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The Broke Boy Taco Story: Overcoming Addiction & Homelessness, Israel Adesanya Investment & More!

March 23, 2025 / 01:41:39

This episode features Sean Yabro, the founder of Broke Boy Taco, discussing his journey from Kentucky to New Zealand, sobriety, and his taco business.

Sean shares his early life in Kentucky, including his struggles with addiction and his decision to pursue sobriety in November 2021. He reflects on how his life improved after quitting alcohol and drugs, emphasizing the importance of focusing on his passion for cooking.

He talks about his move to New Zealand for love, meeting his fiancée Amy, and the challenges he faced while trying to establish himself in a new country. Sean recounts his experiences working in various restaurants and how he eventually started his taco business.

Sean also discusses the growth of Broke Boy Taco, including the opening of multiple locations and a food truck. He highlights the significance of community support and his vision for the future of his brand.

The conversation touches on themes of resilience, ambition, and the importance of staying true to oneself while navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.

TL;DR

Sean Yabro shares his journey from addiction to founding Broke Boy Taco in New Zealand, emphasizing resilience and community support.

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[Music]

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Kiwis love a

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thirst. Like Finn, we're making

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[Music]

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waves. Generate switch online today.

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Sean Yra, broke boy taco. Welcome to my

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podcast. Thank you. Uh you said you're

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nervous. A little nervous. Why? Why is

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that? I don't know. So, I'm not I I I'm

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usually like either on the phone in an

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interview or if I'm getting an

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interview, I'm just kind of like talking

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and hanging out. It's it's it's not

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really like we'll put you in the hot

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seat and then drill you some questions,

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but I'm ready. I'm down. Is this your

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first long film podcast interview? I

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think so. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've done

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a couple things like on radio and stuff,

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you know, at Rock FM and stuff like

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that, but um that's that's like, you

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know, more just they don't have like the

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hard-hitting questions, you know what I

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mean? They're just like, "So, what did

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you do yesterday?" You know? So, I

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cooked [ __ ] tacos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah. I cooked tacos, man. Yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah. Well, it's it's great to meet you

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in real life. Like, I've seen I've seen

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your social media stuff. I I thought you

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had gold teeth. You got braces now.

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Yeah. Yeah. So, you know what's funny?

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I'm such a like redneck that I had

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horrible crooked teeth my whole life,

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but I was like, I want gold teeth and

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just had them put gold teeth on my

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crooked teeth, which everybody was like,

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what's going on there? Just get braces,

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dude. You know, so I I was like, ah,

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yeah, true. So, I spent a little more

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money and got braces because I've always

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wanted straight teeth. That was actually

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one of my dreams like as a kid because

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all of my all of my friends and stuff in

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school had braces. So, I was like, I

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want braces. But got him when I was 35.

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Oh, better late than never. Yeah,

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exactly. Um, yeah, we'll get into the

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whole uh Sean story, including the early

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years in Kentucky, which is uh the

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tattoo at the at the top of your form.

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Yeah, Kentucky. So, is it Kentucky? And

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is that barbed wire either side of it?

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What's the significance of that? I got a

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lot of barb wire. I got barb wire on my

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arm here. Um, yeah, I got it on my

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knuckles. There's just a lot of barb

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wire where I come from, man. you know,

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it's just uh there's not a lot of a lot

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in Kentucky. There's there's grass cows,

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barbwire, you know what I mean? So, oh,

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come on. That's unfair. There's um uh

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one of my idols, Muhammad Ali. He's from

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He's from Louisville. He's from uh

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Louisville, which is where you you're

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from. That's where I'm from. Yeah. Um

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the Cardinals. Yeah. Yeah. The the the

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baseball bat, the Louisville, Louisville

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Slugger. Yeah. Louisville Slugger.

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Kentucky Fried. Kentucky Fried Chicken.

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The Colonel Colonel Sanders. And barbed

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wire. And barbed wire. Don't forget Barb

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wire that end. Yeah, there you go. So,

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who is who is Sean Yabro?

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Just a normal guy. Yeah. Uh, come from

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like a, you know, real low class

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lowerass family. U, real poor family

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growing up. And, um, just a normal dude

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with with a dream, I guess. and and I'm

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one of those rare super super super

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super rare examples of somebody who's

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pretty much achieved their dream in life

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and and pretty early 35 I think is when

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I'd say I'd tick that box and obviously

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you know I still got dreams and stuff

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but um I'm just a normal dude yeah like

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playing video games and hanging out.

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Yeah. Yeah. one one as from what I know

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about your story um one aspect that I

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love about it is um the sobriety journey

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and and just how exponentially better

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your life has got uh since you've since

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you've quit that. I've had so many so

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many people on the podcast in that same

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sort of position and no one has ever

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said you know what since I gave up drugs

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and booze my life got worse. No one at

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all. So sober since um November 13,

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2021. Yes, that's correct. Yeah. Um, was

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was there a rock bottom moment or what

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was the what was the turning point? What

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was the last? No, not I mean I mean not

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really, man. I mean, there was just, you

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know, I'm one of those people that I can

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stay away from from alcohol pretty much

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all day long, real easy. But if I have a

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sip, I'm off to the races. You know what

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I mean? I'm not stopping. And I I don't

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know why that is. It's maybe it's

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genetic or something. I don't know. But

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um I didn't even start drinking till I

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was like 23, 24. It was pretty late in

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life when I had my first sip of alcohol.

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But I knew very early like, wow, I love

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alcohol. This is awesome. You know,

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taste or the feeling? Both. Both. I

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mean, the taste of bourbon was tastes

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like sweet honey to me. And the feeling

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of it, I felt like I was on top of the

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world, you know, Superman. I felt like a

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different person. And I think maybe

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that's the problem is that um whenever I

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would drink, I would be I'm already

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pretty like animated and and pretty

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confident person. Um, but and I'm very

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social already, but but whenever I used

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to drink, I it would it would go up to

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11, you know, and it would go overboard,

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you know, to the point where I was

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obnoxious and I was just yelling and

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screaming and I was in people's faces

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and, you know, it just I I just didn't

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really Maybe it's cuz I didn't, you

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know, grow up drinking and I didn't have

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a good relationship with it or

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something. I don't know. I just know

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that it's not for me, you know. Um, but

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I've always kind of struggled with it

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and it got to the point where here it

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was a combination of things. It wasn't

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just one thing that made me quit

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boozing. It was

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like I had a conversation with my boss

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who worked at Ralph's, which I'm sure

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you know. His name is Mikey. And and he

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was like, whenever this whole taco thing

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started, he's the one who really pushed

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me to like, you should you should cook

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cook some tacos. cuz he asked me one day

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like, "Do you know how to cook Mexican

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food?" I said, "Yeah." And he was like,

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"We'll show up tomorrow and cook us some

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Mexican food." So, I did. And he was

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like, "Bro, this is crazy. You got to

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sell this. You got to sell this. We

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don't have this here." And I was like,

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"Really?" So, that was one thing I was

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like, "Wow, maybe I need to lock in."

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You know, and then my girl, you know, I

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would I would drink and I would be happy

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and then I would get angry and then I

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would get sad and then I would just it

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was just a roller coaster and my girl

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was just like, "Dude, like this is so

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dumb. You got to stop. This is

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ridiculous. It's embarrassing. You know,

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if I'm out in public with you, it's just

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just stop it." So I was like, "All

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right." Yeah. And I had, you know, for

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years been like, "Yeah, I'm going to

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quit. I'm going to quit." Well, it

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happens to be I'm in a new country. I'm

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in a brand new country. I can I can

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reset everything. Nobody knows who I am.

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I can just I can start over. And it

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really felt like I could start over in

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life. And and

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um I just woke up one day and I just

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said, "I'm not going to not going to

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drink." And I just took it a day at a

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time. I didn't go to AA or anything. I

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just put all my focus in in obsessing

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over tacos, I guess you could say. And

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yeah, it seems like you almost replace

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replaced one addiction with another one.

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I did. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm one of them

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people that like, you know, I love it's

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hard for me to love, but when I do love,

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I love hard. You know what I mean? So,

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uh, I fell in love with tacos and and I

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didn't really realize, I guess, the that

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I had the recipe, I guess you could say.

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I can I can see parallels. My

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relationship with alcohol is uh is much

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the same in that I can I can easily not

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drink, but as soon as I drink, then I

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start looking at my watch thinking,

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"Well, the supermarket's going to shut

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at 9:00. I need to like get there before

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9 to Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah. So, in a

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lot of ways, it's just easier not to

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start than to Yeah. Yeah. So, what does

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an average day look like now? Uh average

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day is I'll probably generally wake up

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around like 6:00 in the morning cuz my

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cats won't shut up.

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They just meow at my door non-stop. And

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if they're my door shut, they jump all

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over me and run literally run across my

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face when I'm sleeping, which is cool.

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Um, so yeah, I'll wake up at about 600.

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I'll have a coffee and um jump on the

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emails um you know packaging designs,

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setting up uh you know social stuff,

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events for the trailer, checking the

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deputy schedule, make sure all the

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employees are all good and nobody's

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calling out sick. And then it's just a

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lot of admin. Yeah, a lot of admin. And

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then I'll and then once I get done with

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all that or put a pause on all that, um

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I'll run to the shop, ask around, make

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sure everything's all good, have a

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couple tastings. Um and yeah. So um yes.

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So you've got the um the two stores in

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the Oakland suburb of bit. Um a food

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truck as well. Mhm. And uh just to time

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stamp this chat, uh we're recording this

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in midFebruary and it was just announced

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yesterday that you've got a new store

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coming in Burken Head in Oakland. Birkin

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Head, man. The Empire. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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I'm excited. I mean, we're we're we're

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looking at, you know, South Auckland.

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South Auckland always shows up every

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time I'm down there and they they're a

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big supporter. So, I I got a lot of love

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for South Auckland. Um especially like,

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you know, Manorwa. I went to Manorwa for

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the first time. Is that how you

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pronounce it? Oh, you're asking the

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wrong guy. Manuria. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

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What what you said? I I went down there

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and uh No, no, no, no. I'm not. He said

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it, man. I'm not your tomato mentor. No,

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it was nice though. It reminded me a lot

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of home. So, um it it's just comforting

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down there and sometimes when I'm

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walking around pawn somebody, I feel

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like a sore thumb, you know? I feel a

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little out of place. But, um Yeah. In

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what way? I just feel like everybody's

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better than me. You know what I mean? I

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just feel like u you know, it's one of

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the reasons why I named it broke boy. I

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just felt like, you know, I don't have a

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lot of in common with people that live

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in Ponmbbe, you know what I mean? And

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and that's not a bad thing. I'm not

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saying anything that's negative. I'm

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just saying like I just uh I don't

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relate to a lot of people with yachts

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and [ __ ] you know? I just don't I don't

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get it. And and I can't really It's hard

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to have conversations with people like

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that cuz a bit of a disconnect. But one

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of your investors drives a McLaren.

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Yeah. But he came he came from Yeah.

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sort of similar position that I came

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from. And maybe one day I'll have a

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McLaren. But um Yeah. Do you want a

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McLaren? No. No. I want like a 67

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Mustang or something. You know what I

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mean? Real American muscle. I feel like

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um I'm from a little town called

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Palmerston North, which is about Palmy

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Palmy North P. Um and uh I've been in

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Oakland for about 20 years. And yeah,

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when when I moved to um Oakland, I I

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lived in Ponmbbe and um I thought the

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same thing. I thought everyone was

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better than me. And then then you

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realize it's a very non-judgmental

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suburb. So I think a lot of the time

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it's the stories. It's the stories that

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you're telling yourself about you. It's

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not necessarily how other people see

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you.

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Yeah. I mean that that's a good point. I

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mean, I would I I maybe for you that

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applies, but for me, a lot of people

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look at me uh like I'm a gangbanger or

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something, you know what I mean? Like

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they're just like, "Jesus Christ, this

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kid covered in tattoos and he's in his

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sweatpants and, you know, gold and

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stuff." But um like I was out in uh

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Cumu, is that how you pronounce it? I'm

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so bad. Um but I was there yesterday and

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and me and David, shout out, shout out

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David. David Aosana. Uh he's my

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investor. We were we were there

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yesterday talking to accountants. Shout

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out my accountant, too. I love you, bro.

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I love you. Take good care of me. You're

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like a rep. No. Hey, I had a discussion

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with them and they said, "When you're on

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the podcast tomorrow, shout us out." Uh

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and I said, "Okay, I'll shout you out.

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My accountant and my investor." Um but

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we were we me and David were outside and

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and we were just talking like, "Oh,

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yeah. So, like we'll meet up this day.

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We'll meet up that day." And this this

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this dude came by with like cowboy boots

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and was like, "Hey, you guys don't be

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talking near my building. Get over

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there." Like, "Go talking to it." Just

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out of nowhere. And we were just like,

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"What's going on?" So, uh, it's just

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kind of like, you know, I mean, I don't

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blame him. I'm like covered in tattoos

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and I'm gold and I got a hat on and I

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look a little sketchy, but you know. But

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you've also got braces which says this

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guy's got an orthodontist. Yes. Shout

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out to the orthodontist. Shout out. Big

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shout out my orthodontist. Eden Eden

00:12:30

orthodontist. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so

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you're engaged now. So, your your

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fiance, uh, Amy, so you met her in San

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Francisco when you were when you were

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living rough. Yeah. We'll get to that

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part of the story. And then, so she she

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her visa expired and so she was she was

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an illegal an alien. Had to had to go

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back to New Zealand and you followed her

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back. Yeah. Yeah. So, we met we met um

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we met on Tinder over there, but I

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wasn't um I was I wasn't like kind of

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bouncing around whenever I met her. That

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was like a a bit earlier. Um but um you

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know, I had a solid place to stay when I

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met her, thank God, cuz you know, I

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wouldn't be here pro most likely

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wouldn't be here if I if I didn't. But

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um So, so by the time you met her, you

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were would you say you were a mess, but

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not a hot mess?

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Yeah, I'd say so. You're ready to grow

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up. Yeah, I'd say so. Yeah, I had

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started doing real well, but then what

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had happened was is that we had met and

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she was like she was like, "Dude, we I

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only got like six months to be here, so

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I'm not looking for a relationship." And

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I was like, "It's all good." You know,

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I'm not looking for one either. You

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know, we'll just hang out and party and

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blah blah blah. And then we we actually

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started I guess they that's what they

00:13:43

say, right? You like you're not looking

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for love. It just kind of happens.

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Creeps up on you. it creeps up on you

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when you're not looking for it, you

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know. And then that's what happened to

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us. And um we were like, damn, you know,

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she's got to leave. And then I was like,

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I don't feel like doing long distance.

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And she was like, I don't, you know, I'm

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in college. I can't do it. And then we

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ended up doing long distance for like a

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year. And then I think that was a real

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rough period in my life where I was just

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I I was head over heels in love with

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this girl, but I couldn't be with her.

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And I didn't really know anybody in SF

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other than the people that I drank with

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and did drugs with. So I was just kind

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of bouncing around and, you know, had

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even more of a reason to to booze all

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day and lonely and sad and felt sorry

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for myself. So that was real bad. And I

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I think that period is when when it got

00:14:31

probably the worst for me.

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Um but sure enough she got a visa to

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come back to New Zeal to to San Fran and

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uh we moved in together and then you

00:14:42

know we started um really making a plan

00:14:46

for our future. Yeah. So what were you

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doing for work at the time in San Fran?

00:14:49

Were you like a kitchen hand? I was bar

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I was bartending. Yeah. I was I was in

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and out of restaurants. Um, I would, you

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know, I knew I had been there at that

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time for a good amount of time. So, I

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knew everybody pretty much everybody in

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the the industry in the Mission

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District. So, I would I would bounce

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around, you know, my buddy would call

00:15:09

me, hey bro, what are you doing tonight?

00:15:10

I need help over here. Yep. Yep. I got

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you. And then, you know, so the next day

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somebody would call me, hey man, you

00:15:15

want to bartend here tonight? Yep. Sure.

