The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Interview With Restaurateur Dino Hoxhaj; Dino's MooThru Expansion At Pro Re Nata

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Interview With Restaurateur Dino Hoxhaj Dino’s MooThru Expansion At Pro Re Nata Dino Has 5 F&B Eateries In CVille & AlbCo Where Is The Restaurant Industry Headed? Restaurants: What Excites & Concerns You? CVille: Meals/Personal Property Taxes Increase Umma’s Restaurant On Water Street For Sale UVA Hooper Ryan Dunn Entering NBA Draft Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Restaurateur Dino Hoxhaj joined Jerry Miller live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday afternoon, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. It's great to connect with you through every social platform known to mankind, a show that's become the water cooler of conversation in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and across Central Virginia. Today's program encourages you, the viewer and listener, to help shape the conversation. We have one of the A-plus guys in Central Virginia in the house, on studio, behind the mic, and Dino Hoja. You will see him in T-minus 20 seconds. Of course,

this show, our studio in downtown Charlottesville, less than two miles from the University of Virginia, less than one mile from Dairy Market, where a lot of this all started with a man who would greet everyone walking through the door with a smile and a bear hug, serving some of the best pizza in the market. Folks, if you want to ask Dino a question, put it in the feed, and we will relay it live on air. Judah Wickhauer, my friend, if you could go to the studio camera and welcome a man who needs no introduction, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Dino Hoja in the house. This guy goes from a pizza parlor on Route 29. We're going to get to that in a matter of moments. Absolutely. Yeah, I remember. I've eaten there many times. To opening during the pandemic and dairy market. Correct.

To opening a Basta Pasta across from its point of sale in dairy market. To buying Moo Through. To expanding Dino's wood-fired pizza and rotisserie chicken, to Pro Renata, to now a MoveThru expansion at Pro Renata and Crozet. My friend, I salute you. I applaud you for tremendous success. Thank you kindly for joining us on the show, Dino. Well, as you just mentioned, everything which you said is true. And that coming, when I first came to your show, I had a dishwasher, my wife and I,

and two waiters working at 29 at Brick Oven. And my kids would sleep in the booth. So this is not, it's a big sacrifice until this moment that you're speaking right now. You're the American dream. American dream can be a nightmare sometimes, but that's true. Like every immigrant, everything comes

with the hard work and dedication. What do you want to be? And what is God-given potential? If you're shooting up for the stars, you can go there. Let's talk about the flip book of the dream. Brick Oven, is it the rio hill shopping center brick oven was purchased from tony farrow which he owns now uh michael's diner yeah big big big uh shout to him he made it possible for me to go uh in the brick oven and we uh took over brickick Aluminum from him in late 2017 and redid everything and made it to the point that

our expansion was bigger than what we wanted. And Brick Aluminum was kind of like smaller for us. We were trying to go something bigger. When we saw that Dairy market was building and there is a food hall going to be there, I was doing delivery going to UVA for a large catering order. I said, like, this is my next spot. And I got in touch with Britta Killer, which she is my marketing specialist. She's watching right now. She just gave you props. She is an amazing person and great. I don't know how to describe her.

Working with her has been behind all of this success is people like her and you that spread the word for people like me who work behind the scene. And she came to the conclusion that we should not call it brick oven at the

dairy market, even though I had all the branding and everything. She said, like, when people are coming to brick oven, they say, let's go to Dino's. So you have to split up from Dino's, and you're going to call it Dino's Pizza. From that moment on, like, it took off. As you know, like, we were signing the contract with Stony Point. With Chris Henry and stony point development and uh i was uh having all the the loans already straight up and everything covet hit in march we were supposed to open in april the banks that i was like approved for

loans they kind of like froze everything chris henry stepped in and lent me the money that no bank wanted to lend. And we moved forward with the construction with so many times like stopping during the COVID. And Chris Henry said we can open in December, 15th of December, we opened for business during the COVID year. And we were in like restriction until June of 2021. And after that, we had growth month after month. And we are where we are now, the dairy market. That is our heart and soul. That's our flagship store.

Dairy market, it's itself entity. And then after a few months, I opened the dairy market. I have a team that they're, like, very, very hungry for growth. And I promised all of my team that we are going to open more stores. And there is a young guy, which I was his guardian. His name is Jay. Pronounced Yaton Ozuna. He comes from the same town where I come from, that he came here with a green card.

He came here as a student, actually, worked in travel, and he runs the Dino's at PRN right now. That's fantastic. Yeah. That's fantastic. I just tagged Chris Henry. I want to make sure he heard the props

that you just gave him right here. I'll highlight some of the commentary coming in. Viewers and listeners, you can give Dino props live on air for example, and let us know the folks that are watching the program here and where they are located. First, Amber Rexrode says, hi Dino from Jake, Amber, and Bryn.

Amazing people. They're giving you props right now. Let's see here. Is it Agron? Rosleo? Yeah. No. No. He shares your last name right here. Where is he watching? Somewhere. No, no. He shares your last name right here. Where is he watching? Somewhere in Europe.

