Running A Bayfront Bar When Weather Sets The Rules

A bar can go from dead quiet to shoulder-to-shoulder in one weather update, and we lived it. We’re recording Barpod on a stormy day on Sandusky Bay, fresh off an anniversary breakfast, a stack of things breaking at the bar, and the kind of stomach bug that only parents of school-age kids truly understand. If you’ve ever tried to run a hospitality business while your body is tapping out, you’ll recognise the balance between showing up and knowing when to go with an NA beer and keep it simple.

We unpack a surprise Monday pop-up that turned into a mid-July crowd thanks to a 70-degree forecast, smart timing, and constant wind watching. For a waterfront bar with outdoor seating, “weather-dependent” is not a buzzword, it’s the business model. We also hit bar industry trends like Michelob Ultra’s dominance, Busch Light’s marketing genius, and how tariffs and supply shifts can quietly kill your favourite imports. Even coffee prices show up in the margins when your best-selling drinks rely on it.

It gets looser from there in the best way: smooth jazz as a productivity hack, seagulls that feel like rooftop judges, and the very real problem of sleeping past 40 when your shoulders decide to revolt. We share our new-build update for Tique's Bar, including the hilarious moment when AI can “design a logo” but cannot reliably draw a basic pentagon, plus a new segment on stupid Yelp reviews and why bad sales emails earn an instant no.

We finish with a viral marketing breakdown of the McDonald’s CEO “burger product” moment and why the internet loves a brand pile-on, then bring it back to the bar floor with bartending school myths, flare bartending red flags, and hiring advice that actually works. Subscribe, share the episode with a bar friend, and leave us a review wherever you listen.

Transcript

Setting The Scene On Sandusky Bay

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Maybe I'm a little too excited. Do your thing. Maybe I'm not sure. It should be a little nicer. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 0:07

Um coming. This is how it is.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Many stories to flow.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Good vibes. Big laughs. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Hey, here we are on barpod on a stormy day on the shores of Sandusky Bay. I almost said Lake Erie, but Dad is back there, Tom Whaley behind the the uh behind the camera. And if we said Syndusky, or if I said Lake Erie, he would correct us very fast and say, you are on Sandusky Bay, sir, not Lake Erie.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Yeah, you better get used to this quick. It's been two weeks, uh hiatus for T Dub back there, so we got to mind our P's and C's when it comes to geography.

Anniversary Wins And Bar Breaks

SPEAKER_01 1:01

We gotta get him going. He's doing a little drunk history trivia tonight. Yeah. Uh we're recording this on Wednesday. We're gonna have to feed him a few bourbons before that. So he's nice to be. It started out with a great day. It's my anniversary today. Mackenzie and three years, dude. Three years. Can you believe that? All right. I don't have a good analogy. No metaphor for that one? No, I was gonna say fart in the wind, but that's probably not a good one just describing your anniversary. That's a Shawshank quote.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

That's a Shawshank quote. Up and vanish like a fart in the wind.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Like a fart in the wind. Uh so we're on episode a great day. Anyway, so it's been a great day. Uh McKenzie and I had a great breakfast this morning and hung out.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

Um, but uh things have been breaking today in the bar as as as so it goes. Yeah, we had an amp upstairs for the music went to go because of drunk history tonight with with T Dub back there. We uh were gonna plug in one of his mics into the amplifier and the amp, we thought it blew at first. It turns out hopefully it just got overloaded and is in protection mode, but that broke. Ryan got a call about teaks for some electrical issues. So electrical issue. You gotta make ice, you gotta do a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

There's one bar without lights, though. You know that? Uh you're talking about in New Orleans. In New Orleans, can you name it? Yeah, it is called Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar. Very nice. The oldest bar in New Orleans. And possibly beyond that, uh, I know it is the oldest in New Orleans. There might even be some more history to that bar. Isn't that place cool? All candles, great bar. Usually have someone playing.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Remember, the right side, the right remember, the right side of that bar has some electricity. The left side of the bar is what has none. I think the bathrooms have electricity. That's it. Remember the piano there, the candles. Well, they gotta have refrigerators, I would imagine. Yeah, the right side has electricity. The entire left side's the original bar.

