← Coffeez with Joe Shalaby
Coffeez with Joe Shalaby
Wahoo's Fish Tacos Wing Lam | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby Ep. 39
01:01:52
Loading summary
Transcript331 lines
- [00:04]
A
What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Feast Forecloses, where we dive deep into the stories of industry leaders and innovators. Today we have a special guest who's made a significant impact in the restaurant world, from blending Mexican, Brazilian, and Asian flavors to creating a unique dining experience. He's the co founder of a beloved restaurant chain that started right here in Costa Mesa, California, and has grown internationally. He's not only a hyper successful entrepreneur, he's also a dedicated community advocate supporting education, health, and many different environmental causes. Get ready to be inspired by the incredible journey of Wing Lamb, co founder of Wahoo's Fish Tacos.
- [00:56]
B
Great to be here, Joe. Always fun to tell the story of how an immigrant can do it and so can you.
- [01:03]
A
I love it. I love it. Wing. And we, we bonded on that. You know, both immigrants, both founders of different companies, and you just happen to have a very, very successful internationally known company. And it's just been such a blessing to know you get to hang out with you on a couple different occasions. And this is our first coffee date, so.
- [01:21]
B
Yes, it is.
- [01:22]
A
It kicks off well, I like to start the show off with. With all my guests with the same question, and that is, what is Wing Lamb's morning routine?
- [01:32]
B
Morning routine. I wake up and I call it old dark hundred these days includes walking the dog, you know, because they like to go out and pee before we go pee. Right. But normally I'll either hit the gym or go surf, you know, or sometimes when I'm lucky, I have enough for, you know, time for both. Then I can make sure I get home in time to make breakfast for my little guy, Levi, and either take him to this. Now, in the year when summertime, I take him to the junior lifeguard sir, you know, camp, or I'll take him to school, and then it's off to work and go make plans and see what we can do.
- [02:05]
A
Nice. What gym do you go to?
- [02:07]
B
I go to Equinox.
- [02:08]
A
Nice. We're actually gonna have the founder of Equinox on in a couple weeks.
- [02:11]
B
That'd be great. Great.
- [02:12]
A
J coming on. Yeah, but that's a commute from the Peninsula in Newport.
- [02:17]
B
There's one in Huntington Beach.
- [02:18]
A
Okay, so you go just right down pch.
- [02:20]
B
Yeah.
- [02:21]
A
Nice. Beautiful gym. The new one in Huntington. Stunning.
- [02:25]
B
Oh, yeah, you can see the oceans right there.
- [02:27]
A
Now, what I want to get ask you, and you get this question asked a lot. Like, first off, where did you get the concept for Wahoos?
- [02:35]
B
Well, the idea is, you know, when surfers, you know, first get their permits, you know, driver's license before 9, 11. It was much easier to drive across the border. So the first quote unquote surf trip you make outside of California back in the 70s, 80s, whatever was across the border, down to Mexico. And what happens when you surf? You get hungry and what do you eat along the beach is mostly fish tacos. And the question was always, how come nobody does it here? And the answer pretty much is nobody. Everybody loves to eat them, nobody wants to make them.
- [03:07]
A
Yeah.
- [03:08]
B
So that was the inspiration.
- [03:10]
A
And the name Wahoos, how did that name Wahoos?
- [03:12]
B
My kid brother Mingo went to a wedding in Hawaii and we were jocking, you know, we wanted to call the restaurant after a fish, like dorado, mahimahi, red sand. We were like every fish under the sun, you know, marlins, whatever we can come up with. And nothing just sounded interesting and fun. My brother comes back and he goes, hey, what about we call it Onos, which is Hawaiian for everything is delicious.
- [03:36]
A
Yeah.
- [03:37]
B
And we're like, what a great idea. But just like in the Mexican version of Nova Nova, I says, what if somebody says instead of Ono, this says, oh, no. I'm like, we're not going to go there. Right? Because oh my God, you're right. If they put the accent on the wrong part of the word and then it says, well, the other word for ono is wahoo. And I had never heard of it, but then they said, yeah, wahoo. So I go, oh my God, Wahoo's fish taco. What a great name. And this was way before Yahoo was around. So that's how the name came about.
- [04:05]
A
And we just actually, me and my son were fishing in Hawaii and I didn't know the wahoo. The Ono is the fastest fish in the ocean.
- [04:11]
B
Yes, it is. It's the most sought after sport fishing game. I mean, to catch a tuna, mahi mahi, all those are great. But if you catch a wahoo, it's unbelievable.
- [04:21]
A
Yeah, we caught one. We were just trolling so that the boat caught one.
- [04:26]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [04:27]
A
Like no one really caught one that, but the boat caught one because we were trolling quickly. But it was amazing and we ended up eating it and it was just an awesome experience to just delicious.
- [04:37]
B
And the good part for us is, unlike all of the other tunas, most of the wahoo cod, they never turned it into sushi. So it's basically the only way to really eat it is cooking it. Right.
- [04:48]
A
You could eat it sushi though, right?
- [04:49]
B
You could, but for some reason it's never I've never seen that anybody's. Because it's not like a fatty, you know, like a tuna. So it's.
- [04:56]
A
They're very lean.
- [04:57]
B
Very lean. Because that's why they're really fast. So the whole idea of eating something that really, in relative terms, has no flavor. Right. But when you cook it, it tastes more like chicken than anything else.
- [05:06]
A
Yeah. Do you guys actually cook Oahu there like you import them?
- [05:09]
B
Well, we are the largest buyer of wahoo in the United States.
- [05:13]
A
Wow.
- [05:14]
B
Yeah, we buy a lot of it.
- [05:17]
A
And that must be so expensive to import because they're the Hawaiian fish.
- [05:20]
B
Yeah, it's very, very expensive. We buy, as we know, futures in the fish. So before the boats ever leave the dock, we already bought it. So that's the only way we can afford to turn it into tacos. Because we buy a lot of it and we buy, you know, ahead of everybody else.
- [05:36]
A
And in relative speak, relatively speaking, with the cost of fish right now, you guys have a great. It's a great deal to eat at wahoos anywhere else right now to eat.
- [05:46]
B
Fish, you're basically eating the filet mignon of tacos. When you eat wahoo fish, taco, because it's the most expensive cooked fish. Tuna is obviously, because depending on their size could get much more expensive. But you're going to get, you know, a quarter of an ounce in a bite, not 4 ounces filet, you know.
- [06:02]
A
Yeah.
- [06:03]
B
So, yeah, you get a great value by eating wahoos.
- [06:05]
A
Yeah, it's still, I mean, and we talked about this with margin compression now, how are you coping with margin compression in a market where the food is the most expensive in the world right now?
- [06:17]
B
We were all scratching our heads trying to, you know, nickel and dime our way out of this whole thing. But, yeah, labor is going through the roof. Food cost is going through the roof. We just got a report on our salmon. Salmon count right now. Just telling everybody out there, it's anywhere between 25 and 40% down production from last year harvest. So you're going to see prices in the next two to three months know, go 25 to 40% higher.
- [06:43]
A
On salmon.
- [06:44]
B
On salmon.
- [06:45]
A
That's not good because we love salmon in my household.
- [06:47]
B
Yeah. So there. Get ready when you see it. Now you remember. Oh, yeah. Wing was telling me back in August.
- [06:52]
A
That salmon's going to skyrocket.
- [06:54]
B
It's going to skyrocket. Yeah.
- [06:55]
A
By the time this show airs on the. Its normal cadence, like, people be like, it already went up.
- [07:01]
B
It already went up. Yeah.
- [07:01]
A
So what is Salmon going to cost per pound? Like on.
- [07:04]
B
Well, if you. Right now, let's say it's $8 a pound, it'll about be 12.
- [07:07]
A
Where is it? $8 a pound?
