designs, not only in the
(00:42):
East Coast but worldwide, andhe has some stories he'll share
with that in a moment, with youguys.
His company is known as thegold standard in kitchen design,
and today we'll be discussinghow his journey began, how he
built a lasting legacy, and howdesign and craftsmanship
intersect with entrepreneurshipand wealth building.
Brian, welcome to the show.
(01:03):
Sir, it's my pleasure to haveyou and, by the way, thank you
for being a sponsor of theupcoming Wealthy AF event meetup
in the Allentown area.
Sir, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, thank you very much.
I'm happy to be participating.
I've always had ties with thereal estate industry.
I've been an investor myself,and when I really only had a
minimum amount of money in thebank, I scrounged enough money
(01:38):
with a loan from the SBA to buymy three-story showroom for
$40,000, which is now worthquite a bit more.
And the importance of owningwhere I work was always
important to me and I'veconstantly been investing in my
little town to bring it up andalso to build the business.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, let's start there.
Tell us about, I mean, 50 yearsin business is a very long time
, right, I mean self-made, it'sa really big accomplishment and
I want to know that story.
Tell me that story.
How do you go from, I mean,being a leader in your field?
You know, having professorsfrom Wharton calling you from
(02:19):
Japan to go design theirkitchens.
Tell us that story.
How did Brian become such anexcellent leader in his field?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, you're taking me down memory lane and I'm
blessed that most of thosememories are good memories.
So I have to share a couple ofphilosophies that have guided me
a long way, and one is theharder you work, the luckier you
get.
So a lot of times, honestly, Ijust didn't know what I was
(02:57):
doing, but my heart was good andmy intentions were good and my
perseverance and indomitablespirit pushed me through to be
able to be successful, even whenthe odds might have been
stacked against me.
Even if it was a mess, I wouldwant to have it as my piece of
(03:30):
real estate that I would thenrent to the appropriate
corporation.
And the showroom was built at atime when I, interestingly, was
a little bit of a wild kid inhigh school and I didn't think I
was going to college.
And I somehow turned aroundafter a lot of menial jobs and
(03:57):
got into college and thentransferred to Boston College, a
very good college, thentransferred to Boston College, a
very good college and at thattime I was pretty much focused
on architectural design and Ihad always been a carpenter.
I kind of made money for myselfby when the other kids were
taking summer vacations andstuff.
I was picking up work and evenwhen there was no work, I would
(04:21):
go onto a job site and say tothe foreman was no work?
I would go onto a job site andsay to the foreman, hey, I need
some work for a month, but wedon't need any when we're not
hiring.
I said, well, those two guysaren't doing too much up there.
How about I come on and if Ican't outwork them, you just
fire me and don't even pay me?
And they just thought I wascrazy.
And then the next day theydidn't tell me to leave and I
(04:43):
had a month worth of work and Ikind of took that attitude
through life and some peoplereally embraced it and I was
blessed to learn the value ofmentorship by having people who
believed in me and in some of myless than orthodox ways of
(05:10):
doing things.
But, as I said, theperseverance and indomitable
spirit and the love of what youdo, as I'm sure many people have
heard that if you love what youdo, you never really work a day
in your life, and so I've kindof always believed in that.
Have I gone off topic yet?
(05:32):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
You're good.
You're good.
So you've been in the kitchendesign business for over 50
years, Brian, starting longbefore it became a trendy
industry.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Before there was a kitchen business.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yes, so there was no Home Depot design, right, there
was no.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Home Depot design.
What mindset andentrepreneurial strategies
helped you build and sustain abusiness that has stood the test
of time?
Because how were you doing itback then?
You were just drawing it withdoing it back then you were just
drawing it with your hands,like you were free, drawing it
like you know I actually and Iwish I had it now.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I've been looking all over the internet for anything
even closely read.