Okay. You have Hemi, is it Kwivani watching the program right now? She's an employee. Okay. Imran Shala. That's a cousin in Bosnia. Okay. Burim Blendi.

I'm messing up these names. I apologize, guys. Everybody else is in Europe. Okay. It's all good. You got all of Europe watching the program right now. And Dino, let's talk about your success here. You go from brick oven, and the concept or the idea of rebranding was brilliant.

It was absolutely brilliant because you're the face of the brand. You are likable. You are approachable. You are easygoing. You have positive energy. You greet everyone with a bear hug. We'll cut to the chase. You make amazing pizza. You know customer service. You know keeping customers with a smile on their face and getting them to come back.

The rebranding was brilliant. When we went to Brick Oven, we went to Dino's. When we go to Dairy Market, we go to Dino's. We would go Basta Pasta, we go to Dino's. Move through, we go see Dino. Pro Renata, if we're going to eat your food, we're going to go see Dino. That's literally what our sons say, what my wife says. My son says all the time, your pizza is some of the best he's ever had. He asked me on the way yesterday into work, because I mentioned that you were going to be on the program. What is their secret ingredient? I'm going to try to pull it out of you. But let's talk about this. When you had brick oven in the Ryle Hill Shopping Center and you were grinding and working your tail off and your kids were sleeping in the booze, okay, walk us through what was going through

your mind and did you ever envision having this kind of success? Our success, like I mentioned, is based on like how do I reach all this goal if I surround myself with people who are dedicated and have the same dreams that I have. And come from almost the same background as I have. Coming from nothing to do something. Coming to this promised land that your dreams become true if you work hard day in, day out. Finding success in the restaurant industry, the way I see it, is like the four pillars that you have to have. You have to take care of your staff first before you take care of customer service.

You have to have an excellent team, treat them with respect and dignity, pay them above the livable wages, what you can afford, take less for yourself. Sanitation is the second one. If you are not clean and sanitation is not there, then you're missing one of the pillars.

Then marketing is one of the pillars too. In the end is the food, of course. So all of this come together and you can create a brand. Without missing one of the end, it's the food, of course. So all of this comes together, and you can create a brand. Without missing one of the links, there is a chromosome missing. There is the DNA link missing there. You take Moo through from Dairy Market to Pro Renata. I think this is a brilliant move. Talk to us about this.

Going from Dairy Market to Pro Renata, when I first time met John Shea, which is an amazing entrepreneur. He retired from full-time dentist and created a, I call it now, and we call it now like a, with having the ice cream shop there and the brewery and the pizza truck

and everything and things have to come. And the music hall, the concert venue. That is the Disneyland of Crozet. Having the view on Blue Ridge Mountains and having the in-house brewing beer, a 47-foot truck sitting next to it and having ice cream inside and having a playground

and other things that are coming and having a concert. Axe throwing? Yeah. So this guy has brilliant ideas and he's growing so fast and I cannot ask for more to be part of it. It was my dream to be on that side of town. I went to the table that was already full.

I brought something there, but we won't stop growing and that is just the beginning with John that he has a lot of things in the pipeline coming up. I think it was a genius move. I mentioned this last week. Pro Renata is, you call it the Disneyland of Crozet. I think that's very applicable. We have as many beer drinkers at Pro Renata as we have music lovers,

as we have kids, as we have sports fans, as we love those who are just amazed by the views of Pro Granada, those that love your pizza, and now move through ice cream. Talk to us about the, maybe this was a challenge, maybe this was not, about staffing all these locations. You got a Dino's and Dairy Market. Can I just stop you for a second? So from Dino's, like I mentioned, going from Dino's, going from Bergkofen at 29 North

with me and my wife and two waiters and a dishwasher we are a team of 42 people now. Amazing! And that is in December of 2000 to what is that now? April of 2024?

Yeah. Yeah. So I have a lot on my shoulders, but my team... Less than four years. You've gone from four people to 42. Yes. Because all of these people who work with me, they are myself.

And I take care of them. They take care of me. It's just kind of like one unit. It's like gladiators. Everybody executes whatever they will be assigned to. That's amazing. But partnering with key people and networking with like ProAnata and Stony Point and people who want to see growth in this community

and want to see positive things and have vision, that's the key of the success. If you're thinking that you're not trying to share something that you think and you think you can achieve this by yourself, I don't think this can be achieved by yourself. You have to take sacrifice from your family first. Whenever other kids of other families are enjoying the playground on a Friday and Saturday and Sunday

at Pro Renata or at the dairy market, my kids are at home with their mother or doing something, I'm absent. So this is the pain that you have to take when you're looking for success. And I hope my family always try to understand me, understand me, that I miss so many things on the family events.