00:15:17

No problem. Because if you bartend in

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SF, it's like a career. you know, you

00:15:21

get paid like you get paid a base a base

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hourly rate of like, you know, 12 bucks

00:15:27

an hour or something, but you also get

00:15:29

like 300 bucks a day cash. So, it's like

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you can make a lot of money bartending

00:15:34

while while whenever you're in the

00:15:36

kitchen cooking, you make like 15 an

00:15:38

hour and that's it. You know what I

00:15:40

mean? So, I was just like that wasn't

00:15:41

cutting it for me. And then, funny

00:15:43

enough, whenever I moved here, I was

00:15:45

like, "Oh, I could just bartend here and

00:15:46

then bartending here is not an option."

00:15:48

It's the opposite. It's like you can

00:15:50

actually make some money if you're

00:15:51

chefing, but you can't do it if you're

00:15:52

bartending. So, I stopped bartending.

00:15:55

Oh, yeah. There's no tipping here

00:15:56

whatsoever. Yeah. Nope. Nope. Nope. But

00:15:59

what I mean, I don't really believe in

00:16:00

tipping, but you know, it is what it is.

00:16:03

Yeah. So, so you moved to New Zealand uh

00:16:05

with Amy and um Yeah. What's your first

00:16:07

job? Where do you begin? What What year

00:16:10

is this, by the way? When do you move?

00:16:11

This is 2021, right? Yeah. This is

00:16:13

February 2021. See, a lot's happened

00:16:15

very quickly. Yeah. Oh my god, man.

00:16:17

What? I wake up and I'm just like,

00:16:19

didn't I just get here? What? How do

00:16:21

people like know my name that I don't

00:16:23

know who they are? Um, but yeah, a lot's

00:16:26

happened. A lot's happened real quick. I

00:16:27

mean, drastic change. I mean, if you

00:16:29

would have told me when I moved here,

00:16:31

like I would be here right now. I would

00:16:33

have probably got angry at you and been

00:16:35

like, "Stop making fun of me." You know

00:16:37

what I mean? But, um, yeah, you just

00:16:39

didn't allow yourself to dream that big.

00:16:42

I just think it's just unrealistic, man.

00:16:44

It just doesn't make any sense. It's

00:16:46

like it it's it's weird. It's it's

00:16:49

almost like I woke up one day and

00:16:52

everything had changed. And I know when

00:16:54

that point was and I'll I'll talk to you

00:16:56

about that point later, but

00:16:58

um yeah, I got here in 2021 and then um

00:17:01

I was looking for a job. I got a job at

00:17:04

uh this place called I think it's called

00:17:07

Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen or something. I

00:17:09

don't know what it's called. And um I

00:17:12

was only there for a couple weeks before

00:17:13

me and the head chef really got into it.

00:17:14

And then um I walked out in the middle

00:17:17

of a shift. I got into it like a like a

00:17:19

like a fight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty

00:17:21

heavy. Yeah. He started Oh, yeah.

00:17:24

Shifts. Shifts are angry. It was It was

00:17:25

embarrassing, too, because I was living

00:17:27

with my my girls uh parents at the time.

00:17:30

We were staying with them at the time

00:17:31

until we could find our own apartment

00:17:33

cuz we just moved here. And it was real

00:17:34

embarrassing, too, because I had to go

00:17:36

home to them and be like, "Yeah, I don't

00:17:38

have a job anymore. I just walked out."

00:17:40

And they were like, "What?" And mind

00:17:42

you, this is the first time that they're

00:17:44

really like getting familiar with me,

00:17:46

like real personal with me. So they're

00:17:48

just like they're pro they're probably

00:17:50

like Jesus Christ, what is it? Who is

00:17:51

this guy? You know what I mean? And I'm

00:17:54

just like, [ __ ] like But yeah. No, the

00:17:57

the head chef over there, we were we

00:17:59

were in real big trouble. We were real

00:18:01

busy and it was only me and him. And uh

00:18:03

he was just barking orders at me. He he

00:18:06

was asking, you know, I had dropped

00:18:08

something before I was supposed to drop

00:18:10

like the chicken and he was like, he's

00:18:13

like, "What the hell's the matter with

00:18:14

you? Didn't is there something [ __ ]

00:18:16

wrong with you?" And I was just like,

00:18:17

"Bro, what?" And he was just barking at

00:18:20

me and I I was re I was furious, man.

00:18:23

And I was just like, "Okay, just get

00:18:26

done with the orders. Get done with all

00:18:28

these tickets and then you can talk

00:18:30

about it." So, I got done with all the

00:18:31

tickets about 30 minutes later and I

00:18:33

looked at them. I said, 'W we got any

00:18:35

more tickets? He goes, "Nope." I go,

00:18:37

"Cool. I'm [ __ ] out of here." And he

00:18:40

goes, "What? What are you talking about?

00:18:42

What's going on?" And I go I go, "Bro,

00:18:43

you you you're real lucky. Like, you're

00:18:46

real lucky. Don't ever talk to me like

00:18:47

that ever. And you're real lucky that

00:18:50

I'm just [ __ ] getting out of here."

00:18:51

You know what I mean? Because um where

00:18:54

I'm from, you just don't you you don't

00:18:56

be disrespectful. And being

00:18:58

disrespectful is one of the worst things

00:19:00

to me. It's just everybody's all the

00:19:02

same, man. don't I I would never say

00:19:03

that type of stuff to him. What the [ __ ]

00:19:05

is wrong with you? You know, like are

00:19:06

you stupid? He said [ __ ] like that to

00:19:08

me. You know what I mean? And um I just

00:19:11

don't I I just grab my knives and go

00:19:13

have a great one, bro. And I just walked

00:19:15

out. And obviously that was a real hard

00:19:17

decision to make, especially when I just

00:19:19

moved to a new country. And um you know,

00:19:23

that was my only line of income, but you

00:19:26

got to do what you got to do sometimes.

00:19:28

And and then what? Uh just another job

00:19:30

in hospital. Yeah. I was looking around

00:19:32

for maybe two more weeks and uh a buddy

00:19:35

uh had had sent me some ad that was on

00:19:39

Instagram and um it was for this place

00:19:42

called Ralph's and it was like kind of a

00:19:45

divey burger joint in Dominion Road and

00:19:48

I was like, "Oh, this looks tight." And

00:19:49

I could tell the guy the guy that was

00:19:51

like the owner or whatever, he was like

00:19:54

had a bunch of tattoos. I'm like, "Oh,

00:19:56

me and this guy will get along real

00:19:57

well." So I just hit him up. I said,

00:19:58

"Hey, bro. What kind of hours you

00:20:00

looking for?" He said like 20 hours a

00:20:02

week. I was like, "Perfect, bro."

00:20:03

Because, you know, I didn't want to work

00:20:04

to death. I just want to um I'm in a new

00:20:08

place. I want to look around, but I want

00:20:09

to earn some money while I'm doing it,

00:20:10

you know. So, I I went there and

00:20:13

um chopped it up with him for a little

00:20:16

bit and and he hired me and uh the rest

00:20:18

is history. You said So, Ross is like a

00:20:20

burger place, right? Yeah. It's a burger

00:20:21

joint and it's a little bit dive like a

00:20:23

dive bar. A lot of people go there just

00:20:25

for a burger and fries and a beer. Yeah.

00:20:27

Yeah.

00:20:29

Yeah. So, um, like, yeah, why Mexican

00:20:32

food? Like, I mean, because that's what

00:20:34

the specialty is. Obviously, it's in the

00:20:35

name Broke Boy Taco. But, I mean, you

00:20:36

could have you could have done anything.

00:20:37

Could have been Broke Boy Burger. I

00:20:38

could I could have done anything. I

00:20:40

mean, I mean, you know, it's funny, bro,

00:20:43

because I was never like in love with

00:20:46

food. Uh, even though I was a chef for

00:20:48

like 15 years, I was never like, I'll

00:20:50

live and breathe food. Never. You know

00:20:53

what I mean? I just did it because I

00:20:54

seemed to be good at it and it made me

00:20:56

some money. You know what I mean? Um,

00:20:59

but I guess I didn't realize just how

00:21:03

much I loved Mexican food and and how

00:21:07

important Mexican food was to me until I

00:21:09

got here and I couldn't find it. You

00:21:11

know what I mean? I couldn't I mean, it

00:21:12

was it Mexican food was here, but it not

00:21:15

not the type of stuff that I really

00:21:17

gravitate towards. Yeah, bro. Oh, this

00:21:19

is probably before your time in New

00:21:20

Zealand, but um New Zealanders were very

00:21:22

very excited when Taco Bell came here.

00:21:24

Oh, yes. Maybe 2018, 2019.

00:21:28

like there were lines outside for a

00:21:29

while. I don't know, maybe it's the the

00:21:30

pop culture reference cuz we've, you

00:21:32

know, we've seen it in movies and

00:21:33

whatnot, but Yeah, that makes sense.

00:21:35

It's not It's not great Mexican food

00:21:37

though, is it? Taco Bell. No, it's very,

00:21:39

you know, Taco Bell is Taco Bell at all.

00:21:42

I've had it here. It tastes the same in

00:21:44

America. You know, it's one of them

00:21:45

things that you you'll eat when you're

00:21:47

like hammered, you know what I mean? But

00:21:50

it's not like, "Wow, I really want some

00:21:51

Mexican food, so I'm going to go to Taco

00:21:53

Bell." But um but yeah, I could I

00:21:55

couldn't really find it here. and I

00:21:57

could find instances of it and I was

00:22:00

like this is way this could be way

00:22:02

better and um I was in a new place that

00:22:05

I wasn't familiar with and I definitely

00:22:08

didn't relate to a lot of the people

00:22:10

that I was meeting and uh I just wanted

00:22:13

like some comfort, you know what I mean?

00:22:14

And and to me Mexican food was like very

00:22:17

comforting, you know? So um

00:22:21

yeah, I I didn't even it all of this

00:22:24

stuff happened. it fell into my lap

00:22:26

almost. I didn't move here and was like,

00:22:28

I'm going to create a taco empire. You

00:22:31

know, I I just moved here for love

00:22:34

because, you know, I love my fiance very

00:22:37

very much. She's changed my life and um

00:22:41

I'm just so glad that this has happened

00:22:42

so I can change her life and and and our

00:22:45

family's lives. [ __ ] Yeah. She must be

00:22:47

so she must be so proud of of you

00:22:49

because you like she um she swat right.

00:22:51

Yeah, she um she took a gamble on you

00:22:53

and um like she obviously saw like the

00:22:57

Sean that's sitting in front of me now

00:22:58

like she obviously knew that potential

00:23:00

was there. She saw it in you and it's

00:23:01

just taken a while for you to I suppose

00:23:03

realize it or become that person. It's

00:23:05

it's really cool. Well, she's I I've

00:23:08

asked her that, you know, because I if

00:23:10

you can imagine, you know, when she she

00:23:12

met me, I was bouncing around in between

00:23:15

jobs, you know, I was just drinking and

00:23:17

partying and blasting music and and and

00:23:20

really just living daytoday. And that

00:23:23

was always my motto, you know, cuz cuz

00:23:25

where I'm from, you know, there's a lot

00:23:27

of people that aren't alive or they're

00:23:29

in prison or, you know, you you you live

00:23:33

a very short life where I'm from. So you

00:23:35

just you the the name of the game is

00:23:36

just to be happy and and and try to

00:23:39

enjoy it as much as you can and that's

00:23:41

really who she who she met and and maybe

00:23:45

that was uh there was there was

00:23:48

something intriguing about that. But but

00:23:51

she always told me, you know, she tells

00:23:52

me now like, "Oh yeah, I always knew

00:23:54

that that you would

00:23:56

be somebody real big and and uh I always

00:24:00

saw that in you." And I was always like,

00:24:02

"Really?" And she's like, "Yeah." So,

00:24:04

um, yeah, it's it's rad. It's so

00:24:07

special. So, you So, you're at Ralph's.

00:24:10

Um, then you buy a hot plate from like

00:24:11

Brisco or Kmart or somewhere. Yeah.

00:24:14

Yeah. I went on Trade Me. Trade me. So,

00:24:16

so what h what happened was is I made

00:24:18

him some tacos. And he goes, "Uh, bro,

00:24:22

you got to quit your job. You got to

00:24:23

you, you know, you got to make these

00:24:25

tacos all the time now." And I go, "Bro,

00:24:26

how am I going to do that? I don't have

00:24:28

anything. I don't have a place to cook

00:24:29

it. I don't know what where to start."

00:24:32

And he was like, "You can cook here."

00:24:35

And I was like, "For real?" And he was

00:24:36

like, "Yeah, so we're closed on Sundays.

00:24:38

We'll open up on Sundays. You know, me

00:24:40

and Shel will come in and and uh we'll

00:24:43

help you and anything you earn, you can

00:24:45

keep." And I was like, "For real?" And

00:24:47

he was like, "Yeah, bro." So, um, I did

00:24:50

that and and the first first time I did

00:24:52

it, I think 40 people came and then the

00:24:55

second week I did it, I think 80 people

00:24:57

came. Mhm. And then next thing you know,

00:25:01

um, my boss is talking to me. He's like,

00:25:03

"You should you should quit and you

00:25:05

should do this full-time." And I was

00:25:06

like, "Really? You think so?" He's like,

00:25:08

"Yeah." So that's what I did. And I

00:25:10

bought a hot plate on

00:25:11

TradeMe. And um I I toted it around to

00:25:14

different restaurants and I just said,

00:25:16

"Hey, bro, are you are you open on

00:25:17

Sunday?" And and they would go, "Nope."

00:25:20

And I'd go, "Well, listen. I've got a

00:25:21

bit of a following on Instagram and I

00:25:23

cook food. Let me bring my hot plate

00:25:25

here. I'll cook food and I'll give you

00:25:27

10% of whatever I make. Why not? You

00:25:30

know, and they go, "Okay." And that's

00:25:31

how I started doing it. Yeah.

00:25:36

That seems like a big call. Did you meet

00:25:37

meet much resistance? Like a lot of

00:25:39

people saying no before.

00:25:41

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There were some some

00:25:43

people that was like, "I don't know who

00:25:44

you are." You know what I mean? You're

00:25:46

just some kid with a hot plate. You know

00:25:48

what I mean? Post Malone looking

00:25:50

[ __ ] Yeah. Everybody would say

00:25:52

that. Yeah. And and they just be like,

00:25:53

"No, get away from me." which is tight.

00:25:56

You know, I would probably be like,

00:25:57

"Dude, get away." But, uh, yeah, some a

00:26:01

couple of them said yes. And then, um,

00:26:02

once a couple of them said yes,

00:26:05

um, you know, I just started making

00:26:07

videos about what I'm doing, you know, I

00:26:11

just wanted people to see what I'm

00:26:12

doing. And is that sort of how the word

00:26:13

spread just through through social

00:26:15

media, just building that community on

00:26:16

social? 100%. Yeah. I'm intrigued about

00:26:19

the like the the steps you took because

00:26:20

um I feel like at the point where we're

00:26:22

sitting down now um you you've already

00:26:24

built something special, but I feel like

00:26:26

it's just at the beginning stage of what

00:26:29

Brokeboy Taco could potentially be. So

00:26:31

I'm intrigued about these these early

00:26:32

steps that have happened in the first

00:26:33

few years. So there's the hot plate

00:26:35

thing and going to restaurants. Then

00:26:36

when does the food truck come along? Uh

00:26:38

the food truck doesn't come along until

00:26:42

uh December of last year. So quite a

00:26:44

long ways after I got my food. Uh oh.

00:26:48

Last last year as in December 2023.

00:26:50

2024. 20 December 2024. Four months ago

00:26:53

was when I got my food truck. Shut up.

00:26:56

Yeah. So I had my my restaurant before I

00:26:59

got my food truck. The only reason we

00:27:01

got a food truck is to do private events

00:27:02

and cuz everybody's always hitting me up

00:27:04

going, "Hey, do you cater for weddings

00:27:06

and do you can you do this?" And I'm

00:27:07

just going, "I don't know how to do

00:27:08

that. I don't have a food truck truck or

00:27:10

a trailer, you know. All I had was like

00:27:12

a little ta a little plastic table from

00:27:14

Bunnings and then my $200 food hot pot

00:27:17

hot plate and that's the only way I

00:27:18

could cater to weddings. And I was like

00:27:20

that's not very appropriate. So um we

00:27:22

built a food truck. Yeah. But a a less a

00:27:26

less driven person would be happy with

00:27:28

just doing the Bunnings table and the

00:27:30

hot plate, you know, get get enough cash

00:27:33

working the weekend to get you through

00:27:34

the week. So yeah, where did that drive

00:27:37

come from to take it to the next level?