I actually built every littlecabinet, every wall cabinet
cabinet, every appliance, everyfurnishing in miniature and put
up artificial walls before therewere computers, built it on a
(06:34):
work table in front of theclient and then photographed it
with a Polaroid instant, andthat was the contract.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Wow, what year was that what?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
year was that, were?
You was that?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
What year was that?
Were you doing that?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
What year was that?
1980.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
1980.
Whoa, that is how long didsomething like that take you?
What three hours, four hours todo, how long did that take.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Well, I built it over a couple weeks.
It was quite a decorativelittle piece, but the
presentations went from 6, 8, 12hours down to 45 minutes.
Because I learned, in everycouple there's one who can
visualize and one who cannot.
The question is getting them toagree on which one that is, and
(07:22):
, by me submitting a visualwhich allowed them to capitalize
on their strengths and playdown their weaknesses, didn't
have to admit to the other onethat they didn't know what the
heck I was talking about.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Here it is.
I got to ask Brian, as abusinessman, businessman to
businessman what difference didthat make in your margins early
on?
I mean, you stood you probablystood head and shoulders above
everyone else as it pertains toto um, to presentation, but also
(07:57):
your margins must have beenextremely healthy because I
gotta tell you, you come to myhome, um to me and my wife, and
you present me something likethat.
Holy crap, am I impressed?
Am I impressed?
I was shocked.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
What made it a little better was I was the first one
who didn't treat himself as ahome improvement contractor and
would not enter somebody's homewithout being invited and being
respected and actually hired.
So therefore, I converted thefirst floor of a 100-year-old
turkey ranch into an office andhad an adjoining barn where I
(08:34):
actually built the cabinets forthe company and I would invite
people to show them the shop.
The shop was heated by theremnants of the production of
the wood with sawdust, and itwas also done by logs that I had
created.
I was the inventor of theoriginal door flame log you know
that they use in the fireplacesand I have several patents
(08:55):
actually hardware patents, wowyeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Pretty brilliant guy, sir.
You're a pretty brilliant man,that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I don't know about the brilliance, but I'm pretty
stubborn and when I get an ideaI try to make it practical.
And I don't always make themoney.
The motivation I really thechallenge of overcoming
obstacles.
I don't know why I like it somuch, but I do, to this day when
(09:28):
something is, someone says well, you can't do it that way, I, I
don't challenge them, I justthink and think and think until
all of a sudden I go well, whynot?
Here's a way and here's anotherway.
And I've used that in mypresentations.
I never show people one conceptand then say this is what you
(09:48):
should do, it's fabulous, it'sfabulous.
No, I show them three, at leastthree different concepts and
then discuss the merits of each,making sure that not only are
their immediate needs satisfied,but that the concept in
fruition would actually addvalue to the home, to the
(10:13):
investors out there, maybe theluxury developers that listen to
us, maybe the homeowners thatlisten to us.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
We recently sold our house in Pennsylvania, my wife
and I and we were very strategicand I'll share the story with
you.
When we were remodeling, we hadin 2021, we had a big storm
over there in Pennsylvania.
I don't know if you remember alot of water in September.
My basement got flooded, mysump pumps failed.
I had to replace the walls, allof the basement, because my
(10:45):
basement got flooded, so I hadto replace all of the sheetrock.
So at that point I decided toremodel the whole basement.
And, of course, while I wasremodeling the whole basement,
my wife was like why don't weremodel the kitchen?
And then why don't we remodelthe bathroom?
Why don't we put new floors?
So I wind up pretty muchremodeling the whole house.
(11:06):
But we were strategic inremodeling the house,
specifically remodeling thekitchen, because we knew that
the kitchen is what would sellthe house.
And my wife had an idea thatshe was going to sell it for a
number and I was like there's noway in the world you're going
to sell it for this number.
And she said, absolutely I willbecause of my kitchen and what
I've done to my home and thekitchen.
(11:26):
Sure enough, she was a realtor.
The kitchen sold the house.
There was no numbers, therewere no comps in the market to
justify it, but she sold it at apretty high price compared to
what everything else was sellingand we believe part of that was
the kitchen.
