Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Spike Mendelsohn - Top Chef Alum, Author, Restaurateur, and Entrepreneur

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

Welcome to another episode on The Radcast! In this episode on The Radcast, host Ryan Alford talks with Top Chef Alum, Author, Restaurateur, and Entrepreneur, Spike Mendelsohn.Spike talks about opportunities that opened for him after joining the reality TV cooking show, Top Chef and shares his cooking style and techniques. He shares about the challenges he has encountered while running his businesses ‘Good Stuff Eatery’ and ‘We, The Pizza’ while also working as a celebrity chef. Spike also talks about the impact of joining ‘Top Chef’ in his life and what it taught him as a contestant and entrepreneur, plus tips he wants to share with new chefs/entrepreneurs who aspire to become like him in the industry and more…Spike also has a quick take on RAD or FAD trending topics;Fireball Whiskeys ‘Firekeg’Instagram ReelsFood CartsPlant-BasedLearn more about Spike Mendelsohn www.chefspike.com, Twitter @chefspike, Instagram @spikethechef. If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, let us know by visiting our website www.theradcast.com. Check out www.theradicalformula.com Like, Share and Subscribe on our YouTube account https://bit.ly/3iHGk44 or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Be sure to keep up with all that’s radical from @ryanalford @radical_results @the.rad.cast If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I never even went back to cows milk for the reason that I just felt that it was such a comparable product. And actually I felt make me feel a little bit even lighter. You have even like these mushroom milks coming out. Whoa. Magic mushroom milk's coming out. Hey, all right. Now we're talking. Now we're getting radical.

Sign me. Yeah. There should be a program for young adults that requires them to go work in the restaurant industry. Hardest part of the ending is starting again. You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up?

Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. You know, I'm hungry today, folks. I like talking food. I like talking plant-based. I'm here with Spike Middleson, ex-top shelf contestant, author, Badass dude. What else can I call you, Spike?

All the acronyms. Dishwasher. Diswasher. I know, a true entrepreneur. Yeah. I was just picking up trash in my office. I'm like, you know, we do it all when you own the business, right? Never stops.

Never stops. Well, good to have you on the show. It's great to be here, man. Great to be here. So are you, are you plant base? Are you flat? Oh, no, I like it. But I eat everything, brother.

I mean, like, I haven't figured out how, like, I'm not a bodybuilder, but I do lift, you know, like five days a week. I mean, I'm more into the lifting side than the cardio side. And I haven't figured out the perfect balance. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there. I'm going to get DMs now. Like, hey, you could totally be plant-based and get all your protein and stuff. Oh, yeah. People are in Italian to watch Game Changers.

I know. But I haven't figured out that perfect balance, and I haven't given up. We talked pre-episode about our caffeine kicks, but I haven't figured out how to give up meat yet. Yeah. Well, you know, I'm not the – I'm a flexitarian myself, so I'm not like really, you know, although, you know, we'll get into it. Although I own some vegan brands now, I've always been a guy to preach balance in our food system, to be honest with you. And not only in our food system, but in our own diets. It just felt like that's always the healthiest option.

You know, too much of anything can't be great for you, I feel. Yep. So to me, it's always been about like, just figure out the right balance for yourself because our body all reacts differently. We all need different things, right? So we can't control that. Well, the great Abe Lincoln said everything in moderation, including moderation. Every bit of moderation.

100%. I try to, I, I, uh, I try to. to definitely have moderation in moderation. Totally. No, I feel like I have a good balance there, but I am trying to figure out, and maybe you can help me with this, the how to eat healthier and on a time crunch and everything. I'm not a burgers and fries every day guy or pizza every day guy, but it's like, it's kind of confusing now.

Like you've got organic and you've got vegan and you've got, you know, all this stuff. I think for some people it comes natural, but it's like trying to make the right choices and also have some flavor in your life, you know? Totally. Totally. Totally. I mean, flavor to me is everything because that's the only way you get people to adopt into any new food trend, to be honest with you, right? So, you know, to me it's all about like, again, like we're going to go back to like the idea of balance, but you going eating more plant based on nutrition. and your diet does not mean you're going to necessarily have to sacrifice flavor and deliciousness, right? I think that used to be early stage when plant-based, you know, came into the space. That, it was kind of the rhetoric, right? You couldn't find a plant-based cheese that melted well or, or tasted like an American slice.

Yeah. Look at milk. Like, look at the dairy market. Look at the oat milks, the almond milks. I mean, that was an early conversion for me for, like, I never even went back to cows milk. And for no reason at all that, I just, I mean, for the reason that I just felt that it was such a comparable product. And actually, I felt made me feel a little bit even lighter, you know. So it just makes sense.

