Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / #62 | Pam Chavez [Sam and Louie's Pizzeria - Corpus Christi, Texas]

Transcript

#62 | Pam Chavez [Sam and Louie's Pizzeria - Corpus Christi, Texas] · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: What's going on, y'all?
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Corpus Christie Originals back at it again, coming to you live from the produce uh sound studios downtown Corpus Christi, Texas.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Got the R Walk later on.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: Check that out.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this episode sponsored by El Vago Burger and Barbecue.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: Check them out 4701 Bareta Drive out there in Molina.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: Check them out if you haven't already.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: Today we got Pam Chavez from uh Salmon Lewis Pizzeria.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: How's it going, Pam?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's going all right.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's cool.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: I like your nest your last name, Chavez.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: Is it so uh it I that that's not your maiden name, or it is your maiden name?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's not my maiden name.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: No, I mean my boys, like they're I just want to keep the last name of my boys, at least for now, until maybe they're adults or something like that.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know, yeah.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't have a tie to my maiden name anymore.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: Did you like your maiden name?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was okay.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: It was okay.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: My family's not in my life anymore.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: So my you know, my boys are sort of my world.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll keep that tie with them.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: So you when you say your family's not in your life, like are they still around?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like they're still out there.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: They're still around.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Boundaries have been set.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, dude.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, yes.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not until we figure it out later in life that we need to make those boundaries.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of us older folks, well, my myself being older, like we had we figured that out later.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: I wish we would have figured it out sooner.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's not easy, and you hear so much, and and it's tough to say that because people will think, oh my gosh, you cut family out.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, there's there's a reason.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Many.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: And it's takes a lot more than just one.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: And you sort of realize how important it is when you start setting those boundaries and start removing some of the toxic things that um were happening.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then try not to pass those things down to your kids.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: I know I know you mentioned that in uh Britney Mute.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: Shout out Britney Mute.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, leading ladies, yes, leading ladies of Corpus Christi Awesome podcast, which uh I listened to the whole thing, your episode her.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, your life is so curve.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot through a lot of stuff.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't so where are you from originally?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think I caught that.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I was born and raised in Kansas.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: I lived there from like birth until graduating high school.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, nice.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Kansas.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Is that right in the middle?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's the Midwest, yeah.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, go on.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, Priscilla and YouTube.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, Priscilla.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: Priscilla.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: We had her on big supporter for real.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: So, how does that feel to have that kind of support in the community?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's amazing.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I didn't know how it was gonna be because I'm not local, and like there is such a tight local community.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's a lot of people in Corpus that haven't lived anywhere else, and I have lived so many places, and so I didn't know how welcoming it would be.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and no, it's it's incredible.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: There are so many supportive, yeah, local, especially women.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I've met so many good women, not to discount the men, but like I've just met so many great people.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: You have to say that.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: No, yeah, gotta make sure I cover that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we covered that.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Man, it's awesome.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, definitely.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and I made a post about uh somebody was saying how how uh Corpus Christi is crooked or whatever.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: And you mentioned in your comment, like you've never been nowhere.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's stuff everywhere, you know.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's gonna be the good, the bad, and the ugly, and it's just sort of what you choose to focus on, is what you're gonna see.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like if you there and there's families and people that have never gotten out of here and they stayed here, they've been here their whole life.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think that's the importance of travel, even if it's just to somewhere else in Texas, because the vibe's gonna be a little bit different.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: It opens your eyes and then it makes you appreciate where you came from.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: And and when you do move out of town, like I from my experience, when I do move out of town, like and people ask me where I'm where I'm from, then there's a sense of pride that comes up, like, oh, this is where I'm from.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, do you know of it?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, yeah, yes, and corpus is growing and expanding like crazy.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it's it's shifting and evolving constantly.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so how did you land on pizza?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I mean, there's a Mexican restaurant every corner, right?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: So you decided like pizza, which it's good if you haven't tried it out, guys.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: Try it out.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's uh it's authentic.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it really is.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh well, thank you.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, part of it is I have three boys, so I mean, we just eat a ton of pizza in my house.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so just a quick backstory.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I was in the military, and when I got out, I went to culinary school, and then I became a certified holistic nutritionist.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: So when we moved here, I was looking for what I was gonna be doing, sort of that hole I was gonna fill.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then all of a sudden I just realized we couldn't find our favorite pizza spot.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I just thought, well, that's it.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I can do that.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I wanted to bring pizza that was gonna sort of pull from all aspects of my foodie nature.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: How's it going, Francesca?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for joining.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: My daughter's always on YouTube.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: You always make sure that I'm Francesca.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there you go.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what was I gonna say?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, so you landed on the pizza, and then you're real you talk about like you being divorced and all this stuff on your posts, yeah.