E207 Olivia Cox

This week's Cassidy is Olivia Cox, who joins us from Orange County, California. Liv started her culinary journey when she was 18 when she attended the Art Institute in order to get her associate's degree in culinary arts. However, after two years of the program, Liv landed a job at Disneyland, California. It was at this point that Liv's realized she was learning more from work than actual school and immediately dropped out to focus on the industry.

Currently, Liv's is the chef de cuisine at the Seller Restaurant in Fullerton, California. We talked with Liv about her time working at Disneyland and the differences between working in a large corporate culinary environment versus a normal restaurant kitchen. We discussed her career progression at the Seller. We also talked about the style of food and clientele of the Seller Plus host of other topics.

We had a great time talking with Liv's. Enjoy the show. Welcome to another episode of the industry podcast. My name is Kit.

This is Dan. How is it going? Hey, how's it going? Hey, how's it going?

Well, with me. Glad about yourself. Fantastic. Just fantastic.

Nice. Yeah. The recording of this is last week of August. So it was a couple of weeks till it gets released.

So just to join the lovely warm weather before our town gets flooded with students. And maybe the businesses start becoming busy again. Yeah, that's true. We're going to have to go back to the adults in the town instead of going away for every weekend.

Yeah. Yeah. We've been up a pretty nice summer for most part and then all of a sudden, we're going to hurricane season for a couple of weekends. I'll over through it now.

Yeah. And if you are going to be in the Kitchener Waterloo area, you should stop by. One of my bars, there's Sugar Run at Sugar Run Bar, downtown Kitchener at Sugar Run Bar to see what's going on Instagram bar in uptown Waterloo is Babylon Sisters at Babylon Sisters Bar on Instagram to check out all the good stuff that's happening there throughout the fall. And if you like them, what we're doing here on the show, you should follow us, subscribe, rate, review, tell a friend, all of those things help.

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Anything else you want to shoot the shoot about? No, not too much burnt out from where he jumped. So, well, then let's get to our guest. We are joined by Liv Cox coming to us from California.

How are you, Liv? I'm pretty great. How are you guys? We're doing great.

Thanks very much for joining us on the show especially at the Time Reference Stukes in early mid afternoon for you. So we appreciate it. So you are in, sorry, what area of California? I'm in Southern California.

Orange County, Great for Disneyland. That's like the biggest thing that people recognize us for Disneyland. Sure. And you grew up in California?

I did, yes. So you worked at Disneyland for some time at the beginning of your career as well? Yes, I did. So we worked at, it was called Ariel's Rado at the time.

It's now changed to Lapplight Lounge. And that was about almost eight years ago. Is, we were discussing this before we started recording this Ariel, a Disney princess? Yeah, it's a little mermaid.

Oh, so little mermaid. Okay. I was like, I think that must be why it's called that way. We didn't understand.

So, okay, well, so what kind of a restaurant is at Disneyland? Is it like a nicer restaurant in the theme park? Yeah, so it's on a Disney California Adventure side. So that's the technically second park that opened up right next to Disneyland.

It's more for adults' place or not. They had the roller coasters. The Tower of Terror was there. It's now changed into a different ride, but it's a more high thrill adventure park for Disney fans.

The restaurant that I worked on, it was considered to be one of the nicer restaurants to sit down. So it's not quick service. It's not fast food or anything like that. It was, I think, kind of just like American bistro, I would say.

Like I said, it's been a while and everything has changed since I left. It's a completely different menu, completely different chefs and whole different team now. Is that where you feel like you kind of cut your teeth and like as being a line book? Or did you have to do that before that?

I had a couple of odds and end jobs before that. I worked at a candy shop in Riverside. It's called The Mission Inn. It's a pretty big like historical hotel.

So I worked there for a little while. I worked at Little Caesars when I just started culinary school. But Ariel's Rado was for sure my first introduction to being on an actual kitchen line. I used to joke saying that Little Caesars was like working in a big microwave because there was a lot of cooking.

Right. So yeah, Ariel's Rado was definitely my first introduction to actually being on the line working with flames, knives, all that. And I really enjoyed it, definitely. Just out of curiosity, was there a pretty high turnover with the staff or there's some people that it was like pretty much like any normal restaurant where you have some people there for a while and the rest is high.

