Latest / I Am All In with Scott Patterson / Luke’s Diner: Emma Hernan

Transcript

Luke’s Diner: Emma Hernan · I Am All In with Scott Patterson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am all in.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Again! More, more, more. I want to kiss you more.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: More, more, more.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I want to kiss you more.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I am all in.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Again, with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Scott Patterson. I am all in. Podcast 111 Productions, iHeartRadio. iHeartMedia,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: iHeart Podcast. We have a very special Luke's Diner episode
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: for you. Emma Hernan is joining us. She's an entrepreneur,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: real estate TV star from the Netflix show Selling Sunset.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show, Emma.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Hello. Thank you for having me.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We're delighted to have you. I am looking at quite
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a spectacular photo of you. holding up some Buffalo chicken.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: You have a food line. There's all kinds of things
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to get into here, but let's start at the beginning.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Before people knew you from selling Sunset, entrepreneurship was already
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: a huge part of your life. You're actually a third
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: generation food entrepreneur. What did growing up around your family's
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: food business teach you about running a company?
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, everything possible. You learn what's going to be very difficult,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: what's going to be more fun. You learn about business
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: from a really young age. I mean, I grew up
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: literally in supermarkets, passing out crab cakes to people walking
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: down the aisle. So like, that's how I grew up.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I love cooking. I grew up cooking with my grandmother.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: My grandfather was a chef. And that's actually why I'm
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: third generation from him because he left the company to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: my mom. My mom took over and now I'm heavily involved.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: And then I started my own company. So, but yes,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: I know I, the food industry is in my blood
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Where'd you grow up? What part of the country?
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Ah, yes.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: My goodness. So you've described your, your food business as your,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: your quote unquote baby, even though You also work in
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: real estate and investing. What is about foods specifically that
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you're most passionate about?
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I think food brings people together around, you know, the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: kitchen table. It brings families together. I'm super family oriented.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: My family is like my entire world. So for me,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: holidays and different things like that. everyone was always brought
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: together around a meal. So for me, I love cooking.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I love creating meals. I love creating appetizers and fun
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: things that people are like, Ooh, I can't wait to
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: go over to Emma so I can try her crab
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: cakes or her shrimp spring rolls or her empanadas.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow. You're, you're that friend. That's fantastic.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I'm definitely that friend.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's, that's fantastic. All right. So your grandfather was
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a chef. Did you always know you wanted to continue
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: that family legacy in your own particular way?
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, 100%. I always knew. I always knew. I loved
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: cooking from a very young age. So my grandfather was
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: a chef. He started cooking little crab cakes out of
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: his kitchen, selling them to the local markets, and everyone
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: fell in love. And then it skipped a generation with
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: my mom because she cannot cook. I definitely inherited his
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: skill set. And I just love it. I've loved it
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: my entire life. Every recipe that I have, so all
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: of my items that are in stores nationwide, I created
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: it down to the last spice.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Beautiful. Your grandfather is still represented in the food you're
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: creating today. Your new crab rangoon was inspired by the
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: crab and lobster spread. He would make your family a
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: special occasion. What do you remember about those meals with him?
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, I mean, it was just such a special time.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: I also remember going down as soon as he you
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: know once he stopped making them out of his kitchen
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: and he got a little warehouse um you know we
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: used to go down there we were would play in
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: the warehouse and And then, you know, we were, he
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: really needed help at such a, and we were so young,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: me and my brother and my cousins, we actually, we
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: were hand scooping crab cakes with, you know, the little
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: ice cream scooper that you scoop ice cream with.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: So that's what we were scooping crab cakes with. And
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: then for the dips, we were like making sure they
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: all went in the container and then we were dropping
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: them off at the supermarket. So it was just such
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: a really positive part of my childhood and something that
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: was so special.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: So you, you absorbed all of those, you know, sort
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: of Really boring business, the business knowledge, the, you know,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: managing inventory and costs and, you know, profit margins and
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: all that stuff, just absorbing it. So how old were
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: you when you really understood all that stuff?
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: I would say I definitely feel like I picked up
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: on the business a lot faster than, you know, certain people.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Won't name names.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: It's family. It's a family. For me, business, like I
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: started investing at a really young age and that really
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: helped with, you know, me starting my food company and knowing, okay,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: what's going to work with business? How much it's going
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: to cost to buy this piece of equipment? Should we
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: buy it? Should we lease it? Like there's so many different.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Of it. So I definitely started learning at a really
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: young age. And also too, I mean, my mom, you know,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: when my grandfather passed away, she had to learn really
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: fast too. So she was an accountant. So that was great.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: So she was really good with the business side of
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: it too. So me and my mom definitely are like this,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: this power couple for sure.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So you were basically a food and investing prodigy.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, for sure. That sounds great. I love
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: the sound of that. My parents would appreciate that for sure.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: So you launched Coast to Coast Kitchen at Target in February.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: That must have been an amazing feeling. And in just
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: seven months, the brand generated millions in sales and brought
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: nearly 100,000 new shoppers into the frozen seafood category. What
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: was it like walking into Target, seeing your own products
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: in the freezer aisle?
