E232 Jordan Mazzanti

This week's guest is Jordan Mazanti, joined us from the Masoka's region of Ontario. Jordan is a hospitality industry veteran, and in his interview with us, shares his journey from dishwasher to Somalia, including his experiences working in various countries and his progression to becoming head Somalia at Langdon Hall. Jordan also discusses his recent transition to a new role as director of Beverage at the Private Golf Club, Oven Bird in the Masoka's, highlighting the emotional aspects of leaving Langdon Hall and the serendipitous nature of his career move. Jordan also emphasizes the importance of building relationships, adapting to different environments, and taking chances in career development.

We want to thank Jordan again for taking the time out in his data, join us for a great interview. Enjoy the show. Okay, we're back with another episode of the industry podcast. I am Kip.

This is Dan. Hey man, that's me. How's it going? Good, man.

Good. Nothing to complain about. Wonderful. Mm-hmm.

You? I know lots of complain about it, but whether anyone wants to hear it's another story. So yeah, it's all good. So let's keep it at that.

Okay, great. That's great. That's great. Yeah, we have a great guest as usual joining us in just a little bit.

Before we get to him, we should mention if you like what we're doing here on the show, you should subscribe, rate, review that helps out tremendously. We will review. We'll five-star review. It'll be great.

Or just tell a friend, actually, that's the easiest thing to do as well. 30 seconds. Share the podcast and get one of their listeners. That'll make us happy.

They will. Let's what we're looking for. More listeners. And if you'd like to be a guest on the show, you can reach out to us directly in for the industry podcast.club.

That's where you can also reach out to us for the provide support for the show. Or you can DM us directly at the industry podcast on Instagram, where you will find the tremendous artwork from our good friends, that can at that cana.coz.ak.h.a.doublenah.co for all of your graphic arts needs. We should also mention that if you're in the area, and if you're in the kitchen and Waterloo area here in lovely Ontario, come check out my bar, Sugar Run, Downtown Kitchener at Sugar Run Bar on Instagram to figure out everything that's going on down there. And if you are looking for wine or spirits, it's kipatbatteloncisters.ca.kypp to email me directly, whether you're a restaurant bar or just for your home.

You can enjoy the great products from Malabar Winery, Terroir Wine Imports, or Allura Distilling Company. And stay tuned for the Golden Checker Competition for Allura Distillery coming up in June. You can check out Allura Distilling dot CO to check out all of the entry details for that. Or reach out to me directly if I can help you there too.

We should also mention our good friend, Alchemist Ali. She is the one you want to talk to you for all of your consulting needs, cocktail classes. She can do a cocktail function in your house. Yeah, she can host a party for you.

So if you have a birthday party, wedding anniversary, or just to get together, you want someone to run the bar program for you or drink program, at least you can also help you out with cocktails and mocktails and other alcoholic drinks. Or if you're looking for an educational class, you can help you out there as well. Alchemist.Ali. Yeah, and then the links to that in the show notes.

And finally, the presenting sponsor of the industry podcast is In Biblia. Check out our good friends in Biblia for all of your cocktail recipes needs. Tell us all about in Biblia Dan. Sure.

Biblia is a terrific app for bartenders and cocktail lovers alike. It's a great way to share your cocktail recipes or look something up. It has a terrific flavor profile wheel where you put together all your different flavors that you're looking for and come up with something you've never tried. It's an amazing resource.

Like I said, I've got so many bartenders hooked on it at this point where they're just using it behind the bar. If there's someone asked for a crazy cocktail you've never heard of or would have wanted to know to you or just one that you can't remember. We've all been there where you're just kind of frozen in the moment and can't remember the cocktail because it's been so long since you made it. In Biblia is for you.

And if you're just a home bartender looking to try out new shit, that's it in Biblia. All right. I think that that's all we need to talk about before we get to our guests and joining us here from Moscoco is Jordan Mazzanti. How are you?

I'm good guys. How are you doing well? Doing well. Doing all right.

Yeah. Thanks very much for joining us. Yes. Happy to be here.

Happy to be here. Looking forward to it. Okay. So you just recently moved to Muscoco.

But you've had a long career bartending and serving and being a wine steward, some all the yay, like all the jobs, really? All of the above from dishwashing in in hotel when I was 15 years old, serving bartending managing sort of a line cook for the wild to kind of everything kind of bounce all of the place and every all different styles restaurants all over the world. Yeah, it's been fun so far. Where did you grow up?

