On this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, I sit down with John Terzian and Craig Susser, owners of H Wood Group and Craig's Vegan Ice Cream, to talk about what's happening to the restaurant industry in LA and why it's so bad. We talk about the health and safety issues that have plagued LA restaurants since March 15th, 2019, and how they've been handled by the Department of Public Health and the Mayor's Office of Health and Human Services. We also talk about why this is happening and what they're doing to try to fix it. I hope you enjoy this episode, and tweet me if you have any thoughts or suggestions on how we can fix it! Timestamps: 1:00 - What's going on with LA restaurants? 4:30 - Why LA restaurants are dying 7:15 - What s happening to LA restaurants 9:00 Why LA is crumbling 11:00- What s going to be done about it 13:15 14:30- Why LA needs to do something 15:15- What's the solution 16:30 17:20 - What are we doing to fix the problem 18:00 -- How do you feel about it ? 19:40 - How do we feel about the situation? 21:30 -- What do we need to do about it? 22:10 - Why do we have to fix this? 23:40 -- What are you guys think we should do more of these things? 26: What do you think about this problem? 27:00: What are your thoughts on it's going to happen? ) 28: What s the best thing we can do? 29:15 -- How can we fix it? -- Is there a silver lining to this situation? -- What is the silver lining? 35:00-- Is this a good thing? 31:00 | What s our response to this problem ? 32:00 + 33:10 -- What s your opinion on this is a better than that you think we can improve? 36:00 // 35:10 | Is this problem getting worse than it gets better? 37:30 | Is it a bigger than it s better than it's getting worse? 39:10 40:40 | What are our response? 45 | Is there any hope?
00:00:43.000It's one of the best restaurants in LA. Very highly respected place.
00:00:47.000And we're here to talk about what the fuck is happening to the restaurant industry during this pandemic and how crazy it is.
00:00:54.000You know, I've talked about this before, but having you guys on so you could say firsthand what it's been like to you and what this experience has been like...
00:01:08.000I want to give people a sense of this at home, what it's like from two men who have made their living in the hospitality and restaurant industry.
00:04:05.00030, 40 other main owners that are all in the area.
00:04:10.000And I think it's the one thing that's kind of a silver lining in all this is that we've all teamed up to kind of try to figure out what's going on.
00:04:17.000But we find out about it from the news, and we have to just make these moves within 24 hours.
00:05:11.000A perfect example is they're doing rapid testing in certain areas.
00:05:14.000So instead of losing all of this revenue, why don't they invest in smart technology That has rapid testing that allows people to go to a restaurant, get a rapid test, you're positive, you're negative, and then you get to go into the restaurant.
00:06:35.000This is some sort of dictatorship happening that to me is a bigger picture.
00:06:40.000If other governments, if other states, counties, cities see that they can just shut an industry down so easily, get a name for themselves, get their name out there… What's stopping everyone else from doing this?
00:10:44.000No doctor that I know in the wide variety of people that I take care of has ever been asked their opinion by the county, state, on any level.
00:11:27.000That's the time when people really start getting inebriated.
00:11:30.000And I was like, but you realize you could at least say, hey, close up, let people make sure they get their check paid, and be out the door by midnight, 11.30, whatever it might be, rather than everyone out the door by 11.30.
00:12:27.000I personally think, again, I don't think Craig wants to say this, but I personally think it is politicians trying to make a name for themselves.
00:13:07.000By the way, I just found out recently, and I've been in this business for 15 years, I had no idea that we're considered independent restaurants.
00:13:22.000The representation for the restaurant community is driven by big fast food chains.
00:13:28.000Well, they have no incentive to help independent restaurants.
00:13:30.000You know, McDonald's and all these people, which, God bless them, but they're thriving in COVID. So we just get bullied around, essentially, because there's no lobbyists.
00:13:40.000And so we're kind of like sitting ducks in this situation.
00:13:44.000And I kind of feel like we're somewhat trying to be a voice here for the independent restaurant world.
00:13:49.000And it's not just LA. I mean, think about- It's much bigger.
00:13:53.000New York and LA were trendsetters, right?
00:13:56.000The country watched what happened in LA and New York and they followed.
00:14:00.000And now LA and New York have just completely dropped the ball and everybody else is kind of rising up.
00:14:06.000Well, they're examples of government overreach.
00:14:09.000They're examples of government overreach without any thought whatsoever to these independent businesses.
00:14:35.000And John's point, like, Governor Newsom actually did help with something.
