Walk-In Talk Podcast

Showing Up When It's Hard, Leadership, Consistency, and the Chef Who Gets the Call: Kevin Rasberry

34 min
Jan 30, 20263 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Chef Kevin Rasberry discusses his role as a troubleshooter chef who travels across Florida fixing struggling kitchens while building his own seasoning brand, Mama Jean Seasonings. The episode explores leadership under pressure, chef retention challenges post-COVID, the importance of continuous learning, and balancing entrepreneurship with a demanding full-time culinary role.

Insights
  • Chef retention crisis is driven by unrealistic expectations set by Food Network culture rather than industry fundamentals; younger chefs need mentorship on what the profession actually demands
  • Leadership effectiveness in multi-unit operations depends on standardizing culture and voice across locations rather than assuming umbrella company affiliation creates unified operations
  • Sustaining a side business is harder than launching it; the real challenge is maintaining customer interest and profitability beyond the initial honeymoon phase
  • Introversion and emotional discipline are competitive advantages in high-stress culinary leadership; not stressing what you cannot control preserves mental health and decision-making clarity
  • Chefs must embrace discomfort and continuous learning to avoid complacency; staying current with trends and adapting methods is essential to remaining relevant in the industry
Trends
Post-COVID exodus of experienced chefs seeking second careers outside hospitality; industry losing institutional knowledgeGrowing expectation gap between Food Network-influenced recruits and operational reality of professional kitchensIncreased demand for troubleshooter/interim leadership roles as kitchen staffing becomes more volatileRise of chef-entrepreneurs building side brands (seasonings, sauces, products) as income diversification and post-kitchen career planningMental health and burnout becoming critical retention issue; hospitality professionals facing daily stress and anxietyInfluencer culture creating friction in restaurants; fake social metrics and expectation of free meals from self-proclaimed influencersShift toward pre-made quality ingredients at home as time-constrained professionals prioritize family time over elaborate home cookingEmphasis on humble, continuous learning mindset among successful chefs rather than ego-driven expertise claims
Topics
Chef Leadership and Kitchen ManagementStaff Retention and Recruitment in HospitalityEntrepreneurship While Employed Full-TimePost-COVID Industry Changes and StaffingCulinary Culture and MentorshipMental Health and Burnout in KitchensBuilding and Sustaining Food BrandsDiscomfort-Driven Professional GrowthMulti-Unit Restaurant Operations and CultureFood Network's Impact on Chef ExpectationsInfluencer Marketing and Restaurant DynamicsWork-Life Balance for ChefsSeasoning and Spice Product DevelopmentConsistency Across Multiple Kitchen OperationsPassion vs. Profit in Food Business
Companies
The Grove at Trilago
Kevin Rasberry's primary employer where he serves as Director of Culinary and Executive Chef
Mama Jean Seasonings
Kevin Rasberry's seasoning brand co-founded with high school friend; three to four years into operation with focus on...
Food Network
Referenced as cultural influence that shaped unrealistic expectations among younger chefs entering the industry
People
Kevin Rasberry
Main guest; discusses troubleshooting struggling kitchens across Florida while building Mama Jean Seasonings
Michael Kalantis
Co-host and fellow chef discussing leadership, mentorship, and industry challenges with Kevin
Carl
Walk-In Talk Podcast host conducting interview and facilitating discussion with Kevin and Michael
Quotes
"Everyone's 100% is different. So it's like, you can't compare your work at that to someone else. Maybe they have something that they're strong and maybe they have something that they're weak at."
Kevin Rasberry
"Everything starts and ends with the food. So I'll see what the struggles and issues that they're having with the food. And then I'll assert from there just to make things better."
Kevin Rasberry
"If you stress it, you're not going to have a resolution by stressing it. So it's like, why even waste that energy on stress and all something you know you can't fix."
Kevin Rasberry
"Help me help you. You wouldn't ask the next person for it for free. Just because you know me, doesn't mean I should give it to you for free."
Kevin Rasberry
"I just want to be a better chef than I am today. Personally, I want to be a better father. Better son. Better brother. Better cousin. Better human being."
