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
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www.peninsulafoodservice.com
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Walk-In Talk Podcast
Chef Shane Schaibly: First Watch Restaurants, “The Anti-Chain”.
Ever wondered how an elite chef balances culinary excellence with mental health advocacy? Join us on the Walk-In Talk Podcast as we sit down with Chef Shane Schaibly from a nationwide breakfast concept to uncover the secrets behind his innovative dishes.
This episode kicks off with an exciting news about Metro Shelving’s, Kitchen Storage Makeover contest and smoothly transitions into a deeper discussion on the importance of mental health in the culinary industry. We also explore a powerful new book that champions the message, "It's okay not to be okay," offering support to those in need within our community.
From personal anecdotes about living in Miami Beach to experiences working with chefs and sales, our journey through culinary authenticity takes us to First Watch, where maintaining consistency and quality across 500+ locations is paramount. We highlight the exceptional culture at First Watch, mirroring the restaurant's ambiance and commitment to fresh, high-quality ingredients. Our conversation also shines a light on Project Sunrise, an initiative supporting female coffee growers in Colombia, enhancing the quality of coffee served at First Watch locations nationwide.
As we wrap up, we celebrate culinary innovation and gratitude, focusing on First Watch's ev
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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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Hello Food Fam. This is the Walk Talk podcast where you will find the perfect blend of food fun and cooking knowledge. I'm your host, carl Fiadini. Welcome to the number one food podcast in the country. We're recording on-site at Ibis Images Studios, where food photography comes alive and I get to eat it. If you missed last week's episode with entrepreneur and food truck park owner, david chan, go back and listen. He's a cool cat, very insightful. Check it out. I'm into quality made smoked fish dips and spreads. I know you are too. Check out our friends over at Crab Island Seafood Company. I'm calling out Chef Tom. He's a good dude. Chef Carl as well no, not me, I'm still digging that crab rangoon. Visit them at crabislandseafooddipcom. All right, like there's a lot of stuff going on.
Speaker 1:Today, walk and Talk is representing in Knoxville, tennessee. Today we're covering an episode of Kitchen Storage Makeover. This is an exciting, amazing contest created by Metro Storage and Distribution Systems. Walk Talk's very own Pooch Rivera and Glenn Haggerty of Pius Media are capturing the adventure on the road trip. It's a big deal. All the behind the scenes action Wow, all right. So stay tuned for that. It's all the behind the scenes action Wow, all right. So stay tuned for that. We're going to have awesome footage on that. Learn how to become a contestant on IG at Metro Food Service. That was a mouthful All right.
Speaker 1:This week we've got the corporate chef of an amazing breakfast concept with over 500 locations nationwide. I was honored to spend a few hours with him last month at their home office down in Sarasota. That's here in Florida. Let's find out how a medium-sized corporate restaurant group stays cutting edge on culinary. Stay tuned, chef Shane Chabalese on deck and I know I probably just murdered that. Okay, jefferson, my man, hi, you know, I don't know if anybody understands the skill set involved in ending these long monologues Right on the money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, master, judge now, master communicator.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right. A lot of great food came online today. Yeah, and I want to jump right in.
Speaker 2:You know what it is. It's the first time we've ever done breakfast.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And it's been fun for me because it's just something different. That's why I wanted to roll out the shashuka, which also is like a Mediterranean stew, where you take the eggs and just kind of throw it in there and let it just cook, all together with the tomatoes and some peppers, little pita on the side, and let me tell you, john did an awesome job, as always, with his food photography. And then I wanted to do something with some sourdough. We had some Bloody Mary brine pork with Mexican hot chocolate rub smoked. We had some lemon thyme marmalade Put that on the bottom, a little PTSD, which is put that stuff on everything. And then we had some caramelized onions. I had some mozzarella that melted on top of the poached egg. And then I did a brulee of peach, because you know peach and pork go together so well, and that actually turned out really good. I really enjoyed that. But I guess our guest actually has some really good stuff that he threw down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I guess our guest actually has some really good stuff that he threw down yeah, and when we bring him on we're going to get into the goodies man, and I have to say today, I mean there's food here. I cannot wait to jump in. I had a couple of little appetizers.
Speaker 2:You can say, right, but it's going to be great for me, I did like the fact that you had the vegan lasagna.
Speaker 1:So I was just going to talk about that. Why did you bring it? Because why I was giving you a headache yesterday, big time, big time headache. But I love you baby, I made up for it. I have to tell you, we did a little video for Cassie, who was here a few weeks ago. Right, she was into this whole vegan thing and here you were. I ate it on camera, delicious, thank you. Yes, yeah, I'm not into that. I'm just simply not into.
Speaker 1:We know vegan anything, but I will tell you that you did a terrific job. Appreciate that.
Speaker 2:how's your book sales going? Book sales are going well, it really is. I can't. I'm just blown away by everything, everything they're getting back from people, hearing the responses and how everybody is just the same message. It's okay not to be okay and you're never alone, and it's just, it's the turnout, just amazing. You hear people like it's like you're talking to me as I'm reading the book and it's just phenomenal. And Tina Davis is on a plane right now.
Speaker 1:She just popped on Instagram or one of her stories and she's got a dish that she's going to do, so it's just really cool. That would be Tina Davis from Rack. Of course, I'm just saying, start that out there.
Speaker 1:So I started the book, you know, and I've I got like a past the forwards right and I got to get back into it now because that took 45 years to to to get through that. But it's going to be very interesting because I kind of flipped through just to kind of get a feel for it and yeah, man, I'm super stoked for you. Congratulations again on doing this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's something that you know. People are saying that you started something, a movement. I didn't start a movement, it's just speaking the truth and trying to get out there and changing the mindset on how we perceive mental health, especially in our industry, because I think we really need that help in that area. Cause for for we've always talked about it we're like the lighthouse for the misfits and the pirates, so let's get them the help they need.
Speaker 1:Indeed All right. So without further ado, let's get chef Sugar Shane on the show. Welcome to the program, sir.
Speaker 3:Thank you guys. I appreciate it Speaking of pirates and misfits here we are.
Speaker 1:Indeed and the boat pulled in. Indeed, it did. So let's start with an airplane view of who you are and how you got to become the corporate chef for such a wonderful, wonderful operation. And then I also want to hear about the sugar Shane, I mean just check your eye. So that's his IG, by the way, everyone. Yeah, no, that's true, that's my Instagram handle ChefSugarShane.