00:14:39.000I was trying to get, you know, a back patio done, and there were a couple of health department rules, and his office did step in and said, that's ridiculous.
00:14:46.000You should allow that and make that happen.
00:14:48.000And they changed a rule that benefited not just my restaurant, but all restaurants.
00:15:58.000How does it make sense that we can fly...
00:16:01.000Here, for example, anywhere, Austin, New York, wherever it might be, and go right back in the same day with zero issues, zero checks, zero anything.
00:16:12.000Yet, outdoor dining is completely shut down.
00:16:14.000By the way, this is the first time in nine months I've left L.A. And the only reason, the way I got down here through JetEdge, by the way, thank you for a great ride.
00:16:27.000But I'm flying back United tonight, and it's the first time in nine months that I've left L.A. And I'm not a science denier and I take precautions and I'm around a lot of people.
00:16:39.000When the patio was open, I was around 150, 180 people a night.
00:17:28.000There's 30,000 restaurants in Los Angeles.
00:17:31.000Now, one of the reasons they cited for shutting it down was they found that 10% of the restaurants weren't abiding by the rules.
00:17:38.000So, well, I would say then why don't you go to those 10% restaurants and shut them down or give them warnings to the point where they do come into line.
00:17:48.000So if they're not social distancing and they're not wearing masks and shields and they're not wearing gloves and they're not doing all the things that you've asked restaurants to do, well, then you can target them.
00:18:00.000But to shut down an entire industry because you feel like you have a couple of bad actors makes no sense.
00:18:06.000None of this makes any sense, and this is the first time we were talking about this before the show, that people are realizing how important it is who the mayor is, how important it is who the governor is.
00:18:16.000And the fact that the mayor is actively targeting you guys, because you've spoken out against these fucking ridiculous draconian restrictions that don't have any...
00:19:30.000And they were openly lying about three weeks because when I would call the county, the inside that had the county, they were like, it's a minimum six weeks.
00:19:40.000I'm like, well, why are you guys saying three weeks publicly?
00:20:59.000Because if nothing's changed in terms of the virus's impact and the ICU numbers, but yet you decide to open up restaurants again, that means you're admitting that you made a mistake.
00:21:08.000Well, look at the numbers have skyrocketed.
00:21:10.000We've been closed since November 25th.
00:21:12.000The numbers have continued to skyrocket.
00:21:14.000Yeah, there's almost 400,000 cases in the last seven days in LA. Well, I saw a chart and it said that the highest number they could attribute to restaurants at all was 3%.
00:21:26.000So if you're not going to a restaurant that's licensed and says, okay, you can have six people or less and there's eight feet apart and all of the rules that we abide by.
00:21:35.000If you're not going to go to a restaurant, well, then you're going to have people over in your house.
00:23:46.000So the thing is, he was saying like, at Saddle Ranch, which is right next door to the Comedy Store, they had outdoor dining in a parking lot.
00:23:53.000And they were abiding by all the rules.
00:23:54.000And the Comedy Store wanted to do the same thing.
00:23:57.000And they wanted to have a comic 10, 15 feet away.
00:24:32.000But when you come here, and you come to Austin, and you go to a restaurant, and you realize, like, oh, you can actually eat at a restaurant here.
00:24:44.000We had dinner last night, and we were inside, and I was looking around going, this is so bizarre.
00:24:48.000Felt like I was doing something wrong.
00:24:49.000I've taken friends to dinner that have not left L.A., and they've come here to visit, and I've taken them to dinner, and they have this look on their face like they're like, someone need to come take us away?
00:24:59.000They're cutting their food up like they're Willy Wonka.
00:25:02.000I really think these health inspectors, I feel like I'm in like I now know what, like, Prohibition era it was.
00:25:25.000That don't make any sense, but they feel like they're right because it's written somewhere.
00:25:29.000And this is the problem with human beings when it comes to power.
00:25:31.000Power is very intoxicating for people.
00:25:34.000And when you have some sort of a situation like this, where you have this pandemic, where you can semi-justify the wielding of this power, people will do it with impunity, and that's what you're seeing right now.
00:25:45.000And I will say, like he said earlier, a majority of what this is a voice for the employees, 100%.
00:25:50.000But also independent restaurant operators, you know, from small to big, you know, majority of independent restaurant owner operators are family owned.
00:25:58.000There's, you know, five person families eating off of, you know, their one restaurant establishment they own, two restaurant establishments they own.
00:26:38.000They keep talking about it is the fact that the reason they shut down all of the restaurants was because they couldn't...
