A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Should Mythical Kitchen Open A Restaurant? ft. Robert Irvine

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

Today, we're joined by Robert Irvine, chef, entrepreneur, Food Network host, and author to discuss: should we open up our own restaurant? Check out Robert Irvine's new book: Overcoming Impossible Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@ahotdogisasandwich To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. That's seven filet all day. Come on, the cock-o'-banner dying in the past. Hands, I need hands. We're 86ing the corn dogs. Oh no, we're not opening a restaurant, are we? Don't look at me. This is A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what?

That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. I'm your host, Josh Scherr. And I'm your host, Nicole Inaidi. And today we are joined by Robert Irvine.

Everyone, give it up. Robert! The second Buffet chef in this room right now. Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. Oh, my God. Yeah, I'm the first. He said the second.

I'm the strongest. I'm the Buffet. I overcompensate. Yes. That's okay. We, I'm the first. He said the second. I'm the strongest. I'm the buffest. I overcompensate. Yes. That's okay. We can talk about it afterwards. So Robert, of course, is a world-class chef, entrepreneur, and Food Network host of Restaurant Impossible, among other shows. He's a multi-time author, and you can buy his newest book, Overcoming Impossible, learn to lead, build a team, and catapult your business to success.

He also may or may not be my biological father. Robert, would you be willing to... I thought we weren't going to talk about that. We have a paternity test. You thought it was a COVID test? That was actually... It was positive. Oh my god! My long lost son! Eat more.

It's like the Marty show! He's already tried to feed me. You are the father. I want to know who the mother is. I think that means I'm not Jewish. We'll figure it out later. It's okay. I've already been circumcised.

Anyways, Robert, so what we wanted to talk to you about. Good morning. This is it. The morality clause is going to be fine. We wanted to ask you whether or not we should open a restaurant because we have a very, I don't know if you've heard of it, a very strong digital media brand. We have a lot of fans out there who always say you should open a restaurant. We wanted to ask you whether or not it would be a good idea.

All right. So let's go to a couple of questions. Sure. Do you have $2 million in a bank? Nicole, how much money you got? Not that. Are your student loans paid off yet? Absolutely not.

Okay. So $2 million. Don't put it in the bucket. Then you're expending or your expected revenue. So for six months, you expect to do a million. You need that at a bank. Then you need an old SHIT fund in case something goes wrong. And normally when you go into a restaurant, the hood system breaks, the refrigeration breaks, the oven breaks, and it's all SHIT moments, right?

So the answer to me would be no. But we wrote a pitch and everything. Yeah, hear us out. Hear us out. We did. Because we have some connections here, right? So we know two guys who own a relatively successful digital media company. Their names are Rhett and Link.

We call them Daddy Rhett and Daddy Link. We call them Daddy Rhett and Daddy Link. We call them Daddy Rhett and Daddy Link. I'm not going to ask why. Well, if they were able to, say, invest a million dollars each and we were able to do this, you know, we have a whole business plan and we actually do get that initial seed capital. Do you think, like, say we found a nice restaurant. Okay, so let me give you another statistic, okay? So if you make $1.2 million in revenue, you're lucky to walk away with $90,000 a year.

If you're willing to work 90 hours a week for $90,000 a year, go for it. But I will guarantee you'll be calling me in a couple of months saying, Robert, it's not working. Because that's exactly what happens. Somebody says, oh, we've got investors, oh, we've got credit cards. My mom says I make the best sauce and the best gravy and the best meatballs. I should open a restaurant.

And they do. The biggest failing restaurant in the United States is an Italian restaurant, hands down, because everybody wants to make mama's meatballs. That's Rocco. Oh, my gosh. I mean, it's a true statement. Yeah.

So you open a restaurant. It's gone home for the first six months. You bring all your friends in. Oh, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah. And then six months later, you got no money. Yeah. And that's normally what happens in a restaurant in Possible. Yeah, yeah, of course.

And we've done 340, 350, whatever the number is now. And it's the same story. And I hear it all the time. Look, if you want to go work for somebody and really understand what the restaurant business, not just food because anybody can cook. Yeah, that's right. I mean, if I can cook, you can cook. But it's understanding the financial obligations that you have and how to control cost. Of course.

If you can control cost and go from one mythical kitchen to two to three to four, if you get 10 and the purchase power is big and somebody comes in and says, oh, I like this concept, let's open 30 of them, that's where you make money. That's a $300 million company. That's right. That's interesting. Franchising. Franchising.

What percentage of opening a restaurant and it being successful actually has to do with you being able to cook good food? Zero. Like really? cook good food? Zero. Like really? Full on zero? Yeah. Because I could hire you, who is a great chef. And look, I'm a good cook.

I hire people way smarter than me. They cook. I make money. I'm really good at it. But you don't have to be the cook. You have to be the vision of that and the leader of that. And the biggest failure in restaurants is of that and the leader of that. And the biggest failure in restaurants is lack of leadership, lack of vision, and then holding people accountable.

