“You’re Getting Scammed!” Joshua Weissman Reveals How Restaurants REALLY Make Money

餐饮业暴利真相？Joshua Weissman揭秘餐厅赚钱门道 主厨兼知名创作者Joshua Weissman在播客中深入剖析了餐饮行业的真实商业逻辑与微薄利润现状，披露了牛排馆的高溢价、日式Omakase的低人力成本以及快餐模式背后的高周转策略。此外，他还详述了自己完全自费开设炸鸡汉堡店的筹备历程，并回顾了早期后厨生涯中惊险的“胃酸汁着火”等从业故事。 牛排馆与Omakase日料店凭借强大的“价值感知”、高客单价及精简的后厨人力，常能实现极高且可观的利润率。 Joshua Weissman自筹超25万美元开设炸鸡汉堡店，拒绝外部投资，致力于以平价快餐定位提供高端餐厅水准的自制美食。 商业餐厅起步门槛极高，排烟通风罩等商用设备动辄数万美元，而严苛的监管与微薄利润也有效筛选出了真正具备餐饮热忱的从业者。

Chef and creator Joshua Weissman argues that restaurant profitability hinges on balancing customer volume against average ticket size amid razor-thin margins, noting that hospitality finances often contradict public perceptions of value and operational windfalls. Restaurant Economics and High-Margin Models (16:21) Restaurants navigate distinct financial trade-offs between ticket averages and foot traffic, according to Weissman. While fine-dining concepts rely on high checks of $300 or more across low volumes of around 50 covers a night, fast-casual operations depend on high-volume foot traffic with low $10 to $15 checks. Certain concepts like steakhouses manage to combine large crowds with high spending, generating $20 million to $40 million annually per location. However, Weissman points to sushi and intimate omakase counters as offering some of the highest returns on investment in hospitality. An omakase space seating roughly 10 guests across two to three nightly turns requires minimal front- and back-of-house labor—often just two chefs, a server, and a porter—while charging $10 to $15 per nigiri piece against wholesale fish costs, such as an $80 yellowtail yielding 24 usable ounces. Conversely, heavy overhead in competitive urban centers makes failure frequent. Prime locations in cities like New York, Austin, or Los Angeles command high rent and payroll, but Weissman stresses that initial foot traffic cannot overcome poor culinary quality; without repeat diners, high fixed costs quickly turn businesses net negative. Furthermore, upscale menu markups frequently exploit consumer perception: Weissman views Japanese A5 Wagyu as an overhyped novelty whose overwhelming fat content limits consumption to a couple of ounces, while labeling commercial truffle oil a synthetic flavoring gimmick. The Realities of Launching Independent Restaurants (28:22) Opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant represents an emotional commitment rather than a purely rational business move for Weissman, who describes cooking as an expressive performance. To limit startup risk, he spent three years seeking a second-generation commercial space with preexisting hoods, plumbing, and kitchen infrastructure, avoiding the costly municipal permitting and utility buildouts of raw properties. Even with existing infrastructure, functional and cosmetic renovations exceeded $250,000. Weissman self-funded the entire project without outside venture capital, paying all contractor invoices and expenses directly out of his personal and business accounts. While a store's pro forma might project a seven-figure gross under optimal conditions, Weissman warns that paper models are theoretical and easily upended. Commercial kitchen hardware creates substantial, often overlooked startup barriers: commercial ovens run upwards of $20,000, while permitted hood ventilation systems cost between $60,000 and $70,000 to meet fire codes, which strictly outlaw cheaper residential units. To protect product consistency and throughput, Weissman opted against a drive-thru lane and instituted a strict initial ban on custom menu modifications, explaining that improvised plating often disappoints diners and disrupts kitchen operations. Health Regulations and Kitchen Labor Realities (55:26) Behind dining room operations lie rigorous municipal oversight and intense workplace pressures. Local health inspection grades frequently penalize minor procedural lapses rather than immediate sanitation dangers. Kitchens can lose letter grades during busy rushes for technical infractions, such as missing time-rotation labels on chemical sanitizer buckets or failing to clean exhaust backsplashes under relentless volume. Beyond regulatory scrutiny, commercial kitchens operate under severe physical and mental strain. Weissman notes that rampant substance abuse persists in the industry, driven by demanding 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. shifts across six-day workweeks. Because kitchens feature low barriers to entry and welcome vulnerable individuals, high stress and verbal pressures routinely fuel unhealthy coping cycles. The hazardous environment also elevates operational liability, requiring comprehensive insurance coverage to manage risks ranging from kitchen injuries to customer slip-and-fall claims. Digital Media Scaling and Content Overhead (102:57) Managing a high-tier food media brand carries substantial operating overhead that contrasts with public assumptions about creator wealth. Weissman employs roughly 12 full-time team members, including editors, a director, and a head of production, alongside freelance editors. Monthly operational expenditures run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund personnel, equipment, and international logistical travel, such as filming across 8 to 10 countries for a single food challenge. Weissman expresses growing concern over the algorithmic homogenization of YouTube, observing that creators increasingly adopt uniform pacing and retention blueprints at the expense of unique artistic expression. Following the birth of his son, Weissman's financial goals shifted from endless corporate scaling toward securing lifelong generational family stability and buying back creative autonomy. His long-term milestone involves financing productions that allow his studio to release deeply crafted videos once every three months, free from weekly algorithmic pressures. Weissman illustrates that restaurant viability and modern digital creation both depend on managing heavy fixed overhead and volatile unit economics, though personal creative drive often pushes operators to assume major financial risks that theoretical projections cannot guarantee.

[0:00] So, you started out as an overweight [0:02] teenager who loved food and now you're [0:03] shredded, rich, successful YouTuber with [0:05] 10 million subscribers. How much time is [0:07] realistically needed to get to like a [0:09] decently impressive home chef? I didn't [0:11] go to culinary school. I worked in [0:13] restaurants in real life scenarios [0:15] [music] learning real life techniques [0:17] and tricks. [0:18] >> Where's the lamb? [0:20] >> What's the worst thing you've seen [0:20] [music] in a restaurant? [0:21] >> State officials today looking to address [0:23] the growing issue of substance [music] [0:25] within the restaurant and hospitality [0:27] industry. There have been people that [0:28] I've worked with that were like and then [0:30] [music] one day they just disappeared. [0:32] Someone was standing up with their chef [0:34] knife. The person stood up and turned [0:36] [music] into their knife. They got [0:38] rushed to the hospital, got stitched up, [0:39] went back to service. How much money do [0:41] you think your restaurant's going to [0:42] make? I have no idea. I mean, how much [0:44] does Gordon Ramsay [music] make on his [0:45] restaurants? It's like $200 million a [0:47] year. [0:47] >> This is my new restaurant which [0:48] officially opens today and it's called [0:49] [music] Ben & Linds. What's the most [0:52] you've ever paid for a meal? [0:53] >> One of the most expensive ones was for [0:54] you guys. [0:54] >> I wouldn't say it's phenomenal. Not my [0:56] cup of tea. That's too buttery. [0:58] >> Buttery buttery. [0:59] >> What is the biggest mistake that you [1:01] [music] have made? [1:08] >> Joshua Wisman, thank you so much for [1:09] coming on the Ice Coffee Hour. [1:10] >> Oh, thank you for having me. Happy to be [1:12] back. [1:12] >> So, you started out as an overweight [1:14] teenager who loved food and now you're [1:16] shredded, rich, successful YouTuber with [1:17] 10 million subscribers. [1:19] >> Jesus Christ. [1:20] >> He did this intro and the first thing I [1:22] said, [1:23] >> like, you got to not do that. I'm like, [1:24] I actually kind of like it. [1:25] >> That's actually That's so funny. [1:26] >> Jack's like, Gramp, don't worry about [1:28] it. [1:28] >> He's a friend. Yeah, it's fine. [1:30] >> So, why should people listen to you? [1:32] >> Listen to me? Well, it depends on the [1:34] advice I'm giving. If I'm giving advice [1:35] about cooking, I could give you a few [1:37] reasons. [1:37] >> I feel like you're an expert though at [1:39] cooking, cars, watches, and business. [1:44] >> You're really good at all those things. [1:45] >> You know, sometimes I feel like an [1:46] expert in in many of those things, and [1:48] sometimes I don't. I feel like in [1:49] cooking, yes. Right. Like in cooking, [1:51] I've spent my whole life learning how to [1:53] be good at it, learning how to avoid [1:56] mistakes. I've made a million mistakes [1:58] cooking, right? Like uh I spent my whole [2:00] life doing it. So like my goal is to [2:02] help other people avoid making the same [2:04] mistakes I did in cooking. That's pretty [2:06] much all I ever do. So if you ever watch [2:08] any of my videos of me cooking, you're [2:09] going to see I oftent times interject [2:11] and go, "Oh, by the way, don't do this [2:13] because XYZ or do this because XYZ." So [2:16] my goal is always to give value. That's [2:18] kind of it. But should do people need to [2:20] listen to me? No. There's a million [2:21] resources out there, right? Um, but I [2:23] like to think that I'm doing doing [2:25] something to help people. [2:26] >> Why are people so drawn to cooking? [2:28] Something I feel like everybody can [2:30] understand to a certain extent, right? [2:31] Like everybody eats. This I feel like [2:33] this has been said so many times. [2:34] Everybody eats. But the reality is like [2:36] if you pick up something and it tastes [2:38] great. There are certain things that [2:39] universally taste good, right? Like a [2:42] perfectly ripe and crispy apple, right? [2:46] Lots of people love a perfectly ripe and [2:48] crispy apple. Some people could sit down [2:49] and d like I could sit down and digress [2:51] why it's so good, why I enjoy it, why I [2:54] think other people will enjoy it, but at [2:56] the end of the day, like anyone can pick [2:57] that up, eat it, and understand it. You [2:59] know, it doesn't matter what language [3:00] you speak, doesn't matter where you're [3:01] from, you you get it. So, I think it's [3:03] something everyone can touch. [3:04] >> How did you learn to be a cooking pro? [3:07] [sighs and gasps] [3:07] >> God, a pro. You guys are throwing the [3:09] questions at [3:10] >> I mean, you get paid to cook, right? And [3:11] you you were a pro. [3:13] >> Uh were Whoa. [3:14] >> And you are a pro. You are a pro. [3:16] >> I'm messing with you. Uh I mean I I I [3:20] think the simple rule for life is just [3:21] repetition. You got to be able to do it [3:23] over and over and over again and not be [3:25] afraid to make mistakes. And over time [3:28] you will master it. But that it's what's [3:30] the rule? It's like the 10,000 hour [3:31] rule. It's kind of like I look at it [3:33] like that, right? Like the more time you [3:35] spend just failing and up and you know [3:39] making small modifications, getting a [3:41] little better every time, eventually [3:43] you're going to reach a a tipping point [3:45] where you have a total understanding of [3:47] a subject. And in the world of cooking, [3:49] like it really comes through repetition. [3:51] How much time is realistically needed if [3:53] you're starting from zero food skills to [3:55] get to like a decently impressive home [3:57] chef? Jack's asking for himself. [4:00] >> You should see the way I thought you [4:01] cook now. I do cook now and I use flaky [4:03] salt and I have MSG and you're healthy [4:06] enough. [4:06] >> He puts the steak in the air fryer. [4:09] >> I you know honestly I've come around [4:10] with the air fryer. [4:12] >> I've come around they've got better [4:14] though. They better I meant to say [4:16] microwave. [4:16] >> He hasn't graduated from the microwave. [4:18] He still uses the microwave. [4:18] >> Yeah. I don't even I've [4:20] >> You're talking to a guy who literally [4:21] like when I first met him his his [4:23] freezer was stacked bottom to top with [4:25] Lean Cuisine and Hamburger Helper. You [4:28] know what? I It's funny like the first [4:29] time I ever came on the podcast, I [4:30] didn't know you guys that well and then [4:31] over time we've become friends, which I [4:32] I love you too. But the funny thing is I [4:35] remember when we first met and I [4:36] remember thinking like, oh, you know, [4:38] maybe like Graham will get into cooking [4:39] and like get, you know, like noticeably [4:41] better by the next time I see him. And I [4:42] feel like the amount of growth that's [4:43] happened in in your cooking from then [4:45] and now is like pretty pretty small. But [4:47] I don't know. I [4:48] >> I don't need to because uh it's [4:50] completely [4:51] >> No, because anytime I need like a really [4:52] nice meal, honestly, I just I buy Cook [4:54] Unity and they're really [4:55] >> And this video is sponsored by Cook [4:56] [laughter] Unity. [4:58] So, how much time would be needed if [5:00] you're taking like someone with no food [5:01] skills to become a impressive home chef? [5:04] >> Like for an average person, if someone's [5:06] watching this right now and they like [5:07] they want to become a decent chef, how [5:09] much time would they really [5:10] >> if I was teaching them or just very [5:11] generally speaking? [5:11] >> Just very generally speaking, [5:12] >> I really think most people can do it a [5:14] lot faster than they think. It's just [5:15] they the people kind of hold back too [5:17] much. Like again, this applies to so [5:20] many things, but if you if you're [5:22] willing to just throw yourself into it [5:24] and let go of the fear of like messing [5:25] up or wasting ingredients, which I are [5:27] real, you know, those are real tangible [5:29] things to be worried about. But if [5:30] you're willing to forego that, I think [5:32] you can learn to cook pretty well. And [5:34] honestly, if you, let's say, open a [5:37] cookbook and you just keep cooking [5:38] recipes out of a cookbook and follow [5:40] directions to a tea, let's say you do it [5:43] three to five times a week. I know it's [5:45] a lot, maybe two, two to four times per [5:47] week. I think you could you could become [5:49] relatively confident in your cooking [5:51] skills within two to four months. I'm [5:56] not saying you're a master. You'll just [5:57] have the confidence to keep going. [5:59] >> Now, you say that you've made a lot of [6:01] mistakes and a lot of this is a learning [6:03] process. What is the biggest mistake [6:05] that you have made? [6:06] >> Uh there was a time that I was making a [6:08] sauce called Do you know what a gastri [6:10] is? [6:10] >> No. [6:10] >> It's basically like a reduction between [6:12] uh it's vinegar, sugar. You reduce it [6:13] into kind of like a sweet and sour [6:15] syrup. It's a French sauce. Um, and I [6:17] was reducing the the sauce. And a lot of [6:19] time in restaurants when you're doing [6:20] prep and it's early in the morning, you [6:23] can utilize multiple uh multiple [6:25] burners. So, you could theoretically [6:27] have three or four sauces that need to [6:29] be reduced, but they're all different. [6:30] So, you have like three or four pots [6:31] with all your different associated [6:32] sauces. You'd go throw them on the [6:34] burner, get them to a boil, reduce it to [6:35] low, and you know that, hey, these are [6:37] going to take 10, 20, 30 minutes. I'll [6:39] put different timers for different [6:40] things, and then I'm going to go off and [6:42] like, I don't know, pick some herbs or [6:43] do something else, right? Maximize your [6:45] time. try to do as many things as once [6:47] uh at once as possible. So anyway, I was [6:50] doing that and I had all my pots on the [6:52] stove. One of them was a gas streak and [6:53] a few other sauces. They're all [6:54] reducing. I go off and I'm chopping some [6:56] veg. I'm doing some other prep to the [6:57] side. One of my timers goes off. So I'm [6:59] pulling all my different sauces as they [7:01] get reduced at different rates, but one [7:03] of them was taking a while. It was the [7:05] gas streak. I pull them the uh I I leave [7:08] the gas streak on. Um I'm letting it [7:11] sit. It's simmering. It's reducing. I go [7:13] off and do another thing. I'm working. [7:15] At this point, I forgot about the pot on [7:18] the stove, the gas streak, the last one. [7:21] So, it's just kind of reducing and [7:23] reducing and reducing. I have no idea [7:25] because I don't even think it's on the [7:27] stove anymore. I've completely forgotten [7:28] about it. My timer went off and I I let [7:31] it, you know, go in my pocket and I [7:32] didn't know. And um someone goes, "Hey, [7:37] there's a pot on fire." And I'm like, [7:41] "Pot on fire?" Well, I had a gas rig on, [7:43] but I think I took it off. And also, how [7:46] is a gas gas reach not going to catch on [7:47] fire? It's just water or it's just [7:49] vinegar, water, sugar. That's it. Uh, [7:51] [snorts] [7:52] and um I go over there and there's [7:54] literally like like a 12in flame, like a [7:58] jet engine shooting directly out of this [8:00] pot, like directly into the air. And I'm [8:03] like, wait a minute, that and then it [8:04] says gas streak with my initials on it [8:06] on the handle. I'm like, wait, how's [8:07] that even possible that it's And it's [8:09] like carbon at this point. It's [8:10] carbonizing. So like it's like bubbling [8:12] with like black [8:14] >> soot out of the thing while also being [8:15] on fire. So I'm like, "Okay, no worries. [8:17] I got this." So there's a few ways to [8:19] put out a pot fire, right? You could do [8:20] baking soda. You could throw water in [8:22] there, but that's more dangerous, right? [8:23] It could splash. So many different [8:24] things. So I I suffocated it with salt. [8:27] I took kosher salt and I just poured a [8:29] bunch of kosher salt until literally was [8:31] mounded uh up in the pot. [8:33] >> It sounds like you're making a bomb. [8:34] [laughter] [8:35] >> Yeah, that's crazy. And so the fire goes [8:39] out, but then like a little like [8:40] wiggling flame goes through the salt and [8:44] I'm like, "Ah, no big deal." And then it [8:46] just keeps and then the fire engulfs the [8:48] salt and it's still going. And I'm like, [8:50] "How is this possible?" Like I don't [8:51] understand how this is possible. And [8:53] then the um president of culinary for [8:56] that company walks in and he goes, [8:59] "Whose pot is this?" And I'm like, "Oh [9:01] [laughter] my god, it's my pot. I don't [9:03] know what's I don't know how this is on [9:04] still on fire. It was a gas streak." And [9:06] he's like, "Well, take it outside." And [9:08] I'm like, "Okay, all right." And um so I [9:10] like I start to pick it up and he's [9:12] like, "I got it." Moves me out of the [9:13] way, grabs the pot and then walks [9:15] outside with it, tosses it on the [9:17] ground. He's like, "Just put a hose on [9:18] it." Anyway, this was like in front of [9:19] the president of culinary, the CDC of [9:21] the restaurant, and all of my co-workers [9:24] and all of the front of house are [9:25] watching this go down. Uh yeah, it was [9:28] it was very embarrassing. Nothing really [9:30] that bad happened, but it was like one [9:31] of those things where it's like [9:32] ingrained in my brain forever. So now I [9:34] never forget pots on the stove. So, as a [9:36] chef, when you walk into a restaurant, [9:38] what is the first thing that you notice? [9:40] >> Probably, honestly, sanitation, the [9:42] first thing I notice is like, how clean [9:43] are the tables? Is the space wellkempt? [9:46] Um, it depends on where I'm going to eat [9:48] though. Like, if I'm going in and out, [9:49] I'm not looking for that. Like, I shut [9:50] that part of my brain off. But if I'm [9:51] going to like a nice restaurant, I'm not [9:53] looking for problems to be clear. I just [9:56] notice things, right? Like if the [9:57] table's really dirty and I put my hands [9:58] on the table and like, [10:00] >> you know, you notice that it's sticky. [10:01] you get you ever sit down and like you [10:03] feel grease on the table like ew, right? [10:05] And then that makes you think, oh, what [10:06] are they doing back there? So, that's [10:08] probably the first thing I notice. Or or [10:10] staff interaction like if the front of [10:12] house are like particularly rude. I [10:14] mean, I'm not going to say anything, but [10:15] I usually notice that. [10:16] >> Can you enjoy a mediocre meal or do you [10:18] find yourself hyper analyzing everything [10:20] when you go out to eat? [10:21] >> No, it's not fun to hyper analyze [10:23] everything. You got to be able to enjoy [10:25] I I listen like half of what is great of [10:27] going out to eat is being with your [10:29] friends, hanging out with people, having [10:31] good conversation who no one really [10:32] loves to go out to eat alone. Unless I [10:34] don't know, Graham, you I feel like you [10:35] do. I don't know why. [10:36] >> I like eating standing up as fast as [10:39] possible. [10:40] >> You're just [laughter] [10:42] It's terrible. Macy hates it because [10:44] what I'll do is I'll just microwave [10:45] food. I sit over the counter watching a [10:49] YouTube video and I just scarf down my [10:51] food. I get it down and then I'm on to [10:53] the next. [10:54] >> Yeah, your digestion system's just [10:56] working overtime, man. [10:57] >> Is there a proper way to eat, though? [10:59] >> No, I'm not a doctor. I can't answer [11:00] that for you. You know, you're going to [11:01] have to you're going to have to get one [11:02] of these wellness gurus to give you that [11:03] info. Um, but yeah, I mean, like I I [11:06] don't I really try not to over analyze [11:07] those things. I don't think about it [11:09] that often, honestly. I I just want to [11:10] go out and eat and have fun. But what do [11:12] you mean by mediocre? You mean like [11:14] something that's not fancy? [11:15] >> Yeah, just like an average, you know, [11:16] you're just like driving through Barstow [11:18] and you have to stop at a place. [11:19] >> I prefer eating like that. I I think I'm [11:22] kind of over fine dining a little bit. [11:23] You know, it's like it's expensive. Um [11:25] it's also just like I feel kind of [11:28] stressed out when I eat at a fancy [11:30] place, you know? They're like when [11:32] they're sitting there describing the [11:33] meal to you. Like sometimes I want that, [11:34] but like over like that's just not real [11:36] life. Like sometimes you just want to go [11:37] out and get a good burger. Sometimes you [11:38] want to go out and just chill, something [11:41] more relaxed. Do you like it when they [11:44] describe the meal? Because I've found [11:46] when I go to very fancy restaurants, [11:47] which is not very often, but when I do, [11:49] and they're just like, "Let me read off [11:51] this menu to you." I'm like, "Well, I [11:52] can read, first of all, like like and [11:54] [laughter] then they they go through [11:56] everything and they say a bunch of [11:57] words. I have no idea what they're [11:58] saying. They're saying like different [11:59] sauces and this." [12:00] >> Just going to get the burger, too. We [12:02] don't need [12:02] >> I'm just going to get the cheeseburger, [12:03] and if they don't have that, I'll get [12:04] the chicken fingers or the steak. [12:06] >> I thought about a fine dining restaurant [12:08] here. [12:08] >> Okay. Yeah, fair enough. But I'm just [12:09] saying like like this whole process of [12:11] fine dining is [12:13] >> it's a process. getting a little [12:15] annoying right now. I think when they [12:16] explain every thing, we need to do [12:18] retention style editing for for waiters [12:21] and waitresses. Like I think I think if [12:24] there's a dish that's like inherently ne [12:26] like there's a necessity to describe it [12:27] like on how to eat it. If you know that [12:29] people are always going to go, "Hey, how [12:30] do I eat this?" Like if it's if it's [12:31] plated really crazy and you're like, [12:33] "How do I eat this?" I would I think [12:35] that's helpful if some if staff go, [12:37] "Hey, this dish has this and that." It's [12:39] easier if you eat it like nachos or [12:41] whatever, right? Like that I think is [12:43] has value. But I think if you sit there [12:44] and explain every single dish, it gets a [12:47] little monotonous and boring. And also, [12:49] I'm just kind of like awkwardly waiting. [12:51] They're like, "Can you leave? I want to [12:52] eat." You know? [12:52] >> Now, I'm curious. When it comes to [12:53] restaurants, why do so many restaurants [12:55] fail? [12:56] >> I don't have all the answers to that, [12:57] but I feel like uh I mean, there's so [12:59] many reasons that restaurants fail. [13:00] Running a restaurant is really hard. [13:02] Like, I think people don't realize how [13:03] hard it is to run a restaurant. Um [13:05] margins are thin. It's very hard to find [13:08] um you know, people who know what [13:10] they're doing. It's really hard to to [13:11] keep standards high. [13:13] um it's really easy to make mistakes. [13:14] The margin of error is super small. Um [13:17] so I mean all of those things combined [13:19] obviously can lead uh to a treacherous [13:21] path to somebody who's not as [13:22] knowledgeable or is more inexperienced. [13:25] But even experienced people get knocked [13:27] down in restaurants. I mean we've seen [13:29] tons of like celebrity chefs and like [13:30] famous