Rock & Brews CEO on the Future of Restaurants and the Power of Experience

Jimmy (0:00): Hey, everybody. I gotta tell you. We're gonna talk about BUILT. BUILT Hospitality. Millions of people use BUILT every day.

Jimmy (0:07): That's right. Every day to earn awards on housing and in their neighborhood. But now now it extends to your restroom. That's where Built Hospitality comes in. Built Hospitality shapes how guests are recognized and taken care of.

Jimmy (0:21): Built's restaurant facing platform is designed specifically for dining operators to drive loyalty with their guests. It combines reservations, guest preferences, VIP management, and payments all into one platform alongside an agentic concierge. That's right. An AI concierge that thoughtfully designs and executes experiences around your guest tastes using the latest and greatest in AI technology. When a guest walks in, your team already knows what they like without digging through notes.

Jimmy (0:56): Built Hospitality works across the entire guest journey. That's right. The entire guest journey from delivering a complimentary course at the right moment, just the right moment, sending a personalized offer that brings them coming back again and again and again. That's right. That's what Built Hospitality is doing.

Jimmy (1:14): It is allowing you to communicate with your guests and keep them coming back over and over. Make every guest feel like a regular every time, not just their first time every time They're a regular. Built Hospitality is available now for restaurant groups everywhere. Learn more at builtdining.com backslash Hangout. That's builtdining.combackslashhangout, and check out what Built Hospitality is gonna do for you and your restaurant.

Jimmy (1:42): Live from the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. It's the Hospitality Hangout podcast presented by DailyPay. And Jimmy got a rock star here. Adam Goldberg, CEO of Rock and Bruce.

Unknown Speaker (1:55): And I

Unknown Speaker (1:55): think I met I met Adam at golf playing golf last

Unknown Speaker (1:59): year, think.

Unknown Speaker (2:00): Right? We're gonna dive into it. Right?

Unknown Speaker (2:02): By the way, you met him playing golf, and he's here on the podcast.

Unknown Speaker (2:05): I it wasn't this time it

Unknown Speaker (2:06): was last year. You were better behaved last year on the golf course than I thought because here he is.

Jimmy (2:09): He's so he's here. I thought he was intrigued. I think he was intrigued. Said, Who is this? Who is this guy with a microphone on the golf course?

Jimmy (2:16): Let's see here. So again, is this Is this the same? It's a classic story of CMO to CEO

Unknown Speaker (2:23): We'll find out what it's really about. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. By the way, is good because Shatty's gonna list some factoids that he has.

Unknown Speaker (2:29): I was gonna ask the guest. Yeah. Was get right. And I'll be, you know, right out of the gate.

Jimmy (2:33): You were wrong. You would think at least that would be right.

Unknown Speaker (2:36): You think?

Jimmy (2:36): You know? Listen. Did you go to Ithaca?

Unknown Speaker (2:38): I did. Alright. We got one

Unknown Speaker (2:40): at two. Alright. Check. One at two.

Jimmy (2:41): Alright. Did you cofound Fresh Brothers Pizza?

Unknown Speaker (2:45): With my wife, Debbie Goldberg. That's correct. Mhmm. Who was the CMO, and that could be where

Jimmy (2:50): Oh, maybe you're not even supposed to be here. Where's Debbie? Maybe we should have Debbie on right now. Maybe that's the There's

Unknown Speaker (2:56): no question. She's better looking. Question.

Jimmy (2:58): It says here, Okay, Debbie, let's get into it. It's Okay, let's So Fresh Brothers down in Southern California lived down the street from Brock and Brews in Manhattan Beach. You loved it so much, you bought the company.

Unknown Speaker (3:12): Which company are you talking about now?

Unknown Speaker (3:14): Brock and Brews.

Unknown Speaker (3:15): Brock and Brews. Yes. So I came into the company. So started Fresh Brothers 2008. Many years later, got it up to 24 units.

Unknown Speaker (3:24): Private equity came in. I had such a great time working with a private equity company that I couldn't wait to leave. Then decided

Jimmy (3:31): Jimmy, I sense a little sarcasm.

Adam Goldberg (3:33): I think it was done perfectly.

Unknown Speaker (3:35): Perfectly. By then, I did team up with, my good buddies and rock star buddies, Mike Zislas, Davin Delferano, and, of course, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, and, became the CEO and partner in Rock and Brews.

Jimmy (3:48): I love it. Yeah. Jimmy, this is we got a rock star here.

Adam Goldberg (3:51): Literally, I actually love what you're doing with Rock and Brews because I think it is such a clear message that people going out they wanna go out not just to eat. And, yes, the food that it's table stakes. The food's gotta be there. It's gotta be good. It's gotta have values to value to them, but they want an experience.

Unknown Speaker (4:08): A 100%.