The Kid Bug And Recovery Drinks

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Some could argue that the right side is wrong. That's not very good. I don't know. I'm not sure. All right. Uh how are you feeling? Bro, I'm lucky to be here right now. I thought we were gonna have to have a sub on the bar pot today.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

For any uh listeners, viewers, uh I, you know, I don't I I don't know how you guys are, but I've always been somebody that prides myself on not getting sick, okay? Yeah. But things change drastically when you have children and children that are in school, especially preschool, kindergarten, first grade type situation. I didn't even make any noise there. I keep it. He keeps doing it. He keeps doing it.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Well, I'm active with my producer and director should be curbing that.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

I try, he doesn't listen. Did you you didn't even hear it though, did you? I kept it. You did. He heard it. Well, he was heard. Well, listen, you're not gonna change me. No, anyway, so uh the bottom line is our daughter on Friday, was it Friday or Thursday last week, got woke up, woke up puking, and basically we had to take care of her for our entire week, day and a half. And I thought we were in the clear, but she recovered quickly, and my wife and I, three days later, got absolutely tuned up by whatever this bug is. And we're we're down for the count for a solid two days. I lost seven pounds. That's at least a little purge there. A little purge. I would yeah, I guess it could be a uh that's yeah, both ends? Both ends. Oh both ends, dude. I had had speaking of, you want to go full circle? I had Chipotle earlier that day.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Oh, you saw it again?

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Gone, gone. So just an entire chicken bowl at 1075 on the door.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

So instead of fuck those beans, or they fix them beans, I would say them beans are out.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

I don't want to talk about it too much more, but when's the last time? When's it's been a long time since I've vomited.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, that's I think my 30th birthday was the last time, and we won't want to talk about my age now. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

But I think it was about 15 years for me. Yeah. Gosh, is that a terrible experience?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Oh, and then the taste is in oh, it's we don't need to go too far. No, but that's anyway.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

I'm lucky to be here. Uh hence why I'm drinking, and it's pretty darn good.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah, we're talking about we're drinking today.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Yeah, a Heineken double zero.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

I'll tell you what. Uh, you know, we talk about we talk about NA stuff, and uh that, you know, there's some there's athletic brewing, does some IPA NAs and IPA. Um, but uh, you know, if you're just like a nice light, you want you you want the beer taste, but you don't want to uh get a buzz.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

You don't want uh Does still make you pee?

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Oh, I'm sure it does still make it a peace. Yeah, it's the same thing. You still pee. You still pee. I mean, enough liquid in, let's face it.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

I'd poured you, so yeah, that's good. I'm only I'm only going because of my stomach situation. I'm not trying to force things. I am having a you're drinking you're drinking the Great Lakes Conway's, bud.

Monday Pop-Up And Weather Strategy

SPEAKER_01 5:23

I Irish, Irish ale. St. Patrick's Day coming up next week. Tis the season. Definitely. That's what I thought. I wasn't sure which Irish ale it was, but uh uh I could tell it was Irish. It was very good. All right, what do we got going on here? Let's talk about what happened on Monday that we did. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Monday pop-up. I was out for the council, so you had to carry the carry the team here.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Yeah, yeah. It was uh it was a good, it was a good so what we did, it was 70 degrees here uh in northern Ohio uh on Monday. And so we're typically not open on Mondays this time of year. So what we did uh was announce Sunday morning. Chad calls me. What do you think? I said, let's do it. Uh texted one of the guys who plays this here, plays here a lot, Paul Franks, good dude, plays great music, crushes it, said, Hey man, what do you think about being the first one to play outside on the stage this year? And we put it up on social media, and I want to tell you what, this place felt like mid-July at 5 30 on a Monday afternoon. It was nuts. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

I dude, and I'm the whole time I'm just relying on updates from you, you know, because I'm at home. And you were you were dying at that point, you were just getting worse. Full on, full on mid, and I'm just looking at the I'm looking at the cameras, I'm looking at things going, holy crap, dude. Yeah, and you know, you got to remember, I know we like to talk about how things work and what we do in this bar. That was a cool one because, like, like Ryan said, I called him and we talked about it. We decided to do it. We looked up the weather forecasts, and then the whole time you're keeping an eye on the weather. Like we saw the south wind was going to be supposed to be pumping all day, so we knew it wasn't gonna be that, you know, sometimes by the bay you get the lake view, the lake breeze, and it turns things on its head. But man, we kept an eye on it, kept it going. It was all all steam ahead, and it turned out to be a great turn. It's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

