S2 E12 Wayne Lewis - 614 Media - Masterchef

In this episode of Cosmos and Commerce, hosts Janis Francis and Michele Cook sit down with Wayne Lewis, founder of 614 Magazine, Stock & Barrel Magazine, and a former contestant on MasterChef. From navigating the dynamic world of media to showcasing his culinary talents, Wayne’s journey is nothing short of inspiring.

Key Highlights:

• Media Mogul Beginnings: Wayne shares how a college misstep led him to launch his first newspaper at LSU, ultimately sparking his passion for publishing. His drive and persistence carried him through challenges as he built 614 Media Group into a Columbus staple.
• Culinary Passion: Wayne dives into his MasterChef experience, revealing what it was like to cook for Gordon Ramsay and compete on a national stage. He also shares his philosophy on simplicity in cooking and his plans to launch a catering company focused on international-inspired bowls.
• Community Engagement: Known for initiatives like Restaurant Week, Wayne discusses his dedication to uplifting Columbus's local food scene and giving back to the community.
• Publishing Secrets: Despite the digital age, Wayne highlights the enduring value of print media, emphasizing how 614 Magazine continues to thrive with its unique approach to content and distribution.
• Culinary Entrepreneurship: From pop-up dinners to catering events, Wayne explains how he channels his passion for food into creating exceptional dining experiences, all while preparing for his next big venture—a mobile catering operation.

Quick Wisdom from Wayne:

• On Persistence: “Most sales happen after the third ‘no.’ Don't give up after the first.”
• Life Advice: “Edit yourself. Simplicity often leads to brilliance.”
• Philosophy on Business: “Your people and clients are the business. Be a steward, not just the boss.”

Fun Moments:

• Wayne’s unexpected MasterChef audition story, including a producer sliding into his DMs.
• A nostalgic nod to his first job selling popcorn at a baseball stadium.
• His quirky love for peace and quiet—even while cooking!

Connect with Wayne:

• Instagram: @60MinuteChef
• Website: 60MinuteChef.com

Links:
All Clad Cookware
The E-Myth Revisited
The Little Red Book of Selling

Join us for this fascinating conversation that blends business savvy, culinary passion, and a touch of humor. Don’t forget to subscribe to Cosmos and Commerce for more inspiring stories!

https://cosmosandcommerce.com
https://www.facebook.com/cosmosandcommercepodcast

Transcript

​[00:00:00] 

Janis: Hello and welcome to Cosmos and Commerce, the podcast where cutting edge media insights meet creative cocktails. I'm Janice Francis with RE MAX Connection and the Humble Create Artists in Marketplace and joining me as always is the ever zealous Michelle Cook from Bodyache Escape Wellness Center.

Together, we're here to spark your imagination and ignite your media and food passions with a touch of flair,

Michele: You've got it, Janice. Today we're excited to chat with Wayne Lewis, the founder of 614 Magazine, Stock and Barrel Magazine, and a contestant on MasterChef. We'll talk about how he's made his mark on Columbus with his publishing work and how he's taken on the food industry. It's going to be a fun and inspiring conversation.

Janis: So not only that, Wayne is diving into the world of distilling and brewing. Whether you're an experienced publisher, or dreaming of starting your own brand, or even a home cook, eyeing a spot on a food [00:01:00] competition show, we've got tips, strategies, and a bit of fun to help you thrive in these exciting industries.

So grab your coffee or your favorite 6 1 4 cocktail, And get ready for some valuable business insights.

Michele: Absolutely. Let's discover what makes Wayne Lewis a standout leader in the publishing industry and making his mark on the food and drink industry. Welcome to Cosmos and Commerce, Wayne. We can't wait to hear about all of your businesses.

Wayne: Well, thanks for having me, guys. I look forward to it.

Janis: Yeah, absolutely. We're looking forward to hearing all about it too. So can you share the story, the beginning of six one four media group? What inspired you to start a publishing media business?

Wayne: Sure. So, the story goes all the way back to my college days. I was at LSU in Baton Rouge, and I was going to school to be an attorney. That was my plan. And long story short, I got misquoted by the school's Daily newspaper and they wouldn't retract it. And I [00:02:00] said, well, screw you guys. I'm going to start my own newspaper.

And I did, and that's what got me into publishing. Yeah. So yeah, I started that paper. It turned out really, really successfully and had that business for 20 years. And then moved up here to Columbus and essentially recreated that, that version of the newspaper at Ohio state. And then that had success and then started 614 and Restaurant Week and all the other things.

So, yeah, it was not my life plan to get into media or publishing, but I think like a lot of people, you can take a wrong turn at Albuquerque and end up somewhere good. Ha ha.

Janis: Yeah,

Wayne: That was an old reference to a cartoon, by the way. I don't know if people will get that

Janis: No, I was a Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Roadrunner. Yeah. Yes. I do. I do remember that So what were some of the biggest challenges you faced when launching your magazines? And how did you overcome that? Mm

Wayne: I start? So for me, one of the biggest challenges was being on a, [00:03:00] large public university campuses and, the, these large institutions don't want you there. And so fighting legal battles with these big behemoths, just me by myself I learned really early on just not to take no for an answer.

And I think that really carried me well throughout my business career that you have to be persistent and you have to just keep going. So, there's an old saying in sales, right? Most sales happen after the third no. And most sales reps give up after the first no. there's that gap in between where you can be great.

And just use that as fuel. This underdog kind of mentality that I've always had. And that's really driven me. So that, that was a a hurdle. And of course there's been economic challenges. I mean, from hurricanes and, and Louisiana to, the great, great recession of 2007, eight, nine.

To COVID. I mean, there's, there's always been something. I think every business owner goes through these hurdles. If you're in business long enough, the trouble will find you.

Janis: Mm hmm.

Wayne: You just have to keep going. [00:04:00] That's, that's my advice.

Janis: How did you land in Columbus

Wayne: So

Janis: Rouge?

Wayne: yeah. So my ex is from UA and she was at LSU. Yeah, so that's where I met her and she pulled me up here.

I'd never even been to Columbus funny enough. I knew there was a big university and. I come up here and said, I think I can do what I've done here in Columbus. And so that's worked out well.

Janis: Yeah. And you grew up in New York,

Wayne: Yep. Upstate New York. I've been in Columbus now for almost 20 years though. So I'm pretty sure that makes me an official Columbus native, right?

You're a native after 20 years.

Janis: say, I would say, yeah, get your home now. So those were the biggest challenges. So since starting, what ongoing challenges have you encountered it and how have you addressed those?

Wayne: Um, when you've been in business a long time the culture changes. And so I think, when I started out, it was me, I was young with lots of young employees and, I, I'm from a different era. What am I? Gen Z, Jen, no, I'm Gen X. I'm Gen X born in [00:05:00] 71. So, after you've been in business a while and you start to hire the young people of today, they're from like, they're like two generations removed from you and they have a different way of going about work, a different outlook on life different expectations.

