Anna Vocino Returns! - Actress (Dead Poets Society) / Food Entrepreneur (Eat Happy) - Fascination Street

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Bo Donaldson and you're listening to Fascination Street Podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah. Yes, the ampe Audio visual down the most into
rectal street in the world with my voice d Fascination
Street already. No, let's get it when you wait for
the fastest street. Welcome back, Street Walkers. This is a
return appearance. That's right, the lovely and talented Anna Vacchino.

(00:33):
She came back on. She originally came on the first
time back in June of twenty twenty two, where we
had a blast. I recently listened to that episode to
prepare for this one and kind of make sure we
didn't talk about the same stuff, and I could not
stop laughing. We had so much fun in that first episode.
I think you should go check it out. But in

(00:54):
this episode we talk about different things. We touched a
little bit on Anna's acting career. She in the movie
Dead Poet Society, so she tell us about that experience
and what that did for her and kind of getting
a glance behind the scenes, plus getting to hang out
a little bit with the great late Robin Williams. Speaking
of Robin Williams, she also was in the television show

(01:16):
The Crazy Ones, which was a Robin Williams television show.
It was one of the last things, if not the
last thing that he did well project that he did
before he passed. It was a fantastic show. So we
talked a little bit about her experience on that. We
talk about one or two of her other previous acting projects.
We talk a little bit about some of her health issues.

(01:38):
She's fine, but she has had to deal along the
way with Celiac disease and then some other new, cool,
fun thing that she got to deal with a couple
of years ago. So we talked a little bit about
that and how she's coping with those things and what
those things even mean. She makes a fun phone call
to see if she is still the voice of a
company's phone tree she did a while back. She's a

(02:01):
voiceover actress as well. Annaviacino has three cookbooks that you
can buy and a fourth one that is on the way.
It should be released around October of twenty twenty six.
Annaviacino's Eat Happy Kitchen is the go to place for
four of the best pasta sauces you can buy on
a shelf, and there's also a fifth one which is seasonal.

(02:24):
There's four different dust mixes which are like spice blends
that she sells, and the newest addition to the Eat
Happy Kitchen product line, cheese Bytes. We talk all about
the cheese bytes. We talk a bit about the sauces,
some of the dusts. We talk about the grocery stores
that her products are in, and some of the behind
the scenes machinations about getting into a grocery store. We

(02:44):
team up together to offer a very exclusive deal on
her website, eat Happy Kitchen dot com for my listeners,
the street walkers. It is an unbelievable deal. And by unbelievable,
I mean you won't believe the deal. You can catch
Annavacchino everywhere you get podcasts as the co host on
Vinnie twitter Rich's Fitness Confidential. And this is my second

(03:06):
conversation with the ever charming and witty Anna Vicino. Forgreta
be faffinating. Forgretta, be fascinating. Forgreta be facinating. Is that
one of those oh wala, oh wala, what is your

(03:27):
bottle there?

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yes, my daughter gave it to me for Christmas. I
love this thing.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
My wife's friend, our neighbor, she gave my wife one
for Christmas and it is her fucking favorite thing ever.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
It's my favorite.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
She loves it so much.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
I sip out of it like a sippy cup, like
a little bee.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I liked it. It's got that little straw thing, you
know what I mean. Oh, that's so dope.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
You don't have to do. Oh that's so much work
you just do.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I know, I don't have to. Look, I'm not trying
to work out here. Okay, unless it's a beer, I'm
not doing curls. Okay, all right? Are you ready?

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Welcome back to Fascination Street Podcasts. Anna Achina, what's up?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Thanks for having me, Steve.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
It is one hunder sent my pleasure. I'm gonna try
out a couple of different intros. Okay, are you ready?

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Welcome to Fascination Street Podcasts, the only podcast that is
certified Keto. Will also being brought to you by Post Them.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Oh I hope you're cashing them post them checks.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Okay, No, not that one, Okay, okay, all right, how
about this one? Welcome back to Fascination Street podcast The
only person who has ever admitted on this show that
they got diarrhea during the l side exam.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Kids come back, Don't eat a McMuffin before you take
a standardized test that may determine your future. If I
could teach the world anything that's my legacy that I
leave I've done a good job. You know.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
When you were on the show the first time, which
came out in June third, thirteenth, twenty twenty two, you
said the exact same thing. You said, kids, if I
leave you with anything, don't eat an egg McMuffin right
before and then I said, or just don't eat an
ad McMuffin. How about that, don't eat that.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
I don't know. I can't. I don't like, I'm not
going to police people's food like that.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
You know. That's one of the things that I love
about you and our dear mutual fan, Vincent. Yeah, like
I read it on Somebody Wants to Vinnie. I was like, Ooh,
look at this dude, your friend. Look at this dude.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
Ooo.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
He ate French fries.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Well, it was like he got a He was eating
like a burrito of French fries and he wrapped it
in like a frozen pizza. I was just eating it
like that, And I was like, ooh, I'm telling Vinnie,
And I told Vinny and.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Vinnie immediately tattletale.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Vinny goes, Steve, what the fuck? Like I don't care?
Like that's he goes, I'm not the police, like I
don't right, So welcome back Anna, Anna, Anna, Anna.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Just regularly a boring, regular young Anna.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
How about that?

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Thank you so?

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Like I said tree Walkers, Anna was on six thirteen,
twenty two. It was so much fun, I was telling
Anna before the show started, before he record, I had
so much fun listening back to it the other day.
Oh good to prepare for this, and I recommend er
body in the club go check that out because it

(06:27):
was so much fun. I could not stop laughing. It
was a blast. Wow.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
How do we top that? You're kind of setting expectations high.
I would like to lower our expectation. Everyone collectively take
a breath, and we lower our expectations with our exlt.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Okay, well, Anna's got three cookbooks, some meat happy stuff
and some sauces. Yeah, thanks for stopping by. We'll say
you later. Okay. Look, yeah, we're going to talk about
a lot of things today. Okay, some of which we
probably did talk about last time, but that's okay, because
we're gonna do this last time. You were on the show.
You were explaining that you kind of I don't know,

(07:03):
were born in for the most part, raised in the
DC Virginia area or something like that.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
The DMV.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, yes, the DMP.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Do you see Maryland, Virginia.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I went
on a vacation to go meet some friends. Do you
listen to country music? Do you listen to Casey Musgraves?
I don't even know.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
She's twantrainamore now now.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
So she has a song called dinner with friends in
cities where none of us live. And so we did that.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Some of our friends who live in Charlotte, they said
where did we all want to go? And I was like,
I want to eat crab in Maryland And they were like, okay,
let's go to Maryland. Great. So this is what we did.
We flew into wherever and we went to Colonial Williamsburg
in Virginia.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Okay, good job.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
That was a blast, Oh my god, it aw flew
me away from there. We went to Annapolis, Maryland. Right, great, well,
so blast. I ate all of the seafood perfect. I
felt like the cities were going to ask me to
write a letter of apology to the rest of the
citizens because I ate all of them.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
It was encouraged.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
It was great. But one of the things that I
got to hear a lot of and have explained it
to me was something that you had talked about on
our show on our episode, and I didn't even remember it,
like it was all brand new to me three weeks ago,
and then when I heard it again listening back, I
felt like a complete ass. You talked about the del
Marva accent. Yeah, what's the del marv accent.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
Going down the ocean? Hun, it's a very dip bong. Oh,
it's almost Philly, but it's not well Philly does it?
But they say use But to be honest with you,
my grandfather who was raised in the Outer Banks of
North Carolina and then lived in Norfolk, So we would
always go down to my grandparents and go to Colonel Williamsburg.

(08:48):
We had to go on school field trips. But then
also I just lived that life because I was always
with my grandparents. He said, like go out in the boat.
In the boat. I was always confused by that because
I always thought that was a Canadian accent. My mother
had to explain that that's just tidewater coastal splendiferousness.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Ladies and gentlemen, this episode is brought to you by
the word splendid.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
Splendiferous.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
So, yeah, we had a blast. And the dol Marbo
accent was.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
Was it in full effect?

Speaker 2 (09:16):
It was on full display as a matter of fact.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Good And what are my people represented?

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Oh boy did they They brought it great?