I'm going to go up. I'm going to go up. I'm going to go up. I'm going to go up.

I'm going to go up. I'm going to go up. I'm going to go up. I'm going to go up.

I'm going to go up. This move from Muscoco is pretty new. But yeah, I live there. Born and raised my whole life.

I didn't always live there. I lived all over the place in my 20s. But born and raised, break place to live, especially if you like wine and food. I mean, everywhere.

So Shafra's got a good solid little underbelly too. Yeah, put that up. Put that up. You caught a line.

It was just similar to where I grew up. But also similar when I was reading your bio going over it seems like you sort of got into this the same way I did, whereas you were kind of doing it as a job not really thinking it was going to be your career. You start traveling and then you realize it's the perfect career to have while you're traveling. And then next thing you know, you wake up one day and you realize, oh shit, this is my career now.

Yeah, completely ass backward. It was, I mean, certain I think every a lot of kids start dishwashing right when 15, 16 years old. And obviously that I didn't see becoming a career. Although that being said, if you paid me the same amount of money I'd make now to be a dishwasher, I'd take it.

Anyway, yeah. And then like I said, I started in the kitchen and then started seeing how much servers would make on any given night and thought I want to be a part of that. And I was kind of hooked at the start. I got my start in the front of house sets, Crabby Joe's of all places.

I got Chris Adaris who owned it. He took me on and I think I was 18 years old when I started serving. And yeah, I was kind of into it right away. I thought this is amazing.

You know, I'm 18 years old. You know, all these other, you know, senior servers that are finishing their shifts with a, you know, mid full of cash and go and sit at the bar and drinking till 3 a.m. And I thought, this is amazing. I got this is unbelievable.

I want to be part of this. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but yeah, it quickly became more of a lifestyle thing.

And like you said, I didn't ever think that this was going to be a career. It was more of a job to fund partying and traveling, you know, like keep going. And there were easy jobs to get. They were all over the place.

And I mean, who doesn't like cash in the pocket all the time. But yeah, so it turned into something more than just a job when I fell in line when I found blind. And that was also asked backwards by accident. I didn't grow up drinking wine.

I don't know. I didn't know what time I didn't drink wine when I got into wine. I worked at a restaurant actually in Kitchen and Waterloo. And again, it was just a fund travel.

It was to, it was, how can I keep going? But I worked with a girl who was studying to be at Sommelier. And I, I'll be honest with you, I didn't know what that word meant. I grew up in Perth County.

I'm a product of Perth County. I like drink of beers in my buddies. And that's kind of how I grew up. And don't get me wrong, I still like drink of beers in my buddies.

I didn't grow up around wine. I don't have family that drinks wine. My dad is First Generation Canadian. But he, you know, he used to make wine, but yeah, I'm with a girl who's selling to be at Sommelier.

And I've always liked history, geography. Like that was kind of my thing growing up. She was studying maps. I could be found out the world of wine is history, doing booze.

And I kind of liked all three of those things. This is, I'm gonna start taking wine courses. But yeah, all of it was sort of ass backwards kind of into it. And here we are.

And you went to the caps method, correct? Yeah. Okay. So yeah, okay.

So we're like, most of the people that we've, like, we've interviewed both, but most of the people that we've interviewed who end up being Psalms or just taking a lot of wine education have gone to W set route. What was their specific reason why you chose that route? And what do you think the advantages were? You know what, I love W set too.

I don't know if there's any, real advantage over W set or caps, I think they're both programs. But time, I'll be honest, like, I didn't know, I didn't know anybody, I didn't know any about wine. But I knew that when you took W set, you, you didn't come, a Sommelier, you became a one-fessional. And when I started getting into wine, I didn't know that I didn't know that that made a difference.

Right. Like, I thought, like, I thought, like, okay, well, I want to be a Sommelier, like, I have to take this program. If I take the W set program, like I'm not that person. Right.

I just wanted to be a person. Okay. Yeah. So it was more terminology of it than anything.

I didn't, at the time, I couldn't have told you the difference between either of them. I also like started to look long-term at it as well. And I knew that my route was probably going to be restaurants and nowhere else. And I know that W set has a little bit more technical or scientific component to it.

They do a little bit more with wine making, grape growing, things like that. And there's also a little bit more writing in W set and I'm shit at writing. My wife writes everything for me. I can't do it.

