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Digital Social Hour
Brandon Marshall: Only 1% Make the NFL… Here’s Why Most Fail | DSH #1817
00:59:08
Former NFL linebacker Brandon Marshall sits down in Las Vegas to break down what most fans never see behind the curtain of professional football — how political the NFL really is, how slim the odds are of making it, and why being “almost as good” isn’t good enough. Brandon opens up about getting cut multiple times, fighting through practice squads, earning respect from Peyton Manning, and finally getting his shot in Week 17 — right before the playoffs. Beyond football, he shares hard-earned lessons from transitioning out of the league and betting on himself as a first-time restaurant owner of Hattie Marie’s, including costly mistakes, razor-thin margins, rising food costs, and why managing people is harder than playing in the NFL. This is a real conversation about competition, money, pressure, identity, and what it actually takes to survive at the highest level. What You’ll Learn 👇 🏈 Why only 1% of high school athletes ever make the NFL 💼 How money and politics influence ro...
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- [00:00]
A
I want to say the statistics has like 1% of high school athletes make it to the NFL. And if you look at 50 states, you know, I'm saying you look at all the different cities within the state, you know, how many high schools within them cities. Right. How many players on the team. Right. That's millions of kids, right? Millions. And then only a small percent make it to the NFL. That's how competitive it is. Right. And also, like, not even just the competition between the athletes. It's the politics that are involved, too. You know what I mean? Like, people don't really understand, but they would never if they're not into it. But the NFL is very political.
- [00:30]
B
Oh, yeah, I talked to.
- [00:32]
A
It's political.
- [00:40]
B
All right, guys, out here in Vegas, we got a local today. We got Brandon Marshall on, owner of Hattie Marie's restaurant now, former NFL player. Thanks for coming on, man.
- [00:47]
A
Yeah, thanks for having me.
- [00:48]
B
Yeah. How's the restaurant doing?
- [00:49]
A
It's doing well. You know, definitely a tough, tough industry. Something that I had zero experience going into, but, you know, it's doing well. We just actually reached our one year milestone, so it's a blessing.
- [01:00]
B
Yeah, it's one of the toughest industries. Every time I've invested in one, I've lost all my money.
- [01:05]
A
Yeah, no, I get it. And I understand why, because I've invested into a restaurant before. Just more of a solid investor. You know, they're supposed to build 10 stores. It was called Dirty Bird, and that's.
- [01:14]
B
The one I put in.
- [01:15]
A
Oh, really?
- [01:15]
B
Same Aaron, right?
- [01:16]
A
With Aaron, Yeah. Lost all of it, you know, and so this, this next time, I just kind of felt like, you know what? You know, I'm gonna actually own. Operate my own and see how it is.
- [01:26]
B
Right.
- [01:26]
A
You know, so, you know, we've been blessed as far as sales go. You know, our sales, as, you know, we hit, you know, 2.5, 2.6, actually within our first year.
- [01:35]
B
First year.
- [01:35]
A
First year is 2.6. So definitely a blessing, you know, you know, things have gone well, but I understand how, you know, they can close. What I think happened to Dirty Bird. Yeah, I think they just tried to grow too fast. It was too, too rapid, you know, with the growth.
- [01:48]
B
And it was all over nationwide.
- [01:50]
A
It was all over the place. Right. I know they were supposed to have one or two here, then the bulk of their stores was in Utah. But, you know, maybe they just didn't have the correct infrastructure, you know what I mean? To. To. To grow that fast, they probably should have just started with one locked in on one, make sure they got everything correct, all the SOPs, everything, and then start to expand. As I agree, you know, as they did that.
- [02:10]
B
Yeah. Because they were on launching a new store every couple months.
- [02:13]
A
Right. It was crazy, too. It's too much. And I see that now because, you know, now I have investors that are coming to me, and they want to talk to me. And so, you know, I'm like, okay, cool, perfect. You know, now, you know, because I own my business 100%.
- [02:26]
B
Yeah.
- [02:26]
A
But now that I have investors that are coming to me, I want to make sure that everything is, you know, on point, because I don't. I don't play with other people's money.
- [02:34]
B
Yeah.
- [02:35]
A
That's one thing that's about me. I don't play with nobody else's money. Right. Because I don't want nobody to play with my money. So I want to make sure everything's on point before I say, okay, cool. This is what you should invest in. And this is what, you know, this is why you should invest with me.
- [02:46]
B
Respect. 2.5, first year, owning 100%. That is very impressive, man.
- [02:49]
A
Thank you.
- [02:50]
B
Well done.
- [02:50]
A
Appreciate it.
- [02:50]
B
You guys really crushed the marketing. That's how I found out about you guys. I saw some Instagram posts, a couple viral videos. Right?
- [02:56]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [02:57]
B
It seemed really organic. And, dude, well done.
- [02:59]
A
Thank you.
- [02:59]
B
It's not easy.
- [03:00]
A
No, no. Initially we was, you know, my first marketing, you know, person that I hired, he wanted me to buy a page with already, like, $50,000. 50,000 followers on it.
- [03:10]
B
Yeah.
- [03:11]
A
And I just didn't really, you know, it just didn't sit right with me. So I was like, you know what? I want to just build my page up from the. From the ground up, you know, from zero followers. And let's just see how. How it can go. Right? And right now I want to say we're at 28,000, just all organic followers. Didn't buy one. The engagement is doing pretty well. And every time I get a guest that come in, they say, oh, I found you on TikTok. I found you on Instagram, Facebook.
- [03:36]
B
So.
- [03:36]
A
Nah. So social media is doing well for us.
- [03:38]
B
I think you've embraced social media, whereas a lot of restaurant owners are on the older side and they're not embracing it. Right.
- [03:43]
A
Yeah. Now you have to. And one of my boys, he owns With Love always.
- [03:50]
B
Yeah.
- [03:50]
A
Right. Drew. And he just told me, he was like, man, social media is the way to go. He said, forget all the other marketing and not. Not to forget it, because, you know, there's room for SEO. There's room for a lot of different marketings, right. Or marketing tools. But he said social media is the way to go. And I noticed that because, like, the radio station came in and they wanted me to use their marketing, right? They wanted me to, you know, buy, you know, buy ads with them. And it was like 3,500amonth. And I'm like, damn, you know, 35. Like, that's kind of steep, you know, And I don't know how many people listen to the radio for real, you know, and that's why I said it was steep, because if, you know, I can pay an influencer $3,500, you know, and I pay people less, right. And they have 500,000 followers, you know, like that. I feel like that has equated more. More traffic to my business than then the traditional radio. Let's do radio runs and, you know, different things like that. So, you know, honestly, the influencer in game is. Is the way to go.
- [04:50]
B
Yeah. I mean, think about it. When have you went to a restaurant based off a radio ad?
- [04:53]
A
Never, right?
- [04:55]
B
You're on Tick tock. You're seeing that food looks amazing. Let me go there.
- [04:58]
A
Absolutely. Yeah.
- [04:59]
B
My girl sends me a new spot every couple days and, oh, that looks amazing. Let's go there next week.
- [05:03]
A
Yeah, I mean, I went to New Orleans, and this is my first time really, you know, hanging out in New Orleans for a few days, right? And my only plan was to eat. It was to eat. And I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna go on TikTok, you know what I'm saying? I'm going TikTok, and I'm gonna try all these different types of food. And that's also how I got. I added one thing to my menu. We got sweet potato beignets. And I went to this spot in New Orleans called Monday's, and they had sweet potato beignets. And I'm like, yo, this is crazy. Nobody in Vegas will have sweet potato beignets. And it was such a hit. You know, my mom makes the banana pudding in my restaurant too. We decided to stuff the beignets with banana pudding, and those are even crazier.
- [05:45]
B
I gotta try that. Yeah, that sounds fire, dude. Yeah, I heard New Orleans has some good food. I've never been there.
- [05:49]
A
Amazing, man. Just be prepared. You're gonna gain about 5 to 10 pounds.
- [05:52]
B
When you were traveling with the NFL a lot, were you eating pretty nice?