Like why even, you know, indulge in anything that different? So, you know, it's just small steps like this. You know, I have a company called Eat the Change, and we did this incredible planet challenge. And we did it for about 30 days. And we're a CIPG company. We have a mushroom jerky in the market. But the challenge was beyond selling jerky.

It was about getting people to adapt small little habits in their lives and do some small little tweaks that can get them to look at the plant-based motion. And there were easy things. They were like, swap your junk food for plant-based junk food one day, right? Replace your cows milk creamer with plant-based creamer for your coffee. And it was just these small little steps that you could take in your daily activities that would get you going and give you a little bit of confidence that you can do this. So, you know, I think it just takes time. Yeah.

And oat milk was the first, like I never liked, I don't know if what it was called. I guess it's the almond milk and all that. I was like, no, not getting there, you know, trying to try to do things. But then oat milk came out. I'm like, okay. All right. Now we're talking. I'm drinking this ripple chocolate milk that's made out of peas right now.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Is it good? It's actually delicious. It's, it's absolutely delicious. And that's the milk ones, the one that's really like open my mind up because you got the oats, the almonds, the pea milks. You have even like these mushroom milks coming out. Whoa. You know, magic mushroom milk's coming out. Hey, all right.

Now we're talking. Yeah. Now we're getting radical. Sign me. Yeah. But that's what, that's really what's exciting about the space, though, right? It's like, it's wide open. And it's like it's the renaissance of the plant-based movement right now.

And it's just crazy to see everyone kind of adopting it. I know. I love it. Well, Spike, we jumped right into it, which I love it. But I do want to give everybody a little background. I'm sure, you know, as I mentioned, meaning you're on top shelf. And I know that story's out there and it's been a number of years. But maybe give everybody a little bit of that synopsis on you and, you know, your history.

you know, building up to, you know, plant burger and everything you get going on now. Yeah. So, you know, we're going to go way back. Top Chef days, right? Well, you know, I think at least for a perspective, all these cookie shows are so damn popular, man. I mean, I couldn't believe it. Like, I've had, like, Noah Sims for Master Chef. Like, a lot, you know, a lot of buds now, like, seem to be these come from these shows.

And I'm like, I guess I just like food. I don't know what it is. And all of you guys seem so fucking chill. Like, I don't know. seem to, you know, intertwine with that well. But, uh, yeah, I think it's, you know, part of your history. Yeah. Noah Sims is a vibe, by the way. Oh, yeah. That guy, I, I love, I love everything he puts out there. He's, he's, he's, he's, he, I like it a lot. So he, it's him, though. I don't know if you met him or know him, but like it's, oh, dude. I mean, we're like brothers from another now.

Oh, he texts like every other day. And, you know, he's been, he's done a couple of, uh, charity events for me and different things. And dude is, that is him. I mean, he is a vibe. He is, there's no one I've ever met like him, and he's the fucking coolest dude ever. Well, yeah, no, yeah. So, yeah, so let's talk to have to days. I mean, listen, I am cut from very deep roots in the restaurant industry.

I'm from Montreal, raised in a big Greek family and Jewish family. All my family members, my Greek family members in some way. are involved in the restaurant business and still are in Montreal, you know, the connection runs deep over there. I don't know if you've ever go to Montreal, but. I have not been to Montreal. There's some, what an amazing eating, you know, food city. You got to go check it out.

On my list now. I'll give you all the places. But, you know, and, you know, I always spent my life in and around restaurant, basically, you know, I always make a joke. I'm just a dishwasher that knows some things because I wash so many dishes in my life. multiple restaurants. So, you know what, I have to say that I got to stop you right there because my first job, I worked at a meat and three restaurant.

I was 15 years old and I washed dishes for eight months. I think it made me who I am today. Like, until you scrub macaroni, trays and meat and three dishes with gravy, you haven't, you haven't worked. You have not worked. You know what? There should be a program. for young adults that requires them to go work in the restaurant industry.

Like literally it requires them whether I don't care if it's dishwashing, cooking or waitressing or whatever. But there's some grit that ingraised in you. There's some humility that it puts on you that I think you can't teach that. You can't ball up and teach that in any school. I highly agree. I mean, I have to say it made me who I am, you know. So, yeah, I mean, like, as I grew up in the industry, you know, my parents started traveling all around the world. We went to Spain.

We opened a ton of restaurants. And then we landed in Florida. You know, I'll fast forward to, you know, I decided to go to culinary school. And then I, you know, it was a culinary school that I got really, like, inspired because it was the first time that I felt a little extra confident about a skill that I. I didn't really look as as a skill. I was mostly kind of at that point still ashamed of being in the restaurant business. You know, like your parents are, you know, in the restaurant business. Like, okay.

