How an Oyster Truck Became Maplewood’s Hottest Restaurant

In this episode of Greetings from the Garden State, host Mike Ham sits down with Matthew Chappina, chef and founder of Perla Oyster Bar in Maplewood, New Jersey. What began as a mobile oyster truck has evolved into one of New Jersey’s most talked-about new restaurants, known for its raw bar, creative small plates, and vibrant atmosphere.

Matthew shares the story of how Perla grew from backyard oyster parties to a thriving food truck and eventually to a full-service restaurant. He discusses the challenges of launching a business during the pandemic, the creative influences behind the menu, and why hospitality and community are at the heart of Perla’s success.

Key topics covered:

• The revitalization of Maplewood’s dining scene
• How Matthew’s background in theater and creative writing shapes his culinary approach
• The transition from food truck to restaurant
• Lessons in adaptability, creativity, and small business growth
• The importance of hospitality and creating memorable customer experiences
• Future plans for Perla, including outdoor seating and private events

Perla Oyster Bar has quickly become a standout destination in Maplewood for oysters, tapas-style dishes, and a unique, communal dining experience.

For more about Perla Oyster Bar, visit eatperla.com or follow on Instagram at @eatperla.

Transcript

Mike Ham [0:00 - 0:25]: Foreign. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Greetings from the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm your host, Mike Ham. We are here in Maplewood, NJ today at Perla Oyster Bar with Matthew Chappina. Matthew, welcome to the show. 

Matthew Chappina [0:25 - 0:26]: Thanks for having me. 

Mike Ham [0:26 - 0:50]: Absolutely. So this is a cool little spot. Yeah, I mean I do think that we're also going to talk a little bit about kind of the surrounding area because we met definitely, that was definitely something we wanted to talk about. But just a cool spot in Maplewood that's kind of an up and coming area of the town. Right there's you guys here, there's a pizza place over here, there's a pasta shop over on the other side. Yeah, I mean there's some excitement around here for Maplewood. 

Matthew Chappina [0:50 - 1:40]: Definitely. It's a new corner of town in terms of business. It's a 100 year old building, so it's actually new. But all the businesses around here, it was, you know, if you step back a little bit. So the bread stand, which was owned by the same people from Arturos, former Arturos, now Arty's, that opened here, let's say I've been here about seven years, they opened right around that time. So that was the first new thing around here. And that was where cornerslice is now, which is like two doors down from here. So that really started it in this area and a slow, you know, slow kind of growth. They eventually closed because Arturo's and what was Breadstan joined together to be Artis. 

Mike Ham [1:40 - 1:40]: Okay. 

Matthew Chappina [1:40 - 3:59]: So he closed those two locations and created the one business, Artis, which is only two blocks away from here. Former like light manufacturing warehouse kind of space on Newark Way, which is a mixed use street that really kicked off sort of the renaissance around here in terms of business. The landlord bought these buildings. All the old commercial tenants were vacated around the corner. As you mentioned, the pasta shop, that's Porto Rosa. So it's a good friend of mine named Matt and he moved in there at this point, it's a little over a year ago. So that was the next thing that came in down here. And these spaces where we're sitting next door and form a bread stand, cleaned up vanilla boxed by the landlord and just sitting there waiting for the right concepts to come along. It was very clear he wanted food. Make a new food destination in Maplewood. Bring in like minded business owners with really cool, exciting new concepts. Nothing corporate. You know, we're all, I mean, I'm not from Jersey, but I've been Here a long time. We all live in Jersey, Some of us live in Maplewood. So it's like mom and pop, homegrown businesses. Yeah, that was really important too, for the identity. Yeah. So I don't want to jump ahead, but like, I started my truck business, which was the, you know, the preamble to where we're sitting. I started that in fall 23. I had met the landlord, we did some events at Artie's. So I knew the space was here. And at that point, it wasn't really the goal to have a restaurant. Yeah, we're here. This is all an accident. It's all been this weird organic evolution and kind of an accident. Really happy accident. So it wasn't really like the intention to open a restaurant version of what Perla was when it was the mobile version, private events company. But, you know, this, I, I just kind of, you know, as I started really thinking about it, it was like, you know, I can only be in one place at one time. Limited, limited. Like what I could do out of it. You know, they definitely did some big events and proud of everything that I was doing. But, you know, people only want you on like on a Friday evening. 

Mike Ham [3:59 - 3:59]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [3:59 - 4:17]: A Saturday, a Sunday. So. And it can only be in one place at one point. So I really started to know, think about it. And the idea started to brew. And about a year ago, a little more than a year ago, I approached him with the idea. Yeah, to open here, right? Yeah, yeah. 

Mike Ham [4:17 - 4:25]: So what? Let's just. For people that are listening. No, no, no, it's fine. I, I, I love it. So Perla Oyster Bar. I mean, obviously you sell oysters here. 

Matthew Chappina [4:25 - 4:26]: Yep, yep. 

Mike Ham [4:26 - 4:37]: What? I mean, there's other stuff that you do here as well. So let's just kind of take it 30, 000 foot view. What is Perla Oyster Bar here in this physical location. And we'll kind of get into the history and stuff of it. 

Matthew Chappina [4:37 - 5:38]: Yeah. So oysters are actually like technically two items on the menu, really just one, because it's raw and broiled. So it is an oyster bar because that's sort of the identifier, you know. And, you know, there's nothing new about an oyster bar. They've been around since, you know, 18th century, 19th century, you know, really common, right. In New York City. Those kinds of places, obviously, all on shore areas, like down the shore in Jersey, New England, that kind of thing. So, you know, I like the idea of the identity as an oyster bar, but having a much more expanded menu offerings. So we kind of Break it up into. The oyster bar is also sort of like the raw bar. Right. So there's clams done several different ways. We have shrimp cocktail, very classic, several different crudos. Really happy with this scallop dish that I put on a while ago that became a mainstay. Everything. Not everything. A lot of stuff had started specials, because it was all growing very organically. 

Mike Ham [5:38 - 5:40]: I realized exactly figuring out what works. 

Matthew Chappina [5:40 - 6:03]: And what's, you know, and how people are responding to everything. So slowly adding on things like that. The scallop dish, this tuna, this toro dish, that started doing as a special and was just a huge hit, like, lots of traction online, like on social media. People coming in because they saw it and really bringing in customers. So, you know, as a business owner, you start to recognize that stuff. You have. You have to be able to. 