- [05:56]
A
It was tough, right? Because I got a game the next day. You know what I mean, so during the season, though, because even though I would want to try, you know, different. Different spots, and I did. I did indulge. Every now and then it's like, hey, I can't. I can't go too crazy because we got a game tomorrow.
- [06:09]
B
You were flying Saturday.
- [06:10]
A
We always flew in Saturday, you know, depending on the. On your head coach and depending on where you was at. Like, so if we went to New York, you know, we may fly. We may fly in on Friday, depending if it's a one o' clock game, you know, on Eastern. If it was a night game, then n. We were still flying on Saturday. But in the off season, I definitely indulged.
- [06:31]
B
I love it, bro. How many pounds did you put on in the off season?
- [06:34]
A
Man, I would say my rookie year, I messed up. Because my rookie year, I said, I'm gonna take a full month off. I'm talking about no working out for a full month. And that was the worst thing I could have done, you know, I mean, it was obviously, I was eating, I was hanging out, I was enjoying myself. You know, I had reached a milestone. I have all I had always wanted to reach and to accomplish and, you know, going from the draft or my bad, going from the season to the combine, right to the All Star game, to the combine, to the draft, then to, you know, OTAs in the training camp. You have a long stretch as a rookie, you know, So I told myself, I'm gonna take a full month off. Now, it wasn't healthy at all. It wasn't the move, but I probably gained probably 10 pounds within that month.
- [07:16]
B
Geez.
- [07:16]
A
And then you try to come back. All right, cool. Now January's off. Cause I was playing for the Jaguars, right? We was terrible. So we never made it into the playoffs. February, I started, and I was like, yo, I'm really out of shape right now. You know what I mean? I could never take a month, a full month off. Again, could never happen.
- [07:34]
B
Damn. So how long do people take off on average?
- [07:36]
A
Two weeks.
- [07:37]
B
That's it?
- [07:37]
A
Yeah, man, two weeks. I think two weeks is two to three weeks, maybe max. But I would say two weeks. Cause after my rookie year, and I learned that lesson every year after that, I was like, okay, you know what? Maybe give myself my body 2 weeks to adjust and then start back slow. Like you can ramp it back up, but you never want to give yourself a full month off because somebody else is training still.
- [07:58]
B
Yeah.
- [07:58]
A
You know, I mean, somebody else is still going hard. Somebody else is out there, you know, putting in Work to some capacity. It don't got to be, you know, full on out, you know, wind sprints or gassers or something crazy like that. But you got to get your body moving, you know what I mean? Even if you start really slow with the stretching and the different modalities, treatment, whatever, whatever the case may be, you gotta, you got to stay on top of it.
- [08:19]
B
Damn. So you're pretty much working 50 weeks.
- [08:21]
A
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And you have to. That's impressive because it's so competitive when you really think about it. You know, I want to say the statistics has like 1% of high school athletes make it to the NFL, right? And if you look at 50 states, you know what I'm saying, You look at all the different cities within the state, you know, how many high schools within them cities, Right. How many players on the team, right? That's millions of kids, right? Millions. And then only a small percent make it to the NFL. That's how competitive it is. Right. And also, like, not even just the competition between the athletes, it's the politics that are involved too. You know what I mean? Like, people don't really understand, but they would never if they're not into it. But the NFL is very political.
- [09:06]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [09:07]
A
Every player I talk to says that it's political. College football is very political as well.
- [09:11]
B
Yeah. Even high school. At some schools.
- [09:13]
A
At some schools. I coached at Bishop Gorman last year. Political. You know what I'm saying? Like top, top three high school in the nation, you know, donors going crazy. Right? So there's a lot of money involved with Bishop Gorman. Political. So. So it's like I try to tell my kids, you know, that I've coached, right? Cause I coached for about four years. And I tell them, hey, man, just, you know, control what you can control. Right. Even though it is political. Yes. Maybe, you know, Johnny's dad, you know, is a booster and he paid. But at the end of the day, man, all you can do is control what you control, right? So the film, at the end of the day, the best player has to play. But if it's close between you and Johnny, Johnny's gonna play because obviously his dad's a booster, right? You know what I mean?
- [09:55]
B
You gotta be way better.
- [09:56]
A
You gotta be way better. So in, in NFL terms, right, let's say it's close between like an eight year vet that's making 5 million, 7 million, 7 million a year and a second year player who's only making 600, 700,000. And if it's close, it's like, hey, man, we got to save money. So we're going to put the. We're going to push. We're going to push the vet out.
- [10:18]
B
Wow.
- [10:19]
A
Absolutely.
- [10:19]
B
Like that.
- [10:20]
A
100%.
- [10:20]
B
Holy crap.
- [10:21]
A
Even though they may be better if it's close, they're like, you know what? Let's save some money.
- [10:24]
B
Wow.
- [10:24]
A
For sure.
- [10:25]
B
So you got to be dramatically better than the guy.
- [10:26]
A
You got to be better. You just got it. It can't be close, honestly.
- [10:29]
B
Damn, that's crazy.
- [10:30]
A
It can't be close.
- [10:31]
B
So it really comes down to money, money, money.
- [10:34]
A
Obviously, film. Right. Because at the end of the day, coaches want to win, too. They have their. They have their jobs on the line.
- [10:40]
B
Right.
- [10:40]
A
And a lot of times I don't think the coach's decisions match with the GM's decisions because the GM is making decisions. Yeah, he wants to win a Super bowl, but at the same time, he's trying to, you know, make cap room, cap space. He's trying to figure out different things. Okay. What's going to make the team better. The coach knows. Okay, cool. Well, if I got this player, you know, I really want him because he has. He's experienced, he's seasoned, but the GM may have a different mindset with it, Right? So it's money, but also it's like, how much better are you? You know, can you really go out there day in and day out at practice, by the way, and in the game and show that you're better than this young kid that we drafted to replace you?
- [11:20]
B
Dang, that's nuts. And did you know all this while you were playing or you had to?
- [11:23]
A
I learned it.
- [11:24]
B
You learned it?
- [11:25]
A
I learned it over time. I learned it over time.
- [11:27]
B
So I'd imagine a lot of the younger guys don't know this.
- [11:28]
A
Nah, nah. I mean, I've seen people, you know, just fall out of love with the game because it is political and it's not always. You know, a lot of people feel like they don't get a fair shake. And it's true, though, you know. You know, let's say, you know, you come into the league and, you know, you went to William and Mary. I don't know. But you were good enough to be an undrafted free agent. You're on training camp, but you're four string. How many reps are you really getting? You know what I'm saying? You're not really getting that many reps. And so, you know, like those one or two reps that you may get, whether it's defense, offense, or special Teams, you gotta show out. But a lot of times it's not enough film, it's not enough, you know, time, you know, to, to see what you can do.
- [12:12]
B
Right, Right.
- [12:12]
A
So sometimes you just get lost in the shuffle. Yeah.
- [12:14]
B
Cause these teams want to, they all want to win, right? They want to win musical chairs.
- [12:19]
A
They want to win. So, you know, a typical rep scheme is like in any given period, like the ones, you know, the starters may get six plays. You know, the twos may get four plays. And this is just training camp. And the threes, right, the third string team, they make, they get two plays. So you got two plays to show what you can do.
- [12:40]
B
Geez.
- [12:41]
A
Right. And if they, and if they feel like, you know, you're tied with somebody, let's say it's four. Let's say it's four people, right? So first, second, first, second and third string. And then there's a fourth string. And if the only people that get reps is the top three strings, they may split that rep with the, with the third and fourth string. The, the third string might get one rep, the fourth string might get one.
- [13:01]
B
Yeah, right.
- [13:02]
A
So you got one play or you, or you may get no plays in that period. And the third string guy gets the, the two plays. The next period, though, that's when you got your chance to shine.
- [13:11]
B
Geez.
- [13:12]
A
You know what I'm saying? So it's just tough. It's tough.
- [13:14]
B
You really don't got many chances once you.
- [13:15]
A
Nah, nah, nah. You gotta show out. Show up and show out immediately. Jeez. Immediately.
