Welcome back to another episode of Turning the

Table, sponsored by Benchmark 60.

Turning the Table is the most progressive weekly pod cast for today's food and

beverage industry, featuring staff centric operating solutions for restaurants in

the hashtag new hospitality culture.

My name is Adam Lamb and I am a career coach for chefs and

hospitality professionals.

I would like to introduce you to my cohost Jim Taylor, Benchmark 60, but

alas, he is somewhere out in California, out on a golf course, believe it or not.

But how many times in your life do you actually get to play Pebble Beach?

Right, . This is episode one 12.

Seasonal Challenges for Restaurant Operator.

In a moment we'll talk about how you can be better prepared for

those seasonal slumps that seem to catch us all off guard every year.

Even though we know where they're coming, we can often have a smug sense of

satisfaction that we've got this quarter clocked counting on holiday hell week to

get our numbers where they need to be.

Still, just as we start to pat ourselves on the back for being titans of industry,

the deep down, we all hope we are.

A cold front comes down from Canada a month and a half early and all of a.

Our October p and l looks just like our January and we start panicking but

more of that after our shameless plug.

We ask that you share the show with someone you care about who can

find this information useful and leave a review cuz it always helps.

Now, even though we don't have Jim we do happen to have a surprise guest,

which kind of just waiting for her to show up in the green room you know,

our luxurious green room with, you know, the stuffed and the hot tub.

But until then, I wanna get kind of cracking into some of these questions.

So first thing is, what causes seasonal spikes in labor costs?

You know, I am in Asheville and North Carolina right now, and for the last

four days it has been unseasonably cold, got our asses cracked really good.

Shamefully, I must admit it was about nine o'clock at night and I was out

in the backyard trying to empty my one person hot tub because the pump had gone

earlier in the year and I'd forgotten about it, but I knew that if I left

it there, it was gonna get down to 24.

And those PVC pipes don't do very well, in the cold.

So needless to say, I think it caught us all off guard.

And what a great topic to have.

And a little goose in the ass to get us going.

Now, here in Asheville, we actually have four seasons in our in our calendar

year, especially for restaurants and hotels, which they feast off the fourth

season, which is, you know, a couple weeks ago when all the leaves started turning.

It was absolutely gorgeous.

As a matter of fact, even last week it was, you know, 60, 65,

72, and just gorgeous outside.

It was a great excuse to be outside.

Lots of people on motorcycles.

Blue Ridge parkways usually jammed up pretty well.

People kind of gawing at all the leaves now.

I'd spent 25 years previously in Florida in Fort Lauderdale, and we got to be

so good at charting the year that you could almost set a calendar by it.

So we knew that there'd be a small slump for the first two weeks of September when.

Last week of oct, or last week of August, first week of September when everybody

went back to school and everybody's kind of getting back into their own lives.

But surely, you know, towards the end of September, October, people starting coming

out, doing a little bit of traveling and the numbers start picking back up again.

And that kind of cruises just like that.

A little bit of a peak, little bit of peak, little bit of a

rise right towards Christmas.

And then as I.

Holiday hell week when you just gotta hold on for dear life

between Christmas and New Year's.

Now that's a really crazy way to build a p and l, especially when

most of us are on calendar years.

And so that's the end of our year as well.

So anything like a cold snap, unseasonable weather, torrential rains, , hurricanes.

It really, really throws a wrench in our financial liberties, and I

remember quite well having kind of this knee jerk reaction and pulling

way, way, way, way back because again, we're all managing under labor costs.

The great thing about Benchmark 60 and its revolutionary productivity

metric is that it can show you.

Within one or two tenths of a percent, what's the sweet spot?

Because when you cut back too far, now all of a sudden you're losing

these opportunities to really capture money left on the table.

Meaning that if you're sufficiently staffed on the floor, then that

guest is gonna get a second cocktail.

He's gonna be toured through the menu appropriately and

and be able to kind of re.

The benefit of having a nice leisurely dinner.

And when you're understaffed, not only are people getting stacked up at the

back or at the front, I should say, but by the time they get in the table,

get to the table, then it's a rush job.

And what's actually happening there is losing all opportunities to expand

the guest check or the customer spend.

Nobody will ever, ever, ever be able to save themselves.

