Episode 13: Danny Persaud | Mic Check with Nikita

Join Nikita in the studio with Danny Persaud from Tropical Isle Roti Shop! Nikita and Danny talk about buying over a business during COVID, social media marketing, and shipping food out of state. 

Follow Nikita and Danny on social media platforms!

Nikita: 
Instagram | @indianprincessnikita @nikitagayaramproductions @miccheckwithnikita
Tik Tok | @miccheckwithnikita @nikitagayaramproductions 

Danny:  
Instagram | @tropicalislerotishop

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to My Check with Nikita. I'm your host, Nikita Guyram, and today we have Danny from Tropical Isle. Tropical Isle started, well, you opened it in 2020?

SPEAKER_01 0:09

No. No. Bought it in 2021. Bought it in 2021. Right. They opened back in 2014.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

And then during COVID, I guess the business got bad or not so profitable or whatever you may call it. And um I was in another business, which I liquidated in October of 2020. And I had some had to figure out something to do. You know, I was too young to retire, didn't have enough money, so I needed to do something. So I heard that that location was for sale. So, you know, that's always been an admired building of mine.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Yeah, because I remember when you and I had the conversation prior to this recording, I had brought up Tropical Isle being here for a while, but then when I went online and actually did like the research, you were a recent owner. That's why I was like, okay, wait. I was kind of confused. Um, but what I wanted to ask you is 2021 was actually because it was post-COVID, right? I know that in terms of the market at that point, it was it was a buyer's market, right? Like in the sense of like things were a little bit cheaper and you know, and whatnot. But at that point in time, buying you like buying a business, that was kind of that's like a lot of people didn't really want to do that, or it was kind of like shaky at that point. So why did you decide to do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

The location.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

I didn't buy it to keep it a roti shop.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I had other plans for it. And it was actually my mother that was like, You're gonna go spend a couple hundred thousand dollars to buy a business and then close it down.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Why don't you try it? See how it is. And here we are.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Wow. Yeah, because I was gonna say 2021 things were still kind of shaky. We were still like things were opening up back, but yeah, you said post-COVID.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

I don't think that's post-COVID. That's not that's in the right smack in the middle of COVID. There we go. It's less than I took over less than a year from when we had the shutdown. Shutdown was what, March 15, 2020.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I bought in February 2021.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Okay, so we didn't actually start like opening things up back until that summer.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Like it was like outdoor stuff in the summertime. Exactly. Okay. Like I don't I'm like bars still probably had social distancing and all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah, in the summertime. Like you can only at that point it was only like outdoor things, I think, six feet apart, and then take out.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Right. Takeout was hidden.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

It was just a chance.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

So did you have to like rebuild in terms of like recipes or did it all come with the business?

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Everything came with the business, but it was there was a lot I wasn't happy with. So I did change a lot. I have I still have some of the cook staff from before, but I've grown it quite a bit. I've grown it quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

So um I've changed a lot, I've added a lot.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Um and a lot of the things I I have to stay on top of tasting ingredients, you know, making sure it's done home style. I want when you eat, it tastes like home style. Yeah. You don't know it's from a restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

So that's what I try to go for. And just try to introduce things that I like. Because I've I feel I have good uh taste buds and good uh decision making when it comes to hey, that's good food. Like a little thing I added chicken gizzard. I don't know. It's like the simplest thing, but just something like I thought was a treat. Yeah, like something I never had. I'm like, oh we gotta try that. And now it's one of the biggest sellers in the store.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

So what are I mean you just told me one example, right? But like what are aside from like taking over the business, keeping some of the cooks, what was like a major, major gap that you found from before that you wanted to just fill in from like when you took it over?

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Somewhere they were lacking.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

So I believe they didn't have enough staff. And you can't be at that location and want to have a very busy store and have a lot of customers if you don't have product to give them. So one thing I noticed is the the top items were running out in the middle of the afternoon primarily because there wasn't enough staff in the morning or even the afternoon to make new products. You can't sell a ton of things and not be have the capacity to make a ton of things. So I did that. Obviously, it was a hard choice because you know, payroll was the number one expense in that business. But um we did it and it worked. Um and just quality, like both owners were pretty much absentee. Once a week, twice a week, hour here, two hours there. So I spend a lot of time there.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

So I mean you still do.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

I heard um, okay, so one thing that I do want to say that I noticed, and I think this is just it's it's one of our biggest topics that we're gonna talk about, is the use of like social media marketing, right? I don't think before you or Tropical Al had done it, um, that anyone else on like Liberty Rockaway were really using social media as like a tool for marketing, right? Obviously, we're in this generation of using social media for everything, right? But especially since a lot of the businesses are people who have been here for a really long time, right? It's more so for the newer generation or the to to actually go through and use social media as marketing, right? So I think you probably are the first business that also had influencers come in as well, right? So, where did this idea come from?