- [07:08]
B
Just saying if, if it was 8, it'd be like 12. It all depends what you're buying. You know, farm won't be, it would be different because they can control the farming. But again, farming is not necessarily the best thing to buy. But the wild caught stuff, which is what we use, we got reports today. It, it's, it's down. So that means the price is going to go up.
- [07:27]
A
So you only use wild caught salmon at Wahoo?
- [07:30]
B
Yeah, only wild farm, not farm. Yeah.
- [07:32]
A
What if you pivoted to farm?
- [07:34]
B
Well, it's just I don't necessarily want to eat something that's farm. So I don't serve what I don't want to eat, you know, because I got to eat there every day, you know. You know, because I do a lot of events, so I'm always testing the food. That's why I love our fish. Because I can guarantee nobody in the world is making fish tacos out of Wahoo.
- [07:52]
A
Yeah, yeah. And I. You're right, you're right. It's just too high quality.
- [07:56]
B
It's high quality and it's very pricey.
- [07:59]
A
Let me ask you, just because this has always been a question between, and a debate between me and my wife, it's like, what's wrong with farm?
- [08:06]
B
It's not. What's wrong is what they feed them. So if you did it properly, you know, like chickens, everything else, you're eating what they eat, right? So if you end up giving them like you see salmon that has really bright colors, well, there's some food dyes in the food that they're eating, right. Because salmon naturally isn't that bright.
- [08:27]
A
Yeah.
- [08:27]
B
Right. So texture, size, right. So like cows, right. If you want something, you know, I hate to think about American came up with corn fed. Well, cows don't normally eat corn as a staple, right. Because it's sugar. So if you think about it, you're fattening up the cow. So think about production, right? The only cost involved in fish, chicken, any of the proteins we buy is the feed. So if you can get them as quickly as possible to bigger size, spending the least amount of possible, you know, there's no harm, no foul if you're not the one eating it. So if I know what I'm eating, I'm like, I'd rather not eat that, you know, because I know that they're not eating something that I wouldn't necessarily want to eat. Right.
- [09:13]
A
That's amazing that you maintain that level of quality at scale amongst a national food chain.
- [09:19]
B
Yeah, it is not easy to do, I'm saying commodity wise. On the other side, like the beef, the chicken, the pork, we're all buying, relatively speaking, the same product. Right. Because they're doing the best they can to kind of keep the prices down and all that. But on the fish side, I have the option, so I opt not to, you know, go to any of the farm stuff.
- [09:38]
A
Now, the Bri, the. The Wahoos on Bristol. That's the first one.
- [09:42]
B
That's the third location.
- [09:44]
A
Where's the first one?
- [09:45]
B
In Costa Mesa, over by H Hospital on the west side of Costa Mesa.
- [09:48]
A
That's the first one?
- [09:49]
B
Yeah. The little shack on the corner. Yeah, that's the first one.
- [09:52]
A
Wow. Yeah.
- [09:53]
B
Laguna was the second and Bristol and Baker was the third.
- [09:56]
A
That's amazing. And now how many are there?
- [09:58]
B
Nationally there are 52 locations and one in Japan.
- [10:02]
A
And at its peak pre covered how many were there?
- [10:05]
B
I believe there were 64 locations.
- [10:07]
A
So we. You lost only about a dozen?
- [10:09]
B
Yeah, about a dozen.
- [10:11]
A
And we talked about this briefly, but we could let the world know. How did covet impact Wahoos?
- [10:17]
B
Well, it was like everything else that was not listed on an essential. So I think supermarkets, gas stations and something else were at the top. And then everything else was considered non essential. Right. But then on the bottom as a footnote, they said, oh yeah, restaurants can stay open. Well, nobody read that far down. So on Wednesday, when they announced in California that everything was going to shut down by Friday, two days, 85% of our business disappeared. Like our restaurant became a ghost town. So we literally lost 85% of our staff. So most restaurant had a cashier, a server and a cook. Three people that normally would have like 15, 20 on a shift.
- [11:01]
A
Wow.
- [11:02]
B
So it was like, oh my God. So basically everything was just starting to keep the lights on. But la, we had these things called the looters and the riots, whatever that was going on in la. Right. So la, that's where the majority of stores that we lost were in la. So that got shut down pretty quickly and we were getting ready to close like five additional stores. So I went to my kid brother, goes, well, what do we need to do? Goes well, we need to find a way to get them to like stay afloat, like get people in the stores. I'm like, I can't find people to come in. But I had just started Delivering food to hospitals that was going to expire anyway. So once I did a couple of those, I'm like, if I can keep this going, I can maybe save five stores. And my brother goes, yeah, this is great, but somebody's got to pay for it. And I'm like, okay, back pre Covid, we would always donate to every charity event, But I always remember at the underwriting meeting, there'd be somebody goes, hey, somebody need to underwrite the centerpiece. Somebody needs to underwrite the valet. Somebody needs to underwrite the photographer. And I'm like, why are we always giving the food away? Why can't we one of those items? So I asked all my charity friends and like, what do you need? Wing goes, well, since all the gala's golf, everything got canceled, can I have some of that money so we can use for this? They're like, sure, why not? And one of the first companies that you're gonna laugh when your buddies, what do you call loan depot, was like, yeah, Tony sh goes, we got money. And I didn't know that they were going to have their best year in 20, 21 and 20, right? But they're like, yeah, we give you some money because you've been helping us. So I got a little bit of money. Bare paint. Everybody's at home doing home improvements. They were flash with cash. The CFO and I went to, you know, same fraternity together. We got a little bit of money. So all of these charity guys say there's nothing else going on, and goes, what are you going to do? Because I just need to cover my costs so I can go deliver meals to the essential frontline workers. So I started going to hospitals, police, fire. So I didn't make money, but I kept the lights on and I was able to save five stores. So I created this movement. And somebody says, well, how can we be a part of it? Well, you can either come with me, donate money, or if you have a service. So monster energy drink gave me all the drinks. Hint, water, give me all the waters. Monster, you know, yogurt line gave me all the yogurts. Clif bar gave me all their bars. And then I had treats, dessert drinks, and burritos to take to all these front liners. And then the people that didn't have a product was, well, can you give me a little bit of money? They all said, sure, because they had a bucket of money set aside for charity events and nothing was going on. So four years later, we're still doing it, because now instead of going to a hospital, which we still do during, like, say, prostate, breast cancer. All these different national times that we celebrate, you know, the people that take care of us. But we'll go to Brown, McDonald House, we'll go to Castle. We'll go to all these local charities, say, hey, how can we help you take care of your volunteers? So the movement is there, and, you know, we find money, people that have money to say, hey, can we take our kids and go with you? Well, yeah, bring them. So that's what we do. We go out often.
- [14:11]
A
Do you guys do that?
- [14:12]
B
We do it, like, once or twice a week. We do Reds lives at least once a week. So I'm gonna.
- [14:17]
A
You're going out on these journeys? Yeah, like, love to get our company.
- [14:20]
B
We'll get you guys to help us out and go in, and your people will be like, backpack, drive, school supplies, computer monitors. We'll get the equipment, and when we deliver, we bring food, treats to the kids. And your people help us do all of it because nobody's getting paid. We're all volunteering.
- [14:37]
A
No, we want. We want to be a part of, like, a. More of a local charity, too, because it's here in Orange county, and we.
- [14:42]
B
Can decide who it can be, the benefactor. So we can do beach cleanups. We do anything we want. So we created this. Instead of just being wahoos, we created this movement called the California Love Drop. And we have great partners. Ktla, you know, the news people help us. KLOS is an amazing partner. Heidi and Frank have been behind us because giving us a platform to thank our partners helps everybody justify, you know, because somebody goes, well, who's going to know about what we did? We're going to be talking about it every Friday on the radio. So we have a platform where we can thank people for helping us.
- [15:17]
A
That's awesome. Anyways, we don't need the thanking on a public forum. We just need to be of service. And our number one pillar here at this organization is to serve everyone you possibly can.
- [15:27]
B
This is great. It'd be a great partnership.
