Holding the Star: Chef Michael Collantes on Michelin Pressure, Perspective, and What Comes Next

Support for Walk and Talk Media come from partners who believe consistency, craft, and honesty still matter. This week is less about a single episode and more about setting the framework for what's coming next. As we mentioned in the first episode of the year, Chef Michael Calantes has joined the Walk and Talk Media team. Today is a chance to add some context to what that actually means. Michael is the chef owner of Saseki, which holds one Michelin star, and Sushi Saint, which earned a Bib Gourmand. Those details matter, not for the accolades, but for the responsibility and pressure that come with operating at that level every day. Michael is cooking with us in the studio today, but more importantly, he brings a perspective shaped by living inside that world. As Walk and Talk Media continues telling stories across the industry, having that point of view in the room helps us ask better questions and create space for honest conversations with chefs operating at the highest levels. This isn't about changing what Walk and Talk is, it's about making it stronger. Let's get into it. My man, what a day today, huh? A little turned around for you, man. Yeah, so we're not in the studio. Let me just set this up. I don't know. Five things happened that were out of the ordinary, and instead of being in the studio today, we are actually in our remote studio, Sushi Saint's studio in Orlando, such a dope place. We're in the Omokase room, it's private, and we've just been able to do a lot of filming, and all the stuff we typically do, Les, John, and the photography, which stings me a little bit, but it's all for good reasons. Chef, you did a dish today. It was pretty cool. I actually asked you to do this, and you came up with a really interesting spin with the Aussie Select. I've never worked with Aussie Select. You're like, hey, can you do something with it? And immediately, my mind went to Shorma. I went to something I want at one in the morning with tons of tomb and white sauce, drunkenly heading over to chicken and rice spots and halal spots in New York City. It's a cured lamb, and you can do so much stuff with it. Shikudori, you can put it in a frying pan. It's fully cooked, but you can just do whatever you want. And the sandwich, it's, well, wrap, I guess. It's a wrap. It's a wrap. Yeah, it's a wrap. It's a hot dog. It's a sandwich. And the wrap is a sandwich, too. So this, and so this Sammy was pretty freaking badass, I'm just going to say. Those are fighting words. Is a hot dog. Is a hot dog a sandwich? Yeah, man, this, it tastes like this beautiful smoked pastrami, and then you get this gaminess of, you know, if you love lamb and you love that gaminess, and it just hits right at the end. So I thought this was such a good product to kind of just manipulate into like, yeah, Shorma be. So I dig all meat. That's game. Right. I love it all. And lamb, lamb typically does have that like strong, you know, profile. This has it, but it's, it's toned down. It's not, it's not overly funky. It's not funky. It doesn't. I don't think it'll offend people who don't typically go for lamb. It's like it's lamb funk, which is a good one. Not like barnyard funk, which I think we've all, you know, of having some point in our career, right? We're here. We got all this stuff going on and you introduced me to Mike Roddy with Wolfpack Social. Turns out he's a gem, cool cat. Welcome to the program. Yeah. Appreciate you for having me, man. 100%. What is your, real quick, what is your company? What do you do? So digital marketing, but specifically brand development, I would say we have a really strong focus with social media, content marketing. There's really all of articles on marketing that we do, but just, I really love working with brands and, you know, really going into that social media and content distribution aspect. You work very nicely. You're a servant leader. I like how you do your, I like how you do yourself. Thanks, man. 100%. I see. It's a big deal to me because honestly, I was in my first time with you today, so I was like, I really wanted to make sure I just added some value for you guys. 100% you did that. But more importantly than adding value, you're a gentleman and that's to me more important than any of the other stuff. Yeah, man. That means a lot. Thank you. You're welcome. If you're in Mike or doing some stuff together, I just automatically presume that you know what you're doing for work. Definitely. But more importantly than the work at this stage is, is this going to cool or what? And you know what? You're an all right guy. Yeah, man. I feel really blessed to be able to work with Mike too. I just met him. I met him actually not too long ago through, you know, Alex Casada. Yeah. He was one of our financial partners at some of the restaurants, man. Yeah, and I met him actually. The funny thing was I was actually brought over to Mike because he needed help with lighting and production and I had been through an underground shows at my facility and then he found that I did marketing after and then, you know, now here we are. And yeah, no. Mike is great. I really like the fact that he holds a really high standard to all the work that he does. And then also the environment that he's created has been amazing and the people within that environment has been just so awesome to work with. Everyone's been really supportive and just everyone's also just a key player. Everyone's like really good at what they do. So it's really cool to be a part of a really good team and an ecosystem full of abundance. And what they say too is like, I hate to say it, but it is truly at this point, you'll hire slow, fire fast. And you got to surround yourself with people who just know more than you can do more than you. And I tell this to one of my general managers is like, Roddy challenges us in marketing that in some instances, I'm like, I don't, this is definitely not me. And that's a good thing because you are not the demographic. Your vision is something for food or whatever. But overall, you need a lot of amazing people, a lot of amazing brains out there to come up with a concept that's just