ALVARO LIMA: CHEF ALVYS THREADS / WORK HARD / LEGALIZE MSG

HospitalityChain.com, the world's first online hub designed for the hospitality, culinary, and catering industry. From leading food and beverage brands to professional food service equipment, HospitalityChain.com makes sourcing simple. Search, select, buy direct, and save all in one global marketplace. Welcome, everybody. Another episode of the Fell Into Food podcast. We are live in the studio today with none other than guest number one, Chef Alvy. It's been a long time coming. I know we've been trying to get schedules lined up. I know you're a tough man to get a hold of because you've been flying around the world. You've been all over the place. You've got a new business, a new venture starting. I mean, I sent you over the list of stuff, man. Again, we've got sustainability, world cuisine, R&D, self-hospitality, kitchen culture, kitchen tech, AI. Where do you want to start? We can start anywhere you want today. Doesn't matter to me. I think AI is a- It's a hot topic. Okay. I'm an old topic. I mean, obviously, yes, super trendy right now. AI is just everywhere. I mean, it's insane. You don't even know what to believe anymore because of AI. But it's one of those things that, like, as a corporate chef, I think it's super helpful to me simply because it helps get the juices flowing. Like, sometimes people are like, is AI going to replace jobs? is they i mean at the end of the day you need somebody that's going to execute right ai can feed you a million of ideas until you actually make them and produce it it means it means nothing at least you know to me so um i like using it from that standpoint of you know it's great for inspiration you know like and then comes the trial like okay you know what didn't think of doing this this way or mixing these few ingredients together, but let's try it out. You know, what, what's, what's the worst that can happen. So it's really great for, you know, for when you're developing, you're, you're researching, you're, you're trying to gather a lot of inspiration for what you want to present to somebody. You know, I think that's, you know, a great asset for us and on the sales side too. I mean, it, it helps sharpen up emails. I mean, I look at some of the emails that I used to send out when I was in sales and I'm like, no wonder why nobody got back to me, you know? But do you think it's too much? Like, does it come, like, how have you found the balance? That's, I think what people want to hear or need to hear is where's the balance? Because you plug in and say, here's my initial email. All right, I'm sending it to this person for this reason. And then it spits you out back something. And nine times out of 10, I don't know how many times I've looked at it back and I'm like, I can tell that Jeff did not write that in any complexity. So how do you find the balance there on something like an email? Right. So, and this is kind of where it goes to, it's taking up a little more time, right? Yes, AI is supposed to simplify for you. But in my case, I feel like it takes a little more time because I like to take bits and pieces and still fold it into my original email. Because I do want my email to sound like me. You know, and this is one of the things that I like sharing with my Salesforce is that be careful with just copy and pasting what AI generated for you and sending it. Because what's going to happen when you actually have to meet this person in person, you are not going to sound at all like that email. And then it's like, gotcha, you know? So it's, you know, I like to take it and use bits and pieces and still make it sound like it was me who typed it and copied and pasted a few things here and there. Luckily, I'm not in that position anymore where I'm like, you know, reaching out to people for the first time. It's one of those like, hey, you know, the sales rep have kind of set the meeting up. Now I come in to, you know, bring them some fresh ideas, try and try and set up a couple, you know, dates on a calendar so that we can meet and get together and stuff like that. So but yeah, it's it's a great tool, but it can be very, very time consuming as well in the sense that, you know, if you're just using it, copying and pasting, I don't recommend it. And even with getting inspiration for menus and recipes and stuff like that, I don't like to just copy and paste. No. You have to – that's where the chef, the food element comes in. To your point, it gives so many good ideas and so much inspiration. It's like I would have never thought of it. I did a video shoot the other day last week, and we're trying to figure out how we wanted to show off the degassing feature of vacuum sealer. And I'm like, okay, what can we do? And I was like, I don't know. Let's do something with eggs. So let's buzz up some eggs, make it all foamy, but then let's get all the air out of it. And I was like, what am I going to – I was like, I just don't want to make like a regular egg sandwich. So I'm chatting through it. In this instance, I use Gemini right now for menu stuff. And it was like, well, why don't you do a play on like Cacio e Pepe? And I was like, wait. Like now my brain starts going. So what we ended up doing is putting them in these ramekin molds. And we still did like classic – like we put pepper down. We put Pecorino Romano. And then I still cook pasta. And then like, so I made this like pasta egg puck. But because all the air was gone, the egg almost set like a, I don't even know how to explain it. It was almost like a custard. Okay. Because there's no air. It didn't rise. So I did one batch not knowing what was going to happen to the egg. And it stayed exactly where I leveled it into that ramekin. And I was like, oh, I need a bigger. So I did another batch. Yeah. But it was cool. And then we did the sausages with the Pecorino Romano and then the starchy water. And it was like a play. I would have never in a million years thought to do something like that, but it kind of gave me that spark. Yeah. Well, okay. Should I add pasta to it? Should I not add pasta to it? And then like, it helped me logic and reason through why I should or shouldn't do that recipe. And that's just one example of how I used it literally last week. Yeah. No, I, I, I mean, look, we've got big, big customers reaching out to us for inspiration and Hey, these are the parameters. And, you know, again, in that sense, it's super helpful because I can put those parameters in my prompt, you know, and then, and it'll feed you so many wild ideas that you're like, not doing that, not doing that. Wait a minute. I can take these three things, you know, and combine them and then add a little bit of what I was already thinking of doing. And now maybe I've, I've got something, you know, but, but yeah, no, it's for chefs. I think it's cool. I know it's super hard to understand. And, you know, I think, too, if you're an operator, you're a restaurateur, it's one of those. You don't have time for it. Yeah. You know, you just don't. Like, you're in the grind, man. As soon as you open the door, as soon as you walk in, you're in the grind. You don't have time for that. But do you think chefs should make time? It's kind of one of those things is, like, you don't have time. But in the long run, if you were to learn the skill, it would probably save you how many hours on the back end. I mean, think about it. Think about how many people just sit there and doom scroll for hours, right? Before you go to bed. Like I've done it before where I'm just like literally looking at dumb, dumb stuff on any platform. Instead, you could be fueling your mind with inspiration, right? and now and like you go to bed and then the next day you're like you know what maybe i'm going to pop in a half hour earlier and i want to test one of these things out because that caught my attention it's it's funky but i think i can make it work if i just tweak this and that and boom you've got a nice little special or maybe you've got something that you can run for a few weeks i don't know i i just you know i just feel like the whole thing when people are like i don't have time. I don't make the time because there is plenty of time. Think about how much time you actually just spend scrolling, right? Like that is valuable. Like look back at your report of, you know, your weekly report of how much time you were on your phone. And I think it is sickening. I guarantee you that let's just give you the benefit of the doubt that 40% of that time was not actually work and was dumb stuff, right? Like just scrolling. So there's time. There's time to do it, you know? What's your platform of choice? I use a little bit of everything. You know, for