Latest / Forking Around with Flavor South Florida / Jimmy Fantin: New Haven Pizza, Dave Portnoy’s 8.1 and Never Saying “Burnt”

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Jimmy Fantin: New Haven Pizza, Dave Portnoy’s 8.1 and Never Saying “Burnt” · Forking Around with Flavor South Florida

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  Welcome to Forking Around with Flavor South Florida. I'm Kerri Paizzi, CEO of
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  Flavor South Florida. We are sitting down with entrepreneurs, business
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  owners, and influential community partners to talk growth, trials,
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  tribulations, and more. These conversations lead into Flavor South
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  Florida, the region's largest restaurant month, happening every September from
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  the 1st through the 30th. If you're in hospitality or thinking about building
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  something meaningful in this industry, you're in the right place. Pull up a
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  chair and let's get into it. This episode is sponsored by Altima
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  Caviar. Visit them at altimacaviar.com. Welcome to Forking Around with Flavor South
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  Florida. Today I'm joined by Jimmy Fantin, owner of Fantini's New Haven
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  Style Apizza in Stuart. New location just opened in Palm City called Fantini's
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  Fusion Kitchen. From learning the craft of New Haven, Connecticut to earning national
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  recognition, including a high score from Dave Portnoy's One Bite Pizza Reviews,
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  Jimmy has built an incredible story centered around passion, community, and
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  amazing pizza, not to mention an impressive and unique philanthropic
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  background. Jimmy is great to have you on the show. Welcome on. I can't wait to
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  hear all of this.
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  >> Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.
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  >> Yeah, absolutely. So, you have a couple restaurants right now.
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  >> Fantini's.
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  >> I have Fantini's New Haven Style Apizza restaurant and then I have Fantini's
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  Fusion Kitchen. I just newly opened in Palm City.
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  >> Okay. So, one in Stuart and one in Palm City.
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  >> These spots are popping.
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  >> Yes, they are. I'm Knock on wood. Yes. I'm very lucky. the local folks and uh
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  even the snowbirds are very good to us. Very good to us.
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  >> How long have you had Fantini's? The Stuart, the original one.
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  >> Fantini's is going on six years. We opened that in February of 2020.
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  >> February of 2020.
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  >> That's a fun time to open a restaurant.
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  >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Actually, 3 weeks away, March 17th, there was
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  >> cohu
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  >> and we were just new into the business. No one really knew we were there and it
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  was very difficult getting the word out. So, little by little, the word of mouth
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  came. Luckily, pizza for us was was a takeout item and so we were able to do
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  that. But I only had four tables when the governor said it's it's 50%. So I
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  went down to two tables. Oh man,
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  >> it was crazy. We So we had a line out the door.
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  >> We had a line people waiting to get in because we only had two tables. But it
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  was it was really good. It was really good. Good experience. I won't want to
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  go through it again though.
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  >> No, no, no, no. Nobody wants to do that again. But interesting enough to get the
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  word out in the same shopping center there was a radio station there.
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  >> Mhm.
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  >> And so I walked over to the radio station and I said, "I need to cut it. I
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  need to cut a commercial. I need to get out out there on the air." So I did cut
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  the commercial.
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  >> And believe it or not, three years later, I took over the radio station
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  spot and that's the that's the location of the the newest Fantini's, Avitz.
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  >> Nice. How's that going? How are they different from the two? Well, this is
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  the I I had started as a four table takeout basically to go place and we
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  only had beer and wine and then when I moved to took over the radio station
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  space which is in the same shopping center,
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  >> I moved the restaurant there and then we were able to get full service liquor. Um
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  okay, more seating. We seat about 170 people there so we were able to to serve
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  more guests as well.
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  >> Okay, that's awesome. That's great. And so Fusion one just opened. Is that a
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  different concept from the original one?
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  >> Yes. Fantini's Fusion Kitchen. Since that one is only about 10 miles away
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  from my present location,
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  >> I I didn't want to open up another pizzeria 10 miles away from myself,
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  which would not have been a wise decision. Although some people have said
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  that they didn't want to go over the bridge. They would have been happy for
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  me to have pizza there. So I we we explored a different concept, a fusion,
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  more of a Mediterranean Italian fusion concept. I was inspired by a restaurant
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  I went to in Manhattan called Aqua Roma and they had Japanese and Italian.
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  >> I I ended up ordering sushi and eggplant parmesan in the same night and I this is
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  very impressive. So, I sat with my chef and my team and we came up with the
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  concept of a of a Mediterranean or Italian fusion type concept where we
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  brought some of our staples from the other restaurant over. And then what we
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  did was I let the the rains loose on my chef, Chef Sean Camillo was excellent.
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  He ended up going into Asian and some French dishes and we mixed some of them.
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  We made some separately. So, it's a very interesting combination. We have some
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  sushi on the menu. We have some Asian fusion, Italian, Italian Asian,
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  >> and some other combinations as well.
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  >> Very funny these new fusion restaurants popping up. I had an idea for a
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  restaurant like 10 years ago.
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  >> And it was you go in, it's like every table has a different theme. So one,
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  this is a nightmare for the kitchen, right? So by the way,
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  >> so like table number one is like sushi, table number two, and there maybe
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  they're booths, so you have like an intimate like private thing going on.
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  And then you have Italian and then you have Greek. But point is you have all
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  these different and that's kind of like kind of took my idea. Jimmy, you kind of
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  took my idea.
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  >> Well, well, having separate tables, it wouldn't be a nightmare for the kitchen.
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  It would be a nightmare for the front of house because what about if people say,
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  "Well, I only want sushi. I don't want to eat Greek or whatever it is or
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  opposite." What happens there? I mean, that's going to be a nightmare in the
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  front of house unless you have multiple tables or sections. Probably probably I
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  would probably say do sections and I won't copy you. Go ahead. Go for it.
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  >> What? Do it. Give me
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  >> You're dying to get back into it.
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  >> I am. That's why I'm doing this so I can talk about it and live it and love it
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  and not be there on Saturday night. Give me your biggest like nightmare. You said
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  the word nightmare, but give me your biggest nightmare story that you had in
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  the public over the years.
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  >> Nightmare.
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  >> Craziest guest request. I have a couple of my own, but tell me yours.
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  >> Oh gosh. Um,
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  >> so come on, give me one of those Yelpers. Those people, you know, those
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  onestar Yelpers. Tell me about them.
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  >> Oh my god. Where do I start? Where do I start? Well, the the the initially it
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  was all it's all about New Haven style pizza. We cook it dark.
