Episode 11: Rupe Harricharan | Mic Check with Nikita

Join Nikita in the studio with Rupe Harricharan! Nikita and Mr. Rupe talk about opening a restaurant, creating recipes, making cooking sauces, bottling products, & Legend Cookhouse

Follow Nikita and Mr. Rupe on social media platforms!

Nikita: 
Instagram | @indianprincessnikita @nikitagayaramproductions @miccheckwithnikita
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Mr. Rupe:  
Instagram | @legendcookhouse

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:00

Welcome to My Check with Nikita. I'm your host, Nikita Gyram, and today we have Mr. Root from Legends Cookhouse. Well, thank you for being here. I appreciate you doing this. I um when I met you guys in Guyana, right, um, I wasn't completely aware of who you were until you said Legends Cookhouse, right? Um and for those of us who grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens, and and grew up just on the culture, Legends is a household name for all of us. So I appreciate you being here.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Thank you. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_06 0:30

Of course. Um, so just this episode is a little bit different for me because this is the first time we've really had someone bring food to the app to the actual recording. So if you want, just quickly just tell me what each dish is and then we'll go into the full.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

So I thought I'd bring the food so that we have something in front of us. And then so when we talk about a food, you you have a reference to look at. Um and because we have our sauce uh and a restaurant, we thought we bring the food so we can pair the sauce and have a good demonstration of what we're talking about. So, first of all, we have the most popular dish probably in the world at Chao Min. Okay. Chicken Chao Min probably is best selling anywhere you go. We have fried rice for Guyanese. Fried rice is top selling. Yeah, everybody wants chicken fried rice. Yeah, I guess that's what drives the restaurant, that's what drives the industry. That's that's what everybody aspire to make at home as well. Yeah, is that fried rice. Um, then we have the lamb, which is a that would be that dish. That dish over there, and we are the first one to start using lamb in a restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

When we started our restaurant, yeah, I thought the Chinese use beef, yeah, for like roast beef, uh and we said, you know what, we're gonna do roast lamb. Oh wow the same exact way, yeah. Uh so I kind of like go and I find the right cut of lamb.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

And um then we started the roast lamb. So you got like uh pepper lamb, right? That's like a pepper steak. So we kind of like broaden the menu. Um, well, the pepper shrimp was already out there, we made it better. Um, we have the barbecue, you got jerk, um, and you we kind of mix and match the meat with a lot of these fried rice, chow min, and we have the lao men, and now the restaurant has gotten a little bit uh wider in their um menu, and you get like the rasta pasta and um got it and other things, so you kind of like widen and you see where the market is going and you kind of adapt because there's new people who are moving in the area. We are a multinational, multi-racial community all the time. So um so we have to stick with the growing market, growing generation. People taste change and and they're available, they want food available to them all the time.

SPEAKER_06 3:41

Yeah, and going to what you said about just um different races and and cultures coming into the community, we weren't we're not just Indo-Caribbeans anymore. It's like the Caribbean community is now widened out in in Richmond Hill and South Ozan, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Especially with the our young kids. Our kids are really American kids who grew up through the school system, they were introduced to food, um, different food. Even though they have food at home, when they go to school, they are exposed to different food, different tastes, different culture. Yeah. And you're a kid, you are a young person who grew up here as a kid, and you and our my kids also um grew up here.

SPEAKER_05 4:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

And I see what they eat at home.

SPEAKER_05 4:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

And I said, how can I incorporate what they're eating into our restaurant?

SPEAKER_06 4:32

Basically, everyone, anyone and everyone that comes into your restaurant, there will be something on the menu for them.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

For them, yes.

SPEAKER_06 4:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Um, we try to be as proud selection as possible.

SPEAKER_07 4:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

And it and it keeps changing. Um at the beginning, we had like lamb chops and lobster and all of that on our menu. We think it's going to go the fancy way, but um we have to do the restaurant what is most popular. And that's what kept us in business all these years.

SPEAKER_06 5:06

Wow. So we went through the uh that's the roast lamb, right? So that's something that was new that you uh incorporated into your menu, just that was different from everyone else that was selling something. Selling something. Okay. And this would be the chicken.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

That's uh that's a barbecue chicken. But what we did, we did a boneless chicken.

SPEAKER_05 5:28

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

So we thought everyone was using the the boning chicken. And they can get that anywhere else. But I've noticed that when I go to like the malls and stuff like that, I see they serve a lot of like the boneless chicken.

SPEAKER_06 5:47

Yeah, it's like easier to eat, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

The line is always long at the mall, right? They have the tariqi, they have, you know, different chicken, but it's all boneless. And the same exact Chinese style of food, they pair it with rice, they pair it with Chao Min. And I thought we can do the same exact thing at our restaurant. Um and we we may we give it a try, and the working is very popular. And and it draws the new generation into the restaurant.

SPEAKER_06 6:20

So this would be then the jerk the jerk chicken. And it's just boneless as well. And this, of course, everyone who's watching knows that this is pepper shrimp. Yeah. Um, so for me, I want to just take it back a little bit to your background for yourself, and then going into legends. So, how what year did you come here to New York, or did you start in New York first? Where did you um end up?

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Okay, so I came with my parents, my mom, okay, and three other brothers who came to New York City.