Adam Goldberg (4:09): And I think you guys, I understand, you know, you got 24 beers on tap. You know, you got you got 20 to 40 TVs you're showing. You got you got concert quality speakers. So talk about, you know, how your your these dine in numbers, how they look because it you're so everything about rock and bruise is engaging with the guests from a you know, feeding them visually, what they're hearing. Talk about that a little bit.

Unknown Speaker (4:33): Well, we're look, we're fighting for market share, aren't we, every day? Yep. Technomic shared earlier today that you're gonna see a 3% drop of people coming out to eat food. So what do we do to go to the next level to get people in our doors, right?

Unknown Speaker (4:45): So

Unknown Speaker (4:46): much of food is going outside and off premises right now, and we play a little bit in that game, but for us, it's all about getting people in to enjoy the experience. And how do we do it? We do it through great food, great hospitality, well trained employees, but then giving them an experience that they can't get somebody else.

Jimmy (5:04): It makes a lot of sense, but I'm very upset about this 3% drop. Is it are we gonna we're competing with the grocery stores again, or is that we're competing with the off prem? Like, what's

Adam Goldberg (5:11): the competing with anyone that serves a meal. But I realized as I interrupted, you meant that question for Adam. I just threw it

Jimmy (5:17): I threw it out there to all of these fabulous people out here. I was just it's just interesting to me because we always talk about I mean, there's only look. There's only so many I don't know. Three Three fifty million people in America. There's only so many meals.

Jimmy (5:28): Yep. So we we talked about it last night. Said, look, if you open a thousand restaurants, those thousand restaurants are opening up the expense of someone else's restaurants. Like, and I maybe you made the joke. Jimmy has three lunches.

Jimmy (5:38): So he doesn't, Only you know only three days a week. Right. You know what I mean? So, yeah, at the end of the day, it does. But, what's the secret sauce over at Rock and Brews?

Jimmy (5:47): Like, how how do how do you keep things fresh?

Unknown Speaker (5:50): I think it's it it starts with the word fun, that it's got to be fun. Right. Every part of the experience is fun. And I think a lot of people don't have as much fun as they used to. And especially coming out to dine, where

Unknown Speaker (6:03): Why is that?

Unknown Speaker (6:04): Well, I think Why are not having fun? Quality has changed.

Unknown Speaker (6:07): Right. Right?

Unknown Speaker (6:07): And hospitality service has changed throughout the year. Certainly the biggest hit came with COVID, right? Where we've never seen such a change in our industry.

Jimmy (6:16): I would agree that that changed at all. Right?

Unknown Speaker (6:18): Yeah. Mean, there's restaurants now. We have a restaurant. We don't open on Mondays for lunch, but we open three We never would have thought

Unknown Speaker (6:27): it There's no business. There's no business.

Unknown Speaker (6:29): Business. You know, but pre COVID, we would have been open. You slugged it out. Don't change your hours.

Jimmy (6:35): You don't change your hours. You just Monday through Sunday, and that's the way you You do take the good days, the bad days. Yeah, no, I would agree with you about that. You never would close for lunch. We have a restaurant in New York City that closed on Sunday, And that would never be something we ever thought about.

Jimmy (6:49): You'd just be you'd be open and you would staff accordingly and you would do the business that you did because we're paying rent, you know? But now it's like it doesn't even make sense.

Unknown Speaker (6:58): It's You look at people's hours and some across the board, you might have four different closing times throughout the week. Not uncommon.

Jimmy (7:06): No, no. One hundred like Thursday night, kids close different.

Unknown Speaker (7:09): 09:00 later by the weekend, we're at 10:00 and Sunday, we go back down this second.

Jimmy (7:13): You bring up a good point. Like, New York City was always the city that never sleeps. Right, Jimmy? Jimmy, where are from?

Unknown Speaker (7:18): I'm a native New Yorker.

Unknown Speaker (7:19): Yeah. Me too.

Adam Goldberg (7:20): And I have to say, love the the the the tagline or the cliche, the city that never sleeps. I gotta tell you.

Unknown Speaker (7:25): A little sleepy.

Unknown Speaker (7:26): A little sleepy. A little bit.

Unknown Speaker (7:27): L. A. Sleepy.

Unknown Speaker (7:28): A little bit.

Unknown Speaker (7:28): You know, 88

Jimmy (7:29): plus stuff. L. A. Always had the the it was always like, it wasn't a great nighttime place. It was always after hours.

Jimmy (7:38): People went, like, it wasn't always as crazy

Unknown Speaker (7:40): But even like dinner pre COVID, you still had another round at eight or 08:30. And

Unknown Speaker (7:46): it went

Unknown Speaker (7:46): till like what? Until 09:30.

Unknown Speaker (7:48): Right. Right.

Unknown Speaker (7:48): And so on. There's we've lost that second and third turn.

Jimmy (7:52): It's a similar thing in New York City. It's like now by like 10:00. Like it's like not really busy anymore.