And it just shows to show you how much weather-dependent um certain bars are, and certainly our bar is there. Now, granted, we have a nice little crowd in the wintertime, but this is uh a summer bar because there's so much outside outside seating, the band's outside, uh, and so we are paying attention. I use I windsurf to pay attention to the wind apps. I'm I'm on weather underground. I talked to dad because he is a weather nerd as well. Yep. Um, and we are just looking at so that southwest wind kept that lake breeze from kicking in because was that Friday? I believe it was Friday or Saturday, it was like 60 outside for a hot second. Yeah, and I could see the flags blowing southwest, keeping that because that lake is about 40 degrees right now. So I watched that flag that in 30 seconds the wind shifted to north off the lake, and the entire deck just emptied inside. And it was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

So I'd say I I I guess you could say the southwest wind kept it at bay. Could you? I don't, I don't Sandusky Bay. You kept it at bay. That's not good. That's pretty not that's not bad. Anyway, all right. Anyway, thanks to everybody that came out. I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but Ryan was there and everyone else was there. But man, thank you for coming out on Monday. That was incredible.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

I got a report that it was a boo-hoo's a Sandusky.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, listen. A lot of a lot of people were here. It was a good time. Yeah, um, so uh yeah, we had fun. Let's move on. Uh, one thing I did get some uh some feedback on barpod. On barpod? Yeah, that uh I don't look at the camera enough. Wait, was it just you? Uh yeah, apparently me. I'm you're you're you're on it. You're looking at the camera. I am not looking at the camera enough. So you know what I say to that? Wait, I will look wherever the hell I want because it's my podcast and your podcast.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Now, now T double T double, tell me what it was. I believe. What do you call it? Because I guess you're people don't like earshots, they're called when you're when you're turning sideways.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Is that like a face shot? No better related. Leave it.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

I'm talking about snow skiing. Yeah, for sure. Well, hey, listen, you can do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

So here's the thing. No, I always appreciate feedback and we ask for the podcast. But I'll tell you what, one of the things that uh we're having fun with, and and we're getting it from all over the place because you know uh dad is a consummate uh television professional. So we're getting a lot of like we're not trying to be nightline over here. This is a cheesy when once we start getting paid, then maybe I'll start. So I don't think that's gonna happen. So we can keep fucking around.

Smooth Jazz Seagulls And Sleep

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Uh now you got something down here about smooth jazz.

unknown 9:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

What uh what do you what's the smooth jazz note about? Here's what I've been finding with smooth jazz. Why is there a smooth jazz note? Here's the deal. Interested. Uh we are not gonna have smooth jazz in any of the bars. That's not what this is about. Okay, I have been spending a lot of time in the office working lately. Uh, because this is uh, except for Monday, of course, this is a slower season, so it's time it's prep time for summer when you don't have time to sit at a desk and do all those things. Sure. So I'm in the office a lot, and I like to have some sort of distraction, some sort of music in the background. And I have found that smooth jazz is the most productive. Smooth jazz. Because it's just in the background, just very just you know, however that goes. So that's that's so I'm listening to smooth jazz now. You know what I'm gonna encourage you to do as well? Try a little symphony classical music. I have done classical and I agree with that as well. A little Beethoven, uh Beethoven rock Mononoff's fifth or third or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

That's not one. Yes, it is. Is it? Oh, yeah, come on now. Very good. Thank you. It's impressive. Oh man. You you've got some great notes in here. Now, Grand, this one doesn't work. I think during when this bar pod was put together, I didn't have a whole lot. I didn't have a whole lot because I was sick. So yeah, you were all over the place. I was all over the place. I like what's going on here, though. You also have seagulls in here.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Let me yeah, let me tell you what that's about. I'm not sure where where we're headed today, but I kind of like it. This is something I want everybody to notice. Uh if you're if you're if you if you're walking around a coastal town. Now, maybe maybe it's just Sandusky, but I find that if you walk around downtown Sandusky, there's always a seagull looking at you like a goddamn ninja. So now you know what you're gonna get from this if anybody birds aren't real, correct? Surveillance, it's governments and they're real. I mean, you look up at any building and there's a seagull staring at your ass, and I'll tell you what, and they're judging. I dude judging you. It doesn't matter where you are in town either. Yeah, could you imagine? I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

