The B Team Podcast
Talking all things Business, Bentonville, and Bourbon. Hosted by Josh Saffran, Matt Marrs, and Rob Nelson. New episodes every Thursday!
The B Team Podcast
Ep. 71 - Kitchen Outdoors: Backyard Living Elevated
Clay Stark is revolutionizing backyards across Northwest Arkansas with customized, bulletproof outdoor kitchens that transform ordinary patios into resort-like culinary spaces. As founder of Kitchen Outdoors, Clay brings commercial-grade craftsmanship to residential settings, creating gathering places where families connect over food and conversation.
The magic begins with GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete)—a material with triple the strength of traditional concrete at 12,000 PSI. These kitchens feature stunning natural finishes like hand-hewn Canadian pine (complete with authentic axe marks) or Italian slate. What truly sets Kitchen Outdoors apart is their gold-standard lifetime warranty on all stainless steel equipment. As Clay puts it, "I want to sell you ONE grill, not one every few years."
Unlike typical construction projects that require multiple contractors and headaches, Kitchen Outdoors handles everything from design to installation. Clay's team pre-assembles each kitchen in their shop, ensuring perfect fit before installing on-site in just six hours. Most surprisingly, these outdoor kitchens require minimal infrastructure—just space and a foundation, with no need for water or electricity connections.
The podcast reveals how these spaces transform lifestyle patterns. Rob, a custom homebuilder and satisfied customer, confessed he hasn't cooked indoors since installing his Kitchen Outdoors space. "We don't even go out to eat as much anymore because we'd rather just throw something on the grill and have people over," he shared.
Clay offers options for every budget and space constraint. From simple five-foot units to elaborate L-shaped designs with islands, each kitchen is fully customizable while maintaining the same bulletproof durability.
Ready to transform your outdoor space into a culinary gathering place? Visit kitchen-outdoors.com or find them on Facebook. Mention the B-Team Podcast for a special discount on your dream outdoor kitchen that will change how you entertain and bring your family together.
Welcome to the B-Team Podcast. I am your host, josh Saffron, with my co-host, matt Morris, and our permanent guest, rob Nelson. We're here every week to talk to you about all things Bentonville, bourbon and business the B-Team Podcast Be here. Welcome to the B-Team Podcast. I'm your host, josh Saffron, with our permanent guest.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, he's again late. Is he coming today or is he just late? Check and see if he's hiding under there. He got so skinny yeah.
Speaker 1:And our co-host.
Speaker 2:Matt Morris On time yeah, in person. Co-host. Matt morris on time yeah, in person. But one one good thing rob did do was he brought us the kitchen outdoor expert here, clay, shout out to clay right out of the gate.
Speaker 1:Yep, absolutely clay. What's your last name?
Speaker 2:clay, stark, clay, stark, clay, stark. We I've seen a bunch of his kitchens and they're amazing and they should get that. They not only are good at putting in the kitchens, and they're amazing and they should. They not only are good at putting in the kitchens, but if there's ever a problem, they could take care of them, and which is a bigger, a bigger deal than the kitchen well, before we start getting in the clay.
Speaker 1:We got to back up a bit, right, okay, we got clay. You gotta understand this, the podcast. We're in the middle of season two. We episodes every thursday, so, doing the math, we're like our 70th episode and everybody's tasked with bringing in guests. Matt, not great, but in a pinch he'll help. Rob brings guests only that do work on his home, or holy people, so he goes. I got a guy and I was, and then said he told me who it was and I said, oh well, I've seen the work at Rob's house firsthand. I mean, oh yeah, it's insane. So I felt good about it. But half the time it's like this guy came over today and he removed fleas. He's going to come, you know, from the dog. He's going to come to the house. Or this guy. This guy unclogged the drain in the toilet. Look, you're going to have him on the podcast. So I always have to vet cast right away. Well, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much yeah yeah so look, kitchen outdoors it for me growing up and I would grew up on the east coast like you didn't have there's no such thing as kitchen outdoor. You had a kitchen inside and then you went outside and but it's a big thing out here right now, high end, and it's only outdoors. You don't do any kitchen work inside homes.
Speaker 3:No, um no, everything is uh outdoors. We uh it in 2023 is whenever Kitchen Outdoors was born. I ran into an older couple amazing people my age or older, older they're both 80. Okay, they're both 80. We got a little while and the husband was a concrete GFRC guru, so they actually invented all of this, but by the time they were 80 years old they were kind of like so you stole this guy's business. I pretty much handed him a check and yanked, but I really wasn't looking for another business.
Speaker 3:And this came into view and man, I'll tell you, when I first first heard about I'm like, you know, I don't know if we want to venture into anything new right now. And then I talked to him one time. I'm like man, that sounds kind of valuable and honestly I mean I don't know if there's anything better. I knew, I saw it and talked to him a little bit about it and the whole point of it was, uh, the business I'm currently in which we're not going to talk about on the podcast, but that is, it's all commercial every bit of it. And so to actually do something in the residential realm and be able to bring that kind of value to the residential realm. Not only you know when Rob gets in there. We talk a little bit about that, but bringing it back If Rob gets in here.