SPEAKER_07 6:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

So, like everyone else, I'm the eldest and uh I was 18 years old, and my mom was uh in her 30s, or maybe 34. And so with my three brothers um and her, who don't really have a I mean a full education in that sense has some, but not enough to really take her into the professional life. So and me, I finished high school about a year earlier. Um so I thought coming with my brothers and my mom, our first thing is to provide a proper place to stay, stability in the house. Um my dad was in in Guyana and he was uh recovering from an illness. Um but and then we you know I I actually get serious to understand that um I have to keep these uh boys together and um I am expecting them when they get of age to cooperate with us and um build something. Um now so we started work long hours. Uh so I started working in a factory.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

So it was a refrigerator factory. Um building refrigerator. So the engineer saw me and he somehow he thought I'm a good fit to work with him. So I went with him and he started showing me how to develop the module, how the rail colon unit operates and how to improve it and how to make it better. So I worked with him in the factory, the engineer, and um so the guy who was uh doing the units, he fell sick. He got into an accident and he couldn't come to work. So the engineer said, Well, I taught you already, you know, so you just just jump in and get it. So the boss needed multiple of these units to get done so that he could ship them out.

SPEAKER_05 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

So I went in there and I started to do the the um the units and I started to get it the right way. So I recruit one guy from um my old school actually uh to come and start working there, help me out. And so I end up getting a little bit extra money than than you would on um on the minimum minimum wage that people were having. So and then we you know I continue to build myself in a sense that I understand that this is not gonna be for long term. Even the refrigeration is uh a good feel, probably would have made a good living in refrigeration. I didn't know at the time that that is something I should stick to. Yeah, so I was always thinking of education because um after high school I always think, how do I get more educated? Especially when you come from Guyana, yeah, and there was no opportunity for an educated person.

SPEAKER_05 10:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Um and the education wasn't available. I mean, you have to go um away from home and you're gonna stay somewhere else, and you can contribute to your family, and and the education, no matter what you have, you know, wouldn't work. Because uh those days, the aspiration of a young person is to come to the USA.

SPEAKER_05 10:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

A family has to come to the USA. That was the only way out of the situation that people find themselves in in Guyana. So when uh I got here, I said, you know, uh, this factory thing is paying good. I'm making money and pay, we are paying the bills, and um enough to my my dad is recovering, and uh he was gonna be here within a couple within a couple of months or uh within a year. Um so I started to focus what am I gonna do for myself once he got here. Um so I took GD. Um back then um people you would have to go to the school and take some uh touch-up class and all of that. But I was working seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Yeah, um, there was no time. So I actually on my lunchtime I called the Board of Education in Brooklyn. And they sent me that GED book, and I studied it on my own. But I already had a good background uh coming out of um high school and had a couple of subjects, and um I was doing well in Guyana at this school at the time. Yeah, so I just went in and I took the exam and I passed it, and then I got a high school diploma, and I was so proud of that.

SPEAKER_05 11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Uh I thought um, okay. Then uh I even did the real estate class at the art college at the time. So I wanted to do go to school and and and get my uncle, he had real estate. Uh he'd been here in the 70s and uh he had uh the Diamond Circle real estate. So I had so there was things away from the factory that I wanted to do. Yeah. Um so when my dad got here, he wanted a job. So I talked to my boss. My boss was very good with me. He he likes me, he wants me to stay with the company. But he understands that I was other aspirations. Yeah, I was 18 years old, going on to 19, and um you know I would want to go to schools and and do something else. Uh so I get a newspaper one day um on a Sunday, um, and I see an open house for a bank telech.

SPEAKER_08 13:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

So I said, you know, I can't lose anything. So I have other cousins who are working in a bank and um she encouraged me. She said, Go, you know, usually they hire you on the spot there. So I took a day off and I went and I So easy back in the day.

SPEAKER_06 13:20

Yeah, I went to the house.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

In Wall Street, actually. Oh wow. William Street. And I went there and then I sat to give me the thing. Hardly had a proper business clothes to wear, but you dressed the way the best you can at the time. Um so they gave me uh some some tests and all of that. And uh I guess she was impressed with my handwriting. I don't know where I picked that up from that day. I was really writing neat. So she thought that you know, you weren't giving me the tests, and I took the test and I passed the math test, and they asked me to sit in the side and wait until they talked to all these other folks that was there. And about 12 o'clock, they said, come do a polygraph test. Those days in order to get a bank job, you do polygraph.

SPEAKER_05 14:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

1987. And um I didn't know that I'm getting a job. All I'm starting to feel like, yo, I said I was gonna take half a day off and now I'm going on to one o'clock.

SPEAKER_05 14:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

You know, I'm all I'm thinking of how I'm gonna get back there because you know, I I I usually pull a 12-hour shift. Um so then they they take my ID and I said, you know, start on Monday. Um at the time they start me with like nine dollars an hour, something like that, or eight some eight fifty. But it was like double what I was making at the factory. I said, things are looking up. And um so without hesitation, I started. Um then I I put my dad and to work at the company where I left because they liked me, they trust me. Um at the time I was actually interviewing people as well who knew hires at the factory.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

So once I get to the bank, there's also many people that are going to college work at the bank. So that inspired me. I'm like, oh.

SPEAKER_06 15:25

So they can do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Yeah. Uh and I rose very quickly along the ranks of the bank. Within about six months, I become like the head teller, and um and uh it was within a year, like supervising the entire floor. But I started um six months after I started to go to um a place called American Institute of Banking, where um the bank paid tuition and all of that.

SPEAKER_06 15:58

Oh wow. So you that's actually a really big deal for a company. So the company basically paid for you to go to college.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Oh wow, but I really didn't had any type of great advice to say um, oh, take this opportunity and go to the best school possible. I give my friends that advise, but um I didn't, there was no one to give me that advice at the time. So I started when I finished that course that I was doing at American Issue Bank in 1988. So you have 35 credits that you could transfer to any college. And they prefer you to transfer those credits over to uh Pace University. And I said, you know, I'm gonna go to Pace Universities in Manhattan working in um William Street and uh Cortland Street. So I used to go to Bradford sometimes. So um and then right up the block is Pace University. And I said, the night I have to travel to come back to Queens, and uh so I a friend of mine was going to LaGuardia and he says, Come to La Guardia, and I said, Oh, both of us can travel together. And um so I end up going to LaGuardia College and and ended up graduating within about four semesters four terms actually, because I I went in there with 35 credits.

