Latest / New Worlder / Episode #103: Meghan Flanigan & Mario Rosero

Transcript

Episode #103: Meghan Flanigan & Mario Rosero · New Worlder

3:33
SPEAKER_03: Hi, Megan.
3:34
SPEAKER_03: Hi, Mario.
3:35
SPEAKER_02: Hi, Nick.
3:37
SPEAKER_03: Hello, hello.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: Hi.
3:39
SPEAKER_03: How are you guys doing?
3:41
SPEAKER_02: We're great.
3:42
SPEAKER_03: Are you in the restaurant now?
3:44
SPEAKER_02: No, we're actually home.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: That's a beautiful, like, painting behind you.
3:47
SPEAKER_03: That's your wall of your house.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: You want to hear the story of it?
3:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, of course.
3:54
So we have a beautiful mural in Prudencia that was painted by a
4:00
friend of mine.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: She's a landscape painter.
4:02
SPEAKER_03: Cool.
4:03
SPEAKER_03: Is it like a specific place?
4:06
SPEAKER_02: It's a memory and planes.
4:10
SPEAKER_03: All right, cool.
4:11
SPEAKER_03: So how's everything at the restaurant?
4:15
SPEAKER_03: It's going well.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great.
4:19
We're just talking with India about how it's been post-pandemic
4:23
and we switched and
4:26
SPEAKER_01: it changed drastically.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: It's been very, very surprising year after year post-pandemic.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
4:33
SPEAKER_01: right before up to the pandemic,
4:35
I think we were all in various different formats and versions
4:39
of each other in the
4:40
SPEAKER_01: same path,
4:42
SPEAKER_01: you know,
4:42
SPEAKER_01: where we're trying to offer,
4:44
SPEAKER_01: you know,
4:46
SPEAKER_01: this is from a very low key restaurant.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: tiny, tiny little place to a corporation, whatever.
4:53
Everyone was trying to sell volume at the highest,
4:57
most affordable quality.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: That was everybody's, I think, direction, if you will.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: And then post-pandemic, we just had to switch at the very last minute.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: You know, we suddenly ended up without access to people.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
5:17
SPEAKER_01: there were no,
5:18
SPEAKER_01: you know,
5:19
SPEAKER_01: for a whole year longer,
5:21
SPEAKER_01: at least,
5:21
SPEAKER_01: you know,
5:23
SPEAKER_01: maybe eight months,
5:24
SPEAKER_01: there was anyone back downtown,
5:27
SPEAKER_01: whereas people in the north had access to,
5:30
SPEAKER_01: you know,
5:30
people who started coming out more and going back to even if
5:34
people were working remotely,
5:36
SPEAKER_01: people were going out.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: We had nobody downtown.
5:40
no one,
5:40
there was no government,
5:41
there was no universities,
5:42
there was no tourists,
5:43
nothing.
5:45
So,
5:45
and we never did any takeout or home,
5:48
you know,
5:48
delivery or anything like that.
5:50
So we ended up switching to this like long,
5:53
you know,
5:53
we're now a seven course preview menu.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: But that was a,
6:00
SPEAKER_01: And it's not a tasty menu, per se, because we don't care.
6:06
Our goal is not to rotate a table,
6:08
so we're not resourcing per slots or anything.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: Just people come and hang out,
6:15
SPEAKER_01: and sometimes they stay an hour,
6:16
SPEAKER_01: but sometimes they stay five hours.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: And so we had to relearn how to do everything that we were doing.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: And this is from composing a menu
6:30
from the nutritional content to the digestive experience,
6:34
costing,
6:36
interactiveness.
6:37
And this is where it was so surprising to all of us,
6:42
our front of the house,
6:43
back of the house.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Because right in the very beginning, we just didn't have any experience.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: So we were trying to be very efficient,
6:53
SPEAKER_01: but it was so awkward because we were trying to be just quick,
6:57
SPEAKER_01: healthy people.
6:59
And people were done within a very short amount of time and we
7:02
didn't know what to do.
7:03
And now it just evolved organically into this sort of kind of
7:09
like a hangout.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: You know,
7:11
SPEAKER_01: just people come and hang out and we don't,
7:13
SPEAKER_01: you know,
7:14
SPEAKER_01: it's not that we're not unconscious of the surroundings.
7:18
I mean,
7:18
we approach in a very just calm way and it just ended up being
7:25
a way to
7:28
experience hospitality for us too you know as as um as the
7:32
hosts um just in a
7:34
completely different way which has been which is which has been
7:38
amazing you know so
7:41
when i was there which was it's a while ago now as i think
7:45
about it like more than
7:47
a year maybe almost two years and it was an interesting moment
7:52
because you know
7:53
everyone was coming out of the pandemic hurting but you guys
7:57
seem to be doing great
7:58
SPEAKER_03: And from everything you told me while I was there,
8:01
SPEAKER_03: it was completely counterintuitive to everything that,
8:08
SPEAKER_03: you know,
8:08
SPEAKER_03: restaurants are supposed to do.
8:11
SPEAKER_03: Like,
8:12
SPEAKER_03: for instance,
8:13
SPEAKER_03: you raised your prices,
8:15
SPEAKER_03: you doubled salaries,
8:16
SPEAKER_03: you cut capacity,
8:18
SPEAKER_03: but it was doing great.
8:22
SPEAKER_03: And from what I can tell is you've maintained that momentum.
8:28
SPEAKER_03: And it's working out much better.
8:31
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like we,
8:35
SPEAKER_02: you know,
8:36
SPEAKER_02: all the things you just mentioned,
8:37
SPEAKER_02: we implemented before the pandemic,
8:39
SPEAKER_02: but when we opened in 2016,
8:42
SPEAKER_02: we were already doing things that were against the conventional wisdom.
8:48
SPEAKER_02: Not because we were trying to,
8:49
but because we were just really naive and coming from our own
8:53
personal experiences
8:54
SPEAKER_02: and making business decisions based on our
8:58
SPEAKER_02: sort of life experience and philosophy.
8:59
SPEAKER_02: And then we'd start implementing them.
9:01
And then someone who had a lot of restaurant industry
9:04
experience would come in and
9:05
SPEAKER_02: say like,
9:05
SPEAKER_02: no,
9:05
SPEAKER_02: no,
9:05
SPEAKER_02: no,
9:05
SPEAKER_02: you can't do it that way.
9:08
SPEAKER_02: And we'd say, well, you know, we're just going to give it a try.
9:10
SPEAKER_02: And then it worked.
9:12
And so I think we got very used to doing things against the
9:15
grain and sort of
9:16
becoming the place that can do that because it becomes part of
9:19
your culture,
9:20
SPEAKER_02: part of your identity.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: And then when the pandemic hit, again, it sort of happened all over that
9:26
we were making decisions based on sort of understanding what
9:31
was happening in that moment,
9:34
SPEAKER_02: what it looked like to come out of the pandemic and saying,
9:36
SPEAKER_02: okay,
9:37
SPEAKER_02: we need to prioritize the safety of the people that work here,
9:41
SPEAKER_02: the safety of the people that are coming in.
9:43
We need to prioritize also our sense of humanity that we've all
9:48
been shut in.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: And the last thing we want to do is be rushed.
9:51
So we all need to enjoy being together again in a place,
9:55
but also feel safe about it.
9:56
SPEAKER_02: So that's where the business decisions came from.
9:59
And then luckily,
10:01
but I think also because of that,
10:03
they worked and they still are.
10:06
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've definitely evolved.
10:08
It doesn't look at all like it looked like in 2021,
10:12
but the basis is still there.
10:15
But you know,
10:16
so before the pandemic,
10:17
we thought we were like in the most,
10:21
uh,
10:23
We have reached,
10:24
you know,
10:24
I mean,
10:25
we were at the highest peak,
10:27
you know,
10:29
since we opened.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: So we thought we were doing amazing.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: What we were also aware of is that we were exhausted.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: We didn't understand,
10:40
SPEAKER_01: you know,
10:41
SPEAKER_01: where it was heading because we didn't,
10:43
SPEAKER_01: you know,
10:43
this is the first restaurant that we've ever owned and we're
10:48
not entrepreneurs or,
10:49
SPEAKER_01: you know,
10:50
SPEAKER_01: we didn't have any experience.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: And we're just doing great.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: And then I remember,
10:56
SPEAKER_01: Priya,
10:57
SPEAKER_01: it was every three,
10:59
SPEAKER_01: four months we were hiring someone new to keep up with the demand.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: But that allowed us to take in maybe five,
11:08
SPEAKER_01: six,
11:08
SPEAKER_01: seven more clients per day,
11:12
doing 140 clients on average every day in amount in a space of
11:17
four hours.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: And it was insane.