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: Which you're open, and and and it's interesting that you mentioned that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: And like I want to say it how hard, how hard difficult, or what are the challenges that you faced in having or starting that and then having that go through that at the same time.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: Because you have three kids, you know, and it's like well, that was a big reason why I went through it.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I just needed to get something happening when I realized that my marriage needed to end.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: I it was a very scary place to be in because I had been a stay-at-home mom, sort of by default.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't necessarily planning on doing that.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: But he was gone so much for the army that I wanted to be a like a stable force for the kids.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then all of a sudden I realized, oh my God, I'm gonna be a single parent.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like now I've sacrificed career progression, yeah, and basically career at all.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I had these degrees.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: I started, and then I launched a wellness business for military spouses when we were in Korea.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I just, you know, it was like I had to just get my feet wet and start going.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: And we were in Korea.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that was when like an episode happened in my marriage shortly after getting there.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, oh no, I'm gonna have to get out.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and now I'm in Korea and I can't take these boys and fly back.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: So we got to make it happen.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I just I started giving cooking classes and tours of the outdoor market and you know, it was very grassroots.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: I just started hustling basically and building a business.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: So you had that that little bit of that experience while you were married.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: And you were outside of the uh military at the time.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: Your husband was in the military.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, so you had to feel it's not necessarily that you needed that money coming in, or that's something that you I mean, I did basically what I was doing was building a resume, you know, um, that was when we came back to the States that was going to help me with getting a career.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then I discovered that I actually really liked working for myself and that I was pretty darn good at it.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: So it all sort of just kept evolving as it went.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you mentioned uh I think in the podcast that your folks were so like just get a normal job, round five, whatever.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And you're because my dad's a um a physician, so he's a family physician.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: So they were very traditional, very conservative, and that's like not me.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it's hard for parents to sometimes accept.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and so when I got into like holistic health and stuff, that just felt very like hippie-like for them.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, I could see that.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: So that's I guess that's one of the boundaries that you have to say, no, this is what I'm gonna do.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah, exactly.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's cool.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: And Matt, and uh, so I guess one of the maybe one of the reasons that you came upon holistic was because of you had uh a couple miscarriages in your oh man multiple, yeah, yeah.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, and that was rough, obviously.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and so the insurance was like, well, you need to have four, and I'd only had three in their eyes, right?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: I know they're like, that's not enough loss.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: They really saw it as a number, they weren't like viewing it like how you I was feeling it.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just needed to alleviate the guilt I was feeling, even though they said everything's normal, everything's great.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, okay, well, I just feel like my body should be doing this natural thing and it's not.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I just started self-educating, and we lived in Washington State at the time, which was a great place um to sort of get into like organic and um eastern medicine.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: I dabbled with acupuncture and all of that stuff, so yeah.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's cool.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Did you have did you have any kids before those had happened?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: Or no, oh, so yeah, so that was like it was like a couple years of several miscarriages and then him always sort of coming and going, and yeah, it just made starting a family super stressful.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, man, so oh, so brutal.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how how is those I guess those tragedies?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, how did how did you come out come out from that?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how did you find yourself controlled?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, I got a degree in you know, holistic wellness.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: So that did help out.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, oh no, because then I got into all of that, and it was like I felt like I found my people, you know, because I'd grown up in like this traditional medicine, and I I love that too.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's very beneficial and we need it.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I had always sort of like been intrigued by alternative things and stuff, so it just seemed to make sense and felt like I'd found like a groove that I hadn't known about.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: So then I went back to school, um, had the GI Bill, thankfully, no student debt.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I was able to get that degree.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: So you got the holistic uh certification and then culinary degree, and then just in the last few years, I got my bachelor's in marketing and used up the last bit of that GI Bill.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, come on.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: So, so obviously, well, that's obviously helping out because I see your ads everywhere.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I love marketing, I really do storytelling.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: So, and I'm sort of intrigued by I mean, you know, it's always like that there's different ways for people to sell stuff.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I really like the authentic, yeah, transparent type of marketing that is like rooted in truth, and there's the people that do it another way, and so right.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just I found and then followed and then learned from the people that modeled the way that I like it.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, storytelling is kind of my thing too.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: I enjoy writing and stuff like that.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: Cool, yeah.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: So, so you you are you gonna have a book coming out of it?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we'll have a book, probably absolutely, I've already got part of everything.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, come on, I already know, dude.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's amazing.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so you so that that marketing degree that I imagine that would help out your business.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: It does help uh tremendously.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's cool.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: So you got man, you got your bachelor's, you got all this stuff going on.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: Your your kids, like are your sons involved in your business at all?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, a little bit.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm hoping that they'll get more involved.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: My middle, my 13-year-old, he's much more sort of intrigued with like making money, getting in there.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: He's gotten behind the register and helped out, he's washed dishes.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, my youngest went in there and tried to help bag a little bit of cheese, and literally within five minutes, he's like, This sucks, and I don't want to work anymore.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care about the money.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: So wow, that's funny.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: Do you use uh local suppliers at all?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Or how how do you approach that?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well, because it is a franchise, I do need to use the corporate account, which is with Disco.