Speaker 3:A lot of long, long history there. Yeah, we'll get into a little bit of it. Yeah, so I've been in the industry since I was 14 years old. I was born and raised just outside of Tampa, in a little town called Dunedin, florida, about 30 miles, I guess, west from Tampa, and went in the industry at 14, started working in local restaurants seafood restaurants, that sort of thing and realized like hey, I really love this industry, like this is fun, these people are just like me there's a lot of stories to be told in these places and went from there and decided I want to go to culinary school. My parents, my mom and dad, both said absolutely not, that's not a real job, you're smart, you're going to real college. So I got a full academic scholarship and turns out I was smart and I did go to real college.
Speaker 3:It lasted six months and came home and eventually went down to Johnson Wales down in Miami, went to culinary school, worked at the Ritz Carlton in South Beach and eventually came back home to Tampa, worked for what was it at the time? For several years best restaurant in Tampa Bay, cafe Pond and then went into the corporate world when I was 25 years old. So I started a corporate 25 and worked for the melting pot, burger 21, grillsmith for seven years and then came to First Watch about 10 years ago and have seen, you know, this amazing company grow from 114 restaurants all the way up to over 500 today and and it's awesome, man, I love the corporate side. I've learned so much and it's a fun brand to be a part of.
Speaker 1:I love how we so we, I don't know, about a month ago we were together for about, I would say, three hours, yeah, plus or minus, you know. Yeah, and and it was. We talked, we we went pretty deep, we did and you don't fit the corporate cutout mold. You're tatted, you are this kind of like pirate in disguise and it's really great Now that Ritz-Carlton you're talking about, down at South Beach, I lived across the street.
Speaker 3:I lived in the Decaplage, literally across the street.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Lincoln Road. Yeah, right there.
Speaker 3:My balcony faced the Ritz. Yeah, that would. Yeah, that would have been some rooms over there and some of the banquet kitchen hallway yeah, yeah, it was pretty amazing and I was in.
Speaker 1:I was actually in sales. I was working with a bunch of chefs at the time too that was pretty cool.
Speaker 3:I wish I would have known man I was probably around the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, 2005 that was it.
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, dude, we, we might have partied. I don't know, I don't even remember.
Speaker 1:You might be right. Don't quote me. That's another episode, totally another episode. So to talk about transitioning from, let's just say, a melting pot style operation to a first watch, yeah, obviously, it's completely different.
Speaker 3:Completely different, mostly franchised over on the melting pot side. So I learned a ton from working in the corporate office. I had great mentors and bosses who are still friends and mentors to this day. But when I transitioned to first Watch, it was, and still is to this day, majority company owned. We do have some franchisees, but the amount of control and consistency that you have you know control sounds a little aggressive but the consistency that you can maintain in a system as big as we are today is just like a breath of fresh air. And I, you know I'm still friends with a lot of our franchisees from melting pot days and they're doing really well. But when you look at what we're trying to do and the level of culinary that we're trying to put out there in 500-plus restaurants, you just usually don't see that anymore in quote-unquote chains. And I don't want to be a chain restaurant ever. I want to be an anti-chain.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, one of us I was just going to say that one of us coined that in that meeting. It might've been you anti-chain, yeah, and I think that's terrific. There's a place for everyone. Right, you need your Chili's and Outback's and whatnot, absolutely. But then you need some elevated experience and you need to be able to bring that across the country and you're, you know, 500 plus units, 530, 40 units, whatever it is, yeah, that's a lot of units, it's a lot.
Speaker 1:And to keep consistency, and I just want to point something out so your corporate office and I brought this up to you in the your corporate office is gorgeous, it's a happy place. It mimics the locations, yeah, and the mimics the locations, yeah, and the locations mimic the dishes, so what's on the plate and what you eat and how they plate and the colors and the energy, that's the actual restaurant itself. But then when you go to corporate, it's all of that in corporate. So for me, I noticed that immediately and I thought that was terrific in corporate. So for me, I noticed that immediately and I thought that was terrific for me. I, that's something I can embrace, just you know, you know in where I sit, next to the industry.
Speaker 3:I just appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, it's awesome, man, it's a, it's a fantastic culture that we, that we have, that we've built and grown and cultivated. And you know, I think it's up to people like me with tenure. You know I've been there over 10 years. Our, our CEO has been there. You know he just crossed his 18 year anniversary. So, like having those people who were around when we had, you know, for me, a hundred restaurants, for Chris you know he was around, we had 40 and to carry that tradition and that culture through to the team that we have today, I mean there's probably 120 people in that office that you came to. But you're right, like it feels nice, like it feels like the restaurants. I mean we, we cook all the time downstairs. One of my chefs, michael, is always like baking cinnamon rolls or, you know, banana bread or whatever. And like you send one email out and there's like a line down that hallway we can walk down to people, just like trying to rush and make sure they get you know a taste of something.
Speaker 1:I think, if, if there's other corporate entities food, food, restaurant, you know restaurants and whatnot who might listen to this podcast. If you can match your corporate office to your dish, to your plate, to what you're serving your guests, you've made it. Yeah, yeah, and, and that's, and that's for me going forward, that's my bar.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Thank you. Well, I appreciate that. And and we work hard, we work hard at it and it's, it is, it's a constant battle, cause we're always we're growing Right and we're always hiring new people, so you bring in people from other brands or other you know, quote, unquote chain restaurants or concepts, and it's like they're amazed by the fact that you can go and sit in that little cafe.
Speaker 3:We talked in for a while and like, oh wow, the CEO is sitting right there. Like, yeah, man, he's a regular person, he eats lunch like the rest of us, same with me. And it's like we almost take away like that classist separation of like well, they're all executives, they don't. When you hang out together, you have lunch together on Fridays, you bring lunch in for the entire office, like we sit down and BS and talk about each other's families or what you're doing this weekend or whatever it is. Especially people who have just moved to Florida. You know they have a lot of questions. Oh, what happens during hurricane season? Oh, my goodness, I say nothing. Well, I think it rains a little.
Speaker 1:I think one of the one of the you can point at this, what I'm going to say here as to what brings your organization to a kind of another level. You're, tomorrow or tonight, you're leaving, you're going, you're, you're going to South America. I'm going to Columbia, yeah, you're going to Columbia, and you're going there because you're going to go meet or go re-see people from the farms where you're buying your coffee from. That's right, yeah. So your, your organization, you're out there doing things that independents go and do. That's right, right, and let's talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's exciting. It's awesome man, and I think that's you know, part of why I love my job so much.