One caught me, one caught me down by the coffee shop there.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Have you been pooped on lately? Um, no. No? That's good. Not lately. My car. A couple people got well, that's a guarantee. Some couple got hit recently, I think, on the nicer days. It's good luck, isn't it? Good luck to get shit on? I think it's good luck to get shit on by a bird. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Oh, no, it is. It is. If you I I think it's clearly whoever said that was just looking for a way to turn spin it into a positive.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

But next two if you get shit on by an Irish bird, it's doubly good luck. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

It'd be green shit.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

It'd be green shit. Corned beef. I'm ready for St. Patrick's Day. That's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

All right. Uh moving on, we got another, we got the I we're loaded up with kind of weird, funny stuff this morning. Um yeah, we're we're we'll get into some bar news here in a minute, but it seems like our notes have gotten a little Well, we talked we we started off with the Monday thing. A little pop-up thing. Yeah. Um this just came up and it was probably I'm looking at the camera. This was probably uh maybe this I this was before I got the the nasty bug. But I think it's after 40. Why all of a sudden does sleeping with attached arms become tough? Okay, do you ever does anybody do you know what I'm getting at? Are you do your arms are they just detachable? I wish I could.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

By the way, you know, there's a song by Helmet called Detachable Penis. I remember that. I remember that. You put it in a bush or something? I don't know where you put it on. It had its own narrative, it had its own narrative. He did, it was all over the place. Look up a lot of detachable penis by the 90s? Anyway, yeah. Sorry to distract you from your detachable arms.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

You're right. That is the name of the thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

The name of the band was a helmet. Right? It came out at the same time as butthole surfers. Yeah, which you referenced. That was actually a pretty good band.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Yeah. Anyway, okay. Sleeping Air Forward. My point is. Uh does anyone else do you have an issue with shoulders and like sleeping on your arm wrong? I I I can't, dude. I wake up, something hurts, it's numb. I I like I don't know what to do with my arms.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

I'm a stomach sleeper.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

So am I.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

So I I get my arm. Well, get I usually sleep like this. Yeah. And uh, you know, with my for those who are listening, I'm just I'm sleeping with my my head on my hands under my pillow. What? Um and they fall asleep a lot.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Um, and then you So you're so you're so you're just you're just in your sleep, you're going through a a detector.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Yeah, yeah. A metal detector. It's not the airport. It's horrible. And have you ever tried to sleep on your back now? It's impossible. I can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

I I can sleep on my side, but the point is, I I get one up here, one down here, and I, dude, my shoulders either are busted in the morning and it's I'm jacked up. Yeah. And I feel like so. I what did I do? I put it in, I research it, and sure enough, dude, there's hilarious Reddit threads about. People are saying they wish they could just take them off. The first comment I said that was hilarious was that's why you wanted detachable arms. Correct. The first comment was, yeah, dude, what are you doing? It's it somebody had the problem. Do you guys have any problems with your arms after sleeping? The first comment was, oh no, I just take mine off. And I'm like, God darn it.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Anyway, that's that's the way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

I feel like I feel like there's gonna be some people that identify with that out there because sleeping with arms past 40 sucks.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Yeah, it does. It does. So the take them off. Maybe with AI you can take your arms off eventually. You can put them back on later. Uh I had a good night's sleep last night for the first time in a while, which means I drooled and stuck to my pillow. That happens sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah, if you're drooling, you know you're doing it right.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

You know you're doing it right. So my recommendation would be s with would be weed gummies for the sleep. What? Little CBD, a little THC with a little melatonin.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Did you take those yellow ones off?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Uh I did, yeah. Hold up. Yeah, yeah.

