Redefining Success: The Meat Cellar Way!

Summary:

In this engaging conversation, Michelle and Kent French share their transformative journey of leaving traditional careers to world school their daughter and pursue their passions. Joined by Anthony and Sarah Villegas, they discuss the importance of overcoming fear, taking risks, and the entrepreneurial spirit that led to the creation of The Meat Cellar. The conversation delves into the challenges faced during the pandemic, the couple's culinary roots, and their vision for redefining success and happiness in life. In this conversation, Michelle French shares her journey of embracing the present and the importance of living life fully in the moment. She discusses the crossroads she faced during the pandemic, leading to a renewed focus on family, wellness, and storytelling. The conversation highlights the significance of community connections and the excitement of embarking on a new culinary venture, 'The Market by the Meat Cellar,' which aims to provide a unique dining experience that prioritizes health and quality ingredients.

Takeaways:

Fear often stands in the way of pursuing good ideas.
They believe in trading good for something just right.
The Meat Seller was born out of a desire to provide quality food.
They faced challenges during the pandemic but adapted successfully.
Community support was crucial during tough times.
They emphasize the importance of generosity in business.
Success is not just about financial gain but fulfillment.
They are redefining what it means to be successful.
Their journey is about changing the paradigm for future generations. Life is about being content with what you have right now.
Travel and experiences should not be postponed for the future.
The journey is more important than the destination.
Embracing change can lead to unexpected opportunities.
Being clear about what is important in life can guide decisions.
Lifelong learning is essential for personal growth.
Community and connection are vital for support during transitions.
Pursuing dreams can lead to magical outcomes.
Creating a culinary experience can foster community engagement.
Health and quality in food should be prioritized in dining experiences.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to the French Family's Journey
02:46 Embracing Fear and Taking Risks
04:33 The Meat Seller: A Culinary Adventure
17:05 Navigating Challenges During the Pandemic
29:50 The Passion for Meat and Culinary Roots
39:15 Redefining Success and Paradigm Shifts
42:23 Embracing the Present: The Journey Over the Destination
49:32 The Crossroads of Change: New Beginnings
56:14 Karma Town: A Dream Reignited
01:01:46 Building a Community: The Importance of Connection
01:12:53 Creating a Culinary Experience: The Market by the Meat Seller

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@reimaginemodernliving
@themeatcellar
@themarketbythemeatcellar
@meat_anthony
@saragleasonvillegas
 

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Frenchitivity YouTube Channel
Frenchitivity Website & Blog
Frenchitivity Podcast

Transcript

The French family is made up of three, Kent, Michelle and Everly, and has decided the time is now. We have left fast paced careers in broadcasting and entertainment, decided to world school our seven year old daughter, and packed up our lives to travel the world in an effort to live life to the fullest. Come with us on our podcast as we chronicle our journey around the globe, bringing you stories of Frenchitivity, which includes the three pillars, possibility, creativity, and tranquility.

Ultimately learn what drives others to live life without a net. today's Frenchitivity podcast, we discussed that sometimes the only thing that stands in the way of a good idea is fear. Here's a little insight into today's conversation. Anthony's a huge dreamer. He'll set some super high marks. And I learned, and for a long time, that would scare me. You know, I think fear is a much more common thing, right? And the what ifs and that, how, why would we dare? Fear yourself out of any good idea.

Meet Sarah and Anthony Viegas, owners of The Meat Seller in Claremont, California and the market by The Meat Celler. A brand new location would just open at the River Street Marketplace in San Juan Capistrano, California. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the French TV Podcast on your preferred platform. We hope this conversation inspires you.

Spread differentiativity

This entire family creating possibilities

Fentativity, Fentativity

All right, everybody. Welcome to the French activity podcast, Kent and Michelle French with you and joined by some very special guests. We're combining podcast here today. So this is the first for us and we're going to share it on both our social platforms. So Anthony and Sarah Villegas are here and Sarah, tell us the name of your podcast that we're going to have going on here. Gosh, so we just launched the reimagined modern living podcast, where we talk about all of the kinds of things the ways that we could live a little differently. And

in opposition sort of sometimes to this pop culture, modern culture, the way that the culture tells us how we should live. We like to figure things out for ourselves, do things our own way. And we like to talk about it over there. There's a synergy here that we we came across at a friend's birthday party, Mike Kelson, who is married to Sonia, who is Anthony's sister. So this is the whole connection thing that came together and we determined, you know, we got a lot of a lot of common things going on in our lives. So

Anthony said we got to do this and make this happen. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. So let's kick things off. You know, Michelle, she likes to ask two questions at the beginning. So she's got two questions she wants to ask you guys to kick things off because the French activity thing that we put together will be ticking off in October the sixth. And this will probably air when we're on the road. But it has three pillars, possibility, creativity, and tranquility, three different pillars that we kind of want to run this journey on.

And we like to talk to people that are like minded who have taken risks who follow their dreams Doesn't necessarily have to be just the travel aspect but just in life in general in business and you guys Certainly, you know check two of the boxes. You haven't traveled the world yet and just left everything but you're gonna do that soon after you follow us eventually you're gonna do that so Michelle

You jump into it. pig, so I want to see how it with you guys first. you go first. We've been told that before. Yes, we've been told that before. Michelle, so kick it off with your two questions, First, thank you for this time. And we'll in a minute talk about where we're sitting, because that is a very, very cool aspect. And I will just echo what Kent said. You know, this is how it works. Like, people know people and we talk to people. And Kent and Anthony have had a chance to talk before. But last weekend was my first chance to meet Sarah. And we were like,

blocked eyes, blocked thoughts. Our mind was working the same and we just connected on such an amazing level. So I'm so honored to sit with both of you. Thank you. so yeah, mean, one of the questions that we've explored a lot and we'd love to ask you is what did you risk to make your dream come true? So your dream currently, you can talk a little bit about what that is that you are, that you have made come true and what you are now making come true. But what did you risk to make that happen?

I'll you start with that one. Well, so yes, so we'll start talking about where we are. So we are currently sitting in the market by the meat seller. This location, a brand new butcher shop, restaurant, steakhouse, specialty goods store, fishmonger, cheesemonger, just where you come and trust what you're buying or eating.

And we what we risked to get to this location specifically is a risk we've taken multiple times in our lives. Preview prior to meeting each other and especially since meeting each other 19 or so years ago. I believe I've been really lucky in my life. I'm not a rock bottom kind of person. I've never I've never hit a rock bottom and had no choice and nowhere to go but up. But I've I live in a way that I think is more difficult sometimes where

Even if something is good, it's going along just fine. So seven and a half, seven and a half as a movie inspiration I had once. But it's just not right. And so we have traded in good in search of something just right. A lot of great or great and see but see, I also don't like to attach a good or a bad to it because I'm such a believer. And this was a way Michelle that you said in that first meeting you said it's not good or bad. It's just different. And it's like

That is one of my life's mottos instilled in me from my mother a long time ago, that there's no good or bad. There's no right or wrong. There's only different. So that's why I hesitate even to say risking something good for something great, because it's like my other motto is, it's a good time or a good story. Yeah. Yes. But so in this case, you know, we we once again, we were we were doing really well eight years ago. We launched a location. We had a stable job. I had a stable job making great money. She was staying at home, luckily, at that time.

and able to raise the kids the traditional way, if you will. And we decided to open up. Well, actually, we were forced to open up, if you will. Called. at beginning, it was a need because we were doing Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals. So we started that and they needed a health department approved kitchen. So we said, you know, let's open up a little specialty store and we could sell oils and.

Well, also see at that moment in time, I so this was back in 2015 ish, you know, our baby was five, you know, we have six with five kids that was the youngest and I so I was starting to get a little restless feeling like I had more time on my hands. What was I going to do now? The kids are all in school. I need something, you know, simultaneously. I've never been a good cook and I am not to this day. I do not like cooking and I'm not good at it. I'm good at putting foods together. I've decided that I'm not good at cooking meals or anything. Anthony, on the other hand, is a fantastic cook.

a chef, absolutely, with no formal training, but one of the most talented people in the kitchen you've ever seen or eaten from. But he grew up in the restaurant business, had a day job selling meat and seafood for Premier Meat Company. Still do. Still do. He started that in 2008. So we were pretty well established in that. But I was looking for something in my life. Yeah. And all along, people had been asking if they could buy the same quality meat that we had access to through his day job. So we felt like

we could open a butcher shop and that would really help people. But then more than that, I was looking for easy, simple ways to help feed my family. So I had this blog for five seconds that I maybe wrote one post, know, which it turns out I think I called it what modern eating, something like that modern family foods, family foods, called it before really realizing it's like, I hate cooking. Like, why am I writing about this?