So it was at school that kind of gave me the comments and be like, oh, you don't know how to make a Bernays or a stock or like it was stuff that I like just grew up with. So that's kind of what set me off. And from there is kind of where I just went working, you know, I went to France and worked for some of the best chefs in the world, the relay chateaus, three mission restaurants. I wanted to be a French famous, like, through Michelin Star Chef. I mean, that was the trajectory. Like, that's who I went to go work for. And along those lines, I ended up in New York City, basically,

working for Drew Nippurant at a Vietnamese restaurant. I had gotten a little bit bored of French food and was looking for, like, something to inspire me a little bit more. And Vietnamese is somewhere I had traveled and really, like, took a liking to. And then the recession. hit, you know, basically in 2008, and I decided to go on a top chef, a reality show. My sister was a fan of the show. I think it came out. It was right after Project Runway, so she just happened to, you know, get into the show. And she says, you have to go do this. You have to go

do this show. And I wasn't really into it. I was like, what are you kidding me? I'm not, you know, I'm a three Michelin Star pedigree here, you know, and soon enough, I saw one of my buddies on the show. I saw Marcel Vineran on season two. And him and I were huge buddies and big buddies in culinary school. And I was like, oh, let me go do this. So, yeah, I did top chef. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I had never done any filming in front of the camera

or never cooking in front of the camera. And it worked out pretty well for me. You know, I was able to like somehow come out of it with a really good edit, a really good somewhat of a brand, get recognized I was able, had like this fedora I was wearing and fucking with people the entire time on the show. And, you know, it was the guy that took it not too serious, but serious enough. And that's kind of like, that's, that's kind of what happened.

And from there, it just, that, that show just opened up all the opportunities, open up all the opportunities too soon in my life, to be honest with you, which was interesting, you know. Usually you have to work a little bit harder in the industry to get some of those. those opportunities and that show was special because it really just super launched you into getting all that kind of stuff. So that's that's kind of, you know, that's a little bit of top chef. I mean, I went on to do Top Chef All-Stars, Iron Chef America, Iron Chef Redemption. I mean, every show you could think of, I've been kicked off of.

But you know what? A lot of people, I just call it normal people that have these, opportunities. Maybe some people see it, but some people turn their nose up at it or think, you know, but you know, I preach, you know, in an agent's ad agency and like I tell clients, attention is currency. And anything you can do to hack the algorithm to get awareness on yourself, whether it's a TV show or opportunity, you get eyeballs in that reach of, you know, media's reach and frequency. And you get to go on a show where you have all this reach. millions of people watching, all the frequency because you're on every week until you get off or whatever,

but you get to shortcut the whole algorithm, like you said, of life and work and business. Yeah, yeah. You get to do it. But when you do get it and like, listen, you get, you know, people talk about like you get these opportunities in life and you're either able to harness them and run with it for the good or you get swallowed up and spit out right and and um i was very lucky because i had a i had ingrained a business background a restaurant business background and slightly you know some would say a a hustle you know like my a big greek family in the restaurant business you learn how to hustle you learn you know you learn you know you learn how to roll your sleeves up, go to work and get things done, you learn how to make noise in a big Greek family

to get attention, you know? And my sister actually also had a marketing degree. So right after Top Chef, I think the reason why we were able to harness some success and really run with it is that I kind of leaned back into my family. You know, we had been away from the business for so many years. I went to culinary school and my sister went off to college and like my parents sold our childhood restaurants that we grew up in. And when the recession hit, my sister lost her job. You know, my two-star restaurant in New York City had folded and withdrew. And my mother and father were driving us absolutely fucking crazy in retirement.

So we all decided to get them busy again. And it's really they actually, they operate a lot better working than retirement. They still work till this day. And, you know, my father's almost. 80 now. But, but, um, but we saw, you know, we saw a unique opportunity in D.C. Uh, that was somewhat recession proof because it's D.C. Um, it's not pandemic proof. We found that pretty hard, found that pretty hard. Uh, but it was recession proof. And basically, you know, we, we, we kind of ushered this idea of these guys that come off these top

chef shows, reality shows that they can follow up and run with it, right? And we use, every ounce of marketing and publicity to our advantage at the height of Top Chef brand, right? Season 4, whether Top Chef brand liked it or not, we definitely used that to our advantage, right? We get like cease and desist letters in the mouth using the logo and things of that sort. But to be honest with you, like, listen, you know, like that's just,

it's petty bullshit. I think Top Chef, I don't think they really understood what they really had launched right which was like this massive like like pumping of young chefs too early for their own good in the market with a ton of marketing publicity that are going to start to open a ton of restaurants and you know i think harold from season one opened one real small fine dining restaurant but i was definitely one of the the first guy to go this fast casual route and make a ton of noise in a fast casual style like by selling burgers you know so um you know and we harnessed in we worked hard and you You know, my family was involved, and I think that's why we were able to be really successful. I mean, good stuff. Eatery was an immediate smash hit in 2008, I think was for a couple reasons. We were in a recession.

