00:00
You're listening to the Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it.

00:13
Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Ryan Alford here, host of the Radcast. Really excited for today's best of episode, the Radcast versus food. That's right. Some of the best chefs, cooks, entrepreneurs in the restaurant industry, the food industry, talking about Casey Webb from Man vs Food. We got Jonathan Sento, one of the best chefs in America, Spike Mendelson.

00:41
Plant Burger, you know who that is. Noah Sims, my brother from another. Great guy from Master Chef Season 10. And of course, last, but absolutely not least, Cosmo from Cosmo's Q. Some of the best steak barbecue seasonings in America, and Cosmo's a hell of a cook himself. Really pumped about this episode, lots of business advice, tactical marketing advice, in and out of the restaurant business. This is applicable to anyone running a business.

01:11
Really excited to bring another best of the Radcast versus food. We'll see you soon. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. Today, we're bringing the heat. We're bringing all that barbecue heat with my friend Cosmo from CosmosQ. What's up Cosmo? What's going on, Ryan, man? Thanks for having me, brother. Yeah, man. My pleasure. I'm a vinegar based barbecue guy.

01:38
I don't know if that was North Carolina, South Carolina, or somewhere in between, but I guess my mom was from Fayetteville, North Carolina, so maybe that's where I got it from. Yeah, yeah. I tell you what, I made that in my house probably 15 years ago. Straight vinegar base, I made it this fast, and I've never been able to make it in my house again. My wife will not allow that. Your story's pretty fascinating. I love the...

02:05
I don't know rags to riches. I, you know, I don't ever like when someone says that necessarily about me, but like I, I came from the lower middle class myself and, uh, I love the, I don't know, maybe the David and Goliath, which is, uh, you know, the way it was, I think it was phrased on your website, but let's talk a little bit about your story, man. Well, uh, my story started way back in 1971 when I was born and I'll give you the brief version right now.

02:35
I was burned as a child at 17 months old, and I spent the majority of my...

02:42
Adolescents growing up in the Shriners burn Institute in Galveston, Texas. I ended up leaving school I think it was 11th grade. I think I showed up for my 12th grade year and stayed about 45 minutes and I was like nah, I'm out of here So I ended up just working, you know working the factories and you know partying and hanging out and having a good time and

03:08
And then, and then started paging the family. And then I was like, well, all this has got to end. I remember I bought my very first smoker and I went down to Walmart and bought it and bought a chicken and I bought a beef chuck for some reason. I got to know what I think. It chucks some record sausage and I put all this stuff in there and I.

03:33
I just bought this thing all day long and we sat down to have dinner. My wife and I are three kids and it was absolute garbage. It was unedible. It was bad.

03:50
That's, I'll never forget that. But what really stuck with me is I had to throw it away. And I'll never forget the look in my wife's eyes. Like this is, I said, this is funny, but like this rocked my soul as she lifted the dumpster open and I was throwing it away. And I just felt like I can't even, like I can't provide for my family. Like I will never in my life,

04:20
experience that feeling again. And that's when it all started. So I started making my own as I started competing a little bit more. I started toying around with rubs because I just realized that the rub it makes the meat the sauce is like the the whipped cream on top. But the rubs I was giving in the store were just

04:44
They just weren't good. And I wanted, if I wanted ribs to taste a little bit sweet, I wanted to add some brown sugar to my rub. I couldn't get that in the store. It was salt and that was pretty much all that was in it, was salt. But then there's, I wanted like a smoked paprika with a cumin or something like that. I wanted, so I started making my own and I started competing and...

05:12
And I would win here and there. And, um, and people would ask me, Hey man, what, like your brisket really tastes good. Like, what was that rub? I was like, Oh, it says rub I made. And they made it like, you mind if I get some? I said, well, yeah, I'll sell you a pound or two pounds or five pounds. So, um, I, uh,

05:34
I would just, you know, just sell them rub and ship it out on PayPal or just have them pay me through PayPal. That's the game, man. You know, and you start, start slow, low and you know, you grow from there once you build the customer base. I mean, what were, what's been the marketing and business growth practices? I mean, you know, like I imagine going, it's a very, I don't want to say niche audience, but you know, going to the shows and winning the awards.