SPEAKER_01 6:03

I don't want to take all the credit for it because we always argue about this. So I have a team, right? I have I'm partners with my sister. Yeah. So it's pretty much four of us me and my wife, my sister, and her husband. So I want to think I had this idea, but I know it was their idea for me to be the face of the business because I'm there all the time. And you know, I I I like to think I have a pretty good um reputation in the community. So they were like, Yeah, you gotta do it. So I did it. And it it was hard at first because you know, speaking on camera, it's hard. Yeah. You know, the first thing my sister said to me once was like, Can you stop looking like you're being held hostage? Just talk. I'm like, okay. It's really hard to be natural on camera. It really is. It really is. But it's gotten better. It's gotten better. You know, I was saying things I wasn't supposed to say, I'm cursing on camera. They're like, you can't say that. I'm like, oh God. You know.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

But um, I guess editing is good too. Um, but yeah, uh, we felt it needed to be done. It was something to get people in, because yeah, I want to say anything bad about the business before, but it didn't have a great reputation. Um, service, sometimes food, even though it's being literally the best location in Queens, I feel. And um they left a lot on the table. And I figured a lot of people needed to come back, like people that have tried it before and didn't like it or had a bad experience, you know, especially with food. You know, I'm like, I had a bad experience, I'm not going back.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

When especially when there's within a half a mile radius, there's probably 30 restaurants you can go to.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So there's a lot of competition. So you gotta get people back in. So that's what we said. We're gonna try to do the social media route, and it worked. You know?

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Well, I also think you buying the business in the time that you did, because we were in the middle of COVID. Um, the only real way to get things out at that point was that social media marketing, because TikTok became this huge thing. Um, and Instagram reels and and stuff like that. Do you have your own, and you don't have to give me all the secrets, but do you have your own um do you edit all your videos or do you have like a team that does it for you?

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Me personally? Yeah. Or like your My sister is my social media manager. So she does all that.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Where did the idea of bringing in influencers come in?

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Um to be honest, we don't pay anybody. A lot of people pay people to come. Um so we don't I really have friendships or relationships with these people, and they come because they want to. You know, like the big event with Chef Dev. Yeah, he just comes.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

You know, that's actually a really big deal. I don't want to call any other names, but it's yeah, they're just friends that come by. Yeah. I'd like to think they genuinely like the food.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

So you know, I met Chef Dev at a wedding in Mexico. He was catering a wedding for my cousin. I'm like, hey, I know this guy. We ended up playing golf.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Hit it off. And you know, I'm going to his wedding in September.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

I think, well, I think a lot of people tend to forget that like in any business, networking, keeping relationships, even if it happens by chance, like it is a big deal, right? Because you just never know who you're gonna meet, when you're gonna meet them. And it's I think that's one thing that's lacking in our community is the the value of that, right? Like, um just because and I say this in the sense of like a lot of the businesses, and this is not for you know me talking any bad about any of the businesses, but in general, um our businesses that have been around for a really long time on Liberty Avenue and Rockaway, because they've been there for so long, they kind of feel like it's already a household name. So they, you know, they don't really need to make the extra effort. They've been they've been doing it for what like their strategies always worked, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Whereas the times have changed. Now we're in that social media era. And I think that honestly, it's been a domino effect from what I can see, because you started off this whole social media journey, marketing journey, and then now every other business is also doing it too, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

I've been told that wow, you started doing videos, all of a sudden every roti shop does videos now. It's cool. I'm I'm pretty much friends with most of the owners.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

So I tell them all the time, like, oh, like I my my people are people I know, like, oh, you're friends with him. He's your I'm like, just because they're competition, we have to be enemies. Like, I I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

And it's funny that you bring that up because every single person that I've spoken to, like in terms of coming onto the podcast, or people that we've had on the podcast, like Shivani and Legends, they've all said, like, we're all friends, like we all see each other. We're all like, we all say hi, we're all like, you know, we're part of the same community. We're neighbors. That's what that's the one thing that I always hear is we're neighbors. Um, and I think that's a great thing. And also at the end of the day, right? Like when it comes to social media marketing, the whole world is doing it, right? So even if one person does start it, it's not like this trade secret that someone's gonna steal from me. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I didn't invent anything. It was just there, I just used it.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Um, okay. So I want to talk about just specific events that you've done at um Tropical Isle. And I know that we mentioned Chef Dev, right? I know that you already said like you met him at a wedding and that's how it started. Um, but in terms of that, like that for me, um in our community, and I think we've talked about this a little bit off of the camera, but in our community, like musicians, artists, like I guess um even cricketers, right? Like that kind of is what runs our, I guess you can say our Indo-Caribbean culture, right? Influencing has been something that a lot of people in our culture don't necessarily take well to um in certain aspects. But the reason why I want to bring up Chef Dev's uh pop-up events that you've done is because he sort of was an influencer turned into a like it's a real business, right? He is a chef, right? But then the influencing kind of helped market him in a better way, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

I would have to agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

And so just doing those pop-up events bringing light to people that that for me, it's bringing light to somebody that normally wouldn't get the credit, right? Um, because there could be that argument of he's an influencer and that's how he got all of what he has, or or vice versa, right? Play I'm just playing devil's advocate on both ends. Um so why did you specifically feel like those events should be something that you should do there at Tropical?

