Locked In with Ian Bick - The Culinary Convict: Chef Shares WILD Arrest Stories | Scott Hoffner

Episode Date: December 24, 2023

Join us for an exhilarating Christmas Episode today, featuring a special guest who's not only a dear friend but also a professional chef and restaurant owner, Scott Hoffner. In this episode, Scott will graciously unveil his compelling journey, which encompasses his battles with alcohol, the consequences that led to DUI arrests, and the remarkable transformation that allowed him to embrace a fulfilling and sober lifestyle. Join this channel to get early access to new episodes & Behind the Scenes Content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRvVklIft6DMelVW18M0oBw/join Big thanks to www.findagreatattorney.com for sponsoring this episode. Are you in need of an attorney? Visit www.findagreatattorney.com to find the best attorney for FREE. Follow Ian Bick on Instagram: @ian_bick & Snapchat: ianbick Connect with Scot Hoffner: https://www.tiktok.com/@chef86d?_t=8i... Time Stamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:45 - Motel 6 and Ski Mask Girl 00:05:11 - The Early Years and Love for Food 00:07:45 - The Restaurant Business and Personal Experiences 00:10:14 - Crazy Kitchen Stories 00:12:54 - Catching the Salmon Thief 00:15:43 - The Challenges of Owning a Restaurant 00:18:29 - Duck Taquitos Revenge 00:21:24 - A Wild and Entertaining Restaurant Experience 00:24:06 - I Can't Take It Anymore 00:26:37 - The Correlation Between Pressure and Alcohol Use 00:29:20 - Addiction and Addictive Personalities 00:31:56 - Apologizing to Those I've Hurt 00:34:35 - First DUI arrest 00:37:20 - A Terrifying Experience in Jail 00:39:59 - Decreasing Alcohol-Related Deaths 00:42:26 - Battling Alcoholism 00:45:06 - The Second DUI Arrest 00:47:36 - Smoking Cigarettes with Junior 00:50:14 - Driving Encounter with a Cop 00:52:56 - The Importance of Drastic Consequences for Change 00:55:36 - Drive and motivation 00:58:08 - Transforming Energy into a Positive Force in the Kitchen 01:01:03 - Former Inmates in the Kitchen 01:03:39 - Hiring Individuals with Felonies 01:06:14 - Meeting Scott and the Prison Cooking Show 01:09:04 - Networking and Making Connections through Social Media 01:11:38 - Taking a Chance and Building Energy 01:13:53 - Missed Opportunity on Beat Bobby Flay 01:16:23 - Pursue Your Passion and Manifest Your Dreams 01:19:05 - Music and Priorities Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Connect with Ian Bick: https://www.ianbick.com Powered by Creative Evolution Studios https://creativeevolutionstudios.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Who available at this payment? PH71529, PH71459. It became a vicious cycle where you're starting your day with it and ending your day with it. And, you know, I got to a point where I really, you know, where things where I was like, what's going on? You know, I'd have to throw up every morning before I'd go to work. It became so routine that it was like I'd vomit and then get in the shower and go to work. Like if people saw what I did every morning, most people would, you know, shudder in bed and, you know, whimper away and call out.

Like to me it was normal. Like get up, vomit, get in the shower, you know, have a vodka, go to work. It just got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore. And in the first three months of being open, you know, I drank over 30. $30,000 with alcohol, myself. Join us today for an exhilarating Christmas episode featuring a special guest who's not only a dear friend, but also a professional chef and restaurant owner, Scott Hoffner. In this episode, Scott will graciously unveil his compelling journey, which encompasses

his battles with alcohol, the consequences that led to DUIRS, and the remarkable transformation that allowed him to embrace a fulfilling and sober lifestyle. This episode is brought to you by find a great attorney.com. If you are injured anywhere in the country, visit find a great attorney.com, a free service that can find you one of the best lawyers in your area. You focus on getting better and they'll do the rest. Big thank you to find a great attorney.com for sponsoring this episode. Listen up, everyone. We will now be uploading behind the scenes interviews with our podcast guests to our YouTube membership program. So if you're looking to see more content, subscribe to our YouTube membership for only $5 a month to get

early access to interviews and behind the scene footage. There will be an after-episode recap with Scott Hoffner uploaded directly to our YouTube membership page for subscribers. Remember to leave us a review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or hit that subscribe button on YouTube and sit back, relax, and get ready to lock in with Scott Hoffner. Scott Hoffner, welcome to lock. in. I think this is the earliest I've ever recorded a podcast. It's 7 a.m. in Connecticut right now. 6 a.m. Texas time. Yeah, yeah. You flew in from Dallas yesterday. You were yelling at me the whole day because of your flight, but. Spirit. It certainly gets you spirited. Hey, we put you out a private plane. It was great. It was great. No problems at all.

And then, you know, we put you in the motel six last night. Great, great stay. That was something. But we're sure. We listened to what's her name's new podcast. Two Turn. Tony's ex-girlfriend ski-mask girl. Yeah, the chick that wears the thing on her head. 10 out of 10 would not recommend unless you just want to hear about their relationship drama. Or nothing, really. Or talk about the podcast of nothing. We turned it on only to hear about what happened between the two of them.

And it took like 45 minutes just to get to that point in it. And then the last 15 minutes were about that. And there's no reason to watch any more episodes. I'm in agreement with you on that. So how was your night? It was good. It was great. I just chilled. You know, I'm so busy most of the time. It was kind of nice to just be in the hotel, which was very nice, by the way. And anybody listening, it wasn't a Motel 6. But I had some great pizza. And being a chef, you know, we don't get in Texas, you don't get what I got last night. So I was thrilled to do that. I kind of did, what's that guy's name that does the? Thank you. I did my own, like, version of him last night, undercarriage, one bite, you know, kind of thing. One bite. That's it. and I think he would have given this pizza an eight three.

I thought you said eight four. I did. I just changed it. I think he'd give it a legit eight three. It was a good pizza. So thank you for that. I appreciate it. Now, Scott,

you've been listening and watching this podcast for quite some time. Yeah. I actually started watching you when I was, you know, I have a pat, the passion project of Convict Kitchen. And I started watching you and I said to myself, man, this guy is just fun. entertaining and obviously been to prison, so that kind of works with my concept.

And after I watched a bit, you know, I was like, I got to get in touch with this guy and see if he wants to work with me and, you know, get this convict kitchen thing going. Yeah, and we'll get into that later in the episode. But you have a quite an interesting journey and story yourself. I mean, you've done a lot in your life. You do a lot now. And that kind of like led you to the path that you're going on. So, you know, let's dive into that.

Where are you from? Where'd you grow up? Well, I'm from Plano, Texas, born and raised, e-ha, cowboys, let's go Rangers. Let's go Rangers. And I started at a very early age, kind of an odd age. I started in the restaurant business when I was 10 as a dishwasher, and we can talk about why that happened, if you want, in a bit. But I kind of got out of the house, and I started working.

And very, very immediately, I knew that I wanted to be a chef. I think by the time I was like 11 or 12. You know, I was working the grill and learning how to use a knife properly. And I did that all through high school, you know, not going step by step, but, you know, was opening up restaurants at 16. And then went to Johnson & Wales when I was 18, came up to the northeast up here. And, you know, went to Johnson and Wales and got a culinary education. And then continued forward, you know, went to Europe and then moved around all over the place. I've cooked in Austin and Montana, Providence, Rhode Island, California.