going to be globally accepted. Right. So I think getting out of that space and thinking like, hey, man, my way is a highway, which has young chefs and cooks. That's how we are. And then taking someone who thinks completely opposite of you in regards to marketing and media, turning a little bit on its head, I think we always need that challenge. Mike, we're into the third week of 26 already. And you've kind of been on the show. Like you're part of the furniture now. I'm three for three, man. You're not just a guest anymore. If you haven't heard it, Chef Michael is now team walk and talk media, and we're doing a lot of stuff together this year. We're going to be story arcing his journey to the Michelin accolade. How are you keeping it? And how are you living with that in the room? So before we kind of get into anything, how do you feel about all this? I love it. When I met you guys a couple of years ago, you could just tell this was serious production. You guys had proper gear. I think me and my marketing, Fernando, one of my marketing guys, VersoSecchi, and we were filming content. We're just running, gunning with a couple cameras, just filming content. And we just geeked about the production value you guys had and what you were doing. And to see it grow in years and like, consistencies, everything. It's just like we want to do at this certain level that we want to continue to carry on in restaurants. I feel like that's what you guys are doing with media. And just super blessed to be just a seat on the bus, honestly. That's really how I see it. And how can we all kind of pivot and grow into something new for 2026 for sure? Yeah, but when we first talked about you coming on board, it wasn't really about titles. It was more about, is this the right point in your career? You've got how many restaurants now? We have four going into five now. Yeah. All right. So you're a busy cat, yet you found time to get into this venture. Find time, make time, right? Like what's important to you? As Roddy said, this is important in your career and influence is important, right? And he sees how busy I am. Like a couple of my chefs work at the same, like a couple of my chefs work a date gig at one restaurant night gig. And they're like, wow, I see you at both restaurants. You know, I really love what I do, but my role is changing. And it's something that I was cognant of at the very beginning, even before Michelin, that I'm not going to be cooking behind the stove day in, day out, nor do I claim that either, but I just want something else out of my life. And I really fell in love with media. You know, I did a lot of, you know, food network stuff and reality TV shows and stuff like that, which is fantastic. This is fun. I'm able to still take a mentorship role in some degree. I hope someone's out there getting some value from what I'm saying and can, and graphs just even relate to some of the struggles that as a chef I went through. But do you know how many culinary students there are that in this day and age, they think they're going to go from culinary school to TV network star Michelin, James Beard, all this other stuff. And they, and they don't, I don't know that they're looking at what it takes to actually, you know, get there. Oh yeah. Yeah. You are going to be able to give some insight on how to make that happen. I don't think any of those people know. I mean, that's even a business. You'd be surprised. I've had like kids that are damning me and they're like, Hey man, I've been following your content for a while. I really love your stuff. Like I want to buy your course. I just don't have the money. Can I pay you back after it works? And I'm like, do you understand how hard this is? And I think for anything in life that's worth it, you have to be under, you have to be able to suffer. I mean, it's just really good. You have to really go through the hardships of anything to really get to where you want to be. And then how do you put a price on like, it's just walking through experience, right? Like, like you said, you're selling courses. People want, people want to be at the level without the suffer. And you can't see how great the mountain top is without the valley. Right? That's a hundred percent it. Like you got to walk through some stuff. Yeah. Spend the hours and the years. And I tell you, there's nothing that's going to replace the hundred hours that it takes to learn something. Period. The vast majority of chefs that are out there are not going to experience. Partners of Walk and Talk Media include Aussie Select, providing fully cooked premium Australian lamb trusted by chefs for quality and consistency. Learn more at AussieSelect.com. Michelin, they're not going to experience beard. They're not going to experience the food network. Michael, you've gotten to where you're getting national attention. Why was it important for you to be part of a platform that you can tell a story that goes beyond the plate? Yeah, I mean, there is a vast majority of us who are just going to be day in, day out cooks, you know, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a livelihood that we get to say, hey, I'm providing for my family. And there are chefs who are going to be. This is their second career. And, you know, this is just the passion project. Like I have one girl who, you know, she was in forensics and retired. And now she's that, you know what, I'm just going to work at a Mission Star restaurant for free until they hire me. And now where she's hired. I think that's an amazing. I don't have her on the show. Oh, it's amazing. I mean, like the stuff she's seen, I like, I don't even want to know. But and then there is the group that just wants to be private chasser. They want to get that fame and notoriety and cooking is the platform. None of it's wrong. None of it's bad. It's, it's what you want out of your life and what you want to do. But I, it was so important for me to do this podcast in this perspective of like, listen, we're still maintaining our Mission Stars and opening new restaurants and all that, but I have other aspirations in life. And I think there is that generational gap where before it was like, you're a chef through and through, you're going to die on