11:20
was absolutely insane you know and so when we came back you
11:24
know the when we
11:24
decided to expand the menu and we just did our costing
11:28
naturally how we used to do
11:29
pre-pandemic and then suddenly it went up 122 percent and that
11:35
shocked us you know
11:36
SPEAKER_01: and we thought wow how is you know how is this going to work
11:42
But it was the only thing,
11:43
the only option that we had because we didn't have access to people.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: And somehow it worked.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: But it was very slow, maybe six months post-pandemic.
11:53
But by the end of the year,
11:54
we only had eight people out of the whole team came back.
11:58
And we were already,
12:00
you know,
12:00
getting maybe doing probably 60 people on average.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: It was only three people in the kitchen.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: And we were already just as exhausted as we were pre-pandemic.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: So when we went to vacation that first year post-pandemic,
12:17
SPEAKER_01: these guys were making twice as much as the highest peak in pre-pandemic,
12:22
SPEAKER_01: whereas anywhere else,
12:24
because everybody else had to negotiate and reduce the base
12:30
salaries just to survive,
12:32
SPEAKER_01: to be able to come back post-pandemic.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: And people were not even back at where they used to be.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: And suddenly these guys were making
12:41
SPEAKER_01: twice as much.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: So when we came back from that vacation,
12:45
SPEAKER_01: we knew that we were not,
12:49
SPEAKER_01: you know,
12:50
SPEAKER_01: everyone was so happy to come back and we didn't love it.
12:54
right away we took another extra month after vacation we tell
12:59
them you know we're
13:00
not going to hire more people just to be able to because that's
13:04
going to push us
13:05
back to where we're you know we're going to be able to take in
13:08
more clients and
13:09
then we're just going to start rehiring we don't follow that
13:12
route we've already
13:13
SPEAKER_01: been there
13:15
SPEAKER_01: But we didn't know what to do.
13:17
And our team was like,
13:19
wait a minute,
13:20
this is the best time we've ever had.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean we're not reopening?
13:25
SPEAKER_01: And it took us a whole month until we decided to rebuild our garden.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: We did our garden, put a roof up and all that.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: And the only other option was to increase prices again.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: It was insane.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: It was so insane.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: And then we doubled their salaries.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: And so it was such a risk.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: And we told the team, everyone's like, this is not going to work.
13:50
You better really,
13:51
really,
13:51
truly save every penny because I don't think this is going to work.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: And it worked.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: It worked tremendously well.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: And then we didn't raise prices again for another year and a half.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: But then that's what we've been doing.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: And we just raised our prices.
14:05
We didn't raise them a small amount,
14:08
but we just increased their salaries again for
14:12
SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe 17%.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: So we, you know, post-pandemic, we've increased their salaries to 150%.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: It's insane.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: How many people do you have now?
14:25
SPEAKER_00: About a dozen.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:29
we do about 37 people average now so since we came back from
14:33
the pandemic mind you
14:35
we used to be fit you know even when we came back from the
14:38
pandemic we raised our
14:39
prices 122 but now at this point three years later we're twice
14:45
as expensive just so
14:48
and we are we realize we we are fully aware that we are
14:51
incredibly expensive you
14:53
SPEAKER_01: know um but
14:56
To me personally,
14:57
I think this is a more sustainable approach to the future of hospitality.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: I don't think,
15:05
SPEAKER_01: for two reasons,
15:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't think we can go back to what we used to be pre-pandemic,
15:10
which is try to sell the most affordable quality at the highest
15:16
volume that you can do.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: I think that's clashing.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: I've seen it everywhere.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: I've seen that that does not work.
15:24
One of the effects,
15:25
one of the immediate effects that has had rotation in personnel.
15:31
You wouldn't believe how difficult and challenging it is for
15:35
everybody here.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: They're rotating personnel.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, there's an expense to training and to find staff.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: And that reflects in the quality of the product constantly.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: And it was,
15:50
SPEAKER_01: you know,
15:51
SPEAKER_01: people being away from work for a whole year,
15:54
SPEAKER_01: trying to survive however it is that they,
15:56
SPEAKER_01: you know,
15:57
SPEAKER_01: whatever,
15:57
SPEAKER_01: you know,
15:58
SPEAKER_01: form.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: You know,
16:00
SPEAKER_01: people are not coming back to working long hours,
16:04
SPEAKER_01: split shifts and at,
16:07
SPEAKER_01: you know,
16:07
SPEAKER_01: at not a great or fair wage is not sustainable.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, but...
16:17
SPEAKER_01: That's been our experience.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: And it's,
16:19
SPEAKER_01: you know,
16:20
SPEAKER_01: it ended up being just,
16:21
SPEAKER_01: you know,
16:21
SPEAKER_01: we've been open now for four years post-pandemic and it's taught us,
16:27
SPEAKER_01: you know,
16:27
SPEAKER_01: us as hosts,
16:29
SPEAKER_01: a whole team,
16:31
SPEAKER_01: just how to approach hospitality in a completely different way.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: But we had to relearn it.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: There was not a manual.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Now you come in and it is a very personal experience.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: It's a very personal interaction.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Everybody is different.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: You're going to go at your own pace, whatever that is.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: So people come in and sometimes they take a phone call and say,
16:56
SPEAKER_01: There's no worry.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: You can stop here and you can finish her.
17:00
Or if you want to finish a glass of wine or just take a pause,
17:04
it does not matter.
17:05
You want to go and chat in the garden and the people hang out
17:08
and they come back and continue.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: It's a very genuine exchange, which is very different every single day.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like a performance that is not scripted.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Because now that you're talking about that energy,
17:26
SPEAKER_00: that it doesn't have a rush pace,
17:29
SPEAKER_00: doesn't necessarily mean it's slow,
17:31
SPEAKER_00: but you were talking,
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Megan,
17:33
SPEAKER_00: about this calming,
17:34
SPEAKER_00: or the two of you,
17:36
SPEAKER_00: now it feels calmer,
17:37
SPEAKER_00: but I think something that has defined or,
17:44
SPEAKER_00: yeah,
17:44
SPEAKER_00: defined prudencia is that peaceful energy you feel and how genuine it is,
17:52
SPEAKER_00: and it's part of the philosophy,
17:53
SPEAKER_00: and
17:54
I would love if you can explain the name to people that are not
17:59
familiar with the restaurant,
18:01
SPEAKER_00: because I think there is a lot of meaning there.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: And even the description you give about it,
18:07
SPEAKER_00: which is,
18:07
SPEAKER_00: you know,
18:09
SPEAKER_00: innocent,
18:10
SPEAKER_00: put in,
18:13
SPEAKER_00: yeah,
18:14
SPEAKER_00: shy or timid or unsophisticated,
18:16
SPEAKER_00: all these things that are values of you and that you...
18:22
I mean,
18:23
that you try to be very eloquent with those in the daily
18:28
operation of the restaurant.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: But when you say it's calmer, I was curious.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: It caught my attention.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, it was already very calm and peaceful.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: So now I'm curious, what are you doing to make it even more that way?
18:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
18:45
SPEAKER_02: First of all, just for people who haven't come to visit us yet.
18:49
SPEAKER_02: So we're in the Candelaria in the center of Bogota,
18:54
SPEAKER_02: which is a very small,
18:57
SPEAKER_02: feels like a small village in the midst of a huge cosmopolitan,
19:01
SPEAKER_02: extremely busy city.
19:04
we're right next to the head of government the head of culture
19:09
into lots of
19:10
universities and then we also have the local people who've been
19:13
living here for
19:14
generations and we have foreigners who've come to it because
19:18
they've started to
19:18
fall in love with the area so that's the context we're in and
19:21
that's the context
19:22
where Mario and I first met we were both living in the
19:26
neighborhood and kind of
19:28
SPEAKER_02: fell in love with the place as well as each other and
19:34
SPEAKER_02: Back in 2013, we started working on developing a restaurant.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: And so we did it in the Candelaria kind of as a love letter to the place.
19:45
SPEAKER_02: We did a whole redesign of our of the house.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: It's an old Republican style.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: hundred-year-old house.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: We worked with the architect Simon Velez to open up the space.
19:57
And he works with these really raw materials,
20:01
the bamboo wood,
20:02
the raw iron.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: And we've built this beautiful house,
20:07
SPEAKER_02: but I don't want to go into the details of that,
20:09
but it's a total nightmare to try and build something that has
20:15
a lot of historic value.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of bureaucracy.
20:19
And so I remember coming out of the building process or the
20:22
renovation process,
20:23
SPEAKER_02: feeling like we'd made lots and lots of mistakes.
20:27
And one time I was listening to the song,
20:31
Prudence,
20:32
Dear Prudence by Susie and the Banshees.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: And I just started thinking about that.
20:36
We needed more prudence in our lives because we'd thrown all of
20:40
our eggs in one
20:41
SPEAKER_02: basket and we barely come out of it,
20:43
SPEAKER_02: solve it.
20:45
And so I thought,
20:46
okay,
20:46
we need more prudence,
20:47
but what does prudence mean?
20:49
And so I started looking up what prudence means,
20:52
and it does not mean just caution.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: That's the modern day meaning behind it.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: but historically it talks about the mother of all virtues.