Speaker 3 (09:25):
And did you go down the ocean? Hunh.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
So you're familiar with the area. There's a place called
Chinkatigue in act.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
And so we used to like saying Actigue when we
were a little really act as.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
I just kept saying cheek to ass, cheek to ass. Yeah,
it made me giggle because I'm twelve. So listeners who
are unfamiliar as I was, Chinkatig is on the coast
and Acetik is an island, and then there's these wild
horses that live on the island and they swim back
and forth, the ponies.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
The fun fact. One of my favorite books as a
child was Misty of chinkatigu one about one of the horses.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, let me tell you what. The local movie house
was playing that film. Oh my god, it was the
only film they were playing it was that film.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
That's all they play.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
It's everywhere.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
That's the only copy they have now.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Misty is not to be confused with Monty, which is
a book that is written by our friend.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Different horse. That's a Kentucky horse. It is.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Okay, Anna, you're neat like tidy or no, oh, you're
definitely not tidy. But you're a lot of fun. You're
the bees knees, as we say in the business.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Thank you. I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
I have a lot of questions for you. Okay, so
we're going to go all over the place. All right.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Were you actually in the movie Dead Poet Society? Or
you just hung out on set pass?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I was in the movie you can see me. I'm
this big. That's little, yeah, quite little. I was an
extra and I worked for a few weeks on the
movie because it filmed at my boarding school into Delaware.
I was fifteen and a half and we sat around
eating donuts and smoking cigarettes and got paid forty dollars
a day as an extra.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Now, not to timestamp this, but forty dollars a day
during those days.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Whenever they film did posts a side, it was at eighty.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Eight sure, fifteen dollars a day in the late eighties,
when you're fifteen years old, that's like a million dollars
a day.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oh, it's the most money I had ever seen or
could conceive of. So at the end of the week,
having a couple hundred bucks, when usually like I would
do summer jobs and I would save specifically nine hundred
dollars and I would have a budget of one hundred
dollars a month, and that could be all of my
going out or spending money for the entire month. So
if I went to Georgia's to get a cheese steak,

(11:46):
it had to be like a once a week thing
because the cheese steak was like three point fifty and
I had to like, sure, you know what I mean
to walk away with a week's pay of a couple
hundred bucks.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
So tell me about the experience if actually, I'm assuming
that was your first entree into the on televisions.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
Yes, and it was the first time I'd ever been
on a set, a movie set, you know, working as
an extra fabulous way to learn how movie sets work.
It was also this is something I've never talked about.
Oh my god, you get it out of me. Laura
Flynn Boyle. It was one of her first roles. She
wound up getting cut out of it, or was only
in it for like a second. She played one of
the girls doing the Midsummer Night's Dream. Okay, I know

(12:23):
that's a deep cut. I know that's not a popular
movie to watch it out, but it is a class movie.
Maybe some people have seen it. But she wound up
kind of getting cut out of it. She was so
rude to everybody. Really, I couldn't believe it. Yeah, and
I was upset because I think I saw her in
something like she had already been in Twin Peaks or something.
So we were all excited that she was there because
it was like her first movie to do, and back

(12:43):
then it was a big deal to be a TV
person who then got to do a movie because back
then there was no crossover sure, either a movie person
or TV person. But anyway, if the timeline serves me right,
I was excited.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
That is lots of fun.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Or she was an unknown and I can't remember. It
was so long ago, but regardless, she was very rude.
Everybody else was very nice top to bottom. So I
thought to myself, you get to sit around all day
and then you get to go do some lines. Now,
the boys at my school had opportunities for speaking roles.
The girls really didn't.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, it's kind of a boys movie.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, yeah, it's set it at a boys' school. That
was fun to then be able to see the movie
and see all my friends.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
When's the last time you watched it?

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Oh gosh, probably a long time ago.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
You should watch it again.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
It holds up, yeah, it does. And Robin Williams is
a delight. And of course we cornered him, and I
was in the concert choir at the time, and four
of us cornered him and sang him some sort of
song in four part harmony a cappella, and he listened
very sweetly and intently. And then when I worked on
the other ones in twenty.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Ten, I believe the crazy ones.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
To the crazy ones, sorry, in twenty ten, twenty twelve,
twenty thirteen, somewhere in there twenty fourteen, I don't remember. Years.
I told him that story, and we talked about his
experience in shooting Dead po Society, and he was very
lovely about it. He didn't remember that, of course, he
obviously remember shooting Dead Poets Society.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
He was on a ton of drugs back then, so
he wouldn't remember anything. Hey, here's a question for you. Now.
I watched Crazy Ones. Yeah, I loved it. I thought
it was a delightful, delightful TV show.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Great.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
I think it only lasted one season? Is that right?

Speaker 3 (14:17):
To one season? Two seasons? It was short lived, great cast.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
It was too short. It was barely finding its legs
when they sliced it, and it broke my heart. Now
this may sound gross, but there's some bookend things going
on here. So your first experience on a set was
with Robin Williams, and his last experience on his set
was with you.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
What's the common denominator?

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Because that was the last thing he did, right.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
I think it was, Yeah, he was. I think it
was shortly after It.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Was so shortly after that.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
In my head, maybe that's why it was only one season,
because it was so shortly after the first season air.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
No, it got canceled before it did passed. Yeah, it
did because in my head back then, in my head,
I was like, you know, we just we don't know,
so we just make sit up. I was like, oh,
they canceled it, and so that's why he committed himself
that way. No, but that's that's not what happened. But
in my head, that's how that's why I know that
it was before because I associated those two things incorrectly.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
I might head by the way, I was only on
set for a week shooting, and it was a big
guest cast because it was what's his name, six sisters
who were overbearing, and I was one of the six sisters.
And Robin Williams is so lovely, and he hung out
on set, he stayed there, he talked to like he
he was shepherding and mentoring people, because it's really hard
to guess on a show that's not yours, where everybody

(15:39):
knows each other, they have a short end, and he
just went out of his way to make everybody feel
so comfortable. You don't see that very often when you're
guesting on someone's show. And so to me, he was
as lovely as any human could be.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
So I have heard that, like when people are guesting
on a show, like sometimes they were explicitly told if
it's not in the script that you're talking to any
of these people, no, don't talk to any of these people.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah no, I mean every set's different, every show is different,
but yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well that was a lovely John tomber Lane, thank you.
I love that movie. Depot Society me too. And like
I said, I loved the Crazy Ones. That was appointment
television for me. I loved it so much.

Speaker 5 (16:23):
Hey, street Walkers, here's a word from our sponsors. Let's
get back into it.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
Tell me about k Bob FM cabom. I just always
think of the way Lancecrawl says it. Gosh, I've been
trying to get that band back together because I just
feel like, why not do it now?

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Was Brian Husky on that Brian.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Husky was on that My boy Baruski. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
I reached out to him a couple of days ago
and I was like, hey, man, come be on my
show and he was like, okay, oh good. Well I
don't know if it's going to happen, because that was.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
Did you telling you know me? No?

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I didn't. I don't. Look. I try not to pull
rank around here.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
No, you should and tell him. I said, Hi, I
love that man. By the way, you have to get
back to me, because Anna said, Brian Husky is a delight.
He's a national treasure. He's the man who's been in
every damn show and people don't even know. They don't
even know. You break your fingers scrolling through his IMDb.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Everything from the Sonic commercials to veep.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Oh he's fabulous.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Okay, So tell me about K bomb who?

Speaker 3 (17:32):
What do you want to know about it?

Speaker 2 (17:34):
What was it? Look? I know you and I are
just having a conversation, but there's millions of people who
are listening, going what the fuck is K bomb?

Speaker 3 (17:41):
K Bomb FM is a fictional radio station based loosely
on k Rock, a famous real radio station in Los Angeles.
K Bomb FM was the radio station as that was
the workplace location, comedy location of a free radio, a
show that I was on in twenty seven and twenty eight, so.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
It was called free Radio. This was a VH one show.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
It was on VH one and then it ran on
Comedy Central as well two thousand and nine.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
That ran for two seasons, two seasons, and then you
killed it and it.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Had the weirdest ending because we didn't know if we
were getting renewed, so we're like, let's make it weird.
So if you were to go back and watch it,
which I don't believe you can, you will see a
weird ending.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
So y'all did it weirder. So how was the show?
Was it improv was a lot of an improv was it?
I scripted? What was the show?