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So again, he's he's a very popular guy. I've had his food, he's a great cook. And um I figured a partnership, not a partnership, but uh collaboration would be a good move for both of us.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

And besides the social media people, some other people didn't know. People that would end up coming to Tropical because of us or because of seeing it or hearing about it, and end up meeting him. So it was just not something for Tropical, it was something for him as well.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

For him to meet people that are not on social media, don't know he's a chef, or you know, things like that. Or on his side, people that follow him would never been to Tropical, they go to somewhere else, come to Tropical, try it out. So again, the probably the best word is collaboration.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Yeah. The reason why I bring that up is because it's um it goes into my next conversation about just being a part of community events and pushing the culture, right? Um just doing these pop-ups at Tropical Isle, having influencers come in, whether it's you're facilitating it or they're facilitating it, these are just bringing light to a different part of our people that normally wouldn't get that, right? Like, and I say that in the sense of again, influencing is technically considered a newer industry, right? In most of the world, if you want to say that, right? Um, and it doesn't normally get the respect that we would think or we would want other in terms of other like industries, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:19

You're correct, and I would have to agree. Um and people don't know how hard it is to not even just be an influencer, to just make videos and edit and be on top of it and be relevant all the time. Like I got yelled at by my uh sister all the time. I need content, I need videos. Like, I don't have time. I got a business to run. She's like, well, that's part of your business. So get me videos.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

No, even something as simple as um, like we were both at the same event last like this past weekend, and I was doing interviews backstage, excuse me, and um someone commented something, I think it was on TikTok for one of the videos that I posted yesterday and today. And they were like, Why is she screaming? And I'm like, if you can only understand the noise that's going on behind me.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

I you can't tell the difference between what's what's being said in the mic versus like what's around you. Yeah. And I'm like, if only like that is such a small comment, but it's also like that then will make me not that it has, but then I sat there and I watched the video a few times and I'm like, wait, I'm screaming here. It doesn't seem real, doesn't seem right, what's going on? Um, and it doesn't, it brings out insecurities that you wouldn't think it would bring out. Because even something as like my voice is too loud, I'm like, wait, but now I guess now the next video I have to just tone down the volume.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Right. You kind of have, I would think you maybe not even use a mic. Yeah. Let them hear what's going on around you. And I'm like, oh, maybe she should speak louder, you know, so that they realize why you you feel like you need to scream sometimes or speak loud on the website.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Well, I've I've, you know, when you're editing and stuff like that, maybe and I don't like you said, your sister does it on your social media. But when you're editing, so what I did was I basically took out all the background, background noise, so it's just our voices overlaid, and I was like, this is probably they just need to hear what's but then even then it's like then there's too much noise in the background.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah, it's a fine line, it's hard. Like I tried, I didn't try, I looked at what she was doing. I was like, I can't do this. Yeah. Just too much time.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Okay. So um we talked about tropical Isle Starting. We talked about um just in general, like the the menu influencing, bringing in social media influencers, and social media marketing in general. Um expansion.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

There's a lot of things possible. Um other states, um, other parts of Queens, maybe Long Island. There's just so many variables that I don't know the answer to right now. Um so there's nothing concrete right now, but we're actually expanding the store itself right now.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

So right now the kitchen is super small and the front, the serving area is very tight, you know, especially now that we're busier. Sometimes the line goes around and out the door. People hate that. Um, even though, you know, at most other restaurants, you know, like mine, you know, some people gotta take a number, you gotta wait. Yeah, you know, there's a 50 people in the store online. My customers don't like that. They see a line, they go somewhere else, so they don't even bother. I get it if they have to catch a train or catch a bus, I get it. But some people are just upset, like where are all these people come from? I used to come here, there was nobody. Well, you know, we're doing a little better now, so we have more people. I'm sorry. But um to that, back to the expansion. So we're actually we built a new kitchen. We're waiting for a Department of Buildings uh approval to actually start using it. And when we do that, we're actually gonna expand the customer area in the store.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Add more tables, add more food offerings as well. I want to add we're adding breakfast like some American breakfast, like some pastries and fresh coffee and you know, things like that. We actually serve Tim Hortons coffee in the store right now. Oh, do you? I love Tim Hortons coffee.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Really?

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Honestly, location is key because I've You're on literally on the corner and you're by all of the major transportation. I am, which is like key because anyone going to work, coming back from work, can easily just stop in. You're um across the street from knockout, which is why I was bringing up expansion a second ago.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

I thought you meant Tropical Isle Experience.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

No, I mean any businesses.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Oh, you didn't say that. No, all businesses.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Expansion, all businesses.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, we just sell frock now. Yeah. Knockout style. So right across the street from Tropical Isles. Everybody knows Knockout, it's been there since like 1986. Yeah. So we purchased that business last year. It's been a little bit over a year right now, and it's thriving. It's doing really good and it's building nicely. And you know, I don't really spend that much time there. That's my wife and my sister and another partner, another family member. So they deal with that. Um, I help where I'm needed, you know, like when they want lunch during the day, you know, shit stuff like that. Run across the street. No, sometimes they just call. Hey, can you bring this?

