Two Co-Hosts, One Crowded Bar, Zero Plan

Episode 15 is a wild one. For the first time ever, we're recording BarPod live from Paddle Bar while it's open — packed house, dog at the bar, people staring at us, the whole deal. And because Chad's down in Hilton Head with the family, we're flipping the format completely. McKenzie (Ryan's wife) jumps in as guest co-host for the first half, turning the tables and interviewing Ryan about Paddle Bar's origin story, the entrepreneurial roller coaster, why he can't stomach formal politics, and the candy clubhouse he ran out of his backyard as a kid. Then Chad calls in remotely from South Carolina for Bar Pod's first-ever long-distance episode.

Along the way: Park Tok goes feral on TikTok, Sysco buying Restaurant Depot for $29 billion (and why that's bad news for independents), Chipotle running out of basically everything, the art of slowly landing the plane after a vacation bender, repair-of-the-week, Tique's construction updates and rising costs, an unhinged shoutout to Shameless, why Chad's been called a "poopy pickle," and the case for being a Great Lakes person. Plus a National Beer Day cheers, a margarita, a bourbonade, and zero plan from start to finish.

New episodes weekly. Find us at barpod.net, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Follow @barpod419 and @paddlebar.

Transcript

Audio Check And Bar Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Let's see how we're doing with the audio.

SPEAKER_03 0:01

I'm not hearing a thing, so that's not good.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Oh, really? I hear you.

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Test, test, test.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

I'm not hearing anything.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Really?

SPEAKER_03 0:10

Yeah, you know why?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

I hear you. Stop plugged in.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Hey, I hear everything now. There it is. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Two buggers in the bar. Bob come in now. This is how it is.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Hey, here we are at BarPod. This is a whole new thing tonight because not only is that not Chad, uh, we're rocking episode 14. But here's the other thing we're doing. The bar is open. So you are going to hear bar noise in the background. There's people having a good time. Uh, but more importantly, McKenzie is subbing in for Chad. Uh, you'll see a zoom uh call of Chad here in a little bit after this segment. But Mackenzie is here, and McKenzie is my lovely wife, by the way. For those who don't know, uh can we cheers? First thing. Let's cheers. What are you drinking?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Oh, mmm. Well, I really appreciate that you are joining me in a drink for the girlies.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

You had a beer earlier with Chad.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

And I wanted to represent that we do a lot of fresh squeezed, and girlies and the guys really like it. So I'm drinking a bourbonade.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

I love it. I'm having a margarita. And uh, I'll tell you, I gotta, I gotta, before we get into it, this is wild because one of the things we talk about, you never want a slow bar, but I thought, oh, maybe it'll be a little quieter tonight because it's a Tuesday night. Right. And we're gonna do bar pod and there'll be nobody here. Well, sure enough, we got here, and there's even a dog. Uh, and sure enough, this place is packed right now, and there are people looking at us.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

I'd call it ambiance.

Park Talk Goes Feral

SPEAKER_03 1:52

This is wild, so let's see how this works out. I have no freaking idea, but let's see how we're gonna give it a go. Park pod number 14. I gotta ask one thing before we get going. We talked about this. Um park talk? Ooh, park talk. Park Talk. So you introduced me to this, and I looked it up, and I encourage everybody to check out uh Park Talk on TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

So, park talk. This was introduced to me yesterday by my coworker Rachel. She very fairly described it as feral.

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Feral is a good advantage.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

The national parks, and then a lot of state parks, and a lot of people uh after the parks have latched onto it. And uh it it is a feral version. It's a little bit sexual. Yeah, I feel like I should whisper that.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

You don't, yeah. Well, we're in a bar that's loud. You don't have to whisper anything. As a matter of fact, uh talk louder.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

The parks have gone sexual.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

And as I like kind of because uh they're getting their funding taken away, so they are they're not going quietly into the night. No. Yeah, I saw some real suggestive things on there. Uh vis-a-vis interesting shaped waterfalls. See if anybody can find that one. Uh, it might uh not only be entertaining, but it might be some hints in the in the sack.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

I uh I am skipping ahead, but I will be in the great smoky mountains this weekend. Yes, you are, and I might send you a park talk. This will be a personal one, uh not for public but uh little park talk potentially.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Um response. There we go. I'm just gonna eat that cookie.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Oh, that no, oh boy. Um nom nom nom nom. So you and Chad make some observations before you come into the bar pod.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Very funny. I was kind of hoping that I could make one or two observations and and then get your thoughts on it.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

What you got?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Well, luckily, we both had park talk on our list. So boom.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

That is that's the second one.

