WEBVTT

00:00:00.060 --> 00:00:07.240
Welcome to the Frankly Speaking Podcast. Today I'm joined by Kenneth, who is a restaurant owner, owns three separate restaurants in Hawaii.

00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:16.040
He is an aspiring MMA fighter, gonna fight me one day, and blowing up on TikTok recently, does a bunch of chef reacts.

00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:17.500
And yeah, welcome.

00:00:18.700 --> 00:00:19.180
Hello.

00:00:19.500 --> 00:00:23.840
I was really curious to hear more about your background, because like, you're pretty young, right? You're like 28, 29?

00:00:24.260 --> 00:00:25.100
And then you already own...

00:00:25.100 --> 00:00:25.180
29.

00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:26.020
29.

00:00:26.700 --> 00:00:29.180
And already own three restaurants. Like, that's pretty impressive.

00:00:29.180 --> 00:00:33.500
I thought the whole restaurant industry, you had to like, really work your way up, and like, took a long time.

00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:35.540
Granted, I don't know a whole lot about the space.

00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.760
It's, I mean, that's not false. It is true.

00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:45.180
But yeah, just curious to hear, like, how you kind of grinded away, and like, made it to where you are so quickly.

00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:51.320
Oh, it's a very long story. How far back do you want me to start high school?

00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:52.460
Yeah, sure.

00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:54.040
Okay.

00:00:55.880 --> 00:01:00.260
When I was about to graduate high school, I had to decide what I wanted to do.

00:01:00.260 --> 00:01:04.740
And Chinese parents, they're like, I want you to be a doctor or a lawyer.

00:01:04.940 --> 00:01:06.680
You know all that stuff already.

00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:15.800
But basically, I wanted to either go to business or cooking or fighting.

00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:21.800
And they, fighting is like, eh, two to pick from, cooking or business.

00:01:22.020 --> 00:01:26.940
And then I just, I was like, oh, cooking eventually turns into a business.

00:01:27.580 --> 00:01:34.780
And I think if you go straight into business, like, if I went into business, I would probably be much richer than I am now.

00:01:35.140 --> 00:01:45.620
But there's, you'd always feel that, like, that void of being one of those people that just uses other people to get things done.

00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:46.840
And I guess that's fine.

00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:57.620
But having, having a specific skill that you can say, like, yeah, you can compare me to this other person, like, like an electrician, you know how to do something.

00:01:57.820 --> 00:02:01.420
It's not just pushing papers around and that type of stuff.

00:02:02.080 --> 00:02:05.780
So, my first job was at a law office.

00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:07.600
I was a junior in high school.

00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:10.940
This was before I was forced to pick and go to college.

00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:15.820
But, yeah, I had to take two buses to get to work.

00:02:15.820 --> 00:02:22.820
And then I would work for standard eight hours for, like, $7.25 an hour, I think.

00:02:23.020 --> 00:02:24.200
I was a bottom-level person.

00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:25.760
I'd, like, water the plants.

00:02:26.500 --> 00:02:29.880
I'd make manila folders with the prong thingies.

00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:32.360
You'd make a whole stack of folders.

00:02:33.600 --> 00:02:38.400
But one of my jobs, too, was shredding confidential information.

00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:41.340
And they had, like, an infinite amount of it.

00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:45.460
But everything I did there, I always tried to do it as fast as possible to get it done.

00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:50.780
But, you know, like those big black trash bags, I would fill it with shredded paper.

00:02:51.100 --> 00:02:53.660
And then I would squish all the air out, and I'd fill it some more.

00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:58.340
It's, like, compressed, I would fill up a big black trash bag.

00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.740
And then this one specific day, I did, like, 23 bags.

00:03:03.420 --> 00:03:09.440
I was so bored that, like, I wasn't, like, crying, like, how you would imagine somebody crying.

00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.080
But I was just so bored that one tear came down the side of my face.

00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:16.700
I was like, I cannot do non-physical work.

00:03:16.920 --> 00:03:19.200
I can't do paperwork because I need to.

00:03:19.760 --> 00:03:23.420
So, yeah, that's why I decided to quit.

00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:29.820
And then the next job I got when I was a senior was my first job was a dishwasher.

00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:32.820
So it was at a pizza place.

00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:39.540
I did the dishes, I did salads, and I did the fryer.

00:03:39.660 --> 00:03:41.460
So I did everything except the actual pizzas.

00:03:42.200 --> 00:03:44.740
And it was, like, no experience at all.

00:03:44.820 --> 00:03:45.920
It's, like, what is this thing?

00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:49.240
It's a sink to, why is there three compartments?

00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:53.020
And, like, how do you move things from left to right efficiently?

00:03:53.340 --> 00:04:00.160
And then I went to college, Kapiolani Community College, Culinary Institute of the Pacific.

00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:04.820
I started doing that, and I started working.

00:04:05.200 --> 00:04:07.240
And I did both things at the same time.

00:04:07.540 --> 00:04:17.380
So most people that go to college, they're, like, richer in a certain way where they just be, like, I'm going to college.

00:04:17.660 --> 00:04:21.380
I'm going to finish my college, and then I'm going to start working.

00:04:21.980 --> 00:04:24.240
But then time isn't only this way.

00:04:24.320 --> 00:04:26.820
It's how many hours in your day do you use?

00:04:27.260 --> 00:04:30.260
Like, most people just use eight hours or ten hours.

00:04:30.260 --> 00:04:41.760
But then if you go to school for eight hours, and then you work the other eight hours, and then you go to sleep, in two years, you could accomplish twice as much as somebody who just worked one normal full-time job.

00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:46.260
So I went to school, and I worked most of my college career.

00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.080
It's not just doing the work.

00:04:48.140 --> 00:04:51.740
It's doing the work with intention of trying to get better.

00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:56.060
Because you can have somebody who is just, like, a drone and peeling potatoes.

00:04:56.580 --> 00:05:03.360
But then you compare that person to this other person, like me, who was, like, how do I peel potatoes faster?

00:05:03.820 --> 00:05:07.220
How do I think about what I'm going to do next to get better at it?

00:05:07.380 --> 00:05:11.040
Because you hear people say, like, oh, 10,000 hours to get good at something.

00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:15.800
I think, like, somebody just pulled that number out of their ass.

00:05:15.960 --> 00:05:17.960
Like, let's say doing a rocher.

00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:22.840
That's the spoon where you make that smooth Quesnel shape, one stroke.

00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:31.520
If you gave a college student ice cream and you said, give me a rocher, they can stand there for, like, 5,000 hours, and it'll look like crap.

00:05:31.740 --> 00:05:34.180
I taught myself how to do it in, like, 10 minutes.

00:05:34.300 --> 00:05:37.620
And it was, like, 90% proficiency, I would say.

00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:47.300
Like, it's not perfect, but in 10 minutes, because I knew how to move my hands and how to get certain angles and how things work, basically.

00:05:47.460 --> 00:05:50.120
The longer you do something, you're going to keep getting better.

00:05:50.260 --> 00:05:53.580
But the margin that you get bigger by keeps getting smaller.

00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:59.760
So, like, if you did sushi for 10 years, you might be 90% proficient.

00:06:00.020 --> 00:06:04.120
You do 10 more years, you're not going to, you go from 90 to, like, 95.

00:06:04.520 --> 00:06:07.500
10 more years, you might go from 95 to, like, 96.

00:06:07.960 --> 00:06:15.240
And it keeps getting smaller, but you're never actually going to get to 100, because 100 is infinite.

00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:26.940
I did the associate's degree in culinary arts, and then I was actually there for five years, because I spent two years competing on the competition team.

00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:30.480
So, I was the team captain for both years that I was in competition.

00:06:31.080 --> 00:06:34.800
In school, there's this thing called the volunteer log sheet.

00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:38.320
You volunteer, and then you get scholarships for it, basically.

00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:40.140
There's two ways of getting scholarships.

00:06:40.140 --> 00:06:46.600
You volunteer for these, like, events and stuff, or working for chefs, and then you get scholarship from that.

00:06:46.960 --> 00:06:53.100
But then the other way is, there's this, like, outside the counselor's office, there's just, like, that board that you put the pins in.

00:06:53.540 --> 00:06:58.260
There's just, like, a whole wall of, like, papers that each one is a different competition.

00:06:58.440 --> 00:07:01.860
It's, like, this is a healthy cooking competition sponsored by this.

00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.640
This is a, this competition, that competition.

00:07:04.640 --> 00:07:05.880
There's so many competitions.

00:07:06.280 --> 00:07:09.440
So, I, this was when I was brand new, too.

00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:11.620
But I knew, like, I wanted to push.

00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:12.880
I wanted to do everything.

00:07:13.060 --> 00:07:19.440
I want, even though I knew I was going to lose, that's the thing is, it didn't deter me.

00:07:19.700 --> 00:07:24.440
It was forcing myself to fail and lose so I can learn from it.

00:07:24.860 --> 00:07:29.120
And every single competition that I could do, I went for it.

00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:36.780
And it ended up that, in my whole five years in college, I made more money off of scholarships than my entire tuition cost.

00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:38.520
And now I'm coming full circle.

00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:40.440
I'm actually going to be a teacher at that school.

00:07:40.700 --> 00:07:41.120
Oh, sick.

00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:43.640
Since I have, I have whatever free time I want to do.

00:07:43.900 --> 00:07:47.140
And it's going to pay me crap, but I get to teach people.

00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:48.320
That's awesome.

00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:51.940
I guess I had a bunch of questions to kind of follow up.

00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:56.420
But, like, I guess the first thing is, a bunch of people are super afraid to fail.

00:07:56.700 --> 00:08:01.260
Like, I think that's actually the one thing that prevents a lot of people from achieving more success.

00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:03.860
And it's kind of, like, ingrained upon us in school.

00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:05.280
Like, especially as Asian kids.

00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:06.280
Like, hey, you've got to be perfect.

00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:07.020
Get all A's.

00:08:07.780 --> 00:08:07.960
Yeah.

00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:09.720
And do all the extracurriculars.

00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:12.080
Like you said before, doctor, lawyer, engineer.

00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:14.420
You have, like, set career paths you can choose from.

00:08:15.320 --> 00:08:20.700
I guess what made you so unafraid of failure and, like, so also pragmatic?

00:08:20.940 --> 00:08:26.980
Because I think that most kids at that age, and, like, me too, like, I wasn't thinking about career or anything during college.

00:08:27.020 --> 00:08:33.600
I was just thinking, like, how can I slack off the most, pass my classes, get a good enough resume, and, like, play as much video games as possible.

00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:36.900
And just, like, effectively, like, waste my time doing normal kid things.

00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.080
But it sounded like you were already pretty mature at that age.

00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:41.080
You had a bunch of goals.

00:08:41.540 --> 00:08:42.660
You worked towards them.

00:08:42.680 --> 00:08:44.240
And you even did it without needing to.

00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.640
Like, you said you could have gone to college and just done that without working.

00:08:48.220 --> 00:08:52.340
So, I guess, like, what kind of drove you to do those things?

00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:55.380
And, like, were there any events in your life?

00:08:55.420 --> 00:09:00.620
Or is it just more kind of, like, an inheritance, like, I want to be the best I can and be really effective, even at that young age?

00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:05.780
So, first off, I was none of that stuff that you just described.

00:09:06.020 --> 00:09:08.680
I was, sounds like I was exactly like you.

00:09:09.020 --> 00:09:10.900
I wanted to play games all day.

00:09:13.060 --> 00:09:15.680
Yeah, I can tell you my whole game history.

00:09:15.680 --> 00:09:20.280
Like, every MMO I played, I played MapleStory for years.

00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:22.300
I played Diablo 2.

00:09:22.500 --> 00:09:27.240
And then that's where, like, investing, that's how the investing story got started with Diablo 2.

00:09:27.340 --> 00:09:29.080
But, like, I played games a lot.

00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:37.960
And I actually think playing games taught me my personality that I have now.

00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:41.480
I learned min-maxing from games.

00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:50.920
Like, if you play 15 hours and that guy plays 10 hours, you got five more hours of killing slimes and leveling up faster.

00:09:51.280 --> 00:09:57.540
I wasn't trying to learn these things because I was playing the game and I wanted to be better than everyone.

00:09:57.700 --> 00:10:01.620
I think being better than everything, everyone else, was the core of it.

00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.840
Learning how to be better than everyone by playing the games.

00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:19.120
It was play more hours, be more efficient, kill in a more efficient way, quest in a more efficient way, make money faster, learn how to control the entire economy through the auction house.

00:10:19.420 --> 00:10:24.560
Probably one of the first games I played when I was really young was, like, Neopets and MapleStory.

00:10:24.640 --> 00:10:30.020
MapleStory is, like, the prime example I'm going to use because I played that for so long and throughout my entire life.

00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:34.740
I don't play now, but as I aged, I got better at playing games and all that.

00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:39.360
And then you got more efficient at leveling and you know, like, where to put your points and all that stuff.

00:10:40.420 --> 00:10:47.080
But from that point on, as I got older, I got better at what I was talking about, like, making money.

00:10:47.820 --> 00:11:00.200
So, from when I was, like, I would say 16, when I was 16 years old and later, almost every single game, I would, there was this certain chronological order on how I would do things.

00:11:00.380 --> 00:11:03.660
First thing is, play the game until I'm max level.

00:11:04.060 --> 00:11:11.120
And then, you know, when you get to max level, that's when, like, the real end game happens when you farm things for hundreds of hours and all that.

00:11:11.880 --> 00:11:15.720
But a new game would release, I would download it on the first day.

00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:23.100
If I wasn't in on the first, like, week, I would feel like, oh, these guys got a one-week advantage over me.

00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:23.900
I don't want to play.

00:11:24.380 --> 00:11:33.160
So, I was always first one in, and then I would always play as much as I can, get as far as I can, as fast as I can, to gain an advantage.

00:11:33.300 --> 00:11:42.960
Because first mover advantage, you get exponential, you get free farm on everything, when in 10 days, everyone's going to be fighting over each spawn of a mob.

00:11:43.800 --> 00:11:52.560
There's so many games that I just got so rich, I could buy out an entire item section, or I could buy out everything.

00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:57.800
And then I would just post my one thing at, like, increased price.

00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:03.920
And if somebody posted something under me, I'd just buy it, because I knew I had so much money that I could just keep doing it.

00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:05.960
And then I'd just become too rich and quit.

00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:08.760
So, put it in gaming perspective.

00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:12.740
You have, like, index, all that stuff, right?

00:12:12.900 --> 00:12:17.160
I put all my skill points as a human into one thing.

00:12:17.280 --> 00:12:20.780
So, I was really smart at that stuff, but I had no social skills at all.

00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:23.360
Like, I wasn't well-spoken at all.

00:12:23.420 --> 00:12:24.320
I was super shy.

00:12:24.860 --> 00:12:29.280
Like, most from kindergarten up to high school, I got bullied to some degree.

00:12:30.140 --> 00:12:32.400
And I always got into fights because of it.

00:12:32.520 --> 00:12:37.740
And it would be, like, bigger kids that I have no chance with, or multiple kids.

00:12:37.740 --> 00:12:40.220
And just, like, yeah.

00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:49.020
Because even though Hawaii is the most Asian state in the U.S., the school I went to was not Asian.

00:12:49.380 --> 00:12:50.100
Oh, no.

00:12:50.340 --> 00:12:54.640
Well, because it was one of the, like, more poor areas of the state.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:01.640
So, it was a lot of, like, Micronesians and, like, Hawaii and, like, Filipino people.

00:13:01.880 --> 00:13:02.620
And, yeah.

00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:17.380
I think in my whole, from kindergarten to high school, I was probably one of, I was one of, one of one or one of three, like, between that range of Chinese people.

00:13:17.380 --> 00:13:25.600
And it didn't help that everyone, including myself, thought I was, my family was poor.

00:13:27.520 --> 00:13:29.840
So, do you know what a flea market is?

00:13:29.900 --> 00:13:30.000
Yeah.

00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:31.580
I also grew up poor, man.

00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:32.280
So, I know.

00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:33.100
I can empathize.

00:13:33.760 --> 00:13:43.400
I don't know if those exist in other places, but we'd go to the T-shirt stand where it's just, like, super colorful T-shirts and there's a sign.

00:13:43.520 --> 00:13:44.680
It's, like, $5 for $10.

00:13:45.160 --> 00:13:48.480
And there's, like, there's, like, a dolphin on it or there's a lei.

00:13:49.780 --> 00:13:52.760
Just, like, super basic shirts with, like, a print on it.

00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:57.120
So, that was the clothes that I ended up wearing.

00:13:57.540 --> 00:13:59.140
I'd always wear shorts to school.

00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:04.760
And I remember, I remember so clearly for my, you know, your sixth grade dance.

00:14:05.540 --> 00:14:07.220
You're supposed to wear nice clothes.

00:14:07.900 --> 00:14:10.440
Nice clothes for me was wearing jeans.