To success if you're not managing the top line, doesn't matter

what you do with the bottom line.

And I should know, cause I had some of the craziest operation managers,

one of which Ronnie Ager from Chicago, one of the, one of the most

dynamic guys I ever worked with.

But as the service staff used to come through the kitchen door, the.

Because the air was unbalanced cuz we had all the hoods going.

It would blow all the cocktail napkin, softer trays, onto the floor and he

would run around trying to pick him up because he's like this, Seven senses,

it's 7 cents Now that's kind of an old school way to look at it, but it

really is kind of the focus of what are we doing with the small things.

Unfortunately, it's never ever as big as one.

Solution.

So Benchmark 60 is pretty unique in that they can be able to lay it off

so clearly that most operators that we show this solution to come up with

all kinds of crazy ideas and how to be able to optimize this opportunity.

And it's not like they're putting that money back in their pocket.

Our experience has been is that a lot of these operators who

live through the pandemic in the shutdown, just like all of.

probably wondering like, how can I do something nice for my staff?

How can I get, keep them engaged?

And maybe they were wondering about how they were gonna afford

healthcare or mental healthcare.

And now all of a sudden it seems very, very clear to them

that this is an opportunity.

And so when that metric goes a little bit higher, when the productivity is higher,

it's, you know, you don't have to be in the facility to know that everybody

worked really, really, really hard.

and.

For good or ill, There's only so much that folks are gonna be able to take of that.

The ones that came back to the industry after the pandemic found an environment

where people were rushing into the restaurants because they wanted to be

connected emotionally with one another, which is great, but they're also the

operators who wanted to kind of optimize.

That opportunity and would open up, , would open up the restaurant

full even though they didn't have the staff to manage it.

Because again, it's this kind of short sighted thoughts around

budgeting for these particular times.

So it really behooves us to be able to kind of step back and use

a very, very clear eye, not only.

To try to gauge what our opportunity is for revenue maximization, but also

how much can our staff really take?

Right.

And I know there's more questions about this, but I wanted to bring

on a very dear friend, someone who I have been connected with for a

long time and who my support 100%.

And that would be Chef Maria.

Hey,

this is like live action.

I'm here live at, actually one of our cookbook contributors, our Faces., so

it's a Corco small oven in Philadelphia.

Yeah.

How cold is it in Philadelphia right now?

I love the, I love the scarf by way.

Well, scar

going on.

I'm feeling the cold.

I got my flannel working.

Yeah.

It's a little chilly, but we're feeling the fall for sure.

I, you and I had.

had gotten connected again just a, a week or so ago, and you had something very

special that you wanted to talk about.

I don't wanna lose the thread of our conversation because I think you have

a lot to add because not only are you a very talented educator Yeah.

community builder.

But you're also a heck of a consultant, so I, I know that you so I'm gonna

want, I'm gonna want to know before we end, you know, what you would do,

like, what would be your prescription that maybe some operators who are,

who are watching this, you know, maybe gain a couple insights that they can.

Walk right back into their operation.

So, absolutely.

I mean, I know that you are doing amazing stuff to really get it in the points that

people are not really catching, right?

They're kind of missing some of these marks to retain their staff, keep their

folks, and, and you know, we both care deeply about the restaurant industry.

The workers themselves on project work that I'm doing is going, How can

I, as a couple of people myself, my husband, who's a chef by trade mm-hmm.

say, How can we help these individuals?

And we know there's staffing shortages as you're mentioning.

People are leaving in droves and, but there are people that

deeply care about this and stay.

And for us as Cooks who care founder here Yep.

Working on providing benefits to individuals.

I'm gonna tell you what, I've been trying to tackle this healthcare

situation since six years ago.

Oh, I know you have.

It's too, too big of a beast to go directly to the

healthcare companies I've tried.

Right.

And I haven't been able to succeed.

What I have been able to do is to figure out the infrastructure

to set up a community fund.

And how that works is through the sale of our community cookbook, which the

owner of this establishment, Chad Durkin, participated with a recipe

and 100% of the proceeds can actually pay forward mental health service

access to people who are in industry.

So, hey, I'm a worker.

I need assistance for addiction recovery, right?

Oh, I wanna see a counselor more than one time a month cuz I can't

afford to, or, you know, I need access to a prescription medication.