the stove. And, and this is, if you're not in that kitchen and you claim to be there or something like that, you know, and I think that's, that's crazy. Life is long and short at the same time. And it's yours and no one else's experience. And if you want to experience getting off of Neberg or doing this podcast and experience it, you know, so the fact that you have a long form platform to kind of share experiences and even kind of, you know, point to where it is that you want to go next. Do you think this is something Mochefs today want? Or is this, you know, is this Mike's concoction? I hope so. I hope there's someone's going to find value from this. Someone's going to say, you know what, I quit my job and, and started working at a Mission Star restaurant just because I want to see what it's about. Or I stodged at a place or, you know, I picked up a camera and I started filming. Like, I just hope whatever this is, someone else is getting closer to their personal journey of what they want to do in life. Right. Stop doing things for other people and do something for them. Even if it's like your work, your 40 hour, I love that saying, Rodney, where it's like the nine to five pays the bills. The five to nine is where you build your dreams. Yeah, I think 100%. That's it. That and that did, I did that because I actually worked. I got a job in an agency because I saw that the guys that were all working there and they were like guys my age, working out of a penthouse running a figure business, they all went to the gym at 5 30 in the morning. So I woke up every day at 4 50, drove to the gym and just showed up with them. And I was just like, Hey, what's up? And they're like, what are you doing here? I was like, I'm just coming to the gym with you guys. And they're like, OK, so I was like from downtown to Lake Mary every day in the morning. I went in the sea. I was like, you want to work out with me? And I was like, yeah, let me work out with you. And then I literally built a really strong friendship with him to the point where we mean him or like brothers and best friends built an agency ourselves together that I wasn't allowed to work on. So I would wake up at 4 50, go to the gym at 5 30, be done at 7 30, go to the office, take a shower there, wait for all them to get there at 9, work till five and then get home at 6 30 and then work on my agency from 6 30 to 1 2 3 4 in the morning. Some days, Fridays, I did I was up for 24 hours. It's it's that in between time when you focus on your dream, right? That's that's it. What you guys are doing with this podcast, man. Yes, you're saying all the right stuff to me. I'm usually up between 2 30 and 3 30 every day. That's ungodly. That's unholy. It hurts. I don't I did just full disclosure. I don't do that anymore. It was there. Well, I do it. I do I do it because it has to be done. Yeah. You know, we've gotten a lot of growth. So just for a recap of everyone listening, the company Walking Dog Media starts started in 2020. The podcast was 2022. So from 2022 to 2026 today, you know, we've maintained this this number one food podcast on Apple charts. We were the final. It were a finalist for the People's Choice Podcast Awards in 2024. I mean, we just I mean, in May, we did a documentary. The documentary ended up. It ended up getting recognized at the Central Florida Film Festival and then also at the Folkstone Film Festival in the UK. So we're doing all this stuff. Well, guess what? Things have to get edited. Things have to get looked at and there's not enough time in the day to make all this stuff happen. So yeah, I'm up. I'm doing all those things. And when you're so when you're talking about, you know, that life, I mean, I'm I am there at the moment at this very moment. Yeah, you have momentum and you can't just let that go. You know, when you when you catch lightning in a bottle, like you got to just keep moving. You know, I mean, like it's not about OK, cool. Now we have momentum. Once chill, it's like, no, now you have momentum. Now it's time to go. Now it's time to work even harder. Double down, right? 100 percent. Support for Walk and Talk Media comes from Metro Food Service Solutions trusted by kitchens that need storage and workflow that actually does the job. Learn more at Metro.com. People love the headline, Michelin Star. But holding that star, it's demanding. Michael, you're in a different place, though. What did you have to do? How did you have to create and manage a team in order for you to be at a place where you can spend time with me on a Thursday? Right. Production. Well, you know, granted right after this, you know, filming with you for eight dollars, I go and work service still. Some days, right? Or I'm DJing at Perlis Pizza, which is a lot more fun for me. No, but to go back to what you said, like, how do you build not build yourself out, but everyone wants something different, right? I knew that surrounding myself with talented people as well as cultivating a great team dynamic and was going to be the way that I could fulfill the other things I want to do in my life. But I'll tell you this. You'll spend, I don't know who's this and this, most chefs or cooks. And you're the cooking part of your life is the easiest. You're going to thank God for the times that you were just cutting chives and washing dishes compared to figuring out HR and P&L meetings and how to keep the wheels on the bus on five restaurants. Like, honestly, like that's that's OK. Like you're walking into new territory that you have to conquer. So how do I do it without like losing my mind every single week is surround yourself with good people. Get people to understand what you're building towards. If you're getting to a restaurant chef ownership side, like so much of the character of you will be the character of them. Right. Everyone, everything underneath you, we always say it in the kitchen, everything underneath you, everything that happens to this place is your fault, good or bad. For a long time, I was the guide. I was a bad chef. I was a screaming yelling kind of. And you learn a little bit of it was a learned thing. And in a lot of it was this kind of zeroed in focus of success. And then you look back and say, what's the measure