Feb. 20, 2026

Good Food Isn’t Enough. Here’s Why Some Restaurants Win

Good Food Isn’t Enough. Here’s Why Some Restaurants Win

Getting fired from your own company can break you. For Sam Fox, it lit the fuse. In this episode, Sam shares how he bet on himself and went on to build 150 plus restaurants and a flagship hotel, including True Food, Flower Child, The Henry, and The Global Ambassador. We talk early hustle in Tucson, opening a restaurant at 21, counting every dollar, and why food has to taste great before it can be healthy. Sam breaks down what actually scales, how to choose partners, when to say no, and why hy...

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Season 1

Getting fired from your own company can break you. For Sam Fox, it lit the fuse.

In this episode, Sam shares how he bet on himself and went on to build 150 plus restaurants and a flagship hotel, including True Food, Flower Child, The Henry, and The Global Ambassador. We talk early hustle in Tucson, opening a restaurant at 21, counting every dollar, and why food has to taste great before it can be healthy.

Sam breaks down what actually scales, how to choose partners, when to say no, and why hype driven ideas like ghost kitchens miss the soul of hospitality. He also opens up about a health wake up call that changed how he eats, moves, sleeps, and leads.

If you love founder stories, restaurants, hotels, or building big without losing the human touch, this one is for you. 

Follow the show, share it with a builder friend, and leave a review if it sparks something.

00:00 - Meet Sam Fox: From Tucson Roots

03:20 - First Restaurant And Hard Lessons

09:30 - Partnerships, Setbacks, And A Pivotal Exit

15:40 - Creating True Food And Scaling Concepts

23:30 - Health Scare, Lifestyle Shift, And Eating Habits

31:00 - Flower Child, Doughbird, And Brand Growth

36:10 - The Global Ambassador Vision

41:30 - Hiring, Culture, And Investor Partners

48:20 - Celebrities, Ghost Kitchens, And What To Avoid

WEBVTT

00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:06.799
Okay, so welcome to our podcast.

00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:13.439
This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show.

00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:25.280
Welcome to our podcast again.

00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:34.880
So we've got uh it's the Doctor and the DJ working title right now, but our guest today is Sam Fox, entrepreneur, restaurateur, businessman.

00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:36.079
What do we call you, Sam?

00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:36.960
Sam.

00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:37.520
Sam?

00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:38.479
Yeah.

00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.039
But you've like changed the hotelier now.

00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:42.079
Hotelier, that's right.

00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:42.799
I love that name.

00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:43.359
It's very fancy.

00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:47.840
You've got the global ambassador that opened up about a year ago, almost a year ago.

00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:48.000
Yeah.

00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:50.320
But I mean, you changed the landscape of food in Arizona.

00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:50.960
Oh, thank you.

00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:51.200
Right?

00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:51.920
I mean, you really have to.

00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:53.600
Much broader than Arizona.

00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:54.719
California, Arizona.

00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:56.640
California, uh, Nashville, right?

00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:58.079
Did it be 23 states?

00:00:58.399 --> 00:00:59.600
Are you in 23 states?

00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:00.320
Yes.

00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:00.880
Yeah.

00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:01.600
Wow.

00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:02.560
Wow.

00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:03.840
Big portfolio.

00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:07.200
Are there any restaurants in other states outside of this that aren't here?

00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:09.040
Because I know you got the one with Justin Timberlake in National.

00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:11.519
Yeah, the only other one it would be the 1230 Club in Nashville.

00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:13.439
That's just a unique one-off.

00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:17.680
And uh I've never really done a one-off outside of Arizona.

00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:21.680
All the original brands and restaurants have all started in Arizona.

00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:26.000
That's the first one we did uh in Nashville, and the only one we've done so far.

00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:27.760
So we're like the food proving ground.

00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:32.000
So just you know, you have to these restaurants are like children.

00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:34.079
You have to nurture them and grow them and develop them.

00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:35.200
They don't just happen.

00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:40.799
And so I've always wanted to be close so I could be there every day, especially in the beginning when you're doing all that.

00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:42.719
So that was reasoning for that.

00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:44.000
So how did it start?

00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:45.040
You grew up in Tucson?

00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:45.200
Yeah.

00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:46.000
Working for your parents?

00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:46.400
Yeah.

00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:47.760
My parents were in the restaurant business.

00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:48.640
Which restaurant?

00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:51.680
Uh Hungry Fox on Broadway, and they're still there.

00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:57.760
Uh a little breakfast place that my dad had a Mexican restaurant and um a couple other places.

00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:04.480
And you know, the whole time when I was going to school and growing up, it was a hard restaurant career.

00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.319
My parents did not want me to go in the restaurant business.

00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:08.240
They were mom and pop restaurants.

00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:10.159
They worked opening the clothes.

00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:11.840
It wasn't some big fancy payroll.

00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:22.879
They, you know, they cooked and cleaned and swept and did everything and um you know, just made enough to make a living, but it was not uh some sort of fancy job that I might have today.

00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:23.840
So what happened?

00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:24.560
How did it start?

00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:25.120
How did you go?

00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:31.599
I know I was going to school at the University of Arizona as a sophomore, and I was in real estate finance.

00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.560
My parents moved away to Florida to take care of my grandfather.

00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.680
They insisted that I did not go into the restaurant business.

00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.479
I was interning at a real estate firm.

00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:49.759
Um that guy I was interning for told me to go to his wife's house in Tucson Country Club, and she had something that she wanted me to do.

00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:54.960
As an intern in college, you ran errands and picked up lunch and you made copies.

00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:56.319
And so I was going over there.

00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:02.000
I thought I was picking up some dry cleaning, and she knocked, she opened the door and said, Hey, uh, I have a flat tire.

00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:03.520
I need you to change my flat tire.

00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:05.599
It's July in the summer.

00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:06.960
I'm this little preppy intern.

00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:09.120
I got my khaki pants on and my white shirt.

00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:11.360
And she goes, Can you change the tire?

00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:14.240
I said, Uh yeah, and I'm not really mechanically inclined.

00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:18.560
So it took me about an hour to change the tire, about 150 degrees on the asphalt.

00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:19.919
My clothes are ruined.

00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:22.000
I get in the car, she barely says thank you.

00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:27.680
I drive back to the real estate firm, which is at Williams Center, walked in and to my boss and said, I quit.

00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.199
And walked out of the door and I said, I'm never gonna work for anyone ever again.

00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:45.199
I dropped out of school, did not tell my parents, took my tuition money, and then raised some money from some friends and family and took over the old Casmelina space on Campbell and opened Gilligan's Bar and Grill in 1992.

00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:47.680
That's how I got into the restaurant business.

00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:49.520
I was 20 years old when I signed the lease.

00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.599
But I couldn't open the restaurant until I was 21 because I had to get a liquor license.

00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:57.840
I thought I was the smartest 21-year-old in the world, which I wasn't.

00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.759
And um, I'd say that was my three, I had the business for almost four years.

00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:08.159
That was my business sort of crash course on sort of I call it the restaurant business.

00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:10.000
I was always good at the restaurant side of things.

00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.439
My parents had restaurants and hospitality became natural and easy to me.

00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:17.600
The business side, which my parents weren't great at either, was something that I had to work at.

00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:20.879
And then having that restaurant with really not a lot of money.

00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:25.360
I kind of shoestring it together and running a business for three years with no money.

00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:32.879
You learn a lot about business and you learn a lot by yourself, and you know what works and what doesn't work, and you got to make sure you know where every penny is.

00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:38.319
And so, really, a foundation for who I am, sold that business, cost$45,000 to open.

00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:43.040
I sold that business four years, three and a half, four years later, and for$500,000.

00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:44.240
It's kind of crazy.

00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:54.079
And then uh got into some other restaurants in Tucson, had a restaurant called City Grill, uh merged with the people that owned Buddies, and we had five restaurants together.

00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:56.639
And uh I was partners in that, owned a third of that.

00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:58.639
My partners owned two-thirds of it.

00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.040
They were late 50s, early 60s.

00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.600
I was 26, 27 at the time.

00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:10.800
And um, we worked together, learned a lot from them, and learned a lot of things that I didn't like about how they ran their business.

00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:12.639
And we kind of became oil and water.

00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:15.519
They were, like I said, we were two different places in our life.

00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.399
They were playing golf, and I was working, they'd come in and tell me what to do.

00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.160
And I was offended by that.

00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:22.639
They probably were right, but I was offended by it.

00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:26.480
And after three or four years of business together, we had five restaurants.

00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.720
Um, they basically came to me and said, We're firing you.

00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:30.959
And I said, Well, I didn't know I could get fired from my own company.

00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:32.079
I'm the owner.

00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:34.079
And realized that I could.

00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:36.560
Big business lesson for me there.

00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:38.480
And um was embarrassed.

00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:44.079
I was kind of this guy in Tucson, had all these restaurants, and um, was gonna move out of Tucson to New York.

00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:50.639
A friend of mine just bought um uh um a business in New York called Dina DeLuca that was already there and he acquired it.

00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:51.759
He was a mentor of mine.

00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:56.879
In fact, they owned radio stations in Tucson, and that's how I got to know a guy named Bill Phalan.

00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:57.680
Did you know Bill at all?

00:05:57.920 --> 00:05:58.720
Boy, that name sounds familiar.

