Dine Originals Week

Tim Fulton 0:07Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, on the occasion of Dine Originals Week coming up September 18th through 24th, I sat down with Shelley Mann, Dine Originals Columbus' executive director, to talk about the organization, some of the restaurants you can check out during Dine Originals Week, and we talk about Shelley's work doing public relations in Columbus. And in a bonus interview, I spoke with the founders of the restaurant Ambrose and Eve, slated to open in German Village next year. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Also, the Confluence Cast is on Patreon. Find out how to support this podcast on our website, theconfluencecast.com, or at patreon.com/confluence. Enjoy the interviews. Sitting down here with Shelley Mann, the executive director of Dine Originals Columbus. Shelley, how are you?

Shelley Mann 1:18I'm great. How are you?

Tim Fulton 1:20I'm doing well. Coming up towards the end of September, September 18th through 24th, we are sitting down here on the occasion of Dine Originals Week. The 35 Dine Originals restaurants will be offering prix fixe three-course menus, uh, for a fixed price. That's what prix fixe means. To customers to basically come and check out their restaurant. Shelley, tell us what is Dine Originals?

Shelley Mann 1:48Yeah. Dine Originals is a nonprofit organization. It's been around for over a decade, and really, the, the goal is to provide a group of independent restaurants in Columbus to sort of band together-

Tim Fulton 2:03Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 2:03... and really talk about, you know, what are the benefits of eating, uh, dining out at your independent restaurants.

Tim Fulton 2:10Okay.

Shelley Mann 2:10So we're really helping to market and promote our city's independent restaurant scene and trying to educate diners on why it's important to support these restaurants and keep the money in our community, as opposed to choosing a chain restaurant when you're going out to eat.

Tim Fulton 2:26Gotcha. And so-

Shelley Mann 2:27Yeah

Tim Fulton 2:27... by virtue of them banding together, they can focus their marketing efforts together.

Shelley Mann 2:32Yeah.

Tim Fulton 2:32A big, big part of that is Dine Originals Week.

Shelley Mann 2:35Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 2:35You guys also every May do an event called Taste of Dine Originals at Franklin Park. So what, as a consumer, what do you offer me?

Shelley Mann 2:45Well, yeah, so we are-- One of our main ways that we bring in revenue is we sell gift certificates to the consumers-

Tim Fulton 2:53Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 2:54... through our website. And so we collect gift certificates from all of our member restaurants, and then we sell those back to the customer at 30% off face value.

Tim Fulton 3:05Okay.

Shelley Mann 3:05So we do our sales four times a year, so it's a quarterly sale.

Tim Fulton 3:10Oh, so you can't just go on at any time.

Shelley Mann 3:12Well, you can, but-

Tim Fulton 3:14Depending on if they're available.

Shelley Mann 3:15Yeah. So-

Tim Fulton 3:16They sell out

Shelley Mann 3:16... the popular ones sell out-

Tim Fulton 3:18Okay

Shelley Mann 3:18... right away. And then-

Tim Fulton 3:20Who sell-- I'm not gonna-- Let's not talk about who doesn't sell out, but who does sell out quickly?

Shelley Mann 3:24Oh, man. So, you know, The Refectory, theirs sell out really quickly.

Tim Fulton 3:28Okay.

Shelley Mann 3:28Skillet.

Tim Fulton 3:30What's the price point? Like-

Shelley Mann 3:31Barcelona

Tim Fulton 3:31... is it, like, 50 bucks, 100, or?

Shelley Mann 3:33We have different price points. So we have some that are $50 gift certificates, and you can buy them for $35.

Tim Fulton 3:39Okay.

Shelley Mann 3:40And then we have $25 gift certificates that you can buy for $17.50. And then we have some that are $10 gift certificates that you can buy for $7.50.

Tim Fulton 3:49I see.

Shelley Mann 3:50So we have all different prices.

Tim Fulton 3:51And that depends on the restaurant and the price point-

Shelley Mann 3:53Yes

Tim Fulton 3:53... that the restaurant is. And they're not trying to-- They don't set a point where it's like, "Oh, it's only $10, and our average meal is $12." It doesn't really happen that way, right?

Shelley Mann 4:03No.

Tim Fulton 4:04Okay.

Shelley Mann 4:04They can choose what denomination they wanna sell.

Tim Fulton 4:07I see.

Shelley Mann 4:08Yeah.

Tim Fulton 4:08And when does that sale happen?

Shelley Mann 4:10Those happen every year. So our, our most recent one ha- launched the first week of August.

Tim Fulton 4:16Okay.

Shelley Mann 4:16And then-

Tim Fulton 4:17Still some stuff on there.

Shelley Mann 4:18Yeah.

Tim Fulton 4:18Okay.

Shelley Mann 4:18There's still some stuff on there to check out. And then we'll have our next one in November, the first week of November. So it's, generally, it's the first week of February, May, August, November.

Tim Fulton 4:31Gotcha.

Shelley Mann 4:31Yeah.

Tim Fulton 4:31And the, does the November one tend to be more popular because-

Shelley Mann 4:34It does

Tim Fulton 4:35... people-

Shelley Mann 4:36Holiday shopping.

Tim Fulton 4:37Right. Well- ... and you don't-- The gift card doesn't say, "I bought this for 30% off."

Shelley Mann 4:41That's true.

Tim Fulton 4:42There you go.

Shelley Mann 4:43Yes.

Tim Fulton 4:43Save 30% on your gifts this November. Talk about Dine Originals Week and sort of what some of the participating restaurants are. What's the price range of the menus?

Shelley Mann 4:55Yeah. So Dine Originals Week, actually, this is a fun fact for you. Dine Originals Week was Columbus' first Restaurant Week.

Tim Fulton 5:02I remember when it was the only- ... Restaurant Week.

Shelley Mann 5:04So yeah, when Dine Originals was founded, it was really founded by the restaurants. They-

Tim Fulton 5:09Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 5:09... they banded together. And at that time, there was a national Dine Originals organization.

Tim Fulton 5:15Oh, okay.

Shelley Mann 5:15So there would be Dine Originals groups in different cities across the country.

Tim Fulton 5:19Is that not a national organization?

Shelley Mann 5:20It's actually, it's not a national organization anymore. There are still chapters in some cities.

Tim Fulton 5:25Do you consider yourself a chapter of it? Were you part of the larger organization?

Shelley Mann 5:29We were part of the larger-

Tim Fulton 5:30Okay

Shelley Mann 5:30... organization. So the larger organization does not exist, so we're not technically a chapter. We did form into our own nonprofit organization after-

Tim Fulton 5:38Gotcha

Shelley Mann 5:38... the national organization disbanded.

Tim Fulton 5:40Okay.

Shelley Mann 5:41But, you know, at the time that Dine Originals was created, Restaurant Weeks were kind of a new concept.

Tim Fulton 5:47Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 5:47And, you know, a really exciting way to get people going out to eat-

Tim Fulton 5:50Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 5:51... on slow time, during slow times of the year for the restaurants.

Tim Fulton 5:55Right.

Shelley Mann 5:55So that's why we do them in, we do ours in March and September.

Tim Fulton 5:59Okay.

Shelley Mann 6:00And, you know, we're really trying to get people to come in on week, on weeknights as well.

Tim Fulton 6:04Right.

Shelley Mann 6:04So, you know, the special runs through the weekend, but restaurants a lot of times are, you know, struggling to get people in on the weeknights of these times of year.

Tim Fulton 6:13Right.

Shelley Mann 6:13So our Restaurant Week, we took a little hiatus-

Tim Fulton 6:18Okay

Shelley Mann 6:18... and then we brought it back starting last year. And so we do these, like I said, twice a year.

Tim Fulton 6:24Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 6:24And all of our restaurants offer... Generally, they're three-course menus, and you get them for the fixed price point.

Tim Fulton 6:31Okay.

Shelley Mann 6:31So you know, you know what you're gonna pay going in. Our menus range in price from $15 up to $40.

Tim Fulton 6:37Okay.

Shelley Mann 6:38And the restaurants can decide-

Tim Fulton 6:38What's like a $40 restaurant?

Shelley Mann 6:40The Refectory, uh, theirs is actually $39.50.

Tim Fulton 6:44Oh. Okay.

Shelley Mann 6:46I don't know if anyone has exactly 40. Yeah, so they're, you know, like some of the higher-end restaurants are doing the $40.

Tim Fulton 6:55Got it.

Shelley Mann 6:55And then someone like Chile Verde Cafe-

Tim Fulton 6:58Okay

Shelley Mann 6:58... theirs is in the $15-

Tim Fulton 7:00Gotcha

Shelley Mann 7:01... price range.

Tim Fulton 7:01And so you're getting three courses, so you're getting like-

Shelley Mann 7:04Right

Tim Fulton 7:04... an appetizer or salad or soup portion-

Shelley Mann 7:06Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 7:07... a main course, and then a dessert tends to be-

Shelley Mann 7:11Typically, yeah.

Tim Fulton 7:12Yeah.

Shelley Mann 7:12And the menus are all different, so, you know, it's, it's, it can be really fun to kinda poke through. We put them all online on our website. So some of the restaurants, you'll do-

Tim Fulton 7:20And plug the website for me

Shelley Mann 7:21... dineoriginalscolumbus.com.

Tim Fulton 7:23And that will be linked in the show notes as well. Go on.

Shelley Mann 7:27So some of the restaurants will do something like, you know, a soup and salad, and then an appetizer, and then a main course, or, you know. So some of them don't include a dessert, or maybe you get, like, two kinda main coursey type things.

Tim Fulton 7:41Okay.

Shelley Mann 7:41So they're all different, and they're all really interesting-

Tim Fulton 7:44Cool

Shelley Mann 7:44... just to kinda look through. But, and generally, you know, for the Restaurant Week, the chef is doing something a little more creative.

Tim Fulton 7:51Okay.

Shelley Mann 7:51He or she are working in seasonal ingredients.

Tim Fulton 7:54Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 7:54Um, so this time around it's, you know, there's a lot of wild game meat and-

Tim Fulton 7:58Okay

Shelley Mann 7:58... you know, warmer soups and kinda l- turning towards the fall.

Tim Fulton 8:03So while the items are typical of the restaurant, these are special items.

Shelley Mann 8:07Yes.

