Small Team, High Standards with Chef Peter Garces

A great pizzeria needs more than a strong recipe.

Chef Peter Garces built By The Chef Pizza around premium ingredients, skilled people, simple systems, and hands-on leadership. In this conversation, Peter shares his path from culinary school and New York kitchens to pop-ups, Catapult Lakeland, and his own storefront.

You will hear:

1.    Why Peter prefers a small, well-paid team

2.    How clear roles create independence

3.    Why owners need firsthand operating experience

4.    How simple prep systems support speed and quality

5.    How authenticity shapes social media and review responses

6.    Why premium pricing requires a premium experience

7.    How incubators can help launch restaurant concepts

Visit pizzakingpodcast.com for more episodes and resources.

By The Chef Pizza: bythechef.pizza

Instagram: instagram.com/bythechefpizza

Sponsors:

Edge Pizza Ovens: edgeovens.com/test-bake

Mailwise Solutions: $150 off for Pizza King Podcast listeners at mailwisesolutions.com

Virnika AI: $500 off the first year of Agent Penny with no setup fee. Mention the Pizza King Podcast at virnika.ai 

George rolls up in the EDGE test truck and invites you to step inside, where you’ll bake your own pizzas in our oven—using your dough, your toppings, your process. It’s the simplest way to experience firsthand why EDGE powers some of the best-performing pizza kitchens in the world, and why our bake is widely regarded as market-leading. 

https://www.edgeovens.com/test-bake

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 1:12

Tell us who you are and where we are. How are you doing? I'm Chef Peter. I'm the owner and executive chef of Buy the Chef Pizza, located here in Lakeland, Florida.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

Oh, that's where that's the uh the pizza place I've been talking about in Lakeland. She's like, oh, it's probably really nice in there. We came the next day. The next morning, like I think you open you opened at 12 on Sundays. We was at the door, first ones. Like it was uh in the pizza's fire. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

My God.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Thank you. I forgot. The pizza's fire. And uh she was like, Is he is he here? I'm like, I don't know, I ain't never met him before.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

That's what I'm trying to remember. If I was here, I don't I don't think I was here. She was, I'm like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

He he might be here, but I I really don't know because I never I never met him. But uh I think I you know sent you a message right after that, but yeah, yeah, so I wasn't there. Yeah pizza was fantastic. We took a we got a bunch of slices, took some home, and uh yeah. Lakeland's, what's it say? Lakeland's premium pizza provider. Yeah. It should just say Lakeland's top best number one pizza provider, because uh that pizza was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

That's definitely what I was thinking there with the premium pizza provider line. Yeah, I I wanna I was like, I gotta find a way to like say that we're the best without saying, you know, oh yeah, we're the best.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

But I I think it's pretty well known now at this point. I mean, there's some no, there's some folks that have been around here, and you know, Lakeland's a well-established community, but what you're doing here is is dope. Thank you. And the product is is top notch.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Thank you. And yeah, you're right. There's, you know, there's always somebody that's like, you know, you can't please. And it's it's crazy because I actually just had this issue where this guy, I think he's called the honest food guy. He just came here and reviewed us. He gave us a 5.9 on a slice. First of all, this dude came in, ordered a slice, and let it sit in the box for 15 minutes. He didn't just sit down and eat it here? He didn't sit down and just eat it. I asked my employee too, because you know, if something goes wrong, it's it's not it's a pride thing, because like one, like, yeah, our product's the best. But then also it's uh, oh no, they didn't have a good time. Our product's the best. What happened there? So I'm trying to figure it out so that way it don't happen again. Yeah. Asked my employee, hey, yo, you Chef Craig, do you remember what happened there? He was like, This man left that pizza slice in the box for like 15 minutes. He said, I was like, really? And he rev and then he just reviewed it. Like he didn't know that, like, when you get a when you review pizza specifically, that you just gotta grab it and you gotta eat it because the lump sits in a boat.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

Like time is the enemy after it comes out of the oven. It's our friend before we cook it, is the enemy after we cook it.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Exactly. So like he he did that review, then it's obviously floppy, it's reheated, so it does have more oil than usual. Uh, and he's just like, it's terrible. It's a 5.9, and as I eat more, it's going down to like a three. So I'm just like That's what he said on the video? Yeah. So I'm just like, yo, even if it wasn't our best slice, our not best slice is a is a seven still. I don't I don't give a damn. Our not best slice is still better than everybody's best slice in the area. Like, no way. And obviously, again, as an owner, I'm upset about that, but as also as an owner that's been around a lot, like I know when people know what they're talking about, right, and then when it's just somebody with a camera.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

I I think that's that's what frustrates me, you probably, and a lot of owners about this reviewer influencer culture, yeah, where it everyone is now an expert. Yeah. And and their opinion is expert opinion. Yeah. And regardless if they are or not, somebody's watching that. Yeah. And somebody's gonna form their opinion based on that. So how did you uh how did you respond to that?

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Well, we'll just real quick on that one still. Somebody left a comment, and I just love this comment because I go back to it, I read it. Someone is just like, that's great, that you're honest. That's a that's a great thing. But what besides being honest, like gives you credentials to be like a food critic? Like, do you train whatever? I'm just like, oh man, I love this comment right here. Yes, but I'm sorry, the the question that you were asking. How did how did you respond to it? Like when you when you get that. So again, I'm super professional because at the end of the day, no matter how much like it might irk me a little bit, I know how to play the game. Right. So we had a bunch of negative comments, a bunch of people trying to crap on us, and this is the real thing that kind of like irked me was that you know you have your opinion, but people started leaving negative, crazy negative comments, and then you as the owner of the page or person leaving the opinion, you're egging them on. Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This, this, and this, and this, this, and this. I'm just like, okay, you had your opinion, but why are you like trying to trying to come for me, bro? Trying to hurt my business right now. Yeah, like we're going beyond, like, oh yeah, this is my opinion to now, like, you know, attacking. So again, even with all that, I still reach out and say, hey, I'm so sorry you didn't have a great experience. Uh the employee might not have explained things to you properly, but when you get a slice of pizza, a cheese, and it gets reheated, it will probably most likely be oily unless it has fresh mozzarella cheese on it. Was it a New York uh New York slice? New York slice. Especially a reheated New York slice. Like, you know, but that's something that a basic food person reviewing pizza should just know. Like, when you review pizza, you're either gonna accept that it's gonna be oily and a reheated slice, or you get the fresh pot. Fresh pot. So, but again, with all those things, I I reached out to them, I let them know, hey, so sorry you didn't have a good uh a good time because at the end of the day, that's my goal. I want you to have a good time here. Right? You have a good time here, then we're all gonna have a good time. So let them know this is pizza, this is when it reheats, it does this. Next time get a fresh pie. So sorry. Regardless, that wasn't our best slice, which I you know, I could easily say that. Right. That wasn't our best slice. Was it a 5.9? Hell no. I'm not gonna argue with the guy.

