Walk-In Talk Podcast
We are a Food Podcast. We are blessed to have been ranking on Apple Podcast Charts since November of 2022 in the Food Category and recently attained the #1 podcast spot in the United States! Along with the podcast comes amazing food photography by John Hernandez from Ibis Images.
Powered by our partnership with Peninsula Foodservice - The Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and team, including co-host Chef Jeffrey Schlissel, combines their culinary expertise and experiences to provide an insightful and engaging exploration of the food industry.
Beyond food, the podcast also delves into the exciting and chaotic world of restaurants while advocating for mental health awareness within the industry.
Our podcast is a must-listen for food industry enthusiasts, as we provide unique insights into everything from recipes to how Chefs are navigating high inflation while also discussing the importance of mental health in the industry.
Walk-In Talk Podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the food industry. Our show provides a fun and entertaining twist to our podcast.
Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we will continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important industry-related topics - so come uncover restaurant mayhem with us!
Check out our website for more food industry-related content, including:
https://www.thewalkintalk.com
Restaurant Recipes
Cocktail recipes
Walk-In Talk interviews
The Restaurant Life Magazine
Best beef in the business!
www.peninsulafoodservice.com
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Walk-In Talk Podcast
Chef Thom Favorin: From Airborne Infantryman to Culinary Entrepreneur
Ever wondered how the disciplined life of an airborne infantryman could translate into culinary success? Join us as we explore the incredible journey of Chef Thom Favorin, a former paramedic and firefighter who overcame extraordinary health challenges to become a thriving food entrepreneur. You'll hear about his transition from military life to founding Crab Island Seafood Company with Chef Carl Riding, navigating the highs and lows of starting a family-owned business. We promise you'll gain invaluable insights into resilience, consistency, and the relentless pursuit of culinary excellence. Chef Carl will be on a future episode-stay tuned!
Thom shares his gripping story of overcoming a debilitating injury and a massive heart attack, which ultimately led him to follow his true passion for food. From securing capital to adapting during the COVID-19 pandemic, hear firsthand the grit and determination it takes to turn a dream into reality. Discover the crucial role of trust, legal protections, and the importance of supporting veteran-owned businesses. Whether it's perfecting recipes or dealing with the nuances of local farmer's markets, Thom's narrative is a masterclass in entrepreneurship and perseverance.
Ever tasted a smoked flan gone wrong? We also share lighter moments a
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Thank you for listening to the Walk-In Talk Podcast, hosted by Carl Fiadini and Company. Our show not only explores the exciting and chaotic world of the restaurant business and amazing eateries but also advocates for mental health awareness in the food industry.
Our podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. Don't miss out on upcoming episodes where we'll continue to cook up thought-provoking discussions on important topics, including mental health awareness.
Be sure to visit our website for more food industry-related content, including our very own TV show called Restaurant Recipes where we feature Chefs cooking up their dishes and also The Dirty Dash Cocktail Hour; the focus is mixology and amazing drinks!
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll catch you next time on the Walk-In Talk Podcast.
https://www.TheWalkInTalk.com
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Thank you. We're recording on-site at Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get to eat it. First things first. Last week on the show we had Chef Rosanna Rivera and her hubby, chef Ricardo, in-house. Can they cook, my goodness, can they throw down? Great episode, and it's about social media and food and how they work well together. Go back and listen. Today it's how do you start a business? Do you have the know-how, the internal fortitude, the money? Well, many of us have endured the rocky road. Some of us are still on that road Hashtag, walk and talk.
Speaker 1:Our guest this week is a good friend of mine, chef and entrepreneur Tom Favren, co-owner of Crab Island Seafood Company. This story is one of struggle, brick walls and a steady diet of belly kicks. It's incredibly persistent, this guy, and he's a great person. I know him a long time, good dude. So with success it all comes. Chef Tom is on deck and there's Chef Carl, the other co-owner, in house as well. He's watching from the green room.
Speaker 1:Chefs, we've been using Metro hot boxes, shelving and even their mobile prep cart around the studio and couldn't be happier. If you're planning on reorganizing your kitchen, well, be sure to contact our friends at Metro, your partner in organization and efficiency. Jefferson, you're a small business owner, small in general, no kidding, you've been through it, we still are. And managing this kind of pressure it's not for the faint of heart and you know, you have to. You kind of have to give the props to anybody who kind of throws their hat in the ring of entrepreneurship. Starting a business, owning a business, you know, even investing, whatever it's a big thing business owning a business, even investing, whatever.
Speaker 2:It's a big thing. There's so many avenues, man, you can't even just pick one where to start when you have the idea, but then you have to have the money behind it to do it, to bring it to fruition, and then you have to have man guts, you have to have what we call chutzpah. You know webons. You have to get out there and do it. And then when you're doing it, you have to make connections, you have to make sure that you're speaking the right terminologies to people Like, I think, one of the things that especially we're talking about the restaurant industry when you're a chef and then you leave the kitchen to go start your own thing, to go back into the kitchen to talk to chefs wow, you're a leopard, you. You have just gone the the. You're not supposed to talk to him. Good god, there's no way I'm going to talk to you anymore.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it is well see. In my opinion, a leopard never loses its spots true leprosy. Yeah, there we go. I know what you meant. I was trying to save you.
Speaker 2:You didn't have to do that, I know, but I you know, when I speak and I mess up, I own it, just like I did with the flan, I own it, so okay. So just everyone, everyone knows I did a smoke flan today. We are not taking pictures of it because dingling took cupcakes, uh tins, the foil tins, and I had paper in it and I put the caramel in there and the caramel stuck to the paper. You know what it's called first attempt in learning hey, listen, I mean it.
Speaker 1:I mean it's okay. I think we should take pictures of it anyway.
Speaker 2:No, john's not going to do that, because he doesn't want his name on that. I'll take pictures of the show on my iPhone.
Speaker 1:So again, I feel like there should be some photography on it and maybe on the. Hey, this is what you don't do.