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  >> So, most people say it's burnt. We don't say the B- word. We definitely don't say
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  the B- word at at Fantini's. I'm tolerant up until the point where somebody starts
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  telling me that it's burnt when it's really not. And and so I had one
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  occasion where I came in there and this was the smaller restaurant when we were
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  first starting out. I think most of our clientele know now what we do, but I go
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  out there and they tell me it's burnt. And I I told the server, I said, "No,
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  it's not burnt. It's not burnt." And she came back and said, "They're telling you
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  it's burnt." So I went outside into the dining room and I grabbed the pizza and
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  I grabbed the whole tray and I asked them to leave. I said, "You got to get
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  out of here." And I took the pizza away. And I thought I was going to lose the
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  rest of the dining room cuz everybody was watching this. I threw I threw them
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  out of the restaurant and as soon as as soon as they left, the whole restaurant
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  stood up and started giving me a round of applause. And so that just that's
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  just an acknowledgement that we are doing the right thing and you should
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  stick with what you're doing no matter what. Unless it's bad, but it shouldn't
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  be bad. If it if if you're putting out a really good product or you're putting
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  out an authentic product, you should stick with it. Had another guy a lot of
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  a lot of miscommunication with New York and New Haven. I think you're from New
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  >> I am. Yes. So, New York doesn't cook them as dark. They use the same
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  ingredients. They don't cook them as dark. So, I had a server come in and she
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  tells me, "The guy's guy's getting mad. He's angry. He's got a party of four at
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  the table. He's he's angry. He's saying that uh we charge him for garlic on the
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  pizza." And I was like, "All right. So, what do you mean?" And she said, "Well,
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  he ordered a white pizza." Well, in New York, if you order a white pizza, it's
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  got garlic, it's got regard on it, it's got some things, it's got some spices on
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  it. In New Haven, if you order a white pizza in New Haven, that means just no
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  sauce. So he ordered a large cheese, a large mozzarella, white. That meant just
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  no sauce, white mozzarella. So he's complaining. So she asked him, you know,
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  what he wanted. He said he wanted the New York style. I said, "Okay." So she
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  charged him for the toppings. She ends up saying, you know, he's or he's
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  annoying me. He's annoying me. So let me go out and talk to this guy. So I go out
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  there, talk to him. Of course, he's got a New York Yankee hat on.
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  >> What?
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  >> He's got So I know he's from New York.
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  >> Stop the press. I know he's from New York.
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  >> What? Who's your baseball team?
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  >> Who's my baseball? The Mets. I'm a Mets. I'm a Mets fan. All right.
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  >> Get out. Out the door.
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  >> Yeah, you say that. We're in Port St. Lucie. We're here.
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  >> I'm die hard Yankees.
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  >> Are you as long as long as they're not playing the Mets? I'm good. All right.
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  As long as they're not playing the Mets.
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  >> I love a good Subway Series. I will root for the Mets. If they are If the Yankees
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  are out and the Mets are in, I'm going to stick with with New York and and roof
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  the Nets. I also do really like the Rays. like the last couple years. The
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  Marlins just suck. So, I can't root for them.
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  >> The Marlins, they they were in a World Series award right now anyway. So,
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  >> I think it was 96 or 97 that the Marlins won. I went to see them down in in
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  Miami, but yeah. No. No.
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  >> I know this. See, this is this is like this is important information. We need
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  to know. Mets fan. All right. Okay. So, you're saying New Haven style pizza. So,
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  break it down for me. What is the difference between New Haven style
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  pizza, New York style pizza, and then let's not forget about the Chicago style
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  pizza. Okay. And then when then you know we have Florida pizza, right? So well,
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  give me give me the breakdown here.
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  >> Well, Florida pizza is is basically your Papa John's, your your your dominoes,
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  those kinds of things, you know? I don't know. I I don't even know what Florida
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  pizza tastes like. I I couldn't eat it. I couldn't eat it. But it's something
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  like that. Very generic. New York style pizzas made with really good stuff. And
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  usually they're they're they're they're they're a larger pie, larger slices, you
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  know, the big slice. They're known for selling it by the slice. They use the
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  same ingredients we use in New Haven, but they don't cook it as dark.
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  >> So the difference between New Haven and New York is that we cook it dark and we
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  bake them we bake them dark. And a lot of people think, again, we don't use the
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  B- word, but people say that they think it's burnt, but it's not. It's not. It's
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  just char. It's like barbecue. Just like having barbecue. So that's the main main
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  difference between New York. Now, Chicago, I understand, has a thin crust
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  pizza, which is probably similar to New York, but they're also known for their
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  deep dish. So, a deep dish Chicago, even Detroit style has deep dish, which is a
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  whole different It's cooked in a pan,
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  >> but there's a a restaurant in town in in Stuart and they do a thin Chicago
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  pizza,
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  >> right?
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  >> So, that's a thing, too, I guess.
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  >> Well, it is. It is. And that's actually that's actually
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  >> And then they cut it into squares.
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  >> Yeah.
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  >> Like, what is all the pizza? Like I don't honestly I don't care where it's
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  from. Just long as it's good and the ingredients are good, you know?
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  >> It's everybody's got their own way. I mean, I don't know why they do it in
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  squares, but okay, that's fine. That rocks their boat. Let them do it that
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  way. And New York cuts it in nice nice diamond, perfectly uh shape shaped
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  diamond forms, but uh New Haven style, an actual Frank Pepe cut. That's the
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  pizza place I learned at. They've been in business over a hundred years.
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  >> Oh, really?
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  >> Arguably number one in the United States. Arguably, they cut the pizza all
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  different ways. And I remember I channel 5 was at the restaurant. I was doing it
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  and I was I was cutting the pizza and I was cutting in all these different
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  things and he he was holding up these different size slices and that's the
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  actually the New Haven way. Okay.
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  >> And I said, "Yeah, I know a lot of people think it's a bring your kid to
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  school day when when when we when we're when we're cutting pies, but
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  >> that's the way it is. Everybody's got their unique way of cutting pies."
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  >> That rolls into my next question. So you started at Frank Pepe's in New Haven and
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  you were 15 years old as a dishwasher. A little birdie told me this.
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  >> Yes. And so what I was going to ask you is how do those moments from you being
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  15 years old dishwasher in New Haven influenced Fantini's today?
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  >> Well, I do it exactly the way I learned it. I mean, that's the only way I that's
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  the only way I know how to do it was the way that I learned it. Interesting
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  enough, uh you know, I I had I was 15 16. Obviously, you could tell I'm
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  nowhere near that today. It it was 30 over 30 years before I made a I made a
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  pizza and I started in my own place here in Stuart. M.
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  >> And the first batch of dough, I made the pizza and we threw it away. It was bad.
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  I I I was doing this from memory.
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  >> I I had no I had no no nothing written down. The second batch I I threw
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  everybody out. I said, "Let me just stay here by myself." I sat there and re
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  reconstructed, made some adjustments because obviously there's different
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  temperatures. There's different kinds of things here. And I went and made the
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  pizza. And from that day on, never threw never never threw a batch of dough away
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  ever. It's just like riding a bike, I guess, once you start doing it and you
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  learn it. And they did, you know, they did a lot a lot of lot of pizzas over
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  them. They still do. They have lines out the door every single day of the week.
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  >> What made you pick Stuart?
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  >> Stuart? I lived in West Palm. I lived in West Palm Beach and I was in in the
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  mortgage and real estate business. And so I wanted to do this little pizza
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  place to get it out of
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  >> like a mortgage broker.
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  >> You kind of have that you kind of had a look go a guy.
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  >> Yeah. like, "What does this guy do for a living?" I'd be like, "Mortgage broker
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  or pizza owner?"
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  >> He's a mortgage broker.