00:27:39

Well, I just uh I guess I've always been

00:27:42

kind of larger than life is is what

00:27:44

people have told me. You know what I

00:27:45

mean? I've

00:27:46

always, you know, I just do whatever. I

00:27:48

I've always done what I wanted. And and

00:27:51

I my dream isn't to just have one shop.

00:27:56

That's not my dream. and and um you know

00:28:00

I I always wanted a food truck that said

00:28:03

broke boy taco on it and it had a you

00:28:06

know it was covered in gold and it was

00:28:08

just lights up and I just always wanted

00:28:10

one so I just wanted to make one. Yeah,

00:28:14

man. That's so inspiring. Well, I went

00:28:16

to um I I went into Brokeboy Taco for

00:28:18

the first time on the weekend. I've been

00:28:19

past it with the intention of going in

00:28:21

many times before, but not a not a huge

00:28:23

fan of lines. Yeah, sure. Which uh me

00:28:26

you understand? Um but I went Yeah. So

00:28:28

I've got um yeah so many observations

00:28:30

and and questions about it. First of

00:28:32

all, yeah, the origin of the name.

00:28:34

Pretty self-explanatory just how you

00:28:35

felt. Yeah. I mean, broke boy. Uh yeah.

00:28:38

So whenever I knew that I had like I

00:28:41

I've got something to sell, a real yummy

00:28:43

taco. Um I was like, "Oh, I should make

00:28:46

an

00:28:47

Instagram," which was inspired my my

00:28:50

Instagram was inspired by my buddy. I

00:28:53

don't think I've ever said this before,

00:28:54

but he's uh his name is Cam. He owns a

00:28:57

Baby Gburg Burger. And I saw how good he

00:29:00

was doing. And

00:29:02

um I named it uh so I was going to name

00:29:06

it Taco instead of Tacos, you know what

00:29:09

I mean? Because he he his was Baby G

00:29:11

Burger. And I was like, "Oh, mine should

00:29:12

be something something taco, but what

00:29:14

should that be?" And he was and uh I had

00:29:18

I had talked to a couple of friends of

00:29:19

mine and I was like they were like,

00:29:20

"What do you think?" I'm like I'm like,

00:29:22

"Oh, I was thinking like Hot Boy, like

00:29:24

Hot Boy Taco." Because like, you know,

00:29:26

the Hot Boys was my favorite rap group

00:29:28

growing up, you know? And they were

00:29:30

like, "No, I don't I don't know about

00:29:32

that." And I was like, and then a buddy

00:29:33

of mine was like, "Name it Rich Boy Taco

00:29:35

cuz cuz you'll get rich off it." And I

00:29:37

was like I was like, "No, man. I can't

00:29:39

relate to that." I was like, "I can

00:29:40

relate more to being like a broke boy

00:29:41

than anything." And he was like, "Then

00:29:43

name it broke Taco." And I was like And

00:29:45

then I I I looked on on the Instagram

00:29:47

and I I typed it in the username

00:29:49

Brokeboy Taco and it said available. I

00:29:51

just There you go. Now you got the chain

00:29:54

and now I got the chain. Yeah. So, um,

00:29:57

why red and white? So, that's the first

00:29:59

thing that strikes me about your store.

00:30:00

You go in there, it's very clean, very

00:30:01

crisp looking white, um, with little red

00:30:05

trimming and red aprons on the stuff and

00:30:07

gold. We've got gold like around uh the

00:30:10

frames and stuff. Well, gold just

00:30:12

because I um it's opposite of of of what

00:30:16

being broke is, right? It's like uh if

00:30:18

you if you got gold it you you probably

00:30:20

got some money. So um for me like you

00:30:25

know I don't know I've never gold to me

00:30:28

always seemed like the most unobtainable

00:30:30

thing. So um that's another thing that I

00:30:33

just became obsessed with is right like

00:30:35

an aspiration sort of. Yeah. I mean the

00:30:37

people that I looked up to growing up

00:30:39

they weren't wearing suits and ties.

00:30:41

They were the people that I was looking

00:30:44

up to growing up was wearing gold chains

00:30:47

and gold teeth and those are the people

00:30:49

that was doing real well in my

00:30:50

neighborhood. So, I aspired to be like

00:30:52

that. So, that's why uh you know I wear

00:30:55

gold chains and stuff now because that's

00:30:57

that's what I saw when I was a kid.

00:30:59

That's what success was when I was a

00:31:01

kid. But um red and white because I I've

00:31:06

done a lot of, you know, a lot of like

00:31:10

obsessing over fast food in general. I

00:31:13

think fast food is it's one of those

00:31:15

weird things like that taps into the

00:31:18

human condition of like, you know, draws

00:31:20

you in and and it kind

00:31:22

of you don't realize what what it's

00:31:25

doing. You know what I mean? Like just

00:31:27

just the color combinations and stuff

00:31:28

like that. you don't really realize it's

00:31:30

like making you hungry. It's making you

00:31:32

stay there. Like I always have been real

00:31:34

fascinated by that. But but I guess the

00:31:36

short is I I've always liked red. Red

00:31:40

has been my favorite color. You know,

00:31:41

I'm from Louisville, which Louisville

00:31:43

Cardinals, uh you know, um they're red

00:31:47

and and the Louisville basketball team,

00:31:50

jerseys are red. Like you know, it's

00:31:52

just been red is like what you see when

00:31:56

you're in Louisville. You just see red.

00:31:58

So, I've always been I've always really

00:31:59

[ __ ] with red. Yeah. Yeah. Because I

00:32:03

feel like

00:32:03

um you're just a guy that's making this

00:32:06

[ __ ] up as you go along, but I feel like

00:32:07

um you know, marketing students years

00:32:09

from now might be studying the things

00:32:11

that you've done and you're potentially

00:32:13

overthinking it, whereas you've just

00:32:14

like done what feels right. I think

00:32:16

that's instinct is important. I think

00:32:18

that's what's important. Um and you

00:32:21

don't like you don't want to be corny.

00:32:23

You just want to be authentic and and

00:32:25

you want to keep, you know, keep it a

00:32:26

buck. If it's if it's good food, it's

00:32:29

good food. You know, I don't I don't

00:32:31

need to, you know, do all this other

00:32:34

crazy [ __ ] and just I want to draw you

00:32:36

in so you can try the food. The hardest

00:32:38

part about having a a restaurant is

00:32:41

bringing the customers in. It's real

00:32:43

easy to make good food, but but to get

00:32:45

people there and to get people eating it

00:32:47

is the tough part. If you can do that,

00:32:48

you win the lotto. Yeah. And and why?

00:32:51

Um, so the drinks you have, it's um

00:32:54

Coca-Cola, which I'm a big I love Coke

00:32:56

Zero. I probably drink more Coke than

00:32:58

Donald Trump. Yeah, there you go. So you

00:33:00

have Coke, frozen margaritas, and a beer

00:33:04

option. Beer, a broke boy beer option.

00:33:06

Um, but why? And and another thing that

00:33:09

struck me about the Coke, it was three

00:33:10

bucks a can, which is really Most cafes

00:33:12

you go to around Oakland, it's like $7

00:33:14

for a bougie glass bottle. Why Why only

00:33:17

Coke? Uh why not why not other Coke

00:33:20

range like Sprite Fanta?

00:33:24

Well, it's real simple, right?

00:33:27

Um Coke is my favorite drink. And

00:33:31

um I'm the part of Broke Boy, part of my

00:33:36

brand and and what I really enjoy and

00:33:38

what I think makes it unique is is that

00:33:40

I only serve one option. I serve period.

00:33:43

You know, if you want a chicken taco or

00:33:45

you want a veggie taco, I don't have

00:33:47

that. you. There's a taco shop up the

00:33:49

road. Perfect. No problem. Um if you

00:33:51

want a fish taco, hit up Tacos. Great.

00:33:54

Great. Amazing. Best fish tacos in

00:33:56

Auckland. Um and support local. But if

00:34:00

if you do want a beef taco, you should

00:34:03

probably always come to me because I I

00:34:05

do it the best. It's it's all I do. And

00:34:08

and it's it's my stamp. I stamp that.

00:34:10

You know what I mean? It's the same with

00:34:12

with with uh Coca-Cola. I only offer one

00:34:16

option because I think that's the best.

00:34:18

It might not You might not have the same

00:34:19

opinion, but I think that I think a Coke

00:34:21

Zero is the best drink. I think uh you

00:34:24

know, a margarita, we only offer one

00:34:26

frozen margarita. We don't offer like a

00:34:28

strawberry one and a mango one. We only

00:34:30

offer the classic lime because I think

00:34:31

that's the best one. You know, one thing

00:34:33

that always drove me nuts about going to

00:34:36

restaurants that people have recommended

00:34:37

me is I get the menu and it's got 20,

00:34:39

30, 40 things on it. I don't know where

00:34:41

to look. I just want somebody to tell me

00:34:44

what the best is so I can eat it. That's

00:34:46

it. You you would suffer anxiety at the

00:34:48

Cheesecake Factory, right? Yeah. I That

00:34:51

menu is like a 100 pages long. It looks

00:34:53

like I'm looking at like alien

00:34:55

transcript. I just just I just want to

00:34:58

maybe two three options would be

00:35:00

perfect, bro. And um I think that's what

00:35:02

people should do. And that's why I only

00:35:04

offer one beer. I don't offer, you know,

00:35:06

Corona or Pacificico. Uh, I offer wine

00:35:09

because it if you want a beer, get the

00:35:11

beer. Um, you also Coke fits into your

00:35:14

your color scheme. You back to red being

00:35:16

your favorite color, but what um but the

00:35:18

the Coke's not even visible. Like surely

00:35:20

you could get money from Coca-Cola to

00:35:22

have a fridge on display or some Coke

00:35:24

signage or whatever, but you've you've

00:35:27

Why have you turned that down? Um,

00:35:29

aesthetics. Yeah, I think it's important

00:35:32

the way the way that a place looks. I

00:35:35

think it's important. I I I I want it to

00:35:38

be It's funny, man, because everybody's

00:35:40

always like, "You got all this You got

00:35:42

all this money in the budget to make.

00:35:43

Like, why don't we do this? Why don't we

00:35:44

put gold here, and why don't we put like

00:35:47

this over here, and we could put the

00:35:48

Cokes on over here." I think less is

00:35:51

more. I'm I'm a real

00:35:54

real uh I really do. I'm a big believer

00:35:57

in less is more. If everything else

00:36:00

could be just white and wood, it that

00:36:04

that would be perfect because when I

00:36:06

when I hand you the food or when when

00:36:08

you get your food, your eyes shouldn't

00:36:10

be focused on well the Coke machine and

00:36:12

the the you know, your eyes should be

00:36:14

focused on the food. That everything

00:36:17

everything all the way down to the the

00:36:20

the paper on the plate being like bright

00:36:24

yellow. I've thought about that a

00:36:25

million times. And um you know whenever

00:36:29

this is a good this is a good segue into

00:36:30

this. Whenever I was wanting to start up

00:36:34

my own thing, it's big in uh LA and and

00:36:38

California. If you go somewhere that's

00:36:40

kind of like made by mom and pops, they

00:36:42

they hand you the food in yellow wax

00:36:45

paper and they do that because the

00:36:47

yellow wax paper is the cheapest, right?

00:36:50

So to me that was really important. Um

00:36:53

getting it in yellow wax paper. I don't

00:36:55

know why, but it just it if I got if I

00:36:57

had food in yellow wax paper, I was

00:36:58

like, "Oh, this is like homemade. This

00:37:00

is that's that's what it did to me. It

00:37:02

made me think of it before I even

00:37:03

figured it out." But I could get white

00:37:06

wax paper from Gilmore for 30 bucks. But

00:37:09

or I could order yellow wax paper from

00:37:12

America and it was

00:37:14

$600.

00:37:16

So that yellow wax paper was that

00:37:18

important to me when I when I was trying

00:37:20

to figure this out that I said I'll

00:37:22

spend a bunch of money on that because

00:37:24

it's important to me that it that my

00:37:26

tacos are served on yellow wax paper for

00:37:28

that reason. There's just things like

00:37:29

that that that people were like what are

00:37:32

you talking about, you know, and I was

00:37:34

like tr just trust me. It's it's real

00:37:36

important that this, you know, I want it

00:37:38

to be if you're if you're walking up the

00:37:39

road with a plate and it's got a yellow

00:37:41

piece of paper on it, everybody knows

00:37:43

what that is without even seeing what's

00:37:45

on the plate. Oh, that's broke boy. He

00:37:46

must have broke boy, you know? That's

00:37:49

important to me. As you've got further

00:37:51

along the the journey, has it has it

00:37:53

Yeah. And there's I suppose there's more

00:37:55

people offering their opinions and

00:37:56

stuff. Has it been has it been um

00:37:59

has it been harder to you stick to stick

00:38:01

to your vision and stick to know what's

00:38:03

right or Of course. Yeah, as I get

00:38:05

bigger and and um you know, when I

00:38:08

originally started, I was I was cooking

00:38:10

uh veggie tacos and mushroom tacos and

00:38:13

chicken tacos. And that was because

00:38:14

people had told me, "Yeah, we really,

00:38:17

you know, I I would love a mushroom

00:38:18

taco." And I would go, "Okay, you know,

00:38:20

without really thinking about it." And

00:38:21

one day I woke up and I just I just go,

00:38:23

"Man, I'm sick of it. I I don't care

00:38:25

about veggie tacos. I don't care about

00:38:28

chicken tacos. All I care about and all

00:38:30

I can think about is bira. That's all I

00:38:33

can think about." And I told my girl,

00:38:35

"I'm only going to do one thing. I'm

00:38:37

only going to do beria." And she was

00:38:38

like, "Don't do that. Like, you're not

00:38:40

going to have any customers anymore.

00:38:42

You're going to alienate people. People

00:38:43

are going to be upset, pissed off." And

00:38:45

I go, "Yeah, I don't care." And then I

00:38:47

talk to other people about it, people

00:38:49

that were in the industry. And they go,

00:38:50

"Yeah, you shouldn't do that." Every

00:38:52

single person I talk to goes, "No, you

00:38:54

should not only serve one thing. That's

00:38:56

stupid." And I go I go, "Well, I I don't

00:38:58

care. I I'm only going to serve one

00:39:00

thing because that's I just that's what

00:39:04

it should be. You should you should

00:39:05

serve what you care about. It shouldn't

00:39:07

be just to make money. It should be

00:39:09

because it's art. You know what I mean?

00:39:12

It's there's nothing better to me than

00:39:14

seeing somebody eat my food and like

00:39:17

smile about it and enjoy it. There's

00:39:19

nothing there's no better feeling, you

00:39:22

know? Um and and that's real important

00:39:23

to me. So yeah, it's crazy though. So

00:39:26

what you've done is sort of it defies

00:39:28

common sense but it's worked. Yeah. It's

00:39:30

worked way better than what you Yeah. So

00:39:32

um Yeah. So you wouldn't be prepared to

00:39:34

like do a a coriander free version for

00:39:36

people like me. Oh yeah. Yeah. People

00:39:38

look you can get for a long time I was

00:39:41

like nope no you it has to have

00:39:42

coriander. It has to have onion. I've

00:39:44

always said that. But but now you can

00:39:46

for sure because I'm running a business

00:39:48

and all that. You can for sure get no

00:39:50

coriander or no onion. You just have to

00:39:52

tell them when you order. And do you

00:39:54

have goals

00:39:55

now? Are you just sort of still

00:39:57

following your nose or have you got like

00:39:58

a fiveyear plan, 10 year plan? I mean,

00:40:00

we got we we've talked about all that,

00:40:02

you know what I mean? But I don't know.