Mike Ham [6:03 - 6:03]: Oh, yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [6:03 - 7:48]: If you don't see that stuff coming, then you're not going to be able to grow and evolve your business. And it goes the other way, too. Like, you see, like, what people aren't responding to. And you have to be willing to put aside ego, put aside whatever. Hey, a lot of hard work went into that. Whatever. No, none of that. You have to be willing to change and adapt in the moment. And that's how a lot of the menu has developed. So that's like the kind of the raw bar section, which I'm going to continue to grow. We've only been here about six months, so there's a lot of time to continue to add on. Yeah, we have a very small space here. The actual, like, quote unquote kitchen area. And the shucking station is very small. So have to be careful how much we're, like, throwing on there. Because there's obviously a lot of labor involved. There's like, the space. You don't have a lot of latitude. So we gotta be careful how much we're adding and taking off. Got to take it kind of a little slow. So I'm going to continue to grow that section of the menu. When I was conceptualizing this in terms of menu, wanting to identify it like a raw bar, oyster bar. So right away my mind goes to, well, okay, if you're. If you're going to go to one of those kinds of places, it's all about sharing. Right. You can go in, like, you know, you and Chrissy had come in that time. Right, Right. Sat at the bar. You're always going to have that kind of experience in a place like this, wherever you are sort of in the world, really, like this kind of place. So what else complements that style of dining? I never worked in a tapas restaurant or anything like that, but I like eating that way. I love the communal aspect. Shoulder to shoulder, you know, like you're in a tight space, you're meeting new people. 

Mike Ham [7:48 - 7:49]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [7:49 - 8:06]: Kind of lends itself to, you know, having a much more fun, casual experience. So. And I like juxtapositions. I love, you know, high and low, that kind of thing. So really great, high quality food executed at a really high level. 

Mike Ham [8:06 - 8:06]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [8:06 - 8:08]: But sort of delivered in a more casual setting. 

Mike Ham [8:08 - 8:08]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [8:08 - 8:30]: So I knew this was a small space going in wasn't, you know, no illusions about that. You can obviously make a, you know, regular sort of type restaurant in a small space. But like, well, how am I going to lay it out? How am I going to, you know, deliver? Like, what's the. What's really gonna. Like what's gonna be the point of view when you walk through the door? Just communal, you know? 

Mike Ham [8:30 - 8:30]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [8:31 - 8:52]: So support the raw bar menu with something that's a little bit more like a, you know, for lack of a better word, like a tapas style. I mean, the true sense, though, like, really reference points to Spain or bistro food that you'd find like in France or something like that, where you're going to go into these wine bars, those kinds of places, and chances are you could be on your feet. 

Mike Ham [8:52 - 8:53]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [8:53 - 9:04]: Or you're at a. You're at a stool like we are now. You're. You're mingling in with a lot of strangers. Come in either alone or you and your. And the person that you're with, and you leave with like three new friends. 

Mike Ham [9:04 - 9:05]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [9:05 - 9:41]: And. And there's no place around here like that that I know of, at least. Yeah. And just as a point of differentiation with whatever else is going on, that's how I wanted to develop the menu. So adding on a lot of the pinchos, tapa style stuff. So you have wine bar kind of food. Toasts, chicken liver mousse, escargot. We have a roasted chorizo dish that's really popular, like potato chorizo with an aioli. Very reminiscent of something you find in Spain. 

Mike Ham [9:41 - 9:42]: Those skewers we got, which were. 

Matthew Chappina [9:42 - 9:43]: Yeah, the HOV skewers. 

Mike Ham [9:43 - 9:44]: Oh, my God. 

Matthew Chappina [9:44 - 9:54]: Yeah, Those are the Hilda people say gilded too. It's like named after the character from a movie in the 30s called Gilda. I guess it was popular in Spain at the time. 

Mike Ham [9:54 - 9:54]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [9:54 - 10:25]: And they named it Hilda for some reason, because they pronounce Hilda. I really love Those, it's so easy if you look super punchy, salty, savory, all that kind of stuff. So a lot of the menu is that. So it supports the raw bar experience. I didn't want it to have like, you know, the menu has like the raw bar section and then just like more traditional like apps, entree, dessert, like you'd find in just a more common restaurant, particularly like in a suburban setting, you know. 

Mike Ham [10:25 - 10:25]: Yeah, totally. 

Matthew Chappina [10:25 - 10:27]: So that's. Yeah, yeah. 

Mike Ham [10:27 - 10:30]: So you mentioned you've been here for six months. You started the truck. 

Matthew Chappina [10:31 - 10:34]: What so fall of 23. Fall 2023. 

Mike Ham [10:34 - 10:39]: Right. So yeah. What before that, what were you doing working in restaurants? 

Matthew Chappina [10:39 - 10:54]: Yeah, I've been in restaurants for a long time, about 20 years. My first jobs and I was kid with food. Kind of thought I would, that would be my path when I was, you know, 16, 17, growing up in Long island. Worked at like, you know, pizza deli, that kind of stuff. Short of cooking. 

Mike Ham [10:54 - 10:55]: Yeah, yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [10:55 - 11:06]: Really fell in love with the culture of restaurants. I really love the, the energy. Like, but most people that love this, they all say the same thing. So it's not really that uncommon. How, you know, my, my. 

Mike Ham [11:06 - 11:10]: To do it for this long, you have to have some semblance of like a passion for it. 

Matthew Chappina [11:10 - 11:11]: Yeah, some. 

Mike Ham [11:11 - 11:12]: Some sort of life. 

Matthew Chappina [11:12 - 11:17]: Exactly. It's like it's not just a passion for food or good food or you know. Am I drifting? 

Mike Ham [11:17 - 11:22]: Oh no, no, you're good. I just checking the time. Sorry, I should have told you that before. 

Matthew Chappina [11:22 - 11:59]: And you know, it's all those things, the passion for like the food and that kind of stuff. But it's also just like the environment, the energy, the kinds of people, fast paced nature of it. I love the idea of, it's like, you know, the places here, obviously it's physical. Everything is sort of permanent in some degree. But there's also like this ephemeral quality to restaurants where, you know, like right now. Right. There's nothing going on back there. Yeah, there's no, there's really any food. The refrigerators are empty, we're closed for the next couple of days. But it's going to get filled up with stuff. We're going to prep, we're going to bring product in, we're going to, we're going to build dishes, they're going to get plated, they're going to go to the tables, people can eat it, they go away, it gets cleaned and then at night we reset to like kind of what you see. 