I mean, and go, You know what?

I don't know if I should eat well this month.

Right?

I have to pay that first.

Right?

And they can go, Hey, let us help you with that.

And the cool thing is my friend Chef Adam Lamb I just found out something

that blew my mind because once we get this cookbook off the ground,

we're starting in Philly right now, Southern New Jersey area, right?

I can scale.

To different cities all across the United States where anybody who can

raise a certain amount can have an independent fund for their location.

That's fantastic.

Who care?

So, so for, I'm excited.

I, I can tell it's coming off you and, and rightfully so, but I think it would

really serve our listeners to perhaps.

Context.

Yeah.

You and I bumped into one another and at ACF conference.

Yeah, I, I was getting ready to go in and do my presentation and your door

was open just a little bit and I was catching your conversation a little

bit, so much so that I forgot I was late getting into my and then made

a point to come in and say hello.

And that's kind of the way it started.

And so why don't you kind of give our listeners and our viewers a kind of a

snapshot of how you transitioned in the industry to actually focus on community.

Oh

my gosh, yes.

I mean, I think as a chef we are all activists in our own ways because we're

constantly giving the charities, we're constantly the epicenters of community.

Mm-hmm.

as first, during that pandemic, where did the guests wanna go?

They wanted to go to their favorite restaurants.

So this, this was something I think You know, after meeting you, we had a

harmony at heart and you didn't wanna leave because we were, at that time

I was talking about millennials and I was talking about bridging young people

into the conversation and the fold.

We often underestimate our teens, especially in their youth.

It used, there used to be a time where apprenticeship was a thing and

we actually brought people in, drove.

Cause we spent time to train.

We don't have time for that anymore.

I mean, I barely see an internship that's actually doing some

good work to train somebody.

And so I've been working even with clients to kind of set the stage of like, how are

we going to intentionally bring up people?

Correct.

How are we going to intentionally share what is gonna help them grow?

And because we've imparted know.

From ourselves.

Right?

Right.

So as an educator, I feel like I am constantly teaching.

I'm constantly sharing that information.

I've learned over the years, it's not mine to keep.

Right.

And so if it's, I believe it is our responsibility to

pay forward that knowledge.

And instead of just being in your everyday to day, looking at your bottom

line, I, I say that is important.

But if we are going to keep our people what's not on the bottom line, how people

feel if they're happy to be with us.

And how long that they've stayed.

You know, how we're interviewing people, how are we looking at resumes even,

you know, it's like there's gonna be gaps all over the place of what kind of

biases do we have, you know, that are preventing us from actually not just

retaining our people, but attracting the right folks and bringing 'em up.

Yeah.

I think I think one of the biggest failings that I've experienced You

know, the one critical act that every restaurateur can do a better job

at is onboarding their employees.

It's, and I had the luxury of working at a upscale retirement community

here in Nashville for two years.

You know, I got to bring my entire bag of ideas, like, Okay, I've been working

on this for years now I'm gonna be able to, like, it was my laboratory.

And the one thing that we did that was by far the most impactful

was, is we created a half.

, we called it day two orientation because HR would do their orientation,

which is like, sign all these.

And then the second day they came down and we spent a half a day in a, in a room.

Going over, like doing silly stuff like like showing the Phish video going over

the missions, the why's, like really trying to connect them to the values

of what we stand for in hopes that they were actually aligned to that and

everybody who went through that process.

I had a tenure that outlived me.

Let's put it, they were still there when I left.

Mm-hmm.

. So I know that that's like one of the top two reasons why a lot

of people leave their present.

Employment is just communication or lack thereof.

And so if there's no framework for which that to occur, and I, and I'm

a big systems guy, so I figure that, you know, if we have some guardrails

in place, and some boundaries, then it can be a good thing.

But what caused you to start Cooks Who Care and give us a kind of give us an

idea of what Cooks For Care stands for.

Yeah, I mean, I started it because after being 15 years in the

industry and seeing all of the, the, the dirty laundry, so to speak, and and

just treatment of others I think that being too busy for our personal lives

has caused some harm to our mental.

And if we were waiting on the journey to reach our goals and

then look back in our lives and say, What did I do along the way?

Oh, right.

You might have gotten distracted.

. Right.