And I think a great challenge has been trying to learn how to modify and, and, and build the business. So it works for them because being in business, when you're young, you think Oh, it's my business, right? I'm here to make money. This is my business. This is mine. I'm doing it. The reality is after a while, hopefully.

You'll learn that it's not your business, really. You're the steward of the business, but it involves all these other people and they are the business, actually. It's really your, your people are the business. Your clients are the business. I think it's funny when people say, I want to go into business for myself so I can be my own boss.

The reality is you're not you're, you're boss of the clients. Your boss are, the people who you're stewards of their time. They spend a third of their waking hours with you. So, look, it [00:06:00] took me a while to really come to that realization. And so that's been a challenge that I think I've hopefully solved now.

I've turned over the reins of 614 Media Group to an incredible team. Lindsay, my CEO, she's been with me since day one of the 614 here. And they just do an incredible job. So that's really freed me up to do this whole crazy food thing.

Janis: Yeah. I was looking on your website yesterday and, and all the team, you got a pretty good team there.

Wayne: Yeah. I think we're at like 18. I think we have 18 full time employees and a lot of freelancers and delivery drivers and all that kind of stuff. So.

Janis: Yeah. So can you share a moment or an achievement with 614 Media that you consider your greatest success?

Wayne: That's tough. I, I actually, it's funny because I prefer to talk about our failures with people because I feel like there's a lot more lessons in that. There's a lot more value in talking about the things you failed at and then dissecting why. Because I think life's all about growth, whether it's personal or business or [00:07:00] whatever.

Whatnot. And so there's just a lot of value in that. I think we've done some really cool things. We've, restaurant week. I'm very proud of that. That event helps restaurants during their slowest periods of the year. Many restaurants have their biggest weeks of the year because of it. And we've been doing that since day one.

And so it's raised, Oh my gosh, I don't know how many. Tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars for local food charities. So I'm pretty, very proud of that. And I've had people who have been with me for over a decade. I think that's pretty cool. Work wise. So, Yeah.

Janis: so yeah, you're, you're 614 media is known for and the quality of the content and your community engagement, which you were just talking about, do you have a special philosophy or strategy that helps set you apart?

Wayne: I mean, we try to be better every day. I mean, we're definitely, I'm, I'm, I'm, I come from the school of perfectionism, which I don't wish upon anybody because it's, it's a really tough place to be sometimes. But I think that's rubbed off in the, in the core people I've [00:08:00] hired and who have been with me a long time.

And they're also driven to be better every day. Although I don't want anybody to try to be perfect because it's an impossible task. And in doing so, it's we really care about our products. We, we really want them to be the best they can be. They're not perfect. I mean, no businesses, no operation is, but at the end of the day, I think everybody in that building really, really cares.

And they understand that look every day, this is a cool stat on average, 5, 000 different people open up a magazine and flip through it. Every day, every single day and not to mention our, our daily email goes out to 90, 000 people with an

Janis: one of them.

Wayne: Yeah, with an open rate of close to 50%.

So it's like literally every day, 40 to 50, 000 people are like reading our stuff every day in that digital format. And so, you're, you're, you're helping a lot of people hopefully navigate, understand the city better, find the new places to eat and enjoy it. That's what we're, I think the secret to our business is we've never gone negative.

We're not [00:09:00] like the old kind of alternative weeklies who are very like critical of city government or very critical of certain things, writing, negative restaurant reviews when they didn't like the food. We've never played that game. It's never been interesting to us. We're more interested in finding the best the city has to offer and giving that to people because.

Have you ever had a friend say ask you what's the worst steakhouse in town? No one asks that question. They ask you what's the best steakhouse in town? So, didn't make sense to kinda live in that negative world.

Janis: I love that. Yeah.

Michele: Yeah. That philosophy is great. So I get your emails and I share stuff usually with my sister cause she lives downtown, but I had a big news story for my business a while back and I was wondering if someone has a big news story for their business, how do they submit it to you? I

Wayne: sure. So you can always send us a press release to at, editor at 6 1 [00:10:00] 4 mediagroup.com or 6 1 4 now.com. You can also buy, advertise. To tell your story too. So, but

Michele: tried, I tried to email, I tried, I don't know, just didn't connect.

Wayne: yeah. Editor from four media group is the best way. Jack is our editor. And he does a great job at, at, in, we get so much incoming. You have to understand even our social media. We have people who just manage that because the amount of incoming DMS and stuff that we get. So we, we try to do our best there.

So keep trying, keep trying. I'll make it happen.

Michele: What marketing strategies have been most effective for promoting the magazine?

Wayne: Well for us, we have, have the unique ability to physically be out in the market. When you walk into a restaurant or you walk into a retail place and you see one of our racks with physical magazines, there's really nothing that equals that. Nothing in the digital space really equals that physical touch that you get with our magazine.

So I think [00:11:00] I've seen in my career a lot of I'll give you a perfect example, Columbus Alive, which is owned by the dispatch, when they close down their print magazine. They said that we're gonna go digital only. A lot of publications have done that around the country over the last decade as as prints gone out of favor.

And the digital just doesn't last without the print. I mean, you really need to have that print and case study with us as well. After covid, we closed down our campus print publication and and thereafter tried to do digital for a while, but it just doesn't work. It's really hard to keep yeah.

People's attentions on a screen because there's just so much competition for it. It's so noisy. These are, you have to understand a phone is an entertainment device. It's not a marketing device. No one holds their phone up looking to or wanting to be marketed to. It happens on the phone. But it's just not something they seek.

Whereas our magazine, people pick it up in order to find things to do, places to [00:12:00] go, concerts to go to, they're looking to it for that. And so that's why it's a great marketing vehicle.

Michele: With you for a decade. What are some of your secrets to keeping staff and reducing turnover?

Wayne: Oh, boy. You look, I wish I knew. I mean, it's the greatest mystery in human human resources is is the most difficult part of running a business. I mean, you can ask almost any I'm sure any business owner you talk to. It's not product. It's not, those sorts of things. It's people, it's people. So, because look, at the end of the day, no one will ever care about your business as much as you do as the owner.

And once you realize that you can start to create an environment that's helpful. To your employees to help them grow, understanding that they're going to grow out of your business. And that should be your plan. I mean, you shouldn't actually try to keep anybody forever at your business. I don't, I don't think that's, I don't think it's good for the employee to be honest with you.

I think everyone has their dreams. Everyone has their own goals. I [00:13:00] think as a business owner, if you can help give people the personal skills, the technical skills to help them reach their goals, they'll benefit your business in better ways while they're there. And then, so you're going to have turnover.

I mean, look, we live in a day where there is turnover. It just so happens. I have some folks that are in like, key leadership positions who have been with me the whole way, really believe in the product. And they've got a lot of runway to build this company on their own now, without me.

So I think that's exciting for them.

Michele: Yeah, that is a good point. That's a good perspective for a business owner because when people leave, I'm always hard on myself. Oh, another one.

Wayne: It's hard to not take it personal. Look, we had, we had many, many years. This, these ideas that I'm giving you now are places that I've arrived in my career. These aren't places that I've been my whole career. It's a story of growth. We've made all the mistakes. I've made all the mistakes. Expecting people to work as hard as you as the business owner, to care as much as you.