Mike Ham [11:59 - 12:00]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [12:00 - 14:41]: So I love that sort of, I love the nature of that, the sort of like, you know, you know, just how it said this kind of energy to it like that, you know. So I just was attracted to that when I was young, but then kind of drifted. I went to school for other things. I didn't go to school for culinary studies or anything like that. So kind of thought I would take a different path. I was pursuing creative writing, theater, film. Did that for a little bit. You know, cut to like my, my mid, late 20s, I was in the city going to school, you know, met my now wife, we got married, left school and it was just sort of wasn't really going to be like much of an option to be a starving artist in New York City, you know. So kind of my second love, or even my original love, restaurants and food, is kind of how I got back into it. So that's sort of like, like I said, mid-20s. So now, you know, cut to about 20 years later. So just started getting jobs in new city, like, you know, line cooking, things like that. My, my first real like kind of defining job was I started working at a place called Calexico. They started also ironically, like as a mobile concept. Then it grew into storefronts and I got in really early when those guys and I ended up being there for a really long time, was there for about 10 years. So I grew with the company. Yeah, you know, started like running the stores and then above that and now eventually being the culinary director for the whole company. So I did that for a long time. You know, really amazing experience, great people, really defined a lot of how I think about business at that. Sort of towards the tail end of my experience there, I started developing a sandwich concept and I was road testing it at like smorgasbord and other kinds of pop ups. So, you know, I really had that, that drive to have my own business. So I would, I would test that out. Yeah, like, like I said, like a smorgasbord, pop up, things like that. And so eventually left there to open that and I opened up at the Essex Market. So. But it was right before COVID started. Great. Really great, really great timing. I don't want to blame everything on Covid, but it really was challenging because we weren't even operating for, I mean it was like probably eight months, you know, a little bit longer than we are here now. And just got, you know, kicked in the pants like everybody else reopening after having to shut down for a little bit, like during the beginnings of the lockdowns and stuff. It just really. The Neighborhood really didn't bounce back. It was really hard. So ended up just closing that. 

Mike Ham [14:41 - 14:42]: You still in the city at this point? 

Matthew Chappina [14:42 - 14:42]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [14:42 - 14:43]: Okay. 

Matthew Chappina [14:43 - 14:44]: I was living out here already. 

Mike Ham [14:44 - 14:44]: All right. 

Matthew Chappina [14:44 - 14:45]: Was commuting in. 

Mike Ham [14:45 - 14:45]: Okay. 

Matthew Chappina [14:45 - 15:20]: And so, you know, closed shop and had a business partner. Kind of fell apart. Don't get to go into that. But it's very. That's, again, not that. Not that uncommon for a lot of. Lot of people. Yeah, I was. Then I'm. I'm out here, you know, I wasn't commuting anymore. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in food really, you know, at that point, you know, like, you know, two decades or so of in restaurants, particularly in New York City. I don't want to say burnt out. It was more just like I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I still always had that thing, like I needed to have my own business. 

Mike Ham [15:20 - 15:21]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [15:21 - 15:27]: I really didn't want to, like, just get back on the train and commute to be a chef somewhere or something else, like in someone else's concept. 

Mike Ham [15:27 - 15:28]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [15:29 - 15:45]: Right. At that time, my wife started her own business. Not. Not food at all. In. In town here. She's an education. She has a business called Saffron Therapeutic Services located in Maplewood. That's actually like, I was plugging it, but I wasn't. Yeah. This. 

Mike Ham [15:45 - 15:48]: This episode's sponsored by Saffron Saffron. 

Matthew Chappina [15:48 - 16:23]: 511 Valley St. It's a center for children with autism, other developmental disabilities. So not. Not my passion. My passion though is. Is her, you know, and supporting her. And I had a lot of experience either running my own business or helping to run another business, much bigger business. So she needed a lot of help and assistance growing that. So I just started. I started helping her develop that business. And so again, I wasn't sure about food, but you know, as like, you have that thing that itches. 

Mike Ham [16:23 - 16:23]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [16:23 - 16:24]: My God. 

Mike Ham [16:24 - 16:24]: You gotta scratch it. 

Matthew Chappina [16:24 - 17:29]: You gotta scratch it. And, you know, I kept trying to figure out, like, if I wanted to get back into it, what would be my path. I was inspired by actually Matt, who owns Portorosa, who before he owned his storefront here, it was mobile. So during the lockdowns, he had a mobile delivery. Only pasta, like fresh pasta, things like that. You could buy meal kits. And he was operating it pretty much a one man band out of a commissary kitchen. So again, not the most original idea in terms of like, I'm gonna have this delivery business. But I really liked what he was doing. It's like really high Quality caught on with the demographic around here, not just in like the soma area. Like really, like, you know, big radius. Like, well, maybe I can pursue some sort of a mobile, you know, thing like that. I didn't know what that meant at the time. And I kicked around a lot of different ideas, of course. Always would, like, fall back on my experiences, which was easy. Like, oh, sandwiches or Mexican food. Every was kind of like nothing. 

Mike Ham [17:29 - 17:31]: What you already tried. 

Matthew Chappina [17:31 - 17:31]: Yeah, exactly. 

Mike Ham [17:31 - 17:32]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [17:32 - 17:54]: And how can I do it? But can I. It was like a couple of like factors that needed to knew that I check off. Right. It was like, can I do it basically by myself? Right. Can I do it like either out of my house or out of a commissary kitchen? What's the lowest cost going in and where and what's the highest return on that investment? Right. All those things. Right. Seems pretty, you know, but it's like hard to figure that out. 

Mike Ham [17:54 - 17:54]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [17:54 - 17:57]: Because what's so special about, you know, X whatever. 

Mike Ham [17:58 - 18:00]: Like, if you're thinking about that, I'm sure somebody else. 

Matthew Chappina [18:00 - 18:00]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [18:00 - 18:02]: Is also trying to figure that out too, you know? 

Matthew Chappina [18:02 - 18:03]: Yeah, exactly. 

Mike Ham [18:03 - 18:04]: Like a race to the bottom. 

Matthew Chappina [18:04 - 18:10]: It needed to be unique and nuanced enough. Right. Like a niche kind of thing. 

Mike Ham [18:10 - 18:11]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [18:12 - 18:57]: So I didn't know what that was. I kicked around different concepts and nothing really seemed to be the right kind of concept. Coincidentally, me and several friends, we threw some parties that were at my house actually, just because I just had the space and they send it around. Oysters. I had a chef friend who was able to get them wholesale costs and we had several of them and they just grew and grew and grew. Right. Like, each time people didn't go to the first one, kind of had like the FOMO and like would now sign on for the next one. It was sort of. It was kind of everyone kicked in money kind of. You paid in wholesale costs and you brought your own knife. You stood, stood around in tables, sat around, drank, shucked oysters. People brought other food. 

Mike Ham [18:57 - 18:58]: That's great. 

Matthew Chappina [18:58 - 19:03]: And I just saw like, it just clicked. It was like, wow, this is. This is so specific. 

Mike Ham [19:03 - 19:03]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [19:03 - 19:25]: But if you love this, like, you are going to just. You're going to jump in, right? Yeah. And again, there's nothing else like it. And just that's kind of how the idea clicked. It was just a weird confluence of I needed to do something private, small, and then these parties and the idea that you can have like this sort of roving mobile party. 