Speaker 2:Well, I think there's a lot of times and we're talking about owning something and starting a business I think one of the things you need to do is, when you mess up, you have to learn from it. You can't beat yourself up to it. I mean, yesterday when I did it and I took it out after it cooled and I realized what I had done, I started going what are you doing, you idiot? That's so like rookie. And then I caught myself and went wait, you've never smoked fun, not the steps that I did the first time. I didn't have creme brulee bowls, I didn't have the right equipment First of all to do it, no comment. And when I got done with it, I just was like hey version 2.0 coming up next.
Speaker 1:Well, I will tell you, because I had a bite. Taste is right on. Oh, yeah, thank you. Yeah, I mean I'd eat it.
Speaker 2:Well you would be going like this with the paper afterwards. Yeah, I mean sure, but you have to realize that when you're doing something, you have a version of it. Here's the other thing too. And I guess when Chef Tom comes on, when you do something and you think it's perfect, the great chefs will always tweak it. They want to keep on. What can I do better? How can I make this better? What can I do to make it different every single time? And that's what I'm like. The first thing I did was like I told john I even told carl off, uh, with it, with a c, not a k. I told carl, I'm like the best thing I could have done was use the molds. I have silicone molds, didn't even think about that. I was so fixated on the china and I didn't have that look, we're not mad at you.
Speaker 1:Um, so is that where you went wrong? So here's the thing because we don't have a lot of food today, there's some. You made some bread, made some focaccia made some shabbat of sticks, right? Yeah, so uh, but I'll tell you what, though, without there being any cooking, there's a lot of food in this house, right, I mean so?
Speaker 1:a lot of smoke dip. There's a, there's a ton of smoke dip and uh, and our good friend al, uh, he came by and you know you can make a mention of that in a minute and drop off a bunch of really cool stuff with that said um, you, you made it error, you're talking about it on air. Um, give it like a give, like the steps one, two, three, right. Take a minute and just say what you should have done and then kind of get a little bit more into detail and and where the, where the mistake came oh yeah, I mean one.
Speaker 2:I probably should have used a thermometer candy thermometer because when you go past a certain time with when you're candying sugar to make a caramel, there's a certain point where you're getting more of a taffy structure. Then Then you're getting candy which is like way over and it's going to be rock hard, it's going to crack and it's going to snap, which is good. But when you're doing flan it's a little bit different, plus, because you're also cooking it and that cooking process went over an hour. So there was that problem. The other problem having the paper in there in the tins. I would have just pulled the paper out and had the foil. Probably would have been a little bit better. Maybe spraying it down.
Speaker 2:These are all things that I afterwards what I was doing Silicone mold done. That's what I'm going to do when I get home. I actually have a quart left over. So when I get home, I was actually thinking about should bring it over there but ding-a-ling, froze it Because I didn't know what I was going to do with it, so I didn't want to lose it.
Speaker 1:Don't be so hard on yourself.
Speaker 2:Well, here's the thing when you're doing things and you mess up, you want to make sure that you do it. Yes, you do this self-deprecation of it and you want to stop doing it. I get that, but you learn from it. It's the first attempt and now you've got to keep on doing when you get to the perfection part of it. That's the different story.
Speaker 1:I actually love how this is going to tie your error on your production. There ties into how, when you go off into business, the error and you get kicked in the belly, as I was mentioning in the monologue. Belly shot after belly, shot after belly shot, and if you, and if you stay with it, learn, pivot, make the adjustment. You know you can find yourself on the other side. I think it's actually apropos it. This fits perfectly, um, with the, with the day-to-day, although I do wish that you had so. So what I'm going to do when I get home is I'm going to go to my mother-in-law and.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say, mom, do me a favor, taste this. No, no, make a flan.
Speaker 2:Oh, and then you're going to take a picture of it and show me.
Speaker 1:Well, what I'm going to have her do is I'll have her make a flan and I'm going to bring it next week.
Speaker 2:don't do it today no, of course not.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna tell her when I'm. You know she knows what she's doing, okay I know she knows, but do you? Uh, I don't have to know that's what I mean I show up with the spoon. You know I'm saying like that that's the silver spoon for right now.
Speaker 2:Right, it was golden this until rack sends him a gold spoon. Yes, so tina's gonna send you a gold spoon now tina from rack I.
Speaker 1:I want my gold spoon set.
Speaker 2:Just a huge shout out. They just sent. How many plates? Four cases, how many?
Speaker 1:30 plates. It's amazing how we waste the mic on him.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean when he does talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we can add Carl over here. I know it looks pretty. It's a pretty mic. You got there bud. There you go 30, please.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Now we're talking. Okay, okay, write that down.
Speaker 1:That's the fifth time John spoke on the podcast Seriously Silent, john, indeed, yeah, so it's so cool that they're they're they're doing this and and you know, listen, I think you know there's a, there's a good chance that, uh, you know, rack comes on board as a, as a vendor partner or, you know, top tier sponsor, and that'd be. That'd be terrific guys. Um, again, tina, thank you for sending everything you do, send we. We appreciate you very much and her energy, by the way, is, god, ridiculous, second to none. I mean, it's so awesome you meet her and you just like, wow, so people, um, I've had, I've had folks come to me and say, you know how come, everything you always talk about is like, oh, this person's greater, that company's awesome, but I never hear you're talking about anything negative.
Speaker 1:I don't speak about anybody or anything negative really on the show. That's not where I want to go with it. Right, it's not a bashing sort of a you know, you know framework with what we're doing. So when you hear me talk about, oh, you know, chef Tom is a great guy, he's a great human, yeah, I'm not going to, I'm not going to bring a dirt bag on and and promote that person or that company.
Speaker 1:Right, so everything's positive. Right we were. We fed everybody. I mean like Al when he came into the studio. Al's a broker works for B&A.
Speaker 2:He manages lines from all these different manufacturers. He's got guacamole in a Philly cheesesteak. He bought mascarpone cheese in different cheeses from Schulman, so it's going to be great to taste them. Did you mention the Guac Cups? Yeah, I did mention the Guac Cups, but I didn't mention the company. I don't remember the name of it.
