- 5 months ago
Restaurants are built on food and operations, but they are remembered because of the stories that come out of them. During his tenure as Global CEO of José Andrés Group, Sam Bakhshandehpour saw how one unexpected moment can travel far beyond the dining room when it captures something real.
Note: This interview was originally recorded on October 14th, 2025 when Sam Bakhshandehpour was Global CEO of the José Andrés Group. He recently took a position at Bilt as President of Local Merchants.
Watch now to learn about fighting food waste, building meaningful partnerships, and growing a purpose-driven company with José Andrés.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
Note: This interview was originally recorded on October 14th, 2025 when Sam Bakhshandehpour was Global CEO of the José Andrés Group. He recently took a position at Bilt as President of Local Merchants.
Watch now to learn about fighting food waste, building meaningful partnerships, and growing a purpose-driven company with José Andrés.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
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NewsTranscript
00:00Look at this tomato. I use the hearts as a garnish. I use the pulp for the pan con tomate
00:06and the
00:06balance of it I make it into gazpacho. Three different dishes, one ingredient, zero waste.
00:13It makes sense to minimize food waste. It makes sense for the environment and it makes sense for
00:20the bottom line. Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur. I'm your host Sean
00:33Walchef. This is a Cali BBQ media production in life, in the restaurant business, and in the new
00:39creator economy. We learn through lessons and stories. Today's guest is a very special guest.
00:45When we launched the show back in 2022, we had a deep thesis that restaurants needed to expand
00:51beyond their four walls. Technology was changing. Hospitality was changing. We launched a media
00:57company on top of our barbecue business in San Diego, and we wanted to have the greatest storytellers
01:02and minds in the restaurant space on this show to share all of the secrets. Today we have Sam
01:09Bakshandapur. He is the CEO, global CEO of Jose Andres Group. I know this is the beginning of
01:15many conversations I hope to have with Sam in the future. I know I can't get to all my questions
01:21in the allotted time, but we are going to get to as many as possible. Sam, welcome to the show.
01:26Thank you so much, Sean. Glad to be here.
01:29Where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:36Let's start right there. Growing up in DC as a diehard Commander's fan, I'd say the old RFK
01:44stadium, which takes me back to my childhood, going to a preseason game against the Patriots
01:51and feeling the stands shake, a feeling like no other. I've tried to replicate that feeling my
01:56entire life.
01:59Well, the stands shaking is, that's the energy that we want in hospitality, that's for sure.
02:05We're going to go to RFK stadium. I'll talk to Entrepreneur. We'll talk to Toast.
02:09Grateful for them for sponsoring this show. We'll talk to some other sponsors.
02:12We're going to fill it with what we call people playing the game within the game in hospitality.
02:17People that are curious, people that listen to this show, people that want to level up,
02:21read books, ask questions, know that we don't have all the answers.
02:25And we're going to give you the mic, the middle of the 50-yard line. And I want, Sam, I
02:30want you to
02:30share the story of how did you meet Jose? When was the first time that you met him? And then
02:36when did he
02:37convince you to come in and run the operations side of this global hospitality brand?
02:44No, I appreciate that, Sean. I'm grateful to be in Jose's orbit. And I've been fortunate,
02:50better part of the last 15 years, to be around the world of Jose in different capacities.
02:57The first time we met, I was the president and CEO of a nightlife restaurant company in LA that had
03:07launched the SLS Hotel. And we had partnered with Jose that had the signature and game-changing
03:14concept Bazaar by Jose Andres in the SLS in Beverly Hills. We grew together and expanded cross-coast from LA
03:24to Miami to Vegas with Bazaar Meat. And ultimately, I ended up putting an investment group together
03:30that invested in Jose's business. I was serving in the capacity of advisor and managing the investment
03:37when right before the pandemic, Jose and the board of directors asked me to come in-house. And along
03:43with Jose's co-founder, Rob Wilder, the three of us formed the office of the CEO. And that said,
03:50my journey on the hospitality operations side to coming in-house with Jose and this amazing team
03:57at Jose Andres Group. That's incredible. Can you, for the audience, give us an idea, size and scope
04:04of the different divisions that encompasses Jose Andres Group? Yeah, the primary business is in the
04:12restaurant space. There's 45 restaurants across eight markets, most domestically. We have a media
04:19division as well, which primarily stars Jose and content production across scripted, unscripted,
04:27books, podcasts, so on and so forth. We also have a consumer products business as well. And that's
04:36the flywheel. The North Star is restaurants. And we also are in the media and the products business.
04:43So let's talk about media. Were you trained in media prior to this? What have you learned about
04:51media? How has it evolved into what you do and how you do it as a team? Yeah, no, listen,
04:58I was not
04:59trained in media. And what I learned is stick to what you know, as if the restaurant business wasn't hard
05:05enough, we decided to dabble in the media business. I should leave that to you, Sean, and all the
05:11amazing folks that have arguably as many, if not more gray hairs than I do. For us. I've got a
05:18lot.