And it's just not realistic. You can't pay people enough. Well, maybe in Silicon [00:14:00] Valley, you can like with stock options and whatnot. You can run people, work them to the bone. Because they're doing it for millions of dollars, but we don't have that luxury. So you have to give people another reason to show up every day and that's, they have to get something out of it other than a paycheck.

We really, we really try to, promote from within and to grow the company so people who do want to stay have places to go within it.

Michele: Are there any trends you're seeing in publishing right now and how do you think these trends will shape the future of publishing? Ooh,

Wayne: that we're seeing. Don't tell anybody print is coming back. Prince is actually you're seeing that a lot of large retailers are bringing their catalogs back. I mean, look, even a Costco, right? You get a, what is it? A weekly mailer now from Costco, Sam's Club, all these big retailers.

They're understanding that the screen is a very, very noisy place and marketing. While it's, look, we have [00:15:00] digital products, we believe in them, but it's only one bullet in your, in your marketing gun and you really need to use others and there's just no replacement for that, that quiet, personal, intimate setting that when someone's flipping through a physical product.

Has and so even our printer says, he's seeing print come back. It's a little harder on the advertising side for sure. It's not like you're seeing lots of new six one, four magazines, but we weathered a lot of competitors over the years. We weathered the COVID storm and yeah, we're, we're doing well.

So, but yeah, print is a print is, they said print was dead that for years you heard, Oh, Prince dead. What they really meant was the daily newspaper industry that was dead. And that was because the speed of information. It was just too slow for a daily newspaper to keep up with it. So, yeah,

Michele: How do you measure success in your business? So what key metrics do you use? To track and ensure that you're profitable and on the right path.[00:16:00] 

Wayne: well, obviously PNLs, we, profit loss statements is how, but we have other metrics as well with our magazines from day one. One of the unique things we did is we measure pickup rates. So when we go out and refill a rack at the end of the month, We pick up what's left over, we count it, we log it into a system that we built, and then that way we know what our pickup rates are.

We know the locations that are doing well, or where distribution should be shifted, and that's been super helpful. I mean, our pickup rates, I think, are like 95, 96 percent a month, which is like unheard of in the industry. It's because we've managed it and it's because we care about it. No other publications do that.

They just drop it. And and basically drop it and let someone else even put it on the rack, drop it outside the front door. We've never done that. And so we've cared about that metric. And that has allowed us to stay in tune with our readership because as long as people are picking up the magazine and consuming the content, we can sell advertising and that makes for a healthy business.

And then, of course, on the digital side, we have open rates, [00:17:00] right? We have click through rates. You're inundated with metrics now. And just as a business, success is built on telling that story to clients and then helping clients get a piece of that attention span that we're, we're, we're getting.

So yeah that, and obviously, you have to, you have to be profitable and it's tougher now than ever. Of course, COVID destroyed supply chains, including the printing industry paper was paper was up like 200%. In part because interesting story. Amazon, mostly. They needed boxes and a lot of the paper production around the world went to box making instead of paper making because people were at home.

People were at home getting all of their goods through a delivery. And so we've seen paper stop going up, but it's not like it, it's funny, there's never any deflation, right? There's inflation, things cost more, but they never really come back for the most part. So, that was, that was a big challenge and we, I really believe in trying to [00:18:00] make our products as affordable.

For our clients as possible, because look, if our clients are successful, they're with us for a long time. Our jobs easier, our sales cycles shorter. It's just better all around. I'm not, we're not trying to make the most money possible. We've never been the most expensive in the market and never will be. So we're really mindful about trying to manage our costs.

So we don't have to pass along too much to the client.

Michele: So is the only way you make money advertising or do you have other methods

Wayne: So we, yeah, advertising is our primary model. And of course that's across everything from, restaurants pay to be part of restaurant week our, our digital, digital and print products as well, and then we have royalty deals with our beer and our vodka as well,

Michele: Oh, okay.

Wayne: but primarily advertising. We're an advertising company.

Yeah. And we do, we, we also do video work and design work. We do some of that creative services type work for clients, but it's a pretty small part of our business.[00:19:00] 

Michele: Okay.

Janis: So we're going to switch gears now.

Wayne: Go.

Janis: Tell us about your MasterChef journey. I, I need to know what moved you to audition for the show? And have you always had a passion for cooking? And my big question is from the time you found out about it, I mean, was it like online? Were you searching for it or did you just see it?

And it's Oh, I think maybe I'm going to do that. And from that point, when did they film the first show? That's a, that's a lot of questions.

Michele: one. Perfect.

Wayne: his shows, Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares MasterChef, all of it. And so we've always watched the show and been a huge fan. And you sit there and you watch an episode and you're like, I could have done better than that.

I could have made that better. And it starts to plant a seed in your, in your mind, maybe a couple of years ago, [00:20:00] and not having to work in the day to day of my, media company has really allowed me the kind of freedom to go pursue something like this, but I've been cooking for 25 years. I got the food and the cooking bug when I lived in Louisiana because when I grew up, upstate New York, we're not known for our food culture. And so when I moved down there, it just flipped a switch in me, just the spices and the flavors and the seafood and the culture of the food, right? It was historic. It was deep. It was very personal. And so I really, really love that. And that got me into cooking. And I've been cooking ever since a big barbecue guy, but I love cooking international foods, comfort foods.

And so, yeah, I, so I was going to actually apply the year before, and it turns out they had a back to win season where they brought back former contestants in the show. So it's well, that didn't happen, but it gave me a whole year to practice and I'll tell you, I improved my cooking game more from that point.

To [00:21:00] getting on the show than I did on the show because I cooked so much. So long story short, it was September of wasn't, was it last, this past September, no, September of the previous year. Yeah. And the online app came, I filled it out and literally that night, a producer slid into my DMS on Instagram. I was like, Hey, you should try out for master chef.

I'm like, That's really weird. Cause I have 400 followers on Instagram, like nobody couple foot. Right. And I'm like, that's so weird because I just filled it out. She's Oh, what's your name? I'll check on it. Like next day, I got an email day after that. I'm on a phone call two days later. I'm on a zoom call with a senior producer.

And then you have to do all these videos. You have to do all of these, to show them that you can actually cook to see how you are on camera. They used to do like roving auditions, like American idol. Back before COVID and they stopped doing that. So that's all video. And then you'd send them like five videos and you wouldn't hear from them for a week or two.

And then you'd hear [00:22:00] from them like, Oh, congratulations. You've made it to the next round of casting. We have to do a background check. You have to send us your medical records. You have to do all these crazy things. It was a whole process.

Janis: Wow. Medical records.

Wayne: It lasted from September to like mid December to where finally they said, all right, they send you an email and we're going to send it.

We're going to fly you out to LA. To continue the audition process. And you have to commit to be there for two to three months. So it's it's, it's a long, it's a long process. It's not chopped where it's like a one day taping. Right. It's that's it. So went to LA and there were 80 people that they brought 80, 85 people.