Couple Shows And Sneaking Ahead

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Couple shows. When couples start watching a show together, and then they have to decide is this a show we're gonna watch, you and I, or is it a show that we're watching solo? And if your partner sneaks ahead on on the shared show, just the feelings uh that it brings about. And I think that sometimes this happens with us because you have a little bit more uh I won't say free time because you're constantly busy, but you will watch shows in the background of the things you're doing. Yeah. And then we have to discuss is this gonna be a couple show? And sometimes you you hate waiting for me.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

Yeah, it's best, I think, um, to lie is uh is uh just lie.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Yeah, if you gotta watch it once it twice, and you just gotta you gotta deal with it.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

I I think that there are things that people fight about, probably like finances, how you put the stuff in the dishwasher, and then like couple shows.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

Yeah. We've never thought about couple shows.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

We tend to be pretty uh But when I tell you I want to watch one with you, then sometimes there's like a and that's why I lie. And we're all learning things today.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Can I come clean about something else? Just oh boy. So Ryan and I actually did this before I went to work this morning.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Oh, you're gonna talk about it. I I I am gonna talk about it because we did an early morning uh attempt at this bar pod uh uh Ken substitute.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

I did. And and I don't think we're I I'm gonna say we, but me. I don't know that we're or on my best at 8 a.m. Sure. I was a little bit in work mode, and now you are not. Now I'm not. Now I have a brand now.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

Your parents are picking you up, driving you down south, and you're gonna have a blast.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Cousin strip. Everybody should do it.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Cousin strips. All right, uh, before you take over and um uh start the questions with me, I'll tell you what this is this is so fun. All the noise in the background, I'm a little distracted. My ADHD is just popping all over the place. But we're gonna figure I think this is gonna be a good format down the road when we do like live studio audiences and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

I don't know anything different, so this is pretty much fun.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Yeah, I'm I'm you know normally Chad and I are here straight quiet, we're having a beer, you know what I mean. But this is uh there's a lot going on. There's the lights are way bright now because we're doing it at the nighttime. Yep, this is a wild scene.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

I just want to also shout out to Peyton because I I stole these. Uh she makes great chocolate chip cookies, she brings them to the office, and I know how much you like them.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

I appreciate it. Well, do you want to carry the show for a map?

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah, I will definitely carry the show.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Yeah, nothing. No, no, no. I'm already.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

I'm actually just keeping eye contact. Okay, so we're we're gonna change the format just a little bit today.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

Yeah, before we do that, can I piss and moan about something?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Oh, I I have some piss and moaning questions, but insurance. Rant of the day.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

I mean, it's insane. I got an email from this is for the bar, the insurance. They want to know all your sales and this and that and the other thing. And they're like, we need to see it from your POS system. Okay, I sent them a CSV from my POS system. That's not enough. They need to see the whole uh damn uh it needs to say your POS system on it. It's like, guys, I'm done dealing with you. I pay you, not the other way around. Until the building burns down, I fucking pay you. You also try to feel like I'm working for these people that I'm paying. It's pissing me off.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

You I wrote down a quote because it I think it actually summed up how you feel about a lot of this. Just that everything, the the culmination of everything is making it harder for small businesses.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

It's tough for small business right now. You're getting you're getting fucked every way possible.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

And not the kind you like, and not in the good way.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

No, no. So let's just chill out on a hot stuff and let's make it easier for the small business instead of making it harder. There you go. My run is over.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

That was a quick one.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Yeah, I'm trying to keep it quick. We're we're at a limited time schedule here.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

I know. I I'm gonna try to squeeze in a lot in my like 10 to 12 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Okay, I'm getting in the zone. I'm ready for you. I'm nervous.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Cool. So we decided that uh I know Ryan pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

I would hope so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

And there's a lot of funny things about you and just how your brain works, and that it might be fun to ask you just a couple questions that would be interesting for the listeners. So I'm gonna I'm gonna try to I'm gonna try to do my best.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

I have written down. So Paddle Bar is a collection of your and Chad's lived experiences. You lived in Key West, out west. Uh, you have visited fun places, and you brought a lot of them back to Paddle Bar. Um, some of my favorite. I love the disco bathroom. I sometimes fixed it.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

They were somewhere and I just built it in like a day.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

You came back. They sent it and you did it, I think, before they came home.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

I did.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

It was fun.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Yeah, they were in Austin, Texas, I think.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Yep. Uh the Nor'easter, which is because you guys are all weather nerds. Right. The mug club dad beers.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

And I mug club came from Arapaho Basin in Colorado.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Yeah. I mean, there's mug clubs in a lot of places, but that's the different. I love that place.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

And did you have a mug there?

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Oh, certainly.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

And I just wonder what's what's your favorite one? What's uh the favorite cork that is in Paddle Bar?

SPEAKER_03 9:25

I don't think I can name just one cork, but I like that it feels uh has a has a it's some sort of blend between like a like a tropical island vacation and maybe your ski vacation too, because there's you know snow ski references around. One of the things we go for at Paddle Bar, and you know this, is recreating that feeling you get when you're traveling. And so that's why we have certain beers, certain vibes. Like I just had someone. The Kareeb, I'm glad you brought up Kareeb because I had when I was working Saturday, um, Saturday day, really, it was a busy day, and a couple came up. That was crazy. They were like, Where did you get Kareeb? This is what we drink when we're so and so in the Caribbean. And that is that's what you want to do. So if you can recruit recreate that vacation, that mode, people are happier. That's what we do.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

That uh was actually Christine and Randy, and they own a small business in Huron and they said the exact same thing to me.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, that's awesome!