SPEAKER_04 7:52

That's his opinion. But still, even even still, you know what you use, you know your sauce, you know your you know your ingredients, you know that puts up a better score. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

No matter what. Oh yeah. Our biggest percent didn't just change for that one slice. Yeah. Our sauce recipe, our cheese, you know, uh, there was a lot of like, oh, the cheese doesn't have flavor. How do the cheese not have flavor? It's cheese. We're not making the cheese in-house. This is the same cheese. We're shredding it, but like, this is the same cheese we always use. So, and then on top of that, the positive comments about like the square pizzas. So in the back of my head, I'm also just like, well, that's the same cheese and the same sauce. It's a different dough, but that's the same cheese and the same sauce, just you know, put together differently on a different type of crust. So it's it's just funny to me that that's the end opinion. But again, I'm a professional and I want everybody to be happy. Right. Told him, come back, grab a cheese pie. I explained to him, you know, the technicals, like, get a cheese pie. If you're gonna review, get a cheese pie, because that's kind of the standard, you know, do not be too oily.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

We shouldn't have to teach the reviewers how to review.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Shouldn't have to teach them how to how to eat the product. And honestly, people shouldn't form their opinions based on what somebody else said. That's true. Go try it. Like and I hate that about where we are as as a society, like where people who are never gonna come here are in the comments talking shit. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you don't dude, you you never come into Lakeland. Well, who cares what you it don't matter what you think, so so it's you know, I get having to reach out and make it right because publicly, someone is gonna form an opinion before they give you an opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

And so after I did reach out, he took the message and he posted it on Facebook and so everybody else could see, because you know, again, I want him to have a good time, and I think he saw that. So he posted it onto Facebook to show that everybody, like, hey, I'm I'm an owner that cares. Right. So I do appreciate that he did that. Um, I really appreciate that he did that. That's that's what's up, you know. Uh, but I also I'm noticing the same people that were talking crap about us on that last post, now all of a sudden, oh, they just want me over as a customer. Oh, yeah, I gotta show up there, and it's like, wow. Just move, move with like a wave. Yeah. However, however the wind blows. And that's why the social media thing is really all about how you navigate it. And and I think number one thing is authenticity.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Because the same thing that I told him in the message is the same thing that I would tell another customer if they asked me what happened there. And that's the same thing that I would in general say on a podcast because that's authentic, and that's what happened, and that's my response, no matter who's around. Is like, hey, I respect your opinion. You didn't review pizza right. This is how you do it. You can't let it sit in a box for that long. However, that's still not our best slice. You know, there's there's a way where everybody's can be right and no one has to feel bad because it wasn't our best slice. But was it a six, five point nine going down to a three? Hell no.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Yeah, I just think in my opinion, if you're not gonna say something good and try to uplift a business and and try to help somebody out, then what's what are you doing it for? Like, are we doing it because we wanna we wanna influence people who are never gonna take action anyways? Or are we doing it to make ourselves feel better? Because if you're not gonna help the business, like you came in, you supported a business, we appreciate that. You know, uh tell somebody else, go form your own opinion. Oh, this is what I thought, but you should go check it out for yourself. Yeah, you know what I mean? That's what I think they should do. Like, all right, well, maybe I didn't like it this way, but you might like it. Yeah. For every person that doesn't, maybe somebody else does. You um but I like what you said about just being authentic on social media. Yeah. And we talked a little bit before we started recording about how you handle your social. Like, some of it is you know planned and and directed towards the business, but a lot of it is just you being you. Yeah. What is um is that like what's your philosophy on just social media in general when it comes to the business?

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Well, again, authenticity really stands out. Um, if somebody leaves a bad review, again, I'm gonna reach out because I want them to have a good time. But also, if somebody leaves a bad review and it's disrespectful or if it's just nonsensical, like I had a guy that left a review and they said that the oven wasn't in the front and we had to heat up our slices in the back, and he didn't like that, so he left a bad review. So if I get a review like that, that's kind of like me being like, okay, I don't know what kind of and I'll I'll respond to a review like that because I feel like that's the authentic the authentic New Yorker in me, where it's like, oh, really, man, like really? I'm I'm sorry, but I'm I'm gonna have to say something to you because that is just some nonsense. And like I can't keep my mouth shut when it's has to do with you know our business, and like you're gonna come at us, have like a legit reason where I, again, as the owner have to be like, you know what, you're right, I'm gonna take care of it. That's not one of those times. That's me having to be like, you know what, I'm gonna have to talk to this person like I'm a person and he's a person, not like I'm a business and you're a person, and now I have to you know appease you or something like that. No, no. At that point, it's only me and you having a conversation, and that's when my personality comes out. Yeah, and yeah, if you're saying nonsense, I'm gonna call it out as nonsense. You got you have a lot to protect here.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

So, so it it I like what you said. It's a person to a person. Yeah. I think it's easy for people to hide behind profiles and forget the fact that what you say about this business is what you're saying about that person.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

You know what I mean? Like you, this is who you are. This is by the chef pizza, and you the chef. Yeah. So they're they're talking about you. Yeah. But a lot of people say a lot of good things about you too. How does that how does that affect the way you go about your day too?

SPEAKER_02 14:58

So kind of still on the topic of that um that bad review is the customers left comments that just they they fought for us so hard, and that made me so happy because we really have some die hard loyal customers, and and I love that they just stood up for us. Like, I got people that they were there that day and they ordered a pizza and they're taking a picture of their pie, like, hey, it looks fine to me. And it's what like that's the that's the best response ever. Yeah. When the customers do it for you. Yeah. They they like really want some bat for us. And I again I love that because that shows just that I'm that I'm doing the right thing. Because it's not just about making good food, you know, like a lot of people can make good food, it's about executing it in a high volume uh context where I can serve as many people as possible, but also make as many people happy as possible. Yeah. Because this is the hospitality industry. Same reason why, even though I didn't disagree with the guy's review, I still reached out to him because I have to offer him hospitality. That's what I'm in here for. That's why I want everybody to have a good time. You know, obviously the pizza is like 90% of that, but there's still that extra 10% where, yeah, have a good day. How you doing? How was your day? You're a customer that I see all the time. How's your mom doing? Yeah. You know, it's that little stuff that that forms the relationship because we are part of the community. You know, we're not just the community's not just a number for us on a ticket. You know, what it's something that we're a part of and that, you know, we're trying to grow also. I heard that. I heard that.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

High volume, chef-driven, you know, concept. How do you how do you balance how much time you spend behind the behind the wall versus how much time you spend out here? Because I I mean that's that's gotta be like the the yin and yang for a chef, right? Like, yeah. You want to be in that kitchen, yeah. But you gotta be out here as a business owner.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Exactly. That's that's a big thing that I've I've had to work on. Um I don't know. I think the restaurant industry is just really different in the sense of like when you're an owner, you probably have to put in more on-site work. You gotta you gotta talk to customers, you have to hand them drinks, you have to hand them napkins, you have to do all these things because again, hospitality. And if you're like a manager, owner, or anything like that, have to be hospitable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

Uh sorry, I'm this morning, so I'm kinda do you do you take on a lot of that yourself, or do you have like some people here that that help you with that too?