Because they're like, oh, I mean, I just did one. Oh, the filing cabinet was a garbage bag full of paper. Gosh. And then he's wondering why they're $450,000 in there. Yeah. So, look, if you've got the training and somebody can help you walk through it, you've got a strong enough brand to be able to bring people to it and franchise. I'm a big believer in franchise because you're taking a cut and somebody else is doing the work. Absolutely. Well, okay.

So let's actually game plan this out, right? So us actually, Nicole and I being the executive chefs, co-executive chefs, which one, leadership vacuum, we would be dead already. But two, say that instead of us going out and actually finding the real estate, building out a restaurant ourselves, training the staff ourselves, say we did some sort of a licensing deal, right? Or say there's a company that they control the real estate and they're building out, say, a fast, casual sort of food hall situation, they want to slap the Mythical Kitchen name on it. We can take some of our best dishes, our most proprietary inventions. You've never had orange chicken parmesan, have you? It's a combination of orange chicken and chicken parmesan.

No. What about- I'm so excited. What about popcorn ice cream cake? Doesn't that sound good? Yeah. Ooh. That's good stuff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about beef bile cheesecake? Now, I understand that beef bile might be a little bit polarizing. But the whole brand of Mythical is, you know, making people try new things. And, you know, sometimes you might need a barf bucket on the side. Sometimes, you know, you might eat the most delicious thing. It's all about highs and lows of the Mythical kitchen. You look dubious.

What are you saying? So far, you just discussed a lot of lows and a barf bucket. But it got a visceral reaction from you, Robert. It did. I think that's what we're really trying to create with the Mythical Kitchen restaurant experience. It's something unique. Yes. My God, you'll be closed in three minutes.

Barf buckets at the tables during barbecue bile season. Well, it's like how you go to a Joe's Crab Shack and they have the bucket for the crab shells. We'd have that for vomit. All right, so look, on a scale of 1 to 10, that's an 11 no. We're deleting that from the restaurant. Okay, delete it, delete it. That's completely deleted.

But for real, I mean, obviously you have worked with the Food Network for a long time. There's a lot of chefs from Food Network, yourself included, who it's like your name will be on the restaurant. Obviously you are not the person who's there cooking every day,

but you're using a brand power that you built over, for blood, sweat, tears over years. I'm going to correct you. Slightly different because there are two ways to do this, right?

So I can either use my name and my likeness to sell, which is normally a 7% royalty, or I own it. So we own most of our stuff. So our manufacturing plants, our distilleries, we own it. Dang.

Simply because I can control it then. If I license my name to you, yes, I can put an executive chef in like we do in Vegas who controls my piece of that. In other words, the food, the quality, et cetera, the systems. But 9 out of 10 times, yeah. Guy Fieri has 500 restaurants he's not in on a cruise ship because he's filming TV.

There's different ways to create revenue. I chose to fund Fit Crunch and all the other things that we do. I fund that myself. I don't have partners. You don't have any partners. Good for you.

Not cod blood. So for me, it works. Yeah. Otherwise, I've got to deal with bath buckets, you know, not eating, you're not feeling good about yourself, I'm not coming in today, you know. So it's much easier to control the avenue or the direction if you own the manufacturing and the product itself yeah do you see more people getting into hot water from trying to own everything themselves or from taking on extra partners and investors i think it's more look there's no saying right

the more cooks in the kitchen sport the broth sure more partners you have, the more say they have, the more messed up it gets, in my opinion, right? Yeah. Unless you are the expert. So we have technology, we have clothing, we have nutrition, we have food. And if we don't have the knowledge, we bring the knowledge in to support it. That way, you know, hey, we're paying you a salary.

But if we get to this point, then there's a percentage of that revenue that you can garner based on your knowledge. So I think it's surrounding yourself with good people. Sure. That's important. So say you don't have $2 million. You've surrounded yourself with good people. We have good people.

I feel very surrounded by good people right here. Likewise, likewise. But I mean, that's what does give us, you know, a little bit of hope for at least the Mythical Kitchen. This is more of a thought exercise right now. Of course. But of course, this is something that people throw out the idea. And of course, the worst reason to open a restaurant is people telling you you should open a restaurant. Or to make money.

Or to make money. But say you don't have $2 million in the bank. What about the idea – I'm thinking of a guy like Roy Choi who started a food truck and then was able to very organically build a brand over time and time and time. And, God, he's 14 years now since the launch of the Kogi food trucks. But that also kicked off a wave of a lot of failed food trucks. Absolutely. But here's the thing. Think of a food truck.

The Army has just done it now. The Army bought five food trucks. No way. Not because it's a food truck fat. It's because people can get from point A to point B to get food. Right. Food trucks are a great, in my opinion, and it's a humble opinion, are a great way to learn business. There's a program for veterans right now called CHOW where we put you in a food truck.

We train you how to run a food truck. We train you how to do financials. Then we put you in a in a food truck we train you how to run a food truck we train you how to do financials then we put you in brick and mortar oh my gosh that's so wonderful i think it's the quickest way to your own business because hey look you can up and move number one if the business isn't good but it also gives you the education of all right what are the people asking for yeah because you can change your menu. Look, if you have brick and mortar, yeah, you can change your menu. It takes forever to change your menu because you have a guaranteed influx of guests. A food truck, you move it, it's all new.

