Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - The Radcast vs Food: A Recipe for Success with the Best of Our Favorite Culinary Legends

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

Get ready for another incredible “best of” episode of the Radcast! We've lined up some of the top chefs, cooks and entrepreneurs in food to talk with Ryan. Casey Webb from Man versus Food. Our guests include Jonathan Scinto - one of America's best chefs; Spike Mendelsohn as the ex-Top Chef contestant and author. Then Noah Sims from Masterchef Season 10. And last but not least Kosmo from Kosmos Q known for his mouth-watering steak barbecue seasonings straight outta America.This isn't just a show full of deliciousness – expect expert business advice on how to transform your passion into a successful business opportunity that every entrepreneur needs to hear plus tactical marketing insights too! Don't miss this BEST OF edition: The Radcast versus Food now!Key notes from the episode: How Casey decided to pursue acting full time and stopped playing football. (04:20) How Jonathan decided to change careers and heeded her wife’s advice and auditioned for the Master Chef competition. (06:52) How Spike cultivated his passion in the food industry. (07:57) How Kosmo's story began - from being burned as a child, spent his adolescence at Shriners Burn Institute, then built his own family. (08:31) Casey recounts his experience of working in the kitchen, starting as a dishwasher and eventually becoming a line cook. (10:30) Spike explains how a dishwasher who works in a restaurant can learn humility and grit. (11:55) Noah has a unique perspective on being a chef. (13:06) Jonathan discussed his approach to cooking and his focus on building multiple layers of flavor. (14:38) Spike is a guy who preaches balance in food and diet.(15:40) Kosmo started making his own rubs then started competing and would win (16:11) Noah believes unifying people through food is an effective way of resolving conflict and building relationships. (17:28) Jonathan quickly built a website then he started off by doing dinner parties, followed by ticketed events as he continually tried to offer up different experiences to build a reputation. (18:20) Kosmo shared how he has been to many competitions and has won several world championships. (22:34) Casey discussed a show that has been running for seven seasons and the impact of it on his life. (24:33) Noah emphasized the importance of self-awareness and understanding one's strengths. (27:10) Jonathan enjoys being creative and works both in front of and behind the camera. (37:42) Kosmo wants Cosmos Q to be widely sought after by every barbecue enthusiast worldwide. His goal is to empower people who believe they can't do it. (39:25) Jonathan believes one must take the punches in the face and to keep moving forward even with rejections. (40:32) This episode is packed with energy, wisdom, and passion and we know you will get a ton of value from this.To keep up with Casey Webb, follow him on Instagram @iamhusky4life and his store https://delifreshthreads.com/products/taylor-ham-pork-roll-shirtTo keep up with Spike Mendelsohn, follow him on Instagram @spikethechef and his website https://modernadventure.com/our-trips/vietnam-spike-mendelsohn/To keep up with Jonathan Scinto, follow him on Instagram @chefjonathans and his linktree https://hoo.be/chefjonathansTo keep up with Kosmo, follow him on Instagram @kosmosq and on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/KosmosQTo keep up with Noah Sims, follow him on Instagram @mountain_man_simsLearn more by visiting our website at www.theradcast.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/RadicalHomeofTheRadcastIf you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, Like, Share, and leave us a review! 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.

You're listening to the Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Ryan Alford here, host of the Radcast. Really excited for today's best of episode, The Radcast versus food. That's right, some of the best chefs, cooks, entrepreneurs in the restaurant industry, the food industry.

talking about Casey Webb from Man versus Food. We got Jonathan Sinto, one of the best chefs in America. Spike Mendelssohn, Plant Burger. You know who that is. Noah Sims, my brother from another, great guy from Master Chef, season 10. And of course, last, but absolutely not least Cosmo from Cosmo's Q. Some of the best steak barbecue seasonings in America. And Cosmo is a hell of a cook himself.