Unknown Speaker (7:58): Now we got to get them as fast as we can as

Jimmy (8:00): early as we can. Alright, that's too depressing. Let's talk about some more exciting things. Okay Rock and bruises co founded by Gene Simmons. Paul Stanley, right?

Jimmy (8:07): So I mean, this is like it's unbelievable. How did that happen? Like let's how do you get involved with these

Unknown Speaker (8:11): guys? So

Unknown Speaker (8:12): because you look like a rock star.

Unknown Speaker (8:13): Well, I appreciate that.

Unknown Speaker (8:15): Are you a rock star? Are you

Unknown Speaker (8:15): a musician? I am a big fan of live rock and roll music. I I go to every possible concert I can. If it's nearby, I'll get on a plane. I'll fly.

Unknown Speaker (8:25): I love it. So

Unknown Speaker (8:26): rock and roll.

Unknown Speaker (8:26): Leaving leaving Thursday for two weeks of Jazz Fest down in New Orleans.

Unknown Speaker (8:30): I love Jazz Fest.

Unknown Speaker (8:31): Just fantastic.

Unknown Speaker (8:31): You're spending two weeks in New Orleans for day. You're doing Really? The whole

Unknown Speaker (8:34): And I'll stay down there.

Unknown Speaker (8:35): So it's unbelievable.

Unknown Speaker (8:36): It's fun. Man, my daughter's at two lanes, so I can't pass up.

Jimmy (8:38): And my wife went to two lanes. My son went to two

Unknown Speaker (8:40): Oh, really?

Jimmy (8:41): Yeah. That's awesome. I like it. Love it. But Jasper is always, like, too it's, like, too crazy.

Jimmy (8:45): So I, like, stopped going because it's like you can get the all you can get the full New Orleans experience without the crowd, so to speak, you know? And there's always great music on There the

Unknown Speaker (8:53): always is, but these two weeks Not like that.

Unknown Speaker (8:55): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's it really is.

Unknown Speaker (8:57): So how do we get involved with Paul and Jean? That was the question. I think there was

Unknown Speaker (9:00): a Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (9:02): Exactly. I was just curious. Like, you know, yeah.

Unknown Speaker (9:04): Like, how

Unknown Speaker (9:04): do you get involved with these guys?

Unknown Speaker (9:05): Well, the the the quick story is Dave and Delferano, started the pioneers of the merchandising business, the concert T shirt. Dave came up with the idea when he was the president of Winterland in San Francisco. Uh-huh. To roll a thousand T shirts with the words Rolling Stone on it, sold it out front when the Stones played Winterland, which he was the president of Right. And gave the manager at the time a thousand dollars.

Unknown Speaker (9:29): He kept a thousand and said, we can make money off of concert T shirts. That then moved into more concert T shirts, doing other bands that came through. What year was this? This is night the late sixties and then early seventies. So then he came in, and they part they came in, and they were Kisses' merchandisers for forty years.

Jimmy (9:49): They come up with the with like the baseball sleeve. What? Like, how did that become the concert shirt? The the you know, the the three quarter sleeve? That's what became like the concert.

Unknown Speaker (9:59): Right? Variation of their white T shirt that they did for the first time in San Francisco.

Jimmy (10:04): We have to ask, you know, your friends over there about that, you know. Jimmy, you want to take the get into the workforce?

Adam Goldberg (10:11): Well, I just you know, we do a lot of work in tech, we always remind people our industry is not a technology business. We absolutely can be leveraged and zhuzh or tech supported and I even shock people when I say it's the food and beverage even comes after the people and it really comes down to I think to the to the vibe you're giving to your guests. It all comes from your staff and your team and how they welcome guests. And I guess the question I would have is we are seeing a new trend and clearly we're working with our friends at DailyPay about how these guests sorry, the employees are looking for easier access to their wages. Wondering, you manage your workforce, is that something you're seeing?

Adam Goldberg (10:51): Is that something you feel is a is it a recruitment tool? Is it a retention tool? And maybe how is that relationship working? And is that something we're going to see more of in your opinion?

Unknown Speaker (11:00): When it comes to getting money to

Unknown Speaker (11:03): our Getting money to our employees.

Unknown Speaker (11:04): For sure. I mean, we we we, especially our front of house, when they tip out at the end of

Unknown Speaker (11:08): the night Yep.

Unknown Speaker (11:08): By the time they wake up in the morning, they have their ATM card that their tips are already on their card. So it's almost like an instant pay.

Unknown Speaker (11:14): When do you start doing something like this?

Unknown Speaker (11:16): About three years now.

Unknown Speaker (11:17): Staff wasn't very well.

Unknown Speaker (11:18): Oh, absolutely.

Adam Goldberg (11:20): Have to. No. Think so many people don't realize that, you know, the the system of paying twice a month or every two weeks. It's it's But especially for tipped employees

Jimmy (11:28): where the majority of their money is coming in tips.