06:03
Imagine that amplifies, you know, within that, that core audience. And then it kind of the word of mouth goes from there. I would think the crazy thing was is I did it for years, years and years, uh, ended up winning the world championship in and up, uh, between myself and the teams we sponsor, we have eight world eight or nine world champions. So, I mean, I've been at the Jack Daniels, uh, American rule, uh, Memphis and may Houston.

06:32
San Antonio, like we've been everywhere. But for me, I remember sitting there at a competition and this is before, this is really before marketing as we know it was marketing as we know it. Facebook said, we're gonna let you run ads. And it was like, they told us that week and then I was sitting at a competition that weekend.

07:00
And it's it's back then it was about a thousand dollars a weekend to go to a competition After you buy your main fuel all the things it's about a thousand dollars and I was sitting there and I was just I angle like I get angry and shit changes in my life. That's one usually for the worse, but this one for the good Uh, I sit there and I was like, i'm i'm sitting here By myself my family's not even with me. So i'm not happy

07:28
And I'm paying a thousand dollars to be unhappy. What would happen if I took that money and I started running ads to my website, just promoting my website. And it back then it was like, it was, it was, you know, I'm sure you remember it. Right. It's back there. It's like, Hey, look at me go here. There was no, there was no funnel. No, he didn't need a funnel.

07:55
Cause it was ripe, right for the taking. You had organic reach on Facebook. You ran ads and like a bonfire. Where do you want to take all this, man? I mean, you know, you crossed right at crossing over 50 million total in sales, growing new accessories. Like what's the vision? The vision for me is, is, um, I want Cosmos Q to be widely sought after by every barbecue fanatic worldwide.

08:25
And it's not that I need you to buy the product. Sure. It's the knowledge behind it. I want to empower people to make great barbecue. Because I will say this, mostly men, it's shocking how many men go, oh, no, I can't do that. I'm like, what the hell? Why can't you? But I don't know how to do that. Well, I didn't either. But if you could watch a couple of videos.

08:56
You know, and I can show you, would you do it? Well, yeah, but I don't know if I can still do it. Well, this is so I need to break down that wall. You can do this, you know, even if it's a hot dog, you know, start there. Man versus food. I've got actor, comedian, host of Man versus Food, Casey Webb. What's up, Casey?

09:18
How we doing, brother? Great, man. I get depressed watching many things on TV, which is why I don't watch much TV, but I have like three go-tos, and Man vs. Food is like at the top of the list. So... Thank you for saying. So I, you know, I do appreciate hearing that because like I, in the beginning, I had no idea who was watching. I just figured it was just dudes like me that ate food all the time, you know? But I couldn't have been more wrong because it's...

09:47
You know, it's kids, it's parents, it's dudes like me. It's, you know, it's a vast group of people that watch a show and that was really humbling. Because I think people are fascinated, you know, like, you know, to kind of hear your journey a bit. We all think, mistakenly, that, oh, it just all, you know, comes perfect. Like, I'm sure it was just this easy path. Something tells me, and I don't even know your full story.

10:15
Um, it's never as easy as it seems to kind of get to, you know, where you are with a show like this, but, uh, let's talk about a little bit of that journey. I, so with acting, um, I started late in life. I want to playing football, uh, was playing football in high school, went off to college and, um, I decided to stop playing, which was the hardest thing for me to do. You know, went away to this division three school. I thought it was going to be like six, six, you know, my brother's pretty tall.

10:44
and big. I thought I was going to be at least his height, but I wasn't. But I was good. I just, you know, I didn't make it. I wasn't, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I wound up doing theater at 18 in a community college where I had friends going to and two really close buddies. One was going to conservatory in New York City. One was getting his undergrad at a school, but he was minoring in theater. And like my three closest friends somehow wind up doing theater and acting, right? So...

11:11
I wound up auditioning for this play, cold read is basically you read off a piece of paper, you don't know really what it says, you don't have time to rehearse it in front of an audience of other actors and people and I fail, I couldn't do it, I just was so poor at it and that's when I realized this is what I wanna do with the rest of my life. In that moment I was like, this is such a challenge that I wanna take this thing on. So I stopped playing sports, I stopped running into people with my helmet.