00:26:45.000They inspect 20,000 to 30,000 restaurants on a regular basis because they just didn't have the manpower, yet they're at his place five, six nights in a row.
00:28:05.000We're all willing to do whatever we can do to make sure that people feel safe, that the county's involved, the city's involved, and the state's involved.
00:28:13.000And yet, there is no answer we can give them to where they say, okay, that makes sense.
00:29:25.000And what I think we're realizing through this whole time is that we are social animals.
00:29:29.000We spend so much time on our technology and our devices that kind of pull us apart.
00:29:33.000This time over the last eight or nine months has realized how much we actually need each other and how much we get from each other.
00:29:40.000What's it like being in a comedy club with 400 people and hearing people laugh and doing it together?
00:29:46.000That's a big difference than sitting in your home by yourself.
00:29:51.000And being isolated and worried about a disease and just freaking out about your kids and your family and should I do this or should I do that or how am I going to pay for this or how am I going to keep my employees or how am I going to keep my business afloat?
00:30:05.000The stress is almost worse than the actual disease.
00:30:09.000Yeah, well that's the case with a lot of people.
00:30:11.000The suicides are up, drug addictions up.
00:30:13.000And mental health is through the roof.
00:30:22.000But the unwillingness to course correct is one of the most disturbing things about this.
00:30:27.000Like the understanding that this is deteriorating these businesses, destroying small businesses, destroying restaurants, destroying bars, destroying comedy clubs, and no willingness to course correct or make some sort of, like find some sort of middle ground.
00:30:41.000And LA's being impacted hugely, but think about the restaurant scene in New York.
00:30:46.000I mean, it's 30 degrees there and it's snowing.
00:30:57.000Like, why isn't LA? Explain that to me.
00:31:00.000I think back when this all started, when everyone thought this was like the Black Plague and this was the worst thing ever, everyone understood shutting everything down.
00:31:08.000I think now that we've seen what's going on, I don't see why they can't correct it and say, you know, there's a safe way to do this.
00:31:16.000Well, not only that, the disease itself, because it's not what we thought it was going to be, particularly when you look at the deaths now, the deaths are way down low.
00:31:24.000The people that I know that have gotten it, including Jamie, Jamie kicked it in a day.
00:31:28.000This is not something to destroy our entire economy for.
00:32:31.000Well, I think what you're saying is very important that you guys are independent and you don't have lobbyists because it seems to show, it highlights the real inefficiencies of this system or the real flaws of this system.
00:32:42.000All you have to do is look at Chipotle's numbers.
00:35:02.000Listen, I don't fault him for eating dinner in a restaurant.
00:35:06.000Neither do I. I fault him for telling everybody else to not eat dinner and to be safe and to not do anything and to put your fucking mask on in between bites of food.
00:38:42.000I've never thought it's so important that you have to scrutinize every potential decision they could make because if something goes wrong, if the shit hits the fan like it has, those people, these fucking incompetent morons that don't have...
00:39:00.000There's no consequence whatsoever for their poor decision making.
00:39:03.000The only consequence is they might get voted out in a few years.
00:39:59.000I think it's a small amount of people that have made poor decisions from the beginning, but decisions in the beginning that probably they thought were good decisions that we all would have agreed to because we did think this was going to be the plague.
00:40:11.000We thought this was going to wipe out a giant percentage of our population.
00:40:15.000But there's been no course correction, and these people have dug their heels in, and now they're exercising this newfound power that never existed before.
00:40:24.000The mayor's never had the ability to shut down entire industries.
00:40:27.000The governor's never had the kind of ability that they have now to decide who goes to school and who doesn't.
00:40:34.000I frankly don't even know how it's legal now.
00:41:22.000Because what you said is they're not going to admit the wrong.
00:41:24.000Yeah, because if they admit that they're wrong, then they could be held responsible.
00:41:29.000If someone sues them, if all the restaurants got together and sued them for the lost wages and for destroying an industry, it would be devastating.
00:41:38.000The only way they can stay afloat is if they maintain this position that they're doing it to help people.
00:41:44.000And then they said, you know, the big thing John and I hear, and yes, it does help a little bit, but at least we left you with, you know, food to go and delivery.
00:42:04.000Well, it's also a lack of understanding of the margins that a business operates on when it's a restaurant, even if you're full every night.
00:42:13.000Oh, Postmates and DoorDash are winning.
00:42:15.000So if you look at it, you've got 30% food cost, you've got 30% labor cost, you've got 20% for rent, utilities, incidentals, insurance, all that other stuff.
