From Concept to Creation: Building a Successful Media Company with Carl Fiadini
The primary focus of this podcast episode revolves around the imperative of planning and execution in the hospitality industry, as articulated by our esteemed guest, Carl Fiadini, the founder of Walk-In Talk Media, and host of Walk-In Talk Podcast. He emphasizes the necessity of establishing a clear vision, outlining actionable steps, and, crucially, surrounding oneself with a supportive team to realize one's ambitions. As we delve into the intricacies of Carl's journey, we explore how collaboration and community engagement are pivotal to success in the culinary landscape. Furthermore, the discussion highlights the profound connection between the food industry and mental health, underscoring the importance of fostering positivity and support among professionals. Join us as we navigate the evolving dynamics of hospitality, drawing insights from Carl’s extensive experience and the collective wisdom of our community.
Takeaways:
- A successful venture necessitates meticulous planning, a clear vision, and effective execution to achieve desired outcomes.
- The importance of collaboration and support from colleagues and friends cannot be overstated in achieving one's goals.
- In the hospitality industry, adaptability and the willingness to pivot are crucial for continued success during challenging times.
- The significance of storytelling in the culinary world allows for a deeper connection and appreciation of the food and the individuals behind it.
Transcript
You gotta plan it, have an idea, like have your vision, outline it, figure out how you're going to actually execute it and go.
Speaker A:Don't think about it, don't think twice.
Speaker A:Don't, you know, hee haw, whatever.
Speaker A:No, man, you gotta just, you gotta full throttle and make it happen and then you gotta see it through.
Speaker A:But in most cases you need other people.
Speaker A:You really do.
Speaker A:It's, it's not like, you know, you could just, you know, shoulder all of this yourself.
Speaker A:So, so, you know, as long as you have a good team around you or, or friends that will support you or co workers that will support you, whatever it is, line up where you need to line up and just go.
Speaker B:Hello everyone.
Speaker B:Welcome back to Hospitality Bites.
Speaker B:I'm your host, self proclaimed hospitality hustler, mompreneur and the founder of Hospitality Bites Media.
Speaker B:It has been several months since my last episode and in that time I have grown Hospitality Bites Media significantly, including moving the show over to its new home at Walk and Talk Media.
Speaker B:So why the move?
Speaker B:Well, as a hospitality professional, a seasoned lifer, I feed off, no pun intended, collaboration and togetherness.
Speaker B:And an exciting turn of events.
Speaker B:While I was attending the NAFLAM conference this past February with my crew, the Burn Chef, I stumbled upon Walk and Talk Media around the corner from us, including today's guest, the founder of Walk and Talk Media, Carl Fiadini, or Fettuccine, as he said earlier.
Speaker B:Carl joins us with decades worth of restaurant experience, from in house to distribution, generations worth of food knowledge, and most recently the creative founder of Walk and Talk Media, which houses Apple's number one food podcast, the official podcast of the New York, California Florida restaurant shows, Pizza Tomorrow Summit, the US Culinary Open at nafm, and most recently, which I'm super excited about, they were named the North American media platform for the Burnt Chef project.
Speaker B:Carl, welcome to Hospitality Vibes.
Speaker A:What an introduction.
Speaker A:Thank you very much, I appreciate that.
Speaker A:It's, you know, it sounds so different when you're on the other side.
Speaker B:So those that are listening, I was recently on Walk and Talk Media.
Speaker B:The podcast episode was like two episodes ago, I think, and that was my first time being on the receiving end in a very long time.
Speaker B:And it's very hard to not be the host and navigate and take the conversation somewhere.
Speaker B:So I totally understand.
Speaker A:Look, we're going to get through this and it's going to be great.
Speaker A:That's all I can tell you.
Speaker B:Together we can do this.
Speaker B:I believe in it.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:So let's just kind of jump right into it.
Speaker B:How did you get into the culinary.
Speaker B:The culinary scene, the hospitality space.
Speaker A:I mean, my.
Speaker A:I come from a long line of food industry folks, going back to my great grandfather, who was a head cook on a ship.
Speaker A: that was in, like, the early: Speaker A:My grandfather owned restaurant, my father did.
Speaker A:I grew up in the.
Speaker A:In the industry, and I probably spent the first.
Speaker A:First 10 years of my working life in restaurants and transitioned into distribution and sales in the food industry as well, for produce.
Speaker A:So that was way back when.
Speaker A:I've been doing this for, like, 35 years.
Speaker B:Let's not age you.
Speaker B:So that's been a long time, though.
Speaker A:I mean, the group.
Speaker A:The beard does it, I think.
Speaker B:The white beard.
Speaker B:Yeah, a little bit.
Speaker B:So what was your traditional food bringing up?
Speaker B:Like, what was your.
Speaker B:That you were in the restaurant scene?
Speaker B:What was it like, what time of week?
Speaker A:Well, so I started in an Italian restaurant.
Speaker A:I was a busboy.
Speaker A:I was like 15, something like that.
Speaker A:Well, before that in my father's restaurant, just kind of hanging around, and I was probably, you know, maybe 8, 9, 10 years old, something like that.
Speaker A:But I got into working for somebody other than my father at 15 as a busser in an Italian restaurant.
Speaker A:Learned a lot with that on people, because this is back in the days when owners and chefs and, you know, people who were in charge weren't as nice as they are today.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:Definitely.
Speaker B:Did you think that you were going to stay in it when you went in as a buster, or was this just like, hey, I need to make some cash, get in and get out type thing?
Speaker A:Cash, get in, get out.
Speaker A:Never had an idea that, you know, 30 years later that I would still be connected to this business.
Speaker B:Well, when do you think that bug kind of bit you?
Speaker B:You're like, oh, maybe I can make this out as a living.
Speaker A:It just happened that way.
Speaker A:You know, most people who get.
Speaker A:In my opinion, most people that get into the business, it isn't that you're going to school for it.
Speaker A:You just land in it and there you are.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously people go to school for hospitality, and it's a thing, but vastly, you need the money.
Speaker A:You learn the industry, you learn the ebb and flow of it, and you kind of stick with it.
Speaker A:I was fortunate to kind of transition out of the restaurant part.
Speaker A:You know, I'd gotten.
Speaker A:I'd had enough.
Speaker A:After 10 years of that and working other jobs, too, with staying in the industry, I had had enough.
Speaker A:So how I got into food service distribution was very cool.
Speaker A:My produce rep were Shooting the, you know, talking the blues one day about how we were just over the industry and he was tired of dealing with chefs, and I was tired of being in the, you know, being in the building.
Speaker A:And he says, hey, you know what, man?
Speaker A:Why don't you.
Speaker A:Why don't you come into sales?
Speaker A:Because, you know, you.
Speaker A:You talk good.
Speaker A:You should do it.
Speaker A:I was like, wow, really?
Speaker A:I didn't even know there was another part of this business at that point.
Speaker A:And I did.
Speaker A:I went, interviewed, got the job, and I was in the produce industry.
Speaker A:I did produce for 15 years plus, something like that.
Speaker A:20 years.
Speaker B:So did you love that part then?
Speaker A:I enjoy the business.
Speaker A:I enjoy food.
Speaker A:I love food, and I love the camaraderie of between the Kitchen.
Speaker A:So if I'm gonna look at this, I look at it in two ways.
Speaker A:When you're working in the restaurants, I enjoy that camaraderie because it's.