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I did just get Nueva's um beer.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, nice.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I got delivered today.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, that's awesome.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: So it and you and you pitch to the franchise.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, to sort of shake things up just a little bit and shift things.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: So my menu is a bit different.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: I have a handful of my recipes on there.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I cut out a lot of the stuff.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: I cut out like all the deep fried stuff.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: Being a holistic nutritionist, I didn't want um fried foods.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Didn't align with me.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and like I joked with you earlier, I feel like that market's covered here.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't need to do that.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so got rid of like the burgers and the sandwiches and the pastas and really just wanted to focus in on the pizzas.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like we make our dough fresh every day, our sauce fresh every day.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I just really wanted to offer like high quality um specialty pizzas in a large variety of it.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I really like a focused menu.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's I I struggle when I go into a restaurant and you see like Asian, Mexican, Italian, and it's all on one menu.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I just I really like a focused menu.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: So is it is it like a certain, I guess, uh like culture, or how do you look at it to have to how do how do you go about focusing it?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, so it's all like focused in on what's made with the homemade dough.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like all the different pizzas, and then we have like pesto sauce base, we've got Alfredo sauce base, um, and then one even has like the red sauce, Alfredo, and pesto, and that's so good.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you get a little bit of one and different bits in each bite.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so just trying to cater to like the foodies and bring a lot of fresh veggies, which isn't just the typical black olive bell pepper, mushroom, onion, you know, um, a lot of like vegetarian pizzas at or vegetarian dishes and stuff and at pizzarias.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's like they just remove the meat and then have the veggies of what's on a supreme.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: I've brought in like spinach and artichoke pizza, you know, there's zucchini and artichokes and goat cheese and all that stuff.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: So is it really so yeah, my wife just trying to bring variety that's not just the same old, same old veggies you always get, and then vegan and dairy free.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many parents that come in and say their kids are allergic to dairy and they didn't enjoy pizza for so long and they felt left out, and now they love it and feel like they're part of everything.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: So they're so happy.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: So, how do you like how do you get people to get into that type of stuff because we're so used to just the regular?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know that I'm necessarily trying to convince anybody to get into it.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm more so there for the people that are right, and that's what they're looking for.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: Nice, and that's what they want.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then maybe they'll come in and they'll be like, Oh, what's that?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then they're like, Oh, that's the spinach yard choke dip.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Oh, that's good.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you can get it by the slice.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: We cook everything by the slice, fresh to order, because I want at like the highest quality.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so a lot of people will order a pizza and they'll get one slice of something to dabble and test the waters.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a good idea.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so I was looking at your Google reviews on there, and of course, like they got good ones and you got the bad ones.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: So how do you yeah, like, and then some of them are even like employees that you had.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's always fun.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so how do you how do you go up to it?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't even take that personal.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I know at this point, having dealt with employees and stuff, that I can tell when I read a review, because I truly want the feedback, I can tell if it's just really somebody who's kind of evil and gruntal.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm able to kind of let those roll off, honestly, because you can't please everybody.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: But truly, if they're I mean, I have made changes based off of feedback because I'm like, okay, if this is a thing, like let's look at this.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Is this something that we need to evaluate?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes you do.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thankfully, the positive ones far outweigh the negative.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, but nobody's ever perfect.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that's true.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like it we need to learn and grow and keep growing.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, don't get stuck, like, don't get stuck on the the negative, even though it's hard.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes it's hard, you know what I mean?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's gonna hit hurt hurt your ego at first, and then it's like, okay, what can we get from this?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And if it's a disgruntled employee, I'm kind of like, okay, you know.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: I can see why.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, EROC's like yeah.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: So so uh I was gonna ask you about your employee.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how do you go about finding your your employees for your restaurant?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, is it a struggle?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: Is it is it do you have like a turnaround, like a high turnaround?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, I think everybody does.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's the story I hear from most places, yeah.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Cause I mean, hospitality, and I've been in it forever.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: I was a server, you know.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, those were my jobs in the beginning.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really it's not usually somebody's end game.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: We're a pit stop along the way of them sorting out and figuring out their life.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: So if anything ever comes along and sounds better or anything like that, like they're just gonna go.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's not like and the if you try to, it's difficult too because you have to like pay them more, you gotta figure out the the the business budget and all that.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and there's the whole training thing.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like they gotta learn how to stretch dough, you know.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: There's a learning curve there.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's not like you can't learn, it's all skills, it just needs to be learned, but it takes practice and topping the pizzas correctly and all of that.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so they're always gonna make mistakes in the beginning and put this on or not that on, and you're throwing stuff away or like giving it away, you know, because and so, and then when they leave after like two or three weeks, and you're like, Oh, I just lost all of that.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: But it's part of it, it is part of it, especially right now in this economy.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, yeah, it's so crazy right now.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's crazy.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, how do we it's like how do we deal, how do we deal with that?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's all I've known, so it's like my normal, but I talk to people that opened before, and it's like, oh, it hasn't always been like that.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, maybe we'll get back there.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: We'll see.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's cool.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so uh pineapple on pizza, yes or no?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: I love the sweet and the salty, so I'm like a pepperoni pineapple person.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: Right, yeah, yeah.