But it was something like, so I got really into clean chicken stock and I was doing all this self research of the things that we should be eating. And so I was like, I can see this. I can see us opening this 1,200 square foot location. We ended up identifying a place. Anthony, in the meantime, had been getting real, again, that need, that calling, that wiggly. He really had to act on his restaurant dreams.

And so he yes found it or nightmares. don't. I can't relate. But he had a friend who offered him the opportunity to have the sandwich booth at Coachella that was in 2015. And so he in typical Anthony style did his first formal catering event at the Coachella Valley music festival. 10,000

sandwiches. Sure. you're gonna test the model, test with two booths, not just one one in the camp. That's jumping off the cliff right there. That's big time. water underneath. No hard rocks all the way down. We like last minute are calling on all our friends. had a friend who was a chef, in fact, and had been a restaurateur himself. And at that point was selling meat with Anthony. But we're like, Can you help? You know, we're in he's in over my head. And he came out he's like, Only you guys would do this. Only you would start here.

You are just risk takers all the way around. You don't even really have to ask you what you risk because it isn't like you said, it's not like you looked at it like that. But from the outside looking in, you're just constantly doing it, but it's sort of how you evolve. Like you just take risks. And that's another one of my mottos, right? Is it's like, I'm not a goal setter. You know, I had a friend once long time ago who gave me the most

you know, backhanded compliment, you know, she's like, you don't set goals very often. But when you do, you really, and it was like, I'm a I'm a next step kind of person, a headlights, you know, that you can make the whole journey that way, you know, you can see is right in front of you. So that's how we do everything. So that next step for us was, all right, we made a little cash when you made a little money, we had had to, you know, beg and borrow and

definitely didn't steal, but we had to beg and borrow and grovel to get a health department approved kitchen to do all that prep in. So once we started talking about what we would do in this shop, and you can see my Facebook posts, I appreciate those, because I'm not a journal person either. But I do have a little history recorded somewhere on the social medias. And I said, you know, we signed the lease today for our little store in our hometown of Claremont. And it's not my hometown, we each it's not our hometown. But that's where we're raising our children.

It's gonna be this great little store. And that was all I could see. That was all I wanted. This guy though is like, it's gotta be a restaurant. This guy with Sonia, Sonia's like, it's gotta be a restaurant. It had to be a restaurant. And I was like, our family is too young for a restaurant. I don't know what this will do to them. So that to me was the riskier part. However, once we got into it, it was like, well, if we're gonna build the kitchen, the health department approved kitchen, we might as well make some money off the kitchen and have a menu.

and serve some food. And so we ended up opening up in March of 2016. We didn't even have a sign up. I think it was three months after look that up. No, we never signed up. We had lines out the door. Within three weeks. Unbelievable. Within three weeks. We only had about 40 seats. We'd had this cute little lounging area with the cow print chairs because the design is my favorite. corner where they would kids would come in and start playing with, you know, pretend kitchen. I had spent so much time researching the little kitchen, you know,

So that being said though, yeah, I'm sorry, but I want to know where that that groundswell came from. Was it from that Coachella and people getting to know you and all this? No, sign on the door and everybody's lined up. We had a saying we want to be a culinary revolution in a strip mall and we wanted to do we wanted to make food like the way we eat it. And we did. We did wholesome ingredients, not as not as.

as specifically targeted to human bodies as we're doing right now. But we tried our best then. we really did industry standard and a little better. You know, like we it was we didn't have a freezer there. Everything was from scratch. So we weren't using any prepared foods. But we at that point, we're still using traditional oils and things like that. So we really just wanted a place where we can go and have dinner. Wound up wound up that we got so popular we couldn't go in and have dinner.

There was no place where we we consider our own restaurant. And that's very good problem for restaurant tours. So. And that was a fast casual location. But you order at the counter, they give you a number and you can literally, we had this one, I'll never forget it. This one guy went in there, orders a Tomahawk steak. He spent at that time about $130. Fast casual.

grabs a little soft drink or a beer from the counter and there's no place to sit. His number's up. He leaned on the wall doing, what are those exercises? Squat? With the tomahawk right there eating. And unfortunately I didn't have my phone really available to take a picture. I are you okay? He's like, I'm great. He put his beer or his soda, don't remember exactly, right on our retail shelf wall, which we wanted to take it out anyway. He put it right there he's just eating.

Happy as a clam. So wow. That's debit credit. He's like working out while he's Exactly. Exactly. So we really. So I think people were hungry, literally hungry for what we had to offer, you know, which was just a genuine experience of good food and warm hospitality. And honestly, it's it's as far as the menu goes, there's one item beef stew, very simple recipe, just done well. And the city manager of Claremont came to us and said,

your beef stew is the best I've ever tasted. I can never get a seat there. Would you guys consider expanding? said, okay. So that was by the end of that first year. So within the first nine months, it was after that, after the city manager had his beef stew, he went to, he had a consultant. That's a good guy to like your beef stew. He had a consultant who helped with growth for cities who came to us and said, it's come to our attention that you probably are looking to expand.

We really want to hold you should look to expand. We were we were don't you lie Anthony is always looking to expand. Let's be honest. Look at where we're at. Always looking to expand. And he said we want to we really want to keep you in the city of Claremont. So it turns out there down the street there was this place called Wolf's Market. This 100 year old family where I you for the first time. Okay, family.

Beautiful location. Rochey store on historic route 66. So it was established in 1917. And in 2017, the local care, the local paper courier said, what are you guys gonna do for your centennial? Congratulations. And they said, we're gonna close. We're gonna close. They they didn't tell that to the paper though, to be clear. They told that to the city. No, told that to the city because the city was like, how should we celebrate this? And, and so that's why the city said, would you like to meet them?

and become their tenant, possibly. And actually they did tell us the paper, the paper told me. interesting. Yeah, interesting. Interesting. All right. Anyway, but it was really unique. We were the only ones on the table for that potential. So there was no table. That was the thing. There was no table. And we will always wonder how we got so lucky as to not even have to apply, to not have any, I mean, was coveted location in the middle of Claremont.

66 that wolf family decided to keep that a little sandwich deli in the back They decided to keep that part and then gave us some tenant improvement money the city gave us some federal grants and then we invested a decent amount of our own money but rent fully renovated that old space Down into the floors all new plumbing all new electric all of that. So to answer your question And that was the meat seller the whole time and that is

in the same location today. is currently the meat seller as a franchise, our first franchise, because we are now franchisers. So in this case, this is how we took a risk. We decided that, you know, we never were willing, given that that backstory, right, of not wanting to be too busy for our family, of missing what's actually important in this lifetime. What's most important is our family. We never would allow or I would never allow the restaurant to become our lives. And so we always had to have

big staff, high level of managers so that we could continue to live our lives and not be tied to the location. But Anthony very much continued to be tied to the location and was really the strong leader there who always had to be there. So and that was fine. That was all going that was good. It worked right. It was a successful thriving restaurant. But I mean, there's a middle to the story. I don't know if I should skip to the middle of the story is how we came to move down here.

okay. Very relevant. Yeah, we're here very much. so so then that middle part so and so things are going great. And so then the pandemic happened, right? So everything shut down. Anthony did not shut down, you know, he kept we had two locations at that point, though one in Chino, which never really fit us. It never really did that great. So we closed that when everything got shut down. And then we never reopened there. We sold that location to a different concept. But in Claremont, Anthony pivoted as he, of course, always does.

and turned it into a grocery store. So he's selling eggs, you he's got toilet paper, two rolls per person. Honestly, had lines out the door, lines out the door before we opened, we opened at 10, I think it was 11, I don't know. They wanted their flat of eggs, and it was only one flat per family. They had to put limits. And four rolls of toilet paper per family. And they were lined out the door for that. And then what really became special is we had the markets, we'd actually...

coolers I brought down because I love these coolers and his refurbish them which I love is that's part of a story another story we have chicken beef some salmon and people would buy 40 50 60 pounds of it they bought freezers from us and then the really cool part is some people could say I'm whatever the guy behind me wants to buy

and we'll pay for them and pay for it. So many people did that. it forward, right? So many people did that. we decided to also, it's like, this is not enough because we offered meals to all of our employees. We had to let 70 employees go and it was around 70, right? It was around 70 between the two locations. And you know, what's like a fundamental principle of a family is or of a restaurant, I'm sorry, is a family meal. So we started to offer family meal for free for any industry people five days a week, Monday through Friday.

posted on the Instagram, RSVP, DM James the have some fun with it. Yeah, every week we'd post a menu. And our thing was, this is for industry, hotel, bar, restaurant.