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I do take it. I I've took basically everything on myself from when we first started. So I was making pizzas and then also jumping in the front. Um, because again, this is like a real New York-inspired type pizzeria. Right. So it's hard to find people that have like experience. So everybody was kind of like learning on the job. So I had to run around, make pizzas, go to the front, serve slices, go back. I was running around doing everything, talking with customers. Eventually we found a really good pizza guy. He's, you know, a really good pizza guy. He found us and and he he wants to be part of something that's like the best and different. And he felt like, hey, this is very different. Y'all want to be the best. He wants to be the best. So it just, you know, it made sense for him to be part of the team.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

I saw your um the the post your ad when you were looking for somebody. Yeah. You had people, you had shop owners all around the country thinking about closing their shops to come work with you. Um just because of what you're doing. But, you know, in in all seriousness, because when you when you see something that's special and that's taking off, and that other people, you know, everyone can say they're the best. Yeah. But when other people validate that, it it means something else, right? And people like, man, I need to go, I might need to go do that. Even myself and me and my partner Andy, we're like, we might need to go, let's go there. That's more than we pair ourselves over here. Oh, that's for sure. So like um, but but it's important that you find good people, right? Yeah. Um, I I would imagine that's you know, in the first year, that's one of the biggest challenges is just finding the rights of people and personalities to continue to you know elevate your vision. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Um I would say uh we our turnover rate was pretty high that first year. Um I tried my best to keep people, but it always came down to something like it's just like did too much. Yeah, it's if you ignore a customer, if you're sucking the teeth at a customer, like no, I'm sorry, you gotta go.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Like again, hospitality. Pizza man position, you know, yeah, I uh leveling up.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

So I was actually my second pizza man that I had uh had to get. So that was actually um very necessary for me to not be in in here as much. Uh so now I can go to the front and start talking with people more and everything, because now I have two strong pizza guys in the back and we're just pumping pizzas all day every day. And you know, we're we're doing our thing. We're we're making it happen. Do have a small knit team. You know, I do pay pay what because pizza specifically, like a New York style or a hand tossed pizza with a higher hydration dough, you have to have skill to do that in general. Doing that high volume pie after pie, getting them in and out 10 minutes, that takes an extreme level of skill and dedication and like grit. So if someone's gonna do that, I'm going to pay them well. I'm gonna pay them something that's gonna let them feed their family and take care of them. But also, I do a small, tight-knit team. You know, there's there's a bunch of different ways to make schedules and hire people. Yeah. Instead of having um a large staff or even like, you know, maybe just a few 20-year-olds or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 21:15

Working a couple part-timers here and there. Yeah. You want people like, no, I I count on this because we count on you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Like um, porn out there. So um so yeah, everyone here they get paid very well, very well hourly. Tips, all of that, they get paid extremely well. But in exchange, that people here make money in the pizza shop. I pay everybody very well. Because also because like I know what it's like. You know, I'm not I wasn't always an owner. Like I would I was a pizza guy, I was a dishwasher, I was all that stuff, working my way up in New York. So I know what it's like to be on the the receiving end and the working class and all of that, and it's it's tough. It's tough. It's a lot of work. You know, taxes on top of that, then your paycheck, you're looking at your paycheck, you're like, damn. So I try my best to make the the wages here worth it, but also in exchange, I'm expecting high level of execution, professionalism, and and talent. Yeah. Like I'm expecting very high level, and also I'm expecting uh uh independence. Because I I run like a true uh uh kind of like Chef Brigade here, where I'm not in here every day telling people what to do. You know what to do, you know what your prep is, you know what your side work is, you get it done. If it's not done, all of the responsibility falls onto you. And then there's hierarchies of who's in charge when I'm not around. Okay. So um, you know, the pizza guy in the back, when I'm not around, he's in charge of the back front, he's in charge of the front of the house. But everyone knows what they need to be doing. Everybody knows what they gotta do, and I'm not really telling them anything. Um, you know, I come in sometimes and I'll be like, hey, do this differently, or you know, things to help them. But you're not like a like when a like a TV chef here throwing pots and pans, oh no, coming in hot. But yeah, I remember I worked at a pizzeria, uh, it's very popular, so I don't want to say anything. But the owner would come in sometimes and he would look at the pizzas. Pizzas would be in the window, there'd be a lot of them looking nice, and he'd come in and look at them, and if they're not thick enough or this enough, or that enough, or even if they are perfect, and I felt like some of them were per still come up to them and be like, no, no, this is bad, and he'll throw it away. He'll walk in front of customers and just take it out the window and just throw it away. So no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

You think that's just posture though, like just for show? Just so people can somebody can talk about that and say, Oh, he's he cares so much he wouldn't even let it hundred percent ego one millimeter off.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Yeah, the hundred percent ego there. Um because there's there's other ways of doing that because that's that's disrespectful. Like yeah, it you know, maybe to some uh people, the outside perspective. Is like, wow, look how much he cares. To the chefs that are there that are professionals that know what they're doing, that you hired because they know what they're doing, like that kind of seems like a little overkill, especially because you can just be like, you could take the pile nicely, don't let anybody see a scene, put it to the side and say, hey chef, that one, it's not great. You want to take it home with you, you want to give it to your family, you want to do something. You grab it and you throw it away and you want to do it. This sounds like child. It sounds like content.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

Yeah. You know, and I always say, like, we spend more time with the people that we work with than we do with the customers. So like, as a leader, I care about you. I care about, I care about the team. Like, we're not, there's no reason for me to go do, and I don't, we don't, it doesn't matter who that who that was, but like there is no reason to do that show for the customers.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:59

Because what it does to the team is gonna is is gonna hurt you way worse in the long run. Yeah, I because your team has to serve the people, right? So leader serves team, team serves the people, and customers, they reward you with the money, but yeah, they only here for a few minutes.

unknown 25:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

We in here, you know, you your team, they're in here 10, 12 hours a day.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

You gotta take care of them, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

It's it's it's a grueling job, and it is every day, like a 10-hour day, every single day, and it's it's everything. Like my again, my front of the house guy, he's in charge of everything front of the house. The tables are dirty, you gotta sweep, uh uh, you gotta get people slices. Like, it's just it's it's a lot of responsibility. But again, in exchange, I'm gonna pay well and I'm gonna take care of you and make sure, you know, everything is everything with you.

SPEAKER_04 25:43

How much of how much of that did you start with versus where you are today? Like, did you have to develop that that system and that you know, that accountability over time, or did was that something that you learned and brought into you know, starting this?