So I want you to speak to theinvestors and the homeowners
(11:48):
that might want to sell theirhouse.
In your opinion, how does ahigh quality design impact of a
kitchen impact the propertyvalue and play into a real
estate?
You know investment success.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
First of all, I want to thank you for giving me the
platform to discuss exactly whatyou're talking about.
I've had this issue.
I mean it from the bottom of mysoul.
It's something that peopledon't realize that if you can
associate with the right type ofpeople with the right
(12:26):
experience and target what'smost important, it may cost you
a little bit more on the frontend but, as your wife proved, it
(12:48):
comes back at the end.
Gold standard to performance,kitchens that I've painstakingly
developed that you can't expectanyone to hit on all these
points.
It took me at least 35 years toeven know what I was doing.
So people get into a business.
(13:08):
They've been doing it for sevenyears, 11 years.
What they're really doing is aglorified decorating exercise.
They're not looking at thebones of the property and saying
was this house built originallyas a left-hand driveway but
they couldn't fit it on the lot,so they flipped the kitchen and
(13:30):
put it over here?
Look at the ingress-ingress tothe perishables versus the
non-perishables that go in thepantry.
The traffic flow is not goodand it's not feeling like the
core of the house.
Instead, the way they look atit is my cabinets are old, my
floor is dirty.
I need new stuff in here.
(13:51):
Well, you're going to spend thesame amount of money if you put
new stuff in your old kitchenthan if you make little tweaks
that improve the layout.
And I don't make terriblypublic until I deal with my
(14:16):
clients because I tell them andit's very, very obvious they
won't know exactly why theirkitchen looks better than their
neighbor's gold standard inkitchen design.
You will see things like,instead of having an appliance
(14:37):
that's 24 inches wide, like adishwasher, and a range that's
30 inches, like a range is, or36, and the accompanying wall
cabinet above it following suit,with two 12-inch doors to go
over the 24-inch dishwasher andtwo 18-inch to go over the
36-inch range, now you havethree, two, three, four
(14:58):
different sized wall cabinets.
Well, man is not built that way.
His eyes it's a predator.
They're on the side.
He doesn't look up and down,like the architects are taught
at school.
He looks across, and the visualplane of wall cabinets and the
symmetry of the doors is whatmakes a small space look
expansive.
(15:18):
You see the intensity and thelove and passion for this that
we have.
It's not about selling stuff.
I don't care if we make lessmoney.
I don't care.
What I care is that people sayif you go anywhere else, you're
crazy, you're wasting your time.
You're wasting your time,you're wasting your money
Because we cross the T's and dotthe I's in the beginning so
(15:41):
that you don't have extendedbuild time, incomplete plans,
cost overruns, all that nonsensewhich is a typical headache in
a kitchen renovation.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I mean true expert speaking here, and I can feel
your passion.
I can see it in your eyes.
I can see that you know whatyou're talking about and it just
shines through in your wordsand through your soul.
How do you keep innovating andevolving, and what advice would
you give to entrepreneurs aboutstaying relevant, as you've done
(16:18):
over the course of 50 years?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
your questions are.
You know they make you think um, most of the things that you
ask me have been instinctual, sofor me to verbalize them, it
gives me the same sense ofreward as it does when I teach
(16:46):
the design students at Drexel orJefferson or Harcum how to
focus and to personalize thespace yet add value to something
that's going to be there a lotlonger than the person who
initially hired you to do it.
So to stay relevant, you haveto kind of go to basics, and to
(17:12):
me a lot of it is the return onthe investment, Because if
you're investing good money insomething that's going to look
dated, that could just mean adecorative idea, but it could
also have to do with the layoutof the kitchen.
Sometimes an encapsulatingU-shaped kitchen could be
(17:35):
improved with a peninsula thathad seating.
When the kids were young youcould just throw a sandwich at
them, but as you got older itcould actually be turned into a
bar.
