Born Fabulous
Born Fabulous
Season 3, Episode 28, Part 1: Jamie Minotti & Mark McLary, "Organically Inclusive Employment : The Journey of My Yard Live Beer Company"
Imagine transforming the excitement of a music festival into a community hub where families gather, connect, and enjoy a cold brew—this is the vision brought to life by Jamie Minotti and Mark McLary, co-founders of My Yard Live Beer Company. These innovative entrepreneurs have crafted a unique space in San Marcos, California, merging the vibrancy of a brewpub with family-friendly elements like an arcade, playground, and live music. In this episode, we explore their captivating journey from orchestrating music festivals on cruise ships to establishing a solar-powered soundstage company, which ultimately led to the creation of My Yard Live.
Amid the challenges of launching a business during the pandemic, Jamie and Mark's dedication to fostering an inclusive environment shines through. We unravel the personal stories that connect them to the world of disabilities, illuminating how these experiences have shaped their business ethos. Their commitment to inclusivity and community is further underscored by the unwavering support from investors during turbulent times. This episode dives into the significance of creating spaces that welcome all, bridging generational gaps, and reflecting on the integration of individuals with disabilities in their communities.
A heartwarming highlight features the employment success of James Zoul, a remarkable team member with Down syndrome whose journey began with a touching letter from his mother. Jamie and Mark share the profound impact of James’s presence in their team and celebrate his contributions in an industry notorious for high turnover. Join us for an exploration of passion, community, and the profound impact of inclusive business practices.
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Hello, my name is Greta Harrison. Welcome to Born Fabulous Podcast, season 3, episode 28. The theme of this season is young adults with intellectual disabilities living full lives of independence and interdependence. Work is an integral part of a full life in independence. The next three episodes will feature Jamie Minotti and Mark McCleary, who are co-founders and managing partners of my Yard Live Beer Company in San Marcos, california, which is a suburb of San Diego.
Greta Harrison:My Yard Live has a unique mission sustainable, family-friendly refuge with activities for all ages live entertainment, quality food and libations, as well as unique leisure games, with a focus on building a stronger community. Their mission further states they will create a paradigm shift in the way that communities interact, play and bond by inventing an inclusive, family and adult-friendly gathering space that has the ability to be replicated in the western United States and beyond. This mission organically led to the hire of James Zoll when my Yard Live opened in 2019, months before the COVID pandemic hit. James has Down syndrome. James's job grew over his years with my Yard Life, eventually leading to the unique addition of the four dudes and their mission. The four dudes are James and three of his close friends who have disabilities. The following three episodes will expand this wonderful story from here. Now. Please enjoy this clip of the Ring. The lyrics are by Melissa Riggio, who was the focus of episodes one through four in season one. She had Down Syndrome. The music and voice are by Rachel Fuller.
Rachel Fuller:I'm in the rain outside. I'm following my belief. I'm looking at the sky. I saw God following my heart. I'm an ordinary woman.
Greta Harrison:Hello, and we are so excited to welcome two fabulous entrepreneurs. Today we are going to be speaking to co-founders and managing partners of my Yard Live, which is a brewery in San Diego. We are going to be speaking to Jamie Minotti and Mark McCleary. I welcome you both to Born Fabulous Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Hello guys.
Mark McLarry:Thanks for having us.
Jamie Minotti:Yeah, thanks for the invitation. We appreciate it. We're excited.
Greta Harrison:Thank you. I'm hoping that you guys can start out this interview by telling us a little bit about your duties, your business, how you met each other, anything about yourselves, a little backstory.
Mark McLarry:Got it. So, jamie, you want me to start, or yeah? So Jamie and I actually started working together in 2005,. Right, jamie? 2005 or 4? 5.