11:41
and I started doing theater and that was at 18. And that's kind of where it all started, right? So, you know, cut to, you know, I've spent a life pursuing it, but I've left it a lot. But what kept me busy in the pursuit of acting, I, long before I was an actor or at least pursuing it, I started working in the restaurant business. So, I think it was my father that first hand me the spatula at age 10 and taught me how to make eggs.

12:09
And probably for two reasons, one, not to burn myself and two, because he's tired of me asking him to make him eggs. There we go. So, yeah. So that's kind of, you know, like, uh, get being in the workforce at a young age gave me, um, uh, gave me the work ethic, you know, What did you do in the restaurants? You say, you know, I always, what were your, were you in the kitchen a lot? Or were you bartending or like, what were your positions?

12:39
Well, the first kitchen was the home kitchen and the spatula that my dad handed me and the bacon fat in a Campbell's soup can. You know, that's what that's what New Yorkers did. That's what my parents did. I didn't know what that was for the longest time. I was like, this is gross. Why is there bacon fat in the freezer and little did I know it's like the greatest thing ever. If you don't keep bacon fat in your freezer and a soup can then you're missing out. But I started washing dishes at 14 and a pizza place that was in my hometown.

13:08
you know, 14 is a little young to be on the work in the workforce. Uh, not in my opinion, but you know, legally, but I still got to wash dishes. Um, so it was washing dishes and then that led to, you know, um, being a bus boy, you know, being then eventually a food runner and then eventually, you know, back to be a dishwasher cause he get demoted pretty quickly. And then, you know, uh, in the kitchen, like prepping, so cutting all the veggies, right. And then that led to line cook.

13:36
Um, so I was able to learn along the way and like that's, you know, and a lot of businesses that's gone away. Like my father was able to do that in his business. He learned from starting from a, and then he went up into management his career. And so like the restaurant world, if you want it, it's there for you. I mean, how, how recognized are you now? Like, I mean, your face is very recognizable. You've got the expressions or anything else. The show's pretty.

14:02
I mean, it's your seven seasons in coming into seven seasons, you know, like how, uh, is that good, bad, you know, like you enjoy it. I, uh, so I was in a parking lot of a convenience store with a buddy of mine and across the street in another parking lot, some dude yelled out, kitty, little.

14:27
I love that commercial. I was in an Arm and Hammer kitty litter commercial. That was like four seasons in the man versus food. And I had a hat on sunglasses like how did this dude even see me? On earth did he even see me in this, you know, and he like he loved the kitty litter commercial. So for me, I, I think it's the greatest part of my gig and like truthfully, like I, the fact that someone wants to come up and spend time and talk and ask about the show, like it, you know, it's part of the gig, eh?

14:56
And like, I'm usually the one, they're the ones that usually walk away first like, yeah, we got to go. And like, I'm still talking. Like I'm excited to talk to them. You know, they're like, all right, like you're nice enough, but we got to catch a flight or, um, you know, man, like, like I said, the fact that someone would take a moment out of their day and like say a nice thing, like there's not enough of that in the world, or maybe there is. And I just, I, you know, I, I appreciate that so much. And I would never not want someone to come up.

15:25
you know, cause I'm a, I could, I totally fan out too. You know, like I remember I was in a restaurant LA and Bill Murray is like two tables next to us and my buddy and I were just talking louder so he could hear us. He's just eating his food. He could care less, but you know, like I, I appreciate it. And I think honestly, like I got the show later in life and I was working as a production assistant. I was acting, I was bartending, working restaurants, and I had to choose acting or working production. I chose acting and, and, um, it just, I had her, I just,

15:55
learned by doing, you know, and it gave me the wherewithal, at least the knowledge to know. It's like, this is very fleeting, you know, like take it for what it is, enjoy every moment, you know, and it's really as simple as that. And I do, I do my best. And like sometimes you're, I'm walking through, I'm like, you know, I just shot two episodes, I'm on my way home and I'm like just rugged and somebody comes up to you and wants to talk and like, you know, in that moment, they get me out of my head.