work, we like to use Microsoft Co-Pilot. I like chat just because they're kind of like the OG, right? But, you know, I use Gemini too. I mean, I'm subscribed to all three. And it just depends on what, you know, what I'm trying to do. And, you know, if it's for a post, if it's for work, if it's for email, like it just depends. I use all three. That's what I think people need to know that, too, is that and not that everyone's going to buy a subscription to all of them, but some of the free tools that you can get with some. Some are better than other. You know, Claude is great for more deductive reasoning type stuff. You should look into Claudebot. Have you seen all that going on with Claudebot? So I don't know. I think it's Anthropic that did it. I'm not sure. Don't don't call me on who it was from. but now the ai can live locally on your device and not like it doesn't need like a supercomputer and people are like buy a mini mac mac mini and you put this clod bot on there but now it can actually like work like into the like it physically can do things while you're sleeping like like to a whole nother level and it can like fully integrate i don't know the costs on it or anything but i was like this is the next level oh yeah next level of of ai where it's physically like taking control and like you can tell it like okay i need you to pull my youtube analytics at this time and compare it to this and then i want a data analysis now write me an email if an email comes in the night and it's something basic send back an email we'll get back to in 20 like you can do that shit automatically it's it's it's wild of what they're doing i think what's really wild though jeff is ai has been around for so long so long and we now as consumers have it at our fingertips now. That's true. You know, like if you go back and, and, and this realization kind of hit me during the super bowl, if you go back and I don't know, maybe you got to cut that out. The big game, um, who gives a shit, right? But anyway, um, so this realization came while we were watching the big game because it was one of those things that's like, look at how commercials were made back in the day and you look back now and say that's all ai generated i mean so ai has been people have been doing this for so long that now it's finally like at your fingertips on your phone if you want to just take a still pick and have a baby dance you can do like like everybody's been doing it these big companies have been paying big money to do this for so long it's it's it's insane it was only a matter of time until it became public and and in general use right yeah like it's it's so mind-blowing to me like the polar bears like you know how did they get away exactly like how i was literally watching the commercial and i go there's got i mean everyone's got an ip on everything these days i go how can they use those bears i like dug into it i was like is that actually like could you do that and they're like well, no one owns IP to a polar bear. And I go, well, that's that. I mean, that's true. It's an animal. But at the same time, you knew what they were doing. But did you see Coke's response? I did not. So they did a response where it was all a nightmare. Like the bear sleeping. And he wakes up and the whole. Okay. The brand is a nightmare. And I was like, brilliant. Rather than like being like, oh, you know, slam them. They like flip the script on him. I thought that was absolutely brilliant. on how they did that. And they used AI to make that happen. I mean, it's just, it's crazy, but you know. What about, are you seeing inventory management? That's what I, you know, when I'm talking to like people in the field, I'm like, use it for the mundane tasks. Use it for inventory management, reconciliation, you know, your ordering type stuff. I go, do that. Like, if you want to keep the creative in-house, go for it, keep your creative. Take some of the mind-numbing stuff. I know when I was in operations, I'd spend hours a week working on inventory and reports. And I was like, if I had something like this today, my job would have been so easy because I could have just had a report run, you know, Hey, I ordered this. This is what came in cross reference. Okay. I'm short to, I'm over to what's different. What did it, you know, send me that wasn't. And then when I do inventory, I can then cross reference that to a degree with usage reports. And it would tell me exactly where I'm sitting. I'm like, why aren't chefs doing this? Well, and that's the thing, right? It's like, yes, all that makes a hundred percent sense. And, and I think it's only a matter of time until somebody develops that little agent that sets all that up for you. You know, I mean, at the end of the day, you know, yes, AI is very fun and very, and it's a unique thing to use, but we as consumers are very lazy too, you know, because instead of, you know, again, doom scrolling, you could be saying, hey, you know, I'm doing inventory or I'm doing whatever every Monday. Here's exactly everything I go through, you know, build this out for me, build a system, you know, put together a system for me that's going to work more efficiently for me is going to just, you know, take up 30 minutes of my day looking at the screen, doing it versus literally pulling counting. Like it's only a matter of time until somebody designs this for chefs and now is knocking on doors saying, Hey, I've got this new software or, Hey, I've got this new app that you can use. And, you know, boom, simplifying processes. I'm sure it's out there. I bet it's out there. So if you're listening, if you're listening or watching, like hit me up, I want to like be able to talk to somebody in that space that's doing that exactly and making it that easy to your point. Usually it's that setup, getting it all done but is there a way to simply make it much easier i don't know now now with ai being able to take pictures you could literally snap pictures of your whole place or video i can upload video into it now i remember even six months ago like you couldn't process a video over 10 seconds now i can like take a whole video and say hey analyze this and do i need to have a better hook and do i need to do this and what kind of post should i have on this for this platform this platform i don't have to just give the script it knows the tone it knows right what i'm doing it's just, it's absolutely mind blowing. And like, the more you use it, the more it gets to know who you are and what you like and the, and the things you're, you're looking for. And, and so, yeah, I, I, I, 100%, I'm sure it's out there. Um, obviously us being on the, on the other side now, right. Outside of operations, it's kind of hard to know what's, what restaurant tours, what, what people are getting and have access to. And, you know, so, but I think it'd be neat if it's out there. hey, I'd love to, you know, whoever it is that jumps on the mic with you again and talks about it, that'd be awesome. Yeah, it's out there. All right. AI. All right. I wanted to touch on, because all I saw it was through posts, but you going to, was it menus of the future? Yeah, future menus. Future menus. Tell everyone a little bit about what that was. I mean, they can visit your Instagram to see like the whole story because you post it all the time. But I want to just, I want to know what that was about, like being around those kinds of chefs and what you guys did because you went over to Europe, correct? Yep. Yeah. So Future Menus is actually a brand under the Unilever umbrella, the food solution side for sure. And so what it is, is it's our global trend report on, you know, what we feel is the new wave of food, right? And so it's kind of like our party or our, you know, launch to showcase these trends, right? So, hey, this is the future of food. This is what we're going to see happening in 2025, 2026. And so this is all kind of done in the Netherlands, you know, where our, you know, headquarters is in our test kitchen. We have a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful space. They kind of set this whole thing up to, you know, we invited, I want to say it was like 200 customers globally so you had representation from you know mexico greece uh you know italy china i mean all over the place right um obviously uh our u.s counterparts were there as well we got to invite some some awesome awesome names and and food service i mean you're talking kwame Carlos Gaetan Jenner Tomasca like just you know JJ Johnson just you know big big names And we got to hang out with them which was kind of cool You know they got to they got to experience what future menus was and like the future of food and AI and like all these really