So I didn't, I thought, let's just, you know, put me up in front of people to talk and I'm good. I don't want to write anything. So that, those are the reasons kind of, like, W set's awesome. I love W set.

And the caps is also like has a more of a service quotient to it, right? Or components, sorry. Yeah. It's a little bit more service or restaurant oriented and less wine making, grape growing, which I think is super cool.

I'm not a scientific person. And like I said, I can't write. So yeah, well, I, like, for me, it was the hardest part for me. I probably, I didn't know about the cash program, but I did it.

And so like, I just didn't know the difference, same as you, right? And I was like, well, it seems like this one is the one that was being offered to me to take the courses. I'll take them. Not realizing that the other one was definitely more geared to what I was doing, which was service.

And I am shit with fucking terroir and geography and stuff. So that part of the education was very difficult for me. And I probably would have killed it at the service part. I've been doing it my whole life, right?

I mean, in retrospect, I take in caps, like logistically, it was probably a shitty move on my part. At the time, I was living in London, Ontario, my wife was in school. So I was driving from London, Ontario to Toronto, where I'm at the caps, where I'm taking W set in London or in KW, right? It's more readily available.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was, it is what it is. And I think caps is a great program. They do a great job.

And I like my time there. So when you start taking the courses, you're saying you weren't really even in into wine at that point, right? Like you just, you were more into the idea of the learning about the geography of it in history. And like, like you said, the homoagemation of geography, history and booze sounds awesome.

If those are sort of three separate interests you have. So at what point did you realize you started to really develop a taste for wine, you really started to love it? Yeah, I'll be, I'll be on like, when I first got into the caps program, I remember the one of the first days, you had to fill out these forms, like to tell me about your cell forms that are brutal. But we had to fill out these forms.

And one of the questions was, tell us your best or your favorite food and wine bearing. I'm like, in my head, I have no clue. What a food. I had no clue.

What a food and wine bearing was. I never had one, never drank wine, anything. I don't even want it. Like, it probably wasn't even the first six months that I thought the geography was cool.

The history was super cool. But it probably wasn't until like year two, where I actually enjoyed drinking wine and thought wine was cool. Like, you know, I guess you're a product of where you come from. But it took me a little while to really get into enjoying it myself.

That's so interesting, because like, I would say, when you guess that like probably 90% of the people who start taking these courses, because they actually originally just love wine and they're like, oh, I would like to learn more about wine. That's just it. Yeah. Everybody that was taking class with all knew about, like, I mean, we're like, we're on day one and we're talking about food and wine pairings and, you know, people in the class knew that, you know, Riesling went with pork and Givertschraminer went with Pad Thai and, you know, Cabernet went with steak.

And like, I'm literally sitting there going, what in the hell is going on? Like, I'm a bird now. You know, I drink Miller Highlight with my buddies. Like, I'm not, I'm out of place right now.

And Miller Highlight pairs with everything. And it took me a while to just sort of, I don't know, accept where I came from and what I am. Sounds stupid. It sounds ridiculous to say aloud.

But like, even when I was, you know, in camps and out of caps and getting a song job, like, I tried to, it's like wine person that, you know, came from wine and, you know, only drank wine. And then eventually I was like, you know, it's kind of be yourself to your thing. And look at him. I still like their high life.

I love Russian Miller Highlight with my buddies. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's really interesting. It's good to like, I think that the wine scene in general is becoming a little bit less snobby.

And like, as we, as sort of the old guard has kind of died off a little bit. So it's kind of made room for more people like yourself. And frankly, the one thing that was really a problem forever was like, it was very sexist, right? So at least there's more room made for women as well, which is great.

When you were doing all your traveling, were you working in bars and restaurants while you traveled as well? Yeah. So I, I left and all this, you know, comes back to bar and restaurant work. But I left Stratford.

I was in Stratford. I was working at a bar in Stratford and I worked with a guy who traveled Southeast Asia with his and I met this guy and he was quite a bit older. And I thought, I remember him telling me about it and telling me about it. And I thought, this is pretty cool.

Like, I want to do this. I want to go there, you know, worked restaurant jobs, save up a bunch of money and took off to Taiwan. My plans are staying in Taiwan for two weeks and end up staying there for almost two years. And I taught English at a, yeah, yeah, I taught English at a English school for Chinese kids kindergarten, all of this super illegal.

