Lee Kindell – Hydroponics, Mushrooms & the Best Pizza in Seattle - Get Up & Grow Podcast EP #2

"Food should be grown in the city. It should be close to us where we get it fresh and where it doesn't take up as much energy." -Lee Kindell - Owner & Craftsman of MOTO Pizza

On the second episode of the podcast we interview my good friend Lee Kindell, Owner and Craftsmen of MOTO Pizza in Seattle, WA. Lee is a super passionate entrepreneur, grower & mushroom connoisseur who integrated his knowledge of hydroponics into his pizza that has a 3 month wait time. He and his wife Nancy are some of the kindest people I know and what they share with their customers is an experience they don't forget.  

We discuss some of the following:

• His hydroponic growing during his time running a hostel.
• How he shifted his focus to making pizzas during the pandemic.
• How he integrated growing plants into his pizza making.
• How important sustainability is and how he has integrated it into his business.
• How mycology plays a role in his life and his business.
• His exciting plans for MOTO Farms.
• Tips for anyone thinking of starting their own garden.

Make sure to follow Lee and his business @xoxomotopizza on instagram
and get your preorder in early at his website: https://motoseattle.com/
My favorite pizza that they make is the "PLANT."

This Podcast is dedicated to growers like you so we appreciate your feedback so we can provide the best experience possible for the grower community. 

Now Get Up & Grow! 

Taylor S.

To learn more about our Podcast, our Grower Community Blog or our Grow Light Academy checkout our website here: https://activegrowled.com/

Transcript

00:00
food should be grown in the city, should be close to us,

00:02
or we get it fresh, where it's, you know,

00:05
doesn't take up as much energy.

00:07
And as I learned that, I'm like, okay,

00:09
what's the most efficient ways of growing food in the city,

00:12
because there's no dirt or very little.

00:15
And so I just started exploring that a little.

00:18
Hi everyone, thanks for joining the podcast today.

00:20
My name is Taylor Schauburg, I'm the owner of Active Grow,

00:23
and I'm really excited to host guests on this show

00:26
that discuss with me their passion about cultivation,

00:30
passion of entrepreneurship and how sustainability can play such a huge role in both of those.

00:36
So today I'm really excited to introduce our second guest.

00:39
His name is Lee Kindle.

00:41
He is a hydroponic grower who has started his own pizza restaurant in Seattle, Washington

00:47
and it is since expanded to three stores in the Seattle area.

00:50
He's a super passionate guy.

00:52
I believe that we should have fresh food.

00:54
Therefore, I'm going to have it.

00:55
You know, I believe we should grow our own food.

00:57
So I'm going to grow it.

00:59
So I want to.

01:00
I want to make sure that I'm showcasing my belief.

01:03
And he's an inspiration to growers everywhere

01:05
and people that just want to get out there

01:06
and start growing or going after whatever

01:09
they're passionate about.

01:09
So without further ado, this is Lee Kindle,

01:12
episode two of Get Up and Grow podcast.

01:15
And I'm going to be back with another episode of Get Up

01:15
and Grow podcast.

01:15
I'm going to be back with another episode of Get Up

01:15
and Grow podcast.

01:15
I'm going to be back with another episode of Get Up

01:15
and Grow podcast.

01:15
I'm going to be back with another episode of Get Up

01:15
and Grow podcast.

01:34
Hi, Lee. Welcome to the podcast. It's great to see you again.

01:39
What's up, my man, Taylor? Good to see you too.

01:42
Yeah. I'm really excited to have you on the show.

01:45
Lee Kindle is a great friend of mine. We've known each other for years now.

01:50
I have a lot of questions for you about your business and how you've integrated

01:54
gardening into it and, you know, how things have gone during the pandemic and

01:59
where you're going now. But let's just get started with the basics.

02:02
So you are

02:04
area born and raised?

02:08
No, I was actually born in the Philippines.

02:11
Oh my gosh.

02:12
Yeah, yeah.

02:13
My father was military, so we did a bunch of traveling

02:18
and then ended up in the States

02:21
and Seattle was my landing ground for our family.

02:24
Okay, I thought I read that you were,

02:27
so you grew up around Bremerton, is that correct?

02:29
Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is a naval base, yeah,

02:31
which explains everything right there.

02:33
Okay, wow.

02:35
So, super interesting.

02:37
Okay.

02:38
And what kind of things did you get into growing up

02:40
around Bremerton and the Seattle area?

02:46
Not much.

02:47
Like I began with, I mean, I went to school,

02:51
high school there and during high school,

02:55
I get, you know, I did a couple of sports, but not much.

03:00
But I got into martial arts and I've been in it my whole life.

03:05
And I think that kind of had

03:08
much more impact on me than where I lived.

03:12
So my first chance at 17 years old,

03:15
I hopped to water and got a job here in Seattle

03:18
and I've been here since.

03:19
So yeah, it's not surprising that this is my spot

03:24
and this is where I've been.

03:26
Okay, that's awesome.

03:28
And before you started Moto Pizza,

03:31
which has been in business now five, six years?

03:38
Oh wow, it's just with your progress it seems longer. Yeah.

03:43
So before that you were in another business in the Seattle area. What can you tell us about that?

03:50
Yeah, so when I moved here when I was 17, I got a job waiting tables and just a bunch of odd jobs

03:57
trying to figure out who I was and what I was going to do. And every occasion that I could get,

04:04
I started traveling a little bit.