21:04
So the ability to apply wisdom to practical life and the
21:09
ability to choose amongst
21:12
SPEAKER_02: different good paths.
21:14
SPEAKER_02: And so I thought,
21:14
SPEAKER_02: well,
21:15
that's a much larger concept than just caution and a really
21:19
beautiful way to think
21:20
SPEAKER_02: about how you want to move through the world.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: And so the restaurant became Prudencia and it sort of has a,
21:29
SPEAKER_02: An old fashioned, but feminist feel to it for me.
21:33
And so,
21:35
so that's sort of had the name of name of it in terms of the calm.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: I think that we, we are, we're chaotic as well.
21:45
SPEAKER_02: And so there's a bit of a clash between the two because we,
21:50
We do a lot with very few people and we work the talents of
21:58
those people and
21:59
they're all able to improvise and communicate with each other
22:04
and hustle a lot.
22:07
But they do it with a sense of like,
22:10
we're doing the hustling and you guys just relax.
22:14
And so it becomes a bit of a theater of the people at the table
22:17
are sort of sitting
22:18
SPEAKER_02: in these islands of calm.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: And around them, there's actually a lot going on.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: So we have live fire in the back.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: We have people coming in at the front.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: We have the bars visible, the dishwasher is visible,
22:31
person process you know cutting the meat for the next service
22:33
is all visible and so
22:34
there's a lot of activity but we're trying to create a sense of
22:38
like you're you're
22:39
witnessing something and you're you're part of it so we can
22:43
talk to you about it
22:44
but you can take that all the time you want um and i think that
22:48
just because we
22:49
like that's our version of hospitality and i think for us it's
22:53
like we want you to
22:54
to feel good and that's another aspect of the restaurant is is
22:58
that it's a
22:59
SPEAKER_02: It's an old house with a beautiful garden in the back.
23:03
And after the pandemic,
23:06
we started wanting people to have the chance to sit outside.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: And we started serving some of the courses outside and some inside.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: And now it's become the sort of rotation through the space.
23:19
And I really like that because it gives people the chance just
23:24
to stand up and
23:25
SPEAKER_02: stretch their legs and
23:27
SPEAKER_02: feel like the place is theirs.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: They're introduced to the cooks as they go by.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: And so it's not like I'm just here talking with this one person,
23:36
but I'm kind of opening out to have conversations with other
23:39
people and see how
23:41
SPEAKER_02: things are developed and worked on.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: And just to,
23:45
SPEAKER_02: if you're going to have a seven-course meal,
23:46
you don't want to have to feel like you're stuck in a chair the
23:48
whole time,
23:49
SPEAKER_02: or at least I do.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: I'm someone I like to get up and move around.
23:54
SPEAKER_02: sort of building that into our format recognizes that we all have,
23:58
SPEAKER_02: you know,
23:58
SPEAKER_02: physical bodies and we,
23:59
SPEAKER_02: we want to interact and we want to move and it's good for us to move.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: So,
24:06
SPEAKER_02: so that,
24:06
that sort of comes to calm a little bit for me because it's a
24:09
very particular type
24:10
SPEAKER_02: of calm.
24:11
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
24:11
SPEAKER_03: it feels like going to a friend's house,
24:15
SPEAKER_03: you know,
24:15
SPEAKER_03: and it's like,
24:16
SPEAKER_03: it has this very calming,
24:20
comfortable feeling to it even though you know you are going
24:23
there to kind of be
24:25
spoiled or whatever you know go to a restaurant and have
24:27
someone else do everything
24:28
but it yeah it feels very cozy and calm and personal and also I
24:41
think timeless like
24:42
SPEAKER_03: I don't get a sense that it's you know 2025 when
24:47
SPEAKER_03: when I'm there.
24:48
SPEAKER_03: It's like, I feel like it could be 1972, it could be 1934 or something.
24:54
SPEAKER_03: And things probably wouldn't change that much.
24:58
SPEAKER_03: No matter what year you happen to be there,
25:00
SPEAKER_03: it would just,
25:02
SPEAKER_03: the experience,
25:03
SPEAKER_03: because it's always changing,
25:05
SPEAKER_03: would just kind of still be that frame of the same structure.
25:10
SPEAKER_03: But what's happening is, you know, it's just another page of the book.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: When we built the restaurant,
25:17
SPEAKER_02: Simon Velez kept,
25:19
SPEAKER_02: he said,
25:20
SPEAKER_02: you know,
25:20
SPEAKER_02: we're only going to use materials that look good as they age.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: I don't think he does anything that's going to look worse over time.
25:27
SPEAKER_02: He tries to find things that age beautifully.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: And that's how we built the place.
25:33
SPEAKER_02: We use kintsugi on the plates.
25:36
So now a lot of the plates have developed all these chips
25:38
around the edge and now
25:40
SPEAKER_02: they're increasingly gold edged as we repair them.
25:45
SPEAKER_02: And so we haven't done,
25:47
SPEAKER_02: you know,
25:47
SPEAKER_02: we painted a new mural,
25:49
but we haven't felt the need to do updates because we're no
25:56
longer on trend or
25:59
SPEAKER_02: things are looking aged.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: Things do look aged, but they don't look aged in a way that concerns me.
26:07
There is this other nice,
26:09
interesting contradiction of what you were saying.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: It's a performance, but I think...
26:15
many restaurants struggle with is because it's a performance,
26:20
it feels so fake and tense.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: It's stressful to be in a restaurant.
26:24
SPEAKER_03: It feels scripted a lot of the time.
26:27
SPEAKER_03: The waiters, everyone has
26:30
SPEAKER_03: This like script to say when they get to the table.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: And then you have to smile.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: It feels so fake.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: And you say it's a performance so that people feel this calm and bubble.
26:42
It's a beautiful image of every,
26:44
you know,
26:46
table having their bubble of calmness.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: But you're performing, but in a way that is genuine.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: And it's this nice contradiction, challenging.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
26:56
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how you do it.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: My background is in performing arts.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: And so I know kind of nothing about restaurants.
27:03
But what I do know about performing arts is that the deeper you
27:08
become as a performer,
27:10
SPEAKER_02: whether any discipline,
27:11
SPEAKER_02: a violinist,
27:13
SPEAKER_02: you're performing,
27:13
SPEAKER_02: but you're becoming more yourself.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: And so you're not putting on...
27:18
SPEAKER_02: or maybe you're putting on a mask,
27:19
SPEAKER_02: but you're becoming,
27:20
you're putting on that mask in order to discover something
27:22
about yourself.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: So you're not, it's not an imitation.
27:26
SPEAKER_02: It's a digging deep inside.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: And so that's sort of outside of the restaurant world.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: But I think both of us brought that.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: And so,
27:35
SPEAKER_02: yes,
27:35
SPEAKER_02: of course we're performing every,
27:36
SPEAKER_02: every day is a performance,
27:38
SPEAKER_02: but we're trying to be more ourselves within that performance.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: And I think the way we work with our staff is we,
27:45
SPEAKER_02: We try to transmit that as well.
27:47
SPEAKER_02: And of course that's imperfectly,
27:49
but it also takes a lot of time for people to be comfortable
27:53
with themselves
27:55
to start just having really honest conversations with the
27:58
people that they're working with.
27:59
SPEAKER_02: Of course,
28:00
SPEAKER_02: not about everything,
28:01
but sort of genuine conversations about what they're doing and
28:05
what's interesting.
28:07
SPEAKER_02: And every waiter talks about the food in a different way.
28:11
SPEAKER_02: And I like that.
28:12
SPEAKER_02: Rather than giving them a script,
28:13
they're genuinely talking and describing the aspects of the
28:17
food that they find interesting.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: There's a great example is this guy named Isaac.
28:27
He started washing dishes and he would not dare go outside to
28:36
even retrieve a glass
28:38
SPEAKER_00: of water,
28:38
SPEAKER_01: an empty glass of water or anything.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: You know, he was so shy and he is an immigrant.
28:44
So he was coming from Venezuela and he was also going through
28:47
it in the beginning
28:48
SPEAKER_01: through a very personal experience.
28:51
um experience of himself so he was at that point he had not
28:57
come out as a gay man
28:59
and it was just such a intense period of time for him and then
29:04
now he is the we
29:06
don't you know we don't have like a a floor captain but if he
29:11
had one that's who he
29:13
SPEAKER_01: would be right now so he works the floor and
29:16
SPEAKER_01: with the greatest personality.
29:17
You know,
29:18
most people that come and that do not know us,
29:21
most people do not know us.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: So most people that do not know us think that,
29:25
SPEAKER_01: they think that,
29:25
SPEAKER_01: they always think that he owns the place.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's just, he has the greatest smile, the grandest spirit.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, he's loud, he smiles.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: He's just, he's always almost as if it was dancing.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, he works at cash register and he just goes and tends to people.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: He knows almost nothing about food.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: What he does, just to feel comfortable, is he learns the whole menu.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: He just approaches people and he starts reading the menu to themselves.