If you're not an industry, that's fine. I had my linen company come. He said, I have five kids, plus my wife and I had seven. It's a lot. like, we'll take you down for seven. So seven meals. And we had several people who said, I'm not in the industry, but could I? you said, absolutely. Absolutely. This is a resounding, I don't want to interrupt this flow, but this is a resounding theme. So part of this whole thing is what are the common threads? And this is one of them that you give twice before you ever ask that you put it out there. Everything comes back to you and it's just doing the

right thing because getting into a place where you have to let employees go so many people had to do that but what do I do with that and still be generous within a really difficult time and this this is one of those themes yeah absolutely once again exemplifying that we get that that is one of these themes of people who can actually make this leap yeah that's one of them that you think about we the good in everything too you know I mean I there's not one situation that I couldn't find a silver lining in and it's genuine it's not a toxic positivity nonsense it is a genuine yeah see

of the good, it is always there in something. And so for us, we were able to kind of reevaluate what, know, because when you're going seven days a week in this fast paced industry, when do you have a chance to assess whether things are working and make changes? We just didn't until we, all we had was time. So there we were, Anthony's in the retail stuff, you know, serving the family meals and I was getting angsty. And I was like, I moved from the East coast at that point, about 20 years before in search of the ocean.

ended up landlocked, know, that's just where I stopped and stayed. And it was lovely. It's a beautiful town. It's a great place to raise children. The first three children in our marriage or in our family are from Anthony's first marriage. They were about to finish high school at that point. And our girls were in the middle of elementary school. But I was like, what am I doing here in Claremont? This is not why I'm here. And so it was about April or so. And I took a drive down to Dana Point before

the pandemic, had stayed at Monarch Beach one night and I was like, wait, is what is Dana point? I've never been down here before. I really like it. I drove down and was like, I feel a call here. I feel a pull. And so, you know, I'd come down regularly for the next couple months, like a day or two a week, I would come just hang out at the beach, go home.

And finally it was like mid August and I was like, I'm not doing this anymore. is cause Anthony would say, well, we need to get stuff in order so we can buy a house down. And I was like, I don't care. We're going to rent a house. So how it almost exactly happened almost because I, she's, she's my effect checker. So if there, if there, if there is a, if there is a, anytime on the podcast, is literally Dom, our producer and my son-in-law.

And her fact checking me all the time. Okay, So we're sitting on where we're sitting. I think I just finished golf. We're sitting. She's sitting at the pool at Monarch Beach. And I finally finished my time down there when I would join her. And she's like, I found a house. She shows me found a house for rent. I don't care. It's in Dana points. Beautiful.

We called. Well, well, I had in my mind, you know, I wanted to pay a certain amount of money. I wanted an ocean view. And I was like, we'll figure it out. Right. Like I just need a home base down here and we'll tie up all the other ends. Whatever we're going to do. We have adult children. Maybe they'll live in the house in Claremont. Who knows? Yeah. But all I know is my next step is I need to get down here. We agree that St. Clemente is heaven on earth and such a special town, such a special place. It really is. And I'm glad you found it. Well, it was a long winded question. and first question. answer. So I'm going to pause though.

more. This is good. This This is how you're supposed to do these things. We're 25 minutes in and we're just rolling right now after one question. This is interesting too because I do agree like I think it's intended to be like organic and then you're right like you take down different trails and you there's so much you want to be able to touch on but one of the things that I enjoy about this format in general is like from Kent's perspective and background.

when you're interviewing someone and it's like you're trying to get to a certain point or trying to pull something out of something out or not. And I said to Kent once, you know, it's interesting because you don't always get to do a follow up question. They said something so cool. It was like this dangling cool thing. you just had to leave it there because you're on a timeline or something else. And now this allows and Kent's really good about navigating it and usually getting the gems no matter what. But like now, if you say something that I'm like.

Wait a second. I'm going to up. I'm circle back on that. Yeah. And I think that's one of those really cool moments that you get to have in this format. So we want to hear it all. It's good. It's good. You probably answered most of my other questions in. Because really part of one of those was really what you've leveraged to make this possibility come true. And so we'll talk a little bit more about this actual one. But you kind of answered that. You have leveraged following your gut. You have leveraged a lot. So really that's kind of usually our follow up questions.

to like what you risk is like what did you leverage? So I'd love if you touch on it, but you've kind of expanded on that already a little bit too. We're very proud to say leveraging obviously sometimes your time, your ability to spend where you wanna go or like you guys, love, wanna touch that, I wanna touch about that as well. But you leverage a lot of your life. And then we're not talking about money yet, we'll get to money. Sure. But.

We're in the beautiful position, always have been, where our time is our own.

doesn't matter what job I take. Doesn't matter what we're in life. Our time is our own. I don't want to be restricted. And that's how we set up our whole life and financially leverage. We are debt free. We do all these on our own without partners. Yeah, we've never taken a partner, an investor in the meat seller brand. And the fact that we so that original one that we built out, we had about maybe if we were lucky, $20,000 to put into that thing. And we had no goddamn idea what we were doing. Ended up costing us $90,000. We don't know how she juggled.

And I can make so much out of nothing. I'm an excellent juggler. But at that point when we were able to cross that finish line, just the two of us, I was like, that is a brand value. We will never.

look to someone else that is abundant that I'm able to juggle is like our common way now is that is abundance that is belief in yourself belief in the concept belief in the world coming to meet you where you're at like that's a beautiful what you want to call example when people talk about abundance sometimes it gets a little woohoo and everybody doesn't like to talk about it but that's a really practical way of saying how it happened I mean all the opportunities you've already described but you saying like I can juggle like it means you can

leverage your money, you can make good decisions. We understand how that financial aspect works. And that is brilliant. You don't answer to anybody else except her. And we have this explicit and implicit trust. It's like I literally trust him with my life and likewise. And so that's an advantage I think that we have over most people. And I wish that for everyone. But that's something that is unquantifiable. And you know what I've really appreciated, especially our relationship is not settling.

Yes. We don't settle.

I'm a little more ambitious than she is. She grounds me where I put wings on and try to pull her up and she doesn't know. It's a hot air balloon for sure. You know that it's like, or, maybe like balloons on the table. I don't know, but it's like, I've always followed my gut too. And my knowings and longings, but for sure, Anthony is Anthony is a huge dreamer. He'll set some super high marks. And I learned, and for a long time that would scare me. You know, I think fear is a much more common thing, right? And the what ifs and the how, why would we dare fear yourself out of

Any good idea and somewhere along the way I I started to trust him in that way too You know that that to get out of his way you know to let him set those marks and then to move myself behind him as needed and Help him as needed but to trust that he knew what he was doing too And just because it's never been done before doesn't mean he can't do it. I know that for a fact. That's beautiful and so often I mean it's a book right love is letting go of fear and

We were talking to some other guests previously and they were saying something like, okay, same kind of thing. What does it take to do this? And they said, you know, all it is is letting go of fear to do any of the things that you're talking about or not feeling that way about it or letting go of that, but addressing it as well. And then like you said, you get to this trust that is so exemplified where you're like, I get you, I see you, I see what you're after and I can support that and we're gonna do it together. Exactly. know, the funny, not funny thing,

I don't even know what the word is. We've lost a lot of friends along the way, because they don't know where to put us. They don't know how to categorize us. They're like, I don't understand it and you scare me so we're not going to be friends anymore. And it wasn't one of those, we're not going be friends. It's literally just drift away. Yeah, slow drift. And we had people who would explicitly say to us when we opened that first place like, wow, I'm glad it's going well.

we were afraid you're gonna lose everything. Okay, well, thanks for the whatever. when you don't see things as good or bad, you know, it's like, what's the worst that would happen? We did lose everything. And we'd start again. Yeah, yeah. No, mean, I like to go to like the sift through, always do the sand sifter visual, like what's at the root of it? Like, what is the worst thing that could happen? We do fail.

then what? Yes. you start again. Yes, we've called it kind of the litmus test, which is I don't I don't love that I call it that. But that's sort of been our thing too. Like, okay, that exactly. And because you don't want to say like, what's the worst thing could happen? We try not to use those words. You don't put that out there. kind of thing, right? Like, okay, well, if if it doesn't go the way our vision holds, then what would happen? And it's like, well, I can, I can see. Well, it's funny, because we said no plan B. So we don't we don't have a plan B. No, but in reality, of course, going with the flow, there's

you there's always the thing you fall back on because you leverage who you are, what you want. Like there's always a multitude of options. Absolutely. But not everybody can do this. And that's what it comes down. I mean, it's like and the fact that you were able to take those risks and do the things you did, it brought you closer as a couple of your relationship, just hearing you guys talking about working together, you know, in unison. It's like there's people out there. I there's a jealousy as well that they just don't know how to

compartmentalize what you guys are doing. And that's exactly it. It makes more sense going. And no, I mean, no offense to the nine to five and that that type of thing, if it makes you happy, great. But but does it? But and then if it doesn't, then do something about it. And that's the scary part that a lot of people don't want to take. And that's what we're facing right now. And that's what you guys are facing in this incredible space right now. And more in this space in a moment. But I want to know why meet.