cool trends and tools. And, um, you know, they were really invested into it too. They thought it was, it was neat because, you know, they're rest, they're real restauranteurs. So for them, it's like, Hey, this is a new wave of food. Like I can get in front of this, you know, and I can, and, and honestly, like we, we then, you know, piggy off of them. They're like, they see it now their wheels are spinning and they're like, I would do this. And then, you know, it's, it's, it ends up being a nice, uh, collaboration, but yeah, I was fortunate. I got to go, I got to share the stage with, um, Santiago Lastra, which is, he's a big, big name in Europe, for Mexican food. And the crazy thing with him is like, you know, yes, he's a Michelin-starred chef, but he imports nothing from Mexico. Like he cooks all his Mexican food and will get you Mexican flavors with everything that's local to him. That's so cool. It's crazy. I mean, it's insane what the guy's doing. And, you know, kudos to him. And, you know, he's – it's just cool to, you know, work with these guys, these big names and, you know. But, yeah, I mean it was awesome. We got to cook. They got to cook. We did some seminars. We did – you know, we had some awesome, awesome dinner parties. So it was – So you're saying it wasn't just another one of those stupid corporate – Oh, no, no, no. This thing was awesome. I mean it was the place to be. It was, we got to, we got to have some fun. We worked. It was a lot of hours. We worked pretty hard, but it was, it was fun, man. It was just great to be there and, and be a part of it. And you're, and you're collabing now with all these global chefs within Unilever. I mean, we have over 250 chefs, you know, and the fact that you get to work with like the top, I don't know, 30, 40 of them was pretty, pretty cool. So. And you, you got to go on stage. You won an award. I know you're a humble guy. Yeah. You got an award. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, we, our company has our national sales meeting and, you know, they do, they do these, these, an award ceremony and, you know, a couple of times, you know, you win the chef of the year award. They put other, you know, awards together and stuff like that. And, you know, it's, it's humbling. It's, it's, it's neat to, to be recognized. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, it's, you know, you just got to keep working hard and, and you're hopeful that somebody's going to notice it. And, and the organization I work for, they do, you know, Unilever has been extremely good to me. Um, I'm going on what year 11, year 12 with them. Unilever has been just a huge part of my career and, um, they notice, right. They, they, they, they really do take care of their people. And, and, um, I'm, I'm grateful for that. Yeah. Second person. I mean, if you listen to Pedro Mregei's episode, he worked for Unilever, but in a different capacity. And he said this like to a T on camera, off camera. It wasn't like a BS. Like, oh, look at our company. I was like, that's rare, man. Like that is rare. But at the same time, it's a testament to you and what you've went through. Like it's not by luck. These things don't happen or you create your own luck. I believe in either you create your own luck or it's like divine intervention. Like it's supposed to happen. Talk about that, your story of winning, right? it's been a journey right yeah and now things are things are popping like especially in the past couple years like man you're just you're popping up all over and it's just the coolest thing to see like as a friend as a fellow chef getting to see that success you know vicariously living through being like oh man look what he's doing like and rooting each other on in this space because it's so easy to be like oh that guy right you know i wish i could be there right but they don't see what goes on behind the scenes right right and it all stems from hard work man like you, you got to put in the work. You got, you got to be, you got to have the right attitude. You got to have the desire to do it, you know, and to believe in the product, right? Like I've always been a person to say, like, it's easy for me to sell our products because I believe in them. I actually like them, you know, like I truly didn't grow up from like a kid, but grew up from like when I was in culinary school using the product. So I know the product, you know, better than most people do because it's something that I've, that's been a part of me for the last 20 years, you know? So, um, yeah, man, it's, it's, it's, it's been, uh, rewarding. That's, that's for sure. So, but I'm glad you said, you said winning, you know, because, you know, um, I did, you know, the last year has been kind of crazy. I've, I've, I've been teasing and teasing about this you know the t-shirts and stuff like that and you know chef alvey's threads is something that's kind of lived in my mind for a long time you know and it was actually september last year i was turning 39 and i always had this goal that i'm like you know what by the time i hit 40 i want to have my own thing like i want to have my own thing like i'm not saying i'm okay okay this is this is this is i don't mean to interrupt you but this is fucking crazy i've said the same thing in my head since i was 30 i don't know what 31 32 i was by 40 i want to be able to do what i want like do my thing like ironically enough and when is your birthday in september september 8th okay i'm 22nd so i okay maybe it's uh i don't know yeah cosmo i don't know it's weird anyways continue chef alvey's threat so so i tell my wife like hey like you know and this is all new to her because this is something again it's just kind of lived in my head lived in my mind i've always been into like, you know, apparel and like, I've always been the kind of person that always wears black shirts and, you know, because it supposedly makes you look slimmer. I don't know. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't, whatever. But finally, you know, I'm turning 39 and I go to my wife, Hey, I've had this idea. I really want to pursue it. I really want to jump on into this. I really want to do it. I think, I think I can, I can do it. I got, I got a lot of little side hustle money saved up i'm gonna go for it and she's like do it you know if you want to do it do it um super supportive in that sense um to the point where she literally gets me a press a printer gets me a whole bunch of uh vinyl and stuff and you know she's like here start doing it like start and i'm like wow like this is amazing like she's invested into this like she's like you know what i'll support you do it you know and sure for like what this is crazy you know you're spending all this crazy money and and it was one of those like i started kind of pressing shirts and it was fun for a little bit and then eventually you know i just kept going back to you know things you see on instagram and see online i'm like i'm like wait a minute like when am i actually going to have the time to do all this. Like I'm traveling like crazy, you know, uh, work is just super busy. Like, and it kind of hit me at that point. It's like, wait a minute, I can do this without having to physically do it, you know? And so I started digging into it a little bit deeper and deeper, but always that goal was, Hey, I want to have something, whatever it is, you know, I knew that I wasn't going to open a restaurant. I mean, I, I, I've just been, you know, calling on operators for so long that I'm like, I know what their struggles are, you know? And I, and I don't want to have that. Like, I'm like, you know what? I don't want to walk into a door, flip on the lights and be $9,000 in the hole the second that happens. So I decided like, you know what? Let's be different here. You know, how many people who are chefs are saying, Hey, I'm going to get into a completely different industry, you know, and, and toy around with that and make that my side hustle. Like I've done the catered events, I've done the demos I've done and all that's fun. And now, but man, it's a lot of work and it's low return. I mean, you know, buying food and when you're buying lower quantities, like it costs more, it's just, you know, so it's one of those that I decided to do it, you know, and I was, you know, obviously opening up a business in the state of illinois is not easy um they literally or it's like roadblock upon roadblock speed bump obstacle course i mean you name it right it just takes forever but finally you know we were able to get this thing launched and um the legalized msg man that's the that's the main thing like that was the one thing that you know we quickly designed and and threw it out there