- [15:28]
A
Yeah, yeah. So this would just kind of line up right with our servitude mindset here and just giving people another outlet. And more importantly, like those who don't have their kids doing service work, this would fall right in line with the kids being able to serve as well.
- [15:43]
B
Absolutely. And it's fun because, like, half of it is work, half of it is fun, you know, because we just did a luau for sema, the Surf Industry Manufacturers association, last week on the beach, and I got to hang out with all my old pro surfers, right? So it's fun. You get to be there. You. You're making a difference. Because all the funds being raised go to rental funds, right? So Surfrider foundation, coast keepers, they all get that money. But we're having fun. We're having a couple of cocktails, we're eating great food, and, you know, and you get to hang out with really fun people.
- [16:15]
A
Yeah.
- [16:16]
B
Yeah.
- [16:16]
A
That's awesome. Yeah, thanks for letting me know about that. And we're definitely gonna get involved now. I want to ask you about your entrepreneur journey. At what age did you realize you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
- [16:25]
B
You know, my parents wanted us to all get a college degree. By the way, my parents still own a restaurant on Balboa Island. It's the Shanghai Pine Garden. It's been around for over 50 years, right? So they've been entrepreneurs, but they said, we want you to get a. We call a real job, you know, so my. My oldest brother became an attorney. My second brother became a doctor, and I became, quote, unquote, a semi engineer, I call it, right? I went to work on the space shuttle out of college, right? But as I say, I didn't realize that corporate America, their structure. My first two brothers didn't have structure because they were technically. Even though they were an attorney and doctor, they were their own bosses where I was working in the department. I had, you know, rules and regulations to follow. And it was kind of like, wow, this is kind of really, like, cut and dry.
- [17:12]
A
Boring. Way too boring.
- [17:13]
B
Way too boring. And talk about the box, right? There was a box you couldn't get out of your box, right? And I'm like, oh, my God. And I'm going to be doing this for the next 35, 40 years of my life. I'm like, you know, there's got to be something.
- [17:23]
A
I'm out of here.
- [17:24]
B
I'm out of here. But at the time, it was more like, hey, you know, I'm not having that much fun. And my kid brother Ed was getting out, and I'm like, you know what? This corporate America thing may not be the best gig.
- [17:34]
A
Ed was a doctor.
- [17:35]
B
No, Young was a doctor. Ed was graduating from college, and he's, you know, three years younger than me.
- [17:40]
A
And I'm like, four brothers.
- [17:42]
B
There's five of us, right? Three in the business. So Ed was in college, graduating, and Mingo was still in college, right? So Mingo got forced into the business. I don't think he ever wanted to be with us, but he didn't have a choice. He was like, well, somebody's got to keep an eye on those two guys. Right? So Mingo kind of come in, and it's been a pretty good journey for him. Right. But he. Mingo didn't necessarily want to be here. He was getting ready to go to law school. And my brother, they had. The law office goes, you guys should all come here. And we were literally. I had taken the lstat and I was thinking about it, but then after my little experience at court, I don't know if I want to be wearing a suit all the time. And I goes, ed, what do you think? And Ed goes, you know what? Why don't we do something more related to the action sports? So we sat around and goes, okay, you know, we literally wrote everything on a napkin. I goes, you know what? I think we can do this. And we borrowed a little bit of money from my mom and dad, and we started Walls in Costa Mesa. And literally no plan other than to have a place that he and I could go to work. The problem is there's not enough money in one restaurant for two people. And all of a sudden, we will maybe should get a second one. Right. So we can split it. And then, you know, all of a sudden goes, well, maybe you should get three. So the three of us, and then the rest kind of like, took a life of its own. We started opening more, you know.
- [18:55]
A
That's awesome. How many states is wahoos in?
- [18:58]
B
We're, I think, four states right now. And outside of Japan, we have one international. Yeah.
- [19:04]
A
And any plans to grow, like, in every single state, we've gone back and forth.
- [19:09]
B
At one point, we had more states. The problem is, like, say, Covid, you know, operators that didn't necessarily follow the rule. So I'm going to tell everybody, don't get into, I call food manual labor thing if you're going to be an absentee owner. Because I think typically, you know, a lot of franchises there that don't necessarily have to cook everything from scratch, those are relatively easy to run because there's manuals and you literally press buttons. Is 2 minutes, 1 minute. It's relatively like, you know, cut bags and, you know, take out of the freezer, whatever. I'm not putting it down. But that's the system, right? It's relatively, you know, easy to run.
- [19:45]
A
Yeah. I can't imagine the complexity of Oahu.
- [19:48]
B
But we make fresh salsa. We make a lot of stuff from scratch. So again, it's not like tomatoes and the sauce come in a bag I mean, there's fresh tomatoes. You got to cut them, you got to dice them, green onions, all that, and you mix it together. That's how you make pico de gallo. So part of it is our own fault because we chose to make everything from scratch. But part of it is the reason why we're successful, because people realize that we made food easy, good food. Right. So you got to take the two, right.
- [20:13]
A
You can't scale good like that. You can't scale, and then you can't buy that many wahoos anyway.
- [20:18]
B
Yeah. So part of us is like, okay, I wish we would have made things easier, you know? And again, of all the proteins you can screw up, fish is at the top of that list. 30 seconds in, that thing's over done. Right. So everything that we do, especially Oahu, yeah, It's the hardest fish, the hardest salsa, everything. So if we made cooked salsas, things that you, you know, like, you see in the salsa bars, those, relatively speaking, you can bag them because it's all cooked. But fresh stuff, like of, you know, guacamole, all that needs to be done when you make it, because it turns in, like, half of the day, it's gone. Right. So that's part of the give and take. You know, if you want to keep fresh, you got to make things literally, you know, twice a day, three times a day. Right. So there's a lot to it. And that's, again, part of what I love what we do, part about what I hate what we do, because, oh, my God, I can't believe you screwed up. And then I realized, hey, I'm asking a kid to cook something that I've been cooking for 36 years. Right. So give him a little break. Let him feel it out, and then he'll learn how to cook it.
- [21:20]
A
Let me ask you, because you're an immigrant and I'm an immigrant, and you know when you go outside of the immigrant trajectory, which is what your first two brothers were.
- [21:30]
B
Yeah.
- [21:31]
A
Just doctor, lawyer, and that's what every immigrant wants for their kid. And you're like, mom, dad, I'm going to start my own business. Not only that, I'm going to enter the restaurant business, which you're in, which you probably hate. Yeah.
- [21:42]
B
Yeah.
- [21:42]
A
How did they take that?
- [21:43]
B
They didn't like it at all because their whole thing was, we didn't send you guys to go to college, get a degree, and come back and work with your hands. That's what they consider restaurant, working with your hands, not your mind. But it took a while but 13 years into the business, literally 13 years, it was the year 2000, right? We opened in 88, and we ended up in a commercial for Merrill Lynch, a national commercial. And my mom and dad are in the commercial with us. It was about a small business and what do you do? And the American dream, right? So here we are making tacos, a bunch of Asian kids from Brazil. And the entire Asian community goes, we used to make fun of your kids because did they realize that they were Chinese born, whatever, but they're in Brazil, whatever, that they're not supposed to be making tacos, they're supposed to making Chinese food. And now we're here, we are in a national commercial, and my mom and dad are in it. And the best part, we all got paid to be in it. Like, we all got, like 20,000 bucks to talk about what we did. And literally put us on the map, because it was one, at the time, I believe, one of the first brands out of Orange county to be in a commercial of any sort that was on a national basis. And this is before, at the beginning, called the Food Network and all that. So nobody in Orange county was seen outside of Orange county other than, like, said an in and out or somebody that was already, you know, they've been around since the 40s, right? But we're talking outside of in and out and Carl's Jr. Both that were. Been around for a long time, nobody knew about any really other brands from Orange County.
- [23:12]
A
How did you get on? How. How did you get on the map like that?
