EXPERIENCE 189 | Ham & Eggs were $1.40 when we started! - Journey from a Greasy Spoon Diner to a Fort Collins Breakfast (& Lunch) Institution - A Conversation with John Arnolfo, Former Owner/Operator of Silver Grill Cafe

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John Arnolfo operated the Silver Grill Café for 42 years and found his exit plan through my guest on episode 143, Alan Jansen.

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John and partner Mike Gress purchased Silver Grill on Valentine's Day 1979 as an unheated one room diner.

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The business had been established by Leonidas Flossie Widger in 1933 and mostly served the blue collar workforce of early downtown Fort Collins.

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Though the partners grew the business quickly, it remained too small an enterprise to support a pair of households, and Mike departed for other opportunities after only a few seasons.

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In the years to follow, John slowly grew the footprint of the restaurant, leasing and eventually acquiring vacant buildings to the west of the original location, five adjacent unit, high volume enterprise and Fort Collins icon it is today.

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John shares the story of how Cinnamon Rolls changed his business and client mix and how the stars lined up for Alan and Jackie Jansen to become the new operators in 2021.

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As also shared by Alan, an introduction from their mutual banker turned into a conversation, and then a transaction, and now an enduring friendship.

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John needs no introduction in the world of Fort Collins restaurants, and I'm proud to share both the business journey and the sparkling personality behind the brand.

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We talk about the evolution of the restaurant industry, challenges and opportunities during COVID.

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Saltwater fly fishing, the gradual disappearance of the cinnamon raisin roll, and much more.

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So I hope you'll tune in and enjoy my conversation with John Arnolfo.

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welcome back to the Loco Experience Podcast.

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I'm honored today to be joined by John Arnolfo, the former owner and operator of the Silver Grill in Fort Collins, about a year after Alan Jansen came on the show to talk about becoming the new owner of the Silver Grill.

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So John, what have you been up to the last two and a little bit years?

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Well, Kurt, thanks for having me.

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For sure.

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Thanks for being on.

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It's been two and a half years now that I've been retired.

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Retirement is, is a wonderful thing to look forward to.

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Before I retired, I thought, geez, I'm going to have lots of things to do because I have a lot of hobbies.

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I'm, I'm, I'm active.

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I'd like to do a lot of things.

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But still, there's times that you want to fill your day.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Uh, probably the past two and a half years, I've spent it, uh, I have hobbies, I, I live on a golf course, so I, I like to golf, I'm a couple days a week, I'm, I'm not an avid golfer where I'm gonna golf four or five days a week, but two or three days a week.

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Okay.

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Uh, love to fly fish, so I've, That's a good time kill there.

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Yeah, that's a summertime, uh, sport, I, But you can spend four or six hours at it.

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Oh, absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah.

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Uh, I've enjoyed traveling, uh, Montana, uh, Wyoming, Idaho, and obviously here in Colorado.

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So that's my summertime.

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Uh, I also like to cycle.

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So that fills my time.

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So wintertime's now.

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I'm finding that I like a little warmer weather.

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The beaches are more common than they used to be when you were restauranting?

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Yeah.

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So now I, I've changed my fly fishing to saltwater fly fishing, uh, down in Mexico, Belize, Caribbean.

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And so I'll do a trip or two down there during the winter time.

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Is that like off of like charter boats or you just go places and kind of go to lagoons and stuff?

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Generally, we'll, we'll pick a lodge and the lodge will be all inclusive and.

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Uh, quite often, quite rustic.

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I mean, they're fishing lodges, and we'll go out.

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with guides, and, uh, we'll go on a ponga that is, they'll have a motor to motorist to different spots, and then, then they'll pull through the waters.

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And what's interesting, especially the saltwater fly fishing.

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That's what's kind of marshy, is kind of what I was imagining.

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You said they're pulling.

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No, it's not marshy.

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Okay.

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It's, it's out, out in very shallow bays.

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Okay, okay.

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And especially in, uh, whether it's southern Mexico or, or Belize, uh, you're pull, pulling and, uh, you're, You're traveling to spots, and then where you fish, it might be anywhere from three feet deep to four feet deep.

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Okay.

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And so, you're either fishing off the boat, you've got a, um, you've got a guide that's standing on a platform in the back, and he's sighting the, Um, the fish for you.

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Okay.

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Uh, there's times we get off the boat.

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Yeah.

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You got big hip waders or you just get up, you got, you're just like in the water.

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You know, and that, and that really is the big difference when you're fishing in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, uh, if it's a warm summer day.

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You're wet waiting.