Mark McLarry:We at the time were producing a music festival, but it was unique as we were producing it on a music cruise, one of these big carnival cruise lines. So we basically came in, kicked off all their entertainment, brought in our own entertainment, all these high profile bands from all over the world. So that's kind of initially how we started working together. At the time, we actually also had founded a company called Alternative Power Productions and we were a solar powered soundstage and lighting company. So what was unique about that, obviously, is that we're doing these huge concerts 15,000 people completely solar powered. So we integrated the solar technology into the stages themselves and then we're running our sound system, lighting everything, completely solar powered. So, for example, we were doing a tour called the Vans Warped Tour and it was 42 shows in 50 days and for the entire 42 shows we never went to a generator. We're completely running off alternative energy. So, and with that too, you know, because of being in that world, we found ourselves very much involved in a lot of different types of events and festivals, and a lot of them were community based, a lot of them were your mainstream large festivals. And the more we kept working through these events for example, these beer festivals and these wine festivals and these macaroni festival, bacon festival we were starting to see this niche in the market, that families were looking to integrate more with these festivals.
Mark McLarry:But quite often there was always some kind of divide between the parents. So for a parent wanted to go grab, you know, grab a beer, they could, but they'd have to go in the beer garden and they were separated by a fence and the mom was on the other side or the dad was on the other side with their kids and they were trading and and we were starting to see how there was a niche there that we, you know the families want to be more involved in these kind of deals. And that's kind of when the light bulb went off, that was one when the light bulb went off for my yard live. The other piece of it too was is that Jamie and I are both parents combined. We've got combined between us, we have six kids and there's always that that friday night where you ask your kids, hey, where do you, where do you want to go to dinner and of course you get four different answers, you know, and it turns into an argument, and that you know.
Mark McLarry:So again it was like, well, you know, what about? You know, um, designing something, a brick and mortar of that, that festival that we're talking about, as well as something where the parents can be happy, the kids can be happy, where, you know, you mentioned that we're a brewery, we're actually a brew pub, so we have a restaurant, a brewery, we do live music, we have a playground for the kids, we have an arcade, so it's kind of an all encompassencompassing deal where everyone is happy. You know, and you know, the bigger, the bigger point of all of that, and something that Jamie and I have always focused on, is community. So when we set out to build my Yard Live Beer Co. We always this is kind of our tag, underlined tag line was that we're, you know, we're opening a community center that just happens to have a brewery and a restaurant. Did I miss anything there, jamie?
Jamie Minotti:No, I think I think you nailed it.
Jamie Minotti:I mean to that point. You know, really the hospitality industry as a whole, mark and I weren't really really interested in going into hospitality or having a brewery or having a restaurant. We were interested in putting, you know, a venue together to create a space where community could gather and create memories and multi-generational, you know, families can come together and friends and really, you know, create that opportunity for that to take place. And that came, we found in all different ways and fast forward to you know, speaking with you. You know, creating that community and developing those relationships really happened early on. And you know, I know we'll get to it later in the conversation, but speaking and hearing from June and receiving that email about James and involving him, that was one of the first things that hit Mark and I to say I think we're doing this thing, like I think the division board and the idea behind it is starting to work and kind of fast forward and we've had the opportunity to do a lot of things with the community and really excited about it.
Greta Harrison:I love that. So, basically, you built a family friendly, intergenerational, family-friendly environment for people to go relax, have fun, make memories and you're changing well as your tagline says the paradigm. But you're also changing stereotypes of pubs or breweries too.
Mark McLarry:Absolutely Well, you know and you kind of hit a point about the changing paradigms, Like Jamie had mentioned it too is that, like when we went through the due diligence of opening the space, one of the things that really came to light was that people, when they go out, they're more now looking for an experience beyond just getting a meal or a drink. What they're really looking for is experiences, and so, for us, that was 100%. Our focus was taking all these different elements that we've created and creating like a memorable experience. Yeah, they're going to get a great burger and they're going to get a really good beer, but like they're going to walk away and be like wow, that was just, that was just a lot of fun and, and you know, creating those experiences and like you.
Greta Harrison:like you said the, the parents and the kids aren't going to have to be separated as much. They're all in the same place having different kinds of fun. I'm sorry, go ahead, jamie.
Jamie Minotti:No, and and we always felt like the hospitality industry as a whole could had the ability to make a greater impact in the communities of which they operated. And that's kind of our sense of creating those memories creating that space, that safe space, that welcome space, creating a diverse space, but then also having the ability to, you know, have that machine and that company that can really reinvest back into the community. And you know, we opened July of 2019. So Mark and I sat down in 2017 with a vision board and a six pack of beer on the sunroom and visioned out where we wanted to be and what we wanted this thing to look like. There was no MyR Live, there was no title, there was no building, there was no anything.