- [13:20]
B
That's a lot of pressure.
- [13:21]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [13:22]
B
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- [14:31]
A
So when I got drafted, I was second string, like right away. And you know, that was cool, but I slowly started to decline, you know what I mean? And I thought that, you know, just how things worked out for me in Jacksonville, it was a lot of lessons that I learned, man. You know, I learned a lot of lessons. It was, it was, it was a lot of ups and downs. You know, I got cut twice, you know, in one week my first year.
- [14:58]
B
Wow.
- [14:59]
A
And, you know, also on top of that, you know, after the season, my linebacker coach, I'll never forget, his name is Mark Duffner. He told me, I don't know if the NFL is cut out for you. And so at that moment, you know, I was really, you know, I came at a crossroads. Cause I was first of all, in that moment, I was hot. I was hot at him. And I really wanted to say something to him, but, you know, I just, I just kept it quiet and I said, you know what? I'm just add this chip on my shoulder. And so the next year I came, you know, I went to Miami with Maurice Jones, Drew, you know, that's my dog. And I trained really hard and I came back and I was better the second year, but I got cut again from Jacksonville, so that's my third time being cut. So I was like on and off practice squad in Jacksonville, you know what I mean? I would be on the active roster, then they would cut me and I'd be on practice squad. So I started off second string, but then I went down to third string, right? Then after my third time being cut, I went to Denver and I was on practice squad for six weeks. So practice squad is technically third string because on the 53 man roster, you only have room for two strings, honestly, the first and second. So I was third string. And like I just said, you got an opportunity every day to show up, to show up and show out. So I was showing up and showing out in practice every day. Every day I was in practice, like, you know, making a play, going hard, doing whatever I needed to do to be obviously to improve myself, right? And that's when the coaches started noticing me. And you know, one thing that my line, no, I'm not my linebacker. I want to say it was my strength and conditioning coach, Luke Richardson. And he told me that, you know, number 18, Peyton Manning was the one that started talking about me at meetings no way. Yeah, man. He started noticing me. He started saying, hey, who's this number 54 kid? Like, we can't stop him.
- [16:55]
B
Wow.
- [16:56]
A
Right in practice. So then the offensive coordinator started to come up to me. His name is Adam Gase. And he started competing with me in practice. He was like, yo, all right, B. I got something for you today. And then after that, then John Fox, the head coach, started saying something to me then. So people started noticing me. And even though I knew I wasn't gonna play right, I was still prepared every day, like, hey, man, this is my game day. You know what I mean? And ultimately, I'm just gonna, you know, build this foundation brick by brick. And at some point, I'm getting my shot. And for Peyton Manning to vouch for you, a Hall of Famer, you know what I'm saying? Legend that, like, did it for me. And then when I got my shot, I was ready.
- [17:37]
B
Wow, that's crazy. What week of the season did you get the shot?
- [17:40]
A
So I got my shot. Week 17.
- [17:42]
B
Whoa.
- [17:43]
A
Late, late, late. So week 17. So, unfortunately, Von Miller ended up tearing his ACL.
- [17:48]
B
Yeah.
- [17:48]
A
And so they put me up on the active roster. I just played special teams. And at the end, it was funny. Cause, like, towards the end of the game, we was playing the Oakland Raiders, and we was blowing them out. The head coach was walking down the sideline, like, looking for young guys who could play. And then he stopped and looked at me, and he was like, coach, can he play? And my linebacker coach, like, first of all, my linebacker coach was sitting there like dumbfound, like, unsure, like, damn near shaking his head no. I was like, yeah, I could play. I could play.
- [18:17]
B
I love it.
- [18:17]
A
And I was like, come on, Coach. Like, show me some love. But he wasn't sure. I was like, yeah, I could play. Went in there, made a couple tackles. You know what I'm saying? And then that was my tryout. Cause the coach said, hey, this is your tryout to see if we're gonna play you during the playoffs. Cause back then, it was only 17 weeks, right? Now it's 18. So I was like, okay, I gotta do well this week to know if I'm gonna be up for the playoffs. Up meaning on the active roster. Up meaning on the 46th, dress game day. Cause 46 people dress, and then the other, you know, seven people, whatever, are just in street clothes, okay? And I did well enough, man. And I played in the playoff games, played in the Super Bowl. We got blew out by the Seahawks. But my special teams coach told Me that I got special teams player of the game for that game for us.
- [19:01]
B
Nice.
- [19:02]
A
And the next year, man, I was starting in one of the package in nickel, and after that, man, I just got my shot and I just.
- [19:11]
B
Oh, crap.
- [19:12]
A
I just took advantage.
- [19:13]
B
They threw you right in the playoffs.
- [19:14]
A
Right then, right then.
- [19:15]
B
Because that's like the most intense games.
- [19:17]
A
Absolutely, they did. Damn. Yeah.
- [19:18]
B
That's crazy, bro. Good stuff.
- [19:20]
A
Yeah, yeah. Appreciate it.
- [19:21]
B
Then you made the all decade team for the Broncos.
- [19:23]
A
Yeah, no, that was, that was crazy.
- [19:25]
B
Yeah. A lot of big names on that team, right?
- [19:26]
A
Yeah, that was crazy to even be, you know, because I went to the University of Nevada, Reno. Right. Not highly touted. I was a two star out of high school, end up being drafted fifth round, but then had, you know, my turbulence, right? Being cut three times from the team, practice squad to make an all decade team for an NFL team, you know, and mind you, I grew up a Broncos fan, which is crazy. You know what I'm saying? And so I'm like, damn, I'm really out here living my dream at a high level, though, you know what I mean? And so one thing I used to question, I used to talk to my boys about in college was like, man, I feel like we could play at lsu. I feel like we could play at Oklahoma, you know what I mean? But we had Reno, so, like, you know, nobody's really giving us that, that type of love and respect. And then I get to the NFL and I'm competing against guys from Oklahoma, from Alabama, from LSU, from, you know, these different SEC schools and Big 12 and all that, and I'm beating people out that went to these schools. And then I'm competing against them on the other side of the ball and I'm like, oh, no, I could have. I for sure could have played in the sec.
- [20:38]
B
Yeah.
- [20:39]
A
You know what I mean? And I know it's is. I get it. The SEC is, is, you know, the closest thing to the NFL, Right? You could definitely say that. But there are a lot of hidden gems out there that could absolutely play and, and, and dominate and do well at SEC schools.
- [20:54]
B
Did you get any looks from SEC when you were getting recruited?
- [20:56]
A
Nah, man, I had two. Two offers. I had Colorado State and, And University of Nevada, Reno.
- [21:02]
B
Wow. So you were a sleeper.
- [21:03]
A
Big sleeper.
- [21:04]
B
And you feel like you peaked kind of later in life?
- [21:06]
A
I did, absolutely. I peaked later in life. So, you know, my junior year, I had my junior high school, I played pretty good, but I only had like four and a half sacks, five sacks. I played Running back, too. My senior year, I had nine sacks, had a bunch of touchdowns. You know, I think I maybe had, like. I don't remember how many touchdowns I played running back, too. And tight end.
- [21:27]
B
Damn, that's.
- [21:27]
A
So I played different positions, but I was just versatile. Yeah, but at the time, nobody was looking at Vegas, you know, like, Bishop Gorman wasn't what Bishop Gorman is now. So, you know, even now, right. I coached at Coronado High School, and I coached at Bishop Gorman High School, you know, coaching at Bishop Gorman. I see a lot of the coaches, a lot of the scouts come in and look at the Gorman kids, but also they go to look at Aubrey View. They go to look at Desert Pines. They go to look at these other schools, too. And it just wasn't. Vegas wasn't as big of a market as it was as it is now back then, you know, because even if, let's say, you know, you're a scout and you're watching this kid from Bishop Gorman on the film, and you notice a kid at Spring Valley, like, damn, who is this kid, though? You know what I'm saying? That's. That's kind of how it works, too. Interesting, right? So now I was a big sleeper, but, you know, luckily I got a scholarship offer and I made the most of it.
- [22:18]
B
You like coaching or playing more?