Speaker A:It is a pirate ship, and it's a bunch of people who, you know, have no business probably dealing with.
Speaker A:With people.
Speaker A:But somehow or another, we all get it done.
Speaker A:But then I also like the relationship between the restaurant and the food source or the distributor or the farm.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Where I am today in my life, that's the storytelling I really appreciate because I get to the experiences and the knowledge that I've gained over this period of time.
Speaker A:I mean, it's just great.
Speaker A:I get to walk into any kitchen I want.
Speaker A:I know the vibe, the feel.
Speaker A:I know who to talk to, who not to talk to, when to go, when not to go.
Speaker A:Same thing with a farm, you know, now I'm just doing it, you know, with a camera or a crew or a mic, and, you know, and it makes it interesting.
Speaker A:So I still get to be connected to food, the industry, the camaraderie.
Speaker A:I'm still connected to all of it.
Speaker B:Do you think that there was a moment, I mean, you talk about it pretty openly in other interviews, the pandemic, and trying to figure out what the heck to do.
Speaker B:Like a lot of us in the industry, which sort of navigated you into the podcast for Walk and Talk, what was that like for you?
Speaker B:Was there a significant challenge that the pandemic did to you or that you were like, oh, maybe this is not going to.
Speaker B:We're not going to end well, or there's no end in sight?
Speaker B:I think that's how I felt personally.
Speaker B:This is ever going to end.
Speaker B:That made you go, hey, all right, I've done in house, I've been in the restaurants, I've done distribution.
Speaker B:Let's try this new path.
Speaker B:What do you think made you take the leap of faith to do that?
Speaker A:Covid was a disaster.
Speaker A:At the time, I was the director of sales for a fairly large produce company and I had about 20 people under my purview.
Speaker A:I had to lay off most of them.
Speaker A:That was horrible.
Speaker A:But with the skeleton crew that we had, we kind of made it to the other side of this thing.
Speaker A:And when we were coming out of COVID I don't want to get into the day to day, you know, distribution house during COVID It's really not exciting.
Speaker A:But as we were coming out was a.
Speaker A:There was that time when nobody wanted to talk to anybody.
Speaker A:Things were coming back online here in Florida.
Speaker A:Like, restaurants were opening and still, like, you were uncomfortable being around people.
Speaker A:Like, we all got into that funk, that phase, right?
Speaker A:So ultimately I was like, well, I've got these salespeople.
Speaker A:I'm bringing everybody back.
Speaker A:Which was a great, great phone call.
Speaker A:So it was bringing people back.
Speaker A:How do I get them in front of the shaft, GM, whatever.
Speaker A:This is like LinkedIn wasn't such a big deal.
Speaker A:Social media was still kind of like, you know, it was, it blew up during COVID but it was still like, how do you use it for business?
Speaker A:So I, I came up with this idea where I said, okay, I'm gonna buy an external microphone, have a camera, and I'm gonna go around the state of Florida and do an interview with each one of the salespeople in the company.
Speaker A:And so I did that, went around all of Florida with the salespeople, all the landmarks in their cities, and I did these videos.
Speaker A:And what I did is I had everybody like, let's say it was on a Tuesday at 8:30 in the morning, let's say there was 25 people.
Speaker A:We each published our video and then all of us went and re shared everybody else's video.
Speaker A:And it really like spiked the algorithm.
Speaker A:And we all got tens of thousands of views on our videos.
Speaker A:And I was like, wow, this is really powerful.
Speaker A:And it put a thought in my head on this.
Speaker A:This needs to be, you know, something where it's part of the conversations.
Speaker A:Social media and video has to be part of the conversation.
Speaker A:Long story short, I used my time at that company to put together what became Walk and Talk Media.
Speaker A:Obviously I was doing it to promote that company.
Speaker A:And I learned a lot, helped them.
Speaker A:It was great for me.
Speaker A:And you know, I.
Speaker A:Upon my exit into Walk and Talk Media and of that company, it.
Speaker A:It all kind of fell into place.
Speaker A:And at that same time, I still stayed in the food industry because I was offered a.
Speaker A:One of my sponsors.
Speaker A:So I'm kind of skipping ahead a little bit.
Speaker A:I had, I, I was real fortunate coming into this.
Speaker A:I probably had half a dozen sponsors that, that threw money at the show.
Speaker A:One of them was Peninsula Food Service, where, you know, they're still a partner in the show.
Speaker A:And I actually took a position as director of sales there.
Speaker A:And there's some major synergies, so it's really a great situation.
Speaker A:But over the course of the last five years, we went from YouTube.
Speaker A:Only then came a magazine.
Speaker A:We put out up one issue and then that's when the economy started falling on its head.
Speaker A:I had to put it on the shelf.
Speaker A:And that's what kind of drove me into podcasting.
Speaker A:It was the least expensive path to get in front of a lot of people, potentially.
Speaker A:We were getting between 5,000 and 100,000 views on our, on our YouTube channel.
Speaker A:So I figured there would be some crossover.
Speaker A:First episode was published in October of 22, and in one year from October of 22nd to October of 23, we hit a million downloads and we started ranking.
Speaker A:We, you know, actually we started ranking in December of 22, and I didn't know that until later.
Speaker A:We were well received in the, in the, in the industry.
Speaker A:Foodies, people in the business, chefs, waiters, you know, your dishwasher.
Speaker A:Everybody was kind of like embracing us.
Speaker A:So we got really blessed, really lucky with that.
Speaker A:And, you know, here we are today.
Speaker A:We got 4 million downloads.
Speaker A:We 48 out of 52 weeks a year.
Speaker A:We're in the number one position on Apple in the food category and we're ranking in another, I don't know, dozen countries.
Speaker A:And we're also number one on a regular basis and in a handful of countries as well.
Speaker A:So it's really cool.
Speaker A:And it opens door after door after door after door.
Speaker A:It's a major win.
Speaker A:It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker B:Isn't it fun to take a skill, just talking to people and use it to have a job?
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to say listen, so the ideas wise, I'm, you know, I happen to have this like, divine, I call it a divine download where I wake up one day and it's like, boom, here's this opportunity to do something else with cameras.
Speaker A:And we go and do it, but I can't, you know.
Speaker A:So John Hernandez, who's my number two in the operation, he's also a food photographer, he's a brother.
Speaker A:I've Known a guy for 30 something years, you know, without him, without Pooch Rivera, who's out of New Orleans.
Speaker A:Like, I have a good team of people around me.
Speaker A:And of course, the partners that come on board are show partners like Rack, Porcelain, and Metro.
Speaker A:And these guys.
Speaker A:There's a group of them that they support us.
Speaker A:And because of them and the team around me, I am able to kind of, like, lift my head above the fray and figure out some vision and some direction and what's the next cool thing that we can do.
Speaker B:You said Rack.
Speaker B:It was interesting.
Speaker B:When we were at the NRA show, I had.
Speaker B:Obviously, it's seated through your show, the plateware that you all use.
Speaker B:But I'd never met them in person.
Speaker B:They had this ridiculously.
Speaker B:I don't know who the art director is, but they designed a bridal gown out of their slatewear.
Speaker B:I couldn't stop staring.
Speaker B:I took dozens of photos.
Speaker B:It was just one of those things like, okay, that's marketing.
Speaker B:I've seen at its finest.