00:40:04

I don't know how

00:40:06

to plan in five years, you know what I

00:40:09

mean? I grew I grew up just doing it day

00:40:10

by day. But we'll see. I mean,

00:40:13

obviously, we've got some sort of plan.

00:40:15

You know, we we just want to open as

00:40:17

many broke boy tacos as we can. And I

00:40:19

want to share the my love of beer with

00:40:24

all of New Zealand. And um I just want

00:40:27

to make good food and hopefully people

00:40:29

think it tastes good and that's it. And

00:40:31

and and what are the what are the

00:40:32

options on the table? I I don't know if

00:40:34

you're this far along or not. Like will

00:40:35

you own all the stores? Will you

00:40:37

franchise them out? No. Yeah. So we'll

00:40:39

do both. Yeah. Yeah, we'll do both. So,

00:40:41

we'll have some stores that are owned by

00:40:42

the business. And then, um, you know, in

00:40:45

the future, I've got I've had a lot of

00:40:46

people message me, people from Japan,

00:40:49

people from Germany, people from

00:40:51

America, everywhere be like, "Can we

00:40:54

franchise?" Uh, which is crazy as hell.

00:40:57

Um, so, but but we're going to do that.

00:41:00

I don't know if we're going to be in

00:41:01

Germany, you know what I mean? But, uh,

00:41:04

yeah, we'll definitely we'll definitely

00:41:06

tap into that. Um, I would love for for

00:41:08

some people to to to to make some some

00:41:12

people successful. Um, that would be a

00:41:14

great feeling, you know what I mean?

00:41:17

Yeah, cuz I I put on Instagram that

00:41:18

you're coming in for a chat and asked if

00:41:20

anyone had any questions. And um, to be

00:41:22

honest, there was very little useful

00:41:23

stuff there. It was mainly just people

00:41:25

saying, "Ask him when he's coming to

00:41:27

place name here, Wellington, Hamilton,

00:41:29

Christ Church." Um, which is a it's a

00:41:32

lot of pressure, but you know, as

00:41:33

Israelis says, pressure is a privilege.

00:41:36

Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with him.

00:41:39

Yeah. So, how how did that partnership

00:41:41

come about with the Adisagnas? Um, yeah.

00:41:44

So, it originally started uh as Izzy and

00:41:50

David showed up to one of my popups and

00:41:54

I immediately ran up and got a picture

00:41:55

with Izzy. I was like, "No way." And

00:41:58

that night, um, I swear to God, I'm not

00:42:01

even tripping. I could not sleep. I was

00:42:04

laying in bed and I was talking to my

00:42:05

girl and I was like I was like, "Do you

00:42:07

realize like he wouldn't have just like

00:42:10

been walking around and been like, "Oh,

00:42:12

let me come in here. He follows me or he

00:42:14

knows about me and he must have showed

00:42:17

up because I was there." Like, "Do you

00:42:19

realize that?" And she was like, "Yes."

00:42:20

Like, "Shut up. It's fine." And I was

00:42:23

just tripping. I was like, "Oh my god."

00:42:25

Like Israeli showed up. And then um he

00:42:28

showed up a couple months later to my

00:42:30

new one and um he was he was just

00:42:35

standing in line and then he started

00:42:38

showing up more and more and then I just

00:42:39

go he he would show up early and be like

00:42:41

hey bro can I just get like this this

00:42:43

and that and so I can leave so I don't

00:42:45

have to stand and I was like bro why

00:42:47

don't you just like DM me on Instagram

00:42:49

and uh just tell me what you want but so

00:42:52

by the time you get here it's already

00:42:53

ready to go you know and he goes he goes

00:42:56

just give me a phone and then he put his

00:42:58

number in my phone and I was tripping

00:42:59

and I was like, "What? What are you

00:43:01

doing, dude?" And and then um yeah, he

00:43:05

uh he texted me

00:43:07

and he just put in some orders whenever

00:43:10

I opened my shop or actually before that

00:43:12

he had texted me one day and was like,

00:43:14

"Hey, bro. Do you want to come over to

00:43:16

my house and watch UFC with me?" I was

00:43:17

like, "What?" I was like, "Hell yeah,

00:43:21

yes I do." As a matter of fact. So, uh,

00:43:24

I showed up and I adapted him up. What's

00:43:26

up, man? You know, I was sweating and

00:43:28

stuff and then I I met all his his his

00:43:31

friends and stuff and I was like, "Hey,

00:43:33

bro." Like shaking and [ __ ] Hey, man.

00:43:34

How are you, sir? And, uh, yeah, it was

00:43:36

cool. We just I I just watched UFC with

00:43:38

him and chopped it up with him. He's he

00:43:40

he's just like a normal dude, too, you

00:43:42

know. Um, but David um ended up showing

00:43:46

up one day to my restaurant and this is

00:43:50

Izzy's brother. This is Izzy's brother.

00:43:52

Yeah. Big big shout out to David, man. I

00:43:54

think without David, I don't know if we

00:43:56

would be doing this, but um he showed up

00:43:59

and he was just like, "Bro, like you're

00:44:01

killing it. Like, you know, what's going

00:44:03

on? What's your plans?" And I told him

00:44:06

like, "Well, my dream is to have a bunch

00:44:07

of them, bro. Bunch. Like, when you're

00:44:10

driving around, um you can just see a

00:44:12

big a big sign, you know, like Burger

00:44:14

King sign, but it's it's broke boy sign.

00:44:16

Like, that's my dream." And he was like,

00:44:18

he was like, "Word, well, would you be

00:44:20

interested in like an investor?" And I

00:44:22

was like, I was like, "Yeah, bro." I had

00:44:24

had a couple investors, a couple bankers

00:44:26

and stuff approach me and [ __ ] before,

00:44:28

but I was always just like, "Nah, man. I

00:44:30

don't like, you know, I don't I I I was

00:44:33

scared of that because I don't want

00:44:34

somebody coming in and being like, "No,

00:44:36

you got to do this now. You got to put a

00:44:37

chicken one on and you got to do this

00:44:39

and you can't say this." I was just not

00:44:41

interested, you know, and um but they

00:44:44

they came on and we shared a vision and

00:44:46

and they really understood my vision and

00:44:49

they were like, "Bro, you you're going

00:44:51

to do this. You're going to kill it and

00:44:52

and you will achieve your dreams." And I

00:44:54

was like, "You think so?" And they're

00:44:56

like, "Bro, yes, we can back you. We can

00:44:58

back you. Trust me." And we talked and

00:45:00

then we came to some we came to an

00:45:01

agreement or whatever. And um yeah,

00:45:04

dapped him up and and shook hands and

00:45:06

and it's almost like I felt like I was

00:45:08

like part of their family, man. and and

00:45:11

you know the OSAnas all of their family

00:45:14

such sweet people man just the nicest

00:45:15

people on the planet and and people I

00:45:17

can really relate to you know they they

00:45:19

came from maybe a rougher upbringing

00:45:22

than most and and um they they got to

00:45:24

where they're at and they're that's the

00:45:26

dream and and that's what I want to be.

00:45:29

You know I I aspire to be that. So um

00:45:33

you know I really respect them and and

00:45:35

and their whole family and just it just

00:45:38

felt amazing. M yeah. So, yeah. So, so

00:45:41

I'm I'm intrigued about this stuff

00:45:42

because um yeah, the studio that we're

00:45:44

sitting in now and the office next door

00:45:47

um that's a business that um I've just

00:45:49

started like five 6 months ago and

00:45:51

there's been some people that have

00:45:52

offered to invest and buy in and we've

00:45:54

turned it down to up until this point

00:45:56

because it's like I I haven't actually

00:45:58

built anything worth value, you know

00:46:00

what I mean? And it sort of terrifies me

00:46:02

a bit. So, what was the expectation from

00:46:04

the Addisonas and and you know in terms

00:46:07

of um a return on their investment? Um,

00:46:09

well, they they weren't really focused

00:46:11

as much on that as much as they were

00:46:15

like, you know, David kept it he keep it

00:46:17

real with me. He just said, "Look, bro,

00:46:19

if we were coming into this for money,

00:46:23

we

00:46:23

would, you know, invest in property

00:46:26

again or or we would we would go

00:46:28

somewhere else with our portfolio. We're

00:46:30

not in this because we want millions of

00:46:33

dollars." like we we're in it

00:46:35

because we see your vision and we don't

00:46:40

think that it's something like this has

00:46:42

happened before in New Zealand. You

00:46:44

know, there's never been some like

00:46:46

famous chef in New Zealand like, you

00:46:48

know what I mean, that's came from the

00:46:50

middle of nowhere and just started

00:46:52

cooking. Like I'm a white guy from

00:46:54

Kentucky cooking Mexican food in New

00:46:56

Zealand. Do you know what I mean? Like

00:46:58

it doesn't make any sense. And um I

00:47:01

think that's why a lot of people I just

00:47:03

have a crazy story and I've got a good

00:47:04

product to back it and they were just

00:47:06

like, you know, we're in it because we

00:47:09

believe in you, you know, and we want to

00:47:12

help you. Yeah. And I think it's just

00:47:13

the um the organicness and the

00:47:15

authenticness of the story. Like every

00:47:17

every brand that grows wants a

00:47:19

backstory. They they want that story

00:47:20

like oh I started with a hot plate and

00:47:22

you know a lot of the time it feels kind

00:47:24

of disingenous but but this is this is

00:47:27

actually how this happened. Yeah. So,

00:47:28

what's been the um the the biggest

00:47:30

business lesson so far? Like anything

00:47:32

that springs to mind? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:47:35

So, um I bought this Ivario. Um what's

00:47:38

that? It's a it's a big giant pressure

00:47:41

cooker essentially and I paid cash for

00:47:45

it and it was expensive as hell. It was

00:47:46

like 60 grand. And um I was like, "So,

00:47:50

the plan is is we can cook we can

00:47:52

constantly turn over every hour and a

00:47:54

half we can turn over like a 100 liters

00:47:56

of beer." Doom doom. so we can keep up

00:47:59

with production and we can we can stop

00:48:01

selling out. Well, it doesn't exactly go

00:48:05

like that because when you cook all

00:48:07

that, you have to cool it down rapidly,

00:48:09

which you have to have some sort of

00:48:11

station for. And then once you cool it

00:48:13

down rapidly, you have to have a bunch

00:48:15

of fridge space to to cool to do it. And

00:48:17

then once you reheat it, you have to get

00:48:19

these 100 liter pots and reheat it. It's

00:48:21

it's not just as easy as you just cook

00:48:24

more. You know what I mean? and and now

00:48:27

we've kind of pivoted in a way where

00:48:30

we're going

00:48:31

to cook everything somewhere else. So,

00:48:35

uh whenever we do open more shops,

00:48:37

there's a central place where I can walk

00:48:39

in and I can taste it before it goes

00:48:41

out. So, I don't have to go to all these

00:48:43

other shops and taste. Okay. Well, well,

00:48:45

Greg made it today. What does Greg's

00:48:47

taste like? Well, what does David's

00:48:48

taste like? It's all cooked at the same

00:48:51

place by one person. And um that's how

00:48:53

we really do quality control cuz one of

00:48:56

the problems we've had recently is is

00:48:58

consistency cuz sometimes you know we

00:49:02

guillo peppers is real big um a real big

00:49:07

item ingredient in the recipe and

00:49:09

sometimes our supplier would be out of

00:49:11

it. So we would sub that for a different

00:49:14

pepper and it would taste completely

00:49:15

different. You know it's stuff like

00:49:17

that. And and if if you know Matt made

00:49:21

it one day, it would taste different

00:49:23

from how Alec made it for some reason,

00:49:25

even though they were using the same

00:49:27

recipe. So this this way we can all cook

00:49:31

cook it all in one place. We can vacuum

00:49:34

seal it and then we can ship it to the

00:49:36

new locations and all they got to do is

00:49:38

open the bays and heat heat it up and

00:49:40

then it's good to go. Right. Right

00:49:42

there. So you really have to scale

00:49:44

everything up and that's how that's what

00:49:45

I'm learning about business. It's not

00:49:47

just as easy as just showing up and

00:49:49

cooking it, you know? Yeah. There's no

00:49:51

way to fasttrack those lessons though.

00:49:53

You have to sort of live them. Yeah. I

00:49:55

mean, somebody can tell it to you,

00:49:56

right? But but you you can either take

00:49:58

their opinion like like it's gospel or

00:50:01

you can take it with a grain of salt. Um

00:50:04

or you can go, well, hold on a minute.

00:50:06

Let me test that. And which is probably

00:50:08

the best thing to do because if you

00:50:10

don't, you'll never know. So, you got to

00:50:12

learn these hard lessons. Yeah. Yeah.

00:50:15

It's really good to hear about that. um

00:50:16

quality control in regards to the taste

00:50:18

because you you can have all the hype in

00:50:20

the world, but if it tastes like [ __ ]

00:50:21

people aren't coming back. People know

00:50:23

people know if it's if if you know, you

00:50:26

paint a picture on the internet and then

00:50:29

you you see it in person and it looks

00:50:31

completely different, people won't give

00:50:32

a [ __ ] you know. And uh it's important

00:50:35

to me that that that um it is my recipe

00:50:38

and and it's the same and it tastes the

00:50:41

same and it's very consistent and it's

00:50:42

served the way it's supposed to serve.

00:50:44

serving the taco the tortillas are super

00:50:47

crispy the way they should be all

00:50:49

everything we do one thing if it's not

00:50:51

perfect I'm not serving it you know has

00:50:54

this whole journey been like really

00:50:56

really good for your you know

00:50:58

self-esteem self-worth self-belief not

00:51:00

really because I've always

00:51:02

been I've always been cocky and I've

00:51:05

always been like you know

00:51:07

like I' I've always hyped myself up and

00:51:10

really believed in myself and and um I

00:51:13

don't know I've just always felt Like

00:51:14

that's that's one reason why I'm not in

00:51:16

Kentucky. I'm not still in Kentucky.

00:51:18

Even though 90% of people from Kentucky

00:51:20

stay there, it's because growing up

00:51:22

there, I always felt like I there's

00:51:24

something more. It's got to be something

00:51:26

more than than just living in a trailer

00:51:28

with, you know, having five kids when I

00:51:30

was 18. And, you know, there's something

00:51:32

more. So, um, I've always believed that

00:51:36

deep down that I would be, you know, I

00:51:40

guess somebody. Yeah. Cool. Cool. What's

00:51:43

the best and worst things about owning

00:51:45

your own successful

00:51:46

business? Dealing with dealing with

00:51:48

unreliable staff. Is that uh No, I don't

00:51:51

think that's the worst thing. No, I

00:51:54

would

00:51:55

say I mean, everybody thinks I'm balling

00:51:58

out of control, man. Everybody thinks

00:51:59

I'm a [ __ ] millionaire. Uh I would

00:52:02

say the worst part is that you're that I

00:52:05

work non-stop every single second of the

00:52:07

day. Um but I just get paid like a

00:52:10

regular employee. You know what I mean?

00:52:12

I just, you know, you just give yourself

00:52:14

a salary. I just give myself a salary. I

00:52:16

don't see bonuses. I don't take anything

00:52:17

from the business. I Everything every

00:52:20

profit that we make um gets put back in

00:52:23

the business, you know, because I I've

00:52:25

got big big dreams and I want to blow it

00:52:27

up. Um so yeah, I mean I don't have any

00:52:31

assets. I don't have a house. I don't I

00:52:34

have a car that I bought when I was 35.

00:52:37

A 2000 BMW. Yes. Yes. I bought it.

00:52:40

purchase price. Six grand. Six Six

00:52:43

grand. Yes. I got you. My first my first

00:52:45

car I've ever owned when I was 35. Uh

00:52:49

and that's the only asset I have. But um

00:52:51

you know I and I'm happy with that. I've

00:52:54

I've lived my whole life like this, so I

00:52:56

ain't tripping. But um it's funny when

00:52:58

everybody thinks uh you know, oh my god,

00:53:00

you're so successful. You know, you must

00:53:02

have this and that. I ain't got nothing,

00:53:03

you know, and I'm fine with that. Oh,

00:53:05

you you do though, but it's tied up in a

00:53:06

business. Yeah. I I guess you could look

00:53:09

at it like that. like you're building

00:53:10

you're building um you like a very good

00:53:12

asset base. Yeah. I've got I've got

00:53:13

Yeah. Yeah. I I mean I own a obviously a

00:53:16

lot of shares in the company, but this

00:53:18

is the first time that I've ever done

00:53:19

anything like this. So, uh everybody

00:53:21

that I've talked to, you know, this is

00:53:24

the worst time in history to own a

00:53:27

restaurant. It's the worst time in

00:53:29

history. Um and so obviously it's a bit

00:53:33

of a risk, but um I I I always back

00:53:36

myself. I always believe in myself. So

00:53:38

is what it is. Yeah. Percentage wise,

00:53:40

how much has been luck and how much has

00:53:42

been hard work?