The Obama administration just got elected, and so there's a lot of influx of young people and entrepreneurs coming to the city. And burgers were, the better burger movement was also happening at the same time. So, you know, that's kind of, that's kind of, we lined at that whole thing. So yeah, that's cool. So we had good stuff eatery. And then how, when was we the pizza? When did that come along? So yeah, we the pizza was like, again, just trying to harness on, on, you know, strike when the iron's hot.

We thought it was going to, you know, we didn't know how long it was all going to last, you know. Yeah. I always joke with my mother because she says, oh, this is just a honeymoon period for good stuff eatery. There's lines out the doors. This will go away in six, seven months. And 15 years later, here we are still with good stuff eatery. And the idea with the pizza was like we want to enter another fast casual space with a celebrity chef and a favorite food group. We had real estate right next door to us on, you know, to get stuff eateries.

So we said, we miss pizza from New York. So why we bring, you know, a little bit of New York style pizza to D.C. And we, the pizza still kicks ass to this day. I mean, it's one of my favorite brands still, to be honest, out of everything that I've done. It's super delicious. And yeah, I mean, like that's, you know, that's what we started doing. How what is, I mean, owning these businesses, starting these brands. I mean, for people out there listening, maybe, I mean, like, I mean, obviously you learned to hustle in an early age being in the restaurant businesses was not, these aren't new business ideas to you.

I mean, obviously, concept are new, but running and operating restaurants are not. But like, what as an entrepreneur has like been some of your biggest learning. learning lessons. Oh, you know. Is that a where to start? Or is that a, yeah. Yeah,

it's a, it's, you know, well, my, my big learning, um, in the business is,

and it serves me right. Uh, you know, I'd say I'm a pretty successful guy. I'm, I'm not, uh, you know,

you know, in retirement mode or like banking. But I've always been able to remain authentically myself throughout the process for the most part, you know, on who I am. And people always say, hey, Spike, you have a fantastic brand who works on it with you or Spike you, this, that. And it's all, I've always really giggled about it. And, and, and now that my wife, you know, says, because she always like, she sees it to you. And she's like, it's so funny. You're so right.

She's like, I've never worked or had like a session where I sat at a table and said, what is my brand? You know, like I've never, you know, and that was just me. You know, I'm not saying that's wrong. Like people, if you want to do that, go ahead, do that. But I've never sat and been like, what's this spike brand? Like, what are we representing? Like, what does it define?

I've just always been able to get involved in projects that felt right for me at that given time. And, you know, it was a stepping stone or a pathway to my next project. but I always remained authentically myself. I never really, you know, felt like I, you know, I mean, that's kind of what I said. That was my biggest learnings. But the most, the other important one is surrounding yourself with, with good people, not being afraid to surround yourself with people that may be better, you know,

in certain things in your business, right? Like know when to know when you're not the smartest person in that room on that subject, right? And don't let your ego. Chefs can tend to have an ego because we're food and we're in kitchens and we're badass and we're the rock stars. And like all of a sudden now we're fucking doctors and lawyers and politicians. But the truth is, is like, you know, I found that I'm, you know, my approach has been really great because I love propping. others up in that that support our you know what we do here like it's it's uh there's a great team behind me that that um and i have like two three guys that have been with me for

15 16 years and i think it's really telling because um you know we've all had such a good time in our lives for the last 15 years we've gotten to travel around the world we've got to eat delicious food we've all got to come up with really great concepts yes on the face i get that but I pay, you know, there's a lot of work that goes into being the face. And but there's also a lot of work that goes into setting up the kitchen and the recipes and the training and all that kind of stuff that I don't do, you know. So there's a great balance. And I feel very fortunate I was able to surround myself by some, some key members as well as my family at a certain point to help me do what we do.

You know, like that's what it is. So it's always, don't take it all on yourself or think you're, you know, it doesn't exist without, you know, without you because it, It sure can. How have you built, you know, as you've built these companies. And, you know, I mean, I get like running the day-to-day of, you know, restaurants, one thing building that team. But like, but like your core team, like around you, you know, like, how did you, how did you go about that process as your personal brand and obviously your restaurants

and other things and book and everything like that? I mean, how, what was that process? How did you go about building your team? team. Yeah. Oh, you know, it's, you know, when you ask me that question, I think about the two guys that have supported me, apart from my family, obviously, the most in my career. And it's this guy named Mike Colletti and Brian La Cayao.