05:19There you go. I'm glad we're on camera, not in person. Yeah, we're on camera. I just showed all my
05:23gray hairs. Yes. It's funny, you know, I took a step back. I'm like, Jose's always done media,
05:30right? He's a late night darling. And he had done books. And I said, look, we're storytellers.
05:38At the end of the day, we tell our stories in the dining room, with the magic that comes out
05:44of the
05:44kitchen, through our design, through our marketing strategy. We're sharing these authentic feel good
05:51stories about people and culture and places that many haven't visited. Media to me was an extension
06:01of that storytelling. But instead of doing it on a plate of food in a restaurant, you're doing it on
06:07the screen. And that was the aha moment I had saying, look, the paella, and this is a true story.
06:16So we were in Miami, and it was during food and wine. And this is going back six, seven, longer,
06:21seven, eight years ago. Maybe I'm longer than that. And there was a giant, you know, only in Miami,
06:28skies open up, and there's a giant thunderstorm, you know, and everyone's running for cover.
06:34And at the hotel outside, we had a massive paella pan, paella pan, cooking on live fire.
06:43Fantastic. And it was a demonstration, and Jose was there. And I'm sure there's video of this
06:47somewhere. So he's cooking. And then all of a sudden, you hear the thunder. And the skies open
06:54up, it's raining. And he goes, go get the umbrellas. Didn't budge, is continuing to make the paella
07:01in the pouring rate, and it turns into a party. They start handing out champagne, people are drinking
07:08in the rain. He's cooking paella. And I remember the comment, he goes, this is Valenciana. And that's
07:17the origins of the paella. So when I was in-house, and we're talking media, I go, look, that right
07:23there was an episode of, we're cooking the original, authentic paella Valenciana, the way you did it in
07:31your hometown. And guess what? We're now going to share that story on the screen. And lo and behold,
07:38the show that Jose did, Jose and family in Spain, it was a road trip to show the origins of
07:45the paella
07:45with his daughters. Beautiful episode. And again, it's telling the story of the paella. Now, instead
07:52of in a restaurant, on the screen, and then we sell a paella kit. The same thing. Some days, you
07:58know,
07:58you and I may want to just cook paella at home and hang out and have a nice meal. Now
08:03you have
08:03the paella kit. It's the same paella. The content is identical, three different distribution channels.
08:09That was the thinking behind why media, because it brings great awareness to our restaurants.
08:15It's really fascinating content that, again, so much of the food content on the screen is just
08:24digested, pun intended, on the screen. Now imagine being able to take that and translate it into a
08:30physical location or a consumer product. That was the flywheel we were trying to achieve.
08:35Did you know that Toast powers over 140,000 restaurants across the United States, Canada,
08:41and UK? It's an incredible company. I'm on the Toast customer advisory board. They are proud sponsors of
08:47this show, Restaurant Influencers. We couldn't do it without their support. They power our barbecue
08:52restaurants in San Diego. If you have questions about Toast, if you're thinking about bringing
08:57Toast on to be your primary technology partner at your restaurants, please reach out to me. I'm happy
09:03to get a local Toast representative to take care of you. You can reach me at Sean P. Welcheff on
09:09Instagram. Once again, thank you to Toast for believing in the power of technology, the power of
09:14storytelling, the power of hospitality. Back to the show.
09:19It's incredible to think how far we've come with streaming services when you think of
09:25CPG products. I mean, Amazon Prime, you can watch a show now and literally click a button during a show
09:33and you can check out with a product. It's wild. It's wild. Yeah. No, it's truly the future and we
09:42love
09:42having a small part of it with the content we're producing and, you know, more to come.
09:48So you were quoted saying a brand platform that can live anywhere your guest eats, shops, scrolls,
09:55or streams. Bring us into how you break that down, how you look at the projects in separate lenses,
10:03but also from this flywheel, omni-channel lens. Yeah. Again, we're about experiences and,
10:10you know, this day and age where everyone's living in the phone, I love the dining room
10:16because outside of the camera having to eat first by you snapping a picture of your food,
10:20the rest of the time, most people are off their phone and they're present and they're engaged and
10:25it's real human experience. And that's the beauty of storytelling. And people see right through something
10:31that is authentic and something that's not. And the way I look at it is once you capture the people's
10:38hearts and minds and trust with your content, it doesn't matter if it's content in the restaurant,
10:45content on the screen, or content in your shopping cart. It's pure, it's authentic. And that's the
10:51North Star for us has always been incredible food, incredible food stories. And we bring them to life
10:58in three different mechanisms. That's really the great quote, by the way, I must've had a good day on
11:04on someone else's podcast because I can't speak that articulately now, but that was always the
11:10intent was to make sure that that content is perfected and captured in different ways.
11:15Can you share a little bit how you think about owning your own intellectual property for these
11:19shows and actually executive producing the shows and then partnering with distribution partners?