I feel like Ariel's Rado, it was like 50-50 where it was a high turnover. But then there were people who were like lifers. There were especially just the company themselves. It's a really good company to work for if you can make it long.

Yeah. It has great benefits of all that stuff. But yeah, just like any kitchen, there was a lot of high turnover. But also even within the year that I was working there, I never worked with the same crew.

Like once, because there's so many employees and just everyone kind of gets shoved around with scheduling. Do they move you around to different restaurants? Or like if you're working at Say Ariel's Rado, are you basically only working there? So when you start off, your first three months probation, you can only stay in the one area.

Once I start off as a prep cook, I was there for three months and then I moved to the line, which is considered a line cook. The next position up was a DC cook dinner cook and then just further up the ladder from there. Once you get to a position like line cook, you can apply to be cross-trained at a different restaurant. And I'm not guaranteed that you'll get it because it's done by seniority and or like requests of like scheduling stuff like that.

So you can request to be moved around, but they don't do it like automatically. If you don't basically speak up, you're going to stay in the same location. And did you request any moves or are you happy working at that? I didn't request any moves.

I really enjoyed being at that restaurant just because I really enjoyed the menu at the time. I enjoyed my coworkers. And then by the time that I started to not like it, I decided that I want to leave the company entirely. So I didn't want to bother transferring to a differentiation.

We're definitely going to talk about what you're doing now because I'm sure that's what you're just talking about. But I'm just fascinated by the whole working at a theme park thing because it's like, would you describe the experience of working for Disneyland in this restaurant? Is it basically the same as working in any restaurant? Besides for maybe like a good benefit to get or whatever?

Honestly, no. I don't think it is like any other job that I've had. I definitely not like any other kitchen I've been in. I have a lot of people who actually reached out to me and asked me this on my social media page.

That job I consider really corporate and really not to say anything bad about Disneyland, but it kind of takes a passionate out of cooking. It's very like we have to do things this way, this way, this way. If you think anything else you're wrong, you need to like the creativity is not really there. Nobody gets to experiment with things.

The chefs are the ones who are coming up with the menus, but by the time it actually gets approved by all the different hierarchies of management, other chefs area chefs, by the time it gets put on the menu, it's kind of completely different than the original five. Along with that, there's just things like quirks, like you can't cuss in a Disney kitchen. You can't have any piercings. I fucking bullshit.

It is. I think that in the first 15 to 20 minutes. Yeah. I had one tattoo on my arm and then I had my tongue pierced and they told me I had to take my tongue piercing out before I got to the actual theme park like before I got out of my car.

In case any of the guests saw you and saw you go into the kitchen, like in reality, we're there. Oh, yeah, because obviously you're not going to see if you're back in the kitchen. Wow. That's pretty strict on sense.

Then I have some friends who still work there who have said that it's lacked a little bit, but still very corporate. It's just very, I personally wouldn't suggest it to anybody who is really passionate about cultivating and creating food. It's a good job to start off. It's a good job to learn techniques and it's a good job just to have a job, but if it's something cooking and creating is something that you're really passionate about, I would not go there.

I used to say that's where I think passion was today. Sounds like North Korea. You think that's a good thing? The mouses of the theater.

That's like the type of rules apply to the guy in the fucking goofy suit to them. I'm not sure. I think probably because if they saw him going in the back or whatever, right? Like where he gets the suit on.

That's crazy. It's funny talking about what you're talking about. I've worked in a couple corporate restaurants before. I always hated it.

And I know what you're talking about that when they have multiple levels of management and you're not really sure what half of these fucking people are even doing. It seems like a lot of those jobs could be done by one person, but they have all these levels of management. Different titles. Yeah, with different titles that some of them don't even make sense.

You have a front of house manager, a bar manager, a service manager, a chef, a sous chef, and then you have an executive chef. But at a company like Disney, the levels of corporate titles above that, there's the park and then there's the corporate Disney office or whatever. By the time, because I remember working in some of those places, if you did have a creative idea, I was always front of house. But let's say I had a creative idea for a drink, right?

By the time it goes through all those people above you, like you said, it changes so much because they feel like they're not doing their job unless they have some sort of critique of it. Yeah, yeah. So I can only imagine with the menu, by the time it gets to the eighth dude who just fucking needs to put his stamp on it, then it's like, well, now it's a completely different dish. Yeah, exactly.