Speaker 3:If Rob gets back, he may have to drive back home to find that's true well, we made this, I got my pocket, I think, exactly, I mean, we're gonna all be hydrated, exactly. So, um, so, anyway, in 2023 it was born, um, and since then we've been, uh, working on the manufacturing process, working on the scalability, so that we can be prepared for whatever comes our way.
Speaker 1:Now are you one of one? I mean this is niche, right. I mean not everybody like somebody's building a home and everybody needs a carpenter and everybody needs windows, but you're kind of like in a small area but you own the business, there's nobody else doing this?
Speaker 3:No, not near us necessarily. I've seen stuff similar in the east and west coast, um, but not in the midwest, where is kind of a. There's kind of a, a missing piece right there, and the truth of the matter is is there's a ton of people that ask about, they just don't want to get started, yeah, and, and a lot of times it's you don't realize that, uh, you don't have, I mean, anybody today. If you have a space and foundation, you can have one. You don't have, I mean, anybody today. If you have a space and foundation, you can have one. You don't have to have anything pre-set up or anything like that, clay anyway.
Speaker 1:So as we were talking, what's up brother? Hey man, how are you? I'm great man.
Speaker 2:This is going to be epically good or bad, I got to do some. I'll do the important stuff. You guys keep talking.
Speaker 1:Clay, but a question for you, for the people that don't understand, because somebody may be saying at home well, I have a green egg or I have a blackstone, or I have a grill and I have a little portable fridge, so I already have a kitchen in my backyard. Like, yeah, like what? What is the definition of, of what you do versus what?
Speaker 3:like I would have in my home. Well, and then that's just it. Most people have one of everything or one of here and there. They don't have everything combined, and the the whole thing about kitchen outdoors is the whole philosophy behind it, and again, when I was first venturing into this was creating those family connections, and so create family connect is our motto. I like that, and so basically it is putting everything into one package where you can get your family together and and and have a gathering and do the things you love, and at the end of the day, we're all doing this for the same thing. It's really we're trying to bring value, to make money and to spend time with family and friends. I mean, at the end of the day, that's what we're trying to do, so having something that we can get everybody around. Now to your point is I already have a Blackstone, I already have a grill, got a little rowdy jesus.
Speaker 2:The glasses make it look like there's more in there than there is sorry, I already have a blackstone.
Speaker 3:I already have a yep, I already have a blackstone, I already have a grill, um is, and I used to have a blackstone, I used to have a grill, and now I have an outdoor kitchen to where I have my grill, which is supplied by us as well, and my griddle, which is supplied by us as well, side burner, which I have one of those as well, and I have the entire setup with the trash can and everything, and it's just been absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 1:So let's kind of tick off, because we talked about how amazing yours was and we talked about how you normally bring in guests that come to your house and clean up trash and pest control and everything else. You know, people that work on your house you bring, but you like really brought somebody good today, right, somebody good today talking about wilkes, but like um, so uh, water, like uh anything, water, electric, so on cabinets, granite, like you do everything.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you exactly what we do. We provide the cabinetry. We can do the tops granite and or GFRC concrete tops, all of the equipment If there is water, electric or things like that, the homeowner needs to make that work. Now, in this case, when I've been working with Metal Lake and Rob Shout out to Metal Lake, metal Lake, thanks, baby, to make that work. Now, in this case, when I've been working with uh, metal lake and rob, um, he's shout out to metal lake, yeah, absolutely, homes baby, yep and uh, is that metal lake that's on the parade of homes?
Speaker 3:metal lake oh, yeah, that's the one, yeah, yeah, and there's a kitchen, outdoor kitchen on that.
Speaker 3:One too big, one bigger than mine so uh, so I worked with rob's team to help get that sent up. Yeah, um so, but you don't have to have. If you, if you just wanted a nice, really nice grill, a really nice griddle, um, there's a bunch of different options. You could have a pizza oven, you know, you name it. None of that needs electricity, none of it needs water, none of it needs you could literally have a outdoor kitchen, um, and all you need space and a foundation.
Speaker 2:That's all you need. It's fully customized. However you want. Whether it's like, I'll tell you my story, please.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So when I got connected with you, know, Clay, oh wait, Rob's here.
Speaker 1:Robby, yeah yeah, here, cheers, cheers. I didn't even realize you were over there yet. Cheers. You look so skinny you can't even find it.
Speaker 2:Clay brought this, I know, I know, that's why I didn't bring a ball, that's why that's why I already know. Sorry, back to your stuff. That's good. What is that, by the way? It's that wood for double, wood for double. Oh, very nice, and you have a story. Okay, let's hear Bobby.
Speaker 2:So you know building a lot of custom homes, as we do. You know 90% of the customers want an outdoor kitchen. And is that a new thing for homes? Yeah, it's a couple years, like COVID, even past COVID, like you know, people want pools in the backyard, people want to grill out we got great weather here in northwest Arkansas and they want to, you know, host and spend time and entertain, even though I know you don't entertain a lot of people, that's okay. Most people, yeah, most people. That's why I said 90 percent. Um, all right, but anyways.