You know, we kind of bebopped everywhere, and my wife and I ended up back in Frisco, Texas. Why do you want to start getting into the kitchen at such a young age? Well, I realized very early that it turns people on. Food is an exciting thing. You know, you watch people sit down at a table and they're all talking and they're excited and they're like, you know, get and know each other, getting to meet each other, or catching up, or kibbutzing, and then you bring the food and everybody gets quiet and eats,

and it's just a direct contact. It's like you automatically get to see how people react to it. Good, bad, and the ugly, right? I mean, it could be like, this is terrible, but it just became a labor of love, and I find it absolutely fascinating. I still do. I find food to be intriguing,

and I'm a very creative person, And so it's an outlet for me to, you know, it's like writing a song. That's kind of how I feel about food. How is your childhood? It was interesting. You know, I was raised in a great household that really didn't want for nothing. Started, like I said, working. So I was raised in a fashion where still it was very kind of old schools.

Like I bought my first baseball mitt. I bought my first bike. I bought my first car. Everything that I had, I had to work for, which really, really instilled a great work ethic. But my father was always very busy. He worked quite a bit. He was, you know, is a workaholic, was a workaholic.

So I think I kind of followed in that line. But I got out of the house pretty early. There was a, you know, there was some times that it was a little aggressive in my household. And so I found solitude in work and I found solitude in learning. And, you know, the restaurant business is, sort of a family. So, you know, it's kind of like I created a second family and still to this day my restaurant is like that where, you know, we still do things together and have Christmas parties, so on and so forth. Now, when you got out of culinary school and into like the restaurant world

and the world of cooking, which we both share a passion for and my father is and you got to is a chef and you got to meet him a couple months ago, what kind of experiences were you getting? I mean, you've worked for some incredible people. You've had an incredible culinary journey. Well, I, you know, I don't want to, it's like I don't want to go on and on. But every stop that I've been at has been something different, whether what I've learned or how to manage, how to be a better chef. But each step in the road has definitely been unique.

You know, I've, as a private chef, I've, there's been times where I've worked for some crazy celebrities and crazy athletes. and you have a wife for one of those folks that is an absolute nightmare and makes the job incredibly hard, incredibly servient. I've worked for owners that got involved with fraud and one day you're going to work and the next day the restaurant's being seized.

You know, like it's all over the map. And then there's the guys, and I'll use his name, Todd Kerr, who was a pivotal point in my career. Because there's a fine line. between being a businessman and being a chef and being both. And to be successful, you need to be both. It's just the way it goes, especially. And then you need to learn how to market.

You need to be able to put your product out there on a continuous, consistent basis. But this particular man, when I, you know, when I worked with him, I told him that I would either work with him until I was done with my career or he would be the last man that I worked for. And that was the case. But the three years I worked for him, I ran his catering company. ran his restaurant. I oversaw both sides of the fence there. And, you know, we had meetings twice a week. We sat down and we talked cost. We talked labor. We talked all the things that make the restaurant

tick. And that translates into my business now where I truly believe if I didn't work for him, there would have been some pieces missing to the puzzle of me being successful at what I do now. And then there's like the first guy that I ever worked for that gave me my executive chef job. And he's pass now and he's like the craziest maniac you ever met in your life like when we opened the restaurant he left for the day and he came back and he was on mushrooms like fully tripping his balls off and it bought me seven thousand dollars worth of kitchen equipment and he's got the smile on his face and his eyes are ding ding ding ding he's like chef i got everything you need and i look down and he's got 12 kitchen mats i'm like thon we need three of these don't worry we'll

return them, you know, just so that, and that's also what makes this business in the, you know, my career I find very interesting. It's just kind of, all the folks you meet along the way. I mean, it's just insane. Some of like the top kitchen nightmare stories that people love and hear about. Okay. Is it okay if it's like, give us the craziest ones. Go all in. Do it in your energy, Scott. Oh my God. So, well, this is a, okay, so if you're faint of heart, The story isn't necessarily for you, but I worked with this guy named Chris, and he was an amazing, amazing cook. Serious line cook.

He spoke white guy that spoke fluent Spanish, and he's one of the first guys I remember doing that. But, you know, you have Vena Hoods in the kitchen, and every night you pull them and you clean them and you run them through and you make sure that it's all nice and tight. Well, this restaurant, have you ever seen the movie Office Space? Maybe. So that movie office space, that restaurant in real life is called the Old Alligator Grill. And they rented it out to shoot the movie. But anyways, Old Alligator Grill had eight large friars. It was a Cajun restaurant.

And he had put sheet trays over the friars so he could go up and take down the vina hoods. And while he was up there, the vina hood, the sheet tray fell out from the friars. and his entire leg went into a friar that was on that was at 375 degrees and that and he couldn't get out it was like the way he fell in it so we had to yank him out and it took his skin off all the way from his bone from his ankle up to his top beyond his knee so he had to get his entire leg redone and they had his skin graft and that he was never in a kitchen again he started landscaping company had to relearn how to walk Then, you know, that's just like that one was just, the screaming from that was nuts.

But if you want to talk about things like I've had to fix, you know, the majority of my career was having to go in where guys' food cost wasn't right. They weren't operating right. They had people stealing from them. So I walked into a place that had a lot of theft. So when I got in, I started a par and inventory system on it to just double check. and I noticed that this salmon, like every week I was missing six pounds of salmon.

Well, that equivalates to a side of fish, like a whole fish. So I set up this deal where I was like, we didn't have cameras in the place. And on one of the nights after the fish order came in, before everybody left, I lined everybody up to say goodbye to them and gave everybody a hug before they left, like I was patting them down like the mob, you know,

like, who's got this fucking fish? And sure enough, one of my guys, Arturo, had a side of salmon down his pants. It was like, the salmon was like, here, I'm like, this dude was taking six pounds of salmon home every week and feeding everybody. So, you know, right then and there, you're like, okay, that's $35, my cost, $35, 35, you know, the food cost is through the roof. So we had to let that fella go. Uh, that's, that was definitely one that I, that's, that stood out to me.

Uh, collie. So this, this is kind of a wild, uh, story. And this, this just recently happened. I, I, uh, had a guy that came up to me, I was talking to a manager on my, on a Saturday night a couple weeks ago. And out of nowhere, this man like, beelines it to me with his finger in my face. Like, well, he said, is this your effing restaurant?

And I was like, sir, get your finger out of my face and I'll answer your question. And he went on to say, you know, I've been at your bar for 10 minutes. I've been waiting for a drink and nobody's even acknowledged me. I'm out of here. And I looked at him. I was like, I think that's a good idea. I think you should go. And he got more irate and even crazier and told me he was going to burn my restaurant down,

like burn it down. And he knows so many people. and I'm going out of business. Well, he leaves the restaurant, and I'm watching him on a camera as trying to see where he vacates, and he's in the parking lot, two over from the restaurant.

Well, this guy, as I come out to see where he's at, locks eyes with me, and this is like 50 yards away, beelines it at me, full force, wanting to fight and kick my ass. This guy got so nuts that he was frothing at the mouth. long story short i looked at the cameras the guy was waiting at the bar for two minutes and 28 seconds

that's how long he was waiting you know it's just like in this business people think you know there's how wonderful owning a restaurant is but nobody really understands the underbelly and how crazy it can be and how ungrateful people can be and that can make it pretty challenging sometimes that's crazy i mean it just it's it's a never-ending thing i mean last week Last week, my main manager comes to me and she says, Chef, my father's dying. He's got cancer all over his body. I'm leaving.

I said, what do you mean you're leaving? She said, I'm leaving right now. I'm going to Florida. I'm like, okay, this is a person that works, you know, five days a week, 12 hours a day, automatically bartends, weights tables, gone. The next day, one of my other bartenders just doesn't show up for work.