Speaker 2:I know it started with a G, but I don't remember of it, but it's frozen in a cup, so you can't go wrong with that. I mean, as far as here's the thing, when you're talking and chef will get involved in this when he talks about his product the difference between shelf stable, refrigerated and a freezer, because when you're distributed, going for distribution, distributors don't like things that are refrigerated because that means it has a shelf life that's short.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:For the most part. They also don't like things that are going on in the freezer, because when things are in the refrigerator that can go in the freezer, that real estate gets eaten up. They love things that are shelf stable. So there's a big balance that we have to do as far as distribution, and people don't understand that. It's great from being from both sides because I can play that field Chef's learning that we can probably talk about that, because that's going to be another huge obstacle can probably talk about that, because that's going to be another huge obstacle.
Speaker 1:Well, it is, and you?
Speaker 2:know he and I have known each other for at least five years.
Speaker 1:Sorry, and he's been so sorry at least, and, and he's been, um, he's been. He's had some major ups and downs. He'll get into it, uh, but, um, you know what. All right, enough about this, chef Tom. Welcome to the program. Well, thank you for having me. You know what Our pleasure. We've been talking about this for a long time, like you being here.
Speaker 3:About five years.
Speaker 1:Something like that.
Speaker 2:Almost five years.
Speaker 1:Well, Waka.
Speaker 2:Talk started in 2020. Yeah, coming up, so five years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, almost my goodness. All right. So before we jump into everything, uh, why don't you give a? Um, you know, take 30 seconds and do an airplane view of uh, who you are, what you do and how you got there?
Speaker 3:um, so tom favorite, that's my name um, so we uh started out being airborne infantry, got hurt on just a fun training day and totally changed my life around, and then put out the military medically and then had to get a job, you know, not trained in anything other than infantry. So I went back into what I knew paramedicine and firefighting, did that for 20 years, got hurt health-wise massive heart attack and it totally changed my life and it came back to really what I should have done when I got out of the service was food and got into selling shrimp and from there in the crab dips and fish breads and saw that flavor profile just launch and I wanted to be part of that and bring a product that I actually loved to market. And that's where we're at today.
Speaker 1:Now, well, you know again, to reiterate, we don't trash anybody on the show per se. You have had ups and downs in this thing. You have come so cause I know we've spent hours on the phone together and you know, hearing the stories, it's, it's remarkable, and you're still here and now you're still here and now you're actually making things happen. Give a little bit of insight as to some of the challenges that you've had.
Speaker 3:Really, just on the health side, ups and downs health-wise had really impeded the work I was doing trying to get things started. And then you brought it up earlier money getting capital, getting that set up. We have been blessed so far. We had some great donations to our facility and making what we can do today. But COVID, when I was in the beginning of COVID we had 60 restaurants we were selling fresh shrimp to and COVID totally knocked that down. But from adversity comes triumph. Really, to beginning to where we are today. I still think of it as a triumph. To where we started out, having a product that we have today. To where we started out having a product that we have today, just being able to go out there and see people's faces when you're doing tastings or selling it going. Oh my goodness, this is amazing, this is the best I've ever had.
Speaker 1:What makes your product so well? How does it come off? You're saying everybody's loving it and I've had it, it's delicious. But why? Why is product so well Like? How does it come off? You're saying everybody's loving it and I've had it, it's delicious, but why? Why is it so delicious?
Speaker 3:Well, the biggest thing is my partner, Chef Carl. He takes the time to get the that recipe to where you want it and then mass producing it and that is a key right there is being able to mass produce, time in, time out, the same exact recipe and getting the same flavor profile at each batch. And Carl has been able to do that, not you the other, carl Right.
Speaker 2:So the biggest thing when I went to culinary school Peter James the Dean who became Dean of students he always said the one thing that the restaurant industry doesn't do as a whole is consistency. And I kind of went above that and said the restaurant industry consistently is inconsistent. And he said if you want consistency in the restaurant industry, go work for McDonald's. So it's probably the hardest thing. What he did Wendy's, wendy's yeah, I did. Wow, he worked at Wendy's. So consistency, right. So the hardest thing to do is how do you get things consistency when you're talking about a restaurant, but when you're talking about that's huge because that's bulk. So when talking about a restaurant, but when you're talking about that's huge because that's bulk. So when you're talking about one cup, you know finished product, but you're doing that on a scale that's so large yeah, a pallet of ours.
Speaker 1:One pallet of product is 1288 ounce tubs it's a lot and that's what you're doing today. Yes, right, and before you were doing it like small batch, probably what?
Speaker 3:20 at a time, 20 to 30 at a time, yeah, and each batch, each flavor. We have seven different flavors right now, so five different crab dips and then a smoked mahi and a smoked salmon. So just a little bit of time and growing and growing. And really one thing I have to revert back on is something that was very difficult was I'm very trusting. So I've learned over time not to be as trusting and to put that wall up. To begin in the beginning, before I get to know them, because we have been burnt and in this industry, people taking ideas, paperwork is key. Getting that nondisclosure yeah, I was going to say NDA and non-competes yeah, it is because there's people out there and they'll take your idea and run with it. So, unfortunately, we learned, but it happens. We learn, we move on, we shoot, we move and we communicate and that's my military background that has helped me get to where we are right now and it'll get me to where we want to be.
Speaker 2:I want to point out that something that's very wonderful about his company it's veteran-owned and I think that's the biggest thing. So if you want to help somebody that's not only local trying to grow their business, you want to help somebody that serves and try to protect our country veterans Hello.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my pleasure man.
Speaker 1:Well, so, with that said, where do you find it?
Speaker 3:Well, so, with that said, where do you find it?
Speaker 1:Right now we do farmer's markets on the weekends all through St Pete, hillsborough County, a little bit in Tampa and, to keep it military, that's real grunt work right there.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're really doing it from the bottom up. Yes, yeah, hustle, let's call it hustle. Yeah, big time, really doing it from the bottom up. Yes, yeah, hustle, let's call it hustle.
Speaker 3:Yeah, big time so what that does for us is that covers our basically our overhead yeah, our kitchens, our insurance, everything like that. That covers our overhead. And then we have branched off into wholesale. So we're in several different locations a couple of restaurants, a couple of bars Heights Meats, southern Steer Butcher. We just got into Riverview Fresh Market, so we're branching out.