29:58
And it's such an awkward,
30:01
but funny,
30:02
but genuinely important way to approach somebody.
30:06
He hasn't learned a lot about wine working with us,
30:09
but he has not forgotten a single face.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: So if people come in,
30:14
SPEAKER_02: he might not remember exactly,
30:16
SPEAKER_02: but he'll know if you've been there before.
30:18
SPEAKER_02: And he'll probably remember something about that conversation.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: Maybe he'll even remember your name.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: People come in, they give him hugs.
30:26
SPEAKER_02: I can't remember who that is.
30:28
SPEAKER_02: And he's perfectly clear.
30:30
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, I love that we can appreciate and
30:35
SPEAKER_02: you know, thrive.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: He thrives, we thrive off of that talent.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: And also sort of not trying to say like,
30:40
SPEAKER_02: oh,
30:41
SPEAKER_02: you know,
30:41
SPEAKER_02: we only need the kind of person who knows what he's about.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, there's another value that he's bringing here.
30:48
Yeah,
30:49
I mean,
30:50
so many restaurants,
30:52
they don't appreciate individuality of the staff,
30:55
you know?
30:55
SPEAKER_03: It's like everybody's supposed to be this robot.
30:58
SPEAKER_03: You know, the same thing.
31:00
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, it's like, that's so boring.
31:02
SPEAKER_03: It's so...
31:04
transactional you know it just makes the whole encounter
31:09
awkward sometimes and is
31:12
it the capacity of being as owners of you know leaders of this
31:19
experiment to be
31:21
adaptable and open to be surprised and decide along the way as
31:29
with this guy right
31:30
SPEAKER_00: like maybe you had something different in mind but
31:34
SPEAKER_00: okay, show us and we'll go from there.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: And personally,
31:42
SPEAKER_01: also,
31:42
something that has happened to us only just in the last two
31:45
years is that we've
31:47
SPEAKER_01: started to see our...
31:48
Because the team that we started with stayed with us for at
31:52
least six years.
31:54
And we never had anyone left until just a few people didn't
31:59
come back from the pandemic.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: They stayed with their
32:03
SPEAKER_01: you know, the original places where they were from.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: But we've only started seeing people go,
32:09
SPEAKER_01: you know,
32:10
SPEAKER_01: because I guess they've complied with the cycle and time,
32:14
SPEAKER_01: and they've just gone off to different things.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: And it's been a very surprising challenge to see that,
32:24
SPEAKER_01: you know,
32:24
SPEAKER_01: refill certain gaps and spaces with just new faces.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of naive to say this,
32:32
SPEAKER_01: you know,
32:33
SPEAKER_01: like in the beginning,
32:34
SPEAKER_01: I said,
32:35
SPEAKER_01: you know,
32:35
SPEAKER_01: we're not entrepreneurs.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: We're not restaurateurs that have great amount of experience.
32:40
But that was also a very huge challenge for us personally to
32:44
just even get to know
32:45
SPEAKER_01: someone else that was going to be with us.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, we've already this is our ninth year in Prudencia.
32:51
And we've only seen maybe four employees,
32:56
four new employees in nine years.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: you know, out of the 14 that we had and now 12.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: And so it's also made me appreciate how much of a family you become,
33:10
SPEAKER_01: you know,
33:11
SPEAKER_01: but it's also taught me that,
33:16
SPEAKER_01: you know,
33:17
SPEAKER_01: there are cycles that in time that just comply and,
33:21
SPEAKER_01: you know,
33:22
SPEAKER_01: they end and naturally and
33:26
SPEAKER_01: And it's just, it surprised us.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: It surprised me to realize,
33:31
SPEAKER_01: wow,
33:32
SPEAKER_01: you know,
33:33
SPEAKER_01: we could end up with a completely different brand new restaurant again.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: And this happens.
33:39
Everywhere else,
33:40
I think maybe,
33:41
or in most places,
33:43
it happens periodically every year almost.
33:46
Every couple of years at most,
33:48
you see just a completely new,
33:50
whole new team.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: And so I can imagine myself as if I was just an employee,
33:58
SPEAKER_01: if I'm just going from place to place to place,
34:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even going to grow enough within that place to represent,
34:06
SPEAKER_01: to take ownership and just be myself
34:11
SPEAKER_01: There is a loss in there as an employee and also as an owner.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: It's a challenge for sure.
34:22
I want to ask you about how the menu works exactly because it's
34:27
never the same,
34:27
right?
34:28
SPEAKER_03: It's always changing.
34:29
SPEAKER_03: How was the planning with that?
34:34
SPEAKER_03: Does that add additional stress?
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, of course.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: Before the pandemic,
34:41
SPEAKER_01: I'll be very succinct to this,
34:42
SPEAKER_01: but before the pandemic,
34:43
SPEAKER_01: we used to switch the meeting every single Monday.
34:47
And that was a challenge because we were only open Tuesday
34:52
through Wednesday.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: Saturday, right?
34:54
SPEAKER_01: That's what we were open.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: So every Tuesday we had a brand new menu.
34:59
You know,
34:59
we've always used the same techniques and we do not use very
35:04
elaborate techniques.
35:05
You know,
35:07
we have a very small ice cream machine and besides that,
35:10
you know,
35:11
a very old Vitamix.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: That's all we have.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: Everything else is wood fire cooking.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: So we use always the same techniques.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: So you don't have to relearn the technique.
35:20
come in to a brand new menu that had to start because we do a
35:25
lot of preserving
35:27
SPEAKER_01: techniques and so on.
35:29
And so a lot of those plates or dishes had to start between
35:33
maybe Friday and
35:34
SPEAKER_01: Saturday and then come back and finish them on Tuesday.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: And you would have a brand new dish every single station.
35:42
right and then you and tuesdays were insanely intense because
35:48
you had to figure out
35:50
how you were going to compose this new dish and so on cook it
35:54
times uh call out you
35:55
know and everything so then on wednesday you were kind of
36:00
comfortable thursday was
36:01
your most comfortable day because friday and saturday and
36:04
sunday you had to i'm
36:06
friday and saturday i'm sorry uh you had to start planning for
36:09
the next week
36:11
SPEAKER_01: That was insane.
36:12
We made more than 4,000 different preparations that we never
36:15
repeated for even the
36:17
SPEAKER_01: best ones that we ever did for four years or almost five years.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: Post-pandemic, we extended our menu.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: Now it used to be eight courses, now it's seven courses.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: And we now switch about five to six weeks.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: So we now are more comfortable in the planning and everything.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: we're subject to working with two or three farms.
36:39
So we know ahead of time what we're going to be ordering,
36:42
what's going to be on the crops.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: Right.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: And then we have to be flexible in case the crops change.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: So like,
36:52
SPEAKER_01: for instance,
36:54
SPEAKER_01: today there were,
36:54
SPEAKER_01: you know,
36:55
SPEAKER_01: we were short of some stuff and some different stuff came in and
37:01
SPEAKER_01: So that helps us plan for a certain amount of, certain part of the menu.
37:08
SPEAKER_01: There's a nutritional component and there's a digestive component,
37:11
SPEAKER_01: you know,
37:12
SPEAKER_01: that we have to understand,
37:12
SPEAKER_01: you know,
37:13
SPEAKER_01: where starches have to go.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: Where, uh,
37:17
SPEAKER_01: you know, sourness has to go.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: We never use more than 5% of refined sugar.
37:22
SPEAKER_01: So we have to make our own, you know, process.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: We have to process our own sugars,
37:28
like inverted sugars or tremoline or glucose or anything like
37:32
that to use in
37:33
SPEAKER_01: desserts and so on.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: And so that's another part of the composition of a menu.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: But where do the ideas come from?
37:42
SPEAKER_01: It's an interesting question.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: Because it could be conversations just Megan and I could be having about,
37:48
SPEAKER_01: you know,
37:49
SPEAKER_01: something that we read in the news.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Like, for instance, you read about Ukraine.
37:53
SPEAKER_01: You read about, you know, different cultures, events, and so on.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: And we have an extensive collection of cookbooks.
38:00
SPEAKER_01: And so we start just reading about traditions and...
38:04
in ways that they were cooking in different parts of the world
38:08
and then we oh wait
38:09
wait a minute so artichoke wow look at this artichoke how they
38:13
treat it here and
38:14
then they preserve it somehow but we could probably do that and
38:17
then finish off
38:19
grilling it after you know and then so that it just composes
38:23
itself from literature
38:25
that we're reading or we're going through and a lot of it
38:27
believe it or not
38:29
could come from what our daughter is reading at school or what
38:33
she's interested in.
38:34
SPEAKER_01: She's an avid reader and so is Megan.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: It just comes from our own personal lives.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: It's so funny because you go through a menu and it's like, what is this?
38:49
SPEAKER_00: This is something that I really love about your project and it's so...