00:14:10.760 --> 00:14:15.920
And it was kind of fucked up what my teacher said, right, when I showed up.

00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:17.260
Because, like, I never wear jeans.

00:14:17.340 --> 00:14:18.240
I always wear shorts.

00:14:18.500 --> 00:14:20.300
And, like, I showed up in jeans.

00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:24.340
And then she was, like, she was basically talking crap about what I was wearing.

00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:29.460
And I was, like, is that what your parents made you wear to the school dance?

00:14:29.800 --> 00:14:33.400
I was, like, but, but, yeah.

00:14:34.220 --> 00:14:38.380
Anyways, it turns out my family's not poor.

00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:39.500
They're just Chinese.

00:14:42.560 --> 00:14:44.280
That's absolutely hilarious.

00:14:45.180 --> 00:14:46.820
So, I grew up in Iowa.

00:14:47.420 --> 00:14:48.900
It's basically all white people.

00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:49.680
Like, very similar.

00:14:49.880 --> 00:14:51.480
Like, one of one or, like, one of three.

00:14:52.780 --> 00:14:54.560
I mean, I never knew anything about our finances.

00:14:54.700 --> 00:14:57.340
I just knew that, like, we never got much stuff.

00:14:57.680 --> 00:14:59.880
My parents bought me, like, Game Boys and stuff.

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:05.880
But, like, you know how, like, in high school, you're supposed to go out with your friends to the mall or something.

00:15:06.260 --> 00:15:11.180
Or, like, do extra stuff with your friends and all that stuff.

00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:13.540
I never did that with anybody.

00:15:13.540 --> 00:15:15.140
I don't know if you know what a plate lunch is.

00:15:15.940 --> 00:15:18.240
Scoop of rice, mac salad, and a protein.

00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:20.580
Just, like, $8 or something.

00:15:21.160 --> 00:15:28.620
I've spent, like, $20 on plate lunches with hanging out with people in my entire high school career.

00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:30.480
Like, I didn't get an allowance.

00:15:31.420 --> 00:15:34.300
It was, like, you know, Chinese New Year's.

00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:35.200
You get the red envelope.

00:15:35.660 --> 00:15:37.100
You get all this money and stuff.

00:15:37.420 --> 00:15:39.160
And then you receive it.

00:15:39.260 --> 00:15:40.700
And then you just give it to your mom.

00:15:40.760 --> 00:15:40.940
Yeah.

00:15:41.180 --> 00:15:42.700
Because mom's going to put it away for you.

00:15:42.700 --> 00:15:46.980
Like, when you want to buy something, then it's, like, oh, no, no, no, no.

00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:48.020
This is for saving.

00:15:48.180 --> 00:15:49.300
And it's just, like, what?

00:15:49.400 --> 00:15:52.320
What's the point of people giving me money if I can't spend it?

00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:53.420
Yeah, dude.

00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:54.020
It's, like.

00:15:54.400 --> 00:15:56.460
Then for Christmas, you would get, like, a quota.

00:15:57.040 --> 00:15:59.340
You can spend $20 this year.

00:15:59.580 --> 00:16:00.400
Buy whatever you want.

00:16:00.400 --> 00:16:00.640
Right.

00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:02.020
Buy this one thing for Christmas.

00:16:02.380 --> 00:16:03.100
I was a bit lucky.

00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:05.580
It was, like, one thing for Christmas, one thing for your birthday.

00:16:06.180 --> 00:16:06.580
Yeah.

00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:08.840
But, like, I played a bunch of card games.

00:16:09.040 --> 00:16:12.140
So, like, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering.

00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.940
And the local game shop, they would actually give out prize money for winning.

00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.360
So, that was how I actually had money.

00:16:18.760 --> 00:16:20.900
Like, I didn't get a part-time job or anything.

00:16:21.680 --> 00:16:21.800
Yeah.

00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:23.860
My parents actually had, like, a negative allowance.

00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:26.780
So, if I got, like, a B on my report card, they would take money from me.

00:16:27.160 --> 00:16:28.460
But, like, I don't even have, right?

00:16:28.820 --> 00:16:29.480
Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:16:29.660 --> 00:16:31.480
I remember report cards.

00:16:32.280 --> 00:16:34.160
Getting an A was $20.

00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:36.520
Getting a B was $10.

00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:41.320
And getting a D was $5 or something.

00:16:41.780 --> 00:16:42.160
No, no, no.

00:16:42.260 --> 00:16:43.280
You have money for getting a D?

00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:43.580
No, no.

00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:44.840
I would get, like, B for getting a D.

00:16:45.540 --> 00:16:45.860
Yeah.

00:16:46.040 --> 00:16:47.040
No, that's not right.

00:16:47.140 --> 00:16:49.900
It's A, A minus, B plus.

00:16:50.020 --> 00:16:51.760
And then you don't get anything below that.

00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:57.740
So, $5, $10, $15, A, A minus, B plus, $0, $0, $0, below that.

00:16:57.880 --> 00:16:58.780
Yeah, that makes more sense.

00:16:58.900 --> 00:16:59.080
Yeah.

00:16:59.280 --> 00:17:02.200
I was like, dude, like, what kind of Asian parents giving money out for Ds?

00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.200
It's really cool how, like, Hawaii, it seems like the community is super tight-knit.

00:17:07.900 --> 00:17:13.900
Nothing at all like corporate America, where it's just kind of, like, your connections don't really matter until you're much older.

00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:19.120
Or if you're already, like, wealthy and connected, then you have, like, friends, families, or parents that can help you out.

00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:28.360
So, I guess it's still kind of unclear to me, like, how do you go from working at restaurants to eventually, like, becoming an executive chef and opening your own restaurants?

00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:31.880
Like, that entire process, if you can kind of go into it.

00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:42.800
The reason I just told you about me getting bullied in high school and stuff is because there was a transition from high school to college that when you go to college, it was like you get to restart brand new.

00:17:43.420 --> 00:17:52.440
All of these people that I went to college with are adults, and none of them had a preconceived notion of what my personality was supposed to be.

00:17:52.780 --> 00:18:03.260
And because I was so awkward when I was young, like, I couldn't make eye contact and all that, I could all of a sudden just try to be somebody else, be somebody better.

00:18:03.260 --> 00:18:06.320
When I was 18, I was making a goal for when I was 24 already.

00:18:06.560 --> 00:18:09.320
It was like, okay, I need to become this person.

00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:11.240
I need to be good at talking to people.

00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:13.300
I need to get in shape.

00:18:13.420 --> 00:18:14.520
I need to do all this stuff.

00:18:14.600 --> 00:18:16.080
I need to get good at my career.

00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:24.180
And, yeah, I had a goal that was, like, a six-year plan of, okay, by the time I'm 24, I want to be a sous chef.

00:18:24.320 --> 00:18:28.020
And when I'm 28, 29, I want to be a head chef.

00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:31.020
When I'm 34, because this is, like, the normal path.

00:18:31.020 --> 00:18:37.480
You open your restaurant, and then you just run your one restaurant until you die.

00:18:37.860 --> 00:18:38.660
And that's it.

00:18:38.800 --> 00:18:40.180
That's the normal path.

00:18:40.560 --> 00:18:50.780
My mom, like, from when I was born up until maybe when I was, probably when I finished high school,

00:18:51.320 --> 00:18:55.040
the only jobs that she's held were, like, minimum wage jobs.

00:18:55.040 --> 00:19:02.980
Like, she would sell clothes at home for, and then, like, get paid a dollar for each piece that she finished.

00:19:02.980 --> 00:19:10.660
Or she was a bank teller for, she was a bank teller for, like, five, five-plus years, making minimum wage, like, $10, $12 an hour.

00:19:10.900 --> 00:19:18.220
But then this opportunity came up that, in Chinatown, she could start a fish market with this business partner.

00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:22.820
The strongest part of her personality is that she was personable.

00:19:23.560 --> 00:19:31.760
So, the other partner was better at, like, cutting, they knew how to butcher things, they knew how to sell things.

00:19:31.900 --> 00:19:34.780
And he was a very, he was a salesman, and she was a personality.

00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:41.980
So, they partnered, and they opened a fish market in Chinatown about 10 years now, 10 years ago.

00:19:42.700 --> 00:19:48.680
And then, that's when they started making real money, not minimum wage money.

00:19:49.060 --> 00:19:53.640
This was about when I was 21 or 22.

00:19:54.300 --> 00:20:01.640
They made, they finally saved up enough money, and then the business partner wanted to open a Thai restaurant.

00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.840
And then, I was already in school and working, so I was in the industry.

00:20:07.320 --> 00:20:13.200
So, I ate his food, and I was like, you don't know how to cook Thai food.

00:20:14.220 --> 00:20:15.360
Don't open a restaurant.

00:20:16.280 --> 00:20:18.400
Like, stick with your fish market.

00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:23.240
You can do that, it's fine, but don't try to open a real business.

00:20:23.540 --> 00:20:34.700
Not that a fish market's not a real business, but it's like Chinatown, where, like, you know, a restaurant is, like, you need to advertise, you have to make good food, you have to do customer service.

00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:42.120
There's so many aspects of a restaurant that's more American, where you have to be professional, because your customers aren't other Chinese people.

00:20:42.300 --> 00:20:43.660
They're random people.

00:20:44.060 --> 00:20:48.280
So, but both of them being stubborn, it's like, ah, we can do it.

00:20:48.340 --> 00:20:50.660
We, look how successful our first business is.

00:20:51.060 --> 00:20:52.220
Okay, fine, go.

00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:55.740
And then, they opened the Thai restaurant.

00:20:56.140 --> 00:21:03.480
So, they would wake up at, like, 3 or 4 in the morning, do the whole fish market until about 2 or 3 o'clock.

00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:09.460
And then, right after that, go to the restaurant and then run that until 10 p.m. or 11 p.m.

00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:13.400
So, they're working, like, 18-hour days.

00:21:13.600 --> 00:21:18.720
And then, some days, they're just, like, so tired where, well, the business partner, he never got tired.

00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.000
It was my mom who got tired.

00:21:20.280 --> 00:21:21.800
She would just say, like, I'm too tired.

00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:23.440
We just closed the restaurant.

00:21:23.600 --> 00:21:26.420
They wouldn't, like, put up a sign, like, we're closed today or anything.

00:21:26.520 --> 00:21:30.720
It would just, it would just be, like, the customers are outside, like, why is it dark in there?

00:21:30.780 --> 00:21:35.560
There's only open, and it's just, like, yeah, that's not how you run a restaurant.

00:21:36.380 --> 00:21:38.700
But, they ran that for a year.

00:21:39.120 --> 00:21:47.060
It's just bleeding money because all the money they lost from the restaurant was equal to the amount of money they gained from the fish market.

00:21:47.060 --> 00:21:51.280
So, they're breaking even, but they're working 20 hours to break even.

00:21:51.620 --> 00:21:52.920
So, not a good deal at all.

00:21:53.360 --> 00:21:57.920
But, I was basically working at what was considered the best restaurant in Hawaii at that moment.

00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:04.340
So, I told my mom, hey, I'm going to quit my job.

00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:06.200
I'm going to take over the restaurant.

00:22:06.800 --> 00:22:10.120
I'm going to sell all of my stocks, and I'm going to buy the restaurant from you.

00:22:10.280 --> 00:22:22.700
I'm confident enough that I can, I'm going to YOLO all of my money that I've saved and invested in the past, like, 10 plus years.

00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:26.880
So, I started investing when I was, like, 13 or so.

00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:34.680
And, that's because, like I was saying earlier, you can't touch the money that you have saved unless it's to make more money.

00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:45.520
So, I told my mom, like, hey, I want to invest in Blizzard Activision because I played Diablo 2 and then Diablo 3 was coming out.

00:22:45.580 --> 00:22:48.020
So, I was like, this game is going to be really good.

00:22:48.460 --> 00:22:52.360
And, I didn't, I didn't know what a PE ratio was, a market cap thing.

00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:55.140
It was just, this is a good game, Diablo 3.

00:22:55.260 --> 00:22:56.660
I believe that it will do well.

00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:00.080
That's my whole investing theory on that.

00:23:00.580 --> 00:23:02.040
And, she was like, okay.

00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:04.980
And, then, like, I put it in.

00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:06.620
It was less than $10,000.

00:23:07.840 --> 00:23:10.420
But, I bought in at, like, $13 a share.

00:23:10.740 --> 00:23:12.560
And, then, Hearthstone came out.

00:23:12.820 --> 00:23:15.520
And, I didn't, I didn't even know what Hearthstone was.

00:23:15.940 --> 00:23:20.000
And, this Hearthstone caused the stock price to go from $13 to $26.

00:23:20.620 --> 00:23:25.300
And, then, when Diablo 3 came out, it went to, like, $35 or something.

00:23:25.900 --> 00:23:30.580
But, when I was young, I did all this, like, oh, learn.

00:23:31.100 --> 00:23:34.740
Because, if you don't know something, you just listen to what people say.

00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:37.500
So, I was like, see what Warren Buffett has to say.

00:23:37.660 --> 00:23:38.720
I didn't know who he was.

00:23:38.780 --> 00:23:42.480
But, you just, like, Google, like, how to invest and stuff like that.

00:23:42.520 --> 00:23:44.900
And, you just learn all this stuff from all these different people.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.640
And, then, you develop your own investing theory.

00:23:48.520 --> 00:23:49.920
Like, in the beginning, I didn't know anything.

00:23:50.020 --> 00:23:52.180
So, I was like, oh, diversify.

00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:55.760
Because, that's, I don't know why, but diversify.

00:23:56.580 --> 00:24:01.820
And, then, I put a little bit of money into a bunch of different stocks and stuff.

00:24:01.820 --> 00:24:05.460
And, I only had one stock that I lost money on.

00:24:05.760 --> 00:24:07.160
And, it was Pandora.

00:24:09.100 --> 00:24:13.660
And, then, I started thinking, like, okay, S&P 500, top 500.

00:24:13.860 --> 00:24:19.000
Now, what if you could reduce it to S&P 499?

00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:22.760
Like, you just take out the bottom one that you don't think is good.

00:24:23.140 --> 00:24:24.640
And, just do, you keep doing that.

00:24:24.700 --> 00:24:27.140
And, so, it's like, okay, what's your top 10 picks?

00:24:27.280 --> 00:24:31.400
And, then, it distilled it down to, well, what's your top one pick?

00:24:31.540 --> 00:24:35.140
And, then, that's when I became, like, a one stock pony.

00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:42.380
And, then, so, I don't remember how old I was.

00:24:42.500 --> 00:24:45.860
But, Amazon, like, I didn't know anything about the business.

00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:50.760
It was just, like, I can order stuff on a website.

00:24:51.020 --> 00:24:52.440
And, then, it shows up at your door.

00:24:52.540 --> 00:24:53.820
You don't need to go outside.

00:24:53.820 --> 00:24:56.620
And, this stuff just shows up.

00:24:56.700 --> 00:24:58.020
And, there's just massive catalog.

00:24:58.220 --> 00:24:58.820
And, it's cheaper.

00:24:59.060 --> 00:25:01.240
And, like, you don't need to walk through a store and all that.

00:25:01.280 --> 00:25:02.560
So, I was, like, this is amazing.

00:25:03.140 --> 00:25:03.660
All in.

00:25:03.940 --> 00:25:05.140
So, I sold everything.

00:25:05.660 --> 00:25:09.980
And, then, I went all in on Amazon at $300 a share.

00:25:11.180 --> 00:25:14.260
And, then, like, it was, I was so, like, mind blown.

00:25:14.580 --> 00:25:16.860
Because, like, I've never heard of it before.

00:25:16.940 --> 00:25:19.220
But, I was, like, oh, I heard of it now.

00:25:19.340 --> 00:25:20.200
It was, like, mind blown.

00:25:21.080 --> 00:25:21.640
All in.

00:25:21.760 --> 00:25:24.480
And, I started telling everyone, like, Amazon is great.

00:25:24.600 --> 00:25:25.440
And, all that stuff.

00:25:25.580 --> 00:25:31.160
And, then, even though I was making minimum wage, I could still consistently put money in the market.

00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:35.700
All this money and scholarships I made from college, I just dumped it into investing.

00:25:36.460 --> 00:25:40.540
And, I bought it $300, $500, $600, $800.

00:25:40.860 --> 00:25:42.880
I kept buying it whenever I had money.

00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:44.360
Just, dump, dump, dump.

00:25:44.760 --> 00:25:47.880
And, then, my mom was, like, no, what are you doing?

00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:49.680
You're buying it at the all-time high.

00:25:49.820 --> 00:25:50.560
You're so dumb.

00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:55.000
And, then, I was, like, I'm always going to buy it at the all-time high.

00:25:55.100 --> 00:25:56.420
Because, it's going to keep going up.

00:25:56.640 --> 00:25:56.720
Yeah.