Speaker B:You take something that should not be you used for what it's used and make something so beautiful that people were stopping dead in their tracks taking photos under this beautiful archway.
Speaker B:And it was just great that they saw.
Speaker B:They see the ability of using cool storytelling, like, in a visual way to sell their products too.
Speaker B:It's not just about, okay, it looks great for a wedding.
Speaker B:You know, setting out the table spread or putting food and plate.
Speaker B:Just that other aspect of creative mind being brought into the fold.
Speaker B:I was blown away.
Speaker B:I had it.
Speaker B:I was grateful that Pooch invited me over to hang out during their happy hour, but just to see that, I was like, man, that's a great partner.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:That's incredible.
Speaker B:It was truly breathtaking.
Speaker B:I've never seen anything like it in any trade show.
Speaker B:Especially in a restaurant show, you don't expect to see something so beautiful.
Speaker B:So kudos to your partners at Rack.
Speaker A:I love them.
Speaker A:Yeah, they, you know, John, their president here in the U.S.
Speaker A:tina and Tanya.
Speaker A:They're just a really good bunch of people.
Speaker A:And I'm really.
Speaker A:And that's, you know, if I'm gonna.
Speaker A:If I'm gonna dart something at, like, what.
Speaker A:What has been really great with this whole experience.
Speaker A:90% of the people that we've been partners with or sponsored, you know, who've sponsored us have been terrific, like, great people.
Speaker A:Not just like, hey, the products are good.
Speaker A:We, you know, and I vet everything.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:We don't bring anything on board that's, you know, suspect or poor quality or Whatever.
Speaker A:So putting that aside, these are good people and I enjoy working with them.
Speaker A:And that's really the, that's like the unsung hero of what we do is working with great people, whether it's the company, the individual, another podcaster, people in the media sphere, whatever, that, that's what's really great about this whole business.
Speaker B:But also, yeah, it's also great to show that the industry isn't just the restaurant, the brick and mortar that people know of a restaurant.
Speaker B:There's so many things that go into making a restaurant run, including flare, where the food is sourced from the paper that's used for any, you know, their in house marketing or visual storytelling.
Speaker B:The restaurant industry has exploded, I think, since the pandemic of highlighting what makes it run, not just what people perceive it as, which I think was the best thing for me as a takeaway from the pandemic was seeing that there is so much beauty in other aspects of the industry and navigating these other career paths that you can have.
Speaker B:Like for you, you know, you went from in house to distribution to now running this wonderful media company and you touched on it briefly, but you had this vision of creating a print magazine and how to shelf it, which I think a lot of people understand that.
Speaker B:What is the hope for that?
Speaker B:Do you hope to bring that back?
Speaker B:The print?
Speaker A:Yeah, of course, we've been talking about it.
Speaker A:It's going to come back in a digital format versus hard copy.
Speaker A:But the thing about this media company, it's like the little engine that, that could.
Speaker A:And again, forget me, if it was, if it weren't for people like, you know, Pooch and John and there's a whole list of individuals, but we come together from nothing.
Speaker A:We built something and, and that's really the beautiful part of it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I want to bring.
Speaker A:So we've pivoted.
Speaker A:Well, let's see, it's been five years, right?
Speaker A:Company's been around five years and every single year we've had to pivot because of the economy of things.
Speaker A:So the first year and a half, two years, you know, sponsors were throwing money into this and it was really amazing and I, I, I couldn't believe actually what was happening.
Speaker A:It was so great.
Speaker A:I couldn't believe it.
Speaker A:And then the economy started to like turn on its head a little bit and I saw that those sources started drying up.
Speaker A:It was kind of like, you know, the thing would just, they were closing and obviously I'm trying to build a company, build a business and what ends up happening is you have to pivot.
Speaker A:And I've pivoted every year of these five years to make a change, to kick the can down the road, to keep it going and all of that.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:And there's just so many, I would say, I don't know, seven, eight new partners came on board, show partners, brand partners.
Speaker A:And it reinvigorated my, my feeling on the whole matter.
Speaker A:You know, it's hard to be, it's hard to.
Speaker A:And I'm not crying the blues in any kind of way, I promise.
Speaker A:When you start a business and you don't know where the money's going to come from to support that, and then you, you know, you're, you're taking from one revenue source to cover bills that it shouldn't have to cover.
Speaker A:Like all of these different things that you have to do to make it work.
Speaker A:Scary.
Speaker A:It's so scary.
Speaker A:But if you're focused and you have good people around you, I mean, it's coming into fruition.
Speaker A:I feel like we put out a pretty decent product.
Speaker A:There's always room for improvement.
Speaker A:I'm constantly asking people online, hey, what's your opinion on this?
Speaker A:Or I'll side chat somebody, hey, what do you think of that change something on our video platform?
Speaker A:How do you like this video?
Speaker A:I think I've done that with you a bunch of times too.
Speaker A:What do you think of this?
Speaker B:Well, I think what you're saying about pivoting is also, you're flexible.
Speaker B:You're not so rigid that you can't see.
Speaker B:You only think that your way is the right way, that there are ways to do something different.
Speaker B:I think it's all about being flexible.
Speaker B:And you clearly have shown that, that, okay, it didn't work this way or it's not exactly what I was envisioning.
Speaker B:How does it look if I go this way?
Speaker B:So going from print to digital is being flexible and also going with where the world is going.
Speaker B:There was a company that came out with really short videos right before the pandemic hit.
Speaker B:And the idea was that people are going to watch these short stories on their phones while they're taking the bus or the Metro, whatever it is.
Speaker B:Well, the world shut down.
Speaker B:So this whole million dollar company that started with big actors, it all went away and they said, okay, well, that was fun.
Speaker B:For I think they'd only launched for a few weeks and literally the world shut down.
Speaker B:How devastating Was that for those people?
Speaker B:But they pivoted since then or were flexible and have evolved in the last four years, five years now, to create a new thing.
Speaker B:And they have new videos coming out and they're working on longer storytelling to what the world was before and how do they navigate that back into the traveler.
Speaker B:So they're doing the short videos on social media.
Speaker B:Fails are longer than they used to be.
Speaker B:You know, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker B:And if you can't be flexible, then you're going to fail.
Speaker B:I think that's for people to hear.
Speaker B:That is really important.
Speaker B:And you also said about money, it's really scary.
Speaker B:And when people think everything's rainbows and butterflies, it gives off this.
Speaker B:This unrealistic expectation that you're going to hit it big and it's going to be successful.
Speaker B:It's okay that it's not always a linear path like myself.
Speaker B:I'll speak for myself.
Speaker B:It has been the hardest five years of my life, but also there's been so many beautiful moments.
Speaker B:And you and your company are an example of that.
Speaker B:I took a leap of faith and went to nafa and I didn't want to go for my own personal health reasons, and I went.
Speaker B:And my whole life has changed in four or five months.
Speaker B:So being flexible, being willing to pivot and understanding that everything is going to work out exactly as planned and have the right people, but having right people around you, you're a testament to it.
Speaker B:And I am a testament to that, too.
Speaker B:Right people, good people.
Speaker B:And trust your gut.
Speaker B:And I think that you've done all those things in the last five years.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I appreciate that.
Speaker B:You're welcome.
Speaker B:I mean it.
Speaker B:I'm sincere, though.
Speaker A:You know, it's a.