Unknown Speaker (11:31): Well, and it's coming from credit cards where it used to come from cash, which they used to walk

Jimmy (11:35): away with at night. Right. Yes. Exactly. There's almost no cash.

Unknown Speaker (11:38): There's no cash.

Unknown Speaker (11:39): Yep. So But it also, by the way, legally for us, especially in California, it allows us to track Yes. Their tips, pay the proper taxes

Jimmy (11:47): With no problem of all the problems that we have with that stuff with yes.

Unknown Speaker (11:50): But I will tell you Yeah. I miss cash. Yeah. Me too.

Jimmy (11:55): I think you talk to a lot of restaurant operators. They probably say the same thing. You know, those days, I think, are long gone. I mean, in New York City now, you know, I know it's they passed the rule. You can't have cashless, that you have to accept cash, but there's a whole bunch of operators.

Unknown Speaker (12:10): We have opera. We have a couple restaurant operations that just don't accept cash.

Jimmy (12:13): No. It's just you it's it's there's theft. There's just there's just a whole slew of things that if you eliminate and you really don't there's almost no cash anyway. Yep. So the idea of accepting it means you have to have a bank and you have to have the chance and like, so just get rid of it and don't worry about it.

Jimmy (12:29): I mean, there's like, if I go into one of my restaurants and I'm like, if you break 100, inevitably, they almost never can. Yeah. Especially early in the early in the night because there's just no money. No money. You know?

Jimmy (12:40): Why are you smiling to me?

Adam Goldberg (12:41): Guess. I think I'm agreeing with you. Think it's funny. I think you're funny. Like, we can't even break 100 now.

Jimmy (12:45): Yeah. No. They don't have they

Adam Goldberg (12:47): don't have the cash. We talk about I'd heard some negative things with the idea that getting people money too quickly, particularly in this industry, it'd be used somewhat, in a way that was, not, support enabling, and that was the word that was given to me. And the data just doesn't support that. In fact, a large percentage of this country live check to check, and therefore, the the need to get funds to them, is just so important.

Jimmy (13:14): That's what said. Of in by giving their wages to them, like, the next day, you enable them to overspend?

Adam Goldberg (13:20): And they well, that that'd be the most polite way to say it, but there's really a lot of negative connotations that just aren't factually true.

Unknown Speaker (13:25): Silly to me.

Unknown Speaker (13:26): It's just silly. It

Unknown Speaker (13:27): is. What's the matter? I should I wait two weeks for my money?

Adam Goldberg (13:29): Exactly. So I think I think it's a great thing. I think we're gonna see more of it. I think that's why we're excited to be partnering with our friends. Yeah.

Jimmy (13:34): I wanna start getting paid daily. I told you my idea, get paid before I work. Yeah. What do mean? That would be great.

Unknown Speaker (13:40): I'm not ready for that. Prepay? Prepay. Your employees?

Unknown Speaker (13:42): I like the prepay. I I told you. It's daily pay. That's prepay.

Unknown Speaker (13:44): I'll tell you. I told you. I'll get you my my guy, Rocko. I got Rocko.

Unknown Speaker (13:47): It's prepay. My guy, Rocko. We'll get

Unknown Speaker (13:48): you your money before you start working. You're Georgia big vig, though.

Unknown Speaker (13:51): Jimmy, I'm gonna jump into a little hot or not. You ready?

Unknown Speaker (13:53): Okay.

Jimmy (13:54): Alright. Alright. Hot or not. Alright. Mocktails.

Jimmy (13:57): Are mocktails hot or not? Hot. Karaoke at bars. Is karaoke still hot?

Unknown Speaker (14:04): I'm gonna glean towards the not, but I know it's out there a bit.

Jimmy (14:08): No, don't think karaoke is what it used to be. But I'm at Jimmy's the one who gets to decide. Are private membership, private dining clubs, private clubs, is that like a big thing? Are you seeing that in LA? Is that hot?

Unknown Speaker (14:17): Yeah, it's hot.

Jimmy (14:18): It is hot. It's hot in New York, too. Pop up restaurants at Coachella and music festival. Is that hot?

Unknown Speaker (14:25): It's happening. Is it hot?

Jimmy (14:28): Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Is that hot?

Unknown Speaker (14:30): Hot. That's very hot.

Unknown Speaker (14:32): That is hot, baby.

Unknown Speaker (14:32): That's hot. Is KISS as a band. Is that hot?

Unknown Speaker (14:35): Hot and still hotter. Alright, Jimmy, you

Unknown Speaker (14:39): wanna opine on any of these things?

Adam Goldberg (14:40): I do, but I will just say, I have a young daughter, and I'm thrilled that she has embraced old school rock and roll. And and that includes KISS music. And I'm a sue I mean, ACDC, and KISS, and I I get such a kick out of watching her jam to these songs. Absolutely. It's good fun.