00:25:58.100 --> 00:26:00.340
2020, June.

00:26:00.860 --> 00:26:02.340
That's when I discovered Tesla.

00:26:02.540 --> 00:26:06.480
And, I was, like, hmm, this, this makes sense.

00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:07.640
Forget Amazon.

00:26:08.040 --> 00:26:08.960
All in on Tesla.

00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:12.400
So, I sold at about $3,000 a share on Amazon.

00:26:12.780 --> 00:26:20.520
And, I just went all in on Tesla at, I think it was $300 a share at that time.

00:26:20.820 --> 00:26:24.680
So, this is the equivalent of $300 a share went up to $3,000.

00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:30.800
I also discovered options in 2020.

00:26:31.060 --> 00:26:35.600
I actually bought GameStop at $12 a share.

00:26:36.600 --> 00:26:41.300
I bought $25 strike call options.

00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:41.860
Nice.

00:26:42.540 --> 00:26:44.360
For one year out.

00:26:44.700 --> 00:26:45.180
Wow.

00:26:45.260 --> 00:26:46.160
Put it at $12.

00:26:46.540 --> 00:26:47.360
That's insane.

00:26:47.820 --> 00:26:50.120
Put 5% of my total account in there.

00:26:50.820 --> 00:26:51.660
I did the math.

00:26:51.880 --> 00:26:57.300
If I went all in of when I did that 5%, and then I sold at the very peak.

00:26:57.420 --> 00:26:58.940
This video was sponsored by Moomoo.

00:26:59.120 --> 00:27:05.420
Moomoo provides advanced charting tools, analysis, and smart indicators for you to identify stock price trends easily and faster.

00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:13.360
With the real-time quotes updated every 0.3 seconds, and the free level 2 data with 60 rows of quotes on Moomoo, you can get detailed price action.

00:27:13.420 --> 00:27:22.600
Plus, the free 24-7 market news from over 200 reliable resources, such as Bloomberg and CNBC, you won't miss market catalysts.

00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:29.420
Up to 20 free stocks, plus a chance to win in their 60,000 holiday magic sweepstakes by opening an account and depositing some money.

00:27:29.820 --> 00:27:31.260
Use my link to sign up today.

00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:32.560
I did the math.

00:27:32.860 --> 00:27:41.160
If I went all in of when I did that 5%, and then I sold at the very peak, I would be over 100 million right now.

00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:43.020
Yeah, you can't do the math on these things.

00:27:43.020 --> 00:27:46.820
It just, like, it messes with your head, like, ever perfectly yellow.

00:27:46.820 --> 00:27:54.580
I remember, because the stock market opens really early in the morning here, I remember, like, for two weeks straight, every morning, I was like, ah!

00:27:55.740 --> 00:27:57.620
I was just, like, yelling at my mom, look!

00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:04.300
But, yeah, it went up, and it went all the way down to, like, $40 a share.

00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:05.460
I still didn't sell it.

00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:12.260
I held it from 12, I rolled it up to 800, it went all the way down to 40, and I was still holding it.

00:28:12.620 --> 00:28:15.740
Well, it went back up to 225, that's when I sold it.

00:28:16.040 --> 00:28:17.120
That's still really, really good.

00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:17.900
Yeah.

00:28:18.120 --> 00:28:22.380
So, I turned that 5% of my account into 50% of my account.

00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:29.520
Yeah, it's like, I think a lot of people, like, the default advice is S&P 500, because, like, no one knows what they're doing at all.

00:28:30.420 --> 00:28:37.740
If you're looking to, like, the investing philosophy of, like, Charlie Munger and Buffett, it's like, they actually go heavily into the stocks that they really believe in.

00:28:37.800 --> 00:28:41.580
Like, they went heavily into Coca-Cola, went heavily into, like, Amex.

00:28:42.040 --> 00:28:50.560
And their advice that Warren Buffett made during one of his graduation speeches was like, hey, you know, you guys would all do a lot better if I gave you a punch card.

00:28:50.760 --> 00:28:53.380
And this punch card is all the trades you can make in your entire life.

00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.020
Like, you would think a lot more about what you invest in.

00:28:56.440 --> 00:29:00.180
And then also the investing advice of, like, you know, buying what you use.

00:29:00.540 --> 00:29:04.880
And it's funny with, like, the GameStop thing, because, like, I had lots of friends also buying into GameStop.

00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:08.860
And also riding all the way up, all the way down.

00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:15.660
And then all the, like, exchange shenanigans, except most of them just, like, you know, panic sold when it's dropping.

00:29:16.600 --> 00:29:19.820
I wish I panic sold when it was at 500.

00:29:21.080 --> 00:29:26.440
Yeah, I mean, it's, I think a lot of these financial shenanigans.

00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:31.220
And, like, your story is actually very similar to a friend of mine who, she always loved Netflix.

00:29:31.420 --> 00:29:38.060
Like, she worked in, she was really closely connected with, like, entertainment industry and worked for, like, HBO, super into movies and stuff.

00:29:38.320 --> 00:29:42.100
And she just put all of her money into Netflix ever since, like, for forever.

00:29:42.300 --> 00:29:43.380
All of her working money.

00:29:43.820 --> 00:29:48.860
Yeah, Netflix was one of my, back in the diversity days, that was one of my picks.

00:29:49.140 --> 00:29:49.780
Nice, nice.

00:29:49.780 --> 00:29:51.360
Yeah, and, you know, Netflix blew up.

00:29:51.500 --> 00:29:52.660
Like, all these tech stocks blew up.

00:29:52.760 --> 00:29:56.700
And, like, you could have picked a lot of stocks that performed really, really well.

00:29:56.800 --> 00:29:59.860
Like, Shopify went up, like, 300x or something.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:07.300
Like, a lot of these tech companies over the past 15-ish years has been, like, almost nonstop up.

00:30:07.860 --> 00:30:11.160
And nowadays, a lot of people are, like, no one knows what's going on anymore.

00:30:11.940 --> 00:30:19.800
But I think as far as, like, the GameStop saga and then even, like, crypto was huge and obviously it's dead now.

00:30:19.900 --> 00:30:23.800
But, like, NFTs, there's so many stories, even of, like, really young people.

00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:27.040
Like, I get messages from people who are, like, hey, Frank, I'm, like, 18.

00:30:27.140 --> 00:30:28.440
I have, like, a couple million dollars.

00:30:28.540 --> 00:30:29.420
I made this from NFTs.

00:30:29.540 --> 00:30:30.840
Like, what do I do with this?

00:30:31.020 --> 00:30:34.600
Like, and people whose lives are just, like, drastically changed.

00:30:34.660 --> 00:30:40.400
And I think the way that people are able to find out how to trade and, like, the information's out there for free.

00:30:40.460 --> 00:30:41.520
You can find it so easily.

00:30:42.220 --> 00:30:44.080
And you can also trade so easily now.

00:30:44.300 --> 00:30:50.460
Like, I remember the first time I tried to trade options on Fidelity that so many, like, guardrails.

00:30:50.620 --> 00:30:52.400
They're, like, hey, do you have this experience?

00:30:52.520 --> 00:30:53.540
We're going to verify your income.

00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:54.600
We're going to do XYZ.

00:30:54.820 --> 00:30:55.680
Do all this stuff.

00:30:55.760 --> 00:30:57.100
And we're still not going to give it to you.

00:30:57.280 --> 00:30:59.840
And now it's, like, download a random app.

00:30:59.960 --> 00:31:00.120
Boom.

00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:01.200
We'll give you level four options.

00:31:01.280 --> 00:31:02.360
You want to sell a naked put?

00:31:02.780 --> 00:31:03.300
Go ahead.

00:31:03.520 --> 00:31:04.820
Like, do whatever you want.

00:31:04.840 --> 00:31:06.200
We'll give you 20 times leverage.

00:31:06.360 --> 00:31:06.620
Yeah.

00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:08.220
Infinite leverage glitch.

00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:10.760
Like, I don't know if you saw that stuff happening.

00:31:10.760 --> 00:31:11.720
People, like, found.

00:31:13.420 --> 00:31:13.940
Yeah.

00:31:14.040 --> 00:31:25.760
I think in terms of people making and losing fortunes these days, and especially, like, younger kids in college, it's, like, a completely different ballgame than 15, 20 years ago.

00:31:25.760 --> 00:31:25.880
Yeah.

00:31:25.940 --> 00:31:32.360
That's the thing is you can do millions of hours of research to invest in one stock.

00:31:32.940 --> 00:31:38.320
Or you can just close your eyes and throw a dart and end up investing in that same stock.

00:31:38.320 --> 00:31:42.820
Like, it doesn't matter what effort and knowledge went into it.

00:31:43.060 --> 00:31:46.580
The only thing that matters is what you bought it and you sold it at.

00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:50.920
If you both bought it at 10 and you both sold it at 20, you both doubled your money.

00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:55.100
This person studied and invested for 50 years.

00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:58.900
And this person's an eight-year-old who was, like, I like this ticker.

00:31:59.500 --> 00:32:00.560
Made the same amount of money.

00:32:01.180 --> 00:32:01.400
Yeah.

00:32:01.600 --> 00:32:08.020
It's hilarious because it's, like, knowledge almost hurts you in a lot of these cases because, like, Doge was, like, a meme coin.

00:32:08.140 --> 00:32:09.520
This dude made it in, like, four hours.

00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:15.260
And he sold all of his Doge, like, the original founder, for, like, a used Honda or something.

00:32:15.420 --> 00:32:16.140
Made, like, 20K.

00:32:16.700 --> 00:32:19.100
And everyone's, like, oh, you know, it has unlimited supply cap.

00:32:19.160 --> 00:32:19.820
This thing's worthless.

00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:20.960
Like, it's a meme.

00:32:21.460 --> 00:32:28.740
And then Elon started pumping it and people who had, like, tens of millions of Doge because it was, like, fractions of a thousandth of a penny.

00:32:29.300 --> 00:32:30.260
And then it almost went up.

00:32:30.360 --> 00:32:30.620
They're rich.

00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:31.300
Yeah.

00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:32.880
Like, this thing's rich happened.

00:32:33.840 --> 00:32:38.700
I put my notice in, three months pass, and then time to take over the restaurant.

00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:42.300
Once I took all that stuff, I didn't have any money left.

00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:44.180
I had $10,000.

00:32:44.660 --> 00:32:51.460
So, that was, so, from the day that I got the key, I also asked one person from that restaurant to come with me.

00:32:51.820 --> 00:32:54.060
So, it was me and this girl named Elena.

00:32:54.500 --> 00:32:56.480
We were the entire kitchen staff.

00:32:56.780 --> 00:32:59.240
And then we couldn't leave at the same time.

00:32:59.320 --> 00:33:02.140
So, she put her notice in for one week after my notice.

00:33:02.920 --> 00:33:13.860
So, for one week, I was just in the restaurant literally by myself cleaning the kitchen because before it was my mom's restaurant, it was a Chinese restaurant for 30-something years.

00:33:14.120 --> 00:33:16.380
So, I was just, like, scooping grease.

00:33:17.280 --> 00:33:20.480
And then, while cleaning, I would, like, set up vendors.

00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:25.620
And I hired people to put our new sign up.

00:33:25.740 --> 00:33:28.620
But, like, the whole restaurant, it still looked like an old Chinese restaurant.

00:33:28.820 --> 00:33:31.500
Like, the red chairs, the plexiglass on the tables.

00:33:32.020 --> 00:33:38.700
It looked, if you look on Yelp, scroll down far enough, it looks like an old Chinese restaurant.

00:33:39.040 --> 00:33:40.920
And then Elena shows up one week later.

00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:45.240
And then she says, okay, Kenny, what do you want me to do?

00:33:45.440 --> 00:33:46.200
What's the menu?

00:33:46.620 --> 00:33:48.960
And I say, I give her this piece of paper.

00:33:49.080 --> 00:33:50.820
It's just chicken scratch on it.

00:33:50.900 --> 00:33:52.500
It's just, like, the title of the dish.

00:33:52.680 --> 00:33:53.500
And then that's it.

00:33:53.560 --> 00:33:54.700
And I was, like, they're in my head.

00:33:54.840 --> 00:33:55.540
Just do what I say.

00:33:56.340 --> 00:34:00.060
So, I ordered enough ingredients to do everything.

00:34:00.660 --> 00:34:04.900
And then we cooked the whole menu based on what was in my head one time.

00:34:05.320 --> 00:34:07.300
And then we taste each dish.

00:34:07.520 --> 00:34:11.020
And then I just say, like, okay, this needs more seasoning.

00:34:11.520 --> 00:34:12.320
Change this.

00:34:12.620 --> 00:34:13.760
Get rid of this whole dish.

00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:14.460
It's crap.

00:34:14.680 --> 00:34:17.380
From that point on, it was just start prepping.

00:34:17.600 --> 00:34:21.840
We're going to start prepping to open for service at the end of this week.

00:34:22.060 --> 00:34:24.980
So, two weeks from when I got the key, we're going to open the doors.

00:34:25.980 --> 00:34:26.880
I didn't know anything.

00:34:27.080 --> 00:34:28.340
I didn't have Instagram.

00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:30.120
I didn't have any connections.

00:34:30.660 --> 00:34:32.800
I didn't even know how to get customers in the door.

00:34:33.180 --> 00:34:39.760
But word got out that I left that previous restaurant, which is considered the best restaurant.

00:34:39.960 --> 00:34:42.880
And then, like, the story behind it, I'm assuming, was compelling.

00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:51.060
Like, oh, this guy quit his job at this high-end restaurant to take over his mom's failing restaurant.

00:34:51.460 --> 00:34:53.400
And he opened it in two weeks.

00:34:53.660 --> 00:34:54.820
That's why it looks like crap.

00:34:55.460 --> 00:34:56.860
It looks like a pop-up still.

00:34:57.080 --> 00:34:58.200
You have to start somewhere.

00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:01.320
If you're never happy with your food, then you're never going to serve anyone.

00:35:01.560 --> 00:35:04.900
And then you're just, like, caught in this spiral of not doing anything.

00:35:05.020 --> 00:35:07.080
Like, I'm scared, like you were saying earlier.

00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:12.560
So, yeah, first day, we did 26 covers.

00:35:12.560 --> 00:35:14.020
Can you explain what covers are?

00:35:15.040 --> 00:35:15.880
One person.

00:35:16.460 --> 00:35:16.880
Oh, okay.

00:35:17.240 --> 00:35:17.880
One customer.

00:35:18.180 --> 00:35:18.360
Gotcha.

00:35:18.720 --> 00:35:20.780
So, me and Elena in the back.

00:35:21.420 --> 00:35:24.380
And then my mom and the business partner were my servers.

00:35:24.780 --> 00:35:27.760
And their English isn't, they're kind of fob.

00:35:28.100 --> 00:35:28.240
Yeah.

00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:33.660
So, when they serve my customers, they're like, oh, here's the menu.

00:35:33.840 --> 00:35:34.820
And they just walk away.

00:35:35.380 --> 00:35:35.900
They come back.

00:35:36.020 --> 00:35:36.640
You ready to order?

00:35:37.100 --> 00:35:37.880
Yep, yep, yep.

00:35:38.160 --> 00:35:38.840
And then that's the thing.

00:35:39.120 --> 00:35:39.980
There was no systems.

00:35:40.160 --> 00:35:42.020
There wasn't, like, this is how you write a ticket.

00:35:42.240 --> 00:35:44.060
This is how you greet the guests.

00:35:44.160 --> 00:35:45.360
This is how you host.

00:35:45.520 --> 00:35:48.020
This is how you, there was no reservation system.

00:35:48.020 --> 00:35:51.660
Every time something happened, I just, on the spot, had to fix it.

00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:55.980
Like, okay, this is table 11, 12, 13, 14.

00:35:56.260 --> 00:35:58.620
And then that one is 21, 22, 23, 24.

00:35:59.100 --> 00:36:00.180
Or, like, tickets.

00:36:00.380 --> 00:36:03.100
Like, they would have their own way of writing tickets.

00:36:03.240 --> 00:36:04.540
And it wouldn't make sense.

00:36:04.600 --> 00:36:07.460
It's like, why is the entree at the top?

00:36:07.500 --> 00:36:08.900
And why is the appetizer in the bottom?

00:36:09.100 --> 00:36:11.440
Like, we have to write table numbers on the ticket.

00:36:11.580 --> 00:36:13.180
Or else people don't know where to take the food.

00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:21.140
And just, like, every single aspect of a business, a restaurant, I had to basically wing it on the spot.

00:36:21.260 --> 00:36:24.240
Like, there's millions of things that can go wrong.

00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:30.040
And when they did, it was like, okay, I have to decide in three seconds, how do I fix it?

00:36:30.180 --> 00:36:32.020
How do I prevent it from happening in the future?

00:36:32.020 --> 00:36:36.660
And how do I make it right for the customer who had to deal with whatever it was?