SPEAKER_06 17:27

Oh wow. So you really only did like what two years?

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Yeah, maybe less courses. Yeah. And um and then I transferred out of there. Once I could get my associated degree, I transferred out to there to um to Queens College. Oh wow. That's where I got my bachelor's degree from.

SPEAKER_07 17:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

And I from there I started well, they had downturn economy, um, and I started to work for the city of New York.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

So I was a social worker.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

So I worked there for a little bit. Um, and then when economy gets back better, I get back into banking and I get back into accounting. Um hit one of the big four accounting firm, um large financial um firm.

SPEAKER_06 18:16

We call them the big four.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

I work in I work in finance too, so I guess it was KPMG that I selected for, and I had um jobs at uh Morgan Stanley Bank of New York.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

That's where I work.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Yeah, you work for Morgan Stanley now, yes. So yeah. So when the world trade came down, I left Morgan Stanley with a month prior to that.

SPEAKER_06 18:41

My God.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Yes, so I was working.

SPEAKER_06 18:43

I was I've been told we lost a lot of people on the trading floor that day.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, two World Trade Center, and I was working on the 72nd floor.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Um, but then I got a parallel position in Long Island with more money, and of course, you know, you gotta grow in family and you know want the money. Yeah. Um and uh it's so my career really took off. Um the World Trade came down, I didn't bother with that job anymore in Long Island. Um, there was a lot more offer um coming in because a lot of companies were behind on the job that I was doing. So they want people to come and catch up with because it were the um the trading floor had stopped for a week. So there's a lot of backup work. So they called me and they said, Hey, Audible Blues um back in New York called me and says, Hey, I you know one of your old colleagues is here, and he recommended I call you to see if you can come over and help us out with what is going on here. Um with your background and your experience, you would be a good fit and to do the job as quickly as possible. So I went in there and I said, What are you gonna do for pay? you know, because that was my interest. Um so they called me in the Friday afternoon when they were gonna start back on the Monday, and he says, Listen, you come in and I'll give you what you want, man.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

So but we couldn't come downtown Manhattan, so yeah, I had to go to Bless Pleasantsville, New York. Oh wow, and that was a nightmare. That Monday I got to that place about two o'clock in the afternoon, leaving home like seven o'clock from the van from Jamaica Avenue to Whitestone Bridge took about five hours.

SPEAKER_06 20:41

That's technically near the Bronx, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Um Plains Plain Pleasantville? Pleasantsville is basically upstate New York. Oh wow, okay. So it's passing everything. Like North Jersey and um like where Mundvale is.

SPEAKER_04 20:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

So it's like adjacent there.

SPEAKER_04 21:01

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Close community there.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

That's far.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Far.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

Especially with the van.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah, and um, but they were providing bus. Yeah, and they were providing um hotels if you want to stay overnight. Um, but I had my car and my family at home, so I didn't mind drive an hour and a half each way. So once I come back the same day.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yeah, so uh there was a lot of overtime involved and you make good money at that particular time.

SPEAKER_06 21:30

So um when it comes now to opening up legends, right, what was life like at that point, and then what made you make the decision to do this?

SPEAKER_01 21:41

So up to this point, I was focused on a career. Um, Wall Trade Came Down changed the whole perspective of what someone wanted to do, and you know, hearing of people lost their life, young people, people in the prime of their career. Year. Mid and I've already been in the bar business. I started bar business in 1995.

SPEAKER_06 22:07

Oh, so Galaxy was already up and running.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Oh wow. Okay. But I had um we were like a family-run business at the time. Um, you know, we'll get help from my brothers, they would come in sometimes. Not enough help. They um if they were dedicated enough, probably we would have gone beyond that at that point. But you know, they lost interest early and um they did not do what was supposed to be done. And um, so that business we couldn't do anything much with it. Um I tried, I tried to expand it. It was really busy, but it was busy in the weekend, and uh and we learned a business. I mean the the benefit of that is we we get into business, we learn how business operates, and you get the courage. You you have the um thing in you to say, you know what, I I can do this, I can provide for my own pay rather than to depend on a pay at the end of the week on a Friday or two times a month or something like that. Yeah. Um so then I said, you know, things are you know, driving an hour and a half to man uh to uh presenceville, and then we come back to Manhattan. Come back to Manhattan, um the energy wasn't there anymore in Manhattan. Um so 2002 I said, you know what? I want to get back into the business. I'm gonna try it once again. Um so I said and you know, once you get your foot wet in business, you're always looking, right? So I always look for a spot. Even though I was working in Manhattan, I was uh if I drive around, I would see a spot. I would say something that I can do. Um but then when I get serious in December of uh that that year, 2001, I said, you know what, this um world trade, they said they're gonna come back, you know, all kind of scary stuff you hear, right? Yeah, that you know, and the economy was crashing, and um they said you can lose your job and this and that. I didn't care at that time because I already think that I've saved up enough again to start again. Yeah, because you know sometimes when you go into business, um one of the things to to find the the capital to to get you started and to keep you going. Well, the place came up and I said I can use this spot.