Adam Goldberg (14:58): I wanna talk about the, the the private memberships in the clubs and and that whole vibe because I I just feel it is such a symbol of guests wanting to feel connected, and and venues wanna feel connected to their guests. So some want the private venue. Great. But other people want loyalty. They wanna be seen.

Adam Goldberg (15:15): I'm just wondering for for your joints, is that something you're promoting and just so that kind of connectivity, I'd I'd expect given the vibes you're putting out there, you know, you're putting on this concert. You're showing this this type of music. How does that work in your joints?

Unknown Speaker (15:28): Well, I I agree with you that private clubs are hot. Why do I think they're hot? Yep. Because you wanna feel special. You wanna feel elevated.

Unknown Speaker (15:35): You wanna feel like a rock star. Yep. And when you come into a rock and bruise Right. That that is what we do is we allow our customers to come in, and we help them embrace feeling like a rock star. Everybody wants to be a rock star.

Unknown Speaker (15:48): Right? Just it's it's innate. That everyone wants to feel like a rock star because rock stars are cool. Think Rock stars have special privileges.

Unknown Speaker (15:55): Rock stars get the ladies.

Unknown Speaker (15:57): Rock stars get the ladies.

Unknown Speaker (16:00): One of the things I love about They don't.

Unknown Speaker (16:02): You're they don't? No. I don't. Ladies?

Unknown Speaker (16:04): But but it it that is true. So why why does it work? It's because I think if you've made somebody somebody feel elevated and special, then they get to feel like a rock

Adam Goldberg (16:14): star. I was gonna say I've when we launched branded hospitality, I was saying, I think rock and roll, really cool. Sports, really cool. Movies, Hollywood, really cool.

Unknown Speaker (16:28): Mhmm.

Adam Goldberg (16:28): I said, you know what? Restaurants, food and beverage, we we're we're you know, may we're we we should be in that sport. And I love it. Rock and brews, you're kind of taking a lot of that and bringing it into single brand, single concept. You got the music.

Adam Goldberg (16:41): You got a lot of you got the you got the cool the the cool vibes. Yep. You got things visually on the screens. I think you're bringing a lot of it together. I think that's why people that's why it's going so that's why it's going so well.

Unknown Speaker (16:51): It is. And and especially the new Rock and Brews that we're putting in casinos that we're in seven now. The reason that it works so well there is because they often want sports bars or sports programming but if you really look at the hours of operation and depending on the state you're in, where we're in Oklahoma, we're in Wisconsin, we're in areas that have some sports teams but not a lot. You only have about 20% of actual open time that have live sports. Yes.

Unknown Speaker (17:13): So, when you walk into a sports bar, a sports book, or a sports restaurant, you're looking at reruns, you're looking at old games, you're looking at ESPN news. During that time, we fill the screens with incredible rock and roll videos. We give them another experience when there isn't something live on. But then we flip that to great live sports. We're in some of our cities, LA, New York, wherever we are, Miami.

Unknown Speaker (17:37): So some great cities out there that have wonderful sports teams, and now we can put those up on the big screens.

Jimmy (17:43): I like it. So let's talk about this. You just said that that you're seeing a lot of growth for you guys. How many units you guys have? 20.

Jimmy (17:48): There's 20 stores, right? And you're seeing growth. You said you're opening up a whole bunch in casinos. Is that what you said? Correct.

Jimmy (17:54): So what's the what like, where? In Vegas or you're doing this?

Unknown Speaker (17:58): No. No. Most of our casinos right now are Indian tribal casinos throughout the country. We're heavy in Oklahoma right now.

Jimmy (18:04): Are are those like license agreements? Are you operating them?

Unknown Speaker (18:07): So they're license agreements, but we're actually have, we've been progressing into actually managing now. So So

Unknown Speaker (18:11): you're running them?

Unknown Speaker (18:12): It's been it's been very helpful for them. They run great casinos, and now we can assist with the actual operation of their F and B brand.

Jimmy (18:18): And are you bringing live music in?

Unknown Speaker (18:19): We are. Every one

Unknown Speaker (18:20): of So our you're basically doing a lot of the entertainment now.

Unknown Speaker (18:23): Yeah. And we also do we do these summer concert series for a couple of them that we do these big outdoor setups.

Jimmy (18:28): How big are these? Which one? These venues. I got how big are they? Like, these gotta be big.

Unknown Speaker (18:31): Rock and brews? Yeah. Anywhere from 5,000 to 12,000.

Unknown Speaker (18:34): But what were the ones in the casinos? They gotta be big.

Unknown Speaker (18:36): In the casino, well, we we have built in stages to them or like our casino up in Washington State outside of Portland, we have a thousand person music hall.

Unknown Speaker (18:43): I like it.

Unknown Speaker (18:43): That's connected to a Rock and Brews.