Beer Trends Tariffs And Coffee Costs

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Thank you. Uh on to bar news.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Bar news.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, Anheuser Busch uh tends to be thriving, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Overall, beer volumes are down. Obviously, we know that. We've talked about that. Anheuser Busch is winning, and here's why. Thank you, Landman. Mickelobe Ultra. Crushing it. And what else is fine on the shelf? Both inBev products. We just talked about it a minute ago. Bushlight. Bushlight. Bushlight and Mick Ultra are just killing it.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Dude, Bushlight, listen, their rise to popularity in the last couple years is incredible. But you see, you see what they did though. They leaned into the fact that it's a cheaper beer. They started doing, which I think is genius, the celebratory special cans that we just they just got bass pro shops to do well. Oh my gosh. Dude, you've got John Deere, Bass Pro Shops. They have the hunters. On their cans. Think of that. Genius.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Getting getting paid before anybody even fucking cracks it open. Oh brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Dude, Bushlight kills it. And I I'm not afraid to say that I enjoy Bushlight because you can just crush them if you're in the mood. And uh it just doesn't do a whole lot to you. Micelobe Ultra Zero, the top-selling NA beer by volume? Ultra Zero. Wasn't it last year that Micelobe finally overtook the most popular beer? Took it from Odello, I believe. Last year.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

It was yeah, I think it was. Yeah, it was last year that was.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Look at the camera.

unknown 15:46

Well done.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Uh Molson Coors, however, is struggling a little bit. Consolation brands hurt by immigration crackdowns. That's not good. Heineken cutting 7% of his global workforce. Sorry, boys. I don't like that. Uh beer that just got cut from our portfolio. Not a big drinking beer, but Czechvar was a beer that I like to carry. I had it at Volstead for 12 years and was just told today, sorry, you can't get it anymore. Why? I would imagine it's because of tariffs. Czechoslovakia and Budweiser.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Let's just settle down with fucking tariffs. That's such a good beer, too. I'm a little sad by that one. I'm not seriously.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

I'm sorry you can't get a stag beer anymore.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Stag, no. Stag beer? No, that's never even heard of it. That's old school, isn't it? I'm not sure. Stag beer?

unknown 16:28

Stag.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

That's a beer that goes to parties by itself. Hey.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

So uh yeah, for small operators, I mean it changes things. It just does mean that uh we're ordering a uh a ton of bush light and a ton of uh Mick Ultra.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

That's no doubt about it. Listen, you you lean in, you gotta lean into what's popular, man. It's the way it goes. The people demand bush light.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

It's always gonna change. Uh, I think that uh, you know, the the the the uh the trends of the industry change all the time and on a dime. Um I do think we need to chill out with the uh tariff stuff because it's it's it's it's we're working too hard to try to get alcohol and the prices are changing. Coffee is insane right now.

Teeks Update And AI Logo Trouble

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Coffee's more than it's like dude. Our coffee, because we our hot nuts are one of our most popular items, you know. Half uh it's our our our shot, our house shot. And uh man, coffee's gone up. Coffee's 60, 70 percent. It's crazy. It's nuts. Yeah. Um what's going on? What's going on over at Teeks?

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Teeks, uh, we are pouring concrete tomorrow. Uh, of course, right before this, I got a call from the electrician that they forgot to put the uh uh some drawings for the uh plugs and lights and things. So got a nice bonus bill for that. Um so concrete's going in tomorrow. I'm working on the logo, been working on that for the last couple days. Um that's Bailey upstairs. Yeah. Um and uh let me tell you what, we're all worried about AI taking over. Well, tell me what happened. So I have I'm having AI design a logo with my I'm actually having one AI play off the other. Okay. Um, and what neither of them can do is draw a Pentagon shape. Or they're not good at geometry. They're not good at geometry. Like I spent an hour trying to get this beautiful logo with uh six sides. I need a five got five side like the like the paddle bar. That's a five-side pentagon shape. And I'm uploading the paddle bar logo and just like take this logo that you've created and just make it look like replicate it, change it. It can't, it can't do it. It can't, it gave up. It gave up. It just kept spitting out the same thing. So I'm not saying I is not really not gonna kill us at some point, but that being said, it's gonna be a while.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

So because you're telling it can't draw, it can help you vibe code, but can't draw a stop sign.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

You can't vibe code that. I'll tell you what, yeah, it can't draw a stop sign. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

That's interesting.

Yelp Rants Sales Pitches Dive Bars

SPEAKER_01 18:39

There you go. Which might be a metaphor for what we should be doing with AI is using a few stop signs here and there. Hey, uh, I uh was gonna do something new today. Okay. Uh I don't have it pulled up, but I will uh I'll I'll I'll I'm gonna talk about it. Let's hear it. Stupid reviews. Stupid reviews. This is a new segment. Stupid reviews. Stupid reviews. Who are you gonna fire? So I hate Yelp, obviously. Yelp is stupid. And the only reason Yelp still freaking exists is because they signed a contract with Apple. So your Apple Maps defaults to Yelp. Those guys were like the mob calling you, uh trying to get you to spend money with them so you get more reviews. You know what? You can fuck off.