i just put it on a shirt pressed it myself and started making videos and people didn't give a rat's ass about the videos they were like where'd you get the shirt you know so i was like i knew i had something you know i knew i had something and you know a lot of people are like oh but it's just black t's with white letters like who gives a shit it's mine you know and and i'm gonna do it so that's the other thing is who cares what other people think right you care so much what someone else thinks oh it's already been done they've already somebody else has t-shirts there's a thousand t-shirt companies out there there's but this is your t-shirt company and you're putting what message you want on there and it's it's representing who you are and i i've been watching when i watch stuff when i scroll mine's actually like inspirational shit so it's not i don't feel like it's total doom scrolling even though it is and it's like if you cared so much about what other people think you're never going to accomplish the dreams and goals that you've actually wanted to do your entire life you're going to get pigeonholed into what people want you to do what you think you should do Everyone's like, oh, you should be back in corporate America. I don't want to go back. Right. The amount of the lifestyle that I've been able to have when my kids are sick or something happens or like on a whim. Yesterday, kids are off. Beautiful day up here in Chicago for February. I mean, 55 degrees. You can't beat that. Let's clean out the garage. Kids can ride their bikes. Let's go for a bike ride later. If I was in my normal job, I wouldn't get home until 6 o'clock. I'd be exhausted, have to do dinner, do the whole nighttime routine, and I'd be like, no. Like I'm too tired. Right. And ever since like that's been gone, I've been able to do what I want. Right. It's, it's just, it's very hard to describe because it's, it's very scary at the same time. Right. Starting your own thing. Like all the things, like, what do I do? How do I start? Like some of those roadblocks that you, you hit, you just don't know what to do. And you just, you kind of burn the boats to some degree and you just figure it out. Yep. and and this all stems back to working hard and and winning like you know it's funny because on our way here i'm like what are we going to talk what are we and it's like you know what at the end of the day i'm winning whether i'm making sales or not i'm winning and i'll tell you why because you know and and i'm not sharing this with you i'll get a little personal i'm not going to share this with you because i need people to feel sorry for me or anything like that i lost both my parents at the age of two. I was not destined to do anything in life. And I shared something on Instagram yesterday that said, if I could go back and tell my teachers that, you know, I'm now getting paid to talk or I'm getting now paid to do whatever, like I want to do, it would be the biggest slap in the face to them because, you know, I was never destined to be anything. Losing your parents at the age of two, moving out of my house at the age of 18 from my adopted family. Like, dude, I've, I've been on my own. And when you're at the lowest low, when you've struggled so much in life, you know, and we were talking about this earlier, I've had so many jobs where they're like, this kid's not enough. He's not enough. But guess what? I kept grinding it out, kept working hard. So that's why, you know, with the t-shirt thing, it's like, dude, if I make sales, great. If I don't, that's okay. It's still mine. And we're going to figure it out. You know, just like everything else in life, I've figured it out. So it's one of those that, you know, it's, it's, it's very rewarding. Like I said, I'm winning regardless I'm winning I'm 39 years old I made it you know again losing your parents at a very young age not fun rough rough childhood going through foster care rough you know so the fact that like I was able to break the mold and get out of that and there's so many people that came into my life you know later on in life that helped me you know in so many ways that they don't even have a clue you know what i mean so but do you think that that that growing up that type of environment allowed you to be the person you are that resiliency and like you said not everyone gets out of it you know same as kind of my my backstory of you grew up in a small town usually you're in a small town the rest of your life but don't you feel like i mean you had that mental switch for whatever it is you know again i believe in some sort of divine intervention or destiny but it allowed you to be the resilient person you are to say i'm gonna keep winning yeah Even when you're getting kicked in the nuts day after day, year after year. I know what it's like to – you got to pay rent. You got to feed yourself and have $13 in the bank. And my gas tank is on E. I know what – I've struggled so much that the roadblocks and the obstacles of opening the business, dude, that was puppy shit. Because I've already struggled way more than that. It's like that – I'm still winning. And right now things are moving slow. Sales are low. And that's okay. And I'm probably going to pay out the ass for the month of January. But that's okay. I'm not worried about it. Like, believe me, I'm manifesting greatness right now. My goal was to be on a podcast and talk to somebody about my business. My business. Not my job. Sure, my job has helped me a lot get me to where I'm at. And I'm grateful for that. but I'm winning in the sense that, you know, I'm able to do my own thing, my way, however I want, you know, and I don't care what people think, you know, because at the end of the day, I know I'm winning. Isn't it liberating? It is. It's like deep down, like just your core. It's just like the most liberal thing. You're just like, this is mine. No one can take this from me except for me. The only way I fail is if I quit, you know, and you're only two months into it, right? January where you launched. Yeah. Right? So it's only been a couple months. And from someone who went with an even more expensive road of, oh, let me do videography and that space and all the gear this needed to make all that happen. It was not easy. And going adjacent, right? Yeah, still in the food of filming food and whatnot. But, you know, it's still an adjacent space is that, you know, things have just now popped. And it's been two years. And that's – There was such a time. I wanted to quit so bad at a point last year. Like you, if you look at my history and you see the gaps in some of the episodes, it's just like, I can't find anyone. Then I sat down and I actually thought about it. I'm like, no, it's not that you can't find someone. You are just too scared of someone telling you no for whatever reason. And you want the easy yes. You want to be able to just, oh, it happens that you run into somebody and it comes up and they're just like, oh yeah, I'll hop on. Rather than just reaching out and saying, hey, I love your story. I love your brand, whatever it is. Can we have a conversation? and the amount of yeses that come from that because people do want to tell their story that normally don't get to tell their story right and now things are finally turning and finally happening and you're just like all right two years of a grind and now things are coming dude i'm telling you it's it's gonna happen just from your manifestation alone that alone saying hard work and hard work just keep working hard at this shit and it's gonna happen i mean believe me jeff i know that in a couple years i don't know how soon but in a couple years we're going to be texting back and forth and saying remember that fucking conversation we had i'm telling you dude right now the site people look at it and they're like oh it's pretty basic you know and everybody's going to have an opinion guess what they don't have shit yeah they're not winning yeah you know they don't have shit so for them to be like oh his site's pretty basic and it's just a it's just a cotton shirt with guess what everybody's buying from nike and guess what they have a cotton shirt right yep and it just happens to have a freaking swoosh on it like and they charge 80 dollars exactly you know so keep supporting them keep making them big you know and i'm okay where i'm at so it's it's it's the same thing we're going to be looking at this in a couple years you're you know you said it today people are now reaching out to you i want to jump on the mic How amazing is that From day one when you were like hey i want you to join i want you to be my first you know guest but how cool is that dude i think about that all the time how you took the time because again you still had a really predominant position within unilever like he doesn't have to talk to me we've met once maybe twice like there's no way he's gonna say yes but if he does it's gonna be a really cool interview because he's fucking awesome guy and then you come on and i'm just like oh shit he did and that's why i was like i need him on again to talk about everything like again winning life dreaming and the way that you talk is should be encouragement for other chefs food industry professionals and you don't have to be a chef to win at this game that's what people don't understand is that there's so many avenues i've been trying to show that through this platform of you can go work for a food company you can go work for an equipment manufacturer. You can go write a book. You can be a dietician, whatever the hell you want, and you can succeed. Hard work. Hard work. And you believe in it. Mm-hmm. A hundred percent. You just got to have the desire to do it. You know what I mean? And that's the thing. You know, when I was younger too, I had no confidence, man. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was kind of falling into that rut of, you know what? Maybe I was destined to not make it, to not do anything. but I didn't let that, I didn't let that mindset stop me. You know, it was one of those things. It's like, you know what, if there's one thing that I can take from my adopted dad and, and, you know, he wasn't the best dad, he wasn't the best parent. And, and I'm, and I'm sure right now, you know, he's, he's, he's regretting that. Right. And that's okay. But the one thing I took from him is how not to be with my kids, you know, two, and I will always give him credit for this is work hard nobody's ever going to take that hard work out of you you know work hard if you work hard and you don't owe anybody shit you're all right you know and i look at it and i'm like you know what that motherfucker was right you know i've been working i've been busted dude i've been working since i was 13 bro like full time yeah like working since that's back in the day when you could actually yeah you know exactly like shit hopefully nobody comes and arrests me now for that right because technically it was illegal. But, but yeah, I've been working for a long time, dude, you know, and manual labor. Like I'm not talking what I'm doing now, posting reels and printing shirts and, you know, whipping up, you know, sauces for, for customers. No, like dude, washing dishes, scrubbing floors, washing baseboards, washing the legs of, you know, like hard stuff. Dude, at one point I had two jobs. I was washing cars on the side and working in the kitchen. Like it's, it's just always been an evolution of hard work. And so if anything, if there's something that anybody's going to take away from this is that just get up, keep showing up, keep working hard, and you're going to make it too. Again, at the age of two, you lose both of your parents. you grow up in foster care okay like i i was not supposed to be where i'm at today but thank god that i am you know he didn't let go of me and i just if all i knew how to do was work i did it you know and i and i'm going to continue to do it my wife is going on her 20th year at her district you know 20th year bro like that's amazing okay that means she's closer to retirement than you and i are you know yeah so guess what that's gonna fuel me to want to do better right now while i still can so that we can retire together you think i want to be working 10 15 years after she can retire absolutely not yeah i want us to be able to enjoy that time you know, whatever it is we decide to do, I want us to be able to enjoy that time. So, you know, and that's, and again, work hard while you can, and you're going to get there, you know, and for anybody listening, if you're young and you're in a rut and you feel like, you know, you're not going to do anything, your teachers are telling you, hey, that attitude's not going to get you anywhere. You can break that mold. You will break that mold. I guarantee it because I've done it, you know, and, and, and, and it's going to happen. And you just got to keep your head down, work hard and keep moving, keep shaking, you know, like right now, Chef Alvy's threads is little, you know, and the mission right now, right now it's little, but it's going to be big. It's going to be big one day, dude, one day we're going to be talking to Mel Robbins. One day we're going to be talking to, you know, a bigger, a bigger podcaster. And one day it may even be you on a whole new network. We don't even know it. You know what I mean? Um, but, but yeah, dude, I mean, I tell my wife, like all these things that I envision and I see, and you know, it's, it's crazy that, you know, I'm, I'm making it happen. You know, we're, we're making it happen. And I'm not stopping, bro. Like I said, we're winning. We're not going to fall back on anything. We're just going to keep moving forward and see where it takes us. Why do you think or what do you think holds all these people back? Because deep down, I learned this mostly when I was doing interviewing of hiring people in the education space, right? When you got hundreds and hundreds of interviews. And even though it was just a dishwasher spot, like I wanted to know deep down, like if you could do anything in the world, what would you do? Right. And they would tell me. But it's like, well, why? Why have you never done that? And I love who's the guy goes around on TikTok and he's like, what's your dream? I don't know. You don't know. Simon, Simon something. He's from you haven't seen him. Oh, you got. I don't spend a lot of time on TikTok. I'll be honest. He's all over Simon, Simon something. I can't I can't think of his last name, but he basically goes around. He's like, what's your dream? Like he'll just walk up to random people. He's like, what's your dream? And they'll be like, I want to, I want to be the lead in circus. So lay in there. He's like, well, why aren't you doing it? And they're like, well, you know, because of this or that. And he's like, no, no, no. He's like, I want you tonight to go home, make a plan. I want to put you in front of blah, blah, blah. It's the coolest thing ever. And then like, he'll meet people like two years later. And they're like, he's like, they're like, I'm doing it. I'm doing the thing. And they're like, what changed? He's like, I took your advice and I talked to that restaurant person. And I said, hey, I make the best cupcakes in the world. But in your opinion, what holds people back from just actually chasing what they want? I think it's just fear, man. It's lack of confidence, honestly. Like everybody thinks that you need money to do everything, you know? And honestly, the only way you're going to get some money is if you work hard. start pursuing the shit you want to be pursuing and go after it and go get it you know two years later that guy's like hey i'm doing it he because that at that moment he's like i need to go pursue and if that means you're gonna go sweep the floors of that circus for you know six months to just even get noticed go do it you know why do you think all these people do stages at Michelin star restaurants because they want to be a Michelin star chef one day, right? They want to go work with Thomas Keller because he's the best. They want to get on that level someday, you know, but you're not going to do that packing bags at McDonald's, you know, sure. You can work hard, but at some point you've got to venture out and go do what you can do, even if it's for little money, you know, and, and that's, you know, I'm going to do You know, I've we've worked for management companies where you're undervalued, you know, and you're busting your ass. You're working hard. You're working hard and you're undervalued. You're underpaid. But but you got to keep going because it's it's so much bigger. What's what's coming to you later on, you know, and you got to believe that you got to be in the right mindset, you know, because if you think that, oh, you know, I had a rough childhood. Oh, I grew up in a broken family. Oh, you know, I haven't talked to my dad in 12 years. Oh, I haven't done, you know, if you live that way, you're going to be that, you know, and I don't, and this is, and more or less, I need to be a good example because I have kids now, you know, I don't want my kids knowing any of that shit. I don't need, you know, they don't need to know, you know, my history and things like that. My kids are invested now. They'll come home from school. Hey, how many sales did you have? Oh, shit, I only had one, you know, and it feels bad. But it's like at the end of the