Gone. okay, peace and puzzle the week together, right? Get to Sunday. My strong server that's kind of acting as a manager in between, right in the middle of brunch comes up to me and says, Chef, my uncle died. I got to go. This isn't a five-day stretch.

I lose three of my heaviest hitting people. And then you got somebody who will come up to you and be like, my drink is taking so long, I'm going to kick your ass. and you're like, man, you don't even know what's going down right now, brother. I'm trying to make sure to eat some good food and have some fun and have some drink. Just ask me for the drink. I'll get you the drink. I'll get you the drink.

So, you know, the business, and I don't mean to dissuade anybody. Oddly enough, I love all this craziness, and that's why I do it. Have you ever seen like any of those, like, you know, what are they, that kitchen conspiracy things that everyone talks about where, like, you know, you send the food back, someone will spit in your food, or any crazy, what are like the crazy things like that that you see? Okay, so in my career, I have not really seen that happen to a customer ever. I have seen that happen to employees. So we had, this was in Austin, this is a crazy story.

So I were, and this guy won't give a shit that I say this. His name is Scott Halverson, this dude, and he was just a wild, wild guy. Intoxicated all the time. A lot of intoxication in the kitchen. A lot of drug abuse. A lot of alcohol abuse. But we had a bartender named Kurt. And this dude would order his food one minute before the kitchen closed.

And he did it like clockwork. Every shift he worked. One minute before. we are done. And this particular night, Scott had had enough of it. And this guy ordered duck confete tequitos. They were like this shredded upstate New York duck with roasted corn and a plum sauce. They were delicious.

And Scott dropped those things in the friar, pulled them out of the friar. And this will sound crazy, but he waited a second until they cooled. and then he ran him up his ass, plated him up, and he sat there and he watched Kurt eat him with a big smile on his face. That same guy to this guy, same guy, same two guys. They were like arch nemesis. Do you know what fish sauce is? Yeah.

Okay, it's very, you know, it's fermented sardines, fish, and barrels, very, very smelly. And in Texas, it gets pretty hot in the summer. So, Kurt made the mistake of leaving his brand new maxima sunroof open. And Scott took that bottle of fish sauce and dumped it in his sunroof while that dude worked a double at 100 degrees all day. And I will never forget, I was in the kitchen and I heard him scream when he opened up his car door because the car stunk and never, that was his last day. He never came back to work. Was the car totaled after that? It was pretty totaled.

I mean, the fish saw sat in the car for 12 hours, 100 degrees outside. Yeah, when I was in Alaska, they said the rental car agency made you sign a waiver saying you won't bring raw fish in the car because they total the cars if you store raw fish. Interesting. I've never heard that before. It just stinks up the whole car. Sure, it makes sense. But, yeah, so rotten fermented anchovies in the maxima ruined it. And, yeah, I never saw that guy again after that. But this particular guy that we're talking about did all, I mean, he was a maniac.

We went down to the beach. We went down to Corpus Christi. We were on the beach. And there were police on the beach on four wheelers. And Scott decided to roll up a joint. And we were sitting there. And I'm like, Scott, the police, this is years ago. You know, Texas, nothing is legal still.

Right. So back then it's like a felony. It was just crazy. and I said to him, dude, there's police right there. What are you doing? He was like, ah, it doesn't matter, man. If they come, I'll just run into the ocean. And I'm like, you're going to run into the ocean.

That's what you're going to do if they come and they're going to come. And he's like, yeah, dude, it's fine. And I was like, all right. And he rolls up this big cone dupy and the wind is blowing towards the cops. Like, everything is wrong. And he lights it up. And I look over and I'm like, they're, fucking, they're coming.

So I kind of get up and walk like a couple steps down. And I said, Scott, they're coming for you. And he immediately jumps up and runs into the Gulf of Mexico. And the cops ran right after him. Where did he think he was going to go? So he smartly, what he had on him, he dumped into the ocean. But they arrested him for evading arrest. You know, like, and that's the thing.

Like, you know, the business itself is, you meet so much. many different characters. I always say like the restaurant's like a pirate ship. You're like sailing through the seas of cheese. You know what I mean? Like it's just you never know what's going to come at you. You don't know who's going to show up. You hope everybody comes.

You hope that you have a steady great night. You hope that all the food goes out. But, you know, there's, it is certainly a wild, entertaining place to be. Now, speaking of wild and entertaining, we all know that with the restaurant world comes, I guess you could say drug use and alcohol use. What was that experience like for you? What did you get into? What was your vices?

And how did that kind of change you as your career went on? Well, this is a great topic. I can talk about this for a long time. I'm an alcoholic. I'm a recovering alcoholic. I've been sober four and a half years. And I started using drugs at a very young age, too young for anybody. and throughout my career, I was in a constant phase of use.

You know, by the time I was 21, I had already quit doing cocaine. I had already gone through a three-year cocaine problem, which I kicked. And then when I kicked out, when I kicked that, it's like the alcohol usage just ramped up, right? And it seemed to be, you know, at first it's like you get done with work and you have drinks to unwind. and you can't really, after you've done a 15-hour day and you've just grind it and given every bit of juice that you got, you're just almost electric, right? So for me, it was always like trying to come down from work. And then it becomes, you know, it became a vicious cycle where it's, you're starting your

day with it and ending your day with it. And, you know, I got to a point, you know, I've done a bunch of live TV work for the news. and where I really, you know, where things where I was like, what's going on? You know, I would, I'd have to throw up every morning before I'd go to work. And it became, it gets me a little upset. It became so routine that it was like I'd vomit and then get in the shower and go to work. Like if people saw what I did every morning, most people would, you know, shudder in bed and, you know, whimper away and call out. Like, to me, it was normal.

like get up, vomit, get in the shower, you know, have a vodka, go to work. And it just got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore. And then I got my own place. So I mean, I could go. There's so much of it all. But, you know, when I got my own spot, the first three months that I was operating, you know, I couldn't make any decisions. I wasn't making strong decisions. I was losing employees.

I wasn't running my numbers right. I was, now I had the keys to the castle so I could drink all I wanted whenever I wanted. There was nobody, excuse me, to monitor me, so to speak. And in the first three months of being open, you know, I drank over $30,000 with alcohol myself. This episode is brought to you by find a great attorney.com. Find a great attorney is a service revolutionizing the way injured parties find out one of the best personal injury attorneys in their area. I've known the founder Richard Hastings for a long time, and I'm impressed with his abilities as a lawyer

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Visit find a great attorney.com, fill out their brief online form, and let them do the rest. The strength of your lawyer might very well determine how much money you're able to get for your case. Big thank you to find a great attorney.com for sponsoring this episode of Locked in. And let's get back into my interview with Scott Hoffner. What was that feeling for you? Like, what was it an escape from some underlying issue? What was, what do you think looking back on it now was the cause that, you know, propelled your drinking? Well, alcoholism, one, is prevalent in my family, prevalent.

