How A Caterer Turned Grit, Community, And Local Ingredients Into A Beloved Santa Cruz Kitchen

A coastal market wakes up, wildfire insurance cracks open long-stuck doors, and a Santa Cruz chef proves that comfort food can be both soulful and smart. We kick things off with a frank look at February’s housing heat: listings that sat for months are suddenly pending in two weeks, multiple offers are back, and buyers are testing the waters after a long winter lull. Then comes the twist that could keep deals alive—new wildfire insurance options, including a mountain-friendly carrier with self-inspections and realistic rates, plus a major move from Farmers to welcome back thousands of Fair Plan homes. For agents, lenders, and homeowners, it’s the playbook moment to re-quote, clear brush, and update roofs.

Enter Chef Ty Pearce of Busy Bees Catering and Cafe, whose story stitches together Ben Lomond roots, London kitchens, and a leap of faith in Santa Cruz. Ty shares how a turbulent childhood, early restaurant work, and near-pro MMA training forged a mindset built on action: show up, breathe under pressure, and find a way. He launched Busy Bees with limited cash and a baby on the way, cooked pop-ups to keep the lights on, and built a patio one umbrella at a time. His philosophy is grounded and generous—source local where it counts, cook from scratch, price for neighbors, and treat every event like the one-time moment it is. When reviews land, even the tough ones, he hunts for the pattern, fixes the process, and keeps moving.

We dig into hiring for buy-in, the unglamorous reality of SOPs and compliance, and the joy of feeding a community through milestones—engagements, weddings, and weekend rituals measured in biscuits and Benedict burritos. Ty hints at what’s next: a beverage program with lattes, feature pancakes, a heavyweight cinnamon roll, and a future enclosed patio so everyone, rain or shine, has a dignified seat. If you care about coastal living, small business resilience, and food that carries a neighborhood’s heart, this one’s for you.

Enjoy the conversation? Follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review—your words help more coastal neighbors find us.

Transcript

Cold Open And Market Pulse

SPEAKER_01 0:00

No surprise. Welcome to the On the Coast Podcast. Hello, hello, and we're back. This is Brandy Jones with Keller Williams Revive. And to my right is Ryan.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

Ryan Buckle, Cross Country Mortgage. Jerry Seagraves with Hide Alvodka. Nice. Seagraves insurance.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

When did this happen to me?

SPEAKER_03 0:24

I know I bought in last week.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

You trade the RV with the rats in it. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

What a nightmare that's been. That's a whole different story.$60,000 in damage from mice.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Insurance claim. Yeah, I had to turn it in. I'm like, either that or I'm lighting it on fire.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Insurance claim.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

I would never say that on the air.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

So a real quick update: it's February and the housing market is a little bit uh on fire. And you're starting to see, I mean, if you're watching the market closely, houses that were listed last year, maybe 100, 200 days on the market, taken off. Not even for 30 days to have new days on market on the MLS, are pending within 16 days, getting multiple offers everywhere from 14 to 2 to 3. Doesn't mean every house is getting multiple offers. But Ryan, what are you seeing in the lending world?

SPEAKER_05 1:16

Yeah, I'm seeing that, you know, the market basically went to sleep and they fell asleep in Thanksgiving and then fell asleep until a week before Super Bowl Sunday. And then after you know, a week before Super Bowl Sunday, everybody got off the couch and said, Oh, I'm gonna buy a house.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

I'm pretty sure they fell back asleep after the Super Bowl. That was very interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Can I name can I name this market? Can I call it the bad bunny market?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Oh, yes, you can. Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

I just did.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Jerry, you have some very exciting news. Yeah. I just want to say before you unleash this news. I was at open houses in Boulder Creek this weekend, and the number one question is insurance.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Yeah. Yeah, I've I've actually uh I've I've spoken, I guess what do you say? I've given two talks in the last two weeks. I was gonna say I've spoken twice, but that's not true and talk a lot more than that. But yeah, no, it's it's been hot on people's minds, and especially because probably the market is ticking up a bit for you guys. It's a question that's coming up a lot. And you know, we've had kind of this weird balance too, like rates are going up with primary carriers. Fair plan's rates were supposed to go up, so I had all these calls, but actually locally they've gone down. So it was like I kept telling people, hey, just wait and see, don't look at next door. Everybody on next door is panicking out. Just listen to me and I'll tell you when to worry. And actually, rates locally on fair plan have gone down. But the big news is we just picked up a new carrier that is riding in the mountains and actively providing really good fire insurance rates and quick underwriting.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

They're having self-inspections, so the insured is just taking photos of the stuff that they want rather than sending an inspector out. They're super easy to work with. And so in the last three days, I was telling Ryan I've I've I've quoted uh 40 plus policies and written like 20. It's a pretty good hit rate. And we're actively moving all of our fair plan clients over. On top of that, farmers just released 300,000, and we talked about this a couple weeks ago, 300,000 fair plan eligible homes that they've agreed to accept back in California. And I just got that list. So we're going through that huge list, and we don't have names, we just have addresses. So I'm literally locally sending my guys door to door and being like, hey, you're eligible for farmers, get you out of fair plan, let's get this going. It's great news for those people, you know, homes that were on the fringe, you know, I'd say Upper West Side type homes are now eligible back for farmers again for a regular homeowner's product, which is huge news. So there's a lot going on in our area, finally. And you know, it's still strict out there. You know, they want you to take care of your properties, they want you to have updated roof. You can't have wood shake roofs, but you know, if you're willing to participate a little bit in the homeownership side of things, we're willing to take you, which is huge.