SPEAKER_05 25:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Uh Rockaway Boulevard wasn't a nice place at the time, but I s I don't know what I see it to become um clean and I see it to become business friendly um and the location. So I took it, I took the place and I started doing work, and then um I was still working, and I said we'll run it as a bar, but it's gonna be like what we had over there in Galaxy, but it's gonna be three times uh bigger and it's gonna be three times more uh nicer. Um and then um when I look around, I couldn't find people who I could trust, trusted individual um not available to do the business while I was still working. So then once the place is completed, now I didn't open up because I am worried what I'm gonna do here as a bar that I can't work late at night. Um so I don't have people to work it. So then I said, so we're gonna start a restaurant, we're gonna start a roti shop where we can go in early. I can get employees to go in early, and I'm gonna get a set up a system and close a little bit earlier. Yes, and I'll have to deal with yeah, and of course that's the easy thing to cook, right? I mean, every person you know can cook roti, you can make curry and all that, yeah. Um but so hard to sell, right?

SPEAKER_06 26:39

Yeah, it's like a staple in every Indo-Caribbean household.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Um then the roti shop wasn't as as it is today, didn't have those people craving for doubles and people craving for a look pie and all of that. All people wanted was simple home food at the time.

SPEAKER_05 26:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

And there's a few only a few restaurants um Liberty uh that was doing that. Um and uh yeah, and uh Copeland Hillside was uh was doing uh yeah, so the business wasn't as saturated at that point.

SPEAKER_06 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Um and I was always thinking, maybe there isn't too much, you know. I mean, what what is gonna be the price point of coming into selling roti? You know, everybody was selling a roti for dollar and seventy-five cents. Yeah. And I was thinking, oh, if people can sell pizza for whatever they were selling for at the time, um, I think two pieces, two slices for like a dollar and you get a soda.

SPEAKER_06 27:40

Oh my god. So um now it's like eight dollars for a slice for two slices and a soda.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Yeah, so when we work in Manhattan, we used to buy two hot dogs and a soda for 75 cents.

unknown 27:54

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah, so as young uh professionals, we used to she used to get lines waiting for that. So I'm thinking, hmm. Why wonder if I start doing something like that? If they can make if they can sell something for 50 cents and make money, why I can't sell a roti for 75 cents and make money. Then I thought, hey, that would be a lot of flowers here. Yeah, so I didn't bother with that. And then I ran into this guy, Chinese guy. Um he says, somebody introduced me to him actually, and he said, Hey, I hear you want to open a restaurant. I said, Yeah, yeah. He says, What kind of food? I said, I don't know, what kind of food? I said, So I joke with him. I said, Chinese food. He said, I I I come and cook for you. I come and cook for you. I said, What? So I didn't set up at the time for Chinese food, I just set up a stove and all of that. So then I get then I started to get busy now to set up for the Chinese style food. So he came and he I didn't know how to make a menu or anything like that. So I get a um as a piece of paper and I write down a few things and I took it out printer and I said, ask this guy to make this stuff one page.

SPEAKER_05 29:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

And believe it or not, the Rose Lam was there.

SPEAKER_08 29:19

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

And I thought I must get calamari if I'm gonna have a restaurant because uh everywhere I go I I uh order that. And um and none of that was selling in the community at the time.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

So when I look at the stuff that I created, I thought it would be a one-page, ten eye time menu, and then it ended up to be like about a hundred.

SPEAKER_05 29:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

And I'm like, this is interesting. Yeah. How am I gonna be able to so the so so the Chinese guiding me along too, you know? You know, this meat can use in multiple dish, and yeah, you know, this sauce can be used in multiple dishes and this and that. And I'm like, oh. So I had two Chinese guys come in and they start working.

SPEAKER_06 30:07

And um so not to cut you, but prior to this, prior to meeting these two people, right? Did we have Guyanese Chinese? Yes. In we had that in Guyana.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

So we had um we had the first guy that started it was Joshton Barr. They did very well Chinese food. Um and there was actually Chinese that came from Guyana.

SPEAKER_06 30:33

Okay, got it.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Um, so they were looking for work. Um in fact, one of these guys approached me when I had the um Galaxy. And I didn't take him seriously. Yeah, like oh, you know, I you know, I'm not I'm not interested in setting up a kitchen and work all these hours trying to make food.

SPEAKER_05 30:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

So even though that was probably a better idea than the bar alone. And then later on, um like '94 or so, then you had um Bamboo Garden came in.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

Oh yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

And then they started So they so we were really up the block from them.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

So we were on Leftwards and Atlantic Avenue, and they were like 108th Street. And um so dining started to become a little bit more upgraded in the area at the time. Um, the new Diner, which was a trailer before the Atlantic Diner was doing renovation there. And so the so the whole place is started to improve a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Got it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Even even um villages of India across the street wasn't there when we were doing the galaxy. That was a pool hall. And then you had Kychore up the block, just opened up about uh December of 1995. So so we were there in August of '95, but we're just a bar.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

So I so I was actually one of the first guys to buy an Irish bar. And it happened by accident. I was just looking to buy a house, and then my uncle carried me to show me a house, and then he says, This guy wanted to sell his bar, a restaurant. Let's let's go in and look at it because he's gonna list it. And then we go there, and then I get interested suddenly.

SPEAKER_06 32:28

There's always that um, you know, and actually that's interesting that you say that because the episode that I shot before this, which will come out before this episode, is with a real estate agent or a real estate broker. And he said to me that the one thing he tells his clients is make your list sure, but you won't know until you actually go to visit the place or the house, until you feel that like there's like that gut feeling of this is it kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

You see what's there and you think what your idea is and how that can work into the place.

SPEAKER_06 33:03

So you almost were able to like you walked in, you could visualize it, right? Sort of or you had that like.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

In the town. I see the pool table, I've seen the bar, I see all the booze, and it looks so it looks appealing at the time.