of that success? If I just made a complete mess of all these people and all these things, right? That was a hard life lesson to learn how to be a better leader. And I said it in the last podcast that that leadership side is is still something I'm trying to learn how to be better at. Take us through the period of time after you get the announcement. You do all the work, right? The team does the work. You do the work. Everybody does the work. You get recognized. The flash comes. The flash goes six months later. Where's your head? I always knew that that one wasn't going to be enough for me in the in the sense of like, what's next? Like, I hate to be that guy who's always what's next. But six months after Michelin, you're going to double down. I think there's one thing. Can I just say one thing, man? When you got me, when you got Michelin and a team, we had a great team and everything like that. What during that time? And then you you start to change. I hate to say it, but you did. You start to change a few things. The thing that got you to Michelin or got you to the award or got you to that place, you start double. You're thinking back, hey, well, we need to increase it. We didn't make it better. We need to. There was a moment when we started looking outward instead of in and not truly in comparison of like, let's take that and copy that. But it's just like, you know, we always want to continue to elevate. But I think it got to a little bit of a place where it was elevating it for the wrong reasons and then at a pace or a rate that was more for edification of, hey, let's go after two stars rather than this is what we're building for us. How do you find that balance? I don't know. I'm still working towards that. Like how do you look at your success because you want that next level of success? Are you pushing forward for the right reasons? Are you changing the service cues and the product because you know that it's the right time and right thing? Or it's, hey, we know that we're going to be able to do that. It's, hey, we know this will, we know there's a formula of success. And let's start to double down on that formula. Walk and Talk Media is proudly supported by Rack Porcelain USA, creating durable, beautifully designed tableware for chefs and hospitality professionals. Learn more at rackporcelain.com. I think it's kind of like if I went out and got a 1000 horsepower vehicle and I know that I'm going to rip the street open. But I can still maintain the speed limit. I kind of think that's that's how you make Michelin work. You need to gear up. You need to be ready. It has to go. But you know what? You got to control yourself. Yeah. Right. Or else, you know, you're going to, you're going to spin out and kill somebody. Yeah. So that's my problem is I'd rather have a 500 horsepower car and put the meth, you know, and just rip it. I want a slow car that could drive fast. I would say that's more fun. A sleeper. You want to be a sleeper? I love cars. So we're always like, I'd much rather get a lower power car and just max it out than then have a, you know, a 1000 horsepower supercar and never be able to have enough road to get there. But that's, you know, that's something I should think. Don't hate my analogy. No, no, no, man. That's true. But it is true, like restraint. And I'm finding it now in my career. It only took 25 years, guys, you know, so fine restraint in cooking, restraint and dealing with people and dealing with situations, but definitely in cooking, right? Like my food now has gone. It's more about how much we could take away from a dish and how much we can add, which is interesting. People who are not in the business, they understand only so much. So if I go to the local wings joint, I know that I'm going to get wings. I'm going to get whatever heat level I want. I'm going to get some, I'm going to get ranch. You blue cheese people can take a go pound sand. I'm a ranch guy. Yeah. But with that said, you know what you're going to get and you go and it's great. And that's that's kind of what they know. And then you have some other people that go to the, you know, the upper level places. But when you're talking about the average person, what do you think most people don't understand or recognize about getting a star? Like, is there something that's misinterpreted? Well, can I say that your average guest, three star, post star, post award accolades, whatever you want to call it, especially with Michelin, there are guys who are just star chasers, right? They go around the world just eating at Michelin star restaurants. They some of them have a great palate. Some of them don't. Some of them just go because it's on the guide. I mean, I do when I travel, the first place I look is Michelin. I'm like, let me find some beer, big Vermont, some recommended. You know, because you feel like it's going to be on a level, a certain level. You know, if you want to narrow down a hundred restaurants down to 30, you know, you're going to go to an eater or Yelp, whatever it is, right? You want to narrow down the choices. And we have diners who have a palette that's a little bit more advanced. And it also opens you up to a little bit more scrutiny, right? People are looking at them, you know, and as I said before, like you're starting to upgrade things in your restaurant, you never thought about the floors, the napkins, how things feel because it's like you're opened up to new palette, new diners, people who've been around the world, different experiences. I think that's a good thing. It should challenge us. Aesthetics matter. Everything matters. Aesthetics always matter. I'm here for you in a dump or not. I mean, you can have the best food in town. So like for me, so let me back up. My wife, my lovely wife. She wants to go out and get a plate of food. Kind of would kind of something like you would get at home. When I go out, I don't want a big plate of food. I want I want to be wowed. I want to take a bite. I don't care if you you can bring me a one taster on a spoon. But if it's bad ass, that's what I want. I want I want something I haven't had before. You know, the other stuff we can make at home or we can go to the diner, whatever. I want that extra level. So my