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah, very cool. And uh that it did remind them of vacation.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

Love it. That's what that's what we're trying to do. So you know Korea, bread stripe, big wave, you know, the good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

The good the good life.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

By the way, it is National Beer Day today when we're recording this. Um, I did have a beer with Chad earlier, hence the margarita now. Oh, it's a good margarita. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

I think that paddles marg is is one of the best.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

It's it's all about the fresh quiz.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Yep. I actually take mine with uh a half an orange in it, and I really like it that way too.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

That's a good call.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Question number two.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

What do we got?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

I'm gonna make you a little uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Apologies in advance. Love you, Vic.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

So there are it there are roller coaster rides that small business owners go to. I I would say that uh about once a month we joke. Oh yeah. That we joke about uh if if things go tits up, as you like to say, and we end up living living in a van.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

And uh I just wonder what it is like to be on that roller coaster.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Yeah, you know, is it crazy? Because the highs are amazing when you have a great weekend, a busy weekend, and everybody's having a good time, and we we just talked about an event or whatever. I've been many times here where I'm like standing uh outside watching the machine work, and the bartenders are smiling, the guests are smiling, uh, you know, everything is happening, just you just see it all, and that's when the the highs.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

But do you pause in those moments and you think like, wow, we made something special.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

I try I try to. It's difficult, uh, because you're usually I'm always worried about something. Um the lows are the are the you know the dumbness of things, uh the the the insurance companies, the uh inspectors, the uh uh the amount of unnecessary things that I think that we uh small business owners get get forced into. Yeah, and it makes it a pain in the ass. So that part's the low. But the highs tend to be better. I mean, the you know, I I don't want to say that I have a free schedule, but uh, you know, I once had a nine to five job and uh this is better.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

I I'm gonna say, as somebody that knows you really well, I I don't think you could work for somebody else.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

No, I but hence living in a van.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Hence, and that there, I mean, it would be a lot of fun to just recreate magic, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

Yeah, yeah. And that's why I think I'm you know, doing an we're doing the other bartiques because I want to do it again, and it is it is very exciting. The building process of it's very fun. Yes, I love that part. But then the whole the whole delivery sometimes can be a little tough, a little stressful.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

All right, I am I'm seeing that I'm I've like reached my 12 minute limit. So I'm gonna just do one more question.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

It is our bar pod. We can do whatever we want.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

I know, but I as a listener really like the 30 to 30 minutes. And I'm gonna and I'm okay. Wow, what a what a roll reversal here. Uh I'm gonna offer to you question one, two, or three. Oh behind door, one, two, or three. Which would you like, Ryan?

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Three.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

I guess that's the tough one. Oh shit.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

You know what? I'm gonna decide for you. We're gonna do one. We're doing one.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Oh well, you gotta do both.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Well, we can do both. Um your story that when we did this take one was very funny. Uh so I in my day life, I get to work with a lot of small business owners, yeah, and I recognize that the entrepreneurialism starts young.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

And I bet oh, there's that doggo.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

You got it's it's a party in here.

The Candy Clubhouse Origin Story

SPEAKER_00 13:59

And it's a Tuesday. And it's a Tuesday. And uh I wonder if you could just tell us what was you like, what was your start?

SPEAKER_03 14:07

Uh my start was. How old were you? What were you doing? I I did paper out was the first thing at a very young age. But uh the next thing was I had a clubhouse in my backyard, and uh I used to ride my bike in the morning down to the convenience store, which was about a mile away, and buy a bunch of different candies and bring them back to the clubhouse. And I actually had a bar, it actually kind of looked like this. I didn't realize there was a bar at the time, and I would set up all the candy with little prices, and I would invite the neighborhood kids in to come in and buy candy.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

I really wonder what your margins were.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Uh I you know, I I usually made enough money to buy myself some candy. So usually there was a Twix bar and a uh roll of sweet tarts uh for me at the end of it. But something that I did not pay for.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

You were still a super skinny kid.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Yeah, I yeah. I I yeah, I you know I didn't eat that much candy. Yeah, this was a weekend ordeal.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

If you want question three, I'll give it to you, but I also will let you wrap up.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

I want question three. We can't tease the audience with question three. I don't care how bad it is, do it.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Ryan Whaley.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

We'll wrap it up at the end.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

So Ryan Whaley.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

What you got?

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Here's the deal.

unknown 15:13

Oh boy.