My mother, my grandmothers, my grandfathers, everybody's got that bug. Like I said earlier, there was some, you know, there was some stuff when I was younger that was pretty intense that I think added to that. and then I think the pressures of my job, you know, I got out of chef school and I became an executive chef very young like it was out of the gate. And honestly, going back, I wish I would have spent a little more time

with some other chefs before I became an executive chef. So it wasn't like fake it till you make it because I had the skill set, but I just didn't have the managing tools on top of the fact that I was drinking. But I would say, stress, pressure, some childhood trauma for sure, and using it as a way to cope. And some of those things are coping with my own insecurities, the things that, you know,

when you're nervous and you need to, you want to feel like you've bucked up, you're getting on stage, it's just a way to get yourself in the mood, so to speak. and then it becomes a spot where it's not about getting in the mood anymore. It's you have to, right? Otherwise, you don't feel like you're yourself, but the truth is you're never yourself. I didn't find my real self till four and a half years ago. And if I wouldn't have gotten sober,

there's no way I would have made it through COVID. There's no way. The things that I had to do and the systems that I had to put together to keep my restaurant, there's just there's just no way but as far as where I'm at now it's sort of like a rebirth why do you think there's a correlation between pressure and stress and going through tough times and then turning to drug use alcohol use as kind of like a reliever in that where why do you think people turn to that well I don't think people typically get the right kind of help or

have the right type of relationships with people where you can communicate. You know, it's very interesting now that, you know, that I quit drinking. I have really deep conversations with my close friends. We discuss our problems if we've got a problem with, you know, our kids are driving us nuts or the restaurant's crazy or their job is nuts. It's just a quick fix, right? It's like, that's why people do heroin. Thank you know, the folks that start doing heroin and get into heroin, those folks have got some trauma.

Those folks have got some serious weight because they're looking for the ultimate numb out. They're looking for the, I want to be out. And there's levels of that, I think, with drugs. I don't think people really necessarily think about it. Like, you know, you try some acid and you trip out a little bit and you go into an alternate dimension and you, you know, you explore. But you don't hear people typically say. say, you know, I took acid on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, right? Alcohol is designed for you to be able to tolerate it to a certain extent.

It's like a cigarette. You know what I mean? A cigarette makes you feel like you need it, but you don't. You don't need it. It's designed to give you these small addictive pangs, like stomach pangs, you know, makes you uncomfortable. But then there's things like alcohol where if you really don't have it, you get sick and you get the shakes. There was a period of time, man, where I couldn't hold a knife. You know what I mean? Like, I rock with a knife and I'm standing there getting ready to go on Fox 4 News and I'm going,

Jesus Christ. And in 7 o'clock of the morning, I'm drinking, you know, vodka to cool my jets before I get on, you know. But to really answer your question, I think, I think there's people that have addictive personalities and start doing something, whether it be fun, like you're out having drinks and you're just partying and you're just having a good time that if you've got the bug, then it eventually, you know, it's like a drink, you know, a man takes a drink, a drink takes a drink, and then the drink takes the man. And I think that often happens with people with addictive personalities that don't know what they're getting into at a young age. then they just step by step get worse.

And hopefully, for me, I knew I had too much to lose. I wanted my life back. Now that you're sober and have the clarity, do you realize the people you are hurting around you too? Because when we go through addiction, we never realize in the moment who we're hurting that are close to us. 100%. And that's part of the 12-step program, you know,

is going back and telling folks that, you know, apologizing and going through it. I feel like I've gone through the, there may be a person or two out there that I haven't got to apologize to, but I have gone through that thoroughly. I've made my inventory. And it's interesting.

There's some people that were like, dude, you never bothered me. There was never ever an issue. It was, dude, I love you. What are you talking about? Like, I never even knew that you were, some people, interestingly enough, were like, I didn't really think you had that bad of a problem, you know?

And then there were people that I really, really did need to apologize to. since I am on your podcast, I'm going to put this out there because there is one person that I need to apologize to still. And this is going to sound crazy. But I need to apologize to Corey Feldman at some point. I was at a wedding with him that I acted very inappropriately. And I haven't had that opportunity to tell him that I'm sorry for the way I behaved. So Corey Feldman, if you happen to see this, I'm sorry, man.

How do I know that name? He was in a movie called I mean very famous child actor He was in Stand By Me The Lost Boys, Goonies Oh he was in the Goonies You should have been in the Goonies You had that little

Wait with the truffle Oh man Well I'm sure He'll appreciate the apology Now in a lot of cases where we look at individuals who have suffered with addiction, a lot of the times their addiction leads them down

into, you know, legal issues. What was that like for you? That's a fact, Jack. So over the course of my time, I got two DUIs that I was charged with, and then I got a third one that I, well, didn't beat, but I got dropped down to a obstruction of highway. and all three of those, you know, that was also, you know, part of, you think about it,

like not everybody's out there getting D-Y after D-Y, right? So, you know, eventually that road, you're going to kill somebody, I was going to kill somebody, kill myself, you know, God forbid hurt a child on the road, you know, like, you just don't, when you're in it and you're driving around in that car, people just don't get it when you're drunk, like how bad that can be. but I've been arrested three times, jail three times. I spent a little time in Lus Derrott. My first arrest and the second arrest was in California.

And the third one, I got arrested in Dallas again. And each, you know, each arrest was different. The first one, I was beyond wasted. And I'm very thankful I got arrested. If I would have driven that night, the chances of somebody die and were as high as they could possibly be. And that particular night, when I got arrested, I ended up getting into it with a cop. So I ended up getting the shit kicked out of me by a female cop.

She put my face through a... Wait, what? A female cop attacked you? Well, she didn't attack me. She just beat the shit out of me. Tell us this story. So this is a night before Easter. And I'm Jewish.

So we were going to play golf on here. Easter Sunday, which we do every year, my aunt or my uncle and my dad and that whole deal. And so me and my buddy had gone out and we were having a great night. It was 2 o'clock in the morning. We had drank five bottles of crystal champagne and a bottle of towaka. And I think I had about a half a handle of rum that night. And so I had gone out of this club to get the car. And I backed the car up on a one-way street to pick up my buddy who was coming out of the

club so I like pulled it back. When I did that, the police pulled me over and like, you're backing up on a one-way street. What are you doing? I said, no, I'm just picking up my buddy. Anyways, I kind of had him going for a minute like it was cool. And then they found a pipe. I had a weed

pipe in the car. And then she was like, I thought you said you were like, cool and you didn't have any weed on you. And I was like, well, I just have this pipe. And she's like, okay, well, and so she handcuffs me and she puts me in the back of the car well as they put me in the back of my car

my friend comes out of the place and he's like what are y'all doing to him and they grab him and they arrest him so when they arrest him I go then everything shifts I go from being like this like trying to get out of the arrest situation to a maniac and somehow I got out of the handcuffs

I don't know how I got out of the handcuffs but my buddy that was with me this night calls me Houdini Hoffner. To this day, that's what he calls me. So when I got out and I was unhandcuffed and I got out of the cop car, I still don't know how this all happened, but I got out when I got out of that car,

my hair was real long back then, and she grabbed me by the back of my head and just put my face into the glass, pounding me over and over again. And Eric got arrested. I got arrested. I was in these crazy, Disco. Ryan Reynolds here for MintMobil, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.

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This was nuts. So I get, they booked me into jail and they put me in the cell. Now I'm in loose dare. This whole cell that I'm in is, it's pavement. It's just concrete. There's a bench, but it's made of concrete. And I remember somebody always telling me, like, if you go to jail, like back yourself into a corner so nobody can get you like from behind or, you know, stick you.

And so I went and I sat down and I got in this corner. and as soon as I sit down in this corner, they let another guy into the cell and he sits down next to me and I'm like, I look at him and like whatever and then they open up the cell again and they let another guy in but that guy runs full force

at this guy sitting to my left and gizh gizh gish smashes his whole basin. There is blood everywhere. So they, the The cops come in and are like, what's going on? This guy's bleeding all over the place and everybody's just sitting there silent. Nobody says a word.