Speaker 3 (18:32):
Like? So? Lance and my husband Lauren, and then sometimes
we had a couple of other writers.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Lauren Green. We talked about this, Lauren Green, Lauren Michaels,
go ahead.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Lauren, that's right, lauren' Tarkwordio Green. Lauren and Lance for
the most part, and then like David Hornsby came in
for season one Jackie Oh my god, I can't remember
her name. She's so fantastic too. O Nassas Jacqueline O
Nassis came back from the dead, and she's very funny
as a ghost, by the way, hilarious. I mean to
lose exactly she came to play. It was written in

(19:08):
the sense that we needed to have a character arc
for the season for all the characters. We needed to
tell a story of this workplace comedy. We needed to
get from A to B and so that part was
all scripted. Behind the scenes was all scripted. What was improvised.
We would tell the celebrit so it was a fictional
radio station, but the celebrities would come on to the
show playing themselves. And the only thing we would do

(19:29):
to prep them was to say, hey, just treat this
how you would treat any radio station interview that was
probably not great and went awry, maybe the worst one
you've ever been on. I've done some radio things where
I'm like, Okay, this went off the rails. But obviously
free radio for comedic purposes must go off the rails
because that's what we're there for to entertain. So we

(19:49):
would tell the celebrities, hey, listen, if you would get mad,
get mad, if you would you know, freak out, freak out,
if you would get quiet, however you want to react
or call somebody out like a fine anything goes. And
then if we needed to reshoot some things, we'd reshoot
some things. There would be certain story points within the
improv that we would have to get to, and then
certain things like there is a story point where Lance

(20:11):
adopts a dog, but it turns out he actually stole
it from a homeless guy and the dog is a
humping issue, and we were having John Stamos on that episode,
and we talk about how hot John Stamos is. We
wanted to ask John Stamos, would he be okay if
we the dog, because the dog could hump on command
with the trainer there would it be okay if the

(20:32):
dog humps John Stamos's leg because he's so hot.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
The dog as an actor.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
The dog is an actor, yes, but he only can
do it like two or three times and then he's
so we didn't want to ask John Stamos from the jump, like,
we got to make sure that like he's cool with,
like he's enjoying himself on set, YadA YadA, And he
did and he allowed that to happen. And so our
dog violated John Stamos and it was very.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Funny, unrelated. Right after he filmed that oh No episode,
John Stamos went and did yogurt commercial. It was so weird.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
He's Greek. I mean, by the way he did that show.
John Stamos did the show because our director is Greek.
Do you know this about the Greek people, They're the
most tight knit community. They're amazing. The only reason that
show even went anywhere and did anything was because of
the Greeks. I love the Greeks and the Italians, and
the Greeks traditionally have beef, not me. I love the

(21:29):
Greeks well.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Traditionally the Greeks have lamb.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
Thank you for making it welcome.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
I did not know that. Yeah about the tight knitness
of the Greek community.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
The Greeks they have their own like media publication, Like
they'll say like, hey, this guy is doing this thing,
and then the Greeks will all turn up for it.
It's an amazing community. I love the Greeks.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
So do you hear that? John SteamOS, I'm Greek. Come
on the show. Remember I told you my wife and
I went to visit some friends and cities where none
of us live. Yeah, the wife of that couple, she's Greek.
The only restaurant that we went to that wasn't wall
to wall seafood was a Greek restaurant and it was awesome.
She got to pronounce everything for me. It was so fun.

(22:15):
She got to recommend stuff. Oh ahead, a blast, that's great.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
The Greeks are intense, they are for real, they are legit.
I love the Greeks, and the food is amazing.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Oh for sure. I don't understand why anybody would be
a political consultant for one day, much less eight years.
And the fact that you had to learn a whole
section of the law in order to take that job.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
We didn't talk about this the last time.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
We did a little bit, but I just want that face.
She's not excited about talking about this one.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
I don't like this topic.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Well guess what. We don't talk about politics. We're moving
right out. Yeah, pass, I really am going to pass.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
I love that you're actually passing.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
I really am.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
I mean, no, I'll talk about it, it's fine.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
I just hate politics. It just seems so weird.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Here's why I don't like talking about it. People don't
want to hear anything. And I'm not even getting political.
What they don't want to hear is they want to
believe that everything on their side is pure and good
and correct and lovely. And I'm here to tell you
that was not my experience on either side. It's showbiz, baby,
and I don't like it and I did not enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Well good, you get to peek behind the curtain on
that I did. That sucks. Yeah, that really must have
fucking changed your worldview.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
It did. And I think that because all of my
family works in politics or policy or government job, you
know what I mean. I'm from that area. It's a
one horse town. Even my dad, who doesn't live there,
is a professor of political science and public administration. My
family's ensconced in public service and doing the whole thing,
and it's great. Why I don't know, that's what they

(23:51):
like to do. I don't know. I like to do
the funny voices. Who knows. I don't know why I
was born that way to these people who actually do
nice things for other people. But I got involved in
the actual political campaign side, doing campaign finance reporting, and
it was a wonderful day job to be able to
pay the bills and go on on his auditions and
build my career. But it wasn't something for me that
was going to be sustainable long term, and I just

(24:13):
I didn't like it. I developed resentment lumps.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
I'm glad you brought that up. Last time you were
on the show, we talked about resentment lumps.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, don't ever do something that develops resentment lumps. Folks.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
We're not really going to go into that, but you
can go you listeners can go back and listen to
it because it is the most bizarre and intriguing thing
ever about it in a while.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
That's my theory. I'm a doctor. I'm a doctor of
resentment lumps.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Since we spoke last. Have you had any more resentment
lumps since then? And also no part B of this question.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Maybe it's a full hysterectomy count as a resentment.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
No, that means they broke the mold.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
They just cracked me in half, took out the Yeah,
back to.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
My mom had one of those after I was born,
and I always after they made me, they broke them old.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
They broke them old.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
So did Vinnie moving twenty six hundred miles away from
you give you new resentment loves?

Speaker 3 (25:09):
No, not at all. I love that for him, especially
because he's living in one of my favorite places in
the world, and I know he's really happy there. Why
would Vinnie moving give me resentment lumps.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Because he moved away from you, It gave me resentment lumps,
and he actually moved closer to me. I think.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
No. Resentment lumps have to be when you're doing something
so out of alignment with who you are as a
person that you're creating unrest within your body. Listen, somebody
could be doing politics and they love it so much.
It's not creating resentment lumps. But if you're doing something
that's so out of alignment with where your heart is
you will create sickness in your body. That's my theory.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Speaking of sickness in your body. Feel free to pass.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
However pass I love to pass. It's like canceling plans.
I'm going to cancel this podcast.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
We're going to get canceled. Best thing that ever happen
to us. A couple of months ago, you got diagnosed
with yet another autoimmune disease. Care to share with.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
The class A couple of years? Yes?

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Was it a couple of years?

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Yeah? I was diagnosed with celiac in two thousand and two.
And the only known not cure, but way to maintain
it is to not have gluten. So just don't have
gluten and it won't inflame your immune system and everything
will be fine. Right, Well, it's not. When you have
autoimmune sometimes you're prone to get other autoimmune diseases. And
sure enough, I had my routine colonoscopy and they tacked

(26:31):
on an endoscopy. They don't do it at the same
time in both ends. Sure they don't do it at
the same time. However, they said, we can give you
one of the awls like demaroll or propo fall. I
don't know one of the opioid based things. And I
said to them that those, first of all, they don't
work on me, and I don't like the side effects.
You don't need to do it. I'll just be awake.
And they're like, ma'am, we need you to not be awake,

(26:53):
and I was like, ma'am, I'm going to be awake,
and so I was so during the colonoscopy portion.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
So you are awake for both of them.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Yeah, I've been awake for two out of my fouri endoscopies.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
What about your hysterectomy? Were you awake with that? No?

Speaker 3 (27:08):
Thank god, thank god? WHOA, that was a tough one.
That was a tough one. No, I'm glad I was
not awake for that. But I was awake for the
colonoscopy and I did the whole fasting thing. So the
thing that got me was that I made the guy
turn the TV screen around because I wanted to see
what he was looking at. Ask him questions. I'm awake,
let's do this. He was visibly annoyed.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
He was just watching free radio on VH one.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
He's trying to watch his stories and I'm all like,
how does my co and look is it pink? But anyway,
so they said, the good news is your celiac is
completely real, like the damage from your celiac is completely reversed.
And I didn't. I wasn't surprised at that. I not
only eat gluten free, I eat grain free. You know,
we're not I don't even do it. And even if

(27:54):
there's some cross contamination, it's not enough to where there's
damage in my system. But he says, the best news
is you developed a second autommune disease called lucacidic colitis,
which just means an inflammation of the colon where there
happened to be white blood cells present. They don't know why,
they don't know what the white blood cells are fighting.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
That's what lucacidic means, right, it means white blood cells.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Lucasidic just means presence of white blood cells, which means
it's fighting off some sort of infection. But you're not infected.
It's the body fighting itself. And I said okay, and
he goes, well, if you get really bad diarrhea, call
this and we'll call in steroids. And I was like,
oh yeah, I'm not going to do that.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Okay, So why do you have an aversion to steroids?
I got to know this. I already talk about it once.
Why no steroids.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
I don't have an aversion to steroids. Here's where I said.
I said, oky, yeah, yeah, that's fine. Send me the prescription.
I'll just fill it and i'll have it so if
I have like a bad episode or whatever, I'll take it.
I am not opposed to taking steroids. I had to
take steroids when I was voicing NBC and I got
the first round of COVID that I got. I got omicron,
and so I had to take steroids in order to

(28:56):
be able to speak. Because in my business, if you're
not available, somebody else takes your And I was like,
not on my watch. They have to fire me or
kill me. So I had no problem taking steroids. I'm
not opposed to steroids. But what the doctor said is
the course of steroids. It's a seven to twelve week
long course of steroids.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Jesus Christ.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
And I was like, oh that I'm not gonna do.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
That's a lot of steroids. Wow, Okay.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
So I don't think I've had any flare ups since then.
I think I've been fine.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Who would know if not you?