But the whole point is you have to give and take. This is not the perfect world, but you have to live through it. And this is my dream. I'm trying to build a better future for myself and them, and I want to leave a legacy behind. That was beautiful, dude. Dude, that was perfect. You're killing this right now that was absolutely beautiful i'm getting choked up over here on the program especially as a dad myself and i know i completely understand

the sacrifices you have to make being away from your kids i was that was absolutely beautiful which of the three brands that you own because because you own three brands. Three brands, yeah. Dino's, Basta Pasta. We franchise Muthru from Ken Smith, which is a dairy farmer, I don't know how many generations, in Remington County in Virginia. So when I heard that Muthru is coming down to Charlottesville in 2001, Chris Henry convinced Ken to come and open the Muthru down here. I offered Ken to buy him right away, and he refused it. And I kept challenging him every six months or so,

saying, like, I want to be part of your ice cream. I love this ice cream. I want to buy it. And then all of a sudden he came to the conclusion that when people come to their market, the kids, what do they want? They want a slice of pizza, and they want ice cream. That's what my kids want yeah that's exactly it and we just mimic the same thing now but we already had something

the adults had the beer right music yeah and then there were other vendors there but they were not offering what we offer and i connected with john shape and when the previous vendor left in 48 hours we turned the same truck we're working day in day out to like fix the truck turn it to our needs that uh gentleman was like riding the bobcat everywhere the tractor to move the trailer Dr. John Shape yeah the owner of Pro Renata the owner of Pro Renata he rolls the. We brought a pizza oven at 10 p.m. at night at his house from Maryland, at his house at Barn. He got up, turned the tractor on. Without any question, he just put it. That's badass.

He's a badass. Yeah. He's a badass. To do things like that and take the challenge like that as a full-time dentist on the days like a year and a half ago and now also like full-time entrepreneur with Peronata and other like expansions that he's having in the valley area not just with downtown Stanton yeah not just Stanton there are other things coming but I am not mentioning anything I left up to him to do it sure so we created a partnership that is going to last,

hopefully, for decades to come. And I want to create the brand that our logo says, Love from Charlottesville. And I want to go national with that so people can see that everything started in Charlottesville. Oh, my God. I'm getting goosebumps over here. Tito's on fire here.

You've got to tell us the story, the behind the scenes of 10 o'clock at night, and you guys are installing a pizza oven from a bar with a bobcat in a truck outside of a brewery. Give us what happened. Give us the behind the scenes even more. Our oven that we bought broke down, and then we need to open on Friday. And myself and two of my cornerstones. Key employees.

Yeah. Well, they are like partners. Nobody is my employee. They work for themselves. I have a theory to do that. It's my team. I am the leader of the team. They make the earning from there as much as I make the earning.

So they deserve a shout. Everybody else. It's just like a puzzle. If you miss a piece, the puzzle is not there. Complete it. We went to Maryland, local marketplace, got the oven. I asked John. He, like, wired all the cords under the truck by himself to have the power brought up to the truck.

And we weren't late because I had an F-150 truck to fit a 4,000-pound truck, I mean unit unit electric oven in my truck. On the bed of the F-150? Yes, on the bed of the F-150. From Maryland, you're driving to Crozet? From Baltimore, we're driving to Crozet. Oh, my God. We were in late because I couldn't find a truck to lease. It was weekends.

No, it was one day before weekend. And I tried to rent a truck. It was nothing available. And we didn't have a place where to put it. John said, bring it to my barn in his own house. And we arrived very late. We wanted to leave for the next day. He said, no, I'm turning my tractor on right now. He put the forklift in his tractor, lifted it up, and he said, here we go. There are three crazy Albanians here and John, and we are doing this. And he just shoveled into that in his barn and that gave me how to say that that is priceless when it comes to like

monetary compensation that's what the partnership means the gesture that he did and the way we try to put things together there is no way that's not gonna work you know he is always there to help me for whatever I need to and the way we try to put things together, there's no way that it's not going to work. He is always there to help me for whatever I need to, and we are building a partnership that is going to last, hopefully, for a long, long time. That is absolutely amazing.

Viewers and listeners, give props to Dino. Put it in the feed. I'll relay it live on air. I'm going to get to your comments on social media for Dino here in a matter of moments. A few of my own here. Which of your brands is the most challenging to run and why? The most challenging is the pizza because it requires more of professionalism. And that is my baby. Right.

So just like you, you have two boys. Yeah. And having a baby, like it's like a little baby that i was there 24 7 and trying to put it to the daycare and try to go through the school and these are the steps that i'm taking right now you're always going to worry about your baby right but these are that the chapters and then the milestones you have to reach to grow so passing on to people who you trust to deal with it and try to maintain the integrity and the quality of your customer service.

Because I am one person. I cannot split myself in 10 pieces to be in all the places. So I am mostly in the dairy market, but I have a salad team at the Peronata. And whenever it's needed, that one phone away, I will be there. On the weekends, I don't go anywhere. I'm always around here.