Speaker A:It's when you're.
Speaker A:When you're doing content, people seem to.
Speaker A:People think that I want to be, or I am an influencer.
Speaker A:I'm not.
Speaker A:I am not that at all, like 0% influencer.
Speaker A:I have a media company.
Speaker A:We produce content and we produce quality content.
Speaker A:And that's the idea of it.
Speaker A:We happen, of course, we have social media and we, you know, we do fairly well there.
Speaker A:But that's not the game.
Speaker A:The game isn't following Carl around.
Speaker A:The game is following our chefs and farmers and, you know, people from the industry.
Speaker A:It's highlighting them.
Speaker A:When I first started, I was in front of the camera, and I realized pretty quickly that I don't want to be in front of the camera.
Speaker A:I want to be behind the camera.
Speaker A:And I kind of just want to build a nice company.
Speaker A:That was the idea of it.
Speaker A:And in the beginning, everything was long form.
Speaker A:Our YouTube videos were like 25 to 30 minutes, and there were segments.
Speaker A:It was a TV show.
Speaker A:It was a legit food industry TV show, and it was pretty great.
Speaker A:And then, you know, everything switched over to 8 seconds, 15 seconds, and I'm like, wow, this is terrible.
Speaker A:And I saw it.
Speaker A:I saw it in the.
Speaker A:In the analytics, which was also part of the reason that I shifted towards the, you know, the podcasting.
Speaker A:I had people for years telling me, hey, do a podcast.
Speaker A:I was like, but I don't even listen to podcast.
Speaker A:Stupid.
Speaker A:Why would I do that when there's video, when I can go into a kitchen and shoot a chef, you know, Cretan great dishes?
Speaker A:Why the hell would I want to do a podcast?
Speaker A:And then I started digging into it a little bit, and I was like, wow, you know, three years ago, there was like a $2 billion industry.
Speaker A:Then I'm like, okay, wait a minute, let me look at this.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then just looking at the economy of things and how do I get.
Speaker A:How do I get to dive deeper into the storytelling and do it on a budget?
Speaker A:You know, obviously, if you want to do things properly with podcasting, it's expensive.
Speaker A:Everything is expensive.
Speaker A:The equipment, if you want to do it, like, the really, like, higher end way, it's.
Speaker A:It's expensive.
Speaker A:But I was still riding high on sponsors and whatnot at that time, and I said, you know what I'm gonna do?
Speaker A:I'm gonna carve out some.
Speaker A:Some cash here, and I'm gonna throw it at a bunch of really good equipment, and I have to learn how to use all the equipment.
Speaker A:You know, when I started, I didn't even have to turn on a camera.
Speaker A:Like, you know, like, I think you, you know, let alone audio mixers and video mixers.
Speaker A:And how does that work?
Speaker A:Well, with your, you know, your.
Speaker A:Your.
Speaker A:Your computer, your laptop and, oh, my God, it's.
Speaker A:It's daunting.
Speaker A:And people don't get that either.
Speaker A:They think it's like, oh, I'm going to sit in front of my, you know, my desk with a little, you know, my phone.
Speaker A:Or that.
Speaker A:No, like, if you really want to succeed and you want to do it the right way, you have to, in my opinion, put a little bit of dough into the operation in order to get to a basic quality level.
Speaker A:And then from there, you know, take your time and then, you know, build out what you're going to do.
Speaker A:You know, whatever your show premise is going to be.
Speaker A:Who do you want to focus on for guests and all that stuff?
Speaker A:Well, that was the least expensive way to kick the can down the road for Walk and Talk Media.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:And I'm, you know, when I say blessed, it's a blessing we're doing what we're doing.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And it's pretty amazing.
Speaker A:And with all the gray hair that's on my face that I'm doing this at this age, it's crazy.
Speaker B:Well, and also, I think it's important to note that you aren't just spending your entire day in front of a computer screen or a microphone.
Speaker B:You're doing this incredible visual storytelling.
Speaker B:And was it just a few months ago, or maybe it was a few weeks ago that your first mini document came out that you guys worked on?
Speaker B:It was a very quick turnaround.
Speaker B:You filmed one day, and it was within a week or so that you released it.
Speaker A:So, yeah, we.
Speaker A:By the way, the reason I'm able to do all of this at this point is because of Peninsula Food Service.
Speaker A:They are so good with me, and they give me so much flexibility.
Speaker A:It's an amazing scenario that I have with those cats.
Speaker A:So I have to.
Speaker A:I have to say that.
Speaker A:So with that said, yeah, you know, I run of the other things I put on the show once, once we started doing big numbers, you know, 30, 40,000 downloads a week on the podcast, everything else went to the back burner.
Speaker A:I didn't care about videos anymore.
Speaker A:I didn't want to do anything anymore.
Speaker A:I was like, this is where it's at.
Speaker A:And I need to, like, sharpen this pencil.
Speaker A:This knife must be just razor sharp.
Speaker A:So that's where all the resources and time went.
Speaker A:You fast forward to, you know, two and a half years later or whatever it is, and I realized that now it's time to come back to video.
Speaker A:Video is still important.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And that's kind of what happened over the last couple of months, actually, since maybe January, February instead of.
Speaker A:And also, people don't get this to have videographers and.
Speaker A:And, you know, people on staff that can produce video.
Speaker A:It's expensive.
Speaker A:So in order for me to, like, again, everything is kicking the can down the road until you get some wins under your belt.
Speaker A:I went in and I learned cameras.
Speaker A:Like, I was on a.
Speaker A:So, all right, in the beginning, didn't know anything about any camera, any lens, any audio, anything.
Speaker A:Very simple.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:It was like, oh, here's my iPhone, and I can take a picture with my iPhone.
Speaker A:That's what I was.
Speaker A:And then it turned into.
Speaker A:I Have to learn what's the best camera, what's the best lens, what are the best lenses, what are the best, what's the best lighting, how do you do to have the best audio?
Speaker A:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker A:It's another door after another door, and after it's like, wow, thank God for YouTube University, right?
Speaker A:Because that's ultimately.
Speaker A:Yeah, I learned what I had to learn, but I didn't have to do it all.
Speaker A:I'm buying all this equipment, I just wanted to learn how to use it.
Speaker A:But I had other people who were professionals doing the work.
Speaker A:Ultimately too expensive, couldn't keep it.
Speaker A:So what did I do?
Speaker A:I had to figure it out myself in a capacity where I felt comfortable to actually, to do it.
Speaker A:Figure January, February, this year, 25.
Speaker A:I dove in, I built out a camera rig.
Speaker A:I had all the parts.
Speaker A:I had to buy some other little knickknacks, whatever, but I built out my rig and I said, I'll be damned, I'm going to learn this.
Speaker A:And I started with just B roll over music.
Speaker A:And it turns into now where I'm doing micro stories every week in the studio.
Speaker A:Well, I got a bug in me about a month and a half ago, and I said, man, I want to do a documentary.
Speaker A:You know, I'm not going to film the documentary.
Speaker A:I'm not there.
Speaker A:But I want to do a documentary.
Speaker A:I want to do like a short, 8, 10 minute piece.
Speaker A:So I called up my, my buddy Parker, Chef Thomas Parker.
Speaker A:And I said, hey, I like how you cook, man.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's fantastic in the kitchen and he does all those pastas from scratch, whatever.