00:36:36.820 --> 00:36:39.780
Quite simply, every day, we only did one thing.

00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:42.900
Try to make less mistakes than the day before.

00:36:43.320 --> 00:36:45.340
Don't try to be really good.

00:36:45.720 --> 00:36:46.880
Just try to be less bad.

00:36:47.820 --> 00:36:51.640
So, first day, we did 20, 24, 26 covers.

00:36:51.780 --> 00:36:53.140
Second day, we did 50-something.

00:36:53.600 --> 00:36:56.180
And then third day, we did, like, 70-something.

00:36:56.300 --> 00:36:56.920
It was crazy.

00:36:57.060 --> 00:36:59.560
You're doing 70 covers as a brand-new restaurant.

00:37:00.020 --> 00:37:01.520
Nobody knows what's going on.

00:37:01.940 --> 00:37:05.580
Like, imagine 70 people coming to eat within a four-hour time span.

00:37:06.240 --> 00:37:12.360
And, like, I didn't know you could say no to people.

00:37:12.580 --> 00:37:13.920
Like, no, we're too busy.

00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:17.040
It was just like, oh, somebody came in.

00:37:17.300 --> 00:37:18.020
There's an open seat.

00:37:18.720 --> 00:37:19.360
They're seating.

00:37:19.560 --> 00:37:19.940
They're sitting.

00:37:20.460 --> 00:37:20.820
What?

00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:22.500
20 people came in all at one time?

00:37:22.740 --> 00:37:23.240
Sit them.

00:37:23.500 --> 00:37:26.000
Give me 10 tickets all at one time.

00:37:26.080 --> 00:37:27.020
It didn't make any sense.

00:37:27.020 --> 00:37:33.820
Every three months, I would rip out half of the menu, the bad half of the menu.

00:37:34.260 --> 00:37:36.320
And then I would replace it with new dishes.

00:37:36.700 --> 00:37:40.720
Over time, it got to a point where there wasn't any weak dishes anymore.

00:37:40.860 --> 00:37:43.520
It's just like, everything's a good dish now.

00:37:43.660 --> 00:37:46.580
And then that's when we didn't have to rip out half the menu anymore.

00:37:46.580 --> 00:37:51.620
Like, as you know, over time, restaurants get better or worse.

00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:59.720
But in our case, since we're so bad to begin with, yeah, when we first opened, we averaged three and a half stars on Yelp.

00:38:00.200 --> 00:38:02.340
Went to four, and we went to four and a half.

00:38:02.700 --> 00:38:06.500
It was hard because our prices were really low in the beginning.

00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:16.520
Like, per person, like $20 a person to have me, the fancy chef from this high-end restaurant, $20 back then.

00:38:17.060 --> 00:38:20.960
And today, we're sitting at an average of $150 per person.

00:38:21.460 --> 00:38:24.020
Like, $20 to $150.

00:38:25.320 --> 00:38:27.800
Like, no restaurant does that.

00:38:28.160 --> 00:38:29.180
I mean, that's a great story.

00:38:29.340 --> 00:38:32.440
Like, especially you mentioned, even the beginning of it was really strong.

00:38:32.440 --> 00:38:39.340
Like, strong enough that, had you known about social media back then, like, you make a TikTok story or, like, post an IG.

00:38:39.660 --> 00:38:42.840
Like, I could see people in the news publications picking that up, maybe.

00:38:43.520 --> 00:38:47.460
And then also, like, learning trial by fire and you, like, steadily improving everything.

00:38:48.440 --> 00:38:54.200
I think a lot of your story really parallels just, like, not just starting a software business, but any sort of business.

00:38:54.360 --> 00:38:56.580
It's, like, people, they don't launch quick enough.

00:38:56.660 --> 00:38:57.720
They don't iterate fast enough.

00:38:57.780 --> 00:38:59.840
And then you were, like, forced to iterate in real time.

00:38:59.840 --> 00:39:05.300
Like, having a couple seconds to decide, fixing it, and then you saying, like, how it started off terrible and got better.

00:39:05.460 --> 00:39:09.260
Like, that's pretty much how all, most businesses go.

00:39:09.380 --> 00:39:10.400
The vast majority of businesses.

00:39:10.660 --> 00:39:14.400
Everyone's, like, trying to be a perfectionist, trying to make everything perfect before launch.

00:39:14.540 --> 00:39:19.740
Not realizing that, like, you need that customer feedback to recognize what's crap and then make it better.

00:39:20.900 --> 00:39:22.280
Are you a fan of Tesla?

00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:27.400
Um, it depends on what aspect.

00:39:27.560 --> 00:39:36.160
So, I'm a fan of them revolutionizing the industry, really forcing other providers to get onto the electric game.

00:39:36.240 --> 00:39:37.640
I think their battery tech is revolutionary.

00:39:38.200 --> 00:39:40.280
I'm not a fan of their cars, personally.

00:39:40.900 --> 00:39:41.480
How about Elon?

00:39:42.620 --> 00:39:46.280
I think, again, I want to be a bit more nuanced.

00:39:46.640 --> 00:39:49.160
Overall, I'd say I don't like him a lot.

00:39:49.300 --> 00:39:54.720
I think he makes himself into this kind of, like, almost mythical type figure.

00:39:54.840 --> 00:39:56.340
I think he's an amazing marketer.

00:39:56.500 --> 00:39:57.360
Genius level marketing.

00:39:57.780 --> 00:40:04.400
But in terms of actual innovation, if you dig into his background in a lot of these companies, like Tesla, he's not the real founder.

00:40:04.560 --> 00:40:06.820
Like, these other two dudes made Tesla, and then he came in.

00:40:06.860 --> 00:40:08.900
He was the businessman that swooped in and kind of took it.

00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:18.960
And then, like, if you look into his own personal background, himself, like, he's had memoirs and biographies and stuff written about him.

00:40:19.180 --> 00:40:25.760
But, like, his true story is that he grew up extremely wealthy, and he was, like, an emerald prince, effectively.

00:40:26.380 --> 00:40:30.740
And he, like, you know, he has the whole self-image thing, or he did have it really down.

00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:31.820
Like, everyone loved him before.

00:40:31.940 --> 00:40:34.420
He was saying, like, oh, yeah, I work, like, 20-hour days.

00:40:34.560 --> 00:40:36.240
Which, no one does that.

00:40:36.360 --> 00:40:37.220
Like, no one does that.

00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:39.540
And then he's, like, oh, yeah, I was super poor.

00:40:39.680 --> 00:40:41.200
Me and my brother just, like, sharing this room.

00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:44.780
We, like, this whole, like, really heartwarming story.

00:40:44.840 --> 00:40:46.720
It's, like, oh, these guys were struggling.

00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:47.340
They had no money.

00:40:47.420 --> 00:40:47.920
They made it.

00:40:48.020 --> 00:40:49.360
You know, now he's back with Tesla.

00:40:49.500 --> 00:40:50.660
Now he makes SpaceX.

00:40:51.060 --> 00:40:52.480
All these really great stories.

00:40:53.040 --> 00:40:54.860
But then eventually, you know, kind of gets exposed.

00:40:55.080 --> 00:40:56.760
It's, like, well, no, he actually had all these connections.

00:40:56.880 --> 00:40:57.880
He already had all this wealth.

00:40:58.120 --> 00:40:58.260
Like, he.

00:40:58.360 --> 00:40:58.540
Yeah.

00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:04.400
So, I think, overall, I think he's still been extremely beneficial to humanity.

00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:07.980
And he, both, because, like, SpaceX, that story is still really good.

00:41:08.040 --> 00:41:11.060
Regardless of, like, how wealthy he was or how connected he was, I don't think a lot

00:41:11.060 --> 00:41:15.880
of people would, basically no one would have been able to do what he does or is doing.

00:41:16.520 --> 00:41:19.540
I think the whole Twitter thing is a whole fiasco.

00:41:19.700 --> 00:41:22.500
And I'm not sure what the end game there is.

00:41:22.540 --> 00:41:23.800
It just seems like a huge misstep.

00:41:24.200 --> 00:41:30.620
But then, on the flip side of that, it's, like, he basically destroyed high-speed rail in California.

00:41:31.480 --> 00:41:34.960
And, you know, because everything's online nowadays, all his texts get leaked.

00:41:35.120 --> 00:41:36.300
All these conversations get leaked.

00:41:36.640 --> 00:41:40.120
And he effectively destroyed high-speed rails because he didn't want it to compete with his

00:41:40.120 --> 00:41:40.740
electric cars.

00:41:40.980 --> 00:41:47.500
He made the boring company, which is just an ineffective method of transportation.

00:41:47.760 --> 00:41:51.180
Again, in an effort to be, like, hey, like, don't build this high-speed rail.

00:41:51.920 --> 00:41:58.680
And then, a lot of his altruism, I think, is kind of masked also by, like, anti-union and

00:41:58.680 --> 00:42:03.200
anti-just, like, normal people business practices.

00:42:03.460 --> 00:42:07.760
So, he's, like, ruthless, kind of reminds me of, like, Bill Gates back when he was ruthless

00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:08.640
Microsoft boss.

00:42:08.820 --> 00:42:10.860
But now, he tried to, like, reform his image.

00:42:10.940 --> 00:42:12.080
He's, like, oh, I'm a philanthropist.

00:42:12.120 --> 00:42:13.440
I want to solve these issues, blah, blah, blah.

00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:15.660
But, yeah, I used to be a huge fan of Elon.

00:42:16.820 --> 00:42:17.800
Not so much anymore.

00:42:18.900 --> 00:42:19.500
I mean, that's...

00:42:19.500 --> 00:42:20.940
I'm a fan of his philosophy.

00:42:22.840 --> 00:42:25.280
Unlike how to approach things.

00:42:25.380 --> 00:42:29.200
His thoughts on first principles of how to do something.

00:42:29.620 --> 00:42:34.940
I've been doing it, but I didn't know how to label what I was doing, which is because

00:42:34.940 --> 00:42:39.160
whenever chefs told me, like, hey, this is how you do it.

00:42:39.580 --> 00:42:43.600
In the beginning, I would be, like, okay, copy them and do it.

00:42:43.960 --> 00:42:48.260
And then, I would, while I'm doing it, I'm thinking, like, why are we doing it this way?

00:42:48.380 --> 00:42:50.580
How can we make it better and all that?

00:42:50.700 --> 00:42:54.540
And then, like, I would ask the chef, like, hey, what if we do this?

00:42:54.540 --> 00:43:00.300
And then, obviously, chefs, most chefs have big egos or whatever.

00:43:00.460 --> 00:43:02.180
It's, like, just fucking do it.

00:43:02.780 --> 00:43:03.220
Why?

00:43:03.720 --> 00:43:04.980
Because I fucking said so.

00:43:05.540 --> 00:43:10.660
And then, that's how you stop growth and stop improving.

00:43:10.820 --> 00:43:16.000
It's when you just, if you can't logically justify why you're doing something.

00:43:16.260 --> 00:43:21.860
In the beginning, when I had to make all these decisions, it wasn't always black and white.

00:43:21.860 --> 00:43:28.320
It was, okay, it'll make this thing 60% better, but it'll make this other thing 20% worse.

00:43:28.720 --> 00:43:33.560
But it's worth it because, overall, you have a bigger net positive.

00:43:34.180 --> 00:43:40.280
And then, later in the future, then you might fix that 20% negative and get better in that

00:43:40.280 --> 00:43:41.540
and sacrifice something else.

00:43:41.720 --> 00:43:44.660
But just, overall, it's making things less bad.

00:43:45.460 --> 00:43:49.180
And it's never, it's never, it's always two steps forward, one step back.

00:43:49.900 --> 00:43:53.700
Yeah, and I think a lot of people don't realize it also applies to other industries as well.

00:43:53.840 --> 00:43:56.820
So, like, even in software design, there's no perfect solution.

00:43:57.000 --> 00:43:57.800
There's always trade-offs.

00:43:57.880 --> 00:44:00.700
Everything's a trade-off, and you have to justify, like, how it'll affect everything.

00:44:00.860 --> 00:44:04.520
And even in your daily life, it's, like, juggling career, family, health.

00:44:05.380 --> 00:44:06.880
Everything you kind of have to balance.

00:44:07.020 --> 00:44:10.120
And if you put your time towards something, something else is going to slip a little bit.

00:44:10.400 --> 00:44:12.100
And it's about, like, prioritizing these things.

00:44:13.200 --> 00:44:17.980
But, yeah, it's really interesting hearing your restaurant come up story, building the business,

00:44:18.400 --> 00:44:19.560
making these daily decisions.

00:44:19.560 --> 00:44:23.720
Because, like, I think every industry has these parallels.

00:44:24.360 --> 00:44:28.300
At what point do you decide to, like, step away and open multiple restaurants?

00:44:28.980 --> 00:44:30.720
And, like, was that really a big jump?

00:44:30.780 --> 00:44:33.440
Or was it just kind of, like, the next logical step in that progression?

00:44:35.200 --> 00:44:43.180
So, it took me three to four years to learn how to make one restaurant function.

00:44:43.780 --> 00:44:46.580
But it's like when you do anything the first time.

00:44:46.760 --> 00:44:49.800
The first time is the hardest because there's a learning curve.

00:44:50.260 --> 00:44:53.600
The second time, you just have to replicate what you did the first time

00:44:53.600 --> 00:44:56.420
and hopefully do it better or faster.

00:44:57.180 --> 00:45:02.160
The key thing is, if I only have one restaurant and I'm always the chef

00:45:02.160 --> 00:45:04.420
and there's always a sous chef and there's always all these people,

00:45:05.160 --> 00:45:09.840
what's the most important thing in any business?

00:45:10.220 --> 00:45:11.680
It's talented people.

00:45:12.120 --> 00:45:14.100
How do you attract talented people?

00:45:15.680 --> 00:45:17.340
Money, position.

00:45:19.500 --> 00:45:20.940
You can boil it down to that.

00:45:21.060 --> 00:45:22.980
There's, like, treating people nice and all that stuff.

00:45:23.040 --> 00:45:24.440
But it's boiled down to those things.

00:45:24.820 --> 00:45:28.600
Moving up, growth, and, well, it's all growth.

00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:30.600
Growth in wage and growth in position.

00:45:31.140 --> 00:45:35.140
So, if you only have one restaurant and you're the chef

00:45:35.140 --> 00:45:37.940
and you're going to be the chef forever,

00:45:38.540 --> 00:45:41.540
nobody can ever be the chef because you're already in that position.

00:45:42.120 --> 00:45:46.700
The only way for them to move up is to move out and away from you.

00:45:48.240 --> 00:45:50.860
And so, if, same thing, sous chef.

00:45:50.980 --> 00:45:55.100
He might leave in 10, 20 years, but there's 10 line cooks.

00:45:56.380 --> 00:46:00.800
All of them know they can't all have, they all can't be the sous chef.

00:46:01.340 --> 00:46:11.480
But if I keep opening more restaurants, then people know, like, hmm, even though I just started here and that guy has three years on me or whatever,

00:46:11.740 --> 00:46:19.620
they're opening so many restaurants so fast that just by default, I will get my turn to move up.

00:46:20.100 --> 00:46:23.440
Obviously, I treat the people who have been loyal to me well.

00:46:23.740 --> 00:46:28.500
But if somebody's more talented, I'll move them up faster.

00:46:28.600 --> 00:46:29.120
But that's the thing.

00:46:29.280 --> 00:46:39.080
I've, over half of my staff are sous chefs that I employ as a line cook because I pay so much.

00:46:39.420 --> 00:46:43.280
That's why I have all these talented people that I don't have to babysit.

00:46:43.280 --> 00:46:50.460
Because normally, head chefs have to kind of babysit because all of the dumb line cooks make mistakes and all that.

00:46:51.020 --> 00:46:53.660
Oh, and one, I guess, quick thing for the audience.

00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:59.780
Could you quickly go through, like, the hierarchy and the progression of each of these positions?

00:47:00.120 --> 00:47:04.340
And also, like, a brief description of, like, what the typical responsibilities would be.

00:47:04.340 --> 00:47:07.420
So, dishwasher, wash dishes.

00:47:08.300 --> 00:47:11.880
Prep cook, you prepare things, but you don't actually work service.

00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:16.160
Service is, like, when the customers come in and you cook, right?

00:47:16.380 --> 00:47:20.440
So, dishwasher, prep cook, line cook.

00:47:21.020 --> 00:47:26.360
Line cook is, like, saute, like, the grill guy, the salad maker.

00:47:26.560 --> 00:47:27.500
Those are all line cooks.

00:47:27.820 --> 00:47:31.060
But in general, the hierarchy, like, some places don't have a grill.

00:47:31.060 --> 00:47:32.980
Some places don't have certain equipment.

00:47:33.180 --> 00:47:36.760
But in general, it's pantry, which is, like, salads.

00:47:37.200 --> 00:47:41.880
And then, like, expo, which is, like, the ticket reader.

