You're now listening to Vices and Vultures, a podcast on cultures. I'm at a Korean finding restaurant, which is actually really exciting because that's what we asked interviewed. I had explained to you what my ideal restaurant would be, and I'm actually working for one that I feel like is kind of close to that vision. But it's called, it's called Automics ATOMIX.
Wow, that's crazy. I love the growth, man. Congrats, that's awesome. Where's it located?
Thanks. It's on 30th and Park Avenue. Amen, man. Nice.
Nice, I'm gonna keep that in mind. Especially knowing you being in the industries that you are. Anyways, so good to hear from you. Thank you for making the time.
Started rolling just to get everything moving. Are you moving the time up because you have something coming up? Or what's up? I just want to know a cutoff time for you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can do it for a good hour from right now. Okay, cool. We can get everything done within that.
So anyways, like I said before, my cousin is here. So we say what's up. How are you doing? What's up, man?
Yeah, I was listening to your podcast this morning. Oh, really? Just to brainstorm a little bit. Oh, you sound very different.
I don't know if that's a good effect. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. That's a good thing.
Yeah, the editing sounds different. Do you do all the episodes at Betaworks? Yeah, I do it at Betaworks. Nice.
Yeah, I was telling him that this morning it sounded clean. Like, you know? Yeah, it's a cool set up. I think, I think you were in there once, but the way we're doing recording there.
But they have all the equipment there, whether that's like the road procaster, which is just the go-to equipment to use for podcasting. And they also have sure mics, which I think is also the state of art. Yes, all of that. I actually saw that particular starter kit for podcasting online as I was researching for a client.
It's kind of steep though, so I'm glad I can use there. I should take a photo by myself. Yeah, it's definitely expense. Like, I don't know how much of podcast news you follow, but as far as tech goes, like $100 million are being put into it right now.
So it's getting kind of lucrative. For sure. So, but I'm excited for it. One of the things that I'm obviously going to talk about originally interviewed Arnold for the first iteration of this podcast on Pac.
And since then a lot has happened. You didn't even have your podcast going on with when I interviewed you. So let's start there. Talk about with warm welcome.
It's in the second season. So definitely talk about that first because I like the niche that you're going for. But just talk about it in general as well. Yeah, well, first of all, thanks for having me.
But with my welcome, we're starting like you next year point when we're interviewing. That's kind of when I was thinking and brainstorming this idea of the podcast that I wanted to do. And the first iteration when I was doing with warm welcome, I was at a different restaurant. So I was working at a restaurant called 11 Madison Park, which is on 24th and literally on the park in Madison Square.
And it was an amazing restaurant. I mean, it's one of the awards that could possibly win in kind of the restaurant world. It's been named number one in the world in 2017 by Willsford D'Eves. It has three mission stars, which are the most about starting to get from a showing guide.
Yes, four stars from the New York Times. You're the most starting to get from the New York Times. So it's an award winning restaurant. And it's kind of the best of the best, right?
So when I was working there, I was just super inspired by my time there in terms of hospitality and service and just taking care of people. And I was wondering if that kind of idea of taking care of one another could transcend that industry itself, meaning could hospitality be something outside of the world of restaurants and hotels. And so that was kind of how the first iteration of what warm welcome came to be. And I had you on the show as well.
I had a lot of creative people that I thought were doing interesting things I've always wanted to network with and meet with and spend more time with. Because one of the things about working at restaurants is I don't like to choose who gets to come into my restaurants. You know, like the guests choose us. But sometimes I might not be mutual.
I will get into conversation and do a lot of small talk. But sometimes it's not maybe something I was looking forward to or maybe it's my decision. So doing the podcast was a way for me to kind of put the tables around and be able to choose and pick who I wanted to talk to and have on the show. So that was for season.
And that was all great. But something else happened, which is I work at a different restaurant now, which is a Korean find dining restaurant called Hot Topics, which I thought would never happen in a million years. I never thought I would be saying that I'm working for a Korean find dining restaurant ever. So that's the transition I've made since I'll be less spoke.