SPEAKER_02 26:00

It's definitely something that I learned over time in the culinary field. Like just in general, the the dynamics of teamwork. Like culinary field, you gotta have strong teamwork. And it's it's funny too, because they talk a lot about about a lot about people like sabotaging each other. Yeah. You know, because they're trying to get ahead in the culinary and that does happen, but like it's funny that that happens because at the end of the day, teamwork is ingrained in the field. You like you cannot succeed without the team. Uh so learning all that that did teach me over here, like, hey, I need a strong team. Yeah, I rather have a strong team that I never change, rather than again, just like, oh yeah, you're working today, no, okay. Friday, you're working half a day, like no. We're here all day, every day together, we're in the trenches together, we're making money together, we're successful together, or we fail together. It's it's like a whole team actually. Yes, exactly. And again, that's something that I really learned in in um culinary field in New York. Uh but also specifically in the pizza in New York, because the way that pizza works when it comes to having your employees is it's a little bit different because of how specialized you have to have your talent to be.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

So if you have a strong pizza man that you can rely on, most likely that's gonna be your anchor pizza guy. At least how with those in New York. This is gonna be your anchor pizza guy. This is the guy that's there most of the days, definitely the busiest days, and he's there the most hours. Yeah. He's the core guy making almost all the pizza. Then you hire people around him. If you can't work six days a week, then you hire somebody for those two days, or you you know, you just hire around him, you can show up there's time. Exactly, because that anchor is so important. As soon as your anchor doesn't show up, it's like, okay, who's making pizzas? Yeah. Because not anybody can make pizzas. So who's doing this? So again, that's that's why here you know we have a strong anchor, we have a strong team, yeah, and I make it worth it for them. They want to come to work every day, they leave work every day feeling like, you know what. How do they how do you manage the prep? Uh prep. Yeah, you do all you do the prep or you got No, we uh we do prep um basically a little bit every day. Um my menu is uh super streamlined, so a lot of what we do is either cross-utilized or is pretty simple to batch cook. So, like our say our vodka sauce, you know, we make a big ass batch of marinara. We already need marinara for one pizza or a few pizzas. Yeah. So take half of that. Boom, we already got prepped for that done, and then we do our vodka sauce from that other marinara. Okay. And that's another batch right there. So you make it make it easy. Yes, very streamlined, very easy. Um, a lot of batch cooking of of uh ingredients, so say mushrooms, you know, we'll cook mushrooms twice a week, so they're fresh as possible. Yeah. Um cook them all off, take them out, uh, and you know, there we have our our mushrooms for the next two days. They'll come out exactly how we like. I I'm able to do all that, like streamline all that stuff. Yeah. Simply because of just, yeah, again, that culinary experience in New York. It's I think it's different when you have like a depth of culinary experience from somewhere like a New York or Chicago or California where they're doing volume. Yeah. It's just volume. Yeah. And every day you're every day you're thinking about how can I do my job more efficiently.

SPEAKER_04 29:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

I want to say easier, I want to say better, more efficiently. How can I do my job in a way that serves more people, but is still like top of the line, triple high highest quality, still fast, doesn't burn you out. It's just something that like on a daily basis, as a you as a cook line cook, everybody in the culinary industry is thinking about that every day on a daily basis. And um, if you if you care to grow as as a chef or whatever it is that you're trying to do, that's what you're thinking about. So it's very it was just very easy for me to take that and put it here. I'm very good at creating systems, like with all of that in mind, yeah. I'm very good at creating systems, like hey, pizza lines here, ovens here, expos here, we're gonna do this, this, and this about how to create a burger line. It's this here, this here, this like I'm very good with taking all of the the knowledge of how things have to be executed, yeah, and putting them in a in a system that works in in real world.

SPEAKER_04 30:46

How do you then go and teach that to the folks that have to execute it?

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Prac mainly practice. Yeah. You know, I try so when I'm coming up with these systems, I try to make them simple as possible. Again, it's all about efficiency. So realistically, it shouldn't be something that's too hard to teach somebody. Um but it's all about practice.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

Yeah. Well, I asked because, you know, I see it a lot, you know, in in owners' groups and forums and and all these, all these, you know, different chats that I can't I can't find good people, can't train, can't train people, I can't get people to stay. Um it sounds like you kind of figured out a lot of those things. Yeah. To an extent, right?

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Yeah, I would say to an extent, but I would say it's more so again, because of the high volume New York training, it's like the trial and error has already been done, either not by me or by me. So like if I'm a manager, yeah, I've been manager and and as ex executive chefs are executive chefs in some places in New York. So I have that experience myself there already, so I can take it here.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Uh and then besides that, uh was it? We're just talking about just how you solve all those things.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

But where I was where I was going was you pay good, yeah. You make shit simple.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

You know what I mean? You you you work shoulder to shoulder with them, like you're in there with them.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:25

And to me, those are the reasons that people stay. Like people, people they'll they want to rock with you, they want to stay with you because y'all are doing it together, like you said here, like we're making money together, like we're gonna win together. Yeah. Um, I think that's the the secret sauce in all of it. For sure. I think owners for you know, I don't know, for the most part, or not for the most part, but for lack of better words, they see this as, oh, I can hire somebody and then I don't have to do it no more. Or I can I can I'm gonna build a team and then I don't have to work in this in this pizzeria anymore. I'm just it's an investment. Yeah. How's that uh what's your what's your take on a pizza business as a as an investment in general?

SPEAKER_00 33:07

It's not. It's not worth it.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Uh as just an investment. You have to love this thing, you have to be very passionate about this thing, um, or you have to have a very good opportunity to franchise or something like that. And you just wash your hands of it and let it make its own money. But at that point, again, you're not really in love with the thing because you just gave it away and wash your hands with it, and who knows about the quality across the board there now. Yeah. Uh if you're gonna wake up every day in the morning and make dough, make eggs, whatever, but also as an owner, you know, like across the board, you gotta love this thing to some degree. Otherwise, it won't work. You can't be an owner that just shows up and it's just like, hey, y'all making me money over here. That's not how we're gonna make any money like that. Yeah, it's it's no one's gonna respect that and they're not gonna work for you. Exactly. Nobody wants to have that boss that comes in and who's like, Yeah, I only ever see the boss like once a month, and every time he shows up, he's yelling and complaining about this and that. Meanwhile, we're the ones working hard and you don't even show your face unless it's the complaint. Like, nobody wants to deal with that. I can't be an owner that does that. I'm an owner that if something's going on back there, I'm jumping in. I'm not even I'm not even saying anything. It's to the point where my employees here now, as soon as I walk in, they're like, okay, chef's here to help us. Like, they know I'm not here to yell, I'm not here to anything. I'm here to work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