That's crazy. Yeah, that would be frustrating. But yeah, there's so many of those people who, because their job probably could be done by the person above them and just like eliminate that job altogether, they really do feel like they need to put their two cents in other ways. Yeah, to justify their job.

Exactly. Interesting. So aside from that though, like a physical working there is still like working online. Yes.

I think the only thing different again is when like the corporations get in like obviously with California state laws, everyone who's working at full ship needs to take a break before their sixth hour at 30 minutes is mandated, clock out 15 minutes in kitchens, like the one I'm working in now and I believe most kitchens, it's very lax of like, okay, yeah, I have all this stuff to do. I forgot to clock out. I'm going to go take my break now at Disney would actually get like penalties or even written up if you didn't take your break at the exact time you're supposed to. And a lot of the times that fell on sometimes like your lead wouldn't let you leave at that point and you're like, oh, I have to go take my break and they're like, well, I need you to be here.

And then according to the management, I was like, well, you should have left like that's you were in the wrong for listening to this person in charge of you. And there's really no like give or take about it. It's very black and white. Like no, you were supposed to do this.

Why didn't you now you're in trouble? Whereas like in a real kitchen, it's very much like, okay, well, I have like these sauces going, these mashed potatoes going, this happening, this cooking, I can't leave at this exact minute. Right. So I'm going to take my break a little bit later and nobody's in here like threatening your job because you did that.

Right. Yeah. And that's a big problem for me when I was at Disney because I had a couple of people in charge of me that were like really bad at letting people go on their breaks. And it was either, okay, I'm going to listen to the person who's in charge of me and like continue to work my station or I'm just going to abandon my station.

And I feel like that's where Disney can make a lot of problems because they make it fall like on the individual and then that becomes a bigger problem for the entire kitchen. Like I'm obviously not going to just leave my crew, leave my station up and dry and be like, well, figure it out. I have to go on my lunch break. But that's kind of what the company wants you to do because they want you to follow their rules of like what you were supposed to be on your break at this time.

Do you think that that is like an issue with just having a mass like obviously the park has to have restaurants like obviously but like having a giant corporation run a restaurant because anyone who's been in the service industry knows that the service industry is not the same as any other business. Yeah. Right. So like we can't follow like the same corporate guidelines like the guy in the goofy suit follows or the guy who's in the corporate boardroom in Disney.

Right. Yeah. Do you think that's an issue? Yeah.

I think that especially with larger corporations like that there's just a huge disconnects of what like oh, this is what needs to happen. It's like, well, that's not actually what can happen. I feel like that disconnects can happen at smaller places too. Sometimes upper management doesn't understand how the day to day flow of something is going or how it works.

They just lay out how it should be working. But unfortunately I feel like with corporations there's less understanding when those problems rise. Like the smaller businesses like if I have a problem with something that my owner like is like this is what we're doing from now on this how it has to work and then it doesn't work that way. I can sit down with them and explain like okay, so this is why this didn't happen.

Maybe we can rework it. So we're both happy whereas corporations like Disney it's like no, this is how it works and if you can't fix it, then we'll find someone who can and I feel like that's where the huge disconnects comes with big businesses. And like I get the other side of it where it's like a massive corporation like that, the easiest thing for them to do is set out like standard guidelines for every part of their business. But it doesn't really work when you're applying it to a restaurant.

Like it doesn't. So that's not a problem to solve. Let's talk about what you're doing now. So when you left Ariel's Gerato, you left Disney altogether and is that when you started working at the seller?

Okay. So you really went right from there to like the job that you should. Yeah. That's pretty lucky.

Yeah. Very lucky. I was at Ariel's Gerato and at the time I was living in Rancho Cucamonga, which is about roughly about an hour away, drive distance. And I knew that that was a drive that I was still willing to do.

So I started looking up nicer quality restaurants in this area and I just started emailing them asking if they had positions open, sending my resume kind of just like putting out any feelers to see what was out there. This was in 2016, 2015, 2016. And I got a phone call back from chef Scott, he's the executive chef here now. He had just been promoted to head chef at the time and he was looking to bring people on.