And these guys were guys I met, one of them I met at La CERC when we opened the new Luserc and the Bloomberg building in New York City. And then one of them I met right, you know, at my Viena Miesra, restaurant when I ran with Drew. And, you know, through thick and thin, like these guys, me, we're not perfect. We made mistakes along the way many times, you know. But loyalty and just being a good human and knowing that we're not perfect, I think, as has paid dividends in my life because, you know, it's hard to build that these days

to have people that are around you that are loyal, right? and like those do or die people in your life you know like you just don't get that right now that much and i think you got to be really patient with it right and and and um you know and and um be you know somewhat forgiving at times and you know it's just it's you know being in the restaurant business is much like being in a relationship to be honest with you like being married or having a girlfriend. There's, there's emotion in it,

there's, there's, there's struggles in it. It's, it's very, very, oh, sorry, got to call me,

delete that one. But, but yeah, I mean, that's, you know, but listen, I have fallen flat on my,

my face a million times in this business. Like, you know, like, if people think, like, oh my God,

has this guy, like, just, you know, like, you know, has had a pretty good career, pretty consistent,

keeps pushing it. Well, man, it comes from a lot of, you know, falling flat on my face, learning the hard way. Like, you know, I go back to the days that I got trained in France, you know, I was, like, one American chef, like, out of 60 French chefs. And I got, like, humiliated every day for three months, like, before they started respecting me at all. Like, you know, like, that builds grit in your life, right? That, like, lets you know, let's you know that, like, you got a lot to learn out there.

And, you know, I never took the easy path, really. So it just, I don't know, it's building a teams. It's a forever exercise. It doesn't stop. We're still trying to build a team now. Like we're in the middle of a pandemic and it's not easy. But guess what? The two guys that have been most loyal in my life are side by side going down this vegan startups with me right now.

You know, so it's a place we never think we'd be. so that's cool i want to transition to plant burger but before that i mean how often are you cooking every day still i mean like i mean i see your stuff and i know you do things and events here there but are you in the kitchen every day no no i mean i'm not in a professional restaurant kitchen every day executing a service um you know i made a uh a big pivot in my life let's say six years ago, I felt like we were, you know, in our own bubble, our own restaurant bubble. And I felt our bubble was going to burst in a big way. We, you know, we were opening restaurants at the highest rate that we had ever opened restaurants.

You know, food truck craze and every lawyer, doctor, career change or wanted to be in food business because it started to get celebrated. You have all these TV shows. You had all these celebrity chefs. You had, you know, there's a big, you know, in the last 10 years, America's food culture has grown in a massive way, right? So I started to diversify my portfolio because I didn't want to only rely on having to run a restaurant. Yeah.

To be my living. So, and what I mean by diversify is I meant I started getting into food policy, you know. I started getting into, you know, consulting, you know, for other people, like for their brands. I started looking at the plant-based movement because I thought we were going to experience a massive shift in our food system, you know, which we are. Not only the way we grow food, the way we travels, you know, all the things, you know. and I would have never predicted a pandemic would have hit us the hardest and and you know bust that bubble for us. Yeah. You know, I never would have predicted that, but that's what, you know, that's what ended up tanking our industry for a little bit here and popping that bubble.

And is only because I started to diversify my portfolio, really, that I was able to like survive the pandemic pretty well, you know. So that's that's kind of what, you know, my, you know, my thing, I opened a restaurant in a sports complex that was, instead of, you know, cuisine driven, it was driven off like three buzzwords, which was hearty, healthy, and hydration. And, you know, like, I don't know, I might be the first chef to ever have a restaurant next to two hockey rinks in a sports complex, you know? Yeah. You know, diversified. I just do different things that weren't, you just traditional. opening up a restaurant in a, you know, in just a space, you know. And that's kind of what led me to plant burger, which I think is the culmination of all my experience, you know, thus far in the business, I'm able to put forth a brand not only that really resonates and is like very transparent, well, resonates with the advocacy that I love to do now, the food policy part of my life.

but it actually lets me be 100% transparent as an entrepreneur as well, which is you can't very say so often that, you know, as a chef, you're 100% transparent within your business. And what I mean by that is like I had a bistro. I sourced local ingredients, but not all local, you know,

everything wasn't local, like sustainable. Everything wasn't organic, right? So if you're a chef and you're like out there and you're, you're doing advocacy on behalf of the farm bill for sustainability and you're doing advocacy for, you know, better food nutrition and food deserts and this and that. You know, you'd like to feel that you're able to have those practices in your own business. But the market, the food industry set up as such, that's often very much monopolized, obviously.

So it doesn't really allow you, you know, to do that in a profitable way. you know, so you either are going to die by your own sword here or you're going to decide to make money. So, you know, you do what you can. But with Plant Burger, what the most exciting thing for me is we were so smart about how we launched this. And again, it was not just me. It was, you know, we have Seth Goldman from Honesty and Beyond Meat. That is our partner and his wife, Julie Farcass as well. We have Ben Kaplan, which is our CEO.