But the challenging is always there. You know, like managing people and the demand that we have at Peronata, sometimes we have to serve 600 to 700 people in three hours. That's why we had to buy an oven imported from Italy is 6,000 pounds that John loaded in the trailer that feeds 400 people in an hour with pizzas. You have to have a team which is like migrant Latinos that have been working for several years with me now, and they are in the kitchen on that heat and the truck and executing all of this and they are part of of my brand this is not one dino there are so many dinos behind there i love this god you are such a good leader i totally see this i'll throw this to

you here talk to us about what was going through your mind when you're opening a dairy market during COVID? You have bank financing lined up and then the world completely changes and the banks go quiet. Was that, put the fear in perspective, put the, the, everything that's going through your mind, the sleepless nights in perspective before you get you get the lifeline from Chris Henry. Show us yours on that. Well, we started in the fall of 2019. We were going through, and I was going through the process to sell my restaurant, which I was approached from a couple that wanted to buy my restaurant out of the blue.

I didn't even put it on the market. They wanted to buy it. It just kind of like came together naturally by itself. Nothing happens by uh uh coincidentally i believe strongly in god everything is lined up i'm very strong believer on the almighty god that put us in this earth as a test yeah to see what we can do and what our potential is uh i saw that I told John with Tallaheimer and Jenny. Johnny Pritzloff and Jenny Stoner. They are amazing people.

I told them that that's what the banks are doing. What should I do now next? I have some money, but now it's COVID. I'm worried. I'm scared to spend my money. Johnny spoke to Stony Point and Chris Henry said, like, whatever it takes to build that place, every penny will be lended from us. And they gave me five to six months with no interest and break to pay the loan until we started working. And how can you not? When people put so much trust in you, Terry, as you know, and they're believing in you and looking eye to eye and say, like, look, I will lend this money to you, then you will have more moral obligations.

You will be on your strength and ability to, like, prove them that they were not wrong when they tried to partner with you. 100%. And we are the most successful stall there. Everybody is great over there, but we are... Everyone sees it. Everyone sees it. We are growing every day, and Dairy Market is like a centerpiece of this town.

We have buses coming from out of town with 150 people just lining up there, and we try to feed everybody in half an hour. Everyone sees that you are the most successful stall there. My goal was this. If I see Stony Point throwing in tens of millions of dollars there, I said, who am I not to put half a million

dollar there? Not to put there, because I see the success is already built. That place is built for success as long as you work your butt off. And same thing with Pro Renata. It was built success that I go behind it and just try to grow my brand and grow together with them. So we're just moving on the speed of light on other things. How did you go from Dino's, which I think is the most recognizable stall at Dairy Market. You own the second most recognizable stall now, which is Muthru.

Then the third probably most recognizable stall is Basta Pasta. How did you go to buy that stall or take that stall over and rebrand it? Well, we were making pastas at Dino's. It was demand from students and everything. So there was a pasta shop in the corner. I forgot the name. What was it? There was a pasta there was a pasta shop in the corner. I forgot the name. What was it? There was a pasta shop, homemade pasta shop in the corner.

And then that shut down. And there was no other pasta place around Charlottesville. I mean, around the corner and then UVA and everything. So what happened is, like, our kitchen is 900 square feet. We had seven or eight people working for a shift in there, making pastas and pizzas and everything. So in order to expand, to make his own brand, the Basta Pasta, we decided to

take the stall across the hall and turn that into the Basta Pasta. Directly across from his Dino stall, he takes over Basta Pasta. That was a risk. That was a risk, but the whole point is, again, with the backing and believing from Stony Point and Chris Henry's team, telling me, you know, we see the hard work and success you're building at Dino's,

and we definitely don't have to negotiate about going forward and moving Basta Pasta next door. And in 40 days, we were working with John Shape to open Dino's at Pro Renata. In the meantime, we were going parallel with Basta Pasta. So we opened both of them in November 2022. In two weeks, we opened both places. Amazing. And my team was there day in, day out. Everybody's cross-trained at the

dairy market. Everybody can jump and help each other. The reason why we grew in there because it can, like, everybody's cross-trained. Like, they want extra hours for example. Everybody can jump to another stall and help there. So my team doesn't have to change shirts and we're not

trying to hide our different brand. With Dino's shirt they can be serving at the Muthru and with Dino's shirt they can be serving the the mood through and the dino's shirt can serve the boss of us and people say like oh you're taking over i said no i'm not taking over this belongs to stony point i'm leasing from them yeah and they say like you all these restaurants i say like no these restaurants owe me because i cannot walk out from here i chose chose to do this, and I love what I do. And this is a story. And then the Moothrough thing came by, and I met with Ken Smith.

How did that play out? So the way it played out, they were having huge success. Ken Smith is very busy with franchising the other stores. And they have a very big farm. They just redid their dairy farm. They have 1,800 milk cows. And he's full time. He's 72 but he looks like 52 probably or less. Wow. That guy wakes up probably… 3 in the morning.