day, it's like, it's okay. One is okay. Yeah, but they, you know. But it's still encouragement. Yeah. Because they're at one, they're asking because they care. They care. My two are the same. Dad, you got any podcasts coming up? Mm-hmm. When are you shooting? When I was in that little rut, that little funk last year, it was just like, dad, you haven't done a video in so long. Why haven't you done one? And it was like this little encouragement of like, dad, just do it. Like who – almost like kids don't care, right? Especially at the age that they're at. They don't – So innocent. They just – the world is oblivious, and I hope they can keep that innocent as long as they can. But now it's, hey, can we set up this – I got a tripod sitting all over the place and a random camera this and old camera that. and they want to create their own show. They want to do their own thing. And it's just like, all right, if my seven-year-old son has the balls to just pop on a camera and just start talking about God knows what, I could sit down and talk to people for an hour, hour and a half, you know, about whatever. Who cares? If it's a flop, again, to your point, who cares? Right. Like, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. It's the conversation I'm having with the guests. And if it doesn't go the way that I planned it or envisioned it, because I put a ton of pressure. I still get nervous. you know 60 conversations later it's still like okay what am i going to talk about is the structure going to be there is the flow going to be there is it are we going to have this natural conversation who cares right really really when it comes down to it and you look at it you think rogan gives a shit if if he coughs or sneezes or something happens or he's like i gotta go take a piss no they pause it he comes back to it and when you're listening to it you you think about it for a millisecond and you move on you're like all right i want to listen to the conversation exactly exactly so yeah i mean and and you know at a very young it my kids are the same way dude they'll take my wife's phone or my phone they'll put it up on a tripod and they'll talk into it yeah like my daughter would make cucumber water and she would video herself because she saw me doing it you know and it excited me to do it and i love doing it that now she's into it she wants to go on the kids baking championship and i'm like let's get you on there then like let's start practicing let's start working at it. Like that's something that baking is not my forte, but guess what? I'll learn it and I'll figure it out if that's what she wants to do. So, you know, I want to, I want to be as supportive as I can. And, you know, I don't want my kids to grow up in a, in a, in a broken household or anything like that. They, they should never have to go through what I went through. But the one thing that they, they will learn from me is to work hard, you know, like, I'm sorry, and not everything's going to be handed to you you know um you're going to have to work hard for it but but but it's a good thing that they'll learn and that they can take and carry with them well it's through emulations when they see you can try and beat hard work into them and talk hey you got to work hard if you want to be something it's another thing when they see it when they see well daddy started a t-shirt company or a shirt whatever you know whatever they refer to it right daddy's doing this daddy's traveling to europe around the world dad does this you know they'll look back and they'll it's instilled right way back where they don't even know it and they're like oh he worked hard and they pushed me i didn't get easy street i still had to get a job i do whatever as long as you push it and then they'll become great people like that's the job of a parent at the end of the day right it's to create little humans that are good people of society exactly whatever they want to do my son wants to be a garbage man awesome every time the garbage guy comes i'm just like dude i'm like there he is i'm like go wave to him yeah go Ask him a question if you want. If he wants to be a garbage man, I don't care. I'm not that parent that's just like my kid has to be a doctor or a lawyer or whatever. It's like if he wants to be a garbage man, then let him go be a garbage man. He probably could be the happiest person on earth being a garbage man making $80,000 a year. That's all that matters. Dude, city in Chicago, those guys make way – they probably make more money than we do. Yeah? Yeah, dude. Those guys are making a lot of money. I don't think it's an easy job to get into to get at that level. I'm sure it's not. Oh, but they're making a killing, man. And it's manual labor. They're hustling. All right, 2026. Let's talk about where you're going with the apparel, right? You started with just the hoodies, the tees. What's the long-term vision, right? I think because you have to be able to envision what you want and kind of segment it. I hate when people are like, what's your 10-year dream? And while, yes, you have to very usually a very vague 10-year, you got to break that down into smaller bite-sized pieces. What does this year look like for you? What's a win for you in 2026? So like I said earlier, I'm already winning because we already launched. We have a small catalog, right? People can buy new stuff. And actually today, live today, we have new drops. So I got new tees up. I've got new hats up. I'm going to keep it at tees and hats and hoodies for now. The evolution of the brand is to maybe branch out of just culinary focused. I feel like I have a great story and I feel like I can be targeting or I can be touching more people than just chefs. It's a very, very niche world, the chef community. and um you know maybe maybe you know it's right now it's great to to target chefs with the msg with the golden brown delicious with the you know those cool you know legalized jardinera foie gras that kind of stuff like it's cool it's catchy but maybe the evolution of it is you know working with restaurant groups you know um collabing with them doing apparel for for their brand you know and it's a collabed thing, the evolution is then maybe wider audiences, right? Maybe it is corporate professionals, right? Maybe it is introducing colors instead of it just being black. So there's, dude, I've got so many plans, so many things that I want to do, but also you got to be realistic. You got to take one step at a time. Because when you try to jam so many things all at once. It gets clunky. It gets, you know, it's, it's crazy. So right now my focus, my goal for the year is to just build the, the brand awareness, right? These shirts are meant to, to, to be positive, right? And they're meant to strike conversation. That's all it is. You know, chefs, I feel like you go to any networking event and I go to a lot of networking events that are not culinary related because my father-in-law is always like, hey, tag along. Let's go there. Let's go here, whether it's real estate, whether it's technology, whatever it is. And guess what? I end up being the most interesting person because I'm a chef. But when you're at a chef conference, you're nobody. You're just another chef, right? So maybe leveraging that I am a chef and sure, the name of the brand is Chef Alvey's Tees and people are threads and people are thinking, oh, you know, it's just culinary folks. Maybe, maybe we widen that out a little bit and turn it into more inspirational, actual, true, positive sayings, you know, things like that. So I think that, you know, I'm in so many airports, you're in so many airports now too. People see it immediately. You get a, hey, cool shirt. you get you you get a smile you know what i mean and so that right there spreads positivityness you know and and and i love that and you know if you're sitting around or something it'll eventually spark a conversation you know hey what do you do for work where are you a chef at you know like it just and then boom you start having a conversation so that's the that's the mentality that's the goal for the brand, you know, is to just have something that is positive. You know, I don't want to, I don't need to get, you know, politics or any negativity involved in it at all. It's, it's not, it's not meant for that. There's no negative in this world as is like, it's, it's people that you watch the news last night. No, I don't watch the news. Why would I watch the news? Because all it is, is doomsday. The world is ending. And then nine times out of 10, you know, a year later, it's like, it didn't matter. I don't need that. any in any capacity there's a few people that i get my news from that are just like non-biased like this