Speaker 3:It's these little things that we do that keep like a certain level of authenticity to.
Speaker 3:Yes, we're serving food at a very, very large scale, but if you didn't have a chef who was interested in where that food comes from, or meeting those growers like shaking the hand of a strawberry farmer in Plant City, florida, like those little things matter so much to me, partly because I grew up here and I want to, like you know, let people know that Florida has a strong ag program.
Speaker 3:But also like educating the consumer and, more importantly, educating our employees. Like I want cooks and servers out there who work for us to know, like hey, there are women down in Wheeler, columbia, that grow our coffee. Like we see their smiles, we've told their stories, we brought a few of them back here to the States and spoken at our conferences and the fact that we go down there and shake their hands and break bread with them is a really big deal and it doesn't happen in large-scale, quote-unquote chain restaurants. So we have a lot of pride in the sourcing that we do and I personally have a ton of pride in the food that we serve. So, yeah, I'm excited to go, go see it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to right, because it's your name on it Technically. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I learn every time.
Speaker 2:Right, and then what exactly? Most of the time, this is where we're getting the food, and then you have the story to tell.
Speaker 3:exactly right, yeah and then when people ask about it, like oh you know, I can't believe you have to go do this, like oh man, you have no idea what it's like and and what you know they go through to get that little coffee cherry that has two beans inside of it and then they strip that down and then they'll wet mill it and to get it like to get the things that we get that walk in our back door. There is a whole world of stories behind that, you know, be it a grower down in Columbia or a farmer here in Florida or wherever in the States. Like, I love learning about the industry, I love being a student in the industry. So the fact that I get to do that as part of my job and then pass those stories along, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1:Coffee should cost $25 a cup, at least at least. And most people don't realize why coffee should cost $25 a cup, at least At least. And most people don't realize why, and that's something that has to do with the fact that it's been produced the same since the beginning. That's right. There really haven't been any technological advances in coffee. That's correct. So that means it's a lot of manual labor, technological advances in coffee.
Speaker 1:That's correct. So that means it's a lot of manual labor. It's it's people carrying, you know, a hundred pound, 150 pound sacks of coffee up and down mountains. That's right, literally, you know, on a pitch, heavy, deep pitch there, and then it's drying it in the like. You've seen the process right? Oh yeah, yeah, like the, the, the whole coffee process.
Speaker 3:Drying it out on the roof of their you know where they live their homes, right On these patios, and standing up there in the sun raking it to make sure that no little you know moisture pockets, you know start to form and then mold to grow, I mean it's and that we haven't even left the farm yet. Like this has all happened right there and in our case, these, these people's homes. Yeah, there's some big commercial places in Brazil I think you know is well known for that, but machine harvesting and stuff like that. But where we go and where most of like the you know I don't want to dig on Brazil's coffee. They have great quality coffee as well, but like super high altitude, really, really nice complex cups of coffee can only be grown and picked by hand, like that's. That's it.
Speaker 1:Period? Yeah, it's, it's picked by hand and and and the little masterclass on coffee here is basically, if you look at the equator, right, and then you look for elevation around the equator, that's where you're going to find places that grow coffee. That's right. Right, because you might have. You know Florida might have a a a great climate. You know florida might have a a great climate. You know, good part of the year, but they don't have the elevation. Yep, and that the species of the bean that grows in the altitude is actually it's called an arabica bean, but that's a species specific type of bean and that doesn't grow well in low altitudes. And the other bean, which is robusta, doesn't grow in high altitude altitude, that's right. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. And the fact that a 500 plus and I really can't wrap my brain around it the 500 unit part that they care about that and not just, you know, let me get the cheapest product I can put in a cup.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, yeah, it's certainly not the cheapest and, at the same time, like we see the value in what it takes to get that coffee in the cup. We also built this program with a purpose in mind. It's called Project Sunrise. We started it from scratch, probably like eight years ago, and began with 25% female growers and we had a pledge to grow it by 5% to 10% every single year. So when we go down this year it was about 60, a little bit over 60% of all the coffee served in First Watch across the country is grown by female farmers, and these are women who have maybe lost their husbands or their fathers or their brothers.
Speaker 3:There's been some political unrest over the last couple of decades few decades in Columbia and instead of just folding up shop or deciding to grow something else, they kind of picked themselves up and said we've been growing coffee in our family for generations, we're going to keep doing it.
Speaker 3:And what's interesting is the overall quality of the coffee coming from these farms went up.
Speaker 3:So, just like having ladies in the kitchen, which I love and actually when I started at First Watch it was an all-female kitchen and they're super clean, super meticulous about their plating, about their dishes there's a lot of tough love there and so I think these women really, you know, took the ball and ran with it and we're super proud of them and that's, you know, part of the reason I'm going down there.
Speaker 3:We have a big incentive program so we do pay out a little bit extra, based on what the coffee price is in Columbia, every single day and then every year we go back down and give extra. They're like, think of it as like bonus dollars. So if they grow a certain quality of coffee throughout the year, we keep track of all that. We can trace every single lot back to where it was grown in Columbia and we go back and I will shake hands and hug women who have grown coffee for us for, you know, seven or eight years and who I've seen, you know, their kids kind of grow up and and hopefully see these kids take over, you know, the family business in the in the coming year, if I get to go back down there, what I love about that story is because when you're in the other side of things when I used to do sales most people don't realize when you have a sandwich and it hits the plate and what's normally goes with the sandwich.
Speaker 2:a hamburger gets what in most restaurants Lettuce, tomato fries. Hamburger gets what in most restaurants Fries, fries. And people don't really let us tomato, but most people, what do they do? Everyone goes after the fry to taste it right, and so most people don't forget that the fries are a key ingredient in your menu, where their key ingredient is the coffee. Yeah, you want to be known for something. You want to be known for that first sip that it's going to wake you up, and that's that's that story behind it is beautiful because it shows the initiative to the company, that it don't not only cares about their employee but it cares about where they're getting the product from.
Speaker 1:yeah, and that's the story behind it yeah, well, it has to do with influence, right influences and which kind of is a great segue, and into it I was going to ask 500 units across the country. So that's a lot of different palates, right? Different people, different cultures, different areas, whatnot. Where does the inspiration for the menu actually come from, to kind of, you know, satisfy all of that and is it regional?