Introducing Chef Ty Pierce

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So I love hearing that. And thank you, Jerry. It goes back kind of the way this podcast is. What is it like to live by the coast? And I've noticed that a lot of people love the lifestyle here more than taking care of their homes. And the lifestyle here is amazing because one of our special guests today is here, and it is one of my favorite restaurants ever. And he has really put the heart and soul into comfort food. And I want to thank Ty Pierce for being here with us today.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, a busy bee Busy Bees Catering and Cafe.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Big deal. You won a lot of awards as Busy Bees owner. You have a lot of social media presence, you're expanding. You have a family, you're, I would say, somewhat local. Tell us, tell us your origins.

Roots From Ben Lomond To London

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yeah, my family has a house here in Ben Loman for over a hundred years, and yeah, it was just really beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Wait, is it still standing?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Still standing. It's it's right next to a creek, so it's pretty amazing that it's still standing after all these years. And actually, it's off of Fritch Creek where they had that big slide back.

SPEAKER_06 5:15

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

The 80s, I think.

SPEAKER_06 5:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

But yeah, it's it's right near there, and that growing up as a kid, we had to pass that. But yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful home over there.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

And so you have uh uh roots over here, but also over the hill?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Over the hill and Water Creek. My family owns a restaurant there that I grew up in and worked every position you can think of there, and then in London as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

London. So what's when did you know food? How did you know food? I mean, what's a little bit of the history of why food?

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Good question. So it was my first job. I got pulled out of bed one day and said, Hey, you're going down to the family restaurant, they need a cash register person. So I got thrown on the cash register at 13, and then um, so that was that. And then I was a bus boy, and then I jumped in, anyways. That at that restaurant, I think I've done every single position.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Well, that's interesting. You say that your daughter worked at a restaurant, right, Ryan? Didn't she?

SPEAKER_05 6:17

No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Well, they say when you're in the sales business that starting first with restaurant, you learn customer service in in about two hours what takes 60 days a realtor to want to stab somebody or want to to like make sure they have a nice filet mignon. So uh the piece where you started at 13, I mean, that was an era where we kind of worked at that age. We went and hustled. And you're learning all of this. What are you taking in and what's going on at your life at this at that time?

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Um at the time, my let's see, my uh my mom worked there, my grandmother, my aunts.

SPEAKER_05 6:55

It like wasn't a choice at that point, right? It was just a family yeah, right of passage. You gotta do it.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

And you know, I saw like it everybody there had a buy in it. It was a family business, everybody cared, customers, they knew their names, they knew what they ordered. It was just extremely caring, and like if someone was unhappy, it was tended to. There we if ever something was done wrong, it was addressed, it was made right. And those are just like practices that you know I just learned from an early age and like kept with me.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So, how do you get from Rona Creek to London?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Well, interesting story. My my dad, he went to London and and so then I followed and I had dual citizenship. He's he's English.

A Turbulent Childhood And Grit

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Oh wow, he's got an accent and everything.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

No, he came here when he was 11 in Australia. Yeah. My grandfather and my grandmother, yes.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

So what age what age were you in London?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

I was there we moved there when I was uh I think three with my mom, um, but she wasn't a fan. She wanted to come back to California. You know. And then I moved uh full time at like 18 to probably 22. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Didn't you move I read somewhere you moved a lot. Like your childhood wasn't great.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

No, yeah. My my parents dabbled in some party favors.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

I think they knew my parents, who were which I don't mind saying on air. I'm fairly certain in the 80s they were the number one smugglers from Mexico, if you know what I'm saying. Yes, yes. The life that comes with it is like the movie Casino.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Where kids pay the price. And this is taking a little bit of a left turn, but here you are with a big smile. If you looked at your life now, it looks pretty picture perfect. But I say, having gone through my own journey, that we are the victim, villain, and hero of our own story. And every time I look at you, all I see is hero.

unknown 8:47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

And so where you know, 18, you're out in London to now you're in Santa Cruz. Where did this journey take you of this invisible like I need to conquer the things that are in my head, and I also want calm, peace, and love. Like that's a hard balance.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Right. Well, my dad went there because he was deported from DUIs. Wow. Yeah, yeah. He had 13. He never he never hurt anyway, thank God. But he had 13 DUIs. Great guy. He just had a problem drinking. But when he went there, he cleaned up and I don't know. I think within my mom, she was kind of like the American Hustle. She was a beautiful, identical blonde, uh twins, and there's two of them, double trouble with the double McGum sister. Oh boy. Uh and you know, the furs and the whole things during the 80s, and we would be the Porsche, all the Porsches. We'd be traveling to all these places, and um and then we'd be living in a big house, and then all of a sudden the lights would turn off, and then we have to move, and all that kind of stuff. But there was awesome times in that, and then there was super scary. You know, I learned a lot. I was around a lot of different types of people. I learned how to protect myself, and just I don't know, yeah, you learn a little bit streakwise.

Launching Busy Bees On A Shoestring

SPEAKER_03 10:03

I feel like growing up in a situation like that kind of helps you understand the world better. You know, like you were bringing up the sales side of life. Like I know that dealing with volatile personalities in my own life has taught me how to navigate volatile personalities in my business. You know, I don't get I stay calm, I I I think more, I I understand the situation, I put myself in their shoes and create a path out. But I think that dealing with that as a childhood, you kind of become a bit more creative as an outside-the-box thinker. Would you say that's kind of what happened with you?