Speaker 1:And Heights Meats is a good outfit. Are you in all the locations?
Speaker 3:So we're in the clear water in tampa and we'll be hopefully here in the next two weeks, be in the brandon and, uh, the lakeland. Okay, so all, all locations here within the next couple weeks and then um with southern steer. We're in two locations clear Clearwater and St Pete, but we are looking to branch off into. They have six locations.
Speaker 1:So we're going to be branching off into them. So this is really your, this is like your moment, your front of the house jumping off point. Oh, most definitely, Right, 100%. For the last few years it's really just been like okay, how do I get this thing moving? Because you still work full time.
Speaker 3:No, no, actually, Carl and I have left, did you? Yeah, we were over at the Birchwood Inn and we both left in August of last year and we said, okay, we're all in. So we're doing what we have to do to survive and build this as much as we can, as fast as we can.
Speaker 1:Man, that's, that's, um, yeah, when you don't have the floor under you anymore, it's, it's scary, it's nonstop. Yeah, yes.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's really scary. I think it's more of one of how can I? Well, it's, it's a legit fight or flight, A hundred percent Right. I think you've got to look at it, that you know I'm going to fight, especially him, because of what he's been through. He's been fighting when you were talking. I have this image of that e-grid or that bird and he's got the frog and the frog's grabbing the throat and it says never give up. Yeah, I mean, that's the motto that we have to be as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3:Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:You have to be wired differently to start your own business, no matter if it's in the restaurant industry or not. I think, like I alluded to earlier, being a chef. In the kitchen, chefs talk to you, but when you step out of the kitchen and try to sell the product, you're looked at as less than in person. They don't talk to you anymore. It less than in person they don't talk to you anymore.
Speaker 3:It's like weird, yeah, especially with like with our product. It's it's a pre-made product and a lot of the higher end restaurants will and I wouldn't say higher end, but people that wouldn't want to make it their own and they're like well, I can do better. Right and that attitude does come across when you, when you talk to them and you're like, when you talk to them and you're like listen, let's look at your man hours, okay. Your costs, yeah, but your man hours to make this and how long is it going to last?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but sometimes it pays to have a product like that as your base right.
Speaker 2:You bring it in, your base product is ready and now you chef-y chef it and dress it up yeah but a lot of times and I've said this before the way you need to talk to a chef, cause you know he can talk that language, and that's what I was alluding to we took we speak differently than salespeople unless you're a chef, but there's always have to be that translation. When you walk into a chef, you've got to give them the three team, three things how are you going to give me my time back? How are you going to increase my profitability and how are you just going to make it an incredible product that I can put my name on it itself? If you give those three answers, chef's going to buy from you because that's how they're going to. That's the mindset that the chef works. Like what chef just said.
Speaker 2:Chef Tom, like what's their man hours? My best thing was when somebody was like I make my own ravioli. I'm like well, what do you pay yourself? She goes oh, it's free because I do it myself. Oh, you want to come work for me? No, well, what's the difference? She didn't understand the difference between it's your, you own the company, but you have to have a price on your head for what you do, because if you're not, then you shouldn't be in business.
Speaker 3:Exactly, yeah. So right now we we don't look at it. We look at it that way, but we don't look at it that way as we're building because we we want to make the company as big as possible and get our product name out there and a cost to it. Right now we're not putting that into the company. But we know, I mean, when I worked EMS I was working 100 plus hours a week. Now I'm probably 99? Yeah, 99.75. But it's something that I love, so it's not.
Speaker 2:It's not working.
Speaker 3:It's not working. It's not working right now.
Speaker 1:My wife would say otherwise right, it's a hobby they always do and and at the end of it, um, it's, it's something you're building, you know, for yourself, for carl, like you guys are doing legacy, it's, it's your thing. Yes, right, so that changes the whole dynamic of your time. Right, it's one. It's like I look at it that way. It's one thing. If, uh, you know, if I'm giving my, so that changes the whole dynamic of your time. Right, it's like I look at it that way. It's one thing. If I'm giving my 70 hours a week to somebody, okay, but they're getting my 70 hours a week. If I'm putting 70 hours a week into something that was created in how it's our thing, my thing, our thing, that's different.
Speaker 3:It is a different. It's it's self gratifying to know what we're doing and actually, when you, when you do things wrong, you learn from it and you move on, but you have that instance of going, oh great. I screwed up, okay, now we know, and it's really it has great. I screwed up, okay, now we know, and really it has been that I mean we are on the ground, fighting every day and learning every day.
Speaker 1:What has been one of your biggest stumbling blocks, like, what did you trip on most Capital?
Speaker 3:Like everybody else, it's capital is the hardest thing to procure to find that backer to say, okay, this product is what we want to back and be able to grow from there.
Speaker 1:And how did you find finance?
Speaker 3:Working with people over the years that have looked at the product and said, okay, yeah, this is a great product we want to get behind it, but is it something that you stumbled on, or somebody fell into you, or you went out and you said you know what?
Speaker 1:I'm going to go out and I'm going to find that person.
Speaker 3:It was a working relationship. Um, our backer is in the fish industry shrimp guy from georgia, um, and he saw this product. He has a whole product line himself. He sees the opportunity that it can grow and he uh gave us the the opportunity to get started so well.
Speaker 1:So when you, what you have coming up next is going to be something to the effect of distribution. That's your next big thing. That's our next big thing. That's our next big thing. Yeah, okay, how are you tackling that?
Speaker 3:We are in talks with, I guess I could say, the Chaney brothers. We're in talks with them right now to have them start distributing. We have actually partnered with them, I could say with getting all the ingredients through them and then we're able to make it and they're going to market and distribute through it. We have a couple locations that they are through Cheney they do take our crab dips and fish breads. That are actually doing stupendous. I mean it's amazing how fast they're going.
Speaker 1:And that well so Cheney's. So for me, broad liners, you know US Cisco, cheney, those are probably the top three, and you know maybe coming here in Florida, yeah, in Florida.