11:26Yeah, we're definitely in the phase of partnership. Eventually, you know, taking a page out of
11:31Taylor's playbook, you know, you want to own your IP and understand the value of that. Right now for us,
11:38it's just like we do our restaurants, it's going into a new market with humility and quality. And, you
11:46know, the world of media, as we're doing more and more, and ultimately, Jose is going to drive this,
11:51you want to own your IP. Where we are right now, we're completely open to partnering with those not
11:57just on the production side, but the distribution side. Has to be the right stories. And it's like
12:02partnering, really, I look at it similar to the hotel model. Our restaurants, we're the restaurant
12:07operator for luxury hotels. And we own the IP of the restaurant, but at the end of the day,
12:14the production is paid for by the hotel. The distribution is paid for by the hotel database,
12:22fill in the box and our CRM. So we're comfortable partnering across the board. Media is no different.
12:29Interesting. Can you share a recent story about a hotel property that you guys are proud of or
12:35something that you've accomplished that you take? Yeah, thank you for asking that, Sean, because I'm
12:41literally in New York, as we speak at the Ritz-Carlton and Nomad. And this is a very special property.
12:49It was our first partnership with Marriott and the Ritz-Flag, who've been tremendous partners,
12:56so forward thinking, cutting edge, and wanted to have the 2.0 of the Ritz-Carlton brand.
13:03The group that brought it to life were the owners and the developer, Flag Luxury. And Daisy and Paul
13:11Canavos have been unbelievable friends of the firm and the true visionary in bringing the 2.0 to Ritz to
13:17Life, which we were fortunate to be a part of in the Nomad District on 28th and Broadway. This was
13:24the
13:24first Ritz-Carlton in the portfolio that outsourced all of the design of the common areas in the rooms,
13:32as well as all of the food and beverage is third-party operated by us. So when you walk in,
13:38we touch all
13:39elements of food in the space. We have a three-meal restaurant, which is the iconic Zeytinya from D.C.,
13:47Turkish-Lebanese-Greek restaurant. Twenty years later, the first location outside of D.C. was in
13:54New York. You walk across the hall to our lobby bar. We have arguably one of the most beautiful lobby
13:59bars you'll see designed by Lazaro called the Bazaar Bar. You walk up this space and very soon
14:06we are relaunching our Bazaar concept as it had won all the accolades, was on the list of the top
14:15100
14:15steakhouses. So we're leaning heavier into the meat offering and we'll relaunch it as Bazaar Meat
14:21with an expanded meat menu. And just when you think the experience couldn't get any more unique,
14:27you go up to the 50th floor and we have an incredible rooftop called New Balooz with a
14:34view almost as good as a view as you have behind you of the city from the East River to
14:39the Hudson
14:40all the way downtown. Designed, you know, by Martin Brzezinski, we do the food and beverage
14:45and the programming. Additionally, we have in-room dining and banquets food as well. But that's our
14:51flagship of the property. Credit really is due to partners that are forward-thinking and that would
14:59be, you know, the team at Marriott and Ritz-Carlton and the developer of Flag Luxury. And, you know,
15:04for those who haven't been, would love to showcase, you know, what the power of Jose Andres' group is
15:10with respect to the storytelling and that property captures it perfectly.
15:15That's phenomenal. I'm actually heading with my family to New York for a Google restaurant event
15:23in December. So I will make sure to come and see that property for sure.
15:29Yeah, we'd love to host you for you to see that property in action.
15:33Can you share a little bit about how you choose markets? I'm sure your inbox is flooded with requests.
15:40What is the filter that you use?
15:43Yeah, we're very lucky. We're one of a handful of restaurant groups that has multi-concepts
15:49and has the muscle of how to operate in a hotel. Because as I mentioned, operating a three-meal
15:57restaurant is entirely different than operating the signature restaurant. Operating a rooftop lounge
16:03is entirely different than in-room dining or banquets. And when you kind of say, okay, who's multi-concepts?
16:10Across price points with the track record of activating hotels successfully, it's a short
16:16list. And we're fortunate to be on that list. When I look at markets, we look at demographics
16:23and it's about mapping the guest journey. So we start with our hub markets, the New Yorks, DCs,
16:29Miamis, Chicago, Vegas, LAs of the world. And then we say, where are the spokes? These secondary
16:36markets are no longer secondary. There's culture hatching in these markets. And it's markets like
16:42Nashville, like Denver. We're going to Palo Alto later this year. We've been looking at the Arizona
16:49market. It's Palm Beach, Orlando. I'm looking at the Tampa market, Charleston. These are the markets
16:57that frankly, again, they're leading the innovation. They're leading with the definition of the latest
17:05culture. And the beauty is we have team members that are within an hour's flight of all these markets.
17:13So we look at it as hub and spokes. When I get critical mass in a hub market, like we're
17:19in,
17:19you know, DC, very easy example, headquarters, we're in the Waldorf DC hotel, the old post office,
17:28we have seven other restaurants in that market, very easy to expand to Nashville and move some of
17:35our people. And that's the way we always think about it is provide career mobility to our partners.