I, I've met a lot of people in the industry that spent 15 plus

years dedicated to the industry, and then they were trying to

dedicate time to their family.

Right.

It's like, well, couldn't we have done something about being

intentional and finding balance?

If we all accept.

That, that part of our lives is just as important as the

goals we're trying to reach.

Right, Right.

I, I felt bad for.

To be honest, that many people would stand up and say that if I were to

be successful, that pitcher looks like this and it means, mm-hmm.

I've worked 90 hours a week, I've abandoned my family.

I've reached success goals that people should be proud of.

The bottom lines and the percentages that I've been able to maintain.

But at the end of the day, my life is crap.

My family doesn't talk to me, and I have zero relationships

with friends and family.

Oh boy.

And.

I think that seeing that over and over that pattern and, you know,

drug addiction, people losing mm-hmm.

lives, you know, I mean, this is, I find that there are no more individuals.

Are more passionate about what they do than the food industry, right?

They do it for the reasons they express.

Those moments they create, they will sacrifice their entire lives for it.

I have complete respect for that, but at the same time I thought, Isn't there

something culturally wrong with that?

Like, can I have respect for somebody that's a mom and hustling on her

own, or a dad that has kids and is taking care of 'em and doing what

they do, or is in a relationship with a partner and maintaining that

and is successful in their career?

Like I think we've been missing the picture of the circle of

wellness and how we take care of ourselves for a sustainable future.

Mm-hmm.

, that's what made me wanna start cooks.

And

you know, that that whole idea about sustainability is so

powerful because you know, anybody who's been has any grounding and

economics has gotta understand that with limited resources, you know,

there can only be so much expansion.

There can only be so much unhindered growth.

And I think one of the great things that Covid did was, and, and the

pandemic shutdown, was it thin, the.

Folks who were out there, you know, kind of on a wing and a prayer, you know,

trying to string something together for the pure profit motive, you know,

they got stripped out and so it's okay.

There doesn't have to be hundreds and hundreds of restaurants or, you know,

several restaurants doing the same thing.

My, my coaching is, you know, at this point now we all need a

niche down and get so specific.

So you started Cooks Who Care, which I thought.

It's really interesting way to do it because it's not like you came out

and said we're gonna aggregate you know, we're gonna just deal

with mental health and wellness, like a lot of other organizations out

there and, and, and doing great work.

But you focused it around community building.

Mm-hmm.

, like bringing everybody together.

I was fortunate enough to be able to come up to Philly for

an event, Couldn't believe how.

, you know, restaurant folks were in one building.

And it's such amazing thing because it's so easy to get siloed in your operation.

Yes.

I mean, I know I did.

And when you were talking about, you know, the things that we sometimes well

that all of us make a bargain for I like, you know, I am guilty as charged.

I, there was a large portion of my time when I was not around

because I thought that I needed to reach a certain level financially.

So I could take care of my children, even though that meant I couldn't be around

them, which was the stupidest . Like my daughters didn't give a shit about

the, you know, about the new shiny toy.

The thing that they wanted most was my time.

Right.

And I don't know how I fucking lucked out, but you know, they, after

spending their entire dir entire lives in, You know, they now live

an hour away from me in Tennessee.

Wow.

That's amazing,

chef.

It is, it is.

And it's been a reinvigoration of, of relationships that I had worried

that, you know, had run its course.

So speak to me about what it's like to build community and, and

what that, what, what benefit that.

Other than addressing, say, drug a.

directly.

I, I love this, I love this point, and thank you for that question.

I need to let everybody know that when Chum came up to Philadelphia, okay,

for this event that was at the Bonham Brothers restaurant, which is a big

restaurant group here in Philadelphia, and what he did was he was our guest

speaker, and we had, I don't know maybe 60 plus individuals in the room

that were in the restaurant industry, and Adam commanded the room just by.

Grabbing that microphone and resonated with everyone.

And you wanna know why?

It's because of your honesty.

Mm-hmm.

, It's because of your directness and your candid nature to just speak truth.

People's heads were like looking down and when Adam was speaking,

everyone's like, What is going on?

Like, well, there was community.

Go ahead.

You know, community is all part of that.

There

there was, there was some great food there.

. Yeah, there

was.

There was some great food.