Third Places And Great Lakes Pride

SPEAKER_00 15:14

You get asked a lot when you're gonna run for a city commission. Oh I you have you have often said that it's uh it's a lot more um, you feel more that you can be more impactful being an informal leader in the community.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

What in the world is it like to be an informal leader in the Sandeski community? How much do you love this place? Why why why do you why do you do it all?

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Obviously, this is why this is I don't know if we have time for this, but I I okay you didn't. I'm gonna try to wrap it up quickly. I could not be a city, I don't think I could be a government employee. And here's why. Fuck piss shit.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Somebody likes to swear ass.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

I, you know, I I I'm not gonna be, but more importantly, I could never do it because I don't like meetings and for and like formal things. I hate them. Like I remember I've been involved in boards and things like that, and I like I try to help, but um, I'm bad at like what's it called? Robert's rules of order. In order, no, no. Who's Robert? Who the fuck is Robert? And there's also two things in that whole thing that I don't like rules and order. Don't like it. Clearly, I'm pissing and moaning about insurance and regulations, so I don't like that. Look at me getting fired about it. So that's why I could never be. But I like to be helpful.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Robert did something to you.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

Yeah, whoever that guy is, it's fuck that guy. Um, although to be fair, in the way our government's working, maybe we do need Robert around a little more. Yeah, anyway, that's neither here nor there. Um, we're all still here, so that's good. Um, but the as far as I like to be helpful, and I think that a bar um is a third place. Uh it's not it doesn't have to be a bar, it can be a coffee shop, a restaurant, whatever. And I think providing that third place and providing a place for people, no matter what they're where they're from, what they're doing, who they are, they can interact and they can talk to each other and accomplish things. Yeah. And I think that's important. Uh, and I like to be able to provide that if I can. I also like to um, you know, be a place for the community to go to, you know, when we have events here and things like that. I like to be able to help out with those things. So that's how I uh can be in fact. But I also deeply care about the city, about Sandusky in general, not just the city, just Sandusky area, the regional area. I think the Great Lakes are under under they're amazing. And I lived in you know, lived in Colorado for a while, looking always amazing places. This is one of the coolest places out there.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

I actually said just yesterday that I'm a Great Lakes person. Somebody had to like somebody had to ask, uh, you know, there's southerners and there's all types of people. I want to be a Great Lakes person.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

Give me some Great Lakes. I think we need to bring that back.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

The Midwesterners is a thing, yes, but I think we are Great Lakes people. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Can I can I just say, I mean, on on behalf of a lot of people, I think you have done a lot of really cool things. You brought a lot of fun energy, big ideas, uh, and you have really made Sandusky something special. You're one of the original pioneers. Chad's done a lot along the way. You guys have uh brought a lot of energy, and I just you're giving me chills, but thank you.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

But I think that we're we're lucky uh in our area that there's a lot of us here, and there's a lot of folks that have come back um and done those sort of things. I mean, this is why you come to downtown Sandusky on a on a Saturday night in July and have all kinds of fun and do all kinds of cool things. And and they continue to build, and I think it's great.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Yeah. I think that's a wrap.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

Was that it for Barpod today? Okay, so you are gonna see Chad and I zoom call in a little bit, and that's interesting. Uh this is a wild bar pod, Ken's. Uh, thanks for taking over the show for a little bit. Good job.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Thanks for having me, Chad.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

What uh hey, what's going on? I'm here, I'm here. I'm in Hillet, South Carolina, Bub. Dude, this is our first uh remote bar pod. Let's see if this thing works. What are we, episode 14? Is that right?

SPEAKER_04 18:55

Yeah, and I would like to point out uh maybe it's because I'm on a family trip this time, but uh I am sober. Um, I made it to our meeting. That's I'm impressed. So, yeah, so it's a it's a positive here. Although I will say, I I I I do have a beer.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

What is that beer you're drinking?

SPEAKER_04 19:10

You ready for this? It's called Firm and Fast. We picked it up because it's the Masters Golf Tournament this year.

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Right. It kind of has that look, and it's uh a brewery in South or in Charleston.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

In Charleston, okay. And you're in Hillhead, so you're pretty close. Yeah. Fatty's beer. Cool. Look at I like how the uh the the screen is fouling you a little bit. So we're zoo using Zoom for this bad boy.

SPEAKER_04 19:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Uh we'll see if it works. Um, I am gonna um so I did a uh this is a different setup. Uh McKenzie interviewed me. Yeah, that's gonna run, and then um I'll talk a little bit about that. But um, and then yeah, we're doing our thing remote. So we only have to go about I don't know, 15-20 minutes or so to make sure we're right. Um so how's the trip so far? What's going on?