And I think podcasting has to be a super personal thing. I think has to be a reflection of what's an extension of who you are to make it as authentic as possible. Because that's I think what podcasting is about is about vulnerability, storytelling, and kind of just sharing what you're going through in life. So that being said, since I'm at a Korean restaurant, I'm a Korean American, I've become really passionate about my heritage and just this cultural identity and doing more self discovery about where I come from.
And it is processed. I discovered that I wanted to change up the podcast direction a little bit and go like you said a little bit more niche, more specifically speaking about Asian American people and then speaking about Asian American restaurateurs. Or chef corners in New York City. So I selected nine people that I thought that represented their home country.
So I featured someone from South Korean American, Japanese American, Thai American, Filipino American, someone who's so forth. And they were so gracious enough to be on the show. And that's been fun. And that's kind of been season two.
That's awesome. Why do you say that you didn't think you'd be working in a Korean find dining restaurant? I say that because first of all, I didn't know Korean food could be done and executed at such a high level, meaning I think if you look at other cuisines, Japanese is a great example where I feel like when you look at Japanese cuisine, it's the same type spectrum. Like you have the really cheap is a Kaya that you can go in and get like a draft beer for a few dollars and order like a million things on the menu and can share with your friends.
And then you have all the way up to the over costing restaurants, sushi counter restaurants are charging like 200 to even like $500 ahead. Which is one of the more well known restaurants, sushi restaurants in New York City. So Japanese cuisine, I think I developed and involved into something that has a little bit of everything for everyone. And for me, when I was looking at Korean cuisine, I thought that we were always at the end of the spectrum, like the more affordable, you know, the cheaper, you know, for the lack of a better word spectrum where we were known for kind of like the tofu stew, Korean barbecue, Korean karaoke, and everything.
When you think about Korean food, I feel like you attach it immediately with something that's kind of cheap, which, you know, it's unfortunate, but that's kind of what it is. And so I think, I think for me, as a Korean American, I was like, man, I mean, if you look at where I worked, you know, in the past few years that I've been in this industry, I worked at European restaurants, namely Italian, French, you know, and I've also even worked at actually a Japanese restaurant and a Chinese restaurant that are both kind of upscale. But I've never worked for a Korean restaurant before, ever, which is crazy to say, but I think the time has come where people are more accepting and open-minded to try new things. And I think that also involves trying this new era of Korean cuisine, which is very elevated.
Do you feel like you made that change because you all come to Korean American? Did they have anything to do with it? They have everything to do with it, really. And I'm glad you asked that question because I think representation is such an important thing.
And for me, the most important thing for me is just being myself, I think. And over the years, I realized that if I want to deliver the best hospitality, the best service, and put out the best version of myself, it's to be unapologetic, and it's just to be me. So I'm looking at all the restaurants that work out. I'm like, you know what?
That's just not me. That's not like, yeah, like, I'm a massive park is not me. That doesn't represent me. I worked at a soulhouse.
That's not me either. All these restaurants, I feel like I was there for sure to learn certain things about the industry and operations side of things. But I think none of them really spoke to me on this interpersonal level, whereas Atomex is literally quite frankly a reflection of me as a Korean American. So are you saying like there's a first restaurant that you were working, it was still Asian American in a restaurant, right?
The first ever restaurant I worked in in New York City was Morimoto in Chelsea Market. And that was the Japanese. So how different is it from the one that you're working in now? I know it's fine dining, but I'm talking in terms of food.
Sure. I mean, so Morimoto is actually really well known Irish Chef. He was on that show, Iron Chef, and that's kind of how you rose to the celebrity chef's status. Right.
Morimoto restaurant was a, I mean, it's not fine dining, but definitely more upscale Japanese food. It's very so much a no-boo. If you guys know no-boo, it's a very modern take on Japanese food where I think they kind of mix, you know, using Japanese sashimi, but with American ingredients and flour, and kind of that beautiful harmony and mix of things. So Morimoto is similar.