16:20
And they're like, hey, I'm like, hey. And it's a lot of times it's TSA. TSA folks are like, they love to chat. I'm like, I'm there, you know, put my shoes back on, BSing with them. And I love it, man. You know, like I encourage people, you know. Don't go stalking anybody, but. But say hi, at least say hi, you know. And that kind of leans into, you know, being recognized. Because I haven't, like the brand itself, Man Vs Food, is it just, I just happen to host the show. So.

16:49
there's no ownership over that. Sure. And I'm totally OK with that. And I think what I've been doing just naturally and organically is just kind of letting the dust settle a little bit and figuring out what that is, what KC Webb's brand is. And I was lucky enough to have some endorsement stuff right out of the gate. I spent two years with Twisted Tea traveling around to NASCAR races as their grilling pro. And that was unbelievable. And then,

17:16
prior to that, I had my first national commercial, which was a mobile one commercial, which like we had a NASCAR driver, Kevin Harvick was in a commercial with me. And it's so like, I became the NASCAR guy. Like, and like, you know, a lot of people watch the food show and like, man versus food. So it was like, I was kind of thrown into this universe and it was like, wow, this is so incredible. And I think now, you know, letting the dust settle, a year or so has passed by and it's like, where do I want to be with Casey Webb and that brand? And

17:43
You know, I'm humbled by the whole thing, so I haven't rushed it at all. Yep. So I'm really at the, you would think that I would be way ahead of it, but I'm not. It's really at the kind of the beginning of developing what that is, because now I've had some time off, you know? Like we all had some time off. Yep. And I'm thinking a lot more clear, and like, you know, the show could, it has a shelf life, you know? It's only gonna go so far. Sure. For myself personally too, that one day I'm gonna decide whether I can do it or not anymore, or if I want to,

18:13
I don't want to disappoint anybody, but the reality is, and what's the next thing? And so as long as I'm helping people keep people's lights on and bringing smile to people's faces, I'll do forever. But as far as my personal brand, yeah, I think that's TBD, because we're working on some stuff, which is really exciting. And I'd love to come back and talk to you about it later on when that stuff has come to fruition. And I know I mentioned talking to you offline about that stuff, because you're the man.

18:43
Um, or I guess I am. I'll make you more of the man. But yeah, I'm excited about the future of things. Uh, because yeah, I, you know, I, I, I don't like sitting still and I like working. So, um, you hear that everybody? I'm here with spike Mendelson X top shelf contestant author, bad-ass dude. What else can I call you spike?

19:10
All the acronyms. Dishwasher. I know, true entrepreneur. It's great to be here, man. Great to be here. So are you, so wait, are you plant-based? Are you, are you, are you flexed? Oh no, I like it, but I eat everything, brother. I haven't figured out the perfect balance. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there. I'm going to get DMs now like, hey, you could totally be plant-based.

19:36
get all your protein and stuff. But people are gonna tell you to watch game changers. I know. Because I think people are fascinated, you know, like, you know, to kind of hear your journey a bit. We all think, mistakenly, that, oh, it just all, you know, comes perfect. Like, I'm sure it was just this easy path. Something tells me, and I don't even know your full story, it's never as easy as it seems to kind of get to, you know, where you are with a show like this. But let's talk about a little bit of that journey.

20:05
Well, yeah, no. So yeah, so let's talk about this. Listen, I am cut from very deep roots in the restaurant industry. I'm from Montreal, raised in a big Greek family and Jewish family. All my family members, my Greek family members in some way are involved in the restaurant business and still are in Montreal. You know, the connection runs deep over there. I don't know if you've ever been to Montreal, but.

20:34
I have not been to Montreal. There's some, what an amazing eating, you know, food city. You gotta go check it out. But, you know, and, you know, I always spend my life in and around restaurants, basically. You know, I make it, I always make a joke. I'm just a dishwasher that knows some things because I wash so many dishes in my life at multiple restaurants. So, you know what? I have to say that I gotta stop you right there because my first job.

21:00
I worked at a meat and three restaurant. I was 15 years old and I washed dishes for eight months. I think it made me who I am today. Like until you scrub macaroni trays and meat and three dishes with gravy, you haven't worked. You have not worked. You know what? There should be a program for young adults that requires them to go work.