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  >> That's right. That's right. That's right. It's right. So, that's why I So,
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  I was still I was still doing real estate and I just wanted to get this out
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  of my system. There was a little pizza place for sale. It happened to be in
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  Stuart. That's why I ended up in Stuart. I bought it and I redid it and
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  and I was the plan was just keep it for a year or two, just get it out of my
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  system and then maybe don't, you know, sell it for a little bit more than I
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  paid for it. And it just took off. It just took off to the point where I ended
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  up leaving my professional side, my mortgage and my real estate and becoming
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  a full-time ris.
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  >> So something helped you take off. I mean Stuart's a small town. It's well I
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  Stuart used to be a small town. It's growing now. It's booming. It's really
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  every everywhere I turn there's a new restaurant opening there. It's really
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  the growth is I started visiting Stuart in '95. My grandfather lived in Stuart
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  and at the time there was no bridge to Palm City. There were dirt roads down
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  Cove. There was nothing nothing. My grandfather's house was a new build. So
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  I I got to see it with my literally none of it existed. So now it's so crazy
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  because all these restaurants from South from West Palm Jupiter are now starting
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  to open in Stuart and Palm City. and the people, the traffic. So many people
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  are telling me like that they're moving north up there and I've Have you seen
• 14:31
  that big difference over the past seven years that you've had Fantini's?
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  >> Yes. Yes. I mean, the first time I went to Stuart was probably 1996 97 around
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  the time you were found it to be a very charming place. I I like Stuart a lot,
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  but there was no density. I mean, right now they're just under 20,000 residents
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  there. And back then, you know, I I was o opening up a restaurant thinking that,
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  you know, you're going to be three to five mile direction
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  >> that that would keep you busy and it's not,
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  >> It's not. So on on Federal Highway where I am in in mostly was commercial space,
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  it was it was a challenge. So what what I've become is a destination restaurant.
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  My clientele come from 60 mi in each direction. That's 120 mi spread. And I
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  get people all the time telling me, "This is just yesterday. We went to play
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  golf in Orlando. We live in Boynton Beach, but we heard about you because of David
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  Porto. So, we got off the highway and drove here and and had pizza and they
• 15:27
  they had a wonderful time and then they went back home. This happens all the
• 15:31
  time. This happens all the time.
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  >> Do you attribute that to the Dave Portnoy review?
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  >> Oh, the Dave Portnoy review was was was very huge and it's still the the amount
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  of reach that he has especially every year is thousands and millions I think
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  millions now. He's got millions of followers now. Uh it's huge. It's huge.
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  >> When was that? That was three years ago. Okay. So that was what 20
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  >> 20 20 uh2 right 203 2023.
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  >> So it's so funny with him like he started out with with Barstool Sports,
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  right? And then he's doing this whole one bite pizza review. He just goes
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  around to people's pizza places and tries the pizza, right? That's his
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  that's his stick, right? So my brother is like
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  he's like obsessively follows this guy for years and since he probably like OG
• 16:21
  started it and I'm just like who is this guy? What is he doing? I'm like what are
• 16:25
  you even talking about? My brother is that guy that he'll like when you're
• 16:30
  saying they'll come from all he's like on a mission and I distinctively
• 16:34
  remember when he went to get your pizza and he was like oh this guy he just got
• 16:41
  rated really high by Dave Portnoy and he's in Stuart and I'm going to go get
• 16:46
  the pizza. I'm like you do it. You go get the p that pizza. He's on some
• 16:51
  mission my brother. So the review you got was a 8.1.
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  >> Yeah. I I would have taken a zero from Dave Portnoy. I would have taken a zero.
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  I would have been happy with it because
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  >> that's really high for him.
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  >> Well, he told me he said, "I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to grade you on
• 17:07
  the New Haven scale. I'm not going to grade you on Florida. I'm going to I'm
• 17:10
  going to hit you real hard." And so I said, "Do what you got to do." The
• 17:13
  second he turned around, I I passed out behind the counter because I was like,
• 17:16
  "This guy could make or break you." And luckily we pulled out an 8.1, which was
• 17:20
  cool. We didn't know he was coming. You know, it was it was a surprise. It was
• 17:24
  under a different name. He didn't even call it under his own name. And uh he
• 17:28
  insisted on paying for it. The only reason I let him pay for it was cuz I
• 17:31
  wanted his his autograph on I I made him sign the uh the receipt. So, I had his
• 17:35
  autograph. That's it. Otherwise, I would I would not have charged him. He
• 17:39
  insisted. Black MX, by the way. He had a black AMX, just to let you know.
• 17:43
  >> So, he did you recognize him when he came in?
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  >> Right. Right. Right. Right away. Right away. I was I I actually I have no
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  problem talking. I can talk to people all day. He came in and I just was I I
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  didn't know what to say anymore. I said, "I guess I got to make you a pizza." He
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  goes, "No, I already we already called it in." I said, "You called it in?"
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  >> He said, "Yeah." I look in the back, my pizza guy's back there. I didn't even
• 18:02
  make the pie.
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  >> I didn't make the pie. My pizza guy's back there and I see one pizza and it's
• 18:07
  on the oven. And and I said, "Hey, how long's that been in there, Carlos?" He
• 18:11
  says, "Uh" He goes, "About 25 minutes." I said, "All right." I said, "Take a
• 18:16
  look at it. If you need to remake it, remake it." And and Dave's standing
• 18:20
  right there and he looks at it and of course like a normal pizza guy, he don't
• 18:23
  want to make it again. He goes, "Yeah, it's all right. It's all right." I So
• 18:26
  what am I going to do? I had to make an executive decision. So I gave it
• 18:28
  >> If you got a one, that pizza maker would have been fired.
• 18:33
  >> Yeah. Well, anyway, so we we I just took my I rolled with it. You know, if if I
• 18:38
  if I stopped and I had to make another pie for Portnoy, he would have put it on
• 18:43
  tape. My friends in New Haven would said, "Oh, what's the matter? You you
• 18:45
  you you got to make one cuz you know he's there and then the one that you
• 18:48
  already made that you didn't know was for him is no good. So I took the shot.
• 18:52
  We got an 8.1. I can't complain. I can't complain. I can't complain. It was It
• 18:57
  was It was insane. It was insanity for 6 weeks.
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  >> For 6 weeks. I had the phone off the hook.
• 19:03
  >> Mhm.
• 19:04
  >> We opened at 11:30. We closed at 9:00 or 10:00 on the weekends. And we were
• 19:09
  making pizza from morning till night. We had to keep the door lock, let people in
• 19:13
  and out, one at a time or two at a time, party at a time. People were lined up
• 19:18
  around it for six weeks. I had I had West Palm Beach Police Department. I had
• 19:24
  I had sheriff's office. I had cars, ambulances, all the every all the public
• 19:28
  servants were coming up there bringing pizzas down back here, testing us out.
• 19:32
  It was it was a nightmare. And I I almost died. Then my pizza guy,
• 19:35
  obviously,
• 19:36
  >> he suddenly dis discovers his back hurts and he calls in sick for a week and a
• 19:40
  half. And I was just I had I had the waiter cutting pizzas and boxing pizzas
• 19:44
  for me. It'll put you almost put you on the ground. That's the that's the the
• 19:49
  most amount of fame I've ever experienced or the most success of
• 19:54
  having people waiting there before you got there to get in the place. It was a
• 19:58
  it was a great feeling. It was a great feeling. And then it then it toned down
• 20:01
  after about six weeks, but it was insanity.