SPEAKER_06 19:13

Um, I say f a lot, don't I?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

That's all right. Should I chill out a little bit? Do your thing. Maybe I'm a little too excited. Do your thing. Maybe I'm should be a little bit out. Um this is a good this is better than my therapist. Um anyway, so we had a one-star review about two years ago uh here at Paddle Bar. I remember this. And you know what it said? We didn't have a climbing wall. No climbing wall. No, there used to be a climbing wall here. How what kind of asshole walks in and goes, Hey, I I the guy doesn't even live in this country. Uh and uh he uh yeah, gives me a one-star review because we have no fucking climbing wall. Screw you. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

I think they those pe those those type of folks don't really, I don't think they understand it. Or well then don't do it. Yeah, don't do it. I know because they don't know they're gonna they're gonna.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

I mean, owners, I mean, I care about them. I don't like dwell over them because I mean you're gonna get some jerks no matter what you do. Uh but you know, we see them and it it's and it's one thing when it's justified. That one's just that one's just because we changed our business. I'm gonna make a whole lot of sense. I'm gonna move on to another one. There's one more.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

You got another one?

SPEAKER_01 20:15

One more uh negative review.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

You're on a heater right now.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

I'm nervous. I'm curious what you're gonna say about this one. Okay. We had a uh uh uh a patron, we're not gonna even talk gender, okay, but basically had to stop. We had to hit she had to get I blew it. You did, you already blew it.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

You already blew it.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

She had to get cut off because she was drinking too much. Okay. She was also hitting on one of our bartenders and uh was not that did not work, was not obliged. That bartender said, No, you're drunk, it's time for you to be cut off, you should leave. What a gentleman. Well, uh we didn't even specify that. Um and then she uh uh went home and at three in the morning left a Oh no, a drunken one? Can't spell.

unknown 20:57

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

I remember that one. So she so she got turned down. You're right. So she got turned down by the bartender in a drunken, inebriated state. Uh-huh. And then left. Was mad that she too didn't get to take the didn't get to go home with said bartender. And that's tough. That's tough. Yeah, that's and that's sh weaponized a review. She did. Listen. You're gonna have some of them. You're gonna have some of them.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Well, that you're nicer than I am. I think she can fucking pound rocks. Well, she can definitely pound rocks, but you know, she made a bad decision, and uh listen, she didn't get any nookie that night. No, she didn't. So that's that's her penance. Who says nookie? Limp biscuit, just like last week. What are we doing today? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

This is I feel like let's get back on track. I think I'm gonna have to do some editing on some of the things I said on the stupid reviews thing. I'm not sure how that went. Anyway, so you don't like that. That's all right. Uh let's let's let's uh let's turn the tables. I I got one more bitch.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

You do? Yeah. What do you don't email me on every email I uh I have. You know, we're always getting hit up for advertisers and gift cards and things like that. And we typically want to oblige and want to help out when we can, you know. But this was an ad this was advertising. So this was a I got an email, didn't have a chance to respond. For a for for I'm not gonna tell you where. It was just an it was a piece for advertising. And then the guy then the then the the the guy shows up while I'm busy. I don't have time to talk to you about advertising. And then gives me a flyer, which okay. And then I get an email to every single email. So he had one of my emails, my personal. Okay. Then he had the paddle bar email. Okay. Then he had the paddle bar uh like the one you fill out online. He sent one email to all three of those. Instant no. Instant, don't do that. So persistence does not pay off. No, not when you're bothering the person who makes the decisions and you email them three times all like in one block. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

So spray and pray is no good.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

So spray and pray does not work for me.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

Spray and pray. That's what that girl, that's that's what that's what that girl with the letter review was trying to do. Yeah. Yeah. Ah. Okay. Sun Pies bar in Steamboat. Y'all. That's a great bar. You introduced me to that one.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

We're back to New Orleans because the the owners are from uh New Orleans and and uh they opened that bar in Steamboat, Colorado. The reason I thought about that bar is uh one of our regulars, Nolan, uh, was just got back from Steamboat. I told him to go to Sun Pies, and he's like, I love that place. And man, we had a good time there though.