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Oh trip's good. So yeah, so what's going on with me? We uh for the first time we took a trip with uh another family. Yeah. So we've got just you picture it's awesome. We've got uh five kids, four adults in uh a house close to the beach. The beach is if you can see behind me, picture another, I don't know, 150 feet. You're at the beach, and that and you're at the beach.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Well, it's 27 degrees when I woke up here this morning.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

You know what? I gotta ask though, it's as good as as much home we're having. The weather yesterday and the day before were pretty good. It's only 66 degrees here, which I know that sounds good when it's 28 degrees at home, but here that's chilly for people.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Okay, yeah, that's true. That's true. Well, it's uh it's a lot, it's a lot better than here. Um, you missed a uh just like I missed Friday, uh, when you were slammed at the bar because I was at the Guardians game, go guards. Uh Saturday, I got my ass handed to me at the bar. We were busy because the weather was warm and nice.

SPEAKER_04 20:47

People are people are there, I mean it's it's April, right? People are itching to get out, and when we do get an 80-degree day, it's over with.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

It's done. I mean, yeah, people are ready to rock. Um, it's yeah, it's did you uh Ken's and I talked about this. Did you check out Park Talk on TikTok? I did, I did. It's it's pervert and it is fantastic. It is unbelievable. I told you Kenzie it's not safe for work, but it is like I love the way the parks are not liking that they're getting defunded, and they are going full on feral on it.

SPEAKER_04 21:18

Yeah, they're they're rebelling, basically.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

It's it's nuts. Uh so good. I just gotta say, you know, good go watch it and then get get in the comments. We'll talk about it next week or talk about it at the bar because it is hilarious.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

Do your thing, hey, little thing here too. How how cool is this? Uh, two days into our trip here, and I'm walking across the street in Caligny Plaza, which is basically half a mile from here. It's a big family area. Oh lots of bars, lots of restaurants, lots of kids' stuff. And uh I'm walking on the street, I hear, hey, Chad, I look over. It's Will that used to live with Jack across the street. Oh no. You know, tall yeah, yeah, yeah. And and he said, he said the first thing he said, he goes, Dude, I just got done listening to one of your bar pod episodes.

SPEAKER_03 21:58

That's amazing. I love a bar. Our pod's going, man. People are digging all over the place. Uh I've had uh multiple folks come to the bar over the weekend that listen to it. Um it's really cool. It's it's it's fun. It's fun to hear the feedback from people and that they're having a good time with it, and they know we're just having a good time, and it's it is it's uh it's he said we got to keep doing it.

SPEAKER_04 22:17

He said he loves the segments where we talk about our favorite bars from around the country or world.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Yeah, yeah, that is that is that is a that is a good segment. I well, once again, we've talked about it many times, but uh at the day of the guardian game, I was certainly in one of my favorite bars, was of course is Johnny's Little Bar. Uh we've talked about plenty of times. They were uh they took care of us in there, and um, I did go to um another bar I really like. Now it's fancier. The bar in the uh Cleveland or hotel or the hotel Cleveland there. That that bar is beautiful in that building. It's a higher-end bar, so it's more of a martini sort of situation. You've been there, you and Amber. Yeah, yeah. That's a that's a gorgeous bar there. It is fantastic. It's gorgeous in there.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

Um, if if you see me pick up my phone, it's only because I'm picking up my notes. I I couldn't print them out down here, so that's what I'll that's all right.

Cisco Deal Sparks Monopoly Fears

SPEAKER_03 23:03

That's all right. And our notes are pretty uh, there's not a whole lot going on. You want to get into some um some bar news stuff, and then we can do a little bit of construction and then that sort of thing. And yeah, did you did you um okay? So I'll tell you the the the the bar news story. Uh, did you see Cisco is buying restaurant depot for 29.1 billion? I did, and that's I don't think that's a good idea. That is because I use for everybody. I start to think about what would happen if um you know one of the distributors reused just had everything. Um, they could do whatever they want with the prices. This is something the FTC should be brought blocking. It's this is this is corruption. This isn't cool.

SPEAKER_04 23:43

It's it's not cool. Uh it's a full-on monopoly. I thought we were supposed to stop those things. And uh your favorite bar slash restaurant where that that had food that was unique or um just different. Now it's gonna be even harder for that specific place to find food that's not the exact same slot that you get right. Like so it's gonna it, it's it's it's a very, very bad thing.

Chipotle Chaos And Supply Lessons

SPEAKER_03 24:07

It's uh yeah, it serves uh restaurant depot serve like 75 or 7,200,000 uh independent operators. Um it's that's not good. Um I guess there's some restaurant coalition independents coming out against it, but I highly doubt they'll win at all because it doesn't seem like that happens anymore. Uh so I just I I it's I hope it doesn't do anything with our we don't use them for anything, so we're okay for now, but I I don't like that um I don't like that that could be uh something in the future. Yeah. Uh you know, the restaurant news. I went to Chipotle last week. I ordered Chipotle uh while I was working. How was it? They broke them fucking beans again.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

So it's inconsistency.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

It was inconsistency. Now this was uh I had it delivered. I think that might be the problem. Uh last time we had it was good, you guys went and got it. I had it delivered. Um, I did go through the Chipotle app, so it was like direct, but that's just a DoorDash person. Um boy, it came, it was horrible.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