21:28
and

21:50
I have to say it made me who I am. I've always been a guy to preach balance in our food system, to be honest with you, and not only in our food system, but in our own diets. I just felt like that's always the healthiest option. Too much of anything can't be great for you, I feel. So to me, it's always been about like, just figure out the...

22:11
the right balance for yourself, because our body all reacts differently. We all need different things, right? So we can't control that. Well, the great Abe Lincoln said, everything in moderation, including moderation. Everything in moderation, 100%. What, as an entrepreneur, has been some of your biggest learning lessons? Oh, you know,

22:35
Is that a where to start? Or is that a? Yeah, no, it's a, you know, well, my big learning in the business is, and it serves me right, I'd say I'm a pretty successful guy. I'm not a, you know.

22:57
you know, in retirement mode or like banking. But I've always been able to remain authentically myself throughout the process for the most part.

23:11
you know, who I am and people always say, Hey, Spike, you have a fantastic brand who works on it with you or Spike you this that and it's all I've always really giggled about it and and and and and now that my wife, you know, she always likes she sees it too and she's like, it's so funny. You're so right. She's like, I've never worked or had like a session where I sat at a table and said, What is my brand? You know, like I've never

23:37
And that was just me. I'm not saying that's wrong. Like people, if you want to do that, go ahead, do that. But I've never sat in and been like, what's the Spike Grant? What are we representing? What does it define? I've just always been able to get involved in projects that felt right for me at that given time and was a stepping stone or a pathway to my next project. But I always remained authentically myself. I never really felt like I...

24:05
I mean, that's kind of what I said. That was my biggest learnings. But the other important one is surrounding yourself with good people and not being afraid to surround yourself with people that may be better in certain things in your business, right? Like know when you're not.

24:28
the smartest person in that room on that subject, right? And don't let your ego, chefs can tend to have an ego because we're food and we're in kitchens and we're bad ass and we're rock, we're the rock stars and like, all of a sudden now we're fucking doctors and lawyers and politicians, you know? But the truth is, is like, you know, I found that I'm, you know, my approach has been really great because I love propping others.

24:54
up in that support, you know, what we do here. Like, there's a great team behind me that, and I have like two, three guys that have been with me for 15, 16 years, and I think it's really telling because, you know, we've all had such a good time in our lives for the last 15 years. We've gotten to travel around the world. We've gotten to eat delicious food. We've all gotten to come up with really great concepts. Yes, I'm the face. I get that. But I pay, you know.

25:23
There's a lot of work that goes into being the face, but there's also a lot of work that goes into setting up the kitchen and the recipes and the training and all that kind of stuff that I don't do. So there's a great balance and I feel very fortunate I was able to surround myself by some key members as well as my family at a certain point to help me do what we do. That's what it is. So it's always don't take it all on yourself or think it doesn't exist without you because it's not your job.

25:52
It sure can. We're cooking hot today with chef Jonathan Cinto. What's up, Jonathan? Welcome to the show. How's it going? And thanks. I have pleasure to have being on, you know, professional chef, content creator, host, you know, you got your hands in a lot, brother. Yeah. You got to stay busy. You know, you got three, I got three girls right now. So if you're sitting back and relaxing and you're sleeping, you're in trouble. I know, man.

26:20
I can relate because I think people have fascinated, you know, like, you know, to, to kind of hear your journey a bit. Um, we all think, uh, mistakenly that, Oh, it just all, you know, comes perfect. Like I'm sure it was just this easy path. Uh, something tells me, and I don't even know your full story. Um, it's never as easy as it seems to kind of get to, you know, where you are with a show like this, but, uh, let's talk about a little bit of that journey.

26:45
I decided to at 39 years of age to shift years and change career. I worked in admissions for many years, college admissions, for-profit education. I worked for Career Education Corporation for a long time and culinary school. I decided it was time for a change. You know, I was unhappy with what I was doing. I felt like I wasn't being able to be creative and using my entrepreneurial mind.