people who own dozens of [13:32] restaurants and every once in a while [13:33] they'll just close a restaurant. [13:34] >> What is more important? Is it location [13:36] or good food? [13:37] >> I don't know anymore honestly. Like I I [13:39] think good location is always going to [13:41] help, right? like having a bad location [13:43] is not going to help you. So my first [13:45] thought would be like location is [13:46] probably a little more important, but I [13:48] think if you have bad food, who cares, [13:50] right? I think that this notion that, [13:53] you know, if you have bad food but a [13:56] good location, like you'll probably [13:57] survive is not necessarily true, but it [13:59] depends on the city, right? If you're in [14:00] like a really expensive city like Los [14:03] Angeles, um, or or even Austin or or New [14:06] York, like I feel like even if you have [14:08] a great location, your your rent's going [14:09] to be really high. So, you're already [14:11] spending a ton on overhead. Your [14:13] staffing is going to be really [14:14] expensive, so you're even more overhead. [14:16] Uh, and so now you have all this that [14:18] you have to pay off before you can even [14:19] make a profit. So, if you're not selling [14:22] enough volume or you're not selling at a [14:24] high enough ticket per person, which [14:26] usually kind of goes back to volume [14:28] often times, um, if it's not balanced [14:30] properly, then you're eventually going [14:31] to become that negative pretty quickly. [14:33] So, if your food is bad, like how are [14:35] you going to have repeat customers? How [14:36] are you going to sell enough food? you [14:37] know. So, I would say probably a good [14:40] mix of both, but location definitely [14:42] helps. [14:42] >> How much does the average restaurant [14:43] make? Because we've been to some pretty [14:46] crazy ones where I see those buildouts [14:48] that are tens of millions of dollars, [14:49] and I look at the menu and I'm thinking, [14:51] how on earth are they ever going to pay [14:53] this back? But before we go into that, [14:55] when you hear how much some of these [14:56] restaurants cost just to build, it makes [14:58] a little more sense why the food gets so [15:00] expensive. Like, if you go out, order a [15:02] couple steaks, maybe some drinks, all of [15:04] a sudden it's a $200 bill. That's why a [15:07] lot of the time I'd rather stay home, [15:09] make a great steak, and eat really well [15:11] for way less money. The only thing is [15:12] that you have to know how to cook a [15:13] steak right for it to come out anything [15:15] like the restaurants. And that's the [15:16] hard part because unless you really know [15:17] what you're doing, you're basically [15:18] guessing when to flip it, when to pull [15:20] it off, and how long to let it rest. [15:22] >> Our partner, Chef IQ, does all of the [15:24] thinking for you. It tells you when to [15:25] flip, when to pull, when to rest, and [15:27] even when it's ready to serve. So [15:28] whether you're making steak, chicken, [15:30] pork, lamb, fish, or even burgers, you [15:33] don't have to sit there wondering if [15:34] you're about to undercook it or [15:36] completely ruin it. Plus, it's really [15:37] simple. You just download the app and [15:39] connect the probes, then just start [15:40] cooking, and Chef IQ will send alerts to [15:42] your phone telling you exactly what to [15:44] do and when to do it. Like, our editor, [15:46] Michael's girlfriend, literally cooks [15:47] everything for him. He has no idea how [15:50] to cook. Awful cook. But he even cooked [15:53] a perfect steak with Chef IQ. I mean, [15:55] this is just incredible. This was the [15:56] easiest thing. The UI of the app is also [15:59] so nice. I could not cook a steak like [16:01] this in a million years if I wanted to. [16:02] Look at how juicy that is. Are you [16:05] kidding me? Bro, this is so good. [16:08] >> So, if you want to feel more confident [16:10] when you're cooking and save money by [16:12] not eating out, head to chefiq.com and [16:14] use the code iced for 25% off sitewide. [16:17] Once again, that is chefiq.com code iced [16:20] for 25% off sitewide. How much does the [16:23] average restaurant make? because we've [16:26] been to some pretty crazy ones where I [16:28] see those buildouts that are tens of [16:29] millions of dollars and I look at the [16:31] menu and I'm thinking how on earth are [16:33] they ever going to pay this back. [16:34] >> I honestly don't I I don't know. I'm not [16:36] I'm not wellversed enough in like the [16:39] back end of you know I haven't worked at [16:40] 20 restaurants. I've worked at three [16:42] four restaurants. So I don't have enough [16:45] of a view on the back end. But I will [16:46] say that every restaurant makes a [16:48] different amount of money because each [16:50] restaurant is a completely different [16:51] business in a way, right? Like there's [16:53] really high volume but low ticket cost [16:56] restaurants, right? So that would be [16:57] like a like a fast food place or a fast [16:59] casual place where the price per person [17:01] is lower but the volume that they sell [17:04] is way higher. But then you go to a fine [17:06] dining restaurant, oh well we only serve [17:08] 50 people a night but it's like $300 a [17:10] person. So higher ticket average, lower [17:13] volume. So you have to like tip the [17:14] scales one way or another. Um, so it it [17:17] can vary pretty wildly depending on the [17:20] type of restaurant that you're looking [17:21] at, but I will say the most profitable [17:23] ones are usually lower ticket cost, [17:25] higher volume. Usually, not always. It [17:28] depends like like I'll give you an [17:29] example like um like steakouses make a [17:32] load of money. Like some steakous can [17:34] make 20, 30, sometimes $40 million [17:37] annually. [17:37] >> Wow. [17:38] >> In one space. Um just Google like [17:40] highest revenue steakhouse and what they [17:42] get per location cuz it's like a big [17:44] number. It's like kind of shocking. [17:46] >> And is that steak or we're talking like [17:48] drinks? Like [17:49] >> both. [17:50] >> Steak. Steak is like one of those. It's [17:51] so I think it's a little bit of a [17:53] perspective thing. I think a lot of what [17:55] makes these type of restaurants like [17:56] make a lot of money is the perception of [17:58] value. [17:59] >> That's what I was curious about. How [18:00] much psychology goes into pricing? Cuz [18:03] if you see a $120 steak, [18:05] >> mentally I'm thinking, "Oh, that must be [18:07] a pretty good steak." [18:08] >> $47 million annually for one restaurant [18:11] for Joe's prime seafood and steak. Have [18:14] you been there? [18:14] >> No. But I mean that's just an Oh my [18:17] gosh, man. That seems like the best [18:18] place to go. Million [18:21] >> per year for one restaurant. [18:22] >> Wow. [18:23] >> Isn't that kind of crazy? So they So [18:24] theoretically, like if they sold that [18:26] one restaurant as a business at a 3x [18:27] multiplier, they're selling it for over [18:29] $100 million. [18:29] >> Okay. What's their profit margin on [18:31] that, though? [18:32] >> I have no idea. I don't know. I don't [18:33] have their books. I don't know. I mean, [18:34] I'm [18:35] >> They got to be making 20%. Right. [18:37] >> I I think it's probably between [18:40] >> I don't I don't know. Like it could vary [18:42] wildly. I don't want to I don't want to [18:43] say, but like it could it could [18:45] theoretically be 30 to 35% maybe. That's [18:49] a guess. Wild guess. Don't know for [18:50] sure. [18:51] >> Have you ever heard of the myth or [18:53] truth? I I'm not really sure about [18:54] In-N-Out only making money from their [18:56] drinks. I've never heard of that. [18:58] >> Never heard of that. [18:59] >> You've never heard of that? I feel like [19:00] that was a a pretty commonly shared [19:02] belief is that In-N-Out literally only [19:04] makes money off of like their soft serve [19:06] drink. [19:06] >> There's no way. [19:07] >> There's so many numbers that fly around [19:08] in a restaurant. And it's kind of hard [19:09] to say like what, you know, how much how [19:11] much are they ordering? What's their [19:13] what do they have a special deal with [19:14] their purveyor? Like if you're if you're [19:16] an In-N-Out, you probably have a [19:18] purveyor that you have a you're getting [19:19] like really low pricing on product [19:21] because you buy so much of it. So you [19:24] can usually get a special deal on it. So [19:25] they're probably spending less on [19:27] tomatoes and lettuce and ground beef [19:29] than anybody else in the world like [19:31] theoretically, right? Or in in the US. [19:33] Um I don't know. Like it depends maybe. [19:36] But there's so many different makeups, [19:37] right? [19:38] I've heard from, and I don't know if [19:39] this is true or not, but I've heard from [19:41] people that uh Terry Black's Barbecue is [19:45] doing like 30 to 40 million a year as [19:48] well, and they have supposedly like 35 [19:50] 37% margins. I don't know if that's [19:52] true. I don't know. Like, I can't [19:53] guarantee that. I've never seen their [19:55] books. This was like a he said, she said [19:56] thing. But I would believe it though [19:58] because again, they have volume and they [20:01] have high ticket. And that's what makes [20:02] steakouses so profitable because they're [20:04] like perception of value, right? You've [20:06] got a steak that they purchased. It's a [20:08] New York strip that's one pound. It's 1 [20:09] inch thick. It's a nice big juicy steak. [20:11] Uh they bought the steak for let's call [20:13] it 20 to $25, but they're going to sell [20:15] you that steak for $125 to2 to $150, [20:19] right? Cuz it's Australian Wagu and this [20:22] that and the other, but they might be [20:23] getting a special deal. They may be even [20:24] spending even less per steak. So their [20:26] multiplier on food, their food cost in [20:29] correlation to how much they're charging [20:30] you is just abysmal. You can't do that [20:32] in other restaurants. But the perception [20:34] to me when somebody walks into a [20:36] steakhouse is they feel usually when [20:38] people go to a steakhouse they're like [20:39] oh this is going to be a fancy meal or [20:40] maybe it's their you know Valentine's [20:42] Day or it's it's their anniversary like [20:44] it's a treat. So most of the time when [20:46] people walk into a steakhouse they are [20:48] prepared to and are okay with spending [20:49] high ticket. I don't know what it is but [20:51] they won't do it at a at certain fine [20:52] dining restaurants. [20:53] >> What's interesting is some foods in my [20:56] opinion have no reason being as [20:58] expensive as they are. For example [20:59] sushi. Sushi is like rice and it's just [21:03] like raw fish. You don't even have to [21:05] cook it. Yeah. [21:05] >> But they sell it for this premium price. [21:08] You go get one roll and it could be $20 [21:10] at a restaurant. And who gets full off [21:12] of one roll? Realistically, you need [21:14] >> two to three five, you know, like you [21:17] need to eat a lot of sushi. So, it's [21:18] extremely expensive for something that [21:20] you think is it should be a lot cheaper. [21:22] >> Have you noticed how many sushi places [21:24] have opened in the last like 5 to 10 [21:26] years? [21:26] >> Yeah, but that's because what? They're [21:28] just more popular. I feel like more [21:29] people are just eating sushi these days, [21:31] right? [21:31] >> It's because they're really popular and [21:33] people have recognized that they're like [21:34] probably one of the highest [21:36] >> ROI restaurant businesses you could [21:38] possibly make. Like have have you guys [21:39] noticed that there's like omic aces [21:41] popping up everywhere [21:42] >> where it's like just a table and like [21:44] two chefs because now people can open a [21:46] restaurant for like a little bit more [21:48] reasonable cost because it's a small [21:49] room. They don't need a huge space. They [21:52] don't need 20 staff. They only need two [21:53] sushi chefs and maybe like a porter and [21:55] and and a waiter or waitress. They [21:57] serve, you know, they have a seat for 10 [21:59] people. They do maybe two to three [22:01] rotations, so 30 people a night. I I I [22:03] don't I can't think off the top of my [22:04] head, but let's say you get like a [22:05] hamachi nigiri, right? It's per ngiri [22:07] piece. You might spend anywhere between [22:08] 10, 12, 14, 15 bucks. Dude, it's like a [22:13] half ounce of fish. Like 15. Let's think [22:16] about this for a second. How much do you [22:17] think just a filt of the hamachi is? [22:21] >> 80 bucks. [22:22] >> No, way less. [22:23] >> Less way. Yeah. pro. I mean, I don't I [22:27] don't have the price off the top of my [22:28] head, but it's way less than $80. Like, [22:31] maybe the whole fish. Um, but like [22:34] you're probably spending I don't know, [22:36] maybe let's call it per side, I don't [22:39] know, 40 bucks. So, you've got 80 bucks [22:41] in the whole fish. So, you have two [22:42] sides. Each side is let's call it 8 [22:44] ounces. You got 16 ounces or probably [22:47] more than that. Let's call it 24 ounces [22:48] of fish, right? You're doing a half [22:50] ounce per roll. It's like do the math. [22:53] like you're making a crazy markup on [22:55] that fish. [22:56] >> So, one thing I'm really curious about, [22:57] there's an all you could eat sushi spot [22:59] here in Vegas. It's $23.95 [23:02] going to bring this up [23:03] >> when you go after 900 p.m. How do they [23:07] make money? Because we're getting a [23:09] table full of food for $23.95. [23:14] Maybe for them it's like they're [23:15] regaining margin on product that would [23:17] be thrown away anyways. [23:19] So [23:21] maybe they're they've got like they all [23:23] their fresh fish they're saving for like [23:26] the the the the typical day eaters, I [23:29] guess. Uh you know, the the the the 6:00 [23:31] p.m. to 8:00 p.m. crowd and then like [23:34] whatever scrap pieces they Is it the [23:36] full menu? [23:36] >> Mhm. [23:38] >> It's a limited menu. [23:38] >> Well, there's a few pieces they don't [23:40] put on. There's like a meat piece, like [23:42] a steak, sushi one. There's like very [23:44] few pieces that are not available. [23:46] >> Okay. [23:46] >> It's like 90 plus% of the menu. [23:47] >> That's kind of crazy. I don't know. [23:48] Yeah, I maybe maybe [23:50] >> I heard it's reject fish. Like this is [23:52] the fish that would have gone served at [23:53] like a nicer restaurant but it didn't [23:55] qualify for it. So they just send it to [23:56] the all you can eat spots. [23:57] >> There's so many ways that they could [23:59] make margin on that though. Like [24:00] theoretically you're to your point they [24:02] could be buying fish at a lower cost [24:04] because it's lower quality and then they [24:06] can sell that fish and get it sold um at [24:09] a lower cost for you and then they [24:10] they're able to sell more volume. Again, [24:12] remember it's like ticket average versus [24:14] volume. So to to me it sounds like [24:16] they're getting more volume by putting [24:18] that 9:00 p.m. They're packed every [24:20] night. Cool. Great. So now they're [24:21] selling way more than they usually do. [24:23] So I'm sure that they make up their [24:24] margin doing that. [24:25] >> So you just opened up a restaurant. [24:28] People have probably been wanting you to [24:29] do this for a long time. What was the [24:31] logic behind that? [24:33] >> It's so funny you you state the question [24:35] like that, like what was the logic? [24:37] >> This is not a logical decision. [24:38] >> It's not a logical decision at all. [24:40] >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I mean, look, I I [24:42] love food and I love restaurants. Uh, [24:45] I'm I have a huge passion for [24:46] hospitality. Before I was doing any of [24:48] this, I worked in restaurants. I mean, I [24:50] didn't choose to go work in a restaurant [24:52] to to um be, you know, have a silly fun [24:55] time. I did it because I love [24:56] restaurants and I love hospitality. And [24:59] I'd also, to be honest, like just felt [25:01] weird having this like connection with [25:03] this community that I've built who also [25:05] love food. And I feel weird that I [25:07] haven't been able to serve them my food. [25:10] Do you know what I mean? Like that's [25:11] that's like part of my mo. I cook for [25:13] everybody I know. Um it's a big thing [25:15] for me. It's how I express myself, but [25:17] it's also how I connect with people. I [25:19] like having conversation, but it's so [25:20] funny whenever I have people come over a [25:22] lot of the time like I'll kind of like [25:23] recede into the kitchen and be like [25:24] quiet for the next hour or two so I can [25:26] like really focus on making a great meal [25:27] and then once I'm done I'm like hanging [25:28] out with everybody. But I really like [25:30] that part where I'm like in the cut and [25:33] making an experience for somebody, [25:34] right? It's almost like if somebody [25:36] loves acting or somebody loves being a [25:37] comedian and they like performing, it's [25:39] it feels like a performance for me and I [25:41] just feel like that part of my body and [25:43] or that part of my brain has been like [25:45] repressed for the past like 5 years [25:47] because I I can perform on camera but I [25:49] don't get to serve people my food. Uh [25:52] and I it just feels weird that I'm not [25:54] and so it just felt like time to open a [25:56] place. [25:56] >> So what went into making that decision? [25:58] Like when did you decide that you wanted [26:00] to open up a restaurant? How long has [26:02] this process been? [26:03] >> Oh so long. I mean, the last time I was [26:04] on here, I think I talked about how I [26:05] wanted to open a restaurant, and it's [26:07] taken a long time to figure it out cuz [26:09] it's a big risk, [26:10] >> right? I'm doing I I mean, I've gone [26:12] through so many different iterations of [26:14] restaurants. There are other restaurants [26:16] I would like to and will open over time. [26:18] Um, but I've had to like bounce around [26:20] on different concepts cuz I have [26:21] multiple concepts already built, but I [26:23] had to bounce around with different [26:24] concepts of like, should I open this [26:25] first or should I open this first? And I [26:27] was worried about what people would [26:28] think if I open this kind of a [26:30] restaurant versus another kind. Should I [26:31] go high-end? Should I go medium, [26:33] whatever? And ultimately, I decided, you [26:35] know, I really want my first place to be [26:36] a place that anybody can eat. I don't [26:38] want to like be another person that's [26:40] opening a super expensive restaurant [26:41] that you can't get into that is like [26:43] super exclusive. It's like what what's [26:45] the point, you know? I I want anybody to [26:47] be able to just swing in, grab a bite, [26:49] it's affordable, you can go in and get a [26:51] sandwich, and know that you're getting [26:52] it for like a really really good price, [26:54] a very competitive one, like one that [26:55] competes with fast food prices. So, [26:57] explain this exact restaurant. How did [27:00] you decide that you're going to make [27:01] this type of food? How did you determine [27:04] the the buildout, the location, all of [27:06] the logistics behind it? [27:07] >> With with most of the things that I do, [27:08] I always identify, well, exactly what I [27:10] want the end result to be, and then I [27:12] work backwards. So, to me, the end [27:14] result was, like I said, I want it to be [27:16] restaurant premium quality, like [27:19] something that you you would pay a [27:20] premium for, but deliver it to people in [27:23] a much more affordable cost and way more [27:26] chill. Like, you don't need to dress up. [27:28] Uh, and so that was like the core of the [27:30] idea and then I worked backwards from [27:32] that. So I was like, "Okay, well, what [27:33] will the dish be? Like will it be [27:35] multiple dishes? Will it be one?" I [27:36] ultimately decided on like o a holistic [27:39] concept which was like fried chicken [27:40] sandwiches. I just feel like it's like [27:42] an area that I I love fried chicken [27:43] sandwich. It's my favorite sandwich. I [27:45] would choose a fried chicken sandwich [27:46] over a hamburger [27:48] 99.9% of the time. It's just to me it's [27:50] a better eating experience. Um, but most [27:53] of the new ones that come out are like [27:54] 25 bucks, you know. This one's way is is [27:57] way less than that. And so I I'm saying [28:00] that my sandwich is just as good as a [28:02] $25, $30 sandwich, but it's just not [28:04] that expensive. You could just come in [28:06] and get it for fast food prices. And [28:08] it's about a hundred times better than [28:09] what you'll get at and you know, a [28:11] Wendy's or a Burger King. And it's [28:13] actually made with premium ingredients. [28:14] We're making our own pickles. We're [28:16] making our own sauces. We're making our [28:18] own everything like basically, right? [28:19] Like we're handbreing our chicken, etc. [28:22] Once I figured out all of that, I [28:25] basically was like, "Okay, well, we're [28:27] going to have to work really hard to [28:28] make this margin possible." And now it [28:31] comes down to like really getting [28:32] volume. So, like, you know, fingers [28:33] crossed. I I I I really believe if you [28:35] put a good product out there, people [28:36] will show up. So, I'm hoping that, you [28:37] know, we get the we get the volume that [28:39] we're looking for, the number of people [28:40] to come in and eat. And at that point, [28:43] um I once I figured out the branding, I [28:45] was looking for a spot that would fit [28:47] that. So, I looked for what's called a [28:48] second generation space, which is like [28:51] places that already have a kitchen. [28:53] That's it. Like, right, like a like [28:55] let's say a restaurant was formerly [28:56] there, they left. Now, there's still a [28:58] kitchen, but nobody no resident. [29:00] Nobody's holding that property. It's now [29:01] up for lease. Those are the hardest to [29:04] find. Took me 3 years to find one. [29:06] >> Three years. So, uh I went to multiple [29:09] people. The first year and a half, I [29:11] went to different locations and tried to [29:14] get a lease thing going. And then once I [29:15] realized how long it was going to take [29:16] for each spot because of the permitting [29:19] and buildout, I was like, we're so [29:21] screwed if we if we it's going to take [29:23] us years to open a spot and so much more [29:25] money, by the way, because you have to [29:26] pay for so much more cuz there's nothing [29:27] there. [29:29] >> So, um yeah, I found a second generation [29:31] spot. We we built it out. I did all the [29:33] branding and um probably over a quarter [29:36] million has been invested like just in [29:38] like general buildout. Um but I'm I'm [29:41] like the only I don't have an investor. [29:43] I don't have a fund. I don't have a a [29:46] friend giving me money. It's basically [29:48] like, "Hey Josh, we need to buy this." [29:49] And I [29:50] >> You put it on your personal credit card, [29:51] >> but not my personal business. [29:55] >> Business credit card. Yeah. Yeah. [29:56] >> Yeah. I mean, like, but basically, yeah, [29:58] if something needs to be paid for, I'm [29:59] paying for it essentially. [30:00] >> And are you going to have a drive-thru? [30:02] >> No. What's crazy about doing all of this [30:03] with no investors is that everything is [30:05] on his shoulders. So, if something goes [30:06] wrong, there's nobody else there to pick [30:08] up the slack. [30:08] >> And I think a lot of people relate to [30:09] that. If you have a family and you have [30:11] people who rely on you on a day-to-day [30:13] basis, there's a lot that's riding on [30:14] you being there. [30:15] >> Which also means you have to think about [30:16] what happens to those people if one day [30:19] you're not there. And that's where our [30:20] partner Ethos comes in. They make [30:22] getting life insurance incredibly simple [30:23] so you can make sure the people who [30:25] depend on you are taken care of if [30:26] something happens. [30:27] >> And I understand life insurance is one [30:29] of those things that's really easy to [30:30] put off, especially when you're young [30:31] and healthy. But that's actually when [30:34] you could lock in the best rates. With [30:35] Ethos, you can get a quote in seconds, [30:37] apply in minutes, and even get same day [30:39] coverage with no medical exam required. [30:41] You just answer a few simple health [30:42] questions, and you could get up to three [30:44] million in coverage with some policies [30:46] starting as low as $30 a month. Plus, [30:48] even if you have life insurance through [30:50] your job, that may not actually be [30:52] enough to cover your family, and it [30:53] almost certainly does not follow you if [30:55] you leave that job. So, having your own [30:57] policy means that you're protected no [30:59] matter what. Ethos has a 4.9 out of five [31:01] stars on Trust Pilot with over 4,000 [31:04] reviews. And getting started takes about [31:05] 10 minutes. So take 10 minutes and make [31:07] sure the people who rely on you are [31:08] covered. Get your free quote at [31:10] ethos.com/iced [31:12] coffee. Once again, that is [31:13] ethos.com/iced [31:15] coffee. The link is also down below in [31:17] the description. Application times may [31:19] vary, rates may vary. Now, obviously [31:20] protecting your family is a little more [31:22] important than protecting your phone. [31:23] But if you just spent over $1,000 on the [31:26] new iPhone, then uh you probably want to [31:28] protect that, too. [31:29] >> And that's where our partner Mag comes [31:30] in. They just released their cases for [31:32] the new iPhone. And what I love about [31:34] this case is it goes way beyond just [31:36] protecting your phone. [31:37] >> Exactly. The Magack case also has a [31:38] built-in finger loop, extra grip so it [31:41] feels better in your hand, a dedicated [31:43] camera button, and it still works with [31:45] Mag Safe and wireless charging. But [31:47] there are two other features that I love [31:48] the most. The first are the magnets on [31:50] the back of the case that are way [31:52] stronger than any magnets you can find [31:54] on any other case. And of course, the [31:55] other one is the kickstand. I use this [31:57] all the time when watching videos, [31:59] reading scripts, FaceTime, and it's even [32:01] useful for cooking. just flip out the [32:02] kickstand on the counter, pull up a [32:04] recipe, and you can follow along while [32:05] you cook. It's really one of those cases [32:07] where once you start using it, it's [32:09] impossible to go back to any other case. [32:10] Like, I'll tell you the little finger [32:12] loop. You think it's like a little minor [32:14] thing? Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how [32:16] many times that I've dropped my phone on [32:18] my face when I'm in bed just like [32:21] scrolling Twitter and I just like I lose [32:23] the grip and it falls and it hurts. But [32:25] with the finger loop, it solves the [32:27] problem entire. I've not dropped the [32:28] phone on my face since I've gotten the [32:30] magback case. So, if you just got the [32:31] new iPhone or you want to upgrade the [32:33] phone case that you already have, get [32:35] 15% off of any Mag product using code [32:37] ICE5 with the link down below in the [32:39] description. Again, that's code iced 15 [32:42] for 15% off any Magack product with the [32:44] link down below in the description. [32:46] Highly recommended. This is completely [32:48] unscripted. I genuinely love this phone [32:50] case and I have recommended it and [32:51] gotten discount codes for every single [32:53] one of my friends and family. It is like [32:56] you don't know a good phone case until [32:57] you have one. And I kid you not, this is [32:59] the perfect phone case. And are you [33:01] gonna have a drive-thru? [33:02] >> Not for this place. Yeah, no drive-thru [33:04] here. But I I I'm interested in doing a [33:07] drive-thru. The only problem with the [33:08] drive-thru is it adds a few logistical [33:10] things that I'm not sure if I want to [33:11] add yet or not. If people are like [33:13] overwhelmingly asking for it, I will [33:14] find a way to do it. Like I want this to [33:16] be a place that people are excited to go [33:17] to. But as of right now, we don't have [33:20] drive-through. [33:20] >> I always thought that drive-throughs [33:22] increase revenue substantially. Like I [33:24] always wish that you could do a [33:26] drive-thru Chipotle. it just seems like [33:28] an easy thing to do. [33:30] >> So, there's a few logistics that are [33:31] involved with drive-throughs. There's [33:33] like I'm sure there's additional [33:35] permitting. Um, but then there's also [33:37] like you need a different kind of POS [33:39] system. I think I've never built a [33:40] drive-thru, so I don't know. I just know [33:41] that the um my operator that I work [33:45] with, he he's pretty hesitant on the [33:48] drive-thru just because of the [33:49] logistical hurdles to make it happen. [33:51] It's not easy. Otherwise, everybody [33:52] would have drive-through. But, [33:53] >> do you think it's a good thing that it's [33:55] so difficult to open up a restaurant? [33:56] That's part of the reason why I wanted [33:57] to open one because I feel like a lot of [33:59] people are in are are coming into the [34:00] food space because it's a fun and it I [34:03] want to choose my words carefully. I [34:04] don't want to say it's an easy way to [34:05] make money, but I think people have [34:07] identified food in the content space as [34:09] like a place to farm money. And that's [34:11] not why I got into it. I can promise you [34:13] that. Um, but I don't like that. I don't [34:17] like that people are just kind of [34:17] jumping in just just to make money like [34:20] because it it skews all the people out [34:23] there that are trying to do good things. [34:25] Um, and so the restaurant I think is a [34:26] good barometer of who really cares. [34:29] >> But do you think they actually make [34:30] money? Like I saw a clip of David Dori [34:33] saying that Doroughi's pizza is costing [34:35] him 10 to$15,000 [34:38] a month to stay open, but he likes it [34:41] because he likes driving down Sunset [34:43] Boulevard and being like, "Hey, there is [34:44] my spot." If restaurants didn't make any [34:46] money, then nobody would open any more [34:48] restaurants, right? I mean, I feel like [34:50] that's a pretty that's like one common [34:52] sensical way to look at it, but they are [34:54] it's harder to make a it's it's one of [34:56] the hardest businesses to make money. [34:59] Uh, and you have to constantly baby it. [35:01] >> But I mean [35:02] >> I mean, how much does Gordon Ramsay make [35:04] on his restaurant? It's like $200 [35:05] million a year. [35:06] >> So, are you planning to franchise or are [35:08] you planning to open up a whole bunch of [35:09] these? Like Dave's hot chicken sold for [35:12] like what, $1 billion plus? M my number [35:16] one goal is just to make really really [35:18] good food at keep the quality standards [35:21] and just constantly deliver a great [35:24] sandwich that people love to eat that [35:25] people will want to go eat that will [35:27] make people think more about having a [35:28] good experience when they're eating. [35:30] That's my own that's my goal. [35:31] >> Here's a here's a curveball question for [35:33] you. Could you sell the chicken at that [35:37] price if minimum wage was $25 an hour? [35:40] >> I think yeah. I think so. because you we [35:45] don't need a ton of staff to do our our [35:48] uh our business. Like we built it in a [35:51] way that we don't need like 20 staff all [35:52] the time. [35:53] >> Does it ever work to automate like the [35:55] cashier in front? Like I see some of the [35:57] McDonald's now that really just have [35:59] those kiosks you walk up to, you press a [36:01] few buttons and like you just see [36:02] someone scrambling in the back just [36:03] putting it together. [36:04] >> I mean of course you're not paying [36:06] another person, but I like I like the [36:08] FaceTime. I mean right now we're we're [36:10] we're so early beginning, you know? I [36:11] don't know. Like I don't I will say [36:13] this. I don't feel comfortable [36:14] franchising. Would I open up multiple [36:16] locations? Maybe. Yeah. I mean I I think [36:18] I think it would be really fun actually [36:20] if like I could interact with the people [36:22] who watch my videos and be like, "Okay, [36:25] let's vote. I'm going to open another [36:26] place. Where is it going to be?" And [36:28] then have like everybody vote for it. [36:29] Have everybody be like LA or or or [36:32] whatever, right? And whatever gets the [36:33] most votes we just like, "All right." [36:34] And then we just open wherever gets the [36:36] most votes. So I think that would be [36:37] really fun because then it then now [36:39] people can enjoy the sandwich. But if [36:41] you live in, I don't know, San Diego and [36:44] San Diego won. Well, now San Diego can [36:46] get the sandwiches without having to [36:47] come all the way to Texas. [36:49] >> What's the secret to making a good fried [36:51] chicken sandwich? [36:51] >> I mean, many ways it's skin and cat, [36:53] right? Everybody has a has an opinion. [36:55] To me, it's like a few things. Um, the [36:57] chicken has to stay crispy for a long [36:59] time because once you put it on a [37:00] sandwich, all the sauce and pickles and [37:01] everything, it's going to go like [37:02] flaccid and chewy. The goal is to keep [37:04] it crispy. So, something that stays [37:06] crispy for a long time so it's crunchy [37:07] when you bite into it. The cook on the [37:09] chicken is like maybe the most important [37:10] part. You ever get a dried chicken [37:11] sandwich? Horrible. Horrible. It's just [37:13] like sawdust. You can't even focus on [37:15] the eating experience cuz you're [37:16] focusing on not suffocating to death on [37:17] this dry chicken. [37:19] >> So, cook time on the chicken. [37:21] >> Um, and then seasoning, like, and I [37:22] don't mean like herbs and spices. I say [37:24] this all the time and people make fun of [37:26] me for it, but like salt levels are like [37:27] really crucial for chicken sandwiches [37:29] because there's so many components that [37:30] it can it can be underseasoned really [37:32] easily. Um, and then maybe like the [37:33] fourth one is like adequate saucing. [37:35] Like you need usually a little more [37:37] sauce than you think you need. I like it [37:38] saucy. Which fast food restaurant has [37:40] the best chicken sandwich then? Like [37:42] who's who would be your main competitor [37:44] outside of you guys? Who has the best [37:46] chicken sandwich reliably? You go there, [37:48] you get a chicken sandwich. This is [37:51] almost ideal. [37:52] >> I don't really have like a fast food [37:53] place that does that for me. [37:55] >> Popeye's. When the Popeyes sandwich [37:57] first came out, I would say Popeye's was [37:59] one of the leaders for sure, but now [38:00] it's like I feel like their quality's [38:01] gone down so much. That's just my own [38:04] personal experience, though. [38:05] >> Shack is a hot chicken spot. [38:07] >> I haven't had Shacks yet. Is it Big [38:09] Chicken or something like that? I think [38:10] so. It's called like Shacks Chicken. [38:11] Yeah, like that. [38:12] >> How much money do you think your [38:13] restaurant's gonna make? [38:15] >> I have no idea. [38:16] >> Like, do you think that it's gonna be [38:19] worth your time? [38:21] >> I hope so. [38:22] >> So, it's really that risky to open up [38:24] this restaurant. [38:25] >> I mean, you can sit there and run a [38:26] proforma. We've ran a pro-forma. Um, but [38:29] I mean like as as any anybody who's ever [38:33] opened a business likely knows that you [38:35] can write a proforma and that's great, [38:37] but it's a theoretical piece of paper. [38:39] What if you just don't sell what was on [38:40] the performer? Okay, well then performs [38:42] out the window. Um, it could make uh it [38:46] could make seven figures if it does [38:48] really well. Um, but I mean of course [38:50] there's the margin. Uh, and I I think if [38:53] prices change dramatically, the margin [38:54] will change, right? If wages go up [38:56] dramatically, the margin will change. [38:58] Um, but I will say this though. Um, I'm [39:00] not taking any money from this place out [39:02] the gate. Like I'm I'm very very focused [39:05] on on nurturing this business. I'm not [39:08] going to like the second it becomes [39:09] profitable start putting in my pocket. [39:11] In fact, like I'm going to probably if I [39:13] if if opening another one makes sense [39:14] because people really want it in another [39:16] city, I'm just going to use the money [39:17] that we make off this to open another [39:19] one. I'm not going to just like start [39:21] taking cash out of it. So, I'm much less [39:23] focused on making money off this place [39:25] right now and more so focused on just [39:27] like making really good chicken sandwich [39:29] and getting it to as many people as [39:30] possible. [39:30] >> What was the most surprisingly difficult [39:33] thing about opening up a restaurant? [39:35] >> I mean, the risk the the risk is [39:37] theoretically infinite. I mean, unless [39:39] you close the doors, the risk is [39:40] theoretically infinite, right? Um, and [39:43] as as you know, like the failure rate [39:45] for restaurants are extremely high. [39:47] >> The costs are extremely high. Um, and if [39:49] in in my case, if you don't have an [39:51] investor, I mean, somebody has to pay [39:53] for something, right? If something goes [39:54] wrong, let's let's let's look at it like [39:56] this. There's the initial investment of [39:58] all the stuff and equipment you have to [39:59] buy. Commercial equipment, super [40:00] expensive. Like, if you if you need a [40:02] commercial oven, $20,000. [40:04] >> If you need a new hood vent, that could [40:06] be 60 $70,000 for a hood vent. I mean, [40:10] >> why do you get a commercial thing? Why [40:11] don't you just get like a a residential [40:13] hood vent? [40:14] >> It's illegal. Every city has rules. You [40:16] have to have commercial permitted [40:18] equipment in a commercial space to serve [40:21] people from a food safety standpoint, [40:23] but also for from city safety [40:24] standpoint. They want to protect against [40:25] fires. They want to protect and also, by [40:28] the way, here's another thing. It's not [40:29] just a hood vent. Where is your uh where [40:32] is your out uh your output for the hood [40:34] vent? Where is all of the what whatever [40:36] the hood vent is sucking up? Where is it [40:38] going physically out of the building? Is [40:40] it going out the top or is it going out [40:42] the side? Because there's also rules [40:43] about that. If it's going out the side, [40:45] you have to add something on the on the [40:47] outside of the building called a [40:48] scrubber. So, it it it's called a [40:50] scrubber because it scrubs. It cleans [40:52] the air that comes out before it exits [40:54] the building because it could be blowing [40:55] on a street. It could be blowing into [40:57] someone else's building. [40:59] >> And scrubbers can cost thousands and [41:01] thousands of dollars. You know what's [41:02] really interesting? I'm always tempted [41:05] to go to restaurants when I drive by and [41:07] I get the whiff and I get the smell. You [41:09] know, like wood ranch. Every time you [41:11] drive by a wood ranch, you get that [41:12] smell of that meat being cooked, and it [41:14] makes me want to go there. There are [41:16] very few restaurants that do that. [41:17] There's also people that theorize that's [41:19] not even from the food. They're just [41:21] spraying fragrances into the air. [41:23] >> What? [41:23] >> That's That's what Maybe I'm just on [41:25] like conspiracy food or something. But [41:28] I've also heard about the restaurants. [41:30] >> I'm just saying that could also be a [41:32] potential marketing ploy is to spray [41:35] fragrances that lure people into your [41:37] restaurant. So, I've thought about this. [41:38] Is this something that you're going to [41:40] lean into is making like the streets [41:42] smell like your chicken? [41:43] >> Should I make chicken candles? [41:45] >> That fried chicken candles. [41:47] >> That would genuinely sell like you walk [41:49] into In-N-Out and you can buy In-N-Out [41:51] clothes. You walk into your restaurant, [41:52] you buy chicken candles. [41:53] >> Yeah, like like our our herbs and spices [41:55] in the form of a candle. [41:56] >> That's hilarious. That's actually really [41:58] funny. [41:59] >> Okay, I I'll see what I can do. [42:00] >> What about the risk of lawsuits? Like [42:02] someone comes in, they slip and fall or [42:04] they say, "Hey, I got really sick from [42:06] the food. It's underbanked. [42:08] >> I mean, theoretically, that can happen [42:09] with literally any business, like any [42:12] physical business. If you guys decided [42:13] you wanted to open a I don't know, like [42:15] a a finance like a company that finances [42:18] houses or something, right? A mortgage [42:19] company, which I don't know that you [42:20] would ever do that, but if you did, and [42:21] you had a physical building, you run [42:23] that risk, too, right? Any physical [42:25] location. Um, insurance, right? You [42:27] should have insurance. We we have all [42:28] sorts of insuranceances uh for that. [42:30] >> Graeme's asking how good your insurance [42:32] is and if the are going to be slippy. [42:35] >> I got wobbly feet. Yeah, he has really [42:36] lovely feet. Very prone to just [42:39] slipping. [42:39] >> Well, it's funny you say that. I [42:40] actually have a picture of you on the [42:42] wall that says, "Do not let this man [42:43] enter. [laughter] Give him the sandwich [42:45] on the other side of the street [42:47] >> on the drive-thru hopefully one [42:49] [laughter] day." [42:50] >> Yeah. Now you're going to run the car. [42:51] >> Yeah. No. One thing I've noticed though [42:53] is it seems like a lot of influencers [42:54] these days are getting involved in like [42:56] restaurants and they're really promoting [42:58] restaurants and doing a great job. Like [43:00] I love the people in their car. They're [43:02] just eating in the car. [43:04] >> I love them. I've been to a lot of the [43:06] restaurants because I see them in the [43:08] car and they just rave about the spot [43:10] and then they find it fun to show up. [43:12] >> Yeah. [43:12] >> So, is this something that more [43:13] restaurants should lean into? [43:15] >> You don't even need to cuz they'll show [43:16] up if it's good, right? But, um Sure. [43:19] Yeah. I don't see why not. I mean, these [43:20] guys aren't like chefs, but I mean, [43:22] >> some of them seem to have pretty good [43:23] takes. I did a video where we went and [43:25] like tested the pallets of a few of them [43:27] and like went to all the places that [43:29] they recommended and a lot of them were [43:30] actually pretty good. Um I'm open to it. [43:32] I It's not like you need to be a chef to [43:34] say if something's good or not. And some [43:36] of them have good pallets. [43:37] >> Can an influencer save a bad restaurant? [43:40] >> Yeah, totally. It's It's happened a few [43:41] times, hasn't it? I think there have [43:42] been a few news articles of like [43:44] restaurants that were struggling and [43:45] then like Keith Lee goes there and then [43:46] they're fine. But I'm [43:48] >> But why is a good restaurant struggling? [43:49] That's what I want to know. Like if you [43:51] have really good food at somewhat of a [43:52] reasonable price, isn't it kind of just [43:54] like natural that you would start to get [43:58] regulars and be able to sell enough food [44:00] to make a profit? I feel like at this [44:02] point it's like a little bit you kind of [44:04] have to lean into the theory of it, [44:06] right? Because there's no way to know [44:07] for sure. But I mean, we live in a noisy [44:09] world. There's restaurants all over Las [44:12] Vegas. There's restaurants all over [44:14] every city. Um, and they're all trying [44:16] to promote themselves. They're all [44:17] trying to get people's attention. So, [44:19] when you have so much noise going back [44:20] and forth, sometimes people can get [44:21] forgotten in the mix. Maybe they're not [44:23] as savvy from an entrepreneurial [44:24] standpoint, so their margins aren't [44:26] right. Maybe their food is good, but [44:28] they have consistency problems. I mean, [44:30] there's just a so many reasons why [44:31] restaurants fail. It's it's tough to [44:33] like nail down a specific reason. But [44:35] the one thing that I am curious about is [44:37] how long can a restaurant succeed from [44:40] an influencer post? Because let's say [44:42] like Keith Lee goes somewhere and they [44:44] blow up, but is it going to be blowing [44:45] up for the next 5 years? I don't think [44:47] so. I think it would be like a couple [44:48] months maybe of like high foot traffic, [44:50] but like do they maintain that? I don't [44:52] know. I'm curious. Like we don't have [44:53] the data for that yet. I think Doroughi [44:55] is kind of an example of that because [44:56] originally there were lines out the door [44:59] like they they would sell out but now I [45:02] I went there recently and like there's [45:04] like a couple people in there max or [45:07] it's like empty and so I think that it [45:09] might just be like that beginning phase [45:11] and then like if your food is really [45:12] good people continue going there [45:13] >> but like David Dori is not a chef like [45:16] David Dori isn't known for food and also [45:19] like [45:21] I guess let's take a step back. What [45:23] about the restaurants that have been [45:24] around for 10, 20, 30, 40 years? What [45:26] makes them successful versus these other [45:28] places? Like if you let's take a [45:30] restaurant that's been open for like a [45:32] long time like Domino's, right? Because [45:34] I guess that's a piece of concept. So [45:35] let's look at Domino's and let's look at [45:36] Dough Bricks. Why is Domino's around for [45:39] so long, still has the sales. [45:41] >> Well, that's just because it's easy. [45:43] >> What do you mean? [45:44] >> Just being able to go online, they're [45:46] everywhere. Everywhere you go, you get [45:48] essentially the same product versus [45:50] Doroughs is one location physical. Well, [45:52] I don't know if they deliver. [45:53] >> So then So then why then why doesn't he [45:56] make those changes to make it easier to [45:57] get? Like why doesn't he why didn't he [46:00] add a drive-through element? Why didn't [46:01] he add an Uber Eats element? Why didn't [46:02] you know like uh is that his answer? Is [46:05] his answer to make it easier for people [46:06] to eat? And then his problems are [46:07] solved. [46:07] >> That's probably also Domino's is the the [46:09] cost structure down that they're able to [46:11] do so much. [46:12] >> But there's so many examples of that, [46:13] right? It's not just Domino's. There [46:15] there are restaurants where there's a [46:16] lot less restaurants um or sorry a lot [46:19] less uh number of buildings but you know [46:21] they're doing really well. There are [46:22] restaurants that have 10 20 30 locations [46:24] and they do really well and they've been [46:25] around for 10 20 30 years. Or what about [46:27] the single restaurants? There's single [46:28] restaurants that have been around for [46:29] decades. Um like what about Mr. Beef in [46:32] Chicago that just all they do is sell [46:33] Italian sandwiches? They've been around [46:35] for literally generations. But why are [46:37] they still around? It's just Italian [46:39] sandwich. It's not even expensive [46:40] actually. Um, it's not even expensive [46:42] meat, but they've been around for [46:44] generations. I think the question is [46:45] like what is it that makes a restaurant [46:47] stick around and what are these other [46:49] places not doing that is, you know, that [46:52] they're struggling with. I also think [46:54] things eb and flow too, right? Maybe [46:55] maybe he'll go back up later. Um, I [46:58] don't know. Right [46:59] >> now, for the really nice restaurants out [47:01] there, how do they treat celebrities [47:03] different? Like [snorts] if if a a [47:05] normal person just calls up, hey, is [47:07] there any availability? No, we're [47:09] booked. But like Brad Pitt comes in and [47:12] somehow they have a table. Are they Do [47:14] they always have tables? [47:15] >> Most restaurants don't book all of their [47:18] tables in advance, but it's not because [47:20] they're holding it for a celeb. It's [47:22] just that they always have they leave [47:24] room for walk-ins basically, right? [47:26] Because people cancel their [47:27] reservations. So, if you fully book your [47:28] restaurant and you're relying on people [47:30] to eat in your restaurant, if you fully [47:32] fully book it, as in like you book every [47:34] single table, you know, a day or two in [47:36] advance, well, now anybody who comes in [47:38] off the street, they're going to walk up [47:39] and you're going to go, "Oh, I'm sorry. [47:41] We're booked for this evening, right?" [47:42] Which which can happen, but then what if [47:44] 20% of the people that booked don't show [47:46] up. You could have sat you could have [47:48] seated those people. So, you always [47:50] leave room for walk-ins in the event [47:53] that there's a walk-in just to make sure [47:54] that you maximize as many customers as [47:56] you can get, as much volume as you can [47:57] get to make sure your restaurant's full. [47:59] But, and this is this is where the [48:01] celebrity part comes in. [48:03] >> If a celeb calls and maybe they really [48:05] like that celeb or they they want them [48:06] in the restaurant, yeah, they'll [48:08] probably pick off one of their seats [48:09] that's reserved for walk-ins and give it [48:11] to them. So, we have in the past, not [48:14] that I like it, in fact, I kind of hate [48:16] it, but we'll call and they'll be booked [48:18] and then Graham will tell someone [48:21] usually, "Hey, you call as my assistant [48:23] and say we have YouTuber, you know, or [48:25] some some person famous person coming in [48:27] later tonight if you have space and I'm [48:31] like cringing in the corner." But every [48:33] I think every single time it's worked. [48:35] >> It's worked. And we did it the first [48:37] time as a joke [48:39] >> just to see. let's mess with them a [48:41] little bit. And sure enough, they got [48:42] right back. Yes, we'll see you. And it [48:44] was prime time. It was like 8:00 p.m. [48:46] and it was a party of like 6. And [48:49] somehow they made it work. One of them I [48:52] didn't even believe at first was the in [48:56] Vegas. Have you seen this place? [48:57] >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Really famous [48:59] >> for six months straight. But somehow [49:02] they could have availability. [49:05] >> Yeah. We've had we've had it happen to [49:06] us multiple times whenever we do shoots [49:08] and we need to shoot at a really famous [49:09] restaurant or like a multi-m Michelin or [49:12] like something that's booked out months [49:13] in advance and sometimes we're like we [49:14] need to book but we don't have enough [49:15] time to book and we'll call them and be [49:17] like hey we're shooting a video we want [49:18] to cover your restaurant and usually [49:19] they're like yesoop. So yeah they have [49:22] room for it for sure but they're not I [49:24] don't think that they're I don't think [49:24] that they're inherently reserving it [49:26] just for famous people but they will [49:27] give it to them for sure. [49:28] >> So do they just boot someone else off? [49:30] >> No no I think they're I think that [49:31] they're [49:32] >> make a table. No, they're giving you the [49:34] walk-in table. [49:34] >> Only walk-in tables. [49:36] >> Um, I think that if it's a fine dining [49:38] restaurant that actually does have fixed [49:40] seats and they don't take walk-ins. [49:42] >> I don't think they're booting anyone, [49:43] but I do think they'll try to find a way [49:45] to make a table or get an additional [49:46] table. [49:47] >> Um, one time I Oh, I feel so bad for [49:50] this. So, there's a restaurant in [49:52] Denmark. Um, I'm actually good friends [49:54] with the chef now after after this [49:56] happened, surprisingly. You would think [49:57] that he'd hate me after this. So, the [49:59] restaurant's called Alchemist. Have you [50:00] heard of this place? [50:00] >> Mhm. [50:01] >> Crazy. [50:01] >> Yes. Crazy, right? Have you been? [50:03] >> No, but I've seen all the videos. [50:04] >> Honestly, this is a place that I think [50:06] you should go to even though it's so [50:07] like outside of your Honestly, I would [50:09] watch a full length video of a GoPro of [50:12] him just going. [50:12] >> Oh my gosh, I don't know if I could do [50:14] it. Describe it to Jack. [50:15] >> It is a 50 course, 7 and 1/2 hour dining [50:19] experience through three or four [50:22] different dining rooms. It is the most [50:24] absurd restaurant experience I've ever [50:27] seen in my entire life. Not just [50:29] operationally, but from an experience [50:32] standpoint, it is genuinely [50:34] mind-boggling. [50:35] >> How much does that cost? [50:36] >> I I don't remember. [50:38] >> I think it's like 800 to a,000 for us. [50:40] >> No, I I think it's more than that. I [50:42] think it's at least 1,000. I But I don't [50:44] know the exact number though. Uh we [50:45] might want to quote that cuz I don't [50:46] want to say the wrong thing. But um [50:48] >> for 8 hours and 50 courses, [50:50] >> it's a pretty good deal for how long the [50:52] meal is. [50:52] >> I think some of the courses though are [50:54] like a little bite. Like you lick one [50:55] you'll like lick something. [50:57] >> Yeah, that's true. There's a part where [50:59] you start eating like uh paint actually [51:01] in a room and painting with a crazy [51:03] person dancing. It's pretty wild. Oh, so [51:06] the So, but the story So, here's here's [51:07] what happened. So, I I didn't know how [51:10] big of a deal this restaurant was. I [51:11] knew that they did really cool stuff. I [51:13] didn't do that much research on them. [51:15] >> I just knew, oh, this is a really famous [51:16] place. Michelin Star, the chef is [51:18] amazing. Um, and I was trying to get a [51:21] reservation, but I couldn't figure out [51:22] how there I was on I was on the plane [51:24] from Texas to Denmark with my wife and [51:27] I'm like, I really want to do a dinner [51:28] with her there. And so I'm like looking [51:30] at him trying to figure out and I'm [51:31] like, I'll just DM the chef. Maybe like [51:33] he'll, you know, help me get a [51:34] reservation, you know, whatever. So I DM [51:36] him and uh this is the evening before [51:40] >> the dinner. Like normally they're booked [51:41] months in advance. He there's they they [51:43] do not take walk-ins. They literally [51:44] have like a locked door that only opens [51:46] at your reservation time. No way. [51:49] >> Uh like two huge mass of like 20 foot [51:52] doors like open like the gates of heaven [51:54] or hell. Anyway, so I DM him and he he [51:56] goes, "Uh, let me see what I can do." [51:58] And then he comes back to me and he's [51:59] like, "Um, we got it all sorted. We got [52:01] you guys booked." And we go there. I [52:03] found out that they had to get a new [52:05] table and put in a new table in every [52:07] dining room. [52:08] >> No way. [52:09] >> New chairs in every dining room for us. [52:12] And I was I felt so bad. I had no idea. [52:14] And then we did we went through this [52:15] whole meal. It was amazing. We had a [52:17] great time. We met the chef. We met all [52:18] the people. They were super sweet to us. [52:19] And at the end of the meal, they didn't [52:21] charge us. [52:22] >> They would not charge us. [52:24] >> And I had we had a lot of wine pairings [52:26] that night. So, I mean, we would we [52:27] definitely would have been on the higher [52:28] end of the cost of that. And they didn't [52:30] charge us anything. [52:31] >> All right. I'm so curious. What perks do [52:33] you get as Joshua Weissman? [52:35] >> Perks? I really try not I I really try [52:37] to force people to not give me perks. I [52:39] don't want that. Like, I want to support [52:40] the restaurants are hard enough. I don't [52:42] I don't want to get a meal for free. If [52:44] anything, I tried to force them to make [52:46] me pay. Like at the end of that meal at [52:48] at uh Alchemist, [52:51] I specifically was like, "Please charge [52:54] me." And they were like, "No, no, no, [52:56] no, no." And they literally refused. So [52:57] I I basically got them to I basically [53:00] forced them to charge me a dollar so I [53:02] could tip my waitress. [53:03] >> Yeah. [53:04] >> Um that was the most that they would let [53:06] me do. It's kind of crazy. But how often [53:08] do you just sit down at a restaurant [53:09] just you're just out with maybe some [53:11] friends or whatever and they just say [53:12] don't worry it's on us. [53:14] >> It's it's often but like I normally [53:16] don't let them though. Like I normally [53:17] don't let them. I I literally do not let [53:20] them. [53:21] >> Um usually the like a lot of restaurants [53:23] will send stuff out for me which is [53:24] really nice. But I always overorder so I [53:27] usually end up having like my tables [53:29] like too stacked with stuff. [53:31] >> Um that last night we got we got that [53:34] $120 mozzarella for free. [53:35] >> Can't believe it. Now, what's great [53:37] about uh going out with you is that I [53:40] get all the food to go. I hate any sort [53:43] >> and then I pay for it. [53:44] >> Yeah. [53:45] >> But I don't like any sort of waste. I [53:46] don't like ever I never like it. Listen, [53:49] I never like it when food is thrown [53:51] away. To me, it just feels like that's [53:53] that's food that someone prepared. [53:55] Especially if it's like an animal food, [53:57] like some some animal gave its life [53:59] >> to to feed people. Like, I'm going to [54:01] eat it. How much food waste is there in [54:03] restaurants? I mean, I I would hope that [54:06] it's gotten better today, but I mean, [54:08] when I worked in restaurants, what I saw [54:10] was obviously a lot of a lot of food [54:12] waste. Um, it it really depends. Some [54:14] restaurants are really good about it and [54:15] they make sure that they they check some [54:18] restaurants will literally check the [54:19] weight of something at the beginning, at [54:20] the end of producing it so that they [54:21] know how much food waste and they can [54:22] calculate how much they're wasting to [54:24] try to minimize it. So, some restaurants [54:26] are really good about it, but the [54:27] restaurants that don't do that is really [54:29] out of control. Because think about it, [54:31] if if you sell like a meat product, [54:33] you're ordering hundreds, thousands of [54:36] pounds of meat, anything that reaches [54:39] the end of its lifespan in terms of food [54:41] safety gets thrown away, obviously. So, [54:44] that could be in the hundreds of pounds, [54:45] it could be more. Um, find dining [54:47] restaurants whenever they make like [54:50] really highly portioned foods. So, like [54:52] you ever go to like a fine dining [54:54] restaurant and there's like a a perfect [54:55] piece of meat that's like exactly [54:57] rectangular? Well, the meat didn't come [54:59] that way. So, they'll usually cook the [55:00] whole thing or they'll like kind of par [55:02] cut it, [55:03] >> cook it, and then they'll do what's [55:04] called portioning where they portion it [55:06] into the perfect shape. Now, a good [55:07] restaurant will take the trim and make [55:09] something else with it. But a restaurant [55:11] doesn't give a will just throw the trim [55:13] away. And if they're throwing trim away, [55:16] they're they're wasting probably [55:18] anywhere between 30 to 50% of all of the [55:20] meat that they use for that. [55:22] >> And that does happen, but I I couldn't [55:24] tell you which restaurants are doing it [55:25] right or wrong. [55:26] >> One thing I'm really curious about is [55:27] the restaurant rating. Like when you [55:28] walk in, you see like an A or a B or a [55:30] C. What goes in behind the scenes to get [55:33] an A [55:34] >> or when you see a C, is that a red flag? [55:37] >> I don't know if it's exactly a red flag. [55:39] Like sometimes it some health inspectors [55:42] are brutal, man. Um, it's really hard. [55:45] It's really hard for restaurants, but I [55:46] mean there's so many things, right? Like [55:48] like from a food safety standpoint, [55:50] every restaurant has usually two [55:51] buckets, right? They have buckets for [55:52] soap and they have buckets for [55:53] sanitizer. And it's really important [55:55] that they constantly rotate the bucket [55:58] of sanitizer because uh the sanitizer [56:01] that's in the bucket has a certain [56:02] lifespan. So if they don't rotate it, [56:04] they basic usually people will label it [56:06] with a time to to swap it out and put [56:08] fresh in and then they put a new label [56:09] on it. If you don't constantly rotate [56:11] that and the inspector notices, hey, [56:13] this sanitation bucket has been out for [56:14] an hour longer than it's supposed to and [56:16] you haven't rotated and put a new label [56:18] on it, that's a demarcation. If you uh [56:21] if you I mean appearance, right? If the [56:22] floors are super dirty and the walls are [56:24] greasy, that's a demarcation. [56:27] Like there's so many little things like [56:29] if you're busy and you forgot to replace [56:31] your sanitizer, like you're getting [56:33] marked for that. That kind of sucks, [56:34] right? Um but it's also dangerous [56:36] because the sanitizer isn't as [56:37] effective. So, if you wipe something [56:39] down with sanitizer that's old, you [56:41] might not be cleaning it at all. [56:42] >> But a food safety inspector, are they [56:44] typically like undercover when they look [56:47] into a restaurant? Okay. Usually, [56:48] usually [56:48] >> they walk in with the clipboard and [56:50] everything. Okay. [56:50] >> And also, like, let's be real, like [56:52] someone's in your kitchen like doing [56:52] this like, [56:53] >> "Oh, okay." They're like, "Yeah." Yeah. [56:54] But you you usually know like a little [56:56] bit ahead of time. Like you usually know [56:57] like a hour or two. I anytime I've ever [57:00] worked in a restaurant, I've usually [57:02] been like, "Hey, the the health [57:03] inspector is going to be here today at 2 [57:04] PM." Like, so I've never seen them come [57:07] in undercover. [57:08] >> What's the most you've ever paid for a [57:10] meal? [57:11] >> One of the one of the most expensive [57:12] ones was for you guys. [57:14] >> Was that Jose Andre? What was that? Like [57:16] four grand. [57:17] >> You know what's funny? We sit down and [57:19] they're like, "You know what? Like, [57:20] we'll order for you. Like, we will take [57:23] care of you. Like, this will be great. [57:25] We'll get you all the good stuff." We're [57:27] sitting down looking at the prices and [57:28] you're like, "This is pretty expensive." [57:30] Like, "This is nice of a [57:31] >> They brought out the A5 that I didn't [57:33] order." And then they charge me to [57:34] order. [57:34] >> Yeah. And then they bring down the bill [57:36] and it's like a few thousand. What? They [57:38] must have made a mistake. [57:40] >> Wow. Did you make your money back on [57:41] that video? [57:42] >> Not. Yes. Yes. Yes, we did. Yeah. Yeah. [57:44] Yeah. [57:45] >> So, what was the most expensive meal [57:46] outside of that? Um, I did an omic acce [57:48] with a bunch of friends and I paid for [57:50] everybody and it was like a really [57:52] expensive omocas and I think it was like [57:56] we had 20 people eating with us and it [57:58] was like with drinks cuz I mean think [58:00] about how expensive sushi is, right? [58:02] >> Mhm. [58:02] >> And then then go to an omicass and then [58:04] multiply that by like 15 to 20 people [58:06] and then everybody's having alcohol and [58:08] everybody's having all the expensive [58:09] cuts,000 bucks. [58:11] >> Yeah. No, I think it was like [58:14] >> it was n grand plus tip. So like [sighs] [58:18] maybe like [58:20] it was over $10,000. I don't remember [58:22] how. [58:22] >> So I think I got you beat believe it or [58:24] not. Really? [58:25] >> Believe it or not. Yeah. So I run this [58:28] group. It's called the index. Link down [58:30] below in the description. It's a group [58:31] of entrepreneurs and we meet up four [58:34] times a year. And the first meetup we [58:36] ever did, I booked 21 royal in [58:39] Disneyland. And this is Walt Disney's [58:42] little house above the Pirates of the [58:44] Caribbean. You have no idea. [58:45] >> This doesn't sound like Graham at all. [58:47] >> Well, it it's for an entrepreneur meetup [58:48] group, so it makes sense in context of [58:50] this, but it's $1,500 a person, and it [58:54] was $18,000 for the dinner, plus I think [58:57] we tipped another $2,000 on top of that. [58:59] It might have been 3,000 on that, [59:01] >> but it probably already included [59:02] gratuitity, I'm sure. So, you probably [59:03] paid on top of that. [59:04] >> I don't know. It was just a flat $18,000 [59:07] that we tipped on top of that. So, it [59:08] might have been $20,000 total [59:11] >> uh for I think it was 10 or 12 people. [59:15] >> That's brutal. Wow. Does my wedding [59:17] count? I guess not. [59:18] >> How much was the food at your wedding? [59:20] >> We had a 25 person wedding, but I had a [59:22] two Michelin star restaurant cater it. [59:24] >> No way. [59:25] >> Yeah. And um it was 25 people and it was [59:27] like shockingly expensive. I think it [59:29] was like $23,000. [59:31] >> How expensive was your wedding? [59:32] >> I don't remember. I don't remember. It [59:34] actually wasn't as bad as you would [59:35] think. It was not as bad as you [59:36] honestly. Big hack. big financial hack. [59:39] You can either have a big wedding in the [59:41] States and and and and let's call it a [59:43] hundred people and you spend [59:47] >> I I honestly don't know like if you want [59:49] like a you you guys know this, right? If [59:50] you want like a a nicel looking wedding, [59:52] it's expensive, right? Flowers are [59:54] expensive. The venue might be $30 to [59:55] $50,000 or more. Sometimes venues are [59:58] $100,000, but I've seen a lot of [60:00] weddings go into like anywhere between [60:01] the $50 to the $100,000 marker for 100 [60:04] people with good food and a nice venue, [60:06] right? You could do that or you can take [60:08] your close family, 25 people, and go to [60:10] Italy or France or somewhere somewhere [60:13] that's like vacation-like for a week, [60:16] take them all out there, pay for their [60:17] flights, get a venue. The venues out [60:19] there are a lot less expensive. You [60:20] could literally do this at an Airbnb. [60:22] You can get an Airbnb for like and stay [60:24] at the Airbnb, like a a wine vineyard, [60:26] and it's like maybe two grand a night [60:28] for everybody to stay there. Um, and [60:31] you'll spend probably less money doing [60:32] that, and you'll be able to have a whole [60:34] week's worth of fun. So, we did that [60:36] instead. We did. [60:37] >> So, what do you think that costs total? [60:38] Likeund something, 150. [60:41] >> All right. Hold on. When weddings start [60:42] getting that expensive, you have to [60:44] start getting a little bit creative with [60:45] where your money's actually going. [60:47] >> Yeah. Because you still want it to feel [60:48] special without spending a fortune on [60:50] every little thing. Exactly. You want to [60:52] find those unique things that stand out [60:54] and are actually worth the money. And [60:56] small business owners are basically [60:57] looking for the same thing when they're [60:58] stocking their stores, which is [61:00] something our partner, Fair, makes a [61:02] whole lot easier. Fair gives independent [61:04] retailers access to over 100,000 unique [61:06] brands from around the world. So, [61:08] there's a ton of products to choose [61:09] from, especially if you're looking to [61:11] stock up ahead of the holidays. And [61:12] having those unique products can make a [61:14] huge difference because they help your [61:15] store stand out. They bring in new [61:17] customers, and they keep your regulars [61:19] coming back. [61:20] >> Not to mention, Fair has wholesale [61:21] products across home, apparel, beauty, [61:23] food, and more. And if you're ready to [61:25] join more than 700,000 retailers with [61:28] access to over a h 100,000 brands, sign [61:30] up today and get 50% off your first [61:32] wholesale order up to $100 at f [61:35] a.com/iced [61:38] coffee. Once again, that is f a.com/iced [61:42] coffee. You can also click the link down [61:44] below in the description. Terms may [61:45] apply. [61:46] >> So, what do you think that costs total? [61:47] Likeund something, 150? [61:50] >> Probably less, honestly. I think less. I [61:52] think like I think you could do it for [61:55] I think you could do it for as little as [61:57] 50 [61:58] and probably if you want it like to do a [62:01] lot of flowers and stuff it's going to [62:02] go up pretty dramatically. It could end [62:04] up in the $100,000 marker maybe $150,000 [62:07] maybe [62:07] >> you could end up it just depends. I mean [62:09] I've seen people do it for a lot less. I [62:11] have a friend who did who did one like [62:13] in um like Poland and even if like like [62:16] 50k [62:17] >> seems pretty affordable compared to [62:18] Logan Paul. How much was his? $3 [62:20] million. [62:22] millions. [62:22] >> Oh yeah, we didn't spend even a close [62:24] close to that. I think we maybe spent [62:25] 125 maybe. And that was to fly everybody [62:28] out, put everybody up for a week and a [62:29] half. We went I paid for dinners. We [62:32] went, you know, we we we had like, you [62:35] know, two Michelin star restaurant [62:36] catering. We had amazing floral [62:38] arrangements. Like it was a good deal. I [62:40] was not looking to get screwed by the [62:41] the wedding industry, [62:43] >> right? [62:43] >> So it was was it was fair. [62:45] >> Do you think tipping culture has gotten [62:47] out of control? [62:48] >> I don't care. I just tip. It's fine. And [62:50] like if it makes somebody else happy, [62:51] like I'm always happy to tip. I always [62:54] tip way more than I need to. I usually [62:55] tip anywhere between like 25 to 35% [62:58] minimum. [62:58] >> What if it's you're going out to a [63:01] coffee restaurant or like a coffee shop [63:03] and you get a coffee to go? [63:05] >> I always tip 25%. [63:06] >> Do you tip when you order food to go and [63:09] they give it to you in the plastic bag? [63:10] >> I tip regardless, honestly. I I'm just [63:13] >> Okay. I mean, I do too. I'm just curious [63:14] because a lot of people like think that [63:17] tipping culture has gotten completely [63:19] >> It has. You know what? And I think it's [63:20] made made it more harder to make things [63:22] affordable for people. I think the [63:24] average person it makes it way harder to [63:26] make things affordable. I would be [63:27] frustrated, but I mean like I I also [63:29] know that like I can I'm I'm happy to do [63:32] it. I can afford to tip them, so I do it [63:33] anyway. And if it if it makes their life [63:35] better, then great. [63:36] >> I tipped on my smog test. [63:39] >> I've tipped on my smog test as well. [63:40] >> Okay. [63:41] >> Yep. The guy was really nice and really [63:44] chatty, very friendly, and uh just, you [63:47] know, turns that thing around and [63:49] there's the tip. And I was like, I can't [63:51] not tip now. But but it is your the job. [63:55] >> Understand why why why can't businesses [63:56] just pay people what they should be [63:59] paid. [64:00] >> You know, the tipping thing feels like I [64:02] guess I guess where it gets out of hand [64:03] is if people aren't being paid what they [64:05] should be paid and then needing to use [64:07] tips to get up to that. They're not [64:09] they're they're paid what they're paid, [64:11] but the tipping is free. I mean, it's [64:13] just like for them, it costs the [64:14] business nothing more [64:16] >> for them to stay at at the company [64:18] >> or to just like there's no down there's [64:21] no downside for the business or the [64:23] employee to turn the thing around and [64:24] then it says, "What do you want to tip?" [64:26] >> And that's why at some point it does [64:28] make sense to like speak out against, [64:30] you know, tipping for a smog test. [64:32] >> Here's where I would draw the line. So, [64:35] do you do you do Christmas lights on [64:36] your house? [64:37] >> Yes. It's expensive. [64:39] >> Yeah, I'm grandfathered in though, so [64:41] I've got the original price. I was one [64:43] of the first customers. [64:44] >> Really? What? Can I ask how much you [64:46] pay? [64:46] >> Yeah, I think it's $800. [64:48] >> What? That's so good. [64:49] >> Yeah, that's what I was saying. So, it's [64:50] 400 to put up, 400 to take down, [64:53] >> but I think now they charge like 1,500, [64:55] but they've never raised the price. And [64:58] in fairness, we've given them a lot of [64:59] business. [65:00] >> Okay. So, there was a I don't use this [65:02] company anymore, but there was a company [65:04] that was using and it was like $2,500 to [65:06] do Christmas lights every year. Um, and [65:08] then one year they [65:12] charged me the $2,500. And every time I [65:14] I paid it, I winced cuz I'm like, "God, [65:16] this is so dumb. Just like Christmas [65:18] lights up, but I'd rather do it than, [65:20] you know, risk my life." The they sent [65:22] me the invoice, but there was like a [65:23] tip, like a mandatory. You have to like [65:26] put a tip [65:26] >> mandatory. [65:27] >> Mandatory. You could press no tip, but [65:29] it was like man a mandatory button you [65:30] had to press. [65:31] >> And I was like, "Oh, wait, what?" Like, [65:34] but I'm already paying $2,500 for you to [65:36] put up my Christmas lights. What's the [65:37] tip? What am I tipping for? Do you know [65:39] what I mean? Like, if [65:40] >> Yeah, but there's no But again, there's [65:41] no downside. If if even 20% of people [65:45] give something, it's free money. [65:47] >> Yeah. I guess I guess like it doesn't [65:48] matter if there's an if there's an [65:50] option to press no tip, then I guess [65:51] like it doesn't matter. [65:52] >> But there still is that social pressure [65:54] to always tip. Like if they're turning [65:56] the thing around, like there's no way [65:58] I'm never clicking no tip. [66:00] >> I've never pressed no tip, you know. [66:02] >> Did you tip on the Christmas lights? [66:04] >> I did. [66:05] >> How much did you tip? [66:06] >> Uh I think I think I tipped like 10% [66:07] because I was already paying $2,500. [66:09] Dude, there's [66:10] >> And it's one guy. [66:12] >> Who am I tipping? [66:13] >> That's what I would think. It's like if [66:14] this dude is getting if his business is [66:17] charging $2,500, why don't you Hey, [66:19] dude, start your own. Honestly, start [66:22] your own business with the the amount of [66:23] money that you [66:24] >> business. [66:25] >> Yeah. [66:25] >> So, you're tipping the business own. It [66:27] makes no sense. [66:28] >> It's just like if you wanted the [66:30] holiday, he was a oneman band. It was a [66:32] It was literally just him putting up [66:33] Christmas lights. So, my confusion, [66:36] that's where I get confused about the [66:37] tipping thing. If you're a soul, if [66:39] you're like the sole business owner and [66:40] you're doing the work and you ask for a [66:41] tip, that's where I'm confused cuz I'm [66:43] like, well, you set the price. Why not [66:44] just set it at the price that you want [66:46] to charge? [66:46] >> We technically have tipping enabled on [66:48] the channel. Like people could leave us [66:50] tips and I get them every now and then [66:52] from people who comment and it says like [66:54] so and so tipped you blank. [66:55] >> Okay, I'm going to be honest, guys. Do [66:56] not tip the channel. Just don't do it. [66:58] Like you don't need to. [66:59] >> You guys have the most tips you've ever [67:01] got. [67:01] >> I I would not recommend tipping. [67:03] >> Everybody tip us to proof if you want. [67:05] No, if you want something become a [67:07] YouTube like a channel member because [67:08] then you're actually getting something. [67:09] Don't tip us. Don't tip. Yeah, just save [67:11] the money. Invest in your Roth. [67:13] >> The channel memberships are way more [67:14] fun. And we're doing post shows. We're [67:16] doing midweek episodes. [67:19] Either or. [67:19] >> Why do you have a tip button? Why don't [67:21] you just take it away? [67:22] >> I guess they didn't even know if I'm [67:24] being [67:24] >> No, because