Speaker 3:Yeah, right, you know, maybe then after that you have like a PFG or Gordon even they're a great outfit and they look for things like this yeah, they do, and that's what's nice about it is they're family owned and they see what we're trying to do and trying to stay with the family and build it up and build a legacy for my family, for carl's family, um to be able to grow together and make great product and push it out. And it's a nice thing because it's not just. I know some of the other broadliners will okay, I want it across the states tomorrow and it's nice that in talks Cheney's like well, okay, we'll start it here and we'll grow together which is they're not trying to destroy your capacity Right.
Speaker 2:Well, he couldn't like if he went to a Cisco, let's say, and they said we want to in all 50 states. He can't ramp up the.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying, you know, because they have.
Speaker 3:Unless you want to donate some, they can donate. I'm not going to donate.
Speaker 2:They can donate. I'm not going to donate. If I had that cash, it would be donated to the baking cartel. The walk-on.
Speaker 1:No offense, Jeff, We'd bring it in, don't worry. So at the end of it, yeah, they'd come in and they would say something to the effect of well, we need X amount of capacity product for X amount of warehouses in the state whatever or states plural, and that can kill somebody Like that'll absolutely destroy you Absolutely destroy you.
Speaker 3:You don't want to grow too fast, you know too big, too fast.
Speaker 2:A lot of companies do that. I mean, listen, there's a major company that made an $11 million mistake and they're about to close down. Yeah, so everybody makes you don't know who I'm talking about.
Speaker 3:I do Darden know who I'm talking about I do darden, oh yeah, sure, well, no they weren't owned by darden.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, they're. They're separate now, right, yeah, so that's I mean you. You mentioned it like. Here's the prime example you, you do something, you mess up, you mess up that big in 11 million dollar loss.
Speaker 1:That's huge yeah, and then you get uh, bought and sold, bought and sold, bought and sold, sold, sold, sold, broken down, sold for parts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we can go on and on and on about the different restaurants that were thriving, that bought something that didn't end up doing so well. I mean Hopps is a prime example.
Speaker 1:I mean, that can go as simple as buying the space next door, can go as simple as uh, buying the space next door.
Speaker 2:You know, and uh, how many times you see a restaurant where they're like they go oh, we got to expand, and they expand. The next thing, they know that two months later they're closed. You know, six months later, a year, they're closed because they just didn't have them. Or they open a second spot, yeah, and they end up closing. So it's again, it's, it's a really, it's a type rope walk when we're talking about the restaurant industry, because I don't think your margins are about the same as the restaurant industry margins, correct? Yes.
Speaker 2:So a lot of people think, oh, I have a cousin that actually cuts shoes for Steve Madden. The markup on shoes is ridiculous. We can't do 155%. Some people like to. On chicken, think about that for a second. If you buy chicken at $3, you're going gonna go buy chicken in a restaurant for 50. So that's a tough thing to swallow. So the margins people don't realize. Yeah, he owns his own company, he's got a manufacturing plan, he's doing the crab and shit. I think people are gonna be oh, you're rolling in dough. No, you're not what is it like five?
Speaker 2:five to ten percent is yeah, yeah, so it's not.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we, uh, we want to make it competitive, we want to make a little bit of money, and ours is a little bit different because the way we do it, we can freeze ours and you were talking about that earlier, about freezing and fresh. With our recipe, we're able to freeze it for six months, so that takes more space than we have to do.
Speaker 2:Not only that More cost. Here's the other problem. The raw ingredient you're getting is a commodity ingredient, so that fluctuates more so than the other guys because of what they're using as their ingredient.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's gone up about 40% in the last about two months. So you know it fluctuates. We try to lock in prices but it's you know the way it is, so we have to go with the flow so when we? When people are like okay, what's your, what's your price here? It is well, you don't know everything that goes behind the scenes to to get that there.
Speaker 2:I mean you use Mahi right.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:So Mahi, back in the day when I was first starting out, was like $2, $3 a pound. What is it going now?
Speaker 3:Mahi's not that bad. Right now Mahi is actually about $4 a pound.
Speaker 2:Oh okay.
Speaker 3:So, it's the crab. The blue crab is through the roof, and also our, our smoked salmon, because we use a wild caught Chilean salmon, so it's a little bit higher grade. It's considered a sushi grade, so when we get it in it's pretty pricey.
Speaker 2:So basically, you're you. The differential differentiation from you to the other guys that are doing smoked fish dips or smoked dips is that you're using a better quality product, better ingredients.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're using a higher quality of blue crab and actually the mahi. A lot of people when they do their mahi dips, they're using scraps, the bellies, whatever's cut off. We use loins.
Speaker 2:So that makes a different huge difference and also some people, when they do fish, specifically fish dip, not mahi or a specific fish species they use jack or king right.
Speaker 3:So what they'll do is they'll take the mahi, say it's a mahi spread, and what they'll do is they'll take the mahi, say it's a mahi spread, and what they'll do is they will put a percentage of mahi so you're getting that flavor, and then cut it down with whiting fish, right, and so no one really looks at the ingredients. They'll see mahi and then a couple lines down the road there was then your whitefish, whitefish, whitefish. So we're 100% through and through all mahi and salmon. So we don't cut anything down. So our costs are a little bit higher, but you're getting a much higher quality fish spread and crab dip. We use all fresh ingredients to where we can the mahi, the jalapenos, the green onions, everything is the spinach, everything is fresh.
Speaker 2:So you're using fresh jalapenos?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Okay. The reason why I'm shocked is because each jalapeno is differently. When you're doing a sauce per se because I have that PTSD that's a mash, so I can control the amount of heat with the mash that's coming in. When you do what he's doing, you know everything. It's almost like one of those ones that were the shishito peppers. You don't ever know what's going to be the spicier of the two, the spiciest of the two. So how do you control the heat?
Speaker 3:on that. That's Chef Carl's little secret there, carl's little secret there. We have it down, that we can. You know, basically every single batch is the same exact batch. The key is fresh jalapenos, you know, a couple days old. You're going to get that. That heat level is going to actually come down and that flavor profile is actually going to change because you don't have that fresh ingredient in there. So when we make things it's fresh off the batch boom.
Speaker 1:So at the moment, your current product list, how many different flavor profiles do you have Currently?