And he has a Scarpetta background. and Barbara Lynch background. And then we have Margarita Herdasio, which is a Young Brands woman. So we have a ton of experience. But, you know, we decided to open up our first plant burger inside of Whole Foods. We wanted to basically do a proof of concept, right? And this was actually Seth's idea. He had a relationship with Whole Foods, obviously, with honesty and all that kind of stuff.

So we opened our first Plant Burger in Silver Spring in a space that's a kiosk, no big than my dining room right here, 150 square feet, very small space. And we built a real brand behind it, right? We just didn't say, oh, it's a small little kiosk. We really, like, built heavy, really well-branded. And we entered the market as a delicious, indulgent burger, not a vegan burger, not a vegetarian burger. You know, our idea here is we're just a delicious burger like any other burger, right?

And in fact, just like, you know, 85 to 90% of our clientele are not vegans of vegetarians. You know, if that was a business model, we'd be out of business, right? And those people like you and I have a little bit more balance in our diet, right? Others as well, you know, if your cholesterol is a little, you know, too much, or if you're eating too much red meat and you need to eat a little less, you love burgers. And you said you're not too much of a burger guy, but there's a ton of other, you know, plant-based foods that you can, you know, enjoy. So we launched Plant Burger and, you know, out of 150 square feet, we were doing $6,000. Wow.

So Whole Foods was like, holy shit. What like, I showed everything based off the square footage. And it just so happened after our first restaurant success, the pandemic came. So we had to take a step back and say, hey, what's going on? Are we just going to fold our new startups? But we were lucky because as soon as like all these, you know, regulations started coming out, They were deemed essential because we were inside of Whole Foods. The other thing that happened with Whole Foods is that their hot foods kind of folded due

the pandemic, right? So it's like, you know, we had this opportunity to just to jump into all these different whole foods all of a sudden at very low cost, like no upfront costs. Wow. You know, we opened up, you open up 10 stores probably off $250,000. Wow. That's unheard of, right? Yeah.

So we were able to work through the pandemic and open up nine more stores. So now we have 10. We have a fabulous business with Whole Foods. We proved our concept. We're climbing out of the pandemic. And we're going to go open our first New York City location in Union Square this December. Awesome. I lived in Union Square for two years.

I know it well. That's an awesome location. Well, listen, now that we're going to have plant-based burgers over there, man. I know. When I go visit my friends, I'm going to, I will have a plant burger. I'm kind of getting hungry as it is right now. What's New York to South Carolina? What's up with that? Oh, well, I run an ad agency and I cut my teeth at some of the largest agencies in the world. So I spent, I've been in the business for 20 years and 17 working for other people.

Radicals three years old. But I worked in Manhattan for, you know, about five and a half years. Yeah. We both got some of our training in Manhattan. I know. I just cut my teeth, brother. But I love it. But describe it to me, okay, so we're an indulgent burger, the plant burger. I'm getting hungry here.

We're getting towards lunchtime. I'm like, hmm, plant burger. Is there one of our whole foods here locally? I doubt it in South Carolina. Soon, I hope. But when you say, is that, is it indulgence more than, you know, I don't know, like I guess incredible burgers are at, you know, Burger King or whatever? Yeah, the impossible one.

So yeah. So, yeah, I mean, so listen, you know, I own good stuff eatery. I've been in the burger business for a while. I would have never opened up a plant-based burger if I can be as good, if not better, than good stuff. You know, like, so we did that, you know, and it was really, Seth, I was on a policy panel at GW, and Seth was on the panel. and he brought burgers and snuck him under my seat, right? And basically he said, I heard you're the Burger King. He's like, let me think about these.

And I kind of laughed him off. I was like, oh, not another vegan burger. And my wife is vegan. So, you know, I've always struggled with making her this black bean burger which sucks. Too much water or vegetable burgers. They always sucked. And she never really got to enjoy burgers. I took them home, grilled them up.

And, like, they bled, they seared. I was just like, whoa, like, wait a second. You know, I was taken back. So I immediately emailed Seth and I was like, hey, like, you guys really actually, you really have something here. Like, and I didn't even know who Beyond Meat was. Me, you know, obviously I'm so regarded. I was like, you have something here, right? And they've raised like hundreds of millions of dollars.