They come, they get that guy. They take us all out of that cell. They go in there and they bleach it. They bleach the whole cell and put us back in it. That's how they used to clean the showers every morning in prison. They just throw bleach out of it. And that's it. They call it a day.

Yeah, I think they used like a hose and just bleach the whole thing. and then I sat in there for like 10 hours just inhaling bleach and it was terrible. My whole tongue was like a shriveled up freaking raisin and my eyes and everything. I mean, just sitting there. And that was the first time I had ever gone to jail. And it was like terrible.

Why do you think that wasn't enough for you though? Because you would go on and, you know, continue to drink and get another DUI. Why wasn't that the wake-up call? Honestly, I'd probably say because it wasn't enough. and that's quite an experience, you know? And look at all the people that, how does it make you feel the individuals

that do drink and drive for the first time and they die or they cause someone else to die? I mean, here's the deal, and this is going to sound crazy. So I've had breathalizers on my car multiple times. I think, I don't see why there shouldn't be a breathalizer on every car. I feel like if everybody had a breathalyzer on their car, it would decrease the chances of anybody dying.

It's like the easiest solution. Think about it. But that'll never happen because the government, the money, the taxes. I mean, the taxes made on alcohol, what I pay for just my restaurant is, I mean, thousands of dollars every month. We're talking like, you know, $12,000 every month. I'm paying for taxes on alcohol that's already been taxed. Tax, tax, tax.

But if everybody had to blow, nobody would kill him. anybody that made you smile. Is it hard to be around alcohol every day in your job now? It's a good question. Because I know for some people it's difficult. It's not personally hard for me because I have no interest. My life is just, I'm so lucky and I've worked hard for it, but I will never go back. What's hard for me is seeing people that are alcoholics drink.

That's what's hard for me. and it's hard for me that I sell it to them if I'm being straight up. Like I wish I could run the restaurant. Like I have a mocktail menu. I've done other things so people can have non-alcoholic drinks in my place. But it's part of the deal. It's part of the business. It's part of the hospitality business.

And I will say one day I hope, you know, when the restaurant business for me has run its course, I'll look forward to not serving it for sure. I mean, the other aspect, though, too, is, and this is something like we talked about in the car last night, is you can't force someone to change and be the person that you want them to be. They have to come to that on their own. So whether you take alcohol out of the picture yourself, they'll find another way if they're not ready to make that change. And that goes for anything in life. Well, and, okay, so there's two different deals here. So when I ended up getting sober, I'd woken up.

on a Monday morning, and I thought I was having a heart attack, like a legit heart attack. So, and I'm not willing to go into doctors. It's not my thing. And I told my wife, I need to go to the emergency room. She's like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, I've got to go to the emergency room. I'm having a heart attack. So I get there, and what had happened was my liver enzymes and my pancreas and everything was bloated, you know, all of all my organs were pushing up on my lungs, which were pushing up on my heart. And that's what was happening. And they kept me in the hospital, for four days. And during that time, I said to my wife, I said, I'm going to use this time to get sober.

I've been here four days. I haven't had anything to drink because I was very aware that I'm an alcoholic. I mean, you're puking every morning before you go to work. Like, it's not rocket science that this is what's happening, right? I said, I'm going to use this to get sober. And I'm going to come out of this. I'm going to use it as an opportunity, you know, that I'm here. And I got sober for like two weeks.

and then the month of May was my mom's birthday who passed away. It's Mother's Day, and then it's the anniversary of her death. So on her birthday, I was like, I'm going to just have a couple for mom. Alcoholic mindset, right? Just have a couple for mom who died of alcoholism and cancer and all this other shit, right? And then I went on another bender from her birthday to her death day, and that's the last day I drank. is my anniversary of sobriety is the day my mom died,

which is always a reminder why I shouldn't drink and why I need to stay sober. But back, not to digress, I have a guy that comes into the restaurant now. I've known him for 15 years. He's an older man. He is a self-admitted alcoholic. He has a routine.

He does certain things day to day. He goes from spot to spot. He like hops around. and he pees himself all the time. He can't control his bladder. So what he typically likes to drink is he's very routinized what he drinks. It's a fireball with a Coors light and then a jack and coke. Okay, that's how he goes.

I stopped carrying fireball. I haven't had a fireball in my restaurant for two months every time he comes in. And he comes in like, you know, several times a week. He may come in twice and twice and he. one day. He lives very close to the restaurant. How come you don't get, where's my fireball, Scott? You know, they're out of stock, James. They're like, what do you mean? They have it everywhere. You can't get it? No, can't. Nope. Because that fireball, I think, is just a very dangerous beyond, like, it's just, I think it's

just bad, the fireball. And so I don't, it's one thing that I've done with him to try to, try to help him. He can go get the fireball somewhere else. He can go do four shots of fireball and two cores lights and two jack. You're right. So there's little areas, little spaces that I try and win when it comes to that. Now, your second DUI arrest, tell us about that. That was kind of strange one. I had worked an 18-hour day. It was the day before 4th of July, and a friend of mine was having a 4th of July party. And I'd, um, I'd gotten done with work and I'd gone over there to to just

have a couple glasses of wine and that's all I had. That night I had two glasses of wine. They were bigger glasses but I had two and the girl I was dating at the time was wasted and she insisted on having her car because she had to wake up in the morning and I was like let me just

drive you home. She was like no I ain't my car I got to work and I was younger at the time and not thinking about this I was like well let me at least follow you home and that way I can get you, make sure you get home safely. And so we were doing that, and I had a range rover at the time that I believe I wasn't wealthy. I had gotten it through a restaurant Kai that was through a divorce and he didn't want his wife to have the range rover.

So he sold me the range rover for $13,000 just so his wife wouldn't get it. That's the same guy that was on the mushrooms that bought the mats. Anyways, so this range rover had like a compression problem in the engine where sometimes it would just stall. So I'm at, we're at a stop sign and she goes and I go and the car stalls, but behind me was a cop. And I started back up and I go maybe five feet and it stalls again and the cops pull me over. And they're like, what's going on? I'm like, my car is stalling. They're like, I mean, what are you doing out this late?

I'm like, well, I'm just following this girl that I'm seeing home. but I don't want to not. Yeah, like, you should go follow her. She's wasted. I ain't no snitch. So they asked me if I had anything to drink. I said yes, I'd had two glasses of wine, and they arrested me, and then they took me

and they booked me at Ventura jail. And that's, there was kind of a funny story that happened there. There was a big Hispanic guy named Junior. He was like 6'5, probably like 250 pounds, 260 pounds and when I got there they had like a metal bench that like was

bolted into the wall and I was sitting there but not on the bench people were sitting on the bench so I was sitting on the ground and I looked I was looking under the bench and there were five cigarettes

hand-rolled cigarettes that were taped on the thing and that big Hispanic guy was sitting there junior and he seemed to like have some control in there. Like he was, you know, respected in this.

Everybody knew him. So he like walked over and he sat down next to me and I was like, hey man, there's these five cigarettes underneath this bench. And he was like, really? And I was like, get him. And I was like, get him. He's like, grab him. So I went and I grabbed him and I got him.

He's like, we're going to smoke those. And I was like, we are? And he's like, yep. don't worry about it. I was like, all right. So he says something to another guy, and another guy gives him a book of matches, and he says, give me one.