Jamie Minotti:And through the course of two years, we developed a business plan, raised funds, found real estate, brought on some really great partners and investors and opened our doors in 2019.
Jamie Minotti:And nine months later, short nine months later, we shut down for the first time and, you know, became a midst of challenges over the course of two, two and a half, three years. And you know, one of the things that we can really sit back and say is the reason we got through those times, with having only been open nine months, was because of this community concept and that's not why we created it. But the reason why we are here today is because that community concept was developed and was integrated into my Yard Live and what my Yard Live is, and the community as a whole has helped us, helped us really get through it and, you know, in some ways been been stronger for it. And here we are. You know we've been open since 2019, but really here we are going into 2014 and we've only been fully operational for about two years, which is crazy to say. But we have people come out and say hey we didn't even know you existed and all these things.
Jamie Minotti:And it's because you know we've only been open for a short period of time and those are the things that we kind of remind ourselves of and remind our staff of, and kind of build to strengthen for the future.
Greta Harrison:So 2024 will be like your second or third year, even though technically it's been longer. But the community missed you, didn't they? It sounds like the community missed you. Nobody liked being penned up. For as long as we had to be penned up, I mean, it was necessary. I'm not complaining, it was needed. We did what we needed to do, but it makes people appreciate community more. Did you see that?
Mark McLarry:Yeah, well, I think probably one of the best examples of that I can think of is literally when we were mandated to shut down. In the middle of it we weren't generating income. We're in the middle of a pandemic and one of the toughest industries to be in the middle of pandemic we had. We actually brought on a family as investors and they're like we're so passionate about what you guys have built there and done there that we want to invest in you right now to secure to make sure that you guys are moving forward. So for us that was like that was just the icing, you know, like this is unbelievable.
Greta Harrison:Wow, wow, yeah, that was like sent from above, sounds like yeah that's, that's, that's just wonderful. Well, if we talk about your before we move on, you said you have six kids between you, so let's just talk about you personally a little bit, If you don't mind telling me your ages and there's a reason I'm asking that.
Mark McLarry:I'm 52.
Greta Harrison:Okay, and Jamie.
Jamie Minotti:I'm pretty sure I'm 48.
Greta Harrison:You're pretty sure you're 48. Okay, and how many kids? You said you had six kids total, but how many kids do each of you have? I have four. Okay, and how many kids do you said you had six kids total, but how many?
Mark McLarry:kids do each of you have? I have four.
Greta Harrison:Okay, and so then, jamie, you have two.
Jamie Minotti:I have two. I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old. My four-year-old was three months I'm sorry, five months old when we opened our doors in 2019. Open our doors in 2019 and, amidst the, the pandemic, as if it wasn't stressful enough, we decided to have a, a baby and uh, reopen, uh, when the baby was basically being born.
Greta Harrison:So oh, wow, yeah, that's quite some timing there quite some timing, okay, and part of that, uh, that I wanted to. The reason I wanted to ask that was when you grew up, what was your exposure to people with disabilities?
Mark McLarry:Well, you know, I don't know if, growing up, I think the best way for me to answer it the most exposure I had to it was my sister-in-law actually has Down syndrome, so that would be for me that would be the most exposure I've had to it.
Greta Harrison:Okay, and you might tell me how old your sister-in-law is.
Mark McLarry:She's 40. Okay, yeah, okay, all right, and you might tell me how old your sister-in-law is.
Greta Harrison:She's a 40.
Mark McLarry:Okay, yeah.
Greta Harrison:Okay, all right. And Jamie, what about you?
Jamie Minotti:So I grew up in a family of educators teacher and he ran a camp for folks with special needs, mainly middle schooler, elementary, middle school and high schoolers, called Ranger Day Camp. And when I was four years old I started going to Ranger Day Camp every day, thinking I was a counselor, and fast forward to the realization that my dad was getting really great child care over the course of the summers while I was attending camp. So my sister and I attended camp. When I was five I went to my first Special Olympics state games and stayed in the dormitories and stayed overnight for the state games in Connecticut and my dad was pretty instrumental in in in doing that. So, um, my exposure has been, you know, really, really my my whole life and done some volunteering and and actually hopefully this Sunday, if everything works out, I'm going to bring my daughter, my daughter's four, and I'm going to bring her to the LA County Special Olympics and kind of do a similar introduction to hers when I was four years old.