- [22:20]
A
Playing easily. Easily playing easily. I think coaching, for me, it's just. I enjoy coaching, but really just to stay involved in the game. You know, I do miss football. You know, honestly, football is. Football was my first love in life, period, you know, outside of my mom. You know what I'm saying? Like, I love my mom, you know, and I love football. And, you know, I've played football for, you know, 22 years of my life, from 8 years old to 30, and I stopped at 30. And, you know, I'm 35 right now. I'm about to be 36. And I literally. Imagine doing something for your entire life, you know what I mean? And then you just can't do it no more.
- [23:06]
B
Your identity was tied to it.
- [23:08]
A
Yeah, exactly. And you know what's crazy, Sean? Cause I used to tell myself, I'm more than a football player. You know, I'm more than athlete. You know, I got my philanthropy. I do. You know, I got different things, other interests. I'm like, yeah, I'm better, or I'm bigger than football, or I'm more than the game. My identity is more than the game. But when it was actually time for me to do it and to prove that my identity was More than a game. It was tough because I'm like, damn, okay, well, all right. You know, I'm sitting on the couch. I got all this free time. What do I do? And all I could think about was football, you know? And then I realized, yeah, my identity was really tied, heavily tied to football. You know what I mean? It still is. And my heart was really in it, you know what I mean? Cause I told you it was my first love. My mom told me when I was a kid, I was too young to play. My brother was able to play because he's two years older than me. She told me he brought his pads home and I took his helmet. I slept in it. You know what I'm saying? I was 6 years old, and I just naturally just loved the game, right? So transitioning and Sean, a lot of. A lot of former athletes struggle with the transition. Like, it's not easy to assimilate into. Into a normal life. And I'm gonna say normal because what we did was abnormal. You know what I mean? Like making millions of dollars and, you know, working, you know, or playing a game we love, right? You know, being on national tv, like, you know, being gladiators, but also being rock stars at the same time. Having a pocket full of money and just having four months off the year with all this money. You could just do whatever you want with all this attention, endorsements, you know, whatever, everything, right? It's an abnormal life. And when you assimilate into. Into normal life and you try to, you know, be a family man or, you know what I mean, try to, you know, into the next career, your life, you know, because some of us can for sure, sit back and chill. But most of us, like, obviously, you know, the reason why we made it to where we make it. Cause we were so driven, right? You know what I mean? And so most of us can't sit on our hands anyway. So it's like, okay, what's next? What do I do? I don't know. You know what I'm saying? I don't know. And I tried different things. I tried different things, man. I tried to breed Frenchies, right? I did that one time. I worked for this NFL agency that's actually local out here to recruit college players. You know, I was in talks with, you know, a real estate firm to help raise capital for commercial real estate. And, you know, you know, I do broadcast and still, you know, which I do enjoy. But I'm like, man, like, what is. What is really. What's my purpose? What's next for Me like, what's, what's. And nothing stuck. Like, I had a CBD business too.
- [25:55]
B
Wow.
- [25:55]
A
You know what I mean? I started cbd. We was in. And we was in Hardeen and everything.
- [25:58]
B
Holy crap.
- [25:59]
A
And. But my partner I was with, he just. He was being a little shady with the money, you know what I mean? So I was like, nah, I can't really rock with it. So, you know, and I'mma just transition into the Hattie Marie's. How that happened. When I was about 13, 14 years old, you know, I was driving to the north side of town with my mom and we drove past a McDonald's and I looked at that McDonald's and some. It was a weird feeling. Something came over me. I would say it was God. Because I feel like God speaks to me at different points in my life, at different junctures in my life. And I literally heard, you're gonna own a McDonald's one day. And I was like, it was pretty strong, you know what I mean? But obviously I put that to the side. Just focus on bar. But towards the end of my career in Denver, I remember that gut feeling I had. And I was like, man, maybe I should, you know, see what's up with the restaurant industry. Only because I got that, that it was. It was almost like. It was like a loud. Like God spoke to me in that moment.
- [27:01]
B
Yeah.
- [27:02]
A
And you know, my mom was the one, because my, you know, one of my best friends, his name is Juwan Thompson, He. I played with him in Denver, but his family owns this restaurant in Atlanta called Hattie Marie's. And my mom went and tried it. She was like, yo, you should check this out. Like, maybe, you know, you could open this in Vegas. And I went to try it out. I loved it. Cause it had barbecue, but also has seafood too. And I'm like, yo, I can get ribs and catfish if I want to. I can get gumbo, you know what I mean? Brisket, Mac and cheese. And I was like, all right, maybe I'll just bring it to Vegas. Cause I don't think Vegas really got nothing like this. And so, boom. I entered into commercial real estate. The lease. And I tried to back out. Cause like, it was. The construction price was high. And, you know, for those who don't know, you can't. You can. It's hell to get out of a commercial lease.
- [27:54]
B
You know, it's five year agreement, right?
- [27:56]
A
I was just 10.
- [27:57]
B
10.
- [27:57]
A
Yeah, it's tough to get out of that. And so, you know, once I made an offer to get Out. I offered like 300k just to get out. Just to get out.
- [28:05]
B
Holy crap.
- [28:05]
A
Just to get out. Like here's 300 bands just to get out. And they was like, nah, nah. Because the total term was like a million for the 10 years.
- [28:14]
B
Yeah.
- [28:15]
A
So there's like, you gonna offer more or whatever? I was like, man, if I'm gonna offer 500k, I might as well just put it towards it and see. And see what, what it does.
- [28:22]
B
Yeah.
- [28:23]
A
And so I just went all in.
- [28:25]
B
Holy crap.
- [28:26]
A
Yeah.
- [28:26]
B
That's a big investment, right?
- [28:27]
A
Yeah, nah, for sure.
- [28:28]
B
Having no experience before?
- [28:30]
A
None, bro. Zero.
- [28:31]
B
Geez. You're signing up for a ten year. You know, a lot of businesses fail within the first year or two, right?
- [28:37]
A
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. A lot of restaurants fail within the first year. You know, then most of them, you know, I think 90% maybe fell within the first five.
- [28:46]
B
Yeah.
- [28:47]
A
You know, if you can make it past five years, you know, first of all, a year's a milestone regardless. Because even I know, like I had to come out of my pocket to make payroll a couple times, you know what I'm saying?
- [28:58]
B
It must have been tough.
- [28:59]
A
I had to come out of my pocket to, you know, obviously to, you know, we got a. For cost of goods and stuff like that. And so, you know, luckily I don't have to live off this right now. Right. That is a blessing because the owner operators that you know, are counting on the money from their restaurant to live on it. Could be. It's tough. It's tough, man. Cause you got payroll, you got cost of goods, you know, rent, you got loan potentially you got all these other things. And it's like, if you ain't really doing numbers, you know, how can you look to survive off of your restaurant? You know what I'm saying? It's a low margin business anyway, you know, so you know, and then, you know, like you make mistakes. Like I made a mistake. I made a hell of a mistake. I thought that all the sales tax was just getting pulled out, you know, for my sales. Anyway.
- [29:52]
B
8%, right?
- [29:52]
A
You know, 8.3. Yeah. 8.375. I thought all my sales tax, I'm like, okay, cool. My sales taxes are already getting. Because my POS system, right. My point of sales is toast. And it'll line item, okay. Sales tax this boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, net, you know what I'm saying? Or gross net, all that. And I'm like, okay, cool. They automatically taking it out. And then I had got a consultant, he was like, hey, are you Paying your sales tax. And I'm like, it's already been taken out, right? He was like, nah, man.
- [30:20]
B
Oh, man.
- [30:21]
A
So I go to mynevadattax.com and I open my account. I look at my account, and I owe like a hundred. And probably 130,000. $130,000 in sales tax. And because I'm doing well at the time, right? Like, my bank account is up. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I got 300 just from sales. So, like, cool. I'm making a lot of money. But then I'm like, oh, damn. I didn't even realize this. And I got penalties now, right?
- [30:56]
B
Yeah.