unknown 19:31

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

So my question to you is what made you what what was why was that a family decision to buy over knockout? And it's I'm I'm asking this question because I'm gonna have I'm gonna make a point after.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Okay. Uh so we uh met the owner quite a few years ago, uh, nice people. And they're older and wanted to get out the business, so you know, I'm not against buying any business or looking at any business, because I don't think I think anybody can do anything. You know, I feel that any business just needs good management. Yeah, obviously you have to learn the business, then you manage. Um, I know nothing about dresses, I know nothing about fashion. Look, I wear this all day, every day. Um but I know my wife and my sister and those girls, they know and they're good at it. And it's just another business, another income stream, something else to do, expand our footprint a little bit, and you know, try to take over Liberty Avenue or something.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Nah, it was just uh it was just the right time. It came about and just like tropical. You know, I was in the gas business for 20 years. You know, I sold gas and coffee and cigarettes. It was like, would you ever think you'd be selling roti? No, definitely would definitely not think I was the guy that was gonna have a roti shop. So here I am.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Well, the reason why uh the point that I was trying to make with um with asking you why you bought over or why the family bought over Knockout was because the businesses that you've bought, at least Tropical Isle and Knockout, you've still managed to preserve the heritage that it's had from before, meaning names, what you were selling, even if you've added things to it, right? It the the core of the business is still there. Correct. Why did you choose to do that or keep it that way?

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Uh knockout can possibly have men's clothes. Right now it's all women, but it's not that big of a store. So to have a full line of men's clothing would be difficult. So I think the girls want to keep it women's, which is fine. Just make it the best. And still pretty affordable and yeah, more stylish things. And I hear it all the time. I see the customers because you know, I'm there in the corner all the time. You know, a lot of the even the older women, they're like, Hey, they have nice things now, or they have stuff that you only see at the mall that you wouldn't see on Liberty Avenue before.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

So the girls are Really taking their time to buy quality, you know, quality items. Yes, here and there it's gonna be it's gonna cost more than it did before, but let's be honest, you're not gonna find five dollar shirts anymore. No, you're not. It's just not a thing.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Rainbow doesn't exist as much anymore.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

You know, if you and then you get better quality, better style, it's gonna cost a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

You know, this is not 15 years ago when minimum wage was seven dollars an hour. You're making more money, so you gotta spend more money. It is what it is. You know, people complain that oh a roti is three dollars. I'm sorry, you know. I gotta pay people minimum $17 an hour.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

What do you want a roti for? Free?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

So people gotta understand it's you know, things are gonna cost more. I paid uh fill up my truck for $100 yesterday. $100.

unknown 22:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

That's ridiculous. You know, that all go, you know, I see my fuel surcharges on my bills go up. I'm talking about regular chicken deliveries or uh uh baked goods. I mean like baked goods, uh flour and bakery supplies. Yeah. You know, it used to be like $250, now it's six bucks. You know, but you can't be mad at them. You can't be mad at them because it literally cost them a few dollars more to come to you this week rather than last week because of fuel prices. They shouldn't eat it. It's like me at my business. You know, if I have to pay more for duck or I have to pay more for rice, you want me to eat that? No, you wanted it, you know, you gotta pay a quarter more, 50 cents more. And you know, people don't realize that sometimes, which is a little frustrating. But usually, especially from there, and I speak to a customer and try to explain that, they get it. You know, they understand. You know, you try to put put it in their perspective that they understand, and they're like, Yeah, that makes sense. All right, give it to me.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Yeah. Well, I mean, at the end of the day, like if you don't balance it out, you're just not gonna have a business that going forward.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Correct. Like I've seen it happen to a lot of people, and it's happened to us in other businesses too. Like you don't realize something goes up a penny here, two cents here, a buck, and then you don't adjust your price, and then all of a sudden, something that you're supposed to be making 30 for 40 percent margin, you're making 10 or 15, and that doesn't work in your business model. Yeah, you know, you have to make the right margin. You're in business to make money. I'm sorry, you know, we make customers happy, yes, good food, great. But I got a family to feed myself. Yeah, and if I don't make money, we don't get paid.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Yeah. I just my point earlier was I like that you kept the core of the businesses. Yes. Um, because like you said, Tropical Al has been there from before, so has Knockout for a really long time. I remember going into Knockout and buying my 20th birthday dress in Knockout, actually.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Where were you going? So city?

SPEAKER_02 24:42

No, at that time.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

It was Moroccus at that point. You're young.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

I was 20, so it was Juve. But that was we're talking 11 years ago. Yeah, I'm in my 30s now, so we're talking 11, 12 years ago. Yeah, you're old now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So at that time, that was like, yeah, Moroccus days, Juve days. Um at that time I think it was Mausie or Mo Mocha.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

It was probably Mocha going into Maze at that time.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

As places that I haven't gone to in a long time.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Yeah, we used to go to like tropics and really Calypso City when it was called Calypso City.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Calypso City, yeah. So I um I grew up in like do you remember Soco Paradise? Of course. So I my first ever dance performance was at Soko Paradise. Now obviously it doesn't exist. I was six. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

That sounds about it. Yeah, yeah, I was six. Like 25 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Yeah. 25 years ago. Now obviously it doesn't exist. And then Calypso City was always the spot because they had a well, Moroccus had the big rum jungle. Rumble, whatever. Yeah, rum jungle. Calypso City, rum jungle, Moroccus, and now it's a hardware store.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Electrical supplies store.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Electrical supplies store, okay. And then Club Tobago.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Club Tobago, yes, then to Juve.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Tente Juvent.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

So Tropics was a big one in my time, around let's say 98, 99, 2000.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Is that the same location?