Greta Harrison:So that's great. That's great. Now, did either of you have anybody with disabilities in your schools, in your classes, or that you saw in school, or did you not really see the people with disabilities in school?
Mark McLarry:No, I for sure did. I grew up through the public school system. I grew up in Palo Alto and the schools there definitely had special need programs. But again, it seemed you know I'm going back to a very young age like elementary school. It seemed like they were very much. It was very much a separation. You know, like I was in my mind. I kind of remember seeing kids with disabilities, but it was. They're always almost segregated to a degree, and this I'm talking the 70s, if that makes sense.
Greta Harrison:Well, it still happens 50 years later. So I'll tell you that. I mean it's still the majority of the cases. I don't know the percentages, but I would say 80, 90% are still segregated, it's a very small percent who get to get a traditional education included? Very small. And what about you, Jamie?
Jamie Minotti:So you know, I would say similarly, I think there was like kind of a mixed integration in our school. Connecticut as a whole, you know, historically kind of with the Kennedys and their involvement in Special Olympics and that kind of thing I think Connecticut was, was, was pretty progressive, or at least my upbringing, upbringing with, with kind of my integration and having folks with special needs over to dinner, um, and my sister being friends with, uh, with the girls with Down syndrome, susie Pyle I still remember her name Um, I think the, the um, I felt maybe it was more integrated than it actually was. Um, my nephew, um, uh, has autism and uh, here in San Diego and he's Diego and he's, he's fully integrated in general ed. So you know, I think you know, as far as growing up was concerned, it was, it was probably for me, a kind of a mixed integration or what I observed of it.
Greta Harrison:I love that that you guys are going to raise your children to carry on the more inclusive philosophy, and you're already starting when she's four and she'll probably go to school with people who have disabilities in her classes. So that'll be, that'll be the progress.
Mark McLarry:I was going to mention with my kids going through the public school system here and I live in Point Loma area that they, they're, they're very much. It's an integration for sure, and each class actually will have an aid dedicated maybe to one or two kids in the class that are also there to help during the class time.
Greta Harrison:That's great, that's wonderful. So how big is my Yard Live? I know you have several investors. I know we have two managing partners. Can you tell me a little bit about your location size, how many employees you have, that type of thing.
Mark McLarry:Well, including the indoor and outdoor, the entire space is 17,000 square feet, okay, and then we have 29 employees. There's actually four main partners JB, myself, a guy by the name of George Macero and another guy named Freddie Bench, and then there's a bunch of smaller investors that are kind of silent investors, okay, investors, yeah, it's got, yeah, so the indoor space is indoor space is 10,600 square feet, and then the remainder goes is all the outside. So we have two separate patios one patio we call the adult patio because it's got a stage and it's kind of set up like an Oktoberfest style beer garden with lots of picnic tables. And then we have a completely separate outdoor patio that's got a playground. We have a play structure out there, designed by the same people did Tom Sawyer's Island at Disneyland, and then inside we have an arcade inside and, of course, the brewery itself and then a massive kitchen.
Greta Harrison:Okay, so, if I'm sorry, go ahead, jamie, oh.
Jamie Minotti:I was just going to continue on. We have, you know, 30 employees, um and uh, a variety of kind of subcontractors and and and vendors that go along with the business. So prior to prior to the pandemic, we were about 50 strong and then we kind of circled back and we're a little bit more leaner and meaner at 30 folks.
Greta Harrison:OK, but everything's chugging along and going well. You feel like things have have sprung back, like businesses slowly, slowly springing back. I would say Slowly springing back Baby steps.
Jamie Minotti:Baby steps. There's new kind of post challenges with, you know, expenses and economy and cost of living and all of those things that have kind of sprung up. But that being said, you know again, the reason we're still chugging along is because of the community support and the business that's been there from the community.
Greta Harrison:Okay, well, the reason we are talking today is because of your wonderful employee, james Zoll, and his employment journey started with a letter, and his employment journey started with a letter. I've already spoken to his parents and his wife's parents. We've heard the story from their side. I'd like to hear what it was like from you all's side when you got this special letter.