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: If you could only eat one type of pizza for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: It I'd probably go classic pepperoni.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Classic pepperoni.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: If it's just one type.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just one.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I gotta have a bunch of different meats on it.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, yes, I mean, I would love like some um well, pepperoni and mushroom is kind of my go-to lately, which is a big corpus favorite.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I haven't even had that.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then so many people get it that I was like, let me give this a go.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's not bad.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: You get like the earthy umami with like the pepper, the salty pepperoni.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: So Priscilla said pineapple.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Dana's the fan.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: She's the fan.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Dana Gillette.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, can't wait to try the spinach dip pizza.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's my best friend.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, nice.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: She just turned 50 yesterday.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Happy birthday, Dana.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, happy birthday.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, Italian and three beautiful sauces.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Italy and three beautiful sauces.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's the one with the Alfredo, the pesto, and the marinara.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: The cheese on cheese only?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, it has chicken, red bell peppers, and then cheese.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, nice.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: So, how did you decide on that spot right there where you're at on stage?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, that was a whole thing, too.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I looked at so many places.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: It took a year to get open, it was a lot longer than I expected.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: And it was tough because, like, so many of the spots I would see were like all burnt down on the inside.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's amazing how many restaurants burned down.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, it's crazy.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so I landed on this one after months of looking.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, this is it.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: I want it.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: I need it.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's kind of tucked there in the corner, but there's ample parking, which in a lot of those plazas, you just don't get tons of parking.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Walmart's right there, so you get a lot of traffic coming in.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: Parking lots not all thrashed, it's cement.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it looks yes, yeah.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it is like it's so windy here.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like trash is always blowing everywhere.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, but no, it is.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really good location.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm super happy with it.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's good.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so uh uh so building relationships with local supplier, not that one.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so uh what what is the key to uh engagement of the local community, or do you look at that at all?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, so before I opened, I was just going out and meeting, like going and visiting the other local places, introducing myself, going to the events, like getting to know people that attended those things and just networking with other entrepreneurs, you know, because we sort of think the same way, enjoy the same type of things, are a little bit different and creative.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I just enjoy being around people like that and that support people like that.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I that's how I started building so many of the the friendships.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I feel like they're really my friends now and supporters.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: Do you it did you feel like there was any kind of like maybe kickback while you were doing that stuff?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: Because it seems like in every industry there's always some kind of beef, you know what I mean?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: And of course you stay away from it.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, maybe there was, and I just didn't even just give that life.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: I really just genuinely wanted to get to know people because that's what I enjoy doing.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I just don't even think I paid attention to that if it was honestly.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: So how how did you so how did you did you was it natural for you or normal for you to like want to talk to people?
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I love talking to people.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I can talk about I mean everybody can talk about food.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's such an easy way to get a conversation started is food.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's very general.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's not polarizing unless it's like a pineapple or cilantro topic.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: But but no I mean you start talking about food with people and like any even the most uncomfortable person will like get engaged.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: So you landed on the on the pizza uh pizza pizzeria.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Actually why so why did you decide a franchise uh I think because I was getting divorced and I thought because I had grown my wellness business for like five years and I knew I was going to get away from that and was going to go like brick and mortar and I thought let me pick a company that has already like the built-out policies and procedures and the the bulk of what I needed to figure out right done and sort of handed to me.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then see if I could input some of my creativity which I was thankful they were open to.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: You know so are they still helping you like with that type of stuff like uh I mean they're pretty hands off.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm doing well.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: So that's cool.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah no I could see how that could be helpful instead of just starting from the ground up and not knowing yeah exactly anything at all.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah they helped me pick out all my equipment yeah you know what I mean?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like yeah there's so much involved.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: Oh for sure.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: So why did so it so is that why part of the reason why it took you too so long because you said it took a year to open it right what are some of the things that you have to get a lot of that was because of supply issues.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean some of us finding the location contract or BS because you go through a lot of that too um things that come up as you're like building and needing to shift and you discover something and permits oh my gosh that was a huge hurdle just each thing ends up taking so much longer than you thought it was going to yeah and getting equipment delivered was it was because this was now like a year and a half ago so it uh or two and a half years if you're thinking when I was trying to get all that stuff ordered and some of the stuff was so back ordered.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Wow so did did you so did you have to did you did you have to get like a loan to get it started oh for sure.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: Okay okay yeah yeah yeah yeah so so obviously and did at some point did that like stop you from getting something done to where you're like oh shoot we're running that took a minute to do the loan.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: So I worked with the Small Business Development Center which shout out to them they're so good super helpful and I mean it was so thorough the business plan that we came up with and it took so long but it got me my loan because we were so thorough and it also taught me so much really too yeah because they had me think about things that just were not on my radar.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh just so much of the business aspect and the financials and planning and you're projecting out for years and then you're just your brain is sort of like oh my God it just makes it more real instead of like the airy fairy dream of owning a restaurant you know it's like oh here's the numbers this is what I need to do and produce and it's like oh okay yeah no this is intense that's awesome.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: So you were you were in the military you were a combat medic.