Tim Fulton 8:07Gotcha.

Shelley Mann 8:08So they're definitely things that you can only get during Restaurant Week, so it's another reason to go out and check these menus out.

Tim Fulton 8:14Great. How does a restaurant join Dine Originals? What are the, the requirements?

Shelley Mann 8:18Yeah, the requirements are you have to be independently owned and operated.

Tim Fulton 8:23Okay.

Shelley Mann 8:23So that means, you know, you're the-

Tim Fulton 8:26McDonald's cannot join

Shelley Mann 8:27... owner that works in there. Yeah, no, any chain restaurant cannot join.

Tim Fulton 8:31Okay.

Shelley Mann 8:31If you're owned by, you know, a, a company that owns many other restaurants-

Tim Fulton 8:36Or you're a franchisor.

Shelley Mann 8:37Yeah.

Tim Fulton 8:37Right.

Shelley Mann 8:38So you have to have six locations or less-

Tim Fulton 8:41Okay

Shelley Mann 8:42... as well. So we do have some local chains who still count.

Tim Fulton 8:45What's an example of that?

Shelley Mann 8:46Well, Chile Verde Cafe does have two locations-

Tim Fulton 8:49Okay

Shelley Mann 8:50... so that's an example. The Wine Bistro is-

Tim Fulton 8:53Okay

Shelley Mann 8:53... I remember they have right now three locations.

Tim Fulton 8:56I didn't realize they were-

Shelley Mann 8:58The Wine Bistro

Tim Fulton 8:58... locally owned and operated.

Shelley Mann 8:59They are. And they actually just bought Catsingers.

Tim Fulton 9:03Really?

Shelley Mann 9:03Which means that they have four locations.

Tim Fulton 9:05Is that news?

Shelley Mann 9:07No.

Tim Fulton 9:07When did that happen?

Shelley Mann 9:08Hmm, last year.

Tim Fulton 9:09Okay. But someone like Cameron Mitchell, while there may only be two Cap City Diners-

Shelley Mann 9:14Right

Tim Fulton 9:15... he owns a significant number of-

Shelley Mann 9:16Yeah

Tim Fulton 9:17... restaurants.

Shelley Mann 9:17So he has The Pearl-

Tim Fulton 9:18Right

Shelley Mann 9:18... The Old House. He probably has six in Short North.

Tim Fulton 9:21Yeah. Well, he probably has six in one block in the Short North. Listen to my interview with Katie Randazzo later for- ... more digs and yet respect of Cameron Mitchell. Cool. And so what do they have to... How do they... Are they contributing a check? How do they-

Shelley Mann 9:37No. Yeah

Tim Fulton 9:37... how do they join?

Shelley Mann 9:38So our dues are actually those gift certificates that I just mentioned.

Tim Fulton 9:42Oh, okay.

Shelley Mann 9:42So it's actually an easy way for a restaurant to, to join something like this because they're re- they're donating gift certificates to the restaurant.

Tim Fulton 9:50Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 9:50We sell them on their behalf. So it's-

Tim Fulton 9:53So they're actually, uh, they're not even giving you anything.

Shelley Mann 9:55No.

Tim Fulton 9:55They're allowing you to-

Shelley Mann 9:57To sell the certificate

Tim Fulton 9:58... to sell, rather collect revenue.

Shelley Mann 10:00Right.

Tim Fulton 10:00But then they honor the gift cards.

Shelley Mann 10:02They honor the gift card.

Tim Fulton 10:03Got it.

Shelley Mann 10:03So they don't get any money when you bring in the gift card in.

Tim Fulton 10:06Gotcha. So-

Shelley Mann 10:07But typically, you know-

Tim Fulton 10:07... make sure you're tipping

Shelley Mann 10:08... yes. Please make sure you're tipping heavily.

Tim Fulton 10:11Yes.

Shelley Mann 10:11And a lot of times, you know, especially if it's a $10 gift card, I mean, you're probably spending more money when you go in-

Tim Fulton 10:17Got it

Shelley Mann 10:17... than just the $10.

Tim Fulton 10:18Got it.

Shelley Mann 10:18So, you know, we're helping to bring new, new customers into the restaurants that might not go in otherwise. We're helping to fill seats that might be empty otherwise-

Tim Fulton 10:27Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 10:27... for the restaurants. So there are a lot of benefits for the restaurant to joining and in doing our gift certificate program.

Tim Fulton 10:35And then, so how did you get here? What's your- I, I sort of know this story, but what's your background that brought you to Dine Originals?

Shelley Mann 10:43Yeah, so I started out in journalism-

Tim Fulton 10:46Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 10:47... and I was working for The Dispatch printing company.

Tim Fulton 10:50Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 10:50And I-

Tim Fulton 10:52So this is the time in the episode where gonna give my full disclosure that you and I- ... used to work together tangentially-

Shelley Mann 10:57Yes, at Alive

Tim Fulton 10:57... for The Alive. Right.

Shelley Mann 10:59Right. Yeah, so when I was at Alive, the, you know, higher-ups at The Dispatch started talking about wanting to start a food magazine.

Tim Fulton 11:07Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 11:07And I was on some of the early committees and talking about the food magazine, which became Crave.

Tim Fulton 11:12Okay.

Shelley Mann 11:13And-

Tim Fulton 11:13Is Crave still around?

Shelley Mann 11:14No-

Tim Fulton 11:15Okay

Shelley Mann 11:15... sadly. So and then-

Tim Fulton 11:17My, how many ancillary products we've seen come and go.

Shelley Mann 11:21And I ended up being able to be the first editor of Crave when it launched.

Tim Fulton 11:26Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 11:26So that was a magazine covering the restaurant scene in Columbus.

Tim Fulton 11:30Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 11:31And once The Dispatch was purchased by GateHouse... Gate- GateHouse, right? Yeah.

Tim Fulton 11:36GateHouse Media, yeah.

Shelley Mann 11:37They did close down both Crave and Capital Style, unfortunately, but-

Tim Fulton 11:41Oh, that's when it happened.

Shelley Mann 11:42Yeah.

Tim Fulton 11:43Oh, okay.

Shelley Mann 11:44But yeah, so I was writing stories about the restaurant scene for my, for my job back then, and I got to know a lot of the chefs and owners-

Tim Fulton 11:54Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 11:54... and things like that. And so I actually, for ve- a lot of different reasons, I decided to leave the journalism world-

Tim Fulton 12:01Okay

Shelley Mann 12:01... and start my own company, which is called Umami Consulting.

Tim Fulton 12:05Okay.

Shelley Mann 12:05And I was... I still do Umami as well, but so I-

Tim Fulton 12:10You can hire her

Shelley Mann 12:11... work with independent restaurants and help them with marketing and PR efforts.

Tim Fulton 12:16Okay.

Shelley Mann 12:17So what I was seeing when I was interviewing these chefs and owners is that a lot of the independent restaurants, you know, they don't have, they don't have the budget to hire someone specifically dedicated-

Tim Fulton 12:27To do marketing

Shelley Mann 12:28... to doing marketing.

Tim Fulton 12:28Right.

Shelley Mann 12:29And so they're doing it themselves and, you know, the owner is doing the marketing, or the chef is doing the marketing, and they don't really have the time or capacity to do that.

Tim Fulton 12:35They wanna be running a business, right?

Shelley Mann 12:37Yeah. So being able to offer, you know, packages designed for restaurants-

Tim Fulton 12:42Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 12:42... to help them tell their story-

Tim Fulton 12:44Okay

Shelley Mann 12:45... was, seemed like a need in the city, and it c- It has been, you know

Tim Fulton 12:48What do those packages look like? Is it like, what's the low end? Not price point- ... but what do you actually offer on the low end?

Shelley Mann 12:55Yeah, I mean, so like a low end would be a-

Tim Fulton 12:58One press release for-

Shelley Mann 13:00... a PR. Yeah

Tim Fulton 13:00Okay

Shelley Mann 13:00... like a PR package where, you know, a- anytime you're having a special event or something that you-

Tim Fulton 13:05Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 13:06... wanna spread the word on, you would call me up and I would write a press release for you and send it to all the local media outlets-

Tim Fulton 13:12Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 13:12... and-

Tim Fulton 13:12And you do some follow up and-

Shelley Mann 13:14... get it on the calendars and-

Tim Fulton 13:14Yeah

Shelley Mann 13:15... yeah, try to get you media coverage.

Tim Fulton 13:16Got it.

Shelley Mann 13:16So that would be a low end. And then for some of my clients that I'm working with, I do everything from helping them with purchasing ads-

Tim Fulton 13:24Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 13:24... figuring out where are the best places to spend their ad money and, you know, h- how big their ad, you know, should be, and then designing the ads for them.

Tim Fulton 13:33Got it.

Shelley Mann 13:34Coming up with ideas for marketing campaigns and promotions, and then-

Tim Fulton 13:39And even helping organize events then.

Shelley Mann 13:41Yeah.

Tim Fulton 13:41Right.

Shelley Mann 13:41Organizing events, I do a lot of that. And then, you know, social media, that kind of thing-

Tim Fulton 13:47Gotcha

Shelley Mann 13:47... I can also help with.

Tim Fulton 13:48Makes sense.

Shelley Mann 13:49Yeah.

Tim Fulton 13:49Can we talk about the movie?

Shelley Mann 13:52Wait a second. We can.

Tim Fulton 13:54Okay.

Shelley Mann 13:54But let me j- say how I got to Dine Originals-

Tim Fulton 13:56Okay. Finish that

Shelley Mann 13:58... finish the story.

Tim Fulton 13:58Sure.

Shelley Mann 13:59So I was doing Umami and then Dine Originals approached me when their previous executive director left-

Tim Fulton 14:05Okay

Shelley Mann 14:05... Catherine Moore.

Tim Fulton 14:06Okay.

Shelley Mann 14:06And asked if I could take on the executive director role, and it actually, it fits in really nicely with what I'm doing already.

Tim Fulton 14:13Yeah, absolutely.

Shelley Mann 14:14So it's really just about marketing and, and doing, you know, public relations work for the independent restaurant scene. And so a lot of my clients are actually were Dine Originals restaurants and are Dine Originals restaurants, so.

Tim Fulton 14:26Gotcha.