27:12
And my wife said to me one day, it's time to quit your job, flat out. I was like, what the hell are you talking about? Quit your job. You realize we live on Long Island, one of the most expensive places to live in the country. I'm just gonna quit like that. And she flat out supported it. She said, just do it. I don't wanna hear you talking about this nonsense anymore. Every single day we hear you complaining about how you're not happy. So she saw an article the day she said that to me.

27:40
for MasterChef, they had an audition in New York City. And one thing led to another and fast forward, it's been a hell of a ride since then. What is your style? I mean, what is your approach to cooking? I like to keep it simple. I don't like to overdo it. I like to highlight the ingredients so people can actually taste what's in the food. I like to be able to build many layers of flavor so you can...

28:07
enjoy yourself. It's more about putting you like in Nirvana, right? We want you to go out into a different place and not have something that you've normally tasted. I might take like a classic chicken palm dish and just flip it upside down and maybe add some hoisin sauce to the marinara, just to give you that smoky sweet flavor. And that's what I do with Eitajian. It's really more giving different flavors than just saying, here you go, it's a whole new cuisine.

28:35
I didn't recreate or create a cuisine. I just made a fusion that most people weren't used to eating and trying to give them something that they can say, wow, this is different. I like it, I enjoy it. So that's really what I focus on is that rustic-ness, comfort food. What's been the, you know, talking about the business and marketing side of what you do, like what's been your channel of monetization? You know, like how's this been a business for you? How have you made it a business?

29:04
you know, since the show in the last four to five years. So the minute I came back from Los Angeles, the day I landed, I had a website up in a matter of seconds, right? Power of Wix. Went on there, have a background in design, was able to build something that would get me a blueprint, right, when people start searching for you. It's not about social media. At that time, it wasn't as powerful as it is now. I mean, we're going back six years ago now, right? So things have really...

29:33
picked up speed on social media since then. So I built a website, I started doing shows and events and just getting out there, not relying on television because that's 15 seconds, right? They're gonna forget about you very quickly. So you have to really monetize that first and build yourself and get the awareness and the credibility for people to see who you are and also be searchable, right? When people start hearing your name,

30:02
They're going to go on Google and they're going to start looking you up and saying, oh, well, so I had to try to get press. I never paid for press. You had to get out there and start getting local newspapers is where you start. You know, contact the journalists, give them a pitch, give them an article that is worthy for them to put in there and they'll put it to the publishers. They'll, they'll push it. So I started doing that right away. I started crafting up stories and ideas and get rejected on a lot of them, but some of them went through.

30:32
And that's what you needed. You had to be searchable on that. Started doing that, started building that, getting the groundwork in there, which was really, really important. And that first year, it was tough. There was no money coming in. I was scraping by, making sure that we were building it. I had a great support system. My wife saw what I was trying to do. Year two, we did over a hundred paid parties. We built that foundation, we built that framework. We started getting out there.

31:01
We didn't post any flyers because we were trying to build more of a niche, a luxury type of dinner experience. At the time, no one was doing it here on Long Island. It was one of the first to do in-home dinner parties. And it just, it took off. And then we started doing them in other parts of the country. So I had to build a plan. And then year three, we said, you know, we can't continue to do dinner parties anymore. We have to do something else. We started doing paid ticketed events, themed pop-ups.

31:31
So we would do different pop-up experiences, tastings, and people would buy tickets right through my website. And we would sell tickets. We do 75 to 100, keep it down, intimate. And we make it entertaining. We had people who had radio shows come on and they do the radio shows inside the pop-up. We had a really cool thing. It's a Long Island Cuban and Bourbon experience. And it's a trailer that he has those silver strings.

32:01
came and people would leave the pop-up and they'd go have a cigar and bourbon in the trailer. It was a red carpet. So we made it an experience. It wasn't just food, right? So we started doing those. We did probably about 35 of those, 40 of those events that were paid. We just started building a reputation of just having these amazing themed dinner experiences and just moved along. And each year I tried to do something completely different. So now we're in year six.