Speaker 2:we have seven different flavors. I like when he says currently, because I think Carl's got some others in the Carl's got like he just rolled his eyes.
Speaker 3:Carl's got like an encyclopedia of all these different recipes that he's wanting to try. I have to turn it back a little bit Wait, wait, wait, no no.
Speaker 2:He just said encyclopedia Half the people we just lost. What is that? It's Google and books. It's a Google and media.
Speaker 3:It's New Times Roman.
Speaker 1:Single spaced.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we have seven different flavors. We have our smoked mahi, our smoked salmon dill, and that's fresh dill. And then in our crab dips we have have our smoked mahi, our smoked salmon dill, and that's fresh dill, you just put it in um. And then in our crab dips we have um, a buffalo blue cheese, a mexican street corn, a jalapeno popper, a spinach, artichoke, parmesan, and I think the biggest and newest is it's really taking off is our crab ragu that one, that one I've had, I'm down for that.
Speaker 3:I'm down for all those, but you know I'm a sucker for uh crab right we're actually having a lot of customers cup toast say, oh, this is what we did when, like, one of our customers bought a whole mess of you know like five pounds of my I mean from the ragoon and they came back and said, oh, we made stuffed shells with it. Okay, put a little vasca vodka sauce on it.
Speaker 2:And they said it was amazing don't look at me, I'm, I was. I was thinking. Here's where I went with it Grouper or Mahi filet Encrusted with the crab, rangoon and panko with a sherry reduction.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, okay yeah.
Speaker 1:We don't have. Can we do this today?
Speaker 2:We don't have the fish to do it.
Speaker 1:I mean we'll make the fish happen. My goodness, yeah, stop.
Speaker 2:I haven't eaten yet. You sound like Carl.
Speaker 1:Today, this is a. This is a weird day today. All right, the. Our food situation today is just like a. Is it it day to day? Our food situation today is just like a it just worked out.
Speaker 3:It's just bread. We have the dips, we have all seven. You're going to try them all.
Speaker 2:Well, you brought some stuff that's frozen too Is that experimental.
Speaker 3:It's all thought out.
Speaker 2:No, I'm talking about in the bag that I put in the freezer. That looks like you have to fry this.
Speaker 3:We have a Mexican street corn empanada. So what we try to do is we make a couple different things to show that they're just not dips. Right you know you can cook with them, you can make different things with them, and so we brought a buffalo blue cheese croquette and a Mexican street corn empanada. You can, we can, air frada.
Speaker 1:You can wake them. Yeah, I'd be on a croquette you had me on a croquette.
Speaker 2:He needs an air fryer. He's got one. He actually has a fryer too.
Speaker 3:Oh really. Oh, okay, yeah, you could do it either way.
Speaker 1:I think air fryer is nice.
Speaker 2:All of a sudden, you're watching your waist. It's healthier. Well, you yes, Because of the heart attack issue.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, are you going to show everybody your zipper?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You already should.
Speaker 1:I was going to. You know it's funny. I was going to say the longer you know, tom, you're going to see the scar, You're going to see the zipper, you're going to see the scar the one of many scars.
Speaker 3:But yeah, that actually changed my life more than you. Before my heart attack, the only thing I would eat were clams Meat, no, just clams. Seafood-wise I would eat clams and I'd have to have like 40 pounds of butter on them. But because of the heart attack and the anesthesia it actually totally changed my palate. So now I can do hot things. Before, pepper was spicy for me, but now I can do hot things. What? Yeah, it totally changed my palate. Hot things before pepper was spicy for me, but now I can do hot things. Uh, and what? Yeah, it totally changed my palate.
Speaker 2:My wife's palate from giving birth. She can't have certain things. She was a pescatarian. She couldn't eat fish for almost five years.
Speaker 1:Okay, childbirth, we know she had an epidural.
Speaker 2:It was just anesthesia, so that could have affected her. Yeah, but.
Speaker 1:But everything weird happens to a female.
Speaker 2:Were you pregnant.
Speaker 1:Did you have a baby?
Speaker 3:I love pregnant but if I was pregnant and I'm a male, there'd be more money.
Speaker 1:There's all sorts of things that happen to the female body, that changes internally, all sorts of stuff. But the fact that this happened to him, and whether it was anesthesia or the actual, you know, heart attack. That's insane.
Speaker 3:Literally like caviar I can do. Caviar, now I can do.
Speaker 1:Were you in the business. At that time you were still a.
Speaker 3:I was still a paramedic. I was working contract work in Iraq and I was home on vacation. It was my last weekend in country here to go before I went back and I was actually under the knife when I was supposed to be on a plane back to Iraq.
Speaker 1:They still wanted you there at the time too right Like every other employer.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, they wanted me so much that I woke up a couple days later after my surgery and everything like that, and they said oh, you're out of a job. So I was actually let go from the contract work while under the knife. Wow, yeah, that's it's contract. It's government contract work. Don't get me wrong. I love what I did and I will not give that up any, you know, because it's such. It's a part of me. You know 20 years doing medicine, then working overseas.
Speaker 3:Great job, Loved it, but you know, he has other plans, so this is what he's led me to, so this is what I'm excited to do, but yeah, it was surprising.
Speaker 2:And you don't want to fight what he has planned for you either, right, yeah, it's funny he went from being in battle to now battling getting his product into places.
Speaker 3:It is a lot like the military.
Speaker 2:Oh, and the kitchens are always. That's why I think we're the lighthouse for ex-military. I find out more kitchens have ex-military.
Speaker 1:It's either ex-mil x cons yeah, it's x something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because we, we are the catalyst for this structure and I think that's one of the reasons why because when you don't have it, and you have that hierarchy, obviously with this executive chef all the way down, but there's structure, there's standard operating procedures. I guarantee you, looking at carl and looking at chef, they're, they have sops, whether they're written down or not. It's probably another different thing, but they're, they definitely have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's basically chef carl going, don't touch it it's.
Speaker 1:It's also looking at chef carl and chef tom and you go. I don't want to meet him in a in a dark alley either, you know they you know they could. They can go both sides of this.
Speaker 3:True story. True story, yeah.