SPEAKER_06 33:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Yeah. I said this can work real good for us.

SPEAKER_06 33:33

So the reason why I'm asking that question is because subconsciously we don't realize that there was like a like a f feeling inside, and I'm like saying this with everyone sitting in the room, but like there's like a weird feeling that you get, like, I could do this, right? Like it's uh I I don't know how to explain it, but like it's even if you were 27 and you thought about all your friends coming and hanging out, there was a reason behind that, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Like there might have been some like an unconscious but I have already gone through um a lot of serious thinking about family and um and I've already been married and got two kids already.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Um and because my dad was sick since I was uh 13 years old, and our family depend on somebody to step in and complete the work that he was doing. Um so I kind of build that momentum in my head that I need to stay focused and make money.

SPEAKER_06 34:40

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Um and I have to use the skill that is available to me. Yes, so when I walk in the bar, I didn't think about the work, all I know I can do it. I feel like this is nothing for me to do.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Um and sometimes I used and at the same time I used to go when I was um a little older, 14-15 years old, I used to go to help my uncle. He had a bar out in Escubo Coast, and we were living in quarantine at the time. So when he needed help, he would send a message over. Yeah. Oh, send XYZ, he's gonna come and help me out for a couple of weeks. So I got here and I helped him out.

SPEAKER_06 35:30

It's so interesting because you said send a message over, like someone had to go and because you know, now for us, it's like send a text or send a, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

So those days you had like so my uncle had a phone in his house. Um, then his aunt had a phone in her house in Broomfield, and we are about seven miles away or eight miles away. But my uncle, one of them, he drives higher car. So he when they get a message, they would look for his car. So when he passed to go to the uh Rose Hall, they would watch to see when he's coming back. So they'll kind of time him and they'll stop him and say, Hey, we have a message for you. Oh wow. And then he'll take the message back to the family.

SPEAKER_06 36:19

So cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

Yeah. Rose Hall is in um Barbie's quarantine.

SPEAKER_06 36:25

Okay. So he's there's also an uh Rose Hall, Rose Hall in Perica, right? Like there's like a right now, there's a low Rose Hall thing, it's like a resort. They call it a resort, but it's not a resort, it's a hotel.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Possibly. I I don't know. Um but Rose Hall Tongue, there's the Rose Hall Tongue, which is Rose Hall quarantine. And I know there's a Rose Hall estate. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 36:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Kanji, actually. So I don't think they have anything in common.

SPEAKER_06 37:02

It's just this is there's they're just the names and got it. Okay, so what I really want to talk about now are these sauces, right? So how did one, how did the sauces come into play in terms of obviously pairing it with the food, but what gave you the idea to now manufacture them as well?

SPEAKER_01 37:20

So the deal is I had this restaurant that these Chinese people used to work in, they worked in, and I wanted the first guy to say, hey, you know what? When I look at how they work, they always put in a little bit of this inside the food and a little bit of that. And and then a customer will come, oh, I don't like how the evening guy cook, or I don't like how the morning guy cook.

SPEAKER_07 37:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

And I'm like, all right. So I observe what they're doing, and you know, by me understanding that you got to develop a system, yeah. So I see, but they don't want to share their secret, how they're cooking. So I kind of write down what they're doing, and I practice on my own, and I said, Let me help you guys. So I go in um on a Saturday and a Sunday and I help them to cook. So by me being in the kitchen, I'm observing and understanding their portion and what they're doing. Because when they're extra busy, they don't mind who helped them once somebody helped them.

SPEAKER_06 38:25

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

But when I do something, I write it down. So I understand how to cook all the food now. And I was even cooking quicker than they are at this stage. And I was making all the sauce, um, I was helping them, uh, and they weren't an either. They thought, oh, this guy's an accountant in Manhattan. He would never come and do this work, you know. So I used to come in in the morning and I'll help them make the sauce. At one point, I'll make all the sauce. And the food tastes good, and I now I learn the taste of each ingredient that goes into the sauce. So when I want to arm the food up a little bit, I put a little bit of extra this and that. Yeah. And then the food tastes a little different, and they started changing. And then we had this agreement with the chef. Um they all up and leave. I mean, there were like five guys who left on a Friday afternoon, and we closed the restaurant for the day, and the next day we started up cooking.

SPEAKER_06 39:25

I started cooking with the boys and uh oh, because you already had all of this, so you already had the recipes.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Yeah, um, but it was terrible work. I mean, yeah, you had to get people in order to get to work going. So I was the first one who started to bring in Indian guys, uh, Chinese fellas, and train them how to cook.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

So now when I'm training these guys, I find that new restaurants are opening and all my guys are going in there to work. I said, wow.

unknown 39:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

How do I combat this now? And I said, you know what? There's a big need for these guys. You know? You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna give them because they go and they can't make the sauce the right way. Yeah. So I said, you know what? They want to work, I'm gonna give them the sauce. I've learned in school that if you give people the tools, you you you don't have to actually do the work. Yeah, there's a story that says when there was a gold rush happening in California, one guy stopped halfway and he says, I'm not going to find coal. He stopped halfway. He said, I'll be selling the shovel. While I'll then buy the shovel and go, he's the only one who finds coal. Right? So um, so I thought of that strategy. Yeah. I said, if I started this, you know, you know, they're there, they needed a sauce, so maybe I should sell them the sauce.

SPEAKER_05 40:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Um, and then I said, hmm. When we before we opened this restaurant, we always want to cook like the Chinese.