Kevin Rasberry
Full Transcript
You've saved carefully for your future, your plans, your peace of mind. Now there's good news. FSCS Protection for your savings and current accounts has risen to £120,000 per eligible person at UK authorised banks, building societies and credit unions. From the very first pound, right up to £120,000, it's all protected. So you can focus on what matters with confidence. See what it means for you at fcs.org.uk, your savings. FSCS Protected. This week on Walk-and-Talk Podcast, we're sitting down with Kevin Raspberry, director of culinary and executive chef at the Grove at Trilago. Kevin is one of those chefs the industry quietly leans on. When kitchens are short staffed, when chefs walk out, when communities need help, he's the call. One week it's Jacksonville, the next it's clear water, then telehassy. Different teams, different challenges, same expectation, walk in and make it work. At the same time, Kevin is building something of his own, a growing seasoning brand called Mama Jean Seasonings. New product lines, experiments, farmers market plans, all while holding down a demanding leadership role that asks him to be chef, manager, mentor and fixer, often all in the same day. This conversation isn't about trophies or titles, it's about endurance, it's about staying sharp. It's about forcing yourself to grow when comfort would be easier. We talk about juggling entrepreneurship while being fully committed to your job, about burnout, about why chefs are leaving kitchens, about what leadership really looks like when things aren't clean or polished. This is a real look at modern chef life, no filters, no highlight reel. Let's get into it. All right, we're into the fourth episode of the year and this one is another banger I have, obviously chef Kevin Raspberry in house. We also have chef Michael Kalantis here in the house. Oh chef Kevin, welcome back. It's been the hot minute. It's been a minute. It's been a minute, but it's good to be back. It is good to be back. You felt natural, she felt right today. My home away from home. Yeah, the sides work. Well, let's jump into the food, man. Absolutely. I don't like to let the audience wait on what we cooked up. What's going on? So today we ended up cooking up a few dishes. The first dish was a seared tilefish with a parsnip soup, with a charred zucchini ragu. And what's in that? So in the ragu is charred zucchini, chickpeas, roasted red peppers, shallots, red onions, and it has a dejan vinegar in it. And on top of the fish is topped with a sauce v-airge. All right, so in the sauce v-airge, it's concait tomatoes. It's cherry heirloom tomatoes, Italian parsley, chef in a basil, shallots, and olive oil, salt pepper. All right. Well, I get a test of the fact that it was freaking delicious. That's okay. And that's what counts as far as I'm concerned. It looks great. John took pictures already. You know, we super. We were, I don't know what the deal is, but we have a lot of footage. We were doing extra on the video today. So we still have to go back and cook the second dish, which is a the fire topsoar loin with the charred tomato puree. And red pineapple glaze to go on top. All right. I'm kind of excited about that one. No, that one's mine. Yeah. And I'm a meat eater, right? I mean, the fish is great. Fish is meat. I get it. And I love it. But I mean, like the red meat. The red meat. Yeah, bring it. Yeah. And I'm the fish guy. So I love that last dish. Chef, what a great introduction to like, yeah, what you do. It's definitely something like it just felt like I was in a Mediterranean. So I love, I love those. I appreciate it. I'm ready for the freaking steak now. That's the truth. There's no joke. Kevin, you're one of those chefs who get sent out when things are broken. When the kitchen shorts are after or one of your chefs quit, you're filling the gap. How did you become that? It was kind of bestowed upon me. I like a challenge. And I'll never say no to anything. So once someone presents an opportunity, I'm going to go for it. I'll figure it out later. How I'm a handle it. But at the same time, it's like, I don't want to show any fear or anything like that or any doubt. I'm going there, make it happen somehow some way. And not everybody's cut the same though. Not everybody does that. In fact, most people should say most people, there's so many slackers that are out there. And they come in hot and heavy and strong. And then in the end, bag of rocks. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And you're walking into different scenarios. Everyone has their own challenges. Chefs are defeated, you know, leaderships. You know, you're going in cleaning people's messes. It's not the most ideal. No, I mean, I get to travel so much fun. No, I'm going into someone else's mess and playing cleanup. I mean, that's tough. Walking Talk Media is proudly supported by rack, porcelain, USA, creating durable, beautifully designed tableware for chefs and hospitality professionals. Learn more at rack porcelain.com. Also, we work with Michael. Like, for opportunity. Put me in a game coach. Yeah. But you've been traveling. It's been clear water, Jacksonville, Tallahassee. Like you've been going all over the place. Not only is, you know, the chef's life, you're talking 60, 70, 80 hours a week. But now you're traveling. How's that? It's fun. I mean, you get to be on a road. I mean, at that same time, I still get to see other kitchens, how other kitchens were operating or what they're doing wrong. And certain things that they're doing good. Maybe I can incorporate that into the workflow of my kitchen. I