Speaker 3:So the menu is not regional. We have the same menu consistently across the entire country, so almost the entire country. There's one area of Ohio that they serve getta, which is kind of like a scrapple-ish breakfast meat. It's awesome. So I don't want anyone in Cincinnati to be pissed at me.
Speaker 1:Why don't you bring some of that Dude? It's good, it's really good.
Speaker 3:So we have, I don't know, like 10 or 12 restaurants there and they serve it, but anyway the rest of the country all in the same menu consistently. And I think where we get to play and I get to have the most fun you know my team and I is is in our lto program. So we have a limited time offer, seasonal menu. It changes every 10 weeks.
Speaker 3:That's where we get to play, that's where you get to tap into regional specialties like shrimp and grits or crab cake benedict or something like that, or burritos, or you know, we're on a carne asada hash going up here in a little while, like all of those little nuggets we get to kind of bring in from influences around the country, regional influences, and then share it with everyone else. Now we might sell more shrimp and grits in, you know, texas, louisiana, alabama, florida, but the people up in detroit, michigan, have never had it or now exposed to it and I think you know that's cool and we take pride in that and you know it's. It's, like I said, the most fun that we get to have in our jobs.
Speaker 1:So how does that work with culinary trends then?
Speaker 3:Excuse me. So we're about 18 months out in developing. So we have this bank of recipes and we know exactly what's going to launch, what's going to test when it has the potential to go nationwide. So, instead of sitting back and listening to all the big presentations and all the big companies who say, hey, these are the top 10 trends of 2025. You know, I'm in the room, I travel in the same circles as all the other corporate chefs and everyone grabs their phone and they're taking pictures or trying to write it down in their notebooks and I'm like that's an awesome checklist because we launched that last year. We're testing those two things coming up here next and like being ahead of the game, like that is from travel. Spend time out there in the industry. Go visit big cities. Go spend three days in the city and eat breakfast, brunch and lunch only in independence and see what's going on, Like what's starting to happen. You know you'll see trends start before the big media companies see it and for me, like that's, that's awesome. So where?
Speaker 1:how often are you traveling the country or out of country?
Speaker 3:doing those, those tours, or just like in general.
Speaker 1:No, Well, well, for you know, for for first watch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm on there. I probably take two trips every month.
Speaker 1:Sometimes they're a little two or three day trip, sometimes they're a week in Columbia and you would say that's, that's R and D based, everything's R and D.
Speaker 3:Every say that's, that's r and d based, everything's r and d.
Speaker 3:Every restaurant I go to, every bite I take yeah, I mean you're gonna, you're gonna go to your, to to the units and see what's going on, but when you're there, I mean you're, you're out canvassing the 100, yep, and then we do one dedicated tour, like a true tour, every single year. Pick a city, research the city, research all the restaurants in it, what's going on, and you'll see things. You will start to see little things, like you know we're in, we'll give away all of our secrets. We're in Nashville and, like, we saw cornbread on almost every single table, right, and it's like that's. That's interesting, because prior to this it would have been a really big Texas thing which we saw in Austin maybe years ago or so, but that's inspiring.
Speaker 3:Okay, if this is happening here, is there a way that we can do that kind of the first watch way? Sure, put bacon in it, all right. So now let's run, let's test bacon cheddar cornbread, let's see if our customer is ready for this thing. That we think is kind of cool. So bacon cheddar, cornbread with honey here you go. Cool. So bacon cheddar, cornbread with honey here you go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm ready. You enjoyed it. Yes, yeah, I can. Yes, I can, I can get behind that Right.
Speaker 3:So we test that, make sure that it does work how we, how we had hoped to learn from it, and then go and launch that nationwide and you know, you might see on the next top 10 trends list cornbread as a, as an appetizer, or regional cornbreads or whatever it is, and it's like that's great. We saw that, identified it, and even if it's not a trend at the national scale, like for us, that worked. So that's a successful trip. We learned something from that trip and you know, I don't know how to quantify it Like we sold millions of cornbreads and that was great news, but to me, like we learned something, we applied it and it worked. And now we have this platform. So the year after that we did a lemon, blueberry cornbread Cool. What other cool stuff can we stuff inside these cornbreads? And that's kind of how it goes year after year.
Speaker 1:Well, look, I mean, I've eaten millions of cornbreads.
Speaker 3:So I mean.
Speaker 1:I get it. I get that. So, but if we're talking, you're hitting a lot of different points. You know, nutrition, health and nutrition is a data point. Yeah, and I'm very familiar, you know, with your brand and there's a lot of Lululemon that end up, you know, inside First Watch. That's right. How do you guys embrace the health and nutrition aspect of culinary?
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, right, we're talking about, like all the fun, crazy, indulgent dishes, right, but there is always an element of health and wellness or, more importantly, freshness, to all of the dishes that we put out, and I think it has a ton to do with where we come from, right. So the brand was started in Northern California, pacific Grove, california, monterey Bay area, and you're right next to, effectively, the salad bowl of the US, right, where all of this fresh produce is readily available. We're a 41-year-old company, so 41 years ago you only had greasy spoon diners, and then you started to have this healthy rumblings, right. The restaurants were starting to pop up, but they were like uber, granola, very functional, right, not really like fun, and so there was nothing in between, and that's what our founders saw as a gap.
Speaker 3:And we're like, hey, what if we had a restaurant that could take into into the menus and into account all this amazing fresh produce? But we don't need to be a greasy spoon diner. We didn't, we didn't and we still don't to this day no microwaves, no deep fryers and no heat lamps, and not a single one of our first watches. And like that's a testament to being able to carry that idea on and then focus on the freshness, like the food's inherently healthy if you're using fresh ingredients, right. I mean, I suppose you could fry those ingredients, but looking at the fresh avocados that we use for avocado toast, right. Looking at our juice program, where we're juicing every single day, every single first watch, fuji, apple, english cucumber, kale, turmeric, beets, and then whatever's in season right, pineapple, watermelon. We've used blueberries and strawberries and all kinds of stuff. But, yeah, it's a huge, huge part of our identity and we take a lot of pride in balancing that health and wellness with. Hey, you want a triple stack of chocolate chip pancakes, like we'll. We'll make that for you.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes I mean what are we talking about here? I mean, yeah, cause I I so fun funny story. My wife this is before, this is a long time ago she goes new orleans and you know she's looking for something egg whites in new orleans yeah, and obviously the server was basically like yeah, you're in.