3 in the morning and goes to bed at about 10. Sometimes I get texts from him at 10 at night. So, and uniting yourself and connecting yourself with people like him, that's what gives you the courage and power to move forward. That's awesome. And then I went to his farm and everything. I said, I want to buy your place. And he worked out the payment form and everything.

It's like, I see how hard you work and everything. I don't have a problem to franchise this to you. And then we've been thriving. It was before, but now it was, I never had run an ice cream shop before. You know, it was something new. I just closed my eyes and signed him a check. And I said, like, let me see what is in there.

And gradually in a few months, then we are like where we are now. And also like, it's a great product. It is a great product. I wanted to be a piece of it. It's delicious. I wanted to have a tiny piece of it. And we moved to ProNata because that part was missing.

And hopefully, we'll move with more locations in the future. So is it technically two Moothrough franchises? Do you have the franchise territory for Muthru? I do have franchise territory. And it says on the leaf that every year you have to open, if you want more territory, you have to open another store. But, again, with the support

of Ken Smith and infrastructure that John has built, this little hoop there that we can serve and use all the seating area and the bathrooms and all the location which probably fits more

than 2,000 people or more, I haven't counted. But we are using the whole thing for move-through and then that part of town in Crozet is starving for this. They were starving for this. They were starving for this.

Not, I mean, this is, this is, I, this is a genius move. The accessibility to Peronata is a genius move because, like, going from 64, the parking space you have there, the accessibility you have there. Yeah. The, uh, the music you can listen to, the selection. The beer. The beer. The outdoor. The stuff for

kids. Yeah. The kids, now, John built a playground there that the kids can play there, and they have all the fun of the world, you know? Stay away from your phones, bring your kids to ProNata, drink a beer, and they will enjoy every minute. That's the world, the children's world.

I mean, Dr. John Shave is watching the program. He knows I have tremendous respect for him. Jacob Conley, welcome to the show. Mel, I mean, Dr. John Shave is watching the program. He knows I have tremendous respect for him. Jacob Conley, welcome to the show. I mean, so many folks in Europe are watching the program right now. Melly, Burim, Sam Clark says go Dino. Latan is offering your pops. Jacob says Dino serves warmness and love

disguised as pizza, pasta, and ice cream. One of the nicest guys in the community. Tammy Kitchen, Dino is an amazing human being. Katie Cox, love Dino. I wish I could speak as many languages as Dino can because I cannot pronounce the names of all the folks that are watching this program right now that are giving this man props right here.

You know, this is a genius move. Like, a pizza place or an ice cream shop wants to open in an area that has anchor or marquee tenants that drive traffic to a shopping center or traffic to an area. That's why you often see a pizza shop or an ice cream parlor opening next to like a big grocery store or a movie theater or in a shopping center that has a ton of foot traffic. They basically did this with Pro Renata. Pro Renata has got so much popularity and so much traffic and such a strong customer base. People come there, they stay sticky because the beer is good or they're watching sports or they're listening to music. And Pro Renata says, we want to be in the beer business.

We want to be in the positive experience business for our customers. And we're going to be in the beer business. We want to be in the positive experience business for our customers. And we're going to bring in experienced restaurateurs like Dino and experienced or known brands of ice cream like Muthru. And we're going to feed it to our customers or give them a chance to buy it. And they're going to stay at our brewery even longer because they're going to have a base of bread in their stomach or their kids are going to be happy with ice cream while they're drinking beer even longer on the property. This is a genius idea, Dino. You can have a birthday party there. You can have a, we're doing, like we have in the pipeline tons, tons of events scheduled there. You can have a private room party there. We cater, we have our catering menu there. We do a lot of rehearsal

dinners. And we are the first and end stop of the Beale Trail and the Wine Trail. So when people come from Charlottesville, the buses, they stop there sometimes to eat lunch. And when the wine tour finishes coming from Northern Virginia or something, everybody comes for dinner at

Pro Renata, eating and then drinking the beer before they hit the road to go up north or go to their hotels and crash out. That's beautiful. What's next? Because your mind's always working. I mean, I start feeling like, thank God that from day one that we started working at Brick Oven until now, we always have seen success. And I don't want to grow in the speed that i want to grow

because like i said the most challenging part of the business that takes uh the the the the peak like this is having a reliable it's the team yeah he went guys from four people this is this is one of the best success stories i've heard so far on the history of this network. He went from four people. Did you say that was in 2019? In December of 2019. Yep. And now it's April of 2024. Yep.

So it's not even five years and now he has 42 and counting and counting partners. Don't even call them partners. Team members. They're team members. Everything I share call them partners. Team members. There are team members. Everything I share with them, because given ownership to everybody that works for you,

and everybody who comes with us, I tell them, if you're here for a paycheck, you are not part of my team. Because if you're looking for a paycheck, you're going to go somewhere else. If you're not taking any role that you can here, working independently, we offer competitive pay. Everybody who stays more than one year with us

gets one week paid vacation. Second year, they get two weeks paid vacation. Third year, they get three weeks paid vacation. And we cannot give more, but all the time that we have success and profit, we have also like a gain sharing that I can write a bonus to my team members. And everybody see that.