is a story that happened and i watch what few things they have to say and i'm like cool yeah i got the story i needed to know about saying my wife will come home and be like did you see this i'm like no i'm like i'm sorry but my algorithm is not that anymore i don't you know so it you know it it let be positive you know that that the mentality for the year Right Let let let keep moving forward You know I think Jelly Roll said it best The windshield, the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror. That's because what's ahead of you is so much bigger than what's behind you. And man, that is so true. That is so powerful, man. It's so powerful. You see the speech at the Grammys? I did. I did. That was like I did. Like, I don't know. If you want to feel good for somebody, that guy just exudes just positivity. Bro, the guy was in jail. I know. The guy had no money. He had nothing. And now he's up on the biggest stage winning grant. Like, dude, talk about somebody that's winning. You know? Talk about somebody that was able to turn that negative script of being in jail for whatever reason. I don't even know. And I don't even care. Right? I mean, there was a story where he was at a Burger King and somebody bought him food because they thought he was homeless because of the way he looked. You know, another thing, right? Judging a book by its cover. Like, you know, you don't need that. Like, the guy is winning. He turned it around. And so many people have, right? I mean, so many of us. We've struggled. Bro, we've talked. There's so many. We could talk for hours. We could talk for days. We could talk for the rest of the year. With the 39 years of shit we've been through, right? But it's all behind us now, man. We're looking forward. Like I said. You can learn from it. You can learn from it. Exactly. And how do you make it better? How do you keep moving forward? That's all it's all about. I'd be remiss if we didn't talk some trends. Yeah, yeah. Since that's what is like your bread and butter and the event you were at last year. you know swicy seems to be the hot word coming up with i think we got to put that on a shirt i'm telling you swicy would look pretty pretty sick because it's so not to your point it would be what is swicy like people nodding the shirt you kind of have zero clue what the word swicy is and then it just leads to a conversation about it swicy sweet sweet and spicy man it's it's such a funny word but it's such a trending word and it's only a matter of time until you start seeing big national chain accounts using the swicy fried chicken sandwich on their menu you know and what and exact and and exactly people remember what's swicy what's like sweet and spicy right and so yeah trends that is a big one i think you know we're developing new sauces and we're they fit that word you know and so those things are going to be launched here literally in weeks, you know, so that's going to be kind of cool. But as far as trends go, man, I still think, you know, leveraging AI, obviously handhelds are still very big. Mexican food is still very big. Asian food is very big. The fusion of two of them, you know, I think 10 years ago, you said the word fusion and it created confusion. But we live in a world right now where dude you've got people going to taco bell and buying something and then yeah like and then adding their own little spin on it yeah you know now they're they're switching it up they're they're creating something different something new and that and that feeds right back into the whole swicy thing with the hot honeys you know like do you think the word fusion almost is like a bad connotation now i think like you say oh it's a fusion place people are like oh god here we go like yeah what what frankenstein monster did they create versus how do you really tailor two cultures that traditionally don't go together but now you've done it i think like the word that i found was funk uh borderless cuisine is taking those two and how you and you see it what i think is because you see these up-and-coming chefs or cooks and they have they come from blended backgrounds right they've got a a mother that's mexican and then a father that's filipino and like just the natural of it coming together and that that's what they're used to and they're experimenting and exploring with those two flavors do you think it's more going towards that um in the space 100 like it's so crazy because think about how many filipino restaurants you see now that are doing tacos and it's like wait a minute tacos aren't from the philippines but guess what it's something that people know right tacos are so universal that you see nashville hide nashville hot fried chicken on a taco now so fusion yes i think 10 15 years ago caused confusion right like why are you doing this shouldn't be doing it um fusion today makes sense because it's the easiest way to put into terms what you're doing if you talk borderless cuisine yes that's the trend for us but you're not going to put that on a menu for someone to understand right good point like but if you say the word a fusion of asian and mexican now they're like okay i understand what that means you know especially because we are writing menus we are creating recipes for consumers right sure we're selling the idea to the restaurant to the operator but they need to now sell it to the consumer and the consumer needs to be able to understand it and if they understand the f word which is fusion right there you go but yes borderless cuisine is going to be huge the the mixing of of of mexican and asian food is already happening we're seeing it we're seeing it all over the place um and and i'm here for it man i think it's great like the other day i'm like hey i want to make you know southern grits and put some birria on it why not you know oh yes how good would that be you know nobody's doing it nobody but guess what who gives this shit i'm gonna do it anyway you know and if it's and it's it's so simple to do you know and both very comforting foods like why not do it i one of our chefs just did a birria banh mi and then dunked it into the the consomme right oh my god like how good is that dude how good is that so you know it's it's it's it's awesome man yeah there's a place down in um pigeon forge so we always go down there usually every year and it's just like i think it's called local goat so shout out to local goat because you guys are phenomenal they buy local product but they had a shrimp and grits on the menu but there was a twist right so it was blackened shrimp and i'm like all right cool give me some kick like give me that cajun like i want the heat but then it was what did they spread it was something like i have to look at their physical menu it's it's honey or something sweet and i was like what in the this was like two or three years ago i tried it and i was like my head just exploded i was like how is this possible like the flavor the the the fusion the f word was so magical like i eating my wife just like looking at me she's What is going on? I was like, you don't understand like what they created in this dish. Like this should not taste like this. And it does. And it blew my mind. Yeah. I think what I like right now too about food and restaurateurs is that I feel like a lot of people are leveraging what they're seeing on social media to bring back and like kind of do twists on that. Right. It's like we're learning. We're taking inspiration for what we see on social media. That's kind of, that's kind of cool, man. Like when you saw, when people were doing the smash taco burger, like, and then you've got big chains doing it now all of a sudden too, like, dude, that's cool. They got that from Instagram. They got it from Tik TOK. Like, you know, so, so I think that's kind of cool. Um, and you know, I think another thing that's very important and, and that I'm seeing more and more of is people aren't scared. Just do it. They're cooking what they think is awesome what's it we joke around at work sometimes we're like dude let's just do something fun like what is stoner food you know people love that shit yeah the other last year i think it was we were at world of flavor and we did little uncrustables and inside of it was duck carnitas chihuahua cheese and we dipped it in like a salsa verde and we called it a duck carnita uncrustable people could relate to that quickly they're like dude this is awesome you know we did a birria dumpling like just think of craveable food and i think that's the way these chefs need to just go back to is what would you eat and is it gonna sound weird who gives a crap worst case scenario you're not selling it but if you train your staff to sell it you're gonna sell