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Well, 100%. Like even my experience with busy bees, you know, I didn't really want my family's help. I came here on my own. I wanted to have my own identity in my own restaurant. I had eighty thousand dollars, and you know, I met a contractor, and he sounded great, and I signed a lease, and he told me a certain price, and you know, the typical probably restaurant story. I was naive in that. But anyways, I had to, I had I had a baby on the way and I had a two-year-old, uh, moved my wife here and everything, so I I had to figure it out, and that's where those life skills really helped me out. You know, I went to the yacht club in Santa Cruz and I did meals there three times a week. I I worked so hard. I worked probably I mean, I don't know, I didn't I didn't see much of my son from when he was born for a lot of those days. Every time I was home, I was with him as much as I could. But yeah, it was I'll never forget that journey, that experience. But I did it, you know.

SPEAKER_05 11:45

Yeah, how long ago was that?

SPEAKER_00 11:47

It was just like three three, four years ago. I incorporated in April and and I did uh a hundred and fifty thousand dollar build out plus built a patio plus I mean it built uh all that restaurant equipment. It was probably forty thousand. I mean, I worked really hard and I got the job done, and you know, I remember a chef, he just he just left. He had to go, he went to his family's business. Uh that's an incredible experience for him, and I'm super excited for him. But he goes, Ty, never give up. Never give up your passion. I've never met anybody like you. He goes, When I first started for you, you hired me, and you're like, I don't know how I'm gonna afford you, but I'm gonna figure it out, man. And we're setting setting up the patio with those umbrellas that you're talking about. Yeah. And I was like, I think these are gonna look great. The the landlord doesn't want them because she didn't like the color at first, and she ended up loving them. But I think she's gonna dig them, and we're out there, and he goes, Hey man, you're out here worrying about the patio, but you don't even know what your menu is.

SPEAKER_06 12:56

One time.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

You know, and he he was just like, dude, you're incredible. You just don't get scared, you get after it. And um, I've learned so much.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

And well, you were in martial arts.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

In martial arts.

Martial Arts, Mindset, And Pressure

SPEAKER_01 13:08

And I have heard that for anyone, especially kids right now, it takes the surreal into real. Like you learn the power of your emotions and your mind through your body. Would you say that helped when the pressure of family, baby on the way,$80,000 turns into rigged sort of information? Your life is online, you know your passion now. After coming back, you haven't really touched on that after London, you came back, got married, and really focused in on Capitola. And how like we're sitting here celebrating you, but at that time, what was it like? Like, how did you use your strengths to get through that? Because we kind of gloss over it because people don't like to talk about it. When you're in those error eras of hard work and hard work, you don't let it get to you because you don't want to be like down on your knees. You wanna see, you wanna see it to the end.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Totally. Dig deep, yeah. Dig deep. Totally dig deep. A lot of faith and uh and higher power for me. Just you know, giving it over and just getting up every day, showing up. But yeah, there I remember in in martial arts, there's a few times in the beginning because I I did almost go pro later. And that there I was I was in an arm bar completely about to tap, like totally done, probably almost broken. And I was sitting there and my coach looks at me and says, He doesn't have you. And I went, Oh, and instantly was able to pull my arm out. You know, and just being in a ring and and going and having someone yell at you, and you got this go, go, go. And you're like, oh my god, yeah, you have to push yourself to unbearable limits. And then when you do, you're like, I didn't die. You know, I I did it, like I survived, I was capable of doing it. You know, you kind of get that threshold.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

I don't think people understand in this modern world, and I say modern because I'm a 70s child, that it is the through the action you build the confidence. We a lot of times they think, oh, because I saw it online or saw somebody else do it, or I played a video game with it. I have the same confidence, but there's something physically about that. Would you say like your modern day coach would be your wife?

Sourcing Local And Cooking From Scratch

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Oh yeah, she's she you got that. Oh yeah, she does. She's she's got that, and she's she's super supportive, and and she's actually in the cafe too. And she's working out that right on. Her kids are a little bit bigger and they're they're two, they're sorry, they're four and six. She's starting to get some life back as from being a mom, you know. Oh but she's she's in she's in the cafe and she is she's just amazing. She's the biggest supporter, and she she pushed it. Get up, do it, go. You got stuff to do, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 15:47

She's that's impressive. I think I've seen her there. She's stunning. Yeah, black hair. Oh yeah. Here the thing about that is every I go there once a week. I order it on DoorDash. It is the same damn thing. It's the biscuits with the corned beef and the biscuit sandwich. And it's like I it's like going to cheers. They probably don't recognize me at all because the line is always so long. But it's every time I feel like I've cut a pandalamina with me.

unknown 16:16

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Ty, can we grind back? I'm always very interested in like the bridge of stories like this. And so well established, it's this tumultuous kind of childhood. When you look back on it, you don't know it in the middle, but when you look back on it now, did you have some kind of a North Star or a tether or something when you look back on it, go, that was kind of that moment, or that was a mentor, something where, and I'm talking like probably more your teens and the early things, like it's hard to get through that, you know, and see the other side. But was is there a moment? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_00 16:45

I think for for me, it was my my my stepdad whose family owns the the Loman home. He he was extremely hard on me, but loving. He's from Santa Cruz and he's you know and just like a really good guy. He dabbled with his own stuff, but he was still a really good dude. But he had me out there working, like uh from a really young age. I remember they used to sell houseplants out of like a U-Haul. So they just had like ficus and all these different things.