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Uh, if it's a little bit cooler, you've got waiters.

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When you're in Mexico, Belize, the Caribbean It's always nice.

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It's warm.

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I mean, sometimes it's bathtub warm.

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It's 80, 85 degrees.

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So, uh, yeah.

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You've got little rubber booties and, and you're in shorts.

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So it's, it's a very different experience.

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Uh And what are you trying to catch?

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Is it like barracudas and different things?

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Or It's, it's all, uh, it's all Sport fishing, catch and release.

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Primarily you're, you're fishing for a bonefish, a tarpon, or the big prize is a permit and a permit spelled as, as it sounds, permit P E R M I S I N T.

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Yeah.

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Uh, it's, it's a big, big round fish.

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They can get, oh, they're three to five pounds up to 35 pounds, but they're, but they're known for very, very difficult to catch.

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They have, they're a flat fish and they have eyes.

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Eyes on the side of their, uh, of their head.

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So it's like a flounder style almost.

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But they swim upright and they have very keen sense of sight.

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So it's, it's a, it's a real treat to be able to hook one and then land one.

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Cause they're very difficult though.

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They'll take the line and they'll.

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And they can take, take your line out 40, 40 feet, 50 feet, 60 feet, 90 feet, and then you try to land them.

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So, uh, that's, that's real fun.

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But along with that, you get the whole Southern experience, Southern meaning south of the border.

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You're, it's in warm Caribbean waters, and at night you're eating fresh fish and you're talking fish stories.

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And usually it's a, Anywhere from five to seven day.

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You said it's all catch and release, but all catch and release.

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But they have fish, other fish, whatever.

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Uh, it feels sad to let all those good fish go away.

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Well, you know, down South, when I say South down in Latin America, the Caribbean, that's their income, right?

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That that's their protected injury industry for them.

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So they want to protect the fish.

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Right.

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Right.

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And even when I'm in Colorado, Montana, or anywhere in the Rockies, it's all catch and release.

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For me, it's, it's the hunt.

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Yeah, yeah.

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It's the thrill of the hunt.

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And here again, for me, it's releasing the fish.

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So the fish that they're feeding you are, like, commercial available fish.

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Oh, trout.

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Absolutely.

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You could, you can get a great trout from King's Supers.

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Right, right.

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Exactly.

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Well, that sounds super fun.

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A very different experience than anything I've, uh, I went to Florida last spring and we, uh, took a look, a shallow water boat into some of the, the mangrove swamps and different things for off the bow fishing and looking for, uh, fish.

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Probably redfish.

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Yep, yep, that was the big prize there.

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And some other things too.

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I can't remember.

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There was some little thing that always grabbed your bait and left you hanging.

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But anyway, fishing's quite a, there's so many different ways of fishing.

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There are so many ways.

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And, and, and fly fishing for me is a real zen experience.

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And obviously when you're on a boat, there's, there's, two, two clients and a guide.

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So you're, you know, there's three of us, but when you're in the river waiting by yourself, it's, it's a real Zen thing.

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It's very peaceful.

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And it's you against the fish.

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I, I've always said, it's, it satisfies the man's need, a man's need, And for me, I'd like the hunting, but I'd like the releasing as well.

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Fair enough.

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Um, so staying busy enough, but also finding that, uh, staying busy isn't, I think I heard that implied.

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Maybe staying busy isn't as easy as you thought it might be?

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No, it's not.

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I mean, you know, those are just trips, uh, every day.

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Every day on an everyday basis, I'll, I'll wake up in the morning and it's, it's usually a cup of coffee, you get on the computer, you watch a little bit of news and then it's, what do you, what do you do for the rest of the, what do you do for the rest of the day?

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Uh, you, and you help, you start finding yourself.

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Yeah.

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And what drives you, what motivates you?

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For me, I'm, I've been in the silver grill restaurant business.

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I owned it for 42 years.

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Extremely social.

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So I, I gain energy out of being around people.

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So it sounds silly, but it, it might be simple as driving to the grocery store and interacting with people and being in the business I was in.

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It's silver grill.

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I know a lot of people.

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Do you go to the silver grill regularly?

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I do Alan and I have.

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I've created a great friendship, and so I'll go in two or three times a week.

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He really, he's a very experienced man.

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He really doesn't need my experience anymore or expertise or advice, but we go in and we just visit.

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Well, and I bet you see a lot of people you know in there.

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And I still, it's getting less and less.

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Not just staff, but all the regulars too and stuff, right?

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Yeah, I don't know.

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You know, the silver grill has always been a real social experience for the customers, uh, pre COVID, especially that's the vast majority of the time I owned it.