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yes so how has that helped you in the future like now like how has it helped you through I mean I'm a badass.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah for sure you kidding me golly you know it just it put me in so I was never expecting to go I came off that year of backpacking couldn't struggle to find work.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Turns out when you sell everything you own and you come back it's not easy you have nothing.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember what you owned before you sold everything?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh it was I condensed everything down to just a backpack that I would carry.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I sold my car I sold like all my furniture everything which was super exciting and so glad I did it.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that year was incredible but then I came back and I was like oh God I don't have anything but this backpack full of stuff I've been wearing for a year.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: So um yeah and then I was like well I that trip showed me that I the just sort of my intestinal fortitude I guess and then I was like I can do anything for and how fast a year goes so I signed up with the army for three.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Now looking back I'm like why didn't I talk to the air force or something?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah no I think it's just because like I had family members that had been army so I just didn't even think about it.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like and I'll go medic because I am not mechanically inclined and I didn't want to do anything like that.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I was very limited with my military knowledge.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I went in tested made it signed up went did my time ended up doing a tour in Iraq for a year.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and then as soon as uh they held me for a bit longer I got stop loss to do the tour which was fine.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then came back got out and then that was when I started culinary school wow that's amazing thank you for your service for sure.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you in Iraq for a whole year.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yes oh my God yeah yeah I was gonna say so and and this was later in life in your 30s right you got into so that's kind of later and you said it is yeah in the Leaning Ladies podcast that you you knew it was games like that.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah that's what I was gonna say right well I think being older it's like you just sort of have this like emotional maturity that the 18 year olds didn't have like I knew I was like okay they're gonna yell at us they're gonna torture us this is what they do and I would just be like I'm gonna be in the best shape of my life like this sucks but I gotta do it.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know and people were crying and begging to get out and I was like dude just get through it.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Wow you know well not a lot of people had that perseverance I guess yeah I guess I just thought everybody could like dig into that or something.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think do you think being raised with with three brothers like helped you kind of get through these types of things like how has that helped your it definitely I don't know I think I mean I think some of the the crap I went through like growing up so I mean from an outside perspective everything looked great you know we were very well taken care of and we had the hot meals and the roof and um all of that stuff.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: But I didn't grow up with like love and affection especially from my mom.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like she couldn't say I love you.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: She didn't really ever hug me all of that stuff.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that sort of in some way toughened me up in a way I didn't want to be toughened up.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah you know um and that was a lot of the stuff I had to sort of like process and work out in in the last 10 years.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah kind of on your own like yeah exactly right right but in in a sense I think it just sort of built like a super independent person.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: Man it's real it's real tough like your your mentality is like super tough.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's like I was telling my wife I was like damn this lady's been through a lot and she's still and I talked to you we were talking earlier before air and you were like I said you're a busy person you're like yeah and there's I still more stuff that I want to do like yeah yeah I think my personality thrives on that if I have too much like downtime then I can overthink things and stuff.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sort of better to just keep going yeah and building that's cool.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah wow so are all your sons like that or is just one of them or a few of them like that?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know it's interesting I'm still sort of getting to know I mean the 14 year old God I never see him anymore right now.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: He's always holed up in his room you know but he is very much a miniature me.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_02: So we will see um my middle is very much his dad and then my youngest is kind of in between both of us.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think he leans a little bit more towards me but yeah we'll see.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah and thanks for getting the merch for them which you send they love it.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome do they listen to what do they listen to heavy music or what kind of music they listen to do they put it loud and oh my gosh yeah so I mean they love to listen to like a lot of rap and stuff like that.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: We don't listen to the same music.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right I'm more like the top 40 type the KB Perry the pink Lady Gaga all of that that's not we're always at odds when it comes to music.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah right on that's awesome.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: So do you find yourself being being your mom to them no and like how do you do do you find like I mean that's the sometimes I'm like I'm like oh shoot that my I'm trying to change that.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah no I've done a lot of work I mean that was part of why I had to set that boundary and like I mean she would just sort of dip in and out if I did something that upset her she would dip out of my life for a couple of years and and it wasn't ever anything like I mean she thought it was huge but comparatively speaking to other people I I never saw it as a reason for a mom to just sort of dip out and then come back and you know just had to act like everything was okay and stuff.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that was when I was like okay no you don't get to pick and choose anymore when you're taking part um and so no I mean that's a lot of work of what I've done is to make sure that I'm not you know um I love that my kiddos like we say I love you and we hug all the time and my 14 year old still does that which you know I that kind of shocks me you know because I know at that age that's can feel uncomfortable but no it's very I talk a lot anybody that's close to me not just talk a lot I talk a lot about my emotions and my feelings and there's a reason for that it's because I grew up without that so I really always want that open communication.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yes you know so I I I would rather over talk about how we feel than under talk about it.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah and that's probably my trauma.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah no for sure yeah definitely I didn't I didn't learn that till like years into my marriage like okay dude you need to communicate with your wife and I never knew how to do that.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Because then you don't misunderstand each other.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yes and you work you keep working out yes exactly and it's not a personal attack it's just an explanation of how they're feeling you know I mean of course you've got to have a good delivery stuff like that.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: Delivery matters but yeah yeah I mean that was a big part of the downfall of my my marriage is that you know um a lack of being able to express emotions or me being able to be heard or me being able to to say things.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah and and it wasn't changing it wasn't improving.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like okay this is too much of the same what I was used to and I I don't want that anymore.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow yeah yeah my wife tries to communicate me with me I'm doing something on the computer I'm like just throw a ball so I can catch it first and then you have my attention.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: All right then I'll tell her like I'm not listening what'd you say yeah never ending story and man for sure.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah it's hard work.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and I definitely hear that uh even with my kids like I'm wanting them to to voice their what what they're feeling you know and they go through so much and they're exposed to so much and you know especially my boys like they don't open up a ton and so just letting them know that that is natural and okay and good to open up you know do you how it do you how do you find yourself helping them?