And then we did some stuff there, cooked our signature dish, and then they cut it in half to 40. And those 40 got to go on camera and compete for the white apron.

Janis: with your same signature dish.

Wayne: yeah, so you submit four signature dishes. I remember it was like a, it was a seafood a seafood, a meat, a wild card, and a dessert.

And they select, they [00:23:00] decide what you're gonna cook of those four. So mine was this venison dish. And they're really keen on Well, we didn't know what the theme of the season was going to be, and it turned out to be regions, right? So I was representing the Midwest. So, they picked some food that really represented Midwest, which is venison deer hunting.

It's huge. I did this really fancy restauranty. Venison dish and that got me my white apron. So, and that was probably the most, the dish I was most proud of on the whole season, because the one dish that like I conceived, I made, I wasn't told to make, so yeah, it

Janis: they didn't throw any whammies at you through it? You just made it.

Wayne: yeah. Right.

So it was a crazy process. And yeah, it's like, it's like one of my favorite TV shows and to get on it is still surreal to even talk about it. It's crazy.

Janis: Well, we, we watched all of them. Yeah. We watched all of them. We thought, Dave and I thought you did great. We were like, Hey, we know that guy, 

Do you have any plans in the future for competition [00:24:00] shows?

Wayne: I've, I didn't go on TV to be on TV. I went to be on a cooking competition. Show. That's why I was really interested in to I'm a very competitive person and I really just wanted to see is my food that good to get a cook for Gordon Ramsey over the course of almost two months is like crazy.

Like he ate so much of my food and and I did really well. I had actually not, not to humble brag or anything, but like I had the winningest record on the season. I won every group challenge. I won more individual challenges even than the person who won. Yeah. And I ended up in fifth place one episode shy of being in the finale.

So I was really bummed about that, but you look, I did great on the show, learned a lot, but what I learned early on is, It's not really a cooking competition. It's a TV show. It's a reality Entertainment TV show and so that part of it. I don't know. I'm not as interested in that so for me now would I do another show like maybe [00:25:00] maybe?

It would have to be the right one. I did apply for Netflix's American barbecue show

Michele: I love barbecue.

Wayne: But that's that's actually it's funny because when I first auditioned I was wearing a red t shirt a red t shirt and a baseball cap that said barbecue on it and my Character wasn't a character, but it's alright I'm a backyard barbecue guy that can also cook like fancy restaurant food and at my first zoom call The producer was like do me a favor.

Take your hat off my hat off. He's alright You have enough hair. So you're, you're not going to have a hat. You're not going to be a barbecue guy. Let's keep moving on. So, and they put me in a suit during my audition. So I was the business Midwest business guy. That was my character. Everyone has a character bucket.

And so that's how the producers fill out all the personalities of the show. And so that was mine. So, but no barbecue is I love [00:26:00] slow and slow. I've got a big offset smoker. I've got a huge wood pile. Absolutely love it. Now my food journey, I want to feed people like I love, love cooking for people.

I do not want to do a restaurant. So I'm building a catering company. And around the concept of international bowls. So think Chipotle, but Mediterranean or Indian or Asian, Vietnamese Tex Mex, right? And so, yeah, that's where I'm going now. I'm, I'm in development right now for that, hopefully for spring launch.

And so yeah, I just love cooking for people, I've done pop up dinners. When I first got back, that was my thing. It's Ooh, I'm fancy now. Let's do, let's do fancy, like five course tasting dinners. And they went great and it was fun to

Janis: They sold out.

Wayne: Yeah. Oh yeah. They've, they all sold out. I've done three of them. I have another one I'm about to announce for October.

Janis: questions. Yeah.

Wayne: Yeah, I have one coming up in October. I think I'm going to do a Mediterranean menu. And it's a lot of work because each, [00:27:00] I don't recycle any of the same dishes. So each one of these has a theme and, I spend weeks and weeks working on perfecting the recipes for this event, to feed, 48 to 50 people all at once.

And so that's, that's the challenge. It's not I'm not in home cook land anymore. It's I'll have to figure it out. So,

Janis: 60, 80 people

Wayne: no, it's typically 48, 48, 50 people. That's about a limit for, because we're serving every course at once. And so these kitchens aren't designed to do that. They're not big enough to serve, say, a hundred people.

They're not, it's not like a wedding venue kitchen. Those are built to serve, a hundred plates, a hundred lukewarm plates at once, we're trying to do like elevated food. So yeah, 50, 50 is about the limit that you can do in a typical restaurant setting.

Janis: You did one at Wolf's Ridge, right?

Wayne: yeah, I've done two at High Bank and one at Wolf's Ridge.

And my next one's going to be, my next one, I believe is going to be the next at the new High Bank in Westerville.

Janis: Oh, okay.[00:28:00] 

Wayne: Yeah. So that's a, that's a really neat venue. You got to check that out. It's really

Janis: I know Chef Chris at Wolf's Ridge.

Wayne: Yeah, yeah, I worked with chef Chris. Yep. Yeah.

Janis: They were clients of mine. They actually, I actually sold them their house.

Wayne: Oh, no kidding.

Janis: Yeah.

Wayne: Yeah. He's a big barbecue guy as well So we you know, we we had a lot to talk about so that was that was cool you know working out of his kitchen and and seeing how they run their operation. So,

Janis: Yeah, yeah. He's a good guy. So tell us about 60 minutes chef. I mean, we just talked about the catering and your summer 2024 menu looks delicious.

Wayne: oh, thank you. So so 60 minute chef is just the brand I came up with after master chef Everyone seems like all right. You've been on tv now you need a brand and So You Originally, my, my idea was that I was going to make a lot of social media content and try to do that. And so all my dishes would be cooked in under an hour.

Cause on the show, you have 60 minutes for most things. So that's 60 minutes chef. But you know, I, I did the social media thing for a [00:29:00] while and frankly, I don't really like it. It's, you're spending like a couple hours, honestly, like prepping, making a dish, filming it, and then all the editing.

And just for this one dish of food that didn't feed anybody, It's just going to entertain people on social media. There's already so many other people doing it. It just wasn't very fulfilling, honestly. So, I want to make real food for paying customers and real people and get that feedback and make myself better in that way.

So, and just, a lot of the food you see on social media It's fake. It's not cooked. It's like the colors. You see it and you're like, Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful. It's like how, it's because it's like uncooked peas, is why they're so green. Or the sauces and it's a little, some of the tricks that they, sorry social media people, that's some of the tricks that you use to make our food look

Janis: that there's food designers, like instead of real maple syrup, it's 

Wayne: It's motor

Janis: oil or some motor oil.

Wayne: That's motor oil. So, and so, cook, I'm trying to inspire the home cook, make it look like this and then they do it and they're like, Ooh, this doesn't look

Janis: his [00:30:00] motor oil on pancakes. Oh my gosh. That's crazy.