Speaker A:I said, let's do a pasta dish.
Speaker A:We're coming towards the end of the corn and blueberry season.
Speaker A:We're on the Gulf.
Speaker A:Come up with a dish, man.
Speaker A:And we're gonna.
Speaker A:The dish is the focus.
Speaker A:You're the chef and you're gonna go forage.
Speaker A:It's gonna be, it's just gonna be cool.
Speaker A:So we did.
Speaker A:He came up with this badass dish with Gulf shrimp and, and corn and blueberries.
Speaker A:And we ended up going.
Speaker A:I brought Will Brown, who's a terrific videographer.
Speaker A:We went and in one day was about 12 or 13 hours or so day, we shot everything.
Speaker A:The, the.
Speaker A:We went to the, we went to the, the docks in Tampa, we went to the, the cornfield, talked to the farmer, we talked to the blueberry.
Speaker A:Like, we went everywhere and it was a rainy day, and I thought it was.
Speaker A:This was going to be awful.
Speaker A:As it turned out, in a week now, normally Things like this don't happen in a week.
Speaker A:But we were all in concert in saying that we want to have a finished documentary asap.
Speaker A:We turned the whole thing around in one week and I thought it came out really great.
Speaker A:I mean, I am now a producer, executive producer of a short documentary, whatever.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:No, see, you do exactly what I do.
Speaker B:I don't want to give myself a title because you title yourself, it's like you're knighting.
Speaker B:But it's true.
Speaker B:You were the creative producer and you directed it and you put it together in less than a week.
Speaker B:I wrote it on my LinkedIn post and I meant every word.
Speaker B:It was so beautifully done.
Speaker B:Because you highlighted also the gentleman that owned the shrimp boat and he talked about this is his livelihood and how important it is for him to be, you know, recognize that this is how he sustains his family.
Speaker B:How he sustains everything in his life is by pulling out in his boat every day, day in, day out, no matter what the weather is.
Speaker B:And so I think having that rain with the background and everything was so poignant to what he was saying.
Speaker B:And it made it so beautiful when he put the composed dish together to have chef and talking about the dish itself because you just kind of married two worlds.
Speaker B:You marry the person that's pretty producing the protein and the guy that's putting it together in a kitchen in a really lovely, well done way.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:And I was just thoroughly impressed how fast you did it.
Speaker B:I'm in the midst of making a documentary and we are a year almost.
Speaker B:I'm a year into it.
Speaker B:I've only done the first portion, so it's.
Speaker B:These things don't happen that quickly typically.
Speaker B:And to do a short doc so well done, just the people that were involved in the process, you hit great people.
Speaker B:You know, it shows the power of having the right people in your corner to do something that had the same vision.
Speaker B:And that shrimp doc was perfect.
Speaker B:So good.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I mean, I again, these documentaries, that's where I want to be.
Speaker A:I'm putting some things together now where I'm hoping that that's going to become part of our.
Speaker A:I'm not hoping it is.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It's now part of what we're offering as a media company.
Speaker A:So this is something that is really important to me because it's.
Speaker A:It allows to tell the story, but again, it doesn't have to be me.
Speaker A:I don't need to be the.
Speaker A:The face, I don't need to be the voice.
Speaker A:This is like taking the people like that.
Speaker A:The shrimper's name was Morris.
Speaker A:And Morris.
Speaker A:That guy is a gem.
Speaker A:He is a gem.
Speaker A:And, and just like a hardworking, regular guy, Joe, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker A:And you know, when he was telling the story and it was, and it happened all like, organically, it wasn't something where there was no, there wasn't any script per se.
Speaker A:It's a documentary.
Speaker A:It's organic conversation.
Speaker A:And he's talking about how, yeah, you know, sometimes he'll make $10,000 in a month.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker A: is last time out, it was like: Speaker A:That's, that's the hard life, Brett.
Speaker A:These are the people that are getting us our food.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:To me, I think there's a real, there's a real beautiful, emotional tale to be told in these situations.
Speaker A:So that's where I want to be, man.
Speaker A:I, I, I'm into the documentaries now.
Speaker B:Isn't it fun?
Speaker A:Yeah, we, I just did another one.
Speaker A:So we did a trailer.
Speaker A:I didn't do a full one.
Speaker A:It's a two minute, like a two minute or so trailer.
Speaker A:And it had to do with bees and honeycomb and a cocktail.
Speaker A:Yeah, I just, just the trailer.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:A couple of days ago.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And that's another one, huh?
Speaker B:I say, yeah, you, you just did it.
Speaker B:This was like a day's June 23rd, and it was two or three days ago.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And that was another quick turnaround.
Speaker A:Again, you know, we're trying to do this in a way where it makes sense and it's meant to attract people who really have these stories and also the brands that want their story told.
Speaker A:Because obviously, if we're telling a story about food, then there's a, then there are manufacturers and brands and all these other operations that are part of the industry.
Speaker A:And you know what?
Speaker A:Everybody needs their story told.
Speaker A:And here we are at Walk and Talk Media to kind of hopefully bring that to everybody.
Speaker A:You know, it's, it's pretty cool.
Speaker B:What have you learned about yourself in this last couple of years of getting this media company off the ground and trying these new things?
Speaker B:It's very scary to try new things, but you're doing it.
Speaker B:What have you learned about yourself?
Speaker A:Put fear in the backseat.
Speaker A:You know, if you're looking at your budget, your household budget, and then you're looking at whatever your income is, and you're like, well, geez, how do I do this?
Speaker A:You gotta plan it.
Speaker A:Have an Idea like have your vision outline it, figure out how you're going to actually execute it and go, don't think about it, don't think twice.
Speaker A:Don't you know, hee haw, whatever.
Speaker A:No, man, you gotta just, you gotta full throttle and make it happen and then you gotta see it through.
Speaker A:But in most cases you need other people.
Speaker A:You really do.
Speaker A:It's, it's not like, you know, you can just, you know, shoulder all of this yourself.
Speaker A:So, you know, as long as you have a good team around you or, or friends that will support you or co workers that will support you, whatever it is, line up where you need to line up and just go.
Speaker B:This is so funny, but what you said is, I was having this visual story going through my mind.
Speaker B:My mom has always said to me, plan your work and then work your plan.
Speaker B:And exactly what you said, no true words have been spoken.
Speaker B:Visualizing what you want to do with your life, wherever you are, no matter how old you are.
Speaker B:Say today you change your mind, I want to go to something else.
Speaker B:What does that look like?
Speaker B:And then how do you get there?
Speaker B:And then just start it and put fear in the backseat the way I've had to live my life.
Speaker B:And it sounds like you've been doing something very similar to that.
Speaker A:I've made other people lots of money in the sales capacity, food service sales.
Speaker A:I've made a lot of people a lot of money and I've always done well.
Speaker A:I'm not complaining, but I always said, man, if I put that kind of effort into myself just a little bit, what can happen there?
Speaker A:So with that said, if you're working for a company, be the best you could be for the company you work for.
Speaker A:Try to save some money.
Speaker A:This way you can start your own thing.
Speaker A:The idea is that everyone should be looking to try to figure out how they can do something for themselves.
Speaker A:If not 100%, even 30%, have a side gig, do something on the weekend, try to be better, always be better.
Speaker A:You know, self reflect.
Speaker A:I mean, I self reflect to a, probably to a negative, you know, because I always wanted to try to better myself.