You're not allowed to teach kindergarten since I won. I taught kindergarten and which is, yeah, you're not allowed to teach them. And I was working, I have to have an alien residence card to teach or work in Taiwan, which I did not have also. So this was like, this wasn't like, like an ESL program.

You just went and did it. Oh, God, no, there was, no, there was, there was no program. I was sleeping on my bike. I was sleeping on my bike and his, his roommate had a job opening at a school because somebody had left and he asked him, I wanted to substitute and I had no qualifications for this.

But I decided, yeah, yeah, okay, I'll do it. Like, you know, it pays a whole shitload of money and I'm a broke backpacker. I mean, the time, that was my start on my first one. But I was like, yeah, 100%.

I'll do it. I'll go hang out with kindergarten for a little while. And anyway, I end up staying there for like quite a long time. But I had to fly to Hong Kong every month and running my visa, come back, work illegally.

Anyway, yeah, I moved on to Southeast Asia and I spent almost two and a half years in Southeast Asia total, you know, you know, I worked at a hotel in Vietnam. I worked at a little beach bar in Cambodia, also all superly. Yeah. And then when I lived in Australia for a little while, I worked at Asian Fusion restaurant near the beach, like a BYO, you can bring your own booze and drinks into this little, it was a killer little restaurant on the beach.

I worked at a margarita bar in South Asia area in Australia as well. Yeah. So kind of, and I did some time in Central America to work at Nicaragua for a while at a restaurant also at a hotel. So yeah, I was mostly restaurant and bar work.

And like we said, I started, I had no intention whatsoever of staying there or keeping this job going. It was literally make as much money as I could and then move on, like do something else. Well, I got to jump somewhere. Yeah, I got to ask my time in Cambodia and Vietnam.

What was the language barrier like? Was there much? How did you get by? Yeah, I mean, like I was working at guest houses and hostels for travelers.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and even at the time, like we're talking, this was probably 2009 to 2010, like somewhere in that window, it wasn't 11.

Yeah, I mean, everybody, I was hanging out and see how Cambodia, which is kind of like the Cancunip Cambodia. So even even Campbell, both English, you know, currency was US dollars. I wasn't, when I was in Vietnam, I worked at hostile, you know, slinging drinks and checking people in. So it was, I was dealing with all foreigners anyway.

So yeah, yeah. Yeah, out of those countries in Taiwan too, where did you like the food the best? Vietnamese food is unbelievable. No, Vietnamese, kind of like Thai food, but it has that French influence occupied by the French for however many years, all the mid 70s.

So there's so much French influence in Vietnamese food, easily hands down Vietnam, so yeah. And so how old were you at this time? Like in your 20s, early 30s, like, I think I probably left for Taiwan when I was 22. Okay.

So yeah, it's perfect time to be doing that, right? And like, and you kind of get like the travel bug at that age. And then you're like, try and get as much like, like, it sounds like I'm sort of crazy even looking back at your own, like at this point, you did that, but the, but at the time, it's kind of like, that's the time to do it when you're in your 20s, you don't have anything tying you down. And once you get out there, like you really do the, the idea of the travel bug is a real thing.

It's like, you're out there and you just like, you just want to see more places and experience more things. And you get older and you're like, yeah, I'm good with like where I'm at. But yeah, totally. I want to be that guy for the rest of my life.

I wouldn't like lives at the hostels in place with no electricity and all this stuff. I voice this to my wife all the time. We're in a sort of rustic camping summer. And I thought like, in my head, I'm telling my wife, I'm like, yeah, like this is what I do.

This is my life in all these places. We're there for like one, and it didn't have a C or like a TV, didn't have like a monitor amenities that I now accept. I had to come to a realization. You're old dude.

Not that guy anymore. I know it's like, which brings up the idea of camping to me. Yeah, I know. I went through it, man.

And I'm probably a little bit older than you, but like, I went through the same fucking thing. And like, because I used to, and I, first time I went with Europe, we didn't bring enough money. We were sitting on park benches and like the cheapest hostels available overnight trains the best thing ever, because you got a nice accommodation out of it as well, right? Like that whole thing.

And now I'm just like, no, I need a hotel. I need a nice hotel. It's a hard realization to come through. I know, I hate it too.