When he had originally called me, he had told me that there was a dishwashing slash food prep position open and I was just like, thank you for calling me, but I really don't want to take a step backwards in my career. I need like line cook or nothing else. Thank you. And he was like, well, we have someone leaving in a month.

If you can hang on for a month, we can call you back. And I was like, yeah, absolutely. I don't plan on going anywhere. So call me back.

So a month later in September, I came in for an interview. It was probably the strangest interview I've ever had. His sous chef at the time got promoted at the same time that he got promoted. And he was this really goofy kid that definitely was he enjoys cooking and is very passionate about it, but I don't think he really wanted any leadership.

In the interview, he asked me what my favorite Star Wars movie was. That was his criteria of hiring me. And about a month later, I got to call back. And yeah, I started off on Satay and I've been here since.

Oh, wow. And so describe the differences. The one thing that you will get from your experience at Disneyland is you believe with a good work ethic and knowing how to do everything sort of by the book. So that's how I always find that's helpful.

Like if I hire someone from one of my businesses, I don't mind if they come from a corporate spot because they got all the basics down. That's been drilled into them. So you had that advantage. And describe the differences.

And like it must have been completely different experience now working out a place where you can use your creativity a little bit, maybe offer suggestions, whatever. Yeah. So one of the main differences I saw, it's not really culinary related, but was just the overall attitude of the kitchen. When I first came in, it was a group of about five guys.

Yeah, it was either four or five guys. And they were all just having a really good time. Like it was a really high energy, very happy. When I first started, the seller was a lot slower than it is now.

A busy night for us back then would have been like 80 covers like that would have been insane unheard of, greatly pushing numbers like that. And I definitely saw just the energy about that, just like the good vibes for lesser words. But then with that, I did see not so much structure, something that Chef Scott was trying to install. He's a military vet.

Staff Sergeant in the Army retired. He was trying to install kind of responsibilities, titles, a brigade of how the kitchen should be working. And unfortunately, none of those cooks at the time wanted to do that. So none of them are here anymore.

And so that was very interesting to see just the difference of attitude. Mostly just like it was nice that everyone was happy and really easy going. But at the same time, nobody really cared about getting the job done. Sometimes you can take responsibility.

Right? Yeah. And so probably about I started it in October around Valentine's Day. I got promoted to lead cook.

Oh, nice. Yeah. It was surprising to me because I felt like it was pretty quick, but it was just I was showing up and wanted wanted to be here. Things in my personal life weren't great.

So work was like a really bright shining light for me. And I was actually in the kitchen that I got to cook things and actually be a part of like menu development or just like specials. And I was very excited to come in. But once I got promoted, we lost we lost two cooks.

We brought two on two that were there for a very long time. And then flash forward another year. We got a different sous chef. I was working under him and Scott couple months of that went by.

He left. I was promoted to sous chef. And then we brought on one of our cooks who's still with us now. So since I've been here, there's myself, our lead cook and then chef Scott who have been here like the longest.

And so how would you describe the cuisine at the salary for people who haven't been there? It's like we're classified as French American steakhouse. We do have some classic French dishes like we have escargot. It's not served in the shells.

It's not completely classic. But we have escargot. We have chasl brian for two. We do French onion soup.

We try to keep a lot of braised items on our menu to kind of lean towards that, but also Orange County kind of caters to a certain type of clientele. So that's why we have the French American kind of label for us. And then also the steakhouse we have noticed over the years that we just always get a lot of people that are requesting certain amount of steaks. So yeah, French American steakhouse is what we're classified as.

I do have to ask what the stakes when someone asks for a steak well done. How does that go over in the kitchen? Sometimes I think it depends on who's on grill, honestly. Sometimes it's just like, what are they doing?

Why are they doing that? Who ruins a piece of meat? And then you'll have the other cooks who are like, okay, awesome. So I can just put this in the oven and not worry about it because it's going to be well done and they're going to like well, then it is.

Yeah. So I think it definitely depends on the cook itself. My more experienced cooks who have been here longer are just like, yes, like well done. Okay, this is just as long as it's cooked all the way through.

It's going to be great. And then my younger cooks who are just like, oh, why would they do that to a piece of meat that's so horrible. I'm always surprised by how many people still like well done. Yeah, it is pretty shocking.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, these situations different. So how would you describe the general clientele in Orange County?