So you can really adapt and reinvent yourself every week, every couple of days. It's the quickest way. You buy a food truck. You do it up. You make your money and so on and so on. And I've done food truck shows. It's a great way to get into that business world. And, yes, it's not fast.

Fit Crunch took me eight years to build. Did it really? Eight years. That's so interesting because I – even though you think that I don't eat, I do think that I eat a lot. And I do eat a lot of protein bars. We won't say anything. Okay, we'll keep it on the domo. Fit Crunch was something where,

and I guess this is a testament to how brands build, I had never seen it before, and then one day I was in the Costco, and I saw it in the Costco, and I was like, oh, damn, Robert Irvine has protein bars. Yeah. But there must have been so, so much work

and time before it actually crossed my eyeballs. Literally five years of, you know, there are 231 protein bars in this country. Jeez. Right? We're number four, I think, or number five now. Wow. After eight years. Yeah.

But it's creating a product. And look, your name will only get you so far. It's the product that they come back for, they don't. And most protein bars, you know, you used to lift. Oh my gosh! Ouch! Ouch! What's up, Josh? This is embarrassing. I tried

to get a pump before this. I was in the gym literally until we arrived here. Because I was like, Robert Irvine, I know, this is all I get. Josh, I'm proud of you. This is all I get. You look good. I've deloaded off creatine. I've been sick for two weeks. My knee hurts. Oh my gosh. I want to hear more about this.

Aside from restaurants, CPG is just so interesting. The whole world and just the testing and the QC is just exhausting. It is. But once you get it and you harness that, almost like grabbing the golden snitch, it is truly, like, levitating. You have to come up with something that's so unique.

So why do we go into protein bars? Because my kids wouldn't eat breakfast. So I'm like, oh, let's give them something to take. Because about 10 o'clock, they all dived. They're not interested. And we started it. We baked the cookies. The only baked bar for a reason.

And they said, oh, it's never going to work, never going to work. I mean, I schlepped myself after TV shows to Costco and all these other places. We didn't even have a package. It was in a silver foil thing. And here we are now, you know, a couple hundred million dollars later. And, you know, that's the way you build a brand. People think that it comes overnight. It doesn't.

It takes forever. I finished telling some folks last night. You finish a TV show, you go and you say, hey, please, sir, can you try my bar? Or please, sir, can you try my food? Or please, sir, you know, whatever it is. And eventually something clicks. But too many people give up too fast because it costs time and money. Sure, sure.

Of course. And the Mythical Kitchen is great, but then come up with a concept that's franchisable that there's some wacky food, of course, because that makes it fun. Yeah. But there's also food that people can go in there daily and get. Yeah. That they know, oh, I'm going to go there because, look, an average franchise restaurant, think about it, McDonald's for a franchise is $1.9 million.

Dang. Yeah. Yeah. For a burger joint. That's a lot of cash. Let's kick ass. I love it. I mean, hello, but you're guaranteed $2 million back.

Yeah. So you pay for yourself in the first year. two million dollars back yeah so you you pay for yourself in the first year um so it really is what makes you different and why are people going to go there and what's fun about it especially young people yeah because they're the future i mean i'm curious what you've seen from say like the young chefs in the industry i know you've shot with guys like nick digiovanni before but there's a lot of these young chefs where i'm 30. She's hurtling towards it. Let's say people like at us and below. You're my grandkids.

But like where do you see this generation going in terms of entrepreneurship? What have you already seen out there? Does it excite you or disgust you? Look at where we are now. Look at what you're doing. This is entrepreneurship, right? I guess. Nick is great.

I remember doing a thing in Miami with him and a Fit Crunch bar and a bowl of Nutella and a knife. I mean, he gets, you know, 24 million hits or whatever, and people go and buy this product. And I think that's great for him. He's making X amount of money. I'm not that good at that. I'm old school. I'm like, oh, yeah, chop. I'm like, good at that I'm old school I'm like chop then I'm like yes

you know I think the younger generation wants something fast which is why Mythical Kitchen has to be if I look at Taco Bell 34 seconds

to put a product out of a window 34 seconds because we're instant gratification we don't want we don't want to sit down and like you know forever people't want to sit down and like forever.

People just want to get in, get out, and get on with life. And I think that's the difference between the Knicks and you guys is, hey, we're bringing it to you whether you like it or not. You're breaking the mold of traditional TV and technology, which I love, by the way. Thank you. I do. I do. I think it's the future. Gone are the big days where we've got to go into a studio.

I did a show four years ago traveling the globe looking at salt and oils and vinegars from literally Sri Lanka, cinnamon, with a camera, two guys, and it was unbelievable. I'm sure. And I think that's the future of restaurants. What titillates us, right? Yeah. Why do we go in there?

Is it because we get on the internet? Is it because we can do this? Is it because there's so much going on that it's mesmerizing? Yeah. And then the food comes. I think he's talking about the Rainforest Cafe. Oh, yeah. I would love to be a part of that franchising kind of deal.