Speaker 1:you're just in the wrong part of the country. For, for all of that and you know to to your point you know it is it is a growing segment and the and the fact that there's an offering and you're still putting out the delicious chocolate pancakes alongside I don't know. For me it's hitting the spot. Where do you actually take health food going forward?
Speaker 3:health food going forward? That's a? It's an interesting question because, quote unquote, health food means so many different things to so many different people. Right, we look at it as, hey, fresh equals healthy to us. So, no matter how big we grow, and as long as I'm here with the brand, we want to make sure that we keep that focus on fresh produce for as long as we possibly can.
Speaker 3:I think a lot of times, as restaurants get bigger, right, bigger in numbers, bigger spread across the country, it's so much easier to just go. We'll buy that already made or already chopped or whatever it is for us. And you know, I look at that and it's like you didn't have to, though, right, you're kind of taking the easy way out. It may be a little bit, little bit cheaper, right, because fresh produce comes at a price you got to truck it across the country, has limited shelf life, and so, as a chef, I look at that and I'm just like we're gonna, we're gonna hold strong on this. I mean, we're still. You know I mentioned all the things we juice. We still hand fabricate, like all pineapple, all honeydew melon, all watermelon during the summertime, or house roasting, all veggies, right, so corn in the summer, bring in whole cobs of corn. 500 restaurants, right. Bring in whole cobs of corn, season them, roast them in the oven and then strip the kernels off and use them in different things like hashes or burritos or whatever Like.
Speaker 3:To me, health is freshness. We're not trying to jump on the bandwagon and go you know, chase any of the plant-based proteins or anything like that. Like that's great and I'm proud of the industry and those companies. They all have their place, but for us we're really going to stick to supporting the farmers and the growers out there across the country. Like that's a huge deal to us. You know we mentioned we're going to Columbia, but I spend that same amount of time going out to us. You know we mentioned we're going to Columbia, but I spend that same amount of time going out to California. Spend a week in California going from Northern California and visiting all of our growers right, kale and spring mix and carrots and beets and all that stuff, and then all the way down to Southern California and visit avocado ranchers. I mean these guys have trees that are 40 years old.
Speaker 1:It's awesome, you said it. Plant City strawberries.
Speaker 3:It's right, here we're at the, we're in the epicenter oh my god man, I love it so much when strawberry season comes around in florida. It's the best 100.
Speaker 1:now here's the thing. How did you go? How did you go from? You know pan throwing, you know tatted restaurant, you know pirate chef? Yeah To this.
Speaker 3:There's probably some of that still left in me.
Speaker 1:I don't think that goes away.
Speaker 2:No, it doesn't leave you you didn't remember the comment he made and I was like ooh, that's a chef comment.
Speaker 1:It never leaves you. You said that several times today.
Speaker 2:Because it never leaves you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think for me, I know when to turn it on and when to turn it off, I think, and that's a unique skill set that not all people have.
Speaker 3:I'm not 100% sure where that came from, but I'll probably give credit to my parents on that.
Speaker 3:I mean, my mom was a school teacher and my dad was a cop, and so it was a pretty strict combination there in my house, but there was always a level of of joking and and smack talking. My dad was one of nine kids and grew up in a farm family. We just had a family reunion up in Michigan with a lot of my uncles and like hearing them all just like talk smack all day to my dad and my dad gave it back to them and my son now, who's 13, is hearing it and he's interjecting. It's like, oh my God, this is just handed down through the generations. But for me, going back to your question, I think that plays well in being able to like hey, man, you know, put on a long sleeve shirt, cover up your tattoos and you can sit in a board room and have a conversation, and as long as you're educated and smart enough to understand the numbers side you can change into a short-sleeved chef coat, show your tattoos and have fun in the kitchen just like anyone else.
Speaker 1:We're in a different time anyway, right, correct, it's a different time, but I will tell you so with how I see the fit, because you even have the skull and crossbones on the. I'm staring at it now. He's got a pirate hat on that, I know, I see it In the scroll.
Speaker 3:I thought that's why he's laughing Right, I know, I know.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm trying to say here but here's what I'm getting at the brand that you work for now. I don't know if they can be cutting edge without someone with your sort of background. Yeah, I think it fits when. In other places it's not going to fit, you know, because they're looking for a different end use, a different product. That's right, right. Different execution or whatever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's terrific. Thanks, man, I agree with you. I love it. Obviously, you know, it's shaped a really cool, fun life for me and I think all the credit in the world needs to be given to. You know, our current president and CEO His name's Chris Tommaso Awesome guy Was our chief marketing officer and you know he kind of recruited me, you know, over 10 years ago, and we sat and we talked not about this brand but like about this culture and to say, hey, we've been at that point, we've been around for 30 years, and all I knew, you know, and I told him this is is that you know, this is where my grandma took me for breakfast, which you know isn't the best thing to say in an interview which he let me know.
Speaker 3:And I was like, listen, man, I'm, you know, I'm an honest guy, I'm going to shoot you straight, like that's kind of what I know. And he said, hey, we're hearing that a lot lately and this is the future of the brand. And he showed me a drawing it hadn't even been built yet of a restaurant and I was like, oh, that's different, man, and that's the first watch that you guys all know and see today. But this is early 10 plus years ago, and he showed me that drawing and he said you know, we've always been known for great service and we were going to revamp kind of the look and feel of the restaurants and we need someone to help the food keep up with what we're doing. And you know, he gave me that opportunity at the time bringing up tattoos.
Speaker 3:At the time we had a tattoo policy and no tattoo policy. So if you worked in the front of the house at first watch, you had to either wear long sleeves or cover up your tattoos with a bandaid or whatever. It was, yeah, crazy. So I went and did my training and I called him after like my third day in front of the house training and I was like, hey, man, like this tattoo thing is not going to work. I'm not going to put long sleeves on every time I go in a restaurant.
Speaker 3:And I'm like also, what are we doing, dude, restaurant? And I'm like also, what are we doing, dude? We must be missing so many awesome candidates, right? So many opportunities for these kids out there just because they look like me. I'm like we've turned a corner now and now that I'm here, like you know, we need to do something about it. He said we've already had the discussion, we're getting rid of the tattoo policy. I was like, hey, cool, that's a big deal. To this day, 10, 10 or more years later, I still meet servers or now people who are GMs or even director of operations for us, who came up through the ranks and are like dude, you changed the world for me. I don't have to cover up my tattoos and imagine all the people that we've hired who are just badass managers.