What I mean, I want to know at the crux of this thing. Let's go deep here. Let's go. And next time, can we do this over a meal? Yeah, I want to know. guys come back. We're going to do you know, is meat, Anthony and Instagram. And again, you were kind enough when we first met at your Claremont location to give me a couple of tastes, which were incredible. So I just want to know where that whole where that fascination, if you will, with meat came from. So I was knee high. My dad was a brilliant chef.

but also he was a hairstylist and he was an actor. He was a little bit of everything, right? But he always had restaurants ever since I knew him. And he always said, stay out of the kitchen. Just be front of the house, be a server, be a manager. Well, I'm gonna fill in a little bit. mean, Anthony has been...

working in the restaurants since he was five years old. was always... No, so the funny thing is when I describe my childhood, it's like, well, at six or seven years old, I'd squeezed two sacks of orange juice because we had a big rush in the morning. Or the guy didn't show up who's supposed to be making orange juice. And yeah, you just worked and she says, well, how old were you? That's not normal. I was working. Yeah, your normal is not everybody else's. It seems normal. And it's like...

Like your daughter, I was your daughter's age and I was working. Yeah, cool. And it's like, you come by it very honestly, huh? It's it's something that something I was raised. That was my normal. But then it progressed to my whole family. We said we're not going to be in the restaurant industry. We're not. It's a destroyer of of of worlds. You know, so we're going to we're going to stay away from that. Then I got into wine sales. Well, he was an employee in restaurants.

Yeah, yeah. but all and then all facets of it. Yeah. So but you're a restaurant manager. You all of the positions. I worked all the positions because that was familiar. So I decided not to restaurant ownership. And so I decided to become a restaurant manager, bar manager, went to a specialty foods rep, wine rep. And then through the wine rep, I had a mentor or through the specialty foods at a mentor. She said, you know, you'd be great in meat sales.

And I said,

So I said, wow, okay, okay, we're gonna give you a draw and blah, blah. You're gonna go on commission eventually. I'm like, I have a family to support. I don't know how to do this. Six months into it. First, he could not accept on the spot. He was like, no, I have to go talk about this. And Harry was very hurt. Very offended. But I offered it to you. And then he's like, but I can't make that decision that lightly. Like, hold on. saw me though. He saw me. And he saw that I'm a person that he wants to be around and I want to in person. He thought,

I should be, there was something that he was gonna give me, not just a job, more of a guy. And he didn't know it, maybe I didn't know it at the time, but it was there. So I went back, talked to my lovey, my lovey, and decided to take the leap of faith. I said, okay, good. It's a little more than I was making right now, but you know, we're gonna do this. Six months into it, I was failing miserably.

And the structure for that was it was going to ultimately be 100 % commission based. But they gave him a six month runway of just, you know, a full salary for the first month, a little less and earning your keep a little more. And so he was getting in his own mind and getting nervous about it. As time ticked down. As the time ticked I called my old job and I said, Hey, can I have my job back? They're like, absolutely not. I said, thank God. And right now I think, thank God. Cause right after that call, everything just started happening.

And I've been in the meat business since well that and that was 16 years ago was that that first meeting with Harry Greenberg and then no it got a little worse before it got better where I decided to quit my job when Delilah the second to youngest was 10. He was at the six month point and I was like I because I already was like I have these four children now and I cannot live a life where someone else is telling me how to use my time and where I should be and what I should be doing so.

Can we do it, Lovey? Can we just, can I walk away? And I was doing some grant writing at the time. Can I just quit this job and move on? And it just, so that was 2009, so it was that bad market, and they in fact were looking to lay people off. So they were like, would you like us to lay you off and you can get unemployment? So we had a little extra something, but still it was a tough time. And then he was denied to go back to his old job. so, and then we later found out.

that July is the worst sales month in the meat business. And on the coattails of 2008. Yeah. So we're not, in a position. It is all high in meat. This is not selling ground chuck too. And then I found out I was pregnant. And we've just signed a new lease. it was, things happen for a reason. I'm firm believer of that. Well, you also, Anthony works best with a fire under him for sure. And he takes nothing more seriously.

than supporting his family. No, I don't. I have to make sure there's there's always enough. And when there's enough, want a little or a lot more. Yeah. That's the point. But he became my passion. You know, I didn't I never cooked before I met her. So we're going on 20 years and I decided to cook one time for our second date. He invited me over to make me dinner that apparently he had never done. Never done. So.

It just went from there, my passion for cooking. Being in the restaurant business all my life, never cooking. And meat was just a natural progression. One, it's a high ticket item. So I love high ticket items. It makes everybody happy. I mean, when do you, does, hey, do want a steak? Everybody's gonna say yes. That's the gateway. Absolutely. And Premier was always very different than the other meat companies. And they gave their reps a lot of independence, which is also essential for Anthony. He too has to be in charge of his own destiny.

And so they, and then even after a while, they switched the structure to a 1099 employee too. So he was literally allowed to work for himself and had to work for himself. And so when, once he was in charge of his own destiny, I mean, that's how, so you hold him back. The first location, I remember when we placed our first order through my company, we ordered like five or six Tomahawks, two pound Tomahawks.

I was so that they were cryovacs, could last for two weeks. Yeah, was like how long did it last? They're not gonna sell it. It was terrifying. We had no money. We were supposed to spend $20,000. We spent $90,000. I know much this stuff costs. We're have to pay for it. You know. But I like that. I think what you're saying is like very relatable to, maybe not to everyone, but relatable to us of like.

going to put ourselves in these situations that challenge us and then we think, gosh, what? it's like, because it's the entire point of like, if we push and if we challenge and sometimes if our back against the wall, there is no other way except the next step forward. The most important thing is being with and supporting my family. How am I going to do it? How am I going to get creative? Like make a move that makes me uncomfortable on purpose. I'm going to get it done. Like I'm hearing this over and over from both of you. Like it's just like, well, if you aren't sure what to do, do something.

like really freaking scary. And then it all. It all normalizes. It all normalizes. That'll light the fire. Yeah, push the edges. And even when we're in the midst of this. Yeah. And there's so much going on. And I say this, we're talking about the location. There's so much going on. I'm already thinking. Of course you are. About two or three other things. Of course you We'll see. Well, but also, no, because I later learned I've gotten into astrology the last few years. I finally give myself permission to be that woo woo like you mentioned before, because

I just think it's the truth. so I think it's woo woo. It's not. It's not. It's actually the point. It's actually the truth. And once it'll you once you get into it, you read it like, holy crap, it is. That's me. Yes. And that's her. Yes. It's not it's not an accident. It's not just you're not trying to force something to be it. No, no, it's it. So we are both Sagittarius rising, which I learned if there's a little logo for it, it's a see a goal.