Why? We know him. I know the guy who developed it. I just, I just, let's, okay. So when I was, my parents used to go to- When you were 12. Yeah, when I was 12, my parents used to go to Vegas every single, I don't know, Thanksgiving or so.

And they would always take me to Rainforest Cafe because whenever the lights would turn off and then the thunder would go off and the gorillas were in the corner, I would just freak out. And I loved it to this day. I will go to Rainforest Cafe. Well, do you know how that started, right? No, I don't. So Justin, what was the name of the guy? I forgot his name. Stephen Shustler. Stephen Shustler. Thanks, Justin. Stephen Shustler, right? He had this idea of the Rainforest Cafe and he turned his apartment, it was no bigger than this idea of the Rainforest Cafe and he turned his apartment, it was no bigger than this, into a Rainforest Cafe to bring people. Are you kidding me?

True story. Absolutely true story. And he brought the investors and he had the parakeets going, and all that stuff. And that's how he sold Rainforest Cafe. Unreal. No way. And I know Stephen very well.

He has a – in Minneapolis he has what is tantamount to a museum. He bought two containers full of broken pieces, right? Let me explain that in a second. And he just paid $60,000 per container. And he had a guy over 24 years take all those pieces. container and he had a guy over 24 years take all those pieces he now has like 20 Ming dynasty full-size in a warehouse protected by the FBI in Minneapolis shut up I'm not kidding and this one guy piece by piece is unbelievable and that's this is the guy that's the kind of guy he is yeah the boathouse in in Orlando a big hit, $28 million a year plus.

And he is this visionary that almost, I don't know, like wacko, right? Because I think you need to be a little bit to be able to get to that point. But there's a guy I met and I was like, my God, this guy's really good. But he's a genius. Yeah. So while you love Rainforest Cafe, the boathouse in Orlando, he did the same thing there. He put these vintage cars that drive into the water. You know, they're duck boats or whatever they're called, but not duck boats as we know them.

They're real cars that were fitted with propellers. And you get in, you drive around around and you go in the water. It's like a fantasy builder. It's crazy. He's a fantasy world builder. But I feel that's the entrepreneurship of young people who are thinking out the box now. You're tapping into the psychology of what people want and where the white space is like even if you

look at fit crunch so i've eaten countless protein bars but you're not in my life but for me no way i've seen the industry change myself like there seems to be an industry standard right now i blame quest right so quest right now the industry standard you have quest you have think you have another couple bars pure Pure Protein. They've all boiled it down to 200 calories per 20 grams of protein. And they didn't used to have those macros. They used to be a lot more in the 300-gram range. Why is that?

And then because a lot of people are focused on weight loss, right? But then you have the opposite side, which is this very hyper-masculine, Metrix Big Crunch 100, which are delicious. They're about 450 calories. The one with the tiger on it? 40 grams of protein. I don't know if there's... No, that's no.

Tiger's Milk Bars, that's a candy bar. Oh. But, like, there's, you know, these things. Close. And then... Good research. It was either, like, this very... And it was a more feminine branded for weight loss protein bar

or a hyper-masculine. Interesting. This is for bulk monsters. And here I am in the middle going I just want something that tastes good and I see Fit Crunch in Costco and it says baked and it has a reputable jacked chef on it and I'm like this is

where I'm at right now but it's funny because we've extended their brand now because them masculine guys that want to look huge I I didn't want that. I wanted the moms, the dads, the grandmas, the grandmas to eat that. We're going into minis. We're going into cookies now.

We're going into RTDs, which are going to be amazing. And trail mixes, things like that. The extensions of the brands. But again, listening to what you want for your lifestyle. And I think that's the same with restaurants. Look, I go into a restaurant every week and I sit there and I go, your food sucks, you suck. Your leadership sucks. The place sucks.

And they just break down, which is normal. When somebody tells you, you suck at everything. And then we build them up. But I have to look at the skill level in the kitchen, the skill level around the area. What are the businesses? You know, is there a mythical kitchen? Is there a, right? Where are the young people going?

Yeah. Because I've got to make that. It may be there 40 years and grandma's meatballs, right? How do we bring that into the 22nd century? Because you can do $3 million in a 500-square-foot open kitchen. Yeah. Believe me, I've seen it. I think it's a fun game to be in.

Food, nutrition, health style, hair, I mean, clothing, because that's what we do every day, right? Sure. It's part of life. What have you seen the trends right now where the restaurant industry is going? Like if you were to open up, like don't release any proprietary information, but if you were to open up a new concept from scratch right now, what kind of food are you serving and what's the medium?

Everything's fresh. I mean, we have one in the Pinnacle. I don't mind telling you, you can't get in there the medium everything's fresh yeah i mean i we have one in the pentacle i don't mind telling you can't get in it but it's called fresh kitchen um and it literally is scratch cooking from uh in in a in an environment where we have 38 000 people going through that building that's incredible always go through the restaurant, but 38,000 people in that building. And I think if we take that and move that out into the real world, which we're doing right now, it will be a huge hit because you want something. First of all, time is of the essence. Of course.