You ready for this? Right before we left. Amber got it for us. You ready for this? This is many. This is going downhill quick. Oh boy. Oh, it was later. It was about eight o'clock at night. Yeah. You ready for this? They were out of chicken, lettuce, corn, peppers.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

I understand running out of things, but that is the and forks, and forks, and forks, and forks. That place is a trash show. Fix your beans. Fix your beans, bro. Fix your beans. Fix your beans, and then you know, that actually goes back to like it think about how you could be out of things if you have these big distributors and then they then there's only one of them and they don't have a certain product, they'll knock a restaurant out of all kinds of stuff for a week. Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

Not cool. Not cool. Uh, yeah, go ahead. Oh no, I was just gonna talk about I don't know, I I didn't like I said, I'm on vacation, so I've been a little bad about keeping keeping in touch with the notes, but um, I don't know if it made its way on there, but did you I wanted to we brought it up um with my buddy who's on vacation with us. And I I'm not drinking a ton because it's a family vacation, but um it led us to a conversation actually that you um I gotta credit you for this for for the longest time. If you're on vacation with your buddies, fans, kids, and you're having a good time, you're maybe drinking a little too much.

SPEAKER_03 26:27

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Um, this is kind of a funny thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

Running down Duval Street, barefoot. You know, things like that.

SPEAKER_04 26:33

I got the video and I'll show the video if I have to.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_04 26:36

Um, but I always was of the and this is I don't know what what kind of segment we want to call this, but I was after when you're kind of hung over the next day. Uh-huh. Um, and say you're starting to travel back. I was always the guy who just cut off drinking completely for the next couple days.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

You didn't land the plane, you you just crashed into the mountain.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Yeah, I just crashed into the mountain, and I didn't know how wrong I was until uh you told me that you have to weave yourself off.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Yeah, yeah, you gotta slowly land the plane.

SPEAKER_04 27:06

You gotta slowly land the plane plane.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

You just stop, you're in more you're in more pain.

SPEAKER_04 27:10

And I'll tell you what, that has been a lot of things. That's why airport bars exist. It is, and that has done wonders. So it's important when you've been drinking or imbibing a little too heavily that uh you don't just shut it down because that's when bad things happen. You you like you said, you come down, you ascend at a at a medium pace.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

That's a medium pace. That is yeah, I don't see if anybody gets that little reference to Adam Sandler. Adam Sandler, yep. Um the wean that's it.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

That's my point. We had a we had a pretty hysterical conversation after the kids went uh to bed last night.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

I'm sure you guys are having a couple adult beverage after the kids go to the bed and catching up a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Sure, we do. That's the it's a it's a fun time. We're having a blast down here.

Repairs, Rising Costs, And Inspectors

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Uh that's great. I'm gonna move into uh a couple little things for you. Um it'll be uh the repair of the week uh was um the outside surfboard, someone leaned against it and broke it off the thing.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

I saw that right when we left. How a tough of a fix was that?

SPEAKER_03 28:07

It wasn't too bad. I fixed it, but I made it even stronger. So if you hopefully if you lean against it, it won't happen again. But you know, that sits out there all winter and gets beat. And you know, but you think that I don't know, don't lean against a surfboard. Come on. Well, it's yeah, it's bars, things are bars. Um, and then the other break of the week just now. Um, the uh I was just across the street fixing the uh furnace because the pot somehow it the breaker tripped anything. That's all fixed, uh easy. But um that takes me to Teaks.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

Okay, what's going on?

SPEAKER_03 28:34

You asked me last week about how the budget is, uh if I'm over, and it just keeps climbing. And now it's uh because prices of things have gone up so much when I actually because I did the you know, the the you know, kind of the budget, budgeted out over a year ago now. And so like little things like GF, like like like electrical panels, things like that, they've gone up like 20-30 percent. Of course. Like, I can't help but spend more. It's it's not fun.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

And you know what's crazy? You know, you know um how how crazy it is because it's not even that large of a time period, a span of time that you're doing this thing.

unknown 29:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

We're talking the planning was it's it's less, it's it's a little over about a year and a half, is where we're at.

SPEAKER_04 29:20

Yeah, and prices are raising rising so rapidly fast. Imagine, imagine, imagine uh a 24-month project for a hotel or something.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

Right before you're just and I am trying my hardest to get it to push to get it done now before they go up anymore, you know, because they just keep climbing with every insane thing that happens every day. Um, and and then I'm dealing with um inspectors right now, and I'm not gonna name which inspectors, but uh they have been requiring things that I've never in my 15 years of bar business have seen before, and I don't understand why. Uh, but we're dealing with it, and that of course has increased the price as well. Sure. Remember the show Shameless? Yeah, of course. Great one. Great one. So Kevin, who owns the bar, Kevin and V.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:05