One of the things that we dothat I do not believe is done by
anyone else that I've everheard.
I know it's not taught NationalKitchen and Bath Association.
I was a founding member of that.
(17:56):
I know it's not part of theAmerican Institute of
Architecture, because I went toschool for architecture and they
never taught me anything aboutthis stuff and I know it's not
in the books that I've read orthe ones that I've written,
because I really don't want tomake all my knowledge publicly
out there, except for closedaudiences like what we have here
out there, except for closedaudiences like what we have here
(18:19):
.
That I love.
But to just get out there andto bring average to imply that
it's better is not really mymission statement.
It's very difficult to carrythis on and keep it relevant,
because everyone wants new andeverybody wants to follow trends
.
For example, there's a doorthat they call the shaker door.
(18:43):
Well, if you know anythingabout shaker cabinetry, you know
that the shakers were a smallgroup of and seen how they did
their joinery way before I evencommitted to being focused on
(19:09):
kitchens.
At that time I was exhibitingwith the Pennsylvania Guild of
Craftsmen and went to places,small venues like the Walnut
Street Gallery, and I did one-ofof a kind type art pieces.
So when you tell me I want ashaker style, to me you have no
(19:30):
idea what a shaker style is, butI understand it's the trend to
have a simplistic framed doorthat looks like it could go with
any style.
But when you realize that theconstruction of that shaker door
could be done with a veneeredframe, or it could be done with
(19:50):
a hardwood, or it could be donewith a substrate that is
composed of something other thanwood it could be compressed
sawdust and resin.
It could be all different waysto do it and there's advantages
and disadvantages to both.
You can't just make blanketstatements that I don't want
medium density fiberboard in mykitchen because it gets
(20:10):
carcinogen, and you can't justmake those statements because
the off gassing is different.
I know that I've worked inthere, I've had my eyes tear
from the different shops and Iknow by my eye-tear meter how
much gas is coming into thatroom and how dangerous it is.
So if I live in a shore housewith a high humidity content
(20:33):
somewhere in the 11% to 14%range, which I always carried my
moisture meter to check wellthen why would I put in an
unstable product just because itwas popular and it had the same
name as a culture from the1800s?
(20:54):
It's craziness.
It's like this.
I'm good at a lot of things.
I'm really bad at insurance.
I don't get it.
You pay all this money.
You have a problem.
You don't get paid, you don'tget paid, I don't get it.
So what I do?
I go to an expert and I say Idon't want to deal with a
(21:14):
company, I want an agent.
I want you to guide me, justlike when you try to find a
really good realtor and you letthem guide you through the
process.
I have one of the best realtorsin the business Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
You might know her.
That's important.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's very important .
That's very, very important,and it's funny how, like
personalities like that attract,like you and I, the passion
that we obviously both have forwhat we're doing.
It's if you let that energybloom.
Um, I think that's part of ofof of letting the, allowing the
(21:54):
legacy to continue, instead offorcing it and saying I know
that this is better.
Well, guess what?
It's not better for everyoneall the time, and you know we
have various degrees of quality,but our top quality things are
(22:15):
things that the average personthey're not even aware of.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I get that most people aren't, are not even you
know, they don't know about themoisture density and all of
these things you're talkingabout, which you said something
you hit on that's reallyimportant early on and you said
I don't, I'm not good atinsurance.
I'm good at a lot of things,but I'm not good at insurance.
So I go to an insurance agentto help me with insurance.
Right, I'm not good at selling,I'm not good at insurance.
(22:42):
I'm good at a lot of things,but I'm not good at insurance.
So I go to an insurance agentto help me with insurance.
I'm not good at selling.
I'm not good at selling myrealtor, so I go to my pro.
I sell in real estate.
I can redevelopment, but hey, Igot my people that sell them
for me.
I got a property management,but I got an expert that manages
my properties.
So you hit on that, which leadson to mentorship and early on
(23:04):
the discussion you said you hadgreat mentors and here in this
podcast we believe in mentorship.