Speaker 2:So have we built outdoor kitchens? Yeah, you know, you could frame them, you could build them out of metal. Then you got to get all the different parts and pieces and get, you know, triple the amount of subs together to make this little outdoor kitchen become a reality. And can I do it? Yes, have we done it? For not a big space? Yeah, okay, you know, can I do it? Yes, have we done it? Yes, have they come out amazing? Yes, is it a large? It really adds on to the project as far as complexity but if I'm hearing you say this, you've done it before.
Speaker 1:We have to pull so many different people together to make it all major together yes, yes, um, so I, I wouldn't out on a search.
Speaker 2:So look to partner with someone and I was talking with two different companies and I ran into clay and he's local and the way you allow people to customize it and your fit and finish and your turnkey to me was a no-brainer. And you know, clay was great Because when he came to my house, I had the blackstone, I had the grill, I had, you know, the smoker, I had the pizza All of those are gone now. I kept my pizza oven. He just built that into the oven. Yep, I kept my smoker.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, grills, how many girls have you bought, you know, over the last 15 years? You know? So you replace a girl every three to five years, easy, right? Um, you know? Uh, I wanted I had the black stone, but it was on it's kind of halfway on its, you know, life expense. We bought it down the road on a bike ride. Yeah, yeah, exactly, you know, another day, another story. Yeah, another day, another story, right? So then Clay goes look, if you want to use your stuff, use your stuff. But if you want to upgrade your stuff and get a lifetime warranty Whoa, lifetime warranty if you want to upgrade your stuff and get a lifetime warranty whoa, lifetime warranty, lifetime warranty, whoa on the equipment that you're probably gonna have to replace anyway. Just let me know whoa. I was like lifetime warranty, I mean, it was the ultimate. When the grill goes bad, you replace it clay, I'll let you jump sure, sure, no.
Speaker 3:uh, back to when it all started, I was trying to find a partner that would be the right fit. So, going through all the different IRN grills, people to provide that kind of equipment, and I found Somerset is what we use, and not only them. But there's another company that I work with, alert Distributing, and so I partnered with both of them and they have a gold standard lifetime warranty, which basically means, uh, all of the stainless equipment that we provide, um, there's like literal lifetime warranty on the day, and every little part piece, wow. And so, if they go and what's awesome about it is that, yes, it is good to go register and do all that stuff, but myself, alert, we are your warranty, because alert has a ton of stuff in stock.
Speaker 3:So, basically, rob hypoth, something goes bad with the grill, and you say, hey, clay, this thing is not working right. Okay, let me come check it out. Hey, I need to get another one ordered. It's there in days, versus that two-, three-, four-week wait on a warranty program. And so that's the nice thing about it and that's why I tell everybody I just wanted to sell one grill. I want to sell you one, girl, I don't want to sell you one every two to three years. I want to sell you one, so let me ask you a clarifying question.
Speaker 1:okay, let's just say bobby's throwing a rager at his house, right? Yep, dj, beautiful bartender bartending I hope I'm there and all of a sudden somebody runs over to the grill and drunk and like rips the top of the grill off and like brace off You're telling me Well, that's different, I would think, but I'll let him answer. I mean you're telling me Because that could happen. It could happen. Somebody's been in a rift.
Speaker 2:I think it depends. If the clay was there, he might have been involved. If I was the one doing it.
Speaker 3:it's a guaranteed. But so, on an extreme like that, uh, we would come assess the situation okay and say, okay, uh, how did the half the kitchen get knocked over where? What bulldozer did you use? Yes, that might have a problem, okay. But in the same sentence, though, if somebody was uh out of control and they took the lid and just and the lid come flying off and the bolt broke and the lid got bent, and I can get you a lid and I can get you a bolt, I'm more realistic I'm breaking stones here, but more realistic, like a tornado came through or God forbid, and wind and death, hail and damage, that stuff happens.
Speaker 1:I mean it can't. Yeah, absolutely that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Again, you could probably quantify. I don't know if the lifetime warranty would cover a tornado, but if you really think about a grill, right, what goes out on a grill, your internals, right? So if the burner goes bad or the light goes bad or the igniter or something of that nature, to me that's most likely what's going to be covered, which, that's the stuff that goes bad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right what's going to be covered, which that's the stuff that goes up, right? Yeah, no, you're right, yeah, yeah. So and most people who have big green eggs or the komodos or whatever they are, shout to you know, those ceramic, a lot of those come with lifetime warranties as well. We're shouting out there it's a big green egg and those guys right. So that stuff comes with lifetime warranties anyway. So you know, if you have a big green egg, there's no reason to buy another big green egg from from clay and team, just incorporate it, right? So we were doing our parade of home house. We're putting a massive kitchen out back and he he sourced his own pizza oven before he started talking with you. He has a big green egg and he actually had a really nice refrigerator, everything else. He went, you know, and it was turnkey. Clay shows up and six hours later you're ready to throw down some rebars.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what I'm most impressed with. And you guys deal with subs and contracts as well. I mean there's like 90 people getting stuff parsed out to.