And then we have zero misunderstanding and conflict between our team members. And if somebody has to go somewhere, everybody jumps to cover their shift. We have zero call-outs. For three years, I've been open to the dairy market. We never close one day for lack of not having enough people. That's amazing. And we get at least 10, 15 applicants a week trying to come to work with us.

And I don't even advertise the work. It's just word of mouth. Philip Dow watching the program says, we need a move through in Scottsville. I can see it being extremely successful. We had someone yesterday say that we desperately need a Dino's Pizza in Zion's Crossroads. We've been talking about that.

Louisa area. Guess what? Stony Point has a massive position at Zion's Crossroads. And Chris Henry, yeah, just put in the ecosystem. I'm sure he's already, I guarantee you this man's already thought about that. What's, I mean, I'll ask again, what's next?

Do you follow Pro Renata to Downtown Stanton? We are in the early stage of talking to them. For downtown Stanton? Downtown Stanton. Okay. Dr. John Shabe is watching. He says you never sleep and has given you some props. I do sleep, like, some hours.

But, you know, this is the pain you have to take. You know, like, Just take, for example, how many years did Hussein Bolt train to have a race of 400 meters? Well, a lot of people don't realize. Maybe people realize this. Maybe a lot of people don't realize this. When an entrepreneur launches a business, he's already used the terminology. I use it as well. It's like your child.

It's like your child. It's like your baby. And you're taking this business from birth through the various stages of maturation, whether it's like the baby years, the toddler years, the elementary school age years, the middle school age years. And it requires your undivided attention to help the business grow in the right way. And even when Dino and I or anyone that's in this position are not on site doing the work, we're constantly thinking about the business. So even though we're not at the site, we're still working. It might be in the living room of our home or in the bed or when we wake up. It's always on our mind. Well, last August, I went to Kosovo, where I'm originally from.

And my family went earlier, so I couldn't go. Just to throw this out, my 11-year-old son always mentioned this to me when he gets angry. Okay. So we went there, and we were supposed to go to the beach in Albania. Everything was lined up. One of my key employees at Basta Pasta went ill. And we were planning to go to Albania next day. It was 9 p.m. European time, East European time. I went, as soon as he said that

I'm going to the doctors, I'm not feeling well and everything. And then two of my key guys also were on vacation. Without even asking my wife or my kids. I went online, book a flight, and in two hours I was in the airport. Next day I was making pastas at their market. Unbelievable. And this is a pain you have to take. No doubt. And this is a pain that your family has to go through.

That's commitment. And everybody else. Yeah. And it's just commitment. And without this commitment and try to do all of these things, you have to seek the success. Success doesn't come to you without seeking it. And it's a commitment. And out of this commitment and try to do all of these things, you have to seek the success. Success doesn't come to you without seeking it.

And it's everyday sacrifice. You are in the battle every day. Dude, you're a badass. You cannot lose this battle. You cannot lose this battle. If you go with the mindset that you are going to achieve this goal, you have all the tools and you are the most prosperous and advanced country in the history of humanity. And I say this by heart, that this is a country I call home. And this is a country where my kids were born. And this is the heartbeat of the entire world. And Charlottesville community is part of that heartbeat. God, I love this guy. I love this guy. I love this interview.

We'll wind down the interview. You're carrying the show. We'll wind down with these things. What excites you about running restaurants moving forward? What worries you about running restaurants moving forward? So both sides. What excites me about the restaurant industry, about there is nothing better in the world that you are not just sitting behind the desk and meet all kind of walk of life of people and Greeting and knowing them and asking you about your family and ask about everything that people like for instance

I met a gentleman from West Virginia that His wife for instance was at UVA beating cancer battling the guy came very like sad and said like I saw the tag that he had from UVA beating cancer, battling. The guy came very, like, sad and said, like, I saw the tag that he had from UVA, and then I said, like, how are you? Who is at the hospital? And he said that it's my wife, and my kids are all grown and everything.

I said, like, I gave him a hug. I said, like, you know, there is nothing I can do more but the lunch that you were trying to buy. I know you can afford it, and I will put prayers for you and your wife. Here's a slice of pizza, and the sweet tea you're trying to order. And I sit down with him at the table

and he started crying and then trying to share that thing with me. And for a few days up, he came every day while his wife was getting treated. And then after she got to the hospital, he brought his wife and said, this guy, give me courage and hope that you are at the hospital.

You know, and I'm not putting this to make you emotional. I'm getting emotional. You know, this is a true story. And this is the things that I have kids come in and want to see me and talk to me and families. And in general, all these anchor customers that without them, I can do nothing about it. And throw in all of this and just be you. Be organic. If you're not people's person, stay away from the restaurant.