SPEAKER_05 41:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

So maybe the household people would like to learn about this sauce. Yeah. So I said, forget those guys that betrayed me and left. I'm gonna sell today a household guy. So I started developing these sauces and uh I get educated about um how do you bottle product, how you yeah, get them approved through FDA. Um, I understand um we had to do courses to understand how to get them set shelf stable, how to process addisfied food. And I'll tell you one thing maybe we're the only food manufacturer with a license.

SPEAKER_06 41:45

Oh wow. So you're your own in-house food manufacturer, yes, with a New York State license. Okay, that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

A lot of guys they would that are distributed product, they buy it from somewhere in Britain.

SPEAKER_06 41:56

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

It's always outsourced, all over the place in Bringham. We are the ones who have a New York State license to manufacture any one of these products.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

Wow, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:08

And I don't have I don't know of anyone else who are doing that.

SPEAKER_06 42:13

No, a lot of our sauces, and and you may be right about that too. And I mean, I can always check facts, but everyone else gets it from we import and export, right? From our countries, but yeah, like a birdies or like a you know what I mean, like that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Yeah, so now it's a new yard product. Now, what problem this would solve, right? Yeah, so to make quick quick cooking, right? Um, give you the exact taste every time. So this is gonna solve a problem. Young folks like you, we're starting a family, busy household. Yeah, um, you're going away to college, you want home taste. How do you get that? You want to make a chow min and you're at the dorm or you're you're renting a space with other students there, and you come home and you're taking back all these lovely products with you that you want to enjoy while you're there, your parents are not there to cook it. You can have this sauce, right?

SPEAKER_05 43:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Um, people are living in different state because of job, they get transferred and they they want their home taste. They don't have accessibility to come to a restaurant in Queens. Yeah. So they can use this sauce and make the same exact thing at their home.

SPEAKER_06 43:30

So, where could someone like me buy these products?

SPEAKER_01 43:34

So we are in about 50 stores within Queens. Okay. And additional stores in Brooklyn, and we have a few stores in Florida. Okay. It's Connectity. We have um Minnesota. Um, so people are latching on to the sauce. Um, even about two days ago, all the blues this lady commanded. Um the internet and the TikTok says, you know, I open up this new restaurant and I was struggling to make the fried rice, and look, I find this legend sauce, and this is the best sauce he ever used. Right? So, our sauce is not even improving the lives of people, it's giving people a way of making a living, right? Yeah, another restaurant can use this sauce to make good food. We are not uh we are not intimidated about that. We are a restaurant, but we want them to use our product. We want restaurants, we know that restaurants made huge investment in um creating their their space, and and sometimes they depend on a chef to create their business. And not all the time they do best for that business. But if you get a sauce and you train your people how to use this sauce, you will be in business for a long time. Yeah because you get the foundation, and that's what we want to stress to people. This sauce would make you your business. If you have a desire to say, you know, I want to open up a multi-business, this sauce would help you. If you're working at a business where you need to be creative in developing food for like your company, like you're working for a hotel, you're working for a catering farm, you're working for um another restaurant, and they want to bring diversity to their menu. And these sauce can create the sauce that we have can create over 200 menu items into a restaurant, and that is powerful because you can make millions of dollars from using these sauce at a single location, right? Um tea sauce alone. You don't have to run around trying to find different ingredients, different ingredients, just use a sauce, um, and you can make a good living doing that.

SPEAKER_06 46:23

So, my next question is being that you have your own manufacturing license, obviously you bottle and manufacture your own products. Do you also outsource to other companies as well to manufacture?

SPEAKER_01 46:35

No, we do all our manufacturing in-house. Yeah, um, we want to keep that a just for the industry secret. Yeah. Um, we will expand.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:46

Um as the market grows. Okay. We will expand and we will we'll definitely meet the expectation of um what the demand is. Because we are constantly growing, we're constantly sourcing equipment, and we're and and we're constantly training employees.

SPEAKER_06 47:09

Okay. So now I'm just gonna let you know that this food is smelling really good.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:14

Should we try some?

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Why not?

SPEAKER_06 47:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Without the food here, would not be an interesting show. The air conditioning is a little cold, and we have no, that's fine. But um, if you if you can enjoy this food and now you know that when it's hot, it'll be even better.

SPEAKER_06 47:35

No, but it honestly, I'm sure it's fine.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

So let's get a small plate.

SPEAKER_06 47:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

And you know, that's the thing about tasting this food. They always say, Oh, you bring in these social media influenza, and every one of them tastes the food and says, Oh god, it's so good. Yeah, but guess what? If it's good, it's good, right?

SPEAKER_06 47:55

Yeah, so well now I'm I'm doing this live. I'm gonna be a taste tester. So live.

SPEAKER_01 48:00

So let's say you know, I'm gonna say this is fresh meat tasting the food.

SPEAKER_06 48:08

Literally.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

Literally, yeah. So let's have you taste it.

SPEAKER_06 48:14

I so I love pepper shrimp. Yeah, it's one of my favorite dishes. So I'm gonna have this first.

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Yes. How much are in there? You know, the more it's better. Because remember, they always say, Oh, yeah, this the the the the because you're doing the show, you want it to look good.

SPEAKER_06 48:30

He's gonna definitely take after.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

Okay, it's gonna be on camera.

SPEAKER_06 48:35

Um, okay, so okay, I'm gonna have this first. Feels weird to eat on camera, but we're gonna do this.

SPEAKER_01 48:41

You gotta do it. You gotta do it sometimes.

SPEAKER_06 48:45

Mm-hmm. Sorry, my mouth is full.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

That's alright. Now, you can make this food anywhere you go, right? You can't do this bottle of sauce. Now, if the heat is not enough for you, we have uh the pepper sauce. Specially designed for that kind of so this is the sauce that goes with the pepper shrimp.

