Right About Now with Ryan Alford - 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. 

I never even went back to cow's milk 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 have even like these mushroom milks coming out. Whoa. Magic mushroom milks coming out. Hey, all right. Now we're talking. Now we're getting radical.

Sign me up. There should be a program for young adults that requires them to go work in the restaurant industry. 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 feeling hungry today, folks. I like talking food. I like talking plant-based. I'm here with Spike Middleton, ex-top-shelf contestant, author, badass dude. What else can I call you, Spike? All the acronyms.

Dishwasher. Dishwasher. dishwasher i know a true entrepreneur yeah i was just picking up trash in my office i'm like you know yeah we 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 so wait are So are you plant-based? 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 gonna get dms now like hey you could totally be plant-based and get get all your protein oh yeah but people are gonna tell you to watch game changers i know i uh but i haven't figured out that perfect balance and i haven't given up you know we talked pre-episode about our our caffeine kicks but uh i haven't figured out how to give up meat yet well you know i'm not the uh 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 some vegan brands now um i've always been a guy to preach balance in our food system to be honest with you and not only our food system but in our own diets i 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 the right balance for yourself because we our body all reacts differently we all need different things right so we can't control that well the, the great Abe Lincoln said, everything in moderation, including moderation. Everything in moderation, 100%. I try to definitely have moderation in moderation.

Totally. No, I feel like I have good balance there. But I am trying to figure out, and maybe you can help me with this, 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 kind of confusing now. You've got organic and you've got vegan and you've got all this stuff. And I think for some people it comes natural, it's like trying to 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, um, 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, you necessarily have to sacrifice flavor and deliciousness. Right. I think that used to be early stage when plant-based came into the space. It was kind of the rhetoric, right? You couldn't find a plant-based cheese that melted well or tasted like an American slice.

Look at milk. Look at the dairy market. Look at the oat milks, the almond milks. I mean, that was an early conversion for me. I never even went back to cow's milk. And for no reason at all that I mean, that was an early conversion for me for like, I never even went back to cow's milk. And for no reason at all that I just, I mean, for, 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 if it just makes sense, like why, why even, you know, indulge in anything

that different. So, you know, it's just small steps like this. 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 CPG company. We have like 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 cow's 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 was like, no, not getting there, trying to try new 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 absolutely delicious. The milk one's the one that really opened my mind up

because you got the oats, the almonds, the pea milks. You have even these mushroom milks coming out, magic mushroom milks coming out. Hey, all right. Now we're talking. Now we're getting radical. Sign me up. But that's really what's exciting about this space, though, right like it's wide open it's like it's the renaissance of the plant plant-based movement right now and it's it's just crazy to see everyone kind of adopting it i know i love it well spike we jump right into it which i love it um but i do want to give everybody a little background um 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, uh, you know, building up to, you know, plant burger and everything you got going on now.

Yeah. So, uh, 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 i couldn't believe it like i've had like noah sims for masterchef 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 they all of you guys seem so fucking chill like it i don't know i 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 is he's he i like it a lot so it's him though i don't know if you've met him or know him but i haven't i haven't met him yet dude yeah i mean we're like brothers from another now i only text 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 he there's no one i've ever met like him and he's the fucking coolest dude ever. Well, yeah, no. So, yeah, so let's talk about this. 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, what an amazing eating, you know, food city. You got to go check it out. I'll give you, I'll give you all the places, but, um, you know, and, you know, I always spent my life in and around restaurants, 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. 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 in three dishes with gravy you 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 requires them whether i don't care if it's dishwashing cooking or waitressing or whatever but there's some grit that it ingrains 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 love that. I have to say it made me who I am. So yeah, I mean like as I grew up in the industry, my parents started traveling all around the world. We went to Spain. We opened a ton of restaurants and then we landed in Florida. I'll fast forward to, I, you know,

was decided to go to culinary school. And, 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 didn't really look at 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 in the restaurant business. Like, okay. So it was at school that kind of gave me the confidence to be like, oh, you don't know how to make a Bernays or a stock? It was stuff that I just grew up with. So that's kind of what set me off.

And from there is kind of where I just went working. I went to France and worked for some of the best chefs in the world, the Relais Chateaus, three Michelin restaurants. I wanted to be a French famous, like three Michelin star chef. I mean, that's, 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 Nipperant at a Vietnamese restaurant. I had gotten a little bit bored of French food and was looking for something to inspire me a little bit more. And Vietnamese is somewhere I had traveled and really took a liking to. And then the recession hit basically in 2008. And I decided to go on a top chef for reality show.