Really pumped about this episode, lots of business advice, tactical marketing advice, in and out of the restaurant business. This is applicable to anyone running a business. Really excited to bring another best of the Radcast versus food. We'll see you soon. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. I'm Ryan Offord, your host.

Today, we're bringing the heat. We're bringing all that barbecue heat with my friend Cosmo from Cosmo's Q. What's up, Cosmo? What's going on, Ryan, man? Thanks for having me, brother. Yeah, man, my pleasure. I'm a vinegar-based barbecue guy. I don't know if that was North Carolina, South Carolina, or somewhere in between, but I guess my mom was from Fayetteville, North Carolina,

so maybe that's where I got it from. Yeah, yeah. I tell you what, I made that in my house probably 15 years ago. Street vinegar-based, I made it test batch, and I've never been able to make it in my house again. My wife will not allow that. I'm here with Spike Middelson. X.

Top shelf contestant, author, badass dude. What else can I call you, Spike? All the acronyms. The dishwasher. Diswasher. I know. True entrepreneur. It's great to be here, man.

Great to be here. So are you, are you plant-based? Are you- Oh, no. I like it. But I eat everything, brother. I haven't figured out the perfect balance. 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. But people are in Italian to watch game changers. I know. Man versus food. I've got actor-comedian, host of Man versus Food. Casey Webb. What's up, Casey? How are we doing, brother? Great, man. I get depressed watching many things on TV, which is why I don't watch much TV, but I have like three go-toes. And Man versus Food is like at the top of the list. So, uh, thank you for saying. So I, you know, I, I, I, I do appreciate hearing that. Cause like I, um, in the beginning, I had no idea who was watching. I was, I just figured it was just dudes like me that ate food all the time. Yeah. But I couldn't have been more wrong because it's, you know, it's kids, it's parents. It's, um, it's dudes like me.

It's, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a vast group of people that watch a show. And that was really humbling. We're cooking hot today. with chef Jonathan Sinto. What's up, Jonathan? Welcome to the show. How's it going? Thanks. Pleasure to have it being on.

You know, professional chef, content creator, host, you know, you got your hands in a lot, brother. Yeah, you got to stay busy. You know, I got three girls right now. So if you're sitting back and relaxing and you're sleeping, you're in trouble. I know, man. I can relate. And I'm joined by, I'm just going to call you a brother from another. And it's Noah Sims.

Hey, man, it is such a pleasure being here. You said it so elegantly. I agree 100%. Every single person that I've met that is involved, associated with you is top-tier professional. Great ju-ju, good energy. It's really, it's an honor to be up here and for why we're up here. Because I think people are fascinated, you know, like, you know, to kind of hear your journey a bit. We all think, mistakenly, that, oh, it just all, you know, comes perfect.

I'm sure it was just this easy path. Something tells me, and I don't even know your full story. It's never as easy as it seems to kind of get to, you know, where you are with a show like this. But let's talk about a little bit of that journey. So with acting, I started late in life. I went to playing football. I was playing football in high school, went off to college,

and I decided to stop playing, which is the hardest thing for me to do. You know, went away this division. in three school. I thought it was going to be like six, six. You know, my brother's pretty tall and big. I thought I was going to be at least his height, but I wasn't. But I was good. I just, you know, I didn't, I didn't make it. I wasn't, uh, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I wound up doing theater like at 18 in a community college where I had friends going to and

two really close buddies. One was going to conservatory in New York City. One was getting his undergrad at a school, but he was minoring in theater. And like my three closest friends somehow wind up doing theater and acting, right? So I went up auditioning for this play. A cold read is basically you read off a piece of paper. You don't know really what it says. You don't have time to rehearse it in front of an audience of other actors and people. And I fail. I couldn't do it. I just was so poor at it. And I, that's now when I realized, like, this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. Like in that moment, I was like, this is so, this is such a challenge that I want to, I want to take this thing on. So I stopped playing sports. I stopped running into people with my helmet.