Wayne: So, so that menu that you were talking about, that's one of my catering menus. So I also do catering past ordered catering, which I really love. I'm not big on doing general like buffet style catering. For right now, but I love the hors d'oeuvre because, you can garnish it up, you can elevate it, you can make it look really beautiful, and I've done events with that up to a hundred people, where we roll out six courses over three hours, and the food just keeps coming and coming and coming, I work right out of your kitchen, so, that's a lot of fun, that's a lot of fun, so,

Janis: So what drove your need or want to do the 614 loggers and vodka? How did that come about?

Wayne: Sure. So, the beer was first and this was, oh my gosh, it was actually pre COVID that we were working on this. And then COVID happened and it just put a kibosh on everything. And then look, our idea was that we wanted to diversify, probably heard that word in business a little bit and diversify our revenue [00:31:00] stream where it's not just advertising, we have this royalty revenue stream, and we thought that we could do a really good job marketing and building a local brand.

And beer was perfect for us because, we don't get, we really don't get much of any advertising from local beer brands because they typically don't have the resources to, to do marketing. That's usually where, the big national players are. And so we didn't think we'd be competing really with any local beer, beer companies on the advertising side.

So yeah, that's, that's worked out really well. We're Wolf's Ridge number one selling beer. We have been for a while and so it's available all over the place. And so the next logical thing was vodka and actually Hyde Bank brought that to us. They saw the beer. They're like, Hey, let's do this with vodka.

Let's take on, maybe a national brand and try to become like this house vodka. And so we just started that. I think it's going pretty well. Yeah, so I'm excited. It's cool. You go to the store and you see six and four, here's a magazine. You've, you've got this different stuff and yeah, it's [00:32:00] fun.

It's just fun. It's a great extension for our brand. It's something that our audience consumes. So I just thought it was a good fit.

Michele: Awesome. You have so much going on. I would love to know what your daily routine looks like and how it contributes to your success.

Wayne: Okay. So every morning I do podcasts like that. No, I'm just kidding. I, I have the good fortune that I don't actually, I don't need a routine. I've never been one. I've never been a very strict routine guy. I get up at five or six and I have coffee every morning. That's for sure. One of my things.

I. immediately tackle my inbox and get that at zero. I don't like things hanging over my head. I don't like having debt. I don't, I just, I like to be able to look through the front glass of the car. I'm not a rear view mirror guy. I really don't spend time thinking about the past, looking at the past.

I just don't, I use it. When there are lessons to be learned and I, I, I, I use [00:33:00] that, but man, I'm, I'm a forward looker. So for me, the day presents itself. I mean, if obviously if I have something big to do, I'm going to go tackle that, but like today, for instance a friend of mine has a cigar club event that I'm a member of and I'm going to cook.

I'm going to do a Mexican chili verde. So they're my, they're my guinea pigs for, it's 25 people. And maybe I'll pick up a catering job out of it. Who knows? But yeah, so I'm going to be cooking that this afternoon, but I spend a lot of my time cooking. This recipe development, I'm working on this, obviously the catering business, I've got to come up with a menu for my next pop up event, so I'll work, I'll work out, I might, go play with the dogs I like, I just stay busy, I just stay very, very busy throughout the day, so.

Michele: Awesome. Do you have any particular technology that you regularly use to help you with business? Like any apps or websites that you go to to

Wayne: I mean, my company does, [00:34:00] I, they, they use, I, I see the bills for all of the, all of the software and the apps from, the Mondays and the slacks and, the G suite stuff. I mean, but personally, I mean, I use the Google suite, but I found my, look, I'm most productive when I'm away from this thing that I'm looking at right now.

I, I think that we spend way too much time on our phones and apps and everything and not enough time just thinking about, the world or our, our personal sphere without these devices around. So I am a huge fan of, I could reach over here and grab right now, like three notebooks. I am a huge fan of physically writing things down.

Janis: Thank you. Thank you.

Wayne: I, I, I am, I, I think your brain works differently. When you do that, and it's, it's freeing. And so let me ask you this, does anybody else's handwriting get worse as they get older?

Janis: Mine for sure has. I'm

Wayne: Mine has, [00:35:00] mine has totally what's going on?

Janis: yeah, I write a lot. We were laughing at that.

Michele: I can't even. What?

Wayne: know. I don't know what that's about. So I've turned into you joke Oh, you, you write like a doctor, you can never decipher what they're writing. And it's starting to turn into that and I have to go super slow and it's like, all right. Oh man. But no.

Janis: down, but, but I do, I've got what we were laughing Michelle and I because I have a paper calendar and Michelle does everything on her phone calendar and I'm like, I'll get with she'll say, can you do this data? And I'm like, I gotta go check my calendar, and I open up the pages and turn them, you

Wayne: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I definitely keep, I would say,

Janis: But I can't tell you immediately.

Wayne: I definitely keep a Google calendar, but if I have ideas and one of my notorious things that I do, which is really ridiculous is I'll be in the car and I'll have an idea for something, anything, and I'll quickly send an email to myself.

Janis: Yes,

Wayne: And I know that there are apps for that and I could just [00:36:00] open up and voice dictate and I don't know.

I, I just, look, I still type with my, this finger. So that should tell you everything.

Janis: I do that.

Wayne: never learned how to do

Janis: text myself ideas. If I'm driving, text Anas, do that. If I have an idea, I do the same thing. Yeah.

Michele: Keeps it all organized.

Janis: Okay. If you could spend the day with any entrepreneur or chef or business leader, past or present, who would it be and why?

Wayne: Mmm. That's really, really tough. So, I think I would love to spend an afternoon with Anthony Bourdain. Because he, he was more than just that chef, right? He had this worldview that was just really interesting, and he traveled the world, and he's seen so many things, and I think he'd be a pretty interesting cat [00:37:00] to get drunk with one afternoon and eat spicy food.

That would be pretty amazing. And I know that doesn't that sounds like almost Oh, I didn't pick Gandhi or Jesus or something like that. But, everybody does those people.

Janis: No,

Michele: Nobody has picked them.

Wayne: Anthony Bourdain would give me more stories. It would give them

Janis: So what's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten at it yourself? Okay. What's your favorite? Mm

Wayne: enough, it's, it's, it's something that I started to realize before going on MasterChef. There was also something that Gordon Ramsay says all the time. And he said it to me. Edit yourself, yourself. Don't do too much that there's a, there's a beauty in simplicity and there's a brilliance in simplicity.

And I think people overcomplicate so much of their personal lives. Business is [00:38:00] overcomplicate everything. And at the end of the day, life is much simpler than I think that we sometimes make it out to be. And business can be as well. And so. Yeah, I'm totally 100 percent guilty of over complicating things, so keep it simple and edit yourself.

Less is more.

Michele: See, when you said that, I immediately thought of keeping my mouth shut.

Wayne: Well, that's part of it.

Michele: Edit yourself.

Wayne: Well, the old saying that, you're given one of these and two of these, right, for a reason. And, yeah, the ancient philosophers figured this out. And I think we've, we've lost that because now everyone has a megaphone on social media and everyone wants to give their opinion on politics or, whatever it is, 24 seven.