• 20:03
  >> So instead of kicking up and retiring, you decide, let me open a second
• 20:06
  restaurant.
• 20:07
  >> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Well, that's the dream now. Then now the dream is is to
• 20:11
  with Fantini Hospitality Group to get out there and probably, you know, our
• 20:16
  goal is probably to have, you know, three to five, you know, three three to
• 20:19
  five locations.
• 20:20
  >> Um,
• 20:21
  >> in Martin County or are you going to go down south or or north?
• 20:24
  >> We're open. We're open. You know, I I I really would like to possibly go both
• 20:28
  directions, you know, go go go north and go south because uh this is where I live
• 20:32
  down here in Palm Beach County. I lived here for uh 20 22 years, so I know this
• 20:38
  this county really well. I I did a lot of work here. I had my my businesses
• 20:42
  here. I had my mortgage company on the island of Palm Beach. Worth Mortgage
• 20:45
  Company. It was at the time. I was a member of the Palm Beach Executives
• 20:49
  Association
• 20:50
  >> for 14 years, right?
• 20:51
  >> 14 years. Yes.
• 20:52
  >> And you served as president twice.
• 20:53
  >> Twice. Yes. Yes. Cuz once is not enough. You got to do it twice.
• 20:56
  >> You're just a glutton for punishment all over the place.
• 20:59
  >> Yeah. We got involved with supporting uh local charities and things like that.
• 21:04
  Not not the Palm Beach execs itself. that was that was a network of uh
• 21:09
  prominent business owners which is still there. It's a great pro it's a great
• 21:12
  great organization u but I got to meet a lot of contacts. I got to know a lot of
• 21:16
  folks. I got to know a lot of business people and with that you start helping
• 21:19
  people out and you start doing things. So we we we we helped out charities and
• 21:23
  did some things as well. So it's all part of hospitality too. Business and
• 21:28
  hospitality all blend. You be you be good to society. Society be good back to
• 21:32
  you. But that's not why you do it. You do it because that's who you are.
• 21:35
  >> Yeah. No, I I agree and I think that's a great statement. Like, you know, you and
• 21:39
  I have mutual friends. I called one of them. Yeah. Well, Ben, I called Ben
• 21:43
  yesterday. I said, "Jimmy's coming on the show."
• 21:45
  >> Ben's a good man. A great man. Ben's been in the industry forever. He's he he
• 21:51
  came on the show and he's he's so insightful. I just I think he's a loyal.
• 21:55
  I think he's a great human.
• 21:56
  >> He's a stand-up guy and
• 21:58
  >> he does he does well at what he does. He's director of ops for the MLM food
• 22:03
  group and he's really good at it. I just think he's great and there's so many
• 22:08
  bends out there in our industry that that you and I are lucky and grateful to
• 22:14
  work with and build that community and that hospitality community. And even
• 22:18
  even with the with the podcast like every you know everyone that's coming on
• 22:22
  is not necessarily a chef or an owner but it's a food writer or an influencer
• 22:27
  or I had the chamber of commerce president on. There's so many hands I
• 22:31
  feel like that go into the pot and the pieces of your dishwasher, you know,
• 22:35
  like those people all make every little bit of the difference in putting one
• 22:40
  restaurant together.
• 22:42
  >> It's a combined effort. It's a combined effort. You know, Ben, I love him. He's
• 22:46
  a great guy and he loves his aids, too.
• 22:49
  >> But it is a combined effort. And you you put everybody in the canoe and you yell
• 22:53
  stroke and you hope that everybody's operates in the right in the same
• 22:57
  direction because it can get followed up real easy. follow up real easy. And I
• 23:00
  think you got to be you got to be a certain type of person to be in this
• 23:04
  industry in hospitality. You have to I mean it's a great learning experience. I
• 23:08
  get new kids that come in to work their first job.
• 23:12
  >> And I got to tell you, there's a future here for us. I in the beginning I
• 23:16
  thought these kids all they do is they they play on their devices or they
• 23:21
  but they're very smart. But not only that, they are personable. the the the
• 23:25
  young the young ladies and the young young men that I hired for the Fantini's
• 23:29
  Fusion.
• 23:30
  >> I mean, the biggest smiles, the brightest smiles that come in when you
• 23:33
  greeting when the the hostesses, the food runners. These guys are they're
• 23:37
  they're they're football players, they're baseball players, they're going
• 23:40
  to college, this one wants to be an attorney, that one wants to be a
• 23:44
  radiologist. These kids have have big futures. These and they have bright
• 23:47
  futures at them. And you know what? This is a great experience for them to get
• 23:51
  into the hospitality to meet people and look people in the eye and be personable
• 23:56
  because that's the part of it they don't teach you in school.
• 23:59
  >> So interesting you say that. So my son's 14 and during co he was entering third
• 24:04
  grade. His teacher was on I you know I mirrored the the computer to the TV so
• 24:10
  it was big and whatever. Tried to make it a fun experience.
• 24:15
  That was a crazy time. So, but at that time these kids were being
• 24:23
  sheltered and not taught to interact with humans. Yes. Like interacting with
• 24:28
  the humans for two years is bad bad bad. Right. So that's I feel like that's
• 24:33
  psychologically ingrained in their ste them somewhere. These little ones,
• 24:36
  right?
• 24:37
  >> So now now fast forward, my son's 14 and he's
• 24:42
  he he makes friends. He's good at making friends. He's good at talking to people.
• 24:46
  He's personable. But it's funny to me because like for me
• 24:50
  when I was 14, I was working at a deli on Long Island.
• 24:54
  >> Yeah. You smile because you know what that's like.
• 24:56
  >> I know what that's like. Yeah.
• 24:57
  >> Sunday morning out the door for hours, but you talk to people and you engage
• 25:01
  with people all walks of life. Yes.
• 25:04
  >> Right. So I think that a lot of that I always say always say this. I took so
• 25:08
  much of that in those teen years for me to my to who I am today. I have no
• 25:15
  problem talking to people. I love talking to people. I'll talk to anybody.
• 25:18
  I don't care if you're if you're the homeless guy on the street or you're
• 25:22
  some some billionaire celebrity. I'm going to talk to you. I don't give a
• 25:26
  crap.
• 25:27
  >> I don't care. But I think that's comes from there. So, no. But these kids now,
• 25:32
  like I think my son will probably get into like architecture would be my guess
• 25:36
  because he's very good into building like he's built these sick Lego sets,
• 25:41
  thousands of pieces. So his brain is like calculating that, building it. He
• 25:45
  likes to play Minecraft. He likes to play all the ones where he he's building
• 25:49
  video games. He knows how to code. He knows he went on the back side of my
• 25:53
  YouTube channel and added in things that weren't there to help me maximize. He's
• 25:58
  a whiz at you. He's got 700 subscribers on his channel.
• 26:01
  >> He's hired. Send them to kicking my ass.
• 26:03
  >> Send them to me. I'll hire him.
• 26:04
  >> Well, my next question, how old do you have to be? How old How old are you are
• 26:08
  you hiring?
• 26:09
  >> Oh. Oh. Um, generally 16. Not 14.
• 26:13
  >> 14 might be a little
• 26:14
  >> 14 might be a little.