And I started doing theater. And that was at 18. And that's kind of where it all started. Right. So, you know, cut to, you know, I've spent a life pursuing it, but I've left it a lot. But what kept me busy in the pursuit of acting, I, long before I was an actor or at least pursuing it, I started working in the restaurant business. So I think it was my father that first hand me the spatula at age 10 and taught me how to make eggs and probably for two reasons. One, not to burn myself and two, because he's tired of me asking them to make them eggs. There we go. So, yeah, so that's kind of, you know, like being in the workforce at a young age gave me

the work ethic, you know. Yeah, a thousand percent. I decided to have 39 years of age to shift years and change career. I worked in admissions for many years, college admissions for profit education. I worked for career education corporation for a long time and culinary school. I decided it was time for a change. I was unhappy with what I was doing. I felt like I wasn't being able to be creative and using my entrepreneurial mind.

And my wife said to me one day, it's time to quit your job, flat out. I was like, what the hell are you talking about? Quit your job. You realize we live on Long Island? one of the most expensive places to live in the country. I'm just going to quit like that. And she flat out the border. She said, just do it.

I don't want to hear you talking about this nonsense anymore. You know, every single day, we hear you complaining about how you're not happy. So she saw an article the day she said that to me for Master Chef. They had an audition in New York City. And one thing led to another. And fast forward, it's been a hell of a ride since then. Well, yeah, no. So, yeah, so let's talk to the after-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.

Well, my story started way back in 1971 when I was born. And I'll give you the brief version right now. I was burned as a child at 17 months old. And I spent the majority of my adolescents growing up in the Shriners Burn Institute in Galveston, Texas. I ended up leaving school. I think it was 11th grade. I think I showed up for my 12th grade year and stayed about 45 minutes,

and I was like, no, I'm out of here. So I ended up just working, you know, working the factories and, you know, partying and hanging out and having a good time. And then I started paging the family. And then I was like, well, all this has got to end. I remember I bought my very first smoker and I went down to Walmart and bought a chicken and I bought a beef chuck for some reason.

I don't even know what I think of. Beef chuck, some Eckerd sausage, and I put all those stuff in there and I mowed the yo. I just fought this thing all day long and we sat down to have dinner as my wife and I and I and our three kids and it was absolute garbage. It was unedible. It was bad. But that's, I'll never forget that.

But what really stuck with me is I had to throw it away. And I'll never forget the look in my wife's eyes. Like this is, I said, this is funny. But like this rocked my soul. As she lifted the dumpster open and I was stolen it away. And I just, I just felt like I can't even, like I can't even, like I can't provide for my family. Right. Like, I will never in my life experience that feeling again. And that's when it all started. What did you do in the restaurants? You say, you know, I always, what were your, were you in the kitchen a lot?

Or were you bartending or like, what, what were your positions? Well, the first kitchen was the home kitchen and the spatula that my dad handed me and the bacon fat in a Campbell soup can. Um, you know, that's what that's what new yorkers did that's what my parents did i didn't know what that was for the longest time i was like this is gross why is there bacon fat in the freezer and a little did i know it's like the greatest thing ever if you don't keep bacon fat in your freezer in a soup can then you're missing out um but uh i i started washing dishes at 14 and a pizza place that was in my hometown you know 14 is a little young to be on the work in the workforce uh not in my opinion but you know legally but i still got to wash dishes um so it was washing

dishes. And then that led to, you know, being a bus boy, you know, being then eventually a food runner, and then eventually, you know, back to be a dishwasher because you get demoted pretty quickly. And then, you know, in the kitchen, like prepping. So cutting all the veggies, right, prepping. And then that led to line cook. So I was able to learn along the way. And like, that's, you know, and a lot of businesses that's gone away. Like my father was able to do that in his business. He learned from starting from A. And then he went up into Matt. management in his career. And so like the restaurant world, if you want it, it's there for you.