- [23:15]
B
Well, because Merrill Lynch Food. Well, Merrill lynch had a broker, Dominic Alvarez, that was friends with my little brother Mingo. And they said, hey, we got a memo that says, hey, do we have any clients that are minority owned business, you know, something interesting that can basically, you know, talk about, you know, what they do. And we submitted, and there were over 650, I think, applicants across the country. And out of the 650, about 30 of them got picked. And then they interviewed us on the phone. And my kid brother Ed was on the phone, like, so what's the big deal? And my brother goes, hey, where else in the world can a Chinese guy sell Mexican food? This is the American dream. And the guy goes, what are you talking about? Well, didn't you see. Look at the pictures. And they looked down, you know, while they're talking to my brother on the phone, they're like, oh, my God, there's three Asian kids surfing, making tacos. And it made for great content. It was diversity. Checked all the boxes and more important, we gave them the slogan for the campaign, the American Dream, which we didn't know that's what it was. So out of the 36 got picked. Of the six, we ended up with over half of the campaign's budget. So we ended up on the air almost nightly for a year. So you talk about giving a company that has 13 locations 60 plus million dollars in marketing. You know what that does for your brand? Wow, it just puts you through the stratosphere. Everybody that came to California had to go to Wallace because they were like, we saw you on tv, we saw you on tv. And we're like, what the hell is going on? But literally our lines, you know, had 10 people.
- [24:47]
A
It is very unique. I mean, just skyrocket. Three Chinese kids cooking fish tacos in Newport Beach. Yeah, it's like the only three Chinese in all of Newport at the time. Pretty much definitely the only three Chinese people in the beach surfing.
- [25:03]
B
So we were always the only ones, you know, pretty much wherever we were. And then, you know, back then I still had the short hair like yours. I said, you know what, if I'm going to be embracing this, I'm going to let it grow and see what happens. So the facial hair, the hair kind of grew over time and, you know, signature look.
- [25:20]
A
It's like, now everybody knows Mr. Miyagi Beard.
- [25:23]
B
Yeah.
- [25:23]
A
Long hair. And it's been that way for decades. I mean, because I've seen pictures of you in publicity and it's always been.
- [25:29]
B
30 years at least.
- [25:30]
A
Yeah, yeah. Always been that look. Do your brothers have that look too?
- [25:34]
B
Because no, it remained, you know, very traditional because they got to go see the bankers and the attorneys and whatever.
- [25:40]
A
Yeah, because you're the only one really in them limelight like I am. You're the face of wahoos. Like, I didn't even know there was anyone else.
- [25:46]
B
Yeah, I do all the events and that's really the main reason. It's like, hey, they had their families, they want to, you know, I have mine too. But it's like, hey, I like being you.
- [25:53]
A
Waited till you're like 45 to have a family. I know, I did 55.
- [25:57]
B
You know, I started young and now I'm in my 60s. I still got again. Yeah. So.
- [26:01]
A
Oh, yeah. Okay. It's round two.
- [26:02]
B
Yeah, round two. And it's great.
- [26:03]
A
So you have older kids too?
- [26:05]
B
I have a 37 year old. Yeah, Greg. And then I got a nine year old, Levi, and it's awesome. I mean, this little guy, I mean, dropping him off today at Surf, I mean at the junior lifeguard is awesome.
- [26:16]
A
Yeah, yeah, you talk about that. That's awesome. So you have a 37 year old son too. Is he in Wahoos?
- [26:22]
B
No, he's got his own little company that he started with his boss and it's. They're doing really, really well. So. Yeah.
- [26:28]
A
He's also chose the path of entrepreneurship.
- [26:30]
B
He's done very well. Yeah.
- [26:32]
A
That's good because he's gonna get support from his dad who was an entrepreneur.
- [26:35]
B
Yeah.
- [26:36]
A
Who understands entrepreneurship in America.
- [26:38]
B
Yep.
- [26:38]
A
Yeah. Like for me, obviously, obviously entrepreneurship was not the route that my parents wanted because my dad's a doctor too. And of course.
- [26:43]
B
See? Yeah. And he goes, what do you mean you're not going to med school?
- [26:46]
A
Like you want to survive like dad there. I have no neighbors in Newport that are doctors. Not one.
- [26:51]
B
Exactly.
- [26:51]
A
Nobody in Newport beach is a doctor.
- [26:53]
B
I know.
- [26:53]
A
Everyone's an entrepreneur.
- [26:54]
B
I know.
- [26:55]
A
I mean, even though still, I mean, in my, in my mind, like for my kids, like, I know that being a doctor is probably the least path of resistance.
- [27:04]
B
Yeah.
- [27:04]
A
Because you just go to school and then you get a job and it's nine to five and you're guaranteed a good salary and you don't gotta worry about how you're gonna make bills and struggle or work as hard as we do.
- [27:14]
B
Yeah.
- [27:14]
A
I mean, but then once you're really working and jiving and grooving.
- [27:18]
B
Yeah.
- [27:18]
A
You'll never work it in your life.
- [27:20]
B
That's right. You get to do a lot of things that most people don't never get to do.
- [27:24]
A
Let's face it, there's only one Wahoos and there's only one like emergency. The probability of success or mega success is very rare versus everyone who finishes med school is going to get a. Oh yeah.
- [27:36]
B
Yeah. The failure rate is what, 90 plus percent?
- [27:38]
A
Yeah.
- [27:39]
B
But the 10% of us that make it, it's not a bad life.
- [27:42]
A
Yeah. It's an awesome life. So let me ask you this on that point. Is there any specific skills or mindset that one must have in order to succeed in the restaurant industry?
- [27:54]
B
Well, in any industry, I would say it's like, you know what you're know and figure out what you don't know and surround yourself, I always say, with smart people that can, you know, bring those skill sets that you're missing. You know, they can compliment you, but also always make sure that you understand what they do. Because a lot of, I think successes and failures happen because people don't understand what they don't understand. And they don't understand that. They don't understand is what I'm getting. Right? So if somebody steals money from you, but if you know what you're looking for, and it's harder for them to try to get away with something. So if you know your numbers, you know, like, in other words, you don't need to know the job, but you just need to know what the job does, you know, if that makes sense. Right. So you can kind of keep an eye goes, am I moving forward? Does. Is this make sense? Like, we've done these actions? Should these be the results? Are we short? Are we more, you know, what I'm getting at? So you can kind of say, okay, how are we progressing as a company, as a business? Right. Because the last thing you want to wake up is one day goes, oh, my God, we made all these strides and here we are losing money. How's that possible? Well, because you didn't really understand what the actions that were being taken, what the opposite, you know, the ups and downs of it is. Right. Like, what's the risk, what's the reward, all that stuff. So always make sure that you keep an eye on. You don't have to know what they do, you just need to know what they do. Does that make sense?
- [29:16]
A
Yeah.
- [29:16]
B
So that's, you know, for me, it's like having two brothers in the business with me, you know? Yeah. Because the attorneys, the CPAs, you know, the, you know, brokers, everything that's happening from a business and this and that, I know just enough to just kind of, okay, you know, Ed's got it or Minga's got it. So we. We always know that because we always say, what is good for Wahoos. And how is this helping us? This is not about, hey, am I getting something out of it? Right. So a lot of people in business, you know, whatever position they're in, goes, hmm, I could really benefit.
- [29:46]
A
How can I align my pockets?
- [29:47]
B
Yeah. You know, whatever that means. And then all of a sudden, if the alignment of their pocket is not in the same alignment as the company, something is going to give. Right. And it's usually the company, not the pocket.
- [29:57]
A
And I found that having my siblings in my business, even my business partner, we've been best friends since 14 years old. My brother works with us, my sister works with us. They don't have a vested interest other than the company succeeding.