didn't think about it. Being a chef, you know, you're stuck in a dungeon, right? I always look at the kitchen. I get to dungeon. Sorry. I'm a friend of the house guy. Always will be, you know, I need to be with the people. But you get to go on the road. That's for you is probably like magical, right? You get time to yourself. You're driving, you put the tunes on, whatever. And you're just, yeah, man, that's when I have my concert series in the car. You know, put the playlist on shelf full. And you know, you hear songs you haven't heard in like 20, 30 years or so. But I mean, it's fun. I mean, I get to see when I go to these communities and stuff like that. Afterwork, I get to go eat at the local spots. You've seen a lot of kitchen staff walk away recently. From your perspective, what's really going on? Yeah, you know, a lot, a lot has changed. As chef and I were talking before, we were rolling, you know, so much has changed from COVID, you know, you see a lot of people exiting. You see a lot of the older guys finding second, third careers in industry and industry. And also finding things in the industry that they, you know, restaurants chefs are, you know, getting depleted. It's not really something that's, you know, they find a lot of now. But I think there's something to be said that we really have to cultivate this next season of what cooking and being a chef is beyond just, you know, when I was, we're kind of the same age chef and we were talking about it, you know, it was like, food network was everything then. I just started and like, oh, you know, all these cooks, you're telling me, all these cooks want to just come in here and be the next seal, Bobby Flay or something like that. Mm-hmm. Correct. And at the end of the day, I feel like not everyone's built for this. So it's like, I tell everybody, when you start off, why do you want to do this? Is this something you want to do? Because once you get in, reality is going to hit you full force. And then you're going to want to quit. So like, I tell everybody, I was like, be serious that you want to do this. I don't mind teaching, I don't mind showing you the ropes. But don't waste my time. Do not waste my time on this. Because it's like, this is something that I'm passionate about. So it's like, I can't keep the knowledge that I have. I want to share it with the next person. Therefore, I feel like there's people out there that are more knowledgeable than me, like Chef Mike. I'm at a point in my career. I'm never ashamed to ask the next chef, how do you do this? What am I doing wrong? How could I make this better? The end of the day, you got to humble yourself. Not every chef knows everything. So it's like, you want to get with, you want to surround yourself with great people to learn. So I mean, that's my take on it. No, I absolutely. I think that's as soon as you stop learning or you know, I get, I always say you're too young. Like I get these young cuts. You're too young to be so set in your ways. It's so annoying. I'm like, guys, you're, you've got so much potential. And then you're coming yourself short because you think you're already arrived. And like coming from a guy like me who's been doing it for 25 years, I'm still not there. All I do is play with fish and rice. And I still don't know anything about fish and rice. You know what I mean? Like they, there's something to be said about that. The chef, uh, chef, when you walk into the kitchen, that's struggling. What's like the first thing you try to stabilize is the food, the people culture, the food. Because I mean, at the end of the day, that's why I was summoned to go there. And I got to tell everybody, everything starts and ends with the food. So I'll see what the struggles and issues that they're having with the food. And then I'll assert from there just to make things better. As far as maybe it's the execution or maybe they just don't have the proper guidance. To execute it properly. Right. That's great perspective because it's, you know, we always say food universal. So we might not speak the same language. We may not come from the same background, but we could all come to a table together. And so once I think that helps also break some boundaries for you too. Their guards down when they say, okay, this guy can sling some bands around. Yeah, because I don't want them to see me and just get intimidated. At the end of the day, I'm just here to help. It's like, how can I help you put out a successful meal and to put it out successfully after I'm gone? So it's like the way I look at it is just like, how can I get you to see my vision? Or just a general vision in itself to where you're putting out quality food? If you are kitchen storage is causing you time every single day, pay attention. Metro food service is taking entries for the kitchen storage makeover through February 27th. One operation will receive up to $100,000 in Metro storage solutions plus an onsite workflow assessment, a custom layout approved by your team and a full install and assembly. And the makeover will be featured in FBNS magazine linked to enter. It's in Metro's Instagram bio or at fbnsmag.com slash KSM. Do you feel like a lot of the chefs in the leadership positions that you're going into those they're receptive or you know, I mean, you're all under one company, but not ultimately like, the chef is always the last word, the last say in the kitchen. You feel like you know, you're able to bring something to their to their table. I feel like it, but something that someone told to me, I actually had one of my cooks tell me this a few years ago. He told me he was