Well, the honest answer is [67:25] because if people want to do that, it [67:28] shows up and their comment gets boosted [67:29] and then I always see it and I always [67:31] respond to every single [67:32] >> prompting people to tip. [67:34] >> No, but it's but yeah, it's not like [67:36] you're watching a video. It's like, do [67:37] you want to tip this YouTuber? That's [67:39] insane. That would be so funny where it [67:42] turns around. WHY HAS A WHY HAS A [67:45] company not came up with that idea? Like [67:47] tipping YouTubers? That is hilarious. [67:49] >> That'd be so funny if it was like a [67:50] graphic of a hand emerging from the [67:52] window and like going like [67:54] I would love to see the video just pause [67:56] at the exact moment and saying like how [67:58] much do you want to tip and then you [68:00] could say no, but then you're going to [68:02] be on a list is like one of the people [68:03] who said no. [68:06] >> I even think I I could be incorrect [68:08] here, but I even saw there was like I [68:10] was paying a bill or something like [68:11] that. I'm talking like a utility bill or [68:13] like an internet but but there was a [68:15] tipping option on that as well of like [68:17] it was some sort of utility. It might [68:19] have been like the pest control guy but [68:22] it was one of those where everything now [68:24] the tip option is there. [68:26] >> I guess like in some ways you could say [68:27] it's gotten out of control but in most [68:28] cases like pretty much every case I'm [68:30] just like whatever I'll just do the tip [68:31] and you know it's all good. [68:32] >> And what about expensive wines? Because [68:35] the service is basically the same if [68:37] you're opening up a cheap versus an [68:38] expensive bottle. you know, you could [68:40] get a $30 bottle or you can get a [68:42] $10,000 bottle should your tip vary [68:45] from, you know, $15 to to 300 or 3,000. [68:50] >> Speaking of that, I do want to say there [68:52] was a post that went crazy viral on [68:53] Twitter of a lady who got reamed for [68:57] leaving a tip that was like $30 because [69:00] her meal was like a,000, but only [69:03] because she ordered the really expensive [69:06] drinks. And she said it takes the exact [69:08] same amount of time. exactly what you [69:09] said, but people were blaming her that [69:11] if you have the means to do that, you [69:13] also have the means to tip. But this [69:15] person argued, "No, the person didn't [69:17] spend any more time, any extra service [69:19] on me than they did the other table. The [69:22] work didn't change." [69:23] >> That's so funny you say that. I thought [69:24] about that once before. This happened to [69:26] me not that long ago. I went to a coffee [69:27] shop and I got my I got my typical [69:29] order, my wife's coffee, but then I got [69:31] like three bags of beans and the beans [69:32] were super expensive. They were like 30 [69:34] bucks per bag. M so you know my my bill [69:37] or the the final cost is like I don't [69:38] know $130 or something right now had I [69:41] not ordered that I would just [69:42] immediately press 25%. But then I I I [69:45] paused cuz I was like wait a minute why [69:46] is my tip cuz I you know did my typical [69:48] 25% sign and paid and I was like wait [69:50] what did I just tip them like 40 bucks? [69:53] Like what what just happened? But it was [69:54] because the initial bill was so much [69:57] higher. I was like oh wait but I just [69:58] picked these bags up and bought them. [70:00] Does that mean that I should tip them [70:02] $40 or do I tip them for the coffees [70:04] that they made me? Like I don't know. [70:06] >> I have done that exact same thing at a [70:08] coffee shop. Buying the beans, they [70:10] throw that in with the espresso shot [70:11] that I got and I'm like I got one [70:12] espresso shot and I'm tipping like $8. [70:14] Like the cost of the espresso shot for [70:16] grabbing a bag of [70:17] >> Yeah, it's it's a little that's that [70:18] that part's a little confusing [70:20] >> to me. It doesn't make sense how like [70:22] that you can tip 15%. Or you can order a [70:26] Door Dash and a person literally goes [70:28] and picks up food, drives it all the way [70:30] to your house, delivers it to your front [70:31] door, takes a picture, and that is like [70:33] 15% tip, too. Like those services in my [70:36] mind do not appear to be equal. And so [70:38] like there are certain things like I'll [70:39] tip more aggressively on and then the [70:41] other things like I'll tip less like [70:43] based on the effort. [70:44] >> Exactly. I think like for me what I do [70:45] is like I've shifted my brackets up. And [70:47] so like the worst tip that I'll ever [70:49] give is like maybe 18%. But like if [70:52] someone does a really good job, I do I [70:54] do let my tip amount reflect the level [70:57] of service that they give me. And I do [70:59] think that people should do that. Like I [71:01] think if they gave you a really good [71:02] service, you actually should tip more. [71:04] And if they gave you a bad service, you [71:05] should tip less. [71:06] >> Yeah. You should have a minimum [71:08] threshold and then if somebody exceeds [71:10] expectations, you should try to try to [71:11] give them some [71:12] >> people always just tip 20%. That's it. [71:14] It's like wherever I go, it's 20%. I [71:16] actually think that you should adjust it [71:18] accordingly. [71:18] >> Yeah. I got a guy at a pokey restaurant. [71:20] He is awesome. I leave the biggest tips [71:23] and since I started leaving the biggest [71:24] two bucks every day. [laughter] [71:26] >> Yeah. No, but no, but it's it started [71:28] because he gave me these really generous [71:29] scoops, you know, like at Chipotle where [71:31] they just like a big fat scoop and then [71:33] sometimes they'll go and like get a [71:35] little more. Started doing that. I [71:36] started leaving bigger tips and then I [71:39] started noticing his scoops got bigger. [71:40] So, I kept upping the tip too. And now [71:43] >> you're almost equalizing the the [71:45] >> the trans the value. [71:46] >> Yes, you are. But he benefits cuz he [71:48] gets the tip and I benefit because he's [71:50] he's very generous with his scoops. Like [71:53] you know the pokey scoops. [71:54] >> Theoretically you're just paying for [71:55] more fish at that point. [71:57] >> Not really. It's it's implied. It's a [71:58] mutual respect that I have that like, [72:01] hey, you uh you give me a little more [72:03] scoop, I'm going to help you out, too. [72:04] And then we're buddies. Do you think [72:07] that Chipotle actually serves 4 ounces [72:10] of protein with every meal? [72:11] >> Do they weigh it? [72:12] >> No. [72:13] >> Okay. So then how can they accurately [72:14] say that? Like do you think it probably [72:16] averages out to about 4 o? [72:18] >> I mean it could. There is no way. Unless [72:23] if it's just the Chipotle I go to, but I [72:25] happen to go to I I go to a lot of [72:26] Chipotle's. [72:27] >> Do you think it's more or less? [72:28] >> Way less. They're supposed to give you 4 [72:31] ounces of meat. In actuality, it's [72:33] probably close to like 2.875. [72:35] >> Have you measured it? [72:37] >> I've actually watched a few YouTube [72:38] videos on it. People did measure it. And [72:40] there are tricks that you can use to get [72:42] more meat at [72:42] >> like having cameras on you. Have you [72:44] seen this? [72:44] >> I have seen that. [72:45] >> If you have somebody film you while [72:46] you're ordering your Chipotle bowl, [72:48] supposedly they will give you more of [72:51] everything. [72:52] >> I've seen that. Also, here's a trick. If [72:55] you want to get more meat, this is what [72:56] I've started to do is I actually just [72:58] ask for the meat on the side because [73:00] they have sized cups and they put it in [73:03] the cup and they make it level with the [73:05] top of the cup and so it's actually 4 [73:07] ounces as opposed to like a scoop. [73:09] >> But that's so interesting. Is it [73:10] compressed or [73:12] >> No, they they don't tip. Maybe they'll [73:13] give it a couple pats, but it's not like [73:14] fully compressed. But it is 100% without [73:17] a doubt more meat if you ask for it on [73:19] the side as opposed to in the burrito or [73:21] the [73:22] >> That would make sense. [73:23] >> Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah. I mean, I [73:25] I mean, look, it's not it's not possible [73:27] for them to accurately give you 4 ounces [73:29] of meat every single time when they have [73:32] however many hundreds of locations and [73:34] hundreds or if not thousands of [73:35] employees putting the chicken on there, [73:37] but they're not weighing it. Yeah. How [73:38] can you accurately? [73:39] >> But apparently it is possible for them [73:41] to give you 3 ounces every single time [73:43] instead of four or less than they should [73:45] give you because I they do. [73:47] >> What I'm surprised is it seems like a [73:49] lot of people at Chipotle don't care and [73:51] that for them it doesn't really cost [73:54] them anything extra if they're a little [73:56] more generous with their sizes. So, I [73:58] always thought [73:59] >> the chefs don't have to cook as often is [74:01] my that is like my logical conclusion of [74:03] why they skimp out on the meats is [74:04] because it puts more of a burden on the [74:07] chefs if they're constantly turning [74:09] >> I don't think the people in front are in [74:10] cahoots with the people in the back. I [74:12] think it's probably management who's [74:13] like, "Hey guys, we got cameras over [74:15] here, corporates watching. We got to be, [74:17] you know, good on our sizes to remain [74:20] profitable." That's my guess. Do you [74:23] guys think that it's more so the [74:24] decision of the people on the floor or [74:26] do you think that it's more so the [74:27] corporate decision? It's got to be [74:28] corporate. I would always blame [74:29] corporate. Yeah. Because I don't think I [74:31] think it's better for the person to be [74:32] like, "Yo, I'm going to hook you up [74:34] today. I'm going to make your here's a [74:35] big scoop and how about this a little [74:38] more. [74:38] >> It would make everybody's day and [74:41] everyone would lighten the mood and that [74:44] would make them happier cuz it like if [74:45] if I had the choice to give it a little [74:47] more, I would." I also just think like [74:48] when you're cooking chicken and serving [74:49] people chicken and standing in the same [74:51] spot for eight hours, like you're just [74:53] like tired of making chicken all day, [74:55] you know? Like they're people, you know, [74:57] maybe maybe they don't want to cook bar [74:59] chicken. I don't know. Or I don't know. [75:01] I don't know if it would make everybody [75:02] stay better, but I do get the concern [75:06] with the lack of consistency there, [75:07] though. I I I would I wouldn't be happy [75:09] with [75:09] >> Well, I'm never upset at the workers [75:11] themselves. For me, it's just like like [75:13] you're paying for a [clears throat] [75:13] certain thing and you're not getting [75:14] that thing. [75:15] >> That's fair. [75:15] >> And so that's on the business. It's not. [75:16] >> Yeah, I'm with you on that. Yeah. [75:17] >> Now, I'm curious when it comes to [75:19] cooking. I want to talk about cooking [75:20] myths. Number one, is MSG bad? [75:24] >> There's a there's not a lot of data out [75:26] there that says whether or not MSG is [75:29] directly correlated with being bad for [75:31] you. There's a lot of uh uh conversation [75:34] out there about it, but at the end of [75:35] the day, like I'm not a scientist. Let [75:37] me be clear about that. But um [75:41] from what I've seen and my own personal [75:43] experience at the end of the day MSG is [75:45] monos sodium glutamate right so it's a [75:48] salt form of glutamate and glutamate is [75:50] what right glutamate is found in so many [75:52] different things like pork tomatoes [75:54] mushrooms it's naturally found in these [75:56] things um it's just a salt form of it [75:58] right so if if we're already designed to [76:01] process glutamate generally speaking [76:02] like a sodium form of glutamate should [76:04] be perfectly safe to eat um I know that [76:06] there's all sorts of things on the [76:07] internet of people saying that they get [76:09] nightmares and they can't sleep. I have [76:10] never experienced that personally. Um I [76:13] think that there's a lot of things that [76:14] people ingest when they're eating things [76:15] that have sodium in it, like all sorts [76:17] of things that could they could have an [76:18] allergy to, etc. Um but there's just not [76:21] a lot of data out there that suggests [76:22] it's not good for you. And it tastes [76:24] awesome. Uh ever since I got over that [76:27] whole fear, [76:28] >> I've never had a problem with it and [76:29] it's only made my life better. I love [76:31] MSG. [76:32] >> Is truffle oil a scam? [76:34] >> I think so. Half the time it's not even [76:36] real truffle. A lot of truffle oil is [76:38] made from like perfumes or like flavor [76:41] compounds rather than like like [76:43] literally sometimes it's artificial [76:45] flavoring, right? Like you're eating [76:46] artificial flavoring in oil as opposed [76:48] to actual real raw truffle. If you want [76:51] truffle flavor, you obviously you get it [76:52] from a truffle. Um it's a great way for [76:55] a company to make a ton of money off of [76:56] flavoring and oil to taste like [76:58] truffles. Um but I I don't think it [77:00] tastes that great and it's also super [77:02] overpowering. [77:03] >> Is Wagu overrated? [77:04] >> I think yes. Oh my god. I think Wagu has [77:08] had this crazy PR campaign for the last [77:12] what do you think like five years maybe? [77:13] >> Probably. Maybe 10. [77:15] >> Maybe 10. Yeah. [77:16] >> So I think Wagu has been on this crazy [77:18] PR train for the past 10 years. I think [77:20] Wagu is amazing from a product [77:22] standpoint. It's like super unique and [77:24] there's nothing else like it and I I [77:25] think it's a beautiful thing. I also [77:27] think it's like a special occasion [77:29] thing. I don't want to eat Wagu every [77:31] day. And also like it's just so much [77:33] fat. It is [77:34] >> like who wants to eat when I eat Wagyu I [77:36] appreciate it and I love it whatever. [77:38] But like I can eat maybe an ounce 2 oz [77:41] of it before I'm like gh I don't want [77:43] anymore. You no one's eating a whole [77:45] steak of Wagyu. So to me it's like a [77:46] it's a delicacy. It's worth it every [77:48] once in a while but it's right now just [77:50] it's way overrated. Most other types of [77:53] beef like there's American Wagu that's [77:55] being made that's really good that's not [77:57] A5 that has less fat in it that's way [77:59] way better and way way nicer to eat. Um, [78:02] it's just too specialized, you know? [78:04] >> Is expensive olive oil worth it? [78:07] >> I look at it like kind of like wine. [78:09] Like if if if if it has to do with [78:12] economies of scale, right? Like certain [78:14] olive oils are expensive just cuz it's a [78:16] small producer and they have to charge a [78:18] certain amount to make money. Whereas [78:20] you could go to a bigger producer that's [78:22] producing the same quality, but they [78:23] have economies of scale, so they can [78:24] charge you less. So yes and no. I would [78:28] I would just look to pick the best [78:30] quality olive oil that you can afford [78:35] um and call it a day. But most of the [78:37] time I would say 50/50 yes and no. But [78:40] sometimes you're just buying premium [78:42] because it's a small producer. [78:43] >> Are expensive eggs worth it? [laughter] [78:50] >> I mean part of egg pricing you can't [78:53] control because it's like the economy. [78:55] But I mean, [78:58] if No, because they all do the same [79:00] thing. If it if it's a health thing for [79:02] you, that's your own thing, right? Like [79:03] if you're like, "Oh, I only eat pastured [79:05] eggs or only I only eat organic eggs." [79:08] Well, then you're going to you're going [79:09] to pay a premium. Are you getting an egg [79:11] that can do something that another egg [79:12] can't? No, they're all identical. [79:15] >> Aren't you paying for the treatment of [79:17] the chicken? [79:20] Like freerange? [79:22] >> Sometimes they're not. Sometime I [79:24] >> cage free is like not even like helping [79:26] the chicken which is my understanding. [79:28] I've read that a lot of these like [79:29] cage-free like organic I don't know I've [79:31] never been to them but I've read and [79:32] I've seen articles about them basically [79:35] >> free range is very different from cage [79:36] free [79:37] >> it's cage free is like almost the same [79:39] thing as just [79:40] >> people expect that when they see like [79:41] free range or cage free that it's [79:43] chickens roaming this big field [79:46] somewhere with the sun like when you [79:48] really look at the definition [79:49] >> in like a covered building and they're [79:50] like they're not in a cage but they're [79:52] in a gigantic pen like pushed up against [79:54] each other yes [79:56] >> and a lot of the treatment of that is [79:57] not what you expect when you buy that. [79:59] >> Yeah. But you but they're able to [80:00] upcharge you on cost. [80:01] >> Yeah. Yeah. [80:02] >> What is it worth to to spend the extra [80:04] money on? Like of all the different [80:06] ingredients, like would you say a nice [80:08] salt, a nice seasonings, nice chicken, [80:11] nice eggs, nice olive oil? Like of all [80:13] of these things, what makes an actual [80:15] impact the more money you spend? [80:17] >> Uh buying from local farms. It's [80:19] expensive to buy from local farms, but [80:22] the benefits are you're supporting your [80:24] local economy in a legitimate way. [80:26] you're actually like supporting f like [80:27] real families directly. So that's cool. [80:29] You're you are getting almost always a [80:33] super duper premium product like this is [80:35] like you know if you're looking for free [80:37] range like likely they are actually [80:38] roaming around in the sun. So if that's [80:39] something you care about your the [80:41] premium you're paying is actually going [80:43] to that right. Um and you're developing [80:46] a cool relationship which I think is fun [80:47] right? Um but I would say that that [80:49] that's the one where your dollar does [80:51] actually go towards something that is [80:53] what you think it is. Does that make [80:54] sense? as opposed to like the egg [80:55] conversation where like, "Oh, it's free [80:57] range. You're spending $2 more for free [80:59] range, but they're actually not really [81:01] freerange." [81:02] >> So, you would say always just try to [81:04] find a source that makes it. So, like if [81:06] you could find a source that makes olive [81:08] oil, if you could find a source that [81:09] makes butter, it's always better just to [81:11] go there. [81:12] >> I Yeah. And I also think you'll feel [81:13] better about spending the money cuz now [81:15] you you have like almost a relationship [81:16] with those people, too. Like you might [81:17] even meet the person that not just a [81:19] saleserson, but you might even meet the [81:20] person that works for that company. And [81:22] you know, maybe you'll become friends [81:24] with the the co-owner one day and [81:26] they'll start giving you deals. Uh, you [81:28] know, I that you developing a [81:29] relationship with a company like that is [81:31] really cool. I I like doing that with [81:32] small small producers. [81:33] >> Is it true that use is really rampant in [81:35] a restaurants? [81:36] >> It can be. I don't know where it is [81:37] today because it's been a long time [81:38] since I've worked in a restaurant. It's [81:39] been almost eight years since I've [81:40] worked in a restaurant. So, but is when [81:44] I was when I was working in restaurants. [81:46] Yeah. [81:47] >> My understanding is it it very much [81:48] still is like from my friends that work [81:50] in restaurants. I used to work in a [81:51] restaurant. Like what do you mean by [81:53] that though? Like [81:54] >> I mean I've seen I've seen people do [81:56] right outside the restaurant. I've seen [81:58] people um I remember there was a line [82:02] cook that I worked with and I like got [82:04] in their car and they were like like ice [82:06] they were ice on in the car and and I [82:09] was like oh interesting. It might sound [82:11] dumb, but why is it like a performance [82:15] thing to like do better at the [82:16] restaurant or are these just like man? [82:20] It's this is such a tough question to [82:21] answer because it's it's so nuanced. [82:24] There's so many reasons why, right? Of [82:27] course, it's a harsh work environment [82:28] and people maladaptive coping [82:31] mechanisms, right? They they do it to [82:32] cope. Um and I get it. Um, sometimes [82:35] it's coping, but also I think that [82:37] restaurants have this really weird um, [82:40] restaurants are in such a weird place in [82:42] the job market world where it tends to [82:44] lure people in and will hire [82:48] people who who have issues like uh cuz [82:50] anyone can work in a restaurant, right? [82:52] There's no there's no barrier to entry [82:53] to work in in many restaurants. And so I [82:55] think like because there's such a wide [82:57] open door for anyone to work in, which I [82:59] think is amazing by the way. That's like [83:00] one of the best things ever about [83:01] restaurants is anybody can come into a [83:04] restaurant and the most restaurants will [83:06] accept you with open arms no matter who [83:08] you are, where you're from. Like you [83:10] could barely speak English and they'll [83:11] still hire you. Like that's I think [83:12] that's amazing. But when it when a door [83:15] is wide open, anyone can walk in, right? [83:16] So you got to remember that. That means [83:18] that people who might have problems that [83:19] you don't don't normally see might walk [83:21] in those doors. Um but also maladaptive [83:23] cope mechanism. It's really hard to work [83:26] in a restaurant. It's very stressful. So [83:28] listen, it starts like this, right? You [83:30] go, you work your first restaurant [83:31] shift. Maybe you have personal problems, [83:33] maybe you don't. But if it's not a good [83:35] working environment or it's a toxic [83:37] working environment, you don't know how [83:38] to cope with that. You don't have [83:39] anybody to talk to. Maybe you're very [83:40] lonely. Who knows? And you're getting [83:43] screamed at every day. It's stressful. [83:44] You're working from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 [83:48] in the morning every day, 6 days a week. [83:50] You get one day off. And so like the one [83:52] way to release steam when you're [83:53] constantly pressured is like you know [83:55] maybe maybe you have a shot uh of [83:57] whiskey at the end of every night and [83:59] then two and then three and then that's [84:03] not effective anymore so your one of [84:05] your other buddies you know gives you a [84:07] little or whatever. I've never parttook [84:09] in any of that. I don't drink. Um I [84:11] don't I don't you know I've never taken [84:14] any before but I've seen it many times [84:17] and because of how I saw it ruin [84:19] people's lives. I always was like I will [84:22] never touch that stuff cuz I've seen [84:24] people like go you know there have been [84:26] people that I've worked with that I [84:28] loved that were like that worked in [84:29] restaurants and then one day they just [84:31] disappeared. [84:32] >> You know sometimes like they disappeared [84:34] because they stopped paying rent and [84:35] they got evicted and then they got fired [84:37] and like who knows maybe they're [84:38] homeless. I don't know. never saw him [84:40] again. And that makes me sad. But it [84:43] also made me realize like I have to be [84:44] really careful because some at some [84:46] point someone will offer you something [84:48] at your lowest moment on a terrible [84:50] night and you're and you go, you know [84:52] what? Okay. And that is the turning [84:55] point for a lot of people. I feel like I [84:57] don't know for sure, right? But I've [84:59] seen it happen so many times. What's the [85:01] worst thing you've seen in a restaurant? [85:03] >> Um I mean I've seen I've seen so many [85:05] things. Uh I've seen people get in [85:06] screaming matches and throw pots and [85:08] pans at each other. like big heavy pots [85:09] and pans that weigh like 30 40 lbs. Like [85:11] if you hit somebody in the head, they'll [85:13] they could [85:14] >> theoretically, right? [85:15] >> Yeah, sure. [85:16] >> Um I wasn't there when this happened. [85:18] There was somebody that worked at a [85:19] sushi bar once and someone was standing [85:21] up from um grabbing something from a low [85:25] boy and another chef was turned to their [85:29] right uh with their chef knife grabbing [85:32] something. And so the person stood up [85:34] and turned into their knife. and the [85:36] knife went into them like they [85:38] accidentally completely accidentally not [85:40] not meant to happen and they they were [85:43] fine but they like got rushed to the [85:44] hospital like they checked everything [85:46] they went back for service that night [85:49] >> and finished the night they still have [85:50] that chef coat in that kitchen by the [85:52] way in a framed with a stain on it where [85:55] they got it's kind of crazy what's the [85:57] rudest request from customers it's tough [85:59] because I feel like customers should be [86:01] able to make requests granted like my [86:03] restaurant like we're not allowing [86:05] modifications for the first couple of [86:06] months, but that's