I think it's definitely more like a Japanese fusion restaurant. We had sushi and sashimi and things like that, but we also had a lot of dishes that I think were more emblematic of a mixture of America and Japan, instead of being like authentically Japanese. So that was Morimoto. That was like when I was 18, 17.
That was my first job ever, and I was just a host and reservationist then. The restaurant I'm at now, which is called Automix, is a Korean fine dining restaurant. So the clear difference between the two would be the fact that like this one I'm working now is Korean, and then the other one is Japanese would be the most famous. And the other one is Japanese would be the main difference.
Right. Because you felt like it's interesting that you felt the need to make that change in spite of this two restaurant being Asian restaurant anyway. But you felt like you needed to go into Korea and one specifically because of your heritage. Yeah, you can say that.
You talk about transitioning back to Korea. Am I right? I'm not transitioning back to Korea. Did you go to Korea for high school?
I actually did. Yeah, I grew up in LA and then I went back to high school in Korea and then I came back to the States to New York specifically to go and let you for a housewife. So you were born in Korea, moved to Kally, and then after that you went back to Korea for school. Yeah, and then I came back again to New York.
Yeah. How was that like? It's very interesting. People are saying that a lot actually, and I think the typical story that you have is like someone is born in a foreign country, whether it's Korea to pan China forever.
And they come when they're young and they grow up here and they go through great school here and then they go to college and that's kind of it. So for me, the only reason that transpired actually is because my parents were splitting up. They were going through the horse and my dad was in Korea at the time. And I was living with my mom in LA and I actually at the age of like one, eleven, twelve had the decision to choose between living with my mom and my dad, which was the most difficult decision for me.
I had to make guys in 11 year old and I'm a younger brother too. So I was also making the choice for him, which was I'm looking back on it like that. That's a lot of pressure. I ultimately decided that I wanted to go back home to Korea only because I don't know.
I think I was kind of interested in the idea of possibly living there and spending some time there because the thing is, even though I was born in Korea, I was basically born in the United States. Like I came to the US when I was five or six years old. So I pretty much grew up here, you know, with kind of this American way of thinking and American customs. So I think along the way I kind of forgot about Korean customs and culture.
So it was really fascinating to go back when I was like in my teens to my to the motherland, if you will, to we learn about who I really am, right? And like where I come from and it was really, really interesting. I really actually love the fact that I decided to go back because it really opened up my life a lot about kind of the duality of being Korean American. That's fascinating.
And you know, as I'm listening to you talk about your experience with these different, not only people that you've been interviewing more recently, but also the types of Asian restaurants that you've been working at. You say earlier that Japanese cuisine is seen as like one of the more common and like Korean like fine dining is what I want to be less one of the lesser known as of now. Yeah, as time goes on, you're looking to put a light on that. So my question for you is at what point and you can use specific examples at what point are you borrowing from other ideas and inspirations within any aspect of restaurant and hospitality, particularly between, you know, the distinct features that make Japanese food, what it is versus Korean food.
Yeah, I think that's a very question. I think that in any art form or even restaurants or anything like music too, right? Like we're always constantly looking at other people in the scene, what they're doing. And to be honest, like we're still on the time.
Like we were inspired by people that have already done it, right? So to your point, we are, I personally, I'm very inspired actually by Japanese cuisine, Japanese culture, Japanese people in terms of what they stand for and the way they've been really able to execute their cuisine and the culture. I mean, if you look at kind of the history of sushi too, it's so fascinating when when sushi was first introduced to America, it actually happened in California, that's where it started. But people were actually really, they were kind of turned off by it.
Like, what is this? Like, why are we eating raw fish with rice? Like when they're eating with their hands, they're going to just like freaking out. And now it's kind of very normal to be like, Hey, let's go get sushi, right?