17:40Because, you know, when they're happy, they serve the guests better. And you have happy guests,
17:45happy partners, happy guests. And for us, having people move from market to market is a gift to be
17:53able to provide that and making sure that you have critical mass of talent on the team and train and
18:00give them new opportunities. And that's really our expansion. From a deal perspective, we are a brand
18:06company. So we do licensed and managed properties, primarily in hotels and hotel owners who were
18:15fortunate to know many of them understand the value. When we come in and activate a property,
18:22a few things happen. The end goal for the hotel owner is to maximize their NOI. How do they do
18:30that?
18:30Their highest margin business is rooms and events. And we have a stellar track record from market to
18:37market. If you want to look at a one KPI shot and say, all right, how is Jose Andres group
18:42succeeded
18:43with hotels? Real simply, look at every single hotel property we're in and see where they rank in
18:51the comp set. Every single one is ranked in the upper echelon of their comp set. And looping it back
18:58to the Ritz Nomad, Ritz Nomad for the third year in a row won the number one hotel in Manhattan
19:05and the
19:06number two hotel in the world. And food and beverage has a little part of that success,
19:12which we're really excited. And ultimately, Ritz and the owners benefit with the highest room rate
19:17in their class. That's phenomenal. I would love to learn more about how you view technology in your
19:25restaurant group. I do want to share a story. The reason one of your PR team reached out to me
19:33with the partnership that I'm excited to talk about. But before I let you share your side of
19:38the story, I wanted to share that recently, Cali barbecue was hired by San Diego State University
19:44to do a family day at a San Diego State football game. So we fed 1200. We failed 1200 people.
19:51My team
19:52did an amazing job. Shout out to Steven. But afterwards, we had a surplus of food. So we had food
19:58that we were not able to use that they didn't want. We partnered with a brand called Copia.
20:05Copia allowed us to divert 45 pounds of brisket to a East County transitional living center seven miles
20:14from our restaurant. We diverted 140 pounds of CO2 is diverted from the landfills, 10,000 gallons of
20:21water, and it fed 38 meals. So 38 people got to have a warm meal because of the technology of
20:29Copia.
20:29Now, I know you have an announcement that you made with Copia on a much bigger scale. Please explain
20:37the why behind the partnership and what you're doing to tackle food waste.
20:41Yeah, let me start with the top of the funnel. And that's the purpose driven nature of our business.
20:46Before we talk about it, we have been walking this talk for 30 plus years. And as a purpose driven
20:56company, food waste was one of the pillars that as a company, we said, look, it makes sense to minimize
21:05food waste. It makes sense for the environment. And it makes sense for the bottom line. Less food waste,
21:13less cost, less food waste, less everything you just mentioned, but now have some multiplier effect
21:21across an industry. So our chefs have always been trying to optimize the usage and maximize how much
21:30of the ingredients they use versus what gets wasted. Not just the plating, but the cooking side. So,
21:36you know, the example that I've given in the public regularly is set around the tomato.
21:41You know, our chef, Chef Nico Lopez, he literally showed me in Mercado, Little Spain in New York.
21:46He's like, Sam, look at this tomato. I use the hearts as a garnish. I use the pulp for the
21:54pan con tomate
21:56and the balance of it. I make it into gazpacho. Three different dishes, one ingredient, zero waste.
22:03I wish that could be the case across every ingredient. But as you know, it's not. You have
22:09unbelievable quality food, but there's a lot of waste in this industry. Our spirit was always
22:16reduce the waste. And I got introduced to Kimberly Smith and the team at Copia. And Kimberly introduced
22:22me to her partner, Paige. We hit it off day one. I said, look, we're trying to do this already.
22:28But just like I do
22:29in my personal life, food waste drives me crazy because there's always someone that would kill
22:37to have the meal that has been sitting either in a leftover container in my fridge or expired. You
22:44know, there's a comedian that was joking around about salads, pre-made salads. And he goes, let me show
22:51you the instructions on how to use one of these pre-made salads in the box. You buy it. Next
22:58step,
22:58you put it in your fridge, you let it expire, and then you throw that into the trash can.
23:03And that is what the pre-made salad is. And I was cracking up. I'm like, it pains me. It
23:09pains me
23:09because we've all done it, right? You're like, that triple wash spinach should be in a salad. It
23:15shouldn't be sitting in my trash can. And I feel like way too often that happens. So I'm sitting there
23:21saying, all right, if you really believe in it personally, you're walking that talk as a company,
23:25in comes Copia. And we launched in Miami and we're now launching, rolling it out nationally
23:32because what they've done is, you know, this business, the last thing you need as a restaurant
23:38operator is another thing for your team to have to do. And there's so much stress in the system,
23:46so much that they have to do. And as much as the heart is in the right place, it comes
23:50down to
23:52logistics and knowledge of the local market and Copia through tech enabling through their app,
23:59the in-depth knowledge they have of, you know, one place will take this, but another place won't
24:05take the same thing. Market to market's different. They figured out the hard part. And for us, it's a
24:11simple SOP. It's like, guys, when it's time, you coordinate and there'll be a pickup. And we're
24:17doing it and the numbers, Sean, are off the charts. And it makes me feel so good as a restaurant
24:26operator. And we're all in the hospitality operations business to be able to do our part.