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On a Saturday, Sunday, we always had a waiting line that started at 8 o'clock, and the wait might be 45 minutes, might be an hour, might, might be 30 minutes.

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But during that time, people would visit.

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Yeah, yeah.

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They would stand in the lobby, either with a cup of coffee or a Bloody Mary.

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And what was interesting, they made friends.

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Yeah.

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And so, they would have silver girlfriends where they'd meet every, every day.

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Sunday, for instance, at 10 o'clock and, and meet for breakfast.

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Yeah.

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And so that was always kind of fun.

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That is neat.

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That is neat.

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I, uh, upcoming soon, I've got a podcast guest and they've co written or pair of guests and they've co written a book called party in the front.

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And it's about like intentionally hanging out in your front yard so you can like meet your neighbors and people walking by and stuff like that, you know, and what you're talking about is, is an avenue of people meeting people where they wouldn't.

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All the time do so.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And that's real interesting.

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And I think in today's culture, we've kind of, we've kind of Oh yeah, most neighborhoods are like, I park in my garage, and then I go from my garage door into my house door, and I carry my groceries in that way, and I know my neighbor's name is Bob, and he's some kind of an engineer.

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You know, an ant.

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You know, or something.

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Kurt, I've been in Fort Collins now 55 years.

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Hmm.

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And, of course, my early years was going to college, and I jumped from dorm rooms to apartments, and so I lived in many, many areas, and then I, I owned homes, and I was, uh, at one point married.

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I have two sons, and, uh, we had moved into a neighborhood in, uh, Not know anybody.

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And so ten years ago, I moved up to the Fort Collins Country Club.

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Okay.

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Not sure if I wanted to be a country club guy.

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I was a member.

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But it's turned out to be just a great experience.

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Oh, yeah.

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And, and, and so.

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Well, there's so many things to do there now compared to when I was, I was a member there.

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When I moved back to Fort Collins in oh seven, uh, the bank owned a membership.

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Yeah.

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And so I went there for a few years.

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Um, and it wasn't nearly as cool as it is now.

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Like they really rehabilitated the operation and it's really, it's really turned out to be just a real special place.

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And, and I, I didn't think it would, uh, end up quite frankly that way.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Fair, fair enough.

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And so, yeah.

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And so I, it's important for me to keep my social contacts.

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Yeah.

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And that's what, one way to do it and.

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And I'm always, actually I talked to my sister this morning and she says, well you're so popular, you're over busy, you're always so busy.

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I said, it's not that I'm so popular, it's that I make an effort.

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To stay busy.

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Totally.

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Totally.

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Well, and make an effort.

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We had our neighbors over our we've got kind of two favorite our next door neighbors And then one three doors down we've kind of been friends over the last three four years and we hadn't hung out all summer And so I smoked a brisket and made a big dinner and had those other two couples over and it was just Probably one of all of our favorite times all summer, but you got it like Try.

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You gotta make things happen.

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And that was a point I wanted to make.

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So when I moved into the country club home, it was an older home, and it needed renovation.

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And so it took me, no, almost, not quite a year.

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And of course, everybody was passing by in their golf carts and waiting and wondering.

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And so, I thought, well, I'll throw a big 4th of July party.

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And I invited all my neighbors and country club members.

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And that was a way for me to break out of that mold where You don't know anybody.

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So I got to know all my neighbors and it's really proved to be a really fun thing for me.

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Yeah.

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Um, can we go back to like the seasons leading up to, uh, retirement and, and selling the silver grill, like you, you mentioned before we got started that you weren't really entertaining.

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That necessarily, but you also weren't not, and then all of a sudden a kind of a series of events kind of came together.

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Well, I, I, I recognized very early on that there's really two aspects to a small business, and One is you, you obviously own the business and it's very valuable.

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I always put a lot of value in owning, owning the building.

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So I felt like that I needed to spend my time at the silver grill for whatever years I had in building the business and creating an income for myself.

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Realizing that a lot of entrepreneurs at the end of the road, when they're ready to retire, They don't have a plan.

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And they have a difficult time selling the business if they can sell it at all.

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So.

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I did buy the buildings and the main motivation was to secure my future.

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Sure.

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Yeah, that's a retirement plan in itself.

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But it was also, uh, they were, they're now 125 year old buildings.

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Right.

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And they need to remodel them for a restaurant.

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It needed new plumbing.

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It needed new electrical.

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All the things.

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It needed, it needed everything.

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So, I just wasn't interested in.

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putting money into a building that it didn't own.

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So very, very fortunate.