You said, no, you set a goal. You reach the goal. You set another goal. That's what a Sagittarius rising is. You just keep striving and striving and striving. so thankfully, yeah, I'm a Sag. We share that because that's what people would always say to, know, it's like, how can you tolerate, you know, and it's like, no, I'm, I'm down to like, I'm down. Let's keep, let's keep going. We can take it. It opens up. have so many, I'm like, gosh, I think that that's the other thing, right? Like this,

changing of the paradigm in one aspect of like, you're at the seven and a half and things are good, but you're the Sagittarius rising where you're like, striving. And so it's been, it's interesting and I'm curious your thoughts on this, that we're actually trying to rephrase that because being strivers sometimes causes a little bit of suffering. Like we're never, and we question this a lot, like what, not what is enough, I don't mean it that way, but like what is...

seven and a half plus like what is good, what is enough? And when we're measuring it against the typical norms, it is striving. But when we're measuring against what is possible for our existence, then it's like, no, no, we're just trying to be the best versions of ourselves. So I'm curious like your thoughts on that. you ask what is enough, my answer is more.

Sorry, but it's also why we surround I mean, and it's not but it because in my mind what knowing you that isn't in a material it is in a like if I have more than everyone will have more. Why not? And how do we serve each other better if we have we have more we have more energy more life more to give like yeah, I view it. I think it's you know, first of all, do we need any of it? Absolutely not. And and

we are defined, our early days were defined by not having much materially. you know, Anthony, in fact, was going through his divorce when we met, you he was at a rock bottom. He is someone who does rock bottoms. And those were some of our best times, you know, going to the Carl's Jr. dollar menu, you know, it's like how much stuff that were 59 cents and we're very grateful for. So it's like, so we don't we never needed any of the things, you know, or or any of the the

anything about the way that our life looks now, we were just as happy before. So I think when is it enough? I think it's when you know that you are enough. I think when you're not looking for things outside of you to complete you and to make you know that you are good and worthy, that's when I think it becomes just fun.

know, when you don't, what else can I do any of it? Yeah. What else can I do? Do you believe that we, with this collective energy, people who are following their dreams, doing what we're all talking about, do you think the shift in that paradigm is real that we're raising our children in a, in a way and in an environment where they won't see the tradition? I hesitate to even say like that, these traditional ways, As the way, like, do you think we are changing the paradigm? Yes, I do.

Because I think I mean, our kids, we also took the two younger ones out of the public school system in 2019. So I think but I think you hear it across the board anyways, right? That it's like there's this angst sort of, you know, that the older generations don't even know which is which, right? The Gen X and all that stuff. But it's whoever, you know, certainly I could I could name the boomers, right? And they're the ones who are frustrated with kids these days don't work. You know, they don't show up to their their terrible job and, their suffering job.

and where the boomers are waiting for retirement to live their lives. And I think that it has changed 180 degrees because we've all seen how that plays out in so many cases. That people now don't want to trade their happiness for a promise of a possibility tomorrow. So I do think that the more of us who show that you can live life on your own terms and find absolute fulfillment and contentment, and I think that is another

part of the one is enough, are you content with what you have? And that's for me, how I always find the energy to look for more, that it's like I'm perfectly content. But I do think this energy in the world right now is more people are realizing, this life is right now, it's not down the road, it's not when you've checked a box, it's not when you've achieved a thing. One of my favorite, in,

Retirement phase I'm gonna retire when I get to retire. I will live my life right now I have to put my head down and just grind and once I've finished grinding I get to have some money in the bank and possibly travel I'll travel there's this wonderful mean it's this old couple in a gondola and part of Italy there just like Don't wait to travel and it's like I love that identify that so much like you got to do it right now. Yeah and

that goes to you guys. Yeah, I want to hear more about that. I'm excited to hear about that. Yeah, it's you know, you keep talking about it. And I hear that too. It's not the destination is the journey. You always hear that. But it's so true, though, if you're happy with what you're doing, and the process, and it makes you happy, then you're fulfilled. It's not the outcome. It's not the going through hell, so to speak, to get to where you want to be. Yeah, I think, you know, for us,

I you know, I love what I do. I mean, I so I'm not. Thank you. I know I really do. And I it's like a dream job. And but my journey doesn't end as a host as a regional sports host. And it's there's nothing wrong with I mean, I love that job. And it's like, it's coveted. And I understand why. But I know there's more I have more to give. I have more to learn. And you know, being uncomfortable and risk and all these different things. It creates creativity. It creates

learning. And those are things that I want to do. And I know I can do more and be better. And why not do it now? You know, why not do it now? Do it now while you know, we're healthy, we can do these things. Michelle was at a crossroads or is kind of at a crossroads. She showed her 15 year bit company down at a COVID pivoted and became a certified yoga instructor and you know, our little one seven years old, the perfect time to take on the road and

in homeschool at her second grade year. So it just fell into place. Everything kind of fell into place and things are serendipitous as you guys know. We were talking to some good friends of ours about our wanting to our house out and they're like, we want to rent your house out. God, I love it. Like, what are you talking about? You said, of course you do. Like what? It's kind like your Dana point story. It's like you've been waiting for us and we've been waiting for you. What in the world? We just had to be clear on what we wanted and say it out loud and all of a it happened. It was magic.

I know it's amazing how those things happen. So yeah, as we sit before you were, you know, week and a half out. And it's, it's terrifying. You know, it's sure. Yeah, it's in the best way. You know, I probably mentioned to you, I got some this camera over there and I don't even I just press play for the first time I go take this thing with me I don't know how I'm trying to learn how all this stuff works. So that connects fully back to what you're leveraging and also what you're eager to learn.

We're never done. We have identified that strivers, yes, but also just lifelong learners. I always want to take something on and I get a little nervous of what do I want to be when I grow up all the time and what's next for us and what else can we learn? I almost get sad that we may not get to...

see every opportunity out because I want to do everything. So it's like, OK, well, how do we encompass as many of those things as possible now knowing that wellness is essential to us, that our time as a family is essential to us, watching her grow up and being a touch point to her growing up is essential to, we got really clear. We got really clear on what was important. So this step, while terrifying, makes so much sense to me. Like, like, I don't know what other it was. And when we decided

as you both well know, it was like, was unstoppable. You it. can't stop it. Yeah, it's in the stars, know, like was supposed it was always we just need to go. I mean, we talking about let's just go. I to get on that plane. And yeah, there's we just keep talking and prepping and all these different things come up. There's almost stuff you can do you. We just need to do it and get in that that process. And and everyone's like, so what are you going to do when you come back? It's like, it doesn't matter.

Yeah, who knows? doesn't matter. be completely different. Who are we going to be? Not what are we going to do? And then that will play itself out. Whether I go back into the business again, if there's a mutual interest or if we do something different or if this comes and turns into something, you know, bigger than both of us, that'd be great. So, you know, and the beauty of this is that we get to sit at a table with people like you. mean, this is like this has been, you know, we had Mike and Sonia on.

with you guys on, we did a podcast, talk about social media being making this a small world. I reached out to a family from South Africa that I started following. Their handles let go, let's go. And a husband, wife, a two year old, a four year old boy sold their house two years ago, bought a 40 foot catamaran, sailed around the Baltic and the Mediterranean. As you do.

As you do. They not only they respond to me, they agree to do a podcast with us. And we had this conversation with them as they're sitting in a Marina in Italy, a video podcast, and we're doing this in our backyard, my mom's backyard in Costa Mesa. It was just it just was surreal. Yeah, of how that works. And then we're going to Portugal. And there was a article in the register that came out about a priest who's a surfer who created a can this this sermon with surfers and surfers.

surf and then they go to church. Well, I found his name. I him up on Instagram, sent him a DM said we're coming. He's like, love to have you. I go want to do a story on you and your you know, he's like, Yep. He's like, let's do it. Like, I'm like, who are you? Like, how does crazy that we get to meet these people? And it's I mean, yeah, the people that we get this experience with. And that's why because you think it's an honor, you know, because you understand the

the sanctity of these invitations. And you are honoring people in these conversations. And so of course, our listeners, which are very few, but very selective brand new, you're about to embark in this year journey. Yes. Right. And it's a year or it could be more, it could be less. It's going to be technically it's nine months. Our year, our year, our house is leased for a year and we ended up spending two years.

two months, two years. My mom or husband's house, which has been terrific, very thankful to them. So we are scheduled to leave October the sixth and we come back on end of July beginning of August, we need to get our little one back in third grade. Okay, that's that's the work. That's the working timeline. We're jumping into this.