32:31
MasterChef. What was the biggest thing, like your biggest learning, your biggest takeaway and like, where did that kind of, you know, take you from a trajectory standpoint with where you went after the show? Oh, well, I saw it was an opportunity. I told my wife when I went there, no matter what happens on this show, even if I get kicked off the first time I got there, we're gonna turn this into an opportunity that's just gonna go for years to come and build into a business. So,

33:00
I saw it as a chance for my food to get on a larger scale and to show it into a bigger audience. So that was one thing I took away from it was the opportunity to have a lot of people see what I can do on a big platform, which was you don't get that all the time. It's very hard to get that, especially if you don't pay for it. That was one thing. The other takeaway was watching how production is done.

33:29
on these shows and it was in the back of my mind, well, you know what, why don't I start my own production company? I could make shows very similar to this on a smaller scale. We don't have to have, you know, the 10, $15 million budgets like these shows have, but we can definitely do something very similar. And that was something that was in the back of my mind. I started creating concepts in my head for the time I was even down there. I have a whole notebook when I was down there for MasterChef, I even predicted the winner.

33:59
on the show when I was down before the show even happened. I have that in one of the spiral notebooks that I have. So that's what I started really learning and taking stuff away from that show. Yeah. What sounds like you're going down the right paths for sure. What, where is it all headed, man? I mean, it sounds like that's the future, but you know, where do you, where you want all this to go? I mean, what, what are your, I don't know. What do you want to be when you grow up, man?

34:27
I've been trying to figure that out now for a long time. I launched JS Entertainment in 2019. Should have launched it sooner, but we launched it right after we put Family Kitchen Revival out there. We wanted to see how that would do. And it's been a great ride from that. And I'm a creative person. I don't like to be tied down to just doing one thing. So to say where I am 10 years from now.

34:58
The goal is to be what I'm doing right now. Hopefully everything falls back into place and nothing happens to me during that period of time. I can't predict the future. But there's a couple of other shows that I'm working on, concepts. One's are gonna be a cooking competition show, which is gonna be a lot, a lot of fun. I can't say the name right now, but you will definitely see the show on TV in the foreseen future.

35:25
And it's going to be where it's going to be flipping competition upside down on what you see in all those cooking shows on TV. Um, that's gonna be something I'm working on. And I'm working on a couple of reality based TV shows that would be kind of like keeping up with the Kardashians and stuff like that, right. I'll be in that format. Um, so I just like producing stuff right now, creating, uh, being both back of the camera and front.

35:54
There you go, I love it. Well, really smart for you, for the self-production standpoint, especially like you said, if you know what you're doing from a control perspective, from, there's no, I mean, there's so many opportunities like with sponsors and content and everything else. So kudos to you for taking that route. I know it takes some courage to kind of go that route and carve your own space, but kudos, man.

36:23
Look, you know what, you have to take the punches in the face, right? There's gonna be a lot of the people that you reach out to, sponsors, whatever it's gonna be, that's gonna just say no, it's not on our budget. You just gotta keep moving forward. If rejection is something that is gonna be a major issue for you, the entertainment world is not the right place for it at all. No way. People see it as success and they think it's easy, right? Ron, you know that for a fact. Oh yeah, because I think people are fascinated, you know, like...

36:52
you know, to kind of hear your journey a bit. We all think, mistakenly, that, oh, it just all, you know, comes perfect. Like, I'm sure it was just this easy path. Something tells me, and I don't even know your full story, it's never as easy as it seems to kind of get to, you know, where you are with a show like this. But let's talk about a little bit of that journey. And I'm joined by, I'm just gonna call you a brother from another.

37:17
And it's Noah Sims. Hey man, it is such a pleasure being here. You said it so elegantly. I agree 100%. Every single person that I've met that is involved, associated with you, is top tier professional, great juju, good energy. It's really, it's an honor to be up here and for why we're up here.

37:36
For me, like going to culinary school, the definition used to be of a chef was someone that was formally educated, that got their stripes in multiple different ways. And then you'd get paperwork, executive chefs, chefs with cuisine, all these things, your levels, your tiers, whatever. But now in the way that we're living, every person just throws the term chef around. So how this is such an epic answer is...