SPEAKER_06 23:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Um that's just a great place. It's a it's a loyal local crowd. Tourists love it. They feel like they're part of Steamboat when they go there. Um and ironically, it's a New Orleans theme bar.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

And it kind of is a good dive bar. Oh, it's see, it's a great dive bar. And that's uh you'll see a a pretty a pretty common theme when we talk about bars. We tend to like the divey uh varietals of bars. Yeah. We do. It's just there's something about the feel of age on a bar and like the the corners are rounded and I don't know, man. It's that's it's that's just where it's at. That's just where it's at, dude.

Burger CEO Trend And PR Lessons

SPEAKER_01 24:03

I agree. I agree. That's uh it just man, that's a good bar. We had a we had some good times there. Uh I have something uh listed here that says burger fight. What is that about?

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Oh, but wait, you're talking about McDonald's thing. Yeah, have you got this is trending. I'm sure I'm sure everyone listening or watching has probably seen this video already. What's that?

SPEAKER_04 24:23

Three minutes left.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Oh. Oh, is there a hard cutoff? I thought you wanted three minutes. No, actually, I was just about to ask, so I probably appreciate that because I didn't set my timer in.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

So we're at 27 minutes. We've been saying 35 is the max we don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

27. Yeah, well, I'm probably gonna have to cut some things, I think. Yeah, probably. Probably.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Um, Burger Wars. Uh thank you. It started and and it it it basically spired on this whole um viral social media trend, but the kind of um Smarmy McDonald's CEO. God, did that guy look like a cheeser? Yeah, he went to go take a bite of his uh it was meant to be a political, and actually it worked. I don't care negative or not, it worked.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Well, he got PR out of it.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

He got a lot of PR out of it.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

The old PT Barnum uh approach like shake it till you make it.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

If if you could if there's a human version of the old Microsoft Word paper clip, that's that guy. Do you know do you know what I'm seeing?

SPEAKER_01 25:13

If you like me reviewing this beer and going, yeah. Oh, that's very good. It's like tasting a wine.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Exactly. He's like a human eraser on on a number two pencil. I don't know. That's what he looks like to me. I don't know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Anyway, that guy clearly does need burgers.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

No, no, he's not a tofu man. He referred, he did all this weird stuff. So it's the CEO of McDonald's. He went to go take a bite and and and uh basically showcase the new McDonald's Arch burger. Yeah. And he did a number of things that you cannot do when you're trying to identify with the American public. He called it a product instead of a burger, and he and without a prompt, he said, I'm actually gonna eat this for my lunch. Dude, so I mean, that's you're not all the things that basically tell you that he never eats McDonald's, his own product, and and it it spiraled out of drill flips. And then what happened? You can guess where it happened, right? The Burger King CEO came in, and he's more of a rugged guy. He did a better version of it, right? But then people automatically started saying, Oh, the McDonald's guy at least was at least was original. And then the Arby's guy. Oh, they all got out. Oh, dude. And then and then what do you happen? You have you had a number of influences on social media doing their own versions, like somebody did an Arby's one. Where you banged a sandwich?

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Yeah, I saw that. There's there's a lot of jokes there, but we're not gonna go there with the roast beef and what happened.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yeah, taco one starch happening. You could imagine. You can imagine where this went. Um, and I don't know if it ended up being a positive for McDonald's, but man, did they get some PR out of it?

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Oh, they certainly did. Negative or or the like. They certainly did. That's that's hilarious stuff. Hysterical. Hysterical stuff. The Archburger. Uh so there's that's what the burger fight is.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I'm actually gonna eat this.