Like, I don't know anything really about Orange County stuff, like stuff like the movies or whatever. But so it's a pretty unique area of California though, right? It's pretty, it's pretty Republican based down there. Yes.

So it's pretty, I would say it's pretty Republican based. The further south, like closer to the beach, you go, the more Republican basic gets and the more like red hat wears closer to the beach. Yeah, but lately we're getting a lot of the younger, more liberal crowds in North Orange County, which is where we're located. So we're a little more inland.

Like I said, we're about maybe 45 minutes, 30 minutes from the beach, if there's no traffic. So we kind of have a very nice like mixture of the two. When I first started, it was definitely more of the older crowd, like maybe 40s to 50s, people who have a good amount of money, not billionaires or anything like that, but are definitely like high middle class that would come out to the seller and would enjoy like a nice evening fine-guiding. We are very classic and old school in a lot of our ways.

We still have like our silver domes and we come out and present it present every dish. Oh, right. Yeah. And so that's just like a fun experience.

And that's something that our older clientele really enjoy because it's like. And then we have now our younger crowd. And I would say this started happening a little bit before COVID because Fullerton has a college right down the street and downtown Fullerton has become like, not the new LA, but Orange County is getting more popular like LA for like going out bar hopping clubs, stuff like that. So we're getting our younger clientele now who are just really excited to experience anything fine dining and just be a part of something so beautiful.

Our restaurant was designed by the same Imagineer who designed the Pirates of the Caribbean, right? Oh, yeah. So when you go downstairs, it's like a whole different, you're not going to go to another restaurant because like it's like the caves, the wine cellar, really dimly lit, but just we have like wood carvings. It's a whole whole experience.

And it's been fun to see just the mesh of clientele because before, like I said, when I came in, it was definitely the older crowd. And now we're getting the younger crowd like maybe 23 to like mid 30s. So Yeah. They're pretty good basketball.

Yeah. So that's kind of a unique experience. So like, like I always pictured Orange County as like sort of a white-haired community. But yeah, so it's nice to know that like the college helps.

And then also that you're getting like a younger demographic. How do you feel that that translates to what you can do with the menu? I think it really helps a lot for sure. When I first started, there were certain things that like we couldn't make things that were too spicy because our clients are not going to like this.

It's too hot. We couldn't do things that were too ethnic, too out there because people weren't very comfortable with trying new things like that. But since since this younger crowd has rolled in, we've definitely seen that they're willing to try weird things like out there things, just stuff that they've never experienced before because it is a new experience. One of the biggest things when I came on into this restaurant, I really was pushing for us to have a BuzzFeed video back when like BuzzFeed was a huge thing.

And I was just like, oh, we need a video out there. We need people to see like how special this place is, how unique it is. And since social media has like popped up, I became more involved with our social media of the actual restaurant. And just having those videos out for younger people to see just like the cocktails we're doing, the specials we're doing, they're really excited to come and take pictures, post it, and share that they're experiencing something that is unheard of.

Even when it's something simple, like a couple weeks ago, we had Frog Legs on our menu. That's not something that's like inventive or breaking the mold. It's something that's pretty common. But to people out here and to our younger demographic, it is unheard of.

It is brand new. And putting that on social media brought those people in and they were excited and ecstatic and a lot of people were reposting it and just loving that. And a couple of years ago, we wouldn't have been able to do that. A couple of years ago, if we put Frog Legs on our menu, people would be like, what is this?

Right. But it's kind of like a classic French staple, right? Like an old one as well. So do you find, have you found that some of that stuff is starting to come back or is it just because that's the kind of restaurant you're running there?

I think it's a little bit of both. I think it is starting to come back because unfortunately a few years ago with our client health, like I said, we're classified as French-American, but if we were to do a lot of French dishes, that client health would be like, why? What is this? Right.

And that's unfortunate because there is so much that the French cuisine has to offer, but people in Orange County can be very much set in their ways of like, no, I want like my steak and Bernays sauces as far as I'll push it for French cuisine. So I feel like, like older cuisine is starting to make it come back because I think it is a little bit, people don't really know about it. So I think it's new. And then the other group is the people who do know about it and miss it and are excited to like experience it again.