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well I guess because you you mentioned that your your husband uh is still in their lives so they very much so yeah we do week on week off yeah yeah do is it difficult do you see that it's difficult for your kids like going through that type of I guess term you know what y'all went through or whatever?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean they were I I cannot speak for them.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: I don't really know um I know when we told them about the divorce that was just one of the worst days ever.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know we had done a bit of cohabitating because he was going to be retiring from the army we knew we were getting divorced but we wanted to figure out where we were going to land which ended up being corpus.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: Corpus yeah yes and so um it just got to the point where I was like okay I want to make sure the kids know that we're cohabitating and this we're not modeling marriage right now we're modeling something else because they're not seeing us be affectionate they're not seeing these things let them know what's happening this because they I don't want them to think that that is what a marriage is a lack of a lot of this stuff.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I was trying to get to like what do you find how do you find yourself teaching your kids about marriage or what to look for because obviously you you got sons you know what I mean and maybe you want them to be in a certain like I see my son or even my daughter and I I want them to the best for them obviously and it's like how do you teach them or show them?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah I mean you know I'm as open as possible as I can be age appropriately and also sort of not protecting their dad but like because I gotta own my story and my truth of of what happens and everything without sort of oversharing or or being mean.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: Crazy yeah you know yeah you're being a mom you're just being who you are I mean it's you just figuring it out like we're figuring out life as we go we don't all have it all together no and shoot I don't even know because like my marriage didn't make it yeah so yeah man uh well we're here now we're talking about Sam and Louie's pizza who do you got in the chat uh Priscilla she says you're an amazing friend Dana Gallette says total badass yeah that's awesome that's well so you go you're getting going that's awesome let me see if I could do a uh let me see a quick question uh if you're stranded on a desert island and it could only be bring three things not people what would they be oh gosh desert island three things I'm gonna say well I'm gonna have to say the volleyball because that played out well right for Wilson do I need to include food Wilson I mean you gotta have a little fun like you gotta have a game or something um gosh that's am I including food I don't know why is this such a tough question a cat a cat who gave me the cat and avocados man do you read a lot do you read at all I love to read yes and it's all like nonfiction oh no yeah so you're constantly learning constantly I am constantly learning yeah I love memoirs I love learning about other people's like life and journey and then also like personal and professional development and stuff like that yeah no I do I love that yeah it's dope and then you're obviously writing a book so what's the is it a non nonfiction of course yeah yeah yeah yeah what could it be what could it be that's awesome oh man so uh a lot of us face like obstacles uh I guess entrepreneurs and stuff like that um what mindset or approach do you adopt uh to preserve through the times keep moving forward with your vision for Sam and Louise say the first part of that again many entrepreneurs face obstacles that test their resilience and determination yeah what mindset or approach do you adopt to preserve I mean I think I'm just always thinking about I was gonna say my end goal but I don't even know what my end goal is.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I'm just reminding myself of my goals and sort of where I've come from and what I've been through and why I'm doing this.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah like that's just a big thing that I tap into constantly to remind myself like when I first opened so like the first nine months I worked open to close every single day I had three days off.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: It was Christmas Day uh New Year's Day and Easter every single day open to close.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know how I did that now looking back but it was sheer drive and determination for success to provide a life for my children and myself so there was just no way I couldn't not do it.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: So you're not just so you weren't just thinking about yourself you're thinking about I mean the kids it always takes somebody else it's funny like it's even like with the um marriage ending that was I could tolerate stuff for far too long.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: It was my therapist one day saying to me would you want your children to be in a marriage that you're in and that was it.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh that was I was like no I don't wow and then it was like oh what am I doing?