24:32And we're also as leaders, fiduciaries, so all of our investors and partners,
24:36this saves on food costs. There's tax credits attached to it. Things that, again, it's okay to
24:42talk about doing good and doing well at the same time. And we're living in what this Copia is one
24:48of many pillars that we explore, but it's one of the key pillars within the restaurant being a
24:54purpose-driven company. I think it's just, it's so admirable to see a group, a global group like you
25:01celebrating the technology that's making an impact. There's so many things that you could talk about,
25:07but to talk about the things that matter. And to your point, I mean, from a small restaurant group
25:12like ours, all the way up to the biggest restaurant groups in the world, all those little things
25:16matter. The little details matter. You know, when I, when I talk about composting recently,
25:21my neighborhood, they gave out composting bins and I, my wife and I make a conscious effort to,
25:28you know, go through and compost. It was not easy. It wasn't an easy process to learn how to like
25:33get a small can and then transfer the small can to a bigger can, get it into the big can.
25:38But like,
25:38now we do it as a family. And my son is eight years old and the daughter is six years
25:42old. And
25:42like, they're learning how to compost as well. But, you know, to the point of going on a podcast
25:48like this, going on other shows and talking about the technology, it takes one and then it takes
25:54another and then it takes another. But then if we go and we start having these conversations,
25:58you can really start moving the needle on things that, that truly matter.
26:02I appreciate that. And my kids to put it in perspective for Christmas, a couple of years
26:07ago, bought me a Vitamix compost machine. Okay. So, you know, I love the fact that these,
26:15the technologies there and, you know, more and more jurisdictions are making, you know,
26:19the green bin is becoming synonymous with composting. You don't talk about it. It's kind of like
26:25recycle bin. I hope there's more knowledge and education to make sure that it's not just something
26:33that you do. And I saw this at an airport recently and I was fuming the big giant trash can
26:41rolling
26:41through the terminal, like one of those giant plastic bins. And he opens the trash, the local
26:48trash bin and the blue, the black and the green dumped all three into one.
26:54Yeah. Yeah. And rolled out. And I'm like, the odds are, and I hope I'm wrong that they won't
26:59separate these, but it would be nice. Cause again, it's such a, it's minimal effort. And if it can,
27:07you know, have a positive impact, why not? You don't, you don't need to take this any higher
27:13beyond what it is. It's just, you know, get in the habit of just doing the right thing. And this
27:16is
27:17the right thing to do. So I heard you on a show talking about something that really made an
27:23impact on me. You talked about making your bed. Um, you said that not only do you make your bed
27:28at
27:28home and you pay attention to the details, but you make your bed in a hotel. Um, I found that
27:34impactful. Obviously I've, I've seen the general speech about, you know, the Navy SEALs start your day
27:40with making your bed. My, my, I'm teaching my son and my daughter how to not only make their bed,
27:45but to make it properly, um, to start the day off. Can you, can you share your, that philosophy and
27:49how it permeates into your leadership style? Yeah. Listen, how you do the little things or how you do
27:55the big things. Um, and if you check my bed this morning, I made it in the Ritz Carlton. So
28:00I'm,
28:01that, um, uh, my daughters would roll their eyes. Cause I, I do talk about this probably way too
28:07much. Um, and I, and I believe it is more talk about it more, please. Listen, athletes are the
28:15best at this military folks are the best at this. And, you know, it's, uh, I'll share a funny story.
28:21My first job out of college, uh, out of Georgetown, I was working in investment banking at a shop in
28:27Baltimore called Alex Brown and Sons, old school investment bank and been there a hundred plus
28:32years. And, um, one day my dad comes to visit and I was all excited. It was old school. Like
28:39I'm
28:39talking suit and tie, you know, casual Friday was you wore a blue shirt instead of a white shirt,
28:44you know, like one of those shops. And I loved it. And I was working on wall street and my
28:49dad comes up
28:49and at lunch, I take him to this shoe shine guy who had been there for God knows 50 years.
28:57And he would shine the shoes using his hands, literally put the polish on his hands. And then
29:03he'd play a song with the piece of cloth at the end where he's finishing the shine. And I thought
29:10it was the coolest thing. And, you know, it costs like three bucks, you know, I'm really old. This
29:14is a long, long time ago. And my dad, we walk away and the look of disappointment on his face.
29:24And he goes, I thought I taught you to shine your own shoes. And I sat there and I basically
29:32got a
29:33little lecture from him. He goes, look, you need to iron your own shirt, shine your own shoes.
29:39And that's kind of the extension of, you know, if you shine your own shoes and you take, you know,
29:46the care and the pride and dressing a certain way and you show up, you should act the certain way.
29:53It's like athletes. They always say it was the first on the field and the last out. No matter
29:57how much talent you have, you can't replicate hard work. And I would take the guy with the positive
30:02spirit and the good work ethic over the best athlete. And that was really it. It was, you know,
30:08playful way of saying, hey, what's the first thing you do in the morning? Don't reach for your phone,
30:12which so many of us are guilty of doing. Like literally make your bed and you have an easy
30:17win to your name. So check that one thing off the list and then move on to the next and
30:22the next.