Great food great experience.

And I think that that feeling, right?

Mm-hmm.

, it's how we feel about what we do.

Like we're creatives, okay?

We can't, we're not robots, although robots are infiltrating our

restaurants, there is a whole energy behind the people that do this work.

You gotta be freaking crazy, right?

Okay.

Right.

In some way, shape, or form, you.

An intensity that says I wanna do this and give myself whatever

representation that is to someone else through a form of service.

Mm-hmm.

. And to me, there, there's only certain people that do that.

And when you are in a room of 60 plus people that do the

same freaking thing, right.

There's an energy you cannot replicate.

. That's why community is so important to me because people needed to

feel, you know, the energy of others who were doing the same thing.

Mm-hmm.

. Cause I could be in my, you know, four walls.

This, here I am in Portco small, and then, you know, these guys don't leave here.

They, they go to work and they, they, they go home.

Right.

You know?

So I knew that.

And because even during the pandemic, we were serving food to mm-hmm.

individuals, I literally loaded up my car.

Medical marijuana company, Ale Healthcare actually gave us money when

we weren't even a nonprofit, Right.

And said, We wanna help you in your cause.

I bought 100 meals from eight locations in Philly and.

The community piece, which I'm threading through right, Was I, I bought those

meals, put it in my car, and actually Park codes was part of that too.

Here, , and then I giving people Right.

I, I, I resonate with giving people like yourself mm-hmm.

. So when I did that, it was during the time when Philadelphia

was gonna shut down for Covid.

Right.

And it was thank right before than.

Shitty.

Okay.

Right.

I remember that time period as being just one of the goosebump rising experiences

for me because there was people smoking cigarettes on front steps, you know,

not having service people like come in.

There was Right individuals that I dropped off lunch from Pocos to them

and they were like I can't remember the last time somebody bumped me lunch.

Right.

people crying because it was right before Thanksgiving and like, what am I

gonna do to get money for the holidays?

Right.

It's shitty.

Right?

And so the community part is important because while, especially when they

were isolating at that time, everyone's like, I didn't know my neighbors

getting the same meal I am today.

Oh, I didn't know the restaurant down the street was doing the same thing.

Like, Oh, thank you.

Like some people were like, You're doing God's work.

, I think.

A feeling right of us just being connected.

I was like, this is staff meal, community staff meal.

And people just felt like, okay, we're, we're being brought together.

And I, I think like think of just even with food we gather, I think it's an

essential element to the work we do.

I could, I couldn't agree more.

Like I think that you were ahead of the curve at, at, in this particular

approach because it came to.

In my particular focus around shifting the old, you know, hospitality culture.

Yeah.

It seemed to me, Well, let me back up a little bit.

There was a, there was a, I wish I remembered the guy's name, but he did

this, he did this rat park exercise where he basically in a clinical

environment got, had rats who were.

Was taking sips of their water bottle that had laced with I think opioids.

And what happened is these, these rats all just kind of went into their own

corners and continued to drink the water.

And then when he put those same rats in a park-like environment in community

with other rats, they most often made a dec, made a choice to be with the other

rats as opposed to drinking that water.

Now I'm not saying.

That, that's, you know, a cure all for addiction, because I know in my own

particular case, when I was, you know, troubled and addicted to opioids, I, I

didn't wanna do anything except hide out.

I didn't wanna be around anybody else.

Mm-hmm.

. And so when people would try to go meet into like, no, no, no, come

out, I would most often push off because of my own shame and regret.

But I also get that without that type of connection mm-hmm.

things probably wouldn't have gotten that far.

Yeah.

So it seems to me that while most operators and I'm including myself,

focus on the outside community as being the, the ones that are most important

to the ones that they need to connect to, whether they're making TikTok

videos or, or you know, talking to 'em.

It's that's it.

Shane, look at you, man.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

Shane said, Dr.

Bruce Alexander.

The Rat Park study was done here in Vancouver at ubc.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yep.

That should an operator decide to shift and give equal, equal time and attention

to the internal community within his o operation, his or her operation.

And this doesn't have to be, you know, the owner or, or the, the,

this could be the chef or the front of the house manager to connect

everybody to sh a set of shared values.

Yeah, which is what any community's about.