Speaker 1:So many creative people. I don't have any, but like I respect it. I'm into artsy stuff or whatever, so I'm all about it, but here's the thing I'm into. I like artsy stuff or whatever, so I mean I'm all about it, but here's the thing I do remember the bandaid thing like back in the day when I, or if you, had earrings and you had to put a band like oh my God, you look ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the mentality of the culture right Of the restaurant industry as a whole. That's what it used to be. You know, there's this stupid meme that goes around and it's like it used to be. You were a biker and a murderer when you had tattoos Now it's like I'm doing a gastric of you know, balsamic and roasted duck, and that's because you've got the tats.
Speaker 2:I know that you know it's funny because that's the way it goes. But I love about the culture that you're talking about. There's so many concepts that are out there that forget they get to to to a point where they're like we have to go that way, because then you have the pencil pushers, as we like to call them, the guys with the activists just sitting there going wait, that's too much money we're going to lose, so we have to do it this way and we have to go and cut corners at the food. You cut corners at the food. Guess what happens? You lose your guests yeah, you lose your guests, you lose your soul.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the problem. But because the pencil pushers are seeing the ROI dwindle and erode, they don't realize that if you cut the corners in the quality of the food, which is your foundation, the reason why you started this business, guess what? You're going to have the empty seats, which is the most expensive real estate you have in your restaurant.
Speaker 2:But, if you stick to it and you have these. Not only I don't think you have like a partnership, you have. You don't have like a farmer. You have partnerships right Because you're going to these farmers, you're meeting them, you're shaking their hands, you're doing business with them and they believe in the product because you're putting that product out. Your cooks are around the 500. They're putting that product out, so they're going to have passion because they can talk about where that food is coming from. That's right, yeah.
Speaker 3:And we do as much of that educating as we can, whether it be on our social media or internally. I mean, every time we launch a new LTO, one of these seasonal menus, every 10. Like, I get on a call with every single general manager and everyone in operations above those general managers on one big conference call and I talk about the dishes and I explain, walk them through. Of course, hey, here's how we're going to make it. But like, there's little videos for that. But like, tell them. Like, hey, here was the inspiration for it. Here's where I saw this. You know, we have a like salty caramel apple holy donuts dish right now that, for me, has apple butter on it, which was inspired by my grandma. I ate apple butter as a kid.
Speaker 2:It's hard to make, by the way.
Speaker 3:Hard to make. My grandma was from Ohio. It's kind of consuming, that's it, and we were never jelly people.
Speaker 1:Wait a second, wait, a second wait, a second. Yeah, you were able to take a recipe inspired by your grandmother and introduce it into First Watch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's so awesome. The apple butter is like from my childhood, so there's little nuggets along the way that I can be like there's nothing else that makes sense here. Let's put apple butter on this dish. And now here it is. It actually just launched on Tuesday in whatever 500 plus restaurants, I thought you were going to go with.
Speaker 2:where was that? That's where I thought he was going to go and where the hell is that? We're going to have it tomorrow for breakfast.
Speaker 1:Man. No, but see, stuff like that, to me, is super important when you're talking about a brand and branding and what staff brings to the table to a larger operation. You know, because you know 500 units isn't a little. It's not little, yeah, but you carry yourself little. Yeah, you know what I? You know 500 units isn't a little, it's not little, yeah, but you carry yourself little. Yeah, you know what I mean. I do, I do, yeah, and I feel like that's that was one of the most exciting parts about you know, reaching out to you guys and you know getting you on the show, yeah, because I've eaten at your.
Speaker 1:By the way, this is not like a promo or sponsored, and this is like a. You know, I enjoy the concept, the food and the atmosphere. I was scrolling I saw, oh, shane, corporate reach out, sugar shane, sugar shane. This is professional. It was on linkedin. I was like is this? This must be the sugar shit? Yeah, I was like that's how it works. No, but, but that's but. That was the genesis of the reach out, you know, and I was like you know what, let's see how, that you know where it goes.
Speaker 2:Besides working as the corporate chef now and then being in the like past places you worked, or corporate chefs that you meet now when you're running around? Yeah, are they different? Are they stuffy or is it like how? Because I've worked with a couple, right, yeah, I've worked with. We mentioned Paul Muller. Yep, paul and I worked together at PF Jenkins when they were very young. Yep, we're at New Orleans, so working with them, you could find out this is a cool cat. Then there was mentioned who I wanted to like. Yeah, he was the one I was after. Like, that's the type of like. Do you run into that when you're running around?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, for sure, and and because I've, you know, been on the corporate side for over 17 years now. Right, I mean when I started I was 25 you're sellout man oh dude those words have been sales, then you're a seller.
Speaker 3:Yeah they were said to me for sure early on and it and I took it hard and I I didn't want to, I didn't want to be a corporate guy and I think you know that's probably why I'm not today and I know how to turn on and all that. But like at the, at the end of the day, like I'm a restaurant person, yep, I happen to work in a corporate office, yes, I happen to be able to sit with the ceo or the cfo or talk, you know the financial goals of the company and all that. But like, at the end of the day, I can also go into the restaurant and pick up a knife and prep and cook wash dishes, jump on the line, whatever it needs to be. So like, yes, early on there was a lot more of those. You know, you don't want to be ageist, but like they were, they were older, school right, and through my 17 years you've seen, not only on the chef side, them kind of age out and you start to see people that look a little bit more like me, that talk a little bit more like me, but also on the sales side. And that's something that I really really noticed, right, because the people who I was working with early on in my career. They've since retired and the kind of younger generation which would be people of our age stepping up and getting into the game.
Speaker 3:It's awesome to see kind of the tide shifting a little bit because that old school mentality of how you treat salespeople like you're just here to sell me what I want to buy and that's ridiculous.
Speaker 3:It's the same thing how people used to treat distributors Like dude. I was brought up completely differently, very fortunate to have worked for chefs who were like no, no, no, no, no. Those guys are our partners and if we're in a pinch, the ones that you're mean to, they're not going to help you out, dude, they're not going to come here on a Saturday and drop off freaking you know a case of persimmon or whatever it is because you forgot to order it. So, like I was taught early on by you know his name's Chris Pont. Now has several restaurants in the Tampa area, but he taught me early on respect those guys. Yeah, you give them a hard time and sometimes you hassle them and beat them up a little bit over price, but at the end of the day they should feel comfortable bringing their wife or whoever into the restaurant and having dinner. I don't know that kind of stuck with me even at this scale.