- [30:10]
B
Exactly. Because if the company succeeds, we all succeed. It's when I succeed, and I really don't care what happens. The company that's when you got to be careful with. And there's a lot of that going around. I mean, and it's just, you know, people, if you understand, I mean, most of the people, they're selfish. I'm going to help myself first and then help everybody else second, you know, and if I go down, I'm going to make sure everybody goes down before I go down. Right. So I don't think that's a good, you know, alignment. But as long as everybody says, hey, the company's first, everybody else comes second, then that's a good alignment.
- [30:42]
A
Yeah, that's actually great advice.
- [30:45]
B
Yeah.
- [30:45]
A
Now, what do you think was the biggest motivation for you to start Wahoos? Was it a mentor? Was it, like, just the vision? Was it the fact that you wanted to surf all day?
- [30:55]
B
No, it wasn't. The idea of surfing all day was there. But that didn't work out that well because the parents being Chinese, because you got to work, if you're going to take. Borrow our money, guess what? We'll make sure you keep an eye on it. It was mostly, I guess, to tell the people around because, hey, we can do this, right? And corporate America is for some people, but not for us. Right? And we wanted to really be different, right? Because here we were, you know, just kind of like, you know, grinding it out because it wasn't that much fun. So it wasn't like so much anger. It was just to say, hey, I think we can do this, and we're going to prove all you guys, you know, wrong, basically that we are a lot smarter than you think we are. But all my friends says, do you realize that one, you're Asian? Well, yeah. Don't. You don't think I know that? But they're like, and you're going into what, a business that is 90% failure, right? Why don't you just take over your dad's restaurant? You know, he goes, no, we really want to make, you know, our own, you know, brand. And so we went against everybody, and we're still here.
- [31:50]
A
It worked out. I mean, you know, what you've done with Wahoos is a true testament to, like, the American dream. Because the failure rate is insane. It's probably higher than 90%. But the fact that you did it in Mexican food as Chinese immigrants.
- [32:06]
B
Yeah.
- [32:07]
A
That's like, I don't even know. You're one of one.
- [32:10]
B
But there's funny part is we open the door. There's a whole generation now, they're about 10, 20 years behind me that, you know, whenever I run into them, they go, hey, thank you. Because when the argument came with our parents or our friends, they're like, hey, we did it. We can do it too. And they're like, you're right. You know, it's possible. But before us, you know, the possibility wasn't really there. People like, well, really, nobody's done it. But now, you know, it's a little bit. I'm not saying easy. It's a little bit easier for at least to get started, to convince your friends that you can be done. Because they see us and goes, okay, Wahoos has done it. Right. But it's still a lot. A lot of hard work behind, you know, in front of you.
- [32:53]
A
Now, we talked about this, and I'm gonna circle back to this is Wahoos is like, I think one of the original godfathers of guerilla marketing.
- [33:04]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [33:05]
A
The way I knew about Wahoos as a kid was from Ed Rock the Mullet.
- [33:09]
B
Yep.
- [33:09]
A
And Wahoo's top. Wahoo's taco flyers were. Stickers were everywhere. Everywhere you parked your car was a Wahoo's sticker.
- [33:18]
B
Yep.
- [33:19]
A
Especially at the beach. You couldn't go anywhere in Newport Beach, Huntington beach, anywhere without seeing Wahoos.
- [33:25]
B
Yeah.
- [33:25]
A
On every. Everything.
- [33:27]
B
Yep.
- [33:27]
A
Stop signs, you know, and you guys start, like. Started that.
- [33:32]
B
Well, you know, we piggyback on the surf industry. Right. So the original guy, Dan Flecky, owned a company called Flecky Silk Screen. So. And then he went on to start Black Flies. But back when he started, he came into the restaurant, and being a kid, I'm like, oh, my God, we'd love to get some stickers. And stickers, by the way, are not cheap. But Dan goes, well, I'll make it, so we can make it for you guys. So what I'll do is when I have a sticker sheet, I'll throw in a couple on the end, you know, basically for you guys. So we just, you know, had a few, right. And eventually, when they started Black Flies, they were making a lot more stickers. And then they goes, well, we'll make a whole sheet for you guys. And we just trade. So it became affordable for us because they're not cheap again. I mean, because remember, you can't just buy one sticker in a sheet. There'd be like, 30 slots. Right. And 30 times 100 sheets, whatever. It's a lot of stickers. So we basically said, well, what are we going to do? Well, we're going to do a lot of events for Black Flies, so we can trade for stickers. Right. So it was our way of doing it. And the more we traded, the more parties they started having, the more stickers we would get. And this cycle just kept going. Right. So it was like this unlimited amount of stickers forever. Now, I mean, we do spend a little money buying it, because Flaky no longer has, you know, screen print.
- [34:43]
A
You're also not doing gorilla marketing as much.
- [34:45]
B
Yeah, not as much, because when you're small, it's easier not to get caught.
- [34:49]
A
Yeah. Now you see a Wahoo's taco.
- [34:51]
B
Yeah.
- [34:52]
A
Sticker, and you're gonna be like, I'm just gonna go find Wahoos.
- [34:54]
B
Yeah. Wahoos.com, whatever. But back then, it was also instead of, you know, putting banners, which cost more money than stickers, all these things cost money. So stickers was really great way to tag places and let people know you're there kind of a thing. And again, guerrilla marketing was all about marketing yourself without paying big bucks, you know, so Eddie was our guy.
- [35:16]
A
So there's still some guerrilla marketing tactics. Who's going out there slapping stickers? It's not you.
- [35:20]
B
No, but we give them to the kids. And the kids do it now. Yeah. Because that's how all those surf brands do. They give them to the kids, and the kids go out and boom, boom, boom. You know, they cover the skate parks, the surf parks, whatever it is. They just put them on the trails. They put them in a lot of places you're not supposed to. But we're not doing it. The kids are.
- [35:38]
A
Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, I remember. I mean, that's really, like, how Wahoo's just. Just catapulted. They were everywhere.
- [35:45]
B
Yeah.
- [35:45]
A
It's all where you went.
- [35:46]
B
Yeah.
- [35:48]
A
Now let me ask you, how did you get started in the, you know, in the extreme sports industry? And how did you dominate extreme sports? Like, not only did you start in extreme sports, like, you dominate, like, every pro skateboarder, surfer, I mean, and then now you're. You're in, like, hockey stadiums and basketball stadiums, and, you know. Well, the thing is, did it always was. Did it start with.
- [36:12]
B
It started surfing. So the real story is we couldn't afford to go in and sponsor anything that was legitimate anyway. Right. And I say. When I say legitimate is like, basketball games cost money, football games cost money. Everything costs a lot of money to put your banner or your sign anywhere near any of the games. Right. Surfing and skateboarding and Snowboarding in the 80s and 90s, nobody cared about it was basically what we call Athletes that, by most standards were kids that couldn't do the real sports. They're like, oh, yeah, the guy is not tall enough to play basketball, so that's why he skateboards. Oh, the guy is not good enough to do this. That's why he surfs. It was mostly that. Or, oh, yeah, he can't really swim fast enough, so he can surf. Right. So around the world, you know, it's a really cool thing. But in terms of, like, I call it, you know, recognized sports by the Olympics and all that, it was nowhere on the map. Right. The X Games didn't exist. So when you would go to a surf contest or a skateboard contest, you were lucky if there was anything there to eat or drink, because there was no budget for hospitality. This isn't like a football, you know, game in college or something like that. This is like a bunch of guys getting together and some brands gonna say, we'll put up some prize money or have some money for, you know, the judges and whatever. But there was zero left for hospitality. So when I approached the Billabongs and the Quicksilvers of the world and say, hey, can I come and do this with you guys? And says, well, we can't pay you for any of it because we don't have a budget for it. I'm like, well, you guys made T shirts and shorts ago? Yeah. Goes, can we trade for it? And they're like, you're going to take $1,000 worth of T shirts and shorts. I'm like, why not? I can give them to my vendors. I can give them to my staff. I can give them to anybody I know. And then maybe I can trade for more beers. I can trade for more. Whatever I can trade with. Right?