00:16:33.203 --> 00:16:56.833
Um, I would say 20 years ago, I was always looking, as long as 20 years ago, I was looking for a manager that could Oh, somebody internally that Someone that And I had potential for some, and, uh, obviously some, some were very good, but their lifestyle changed.

00:16:57.234 --> 00:17:00.734
And so, uh, I never was successful.

00:17:01.283 --> 00:17:07.753
And I always had a goal of retiring by the time I was 65 or 70.

00:17:07.753 --> 00:17:08.104
Okay.

00:17:08.284 --> 00:17:08.554
Okay.

00:17:08.604 --> 00:17:14.003
So now I'm, I'm, I'm probably 67 years old, several years ago.

00:17:14.513 --> 00:17:15.203
And.

00:17:16.374 --> 00:17:17.223
COVID hits.

00:17:17.544 --> 00:17:17.874
Right.

00:17:17.953 --> 00:17:20.874
And how fun was that?

00:17:22.104 --> 00:17:33.584
You know, certainly it was stressful, but I, I've got to tell you the silver gorilla, after all the years that I was in business, we had a tremendous reputation and tremendous following.

00:17:34.034 --> 00:17:36.384
So my goal was to stay open, right?

00:17:36.513 --> 00:17:45.483
Even though it was not make, none of us made money during, during COVID, but it was important that we, we stayed open just for, just for the Yeah.

00:17:45.483 --> 00:17:46.374
Just for the public.

00:17:46.453 --> 00:17:46.854
Yeah.

00:17:47.193 --> 00:17:50.463
Uh, I, I had the tremendous, uh, benefit.

00:17:50.463 --> 00:17:52.193
I had a bank that would support me.

00:17:52.723 --> 00:17:57.384
I owned the buildings, which I, I, I knew a worst case scenario.

00:17:57.384 --> 00:18:04.933
A couple million dollars worth of equity in there for something, I don't know what the, I don't know what, is it 7, 000 square feet of downtown real estate?

00:18:04.943 --> 00:18:07.693
We got no, 6, 000 square feet and we've got a parking lot.

00:18:09.108 --> 00:18:12.519
So, you know, I, I take a big piggy bank to buy it off.

00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:12.719
Yeah.

00:18:13.608 --> 00:18:13.788
Yeah.

00:18:13.788 --> 00:18:18.459
So I always knew if the business wasn't going to survive, I would have the real estate.

00:18:19.368 --> 00:18:28.878
And then as we were getting through COVID, we were closed on March 17th of, I believe 2020.

00:18:28.949 --> 00:18:29.398
Okay.

00:18:29.409 --> 00:18:29.808
It was.

00:18:31.794 --> 00:18:38.084
We were closed twice by the government, as everybody else was, and we were closed twice by outbreaks.

00:18:38.334 --> 00:18:38.653
Oh.

00:18:38.713 --> 00:18:41.834
And so the first year we were closed 191 days.

00:18:42.193 --> 00:18:42.834
Oh wow.

00:18:43.203 --> 00:18:44.933
Like staff outbreaks and things like that more.

00:18:45.273 --> 00:18:46.183
Staff, staff outbreaks.

00:18:46.193 --> 00:18:50.144
Right, and you're like, we just don't have enough people to really safely operate this place.

00:18:50.594 --> 00:18:50.864
Yeah.

00:18:50.913 --> 00:18:58.804
Oh, and well, the health department, uh, they quarantined, uh, uh, they quarantined my whole kitchen staff.

00:18:59.614 --> 00:19:00.983
Like one person got sick.

00:19:00.983 --> 00:19:05.153
It was like anybody that was within six feet of that person for a week.

00:19:05.233 --> 00:19:05.703
Quarantined.

00:19:05.933 --> 00:19:06.763
Also was quarantined.

00:19:06.763 --> 00:19:07.044
Yeah.

00:19:07.054 --> 00:19:20.733
So yeah, I figured about how, you know, I had a, a staff of one, you know, and later too, and yes, I had, we had a lot of zoom meetings and different things, but my lifestyle personally wasn't.

00:19:21.153 --> 00:19:25.544
Nearly as impacted as a lot of people, which was, you know, a blessing.

00:19:26.064 --> 00:19:33.054
So, we worked through it, and the government, I have to compliment the government.

00:19:33.064 --> 00:19:40.834
They did react fast, and they had the payroll protection plan, which As long as you were with a local bank, and not with a national bank.

00:19:40.834 --> 00:19:41.193
Right.