Shelley Mann 14:27Yeah, so it was a really good fit. And so I do, this is just a part-time job for me, but-

Tim Fulton 14:31Got it. That's great. So, and part of your sort of freelance and contract marketing efforts, you actually worked, uh, with the, what's his name?

Shelley Mann 14:40Morgan Spurlock.

Tim Fulton 14:41You actually worked with Morgan Spurlock's company when he came into town and did that little pop-up joke restaurant for the movie that... It hasn't come out yet, right?

Shelley Mann 14:51It's premiering this month at the Toronto Film Festival.

Tim Fulton 14:54Okay. So it's-

Shelley Mann 14:54I don't know when that starts

Tim Fulton 14:55... it's doing the festival circuit.

Shelley Mann 14:57Yeah.

Tim Fulton 14:57Can you talk about that experience and what it was like? What's the name of the film?

Shelley Mann 15:01It's, I guess it's gonna be called, uh, Super Size Me 2.

Tim Fulton 15:04Okay.

Shelley Mann 15:05Holy Chicken!

Tim Fulton 15:06Holy Chicken! And Holy Chicken! was the name of the pop-up restaurant up in Westerville. So the press surrounding it, to be clear, your role was literally public relations for this.

Shelley Mann 15:17Yeah.

Tim Fulton 15:17That-

Shelley Mann 15:17Lo- local public relations. Yeah

Tim Fulton 15:19... local public relations. So your job was to convey to the media that this thing was happening, that Morgan Spurlock was behind it, and you did that. You were paid to do that. And so you sent out press releases, you contacted television stations, you actually did some outreach to city officials, correct?

Shelley Mann 15:37Correct.

Tim Fulton 15:39And so there was some backlash there because even though the name Morgan Spurlock was attached to it, everybody just got all, I think Columbus does this too much, got all sort of excited about a famous person being here and said, "Isn't this great? Everything must be on the up and up. This i- this isn't a joke. No one's making fun of us." And I... And so give us the rundown basically on what Holy Chicken!, what that pop-up restaurant was.

Shelley Mann 16:07Yeah. It's not a joke. I mean, I, I still stand by that statement.

Tim Fulton 16:12Okay.

Shelley Mann 16:13So, and I have not seen the movie, so I-

Tim Fulton 16:16Okay

Shelley Mann 16:16... I, I, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing it and, and seeing how everything-

Tim Fulton 16:21Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 16:21... turns out to be portrayed. But yeah, so what happened is the Morgan Spurlock's team-

Tim Fulton 16:28Mm

Shelley Mann 16:28... film team contacted me just through, uh, Googling, like-

Tim Fulton 16:33Columbus restaurant PR

Shelley Mann 16:34... Columbus restaurant marketing.

Tim Fulton 16:35Right.

Shelley Mann 16:35PR. And so I came on as a, as a, you know, a, a paid, like-

Tim Fulton 16:41You were a consultant

Shelley Mann 16:42... consultant-

Tim Fulton 16:43Right

Shelley Mann 16:43... for this project. And yeah, exactly what you said. You know, I, we, we shared the information that there, it was going to be a pop-up restaurant-

Tim Fulton 16:51Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 16:51... brought to you by Morgan Spurlock, you know, documentary filmmaker.

Tim Fulton 16:55Of, of Super Size Me fame.

Shelley Mann 16:56Right. And he's trying something different out, which we were very specific in describing the, um, the sourcing of the chicken.

Tim Fulton 17:08Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 17:09And used, you know, exactly the words that he wanted to use and-

Tim Fulton 17:13Okay. Wait, so even the press release was like, what's the, the halo of health?

Shelley Mann 17:18Yeah, exactly.

Tim Fulton 17:19Okay.

Shelley Mann 17:20So, you know, I think, uh, like nothing was ever false, nothing was ever... Everything that we said was exactly what you got when you got to the restaurant.

Tim Fulton 17:29Right.

Shelley Mann 17:29So, you know, it's like people hear the word-

Tim Fulton 17:33Fresh

Shelley Mann 17:34... fresh, farm fresh.

Tim Fulton 17:36Right.

Shelley Mann 17:36And they assume that it's something-

Tim Fulton 17:38That it's healthy. Right

Shelley Mann 17:39... specific. And yeah, you assume that it's, that it's healthy, even though we actually, you know, like gave ahead of time the calorie information for the sandwich-

Tim Fulton 17:50Right

Shelley Mann 17:50... which was absolutely not healthy.

Tim Fulton 17:53Right.

Shelley Mann 17:53Like, it was more calories than a Big Mac.

Tim Fulton 17:55Well, it's why people perceive that you go to Chipotle and you're eating a 2,000-calorie burrito and that-

Shelley Mann 18:01Right

Tim Fulton 18:01... that, that, that is somehow good for you.

Shelley Mann 18:03Right.

Tim Fulton 18:03It's not. You're engorging yourself on food.

Shelley Mann 18:06Exactly. And then, you know, the, the words that we use to talk about the, the farm that the chickens were raised on are exactly the words that anyone's legally allowed to use-

Tim Fulton 18:17Right

Shelley Mann 18:17... to, to describe the situation that these chickens were raised in, which-

Tim Fulton 18:21But they're not anything special.

Shelley Mann 18:22No, it's not. You know, I think y- what people-

Tim Fulton 18:25They're not

Shelley Mann 18:25... have in mind if they hear farm fresh, farm raised chickens-

Tim Fulton 18:30All chickens are raised on farms

Shelley Mann 18:31... and free-range. Yeah.

Tim Fulton 18:33All chickens are raised on farms. Right.

Shelley Mann 18:34Is that they have access to, you know, an area that's just, it just needs to be a few feet by a few feet, that if they can make it out of, you know, this chicken coop that they're in-

Tim Fulton 18:44Right

Shelley Mann 18:45... then yeah, they can, they can graze.

Tim Fulton 18:46Call it free range. Well, and that's sort of-

Shelley Mann 18:48But it's not the pasture raised that you're imagining when you hear-

Tim Fulton 18:52Right

Shelley Mann 18:52... those words.

Tim Fulton 18:53Well, and that's the whole point of the film is-

Shelley Mann 18:54Yeah

Tim Fulton 18:55... sort of pointing out-

Shelley Mann 18:55The whole point was that.

Tim Fulton 18:57Right

Shelley Mann 18:57And the whole point is actually much bigger than that. And so, you know, what this was, wa- was just talking about the rest- the restaurant part of it.

Tim Fulton 19:05Right.

Shelley Mann 19:05And actually, the goal through the restaurant was to figure out if, if, like, is there a better way to do this? Is there a better model? And as far as I know, I'm not in direct contact with Morgan's team.

Tim Fulton 19:19Okay.

Shelley Mann 19:19I get asked-

Tim Fulton 19:19Your contract is done

Shelley Mann 19:20... on a, a regular basis. But yes, I was just hired to do the promotion for the Holy Chicken Take- uh, Pop-Up Restaurant-

Tim Fulton 19:27Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 19:28... that happened last year. But from what I hear, there actually still are plans to open a Holy Chicken franchise.

Tim Fulton 19:36Okay .

Shelley Mann 19:36And you know-

Tim Fulton 19:38So-

Shelley Mann 19:38... after the movie comes out. So there, there was nothing really-

Tim Fulton 19:41So we're-

Shelley Mann 19:41... joke or a hoax-

Tim Fulton 19:42What we're burying here-

Shelley Mann 19:44... about this whole thing, but-

Tim Fulton 19:44So you ... So once you went into the restaurant, again-

Shelley Mann 19:47Yeah

Tim Fulton 19:47... the mayor showed up. You know, every television station showed up. You actually transferred, you came to my house and transferred- ... with a, a production assistant to get the footage from the news station, so I imagine that will be in the film. When you go, though, to the restaurant, there are sort of snarky sayings pointing out to you, "Hey, this is this many calories," and, "Hey, this water is actually just Columbus tap water, and it's probably the healthiest thing that you can have here." And so the news crews, everybody shows up, and I think they felt duped be- but that's actually the point.

Shelley Mann 20:25Right. I mean-

Tim Fulton 20:26But the problem is, is they actually, they, they felt duped, but they still went ahead and did a normal, quote-unquote, this famous person is doing a pop-up, and didn't talk about what he was trying to prove because they couldn't... 'cause it's difficult to put that into a four-minute news story.

Shelley Mann 20:44Well, yeah, exactly. I mean, I think you probably need a two-hour movie to-

Tim Fulton 20:48Exactly

Shelley Mann 20:49... really explain the whole thing.

Tim Fulton 20:50Yeah, and I don't think we're even properly explaining it, but I think the, the, the point I wanna make is you actually got in hot water with your media contacts because they were like, "How could we possibly ever trust you again?" And it's like, I didn't lie to you. I literally just transferred information. I was hired because I know you, and Morgan, and you ate, literally ate it up. And I just th- I, I would hope that those relationships are on the mend at this point, and everybody's sort of like, "Oh, I get it. This isn't Shelley's, quote-unquote, fault." I just think it's an interesting ... We as a city need to be a little bit... We should certainly continue to be smart and open, but we need to be a little bit less starstruck- ... when things happen, so.

Shelley Mann 21:40Yeah. Yeah. The whole situation, I mean, it's, it's... I've never experienced anything quite like it.

Tim Fulton 21:47Yeah.

Shelley Mann 21:48You know, I hope that-

Tim Fulton 21:49Do you regret it?

Shelley Mann 21:49... people... I'd like to see the movie, movie before I-

Tim Fulton 21:53Make a decision about that

Shelley Mann 21:54... will tell you if I regret it or not.

Tim Fulton 21:55Are you in the movie, do you think?

Shelley Mann 21:56But I would say not. I, I don't know.

Tim Fulton 21:58Were you on camera much?

Shelley Mann 21:59Yeah. I mean, I was on... There were cameras in the restaurant the entire weekend, and I was there the entire weekend, so.

Tim Fulton 22:05But you were never, like, interviewed and asked-

Shelley Mann 22:07No

Tim Fulton 22:07... like, "How'd you... Did you dupe these people?"

Shelley Mann 22:10No.

Tim Fulton 22:10Or any-

Shelley Mann 22:10No.

Tim Fulton 22:10Okay.