So heard that. What um, you know, do you feel like well obviously uh it sounds like you feel like that those ex that experience in you know all these different roles in the culinary field really led you to the point where you could you you you were ready to be an owner? Because that's a scary thing too. Like, you know, there's there's you know, there's there's a a huge jump from line cook, executive chef, to owner uh mentally. Yeah. How did you how did you figure out like, all right, I'm I'm ready, I'm ready to do this, I'm ready to jump out on my own.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

So before my uh house burned down in New York, which is the reason why I moved, um I was starting my own little out my house, you know, I had a little uni, and I was just getting ready because I was again, I was always gonna do this no matter what. Okay. And uh then my house burned down and I had to move around. So before I came to Lake for a little bit, and he works for the Department of Defense, he's uh uh Iraq veteran, so he really just loves pizza and he was just like he sees what I was doing, so he's just like, hey, let's do a pizza business together. I'm just like uh I don't know. But eventually he talked me into it, and we did a pizza business together, and it worked out really well. It's Warriors.pizza. Um doing like pop-ups, doing all that stuff, uh food festivals, um going really well. Winter hits. Obviously in Pennsylvania, you know, that's it. Yeah, it's not like Florida, you gotta pop up here, you're probably going all year round. Yeah. So winter hits, uh I gotta look for somewhere else to stay because my uh they broke the uh lease. Okay. That's when I came down at Lakeland, and I left the business with my brother, and he's still running it to this day. And yeah, I taught him all about pizza. So and then also he loved it so much he took it upon himself to learn himself. So he also went out his way to learn from other people, and he's he's doing good. I'm I'm watching him and he's doing a really good job. I'm very proud of him that he was able to take the business and and keep it going without me. That's like full circle.

SPEAKER_04 36:49

This is the same brother that was friends with the with the chef that inspired you to do your thing. Yeah. And you come back, teach your brother pizza. Damn, that's full, that's like complete full circle. Yes, sir. That's pretty dope.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

So, so then you so we'll go forward. You you left Pennsylvania, winter came, you know, lived the situation, you decide to move down here, and uh, but did you come here thinking that you were gonna come do do pizza down here too?

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Yes. Okay. I well, I knew I was gonna do something. Um, I didn't really focus in on pizza. Again, culinary. I'm I'm wanting to do whatever. But when I came down here, again, with my experience as an owner for the first time in Pennsylvania, I learned a lot. Um, so I was like, you know what? I can do something down here. Okay. Especially after I found out, you know, like, hey, we'll pay you like $17 an hour. I'm just like, whoa to run your whole business and work six days a week, you're gonna pay me $17 an hour. You're the you're the manager, yeah. So that's when it's like, okay, I gotta, I have to start my own thing or change careers. Okay. So um, yeah, when I came down here with all that experience, I decided, yeah, I'm gonna start my own thing. But there is a big difference between like even executive chef, you know, like depending on where your executive chef and how much the owner gives you as far as responsibility, even as executive chef, you probably aren't dealing with owner level issues and owner level things. So, you know, executive chef is still operations management to a degree. Like, you know, you're dealing with staff, you're dealing with you're not managing PL. Yes, exactly. Thank you. You're you're yeah, executive chef, you're managing your part of Exactly. So that's your food cost over there, and your bet what if you're doing beverage costs over there, all that. But you're not renewing licenses, you're not talking to the city because you have to put up a new sign and it's you know, you have to get it approved. Yeah. Um tax licenses, you know, all of these things. This that's not something that an executive chef, you know, usually deals with. Again, you could, depending on what the owner wants you to do. Hey, you need to do it. Some owners have their chefs doing it all. Yeah. Um, but mainly it's you know, operational stuff. So there was definitely a learning curve when it came to being an owner. But when it came to being an owner, even just the taxes, you know, that's oh man, there's so much going on.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

What was is that the would you say that was probably the most significant thing you had to learn was just the financial side of it, the the taxes, the the admin.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

I wouldn't even say there's one thing specifically. I would just say like everything, like just encompasses it, everything. The taxes, uh, because you know, okay, taxes seem simple. Okay, you're gonna do these taxes. Okay, cool. You gotta figure it out yourself. They don't just tell you. Then you figure, okay, well, all I have to do is look at my POS system and then figure out from there. Well, not everything in the POF system gets taxed the same. Yeah, some things are this. If you put a discount, now you're looking at something else. So you gotta go through all these things, and it's it's so much. You know, if you get it wrong, they'll let you know. Exactly. Exactly. They'll let you know, like months down the line, hey, you did something wrong about a year ago, and now we're really angry about it. Yeah. It's like, oh man. So, you know, again, there's just so much to deal with. There's uh electricity going out. They're doing something with the electricity. There's a hurricane now, there's no power. But with the water line, there's a busted water line somewhere, so we don't have water for the day. Uh, you know, there's just always something going on as an owner where it's like no, even if I tried to prepare, I don't think anything could prepare you for just how much nonsense you deal with on a daily basis. Like, oh, really?

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Today. Well, I think after a while, because it it seems so normal that it's not even something that you like as a pizza guy, I would tell you, go make pizza for somebody for a year. You know what I mean? If you want to be you want to get good at making pizza, go work in a pizza shop. Go make pizza, go go learn how to manage, go work with a team. You can't really go be an owner for pra you can't practice that. Yeah. You can't practice just dealing with the curveballs that are gonna come at you, you know, day to day. I agree. But you can't you can't make up for it either because it's actually it it becomes fulfilling too when you saw things and you and you fix stuff. I I get a lot of pride out of just being able to fix things that I couldn't fix before. Like I just saved us a thousand dollars. Oh I'm not handy, but when I when I do something, that's the I'm like so damn proud at that. There's always because you know, something's always broken, something's always somebody ain't showing up, something's expensive, everything's expensive.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Everything is unfortunately expensive. And that's kind of how I come to, you know, one of the core, I don't know, I don't know how you how I would say it, but like a core pillar of like our our our brand here, which is again premium, premium ingredients, everything the highest quality, because even the lowest quality is gonna be expensive these days. Everything's expensive. And why would you want to pay expensive prices for low quality stuff? No, most people they don't mind paying the extra money as long as you're gonna get something that's that's worth it.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

So that's a big thing that we focus, a big um uh what is it, a business psychology type of thing that we that we focus on here is what are the customers thinking? Customers are not going to McDonald's like that anymore. You know, your average person, they're not going to McDonald's like that anymore because two your two meals are now like thirty dollars. What? I might as well get something good. Exactly. I might as well get something good. Chef and get a high quality premium pizza that's not gonna make me feel like crap because we use the best ingredients here. We're not gonna give something that's gonna, you know, affect your health or anything. We don't use the bleached uh uh bromated flour or anything like that. We only use the best ingredients. So yeah, we acknowledge that everything is pricey. You're probably gonna pay, you know, a little bit more here than you would as your average pizzeria.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

But in return, we're gonna give you something.