• 26:15
  >> Let him work for you.
• 26:17
  >> All right, let me see him. Bring him over.
• 26:18
  >> He's a good kid. He'll listen with mom's consent. I don't know. Maybe we could
• 26:21
  work something out.
• 26:22
  >> I I don't know. I did it at 14.
• 26:24
  >> What grade is he in? What grade?
• 26:25
  >> He's going into high school.
• 26:27
  >> He's going into high school. All right. Okay. There's a There's a limit on as to
• 26:30
  the amount of hours that they could work, you know, and you don't want it to
• 26:33
  interrupt with the school work, but Yes. Yes. But, you know, it's weekends, it's
• 26:37
  holidays, you know, you know the business. You know the business. and and
• 26:39
  and they have to understand that. They have to understand that. No concerts, no
• 26:44
  nothing, you know, no hanging out with your friends, but it keeps you out of
• 26:47
  trouble.
• 26:48
  >> Yeah. He doesn't care. He's not a troublemaker. He He couldn't even care
• 26:51
  less. He just bring him up.
• 26:53
  >> He wants to make money. He tells me he like We have a shared little notes in my
• 26:57
  phone and he whenever he does a chore, he writes the chore down and the dollar
• 27:02
  amount that I owe him. I don't know where he's getting these amounts from.
• 27:05
  He's kind of making them up as he goes and I'm like, "Whoa, bro. Whoa, whoa,
• 27:08
  whoa. We need to renegotiate these prices here. This is like
• 27:12
  >> But yeah, he he's he's a he's a rip. So tell me about you did something a
• 27:19
  documentary of some sort with the The Lyric Theatre and 500 people involved
• 27:25
  like
• 27:26
  >> Yes. Yes. All right. So
• 27:28
  >> this episode is sponsored by Altima Caviar. Experience exceptional. Visit
• 27:33
  them at altimacaviar.com. There's a movie called Pizza, A Love Story
• 27:38
  that's out there. It's a documentary filmed by producers and filmmakers from
• 27:42
  New Haven, Connecticut. And they talk about the holy trinity of pizzeras in
• 27:46
  New Haven. Pepe's, Sally's, and Modern. There's three pizza places. Those were
• 27:50
  the ones that set the record for everybody. They made a documentary about
• 27:54
  that about an hour and 20 minutes. And it was a big hit. It was all over the
• 27:57
  place. Used to be played on JetBlue. It was on PBS. Mhm.
• 28:01
  >> Well, after the after the Portnoy thing came, one of the producers came down to
• 28:06
  Florida on vacation and he stopped by the restaurant. He said, "I heard about
• 28:10
  you. I just wanted to try it out." And then I recognized him from the movie.
• 28:14
  And we we sat chatting and we're talking and and he says, "You know, geez." He
• 28:18
  says, "You know, you you from New Haven. You worked at all these places." And I
• 28:21
  didn't know that. I didn't I didn't know that. I thought you were just putting a
• 28:24
  New Haven pizza out there.
• 28:26
  >> And he checked out my background and everything. And he called me back a
• 28:29
  couple weeks later. He says, "You know, we'd like to do a a documentary on on on
• 28:33
  on you on on uh on Fantini's and and the the story." And so I said, "Okay." And
• 28:39
  they came down and they shot for uh for four weeks. Then they they interviewed
• 28:43
  customers. They they went to people that I used to work with in New Haven. They
• 28:47
  they backed it all up. It's just an interesting interesting story and a
• 28:51
  perspective on opening up a New Haven style a pizza restaurant in in you know
• 28:56
  1300 miles away from where it originated and the authenticity and they actually
• 29:00
  went back and interviewed people from Pepe's and all these different places
• 29:03
  that that that that remembered me and remembered stories and stuff like that.
• 29:07
  So that took about a year for them to put
• 29:11
  together and and once they got it together and they premiered it here at
• 29:15
  the Stuart at The Lyric Theatre in Stuart
• 29:18
  >> and we had 500 people there.
• 29:20
  >> It was It was awesome. It was awesome. The mayor at the time was there. A lot
• 29:24
  of the local politicians were there because in the movie it talks about
• 29:27
  Stuart too. If you watch the movie they talk about the charming town that
• 29:30
  Stuart is and and and they interview the mayor and they go to the mayor's
• 29:33
  office. It's it's a pretty decent if you have 47 minutes that you don't know what
• 29:37
  to do with, it's a good good movie to watch. You can watch it on YouTube for
• 29:41
  >> Okay. Um
• 29:42
  >> I will definitely check that out.
• 29:43
  >> So So we did that and then then we premiered it in New Haven. New Haven is
• 29:47
  known for Yale University. So there was there was a New Haven Museum on the Yale
• 29:50
  campus and we we premiered it up there to another 300 people only because it
• 29:55
  only fit 300 people. Other than that, we would have we would have probably had a
• 29:58
  thousand people there. So they did and then and then after that they they live
• 30:02
  streamed it. They streamed it and it's it's on YouTube and it's on some
• 30:06
  pay-per-view things and stuff like that.
• 30:08
  >> But it tells the story of they say a fish out of water. Well, this was a
• 30:12
  pizza out of New Haven story. Yeah.
• 30:15
  >> What was the name of it?
• 30:16
  >> The name of it is called um charred I mean Slice of America
• 30:21
  >> charred in the Florida sun. Slice of America: Charred in the Florida Sun.
• 30:25
  >> Okay. You can find that on YouTube.
• 30:26
  >> You find that on YouTube. You can watch it for free.
• 30:28
  >> Definitely. I'm definitely checking that out. I'm also going to send it to my
• 30:31
  brother, the pizza connoisseur.
• 30:33
  >> So,
• 30:34
  >> you're not drinking any wine?
• 30:35
  >> Oh, I will in just a second. Don't you worry. Don't you worry. It's a little
• 30:40
  early for me to drink, but you know, I appreciate
• 30:42
  >> You can't drink all day if you don't start early. Come on. You know that.
• 30:45
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know. So, I love caffeine. I love caffeine and wine and
• 30:51
  all of the things. I've been here with my water. So, and then if I drink, I'm
• 30:55
  going to mess up the questions I'm asking you. We'll have a drunk podcast.
• 30:58
  Nobody needs that in their life.
• 31:00
  >> Okay,
• 31:01
  >> speaking of speaking of drinking, that's not where I was going with that, but
• 31:04
  it's totally fine. Do you do you do karaoke?
• 31:08
  >> you don't sing karaoke. See, I can do I'm like really good at karaoke when
• 31:14
  when I'm drinking. I'll sing. I will sing my little heart out. Really?
• 31:17
  >> You know what I can't do?
• 31:19
  >> I don't know.
• 31:20
  >> I can't dance.
• 31:21
  >> Really?
• 31:22
  >> No. Can't dance. Cannot. But you can.
• 31:26
  >> Well, I
• 31:27
  >> You can. I did once.
• 31:29
  >> Yeah, I did once. It was It was fun. It was a lot of fun. I got involved with
• 31:33
  the Police Athletic League. They had a um a fundraiser charity event at the
• 31:37
  Kravis Center
• 31:38
  >> and it was a Dancing with the Stars type thing.