Bartending School Myths Hiring Advice

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Uh, we got a couple more things uh before we get out of here. Um and you got to tell your story about uh over at uh the island. Uh but it's long enough ago. You're out of the I think you're not. But uh first, do you get asked a lot? Did you go to bartending school? Yeah, a couple times. Yeah, I got a PhD in a couple times. Flare bartending. So that's where my story is. That's where your story is. Yeah, but there's a bartending school. It's here's here's my take on bartending. Yes, it is a skill, but it's more about your attitude and how you treat the customer than actual learning how to make drinks. We can teach that thing. I a lot of times I prefer to hire bartenders um that have not bartended before. Sure. Because they don't have any of the bad habits and uh and they tend to be better with customers. That's my opinion. I'm sure there's there's other ones out there, but bartending school, really. You just YouTube it, man. My YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Well, it's mileage, right? Like you have to learn how to do it. It's mileage, it's mileage. But my my story about about that, uh, a hiring story. My second year at Putin Bay, and I'm not gonna name any names, so keep it, keep it anonymous here. But I was helping the manager at the time do the hiring for that year. Okay, and it's it's put in bay. And back then it was the only uh one of two, but they were right next to each other of uh swimming bars. So you could imagine everyone wanted to work there. It was when it was that it's most popular. That was hot. It was hot. Um, and so I'm sitting down, he asked me to sit down with him and hire these people. So I sat down with him, and this guy walks in and he you can just picture this, okay? He had a headband on. Oh boy. Okay, and he had the Tell me he had the wristband in the foot with the opener right there. Don't do that. And he sits down, and uh the the manager looks the manager peruses his resume and says, Oh, I can see that uh I can see that you have your uh star tending license. For anybody that star tending for anyone that doesn't know, uh a star tender is somebody that went through a I don't know how long it takes, but the uh the the learning process to be able to throw bottles, they call it. They used to call it startending back in the day. The ta the normal word for it is flare bartending, but so it's a a a PhD, so to speak, in flare bartending. And so, dude, so the I'm I'm still also known as douchebaggery. I'm still very new to bartending at this point, but my manager's been doing it for a long time, and he goes, he goes, See, you got your startending uh license here. And the guy goes, Oh yeah, I used to work so and so, and you know, I can do all the tricks. And he goes, Yeah, we don't do that here. And and you and and the the the interview just kind of went downhill from there. And as soon as the guy got up and walked out, he looks at me, he writes down a note and he goes, Yeah, we're not hiring that guy. Yeah, it made me laugh. It made me laugh because you know it's it's it was a it was another trend. It was a trend for a while. And I think still, I think some people still do it in Vegas.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

I'm sure if you work at Epcot Center, that's probably something you made.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

It's Circus Circus, I think, out in Vegas, but it's a very niche thing. And it tried to pick up for a while and it did, but then it died.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

But where'd you get Circus Circus from?

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Isn't that a bar out there?

SPEAKER_01 29:41

It's a hotel.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Yeah, there's a there's a flare bartending bar. Is it really?

TikTok Plug And Wrap

SPEAKER_01 29:44

We got that we gotta do the research on this. Well, listen, put it in the notes because I'll put it in the notes. All right. Last year that tap tap. Yeah, he tapped it. He loves tapping. I love a tap. Uh last thing, uh you know, we're getting into hiring season, although we're pretty staffed now because you're talking about that. Um, when people don't and you, this is kind of like the flare bartender. Do your research. Like if that guy would have looked around and just kind of figured out what type of bar it was, he would have known not to do that. Yeah, you know, I get ones. I'm a server, um, I'd be really good at working the expo line. Uh or whatever. We we don't like do your research on where you're gonna apply for uh versus uh you know just kind of throwing it out there. It's the same thing with the emails. Don't do your research. Anyway, if we ended on that, do your research. Do your do your research, do your do your research do your research. I like it. Hashtag do your research. Hey, we're on TikTok now. We are on TikTok. We're TikToking. We are on TikTok with the kids.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

This was a wild episode.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

I think this one's a little loose. You had one, you're you had a you're ready. I I'm a little fired up. I uh I there's some there's some bangers in there. There might be uh I might have to edit this episode a little bit, but you'll find the bonus content on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Hey, there it is. All right, all right, episode 10. Episode 10's in the books. Uh I'm gonna go try to eat something and get this weight back up.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

We'll see this. Yeah, you gotta eat a drink a beer, eat a burger. Yeah. Make sure when you eat the burger, you don't call it a product. I'm actually gonna eat this for my lunch. I'm actually gonna have this product. All right. All right, we're out of here. Thanks for uh tuning in. You can find us at barpod.net, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, all that good stuff. Oh, wherever you bar stuff is at. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

Right, gentlemen, come in.

SPEAKER_04 31:37

This is the way to let it go, let's go.