SPEAKER_06 49:10

Pepper shrimp, pepper shrimp. And like I said before, it's already spicy, but I'm someone who does love extra kick.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Yeah, so now that sauce is diversified. You can make a stew using that sauce.

SPEAKER_02 49:23

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 49:24

Yeah, so you can mix that sauce with our children sauce and make a stew. I like to tell people anything seafood, you can use that. Yeah, and if you want to make like a chicken stew or something like that, you can put a little bit of chopping sauce. Chowbin sauce is really a substitute for cassette, yeah. Casserib, along with all the other ingredients that people use, um, like their soy sauce and their um powder mix and all of that. Yeah, you know, people say, I mean, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use your powder mix. Use your powder mix, but incorporate it with our sauce you even have a little hint of whatever you want from your household. Yes. Okay, and cooking is a very funny thing. People don't like to change. You know, it's a hard thing to get people to change.

SPEAKER_06 50:12

I'm gonna try the infamous roast lamb right now.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

For that roast lamb started at Legend Cook House.

SPEAKER_08 50:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Tender, lamb had to be specially sourced. Um we and lamb is a tough thing to cook. You cook the lamb, then you're in a little bit of trouble. It's stiff, you gotta get good dentures.

SPEAKER_06 50:40

It didn't take a lot to chew that just yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

So now maybe the start of the show. Everybody loves fried rice. Fried rice. Oh, you love chow min.

SPEAKER_03 50:53

No, I'm a fried rice person. Yeah, yeah. I love fried rice.

SPEAKER_01 50:55

Because in my household, I know Chaomin two times, three times a week. Once they were going to school.

unknown 51:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 51:05

I'm gonna try to bring some without probably being cut off camera, but it's fine. That's fine. That's I'm just gonna bring it up and take a little bit of this.

SPEAKER_06 51:15

Okay, wait. So the roast duck um sorry, roast lamb. Roast lamb, which sauce was that one?

SPEAKER_01 51:21

So the roast lamb is teriyaki.

SPEAKER_06 51:23

The teriyaki one. Yes. So that's this one.

SPEAKER_01 51:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 51:26

Okay. Oh yeah. Sorry, I just want I'm what I'm doing is just making sure that everyone can see the sauces that you're viewed.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

Yes, just pair the sauce with the food. Yeah.

unknown 51:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 51:37

This is not gonna be very glamorous, guys, with me giving myself food.

unknown 51:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Food and food and glamour glamour.

SPEAKER_06 51:47

They don't they don't know. I'm being very demure for the camera, but if this was me, I'd be if I was home right now, I'd be literally eating this with my hands. Trust me. Okay, so what should I what do you usually recommend pairing this with?

SPEAKER_01 51:59

It's the fried, the fried uh fried rice sauce. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 52:05

Can I open this bottle and just add this to it right now? Or is it just when you're cooking? Okay, so this is when you're cooking.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 52:12

Got it. So it's not like an actual sauce on top.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

No, this is one sauce which you can cook. And you can cook your fried rice anyway. You can use it to boil the fried rice with the sauce, or you can boil your rice and mix the sauce, achieve that golden brown color, and it'll taste the same exact way every single time.

SPEAKER_06 52:32

Oh my god, I haven't had fried rice like this in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Now, you went you just you just came back from Guyana. Um, we always aspire to have a fried rice like Guyana. Yeah, and I was shocked when I go to Guyana this time.

SPEAKER_06 52:48

And didn't have that there.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

I was eating at New Triving, and I'm like, you know. Did a Chinese die that you know was working here last time I came two years ago?

SPEAKER_06 53:00

You know, I know I know what you're saying because the rice was different. The chicken was the chicken was grilled.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

And I was like, yo, I'm gonna bring my sauce and give these guys here.

SPEAKER_06 53:11

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was very, very thick. You know the rice that you make when you're making like uh curry, right? There's like that, it's the rice grainer, the right, uh, yeah, and the grain is a little bit thicker. Yes. So they were using that.

SPEAKER_01 53:27

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:28

And I was like, that doesn't this is actually a really, really good. Yeah. This is like what you're what we're used to growing up, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 53:39

It's different when you say it, then there's a certain um social media influenza. If he says that to be all over the news, you know what I'm talking about. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 53:51

I do.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

He's my good friend.

SPEAKER_06 53:52

I do know what you're talking about. So okay. So we've tried the pepper shrimp, we tried the lamb, tried the fried rice. I'm literally gonna try a little piece of everything.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Yes. Just so that everyone can see that we're not and they can meet you secretly and ax you. I mean, that's what they say. You know what? This girl, because he's in front of the boss, you know.

SPEAKER_06 54:14

No, you you know my dad, okay? If my dad, my dad is not someone that jokes when it comes to food.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

Yeah, so your dad, like I tell you, I'm happy to see you you carrying out that legacy. Your dad used to advertise for us, your dad and mom. 90 97-98, they were advertised for our bar on Atlantic Avenue.

SPEAKER_06 54:42

That's really, really good, by the way. Sorry, I love I love anything spicy, yes, and that has like flavor. Yeah, so that wow.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

So we could we have our old jerk sauce as well.

SPEAKER_06 54:53

That is but we didn't bring it today. Oh, you didn't bring it today, okay. But okay, now I'm gonna try this one. Trying everything.

SPEAKER_00 55:01

So this is barbecue.

SPEAKER_06 55:06

Mmm. It's not as sweet as I thought it would be.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

It's barbecue.