Speaker A:You know, I, I used to curse like a sailor.
Speaker A:I still curse terribly, but I try, I'm trying to stop.
Speaker A:You know, there's things, I just want to be a better person and it makes things, I guess it makes our, our journey through life more interesting when you try to make yourself better along the way.
Speaker B:There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a better person.
Speaker B:That doesn't mean you're a bad person.
Speaker B:Just means you want to be a better version of the person you were yesterday.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, no, I'm.
Speaker A:Yeah, obviously, you know, I mean, that's not a dig on anybody or anything like that.
Speaker A:But I want to improve.
Speaker A:I want to improve in everything that I can, you know, who knows how many.
Speaker A:You don't know how much time you got left.
Speaker A:And, you know, you want to make the best of it.
Speaker A:If you have kids, you have a family, whatever, you know, you want to, you want to do for them, you want to provide for them, you want to have something that's going to be there, you know, after you're gone.
Speaker A:And that's, that's a mo.
Speaker A:Big motivator for me.
Speaker B:Well, and your kids, I was going to say you're a dad too.
Speaker B:So to have their dad doing something drastically different than what he was doing a decade ago, I think is a great example for them when they grow up.
Speaker B:Okay, so dad tried something new.
Speaker B:I can do that too.
Speaker B:I think that's something you should hang your hat on of.
Speaker B:Damn.
Speaker B:I want to be a really good dad on top of it, and this is the best way for me to do that.
Speaker A:Well, you know, all that's going to come in time when they're old enough to, you know, I started late with the kids.
Speaker A:You know, I, My first one was.
Speaker A:I think I was like 41 when she was born.
Speaker A:So, you know, in the end, I'm in the, I'm in the thick of it now.
Speaker A:And yeah, it ain't easy, man, I tell you that.
Speaker A:But listen, at the, you know, I do want to say something about podcasting in, you know, in general.
Speaker A:And it's a, it's just a bit of advice.
Speaker A:I see, I see stuff online all the time where people who are just starting out, they're like, huh, how do I do this?
Speaker A:What should I do?
Speaker A:Don't just be a talking head.
Speaker A:Get out, you know, whatever field you're in.
Speaker A:Go to the trade shows.
Speaker A:Go to places where other people that are in your field are, and that's how you learn stuff and that's how you get people on your show.
Speaker A:That's how you find sponsors.
Speaker A:That's how you do all of those things.
Speaker A:I mean, this, the New York, you mentioned it on the, on the opening restaurant events.
Speaker A:The New York, the Florida, the California restaurant shows.
Speaker A:There are no independent podcasts attached to trade shows.
Speaker A:Trade shows have their own in house podcast, but that's different.
Speaker A:And that's saying like, hey, hey, hey, Joe, here's a couple of bucks for A mic and.
Speaker A:And a thing there.
Speaker A:Go ahead and do a podcast for the show, right?
Speaker A:Joe's like, well, I don't do this for.
Speaker A:I don't know what this is.
Speaker A:Joe don't want to do it, right?
Speaker A:So at the end of the day, they're putting out content, and it's fair content, but when what we're doing is absolutely different, it's disrupting the whole way things are done at trade shows.
Speaker A:Because now they're taking this group, brought us in as an independent show for their.
Speaker A:For their trade show group.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:For me, that's like the.
Speaker A:That's the biggest sale I've ever done.
Speaker A:And it's not even about, like, the dollars that could come out of this.
Speaker A:It's the fact that I took this didn't exist 2 1/2 years ago thing, and now we are part of four major trade shows around the country.
Speaker A:It's amazing.
Speaker A:In California, to me, that's the kind of stuff that.
Speaker A:That's the kind of stuff that is a driver.
Speaker A:That's my motivation.
Speaker A:You know, the US Culinary Open, where we met at Napham, you know, with Nick and Chef Nick and Chef Polly.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:You know, like, we're the official podcast for these guys.
Speaker A:They're with Michelin and beard chefs and, you know, Food Network winners and all these.
Speaker A:It's crazy.
Speaker A:So I don't know what to say other than I'm so stoked about where we're going, and I'm stoked that you're going to be, you know, part of what we're doing as well.
Speaker A:And it's a big deal.
Speaker A:And Burn Chef project is going to be with us along the way.
Speaker A:And, you know, there's so much to do, man.
Speaker A:Like, really, there's so much that we're going to do that's positive for the industry.
Speaker B:Well, you said it.
Speaker B:The trade shows, attending when you can or where you can doesn't have to be huge.
Speaker B:You can start at your local association, whatever that is, or networking.
Speaker B:Just go talk to people.
Speaker B:That is the only way I've got people on my show in a remote setting.
Speaker B:I've had people that I never thought I could talk to in my life by just sending an email.
Speaker B:Hey, I saw what you wrote on LinkedIn.
Speaker B:I'd love to chat.
Speaker B:And then Rose Instagram.
Speaker B:And then I'm talking to people that I.
Speaker B:I'm a fan of, and then I become close with and I get to learn about them.
Speaker B:And it's a different.
Speaker B:It's just really wonderful when you put yourself out there and network with people in the same industry that aren't in your normal bubble.
Speaker B:It's okay to be scared to talk to someone.
Speaker B:I think it's kind of like dating.
Speaker B:You haven't done it in a while.
Speaker B:It's like, oh, God, how do I talk to this person?
Speaker B:Especially now, everything's remote and digital.
Speaker B:To talk to someone in person is a very different thing than talking to someone online.
Speaker B:So I just have done that recently for myself also.
Speaker B:Getting out there on my own, traveling by myself, and it's.
Speaker B:It's really scary, but it's been so darn worth it.
Speaker B:And I'm really proud of myself.
Speaker B:I think that people would be proud of themselves, too.
Speaker B:And then you have a really great pool from.
Speaker A:For guests when you do that, 100%.
Speaker A:If it's up to me, I would only do in, in house, in studio recordings if I, If I could.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously that's, you know, it doesn't work like that logistically, but when I have somebody that actually comes to the studio, sits with us, because there's always a chef cooking, regardless of who's on the show, there's always going to be food.
Speaker A:So we're breaking bread together.
Speaker A:There's cooking, the film, all that stuff that's happening during our production day, it's pretty amazing.
Speaker A:And the relationships that are built because of, you know, like they say, a lot of business gets done on the golf course.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Well, reason.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, now it gets done in the green room.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So, you know, at the end of the day, that's, that's the.
Speaker A:I think that's the secret sauce.
Speaker A:But don't tell anybody.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just for the people that are listening.
Speaker A:Just for the people that are listening and your followers.
Speaker B:So what is your hope and your future look like for Walk and talk?
Speaker A:To take over the world?
Speaker A:No, I.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I mean, just to stay in the game, Just to stay in the game, stay relevant.
Speaker A:I really want to do things that are going to promote.
Speaker A:This is going to sound so cheesy.
Speaker A:I want to promote love, and that could be love for the industry, love for people, whatever.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I just want to do things that people enjoy and to know that there are avenues to go down where it doesn't always have to be negativity.
Speaker A:We're surrounded by just negative.
Speaker A:Everything.
Speaker A:You turn on the tv, negative, Put on a radio, negative.
Speaker A:You pick up your social media.
Speaker A:Hate, hate, hate.
Speaker A:Man, I'm tired of it.