But, you know, and, you know, I always spend 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 at 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 ingraising 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 love that. I have to say it made me who I am. For me, like going to culinary school, the definition used to be of a chef with someone that was formally educated that got their stripes in multiple different ways. And then you'd get paperwork executive stuff. you know, chef with cuisine, all these things, your levels, your tears or whatever. But now in the way that we're living, every person just throws the term chef around. So how this is such an epic answer is, can you tell me another profession or you're just like,

oh, look, it's radio dude Ryan. Oh, look, it's cameraman Larry. Oh, look, it's Mike the bartender. Like, it's like, oh, look, it's basketball player Michael Jordan. It's like, what is it that I need to throw the chef term out? out where, and you know, I have thousands of chefs and to each of their own. I'm just telling you my perspective on it. For me, it's like, well, I am so much better at a lot of other things than chef.

Why do you want it to call me? Like, I'm much better at conversations. There could be conversationalist, Noah, you know, wordsmith sims over here, you know, like, whatever it is. So for me, I consider myself level of professionalism, upper echelant chef. I try, do I have the skill? No, but do I act? Do I represent myself?

Do I carry myself as the best I possibly can? Absolutely. Am I humble enough to know what I know, what I don't know, and try to learn every day? Yes. So for me, the chef term is like, you can call me a chef and I do it back and forth with you. I know you're just like, God, just let's say that. But for a lot of people, they just want to like box me in as like, oh, that's a chef Noah. What is your style?

What is your approach to cooking? I like to keep it simple. I don't like to overdo it. I like to highlight the ingredients. so people can actually taste what's in the food. I like to be able to build many layers of flavor so you can enjoy yourself. It's more about putting you like in Nirvana, right? We want you to go out into a different place and not have something that you've normally tasted.

And I might take like a classic chicken palm dish and just flip it upside down and maybe add some hoistin sauce to the marinar, just to give you that smoky sweet flavor. and that's what I do with Itatian. It's really more giving different flavors than just saying, here you go, it's a whole new cuisine. I didn't recreate or create a cuisine. I just made a fusion that most people weren't used to eating and trying to give them something that they can say,

wow, this is different, I like it, I enjoy it. So that's really what I focus on is that rusticness, comfortfully. I've always been a guide 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. Everything, duration. So I started making my own. As I started competing a little bit more. I started toying around with rubs because I just realized that the rub, it makes the meat. The sauce is like the whipped cream on top. But the rubs I was giving in the store were just, they just weren't good.

And if I wanted ribs to taste a little bit sweet, I wanted to add some brown sugar to my rub. I couldn't get that in the store. It was salt and, you know, that was pretty much all that was in. salt. But then there's, you know, I wanted like a smoked paprika with a, with a cumin or something like that. I wanted, you know, so I started making my own and I started competing. And, and I would win here and there.

And people would ask me, hey, man, like, your biscuit really tastes good. Like, what was that rub? I was like, oh, it's this rub I made. And they made. You mind if I get some? I said, well, yeah, I'll sell you a pound or two pounds or five pounds. Sure. So I would just, you know, just sell them rub and ship it out on PayPal or just have them pay me just PayPal.

It's like I tell people about unifying through food. One of my favorite things about food is I can unify people. And it's like you could get two warlords that hate each other and give me them and some guards. And we literally could have a meal and just talk about things and settle things down. So many people, so many people. just get over one like they just get over the smallest little thing and everything gets blown out of proportion it goes back to like the focusing of things i believe food focuses things you're right here like this is at right here great food there's no talking people are just freaking going to town

because they're focused on it and it's like having having communication with you having communication with your team there's something that's a very similar thing everyone's real here you got great people around you and it's like well if we got great people and around here real people do you think we're going to be able to kick a real good product out it's very simple what's been the uh you know talking about the business and marketing side of what you do like what's been your channel of monetization you know like how's this been a business for you how have you made it a business you know since the show in the last you know four to five years so the minute i came back from los angeles the day i landed i had a website up in a matter of seconds right