So I think education plays a big part in this in terms of getting people to try new things. So I think I am constantly inspired by other cultures and cuisines and seeing kind of the historical pattern of which some some dishes that maybe we're seeing us to form have become kind of common place. So I'm inspired by that. I'm inspired by the fact that like sushi is now common place for Americans, you know, so I'm hoping that Korean cuisine can kind of have the same place too.
What can you say about Korean cuisine specifically that could you really see resonating with people in Western culture as Americans knowing what the current like tastes are right now and things like that? Like, what can you, you know, just like give us an idea of like what what could catch on or like what you think like is really great to introduce to a Western culture? Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing for me, I think, is there's two things. One is I think Korean food is known to know for its spicy ingredients.
I think you can see ingredients. I can see obviously the most well known dish that we have, which is just kind of like a spicy napa cabbage. But you know, Kimchi is one and the other thing I think it's actually a method. So fermentation.
Permutation, I think, is interesting to talk about. And I think it's a very trendy thing right now actually everywhere. I want to talk about fermentation, fermenting things. And the fact the matter of fact is Korean people and people in Asia have been fermenting things for centuries, like centuries.
Korea, if you look at a country, it's a peninsula, but it's a very actually mountainous country. So back in the day, Koreans, when they wanted to transport food and kind of sustenance, they would have to ferment it because they would have to preserve that over time to get through these kind of mountainous areas and be able to transport food from point A to point B. And fermentation was the answer. So it was a method of technique that was discovered centuries ago that I think is kind of gaining more attention as a late recently because more chefs are fermenting things.
That's awesome. That's awesome for me to see because that means that if more chefs worldwide globally are trying to ferment things, that means that more people are going to get familiar with that technique. And then in essence, they're also going to look at Korean cuisine because a lot of Korean cuisine we use a lot of fermentation. So I would say fermentation is the biggest thing.
And Kimchi, I mentioned Kimchi because I don't know about you guys, but I'm saying Kimchi everywhere. I even saw it on pizza or kimchi in a burger. Like, Kimchi is becoming very synonymous with Korean cuisine. And I've been seeing it in a lot of different restaurants from fast food all the way up to fine dining.
And restaurants outside of Korean restaurants, you know, I've been in a French restaurant next year. So that's been pretty cool. So I would say those two things would be my answer. Yeah, that makes sense because I've had two Korean roommates whenever I'd go in.
And Kimchi was already something that was going on and people recognized as Korean food. And that was like 10 years ago after they were earliest. So no surprise there. That's awesome.
I remember in our first interview, we talked about the ideal restaurant setting for you. And now you're in it. So I remember a specific aspect of our conversation when we talked about presentation, because we talked about food by this point, but there's also the presentation aspect of a restaurant. You know, it has a look, it has a feel.
And visually, because of how long I've known you, I've just been able to kind of sense like how that looks like for you there. There's a lot of minimalism is what primarily is there. So, you know, not necessarily about like your current gig, but more just so in general, like your vision as far as the presentation of a restaurant and how that ties in with Korean culture. I remember, you know, this was like one of the most fascinating things about our first conversation is how closely related they are.
Yeah, sure. So I think minimalism is definitely something I'm a big fan of. And I've become more interested in, I think that there's a beauty and taking kind of shedding away things and less is certainly more and a lot of sense, especially for me and when it comes to my lifestyle. I think, for example, I'm not a hoarder.
I love throwing things away. It's a point where I'll throw things away and then my girlfriend will get mad at me for doing so. So anyway, minimalism is a very big part of my life. I think I think it's also a vehicle for me to kind of express my passions, right?