00:42:26.000So at best, with no mistakes, And everybody doing everything perfect.
00:42:31.000And the refrigerator not breaking or the plumbing not breaking or any of that stuff not happening.
00:42:35.000You might be at 15, 12% profit rate, right?
00:45:51.000Meanwhile, a couple days later, she gave an interview as to why she voted no, and she said she read all the scientific data that was given to her.
00:46:18.000I know, but – yeah, but you have a – we need people to actually be outspoken about it because the only way to do it is they have a fear of bad press, of bad – Even word of mouth, essentially.
00:46:32.000Right now, everyone is being suppressed.
00:46:35.000From the beginning, once they realized what the actual disease was, that it wasn't as dangerous as we thought it was, still dangerous, still we need to be precautious, but they should have made an adjustment and protected the vulnerable people.
00:46:50.000They should have focused on isolating the vulnerable people, protecting the vulnerable people, shielding them from contact and from infection.
00:47:49.000There has to be a consideration for the negative impact on these businesses and the health consequences of people being out of work and the mental health consequences, the drug addiction, all the things that go along with it.
00:48:02.000You can't just look at the impact of the numbers.
00:48:05.000You have to look at the impact on the community.
00:48:07.000You have to look at the impact of what's the long-term health of the culture.
00:48:12.000You're destroying an immense part of the city.
00:48:15.000Going out to dinner is a huge part of people's social life.
00:50:15.0003,000 miles away and 40 years later, my dad was dating her, got called up in Korea, figured he was a paratrooper, he figured he wasn't making it back, did seven jumps in Korea.
00:54:47.000So we started doing some direct deliveries to not only cut out Postmates and DoorDash and the percentage, but also people actually enjoy seeing our servers deliver their food.
00:54:59.000It's a moment in their day that's like something normal.
00:55:03.000It's the food that they like and it's a person that they know.
00:55:22.000And then people are always asking, I think they're asking John as well, what can we do to help you while things are...
00:55:28.000And I'm like, order food, order wine, order t-shirts, order Craig's vegan ice cream, order any of the products that people have and keep the restaurants alive until we can get past this moment and get back to operating because...
00:55:44.000As far as I know, I think 70 to 75% of all the restaurants have already closed.
00:57:33.000No one wants to be objective about this.
00:57:36.000Everybody has an opinion, they start with it, and then they dig their heels in.
00:57:40.000I'd be the first one to say, look, of all the draconian measures that California has taken, If it had knocked down the number of infections, I'd have been, okay, I'm wrong.
00:58:05.000Well, you're also getting people that are drinking more because they're depressed, and if you're drinking more, your immune system gets shattered.
00:58:12.000There's so many different things that they're doing that it seems like on paper it should work, but it doesn't, and they didn't course correct.
00:58:19.000No, and then we're being forced, not only are we out of business, we were forced to spend a lot of money through all of these different measures.
00:58:28.000Not only weren't we making the regular revenue that we were making, we were then spending money that we were supposed to spend.
00:59:41.000It's that whole vibe is what I'm talking about.
00:59:45.000We live in a crazy world, even in normal times.
00:59:48.000So to get together, to have a good time, somebody may sit down, and across the way is somebody that they know, and it's a party, and it's fun, and it's personal, and it's all that good stuff.
01:00:50.000I actually think that the thought process is like, let's knock this down for Christmas and New Year's and let's just see if we can slide by.
01:00:58.000Sure, I just don't think that that's the way to knock it down.
01:01:01.000Austinites are advised to avoid all gatherings with anyone outside the household and avoid in-person dining and shopping.
01:01:07.000Businesses, including retail and restaurants, are recommended to only operate through contactless operations such as delivery.
01:03:29.000You need a lot of capital to get started.
01:03:31.000Yeah, I don't think people realize how much it takes to actually reopen these places.
01:03:36.000Okay, so in order to keep the restaurant open and to keep our employees employed and not furlough them and not let them go, we got some PPP money back in May that lasted six weeks.
01:04:05.000You gotta re-adore inventory or re-adore everything.
01:04:08.000It's a tremendous amount of capital just to kind of get started.
01:04:11.000And then it's not just the capital to get started.
01:04:13.000It's you need a little bit of reserve in the bank because it's not linear, right?
01:04:19.000You open, you get busy, you have slow nights, busy nights.
01:04:23.000Things aren't happening as efficiently as they should be.