- [30:57]
A
So I tried to get the penalties waived, and they said, no, you have to pay the full amount before you get any penalty. Wave. So I had to send 130 out the door.
- [31:07]
B
Holy crap. And your margins are already pretty thin margins already.
- [31:11]
A
It's like an 8% margin business.
- [31:13]
B
Yeah, Restaurants are slim margins.
- [31:14]
A
You know what I mean? So imagine just sending 130k out.
- [31:17]
B
That's all your profit right there.
- [31:18]
A
I'm like, damn. You know what I mean? So these are the mistakes that a first time business owner makes, right? The mistakes that, you know. And mind you, I own the business 100. So it's not like I have partners in this that are like, you know, we could tackle different things.
- [31:35]
B
Right?
- [31:35]
A
You know what I mean? So it's obviously, it's best to have partners because you could go farther, faster, because you can. You can tackle this part of business, I can tackle this part of business, but we can have all areas covered. Right? Right now I'm kind of driving with just like this type of vision. And I do hire consultants, you know, I have hiring consultants to help me open up my vision and the general manager to help me, you know, because things slip through the cracks like that, you know, and then it's like you can't pay attention to everything in the restaurant, right? So you got to have managers or trusted help that can help see your blind spots. You know what I mean? So that 130, you know, and my consultant told me his name was Gideon. That's my. That's my guy. He was like, hey, this one gonna hurt? It's a lesson learned.
- [32:16]
B
Yeah.
- [32:17]
A
You know what I mean?
- [32:18]
B
You think you guys would ever go the franchising route? Because raising Cane's is killing it right now. Right?
- [32:22]
A
Yeah. So this actually is a franchise. Oh, it is. This is already a franchise. And so the original restaurants in Atlanta now they've been Closed for over a year. Right. So I'm trying to get that.
- [32:32]
B
They've been closed.
- [32:33]
A
They've been closed for over a year.
- [32:34]
B
They were struggling out there.
- [32:35]
A
No, they was open for seven years.
- [32:37]
B
Oh, okay.
- [32:37]
A
Right. It was open for seven years. So they did well. They was trying to just move from a college park to. To Buckhead. Right. The more premium spot out there. And they had other franchise. Other franchises before they all failed relatively quickly. I'm not even sure, maybe six months or whatever. But they've been closed for over a year. Right. Trying to, you know, do that thing, but I'm trying to get that from them. Yeah. You know what I mean? And if I can't get it from them, then I'll just do my own thing and move on.
- [33:05]
B
Wow. So you're one of the few standing from that franchise.
- [33:07]
A
I'm the only one.
- [33:08]
B
Holy crap. I'm the only one that shows you're doing something different than what they were doing.
- [33:11]
A
Absolutely.
- [33:12]
B
Whoa. I wonder if it's being in Vegas.
- [33:14]
A
Too, that helps, I think. I think a couple things help. Like my. My name, you know, my name. Likeness and image or recognition in Vegas. I grew up in Vegas, you know, Former NFL player. You know what I mean? That helps a lot because a lot of people come in looking for me and. And I'm there a lot. You know, people that's been there, they know I'm there damn near all the time. They come looking for me. They come to take pictures, they come to check out the restaurant. Then they walk in and be like, oh, it's beautiful in here. Cause it's a nice venue. And, you know, I got jerseys up, I got TVs. I got good R and B music playing, bar, you know, it's a nice aesthetics out of upstairs or downstairs. And then, like, so that's the first thing that happens, right? Then the next thing, obviously, they end up liking the food. Then they say, hey, who was Hattie? Who was Hattie Marie? Is that your grandma or something? That's your. Is that your mom? I was like, nah, that's the original owner's mom. Right. So one thing that I messed up on, right, is because typically when you franchise, one of the benefits of a franchise is like name recognition. You know what I mean? That's why people like Rick Ross would franchise Wingstop. Cause everybody know who Wingstop is or what Wingstop is. Everybody knows what raising canes is. Dave's hot chicken just sold for Billy.
- [34:33]
B
Right?
- [34:34]
A
Damn. Everybody knows what that is. Everybody knows what you can go anywhere in the country. And you know what tropical smoothie is if you want. And you know what you're gonna get. One mistake I made was franchising a restaurant with no name recognition. You know what I'm saying? Like, nobody knows what Hattie Marie's is on the west coast, right? Right. So I had to build this thing up from the ground up, you know what I mean? Because if I would have just franchised the Chick Fil A, I don't have to say nothing.
- [35:00]
B
Yeah, true.
- [35:01]
A
I don't have to do nothing. I don't have to market nothing. They walk by, they drove by. Oh, Chick Fil A. Boom. I'm pulling up. You know what I mean? But you drive by and you see how the Marines. What is that? You know? So I bet on myself, essentially, in that, right? So instead of the name recognition that they brought, I brought the name recognition. You know what I mean? And to help drive traffic for the people I know. And from me just being an NFL athlete to. So that did help. But in the future, like, you know, franchising a store or restaurant with no name recognition is. It's not the smartest. It's not the smartest. Cause that's the real benefit of franchise, right? You know, outside of obviously already. The recipes are already done, but it's, like, cool. I know anywhere in the country what cold stone is, and if I want ice cream, I know what cold stone tastes like, and I know what it is. And I'm gonna pull up facts.
- [35:50]
B
You eating ice cream these days? I know you're pretty healthy.
- [35:52]
A
Yeah, I try, but lately I've been eating yogurt land, so. Yeah, I try to be healthy, but.
- [35:56]
B
You got the sauna at the crib Crib. You've been to biohacking and all that.
- [35:59]
A
What's biohacking?
- [36:00]
B
It's just like, sauna, cold plunge. Like taking supplements. Like.
- [36:04]
A
Yeah, yeah, stuff like that. Absolutely. I'm into all of that. You know, my. My cabinet is full of. Full of supplements. I actually just took this test, Sean. It's called. It's from Volume V I O M.
- [36:14]
B
E. I just had the founder on a word pod. Yeah.
- [36:17]
A
Oh, dope. So I took the. The full body intelligence test, and it was extremely thorough. Like, the app is right here on your phone, and, you know, I sound like I'm over here. You know what I'm saying? Marketing it. But for real, the app is on your phone. You. You know, it's a stool test. The pee. The. You know, the pee and the saliva.
- [36:35]
B
No blood.
- [36:36]
A
Oh, my bad. My bad. So it's not the pee. It's. It's a, you know, stool, blood and saliva.
- [36:44]
B
Oh, got it.
- [36:45]
A
Yeah. Stool, blood and saliva. And it just breaks down everything. Like, you know, it said my bio age, my biological age is 28.
- [36:52]
B
Holy crap.
- [36:53]
A
Which is dope. I'm 35.
- [36:54]
B
Yeah.
- [36:54]
A
But then it said my inflammation age, right? It's called. They say inflammation, like medium. So, like, I gotta improve. My body is kind of inflamed.
- [37:01]
B
Is that from the NFL, you think?
- [37:02]
A
Probably NFL, but probably diet too. You know what I mean? Lifestyle, food and. Yeah, all the. You know what I mean? So, like in, you know, inflammation outside of, like you said, the NFL playing. You know, my body is hurting, but, you know, if you eating sugar and you eating all that stuff, right, Your body's gonna be even more inflamed.
- [37:19]
B
Right.
- [37:20]
A
But it was crazy to even see that. It told me to stay away from turmeric for six months.
- [37:24]
B
Really?
- [37:24]
A
And you think about it, turmeric is healthy, right? It's anti inflammatory. Anti inflammatory. But something about my system doesn't resonate with turmeric.
- [37:32]
B
Interesting.
- [37:32]
A
You know what I mean? And so even the stuff I seen that I need to limit, right? Which is like everything. Sugar, which is, I think, the hardest thing to cut out, right? So it said cassava, which is a form of sugar, Right. Maple syrup, which I love. Pancakes. It said white sugar. You know, I'm gonna say cane sugar. You know what I'm saying? Like, any. Any form of sugar. I need to just limit it.
- [37:55]
B
Wow. Even cane sugar.