So I think Korean food also, the way I talk about it, I think is very minimalist because in a day and age, we're like, we're bombarded by, you know, Instagram and all the social media platforms out there and we're just like, there's all this. We're living in information age, right? And I think there's something kind of quite beautiful about just going getting straight to the point, you know, keeping it short and sweet and some sickness and just keeping it very concise because people are not able to kind of digest information as they used to just because we're like, you know, I think minimalism is a big role in that. And I think even the restaurant I'm at now, I would say is a very fairly minimalist restaurant in terms of decor and interior design and the way we present our food, the service style is very minimalist.
So for me, like in terms of my design philosophy, for sure, I mean, as you know as well, I love neutral tones. I also love kind of like the off-white balance of things. And that's been always an interesting thing to look at. But yeah, I think that Korean cuisine and minimalism can go hand in hand in terms of what we're trying to do.
And I think they will always be kind of sitting on the base. When did you know that this is the business you wanted to be in and what exactly spoke your interest? Yeah, so I went to Korea, right, to live with my dad. My dad previously had never cooked ever in his life because my mom would be kind of like a kid in the house.
And my dad was, he's a very inspiring guy. So this is what he did. He was like, you know, I needed to be able to kind of not only provide for my sons, but also I wanted to be able to kind of cook home meals for them. There's nothing better than like a home coke meal.
So he actually, before being in the restaurant, he's a restaurant business now, but before he was in the restaurant industry, he was in shipping and logistics, which has nothing to do with restaurants. And he decided that in there when we moved that he would go to culinary school at the age of, I don't know, 40 something because he wanted to learn how to properly cook and mince and dice and prepare meals. And so he went to a culinary school in Korea and then he was then cooking meals for us at home, which were like the best that you'll ever have to see in my life. Like this guy was just like, playing out Michelin star plates.
Like the presentation was beautiful. Like he was going nuts and he would just cook such delicious meals. And I think out of that kind of love and providing for us through cooking, he was then inspired to open a restaurant and that's actually how we got into the restaurant industry. And he opened his own little place and I was 13, 14 at the time.
And my dad is a work colleague, single dad, what call that he's always at work that's all he talks about. So one day or rather like during my time in high school, the one way spent time with my dad naturally was to literally go to the restaurant. That's the only way I was spent time with this guy. He was always at work.
So, you know, at the school, it was like 3, 3, and we just go take a bus straight to his restaurant. And I think one day I was just like, you know what, hey, let me do something. Let me help you. What can I do?
I was just kind of tired. I didn't want to sit on my ass all day and I also really wanted to help out in any little way possible. And being this 13 year old, I think my dad, I've been in trust with anything whatsoever. So I was like, you know what, I mean, if you really want help, you can go wash dishes or something.
And I took that. I took that challenge. I was like, you know what, okay. So I went back there.
Started washing dishes. I think I did that for a few months actually. And I think I mastered it. I got really good at it.
And I actually really enjoyed it. Watching a dishwasher. Like, there was something cool about seeing something dirty go in and it comes out clean. Like, you see, you see the result.
That's like, I think gratification almost. You like process, right? Yeah, it was really fun. And then I got really curious about different positions in the restaurant.
And so I eventually, I was like a pet club, line cook, and I was a cashier. I was a server. I did a little bit of everything at the time there when I was still going to high school. And I think then and there I decided that this is the industry that I want to be in.
Nice. Awesome. So let's talk about the podcast again. You got season two going on right now.
What has been what have been some of the most because you've been brushing shoulder with, I believe nine guests, you said, and just coming from a lot of different influences and things like that. What have been some of the more interesting stories or like, realizations that you come across as you've been collecting these stories? So you're right. Nine Asian American restaurateur chef owners.
All nine of them are from, like I said, a different country, like an Asian country. But the comment thread here amongst the nine, even though they have such fascinating stories and kind of where they come from and how they are raised are all different. It all comes down to, I think, cultural storytelling, preserving the narrative, carrying on the family legacy and the family recipe. And the biggest thing is just being unapologetically them, meaning these guys that I featured are opening restaurants that they want to be opening.