00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:01.360
Yeah, Bill, they owned a whole bunch of radio stations around the country.

00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:06.319
I can't remember the company, but Bill would come into my first restaurant and he would mentor me.

00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:15.920
And and then over the years I got to know him, and then when my partners fired me from that, he goes, Oh, you should go talk to a guy named Leslie Rudd, who was uh living in Napa at the time.

00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:18.879
Leslie had bought this uh Dina DeLuca brand.

00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:28.160
And at the same time, while all this was going on, I started to date a girl that was seven years younger than me, and she was a senior in college at the University of Arizona.

00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:29.439
We came serious.

00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:32.319
I went to New York, I got offered the job.

00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:39.920
I knew if I took the job that my wife or that girl, my girlfriend at that time would be over, and I knew I was gonna want him to marry her.

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.720
And here I have 26 years later, I've married that girl.

00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:43.360
Good choice.

00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:54.720
Uh, got fired from my company, it was the best thing that happened to me, and um sort of was gonna move out of Tucson, but decided to stay, get engaged, and open Wildflower in Tucson in 1998, still in our portfolio.

00:06:54.959 --> 00:07:00.319
150 restaurants later, we're up here in Phoenix and had about 16, 17 different brands.

00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:07.120
We've grown the company, we've grown brands, we've had one-offs, we have 40 and 50 of other units.

00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:16.160
We've sold true food, we've sold sauce, and then almost four years ago, a little over four years ago, I sold my whole company to the Cheesecake Factory.

00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:22.879
And I'm still there today running the business, and they're in amazing partners, and we have a really good thing going.

00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:28.800
So I want to ask you to me, Sam, you're kind of like the pioneer of concepts, though.

00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:32.560
Because everybody now wants to do concepts in the restaurant business.

00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:33.519
But you started it.

00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:33.759
Yeah.

00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:39.920
You were the first guy who said there's a trend here that we can we can you know play off of.

00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:41.759
So how did you come up with the idea?

00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:57.040
Well, all ideas are different, but all the ideas came from as far as true food goes, if you're referring to true food, um Andy Weil, who was our partner in it, his business people reached out to me and said, Hey, um, you want to come, Andy wants to talk to you about doing a Russian.

00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:58.560
I said, I don't want to do a restaurant with Andy.

00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:00.879
And Andy used to come to my restaurants and eat all the time.

00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:05.519
And you know, Andy was this sort of early to sort of healthy eating.

00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:07.040
I said early adopter.

00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:07.839
Early adopter.

00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:09.839
And I was like, you know, I don't need that.

00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:13.839
I don't want to have a partner who's a doctor and have these crazy things.

00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:21.680
And so Andy invited me down to his house down in Tucson, and I took my wife and we had dinner and cooked a whole bunch of food that I would never eat.

00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:24.000
I would never eat it, and it was all good.

00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.560
I went down there just as sort of as a courtesy to somebody, the business people.

00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.240
And now I left her going, shit, we should do this.

00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:53.440
And so um we worked on sort of putting our deal together and sort of what we thought it should be, and then um we found a location and we opened the original one almost 15, 16 years ago at the Biltmore, True Food, and uh the day we opened, it was been successful ever since.

00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:03.600
We uh got approached in sort of the third month by a guy named Rick Federico, who's uh chairman of the board and CEO of PF Jenks.

00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:11.519
And they said um I was having lunch with them at True Food to talk to him about trying to hire somebody that had worked for him to be my president.

00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:15.120
And kind of early in my career, I've always wanted to sell a few things.

00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:27.679
You know, I saw my parents how hard they worked, and these, you know, when I didn't have a lot of restaurants, you know, you have restaurants and you have cash flow and it's great, but you really are not really creating any sort of um wealth or any sort of long-term capital.

00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:32.080
It's always these are somewhat depreciating assets as you open these buildings.

00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:42.399
And so uh so Rick and I had a great relationship, and I was interviewing this guy named Russell Owens, who has become my president, has been with me since that lunch that day.

00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:45.440
And at the end of it, he said, What are you doing with true food?

00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:46.879
Because he knew I was always trying to sell himself.

00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:48.000
Hey, you want to buy sauce?

00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:49.360
You want to buy this?

00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:52.960
And uh I said, I don't know, we just open, we're figuring out he goes, Well, we want to buy it.

00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:53.759
I go, What?

00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:54.399
You want to buy it?

00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.000
I said, Well, we only have one.

00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:00.879
And uh, we made a deal, but they would give me some growth capital, grow it to five.

00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:05.360
Um, it was in the middle of 2000 sort of seven, two thousand and eight.

00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:09.600
There's really no capital out there, sort of in the early stages of the financial crisis.

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:15.519
So Rick gave me$10 million almost on a handshake, a little more than a handshake, but it was a very loose terms.

00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.639
And the deal was we'd go and open, we'd get to five units.

00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:22.559
And once we did, they would either make me pay them back the$10 million or they'd be my partner.

00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:24.080
And so they became my partner.

00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:25.840
They were publicly traded.

00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.639
They in turn got bought by a big private equity company and they took them private.

00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:34.559
And so my partners wound up becoming a private equity firm out of New York.

00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:39.519
And um, it's a little interesting ride, a lot of learning experiences through that for sure.

00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:43.360
Um, and our our structure was grow up to 20 and then we would exit.

00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:47.200
So we grew up to 20, we exited, we wound up staying on for a little bit.

00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:50.639
Um, Oprah bought in at the same time when we were exiting.

00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:51.600
She was on the board.

00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:59.360
I got to meet Oprah and be on the board a little bit, and then sort of completely divested our interest uh about a year and a half later, and we've been out for almost eight years.

00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.799
So true food has nothing to do with nothing to do with anything that we have nothing to do with true food for the last seven or eight years.

00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:05.279
Wow.

00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:05.600
Yeah.

00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:06.720
Neither does Andy.

00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:07.679
Yeah, and he does.

00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:08.720
He kept his money in the deal.

00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:09.360
Oh, he did.

00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:10.399
I took my money out.

00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:11.120
Oh wow.

00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:14.000
So if a new new a new true food pops up somewhere, you have nothing to do with it.

00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:14.559
Correct.

00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:15.120
Yeah.

00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.480
So um I grew up in the restaurant business, my dad in Tucson.

00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:18.720
Yeah.

00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:21.200
Uh in fact, he had a Taco Bell that he sold to Greasy Tony.

00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:22.080
Do you remember Greasy Tony's?

00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:22.399
Yeah, sure.

00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:23.200
Yeah, that was my dad's.

00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:27.360
Oh god.

00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.480
I used to go there uh like late night drunk all the time and eat.

00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:32.480
Yeah, you want to hear about this is a horrible story.

00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:39.679
My dad owned the rights to the Taco Bell in all of Arizona and sold it in 1977 to go open at Sambo's.

00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:40.960
Yeah, that they worked.

00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:42.320
That didn't work out.

00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:43.039
Yeah, it's okay, right?

00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:43.919
That didn't work out.

00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:44.080
Yeah.

00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.720
But I remember him coming home after 18, 19 hours.

00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:53.440
I remember him taking off his shoes and he'd go and he would massage his feet and he'd tell me about the appreciating the little things in life, right?

00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:55.039
He's because he worked his ass off.

00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:55.440
Yeah.

00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:00.720
Um and it makes me think about health and fitness and how he never had time to exercise until much later.

00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:02.960
So here you are running these restaurants.

00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:04.000
Are you exercising?

00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:04.879
Are you eating right?

00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:06.320
Are you your worst customer?

00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:13.440
You know, we um, yeah, you know, true food was not how I ate.

00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:15.360
I was a Zin burger guy, right?

00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:16.879
And you know Zimburger's not bad.

00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:18.480
But yeah, but I'm up fries.

00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:20.320
There's a burger there called the sandburger.

00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:24.639
Oh it's bacon, it's Thousand Island, it's cheese.

00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.879
And so um, that was me.

00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:28.480
I was the sandburger.

00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:38.000
And then we opened up true food and I'm like, okay, this isn't, you know, so I was when we developed the whole brand, the whole brand was developed about food that I liked, not what Andy liked.

00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:42.720
I knew you know Andy's audience was 10% of the world at that time, right?

00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:43.120
Right.

00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:47.679
And I figured if we can make it that I liked it, I was the other 90%.

00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:52.799
And so that was really I'm we worked on the food in my test kitchen and it was healthy.

00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.159
And if I liked it, we would we would make it as a menu item.

00:12:56.320 --> 00:13:03.440
And you know, Andy would share ingredients and ideas, and you know, we were really, really, really early to kale, really early.

00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:14.000
And um drinking, you know, and just like see buckthorn and just some things that I never heard of at the moment in time, but you know, I just dove into it and you know, it turned out to be, you know, great.

00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:19.200
And so that was sort of the first time where I started to say, okay, maybe I need to take care of myself a little bit better.

00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:19.840
Oh, really?

00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.600
So did you do blood work?

00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:22.559
Did you do stuff like that?

00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:24.000
And you're like, I gotta eat better.

00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:25.440
Um did you feel better?

00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:36.720
Well, I I don't want to tell you what happened, but I had a minor heart attack and from eating all the red, and I had a stent put in my heart uh 16, 15, like right after True Food opened.

00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:38.320
And so that was sort of a wake-up call.

00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:40.240
And so then I started to get on a program.