for the sake of of [86:08] consistency. It's not because we don't [86:09] want to give people mods. We will add [86:12] them later. Um, [86:14] but it's usually in the world of like [86:17] impossible modifications, [86:19] right? So, if like let's say you're [86:20] let's say you go to a restaurant, right? [86:22] Let's say you're a pescatarian [86:24] and you go, I'd like the halibet [86:26] pescatarian. [86:28] The do I do? Do you want do you just [86:32] want because then it becomes a series of [86:33] questions right now? It's a big [86:35] logistical process to get you your food. [86:37] You deserve to have what you want. And [86:39] if that's what you want to do, that's [86:40] totally fine. But like from a logistical [86:41] standpoint, you are now the hardest [86:43] person to work with in the room because [86:44] now we have to figure out, okay, well, [86:46] we'll do it for you. No problem. But [86:48] like now we have to figure out, are you [86:49] okay with the fact that you're going to [86:50] get literally just like sauce and like [86:52] maybe garnish and maybe a vegetable. And [86:55] now you have to make a decision not [86:57] knowing what the plate looks like. So [86:59] you could still be unhappy with what you [87:00] get. by the way, not only what the plate [87:02] looks like to go, yes, I I want that. [87:04] And then we have to like kind of make [87:07] those mods, make those changes, and [87:08] bring it out to you with our fingers [87:10] crossed that you're going to like it. [87:12] And then if you don't, then there's the [87:14] worry of like, are you going to be mean [87:15] to us because you didn't like it or you [87:18] know what I mean? So, it's just like [87:19] puts it puts everybody in a weird [87:20] position, including you as a diner. [87:22] >> What's the most difficult customer [87:24] experience you've had? Yeah, I just had [87:25] like a I think there was like a table [87:27] that was like full of uh And by the way, [87:29] I have no problem if somebody has a [87:30] specific dietary need, I completely [87:31] understand. But when they make requests [87:32] for dishes that like literally are [87:34] almost impossible to make, like [87:36] literally a pescatarian ordering a fish [87:38] dish, I've had tables where they'll, you [87:40] know, you've got a table full of [87:41] pescatarians or vegetarians where they [87:43] order a bunch of things that are [87:44] inherently not vegetarian or [87:46] pescatarian. [87:47] >> So it's like, well, we don't have an [87:48] alternative for that, but we do have [87:50] pescatarian and vegetarian options, but [87:52] they don't want that. So, how bad is it? [87:54] Because I go to some steak places and I [87:57] say, "I want my steak medium rare plus [88:02] half the time they either say, "We don't [88:05] do that." Or, "What is that?" The other [88:08] half they say, "Oh, that's fine." Is [88:10] that a bad thing? Cuz sometimes they [88:12] give me that look where I'm like, [88:13] "Should I not even ask? [88:15] >> I don't know what that is." [88:15] >> I think that makes sense. I I don't [88:17] think that's a bad mod. I think that's [88:18] totally a fair ask. I think that it it [88:20] will confuse people who don't have the [88:22] knowledge like uh how trained is your [88:25] staff and also does your staff cook like [88:27] if you have a if you have a if you have [88:28] a waiter or waitress that maybe cooks at [88:30] home and they're super super well [88:32] trained they've worked there for a while [88:33] they know how stakes work. I think if [88:35] you said that to that kind of a waiter [88:36] or waitress they probably go like oh [88:38] okay so like take it to medium rare and [88:39] just a little more correct that makes [88:41] sense to me. What was interesting [88:42] though, I started going in a back and [88:44] forth with the server who said that's [88:46] there's no such thing. And I said there [88:48] was and they go, "We have never been [88:50] asked for that." And I said, "That's [88:51] impossible because I go here at least [88:54] every other week and I got to get it all [88:56] the time. I've never seen you here [88:58] before." And they go, "No, I've been [88:59] here for, you know, a long time. We've [89:01] never gotten that. It's impossible [89:03] because that's all I get here." And we [89:05] went back and forth and I had to pull up [89:06] on my phone that like this is a thing. [89:08] But I didn't want to I felt like at that [89:10] point now I'm the [89:11] But [89:12] >> it's not the craziest request. I think [89:13] it's fair for you to ask. But you also [89:15] shouldn't be surprised that people are [89:16] confused about it, right? Like that's [89:19] impossible. [89:20] >> I explained it's not impossible. I just [89:22] No, I know. Yeah. I just [89:24] >> I explained I explained exactly what it [89:25] was and they said, "No, we don't do [89:27] that." But I said that that was [89:29] factually incorrect. [89:32] So, I feel like at that point if if [89:33] someone's saying something [89:35] Jack calls me out all the time when I [89:37] say something that's factually [89:38] incorrect, Jack makes it very well known [89:40] that I'm incorrect. And listen, I will [89:43] give it to Jack. When he is correct, I [89:45] say, "You know what? You're right. [89:46] Shouldn't be that way." But it is what [89:48] it is. [89:49] >> I mean, you you know what you could say [89:50] next time, honestly, is you probably [89:52] just go like, you know, whenever the [89:54] chef temps it, can he just like temp it [89:55] 5° over medium? [89:56] >> Yeah, I I try to. [89:58] >> That's like the simplest way to put it, [89:59] right? Cuz that's essentially what [90:00] you're asking for, right? like 5 to 8 [90:01] degrees above medium rare. But why are [90:03] you doing that though in the first [90:04] place? [90:04] >> Because a lot of times I get medium rare [90:06] and it is like it's closer to rare and [90:08] it's so chewy. [90:09] >> So you're trying to preempt improper [90:11] cooking by asking for medium rare plus. [90:13] Is that right? [90:14] >> No, I like it closer to medium, but [90:15] medium to me is overcooked. [90:18] >> God, dude, I don't know if I ever want [90:19] to cook you. [90:20] >> And this is a dude, by the way, that [90:22] eats lean cuisine. Okay, so like I used [90:25] to eat [90:25] >> I I mean I kind of like that he's super [90:27] specific about how he eats though. I [90:29] respect that. I am too. But like that's [90:30] crazy though. [90:31] >> So how often are you satisfied with the [90:33] way the meat comes out? [90:34] >> 90% of the time. It's only [90:36] >> because of how you order it. [90:37] >> Yes. Because Yeah. The medium rare plus [90:39] I would say 90 plus it is perfect. [90:41] >> I actually have this issue with [90:42] >> 10% it's like I could go either way but [90:44] I'm never complain about it. It's good. [90:47] >> I have this issue with my coffee order [90:49] cuz my coffee order is kind of weird. So [90:53] quadshot ice latte, right? [90:56] Seems simple enough. [90:57] >> Yes. [90:59] completely different depending on where [91:00] you order it from. Have you ever gone to [91:02] one place and you get a really milky ice [91:04] latte and you go to another place it's [91:05] not really milky, [91:06] >> but you just ordered an ice latte. So, [91:08] it has to do with like the cup size, how [91:11] big is how big is the cup, right? How [91:12] much volume? Because the the shot of [91:14] espresso will almost always be the same, [91:16] >> correct? [91:17] >> So, if if the cup is larger, you're [91:19] going to get more milk. It also depends [91:21] on how much ice they put in it. So, now [91:23] it's how big is the cup and how much are [91:24] they diffusing it. This sounds so dumb [91:26] now that I'm get breaking breaking this [91:27] down, but I think about this so much [91:29] because I'll go to one place and ask for [91:30] a quad shot and it's way too milky. I [91:32] want it stronger. So my order now to get [91:34] to do what you do, my medium rare plus [91:37] >> is quadshot ice latte in a 12 oz in a 12 [91:41] oz cup if they have it. And if they [91:44] don't, my first question is what's your [91:46] cup size? And if they go, "Oh, it's 14 [91:47] ounces or it's 16 ounces." Then I'll go, [91:49] "Can I get a quad shot ice latte [91:52] >> extra ice short?" So when you do that, [91:56] you now have enough ice that it it [91:59] you're you'll be able to fit less liquid [92:00] in it. So that means less milk. And if [92:02] you ask for it short, they'll put in uh [92:04] like 20 to 20% less milk. I want to [92:07] challenge this for a second. I think [92:09] that part of going to a restaurant is [92:12] getting something a little bit [92:13] different. And like for me, if I go to a [92:15] steakhouse, I always order my steaks [92:17] medium well. [92:20] >> I'm kidding. I always order them medium [92:22] rare. Well done. Every every place I go [92:25] to, I order a medium rare. And some [92:27] places is a little bit more on the rare [92:29] side and some places is a little bit [92:30] more on the medium side. But I think [92:31] that this is like part of the experience [92:34] of going to a restaurant is that every [92:36] time it's going to be a little [92:36] different. I know how I like my coffee, [92:39] but I still don't go to the same coffee [92:41] spot every single day. like I'll go [92:42] around and try to get a coffee from here [92:44] and try something different over here. [92:45] >> But that's why people have their [92:46] favorite restaurants though. People have [92:47] their favorite restaurants because they [92:48] like how that restaurant makes that [92:50] thing. People have their favorite coffee [92:51] shops because they like the way they [92:53] make their coffee. That's how I go when [92:55] I when I go to the same coffee shops cuz [92:57] I know they're going to make it true. [92:58] But if you're going to a new spot, are [93:00] you still going to order with the same [93:01] criteria that you apply on your favorite [93:02] place? [93:03] >> I think it depends on how addicted you [93:04] are to getting the final product. Like [93:06] for me with coffee, I I really don't [93:08] want a different coffee. I drink the [93:09] same coffee every morning and I have for [93:11] the past 10 years. So, I don't want my [93:13] coffee to change. But like with food [93:14] though, I'm open to it. [93:15] >> What are three dishes that every single [93:17] person should know how to make? [93:18] >> I would say an omelette is a great dish [93:20] to know how to make cuz it's easy. It's [93:22] low stakes. It's fast, but as you get [93:25] better making it, you can do so many [93:26] things with an omelette. It's also good [93:27] for healthy for you, right? Eggs and [93:29] whatnot, [93:30] >> a steak because again, you you'll learn [93:33] a lot of different techniques in one [93:34] thing. You'll learn a lot about how [93:36] product and how a specific um ingredient [93:39] can affect the cooking process, right? [93:42] The steak, the thickness, that the the [93:43] quality of the steak, how what [93:45] temperature it was, like there's a lot [93:46] of detail in a simple dish like that. So [93:49] steak, this one might be a weird one, a [93:50] little bit of a curveball, but like a [93:52] really good salad. Not because not if [93:54] you whether you like salad or not is is [93:56] is a different conversation, but salad [93:58] will teach you a lot about a really [94:01] important component of cooking, which is [94:03] emulsification. You'll learn how to [94:04] properly emulsify a dressing, which [94:06] applies to so many different avenues in [94:09] cooking. It's like not even funny. Um, [94:12] so emulsification, it'll learn how to [94:14] it'll it'll teach you how to properly [94:15] season things that are inherently [94:16] difficult to season because vegetables [94:18] have a lot of water in them and if you [94:19] don't season it enough, it's [94:20] underseasoned. [94:21] >> Um, and also like vegetables are hard to [94:24] make taste good. So, you really have to [94:26] force yourself to really think about the [94:28] flavor that you're adding to this. [94:30] What's the best meal to impress a first [94:32] date? Hey, by the way, really quick. If [94:34] you want extra content just like this, [94:36] as well as early access and a bonus post [94:39] show posted every single week, feel free [94:41] to join as a channel member to get [94:42] immediate access to all of that, as well [94:44] as early access to everything else that [94:46] we post along with priority responses to [94:49] all of your comments. So, if that sounds [94:51] cool, feel free to join. Would love to [94:53] have you on board. Thanks so much. We'll [94:54] get back to the podcast now. What's the [94:57] best meal to impress a first date? [94:59] >> Oh, I mean, everybody knows this. It's a [95:02] steak dinner. Always a steak dinner. [95:04] Always a steak dinner. [95:05] >> How do you cook a perfect steak? [95:06] >> Simply, you don't overdo it. You don't [95:08] overthink it. Uh, salt, pepper. If you [95:11] want to base it with butter, you can. I [95:12] I like to go the easier route, like less [95:14] prep, more so I can spend time with, you [95:16] know, my date, in my case, my wife. Um, [95:18] but it would be like a nice one and a [95:20] half inch steak. Um, whatever your [95:23] preferred cut is, but I would recommend [95:24] either ribeye or a New York strip. Look [95:26] for something with a lot of high [95:27] intramuscular fat. It's like nice [95:29] marbling basically. not Wagyu. Um I [95:32] think like prime is fine. If you can [95:33] find an Australian Wagyu or an American [95:35] Wagyu, you'll you'll get the right [95:37] quantity of fat that's not overwhelming [95:39] but won't make it juicy. [95:40] >> Um and super simple. You bring it out, [95:42] you let it come to room temp for like 20 [95:43] minutes so that the surface is nice and [95:45] warm. [95:45] >> Sear it 2 to 3 minutes per side so you [95:47] could get a nice medium rare and then [95:50] baste it in butter. You can throw herbs, [95:52] thyme, garlic, whatever. Baste it with a [95:54] little bit of butter for like 30 seconds [95:56] to a minute. Let it rest. Slice and [95:57] serve with whatever you want. It's like [96:00] always delivers unless you find out [96:02] they're vegan. Then that would that [96:03] would be sad. [96:04] >> Does it matter how expensive the knife [96:06] is? Like I've seen some of these like [96:08] $300 knives. Does that make a difference [96:10] at all? [96:11] >> No. I I have I have like $2,000 knives [96:14] that are not any better than my $50 [96:15] knives. If you if you like if you're if [96:18] you like a craftsman and you like [96:20] collecting art, then you may enjoy [96:22] collecting a nice knife. But no, the [96:23] amount of money you spend on a knife [96:25] will not improve your cooking in my [96:27] opinion. I think that everyone should [96:28] have one good knife. One. You don't need [96:31] three. You don't need four. You don't [96:33] need a pairing knife. You don't need No. [96:34] You need If If someone's like, "Hey, I [96:36] have a hundred bucks I want to spend [96:39] ever on a on on cutlery." Get a 10in [96:43] chef's knife. The nicest one you can [96:46] find, the nicest one you can afford. It [96:48] could be $20. I don't care. But a 10-in [96:50] chef's knife can do absolutely [96:52] everything that any knife can do. It can [96:55] even cut crusty bread. It's not as good [96:56] as a breaded. It's not as good as a [96:58] bread knife, but it's still a piece of [96:59] steel with an edge. It can cut bread. [97:02] Not not perfectly, but it can still do [97:04] it. [97:04] >> Why don't you have a knife that you [97:06] sell? I feel like that's such a great [97:08] product for you. [97:09] >> I don't know, man. I I've thought about [97:11] doing it, but I'm just so particular on [97:14] how I like my knives. I just don't want [97:16] to create a product that like is too [97:17] expensive for people, and I just feel [97:18] like my knife is going to end up being [97:20] really expensive, and people will have a [97:23] problem with that. So, I just haven't [97:25] done it. Like that's kind of it. It's [97:27] also like hard to repeat purchase those, [97:29] you know, like [97:30] >> um [97:30] >> Yeah. Cuz a good knife is supposed to [97:32] last you like 10 plus years, right? [97:33] >> Yeah. Yeah. A lifetime. A good knife [97:35] could last you theoretically a lifetime, [97:37] right? Um depends on how well you take [97:39] care of it. Also, the knife that I would [97:41] make might be something that not [97:42] everybody wants to deal with. Like I'm I [97:44] love carbon steel knives, but they're so [97:46] nightmarish to take care of, and most [97:47] people don't want to deal with that. [97:49] >> Well, you do sell books. How many books [97:51] at this point do you have? [97:52] >> Two. [97:53] >> Two books. Well, actually three, but [97:55] like one I published when I was 17. So [97:57] that that's out that that was out of [97:58] print by the time I was like 18. [98:00] >> How many books have you sold? [98:02] >> My first book, I think it's over a [98:04] million. The second book, I haven't [98:06] checked in on it for a minute. Um, in [98:10] the hundreds of thousands for the second [98:11] book. [98:11] >> And how does it work? Do you just get [98:13] royalties at this point where every book [98:15] that's sold, they just like send you a [98:18] check? [98:18] >> Yeah, it's usually like two checks a [98:21] year. Is it lucrative to sell books? [98:23] >> If you sell a lot of them, it is. [98:25] >> And the first book, you had a publisher, [98:27] correct? [98:28] >> Both. [98:28] >> What went behind the decision of having [98:30] a publisher for the second book? Because [98:31] if I remember correctly, on the first [98:32] podcast, we had discussed you getting a [98:35] publisher for your first book, and you [98:36] sold a ton of copies, but you I mean, [98:39] you made a fraction of the amount of [98:40] money that you could have made had you [98:41] just self-published. [98:42] >> Yeah. It's crazy. I look back at that, [98:43] I'm like, if I had self-published that [98:45] book, oh my god, would have been so [98:46] different. [98:48] Um, [98:51] I wasn't like, well, first of all, I [98:52] didn't even want to write my first book. [98:54] I I I was kind of like, I already make [98:56] recipes online for free. I don't know if [98:58] I want to sell them or not. And like I [98:59] was kind of like pushed to do to put a [99:01] book. There was like, you know, my not [99:03] in a bad way, but my team was like, [99:04] "Come on, like it's one book. Like, [99:06] you're you're chef. Like, do a [99:07] cookbook." And I'm like, "Okay, fair [99:08] play." And I did a did a cookbook. [99:09] That's that's literally all the thought [99:11] that went into it. So, I didn't know it [99:12] would do that well. Um, the second time [99:14] around, I was like, "I don't know if I [99:16] want to do another one. this is a lot of [99:17] work. And they, you know, they gave me [99:19] they gave me like a a big bonus as like [99:22] a incentive to do it. And I, you know, I [99:25] was like, "All right, fine. I'm not [99:27] going to say no to that." So, you know, [99:29] yeah. [99:29] >> What's something that the average person [99:30] doesn't understand about writing and [99:32] selling a book? [99:33] >> If someone's going to go into writing a [99:34] cookbook, the first thing that they're [99:35] going to realize is it is significantly [99:38] more work than you can imagine. And it's [99:40] usually under an unnecessary time [99:42] crunch. That's what I really don't like [99:44] about the publishing world is, and I'm [99:46] not I'm not outing publishers. Like, I [99:47] enjoyed working with my publisher, but [99:49] it's just like, hey, you have a year to [99:51] write this thing, which sounds like [99:52] plenty of time, right? No, it's not, [99:54] dude. It's so much work. First of all, [99:56] all the writing, right? But then there's [99:57] all the editing and then you got to get [99:59] into the photography. Um, I mean, you're [100:01] you're taking photos ofund 100 plus [100:04] recipes, right? But they usually only [100:05] give you a couple of weeks to shoot 100 [100:08] plus recipes. Um, I think I shot my [100:10] first book's recipes in like five days. [100:13] >> How does that work? Do you have like a [100:15] team behind the scenes making some of [100:16] the dishes and then you're just like you [100:18] show up to take a photo with them? [100:20] >> Yeah. So, basically I have all the all [100:22] the recipes are written. They're all [100:23] proof read and tested and they're good [100:24] to go and they're locked in on the book. [100:26] You would bring you would hire a [100:28] photographer to take the photos like a [100:29] professional proper photographer. Um, [100:32] you they they wanted me to have food [100:34] stylists for the first book. I was like, [100:35] "No, I'll style it myself." Holy [100:38] It was a terrible decision because what [100:41] ended up happening was I had a a bunch [100:43] of culinary people from restaurants that [100:44] I knew that came in and helped me cook [100:46] it. I was like, "Here's all the recipes, [100:47] right?" I would I would check to make [100:49] sure everything was being cooked [100:50] properly so that nothing was wrong. They [100:52] would do all the cooking and then I [100:53] would be waiting. We had three sets set [100:56] up and you know, one dish would be [100:59] delivered over here. I would assemble it [101:00] and I would food style it. They would [101:01] take the photo. Then I'd run over to the [101:02] next set, assemble it, food style. Next [101:04] set, food food style. 14 hours every day [101:07] for like four or five days where I would [101:09] like run over to this set d run over the [101:10] next set and I did that for for 14 hours [101:13] straight and I would run back to the [101:14] kitchen. Mind you, sometimes things [101:16] would get would get up right. Something [101:18] would get overcooked or didn't look [101:20] quite right and I I'd have to have them [101:21] remake it, which that's okay. That [101:22] happens, but like slows down the day. [101:25] This sounds dumb, but why can't you [101:28] eventually just AI the thing? And it [101:31] looks perfect. I would never do that. I [101:33] I I just I guess it depends on the use [101:36] of the AI, you know? I mean, like I [101:38] don't know. This is a hot topic right [101:40] now. I feel really weird about making my [101:44] food like if I was doing a cookbook, [101:46] another cookbook, right, and I need to [101:47] take a photo of food. I just don't feel [101:50] emotionally right [101:52] putting this image out there that isn't [101:54] the actual dish. And part of like a [101:58] recipe to me is proving to people what [102:01] they're going to get when they make the [102:03] dish. And if I didn't make it or [102:06] assemble it on camera and take a real [102:08] photo of the actual recipe that was [102:10] executed, it feels a little smoking [102:13] mirrors. And I don't I I I don't like [102:15] that. I want to be transparent with [102:17] people. And I also like want to be able [102:19] to say, "Hey, if you make this recipe, [102:21] that picture in that book is the recipe. [102:24] It's not doctorred up to, you know, with [102:26] like spray paint. You know, I'm sure [102:27] you've seen some of these crazy food. Oh [102:28] my gosh, the McDonald's one. Yeah. Like, [102:31] we don't do that. We use real food. Like [102:33] they, by the way, some there were times [102:35] with photographers where they wanted to [102:37] use like imitation mashed potatoes to [102:39] make it look like ice cream. And I was [102:40] like, no, we're using the ice cream. Uh, [102:42] and and [102:44] um I I believe that if you can at least [102:48] do that and I think it's it's honoring [102:51] the audience and the people that are [102:53] buying your book and saying to them [102:55] that, you know, this is a legit recipe. [102:57] >> How big is your team? [102:59] >> We have on staff full-time probably [103:02] about 12 people. um you know from like [103:04] editors to head of production to [103:07] director to you know maybe like um [103:10] assistant creative head you know like I [103:12] I'm technically creative lead for the [103:14] for everything that we do but we we we [103:16] need to bring in a a head of creative [103:18] probably because it's getting pretty [103:19] hard for me to do it by myself with all [103:20] the other stuff I have going on. Um, so [103:23] 12 people full-time and then we've got [103:25] about three or four freelance editors [103:26] that we kind of dip into their well when [103:28] we need them and then everybody else is [103:30] kind of freelance aside from the [103:32] restaurant obviously which which is like [103:33] a totally different business. [103:34] >> Are you ever worried about the Mr. [103:36] Beastification of YouTube that things [103:38] are maybe a little too optimized? [103:40] >> Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. I just don't [103:42] know what where it's going right now and [103:44] it feels like a lot of people are doing [103:45] the same thing as somebody who came from [103:48] like what I would call and you guys did [103:49] too actually. what I would call like the [103:51] last of OG YouTube. Do you know what I [103:55] mean? Where like it was a little less [103:57] hyper optimized. I think optimization is [104:00] great, by the way. I love optimizing, [104:02] but it just feels like a lot of people [104:05] are doing the same thing. And anytime [104:06] somebody does something cool and unique, [104:09] 500 other people do the exact same [104:11] thing. So then now that cool and unique [104:13] thing can never blossom into a greater [104:15] thing. it just