power of wicks went on there have a background of design, was able to build something that would get me a blueprint, right? When people start searching for you, it's not about social media. At that time, it wasn't as powerful as it is now. When we were going back six years ago now, right? So things have really picked up speed on social media since then. So I built a website. I started doing shows and events and just getting out there, not relying on television,

because that's 15 seconds, right? they're going to forget about you very quickly. So you have to really monetize that first and build yourself and get the awareness and the credibility for people to see who you are. And also be searchable, right? When people start hearing your name, they're going to go on Google and they're going to stop looking you up and saying, oh, well. So I had to try to get press and never pay for press. You had to get out there and start getting local newspapers is where you start. You know, contact the journalist.

Give them a pitch. Give them an article that is worthy for them to put in there. And they'll put it to their publishers. They'll push it. So I started doing that right away. I started crafting up stories and ideas and get rejected on a lot of them, but some of them went through. And that's what you needed. You had to be searchable on that.

Started doing that, started building that getting the groundwork in there, which was really, really important. And that first year, it was tough. You know, there was no money coming in. I was scraping by, making sure that. that we were building it. I had a great support system. My wife saw what I was trying to do. Year or two, we did over 100 paid parties.

We built that foundation. We built that framework. We started getting out there. We didn't post any flyers because we were trying to build more of a niche, a luxury type of dinner experience. At the time, no one was doing it here on Long Island. That was one of the first to do in-home dinner parties. And it just took off.

and then we started doing them in other parts of the country. So I had to build a plan. And then year three, we said, you know, we can't continue to do dinner parties anymore. We have to do something else. We started doing paid ticketed events themed pop-ups. So we would do different pop-up experiences, tastings. And people would buy tickets right through my website.

And we would sell tickets. We do 75 to 100, keep it down, intimate. And we would make it entertaining. We had, you know, people who had radio shows come on and they do the radio shows inside the pop-up. We would have a, we had a really cool thing. It's a Long Island Cuban and Bourbon experience. And it's a trailer that he has those silver streams. And he came and people would leave the pop-up and they'd go have a cigar and bourbon in the trailer.

There was a red carpet. So we made an experience. It wasn't just food, right? So we started doing those. So we did probably about 35 of those, 40 of those events that would pay. And we just started building a reputation of just having these amazing theme dinner experiences. And just moved along. And each year I tried to do something completely different.

So now we're in year six since I've done Master Chef. That's the game, man. And you start slow, low. And you know, you grow from there once you build a customer base. I mean, what's been the marketing and business growth practices? I mean, you know, like I imagine going, it's a very, I don't want to say niche audience, but going to the shows and winning the awards, imagine that amplifies, you know, within that core audience.

And then it kind of, the word of mouth goes from there, I would think. The crazy thing was, is I did it for years. Years and years ended up winning a world championship. up in and up between myself and the teams we sponsor, we have eight world, eight or nine world champions. So, I mean, I've been to the Jack Daniels, American Rule, Memphis and May, Houston, Houston, San Antonio, like, we've been everywhere. But for me, I remember sitting there at a competition, and this is before faith, this is really

before marketing as we know it was marketing as. we know it. Right. Facebook said, we're going to let you run ads. And I, it was like the, they told us that week.

And then I was setting at a competition that weekend. And it, it's, back then, it was about $1,000 a weekend to go to a competition. After you buy your meat, feel all the things, it's about $1,000.

And I was sitting there and I was just, I ain't go a lot of it. I get angry and shit changes in my life. That's one, usually for the worst, but this one for the worst. the good. I sit there and I was like, I'm sitting here by myself. My family's not even with me, so I'm not happy, and I'm paying $1,000 to be unhappy. What would happen if I took that money

and I started running ads to my website, just promoting my website? And back in, it was like, it was, you know, I'm sure you remember it, right? It's back in, it's like, hey, look at me, go here. There was no funnel. No, you didn't need a funnel because it was right, right for the taking. You had organic reach on Facebook. You ran ads and like a bonfire. I mean, how recognized are you now?