- [37:56]
A
Even cane sugar. It's talking about white rice. I need to limit. I need to limit. It's. I need to limit mangoes and grapes. And I'm like, what the hell? I love mangoes. But, you know, there are other things that it says that I can indulge in. And I really enjoyed that test because it gave me some real good insight on how I need to adjust my lifestyle, my diet, moving forward, you know what I mean, if I want to optimize my health.
- [38:24]
B
Yeah. I get all sorts of tests, man. Because a lot of people out here guessing.
- [38:28]
A
Yeah.
- [38:28]
B
You know what I mean? I get blood tests, I get MRIs, I've done the hair test, the cheek test, all important.
- [38:34]
A
What's the cheek?
- [38:36]
B
Yeah, the swab.
- [38:37]
A
Tell me about the hair test.
- [38:38]
B
Hair test is similar to urine, but a lot of. You could find out a lot from the hair.
- [38:42]
A
Yeah.
- [38:43]
B
Every part of your body you could find out a lot from. There's people that can look at your eyes, could Find out your health from your eyes. They can look at your teeth, see where you have a cavity and which organ that's linked to.
- [38:52]
A
That's crazy.
- [38:53]
B
Yeah. There's so many health modalities. But.
- [38:55]
A
So even if you look at like a. Like a Michael Jordan. Right. What's up with his eyes? You know what I'm saying? Cause the yellow. Yeah, right.
- [39:04]
B
Some people think it's jaundice. I don't know. You know, you could learn a lot from just looking at different parts of the body. It's fascinating, man.
- [39:11]
A
It is.
- [39:11]
B
When you were an athlete, did you take the health side pretty serious, too?
- [39:14]
A
Yeah, had to. You know? Cause really, I learned it from the vets. You know, a lot of our veterans, and they say they doing this and they taking this and they. You know, one thing I never focused on, that I wish I did, was my gut health, you know, My teammate, bro, my dog, Emmanuel Sanders, man, he told me one day, I remember just sitting in the locker room just talking to him. He was like, yeah, man, he was talking to me, talking to me about the gut brain connection. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, the gut is the, you know, it's the brain of the body and. Or the brain of your, you know, your immune system or whatever the hell he was talking about. And I was like, ah, whatever. But I was younger, you know what I'm saying? And then as I got older, I remember 2018, I want to say I took a test, a full. There's. There's a spot in Denver called Resilience Code. And you do. You could do, like, a full body assessment. And it said I had leaky gut. I'm like, I don't know what the hell leaky gut is. Then you start researching it. I'm like, oh, okay. This probably why maybe I'm starting to feel, you know, obviously, outside of the. The pounding I've taken on my body for a long time, but my inflammation is up because my gut health isn't proper.
- [40:22]
B
Right.
- [40:23]
A
You know what I mean? And it's not filtering out, you know, certain things and certain stuff is, you know, seeping through the cracks. And then my body's having a. A response to it, you know, And I'm like, okay, so maybe I need to tighten up my. My gut health. And that was also my reason for doing a volume test, too, because my skin started, you know, I started getting, like, white spots.
- [40:43]
B
Yeah.
- [40:43]
A
And, like, I'm like, what's going on? My skin. I'm like, it has to be good.
- [40:47]
B
Wow.
- [40:47]
A
And so, you know, once I, you know, did the volume test, and it says, okay, these things are inflaming you. Your gut health needs to improve. I think my gut health was on the Gut health overall was on the low end as far as the scores go. And then they also help. They also send you supplements too, which is fire.
- [41:02]
B
Wow, right?
- [41:03]
A
Like these supplements, right? You know, will help your body optimize. Will. Will help optimize your body. You know, the microbiome, right, that's needed for your gut is these seven, eight, whatever we're gonna send you that you can. Obviously you have to purchase it, but yeah, I've been taking it, man. So, you know, now the next step is, you know, being in that type of restaurant, right? Soul food, barbecue, you know what I'm saying? Fried food, desserts, right? Liquor, it's like, okay, cool. I always got a bartender saying, hey, B, try this drink, right? Maybe the yams were off, you know, I'm saying the Mac and cheese was off, so I gotta try him. Like, nah, this ain't it. We gotta do it, whatever do. We gotta make an audible to it. But, you know, that's me consuming sugar and dairy, right? You know I'm saying liquor and consistently though.
- [41:56]
B
Yeah, right.
- [41:57]
A
So it's like, I'm like, I can't keep doing this. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, we all know what it's supposed to taste like, but there are times where it's like, off. I'm like, yo, why do the yams taste like this, right? Or maybe I need to taste it because the customers are sending it back. And I'm like, all right, let me try it. And I. I wish I had somebody else to do it, you know what I'm saying? And understand, like, the taste buds of what it. Or understand what everything should taste like. And I do. I probably should just lean on more people more. Like, hey, you taste that?
- [42:20]
B
Yeah, you gotta hire a full time food taster.
- [42:22]
A
You taste that and see why is it off? Like, okay, yeah, that's off. Now we gotta adjust, you know, adjust the recipe or just, you know, it in that. That moment.
- [42:30]
B
Yeah, I'm picky where I eat these days, man.
- [42:32]
A
Yeah.
- [42:32]
B
You know, there's an app called Seed Oil Scout, if you heard of that one.
- [42:35]
A
I'm gonna download it right now.
- [42:36]
B
Yeah, download that. Are you familiar with seed oils?
- [42:38]
A
Absolutely.
- [42:39]
B
Yeah. So this app lists all the restaurants in your local area that don't use them. Oh, isn't that crazy?
- [42:46]
A
That is crazy. You said seed oil.
- [42:47]
B
Seed Oil Scout.
- [42:49]
A
Seed oil scout.
- [42:50]
B
Yeah. So every time I order on Postmates now, I look on Seed Oil Scout, see if they use like canola oil.
- [42:55]
A
Canola oil, you know, all the seed oils. Yeah, yeah. Because, you know, so when you cook at home, do you just use avocado.
- [43:03]
B
Oil, grapeseed oil, olive, avocado, coconut, all the healthy ones. Coconut. No.
- [43:07]
A
Is grapeseed oil still. Still considered healthy?
- [43:10]
B
I don't know about that one, but I know canola is pretty bad.
- [43:13]
A
Terrible.
- [43:13]
B
Yeah. That one's like the worst. Yeah. You got to be careful with the oils you use.
- [43:18]
A
Absolutely. Yeah. So I just strictly use avocado.
- [43:20]
B
Smart.
- [43:22]
A
I hear, you know, different, you know, reviews on olive oil. I feel like it's healthy.
- [43:28]
B
Yeah. Quality olive oil. Because if you go to the grocery store and buy the $10 one, there's actually seed oils in that one. You know, they're deceptive with the labels.
- [43:36]
A
Yeah. Do you cook more with coconut?
- [43:40]
B
Depends on what it is. I love olive oil. It just tastes amazing. Avocado is pretty good too.
- [43:44]
A
Yeah.
- [43:45]
B
But my wife does most of the cooking.
- [43:47]
A
Yep. There you go.
- [43:48]
B
You nice on the frying pan?
- [43:50]
A
Every now and then. You know what I'm saying? Every now and then. I don't, I don't really do too much, but, you know, especially because I'll be busy.
- [43:56]
B
I'd be busy, bro.
- [43:56]
A
Busy, man.
- [43:57]
B
I'd be grinding. So you're working harder than ever right now.
- [43:59]
A
Working harder than ever. And it's just different. It's funny because people will come in and ask me, yo, what's harder, playing the NFL or owning a business? Right. And I just say, it's like, it's. It's just different. It's just. It's just not the same. You know, obviously they both are extremely, extremely difficult.
- [44:19]
B
Yeah.
- [44:19]
A
To be an entrepreneur is like extremely difficult. But to make the NFL is crazy.
- [44:24]
B
Right.
- [44:25]
A
You know what I mean? Like, the percentage of people that make to NFL and last or is just like very slim. Slim to none.
- [44:31]
B
Yeah.