- [38:06]
A
You were bartering with. That's awesome.
- [38:09]
B
So that's how we did it. And then all of a sudden, we did one surf contest. And all the kids that came, not all of them served for Billabong. Some of them served for Quicksilver. Some of them were O'Neill. Some of them were Gotcha. They went back and told their team managers, guess what? We just went to this contest, and they had wahoos there. We should have them at our event. And then I would get a call, hey, I heard you did this for Quicksilver or you did Billabong. Can you do this with us? I'm like, sure. And it was like, just trade again. And then all of a sudden, we became tsunamis. So when skateboarding started, when snowboarding, we were doing all of it, and people Were like, this is crazy. I mean, there's no real value here. Right. Because only the people that were there. But it goes, yeah, but these kids, I'm betting that some of them will end up somewhere down the road. And sure enough, they've been in the Olympics, summer and winter. They've been at the X Games, all these events. So was that, you know, so today, yes, I'm synonymous with it. But back then, everybody goes, who's this dummy that is willing to, you know, bring a grill onto a beach and, you know, and not surf? And everybody else is surfing around him, you know, because it was me, you know, so I did it in the snow. I did in the skate parks.
- [39:23]
A
You were working for shorts?
- [39:25]
B
I was working for shorts and T shirts. Yeah.
- [39:28]
A
You know, that, that, that idea, like, it sounded crazy probably at the time.
- [39:33]
B
Oh, it sounded crazy and dumb. But my brother's like, what are you doing?
- [39:37]
A
But that's what catapulted you guys.
- [39:39]
B
Yeah.
- [39:40]
A
Now you guys are like the, the. And this, this is a testament to people listening. Like, you may think your idea is crazy.
- [39:48]
B
Yeah.
- [39:48]
A
But look at what it did for you. Now you are the kingpin of these sports events. You're at every event you're at. You're in every big stadium here in SoCal.
- [39:57]
B
Yep.
- [39:57]
A
And it started with you just giving away food for shorts and T shirts. Yeah.
- [40:01]
B
And the coolest part is, like, the other night when we did the luau for sema, the first guy I ran into is a former world champion, Sean Thompson from South Africa. And he used to be part of a brand then in the 70s called instinct, and it hasn't been around for 30 plus years. He bought the license back. And the first thing he goes, wayne, you want to do something together? And I'm like, hell, yeah. So this is the kind of conversation that, you know, I've been doing it for so long. They all know that I'm crazy about doing collaborations, partnerships. And that's really the key to all this, is when you find again, going right back to the skill sets that you don't have. I don't make clothing, but somebody who does, let's do something together. So whatever event he's going to come up with. So we're going to meet up, you know, and talk about some of the opportunities and see what he's got in mind. And I'll see what I want to do. And then somewhere in the middle, we're going to do some really fun stuff.
- [40:56]
A
Collaboration is everything.
- [40:58]
B
Collaboration, yeah.
- [40:59]
A
Yeah. And that's another one of our. One of our company pillars is community and collaboration because, you know, that's how we're growing as a company. Yeah, we have 900 independent people here.
- [41:08]
B
Exactly.
- [41:08]
A
But. But these independent people all have a unique skill set. They all have a different talent that they can bring to you, can catapult your business.
- [41:17]
B
That's it. Yeah.
- [41:19]
A
That's awesome. The story of Wahoos is just so fascinating just because it's a cultural icon, especially here in Southern California, which is, you know, a hub for culture globally.
- [41:30]
B
Oh, yeah. This is where, I mean, coolness, you.
- [41:33]
A
Know, between surf culture, skate culture, everything.
- [41:36]
B
Sports, everything's right here.
- [41:37]
A
You know, mountain culture, everything's here. And you're. You're at the cusp of it. You're one of the founders of, like, cool. Hey, I still look cool.
- [41:49]
B
I just make cool. Good food for a lot of cool people. Yeah.
- [41:54]
A
Like, just every cool person that everyone knows.
- [41:56]
B
Yeah.
- [41:58]
A
So, like, you look super cool. What are some of your hobbies and interests, you know, you like?
- [42:05]
B
What I love to do is I love to surf still. I mean, as much as I can, I like to snowboard because I actually, my group of friends, we run the US Snow Snowboard Association. So my joy is not only being able to do it, is taking my friends and their kids to do it. So this last winter, you know, my son decided it was time to go snowboarding. So my pride and joy was getting him into the snow and holding his hand and having him go, you know, down the hill with me. So that, to me, is exciting. I love golfing. I wish I had more time to golf still, you know, and basically that's, you know, and then going to, you know, amazing concerts and, you know, hanging out with amazing friends, run friends on their world tours. I mean, all these garage bands from the 90s, 2000, whatever, now they're world tours. The green days of the world, you know, Dirty.
- [42:52]
A
They live in Newport.
- [42:53]
B
Yeah. Yeah. They all have houses here. But, yeah, they're touring the world right now. The guys from Dirty Heads, the guys from Offspring. You know, there's a bunch of really cool bands out there that, you know, we met him when they were, you know, we're young. I mean, Blink 182 when they were young and. And now they're touring the world, you know, so it's fun to be able to say I knew them then. Right. When they were playing garage bands, you know, stuff.
- [43:16]
A
Yeah. You know, everybody.
- [43:17]
B
Yeah. So it's fun. Yeah. And being able to bring my friends along for the ride that's the really cool. You know, the whole.
- [43:23]
A
Take me along a ride for the blink.
- [43:25]
B
Well, we will. Yeah. Yeah, we'll go and see those guys. They're. They're fun guys. I mean, just, it's. It's just something to check off your box, right?
- [43:33]
A
Yeah.
- [43:34]
B
Like, going to a concert is awesome. Being on that stage when they're performing in front of 20, 30, 40, 50,000, it's just a whole different experience.
- [43:42]
A
I can't imagine.
- [43:43]
B
And it's just something that goes, check. You know, I've been there, you know, like even a game, you know, being on the field, check. You know, just some of those things.
- [43:51]
A
You know, but then you take it a step above, like, you go on stage, you're, you're. And then, then you're done. Then you go backstage now you're cooking them food, and then you're putting a smile on their face and their kid's face.
- [44:02]
B
Yeah. And that's the real fun. Yeah.
- [44:03]
A
And that's the joy right there, you know, like, there's so much joy in feeding someone.
- [44:08]
B
Yes, there is. And again, it's breaking bread together. It's super fun.
- [44:13]
A
It's just something that goes since the beginning of time.
- [44:15]
B
Yep.
- [44:16]
A
And when you break bread together, it's just. There's so much associated with that joy.
- [44:20]
B
Absolutely.
- [44:21]
A
Especially when you're the one preparing it, serving it, and you're seeing the smile on their face.
- [44:24]
B
Oh, yeah. A lot, A lot of fun. Like I said, like at the summer X Games, they're eating and then they're going out and competing. They come back with a gold medal. You're like, well, thank you. You know, thanks.
- [44:34]
A
I won this gold medal because you put a smile on my face.
- [44:36]
B
That's right.
- [44:37]
A
No problem. Got you.
- [44:38]
B
I got you.
- [44:39]
A
Next time I'll get another one.
- [44:41]
B
Yes. Yeah.
- [44:43]
A
So what is. I'm going to ask some cool mantras you like to live by.
- [44:47]
B
Sure.
- [44:48]
A
So what's your favorite quote?