00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.880
And, like, helps the higher people plate.

00:47:45.280 --> 00:47:48.740
Like, plating is when you put the steak on the plate and then you send it up.

00:47:49.060 --> 00:47:49.920
So, it's, like, expo.

00:47:50.020 --> 00:47:54.580
And then there's, like, the main stations, which is the ones that actually cook on fire.

00:47:54.960 --> 00:48:00.440
Saute, which is normally, like, the guy you see spinning around with, like, ten pans on the burners.

00:48:00.440 --> 00:48:03.960
And then there's, like, the grill or the broiler, like the salamander.

00:48:04.500 --> 00:48:06.760
And then, so those are all the line cooks.

00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:14.240
Then there's some places have lead line cooks, which your job is to make sure your job is to lead the line.

00:48:14.380 --> 00:48:16.900
Make sure everyone cooks good for service.

00:48:17.560 --> 00:48:25.720
And then there's, in high-level places, there's junior sous chefs, which is, like, a lead line cook training to become a sous chef.

00:48:25.920 --> 00:48:34.380
And then there's the actual sous chef, which is a sous chef job is basically to keep the kitchen functioning as a whole.

00:48:34.560 --> 00:48:37.720
Like, do the ordering, do all that stuff.

00:48:37.800 --> 00:48:45.020
And then there's the head chef, which is, like, create the recipes, make the schedule, tell the sous chef what to do.

00:48:45.300 --> 00:48:51.580
The sous chef is, like, the highest person who does the grunt work and make sure all the other grunts get the work done.

00:48:51.960 --> 00:48:56.060
Head chef can also be called chef de cuisine, like, chef of the food.

00:48:56.560 --> 00:49:01.860
Executive chef is more of a management position where, like, in a hotel, you might not even touch food at all.

00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:03.780
Your job is just to tell people what to do.

00:49:04.280 --> 00:49:08.740
But in general, executive chef means you run more than one, like, venue.

00:49:09.420 --> 00:49:09.780
Gotcha.

00:49:09.980 --> 00:49:15.040
But some places, it's just like, oh, he's the top guy, he's the executive chef, even though there's only one.

00:49:15.380 --> 00:49:25.820
And then in places like Olive Garden or something, I wouldn't say that the top person in the kitchen is the chef because they don't have control over the menu.

00:49:26.140 --> 00:49:30.760
And this goes down the whole rabbit hole of how does everyone define what a chef is?

00:49:30.840 --> 00:49:33.660
Because based on TikTok, everyone's a chef.

00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:36.020
And that's why I get salty about that.

00:49:36.920 --> 00:49:38.000
Nobody works for it.

00:49:38.760 --> 00:49:40.920
Yeah, I mean, I pretty much answered the question pretty well.

00:49:40.920 --> 00:49:52.540
And it's funny that you mentioned that, like, the chef nomenclature, because in corporate and, like, the tech side, everyone wants to add the word engineer to their name.

00:49:52.620 --> 00:49:54.600
Even, like, if you have nothing to do with engineering.

00:49:54.740 --> 00:49:56.140
So now there are, like, sales engineers.

00:49:56.380 --> 00:50:08.400
And there's, like, I don't know, there's all of these people that add engineer to the end of their name because engineers have, like, this higher perceived importance or pay or something.

00:50:08.520 --> 00:50:08.940
Yeah, title.

00:50:09.060 --> 00:50:09.180
Right?

00:50:09.300 --> 00:50:13.980
And, like, I really, what you said about the progression, it's the same thing in corporate.

00:50:14.140 --> 00:50:16.460
Like, if people are not moving up, they're moving out.

00:50:16.780 --> 00:50:20.800
And it's not, it's almost more important for a lot of people for the title.

00:50:21.060 --> 00:50:26.640
And I could see there's, like, a certain amount of people who want the higher title for the same amount of pay, even.

00:50:27.120 --> 00:50:30.460
Because it sometimes opens up more opportunities.

00:50:30.660 --> 00:50:31.780
So I guess more instead of...

00:50:31.780 --> 00:50:32.100
And it's clout.

00:50:32.340 --> 00:50:33.120
And it's other things.

00:50:33.320 --> 00:50:33.660
It's clout.

00:50:33.760 --> 00:50:40.700
It's like being a line cook on Tinder and you get two matches, but you write executive chef owner, everyone matches you.

00:50:40.980 --> 00:50:41.180
Yeah.

00:50:41.320 --> 00:50:43.920
And so the same thing between, like, being a nurse or a doctor.

00:50:44.580 --> 00:50:44.720
Yeah.

00:50:45.020 --> 00:50:48.980
And I think that these, like, status games, people actually...

00:50:48.980 --> 00:50:53.100
People treat you differently because they automatically respect you because of a title.

00:50:53.640 --> 00:50:54.240
Right, right.

00:50:54.380 --> 00:50:58.280
And it's pretty hilarious because Netflix before, they didn't have titling at all.

00:50:58.500 --> 00:51:00.720
When I worked there, everyone was a senior software engineer.

00:51:00.720 --> 00:51:08.940
So, but when you don't have a specific hierarchy, like, companies will develop their own hierarchy within it based on something.

00:51:09.020 --> 00:51:11.120
Because as humans, we just love to organize ourselves.

00:51:11.260 --> 00:51:15.720
So instead, what we had was, like, okay, well, now you can see everyone's tenure.

00:51:16.640 --> 00:51:22.900
So, like, someone who's there longer would supposedly have more clout to have more time to build, like, their connections or whatever.

00:51:23.560 --> 00:51:28.880
But I think the difference, rather, in, like, the tech corporate world is, like, there was always the option to move out.

00:51:28.980 --> 00:51:30.680
So turnover was really high.

00:51:30.860 --> 00:51:34.580
I think Silicon Valley, the average tenure is around one and a half to two years.

00:51:34.740 --> 00:51:39.960
Just because, like, it's a lot easier to move up than to get an internal promotion.

00:51:40.120 --> 00:51:41.920
Because, like you said, it's like a pyramid, right?

00:51:41.940 --> 00:51:43.380
There's only X number of spots.

00:51:43.560 --> 00:51:46.440
And there's going to be someone there who's worked there a lot longer than you.

00:51:48.020 --> 00:51:53.960
But I think that it's really awesome how you kind of figured out all these systems kind of just, like, on the fly.

00:51:54.140 --> 00:51:56.300
Like, trial by fire, you're like, okay, all these people are leaving.

00:51:56.380 --> 00:51:57.240
How do I get them to stay?

00:51:57.320 --> 00:52:03.280
How do I make a system to keep my good people as well as, like, attract other good people to make sure everything runs smoothly?

00:52:03.280 --> 00:52:10.340
And I think a lot of corporations even don't figure that out because they're like, oh, you know, we'll just pay people as low as possible.

00:52:10.520 --> 00:52:11.100
We'll get turnover.

00:52:11.280 --> 00:52:12.300
We'll try to hire cheaper things.

00:52:12.300 --> 00:52:14.640
But then, like, the entire quality of the product suffers.

00:52:15.820 --> 00:52:27.880
So I want to talk about the one biggest change that I made that I think makes us innovative to, like, be way better than other restaurants in a certain way.

00:52:27.880 --> 00:52:33.080
But, like, okay, like I said earlier, I pay really high, right?

00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:35.780
You might think, like, where does this money come from?

00:52:36.480 --> 00:52:40.500
It doesn't come from the restaurant functioning on its own.

00:52:40.700 --> 00:52:44.460
Like, I thought about this whole, like, the whole restaurant system and all that stuff.

00:52:44.560 --> 00:52:48.760
Like, I always just sit on my computer chair and just, like, think about things.

00:52:48.820 --> 00:52:53.480
I think about, like, how onion layers are and all that stuff.

00:52:53.480 --> 00:52:59.760
And one of the things that I kept going over was, like, where does the money in a restaurant go?

00:53:00.300 --> 00:53:06.660
Because, like, and then you asked all these other questions, like, why do line cooks get paid so little?

00:53:07.040 --> 00:53:15.840
Why do restaurants have to basically abuse their staff because, oh, work eight hours, clock out, and finish cleaning your station?

00:53:15.840 --> 00:53:20.600
Or why does dodging exist where you go work and you have to do it for free?

00:53:20.820 --> 00:53:24.580
And, like, all these things, like, why are all these things happening?

00:53:24.800 --> 00:53:28.340
And it boils down to restaurants are too cheap.

00:53:29.200 --> 00:53:35.080
That's why restaurants fail so much because there's always somebody willing to, if your restaurant shuts down,

00:53:35.160 --> 00:53:40.100
there's somebody waiting in line to take over your restaurant space so they can run their restaurant.

00:53:40.260 --> 00:53:41.220
And why is that?

00:53:42.120 --> 00:53:44.120
There was this teacher in culinary school.

00:53:44.220 --> 00:53:46.400
He told me, well, he told the whole class.

00:53:46.640 --> 00:53:51.840
He said, why do people keep running restaurants when they have such a high failure rate?

00:53:51.940 --> 00:53:55.200
Like, so few restaurants live past two years.

00:53:56.080 --> 00:53:56.620
One reason.

00:53:57.160 --> 00:53:58.980
It's sexy to own a restaurant.

00:54:01.360 --> 00:54:09.000
Like, you don't go up to your friends and say, like, hey, come do your laundry at my laundromat.

00:54:10.640 --> 00:54:13.400
You say, like, hey, come have a drink at my restaurant.

00:54:13.640 --> 00:54:14.080
Don't worry.

00:54:14.460 --> 00:54:15.360
I'll hook you up.

00:54:15.500 --> 00:54:16.360
Like, that kind of stuff.

00:54:17.000 --> 00:54:25.460
And then, like, when you become really rich in Silicon Valley or something, you get so much fuck you money that you can just be like, oh, yeah, what do I want to do?

00:54:26.500 --> 00:54:28.140
I want to open a restaurant because it's cool.

00:54:28.280 --> 00:54:31.340
You get to hang out with your friends at your restaurant and that type of stuff.

00:54:31.360 --> 00:54:41.680
So, money, excess money in other industries end up flowing into restaurants, even though they're horrible businesses.

00:54:42.360 --> 00:54:44.920
So, why do restaurants make so little money?

00:54:45.020 --> 00:54:48.920
Because there's always somebody in line who's willing to make less money.

00:54:49.880 --> 00:54:54.920
And, like, each region can only support a certain amount of restaurants.

00:54:55.100 --> 00:54:57.980
So, like, Hawaii, for example, we used to have 4,000 restaurants.

00:54:57.980 --> 00:55:06.960
So, theoretically, if no new restaurants ever opened again and the population stayed the same, no inflation, just, like, imagine.

00:55:07.680 --> 00:55:09.380
4,000 restaurants last forever.

00:55:10.080 --> 00:55:15.160
The worst restaurant who's, like, barely surviving, he's going to survive forever.

00:55:15.380 --> 00:55:20.680
But you throw 500 new restaurants into the mix, the bottom 500 are going to die.

00:55:21.340 --> 00:55:23.920
Basically, restaurants are really bad for making money.

00:55:24.540 --> 00:55:25.420
So, there's a joke.

00:55:25.700 --> 00:55:29.320
How do you make a million dollars in the restaurant industry?

00:55:30.320 --> 00:55:31.360
You start with 2 million.

00:55:32.160 --> 00:55:34.640
There's a common joke among, like, every industry.

00:55:36.720 --> 00:55:42.800
Back to what I was saying, I was thinking, like, where is all this money going?

00:55:42.980 --> 00:55:50.320
Like, my entire career before my own restaurant, the most I've ever been paid by somebody was $15 an hour.

00:55:50.540 --> 00:55:53.800
Other than that job, $12 an hour was my highest.

00:55:53.980 --> 00:55:58.160
And, like, I was pretty much one of the good cooks on the island.

00:55:58.420 --> 00:55:59.660
And I was getting paid so little.

00:55:59.780 --> 00:56:05.000
And I was like, why is, why, why can't people afford to pay restaurants?

00:56:05.220 --> 00:56:06.040
Oh, greedy owner.

00:56:06.300 --> 00:56:09.780
That, that's what everyone, it's like, they eat, it's like the cop-out answer.

00:56:09.900 --> 00:56:10.700
Oh, the owner's greedy.

00:56:10.940 --> 00:56:11.380
That's why.

00:56:11.780 --> 00:56:17.920
But once you start breaking it down, it's, it's not, some restaurant owners are greedy.

00:56:17.920 --> 00:56:18.740
And that's why it is.

00:56:18.880 --> 00:56:21.620
But most of the time, it's, it's not.

00:56:21.740 --> 00:56:27.300
That's why there's no big, like, other than fast food chains, there's no big restaurant corporations

00:56:27.300 --> 00:56:29.240
that serve, like, middle to high-end food.

00:56:29.600 --> 00:56:32.640
Their market cap max is, like, a billion or less or whatever.

00:56:33.180 --> 00:56:36.800
But, so, restaurants are horrible at making money.

00:56:37.140 --> 00:56:41.380
And it trickles down to the expense that you can control.

00:56:41.620 --> 00:56:48.300
So, restaurants usually make between 1% and 10% profit, profit margin, right?

00:56:49.460 --> 00:56:50.880
And that's what I was taking.

00:56:51.020 --> 00:56:53.120
I was taking these profits.

00:56:53.300 --> 00:56:59.100
And then I started thinking, why did, why do servers complain so much about getting 20%?

00:56:59.640 --> 00:57:07.940
Because once, once I hired new college students as my servers, then my mom and the business

00:57:07.940 --> 00:57:08.540
partner left.

00:57:08.760 --> 00:57:10.740
I kept replacing the servers with better servers.

00:57:10.740 --> 00:57:16.380
Because whenever the price went up, new servers wanted to work there because the prices mean

00:57:16.380 --> 00:57:16.940
more tips.

00:57:17.560 --> 00:57:24.280
And then the very last batch of servers that we had was, came from the same restaurant that

00:57:24.280 --> 00:57:25.040
I used to work at.

00:57:25.100 --> 00:57:27.220
The really nice, the best restaurant.

00:57:27.880 --> 00:57:29.600
So, these are Michelin-level servers.

00:57:29.860 --> 00:57:34.520
They could, like, open wine and, like, converse with the guests eloquently and be like, oh, this

00:57:34.520 --> 00:57:36.000
is a tuila, blah, blah, blah.

00:57:36.280 --> 00:57:39.600
And this is a 1984 glass of Chardonnay.

00:57:39.960 --> 00:57:41.700
It's beautiful with the tannins.

00:57:42.060 --> 00:57:44.340
So, they could serve at a really high level.

00:57:45.180 --> 00:57:51.980
And what I realized is, these servers, only on a slow day, one server would run the whole

00:57:51.980 --> 00:57:52.620
front by themselves.

00:57:52.700 --> 00:57:55.840
Because normally you have a hostess, a bartender, a busser, and all that stuff.

00:57:55.920 --> 00:57:58.340
But I just condensed all these into one person.

00:57:58.480 --> 00:58:00.360
It was just, you're working the front.

00:58:00.600 --> 00:58:03.100
It's your job to do the whole front.

00:58:03.480 --> 00:58:09.040
So, you sit the customer, you take their order, you drop the ticket off, you make their drinks,

00:58:09.180 --> 00:58:09.800
you do all that.

00:58:10.080 --> 00:58:14.500
So, there wasn't any, there wasn't job titles in the front.

00:58:14.600 --> 00:58:16.660
It was just, you're in the front, you're a server.

00:58:17.120 --> 00:58:17.820
You do everything.

00:58:18.240 --> 00:58:21.900
And then if it gets busier, you get two servers and three servers.

00:58:22.420 --> 00:58:23.240
So, yeah.

00:58:23.740 --> 00:58:28.280
Well, when they used to work at the other, the older restaurant, they were making $300 to

00:58:28.280 --> 00:58:29.420
$500 a day.

00:58:29.560 --> 00:58:30.860
And they were working eight hours.

00:58:31.380 --> 00:58:33.540
And the kitchen people were working 10, 12 hours.

00:58:33.940 --> 00:58:36.380
And then they were only clocked in for like eight of them.

00:58:36.820 --> 00:58:37.880
It was really fucked up.

00:58:38.440 --> 00:58:44.260
So, you always hear servers like complain about, oh, I made so little money today.

00:58:44.300 --> 00:58:45.260
I only made $200.

00:58:45.900 --> 00:58:51.360
It's like, the cooks just made $100 and they just worked, they worked 50% longer than you

00:58:51.360 --> 00:58:52.520
and they worked harder than you.

00:58:52.520 --> 00:59:00.480
So, the servers at my restaurant, they were making like $200 to $400 a day.

00:59:00.740 --> 00:59:05.620
And then I started thinking, there's two servers working today, which means they're each taking

00:59:05.620 --> 00:59:08.560
home 10% of the total gross sales.