like, everyone's 100% is different. So it's like, you can't compare your work at that to someone else. Maybe they have something that they're strong and maybe they have something that they're weak at. So it's like, you kind of just want to hone in on their strengths and then also with their weaknesses, you want to build that up so that can be their strength. Friend of mine told me she was like, you will achieve so much more once you get outside of your comfort zone. So you want to take their discomfort and turn that into a comfort. And then create a new discomfort for. I mean, that's that's where you grow, right? Absolutely. I'm going to head to that too. Yeah, change the food first, right? That's the reason for being there. People in culture are they're not one and the same, but I think you can approach and make the corrections in the same movement. Because the culture is going to change when you get rid of the people that are weak or bringing the operation down. And the more you do that, that builds the culture in the optic of the people who are still employed there. And now you're building that team and you're instilling in them, whatever that culture is supposed to come from the top down. Absolutely. A hard part, I find, you know, running multiple restaurants, multiple operations. So much of the culture is driven by the driver, right? So good driver, bad driver, doesn't matter, but it's not tied to the operator. It's not tied to the business, right? Just because you're underneath this umbrella, doesn't mean everyone is operating underneath umbrella. They're going to operate individually. So like your job is really to help bring, you're going to all these different places and trying to speak the same language, same voice, cross-board. So how, you know, you're doing all these things, you're running around, you're putting fires out. How do you find yourself keeping the sanity in between all of these things? I don't, I even ask myself, it's like sometimes I'm surprised like I haven't lost my mind or anything like that because not only being a chef, being a manager, it's like you wear so many hats. And then you got to deal with people's different personalities that I don't want to make it sound like, you know, sometimes you have to babysit, but I mean, it's just the reality of it. I know what I signed up for when I got into this industry. I know it's not all smiles and hallmark cards. You have to get in and get into trenches. My sanity, honestly, I love what I do. So that's the only reason I could say why I keep my sanity because it's like I haven't lost that passion for the food. Right. So much harder, they were, you know, so much harder to fake the funk. Oh yeah, absolutely. Like I'm surprised I haven't developed a drug or drink an avid at this point. So with that being said, what helps you specifically keep you grounded? That's a good question. Honestly, I feel like with me being, I don't know if you have notice this about me. I'm very much introvert. So I'm very chill laid back. So I don't let things get to me. So I feel like it keeps me grounded. And I mean, at the end of the day, I can still, I can't turn my chef brain off. So nine times out of 10, I'm still thinking about food. When I'm not cooking, I'm still thinking about menu concept, menu ideas to just make myself be better than I was today before. You know, and you know, that's the truth, too, because you're not just doing your chefly duties. You have a company. Absolutely, Mama Jean season. So you're thinking about food and food ingredients day in day out more than day in and day out. For me, I can appreciate the juggle because we do that here. We do that with our brand partners with with companies that we work with, not to mention all of our production work duties. It's a lot. There's a lot that goes into all of these operations. And what you're doing, you have to be creative. You do your, you do your 10 hours or 12 hours for shifts, whatever it is for the day. I wish it was 10 hours. You do your 14 or 16 hours shifts for the day. And then you go home and then you have to think about, you know, that that recipe for my, my next spice line, what am I putting in that? That's energy, man. That's that's brain energy. And I honestly don't know how you keep it together. It's, it's a good balance. I'm working on still trying to find that balance. I'm even after I'm finished working, I still have orders that I have to fulfill. So I'm not going to bed to like 12 o'clock in the morning, just to be up by six o'clock, six thirty, just to get my day started over again. You're laid back, dude. And I think that's part of the reason you're able to facilitate this because you're not stressed out. You're not wicked out. You control. Absolutely. Like one thing I learned is to not stress it. Only stress, which you can control. If I can't control it, I'm not going to stress it. I tell this to everybody. It's like, if you stress it, you're not going to have a resolution by stressing it. So it's like, why even waste that energy on stress and all something you know you can't fix. Support for walk and talk media comes from crab, highland seafood dip creating chef driven crab dips made with real seafood and bold flavor. Learn more at crab, highlandseafooddip.com. Now, as Carl mentioned that you opened up a seasoning company recently. You know, what's, what's harder starting your own thing or sustaining it? Sustaining it. Because I mean, everything's good in the beginning. Something new, something fresh that's on the scene on the market. Everybody wants it. Six, seven, 12 months down the line, two years down