- [44:50]
B
You know, the quote is more of like the only book I remember to this day is Siddhartha Gautama. It's about a, you know, I call it a monk, Right. That spends his life searching for the meaning of life. Right. And at the end of the book, you know, the monk, you know, he's in his deathbed and one of the other guy comes, he goes, dude, I spent my whole life searching and I never really, you know, found it. He goes, that's right. Instead of living it, you spend your life looking. And I'm like. Because so many people are not happy until Right. Instead of being happy with what they have, they're always saying, well, I'm only going to be happy when I get this. And when you get it, you're like, now I'm only going to be happy when I get that. So it's okay to want it, like, you know. So the thing is, enjoy the moment while you're searching for, you know, I mean, aspiring whatever it is next, but enjoy it now as well. And most people don't enjoy the moment. That's, I think, the biggest thing. Because they're only if, like, well, if that if never happens, you're never going to be happy, right? So the whole thing for me is like, you know, enjoy. You know, so, like, yes, I wish I had a bigger whatever. Right? But if you don't enjoy what you have in the moment, right? So that. There's a lot to be said because the people that enjoy the moment, and you'd be surprised because there are, you know those guys that work in a factory, and Friday night comes, they got their paycheck, and they go bowling and they're as happy as can be. And that to me is like, I wish I could do that. But in my head I'm like, okay, I can't work in the factory, but I wish I could just go bowling Fridays and be happy. Right? Because. But that is the moment, right? That's truly enjoyable being that camaraderie, your friends and just that, Right? But to me, it's like, well, I'm only going to be happy if I do this or that. And so. So sometimes I wish that I could just simplify because I'm like, oh, unless I'm at the stadium and da, da, da, da, da, Right? So part of me sometimes I'm at, you know, my worst enemy, too. But I said, you know what? I just got to be more enjoyable. So, like surfing. See, in that moment, I'm enjoying it. Right? Yes. I wish I was in Hawaii surfing better ways. But right now, Newport doesn't.
- [47:06]
A
Newport's waves are. I was just in Hawaii. We have better waves right now.
- [47:09]
B
Yeah, I know. I'm just saying, you know, so again, enjoy. Yes. It's okay to wish for Hawaii, but enjoy the moment.
- [47:15]
A
They're not always that great in North Shore.
- [47:17]
B
No, they're not. But they're not always great here. But, you know, got to enjoy it.
- [47:20]
A
Yeah, you're right. We're at this podcast right now, enjoying it.
- [47:23]
B
Enjoying it. This is the moment. Yeah.
- [47:25]
A
What do you think's the greatest life lesson that you've had?
- [47:29]
B
I think it's watching my mom and dad, you know, just like what they've done in their lives, the fact they, they've outlasted all their friends, what they've done for the Buddhist.
- [47:38]
A
How old are your mom and dad?
- [47:40]
B
93 years old.
- [47:41]
A
They're still working, they're no, they're retired.
- [47:43]
B
But they're a fact that they're just know, enjoying themselves. But what they've done for the Buddhist church and all the community things that they've been involved with is always putting other people first, you know, never really worrying about themselves, you know, and at the end of the day, well, that's a pretty good, you know, again, way to live and inspires you to basically say, hey, put other people first. Don't be so self centered. Things are going to be okay for yourself. Just take care of everybody else, you know, that's awesome.
- [48:10]
A
Great way to live.
- [48:11]
B
Yeah.
- [48:12]
A
And then what do you think's the greatest hardship you've ever felt dealt with and how'd you overcome it?
- [48:16]
B
You know, there's been a few, I think, you know, like losing family members. Right. My oldest brother passed away, you know, about 10 years into the business.
- [48:26]
A
Maybe that was the lawyer.
- [48:28]
B
Yeah, the lawyer, yeah. He was in a car accident and again, it was unexpected, you know. So now one of those who is old or whatever, he's just, he got in a car accident. Right. So that moment, it changed a lot of things, you know, but because it was unexpected and we've had a few other, you know, incidents like that where, you know, people have died and it's just one of those where you're like, wow, you know, but in terms of all the economic stuff, we've seen all the recessions in all these crazy, you know, market collapse, the Internet boom, the real estate, yes, it sucked. But you get over it, you know.
- [49:00]
A
Yeah.
- [49:01]
B
But the people, they're not going to be here. Right?
- [49:04]
A
Yeah.
- [49:04]
B
So having fans, we just found out another one today. The worst phone call I get is when somebody says, did you hear? And I'm like, it's going to be somebody happened. Right. So I got one yesterday because, hey, did you hear? I'm like, oh, here we go again.
- [49:19]
A
I go, that was about salmon.
- [49:22]
B
It was about a friend that was riding a motorcycle that I used to ride with and a car, a truck, whatever, a tire came off the wrong side of the freeway and instantly hit them on their bike, killed them. And then when you. Oh my God, I didn't hear that. But so whenever now I get a phone call from Somebody who haven't talked to in a bit. And they start with, did you hear? I'm like, oh, God, not another one of those. So that right now is where I'm at in my life. Because it's happened a lot more, you know, often than not.
- [49:54]
A
And, you know, you're. You've known, you know, everyone.
- [49:58]
B
Yeah.
- [49:58]
A
So you get a lot of weird calls like that.
- [50:00]
B
Yeah, I get a lot of. Yeah. People that I haven't seen a while ago. Did you hear what happened to this person? So a friend from college, a former my beer rep. I mean, just weird. But it's like, oh, my God, not another one.
- [50:11]
A
You know, what do you think the most famous. What do you think? What is like your primary business principle?
- [50:19]
B
It's have fun, right? If you're not having fun, stop. I mean, get out. Stop complaining. Like, I can't be around anybody that complains, because if you don't like what you're doing, go do something else. You know, I truly enjoy what I do. Yes, it's a lot of hard work, but it's a lot of fun. And the fun part is not making the tacos is who I'm with and where I'm at. Because what I do doesn't change. I'm still making tacos. But when I'm surrounded by great musicians, great athletes, great. Whatever it is, it makes the moment fun because my food is making that possible to make it better.
- [50:58]
A
Now, you've known so many famous people. Like, we talked about this before, like, from Tony Hawk to, you know, every actors.
- [51:07]
B
And. Yeah.
- [51:07]
A
Now you're seeing part of these mastermind groups, ypo. And yeah. Of all the relationships you've made, what. What do you think the most monumental relationship is that you built?