00:53:45

That's a great question. That's a great

00:53:47

question because I've worked hard all my

00:53:49

life and seen nothing. You know what I

00:53:51

mean? So So I think

00:53:53

uh I'd say luck. I'd say I'd say I'd say

00:53:58

it takes a lot of luck. Yeah. It's a

00:54:00

roll of the dice. I really feel like

00:54:02

I've won the lottery. And um but then

00:54:05

again, I'm I'm I work 16 hours every

00:54:08

single day, but you know, there's a lot

00:54:10

of people that work more than me and

00:54:12

they make, you know, 10 bucks a day. So,

00:54:17

uh yeah, I don't know what it is. I

00:54:20

don't I don't know why this has

00:54:21

happened. Yeah. So, what would your sell

00:54:25

price be? I know you're not motivated by

00:54:26

money, but say some investment banker

00:54:28

came along with a with a checkbook. I

00:54:31

don't know why no one's got a checkbook

00:54:32

anymore, but you know what I mean. Or a

00:54:33

briefcase of money. What would it be?

00:54:35

Someone says, "We love we love what

00:54:37

you've done. We want to scale it up. We

00:54:38

want the whole brand." Um, yeah. What

00:54:41

would it be? 5 mil, 10 mil? Oh, hell no.

00:54:43

Yeah. I don't know. You must have

00:54:45

thought about this. Of course. I think

00:54:46

about it all the time, right? Because

00:54:48

I'm like, you know, I live in a

00:54:49

one-bedroom apartment. I was like, dang,

00:54:51

what would I get? That's a good

00:54:54

question, man. I I I would probably say

00:54:57

like see what's funny is I'll tell you a

00:54:59

number and then but then somebody comes

00:55:02

along with a little bit less than that

00:55:04

and shows it to me and I'd pro maybe I'd

00:55:06

go okay you know so I I don't really

00:55:08

know. I think like maybe 20 20 amps.

00:55:13

Give me 20 amps and we're good.

00:55:15

Manifested baby a

00:55:18

wow that's cool. I Yeah. I don't know.

00:55:21

Yeah, I feel like um yeah, if push came

00:55:22

to shove, even if someone came with 20

00:55:24

m, maybe maybe you'd realize it's your

00:55:26

baby and it's not about the money. No,

00:55:29

no, I take a 20. You could start again,

00:55:31

right? Something else. Yeah, we'll do

00:55:32

something else. Yeah. You know what's

00:55:34

funny, man? It's is cuz I'm from

00:55:36

Kentucky and I really grew up on like um

00:55:39

I really grew up on like mac and cheese,

00:55:42

cornbread, collard greens, you know, and

00:55:44

I know how to make all that. I know how

00:55:46

to make it all, you know, and I love

00:55:48

wearing overalls with no shirt on, you

00:55:51

know what I mean? Uh, so I'm real

00:55:53

redneck with it. And I make some

00:55:56

catfish. I make some catfish and collard

00:55:58

greens. But, uh, I just happen to be

00:56:01

doing tacos because it tastes real yum.

00:56:04

I mean, I love the I love them and I'm

00:56:06

still obsessed over them. Oh my god. If

00:56:08

you got into mac and cheese. Yeah, I

00:56:10

make good mac and cheese. I make some

00:56:12

good mac and cheese. Um yeah, we'll get

00:56:15

into your childhood in a second, but

00:56:16

would you what would you what would your

00:56:18

your mom, she's no longer around, what

00:56:19

would she make of all this? Oh yeah,

00:56:21

man. Uh she'd be tripping. Yeah, she'd

00:56:25

be tripping. Yeah, that's one of the

00:56:27

that that's that's one thing that that

00:56:29

uh you know keeps me keeps me up at

00:56:32

night, I guess, is that is that uh Yeah.

00:56:34

My mom will never know. She'll never

00:56:36

know I made it.

00:56:40

Yeah. So, so your early years is So, um

00:56:42

I haven't heard much about your dad. Do

00:56:44

you have a relationship with your dad or

00:56:45

not so much? Uh no, not really. No, he

00:56:48

No, he passed away pretty early on.

00:56:51

Yeah. And and your mom, she so she she

00:56:53

battled with that um like drugs and

00:56:56

prescription drugs. Yeah. Alcohol. No.

00:57:00

No. She never drank. I never saw her I

00:57:02

never saw her drink a day in her life.

00:57:04

Right. And she was the she was the But

00:57:05

she and she told you not to drink and

00:57:07

that's the reason you didn't drink until

00:57:08

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She told me not to

00:57:11

drink and and

00:57:12

uh yeah, it's

00:57:15

uh yeah, a bit of

00:57:17

a bit of a touchy subject to be honest,

00:57:20

but yeah, I kept I kept that promise

00:57:22

with her. I never drank.

00:57:24

Um until she had passed away, she said,

00:57:27

"As long as I'm alive, I don't want to

00:57:28

see you drink, you know." Yeah. And that

00:57:31

So that was in 2010 and she was 40 44

00:57:34

years old, which [ __ ] so young to die.

00:57:36

She was 44, man. How old were you? How

00:57:38

old you in 2010? I don't know. Like 22.

00:57:42

21 22. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah.

00:57:45

Yeah. Yeah.

00:57:47

Yeah. She She We We had her funeral just

00:57:50

I think it was either on my birthday or

00:57:52

a couple days before my birthday. I

00:57:55

remember cuz I made a [ __ ] joke at

00:57:57

her funeral and I was like, I want my

00:57:59

birthday's coming up. I want a PS4 or

00:58:01

some stupid [ __ ] And everybody was

00:58:03

laughing. But that's how my mom was,

00:58:05

man. My mom would my mom in in in

00:58:08

tragedy she she would make jokes and

00:58:10

laugh and and it was real important that

00:58:12

uh you know we stay positive and you

00:58:15

know we grew up she she she was working

00:58:18

you know she worked at Subway and and

00:58:21

she worked you know she sold a bunch of

00:58:23

clothes on eBay. We would go to uh we

00:58:26

would wake up every morning at Saturday

00:58:28

morning at like 9:00 a.m. and run to

00:58:30

them uh garage sales and yard sales and

00:58:33

we would find stuff and she would sell

00:58:34

it on eBay and that's how we made ends

00:58:37

meet. But um yeah, she she got in a car

00:58:41

crash when she was

00:58:44

younger. I'm not sure which age, maybe

00:58:46

19, 20 or something. and she uh hurt her

00:58:49

back and then the doctor prescribed her

00:58:52

I think Oxycottton or something and she

00:58:54

got addicted to him

00:58:55

apparently you know. Is that what they

00:58:58

um Yeah. I don't mean to be offensive in

00:59:01

any is is that is that what they call um

00:59:03

hillbilly heroin? Probably. Yeah. Hell

00:59:05

yeah. Right. Um and she was she was um

00:59:08

prescribed like 300 pills a month or

00:59:11

something. I read. Yeah. At the end at

00:59:12

the end there she was you know Yeah. She

00:59:15

she was she was getting prescribed. I

00:59:16

didn't know any of this. I didn't know

00:59:18

any of this until it was too late. Um

00:59:22

because I was just off doing my own

00:59:24

thing, you know? I had I didn't want to

00:59:26

be around my house a lot because it was

00:59:31

there wasn't a lot of good, you know

00:59:33

what I mean? So, I would be out in the

00:59:34

streets. I would be hanging out with

00:59:35

people and then I would come home at

00:59:37

like 910 p.m. when I was a teenager,

00:59:40

even when I was 12. When I was 12 years

00:59:42

old, man, I was running around smoking

00:59:43

cigarettes and getting in fights and

00:59:45

just being buck wild. And um I just

00:59:48

didn't want to be at home. Home was real

00:59:50

depressing to me, man. We didn't have

00:59:52

any food. Who was there? Who was where?

00:59:54

At home. At home. Just your mom. Oh,

00:59:56

yeah. My mom, my stepdad, uh my sister.

01:00:00

Yeah. My little brother. Uh but I just

01:00:03

didn't want like that's why I, you know,

01:00:07

I call my sister sometimes and I'm just

01:00:09

like, you know, I ask her questions. I'm

01:00:10

like, did this happen and did this where

01:00:12

was you at? because I just I was never

01:00:15

around, you know? I was never around. It

01:00:17

was real hurtful to see some of the [ __ ]

01:00:21

uh at my house. So, uh I didn't want to

01:00:22

be around. I wanted to be out. The

01:00:24

streets were better. The streets were

01:00:26

better. It was easier for me to run

01:00:27

around in the streets and make my own

01:00:29

meals and and you know, steal donuts

01:00:31

from from [ __ ] Kroger to eat than it

01:00:35

was to to be at home. It just was

01:00:38

easier.

01:00:41

Oh, man. That sucks. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

01:00:44

I thought it was normal. I'm a kid, you

01:00:46

know what I mean? So, I thought it was

01:00:47

normal to have that type of lifestyle

01:00:49

because that's the only one I knew. So,

01:00:50

I was just like, "Oh, everybody must be

01:00:52

doing this." You know what I mean? And I

01:00:53

didn't really realize it until I grew up

01:00:56

that I was like, "Oh, damn. Some of the

01:00:57

some of the [ __ ] I saw growing up as a

01:00:59

kid was probably not not a lot of people

01:01:02

saw [ __ ] like that, but is what it is."

01:01:06

Yeah. How do you like you're at that age

01:01:08

age and stage of life now where I I

01:01:10

don't know maybe maybe you'll become a

01:01:12

father and have kids of your own. So

01:01:14

yeah, how do you feel when you reflect

01:01:16

on your childhood now? Like does it make

01:01:18

you feel sad or uh Yeah, man. It makes

01:01:20

me hella sad, bro. Yeah, it makes me

01:01:22

hella sad. You know, sometimes when I

01:01:24

was getting sober, bro, I had

01:01:26

to, you know, everybody's got demons,

01:01:29

you know what I mean? And uh obviously

01:01:31

with drugs and alcohol, I think one of

01:01:33

the things that people do is they try to

01:01:36

self-medicate and and get through all

01:01:38

that [ __ ] they went through um with that

01:01:41

because drugs and alcohol make you

01:01:43

happy, make you feel good. And whenever

01:01:44

you don't have that um you really have

01:01:48

to um confront those things head on and

01:01:51

you have to deal with them head on. And

01:01:54

yeah, a lot of a lot of a lot of days,

01:01:56

man, I would wake I would I would wake

01:01:58

up in the middle of the night having

01:02:00

nightmares over and over and over and

01:02:02

then I would, you know, catch myself

01:02:04

just brushing my teeth or something and

01:02:06

just [ __ ] start crying for no reason

01:02:08

and and just thinking about some of this

01:02:09

[ __ ] Yeah, pretty messed up. But, um,

01:02:13

you know, you have to get to a point

01:02:15

where you have to kind of like be like,

01:02:17

you know, you are not you are not your

01:02:18

past. You know what I'm saying? You you

01:02:20

are that stuff doesn't have to control

01:02:22

you. and and

01:02:24

and you didn't have much to say in the

01:02:27

matter. You know, you get you get dealt

01:02:29

these cards and you got to play them and

01:02:32

it is what it is. There's there's people

01:02:34

out there that had it worse off than me.

01:02:35

A lot of people had it worse off than

01:02:37

me. So, uh you know, just be happy to

01:02:40

where you are and and that you made it

01:02:42

and and uh

01:02:45

that's it. Yeah. You What did you What

01:02:47

did you dream of being when you were

01:02:48

little?

01:02:50

I dreamt of being alive when I was a

01:02:52

kid, man.

01:02:54

Straight up. I dreamt of having braces

01:02:57

one day because that seemed really

01:02:59

unobtainable. My mom would always go,

01:03:01

"Well, my mom would tell me, she would

01:03:03

go, braces are like

01:03:06

$1,000. At what point in life are we

01:03:08

going to have

01:03:09

$1,000 to spare?" And I was like, "Yeah,

01:03:12

true." You know, true. We'll always need

01:03:15

a thousand bucks. we'll need it for rent

01:03:17

or we'll need it for food or we'll need

01:03:18

it, you know, for gas. So, I was like,

01:03:22

it was a dream of mine, a real dream of

01:03:24

mine to have straight teeth, you know

01:03:26

what I mean? Um, and you know, when I

01:03:29

was young, when I was 13, 14, 15, I

01:03:31

would always be like I would I would

01:03:33

literally think about like what would it

01:03:35

be like being 30 years old? And I would

01:03:37

always be like, I'm not going to make it

01:03:38

to 30. 30 is old, bro. 30 is old where

01:03:41

I'm from. Seriously, I would say that.

01:03:44

Yeah. I would be like, "Hell no, 30,

01:03:45

that's a old man." And uh yeah,

01:03:50

just that that's I never really was

01:03:53

like, "Oh, maybe one day I'll be a

01:03:54

millionaire." You know what I mean? In

01:03:56

New Zealand. In [ __ ] New Zealand. I

01:03:58

didn't even know where New Zealand was.

01:04:00

Whenever I met my girl and she was like,

01:04:03

"Oh yeah, I'm from New Zealand." I was

01:04:05

like I was like, "Oh yeah, hell yeah. I

01:04:08

I always wanted to go to Europe. Hell

01:04:09

yeah." And she was in Europe. She was

01:04:11

like, "What the [ __ ] are you talking

01:04:13

about?

01:04:14

Well, that's like most Americans though,

01:04:16

e most Americans don't do a lot of

01:04:18

travel. No, I Yeah, most Americans don't

01:04:21

don't know where [ __ ] Wyoming is. You

01:04:23

know what I mean? So, it is what it is.

01:04:25

So, yeah. So, you didn't um Yeah, you

01:04:27

didn't drink until your mom start Why

01:04:29

Why did you start drinking? Was it to

01:04:31

like to cope with the passing of your

01:04:33

mom or what? No, I don't think so. It's

01:04:34

just that it was something that I'd

01:04:36

never done before and I uh I I was

01:04:38

obviously a chef and a cook and everyone

01:04:41

around me drank and and I was always

01:04:44

like, "Nah, I don't want to drink. I'm

01:04:46

not." It made me feel cool that I was

01:04:48

the only one that wouldn't drink. And

01:04:50

then I was just like I was just hanging

01:04:52

out one night and and somebody was like,

01:04:54

"Bro, you want a beer?" And I was just

01:04:55

like, "Yeah, I'll take a beer." Yeah.

01:04:57

Just want a beer. Just wanted to see

01:04:59

what what all the fuss was about, I

01:05:02

guess. Yeah. And and what sort of um

01:05:04

what was your drug of choice? What were

01:05:06

you uh coke? Yeah. Hell yeah. Uh I mean

01:05:10

pretty much Yeah. pills. I would crush

01:05:13

up pills and snort them and [ __ ] I mean

01:05:16

just anything that make you feel good,

01:05:18

man. Anything that makes you feel good.

01:05:20

I I I I smoked weed when I was like I

01:05:23

started smoking weed when I think I was

01:05:25

12. And then I smoked weed from 12 till

01:05:28

like maybe 20.