Speaker 3 (29:28):
I don't think so. But I'm like Is it my diet,
is it my lifestyle? Is it the fact that I
had a hysterectomy and I got a bunch of bad
stuff out of there that read I don't know. I
don't know, honestly, I do know that if you need answers,
you have to keep looking for them. So if that's
something that's an issue, because I know a lot of
people suffer from IBS, Crohn's disease, colitis, sebow se, diff

(29:49):
all the things. There's a lot of gut issues and
they're really debilitating for people. So I don't blame them
if they have to take a seven week course of steroids,
but it wasn't for me.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Cool. Well, thank you for sharing. I appreciate your candor.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Thank you for allowing me to explain lucasidcolitis to the world.

Speaker 5 (30:07):
Oh sure, Hey, street walkers, here's a word from our
sponsors warning.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
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Side effects may include sudden events of boredom, irrational curiosity
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Chronic seriousness with no trace of laughter or delight, unexplainable

(30:38):
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Speaker 2 (30:42):
Lead to wandering aimlessly through podcast apps, overexposure to true
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If you find yourself experiencing any of these symptoms, stop
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Speaker 5 (30:56):
Let's get back into it.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Now. You mentioned that, for at least a time, you
were the female voice of NBC. Are you still Do.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
You hear any women on that network?

Speaker 2 (31:11):
I don't have regular TV.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
The answer is no, you do not.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Oh you don't. Nice? And now I know that at
one time you were also the voice for Belk department stores.
Are you used to?

Speaker 3 (31:22):
I no, No, that was years ago, like in store
announcements or the Belk one day SEALEU. Oh okay, I
still do right rug flooring and they have the music rights.
Did the Jesus Jones right here, right now? Song?

Speaker 2 (31:39):
WHOA what did that cost?

Speaker 3 (31:41):
I know? I was like, I feel like that would
be expensive.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, I feel like that would be expensive too. Right.
Every time I hear like a song that I've heard
of on an advertisement, I'm just like, what did that cost?

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah? I feel that way Watching The Bear. I was
watching The Bear, I was like, what are they paying
in music rights? They pay all the music rights money.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, we're watching. I guess whatever the most recent season
is right now.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
I'm not I'm on season three.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
No spoilers, Okay, I watched the whole thing, and I
have no idea what happens, so I couldn't spoil it
if I wanted to.

Speaker 3 (32:13):
It's fine. I just watched. You try to contextualize it. Wait,
what did I watch? I don't know. A stricky he's tortured,
he's a chef. His family is very loud.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah for sure. Do you still do work for Lexus
Financial Services? Phone tree?

Speaker 3 (32:34):
I don't know. Should we call it and see if
it's still my voice?

Speaker 2 (32:37):
Oh my god, that'd be amazing. What is my payment?

Speaker 3 (32:41):
Let's see?

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Oh you're not really going to call it?

Speaker 3 (32:42):
R No, I'm going to call it and see you
know the number. I don't know the number. I'm going
to google it Lexus financial Services phone number. Should I
allow Google to use my location?

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I don't see how that's relevant to the question you asked.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Okay, don't allow I did not allow it.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
I wouldn't like Google doesn't already know where you is?

Speaker 3 (32:59):
Okay, if it's me not the Spanish one. Okay, you ready?
This is super fun for your audience. Could you hear
it at the beginning?

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah? Hold it up to the thing again, Financial services lady,
if you reside in an area impacted by the recinantural.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Disaster, definitely not me.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
That's not you to take advantage of a payment.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
That's an AI voice.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
I think that was when you had Omicron.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
To be monitored or recorded for quality in order to
direct you to the correct place. Please let us know
so it's still you still me Listen. You never know
when you get replaced on those jobs. They don't tell you.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Okay, this is a weird question, and I don't want
any numbers, but do you still get paid on that?

Speaker 3 (33:41):
No? IVYR is a per hour situation, per half hour.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
No resids.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Huh, no resids. There's no risids on video games it
seems weird, which is horse hockey.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Yeah, because they make some bank on video games.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Video games make more money than movies.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
That's wild.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
I made my Insuran's the last year because of residuals
off of movies, Thank god.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Really? Yeah, what is the movie that you get the
biggest residual on still to this day? Oh, You're all
Dead Poets? Is that?

Speaker 4 (34:11):
No?

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Definitely not on that. Gosh, I don't know. I haven't
checked because it's direct deposit. I need to look. I
remember seeing some for Divergent. That's a big one because
I've voice matched two people in that, Kate Winslet and
Maggie Q.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Divergent.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
That was a big YA novel.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, was that like one of the three like there
was was a three parter thing or no?

Speaker 3 (34:32):
Yeah? Maybe, but no, there's no Hunger Games is probably
thinking of it like Divergence like another one of those
kind of dystopian future YA novels, And I.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
Think there was two or three of them or something.
Oh cool, we'll get for you good.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
I actually make the most residuals off of one episode
of It's Always Sunday in Philadelphia, which one I don't know.
I didn't link twenty eleven or twenty nine. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Hey, aren't you friends with rickety Sticketts or skickety Ricketts
or what's the name.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
Yes, that's David Hornsby. Yeah, we know each other.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Oh, you're friends.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
I haven't seen him in a while. I hate saying
like we're friend I mean like best friends. Yes, I
could text him and be like, hey, what's up. We're
best friends. We vacationed together.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
That's what I tell everybody. I'm like any childre Yay,
he's my best friend. He's borrowing my kayak?

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Okay, okay, that's great. Oh is it Steve the kayaker? Now?

Speaker 2 (35:19):
No, I got when Vinnie was on the last time.
I got him to go ahead and tell me that
I could have the kayak that he handmade.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
Oh you got him to commit to that well, I
mean verbally, yeah, very persuasive.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Yeah, I mean after he's dead.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
But yeah, Oh he's going to leave it to you
in the will.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah, and he says, I got to go.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Got it.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
And so I have never asked for Vinnie to leave
me anything in the will. Maybe I'll ask him to
leave me his can onion knife sharpener.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Or and hear me out. Okay, you can ask him
to leave you any of his companies, Jesus.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
I don't want them. I have my own company. I
don't want any more companies.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Steve, let's talk about your companies. Okay, but first, uh,
you are You're the.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
Most fun to talk to you. I think everyone else
sees it takes Steve lessons.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
I could not agree more. You are a comedian and
an Italian. How hard is it for you to keep
your mouth shut during some interviews? Here's why I'm asking.
I heard you as a guest on a podcast. I
won't say who it is because it is one of
your friends. You were talking about the keto explosion in
grocery stores. Yes, the host, your friend was explaining that

(36:30):
he eats and he stressed this the right way, and
then he went on to explain that he eats Keto
plus heart healthy hold grains and a bread that is
made entirely out of seeds. I could not stop laughing.
It made my tom tum hurt.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Did I laugh or did I keep a straight face?

Speaker 2 (36:51):
You kept a straight face, and you were just like, yeah, yeah,
and then you just went on with what you were
saying about the Quto explosion. How did you not set
your hair on fire and jump out of the window.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Because every day I talk to people, and every day
people say whether it's a new acquaintance or a fan,
or I like to pick up the phone. Yesterday I
called three people. I left messages. I call people who
are either investors in my company or their customers of
my company. I just like to call them and talk
to them. I hear people say, well, you know, I'm

(37:23):
gluten free. Go okay, oh cool. And then we're out
to eat somewhere whatever, and they get the avocado toast
and the pasta, the thing, and I go, oh, not
everybody has the same definitions, you know what I mean?
And that's okay. Everybody can live their lives the way
they want. It's kind of like what we were talking
about earlier with like you tattling on somebody like I'm
not the police, like I'm not gonna and especially in

(37:43):
the context of an interview. I did a podcast for
and I hope it gets back together. And I love this.
I love doing this podcast. Doctor David Kipper and Peter
Tilden Bedside Matters fabulous podcasts. Both two great guys Peter
Tilton's a legend in the radio world. He's been around
forever and he's also Jason Lexander's producing partner. Fabulous guy.
And then doctor Kipper. I'm in love with doctor Kipper,

(38:06):
like I love him. He's the only man that I
would leave my husband for. But just because of the
medical care, does that make sense?

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Yeah? What about Doctor Drew?

Speaker 3 (38:13):
I like me too, Oh wait, I would. Doctor Drew's
pretty dreamy. But doctor Kipper is like he just like
he's that doctor that you wish every doctor was. He
just listens, he has good ideas, he's a problem solver.
He looks like We talked about it at length publicly,

(38:36):
how he read between the lines with eric Idol's bloodwork numbers.
Eric Idol from Monty Python. We interviewed him on Bedside Matters,
and he read between the lines to discover his pancreatic
cancer early and get him the medical help he needed
so that eric Idol is still with us today. Wow,
that's incredible. I know a disease. That's just he's just
that guy. He's just a lovely guy. But we play

(39:00):
go back and forth about he thinks that it's the
plant based way and I'm like, well, I think meat
is actually healthy for you. And you know I'm not
a doctor, though, so what do I know. I'm not
going to like interject myself. This is just the conclusions
that I've drawn about how my own body works and
the types of recipes that I offer to people who
are looking for that kind of a solution. But I
cannot tell you. I'm not a scientist. My big pet

(39:22):
peeve is when I go on a podcast and they're like, so,
why know sugar, I'm like, I don't know. I just
don't do it. I have so many other things that
I could talk about. I do not know the science
behind sugar. I can't explain to you what insulin does.
But I know that I'm insulin and resistant, and when
I eat a lot of sugar, I become Type two diabetic,
and I don't want to do that, but I can't
explain the mechanisms behind it. Why don't you interview a doctor.