Shelley Mann 22:11No, no, no. No, and you know, I think that my hope right afterwards is that everyone, you know, would believe me when I say that I would never do anything to harm Columbus or, you know-

Tim Fulton 22:24Right

Shelley Mann 22:25... if, if they asked me to do, to take this on, like, "Hey, we have this project where we're going to trick the city of Columbus into eating something that they didn't agree to eat," I would've said no.

Tim Fulton 22:35No, I'm not interested.

Shelley Mann 22:35You know? Like, no way. So you know, the, the, the bigger mission behind the restaurant in terms of I think that when you go into a restaurant and you read a menu, you should understand what you're getting. And, you know, if you go into the grocery store and you see free-range eggs and you pay, like, $3 more than you would for the carton next to it, that you should be getting a better product.

Tim Fulton 23:00Right.

Shelley Mann 23:00I mean, that's what really-

Tim Fulton 23:01And realizing that it's not necessar- It may be a slightly better product, but-

Shelley Mann 23:05Yeah

Tim Fulton 23:05... you need to be an educated consumer and, and know what that value is.

Shelley Mann 23:10Right.

Tim Fulton 23:10And that value, I would hope, isn't just associated with marketing lang-

Shelley Mann 23:15Marketing, right

Tim Fulton 23:16... marketing language.

Shelley Mann 23:16Exactly.

Tim Fulton 23:17Yeah.

Shelley Mann 23:17So you know, the whole, the bigger concept is something that I really stand behind.

Tim Fulton 23:21Mm-hmm.

Shelley Mann 23:21And I hope that the movie can make a difference in that way.

Tim Fulton 23:24Yeah.

Shelley Mann 23:25And so in that way, no, I don't regret it. And I, you know, yeah, like I said, I mean, I, I was really hired to do a job, which I did, which is-

Tim Fulton 23:34Yeah

Shelley Mann 23:35... get people to come out to the pop-up restaurant. You know, I, I think what Morgan's goal... You know, he wanted people to come out and experience it and not kinda get the, you know, the-

Tim Fulton 23:46Not get what he was doing to them.

Shelley Mann 23:48Yeah, like not-

Tim Fulton 23:49Yeah

Shelley Mann 23:49... you know, like read an article that explains exactly what it was-

Tim Fulton 23:52Exactly

Shelley Mann 23:52... and then feel like you don't have to go because you get it now.

Tim Fulton 23:55You get the joke, right.

Shelley Mann 23:57So he wanted people to come out and experience it, and that's what we did. You know, we got a lot of people out there.

Tim Fulton 24:01Yeah.

Shelley Mann 24:02And a lot of people had a great time. A lot of people really liked eating the food. A lot of people, um-

Tim Fulton 24:07'Cause it wasn't a bad chicken sandwich

Shelley Mann 24:07... understood what was going on.

Tim Fulton 24:09Yeah.

Shelley Mann 24:09No, yeah. The chicken sandwich was great. It, it tasted just as good as, you know, like in-

Tim Fulton 24:16Any other chicken sandwich

Shelley Mann 24:17... crazy restaurant chicken sandwich would. Um-

Tim Fulton 24:20Right.

Shelley Mann 24:21So yeah, it was, it was definitely, it was definitely interesting. And yeah, I mean, I will always say, like, as soon as I s- When I send out a press release about a restaurant opening in Columbus-

Tim Fulton 24:31Mm-hmm

Shelley Mann 24:32... generally, it's kinda crickets. I mean, you know, like the most we can hope for is, you know, like an article-

Tim Fulton 24:40A blurb

Shelley Mann 24:40... in The Dispatch-

Tim Fulton 24:42Right

Shelley Mann 24:42... and something on Columbus Underground-

Tim Fulton 24:44Right

Shelley Mann 24:44... and you know, something like that, and a review in Alive.

Tim Fulton 24:48Right.

Shelley Mann 24:49When I sent out a press release saying that Morgan Spurlock is opening a restaurant in Columbus, immediately it was every news outlet called me back.

Tim Fulton 24:56Yep.

Shelley Mann 24:57So I found that to be just interesting.

Tim Fulton 25:00Yeah. We need to stop doing that. So- Cool. Shelley, uh, thank you so much for your time, and again, check out Dine Originals Week, September 18th through 24th.

Shelley Mann 25:10Yeah.

Tim Fulton 25:11Say thank you.

Shelley Mann 25:12Thank you for having me.

Tim Fulton 25:17Sitting down here with Matthew Hagens and Katie Randazzo, the chefs and co-owners of Ambrose and Eve. Ambrose and Eve up to this point has been a pop-up experience around Columbus, uh, for sort of a dinner party atmosphere. They are opening up a new permanent space on High Street, just south of...

Katie Randazzo 25:39Tremont. Yeah, it's right next to Tremont and, like, Clotches Republic.

Tim Fulton 25:43Okay.

Katie Randazzo 25:43And we'll be next to the new Seven Sons Sour Beer Bar that's opening up as well.

Tim Fulton 25:47Oh, fantastic. When's that coming?

Katie Randazzo 25:49They think they're gonna be open in a couple months.

Tim Fulton 25:51Okay. That's ambitious.

Matthew Hagens 25:54They're ambitious people.

Tim Fulton 25:55We all are.

Katie Randazzo 25:56Yeah, that's why we like them.

Tim Fulton 25:57We all are. Give me the elevator pitch on Ambrose and Eve.

Katie Randazzo 26:01Ambrose and Eve is named after my dad's parents, and what we're trying to build is a-

Matthew Hagens 26:06We wanna have a nice, fun dinner party every night.

Tim Fulton 26:09Okay.

Matthew Hagens 26:09And we want you, we want you to feel like you're coming to one of our grandparents or mother's house, and you have a really good time, but at the end of it, you have to help pay for it.

Tim Fulton 26:17And I assume that will translate in the atmosphere and also the food. It's not people have to show up at a set time. It is a traditional restaurant.

Matthew Hagens 26:26It's a... It's gonna be a very traditional restaurant. The menu will change very frequently based on what's available-

Tim Fulton 26:31Okay

Matthew Hagens 26:31... seasonally and the things that we're interested in. We'll be focusing mostly on Americana.

Tim Fulton 26:36Okay.

Matthew Hagens 26:36Trying to update that and make that a little bit more interesting, but we'll do a, a lot of other modern preparations as well.

Tim Fulton 26:41Give me some examples of dishes people might get there.

Katie Randazzo 26:44My grandmother was notoriously famous for making veal parmesan, and I say veal in quotation marks-

Tim Fulton 26:49Okay

Katie Randazzo 26:50... because it was actually chicken. And she believed that if you pounded it thin enough, then no one would know the difference between the veal and the chicken.

Tim Fulton 26:57Okay.

Katie Randazzo 26:57So it was a tradition every time we would go visit her in Akron, she was like, "Oh, try my veal parmesan." We're like, "Okay, Mimi." You know? So one of the first things we discussed when we were discussing the restaurant and the concept and the name and everything behind it was that story.

Tim Fulton 27:11Okay.

Katie Randazzo 27:12And so-

Tim Fulton 27:12And so did you get there just because you were looking for a name, or you set out and you were like, "I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna name it this"?

Katie Randazzo 27:18It was... The name has been in development for, I would say, about two years almost. And there was a couple other spaces that we had looked at that fell through.

Tim Fulton 27:27Mm-hmm.

Katie Randazzo 27:28But I was f- I was very dead set on naming it Ambrose and Eve.

Tim Fulton 27:31Got it.

Katie Randazzo 27:31I think it has a nice flow to it. It's masculine, it's feminine.

Tim Fulton 27:35Yeah. Ambrose is not a name that I'm actually familiar with.

Katie Randazzo 27:38Right.

Matthew Hagens 27:38It's a really old school name.

Tim Fulton 27:39Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 27:40Yeah.

Tim Fulton 27:40What's sort of the short... You're Matthew and hence Matt. Is there a short version of Ambrose?

Katie Randazzo 27:45Bro.

Tim Fulton 27:49Well, and it should be said, your background, Katie, you are the proprietor of originally Hala Food Truck and also Hala, which is in-

Katie Randazzo 27:57Woodlands

Tim Fulton 27:58... Woodlands Tavern.

Katie Randazzo 27:59Yeah.

Tim Fulton 27:59How did you get into this business?

Katie Randazzo 28:01Well, I used to date this girl. I met her six years ago, I think.

Tim Fulton 28:08Okay.

Katie Randazzo 28:08She lived in New York at the time, and I was feeling very stagnant in Columbus, and I liked her, so I decided to move to New York and push my boundaries and learn more about the culinary field and get more educated at that as well. And she's Jewish, and I was in the process of opening a food truck, but I put it on hold to move to New York.

Tim Fulton 28:28Okay.

Katie Randazzo 28:28And she moved back with me to open the truck.

Tim Fulton 28:32Mm-hmm.

Katie Randazzo 28:32And because she had not ever worked in the service industry, we, we or I, had decided on doing Jewish food because I wanted a way for her to feel connected to the business-

Tim Fulton 28:42Okay

Katie Randazzo 28:42... and be able to fit in and bring some ideas to the table.

Tim Fulton 28:46But you're Jewish as well.

Katie Randazzo 28:46No, I'm not. I'm Sicilian.

Tim Fulton 28:48I didn't know that.

Katie Randazzo 28:48Yeah, I'm not Jewish. My nose confuses people- ... but no, I'm J- I'm not Jewish.

Tim Fulton 28:52Well, I guess I always assumed because you were the proprietor of-

Katie Randazzo 28:55Right

Tim Fulton 28:55... you know, a, a Jewish food establishment.

Katie Randazzo 28:58Well, I opened a Jewish food establishment based on this ex-girlfriend.

Tim Fulton 29:01Okay.

Matthew Hagens 29:02It's important. It's important.

Tim Fulton 29:02Well, sometimes that's the way it goes.

Matthew Hagens 29:03The ish part is really important there.

Katie Randazzo 29:05Yeah, Jew-ish.

Tim Fulton 29:09You know, it's Jewie, or, you know.

Katie Randazzo 29:12Yeah.

Tim Fulton 29:12And so Hala's going well, and sort of this Ambrose and Eve is sort of the next endeavor for you.

Katie Randazzo 29:17Correct, yeah.