And I'm like, okay. I'm like, ah, I'm fucked down. This guy's going to take all my stuff. And he lights one up, and he's like, what are you doing? He's like, light one up. I'm like, okay. So we're both sitting there smoking,

and a dude comes up and's like, yo, man, give me one of those sticks. And Junior looks at him, he's like, why don't you sit your ass down? He's like, no, man. give me one of those sticks and Junior gets up and takes a big drag of the cigarette

and blows it in his face and he says those sticks are for me and the little man go sit your fucking ass down I'm sorry I don't know if I should be swearing you're good and so the dude went and sat down

and me and this guy smoked our cigarettes and then that night it's kind of weird but it was really cold in there and I'm a little guy and he's a big guy so that big guy let me like lay on him

on his side. And so I laid up on that big man for the evening and just kind of stayed warm. I felt protected by Junior. Now, your third DUI, or almost DUI, you were telling me the story in the car. Yeah, this is a funny story. It's not like a fighting story or anything.

It's a cop being a dick. You've got to share the story and the impressions you told me last night with the energy, the cop's reaction, everything like that. Okay, so I am at the Granada Theater. This is right before Thanksgiving. It's about like, I bet you it's this week.

I bet you that it's the anniversary this week of this arrest. Happy anniversary. Happy anniversary. So, I'm at the Granada Theater and my buddy, Dave Mason, who is the founding father of a band called Traffic, and you're probably too young to know him, but he had a big song, Feeling All Right, which was done. And Dear Mr. Fantasy, he was a big part of Woodstock, Jimmy Hendricks, and all this stuff.

And I know him from Ohio, California. you. Anyhow, we were hanging out backstage after his show, just relaxing, just chilling. I had had two drinks that night and they were early in the night. This particular night, I'm telling you, I wasn't wasted. This was a night. I felt comfortable driving home. But I left. It was like one in the morning. It was a Wednesday night. It was raining and, you know, it was kind of cold. And I was driving and I couldn't see very well. And I'm colorblind. I'm 90% colorblind. There's a blinking. red light. And so I'm going seven miles an hour as I'm approaching this light, trying to determine

whether it's a yellow or a red. Well, I thought it was yellow when I went through it. And this cop rolls me. So he pulls me over and he's like, you just ran a blinking red light. Have you had anything to drink tonight? And I was like, no, sir. Didn't tell him shit. I said, no, sir. He said, why are you out this late? I said, a friend of mine is that's a granada. He says, okay, you sure you haven't had anything to drink tonight? I'm like, no, now mind you, this cop is at least six foot eight. There's no exaggeration. Six eight, three hundred and fifty pounds.

Could have played for any NFL football team ever. He is enormous. And he looks at me and he's like, I'd like you to walk in a straight line. I said, I'm not doing that. And these are all tricks that cops want you to do to admit guilt. And so he tries to get me to do a couple things. I tell him I won't do any of them. and then he says to me,

I want you to say your alphabet, start at D and end at T. Now, I want everybody that's watching this to understand, if any officer ever asked you to do this dumb shit, you say no. You say no, you say no, you say no. Because he wants you to say, I couldn't do it if I was sober.

I couldn't even do it if I was sober. Well, you've just admitted guilt guys, and then you're going to jail. they don't have to do anything anymore, it's over. Over. So he says, start at D and end of T. And I said, I'm not doing that, sir. I said, I'll start at A and I'll go to Z.

He's like, I'm not the one in, no, he says to me, I want you to do it from D to T. I said, I'm not doing it. I said, I want to see you do it. And he takes a big deep breath and he goes, I'm not the one in handcuffs. And I go, yeah, but I'd like to see you do it. And he starts at D and he misses MNOP.

The cop misses his own test. So I go to jail, obviously, and then I get with my lawyer. Also, you know, you talked about, you asked me earlier about how why it wasn't enough, what kept me drinking. And it's because it wasn't enough. I was able to get out of these situations. And the punishment wasn't drastic enough. So I tell my lawyer, I'm like, look, it's on the tape.

The cop missed him. MNOP, check it out. So, of course, he thinks I'm full of it. He thinks he's like, you know, he was drunk and he's just making this shit up. Well, he looks at the video and sure enough, the cop misses MNOP, and the police don't like losing court cases in Texas. None of them ever do, right? But there's like 99% chance if you get pulled over in a DUI, you are getting locked up

and you're going to go on probation or whatever. So they drop that to an obstruction. of highway, which I still ended up with a breathalyzer in my car. And I was on probation for 18 months. And I did, you know, mothers against drunk driving. And you have to, you know, do this, your, what do you call it? Your community service. And that's what happened.

But the cop missed MNOP. And that's what set me free. Scott, why do you think we need drastic things to get individuals to change? Like, why do we need to lose some? someone for someone to realize someone's value? Why do we need to get arrested and go to prison to reshape our life? Like, why do humans need that? What do you think that is?

And why can't they just take it from someone else that's been through it? Oh, I think that there's some people they can't. I think there are some people that can listen and hear it and understand it. There's people I know that aren't alcoholics that drink, you know, they drink pretty good, right? but then they one day say to me, I'm like, I'll see him at the restaurant and say, oh, you're not having a bucket? And I'm like, no, I'm taking a step back for a month. You know, I just need to cleanse and refresh myself.

And it's no big deal, right? And then there's the people that, like, just can't do that stuff. And those are the folks that I think need this. I mean, I didn't get sober because I had three DUIs. That's not what got me sober. There was never a time where I was like, oh, my God, I've got three DUIs. I've got to get sober. It was, I'm going to lose my restaurant.

I'm going to lose my wife. I'm going to lose my life. I'm going to lose all the things I love and have worked for. And that wasn't like I was at a rock bottom where, you know, every, but I think everybody has to learn in different ways. And some people need tough love and some people don't. I mean, if you didn't get in trouble for doing what you did with the club, you would have just probably kept going, right?

And kept parlaying. Well, yeah, I was telling someone recently, Like if I never got my bond revoked and sent to prison, I'd still be running that club till today. Even through COVID, I would have found a way because I'm that type of person that you have to physically remove me from something because once I have my mindset on it, it's done. It's over. Like we, you know, when I met Patrick, who we've talked about on the show, who introduced me to Chevy Chase and Brandon Novak and whatnot, you know, when we came up with the idea, let's go build our own. studio, we did that shit in a day. Like, I remember we were talking one day, the next time I talked to you.

I was like, yeah, we got the studio. Well, and that's drive and motivation. And so, you know, and I have that same thing. Thank God I have that, because that is what allowed me to have a very successful career as a chef, right? Like, I was half drunk all the time and able to excel as a chef. But that eventually was going to be bye-bye. and then it would have been, oh, you owned your own restaurant,

and now you're working for someone else again. And I'd be working for that person for a year till I got caught drinking, or I did the wrong thing, or I made the wrong move, or I just got pissed and quit, or whatever. And then the rest of my career would be bouncing in and out of different restaurants, hotels, golf courses, private sheffing, do-to-do, in and out, in and out.

And, you know, Leaving alcohol behind is solidified my entire life. Yeah. I think it's important to have something to be passionate about and have that drive, you know, because that's why me and you get along. And not a lot of people are like that, that are on that level that could think that way. Like, I feel like I would be a very depressed, like lost individual because of everything I've been through and continue to go through. But because I have this ability to see the bigger picture and keep putting.

that keeps me grounded and that keeps me going. Like I have something to put my energy into. Well, I'm a ball of energy. You know, I don't even know what to. One minute, I'm thinking of an idea for toilet paper that cleans the toilet bowl on the way down. And the next minute I'm trying to think of a, you know, a new concept, new restaurant, new TV show.