00:59:09.820 --> 00:59:11.560
I don't even make 10%.

00:59:11.560 --> 00:59:15.920
I have, I had to put the money up front.

00:59:16.300 --> 00:59:18.920
I have to take the burden home with me.

00:59:19.180 --> 00:59:21.080
They just come in at four o'clock.

00:59:21.180 --> 00:59:22.680
They serve for six hours.

00:59:22.680 --> 00:59:23.940
And they're like, okay, bye.

00:59:24.560 --> 00:59:26.740
And no risk at all.

00:59:26.820 --> 00:59:28.560
And they just scoop 10%.

00:59:28.560 --> 00:59:30.240
And then at any moment, they can quit.

00:59:30.460 --> 00:59:34.440
And like, there's no burden to being a server.

00:59:34.440 --> 00:59:37.360
And they're taking home 10% of the total gross sales.

00:59:37.360 --> 00:59:40.940
So, I was like, hmm, that's where all the money's going.

00:59:41.660 --> 00:59:46.240
In December of 2019, one of the servers quit.

00:59:46.560 --> 00:59:49.840
And then the other two servers couldn't take over their shifts.

00:59:49.980 --> 00:59:51.420
So, I had to start serving.

00:59:52.100 --> 00:59:58.000
Normally, one server at most can handle 25 to 30 covers alone.

00:59:58.440 --> 01:00:04.480
And then beyond that, if you're doing a 40 cover night up to like 50, 5, 60, that would

01:00:04.480 --> 01:00:05.460
be a two server night.

01:00:06.180 --> 01:00:08.520
And that was, these are like high level servers.

01:00:08.860 --> 01:00:10.380
And they could handle that many.

01:00:10.860 --> 01:00:16.800
But when I started serving, because I had the like mindset of a kitchen person, which is

01:00:16.800 --> 01:00:19.280
like fit things together efficiently and all that stuff.

01:00:20.420 --> 01:00:25.020
The busiest day that I served by myself was 76 people.

01:00:25.800 --> 01:00:26.600
One person.

01:00:26.860 --> 01:00:28.420
That was a really, really rough day.

01:00:28.440 --> 01:00:33.160
Like, it wasn't good service, but it got done.

01:00:34.000 --> 01:00:37.260
So, that was the day that Taika Watiki, you know who that is?

01:00:37.820 --> 01:00:38.680
Name sounds familiar.

01:00:39.500 --> 01:00:41.660
He's the director of Thor.

01:00:42.520 --> 01:00:43.180
Oh, right, right, right.

01:00:43.240 --> 01:00:44.440
He's the Marvel director, yeah.

01:00:44.920 --> 01:00:45.100
Yeah.

01:00:45.320 --> 01:00:52.020
So, he walked in on that day that I was doing 76 covers or something, like at like 8.30.

01:00:52.260 --> 01:00:53.060
He came in.

01:00:53.100 --> 01:00:54.060
I didn't know who he was.

01:00:54.180 --> 01:00:54.540
He came in.

01:00:54.600 --> 01:00:57.860
I was like, oh, can I get on the wait list?

01:00:58.440 --> 01:01:03.080
And then I was like, I just looked and the whole room is really full.

01:01:03.160 --> 01:01:05.580
And, like, I'm super busy.

01:01:05.940 --> 01:01:11.180
And I was like, ah, no, we're fully booked for the night.

01:01:12.380 --> 01:01:14.380
Because there's just too much happening.

01:01:14.580 --> 01:01:16.340
And he was actually very nice about it.

01:01:16.340 --> 01:01:18.060
He wasn't like, you know who I am.

01:01:18.740 --> 01:01:20.520
He was just like, oh, okay, thank you.

01:01:20.600 --> 01:01:21.260
And then he left.

01:01:21.380 --> 01:01:24.900
And then the first table I went to after that, he was like, you know who that was, right?

01:01:24.980 --> 01:01:27.940
And I was like, no, that's Taiko Atiki.

01:01:28.340 --> 01:01:29.220
I don't know who that is.

01:01:29.480 --> 01:01:31.480
He's the director of Thor 3 or whatever.

01:01:31.620 --> 01:01:33.920
And I was like, oh, I'm too busy.

01:01:34.040 --> 01:01:34.340
I don't care.

01:01:35.740 --> 01:01:45.800
I realized that kitchen staff could, because of what we do naturally, we can move faster and more efficiently than the servers.

01:01:46.140 --> 01:01:49.800
Now, we can't serve as eloquently as them and all that.

01:01:49.860 --> 01:01:51.700
But we can make up for it in other ways.

01:01:51.840 --> 01:01:54.920
Because do you want to be served food?

01:01:55.180 --> 01:01:56.280
Like, I'm a robot.

01:01:56.480 --> 01:01:57.400
I pick things up.

01:01:57.500 --> 01:01:58.380
I put things down.

01:01:58.480 --> 01:01:59.560
I recite my speech.

01:01:59.960 --> 01:02:00.320
Thank you.

01:02:00.380 --> 01:02:00.960
Have a good meal.

01:02:01.120 --> 01:02:09.160
Or do you want the chef to come out who, like, literally cooked the dish and, like, hi, we prepared this dish for you.

01:02:09.200 --> 01:02:10.740
And he looks like a chef.

01:02:10.840 --> 01:02:14.480
And he's like, wow, this person cooked this dish.

01:02:14.620 --> 01:02:17.860
And he's willing to serve me and look me in the eye.

01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:21.000
And, like, I'm proud enough to sell you this dish.

01:02:21.760 --> 01:02:29.220
So when COVID happened, I laid off all of the servers, obviously, because we had to be shut down for, like, two or three months.

01:02:29.480 --> 01:02:30.980
No dining at all.

01:02:31.120 --> 01:02:32.200
So I laid them off.

01:02:32.200 --> 01:02:40.040
And when we reopened after the three months, I started serving by myself because it was dead anyway.

01:02:40.180 --> 01:02:42.540
So you're doing, like, five cover days and whatever.

01:02:42.720 --> 01:02:44.780
So we got more and more busy again.

01:02:45.140 --> 01:02:51.020
But I never hired servers back because I was like, wow, there's 20% more money in the business.

01:02:51.760 --> 01:02:52.660
That's crazy.

01:02:52.800 --> 01:02:59.300
That's really insightful, like, knowing kind of where all the money goes and how, like, you're optimizing every bit of it.

01:02:59.980 --> 01:03:04.320
So it ended up that I trained the kitchen staff how to serve.

01:03:04.800 --> 01:03:06.140
And that's where we are today.

01:03:06.300 --> 01:03:08.500
We've never hired a server since then.

01:03:08.580 --> 01:03:09.800
And we never will.

01:03:09.940 --> 01:03:12.320
It's always going to be kitchen staff from this point on.

01:03:12.480 --> 01:03:14.000
If you think about it, what's harder to do?

01:03:14.060 --> 01:03:18.080
To teach a server how to cook or to teach a cook how to serve.

01:03:18.580 --> 01:03:26.280
As long as you're not, like, sketchy looking and you're clean and you can speak to a certain degree, you can be a server.

01:03:27.280 --> 01:03:29.540
Like, yeah, it's not that hard.

01:03:30.240 --> 01:03:30.780
That's hilarious.

01:03:30.980 --> 01:03:31.540
The high level is hard.

01:03:31.880 --> 01:03:32.520
But, you know.

01:03:32.780 --> 01:03:33.800
Yeah, like, not impossible.

01:03:34.040 --> 01:03:36.060
There's a similar saying in software.

01:03:36.280 --> 01:03:42.140
It's like you can teach a tech person business skills, but it's really hard to teach, like, a business person the tech side of things.

01:03:42.140 --> 01:03:44.240
Like, the hard skills to actually, like, build an app or something.

01:03:44.300 --> 01:03:47.320
Yeah, that's amazing.

01:03:47.500 --> 01:03:54.720
I figure, like, a lot of restaurants might start to adopt that strategy, especially, like, you said the business economics just make way more sense.

01:03:54.780 --> 01:03:56.440
You're able to pay the cooks a lot more.

01:03:56.440 --> 01:04:03.960
And then you having your own personal experience and, like, the empathy with the cooks and also having the oversight of, like, where does all this money go?

01:04:04.840 --> 01:04:12.000
Yeah, and there's a lot of infighting, too, with, like, the front and the house and the back of the house because the front would come to the back and be like, hey, how much did you make?

01:04:12.460 --> 01:04:13.960
Ah, my day sucked today.

01:04:14.000 --> 01:04:15.780
You know, like, the server is whispering in the corner.

01:04:16.020 --> 01:04:16.480
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:04:16.760 --> 01:04:19.020
And then the cooks just, like, fuck both of you.

01:04:19.900 --> 01:04:27.580
So there's, like, no matter what you do, there's always going to be this divide between the front and the back because they make so much more money than you.

01:04:27.580 --> 01:04:29.800
They work less than you and all this other stuff.

01:04:29.920 --> 01:04:32.260
And they're like, oh, but we have to deal with customers.

01:04:32.620 --> 01:04:34.060
And why don't you be a server?

01:04:34.320 --> 01:04:36.680
And you have 10 back, 10 front.

01:04:37.080 --> 01:04:38.280
You have 20 staff total.

01:04:39.020 --> 01:04:41.640
What if those 20 staff could work together?

01:04:41.820 --> 01:04:42.760
You don't need 20.

01:04:42.860 --> 01:04:43.700
You only need 15.

01:04:43.700 --> 01:04:50.260
15 because, like, if it's really busy in the kitchen, move more people to the back from the front.

01:04:50.360 --> 01:04:56.860
If it's more busy in the front, you can, like, if no tickets came in yet, no food has to be cooked.

01:04:57.160 --> 01:05:01.020
But then this, like, five tables come in at one time.

01:05:01.480 --> 01:05:05.700
The person in the front could go in the back and be like, hey, guys, I need all of you guys to help me.

01:05:05.820 --> 01:05:06.720
You take that table.

01:05:06.820 --> 01:05:07.540
You take that table.

01:05:07.620 --> 01:05:08.060
You take that.

01:05:08.060 --> 01:05:11.280
And, like, it's just more efficient because everyone's more flexible.

01:05:11.720 --> 01:05:13.200
So, it saves money.

01:05:13.200 --> 01:05:15.460
And then that's how I can pay so much.

01:05:15.820 --> 01:05:22.680
Average wage of all of my staff make above 50K, which is unheard of for kitchen people.

01:05:23.000 --> 01:05:25.500
That's normally, like, a high-paid sous chef.

01:05:27.060 --> 01:05:28.060
Yeah, that's really amazing.

01:05:28.200 --> 01:05:36.180
I imagine that, like, a lot more restaurants will start to adopt this strategy because it just, you know, me as an outsider, I don't know anything about cooking, really.

01:05:36.960 --> 01:05:38.680
But, you know, it all makes sense to me.

01:05:38.740 --> 01:05:40.040
Like, why wouldn't people do it this way?

01:05:40.440 --> 01:05:45.580
Yeah, but most people, most restaurants are, like, this is how it's always been done.

01:05:45.820 --> 01:05:49.460
I don't, like, they're just stuck in their old ways.

01:05:49.540 --> 01:05:50.780
They don't want to change.

01:05:51.180 --> 01:05:51.740
And it's hard.

01:05:51.800 --> 01:05:52.380
It is scary.

01:05:52.520 --> 01:05:55.100
Like, one, does the cook actually want to serve?

01:05:55.300 --> 01:06:05.040
And then is he, like, what if he, like, you got to have nice teeth to serve and you have to be friendly and that type of, like, you're not going to find that in every restaurant.

01:06:05.040 --> 01:06:10.660
So it's only going to work in specific niches, mainly, like, high-end restaurants and all that.

01:06:10.740 --> 01:06:20.880
Like, you can't go to a big city diner or something and be like, oh, that guy who has, like, he's chewing on, like, a beetle nut and he has black teeth.

01:06:21.580 --> 01:06:22.540
You can't do it.

01:06:23.080 --> 01:06:28.640
Man, I really like how you're front and back of the line analogy because you can find that in pretty much every industry as well.

01:06:28.720 --> 01:06:30.860
So, like, in finance, they have, like, front and back office.

01:06:31.340 --> 01:06:32.880
And, like, the front office is making all the money.

01:06:32.880 --> 01:06:34.800
They have the prestige and everything.

01:06:34.960 --> 01:06:37.960
But the back office, like, they're doing all the behind-the-scenes work, the infrastructure.

01:06:38.580 --> 01:06:39.640
And they just kind of get shit on.

01:06:39.900 --> 01:06:40.900
And, like, they get paid less.

01:06:41.420 --> 01:06:45.140
And even for, like, development, you have, like, the testers and the developers.

01:06:45.400 --> 01:06:47.440
And developers, they just, like, throw shit.

01:06:47.660 --> 01:06:49.420
And like you said, there's lots of infighting.

01:06:49.780 --> 01:06:54.180
But then the industry kind of moved towards, like, okay, well, now we're firing all the testers.

01:06:54.380 --> 01:06:55.960
Every developer has to test their own code now.

01:06:55.960 --> 01:06:59.280
Like, and that's just kind of where we moved to.

01:06:59.640 --> 01:07:05.440
And it's, like, there's specialized positions when it gets bigger companies, like, front-end, back-end infrastructure, blah, blah, blah.

01:07:05.800 --> 01:07:10.360
But smaller companies where things are really agile and people are moving quickly, everyone does everything.

01:07:10.520 --> 01:07:11.880
It's, like, you wear a bunch of different hats.

01:07:12.040 --> 01:07:13.880
There's more than enough work to go around.

01:07:14.580 --> 01:07:14.640
Yeah.

01:07:15.600 --> 01:07:25.960
But, like you said, as far as restaurant scaling, the reason you started these more restaurants was to make sure that there was a pipeline for people to progress in growth, be able to retain your talent.

01:07:26.000 --> 01:07:33.120
Well, that's one of the reasons, like I was saying, it's, like, it's a whole scope of thinking where everything affects everything.

01:07:33.580 --> 01:07:41.580
Another reason I want to open more is there's a lot of shitty chefs that, like, scream and stuff.

01:07:42.040 --> 01:07:44.820
And they, like, abuse people and all that stuff.

01:07:44.920 --> 01:07:50.740
Like, my logic is for every one restaurant I open, that's one less restaurant that they could have been.

01:07:51.580 --> 01:07:52.520
It's very hierarchical.

01:07:52.600 --> 01:07:54.080
Like, people screaming at each other is normal.

01:07:54.240 --> 01:07:56.520
And things are shitty just because that's the way it's always been done.

01:07:57.040 --> 01:07:58.360
And I think other industries are...

01:07:58.360 --> 01:08:01.480
Like, whipping your children and then you being the one parent who doesn't.

01:08:01.660 --> 01:08:03.820
Yeah, like, breaking this cycle.

01:08:04.740 --> 01:08:05.960
But, like, finance is the same.

01:08:06.120 --> 01:08:07.720
I doubt it changes anytime soon.

01:08:08.300 --> 01:08:09.960
Same thing with even, like, medicine.

01:08:10.160 --> 01:08:14.320
Like, as a doctor, you eat a ton of shit and you work super long hours.

01:08:14.420 --> 01:08:16.400
Don't get paid much until later on.

01:08:17.640 --> 01:08:21.100
I know that the entertainment industry is notoriously bad for that.

01:08:21.580 --> 01:08:22.780
Like, it's kind of...

01:08:22.780 --> 01:08:25.060
You get paid nothing for a very, very long time.

01:08:25.260 --> 01:08:26.460
You know, you've got to put in your dues.

01:08:26.740 --> 01:08:27.380
Work your way up.

01:08:27.660 --> 01:08:28.200
Same everywhere.

01:08:28.340 --> 01:08:28.820
Like, TikTok.

01:08:29.140 --> 01:08:31.860
Nobody gets paid unless you're the top 1%.

01:08:31.860 --> 01:08:36.000
I would argue that a little bit.

01:08:36.120 --> 01:08:36.600
Because, like, it depends.

01:08:36.600 --> 01:08:37.360
Well, it scales.

01:08:37.540 --> 01:08:40.940
But, like, the biggest people get the exponential returns.

01:08:41.180 --> 01:08:41.720
They get the spot.

01:08:42.000 --> 01:08:42.480
It's...

01:08:42.480 --> 01:08:42.680
Okay.

01:08:43.120 --> 01:08:46.780
For anyone listening who wants to make money, social media is not the way to go.

01:08:46.980 --> 01:08:49.000
Like, even the people at the very tip-top.

01:08:49.120 --> 01:08:50.320
So, like, I've...

01:08:50.320 --> 01:08:52.720
You know, like you, I've also always been interested in money.

01:08:52.860 --> 01:08:53.920
Like, how do I min-max my money?

01:08:53.980 --> 01:08:55.060
How do I make the most amount of money?