SPEAKER_01 26:09

On Leffertz? No, no, no, no. This is something different. Oh, okay. Caribbean Tropics. Oh, I don't know. Jamaica Avenue and 187th Street. Then they called it Mangoville after.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Yeah, that was so it's like you go to Calypso City Friday, then you go to Tropic Saturday. That was just what you did.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

You know, it's interesting to me though, because um I was I was really having this conversation with a friend of mine, how a lot of these businesses, like the generations are now coming into like generations are taking it over, different generations, right? Like with Tropical Isle, you took it over from someone else, same thing with knockout. Okay, so um in terms of I know that Tropical does shipping, right? Um how did that come about? Why was that something that you started when you bought it over during COVID or that came after that?

SPEAKER_01 27:03

I actually started a few years after we took it over. So I want to say about two years ago we started that.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Um a lot of people were asking, um, how do I get your products? And again, social media, you know. Okay. How do we get your products in California, Florida? So I'm like, all right. So we started shipping some like uh pastry items, pine tart, cheese roll, bread, Solara, and it did very well. And then people started asking, all right, this is great, but we want food now. And I'm like, wow, this is like a big undertaking. So yeah, it was uh it was very difficult to start it, you know, because you have to have pretty much all the products. And then when somebody orders, you gotta prep make it, prep it, freeze it, send it. So we vacuum seal, freeze all of our fresh food, like the duck and dolpuri and doubles and everything, everything's separate. So we get it, you warm it, there's tons of ways to warm it. Microwave, stovetop. The best way a pot of hot water, you just drop the bag in, give it about 10 minutes, and it comes out as it like it was just cooked, it's really, really good.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah. You know, like if you hot up curry or something in a pan, in a in a frying pan, it's gonna dry it out a little bit. So it's not exactly how I want it. But if you do it in that bag, it's gonna it's gonna warm up exactly how you put it in there. So it's really good. Um and then that took off like about out of hell. Like I had to hire new staff, I had to get a location to just do shipping out of. It's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Oh wow. So when you're so the sh you pack it all in store and then you ship it uh you take it to the location and ship it.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Is that how the location's on the third floor of the same building. Oh, is it? I actually had to kick out my tenant, but it's bad. Yeah, but I wanted it in the same location.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

So I have a the entire third floor of shipping.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Materials, because we use you know, we gotta vacuum seal everything. We have thousands of boxes. We have um thermal liners, we have other liners that protect the food from any you know, you know, warehouses or trucks have god knows what yeah, creepy crawlies there. So we put them in sealed bags too, and then ice packs and it's a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Um Wow. I actually didn't realize that that's because I was wondering, I was like, when you said shipping food, I was like, Are we shipping curry?

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Yeah, everything from everything you just ate. Yeah, pumpkin, katahara, mango, bhaji, everything.

SPEAKER_03 29:51

Really?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Everything. Everything that Tropical Isle sells, black pudding, we ship. Wow. So and maybe I should say this publicly. So somebody had said, Oh, that's a great idea. You'll never have waste because like let's say I have duck curry on the table for the day, they actually thought that I would take that and then bag it and send it. That is a hundred percent untrue. So what we if I wanted a few duck curries like to ship, that's made fresh, cooled, bagged, frozen. It never touches a steam table. You know, it's made specifically for shipping, it's nothing that you know has been on a shelf before.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

So people definitely need to know that. That everything that's made for shipping, like like when my bakers bake a pint tart, for example, you know, they look at in the morning and they're like we need 200 pieces for today until tomorrow. But then I would give them a separate list. I need 40 pint tart, 60 cheese roll, this many bread, this many tennis rolls, separate from what they're making from the store. And that is just for shipping. So everything that's sent out like pastry wise or or snack wise is made that day.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

So it is really is like fresh food.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

It's not like fresh and not like day old food or anything like that, which is great, because you're already getting it frozen, right? Which is not always ideal, but it's also like if it comes out the same and tastes the same.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

I could add up some frozen curry and dolpery few right now, and you would have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

You know, people would say, Oh, it's frozen, but if because they know it's frozen. If they didn't know, they would eat it and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

And since we uh partnership with UPS and FedEx, so the longest shipping time we have, barring any delivery issues, is two days.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

So I ship it on a Tuesday, you're getting it no later than Thursday. And if you live close enough, you'll get it tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Where what locations are you sending out food the most to or shipping to?

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Florida, Jersey, Maryland. Okay. Those are my top three.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

No.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Those would be the main like main places that people move to, but you know, it's weird. Those are also the locations that have Guyanese or Caribbean restaurants.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

They do, that's what I was gonna say. Like Florida has a bunch.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Which so it was shocking that Florida is so big, Maryland is so big, Jersey's so big. But you know, not to pat ourselves on the back, but maybe it's just not good.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

Yeah. You know, you have the Well I was gonna say that because I've been to droji shops in Jersey and I'm not the biggest fan. I'm not that's just my opinion, right? Like I it's not it it wouldn't be considered like I don't think like Jersey would be considered a hub for Indo-Caribbean food and you know, there's a specific area where we all like they all Yeah, like East Organic. Yeah. Yeah. But I wouldn't say that it's the most like in terms of the food that you're gonna get here in Richmond Hill or South Low Zone, right? Florida, on the other hand, which is actually that's the shocking one, um, because there are so many roti shops and places. There's the Sings out there, there's Joyce, there's like so many. Fort Lauderdale, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Well, you said Florida, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Um, yeah. Well, I figured that m a lot of the Orlando area, like the Kissimmee, the Ocala, the Claremont, um Mineola. Which you would think would have more Yeah, so that's a really good location for tropical isle too.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Yeah. Florida. You should expand. You could.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