00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.080
And did you know you were having a heart attack?

00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:43.440
I knew I was having a heart attack.

00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:44.799
It was the craziest thing.

00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:55.120
I was um that day, I was actually at Zinberger and I was talking to someone, and my breath got sort of I was like, oh my god, what's happening?

00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:56.799
I sat down, caught my breath.

00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:01.440
I thought I was a little bit dizzy and um didn't really think that much of it.

00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:09.440
And I was living at the waterfront at the time, uh above sauce there, and we have Olive and Ivy and Culinary dropouts there as well.

00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:14.240
And um I was sleeping and I took an ambient that night.

00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:17.840
And literally, when I take an ambient, I'd never never wake up.

00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:19.039
I'd wake up in the morning.

00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:26.320
Literally at 2 30 in the morning, I woke up and I'm like, my chest was I was like, oh my God, something is wrong.

00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:27.360
And I couldn't really tell.

00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:30.080
It wasn't like a serious, I just couldn't tell what was going on.

00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:36.000
And so I literally I get out of bed and I put on my clothes, and my wife goes, What are you doing?

00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:37.200
I go, I'm going to the hospital.

00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:38.320
I think I have a heart attack.

00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:39.919
She goes, Well, let me call an ambush.

00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:42.720
I go, No, I live in a high-rise with 90 other people.

00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:44.480
I go, I'm not getting carted out here.

00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.840
I'm not getting carted out of here now.

00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:52.879
You know, I drove myself to Osborne and um told him I was having a heart attack.

00:14:53.039 --> 00:15:03.039
The the doctor there um kind of looked me over, did some things, thought I was having some sort of like angina or something, and was there for two hours and he goes, I can't find anything that's wrong.

00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:07.200
And he goes, I said, Well, I I'm telling you, there's something wrong.

00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.159
And I said, I'm not leaving here until I see the cardiologist.

00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.320
Because, well, he's not gonna be in until six in the morning.

00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:13.759
This is like four or four thirty.

00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:14.559
I said, I'll wait.

00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.000
Waited in the emergency room.

00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:22.480
Cardiologist came in and uh hour later, I'm in the stent lab having a stent put in.

00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:26.720
They did some sort of test and my blood, everything was elevated, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:33.279
And so, yeah, it's kind of actually um somewhat of you know, I kind of changed my whole lifestyle after that.

00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:42.720
And it was kind of good that was so minor and just, you know, so um it was just a great wake-up call early in my life that I needed to do something.

00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:43.279
Oh, yeah.

00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:44.080
You were way young.

00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.039
So yeah, I was uh 39.

00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.200
Did your dad have any kind of thing like that?

00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:49.600
Is it her?

00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:54.480
You know, my dad had a stem put in, but he was in his sort of 70s by the time he had that.

00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:56.159
So since then you've completely changed.

00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:57.679
Like you don't know if I completely change.

00:15:58.399 --> 00:15:59.360
You know, you feel different.

00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:00.000
Let's not.

00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:00.639
No, let's not.

00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:01.759
Well, you know, she's my doctor.

00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:02.240
I know.

00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:06.320
And she knows and she's told me about you don't want, you know, do this, do this because you don't want to get a stent.

00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:08.159
And I've talked to a couple people that have it.

00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.200
Like, so now that you've had it for so long, is your life normal?

00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:11.600
Yeah.

00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.399
Like you don't go, God, I can't go climb camel back because I have a stent.

00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:15.679
No, I'm in the best shape I've ever been in.

00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:16.399
Okay, that's what I love.

00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.240
Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:18.480
Yeah.

00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:33.600
I did the keto diet for about three years, um, lost a lot of weight, and then uh, you know, I've been really getting in the last five to seven years, I just became more active, just really watched what I eat and when it was more importantly when I ate.

00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:39.039
You know, I'd eat, you know, when you're in the restaurant business and you're working in the restaurants, you kind of eat at the end of the night every night.

00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:42.399
And you have sort of this access to all of this food, right?

00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:47.919
And so um it was uh uh I had just to change when and what I ate.

00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.240
And so I tried and eat as early as possible.

00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:52.080
No, I see you, you're an early eater.

00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.320
And uh yeah, and so that's right.

00:16:54.480 --> 00:17:00.639
So I actually 5 30 or looks like 5 30.

00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:05.680
You know, so like for eating, I'll eat at 5 30, 6 o'clock.

00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:07.279
For dining, that's a whole nother stuff.

00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.400
You know, going out to dinner, having a drink, that's a whole other experience.

00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:11.279
Yeah, you know.

00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:18.720
So well, so then you went we when you open a flower child, I have to tell you about a stamp moment, I'll never forget this, because it sticks with me every time I go to Flower Child.

00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:23.279
I remember I see their eating, and you were at another table and you came over and you go, I you gotta try this.

00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.279
You go, it's this new thing we're gonna put on the menu.

00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:30.799
And I it was the the corn that the quinoa corn corn corn with yogurt.

00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:32.240
Yeah, you're like, you gotta try this.

00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:34.319
And I remember it was freaking phenomenal.

00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:35.039
Oh, good.

00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.200
Every time I go, that's the thing I get, and I just remember that moment that's when you sat down.

00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:39.680
Yeah, right?

00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:40.720
It's it's fantastic.

00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:42.799
We have 36 flower children now.

00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:43.200
What?

00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:43.839
Yeah, yeah.

00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:45.200
That was the first one though, wasn't it?

00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:46.559
That was the first one, yeah.

00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:47.119
Yeah.

00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:48.079
36.

00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:49.119
Yeah, 36.

00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:50.480
What's the next thing?

00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:52.640
Actually, I also remember when you told me you were gonna open Doughird.

00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:53.599
You go, got this concept.

00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:54.400
Yeah, check this out.

00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:55.279
It's called Doughird.

00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.200
Yeah, nobody knows what it is yet, but here's where we're going.

00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.119
Nobody knows why it's called Doughird.

00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:00.240
Why is it called Doughird?

00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:02.400
Well, because it's pizza chicken.

00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:02.799
Yeah.

00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:06.559
Is there a is there something in the works or are you working on just on the hotel?

00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:11.200
You know, well, we did the hotel, but I mean, we're opening a Henry tomorrow in Nashville.

00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:12.720
So that's Will you be there?

00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:14.400
Yeah, I'm going out tomorrow.

00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:14.799
Yeah.

00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:16.319
So I'm going now.

00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:17.759
The Henry's blown up too, right?

00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:18.160
LA?

00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:19.440
Yeah, so we have one in LA.

00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:20.319
Coronado.

00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:24.799
Coronado, which is by far pound for pound, our best one.

00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:26.640
It's crazy how busy a Coronado is.

00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:30.079
And we just opened a Blanco in Coronado as well over the summer.

00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:31.200
So that's great.

00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:37.039
Um, and you know, we're opening a whole bunch of Blancos here in town.

00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:38.799
We have one opening at PV Mall.

00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:42.400
We have one opening out in Peoria, we have one opening in Tempe.

00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.799
And so we're really going to grow.

00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:46.480
I mean, we're growing our growth brands.

00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:49.359
Our growth brands are uh in my portfolio.

00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.559
North is in the Cheesecake portfolio now.

00:18:52.799 --> 00:19:01.599
Flower Child is in our portfolio somewhat, but the goal there is really is we scale these restaurants up and they get to a certain scale of size.

00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:08.799
Um, then our partners that have really great expertise of growing two and three hundred restaurants kind of step in and help us grow the rest of those brands.

00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:10.079
But the hotel, just you.

00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:11.119
The hotel is one of one.

00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:11.680
One of one.

00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:13.039
One of one is there going to be another one?

00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:14.799
One of two maybe coming.

00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:16.799
We want to be the first to say that.

00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:18.079
Yeah, I don't know yet.

00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:18.480
We'll see.

00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:22.640
You know, we're we'll we'll be a year in December.

00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:26.559
I think it's a little too early for us to sort of get into it.

00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:27.759
But we, you know, we think about it.

00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:28.559
Well, you know what's funny?

00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:31.279
Sometimes I drive by places that are being torn down and they look bad.

00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:33.920
I'm like, I bet you a global ambassador would be great right here.

00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:38.960
Like that one place, it's on Indian school, and it's just it's it's all nothing now.

00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:39.839
It's just old buildings.

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.759
And I go, is that too close for a global ambassador, or do you only want to have one in the city?

00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:45.759
Yeah, there's only one in the city.

00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:46.720
Yeah, okay.

00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:47.119
Yeah.

00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:49.039
And what's the concept of global ambassador?

00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:57.200
Is it a is it a place like you you is is the pitch like, hey, it's a place where you want to come for three or four days if the super rules here, or is it it's not like a resort where you go for two weeks?

00:19:57.359 --> 00:19:58.799
I how how do you what do you call it?

00:19:58.960 --> 00:19:59.440
Boutiquey.

00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:02.799
What do you think it is?

00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:03.440
I forgot.

00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:06.079
I don't know what I it was still util I it was a utility hotel.

00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:07.519
You lived there for 10 days.

00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:08.880
Yeah, right.

00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:09.839
You know what?

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:11.200
I was blown away by something.

00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.039
I was blown away by the staff.

00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:14.880
Yeah, the friendliness of the staff.

00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:18.480
And I said to Blake, my wife, I was like, how does he hire these people?