It's like it's a never-ending evolution. And if you have it, you have it. And Patrick has it. And, you know, that's why him and I have been, runs for so long. It's a, it's a, it's an ability to take your energy and turn it into a positive force, at least for me, that other people can enjoy. Now, because of your jail experiences, did that draw you to content like this in the prison content world? Well, what really actually drew me to it was the idea of convict kitchen. That's how I ended.

up starting to see this stuff. Because I've always loved like CSI and Joe Kenna. I love like, you know, murder mystery kind of shows. And I've always been intrigued by prison and jail. But when I was my passion project that we could talk about whenever you want to, when I was, I was basically looking for someone like yourself. And when I found you, I saw what you had done with your. show. Then it was like, okay, what is he talking about? He's talking about all this prison stuff and

these crazy stories. And I love that shit. And then it was like J.D. Delay. And you had Mitch, Johnny Mitchell. That guy tells great stories. And I just get intrigued by all of that. And then also, you know, through my career, I've had a lot of guys that work for me that came out of the penitentiary, which is, you know, some of my best employees ever. ever come out of prison. Yeah, I think it's important for our audience to hear that about the correlation between guys that have come out of prison and working in kitchens and why that's a stable environment and why you yourself as a business owner would prefer to hire those guys than maybe someone

that went to a culinary school. Oh, my gosh. That's go all day about this. So first of all, when you get a guy that's come out of jail, prison, they are looking for an opportunity. They are hungry. They are looking to be trusted. They're looking to try and find some respect in their life.

And in the kitchen, it's an absolute opportunity for all of those things to happen. There is something that happens to guys in prison, whether it's the regiment and the day-to-day routine, because I know routines are so important to get through that time. You know, you're working through your time. So you have your regiment. and you have a discipline. Not only that the kitchen is a very tough place. It's hot.

It's muggy. It's sharp. It's sweaty. It's not a spot for everybody. It's not for the faint of heart. You're not going to find a pussy in the kitchen. You're just not. I don't know if I can use that word either.

I'm sorry if you have to edit it. So I've had multiple guys that have come out of prison, one of one two in particular ones a latin king and the other one's an o g out of chicago true gang members there's no they are the in it in it and these guys came to me at both at different times and what's interesting is they work together for a two-year period of time a big black dude o g and a mexican latin king side by side working together oh i for i hadn't really thought about that That's amazing. In harmony.

Not with knives and pans. And you think to yourself like, I mean, people have said like, I mean, you're going to let a guy that was in prison be in your kitchen and he's got access to an 11-inch French knife? Hell yeah. I mean, everybody, if you're in a kitchen, has the same knife. It doesn't matter if you were in prison or you weren't. Everybody could stick it in you if they want to.

But the regiment that these guys have, their ability to retain knowledge. There's a lot of reading that goes on in prison. And I feel like that also correlates to being able to read recipes thoroughly. Makes for a great employee. Now, what would you say to someone that just got out of prison? Maybe they did a short sentence, a long sentence, and they're struggling to find work.

You as someone as a entrepreneur, as a business owner, what advice would you give them? And how would you kind of encourage them to not, give up and to maybe even check out and give the restaurant world the chance. Well, there's a couple different things. One, if you've gotten out of jail or prison and you don't have any culinary background, like you haven't worked in a restaurant or you haven't cooked, walk into a restaurant, tell them that you want to work hard and you want to be a dishwasher and you want to learn

how to prep. In this day and age, right now, that job in Texas, if you came to meet right, now and you said those words to me that job is going to start you at 16 bucks an hour that job is going to make sure you have a meal every shift you work and in my place you're going to get a little bit more than a meal you're going to be able to have a soda all day long you're going to be able to have heat or air all day long you're not going to be doing construction whether it's winter or hot or cold you got a house a roof over your head and then it's also a family so if you're not going to be doing So if you were to come in my spot today and say, I just got out of prison, I'm a hard worker,

I'm looking to start over, I want to start as a dishwasher and learn how to prep and maybe be a cook one day, boom, $16 a meal square every day. And you're going to end up if you work hard going to my Christmas party and go bowling with all of us. Now what about what would you say to your fellow entrepreneurs and fellow business owners that might be hesitant? And we're not talking about the corporate people that have the rules, but I'm talking about the individuals like you, the mom and pop owners that might be hesitant to hire someone that has a

felony on their record. And you're someone that's hired individuals with felonies. What would you say to them? Well, I would say sit down with them and try to get to know. If you're hesitant, sit down and talk to them and get to know them a little bit, really dig into them in a conversation to see if you can find a comfort zone. I'm not, I've been to jail. I've been in the underbellity of the world. I've had guns put to my head, like, so I'm not afraid of those kind of things. I can't tell Ms. Smith to not be afraid or have fear, right? Because they just have a stigma. There's a stigma to it. What I can say is, before you say no, sit down and talk to them. Because the fact of the matter is 90% of the kids on the planet, they ain't coming to wash dishes. I'm not going to find a 16-year-old

white kid to come and wash dishes anymore. It doesn't happen. It doesn't exist. The people that come out of jail or prison are hungry. They need the opportunity. So the majority of the time, they are hungry for it and will work for it and will work for it with a smile on their face because they're not overprivileged and they haven't at this point had anything handed to them other than a freaking bologna sandwich. Let's get into how we met. let's get into how we met if you're listening to this on Spotify and Apple you need to watch the video version on YouTube

because Scott is very he has that look and he's got all these hand motions going on and facial expressions first of all of them I don't even know where the cameras are I give him this and then I give him this what do you think of that what are you like an animal

an eater or something Okay. You're making Shane laugh out there. You know, I told Shane, you're listening it on this. I told him, I told Scott your name was Phineas and he was convinced for a couple minutes that your name was actually Phineas. I call him Finney. That's my boy Finn. All right. So Scott, let's get into how you met, how you and I met and the reason why we met was you created this cooking show that was based around prison, which led you to me. how do you get that idea? So, well, it's a passion project of mine, and it started with those two guys that I was talking about, Stukes and Robert.

Those guys would talk about the spreads and the foods that they would make in prison, which I always found crazy intriguing. So years ago, I had a show, a pilot that I worked on, and the show was based on taking your leftover ketchup packet from McDonald's and your leftover soy sauce from Chinese food and mixing that together

and making chicken sexy hockey. Like you taking these leftover ingredients and turning it into something, right? And then when these guys started telling me about how they'd make food, I was like, whoa, man, you're using like instant milk and all this craziness. And I just found it very intriguing.

And obviously, I still do. So, you know, I started formulating an idea and went through a bunch of different names, locked up, chopped up, the shackled chef, commissary kitchen, and we ended with convict kitchen. And that show is, I don't want to, it's an edit right now and it's coming out.

So I'm really, really excited about it. So I don't want to give too much away. But it's basically about guys coming out of, out of prison for an opportunity for a culinary career. Or maybe even a cash prize, depending on who picks it up, and they will pick it up. And it's a culinary competition using commissary. It's pretty exciting, pretty exciting stuff.