And I used to be a little bit more like that, but I, I'm not that way anymore. It's, it's not worth it.

Michele: Yeah.

Janis: age has a lot to do with that too, learning.

Wayne: sure. Yeah. With wisdom comes age. [00:39:00] Hopefully, right? I, I totally, yeah. I mean, I wish I could go back 20 years with my mindset that I have now because I'd be, I'd be far more successful than I am today for sure. Some of us are hard. It takes longer.

Janis: yeah, you're doing good. So what's your favorite thing to cook?

Wayne: Something new, something new, something I've never made before. I, I love new. And so, I mean, I've gotten into like Southeast Asian cuisines and Indian food was, I used to not like curry. Now I've come to like it because I make my own. And so I'm a real nerd about that. Like I roast my own coffee, I, I garden, I do all the nerdy things.

And yeah, I just, I love from the ground up cooking, like even hunting, learning how to, break the animal down and use all of its parts and whatnot. But yeah, I love to cook new stuff. Any, anything new. And sometimes, sometimes it's the lazy in me too. Like it's Sunday and I just want to do a baked rigatoni.

With a homemade sauce. And it's super [00:40:00] simple and easy, but you know, one of those dishes, you just want to go sit on the couch and close your eyes afterwards, sometimes that's the best, so yeah, but the cool thing about knowing how to, being a good cook, if you're, even if you're a home cook, this is mostly for home cooks, is it like, if you just get a wild hair.

How fun is it just to run to the Asian grocery store, say get a bunch of ingredients and just have at it in the kitchen and make yourself a meal and learn the process and experience all of that. That's what I love about cooking is it's a game that can't be won. It's like golf. You can't win the game of golf.

You can shoot a lower score each time, but there is no perfect score. And the same thing goes with food. There's no perfect food. There's no perfect ideal. And it's just, it's this constant exploration of an infinite number of ingredients, an infinite number of cultures to cook from. So that's why I love it.

It's it's exploration for me when I can't leave the country or leave the state. I can do it here in my kitchen. That's pretty cool.[00:41:00] 

Janis: Were your parents foodies? I mean, did you grow up with a good parent cooks? No.

Wayne: I grew up, my mom cooks now. She's gotten into it as, I think, in response to my interest in it over the years, but she's a pretty good cook now, but growing up, no, it was casseroles and, pizzas and, and that stuff, and Ponderosa Steakhouse was our big night out, so, no, I did not grow up with a food culture at all, so,

Janis: was a Ponderosa Steakhouse. Okay.

Wayne: oh yeah, with the big buffet,

Janis: Oh

Wayne: go in line, you'd get your steak, and then you had this huge buffet of everything,

Janis: Oh yeah.

Michele: That was my first job.

Wayne: What's it? Ponderosa Steakhouse?

Janis: Love it. I love it. What's your favorite cookware

Wayne: Ah, I get asked this all the time. So my, my pans and pots are 25 years old. They're, they're, so it's, they're Emeril branded, but it's all clad. So Emeril back in the day. Did [00:42:00] a set for all clad, they're, they're all clad. And if I showed them to you and believe it, they look, they look like new. And I, of course I keep them clean and but yeah, I, and knives, my knives are 20 years old, my global, my Henkel, my Wusthof knives.

I'm not, now I have lots of other like new modern gear and cookery stuff, but that core stuff, it works and it works, I think, better than any of the new stuff. So.

Janis: go-to every time. I like

Wayne: Yeah, if I were, if I had to buy a set today, I would definitely buy all clad. I would, the, the saying buy once, cry once

Janis: Yes.

Wayne: definitely applies with cookware, buy a heavy stainless steel set of cookware, buy yourself a good cast iron skillet, like butter, Pat butter, Pat industries.

Don't buy a lodge by a butter, Pat skillet, they're like 250 bucks, but they're super smooth and nonstick. They're beautiful. And then with knives, knives are very personal. Go to a knife shop, hold one, put one in your hand, get it on a chopping block because they're all angled and shaped so [00:43:00] differently.

I would never give a knife recommendation other than, spend a hundred to 200 on a good chef's knife. Everything else doesn't matter. That's the one knife you'll use 90 percent of the time. Once you learn how to use it, I can pair with a chef's knife. I don't need to go get another little paring knife to do fine work.

You just use the tip. So yeah, get some knife skills, get a good knife and a good set of pots and pans. And you can, you too can destroy your kitchen for the cleanup.

Janis: do daily.

Wayne: Yeah. Yeah.

Michele: What advice would you give someone who's thinking of starting their own food or catering business?

Wayne: That's tough because I come from a very different, Pathway, right? I think most people who are going to start into the food business or catering business probably work in food service, which I, I had, I had a job in high school working in a small burger stand. But that was the extent of it. So I think anybody today is already in the food service business.

But look, brick and [00:44:00] mortar is really hard. Like doing an actual restaurant is really, really hard. I think catering is great. There's a lot of catering business in Columbus at different levels, right? There's, you've got roosters, you've got city barbecue, you've got Cameron Mitchell catering way up here.

And lots of Milo's and Metro and lots in between. There's just a lot of work for catering. There's a lot of companies here that, that cater lunches. So, uh, but at the end of the day, you have to have a purpose for it, right? I mean, you have to have let me say, I'll say this. I'll put it in the negative context.

Don't try to be everyone to every everything to everybody. The biggest mistake people make in business in general is doing that. Trying to appeal to everybody. And in food, it's the worst thing you can do because then you end up making Bye. You'll do any kind of food for anybody, even if you're not good at it, right?

Just to get the job. And, and that's something I would stay away from. Find a lane, get really great at it, and do that. Look, my [00:45:00] goal with my food is not to make Michelin starred food. My goal is, if I'm gonna make you a Chicken Chili Verde Bowl, And you take a bite of that, it's a 20 bowl. It's the best you've ever had.

That's what drives me to make the best version of whatever it is I'm cooking. So I spend a lot of time in rest recipe development for that. I'm not just online looking up recipes and stuff. I'm like, I'm literally soaking beans right now. That'll be made later that like from everything's from scratch. I do scratch cooking.

So yeah, but like whatever your passion, everyone's got different passions and foods and people are bakers. I'll bake some, but that's not my huge passion baking, but find your passion and get, get great at it, which means you have to put the hours in, I mean, I probably put, in the last couple of years, I mean, thousands and thousands of hours into the kitchen, there's that 10, 000 hour rule.

If you've heard of that, Malcolm Gladwell that to be great, you have to put about 10, 000 hours in. I haven't put 10, 000 in, but I probably, I put in five or six, so I'm getting [00:46:00] pretty good, but I've still got a long way to go. Yeah. Oh

Michele: So earlier you alluded to doing things differently if you had to start over. So if you were to start your business from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do different? Either any, any of the businesses you can pick anyone that you want.