Speaker 2:It's a major headache, yeah, so when he sees it, it's a mess or this or that. He's doing the whole thing. He's responsible.
Speaker 2:And you don't have, like everyone pointing, pointing fingers, yeah, and to clay's point, right. What if you have a gc doing your you know backyard or your renovation, or you know, if you're just doing literally just an outdoor kitchen, all you gotta do is hire a certified electrician and plumber if, if you need those items, right, yeah, if you know, because you do great sinks and all that kind of stuff that comes with it as well too are you doing the work yourself or you have?
Speaker 3:people. I've got some install teams. I'm continuing to grow that side of it. Right now I'm kind of sales engineering production everything with a few people on my team and I pull from my other shop as I need. But again, I just wanted to make it.
Speaker 2:Oh, and it's amazing. And Clay's a perfectionist, yeah, I tell you. Okay, I mean, well, I've seen your back. You're like he. He's in there at the end polishing it, making sure there's no fingerprints on it, making sure all the reveals are perfect, and like to me. You know, I'm kind of like that myself and I'm like, shoot, he's better than me. I'm like, and that's when I was like I'm gonna, I'm to really incorporate this into the package that we offer our clients. And I think we're on what?
Speaker 3:number two or number three, well, including yours, number three, so three. How's Rob to work?
Speaker 1:I think we've got a fourth Dude, Rob, I'll be easy to work with. He's been great Tens are in late.
Speaker 3:No show, I'll see you tomorrow. I haven't had any missed appointments yet. This is the first. So I mean, if this is how it's going to be, I'm still there.
Speaker 2:I'm still there. Well and we heard that you let the Parade of Homes be bigger than your kitchen, which that's a big step. I mean, that's what the client wanted. It's a big step.
Speaker 1:A client he lets someone else have a better kitchen than him.
Speaker 2:Are they going to host and entertain? Yeah, he's a retired chef. Oh, that's yeah, David.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shout out to.
Speaker 2:David, I didn't know that was his house. Yeah, that's his house, but that, like your kid, his Rob's Outdoor Kitchen. You have thought of everything. It's got a trash can, it's got the refrigerator, like, it's got everything Paper towel holder. Have you even cooked inside, really at all? No, we haven't. No, we haven't. Every time I go up there, that's where they are. And what was really cool was I think it was last minute thing we were trying to sort out where the smoker was gonna go, and so on and so forth, and then I was yeah, I like to host big parties and we have pizza parties. Right, an island to the outdoor kitchen, because most indoor kitchens have islands these days. Right, I don't see a lot of outdoor kitchens with islands, so I almost don't have the amount of space that you have. Yeah, yeah, but I mean, when you're doing an l, you actually probably have the space. You're just not thinking of it. And I called clay up and I was like clay, don't kill me did they lead with that?
Speaker 1:don't kill me. Well, yeah, he's like I think we were like five days from the install.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were like five days from the install. Like, say, if we moved the sink and put it somewhere else, he was like where are you going to put it? How about that island? He was like ooh and yeah, he gets on his little computer and he sketches it out. And he had a text message to me within five minutes. I was like done within five minutes. I was like done, do it. I was like here's the deal, though, I'm only gonna do it if it comes with the kitchen in five days. He's like you're killing me, rob, and I want to. I want to hear.
Speaker 2:I know we've talked about the warranty on the actual products, right, but like, what we really haven't talked about is like the bullet proof, like, yes, it's like a modular concrete, it's not something you're going to be out there painting every other year. No, and it falls, apart from getting wet, like, and there's. That's what to me, is the, and there's another part, but let clay touch on. Yeah, and how. It's like. What are like, what is you said? What did you call? So like, so, explain this to everyone.
Speaker 3:It's called gfrc. It's a glass reinforced cement. Okay, so the difference between it and concrete is the mix. Obviously we mix in like fiberglass shreds into it and I have a machine that mixes it all up, and the difference between that and like your concrete on your driveway or your patio is the PSI on that is like 3,000 to 4,000 pounds, and that's just the flexural strength. So that's why you see a lot of driveways crack. Well, the PSI on this stuff is like 12,000. So it's very strong. It's a little bit lighter than concrete, it's a little more expensive than concrete, but, yeah, it's bulletproof. And that was kind of the thing.
Speaker 3:When I first saw this. I'm like, oh my goodness, I mean, how cool is this? This is like not only can you make kind of a bulletproof outdoor kitchen, we can do it quickly and we can install it even faster. And that's where, going back to that, bringing a value to the market, bringing a value not just to the end user but values to other companies. Rob was looking at it and he's like, hmm, okay, I see the value and I can see how it can add value to my offerings as well. And so, uh, and immediately, and that's honestly one of the main reasons I started this was looking at it, saying not only can I obviously take care of my family and friends and people I know, but also, uh, looking out into other businesses and ventures and other other companies and creating partnerships like this and uh, and it's almost, then, it's almost an infinite number of possibilities to bring value to somebody's home, and so the GFRC is fantastic. And then we pour all of them into custom-made molds.