So, so, you know, but I think Seth really. you know, took a liking because the burger wasn't perfect. And I was able to give some critique on on some stuff and stuff that they probably had already known. But they started engaging me on developing burger content. And, you know, whenever they had a tasting, for instance, with a company, they would get me to come there and make the burger. And slowly but surely I started developing this relationship with Seth. And so that's what we use. We use the Beyond Meat Patty because we think it's the best plant.

based patty in the market right now. And lucky enough, like I said, like there's this massive shift in our food system. I think it's for a couple reasons. I think like whether, you know, you can debate if you believe climate change is real or not. But, you know, people when they hear climate change and they want to make a difference, I don't really think that they have so many opportunities to know how to make that difference, right? It's just a little loss. There's too much information out there about climate change and its effects. It's a little confusing, right, for, you know, your everyday person that's

just like working and going to work and taking care of kids and what have you. But one thing that we found that really resonates with people is if you look at food through the lens of climate change, right, the choices that you make in your everyday diet actually can have a profound effect on the climate, right, cumulately as humans. So like taking the matters into, you If you want to be the most effective, it's taking the matters into your own hands on where you put your money towards. So, you know, hopefully the idea of putting your money towards plant-based foods is something that resonates with people. And they see it as a way to help, you know, reduce their own personal environmental footprint, right? And it doesn't have to, you don't have to only be pet-based.

I just, again, everything in moderation, right, a little bit of balance in the life. So that's kind of like how we come to the market. We have like this advocacy about climate change. This is the climate change fast food brand of the future, right? The best burger for the planet by the planet. And that's how we come at it. We have the best sweet potato fries that you've ever had with all the dipping sauces. We do oat-based milkshates, right?

Oat Tasties, you know, just like a frosty that you get at Wendy's. Our cheese is fall your heart cheese. It melts. It's delicious. It's made out of potato starch. It's absolutely fantastic. We're also, since we use beyond meat, we're soy-free, GMO-free, allergen-free, and our whole brand is also kosher, which is huge.

And, you know, I think we just, we fire at, you know, we're firing at all angles here on this concept. And we're also democratizing plant-based foods, right? So, again, this plays into a lot of work I like to do in policy space where, you know, fast food restaurants really targeted, you know, food deserts and people that came from, you know, poorer backgrounds, right? And very much the African American community and Hispanic community, all this. And, you know, you look at the rates of obesity and diabetes, and it's all happening the most

in these underprivileged societies and areas, right? And it's because of what they're eating. So for us, a lot of plant-based foods are too expensive. So, again, they're not available enough. Sorry. No worries. For everyone. So democratizing plant-based foods is a big part of what we do as well.

So, you know, that's kind of why we've positioned Planned Burger as the next big fast food brand, not fast casual brand. Yeah, I love that because that's been the biggest, I think you hit on a lot of points there, a lot of the pack. But I think you really nailed, I think what's been the biggest hurdle was the affordability, approachability, you know, positioning, you know, to broader markets, you know. Because it's one thing to be in Whole Foods. it's another to be in the fast food segment and really competing and making a dent in, you know, broader society. Yeah. Yeah. And you're absolutely right.

I mean, it is one thing to be in Whole Foods. And what that brought to us was like a confident consumer because, first of all, the Whole Food brand really obviously amplifies what we were doing, right? there's a very, you know, strict rulebook on the ingredients you could use in your brand and the ingredients you can't use in your brand. And what I loved about that exercise at Whole Foods was that I came across stuff that I was using that. I had no clue had this weird name chemical in it as a preservative. That we shouldn't use or things of that sort. So as a chef, it kept me so honest. and transparent about what we were using in Plant Burger, right?

That I'm completely transparent on what we do. Like the fact that we're kosher, the fact that we're soy, we have all these certifications and it's and we're Whole Foods approved as well. So, you know, our supply chain is, is pretty locked up pretty well. So that's something like we're really proud of. But then after we gain that confidence and we gain that confidence of our brand inside Whole Foods, taking it to the streets of New York City and a brick and mortar for the very first time is going to be the true the true test of our brand so that's you know we're gearing up

for that and we're looking forward to it i think we're going to smash it i think you are too yeah perfect time perfect place uh it sounds like a hit to me yeah there's a little vegan burger wars happening in new york city right now there's a couple you know five six seven brands going down there now in uh in a big way so well it it kind of takes us back you know i i listen to this podcast called, I'm sure you've heard of the business wars. Yeah. Yep. Right.

So there's one called Burger Wars. Yeah. Right. That they do. It's about McDonald's and Burger King, which was called Burger Chef back in the day. And they were talking about how they were all very much competing for the same space and all these different marketing things that they did to compete against each other. And it was like a war.

Like they were literally, you know, as in that running an ad ad agency, I'm sure you you understand like, man, they were going at it back in the day to develop. I feel like that's kind of where we're at right now with ourselves. Oh, yeah. I've been involved in a few of those. Verizon, AT&T, Coke, Pepsi. Oh, yeah. You know, Apple, Samsung.