04:06
And

04:08
became a big part of what I love to do.

04:11
Traveling hostels made it really economical

04:14
as it is today.

04:16
And I stayed in hostels and they're a little bit different

04:20
than they were back then.

04:22
But still the same idea where you share a room

04:26
with somebody and cut your expenses down.

04:29
And then in that traveling,

04:30
I actually met my wife in a hostel

04:33
and she's from Toronto, Canada.

04:35
And eventually after

04:38
for a while, I was like, hey, let's open the hostels together.

04:41
We did, and we ended up getting married,

04:43
and we've been doing that for 14 years.

04:46
And with a few awards here and there,

04:52
we did really well.

04:54
Had a total of three hostels in Humbuchi Hotel.

04:57
And then when COVID hit, it was devastating to us.

05:01
And I didn't think we were gonna recover.

05:04
So I was like, let's get out of the game.

05:06
But it was very strategic.

05:08
I mean, we could have got through COVID,

05:10
but I was not seeing travel coming back for a while.

05:14
And especially the financial world as it is today,

05:18
I don't, in light of what's happened in the past

05:21
few weeks and the weekend,

05:24
I don't see it coming back anytime soon.

05:28
International travel for leisure.

05:31
So we got out, which was a really hard decision,

05:35
but I think it was a smart decision.

05:38
And my pivot was to make pizza because I've been,

05:42
I would make pizza for travelers and I really enjoyed it.

05:48
And I decided to find this little tiny space

05:51
and we got a little space that was maybe 500 square feet.

05:55
And I was like, hey, all we got to do is sell 40 pizzas

05:58
and we'll be okay.

06:00
And boy did that not turn out the way that I expected it to.

06:08
having like a three month wait for our pizza at the beginning and we had we've

06:12
had that since so I opened up three locations and I'm now I don't think I

06:18
told you this part that I actually closed the deal and I'm in the T-Mobile

06:22
baseball stadium for the baseball season this year. I think I read that online.

06:26
That's a new piece of news that's insane so wow what does that mean that

06:32
means you're gonna have to feed thousands of miles every time you play a

06:38
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what it means. So it's gonna be it, you know, I've never done anything like that before so it's gonna be interesting

06:45
Wow

06:47
Okay, yeah, there's let's let's okay. That's a lot. Let's maybe we can backtrack a little bit to back when you were in the hostel

06:55
I kind of want to just know a little bit about your gardening

07:00
integration into the hostel because I remember you were you had had some hydroponics set up back then

07:06
Oh, yeah

07:06
Oh, yeah

07:07
so

07:08
Like, you know, I've always believed that this,

07:13
our food system is kind of broken.

07:15
And I've always thought like, you know,

07:18
it's rare that I actually get a fruit or a vegetable

07:21
that I was like, wow, this is delicious.

07:24
You know what I mean?

07:24
And like, you know, everything I eat just felt so dead,

07:28
you know, and then as I kind of learned

07:30
and did my own kind of research, you know,

07:33
I just kind of came to the conclusion that, you know,

07:35
farming is done wrong.

07:38
I think it being hundreds of miles away

07:41
and then being shipped to us is both horrible nutrition wise

07:48
and then also economically, you know,

07:50
the energy that it takes to get that food to us

07:54
huge scales is wrong.

07:56
And I just came up with the conclusion,

07:58
well, I didn't come up with it.

07:59
It was through my research and listening to a lot

08:02
of podcasts like this and other things that, you know,

08:05
food should be grown in the city.

08:07
It should be close to us.

08:08
where we get it fresh, where it doesn't take up as much energy.

08:12
And as I learned that, I'm like, okay, what's the most efficient ways of growing food

08:17
in the city because there's no dirt or very little.

08:20
And so I just started exploring that a little bit. I first started out with

08:24
bucket growing out of five gallon buckets and

08:27
then I discovered the Japanese scientist, I can't recall his name right now, but

08:31
he, the sub-irrigation planners. And that was really fascinating to me,

08:38
to oxygen for plants and water and not using dirt.

08:43
And then that really sparked a flame in me.

08:47
So I started chasing aquaponics, or hydroponics,

08:52
and then that led me to aquaponics.

08:54
And so I ended up building a large tank of Calapia

08:58
and growing food out of that.

09:03
And then our third host, or second hostel,

09:06
which had a giant roof on it.

09:08
I started experimenting with sub-irrigation planners and aquaponics and hydroponics and

09:14
ended up getting bees to help pollinate the plant.

09:19
So I kept bees, which I totally fell in love with.

09:22
I keep bees to this day.

09:28
So I just kind of saw this fully integrated system that was very mimicked natural biology.

09:38
It was pretty successful and I wanted to really, you know, carry that more and I really I still believe

09:44
it's stronger than ever that farming should be done in the city and yeah, I've been

09:50
I've been written in a couple publications about my kind of farming techniques and what I've done and

09:59
I I mean, I really believe in this so much. I've actually built it into my pizza model. So once we

10:08
the hostels, I integrated that right away into my pizza model.

10:12
So this location that I'm building in Belltown actually has hydroponics in it that I'm building

10:17
up with the help of you, of course, and your lighting.

10:22
And then I partnered with Northwest Farm, so I got some vertical platforms to grow off

10:28
the test with.

10:29
And now I'm exploring mycology and mushrooms, so I'm kind of tying all that together.