01:05:32

And I never really really liked weed. It

01:05:35

always made me like I don't I don't know

01:05:37

if you it made me nervous, but it

01:05:39

definitely made me like anxiety. Like it

01:05:42

would just I would I would just be like,

01:05:43

"Oh, why am I [ __ ] smoking this

01:05:45

shit?" Paranoia. Yeah. It would just

01:05:47

make me paranoid and make me like I

01:05:49

don't want to talk to anyone. It would

01:05:51

do the opposite of what it did for some

01:05:52

people. Um you know, there's a lot like

01:05:56

like Bob Marley and [ __ ] He smokes and

01:05:57

he's chill and just wants to talk and

01:05:59

hang out. I mean, it didn't make it did

01:06:01

not make me want to do that. It made me

01:06:03

want to [ __ ] just be like, "Leave me

01:06:04

alone, man." You know, I'm in the I'm in

01:06:06

the corner looking around and it just

01:06:08

made me paranoid. I never But but

01:06:11

anything that was an upper Anything that

01:06:13

was an upper and made me move and want

01:06:14

to dance and party like Yeah, it made me

01:06:17

feel good. Yes. It's a bit of an

01:06:19

escapism from your reality, I guess. But

01:06:21

then the on the flip on the downside,

01:06:23

then you you know, you're depressed as

01:06:26

[ __ ] the next morning. Yeah. Yeah.

01:06:28

You're actually worse than where you

01:06:29

were in the in the start. It's like a

01:06:31

cycle that keeps on going. Yeah. I call

01:06:33

it borrowing happiness from tomorrow.

01:06:35

Yeah, that's a good one. That's what I

01:06:37

would do. Um, so you moved from Kentucky

01:06:40

to San Francisco for love. So

01:06:43

was was it a a girl in San Francisco or

01:06:45

a girl? There was a there was a girl in

01:06:48

SF. Yeah, there was a girl in SF. I

01:06:51

mean, I moved there. That's a big move,

01:06:52

eh? What is it like a four hour flight?

01:06:54

Five hour flight. Yeah, it's like a

01:06:55

four- hour flight. Yeah, I had been

01:06:57

there a couple times. Um, I mean,

01:07:00

really, I just wanted to I wasn't doing

01:07:02

nothing in Kentucky. There's nothing to

01:07:04

do there. There's nowhere to work, you

01:07:07

know what I mean? I was working at

01:07:08

Walmart. I was cash register at Walmart,

01:07:11

you know what I mean? And it was

01:07:12

depressing as hell. And then before

01:07:14

that, I was making like eight bucks an

01:07:15

hour in 2010. And then before that I was

01:07:19

working at I was like building like

01:07:21

wooden doors in a door factory like

01:07:24

pressing the machine and

01:07:27

yeah I wasn't doing much and and I just

01:07:29

wanted to do something and uh yeah San

01:07:33

Francisco was a play but it seems like

01:07:35

it wasn't great there though for seven

01:07:37

years seven years on and off you were

01:07:38

like couch surfing or sleeping rough

01:07:42

living rough. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so,

01:07:45

uh, yeah, I had moved there. I move I

01:07:46

moved in with this chick and then, uh,

01:07:49

she ended up cheating on me and I ended

01:07:51

up dipping and, uh, I was working at

01:07:55

Whole Foods at the time. And then this

01:07:58

dude, uh, at at Whole Foods, who I

01:08:01

worked with, I was I was like, "Hey,

01:08:02

bro, like like do you mind like letting

01:08:04

me sleep on your couch just for like a

01:08:06

couple months before I save up some

01:08:07

money and and get my own apartment?" And

01:08:10

uh, he was like he was like, "Oh, yeah,

01:08:12

hell yeah." So he was he was like, "Oh,

01:08:14

I'll just charge you 600 bucks a month

01:08:16

for sleeping on the couch or whatever."

01:08:17

I was like, "That's chill. That's chill,

01:08:19

bro. I'll take it. I'll take it." So,

01:08:22

uh, I ended up doing that for like a

01:08:24

couple years just because it was like,

01:08:26

"Why would I, you know what I mean? This

01:08:28

is this is fine. I mean, I don't need

01:08:30

anything really." So, and then we got

01:08:33

evicted or because we would just drink

01:08:35

and and act up and go nuts. So, we got

01:08:38

they got evicted from there. And once

01:08:40

they got evicted from there, I was

01:08:42

homeless for like 3 months. And and a

01:08:45

buddy of mine who was also like sleeping

01:08:48

rough in and out, there was this hotel

01:08:50

in North Beach that uh you can they

01:08:55

charge by the day like, you know, 2530

01:08:57

bucks a day. But everyone in there is

01:08:59

junkies. Everyone in there is junkies.

01:09:01

And it's like a communal bathroom on one

01:09:04

floor and then like the shower you got

01:09:07

to wear slippers or or you got to wear

01:09:09

like you know what do you call them?

01:09:12

Jandles. Jandles. You got you got to

01:09:13

wear jandals up in there like you're in

01:09:15

jail and all that. And um yeah man it

01:09:18

was just uh we slept there some some

01:09:21

days some days I you know would drink so

01:09:24

much that I wouldn't even remember where

01:09:25

I'm at and I would sleep on the ground

01:09:27

or I would sleep on the bench. You know

01:09:30

what I mean? Um but yeah, brief brief

01:09:33

moments of that. People sometimes people

01:09:34

ask me they're like, "Oh my god, you

01:09:36

were homeless for years." And I'm like,

01:09:36

"No, no, no, no, no." You know, I I

01:09:39

experienced brief brief moments of that.

01:09:41

But um I mean in in the sense where you

01:09:43

say, "I don't have a home to go to." I

01:09:45

guess you could say that. For sure.

01:09:47

Yeah.

01:09:49

Yeah. What are your observations of how

01:09:50

people treated you during during that

01:09:52

time? Like were people mostly kind to

01:09:53

you or did people sort of look down upon

01:09:55

you? People didn't give a [ __ ] Yeah.

01:09:57

People don't give a [ __ ] There's so

01:09:58

many homeless people in SF, bro. And and

01:10:02

every single everybody's battling to to

01:10:06

get that buck, you know what I mean? And

01:10:08

and and and San Francisco's open drug

01:10:10

laws and [ __ ] People just walking

01:10:13

around smoking bubbles and and smoking

01:10:16

crack, you know? It it is what it is.

01:10:18

And nobody care. Cops don't care, you

01:10:20

know? So So that's that's how people

01:10:22

see. Um it's it's weird as hell. San

01:10:26

Francisco is the one place that that you

01:10:28

can have a $2 million

01:10:31

house and then walk outside and on your

01:10:35

front porch somebody's smoking crack and

01:10:37

there's not, you know what I mean? It's

01:10:38

just like what the [ __ ] what's going on

01:10:39

here? But um there's just a big giant

01:10:42

divide, man. A big big divide of of

01:10:45

wealth and and um nobody seems to give a

01:10:48

[ __ ] Is what it is. Yeah. I I don't

01:10:50

know if this is um I think I read this

01:10:51

somewhere, but I don't know if this is

01:10:52

true or it may actually may have been in

01:10:53

a Malcolm Gladwell book. Um, but when

01:10:55

Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York and

01:10:57

there was a massive homeless problem

01:10:59

there, I don't think he gave a lot of

01:11:01

the homeless people in New York like a

01:11:02

one-way a one-way ticket to San Fran. I

01:11:04

bet. I bet. So, like transferred the

01:11:06

problem from one side of the states to

01:11:08

the other. That's what they do. That's

01:11:09

what they do, man. All of them. You

01:11:11

know, winters are a bit kinder in San

01:11:14

Fran if you're going to be sleeping

01:11:15

rough, I guess. Yeah. There's Well, the

01:11:17

the thing about it is is there's a lot

01:11:18

of programs a lot of programs in San

01:11:21

Francisco and in California that that

01:11:23

help people with uh with with assistance

01:11:26

and government aid and and and they're

01:11:28

real lenient about, you know, food

01:11:30

stamps and all that. So, so it's uh it

01:11:33

it's very very liberal and and there's a

01:11:37

lot of people that that get help, but

01:11:38

the obviously the bad thing is that

01:11:41

people tend to take advantage of that

01:11:43

type of [ __ ] Yeah. So, so it was during

01:11:46

this sort of time that you were um

01:11:47

swiped on Tinder and you met uh Lisa,

01:11:50

the your New Zealand girlfriend, Amy.

01:11:53

Amy, sorry. Yeah, Amy. Yeah. And

01:11:56

um Yeah. Yeah. Have you reflected on

01:11:59

that time with her? Like like what did

01:12:00

she see in you? Yeah. I don't know. I'm

01:12:03

handsome, attractive, you know. No. Uh

01:12:07

you she she must have seen um Yeah.

01:12:10

Yeah, like we we sort of touched upon

01:12:11

this earlier, like some some potential

01:12:12

in you that you hadn't yet seen in

01:12:14

yourself. Yeah, probably like long-term

01:12:16

potential. Probably. I mean, beyond

01:12:18

those devilish good looks. Yeah, true.

01:12:21

Uh yeah, I don't know. I was I was, you

01:12:24

know, and I still am madly in love with

01:12:26

her, you know? Um uh I don't think I'd

01:12:29

ever met somebody from New Zealand

01:12:31

either, you know what I mean? And and uh

01:12:34

she just seemed from another planet to

01:12:36

me. And I think

01:12:38

uh she was just so kind, you know. I I

01:12:42

don't think I've met anyone as kind and

01:12:44

and as caring and as genuine, you know,

01:12:47

and and she didn't care that I didn't

01:12:49

have a bunch of money and and she didn't

01:12:51

care that, you know, I didn't have a car

01:12:54

and I was driving around and and she

01:12:56

genuinely didn't care. She she just

01:13:00

loved me and and cared about me for for

01:13:03

the person that I am. And um I don't

01:13:06

think I'd ever in my life met somebody

01:13:08

like that.

01:13:10

Um she swears up and down, oh I've

01:13:12

always I always know I've always known

01:13:14

you. This is this isn't anything

01:13:16

surprising to me. I always known, you

01:13:18

know, and then I have to believe her,

01:13:22

you know. You do do you think in some

01:13:24

ways she sort of like filled the the the

01:13:26

void in you that was missing from

01:13:28

family? Yeah. 100%. I had nobody, you

01:13:32

know, I didn't know anybody. Um, all of

01:13:36

my friends were people I just got into

01:13:37

trouble with and um, you know, indulged

01:13:42

with. I didn't nobody I didn't have any

01:13:44

family in California. You know, I never

01:13:47

really got along with my family. I

01:13:48

didn't see eye to eye with my family.

01:13:50

I've always really felt like pretty

01:13:52

alone, you know what I mean? And not not

01:13:54

in a sad or depressing way, but just

01:13:56

just I've just always felt like I've

01:13:58

been on my own my whole life. and and

01:14:00

she's the one person that that I'd met

01:14:03

um that I didn't I I did I swear to God

01:14:06

I really didn't feel alone no more.

01:14:08

Yeah. It's weird.

01:14:11

That's so cool.

01:14:13

Yeah. Does she know this stuff or will

01:14:15

she just be hearing this for the first

01:14:17

time? She has no idea. She thinks I just

01:14:19

think she's hot.

01:14:22

She has no idea this on the podcast.

01:14:23

This is this is really powerful stuff.

01:14:25

So what so you meet her and um at that

01:14:28

point you thought New Zealand was part

01:14:29

of Europe. Um yeah you what were the um

01:14:31

what were the your big surprises and

01:14:34

first impressions when you got here.

01:14:35

Were you were you alarmed at how low the

01:14:36

water level is in the toilet? No, I

01:14:39

wasn't alarmed by that. It's very high

01:14:41

in the States, isn't it? Yeah, it's very

01:14:42

high. No, actually I was alarmed by

01:14:44

that. I swear to God I was. I was like,

01:14:46

"What the?" And and I still have a a

01:14:49

chip on my shoulder about that. I'm

01:14:50

like, "Fill it up, man. Fill up the

01:14:52

bowl." But what about um uh when you go

01:14:55

to the mall here and you use the toilet,

01:14:57

it's nice to not have a crack in the

01:14:58

door. That is not Well, no, I kind of

01:15:01

like it. I like a little company every

01:15:02

now and then. Just an eyeball peering

01:15:05

in. Yeah. See what's going on out there.

01:15:07

For anyone that hasn't been to the

01:15:08

States. Yeah. There's massive massive

01:15:10

like cracks in the door of the L. Yeah.

01:15:13

But also pros and cons. They also have

01:15:14

the um the toilet seat covers in the

01:15:16

States that they dispense quite

01:15:17

liberally. Yep. Yep. The water levels

01:15:19

are nice and good. Um, what about slang?

01:15:22

New Zealand slang. Like, did you find it

01:15:25

hard to get your head around that?

01:15:28

Um, yeah. I mean, the all blacks was a

01:15:30

weird one. I was like, you you call them

01:15:32

the what?

01:15:34

Excuse me. I don't think I can say that.

01:15:37

Um, yeah. A little different from

01:15:39

America. Yeah. But, uh, no. Yeah. Like I

01:15:43

I just said it right there. No. Yeah.

01:15:45

I'll be saying to I I always say like

01:15:47

I'll be talking on the phone with my

01:15:48

brother and I'll be like, "Oh, it's

01:15:50

pretty cold over there." Hey. And he'll

01:15:51

be like, "Hey, are you Canadian now?"

01:15:54

And I'm like, "Oh, [ __ ] Sorry." But uh

01:15:57

yeah. No, I [ __ ] with the slang. I [ __ ]

01:16:00

with the slang. Yeah. Um what are um Oh,

01:16:03

yeah. What about the exchange rate when

01:16:04

you got here? You must have felt rich.

01:16:05

You must have felt cashed up from Bro, I

01:16:07

came here with nothing. I came here with

01:16:09

nothing. My girl had all the money. I

01:16:11

came here with nothing. Uh yeah. I

01:16:13

suppose if you're transferring nothing

01:16:14

to nothing, it still equals nothing. Um,

01:16:18

what about um the tipping thing? Did

01:16:20

Yeah, you tipping is massive massive

01:16:22

part of the US culture. Yeah, big time.

01:16:24

Um, yeah. What did you think about that

01:16:26

when you came here, especially being

01:16:27

with your background in hospitality?

01:16:30

Uh, I loved it to be honest

01:16:34

because just pay people a normal wage,

01:16:36

man. You ain't got to be tipping and and

01:16:38

it's not up to the person. It's not up

01:16:40

to the person to to split the

01:16:41

difference. If you hire somebody, pay

01:16:44

them a wage. You know, it doesn't I

01:16:47

don't I still don't understand tipping.

01:16:48

I know. I I I I know. I looked it up and

01:16:51

apparently it was in the prohibition

01:16:54

days they they introduced tipping to be

01:16:57

able to I don't [ __ ] know. I'm not

01:17:00

going to just [ __ ] I don't know.

01:17:02

Yeah. I don't get it. Yeah. Yeah. I

01:17:04

don't I don't get it either because it's

01:17:05

not like the meals are particularly

01:17:06

cheap in the States. So, you're paying a

01:17:08

normal normal price for a meal and then

01:17:10

it's like someone's someone's taking

01:17:12

that money and not paying the staff what

01:17:13

they're worth. Yeah. Well, they're

01:17:15

paying them like $2 an hour, a dollar an

01:17:17

hour, which is like I guess federally

01:17:20

that came into play during prohibition.

01:17:21

So, or or or some Great Depression or

01:17:24

something so people could hire people,

01:17:26

but it's like this isn't the [ __ ] 30s

01:17:28

no more. You know what I mean? What What

01:17:30

about um things things that um New

01:17:32

Zealand does better and worse than the

01:17:34

States?

01:17:35

uh

01:17:37

better.

01:17:40

Um I mean I that's a that's a really I

01:17:44

know that there's a lot that you guys do

01:17:46

better, but that's such a like putting

01:17:47

me on the spot. Um

01:17:51

yeah, I don't know. Everybody I just

01:17:52

know everybody's nicer here, man.

01:17:54

Everybody's so damn sweet. Even the like

01:17:57

scary gangsters, you know, that are got

01:18:00

ts all over their face and [ __ ] are

01:18:01

super [ __ ] nice people, you know what

01:18:04

I mean? Um, and then and then in

01:18:06

America, the the the [ __ ] guy with

01:18:08

the suit on is a [ __ ] [ __ ] Do you

01:18:10

know what I mean? It's just it just

01:18:12

doesn't make any sense. Um, but but

01:18:14

yeah, everybody's real sweet here and

01:18:16

and everybody is just I feel like

01:18:18

everybody's just real happy to be a

01:18:21

Kiwi. You know, in America, you got

01:18:23

people that are like extremists on both

01:18:26

ends that are like, I'm [ __ ] American

01:18:27

and you can't tell me otherwise, and if

01:18:29

you're if you don't like the Fifth

01:18:30

Amendment, get [ __ ] out of my country.