it you You know, that's I'm one of those guys. I'll go in a restaurant if I've never been there. And I first thing I asked that waiter, what do you recommend? What is good? And you can usually tell if they're BSing or not, right? Yeah, they've actually had it. I want to try something different. I feel the static menu is just like, you know, if I want a steak, I'd say I'm around dry aging all the time. I can eat a steak. There are I don't think I've had a steakhouse now that's had something better than I can produce here on my own. why would I go spend $100 on a steak when I can have something in the blink of an eye? I want that new twist. Give me something that's like just out there. And don't give me the bullshit chef special that they're just trying to burn out extra salmon or whatever it is. I know what that is. No, give me something on your menu that isn't the most popular thing but people – makes you say, hmm, what is this? And I don't think there's enough out there because everything has gotten so fast casualized or standardized. And I get why from an operator standpoint. It's easier to execute. Things are standard. People, you know, they're the known favorites. My wife's one of those. She goes, oh, they've got this. I'm good. Yeah. Prime rib dip or whatever it is. And I'm not saying you shouldn't have that. But I'm always trying to find what's new out there, what's actually happening. And then those are usually the places that end up selling more because I'm willing to pay for that experience and that food that I'm not going to get anywhere else. Yep. And a good server is going to give you the right recommendation. It's not just, oh, I was trained to sell whatever is the most expensive thing on the menu. Yeah. Like I hate that. Like if we go somewhere and to your point, we ask, so what would you recommend? What do you eat? You know, oh, I prefer the ribeye. It's like, come on, guy. like you've got squid ink pasta you've got scallops you've got all this stuff on this menu and you're going with the ribeye why because it's 98 like dude i'm gonna tip you anyway you know like be real but you know again it's it's it's all in the train i think i think right now chains have a big opportunity to just you know keep leveraging what they're seeing on social media and figuring out a way how to we can help them figure out how to make it work in the back of the house a lot of this stuff is simple i mean if you think about it dude people are able to do this in their kitchens at home like it's not that hard for you to do it in a commercial-sized kitchen like you know the days of oh the labor and the skill and this and it's like dude come on man like it's 2026 like like let go of that you know it's okay to have an additional five ingredients in house and and put them to use on multiple different things you know i'm not saying bring in micro greens and throw micro greens on everything walking out the door yeah but you know like it's it's okay to be a little creative and and to just think a little bit outside of the box you know and sales will happen i mean people will buy it there's there's enough weird people out there that are like, hey, Swicey, don't know what it is, but I'm interested. And now you've got the right description and you've got fried something and you've got pickled this, I'm in. There's always a buyer. There are 340, 370 million people in the United States. That's a lot of people. And people are like, oh, no one's going to buy this. No one's going to do this. That's a lot of people. And if you think about it, there's what, 7, 8 billion people in the world. That's a lot of people. like it's gonna happen you just you're so small-minded you just think in your local area well yeah no one in my circle would right eat this or like this or want anything uh last thing you brought me a book yeah why did you bring me this book well i brought you the book because i wanted to bring you a t-shirt and it didn't come in the mail on time so i had an extra uh i had an extra book i got a few of them from my boss we did a lot of work with maddie matheson the dude is a freaking wild genius chaotic genius i guess you can call it um he's a huge hellman's fan um it's it's just amazing all the stuff he's done um i'm just so happy that we got a chance to work with them i got to meet the guy got to take a picture with them super humble dude um again when the mic is on when the when the camera's rolling the guy is a complete flip of the switch dude really complete flip of the switch so so cool um he blessed us with some cookbooks that he actually signed and i'm like you know what you know who would appreciate this chef jeff so i would i i do i do i do appreciate it um because i love watching his stuff because he's the epitome of not giving a fuck of what people think he's like yeah this is how i'm gonna eat it and i don't give a shit if you like it or not and he makes it and but it's it's it's entertaining yeah but Then you look at it like, yeah, that does actually look really goddamn good. And I didn't really know until like he came on The Bear. And then you start looking into who he is and his background. You're like, oh, he's not just some schlub actor guy that ended up on a cooking show. Yeah, I didn't know a lot about him either until like one of our family members was like, I'm such a big fan of Matty Matheson. Like I've been watching his YouTube, you know, cooking shows for years. And I'm going, he's had that shit for years? I didn't even know that. But yeah, it's super cool, dude. It was awesome to work with him. I felt like such a shrimp because he was wearing like this cool swag. And I'm like, oh, where'd you get that from? And he's like, it's my line, bro. Like literally grounded me right then and there. And I'm like, holy fuck. I don't know. I don't know a lot about you. And I felt so bad. But whatever. One day I'll be wearing a legalized MSG shirt. And he's going to say, where'd you get that, bro? And I'm going to be like, it's mine. Yes. It's a perfect way to end this. Hit everyone up. They got to know the socials, get the swag, the merch, all that. Yeah. So my main social account at Chef underscore Alvy. And then check out the site, ChefAlvy'sThreads.com. I'm also on Instagram, kind of playing around with that. But hit me up. You know, we'll do something fun together, you know. So thank you for having me, bro. anytime i feel like it should be a more often thing because there's just it's something one of my goals this year is to just talk to some some people in the industry that kind of have know-with-all and really dive into some like deep topics you know what i mean versus it's great having new people and hearing new stories but to dig into the beverage trends the food trends like i'm interested you know leave a comment let me know hit me up i want to know what people want to hear about you never i loved your text yesterday how you said and i'm gonna read this verbatim because i thought it well i thought it was it was genius you said you saw a meme how everyone is watching but nobody likes nobody comments nobody shares but everybody's watching yeah i i think i stared at that and i was like he's right because how much of that do i do i'm watching looking and i'm not commenting i'm not liking i'm not i'm not whatever support whatever interaction i'm doing i'm like damn he's right and it just got me thinking i'm like okay um people are watching so i just need to keep keep doing so i couldn't appreciate you more and if you get anything hard work be a dreamer hit this guy up get your swag come on this stuff is i've already had people ask me they're like dude where is that from and you see it like it it trickles and it's gonna happen it's it's just a matter of time it just but it did its job you bought it it did its job people asked you and they probably had a smile on their face well half people and then they don't even know what msg is and they put and it put a smile on your face and that's the most important part yeah so i'm like you want more cool swag so get your swag get your shirts get your your hats again he's coming out with stuff all year. So we'll leave it at that. Chef, again, thank you so much. And for everyone watching, be sure to drop a like, leave a comment, watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, the usual places. You know how it goes. So until next time, catch you on the sunny side. Hospitalitychain.com, the world's first online hub designed for the hospitality, culinary, and catering industry. From leading food and beverage brands to professional food service equipment, hospitalitychain.com makes sourcing simple. Search, select, buy direct, and save all in one global marketplace.