Jamie Minotti:We. So I remember reading, I remember reading the email and I was just been coming home from the venues sitting in my driveway checking blast emails and I saw the email come through from June. You know, we were so as we were developing MyAirLive, we were doing a capital improvement project on the building and we actually had a trailer in the back of the building that at that time we were working out of while the construction was going on and we were hiring folks and establishing menu and recipes and you name it, still dealing with the capital improvement project. So everything community driven that we wanted to do with the business, I would say it was on hold. It was just there, was there was priorities of opening the doors of the business and and we were focused, hyper-focused on that.
Jamie Minotti:So when that email came through, I remember sharing it with Mark and Mark seeing it I think Mark saw it come through as well and we kind of talked about it and, like I mentioned earlier on, that was like the first of wow, this is exactly what we're trying to do. We haven't had the time to do it yet because we're worrying about opening the doors and keeping the doors open, but this is what we trying to do. We haven't had the time to do it yet because we're worrying about opening the doors and keeping the doors open. But this is what we want to do and you know I shared kind of my past with you know my involvement in just my experience with folks with special needs and and so for that to be kind of, the first email to come through from June was June was very serendipitous, as they say.
Greta Harrison:For the audience's information. I want them to know that this was all precipitated by an article that was announcing your business opening correct, that was in the paper and talking about how you were going to be a different kind of pub slash brewery, more community minded, and that's kind of what caught June's eye. And then she wrote a letter and what about her letter stood out to you Because there were a few things that I think stood out to me. I'm curious, what stood out to you?
Jamie Minotti:Well, I think that and I think June and Jim really like beer and James and. James and James, yeah, absolutely. And.
Greta Harrison:James. That's a great answer. Well, what I was thinking on a literal basis was, if I'm not mistaken, she sent a picture of James and his wife, correct Of their wedding, or a picture of them together, and so wasn't that a little bit out of the box for you to see that?
Mark McLarry:I wouldn't say it was out of the box, right, Because, like, as Jamie mentioned, you know, and I'm going to I'm going to give Jamie a lot of credit because he, you know, he grew up very much involved, you know, involved, working with people with special needs. And so, when this came through, yeah, we both acknowledge it, and we both, you know, we both said, yeah, this is exactly what we're looking to do. But, you know, it was Jamie that really took the ball and ran with it and and, of course, I was 110% on board and so, um, yeah, all of that stood out to us. I mean, it definitely like you know cheesy expression, but it did. You know, when we saw that email, it definitely it pulled it, it definitely pulls at your heart strings, for sure, and and and we knew that that we were going to move forward regardless.
Greta Harrison:It's from a parent standpoint. For me, it shows independence. There aren't a lot. I would love to see more people with significant disabilities being able to get married, and there aren't enough.
Greta Harrison:Yet there's still too, many hurdles in their way. So I personally applaud every single couple out there who's been able to do that and I think it's wonderful and, like I said, we need more of it. But hopefully, by seeing a married couple, it makes you think, okay, he's a little more independent too. I mean, we all know marriage isn't easy. There's ups and downs, right, it's a journey. Right there, I mean, I've been. Marriage isn't easy. There's ups and downs, right, it's a journey, right there. I mean, I've been married as long as you guys are old, but it's a journey and it, you know, there's those ups and downs. And the fact that he and his wife, you know, had already been married some number of years, I think that shows some maturity there too as well.
Mark McLarry:But so I mean, the greatest thing of it all is that James was probably one of our first hires and and and guess what? There's a lot of turnover in this business. And guess who's still here? James? He's stuck with it and, um, all through this, this entire time through a pandemic, like you know, we always say that I mean, how strong can relationships be when you've all banded together and worked through one of the probably craziest times in the history of the world, in my opinion a pandemic. They happen every hundred years, I think they say.
Greta Harrison:And you brought up a great point. Go ahead, Jamie.
Jamie Minotti:Oh, sorry, as far as the independence, I think you know, and I'll speak for myself. You know we learn, we still learn and we are learning a lot in. You know as much as you know. You know I've been around and with folks with special needs my entire life and with folks with special needs my entire life. You know, at the same time with the movement and the progression of independent living versus and I don't know if this is the terminology, but group home living and the differences in the theories and all of those things that go along with it, those are things that you know honestly to that point.