Hiring, Culture, And Tough Conversations

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I might have one of those still. That's the very big Ficus now, but yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

But I remember they had a bunch of vans going out, and the employee didn't show up. I was eight, and they took me because I would help them, and so they took me to this one spot and they said, All right, we gotta go. Take the 15 or 20 bucks, I think it was for a plant or a color bowl, take the money, put it in this bag, and help them load it in the car like you do. And I was like, Okay. And anyways, they left. I sold all the plants in the truck, and they came back, and I run up and I said, I've I've got whatever$2,000 or something in the bag, and they're like, Oh, that's great, but how do you know how much it was? Because I couldn't count that hide, right? And and I said, Well, I asked this guy who's doing the construction on top of the roof. I asked him if he count it.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

So he's like, we actually had 2600.

SPEAKER_06 18:08

I remember the guy when he counted, he's like, hey, don't ever ask anybody to count the money.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

You're not gonna get it back. Yeah, yeah. That's another very important life, lesson.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

But he would always, you know, tell me, don't be scared, don't follow the don't follow other people, don't be a follower. Uh these kind of things in my head, you know. Don't listen, think outside the box. Someone tells you you can't do something that's not necessarily true. You know, he's an entrepreneur at heart. His parents, his family were like inventors. They invented the lights in the Caldecott tunnel, uh, the the boards behind hospital beds. Oh his dad till he died, he used to call me to his last days, and he'd be like, I got a new idea. You gotta come and get this one. It's a blimp, it's a hospital, and you can you can take them to other countries that are less fortunate. You can just drop it down and they'd have an instant hospital. This is it. You gotta take it. You know, it's just so that's wild.

SPEAKER_05 19:02

See, I'm not the only crazy one. Like coming up. You ever watch Seinfeld?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

I love something, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Man, bro. So that's kind of thing that invention where you're kind of thinking about it all the time. It's amazing.

Service, Reviews, And Recoveries

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Do you think uh working early helped you with your worth at work ethic today? Because I've I've your story sounds very similar to mine. Like I worked from the like 10 years old. I was like working on a farm, and I feel like it really helped stabilize, you know, I guess my my work ethic throughout life. Like understanding, first of all, what it was to do to be like kind of left on your own and to figure it out and those tools that come with that. I feel like that's the story you're telling me right now is you know, a lot of figuring it out, but getting getting like, you know, one foot in front of the other and getting it done.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Absolutely. Absolutely. Actually, and even with what you're saying in the in the industry of chefs, I've noticed the best chefs that I've found. I've had some type of experience on a farm growing touching vegetables, uh, eating vegetables. I remember I didn't live with my mom the first couple of years of my life, and I lived with this other family, and they had vegetables and and food that was locally cut or grown in their backyard. Um and I used to go, they used to catch me, I was allergic to the tomatoes, but I'd be back there eating them. But yeah, 100%. Yeah. I do.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Well, that brings me back to we kind of skipped over your culinary background, and we're sitting here downtown Santa Cruz with the farmers market right outside. There's some passion, I want to say, that you have with Earth to Table. Like there's a label that you're comfort food at next level. Can you like I can't find the words, but I feel like that's so close to help.

Expansion Plans And The Latte Question

SPEAKER_00 20:42

It it it is. Like I feel like food where it's grown, preparing it for people, the love that comes into it is all super important. I I worked at Shaped Knees, where Alice Waters was, and that was a huge, huge thing. She really did, you know, Californian cuisine and bringing it here, very impactful. And and just working at her establishment changed me. You know, I worked at my family's restaurant, which had similar family style culture, but she just really with the ingredient, how the important ingredient was, I learned with her and my family. My mom or my aunt at her restaurant, she pioneered in healthy eating back. She started no sugar, no flour, I don't know, 40 years ago, and started implementing it into her menus. And I remember we had these, which actually we're talking about putting on our menu, called them the the power scone. It was oh, it's anyways, there were no no sugar, no flour scones. And I remember them always sitting in the case and no one would eat them. I'd be like, Why are we making these things? She goes, It doesn't matter, we're sticking to it, it's wood, people need to eat. You know, and she recognized Out of her time. Out of her time. She's always a pioneer when it comes to health and trying to get the community to do it. She was kind of known as this crazy lady here. She comes in the restaurant, she's gonna try to get us to compost and do all this stuff. She started all these different programs of the case.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

So you're gonna start these scums, but let's take us to a little bit of like what you have now. Like when you're looking at your eggs, or in my case, the biscuit sandwich. And I used to be gluten-free, but there are some things that I make exceptions for. So how do you guys look for the ingredients in like in Santa Cruz County? What are you looking for? Who are you?