Speaker A:I'm so tired of it.
Speaker A:So for me, I Want to do something different.
Speaker A:I want to promote the love of something, you know, the good feelings of something.
Speaker A:At the end of the day, our industry, whether it's a farmer or a chef, a salesperson, a server, whatever, there's this.
Speaker A:There's a sickness that's out there, you know, with, you know, what's.
Speaker A:What I want to say that mental health is a.
Speaker A:Challenges are.
Speaker A:Are a real thing.
Speaker A:And, you know, suicides and drugs and all of these things are a regular occurrence.
Speaker A:You know, people look at chefs and they're like, oh, yeah, the chefs.
Speaker A:Guess what?
Speaker A:Salespeople are as bad or worse than.
Speaker A:Than the people inside the restaurant.
Speaker A:They got it worse.
Speaker A:The farmers, too, like it.
Speaker A:Our whole industry is littered with landmines.
Speaker A:So, you know, when you're talking about, like, the Burn Chef project or, you know, Ben's friends or any of these other groups that are out there, man, I want to be there.
Speaker A:I want to be there to.
Speaker A:To help promote, support and just put out the positive vibes, man.
Speaker A:That's where I want to be at this stage in my life.
Speaker A:I don't have time for any of the other garbage.
Speaker B:When you said you want to, you know, just share love with people, I always say that food is a universal love language.
Speaker B:And most of us that are in the industry, no matter what part you're in front of house, back of house, you never really divide us.
Speaker B:It's very unifying to dine with someone and to share a meal with someone or someone's love put on a plate or their drink or whatever.
Speaker B:It is our industry that.
Speaker B:That gets forgotten a lot with the, you know, glamour, the glamification of social media and just, you know, looking at something versus actually embracing the whole thing.
Speaker B:To taste the food, to watch how it was made, all the ingredients that go into it, where it came from the plate, where, you know, going back to your sponsorship with Rack, like, all of those things have a place and everyone does it because they love what they're doing for the most part.
Speaker B:And the passion can be forgotten.
Speaker B:And it's just.
Speaker B:It's a quick flip up the screen and what you're doing is what a lot of us that are now in this space trying to accomplish is sharing the stories of those that may not get the opportunity to have their stories shared and share a little bit of positivity, even if we have to highlight some of the bad stuff, is to give those that may feel bad, hey, we see you and we're here for you, and I'd love to share your story.
Speaker B:When you're ready.
Speaker B:And I think that's what you guys are doing.
Speaker B:I think the partnership with Burnt Chef, I can speak to that pretty detailed.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:It's exactly what we want to do.
Speaker B:We want to give people a voice, Use a company and media partner such as Walk and Talk to help facilitate those conversations, offer resources, and really put some love back in the industry that a lot of love's been sucked out of for a very long time.
Speaker B:So it's not cheesy.
Speaker B:It's very spot on.
Speaker B:I am right there with you.
Speaker B:I'm trying to humanize the hospitality industry.
Speaker B:That's all I want to do is I want to make it a safe place for the next generation, including my daughter or my son.
Speaker B:He's just.
Speaker B:He probably.
Speaker B:He will not sustain.
Speaker B:My daughter's a little more tough.
Speaker B:She could probably do really well here.
Speaker B:But, yeah, that's what I want to do is I think you're on the.
Speaker B:You're on the right path.
Speaker B:Walk and Talk Media is a force now in the industry.
Speaker B:I see you everywhere on my platforms, and I think you're doing a great job.
Speaker B:So I'm just privileged to now be a part of it.
Speaker B:So thank you for welcoming me into the Walk and Talk Media family.
Speaker A:It's an expanding pie.
Speaker A:I'm thrilled.
Speaker A:So what you're doing is in the same breath as what we're doing.
Speaker A:You bring a different perspective.
Speaker A:I paint with a broad brush.
Speaker A:We cover all aspects of all food, everything in the industry, from the beginning to the end.
Speaker A:And what you're doing, you're dialing it in.
Speaker A:And you're very particular.
Speaker A:You have a lot of different guests and you talk about different topics, but your.
Speaker A:Your overall platform is very tuned and dialed in, and it's very specific.
Speaker A:And I feel like that's a very necessary part of the business to talk about.
Speaker A:So kudos to you.
Speaker A:And, you know, I think that you've probably had as much or even more struggle than what I've had in what I'm doing.
Speaker A:So at the end, it's, you know, that whole little engine that could scenario, that's us, man.
Speaker A:And, and, and the, the more.
Speaker A:The more that we can, you know, work together and bring others who have similar messages into the fold.
Speaker A:The bigger it gets and the better it is, and the more ears and eyes are out there for us, and it's for good.
Speaker A:You know, that's the thing, man.
Speaker A:Like, there's.
Speaker A:There's so much crap out there for negative.
Speaker A:And I was.
Speaker A:I'm so tired of opening Now I don't even want to say that.
Speaker A:I don't want to say.
Speaker A:I'm so tired of opening social media, and it's just nothing but whores everywhere.
Speaker A:My gosh, it's.
Speaker A:Everything is disgusting, and I'm tired of it.
Speaker A:I mean, everybody likes the pictures and the video, but I'm tired of it.
Speaker A:Like, I don't want it anymore.
Speaker A:Like, stop.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, stop, please.
Speaker A:Let's do fun.
Speaker A:Let's do.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Let's do things that are interesting.
Speaker A:Let's do things that are educational.
Speaker A:Let's do things that are going to bring people together and not spread them apart.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh, I'm ranting.
Speaker B:He said horrors.
Speaker B:I just want to make that very clear, what he said, because I was like, I wonder what the AI will say.
Speaker B:That's what he said.
Speaker B:He said.
Speaker B:He said horrors.
Speaker B:No, I agree.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:And it's so darn heavy, too, when you turn on your phone or you look at it, and it's just.
Speaker B:It's in your face and it's in our pockets.
Speaker B:It's everywhere.
Speaker B:And what feeds it can be negativity.
Speaker B:So the more people that are putting out positivity or willingness to be open with their stories, I think for the better, so it gets across to someone's screen.
Speaker B:You never know, because algorithm can pick something up anywhere.
Speaker B:And if it's like, hey, I want to talk about this really cool honey farm from Florida that's now creating this unique little cocktail with this restaurant down the street.
Speaker B:I might now want to go try that, because I just happen to be in Florida, and it picked up for me.
Speaker B:You know, that's the type of thing that social media needs and storytelling for the food industry as a whole.
Speaker B:So, yeah, you're spot on.
Speaker B:Let's get rid of some of those horrors.
Speaker A:I want to get.
Speaker A:I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get flack for that.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:But here's the.
Speaker A:Here's the thing.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:This documentary trailer that we did about the.
Speaker A:The honeycomb and.
Speaker A:And the.
Speaker A:The bartender that was so organic.
Speaker A:And it happened, like, quick.
Speaker A:I went to dinner with my wife last.
Speaker A:Last.
Speaker A:Whatever the other night, last Friday, let's say, And I found this.
Speaker A:We found this new restaurant local, not far from us, and it was so pretty in there.
Speaker A:Like, it was really well done, and the food was good, and the cocktails were good.
Speaker A:And I'm like, man, I.
Speaker A:I need a place to shoot, you know, this.
Speaker A:This piece.
Speaker A:So I went over to the bartender, and it happened to be the the head guy.