We're going to New York for a couple days as a request from Everly, our seven year old, to see the Statue of Liberty. That's like a must. Then we go to Portugal for a month and we're trying to immerse ourselves in the culture of where we go to what we just said earlier about, you know, meeting the priest who's a surfer, like doing those type of stories. Then it's Greece, Croatia, Malta to wrap to end 2024. And then truthfully from there, I we want to do, you know,

Thailand, Japan, but we we're not going to book anything until we get to Portugal until who knows who we're going to meet. Who knows where the wind's going to take us. We're going to chase the sun a little bit. The world's crazy. So who knows where we should and shouldn't go? Yeah, it's really going to be an open and that's part of the you know, the don't know what is the the apprehension, the anxiety and and the you know, excitement of it all. So I have a question. I have

walked up to her and said, I want to buy a cider company, which we'll talk about that. What company cider company? We're buying it. We're in the process of buying either. love it. Tease. Big tease right there. Big tease. I said, I want to watch video of this. You can see me rolling my eyes at him. What I to more about the travel story. I'm bringing it all back. Hold on. So I walk up to say, Hey, we're going to buy a cider company. She says, okay, whatever rolls rise on them. How did you guys did said,

I want to travel for a year. Clearly you're because that does not come out of people's mouths a lot. It would come out of mine. would come out of yours. I'm not a traveler. I'll that sometime. So I don't like planes. like traveling. like planes. Yes, I get it. But I get that that conversation had to start somewhere. Yeah. And why? Yeah, you take this one. You take this one. You remember when we talked about this a long time ago. Yeah, this really is part of our nature. This has always been us.

Great question. A lot of people, what they also identify is like, why was the timing the same? Like maybe everyone wants to travel the world, but like, why is your timing the same as this person's timing? So this goes back actually to Kenton Eye's early days and our honeymoon. We were in Anguilla and we were fascinated by the people and the place. And we were at this beach bar and the gentleman had moved from the States and opened this beach bar and it's literally like a sailboat.

On the sand marks the beach bar and then there's some stools around. I paint this picture real quick? I think you should. So we walk up and there's this boat on the sand and it's a bar, but it's just sitting there on the sand and it's empty. We sit up on the bar stools and there's beer. see beer and everything and we're just like, yeah, we're like, is everybody? Yes. And all of sudden here comes this gentleman swimming in from the ocean gets up and he walks over and he gets in behind the bar. Hey, how's it going? Like fine.

Hi, who are you? I get you? Where can I get you? I'm like, who are you? Where did you come from the water and can I get a job with you? All right. Exactly. It's called Elvis's. It's called Elvis's. Shout out to Elvis's. And it's a beach bar and he works and live it. He was a tourist. He's an expat. He was like, I love it here. And he moved and opened a bar. So we're like, wow, that's so bold. Who would ever do that? That's amazing. But it got the juices flowing a little bit. And one of our running jokes always like my

previous career. long you've been married? What was your honeymoon?

We've been married for 15 years as of yesterday. was Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So nice to be around people who are about to celebrate 20 years or have celebrated 20. So we really respect what that takes. So, yeah, so 15 years ago and it just kind of was like, huh, interesting. a running joke for us, I had an intense position before we ran events. It was amazing. I loved it. But some days I'd be like, I am just going to go work on a beach bar. And Kent would always say, yeah, but then you try to improve their

inventory system and then you try to. So in this moment we're like this is just a fun conversation. Well we had an amazing driver as well and Kent and I were both kind of in fundraising at the time events and we said what if we could come to a place like this and put on an event where we raise money for the local economy the local community and then they could improve a hospital or they could build something and we're just it just.

It resonated with us. We named it. Karma Town. Karma Town. So I would do the auction. I was doing live auctions at the time. She was doing the events. We had this whole plan. We wrote a whole pilot episode of this thing and it was just something that resonated with us. Yeah. Back then. Karma Town. So Karma Town never left our hearts. It never did. It can never leave. No.

once you see right. And so we came back and we worked really hard and we put our heads down like you do. And we created a beautiful life. And then and we had a daughter and she's incredible. And we are just like, we are doing great. And life is good. Life is good. But then there'd be times where you're like, what is happiness? Is it enough? Are we content? I don't know. We're also like question. We're curious humans who question our existence a lot. And after the well, then the pandemic happened where both of our businesses had to shut down pretty

Dramatically and we had a lot of time at home together and then we're like, well, hey Who's this man on my couch? This funny meme that there was like yeah, you come down the stairs and you're like, hey, who's that girl on my couch? think she's kind of cute. I actually kind of like her So we had had those kinds of lives where we were apart a lot So now we were together and we're like, this is what it's supposed to be like

moving forward, going back to our careers, et cetera. So then, that just togetherness never left us. That karma town never left us. In September, almost a year ago, well, a year ago, we went on a hike and we were daydreaming and Kent was about to go into the season and there was some uncertainty in broadcast, but he was doing great. Everything was good. Everly was doing great in school, but I like you, Sarah. I was at a crossroads. I was like, I have taken a pause.

a much needed pause for my career. I'm ready to go. Like the energy was there and I said, I'm ready to get back into something. Ken's like, well like what? And I'm like, I don't know, but it's go time. And both of us kind of looked at each other and we're like, what if we took it on the road? What if we started telling stories? So meanwhile we had started Frenchies Friends and every Friday we feature a business as you know, and we're like, what if we make that worldwide? What if we just take this on the road and we go tell stories?

and we reignite Karma town and we go with Everly and we just see if it's possible. And from that second on, didn't, I may have left Kent's mind after that hike. Mindy was a good conversation. He went into a season. Yeah. I, in, in the way, I mean, sure. The business is up sometimes feels like you're married to it. Right. So I was, that's, I was when duck season starts, I'm all on call. Like there's no really off true off day.

So then she's brewing and brewing and brewing and come the beginning of this this year 2024 it was like she had it still in there and still was talking to me about it and Then all of a sudden it's like yeah, maybe you know, maybe next year I'm not I don't know if I'm ready yet, you know, whatever it is and then Which is is so right time Our teachers started telling us Michelle got on it started talking to teachers and educators and like if you're gonna do something with your daughter do it

when she goes into second grade. And then all of sudden she comes back to me and it was time to pay tuition and she's like, what are we gonna do? I'm like, okay. And so we didn't pay tuition. didn't pay tuition and all of sudden. boy. Yeah. So it, we started doing it. And then it's one those things too where you gotta speak it.

to believe it to make it come true. Kind of what we're talking about. You put it out there. So we started telling those close to us. And then I had a great conversation with the Ducks in April, before the season stopped, you know. And so I started and once that became really real when I said that and started telling some close friends and and then there's accountability, that personal accountability. Then I'm not going back. I'm not. There's no going back. And it really did take a life of its own.

Again, like we said, like there was no denying it at that point, things started kind of opening and you know, still a lot of questions, but it was just a process that kind of took on itself. And yeah, but I needed and I started telling more people and more and I just started like I got to I got to live it. I got to believe it. I got to make it come to fruition because for me, you know, 20 plus years, you know, with the ducks and angels, I'm like, what am I doing? Like, what am I doing?

And then thank you for that. And then another part of me is I know exactly what I'm doing and I know why I'm doing it. And then as I started speaking and talking to people, I was like, okay, it feels right. It kept feeling, you know, more right and more right. And, the irony here is I have two more games left, you know, tonight and tomorrow. And that's it. Yeah. And that's, and then, we don't know where it's going from there. So yeah, but I feel good about it. I don't feel.

It was right. It feels right. You know, and we have these conversations. She alluded to it early on and we went for a walk, but it's like, you have to talk about it too. There are still times where it hits me. What, what are you doing? You know what? know, like, whoa, whoa, know, you know, and yet you've got all these up and downs of emotion and anxiety and beautiful humanity that we have that we sometimes try to run away from. But it's like, fear is just

that and if we talk it out and we know we've got each other and we and we talked about this before we started recording even of like, this is still our home and our friends and our family, our support system reaches far and wide. And it's so big that there is always home with us because wherever we are as a trio is home. And also it's all still here for us. Yeah, we've been so supported. I think for me, that's probably what made it feel

less scary or and or more real is that anyone we told was like, that's amazing. Tell me more. Now, you know, course, I've been kind of like, how can you when there's but mostly it's been this like incredible support. So I know our foundation is strong. Yeah. And one of the biggest things for me and I'm sorry, just before I forget is we were an event and all the players were there and one of the guys has become kind of a face the franchise and I got a chance just to you know, they become friends. I mean, they're not I

They're not friends where I'm going to call them up, they're like, know, I'm the plane with them. I went around them 24 seven when the season's there. and we care about the wellbeing of one another. And so we just talking and I shared the, know, what we're going to do. And he's like, so you're not going to be around, you know? And I'm like, no. And he's like, I have to digest that for a minute, you know? And I was like, wow. And he's like, you know, anything you need, just let me know. And he's like, I'm going to give you a hug.