expectation would be, yeah, you better wow me. And it's not that if you don't wow me, like I'm going to look down my nose and be snooty or no, it's not that at all. It's just that's that's as a as a as a somebody who's a foodie and works in the business and does this food media thing. That's kind of where my mind is at. Well, you see, you said earlier when you were doing the we shooting content with Mike, you know, Mike said the thing that matters the most, the thing that people remember is how you made them feel, right? Like the way that the air they looked, like the like the food and like how it made them feel and like what they're going to be able to do with it after is like why they're going to come back. They're not going to remember your name. They're not going to remember the dish. They're not going to remember it. It's just like that is what's going to leave an impact with somebody. But not like every other industry. This is so subjective to your own personal experience and opinion. So like, can you tell like we're in sushi, right? Four out of five hospitality professionals have faced at least one mental health challenge during their career. Stress, burnout, anxiety. These are everyday realities in kitchens, dining rooms and bars across North America. The Burnchef Project North America is here to change that. They provide free anonymous support, direct care, training and self care resources designed specifically for chefs, servers and hospitality staff. From therapy services to educational modules, they're answering the call for help in one of the toughest industries. It can't be done alone. Your financial support makes this possible, ensuring that every hospitality professional has access to the tools they need to thrive. Join the movement in breaking the stigma. Email uscanada at theburnchefproject.com for donation details and mailing information, or learn more about the mission at theburnchefproject.com. I pump in a certain smell into this place through our AC units to evoke like just luxury. I did this. It smells like a certain hotel that I consult with and I said, man, I love this smell. And so when you walk through this place, you're like, oh, this, right? And then I went to Sozeki and I had a guest come in and they said, man, oh, have you tried any sushi places lately? And he says, oh, there's this place sushi scene. The food's okay, but God, that place, gings and perfume. There you go. I was like, and then my service manager goes, that's the chef owns that. And I said, dude, it's totally fine. It's not for everybody. Like it's not for everybody and that's okay. But I do say like, like you said, like, I don't mind eating a taco place at a dump or whatever. It's like, it's a different experience. It's just how I made me feel during that moment, right? You see me. I eat tacos. Theory of a fancy place with tacos, right? Yeah. You give me the tacos, give me the smash burgers, give me the pizza, give me all that stuff. I'm so down for that. But that's different. If I'm going there, that's for a whole different cause. It's a whole different night. Right, right. Absolutely. But when we're talking about like just elevated food and chefs, and I mentioned this to you before, I believe, but I look at chefs. So I was in food service sales, a distribution for 25 years more. And in order to stay motivated, I like baseball and I used to collect baseball cards as a kid. So when I look at chefs, I kind of correlate them to, I mean, they're almost like baseball cards, you know, the restaurants, the hotels, the chefs, it's like collecting cards. So for me, I stay motivated and it's kind of cool. It keeps me interested. Do you know what I mean? Right, right. Makes any sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we ended up at sushi same today doing the show and it is a bib gourmand. And of course, Sasaki, that's your one star. You know, cool, not cool. I mean, definitely cool, man. I mean, you know, when I found out what Michelin was, you know, in my 20s, honestly, it was a little bit later than most, I guess. But and then started working at Michelin star restaurants. I wanted, I wanted it so badly. But how do you define them? How do you define each of them? Like you get one, right? Like if you have two kids, you have two children. And one is an ace in scholastics, but can't throw a baseball to save their life. Or the other one, you know, is going to be a linebacker, but they can't count the 10. You know, how do you, I mean, you love them both. How do you, how do you deal with it? Ask me that when we get a Michelin star for this one. But, you know, it's just like that with kids. One child can't do what the other one can, right? I can't at the 10 seat one mission star restaurant, 24 courses. The guys there would much rather me not be in service every day because I pop in there every once in a while, but they run a very tight program. It's dialed in. It's, it's a play that has, you know, that stage so well and properly. Like when I come in, I'm like, Hey, let's change this. That I don't have the ability to do that. It's, we plan so far in advance for a full menu change. Sushi, same. It's lively. It's loud. People are laughing and screaming and having a good time. If we want to change something in the next day on the fly, we have that ability to you. So each restaurant serves a different function. Will I ever do like, well, I mean, I have a few restaurants. It's like sushi, St. 1 and 2, 3, 1 in New York, whatever it is, that are similar, but very different, you know, in certain instances. But it all kind of fulfills me in a different way. Like how great would it be for us to get an accolade for Perla's pizza, but it's a different animal. It's $20 pizzas open to one in one of the mornings, spinning vinyls. It's a different animal, but we still chase excellence. I think that's the thing, whether it starts with the M, it starts with a J, with a James Beard or a Michelin or, or just a local, like be proud of that. There's going to be a lot of people are like, man, you ain't worth it. That place ain't worth it or whatever of that. No. This session of walk and talk media is made possible by Citrus America, delivering fresh Florida citrus and juice solutions