And luckily with the younger crowd and their younger client health, they're just open to trying anything. If it sounds new and weird or if they find out it's old and classic, they want to try that they're more, I think their pallets are more open. Even if they don't like it though, if they're willing to try it. So much of what we do is cyclical too, right?

Like things keep coming back around. But also it's an interesting question to bring up because like as long as I've known people who older than me that, and I'm pretty fucking old already, but like the white haired crew is like, that's sort of been the staple is not so open to new. Like they know what they like. That's what they want to eat.

Do you feel like that? Are we all just going to turn into that or do you think that there's generations have gotten have come along that people are starting to be more open to new ideas and new foods, probably due to immigration and what have you, right? Yeah, I hope not. I hope we don't get to that point.

But no, I think that people as a whole, like a younger generation, and like just I feel like millennials lower and millennials and down are more open to trying new things. Yes, because of like immigration and just a lot of like population mixing, there's a lot of new cuisines popping up that you necessarily wouldn't have seen maybe even like 20 years ago. But also I think social media plays a very big part of making people want to try and experience new things. And I think that's one of the positive things about social media is you're exposed to things that you wouldn't have seen even 10 years ago.

Like Instagram started when I was in high school and it was nothing like it is now. It was literally just post a picture, kind of like it was a tumbler thing. It was nowhere near how vast it is now. And you couldn't see as much as you can see now.

It was literally like you follow, you see who you follow and that's probably the people you know. But now you can go on Instagram, open your explore page and all these different types of foods, cuisines, like vacations, experiences. I myself, I've been living in Fullerton for about five years now and every day I'm like, I had no idea this food place was here. Oh, yeah.

I'm going to go here now or just like I get on my phone and it's just like, Oh, check out this place here. And it's like 10 minutes away from you. And it's mind blowing that there's so much going on around us, but that we have so much access to it because of our phones. Yeah, I find the social media is a bit of a double edged sword because there's obviously a huge negative, like people posting shitty things about your restaurants and bars.

And also, like if you're running the social media accounts, starts to be becoming a full time job for you, right? And you have to keep doing it every day. But you're right. It really increases your awareness because that's what people are doing.

And as much as we like to make fun of the people who have to take a picture of their food before they eat it for the Instagram every time, it really does help by the end of the day. Yeah, and it's something that I used to get made fun of a lot when I was younger. Like even on my chef's page now, I don't usually say it, but if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll see dishes that I was making in culinary school and they look horrible. Like if someone grew up on a plate, I can look back at that and see the progression of it.

And also, when I eat something really beautiful, I feel like a lot of people don't necessarily understand that culinary is an art form and it is a kind of expression, even if it's not something like insane Michelin star, like art on a plate, food is art, it is an extension of one's self. Cooking is not just a mechanical like, okay, here, let me do this, let me do that. Like the people who are cooking for you care about what they're doing and they care that you're going to enjoy the food, whether it be a burger from in and out or like some fine dining changes, menu changes every night kind of thing. It's an expression, it's art form.

And I think taking pictures of it lets you kind of relive that even if it's just visually. And I think that luckily the younger generation is being more embracing of that and less like, oh, you're so stupid for taking pictures of your food. And I think that is what will keep the younger generation more open to trying new things. What's interesting, it's interesting to bring that up.

I never thought about this this way before, but I bet if you like we will look back one day on like the beginning of Instagram and people taking pictures of their food and their cocktails as like sort of pushing the whole art form forward a little bit because you almost have to make sure that your shit looks pretty because you know someone's going to take a picture of it and post it, right? Yeah, absolutely. So it kind of like pushes us to be a little bit more creative and to try to make things look more beautiful. So it would be an interesting experiment to look back and be like, oh yeah, you'd almost like see a line where people started putting more of an effort to do it, right?

Definitely. Yeah, it's interesting. So now that you're in your current role and you move that very quickly at that restaurant, so obviously you know what the fuck you're doing, are you like very involved in menu development, et cetera? Yes.

So I'm a CDC at the seller downstairs, our sister restaurant in Cidada, Costaina, it's in the same building, but it's upstairs and a little adjacent to us. I have the most hands in the seller's restaurant menu. That's something that we changed seasonally, but we also just kind of adapt if we notice that addition and working will change it like that. But since I became chef's cuisine, I've tried to involve my cooks as much as I possibly can in the changing of our menus.