Speaker 2:And you were Army, right? Oh yeah, Because we were talking off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're my real branch. So that's just a little joke, Little joke guys.
Speaker 1:By the way, chef Gaston over here in Tampa, yeah, when is?
Speaker 2:he coming to come on.
Speaker 1:Soon.
Speaker 2:I know he's a busy man.
Speaker 1:He is Well before he moved into the new spot, which I'm so mad I didn't get a chance.
Speaker 3:Which is a great spot.
Speaker 1:I know. Well, he invited me to say, hey, man, come to the grand opening, and I was tied up. Anyway, long story short, we were talking about him coming on the show before he got the new spot, and now everybody's just been slammed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's funny because every time I would see him, or when I would see him, it would be at Restaurant Depot in the cooler, when we're running in and grabbing something and getting out because I forgot my jacket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, anyway, you know, Chef, I was sticking up for you here because Tom was, you know you know ribbing on you for the coastie thing.
Speaker 3:I'm just saying you know, you know I appreciate everybody that they do. Everybody in each branch is amazing, but if you were in the army, it is. And today is more so because today is June 6th and it is the anniversary 80 years, 80 years of D-Day. Yes, so, um, thank you for everybody that's lost their lives because of this nation and great nation. And you know, even everybody that's still serving, I appreciate everybody.
Speaker 2:We had the honor in Dallas to cover and judge the Air Force against the Coast Guard for an MRE challenge and it was just amazing to see the team we actually I don't know if I told you, but at the NRA show, right next to Chris Steve Lee, woodworking diagonally from them, was the Coastie.
Speaker 1:They actually had a booth, the same gang.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was three of the guys there the guy with the glasses, the black hair, and the other guy that was in competition, the bald guy. They were there with one of the girls they were like were like, hey, what's going on? I'm like, oh my god, it's great to see you. It was great to see them because there they are, in their element, trying to get you know people to come in and understand.
Speaker 3:yeah, I was there last year and those guys, they had like 12, 12 coasties there and they were just rocking it yeah they had people signing up and young kids, young students that were coming to the NRA show and they were flocking to the Coast Guard which is awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you said something about puddle jumpers. That's what you said. That was the joke. No, no, tom said that.
Speaker 2:No, you did it, DM. When we were at the Dallas thing, that was something about the puddle jump.
Speaker 1:No, it's pirates or something. Listen, we'll listen back to it. Yeah, what I did.
Speaker 2:One of the coasties is going to email you and be like no dude. This is what it is.
Speaker 1:I asked them. I know you did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got permission.
Speaker 1:I said, listen, I want to do a joke. What's a good branch versus branch thing I can do to you know, kind of um you know, just spark a little energy or whatever. So the the the actual ribbing came from the coasties.
Speaker 3:They said oh yeah, they know they told me what to say about themselves inner branch, even within the branches, like if you're you know, infantry or artillery yeah uh, eod, you know eod, is you just plug your ears up and stomp on the ground to find those bombs? I mean, it's just, razzing is part of the job, and you get that in the kitchen too.
Speaker 2:I was just about to say that. That's where it comes from too.
Speaker 1:And this is the part where today it is changing. It's changing in the military and in the kitchens and I hope it doesn't 100% change Because you have to have that it's in the kitchens and I hope it doesn't 100 change because you have to have that. It's part of building the camaraderie man you need to have that.
Speaker 2:I think the only thing that needs to change is the hours we work and the glorification of it. And then I think the razzing still has to happen, because if you do stupid stuff like I mean, how many times did you send somebody to go get a bucket of steam in the basement in florida? I mean all the time left Left-handed screwdriver.
Speaker 3:I didn't send anybody, they sent me.
Speaker 2:Or the bacon stretcher.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, you do those crazy things. In the Army. We had the nuclear time clock which you had to get in your chemical suit and you would send someone to the company and then the company would send a battalion and the goal was to see if they could get them up to division in their full chemical suit. You know little things like that. You know, and that happens in this kitchen and I it's absolutely great. I mean, you have to have a little bit of tough skin. Nowadays you don't see it as much, no, um, but you have to have tough skin and you just got to move on. You're gonna shoot, move, communicate and that's that's, that's the key.
Speaker 2:that's a great segue into like having thick skin. As an entrepreneur starting a business, you have to have alligator skin on you because you're, like you said, get kicked in the in the stomach every turn, like you're gonna talk to somebody, yeah, and they give you the oh, it's great. And then you're like, oh great, I'll call you, call me on Tuesday. You call on Tuesday, they don't know you.
Speaker 3:You have to learn to be able to accept the word no and not take it personally. And that's the key. If you learn to do that and say, okay, let's move on, you didn't like it, there's going to be 50 other people that do like it and you just push on and push on, and push on. You just say, okay, you don't like it, fine.
Speaker 2:Do you know what no means?
Speaker 3:It's an acronym.
Speaker 2:No, next opportunity there you go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like the word pivot. I, you guys hear me say pivot a lot.
Speaker 3:I hate that word because of COVID. I hate the word because of friends.
Speaker 2:Pivot, pivot. I like it. He doesn't remember the episode. I don't. Amy he's going to call you now because you don't remember it, Cause she's a fan friends letter.
Speaker 1:She's gonna call you. She probably sends you the actual um episode. Amy, send me the link. So you don't know that. Come on everybody, I don't remember, I, I don't remember, but I do like it in, just in how I approach challenges in what we're doing. And you, there's probably been 30 pivots in this. You know, john threw up on the mixer yeah, there's been so many like changes and stop this direction, stop this direction. Stop. You know it's crazy, yeah, but you have to roll with it. You just have to like, okay, no problem, and take it and then go in another direction.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it gets to me. You know, because the military and actually because the EMS too, I have some issues and they get to me. But I have to sit there and take that time to meditate and go back through my mind and say, okay, it's just not, it's not me. Things change, we have to go and it takes a little bit sometime personally, but it's a learning process every single day.