But in the process of this, I was doing research, and I was writing it out and getting it together. I was looking to see if there was anybody out there that had done anything like what my idea was. And there he was. Do-de-do-do-do-de-do. In Bick. and Ian Bick and his chef father,

and I think Mr. Nipples himself, J.D. DeLay, we're doing some kind of playground activities with the food, with the commissary. And so the truth is when I saw your video that you had put up, I was a little heartbroken. I was like, oh, my goodness, this guy kind of is doing what I was wanting to do. It's sort of loosely similar. And, you know, then I was like, well,

I don't want to get sued and I don't want this to be similar, you know, too similar. So I, instead of getting upset, I changed it, flipped the script. And I emailed you. And I emailed Ian to ask if he would be my co-host on the show for the pilot. And that's what we did. And I couldn't believe it. It was just like, this guy and, you know, and then I saw your episodes. I'm like, this guy's perfect to be my co-host on the show.

he's a legit deal I mean he's he's a scoundrel he's been locked under the under the jail he runs through the woods to get sushi this is my guy and I reached out and you were kind enough to reach back out and then we flew you to Texas

we made the pilot and in that process you introduced me to Michael and Marcy and we got them as contestants for the pilot and it just has been so much fun and now I'm here with you. You know, I'm a big believer in using social media as like a networking tool and

checking your DMs. I'm constantly every day. I go through my message requests because I get so many a day. And it's important that I go through everyone. I try to respond the best I can. I'm just like I have so much going on now. It's tough. But if something stands out and like someone like, I'll more likely not respond to the ones that just say like, hey. But I'm reading all my emails. I don't have like an assistant that does that and I read all the messages because I run my own social media. So I see some of these things come through and you never know what that could lead to. That could lead to your next girlfriend or a relationship. That could lead to your next job, your next opportunity.

I got an HBO Max documentary because an intern who was not affiliated with HBO and her bio or anything, no mutual friends messaged me on Facebook and it went to my spam and I just checked it one day. And ever since that day, I check it every day. I've had my former judge's law clerk message me on Facebook saying, hey, you know, just saw how much you've grown since, you know, that whole incident and that whole trial and everything. Like you can connect with so many people that watch the content. People are taking the time to watch me and listen to my platform, you know, so I should take the time to, you know, respond back. Absolutely. And you emailed me and you didn't just say, hey, like you presented something.

So it's on me to at least hear it out, you know, because you never know. I didn't know. And then, you know, if I never responded to that, we literally would not be in the studio. Patrick and Eno. Because I met Patrick there. And, you know, you put me up at that, a basic house with the pool, the guy that makes the pools. But it was, you know, it was a great time for me. It wasn't, I think so many people like in this industry are always,

fixated on the short-term payout. Well, you're exactly right. And the guy that's doing my Chef 86, my TikTok for Chef 86, this kid is working with me for Peanuts. He doesn't get a ton of money. But let me tell you what, when the video the other day got 50,000 views,

he, you know, the light bulb went off on his head. I had a guy prior to Micah that was like, well, I mean, you know, for me to make these videos, it's going to be $2,000. I'm like, we're just making TikToks here. Like there's no return. Like this is a thing. Do you want to buy into this?

Do you want to rock and roll? Do you want to have energy? Do you want to fucking go? Or are you worried about your editing fees and this, that, and the other? And then there's Micah who's like, we're going to plug away at this. And I think that you've got something. And I think that you're special. And I think we can do something with this.

And he shows up and he does it. He puts his energy in. And I'll call him and I'll say, hey, I got this idea. You got to come. And he'll come. And then we get a 50. And I know it's not a lot of views, but 50,000. he got him going.

And he sees something that's a possibility. And you got to put the energy and effort into it. The world needs more of that thinking because I remember how many people told me no or how many people I had no money to start this. You know, and I'm grateful for the individuals that help put me on and help build it with me. But there were so many people that to know or how much it would cost or this and that, you know, which is why the studio is a separate business that I'm building. I'm undercutting everyone else and doing it at a fraction of. of what the big people would charge just to get into the door to help people produce good content

and the money will come down the road. That's exactly how you have to look at it. That's how you look at it in the food business too. Well, let me tell you something about that. I couldn't get anybody to lend me money for years and years and years. And it's probably because the people I'm asking are like, he's a drunk, why would we lend an alcoholic chef, you know, $300,000? But somebody did let me that money to do what I do.

And now everybody wants to give me money. Everybody wants me to build them a restaurant. Everybody has seen the success. Oh, you want, oh, we should do one here. We should do one here. Let's do a hot dog. Let's do a taco. Let's my wife loves this.

We are here, here, here, here. Before, nothing, nothing. And I got to go back to that thing about the email that you were talking about because this is a pretty nutty situation. So the year that my mom died, I mean, I was just in a bottle. I should have just had a tube hooked up to my mouth walking around with a bottle of Captain Morgan on my back. One of those camels? They should have one of those camel toes on my back with the jammers.

And I had applied for beat Bobby Flay. And so there's like a couple of different rounds that you got to go through, like that once you get in, then they contact you and they interview you. And then they do a Skype interview and then da-da-da-da-da. So I got the phone call from them that I was going on the show. and I don't know what I was doing I was like trying to be aloof or something like it was no big deal that I was gotten on the show so it was right before Thanksgiving

weird so the lady's on the phone with me the producer and she's like we're on the deal we need you to send us your head shots and your recipe and like two head shots in a recipe or something like that and I was like

okay and they're like we'll be reaching out to you so can you please get that together we'll be sending you an email and I was like sure no problem well it was like two days later was Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving came and went and it was a nightmare because my mom is the first one without her and it was like her favorite holiday and like three weeks went by and I was like you know I haven't heard from them you know

it's been three weeks I went back in my email and the day after they called me they sent me an email that I missed. And that email was, we need X, Y, and Z within 48 hours so we can book your flights. And I missed it. And I didn't go on Bobby Flay.

Always check your emails. Always check your emails. I brought it back around, you see. What would be your message to everyone that's listening to this? What do you want people to take away from your story? I want people to know that if you put energy effort and time into whatever you really and truly want to do that you can make manifest. You can manifest your life.

You can do anything you want to do. I mean, you think about those parkour guys. Like, think about that. Those guys like running up buildings and jumping off of things and doing all this stuff. Like, you can do that if you want to do it. you just have to train like a crazy person and have a little bit of balls and you can do it. We can do anything. And like you're an example of that.

Like as a kid you started a club and then you got in trouble and then you went to prison and then you're out of prison and you're doing it. Right? I've been buried under the jail and I don't necessarily mean that in a literal sense. But in alcohol, I've drowned myself. I'm standing here with you. You know, there's a choice that we all make. And you can choose to win or you can choose to lose or be average. And being average is fine if that's the way you want to operate if you're not looking for

something else in the world. But if you are looking, go out there and get it and don't sit on it. And the other thing is don't be somebody that talks about it. You got to do it. Put your money where your mouth is. You got to do it. I want to be a script. I want to write movies.

We'll write a movie and then rewrite it and rewrite it and rewrite it until it's right. You can't just talk about things happening and all of a sudden they happen. You know, I want to be in a band. I want to be in a rock band. Well, then fucking practice your guitar every day. Tattoo your face. So this is this, this is what I'm, this is my message. Mr. Bick, tattoo your face.

Great message. And when I say that, you're all in. If you're a gang member and you've tattooed your face, you're all in. Like, you've made a decision, you're an MS-13, you've put it on your freaking face. If you're a Nazi and you put a swatistica on your head, you have tattooed your face. You're all in. Now, I'm not saying that those are good things. But if you tattoo your face, it means that what's important to you is being in that band more than anything.

and first and foremost is getting your guitar strings. If you read Kurt Cobain's journal, like he's got a thing. It's like guitar is everything. Everything on the list is about music and his budget for his weekly budget. On the bottom of the budget is like $6 for food. He's got everything he needs.

Guitar cables, he's buying everything he needs to be in the band. Last thing on the list is food. what he actually needs to live. That's tattooing your face. All in. You built the studio. You put it up. You got it going.

Lights, camera, action. You tattooed your face. This is what you decided to do. Right? I have a television show that I've been working on. I'm not talking about it. You came to Texas. We had all the people come.

We had the cameras, the men, the production, the deal. We did it. All in. Absolutely. Locked in. All in, baby.