- [44:32]
A
And. But I always reference this. The difference that I see is, you know, when in. In the NFL, right. I have people surrounding me, all high level athletes and individuals that, you know, bust their ass day in and day out, right away from the facility or not. And I know I can trust them. I can lean on them to get their job done to the highest level. Right. Do we make mistakes? Yeah, but they hone in and they, you know, lock in on a craft day in and day out, regardless. So I go to war. I step out, I step out on that field with them, with my other 10 guys. And I know all 10 of them put the work in all week, all year.
- [45:20]
B
Yeah, right.
- [45:21]
A
And they gonna give it. They all. It's not like that, especially in the restaurant industry. You know what I'm saying? Because when I look at employees, and I'm very grateful for everybody who's put in work and put in time at Hatties, you know, because I can't do it by myself. But the motivation level is just. Is just. Is just different. You know, it's really just a stepping stone for a lot of people or segue to whatever else. You know what I mean? And, you know, it's the hospitality industry and it's Vegas. There's so many different. They can work at any restaurant, and they come into work just to get through the shift, not to excel. Right, right. And that's the difference between the NFL. Like the NFL, they come into work to excel. Cause you have to excel or you lose your job or you're gonna get replaced. Right. A lot of people come into work just to get through their shifts, just to punch the clock and say that, hey, you know, I showed up for work, but not to improve on that craft day in and day out. And so it's tough to manage the people. Right. So that's the hardest thing is to manage the people. You know, the P Ls are the P. Ls, right. I mean, obviously you can do whatever you can to, you know, to increase your bottom line and to help out cool sales. And maybe you have to cut costs here or cut labor here or whatever the case may be. So the P and L is the P and L. It's the people. That variable is just unpredictable. You know what I mean? It's unpredictable. Right. So it's definitely tough. Both incredibly hard. I excelled at one, and I believe I'm excelled at this other one, too.
- [47:00]
B
Yeah, yeah. It's a different type of work. You're using your brain a lot more too, right? With business.
- [47:04]
A
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Using your brain a lot more. And, you know, I mean, don't get it twisted. Like on the NFL, you have to use your brain, you know, playing football. Right. But it's. I guess it's limited in the fact that. Okay, cool. I got this coverage. You know, I gotta drop to this spot. If somebody comes over here, I take them. If they don't, then whatever. Or if they run the ball, I just. This is my gap.
- [47:25]
B
Yeah.
- [47:25]
A
And I gotta be in my gap.
- [47:27]
B
Right.
- [47:28]
A
And the entrepreneur, you got, like I said, blind spots. There's so many blind spots that can take your business down. There's so many things that you gotta correct, you know, because they say, right? Higher, slow, and fire fast, right? There's certain, you know, because you could have a cancer on your team, right? Or I could be slowly bleeding in an area where I don't even know somebody's stealing, somebody's taking ribs out the back or somebody's. Somebody taking liquor, you know what I'm saying? Or like, hey, my. My labor percentage is too high. I got too many people. I'm paying out too much, right? You know what I'm saying?
- [47:57]
B
A lot of moving parts.
- [47:58]
A
A lot of moving parts. Or. Damn, I forgot. I didn't even know I had to pay my own sales tax. I thought the POS system automatically, you know, takes it out and takes and sets it aside or puts it. Or takes it. Or puts it to the state. Nah, it's just so many different. So many different areas. Okay, cool. We've been slow this month. How do we increase sales? Let's have a meeting of the minds. You know what I'm saying? Is it food quality? Is it marketing? You know what I'm saying? Is it service? Are we lacking on that? Is it just because of tourism down? Right? What, like, okay, what can we do? All right, now let's implement X, Y and Z. You know what let's do? It's football season. Let's do specials. You know what I'm saying? Let's do specials, right? You know, let. Let's. And I think what people are. Are really seeking now is experience. You know, people want to go somewhere and have a good experience, right? Yes. Food is part of the experience, so that is a given. But the service, you know, the atmosphere, the. The music, and I always say this, you know, you may forget, you know how. Or you may forget what somebody said to you, right? But you never forget how someone. Somebody made you feel, right? Or you'll never forget how something made you feel. And if something makes you have a positive feeling, you won't forget that and you are more likely to return, right? So I'm big on how we make people, how we leave our guests feeling, you know what I'm saying? And I do that in my life, my personal life, you know, how do I make you feel? How do I leave you feeling? And I think it's even more important in business because you. You need repeat customers. That's where. That's when the. When that's the name of the game. Yeah, Repeat customers, especially in your Industry, repeat customers. So, you know, we just got to create a good experience for them.
- [49:31]
B
You know, you mentioned tourism being down. I know there's a lot of videos saying Vegas is dead or dying. Do you believe any of that? Are you seeing that in the restaurant?
- [49:38]
A
Yeah. Oh, So we, we've, you know, our peak was in February when we, when I had them. Influencers. Right? So our sales have been really good from, from February. Right. So, but it is slowly, you know, we have been slowly going down. Right? And so that's what, you know, you have this meeting, you're trying to figure out, okay, what is, what is the reason for the steady decline, right? And how can we combat that? Right? Let, let's, let's have a meeting in the minds and let's figure this out. Part of it could be tourism, right? So if it's tourism, then, hey, man, we need to really hit the locals hard then, right? And it's interesting because when I, when I'm in my restaurant, Sean, like 70 of the people are tourists.
- [50:23]
B
Wow, that's high.
- [50:24]
A
Every time I talk to somebody, literally seven out of 10 people, I'm from somewhere.
- [50:29]
B
Holy crap.
- [50:30]
A
Right? So it's like perfect. We got the, you know, I mean, that's, that's cool because we are nationwide tick tock on social media, which is good, but I'm like, okay, well then how can we capture more locals then? You know what I'm saying? Maybe reward programs. Is it reward programs? Yeah, you know, is it, Is it our text message marketing we got to be better at? Yeah, absolutely. Is it our email marketing? Absolutely. You know what I mean? Like, it's different things that we can do. So, yeah, I've seen a steady decline in our sales just a little bit over the year, but it's, but it's still, it's still fantastic, right? Like, I still did over $2 million in the first nine months of the year.
- [51:04]
B
By yourself as an owner, you know what I'm saying?
- [51:06]
A
In the first nine months of the year. So it's still fantastic. But hey, it is. And I don't like to wait till we already down. It's like, you know, okay, I see the trend. Let's talk about this. You know what I mean? So I don't think Vegas is dead, though. I think, you know, the higher ups or the powers that be, whatever, they gonna find a way to go with the trend. And I think that's what it is, right? You know, obviously some of it could be, you know, what the president's doing, you know what I Mean, yeah, that could be part of it. Right. But also, I think they'll find a way to figure it out because Vegas is still the, you know, hospitality, you know, capital of the world.
- [51:43]
B
Yeah. Vegas will always be Vegas. But these resort fees are getting out of, out of control.
- [51:46]
A
Yeah, they, they're going to have to fix. They're going to have to. It's got to be more discounts. They're going to have to lower rates. They going to have to fix it, man. It is what it is, you know, or you're going to go out of business. So, hey, you got to go with the trend. It's all, it's all good. And honestly, you know, it's a couple of things they could do. You know, I'm not sure even a charging for parking is something. Is that a hill you want to die on or like you said, the resort fees, can you lower it? Do you want to die on that hill? Now if we see our sales are down and things are trending in the wrong way, we gotta just, you know, hey, let's, let's make a complete 180 or let's do some things to make the guests feel more comfortable. And I'm thinking maybe it's probably, you know, because the economy, you know, truly raised in 2020. It started in 2020, right after covet. Like things got crazy. Right. So, you know, cost of living is higher. You know, cost of goods are higher. Different things is. But people are probably still making the same amount of money.
- [52:39]
B
Yeah, they are. But the price on everything went up.
- [52:41]
A
Exactly. So cost of goods is higher and people making the same amount of money, they don't have excess spending money.
- [52:48]
B
Right.
- [52:48]
A
They don't have it to go and party. It's not. Now I'm in like self preservation mode. I need to save.
- [52:53]
B
Yeah. When I was growing up, Chipotle was seven, eight bucks.