Wayne: well the food business is, is new. So that, that's all pretty new, but I would say, I would say for the magazine business probably having a better culture for our employees from day one. But that's it. Look, it's easy to say now, because I have those, those life lessons. Now we've gone through all of that, right. But in the beginning as a business, you also need to be scrappy and aggressive and hungry. And, you need to be like that honey badger, right? In the beginning, you really do in a, in a super competitive space. Like we were at publishing. I mean, when I started, we had, obviously you had the dispatch, but you had this week, [00:47:00] weekly newspapers, it's suburban news, weekly newspapers, you had the other paper, the alive CMH magazine seed magazine, Columbia there were so many, I still don't know why we started, but we just wanted to do it better.

We just Hey, we can make a nicer product. And the advertising rates seem crazy. We can save clients money. And do a better job at distribution and out execute at the end of the day, being good at business is not your ideas. It's your ability to execute. So it's a fine line. I mean, I do think we have the benefit of, of time right now to say, Oh, I wish we could have a great company culture from day one.

It's really hard to do when you're in like, like fight mode, skirmish mode, battle mode. It just is. And I think you find different people to help you do that in the beginning, but you have to evolve. Like every business has to evolve. If you don't evolve, you'll die very quickly, which is one of the reasons that businesses fail so quickly is they don't evolve either with the market or with their company culture or their finances or whatever it is.

So, but yeah, [00:48:00] again, I don't. It's a tough question for me, because like I said, I don't spend much time looking in the rear view mirror. I really, I really don't think like that, now I would say, look, if I was going to start a business in the future, what might I do different? But I don't know if I would frame it in that way.

What would I, how would I redo? You know what I mean? Does that make sense?

Michele: Yeah. Yeah.

Wayne: You're like, no, honestly,

Michele: I don't spend a lot of time looking in my rear view either, but my sister does, and it always startles me when she brings up the past so much. And I'm like, what people do this,

Wayne: I couldn't tell you what I ate for dinner like three days ago. I would have to sit down and really think about it, because I don't commit those sorts of things to my, I don't want to fill this up, I only have so much space up here, and as you get older, it seems like

Michele: some stuff

Wayne: great, yeah, yeah, it's like I try not to hold on to every single little thing, that's not important, it's the important things, and for me, that's where really pen and paper comes down, also, because when I write something [00:49:00] down, I'm intentional.

I tend to remember it much better. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. You don't get any do overs in life. So I tend not to think about them.

Michele: Yeah. So are there any other business ventures you're thinking about? Doing or are you at your limit?

Wayne: Do I really need anything?

Michele: It doesn't

Wayne: I mean, look, this catering, the catering operation is, is a potentially big one. It's it's going to be a mobile operation. So we're going to build like a 30 foot mobile commercial kitchen. That's like basically towed behind a truck. And so we can come on site, park, disengage, and then pull out smokers.

Santa Maria charcoal grills cook on site. So it's like minutes food to plate. It's super fresh. I mean, most, I just want to make it the best food I can possibly make it. Right. And so building out these commercial trucks takes time. It's a pretty big. effort. I've got to hire full time cooks and chefs and support [00:50:00] people.

So, I mean, it's a big investment for me for sure. So I definitely have my hands full with that.

Janis: Yeah. All right. We're going to switch gears again, and we're going to go into our lightning round. We're going to ask you fast questions and you give the first answer that comes to your mind.

Wayne: Okay.

Janis: Okay. You ready? All right.

Michele: What is the book you've most given as a gift or the book that's made the biggest impact on you?

Wayne: Early on, it was the e myth that little entrepreneurs, the e myth, I've given that a lot. And then there is the little red book of sales, which we've given all of our sales people over the years. Those are the first that come to mind.

Janis: Okay. do you have an unusual habit or something absurd that you really love?

Wayne: I don't, I mean. If I thought it was absurd, I probably wouldn't do it. But I do a lot of strange things like around COVID. I got my ham radio license and then I got my commercial drone operators license, but I did that actually. So we could [00:51:00] to use a drone in business, you have to have a license.

So I did that so we could start doing drone work for clients, which we do now. So yeah, I'm just, I'm a nerd when it comes to finding something new and I dive right in feet

Janis: My dad was a ham. I used to fall asleep listening to his Morse code.

Wayne: I like listening. I love listening to the I forgot what channel it is now, but it's like the local air traffic and you can hear them talking to the planes coming in. I don't know why I'm fascinated by that.

Janis: Yeah. That could be scary sometimes, maybe.

Wayne: not.

Janis: I know, right?

Michele: What is your proudest accomplishment? Oh 

Wayne: probably seeing my son be in college and, and he's, he's at Capital University. He's going to be a sophomore this year playing on the baseball team. And he's just, he's living his best life. And he's like a mini me in, in certain ways and other ways is, super unique and different.

But yeah, he's living out his baseball dream. Something I did in college. I played for two years. In JuCo, and then so, yeah, that's good for him. I'm really happy for him, and he's a great kid. Oh, [00:52:00] a

Janis: So what purchase of a hundred dollars or less has most positively impacted your life?

Wayne: hundred dollars. If you had said a thousand or less, I would have, I would have been easier. But probably literally, my original knife was probably 80 or 90 dollars from 25 years ago that I still use every single day. Yeah.

Janis: That's a good one.

Michele: Other than what you've told us, do you have any other passion projects going on?

Wayne: I'm trying to figure out why my habaneros aren't growing this year from a certain couple plants. So I grow a lot of peppers. I make a hot sauce every year for a friend. I've made gallons for friends. It's this Caribbean style. Mango, pineapple, habanero hot sauce. And so I, I grow them every year and then, and vac seal, the ones I don't use right away.

So, but yeah, it's garden season. So that's, gardens are a lot of work. People don't understand, if [00:53:00] you actually want to do it, right. It's a lot of work, man. You have to watch them and prune them and weed them and. Tear off the little leaves early on and the buds early in the spring and make sure the water's right.

You have to remember to feed throughout the year. It's a lot. It's a lot. 

Michele: Insects.

Wayne: the, I go to the store and it's it produce, like I grew a lot of peppers. It's pretty cheap. I'm like, I'm not doing this for the money. That's for sure. So, but no, no real passion projects. Other than traveling.

I mean, one of the big things I want to do for my culinary career. Is also travel more just to experience more food culture overseas, but you know, that's less that's less necessary today. Because frankly, the world has come to us in the United States and brought their food culture with it. So if you want, authentic, great Italian food, I mean, go to New York City for that.

If you want great, Southeast Asian food, you can go to Houston for that. The Vietnamese population is huge and they have, so you don't, even in Columbus, right? If, if I want Somali food or if [00:54:00] I want to experience, there's great ethnic food all over our city. So you don't need to really travel, but it's, it is, It's fun to travel.

So we definitely like to travel.

Janis: Yeah. Do you have one skill that you'd like to master?

Wayne: Cooking. Yeah. Yeah. I'm far, far from a master, so I've been doing it a long time, but, and I don't, and again, I don't know that you can ever master it really. I really don't. But yeah, that's my, my current life passion. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna follow it right down that rabbit hole.

Janis: Yeah?

Michele: What was your first job?