Speaker 1:They save your backside. For sure, that's what they do. For sure, that's what they do, for sure, the good ones Now, cause that's my, that's my world, yeah, that's where I come from yeah, and the reality is, by and large, the caliber well, let's just say, post COVID, the caliber that's out there, of salesperson, I'm not so impressed honestly, and I, you know I'm not so impressed honestly and I, you know, for those, for those salespeople who are out there listening to me say that if you're offended it's probably you.
Speaker 2:We're talking to you, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, with that said, you know that marriage is super important.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Whether it's your, you know your fishmonger, your produce, you know your, your proteins. Whoever it is, they're going to bail you out if they're worth their salt. That's right.
Speaker 2:That's right yeah, I think the other thing for you is the corporate level that you're on and then you're not feeling that way. Do you have a test kitchen?
Speaker 3:so we have a sample review area in the in the office. But no, when we built that office I said I don't want to test kitchen because I want to go work in the restaurants. I passed three test kitchens on my way home and I have one right across the street from the office. Like I'd rather go out in the field, work side by side with those guys.
Speaker 3:Plus those guys and girls plus they love to see what we're working on, right, and you get, you get them inspired and then you know I think there's something to going back to the authenticity of like oh wow, like our chef actually cooks. You know, and I'm willing to get back there and burn myself and you know, like they see that there's someone at the office that like looks like them and talks like them. And you know they believe that. And it's true, of course, that we're doing things for all the right reasons. True, of course that that we're doing things for all the right reasons. And I think if I were just some dude in a sport coat, came in with a laptop and sat in a corner, like, I'm not gonna have that same faith in in our brand and and buy-in from the teams that we have today and I don't know man, I, I love that.
Speaker 2:I treasure that and that's true, because here's the point right, I've worked in test kitchens where they put stuff out, like I. I worked for Grady's American grill and I remember they had zucchini, squash and another maybe it was carrot and we Julianne them and I did a butcher test. Right, I just I took, did all my work, did all my cases, weighed the amount, weighed the waste and we had, I think, 35 to 40 units at that time. I sent a letter off to the area or district manager and I'm like and the corporate executive chef for them, and I said it was Patrick O'Connor from planet Hollywood. That's, that's how far back I'm going.
Speaker 2:Wow, I'm old. And I sent a message off. I'm like, listen by my scale, by what I think we're losing. We're losing a million dollars on these three vegetables. Because the concept of a corporate chef is I'm in the building over here producing all this. He's laughing because he knows it's true. That's why I asked that question, because they're producing stuff that they know doesn't work in the field or in real life, where that's why he's going to that restaurant and you can produce whatever you need, because it's going to those restaurants. That's exactly right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we take a ton of pride in making sure that when these recipes are and you can produce whatever you need because it's going to those restaurants. That's exactly right. Yeah, we take a ton of pride in making sure that when these recipes are written, you know those menus that change, right, that's three entrees, one juice and one shareable. That changes every 10 weeks, right? Five times a year, well, hold on Speaking of juice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can you talk about what we're drinking here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely it. About what we're drinking here yeah, absolutely it is missing.
Speaker 1:One thing, though, it is yeah, this makes it oh sure we can have some.
Speaker 3:We'll have some after, yeah what's.
Speaker 1:What is actually what's in here?
Speaker 3:yeah, so this is called, uh, blazing dragon, which don't be confused with blazing saddles. No, no, no, it's, uh, it's, it's fun, it's a fun name. We try and you know we've found over the years like naming stuff that's fun and not so very specific and descriptive. Like this is a strawberry lemonade with dragon fruit. I don't know man, that's no fun. So call it Blazing Dragon and like let people read the next line so they get a little bit more interested in or intrigued by it. But effectively, yeah, so we're juicing fresh strawberries in-house in every single restaurant, lemons, a little bit of cane sugar and then finishing it off with dragon fruit. So diced dragon fruit pieces on the top for, like this really bright pink color, and then it kind of bleeds in and you get like effectively flames coming down from it.
Speaker 1:Look people order it. Yeah, eat the dragon fruit, but drink it. Enjoy the whole thing. It's, it's flipping delicious.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's nice, it's a. It's a nice one, and, and listen, it's quote, unquote fall right, this is a fall menu, but for me fall all of us in Florida.
Speaker 1:it's the summer you want a nice refreshing lemonade. I just want to make mention of something. How far have I come? I just said flippin'. You know I'm in such control. I'm in this like Jedi state or frame here, man, I've really.
Speaker 2:I'm proud of you, thank you. You got a golf clap from Silent John, yeah.
Speaker 1:John even.
Speaker 2:He didn't make a noise, it's so silent. There's still no noise there but it's good. Wow, I love it man, the drink is actually very refreshing. Thank you, it's very balanced because you have the tartness and everything that goes along.
Speaker 1:The strawberries comes in for a little bit of that sweetness too, as well, truth be told, right when I found out what the items were they were bringing, I was like, oh, this is great. Oh, another one. I was like we're on a string.
Speaker 2:And he goes here's the menu for tomorrow. Blink, and I'm like I'm only doing two dishes. Do you want me to pull back one? And John goes no, because we have a certain time frame, obviously, for the workflow, right? So he's like we're never doing that again. Yeah, so I want to make sure I keep him happy. Don't worry about him, he just gets food and he's happy he got plenty of pancakes yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I can't. That's what I can't wait to go jump into. I'm so like, really want, I really want to get those, those pancakes. Yeah, yeah, my buddy, yes everybody.
Speaker 3:Yes, ricotta pancakes are a staple of our menu every single day.
Speaker 1:So that's, that's on the menu year-round that was the first thing I ever had at a first watch was that oh yeah, nice 100 nice.
Speaker 2:Oh, speaking of which, now can we talk about the sugar chef and the pastry? Because you used to do pastry? I did used to do pastry, because I reminded myself about that lemon curd and I was like, oh, let's talk about the pastry now yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I went to culinary school down in Miami and worked for the Ritz-Carlton down there and J Woo. J Woo yep, the girl I was dating at the time wanted to move to Tampa. Didn't work out. Obviously Never does. That's another story.
Speaker 3:But yeah. So I came back home and reached out to Chef Chris Pong, who I mentioned earlier, and I was like hey, chef, is there any hotels that you know who are looking? You know, I'd just come from the Ritz. I really liked that, that's how the business. And he's like no, no, no. He's like but I need a, I need a pastry chef. I'm like cool, I'm not a pastry chef. So he's like no, no, no, no, no, don't worry, I'll teach you everything. And he said I'll teach you everything you need to know. If you just help me out here, I'll help you out. You know, I'll make sure I take care of you in the long run. And I was like all right, man, whatever.