10:38
Moto which is my pizza place the plan is to kind of that's gonna fork off that growing into its own kind of in-city farm

10:45
But I'm integrating it into the pizza place. I'm building out right now, which is our third one. Yeah. Wow, so

10:53
Super ambitious plans and you're making it happen. I mean you're you don't just talk the talk you're walking the walk

10:59
Like you do have your like you have that your third store open you're working with

11:03
T-Mobile Stadium and I was just like and now

11:08
next like and mycology. Wow. Okay. So what's next to discuss?

11:14
You said you were self taught with the pizza making how like

11:19
what inspired what got you to a point where you were realizing

11:24
that okay, I have something good enough that I could share with

11:26
the world. And like what inspired moto pizza the idea of

11:30
moto you said you traveled in Asia a bit did that have something

11:33
to do with it?

11:34
Yeah, this kind of all ties together, which is really

11:37
interesting.

11:38
ties in together with the hostels because you know the coming together of people with

11:43
food is you know it's our thing right and there's like nobody that is there's no exception

11:49
to anybody in the world who comes together with food with anybody right so it's a it's

11:54
such a beautiful central point of experience in our culture and that was a big deal at

12:00
the hostel and the inspiration for Moto does yeah you're right it does come from my travel

12:08
I think the night markets were the biggest inspiration for me.

12:14
I just love the energy, the food, the people, especially in Asia and Europe.

12:20
The night markets there were spectacular.

12:22
I can't believe we don't have more of those in here in the US, which it needs to happen.

12:28
And I know a guy who's trying to get it up and running here in Seattle, and I'm trying

12:32
to help him.

12:33
It's anyway I can.

12:35
But anyways.

12:38
part of food is, you know, in our culture and it's just a simple human being is sharing

12:43
food, right? So this all ties together to me, you know, the sharing of food, the growing

12:48
of food and really gets us in touch with our humanity. And when, when I was inspired by

12:55
the night markets, I wanted something that people wanted a place where people would meet,

13:02
share experience and, and, you know, it really just comes down to the same thing.

13:08
sharing that experience and love, right?

13:10
So I have this really big picture

13:14
of how this all ties together.

13:16
And yeah, I kind of left track what I was saying there,

13:19
but yeah, the origin of moto,

13:22
which kind of means in Japanese,

13:26
it means like the original idea.

13:29
And I really love that, you know,

13:31
how that ties in with what I'm thinking of.

13:33
And I think the original idea for me is, you know,

13:38
we always came together, you know,

13:41
and break, you know, to break bread and, you know,

13:44
to be together.

13:45
So, you know, to me, that's an original idea

13:48
for all things we do.

13:50
And, and it, and that also means in another,

13:55
I think in Latin, it kind of translates to

13:58
constantly moving or always moving.

14:00
So I just, I just love that word and the origin of it.

14:04
So yeah, that kind of led me to everything

14:08
And this this pizza it isn't just I mean you must have been making pizza for a

14:14
while to create what you created with the sourdough it's kind of a Detroit style

14:18
could you describe the pizza a little bit? Yeah it's a you know I'm a huge

14:23
believer in you know what you're putting into your mouth and even though I love

14:27
junk food and candy and processed food I'm trying to do less and less of that

14:32
but you know what that said as I as I hone my craft you know

14:38
I believe in the best ingredients and the most natural ingredients and the freshest ingredients.

14:42
So I begin with a sourdough starter that is this beautiful way of baking bread and it's essentially just a fermented

14:52
Yeasted starter that helps your bread grow and expand and add beautiful

14:58
crumb and texture and flavor to it. So I've collected

15:08
It's a mining created like a Frankenstein starter. I like to call it

15:12
But that's one of my fun little experiments like I'll take it to the ocean and let the air

15:17
the ocean air because like

15:20
East is everywhere you go. So and you're breathing it in it's everywhere in the air

15:25
So I'll take it to the ocean to kind of add flavor and texture and layers

15:29
And they'll take it to the floor us and just open the jar and let it breathe. So I do weird stuff like that

15:35
but

15:36
Yeah, I love

15:38
with North Let's Farms, I get their fresh arugula, which is done hydroponically. So it's basically

15:43
cut fresh for me that day, you know, that I get the order. And it's amazing how long it lasts,

15:50
you know, typically when you buy arugula in the store, you know, at last you may be a day or two.

15:55
You know, this stuff is so fresh, it's so strong, it will last the entire week. It's crazy. And so

16:02
the bite is beautiful. So it speaks to how important it is to get that food fresh, you know,

16:08
we know that the stuff in the store has been traveling for a week, if not more longer.

16:14
And so I try to source as many fresh ingredients locally that I can.

16:19
And I know this kind of locally, farm to table is overhyped and overused, but that's real.

16:26
I have a guy that, they're called Wild Forage.

16:31
They used to be forage and farm, but they changed their handle.

16:35
And they collect fresh mushrooms for me.

16:38
for my pizza, right?

16:40
So it's super handcrafted.

16:41
Like I actually started making dough by hand

16:46
until I hurt my arm.

16:48
And then when I had to get a mixer,

16:51
it really kind of switched my thinking

16:53
and I became this huge advocate for technology.

16:58
So I went to the extreme other side

17:00
and I utilized equipment and now I bring on technology.

17:03
I partnered with a robotics company

17:05
to do a pizza robot that helps

17:08
with the precision of me making lots of pizzas.