Speaker 1:I have an in-law that you, you, you need to, you need to meet. He was in the army. It's actually a little bit older than me, probably your age. He was in the Army Also, you know paramedic and all that stuff, and he ended up he still works. He's a what do they call the at the post office postmaster? He's a postmaster. General, cool cat. You guys are like the same person. Legit the same person.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's basically what you get right here from 20 years of EMS and 10 years of the Army. It's just very cold. I joke a lot, but deep down down I care. So I want to be able to use that and push this new product out with the caring and learn how to you know and take, like I said when he's, when someone says, no, I gotta, I can't take it personally.
Speaker 3:I gotta be able to say, okay, not you. And we see that the farmer's market too. People come up and taste our product and they're like oh, no. And the person behind them are going like oh my God.
Speaker 1:But that's where you are. I said it before. You're like a ground zero, for you know you're looking for trouble at those farmer's markets.
Speaker 2:No, it's not necessarily that, because I was thinking about as we're talking, and I was thinking about and one of the things as an entrepreneur that we always miss is that we think with our friends they're going to buy from us and they don't no, they want everything for free oh, you got that, let me get that for free.
Speaker 2:But yet, on the same token, you want to go ahead and support nike and it's just a brand. Great, you like to, but you don't go in there and go. Can I get that? Oh it's 50. Can I get it for 25? You go in there and spend. You go into apple and you spend 1200 on a new phone. You don't even blink an eye. But you go to someone like tom and be like oh, can I get that for in a farmer's market? Can I get? Oh, it's 10. I'll give you nine. No, it's, it's not. Let's make a deal.
Speaker 2:You know I have prices and structures and you would think friends would. That's my biggest thing. When I took off and when I opened up my own restaurant with my partner, I thought, oh man, we're going to be busy because we've got all these friends going to be coming in Crickets. They weren't there to support, so you have to. You know, that was my biggest thing. My biggest thing when I opened the restaurant was how do I get people in the door? Because I thought I was going to have people come in the door and that was my naive self.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, because you're sitting there and it's your baby, yeah, and you know that you love everything that you're doing and you automatically think that everybody else is going to do it. They're going to love it and you're just going to walk in. And that's been one of our challenges is marketing and getting our name out there to have people try it. But once they try it, I mean our markets are going crazy.
Speaker 2:Now you talk about marketing, Social media. Do you have a social media presence? Yeah, we have a website CrabIslandSeafoodDipcom.
Speaker 3:We're on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
Speaker 1:What is it?
Speaker 3:Crab Island Seafood. Just to make sure I brought Crab Island.
Speaker 1:Seafood. Don't look at me like that. I thought you would know.
Speaker 2:Like you don't know. It's not about me. No, Do you know his labels? Do you know who made his labels?
Speaker 1:Yeah, this guy, yeah, I'm giving you that this is like your nod to go and promote your stock.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm giving you that this is like your nod to go and promote your stock. Well, no, I wanted to bring up the social media aspect of it. Not so he would announce it. It was because of what we talked about with Rosanna and the presence, that's so required.
Speaker 3:Now it's his time though, to put it out there, and that has been really a strong struggle for us.
Speaker 2:Well, you're how old Social media I'm 29.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, 53.
Speaker 2:Okay you're social media. I'm old 20, 29, okay, yeah, um 53. Okay, well, he's our age, carl 43. So you don't have that balance of having somebody that's a millennial that can say, hey, you guys need to do it this way, um, do you have people, that resources you can talk to that? This is your acf chapter my daughter.
Speaker 3:There you go, yeah, my daughters, and but you 20.
Speaker 2:Dad, I don't want to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, you need millennial or less.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And what is that millennial? What is that so Gen?
Speaker 2:Z and now they changed. Now it's the alphabet is the next. My daughter's grid generation is called the alphabet or something like the alpha or something. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3:I think I'll get my five-year-old niece to hook us up and set up the whole social media.
Speaker 1:I'm serious.
Speaker 3:These kids nowadays? I can't believe. I just said that these kids nowadays, when I was using the ringer with the dial.
Speaker 2:You messed up the phone number on the rotary phone. Oh man.
Speaker 3:The kitchen phone with the 15-foot 25-foot cord.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, we all remember that. Again, this is when everybody just shut it off. Literally everybody just shut the episode off.
Speaker 3:I mean there's so much out there that you can do, and constantly, every single day, you're okay, I got to post here, I got to post here, I got to post here. That's one of the things, when we get to that point to be able to is have a company come in and handle. It's because it's all about delegation.
Speaker 2:Look tom, here's the thing, it's ours, it's the manpower to do.
Speaker 1:And carl, all right, here's the thing you guys are doing big work, you're doing awesome stuff and if you I know that you specifically, and now this guy you guys are gonna push forward and keep going and you're now gonna hit. You're gonna hit the. You're actually gonna hit the, the jackpot. What I mean by jackpot is not, like, you know, tons of cash, hopefully tons of cash, but you're, you're gonna get to the next, the next phase here yeah, and that's.
Speaker 3:That's what it is. It's all about phases, yeah you want to you going to get to the next phase here. Yeah, and that's what it is. It's all about phases. You want to get to your objective, complete that objective and move to the next objective.
Speaker 1:I love when you talk like this.
Speaker 3:I know isn't it, but we're doing it. So thank you for having us, because this has been amazing.
Speaker 1:We've been talking about it forever. I'm so glad that you came today. Guest on South Down Deck. I'm also happy that you brought food. Yeah, that's really what it is. I just want to make sure everybody knows that the pronunciation is lychee.
Speaker 2:The Mandarin pronunciation is lychee or lychee, you guys go ahead and say whatever you want to say. Gravy sauce, lychee, lychee or lychee, you guys go ahead and say whatever you want to say. Gravy sauce, lychee, lychee. It's sauce Tomato tomato.
Speaker 1:Lychee, this is not potato potano.
Speaker 3:Some say potato.
Speaker 1:No, this is not that. All right, my goodness. Chefs out there check out Metro and others. Go to our website See who we're working with, okay, and others Go to our website See who we're working with, okay, gentlemen, silent John, my boy, jefferson, the other, carl With a C With a C, the real Carl.
Speaker 2:Don't forget, evan, that wasn't my God.
Speaker 1:All right, evan, back there Doing the good video. We are out.