Mike Ham [19:25 - 19:26]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [19:26 - 21:13]: And that's kind of how it started. And it Was just. It was like. It was not a plan at all. Like, I didn't grow up, you know, on a. On a boat harvesting oysters. Like, I, like, I think I kind of, like, I always joke, like, to tell people that that's the story, but, you know, I just. I always need to be honest. Like, I'm not gonna tell the fake story, but it's more of a romantic idea that, like, oh, I grew up with. Like, my dad was this oyster farmer and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, it wasn't like that at all. I just. I never really even worked in seafood. See, I told you so. And then that. That's how it. That's how the idea kicked off. And then. Then I was off, really. It was like a spark. It really lit. And I'm like, okay, now it needs to be mobile. I need to have a branding. I need to have all the things. So I started to figure out, like, you know, like to have that checklist of all that stuff. Needed a vehicle. Needed. So just very quickly searching for different kinds of vehicles, I ended up finding this Kei car. Didn't even know who they were, truth be told. I think I saw an analogous concept, like some sort of seafood restaurant or something from, I don't know, like, in the south somewhere. They had one that they were doing deliveries with. It wasn't quite exactly how I ended up doing it, but I'm like, what is that car? Like, I'd never seen one or heard one. And the second you go online, you realize there's a whole subculture of these things and so on, like, Facebook and stuff. There's always deep, deep rabbit holes of Kei car and culture. And then I found a guy in Long island around this time two years ago now, because it was. We just passed Easter. I test drove it on Easter that year because we were going out to Long island to see family. I found the guy. He's an importer on the way. It was all like, it'll line up the way. 

Mike Ham [21:13 - 21:14]: So serendipitous. Exactly. 

Matthew Chappina [21:14 - 21:21]: Like, pulled off the highway, got out, test drove it, gave the guy a deposit, and a week later, it was at my house. 

Mike Ham [21:21 - 21:21]: Awesome. 

Matthew Chappina [21:21 - 21:23]: And I'm like, okay, now I have the car. 

Mike Ham [21:23 - 21:23]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [21:23 - 21:35]: What do I do at that point? Just trying to figure out the branding and the name. I needed to. That's my storefront, so it needed to look a certain way, right? I was going to say, like, feel. 

Mike Ham [21:35 - 21:36]: Yeah, it's parts. Do you drive that thing around? 

Matthew Chappina [21:37 - 21:41]: Yeah, it's actually. It's around the corner right Now? Yeah, we can go look at it later. Oh, you parked over there. 

Mike Ham [21:41 - 21:47]: Yeah, but it's like a. Such a defining piece of Perla as a whole. Really? 

Matthew Chappina [21:47 - 21:50]: Yeah, it's a, it, it, it, it catches your eye, it makes you turn. 

Mike Ham [21:52 - 21:53]: You know, all those things. 

Matthew Chappina [21:53 - 22:00]: And it needed to be that, right? Like I could, I had a minivan at the time. Like I could have easily had like, hey, mobile oysters. 

Mike Ham [22:01 - 22:02]: Hey kids, you want some oysters? 

Matthew Chappina [22:02 - 22:14]: Yeah, exactly, yeah. Like hanging out in front of the school oysters, you know, or, or, or wouldn't have been the kind of. The style wouldn't have been like I'd be working out of. 

Mike Ham [22:14 - 22:15]: Yeah, right. 

Matthew Chappina [22:15 - 22:39]: Like not the truck. Right. A different kind of vehicle. Like it would be like tables and that kind of thing. Like you, you've seen those too, like with people. And I do that as well. Like if, if, if the weather's not right or indoors, I could set up tables and bins. But I didn't want it to be like. Only that it needed to be. And not a food truck. I guess the other thing too is that there's a sort of misidentification of it as a food truck, which makes total sense. Right. I want to be reductive about it. It's a truck and it's food. 

Mike Ham [22:39 - 22:39]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [22:40 - 23:16]: But there's nothing, it's just, it's, it's just like a. I call it more like a table on wheels. And that's really what it is because I, I set up everything. It's all modular. There's nothing, there's no refrigeration on the truck. Everything is like incubators and ice down, things like that. So, yeah, so then I got it branded, I worked on it, I had, I worked with a hand, Hand painter helped me with the branding. We painted it on the truck, the whole hand painted, which I needed that look, you know, you still need to be proper. It couldn't be like decals, it couldn't have been like, like one of those magnet things that guys put on their cars. You know, you need to have a certain tone and like point of view. 

Mike Ham [23:16 - 23:17]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [23:17 - 23:54]: And then that was it. So it got kind of like through the summer really worked out, like how it was going to launch and approach it. And it was that early. I think it was like September 3rd or something like that. There's a little like a street festival thing that happens in an area over here. And I just set up one day. I had no idea what to expect. I came with 200 oysters and I had the. Anchovy toasts, which I have as a menu now, and the skewers. And I made a drink, I think, and I sat up at the street and an hour and a half later I was sold out. Like, just people. No one knew I was gonna be there. 

Mike Ham [23:54 - 23:54]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [23:54 - 24:28]: I didn't have any presence. I had no social media presence at the time. Nothing. And the idea of like the look of it, the feel, it just like it just captured the attention and of the whole town and then beyond. I made connections with people that day that I have friendships with now. They led to different events. Like really quickly off of that. Like, I met Amy, who owns a Maple, a mercantile in town that day. And on the spot we planned an event at her place. And like the site, the poster's right there actually, like. 

Mike Ham [24:28 - 24:29]: Oh yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [24:29 - 25:21]: You see like a month and a half later we were there doing a big ticketed event. Yeah. So that just gives you an example of how just like quickly just took off. So that was 20, that was September of 23. And I spoke to the landlord of this space the following February. So it was very quick. Yeah. That I went from like, I'm going to do a side gig, mobile oysters out of my house or whatever and then to like, you know, signing a lease on a space. So I mean, that's kind of. That answer the question. Yeah, that's. You know, but like I said before, it's all been like this really strange organic evolution accident. It really was no master plan. If it had been like 2.0 of Perla was to have a restaurant. 

Mike Ham [25:21 - 25:21]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [25:21 - 25:22]: We probably wouldn't be sitting here. 

Mike Ham [25:22 - 25:23]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [25:23 - 25:26]: You know, because I wouldn't be able to map it out. It would have to be like too. 

Mike Ham [25:26 - 25:28]: Daunting almost to, you know, get to that point. 

Matthew Chappina [25:28 - 26:10]: Yeah. Just the idea that like you're going to like really craft this like, you know, structured, you know, plan of, yeah, we're going to do this first and then this, you know, you know, the business plan was like, get some oysters and see if people would buy them out of a truck. Like, I didn't know. I really didn't know what to expect. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I was cut back a little bit. Like right. Right after I started like that September, October, like I mean, every week I had three or four. I had to back to back stuff. So then the menu that I have today was an outgrowth of that. I realized, you know, I needed to have some other options because some people were asking for a little bit more of a robust offering. 

Mike Ham [26:10 - 26:12]: Even with just the truck? 