You want to walk in. You want to pick it up. You're eating on the go or you're at your desk. I don't want to wait. So I think speed to service, technology is changing that so fast now. Not only think about computers, but think about going to a football stadium that's got

17 different restaurants in it, and you can go up to a place and go, scan it, pay it, and it comes to you. It's happening now. It's incredible. Supermarkets, checkouts, all those kind of things.

I think our food system will change dramatically from you preparing it, from the Publix and the Walmarts and all these. And instead, it will be ready prepared. It will be, look, you've got fish, you've got chicken, you've got this. In a thing, you'll drop it in a thing of water and you'll eat it it'll have all the nutrition uh nutrients that you need for a healthy lifestyle it's going that way sous vide i call it boiling the bag yeah that's true but it's the same thing it's happening we see that now you know for a resilient soldier sailor, whatever, and they're the biggest purchaser of food in the world, the military. Yeah.

Think about this. Makes sense. I mean, it's exciting for me because we're all involved in it. Yeah. Do you see that future, though, in which people are relying less and less on their own home cooking as a good thing? Or do you think that skill loss is just inevitable and we just need to be able to react to it? Again, I go back to the younger generation. Look, I was taught to cook because I had to cook because my mother was a terrible cook.

Yeah. So you survive. Now you can go anywhere. You can go to a Wawa, put it in. You go to a 7-Eleven. You go anywhere and you don't have to cook because your time is more important doing other things and i think the priority driven um youth is like look if i spend 20 minutes doing this as opposed to this i can make that much

productivity right yep and i i'm a i'm a big watcher of that. So I think food is going to change. We're going to have prepared food in very different ways. In China, in Japan, there are food courts like this, automated. Everything is fresh. They make you a pizza in 90 seconds. They make you a salad the way you want. So cool. It's crazy.

But you don't need people. And that's our biggest thing right now is people. Yeah. We don't have that skilled labor that's our biggest thing right now is people yeah you know skilled labor yeah that's interesting i am i think people don't recognize the opportunity cost back to our fans telling us we should because we just really wanted to dispel the myth that we could open a restaurant because we can't and everybody asks us why we don't do it and it's because the opportunity cost we are very good at making media and the only reason we're good at it is because we've been doing it for

several, several years. We've gradually refined our process. We started out making one video a week. That went up to two. It's going up to three eventually. Wink, wink. Now the podcast is on a full video. The podcast is streamed across Spotify and Apple onto YouTube. All those metrics are tracked.

We sell ad deals across five different platforms. Short form content. Short form content. We use that as a deal sweetener to work with big brands. But the point is, we're very good at doing this. We're not good at opening restaurants.

And that's the thing. The biggest like predicator of skill is have you done it and have you done it successfully? I don't think people recognize that. They're just like, open it. We'll come. But you can take one

and you can cultivate it and learn from it before you franchise it. And look, Robert Earl did that with Planet Hollywood. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he did the same thing. Oh, let's open a thing with a bunch of guys, put some jackets on the wall. Yeah. And he's still going by it.

Very eccentric guy. He's a great guy. Another eccentric guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a great guy. Another eccentric guy. Yeah, yeah. He's a great guy. But, you know, at his heyday, they were making hundreds of millions of dollars. That's right. Yeah.

Celebrities just walking through. Yeah. Sly Stallone. Let me just put my jacket up there. You know. So I think there's definitely a – you have a following that could be curtailed into a small, you know, even an airport restaurant, right? Burbank Airport right next to the Fiat. An airport to start it or do a pop-up.

We did a hot dog pop-up and it was really fun. It was really fun. We kicked ass. Moved about, what, 500 hot dogs? In like a day? I mean, it was like, what, four hours? I feel like it was, Maggie, it was like six hours. Partnered with a local Venezuelan

hot dog vendor. Shout out Gerardo, I hope you're watching. But yeah, that was our first kind of foray into it, just to test like, hey, how can we actually do this? But it's no different to when you started this, right? One video, two videos. Yeah, of course. It's a process of learning the system,

putting a system in place, and everybody follows that system. Then it grows. We did the same thing with Fit Crunch. I mean, hey, taste the bar. Taste the bar. Taste the bar. Taste the bar.

It cost me more money to taste the bar than I was making. Sure. But you've got to get the name out there. You've got to do it, yeah. And when you get the name out there, it goes. One of my biggest questions is,

because there's the idea of the sunk cost fallacy, right? People who say, well, I've already spent so much money on these sample bars and I should just quit because I've sunk money into it and I can't get that back. How do you know when to give up? I don't think there's ever a give up point. I think, look, you've spent your $100,000 minimum run or whatever it is of your bars, you give them out. It takes one person to say, oh, you know what? I really like that bar. The problem is when you send the bars out, we forget about it, right? Nobody ever follows up instead of saying, hey, by the way, Josh, did you like that? Oh, yeah. Here's $3 million. Go and make more. And they're out there.

People are out there. People want to invest in small business because it's a quick return for them if it's the right business. I do that every week. I invest in lots of stuff because I see the future of a technology in our world, point-of-sale systems, inventory control systems, all those kind of things. Yeah. Well, Robert, you said you invest in small businesses. We have an idea for you. That's right.