SPEAKER_06 55:13

Mm-hmm. No, but you know how sometimes barbecue sauce has a little bit of that, it almost tastes like teriyaki, but it's not teriyaki. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 55:20

We make our own barbecue sauce from scratch.

SPEAKER_06 55:23

Is that here too?

SPEAKER_01 55:24

Is it here? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:26

Okay, so that's that.

SPEAKER_01 55:28

Yes, that's right there.

SPEAKER_06 55:29

So that's this one. Wow. Okay. Now the last thing I didn't try is Chow mean. The chow mean. That's gonna be a mission. Yeah. That's gonna be a little bit of a mission.

unknown 55:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:47

You think she should try it with a pepper sauce or what?

SPEAKER_06 55:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:51

Alright.

SPEAKER_06 55:52

I'm down. I love pepper sauce.

SPEAKER_01 55:56

So this pepper sauce was designed especially for your generation.

SPEAKER_06 56:02

Why is it not as hot?

SPEAKER_01 56:03

Not to say because I love hot. I I I have very finer things in life.

SPEAKER_06 56:08

So see, okay, me when it comes to home cooked food, the spicier the better.

unknown 56:15

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:16

Take us a little big, so you can.

SPEAKER_06 56:20

Every time I always take pepper sauce, the first thing I do is I smell it.

SPEAKER_00 56:24

Yeah.

unknown 56:25

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 56:31

Okay. I'm gonna take the heat.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

Yeah, yeah, you kind of like Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:39

I just did on top. Yeah. But I'm just gonna try it just to take the heat. I don't know what it's not too hot. No, I don't it doesn't it doesn't smell too hot, which is good because some I like to like layer like add add and sorry, continuously add in depending on how much I'm eating. But I needed more though, but good. Okay, wait, no. I feel the kick now.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 57:16

So you know, I feel the kick now. I do feel it now.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

Nah, I don't need it, but yeah, so it is. It works, it lets you enjoy your food, but give you the heat at the end.

SPEAKER_06 57:28

Yeah, so good. My best friend is standing behind the camera and she's looking at me eat on camera. And she knows I'm a messy eater.

SPEAKER_01 57:41

She should join you and I'll try it. Right?

SPEAKER_06 57:44

Well, she's gonna definitely try it after because I message her and I was like, there's food, come.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_06 57:53

No, but this was amazing. This is so good. It's you know, and I was saying this earlier. Growing up, you see, we see these sauces, right? Like, but and it says Legend Cookhouse, the Legend Cookhouse on it. But you don't really put two and two together until after, like now that we're having this conversation. Like, I've seen these bottles before, you know what I mean? But this is wow. So these are most except for the pepper sauce, all of these are bottles that you use when you're cooking it, right? Or is it it's not like on top sauce?

SPEAKER_01 58:25

No, no, no. This is cooking sauce, cooking sauce, okay. Uh except for the pepper sauce, except for the pepper sauce, yeah. Um, yes. So that's the reason why I always tell people some folks who come on their comment and say, Why do you have to advertise if your food is that good? Yeah, then people should be flacking at your door. Yeah. And I often tell people, you learn this in business school, that your best product, if you don't tell people what you have, they will never buy it.

SPEAKER_05 58:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:55

Because they'll go to buy from that person who tells them what they have. So that's what we keep telling people what we have.

SPEAKER_06 59:03

Yeah, and there is such a thing as marketing. Marketing doesn't have to be just advertisement or social media posts, it's word of mouth. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 59:10

You have to educate your consumer as to what you have in product. Even in the bar-restaurant business, you have to educate your customer about your service. Yeah. A lot of guys will say, Oh, I come to this bar, so I expect to behave a certain way. But every bar has their own etiquette.

SPEAKER_03 59:33

Every bar has their own vibe, too.

SPEAKER_01 59:35

Of the type of atmosphere. Yeah, you come to the legend, we don't want you to be loved. Yeah. We have family. Your grandmother is eating here, your your kid is eating here. Yeah. You know, we're a family restaurant.

SPEAKER_05 59:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:47

One of the only restaurants that only focus on the family. We don't care too much about the bar.

SPEAKER_05 59:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

All we care about you enjoy your food, enjoy your environment. Um, especially in a society that we're living, in that we came from Guyana, people trying to make a living, they go all over America, Canada, and the world to live. Uh, they don't catch up with each other. Family are estranged and they live um far apart. And so we provide that social meeting place for people to come and enjoy each other's company without being disturbed by another unruly person.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:31

Yeah, like that's actually a great um thing that you're saying because uh nowadays a lot of our Caribbean places are mostly focused on the bar and the loud music and stuff. Where sometimes on a Sunday afternoon, you want to have a few drinks with your family, but you just want to be able to just sit and eat, have a few drinks and talk, and you know, not with the really loud music and something in the background to keep you um entertained.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:56

But I think that your focus should be with your family. How many time? Yeah, the people who you come with. Yeah, you know, um, and and more and more that is becoming more important uh with the advent of um social media where people are not interacting personally with each other, they're interacting digitally, yeah. Um, so you need people to come out and be able to talk and see each other and um you know understand what people are or people become, I don't know, a different creature. Yeah. If you don't interact with each other, you know. People often tell folks that humans are social animals.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:39

Yeah, well, that was a big thing with COVID too, right? Why a lot of people were segregated and by themselves.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

Like you get depressed.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

Uh people can't handle that.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:48

Okay, well, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciated you coming in, bringing all this food because I know this was something that I wasn't expecting either, and all of the sauces. I'm really happy that I also got to eat while I was on camera. But um, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for doing this, and I really, really appreciated it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:08

Thank you for having us, and uh, we appreciate you having us and let us showcase our product.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:15

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:16

Um, thank you.