Matthew Chappina [26:12 - 27:50]: Yeah, with the truck. Yeah. So I would do more of like a buffet style setup with again, food that I can execute pretty quickly, easily, that would hold where they're cold or just room temperature. So like my deviled eggs that I have in the menu now, those are on that original other kind of supporting menu. Yeah, the toast chicken liver mousse was there as well. I started grilling as well. I've got a Japanese Conrail grill, like the like really awesome clay grills, a lot of restaurants and. And the Japanese charcoal. And I started doing grilled oysters, which also took off like. So I would do that at a lot of events as well. And sometimes they would, they would sell as much or if not more than the raw stuff. Yeah, yeah. And then, and then just. And then just to jump back ahead to almost more the present, like just to find the space and then like, all right, I live in town here. I don't have to commute on the train. It's like I'm like a six minute drive from here at this point. Living here, a pretty great community of friends and all that that I knew would be supportive and they have their friends and so on. So I knew that kind of creating this kind of a place here with unintentionally road testing the idea, you know, like, I didn't. Again, it wasn't like crowdsourced for the purpose of building a restaurant, but I had done that, built a pretty good following on social media with. Again, I didn't expect that at all. So just all that stuff to feed into, supporting this place. 

Mike Ham [27:50 - 27:53]: Yeah. You know, where does the name Perla come from? 

Matthew Chappina [27:53 - 27:57]: I mean, really, it just is Latin for pearl. Was I off the map? 

Mike Ham [27:57 - 27:57]: Perfect. 

Matthew Chappina [27:57 - 27:57]: Yes. 

Mike Ham [27:57 - 28:01]: Latin for oh, no, you're good. If I'm not looking at you, I'm just checking time. You're good. 

Matthew Chappina [28:01 - 28:14]: I just like the idea of something simple, you know, easy to. Easy to. Easy to write, easy to remember. Names should be that way. Like it just didn't want it to be. It could have been like my last name. Chipino, oyster, co, whatever. Like. 

Mike Ham [28:14 - 28:15]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [28:15 - 28:22]: It just, it needs to be something that's like just sort of like, you know, easy to remember, easy to say, easy to write down. So that's kind of how I got there. 

Mike Ham [28:22 - 29:13]: Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. The Mayo Performing Arts center is the heart of arts and Entertainment in Morristown, New Jersey. MPAC presents over 200 events annually and is home to an innovative children's arts education program to see Impact's upcoming schedule of world class Concerts, stand up comedy, family shows and more. Head to mayoarts.org or just click the link in our show notes. And so it's funny, like we talked about at the very beginning, like here in the restaurant, having almost kind of like the knowledge that you don't want to expand the menu too quick or whatever and just you want to like kind of. Because you don't want to overload what you're capable of doing just with the equipment that you have in here. Yeah. Even with kind of having like the initial success and then the, you know, having the opportunity for a physical space. I know that you mentioned that, you know, obviously, like, you could only really do the truck a couple days a week and you have to be in one place at one time. 

Matthew Chappina [29:13 - 29:13]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [29:13 - 29:27]: Was there ever like an idea to have like multiple K cars and just have like a couple people out doing stuff and kind of keep like grow it that way or it was just kind of like, hey, this is just like in your mind, just kind of like the logical next step for what Perla was going to be. 

Matthew Chappina [29:27 - 30:03]: Yeah, I think that idea, it definitely crossed my mind. But what I saw pretty quickly doing the events with the truck was, I mean, it has such an immediacy to it. I'm literally standing at the background of the side of it with a bin full of ice and oysters shucking this close to customers talking directly, handing them food. It has that experience. It's not like an ice cream truck or something that can kind of just like drive around. It needs to have. Listen for better or for worse. Right. It has to have like the personality attached to it. 

Mike Ham [30:03 - 30:03]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [30:03 - 30:11]: And, you know, had I started this with like two or three other friends who were also as passionate and had the same sort of experience and everything like that. 

Mike Ham [30:11 - 30:11]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [30:11 - 30:24]: Possibly. Yeah. We could have all had like our own and we would be delivering the same kind of service that came along with not just like, you know, shucking really great oysters and delivering that product, but delivering the other. 

Mike Ham [30:24 - 30:25]: The experience. 

Matthew Chappina [30:25 - 30:26]: Right, the experience of it. 

Mike Ham [30:26 - 30:27]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [30:27 - 30:44]: So I was like, I don't. I really didn't know how to like, I mean, put up an ad on. Indeed. For like someone who can fill those shoes. You know, I'm sure that person's out there or those people are out there, but I don't really know. I didn't really want to pursue that end of it. And, you know, it needed to be me. 

Mike Ham [30:44 - 30:44]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [30:44 - 30:48]: Because I'm the one. I'm the, I am the, you know, I'm the business and the brand. 

Mike Ham [30:48 - 30:48]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [30:48 - 30:52]: You know, again, maybe that doesn't sound right or something, but that's the truth. 

Mike Ham [30:52 - 30:52]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [30:52 - 31:02]: And if I'm not there, at least at this point, it doesn't really have the right sort of tone and point of view. Like. 

Mike Ham [31:02 - 31:03]: Yeah. The impact is just like a little bit different. 

Matthew Chappina [31:03 - 31:04]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [31:04 - 31:04]: You know. 

Matthew Chappina [31:04 - 31:04]: Yeah, exactly. 

Mike Ham [31:04 - 31:06]: And it's always about the brand. 

Matthew Chappina [31:06 - 31:07]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [31:07 - 31:07]: To. 

Matthew Chappina [31:07 - 31:07]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [31:07 - 31:09]: Like Perla as a whole. 

Matthew Chappina [31:09 - 31:09]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [31:09 - 31:09]: You know. 

Matthew Chappina [31:09 - 31:19]: Yeah. So it didn't really cross my mind to get too serious about having like multiple trucks, which is not the worst idea in the world. 

Mike Ham [31:19 - 31:19]: Yeah, sure. 

Matthew Chappina [31:20 - 31:54]: But just felt like having, having the. Having a location like this in my town, small enough to manage, you know, and I. And I built it intentionally. Like, there's no. We don't have a hood, there's no gas lines. There's very little electrical. Like, you can see it's a convection oven and a broiler. You know, some other pieces of equipment that I can plug in to do things. But, you know, we'll get there. But I wanted to be like, it's. The raw bar is sort of one of the main focus. And then that other supporting menu which needed to be served either cold, room temperature, or the few things that we heat up. 

Mike Ham [31:54 - 31:55]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [31:55 - 32:12]: You know, so like, I was doing the grilled oysters. We had the broiler. Now we broiled them. Super popular. I wasn't doing clams in the truck. You know, we do a lot of clams. Same deal, like broiled clams. So, you know, but most of the, like, you know, that's only about, you know, 20% of the menu. 

Mike Ham [32:12 - 32:12]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [32:12 - 32:13]: Is hot. 