00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:23.680
Like, how do you because I mean I have eight people on my show, and hiring them was a pain in the ass.

00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.440
We only have 9,000 employees.

00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:26.400
That's what I'm saying.

00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:38.319
Like, I mean, you know, it's just training, giving everyone the tools to be successful, hire the right people that you know maybe um just have the right hospitality mindset and then set the example, lead by example.

00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:49.200
And like I said, making sure that they have all the tools to be successful at their job and take away the excuses and uh just sort of live up to a certain standard every single day and never take passes.

00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:50.720
Well, I gotta tell you, PJ.

00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.160
Yeah, first class, that guy.

00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:52.880
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:53.759
First class.

00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:59.359
Um, so when you say it's one of one, you hit you mentioned Andrew Weill and a couple other partners.

00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:02.160
Who are your partners in the hotel and how does that come about?

00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:03.759
Yeah, my partners in the hotel.

00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:06.000
Um, well, Brian Frakes, who's my development partner.

00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.440
Yeah, you know, Brian.

00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:16.160
Um, and we have an investment from Devin Booker, we have an investment from Dirk Spentley, and we have an investment from Larry Fitzgerald.

00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:19.839
And so I asked those guys to join us at the hotel as far as being investors.

00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:28.400
You know, I really wanted this, these Arizona icons, people who I look up to in Arizona who I think are doing great things uh in their field, but also great people.

00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:29.599
That was even more important.

00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:35.440
You know, obviously they're great at their sports, but they're all great humans and very uh giving to the community.

00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:39.039
And I thought they would represent and sort of uh align ourselves with them.

00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:45.200
And so uh those guys were quick yeses, and um, it's been great.

00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:47.680
They've been uh nothing but supportive.

00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.400
Uh we don't sort of play that up, it's just sort of some known, some not known.

00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.319
And it's great the way it started organically.

00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:57.599
I mean, just like the you know, Kendall Jenner posting that she was having dinner the other night.

00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.759
Yeah, she was there with that whole bunch of room.

00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.279
And they were doing some stuff for their tequila and just yeah.

00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:04.720
So she went to Tucson.

00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:04.960
Yeah.

00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.000
She was in Tucson too.

00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:09.119
But it was like, I saw you repost her thing, and I was like, what?

00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.680
And I was like, I was just there two months ago.

00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:11.920
Yeah.

00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:13.519
No, but actually I was there a couple weeks ago.

00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:15.519
But so that's yeah, it was fun to have her in.

00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:16.799
She's been in a few times.

00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.440
Yeah, I've seen uh I remember one time she came out of Pilates class and somebody posted it.

00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:22.960
Like she's just like hanging out there.

00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:23.279
Yeah.

00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.759
But you get it because she was, you know, also dating what's his face?

00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:26.240
Booker.

00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:29.359
I don't want to say what's his face, but you know, uh I mean, but anyway.

00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:31.920
And then you got Justin Timberlake, the thing with Justin Timberlake.

00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.559
So are you starting to branch into the celebrity world?

00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:36.960
You know, it's not by design.

00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:43.599
Uh you know, the Justin thing happened very organically, accidentally, and it's turned out to be great.

00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:48.240
Um, and you know, it's not something that we seek out.

00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:51.519
It's not something like we're not out there trying to, you know, partner up with celebrities.

00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:52.480
Does he approach you?

00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:53.680
Or some or something like that.

00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:58.559
The Timberlake people's his team kind of asked that, let's do something together.

00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:00.880
And that was very vague.

00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:04.319
And you know, I'm really good at sort of putting things together.

00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:05.759
Like Andy's got an idea.

00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:10.160
Somebody like I'm the guy that like actually can do the work and do the heavy lifting and put it together.

00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:38.799
So I think um we get a lot of calls from a lot of people asking us to help them put things together, and we only have so much time and energy, and you know, it's not always um, you know, you have to be careful when you're when your partners are with celebrities, and sometimes your places can be busy for the wrong reason or be busy for the right reason, or a lot of things can go sort of sideways, but we've had nothing but success with all of our partners.

00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:45.200
Are there any companies or restaurants or concepts that you said no to and then you see later that it's taken off?

00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:50.480
Um not that I recall, but we say no a lot.

00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:52.000
Okay, is there so we say no a lot?

00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:52.799
We say no a lot.

00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.359
Is there anything you said no to that was just so ridiculous?

00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:58.000
Like what's a ridiculous concept somebody pitched you?

00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:08.480
Um Justin Bieber's people wanted to do Drew House as a fast food, fast casual restaurant in the in V in the valley.

00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:20.799
And I don't know if that would have been ridiculous just because um his popularity, but just uh the food idea and what they wanted to do is just a little wasn't really something that I would like to do.

00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:22.559
What's your take on that stuff, like uh with Mr.

00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:23.440
Beast doing the Mr.

00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:25.119
Beast burger and these ghost kitchens and stuff?

00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:26.559
And I think that came and went, right?

00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:27.839
Yeah, you know, a lot of that.

00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.400
I mean, Kevin Hart just opened a whole bunch of restaurants and closed them.

00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:31.119
Closed them, right?

00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:36.799
Yeah, you know, it's if you're you know, you gotta have to build the business on the business.

00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:40.240
And oh, by the way, it just so happens to be a celebrity.

00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:41.680
So-and-so is an investor.

00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:42.000
Right.

00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:50.799
But when sometimes people take celebrities and they make it more about the celebrity than what the restaurant wants to be, how long is that shelf life?

00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:51.920
You know, how long is that gonna last?

00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:53.599
And so that's never our approach.

00:24:53.839 --> 00:25:01.039
You know, I got a uh on my birthday, I had dinner at Thea at the Global Ambassador, and they brought out this new cake for my birthday.

00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:01.359
Yeah.

00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:04.319
And you know, I had been texting you a lot the last couple days before then.

00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:08.559
So I didn't want I felt like I didn't want to overdo my texting to you, but it was phenomenal.

00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:09.279
This birthday.

00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:10.400
And they said they just put it on me.

00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:12.960
Sabrina, our new pastry chef who came from Atlanta, did that.

00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:14.240
So you know what I'm talking about?

00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:24.799
Yeah, we used to give uh they came to be like, you know, if it was your birthday, we'd give you like uh this little um um uh like this little Greek uh uh dessert.

00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:26.000
And it was kind of small.

00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:30.880
And the team were like, you know, we have all these people up here celebrating, enjoying themselves, spending a lot of money.

00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:31.920
We gotta do something better.

00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:34.960
So they came up with this cake and Sabrina Dardel, and it's great.

00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:40.240
So it's phenomenal like I was like, I was like, I think I texted Sam like 10 times the last two days.

00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:42.480
I go, Do I want to text him and tell him how great this cake is?

00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:44.720
Hey, we can allow it.

00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:46.799
We always love hearing positive stuff.

00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:49.279
Yeah, but you never hear that enough.

00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:52.880
I didn't want to overdo my texting to you, especially after you help me in my crisis.

00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:55.119
Sam, do you have final say?

00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:55.920
Do you test everything?

00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:57.200
Every single item.

00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:57.759
Okay.

00:25:57.920 --> 00:25:59.680
And you say, I like it, tweak it.

00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:09.839
This isn't really we're yeah, we have a big chef team, we have a big culinary operation, we have a test kitchen in the Henry that the gentlemen are and the ladies are in there cooking all the time.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.920
And we're just always working on food.

00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:19.759
And I'll come up with a lot of ideas and I'll say, Okay, uh, let's do this and this, and then the team will sort of run with it, you know, just like how I can put deals together.

00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:25.519
The chef team can put the menus and the food together for me, and then we have a great working relationship.

00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:36.880
Uh uh, my my culinary partner Clint's been with me 18 years, 19 years, and so um, you know, it's uh we have a pretty good routine, pretty good idea, what we like and what we don't like.

00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:43.279
And what I'm doing it is um the difference is I don't let the chefs cook for what they want.

00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:46.000
I want the chefs to cook what we think the guest wants.

00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:49.519
And so we really take that approach of, you know, what do the guests want?

00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:56.559
Not what Sam Fox wants, or not what um, you know, some chef that might want, you know, 32 ingredients and stack up something or whatever.

00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:02.240
And so we're you know, we we try and take an approach of what is what does our guests are walking through the door want to eat?

00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.039
But are you doing focus groups on who your guest is?

00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:08.240
No, no, so you come up with Doughbird and you're like, who's gonna go to Doughird?

00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:09.200
Yeah, you don't you don't do that.

00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:10.640
You don't try to figure out here's who we're gonna do.

00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:15.279
I mean, I always try and do that, but I don't I don't, you know, it's not like 35-year-old females can eat this restaurant.

00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:16.480
You don't do that kind of stuff.

00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:20.240
I mean, they might need that restaurant, but I'm not doing a focus group on that.

00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:28.000
Wow, you know, so you know, I I you know you can identify what trends are and where things are going and you know how people like to eat.

00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:30.799
I got a lot of data by having all the restaurants.

00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:32.880
So I see what sells and what doesn't sell.

00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:42.960
And when we were doing uh we had Olive and Ivy, um, you know, it's on its 19th year, and I was working in the restaurants all the time, and people would be like, Do you have any gluten-free items?

00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:44.079
I'm like, What's gluten-free?

00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:46.480
And then I kept hearing it.