These restaurants are actually very mission and purpose driven. There's a purpose to why people have been restaurants nowadays. Something interesting that kind of happened with one of the conversations I was having is the restaurants were sitting now, especially in restaurants are very different from the first wave of Chinese restaurants, for example, that opened up a couple hundred years ago when Chinese people first immigrated to the US, right? Because when immigrants came over here, they were opening restaurants for survival.
Like, they had to do something to make a living, you know, it was an appear necessity. Now, we're having a new wave where in the modern era, I think people that are younger and there are 20s and 30s of people that I featured, they're opening restaurants not actually for necessity, but because they feel like they have an obligation to continue and preserve kind of this cultural narrative and also showcase where they're from. And it's really cool. It's like talking about your representation.
Yeah, and I think that's been the biggest thing I've been noticing amongst the nine people is like, they're just opening restaurants that they want to be opening. And there's a deeper mission and purpose in that as opposed to the restaurants that were opening up hundreds of years ago or how many years ago. I feel like back then, a lot of people ate out of necessity, but now we are more like we're looking for something specific because there are so many food on the market that we want to try stuff that are like, you know, very distinct to us. And also, I think it has to do with the fact that that's a really good way to learn about someone's culture.
So trying out new things and if you're going to try something new, you want to go to somewhere else providing like something very authentic. So I think that has a lot to do with it as well. For sure. So have you by this point, as you've been rolling out, because you wrote out episode one already, got the most of it, really enjoyed it.
And have you been to all of these places since then? And can you talk about your experiences in these restaurants that you have for the people that you've interviewed, anything that particularly stood out? I think that's what you're doing. Yeah, I have definitely been to all the restaurants that featured in terms of the guests, whether that was before I recorded them or after I recorded them.
Most of them I tried before, every time I made them because I didn't want anyone on my show, honestly, on the season that I hadn't tried their food. It wouldn't make sense for me to be tried to someone. And then later on I go to the restaurant and stocks. I wanted to make sure I liked the restaurant.
I liked what they were doing. So I think all of them. I was recently was at Madambo BBQ, which is actually the first Vietnamese barbecue restaurant in New York by Jimmy Lai, who's someone that's coming up on episode three. And that was a really cool experience because the only barbeque I really know is Korean barbecue.
I think there was a lot of similarities in Vietnamese barbecue in Korea because they provided a way to wrap up your meat with other vegetables and pickled icons and make it into this rap, which we also do in Korean barbecue. So that was an interesting parallel. So we've got a restaurant called TIC. She wants some crazy amount of restaurants in New York City.
So if you go to the East Village on Tenshory, there's a pocket of Japanese restaurants and she actually owns it all the time. So it's a very smart model too, because she specializes in one specific thing. Meaning, she has one restaurant that literally focuses on Japanese curry. She has one restaurant that focuses on Japanese heat dessert shop.
She has one that focuses on Shabushapu. It's just Japanese hotpot. She has one restaurant that just does ramen. So she's kind of made a really cool market and she's first off on that little street on 10th street.
She's also expanded into Maitown as West Harlem with her restaurant. So she's really impressive. And I like all of her restaurants. Simon, who was my first episode, here's restaurant called his amazing man.
I mean, it's a Korean barbecue restaurant, but it's very upscale. And the little touches that he has at that restaurant are super luxurious and really proud of what he's doing. All these restaurants, you know, I've been really cool to kind of go out as a guest. I want to be clear about the services that should prove high for this restaurant, as well as if you've ever thought about opening your own.
Opening my own. I mean, I think anyone that gets into the restaurant is a profession as a career and makes it their thing. I think it would be a lot to say that they haven't ever thought of opening their own, right? I think when we work for other people, we work for other people's streams and envisions, we always think about what if, like, what if this was my place or what if, what could I, what would I do differently?
So I think the answer is yes. I do want to have my own place at some point. I think I'm pretty happy with where I'm at now and what I'm going through currently, but it's definitely in the back of my head. Great.