17:11
So yeah, I'm kind of tying all of this together

17:14
with robotics and technology.

17:17
So I think you can have like, you know,

17:19
super crafted food and utilize technology.

17:23
And I don't think, I think if you're not utilizing

17:26
technology now, you're already behind the game.

17:32
Yeah, so I think, you know, the growing of our food,

17:34
utilizing technology gives us a better product.

17:36
And I think,

17:38
same thing with my craft because I was this like hand crafter and it must be done with

17:43
you know intention and love. I think just like you're using your hands you can use technology

17:49
and equipment with that same intention. Right. Yeah, so that's today. I kind of want to step back

17:57
just to back to when we met for the first time and you had just opened up this little shop

18:03
in West Seattle.

18:06
You said you said you moved from the hostel

18:08
to West Seattle right as the pandemic started.

18:11
But so restaurants were closed.

18:14
So pizza wasn't necessarily like the easiest thing to do.

18:17
And then what are some other factors?

18:20
It was West Seattle.

18:21
So we had an issue at the time with the bridge, correct?

18:24
Yeah.

18:25
So for those of you who don't know,

18:26
the bridge they called it the island

18:28
because West Seattle was like a peninsula

18:31
and the peninsula kind of wrapped around like this.

18:33
So the bridge was the shortcut

18:35
to get to West Seattle from downtown Seattle.

18:38
So without the bridge shortcut, you had to go all the way around this water onto the

18:42
peninsula get to there.

18:45
But I wasn't super concerned because when I read the demographics of the place of West

18:49
Seattle, you know, 70,000 people is like a small town, small city.

18:53
So I thought, okay, 70,000 people can support a small thing like this.

18:57
So I use technology and information to kind of be like, okay, this could work even without

19:03
a bridge.

19:04
But, you know, so I wanted something affordable.

19:08
200 square feet was less than $3,000 a month.

19:13
And I was like, okay, I can make this work.

19:15
And even though people thought I was crazy doing it,

19:20
including my family,

19:23
because access was difficult,

19:25
I just, I really believe that,

19:29
if you build it, they will come kind of thing, right?

19:32
So this little 500 square foot,

19:35
it's actually a little house.

19:38
the window because of COVID so you just walk up to the window and you get your pizza from the window

19:45
and yeah it worked really well and I think a lot of places you know like I said earlier that if

19:51
you take advantage of down times you know things things can happen and so it went uh it went bonkers

20:00
out of this little teeny tiny house and uh people came from hundreds of miles away which was shocking

20:08
How long are people waiting for a pizza now?

20:10
Well, are they at the longest time?

20:13
Yeah, well, what's funny is we're, you know, it's March right now.

20:19
And I with the two location, the new location in Edmunds opened up, I thought that would

20:24
drop, but both locations are now out till June.

20:29
Unbelievable.

20:30
Yeah.

20:31
Wow.

20:32
Are you, I was lucky enough to live right next to Moto, so I had a special, it was the

20:36
trick was to show up at four o'clock.

20:38
and if you were lucky you could get a pizza made which you were kind enough to do for the people that showed up

20:42
Do you still offer that service in Edmonds?

20:45
Yeah, I just started that and it's working well, you know, and that's not you know

20:50
we're doing 250 pizzas a night roughly and

20:54
You know to do, you know 30

20:58
30 to 50 extra walking pizzas works out really well for us, you know

21:02
It helps it helps meet the demand a little bit more

21:05
But not much and we're not really we're not really

21:08
advertising that because I like it to be kind of a secret that people just find out.

21:13
So people are slowly finding out,

21:16
actually quickly finding out because we're selling out really, really fast.

21:19
So, yeah, but it's still not out there that we do that.

21:23
So it's a good thing and a bad thing.

21:25
Yeah, exactly.

21:26
OK.

21:28
Well, you mentioned kind of adversity and how you face that during

21:34
COVID times and, you know,

21:38
You're such a positive person.

21:40
Is that keeping a positive mindset part of that adversity,

21:42
facing it, or do you have some other tricks

21:45
that might be practical during your expansion?

21:50
Yeah, I think just, I think,

21:53
well, I think my greatest strength is that,

21:57
I don't care, I don't care what people think.

21:59
I don't care if things go south.

22:02
I'm okay riskin' it all, you know what I mean?

22:05
Like, you know, we,

22:08
I think we all too often just out of fear hold on to things and out of fear, you know,

22:14
don't jump off that cliff.

22:15
You know, I kind of, I like to say I jump and I build the plane on the way down, you

22:20
know.

22:21
So yeah, it's, it's, it's more a kind of, to me, it ties in with life.

22:26
You know, you got to really just explore it and enjoy it and, you know, take chances and

22:31
take risks.

22:32
And, you know, when you really look at it, no matter how bad things have been before

22:38
or what you've done, you've always gotten through it,

22:41
and you've always found a way through it.

22:44
So why sweat it?

22:46
Because you'll eventually find your way through it.

22:48
So I'm not worried if COVID spikes or we have a bank run

22:54
or anything like that, we'll get through it.

22:58
So I just, yeah, so I don't have a lot of fear

23:01
when it comes to that, and I just go for it.

23:04
Nice, yeah.

23:06
There's a host of problems

23:08
today, you know, so it's like do what you can while you can.

23:13
Exactly.

23:14
So if I was a listener to this podcast and I don't, and I've never been to your shop

23:21
in Seattle, either of them, how would you paint a picture of your store for someone

23:26
that's, you know, not experienced Moto Pizza?