Uh, 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, uh, she says that you have to go do this. You have to go do this show. And, and I, uh, wasn't really into it. I was like, what are you kidding me? I'm not, you know, I'm a, I'm a three Michelin star pedigree here. And soon enough, I saw one of my buddies on the show. I saw Marcel Vigneron on season two. Him and I were huge buddies and big buddies in culinary school.

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. I was able to somehow come out of it with a really good edit, a really good somewhat of a brand, get recognizable. I had 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. Uh, and that's kind of like, that's, that's kind of what happened. And, and, and from there, it just, that, that show

just opened up all the opportunities, um, opened up all the opportunities too soon in my life, to be honest with you, which was interesting. Usually you have to work a little bit harder in the industry to get some of those opportunities. And that show was special because it really just super launched you into getting all that kind of stuff. So that's kind of – 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 I preach in an ad agency and 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 it just, you get the shortcut, the whole algorithm, like you said, of life and work and business. Yeah. Yeah. You get to do it. Um, but when you do get it and like, listen, you get, you, you know, people talk about like, you get these opportunities in life and you, you're either able to harness them and run with it, uh, for the good or you get swallowed up. It 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, uh, uh, uh, hustle, you know, like my, a big Greek family in the restaurant business,

you learn how to hustle. You learn, 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? So, and my sister actually also had a marketing degree. So right after Top Chef, I think reason why we were able to harness some success and really run with it is that I 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 my sister went off to college and like my parents sold our childhood restaurants that we grew up in and uh when the recession hit my sister lost her job you know my my my two-star restaurant in new york city had folded and uh withdrew and and and

my mother and father were driving us absolutely fucking crazy in retirement so we all decided to get them busy again and uh it's a really they actually they they operate a lot better uh working than uh retirement they still work till this day. And, you know, my father's almost 80 now. But but but we saw, you know, we saw a unique opportunity in D.C. that was somewhat recession proof because it's D.C. It's not pandemic proof. We found that pretty hard, but it was recession proof. And basically, you know, we we kind of ushered this idea of these guys that come off these Top Chef shows, reality shows, that they can bottle it up and run with it, right? And we used every ounce of marketing and publicity to our advantage at the height of Top Chef brand, right? Season four.

Whether Top Chef brand liked it or not, we definitely used that to Chef brand, right? Season four, whether Top Chef brand liked it or not, we definitely use that to our advantage, right? We get like cease and desist letters in the mail 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 and we worked hard and you know my family was involved and and i think that's why we were able to be really successful i mean good stuff eating eatery was a 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 – we landed that whole thing.

Yeah, that's cool. So we had good stuff at Eater 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, 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 cause 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 to get stuff eatery. So we said, we miss pizza from New York.

So why don't we bring a little bit of New York style pizza to DC? And 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, that's what we started doing. How about, 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 at an early age, being in the restaurant businesses was not, these aren't new business ideas to you. I mean,

obviously concepts are new, but running and operating restaurants are not but like what as an entrepreneur has like been some of your biggest learning lessons oh you know uh is that a where to start uh or is that uh yeah yeah no it's a it's a it's, you know, well, my big learning in the business is, and it serves me right, you know, I'd say I'm a pretty successful guy. mode or like banking but i've always been able to remain authentically myself throughout the process for the most part um 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 uh and and now that my, my wife, you know, 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 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 the spike brand? Like, 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 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 um you know, I mean, that's, that's kind of what I said. That was my biggest learnings. But the most, the other important one is, um, surrounding yourself with, with good people, uh, and not being afraid to surround yourself

with people that may be better of, you know, in certain things, uh, in your business right like know when to know know when you're not the smartest person in that room on that subject right and and don't let your ego chefs can tend to have an ego because we're 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 uh um but the truth is is like you know i found that i'm very i 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 i that um and have like two, three guys that have been with me for 15, 16 years. And I think it's really telling because 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 gotten to eat delicious food. We've all gotten to come up with really great concepts. Yes, I'm the face. I get that. But 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. There's a great balance and I feel

very fortunate I was able to surround myself by some key members as well as my family at a certain point to help me do what we do. That's what it that's, 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's doesn't exist without, you know, without you because it, it sure can. So 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, uh, you know, restaurants, one thing building that team but like yeah but 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 and book and everything like that

i mean how what was that process how did you go about building your team? Yeah. Oh, 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 Coletti and Brian Lacayo. And these guys were guys that I met. One of them I met at Le Cirque when we opened the new Le Cirque in the Bloomberg building in New York City. And then one of them I met right at my Vietnamese restaurant when I ran with Drew.