We have a community, we have aprivate community where I mentor
people and I teach people and Icoach them on mindset and I
coach them on how to get theirfirst deal and how to create
wealth through real estateinvesting.
In fact, mindset and I coachthem on how to get their first
deal and how to create wealththrough real estate investing.
In fact, that event that youguys sponsored, that Design
Kitchen sponsored, is exactlythat how to become.
(23:27):
We're going to be talking abouthow to become financially free
in under three years throughreal estate investing.
By the way, if you guys, ifyou're listening or watching
this, make sure you go towealthyafai register.
Design Kitchen, performanceKitchen is the sponsor of that.
But mentorship I want to talkabout mentorship.
Mentorship has clearly been asignificant part of your life.
(23:48):
Please talk about that.
How did your mentors shape yourjourney?
Because we can't do thiswithout mentors.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
I have had mentors.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I still have mentors.
Please tell us on that.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Well, that's one of my favorite topics but if you
wouldn't mind, I just want todigress a little bit to
something that I might havemisled or not been real clear on
the importance of having aprofessional lay your house
floor plan out, as opposed tothe realtor or the contractor or
(24:23):
someone who says they're akitchen expert doing that.
It's a hard thing for people tolet go of.
It doesn't cost a lot of money,but you can get a lot more for
that real estate without havingto put the most expensive
cabinetry in there.
We have very modest.
We don't sell things that arejunk or service issues and all
(24:45):
of our cabinetry even our lowerprice has a baked top coat which
is a conversion varnishaccelerated by heat.
That's very unusual today.
I can talk about that later ifyou want.
But I don't want to get awayfrom your real topic, which is
the mentorship.
But I didn't want to skip overthat part that I left out
because it just sounds kind oflike well, everybody knows you
(25:08):
do a new kitchen, you sell thehouse for more money.
No, it's not that simplistic.
If you follow the rules of thegold standard in kitchen design,
you are guaranteed to get topdollar for that.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
You want to move in it yourself.
It's so fun.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Okay, before you answer that mentorship question,
give me three of the goldenrule standard for top kitchen to
guarantee that return on yourmoney.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Okay, it's very easy.
I don't have any visual aidsbecause I'm not looking at this
as a sales tool, but theperformance logo is comprised of
a diamond with a circle aroundit and the diamond represents
the four elements of design inthe order that it must be
approached.
It must be approachedarchitecturally.
(26:01):
How does that space in thekitchen relate to the rest of
the architecture of the home?
It must be looked at in thecabinetry layout.
How does that cabinetryspecification fit the space that
you've dedicated in thatarchitectural design?
(26:24):
The third part is the interiordesign, which is where everybody
wants to start the process,which is totally inappropriate,
and that is the cohesiveness ofthe dissimilar materials and the
decorative items that make upthe kitchen.
Very important, very personal.
(26:44):
Everybody wants to talk aboutit.
But if you don't start witharchitectural design, move into
your cabinetry design and theninto your interior design, you
cannot enter the fourth elementof the design diamond and that
is your lighting design.
You need to have a combinationof peripheral lighting, task
lighting and decorative lightingso that you're not following
(27:05):
shadows of yourself around Toconstantly be saying I need more
windows or my kitchen's dark orwhatever just says you have an
inappropriate lighting plan.
Number one and number two.
You're not aware that you'renot only in your kitchen in the
daytime, you're actually inthere in the nighttime.
So it's very, very importantthat you pull this all together.
(27:27):
And that's what the circle isthat goes around the diamond.
That circle represents the goldstandard of kitchen design in
the design management.
How do you make a design thatwill be orchestrated so that
it's done with the intentionthat it was designed?
(27:51):
How many times do you hear well, the carpenter just cut that
filler down and moved it over,and now it doesn't work down
here.
It says right on our plans, ina big plan, with a saw blade,
with a line going through it, nochanges, called performance.