SPEAKER_04 43:16

The quality is just gonna be lucky. I think it's apparent from the moment you walk in the door, like it's corners weren't cut here. Like you didn't you didn't cut no corners. Like this is the the the aesthetic is beautiful. I mean the patio is beautiful, like you come in, you know that you're getting a quality experience. And you know, I was fortunate enough to see just the I was here a little bit early, so I saw them look kind of load the whole case up and do the do the whole deal. Yeah. Everyone cares about what they do here. That's a parent, so for sure. What you build is is not just a premium product, but a premium experience. Yeah. And uh and and that's dope.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

Yeah, or even the customers. When we talk about our menu, I tell them we don't do a build-your-own or a customizable gear. Everything on our menu is crafted to be an experience. You know, if it's it's the mushroom pizza, mushroom pizza, all these components tried and tested to be an experience. When you eat it, you should feel these things on your tongue. Like it's it's an experience. And even when we first started, I am gonna get back to this, but we haven't been able to do this. But when we first started, um, like our OG or anything that gets basil parmesan, the pie would come up naked, and then we would finish it up in the front. So people would see us ripping the basil, poom, they would smell the basil in the air in the front, and they would see us doing the parmesan plays until it would be right there, and it just you know, it builds that idea again of wow, this is such an experience. Look at them doing that. Look at you know, now we now we do that in the back. Um it was for efficiency purposes, yeah. Again, we just gotta get it done because we're selling so much, but as we grow and as I get more staff and and figure out more systems, I'm gonna bring back something that's an element we're gonna bring back.

SPEAKER_04 45:07

Yeah. What's your uh what's your your menu is crazy too? Like what's your what's your favorite to make and what's your favorite to eat?

SPEAKER_00 45:15

So my favorite to make I really like to make the buffalo chicken or the OG.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

The OG is just like a classic margarita, so I always just love putting that together. It's because it always comes out beautiful. Um, and then the buffalo chicken, I always like putting that one together because again, that one just always comes out looking beautiful. Like I always feel like when I'm topping uh putting the toppings on, then I'm just like, hmm, with all the chicken and and everything, I feel like it's so heavy that it's gonna deflate the crust, but usually like it doesn't happen. I'm always surprised when they're just like, wow, it just comes out so beautiful every time. I'm just like, wow, I'm kind of nice. I'm gonna be kind of nice here.

SPEAKER_04 46:03

Look, I I make pizza, we we have a pizzeria. I'm 99.5% sure you are my wife's favorite pizza maker right now. This is her favorite spot because it's she's like, are you gonna get some pizza when you go?

SPEAKER_03 46:18

I'm like this. It's like nine in the morning, it closed today.

SPEAKER_04 46:21

But uh she she loves what you're doing. She she loves it. We can't, I'm telling you, we can't sit right there and just just smash some slices. It took more home. So you're you're you're doing a great thing. What advice would you give to somebody? Because you you came through, you know, we didn't really touch on it, but you came through the the uh catapult incubator incubator program, which um a lot of folks really don't see that happen too much in the restaurant space, right? Or was was it was it specifically for restaurant operators?

SPEAKER_02 46:55

So uh catapult has a few different, I I don't know what it what it would be called, but a few different like departments, I guess. Yes, like a co-work space, yeah. And they have a lot of different exact you know, styles of co-work um opportunities there. Yeah, so I know they have like a maker space where they do a metal shop and everything, and then they have the kitchen space, obviously. Yeah. So when I first got here, I worked at the joinery at a pizza place. Uh it's right next door, right? Uh yes, yes. Right next door to me. Yeah. So when I worked there at the pizza place, there was another worker. He works for the um the barbecue spot there. And obviously, I'm making pizzas all day, every day, my own pizzas at that place there, just because I gotta stay consistent. Yeah. So I'm making my own pizzas and I give it to people to try. They're like, holy shit, and the pizza's great. He tries them and he's just like, This is amazing. Do you do your own business, whatever? I'm just like, yeah, I do. He's like, you gotta check out Catapult. And he just would not stop, he would not let it go until I checked it out. And he owned, uh uh still owns Pinoy Cravings. He's T- Law right now. Sorry, T-Law in Depot 303. Okay. Uh, and he is such a great guy. His name is June, owner of Pinoy Craving. Uh he talked me into going to catapult and just meeting with them. Because I was gonna do a food truck, like I said, at that point. Yeah. So no matter what, I was gonna make it happen. But when he told me I got a catapult, he would really talk me into it. So I was like, all right, I'll I'll go meet with them and we'll see what it's about. I met, saw what it's about. They told me you gotta do this, this, and this. So it's basically like a shark tank interview where you have to show up with your product, a business plan, uh, your food costs, uh, and how you would, you know, do your business and everything, and present it to them. So I did that, presented it to them, they loved it. Uh, I got into Catapult, and from there, Catapult, you know, they give you the resources that you need to get your licensing. So once I got into Catapult, getting the licensing was super easy. At that point, all I had to do was buy the equipment. So I bought an oven on wheels, fridge on wheels, canopy setup, all that. And we got into lone palm golf course. Um and either Wednesday or Thursday, I was there. Uh we started off with a real solid customer core in Lakeland because of that. I was there every week, like I said, and uh Catapult really put us on there. And then again, once it came time to find this location here, uh Alex, who was the landlord, he reached, like I said, reached out to me for the pizza, but reached out through Catapult. He specifically approached Catapult and said, Hey, I have a space, I'm looking for a restaurant. Who you got in there? Created an opportunity. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 49:44

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

So catapult is also the reason that we're in here because who knows if I'm the landlord would have heard about us if I wasn't in Catapult.

SPEAKER_04 49:52

Were you, I mean, at that point, as you're, you know, you're you built your your mobile business, were you thinking about brick and mortar then?

SPEAKER_02 49:59

Yes. Okay. The ultimate, okay. So for catapult, their goal is to catapult you into being a launch member in your own brick and mortar or whatever it is you want to do. So the goal was always to get into a brick and mortar if I was gonna be part of catapult. Okay. Again, I was gonna do the food truck thing, so I had to make a decision. If I do the food truck thing, it's the food truck thing, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Maybe one day I'll get into uh a brick and mortar, but that's like a two-year path. Catapult was okay, I can minimally invest in a mobile operation, canopy setup, doesn't have to be a food truck, uh, and then from there get into a brick and mortar, hopefully within a year. Okay. Luckily. We opened in April, I want to say, is when I started doing events and stuff like that. So from and it's not like we were doing it every week either. Uh uh I got lucky at a point and I was there at Lone Palm every Thursday, but that was just a few months. For majority of the time, the the business was like once a month I'm vending. Twice a month I'm vending. And from April to August is when that was happening. September is when I landed this spot. Wow. So we were yeah, I was only really open six months.

SPEAKER_04 51:20

Timing, it was just it was destined.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. And I would also say because again, just my experience. Yeah, I had a brand in mind. I know, I know what my brand wants to be, I know what I'm trying to make it, I know the psychology behind my brand.