So what is it? It's called the Mythical Kitchen. We have a vomit bucket at every table. Yes. I know you didn't like that idea, but I think that's really core to our business model. But it's also a food truck. What? Did you just add that in without asking me?

Nicole, I'm sorry. Josh, it's a business. No, I just – You're my partner in business. I don't know how to drive. You can't just say food truck. My driver's license was revoked. So you have to drive.

I don't want to drive. I don't like driving in regular life. You don't have an option. Partners have to do something. I'm hiring a driver. I think we should just keep doing the videos.

I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a challenge. I'll do a pop-up restaurant with you. Okay. Right? And all the proceeds. Keep talking.

All the proceeds, after the cost of doing it, go to the Robert Irvine Foundation. I'm in on it. You got to shake Nicole's hand at the same time. This is how it works. So you give me this. No.

No, you got to cross it. And then I know the left hand doesn't really count. This is a legal binding contract. This is legal. Wait, Justin, get the shot. Take a picture. Take a picture. I got to flex.

Okay. All right, Nicole and Robert, we've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the universe.

It's time for a segment we call... Opinions are Like Casserole. Let's listen to some voicemails. It's Peter from Chicagoland. And frankly, I'm an ideas man and not a logistics man. So every restaurant should have free samples, like a Baskin Robbins, or you can try the ice cream. I don't know how it's going to work. But look, there's enough food waste. I'm sure there's little bits left off of plates.

Just give me a free sample. I'm going to eat there, but I want to know what I'm eating first. Also, if somebody sends a dish back, I should be able to claim it for my table. I agree with that. Robert, what do you think? Free samples? Free samples of what?

The whole menu before you choose? What, are you crazy? I think you get to try two things, like Baskin-Robbins. Oh, you're only allowed two samples? You get two samples, and then you're just an a-hole because you're holding up the line. But you get two things. Yeah, but it's different in a restaurant. It's like an ice cream shop.

You go in your scoopy, you suck it, you eat it, right? We've got to cook it. That's right. You can't just make a thousand mini meatballs. He wants us to have Tupperwares filled with duck, mashed potatoes, and the sauce, and then you give them little spoonfuls

and you have to hand feed. They're like, here you go, here you go. You have to. Exactly. There is, really quick, a story I want to talk about that is in this vein. There is a local tamalera, a lady who sold tamales outside of a Trader Joe's

in Los Angeles. You see this story? Yes, I've seen it. And she went to the Trader Joe's and saw them giving out free samples and she's like, I should do this

with my tamales. Oh my. And so she made tiny little corn husk tamales, wrapped them up. They are freaking adorable. And they're samples. And the journalist,

friend of the show, Memo Torres from LA Taco, wrote about them. And this thing went viral. And she blew up. So, you know, there's a little bit of merit. I'm just saying, Robert. There is. But when you're a one-stop shop, tamales, okay?

Three different tamales is great. Here, you can do that. You can do it with a bar, right? You can cut a piece up. You can taste it. Do it with vodka and gin and all those things that we do. But a restaurant that has 27 items on an entree

menu and, you know, sorry Josh, you can't figure out what you want to eat, so you want to try a piece of everything. Single merit. There's merit to it in a small version somehow. I just, as a business owner, small

mom and pops are going to laugh at you. Peter, you are truly an ideas and not a logistics man. I'll give you that. But I will say claiming someone's plate? No. That's okay. That's a health food violation, but I'm in. But like, whatever. Just go like, just close your eyes and do it. I've eaten sushi

off of a neighboring table's plate because they left a whole roll and I had been drinking. Oh my goodness. Was it rough-ish? Yeah, it was rough-ish. Well, if I would have waited any longer, it would have gotten warm. All right, next opinion. Do a next opinion, please.

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater. My goodness. I'm not proud of that moment. You said that on live air. I know. Listen, I like this where I denigrate myself. You said so much stuff on live air. It humanizes me to them.

They're like, oh, he's just like me, a gross piece of crap. Yeah, you do it for the people. Man of the people. It takes one for the team. I like this. Hi, Josh and Nicole. My name is Julie. I'm in Boston.

First time caller, long time listener. Hi, Julie. My controversial restaurant take is that eating at the bar stinks. I need elbow room. I need space to spread out. For me, at the bar, most likely there are people on either side of me. It's tight. The bartender is watching me eat, which makes me very uncomfortable.

You can talk to them. Even though they could watch me eat if I'm at a table, I like to keep my distance. So what are your takes? Are you pro eating at the bar? Are you against eating at a bar? Let me know. Love the show. Thanks.

Thanks, Julie. So tell us, Robert. What do you feel? I like to be served. I like to be, like, pampered. I don't look like a pampered chef. I'm like you, Julie. I'm not a big sitter at the bar and eating because I don't want this.

Hang on. I don't want this. Hang on. I don't want people pushing me either side. I'd rather sit at a table on my own or with folks and get served. I just think we go to eat to have an experience. That's right. And being pushed and by the way, I'm not a

female, so I'm not being stared at like you are. So I'm sorry for that. But no, I'm not a female, so I'm not being stared at like you are. So I'm sorry for that. But no, I'm definitely a table guy. Interesting. I have a lot of, no, you go. You go. So I'm left-handed, which means I eat like this. And I'm very annoying to sit next to, like at a booth or like at a bar.