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Um like we use glum eggs. We love live earth produce. You know, it's just things that are local grown here by companies that are doing good things.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Uh it doesn't seem to be reflective in the price. Your food is very affordable.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

We we do like we we uh use organic when we can, and then we also put people what they're able to do. You know, you have to like at the end of the day, I have to be a business and I have to operate and still stay in business. So I I do what I can when I can, and then I also make it a practice that no matter what, that I make my food, not opening packages. You know what I mean? And and and that's really important to us. But yeah, we do we do we try to use the best ingredients we can.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Well, I know Jerry's gonna ask this question, so I'll just ask it for him.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Hiring and keeping staff goes.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

It's hard. Yeah. Do you find that there's a certain recipe to finding a good employee? I've I feel like locally that's a really difficult thing to find that like special person that really, I mean, you said it earlier, like your whole family worked in that restaurant, right? So everybody bought into you. So the number one thing, it's not my problem right now with my crew that I have right now, but in the past is people not buying into the vision that you're bringing to the table. And I know that with a small crafted business like yours, that's super important to have somebody come in and be like, I get what you're doing here, and I'm in.

Community, Events, And Story Menus

SPEAKER_00 23:49

It it's super important. And it's right, we're it's kind of like in a different world that I found especially since COVID, you know, it's just kind of changed things and it changed, I think not all it just changed people's habits, patterns. And even in the workforce, you know. And you know, I found with me what I'm focusing on, I just I've had some actual issues this week and and I don't like that. I I it's just no one likes it, right? You can't when you hire someone no matter what you care about them.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

Yeah, you want to give it your all all the time.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

I give it my all, I I lift up, I support, and and it hurts if like you can't just kind of get through to somebody. For me too, you know. I don't like to be stern and I don't like and I had to actually have to do it today. And you know, and be stern a little cold to really get a point across.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

And then they walk out and it's like it's just gutting, you know, it hurts. It hurts.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

It does hurt.

SPEAKER_05 24:48

What's your favorite part of the food? Like me, me is eating it. I love the flavors. I love taking somebody else that invented something, put these flavors together, and I'm like, oh my god, I never would have thought of that. What's your favorite part of it?

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Like in creating something?

SPEAKER_05 24:59

Anything. Is it serving people? Is it seeing the smile on their face? Is it you tasting it?

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Or I think that like serving it, guest satisfaction, like you know, even in my family's business, it's always been about word of mouth and and trust, you know. And when I even want to talk about it, kind of makes me tear up. It's just it's I'm very passionate about that. You know, I really love the fact that like I already here in Santa Cruz, I've already done the engagement party, the wedding, the baby shower, you know, and and then they're always like, Well, you're doing the everything else, you know. And so that's do a funeral next.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

That is terrible.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Yeah, no more tears. No more tears. Um, but yeah, I I love that that's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 25:43

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

I think it's interesting because one of the biggest conversations, and we've talked about in this podcast right now, is like a Santa Cruz's lack of culture, community. I don't agree with it, but it is conversation going on. But I think that perspective you just gave, Brandy has it, Ryan has it, Dirt Samurai has it. Dirt Samurai's actually and he's an influencer in farms, like he was talking about.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

Don't believe this guy, man.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

The um and there's two other things I was saying. I didn't think that was the first question he's gonna ask. You know what the first question Jerry's gonna ask a guest.

Food Memories And Family Ties

SPEAKER_03 26:16

You didn't expect me to have a well-worded question like ready on tap, did you? You were like, I'm gonna catch him with his pants.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

And one more truth, since we're being super honest with each other, is I honestly thought you were gonna say, what's your favorite part about firing somebody? And I don't know why I'd think that about you. There's nothing, there's nothing you've done to make me think that. I'm like, I'm like, man, Ryan's going for it.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Look at what he did with the chair. You're now sitting in the broken chair.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

And then I got passed it around. These are so clean, I usually don't have to edit, but there will be an edit on here getting background noise. I can't believe I'm remembering my train of thought right now, but I am. But the thing you said right there, I think the answer to this question about how do you build a community, how do you basically my thing in vibes we always talk about is just stepping in and stepping in and not just catering. It's not just catering, it's not just going to the event, but understanding how privileged you are to be hired for that event, to be part of it. And then you're expanding your community because if you do like what Jerry just said, if you can bring your ethos culture through the food, which I think you can taste culture and food, I think you can taste ethos and you know, all the emotions in food. But I think that's the thing we need to talk about more when we're out in public with friends on a mic like this, is that community is right there. And we were from you're not on the outside looking, you're part of the community, but it's not just doing it, it's kind of realizing when you're doing it and appreciating it, like you because when you were talking about it, you weren't just saying it, you're you felt like sounds like you were almost honored to do it, you know. So I think that's just uh it's just it just caught me right there, you know, that we're all trying to do it, but I think sometimes we're doing things we need to kind of linger there a little longer.

Hours, Catering Details, And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Well, and to add to that, where you went to school and all the culinary pieces around you were uh I would say flashy. And then when you start catering, catering's not that flashy. Yet it is intimate.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Right. Yeah, because where you were invited into.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah, you're in people's homes, you're in different like you said, celebration of the life, you're weddings, these are all like their super intimate moments. You're lucky to be there. Like when employees, if something was to happen, you know, one of my things that I say is, hey man, these people are they're coming here to spend their money. Like we have a duty to like give it they come here to for an agreement. I'm gonna give you my money that I work hard for, and you're gonna give me the quality food that you say you're selling. And they chose you.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

And they chose us out of all the people.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Yeah, exactly. Like, let's give them respect, you know, give them good customer service, make them quality food. Like, don't make sure that the food's fresh, make sure that we're prepping everything fresh, nothing's hanging out here, like nothing that you wouldn't serve your mother.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