You know, one of the episodes that I was listening to, I think he was, I think his name was Simon. I'm not the first one. I'm not the first one. But I think he saw he was very interesting because he started going to fine in school and then he, after a while, he decided to go back work.
He was working with his family and this is how he ended up becoming the owner or something. I'm not sure if I'm getting the story straight, but do you feel like currently you having, like, a similar, your story is going to be very similar where you're getting all these experiences and trying to gain all the knowledge and then go back and do something with your dad where it's actually something where it's more family, family-oriented than anything. So with Simon, he actually did grow up in the restaurant business as well, like myself, and working for his family restaurant, but he went to Beruch for finance and ended up at UNLV for hospitality. Once he went to college and graduated, he actually never went back to the family business ever.
He was always kind of on his own and ended his own thing. So, I guess my story could be similar and I might be on a similar timeline. So you're not thinking about going to the family, like, starting like some sort of family business. Is it going to be something you will be doing on your own?
I mean, it's interesting, right? Because I think there's an interesting dynamic with working with your family. I think I've worked with my dad before. I've worked for him before.
And he and I obviously share similarities, but there's also a lot of differences, whether that's just kind of by nature of just our age difference or cultural differences. We grew up with different surroundings as well, and I'm definitely more of a Western philosophy than he is. So I would say, obviously, I do want to work with him at some point, but I think that's just way, way in the future. I think I would want to do something on my own to you, quite frankly, that is a representation of myself.
And maybe later on, I'll be homecoming. But I think it's best to honestly try not to work with your family. Do you think it's also because of the difference when you're looking at it in terms of your generation and his generation? Yeah, there's a huge difference, man.
In terms of the people that are opening restaurants now and the people that are in our age group, their 20s or 30s, and my dad, he just turned 50 this year. He's still a very young guy, but I think that there's still a lot of differences in the way we think, but also the way we perceive things. Technology is also the biggest gap, too, which I think the baby boomers, and I hate the term millennials, but the millennials. Because they have such an end of the connotation for whatever reason, when I really don't think millennials are all that bad.
I mean, there are a few of us that are actually pretty great. No, I think so, too. It's just the way that people refer to it. It's just what it is.
Anyhow, last question as we wrap up. It's just been really cool hearing the progression of the journey so far. I'm excited to check out some of these restaurants you've been talking about, especially with this education in mind. I feel like you appreciate the brainchild, the brainchildren of all these restaurant owners, in their shops, as you learn more about them in here, why they do what they do.
I'm not really going to enjoy it when I want to get to check out this place in that place. How has it been? By this point up until recently, because I know you recently graduated from NYU, when I was interviewing you, I think you were wrapping up with NYU if I remember correctly. You mentioned when you were younger, you were in school and then you would go out of school to help your guy at work.
Now that you're out of school and able to focus exclusively on not only work, but the passion project and the podcast and things of that nature, what have you seen? It's just super interesting for our age bracket to transition from doing school to doing the whole work thing and then with the side project and then keeping in mind as well that we live in a different time when it's no longer going on easy street. There's a lot of flexibility and we're using that for our podcast and stuff. What has the transition been like for you as you've just been almost exclusively going into work or are you still factoring school into your routine?
I'm glad you asked me a question because I think I mean, obviously a lot of my friends are just fresh out of college as well. I mean, I graduated just last year in May and to be honest, it was very difficult post-graduation because I think for whatever reason, we kind of had this idea that like, oh, once we graduated, we got a diploma, you know, things are going to change, but nothing changed. Nothing changed. Like, I thought for whatever reason, like, you know, opportunities were going to come left and right and I was going to be handed thinking, but it's not.
It really isn't. And I think it was a learning point for me that, wow, you know, nothing is handed to you. The degrees and diplomas mean absolutely nothing and it's about who you know, how you do it, how you present yourself, your personal brand. And the past year has been interesting because I think it was difficult in the beginning for sure, for sure.