• 31:41
  >> And so what uh what we did was they they had five or six different business
• 31:47
  people that were in it and then they paired you up with a uh an actual
• 31:51
  professional dancer and this was with the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in West
• 31:54
  Palm. So you go over there, you get uh 16 weeks of of lessons to practice a
• 31:59
  routine. They pick out a dance, everybody competes. So I got the waltz
• 32:03
  and I was like, "Oh,
• 32:04
  >> oh jeez, that's fun though."
• 32:06
  >> No.
• 32:07
  >> Well, I mean there other people want to do like Yeah. something faster like the
• 32:11
  hustle or this or that and then everybody picked it out of a hat. I was
• 32:15
  like, you know, I mean, did anybody want to trade me? And everybody's like, "No,
• 32:18
  you we don't you're never going to win with a waltz." I said, "All right, so
• 32:22
  what?" So, we did practice 16 weeks, put together a real a real good dance
• 32:26
  routine. It's trying I lost like three, four pounds doing this thing. It's it's
• 32:30
  it's a lot of work. I gotta tell you, it's a lot of work.
• 32:32
  >> They've asked me to to dance. You won.
• 32:35
  >> We won. Yeah, we won first place with the waltz.
• 32:37
  >> We won with the waltz.
• 32:39
  >> See, we did. You could do it. I could do it. Yes. It was It was a lot of fun. You
• 32:44
  can see that one on YouTube.
• 32:45
  >> I was saying I'm like, we need to find some some video of that. That I'm down
• 32:49
  to watch. That's so funny. Yeah. I I I can't dance for [ __ ] Like I could never
• 32:55
  ever in my whole life. My whole life. And so they asked me to to do this
• 33:00
  Dancing with the Stars. And
• 33:02
  >> you should you should do it.
• 33:04
  >> Who asked me to do it? Honestly, I think it was The Lyric Theatre does one, too.
• 33:07
  >> Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. They Yes.
• 33:10
  >> And I was like, it was a hard no for me. And they're like, please come on. I'm
• 33:14
  like, nope.
• 33:16
  >> I'm not doing lyrics. Cool spot. I've seen some shows there.
• 33:19
  >> Yes. It's like a over I Well,
• 33:21
  >> yeah, it's 100 now. 100 years old now.
• 33:24
  >> Yes. 1927.
• 33:26
  >> What a cool building that is. I love that space. But the Kravis Center is cool and
• 33:29
  and the Maltz Jupiter Theatre is cool. Like I've done some things with the Maltz Jupiter Theatre at the at
• 33:33
  best. I'll tell you what I did.
• 33:35
  >> I'll see I'll see your dancing. I'll raise you right.
• 33:38
  >> Okay.
• 33:40
  >> I went to the gala for the Maltz Jupiter Theatre about two years ago. And when I drink,
• 33:46
  not only do I sing, but I also bid the paddle up. Oh,
• 33:49
  >> you know, the paddle's like, "Woo!" Because it's for a good cause. Do it for
• 33:52
  the children.
• 33:53
  >> So, I All my friends laugh at me. They're like, "Give me your paddle." And
• 33:56
  they take it away because they know what I'm going to do.
• 33:58
  >> Well, I won a walk-on role in Frozen.
• 34:02
  >> No kidding.
• 34:03
  >> Uh-huh. I'll send you a video of this.
• 34:05
  >> Oh, I got to see that. I got to see that.
• 34:07
  >> So, I I um not auditioned. I uh I did practice with them. It was a whole hair
• 34:12
  makeup thing. I was all the way involved and it was it was really cool. Well, I
• 34:17
  didn't have any speaking roles or anything, but I do have theater
• 34:19
  background from when I was young. So, like I was fine going on the stage and
• 34:24
  knowing the terms of upstage, downstage, whatever. So, I was comfortable doing it
• 34:28
  and but and I had like I don't know 20 30 of my friends came or something like
• 34:32
  that and we watched my my son came and so it was really cool. Yeah. The wig,
• 34:38
  the makeup, like all of it, the dressing rooms, right? So, you definitely got to
• 34:41
  see it. It's all It's all fine and well. And then at the end, I didn't know they
• 34:47
  were going to do this. They called me up at the very end and was they were like,
• 34:51
  "Thank you. You know, we want to call out our walk-on roll." And they called
• 34:55
  me out and gave me flowers at the very end. Like,
• 34:58
  >> oh, very nice.
• 34:59
  >> Spotlight on me. I'm like, "Oh, [ __ ] This is not fun." Like, this part of it
• 35:03
  was like,
• 35:04
  >> cuz you look out there, you see all these people in the mall.
• 35:08
  >> Beautiful. And I was like, it was about it was about a year ago. Like I won it
• 35:13
  two years ago and then I did it. I got to pick the show. So I was kind of
• 35:16
  between Frozen and 42nd Street, but I so I picked Frozen because I
• 35:20
  >> That's awesome. That is awesome. That's awesome.
• 35:22
  >> And uh yeah, so I'm not I'm not shy with that stuff. But no dancing for me. All
• 35:28
  right. So if you want me to sing, I'm not going to Thank you for the wine, by
• 35:34
  the way. Nice glass. Can I keep the glass?
• 35:36
  >> Yeah, the Those are those are for you.
• 35:37
  >> Oh, yes. I love a good glass. So, don't tell me. Don't tell me. Let me see how
• 35:42
  good my skills are. Is it Caymus?
• 35:45
  >> it is.
• 35:46
  >> I knew it. I love some Caymus.
• 35:48
  >> Caymus is one of the best.
• 35:50
  >> If we did a blind wine tasting test, would you would you be able to like win
• 35:56
  at that? I don't have one ready, but maybe for a part two we can have a game.
• 36:01
  >> Um, depending on what the what it is, but yes.
• 36:04
  >> Yeah. If I land four reds, would you know which was which? Yeah, I can
• 36:08
  definitely tell you which ones were which.
• 36:10
  >> All right. All right. I I feel I feel a little game coming back on.
• 36:13
  >> All right. I'm gonna send somebody out to the uh store.
• 36:18
  >> I think we should do it.
• 36:19
  >> So, if 15-year-old dishwasher you walked
• 36:24
  into Fantini's today, what would he think?
• 36:31
  >> It's hot in here. I can't believe how hot it is in here.
• 36:38
  >> It's the best answer ever. that job, the the dishwasher is is one
• 36:45
  of the most important and probably the hardest and and and and dirtiest of all
• 36:51
  jobs, I think, because you're doing the dishes, you're doing you're you're
• 36:55
  cleaning plates, you're mopping floors, you're you're even sometimes cleaning
• 37:00
  the bathrooms if necessary, you're taking the garbage out. You know those
• 37:04
  times you take the bag, it rips, garbage falls all over you. You're the last one
• 37:08
  out. You're always the last one out. So, the respect I have for dishwashers, and
• 37:14
  I tell you, I go in there, I go in there, especially on a Friday or
• 37:18
  Saturday night when we're busy, I'll slip them a 20 buck, a $20 bill, and
• 37:22
  just hand it to them. And, you know, and they appreciate it. You know, they don't
• 37:25
  expect it, but I know what they do. I know what they do. So, I always start in
• 37:29
  I go in the kitchen. I talk to I talk to the dishwashers first. Then I go to my
• 37:33
  executive chef and then down the line. But I go I go to the dishwasher first.