(39:44):
I'll tell you how to get your whole kitchen ready
and make killer food and hopefully have a lot of
fun in the process. And I'll tell you how to
run a food company. When you're beating your head against
the wall against traditional food companies. But I can't speak
to the science of all this science y stuff, so
I probably he was like, Okay, I'm not going to
sit there, but you know what, you shouldn't hurt healthy greens.
Aren't he healthy? I'm not going to do that. I'm

(40:05):
not going to harm any my guest position. If we
could turn that into a verb.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
I don't think we can, but we did. We. I
don't know you did. I committed more question real quick
about Fitness Confidential your friend and my friend, Vinnie Twarder Rich. Yes,
Vinnie often says this sentence, and I need to know
if he's doing it on purpose, because again, it makes
me laugh until my eye is hurt. Vinnie often says, quote,

(40:33):
I have worked with tons and tons of morbidly obese people.
Now every time he says that, I laughed my ass off, because.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
I don't think that he knows the irony and what
he sees.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
Says that sentence all the.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
Time, and yet he's married to a brit who would
very much pick up on that.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
It is the funniest, funniest thing.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
No, I don't. I don't think he is aware of
his word choice and the double entendre contained with.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Eat Happy Kitchen. Okay, first of all, you have three cookbooks.
Count them, one.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
A two, A three, one A two A three.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
The first one is called Eat Happy, the second one
is called Eat Happy too.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
What's the third one called. It's called I said, eat
Happy Bitch.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Eat Happy Bitch. The three peatd. Eat Happy Italian is
my third cookbook, my latest creation, and the one I'm
most proud of. Why because it's food from my heritage.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
These are Grandma's recipes.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Yeah, Eat Happy has a lot of recipes from my
southern heritage. Eat Happy Italians from the Italian side of
the family, and also all of my trips to Italy
and spending time there, and the difference between Italian food
and Italian American food, which hopefully I have delineated within
the cookbook. And then the fact of the matter is
doing them without the processed sugars and grains, doing those

(41:56):
classic recipes. There's a guy in la named Metal Shindler, MARYL. Schindler.
He has that kind of just very large energy, very
He's a food guy, and he interviewed me when this
book came out, and it blew his mind that you
would ever have Italian food without any pasta. Like it's
just he can't wrap his brain around that paradigm. So

(42:16):
I understand that that's a tough pill to swallow. But
when people are trying to lessen their carbs and they
do want to enjoy some Italian food, hopefully my book
will be sitting there waiting for them.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
So is that a correct statement? There's no pasta dishes
in this book.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
I mean there are pasta dishes, but there's no traditional pasta.
So I have an Amitrichi and I have a Ala Gricia.
I have a pesto with Yoki. I have the Cato pepe.
Got to do it with asparagus. So things, you know,
we use vegetables or you can just make a boloonnaise
and just eat it, because bolonnaise is nothing if not
Italian chili.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Oh for sure, So for sure.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
Also Buco is like one of the best Italian dishes
you can get in the restaurant, surprisingly easy to make
it home. Chicken palm is the one you're never going
to find a low carb You might find a gluten
free at a couple places that specified in New York.
In New York, but you know, chicken palm. You can
make that at home, and you're like, oh my god,

(43:17):
why am I paying twenty eight dollars for this at
a restaurant? Can make it at home? Actually, twenty dollars
is probably more expensive.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
Now, real quick, you mentioned Italy and your friends in Italy. Yes,
as you know your friend Paul Capelli. Yes, he is
a previous guest of the show. Yes, this is weird.
Earlier today, I was speaking with a gentleman. He has
a book on Grandfather's coming out in a few months,
and in his previous life, back in the nineteen eighties,

(43:45):
he worked at McCann Erickson.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
Oh wow, did he know Paul from those days?

Speaker 2 (43:49):
And I said, what are the chants is that you
know Paul? And he said I knew him very well. Wow.
So then, like just randomly, out of nowhere, we just
started talking about Paul Cappelly. He was sharing stories about Paul,
and he was completely unaware of yeah, everything about Paul,
like his whole life. I was like, okay, well, after

(44:09):
you saw.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Him last, a couple of things happened, his whole.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Life changed every way. But it was just really I
thought it was really cool that just randomly, you know
I'm just talking to this dude who happens to know
this dude that I talked to a few years ago.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
Like, I, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
He was really sweet. I thought you'd get a kick
out of that.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
That's awesome. His legacy lives on it, sure does.

Speaker 5 (44:32):
Hey, street walkers, here's a word from our sponsors. Let's
get back into it.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
Good God. Finally, let's talk about your stuff. So you
have three books out and we can get them everywhere
where books are sold, or can we only get them
from you?

Speaker 3 (44:49):
Amazon, Barnes, and Noble. I don't wear do people buy
books Amazon?

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Nobody buys his books, so we can get out.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Nobody buys books. They still buy cookbooks. They like to
have cookbooks on the shelf. They don't use them.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yes they do, they have them, but they don't use them.
Hear me out. This is a great idea. I just
had it. That's how I know it's great. You do voiceover?
M hm. There is such a thing as an audio book.
What if you did an audio version of your cookbook?

Speaker 3 (45:16):
I have been meaning to do this for years, and
I'm very sorry that I haven't.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
If only you knew someone who had a vieo booth
right behind them.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
You mean a booth that I could walk in and
record my here's the thing. I need to do it,
and I need to figure out because there's a whole
And I figured this out several years ago, I think
during COVID when I was interviewed on a podcast about
cooking for the blind for the disabled. But there's a
whole community. I mean, there's cooking for the disabled. That
was the theme of the podcast. But one of the
main interviewers was blind, and he said, no, there's a

(45:46):
whole cooking community cooking for the blind. And he's like,
I want to figure out a way to do the
cookbook and then they can get it for free. Not you, Steve,
you'll pay retail.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Oh, you'll pay it right. Yeah, Well that sounds like
a really sweet idea. You should do it.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
It's just one of those things I don't. There's no time.
I gotta do it. I got to make the time.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
There's no time. Has a vo booth in her house.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
No, I'm trying to grow to this other company, this
company Eat Happy Kitchen.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Okay, why did you do Eat Happy Kitchen?

Speaker 3 (46:23):
So I did Eat Happy Kitchen because somebody called me
a podcast listener called me and said that he lost
eighty pounds cooking out of my first book and that
we should do my marinera. And I said, doesn't everybody
make their own? And he said, no, they don't. He goes,
have you been to a grocery store and seen the
pasta sauce aisle? I said, I've been to all the
grocery stores. I've never walked down the pasta sauce aisle.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Yeah, You're like, why would I? I just said I'd
make my own.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
Why would I do that? I've literally never seen it.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
They sell rayos now, they sell rayos at Costco.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
I know Rayos.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Don't yell at me.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
They've sold rayos at Costco for years. I know Rayo's
because I would go to the restaurant in LA where
Johnny Roast Beef was the still as the host. I
never went to the New York when I went to
the LA one. So we went back and forth at
high I said, I had to taste good. You know,
all of this stuff comes from like places I'd never expect,
and I've since outgrown that manufacturer.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Congratulations, thank you.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
We're in a thousand stores nationwide. Are you in chib
Our Pumpkin Marinaire will be in ATB this fall, and
what I'm hoping is that it does well so that
they'll consider bringing us into the regular set, because we
have four regular flavors, and then the Pumpkin Marinara, which
is sounds like a wild card. It's quite delicious.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Why that one first with Achib? I live in Chib Town,
So why I don't know who picked it? You or
them or what them?

Speaker 3 (47:45):
I mean if I got to if I got to pick,
we'd be in stores nationwide. Apparently I don't get to say.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
No, no, I just mean, how come AHIB is starting
with the pumpkin.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
One, because that's what they decided.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
So is were you at like a food show? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (47:59):
Well no, this came about because you pitch on cycles,
and our broker in Texas said, it's time for agb's
seasonal cycle. Let's pitch the pumpkin marin Air. I said, okay, great,
so we'd put together the pitch and then they said yes.
And so I'm waiting for what's called plan demand at
the beginning of August. I'm not making the Pumpkin marion
Air till the end of July, and then we will
get our plan demand for all the stores that are

(48:20):
bringing it in, and I do No Pavilions in California
will bring it. Jewel Losco in Chicago, twenty eight Jewel
Losco's carry it, and then all ATB's will carry it,
and then it's in Roch Brothers in Boston and random places,
all agbs, all Achib's. Holy shit, I'm going to need
you to do some shopping.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
I'm gonna call ATV. Do you know what the bee
stands for in ATB?