Like, I mean, your face is very recognizable. You've got the expressions and everything else. The show is pretty, I mean, it's your seven seasons in coming into seven seasons. or, you know, like, how, uh, is that good, bad, you know, like, you enjoy it? I, uh, so I was in a parking lot of a convenience store with a buddy of mine and across the street in another parking lot. Some dude yelled out, kitty litter! Yeah! I love that commercial. I was in an Armandhammer, kitty litter commercial. That was like four seasons in the Man versus Food. And I had a hat on some guys, like how did this dude even see me?

Like on earth did he even see me in this, you know, and he like he loved the kitty litter commercial. So for me, I think it's the greatest part of my gig, man, like truthfully, like I, the fact that someone wants to come up and spend time and talk and ask about the show, like, you know, it's part of the gig, A, and like, I'm usually the one, they're the ones that usually walk away first, like, yeah, we got to go. And like, I'm still talking. I'm excited to talk to them.

They're like, all right, like, you're nice enough. You got to catch a flight. You know, man, like, like I said, the fact that someone would take a moment out of their day and, like, say a nice thing. Like, there's not enough of that in the world. Or maybe there is. And I just, you know, I appreciate that so much. And I would never not want someone to come up, you know, because I'm a, I totally fan out too, you know. Like, I was in a restaurant in L.A.

And Bill Murray is like two tables. is next to us and my buddy and I were just talking louder so he could hear us you know he's just eating his food he could care less but you know like I I appreciate it and I think honestly like I got the show later in life and I was working as a production assistant I was acting a bartending working restaurants and I had to choose acting or working production I chose acting and and um it just I had her I just learned by doing you know and it gave me the wherewithal at least the knowledge to know It's like, this is very fleeting, you know, like take it for what it is. Enjoy every moment, you know, and it's really as simple as that.

And I do, I do my best. And like, sometimes you're, I'm walking through. I'm like, you know, I just shot two episodes. I'm on my way home. And I'm like, just rugged. And somebody comes up to you and wants to talk. And like, you know, in that moment, they get me out of my head. And they're like, hey, I'm like, hey.

And it's a lot of times, TSA. TSA folks are like, they love the chat. I'm like, I'm there, you know, put my shoes back on, BSing with them. And I love it. man, you know, like I, I encourage people, you know, don't go stalking anybody, but say hi, at least say hi, you know. Let's talk about what you're doing and how you're leveraging, you know, social media, connections and all of those things.

Absolutely. Well, I love, I love, I love what you said about, like, leveraging. It's, it is that. It's understanding, again, where you're at. Am I big enough to be able to put this bar on here and lift this thing up? If you don't have the confidence, if you don't think you're big enough, you're just going to fall flat. Like you've got to be able to understand where you're at. And if you're not big enough, that's fine.

Again, you have the self-awareness to know, maybe I should do this and try that. What was the biggest thing, like your biggest learning, your biggest takeaway? And like, where did that kind of, you know, take you from a trajectory standpoint with where you went after the show? Well, I saw it was an opportunity. I told my wife when I went there, no matter what happens on this show, even if I get kicked off the first time I got there, we're going to turn this into an opportunity that's just going to go for years to come and build into a business. So I saw it as a chance for my food to get on a larger scale and to show it into a bigger audience. So that was one thing I took away from it was the opportunity to have a lot of people.

see what I can do on a big platform, which was, you don't get that all the time. It's very hard to get that, especially if you don't pay for it, right? That was one thing. The other takeaway was watching how production is done on these shows. And it was in the back of my mind, well, you know what? Why don't I stop my own production company? I could make shows very similar to this on a smaller scale. We don't have to have, you know, the $10, $15 million budgets like these shows have.