• 37:38
  So I have the ultimate respect for that. A 15-year-old me walked into to my
• 37:42
  place. This this is the best job I've ever had is probably what they would
• 37:46
  say. Other places, I don't know. But but mine, our dishwashers are are they we
• 37:51
  feed them. We make sure that they're taken care of. They got their uniforms,
• 37:55
  that they have their aprons, that they have everything. And both restaurants,
• 37:59
  brand new machines, brand new stainless steel, the best of everything. So, they
• 38:04
  have all the tools that they need to make things happen. And they're they're
• 38:07
  awesome people. They're awesome.
• 38:08
  >> What would What would he What would 15-year-olds say to you?
• 38:13
  >> Uh, give me a raise. I I don't know. I I don't know. Uh, what would a 15-year-old
• 38:17
  say to you?
• 38:18
  >> Yourself. Your own self. You're sitting there saying dishes in New Haven.
• 38:22
  >> Oh. Oh.
• 38:23
  >> Fast forward. You have a time machine. Imagine the restaurant I'm going to have
• 38:28
  20 years from now. Imagine the restaurant I'm going to have 20 years
• 38:30
  from now.
• 38:31
  >> Did you want a You wanted a restaurant.
• 38:33
  >> I got the bug. I got the bug at Frank Pepe's when I was when I was 16. I got
• 38:37
  the bug. I remember exactly where I was. I was walking across the the the the
• 38:42
  floor right in front of the oven and it was almost like something snapped and I
• 38:46
  said, "This is what I want to do."
• 38:48
  >> And I think it was Frank Pepe. Frank Pepe, he passed away in 1969. I think it
• 38:52
  was Frank Pepe that just zapped me and said, "This is what you should do." And
• 38:56
  I got the inspiration there and never lost it. All through high school, all
• 39:01
  through college, I worked in restaurants.
• 39:03
  >> And then uh even a few years after college because when I worked for a
• 39:07
  bank, you know, they don't pay that well in the beginning. And so I was I was
• 39:11
  moonlighting. I was making more money on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the
• 39:13
  restaurant than I was in the bank. Yeah.
• 39:15
  >> But in the bank, I learned management skills. I learned finance. I learned
• 39:19
  retirement plans. I learned property management. I learned employee, you
• 39:23
  know, how to handle employees, how to manage people. Everything that I did
• 39:26
  when I went to real estate, I learned how to negotiate leases, buy p buy and
• 39:30
  purchase properties, buy and sell properties. All these different skills
• 39:34
  lead up to being a restaurant tour. All these different skills I tap into all
• 39:39
  the time.
• 39:40
  >> Uh marketing, when I was in the mortgage business or even real estate, it's
• 39:44
  marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing. Same thing with
• 39:47
  the restaurants. It's the same thing. You're marketing. So all these different
• 39:50
  skills that I've picked up along the way have
• 39:54
  complemented and made me successful, made me able to do the job that I'm and
• 39:59
  grow the business the way it has from a from a four a four table pizzeria to now
• 40:04
  two restaurant location operations with, you know, 67
• 40:09
  69 people working it for me.
• 40:11
  >> So it grows. It grows. Yes.
• 40:13
  >> I love that you just said marketing. Marketing marketing. So, in addition to
• 40:18
  Flavor South Florida, my other babies are my music booking company, which is
• 40:22
  Night Owl Entertainment, which nobody seems to
• 40:25
  >> tell me about that.
• 40:26
  >> My partner Mike and I book bands throughout Oh, now we just switched. We
• 40:31
  flipped the switch. You're like, now you're interviewing me. You're like,
• 40:33
  tell me about that.
• 40:34
  >> I'm interviewing you right now. I'm interviewing you right now.
• 40:37
  >> So, we book bands from basically West Palm Beach to Melbourne and we have like
• 40:42
  25 venues or so right now. We also do corporate events, festivals, whatever.
• 40:46
  rest bars like we do Double Roads, we do we do Hudson's on the River.
• 40:51
  >> Oh, really? Okay. So, so if if I had a waterfront location, which I don't right
• 40:55
  now, but if I did and I
• 40:56
  >> No, not necessarily water like So, for your if I wanted to have a band on the
• 41:01
  deck on the deck on a Sunday or Friday, Saturday night, that's something that
• 41:04
  >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
• 41:05
  >> But like for you, like we've had we've had other venues like that. They just
• 41:09
  want a solo guy that does or a p Oh, I got a good piano guy. Like it depends
• 41:13
  the vibe. You're a restaurant. We we fix all right what's your budget and then we
• 41:18
  >> it's a lot of work that goes into it.
• 41:19
  >> Oh I know I know
• 41:20
  >> it's very strategic. We're not just throwing Joe at you you know
• 41:24
  >> so it's just like within budget within uh genre within like what do you want
• 41:27
  like you might come to me hey Kerri I want to do every Thursday I want to do
• 41:31
  jazz night. So we would put in jazz musicians for you. So whatever those
• 41:35
  musicians are.
• 41:36
  >> Did you do this? You didn't do this. Were you doing something in Fort Pierce?
• 41:41
  >> Yeah we do things up in Fort Pierce. No, but you didn't have like a place like a
• 41:44
  venue in Fort Pierce, right? No, cuz I remember I called someone. I needed
• 41:49
  somebody for New Year's Eve, you know.
• 41:51
  >> Oh, I know who there's a guy. There's a guy up there. I know who you're thinking
• 41:54
  >> No, it was a It was a lady. It was a girl. Yeah. Yeah. I don't remember her
• 41:57
  name, but anyway, she sent me She says, you know, it's not big enough. You only
• 42:01
  need one or two guys. She goes, I'll just send you the guys. And she did.
• 42:03
  Yeah.
• 42:04
  >> And um
• 42:05
  >> there's a couple. So, you have to be a licensed and bonded talent agent to do
• 42:08
  this.
• 42:09
  >> Okay. So there I would say reputable ones in this in our area. I'm talking
• 42:13
  about from Bokeh to Melbourne. There's five or 10. There's 10 at most.
• 42:18
  10. I'll say 10.
• 42:20
  >> And we're we're one of them. So
• 42:22
  >> It's it's a really fun piece of the puzzle.
• 42:25
  >> Well, you have to market. You have to market constantly.
• 42:27
  >> So yes, my my third baby is my marketing company that I started in 2018 called
• 42:32
  Monarch Marketing. And I tell restaurants all the time cuz it
• 42:36
  pains me when they're like, "We want to do this event, this promo, this, that,
• 42:41
  and the other thing, but we need to cut back on marketing because it's summer."
• 42:44
  I'm like, "What? How are you going to do these events and put all this effort and
• 42:51
  energy in and not then tell anybody about it?" Because now you put all this
• 42:55
  effort and energy in and you don't want to market it appropriately or put the
• 43:00
  marketing money budget behind it. You could do all the coolest things in the
• 43:04
  world, but if you're not marketing it, nobody's going to know you're doing it.
• 43:06
  >> You have to let you have you have to let people know. And you do a great job with
• 43:11
  the flavors. I mean, I I've watched that thing grow over the last three, four,
• 43:15
  five years and and and I'm glad I was able to get involved this year. Me, too.