He's like, you're going to You're going to miss. know it is. I know it is. He seems like such a nice guy too. They're all just fantastic. But just like, yeah, no, was Troy Terry. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Troy Terry. yeah. You just great, you know, our kids were at the game last night. I did. I did. So, just incredible. And just to feel that welcome this from him and from the players that they, you know, sometimes it's like, they really?

No, I'm there or whatever it is, but it is. It's a family. It's a of the whole thing. it's it meant a lot meant more than I think, you know, he knew. So, yeah. So those are those are kind of what we're we're going through. And yeah, we're getting ready to do this thing. So it's amazing. So excited for you guys. And I can't wait. It's like, that's the thing. It's not what it used to be distance wise. Right. It's like I'm already imagining considering how long we're talking right now. I'm imagining doing a follow up video.

recording with you guys. So you guys are going to be able to see the evolution here. You I would love to see surf church or whatever. Like, mean, it's a smaller world than it ever was. So you guys get to continue to feel the support. Well, also feeling really thrown off, which is where we learn how strong we are. Right. Like what a dreamy scenario. That's a common thread that, you we kind of, well, one of the many common threads that we've

we've, you know, kind of experienced here today. But yes, we've been talking, and it's been wonderful. Before we go, I want you guys please describe this space for us. And, know, exactly. It's the Riverwalk, right in San Juan Capistrano, the Marketplace River Street Marketplace in the Los Rios District. It's the oldest district in oldest neighborhood in California. Yeah, so please describe this mission though, but the first

Oldest neighborhood. Yeah, and the missions around the corner kind of but yes, this residential neighborhood, one of the first marketplace. the shopping center goes, and I can't even call it a shopping center because that gives you a vision that's an experience really is what it is a gosh, it is a landmark, a culinary and retail landmark down here. And San Juan Capistrano. We are the as the

In the early plans before we even knew the developer. this was just his vision. The jewel of the market was going to be a butcher shop as he had envisioned it. So taking it back to another time, he all of the design here, you know, people will come see this and think that this has always been here because all of the buildings are a hundred year old oaks that he brought in, you know, they're all the trees are purposely placed. Everything actually has a very significant purpose and his design and his attention to detail is

Unparalleled. I love what he's done to the place. And he's a real cowboy. So he likes the Wild West theme. You he likes the, they're like the trough horse trough looking things everywhere. And literally spurs and he wears spurs on his And rides horses twice a week. Cowboys twice a week. Amazing guy. I would be remiss if I didn't mention this, cause actually Anthony and I talked a little bit about this when we saw each other in person last weekend that I appreciate. And this will, you know, this will need to come out in time, but the land acknowledgement.

you know, we've we have become much more conscious of land acknowledgement and of really honoring the Hetchman people and where we now get to sit and honoring that and I think that this Landmark is trying to do a really beautiful job. I think you have a personal nod to that as well I don't know if you're gonna talk about it or not, but

I just want to say that that we always really try and on our journeys that it's going to be really important to us of just really acknowledging the land that we're on, what the history there is and realizing we're a very young country as we currently look at it. this oldest neighborhood, right is really not old at all compared to who is crazy here. Exactly. And I think that that as we continue in our wellness journey and the astrology, we feel that you know, the history and the ancestry that we sit on. So

Absolutely. No, thank you for adding. I think we'll jump in. We'll both jump in back and forth about what this place is going to be. Please. I'll talk about just the general layout and then I want you to talk about the bones. Yeah. I want to go a little farther back to connect the dots too. So we then were living down here in San Clemente and Anthony was driving up to Claremont, which is an hour on a good time at 60 miles. So we were trying to, you we needed to move our life down here. Obviously, you know, the energy needed to come down here. And so, however,

We'd had a previous commitment to possibly open another location up in Eastvale, you know, back in that other life of ours. And so we were exploring that, trying to keep our commitment, our verbal commitment to do that, even though our life had moved in a different direction. And there we met a commercial real estate broker who said, have you met Dan Almquist? You know, I've heard your concept. Have you met Dan Almquist? He's building the River Street marketplace. I think you guys should meet. So Anthony and I came down, had a meeting with Dan and his team.

It was love at first sight. Anthony and Dan hit it off. our dynamic. Yeah. Love our back and forthness. And I felt fed off each other. And I felt for the first time, like I could be truly myself in a business meeting because the restaurant is not my background. This is not my passion. This is not my calling supporting Anthony is. So in that is one of my callings. And so that was what I said in that meeting. You know, I said, well, obviously, you know, meat is Anthony's destiny. You know, meat is Anthony's calling. said, and Anthony is my calling. So

And all of the guys at the table looked at each other and said, would my wife say that about me? my God. And so, so however I am, you know, I have my other things that I'm building right now that could be a whole other conversation that are, that is my work to contribute to the world. But in the meantime, I've come full circle and I'm able to recognize that I do have a calling in this restaurant as well. And there are things that I contribute to this project of ours, this joint project and

Yeah, so we signed the lease on this one, we declined the opportunity in Eastvale, which worked out well for us and for Eastvale, they're doing great on their own, they didn't need us. But yeah, so we signed this lease three and half years ago. So as you can visualize, because I want to talk about it, you walk in, you walk into a full butcher counter, Wagyu, prime, beefs, you're going to have lamb, pork, poultry, but all hand selected, everything.

the way your body is supposed to digest the items. Everything made for human consumption. Everything made for human consumption. And I guarantee that. I'm not just saying that, I guarantee it. On the other side, which is gonna be a retail side, there's gonna be a cheese monger there answering all your wonderful cheese and charcuterie questions. A continuum on that side of full retail. So you wanna buy silverware, you wanna buy place napkins, oils, everything we have in the kitchen that we cook with is gonna be sold over there. And that was one of the things that I

was really in two for this concept. wanted that in that original location back in 2016. We had built out this nice little set of shelves and we had these thoughtful products and we ran out of space and focus because I've also since learned it's like my gifts in this world are my ideas and my stories and my organization and my lifting other people up. It's not in doing so much. So I can see this beautiful retail section.

but I don't want to have to figure out how to order the products and receive them and sell them. And so that's where Anthony's sister Sonia has come in. That is her calling. She's the doer in that area. So we hired her for that, which is we're very grateful. So she's so amazing. yes. So what is the, if your wife says, want a bigger retail section, what do do? You get a bigger space. You don't try to, you don't try to mix both of them. You get a bigger space. So continue on that retail side. There is going to be a huge refrigeration wall, refrigeration wall.

see it. It's for that person or that family doesn't want to cook this one to grab something take it home. Full instructions on how to reheat, put it together, bring back the TV dinner, but in a healthy way. If you could think about back in the day when stofers TV dinners. Yes. Okay. Imagine that your protein, your starch, vegetable, It was still protein. Yeah, a starch, a vegetable, and a dessert. We've gone away from that.

those components in a very healthy state are perfect for your body. If you if you just have one of those components or the bad part of those, it's not a well balanced meal. Yeah, so nourishing properly. And that's what we're going to do. And we're to make sure that all the vegetables, the important ones are going to be organic. The ones that don't need to be organic, we're do the research. They're not going to be organic because we don't want to charge that much more money. Sure. Because there's a lot of vegetables out there that

it does not benefit from being organic or not because it doesn't penetrate the meat. Yeah. So anyway, the meat he says about the It's all meat. It's all meat for Anthony. So we come around there. There's more retail and then we have a full bar, which we're going to have some fun mocktails and for everybody. We're going to have a full oyster bar. Come join a wonderful selection of oyster shucked right in front of you. Some great, great ambience there.

Now on this side, we're sitting over here. It's a full seafood counter, full whole fish, salmon, but everything's hand selected as well. Whatever you need, scallops, mussels, clams, everything. We're currently sitting in the dining room, indoor dining room. So this is a full steakhouse. So the menu is curated by Chef Josh, which you guys know, and me, we're both doing it together.

It is going to be phenomenal. And it is the most casual fine dining experience. It California steakhouse. California steakhouse. We would like to coin that term. I don't believe anyone has done that. I want people coming in in full suits and a beautiful date. And next to them is flip flops and shorts. Whatever you want. Welcome here. All welcome. And then right outside those doors, gorgeous patio, 2000 square foot patio. We have live music. We're just going to have just it's the home you've.