Jimmy (18:45): So this whole casino growth for you guys, I mean, somehow you got connected to a casino, it worked and they're like, hey, let's do more. I go to Vegas a lot. And, and one thing I definitely noticed is like when I was younger, you go to Vegas because you went to the sports book. Now the sports books on your phone, you have to go to the sports book anymore. So I mean, like people aren't really going to Vegas to gamble.

Jimmy (19:06): And my my kids are in their twenties. They don't play table games. They don't really care about blackjack. It's just not their thing. So for you guys opening up in these casinos, is it like the entertainment?

Jimmy (19:18): Because everybody wants entertainment and experiences. Is it like the counterbalance because people aren't gambling as much?

Unknown Speaker (19:23): What it really is is we are the secret weapon for the casino to get more people to come in. Right. The casino business is incredibly getting very populated, especially in different areas. We have a casino in Oklahoma that within twenty five minutes of us, there's seven other casinos. Right.

Unknown Speaker (19:38): Okay. Just spread out. We're giving them the advantage to get people in with the music, music, great food, entertainment. So they're deciding to come to the Indigo Sky Casino rather than the one down the street.

Jimmy (19:52): Yeah, I was up just I just it seems like in New York, they just now they just passed. They're gonna open up a whole bunch of new casinos. After they've opened casinos upstate, were a disaster. Yep. And, you know, taxpayer dollars funny.

Jimmy (20:04): Like, just people aren't I think politicians always think that you open a casino, it automatically means big tax revenue. Let's open a casino, we'll get more money. But if people aren't gambling anymore, then, like, what's

Unknown Speaker (20:16): Well, the there's plenty of people gambling still. Yeah? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, and all different levels.

Jimmy (20:21): But I'm at the casino or on the phone?

Unknown Speaker (20:23): No, at the casino.

Unknown Speaker (20:24): You see that?

Unknown Speaker (20:25): Yeah, because in a lot of the rural areas, you know, let's go outside of Vegas for

Unknown Speaker (20:30): a Right, minute,

Unknown Speaker (20:31): yeah, yeah. Outside of Vegas, you have a lot of rural areas where there's just not a lot to do anymore. They used to have two bowling alleys. There's not even one anymore in

Unknown Speaker (20:38): the Right, right.

Unknown Speaker (20:39): You know, there used to be more restaurants. There's no restaurants anymore. So in a lot of areas outside in Middle America, many people go to the casinos actually to eat. That's their restaurants.

Unknown Speaker (20:50): That means this is awesome for you

Unknown Speaker (20:51): guys.

Unknown Speaker (20:51): So is that where you good area for growth

Unknown Speaker (20:53): for us. Mean, that's what I'm saying. Mean, it sounds like you carved out, like, a little spot for yourself. Is it all the same folks that you're working with?

Unknown Speaker (20:59): No, no, they're all different tribes throughout the country.

Jimmy (21:02): I love it. I gotta tell you, I like this stuff. Okay. Let me see. Where are we?

Jimmy (21:05): Where are we? Okay, here we go. Quick fire. Hey everybody. I gotta tell you, we're gonna talk about BUILT.

Jimmy (21:11): BUILT Hospitality. Millions of people use BUILT every day. That's right, every day to earn awards on housing and in their neighborhood. But now, now it extends to your restaurant. That's where BUILT Hospitality comes in.

Jimmy (21:24): Built Hospitality shapes how guests are recognized and taken care of. Built's restaurant facing platform is designed specifically for dining operators to drive loyalty with their guests. It combines reservations, guest preferences, VIP management and payments all into one platform alongside an agentic concierge. That's right. An AI concierge that thoughtfully designs and executes experiences around your guests' tastes, using the latest and greatest in AI technology.

Jimmy (21:58): When a guest walks in, your team already knows what they like without digging through notes. Built hospitality works across the entire guest journey. That's right. The entire guest journey from delivering a complimentary course at the right moment, just the right moment, sending a personalized offer that brings them coming back again and again and again. That's right.

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Jimmy (22:49): Alright, we're doing a little quick fire right now. Adam Goldberg, rock star, legend, rock and bruise, partners with Gene Simmons. I love it. Here we go. What is your go to order?

Jimmy (23:01): What do you as the CEO and founder eat at Rock and Brews?

Unknown Speaker (23:05): I start with some Asian chicken wings. Yeah. And I now go down to one of our protein bowls. We just added a new section on our menu called Highway to Health. It is absolutely crushing it.

Unknown Speaker (23:17): Yeah. So everybody just everyone wants Everyone wants protein. It's something a little healthier where instead of using noodles, we're using zoodles on our items, and it's gone over incredibly well.

Jimmy (23:29): I dig that, man. Favorite concert you've ever what's your favorite concert?

Unknown Speaker (23:34): Probably one of the 157 Grateful Dead shows I saw in time. Do you ever see the Dead Sphere? I have. It's 15 times.

Jimmy (23:41): What are we gonna do now? I mean, there is it John Maysley?