I totally need to get it. Needs like a fairly nice hotel and like, yeah, under amenities. I just, I want to be that. And you know, there's old guys out there that are still, you know, rocking hostels and all that kind of stuff.

And I want to be that guy. And I just, I'm not that guy. I can't, I'm not. But in fairness, during like that guy when he was at your hostel when you were in your 20s was a bit creepy.

So always that guy. It took the party too long. Okay, so all of this ends up with you at some point you become the song at Langdon Hall. Did you have a song job before that or?

Kind of, not necessarily like a strict, I mean, there's very few restaurants that employ a person that's just a song. Correct. And Langdon Hall plays several, right? Yeah, we had most, we had eight at least we had six my whole time there.

Crazy. Yeah, wild. But yeah, I was working with the charcoal group in KW, which I heard from like, Ruth and then I went to the Bruce Hotel in Stratford, nice. Where I was kind of like a server, a supervisor, song like, you know, all those sort of hats.

And then I just stodged at Langdon Hall for about six months. I went to Langdon Hall every Sunday and I worked with Fay for free to sort of learn how Langdon Hall does it. Like I said, I felt like I had a little bit of a disadvantage. I'm growing up in wine and you know, I come from a family that's not, we're not hard done by, I was very comfortable upbringing, but like we're not super wealthy, right?

Like my family's not into wine, my brother, my dad will be rest. Like I did not grow up going to places like Langdon Hall. So for me to go work in like a white linen dining room that has, you know, these extensive wine lists, like at the time I didn't have a clue. Like I had no clue.

So I sawed with Fay and Langdon Hall. I was there, I went there literally every Sunday or every second Sunday for six months. And I worked with her and then eventually a job became available. And I sent Fay my resume while I was sitting beside her in the cellar.

Yeah, at the time, you know, I thought that this was like a, you know, I have to, I thought this was not a foregone conclusion, but apparently I made a good enough impression in my, in my sarge and they hired me and I started as a junior psalm on that staff and I quickly became the head song on there at Langdon Hall and kind of worked alongside Fay for almost eight years. It's the longest job I've ever had by a long shot. Yeah, crazy. And like, so how you had obviously done almost all of the jobs at this point in your career in very, in very different types of bars and restaurants.

Like had you worked in a super fine dining spot like Langdon Hall before that? Never. Never. So that's eye opening.

Big time. And when I first drove up, I organized Rob Miller organized the Sarge for me with Fay. I got into a Rob a little bit. No, you guys know.

I got from a big fans of Rob. I got into know Rob a little bit and Rob got me in with Fay. He got me an introduction to Fay and Fay said, yeah, you know, come and meet me at Langdon Hall and we'll show you around and we'll see if it's going to be a fit for my Sarge. I'm like, okay, great.

I'll check it out. And I'm like, I'm asking her in the email, like, what should I wear? Like, what's the uniform? Like, I didn't know, like literally nothing.

And then I pulled up at Langdon Hall and I driven down the driveway before I drove down the driveway. And as soon as I saw the house, I literally almost turned around. I was like, I don't think this is for me. I'm not supposed to be here.

And I kind of hinted at this earlier, but it took a while again for me to like, you know, just realize that, yeah, okay, white, blue and table cloths versus a pub, the service style is different. Hospitality is hospitality. And it's all the same thing, right? All about how you make people feel.

And once I sort of accepted like, and this again, this sounds really silly, kind of saying it out loud, but so we should as you accept to just be yourself, who you are, own it, like, own who you are and go for it. That like, that mental change for me, like, changed everything, you know, just just be you, just be you. And how much leeway do you feel like you had to sort of let your personality come through in a place that's a little starchy? Yeah, I mean, look, it's all, I think a lot like, phase the best.

Langdon Hall, I thought was, you know, obviously pulling up to it, I thought it was really stuffy, but realize that I think it's, it's formal, but not stuffy. I think it's all built on relationships. I'm good at that. I'm good at building relationships.

Obviously, you have to, in our industry, if you're going to make a career out of it, you have to learn how to read people. So I mean, some guests and some regulars and all those things, you know, you're going to have to be more formal with. But there's other people that are frequent Langdon Hall all the time that are, you know, just like the rest of us. I just like to have a few beers with their butt and they happen to have a lot of money than you and I do.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it's true. And it's like, you kind of suddenly learn the art of letting your personality come through while still putting on the formal service that's expected. Yeah, exactly. You know, it took me a little bit at the start, kind of figured that out.