Mike Ham [32:13 - 32:46]: Right. Do you think. And I'm curious, I didn't know about this about you until you started telling your story a little bit the like, artistic side of your background. Because, like, I'm always curious, like, especially people that are in creative fields and like chef does fall under creative field. Totally. And kind of like what that path is. And we've had so many different, you know, types of paths, you know, and do you think that that has like, what the impact that's been on your. On Perla specifically? You know, kind of having that as like a little bit of your background. 

Matthew Chappina [32:46 - 33:04]: Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Having the mind to, you know, be creative. I agree with you. I think being a chef is 100% just as creative of a pursuit as anything else. As a writer, an actor, or anything like that, or anything that way is. Or a musician. Right. Considered more like artistic. 

Mike Ham [33:04 - 33:04]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [33:04 - 33:20]: But it is self expression. You have to be able to think outside the box. You know, and deliver something that's like, unexpected, but, you know, surprising and unexpected at the same time, like. 

Mike Ham [33:20 - 33:20]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [33:20 - 33:42]: You know what I mean? What's the phrase? Like, you know, it's like a surprising but inevitable. Like, when something works, that's. It should be the same thing. Right. So that's like, any great piece of writing works that way. Or music, or any great dish works that way, too. Like, you know, you as a customer, maybe you're not thinking about it, and then when you get it, it may sound. May sound like a little. A little off the wall, but when you have it and it works. 

Mike Ham [33:42 - 33:43]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [33:43 - 33:46]: You're like, oh, okay. That makes total sense. I didn't think that was going to work, but it did. 

Mike Ham [33:46 - 33:48]: You know, why didn't I think of that? 

Matthew Chappina [33:48 - 33:48]: Yeah, exactly. 

Mike Ham [33:48 - 33:48]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [33:48 - 34:06]: You know, so you have to have that kind of mind. Yeah, I would say. Yeah, for sure. My. My. My other pursuits that I had when I was a little younger totally feed into this, like, the idea of the presentation. You know, we're open kitchen. Right. It's like the theater of it, so to speak. 

Mike Ham [34:06 - 34:06]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [34:06 - 34:15]: You know, having. Having that has definitely helped me, I think, to develop as a chef in general. 

Mike Ham [34:15 - 34:15]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [34:15 - 34:25]: Even like in my former. My former jobs and stuff was like, just be able to think. Trying to, like, push myself to think differently, more creatively about stuff. Take chances. 

Mike Ham [34:25 - 34:26]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [34:26 - 34:28]: You know, not play it safe. Yeah. 

Mike Ham [34:29 - 34:48]: Yeah. When you were building out, kind of like, you know, I'm sure in your head first, and then obviously, like, with the actual physical space here. I don't know. I can't really think of another place, not just even in this area, but just kind of like in Jersey in general that is like this. 

Matthew Chappina [34:48 - 34:48]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [34:48 - 34:57]: Did. Was there like a, you know, a jumping off point that you had or just kind of like what you knew could work in a space and, like, what you knew you needed just based on your experience with the truck. 

Matthew Chappina [34:57 - 35:23]: Yeah. I like the. I always liked the idea of having a limited, controlled space with, like, a limited amount of latitude, breathing room. It create. You push yourself kind of into a corner, you know, where you're forced to make choices. I like the idea of being under pressure to make choices. And you can say that about the space. Right. It's like a. We're not even 800 square feet. 

Mike Ham [35:23 - 35:23]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [35:24 - 35:28]: There's. There's a basement, but it's just storage. It's not like there's a. There's no prep kitchen down there. 

Mike Ham [35:28 - 35:28]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [35:28 - 35:31]: It's not like the dish station's not down there. It's right there. 

Mike Ham [35:31 - 35:33]: Yeah, yeah, right. 

Matthew Chappina [35:33 - 36:13]: You know, so being limited, that. That's again, going back to like the creative kind of process that forces you to make choices. And sometimes you make choices that you didn't expect. They just kind of happen. Happy accidents, the evolution. So you try to be really controlling with these things. And I am a. Somewhat of a controlling person in that way. But you also have to be open to the organic, accidental nature of things. So you need to be able to operate in both of those spaces. I think so, yeah. Like, the physical space was like that. It took me a while to plot out. You walk in, you have a vanilla box space. The landlord did a great job of just like cleaning it up. New tile, white walls, new H vac. That was it. 

Mike Ham [36:13 - 36:14]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [36:14 - 36:32]: So you come in here, you paper your windows, and you have like a whole stack of blue tape and you start laying it out. And that was like. So I signed the lease in April. April, May, for basically two months. It was just like taping. And now it's laid out very close to what my initial gut was. 

Mike Ham [36:32 - 36:32]: Okay. 

Matthew Chappina [36:32 - 38:10]: When I walked in, I was like, I wanted to be pushed to the window. I wanted to. So if you come by, you're outside, you look through the window. The front has sort of like a fish market feel. I wanted it to be like forward facing. So when you look in, when we're in service, it's all iced down and there's all the raw seafood. I originally had that, and then I. And then I changed it a little bit. I wasn't sure if this was going to be a full service restaurant or more of a counter style. Like Porter Rosa is more counter style. Like they have tables and they'll bring you your food. But, like, you get a number basically right, you order your food and they bring it to you. So I wasn't sure if I wanted to have that because that influenced a lot of your labor. That influences the whole thing. So it just took me a while. I really gave myself time to figure out exactly how to lay it out, plot it out. And I was influenced by going back to what we were talking about before tapas bars in San Sebastian or something like that, or a wine bar in Paris or and then in New York City. So what you don't have around here, it's very rare, is to have a place that has the tone of this place. Everything is like a little bit more traditional, suburban. There's plenty of great places. I don't want to disparage anybody or anything like that, but that's more what you're going to get when you're around here. When I moved here seven years ago and started to become friendly with a lot of people, there's a lot of people like me who lived in the city, moved out here. The one common refrain was people were bemoaning what they were missing when they lived in the city. 

Mike Ham [38:10 - 38:10]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [38:10 - 38:41]: Now it's, you know, it's easy to say that. It's easy to fall into that because. Because it's lacking. And you were also younger and it's a little more romantic, but I knew it. Yeah. The good old days, the old neighborhood. You know, you want to be, you know, you want to be young again, but I get that, like. And we all lived in those neighborhoods and worked in those neighborhoods, so we know what those places are. And for whatever reason, it's just lacking. Like, I don't know what. I don't really know why. I don't know if anyone can really answer the question of why. Maybe it's just someone not willing to take a chance. 

Mike Ham [38:41 - 38:57]: Sure. I even feel like in like kind of. Not that Maplewood's not an established town, but like in some of the other like downtown towns in Jersey, like even just thinking like a Morristown or a Montclair or you know, places like that, like this kind of space. This kind of place. 