But we can definitely do something very similar. And that was something when that was in the back of my mind. I started creating concepts in my head for the time I was even down there. I have a whole notebook when I was down there from Master Chef. I even predicted the winner on the show when I was down there before the show even happened. I have that in one of the spiral notebooks that I have. So that's why I started really learning and taking stuff away from that show. Well, my big learning in the business is, and it serves me right, you know, I'd say I'm a pretty successful guy.

I'm not, 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 so Ruma guy she always like she sees it too 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 thing 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 the Spike Grant? 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 learning. But the other important one is surrounding yourself with good people and not being afraid to surround yourself with people that may be better in certain things in your business, right? Like 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 rocks. but we're the rock stars and like all of a sudden now we're fucking doctors and lawyers and politicians, you know, 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, there's a, a great team behind me that, that, that, and I have like two, three guys that have been with me for 15, 16 years. And I think, it's really telling because, 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, I'm the face. I get that. But I pay, you know, there's a lot of work that goes into being the face. 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's, it doesn't exist without, you know, without you because it sure can. Yeah, I, you know, and that kind of leans into, you know, being recognized because I haven't, like the brand itself, man versus food is it is just, I just happen to host a show. So there's no ownership over that. Sure.

And I'm totally okay with that. I think what I've been doing just naturally and organically is just kind of letting the dust settle a little bit and figuring out what that is. You know, what Casey Webb's brand is. And, you know, I was lucky enough to have some endorsement stuff right out of the gate. You know, I spent two years with Twisted T traveling around and NASCAR races as their, you know, the grilling pro. And that was unbelievable, right? And then prior to that, I had my first national commercial, which was a mobile one. one commercial, which, like, we had a NASCAR driver. Kevin Harbick was in a commercial with me.

And so, like, I became the NASCAR guy. Like, and like, you know, a lot of people watch the food show and like, man versus food. So it was like, I was kind of thrown into this universe and was like, wow, this is so incredible. And I think now, you know, letting the dust settle a year or so is passed by. And it's like, where do I want to be with Casey Webb and that brand? And, you know, I'm humbled by the whole thing. So I haven't rushed it at all. Yeah. So I'm really at the, you would think that I would be way ahead of it, but I'm not. It's really at the kind of the beginning of developing what that is because now I've had some time off. You know, like we all had some time off.

And I'm thinking a lot more clear and like, you know, the show could, it has a shelf life. You know, it's going to go so far for myself personally too. One day I'm going to decide whether I can do it or not anymore or if I want to. And I don't want to disappoint anybody, but like the reality is. And like, what's the next thing? And so, I mean, as long as like I'm helping people keep people's lights on and bringing smile to people's faces, I'll do forever, you know. But as far as my personal brand, yeah, I think there's, that's TBD because we're working on some stuff, which is really exciting. And I mean, I'd love to come back and talk to you about it later on when that stuff has come to fruition.

But, and, you know, I know I mentioned talking to you offline about that stuff because you're the man. Or I guess I am. I'm the, I'll make you more the man. I love that. But yeah, I'm excited about the future of things because, yeah, you know, I don't like sitting still and I like working. So you hear that, everybody. I condense things. Like clients come to me.

That's not made to hear you. And literally, no, but it's less about verbal and how many words I can say. But clients come to me all the time. They pay me to unpack it. To unpack a problem. I love that. And to condense it. But it's one word.

authenticity is exactly what you just described. It's the missing component in business, influencers, marketing in general, because like you said, everything's transactional. Everything is short term. We live in the modern world of short termism. It's a term that I preach about a lot. I love that. Everyone is living in the short term. Like, what can I get for this today? Because they think, they think that the dollars or success, the destination is, is where they're going, but the journey is everything. Yes. And if you don't take the journey through a lens of authenticity,

whether you're an influencer, a brand, a person, it all falls flat. And it all becomes very short-term, indeed, because you fall right on your fucking face. You nailed it. That's 100%. Like, I've told people multiple times, that's so true on so many points.