That's amazing. It's being present, right? I think the thing I used to coach football for 20 years back east, and the thing I always used to tell the players was like, focus on every play, focus on every game, because in this circumstance, as a 17-year-old, it's a singular event. You can't ever have that Friday game back. But events like that, there's a lot of repeatable events we go through the day, right? And even in our relationships, you know you're gonna have another shot at that this afternoon. But when you're doing somebody's wedding, you're doing somebody's birthday, whatever it is, and the food's coming and you're a key component of it, that's a one-off. That that'll never happen again. It has a singular foot, you know, fingerprint to it. And I think to have that emotion about it, but I think we also need to do that when we recognize we're having, and that could come down to the day that we're having, we can't have this day again. You know, we can't, you know, go through this moment. And I think we need to kind of stop and do it. But I think that's an interesting part of your business, maybe where you have these big pegs on the board of these events, but you've been part of birthdays, you've been part of a wedding. Do you kind of get a like do you let your self kind of be I guess the word it's a terrible word for it, but is there a romance to that whole thing? Like a little like a romance or kind of an emotion there?

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I I get super attached. I actually I had a review that was posted the other day that was a two-star, and it was a a client of ours. We did her wedding. She was Italian, very passionate. And anyways, long story short, three years later she had posted that she was really upset about something. And I was being gutted, you know. Yeah. I I've been trying to figure out how am I gonna like make make this right with her.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

Wait, you mean to tell me that three years later she posted a review? Three years. Yeah. She had a simmer on that a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Jerry, some people are slow processors.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

No, I was just curious if it was like, you know.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

No, I mean, yeah, but it's just like, God, it's taken up that much headspace.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Um it was it was her daughter's wedding.

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

She's Italian. I come from an Italian family.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

I have an aunt that can get really, you know, but it's interesting you say that because of the many families I lived with as a child. There are a lot of cultures that believe Italian, I believe is one of them, is that I'd rather get it out than have cancer than suppress my feelings. And it's interesting that these cultures that we call loud, there's an expectation you'll match that. And then three years later, how do you match that?

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yeah. I don't know. I you know, I I responded on I responded and and I'll just have to you know think about how like I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Or not. Or there's it's the drunkard's walk. It's a book that's out there by a physicist from Berkeley, but he talks about you you eventually for peace in your life, you have to his is more statistical, but you have to throw out the highs and the lows because they're not real. And so yes, you have to address it, which you did, but do you let that occupy space in your head? And the answer clearly is going to be no, unless you're sitting on a one and a half star rating, and that's the best rating you've got. It's not though. I I know I know your business and I know the reviews, and so it's it's an outlier, it can't be ignored, but you don't you don't let it kind of like what somebody on this podcast says live rent-free in your head. Right. You know, you can't have that.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

So you just try to do everything you can to like not go back there, right? Like just fix it, learn from it, be like, hey, remember that one review we got. Let's not do that again.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

And that's what I had said, you know, it was three years ago, and we've done a lot of stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Well, the thing also makes me think about is what we should all do all the time is is like, and possibly maybe it brings up as a business standpoint, is a small little model where you do a quote unquote exit interview, and maybe it's digital. Like maybe it's like, let's get real right after the event while it just happened. It doesn't have to be posted, but like a um an exit interview of like, I thought that went great, what about you? And then it's sort of like it brings it up right then, and it's I think it's uh there's I said the saying there's no such thing as you know, bad news, it's a current event uncommunicated.

unknown 32:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

And so if if you if a current event happens, it's happening to both of us at the same time. It's only bad news if you wait three years to give a two-star review, and now it's bad news for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

So I worked at the Shadow Book, which put me through college, which sent me over to China to live there for a while because I thought I was going to Silicon Valley. And they trained us, and it was like how to set the table was the book. And it's it is not the mistake, it's how you recover from the mistake. But even then, I can relate to you have 10 things in your life, nine of them are 10 out of 10. The one that's the two out of 10 would rock my world for weeks. I mean, I I've had clients just say, not often, but when they were just so unhappy, I would take it where I couldn't even leave my room for like a day. I've matured since that, but I can see what you're saying. Like when it's your passion and there's a two out of ten, you're like, but I gave ten out of ten. It wasn't like a half-assed did it, and I could see why that hits hard because this is your arc.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Yeah, and I care. And you know, and and yeah, it's just a bummer. And I know we delivered great food and great service, and and and you know, and we do it, and I do love reviews, bad ones too. You know, obviously I can't be in the cafe all the time and and I'm doing other catering, we have a full bakery and we're expanding and we're doing all this stuff. And if someone does leave a bad review, because we get majority great ones, you know, and I look at it and I'm like, oh, what is this saying? You know, because most of the time there's there's some truth in that, right?

SPEAKER_06 34:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

And so I'll look in there and they've, you know, it could be actually a good review, but they're telling me something. And then I can take it back, like you said, take it back to the team and be like, hey guys, this makes sense. What's what's happening here? Let's get let's address it.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

And um that's interesting because they I love that you have so many positive reviews because again, that people are more likely, you know, the algorithms, negative, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

They like to post negative stuff more often, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Right. So that you're pulling that those positive reviews out of people. That says a lot right there.

unknown 34:44

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

And then that you read into it because it's not like when you read a review, you're well, most of the time I'm not answering questions like how was our customer, you know, sometimes you are. And then you have to read between the lines of the number. So if it's 4.8, are you looking to be like, why wasn't it five? Is that what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Uh or are you just reading them all? I'm just reading like what they're actually saying. Like you can read it and it's saying, you know, for instance, love the food, it was amazing. I'm giving them a three-star because they don't serve lattes. You know, those those ones you can't like. It seems legit.