- [52:55]
A
Exactly.
- [52:55]
B
Now it's double the price.
- [52:56]
A
Exactly. You know, but they not really increasing, you know. Cool. Every now and then, you know, they'll get a bump in the, you know, I know Nevada is like $12 for, you know, minimum wage now.
- [53:05]
B
Yeah.
- [53:06]
A
Right. But the bump in the cost of goods versus the bump in pay each state, it's not, it doesn't add up. It's not enough.
- [53:14]
B
Yeah.
- [53:15]
A
Right. So I think that's part of it too because hey man, since, since COVID you know, you know, we've had a crazy influx as far as cost of goods go. And you know, a lot of people are moving out of California to, to try to Save money, different lifestyle. But at the same time, it's like, man, we don't have. I don't have extra spending money. You know what I mean? To do these things. So that obviously directly affects people in the restaurant industry or people in, obviously, customer service industries. So it's like, how do we address too?
- [53:42]
B
Yeah, 100%. That's why every restaurant's forced to raise their prices. And then people get mad, but they have no choice or else they would lose money.
- [53:47]
A
Let me tell you something, man. My. My catfish, I started off this year at $50 a case.
- [53:53]
B
Yeah.
- [53:54]
A
All right. And it was a 15 pound case. So, you know, I don't know. I'm just guessing right now. Maybe it's probably like 30 catfish in there or whatever. 30 pieces, something like that. But £15, ever since Donnie. I'm calling him Donnie, implemented the tariffs, right? My catfish went up from 50 a case to 77 a case. So I'm like, damn, like, I gotta raise my prices, but I don't necessarily wanna. So first of all, there's. There's two different things. Fish that are similar. There's one. There's another fish that is similar to catfish. It's called Sway. And I know the difference. I could taste the difference of sway.
- [54:33]
B
Yeah, right?
- [54:33]
A
And customers can, too. Now, I don't want to sacrifice quality, but it's like, what am I gonna do about this catfish crisis?
- [54:40]
B
Right?
- [54:41]
A
You know what I'm saying? Because my fish has went up, you know what I'm saying? $27. So that's affecting my. My margins on my catfish.
- [54:48]
B
Wow.
- [54:48]
A
Right?
- [54:49]
B
That's a big jump.
- [54:49]
A
It's a huge jump. And then, so now, cool. You know, there are different food vendors, so now I'm, you know, I go with another one. That's cool. Now 65. All right? So, all right, now I'm gonna strictly buy from you. That 65. That helps. But I'm like, damn, will I ever be able to, you know, get back to this 50, you know, case or in the 50s, you know, that'll. That'll help my margins out, right? So it's like certain things like that to stop the bleeding in business, you know, hey, my to go cups, my foam to go cups. Hey, man, you know, these are, you know, you know, whatever per, you know, per, you know, whatever cents or whatever. Whatever dollar per. Per sleeve. Per 25 pack of sleeve. Whatever. So, hey, you know, maybe instead of this one, you got to buy this one.
- [55:29]
B
Yeah.
- [55:30]
A
You know what I mean? So that's the name of the game. Really? And it's like, you know, just trying to find the better deals, but even without sacrificing too much quality. But 77 a case for the catfish just was crazy.
- [55:41]
B
That's nuts. Seafood price jumps are crazy. I had the third largest seafood wholesaler on the show. They're based in Vegas, in Chicago. And, dude, he was telling me the price jumps of lobsters, crabs, shrimp, everything's up like crazy.
- [55:53]
A
It's crazy, right? So then tying that back into, you know, the consumer and how they. The cost of goods have gone up, but the wage hasn't necessarily gone up.
- [56:05]
B
Yeah.
- [56:05]
A
So now I gotta charge. Instead of, you know, whatever my catfish plate is, now I gotta charge extra five. Or, you know, I'm not gonna go crazy with five bucks, but maybe I gotta charge extra two to five, you know what I'm saying? Dollars, Right. And then they coming in like, damn, you know what I'm saying? Now it's like, now you may lose customers because. But at the same time, I got to cover my end. Right? So what is. What is the answer? This. What's the solution? The solution for me is to. Okay, let me. Let me try to do it on the back end first. Let me figure that out before I have to raise prices on y'. All. Respect, you know what I mean? Because I don't want to raise prices. I don't want to make y' all feel like, hey, man, this is. I can't afford to eat a Hattie Marie's. Yeah.
- [56:40]
B
Yeah.
- [56:40]
A
So, you know what? If I can just adjust my, you know, my vendors, you know, because right now, currently. And I don't know if you know anybody, I'm currently looking for, like, just a straight butcher.
- [56:50]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [56:50]
A
That I can buy briskets from. You know what I'm saying? That I could buy ribs from. Because, you know, you cut out the middle man, you cut out some of the costs.
- [56:58]
B
Right?
- [56:58]
A
So, you know, I know. You know, one of my boys, he said he buys a whole cow in Utah, and, you know, he might split it with somebody, and that's cool. You know what I'm saying? But I'm doing such volume, like, I need, like 20 briskets, 25 briskets a week. Damn. You know what I'm saying? So it's not about just buying one cow, but maybe if I can go to. If I can find out whoever the food vendors are going to. Right. Cisco, US Foods, you know, whatever. If I could find the butcher, then I could just cut out the middleman and just. I'm sure that'll Cut out a lot of the price.
- [57:29]
B
See what I could do for you. I bought half a cow. It was like. Like 1400.
- [57:33]
A
Okay.
- [57:34]
B
Isn't that crazy?
- [57:34]
A
That is crazy.
- [57:35]
B
It lasts, like, six months.
- [57:36]
A
It lasts six months.
- [57:37]
B
I mean, it's a ton of meat, dude. For two people, just me and my girl. Yeah. Yeah. It's nuts. Yeah. That's the move. If you have the freezer space.
- [57:43]
A
If I have the freezer space.
- [57:44]
B
Buying a cow.
- [57:45]
A
Absolutely.
- [57:45]
B
Yeah. Dude, when I first moved here, I love Hot and Juicy. Have you been there?
- [57:49]
A
Absolutely.
- [57:50]
B
Fire. A pound of king crab legs was, I think, 65.
- [57:54]
A
Okay.
- [57:54]
B
Now it's 140.
- [57:55]
A
Stop it.
- [57:56]
B
A pound. Isn't that crazy?
- [57:57]
A
140.
- [57:58]
B
Yeah.
- [57:59]
A
That's why I took the crab off my. So I have seafood platter, but I originally had a. Like, a crab plate.
- [58:05]
B
Yeah.
- [58:07]
A
But it was snow crab. I couldn't really find the big ones. But I didn't buy king crab because the price is too high, man. It's too expensive. I'm gonna have to charge you crazy just. Just for you to come in and eat some king crab.
- [58:18]
B
Yeah. Even snow crab shot up, though, too.
- [58:19]
A
Yeah. But 140.
- [58:21]
B
Yeah, 140 from 65.
- [58:22]
A
That's crazy.
- [58:23]
B
In four years.
- [58:24]
A
Yeah.
- [58:24]
B
Yeah. It's nuts.
- [58:25]
A
That's madness, man.
- [58:26]
B
Well, man, where could people watching this come to the restaurant?
- [58:28]
A
Yeah, man. So, man, Hattie Marie's, man, is on Las Vegas Boulevard in the south outlet mall parking lot. You know, so we are. It's a Black Bear diner over there. It's an outlet mall, so it's, you know, you can't really miss it. So we're on the south end of the outlet mall. So. Yeah, man. Y' all come check us out, man. It's really good food, good vibe, good energy, you know, if you like good music, if you like bingo on Tuesdays, we got karaoke on Thursdays.
- [58:52]
B
Nice.
- [58:53]
A
So we do some fun things to try to get the community involved.
- [58:55]
B
Let's go. I'll pop in. So stay tuned on my Instagram. I'll post it.
- [58:58]
A
Oh, yeah. Yes, sir.
- [58:59]
B
Yeah, check them out, guys. See you next time. Peace. I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm.
- [59:07]
A
Thank you.