23:29
That's a great question.

23:32
You know, I kind of think of Moto as a full experience, meaning that it's not just about

23:38
and I think this is where a lot of our success comes from is that, you know, I look at it

23:43
as an experience. So from the moment that you find us online, you know, through other

23:51
fans like posting about us, or you see our website, it's very colorful and playful. And

23:58
when you come into our restaurant, it's very playful. We say hi to everybody. It's kind

24:03
of ridiculous how we can be so enthusiastic at times.

24:08
The colors and the characters are super colorful and large and bold and you know

24:14
I like to think that I every person I look at that looks at our place and experiences it

24:20
It kind of brings the childlike nature of who you are out, you know and

24:26
And then my pie like when you bite into my pie

24:30
It's it's unique in the way that I like to say it tells a story and as you eat through this pizza

24:37
you know I

24:38
I curate it almost, you know, so you can't just get, hey, I'm a pepperoni and mushroom fan

24:43
I that's not the game I play because you can get that anywhere, right?

24:47
So my my pies are very curated so it takes you on this journey

24:51
So you can't have a custom pie. It is the 12 or 13 pies that I make. That's it

24:59
And I think and I think that's the thing that adds to our uniqueness. So yeah, when you when you come in you you definitely get an experience

25:06
that's

25:08
for a pizza place and then the pizza itself is unusual.

25:11
And that's why I call it odd pizza

25:16
because it is an odd experience and it isn't odd pizza.

25:20
But also in form too, so it's,

25:23
a lot of people know what a square pizza is

25:25
or a Detroit pizza.

25:26
It is that, but it's a cumulation of all my pizza making.

25:29
So I would say it's got a little bit of like

25:32
East Coast grit to it.

25:34
It's got a little midway love.

25:35
You know, it's got the Pacific

25:38
Northwest warmth and the travel from Asia and of course me being Filipino, part of my culture

25:46
is embedded in this pizza. And the love of European food and the quality of it, all of

25:53
it comes together to make this one odd pizza. And yeah, that's definitely how I would describe

25:59
it to anybody who hasn't been. And if you get a chance, you got to stop by Seattle and

26:03
give it a try.

26:08
Absolutely delicious.

26:10
You recently opened up two stores, so you have a third store on the way.

26:16
What can we say about that store?

26:19
That one's going to be very special.

26:20
That's the one that I'm building out, the full aquaponics system that I'm going to

26:24
have the robotics in.

26:25
I'm going to have an experimental kitchen.

26:28
And I'm trying to build, you remember how like tool libraries were really cool and you

26:34
could check out a tool.

26:35
And yeah.

26:36
Yeah.

26:38
building a kitchen library where you can like check out equipment you know that

26:43
you don't have if you want to experiment and kind of play with your food a little

26:46
like offer you know unique classes and try new things as I experiment with food

26:53
and I learn more about it I'm personally I'm like playing with a little bit more

26:58
higher-end culinary techniques you know and and I don't know what I'm doing

27:03
everything I learned it's from internet so yeah I want

27:08
other people to have the ability to do that because I think, you know, I think with a

27:13
limited food supply chain coming, I think being creative with food is really important,

27:18
you know, as prices are rising ridiculously, you know, I think being prepared and just

27:24
knowing how to prepare your food and how to, you know, and I'm not like a doomsay or anything

27:29
like that, it's just very practical, right? You just watch prices climb, you know, I'm

27:33
already watching what I'm, you know, my eggs, for example, that's ridiculous, you know,

27:38
like I'm gonna get my own,

27:39
I'm gonna get my own chickens or quails

27:41
and start my own eggs again.

27:42
I had, oh by the way, I did have chickens at the hostel

27:45
and I loved it.

27:46
So like, I can see me doing that again,

27:48
especially, you know, with this craziness.

27:49
But yeah, I think it's important to know

27:53
how to play with your food.

27:56
So, you know, Belltown's gonna have all these

27:59
mini components to it.

28:01
Yeah, and we'll see what goes.

28:04
It's gonna be really fun.

28:05
And I started a YouTube channel for it

28:08
Moto, Moto Pizza and I'm going to start kind of showcasing some of those crazy things I'm doing.

28:16
That's awesome. I know that on Instagram you like to go around and try other people's pizza

28:21
around the Seattle area. Yeah. So that's super unique. Like you're, you're, you don't, you don't

28:27
trash your competition. You, you love your competition. You, you, you show them who you are.

28:32
Like, tell us about that. Yeah. You know, it's funny. I was, uh, I love

28:38
and I wanted to do something like that.

28:40
And, you know, being a pizza place, you know,

28:42
people were like, yeah, you know, be careful

28:45
because somebody's gonna like, you know,

28:47
they're gonna come and rate you.

28:48
And I'm like, I don't care if somebody comes and rates me.

28:50
And then I thought, you know what?

28:52
I'm not gonna do a rating.

28:54
I'm just gonna go out and say what I like about that pizza

28:57
because I love all pizza, you know,

28:59
from, you know, cheap $1 pizza in the frozen pizza.

29:03
You know what I mean?

29:04
I love it all.

29:05
Some is just better than others.

29:07
And, you know,

29:08
they all have their place, right?

29:10
So I'm like, go out and I just eat every kind of pizza

29:14
there is, and then I shout them out and I'm like,

29:16
hey, this is a great little pizza joint,

29:18
get out there, support local small business,

29:21
be adventurous, don't eat the same pizza every day.