Restaurant industry is tough. It's very slim margin. It's very competitive. But if you love what you do, day in, day out, then there is no way but success. Oh, God, I'm getting emotional. What concerns you about it? Work ethic of the future generations. Why do you say that?

Because of the phones, in part? The phones and the social media and I'm seeing it with my kid. My oldest is six. It's very, very tough that we are moving fast at the speed of light with technology and I see that the family sits together in the barn table

like as big as this table over here. Mom and dad and the kids or like a bunch of students sitting together. And what they do, everybody's on their phones. That we are so closed with technology, but we are going so far away as social creatures. Like human connection. Human connection is not there i even thought maybe like i heard stories that there are restaurants that they confiscate the

phones put them in the basket so people can have a conversation to talk to each other i love that i love that people like they'll take the phone away from someone like just taking the breath away right now no 100 they're choking them anxiety. Yeah. By not having their phone in their hand. Yeah. And that's what, when pro or not a step sin, for example, you're sitting in the sun out there, enjoying the blue mountain view and beautiful sun and breeze and having a beer. And the kid is playing in the playground. And you're enjoying the springtime that we don't have much. We have pollen, but we don't have much of the humidity right now. Yeah, right. And being part of it and seeing the whole yard full of tables.

And in the evening, seeing the fire pits going and everything. That's what life is about. I love it. That's the journey of life. Last couple questions. Your oldest is 11? My oldest is 17. 17?

The youngest is 11. 17 and 11. You're a young man. 17 and 11. I'm 44, but yeah. Dude, you're aging. He's getting your pictures here. Do they know, you're 17, you're probably does. Do they appreciate what you've built? And is this, is the plan eventually to pass, pass, pass it on? I try to push the older one so hard, but I don't think he has into it. But the little one definitely. He said, I want to be like you. I want to follow your dream.

I want to be like you. Maybe the older one is just saying that because of the age. He might change in the future. Yeah, because he's 17. But yeah, it's age. That's tough. But my wife has been my backbone taking care of these kids for years. I worked 80 hours a day, and I will go and find them asleep, and then wake up in the morning and leave them asleep,

and I will see them only Wednesdays when I head off, and one day a week. She's been a terrific mother, and I have a beautiful community that I'm surrounded with, and like I mentioned, a beautiful team that I'm with, and I cannot ask for anything better. That is a perfect way to stop. Well, I'm going to give this man a hug. Go to studio camera, put the one shots, the PTIs on

studio camera. I want to give you a hug. Dude, you're having me crying. I'm sorry. I don't mean to. So good. I love you. Congratulations for your success. Thank you. I know you do,. That was so good. I love you. I love you too. Congratulations for your success. Thank you. I sincerely mean that. Thank you.

I know you do. And that's why I reached out to you. Yeah, thank you. And John said like, did you line this all up? How long ago? Dude, I said, I just reached out. It was kind of last week. Yeah.

And in 15 minutes, he started posting. Yeah. He said like, you're fucking crazy. I said like, you know. Thank you. Thank you. I told you from the beginning on, you and Judah, when I first then came here, when I was at the break oven, our business skyrocketed 35%.

And this is the thing that I come to say the truth. This is not only the marketing tools. Everything comes from inside. This is not saying just because I want to be in camera and say good words. I think that's why people love you. That's because you are you every day. You have to be.

You have to be. If you are in there and then you're not doing this, I went, like I said, from all five restaurants, you're projected to make over 5 million sales this year. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. But my chefs and my cooks get $72,000 to $78,000 a year.

Unbelievable. And nobody else pays that money in the town. Of course they're going to stay with me. Yeah. Absolutely unbelievable. What I tell everybody, like, you want better schools? Pay the teachers. To the limit that not being underpaid.

You want a safety? Pay the police three times what they're getting paid now. Dude, I freaking love this guy. You know, you cannot have safe community. The cop makes, put his life in danger, everything, and he makes $2,000 a month. And can't live in Charlottesville for the place he works. Yep. Amen.

And the schools, you cannot have curriculum or teachers, professional teachers, and the private sector is stealing all of the teachers because they pay more. Yeah. And the public teachers, they're not being trained or being proper, and you expect the teachers to perform well. Yeah. It doesn't make common sense. It's all about money. These people have to feed them why does a doctor? Makes half a million dollar and a teacher makes fifty thousand

Yeah, these people have to ride the raise the future doctors Right, so dude love you good to see you Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. We will we will will. Oh, God, this guy is amazing. All the time, he's dead. He's always doing something. Yeah, Jim Wickauer. He's an amazing guy. He is an amazing guy. Really mean to them.

Thank you, Dino. I haven't seen him in a while. We appreciate you. Salute. Good to see you. Peace out. Thank you. Judah, we'll go to a one. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the best interviews we've ever done in I Love Civo history with Dino. I mean, the guy, we need to celebrate and champion entrepreneurs like this.