Speaker 3 (48:43):
No?

Speaker 2 (48:44):
But it's butt?

Speaker 3 (48:47):
Do you know that? I just censored myself because I
didn't want to say but, and then you said, but.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
The reason you censored yourself is because your products are
going to be in ATB mine art, so I get
say whatever you want.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
So when someone says, where's the pumpkin marin Ea, and
I say, if it was in your butt, you'd know,
I mean, chib.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
That's correct. So it was like Henry Edward but grocery store.
I'm not even kidding. That's the truth. And they're over
one hundred years old. That is so wonderful, Henry, I
think it's Henry Edward think yeah, anyway, it's yeah, h E.
But so yeah, then they shortened it to just h
E butt for a long time. No, it was long
before either one of us were born. Yeah, it was

(49:28):
at but for a long time. He but that's so
fucked up. But yeah, so it's it's it's AGB and
we love ATV. I love my ATV.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
Hb's factist the best. So all the grocery stores are
on category review cycles. Makes sense if they say no
when your category is up for review. First of all,
you have to get it in in the door, get
a chance to present. Then they decide if they're going
to bring you in or not. And it's a lot
of conversation because we sell it for a price to
the wholesaler, the wholesalers as they have contracts with the store,

(50:00):
or they sell it to the stores for certain price,
and the stores have to mark it up with their
thirty five I say thirty five margin. Everybody's a forty
margin if not larger. So it's a lot. Then on shelf,
the consumer knows that prices have gone up, but they
don't really see paying more than ten dollars for pasta sauce. Well,
our pasta sauce costs a lot of money, especially when

(50:20):
you put in all these steps. So it's a lot
of conversations that have to happen, a lot of wheeling
and dealing, and then if they say yes, that's awesome,
that's great, you get on shelf. You have to have
planned discounts. So whenever you see anything on sale the
grocery store, that's the brand paying for it. That is
not the grocery store putting things on sale. So that's
a cost that we eat. So not only are we
selling it to the grocery store for thirty percent of

(50:43):
what I sell it for online, I now have to
eat fifteen to twenty five percent of that in what's
called trade spend to putting things on sale. But this
is what it requires to do, and so that's why
you see people on Shark Tank raising millions of dollars
for their food brand in order for them to go nationwide.
To be able to push food out across this country
is a tremendous effort and very expensive, especially with a

(51:04):
heavy product like sauce. We're just starting with our cheese
bytes right now, so I don't know the snack category
like I know grocery now. For having done grocery for
four years, so I'm very curious to see how that goes.
But we're launching, like we do everything direct to consumer. First,
we get to get the feedback from the people, and
then we start pitching. We have a few groceries that
we're going into for cheese bytes, but we start to

(51:24):
pitch those larger accounts as their category reviews come up
and have those conversations. And again, the cheese bytes are
just cheese and spice. It's again a very premium product.
There's no fillers, there's no grains, there's nothing to try
to inflate the bottom line or save on any sort
of margin. It's really nice, high quality food. So we
have to see, well, somebody who's looking for a better
for you snack, are they going to be willing to

(51:46):
pay six bucks a bag on the grocery store shelf.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
We'll find out on the cheese bytes. Yes, I had
a food person on a while back. My question for
you on your cheese bytes. They come at a bag
they sealed back. I would imagine, yeah, is this bag
filled with nitrogen?

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Probably they puff to puff the bag up.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
So you know, I don't know, I don't know. Cool
cool coming about the cheese bites how many is in
this bag?

Speaker 3 (52:13):
Two ounces?

Speaker 2 (52:14):
I don't know how many pieces is that? Because you
said they're kind of like cheeseballs, right, like little puffs.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
They take the cheese, little cut up cheese chunks and
they bake them, they like flash bake them, and then
while they're warm, they roll them in our spice blends
so they're seasoned.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
So when I bake cheese at melts right, well, when
you bake cheese kid puffs.

Speaker 3 (52:34):
Because they're doing it like a flash technology. I signed
an NDA, so I can't exactly say things the exact technology.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Sure, no, I don't care about the technology, but.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
You're right it's based on I would cut up cheese
and little squares at home bake them, but I would
make them slow and then they get kind of crispy
and bubbly, and then at the end I would take
them out and put the spices on them, and then
take them off out of the fatty that the oil
that had baked off the cheese and set them on
a paper towel to dry. And I have a little
chip and I noticed it's like when I do cheddar

(53:07):
and I put the barbecue dust on the sound taste
like a barbecue potato chip or when I did Monterey
Jack and I would put our ranch on it taste
like a cool ranch trito. So that's kind of what
started it. So then I had to call companies that
did cheese because I wanted to do the flat I
wanted to do the chips, and there wasn't the technology
to do it the way that I do it at home.
So I was like, do we need like a conveyor

(53:28):
belt with like the heat doing the thing and now?
And then another company that does do it, they said
no to me because they're trying to build their own brand.
And I understand they have sixty percent burning so they
throw away sixty percent of their cheese they have to
throw away, and I'm like, that doesn't seem cost effective
at all, No wonder these things cost wow nine dollars

(53:49):
at Whole Foods. Then another company they said, we can
do it, but we have to put in some flour,
some either brown rice or quenoa, chickpea or tap yok
or whatever.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
And you sent buckinges.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Oh, I'm the no sugar, no grains lady, We're not
doing that. Fuckum wa. And then I had another company
to say yes, but we're not going to do chips.
We can do it this way. And I was like, great,
I love that way. When I tried their samples, I
was like, that's fabulous. Let's go So Happy Accident, Eat
Happy Accident.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
When can we look for these available? Are they available
right now?

Speaker 3 (54:21):
They're available now at Eat Happy Kitchen dot com.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
Nice? And what did you say? There's six dollars? What'd
you say about?

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Are they They're six dollars a bag plus shipping plus shipping.
But what we're doing is we're having a nine pack
variety pack so people can try all three flavors. They
come in three pack boxes. We can't do smaller fulfillment.
We would lose our shirts. Sure, so we have to
do three pack boxes. We're doing a nine pack variety
pack and it works out to about four fifty a bag.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Cool, So, Eat Happy Kitchen. You have Do we call
them cheese bytes? Is that we're calling them these bytes?

Speaker 3 (54:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Do you have cheese bytes? Three flavors?

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Three flavors barbecue and cheddar, Monterey jack and ray ch
and white cheddar and onion, which is our salt dust
and it kind of tastes like a sour cream and
onion situation. But it doesn't have sour cream in it,
so I don't want to call it that because that's
not what it is.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Can't you say sour cream flavored like everybody else does?

Speaker 3 (55:14):
Listen, there are all kinds of things that I feel
like everybody can say, and then when I try to
say it, compliance like you can't say that.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
Yeah, but that's talking about racial slurs. We're just talking about.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
Sour cream flavor. It is off the table defensive.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
Now, so you also have pasta sauces. Now, if I
understand this correctly.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
That's how we started.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Yeah, your pasta sauces are unique in the fact that
they have in them. You make them with hgh, CBD, neurotropics, lionsman,
and olestra. Is that right? There's a leestra in there, but.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
Put eleestra first because that's the O and ev oh.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Oh oh oh, excuse me. I'm just kidding listeners. She
doesn't have any of that weird garbage in her pasta sauces.
You have four pasta sauces.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Yeah, we have a Marianera, a pink crema, which is
my version of a vodka sauce. By the way, I
love vodka. I'd rather save it for my martinis. I've
never understood a vodka sauce. You need some cream, you
need some freshly grated palm. Now you have a pink sauce.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
I just had another brilliant idea. Oh god, what your
pink sauce? What do you call it?

Speaker 3 (56:27):
Pink krema?

Speaker 2 (56:27):
You should have a pink crema martini.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
So like a pink marry.

Speaker 2 (56:32):
Now just pasta sauce and vodka in a shaker over
in a martini glass with.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
A whole wedge of palm is the garnish.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Oh my god, now I'm hungry and thirsty. Yeah, okay, so.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
You have pink krema Marianera putin esca, which is a
red sauce that adds olive, caper, onion, oregano, red pepper flake.
It's like a sort of savory umami briny situation. That
one won pasta Sauce of the Year in the twenty
twenty for Shelfy Awards.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Oh where's your Shelfye? Did you make that? No?

Speaker 3 (57:08):
But I apparently the people that start up CpG they
must have little molds that they just made this. No,
that is rude.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
That is really cool. I love it.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
Thank you startup CpG.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
It is so cool. It looks like the target brand
name of their generics.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
Oh the era, Yeah, I could say it's Target were
actually pink in real life. It looks more cool.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
That's really cool. I like it. It's pretty congratulations.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
It's like winning an Oscar for an emerging brand.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Okay, respect was that the putin Esca that won that?