You know, there's something they call the four corners in between, like where a bunch of the four four uh counties meet, like Hain City and Lake County, and I don't even know the rest of them. It's a good location. So we'll work on that.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Yeah, you should. That would be great. Do you think it's because um and this would probably be something that you'd have to look into more, but statistically, do you think it's because those are maybe New Yorkers who were moved over to New Yorkers that are moved to Florida. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Not all of them, obviously, but a lot of them, yes.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

A lot of your customer base over there?

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

You know, at the the the Chutney show last weekend, yeah. Some lady was like, Hey, I buy from you. Where do you live? I live in Florida. Okay, and then it was like two others from Jersey. I'm like, Oh yeah, I buy from you all the time. I was like, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Which is great, right? Because there's always um, I think every culture always has like a main hub that has like the best food, right? Of their culture. So like Richmond Hill, South Oz and in New York, no one can really, in my opinion, beat that. Um, if you think about it.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

It's an opinion when it's a fact.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Or like in Canada, you can go to like Brampton and Mississauga, and like they'll have like good island mixes, like amazing there. You know, they have like different locations and mix.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

That's that's East Endo.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

Yeah, there's a few locations I think that they have. Yeah, I think there's like two or three restaurants.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Pickering. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

Pickering, yeah. There's I think that's the first location. Yeah, that's the first location. So like every hub, like you know what I'm saying? Like every like there's like a hub for each of them. Um wow. So in terms of catering, right? What are you normally catering when you're um when you get hired for that stuff?

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Uh mainly like seven cari for like a Hindu wedding. But um recently I've been doing a lot of funerals. Um That's sad. It is depressing, but people gotta eat. Yeah. And unlike a wedding that you you know, it's planned and everything, and you know, you can wake up early and get it done, and you know, some people might not go or or they cook before the wedding. Funeral, everybody has to go. So then nobody has time to cook. So like, hey, can you do this? Yeah, I'll take care of it. It's like easy to cater. It's not that difficult. The big seven curry weddings are little difficult.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Because it's a lot like you know, three, four hundred people, you're talking about fifty trees of food.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Are you also like staffing these weddings too in terms of service, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

You can have a buffet, we we serve it, like I'm doing one next year, July. People are booking up early, which is great. Um, you know, they want pasta d'oeuvres because it's just an event space they booked, it's not a catering hall. So no staff. I'm the staff. So I'm having my staff, you know, serving our d'oeuvres and appetizers, and then we serve dinner and then dessert. So it's uh it's been good. But just back to the wedding thing or the catering question. Um mainly uh primarily seven curry, but like in June, mid-June, I'm doing one in Jersey, I'm doing the Matikor, I am doing the Hindu wedding, then I'm doing the after party, which I do to change it up a little bit. We're doing they're doing Kaichore food for that one. So I have to partnership with Kaiser. It started off with the shipping thing because I ship their food too. So you can have a bhaji and roti and dal and pint tart for me, but if you wanted a chicken fry rice or a house special omen, you can get it from Kitchure. So and same way, vacuum seal frozen, warm it up the same way. It's really good.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Like is it the Kaichura on Leffertz?

SPEAKER_01 37:24

On Lefferts in Jamaica, yeah, the big one with the uh big dining room.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

So that so I'm doing that for that after party because they wanted meat for that and they wanted something different. So they wanted the Chinese style, so I'm doing that, and then I'm doing their kangan on Monday.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

And they want everything.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Chicken curry, duck curry, sorry, chicken curry, bunjil duck, lamb curry, pachowni, soup, and something else.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Yeah, so that's like gonna be like my wedding if I ever get married, because I can tell you I'm I'm the outsource queen. I don't want to be bothered. I don't want to have parent have my family have to worry about cooking.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

That's actually I'm hearing a lot of that right now. I I get a lot of calls, a lot of emails.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Hey, can you do this? Can you do that? Yeah, I can get it done. I do I've done nickers, I've done, you know, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

It just takes off the burden off of families.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Like when you do the math, it r it's really not that bad for nobody to have to do anything. It's like go, you know, going to a catering hall and they just do everything.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

So I take care of that portion of the food. You don't do anything. I and I full service. Like I bring it, I cook it, I bring it, I set it up, we serve it if you want, we replenish it as as needed, we clean up. You know, it it's full service. You don't have to worry about anything. You know, people always say, Oh, well drop just drop off the food or we'll pick it up when you get your auntie and your uncle to serve it or this cousin.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Not nobody knows what they're doing, nor do they not care, but they don't have the time to look at it the way I would look at it. Like, oh, we're running out of this, we gotta go put this on. Not put it on, but add to it and make sure the the customer, the guests have everything they need. You know, you don't want to run out of a like a kataha or a curry during a seven curry, you know, you want it to be good all the time.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

So I I really don't like when family members are in charge of doing that.