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we can make foundational changes because of somebody else.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: We can't always do it for us.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so sometimes you got to ride that.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_03: Wow it's amazing wow as a founder what strategies or practices have you found most effective for fostering a positive work culture among your team members we kind of touched on that a little bit yeah I was gonna say and that's always a work in progress too you know because I was sort of in survival mode for a long time so bringing a GM in has really helped oh nice yeah because he can sort of shoulder that stuff you take it's yours now yeah I went in the I went in the the second time I went in you were you were kind of showing up but the first time I went I was like wish yeah she's not here yeah you can see you on the Instagram right yeah yeah no I can sort of step back now which is really nice I mean there's so many things under the umbrella that I don't have to be in the kitchen now I can do a lot of the other stuff in the background which is the marketing and you know all that other stuff so yeah and then you're on Instagram a lot like oh do you feel that working for your business?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: I do yeah I found my people there so I I was just talking about that with um the Tuttles Meat Market was uh smokehouse was in the other day and we were discussing that and they were saying they're mostly on Facebook and they cross post to Instagram but for me I've found that that's what's working I'm sure if I got onto TikTok and really developed that out that would work too but like there's only so much you can do and do well.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to just do quantity I want to do quality so right now I'm just focusing on Instagram and that's working.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: So doing the quality aspect does do you feel that I guess obviously is there a reason why you think that that you should do it that way instead of uh I guess multipli not multiplying it but spreading it out well I mean if you're able to handle all of that and do all of it very well more power to you right but you've each platform is slightly different and you need to adjust and that just all takes time if you posted the exact same thing across all platforms it's not going to do as well on different ones they're all slightly varied.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: And there's so many Instagram is a really good aesthetic especially for food.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know like the it started out with the pictures right and then eventually the videos.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah and so commercials right obviously food and yes stretchy cheese and all these other things exactly yeah and you know what mine is very much like I'm not doing super professional.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm using my iPhone and I'm taking a as soon as it comes out of the oven I'm taking the photo and then boxing it and handing it off.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm not doing a display and this whole thing and a super expensive photo shoot.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of the aesthetic that works now is very much that natural grounded this is real life I'm doing it.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yes it's not some now obviously it works for the large name brands because that's what you expect from them.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_03: Interesting you know yeah yeah that's cool and and then you you being in there and making the dough and stuff like that makes it kind of relatable to yeah exactly and I love it.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's like if I if I haven't done it for a while I have to like jump in the kitchen and stretch some dough.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_03: Wow so do you see it expanding past it's interest it's amazing that this was the first one in Texas.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah first one in Texas here in Lilo Corpse Christmas I know wow do you so do you are are you going past just the one store or what do you what do you see yourself going?
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know we'll see I mean I have a a gigantic loan and all of the and I mean there's tons of room to explore and growing areas and stuff so we'll see.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah so you that's cool that's awesome thanks for coming on the show.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks we got brought 45 minutes.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome is there anything you would like to share well I know one lady had posted something about I think her question was like getting started and women or something like that.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah um and when it comes to that I guess I would really just say I mean it depends what you're doing and it's a little bit different for different industries and stuff like that.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean I think one of the things for my success was that I just kept showing up every day.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_02: You know so it's like I did the holistic wellness for military spouses at first.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um find those that do what you want to do well and like learn from them too.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because that is a lot of what I would do.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: I would read their books or I would watch their content.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: There's so much free stuff out there now, you know.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: But don't get distracted by watching everybody's stuff.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of what some of my friends that would be trying to start businesses and stuff and never quite got off the ground was that they just got stuck in sort of consuming and trying to learn and never actually creating and getting started.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I was never afraid to fail because I knew I was going to.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's just you're going to at certain things.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_02: But I knew that if I just kept showing up and learning and tweaking and adjusting that I was ultimately gonna be successful, I was just gonna fail at little steps along the way.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: Did you try a different business venture other than uh pizza or no?
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: So be consistent.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: So you're saying start do stuff.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: Learn along the way.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: But that's like, and so when I mean fail, like I'm not necessarily talking like the giant fail, which it could be that too.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_02: And don't take that because like my wellness business, I got so much out of it, like publicity-wise, and like recipes, and I was in magazines and newspapers and all that, but financially it didn't get me where I needed to be.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: So that felt like a failure.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_02: But I knew I now had this resume, this wrap sheet of keynote speaking that I'd done, and so many admirable things that I had to realize the value in that and not just look at the failure.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: Whoa, wow.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_03: Learn from the failure and use that for your next Yes.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it had opened so many doors for me.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: Don't be afraid to like reach out to people and touch base with them too.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of times they want to reconnect or, you know, help in a certain situation.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: So you it's almost like you kind of have to humble yourself in that sense and not be proud.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_02: Too proud to ask somebody and reciprocate.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a lot.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think because I was so supportive of people, like genuinely supportive.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't fake, it wasn't like pushed, I wasn't looking for something out of it.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: People can feel that, and then they want to support you.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's amazing.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like you're you're helping others, you're doing your thing, and people, and there's a reciprocation of that.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_03: And it seems like you seem you found that in our community.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: Man, that's awesome.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: Corpus is great.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you think so?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_03: So, why do you think corpus is great?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, because the people, like literally being military, we lived in so many places, and everybody always says, like, how supportive the military, especially like the spouses and stuff, are.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I experienced a lot of cattiness, or like, and I think maybe it's because people ultimately weren't happy in certain aspects of their life.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_03: What was caddiness?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like like just tearing each other down.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, rather than lifting them up.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so I found a lot of the opposite of that here.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: I also try to stay out of the drama.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if I see that or if I see somebody's energy that seems like that is the way that they are, I'm gonna go the other direction.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna get involved with that.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that definitely helps, I think.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_03: You set a boundary set of boundary.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm talking about boundaries.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Priscilla says, I need Salmon Louise in my life soon.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Hawaiian luau calzone, Pam salad, and the sweet chili wings.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, sweet chili rings.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta try that one out.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's our classic order.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, Night Creature Productions says, Hey, what's going on, y'all?