00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:50.480
And then Andy called and said, Oh, we need to do something around to healthy eating.

00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:52.240
And so all those things just kind of click.

00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:56.240
So when you see trends or you're in the restaurants, you can kind of see what works and doesn't work.

00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:58.880
And sometimes you can also put items on menus.

00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:02.079
Let's say we wanted to do, you know, the pizza at Doughird.

00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:06.720
We can put that on a menu item somewhere and see if it gets sort of any traction.

00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:12.640
Sometimes you get to be led into false sort of success when you special something and you verbal it.

00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:16.000
Like all the chefs go, oh, it's sold like crazy and do a verbal special.

00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:21.680
I go, it's sold like crazy because Bobby the server is saying, Oh, this is a great special, and blah, blah, blah.

00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:23.839
Then you put it on the menu and it never sells.

00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:27.119
And so there's the art and science to everything that we do.

00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:28.640
What about advice for anybody?

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:32.880
Because I've heard people say, don't get in the restaurant business.

00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:34.480
Don't start the restaurant business.

00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:35.279
It's very difficult.

00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:36.319
And I did it and failed.

00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:36.559
Yeah.

00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:38.079
Bought two pizza places and it was terrible.

00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:40.000
Are you what happened to your pizza places?

00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:42.240
Uh, I I kind of went in as an investor.

00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:42.559
Yeah.

00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:44.400
And I didn't want to be part of the day-to-day.

00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:47.279
And then the people I went in with decided they didn't want to do it anymore.

00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:49.119
And I was stuck with these two restaurants.

00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:50.480
And what did you do with them?

00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:53.200
I I gave one away and sold the other one.

00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:53.519
Yeah.

00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:54.720
Yeah, I lost my ass.

00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:55.279
Yeah.

00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:55.680
Yeah.

00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:58.240
So I mean, this is not a hobby.

00:28:58.319 --> 00:28:58.480
Right.

00:28:58.640 --> 00:28:58.880
Right?

00:28:58.960 --> 00:28:59.119
Right.

00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:05.680
And so I always tell people being a minority investor as a passive investor in the restaurant business.

00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:11.039
And by the way, I had plenty of people who really trusted me and give me money, but it's probably not a great investment.

00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:11.759
Yeah, you know?

00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:12.079
Yeah.

00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:17.680
And so what you see is a lot of people, oh, I want to be an investor, I want to go to the restaurant, I want to be the owner, right?

00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:20.319
And so they have to show up and work at like be their investment.

00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:22.799
Yeah, and that's not as glamorous as it seems, right?

00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:38.799
And so I, you know, my advice would be that if you want to be in the restaurant business, that it's you're you're in it, that you've worked in a restaurant, that you understand it, that you're well capitalized, more money than you think you need.

00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:45.839
And just because you can bake a great cake at home or you can make a great cheeseburger, doesn't mean that that can be a great restaurant.

00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:52.160
Now, a lot of people have had those items and have turned them into great restaurants, but the odds of that are really, really low.

00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:53.920
By the way, I've been meaning to tell you this.

00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:55.119
Oh, you got a restaurant idea?

00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:58.079
No, but I have a menu idea for you, or something you could sell.

00:29:58.240 --> 00:29:58.400
Right.

00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:02.559
Those protein balls at the gym at the Global Ambassador, those need to be for sale somewhere.

00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:02.880
Okay.

00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:03.599
Are they or not?

00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:06.079
No, we should we can sell them at the market at Lay Market.

00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:07.519
They're freaking fantastic.

00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:08.720
You know what I'm talking about, right?

00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:09.119
Yeah, yeah.

00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:09.839
We made them, yeah.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:11.279
You just have them there as you work out.

00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:13.920
They have these little protein balls that are so addicting.

00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:17.279
And it's to me, I was I was talking to my wife about she goes, they should sell these, they should make these.

00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:18.000
I'm like, totally.

00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:18.400
Yeah.

00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:19.440
I mean, did you eat?

00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:20.640
Oh, I would eat them all day.

00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:22.640
I gained 19 pounds staying at your hotel.

00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:23.359
No, you didn't.

00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:23.759
I did.

00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:24.799
I did.

00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:27.200
Did you actually use the gym?

00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:27.839
I used the hotel.

00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:29.599
Or did you just eat the protein balls now?

00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:31.759
It's a great gym.

00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:32.799
It's a fantastic hotel.

00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:33.759
It's one of my favorite places here.

00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:39.359
Well, let's pivot on that because you we talk about him opening up the hotel, but not everybody has a membership.

00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:48.160
They don't have like you have you obviously have a gym for hotel guests, but you did something very unique and you opened up this experience for locals.

00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:48.640
Correct.

00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:50.160
Or I'm sure people who don't even live in Europe.

00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:51.359
We have some out of town members.

00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:51.599
Yeah.

00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:54.720
To have an exclusive membership, to have a different experience.

00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:55.759
Where did that come from?

00:30:56.079 --> 00:31:10.000
You know, it just came from having um, you know, we knew when we were doing the hotel that we wanted to build out incredible gyms, incredible spas, incredible, you know, the wellness area of that.

00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:21.599
And typically a hotel on its own probably has a hard time making an ROI on that, investing in all of that stuff and being able to give that to their hotel guests.

00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:29.359
And so we wanted to do a members club, and the members club typically would have a hard time getting all that stuff on its own.

00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:42.000
So we took the members idea and we took the hotel idea and we put them together so we could have a great experience and invest enough into the facility and the capabilities of what we are doing there.

00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:44.240
And so that's how that's so special.

00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:45.680
I mean, it's a nice gym.

00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:47.359
We got incredible amenities.

00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:58.160
We have Cold Plunge and Steam and Sauna and you know, cryo, and now the infrared saunas are working finally, and all these amazing things that if they were on its own, it would be really, really hard.

00:31:58.240 --> 00:31:59.359
But together it really, really works.

00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:00.079
That's beautiful.

00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:01.680
Yeah, so and there's so many people.

00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:04.400
Well, I was gonna say on my street, we both live on the same street.

00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:08.319
There's a handful of people on our street that go there and I'll you should be a member.

00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:08.880
I should.

00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:10.000
Or there's a wait list.

00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:11.279
Well, you might know someone.

00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:12.000
There you go.

00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:16.079
It's uh it's uh it's such a great place to unwind and chill.

00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:16.480
Yes.

00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:18.319
Like I'd freaking love that place, man.

00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:18.960
Yeah, yeah.

00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:22.240
Did you spend any time in the locker room?

00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:23.920
Yeah, yeah, the locker room's a great act.

00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:29.759
But here's the thing, you got these great protein bars in the gym, then you go down to the locker room and there's Reese's peanut butter cups there, stickers bars.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:31.200
Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have joined.

00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:38.160
But I like just sitting there and like I was doing all I was on my phone, I was doing a little bit of work, I was prepping some stuff.

00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:39.440
Like it was just peaceful.

00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:42.640
Yeah, you know, because at my house I got six dogs, three kids, it's kids.

00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:44.799
There's a calm there during the day.

00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:45.039
Yeah.

00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:46.400
Very lively at night.

00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:47.039
Very lively.

00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:48.960
Oh my god, at night is a sh it's a show.

00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:49.519
Yeah, yeah.

00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:50.160
A lot going on.

00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:52.559
What's your max membership for there?

00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:55.440
Uh we don't discuss that max number.

00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:57.519
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:32:57.680 --> 00:32:59.759
We don't talk a lot about the membership.

00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:05.920
Um, but you know, it's something we have, and uh, we're fortunate we have a lot of great people that believed in us.

00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:10.559
And so, yeah, kind of keep it a little on the a little on the down low.

00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:12.559
Let me ask you something controversial.

00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:13.440
Okay.

00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:14.000
Okay.

00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:14.400
All right.

00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:16.799
Let's say fast casual restaurants, you have a couple of those.

00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:17.440
A few.

00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:17.839
Okay.

00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:18.720
What's the tipping?

00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:20.400
What's your take on the whole tipping thing?

00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:25.359
That like it's so frustrating as a customer when you walk up to a place and you order your food.

00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:25.759
Yep.

00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:31.039
And then they give you a number, and then they turn the thing around and ask you for a tip.

00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:31.440
Yeah.

00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:32.640
And they don't do anything.

00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:36.400
Yeah, we don't have that system which which turns around.

00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:38.880
We there's a tip line on your credit card.

00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:39.200
Right.

00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:42.160
But there's we don't have a tip um prompt.

00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:47.440
So my take on it is do whatever you feel comfortable.

00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:50.160
Yeah, but then you always feel like I get so I would get irritated.

00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:51.039
You get tip shamed.

00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:52.400
Do you tip on to go food?

00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:53.839
To go food, yeah.

00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:55.599
Yeah, but you go to full four, I don't know.

00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:56.720
Do you go to a full service restaurant?

00:33:56.880 --> 00:33:57.839
Do you tip on to go food?

00:33:58.319 --> 00:33:59.279
A full service restaurant?

00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:00.319
Yeah, I don't know if I can do it.

00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:04.720
If I was picking up if I was picking up, I mean, hey, we have incredible employees that are working hard.

00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:05.039
Right.

00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:06.240
They get paid.

00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:08.880
Um, you know, tips are always appreciative.