Speaker 3:And that's what I was saying is, I'm a big outdoors guy. I love the outdoors. Kitchen outdoors is where the name came from, so I love the outdoors. So a lot of our stuff is nature-driven. That's where his is like wood grain. We also just came out with a stone series.
Speaker 2:I pushed him for that. Yeah, the wood grain's beautiful. But I was like not everyone's going to want wood grain and you came out with this beautiful stone, which is gorgeous, it's still a natural thing for me, because everybody's like, hey, what about smooth?
Speaker 3:Let's stick with this natural look right now. So the wood is actually literal, a piece of hand-hewn Canadian pine and we patterned it off of that. We left the axe marks in it. You can actually see it on the kitchen. You'll see the old axe marks and you have how many colors With that. We're offering four to five very natural colors. That's a lot, but we can do more. If somebody really needed something custom on the new stone series, which is an italian slate, it's like stamp concrete, which is what is that? Yeah, it's beautiful at the parade of homes. Let's go, let's go and uh and so uh that. Uh, we can do it a lot more colored because it is. You can use transparent stains and do all kinds of neat stuff with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but uh's not like. I wouldn't go to your website and be like oh, it's X dollars, I'm building something customized with you. You don't have anything out of the box that you're going to do or you do Well.
Speaker 3:I do and I don't, as I was telling you earlier, before you got here, yeah, before Rob got here and brought us the glasses. But we do have some standard. I would I would almost call them type quick ship um, for different budgets, different sizes of patios. So you've got a patio, beautiful patio, like rob's, that has so many, uh, square foot so you can make a really nice kitchen like that. Some people, you know, they might just have that 10 by 20 patio on the back and uh, and we've got a standard five and a half foot one, a standard nine or eight foot one and uh, and all of those that's like more of a copy paste, like pretty much, yeah, pretty much. And then and then, as you get to, you know, you're looking at some of Rob's custom homes. He's done. You know he said that he already had a green egg at O street. He already had a green egg, he already had a pizza oven and he already had a refrigerator. So we, we worked with his equipment and built around that and added some equipment as well.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, he ended up getting our, our and then all the shelves are Marine grade shelter, correct, Correct, which is huge. What does that mean?
Speaker 3:Uh, just uh yeah, yeah, we just so every part of it is concrete and then on the inside we use marine grade plywood and then we paint it with exterior. Actually, it's not even painted. We're using a white lacquer, we're spraying it on um. But the reason for that is because when you get to the site and the electricians and the plumbers need to be able to get through this cabinet, they're not going through concrete or metal or anything like that, but it'll look super spray. Yeah, nice for the drill through it. They can attach to it very easily.
Speaker 2:So we even found some cool channels. Yeah, we ran some wire through and stuff. And and here's what is even neat about it right is clay assembles the entire kitchen in his shop prior to bringing it out to the job site. So he assembles it, make sure everything is perfect. He sent me pictures, disassemb it and then reassembles it on site. And here's a great thing. So you make this investment right in your outdoor kitchen and then you go sell your house in a year or two Guess what? You can take it with you. You can take it with you, you want to.
Speaker 1:I mean it would be a great selling point. Yeah, I think you have a hard time.
Speaker 2:I mean that'd be a good negotiation, but but there's a warranty transfer, um, or how does?
Speaker 3:yeah, it's a good question does the warranty transfer from owner to owner? Um, probably not, probably. Yeah, usually they down, yeah, but the problem is it's typically the original owner. You know what I mean? Yeah, and so, um, but we just haven't had to deal with that. Yeah, we won.
Speaker 2:We'll just edit that out. You say well, you mean me, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You deleted, josh.
Speaker 1:Josh will take care of that I did have a question for you. There is happens to be one of the four of us sitting at the to me like that backyard, so I'm going to jump in there.
Speaker 2:Is it a sore subject? No, no, not at all. I think Matt has a pretty nice custom built outdoor kitchen already, but I know who would freaking die for outdoor kitchen to cook on, and it's this Emily.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we don't have the space. Oh yeah, you got it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you do, he can make anything work.
Speaker 1:So actually I try to take a shot at madness coming back and biting me in the ass.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying, yeah, that's like a rig of shit, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll have to do my indoor kitchen or my outdoor kitchen. I mean, unless you're subsidizing the Stafford Kids College, I mean Emily might pick the outdoor kitchen over there. Well, I mean, she leaves your house. This is the other problem with going to his house. It's like this is so cool. This is amazing. I'm like I don't live in Bobby's world. Whatever, I don't live in Bobby's world.
Speaker 2:He chooses to spend his money on his house and have people over, and you don't. Yes, you're opening up a second business. Look, yeah, yes, that's not cheap.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of outdoor kitchens taking price increase out of your haircut membership.
Speaker 2:Five bucks it's, but now, like that, you know, you always hear, you know how good these are. This and that I'm like, yours is like you guys deliver. Oh, I appreciate those few that I've seen.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you are so nice but it's one of those to me that you feel like I don't need this, like it's a nice to have, and then you see it at rob's house and you go, I kind of need this, like it's like you said, you have it cooked inside and forever, yeah I mean, we're not even going out to eat as much anymore because we're like, oh, do you want to go out to eat?