Tim Fulton 29:18Great. And Matthew, I don't believe you and I have ever met.

Matthew Hagens 29:21I don't think so.

Tim Fulton 29:22Where... Tell me about your background. How did you get here?

Matthew Hagens 29:25I don't know. 39 years ago, my parents met.

Tim Fulton 29:29Two people loved each other very much.

Matthew Hagens 29:30That's too, that's too far back.

Katie Randazzo 29:31Well, that's questionable.

Matthew Hagens 29:32I used to work in, like, I don't know, an office. I used to work for AT&T for a really long time.

Tim Fulton 29:37Okay.

Matthew Hagens 29:37I worked there for eight years, and I think I liked it for eight days.

Tim Fulton 29:42Okay.

Matthew Hagens 29:43Eventually, they offered me, uh, an early retirement, and I took it, and I had been cooking off and on and then before that.

Tim Fulton 29:50Okay.

Matthew Hagens 29:50And it's something that I like doing. I like taking care of people.

Tim Fulton 29:53Uh-huh.

Matthew Hagens 29:53So-

Tim Fulton 29:54Dinner parties in your home, or you were-

Matthew Hagens 29:56Well, I mean, I worked-

Tim Fulton 29:56... cooking on the... like working in a kitchen on the side?

Matthew Hagens 29:58Like working, yeah, working in a kitchen on, on the side. I got laid off from AT&T, and I worked at this little place called Elemental that was over where Black Creek Bistro is now.

Tim Fulton 30:08Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 30:09Yeah, like actual employment from time to time-

Tim Fulton 30:11Okay

Matthew Hagens 30:11... but mostly it was kind of like fun stuff. So I cashed out my retirement and went to DC and-

Tim Fulton 30:17Okay

Matthew Hagens 30:17... got a job at a fine dining restaurant and got my... got the shit kicked out of me for, like, a full year.

Tim Fulton 30:23Okay.

Matthew Hagens 30:23Um, and then kind of like half got it kicked out of me for a couple more years. And then I bought a food truck and drove it back-

Tim Fulton 30:29Okay

Matthew Hagens 30:30... and ran a food truck here for a couple of years.

Tim Fulton 30:32What food truck is that?

Matthew Hagens 30:33It was the Swoop food truck. It was-

Tim Fulton 30:34Ah, okay

Matthew Hagens 30:35... really big in this neighborhood.

Tim Fulton 30:37Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 30:37It was huge. We did some, some additional pop-ups, and were kind of like growing on track to get a restaurant open, and then some things happened.

Tim Fulton 30:45Okay.

Matthew Hagens 30:45And then I didn't do it anymore. So-

Tim Fulton 30:47Well, and that's the way that kind of stuff goes. I mean, as someone who was passively involved in a, you know, food establishment, that's sort of how things happen.

Matthew Hagens 30:55Yeah. It's life. That's what happens.

Tim Fulton 30:57Mm-hmm.

Matthew Hagens 30:57So then I was at the Flatiron for a while.

Tim Fulton 31:02Okay.

Matthew Hagens 31:02Then I was at the Rossi until pretty recently.

Tim Fulton 31:05Okay.

Matthew Hagens 31:05And now I'm doing this.

Tim Fulton 31:06Great. Great. Talk about the process of you guys had looked at a couple of different spaces that had fallen through. I imagine sometimes the price wasn't right, or somebody else came in and... Or the landlord wasn't amenable to what you w- guys wanted to do there. So what I-

Katie Randazzo 31:22Or sometimes-

Tim Fulton 31:22Sometimes what I like to do is sort of get into the inside baseball of how did you do this? For someone who hasn't opened a restaurant or is thinking of just opening a business, what are the pitfalls of it?

Katie Randazzo 31:32Don't do it.

Tim Fulton 31:34It is way too much work.

Katie Randazzo 31:35It's like, don't do it. I've always wanted to put a restaurant into an old house because I feel like customer service is very big for me, as well as for Matt.

Tim Fulton 31:43Mm-hmm.

Katie Randazzo 31:43It's something that we're actually really gonna focus on in the restaurant.

Tim Fulton 31:46Okay. So similar to, like, Elena's. Is that what you mean by old house?

Katie Randazzo 31:50Well, yeah.

Tim Fulton 31:51Oh, okay.

Katie Randazzo 31:51Yeah, yeah. I thought you were talking about customer service. We've talked more at this point about service by far than we've talked about food.

Tim Fulton 31:57Okay.

Katie Randazzo 31:58So the idea of putting something into a house where you immediately walk in, you immediately feel comfortable, you immediately feel like you're in someone's home and that you're gonna have a great time and someone's gonna take care of you in that mom or grandmother kind of way always has appealed to me.

Tim Fulton 32:10Okay.

Katie Randazzo 32:10So there was a house over on Washington over kind of by Parsons Children's-

Tim Fulton 32:15Yeah

Katie Randazzo 32:15... Hospital area.

Tim Fulton 32:17So on the other side of the freeway.

Katie Randazzo 32:18Correct.

Tim Fulton 32:19Okay.

Katie Randazzo 32:19That I had looked at. But in order to build that out, it was an old house, and so to build it out into a restaurant, it was just gonna be way too much money.

Tim Fulton 32:27Was it even zoned for that?

Katie Randazzo 32:29It was zoned for that-

Tim Fulton 32:30Okay

Katie Randazzo 32:30... actually, yeah. And there were some structural issues, and so passed on that. And then Till was for sale-

Tim Fulton 32:38Mm-hmm

Katie Randazzo 32:38... last year. Was it last year?

Tim Fulton 32:40Yeah, it was last year.

Katie Randazzo 32:40Last year. And w- we got into some pretty heavy negotiations on Till.

Tim Fulton 32:45Okay.

Katie Randazzo 32:45But Blake Compton came in and did a walkthrough and was like, "Don't do it."

Tim Fulton 32:49Okay.

Katie Randazzo 32:49And there were some-

Tim Fulton 32:50Just you knew it was gonna be too much.

Katie Randazzo 32:52Yeah.

Tim Fulton 32:52Okay.

Katie Randazzo 32:52He was like, "There's a lot of structural issues. There's some issues with the hood system." And also the lease was really shoddy, and it just felt really-

Tim Fulton 33:01Well, they wanted to continue to own the space, right?

Katie Randazzo 33:03No. The original ch- chef's parents owned that building.

Tim Fulton 33:06Ah, okay.

Katie Randazzo 33:07And he's, he was selling the building.

Tim Fulton 33:08Okay.

Katie Randazzo 33:09And the lease was, like, super shoddy, and it just came, seemed a little shady. So I passed on that. And so then one day I was at Seven Sun, and Colin Castor came up to me and he was like, "Hey, are you still looking for a restaurant space?" And I said, "Well, as a matter of fact, I am." And he go- he said, "We are opening a sour beer bar on South High."

Tim Fulton 33:28Mm-hmm.

Katie Randazzo 33:28"And the space next to us is available for a lease for a restaurant. I really think that you should take a look at it." And he emailed the Kelly brothers, AKA The Property Brothers. They were s- both so handsome.

Tim Fulton 33:41Okay.

Katie Randazzo 33:41They look so much alike. They're like twins that aren't twins.

Tim Fulton 33:44Oh.

Katie Randazzo 33:45Yeah.

Tim Fulton 33:45Like that show.

Katie Randazzo 33:45Like The Property Brothers.

Tim Fulton 33:46Okay.

Katie Randazzo 33:47Yeah.

Tim Fulton 33:47I don't watch that show. I didn't-

Katie Randazzo 33:49I don't watch it either. I just-

Tim Fulton 33:50I've seen it.

Katie Randazzo 33:51Yeah.

Tim Fulton 33:51Yes.

Katie Randazzo 33:52And so he put me in touch with those guys, and the ball just started rolling.

Tim Fulton 33:56Okay. And the price was right and the-

Katie Randazzo 33:58The price was right. The lease was, the lease agreement was great. They were really flexible on any changes that we wanted to put in.

Tim Fulton 34:04Okay.

Katie Randazzo 34:05And since the, my food truck has been at Seven Sun for four years-

Tim Fulton 34:09Mm-hmm

Katie Randazzo 34:10... two days a week for four years, I already have a really, really good relationship with them. And Matt also has a really good relationship with them.

Tim Fulton 34:16Mm-hmm.

Katie Randazzo 34:16It just felt right. It felt very symbiotic.

Tim Fulton 34:19Right.

Katie Randazzo 34:19Felt like we were gonna have a good partnership without being partners, and that we could really feed off of each other and generate a really good buzz on that corner.

Tim Fulton 34:26That's great.

Katie Randazzo 34:26Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:27And walk me through where exactly is it?

Katie Randazzo 34:29Trying to think what the cross street is, and I can't. Franklin.

Tim Fulton 34:33It's across the street from Grange Insurance and The Local bar and-

Katie Randazzo 34:37So you're south of the Panera?

Tim Fulton 34:39Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 34:39Yes.

Tim Fulton 34:40Okay.

Katie Randazzo 34:40About a block south of the Panera.

Tim Fulton 34:42Okay.

Katie Randazzo 34:43Next to...

Tim Fulton 34:44Colacci

Katie Randazzo 34:45... Colacci Republic.

Tim Fulton 34:45Colacci Republic. And there's a Head Shop that went in over there too.

Katie Randazzo 34:48So it's that little strip of-

Tim Fulton 34:49Mm-hmm

Katie Randazzo 34:49... bui- it's not the anti- big antiquers.

Tim Fulton 34:51It is the old antique mall.

Katie Randazzo 34:53Oh, okay.

Tim Fulton 34:53Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 34:54Great. Where we're gonna be half of that.

Tim Fulton 34:55And so that's being, that's being sub-sectioned.

Katie Randazzo 34:57Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:57And so, got it. Now I understand.

Katie Randazzo 34:59We'll be on one half, and Seven Sun will be on the other half.

Tim Fulton 35:01Now I understand. Cool. Talk to me more about some of the dishes that you guys expect to be serving.

Katie Randazzo 35:07Back to the chicken Parmesan.

Tim Fulton 35:09Uh-huh.

Katie Randazzo 35:09The veal Parmesan.

Tim Fulton 35:10Yeah. So we kinda knew initially that we wanted to figure out some way to do that, if it was gonna be chicken or if it was gonna actually be veal.