the line. How do you get the people to still buy into the product that you started out three years ago? So that's the hardest challenge is just to get people to buy in or new people to buy in. We say that in the restaurants when we open a new restaurant that honeymoon phase, right? There's that honeymoon phase when things are just humming and you're the hot new kid in town and everyone wants to go there, then you go to reality, then it's like the real work begins when you know, you have less people coming through that door means you need less staff. To me, it's so easy for us to hide the mistakes that we have in operations when we're busy or when things are going away. Nothing really gets revealed until starts seeing the trueness of what it is. What are some of those pitfalls that you found in starting a spice company? The pitfalls that I have discovered is a lot of people won't stop for free. Like, I've realized that probably within the first six or seven months, to start in it. Even now, I think we're three years, maybe four years into it. I still have friends, family and stuff. They want something for free. But it's like, help me help you. You wouldn't ask the next person for it for free. Just because you know me, doesn't mean I should give it to you for free. Like, I had to pay for this stuff. These ingredients aren't free. The bottles aren't free. This website is not free. These labels aren't free. Like, one of the years to really build this. My knowledge that I have from 2003, I started my first season in blend in 2004 while I was in my American cuisine class. None of that's free. I thought it's like, have some respect for my time, my effort, and my passion, and don't ask for nothing free. That's a tough one. I mean, the same thing when people expect coming to a restaurant and getting something free. I love my general managers and chefs. They're like, hey, this guy out front says he knows the chef. So I already know in my mind is like, oh, they know the chef. They want something. And there's mouths to feed. This is a business. I love what you say. Respect, respect the craft. You've put all this time. You put these things in here and you really respect the craft, respect what I'm doing. Absolutely. I feel like some people maybe they don't know where they just take it for granted. Do they still do that, Mike? Is it still the, I know the chef. I know the owner and the GM. Is it still that happening? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Investorants, absolutely. I mean, listen, influence is everything. So you get hit up on Instagram with I'm an influencer. I love to come in. I've got blah, blah, blah, you know, followings. And you have to do it with diligence, like, discernment if who they are. Because I'm telling you, then you'll look at their page, wow, they have 200,000 followers and all of them were like from Brazil. Brazilian robots are Indian robots. You're like, come on, man. It's one thing to have an influencer kind of reach out and let's say they're legitimate, right? That they reach out and they do their thing, right? It's another thing for a non influencer to walk up and tell the hostess or the server, hey, by the way, you know, I know the owner. What are you doing? I remember that. I don't have the patience for that. I would bounce a amount right in their ear. Right out. Yeah, show some grace with it. You know, it's I always say, you know, I'll come in. I'll try to come by. I'll say hello or something like that. Maybe I'll bring my standard and bring one of my cooks out. Pretend these chefs might, you know, but it's, you know, it's just part of the game replay. The chef Kevin, we touched on this a little bit before you talked about how you have to force yourself to learn new skills. Stay motivated. Why is discomfort so important for chefs at your stage? Because I feel like chefs get complacent. Once you get complacent, you're not learning anymore. I think you're just going through the motion. I feel like once you get to that stage in your career, you've already checked out. You want to push yourself to do more, do better and stuff. There's new trends coming out every week, every month, every year. You want to keep up with the time. You have to adjust and adapt. If not, you're still going to be doing stuff from the early 2000s, from the 90s, from the 80s. You got to adjust. You have to adjust. So that's why I feel like discomfort is important to me. I'm not only speaking from my perspective, because it's like, it's given me the motivation to know that there's more out there for me to learn. So once I learn those things, great. I've mastered it. All right, let me see what else is out there to where something that's, let's just say it scared me years ago. Let's try it up. And once I learned it, I'm like, dang, it really wasn't that hard to do. 