SPEAKER_02 39:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

So I take that burden off a lot of people and they're happy with it.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

It and honestly, when you're doing such a big event, like a like you were saying you're servicing a f like a f the full wedding. It's just a lot, especially when you have like three, four hundred people that are coming for the families to like have to, especially a lot of our families uh or a lot of the West Indian like uh or Indo-Caribbean weddings don't necessarily always have like wedding planners, right? So everyone's doing it themselves a lot of the times. Like the Hindu wedding part at least, right? Like if you're going to a reception, there's usually the major D there. You have people helping you out there. But when you're doing something like a sungate night at home or like a matzikor, you really don't have a wedding planner for that.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Some do.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Some some some do, not not all.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Especially for the smaller events.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Yeah, for the smaller events. Oh no, that'll be no, I'll be that'll be me. Because I can't I want to say yes, no, yes, no, thank you so much. I do showing up.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

I I hear you. And that's how it's been going. Yeah. I've noticed that with a lot of people. Like I gotta talk to, you know, I speak to the bride and the groom, but now I gotta go speak to this wedding planner to know, okay, well, they don't want this. And I'm like, now he's the middleman when I was just talking to you, but that's just the way it goes now. I guess you're already paying him, so let him do something.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

Generally. Okay. Um community events, right? Um, how important is that for you? Like, do you have like in and and I don't want to say how important, but like, do you have a quota on like, you know, maybe once a month you have to participate in a in a community event or it's more like whatever you can participate.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Anything that so a lot of people ask for donations, and I'll be honest, I really don't vet them. My sister does.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Meaning, like, you know, I don't want to be associated with somebody who's not doing something really wholesome or something good, or you know, if you're doing something good or you have a good cause and a good charity, then yeah. And they're not asking for much, uh to couple Drake Pilori or you know, depending on what it is, it's the South Queens Quim uh South Queens Women's March. That you know, they they have things for kids and a lot of events for uh seniors, and you know, those are nice little things. And they know they don't ask for a lot.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Some pint tart, some cheese rolls. It's very small, it doesn't cost me a lot, and it's for a good cause. So no, I do not have a uh minimum, maximum. It's if something comes about, and you know, sometimes it is a little too much, or if I have something the same day, and then it's like maybe usually a Saturday when the shop is crazy busy, I can't overwhelm my kitchen. So, you know, I might decline if I if I if I had to, but I usually get it done. And then now I'm doing a lot of things with uh Board of Ed and Um CUNY. I just did this thing at Hunter College for their International Day. Um it's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

But yeah, I think the first time I saw Tropical Isle at uh uh a community event was the NYPA Days Society's um Asian American Pacific Islander Month. I was gonna say Oppie.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Oh, no, it was at one police plaza. Yeah, yeah. You were there?

SPEAKER_02 42:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

You can come say hello.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

We were the dancers.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Oh, don't have a video here.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

Probably. We've been doing their Opi month for the last this would be if we do it this year, which I'm waiting for dates because it's supposed to be this month at some point, I think. Um I think, right? May's. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Neil didn't wait.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Neil's gotta tell us.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

I gotta ask Neil.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

Did you go to their uh thing on April 16th?

SPEAKER_02 42:49

I did.

unknown 42:49

Damn it.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

My daughter's birthday was the 15th. I danced.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Jesus. So we've been performing for the last what? This would be our fifth year doing it.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So yeah, I did all the food at that thing.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

That was nice. And then um I was supposed to do something else. Well, I do a lot of their they have some meetings and like I don't even know where a story or somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

So he always buys stuff.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

You know what you should do, because you were at the Chutney show this past weekend. When you're doing the Chutney show, you should like get videos of you giving the artist their food.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

Well, you didn't bring the artist to me to get food.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

Or they don't come out on the or call me by hey, bring food for this guy. One of the little girls that was performing, Sasha, she actually Yeah, her mom brought her over in the house.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Yes. And without St. John's with her.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Yes. So um so she had messaged me because I did like a little a mini interview with her too, and um I said, Bring Sasha backstage so we can do the interview.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

And um she was like, We're grabbing food, and I was like, There's food.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

There has to be food. It's always I yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Clearly did not walk around enough to pay attention to anything.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

So as soon as you come on the stage, if you just look immediately left, I know. I was where the VIP area would be. Yes, I know.

SPEAKER_02 44:16

You didn't see me on stage?

SPEAKER_01 44:18

No, I had to have a lot of time to look on stage. Probably.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

And the stage is there.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

So it wasn't.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

Damn it. I would if I knew I would have you would have done an interview too.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

Missed opportunities.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Next time, next time. I'm sure you'll be at the next Chutney show. I am about to present a lot of controversy by saying this, but I think it's because I'm Ghanese. Like there's nothing that beats a Gaynes curry, to be very honest, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

It's not an opinion when it's a fact.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

I when I went to Trinidad and I had um, I went to this roti shop called Pat Raj, and it's supposed to be really like one of their best roti shops in in Port of Spain. And there was two options on the menu. You can either do whatever you got with roti, or you can do a box with dal rice, potatoes, and then whatever car you got. So we did both. We got one chicken and roti, and then we got a duck and with the rice. Yeah, it wasn't really. It was good, but it wasn't See, that's the thing. It's good. It's good, but it wasn't like the the diff there's a difference.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