38:58
SPEAKER_00: not prompt to labels.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: And,
39:01
SPEAKER_00: you know,
39:02
in the middle of these descriptions about what restaurants are
39:05
and classifications
39:07
SPEAKER_00: and lists and everything,
39:09
I don't think anyone immediately feels the impulse to label or
39:14
define prudencia,
39:16
SPEAKER_00: which I think is very telling of what it is.
39:18
You will have to come up with your own version out of
39:22
experience and your values
39:24
and what your energy says about the restaurant and obviously
39:27
how it tastes.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: But if...
39:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm always in this, like, personal battle of delabeling the world.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: One of these places in which you don't feel this addiction to labels.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: That is everywhere.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Social networks.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Relationships are being labeled.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, what type of person you are.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: Are you, like, an anxiety attachment?
39:58
SPEAKER_00: All these things.
39:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like, seriously?
40:01
SPEAKER_00: So...
40:03
SPEAKER_00: I really value that and I think it's very important for what is coming in
40:12
SPEAKER_00: hospitality because I think in a way we are all exhausted of this.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: if it's fine dining, if it's casual, if it's this, who cares?
40:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who cares?
40:26
SPEAKER_00: Can you just go through the experience and reflect about it?
40:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: I wonder how you feel about that.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: That might be my personal take on it,
40:38
SPEAKER_00: but I really admire that and appreciate it,
40:43
SPEAKER_00: and it gives me hope and relief.
40:48
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think...
40:50
SPEAKER_02: Sort of on a really personal level.
40:52
SPEAKER_02: You know,
40:52
SPEAKER_02: people have said like,
40:53
SPEAKER_02: oh,
40:54
SPEAKER_02: so it's in Colombia,
40:55
SPEAKER_02: so it has to be a Colombian restaurant.
40:57
SPEAKER_02: And it's not.
41:00
SPEAKER_02: It's a very personal restaurant created by two people,
41:04
SPEAKER_02: one of whom is Colombian,
41:06
SPEAKER_02: but extremely bicultural.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: And it's almost like reverse migration.
41:12
SPEAKER_02: So instead of saying,
41:13
SPEAKER_02: like,
41:15
we're the migration story where we're taking our traditions and
41:18
foods to a new
41:19
SPEAKER_02: place and adapting them,
41:21
SPEAKER_02: it's more that we're just really curious about all aspects of the world.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: And so we're not trying to perfectly create a dish from the Ukraine,
41:30
but we become interested in some aspect of what we're reading
41:35
about that story.
41:36
and then we're exploring it and we don't ever come to a perfect
41:39
you know this is
41:40
our version of this ukrainian dish that never happens it more
41:43
becomes like we're
41:44
interested in this we're going to explore it and we're going to
41:48
be sharing our
41:49
process with people but then that process leads to another
41:52
process leads to another
41:54
process and so every time we we might be landing in one place
41:57
we're already
41:58
shifting so any labels are just going to to sort of fall off of
42:02
us just by by the
42:04
SPEAKER_02: nature
42:05
SPEAKER_02: of how we work.
42:07
SPEAKER_03: It seems like so natural and organic, like the way it's happening.
42:11
SPEAKER_03: It doesn't lose the art value by doing this.
42:15
It's always creative and just keeps moving and rolling along
42:20
rather than just getting stuck.
42:22
SPEAKER_03: And I think that's nice.
42:24
SPEAKER_03: And it's probably why people keep coming back.
42:26
It's probably why the staff stays on for so long is that it
42:30
doesn't ever feel the same.
42:32
I think that's our,
42:33
as we were talking,
42:34
we're talking about our next steps.
42:36
And that's sort of this point we're in where,
42:42
you know,
42:42
we're always about process and evolving.
42:45
SPEAKER_02: And we've been in this current phase of Prudencia for a while now.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: I think we understand what it is, what it brings to people.
42:57
SPEAKER_02: And we also understand what it's not doing.
43:00
SPEAKER_02: and the difficulties of it.
43:02
And I think we're soon going to be getting to a place where
43:05
we're going to bring that to an end.
43:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't know exactly what that's going to look like.
43:11
SPEAKER_02: And then we're going to be starting to invent another, the next phase.
43:17
So we might be radically changing again,
43:20
I think because that's how we best work.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
43:23
SPEAKER_02: the convention is that we should just sort of,
43:26
SPEAKER_02: we found a formula that works,
43:27
SPEAKER_02: we should keep it going.
43:29
SPEAKER_02: But because we are kind of creative,
43:31
SPEAKER_02: we start coming up to the blocks of like,
43:34
SPEAKER_02: oh,
43:34
SPEAKER_02: now we're becoming managers and executors of this one way of working,
43:40
SPEAKER_02: which we created,
43:41
SPEAKER_02: but we're no longer creating that way of working.
43:45
And so I think we're probably going to move into another phase
43:48
of creating the next
43:50
SPEAKER_02: way of working.
43:51
SPEAKER_03: So would this next wave, this new phase happen soon?
43:57
SPEAKER_03: Or is this just something like in the back of your mind or is there?
44:00
SPEAKER_03: I think it's been happening for a while.
44:06
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's very surprising.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: It's always been, you know.
44:15
When we started Prudencia,
44:16
we were so focused and so enamored with charcuterie.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: And we wanted to learn as much as possible.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: And Armenia was heavily based in charcuterie.
44:25
And then suddenly we started working with the plaza and then we
44:28
were just going to
44:29
SPEAKER_01: the plaza back and forth every day.
44:31
And then suddenly just these two farms and then post pandemic,
44:34
this longer format.
44:36
And so we've always been through phases where we have been
44:40
discovering our,
44:42
SPEAKER_01: our very personal progression,
44:44
SPEAKER_01: um,
44:45
you know,
44:46
there's never been,
44:47
we've never followed a trend,
44:52
for instance.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: We don't,
44:54
SPEAKER_01: you know,
44:55
SPEAKER_01: we don't know what a really,
44:56
SPEAKER_01: we don't know what a trend is,
44:58
SPEAKER_01: you know,
44:58
SPEAKER_01: and what it does,
45:00
SPEAKER_01: you know,
45:00
SPEAKER_01: but I see it in different places where,
45:02
SPEAKER_01: like,
45:03
SPEAKER_01: you know,
45:05
there's all this formality about food and composition and
45:11
service and so on,
45:11
SPEAKER_01: you know,
45:12
SPEAKER_01: and it just,
45:14
SPEAKER_01: replicates throughout faces and places.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: And we've kind of like always been sort of lost in the sea,
45:25
SPEAKER_01: you know,
45:25
SPEAKER_01: and just trying to discover our own rhythm and love for the work,
45:35
SPEAKER_01: you know.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: And we've been, this is our ninth year and
45:42
SPEAKER_01: besides the pandemic, we're always in Prudencia.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: We took this hour.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: It's so rare that not one of us is in Prudencia right now.
45:55
But we knew that this was going to be a more pleasant way to
46:01
talk to you guys here
46:02
SPEAKER_01: at our house,
46:03
SPEAKER_01: not in Prudencia.
46:05
SPEAKER_01: Cause I know that I would be probably doing some plumbing or carpentry,
46:11
SPEAKER_01: but,
46:11
SPEAKER_01: um,
46:12
SPEAKER_01: so,
46:15
SPEAKER_01: you know,
46:16
SPEAKER_01: we're exhausted the way is,
46:18
SPEAKER_01: is because it's so personal with us,
46:20
SPEAKER_01: you know,
46:20
SPEAKER_01: we're always there in,
46:21
SPEAKER_01: in,
46:22
SPEAKER_01: we're the first in the last out.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:26
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: Our,
46:27
SPEAKER_01: our colleagues,
46:28
SPEAKER_01: you know,
46:29
SPEAKER_01: I see like all of them just,
46:31
SPEAKER_01: you know,
46:31
SPEAKER_01: they travel a lot and they're,
46:32
SPEAKER_01: they're going places and they're,
46:34
SPEAKER_01: you know,
46:35
everywhere and they're just you know they're they always have
46:38
new managers and and
46:40
a lot of them have told us you know it's like you should have a
46:44
number two you
46:45
SPEAKER_01: should be taking more time off and
46:47
SPEAKER_01: they're probably completely right.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: But we've always wanted to have the experience ourselves.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: You know,
46:52
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to always,
46:54
SPEAKER_01: like today,
46:54
SPEAKER_01: you know,
46:55
SPEAKER_01: I had to get up hours early because we had a plumbing problem.
46:59
SPEAKER_01: The plumber never showed up.
47:00
And I was just crossing my fingers that water would come back
47:03
on so that we could have service.
47:05
SPEAKER_01: And that's us, you know, doing in charge of all this stuff.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: And so it has been exhausting, but it's also been incredibly successful.
47:16
We've never been at a most lucrative way,
47:21
at a most enriching way,
47:23
at a most inspiring way.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: Why would we change?