01:08:55.460 --> 01:08:57.220
What industries to go to, et cetera, et cetera.

01:08:58.040 --> 01:08:59.540
If you want to do...

01:08:59.540 --> 01:09:02.240
If you're purely in it for the money, social media is not the way.

01:09:02.480 --> 01:09:04.760
Like, if you look at the very top earners in every category.

01:09:05.380 --> 01:09:07.040
Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, whatever.

01:09:07.760 --> 01:09:08.500
It pales.

01:09:08.780 --> 01:09:11.040
Absolutely pales in comparison to other industries.

01:09:11.520 --> 01:09:13.340
Like, if you're a tech founder, you're a freaking billionaire.

01:09:13.680 --> 01:09:16.420
And you don't even have to be, like, the top 0.01%, right?

01:09:16.500 --> 01:09:18.660
Like, the top probably 1% of tech founders.

01:09:18.800 --> 01:09:20.640
Like, those people, they're all, like, deca-millionaires.

01:09:21.160 --> 01:09:24.380
Top 1% of Twitch streamers, you're maybe making, like, 100K.

01:09:24.960 --> 01:09:26.800
And, like, it's a...

01:09:26.800 --> 01:09:27.840
The scale...

01:09:27.840 --> 01:09:30.080
The barrier to entry, though, is a lot lower.

01:09:30.440 --> 01:09:32.540
You can just randomly do something.

01:09:33.060 --> 01:09:35.660
Whereas, like, to start a company, you've got to...

01:09:35.660 --> 01:09:36.060
Right, right.

01:09:36.440 --> 01:09:39.580
Like, making your first 100K takes a long time.

01:09:39.660 --> 01:09:40.960
And then making your first million.

01:09:41.260 --> 01:09:43.260
But then when you have money, it's easier to make money.

01:09:43.400 --> 01:09:48.020
The only reason I'm on TikTok is because I'm trying to be somewhat famous.

01:09:48.020 --> 01:09:49.280
So I get on a TV show.

01:09:50.420 --> 01:09:54.120
Yeah, so it's funny because, like, I would never want to be on a TV show.

01:09:54.460 --> 01:09:55.100
Like, it's...

01:09:55.100 --> 01:09:56.300
I don't even...

01:09:56.300 --> 01:09:57.580
It's very...

01:09:57.580 --> 01:10:02.380
It's very rare for, like, to feel the...

01:10:02.380 --> 01:10:05.240
To feel pressure to be in competition.

01:10:05.400 --> 01:10:06.160
That's what I love.

01:10:06.660 --> 01:10:16.920
And to, like, when you're in a pool of a million people that trickles down into being, like, you're the top 15 that actually get to go on the show.

01:10:16.920 --> 01:10:19.600
It's kind of, like, there's a lot on the line.

01:10:20.400 --> 01:10:25.880
So, because when I was on the competition team, you can practice doing...

01:10:25.880 --> 01:10:27.120
It's like boxing.

01:10:27.800 --> 01:10:30.000
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

01:10:31.100 --> 01:10:32.380
So it's the same in competition.

01:10:32.380 --> 01:10:36.300
We practiced it, like, hundreds of times.

01:10:36.780 --> 01:10:41.860
But they still screw it up on the actual competition when they've done it perfectly multiple times already.

01:10:42.320 --> 01:10:44.420
It's just a different level of pressure.

01:10:44.680 --> 01:10:50.760
And I like pressure because performing under pressure is, like...

01:10:51.320 --> 01:10:56.660
Doing competitions is, like, the culmination of all of the practice you put in.

01:10:57.020 --> 01:10:57.520
It's not...

01:10:57.520 --> 01:11:00.200
It's not that you practice to do the competition.

01:11:00.440 --> 01:11:03.760
It's that the competition is the judge of what you've done.

01:11:03.940 --> 01:11:11.280
So I think, like, going there and competing with other people on an even playing field, that's the most important thing.

01:11:11.760 --> 01:11:12.740
Everyone can...

01:11:12.740 --> 01:11:22.460
In restaurants, you can make this fancy dish and you can have 100 people to help you make this tasting menu and be three Michelin stars.

01:11:22.460 --> 01:11:26.640
But on certain cooking competitions, it's only you.

01:11:27.420 --> 01:11:29.080
Everyone has the same equipment.

01:11:29.300 --> 01:11:30.720
Everyone has the same amount of time.

01:11:31.100 --> 01:11:32.740
It's just even playing field.

01:11:32.860 --> 01:11:34.620
That's what I love so much about it.

01:11:34.900 --> 01:11:36.080
And that's why I want to do it.

01:11:36.260 --> 01:11:42.140
Because, like, even making cooking videos on TikTok, you see my crappy home stove burner.

01:11:42.280 --> 01:11:44.660
And then there's these people with these, like, million-dollar kitchens.

01:11:45.160 --> 01:11:46.080
It's not fair.

01:11:46.560 --> 01:11:47.540
And I...

01:11:47.540 --> 01:11:48.200
Not...

01:11:48.200 --> 01:11:48.540
I...

01:11:48.540 --> 01:11:49.500
Yeah.

01:11:50.060 --> 01:11:51.700
I have no editing skills.

01:11:51.920 --> 01:11:53.020
And it's too much work.

01:11:53.260 --> 01:11:54.320
And all that other stuff.

01:11:54.320 --> 01:11:56.820
So, people keep asking me to cook.

01:11:57.060 --> 01:11:57.860
It's too much work.

01:11:58.460 --> 01:11:59.440
It's too much work.

01:12:00.840 --> 01:12:02.260
I can just do it, people.

01:12:02.340 --> 01:12:03.480
I can make, like, 18 a day.

01:12:04.480 --> 01:12:04.720
Yeah.

01:12:04.860 --> 01:12:07.000
I think I, like, took the exact same approach as you.

01:12:07.100 --> 01:12:11.260
Where it's like, okay, well, how can I make the most amount of videos efficiently as possible?

01:12:11.520 --> 01:12:12.100
Like, if I only have...

01:12:12.100 --> 01:12:14.160
And sustainably, that you don't burn yourself out.

01:12:14.300 --> 01:12:14.520
Right.

01:12:14.620 --> 01:12:16.620
It's like, if I have 30 minutes to an hour...

01:12:16.620 --> 01:12:20.120
So, like, one day, I did try to make, like, a better video.

01:12:20.240 --> 01:12:21.360
Like, I did more research.

01:12:21.800 --> 01:12:22.580
I had, like, a script.

01:12:23.360 --> 01:12:25.360
You know, I did very minor editing.

01:12:25.580 --> 01:12:28.660
So, it took me, like, 30 minutes to an hour to make one video.

01:12:29.140 --> 01:12:30.080
And it still, it's like...

01:12:30.080 --> 01:12:30.880
It performed okay.

01:12:31.160 --> 01:12:32.660
But it's, like, in that same span...

01:12:32.660 --> 01:12:34.220
It's like, the return on investment.

01:12:34.300 --> 01:12:34.340
Right.

01:12:34.340 --> 01:12:34.620
Exactly.

01:12:34.620 --> 01:12:35.540
How much time...

01:12:35.540 --> 01:12:35.880
Exactly.

01:12:35.880 --> 01:12:37.020
It's like...

01:12:37.020 --> 01:12:41.500
Because, like, if you scroll all the way down, I actually have, like, steak videos where I'm,

01:12:41.580 --> 01:12:42.880
like, ripping steaks and stuff.

01:12:43.040 --> 01:12:44.500
And that was, like, experimental.

01:12:44.920 --> 01:12:49.060
And, like, I think one of them has, like, 14.4 million views.

01:12:49.200 --> 01:12:53.540
And it's just me, like, taking up a raw blue steak and just ripping it.

01:12:53.600 --> 01:12:55.020
It's, like, a 10-second video.

01:12:55.520 --> 01:12:56.760
Like, that did well.

01:12:56.980 --> 01:12:58.040
But, like, for how...

01:12:58.040 --> 01:13:02.520
Like, I don't have an infinite amount of steaks that I can rip that people can be, like,

01:13:02.560 --> 01:13:04.500
oh, yeah, I want to keep watching this content.

01:13:04.940 --> 01:13:06.960
Like, I've used that idea already.

01:13:06.960 --> 01:13:07.200
You know?

01:13:07.440 --> 01:13:12.120
I don't know what other type of content is relatable enough that they want to watch to that degree.

01:13:12.680 --> 01:13:19.060
So, the thing about TikTok, and it pretty much everyone does this, is you can repost your viral

01:13:19.060 --> 01:13:20.420
content over and over again.

01:13:20.500 --> 01:13:24.640
Because, like, the way the algorithm works, it's, like, it doesn't really show it to all

01:13:24.640 --> 01:13:25.080
your followers.

01:13:25.220 --> 01:13:27.640
It's not, like, YouTube subscriber if everyone sees your thing.

01:13:27.760 --> 01:13:31.680
It's, like, if using AI, it tries to target the audience that's correct.

01:13:31.780 --> 01:13:36.480
And because there's so many users on TikTok and they constantly churn out and they constantly,

01:13:36.480 --> 01:13:38.340
like, new people are coming in.

01:13:39.360 --> 01:13:43.480
I've seen people post the same video, like, or the same trend hundreds, if not, like,

01:13:43.500 --> 01:13:44.440
thousands of times, right?

01:13:44.440 --> 01:13:45.800
Because they're always hitting a new audience.

01:13:46.560 --> 01:13:50.820
And, like, some general recommendation, it's, like, you want to be making content for not

01:13:50.820 --> 01:13:52.240
just the people who've already seen your stuff.

01:13:52.460 --> 01:13:55.320
Like, in the beginning, I would never try to repeat anything at all.

01:13:55.380 --> 01:13:58.700
Because I was thinking, like, oh, you know, this is old and people don't want to see the

01:13:58.700 --> 01:13:59.380
same information.

01:13:59.900 --> 01:14:04.940
But then you find out that, like, people didn't, like, your video underperformed in the past

01:14:04.940 --> 01:14:06.740
and then they never actually saw it.

01:14:06.820 --> 01:14:08.380
But then it would be somebody else.

01:14:08.760 --> 01:14:08.900
Right.

01:14:09.240 --> 01:14:09.260
Yeah.

01:14:09.260 --> 01:14:11.420
I've thought about, like, doing that.

01:14:11.540 --> 01:14:18.480
But, like, when I made that second account and I was, my plan was to re-duet all of those

01:14:18.480 --> 01:14:20.040
videos on this account.

01:14:20.280 --> 01:14:23.860
But when I started doing it, there'll be people that was in the comment section, like, you

01:14:23.860 --> 01:14:25.280
did this already and all that stuff.

01:14:25.400 --> 01:14:31.600
And, like, sure, it might gain, like, even if I did the ones that did well, I might gain

01:14:31.600 --> 01:14:32.260
more followers.

01:14:32.440 --> 01:14:38.180
But then I think I care more about loyal followers rather than more followers.

01:14:39.100 --> 01:14:39.540
Yeah.

01:14:39.540 --> 01:14:44.420
Because I think the loyal ones who are, like, hardcore fans will be the ones that'll actually

01:14:44.420 --> 01:14:47.560
eat at my restaurant if they come to Hawaii and that type of stuff.

01:14:47.960 --> 01:14:48.260
Yeah.

01:14:48.260 --> 01:14:53.840
I think that, like, followers on TikTok, they're worth a lot less than other platforms

01:14:53.840 --> 01:14:55.940
like YouTube or Instagram.

01:14:56.260 --> 01:14:59.860
And, like, advertisers pay less for it just because, like, it's so easy to follow someone

01:14:59.860 --> 01:15:01.960
on TikTok and then, like, basically never see them again.

01:15:02.120 --> 01:15:05.020
Like, a common comment is, like, oh, man, I haven't seen your stuff in months.

01:15:05.040 --> 01:15:09.760
Because, like, most people are not searching your name, going to your profile, looking at

01:15:09.760 --> 01:15:10.280
your videos.

01:15:10.280 --> 01:15:13.740
Except, like you said, the super hardcore fans, they might watch it every day.

01:15:14.100 --> 01:15:17.560
But for most people, like, you know, they'll watch it if you pop up on the FYP.

01:15:17.740 --> 01:15:19.740
And there's, like, so many things that go into the algorithm.

01:15:19.920 --> 01:15:23.420
Like, even the time of day that you post because you're stacked ranked against other videos

01:15:23.420 --> 01:15:24.820
posted within that hour.

01:15:25.260 --> 01:15:28.400
And so, like, I had a person, I was working with a person at TikTok.

01:15:28.840 --> 01:15:32.600
And then she's like, oh, yeah, like, you try to, you should really only post one video

01:15:32.600 --> 01:15:34.820
per day because, or one video per hour.

01:15:35.620 --> 01:15:39.780
Because otherwise, you compete with your own videos within that same time period of, like,

01:15:39.840 --> 01:15:40.360
stack ranking.

01:15:41.080 --> 01:15:45.280
And it goes further than that, where it then stack ranks your video against other videos

01:15:45.280 --> 01:15:45.980
in a category.

01:15:46.680 --> 01:15:50.580
And, you know, as people are scrolling, they consume the content, it'll show your thing.

01:15:50.760 --> 01:15:52.360
And then there's also, like, a time frame.

01:15:52.360 --> 01:15:54.100
And then they also cycle algorithms.

01:15:54.520 --> 01:15:57.420
And then there's also, like, the news, current news.

01:15:57.520 --> 01:15:59.560
Like, there's, like, all these different things that go into it.

01:16:00.060 --> 01:16:03.460
But I kind of just ignore all that because I'm like, I'm just going to make my videos

01:16:03.460 --> 01:16:04.400
and post in this hour.

01:16:04.520 --> 01:16:08.780
Because, like, it's not that big of a difference in my experience.

01:16:08.780 --> 01:16:11.860
It's, like, sure, you can be super optimal about it.

01:16:12.580 --> 01:16:17.880
Yeah, there's diminishing returns after, like, the more you post right away.

01:16:18.180 --> 01:16:18.320
Yeah.

01:16:18.340 --> 01:16:24.560
But in general, if it would perform better anyways, it will perform better.

01:16:24.700 --> 01:16:25.000
Exactly.

01:16:25.760 --> 01:16:29.020
So, like, it's a trade-off.

01:16:29.100 --> 01:16:31.960
Like, I post three times a day and I do six at once.

01:16:32.060 --> 01:16:34.340
So, I do six and then six and then six.

01:16:34.640 --> 01:16:37.680
Like, I could spread it out, like, one hour, one hour, one hour, one hour.

01:16:37.820 --> 01:16:41.860
But then the amount of, like, mental labor, like, oh, I got to set a timer to make sure

01:16:41.860 --> 01:16:42.280
I do it.

01:16:42.420 --> 01:16:42.840
Not worth it.

01:16:42.840 --> 01:16:43.900
It's just, yeah.

01:16:44.020 --> 01:16:48.580
So, it's easier to just blast six out at a diminished return three times.

01:16:49.320 --> 01:16:51.600
Yeah, you're already doing good with three times.

01:16:51.680 --> 01:16:52.640
I just do it at one time.

01:16:52.960 --> 01:16:54.480
Like, I have two ways to do it.

01:16:55.220 --> 01:16:59.080
At first, I was doing two times per day and then I cut it down to one time per day.

01:17:00.460 --> 01:17:02.640
But I think also what you said earlier rings true.

01:17:02.780 --> 01:17:03.600
It's, like, more about being...

01:17:03.600 --> 01:17:04.460
How many do you post?

01:17:05.620 --> 01:17:07.460
I used to do, like, 24 a day.

01:17:07.800 --> 01:17:08.880
I do, like, 12 in the morning.

01:17:08.960 --> 01:17:09.500
All at once?

01:17:09.920 --> 01:17:11.600
Well, 12 in the morning and 12 at night.

01:17:12.080 --> 01:17:13.900
And then I started doing only 12 at night.

01:17:14.160 --> 01:17:15.800
And then I went down to, like, seven per night.

01:17:15.960 --> 01:17:18.900
And then I went down to, like, at least one video per day.

01:17:19.020 --> 01:17:20.780
But I was, like, I don't know.

01:17:20.780 --> 01:17:25.240
What, which one had the best performance?

01:17:25.740 --> 01:17:27.780
Not relative to how much work you put in.

01:17:27.960 --> 01:17:32.900
Like, did your 24 videos gain you the most followers and stuff?

01:17:33.720 --> 01:17:34.080
Yeah.

01:17:34.200 --> 01:17:37.340
So there was a period of time, I think the first three months that I started,

01:17:37.600 --> 01:17:39.440
I was almost, like, trending on TikTok.

01:17:39.660 --> 01:17:40.900
Like, people would see my stuff all...

01:17:40.900 --> 01:17:43.500
Because I was posting so much shows, doing, like, 24 videos a day.

01:17:43.760 --> 01:17:46.260
And each video would get, like, 100K views.