So I like to sit at a table where I'm not around people as well. Aside from that, it's just, I don't know, a bar is for drinking and maybe like getting a fry. But whenever it's like a fork and knife or like a spoon situation, it's just out the window. I can't do that. It doesn't make sense for me. Justin, we can go out drinking with her. Yeah. Woo!

I can DD. Like I don't have to drink. I'll wait in the car. I'll keep it running. I can hold my own. I love eating at the bar. And I love eating at the bar for a very specific reason. No, no. I'll wait in the car. I'll keep it running. I can hold my own. I love eating at the bar. And I love eating at the bar for a very specific reason. No, no.

I'll let you know why. I feel like there was a point, and I think Food Network really brought this along, where the chef was elevated to this rock star status, right? Of course. Okay. And people, it shifted from people wanting to get served in a restaurant, at least in a very specific cadre of LA spots. I'm talking about Father's Office specifically.

Sure. Okay. Chef Sun Yun, where they famously just treated customers like crap. They were like, no ketchup, no substitutions. If you ask for ketchup, we'll kick you out. It was dark. It was loud. The seats were all communal. There was no backs on any of the stools. You get a splinter on the table and it was the best burger you'd ever eaten in your freaking life, kicked off a fancy burger revolution in America. And I grew up sort of idolizing these restaurants.

And so for me, I don't want to go to a restaurant and feel served and pampered. I want to go and feel like I'm serving some sort of higher art form by eating a $20 cheeseburger. Right? So I love- Did you hear what he just said? That was like an oxymoron. A $20 burger. Well, that's why to me it's so cool because it's something I never had before.

Right? And without this thing- I can tell by the looks of it. I just don't think it's worth it. The discomfort is not worth the nourishment at all. Me and Julia go on like if we go on an impromptu date night on like a weeknight and we go to a restaurant that's hard to get into, we'll go sit at the bar and absolutely love it. You're talking crap with the chefs. You're talking to the bartender. You feel like you're part of a community sitting next to other people all enjoying the same thing. I love cramped, dark, loud restaurants.

And I hate plush sitting in a booth. That's not what I go to restaurants for. But again, it's all about finding what your customer wants. But it depends on the restaurant because you're describing a place. Yes. I can go to a hole in the wall. I was in a Navajo nation in the middle of nowhere in a restaurant. There was a hole in the wall restaurant.

I fixed it and made great food. It depends on the people you're with. Food is really, and this is my take on food, it's not necessarily the food you go for. It's the people you spend the time in there that make the difference in that experience. You can have mediocre food and have great people and have the best night drinks ever. Then you go to a three-star Michelin, sit with a bunch of boring people, eat two peas on a plate, and not be satisfied. So I think, you know, I'm with you. I'm not a bar person.

I like to drink at the bar. Yeah, I like to drink at the bar. Eight people at an Olive Garden don't want to go to the bar. Well, to drink. So by the way, two to one, you failed. I'll take it. Yeah. Get rekt.

Next opinion, please. My opinion about restaurants is that it's actually cheaper to go out and eat fast food than it is to cook homemade meals now. And it's because of inflation. Yeah. Andrea, this is something we were talking about earlier a bit, right? Inflation is killing not only the home cooks. It's also killing restaurants. You know, a case of eggs used to be $48.

It's now $168. That's nuts. Right? Horrible. I just think that the state we are in right now, small businesses are struggling. Families are struggling. It's really interesting. Here's a figure for you.

One in four of our active duty men and women in our U.S. military are food insecure. Damn. Horrible. military are food insecure. Damn. Horrible. It's a shame. So how can you have that in the United States military? It's crazy. But I feel for the folks that are out trying to take care of their families,

and I see soup kitchens, and I was at Fort Hood, Texas, giving 1,000 service members food. You know, Tyson gave me 40 pounds of chicken for a person. It's tough. It is cheaper to go and get not-so-good fast food, right, for cheap, so at least you get fed. But I would rather, and I've been trying to do this for years, a supermarket say, look, and if there's any supermarkets out there listening to this, do it.

Right? I have a section of fish and chicken and protein, vegetables, the recipes in 16 different languages. Right? And the cost of a burger per person. So it could be 20 bucks for a family of four. Yeah. They can afford to do something. We're in this we're in this situation right now that is tough for everybody. It really is.

Yeah. And you get these big businesses like, say, McDonald's. They can keep costs artificially low, at least because they're doing everything at such a massive scale. Fifty thousand locations across the globe, whereas mom and pop shops can't do that. But I'm curious to see how the grocery store industry is going to overhaul itself in the future. There were a couple of places that really tried, a chain called Fresh and Easy, where there were damn near no employees in the store. Everything was automated.