And through thick and thin, these guys, me, we're not perfect. We made mistakes along the way many times. These guys, me, we're not perfect. We've made mistakes along the way many times. But loyalty and just being a good human and knowing that we're not perfect I think has paid dividends in my life because it's hard to build that these days, to have people that are around you that are loyal. And 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, 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 or it it there's there's emotion in it there there's struggles in it it's it's it's very oh sorry you're gonna call me delete that one but. But yeah, I mean that's – but listen, I have fallen flat on my face a million times in this business. Like if people think like, oh my god, how's this guy like just – has he had a pretty good career, pretty consistent, keeps pushing it? keeps pushing it well man it comes from a a lot of you know falling flat on my face learning the hard way like you know i you know i go back to the days that i got trained in france you know i was i got 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

that builds grit in your life right that. That like, lets you know, lets you know that like, you got a lot to learn out there. And, and you know, I, I never, I never took the easy path really. So it, it just, I don't know. It's building a teams. It's, it's, it's for, it's a forever exercise. It doesn't stop. I'm we're, we're still trying to build a team now. Like we're in the to build a team now. 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. So it's a place we never think we'd be. 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. a service. Um, you know, I made a, uh, a big pivot in my life, let's say six years ago. Um, I felt like we were, you know, um, in our own bubble, our own restaurant bubble. And I, I, I felt our bubble was going to burst in a big way. Um, we, you know, we were opening

restaurants at the highest rate that we had ever opened restaurants. Food truck craze and every lawyer, doctor, career changer wanted to be in food business because it started to get celebrated. You have all these TV shows. You had all these celebrity chefs. 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 to be my living. So – and what I mean by diversify is I started getting into food policy. I started getting into consulting 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,

which we are, not only the way we grow food, the way food travels, all the things. And I would have never predicted a pandemic would have hit us the hardest and bust that bubble for us. 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 pop in 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, diversify, just do different things that weren't 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. 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 look like sustainable everything wasn't organic right so if you're a chef and you're like out there and you're you're you're um you know doing advocacy on behalf of the farm bill uh 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 to do that in a profitable way. So you're either going to die by your own sword here or or you're gonna 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 a you know we have uh seth goldman from honesty and beyond meat uh that is our partner and his wife julie farkas as well um 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 Yum! Brands woman. So we have a ton of experience, but we decided to open up our first plant burger inside of Whole Foods. We wanted to basically do a proof of concept. 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. we 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 um and we enter the market as

a delicious indulgent burger not a vegan burger not a vegetarian burger uh you know our our our idea here is is we're just a delicious burger like any other burger. In fact, 85 to 90% of our clientele are not vegans or vegetarians. If that was a business model, we'd be out of business. Those people like you and I have a little bit more balance in our diet. Others as well. if your cholesterol is a little 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 115 square feet, we were doing $6,000 a square foot. So Whole Foods was like, holy shit. Like, I showed everything based off the square footage. And it just so happened after our first restaurant success, the pandemic hit. 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 off, they were deemed essential because we were inside of Whole Foods. The other thing that happened to Whole Foods is that their hot foods kind of folded due to 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 very low cost like no upfront costs like we're talking you know we opened up you open up 10 stores uh probably off 250 000 bucks wow

that's unheard of right 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 we're going to have plant-based burgers over there, man. I know. When I go visit my friends, 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've been in the business for 20 years and 17 working for other people. Radical is three years old, but I worked in Manhattan for about years and 17 working for other people, radicals, three years old. But I worked in Manhattan for about five and a half years. Yeah. We both got some of our training in Manhattan. I know. He's cutting my teeth, brother.

But I love it. But it's got 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 don't i doubt it in south soon i hope the uh but what when you say it's is that is it indulgence more than you know uh i

don't know like i guess incredible burgers are it you know burger king or whatever yeah the impossible ones so yeah yeah so so yeah i mean so like listen you know i own good stuff eatery i've or at Burger King or whatever. Yeah, the Impossible ones. So, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, so, like, 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 couldn't be as good, if not better, than Good Stuff. You know, like, so we did that, you know, and it was really – 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 them under my seat.