• 43:19
  >> With it. I can tell you right now, I could already tell you I'll be doing
• 43:23
  this every year as long as you're doing it. I can just tell you that how you got
• 43:26
  me on tape.
• 43:27
  >> We're trying so hard to build it into Martin County. It started out as Flavor
• 43:31
  Palm Beach in 20 years next year. 20 years ago
• 43:35
  >> and I took it over five years ago and I had some restaurant friends, owners in
• 43:41
  Martin County and they said they were like, "Hey, can we do flavor?" I think
• 43:46
  it was Kyle actually that said,
• 43:47
  >> "No, Kyle's a great guy." And he said I was like hey he's like hey can we do
• 43:51
  flavor? I'm like sure everybody can do it. Who am I to say no? So I rebranded
• 43:56
  it to from flavor palm beach to flavor Martin. So it was flavor martin for one
• 44:01
  year. There was two programs I was running since yeah that probably was the
• 44:04
  first three or four years ago. Yes, that was the first one
• 44:06
  >> did not work and it was double work for me and people weren't really getting it
• 44:12
  or it's an interesting community and it it just wasn't it wasn't catching.
• 44:17
  >> It is. So I was like, you know, hell with it. Put it all together. So I did
• 44:20
  Flavor South Florida because Miami does Miami Spice in September. Lauderdale
• 44:23
  does Visit Lauderdale's Dine Out Lauderdale September. I'm like, so now the way we
• 44:27
  have it structured is if you go anywhere from Indian River County down to Miami,
• 44:34
  people can go in September throughout those three programs.
• 44:38
  I think I totaled up last year was almost a thousand restaurants
• 44:42
  >> down the coast.
• 44:43
  >> Really? So you partnered? Is that what you did? Oh, I don't partner with them,
• 44:46
  but I advocate for them and I think they're kicking ass, too. So, I think
• 44:50
  it's great for the public to know that
• 44:52
  >> no matter what program you're supporting, no matter what area you're
• 44:54
  in, if you're going down the line in South Florida, starting up in Indian
• 44:58
  River, down to Miami, just go eat in September. I think I think however the
• 45:03
  idea, however you came up with this or however you you put it together, you're
• 45:07
  you're doing a great service to the the locals here, you know, for them to be
• 45:12
  able to get out there and and go out with a prix fixe menu and and go try places
• 45:16
  that sometimes I mean, even myself sometimes I I don't go out in the middle
• 45:20
  of season when it's so crazy out.
• 45:22
  >> And to be able to go out and say, "Hey,
• 45:24
  >> I'm going to go in there. I really don't have to decide. It's it's already there.
• 45:28
  I I've already decided before I got there. I just want to enjoy the
• 45:31
  experience. I want to taste the food. I want to see what this service is all
• 45:34
  about. I want to see what this restaurant's all about. And and you're
• 45:37
  you're you're crushing it with that. And I'm glad to be a part of it, you know,
• 45:41
  and and all the other all the other restaurants that are doing it. I think
• 45:44
  it's good for us and it's excellent for the locals.
• 45:47
  >> Got to get more Treasure Coast restaurants doing it.
• 45:50
  >> Well, they will. They will. They will.
• 45:52
  >> Painful. Painful.
• 45:54
  >> It takes time. I mean, I know a lot of them like personally and and it's like,
• 45:59
  you know, and I know it's hard, especially when you have these local mom
• 46:02
  and pop owned restaurants. There's not a lot of extra money to spend. There's not
• 46:06
  a lot of extra discounts to give. There's not a lot of extra promotions
• 46:10
  you can do to stay in profit margin. So, I get it. I get it.
• 46:15
  >> Regardless of what people think, you know, in the restaurant business, if you
• 46:18
  can get 10 to 12% bottom line profit, you're a high a huge success.
• 46:23
  >> Yeah. People think I mean they think if we charge $19 for a martini that we're
• 46:28
  we're making we're making $17 on that martini. I wish I trust me I wish. But
• 46:34
  it's it's it's we it's it's a slim margin. We're we're basing it on volume.
• 46:38
  So figure
• 46:40
  >> figure every dollar that you put has to be wisely invested in whatever marketing
• 46:45
  program a restaurant tour wants to use.
• 46:47
  >> Yeah. No. Very.
• 46:48
  >> Yours, I can tell you is well worth it. Well worth it.
• 46:52
  >> Well, thanks. I'm so happy to hear that. Hey, so let's wrap it up with some
• 46:57
  really fun rapid fire questions. You can't put a lot of thought into this.
• 47:01
  You just have to answer quickly. They're not hard.
• 47:04
  >> They're not hard or scary.
• 47:05
  >> Are they multiple choice? No. Okay, go ahead.
• 47:07
  >> Some are ready.
• 47:09
  >> I mean, come the first one's so easy. New Haven or South Florida?
• 47:16
  >> South Florida.
• 47:17
  >> White clam pizza or plain cheese?
• 47:20
  >> Plain cheese. Thin crust or thick?
• 47:23
  >> Thin.
• 47:24
  >> One ingredient you refuse to compromise on.
• 47:30
  >> the mootz.
• 47:31
  >> Favorite Italian comfort food that isn't pizza.
• 47:36
  >> F. Oh gosh. Uh, popcorn.
• 47:40
  >> Frank Pepe's memory that you'll never forget.
• 47:46
  >> Oh gosh. um going down in the cellar and seeing all the the old things that they
• 47:53
  had, the the the old stuff from the 1930s and the 1940s and just going
• 47:58
  through. It was like being in a museum in the basement by myself looking
• 48:01
  around. That's that's one of my best memories there.
• 48:04
  >> That's a cool one. Espresso martini or oldfashioned?
• 48:08
  >> Espresso martini.
• 48:10
  >> Sinatra or Springsteen?
• 48:12
  >> Sinatra.
• 48:13
  >> If Dave Portnoy walked in tomorrow, what pizza are you serving him?
• 48:17
  I'm serving him the La Nonna. La Nonna is It says in Italian, La Nonna
• 48:24
  is the grandmother. I I named it after my grandmother.
• 48:26
  >> Yeah.
• 48:27
  >> But it's a it's a margarita pizza. And uh I put it on the menu because she was
• 48:32
  special to me. And uh for all grandmothers, whenever whenever somebody
• 48:36
  orders the La Nonna, a grandma gets her wings.
• 48:39
  >> A that's so sweet. What is one life lesson you've learned
• 48:45
  from making pizza?
• 48:49
  >> Work hard and it pays off.
• 48:52
  >> We'll drink to that.
• 48:56
  >> Cheers.
• 48:59
  >> Thanks for joining me on Forking Around with Flavor South Florida. If you're in
• 49:02
  the industry, a business owner, or just want a better understanding of what goes
• 49:06
  into keeping restaurants alive and thriving, make sure you subscribe and
• 49:10
  share this episode with someone who should hear it. Flavor South Florida
• 49:13
  takes place every September from the 1st through the 30th between Palm Beach
• 49:17
  County and the Treasure Coast. You can find all the amazing dining deals and
• 49:20
  participating restaurants at FlavorSouthFlorida.com. Until next time, keep
• 49:25
  supporting local and keep forking around.