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, wow, that's awesome.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, Corpus is amazing.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like, it is what you make of it, you know.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't, I mean, because like I got, we we've all had family members that are in in I guess not in good spots in Corpus, you know what I mean?
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_03: And there's people that like it's a military city also.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, got the base over there and stuff like that.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_03: So having these different perspectives, and it's interesting to me how like outs people from not from here, they end up here, yeah, such as yourself, and you're like, damn, this is a this is a good city, you know, why not?
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, uh it's it's cool to have that kind of perspective.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I wish I I want for a lot of us to be able to leave the city for one, you know, not even for once, or every now and then, and come back and just experience life outside of it.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, exactly.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's what it is.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and driving on the beaches here.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_02: At first, I was like, oh, I don't know if that's a good idea.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then I moved here, and I'm like, this is awesome.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_02: How did I never do this anywhere before?
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, oh, yeah.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: Other places, oh yeah.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_02: Other places you don't drive on the beach.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's like a Texas thing.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, seriously, yes.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_02: And it makes so much sense, it's so perfect.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: No, you don't do that anywhere else.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, no kidding, man.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_03: We grew up, we would have bonfires out there.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's so funny.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yes, it was oh and it's one of those things where, like, if you went somewhere else and went to the beach, you'd be like, what?
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: We don't get and then you'd appreciate the corpus does it, but you just assume everybody drives on the beach.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_02: No, they don't.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure it's awesome.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_03: So, um, so yeah, I think we're coming to an end.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_03: And this has been an awesome conversation.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so fun.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, is there any takeaways or anything you would like to share going out?
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: Let me see.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_03: I think I had one uh looking back on your journey.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_03: Let me see.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_03: I have all these papers, I haven't even looked at them.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if there was only one thing your customers would know about salmon Louise, what would it be?
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: That we are for foodies that enjoy a high quality food experience.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_02: Homemade fresh.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: You haven't the meats don't have any fillers.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it sounds crazy to say that.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh no, of course the meats don't.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: No, most people have really cheap prices because their beef isn't all all beef.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow, their pork's not all pork, it's cut with stuff.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh ours pork is pork, beef, all that, you know, high quality cheese.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_02: That makes a difference when reheating, too.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_02: And use an air fryer if you have an air fryer.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh the best way.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, nice.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, heck yeah.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's awesome.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so how can listeners connect with Salmon Louis Pizzeria online or in person?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_02: I would say Instagram.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's Sam and Louis Corpus Christi, salmonlewise.corpuschristi on Facebook too.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're gonna see it all there as well.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I share a lot in my stories, and that's how I connect with a lot of people.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: I share a lot of my everyday life, and I have a lot of conversations with um my customers and stuff.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: And and yeah, I mean, let me know if you come in and uh I want to say hi.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I and you mentioned that you get messages from women, which is awesome.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I do.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, connecting.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there was somebody that even uh on one of the posts they were saying, oh, you we should listen to this.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: Another person was tagging another person.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, this would be cool to listen to that.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: So that's awesome.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, any final thoughts or messages you'd like to share with your with our audience or your audience?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I would just say no matter how difficult anything feels right now, you know, just keep going, explore your options, take care of yourself, and it's better on the other side.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: Look forward, look forward, keep looking forward.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if nothing else you don't want to share anything else, we'll say goodbye.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: So good, you guys.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_03: Stay tuned for the next ones.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, shout out to Maya back there for uh with the produced sound studios, making this thing look nice.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and also check out our sponsor of the show, El Vago Burger and Barbecue, uh 4701 Bodeta Drive uh in Molina.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_03: They got some good burgers out there, should check it out.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and yeah, stay tuned for the next couple episodes.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: We got, I think we're booked until July.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: I just for some reason I can never remember who's coming on next.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's probably one thing I should work on.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: So, but stay tuned for that.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_03: We'll see you later.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, everybody, on YouTube, Dana, Night Creature Productions, Priscilla, Francesca, everybody for joining.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and check out the replay.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.