Then that's probably the first step to shifting the culture

because you know, as well as I, It's all happening elbow to elbow.

It's not a poster on the wall or anything.

So, no, the question is, is how do you get everybody agreed

to the same set of values?

Cuz everybody's gonna have their own opinion and yet focus on this idea

that we are, we're not a family, we're a team, but we're also a community.

And from that standpoint, let that grow.

And that's why I thought your particular.

Focus on the community was so revolutionary and I didn't get it

until a couple years later cuz I remember calling you and saying,

Okay, so how do you build a community?

Yeah, yeah.

Enough.

Like, can you

gimme the roadmap?

Yeah, exactly.

And I think aligning your values, you're right on it.

When you can align values, then we can share in the community.

Mm.

And so that doesn't happen until you lay that groundwork first.

Right.

There's something people identify with.

Somebody might see themselves or someone they know or resonate or relate.

And I, I can't build community until people see that bigger picture.

Sure.

I think that works in any organization.

You are your independent self with your own experiences and.

You know, what you've gone through in your life an identity that makes you, you.

And when we have just a sliver of overlap where something, a string in

me and a string in you goes, Oh, that connects, you stop in that ACF room.

We, we talk all throughout the years of us going on our own journeys.

It's because we overlap on a value.

Right.

You know, we care about people and we're not afraid to put

ourselves out there to tell people

about it.

That's so true.

I'm always so invigorated by your enthusiasm, and I know how hard you work,

Maria, and I know that your challenge throughout this entire experience

is about how to channel some of that back inside to your own self care.

But before I go there, I, I wanted you to talk specifically.

Okay.

So why a cookbook?

What's its purpose?

Yep.

How can we.

Yes, the cookbook is a vessel of transformation, . I, I was

like, started in January, I should say.

I was afraid to ask our community because I didn't wanna burden

everyone with more shit, right?

Like, everybody's already got their own stuff.

So I, I put a, an ask out to the community.

Would people be interested in contributing a recipe to a community cookbook?

28 people said yes.

. I was like, Right.

We're make, We're making a cookbook.

There we go.

I had a partner with Eric Lovett, Jr.

Who's 100% volunteered his time to film.

Mm-hmm.

in 4k.

Like we had four location, like doors just kept opening and opening because

I said, I found the foundational tool.

I can start an account to pay forward mini grants right away.

So that, which by the way took Sue care was gonna get denied for my

non-profit status, which led me on that journey really one week before

my application was going to expire.

Okay.

Amazing.

I was in a three month courting process with tcf or GCF helps.org.

They are our fiscal sponsor now, and they said We're gonna sign with you.

First, I said, I only have two grand.

What can I do with it?

. Second, they said you are the only person making impact in the community right now.

People have budgets and they have money, and they have this whole thing.

And they go, You're doing the work.

We already know there's a need.

And so they signed me on and then my husband and I went to

their event where now we can write off donations and I don't have.

Tell everybody we don't exist anymore.

So , I feel I'm serving our purpose.

I said, If, if I'm not supposed to do this, stop me.

Right?

Right.

So that's, that's where I am with all of this right now.

But because I had community champion behind me mm-hmm.

, we were able to connect the infrastructure for setting up these accounts and

then have the, the cookbook be the way to connect the customer.

How many times have we said the customers don't understand what we're going through?

Sure.

They don't identify what the service we had.

And I thought that was one missing element that I've, I've struggled with over the

years is not connecting with industry, it's been connecting with the customer.

Yep.

So the, the vessel, the physical entity, it'll be a digital book

and we're working hard to get a digital print book ready by December.

But I would say that the customer, it's.

Entertaining for mental health.

. Excellent.

So we're, we're, we're keeping it light.

All of these individuals that shared either a drink, a

mocktail an entertaining recipe.

It was all because we wanted to bring the customer into our lives, into

our world, meet us where we are.

Right?

And it's not just a recipe.

They get to see a video of how to make.

That's crazy.

It's like, here's our craft, here's what we do.

And they all shared a personal story about their own experiences.

So it's a unique book for sure.

But I thought the greatest way to make impact include the customer, include

the community, , and boom, help others

again, slightly ahead of the curb area,

About six months ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing, I think

about 60, 65 chefs as I was rebooting the podcast Chef Life Radio.