01:04:27.000But once you get up to 8, 9, 10 months, the restaurants are efficient, you're rolling, there's not a lot of waste, people are doing things well, and your costs come down, your profits go up, and then all of a sudden you've got a business.
01:04:40.000So there's going to be a lot of people that are going to gravitate towards their favorite places because it's like it feels like a hug and that's like, oh, thank God I get to go to this place or that place.
01:06:45.000So do you think it's one of those things where they feel like they have to do something that shows they're trying to stop the spread of the virus?
01:07:23.000So just by shutting down certain industries and not shutting down other industries, I don't think that that's an effective way to do it.
01:07:32.000And I'm afraid of what the next one is.
01:07:34.000Are they going to keep coming up with, oh, we got a new strain, we got a new COVID? Well, there's a new strain right now in the UK. You've seen that, right?
01:07:51.000The thing is, I think, like, we just touched on it a couple minutes ago, we've taken away that moment of getting together with your friends and having a couple of laughs and forgetting about the world's problems for just a minute, you know?
01:08:02.000That social interaction where you have your favorite meal in your favorite place, and even if it's socially distant, and even if it's, you know, all that stuff is all on the table.
01:08:13.000They've taken away all of those moments, and I don't know what it's doing to our, like, psychology.
01:08:18.000I don't know what it's doing to, like, our brains, because we're not allowed to see our friends.
01:08:23.000And then what I've had to come in, and I think, John, I think we've touched on it, is There are some people that are like, oh, I'm coming tomorrow.
01:08:51.000But yeah, it's dividing a lot of people.
01:08:53.000There's some people that we were supposed to see over Christmas that I'm not sure they're going to want our family over because I'm down here doing this show.
01:09:00.000But if you get tested when you go back to LA, that's not going to be enough for them?
01:09:04.000Yeah, but I mean, like, technically, I mean, I guess you're supposed to wait five days after, you know, taking a commercial flight.
01:09:11.000But you've come down here and you've come in contact with all people that have been tested, all people that show negative.
01:09:16.000Then you're going to go back and you'll test negative.
01:09:19.000You tested negative here and they're still not okay with that.
01:10:25.000Is there a way that we can organize where there can be some sort of impact from the people that are hearing this right now and listening to this and furious?
01:10:40.000I do think it's important to order, you know, to keep supporting the restaurants you love, the local ones especially, the ones that you love.
01:10:49.000I think that my goal is to have people in their mind understand that it isn't as black and white.
01:10:56.000If you challenge this shutdown, you aren't saying you're anti-COVID safety.
01:11:01.000You aren't some big bad person that wants...
01:11:07.000It's taking an intelligent approach to how to actually have an age-old industry keep going.
01:11:14.000And in my opinion, I think people need to have that mindset more and more and speak out to whoever.
01:11:21.000I don't know if there's a direct way to do any of this.
01:11:24.000There isn't an easy way to have a voice.
01:11:26.000I think the key is just having people's mindset change.
01:11:29.000And as much as they can spread that, I think that's important.
01:11:32.000I think it's really important to contact, you know, we're so used to paying attention to the national politics that I think the local politics have become really, really important.
01:11:42.000So reaching out to the L.A. County commissioners.
01:11:44.000Right now, if I literally canvassed 100 people I guarantee you they probably wouldn't even be able to name her one.
01:11:51.000And those inboxes need to be filled with their emails.
01:12:26.000I also think you've got to give people the ability to make their own decisions.
01:12:29.000This has never been the role of the politician to tell people how and how not to take risks and what to do with their lives.
01:12:37.000Especially sensible, well-thought-out risks that have been mitigated as much as possible, like social distancing, like making sure that you follow all the health protocols, making sure that restaurants are compliant.
01:12:55.000There has never been, and I've been in the business 30 years, I've had my own place, January 12th will be 10 years, okay?
01:13:01.000There's never been an instance where a health inspector came in and said, clean that, I don't like the way that looks, reorganize that, and it hasn't been done in an instant.
01:14:02.000It's not as optimistic as I would like, but I think if and when it ever opens again, ideally you get safe outdoor dining opening in January, even February.
01:14:14.000And I think proving it to everyone that it's going safely I think is all we're really asking for now and then eventually open the rest as more vaccines happen and more people kind of change their mindset toward it is what my optimistic goal would be.
01:14:29.000It seems like there's a lot of restaurants that don't have outdoor dining as an option.
01:17:04.000I also think California needs government that's much more friendly to business and understands how important it is to have thriving businesses, to have all the other things you want.