And it it is it's personal preference, you know.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Somebody that grew up in Trinidad or very Trini as opposed to being very Guyanese like yourself. Um Guyanese curry is good.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

But it's not my favorite. Yeah. They prefer that. And that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

I went to Guyana in March and I went down Pureka, and it was a it was a Sweet 16 that uh that what was the gig that we went for? Right. And after the um waitress came over and said, like, what do you guys want to eat? And I was like, Well, what do you have? And she was like, chicken and fried rice or duck and rice. And I was like, give me duck and rice. And it was the best thing I had all weekend. Yeah, I was so excited. I was like, because my my friends were asking me, like, why'd you decide to get curry? And I was like, because we're in Parika, like, we're not in like Georgetown. We're like in the countryish area.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

How was it though? It was good. Was it like real good? It was real good. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

So good. I was like, this is the best that I've had. Like in Georgetown, too. I didn't have good curry, to be very honest. In my place down the block from the hotel. That's probably why. It's very touristy.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

Yeah, but that doesn't mean it has to be bad. Like I never understood that. It wasn't very touristy, they're so big you can't have good food. No, I do not agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Well, now the Princess Hotel has fried rice, right? But it's like it's not fried rice with grilled chicken. It's not like real Guinese Chinese.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

Yeah, so I spent I went to Ghana about 10 years ago. And I remember this specific taste of Guy Chinese fried rice.

SPEAKER_02 47:20

It it tastes like bamboo garden, how it used to be back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

Whatever that taste is, I don't know what it is. When I taste it, I'll know. And I'm not happy, you know, I'm not proud of myself, but I probably had Chinese food 20 times in 10 days.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

Because I'm like, this one's going to Barbie's. All right, they're gonna stop in bat settlement and bring me back some fried rice. All right, cool. Tried it, it's good, but it's not the one I want. And you one is gonna go on a chart, they're going to Kambot, they're going to New Triven, and all the and I'm like, stop getting the big places. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

Go to the little ones on the one with the bag, you know what I'm talking about? Mm-hmm. Bag fried rice. But to be honest, the Guinese Chinese in Guyana is not it's not it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

I d I have to agree.

SPEAKER_02 48:05

It's not. Like I miss like you you know what I'm talking about with like back in the day in Bamboo Garden, you can get that the rice was like a specific grain of rice. It's very, very fine.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Very small, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:15

And it was like there was a specific taste to the to the actual like sauce that they used in the fried rice, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 48:22

When they're making it, whatever it is, that it's gone.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

So the only thing that I will tell you is the closest that I've had in recent times to what we used to have back in the day is actually legend. I think it's because the the grain of the rice. Because when I went to Ghana this past time, you know the the rice that you got me with the Kari? Yeah, it was literally that type of rice.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

No, well, we don't make fry rice with brown rice.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

But that's what I'm saying. It was brown rice. That's what I had in Ghana. That's what I had in Ghana.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

Really?

SPEAKER_02 48:49

With grilled chicken. Oh, well, that makes sense now. That's uh that wasn't, and I ordered, and then on top of that, I asked them, I said, Can I get pepper sauce? And they gave me a hot sauce packet. And I looked at the girl and I was like, pepper sauce. And she said, That is pepper sauce. I said, No, this is hot sauce. I want pepper sauce. And she came back with like some chili oil type of pepper sauce.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

That's like eating in Long Island.

SPEAKER_02 49:16

That's that's what I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

In Guyana? Yes, at the princess. That's so weird.

SPEAKER_02 49:24

Um Mind you, the friend, my friend next to me was having chick chicken alfredo pasta. I was like, at in Guyana?

SPEAKER_01 49:32

It's like an Ashafurry.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

Thank you. So I was like, like, what's really happening? Because yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

I guess they're trying to evolve and be different.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

No, but the Guy's Chinese is like our our like Oh no, it's like a staple.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

I agree a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

So the fact that that was like a I was very disappointed.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

I'm disappointed for you.

SPEAKER_02 49:54

It was very disappointed with the Guy's Chinese. Yeah, that's the only thing that I had actually aside from that uh duck curry was and yes, I'm saying duck curry for your training people out there. Um there was this place called Kush Corner. I did post about it on Instagram and stuff. And it's actually a Jamaican spot, but I ended up getting rice and peas with lamb curry and potato salad. The potato salad was the butter, most buttery thing I've ever had. The lamb was like the curry, I had you can't I can't even explain it. It was like so good, like that. I I ended up taking it with me like back home because like I couldn't, I mean I ended up leaving it somewhere by mistake, but I ended up the idea was to take it with me on the plane. But I forgot it at the check-in counter by mistake. Wow, and I was so mad, you have no idea. Somebody was happy they got lost. Yeah, but it was it was the best, like it was so good. Like, I I can't even stop raving about it. I every time I'm like, any of my friends that are going to Ghana, I'm like, please just I'm gonna give you a few. Yeah. It's on the way to the airport. Oh, so that you know how you take that straight road down? Yeah, East Bank Road. Yeah. It's on the way. I think it was probably a 10-minute drive away from Ramada. So on the way to the hotel.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

Yeah. Leaving Providence. Yeah. So good. I'm sure we can find everything to Googleable now.

SPEAKER_03 51:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

I'll look for it.