Matthew Chappina [38:57 - 38:57]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [38:57 - 39:02]: Doesn't even exist there. It's like still kind of like to what you're talking about, like there's plenty of places to go. 

Matthew Chappina [39:02 - 39:02]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [39:02 - 39:12]: But they are either, either like, you know, a fast casual or like a. A full on, sit down, you know, restaurant. 

Matthew Chappina [39:12 - 39:12]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [39:12 - 39:13]: You know what I mean? 

Matthew Chappina [39:13 - 39:17]: Yeah. I mean, I won't. I'm not gonna lie. I have no idea. I had no idea it was going to work. 

Mike Ham [39:17 - 39:17]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [39:17 - 39:33]: And honestly, like you still don't know. Like we were only in six, seven months. It's like it's still so new and it's really still finding itself. But so far, like having that open kitchen, that openness to it. And I'm here every night. 

Mike Ham [39:33 - 39:34]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [39:34 - 39:47]: Every night we're open, I'm here, I'm right there. I have, I have a lot of really great interactions with customers. And the common thing is that they recognize all those things I was trying to do here. So that's rewarding. 

Mike Ham [39:47 - 39:47]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [39:47 - 40:16]: It's gratifying that people are getting it and, and then just. And just having people just generally feel like the experience is something that's so. It's just, you know, there's a lot of worldly travel, people around here, a lot of people that know they. People live, whether from other places that travel around the world, they travel different parts of the country, but then when they're here, they miss those places. They come here, they sit down and they. And they feel like, you know, that experience that they had somewhere else was brought here. 

Mike Ham [40:16 - 40:17]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [40:17 - 40:23]: And be. And so, so, so it is, it's just, it's. It's great to already have gotten that kind of feedback from people. 

Mike Ham [40:23 - 40:26]: Yeah. It's certainly a unique experience. Definitely. 

Matthew Chappina [40:26 - 40:27]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [40:27 - 40:44]: Because there's plenty of places with raw bars. There's plenty of places to get like the types of food essentially that you're offering, but just kind of like all encompassing, like the whole thing from like you were talking about the branding before down to like, you know, just like when we came, like we were just. Yeah, the three of us were talking the whole time. 

Matthew Chappina [40:44 - 40:44]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [40:44 - 40:52]: You know, I just like got to know each other a little bit better and then learn. I learned more about just kind of this community around here and all that. It was phenomenal. So. 

Matthew Chappina [40:53 - 41:25]: And to go back to the businesses around here, we all have similar backgrounds in that we were all, we were all kind of came up in the city, you know, whether, you know, like in different kinds, different styles, different places. But we all have that experience and are all trying to bring that to the businesses, at least in this corner of town, to really give it something, a different feel, a point of differentiation from what you're going to find other places. Yeah. Just set apart. And it's not enough though to have something that's different. 

Mike Ham [41:25 - 41:26]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [41:26 - 41:36]: You got to deliver. Right. So being here every night, interacting with you or other people in that way, that's what helps to complete that experience, you know? 

Mike Ham [41:36 - 41:43]: Yeah. So are you now that you have the physical space here and like you said, you are here every night, are you still doing events with the truck? 

Matthew Chappina [41:44 - 42:41]: I'm starting to get back into booking them. I'm gonna be at the Vegas Street Festival May 3, Saturday, May 3. And it's before we open and trying to get some other stuff. But it is like it has to line up with what my availability is. My responsibility right now is to be here making sure this place is running. So if I could do something during the day on a Saturday or certainly an off day, like today's Monday. We're doing this on a Monday. That's not common. Someone would want to have a party on a Monday. But I try to book those. I did build the space out in a way where in the back room, you can we can rearrange the tables and have private events. So we have done. We've done. You can buy out the restaurant fully. We've done that. We've had ticketed events here, closed door ticket events. And then also a blocks of time have a large group in the back. 

Mike Ham [42:41 - 42:41]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [42:41 - 42:57]: You know, so we could put the tables together. I wanted to have the opportunity to bring in, you know, the party feel that was getting with the truck into the restaurant. Now, truth be told, a lot of people just strange to me. Whatever. They want the truck. 

Mike Ham [42:57 - 42:57]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [42:57 - 43:26]: Like they. Like I've had. I've had people cancel on me because I wasn't able to come with the truck. So I'm like, you know, are you an oyster lover. Yeah. Truck lover or a truck lover. So I get it because it's cute and all that kind of stuff. But you know, I could still deliver the same product. Just like, I guess it tastes better out of the back of a truck. Maybe again, unexpected. The thing that came out of this whole thing is like, you want to eat oysters out of a truck. 

Mike Ham [43:26 - 43:27]: Okay. 

Matthew Chappina [43:28 - 43:47]: But I try to bring the events in here. We haven't found yet the best way to really market that just because there's so many things to do. Right. Running a restaurant. But I gotta get that. I gotta get going with that a little bit more. People reach out all the time, you know. 

Mike Ham [43:47 - 44:06]: Yeah. I would also say too, and you mentioned it before and kind of how like obviously the first couple events went really well. You know, physical events for you and the truck. But then like the social presence too also is impressive. Just because, you know, it's only been. I guess would that be not even two years? 

Matthew Chappina [44:06 - 44:07]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [44:07 - 44:12]: And to kind of be where you're at and people aware of what you're doing, I mean that's. But building a brand, that's like a major. 

Matthew Chappina [44:12 - 44:13]: Yeah. 

Mike Ham [44:13 - 44:18]: Piece of it. Was that like intentional or kind of more just like not really. Kind of got away from it got. 

Matthew Chappina [44:18 - 44:47]: Away from me a little bit. But you know, I definitely control it in a sense. But that. That's probably a piece of it. Where my other. My other life really feeds in is like the. You know, I never considered myself like a great photographer and like that, but I mean, aside from working with some really great photographers here and there, pretty much everything on my Instagram are pictures that I've taken. And just being able to craft the narrative. 

Mike Ham [44:47 - 44:47]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [44:47 - 45:43]: You know, is something that my creative. My other creative pursuits have really been able to help Feed more so than just sort of like being Here, operating a restaurant. So that's a rewarding angle of it. But, I mean, I'd be lying if I said that I really knew anything about social media. I don't have any. I don't. My own personal social media, like, my own personal, like, Facebook or anything like that. It's all just business. So it wasn't, you know, I never really got into that, but it was only just about the business. So, you know. Yeah. Developing that has been an interesting thing. And I think. I think a lot of it has to do with just, again, the uniqueness, the niche aspect of this kind of thing, starting with the truck and then. And then the store here. So people just take to it. You know, it's like. And it. And I'm lucky, too, the, you know, oyster shucked oysters on a platter or like, other food. It's pretty. 

Mike Ham [45:44 - 45:44]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [45:44 - 45:55]: You know what I mean? Naturally has. It's like, there's not a lot. You don't have to do a lot to it to make it look cool, look nice, and make people get interested, you know? 