01:17:15.000All these other things you want are dependent upon the tax revenue.
01:17:18.000The tax revenue is dependent upon successful businesses.
01:17:21.000If you have practices and you have decisions that you're making that are unfriendly to businesses, you're going to lose all that money.
01:18:19.000It's one of those things where it's like, you were telling me about your friend out there who talked to Newsom and was saying, I'm moving because of you.
01:18:28.000There's been a lot of people that are really just down and upset that it's being handled so poorly.
01:18:35.000But it's not being handled poorly everywhere.
01:18:39.000Texas is recognizing that there is an issue.
01:18:41.000Obviously, this new COVID quarantine, whatever the fuck they're calling it, what are they calling it?
01:18:51.000I kind of feel like we're fighting for our lives here in a lot of ways because I feel like California is handling it so poorly that if something doesn't happen, I don't know how this industry is reopening the way it should.
01:19:04.000They're not even talking about how to reopen.
01:19:06.000And also, when we got shut down right at Thanksgiving, You know, a lot of people had to lay off a lot of people in our industry.
01:19:14.000And there was no, like, number for unemployment or no rapid way for people to get taken care of.
01:19:22.000So you've basically, a lot of restaurants laid off all of their employees the day before Thanksgiving, going into the holidays.
01:19:28.000So there's no, like, thought process of, like, well, how is that going to affect the 400 or 500,000 people that are employed by the restaurant business?
01:20:04.000Well, it's unfortunate that it's been these Democrat-run states, because I agree with them on so many different things, so many social issues.
01:20:14.000But then when it comes to the way they handle business, it's fucking terrible.
01:20:40.000You know, I actually think that probably outdoor dining will resume at some point, three to four weeks after New Year's Eve, because that's considered another big super spreader event, right?
01:20:51.000So it'll take about three weeks for that to crest, I think.
01:20:55.000And then I think outdoor dining resumes in some aspect.
01:21:00.000Hopefully the vaccines start to take effect.
01:21:44.000I always said I'll never open up another Craigs, but that thought pattern has changed.
01:21:49.000So we're looking at other cities to maybe open in and diversify a little bit more.
01:21:56.000And then Craig's Vegan is, you know, it's weird.
01:21:59.000Even meat eaters, you know, this new term called flexitarians, where, you know, people are meat eaters, they eat eggs and milk and all kinds of stuff, but if they're looking for a way to cut back, they usually look for a non-dairy.
01:22:37.000And by the way, I want to give a big shout out to the kitchen and to Chef Kirsten.
01:22:42.000They've had to deal with, if you think about it internally, our crews.
01:22:46.000What they've had to do, they went from a complete shutdown.
01:22:50.000They were preparing food to go in the middle of a pandemic in March and April when nobody knew anything and they were still showing up for work.
01:22:57.000And we were doing deliveries and to-go's just to make people feel comfortable.
01:23:37.000While they're, you know, prepping our, you know, you want your salad with no garbanzo meats and tomatoes and you want it chopped and you want your fish grilled.
01:23:45.000You know, all those special orders are all being taken care of.
01:23:49.000And then we just noticed that back seven or eight years ago, we put some vegan items on the menu because some of our customers were demanding it.
01:23:58.000And more and more people started to ask for it.
01:24:02.000And so what we were realizing was if you've got a group of six people and one is a vegan, they're the one that makes the decision where you eat.
01:24:10.000So we were like, well, we want a diverse clientele and we want them, let's not give them an excuse to go somewhere else.
01:24:47.000And we've reduced the amount of sugar, so it's rich, it's creamy, and it gives you that, like, satisfaction, but it's got no animal products, and it's a third less sugar.
01:24:58.000So, you know, we're the base of the shake at certain, you know, hamburger, Fatburger's been great.
01:25:07.000We're at some supermarkets, Gelson's, Air One, you know, so it's actually- Yeah, so if you go to Fatburger and you order a vegan shake, I mean, it's unbelievable.
01:25:39.000Halo Top was an ice cream that was like really hit about two years ago because you could eat the whole carton and it was only 200 calories.
01:25:49.000But I think that they gave up, you know, so our product has great flavor and great texture.
01:25:57.000And so we just, you know, Chef kept playing with the values and we kept just tasting and tasting and tasting it.
01:26:03.000The great thing is you go on craigsvegan.com and people are shipping it all across the country and we deliver it on dry ice.
01:26:09.000So good vegan products are kind of I would say an LA, New York kind of thing.