01:17:46.800 --> 01:17:49.260
And everything was just kind of blowing up back then.

01:17:49.260 --> 01:17:50.120
When did you start?

01:17:51.100 --> 01:17:51.940
Last December.

01:17:52.780 --> 01:17:56.460
But then I think after that initial, like, wave of virality kind of ended,

01:17:57.160 --> 01:17:59.020
like, everything just kind of started tanking.

01:17:59.140 --> 01:18:01.360
And then I was also posting a lot less at that point.

01:18:01.840 --> 01:18:06.200
I was also thinking, like, man, because I'm not really doing this as, like, a job.

01:18:06.340 --> 01:18:07.480
I mostly just did it for fun.

01:18:07.580 --> 01:18:11.080
Well, it was to beat my wife because she was, like, gloating about her 2,000 followers.

01:18:11.920 --> 01:18:13.760
And then I've continued since then.

01:18:15.060 --> 01:18:21.600
But more, it's more of, like, a hobby rather than, like, a, oh, I want to become super famous for any specific goal.

01:18:21.700 --> 01:18:28.400
Which I think actually hurts me because it also makes me, like, not post super consistently.

01:18:28.600 --> 01:18:34.660
Like, before, people could always expect, okay, Frank's going to post, like, 12 videos at night or two times a day.

01:18:34.720 --> 01:18:37.880
And now it's, like, maybe Frank will post, like, one video sometimes.

01:18:38.880 --> 01:18:41.800
For the most part, I get what I want now.

01:18:41.800 --> 01:18:53.660
And I've never, like, I don't feel anything anymore, like, scared or of, like, oh, am I going to get yelled at or something?

01:18:53.740 --> 01:18:57.120
Because, like, I'm the boss now.

01:18:57.320 --> 01:18:59.380
So, I don't need to worry about money.

01:18:59.680 --> 01:19:01.040
Like, I could retire, too.

01:19:01.320 --> 01:19:03.320
I could have retired back then.

01:19:03.440 --> 01:19:09.920
But, like, I've never, it's been a very long time since I've wanted something.

01:19:10.360 --> 01:19:17.240
Like, even when I opened the second restaurant, I didn't feel, like, I'm scared this is going to fail.

01:19:17.240 --> 01:19:20.700
Or, like, I really want this to happen or something.

01:19:20.840 --> 01:19:26.100
It was just, like, oh, well, I know I can do this already.

01:19:26.200 --> 01:19:27.420
There's no challenge in it.

01:19:27.920 --> 01:19:34.560
And, like, if I wanted something else, like, I don't know, if I want a car, I can just buy a car.

01:19:34.760 --> 01:19:42.320
But getting on this TV show, having to go through, like, this whole six-month casting process and beat out all these other people.

01:19:42.320 --> 01:19:46.320
So, it was, like, oh, I could actually not make it.

01:19:46.400 --> 01:19:47.740
I could actually lose.

01:19:47.940 --> 01:19:49.600
And I can't do anything about it.

01:19:50.540 --> 01:19:53.800
So, yeah, that's why I wanted to get on the TV show.

01:19:55.040 --> 01:20:02.720
I always, since I started cooking, I would always apply to all these TV cooking shows, too, like Chopped and Top Chef and all that stuff.

01:20:03.480 --> 01:20:08.860
I got casted, well, I got into the interview process of Hell's Kitchen.

01:20:08.860 --> 01:20:13.340
But it turns out they don't take non-idiots on that show.

01:20:13.520 --> 01:20:15.900
They want idiots on there, so they get yelled at.

01:20:16.200 --> 01:20:24.460
Because if you just have all these Michelin-level cooks and chefs and stuff, Gordon Ramsay's going to be, like, I guess I have nothing to yell at.

01:20:25.060 --> 01:20:32.500
I don't think we're allowed to talk about it, but, like, we got pretty much to the final stage of, like, a, I don't know when we're allowed to talk.

01:20:32.560 --> 01:20:33.300
Maybe when the show's out.

01:20:33.800 --> 01:20:37.580
But, like, one of the largest reality TV shows, like, in the world.

01:20:37.900 --> 01:20:40.340
And then both kind of decided, like, is this worth it?

01:20:40.380 --> 01:20:41.020
Like, what's the point?

01:20:41.120 --> 01:20:42.420
Like, we don't need the money.

01:20:44.560 --> 01:20:47.960
We're going to have to be away from our kids for a long time, which is the main reason.

01:20:48.080 --> 01:20:55.960
It's like, okay, well, if we do this and we're stuck in this place for, like, over a month, then our parents are going to have to help look after the kids.

01:20:56.000 --> 01:20:59.560
And we've never been away from them for that part for that long.

01:20:59.700 --> 01:21:03.140
And also, I just don't even want to do it, really.

01:21:03.640 --> 01:21:09.640
In my mind, I was always thinking, like, oh, I'll entertain this idea, and then, you know, we'll fail at X step.

01:21:09.800 --> 01:21:14.060
But then we kept on going to the next step, and every step, I'm like, ugh, hopefully the next time we fail.

01:21:14.380 --> 01:21:16.340
But then it's like, oh, no, oh, you guys are in.

01:21:16.420 --> 01:21:17.460
You guys are going to be in this thing.

01:21:17.520 --> 01:21:18.460
I'm like, oh, no.

01:21:19.200 --> 01:21:22.660
And then, you know, have the conversation, like, hey, like, I don't want to do this.

01:21:22.980 --> 01:21:23.300
Yeah.

01:21:24.160 --> 01:21:28.800
Well, that's really cool that you're taking on the challenge, and, like, I think making a goal for yourself is super important.

01:21:28.800 --> 01:21:39.180
Because, like, even though now I don't really have a goal for myself with social media, and then, like, agents are reaching out, and they're like, hey, what do you want to do with this account?

01:21:39.260 --> 01:21:40.200
What do you want to, like, grow it?

01:21:40.280 --> 01:21:41.140
Like, what's your plan?

01:21:41.660 --> 01:21:43.420
It's like, I don't have a good answer for that.

01:21:43.460 --> 01:21:44.140
It's like, oh, I don't know.

01:21:44.220 --> 01:21:46.880
Just kind of keep going and see where it goes.

01:21:46.980 --> 01:21:52.800
Maybe this will help if I, like, decide to make my own tech business later when the kids are in school and have more time or something.

01:21:53.320 --> 01:21:58.580
So, it's pretty cool that you have, like, a very defined goal, and you're like, hey, I want to do this.

01:21:58.740 --> 01:21:58.960
And then...

01:21:58.960 --> 01:22:01.320
Well, I'm kind of like an opportunist.

01:22:02.020 --> 01:22:10.280
I don't, like, I fish for things, but I don't, like, specifically go for things, except for this one thing.

01:22:10.280 --> 01:22:14.000
Because I had it in my hands, and it was just swooped away.

01:22:14.800 --> 01:22:23.400
Because they flew me, they flew me out, and then the day before episode one was supposed to start filming, and then I get to meet Gordon Ramsay.

01:22:24.320 --> 01:22:26.220
Well, that's a hint for what show it is.

01:22:26.480 --> 01:22:32.880
But the day before, I get a knock on my hotel, because we're all in quarantine.

01:22:33.240 --> 01:22:37.360
Because if you get COVID, you get kicked out, and so you're locked in your room.

01:22:38.140 --> 01:22:41.880
And, like, even food, you can't go outside.

01:22:42.200 --> 01:22:47.720
They have, you have to order through DoorDash, and then they have to hand it off to somebody, and the producers have to hand it off to you.

01:22:48.140 --> 01:22:53.700
So, I was in, I was in London, and I still couldn't experience London.

01:22:54.040 --> 01:22:56.980
So, I got a knock on the door, and I was like, I didn't order food.

01:22:58.080 --> 01:23:03.060
I opened the door, and then there's the, like, the executive producer, and, like, have a seat.

01:23:03.320 --> 01:23:05.540
And I was like, oh, this isn't good.

01:23:06.560 --> 01:23:11.180
You couldn't tell me to sit down if it was, wasn't not a bad thing.

01:23:11.780 --> 01:23:13.180
But, yeah, I got kicked off.

01:23:13.180 --> 01:23:22.940
And I think the reason was because, there's a lot of reasons, but I think one of them was that my social media following wasn't big enough.

01:23:23.900 --> 01:23:33.140
Because, what, they actually had a lot of social media people, like, oh, they have 5 million followers, 3 million on TikTok, and this one has 2 million, and all that.

01:23:33.140 --> 01:23:38.540
So, because when the show airs, then they can cross, they can feed back, it's like a feedback loop.

01:23:38.720 --> 01:23:38.960
Right.

01:23:39.520 --> 01:23:42.640
With the contestants, like, oh, I'm on the TV show, go watch it.

01:23:42.760 --> 01:23:43.320
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:23:43.380 --> 01:23:47.720
And I'm over here with, like, no TikTok, and my Instagram is dead.

01:23:47.780 --> 01:23:49.120
I haven't posted in a month.

01:23:49.240 --> 01:23:54.780
It has, like, 9,000 followers, because I don't really do it, because I don't really do social media.

01:23:55.180 --> 01:23:59.460
But the day I got back, that was, like, screw these people.

01:23:59.920 --> 01:24:02.720
You want me to be social media famous?

01:24:02.840 --> 01:24:03.600
I'm going to do it.

01:24:03.860 --> 01:24:04.880
We'll see you next year.

01:24:05.420 --> 01:24:16.460
I think that's the underrated best motivation, is, like, proving people wrong, or be like, hey, you don't have XYZ, and you go get XYZ, and you succeed at whatever the thing is.

01:24:16.980 --> 01:24:22.900
I think it's really, like, spite, which is, the scene is, like, this bad word, almost.

01:24:23.040 --> 01:24:25.600
But I feel like spite is a great motivation.

01:24:26.100 --> 01:24:26.320
Yeah.

01:24:26.620 --> 01:24:27.060
It's great.

01:24:28.040 --> 01:24:28.400
Yeah.

01:24:28.760 --> 01:24:33.880
The social media thing was how we got approached for our reality TV show casting, effectively.

01:24:34.140 --> 01:24:42.680
And it was, like, multiple arms, because I think their casting, they're, like, doing it worldwide, and so they have, like, the Canadian arm, international arm, U.S. arm.

01:24:42.740 --> 01:24:46.260
And we got contacted by, like, all three, and it's purely because of, like, the social media thing.

01:24:46.400 --> 01:24:56.320
And, like you said, it's a very underrated factor for what determines the reality show, along with, like, the, you mentioned, like, the idiot thing.

01:24:56.460 --> 01:24:57.900
Like, they're looking for extreme people.

01:24:57.980 --> 01:25:01.620
They're looking for people whose personalities mismatch, so it'll be more interesting for the show.

01:25:02.680 --> 01:25:04.080
I think I'm interesting.

01:25:04.900 --> 01:25:09.440
Well, you gotta be, like, you know, really toxic in a way.

01:25:09.640 --> 01:25:11.040
So it's, like...

01:25:11.040 --> 01:25:11.960
Have you seen my videos?

01:25:12.740 --> 01:25:13.540
Are they toxic?

01:25:13.660 --> 01:25:15.020
They seem pretty tame to me.

01:25:15.180 --> 01:25:15.380
No, yeah.

01:25:16.580 --> 01:25:20.160
But maybe I couldn't convey that in my interviews.

01:25:21.040 --> 01:25:25.180
Yeah, I think it's, like, you know, they know what sells as well.

01:25:25.480 --> 01:25:41.480
So it's, like, I was reading a little bit about how these producers and casting agents make these calls, and essentially they have, like, personality profiles, and they know which ones don't fit well together, which ones are almost certainly likely to cause conflict when people are on the show.

01:25:41.680 --> 01:25:47.260
And, of course, they try to get these extreme polar opposites because they know, like, okay, there's going to be conflict on the show.

01:25:47.260 --> 01:25:56.460
So this will get views because of the controversy or whatever, it's like a Jersey Shore situation almost, in a way.

01:25:56.960 --> 01:26:02.900
Though, again, it probably depends on the reality TV show, because, like, a cooking one, I'm not sure how they would slot that in.

01:26:02.980 --> 01:26:05.180
They tend to be more positive on this one.

01:26:05.820 --> 01:26:14.080
So I think that's partially why I didn't fit in well, because I didn't fit into that, like, support everyone.

01:26:15.380 --> 01:26:16.660
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

01:26:17.720 --> 01:26:22.880
So at the very beginning of this call, when you were saying, like, oh, yeah, Hawaii is not on the map, can't get a Michelin star.

01:26:23.320 --> 01:26:35.280
I'm kind of, after talking with you, I'm surprised that you said that, because it feels like another one of these things that is, like, unobtainable in a sense, but that you would almost, like, want to reach for because it's hard to obtain.

01:26:35.280 --> 01:26:36.780
And because it's, like, so unlikely.

01:26:37.720 --> 01:26:47.960
Yeah, but that's the thing is, what can I physically do if I had, there's no metric that I can meet that I can go and make it happen.

01:26:48.840 --> 01:26:55.680
Like, I can't, if I had a billion dollars, I can't be like, well, I guess I could.

01:26:56.060 --> 01:26:58.260
But is Michelin publicly traded?

01:26:59.320 --> 01:27:02.960
I mean, the parent company, the tire company is publicly traded, yeah.

01:27:03.140 --> 01:27:07.680
Oh, okay, maybe if I get rich enough, I'll buy the company, I'll make them rate Hawaii.

01:27:10.400 --> 01:27:19.780
Yeah, I guess, you know, like, there's no metric that I can be, like, where it's, like, if Hawaii does this thing, then we will rate Hawaii.

01:27:19.880 --> 01:27:21.080
There's no specific thing.

01:27:21.140 --> 01:27:30.260
It's more of, like, it's kind of, like, it's off of a whim of how, it's not off of a whim, but there's no direct, like, if this, then this will happen.

01:27:30.720 --> 01:27:36.020
And that's why it's kind of, like, I cannot directly achieve it.

01:27:36.280 --> 01:27:36.780
That's why.

01:27:37.260 --> 01:27:40.980
So is it, like, in a sense, almost cultural significance?

01:27:40.980 --> 01:27:43.660
So, like, really popular tourist destinations?

01:27:43.940 --> 01:27:48.380
Or do, like, these large cities naturally just have a more robust dining scene?

01:27:48.900 --> 01:27:49.980
I guess it's, like...

01:27:49.980 --> 01:27:57.220
Well, it feeds into itself, because it's, like, my school, KCC, it's the best culinary school in Hawaii.

01:27:57.620 --> 01:28:10.060
There's all the other culinary schools in the community college, but because ours performs the best, all the funding from scholarships and, like, grants go to our school, because we're the best.

01:28:10.520 --> 01:28:16.320
And then because we get this stuff, then it feeds, all the money just keeps coming in and everything else deteriorates.

01:28:16.680 --> 01:28:18.800
So it's the same in Michelin cities.

01:28:20.000 --> 01:28:24.660
Initially, they were a good city before Michelin decided to rate it there.

01:28:24.820 --> 01:28:34.440
But because they got rated there, all of these people who wanted to open Michelin star restaurants would specifically go to that city to open a restaurant.

01:28:34.580 --> 01:28:41.420
And that's where, because it was big, it grew bigger because people wanted to open a restaurant there to get rated.

01:28:42.260 --> 01:28:43.260
Yeah, that makes sense.

01:28:43.420 --> 01:28:49.500
I think it's the exact same reason for, like, finance being in New York, tech being in Silicon Valley.

01:28:49.740 --> 01:28:56.440
It's, like, you have the money, you have the talent, and because it's already ahead, more talented people go there, more money goes there, and it feeds in...

01:28:56.440 --> 01:28:58.260
It's, like, a self-fulfilling prophecy, in a sense.

01:28:59.320 --> 01:29:00.880
All right, my phone's going to die soon.

01:29:01.440 --> 01:29:03.780
Oh, that's perfect timing, actually.

01:29:04.240 --> 01:29:05.560
Thank you, Ken, for joining.

01:29:05.560 --> 01:29:12.280
I hope everyone enjoyed learning about how chef life works and also the importance of investing and saving money.

01:29:12.520 --> 01:29:24.460
I think a lot of people spend a lot of money, make a lot of money spend a lot, but being frugal and investing, and there is a bit of luck, obviously, and taking risk, and a lot about the calculated risk and the odds of something happening.

01:29:24.640 --> 01:29:26.460
Like, those are all really important to consider as well.

01:29:27.320 --> 01:29:30.520
Ken, did you have any shout-outs for the end of the pod?

01:29:31.800 --> 01:29:32.000
No.

01:29:32.380 --> 01:29:32.640
Bye.

01:29:33.400 --> 01:29:34.280
All right, there you have it.

01:29:34.940 --> 01:29:35.700
See you all later.

01:29:36.140 --> 01:29:39.880
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Frankly Speaking Podcast.