SPEAKER_04 51:35

So it wasn't that catapult, I mean, what they were they I had resources that could help you do those things, but you came ready.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:42

It wasn't like they they gave you this opportunity and took you from I'm a home chef to no, you were you were ready for business.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

Yeah, I do think that I'm the rarity there in catapult. Um, because most people are um, you know, like, hey. I got an idea. Exactly. I make and that there's nothing wrong with that's that's what that's what catapult is for, you know. Like, hey, I make great cheesecakes. Yeah. I want to do a cheesecake business. Catapult is a place for you to figure that out and and and everything.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

They have kitchens, you can try different equipment, you can learn. You didn't need that. Exactly. But it became a path for you.

SPEAKER_02 52:20

Yes, it became a path, and I think um a mute mutual beneficial, uh mutually beneficial uh uh type of thing there because again, I only needed so much from them. Yeah. Uh they only really needed so much from me. So it worked for it. It just worked, it worked for both. Yeah. I I got launched really fast in a great location here. And on their end, I get to say, and this is what I say every time, is Catapult help give me the resources to get started. Without Catapult, I would not be here in this location. Now, again, that's not to say that I wouldn't have my own food truck or something else, but everything here is because Catapult. I I'm I'm a really humble person. You know, I don't do anything by myself. It takes it takes a lot. I believe it takes a village. I'm only in this location right here because, yeah, my great resume, my great work, everything that I learned in New York, but also because my father, he invested in me, and also because of Catapult invested in me. Because without Catapult, I would not have gotten this spot here.

SPEAKER_04 53:26

I think that's it goes back to something you said earlier. I asked you what you love to cook, you know, the most when you were in culinary school and you said the the baking courses and the baking things. Like, I think that's the baker's mentality where you you have to be prepared. Like you can't just you can't just wing it when you're baking, right? You can't just walk in cold and pop something out in 20 minutes or 30 minutes. There has to be time, there has to be preparation. It forces you to be patient, and then things can happen really fast. Yeah. But I think you it it sounds like you you put in a lot of work to get you to the point where you are ready to be launched at whatever scale or whatever speed. What um what do you uh what do you plan to do next? And and and and not that there has to be a next, right? Like you got a lot going on. I'm just I think I don't want to, you know, say, oh man, you should open like whatever. Like what do you want to do? Like what's what's the future look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 54:21

So I have my future with buy the chef and my future outside of buy the chef. My future with buy the chef involves another location, hopefully in like a Tampa, Orlando, Miami.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

Um, you know, somewhere really uh high volume, very popular area. And then also across across the country. I want like a buy the chef in every state. Um that's my goal with buy the chef pizza.

SPEAKER_00 54:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Uh and then obviously, like I said before, too, my end goal is New York, like with buy the chef pizza. I need to buy the chef pizza in New York. That's where I'm from, that's what I do. Um, so you know, I got I gotta make it back home. Yeah, you gotta go.

SPEAKER_01 55:03

You want to go back? All this listen, you wanna leave Florida and share this with everybody else. Okay. I want to share this with everybody. They deserve that, but Florida just makes it. Look at the palm train.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

It just rained and still 80, 90 degrees. Honestly, I'm I'm not like a heat person. Like, on if if someone was to say, like, you know, what what is it about Florida that's like, you know, your least favorite thing, I would I would honestly say I'm not uh a weather type of person where like like I like it hot. Even like in New York, I wasn't I wasn't messing with the winter in New York. Yeah. Because it didn't even really snow like that. Pennsylvania in winter. That is my spot. I love the freezing cold, I love the snow, I love the scenery. I'm I'm like a winter uh winter bird. I I love that.

SPEAKER_04 55:56

Okay, all right. I can deal with that. Yeah, so not not like city, city north, but yeah, yeah. Country north. Yes. Oh country north. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:05

I usually tell people because again, being from New York, a lot of people go, oh, you're a city boy. Again, Pennsylvania, I spent a lot of time out there. I would say I'm like a mix between city boy and mountain man. That's that's me right there. I I love the mountains.

SPEAKER_04 56:19

Heard that. What um what advice would you give someone who was trying to figure this out? Like if they someone's someone's watching this and thinking, like, if if I want to be like Chef Peter, if I want to open up a business, I want to be high volume, I want to I want to build a team, I want to do all the things that I love and and make it successful, what would what would you how would you tell me to start?

SPEAKER_02 56:44

Honestly, I'd say start by getting a job as a pizza man somewhere. If you if if it's specifically pizza, get a job as a pizza man somewhere. Because really I I believe the reason for my success is because again, at my core, I'm a working man.

SPEAKER_00 57:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:05

I am a working man. I am not an I'm not an owner first. I'm not I wouldn't even say like I'm a I'm a chef first or anything. Like I'm a worker, I'm a soldier, I'm a worker. I get to work and I make that, I'm gonna make it happen. I'll be in here 12 hours, even if it wasn't my own business. Even if it wasn't my own business, I'm in there like 12 hours doing work. That's another reason of like how June from Pinot Cravings, you know, recognized is because when I was over there, even when I'm not making my own pizzas, I'm best pizza. I'm trying to make sure these all come out beautiful. It's not my place, I'm just a worker. But it doesn't matter. This is this is what I do. I take pride. I gotta I gotta be the best at it no matter where I'm working. So I would definitely say somebody needs to get into the trenches so they can understand what it means to work as a pizza man so that way they can execute being the owner. Where it's like, I don't know anything about pizza, but I'm gonna hire pizza and just spend money on it if it's gotta show up.

SPEAKER_01 58:13

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

You can only throw money at problems for so long. At some point, I believe you yourself have to become the problem solver.

SPEAKER_00 58:23

Can't just pay people to solve problems for you. Or you know, might be the problem. Yeah, yeah. It could be the problem. Could be the problem.

SPEAKER_02 58:32

But I didn't want to say also um so for buy the chef chef, I do have something else besides buy the chef chef um that I'm planning. So uh I have different concepts. I have a light and rice bowl concept. So um honestly saying chipotle, but like more light uh light in um um flavors of ingredients. Okay, good. Um still with the core psychology. Because again, I believe this psychology that I have to buy the chef is uh is really the winning recipe, which is premium ingredients, cranky foods, and uh chef driven driven.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

So people want to know that they're expert making their food, people want to know. This is the thing I saw on Instagram the other day.

SPEAKER_02 59:19

So uh I'm taking that psychology and playing with other things. So like a high school thing I'm trying to do. And then also I've noticed uh these two people are are like really around here.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

Right down the middle, right?