01:26:16.000I think they've started the trend and so a lot of the places in the middle of the country haven't been able to kind of get their hands on really good products.
01:26:23.000Whole Foods obviously has a really good cross-section now.
01:26:26.000Trader Joe's has a really good cross-section now.
01:26:28.000So we're just kind of rolling out nationally.
01:26:30.000So we've used this time during COVID to kind of pivot into, okay, well, I guess we'll do food to go.
01:26:39.000Okay, well, I guess we'll do outdoor dining.
01:26:41.000Okay, well, I guess we'll put our foot on the accelerator on craigsvegan.com and let's just see where we can go.
01:27:28.000Like, these are the people that risked their lives to go to work to make sure that people were being fed and the way you're paying them back is by shutting down their industry.
01:27:39.000Now, do you have other things along with Craig's Vegan Ice Cream?
01:27:43.000Do you have like ice cream sandwiches?
01:27:44.000Are you selling a bunch of different products?
01:27:46.000No, so we're going to kind of get into that development of ice cream sandwiches right now.
01:27:50.000So the scoop shop at the Resorts World will have shakes.
01:29:31.000You know, they go down the road and then they all don't want to do it.
01:29:36.000And they come back and they say, look, we just can't, whatever, you know, editor or media person or whatever, it's like the superior doesn't want the backlash, you know, whatever it might be.
01:29:45.000Where is the backlash coming from at this point?
01:29:48.000Well, I think the general public is aware of what's going on, that you've lost 75% of all restaurants due to this arbitrary decision.
01:29:57.000I think there's a lot of public out there, and I don't blame them, that are very scared of the virus, and that's fine, but they're not looking at it in the way of, there's this balance.
01:30:07.000And so, there's that, and then, yeah, they don't want the backlash from the officials.
01:30:13.000From government officials, which is crazy to me.
01:30:15.000But the other point, too, and I know John has done this as well, is like I said, it's not just about us.
01:30:48.000So Cedars called on Saturday night and they had a flex and they had a lot of patience and they had more employees there than they thought they were going to have.
01:30:57.000And she was like, I know it's seven o'clock.
01:31:59.000Obviously everyone knows chefs, waiters, bartenders, all that, but there's so much that it extends to that this industry is keeping people going business-wise.
01:32:09.000The complete disregard for all of that from officials is what's driving me insane and why I'm so angry.
01:33:06.000There's people doing it for business out of houses, illegally doing it.
01:33:11.000But that's what everyone's being driven towards.
01:33:14.000But the interesting thing is, so it's also thinking outside the box, not just for us in the restaurant business, but for everybody.
01:33:20.000So Netflix is a really good client, and they're great.
01:33:24.000So they've got a bunch of premieres, they've got a bunch of movies that they want to...
01:33:27.000So now what we've been doing is virtual premieres.
01:33:30.000So we've been creating, with Chef and our events team, these boxes that get delivered to people's homes, and it may be 100 people On the same day, and so they get to eat the same box of food from Netflix while they're watching the premiere of a show.
01:33:48.000And so that whole end of our business has kind of increased.
01:33:52.000It doesn't make up for what we do on a regular basis, but okay, that's a new kind of a thing, and it's a new way of doing premieres.
01:33:59.000And I wonder if the old style of premieres are going to come back.
01:34:03.000Because the celebrities that are in the show, they just get to Zoom regularly.
01:34:25.000But what's interesting is Netflix, Warner Brothers, Universal, they've all decided to kind of figure out a way to promote their products in a different way and also help support the restaurants that they like doing business with.
01:35:02.000To just have a mic in front of his face and to be out and about.
01:35:05.000And then, you know, we were talking to our good friend Jeff and Jeff's been on the road for 30 years, you know, performing in all over the country.
01:35:12.000And he said to me, there's a part of me that's, it's kind of nice not to be, you know, in a suitcase on the road all the time and taking this little bit of a break.
01:35:24.000But he goes, I'm not one of those comics that needs a microphone in his face to be happy all the time.
01:35:49.000And he goes on stage and kills, and then afterwards he grabs you by the shoulder and he goes, whatever we have to do, we're doing this again.
01:35:55.000He got his fix again, and he's like, you realize people love having a good time, whether it's having a good time at a restaurant, having a good time at a comedy club.
01:36:03.000You're taking away a big chunk of their life enjoyment.
01:36:07.000It takes away from their quality of life.
01:36:28.000We just drove away all these great comics that want to be doing stuff.
01:36:34.000In L.A., I mean, that's what we're known for.