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Well, what's funny enough is that you can watch me
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: for the first time ever see it. We actually happened
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to capture it. It wasn't that wasn't me acting. My
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: acting skills are awful. So you actually got to see
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: my real reaction. And I mean, it was so exciting.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: It was so rewarding, too, because the amount of time
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: and work and effort that I put into this. You know,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: people don't see that. They see the glitz and the glam,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: the photos that, you know, are curated for Instagram. But
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: they really don't see the behind the scenes where I'm,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: you know, covered in crab and cream cheese and I
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: have a red hairnet on and I'm not looking cute.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to make this recipe perfect. So, you know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: when you walk into the store, you see all the
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: product out in the best possible place in Target. And
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: then you see your name on there. It's like created
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: by Emma Hernan. It's such a rewarding and special feeling,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: something I can't really describe.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: And now you have three new products, lobster empanadas, sweet
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: chili shrimp empanadas, and crab rangoo. Rangoon, sorry. How involved
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: are you personally in developing And well, I'm not even
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: going to ask you that question. I already know the answer. You're,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: you're 100% involved, right? Yeah.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, like when I say I'm involved, that's an
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: understatement because even for the photos for the boxes, they
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: were like, okay, we need to hire a food photographer.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: We need to do a stylist and all that. I'm like,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: oh no, no, no, no. Like we can have the
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: photographer come to the house, but I'm styling all that food.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: So like this little pieces of cilantro, this is before
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: like AI. Now you can make a perfect box, but like,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: I was doing these boxes where I was putting the
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: perfect piece of cilantro on the plate, making sure everything
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: looked absolutely perfect for photography.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Well, so so you are you have that level of
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: ownership and control that is so important to you. Right.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, you you're you're you're the boss here. And
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: let's just let's just call it what it is.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: For sure.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. How many employees are there?
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: We have over a hundred employees. And then a really
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: cool fun fact is that I own my own manufacturing facility.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: I actually bought the facility before I launched my company,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: which is kind of the opposite way that typically people
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: do things. So, you know, a big thing too, people
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: come to me to Copac. So I don't just have
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: my company. Right. So Copac for other brands. And I
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: think that's a really good, you know, thing for people
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: to know because it's another stream of revenue.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: You do the wholesale too. And the retail, it's exactly,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: we do. Yeah. I have a coffee company. I switched
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: just purely to wholesale. It's just, it's a simple equation.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Just, you know, margins are steady and I
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: love that part of it.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Funny enough. And we just, we just opened the doors.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Everything's cold. We have cold storage. We have everything. And
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: actually one of the plates, we're actually doing coffee in there. So, ah, yes,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I know. I know.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Maybe we should talk.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: For sure.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: So many people were first introduced to you through Selling Sunset.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Now that you're into this new chapter and putting so
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: much energy into Coast to Coast Kitchen, how do you
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: reflect on your time on the show and what did
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: it do for your life and for your career?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: So, so funny because I was definitely really hesitant to
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: join Selling Sunset because I'm such a private person and
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: And now looking back, I'm so grateful that I took
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: that opportunity to really let people into my life because,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: you know, before that, you know, I had an Instagram following.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: I had people that, you know, followed my story, but
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: they knew nothing about me. They didn't know my personality.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: They could, you know, they're seeing a picture online and
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: you can't really tell, but I think opening up the door.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: to my life, people saw I'm really outgoing and bubbly
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: and family oriented and a really good friend. So I
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: think that was important for people to really see. And
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: then obviously launching my company was, I mean, being on
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Selling Sunset, having people get to know me, and then
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: launching my company with Target, people wanted to go out
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: to the store. They wanted to buy what I was serving.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: You know, they've seen me on the show. They want
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to eat what I'm eating. They know I love to cook.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: They know about my empanadas. I've talked about them on screen. So,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: you know, it was it was really rewarding to, you know,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: be on a show like that. Obviously, there's pros and
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: cons with it. Your life is out there for the
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: world to see and judge. But in another breath, you know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: people really got to know me and see my personality
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: and know that, you know, I'm a Boston girl through
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: and through. Well, since.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: This is i am all in we obviously have to
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: bring you into stars hollow for a minute if you
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: don't mind uh are you a gilmore girls fan.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: I actually just because i just started watching because now
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: i'm like oh now i need to watch and see
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: it and i needed a show so this is perfect.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: Timing okay good uh well enjoy uh and if so
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: are you really as you watch it are you relating
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: more to lorelei or rory I.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Think Rory a little bit. I love, you know, definitely
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: she's family oriented and stuff like that. I definitely see
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: a lot of myself in her in different ways. And
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, as I go through the episodes,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: definitely I see more connections with different things for sure.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: So Lorelai and Rory are obviously famous for their eating habits.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: If they walked into Dosey's Market and found Coast to
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Coast Kitchen in the freezer aisle, which flavor would are
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: you sending each of them home with?
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Definitely Rory is going to be going home with a
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: sweet chili shrimp empanadas. I already know. And then Lorelai
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: definitely going to get it the lobster. I already had
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: that decided. That's like, I feel like, yeah, that would
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: be a good pick for the two of them.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: And would you, would you perhaps consider sending some of
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: those items to Luke?
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure. Okay.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: All right. Good.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe the new England.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Maybe the new England crab cakes. I think also, Yeah,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: That would be great.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, I like to give all of the
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: flavors to everybody so then they can decide because I
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: love to hear what's the favorite.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Oh, you know what? Let's send them. Then we'll do
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: another segment.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Okay, perfect. See, that's so much fun. That's like my
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: favorite thing to do. I will send... The best cooler ever.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. I can't wait. Well, thank you so
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: much for your time. I know how busy you are.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: You're running multiple businesses and you have a lot to do,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: but thanks for taking the time out and carving that
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: time out of this day.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: So that's going to do it, everybody. Thanks for all
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the downloads. Keep the cards and letters coming. We read
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: every one of them. We appreciate it so much. Thank you,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Emma Hernan. Coast to Coast Kitchens at Target. Go out
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: and get you some wonderful, wonderful crab cakes and empanadas.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: And remember, where you lead, we will follow. Thanks so much, everybody.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Stay safe. Hey, everybody, don't forget, follow us on Instagram
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: at I Am All In Podcast and email us at
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: gilmore at iheartradio.com.