38:00
Can you tell me another profession or you're just like, Oh look, it's, it's radio dude, Ryan. Oh look, it's cameraman Larry. Oh look, it's, it's, it's Mike, the bartender. Like it's like, Oh look, it's basketball player, Michael Jordan. It's like, what is it that I need to throw the chef term out? Or then, you know, I have thousands of chefs and to each as their own. I'm just telling you my perspective on it. For me, it's like.

38:25
Well, I am so much better at a lot of other things than chef. Why do you want it to call me? Like I'm much better at conversations. There could be conversationist Noah, you know, word Smith Sims over here, you know, like whatever it is. So for me, I consider myself level of professionalism, upper-excellent chef. I try, do I have the skill? No, but do I act? Do I represent myself? Do I carry myself as the best I possibly can? Absolutely. Am I humble enough to know what I know? What?

38:55
don't know and try to learn every day. Yes. So for me, the chef term is like, you can call me a chef and I do it back and forth because I know you're just like, God, just let say that. But for a lot of people, they just want to like box me in as like, Oh, that's a chef Noah.

39:08
It's like, I tell people about unifying through food. One of my favorite things about food is I can unify people. And it's like, you could get two warlords that hate each other and give me them and some guards and we literally can have a meal and just talk about things and settle things down. So many people, so many people just get over one, like they just get over the smallest little thing and everything gets blown out of proportion. It goes back to like the focusing of things.

39:35
I believe food focuses things. You're right here. Like this is a that right here. Great food. There's no talking. People are just fricking going to town because they're focused on it. And it's like having, having communication with you, having communication with your team. There's something that's a very similar thing. Everyone's real here. You've got great people around you. And it's like, well, if we got great people around here, real people, do you think we're going to be able to kick a real good product out? It's very simple. Let's talk about what you're doing and how you're leveraging.

40:04
you know, social media connections and all of those things. Absolutely. Well, um, I love, I love, uh, I love what you said about like leveraging. It's, it is that, um, it's understanding again, where you're at. Do, am I big enough to be able to put this bar on here and lift this thing up? If you don't have the confidence, if you don't think you're big enough, you're just going to fall flat. Like you've got to be able to understand where you're at. And if you're not big enough,

40:32
That's fine. Again, you have the self-awareness to know, maybe I should do this and try that. I condense things. Clients come to me. That's not me. And literally, no, it's less about verbal and how many words I can say, but clients come to me all the time. They pay me to unpack a problem and to condense it. But it's one word. Authenticity is exactly what you just described. It's the missing component in business, influencers, marketing in general.

41:01
Because like you said, everything's transactional. Everything is short-term. We live in the modern world of short-termism. It's a term that I preach about a lot. I love that. Everyone is living in the short-term. Like, what can I get for this today? Because they think that the dollars or success, the destination is where they're going, but the journey is everything. And if you don't take the journey through a lens of authenticity, whether you're an influencer, a brand, a person,

41:31
It all falls flat and it all becomes very short term in deed because you fall right on your fucking face. You nailed it. That's a hundred percent. Like I've told people multiple times. That's so true on so many points. I tell people my life is like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I said I've done all of these ridiculous things in my life. The things and God has blessed me with a memory that

41:55
I is one of my greatest blessings that he ever gave me was being able to retain information that I care about. And the thought of a zero mind of like remembering the most ridiculous thing, but then it comes back because everything has purpose. So the thought of a zero mind, it's gotta have purpose. Like you might've thought of this stupid thing that chain reaction into another thing. So it's like, that's some deep, that's another podcast. That's a whole nother thing.

42:18
But the fact of the matter is that you having that authentic mindset is like that movie is of that guy's just living his life and things are happening. And then at that moment, he is sitting in that chair and because he was so authentic, or so on, I can't even talk, he had so much on this authenticity in every motion, every movement that he did, doing everything, not of greed, not of just being real in the moment.

42:46
knowing his location, knowing that all that added up to right at the moment of everything when he needed it and being able to stick to his guns and his gut instinct, having that Jiminy Cricket inside, telling him what he needs to do, not looking at the mirror, not believing. Like that movie is one of the greatest movies that has ever been made because of just the giant humongous, I mean just the Sistine Chapel of

43:13
holy moment of just being real. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, V.rad.cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.