But once I did, like things accelerated very fast from me. Yeah, that's crazy. So, and then eight years there. So obviously, when you decide to take on this new role in Muscoca, that must have been a bit of a, well, I mean, it's almost culture shock career change.

You're moving out of the area that you've, I'm obviously you've lived all over the world, but like your home base has always been straffered. And, you know, linked at home that far from there. And the, and then moving to Muscoca, which is, you know, fairly far away. And now you're doing something kind of completely different, but in the same realm that you've always done, obviously.

How did that feel after eight years in one spot? It was, I'm not an overly emotional guy. It was an emotional experience for me. I didn't think that it would be, you know, eight years is a long time to spend at any job, especially in this industry.

In 2025, like, I don't know, especially in this industry, but like, I mean, most people don't spend 30 years at one job anymore. You know, and I find that eight, eight, ten years at a restaurant, that's a lifetime. That's a long time to spend at one restaurant. And you know, near the near the end or throughout all of it, you have your frustrations, you know, at the time I accepted the role here in Muscoca.

And I thought like, you know, it's right. It's course. I had a great time at Langen Hall, but you know, I'm ready to be done. I'm ready to move on.

But like once the time came, I mean, the decision was made. And once that like the decision made where you can't go back once you went far enough, man, it was emotional. Like, like I kind of broke down a little bit. Yeah, I like it.

You know, and like, I remember telling Fay, who has, it was the greatest boss of ever had in my life, but had become a really good friend and will always be a really good friend. But I when I told her, like she was involved in the whole process, and this is the best part of a Langen Hall. Like I told Fay about the whole process. I told her that I got a job offer.

I told her that I was going to take it right from the start. But when I went to Fay and I told her, like it's official, I'm going to take it. I'm giving my notice. Like I've I had a meltdown, you know, it was a hard decision for me.

But I have a four year old and a wife and you know, you make decisions for your family and career wise, it was a great move. And it's going to be really good for my family. So that's it was kind of a no brainer at the end. But Langen Hall's a great place to be.

So I mean, to answer your question in one word is emotional. So really emotionally. And it's funny because it's fresh because like when we when I first approached you about coming on the show, you were still there and we were talking about you coming to do this interview in person. And then by the time you're like, we book fairly far ahead, we've been very fortunate with the bookings, but it's time that it happened.

That was only a couple months or something probably even all of a sudden you were gone. So this is still fresh for you. Very fresh. Yeah.

Yeah. Like that. Yeah, we've only we only moved here. Like my little guy started school up north just outside Paris down like last week.

So it's like really, really new. Wow. Crazy. I think you got you got to have courage to take chances and make change and you know, we'll see what happens.

Like so, let's let's let's roll and see what happens. And what is your wife do that she was okay to make the move? Yeah. So she is a respiratory therapist.

So she deals with hearts and lungs way smarter than me. So she works for clinics, doctors, like family clinics. He's basically the heart and lungs specialist when you go to your family doctor. And so her company operates all over Ontario.

And I kind of got offered this job up north. And my wife went to her company and said, you know, by chance, is there any way that I could move, get transferred, all this stuff. And they said, well, we have a job opening in Paris sound starting in three weeks. If you want to take it.

Wow. That's a sign, right? Like, yeah. Yeah.

Now let's look into it. So yeah, wow. God, I found a place like super serendipitous the way it all worked out. But yeah, I guess it changes good.

Yeah. Well, it's scary. But like, and sometimes it doesn't. But like, you'll never know unless you do it.

Right. So that's the key to the whole adventure. And like, you obviously at least had that spirit in you like, like say, years and one job is a very long time for anyone, but especially I would imagine for you because you did all the traveling, right? So like it's not like you were in verse to taking chances.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

I mean, truth be told, my wife and I kind of kicked tires on relocating a little while ago. I think both of us are career driven. And you know, being a song in South West Ontario, there's very few places that you can go. That's true.

You know, in this isn't like to pump my own tires at all. But like, you know, being the head song at Langenall, I mean, where do you go from there? If you're going to stick around in South West Ontario, you know, like, if you want to pursue or, you know, I just, it kind of run its course. And like, if you, if I wanted to do something more in the world of wine or something, you know, quote unquote, better, it was going to take a relocation.