SPEAKER_05 35:14

It seems legit. Go to the coffee shop. Yeah. You don't really do anything about three, you know.

unknown 35:19

I know.

SPEAKER_05 35:19

I leave anonymous one.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

I leave anonymous one stars on Jerry's. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

I wondered who that was. But if it's like something um, and I don't even know if this is one, but like if someone was to say, I got my Benedict burrito or or whatever, or if you get like two of them randomly in a certain amount of time and they're both about potatoes and not being crispy or something, and then it's like, oh, we gotta take a look at our potatoes what's going on here, you know, and it just kind of gives us a little bit of feedback.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Well, what's next for Busy Bees? I know because I accidentally walked in, but I mean what else?

SPEAKER_00 36:00

So we know this too. Then we got the space next door at EWO, and we are gonna bring lattes. Oh dang, I'm gonna take back my three-star review. But we are we're gonna hit them more beverages, pancakes, um, which we have great pancakes. We're also working on the baker's working on like a featured cinnamon roll.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Oh man, come on.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Okay, Ryan's Drilling. Normal.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

I feel Cinnamon War Wars coming on in Santa Cruz soon. Honestly, I'm not kidding, because there's a few businesses, and you'll be immediately in the heavyweight game. If you no, you will, because you'll decide to do it and it'll be all the right stuff. But there's a two or three people putting out cinnamon rolls right now that are legit, you know, so I can't wait for that. We'll get Daniel J over there. Yeah. He's always calling, hey, what are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_05 36:51

There's two on the planet, yours and then Hawaii. And so there's and Maui. Exactly. Papua Ohana. Oh my god. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

They're really good.

SPEAKER_05 37:01

Yeah, exactly. That's awesome. But yours is right there. Thank you. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Well, you're gonna have inside scenes, right?

SPEAKER_00 37:07

No.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

What?

SPEAKER_00 37:08

But no. Okay, here's so what I want to do, we're putting together the plans to submit, is for this part, but take a patio down the side further, and then hopefully they'll let us kind of enclose it and then put in heaters. Kind of like gales. Kind of like the Gales thing, yeah. Yeah, and then the Charlie Hong Kong says that all the things.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Right. That's a great idea. And that's like phase two from this expansion, which is technically phase two from when you first okay, so phase three.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

So hopefully that can be in our future. Just because it kills me, like, you know, with our herb bread and we have chicken salad, we have to make a really good chicken salad and tuna salad. But there is the older population that does like certain items on our menu, and their friends tell, Oh, you gotta go to this place, busy bees, it's just so good. And so when I see them getting out of their car and they've got their assistant walkers and they get all the way up there and they go, Hey, where am I gonna sit? You know, and it's raining outside, it's just like, oh, you know, just you look that guy's neat. You know, it's just like hard. Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

You've turned passion and emotion, because a lot of people don't have EQ. They let our we can let our emotions take us over, positive or negative. And it seems like that is you're constantly in your fuel, the smiles, the small tweaks. So what else is and then I have a surprise for us at the end. So what are the big things or the things that you want to share with everyone? Like obviously don't give up. Eat your food, but what are some messages you'd want to share with people?

SPEAKER_00 38:35

Um, especially like for restaurateurs that are just getting into the industry. You know, I have been in this business for years. However, you know, I've done just a lot of different things. Don't give up. Um, it is a really hard business, but I, you know, I started here doing pop-ups and all that, and just just keep pushing. You know, if you're really passionate about it, you'll find a way. It's it's the progression of your life and the things that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

So it's a lot about the journey too.

SPEAKER_05 39:03

It's the journey.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:04

It's hard work. Restaurant businesses.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

It is hard work.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

You gotta love it.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

Yeah, especially. Yeah, you're wearing all the hats, right? Like how hard. I know we gotta probably wrap it up, but how hard was it being passionate about food and and and cooking and to realize that that's just a fraction of what you have to do?

SPEAKER_00 39:21

I'm in that still, right now. I'm still in that. But you know, it's all the business stuff, putting in all the SLPs and all the business side of things and figuring all that new stuff out, the you know, loans and all these different insurance. Insurance, all right. Make sure everything's covered, make sure employees are happy. I think you know, you're just always growing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:40

It's like you're adulting. Like you never stop adulting. And it's like the stuff they didn't teach you in school. It's like, ah, I gotta learn this all over and or start.

SPEAKER_01 39:48

Well, because being a manager is different than being the creator, and the creator is different than being the marketer, and then being the customer service is different than HR because you need to be strict with your guidelines of employment versus you know, the customer is always right.

SPEAKER_03 40:01

Well, like Busy Bees has got this like giant hill they gotta crawl up, right? Like you could be an amazing chef but a terrible business owner and fail miserably. And the fact that you've done both is says a lot about you and your characters. Oh, yeah.

unknown 40:16

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

At the end of the day, what's a perfect day at your work? Like outside of just the register, outside of maybe like for you, like what's a perfect day at Busy Bee's?