47:28
But it feels natural that we're reaching an end to at least
47:34
this phase of the whole equation.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: And
47:41
SPEAKER_01: What's going to be next?
47:42
SPEAKER_01: We really don't know.
47:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think we're going to take a sabbatical.
47:47
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're going to do.
47:48
SPEAKER_01: We're going to take a year off.
47:50
SPEAKER_01: And that could probably,
47:51
SPEAKER_01: you know,
47:52
we told our team at the end of last year that this was going to
47:56
happen in June.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: And that kind of broke everybody's heart, including ourselves.
48:02
SPEAKER_01: You know, and...
48:04
SPEAKER_01: We were resigned to do it.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: When we came back, we know that that's just four months away.
48:10
SPEAKER_01: And we're all very somber and kind of heartbroken.
48:13
SPEAKER_01: And so we might go until the end of the year.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: We have not finalized, negotiated this with the team.
48:21
SPEAKER_01: But we might, it could happen in June or it could happen in December.
48:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh, so 2025.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: But it would probably, at most it will be in December.
48:32
SPEAKER_01: So we'll probably have just the whole year.
48:35
And what this mean is Megan and I have been working for a while
48:40
now and what our
48:41
SPEAKER_01: timeline personal timelines would be.
48:44
Having a sabbatical and I would just love to go and revisit a
48:48
lot of the filing and
48:49
SPEAKER_01: then archiving that I've been doing for all these years.
48:52
SPEAKER_01: and just try to redo everything,
48:55
SPEAKER_01: not everything,
48:56
but just try to reinterpret everything from a couple of
49:00
different perspectives that
49:01
SPEAKER_01: I think will be very relevant in the future of hospitality.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: One is nutrition.
49:07
SPEAKER_01: I think from now on,
49:10
SPEAKER_01: It's got to be.
49:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it has to be.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: And then we have been cooking more and more healthily for the last years.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: It's been a great focus.
49:20
SPEAKER_01: But I think we could even improve in that amount.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, which is addressing the climate crisis through that.
49:30
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
49:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: You know, and then so we I've been working on producing this
49:41
so-called it's like a a very org it's a it's an organic and a
49:47
full protein spread i
49:48
don't even know what it's what could be called in the end but i
49:52
i i like to produce
49:54
that because that will rate you of having to eat so much animal
49:59
protein it will be
50:01
SPEAKER_01: uh and it it's it's i think it's a great deal
50:06
SPEAKER_03: So what's in it?
50:07
SPEAKER_03: I'm just curious.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: So, so it's, it's the basic, it's, it could be grain or legume, right?
50:14
SPEAKER_01: And it's, it becomes a spread.
50:15
So you modify,
50:16
you modify the starch and you can integrate a full protein.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: So it could be amaranth, quinoa, or, or,
50:23
know and or it could be also it could have animal protein it
50:26
could you know fish
50:27
would better as more sustainable but it could it would be you
50:32
know the the
50:33
healthiest way to eat anything is if you steam or boil anything
50:37
right that's that's
50:38
that's the highest uh nutritional content to eat a vegetable or
50:43
an animal protein
50:44
SPEAKER_01: but it's also the most boring and the most planned
50:48
SPEAKER_01: Right.
50:48
But if you have this spread that is full of impact flavor that
50:52
you could just put
50:53
SPEAKER_01: on a pan,
50:54
SPEAKER_01: it becomes a sauce,
50:55
SPEAKER_01: or you could just dip it in.
50:57
And if you had like a vegetable,
50:58
you could just dip it in and it's a full protein.
51:01
SPEAKER_01: I think it could have, it's got great potential.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: Now that's,
51:06
SPEAKER_01: that's what I think it may,
51:07
SPEAKER_01: and it may be a terrible idea,
51:10
SPEAKER_01: you know,
51:10
SPEAKER_01: but that I want to discover that.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: Right.
51:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
51:12
No,
51:13
I mean,
51:13
you have a starting point of something at least profound in idea.
51:18
SPEAKER_03: You know, maybe taste yet.
51:19
SPEAKER_03: It needs work, maybe presentation, but you have a point.
51:24
And at least from everything you've been telling me for the
51:26
last 50 minutes,
51:28
SPEAKER_03: you're going to explore.
51:31
There's going to be a lot of different angles that's coming at this,
51:35
this thing.
51:35
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: And something good will probably come out of it.
51:40
And you were saying for the future of hospitality and nutrition,
51:44
a key thing.
51:46
SPEAKER_01: So,
51:46
SPEAKER_01: and then another thing is that I want to go back,
51:48
SPEAKER_01: you know,
51:49
SPEAKER_01: one thing that has happened to us and well,
51:52
SPEAKER_01: me personally in the kitchen is we became,
51:55
SPEAKER_01: you know,
51:56
SPEAKER_01: we've managed our team ourselves.
51:59
SPEAKER_01: We do most of the work and I mean,
52:01
SPEAKER_01: we do have a couple of accountants,
52:02
SPEAKER_01: but I mean,
52:03
SPEAKER_01: we do everything else ourselves.
52:05
know and so i've stepped away from the kitchen for most of the
52:09
time you know i'm
52:10
still the one that composes the menu and everything but i'm not
52:13
i'm no longer
52:14
cooking at all times and i miss that and we've gotten also to a
52:18
point where you
52:20
know we could this is a another personal stage in our lives but
52:25
we could retire
52:27
SPEAKER_01: we're not going to retire because we'd go insane if we did
52:30
SPEAKER_01: but, um, but we are there.
52:32
And so we are also at a place where I could interpret having a
52:37
place where I could
52:38
SPEAKER_01: still go back to the kitchen and cook and,
52:41
SPEAKER_01: you know,
52:41
SPEAKER_01: but I,
52:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't think we could,
52:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't think we're going to do a restaurant that does,
52:46
SPEAKER_01: you know,
52:46
SPEAKER_01: 40 people every day,
52:49
SPEAKER_01: you know,
52:50
SPEAKER_01: eight courses.
52:51
So I think,
52:52
you know,
52:54
I've been always,
52:55
I've always been interested in the way that,
52:58
um,
53:00
SPEAKER_01: different Asian cultures do communal kitchens.
53:04
SPEAKER_01: This is back, you know, post-World War II.
53:07
This was,
53:07
that was the beginning of omakase or,
53:10
or,
53:12
or all these different traditions.
53:15
So they all sit around in a communal kitchen and they just cook
53:19
and share.
53:20
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what I love to do, you know, um, and just, uh,
53:25
SPEAKER_01: just to keep ourselves happy and,
53:28
SPEAKER_01: uh,
53:28
SPEAKER_01: and still love our work and,
53:31
SPEAKER_01: and,
53:32
SPEAKER_01: you know,
53:32
SPEAKER_01: hopefully interact in a different way that is more,
53:35
SPEAKER_01: you know,
53:37
SPEAKER_01: that is also part of that healthy experience,
53:40
SPEAKER_01: not just nutritional.
53:41
SPEAKER_01: Um,
53:42
SPEAKER_01: but,
53:43
SPEAKER_01: you know,
53:43
SPEAKER_01: probably,
53:43
hopefully people come in and they just interact and get into
53:47
the kitchen and work also.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: And it's, you know, uh,
53:52
SPEAKER_01: you know,
53:53
SPEAKER_01: around a table that I'm kind of like deciding,
53:56
SPEAKER_01: you know,
53:57
SPEAKER_01: and kind of designing myself.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: There will be different woodlight fires that,
54:02
SPEAKER_01: you know,
54:03
SPEAKER_01: with different tools that,
54:04
SPEAKER_01: you know,
54:05
SPEAKER_01: that's just all up in the sphere at this point.
54:10
So that will be part of the research also that we would do
54:14
during the sabbatical.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: Megan is also has some things that we'd be working on along
54:22
Yeah,
54:22
so my background is in performing arts prior to having a restaurant.
54:26
SPEAKER_02: And then a restaurant sort of,
54:27
SPEAKER_02: you know,
54:28
was like a tidal wave and became a different kind of
54:33
performance and a different
54:33
SPEAKER_02: kind of creative outlet.
54:35
And I've been,
54:36
you know,
54:36
I write notes about what's sort of going on for myself as I go along.
54:41
I want to look back at that and see if I can pull out some
54:44
memoir aspects of it and
54:47
sort of write down more formally some of the things we've been
54:49
talking about.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of,
54:52
SPEAKER_02: you know,
54:52
SPEAKER_02: it's about like finding a way to not just do something,
54:56
SPEAKER_02: but also be able to express it well.
55:00
And hopefully I'll pull in some good cooking technique and
55:04
recipe as well and sort
55:05
SPEAKER_02: of integrate it all together.
55:09
SPEAKER_03: Sounds super cool.
55:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I hope so.
55:12
I feel very,
55:13
it's very hard to talk about it when you start doing something ambitious.
55:16
SPEAKER_02: Well, can I?