Speaker 2:or just go throw something on the grill and the kids want to come over, or man, you guys want to come over. So, like, just just by saving the money of not going out to eat as much, it's actually paying for itself. I don't know it's paying for itself. It's paying for itself. Well, I mean, it probably gave me a pretty good deal as well, too, based on our partnership oh now we're talking, I'll give you guys a good deal too incredible.
Speaker 3:You know the the thing of it is. You can move it if you want, but you can also leave it with the value of the home. Outdoor kitchens are a selling point and they add value to your home. Typically it becomes a line item when you're looking through a new home or you're going to buy a home and it's like oh, it's got a pool, it's got an outdoor kitchen. It's a huge point of difference, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's different than having just a grill sitting on the yeah, because you don't go, you don't want to just go. Sit out, yeah, I mean yours. You feel like you're on a in a resort, yes, and and you guys did that, and I know rob helped with the design absolutely, absolutely, yeah, you, you changed that whole space over there. The island is nice because you're rob's making things on the grill and he can turn around and just set tray. It's just like you're in a big kitchen.
Speaker 1:But you just hit on it because most people are like I can't wait to go away on vacation. I can't wait to go away on vacation, but when I go to his house I feel like I'm on vacation?
Speaker 2:Yes, because I'm cooking and serving it, but that's what everyone wants, and a lot of us. We spend most of our time and our life savings on our house, and why not have it the way you want it? And I'm sure do you guys offer financing for people? Yeah, there's financing, which is another big deal If you can help with financing.
Speaker 1:For $100 a month, I could pay you over the next 50 years. That may be it. That's between the finances.
Speaker 3:He caught me $200. $200., $200. $200., $200., $200. $200. $200. $200. $200. $200. $200. $200., $200. $200 $200.
Speaker 2:But some people don't have the cash to put in where they could pay. If you had financing, then that's another nice feature, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, and, like I said, there's a value to. I've been to quite a few home shows and Rogers, okay, I've been to a few of those and to see husbands walking by and the wife's like holding his eyes, you know, not letting him look, and he, oh, I want to talk to him, you know know, and they look at it and and they don't. They're like, so tell me, tell me this feel, how's this work? You know? Type of deal, yeah, I don't have this much space. I'm like, well, you don't need that much space, right, and we have different models and different sizes, so I mean, there's a whole different level of kitchens you can do from a budgetary standpoint. Not everybody's going to have the, the space and or budget to do what rob did but Most people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but there's a lot of people that would like to have that 96 that's got a grill and a griddle next to it and you know it's a 33% of the price that he's going to pay.
Speaker 1:You know what you just said, that you hit on, that I hadn't thought of before. Guys will be debating with their wife I want to put a bourbon room in, I won't use it, blah blah and the wife Both would love to have an out of the office. Exactly that's really interesting. You're making an investment in the home.
Speaker 2:And I know you keep on saying how much space I have. We took some dead space in my backyard and reimagined it and made it where it was workable. So that's something that we do and that's where I think our partnership looks really good. I'm sure next year we should do a 20 by 20 together, absolutely, instead of a 10 by 10. Like I'm sure next year we should do like a 20 by 20 together, absolutely, instead of a 10 by 10.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I like this. This is like yeah, it's been awesome. Don't get jealous. I'm very jealous, I see. Don't get jank, I feel like we're on the Alice.
Speaker 3:Matthew, just like that, you have a comment on the bourbon.
Speaker 1:It's good.
Speaker 2:You like it hear the story. This is the whitford double oak, yeah it does need a split.
Speaker 1:The water was a different. The water opened it up quite a bit for me. Yeah, I liked it with a little bit of water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's your sex?
Speaker 3:yeah, um, in this small room yeah, yeah good telling me, um, yeah, so uh, I would say 15, 14 or 15 years ago I was in louisville, kentucky, and at that point in time I had sipped on some bourbons. I was more of your probably just a beer drinking type of person, but in this, in this case, I was in Louisville, kentucky, at the Galt House. I don't know if you've ever been there. It's an old, it's an old hotel, really. What's it called the Galt House G-A-U-L-T, g-a-u-l-t, I think.
Speaker 3:I'm there for a trade show and I go downstairs and all of a sudden there's just a bourbon bar down in the basement and I walk in and at the time I looked it up the other night because I was curious. Now it's all modernized, but when I was there it was like all wood, you know bourbon lining the walls, three shelves high, and I'm like holy cow. So there's literally one man in there. He, there's literally one man in there is an old bartender and he's sitting behind the bar. And I say, all right, my age, old guy, old guy I can keep this in the same area of the podcast my age and uh.