29:24
I mean, people say, oh yeah, this is,

29:27
pizza A is my spot, I'm gonna go there,

29:30
I go there, that's the one, but get out there and try it.

29:33
There's so many unique things.

29:34
So I live what I say, so I love going out there

29:38
And you know, all ships rise with the tide.

29:40
You know, if you're lifting everybody up,

29:42
you're lifting yourself up.

29:43
So yeah, I love that.

29:44
It's a lot of fun for me.

29:46
And people are, yeah, people are, sorry,

29:48
it's already interrupted, but people are responding

29:51
in such a positive way.

29:52
They're like, that is so cool.

29:54
You know, and it's like, oh my God,

29:55
I never knew that spot existed.

29:57
I'm going to it.

29:57
So yeah, it proves a service, you know,

30:00
and helps build other businesses up.

30:01
I absolutely adore doing that.

30:05
No, it's awesome.

30:06
It applies to

30:08
everything, you know, if you can, if you can go out and do that support, you know, who

30:12
you're working with alongside, it's, it's, it's absolutely necessary. And it's just

30:16
something people don't do. It's just so, but it's, it's beautiful how you do that.

30:20
Um, to go back to like your expansion, and I know that comes with that, you having to

30:27
hire new employees, what kind of, you know, values do you instill in your employees, uh,

30:33
when they join you, what kind of people you're looking for?

30:36
That's a great question.

30:37
Um,

30:38
I have a lot of people like entrepreneurs like,

30:41
how do you do it?

30:42
Like how do you get such great people?

30:43
How do you get them to stay?

30:46
I mean, how do you even get anybody?

30:48
This is like the, what do they call it,

30:49
the great resignation right now?

30:52
And I think people are not wanting to not work.

30:57
That's not the problem.

30:58
People want to be taken care of.

31:01
They want to be heard.

31:02
They want to be part of something, right?

31:05
So I think first and foremost is,

31:08
care of your people. So when I bring people on, I always have a conversation and one of my sayings is

31:14
higher slow meaning get to know them, you know, make sure you're aligned and fire fast, you know,

31:21
if they're not, if they're not vibing with you, move them on because there's no point, right?

31:25
That's like, you want people that are going to align with you and your ideas and where you're

31:30
taking the business in long term. And when I, when I ask people, when I have an interview with someone,

31:38
what's gonna make them a good worker.

31:39
I ask them, what is their long-term plan?

31:43
You know, what do they wanna do?

31:44
Where do they wanna go?

31:45
What do they see themselves in a couple years

31:47
or five years?

31:48
And I wanna make sure that I align with their plan

31:50
when I'm asking them to align with my plan.

31:52
So I think that's really important

31:54
and it also is part of making them feel heard.

31:57
So there's great value in that.

31:59
And I think you're kinda laying the groundwork

32:02
for a longer-term relationship, right?

32:05
And then,

32:07
and of course,

32:08
So, you know, starting from my, you know, what would people consider, you know, I don't

32:15
like using this term, but you know, from the lowest position, but to me, everybody is the

32:20
same and that's why I start everybody the same.

32:22
So my dishwasher starts at 24 bucks an hour and I pay insurance, you know, and medical

32:29
insurance and, you know, plus tips that turns out to be between 32 and 36 bucks an hour,

32:38
It's generous, I would love to pay more,

32:40
but my model doesn't allow that.

32:43
So, but I don't need a lot of money.

32:47
I'm not greedy, I'm more about the experience in this life

32:50
and what you can do with it

32:51
and try to be as generous as possible.

32:54
So yeah, and that's a big part of taking care of my employees

32:57
and what I think the biggest thing that I try to teach,

33:01
learn or pass on is that we are each personally responsible

33:08
and our actions and what we say.

33:11
And that resonates into the world around you.

33:15
And if you're taking care of that,

33:20
you're gonna exceed what your plans are.

33:23
So it not just benefits the people around you,

33:26
it benefits you.

33:28
And in taking that personal responsibility,

33:30
that means you're taking responsibility

33:32
for the people around you.

33:33
Not for their actions, but for your actions,

33:36
meaning like,

33:38
care of this person next to me? How do I take care of that the person that you know I'm

33:43
setting up for when I leave this job when I leave this work today the person that comes

33:48
in after me how am I taking care of them you know and creating this this atmosphere like

33:56
I don't even really have you know managers in my store the employees run the place you

34:02
know and it's because it's because of that responsibility as I grow you know I definitely

34:08
I just hired a CEO, a COO, and then a general manager that kind of looks after all three

34:15
spaces because as you grow you need to have, you know, organization.

34:19
But as I started, I didn't have that, but I think it was building a really good foundation

34:25
to make it easier for everybody.

34:28
Wow, okay. That's, that's, you've come a long way.

34:31
The CEO and CEO. I don't think you had those when I talked to them.

34:34
Nope. Nope.

34:38
Oh yeah, good for you. Yeah, because I'm bringing on venture capital. So like, that's a big part of what I'm doing too.

34:44
Wow. Okay. Well, that's great for the business and your expansion and everything. I kind of wanted to change gears into the gardening again. I know you have many plant based options on your menu. Can you tell us how your love of gardening kind of ended up on the plate?