30:23And I think as a leader, and we're fortunate to have these seats, you have to be able to demonstrate
30:29that you're willing to put in the hard work. You're willing to roll up your sleeves, do the little
30:35things and lead by example. And I've always done that from, you know, days playing sports in college
30:40and high school, to being a junior analyst trying to prove myself on Wall Street. You know, you put
30:47in the hard work and then when you reach the pinnacle, you actually should work even harder.
30:51It's not the luxury of the other way. Really, it's just a philosophy to show your teammates that
30:58we're all partners and not above, you know, any task that's out of us.
31:04Can you share your personal philosophy towards family integration into business? I've a lot of
31:10people talk about work-life balance. I tell people I don't have a work life and I don't have a
31:17personal
31:17life. I have one life. So you get, you get all, you get all of me all the time and
31:21that includes my
31:21family. Yeah. Listen, I, I, I'm not a believer in the phrase work-life balance. Um, I think it's a
31:29misnomer, you know, it was like during the work from home era, um, someone actually asked me and,
31:35and, and I, and I heard Jamie Dimon say this quote and I loved it. He's like, you know, where,
31:40when,
31:41what days do you work from home? I said, I work from home on Saturdays and Sundays.
31:46And it wasn't meant to be like, I'm going to work so much harder than anyone. It's not good to
31:50have
31:50balance. It's actually quite the opposite. If you end up realizing first and foremost, that we're given
31:58an opportunity in this country to work hard and you view your job as an opportunity to learn and
32:06grow as an opportunity to build a foundation upon which you're going to build a skyscraper on
32:12the lens of work and life are not different because we're fortunate. And, you know, you have kids, I
32:20have kids, and we're, we're fortunate to go home to a family. And I view that as a blessing, you
32:27know,
32:27to be able to call myself a father, call myself a husband, like these are truly gifts. So you never
32:35go home and you're like, Oh, it's, it's a chore. I need balance from home life. Right. Sometimes,
32:40you know, you get annoyed by the day to day, but that's when you can zoom out, put it in
32:47perspective.
32:49It's a real opportunity and a blessing to have a family life. It's a real opportunity and a blessing
32:54to have a personal life, similar to have a work life. And I always ebb and flow. There is no
33:00perfect
33:01equilibrium between the three levers of work, personal, and family. You will always have to
33:09make sacrifices in one or the other. Make sure that you can put it in perspective to be grateful
33:14that you have those opportunities. Make sure you give it your all and get joy out of it. And that's
33:20where the day to day comes in. And this is another part of the podcast where my daughters will be
33:25rolling their eyes, which is about enjoying the journey. And, you know, you hear it's all,
33:30oh, it's not about the destination. It's about the journey. I actually think it's about the little
33:34things. And it's, you know, I got to a point, turned 50 recently, and I realized I'm like, what we
33:41call
33:41challenges and problems to find a solution. That's actually where the joy comes in is having the toolkit
33:48to apply it and solve things. And that's how I find my balance, where it's like, I, you know,
33:55have I annoyed my family on vacation to have to take a conference call more times? You can have I
34:01cut vacation short more times you can count weekends, etc. But it's really about trying to strike
34:07a balance of realizing that we are gifted these opportunities, having the right attitude towards
34:15it, you get more joy out of it. And then being present, and it's compartmentalizing that I view
34:21it as quality, not quantity. You know, with my family, and when I'm with my kids, it's, you know,
34:27I'm with my kids. And that's a different moment in time than, you know, even being on a zoom, like
34:34hopping on this, putting the phone on do not disturb, just being ultra present, actually,
34:40you gain more joy out of it. And if anyone has a better answer, I'm all ears, because I've been
34:44trying to solve for this for almost three decades. So I remember when I first became a dad, one of
34:49my
34:50favorite quotes to teach my son was the Batman quote, why do we fall? So we can learn how to
34:55get
34:56back up. Can you share? Can you share a time recently where you've fallen, and you were able
35:02to get back up? Yeah, I fall pretty regularly. So that's my specialty. You know, I fall 10 times,
35:10I get up 11. And, you know, the big and the small falls, as long as you get up, makes
35:16sense. That's
35:17that's the most important thing. And I'll tell you, do you have a story about your biggest fall?
35:23There have been a few of them, there have been a few of them. You know, my biggest fall, I
35:28would say
35:28we opened a casino in Vegas, called the SLS. And that casino, to me was bulletproof. And you know,
35:39when you have conviction about something, and you're like, this will, I believed wholeheartedly
35:45that we were ready to change the game in Vegas. And long story short, we launched this hotel,
35:53August of 2014. Incredible vision by the founder, incredible team, we over programmed it with
36:01nightlife and restaurants. And Philippe Stark was the designer. And it was going to drive the traffic
36:07to the north end of the strip. And we needed it, we didn't need to raise four or $5 billion.
36:13We were
36:14scrappy young guys who would do this on, you know, a shoestring budget of only a billion and a half.