They had great fresh produce, great fresh meat, and it was cheap as heck. And then they just went under. I don't know if they got bought out by a bigger company, but I think something needs to be done. You're seeing grocery stores. Well, the labor, here's the thing. I just partnered with a technology company for the same reason. Labor right now, whether you're in a supermarket, whether you're in a restaurant, obviously

people have to do things, right? But if you look at McDonald's or Chipotle, they have machines flipping burgers and making chips. Right. So is that the future? Certain jobs? Yes. Not every job can be done by that. But, you know, technology is taking over because in the mundane jobs.

Remember, when I grew up, I'm 57 years old, a little like your dad, right? Literally. mundane jobs. Remember when I grew up, I'm 57 years old, a little like your dad, right? Literally, maybe. There wasn't any, there was no jobs as such other than these mundane cooks and da-da-da, right? You come to LA, everybody wants to be an actor. They go to a restaurant to be a server, or they used to. Now they don't need to do that. They can do whatever else. So I think it's changed dramatically. I would jump at a job to serve. I'd be really bad at serving. I'm not good.

I'd spill everything over you and I'm sorry. Yeah, I got weak wrists. Could never be a server. One more opinion. Let's do it. One more. Yo, what's up? This is Molly. I'm a little high, so I thought it would be a good idea to call.

And my controversial restaurant opinion is that Macaroni Grill is a f***ing stellar restaurant. And their best dish is their children's macaroni and cheese. Every day. Anyways, that was it. Short and sweet. Peace out. Sounds like she had a great night. Yeah, I've never been to Macaroni Grill.

I've only been once. Nor have I. None of us. No. Okay, I can only go off my one experience. I will say there's a couple big chain Italian restaurants that I love. Buca di Beppo I think does a great job. Yeah.

What's the other one? Maggiano's, Italy. The old spaghetti factory. Giant family style portions. Great. My one experience at Macaroni Grill was on prom. It's not going where you think it's going.

They spilled straight up. My date got the penne arrabbiata, right? The spicy sauce. And the cook must have spilled a half a bottle

of crushed red pepper. Holy cannoli. And I see this and I, you know, knew enough to know that's not right. And she takes one bite and is crunching through crushed red pepper.

And she's like, it's good. And I'm like, hey, no, like I really am against sending dishes back. But this, you have to send this back. Yeah. And she just didn't want to raise a fuss. And so she ate, like, half this thing of pasta.

And then melted. And then was just, yeah, itchy and uncomfortable. Poor girl. And then she was hungry at the dance. And Tess McCarthy, if you're out there listening to this. Was she your date? I'm sorry. What?

Was Tess your date? Well, she dumped him out there. Aw this. Was she your date? I'm sorry. What? Was Tess your date? Well, she dumped him after that. It was a mutual. Nah, come on now. You know, yeah, I cried in my car a little bit, but, you know, we make up for it. And he blamed the cook. Of course. So children's macaroni and cheese.

Best thing on the menu? Probably. Listen, listen. Kids menus, it's comfort food. It hits sometimes. All right, Robert, thank you's comfort food. It hits sometimes. All right, Robert, thank you so much for joining us, man. Again, if you want to invest in a restaurant, but I'm dead serious about the pop-up. I don't want to invest in a restaurant. We're at, please tell the people about your book. Tell the people about what you got coming up.

It's the best book you'll ever have. Talks about empathetic leadership, talks about losing egos and your own. And it talks about, you know, trust. Lots of great information for families as well as businesses. But it's also a time where I thank our military for the service their families have sent behind them. You know, you're doing a great service for all the listeners. It doesn't have to cost money to help people it could be opening the car door helping somebody across the road giving them help somebody a hug if they say it's okay um we all buy food at supermarkets

and we see that more and more the food going um through the cash register then pushed to the side if you can afford to buy it please do so it could be for a child that's not being fed. You know, at the end of the day, it's up to us collectively to say, look, I know you all do great things for people you know. How about doing one good thing a day for people that you don't know?

Collectively, if we all did that, our world would be a better place. Lots of restaurant impossible coming up. Lots of new stuff happening. Yeah, it's just business as usual. I'm going to get you to eat more food. I'm dead serious. I'm committed to gaining 15 pounds.

15. I can give you 15. Give me four weeks. You put 15 pounds on. Four weeks I'll get 15 pounds. I love that one of your plugs is just for altruism. That's beautiful. And morality and being a good person.

Very nice. We also support that. Yes. We just didn't say it as elo Very nice. We also support that. Yes. We just didn't say it as eloquently as you. Yes, yes, yes. We all want to do the same thing. We all want to put on this planet, help people, give information, and have fun doing it. You have a lot of fun.

So do I. When we do the pop-up, I'm going to teach you an awful lot of business lessons. You're going to come back and you're going to go, oh, my God, that Robert Irvine. What a taskmaster. I'm so excited. Or something like that. And I can't wait for in four years to you come and rescue the failing Mythical Kitchen on Restaurant Impossible. Heck yeah. And thank you all for listening to the podcast. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you haven't done that yet, subscribe to Spotify. We're also over on YouTube at Mythical Kitchen. Check us out. We launch new videos every week. And again, Robert, thank you so much.

Appreciate you guys. Cheers. Go out, Mythical Kitchen. Let's go. Hurry up.