Speaker 3:So I just asked him. I said, okay, well, if you could pour yourself one shot, what would it be, and I mean there's 300 floggers in this place, I mean without even a second. I don't know if it was just him not wanting to walk very far, or maybe he was the first in reach, but he just turns around and grabs a double load and turns around and pours me a glass, and that was the day I started loving bourbon, and so this is always in my rotation. That's a great story. Yeah, it's good. I love it, it's good. But you know, this is one of my favorite. You get it for half the price.
Speaker 1:You're going to have to come to our Gentsgiving event. Yeah, that'd be awesome. We do a charity fundraiser. He's involved. He's involved. Dave Mars is involved. My wife leads it. Shout out to Emily. Shout out Raised $100,000 in net proceeds for charities. Drinking finest bourbon steak dinner. Yeah, you get it on your calendar November 6th November 6th.
Speaker 2:I thought it was the 14th. Yeah, I thought we had to bump to the 14th because we're out of town on the 6th. Oh boy, here we go again. Standby, here we go again.
Speaker 3:Lizzie, do you need pants?
Speaker 1:Do you need pants for that Great?
Speaker 2:question Do you need pants? But typically that time of year you wear pants because it's November.
Speaker 1:Well, but you wouldn't have to wear them. It's not pants mandatory, no.
Speaker 2:I can wear jeans. He's kind of already dressed in vacation wear, I mean look at him.
Speaker 1:It's like a mafia sit-down with him over here today. Hey, come over here. I want to talk to you about my kitchen. Forget about it. Forget about it, clay. One more question for you, and I asked this before bobby got here, but I'll ask you again if somebody was so impressed with you and your work wanted to do indoor kitchen stuff like you just like, can't do it, obviously not somebody else.
Speaker 3:So so I, like I said, I'm not trying to to push my other business, which happens to be the, it happens to be the titanic and this is the lifeboat, but, um, I do have a massive kitchen shop it's not kitchen, it's a cabinet shop which I think you'd have a lot of fun coming to look and walking through, because I've got a lot of cool automated stuff and and then actually, the kitchen shop is attached to my metal shop and so I've got a big metal shop where we do all of our we only do carbon and then, although I'm going to stay in this work, but, um, I've got some really good stainless partners though.
Speaker 3:Um, but anyway, so I've, as I've told him, if somebody really wanted, you know, if they didn't want the the stone look or the wood grain look which, by the way, is very unique, very cool I love it. But if somebody was like you know what? I've got this old barn and I want, I want the old corrugated metal off the barn and I want to use the old uh, reef reclaim wood off the barn and I want that on the face of it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I because that's what I'm feeling from this day. I feel like somebody is paying for you and then you can curate and customize the services for that person. Like, I feel like you are the, you are the magic and then he can kind of build and create hey, I like, like you are the, you are the magic and then he can kind of build and create hey, I like you to work in this part of my house, I want you to this kitchen or I want to do something at a barn. It feels like you're going to be like let me serve the customer and figure it out with them, which is fantastic yeah, oh yeah, there's.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of uh. I have enough resources and or equipment and and square footage and people that I could accommodate a lot of needs for different things. I I mean, you know we deal with restaurants mostly, but we do everything in a restaurant from the front to back to outdoor stuff. So we've been doing a lot and we have a lot of machinery to accommodate that. So when I bought this business, it was so nice to turn this into that same kind of manufacturing philosophy to where we could be scalable and I've said it, I spent the first six months being cash flowed by the other one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's how it always is.
Speaker 3:And I didn't try and sell anything, I just wanted to perfect it. I just wanted to get it to where, hey, I can do it at this rate. And if something big comes along and let's say you run into 15 kitchens and I need to scale it, I can't. I've set it up process wise to where it'd cost me a little bit of money and I and I'd have to bring some people in. But, yeah, I could scale it. Yeah, two to three times pretty quickly now. Yeah, um, and so how? How are sales going? Um, sales for this is yes, it's been, it's been good. Well, I just did your house. I mean mean it has the heart.
Speaker 1:He came to me and deal with it. He lost money at my house Now it's a big illusion. I mean that $2.5 million hitch after that, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 3:After four more that he sells, I'd be out of the hole for days.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I think the biggest thing that I've taken away from this and I've talked to you 10 times about these kitchens I didn't ever realize that they're all custom, like I thought it was more of like this is the sizes that we have and that's it. Like I didn't realize that you, you know that I thought you were like, well, we, I just assumed that you had certain molds and that was all it was. And that's the beauty of it, matt, right, because us, as home builders, if we're dealing with a client, something that's a little off right, and it's hard when you're yeah, yeah, like a big company, and you're like, nope, I have a four, an eight and a twelve, yeah, and you can do it. And and you have to make it work versus what you do.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's this easy if you're talking with the client, right, and you say, okay, give me your wish list of what you want in your, your outdoor kitchen, and you get six or seven bullet points or ten bullet points you could text that to clay and within within a day, he'll give you a design that's fantastic, based on those wants. Yeah, and then it's actually back over to you. You texted to the client and they give you a thumbs up them. I mean it's, it's a no-brainer, no, no-brainer.
Speaker 1:Clay before we get through the website and Facebook page and everything else. Sometimes we ask this question and we get some really interesting answers Any funny stories, Any. You can't believe I went to this house and this happened. Or you can't believe what they asked me for when I showed up, and there's no way I can build this.