to food service professionals nationwide. Learn more at CitrusAmerica.com. The team worked so hard to give consistent product every single day, celebrate the wins for a while. I was embarrassed. Like I don't want to talk about like the accolades and stuff like that, not like humble, like, but it almost like, oh, you think you're better than us because you got this or that. No, man, celebrate that with your team. Be humble about it. Like for us, the number one, we say thing we say at all of our restaurants, ego is a dream killer. There is no ego with it. We don't think we're better than anyone else. We're just working really hard to give the best. And that's it because the hate comes quick brother. There's tons of hate that's out there. Yeah, tons of it. And you, and you know, I believe a lot of that comes from folks who genuinely don't know what they're looking at. Number one, number two, there is no shortage of literal haters around us. They don't want to see someone do good because of their own shortcoming. They're 100% their own thing. And you know, we run into that too, clearly. I mean, I, and I know because, I mean, listen, I have, I have literally, I've said this before and whatever, but I have literally worked with thousands of chefs in the course of my career. I know chefs and I know how they talk and I know how they act. And it's just what it is. I've had so many of them on the program over the last five years, six years almost now. I know who doesn't want me to succeed, even though they were on the program. Geez, I know who's who. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? But here's the thing, the people who support you are the best people on the planet. Not the ones who are kissing your ass. I'm talking about the ones who literally support you with genuine intention. Like, man, those people are angels and superstars for the business. Yeah. And I'd much rather have two than 200, right? Of those quality people. And that's, you know, you could choose your eye gaze, what your eyes gaze at. You can gaze at the things that tear you down or the things are going to lift you up. Maybe the things that lift you up are 2% of the bigger pie, but that's who you focus on. You focus on your day in, day out team that's still believing the cause and what you're doing. And the people that put in the work, man, when you get to this level, because there's always going to be hate. I mean, we get discouraged when we don't reach a certain level. And I'm very, like, we run a really tight ship. Like the whole, this is just how chefs are in chefs talk. I cut that shit out quick, like at my restaurant. So I said, we don't talk about that. We don't celebrate other people's losses. Like we are, I am, like people get fired over this in my restaurant. There's just no place for it. Like, I know another chef right now, he has, you know, Michelin, Omakase, great operation. You know, his team left him, he's left in the dust and he has to pick up the pieces. Like I wish that on no one, you know, because I know how the mystrel, I know what I had to, I know my demons that I had to do to get through this and, and all the people that like, you know, just, yeah, they're out there that they just don't want to see you succeed. But listen to that or listen to the ones that do, right? When I was younger, you know, you're young and dumb, and you would be driving and you see somebody with a flat tie and you're, yeah, look at them. Yeah, as, as you get older, much older, especially for me, it took me a long time. I want everyone to win, even if I don't like you, even if I'm like, I can, I can, I have people that I genuinely do not like, but I wish them no harm. I wish them the best. And it took me forever to get to that point. And on those age, right? But at the end of the day, I know that I have to, I have to put out good feeling. I know that I have to try to love people, you know, when I don't want to, you know, it's a thing. And it's a lot of work. It's not easy. I like these, these conversations way better than it where you worked in all, you know, mean like all the regular podcasts I do, like this is it. This is the gritty stuff that you know, one talks about. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah. It's like, it's the, this is the real value. This is like what people want to know is like, you know, before I get into something like how about is it going to suck? I'm down for the suck, but just like, how bad am I looking at? You know what I mean? Could you give me a measure of suck? Yeah, like, where is my level of suck going to be? You know, like, are you going to handle here? Okay, that's fine. I'll do it. Then let's go. You know, Roddy, you know, when we started this thing, the name was walk and talk, the restaurant life. And it's always been about the realness of the industry. So we've always appealed to foodies, because we, you know, we're talking about food, we have the best chefs that, you know, come through the program, all that. But the truth is, it's very business oriented, it's very industry oriented. And it's what goes on behind the veil that we really kind of like to get into. 100%. I don't think people realize how important hospital, I was a bartender for seven years before I was a marketer. And I actually still bartended while I was working at that agency. And I am, one of my superpowers is people. And I learned every single one of those skill sets and those traits and those characteristics that makes me a good leader and an under and a good salesman, and somebody that can sit with guys that are multiple nine figure individuals that are 10, 20 years old of me and have a conversation with them, because like I've worked at a high volume craft cocktail lounge and I had clientele that was very like well often very high level guys coming in and getting drinks, but I just knew how they spoke and how they walked and talked. And I was able to carry that over. I think everybody should get a job in hospitality at some point in their life because it teaches you so much even damage control. You know what I mean? Like figuring out how to solve problems in a really high stress situation, like how many times do you have to do that in a day at a restaurant? It's a lot. I mean like there's situations that demanded. It's people, you're dealing with people. We're in the service industry is people. We're in the people that, and I've got, you know, like when I look for investors and different guys and they want to jump on and maybe they're a real estate guy or they're a crypto guy. So they're just in their room making money by themselves not having it. They don't understand the dynamic of well why do you close last week or why do you have Christmas Eve, Christmas day off, New Year's Day. Like those aspects where it's not just money. I've been in this industry way too long that it's, you know, you get what you put out, right? 