55:18
I know like until you have to actually like sell like a
55:22
proposal or something or
55:24
you know like talk to somebody else about it it's like it
55:27
sounds it always sounds
55:28
so great in your brain but then then you like try to explain it
55:32
in two sentences to
55:33
someone that doesn't uh yeah that isn't there is uh it's
55:38
impossible yeah let's be
55:39
able to be concrete about it and yeah something that's going to
55:42
happen a year from
55:43
SPEAKER_02: now it's right it was funny but that's that's what will happen
55:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
55:49
SPEAKER_00: there are so many questions about the future of hospitality,
55:52
SPEAKER_00: all this crisis,
55:53
SPEAKER_00: the pandemic,
55:55
SPEAKER_00: workers,
55:56
SPEAKER_00: migration.
55:57
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know,
55:59
SPEAKER_00: it makes me think that after the pandemic,
56:02
SPEAKER_00: the question was like,
56:04
whoever doesn't know their numbers well and they don't know how
56:08
to manage a restaurant,
56:10
SPEAKER_00: they are,
56:11
SPEAKER_00: you know,
56:11
SPEAKER_00: it's not going to work.
56:14
SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
56:15
SPEAKER_00: I guess there is some truth to that,
56:16
but it makes me wonder what schools of hospitality should be
56:20
doing in terms of
56:23
SPEAKER_00: promoting a better balance in the customer and the owners in terms of,
56:31
SPEAKER_00: yeah,
56:31
SPEAKER_00: it has to feel professional.
56:33
SPEAKER_00: There is some planning involved, but at the same time, this capacity of
56:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
56:39
just accepting the unknown and just navigating the chaos and
56:44
we'll decide and we'll
56:47
SPEAKER_00: train customers to be prepared for a closure or a different stage.
56:53
SPEAKER_00: This is how life is.
56:55
And we are pretending everything had to be,
56:58
I don't know,
57:00
just anticipated.
57:03
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's part of what makes...
57:05
SPEAKER_00: place is so sterile and not genuine including hotels and you know so
57:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like a more humane hospitality.
57:17
You know,
57:18
it's the same question about technology and everything that's
57:21
going on in the world.
57:22
SPEAKER_00: It's like...
57:23
Restaurants have always had a really special place in society
57:27
because it's,
57:27
SPEAKER_02: you know,
57:27
SPEAKER_02: it's this third place.
57:29
SPEAKER_00: They are supposed to be... Exactly.
57:31
It's where you have your most intimate moments,
57:34
but you're performing publicly.
57:36
SPEAKER_02: And that's a really...
57:37
unusual thing for something that's really a business it's it's
57:41
different exactly
57:43
and also because you're literally ingesting you're putting into
57:46
your body so you're
57:47
trusting people to give you something so intimate and important
57:51
and so it's very
57:52
SPEAKER_02: intimate as well and um and i think that
57:57
SPEAKER_02: we've become very good at becoming excellent society-wise.
58:01
SPEAKER_02: We've become very good at becoming transactional,
58:04
SPEAKER_02: at becoming formulaic,
58:07
SPEAKER_02: at sort of,
58:10
SPEAKER_02: you know,
58:11
SPEAKER_02: thinking about everything in terms of its commercial value.
58:16
SPEAKER_02: You know, it,
58:17
SPEAKER_02: Instagram helps people,
58:18
SPEAKER_02: you know,
58:19
SPEAKER_02: commercialize their family life,
58:20
SPEAKER_02: you know,
58:22
SPEAKER_02: very good at doing that right now.
58:24
SPEAKER_02: And I think that we need to maybe take a step back from that.
58:28
SPEAKER_02: And of course you still have to,
58:30
SPEAKER_02: you know,
58:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm,
58:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm the artist side,
58:32
SPEAKER_02: although Mario is as well,
58:33
SPEAKER_02: but he's,
58:33
SPEAKER_02: he's better about always understanding that the numbers do have to work,
58:37
SPEAKER_02: but you have to have a bit of the balance because you can't,
58:42
SPEAKER_02: You know,
58:42
SPEAKER_02: you can't sustain something if the numbers aren't going to work,
58:45
but you also are going to lose a lot if you only are thinking
58:49
about the numbers.
58:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you can't sustain the numbers if you're only thinking of them.
58:55
SPEAKER_02: Right.
58:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
58:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
58:59
You mentioned,
59:00
Julie,
59:00
you mentioned migration and immigration,
59:03
I think,
59:05
there.
59:05
SPEAKER_03: And I think we all have this U.S.
59:10
SPEAKER_03: slash Latin America...
59:12
connection you know we've both lived in we've all lived in both
59:17
places and you know
59:19
just in the last week you know there's been all this you know
59:23
sudden talk all this
59:25
disruption with uh in the u.s of you know deportations and you
59:30
know the there's
59:31
bickering between you know columbia columbia's president and
59:35
you know donald trump
59:37
SPEAKER_03: and
59:38
SPEAKER_03: all of these things.
59:39
SPEAKER_03: And it's like, what the, what the fuck is going to happen?
59:43
SPEAKER_03: Like, because I mean, it's going to cause chaos on both sides.
59:46
SPEAKER_03: I think the more intense this gets and it's going to,
59:50
I think it's going to keep getting more intense over the next
59:52
year until something gives,
59:54
SPEAKER_03: but it's what's going to give.
59:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
59:57
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think that we're all in shock still.
1:00:01
And the question for myself is a bit like,
1:00:03
well,
1:00:03
how do you move on from shock?
1:00:06
SPEAKER_02: And I see that.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_02: that tactic is being used.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_02: We're all being shocked into a little bit of inaction.
1:00:14
SPEAKER_02: And so I was talking to a group of friends about sort of the,
1:00:20
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what any solution to any of these problems are,
1:00:23
but the only way forward would be getting together in community
1:00:28
and figuring it out.
1:00:31
together and that seems like a really basic thing but that's
1:00:33
sort of what I'm what
1:00:34
I'm left with like I'm so overwhelmed and so all I can do is
1:00:39
say like you know we
1:00:40
just have to keep we have to keep together and keep moving
1:00:44
moving forward and
1:00:45
trying to have those conversations because you know things are
1:00:48
so so splintered
1:00:51
apart and you know the long term you sort of have to find a way
1:00:57
to to come back
1:00:58
SPEAKER_02: together knit things back together again
1:01:00
SPEAKER_03: My only comfort is that, you know, politicians do die eventually.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like they don't live forever.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_03: Whatever their stupid ideas are, eventually they fade.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_02: And the other hope is there's all kinds of resilience.
1:01:14
So we were talking about immigration and we were sharing that
1:01:19
we had an employee
1:01:21
SPEAKER_02: who moved to the U.S.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_02: and probably I don't know the exact situation at the moment now.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure it's very precarious.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_02: And so maybe he'll come back.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_02: And that's, you know, to make those sorts of journeys and then come back.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_02: But also people are incredibly resilient.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_02: So my hope is, is that...
1:01:45
SPEAKER_02: that we can start kind of trusting really well in that.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_00: I see something positive in all this mess in the world, Anis.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_00: I think every country is realizing,
1:01:58
SPEAKER_00: well,
1:01:58
SPEAKER_00: you either source locally,
1:02:02
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:02:03
SPEAKER_00: to solve your economy and social needs,
1:02:07
SPEAKER_00: or a combination of that with...
1:02:11
SPEAKER_00: diversifying your imports and exports.
1:02:16
Venezuela came to this awful point in part because they were so
1:02:25
dependent on oil.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_00: for their economy.
1:02:29
I think countries like Colombia and probably some others in
1:02:34
South America,
1:02:36
SPEAKER_00: they have a more diverse economic system in terms of products,
1:02:42
SPEAKER_00: the import and export,
1:02:43
SPEAKER_00: but it has to be even more.
1:02:46
SPEAKER_00: Have a plan A, a plan B, a plan C, and diversify as much as you can.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_00: And I think this counts for restaurants too.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_00: So that combination of a strong network,
1:02:56
SPEAKER_00: sense of community,
1:02:59
SPEAKER_00: and just make your spectrum wider,
1:03:04
I think it makes countries more resilient and less prompt to
1:03:09
panic if one outlet
1:03:11
SPEAKER_00: doesn't work.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_00: And as challenging and scary some administrations are, like the US now,
1:03:21
SPEAKER_00: I think it's an opportunity for every country to redefine their politics,
1:03:28
SPEAKER_00: their economic strategy.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
1:03:36
SPEAKER_00: Try to be positive here.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_03: And for the people to redefine what they want from their leaders.
1:03:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:03:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_00: What do you want from...
1:03:47
I think that we're all so leaders come to power because of the
1:03:54
use of fear.