And I can't tell you, I mean, I think it was like 90, 95% of those that I spoke to.

One of the most predominant things that was up for them to talk about 'em in

that particular moment was this feeling of being unappreciated by the guests.

Yes.

They also had the other part of it where they were feeling underappreciated,

you know, by their employers.

But what really chapped their ass was the idea that the guests

had no had no conception of what they were going through.

And I think, you know me well enough to know that I've always said, like, Look,

if you're, if you're expecting anybody to understand how much you put in, you

know, you're standing there for a while.

I and I get at that particular point, the emotionality of the release and the desire

for connection was so strong that yeah, they probably didn't think very much.

And I know from all the accounts that we've seen and heard of in

the papers and on news reports of like people acting very, very badly.

Yes.

And and I thought, Goddammit, that's brilliant, Maria.

Get them bought in so they have some conception of what's going.

Exactly.

A little bit of the dust is settled now.

Well, well done.

So how can we support this effort?

Because, because the proceeds are going to what?

The, the community fund.

So there, and it's called community.

It's a community fund.

I didn't know that they existed.

They, they exist and I was able to recreate this infrastructure with

the help of our fiscal sponsor.

So there's a couple of different ways.

Obviously when the book comes out, people can buy it.

Right.

The other is that I, I have to get this book print.

Right?

And I'm saying that the energy that I'm pushing between now and

November 7th is super important because I will have the digital book.

I've already fundraised for that, right?

We've got it right away, honestly supported by industry members.

I'm, I'm so amazed once we'll have that ready for December, right?

But guess what?

I could by November 7th, cuz I have to prepay for the book.

Right?

And if you think about all these companies have raised like millions

of fricking dollars and they don't even have an idea in the world of

what they're gonna do with the money.

Right?

And know what I'm gonna do with the money.

I'm gonna buy the book, and then we're gonna grow the fund for holiday

sales because buy the holidays.

How many people are gonna wanna give a cookbook to somebody?

and put it in a present, put it under, you know, in their

homes and, you know, and the double bonus says that, hey,

it's, it's a 5 0 1 3 C nonprofit and yep, it's for a good cause.

Now wait a second.

Are you asking for support around getting the book printed?

Like is there anybody in our network?

Yeah, so I'm just gonna put it right up.

Absolutely.

I'm just gonna put it out right here in the chat.

And in the show notes if anybody has any leads or connections for print.

Cookbooks, which we all know is not an easy thing.

We

have a printer, I just gotta pay for it.

So I'm raising, I'm raising 24 grand.

I've already raised three.

Actually more than that because I talked to a few people today.

I, I need to raise $19,000 more to get to my goal by November 7th.

And there's a couple ways people could do it.

Portion of proceeds, events at their.

And then just donate a percentage of sales to Cook Secure to kick this off.

Or they can actually get a direct link in our, in, be in the book

and digital how to videos with a direct link to their business and

or organization by sponsoring $500.

Okay.

And that's, that's the way we're connecting the community.

We're kicking it off.

Where can people go to get more information about this?

I mean, I, I'm, I'm jotting down my notes as quick as I can.

But you threw that $500.

I'm like, Oh my God, that, that would be fantastic.

Right?

Yeah.

And so, You're looking for partnership to get the book produced and

there's various ways to do that.

Where can they get more information?

I would say right now go to our Instagram at KSU Care.

We're working on getting the up the update for the website.

It's slower on that area, but Instagram is updated right away so they can get

more information about it right there.

And it's

Cook and Facebook and it's Cook who?

It's Instagram slash cook who?

Correct.

Wait a second, I'm gonna put that around.

Mm-hmm.

. Mm-hmm.

. Mm-hmm.

. Maria Campbell: You'll see our thermometer

You know, from area businesses who are supporting such as High Street

Hospitality, the Binum Brothers group.

You know, we're, we're so grateful for these energies.

Tattooed moms, a couple restaurants in our area and including one in Ohio.

That's fantastic.

I, So the word is already getting out and the deadline is for.

November 7th.

I know it's tight.

Well, we gotta, Oh my gosh.

Now if, if we can't get it done, no one can get it done.

And and on Facebook, I know that there's a Cook Who Care community.

There's, but there's also a Cook Who Care Facebook group, right?