36:20Yes. And, and we thought we had the formula. And you know, it's kind of every restaurateur's
36:30biggest nightmare. We threw a grand opening that still to this day, people talk about what an
36:35incredible party that was. And we showed, and we showed up to work that Monday, and no one showed up.
36:43And you're sitting there, you're like, huh, people aren't coming to the very north end of the strip,
36:49that might as well be a state north of Nevada. People are really coming here to party, but
36:56they're coming on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday
37:02night, no matter how good the food is, people aren't coming. And when I tell you, I don't even
37:08view it as a failure. It was the ultimate wake up call where as much as we have conviction in
37:14what
37:14we do, you can't drink your own Kool-Aid, and be realistic. And when you know, the entire world
37:20is pointing to facts and data, it's good to be bold, it's good to go against the grain. But there
37:26are limits. And you should see what's a flashing red light and what's a flashing yellow light.
37:32And, you know, the best part of this story outside of the lessons learned, which, you know,
37:36I could do a whole nother podcast with you on this one. It's what came out of it with Jose.
37:42Yeah.
37:43And Jose came and he created, we needed a steakhouse. And at the time, we're looking at M&A
37:47opportunities, trying to acquire another big famous franchise steak brand to bring it to Vegas. We
37:52lost out on that process, but it was the greatest bid that we never hit where Jose came in. He
37:58goes,
37:59I'll do a steak concept for you. We're going to call it Bazaar Meat. And it's a celebration of
38:04steaks. And after an incredible 11-year run, which went from the SLS Vegas, then it became the W for
38:10a moment. Then it went back to the old Sahara brand. And the owners did a phenomenal job of bringing
38:16that
38:16property to its roots of being the Sahara. Everything turned over except Bazaar Meat. And we had an 11-year
38:24run where locals loved it. It was ranked the number one steakhouse in Vegas year in and year out. People
38:31traveled from around the world to experience Bazaar Meat. That was the silver lining that came out of
38:39it. And ultimately, you know which team I ended up on. And then just last month, we relocated Bazaar Meat
38:46into the palazzo at the Venetian with our friends at Venetian and have launched arguably what is one of
38:52the most memorable, iconic steakhouses that Vegas has ever seen in Bazaar Meat at palazzo.
38:59But that's the silver lining out of something that, you know, we had a lot of dark days
39:04trying to make that casino work.
39:06So going from dark days to sunny days, can you share a behind-the-scenes story with Jose
39:12that most of us don't get to see? He has such a dynamic personality, what he does for this world,
39:18what he does for restaurants, what he does for hospitality. But as you said, the details matter.
39:23Tell us a story recently of something that makes you smile working with Jose.
39:29Yeah, Jose often makes me smile. He's one of the most kind-hearted, authentic humans you'll ever meet.
39:36And I have so much respect and admiration, not just... And what you see is the tip of the iceberg.
39:41You know, I'm fortunate I get to see Jose the man. You know, Jose the father, being a father of
39:48daughters, I can tell you the pride he takes in his girls. It literally makes you choke up thinking
39:53about it because he lives for his wife and his daughters. And, you know, his beautiful wife's by
39:59his side. He's close to his family. And, you know, he's an honest, hardworking man, which I always
40:05respect. And he doesn't talk about that. He lives that. And the love he has for people extends from
40:14people, not just in distress, which is the, again, just the tip of the iceberg that you see with the
40:20amazing work he does with his nonprofit that he founded with Rob Wilder called World Central Kitchen.
40:26Outside of my purview, nonprofit, totally separate team. Everyone knows that brand and the amazing work
40:33those men and women do. But it's really the care he has for the team members. He knows the food
40:39runners' names. He knows our guests, making sure that any new, you know, some guest who's a first-time
40:46visitor is welcomed. And how did we, you know, he, I'm not kidding you, I get tweets sent over to
40:52me,
40:52you know, he's like, can we make sure this guest is taken care of? They had a bad experience. You
40:57think
40:57someone with millions of followers, global brand, hanging out with, you know, his friends are way cool,
41:03more than my friends, you know, he cares. He genuinely cares. And he cares about our partners.
41:10You know, he asks, he's like, you know, how are our partners, how are the owners of Ritz Nomad doing?
41:14You know, I hear the market's been tough in New York. You know, no, we're doing great. It's crushing
41:18it. You know, they're, they're happy. That care goes back to right in, right in the early 2000s,
41:24right? We'd never used the word pandemic before. We're sitting there all trying to figure out,
41:28you know, what the heck's happening. And I'm in his backyard and we were, you know, sitting outside
41:34one night, had a couple of glasses of wine and he was smoking a stogie. And I asked him the
41:39question,
41:40I said, what do you want to do? And cause it was, it was clear. We all had those existential
41:45moments
41:45and I'm, you know, I'm, I've known the man, I knew the company, but I'm coming into a new role
41:50and you
41:50want to do good for everyone involved in your, while you're trying to figure out how to navigate these
41:55waters. And he, I'll never forget. He leaned in and he goes, Sam, I feed the few and I feed
42:01the many.
42:03And that kind of stuck with me. And then I started to hear him say this out over and over
42:07again.