Katie Randazzo 35:18Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 35:19And we were like, "Well, veal sweetbreads taste exactly like chicken, only the best chicken you've ever had." Right? So we did some playing around, some tinkering with that. We felt like it needed a little bit more acidity to kinda, like, cut through the richness of that. So-

Katie Randazzo 35:31Yeah

Tim Fulton 35:32... started to play around with a raspberry marin- marinara, and then we have, like, a really good thing that we're super happy about.

Katie Randazzo 35:39It's, it's beautiful. It's a really, really good dish.

Tim Fulton 35:41Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 35:41We have to get the right cheese or my dad will kill us.

Tim Fulton 35:45Okay.

Katie Randazzo 35:46So a lot of the things at the restaurant will be, I'm not gonna say, like, small plates, but tidier portions.

Tim Fulton 35:51Okay.

Katie Randazzo 35:51You know, k- kind of actually meant for everyone.

Tim Fulton 35:53So it's not comfort food. That should not... You don't imagine people would say that to describe it. It's much more Americana.

Katie Randazzo 36:00I would, I would say, like, much more Americana.

Tim Fulton 36:02I think we're gonna be compared to Rockmill, Sycamore.

Katie Randazzo 36:07Yeah. But, you know, the food will kinda, like, stand on its own and be its own thing. We're talking about cheese balls, and one of the things we know for sure that we are gonna serve is a comfort food deal, but-

Tim Fulton 36:17Uh-huh

Katie Randazzo 36:18... you'll order, uh, fried chicken, and then someone will bring you a bucket of fried chicken, and then someone will bring you a tray of macaroni and cheese, and then someone will bring you-

Tim Fulton 36:25Okay

Katie Randazzo 36:25... like, some coleslaw, and then someone will bring you braised green beans, and we're gonna just, like, lay it all the way out.

Tim Fulton 36:30Awesome.

Katie Randazzo 36:31So we have some ideas kinda tailored around how some of those dishes made us feel.

Tim Fulton 36:36Got it. And have you guys done pop-ups yet?

Katie Randazzo 36:39We've done two.

Tim Fulton 36:41Okay.

Katie Randazzo 36:41I think we've done-

Tim Fulton 36:42Three

Katie Randazzo 36:42... three. Yeah, like two, two or three.

Tim Fulton 36:44And so you're sorta using that to figure out the menu, um, see what people like, see, get hopefully honest criticism behind it. Not a huge revenue generator, I imagine.

Katie Randazzo 36:54No.

Tim Fulton 36:55No, not huge.

Katie Randazzo 36:55More keeping people engaged, I think.

Tim Fulton 36:57Okay.

Katie Randazzo 36:58Yeah. Because, you know, like you say, we're gonna open a restaurant in, you know, at that time in over a year.

Tim Fulton 37:03Right.

Katie Randazzo 37:04We just felt like it was best for us to do that as a way to test some things out and try to do some things.

Tim Fulton 37:09Mm-hmm.

Katie Randazzo 37:09But also to keep people engaged, like-

Tim Fulton 37:10Yeah

Katie Randazzo 37:11... "No, this is actually, this is still happening. This is what we're doing." Because that happens a lot

Matthew Hagens 37:15People will be like, "Oh, I heard there was gonna be a Stauf's opening here."

Tim Fulton 37:19Right-

Matthew Hagens 37:19And I-

Tim Fulton 37:19'Cause I'm sure that was a plan at some point

Matthew Hagens 37:22I showed up today to get some coffee, and it's not open yet.

Tim Fulton 37:25No, uh, the Stauf's here at the Idea Foundry opens on the 21st.

Matthew Hagens 37:29And it made me really sad, but I didn't... Like, from hearing that there was gonna be a Stauf's open-

Tim Fulton 37:34Right

Matthew Hagens 37:35... to there being a Stauf's open, there's, there's nothing in between.

Tim Fulton 37:38Right.

Matthew Hagens 37:38So we're just trying to, like, maintain something in between.

Tim Fulton 37:40Good.

Katie Randazzo 37:41Nice.

Tim Fulton 37:41Smart. So what's your timeline look like right now?

Katie Randazzo 37:43March.

Tim Fulton 37:44Okay.

Katie Randazzo 37:45Yeah.

Tim Fulton 37:45So you've got some time.

Katie Randazzo 37:46Which actually is coming up pretty quickly.

Tim Fulton 37:48It is.

Matthew Hagens 37:48Well, yeah, it feels like a long time to some people, but to me, it feels like it's a wolf, like, right on my heels.

Katie Randazzo 37:53Like, in my head, I'm already in December. I'm like, okay, I'm, like, in December, and then January comes and we get the keys, and then it's go, go, go.

Tim Fulton 38:00Right. And so what's sort of the build-out plan look like? Like, what do you have to... What has to be arranged in order for you guys to get going?

Matthew Hagens 38:08So they actually just finished, like, the baseline demo-

Katie Randazzo 38:12Right

Matthew Hagens 38:12... here, uh, a few days ago.

Tim Fulton 38:13Okay.

Matthew Hagens 38:13And they're doing, like, a walkthrough to check our MEP and all our specs, and make sure that everything's gonna work the way, you know, at least in planning.

Tim Fulton 38:20What's MEP?

Matthew Hagens 38:22I don't know. It's mechanical something.

Tim Fulton 38:24Mechanical, electrical-

Matthew Hagens 38:25Extra special

Tim Fulton 38:25... power.

Katie Randazzo 38:26Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 38:26Something.

Katie Randazzo 38:26Something like that. I don't-

Tim Fulton 38:27Okay

Katie Randazzo 38:27... I don't know the technical term for it. I just know MEP.

Matthew Hagens 38:31I... Yeah, like I, I, I know what they do, I just don't know-

Tim Fulton 38:33Got it

Matthew Hagens 38:34... what it stands for.

Tim Fulton 38:34Okay. Cool. I'll put it in the show notes.

Matthew Hagens 38:38And so what we'll get, hopefully, on the other side of that is an okay to go ahead and white box the space.

Tim Fulton 38:44Okay.

Matthew Hagens 38:44You know, drywall. Like-

Tim Fulton 38:46Mm-hmm

Matthew Hagens 38:47... no, no, no finishing touches. There's gonna be an elevation in the kitchen.

Tim Fulton 38:50Okay.

Matthew Hagens 38:51There's gonna be, like, a really huge chunk of the kitchen that is, uh-

Katie Randazzo 38:54They're tearing down

Matthew Hagens 38:54... designated for, uh, for-

Katie Randazzo 38:57Oh, for the-

Matthew Hagens 38:57... ADA ramp. But they're-

Katie Randazzo 38:58Then they're tearing down half the building.

Tim Fulton 39:01Okay.

Matthew Hagens 39:02So there's some large things that need to do, uh, need to be done, and then they'll be kinda, like, reassembling it into this nice, tidy package.

Tim Fulton 39:09Gotcha. So while you guys say you're taking over... 'Cause it's a huge... When you said half of it, I was like, that's huge.

Katie Randazzo 39:14Yeah.

Tim Fulton 39:14But-

Katie Randazzo 39:15It's gonna be a little bit smaller than probably what you re-

Tim Fulton 39:18Not much.

Katie Randazzo 39:18Not much. It's gonna... It's a, it's a decent-sized space, for sure.

Tim Fulton 39:20How many seats are you looking at?

Katie Randazzo 39:22Between 80 and 100.

Tim Fulton 39:23That's a lot.

Katie Randazzo 39:24With a patio.

Tim Fulton 39:25Okay.

Katie Randazzo 39:25We're gonna have a patio.

Tim Fulton 39:26That's a lot.

Katie Randazzo 39:27And that patio's beautiful.

Tim Fulton 39:29Awesome.

Katie Randazzo 39:30Ugh.

Matthew Hagens 39:31Yeah, the renderings are-

Katie Randazzo 39:32Oh

Matthew Hagens 39:32... are very exciting.

Katie Randazzo 39:33So good-looking.

Tim Fulton 39:34So you guys are working on... You have a permanent pop-up at Three Sheets. Tell me about that.

Matthew Hagens 39:40Ambrose & Eve's Burger Shack.

Tim Fulton 39:42Okay.

Matthew Hagens 39:42It's pretty straight up and down, just that.

Tim Fulton 39:44You serve burgers.

Matthew Hagens 39:45We serve burgers-

Katie Randazzo 39:46Burgers and, like-

Matthew Hagens 39:46... chicken sandwiches

Katie Randazzo 39:47... classic riffs on, really, our favorite junk food to eat, like jalapeno poppers and Funyuns and potato skins.

Tim Fulton 39:53Okay.

Matthew Hagens 39:54It kinda jumped out at one of our pop-ups. We had a junk food pop-up.

Tim Fulton 39:58Okay.

Matthew Hagens 39:59We were, like, kind of already talking about doing this pop-up at Three Sheets, and we were like, "Well, we should just keep this food, 'cause it's really good."

Tim Fulton 40:06So is it technically a pop-up anymore if you're semi-permanent?

Katie Randazzo 40:09I would say that-

Matthew Hagens 40:10I think it's a pop, I think it's a pop-up if you don't own it.

Katie Randazzo 40:11Yeah.

Tim Fulton 40:12Okay. There you go.

Matthew Hagens 40:13Yeah. Um-

Tim Fulton 40:14'Cause you don't... So wait, would technically Hala at-

Katie Randazzo 40:17Woodlands

Tim Fulton 40:17... Woodlands be considered a pop-up?

Katie Randazzo 40:18I think so, yeah.

Tim Fulton 40:19Okay. There you go. All right. Where's Three Sheets?

Katie Randazzo 40:23It's, uh, next to the Hy-Vee on South High, very close to where our restaurant's gonna be.

Matthew Hagens 40:27560 South High Street.

Katie Randazzo 40:29Yeah.

Tim Fulton 40:29Okay.

Katie Randazzo 40:30And w- part of the reason why we wanted to be in that neighborhood is so we could generate buzz and-

Tim Fulton 40:35Get to know people

Katie Randazzo 40:35... get the neighborhood f- familiar with our style and, like-

Tim Fulton 40:38Yeah

Katie Randazzo 40:38... things that they can expect at Ambrose & Eve the restaurant, even though the style's gonna be completely different-

Tim Fulton 40:44Right

Katie Randazzo 40:44... food. But still, like-

Matthew Hagens 40:45But the attention that's paid to it is the same.