01:18:32

And then there's people that are like, I

01:18:34

hate it here. I don't want to be

01:18:35

American. Like, everybody just really

01:18:37

seems to

01:18:38

be real real uh prideful to be to be a

01:18:42

Kiwi. And and uh it's [ __ ] rad

01:18:44

because it's a great place with great

01:18:46

people and then uh I don't ever ever

01:18:49

ever want to leave. Oh, we don't want

01:18:51

you to leave either. Yeah, apparently.

01:18:52

Which is good. Thank you. Yeah, we give

01:18:54

you permission to leave to set up that

01:18:55

store in Germany or Yeah. Um what about

01:18:58

your siblings? Have they Have they been

01:18:59

over to see what you've created here? My

01:19:01

little brother. I flew my little brother

01:19:03

out. My little brother. He uh in the

01:19:05

broke boy private plane. No. Hell no.

01:19:08

No. It was his first time flying ever.

01:19:11

It was his first time flying ever. And

01:19:13

um I I was real proud of him. He's he's

01:19:15

got real uh he he's autistic. He's

01:19:17

pretty deep on the spectrum autistic.

01:19:19

And you know, he walks everywhere on his

01:19:21

tiptoes and you know, he won't look you

01:19:23

in the eye when he's talking to you, but

01:19:24

but he's a a sweet sweet kid. And um it

01:19:28

was real real awesome to see him. It's

01:19:31

kind of weird because I, you know, I'm

01:19:33

not close with any of my family really.

01:19:36

I mean,

01:19:37

um, and that's probably because of the

01:19:40

way that we was raised or whatever, but

01:19:42

um, I still try to keep in touch and and

01:19:44

talk to them on the phone every now and

01:19:46

then and and um, they're obviously real

01:19:49

happy for for me and and uh, they think

01:19:52

it's crazy what's happening. Yeah, they

01:19:54

think it's crazy. It is crazy, but it's

01:19:56

welld deserved. Oh, what about um um a

01:19:59

thing called tall poppy syndrome? Have

01:20:00

you heard of tall poppy syndrome? Are

01:20:01

you familiar with that? Is it is that a

01:20:04

is that a thing in the states? It might

01:20:05

have a different name. I think I've

01:20:06

heard it in the states called like crabs

01:20:07

in a barrel or crabs in a bucket. I

01:20:09

heard it in the States called uh being a

01:20:11

[ __ ] hater. You know what I mean?

01:20:13

People are haters. No. Uh yeah. Look,

01:20:17

everybody just wants it to happen to

01:20:18

them. I get it. You know, I would I

01:20:20

would be back when I was flipping

01:20:22

burgers or or or making seven bucks an

01:20:24

hour. I'd see somebody be like, "Oh my

01:20:25

god, I can't believe I'm you know," and

01:20:27

I'd be like, "Man, [ __ ] that dude, man."

01:20:29

man. Like, damn. I get it. But, um, I

01:20:34

think

01:20:34

everybody everybody wants to be success.

01:20:37

We all want the same things in life,

01:20:38

man. We just want we just we just want

01:20:40

to find love. We want to be loved. We

01:20:42

want to be happy. And um we don't want

01:20:46

to have to worry about bills and and

01:20:47

worry about having to eat if we're

01:20:50

hungry. And and we just want to take

01:20:53

care of our families. And we all want

01:20:54

the same thing. So, um, that whole tall

01:20:57

poppy syndrome, I don't think I've ever

01:20:59

I've never been a victim of it. I know

01:21:01

other people in New Zealand have said,

01:21:03

you know, like, you know, everybody

01:21:06

tries to chop each other down. And I I

01:21:09

haven't been a victim of that. People

01:21:11

are always like, "Bro, people tell me,

01:21:14

they're like, bro, do you realize how

01:21:15

famous you are?" And I'm like, "No, I'm

01:21:17

just I just make videos and I make

01:21:19

food." I mean, maybe maybe I don't get

01:21:21

it because I I do it before anybody else

01:21:23

can do it. You know, nobody's more

01:21:24

shocked. Nobody's more shocked than me

01:21:26

about what's going on. Will you ever

01:21:29

become a resident? Do you I got my

01:21:31

permanent residency. Really? I got my

01:21:33

permanent resi. I'm a Kiwi. Yes, sir.

01:21:35

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm so excited. What

01:21:38

does you have to do to get that? You

01:21:39

have to sit a test or

01:21:41

No, I think for the citizenship, I think

01:21:43

you might have to do a test, which I'm

01:21:45

down for, and I will ace it when it

01:21:48

happens. But for the residency, I think

01:21:50

you just have there's some criteria you

01:21:52

got to meet and and obviously I'm uh I'm

01:21:55

a big I think I'm a big pillar in the

01:21:57

community and um um I just want

01:21:59

everybody to be successful and and

01:22:01

everybody to be happy and treat each

01:22:02

other with respect and uh uh you know

01:22:05

cuz we all in this together. We all in

01:22:07

this together. If one person saying,

01:22:09

"Oh, well I don't like you because of

01:22:10

this, that, and the other," that's

01:22:11

nonsense, man. We all we all Kiwi. We

01:22:13

all in this together. Yeah. And everyone

01:22:16

can succeed. And that's um that's sort

01:22:18

of the the opposite of um tall puppy

01:22:20

syndrome. Like tall puppy syndrome is

01:22:21

like I'm not succeeding so I don't want

01:22:23

that person. There's enough to go room

01:22:26

at the table. Yeah. There's plenty of

01:22:27

room at the table. Um is there anything

01:22:30

you you you know you miss about drugs or

01:22:32

alcohol or are you scared of relapsing

01:22:34

or not at all now? It's so far in the

01:22:36

rear view now. You know what they say is

01:22:38

they they say never um say that you're

01:22:42

never going to do it again. They say

01:22:44

take it a day day by day. Um because

01:22:47

when you say I'll never drink again or

01:22:48

I'll never do this again. It seems

01:22:50

almost like a unachievable task. It

01:22:52

seems like a mountain you got to climb.

01:22:55

Um but when you do it, you just wake up

01:22:58

one morning and you say, "I'm not going

01:22:59

to drink today." It's a lot easier to

01:23:01

do. And then before you know it, you've

01:23:03

got three and a half years where you

01:23:05

haven't touched it. Um I don't I don't

01:23:09

know if I'll drink again. I don't know.

01:23:11

May maybe I will, you know. I don't

01:23:13

know. Robin Williams went 22 years I

01:23:17

believe of no alcohol and then one day

01:23:19

he was in shooting a movie in Alaska and

01:23:23

just went into a bar and just said I'm

01:23:25

going to have a drink today and had a

01:23:26

drink and then sure enough he went on a

01:23:28

bender again for a month and then

01:23:30

realized well it doesn't matter how long

01:23:33

I go without it I'm still the same old

01:23:35

me. Um I don't know if I'll drink again.

01:23:38

Maybe one day I'll maybe one day I will.

01:23:40

But

01:23:41

um you know I I think even even though

01:23:45

you just sort of white knuckled this and

01:23:46

did this on your own um I feel like what

01:23:48

you were saying is sort of like what

01:23:49

what they what they teach people in AA

01:23:52

like just one day at a time. Yeah. You

01:23:53

know you have people that like well you

01:23:55

know what what about my my son's not

01:23:58

even born yet. But what about my son's

01:23:59

21st? Am I not allowed to be there? So

01:24:01

what about like there's there's one

01:24:02

thing because me and my fiance uh what

01:24:04

about our wedding? You know what I mean?

01:24:07

Are we gonna be able to have a drink

01:24:08

together at our wedding? Um, probably

01:24:11

not. Keep it real. But, um, it's just

01:24:15

how important that that that tradition

01:24:17

and all that [ __ ] is to you. It's not

01:24:19

it's not very important to me. The the

01:24:21

reason why I drink is not because it's

01:24:22

an event. The reason I I drink is

01:24:25

because uh um, you know, I want to feel

01:24:30

different than what I currently feel.

01:24:32

Yeah. Yeah. There's This is like some

01:24:35

quote I saw on Instagram. It's like

01:24:36

people drink to escape the life they've

01:24:38

got where the the dream should be to

01:24:39

create a life that you don't want to

01:24:40

escape from, which I feel like is

01:24:41

exactly what you've done. You know

01:24:42

what's another great quote? What's that?

01:24:45

Is

01:24:46

um sobriety has given me all the things

01:24:50

that alcohol has promised me.

01:24:54

And I think that's that's a real big

01:24:55

one, bro. Is that

01:24:58

um without being sober, there's no way I

01:25:01

would have done all this. I would have

01:25:02

woke up one day and gone, I'm never

01:25:04

going to be [ __ ] I this is stupid. This

01:25:07

is embarrassing. Why am I even trying?

01:25:09

And I would have cracked open another

01:25:10

gym beam and just went nuts, you know.

01:25:13

Um but it really is about being focused.

01:25:18

My whole life, bro, from since I can

01:25:20

remember, 12 years old onward, I've

01:25:22

been, you know, either smoking weed or

01:25:24

I've been drinking or I've been doing

01:25:26

something where my brain cloud clouding

01:25:28

my brain. Like, I can finally use my

01:25:32

brain and um you know, I'm a lot smarter

01:25:35

than I thought I was apparently.

01:25:40

Yeah. What would you What would your

01:25:41

message be for anyone that's um

01:25:42

listening to this or watching this now

01:25:43

with um addiction issues of their own?

01:25:48

Uh yeah, you can do it. It's not

01:25:50

impossible. It's not impossible. You

01:25:53

know, when I when I was one of the one

01:25:55

of the last memories I have of really

01:25:57

going on a bender is uh I had a seizure,

01:26:01

which I' I'm not I've never had a

01:26:02

seizure in my life. I've never done any

01:26:05

of that. You feel almost like hopeless

01:26:07

when you wake up the next day and you're

01:26:09

shaking and you need another drink. It's

01:26:10

like, how is this ever going to end? But

01:26:13

it it it can end. And everything can get

01:26:18

better for real. Yeah. Yeah. And in

01:26:22

quite a quick period of time as well.

01:26:24

Very fast. Yeah. Very fast. Um I saw a

01:26:27

quote from you which I really really

01:26:28

liked. Uh we are all humans. We're all

01:26:30

dealing with a lot of [ __ ] The way I

01:26:32

fixed mine is with tacos, which is a

01:26:34

cute quote. But um and you were so right

01:26:36

with that quote. What what's the [ __ ]

01:26:37

you're dealing with now?

01:26:39

Um, the [ __ ] I'm dealing with

01:26:41

now is just

01:26:44

um how to not [ __ ] it up. I guess that's

01:26:47

that's kind of what stresses me out. Um,

01:26:50

is is just to make the right correct

01:26:52

decisions. I've never had any money in

01:26:56

my life and I've

01:26:57

never been a very responsible person and

01:27:01

um I have to learn now how not to [ __ ]

01:27:04

it up. Well, I reckon that's a fairly

01:27:06

safe bet. But you you're held now 30 38

01:27:09

38. So you've got enough you've got

01:27:12

enough data now to know that if you

01:27:14

follow your instincts, it's it's going

01:27:16

to end up all right. You figure it out.

01:27:18

Yeah. So I reckon if you you follow your

01:27:19

instincts, you're not going to you're

01:27:20

not going to [ __ ] it up. It's worked

01:27:22

well for you so far. Um got a couple of

01:27:25

just easy ones to finish with. Um what

01:27:28

would you say your best qualities are?

01:27:32

Um my best qualities I'm I'm very blunt.

01:27:35

Yeah. Yeah, say it how it is. Um, a lot

01:27:38

of people, you see, you say it's a best

01:27:40

a best quality. A lot of other people

01:27:41

around you might be like, "That's one of

01:27:43

your worst qualities." Some of my

01:27:44

employees are like, "Jesus Christ, this

01:27:45

guy's an asshole." Um, no, I think I

01:27:48

think it is a good quality, man. I think

01:27:49

I think some people are a bit too timid

01:27:52

and um, you know, like they they they

01:27:55

really want to say how they feel or or

01:27:59

they really need something done, but

01:28:00

they instead they're like, "Hey, maybe

01:28:02

we should maybe try to do this." and

01:28:05

just we don't have a lot of time, you

01:28:08

know what I mean? We don't have a lot of

01:28:09

time. Just just say how you feel, get it

01:28:12

done, and and just be yourself. And um I

01:28:15

always be myself. Um you know, there's

01:28:17

there's a stigma in what I do, which is,

01:28:20

you know, I'm not a [ __ ] idiot. I'm a

01:28:22

white person making Mexican food. And

01:28:24

there's a lot of people that have

01:28:26

approached me and tried to call me

01:28:28

culture vulture or this, that, and the

01:28:30

other. Um, look, I've spent a lot of

01:28:33

time a lot of time um, hang in Mexi with

01:28:38

Mexican culture and and Mexi, all my

01:28:41

Mexican homeboys in in California. And I

01:28:44

don't got anything to prove to to to

01:28:46

anybody on that type of [ __ ] I don't

01:28:48

care. You know, everybody's got their

01:28:50

opinions. Not everybody's going to like

01:28:51

you no matter what you do or what you

01:28:53

say. Not everyone's going to like you,

01:28:55

no matter how you dress, you know what I

01:28:57

mean? So, um, it is what it is. just

01:28:58

just be yourself and and uh yeah enjoy

01:29:02

life. Yeah. I'd say that right there is

01:29:04

um that's an example of tall poppy. Oh

01:29:07

yeah. Yeah. You get to that point where

01:29:08

you're successful enough that people are

01:29:10

going to come at you. Call you a culture

01:29:12

vulture. I mean people people Mexican

01:29:14

restaurants around Oakland that don't

01:29:15

have Mexican people working. Yeah. True.

01:29:17

Hey, true. Yeah. Yeah. Bet. Yeah. I mean

01:29:19

people been coming at me like my whole

01:29:20

life though. People I've been I've been

01:29:22

fighting my whole life. People been

01:29:24

hating on me my whole life. So I guess I

01:29:26

guess it's just I don't see it as

01:29:28

specifically tall Poppy. I just see

01:29:30

people as people people as haters, you

01:29:32

know. It is what it is. Yeah. Keep it

01:29:34

pushing. What's your most toxic trait?

01:29:37

My most toxic trait or if your fiance

01:29:41

was here, what would she say? Oh my god.

01:29:44

She'd be like, "This [ __ ] never

01:29:46

does the

01:29:47

dishes. He leaves his damn underwear on

01:29:49

the floor." Yeah.

01:29:51

Uh

01:29:54

probably. Yeah, probably that I'm a bit

01:29:56

messy, man. Yeah, I grew up the the way

01:29:59

that I grew up, I just take pop my shirt

01:30:00

off and chuck it on the floor and my

01:30:02

girls just drives her nuts.

01:30:04

Um, I play a lot of video games, man. I

01:30:08

get I'm I'm one of them people that if I

01:30:09

sit down and start playing video games

01:30:11

like online and stuff, I just won't get

01:30:12

I'll just behind my headset like what'

01:30:15

you say? And my girl will be like,

01:30:17

"Yeah, so we got dinner plans tonight."

01:30:19

And I'd be like, "Huh?" And she'll be

01:30:20

like, "Ah, never mind." You know,

01:30:22

probably that. It's funny that you're

01:30:24

messy at home e because um yeah your

01:30:26

your restaurant it's so pristine

01:30:28

extremely spotless. Yeah. And that's on

01:30:30

purpose because um I'm a real big

01:30:33

believer in

01:30:34

um you

01:30:36

know if if you walk up and the first

01:30:40

thing you see is the outside glass and

01:30:43

that's clean, that's really really

01:30:45

clean, that's a big indicator that the

01:30:47

inside of the restaurant is probably

01:30:49

clean. Um, and you want to eat at a

01:30:53

clean place. It It must be must be

01:30:55

spotless. That's why everything is

01:30:56

white. It'll It'll show you. Well, if I

01:30:58

went there on Saturday and your aunties

01:31:00

were on the floor, I probably wouldn't

01:31:02

want to want to eat that. Don't get a

01:31:04

plate. Uh, when when was the last time

01:31:06

you cried?