Unknown Speaker (23:43): We'll see. Hopefully, hopefully Mayor will come out and keep it going.

Unknown Speaker (23:47): He's a great musician.

Unknown Speaker (23:48): Phenomenal music.

Jimmy (23:48): I got to see the the I guess dead and co like the last the last one at Sphere. It was awesome. Great experience. I digs it.

Unknown Speaker (23:56): Last one in San Francisco.

Unknown Speaker (23:58): Have you did you see you two at The Sphere? Like is that a thing

Unknown Speaker (24:00): for you?

Unknown Speaker (24:01): Yeah. U2 was great.

Unknown Speaker (24:02): You see the Eagles

Unknown Speaker (24:03): were great.

Jimmy (24:04): So you're so you're, like, you really do go to every concert.

Unknown Speaker (24:06): I try to.

Unknown Speaker (24:06): Anything going on at the Sphere, you're gonna see I would go to see it.

Unknown Speaker (24:09): Backstreet Boys? That one, I missed.

Unknown Speaker (24:11): You missed.

Unknown Speaker (24:11): But I heard it was great.

Jimmy (24:12): Yeah. No. I did I did hear that. Yeah. Is an egg roll a sandwich?

Unknown Speaker (24:16): No. It's not a sandwich. I would go not. I'm just thinking about that because I never asked that question. Is taco sandwich?

Unknown Speaker (24:24): Might be a little bit closer than egg roll.

Unknown Speaker (24:25): Egg roll,

Unknown Speaker (24:26): which And I go taco is a taco.

Jimmy (24:27): What's the last thing that you, like, googled or chatted or whatever you use? What's the last thing you checked out online? Why the hell am I in RLC?

Unknown Speaker (24:38): I'm trying to I think it was this this conference.

Unknown Speaker (24:41): Yeah. What am I doing here? You've been you come to the you've been to this conference before, right?

Unknown Speaker (24:46): For many years.

Unknown Speaker (24:46): You come here all the time. Right. But what'd you Google? When we find out? Yeah.

Jimmy (24:51): Let's find out. This is great.

Unknown Speaker (24:52): Look at this.

Unknown Speaker (24:53): You see that? We don't even have to we find out where you go. Do

Unknown Speaker (24:56): you I was I I googled Rockin' Bruce because I was working with it. There was a nice

Unknown Speaker (25:02): And you wanna

Unknown Speaker (25:02): show they wanted to tell me how they can, better get me up on, SEO list higher and get more food deliveries.

Unknown Speaker (25:10): Are you franchise or all company owned All outside the

Unknown Speaker (25:12): of the above. So franchise, licensing,

Unknown Speaker (25:14): licensing, corporate. How many corporate stores

Unknown Speaker (25:16): you got? Right now, three.

Jimmy (25:17): Three. And are you going to continue with that? Are you going,

Unknown Speaker (25:20): I like this? No, our big move right now is that we're we're looking for second gen space that are in really great condition to increase our time to get a better return in ROI. So we're going into places. We just opened up Royal Oak, Michigan. What did it

Unknown Speaker (25:37): take out? What was it?

Unknown Speaker (25:39): It was a HopCat.

Jimmy (25:40): Okay. I don't know what that is, but so this is the CapEx. Yeah. But then you go in and open fast.

Unknown Speaker (25:45): We went in, put a million dollars into it, put our whole decor package into it, and we're gonna be in double digit millions out of this place with

Jimmy (25:53): a How does how does Adam Goldberg take his bagel?

Unknown Speaker (25:58): I like it scooped toasted with chive cheese. Which kind

Jimmy (26:02): of buddy are you at? Everything bagel?

Unknown Speaker (26:04): I'm an everything bagel.

Jimmy (26:06): What I wanna know is when I was growing up, there was no everything bagel.

Unknown Speaker (26:10): It was plain. Was an onion bagel.

Jimmy (26:12): Well, okay. Yeah. But, like, I didn't want an onion bagel when I was younger. Was like, my dad ate that. And then there was the garlic bagel.

Jimmy (26:17): Like, my grandfather probably ate that. My grandmother ate the, the salt bagel. It was like a plain and sesame. How did they do everything? Like, when did this become a thing?

Unknown Speaker (26:27): More taste, more spice, more flavor.

Unknown Speaker (26:29): Is that what it's just every everyone I ask this question

Jimmy (26:31): is like, want everything. Now my kids are eating everything egg bagels.

Unknown Speaker (26:35): My kids eat everything bagels.

Unknown Speaker (26:37): The egg bagel is back. Because remember, you couldn't eat the yellow part of the egg.

Unknown Speaker (26:40): I don't eat the yellow part of the egg.

Unknown Speaker (26:42): You still don't eat the

Unknown Speaker (26:42): yellow of the egg, but the yellow part of the egg is

Unknown Speaker (26:44): the best part of the egg.