I tell people my life is like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I said, I've done all of these ridiculous things in my life. The things, and God has blessed me with a memory that is one of my greatest blessings that he ever gave me, was being able to retain information that I care about. And the thought of Azera mind of like remembering the most ridiculous thing, but then it comes back because everything has purpose. So the thought of a zero mind, it's got to have purpose. Like, you might have thought of this stupid thing that chain reaction into another thing. So it's like that's some deep, that's another podcast.

That's a whole other thing. But the fact of the matter is is that you have. having that authentic mindset is like that movie is of that guy's just living his life and things are happening. And then at that moment, he is sitting in that chair. And because he was so authentic, or so on, I can't even talk. He had so much on this authenticity in every motion, every movement that he did, doing everything, not of greed, not of, just being real in the moment, knowing his location, knowing that all that added up to right at the moment of, everything when he needed it and being able to stick to his guns and his gut instinct, having that Jiminy Cricket inside telling him what he needs to do, not looking at the mirror,

not believing. Like, that movie is one of the greatest movies that has ever been made because of just the giant, humongous, I mean, just the Sistine Chapel of Holy Moment of just being real. That's what he was. Yeah, well, sounds like you're going down the right paths for sure. where is it all hit it, man? I mean, it sounds like that's the future. But, you know, where do you want all this to go?

And what are your, I don't know, what do you want to be when you grow up, man? I've been trying to figure it out now for a long time. I launched JS Entertainment in 2019. Should have launched it sooner. But, you know, we launched it right after we put Family Kitchen or rival out there. We want to see how that would do. And it's been a great ride from that. And I'm a creative person. I don't like to be tied down to just doing one thing. So to say where I am 10 years from now, the goal is to be what I'm doing right now. Hopefully, everything falls back into place

and nothing happens to me during that period of time and predict the future. But there's a couple of the shows I'm working on concepts. One's going to be a cooking competition show, which is going to be a lot, a lot of fun. I can't say the name right now, but you will definitely see this show on TV in the foreseen future.

And it's going to be where it's going to be flipping competition upside down on what you see in all those cooking shows on TV. That's going to be something I'm working on. And I'm working on a couple of reality-based TV shows that would be kind of like keeping up with the Kardashians and stuff like that, right? It would be in that format. So I just like producing stuff right now, creating, being both back of the camera and front. There you go.

I love it. Where you want to take all this, man? I mean, you know, you cross right at crossing over 50 million total in sales, growing new accessories, like, what's the vision? The vision for me is, I want Cosmos Q to be widely sought after by every barbecue fanatic worldwide. And it's not that I need you to buy the product. Sure. It's the knowledge behind it.

Like, I want to empower people to make great barbecue. Because, you know, I will say this. Mostly men, it's shocking how many men go, oh, no, I can't do that. I'm like, what the hell? Why can't you? But I don't know how to do that. Well, I didn't either, you know. But if you could watch a couple videos, you know, and I could show you, would you do it?

Well, yeah, but I don't know if I can sit there. Well, this is, so I need to break down that wall. You can do this, you know, even if it's a hot dog, you know, start there. Well, really smart for you, you know, for the self-productions standpoint, especially like you said if you know what you're doing from a control perspective from you like there's no I mean there's so many opportunities like you know with sponsors and content and everything else so kudos to you for taking that route I know it takes some courage to kind of go that route and carve your own space but kudos man look you know what you have to take the punches in the

face right there's going to be a lot of a lot of the people that you reach out to a sponsor whatever it's going to be, that's going to just say no, you know, it's not on our budget. You just got to keep moving forward. You know, if rejection is something that is going to be a major issue for you, the entertainment world is not the right place for it at all. No way. You're going to, people see the success and they think it's easy, right, Ryan? You know that for a fact.

Oh, yeah. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at the radcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, V. rad.cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.