1:03:54
SPEAKER_02: And so the more we can become immune,
1:03:58
SPEAKER_02: and I think actually kind of optimistic about the world,
1:04:01
SPEAKER_02: because the fear
1:04:04
SPEAKER_02: Fear is only powerful if you actually believe it.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_02: And if you look at the world,
1:04:09
SPEAKER_02: it's like,
1:04:09
SPEAKER_02: oh,
1:04:09
SPEAKER_02: you know,
1:04:10
SPEAKER_02: we're in terrible shape,
1:04:11
SPEAKER_02: but also things are kind of on the upswerve in many ways.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_02: And so if you sort of keep that in mind a little bit,
1:04:17
SPEAKER_02: I think you're a little bit less immune to the,
1:04:22
you're a little bit more immune to the sort of the sense of
1:04:24
panic and fear that can overwhelm.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_00: And again, it's balance.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think it's,
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: Again,
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: as challenging as scary it is,
1:04:34
SPEAKER_00: the question that this administration is posing,
1:04:38
SPEAKER_00: what can we produce locally?
1:04:41
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a valid question.
1:04:43
SPEAKER_00: And some other countries should be asking this.
1:04:45
SPEAKER_00: Why do we need to import this crazy traffic?
1:04:48
SPEAKER_00: It went out of control.
1:04:50
SPEAKER_00: It's too much.
1:04:51
SPEAKER_00: Too much flow of everything.
1:04:54
SPEAKER_01: I think political production has to be revised everywhere.
1:04:57
I mean,
1:04:57
this is not just,
1:04:59
you know,
1:05:01
we can depend on countries that are producers.
1:05:05
We can't live,
1:05:06
you know,
1:05:07
base entire economies around extraction everywhere all the time.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_03: It's like things are running out.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_03: It's not working.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_03: Nobody's benefiting, really.
1:05:22
have you heard about or do you think rest i mean it's different
1:05:28
in colombia and
1:05:30
south america but do you think this is impacting in some way
1:05:34
the workforce or have
1:05:36
you heard something specific about that or not yet because this
1:05:40
is still very fresh
1:05:42
SPEAKER_01: absolutely i think i don't know if you've uh seen but um so
1:05:48
SPEAKER_01: You know,
1:05:49
SPEAKER_01: I even remember making a proposal to...
1:05:52
SPEAKER_01: Well,
1:05:52
SPEAKER_01: I made a proposal to Takami,
1:05:54
SPEAKER_01: and they didn't really see any worth in it,
1:05:57
SPEAKER_01: but...
1:06:01
SPEAKER_01: But Hari Sassong,
1:06:03
they created this school that is replacing their old school
1:06:11
that they had in the
1:06:12
SPEAKER_01: previous government.
1:06:12
SPEAKER_01: They had Verde, what is it called?
1:06:16
SPEAKER_02: Corazon Verde.
1:06:16
SPEAKER_01: Corazon Verde, right?
1:06:17
SPEAKER_01: And they're not leading Corazon Verde anymore.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_01: They now have this training program.
1:06:25
SPEAKER_01: which is kind of like replacing Corazon Verde.
1:06:27
SPEAKER_01: And they're training staff to just,
1:06:31
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:06:31
SPEAKER_01: be able to hit the workforce,
1:06:34
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:06:36
SPEAKER_01: without being a long-term school or anything,
1:06:39
SPEAKER_01: culinary school.
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think,
1:06:41
SPEAKER_01: and he has seen,
1:06:42
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:06:43
SPEAKER_01: they have,
1:06:43
SPEAKER_01: I think,
1:06:45
SPEAKER_01: they have to improve the training program that they have,
1:06:48
SPEAKER_01: because it's very,
1:06:49
SPEAKER_01: very,
1:06:49
SPEAKER_01: very,
1:06:49
SPEAKER_01: very basic.
1:06:52
SPEAKER_01: But I think companies that are,
1:06:55
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:06:59
people have to come up with better training programs within
1:07:04
their own companies.
1:07:05
SPEAKER_01: Because the rotation, you wouldn't believe how difficult it is.
1:07:10
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
1:07:11
SPEAKER_01: we have this chat,
1:07:14
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:07:14
SPEAKER_01: everybody,
1:07:14
SPEAKER_01: every single restaurant that you can think of is,
1:07:16
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:07:17
SPEAKER_01: we're part of this chat.
1:07:18
SPEAKER_01: And
1:07:20
SPEAKER_01: It's just like every single day they're looking for all sorts of people,
1:07:25
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:07:26
SPEAKER_01: folks,
1:07:27
SPEAKER_01: front of the house,
1:07:29
SPEAKER_01: captains,
1:07:31
SPEAKER_01: dishwasher,
1:07:32
SPEAKER_01: anything,
1:07:32
SPEAKER_01: waiters,
1:07:33
SPEAKER_01: anything.
1:07:34
SPEAKER_01: And just people come and go.
1:07:36
SPEAKER_01: It's becoming a challenge for sure.
1:07:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:07:41
I think,
1:07:41
you know,
1:07:42
it's more sustainable,
1:07:45
fair wages,
1:07:47
better opportunities,
1:07:48
you know,
1:07:50
SPEAKER_01: It's part of the solution.
1:07:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think you guys are very fortunate.
1:07:56
SPEAKER_03: And I don't think it's luck.
1:07:57
I think it's through hard work that you've had staff that you
1:08:01
can rely on for so many years.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah.
1:08:07
SPEAKER_03: It's been a blessing for sure.
1:08:10
So many restaurant owners I know that most of their life is
1:08:13
just hiring staff.
1:08:16
It's impossible to grow like that if you have to just keep
1:08:19
replacing people and
1:08:21
SPEAKER_03: nobody wants to stay.
1:08:23
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's where the predictability should be and the effort to make it
1:08:28
predictable is the human force and not in the menu and not in
1:08:33
the ambience and all
1:08:35
SPEAKER_00: these things that are
1:08:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's fun that they change, but then what needs to be stable?
1:08:43
SPEAKER_00: It's this, right?
1:08:46
SPEAKER_00: It's a very different approach to hospitality,
1:08:48
SPEAKER_00: and I wish more people are just thinking along these lines because,
1:08:57
SPEAKER_00: yeah,
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
1:09:00
SPEAKER_01: You know,
1:09:00
SPEAKER_01: a funny way to look at this also,
1:09:06
SPEAKER_01: which might sound counterintuitive to a restaurant owner,
1:09:12
SPEAKER_01: but we eat out too much.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_01: And that's part of the problem.
1:09:20
SPEAKER_01: Because then you want to look,
1:09:23
SPEAKER_01: you know,
1:09:24
SPEAKER_01: we,
1:09:24
SPEAKER_01: everybody wants to look for the most delicious,
1:09:28
SPEAKER_01: least expensive.
1:09:30
SPEAKER_01: That is part of the problem.
1:09:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
1:09:34
Make the day that you go out as special as it is and cook at
1:09:38
home as much as you can,
1:09:39
period.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_00: And then you can pay a more expensive thing, right?
1:09:45
SPEAKER_00: Maybe if you go out.
1:09:48
You could save that block of time for a five-hour lunch at
1:09:52
Prudencia rather than 10
1:09:54
SPEAKER_03: trips for empanadas or whatever.
1:10:00
SPEAKER_00: It's always so nice to talk with you guys.
1:10:03
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:10:04
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of this madness.
1:10:06
SPEAKER_02: Nice to speak with you.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_02: I hope you can come and visit us.
1:10:10
SPEAKER_00: Your prudencia is so healing to be a little bit hippie about it.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_03: No, I agree.
1:10:17
SPEAKER_03: I think we need more places like that.
1:10:19
We'll keep you posted for whatever it is that we're doing our
1:10:23
research on.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_00: Please.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:10:25
SPEAKER_00: If you close, where are you going to see you and find you?
1:10:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:10:29
SPEAKER_00: We need to know that too.
1:10:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:10:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:10:32
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure it'll be great.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, thank you both and good luck with everything.
1:10:37
I'm sure whatever you do,
1:10:38
it's,
1:10:38
it's going to be,
1:10:40
to be wonderful and positive and.
1:10:43
SPEAKER_03: Thank you both.
1:10:45
SPEAKER_03: Thank you everyone for listening.
1:10:47
I'm sure after that you will try to go to Prudencia before they
1:10:50
close either in
1:10:51
SPEAKER_03: June or at the end of the year.
1:10:54
SPEAKER_03: Or you'll wait until, see what comes up after.
1:10:57
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure whatever it is, they're going to do something wonderful.
1:11:01
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, everyone, for listening.
1:11:03
SPEAKER_03: And check out New Worlder on Substack.
1:11:07
SPEAKER_03: Go to newworlder.com.
1:11:09
SPEAKER_03: Thanks to my friend Pat Buzzard for providing the music to the show.
1:11:13
SPEAKER_03: Like us, share us, spread the word.
1:11:15
SPEAKER_03: It really does help.
1:11:16
Like,
1:11:17
really,
1:11:17
just taking a moment out of your day and clicking like or the
1:11:21
star or share or
1:11:24
or whatever it really it has a really big impact bigger than
1:11:29
you think so thank you