Unknown Speaker (26:45): You know, that's Why

Unknown Speaker (26:46): are you not eating the yellow part? What's going on?

Unknown Speaker (26:48): Do you have high cholesterol? Agestive issue.

Jimmy (26:50): Do you really? Yeah. What is it? It's the yolk. If you eat an egg yolk, you get you feel terrible?

Unknown Speaker (26:57): Plus plus. All right. We don't want to

Unknown Speaker (27:01): You want to keep going?

Jimmy (27:02): We talk about some plus plus. True. Yeah, we don't we don't yeah, we talk about number one, number two in cocky duty. Yeah, we don't want to do that. Okay, what's your Uber rating?

Unknown Speaker (27:11): Yeah, you know what, I don't use Uber. Only use Lyft because I can't, literally five years, they cannot get my account reset because I changed email addresses. So I have tried for five years with Uber get a

Unknown Speaker (27:26): new So

Unknown Speaker (27:27): I can, I only can use Lyft?

Jimmy (27:29): Can't you just get a, like, just set up a new Gmail Do want

Unknown Speaker (27:31): set up? Because it's tied to my cell phone and they can't figure it out.

Unknown Speaker (27:35): Uber's all about your cell phone?

Unknown Speaker (27:36): Well, it's your email and your cell phone and you try to start a new one. Maybe someone from Uber will hear this and come help

Jimmy (27:41): If anyone from Uber listening, listen, Adam Goldberg, founder and CEO of Rock and Brews, he is offering right now, if you can get his account started, he is offering you a lifetime, lifetime of something. Lifetime of something. I'll ride Uber. He will ride Uber and give a free dinner at a Rock and Brews. Alright, I can't ask this question anymore because Jimmy's not here, so we can't we can't ask this question.

Jimmy (28:09): But let me ask you this. Are donuts hot? Donuts are hot. Why? Why are donuts hot?

Unknown Speaker (28:14): I think the especially the smaller donuts people want that little sugar They do. Yeah.

Jimmy (28:19): You know Randy's donuts, right? I do. They just opened in New York City.

Unknown Speaker (28:22): Did it really?

Unknown Speaker (28:23): Yeah. Yeah. They're all a big big expansion now. Remember Krispy Kreme was really hot for a little bit? Yep.

Jimmy (28:28): I don't know what happened, but donuts are coming back. And then what's the the the the voodoo donut? They just opened in New York City too. Everyone's because I always feel like LA is a big doughnut town, right?

Unknown Speaker (28:38): It's a pretty good doughnut town.

Unknown Speaker (28:39): It was a big doughnut town.

Unknown Speaker (28:40): I'm not sure if it's a bit I grew up in Chicago.

Jimmy (28:42): Oh, I thought you were LA guy.

Unknown Speaker (28:43): No. Big doughnut town.

Unknown Speaker (28:45): But you live in LA?

Unknown Speaker (28:46): I live in LA for thirty years.

Jimmy (28:47): Oh, but I mean, so where'd you live in Chicago?

Unknown Speaker (28:50): I grew up in North Shore. Really?

Jimmy (28:52): Yeah. Oh, that's a great Chicago best food city. Is it New York, Chicago, LA? What's the best food city in America?

Unknown Speaker (29:00): Tough one. I'm going to go Chicago overall.

Jimmy (29:03): What do you think of LA's food scene?

Unknown Speaker (29:04): I think it's okay.

Unknown Speaker (29:05): It's okay?

Unknown Speaker (29:05): Yeah. I mean, I'd put it three out of the three.

Jimmy (29:07): What do you think it's Scottsdale's food thing food scene?

Unknown Speaker (29:10): Can't speak enough, but from what I've had, it seems alright.

Unknown Speaker (29:13): But not great, Have though, you been to Austin?

Unknown Speaker (29:16): I have not. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (29:17): I figured you're like a

Unknown Speaker (29:18): a music guy. Austin's a is that a music place?

Unknown Speaker (29:20): Spend much time down there.

Unknown Speaker (29:21): Yeah. No. You never went to, like, South by Southwest. No.

Unknown Speaker (29:24): In fact, I have, and I need to, though. But I spend a lot of my time down in New Orleans.

Jimmy (29:27): They got good well, New but see, New Orleans for a small city, great restaurants. Right? Phenomenal restaurants.

Unknown Speaker (29:34): Great restaurants.

Unknown Speaker (29:34): Great chefs. Alright. Listen. If you wanna check out Rock and Brews, it's at what? Rock and Brews dot com?

Unknown Speaker (29:39): It is.

Unknown Speaker (29:39): Rockandbrews.com. Adam Goldberg. He's a rock star. I gotta tell you. He's doing it all.

Jimmy (29:43): Opening all over the place. I love it. He's got live music. He's got great food. Check it out, and, and that's it.

Jimmy (29:49): So cheers, everybody.