Speaker 3 (57:37):
The Putinesca won that, and I mean, listen, it's really good.
The putin Eska is the foodie fave. All my chef
friends like that one the most. But it is tough
because it's not a flavor that Americans know about.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Yeah, I'm allergic to nesca, are you?

Speaker 3 (57:52):
But not puta? Hey no. But when we first came
out with it, I was like, oh, nobody does a Putenesca.
We're gonna kill it. And then I was like, oh, wait,
nobody knows what that is. I gotta teach everybody.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
What is That's why nobody does a Putenesca. You also
have an abayata.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
I guess you do a spicy adabiata spice marann air
that means angry sauce. Do you ever know the difference
between an audibiata and a fraud diavolo.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Yes, audobiata is supposed to have pancetta in it. Fraud
diavolo is supposed to not have any meat in it.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
That's the only difference.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
That's the only difference. Is that crazy? However, our audabiata
does not have pancetta in it because I'm not paying
some USDA inspector. You put your own pancetta in there.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
So it's not it's it's a it's a fa fraud diavolo.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
We call it adabiata. You know why, because Americans don't
know the difference.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
Which is why you could put sour cream on the package.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
Yeah, it's true.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Okay, So is that the whole line? And I don't
mean that to sound discounted or disrespect from anyway. So
you have four pasta sauces.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
Four pasta sauces, one seasonal pasta sauce, four spice blends,
and three cheese bytes.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Wait, what's the seasonal one?

Speaker 3 (59:15):
The pumpkin Marina?

Speaker 2 (59:16):
So we got Marinera already be at the Puttanesca vodka camera. Okay, cool?
And then so the fifth one is pumpkin. That's seasonal
and then you have the three flavors of cheese bites, correct, barbecue, ranch,
and onion.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
You also have your powders, right, yes, tell me about
your powders, your dust, the dust bro tell me about
your angel.

Speaker 3 (59:39):
Dust, Taco dust, ranch dust, salt dust. This is on
its way. It should be here in August.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
What does that mean should be here in August.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Well, these are coming from China, going directly to our
manufacturer who's putting the blends in.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
So what you're saying is the containers.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
The containers, okay, but I'm saying these should be for
sale in August because they're on their way through customs
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
As of right now, if I go to your website,
I can't buy dust.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
You can buy dust. They're going to be in our canisters.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Okay, So they're just not in those particular that packaging
that you're holding up exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
This is the new packaging, and it'll come in a
little box and we'll have a little.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Since you have it right in front of you, how
much is in there?

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
This is going to be four point three ounces, whereas
our canisters had three point two ounces.

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
So that one in your hand, that looks like the
old school, like black pepper tin that we all grew
up with.

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
Right, Yes, the old McCormick tins are the old old
Bay tins. That's what I based it on.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
Cool, how come I took you so long to change
your packaging or why did you change your packaging?

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
We changed it because and I actually really like our
old packaging, but it didn't translate on grocery store shelves.
People know what a spice tin is. This is more recognizable.
This has been an R and D for eighteen months.
It takes a long time when you decide to do
a repackaging. So then you think, if I'm going to
repack like we did our labels, it took forever and

(01:00:59):
there were still working through the old inventory. And it's
not that old.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
The labels for your sauces.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
Yeah, it's not that old. It's from a few months ago.
But like, it just takes a while to work through
all that stuff. But also when you think of repackaging,
it's a lot of like, you know that bugs me,
I want to fix that. You know, I want this,
I want that. You know you have to like mullet over,
then you got to work with a designer. It's a lot,
and then you find out, oh, we can't do it
this way or we can't do it that way, and
then you got to find the right partner. Nobody makes

(01:01:26):
these tins domestically. Nobody. They're all outsourced overseas, which is
a bummer. I'd much rather make these domestically and have
them available and not have to have a four to
six month lag time. Not to mention, if you happen
to order before Chinese New Year, you're screwed. But we
found very good people. I'm excited about it.

Speaker 5 (01:01:47):
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Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
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Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
I'm the guy that has the Fitness Confidential podcast and
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but I just started a company called in SNG Foods
and our first product is ultrafat.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
What's that you say, fat?

Speaker 4 (01:02:07):
Oh yeah, it's got fat in it. It's got ultra fat.
And the reason we call it ultrafat is because it
also has electrolytes. So this is something you want to
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(01:02:28):
all out in snngfoods dot com. Now go listen to
my good friend Steve Owens because he knows what he's
talking about.

Speaker 5 (01:02:35):
Let's get back into it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
So we got four sauceas plus the seasonal. We have
three cheese bytes. And is it three dusts?

Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
Four dusts?

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Four dusts? What are the dust again?

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
It's taco taco dust, ranch dust, salt dust, and barbecue dust.
Barbecue dust.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
Okay, tell me why the salt dust is that the
one that's that mimics the saragreement or no.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Well, it does with it when it's mixed with white
cheddar in the cheese bites. But I have been obsessed
with seasoning blends since the eighties. There are a few,
in particular Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt and Trader Joe's
Onion Salt, and then a few others that I've just loved,
and I have been making my own version of that

(01:03:21):
at home with mostly salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder,
and a couple other dry like whether it's dried green onion,
dried chive. I put that in every marinate. I put
that in every salad dressing. I could not find a
clean bullion. Bullon has a maltodextrin of course, just some
sort of fuckery in it. And so I've been using
that as a flavor starter, and so then I was like,

(01:03:42):
I use this and everything. Instead of salt and pepper,
I use this that I created. Again, this is more
of an educational thing. I got to educate people on it.
But once you start, you're like, oh, that's great on eggs. Oh,
it's in my cellar dressing. Oh, I put it in
my chili. Like it's just it's really good. If I
had to have a clean flavor starter, is awesome. So
I'm obsessed with the salt dust and it's caught on,

(01:04:02):
So that's good.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Are you going to package it with like a little
tiny straw taped to the side so people can just
snort it?

Speaker 3 (01:04:11):
No, but that's a very good idea for branding for
somebody who wants to do a spice cocaine crossover with
their branding.

Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
Amazing. Okay, so here's what I'm offering you listeners, not
just today, but forever. If you go to eat Happy
Kitchen dot com and you order any of these things,
the sauces, the cheese, bites, the dust, if you order
any of those where it says whatever promo code or whatever,
if you put in fascination street, you will get any

(01:04:41):
of those items, all of those items for full retail
place plus shipping and handling, right right? Is that a deal?
Do you agree?

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
Steve and I were talking off the air and he's like,
how do we treat our listeners? I said, this is
how you treat them, and if you want to get
to it's just twice the price.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
It's just twice the price. You know what, Let's change
that promo code to street walkers, okay, because that's what
my listeners are called in fascination Streets's just too long.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
I feel like the street walkers should buy the putin
esca sauce. No reason, no reason at all.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
I love that for real though. Everybody, go check out
ead Happy Kitchen dot com. All of those products are
there and amazing. Look for them in stores. Particularly. I'm
going to be hanging out of the agb waiting for
that truck to back up.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
Numb as soon as I know I'm waiting for the
planned demand because they said it would all it was
all Agb's and I was like, great, I don't know
anything else.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
Do you know how many hibs there are?

Speaker 3 (01:05:38):
Three hundred and some?

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
I feel like there's just three hundred in San Antonio.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
There's got to be more than that, right, it's three
million stores?

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
That is awesome. It's only three hundred and something stores.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
Isn't that a lot of stores?

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Yeah? But HB is so big. I thought it was bigger.
I thought there was more than that Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
You guys, it's too much.

Speaker 2 (01:05:57):
I know. But it's not just in Texas. Oh he
is just in Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
H Butts Texas original h E Butts.

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
Hey Google, how many HB stores are there? More than
four hundred and thirty five? See, you're just wrong? Whoa, Okay,
there's over three hundred and sixty just in Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
Okay, great, that means you just just increased my order.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
Holler. Additionally, they operate more than fifty stores in northern Mexico.

Speaker 3 (01:06:27):
The fuck, I don't think we're going in there. Yeah,
that's in addition to the four hundred and some.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
That's part of it. So there's more there's over three
sixty just in Texas. Yeah, it's based here in my hometown.
I'm telling you, bro. It says three forty in the
United States according to this, I don't like it. You're right, Boom.
Every time I go to AHB, which is every Friday
plus some, I'm gonna go there tomorrow as a matter

(01:06:52):
of fact, and I'm going to say, excise me, ex
me the thematic diric. Can I give them a Can
I get the Happy Kitchen and leave as.

Speaker 3 (01:06:59):
Soon as I know if it's available, I will tell you.
And here's the thing. I don't know where they're going
to merchandise it. I don't know if they're going to
put it in the regular pasta sauce olet or if
they're going to put it with all the sugary sweet
pumpkin things. I actually hope they don't put it with
the sugary sweet pumpkin things because people might think it's
a jar of pumpkin pie filling and it's not. It
is a savory fall autumn sensation.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
Well, here's what I know about HIV. They have their
shit together, they do. They know what's up. So I
don't think they're going to put it in the wrong place,
but who knows. I'll keep my eye out. I'll take pictures.