Speaker A:And I explained what we wanted to do, and he was like, oh, that's great.
Speaker A:I saw him, my wife did, actually, and pointed it out.
Speaker A:He talked to the owner.
Speaker A:The owner made his way throughout over the course of the evening.
Speaker A:He found our table and introduced himself.
Speaker A:And then before you know it, we're talking and I asked permission to use this place.
Speaker A:He said, sure.
Speaker A:I said, man, I just need to find some beekeepers now.
Speaker A:Local, right?
Speaker A:He was up.
Speaker A:He was.
Speaker A:I have a friend of mine who, you know, he.
Speaker A:It was three people removed from the owner and we got our.
Speaker A:We found our beekeepers that we.
Speaker A:And this all happened in one night.
Speaker A:One night it all got put together.
Speaker A:You know, there was a vision, there was an idea.
Speaker A:And then one night all the pieces came together.
Speaker A:And by Tuesday or Monday, whatever it was, I had the.
Speaker A:I had the team out in the field shooting and we went back.
Speaker A:Yeah, we.
Speaker A:We did everything in like, it was a handful of hours, man.
Speaker A:Like, we.
Speaker A:We were at that restaurant by 7:30 in the morning and we filmed, went to the bee.
Speaker A:We were done in like five hours altogether.
Speaker A:So I still have the whole rest of the day to do my other work and everything else.
Speaker A:It was pretty amazing.
Speaker B:What are the odds that the person happened to know a beekeeper?
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:It's just.
Speaker B:It's such a niche career to have to be a beekeeper where you are in Florida.
Speaker A:As it turns out, there are a lot of people involved in bees.
Speaker A:I have no idea.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I.
Speaker A:I've learned a lot in the last week about bees.
Speaker A:You know, I mean, we just.
Speaker A:One of our new partners is a company called Pasta Honey.
Speaker A:And, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, like, they're very into the whole regenerative thing and save the bees.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:They work with a lot of beekeepers across the world, and they're actually working with universities, you know, helping with.
Speaker A:Helping to build curriculum about bees, honeycomb and all.
Speaker A:All things involved in it.
Speaker A:So it's a pretty big deal that they came on board with us as a media partner.
Speaker A:But I needed to do something quick and fast, so I had to find some.
Speaker A:Some local, you know, beekeepers and hives and all that stuff.
Speaker A:So this is the fun part of the.
Speaker A:This is like the.
Speaker A:I love this.
Speaker A:It's an adventure.
Speaker A:It's an odyssey, you know, on Sunday, that Sunday.
Speaker A:And I don't know these people, I just got, you know, I got a name from a name from a name, and I'm like, hey, you know, this is what I do.
Speaker A:We're going to do a documentary.
Speaker A:And he's like, yeah, come by.
Speaker A:I'm in the middle of bfe, like, really, like, in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker A:And, you know, you have to go down, like, to get to where the bees are.
Speaker A:You have to go through this, like, wooded road.
Speaker A:And, and it's all like, there's old, like, structures on the property.
Speaker A:And you're like, you know, where the hell am I gone?
Speaker A:And here I am talking to this guy who, who, you know, has bees.
Speaker A:He's a beekeeper.
Speaker A:And I'm like, yeah, I filmed this stuff.
Speaker A:And he's like, great, let's, let's do it.
Speaker A:Here we are.
Speaker A:Boom, it happened.
Speaker B:How did the crew feel being on a bee farm?
Speaker B:Were they nervous?
Speaker A:It was the first time for us all.
Speaker A:And, you know, I got, we all got to put on our beekeeper outfit and really wild man.
Speaker A:Like, thankfully, the, the bees were not.
Speaker A:There are aggressive bees, and there are times when, you know, more docile bees get aggressive.
Speaker A:And that was like, the perfect day.
Speaker A:Like, it, you know, I didn't get stung.
Speaker A:Nobody got stung.
Speaker A:And you're actually, they're, they're pulling out the, the, the rack with the honeycomb on it, and all the bees are everywhere.
Speaker A:And he's like, oh, look, there's the queen.
Speaker A:And, and he's going into all of this, like, educational stuff.
Speaker A:And, and it was great.
Speaker A:But then you get to, like, dip your pinky into the honeycomb and you're getting honey straight from the honeycomb and you're.
Speaker A:I, I, I've never done that before.
Speaker A:That was amazing.
Speaker A:Like, that was the, one of the coolest.
Speaker A:That's going to be one of my, the coolest stories ever from Walking Talk.
Speaker B:How fun.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But it's an important story to share.
Speaker B:Like you said, this company is trying to educate folks on the importance of bees.
Speaker B:We tell our daughter every day because we have dozens of bees around our house.
Speaker B:Don't swap the bees because we need the bees for all the trees that we have, all the flowers you love to pluck, we need them.
Speaker B:And it's, you know, you're so quick to swat a bee or stomp on one or whatever it is, but that's why they have people that come out and will take, take away a hive from your house and they will put it somewhere else because they are so important to our ecosystem.
Speaker B:So I think it's a great story to tell.
Speaker B:And how many people use honey in their restaurants, too?
Speaker A:What, what was really amazing, you know, so a bee will travel upwards of five miles away from their hive.
Speaker A:And they know exactly.
Speaker A:No matter where they go, they know how to get right back to the hole of that hive and everything.
Speaker A:If you move the hive two feet away, won't have any idea how, where to go.
Speaker A:That's crazy.
Speaker A:Like, so some of, some of the data points, just knowledge that we learned from these guys over there.
Speaker A:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker A:It's really, it's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:Huh.
Speaker B:I'm assuming the phrase then a beeline literally means.
Speaker B:That's what that comes from.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:Beeline, straight, straight there, straight back.
Speaker A:You know, there's a method, there's a method to move a beehive even two feet.
Speaker A:It's crazy.
Speaker B:Well, on that note, I feel one.
Speaker B:I'm learning something at the end of our show, which I always appreciate.
Speaker B:I always want to take something away.
Speaker B:So I learned about bees, learned about Mark, Carl, and I'm excited to be joining, I guess, at the Walk and Talk family.
Speaker B:So, Carl, where can everyone listen to Walk and Talk podcast, Watch your documentaries?
Speaker B:Where should they go?
Speaker A:You can find the Walk and Talk podcast on your favorite media platform.
Speaker A:Whether it's Spotify or Apple or iHeartRadio, whatever.
Speaker A:You'll find it all there.
Speaker A:You know, when you're looking at, for some of the film work and video that we do, you can find us on YouTube, you know, walk and Talk Media, at Walk and Talk show, on Instagram.
Speaker A:We're everywhere.
Speaker A:If you're professional and you're on LinkedIn, just hit me up on Carl Fiadini and Chat.
Speaker B:Well, I'm super excited to start this next chapter for Hostility Bites.
Speaker B:New episodes are in the works.
Speaker B:It should be a wonderful next few months.
Speaker B:I'm very excited to start the summer this way.
Speaker B:And I want to thank Carl for joining me.
Speaker B:I want to thank you all for listening.
Speaker B:As always, please be kind to yourself, be kind to one another, and follow Hospitality Bites Wherever you enjoy your podcasts, go to my website, learn more about me or follow me on social media, Casilk or Hospitality Bites.
Speaker B:Thank you all for listening and I will talk to you soon.