00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:20.480
Um, it's not uh required, but you know, it's a nice gesture if you think that someone is going above and beyond, or at least doing sort of, you know, getting you through your experience in an efficient way.

00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:35.360
Okay, if they're going above and beyond, but like if you go up and you order food and say, hey, I want to, I want to get the the the flying avocado turkey, the flying turkey thing or whatever, and then they give you a number, they they turn around, you tip, then you sit down and they bring you your food, and then they go, Do you need anything else?

00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:35.920
They go, huh?

00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:37.280
Yeah, can I get a fork and knife?

00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:38.480
Well, they're up there.

00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:41.360
Oh, one of my you know what I mean.

00:34:41.519 --> 00:34:42.239
Well, they shouldn't say that.

00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:43.599
They should say, I should get that for you.

00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:49.280
And then maybe if they say that, then I'm not that I'm just yeah pointing things to sell it because it is it is kind of turning into a big thing.

00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:49.440
Yeah.

00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:50.880
If you get on social media, there's jokes.

00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:53.840
100% pulls you over, and then the cop goes, one more thing.

00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:54.639
Right, yeah, yeah.

00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:55.280
You know what I mean?

00:34:55.519 --> 00:34:55.840
Right, sure.

00:34:56.639 --> 00:34:57.440
The dry cleaners.

00:34:57.519 --> 00:35:07.119
I was at a liquor store in uh San Diego this summer, and uh um I was buying a whole bunch of beer and whatever for 4th of July.

00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:13.440
The bill is$600, the guy flips it over, and the minimum, you know, sometimes that's like a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars.

00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:15.679
The minimum was ten percent.

00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:19.039
Yeah, so I'm not taking sixty dollars, and but I had to carry it all out to my car.

00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:19.440
Right.

00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:20.880
So that's what I mean.

00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:22.880
Yeah, I mean you know, I like your answer.

00:35:22.960 --> 00:35:25.440
You're like, do you tip to go if I get I really get it?

00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:27.039
Well, I think it's I think it's the percentage.

00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:28.079
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:31.679
Usually all the friend-of-house employees are working for tips, right?

00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:34.559
And they all share and pull in the tips most of most of the places.

00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:43.360
So, you know, if you give a a girl a dollar, two, five dollars at their cash register or or somebody else, and you know, it goes to everybody in the in the building and they're all working hard.

00:35:43.760 --> 00:35:44.320
That's good to know.

00:35:44.559 --> 00:35:46.800
You know, they don't want to call you cheap, do they?

00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:49.039
No, I always the cheap guy.

00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:50.000
No, I've got to do that.

00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:50.480
Guess what?

00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:50.960
Guess what?

00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:51.679
Because people know you.

00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:52.000
Right.

00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:53.280
So I always overdo it.

00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:57.440
You know, what always happens is um, you know, when I go out to the restaurant, I'll put my credit card down.

00:35:57.599 --> 00:35:59.840
And I'm already a generous tipper.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:01.679
I appreciate everyone's hard work.

00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:05.280
And uh a lot of times they'll be like, oh, here's your card, uh, Sam Fox.

00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:06.719
And oh, I used to work for you.

00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:09.280
And and then they sort of give you like they know you at the end.

00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:14.079
Yes, and so now that costs you an extra instead instead of a 30% tip, that costs me a 50% tip.

00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:19.760
If I tell if he'll come and I'm like, it's 2025, I'm gonna give 20, 25%, then they'll say, We gotta listen to your show every day.

00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:20.079
Yeah.

00:36:21.679 --> 00:36:23.920
And then it's all yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:25.440
It's exactly what you mean.

00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:26.559
Yes, yeah, yeah.

00:36:26.800 --> 00:36:28.000
So crazy, man.

00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:31.280
Hey, are there any stories you could tell us about the global ambassador?

00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:35.440
Has there been anything that's just a fun story to tell about chaos?

00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:39.360
Or I remember what when I was living there, I remember I was going, you know, I would get up really early.

00:36:39.440 --> 00:36:40.079
I was like 4 a.m.

00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:45.679
going to get my car, and the valet guy goes, Um, hey, I'm really sorry about the noise last night.

00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:45.920
Uh-huh.

00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:47.199
I'm like, Noise?

00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:47.519
Right.

00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:48.559
I didn't hear anything.

00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:52.320
He goes, Oh, well, there was a concert last night at Footprint Center.

00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:58.400
Uh, it was a Mexican band, and they rented out the whole fifth floor, and they had a party up until five minutes ago.

00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:00.079
And I'm like, I didn't hear a thing.

00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:00.320
Yeah.

00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:01.840
Like, what a night that might have been.

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:02.079
Yeah.

00:37:02.239 --> 00:37:02.400
Right?

00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:02.639
Yeah.

00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:04.800
So is that have you heard other things like that?

00:37:04.880 --> 00:37:08.639
Or I mean, there's a lot of stories that happen in a hotel that I'm learning about.

00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:11.119
Yeah, like probably nothing that I really want to get into.

00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:11.519
Oh, okay.

00:37:13.039 --> 00:37:19.199
But there's, I mean, hey, you have 150 rooms, you have a thousand people coming through the door.

00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:23.519
You know, there's good, bad, and all the other stuff in between.

00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:28.559
So um, yeah, it's amazing how comfortable people can feel in outside of their home.

00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:28.960
Right?

00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:29.840
Okay, right.

00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:30.639
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:34.239
Is being in the hotel business way different than being in the restaurant business?

00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:35.840
You know, it's 24-7.

00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:42.079
You know, the concert was in the middle of the night, and you didn't hear about it, but probably a whole bunch of other guests heard that concert and probably complained.

00:37:42.159 --> 00:37:45.920
And, you know, so you're always you're always on, you're never closed.

00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:52.960
A lot of hotels before COVID, it's kind of a fun fact, never had uh doors that locked because hotels are always open.

00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:57.599
COVID, it's like a lot of these places had to close for COVID, had to put locks on doors.

00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:03.920
And so we're always open, we're always there 24 hours, seven days a week, you know, Christmas, 4th of July.

00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:07.039
And so there's a lot of things that a lot of people are coming through the building.

00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:08.320
A lot of, you know, it's life.

00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:12.320
Okay, so can you, as the owner, the CEO, the president, can you get sleep?

00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:15.440
Like, or do is your phone always on and it's calling people calling, texting?

00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:21.039
You know, I we have an amazing team that sort of insulates me from most of that, from most of that.

00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:21.519
Okay.

00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:24.880
And uh, you know, depends on sort of what could happen.

00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:34.320
You know, if like a water main broke, or if something, you know, truly bad happened with it, I needed to be alerted, the team would get a hold of me.

00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:37.760
But we have an amazing team there that she keeps me out of it.

00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:40.079
But what about just generally speaking about sleep?

00:38:40.159 --> 00:38:41.039
Do you focus on that at all?

00:38:41.280 --> 00:38:42.400
Yeah, that's my new thing right now.

00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:42.960
Yeah, yeah.

00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:52.320
The sleep thing is something that I um somewhat struggled with as far as you know, I never have a problem falling asleep.

00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:55.440
I can fall asleep as quickly as anybody.

00:38:55.840 --> 00:38:57.440
Um I have a weird thing.

00:38:57.599 --> 00:38:59.599
I actually do need to fall asleep with a TV on.

00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:01.199
So I have a timer on my TV.

00:39:01.519 --> 00:39:10.800
I put on the 30-minute or 15-minute timer, and I just kind of close my eyes, and it's sort of my calm app, basically, which I also have.

00:39:11.039 --> 00:39:16.400
And um, you know, I fall asleep, and then sometimes I have a hard time staying asleep.

00:39:16.559 --> 00:39:18.960
Three or four in the morning, I wake up, my mind's racing.

00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:23.519
And so I struggle a little bit with managing through that.

00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:28.719
And um you, you know, we get up early to begin with.

00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:32.960
Our kids, you know, when they were living there before they go off to college, you know, we get up early.

00:39:33.039 --> 00:39:33.920
We also have a dog.

00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:38.000
Dogs don't always make you know my dog's sleeping on my head, moving around all the time.

00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:40.159
Hey, I'm also not getting any younger.

00:39:40.239 --> 00:39:42.239
Sometimes I gotta go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.360
So my problem is if I wake up, I have a hard time falling back to sleep.

00:39:45.519 --> 00:39:52.639
So if I go to the bathroom, the dog hear a weird noise or something like that, I'll wake up and then I struggle.

00:39:52.800 --> 00:40:05.679
And what always happens is if I, let's say I have my alarm set for 5 45 a.m., um, I'll wake up sometimes at 3 and I'll fall back asleep at 5 15, and I'll wake up at 5 45 and I'm like, oh my god, I feel like a training.

00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:08.719
So you don't monitor your sleep, you don't wear an O ring or a whoop or any of that stuff?

00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:11.119
But I used to, and then what did I do?

00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:13.920
I mean, okay, good sleep score, bad sleep score.

00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:18.480
I don't change my and I you know I never changed anything about it.

00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:19.280
You change it?

00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:21.119
We have a guest that would help him.

00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:22.239
Yeah, the sleep doctor?

00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:22.559
Yeah.

00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:27.440
Yeah, we actually had this the sleep doctor on our podcast, and you know he sleeps with the TV on.

00:40:27.679 --> 00:40:27.840
Yeah.

00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:29.519
And he's worked with Oprah.