100%. And so you treat people good. They treat you good. You make money for them. They make money for you. That kind of relationship. And I get, you know, some of the things from Mission and in the beginning it's really, you know, you're struggling, struggling, struggling. You got Mission Star, you got Accolades, you got James Beard and now it's just like, hey, we should open a restaurant together someday. Hey, you know what? I'd really like to invest in you someday, right? And you have to have discernment in who that person is, how they made their money, discernment and what kind of partner are going to be because it's so easy guys. Can I just say it's like, man, that flash of money was, wafts near you. You smell a little bit of that and you're like, wow, I can open up my third, fourth restaurant with this guy. What's that cost to you? You know, what are you going to have to lose? It's nothing free in life, baby. I'll tell you that. We had to play with everything, man. I swear. What I can, what I envision is the dude with the squirrely mustache there. He's like, sign here, make the steak boy all sales. You definitely have to watch who you get into bed with. Oh my, especially in the restaurant business, because there's so many, man, how many times have you seen a restaurant open? It's open, it's even making money. And then the staff shows up one morning and the door's locked and everybody just took off with the loot and ran basically. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll tell you, man, I've opened a lot of restaurants, I've closed a lot of restaurants too. There's this new documentary coming out with Gordon Ramsay that I think it's on Netflix. I love like he's, you know, like, we've all been in that. I mean, like now it's, I'm in a different place, right? It's not just one restaurant anymore. Now it's like I'm trying to build something. I'm trying to build a restaurant group. Not many chefs can say that and not many chefs are successful in building multi-level restaurant groups, man. And the biggest thing that holds them back is themselves. I'll just be really real. I held myself back and the growth of our company for a while because I couldn't grow. I couldn't be better than myself. I couldn't, I couldn't manage people. I couldn't manage my emotions of being, you know, I couldn't manage the level of stress, uh, running multiple units, man. Can you please move your big stones out of the way that you said that about yourself? Because I can't see you anymore. You know, it takes a lot, it takes a lot of guts to admit fault. Yeah. It takes even more guts to admit failure. Well, that's what I want. I think this time, I'm glad you guys reached out because this is such a different point of view. I was, when you met me, we're doing podcasts and we're talking and we were doing that kind of, Hey, where you worked and well, missed all your accolades. How wonderful. All that, uh, this past couple of years, I've been through some stuff. I got jaded quick. I've been through the ringer. Um, some years really sucked. Not that that's, you know, I don't want to be the Debbie Downer of, you know, walk and talk, but I want to bring that perspective of it's not all rainbows and sun shines and also this is just a hard gig, but you can find success and you can find the silver lining even in your mess. You can find grace and you can, you know, still enjoy, uh, what you're doing. Let me tell you, man, it's even harder when your wife is literally your business partner, you know, 100%. I honestly see that with you and I respect, I respected so much because I just don't think I could do it. It's like, man, I just don't think I could do it with my wife. Well, I already, you know, I already say yes, dear at home. So it's just another 80 hours outside, outside of the house. So you have to say yes. No, but Jill's on, dude, your wife is amazing too. And like, I, he said, I love talking with her. She's so funny and she is a G on it. She's easy. Yeah. Like you, she, the way that she walks around and holds herself, I'm like, oh yeah, that's a, it's a boss. That's a boss be right there. Yeah. Shout out to the baby mama. Michael, what's your, what's your driver right now? Michael, what was the main driver for you jumping back into media and specifically with us? Where do you see yourself going with this? You know, I really, uh, jumping back into media and doing it and, um, well, one, you know, walk and talk your team and what you've built Carl is like, you know, we talk about like some of the directions we want to go and you could go so many different directions with media. You could, you know, the tick tock, the IG, the YouTube videos and more running gun, but you guys do something in such excellence. Like, I'm making one dish for Carl for four hours. I'm, I'm like losing my mind because he wants to get every shot. Perfect. And I'm like, it's just wiping down the board, bro. Like, I'm just sharpening my knives, man. Um, and then I see the end product and I'm like, this is why. Um, so one is just the, the excellence that you guys do in media, like nothing's good enough. And I think that's again, you have to have that level of just maniacal scrutiny to say, hey, it's not about me. You just want to make it right all the time. Uh, that, that gets to that level of Michelin or James Beard or to an accolade level, um, that I want to do in media, uh, the right way. And so that, that really drew me to it. And it's just, I guess we have all these things in life and, and, uh, we go through all these things. I've