They may not think of all theintricacies or the domino effect
of changing one little thing.
(28:13):
They may have decided to packout a wall to get rid of a pipe
chase and not realize that itpushed their minimal space
between their opposing countersdown to a space that it's not
comfortable to have someonesitting in an island and someone
walking behind it.
This is all part of that extralittle special gold standard of
(28:35):
design.
This is what maybe someday I'llwrite a book about when I feel
like.
But I learned my lesson of ofover-educating too soon.
People have to like you andwhat you have and they have to
understand the value of yourcabinetry.
So I feel unfair that I'm notanswering.
I don't want to, I don't wantto, I don't want to um no, this
(28:55):
was a great answer.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
I mean, this is one of my main takeaways.
This is really good stuff.
It's showcasing excellence.
What I'm seeing here, what I'mgathering, is showcasing what
excellence looks like and partof my.
One of my core values isexcellence right, Live life with
excellence and run my businesswith excellence.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Well, you're going to love this.
You're going to love this story, then, because this is I do not
have the visual, maybe Quinncould pull it up.
Maybe you'll tell me it'sirrelevant.
In my office, in two placesthere's a placard of dedication
and it says something like I'mjust paraphrasing fundraising.
(29:49):
These are the five mentors whoestablished the DNA of every
performance kitchen as far asquality and adding value to the
home, something like that.
It shows five pictures of fivepeople who I had no idea at the
time.
I was in the company of legends.
I was 20-something years old.
George Nakashima, the father ofmodern furniture, was a friend
of a friend of mine who was atree, an arborist, and in my
(30:15):
struggle to have diversifiedincome, I worked as a tree
arborist and I actually built myown sawmill.
I took the walnut, which wasGeorge Nakashima's favorite wood
, and took a suburban home andleveled the house and built a
(30:37):
whole acre of wood just curingso that he could use it.
He taught me how to read thegrain so that he could take what
he called flitches and turnthese beautiful slabs of nature
into furniture.
Now that his dining room tablesafter his death are worth
$30,000 to $60,000.
It's beautiful and they arewith my wood.
(31:00):
I cut that wood.
It's very.
I didn't know at the time, Ididn't know that I was one of
the few people who was ever evenallowed in his shop, let alone
supplying him his wood.
And it all happened because myfriend was a tree cutter and had
no artistic inclinationwhatsoever.
And every time I cut a tree Iwent do you smell that
(31:23):
inclination whatsoever?
And every time I cut a tree Iwent do you smell that?
Oh my god, do you look at thatgrain?
You thought I was crazy.
You just want to cut it up,make it into firewood.
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
So this is, um, that was so what impact, what impact
did that mentor have on youearly on?
You're a 26 year old kid andand you're an artist, obviously,
obviously, and you have this,you have this passion and this,
you know, this drive forexcellence.
How did that relationship withhim have an impact on you and
(31:51):
your success today?
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Right, Well, as I said earlier, I was a member of
the Pennsylvania Guild ofCraftsmen and one of my goals
was to build.
I was always into repurposingthings.
I would find an old dining roomset of chairs, but the backs
(32:16):
were all hand-carved, so I wouldtake all the backs together and
alternate the curves one afterthe other and make something to
hang your blanket at the end ofyour bed or some weird thing
that I creation.
That you know, only one personsaw art in.
It was willing to pay.
Needless to say, I couldn't verywell make a living.
I was a very happy starvingartist.
(32:37):
To pay, needless to say, Icouldn't very well make a living
.
I was a very happy starvingartist, but somewhere my more
materialistic gene and need forresponsibility overshadowed it.
But you know, I never reallylost that thing.
And after George Nakashimathere were four other.
I don't know if you want me toget into them, but they were
just as remarkable of people andI'm sure everyone has some
(33:02):
connection to one of the fivepeople who helped me become
Performance Kitchens at Home andestablish the gold standard in
kitchen design.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I love that.
Well, thank you so much.