- [51:18]
B
You know, it's funny, is I would say the most unexpected eons ago now. I don't even know how many years it was gonna be almost 15 years ago at one of Tony Hawk's charity events we used to call Stand up for Cause, Whatever. And the money raised for building skate parks around the country. You know, there was always these items that were really cool to buy in the auction, you know, and cars was one of them. Right. And there was always this really crazy guy named Dana White that would always outbid me. And I'm like, I'm never gonna be able to outbid this guy because he's got more money than God. Right? So Dana was always like, yeah, I don't care how much money you got, I'm gonna buy that Jeep. I'm gonna buy that. Anyway, so at one of the events there was something very unusual, right? It was an auction item for two nights stay in Abu Dhabi and some event that I never heard of in my life. And you know, and in my head I'm like, only time I've ever heard the word Abu Dhabi was in Aladdin, which to me was a fictitious place, but turns out Abu Dhabi is a real place, right? But at the time I'm like, oh, it sounds like, you know, but if I see in any ash, it must be a real place, right? But all I remember is Aladdin. And I thought, you know what, it'd be fun to go see this place. Opening bid. I opened my hand, nobody else bids on this thing. So I ended up winning, you know, and I'm like, oh God, nobody else bid on this. I figure I open somebody else buying and I'm over it, right? So I go back to my girlfriend and you know, my wife now Kelly, and says, guess what? We're going to go to Abu Dhabi. And she goes, what? And at the time that movie had just come out, Sex in the City 2, where they go to, I think Abu Dhabi or Dubai, whatever, right? And I thought, hey, two nights at this seven star hotel be kind of fun. But in my head I was, I'm going to have to buy some more hotel rooms because it's only for two nights and it's some event I never heard of, right? Well, turns out that the event again when you have faith in whatever. So turns out Tony Hawk was one of the three US Ambassadors to this organization. It's worldwide, called l'oreals and it's basically the Oscars for sports. So think of the SP Awards on steroids. Because SP is only for Americans, I think, right? But as the l'oreals is for Worldwide. So we go to this event. Never heard of it before. And the US Ambassadors are Tony Hawk, Edwin Moses, the hurdler from Atlanta, and Mark Spitz, the swimmer from the 70s. They're the US ambassadors. And as their gift for being an ambassador to this program and using their likeness to use sports to help kids, right? They would get tickets to this event. So Tony and all the other members would auction off or donate them to whatever they did. So Tony decided to give his two tickets to this charity event, which we bought. So we just. Two nights, that's all it included. And tickets to the event, flights and everything else was on our own. And I thought, I'll use it as a great, you know, because in my head I'm like, I'm Never going to go back to this place because it's in the middle of nowhere, halfway around the world. And more important, it'd be cool to tell everybody goes, hey, I got engaged to my now wife in Abu Dhabi. So that was kind of my whole idea when I was after I got it because when I originally bought it I was like, ah, nobody's going to, I'm not going to get. Somebody is going to bid on it. So then I do little more digging and then sure enough we get there and we're at the night before reception and it's freaking amazing. It's, it's the, a yacht club right above the Ferrari world in whatever Dubai, Abu Dhabi, whatever we were. And I'm like, this is crazy. And we see the program and there it is, the athletes and the teams that are nominated for different categories. Now we're finding out what we're in for, right? On the extreme athlete category, individual, there was Shaun White for snowboarding because I think he had just either won the first or second snowboarding thing. There was one of the Hoffman guys for bmx, there was a world surfing champion kite surfing for windsurfing from Spain. And there was Kelly Slater and something else. So I'm like, oh, this is really cool, maybe we'll see Kelly here, right? But at that reception we're sitting down with this guy from Spain who was like 24 years old, really good looking kid. And I look at his sale and had the Quicksilver logo. So I'm making small talk, it was, hey, you're sponsored by Quicksilver. We're from California, we know Bob McKnight, da, da, da. And the guy looks at us like, whatever, right? You know, one of those, like you're just dropping names like you really know anything, right? Of course you know Quicksilver because they're California based. And so he gives us this brush off and as he does this, Kelly Slater's walking by, stops right above us, goes, Wayne, what are you doing here? Goes, well, we're here with Tony, you know, congratulations on your nomination because, well, I'll see you tomorrow night. And he goes, okay, see you later. And he keeps going. And the Spaniard goes, oh my God, you know Kelly Hills, I just told you, Kelly Slater, sponsored by Quicksilver. You're sponsored by Quicksilver, right? And then they changed, you know, the narrative. He goes, oh my God. So he started being really nice and I'm like, whatever, right? So Kelly Slater ends up winning the award because he had just won the 10th world title. So he wins the next night at, you know, this award Rafael Nadal won for tennis there at the Spain soccer team. They just won the World Cup. So all these amazing athletes are there. Golfers, tennis, I mean, everything is represented. And I'm trying to, you know, plan this, you know, camel ride engagement. The problem is they built this huge tent on the beach at the hotel. And the camels, I couldn't find them. So I'm like all day long going, what the hell? My whole plan of getting engaged with a camel on the beach in the Gulf of Persia, whatever, it's all gone. And then, you know, so we ended up waiting till the end of the night when we're back, you know, in our hotel room on the balcony under the moon. And that's when I proposed her. But that was not the idea. The idea was we're going to do it with a camel, blah, blah, blah, she's going to get on it all this camel's gone, everything's gone. But we had an amazing trip and we ended up going to two more of these because Tony then auctioned one to England and went to Malaysia. And we went to all three of those amazing people because it turns out that again, growing up in Brazil, Pele I had already met, but EMERSON Fittipaldi, Formula One driver, was another kid that I idolized. In the 70s, he was the Brazilian ambassador to this. I became friends with Emerson.
- [57:56]
A
Wow.
- [57:57]
B
So imagine as a 10 year old watching this guy win Formula One and now being able to hang out with the guy that you grew up with. Right?
- [58:04]
A
All from that event.
- [58:05]
B
All from that event, yeah. So we ended up going to. And everybody else had asked, it was all, you don't want to bid on this is not that good. And we would buy it and we go to.
- [58:13]
A
That was a great.
- [58:13]
B
But we met amazing athletes.
- [58:17]
A
So take that, Dana White.
- [58:18]
B
Yeah, you got all the cars, but I got to go to, you know, Abu Dhabi.
- [58:23]
A
And then a couple last questions. This is a person. What is a personal goal that you have for yourself? A goal that you have for wahoos and a goal that you have for your family?
- [58:34]
B
You know, for myself, I still like to go heliboarding one of these days. You know, I've been many times. I just haven't had the time. So one of these days I'm gonna go heliboarding and or surf somewhere in Tahiti. Right. Where they just had the Olympics somewhere down there. Right. So those are my two things that I one day I like to do it before I'm Too old to enjoy it for the business. You know, it'd be nice to be able to come up with a. I call it a system where we can finally get out of this whole Covid and get back to, you know, real profitability, you know, and basically leave a nice legacy behind, you know, for the next generation to do, whatever that means, you know, but selling not necessarily, you know, top of our mind, but just leave something behind. Right. If we're a family, it's just us being able to really enjoy, you know, our time together and just, you know, I joke with my wife because, hey, whatever makes you happy. I'm gonna go try to my very best to do. And I make a point of like, hey, searching and doing things. But the one thing left on my wife's bucket list that I haven't been able to do, I'm gonna do one of these days is for her to meet Eddie Vedder. Everybody else already checked off. Everybody says, I gotta meet. I go, boom, I found Eddie Vetter. Now, maybe I think somewhere up there at Washington, Oregon. Somewhere up there. Yeah. But one of these days she'll meet him. But I already met him, you know, over the years because he's involved with Surf Rider. But you know, the other guys that were on her original list, new list, there's another guy, Post Malone, so I'm going to figure that one out, too. But the other guys, the reason is they've all been involved with Surf Rider. So Perry Farrell was involved with Surf Rider. Ben Harper was involved. Jack Johnson. So all the guys that have given back to the ocean causes at one of the events, we've all been around together, so I've been able to introduce him to whatever I've done, events with almost all of them. And one of these days, Eddie will be the guy that will say, hey, we'll check that off the list.
- [60:25]
A
Yeah, I mean, I'd love to meet Kelly Slater, so if you can make an introduction.
- [60:27]
B
Kelly's. We just got to find out where he's gonna be next and we'll. Yeah, that's easy.
- [60:31]
A
Then maybe I'll get him on the show.
- [60:33]
B
Yeah, we'll get him on the show. Yeah, we'll try. You never know.
- [60:35]
A
Yeah, you never know.
- [60:36]
B
Yeah.
- [60:36]
A
I'm coming for you, Kelly. Yeah. And then what? My last question I like to ask everybody is when you're in front of the pearly gates.
- [60:44]
B
Yeah.
- [60:44]
A
What do you think God's going to tell you?
- [60:47]
B
Hopefully, dad, you know, I did okay, took care of everybody around me, and I should be able to go in.
- [60:54]
A
You know what? I know you for sure have. You've been a servant at heart. You always give back. You give back to everybody. You started your whole business on the premise of giving. So God bless you and your family. I wish you much abundance. I hope you hit every goal that you have. Hope Eddie Vedder comes and eats out of Wahoos very, very soon.
- [61:11]
B
Yes.
- [61:12]
A
So you check that off the bucket list. Thank you for everything that you do. Thank you for the show and if anyone wants to connect with you, how can they find you especially if they want to get involved with your charities?
- [61:19]
B
Just look me up at Wahooswing and Instagram or on LinkedIn Wing Lamb and they can find me.
- [61:26]
A
Boom. Thanks. Thanks so much, Wing. Thanks for coming on the show today. We appreciate you. Wahoo's fish tacos, everybody. Wing Lamb, co founder, the genius, the face behind Wahoo's Fish Tacos.