been through a lot, you know, from sobriety to, you know, just the craziest things and traveling and working with salamone. I have stories to tell, but I also want to hear other people's stories. And I hope, you know, um, I love talking to people, you know, being in a nomacase chef, being a sushi chef, you're in front of guests all the time and you're telling the same stories. I think what this was, uh, really about is like opening up the, uh, the floodgates to new audience, opening up the gate to, to have, um, a bigger voice and hopefully someone can gain some sort of value from here, you know, that, that's what I love. Like get, you know, the reality shows are cool. You get to see me cook and yell at people and stuff like that. But, um, you don't get to know who I am and you don't get, I hopefully there's something in all of this that I get to do with you guys that, that people just resonate, um, find some common ground and, uh, you know, chase some dreams, man and do cool stuff. My dirty secret with this is I am a reflection of the people who I'm around. Yeah. You see John, John is a perfectionist, right? You see Pooch, the guy is, he makes things happen through brute force, not necessarily finesse. He makes it happen. Yeah. He manifests it and then he executes. He's an executor. He's a, yeah, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. 100%. Johnny Clutch, a man of action. Yeah. 100% of them. I'm a little of all of those, but sometimes I need, I need to see the best of the best and I want to, I want to, I want to rub elbows with the people who are the best of the best and that, and that circle, it's like an expanding pie. It needs to grow in order to get more of that excellence and more of that motivation and more drive because if John and Pooch and a few other people that we work with, if they were, you know, if they were droops, I would be one too. For sure. You know, I am, I am definitely a product of my environment and the people in my environment. 100%. So, you know, the fact that I have an idea what it takes to, to get into Michelin, not because of any experience necessarily of it, but it has to be leadership. It has to be the end product. It has to be consistency. It, and these are things I, those are the things I understand. So for me, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm soaking up sort of that, some of that energy, just walking into these places. Yeah. Like, you know, lining it into other areas of your life, right? 100%. Yeah. You know, it's so funny because I was that guy who's like, my work life is amazing. You know, like I'm chasing stars. I'm working at a three mission star restaurant as a young chef and then you go home, you're eating big Macs, your, your, your house is a freaking mess. You know, your life's just like, you just compartmentalize and you're just, now it's like, how do you live out that excellence that you portray or that you do 40, 50, 60 hours a week and let that apply to other aspects of your life? And that's what I want to see with media is like finding a group of guys who like, you know, we're not going to get hurt from you telling, you know, Hey, this is wrong. We got to redo it. It's like, Hey, that's what I want. We just, we want to operate at that level. And I thought that's really why I, you know, came on board, man, to be honest, this isn't something we've actually spoken about yet. But what do you think the audience should expect from you and what we're doing with Walk and Talk Media in 2026? Walk and Talk Media, I hope we obviously production value is going to keep going. We opened up the doors to other James Beard mission star individuals, just, just key, just rock stars and innovators of our industry. I hope that's going to be a key focus. I'd love for us to see getting into these restaurants with these chefs. I'll tell you, man, doing this podcast out of the studio the third week out of the studio and in my restaurant, I've opened up so much more. You I don't know if you could tell I'm a lot. I feel like I'm just a, you know, because this is my, this is my safe haven. So like getting in the kitchen and the restaurant where with other chefs, I think would be rad. Yeah, I just have high hopes for what's going to happen for 2026, for sure. Did oh that. Yeah. So I mean, like working in the food industry, even though I used to bartend back in a day, you know, like obviously coming from like a business background and integrating into this, it's really new for me. But then, but I always feel like the most important thing for me and my growth and any sort of niche, any sort of industry that I've been in is really just to like lean in and learn from people that are at a really high level that I like really respect. And I think Mike is definitely somebody when I met him right away, I was like, you know, so I've also built a ton of personal brands and I can kind of like, I understand talent when I see it. I understand someone who has something that I know that can bring a lot to an industry or a space. And when I met Mike, I just knew I was like, okay, this is someone that I think is going to compliment my capabilities really well in marketing and creativity. But also someone that's going to really educate me and make me a lot better of an individual in this business and this industry specifically that I know I can grow with. And I can just see how he is with his team and how he is with his family. And I could see how he is with every single thing that he does in his day to day that I know that I can really take away from and integrate it of my lifestyle. Man, well said, dude. And you know what, not for nothing, I feel like we're all going to do some stuff here. I'm excited. Let's get it. Yeah, I'm excited too. Mike, beautiful restaurant. There's sushi on the table that we're going to devour. So, you know, let's let's make that happen. Roddy, how did we find you? You can find me on Instagram. We just add Mike Roddy. All right, chef. Chef Mike Colantis on Instagram, MikeColantis.com for consulting cool stuff. Polabs, let's do it. Oh, yeah. All right, John, I miss you today. I hope everything is going to go good with everything in your life. Prayer's coming your way. Okay, guys, we are out.