01:31:07

Uh, that's a good question, man. Are you

01:31:10

an emotional guy on? Not so much. Not so

01:31:12

much, man. No, no, not so much. I

01:31:16

uh yeah I mean I don't want to say like

01:31:21

I'm I'm like a very bitter person or an

01:31:23

angry person, you know, but there is a

01:31:26

lot about uh you know the way that I

01:31:30

grew up and and the things the

01:31:32

tragedies, you know, I I I feel like I I

01:31:34

I had a life of

01:31:37

tragedy, you know, and

01:31:39

um there's a lot of [ __ ] that I'm angry

01:31:41

about and and bitter about, but

01:31:44

Um, just like everybody else, I guess.

01:31:46

Just like everybody else, you know. I

01:31:48

feel

01:31:49

like like maybe I I never I never had

01:31:52

like a fair shake at life, you know? But

01:31:55

but there there ain't nothing I can say

01:31:56

about it now. You know what I mean?

01:31:58

There's nothing I can say about it now

01:32:00

because I've I' I've overcame that and

01:32:02

and I've I've reaped the rewards tfold

01:32:05

now. You know, I'm probably I would ar

01:32:09

say arguably the

01:32:11

most influential chef in New Zealand,

01:32:14

maybe. You know what I mean? Like

01:32:16

actually, I'm not just saying that. So,

01:32:20

um, you can't you can't change your

01:32:22

past. Like Dana White always says like,

01:32:25

"I never look at my past. I never look

01:32:28

at my past because what's the point? You

01:32:30

always should look in the future and the

01:32:31

in the present and the future because

01:32:33

what's the point of looking at the past?

01:32:34

You can't change it. There ain't nothing

01:32:35

you can do about it. Yeah. The best

01:32:37

thing you can do with it is use it as

01:32:38

information to fuel the future. I use it

01:32:40

as fuel. You know, I I I I wake up and I

01:32:43

and I go that much harder because I know

01:32:45

I will never ever ever have a chance

01:32:47

like this again. And I was never granted

01:32:49

a chance. But the one chance I do get, I

01:32:51

will never I will I won't [ __ ] it up. Is

01:32:54

there a mistake that you wish? Yeah.

01:32:56

Speaking of the past, any mistake that

01:32:58

you wish you could go back and correct?

01:33:01

I mean, everything brought me here. Hey,

01:33:03

it's a rough one because everything

01:33:05

brought me here. Yeah, that's the thing.

01:33:06

So, if you change one thing, it's a

01:33:08

butterfly effect. You seen that movie?

01:33:11

Ashton Coocher. Was it Ashton Coocher

01:33:13

movie? Yeah, man. It's a crazy movie.

01:33:16

Uh, yeah. Hell yeah. Shout out Ashton

01:33:18

Coocher, too. Uh,

01:33:22

Sliding Doors is Have you seen Sliding

01:33:23

Doors? I've never seen Sliding Doors.

01:33:25

It's the same sort of thing. A sliding

01:33:26

doors moment. Yeah. I don't think I

01:33:28

don't think so, man. I I don't think so.

01:33:29

There's a there's I think you have to

01:33:32

learn these horrible heartbreaking

01:33:34

moments. You have to go through them um

01:33:37

to be able

01:33:39

to do what you currently are doing. You

01:33:41

know, like people like my girl asked me

01:33:43

like, "How are you not stressed out

01:33:44

non-stop by all these, you know,

01:33:46

meetings and and all this money that's

01:33:49

being funneled into it and you're

01:33:50

responsible for 20 different employees

01:33:52

and you how how is that not stress you

01:33:54

out?" And I said, "Because I've been

01:33:55

through worse [ __ ] I've been through

01:33:57

way worse [ __ ] than this, you know, so

01:33:59

this ain't nothing. Yeah. Oh, and yeah,

01:34:02

as I mentioned earlier, quote from Izzy,

01:34:04

pressure is a privilege. Pressure

01:34:05

creates diamonds. Yeah. Yeah. Um, who's

01:34:08

your biggest inspiration?

01:34:13

Um, probably my mom. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

01:34:17

Yeah. I would have loved, you know,

01:34:19

that's that's another thing that that

01:34:21

sometimes I think probably one probably

01:34:23

last time I cried was was because, you

01:34:26

know, some days, man, I don't want to

01:34:27

get too [ __ ] sentimental and

01:34:29

emotional. I But but some of these days,

01:34:32

man, I just I just want to pick up the

01:34:34

phone and call my mom and just be like,

01:34:36

"Man, I can't. Mom, you won't believe

01:34:37

what happened today, you know?" But I'll

01:34:40

never have the chance to do that. I'll

01:34:41

never do that. Um,

01:34:44

and it is what it is. But, um, that's

01:34:48

one of them things, man, is is that, uh,

01:34:51

yeah, my mom was a big inspiration. My

01:34:52

mom was a lot like me. She was real

01:34:54

funny and and outgoing and, uh, yeah, my

01:34:58

uncle my uncle Richard, he he always be

01:35:00

like, "You, man, you're so much like

01:35:01

your mom. You just like spitting image

01:35:03

at her." And exact exactly the same uh,

01:35:06

personality and everything. And I know

01:35:08

my mom would trip out if she saw me.

01:35:10

you. But my mom would always tell me

01:35:13

like, you know, you're going to be

01:35:15

something. I know you're going to be

01:35:16

something one day. You got this. Like,

01:35:18

you got this. So, it would be [ __ ]

01:35:21

dope if I could show her like, I [ __ ]

01:35:22

told you so. You know, like you was

01:35:24

right. But, uh, yeah. One day, one day

01:35:28

I'll see her again. And Yeah. Yeah. Do

01:35:30

you believe in um do you believe in an

01:35:31

afterlife? Like, or do do you have

01:35:33

moments where you feel like she's like

01:35:34

watching over you or feeling presence?

01:35:36

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like and maybe

01:35:38

maybe not her as a physical being or

01:35:40

whatever, but

01:35:41

um yeah,

01:35:44

I feel like everything is connected. You

01:35:46

know what I mean? I'm not very spiritual

01:35:48

or or religious or any of that, bro. I

01:35:51

just I just think everybody, you know,

01:35:54

we're all human beings. We all go

01:35:57

through the same emotions and and

01:35:59

everybody like tragedy and heartbreak

01:36:02

happens to everyone in life, you know.

01:36:04

Um, and I think it's real important that

01:36:06

that everybody should remember that

01:36:08

whenever we're barking at each other

01:36:10

about politics or any of that [ __ ]

01:36:12

Yeah. It's like that quote from yours

01:36:13

that I read out earlier. We're all

01:36:15

human. We're all dealing with a lot of

01:36:16

[ __ ] You just don't know. You don't

01:36:17

know what [ __ ] anyone's dealing with.

01:36:19

Hell no. And sometimes people ain't

01:36:20

dealing with [ __ ] Sometimes people

01:36:22

don't deal with stuff for years and they

01:36:24

just balling out driving Corvettes.

01:36:26

Cool. But but but you know, some

01:36:29

sometimes people do deal with deal with

01:36:31

[ __ ] Yeah. You know what I mean? We,

01:36:33

like I said, we all want the same things

01:36:34

in life, you know what I mean? Yeah. I

01:36:37

just noticed your tattoo on your left um

01:36:39

on your left hand. Who's who's Hank? It

01:36:40

says, "Long live Hank." Uh yeah. Yeah.

01:36:42

That's uh one of my real real good

01:36:44

friends in uh in middle school. Uh Hank

01:36:48

Stevens. Shout out Hank Stevens. He he

01:36:49

he passed away when he was, I think,

01:36:53

27. He uh died in a motorcycle accident.

01:36:58

Yeah. A lot of people I know died. A lot

01:37:01

of people like my my high school

01:37:05

sweetheart Cheyenne Lawless. She she

01:37:07

died when she was 20, I think 28, 27,

01:37:10

26. Um, a lot of friends from school,

01:37:14

heroin overdoses or killed themselves or

01:37:17

whatnot. Uh, yeah, where I'm from, it's

01:37:20

not it's not all [ __ ] you know,

01:37:22

Skittles and rainbows. M um that's why I

01:37:25

put Kentucky on my forehead cuz it's a

01:37:27

always remind myself where I came from

01:37:29

and uh just

01:37:31

how you know I made it out and uh

01:37:35

um yeah won the lottery I guess you

01:37:37

could say. I really did.

01:37:40

Are you proud of yourself? Very proud of

01:37:42

myself. Yeah. Have you always been able

01:37:43

to say that or no? Not hell no. Nope.

01:37:47

I've always

01:37:48

been you know I've always when I was

01:37:51

younger yada yada I was always cocky.

01:37:53

You know what I'm saying? And I knew I

01:37:54

was good-looking, all that. I was

01:37:56

good-looking when I was younger, but um

01:37:59

I was never proud of myself, man. I was

01:38:01

always ashamed of myself. I was always

01:38:02

the poorest kid in school and

01:38:05

uh you know, I didn't have a family.

01:38:07

people people's parents would come and

01:38:08

pick them up and I'd be walking home

01:38:11

from school and [ __ ] and

01:38:14

uh yeah, I was I I was always ashamed of

01:38:17

where I lived and it was always dirty

01:38:19

and you know, my mom was always nodding

01:38:22

off on the couch and yeah, I I was never

01:38:26

proud or happy uh when I was younger.

01:38:31

But now I am. Yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah. And

01:38:34

so you should be. So you should be. And

01:38:36

um yeah, yeah, your mom would be

01:38:38

immensely proud too. And just your um

01:38:40

the way you speak about her, you speak

01:38:42

about her with so much love and it would

01:38:43

be very very easy for you to have like a

01:38:44

chip on your shoulder or feel

01:38:46

indifferent about her or you know be

01:38:48

being be mad about how you were raised,

01:38:50

but yeah, when you speak about her, I

01:38:52

can tell there's nothing but love. Yeah.

01:38:54

I mean, she was she was real young when

01:38:55

when she had us. And

01:38:57

uh I don't think my mom I I I think that

01:39:02

she just

01:39:04

did did the best she can. You know what

01:39:06

I mean? She she didn't have all the

01:39:07

answers. And and us when you when you're

01:39:09

kids, you look at your mom and your dad

01:39:11

and you think that they got the all the

01:39:12

answers. She didn't have all the damn

01:39:13

answers, man. She was just trying to

01:39:16

feed us.

01:39:18

You know what I mean? There there's one

01:39:19

instance of of we pulled up to Long John

01:39:22

Silvers and uh she got two like a pack

01:39:27

of Hush puppies or something that was

01:39:28

like a dollar was a box of hush puppies

01:39:30

like this which is just what's just like

01:39:32

a deep fried like a cornbread ball

01:39:35

something we eat a lot and uh she gave

01:39:38

it to she g she gave there was like

01:39:40

three of them she gave me one for me and

01:39:41

one for my sister and one for my brother

01:39:43

and then I was like I remember eating it

01:39:45

being like why why aren't you eating mom

01:39:46

and she was like well we don't have

01:39:48

enough for me to eat and you guys should

01:39:50

eat it. And I I I ate half of it and

01:39:52

gave the other half to my mom and my mom

01:39:54

started crying and gave me a hug. Like

01:39:56

that's one of them moments as a kid I

01:39:58

was like six maybe seven years old that

01:40:01

um that just seemed normal to me. You

01:40:03

know what I mean? That seemed normal to

01:40:05

me and thinking about it when I'm older

01:40:07

is extremely sad. You know what I mean?

01:40:10

But uh

01:40:12

what it is sad like you're almost at the

01:40:14

age now that your mom was when she

01:40:15

passed. Like there's only like six years

01:40:17

difference. Yeah.

01:40:19

It's crazy. This has been um this has

01:40:21

been a great chat. You were you were

01:40:22

nervous when when you came in. How's it

01:40:24

been? Has it been okay? Yeah. No, it has

01:40:27

been good. Yeah. No, it horrible. Is it

01:40:31

nice? Is it nice to reflect on on on the

01:40:34

the journey? Yeah, it's therapeutic,

01:40:36

man. Yeah, it it is because like I said,

01:40:39

all I do all I do from from from wake up

01:40:41

to to sleep is think about tacos and

01:40:45

That's all I do, man. Just think about

01:40:47

tacos and think about the business and

01:40:49

and don't screw it up and oh, maybe you

01:40:51

know,

01:40:54

it's good. And we're recording this chat

01:40:56

on a Oh, well, I was going to say it's

01:40:58

taco Tuesday, but I suppose it's for you

01:40:59

it's taco Monday, taco taco Wednesday,

01:41:02

taco Wednesday, taco Thursday. Yeah.

01:41:05

Hey, it's been really really nice to

01:41:06

meet and connect. Um, thank you, sir.

01:41:08

And uh yeah, I I I I just can't wait to

01:41:11

see where the the brand goes cuz um

01:41:13

you're on to an absolute winner and um

01:41:15

I'm just looking forward to, you know,

01:41:17

see you get all the success and growth

01:41:19

that that you deserve. A thank you.

01:41:21

Means a lot. Thank you, sir. Cheers,

01:41:22

Sean. Thank you.

Badges

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Episode Highlights

Sean's Sobriety Journey
Sean shares how giving up alcohol transformed his life for the better.
“Since I gave up drugs and booze, my life got better.”
@ 03m 41s
March 23, 2025
A Tough Decision
After a disrespectful encounter at work, he decides to leave his job.
“You’re real lucky. Don’t ever talk to me like that ever.”
@ 18m 46s
March 23, 2025
Finding a New Opportunity
He discovers a dive burger joint and connects with the owner, leading to a new job.
“Oh, this looks tight.”
@ 19m 48s
March 23, 2025
The Birth of Broke Boy Taco
Inspired by his love for Mexican food, he starts cooking tacos on Sundays.
“I always wanted a food truck that said broke boy taco on it.”
@ 28m 00s
March 23, 2025
The Significance of Yellow Wax Paper
For the chef, serving tacos on yellow wax paper symbolizes authenticity and homemade quality.
“I want my tacos served on yellow wax paper.”
@ 37m 28s
March 23, 2025
A Unique Culinary Journey
The chef shares his unconventional path as a white guy from Kentucky cooking Mexican food in New Zealand.
“I’m a white guy from Kentucky cooking Mexican food in New Zealand.”
@ 46m 56s
March 23, 2025
Reflections on Luck and Hard Work
Luck plays a huge role in success, but hard work is essential too. "It’s a roll of the dice."
“It takes a lot of luck.”
@ 53m 58s
March 23, 2025
Childhood Dreams
He shares his childhood dreams and the harsh realities he faced growing up. "Braces are like $1,000. At what point in life are we going to have $1,000 to spare?"
“It was a dream of mine, a real dream of mine to have straight teeth.”
@ 01h 03m 24s
March 23, 2025
Finding Love in Unexpected Places
He reflects on meeting Amy, who saw potential in him that he hadn’t recognized.
“I was madly in love with her.”
@ 01h 12m 26s
March 23, 2025
The Struggles of Addiction
He shares his journey with addiction and the hope of recovery.
“It can end. And everything can get better for real.”
@ 01h 26m 18s
March 23, 2025
The Importance of Being Yourself
He emphasizes the value of authenticity in a world full of opinions.
“Just be yourself and enjoy.”
@ 01h 28m 58s
March 23, 2025
The Weight of Loss
He shares a poignant memory of his mother sacrificing for him, saying, "That seemed normal to me."
“That’s one of them moments as a kid... that seemed normal to me.”
@ 01h 39m 58s
March 23, 2025

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

Real Trouble17:59
New Job Search19:28
Taco Empire22:28
Food Truck Dream28:00
Less is More35:51
Unique Culinary Journey46:56
Self-Belief51:36
Mom's Inspiration1:34:13

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