We are out of time, brian,thank you so much.
I'd love to have you come much.
We are out of time, brian,thank you so much.
I'd love to have you come back.
We're out of time today, butyou shared so much wisdom, so
excellence just literally shinesthrough your words and I can
see it in your spirit, in youreyes.
For those that are not watchinghim, but I'm telling you, I can
(33:35):
see the excellence just comeout of his eyes.
It's just man, he's passionateabout this stuff and it's
obvious that he knows this stuff.
So I want to share with you andthe audience just a few other
pointers and some of mytakeaways here, and there's
plenty of them more.
But you started with hard work.
The harder you work, theluckier you get.
(33:55):
Great.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Absolutely, I believe it.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Hard work.
The harder you work, theluckier you get Great.
Absolutely, I believe it Right.
You also said you didn't alwaysmake money.
Your motivation, solving theproblem, has always been your
motivation.
So solving, amen, amen, focuson that, the money will come.
And the biggest things I gotfrom this one was the following
(34:18):
your rules and I don't rememberwhat you called it, but it was,
architecturally the diamond andthe circle which was following
the rules of excellence, I think, is in a kitchen which is
architectural design, cabinetrylayout, interior design and
lighting design.
Man, these are things that as aconsumer, just a regular
consumer, even as a redeveloper,developer, I don't think about.
(34:42):
I really am not thinking aboutthese things.
I'm looking at, like you said,like everyone else, let's go
into the design.
We want this here, this there,this there, this here, this
there, and voila, it's doneright, it looks pretty and it
looks good.
But, man, you really this iswhat I'm talking about
excellence, you really hiringyour company really takes it to
(35:03):
another level.
So, for those investors, or eventhose that are here listening,
and you really want a kitchendone right, man, they got to
reach out to you.
How do they reach out to you,brian?
Where can they find you?
What's your to you?
How do they reach out to you,brian?
Where can they find you?
What's your website?
How do they call you?
Because I'm sure uh, I'll tellyou this my next kitchen,
(35:24):
brother, you guys are designingfor me I assure you that I look
forward my next kitchen.
My next kitchen you guys aredesigning for me.
I'm not going to home depot oror any of these other places.
Uh, you guys are designing mynext kitchen, so where do people
find you?
How can they connect with you?
Speaker 2 (35:42):
well, the the easiest thing is, if you forget, like I
do, is just to google search.
You know, uh kitchens,philadelphia, or the little town
that we're in, which istechnically still philadelphia.
Um is manioc m-a-n-A-Y-U-N-K,and we so
kitchensphiladelphiacom.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
is that what we're looking for?
What's the website?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
The website is performancekitchenscom.
Speaker (36:12):
Performancekitchenscom .
So look upperformancekitchenscom,
performancekitchenscom.
You can look up Brian Foreman,performancekitchenscom,
performancekitchenscom.
You can look up Brian Foreman,performancekitchenscom, and you
can connect.
Are your socials all on there,your social media platforms, so
people can see the kind ofworkmanship you?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
guys are doing yeah, and our phone number is real
easy to remember.
It's 4 times 2 is how Iremember it, so it's 482-07 0700
, it's pretty easy 482 0700 areacode erica 215 215, area code
482 0700 right, okay, perfect,we did.
(36:51):
You know we have people who'vecome to us and then they've
moved to to colorado or japanand once they go views us, they
don't want to go anywhere else,and I drop ship um a tractor
trailer a month.
So it's not.
It doesn't even cost more to doit the right way, so that's not
an issue.
Don't think you need to buy itfrom the local lumber yard or
(37:15):
something like that.
It's's not the case.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
That's amazing.
Well, thank you so much, brian.
It's been my pleasure, my honor, to have you here, and thank
you for sharing all your wisdomand all of your experience.
It has been certainly mypleasure, sir.
Thank you very, very much.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And thank you for being so easy to talk to.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
You're welcome.
Thank you for coming.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Thank you.
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