SPEAKER_00 40:26

I think just like you know, probably every restaurant tour that there's orders are there, customers are happy. It's just a smooth Nobody calls and say calls and say. What's your go-to on the menu? Ooh, I'm actually gonna probably put some of this, but it's a healthier thing. I like egg whites with broccoli, zucchini, and I actually put it into an omelet. And I think I'm gonna I'm gonna add that to the menu. It's really good. Jack cheese inside. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

See, now I will have to eat there twice because I've got my naughty one and now I'll have my nice one. All right, Brian, we've got this little game.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Yeah, well, she's busting it out. She was this she kind of sprung us on us. This is a little thing we're doing in the community right now. It's called story menus, and we're pairing narratives and stories from restaurants and businesses, kind of connected emotionally. Our first one was at Liley, and what we did there is we paired it over a three-month period with uh a story called Laila and Majinun, which is an Afghanistan love story, and we paired each course of the meal with a narrative that went to the table, and then we had an online addendum to it to understand the entire story, and we did it in three emotions over three months. And so that was our last one. Our new one is with Food Talk Santa Cruz and Ulterior. And this one is basically for us to kind of create human conversation. This one, every when your service comes out, you get scratcher cards, you get some game cards. If you order a drink, you get dice at Ulterior. And it's really just to kind of spurn everybody slow down, connect. Donnie, Chef Susan's down there, is deeply collect connected to like mental health, you know, kind of services. So there's parts of the cards that aren't questions, they're just like kind of supportive and where to call for help and to make sure people are seen. But this uh launches starts tonight and goes over the next four weeks. And we roll in with Wendy Espresso, and then Daniel J is gonna come in in two weeks and do his part of it. We contracted with Daniel to do every one of these food stories over the next 12 months. So pretty psyched.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

All right, so Ty's got the card. I'm gonna pretend like he ordered a drink. Do I give him a nickel?

SPEAKER_02 42:21

A nickel, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

You're lucky I have a nickel. It's a scratch. Oh my gosh. I have a quarter.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Thank you. Yeah, and so it's really, I think for us, it just kind of goes, you can scratch, Ty. As we're kind of talking, I appreciate the couple seconds here, but Vides is a narrative-based media company. And that's why we're sitting right here on these mics, and that's when we connect with our clients. It's not just a print ad, it's not just podcasts, not just the TV network. What we really try to do is make sure this community is connecting, that we are kind of, I think the human species is it's a narrative. We believe in narratives, and our kind of thought is like, why can't we create our own? Why can't we slow down and do more of this podcasting and talking? What do we got?

SPEAKER_01 42:57

All right. So we're gonna pretend we're sitting here eating at Busy Bees. Mmm, this is so yummy.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

And then what kind of Oh is Busy Bee's the next story menu, Ty?

SPEAKER_01 43:05

He's like, When did you sign me up for brandy?

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Well, you know, this it's what's a meal that instantly takes you back somewhere, not just the place to tell tell the story. Hmm. God, that's so hard for me, I guess. What instantly take me?

SPEAKER_02 43:23

Is anything jumped anybody's head? A meal that takes you.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Man, original Joe's with my grandfather. He was like an OG gambler, like degenerate, but I loved him with the whole art. And he would take me to the horse track and then take me to original Joe's after, and all these old school San Jose mobster types would be in there, and he'd just be smoking a cigarette, and we get in this Lincoln and drive home. I mean, like I can remember it like it was yesterday. It's amazing, right?

SPEAKER_05 43:52

Yeah. So me is my grandpa owned Chinese Village. So Chinese Village is here for 2025 years. Every summer I knew grandpa was. Went home at noon to go take a nap and go back at two. So my sister and I would call him at 11 30 and say, Hey, we're hungry. What are you making today? And you'd whip up something, drop it off of the house on the way home, and every every summer day was a meal from him. It was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

Brandy.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

Hard pass.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

Hard pass.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Ty, did you get one? I would say like the pastas at my aunt's house just takes me back to family time. Yeah. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

I I'm gonna go back and say what I do is if I fall in love with the meal and the people, I eat it over and over and over again. So it is truly such a compliment that I go back and I eat it over and over and over again. And I don't know why, but that's sort of what I do. So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:46

Nice.

unknown 44:47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Amazing. Well, thank you, Ty.

SPEAKER_05 44:51

What are hours there? What's Busy B? What's oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

We're there Wednesday through Sunday from eight to two. And we catering's open seven days a week. And yeah, we offer all different types of catering, corporate.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

And if I wanted to hire you for catering, where do I go to do that?

SPEAKER_00 45:06

You can call or you can go online to busybee's cafe catering.com and we have a catering director. Her name is Michelle, and she's amazing. Super awesome awesome.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

Cool. Is there any other place, Instagram, TikTok that you're up?

SPEAKER_00 45:20

I have Instagram and we don't do TikTok. Instagram, Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

Okay, cool. So they can find you on Instagram, TikTok, your website is BusyB Catering.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

What is it? BusyB's Cafe Catering.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Okay, BusyBee Cafe Catering. Well, thank you, everyone. This is Brandy Jones with Keller Williams Thrive. You can reach me at 831-588-5145.

SPEAKER_05 45:39

Ryan Buff Quilt at Cross Country Mortgage. Go to BusyBees, have the Benedict Burrito, and have the cinnamon roll.

SPEAKER_03 45:45

You'd love to have it. Awesome. I'm Jerry Seagars with Seagars Insurance. Oh, 831 2399425.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

I thought it was Hideout. You're with Hideout.

SPEAKER_03 45:55

I was, but I found their phone already on. We fired him. I lost my comment.