01:36:36.000And I miss those interactions, like, when they come in the restaurant, and, I mean, to just get told off by one of those guys, or just have, like, a sharp little, like, right between the eyes.
01:39:53.000What they've done is they've just pushed all of that money out of L.A. County.
01:39:57.000Well, they've also reinforced this idea in a lot of people's heads that have leaned right, that are right-leaning people, that the Democrats are not business-friendly, that Democrats are not going to support them.
01:43:16.000We were talking about before that if the paychecks of the politicians was directly dependent upon the income That was coming in from the businesses being open.
01:43:25.000If they really had an incentive to keep these businesses thriving because they actually benefit from it financially.
01:43:36.000I'm hoping, and I'll go back on the positive side, and I'm just hoping that they see that this spike wasn't a result of dining and wasn't a result of some of the businesses that they've shut down, that maybe after the first of the year they start loosening some of these things and start really kind of thinking outside the box.
01:45:16.000If what you're saying is the reason we closed you is because 10% of the people weren't following the rules, then why don't you stay on that 10%?
01:46:26.000Everybody at that city, from the plan checkers, building and safety, fire department, everybody went out of their way To make sure that we got our patios open as quickly as possible.
01:46:49.000Well, I think we really do need something to change in terms of the way people look at government because this has opened up a lot of people's eyes that it is important.
01:47:14.000He's an operator, but he's also a safety guy, and he gets it.
01:47:19.000Well, let's hope that the politicians that are making these piss-poor decisions, that the new ones are going to learn.
01:47:25.000I mean, that's what I'm hoping, that we're going to learn from this pandemic, and if something else does happen down the line, we'll be much better prepared for it.
01:47:32.000I'm really worried about places like California that have gone so far down the wrong path that I just don't see how it corrects course and comes back to some sort of a rational...
01:48:20.000By the way, I love LA. I love living in LA. I think it's a great city and it's diverse and it's fun and it's energetic and it's got comedians and actors.
01:48:57.000I was a 22-year-old idiot running around town, not sure what I was going to do.
01:49:01.000I didn't know I was going to have a restaurant called Craig's.
01:49:03.000But we've all kind of come up together and we all support each other.
01:49:07.000Well, that's one of the beautiful things about restaurants like yours or like Dan Tana's where you go there and it's this crazy melting pot of generations.
01:49:17.000I'm actually scared of historic places that are going to not be able to reopen.
01:49:24.000There's a lot of legendary ones that no one's talking about that are at risk of not being able to reopen unless they're saved.
01:49:30.000I was just watching, so I watched a thing on Showtime about the comedy store, and I was thinking, like, if you didn't have open mic Mondays, Right?
01:50:14.000But comedy stores, restaurants, little venues like the Troubadour, those are all the places that people get to learn their trades, right?
01:50:24.000When I started out as a waiter, I didn't know shit.
01:50:27.000But they molded me and I learned, right?
01:50:30.000So where's all that happening right now?
01:50:34.000All of those young people that are trying to learn comedy, trying to be an actor, trying to be whatever it is that they're trying to do, none of that's happening right now.
01:51:58.000I'm not sure she wants me to get to her.
01:52:01.000Listen, I hope we've made some sort of an impact with this conversation.
01:52:06.000I hope people are listening and I hope that it has some sort of an effect and I hope they do put pressure on these bureaucrats.
01:52:13.000I hope they let these people know what you're doing as a real consequence, not just to the businesses and the community, but people are going to remember what you've done.
01:52:27.000Yeah, I mean, I just hope we all get through this, and I hope at some point down the line, this is a great story that we tell a lot of people in the past, and we sound like these old bastards that keep repeating the same old story about, remember the time of the pandemic?
01:52:42.000Shit, I hope that's two years from now.
01:52:44.000I hope two years from now we're laughing it up and toasting and appreciating.
01:52:49.000That's one thing that I think will come out of this for the people that make it on the other end.
01:52:53.000You're going to appreciate how bad it was and how weird it was.
01:52:57.000It's funny, I looked at a bottle of champagne the other day and I thought to myself, what am I waiting for?
01:53:30.000Well, and you're also asking for some respect for your business.
01:53:33.000I mean, it's crazy that they just feel like they can arbitrarily shut you down, again, because you don't have lobbyists, because you are independent.
01:53:40.000You're not a part of some gigantic fast food corporation that has a massive influence on these politicians.
01:53:47.000Yeah, our companies are like families, literally.
01:53:49.000And so our family units are now shut down.