At Motorola, I was part of it. I worked on a campaign. I worked on the Apple launch, actually, one of the first ones. But then worked with Motorola when they launched the droid. If you remember that, that was like 2008, 9. smartphone and we had a old campaign that you know it was i can't do this yeah yeah yep uh it was fun um cool man uh let me ask you this a random if i'm someone at home making burgers yeah and give me your tips yeah we're going to have the the radcast tips for at home radcast tips for how can someone at

home make a delicious burger. Yes. Well, here we go. Radcast Tiss with Spike Metalson. Yes, I like it. This can be a new segment, brother. I mean... Totally.

We're going to fire this off. So first of all, okay? Yep. You need good meat. Okay. It's flat-based meat, you know, animal, whatever you guys are wanting to do, turkey chicken, get a good blend of meat in there, okay?

Now, always pull it out of the refrigerator and get it to room temperature. Never take your protein out of the fridge and put it right in the pan. That's a big no-no for starters, right? Burger bun ratio. Let's talk about that. All right. Guys, we can't be using these massive hala buns for burgers. It's too much bread.

All right. Make sure you get a bun that fits the size of burger that you're going to create. If it's a thin patty, get a little bit of a smaller of a bun. If you're going for this big hotel grill style of, you know, pool side burger, I think you can get away with a little bit more bun, but very important burger to bun ratio can make or break your burger. All right. Salt and pepper.

All right. I don't want to see anybody stuffing blue cheese or butter inside their burgers. Please, guys, whoever started that trend, please stop it. Okay. Just stop, all right? Just let the protein be the protein. Salt and pepper, that stuff right before you're about to hit it in the grill. Don't salt and pepper too soon.

You don't want to get all that water out. Water and oil do not mix. Make sure you have a hot whispering, not smoking, whispering smoke of a pan. You want to wait for that little whisper of smoke come out. Then put your burgers in there. Set it and forget it. Flip it once. Don't smash.

Don't smash. And then to where we pack all the flavor, toppings are everything in burgers, sauces, textures, get some funions in there, guys. Make some saracca aoli. Get some caramelized onions. Make sure you get toppings. And then, of course, cheese.

All right? Don't be lazy with your cheese melting skills. Okay? Cap it. Cap the pan. You know, we all have those lids that we don't use for all the pans we buy. Find one of those lids in your basement. Bring it up.

Make sure you top it. You want to have like this, again, whisper. smoke of melting vacuum. The worst thing is just let cheese melt from the bottom heat up because then it separates and it brings a whole different texture of your cheese. Guys, smiling cheese. We want cheese to shine back at you. You should be able to see your reflection in your cheese, just like I see mine right now

on this computer. And that's it. I think that's it. I think those are them. I love it. First, that's going to be a highlight clip in itself. We're going to have a two-minute highlight of how to make. The best burgers at home.

You got like two minutes for a quick rad or fad. I give you a keyword and you tell me rad or fad. All right. All right. First, fireball, fire keg. They're making kegs of fireball. Rad or fad? Fad.

All right. Food carts. Right. All right. Impossible burgers. You got a, you know. Fad. Here's a layup.

Plant-based. Totally. Rad. I love it, brother. Where can everybody keep up with all things? Spike Mendelsohn, Plant Burger, good stuff, eatery, everything. Where can everybody keep up with you, brother?

Well, you guys can, you can follow me at Chef Spike on Twitter. and Spike the Chef on Instagram. But mostly you can probably just go to my website, which is Chefspike.com. And you can see all the stuff that I've worked on in the past 10 years and what I'm working on currently. And, you know, just kind of get a little idea of my, what my brand is. No, just kidding. Get a good idea of who I am and what I like to do.

and that's it, man. I'm in the DC area. If you guys are happening to be in the DMV, please hit us up. Look out for my NFT project. I'll be launching soon. Yes, you've heard that right. Oh, right? They set me into this NFT world.

We're going to see what happens. I love it. You're in the Metaverse, brother. I'm in the Metaverse. I can't get out. Metaverse. I love it, man. And if you're in New York, plant burger launching December.

Opening up in December, we got three locations coming right behind it. I'm going to be in Miami next week at the Sea Food and Wine Festival. So if you're in Miami, come support the burger competition we have over there. And Ryan, let's do this again, man. This was fun. No, man, I love it. And if I get to D.C., maybe we can get together. And maybe if I'm visiting friends in New York and you're there, we'll meet and have a plant burger.

Totally. And you know what? I have friends in North Carolina, which I'm sure is not too far from South Carolina. There we go. I need a venture off in South Carolina a little bit. I haven't been. I'd love to show you around Greenville, man. So it's a good food scene here.

I think you job with it. And I really admire all you're doing with food education and the like. So love it, brother. Let's stay in touch. And we'll meet again. Thank you, Ryan. All right, guys. You know where to find us.

We're at the radcast.com. Search for Spike. Search for plant food. All the content from today is searchable on our website. You know if I'm at Ryan Offord on all the channels. We'll see you next time. The Radcast.