Forward facing.

Yes, there

is.

Yep.

Yep.

Okay.

Fantastic.

I wanna make sure that I put that in there.

And I also put contact information for you in case they wanna get

ahold of you directly, cuz who knows?

There may be somebody who wants to come out and just write a big old fat check.

That would be fantastic, wouldn't it?

Chef?

This would be amazing because once we do this structure

then we can replicate this everywhere.

So that's, that's really what I'm standing behind.

I I, I, I always laugh when I'm like, Oh, this guy raised like, you know, $2

million and, and they don't even know what they're gonna do with the money yet.

This is making impact right away.

And especially as I wanted to kick this off sooner because,

you know, we know seasonal depression is starting to kick in.

Yep.

The, you know, challenges during the holidays, it's not happy happiness for

everybody during this time of year.

And you know, we had a few people last year that, that committed suicide,

unfortunately during the holidays.

And you know, I'm trying to see, we can make impact as early as December and

I'm trying to push for that to help more.

Perfect.

I commend you.

I'm always as I said invigorated and ready to jump back in.

And it's, you know, it's just crazy because again, you know,

you seem to be ahead of the curve.

and maybe, maybe we've had the same experiences either like

feeling like you're like seven and a half minutes ahead of your time.

, . Maria Campbell: I always

Yeah.

Well, that's because we're time travelers and we're never, ever,

ever where we're supposed to be.

So Maria, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show.

This has been really en.

I know we didn't talk about seasonal challenges, but you know, to, Do you

have a word that, or a thought for those operators out there who perhaps haven't

prepared themselves enough from a p and l standpoint to deal with cold snaps?

I mean, not everybody can hold off until, you know, holiday hell week in

order to get the revenue going, so yes.

What, what can somebody do right

now?

I love your suggestions of how you can be accommodating, like with the half days.

Mm-hmm.

. I think that because burnout is real mm-hmm.

as far as what the holidays and people will go through, we gotta think about our

own steam, the steam of others, right.

There's even good things that you could do even before you go to work.

Like maybe everyone takes a walk, like, you know, for half a mile before they

get started and maybe they take that coffee break before the shift starts and.

We're doing something unique or we are, I know Pocos does this often

where they'll collaborate with a neighboring organization to get lunch.

You know, so that way it's not just your own staff meal.

And I know it gets busy, we.

, we gotta be weary of that word, busy in how we use it.

Mm-hmm.

And to say, Could I spend 30 minutes walking down the

street with my team outside?

Yes, you can.

Okay.

I, I think that 30 minutes, just like your one-on-ones, like maybe

even doing something is just as useful as being in a private room

with them saying, How are you doing?

Oh, I think, how

are things?

Everything's selling.

I think it can be much more impactful.

The other point about that is like, I was thinking that you'd give them some

type of business advice in, in regards to like how they could manage their

p and l for the rest of the quarter.

Oh, sure.

But what you are actually talking about is there's always gonna be

stress during these holidays anyway, whether we've done it to themselves

or the situation we find ourselves.

And for those of us who love this industry so much that

we just keep coming back, we.

Let ourselves get taken out.

So by taking the time to self nurture, by taking care of ourselves, maybe we're

showing up differently emotionally at work and maybe not so stressed out.

Because as we both know, you know, ain't no, ain't no miracles

happening when you're stressed, , no.

And is your face look like this when you like walk in?

Do you look miserable?

You know, and you're like this, You're not even making eye contact,

Are you like smiling at people?

Literally just look.

And like make facial expressions because I've heard from staff members going, Oh,

I feel like my boss is like really upset.

Or maybe there's something I did.

They're really stressed, like, people pick up on your energy and

they're gonna take that energy.

So if you're not changing your attitude and everybody else,

you're not gonna be productive and you're not gonna make your numbers.

Great, great stuff.

I, and I, and I'm, I wanna put a pin in it right there because again, you

and I could just be here forever, but, We got, we got money to raise clearly.

Okay.

? Maria Campbell: Yeah.

Yep.

Chef Maria, thank you so very, very much.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming short notice because I know it wasn't easy to cover for our

good friend Jim Taylor of Benchmark 60.

But to those listeners have an epic week and we'll see you next week.

This is awesome.

Thank you,

Chef.