35:02
Yeah, absolutely. So like, you know, I think,

35:07
you know,

35:08
The idea we spoke of earlier is this, you know, the freshness of the food and growing it myself,

35:13
you know, clipping it and putting it on that pizza the same day. It's kind of insane. I love that.

35:18
But it also adds like, you know, beautiful texture and color and the freshness of that with the

35:25
vegetarian pizzas. And I have a few of them. I think is kind of showcasing what I believe,

35:33
you know, like, I believe that we should have fresh food. Therefore, I'm going to have it. You

35:38
we should grow our own food. So I'm going to grow it. So I want to, I want to make sure

35:42
that I'm showcasing my beliefs in what we do to help educate and to help, you know,

35:50
to show that, hey, this is really simple, you know, like I'm going to have these five

35:54
gallon buckets. And oh, I got my first 3d printer so I can, you know, build these lids

36:02
that can connect to Mason jars together top to top to top this way and grow spines.

36:08
sprouts in it and then people can have their own little farm in their house and just growing

36:13
sprouts to start with, right?

36:15
So I think the farming aspect, tying in with the pizzas is really key because when you

36:23
just show something, it's just showing it, but when you show something and showing it

36:26
working and then an application that ties directly to them, that's when it becomes inspirational,

36:32
right?

36:33
And then that's what I want to do is create inspiration.

36:38
and it goes directly onto the pizza.

36:41
That's pretty spectacular.

36:43
Yeah, it's not outdoors.

36:45
It's all in-house.

36:46
You're getting the freshest of the fresh that way.

36:50
So, yeah, I also know that you're a huge fan of mushrooms.

36:55
You're a passionate mushroom grower.

36:57
How did you get into growing your own mushrooms

36:59
and what can you share with us about that?

37:01
Yeah.

37:03
So I'm gonna throw it out there.

37:05
I actually first became a fan

37:08
It's like a deli mushrooms and you know, I've never considered myself like a drinker. I don't party

37:14
You know, I'm not I'm not this you know

37:17
I don't do raves and anything like that it came across it came across my history

37:22
More like a healing medicine and you know in trying it

37:26
I thought it was beautiful and I loved the mushrooms and as and I fell in love with mushrooms and

37:31
so I started kind of looking at all the applications of mushrooms and I I was

37:37
fascinated by

37:38
You know the medicinal, you know, just not, you know, take, let's put psychedelics aside and just look at, you know

37:45
mushrooms across the board that are edible available to the public

37:49
there's a lot of medicinal purposes and then

37:52
you know as I went to the farmer market like the flavor profile and the texture of mushrooms across the board blew my mind as I

37:59
started it kind of exploring that and

38:02
There was a guy at the farmers market. I

38:04
Ask him if I could go to his mushroom farm and I did

38:08
invited me to go and I was blown away by what he was doing.

38:12
And then I started experimenting with growing my own.

38:18
And they grow so fast, they cycle so fast.

38:21
And you could layer that cycle really quickly

38:25
to where you're constantly producing

38:26
in a small amount of square footage.

38:28
And that's kind of what led me to growing

38:31
these edible mushrooms because some of them

38:33
taste just like meat, it's crazy, the textures.

38:38
exploration that is a food and multi-purpose it is just you know it's a no-brainer for me.

38:45
And so yeah that's where I'm really into the mycology and doing it indoors in a I have a mushroom

38:53
tent that you gave me that I've that is used for growing and that's going to be the mushroom that's

38:59
going to be the mushroom tent. Okay awesome you're going to do all types of mushrooms in there and

39:04
you can look at it through the big windows and show everyone what you're doing. Yeah

39:08
Yeah, exactly. And people, you know, just from the little stuff that I do, people are amazed by it.

39:13
So like, I'm really excited to get this up and running. Can't wait to have another show with you to give you a tour.

39:19
Yeah, I'll be there soon.

39:24
Okay, sustainability, this is something you're working on

39:29
probably with a lot of things you're doing,

39:31
but how important is sustainability overall

39:34
to your business and how have you integrated it

39:36
into your organization?

39:38
I think, I think, you know, I'm not just about me,

39:43
I'm about the community.

39:44
And I think this sustainability is a necessity

39:47
for where we're going.

39:48
And I think all aspects from how you run your business

39:54
itself to the product, all of these things should be sustainable in every way possible.

39:59
So for example, you know, how close are my employees to their job?

40:04
You know, can they take public fabric?

40:06
Can they just walk?

40:07
You know, these are these, you know, what's the closest location?

40:10
You know, how do we, how do we create a circumference of the job to keep that sustainable just

40:16
them, right?

40:17
And then, you know, the product itself, like, where are we sourcing it from and who are

40:22
we sourcing it from?

40:24
So many questions to ask in this that are beyond just the food itself, right?

40:30
What practices am I using?

40:32
You know, like I love, you know, hydroponics because the energy use is minimal if not the

40:38
lowest way to grow food.

40:41
And you know, the recycling of water, there's a lot of things that can do and there's new

40:44
science coming out of what you can do to re-energize water, you know, like that is fascinating

40:51
to me.

40:54
that were kind of the old sciences that were forgotten are kind of coming to fruition again.

41:00
That's really fascinating too. I mean there's a reason some of those old sciences were used for

41:05
centuries right? So how do we apply that to the sustainable practices that we use? So new science

41:13
and old science mixing together like that sustainability question as you can see I think

41:19
is a really really big one and there's a lot of solutions if you're willing to dig and look outside

41:24
the box and that's what I like to do is kind of think outside the box, look outside the

41:28
box and how many solutions that we can come up with where things are multi-used and multi-purpose.