But later on, I realized, you know what, I need to do something with the time I have because basically what was happening is when I was going to school, I was actually still working full-time in restaurants. That hasn't changed. While I was doing school full-time, work full-time, I also did two clubs. I did a coffee club.
I also did another club called the Restartour Club. And I was the president of both. So I had a lot. I was juggling a million things.
And I also did this coffee-caring company anyways. So I had all this stuff going on. And I think once school was out of the picture, that also meant the two clubs I did. That took up a lot of my time was out of the picture as well because I was no longer than I was used to it.
So suddenly I had all this kind of quote-unquote free time on top of my full work that I was already doing because I was so used to working and staying there all the time. That a little part of me was a little empty, to be honest. And that was very challenging to fill. But I think the podcast has been an interesting way for me to continue some of the things I was doing in school and transitioning that into more of my current work life.
I think the success or the transition for me and the way to have a happy and fulfilling life post graduation was to find substitutions to what I was doing and seeing how I can take what I was doing in school and then do it in real life. Meaning the Restart Club that I did in school, I think it has transpired into this restaurant podcast that I'm doing now. And the coffee club that I did is going to hopefully, I actually have been grossing coffee on the side as well, so hopefully transition into something else too. That has been my way of successfully attempting to transition into this, you know, adulting mode, if you will.
I can tell you didn't want to use a say like that. Yeah, I want to better word for it, but it's definitely adulting. It sucks. It really sucks.
I think when you're in school, you don't know it, but you have it easy. You're poor and you're starving and you're hungry, but you still have a roof over your head. You still have certain places to go at certain times. You have constant social interaction around you.
It's pretty comfortable. Once you're outside of that environment, it's really up to you to do what you want to do with your time. Like you can schedule your life, you can choose to meet who you want to meet. And so I think that could be challenging for a lot of people, you know, that have been kind of used to getting anything.
You're like getting told, Hey, you need to put in your homework at this bed. Like there's nothing like that anymore in the real world. It's really more about like how you decide to poach everything and you have to initiate too. So I think that's like the biggest difference.
Yeah, for sure. And I relate to that a lot. I've been out of school for about three or three years. And the everything that you just said as far as how you manage life outside that's 100% true.
What I found, like you said, is just find time, find ways to fill time. And in the meanwhile, just understand that a lot of what was taught to you. And this is just true in just this information age because we're able to learn a lot faster, which means that we can complete research quicker. And one of the things that I have found is that a lot of concepts, because this is a very Western thing like that, but in the mindset that we have, a lot of it is dated.
And a lot of it needs updating and that really won't come unless you have individuals who are not going to do that. And we have individuals who are always trying to present things in a different way. But right now we still have a lot of people in our respective cultures and all cultures for everybody who's listening, who have people that are a lot older because this is typically where it starts. And they just hold on to specific ideas and philosophies that prevent the adaptation to occur because there are all these industries, the restaurant industry, which you have seen as adapted to fit the time.
We talked about that in our first conversation with technology implementation into it. And technology itself, like social media, adapts over time. It's been, there were days where we were customizing my space pages and then the other day my student was like, oh, I learned this song on TikTok and I'm just like, this is ridiculous. But that adapts, that adaptation and it just happens all the time.
But everything you just said is spot on and understanding that the hustle starts even before, it also starts when you realize this quote has always come up in my mind and in my feed recently, so I'm going to say it because I feel like it's appropriate. Man has two lives, the second one begins when he realizes that he only has one. So that's kind of how I see that realization that you talked about where it's just like, okay, nothing's being handed to me. This life is really just a mortal thing because when things are handed to you, you take life for granted.
And when you take life for granted, you walk around like you're coming back. Like Gary, if he has this thing, we're just like, look, everybody's walking around like they're coming back. He's walking around like he's coming back twice or thrice and it's just so interesting. But I don't think you so much.
It was a great conversation. Thank you. Yeah, thanks, guys. Yeah, absolutely.
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