I seriously had goosebumps, Judah. I had all the feels on today's interview. Inspired, emotional, excited, proud. I mean, all the feels right there with Dino. We have a couple of items that we need to get out of the notebook, including a business that's for sale that's of noteworthy recognition. Man, I am still moved from the interview from Dino. Available wherever you get your podcasting content.

Let's go to headlines here, J-Dubs, if we could. First, the business that's for sale. Uma's on Water Street. The old Mono Loco location. Uma's is active and listed and for sale. This is a fantastic location on Water Street. Again, the old Michael Lewis hangout, Moto Loco restaurant. Uma's got its start at the farmer's market, then opened a brick and mortar restaurant

just a short time ago. Active, listed for sale. If you're interested, reach out to our team at Charlottesville Business Brokers. We'll help make a deal for you at Uma's on Water Street. Basketball piece of information out of the notebook. Ryan Dunn has entered the NBA draft, the UVA star front court player. He said he is not going to return despite having two years of eligibility. He's gone. He's a projected first round draft pick, which is guaranteed money. Tony Bennett's basketball team has one starter returning. You can say Blake Buchanan and Tane Murray started some ball games, but really the only starter returning is Isaac McNeely. Coach Bennett and his staff have more pressure than ever with the transfer portal to completely

reimagine this lineup. Isaac McNeely, Blake Buchanan, Rhodey, and what, Elijah Gertrude, the only guys with minutes and experience returning to the Ben's basketball team, the 2019 NCAA champions are looking quite vulnerable right now. We respect and give props and applaud Ryan Dunn and wish him success

on the next level as he pursues his dream of professional basketball. We can have all those feelings and we can still be disappointed he's not returning next year. No front court players back with experience except for Blake Buchanan, and he had an up and down year playing as a true freshman. This team right now on paper does not have a single guy in the transfer portal coming back

or coming to the program. Not a single guy yet. Leon Bond entered the transfer portal. We'll weave you in on a two-shot, Judah Wittkower, the director of this fine and fair talk show. From four employees, four team members, to 42 in less than five years. He said five million, more than five million in sales across the five locations. He talked about how he is in Eastern Europe

on a family vacation and team members call in sick or on vacation and he has to leave the vacation with less than 24 hours notice, hop a flight across the world to make pasta the next day at Dairy Market. That's going to be a long flight too. He tells the story of opening during COVID, where banks are willing to finance his entrepreneurial endeavor, the first Dino's, and then when the pandemic hits, the banks go silent.

And he takes a loan from the developer, Chris Henry, who's a stand-up guy. He talks about taking a pizza oven on an F-150 from Baltimore, Maryland, to pro-Renata owner Dr. Shave's barn. And then Dr. Shave is driving a bobcat around pro-renata to get the freaking pizza oven in the truck after going underneath the truck and doing the electrical wiring

to get the truck ready to go to make it a pizza point of sale. He talks about writing a check for Move Thru to become the franchise owner for a fantastic brand in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and Central Virginia.

And you know he's got expansion plans for downtown Stanton or wherever else Pro Renata is going. We've got to get Dr. John Shea back in the mix. I see him watching the program right now. Sounds like the Valley and Pro Renata have got some plans right now. Dr. Shea, we'd love to talk about that with you. I mean, what an interview, dude. No doubt.

I mean, Dino is definitely a man with a mission. And he doesn't stop. Clearly. Unbelievable. This is one of my favorite aspects of doing this long form content in this show is that right there. Goosebumps. Thank you guys for watching the show. Thank you to Dino. Support Dino and support Pro Renata. Dude, Pro Renata is becoming John and Brian

Cobes who are watching this program. John Shabe and Brian Cobes. Brian Cobes does a lot of the booking and a lot of the brand management for the music booking and a lot of the brand management for Pro Renata. Brian Cobes is a rock star himself. Oh yeah. I sincerely mean that Brian. Pro Renata is becoming an incubator for businesses and entrepreneurs. Yeah. I wish more businesses and business owners were doing that. They are utilizing their popularity and this omni-experiential epicenter of beer, playground, music, views

to launch other businesses in complimentary fashion. It is effing genius. Yeah. It is effing genius. Yeah. It is effing genius. And it's the quintessential example of a rising tide is good for all ships. Mm-hmm. Move through keeps the kids happy, which means the kids don't annoy the parents,

which means the parents drink more beer, which means the parents eat more pizza, which means the parents eat more pizza, which means the parents listen to more music. Playground keeps the kids entertained. The views, perfect for everyone. It's effing genius. And that's

how a business becomes not just a beer revenue stream in a time of headwinds for craft beer. It becomes an epicenter for multiple revenue streams. I love it. All right, I hope you enjoyed the Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville show.

It airs Monday through Friday, 1230 to 130 on every social platform, wherever you get your podcasting content. We champion the best of Charlottesville. We celebrate the best of Albemesville. We celebrate the best of Albemarle County, and we bring to a positive spotlight all that's awesome of Central Virginia. For Judah Wickauer, for Dino, my name is Jerry Miller, and I am proud of today's show. So long, everybody. Man.