Uh so they own the bar, the Alibi. Uh, by the way, if that bar is real, it'd be fantastic. Uh and he basically is you know running out of money because he and then he goes on a rant. And basically what he starts doing is uh he works with um uh well I forgot his name. Um uh the the one character, and they basically start a brothel up top.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

Uh oh. Am I losing? Oh yeah, no, you're back. You're back. No, we're back.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Yeah, we're gonna have some blips here. I'll I'll I'll just repeat it quick. Um Kevin has to start a brothel above the bar uh for rub and tugs. It's not a family show anymore. Nope, keep the kids. Hey, kids, stay inside. Uh so uh so start so he so they're like, Why are you doing that? He's like, Because every goddamn inspector, they want to shut down my sidewalk, they want this. I can't make any money. This is America, this is what you gotta do to make money. This is freedom. And I was like, God damn it, I agree with this.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

You also agree with the start.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

So I'm not saying we're gonna start a rubber tug, but I did understand his rant. Sure, sure. Where are you? And I the greener building was one a long time ago. So but man, if it's about a 10-minute monologue of uh of Kevin just going off about how everything uh costs money. It's it's it's great. So watch Shameless if you've never watched that show. It is a fantastic show. Um good. Have you seen any did you go? Have you been in a bar down there, or you guys have been just completely?

SPEAKER_04 31:30

Well, we know we've been we've been uh kid activities heavy. We have been in, I guess you could say one bar. Um it was it was the place called the Frosty Frog. We went in yesterday and it was uh it's like a pretty family-oriented place.

SPEAKER_03 31:42

Oh, okay, so we have kids and you guys can chat. Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

We we eat lunch, but we we had a beer while we were there, and then we also um we walked back because I guess it's like a like a half mile back to our place. Uh-huh. We walked back, and Amber goes, Amber said looks at me and she goes, Hey, uh I noticed people I noticed they have um slushies here or like you know, daiquiries.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:00

Everybody's carrying around daiquiries. She went up, the bartender was super cool. Hey, uh, can we have a couple of weeks to go to walk back to our place? She goes, Well, technically you're not supposed to, but I didn't see anything.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

I feel like we need more of that. We need more of that energy. We got too many goddamn rules.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

We do. We do.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Uh uh, I like that. Hey, speaking of bartending, I saw a photo from your trip. Uh you were doing a little bartending with the kiddos.

SPEAKER_04 32:23

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

And apparently you are made of poop.

SPEAKER_04 32:27

I am made of poop. Um there's we have a little uh if if you uh listen, you ready for the age group in this trip? Okay. This is great. You've got a one-year-old, you've got a what? Foster is now four. He just has birthday on the way down. Um Cooper is three. No, Cooper's four as well. I'm sorry. He's a little bit older than Foster, and then you got Ren or Quinn who is sixth, and Ren's seventh. So there's a lot of poop talk. Yeah, a lot of poop talk. A lot of that. Right before I came out here, I was told I was a pickle. A pickle. I'm a pickle. All right, poopy pick. And then, but we have we have a little downstairs by the pool and stuff. We had a little bar, and yeah, I was I was serving um some some kitty drinks, and then yeah, they told me I was made of poop, which That's not a way to treat your bartender.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

No, that's not. Don't don't tell your bartender they're made of poop. Um I'm not. I haven't called a shithead before, but you know, it is what it is. I mean, I I can I can smell with the best of them I can get. Well, well, I love it, dude. We are uh I think we did pretty good here. I I you know, for our first uh I'm kind of looking at where we're at. I don't know how many minutes we're in, but it seems about right.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Yeah, this is awesome. I love I love I'm I keep looking down at my little screen there just because I feel like the background looks good.

Live Show Dreams And Road Trip Snacks

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Your background looks good. You got it really lined up. I got a backwards poster behind me, but that's whatever. I was thinking about doing it from uh from the cedar, but this is just kind of where where I was when we were able to time it right today because you guys are so busy chasing around those those kiddos. Um, but yeah, so uh, you know, I had a Ken's and I did the thing this morning. You'll see that on this uh one. So this is gonna be a pretty unique episode. We have to talk too. Are we gonna do another episode next week before we uh wind up and take a couple week break? One more, maybe do 16.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

I think we probably should when I can get back. We'll we'll do another standard episode in the studio there.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

All right. I think we do that, and then uh we'll take a two-week break. And then I think we start to talk about bringing some folks on, doing some uh having some guests. And then the other thing I'd like to do, and I think it'd be cool as heck, to do a live bar pod uh in studio when the bar is open so people can ask questions and become part of it. I think that's it. That's what we do in the future.

SPEAKER_04 34:38

I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 34:39

Um I think it'd be a blast.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

I live this is actually pretty cool. I'm not gonna lie. This starts like being our first uh remote episode. I think it's going pretty well. I wish I could I could kind of grab the camera around because there's people walking everywhere. Pretty little active place down here.