Jamie Minotti:And independent living and marriage and all that stuff was was was new to me and new to us, and things that we have continued to learn and and still learn with with the folks that you know help support James and Kristen and their involvement with us and job coaches and all of those things. So you know, a lot of that stuff was new to us at the time. I think the thing for us was it didn't matter, like it didn't matter, right, I mean it was like married, not married, independent, not independent, or whatever it was. You know there's a person who's interested in our company and they've reached out and we want to sit down, we want to get to know them and we want to learn about them, and that's kind of what we did.
Greta Harrison:And and he's loyal to this day. And and one of the points that I like that Mark brought up was the lack of turnover, because so many employers have an issue with that and they don't realize that people with disabilities are not every single person you can't make that kind of statement but majority are very, very loyal and there's much less turnover, so that's a huge advantage. Are there any other advantages you'd like to talk about having James there?
Jamie Minotti:I mean just to kind of stick on that turnover. So Mark referenced it a little earlier, but I mean I can name a bunch of advantages of having James here, but one, particularly that kind of maybe something that's a little different is actually the turnover and retention of the staff as a whole and the team as a whole. I mean we have a lot of long-time hospitality server, bartender, brewer, etc. You name it and having James and not only James here and we'll kind of get in. You know a little bit more about our other partnerships, because I'm actually looking out my office window at six folks with special needs we have right now in the venue that are working with us. But you know the ability for our staff who have been long-term hospitality folks who focused on serving, to now have the ability to work with folks with special needs and help train them and help support them and be their job coach and, you know, be their mentor and be their sounding board and being those things that I think for our team, not only with retention and longevity but also morale and having something that's that that's deeper than just serving a beer and deeper than just flipping a burger.
Jamie Minotti:And we have. We have guys, you know, back in the kitchen that have worked in in hospitality and worked in kitchens for over 30 years. And James is back on our expo window, which is the window where you get the food, grabbing the food and kind of delivering it back out to the customers. And James is out there and these guys are joking and laughing and asking questions and the whole thing. And again, I think all of it kind of ties into that, that, that that bigger purpose, which is what Mark and I are all about. It's, it's, it's, what's that bigger purpose? I don't care if you care, if you're making widgets or widgets or widgets or whatever. What is that? What is your purpose and what? What is that bigger purpose? And I think you know, having James here and the other, the other I'm calling kids, but the other kids and adults, some are high school students and some are adults here um, working with us has kind of created that bigger purpose, which I think is not only for the team but for Mark and I.
Greta Harrison:Is is what we've been trying to do you just very eloquently stated something that my daughter's boss has told me personally. My daughter works for a local realtor. He's a very large realtor. He has several hundred employees and she works in his office and she assists the marketing director, and she explained to me part of the reason that the realtor is so successful is because it's about more than selling houses. It's about what you do with your life and that greater purpose and that she herself, even though she's a mother of many children and she's a very busy person, she loves her job. She was searching for that deeper purpose and she said having my daughter there has helped her see, because it's more than having my daughter there. There's involvement in the community she has now and so forth. It's shown her a deeper purpose and you just eloquently stated that. I wish so many more employers could see that. I love that.
Greta Harrison:Thank you for listening to episode 28 of Born Fabulous Podcast, third season. This was the first of three episodes with Jamie Minotti and Mark McCleary. When hearing any dates or promotions mentioned, please keep in mind that this interview was recorded in the fall of 2023. Short video clips from most episodes are available on your, on our youtube channel and on born fabulous podcastcom. You can also hear all released episodes of born fabulous podcast on youtube. Now, in episode 29, you will hear jamie and mark further discuss james's specific the story of the four dudes, meaningful employment and more. It was such an honor to have this in-depth three-part conversation with Jamie and Mark. They are exceptional, evolved, committed and caring business leaders. Our world certainly needs more entrepreneurs like them. Please follow and like us on Facebook, instagram, twitter and threads.
Greta Harrison:If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review wherever you heard this podcast. Now please enjoy this clip of the Ring. The lyrics are by Melissa Riggio, who is the focus of Season 1, episodes 1 through 4, she had Down Syndrome. The music and voice are by Rachel Fuller. The rain is falling down down my way. The wind is blowing me away.