Right. And basically said, I heard you're the burger king. He's like, think about these. And I kind of laughed him off. I was like, oh, not another. i was like oh not another i was like not another vegan burger and my wife is vegan so you know i've always struggled with making her this black bean burger which sucked too much water vegetable burgers they always sucked yeah 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 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 and i didn't even know who beyond meat was you know me you know obviously i'm

so retarded i was like you you have here, right? And they've raised like hundreds of millions of dollars. 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 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 of 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 it's a little loss. There's too much information out there about climate change and its effects. It's a little confusing. Right. For 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, the choices that you make in your everyday diet actually can have a profound effect on the climate, cumulatively as humans. So 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 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 reduce their own personal environmental footprint. And you don't have to only be plant-based. Again, everything in moderation, a little bit of balance in 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 milkshakes right oh tasties you know just like a frosty that you get at wendy's yep our cheese is follow your heart cheese it melts it's delicious it's made out of potato

starch it's absolutely fantastic we're also since we 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 the work I like to do in policy space where, you know, fast food restaurants really targeted, um, you know, uh, food deserts and, and people that came from, you know, um, uh, you know, uh, poor backgrounds, right? And very much the African-American community and Hispanic community, all this.

And 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 Plant Burger as the next big fast food brand, not fast casual brand. So, yeah, I love that because that's been the biggest. I think you hit on a lot of 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 Foods brand really obviously amplifies what we were doing, right? Um, there's a rare, a very, you know, uh, a strict, um, rule book 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.

name chemical in it as a preservative that wasn't 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 uh so that's something like we're Whole Foods approved as well. So, you know, our supply chain 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

in a brick and mortar for the very first time is going to be 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. Perfect time, perfect place. 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, five, six, seven brands going down there now in a big way. So it kind of takes us back. I listened to this podcast called, I'm sure you've heard of the Business Wars. Yeah. Yeah. 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 agency, I'm sure you understand like that 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 uh at motorola i was part of it i worked on a campaign i worked on the apple launch actually one of the first the first ones but then worked with motorola when they launched the droid if you remember that. That was like 2008, 2009, the Droid smartphone. And we had a whole campaign that was, I can't do this. It was a good campaign.

Yeah, yep. It was fun. Cool, man. Let me ask you this, a random. If I'm someone at home making burgers, and give me your tips. We're going to have the radcast tips for at home radcast tips for how can someone at home make a delicious burger yes well here we go radcast tips with spike meddlesome yes i like it this could be a new segment brother i mean totally we're gonna fire this off so first of all okay yeah you need

good meat okay it's plant-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. Burger-bun ratio. Let's talk about that. Guys, you can't be using these massive challah buns for burgers.

It's too much bread. 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 star poolside burger, you can get away with a little bit more bun. But very important, burger to bun ratio can make or break your burger. Salt and pepper. I don't want to see anybody stuffing blue cheese or butter inside their burgers.

Please, guys, whoever started that trend, please stop it. Just stop. 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. 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 to 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 Funyuns in there, guys. Make some Sriracha aioli. 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. Cap it. Cap the pan. 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 this whispering smoke of melting

vacuum. The worst thing is just let cheese melt from the bottom heat up because then it separates and brings a whole different texture to 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. That's it. I think that's it. I think those are them. I love it. That's going gonna be a highlight clip in itself we're gonna have a two minute highlight of how to make the best burgers at home perfect you got like uh 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, fire keg. They're making kegs of fireball.

Rad or fad? Fad. All right. Food carts. Rad. All right. All right. Impossible burgers.

You got to, you know. Fad. Here's a layup. Plant-based. Totally rad. I love it, brother. Where can everybody keep up with all things Spike Middleton, Plant Burger, Good Stuff Featery, everything?

Where can everybody keep up with you, brother? cafeteria, everything. Where can everybody keep up with you, brother? Well, you guys can follow me at ChefSpike on Twitter and SpikeTheChef 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. Just kind of get a little idea of 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 D.C. area. If you guys happen to be in the dmv please hit us up look out for my nft project i'll be launching soon yes you heard that right right they sent me into this nft world we're gonna 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 Seed 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 to venture off into 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 jive 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 theradcast.com. Search for Spike. Search for Plant Food. All the content from today is searchable on our website. You know where to find me. I'm at Ryan Offord on all the channels. We'll see you next time on The Radcast.