Katie Randazzo 40:47Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 40:47You know? It's like-

Tim Fulton 40:48Well, and it's interesting. I think you guys are slowly but surely br- building a brand up.

Katie Randazzo 40:52Oh, for sure.

Matthew Hagens 40:53Yeah, because, I mean, that's, I shouldn't say end goal, but that's the goal. Like, that's the way through.

Tim Fulton 40:58Mm-hmm.

Matthew Hagens 40:59We wanna open a few restaurants, and we don't wanna, like, open this restaurant and then open another of the same restaurant, and then another of the same restaurant. We'd like to own a variety of restaurants, uh, that do different things and are all interesting, but have kind of a s- similar underlying aesthetic.

Tim Fulton 41:15You guys are the future Cameron Mitchells.

Katie Randazzo 41:18I wouldn't compare us to him, but yes.

Tim Fulton 41:21Fair. Fair. Have you reached out to the... Is it Klatsche?

Katie Randazzo 41:25Klatsche Republic.

Tim Fulton 41:25Klatsche Republic guys.

Katie Randazzo 41:26I actually went to high school with that guy. My mom and his mom-

Tim Fulton 41:28With which one?

Katie Randazzo 41:29Klatshu.

Tim Fulton 41:30Okay.

Katie Randazzo 41:30My mom and his mom taught high school together, or junior high together.

Tim Fulton 41:34No kidding.

Katie Randazzo 41:34Yeah.

Tim Fulton 41:34So I lived right next door in high school to Dustin.

Katie Randazzo 41:38Did you?

Tim Fulton 41:38Not high school, college.

Katie Randazzo 41:39Oh, okay.

Tim Fulton 41:40When I was at Ohio State-

Katie Randazzo 41:41Oh, really?

Tim Fulton 41:42... we, we both lived, like, off of King Avenue.

Katie Randazzo 41:43Oh, that's so funny.

Tim Fulton 41:44Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 41:45I've been in twice-

Tim Fulton 41:46Uh-huh

Matthew Hagens 41:46... since we've been kicking around in that neighborhood, and I enjoyed my food a lot. But I feel like they have a lot of regulars. Like, like-

Tim Fulton 41:52Yeah

Matthew Hagens 41:53... the people that came in around me, like, while I was there, everybody was, like, greeted on a first-name basis.

Tim Fulton 41:58Okay.

Matthew Hagens 41:58They, they, they walked in the door and they knew what they were gonna eat.

Tim Fulton 42:01So there's a testament to that. Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 42:03That's huge. And customer service is such a big deal that I feel like a lot of restaurants and businesses fail on on a regular basis.

Tim Fulton 42:09Yeah. Well, and what's interesting, what I've seen sort of is as we had that big sort of, I don't wanna call it a renaissance, but, like, everything got really good really fast. Places like Curio and Sycamore and, like, all came up. And then some places, I am not gonna name which ones, you go back, you know, maybe even... It took a couple years, but a couple years later it's like, oh, there's not as much, like, they don't wanna tell you about what's in it because maybe they don't know or maybe they're too busy, and there's not as much focus on the customer service end of things.

Matthew Hagens 42:43I think that's fully fair to say.

Katie Randazzo 42:45I completely agree.

Tim Fulton 42:46Well, okay.

Katie Randazzo 42:47Yeah.

Tim Fulton 42:47Have you seen that?

Katie Randazzo 42:48Oh, absolutely.

Tim Fulton 42:49Okay.

Katie Randazzo 42:49And that's, like, why Matt and I have had so many conversations on customer service, continued education with the servers.

Tim Fulton 42:55Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 42:55Like, wine education, spirit education, food education, so that they can answer the questions, they can tell you where it came from. They know what's in it. Like-

Tim Fulton 43:02Well, and they're exci- and they need to be excited

Katie Randazzo 43:05... and they're excited about it. Like, they-

Tim Fulton 43:05'Cause the problem is-

Matthew Hagens 43:06Yeah

Tim Fulton 43:06... is those people who are super good at customer service and, like, take extra time and, like, train themselves and read books, and I'm thinking about more, like, alcohol and beer at this point- Who, like, wanna talk to the customer about, like, what is a sour beer or what makes a lager. And those people actually, because they're so good, they get promoted to management.

Katie Randazzo 43:25Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 43:25And then the people that come in under them don't take the time or as passionate, and they're just sort of like, "This is my job to sling beers or drinks or whatever it is." And yeah, I mean, that really does differentiate a business to me.

Katie Randazzo 43:39Well, I, I think, um, I think part of that is people are going to college, and they're like, "I'm just serving and this is just like my part-time job-"

Tim Fulton 43:47Right

Katie Randazzo 43:47... while I work on my degree." But people are maybe not ashamed isn't the right word, but, like, it's okay to be a professional server.

Tim Fulton 43:55Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 43:55That, that can be your career, and it's a-

Matthew Hagens 43:56Like a restaurant professional?

Katie Randazzo 43:58Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 43:58Like, that is a real thing.

Tim Fulton 44:00Absolutely it is.

Matthew Hagens 44:00And when you go other places, you see that. Like-

Tim Fulton 44:03Right

Matthew Hagens 44:03... even here in DC.

Katie Randazzo 44:04Like New York, LA, like-

Matthew Hagens 44:05Yeah

Katie Randazzo 44:05... that's, that's totally a thing there.

Tim Fulton 44:07Well-

Matthew Hagens 44:07But there are pe- I'm, so, like, I'm thinking, first of all, uh, while we may be snarky about it sometimes, the Cameron Mitchell restaurants do a really good job of at least having a baseline-

Katie Randazzo 44:17I completely agree with that

Matthew Hagens 44:18... of great customer service.

Tim Fulton 44:18They attract people. They take care of people.

Matthew Hagens 44:20Yeah.

Tim Fulton 44:20Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 44:21They take care-

Tim Fulton 44:21Well-

Katie Randazzo 44:21... of their staff extremely well. Like, I will say that I admire his business motto and the way that he takes care of customers-

Tim Fulton 44:27Mm-hmm

Katie Randazzo 44:27... and the way he takes care of guests. It's great.

Tim Fulton 44:30Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 44:30Like, absolutely it's great.

Tim Fulton 44:30That milkshake thing and whatever.

Katie Randazzo 44:32What?

Tim Fulton 44:33Do you know about the milkshake thing?

Katie Randazzo 44:34No.

Tim Fulton 44:35So if you ever go into a Cameron Mitchell restaurant, some of the servers or host staff or managers have a l- a little lapel pin that is a milkshake, and it's representative of going into a place and saying, "Hey, all I want is a milkshake," and there's no milkshake on the menu. And the, and the standard should be if you have the things you need to make a milkshake, just make them a milkshake rather than, you know, having to dec- what's the... There's a movie where the guy wants to order a BLT, and there's all the ingredients for the BLT are on-

Katie Randazzo 45:09Oh, yeah. What is that movie?

Tim Fulton 45:11Is it Jack Nicholson is in that scene?

Katie Randazzo 45:13I don't... I, I know what you're talking about, but I don't recall the-

Tim Fulton 45:15I will put that in the show notes as well. But it's basically just the philosophy, give them what they want. And now that I think about it, it's sort of the established places like Barcelona, the places that have been in Columbus for, like, 20 years or 30 years, I don't know how long they've been here, and Tapatio was when it was still around, was those are career servers, and so they're passionate about what they-

Katie Randazzo 45:39Lindy's has a lot of career servers.

Tim Fulton 45:41Lindy's, great example as well. Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 45:43Yeah.

Tim Fulton 45:43So-

Katie Randazzo 45:44We're hoping to attract those people.

Matthew Hagens 45:46Literally.

Katie Randazzo 45:47Literally.

Matthew Hagens 45:47Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 45:47'Cause we'll also come up-

Tim Fulton 45:49Come and work for Ambrose and Eve.

Katie Randazzo 45:51So we're gonna offer profit sharing for our-

Tim Fulton 45:53So that's part of your model?

Katie Randazzo 45:54Correct.

Tim Fulton 45:54Yeah, okay.

Katie Randazzo 45:55Yeah.

Tim Fulton 45:56So yeah, I mean-

Matthew Hagens 45:56Have you worked out how that's gonna look exactly?

Katie Randazzo 45:58Eh, we've talked about it, but we don't have anything I would say in, like, finite details as of-

Tim Fulton 46:03Okay

Katie Randazzo 46:03... yet, but it's-

Tim Fulton 46:04So basically what you guys will do is say employees have X percentage of ownership of the company.

Katie Randazzo 46:09Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 46:10It's not necessarily that they're not gonna get vested or anything.

Katie Randazzo 46:13Right.

Tim Fulton 46:14But, but while they work there, what, every quarter, every-

Matthew Hagens 46:18We'll pay down a percentage of the restaurant's profits.

Tim Fulton 46:20Okay.

Matthew Hagens 46:21Kind of a scale across employees to management.

Tim Fulton 46:23And that'll be based on hours worked, I assume, plus seniority.

Matthew Hagens 46:27Hours worked, seniority.

Tim Fulton 46:29Okay.

Matthew Hagens 46:30We just feel like it will really incentivize people to do a good job-

Tim Fulton 46:33Yeah

Matthew Hagens 46:33... to be professional.

Katie Randazzo 46:34To take care in it 'cause th- the- essentially, like, that restaurant is also theirs in a way-

Tim Fulton 46:38Right

Katie Randazzo 46:38... so they'll treat it like it's their own, it's, it's their own space, so.

Tim Fulton 46:42Do you feel like you're gonna have to open up your books a little bit and sort of say, like, "Here's what... Here's how we're doing-"

Katie Randazzo 46:49I-

Tim Fulton 46:49... basically

Matthew Hagens 46:50I think that's what that is going to be.

Tim Fulton 46:54Mm-hmm. I'm just super curious 'cause I, as a somebody who's done, who's been involved in a restaurant space sort of passively and then also as somebody who's consulted on, like, bar marketing and stuff, I always get sort of an itch when somebody's like, "I'm gonna spend this amount of money on this," and I haven't been asked about it, and I'm like, "That seems like a lot of money to spend on Wi-Fi," or, "Seems like a lot of money to spend on ca- like, commercial cable for a restaurant or a bar is crazy expensive."