Speaker 3:So went in and chef's a pretty awesome dude, but he spent some time in France. So his entire pastry book, which was, you know, probably two inches thick, three ring binder, all the recipes in French, in metric, and so I learned from that book how to make everything breads, rolls, pastries, creme brulees, bombs, tarts, mousses, all this stuff right, and I'm eternally grateful to him to this day for forcing me to learn that and to learn it in that format. But yeah, I mean, I was, I was pretty pissed. I did not think it was going to be cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and but just for the record, chef pond is serious. Very, the man does not play games. No, he doesn't. No, I just want to put it out.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, you've had. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:He's you. Though, since you made the comment metric, I love the metric system when you're doing recipes, for sure easily. Do you do metric when you're writing them for the guys, or do you keep it in the english? Yeah yeah, yeah, just so everybody knows you, because metric is so much easier when you're doing baking and pastry, because you can amp that up scaling, yes, scaling.
Speaker 3:So going from a dozen rolls to 20 dozen rolls, whatever vice it is. Or vice versa Right, right, but you have to say it with an accent.
Speaker 1:You have to do it.
Speaker 2:Right, that's what I'm saying. Like John.
Speaker 1:Paul. So when I'm reading the epithet, I have to have it in my head. When you expand it out, you have to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like John Paul Right. By the way, it was his birthday. So happy birthday to John Paul out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the knuckle man, happy birthday, baby, happy birthday Inside joke there. It's terrible, it's horrible.
Speaker 3:No, it's all good yeah, so that's I. I'm not sure why, because I had already left the pastry world at that point, but it just, it just felt right your myspace page is still up it's. It's still playing the same music dude I would love to see it. I don't remember what was on there, but mine was food fighters. I know that for a fact Nice.
Speaker 2:I want to see who those eight friends are See what they're up to.
Speaker 3:Tom was one of them Also a friend on Instagram. He's a good follow.
Speaker 1:And a dilute figure. Dilute, alright, man, I tell you, tell you what.
Speaker 2:You're not going to mention anything about this oh, what oh?
Speaker 1:sort of kind of a yeah, I mean, is it small, is it a big deal? Big deal you, you break it?
Speaker 2:no, you do it. No, you're doing what you got to do it. It's your show, you're the our show. So, out of 5 million listeners, a podcast. Right, you want to tell them what the thing is or no?
Speaker 1:What are you just, these people? I hear collectively everybody turning it off right now.
Speaker 2:No, they're not, Cause they're waiting to know what the heck is going on.
Speaker 1:Oh so this is like a strategic pause, is there?
Speaker 2:some sort of a. This is where you fill in the gaps.
Speaker 1:Today with our friends from First Watch here. By the way, thank you, jenny Lester, for putting all this together. Shout out to you. And doing a good handler yes, totally being a good handler.
Speaker 2:Great handler.
Speaker 1:Overseer watcher. However, you want to look at that Overlord, Overlord, no. So during the cooking part of the production today, I got an email from the publishing software that we use and we hit 2.5 million downloads today, Today.
Speaker 2:It was cool.
Speaker 3:That's crazy man.
Speaker 2:What about something about choice and people? What?
Speaker 1:People's choice. Oh, that's what you're talking about?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's, that's kind of a big deal. I didn't know what the hell you were talking about. That's why I was trying to lead it that way. The 2.5 million is a great that. That's a huge deal. This is what you're about to say all right, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So here. So the the people's choice awards. We've all heard of it. There is a component or category for podcasts. So there's a gajillion podcasts out there, and in the arts category we made it to the final. They call it the final slate. So Walk Talk Podcast is in the final slate of the People's Choice Awards. Super cool, how many? What was it?
Speaker 2:Five million listeners.
Speaker 1:Was it five.
Speaker 2:That went from the main listening group. They're bringing it down to 20,000 listeners.
Speaker 1:Right. That will award the People's Choice out of the 10, including us yes 10 podcasts that we will hopefully find out September 30th if I'm not mistaken, and so our boy, our main man, willie Beddix, behind the camera there today was a big deal, like you know. Red carpet pulled all the stuff.
Speaker 2:There was a sign when you walked in the door. There was a sign even Welcome First Watch. Welcome First Watch. I saw that, oh my God, we never did this for anybody. Welcome first watch. I saw that, oh my.
Speaker 1:God, we never did this for anybody. No, I never get welcome.
Speaker 3:Jeff, jeff, get the hell out.
Speaker 1:So we actually have to record today an acceptance speech in the event that we win, because we won't know in real time. So it's that far along Kind of cool. I don't know, that's better.
Speaker 2:But you're here for it, yeah.
Speaker 1:This is like a momentous day.
Speaker 3:We've done a lot of cool stuff.
Speaker 2:Today I'm saying Breakfast.
Speaker 3:This potential award. Yeah, there was a lot of firsts. Today, 5 million, a lot of firsts 2018 cities 109 different countries. The book came out this week. Our new menu came out this week.
Speaker 1:There's an explosion of things happening here and John he's not even processing it.
Speaker 2:He might actually talk.
Speaker 1:Now, wow, okay, I'm out of excitement.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I'm spent.
Speaker 1:That was it. I'm ready to go to bed now. All right, you're ready to eat a pancake I want to have? Oh God, then. I'm ready to go to bed now. All right, I'm ready to eat a pancake I want to have. Oh God, then I'm going to take a nap, because it's like a quadruple stack of pancakes. What's the Lemon?
Speaker 2:curd.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, Are you kidding me? Can't wait for this.
Speaker 2:With powdered sugar strawberries.
Speaker 1:All right, look. All right, all right, look, slow down everybody. Shane, yes, what's your?
Speaker 3:Instagram handle ChefSugarShane.
Speaker 1:Okay, follow Chef. Importantly, follow First Watch. Follow First Watch. Look them up. They're out there. Today was really fun. I had a blast. Thank you guys. Willie Beddix my man Thank you for coming out today. You're clutch, we love you man Jeffrey. John, you guys are amazing.
Speaker 2:Baxter, we love you, he only yelped twice.
Speaker 1:That's the puppy, the mascot. I guess you could say the Jenny Glester. Thank you kindly, we Are out. Say the Jenny Glester, thank you kindly, we are out.