We have an item on our dish called the chef's choice, and that's something that rotates between all of my cooks and myself and the executive if he wants to participate of making a special dish. Like for, we'll run it for two days. Sometimes if it's something that we notice that really, really sells, then we'll be like, hey, we'll come back to this and put it on the menu later on. But that has been a really big drive for myself.

Being in a position of leadership is just making sure that everyone else feels like their opinion is valued and their ideas are heard. Even if it's not like always like, yes, this is amazing idea. This is the best dish ever. Just giving them the room and the opportunity to experiment and figure it out because I've been doing this for 10 years now.

Some of them have only been doing it for three. Some of them have just started. Some of them are like, like just getting off the ground. And I remember being back at that point and doing things that I thought were like groundbreaking, but it's like, oh, yeah, no, this has already been done a million times.

And back then I didn't have anybody who was willing to tell me like, that's okay, you're learning it. So just because it's been done already doesn't mean that it's not new to you and doesn't mean that it's a bad idea. There's steps to everything that you do. And I really enjoy being in this position and being able to cultivate my cook steps, whether it's like some of them are like, oh, yeah, miso and carrots.

And I'm like, yes, doing like that. Something has been done a million times, but it's brand new. And it's like, you don't want to deflate that excitement by being like someone's already done that. Right.

But you're like, well, try. Yeah. And then you can also give them feedback on whether they've done it right. I think that's very important.

And it's simply you got to get handled on the leadership role there, which is cool. Like, so obviously you're very happy in your role right now. What do you see? You're also very young still.

So what do you see going forward for yourself? I'm not sure exactly. I do see myself here for the foreseeable future, but I do want to start challenging myself with more content. Like I said, I'm doing social media for the seller.

I do it for Hidalgo. And then I also do my own content for a chef's lives page. And I do want to push myself a little bit more with like technology, I guess, because right now I'm doing everything on my phone. And that's kind of like the limits of my capability.

I don't really know how to work cameras very well sound audio lighting. That's something that I really want to start teaching myself and just pushing myself to the next level of creating content. I would love to start a YouTube channel and start doing like longer videos. More food based and more like not necessarily how to's because I feel like that's just that's everywhere, but just kind of the day in and out of the kitchen life.

And yes, that will involve making certain dishes sometimes, but just I really like showing what it is to be in the kitchen. That's what I do. Yeah, I think for a very long time, people thought they had an understanding of what it was to work in the kitchen and then shows like the bear come out and people now again think they know what it's like to be in the kitchen. Right.

I was just going to say though, like now's the time for that because of the popularity of the bear. It would be like that people can't get enough of that shit. They really can't. But it's like funny, like I watched the bear and I watch it when my wife was also in the industry and she and we watch it.

We're like, okay, this is probably the best. The show that's done it the best. Yeah. But there's still so many things you're like that would never happen.

Right. It's not really like that. Like if you're in the industry, it kind of takes you out of it a little bit. But then I talk to my friends who aren't in the industry and they just think it's the greatest thing ever.

Right. Because it's giving them a bit of a glimpse and some of it. Yeah. Because Matty Matheson is the consultant on it and he obviously has great experience in the industry.

So he's like, you can see where he's showing like doing the giving them the advice of the little things that are accurate, right? Yeah. But and maybe part of it's just because you have to make it into a dramatic show at the same time. But if you did that on YouTube, then it would it's kind of like, well, this is just raw.

Like we're not trying to make anything dramatic here. Yeah. So that's my next probably six month project is kind of to get more familiar with camera uploading editing stuff like that. Because like I said, everything I do right now is on my phone.

So I would like to be more technologically savvy. Definitely. Well, we'll look forward to that and tell our listeners where they can follow you currently. You can follow my page on Instagram at cheflib96.

Sorry. 1996. You can also follow my personal page, creepy little BB food content also. And you can follow my restaurant at the seller restaurant in Fullerton.

That's also on Instagram. We have a lot of fun events coming up if you're in the Orange County area. Check us out. Amazing.

Well, thanks so much for spending some time with us. Well, it's afternoon for you, the seeming for us, but we appreciate it. And I know you're busy. So we'll let you get back to work.

Okay, great. Thank you so much. Thanks, look, thanks. Nice meeting you guys.

Bye. Bye.