Speaker 3 (01:07:33):
It's our one wild card product.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
It's like Vinnie's book. We don't know where to put this.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
We don't know what to do with this. Oh, I
just got a spam call that says this call is
to authorize the payment of fourteen hundred and ninety nine
dollars for the recent order of Apple MacBook Pro, and
your Amazon accout should go ahead and authorize that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
Yeah, or otherwise I won't get it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
Okay, Oh to you, it's me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
Okay, great, thank you, I appreciate it. Wow, Well, good
luck on the grocery stores. I love that you're in
grocery stores. That is one of my favorite things.

Speaker 3 (01:08:01):
Thanks. It's hard work.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
I can't even imagine. And like, the more I learned
about grocery stores, the more confusing it is, because, like
you know this, and maybe some of the listeners do,
but you have to pay for where it is on
the shelf. That is the craziest shit I've ever heard.
If it's on an end cap, that costs more. If
it's up top that costs more, If it's down low
that costs less. Like that's why all those bag cereals

(01:08:23):
when we were growing up were down at the.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Bottom, the generic and the store brands.

Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
Yeah, the ones that were in the bag instead of
a box. That's why they were down there is because
they didn't want to pay for that shelf space.

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
Yeah, it's crazy, and that's why a lot of grocery
stores have the same throughout them because the big companies
have the money to pay those fees. We've had to
say no to many opportunities and it hurts my heart.
One of them in my hometown because the slotting fees
were too high and we're just like, we don't think
that we're going to get the traction, and they wanted

(01:08:55):
to put us in like the better for you section,
and we're like, we need to be in the main
pot sauce that we need every shopper who's buying pasta
sauce to have the availability to see us there. And
that hurt my heart.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
Right, Otherwise it doesn't make financial sense.

Speaker 3 (01:09:08):
Yeah, right, So you know, and that's why somebody like
Kroger is a great part because we just got into
five hundred Kroger banners owned by Kroger, not actual Kroger stores.
King Soupers and raups and whatnot. They're all owned by Kroger.
They do not charge slotting for us, so I love
them because they put us on five five hundred their
store shelves without any slotting fee or a free fill.

(01:09:29):
So that kind of kickstart is amazing. But most stores
don't do that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
So a free fil for the listeners is like, Hey,
we're going to order a palette of this sauce, but
we're gonna want another palette for free.

Speaker 3 (01:09:41):
Yeah, it's like the first case or two. If you
want to be in that store, you have to give
them a case or two for free. Okay, you think, okay,
will you just shumming people some cases? That's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Yeah, you got five hundred stores. That's a lot of money.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Five hundred stores a lot of money. You gotta make it.
You got to ship it there. But then you're not
just paying for you to do that. The distributor builds
back what they would have made on it. So if
they're marking it up twenty five percent, that's an additional
twenty five percent that you're paying plus their fees to
deliver it into the store. It's very expensive.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Let's just say CHP says, okay, cool, we'll do that,
but we want two hundred free jars. And then the
distributor goes, well, that's cool and all, but I'm not
losing money on those two hundred jars, so I'm still
getting paid.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
Yeah, because they they have to still have the dudes
deliver everything. The trucks are running, they have to be
filled with gas, you know. So but by the way,
ACHB doesn't do that. That's another reason why we really
want to be in ACHIP. We're in Central Market now,
but you know, they're owned by the same company, but
they have like a gang rivalry or something. Because I'm like,
but we want to be in both.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
You're going to sell the shit out of them at
Central Market. Central Market is your audience for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
Oh yeah, No, we do really well at Central Market.
We love Central Market, love it. But I do my
tours of Central Market where I go to Texas and
I go around to all of them in demo and
I love it. It's my most favorite grocery store in
the nation. But they're in like central urban locations, so
they're not going to be you know, or a suburban shopper.
I mean, you have to make like a day trip
out of it. Like you have to love going to
the grocery store, which I do.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
What are you talking about?

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
But I'm saying like central market is like you have
to like in Texas driving around in Texas, Like if
you're if you don't live near a central market, it's
appointment shopping. Okay, yeah, you know what I'm saying, which
is great, but I.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
Mean they are in high traffic area.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
It's like, oh, for sure, but we're not going to
get like somebody just running. Oh you know what, I'm
just going to run down the street an hour and
a half to Central Market and grab your sauce. Like
no one's gonna do that. That's why you have to
get it in more grocery stores. I like to tour
around and demo and meet people.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Well, holler in a fank kid, the next time you're
doing central markets in San Antonio? How dare you?

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
Oh my god, I will now, San Antonio is the
one I haven't been to.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
You've been to Austin though, right, I know what is
wrong with you. I know I'm not far from Austin.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
I know it's not far. I just had to cut
one out. It was either Houston or san Antonio and
San Antonio got the snip both times.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Sure yeah, sure, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
I love Central Market, best grocery.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
Store next to a TV.

Speaker 3 (01:11:58):
Sure, I mean I love ACHB. I know, please accept
us in your store?

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
Yes, yes, well and uh we did it. This was
a weird way to end. It's just kind of like,
no is that?

Speaker 3 (01:12:10):
Just end.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
And have a Chino. Tell everybody where they can find
you on those social medias.

Speaker 3 (01:12:19):
Eat Happy Kitchen dot com. I also have tons of
free recipes at Annavacchino dot substack dot com and you
can find me anywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
Now I heard that on your substack that is the
only place that you will release recipes that are not
in a cookbook. Is that right?

Speaker 3 (01:12:35):
That's correct?

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
Nice? I love that perk. That's really cool.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
Yeah, I love it and I put a lot of
recipes on there. Plus I finished my fourth cookbook. Those
are all new recipes as well.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
You have a fourth cookbook coming out.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
When October twenty twenty six, what Thuff and it will
be happy.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
Hour, Eat, Happy Hour, Drink Happy Drink, Happy Bar.

Speaker 3 (01:12:56):
There are a lot of cocktails in there.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Is one of them a vodcast sauce no Martini.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
No but I'm gonna put that in the bonus context.
It's Steve's pink palm Martini.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Yeah, fascination street Palm Martini.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
We'll call it the street Walker.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Yes, we will. Did you tell everybody about your social media's?
Your Instagrams and whatnot?

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
Anna Viccino, Just Anna Vicino on all the things, Anna
Vaccino and a lother things.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
Where can people listen to you on a weekly or
bi weekly basis if they just want to hear the
dulcet tones.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
I am on the Fitness Confidential podcast with Vinnie Trterich
every Monday, whether I like it or not, whether you
like it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:35):
Or not, you know you like it. I do listeners.
You're familiar with Vinnie. He has been on once or
twice or six times. Wow, this guy.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
We enjoyed it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
Is there anything we didn't talk about or I didn't
ask you about besides that fourth cookbook that you specifically
wanted to talk about today? Do we cover the big bits?

Speaker 3 (01:13:52):
Yeah? For sure, it's great, for sure. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
We talked about Del Marva Accents, We talked about putin ESCO's,
We talked about Alestra.

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
We touched on Olestra, Chris Gress Girls Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Well, here's what I'm gonna do. I am going to
hang up on.

Speaker 3 (01:14:10):
You great, cool, great, because I have to peet.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
And thank you so much for taking the time out
of your busy day, and you're thanks for having me.
Thank you for interrupting me.

Speaker 3 (01:14:21):
I appreciate hey, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:14:23):
For taking the time out of your busy day and
your hectic writing yet another cookbook schedule to hang out.
Let's get to know you a little bit better on
fascination Street.

Speaker 3 (01:14:31):
I appreciate you, Thank you so much. I just feel
like we've had ten endings to this show. Can we
just end it?

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
Well, we had like four beginnings. I'm going to leave
all of those in.

Speaker 3 (01:14:42):
Okay, thank you, Steve, thank you so much. Hi, thank you, bye, bye, Mane.
I really hope you reconsider and you do cut it
off after me saying just En, Hey, Steve suck great off.

Speaker 2 (01:15:06):
Opening music is the song fsp Theme, written, performed and
provided by Ambush Vin. Closing music is from the song
say My Name off the twenty twenty one album Underdog Anthems,
used with permission from Jack's Hollow. If you like the show,

(01:15:28):
tell a friend, subscribe, and rate and review. The show
on iTunes and wherever else you download podcasts. Don't forget
to subscribe to my YouTube channel. All the episodes are
available there as well. Check me out on vero at
Fascination Street Pod and TikTok at Fascination Street Pod. And

(01:15:49):
again thanks for listening.

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Anna Vocino Returns! - Actress (Dead Poets Society) / Food Entrepreneur (Eat Happy)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Anna Vocino Returns! - Actress (Dead Poets Society) / Food Entrepreneur (Eat Happy)