SPEAKER_02 59:36

Yeah, was it June June? Yeah, one down one. Yeah, it's T Lberry T Pow 303, yeah, and there's joinery over there. I know the armature works in San Francisco. And then there's a dinner. So I know I I just see all these food halls phenomenals thinking like some people think oh no, all these food halls we should have one. I see all the food halls. I think they like like New York. Every kind of concept.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:06

I gotta do that too.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:07

Because I'm gonna do it differently, and I'm gonna do it in a way that speaks to customers. So I really am trying to push for a food hall concept where taking the same business like our food hall concept that will be concentrated on unique, premium, full and purity menus. So you know, like instead of just hey, you want to be in the full foolball, you want to be in the full fool. And then it's like everybody present your menus. Well, all the menus together together. Oh, you got this on your menu menu? Well, not that type of full volleyball.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

Make some alterations. You can do whatever alterations you want. I'm not in charge of making the menu, but I'm gonna tell you like, hey, hey, because of the type of place we're trying to create, we can't just do corn dogs here, sir. Yeah, I'm so sorry. Sorry. You you you like the idea of corn dogs? You really want to do corn dog dogs? Cool. Cool. We're gonna make a trendy chef chef premium. Do Korean corn dogs. The corn dogs that you see ramp in the cheese and then they rap in a bunch of stuff and it's like.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:11

It sounds like you put yourself in a position to even act as a mentor to folks who are developing the concepts and coming up with trendy you know, ideas. Because a lot of folks are doing. I mean, like we see a cocktail, a lot of folks are doing cool shit, yeah, and they don't have an avenue to get it out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:27

Yes. I and that's something big that I notice in like Catapult is uh I love the ideas in Catapult. I feel like everybody has some great stuff to offer there in Catapult. It's about the execution in a commercial setting.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:43

That's when, you know, it starts to get a little like you never ran a restaurant or worked in a restaurant, so how do you put together a restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:52

Now, again, that's not to say that they shouldn't or anything, but there's obviously, you know, learning curve stuff that has to be learned there. I would love to be a mentor for that, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:03

I would you're right though. There's a difference between something that you can take all day to make perfect or versus something that has to be perfect in 10 minutes to have somebody pay for. Exactly. Exactly. And then and people need that coach and they need that mentor.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:17

Yeah, yeah, to uh help set up systems or even food costs, you know? Yeah. Like if you if you know you do, again, you're great cheesecakes and and you have a small business doing cheesecakes, but you don't know how much it costs to make a cheesecake, and you don't know how much your profit margin is, you don't know how much your overhead is, you don't know how much uh, you know, your percentage of taxes are going. So, you know, like I would love to be a mentor and and do that for people if they need it. Yeah. You know, like uh uh this is what I do, the culinary industry. I I just love it so much. I have consulted to businesses and in New York, specifically pizza businesses. You know, some people are like, yeah, can you create a dough recipe for me? Yeah. So I'll create a dough recipe for them. But I would like to do more than that. I don't want to just, you know, do stuff for people. I want to help people execute their dream. Yeah. Like, do you make cheesecakes? I agree with you. I love your cheesecakes, amazing cheesecakes. Let me help you make uh 20 of at a time with at half the speed so you could sell more. Let's go from hobby to business. Exactly. Or even you have some great cheesecakes ideas, but like there's five other cheesecake places in here in in in the city. Now that's not to say you can't do it, but me as your mentor now at this point, hey, or I'm gonna say is you need to do something differentiate yourself. So again, that example, don't do corndogs. Do corn corn dogs, yeah. Don't do cheesecakes. Do a do a New York cheesecake or or or like uh, I don't know, create your own new style of cheesecake that's a f a fusion between a traditional cheesecake and a New York cheesecake, and then I don't know, make it make it pistachio, yogurt, something, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:07

You gotta do something. Make it uh be different, be unique. Exactly. And you'll have you'll have a chance. We were talking earlier too. You you we brought out the uh the sweet tea. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:17

You said this is your this one, uh, a buddy of yours, like somebody that you work with. Somebody in there? Was that you? Always fun going on. You know what? I think that's my oven. Oh yeah, I think it's getting hot enough for my branding. Yeah. You said you got you got the DPs back there? The baker's fry? Yes, sir. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

So um, so yeah, so I like to work again, we do premium stuff here. Like my my whole um thing with the branding is we do premium ingredients, premium pizza. So I wanted to have like a premium type of drink here, but also keep it local. Yeah. Again, I'm all about the community. Uh so one day I tried this. Uh a friend of mine told me, Hey, have you tried these teas? You should try it. So I tried it, and I was like, gotta have this in the shop. So I reached out to the owner Vinny, and he came by with some more samples. I tried them and I was like, Yeah, we gotta get you in the shop. I love that. So we got him in here. He brews these true southern sweet teas. So again, like they're true southern sweet teas, so they are very sweet, traditional. But it's a flavor. Yeah, but the thing that makes them like unique is again, that's another great example. You can sell teas, you can sell something unique. So these are traditional sweet teas, but he mixes them with fruit juices. So this is a strawberry pineapple. Okay, the strawberry pineapple comes together with the tea and it makes just such an awesome flavor. Yeah. Then he has another one, mango cranberry. That's the other flavor he does. And again, it just makes such a good flavor when it comes all together. Um, he's in the farmer's market. Again, uh, he he's blowing up so much that he is now working on getting this mainstreamed. So hopefully in a few months we can see that, you know, 7-Elevens, Walmarts, everywhere. And he's and he's here out of Lakeland too? He's out of Lakeland, yep. He's uh he's a Lakelander. If he got started, I believe, in the farmers market uh down here. And then now he's in the Winterhaven farmers market, I believe. But you'll see his tea is around the city in different places here. Granny MacBeverages.com, it's dunks, strawberry pineapple. Check that out. It's granny Mac Beverage Company, it's it's so fire. Um, honestly, I I do get a lot of customers that they're just like, yeah, I came here because I gotta have my pizza with my tea. Uh oh. Or yeah, it's it goes hard.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:04

Look, and and people here in the South take their tea very seriously. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:07

Yeah, I've noticed. That's that's definitely something that I learned while I was here.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:11

People, I've had people who will leave because we don't sell sweet tea. Oh, wow. Like, oh, you don't have sweet tea. Oh, well, I guess we'll we'll go somewhere else. Which is wild, but people take it serious. We take it serious. Man, this is this is fun. Chef Peter, I appreciate you, brother. Thank you so much. Love your story. Appreciate it. We'll love to just follow up and and and do it again whenever, you know, whenever you're ready. But you're gonna see a lot of me. Don't don't worry about no cameras, no lights, maybe kids, but uh we we'll be we'll be coming here because I don't live too far. We'll be stopped with pizza. We got you, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:48

Yeah, yeah. Can we can we make some pizza? Well, yeah, for sure. Let's let's let's make a pizza. All right. Uh, but real quick, I just want to do a follow us at Buy the Chef Pizza on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Uh check out our website, www.buythechef.pizza. We're located at 1212 South Florida Avenue, Lakeland, Florida.