So we, we, we kicked the tires two years ago on, we were going to, we were pretty close to relocating Turks and Caicos. Oh, wow. Yeah, I had a job offer there and we kind of thought about it and kicked the tires on it, didn't end up working out for our family. So it wasn't the move wasn't something that we were totally against.

We already thought about it. Yeah. Like I said, it takes courage to make change and take chances. So here we are.

Can I ask you about the process a little bit of how you went from studying at Langen to then being the head song? Like how long was that process? What was the, what, like, give us the nitty gritty? That's what the show's kind of all about.

Like, what, like, what were the steps to get to that point? Yeah. Quite honestly, for me, like I said, not growing up in wine, like quite a lot of work on my part. I studied way more working at Langen Hall that I ever did in caps to become a song.

I was really, really fortunate to get into Langen Hall because it has a team, right? Like I mean, so many places. Yeah, you get hired as the song, you're the only one there. Right.

I would have been so screwed if I got out of caps and got a job as a song that I was the only person. Like I would have been like, they would have found me out. Like they would have found me out. Like, oh, you really, you felt like you weren't ready.

Not even close. Really? Like I went in, I, my stodge at Langen Hall. I, I was working with Tom Simons.

Tom pulled out a bottle of DRC out of the celery. He's like, hey, check this out. We got to hear it. And I'll be honest with you.

I know it was. I had no clue. And, you know, at the time, like, I was like, oh, sick, man. I'm like, what?

Like that novice, you know, or I felt like it. And so when I started Langen Hall, I was a, when I first did my stodge to becoming the head song was probably like two or three years. Just like, I think a pretty quick turnaround time. Yeah.

But I, so I got the wine list and I printed it off in like a PDF file. And I went through every single one of that list and researched regions, all of these things to kind of, like I'm talking like every single one, there's 1700 different labels on that list. I went through everything, every single one, and I kind of made it my mission to not say no to things. And that doesn't just mean Langen Hall, that means other stuff as well.

I, you know, in that time, I taught wine and service at the Sharp Shaft School. I got into sales. I helped develop an app for a mobile app for wine. You know, all of that, just some consulting work in private golf courses.

Like, whenever I got approached with something, I was like, I'm going to take it because I can learn from it and I can become better at this whole world. But like, there was a lot of those years that I was working five days a week at Langen Hall, two days a week at the chef's school, and doing sales on top of all that. This is a pre-kid. And again, I'm meant to be a tire pump.

It's meant to be more of like a, if I'm going to do this, like, I need to learn this whole industry that I don't know anything about. So I need to do all of it. Like I'm saying, yes, everything. So yeah, I said yes for a long time.

Like, you know, that alone was massively beneficial for me to how I got there. Well, I'd say, yeah, it sounds like you just put in the fucking work, man. Like, that's like, it really is like learning something and how to label is and then doing all that stuff on the side as well. I don't know how to find the time.

But I don't think you had to add the pre-kid situation. I think we assumed there's no fucking way to be doing that with a baby. I'll be lucky to answer, you know, four emails in today. Okay, and let all of our listeners know where they can follow you, find out what you're up to these days.

Yeah, any social media? Yeah. So I'm at Jordan, Miss Ansey on Instagram. That's basically it.

I don't have enough technological knowledge to keep up with all of these social media apps, but Instagram's kind of where I hang out and other it's LinkedIn. Yeah. So I actually didn't want to ask you one more thing. So in the new course, where you're working, are you also involved in developing their wine list as well, everything.

So it's a small club. So I'm the director of beverage. And I actually just brought on who, I mean, you guys can mention this if you want, but Stacy Anderson, who you've had on the show before. Oh, yeah.

I just, there as my dining room and bar manager. So she's now for the season. Yeah. So, I was having a drink with her the other day.

That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. We love Stacy's.

She's with me. But yeah. So I'm the director of food and beverage. So I didn't care the wine program that extremely extensive, especially for a private golf course rivals Langdon Hall for sure.

Like already was or you're developing into that? Are you was already? Yeah. Yeah.

He's on par with Langdon Hall and yeah. So it's a great club all around it all. It's all about golf and you know, food and wine. It's right at my alley.

I like golf too. Yeah. It was kind of a perfect fit. Yeah.

So I'm taking a guy to my program there as well. Awesome. Well, all the best. We wish you the best of luck.

If you see Stacy before we do and say hey, and yeah, thanks again for coming on the show. Thanks guys. I appreciate it.