Welcome to the home you never knew you had. Welcome to the home you never That is one of our taglines. But more importantly, everything, there's a lot of phrases I'm about to say that are so overused, but everything is gonna be thoughtfully curated. Everything is gonna be with nothing that you cannot pronounce is gonna go in your body. I actually had a meeting with my chef a little while ago. How can I eliminate sugar? I wanna eliminate refined sugar. What does he come up with? He says, well, we could do monk, but what about this?

how about we grind our own sugar cane? It's not refined sugar. I said, let me get back to you on I am open. Let me get back to you on that. He's been, no, and Chef Josh has been very, I'm really excited to work with him. Cause I mean, his food speaks for itself, but the thing that I've been saying is it's like, I'm no longer impressed by delicious food. You know, like if you're using all of the...

the manufactured things, you can some really good food. Delicious. But it's not good for you. But I know that really delicious food can also be good for us. And so I really appreciate that Josh is on board to figure out, to invent some new ways it sounds like. There's a couple of restaurants in Orange County that ingredients clean as you possibly can get. You go there with confidence. Yeah, and you feel good after eating it. gonna feel good after you nurse. But you walk out as like,

Wow, that did not taste good. It wasn't very flavorful. All the components were there, but zero flavor whatsoever. It's like, that was disappointing, but I feel great. So once again, we are setting out to create the kind of place where we want to be able to go out to dinner. And I like you kind of redefining because typically when we think of putting healthy foods into our body, and it sounds like we have all done our own, you know, family research and the way we choose to eat. But you don't often have it combined with the meat market.

with them with Anthony the meat monger, know, like, right, this is not typically and so what I really appreciate is this educational component to exactly of every ingredient, but that you can eat healthy. We're going to have butter. It's going to be grass fed butter. We're going to have cream. It's going to be grass fed cream. We're going to have meat. But honestly, that that nothing is factory farm things factory farm, no hormones, no antibiotics, no, no,

extra growth hormones that are hugely bad for you. We know the way that they are raised and the way that. And no adrenaline running through the body, no stressed out animals. So I know every, we all know every component of this menu is going to be verified.

So thank you for that. Yeah. And it's it's so beautiful. Once again, we're to change a different paradigm. We're going to change this like eating framework that we have of like, what is actually healthy for us and, and, that we can nourishes us, what nourishes and that we can have access to it in this, in this shouldn't be so complicated. so we're seeking to make it simpler. The biggest thing is there's so much noise out there.

and you can't trust 90 % of it. And that noise clouds so many people. Well, it told me it was healthy. It said green on the label. It's healthy quotes, right? Like nobody knows anymore what that means. we're all trying so hard to do the right thing for ourselves and our families and our bodies. And there aren't a lot of people that you can trust. And so that, you know, it's like, then we became those people, you know, that it's like, if we can't find someone to trust, then you got to be those people yourself. So here we are.

The question, the question we all want to know. Yes. When can we come in? When can we come? Knock on wood is going to be October 15 ish. So right after we leave, of course it is compelling you to open because it will be right after we depart. So we can't feel bad for you because you're going to Europe and I'm jealous of their food system. That's one thing. know, Europe.

I'm jealous for the whole trip.

the food you're gonna I can do research. Honestly, it's like part of the journey for us as well is shopping the local market, choosing together what recipes to make making dinner together sitting on the patio having dinner talking about what our adventures of the day was, but really having good locally sourced authentically grown cuisine. Of course, we'll go out and about and test out things too. like, being able to do it. Amazing. Yeah.

in Europe. You know a lot of things that people don't even understand Europe and most most countries out there don't allow the preservatives that the United States allows. They don't exist over there. The government has banned them. You cannot put yellow dye number five in your product. You can't. So you're going to a place that already starts here. You have to think. Wherever you go you buy you it gives me chills. I want it we want to be able to provide that here.

the best that we can with what we have to offer. So I'm jealous for you guys. Allow me to send you guys a couple t-shirts so you could do probably like a flat Stanley type thing. Where's the meat seller? Yes. love that. Heck yeah. I know. I love it. I have one logistical question and then you do the where do we find everybody and we can wrap it up.

Is it accurate? Is Is that what I need to do? That's contribution. That's the part that you do. Is it accurate that people could look at the meat counter? Because you have a menu.

curated beautifully over on the side. But can they pick something from the meat counter? Of course they could take it home. But can they pick that and then choose to sit here while you prepare it? Is that a thing? That's my favorite part. And that's the beginning of our concept. And we were in that tiny space. So you could literally do that. You could stand in front of the meat case, be like that. No, no, not that one, not that one. And then they would take it back and cook it for you. So we do intend we're in the process of figuring out in this big space how to make that work logistically. We're considering

You know, like just like a wine sommelier, you know, some kind of a meat sommelier who will then like go bring that cut, make sure that's the one you want and then go take it back. Right. Cause you still have to facilitate the restaurant and the pace. that's why I was curious if you could. Yes, we absolutely want people to have a personal connection to that piece in the case. And then they can have it here or they can take it home and cook it themselves. We want to do menu of something that you've just already decided. have a full menu too. Exactly. So sometimes you don't want to think when you go out to dinner and that's the good part that that everything in this location will be better.

than the average restaurant food, better than any restaurant food you can find anywhere. We seek for things to be best, to actually be the best that our bodies can have. I can feel the energy that's gonna be in here. It's full of people, like I just wonder what you're gonna do with all the people waiting out the line out the door. But they go.

have retail and they can come back when it's time and they can go to it. Dan's brewery and walk around. and walk around and you can't walk around with my cocktail. Dan though. Yes. And you go to the petting zoo. There is so much to offer. It's fine. If the wait is long, it'll be a good thing. So this is our second but not last concept. talked really quickly. Yes. Our first concept was a 1200 square foot.

fast casual. with the butcher sharp component. Yeah. Second one was the meat seller, which you joined me over there, which is a restaurant and a small retail component. This is now the market by the meat seller. That's the official name here. Perfect. The market by the switcher square footage inside about 4000 or 1000 2000. Wow. And so this is now the bigger market versus a little smaller and the meat. Claire, I feel like we might not have

enunciated that quite enough or not even enunciated. That's the wrong word. But it is now a franchise. So that was the choice that we made. That was the risk that we took back in April was to sell that the operations of that location to to another lovely couple up there. And we are their franchisers. So we still own the brand.

We are in charge of menu and the vibe. Excellent, but you're not operating. So this is your focus right here. will eventually be a franchise as well. Yeah, nice. And hopefully around the world. Then you can go travel. find other locations. Where did they go? Well, we don't know. We're going find that. Or just give us your itinerary once you come home and we'll just do what you did. We won't have to do the thinking. That's right. We'll give you the food that you don't have to think about. You give us the trip.

know is we be petting elephants in February for Everly's birthday. That's what she's asked for.

Asian elephant,

Beautiful. so that's a birthday gift that we are set on delivering. you haven't even thought about what that's setting her up for for the rest of her life. When will you ever live up to the elephant sanctuary? I love this. guys are amazing. I'll just get better. She'll want some extra And she'll know that there's always better. That's the thing. That's one of the things we're teaching them. Keep going for those dreams. Don't settle.

Am I supposed to do the thing now? Tell us the social channels where we can find you, you know, meet Anthony, of course, meet underscore Anthony on Instagram. But do you have a handle for the what's it again? The market at we're currently more still at the meat seller is the handle. I believe that that will be announcing some additions with the market.

And then I am at Sarah Gleason Villegas on Instagram. I am in the process of launching a program of my own where I can be a guide for people who want to connect with their true selves who don't really know where to start and how to begin taking these risks that light them up. So that's more my calling is to help connect people to the truth of who they are so that they can live this life.

they are here to live. And where can we find your podcast? We are at reimagined modern living is the name of it. It's on Spotify. Apple podcasts, I believe we have a tiny little Instagram for that, which I don't think anything's on it. But there it'll it will be someday we'll be posting things. But yeah. All right. We are at French activity family on Instagram and the French activity podcast on Spotify and iTunes. So

Yeah, so and YouTube YouTube YouTube channel at French activity. Yes, so all the long format the packing Chronicles and much more to come here as we Get going. Well guys, this has been fun. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for letting us kind of combine podcasts here. It's We can't wait to see what you guys have to offer here. All right until next time

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