41:37
You know, like for example, the building that I'm in for Motobeltown is a large enough building

41:43
and it's commercially viable that I can actually expand Motofarm into it because of the space

41:50
that's in there.

41:54
that it's zoned commercially, I can actually build out ModoFarm in it. So these are all

41:59
practices that I kind of am, you know, I'm thinking outside the box, I'm trying to put that in Modo

42:05
in a box and what Modo is defined as and as far as state sustainability. So there's a lot of

42:09
practices involved in that that are getting that. So that's a big question and I'm addressing a lot

42:15
of things. Yeah, very multifaceted. So just outside of the robotics and outside of the,

42:21
you know, growing your own food, there's just so many other things you're

42:24
you're thinking about.

42:25
Yes.

42:27
That's awesome.

42:29
So thank you for that.

42:32
What is Next for MotoPizza?

42:34
What are you willing to share with us?

42:36
I know you're super ambitious.

42:38
You've said so many things that can go so many directions,

42:40
like potentially as a business opportunity.

42:43
But what do you have cooked up next?

42:45
What are you thinking of today?

42:47
What's on your mind?

42:49
I love the pun of what do you have cooked up next.

42:54
Yeah, I actually, you know, in the legalization of marijuana and psychedelics, you know, I'm

43:02
already working with food scientists on creating a pizza line that is going to be marijuana

43:09
based and psychedelic based.

43:12
I think these plants are being abused right now, but you know, it's a learning process,

43:19
right?

43:20
As we integrate it into our society.

43:21
But I think there's a lot of healing.

43:24
Potential in this and I think introducing more people to it

43:29
I think we could start leaning more towards a healing

43:35
Society that which nobody argues that we needed much more healing and so yeah

43:42
That's a big part of what I do and you know because of the hostels

43:47
Losing the hostels, you know, like I said everything is cyclical and we'll be coming back around to a more positive place

43:54
In time, I want to start building up the hospitality side of our business, but that is more like

44:03
healing oriented, which we can go into another time.

44:07
I have a very big picture in mind.

44:12
You hear me use the word healing a lot.

44:14
I feel called to heal the world through food.

44:19
And I think that's a...

44:20
As I'm slowly walking more and more in the

44:24
center of that path. That's kind of my big gameplay.

44:29
If you don't mind me asking, is there something specific that may have happened that make you

44:34
feel like you want to be a healer or is this just your passion and your drive?

44:38
You feel like it's the right thing to do?

44:40
Yeah, I think it's through my own healing, you know, like through my path of healing

44:44
and, you know, doing what I like to call doing the work, right?

44:50
And that's kind of delving in who I am, how I interact with society and how, what kind

44:57
of impact do I have?

44:59
I want to be, you know, I want to be one of the good guys.

45:02
I want to be a force of good and change in the world.

45:04
And, you know, you know, one of the very wise men said,

45:11
you know, if you want to change the world, be the change,

45:15
you know, and that's exactly what I'm doing.

45:18
So it wasn't any one particular thing.

45:20
It was just, you know what, if I'm going to be better,

45:24
I need to help other people be better.

45:26
I need to inspire people to be better.

45:29
changing these buddies mind, I'm here to inspire people to change their own mind.

45:34
And in all of this that I do, that's really my personal mission,

45:38
is to inspire people to be better.

45:41
And that really is what it boils down to.

45:45
Right, it's all about love and kindness, right?

45:47
That's right, brother.

45:50
Okay, final question. I appreciate everything you've said so far so much.

45:55
Is there anything you would like to tell our viewers and listeners out there that are thinking of starting to grow something at home, either for fun or as a possible food source?

46:04
Yeah, I think the first thing is, is get hold of Taylor and ask him questions and get his products.

46:15
Because he has a lot of knowledge and on plants.

46:20
and growing and indoor growing,

46:22
and he can help you get started.

46:24
I think that's the biggest thing right there.

46:27
But yeah, everything you wanna learn is on the internet,

46:31
and just, you know, you just gotta have a little bit of drive

46:34
and wanna dig a little.

46:35
And so utilize Taylor and his knowledge

46:38
and jump on the computer.

46:39
And if you're feeling it, jump in and do it.

46:43
Just do it.

46:44
There's simple, simple ways that you can do it.

46:47
Yeah, I think on one of the videos you said, just get up and grow your own food, right?

46:51
Just go for it.

46:52
Is that kind of your message?

46:53
Yeah, yeah, like you can start small, just sprout.

46:57
It's so easy to just sprout food.

46:59
It's easier than cooking your own food to start sprouting food.

47:03
And then, you know, if that lights you up, it's just going to grow into what I'm doing.

47:09
Right, just keeps on growing and growing.

47:11
Yeah, it's having that no fear attitude and just, you know, plant a seed.

47:16
That's all it takes.

47:17
Exactly.

47:21
All right, is there any other words of wisdom

47:23
you can leave us with Lee before I let you go?

47:26
Absolutely.

47:29
Always be kind.

47:36
Alright, Lee, thank you so much for talking with us today.

47:39
I'm super excited for your expansion and growth and continued, you know,

47:43
feeding Seattle and feeding people's hearts and minds.

47:45
I'm looking forward to talking to you further.

47:47
I really appreciate it.