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. And enjoy this podcast. But you do want to do it. That's the thing. I do want to do it. And so you have to after force myself to get out of that comfort zone and learn this new skill. It is a skill set, right? It is even people. And you know what's difficult to, I just want to make mention of this. Before we jump on to the podcast, there's hours of cooking. So you're in this frame of mind of, prep, cook, plate, you know, your focus, hyper focused on that. I'm hyper focused on, you know, video, audio. Is it, you know, my framed right? Is it in focus? Is the audio working? You know, John's doing the same thing on the photography side in the studio. And then we have to jump onto the podcast. And now we have to, you know, switch gears into the other side of the muscle on the brain. It's not an easy thing that we do here. And the fact that, you know, we have, you know, like Kevin, you know, just like your fourth time, fifth time coming. We only bring back like the good ones, man. You know, because at the end of the day, it's, it's, it's hard. And it not every, it's not like for everybody. So going back to your business side, you know, starting the spice company, building it up, getting to a point of profitability. You still feel like short from your goals. How do you balance the gratitude and then fishing to do more? I felt short on our goals because me and my business partner, one thing about like our company is just a two man business. It's just me and my friend from high school, my best friend might, he handles the technical side of it. I handle everything that's in the bottle. So we had set a goal for ourselves. We wanted to meet X amount of dollars. We didn't meet that goal, unfortunately. But we still made a profit by a few hundred dollars. So it's like we look at it as a small win. We know what we did and we know what we didn't do. And like it's a struggle to work our regular jobs, then still do our business on the side because it's like all our focus isn't on our business. Our focus is our main job. That's what pays the bills. With the season and company, it's, I don't want to say we do it for fun, but it was never supposed to be a business. Like it just kind of happened on its own. So it's like one day, he reached out to me. He was like, Hey, let's create a business. I'm like, all right. Never my intent to do this. So I don't stress it too much. It's given me something to look at for life after cooking once I'm out of the kitchen. If that ever happens, if I'm fully out of the kitchen, which I doubt it. But it's just another stream of income. Because I always think about this as an entrepreneur, right? I do multiple restaurants, done, you know, different businesses and things like that. Not that you want to trade one for the other, but it all collectively helped build your dream at the end of the day. And I said it is at the last podcast that we did was it's your journey. Not anyone else is. If you want to start this spice company because you want to share your knowledge or whether you want to make side income, that's your journey. However you want to do it. But I always say that the most important time isn't the nine to five. It's five to nine. It's the all time when it's really just about you building something for you. Exactly. And I do this all out of the love. I've never done this or gotten this industry in general or the money. It's always been about the passion and the love for cooking for food. Just to get people's reaction. I've told people this numerous times. Food brings people together through good times, bad times, whatever the case may be. But I do it just for the love of it. And I feel like if other people share that passion, I feel like the world would be a better place. You know, margins matter, percentages matter. You're you're putting a lot of time into that, you know, five to nine as Chef Mike is saying, all that effort and you make sales and you're moving models. It takes a lot of internal fortitude guts, if you will, to continue on putting in the effort, knowing that man, I know that I know the margins going to be tight this year. I know what we're selling for a margin to tight. I know profitability is going to be short. But I believe what we're doing, we're going to keep going. I'm still doing my nine to five. And then I'm still doing my five to nine. We're banging this out. It takes a lot to move that needle man. It takes a lot to just get up and do it. Four out of five hospitality professionals have faced at least one mental health challenge during their career. Stress, burnout, anxiety. These are everyday realities and kitchens, dining rooms and bars across North America. The Burnt Chef 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 and breaking the stigma. Email us, Canada at theburnchefproject.com for donation details and mailing information or learn more about the mission at theburnchefproject.com. It does, but I feel like if you trust the process, everything will work out. I'm so confident in my product. I'll put it up against anything. It's like, because I believe in it, not because it's mine, but it's like, I know what's out there. I'm going to tell you, my family in laws are there's opinions over opinions over opinions, hard to make them happy. I'm going to show you. And lovely as way possible. My mother-in-law, who cooks all the time press, you know, she part of the deal with coming up here to Central Florida was, you know, I said, hey, I'm bringing a mom along. I'm blessed to have my mother-in-law with us. She's awesome. You had given us tons of the stuff. And they didn't ask, by the way, he was just generous and did that. Once she started getting into them and using them, she loves them. It took a lot to get her away from what she was using. Just saying. So it does matter and the love shows in what you do. I appreciate that. Yeah. I never told you that, but I figured today's like, that's good to know. And as far as just to pick you back off of that, people like what they know, it's nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that at all. So it's like to step out and try something new. It's that fear. Like, I know if I go to certain restaurants, I'm going to order the same thing every time. I'm sure there's so much more good stuff on the menu. But if I go somewhere, I try something and I like it. I'm sticking to