is immediately like [104:17] gobbled up by a bunch of like, you know, [104:19] moneyhungry people who want to make [104:21] money on YouTube and then now the [104:23] concept's dead and nobody can [104:24] extrapolate on it ever again because [104:26] they literally shot that horse like 600 [104:28] times. [104:29] >> But then if you don't do it then it's [104:31] just your videos don't get recommended. [104:33] >> I think what people don't realize about [104:34] YouTube is there is there is a threshold [104:36] where you you can like completely [104:38] dissolve your business if you don't like [104:40] pay attention to what works. Like you [104:42] can't control the market. No one can [104:45] control the market in any business. If [104:47] the real estate market shifts [104:48] tremendously, you're going to have to [104:49] deal with it. [104:50] >> You don't have a choice. You can't like [104:52] call the government and be like, "Fix [104:53] interest rates, please." You know? And [104:55] so, the way I look at it is like the [104:57] market on YouTube has just aggressively [104:59] shifted so much. If you operate in that [105:01] space and you're not optimizing your [105:04] thumbnails and titles, you're probably [105:05] just not going to see much of a result. [105:07] And I think it's unfair for people to [105:09] look at that and be like, "Well, don't [105:10] do it cuz I don't like it." It's like, [105:12] guys, like, these are people's [105:13] livelihoods here. like people have been [105:14] building businesses. Often times what I [105:17] found is like there are still great [105:19] shows being made, but it's just going to [105:22] take time for people to get past the [105:24] optimization of the title and the [105:25] thumbnail. We were just talking to [105:27] someone who was telling us about the [105:28] anti-thumbnail, [105:30] >> and it's just it's like kind of like a [105:32] stillshot frame that is made to look [105:35] like an iPhone shot. And now because so [105:38] many thumbnails are optimized that when [105:40] you have the one thumbnail that looks [105:42] like just a still [105:43] >> they stand out. [105:44] >> It stands out. So now it's a swung in [105:45] the opposite direction. [105:46] >> Everything's a pendulum. It is. [105:48] >> That's the other thing. That's the other [105:49] part of this conversation, right? It's [105:50] like, "Oh, well, aren't you guys sad [105:51] about the the hyperoptimization of [105:53] YouTube?" Just like anything else, the [105:54] pendulum swings, man. It'll go back the [105:56] other way. Like just like in politics [105:59] and just like in in culture, like things [106:01] will swing really aggressively in one [106:02] direction and then it'll swing really [106:04] aggressively in the opposite direction. [106:05] Even with AI, like I think there's going [106:07] to be a huge boom, which I'm really [106:10] excited about [106:11] >> in analog stuff, like not just like [106:14] watches and and stuff like that, but [106:16] like just things that are analog, [106:17] getting together at a restaurant, [106:19] getting together with your friends [106:21] instead of cooking on like a hyper fancy [106:23] stove, people are going to be cooking on [106:25] like OG gas without any LEDs on it, no [106:28] computer cooking like cooking on a [106:30] campfire. Not just in cooking, I think [106:32] across all things in life. Yeah. like [106:35] the hyper optimization of life is going [106:37] to create a pendulum swing for analog [106:40] stuff. [106:40] >> I totally agree with you. What are some [106:42] of your financial goals? [106:43] >> Well, I have a family now. You know, I [106:45] have a I we I have a 9-month old son. Um [106:49] and we plan to have more kids and so I [106:51] look at like my finances super [106:53] differently now. I'm not just like let [106:55] me, you know, build the biggest building [106:58] in the world or like, you know what I [106:59] mean? Like from a metaphorically [107:01] speaking, I'm not like let me build the [107:03] biggest building. Of course, I want to [107:04] do that and that's that's a goal of [107:05] mine, but I don't know, man. I just want [107:07] to make sure that my family is set up [107:08] and taken care of aside from my kids [107:10] going to college. Like, I already have [107:11] my son's college funded, you know? So, [107:13] what what what's my goal? My goal is to [107:15] make sure that, you know, they're safe [107:17] for their lives, that they're taken care [107:19] of, um, no matter what, in any [107:21] situation, for the rest of their lives. [107:22] I'm not necessarily saying that I'm [107:24] going to fund their life, but, you know, [107:26] in an emergency, that there's something [107:27] there for them. Um, you know, long after [107:30] I'm gone, long after we're gone. Um, [107:33] that would be my ultimate goal. I don't [107:35] know if I have like a specific number in [107:37] mind. Um, I think it's more so just when [107:40] that feels right. Having the freedom to [107:42] be able to make more creative decisions [107:43] would be big for me. Like I think to [107:45] your point about the optimization of [107:47] YouTube. [107:48] >> I think a big achievement for me would [107:49] be to get to a point financially where [107:51] we can just from a production standpoint [107:53] go, you know what, we're going to upload [107:55] once every three months and just really [107:57] dive deep on really, really, really cool [108:00] stuff. Um, that to me is really [108:02] interesting because I think being under [108:04] the gun of constantly having to create [108:06] content can sometimes put you in a [108:08] position where you feel like you're [108:09] putting ideas out that you like, but [108:11] like you know could be a little better [108:12] or could be a little bit more optimized. [108:14] Like I'm sure you guys feel that too, [108:15] right? Every creative person feels that [108:17] people even the people who make movies [108:20] uh uh like you know $100 million budget [108:22] movies feel that way, right? Cuz they're [108:23] under a time crunch $100 million [108:25] cranking down on them. But I'm sure that [108:27] they wish that they had more time. [108:28] >> How is your income broken down these [108:30] days? So my margins for my business are [108:32] like primarily made off of YouTube [108:34] AdSense like almost entirely. So because [108:37] that's if you think about it that's like [108:39] the only consistent number that you can [108:41] monitor that like comes in every month [108:44] guaranteed. Brand deals I want to be [108:45] able to say no. Like a lot of a lot of [108:47] people don't know this but like I I [108:48] leave tremendous amounts of money on the [108:50] table with brand deals on purpose cuz I [108:53] don't want to say yes to every brand. [108:54] >> What's the biggest brand deal you ever [108:55] turned down? [108:56] >> There's a there was a brand deal that [108:58] came in last minute. Right. And I'm sure [109:00] you guys get these, right? Where they [109:01] like, "Hey, can you guys do this in a [109:02] week or two weeks or whatever?" It's [109:03] like a crazy turnaround time. It was a [109:05] crazy turnaround time. They wanted a [109:07] long They wanted quite a bit. They [109:08] wanted two long forms, one short form, [109:10] and like three stories. And that was it. [109:13] It was quite a quite a big ask. Um, and [109:16] they wanted all turnaround in two weeks. [109:18] And I think it was like [109:21] I think it was like half a mill. [109:23] >> Wo. [109:24] >> And so I was like I was considering it. [109:27] And so I went to them and I was like, [109:28] "Well, can we just do a long form for [109:30] half a mill?" And they said, "Yes, for [109:33] one video." [109:34] >> Holy crap. [109:35] >> That's when I was like, "Oh, okay. That [109:37] changes things. Maybe we should do [109:39] this." But the problem was like the [109:41] brand was just like not my like I just [109:45] wanted to see if they would say yes to [109:47] be honest with you. But the brand I just [109:49] didn't really I didn't use. I was not a [109:52] huge fan of them. they kind of had some [109:54] some issues with them as a company like [109:56] public public PR issues [109:59] and I really thought about it but [110:00] ultimately like even after they said I [110:02] wish I hadn't asked if they would do [110:03] that cuz that that that was when I was [110:05] like [110:05] >> why did I ask that cuz I I I was trying [110:08] to make them go away. Um and when they [110:10] said yes I like sat there for a day [110:12] thinking like should I do this and I had [110:14] ultimately decided no because it didn't [110:16] align with my my my values. So, I said [110:20] no to half a half a mill for a 30 [110:22] secondond talking point. That was a hard [110:23] one. [110:24] >> Wow. [110:24] >> That was a hard one. But, you know, you [110:26] got to stick to your guns, man. Like, at [110:27] the end of the day, I care way more [110:29] about like not I I can't Once you cross [110:32] that threshold, you can't go back. [110:34] >> Yeah. So, what do you spend your money [110:35] on? And how are you saving and investing [110:37] >> nowadays? I mostly invest my money. I [110:39] don't really spend that much anymore. [110:41] Like, uh I I like aside from like my um [110:44] I mean, the majority of what we spend is [110:47] obviously on the business. that's like [110:48] the majority of our money. Um, but like [110:51] any money that I make, uh, like right [110:53] now we're not as like cash positive from [110:55] a content standpoint cuz I'm really [110:57] focused on just making the best stuff [110:58] that we can. A lot of people think like, [111:00] oh, the channel makes, you know, tons of [111:02] money and Josh is pocketing it all. [111:03] That's not true. Like I have tons of [111:05] people that I pay. It costs a lot of [111:07] money to to if you want to really gun it [111:10] and make big content to grow, like you [111:12] got to spend a lot of money to do it. [111:13] Like we we spend hundreds of thousands [111:16] of dollars a month to make our [111:17] production happen [111:18] >> a month. [111:19] >> A month. And so like [111:20] >> holy crap. [111:21] >> What cost that much money? [111:22] >> It's just like all the production [111:23] people, the cost of the flights, the [111:25] cost of like uh equipment, the cost of [111:28] hotel bookings. Like we did a video [111:30] where I was like, "Oh, this is a great [111:32] metric." We did a video where I was [111:34] like, "What can I get to eat for a [111:36] dollar around the world?" And we [111:37] traveled the entire circumference of the [111:39] earth and went to like 8 to 10 countries [111:41] with a dollar and ate all the country [111:44] and then came back. I mean that video [111:46] how much you think that video cost me? [111:47] >> Probably like 50 grand. [111:48] >> I was going to say $50,000. No, actually [111:51] more because you're traveling also with [111:52] staff. [111:53] >> It was a good It's a good guess. It cost [111:54] us cost us like around almost $90,000 to [111:57] shoot that. [111:58] >> Oh, the irony of spending that much to [112:01] to see what I could get for a dollar. [112:02] >> $90,000 and like $8. Yeah, that's not a [112:06] good business model, by the way, but I [112:07] just wanted to try it, right? And so, [112:09] like we're we're like we're like [112:10] shooting for the moon here, right? So, [112:11] anyway, my point is like [112:13] >> when when when like good deals come in [112:15] or whatever, like I'll usually just [112:16] invest it, right? I have, like I said, I [112:18] have a family. Like, I'm trying to be [112:19] responsible. Um, so I don't really like [112:21] spend on a lot of frivolous stuff. [112:22] >> What's the best investment you've ever [112:24] made? [112:24] >> The S&P 500. Honestly, it's been great. [112:27] S&P 500 has been great. [112:28] >> Is that just where you invest most? [112:29] >> That in Nvidia. When Nvidia dropped to [112:31] $78, I threw a pretty big chunk. [112:33] >> No way. [112:33] >> Yeah. So you got to be up like 5x on [112:35] that then. [112:35] >> Yeah. Are you making more money from [112:37] investing than you are from your [112:38] business? [112:40] >> No. [112:40] >> Like in terms of what is net to you at [112:42] the end of the year, [112:43] >> do you think that your net worth grows [112:45] more from your business profits? [112:47] >> Not yet. No. No. I think I think [112:51] I I it's probably close, but not yet. [112:55] No, I haven't quite crossed that [112:56] threshold yet. That's so impressive [112:57] because we talk to so many YouTubers [113:00] very often and virtually none of them [113:03] invest and the few that do are stoked [113:05] that they do and they end up building [113:07] good net worths and they can afford the [113:08] things they want to afford. The other [113:10] people they never invest and all of [113:12] their income is from their active [113:14] income, but if something were to happen [113:16] to their YouTube channel or their social [113:18] media accounts, like they would [113:19] completely lose out on all this [113:21] financial growth. So, like you're one of [113:22] the very few people we we talk to that [113:24] like actively invest, which is which is [113:26] insane to hear that probably 50% of your [113:30] net worth growth comes actually from [113:32] your investments as opposed to your [113:34] active income. [113:34] >> Yeah. I mean, it's definitely it's [113:36] definitely getting to a point where I [113:37] could see the tipping the scales tipping [113:38] over in the next couple years for sure. [113:40] Like, but it depends, right? Like, [113:42] because at the same rate, like as my [113:44] investments have grown, like some of my [113:46] income has grown too. So, it's like [113:48] they're like almost like escaping each [113:49] other. But like it's getting closer [113:51] though. Like it's there have been times [113:53] where I've looked at some of my returns [113:55] and I've gone [113:57] that month was a little bigger than last [113:59] month. You know, like I've had months [114:01] where my investments have done far more [114:02] than than what I've made in a month [114:05] personally. But from an annual [114:08] standpoint, not quite yet. [114:09] >> What's the worst investment you've ever [114:11] made? [114:12] >> Bitcoin. [114:13] >> Oh no. [114:14] >> How much did you lose in Bitcoin? [114:16] >> I cannot say. It's not good. uh like [114:19] hundreds of thousands. Did you tax [114:21] ourselves? [114:21] >> No, I I'm pretty honestly like guys, I'm [114:24] I'm pretty uh uh what's the word? Um [114:26] >> conservative. [114:27] >> I'm pretty conservative, you know. I I [114:28] don't I don't [114:29] >> Are you holding or did you just sell? [114:31] Did you just sell out of it? [114:32] >> No, I'm still holding. [114:33] >> You know what's so funny? So, this is [114:35] really bullish for Bitcoin. In fact, [114:37] today it was up three%. [114:39] >> I saw that. [114:40] >> The reason why I just found out [114:42] yesterday that Jack sold his Bitcoin. [114:46] >> I sold all my Bitcoin basis. [114:47] >> At what? At what cost basis? [114:49] >> I don't even know honestly. Maybe like [114:51] maybe like 6570. [114:54] >> That's great. [114:54] >> Let's go. [114:55] >> My cost basis is 90. So I'll tell you [114:58] >> Oh, sorry. My cost I I was down for [115:01] sure. Like my cost basis was a lot [115:03] higher. I sold it probably right around [115:05] 65 to 70. [115:06] >> Bullish. My co But my cost basis I mean [115:08] I I think I lost like 40 grand or 30 [115:10] grand. [115:10] >> Oh, really? Oh, that's actually Wait, so [115:12] then your cost basis was higher then, [115:14] wasn't it? [115:14] >> Yeah, it was. Yeah. [115:15] >> You don't remember what it I do not [115:17] because it was the IBIT ETF. [115:18] >> Oh, you don't know what I was at when I [115:21] Yeah. Well, I have that, but I also I [115:22] still do have a little bit of Bitcoin, [115:24] but not that much. [115:25] >> By the way, I've never purchased Bitcoin [115:26] in my entire life, ever. I've always [115:28] just I'm like I said, I've always been a [115:30] conservative investor. So, like I'll put [115:32] money in, you know, the S&P 500, [115:35] companies that I believe in. I'm very [115:36] much of like a I'm not trying to make [115:38] money quick. I'm just like, you know, [115:39] put my money somewhere where it'll grow [115:41] through the nature of attrition and call [115:42] it a day. I don't want to look at it. I [115:43] don't have time to day trade. I'm not [115:45] like, let me make as much money as I can [115:46] on the stock market. But when Bitcoin [115:49] started going down, I was like, well, [115:50] maybe this is an opportunity for [115:52] opportunity for me to give it a taste [115:53] test. [115:54] >> So, I didn't put a ton of money in [115:55] there, but I, you know, I put I put [115:57] enough to make it worth it if it went [115:58] up. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I I went in [116:00] at 90. And so, I'll tell you, the the [116:03] best thing you could do is tax loss [116:05] harvest. So, you'll sell it and you [116:07] could buy it right back. If you actually [116:09] own the Bitcoin itself, you could sell [116:11] and buy back the same day. There's no [116:13] wash sale. Claim the loss and then use [116:16] that loss to offset other capital gains. [116:19] >> Yeah. But you can't use that unless you [116:22] like sell let's say another stock or a [116:25] uh an asset that is realize get hit with [116:28] capital gains. [116:28] >> But it does carry forward and then [116:30] >> in perpetuity, right? [116:32] >> Yes. So you may as well just take the [116:35] loss and then what you could also do is [116:37] sell enough to realize that gain. It [116:40] raises your tax basis and that way at [116:42] least you get to realize that you know [116:44] it's it it's going to work in your favor [116:47] by realizing the loss even if you [116:50] suggesting are you suggesting someone [116:51] should take their Bitcoin sell it at a [116:54] at a loss buy it back and then possibly [116:56] sell another thing that's prof [116:58] profitable and receive the capital. [117:00] >> So I'll give you an example. I sold a [117:01] property and I have a big capital gain. [117:03] I used my loss on Bitcoin to offset the [117:07] entire capital gain. But I buy back the [117:10] Bitcoin immediately and now I'm good. [117:13] >> So you get to keep the cash from the [117:14] thing that you sold. You get to keep the [117:16] profit without getting taxed on. [117:18] >> Correct. And my exposure [117:19] >> still hold the Bitcoin and it has the [117:21] ability to correct [117:22] >> and my exposure to that remains the same [117:25] but now my cost basis is lower. So [117:27] theoretically now let's just say uh [117:29] Bitcoin now goes up to 300,000. I will [117:32] have a bigger capital gain but I get to [117:34] utilize the benefit today by having more [117:36] money left over today that I could then [117:38] reinvest. So like theoretically if you [117:39] had like a stock that was like crazy up [117:41] and likely not to go up for another [117:43] decade or something, you could [117:44] theoretically let that go and correct. [117:47] >> I do this every year. Every year in [117:49] November, I look at my accounts and I [117:51] say [117:53] what what base what loss do I have at a [117:56] loss? How big is that loss? And then I [117:59] might have a loss of uh you know x [118:01] amount and I'll sell that. And you just [118:03] want to make sure you're not going to do [118:04] uh like the wash sale. So, you have to [118:06] wait, you know, a certain amount of [118:08] time. You can't buy in the previous 30 [118:10] days. You got to wait 30 days. But on [118:13] some of these lots, I just dump a chunk [118:15] of money in there and then I just wait [118:17] and it's fine. [118:18] >> It's fascinating. Wow. And what do you [118:19] do with the with the So, what about the [118:21] money that you you're getting capital [118:23] gains on? What are you doing with that? [118:24] Are you just holding it in cash? [118:25] >> No. So, what I did investing it [118:27] >> I bought a tax-free MUN bond. So this is [118:29] real estate that I just sold in LA and I [118:33] did the calculation that I earn a little [118:35] more in a tax-free mun bond than in the [118:37] property. So I just basically put it in [118:40] a taxree mun bond. [118:41] >> So you reinvested it. [118:42] >> Yeah, it's all reinvested. But I took a [118:44] chunk of that and I just bought today an [118:46] international index fund, an emerging [118:48] market index fund, and a little bit in [118:51] the S&P 500. But the chunk of that is in [118:54] tax bonds. So now I make more money [118:56] tax-free without any of the hassle of [118:58] real estate. [118:59] >> That's a crazy leveraging hack. That's [119:01] wild. So you're you you basically get [119:03] free leverage. That's basically what you [119:04] get if you're going to reinvest that [119:06] money. You basically get extra leverage [119:08] for no capital gains tax. Yeah. That's [119:11] sick. [119:11] >> Yeah. So you could utilize a few little [119:13] things, but also if you have a good [119:14] accountant or someone looking over your [119:16] portfolio, they're going to identify [119:18] these things. [119:19] >> Yeah. Yeah. [119:20] >> And they might just say, "Listen, right [119:21] now you don't have any gains to to [119:23] offset this. let's just leave it and see [119:24] what happens. [119:25] >> How do you feel about that? How do you [119:26] feel about accountants and like wealth [119:28] adviserss and things like that? If [119:30] somebody's a long-term investor, right? [119:32] Let's say somebody it just feels a bit [119:34] like what are they doing if you just [119:36] play [119:36] >> I think certain people it benefits them [119:38] a lot. I think um [119:42] we know some people who are really good [119:44] with money who use financial advisors [119:46] because it's not worth their time to [119:47] even think about like having someone [119:50] optimize and do these little strategies [119:52] like one little strategy could pay for [119:56] their service for the whole year and [119:58] then they're free. So there are all [120:00] these little things and like uh I'll [120:02] give you an example actually of why even [120:04] a financial adviser would benefit me. [120:07] I'm not using a Roth 401k. [120:10] And we had the money guys on the podcast [120:13] and they're like, "Dude, you could save [120:14] so much money by by basically, you know, [120:16] doing a Roth 401k. It's you're just [120:19] leaving money on the table. You could [120:20] save x amount. You contribute like [120:22] 60some thousand a year compounded over [120:24] there." Like that's a service that would [120:26] pay for itself. [120:28] >> I'm just not doing it because I'm busy [120:29] with other things and I'm like just [120:31] don't want to think about There's so [120:32] many things with kids, too, like doing a [120:33] 529 account, which is like the education [120:35] investment account. There's so many cool [120:37] things out there with kids, too. [120:38] >> Yeah. Getting back to this, I'm curious. [120:42] >> What is the biggest criticism about you [120:44] that you think is correct? [120:46] >> I guess the biggest criticism is more of [120:48] like a blanket thought rather than a [120:50] specific criticism, but that people [120:51] think that like I have this like [120:53] onetrack mind way of thinking about [120:55] everything in terms of food or like my [120:58] opinion. Like I think my opinion is [120:59] always right. I definitely don't feel [121:00] that way at all. I mean, I I I project [121:03] that a lot on screen because often times [121:04] like it's like we we have a challenge in [121:07] the video, so we're building towards [121:08] something. There's like a story we're [121:10] building and so I'm adding emphasis and [121:12] intensity and I think sometimes it comes [121:13] across as like, you know, I only think [121:16] about things one way, but like honestly, [121:18] I'm pretty I'm pretty like fluid when it [121:20] comes to stuff like that. Um, one thing [121:22] that I think is is correct, honestly, [121:24] it's not that it's not that crazy. Like [121:26] the only thing people have really gotten [121:28] right about me is that um that I'm [121:30] extremely that I'm extremely anal about [121:34] how things are made. Like specifically [121:36] with little small details like salt. [121:39] Like people are like Josh is over [121:41] obsessed about salt and blah blah. [121:43] That's probably right. Like I'm probably [121:44] a little almost like I harp on that a [121:46] little too much. But to me this is more [121:48] of a personal preference. I just feel [121:50] like it's the one thing that everybody [121:53] can leverage to make their food taste as [121:55] good as possible. And if you don't, [121:58] you're kind of missing out. It's the [121:59] only thing that enhances flavor if you [122:01] think about it. Besides MSG. [122:02] >> Yeah. You have a really extensive watch [122:04] collection. [122:06] >> What was your first piece and what are [122:08] all of your watches? [122:09] >> Oh, first piece Milgaus. Great watch. [122:11] >> I love that watch. [122:12] >> Great watch. It's It might be honestly [122:15] the most underrated Rolex I can think [122:17] of. [122:17] >> I agree with you. [122:17] >> The Rolex Milgaus. Uh it's a really cool [122:19] watch because it's like a you have uh an [122:22] oyster perpetual that's unlike any [122:24] oyster perpetual I can think of. The [122:26] second hand is a a lightning bolt. Y [122:28] >> just crazy like what what Rolex has done [122:30] that. That feels like so offkilter for [122:31] them. The blue dial plus the green [122:34] glass. It's