Speaker 2:He's like the guys, the guys in the room right now, yeah, yeah. And rob said this is like budget. I can't, I can't answer that question right now. Is that the budget just for the appliances?
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh, the whole thing I'm with bob gelson I would never tell who about this no, honestly, I could tell you baj bajillion from the other side.
Speaker 3:I've been in manufacturing for over 25 years and so, yeah, I mean, and this was 2023 on, but no, this has been really nice so far, mainly because you know, like I said Rob said it multiple times in different cases Like this is a game changer. This is a game changer and because we're trying to make it. If you can be a value to someone, whether it's a end user, customer and or another business you just you're trying to make it to where there's very little effort on their part to be able to enhance and add value to their offerings. And and if we can do that, then that is the true meaning of adding value to, honestly, outside of the dollar. It's a. There's a value add outside of the dollar there, because it's like I'm going to try and push this Cause. It's so much easier. If this person wants an outdoor kitchen and you've worked with us, you'll be like, ah, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to call them because it was so easy, there was ease to the process.
Speaker 1:But that's why you're going to be successful, because it's not about the dollars and the profit although it's important and it's not about this is all I make and just take it or leave it. You're creating an experience for somebody, and that's where somebody goes.
Speaker 2:You have to go work with Clay because into a business oh, I know I hook in. I know Shout out, vibrant Spa, vibrant Gents Club, kitchen, outdoors I mean, there's many others as well too. Yeah, well, the other nice thing is for you this is probably fun because you're giving someone something they want instead of what they need 100%. I love that, like it's like us. When you're doing like a, a custom, it's fun because it's not just okay that I, I need all these things and I want all this stuff and and that's it. Like there's, there's not. I don't want to sound like ungrateful, I know exactly what you mean. Like 100. Like you don't have things that get all your subs excited because they they don't. It's just the same old.
Speaker 3:I guess I need to get a quote for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whereas they're like, hey, we're going to do a wall of stone or we're going to do this, and they're like, no really.
Speaker 3:You know, this is actually something they want and they don't have to Exactly. And that's why I was saying it's fun at those home shows to watch a husband be like, do the double take, and the wife's like, don't you look at me? It's just fun. And so, yeah, definitely, coming from the commercial side, which, again, it's wonderful, yeah, you got to create values different ways, but it's something else. On that side, on the side of commercial, all you're trying to do is be in the worry-free part of somebody's mind, like you don't ever think of me. You know, yeah, that we do so well that they're like all right, I got enough to worry about.
Speaker 3:In this case, like you said, it's like, oh, I'd really like to have that, that'd be great. Well, a lot. I mean, there was a lot of people that walked by at the show. It's like I'd love to have that, but I don't have the space. I'm like, well, how much space do you have? Well, I've, well, I've only got this. You know, 10 foot, 10 foot. You'd put a lot of 10 foot. I can put this right here. Check this out. Of course, I'm fortunate that I've got. I'm able to do some of the stuff on the computer, so you're amazing, I can show them pretty quick and say I can say hey, check this out. They're like uh, okay, um, and then the guy brings his wife back. Yeah, and that happened multiple times, you know, and so.
Speaker 1:Website Facebook social media.
Speaker 3:Yeah, facebook, it's just Kitchen Outdoors on Facebook and then the website's wwwkitchendashoutdoorscom Don't forget the dash, don't forget the dash, Don't forget the dash. And then, yeah, you can reach Facebook and all that's the same. You don't need the dash on Facebook. Okay, you don't need the Dash on Facebook. Okay, you don't need the Dash Dash free.
Speaker 1:But you know, if you're wanting to get any info or anything like that, the email would be info at kitchen-outdoorscom things like that and it pains me, this is going to pain me to say, yeah, that Bobby brought in a good guest today.
Speaker 2:It pains me to say that. In Well, he still has one question he has to ask.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry it's going to be hard for him to ask because he's already clutched him in the head on his own house. But you've got to ask it, rob. Yeah, we've got to ask it. All right? So if someone reaches out to you or they reach out to Metal Lake Homes and say they saw this on the podcast, what can we do for that client? Can you do?
Speaker 1:the Rob deal for everybody. No.
Speaker 2:For deal for everybody. No, for everybody. I mean, hold on, I could I can answer, for I thought you doubled and split it with that. Now I'm already in your brochure.
Speaker 3:I think yeah, you are. Yep, you made the, yeah made page two of the brochure, page two, yep already.
Speaker 2:So what does he have to do to get to page one page? How many, how many houses?
Speaker 3:I honestly um, honestly, there was the page two, pictures, papers, yeah you got the biggest picture in the catalog so any team discount, uh, b team discount, uh, man on the spot I would say uh, uh, no problem, uh do a 10 deep b team discount.
Speaker 2:that's a big yeah is huge, that's a big savings, that's not hundreds. You heard it here first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's not hundreds. Well cheers, bob.
Speaker 2:he's one of the best guests you ever brought Almost.