it. How about you, Mike? You do the same thing? Yeah, we're creatures of habit, right? Like, I don't want to risk a date night with my wife going somewhere. That's not going to show me well for later that night. You know, I'm saying. All right. So because I was going to, I was going to immediately disagree with you, but that's the only application where I think it makes it, it makes sense. I want to, I want something new every time. I know I want to guarantee my fate with my wife. A lot of times what I like to do is have the chef just bring stuff. Hey, hey, man, you know what, whatever you think it, whatever you're thinking, bring it because I want to try some new stuff. My wife hates that, but I love that. That's what keeps me going, man. I was like, yeah, do I want to get the same thing? Yes. But I'm not a kid anymore where I can, I can eat 10,000 calories in a day. I got to like, now I'm going to have to start like, you know, I kind of make good choices, but there's certain times, right? You want, you want the comfort of what you know you're going to get and you also want to explore the menu. So you'll get, I'll get the crowd favorites, right? And then you'll go off, scrap the bit, which is fine. But, you know, going to the spices and getting the spice blends and things like that, you know, a lot of chefs, oh, I just make it myself. And at the restaurant, you have 30 different bottles of everything you need. When I cook at home, it's a one pop meal for me and the kids and the wife and it's, you know, the easiest thing that I can make. I don't want to do a lot of dishes. I don't want to think about it because just want to go on cruise control. And I think that's, you know, I go for those seasoning packets that I always, you know, tried and true. And then it's just trying to build your brand and reputation into the household name. You want to mean chef? Absolutely. Just to add to that, especially like, well, if I'm cooking at home, which is rare. I don't know if that's talked about if chefs do cook at home. I'm one of them. I made cook once a month. 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. It's like, I tell everybody you don't want to bring work home with you. So that's why I don't cook. But I'm cooking at home. It's just me and my daughter at home. So we're simple. Pasta will cook a steak. We'll cook some chicken. That's it. I find that she's using in the season and it's more at home than I am. Maybe that's bad on my part, but I'm a simple, I'm basic when I come to eat salt pepper garlic. That's all I need. Not to say like my season is the rest of them aren't good because they're amazing. But I know what I'm looking for. I just need to eat. Once I got food in my stomach, I'm good to go. Jayman. Yeah, that's it. I get it a couple of months ago. We had Jack Ross and he owns a company called Yo Meepal and he's doing these like sauces and meatballs really good. It's so close to my family's recipes and what not. So he cooked up. I don't know. I don't know how many pounds and pounds and pounds of meatballs that we did when he was here. We took some home through him in a freezer. Good stuff. My mother-in-law surprised me last night. She made some pasta and then we had the meatballs. Jayman's on them. You want to talk about like easy, peezy, lemon, and squeezy? But I wasn't having and they're delicious too. Like I was in heaven. That's my comfort food. That's what I go to. Give me some pasta. Give me some meatballs. Oh my God. I'm totally good forever. Yeah, if I could find quality, pre-made items that don't have all of the preservatives and all because now I'm watching that stuff for the kids and everything that that's my go-to because we are limited in time. I'm cooking all day. You're cooking all day. You don't want to go back home, cook all night and then try to spend some time with the family. That's the hard part. Chef Kevin, when you look ahead, what does growth actually look like for you professionally and personally? At this point, professionally, I just want to be a better chef than I am today. Personally, I want to be a better father. Better son. Better brother. Better cousin. Better human being. I love that answer. How do you get there? Once I found out I'll let you know. Man, I tell you what, today was fun. I had a great time. Mike, did you have a good time thing? Well, it's great. It's always great being in a studio. Right? You look so good with the headphones and the microphone. Oh my goodness. Chef, calm. Bye, man. I love when you come here. I love coming out here. I know because I know I'm going to eat. I'm going to eat good. Oh, absolutely. You don't mess around. I'll try not to. I know, I know, I know. All right, look, I appreciate y'all being out here today. Both of you. Big things coming here in 2026. Chef, how do we find you? You can find me on Instagram at Mama James Seasonance. You can find me on Facebook. At Mama James Seasonance. You can find me on LinkedIn at Kevin Raspberry. Raspberry with no Pete. Mike, chefmicalantis.com, as well as Chef Mike Kalantis on Instagram. Love it. John, as always, you're bad ass. We have still filming to do, so we are going to split. We are out. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it on the train, working out, cooking, even going to the Lou podcast or a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from lips and ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre-produced ad like this one across thousands of shows to reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with lips and ads. Go to lipsinadds.com today. That's l-i-b-s-y and ads.com. Lipsonadds.com