just like a wacky watch. [122:36] >> It's thick. [122:37] >> Yeah. I also like that it never took [122:38] off. [122:39] >> I like I like that nobody really loved [122:41] it cuz I love it and I'm like you know [122:43] what this this watch deserves love. Um [122:45] so that's one. I still have it. Very [122:47] first watch actually. Do you know who I [122:48] bought it from? [122:49] >> Rolex itself. [122:50] >> No. [122:51] >> Nico. [122:51] >> Nico. [122:52] >> No way. [122:53] >> Cool. [122:54] >> That's awesome. [122:55] >> That is [122:55] >> Nico Leonard. Nico Leonard sold me my [122:57] first watch ever. [122:59] >> Yeah. He's a good He's a good friend of [123:00] mine. Like before he was even huge on [123:02] YouTube, I bought it from him. [123:04] >> Really? [123:04] >> And I'm not going to claim anything [123:06] here, but like [123:07] >> I see you have a new watch. [123:08] >> Oh yeah. [123:10] >> You didn't even tell Graham. [123:11] >> Holy Jack. [123:13] >> Oh yeah. [123:13] >> I've never I've never seen that. [123:16] >> Yeah, I got a new watch. Is Is this No. [123:18] Is this yours? [123:19] >> Yeah. [123:21] >> What? [123:21] >> Wimbledon fluted Jubilee. [123:23] >> Did you buy this in Japan? Let me see [123:25] it. [123:25] >> I did. Yeah. Yeah. [123:26] >> Let me see it. I want to see if it's [123:27] real. [123:29] I'll be able to tell if it's real. [123:32] >> Will you though? [123:33] >> Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wait. Wait a second. [123:36] Still got the things on it. [123:37] >> I know. [123:40] >> Wow. It's that new. [123:42] >> Oh my gosh. [123:43] >> He didn't even He didn't even bother to [123:44] take the stickers off. He did that for I [123:46] leave the stickers on. [123:47] >> Really? Oh, you should take them off [123:48] though. [123:48] >> I have one. You think it'll mess the [123:50] watch up? [123:51] >> They'll get They'll be They're just hard [123:53] to get off. They get kind of gluey and [123:54] then when you try to take them off, they [123:55] like won't really come off. It's better [123:57] to cuz you're going to wear wear it and [123:58] the oils from your skin are going to get [124:00] in that and it up. It's fine if you [124:01] don't. You can get them off, but you [124:03] >> This is a really good fake. [124:05] >> Thank you. There you go. [124:06] >> Yeah, it was $25. [124:09] >> No, you know what, Graham? [124:10] >> Yeah. [124:11] >> So, we have an inside joke about selling [124:14] options. Okay, Graham doesn't believe in [124:16] it. I believe on it. [124:18] >> I'm so tired of. [124:19] >> And so what I did, what I did to prove [124:22] Graham wrong was put $100,000 into an [124:25] account and then just sell options. And [124:28] however much money I made doing that, I [124:30] was going to buy a watch. And so I [124:32] bought this one and this is my options [124:35] roll. [124:35] >> I will tell you, I will tell you the [124:37] counter to that is that Jack got very [124:39] lucky with the options that his stocks [124:41] didn't drop because the market's been on [124:43] a tear. But he could have just as easily [124:45] put a 100 grand in the account, bought [124:47] stocks, the stocks drop 30%, he loses [124:51] $30,000, [124:53] and sells some options here and there [124:54] and makes four grand. [124:56] >> It's a beautiful looking watch. [124:58] >> Where is your new Rolex that you uh got [125:00] for free? Basically, I'm just seeing is [125:03] when you get your when you get to a [125:05] certain point, you don't need to flex [125:07] anymore because you have nothing to [125:09] prove. Meanwhile, it's it's like [125:11] >> he's got an Omega. [125:12] >> Is that it? Zenith. Oh, okay. [125:14] >> Zenith. Yeah. See, when you have [125:15] something to prove like this, uh, it's [125:17] signal. [125:18] >> I have nothing I have nothing to prove, [125:19] actually. [125:21] >> In fact, when I was in Japan, I was [125:22] gonna buy [125:23] >> somebody flexes on you, the first thing [125:24] you do is you just you just point out [125:25] that they're single. [125:26] >> I I didn't even realize and you you have [125:28] a warm bed. [125:29] >> I didn't even realize that I was wearing [125:31] this watch. I just kind of, you know, [125:32] threw it on or [125:33] >> Oh, yeah. Sure. This this old guy. [125:36] >> I'm happy for you, but how about this? [125:37] >> It literally looks brand new. [125:38] >> But if your stocks if your stocks drop, [125:40] you have to sell it. [125:41] >> Is that how that works? Yes. [125:43] >> I don't think he's going to sell. [125:44] >> Anyways, I got this in Japan. [125:47] >> I like it. Thanks. [125:48] >> Yeah. I mean, I love watches. Watches [125:50] are great. Uh but yeah, the Milgos is [125:53] such an underrated watch. I think it's [125:54] so great. And I love that they that they [125:55] discontinued it. I'll never sell that [125:57] watch. That's like my favorite watch of [125:58] all time. Um and I also think of Nico [126:01] every time I wear it. [126:01] >> I can't help but feel like eventually [126:03] they will bring that watch back. [126:04] >> Maybe cuz I think it's it's becoming [126:07] popular now that it was never popular. [126:10] And I could I could see Rolex in a few [126:12] years just being like, "Oh, it's the new [126:14] watch cuz after the Landwell, I think [126:16] they're looking for like new hype [126:17] pieces." And I feel like Milg is going [126:20] to come out. And here's my prediction. [126:22] It's going to be something crazy. [126:23] They're going to do a precious metals [126:25] gas. [126:25] >> That would be incredible. [126:27] >> Oh my god. If they gold or [126:29] >> with with the blue D like the I'm [126:31] telling [126:32] >> that would that would seller. And also [126:34] the stainless steel original mil [126:37] probably go up because of that too [126:38] because if they release a precious metal [126:40] one, it'll drive the the core price of [126:42] it to get one so high that the lowcost [126:45] ones that don't exist anymore will [126:46] probably naturally go up. Yeah, [126:48] >> that's crazy. Wow. Well, I will say like [126:50] for for me like with watch purchasing [126:52] like I try I I try to purchase more if [126:56] not equal to the same watches that I [126:58] purchase for myself for other people, [127:00] you know, like my family, my mom, my [127:01] dad, my wife. um like clo people that [127:04] I'm close to. Like I get watches for [127:05] pretty much everybody. Like I've gotten [127:06] a Rolex for a lot almost all the close [127:09] people in my life. Um so I try to try to [127:12] try to not just reward myself here, you [127:15] know. [127:15] >> And so the Milgaus and then anything [127:17] else like what what speaks to you most [127:18] out of your watch collection? [127:20] >> I can't I'm not going to reveal my full [127:21] collection, but um the the more recent [127:24] one that I got which is like super super [127:26] special piece uh like to celebrate the [127:28] birth of my son. Uh, I got like an [127:30] insane allocation from AP. I got a open [127:33] work, the white gold 37 millimeter open [127:36] work with the blue flange or flange. I [127:38] don't know how it's pronounced. Um, [127:39] that's like probably my like most um [127:43] prized piece. Not because of like how [127:45] rare it is, but because it's I got it to [127:48] celebrate the birth of my son. So, I [127:49] mean it's like kind of like a reminder [127:51] of him every time I wear it. Um, but [127:53] that's a special piece to me. That's a [127:55] really special one. But it's not again [127:56] like because of my son. One thing I will [127:59] say, dude, is that you've been looking [128:01] very just like buff, like very in shape [128:04] lately. [128:04] >> Graham really has been looking me up and [128:06] down since I noticed that. He's got eyes [128:08] for you. [128:08] >> Yeah, he does. He does. Sultry. [128:10] >> Well, I'm curious. What is something [128:11] that people misunderstand about getting [128:13] in shape and losing weight? [128:14] >> Oh, man. There's so many things. I I [128:17] feel like I could really simplify this. [128:18] Cardio is great, guys. you really I [128:20] really re it's like the one thing that [128:22] really changed it for me but I mean it's [128:26] unfortunately it's just super simple [128:27] like you have like if you really want to [128:29] get exact results right you want like a [128:32] specific result which is usually like oh [128:33] somebody wants to lose x amount of [128:34] pounds like sure you can like hop on a [128:37] diet you can hop on a a paleo this you [128:39] could do keto right but if you want a [128:41] guaranteed result all you have to do is [128:45] be in a calorie deficit and count your [128:48] macros that are going in your food so [128:50] you know what you're eating that way [128:51] that you're not guessing and hoping that [128:53] it happens. You know what you're [128:55] ingesting every day and do the same [128:57] workout every day that will put you in a [128:59] deficit. So like for me it's like I do [129:01] an hour of weight training, 30 minutes [129:02] of cardio every day, six days a week and [129:05] just do that. [129:06] >> Do you think that being fat is a choice? [129:08] >> I don't know enough about science to say [129:09] whether or not like there's I don't know [129:11] if somebody has like a a thyroid issue [129:14] like does that does that mean it's a [129:15] choice? I don't I don't know. Like, but [129:17] I think that if you are in a position [129:19] where you don't or you're not happy with [129:22] the way that you look, I think the [129:24] important thing to remember is that it [129:25] is possible to to to make a change, like [129:27] even if it's small. And I think a lot of [129:30] people get stuck in the idea that they [129:31] think it's not for them or they think [129:33] that they can't do it or, you know, they [129:36] don't have the money or whatever, like [129:37] there's always something you can do, [129:39] even if it's small, and it's worth [129:40] trying and it's worth committing to for [129:42] a long period of time, whether that's 3, [129:44] four, 5, 6 months. How difficult was it [129:46] to get in shape? [129:48] >> Was like one of the hardest things [129:49] you've had to do? [129:50] >> No. [129:50] >> So, it wasn't that hard for you? [129:51] >> It wasn't. It wasn't like impossibly [129:53] hard, but there are a lot of challenges [129:55] that come with it, right? I travel a [129:56] lot. I I have to shoot food every day [130:00] and I'm like in front of food every day. [130:01] I have like a a slice of pizza that I [130:03] have to take a bite of and then put it [130:05] down and then not take another bite [130:06] because I had to do it for camera. But I [130:08] have to do that 20 times in a day, three [130:10] to five days a week and still be on a [130:12] diet, you know. Does unhealthy food [130:14] almost always taste better than healthy [130:16] food? Honestly, oftentimes, well, define [130:20] unhealthy. High calorie food, yeah, [130:22] higher calorie calorie food tastes good [130:24] because it's higher calorie. Probably [130:26] has more fat in it. Fat tastes good. It [130:28] probably has more carbohydrates in it. [130:30] Carbohydrates taste good. Sugar tastes [130:32] It tastes good. Like, it tastes good. [130:33] But things that have a that that provide [130:35] a lot of energy to us typically have [130:37] high caloric density. [130:38] >> So, what's your go-to meal to get [130:39] shredded? I did a burger a while back [130:41] that people love that like went crazy [130:42] online that's literally just like 96% [130:45] lean ground beef. It's every time I [130:47] posted it does well, but it's super [130:49] simple. It's literally just 96% ground [130:50] beef, two 3 oz patties smashed, salt and [130:53] pepper on both sides, a slice of [130:54] American cheese. Uh you can make like a [130:56] yogurt mustard Sriracha sauce. It's [130:58] really low calorie on both buns, [131:00] pickles, eat it. It has all of the [131:02] flavor components that taste like a [131:04] great smash burger without all the [131:05] calories. It's like 400 450 calories. [131:07] Would you shave your goatee for $100,000 [131:10] >> untaxed? [131:12] >> Sure. [131:13] >> Uh yeah, why not? [131:16] >> How much to shave your head? [131:17] >> Half a mill. [131:19] >> So theoretically, [131:20] >> because it grows back. Like if it was [131:21] like it'll if it's like you have to go [131:22] bald for the rest of your life. Well, [131:24] that would be a different conversation. [131:24] But it's like, oh, you have to shave [131:25] your head and it'll take like a year to [131:27] grow back. Okay, so I made half a mill [131:29] for the year for shaving my head. Okay, [131:31] >> that's not bad for $600,000. You shave [131:34] your goatee and your your head. [131:36] >> Uh both. [131:37] >> Yes. I need a mill for that. [131:39] >> So like it's it's one or the other. [131:41] >> Okay. Okay. What would you do? A million [131:43] though. Goatee hair and eyebrows. [131:46] >> 2 million. [131:48] >> Eyebrows are a million dollars. [131:50] >> Yeah. Holy. [131:50] >> Cuz you just up the whole look. [131:52] [laughter] [131:53] Now I can't even market myself. [131:54] >> You'll probably end up making more than [131:56] that because your videos would just go [131:57] crazy. [131:58] >> The more they wouldn't cuz nobody would [131:59] want to look at my eggh head, you know? [132:02] Like I'm like that's going to look [132:03] crazy. Okay, so we now have some rapid [132:05] fire questions for you. [132:06] >> Hit me. How much for you to shave your [132:08] head? Actually, [132:09] >> like bald. Bald. [132:10] >> Bald. [132:11] >> Man, I feel like if someone really [132:14] offered me [132:15] >> like untaxed, you're wired the day of [132:18] once you're complete with the task. [132:19] >> I'd have a hard time saying 100 grand. [132:23] Okay. [132:23] >> Probably cuz it's it's kind of short the [132:24] way it is. I know in 3 months it would [132:27] grow back and I'd just wear a hat. [132:28] >> You made 100K in three months. It's [132:29] great. [132:30] >> Yeah, [132:30] >> I would do it. All right. So, these are [132:32] rapid fire. Give us quick answers. [132:35] >> How much should a hamburger cost? [132:37] >> $10. [132:38] >> How much should a steak cost? [132:41] >> 50. [132:41] >> Cream cheese on sushi. Yes or no? [132:44] >> Why not? [132:45] >> Does buying organic matter? [132:47] >> According to what I've read, apparently [132:48] not. [132:49] >> How much to quit YouTube? [132:50] >> People are not going to like my answer. [132:52] >> I love it. [132:53] >> 100 million. [132:54] >> I love it too much. What would I do? I [132:57] mean, like, it's not even about money, [132:59] but I I I you'd have to like give me [133:01] enough money that I could do whatever [133:03] the hell I want for the rest of my life, [133:06] including do dumb businesses that [133:08] fulfill my my needs. It would be like a [133:10] It'd be like a probably like 150, 200 [133:13] million. [133:14] >> Would you never cook again for a billion [133:17] dollars? [133:17] >> A billion untaxed? [133:19] >> Mhm. [133:20] >> I'd probably take the billion. Let's be [133:21] real, guys. Like, let's be real here. I [133:23] mean, like [133:24] >> I think you know what's funny about that [133:26] question, though? I think I would be [133:27] unhappy for the rest of my life if I did [133:29] that though. But I know that like my [133:32] family would be taken care of forever, [133:34] you know, literally forever. Like what's [133:36] what's more worth it? Me feeling like [133:38] creatively fulfilled or like my whole [133:41] family being taken care of forever? I [133:43] mean, come on. [133:44] >> What's the best fast food? [133:45] >> Jollibee. [133:46] >> What's the worst fast food? [133:47] >> Actually, no. Let me let me change that. [133:48] In-N-Out for me for the burger. [133:50] >> What's the worst fast food? [133:52] >> Water burger. [133:54] >> Really? [133:54] >> I hate water burger. [133:56] What's the best restaurant? [133:58] >> This change. This answer changes all the [133:59] time. I'm going to say Anderjack Thai [134:01] >> and the best dish. [134:03] >> Uh uh uh these these these Sichuan chili [134:06] noodles that I had in China like a few [134:08] like 6 months ago. [134:09] >> Most overrated restaurant. [134:11] >> Most steakous. [134:12] >> Most overrated food? [134:14] >> A5 Wagu. [134:15] >> Which country has the best food? [134:17] >> China. [134:18] >> What are your thoughts on airport sushi? [134:20] >> Never had it. [134:22] >> Gas station sushi. [134:23] >> I will never have that. That sounds [134:24] horrible. Okay, before we close out the [134:26] podcast, we have one last thing for you. [134:28] We have a basic tier list here, and we [134:31] just want you to rank. It's a few foods [134:33] and a few ways of preparing foods, and [134:36] you just let me know what you think. [134:37] >> Oh, okay. Air fryer. You know, in the [134:40] past, I would have given this maybe a D, [134:43] but nowadays they're pretty they're [134:45] pretty dope. I'm I'm going to give it an [134:46] S. [134:47] >> There we go. I love air fracks. Love air [134:50] fry. [134:50] >> Blackstone. Uh they're, you know, an A. [134:53] They're really useful, but they're they [134:55] take up so much space. Carbon steel, [134:57] they're great, but there's so many other [134:59] types of materials that are less [135:01] cumbersome to clean. I'm going to give [135:03] them a B tier. Cast iron, same thing. [135:07] Same reason, B tier. Green Egg. [135:11] Ooh, [135:14] a lot of people love these. You know, [135:15] honestly, that you can do so much with [135:16] it. Green Egg and they actually don't [135:18] take up a ton of space and they look [135:19] cool. A tier. Hexclad pans. [135:24] What is that? [snorts] [135:25] I I I don't I you know. [135:31] What are Hexclad? [135:32] >> It's Gordon Ramsay's. [135:36] I've used them, but they they don't they [135:38] don't do what they've been advertised to [135:40] do for me personally. So, I'm gonna give [135:41] them [135:43] they work well until they get messed up [135:45] and dirty. So, I'm gonna give them a B [135:47] tier. [135:48] Microwave. [135:50] A tier. [135:51] >> Yes. [135:51] >> Told you, Jack. [135:52] >> There's a lot of uses for a microwave. [135:54] >> Do everything with that. [135:55] >> Uh non-stick pan, S tier. You know, [135:57] they're not good for you, but there's so [135:58] many things to do. And you cannot make [136:00] uh I mean, you can make an omelet in [136:02] stainless steel, but there's so many so [136:03] many things that a non-stick saucer [136:05] makes life easier. Oven S tier, absolute [136:08] necessity item for so many reasons. [136:10] Pellet smoker is great to have, but it's [136:12] not as good as a traditional smoker. I [136:14] think a traditional smoker I would give [136:15] an S. And a pellet smoker. And And a [136:18] pellet smoker. I would give an A. Uh [136:20] because it's easy. [136:22] Sousid, which you misspelled by the way. [136:24] Um [136:26] that's very funny. I'm going to give a [136:28] Sousvid an A tier. It's a little [136:30] overrated, but they work. It works [136:31] really well. Stainless steel S tier [136:33] immediately. They do so many different [136:35] things. Multi-purpose. It can do almost [136:37] anything. It's the pan that I use for [136:39] almost everything. [136:39] >> What brand stainless steel do I buy? [136:41] >> Made in. Easy. [136:44] Not a sponsorship. done. [136:46] >> I have been sponsored by them in the [136:47] past though. Weber Weber kettle, big [136:50] fan. S tier. It's affordable. You don't [136:53] you don't need a lot of fuss to use it [136:55] and they work very well and they last a [136:57] long time. Uh as long as you clean them [136:58] properly. [136:59] >> What about a George Foreman grill? Is [137:00] that on there? [137:02] >> It's not. [137:03] >> Where would you put that? S tier, [137:05] >> C or D? [sighs and gasps] [137:06] >> Okay. [137:07] >> It's It's a single use item there. [137:08] >> Dangerous. Burn your feet. [137:09] >> Spam. I'm going to give an A tier. It's [137:11] amazing. Not an S tier cuz I mean it's [137:13] it doesn't apply to everything, but it's [137:14] tasty. chicken. [137:17] I'm gonna give it an S tier only [137:19] because, [137:21] you know, actually a tier A tier. A tier [137:23] chicken. A tier chicken because, you [137:26] know, it's hard to cook really, really [137:27] nicely. H, but when you do it right, it [137:30] can it can teeter into S tier territory. [137:31] I'm in between, but I'm going to land it [137:33] on A tier. Fish, S tier. [137:36] When to me, it's the most underrated [137:38] food on the planet. Actually, to me, [137:40] it's like the second most underrated [137:41] food on the planet. And when done right, [137:43] it's impeccable. Pork, S tier [137:46] immediately. The most underrated meat, [137:49] period. End of story. Think about it. [137:50] Some of the greatest things that people [137:52] love universally. Ham, bacon, pork [137:55] belly. I mean, cultures all over the [137:57] world. And yet, nobody talks about pork. [138:00] >> Snails. C. It's not a fan. Steak S. Come [138:03] on. Do I need to explain why that's an [138:05] S? [138:06] >> Turkey. [138:08] I give it B tier. It's all right. It it [138:11] it when it hits it hits, but it's not [138:13] that great. Caviar I'm gonna give an [138:20] crazy if I gave Caviar an F. I'm going [138:22] to give Caviar an [138:25] I'm going to give Caviar an A tier. It's [138:27] nice to have. You really don't need it. [138:28] If you lived your whole life never [138:29] having caviar, you're not missing out on [138:31] the essentials of life. Head cheese B [138:34] tier. It's good, but it doesn't it just [138:37] doesn't apply to everything for me. I [138:38] don't really seek it out that much, but [138:39] it is good. Sweet bread. What do you [138:42] mean by sweet bread? Like breads that [138:45] are sweet like banana bread? [138:47] [clears throat] [138:47] >> Yes. [138:48] >> Sweet breads or sweet bread? Like like [138:52] lamb sweet breads? Cuz there's an image [138:54] of bread on this. [138:58] The organ meat. Oh, I'm going to give [139:00] that a D tier. I I really don't like [139:02] sweet bread. Uh sweets. I've had them [139:04] before and they're all right. Um bubble [139:06] gum. See, I hate the the like weird I'm [139:10] not a huge fan of the weird aftertaste [139:12] it gives me. And um spearmint maybe, but [139:15] like Hubba Bubba, not a fan. Fuagra. [139:18] This is going to throw some people off. [139:21] I'm going to give Fuagra [139:23] a D tier. [139:24] >> Thank you. I'm not a fan. [139:26] >> I don't I don't seek it out. There have [139:29] been times I've had incredible Fuagra. [139:32] 10% of the time I've enjoyed it. Most of [139:34] the time I just it I just don't want it. [139:37] It's not that great. The texture throws [139:39] me off and the giness is not always that [139:41] great. It needs to be perfectly made to [139:43] be good to me. [139:44] >> Truffle I'm going to give N a B tier. [139:46] It's nice. It's great to have. Sometimes [139:48] it really pops, but most of the time [139:50] it's not really worth it. I don't think [139:51] people should spend uh their budget for [139:54] the week on it. Barbecue S tier. [139:57] Immediate S tier. Barbecuing is an [140:00] instant way to make almost anything [140:01] taste incredible. from vegetables to [140:03] meat. You can even use it as a smoker to [140:05] smoke something like a sauce. [140:07] >> Josh, thank you so much for coming on. [140:09] We're going to link all your info down [140:11] below in the description, including your [140:12] restaurant. [140:13] >> Yes. Yeah. If you guys want the best [140:15] fried chicken sandwich for a reasonable [140:16] price. [140:17] >> Uh it's at our restaurant and it's it's [140:20] very good. [140:20] >> And you're taking on investors, right? [140:22] So we'll I'm not [140:23] >> throw a little money your way and we'll [140:25] Jack and I own 5% of it. [140:27] >> A measly 10%. [140:28] >> If you want to pay for an entire set of [140:30] five stores, then yes. [140:32] We'll discuss guys. Thank you so much [140:34] for watching. Thanks for coming on the [140:36] show. Thank you to everyone for [140:37] listening. [140:37] >> Yeah. And thank you all to the channel [140:39] members as well. Uh we post the whole [140:41] episode without all like the retention [140:44] edits. [140:44] >> Edited unedited. [140:46] >> So enjoy that. Just like Josh likes it. [140:49] >> Thank you so much. [140:50] >> Wait. [140:52] Thank you guys. [140:52] >> What is something that the left is [140:54] fundamentally right about that the right [140:56] does not want to acknowledge? [140:57] >> Nothing. [141:00] Get the OUT OF MY FACE. [141:02] >> AND WHO THE HELL lets you back on THIS [141:04] CAMPUS? [141:04] >> GOOD LUCK BECAUSE THEY DON'T GIVE A [141:07] >> How difficult is it to change someone's [141:09] mind? [141:10] >> Depends. [141:12] >> You ass you. [141:14] >> I have plenty of friends. I'm fine [141:15] having a few enemies. They're all in the [141:17] same room. They're all going to the same [141:18] parties. And when they all share the [141:20] same world [music] view, it's a blind [141:22] spot. [141:23] >> How much money have you lost by not [141:26] being PC? many tens of millions of [141:29] dollars. [141:29] >> I've had people say that I was a hate [141:31] speaker because I said soccer was I do. [141:33] I think so. [141:34] >> What political beliefs have you changed [141:36] your mind on? [141:36] >> I don't know that anyone has ever [141:38] actually convinced me to take a more [141:40] left position. [141:41] >> Who's been the most intelligent person [141:42] you've debated? [141:43] >> People aren't going to like this answer. [141:51] [music]