Wayne: So my first job was, well, delivering newspapers. I think every kid my age pretty much delivered newspapers, in the snow on a bicycle and that whole thing. But it was, I had a job at Silver Stadium. It was the AAA affiliate for the Baltimore Orioles in Rochester. And I got to, popcorn here, peanuts here, and walk in the stands.

And they don't even do that stuff anymore. But back then, hot dogs, Coke, popcorn, all that. [00:55:00] So that was a great summer job when I was young. And then I worked at a burger place for about two years, taking orders. And sometimes behind the grill always wanted to, cause it looked like the most exciting place to be until you got there and it was like hot and nasty and greasy and, so yeah, those are my first couple of jobs.

I always worked. I always had a job. I bought my own first bicycle. I, I I've always been extremely self sufficient. And I'm very proud of that.

Janis: Mm

Wayne: And so that's always driven me. No one's gonna, like I said before, no one's going to care about your business as much as you, nobody's actually going to care about you as a person, as much as this person ever, ever, that's, that's what I believe.

Anyways.

Janis: So where do you see yourself in five years?

Wayne: Hmm. I see myself in five years with a really successful catering company with maybe four or five big trailers. I think that what we're doing is very unique in the marketplace. And I think we can fulfill a huge need and [00:56:00] be a really successful company. I see myself traveling more. I see myself being a better cook.

Yeah, I, I'm just going to keep going. There's probably no retirement in my future, even though I could, I'm technically, I could just retire now. No way, no way.

Michele: Be too bored.

Wayne: Oh, I'd be bored out of my mind. It's funny because people ask me, what do you do every day? I'm like, I go from periods of being like, It's really busy.

Like I do appearances at giant Eagle. I prepare for, different events. I cater events, cooking and recipe development. And some days. I'm just sitting on the computer I'm just like, I'm bored out of my mind. I'm gonna go to Costco. Right? I don't know. So yeah, no, there's, there's probably no quit in me.

So you have to drag me out of the kitchen, drag me out of this life.

Janis: Nice.

Michele: Do you have a song that gets you going and pumps you up?

Wayne: I'm not, I mean, I've got a playlist. I'm not a huge music person. I'm more, like, when I cook, I like silence. I like, yeah, I'm, I [00:57:00] mean, when I work out, of course I have music, but yeah, when I cook, I want it to be quiet. Like right now, do you hear that? It's really quiet in here. It's always like that throughout the day.

I love it. When my dogs make noise, I'm like, get out of the house. I love, I love peace and quiet and serenity because the, the world's so damn loud. It's like, whenever I can get it, I, I take it and I try to create an environment of it. So, yeah, I can't say there is one song, although funny story.

When I was preparing for Masterchef, this was like in probably December, getting towards the end of am I going to go? Am I going to go? My wife comes home one day and I'm here cooking like mad. I've got all the burners going and I've got heavy metal music as loud as it will go on the speakers.

She's what are you doing? I'm like trying to inoculate myself from stress. He thought that was pretty ridiculous, but I did, I did some of that as well because, it's a very stressful environment there. So,

Janis: Yeah. Okay. So Wayne.

Michele: up.

Wayne: yeah, yeah,[00:58:00] 

Janis: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That made sense, though, actually. Because you're under so much stress on that show.

Wayne: right. And there's a lot of things going on around. There's cameras. There's 18 cameras on us. There's, producers talking to you while you're cooking the whole time. And it's going around and all these things are happening and you run out of ingredients. You got to run to the back of the pantry.

And it's just you have to be able to manage. If you can manage chaos well, And you, and you're a pretty good cook. You can do well on that show

Janis: One of your guys challenges where you guys were cooking and you had to run like all the way around this I forget where you were, but clear around I was like, oh my gosh, and you've only got a certain amount of time to do all this. I, I would never survive a day in that. I mean, I love to cook, but I, I could, I would never, I could never do that.

Wayne: competition.

Michele: Ramsey coming in and screaming at you.

Wayne: Well, he's not really, he doesn't really yell at us much on that show until we're out in the field or at the kitchen [00:59:00] takeover, which was in Hell's kitchen. And that was a huge bucket list moment for me because I love that show. And so to be on an episode of one show and get to cook in a Hell's kitchen.

That's on the other show, and then win that episode, that was like, okay, I'm good. I've accomplished everything I set out to accomplish.

Janis: Yeah. I started, I started recently watching the Next Level Chef.

Wayne: Yep, I, so, it is. And so I've become friends with some people on that, because like when you're on these shows, people will start like friending people from the previous seasons and stuff, just to swap stories and get advice about what life is like after the show airs. And so there's woman who, who on Columbus, she didn't get her apron on that show, but she was on it.

And it's filmed in Ireland, which is pretty neat. And we were just talking about her experience and it was, it was pretty fascinating. They have no time to cook. I, I really don't know how they do that on that show. I don't even believe

Janis: the bottom level with all that, all that, [01:00:00] lack of equipment and

Wayne: Well, to be, you know what I think actually to be, I'll be honest with you. I think that's the easiest level to cook on. And I'll tell you why you have, you have so little time that you have to keep things incredibly simple. You have to, because you only have like usually 25 minutes or something crazy for a whole day.

And when you're on those upper levels and you can do anything, you tend to overcook. You tend to oversimplify and it's really easy, which is funny because the people on the top level had one of the worst go home records, which is. Like they lost it. Remember the curse of the top level curse.

They called it this past season. I think people try to over complicate their dish because, well, I've got stand mixers, I've got immersion blenders and I have all these tools.

Janis: I can do anything I want.

Wayne: Well, you still only have 25 minutes and when you're in the basement, it's like simple is as simple does. And that's all you can really do.

Janis: Interesting.

Wayne: Yeah. Hmm.

Janis: So, Wayne, would you rather publish a best selling cookbook that changes its [01:01:00] culinary world or create a dish that becomes an iconic staple in every kitchen? Yeah.

Wayne: Oh, that's a really tough one. Can I do both? I would like the dishes in the cookbook, right? Ideally that would be, yes. Let's do both. This doesn't have to be binary. Let's do both. Hundred percent.

Michele: settle.

Wayne: Why? Subtle. Hey, we're, look it, we're, we're making up this make, make believe future. Let's make it up. Let's do it,

Janis: There you go.

Michele: Wayne, thank you so much for joining us on Cosmos and Commerce. Can you tell our audience where they can find you? Awesome.

Wayne: Sure. On Instagram at 60 Minute Chef. I'm also@sixtyminutechef.com online where you can find recipes. You can contact me for catering jobs or really anything. I love talking with people. So I'm on Facebook as well. And yeah, you can find me there.

Janis: All right. So a [01:02:00] huge thank you to all of our listeners for joining us. We hope you were able to sip some wisdom, savor some insights, and are now ready to create your own success.

Michele: forget to hit that subscribe button and find us on Cosmosandcommerce. com. Thank you so much, Wayne. This was great.

Wayne: You're welcome.

Michele: All

Janis: Totally enjoyed it. Have a great day and have a good event. 

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