Mike Ham [45:56 - 46:28]: Yeah. So as we're getting closer to the end of this episode, and this has been great, so thank you for having me. I know that a lot of the stuff that you mentioned, like, happy accidents or kind of just like all this stuff with Perla specifically is just kind of, you know, like the universe lining up the right way in certain aspects, but also, obviously not to take away from, like, the mindfulness to all the stuff that you're doing. Do you have, like, a future plan for what this is or just kind of like, taking this, getting this to be a success, and then seeing what happens after that? 

Matthew Chappina [46:29 - 46:36]: Yeah. Try not to think too far ahead. You know, the. The farthest I'm really thinking ahead right now is hopefully in the next week or so, we're gonna have outdoor seating. 

Mike Ham [46:36 - 46:37]: Cool. 

Matthew Chappina [46:37 - 47:04]: So along the sidewalk, we have a. We have a really nice Runway of space. And we're gonna start small and grow it and grow it pretty quickly. So we're hoping to be out there this weekend. Oh, great to start. Just got to wait. The weather has not been nice, you know. You know, you live here for some reason. The spring is starting off pretty, you know, cold, but once the weather really breaks, we'll have outside so that we're going to grow the footprint of the. Of the restaurant by almost two thirds. 

Mike Ham [47:04 - 47:04]: That's great. 

Matthew Chappina [47:04 - 47:14]: We're 34 seats in this tiny space, which is. Which is a lot. We'll hopefully have another 20, 24 seats out there. By, like, the beginning of the summer. 

Mike Ham [47:14 - 47:15]: Awesome. 

Matthew Chappina [47:15 - 47:39]: So that's something that's on the horizon. Like I said, the parties and stuff. Try to, like, figure out how to market that a little bit better. I just want to get this place to a point where, you know, I think that we're. I think we have an amazing staff. I need to mention that, like, my staff is so great. I'm so lucky. Labor staffing is such a hard component of this industry, and more so now than ever. 

Mike Ham [47:39 - 47:39]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [47:40 - 48:11]: Like. But being really grateful for the people that work here put in a lot of effort. They deliver really high service. You can look on different reviews that we have already. I get so many other. Just not reviews, but like, DMs and stuff like that from customers that have had such a great time. It's not, again, it's not just about, like, the uniqueness of the phone food or something like that. It's about the whole experience. And hospitality is the most important aspect of this, of what we do. 

Mike Ham [48:11 - 48:12]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [48:12 - 49:14]: It's more important than the food, 100%. So as a chef, as someone who really thinks about food more than anything, I firmly believe about. If you come into a place and you have to. You need to have the hospitality as high as possible, no matter what kind of place you have. And that's what's going to get people coming back. Not that you had great oysters here or, you know, whatever, like. Or the drink or something. It's about that aspect of the experience. So I am part of that because it is an open kitchen. But, like, our floor staff in particular just handle customers really, really well. And, yeah, we have a great clientele as well. We have so many new people still coming in. We're so grateful that we have a lot of repeat people already. You look at. I mean, I recognize so many people now. Become friendly with a lot of people now. And you also always see your. You know, when you. When you do your reports and stuff, you see how many repeat people you have just based on the. On the. With the sales. So that's. That's amazing too. Like, that. That's just not something that you could plan, really. Like, you can't. It's hard to. It's hard to manufacture that. 

Mike Ham [49:14 - 49:15]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [49:15 - 49:26]: You know, the manufacturing aspect of it is just doing your diligence of trying to make sure that you're delivering at a high level of hospitality. Yeah. Let the food support that. 

Mike Ham [49:27 - 49:27]: Right. 

Matthew Chappina [49:27 - 49:35]: You know, not the other way around. Yeah. Be empathetic with your guests. You're always a guest. I'm a guest in restaurants more than I am working in restaurants. 

Mike Ham [49:36 - 49:36]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [49:36 - 50:39]: So you always have to remember that you're sitting in that seat too. So something. It's like a mantra I always have with the staff is like, you know, you're sitting, customer sitting there, you're standing up, you're on display. They're seeing what you're doing. Right. And you need to be seeing what they're doing. So you need to be able to, like, be proactive and anticipate their needs and remember that you're always that person. So you always need something as a guest in a restaurant and don't ever, like, for. You can't forget that. You can't forget that you're here to deliver a service. You're here to make people happy, make them comfortable, and we want them to come back because at the end of the day, this is a business, right. So like, we don't want to. We don't want to neglect that aspect of it. So we, we need to stay in business. But we want to deliver a great product and deliver a great experience. So, yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking to that, just continue honing all that stuff and just make sure this thing really works. You know, it's got legs, it's going. We're humming along. You know, I'm interested to see you get through a year. Right. And like, that really helps to tell, like. 

Mike Ham [50:39 - 50:40]: Yeah. The full story. 

Matthew Chappina [50:41 - 51:05]: The full story. Right. Because we haven't. We started in the early fall. We got through the winter. Spring's coming, then the summer. So it's sort of like, you know, I live here, so I'm not, I'm not oblivious to like, how the town is, but it's my first time operating a real business in this town. It's a little different. So I am curious to see the behaviors of people and, and how. And. And just how that's going to work, how we get through the summer. 

Mike Ham [51:05 - 51:05]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [51:05 - 51:07]: Into the fall. So awesome. That's kind of where. 

Mike Ham [51:07 - 51:15]: Yeah, yeah, I love it. Yeah. If people want to learn more about Perla, come through. Where would you send them to go do that? 

Matthew Chappina [51:15 - 51:42]: I. Instagram is mainly where everything goes. So eat Perla is the Instagram handle. And you know, we have a website, perla.com but it's really just a landing page with like basic information. Anything, any like, you know, specials, any announcements, stuff like that is general. Generally Instagram, I like the idea, like, you know, I don't have a social media manager, nothing like that. Like, it's all me I want to have it all in like one place. 

Mike Ham [51:42 - 51:42]: Yeah. 

Matthew Chappina [51:42 - 51:50]: And it's, and it's, that's kind of the, that's right for what I found anyway that's the one venue to be the most creative. 

Mike Ham [51:50 - 51:50]: Sure. 

Matthew Chappina [51:50 - 51:59]: You know, and visually the visual aspect of it. So yeah, Epearla is probably the best place to go on Instagram. Yeah. 

Mike Ham [51:59 - 52:21]: Well, thank you for having me. Thanks for being here and sharing the story and you know, like I said earlier can vouch that the stuff here is great. So it was great getting to know you better. So this has been the greetings for the RSA podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm Mike Hamm. We were here at Perlo Oyster Bar in Maplewood, New Jersey. Matthew Chappina, Mike Ham. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time. 

Matthew Chappina [52:21 - 52:38]: Thank you. Do all my baby do you all right oh, tell me before you go all the way do you all.