00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:30.239
Wow.

00:40:30.559 --> 00:40:33.519
Now, would you ever believe that would be healthy to do to sleep with the TV on?

00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:34.239
What did he say about that?

00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:41.920
Actually, so I I mean I just did a podcast with him on another podcast, and he actually said, I'm the only sleep professional in the U.S.

00:40:42.079 --> 00:40:43.920
that says you can go to sleep with the TV on.

00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:46.320
It doesn't matter, it doesn't change the okay.

00:40:46.400 --> 00:40:46.480
Good.

00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:47.199
I feel better about that.

00:40:47.519 --> 00:40:51.840
So maybe, yeah, so I'll tell you how to listen to that podcast and you might actually get something out of it.

00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:54.559
Yeah, I think that's different.

00:40:54.719 --> 00:40:55.840
The phone is a blue light.

00:40:55.920 --> 00:40:56.960
That's a different that's bad for you.

00:40:57.199 --> 00:40:59.599
Well, yeah, and you need to listen to my new podcast.

00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:00.719
I'd love to.

00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:02.719
Yeah, we all know that.

00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:04.639
Um, but uh yeah, blue light.

00:41:04.719 --> 00:41:07.599
Um it's really more about the activity of the brain when you have your phone on.

00:41:07.679 --> 00:41:15.280
You're actually processing information, you're telling the brain, wake up, I need to respond, I need to be appropriate, and that's a bigger issue than just the lighting.

00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:17.840
But there's there's there's help for you, Sam.

00:41:18.159 --> 00:41:19.440
There's ways around your problem.

00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:22.639
But you know, you brought up a while ago that you were taking ambient to go to sleep.

00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:23.760
This was a while back.

00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:24.320
Right.

00:41:24.400 --> 00:41:25.519
So you you don't take that anymore.

00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:25.760
No.

00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:31.920
I take a melatonin once in a while, but uh you know, I'll never do anything more than like three nights in a row.

00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:35.199
So if I have a hard night to sleep, I'll maybe take melatonin.

00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:36.079
I travel a lot.

00:41:36.159 --> 00:41:38.559
So if I travel, I usually take a melatonin.

00:41:38.639 --> 00:41:42.880
So if I I'm going to Nashville for the next couple of days, two-hour time change.

00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:44.639
I'm working all day, working all day.

00:41:44.719 --> 00:41:47.280
I get back to the hotel room at 10, 11 o'clock at night.

00:41:47.360 --> 00:41:49.679
And you know, it's just sort of I'm wound up.

00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:55.679
And um, you know, so it kind of takes me a minute to sort of settle in and I'll take a melatonin.

00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:59.280
And so if I do that for a couple, three days, but I never do more than three days.

00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:00.239
Do you drink coffee?

00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:03.840
I do drink coffee in the morning, um, neither during the day.

00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:07.360
And I usually have like I always pour a full cup, but I never drink the whole cup.

00:42:07.440 --> 00:42:11.280
I'm a big Iced T guy, so kind of like the coffee is a means to get me to my ICT.

00:42:13.519 --> 00:42:13.920
Well, thanks.

00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:14.800
Off the charts.

00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:16.320
What time do you go to bed?

00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:17.679
Uh it kind of depends.

00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:22.719
It could be anywhere from 9 30 to 11 30.

00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:24.000
Oh, that's late for us.

00:42:24.239 --> 00:42:24.400
Yeah.

00:42:24.639 --> 00:42:26.320
So I yeah, I mean, you get up early.

00:42:26.480 --> 00:42:27.199
You get up early.

00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:28.960
I was at the at your clinic.

00:42:29.199 --> 00:42:30.400
You're there early.

00:42:30.639 --> 00:42:37.039
And um I would say, you know, I like to be in bed by 10 o'clock.

00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:38.400
What about working out now?

00:42:38.559 --> 00:42:40.880
Yeah, so uh global?

00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:43.440
Uh you know, I have a gym at my house.

00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:44.880
I don't really like to work out.

00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:49.599
I do go, I do when I want to do like weights and heavy things like that.

00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:51.440
Brian, who's the trainer there.

00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:52.480
Oh, that guy's great.

00:42:52.639 --> 00:42:53.039
Yeah, yeah.

00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:53.280
Yeah.

00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:55.440
And he's he's worked, I've worked with him.

00:42:55.519 --> 00:42:58.159
He used to work in one of my restaurants 12, 13 years ago.

00:42:58.400 --> 00:43:00.719
And so he's got great hospitality for a trainer.

00:43:01.039 --> 00:43:05.199
And so um I'll go with him one or two days a week in the afternoon.

00:43:05.360 --> 00:43:05.920
It's hard.

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:09.039
I don't like to be in there when there's a lot of people because then it's like I don't get nothing done.

00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:09.360
Right.

00:43:09.519 --> 00:43:12.639
And I'm talking to, you know, talking to people, and then it's like next thing you know.

00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:15.440
So I'll um I'll work out at home.

00:43:15.519 --> 00:43:17.119
I play a lot of pickleball.

00:43:17.280 --> 00:43:19.280
I do the loop, you know, on our street.

00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:19.840
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:43:19.920 --> 00:43:22.320
So I do that the castle loop or just the loop loop?

00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:26.079
The loop loop, but I'll start at my house, go all the way down, and then go all the way up.

00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:26.239
Okay.

00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:26.960
It's three hours.

00:43:27.039 --> 00:43:28.480
It's what I love about it, it's one hour.

00:43:28.960 --> 00:43:31.519
If I go fast, I can do it in like 53 minutes.

00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:34.880
And so I'll do that maybe twice a week.

00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:37.440
Now that it's getting nice, I'll pick that up for sure.

00:43:37.599 --> 00:43:39.920
I don't have to do it so early in the morning.

00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:43.599
And um, and then you know, I just try and stay active.

00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:45.199
I just try not to sit.

00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:47.280
I'm not a desk sitter, right?

00:43:47.440 --> 00:43:49.599
You know, um, where was I?

00:43:49.760 --> 00:43:58.880
I was uh um we oh I did the loop and we were um we're doing something out of the Cardinals called the Morgan's Athletic Club.

00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:04.960
Uh they built a New facility, and we're uh managing the hospitality in there.

00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.679
And so Sunday, there's our first game.

00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:16.800
I did the loop before I went out there, and the loop is 8,000, 9,000 steps for me, maybe somewhere right around there.

00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:21.679
And I looked at my steps at the end of the day, and I had 21,000 steps.

00:44:21.840 --> 00:44:23.199
So I just try and keep active.

00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:23.599
Right.

00:44:24.320 --> 00:44:24.960
Yeah, right, right.

00:44:25.119 --> 00:44:27.519
So well, you say you're opening this thing at the Cardinal Stadium.

00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:29.119
Is it uh it it's called what's it?

00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:30.559
It's called the Morgan's Athletic Club.

00:44:30.639 --> 00:44:34.559
It's they created a new 350 new seats in the end zone.

00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:35.599
Oh, I saw that.

00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:38.639
Yes, and so those seats come with hospitality.

00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:40.800
It's almost like courtside at the Suns game.

00:44:40.960 --> 00:44:43.519
But is it called it's not hey, Sam Fox is doing this?

00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:47.360
It's called the Morgan's Athletic Club, uh, hosted by the Global Ambassador.

00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:54.000
Oh and the Morgan's Athletic Club, Morgan's was the first name of the Cardinals in the 1800s, late 1800s, before they came the Cardinals.

00:44:54.159 --> 00:44:58.480
And so um, they came to us and asked us to help put the package together.

00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:01.760
Like I said, people want us to help put things together, and that's what we do.

00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:09.280
And that one, um, you know, Michael and Bidwell and the team were uh had some great vision, and we kind of just took their vision and ran with it.

00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:10.559
God, that's fantastic, man.

00:45:10.719 --> 00:45:12.480
So dude, you're like a genius.

00:45:13.440 --> 00:45:15.199
It's it's unbelievable, man.

00:45:15.440 --> 00:45:16.079
I don't know about that.

00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:17.679
Yeah, you know what's funny you brought up COVID.

00:45:17.760 --> 00:45:24.320
I remember when when COVID shut everything down, I was like concerned that my favorite restaurants would have got out of business.

00:45:24.400 --> 00:45:24.639
Uh-huh.

00:45:24.800 --> 00:45:27.679
So I would call all the owners of the restaurants on my show.

00:45:27.840 --> 00:45:29.840
Remember, I put you on, I was like, Yeah, yeah, what's going on?

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:30.159
Yes.

00:45:31.599 --> 00:45:31.679
Yeah.

00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:32.880
Keep this place bumping up.

00:45:33.039 --> 00:45:33.679
Yeah, they were great.

00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:35.679
It was scary times for a lot of people.

00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:36.320
It was, right?

00:45:36.800 --> 00:45:37.840
Restaurants were closed like crazy.

00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:38.559
Yeah.

00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:40.800
Just, you know, the unknown is never a great feeling.

00:45:41.119 --> 00:45:41.679
You can't say that.

00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:43.679
You can't see it happen again, can you?

00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:45.519
I mean, who knew that was happening?

00:45:45.840 --> 00:45:46.400
I just can't.

00:45:46.480 --> 00:45:46.719
I can't.

00:45:46.960 --> 00:45:47.519
I don't think like that.