SPEAKER_03 34:53

I saw Tiger Woods walk by in the background. He wasn't driving. He's hammered.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

He's hammered.

SPEAKER_03 34:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:58

He's hammered. Well, what I had another funny thing. Um, you know how it is. It's I've I've been chasing kids around, which is it's so much fun, but I'm like, my head's going a million dollars.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Yeah, well, I'm the same way today. Moving back. This is a weird, it's weird to do this uh remotely like this because we have never done it. So we'll see how it turns out. I don't we're gonna give it a whirlwell. This might look really we might have to do it all over again. It says it's recording, but we'll see when it's all done.

SPEAKER_04 35:20

I got a little, you know how we like to do um little uh little kind of funny segments. We've got our favorite bar segment. Yeah. Um we've been having my budget segment lately.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

Oh, yeah, you got something.

SPEAKER_04 35:30

No, I've got nothing for that. Just I guess don't don't drive uh 13 hours because right now, because that's not budget friendly at all.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

Yeah, those gas prices had to hurt a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

Okay, let me let me let me and this is I didn't have this in the notes. You know what I want. This is a good little thing. You you travel a lot. Um we've been traveling a lot lately with the kids. A little tiny miniature travel thing, travel hacks per se. Or just something that you like to do while you're traveling. Road trip edition for me. What you got? You ready for this? If I get uh we've brought up we've brought up before if you get a little sleepy, you pull some nose hairs.

SPEAKER_03 36:04

Yeah, nose hairs work, open the window, stick your head out.

SPEAKER_04 36:09

You want to stay hydrated. This is something I always do on road trips. I love to eat grapes on a road trip. I don't I don't know what it is. It they keep you uh they keep you busy, you stay hydrated with them.

SPEAKER_03 36:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_03 36:21

I'm gonna up the game on that.

SPEAKER_04 36:23

Let me hear it. Let me hear.

SPEAKER_03 36:24

Freeze those grapes first. Uh you know what? I've seen that. That's a that's a move. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:29

I'm a big sunflower seed guy too. I'll roll in, I'll get a cup from a gas station, then just pop sunflower seeds the whole time.

SPEAKER_03 36:35

That's a great move. I'm too, I'm too uh too uh worried about getting sunflower seeds between the seats, so I can't I can't do that.

SPEAKER_04 36:41

My car, our car's completely gone anyway. So yeah, you're done.

National Beer Day And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_03 36:44

You don't have to worry about that. There's just fluids everywhere. There's boogers on the yeah, there's buggers on the window. You're you're you're good. There's not boogers on the window, but there's stuff. Well, uh McKenzie, uh, we talked about this. She's leaving for vacation tonight, as a matter of fact. I'm gonna by the way, today's National Beer Day, just so you know. So I'm glad you're enjoying one. Uh but she's leaving for vacation tonight's gone to Gatlinburg, and um and uh she's also I'm jealous, I'm not so much jealous about the Gatlinburg part. I don't know. I mean, it seems like uh might not be my style, but uh it is in the smoky uh uh national park and um national forest. I think that's gonna be beautiful. So I'm a little jealous that she's going on that, but I am busy uh worrying about concrete being poured and the level of the slope on the concrete to make sure that the water pours off into the grass at the right level so we don't have puddles and um uh rebar in the plumbing and uh yeah, those sort of things. So that's where uh that's where what's going on uh with me. And uh I'm glad everybody else is having some fun and I'm gonna continue to grind over here.

SPEAKER_04 37:44

I'll be I'll be back, I'll be back in about six days.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

No, I'm just the good news is I uh you know I was planning on going, so I am not working Saturday, not bartending Saturday. I'm gonna be here just checking out some things. But um, yeah, it's Tuesday, it's National Beer Day, and so uh yeah, drink some beer. Everybody everybody reach for one at some point today. Everybody to reach for one, and uh yeah, you guys have some fun down there, and I'm sure we'll I'm sure we'll get some the family chat, we'll get some good picks of the kids. You guys have some good time. Hopefully, the weather is a little better for you. But you're just sitting outside and I see palm trees, so that ain't bad.

SPEAKER_04 38:16

Things are green. Uh I I got a beer in my hand, I'm with my fam. I've got the kids around. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 38:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:22

Um, I can't wait to see what this looks like. This is the first time I won't really know what the podcast looks like until it's done because you you've got Kenzie on.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

Yeah, so she's gonna. I'm gonna try to edit this tonight. So it'll be up tonight at some point. So if you're seeing this, it's either gonna be late Tuesday night or Wednesday when you can download it. Um yeah, we got some good weather. I think we're cold for the next couple days and we got some good weather coming in uh for the weekend. So we're rocking.

SPEAKER_04 38:46

Episode 14 coming up at you.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

Episode 14. We're gonna do one more um after this, and then uh yeah, we're taking a little break and then we'll be back. So we will see you next week. Chad, you guys have fun. I'll see you soon. Sounds good. All right.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Later.