Matthew Hagens 47:22It's really expensive.

Katie Randazzo 47:23It's really expensive. We don't want we don't want TVs.

Tim Fulton 47:26Well, yeah, but it's, it's stuff like that, and I just wonder if, and this is totally just me thinking things through, is do you have a risk of the employees then being like, "Why are we spending so much money on veal?" Do you worry you're gonna open yourself up to that? I guess I'm just wondering-

Katie Randazzo 47:41I, I never-

Tim Fulton 47:42... if you've thought about it

Katie Randazzo 47:42... I never worried about it.

Tim Fulton 47:43Okay.

Matthew Hagens 47:44I, I don't really. That's why I kinda, like, stepped back a bit from employee owners-

Tim Fulton 47:49Okay

Matthew Hagens 47:50... to profit sharing. Like, those are not the same thing.

Tim Fulton 47:53Yes, absolutely.

Matthew Hagens 47:53Or, or they don't have to be the same things. They can be.

Tim Fulton 47:55Right.

Matthew Hagens 47:56So we make-

Tim Fulton 47:58It's basically bonuses.

Matthew Hagens 47:59Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 47:59Yeah.

Tim Fulton 48:00I mean-

Matthew Hagens 48:00Performance-based bonuses.

Tim Fulton 48:01Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 48:02Absolutely.

Tim Fulton 48:02Exactly, and I mean, you guys aren't gonna put yourselves out, but yeah, it's based on the success of the space.

Matthew Hagens 48:08And it's tied directly to all of our performance.

Tim Fulton 48:12Mm-hmm.

Matthew Hagens 48:12From how we implement our ideas into the kitchen to how people execute them-

Tim Fulton 48:18Mm-hmm

Matthew Hagens 48:18... to how our GM runs the flow of service to how, you know, individual servers and bartenders, like, execute it.

Tim Fulton 48:25Mm-hmm.

Katie Randazzo 48:25How we manage our labor, how we manage our food costs.

Tim Fulton 48:28Right. How are you guys splitting, as business partners, how are you sort of splitting up your duties?

Matthew Hagens 48:34Well, so-

Tim Fulton 48:35What's your role?

Matthew Hagens 48:36Generally, generally, because I am a little bit more of a night owl and she likes to get moving a little bit more during the day-

Tim Fulton 48:43Mm-hmm

Matthew Hagens 48:43... she'll be more or less in charge of what's going on during the day, and I'll be more or less in charge of what's going on at night.

Tim Fulton 48:49Okay.

Matthew Hagens 48:49You know, we'll meet, like, all of the food that we put out will be, will be our food, and we'll test all the recipes together.

Tim Fulton 48:55Okay.

Matthew Hagens 48:55We'll train people to implement them together.

Katie Randazzo 48:57Exactly the same way. There won't be any differences.

Tim Fulton 48:59Got it.

Katie Randazzo 49:00Which is important.

Tim Fulton 49:01Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 49:01I think that's very important.

Tim Fulton 49:02Consistency, yeah.

Katie Randazzo 49:03Consistency, and we, we are on the same page with that in the Burger Shack right now. Like, before I send anything out, I ask Matt if he's okay with it, and he does the same with me as well-

Tim Fulton 49:12Mm-hmm

Katie Randazzo 49:12... because I think there's a mutual level of respect that we have for each other-

Tim Fulton 49:15Mm-hmm

Katie Randazzo 49:16... each other's opinions, and also, like, we wanna be successful, so we wanna run... It's better to have two eyes-

Tim Fulton 49:22Right

Katie Randazzo 49:22... four eyes-

Tim Fulton 49:25They both have glasses

Katie Randazzo 49:26Eight eyes.

Tim Fulton 49:27Uh-huh.

Katie Randazzo 49:27Eight eyes in the kitchen than, than none, so, like, yeah.

Tim Fulton 49:30Right. So what about, like, I'm just curious about, like, what about accounting? What about payroll? What about-

Matthew Hagens 49:37I think it's a really good idea to-

Tim Fulton 49:39Hire someone

Matthew Hagens 49:40... do the things that you are good at.

Katie Randazzo 49:42Yep.

Tim Fulton 49:42Yep.

Matthew Hagens 49:42And hire people to do the things that you are not great at.

Tim Fulton 49:45Again, having done this before, I'm just curious, what have you identified at this point of, like, mm, we probably need a lawyer sometimes, or-

Matthew Hagens 49:52Well-

Tim Fulton 49:52... like, we need an accountant

Matthew Hagens 49:54... so a lawyer, a bookkeeper, an accountant.

Tim Fulton 49:56Mm-hmm. Are those separate?

Matthew Hagens 49:59Yes.

Tim Fulton 49:59Okay.

Matthew Hagens 49:59Bookkeepers-

Tim Fulton 50:00Day-to-day

Matthew Hagens 50:01... that's actually the difference. Like, day-to-day-

Tim Fulton 50:03Uh-huh

Matthew Hagens 50:03... bookkeepers are much less expensive.

Tim Fulton 50:06Yep.

Matthew Hagens 50:06And what they do is they kinda, like, collate things. They-

Tim Fulton 50:08They keep everything

Matthew Hagens 50:09... they file receipts. They put things into, into spreadsheets.

Tim Fulton 50:12Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 50:12And then your accountant does the heavy lifting.

Tim Fulton 50:16The taxes.

Katie Randazzo 50:16That type of thing.

Tim Fulton 50:16Right.

Matthew Hagens 50:16Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 50:16And the bookkeeper could easily be the general manager, too.

Tim Fulton 50:19Yeah.

Katie Randazzo 50:20I mean-

Tim Fulton 50:21Absolutely. It's just somebody who has that skill set and knows how to work QuickBooks or whatever you guys decide on using.

Matthew Hagens 50:27Yeah.

Tim Fulton 50:27So.

Katie Randazzo 50:27Yeah.

Tim Fulton 50:28Cool. You're gonna have beer and liquor, or-

Katie Randazzo 50:31Yes.

Matthew Hagens 50:31Yes.

Tim Fulton 50:32Awesome. Congratulations.

Matthew Hagens 50:33We're gonna focus on ciders.

Tim Fulton 50:35Okay.

Matthew Hagens 50:35We feel like people's idea of cider is very American right now.

Katie Randazzo 50:41Yeah. It's like, what?

Tim Fulton 50:43It's the-

Katie Randazzo 50:43Angry Orchard? Like, ooh, Angry Orchard.

Tim Fulton 50:46Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 50:46Yeah.

Tim Fulton 50:46There are, like, eight Angry Orchards, though.

Katie Randazzo 50:48Right.

Tim Fulton 50:50So-

Matthew Hagens 50:50But you will have a sort of a depth and breadth of a, of a cider menu.

Tim Fulton 50:54Yeah. Liquor?

Katie Randazzo 50:56Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 50:56Yes.

Katie Randazzo 50:56We'll have liquor.

Tim Fulton 50:56Okay, great. So you'll have some cocktails. You'll have-

Matthew Hagens 51:00And then we'll have a couple of draft, and then we'll... W- we're gonna have a couple of drafts. We're gonna have-

Katie Randazzo 51:04Literally, like, two.

Matthew Hagens 51:05We're gonna... Yeah.

Tim Fulton 51:06That's cheaper-

Katie Randazzo 51:08Yeah

Tim Fulton 51:08... for implementation. I mean-

Katie Randazzo 51:09Well, the space is limited.

Tim Fulton 51:10Right.

Katie Randazzo 51:11So, I mean-

Matthew Hagens 51:11Well, like, it's a pretty big space, but there are two walls in the middle of that-

Tim Fulton 51:15Okay

Matthew Hagens 51:15... restaurant that cannot move because they're holding the building up.

Tim Fulton 51:17They're load-bearing, right. Okay.

Katie Randazzo 51:19Everyone's a-

Matthew Hagens 51:20So, and then the, we have a lead-lined room. Uh-

Tim Fulton 51:23Oh, it was a bank.

Matthew Hagens 51:25Oh.

Tim Fulton 51:25Or something.

Katie Randazzo 51:26Yeah.

Matthew Hagens 51:26Or something.

Katie Randazzo 51:27So that can't come down either, so.

Matthew Hagens 51:28So, you know, like, it, it would be cost-prohibitive to do anything with that.

Tim Fulton 51:32Right.

Matthew Hagens 51:33So those things kinda, like, pinch our space, and then some of the space in the room where we're gonna put the bar is being co-opted for a flight of stairs to go upstairs to the apartment that's upstairs.

Tim Fulton 51:42Okay.

Matthew Hagens 51:43So there are so many, like, really, really good local craft beers that are available in bottles and cans-

Tim Fulton 51:51Yeah. Thankfully

Matthew Hagens 51:51... uh, right now that we feel like we can still manage a really good selection, but-

Tim Fulton 51:54You gonna keep PBR tall boys there for me, or-

Matthew Hagens 51:57I mean, I almost feel like you have-

Katie Randazzo 51:58Only if you stock them.

Matthew Hagens 51:59Well, maybe...

Katie Randazzo 52:01We'll keep them in the kitchen.

Tim Fulton 52:03Okay.

Katie Randazzo 52:03It'll be a kitchen beer you can buy for the kitchen.

Tim Fulton 52:05Got it.

Matthew Hagens 52:06And the, and there'll be an excellent for you.

Katie Randazzo 52:08Yeah.

Tim Fulton 52:08Thank you.

Katie Randazzo 52:08Any-

Matthew Hagens 52:08I appreciate that

Katie Randazzo 52:09... anytime, anytime.

Tim Fulton 52:10Guys, thank you so much for coming in again.

Matthew Hagens 52:13Thanks for having us.

Tim Fulton 52:13Is there a website that I can link to?

Matthew Hagens 52:15We're working on it.

Tim Fulton 52:16Matthew Hagans, Katie Randazzo, Ambrose and Eve, thank you guys so much for coming in.

Matthew Hagens 52:20Thank you.

Katie Randazzo 52:21Thank you.

Tim Fulton 52:29Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite restaurateur. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.