00:45:47.760 --> 00:45:48.480
Do you think like that?

00:45:48.719 --> 00:45:49.039
What?

00:45:49.199 --> 00:45:49.440
No.

00:45:49.760 --> 00:45:51.519
I'm I'm reading somebody else in the room here.

00:45:51.760 --> 00:45:52.719
Oh, behind the scenes, yeah.

00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:53.920
We got a CIA guy.

00:45:54.239 --> 00:45:54.480
What?

00:45:54.719 --> 00:45:56.079
Can it happen again?

00:45:56.480 --> 00:45:56.960
Come on.

00:45:57.280 --> 00:45:57.679
He's not talking.

00:45:57.920 --> 00:45:58.159
I can't.

00:45:58.239 --> 00:45:58.719
I don't let my wife.

00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:00.000
I know, neither.

00:46:00.960 --> 00:46:02.719
I want to ask him one more thing because I know we're running out of time.

00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:03.199
Please.

00:46:03.440 --> 00:46:05.679
So, Sam, you're also into philanthropy.

00:46:05.840 --> 00:46:06.000
Yeah.

00:46:06.159 --> 00:46:07.920
And you've done a lot to give back to the community.

00:46:08.079 --> 00:46:08.239
Sure.

00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:09.679
So I just want to touch on that.

00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:13.360
Um, the one project that I saw was, I think it was Feed the Soul.

00:46:13.519 --> 00:46:13.679
Yep.

00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:14.239
Is that right?

00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:14.480
Yeah.

00:46:14.639 --> 00:46:15.360
Is that still an active?

00:46:15.840 --> 00:46:27.599
Yeah, that's you know, we have um in our organization and in our personal household, we sort of have a mission of we want to feed people and we want to do a lot of things for children.

00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:32.320
So we're big in panda, big the title sponsor of the panda fashion show every year.

00:46:32.639 --> 00:46:35.039
Um we've got a big commitment to them.

00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:37.039
We do a lot of things with Feed the Soul.

00:46:37.119 --> 00:46:39.039
We raise money for the food bank.

00:46:39.199 --> 00:46:44.239
We do a lot of things for you know, you mom, all the all the all the ones that everyone knows.

00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:48.639
And um, we're really uh you just stuff with us with our Love Up Foundation.

00:46:48.800 --> 00:46:56.159
Remember, we started uh for foster kids a program where um after they graduate high school, they could get a job working for Fox Concepts somewhere and get them.

00:46:57.280 --> 00:46:59.440
We also try and come up with fun creative stuff.

00:46:59.679 --> 00:47:03.360
Like we'll do something for uh an auction item.

00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:06.320
Hey, come get an internship for two weeks and spend a day with me.

00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:09.679
You know, just kind of like fun stuff that makes it more interesting.

00:47:09.840 --> 00:47:20.239
But, you know, we're very fortunate the community has been incredibly supportive of us, and um, it's our obligation and it's sort of it's our mission.

00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:23.440
We want to do right by the people that take care of us.

00:47:23.519 --> 00:47:27.599
And so uh children, people that need uh a meal, all of that.

00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:32.159
That's something that we work on and talk about all the time to try and make this community a little bit better.

00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:33.119
That's nice.

00:47:33.360 --> 00:47:33.679
Thanks, man.

00:47:33.760 --> 00:47:35.199
Hey, so what do you think so far of the podcast?

00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:35.679
Was good?

00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:36.000
Good.

00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:37.440
I mean, I was on as is it good?

00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:37.760
I don't know.

00:47:37.840 --> 00:47:38.320
I thought it was good.

00:47:39.199 --> 00:47:39.840
It was a good podcast.

00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:40.639
The crowd likes it.

00:47:40.800 --> 00:47:43.119
I have a question for Carrie real quick, because I'm noticing your legs right here.

00:47:43.280 --> 00:47:44.800
Oh is that weights?

00:47:45.199 --> 00:47:46.239
No, what is that?

00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:47.360
It's not weights.

00:47:47.519 --> 00:47:49.920
I was a guinea pig for a new project.

00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:51.920
Oh, wow, wow, right?

00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:53.199
All the weight.

00:47:53.679 --> 00:47:55.039
Okay, so it's actually it's a cool story.

00:47:55.280 --> 00:48:00.400
So there, you know, we all know that there's all kinds of lasers and different treatments that people will use for different things.

00:48:00.639 --> 00:48:01.840
So for skin tightening.

00:48:02.239 --> 00:48:03.519
Oh uh one of those things.

00:48:03.599 --> 00:48:07.360
There is a product out that actually cores your skin out.

00:48:07.840 --> 00:48:08.159
Cores.

00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:08.800
Core.

00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:15.519
So it takes chunks of your skin out to create holes, and then those holes grow back together tighter.

00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:19.199
So instead of so it's a way of avoiding a tuck or a lift.

00:48:19.519 --> 00:48:28.320
So you're removing skin in these little micro cores, uh-huh, and then those micro cores fill back in with collagen and they get tighter and it tucks everything up.

00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:32.000
So normally this is done around necks, like you for you, John Jay.

00:48:32.159 --> 00:48:33.039
We can talk about your neck.

00:48:33.519 --> 00:48:34.639
I got everything.

00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:35.360
I do everything here.

00:48:36.159 --> 00:48:37.440
But I volunteered to do it on my knees.

00:48:37.679 --> 00:48:39.199
You're like an infomercial for all this stuff.

00:48:39.440 --> 00:48:42.880
Yeah, I volunteered to do it on my knees, but this is why I volunteered.

00:48:42.960 --> 00:48:46.000
Because they said normally the recovery time is three weeks.

00:48:46.159 --> 00:48:49.119
And I said, I doubt that to be true if you use hyperbaric.

00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:50.559
So what do you think I did?

00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:50.800
Yes.

00:48:51.039 --> 00:48:59.360
So I postulated out that I if someone did this instead of being down for three weeks with the visible remnants of this, that you could fix it in a week.

00:48:59.440 --> 00:49:02.559
So I am two days out from this procedure.

00:49:02.960 --> 00:49:04.000
A hyperbolic chamber.

00:49:04.159 --> 00:49:04.480
Have you been?

00:49:04.639 --> 00:49:04.880
Oh, yeah.

00:49:05.119 --> 00:49:05.360
Oh, yeah.

00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:06.239
Oh, yeah, all the time.

00:49:06.400 --> 00:49:08.960
Yeah, I broke my ribs and they took care of me over that.

00:49:09.119 --> 00:49:12.719
I went there seven, eight days in a row and tried to speed up my recovery.

00:49:12.800 --> 00:49:18.159
I had to travel to Europe and so I literally do whatever I can to try and heal.

00:49:19.360 --> 00:49:21.920
And rib rib fractures are like four to six weeks to repair.

00:49:22.400 --> 00:49:23.199
It's kind of a crazy story.

00:49:23.280 --> 00:49:25.440
I got a little vertigo and I fell.

00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:38.960
I was actually in my gym stretching in the morning, and uh I fell into a wooden sort of chair armrail and crashed, like violently through my body into it and broke three ribs.

00:49:39.039 --> 00:49:41.039
I thought I was this is the most pain I've ever had in my life.

00:49:41.280 --> 00:49:42.480
And so you went to hyperbaric.

00:49:42.719 --> 00:49:43.440
I was so and then.

00:49:43.840 --> 00:49:47.039
So I went and then I was like into it for four or five days.

00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:49.760
I'm like, oh my god, this is the most pain I've ever had.

00:49:49.920 --> 00:49:56.559
And uh some friends of ours recommended going to the hyperbaric chamber, and uh it was great.

00:49:56.639 --> 00:49:57.840
What a great setup you have there.

00:49:57.920 --> 00:49:58.480
It's amazing.

00:49:58.800 --> 00:50:00.639
So, bottom line, that's why, that's why it's this.

00:50:01.039 --> 00:50:05.199
But it is like the first day there was blood oozing down my legs, it looked horrific.

00:50:05.440 --> 00:50:09.679
And this is day two, and yes, it's noticeable, but it's about 80% better.

00:50:09.760 --> 00:50:10.800
So I think about day seven.

00:50:11.119 --> 00:50:12.800
How long do you go in the hyperbaric chamber for?

00:50:13.039 --> 00:50:16.159
I usually go in for 90 minutes because I'm kind of an efficiency person.

00:50:16.480 --> 00:50:22.639
So if I'm gonna stop my life and turn off my phone and get in, I gotta get some serious concentration out of it.

00:50:22.719 --> 00:50:23.280
Yeah, yeah.

00:50:23.519 --> 00:50:24.400
Well, thank you, Sam.

00:50:24.719 --> 00:50:25.280
Thanks for having me.

00:50:27.920 --> 00:50:29.599
The website, boxconcepts.com.

00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:31.599
See how it's on concepts.com.

00:50:31.920 --> 00:50:32.639
Globalambassador.

00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:33.760
Globalambassador, yeah.

00:50:33.840 --> 00:50:35.280
You know, Fall 30 Club.

00:50:35.679 --> 00:50:36.000
All different.

00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:36.800
Oh, yeah, that's true.

00:50:37.039 --> 00:50:38.320
Yeah, we got it all.

00:50:43.119 --> 00:50:44.719
Okay, so welcome to our podcast.

00:50:44.880 --> 00:50:51.280
This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show.