42:08And in his mind, what that translated to was show love, show love through food. The power of food
42:17can transform and change the world for good, feed people. And in his case, he's feeding the many
42:26cooking, handing out meals and hurricane, you know, God forbid the war zones he's been.
42:33And, you know, you can go to a three Michelin two-star experience in DC and have arguably one
42:40of the most incredible meals you'll ever have in your lifetime. That's the few, but those people walk
42:45away. And what they're sharing in is the love of all the chefs that have put blood, sweat and tears
42:52to creating that art. And that's feeding the few and everyone in between. Um, and I've always loved
43:00that. Like, I love the kind heart that he has. And I love the fact that he leads with humility
43:05and it's
43:05about the people at the end of the day, creating incredible experiences. And that woman moment in time
43:10in his backyard will be with me forever. As we wrap up, I would love to hear any advice you
43:18have
43:18to the restaurateur that's listening to this. Um, any words of hope, any words of leaning into
43:25storytelling, any, and anything that you wanted to leave our audience with? Yeah. You know, I, I,
43:31I love this industry because it's real people and it's passion. Um, you know, everyone jokes,
43:37and there are a lot easier ways to make money than being a restaurateur, um, you know, and I do
43:43love
43:43the fact that you always have to have a North star. And for all of us in this business, that
43:48North star
43:48is service. It's feeding others. And you ask any restaurateur, what do they get the most joy in?
43:56It's the look and the reaction when someone has a bite of, you know, the beef brisket that you had
44:03too much of, or, you know, uh, the croquette that takes them back and it's like, wow, that's how my
44:08mother used to make it. And if you love serving others and there's real pride in being a civil
44:16servant, get into this business and then balance the passion of head with heart. And that is a balance
44:24we all need to strike in this industry because success can be defined in different ways for those
44:32private equity firms that have invested in the restaurant business that have scaled to tens of
44:36thousands of units. Success is bottom line driven. And it's ultimately, what is the return on that
44:42investment? And the experience sometimes gets watered down. And for the guests and the original
44:50founder of that concept, that's not a successful outcome. On the flip side, you have three Michelin star
44:56restaurants ranked as the number one restaurant in the world. And people talk about it years later as one
45:01of the most incredible meals they've had. And people take pride. Like Jose, I started his career at El
45:07Bouilly. We started the world's best number one restaurant. Yet from a business standpoint, it's
45:14funding an art form, doesn't make money, ends up going out of business. I think the category that most
45:21restauranteurs fall in is somewhere in the middle. It's still a business. They're still trying to make
45:26money to feed their families. And that's of critical importance. They have outside investors
45:31that they're trying to get them their money back and a return. They have partners like hotel partners,
45:37landlords that they have a responsibility to. Yet they got into this to serve others and they have
45:43passion for making the best food. And to strike that balance to make sure that you take the ego out
45:50of it,
45:51deliver what people want to eat, deliver it with your magic touch, yet know that we're stewards of
45:58other people's capital and have responsibilities on the business side. And it's trying to strike that
46:03balance, which is so critical in our business. That's the vast majority of the spectrum versus
46:10the bookends that I mentioned at the outset.
46:14That is incredible. Sam, thank you so much. If you're watching this, if you're listening to this,
46:20please obviously follow Jose Andres group, all the incredible work that they do.
46:24If you want to learn more about Copia, we'll put links into the article and into the show notes.
46:29We would love to hear your Copia story. So if you're a restaurateur and you onboard Kimberly Smith
46:34and Paige, they're an incredible team. We work with them. Sam works with them. We want to make an
46:40impact together. Rising tide lifts all ships. We cannot do this all alone. Sam, is there anything
46:46you'd like to share before, before we end?
46:49Yeah. Next time I want to come down to San Diego and we do this in person.
46:52Deal.
46:53I appreciate you. Thank you for having me on, Sean. Always a pleasure listening to you and really
46:58great to be on your show.
47:00Well, I appreciate you, Sam. I can't wait to, to do this in, in real life, no matter where in
47:04the
47:05world it is. I look forward to our next conversation.
47:07Likewise. I'm looking forward to it. Be well.
47:09As always, stay curious, get involved, and don't be afraid to ask for help. Thank you.
47:16Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. If you've made it this long,
47:19you are part of the community. You're part of the tribe. We can't do this alone. We started,
47:24no one was listening. Now we have a community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe.
47:29Please check out our new series called Restaurant Technology Substack. It's a Substack newsletter.
47:34It's free. It's some of our deep work on the best technology for restaurants. Also go to YouTube
47:40and subscribe to Cali BBQ Media. Cali BBQ Media on YouTube. We've been putting out a lot of new
47:46original content. Hopefully you guys like that content. If you want to work with us, go to
47:50theshow.media. We show up all over the United States, some international countries. We would
47:55love to work with you and your growing brand on digital storytelling. You can reach out to me
48:00anytime at Sean P. Welchef on Instagram. I'm weirdly available. Stay curious, get involved. Don't be
48:06afraid to ask for help. We'll catch you next episode.
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