00:19:41.673 --> 00:19:47.003
Well, uh Almost nobody got any money from Wells Fargo or Chase just for what it's worth.

00:19:47.354 --> 00:19:48.483
Well, locally, at least.

00:19:48.534 --> 00:19:51.844
I'm a very, very local guy, as you know.

00:19:51.874 --> 00:19:56.243
And yes, uh, I'll tout Bank of Colorado.

00:19:56.243 --> 00:19:57.384
I hope I can say that.

00:19:57.443 --> 00:19:57.673
Sure.

00:19:57.673 --> 00:19:58.163
Okay.

00:19:58.243 --> 00:20:01.084
Well, as long as you're saying nice things, I'm pretty sure nobody's going to get mad.

00:20:01.344 --> 00:20:03.943
There were wonderful supporters of mine.

00:20:04.463 --> 00:20:27.034
And, uh, so when the COVID, uh, broke out, uh, coincidentally, I had planned a Cause there needed some, there was some deferred maintenance and so we were going to do it in September of, uh, 2020 the outbreak and they closed this down March 17th.

00:20:27.104 --> 00:20:29.753
And then I used that time to remodel the silver.

00:20:30.794 --> 00:20:34.673
And it was just, it was new floorings, new cabinets, new things like that.

00:20:34.673 --> 00:20:36.233
But, but it was very extensive.

00:20:36.693 --> 00:20:39.814
Well, and there was a lot of people looking for something to do at that time.

00:20:39.814 --> 00:20:42.983
It was easy for me to get a contractor.

00:20:43.398 --> 00:20:51.058
Here again, a lot of luck involved, I had plans already drawn up, and I was able to find a contractor within a week.

00:20:51.388 --> 00:20:55.858
Well, and uh, your neighbor down the street, Penrose, was in a similar circumstance.

00:20:55.888 --> 00:20:59.618
They lucked into, like, they opened basically when you could reopen.

00:21:00.108 --> 00:21:10.773
Well, and that's, uh, it's interesting you bring up Penrose because, The contractor that I hired, Beacon, who was also great, they were just finishing up Penrose.

00:21:10.834 --> 00:21:11.554
Oh, is that right?

00:21:11.594 --> 00:21:15.094
And they said, you know, we've got a crew downtown there across the street.

00:21:15.653 --> 00:21:16.903
We'll move them right over.

00:21:16.903 --> 00:21:26.663
So, uh, we were closed for about two months and did the, uh, then did the remodel, reopened and then closed three more times.

00:21:27.374 --> 00:21:35.473
So at that point, you know, my, my thought was, It's going to take a year or two to get out of COVID.

00:21:35.594 --> 00:21:35.874
Yep.

00:21:36.034 --> 00:21:36.284
Yep.

00:21:36.344 --> 00:21:40.874
And then probably my thought was to put the silver grill on, on, on the market.

00:21:40.923 --> 00:21:41.294
Okay.

00:21:41.808 --> 00:21:53.358
Uh, a year later, which would be, would put me past my, my goal of 70 a return back to decent profitability so that you could sell it for the right price.

00:21:53.429 --> 00:21:57.068
I really, yeah, I really had to feel like I had to get it back.

00:21:57.459 --> 00:22:03.038
But coincidentally, um, as we talked about, it was March of 2021.

00:22:03.884 --> 00:22:13.784
And I had a phone call from Alan Jansen, and he's a local restaurant man that I know you're familiar with.

00:22:13.784 --> 00:22:16.568
Yeah, we've told this story, yeah, 30 years with Hot Corner.

00:22:16.568 --> 00:22:17.973
30 years experience with Hot Corner.

00:22:19.009 --> 00:22:29.709
Uh, actually, our banker, Rex Smithgall, from Bank of Colorado, knew Alan very well, knew me very well, and suggested that maybe we get together.

00:22:30.328 --> 00:22:33.499
So my, my, I love the story when Alan calls.

00:22:33.499 --> 00:22:37.548
Do you think Steve Taylor is going to be mad at Rex Smithgall when he hears about that conversation?

00:22:37.868 --> 00:22:40.679
You know, I, I, you know, we're all business people.

00:22:40.679 --> 00:22:40.999
Right.

00:22:40.999 --> 00:22:41.064
Right.

00:22:41.403 --> 00:22:44.023
And everything was very up front.

00:22:44.233 --> 00:22:44.493
Yeah.

00:22:44.683 --> 00:22:49.074
And I don't know specifically the conversations that Well, Rex was right.

00:22:49.193 --> 00:22:52.933
Like, Silver Girl, I actually coincidentally just had lunch with Alan today.

00:22:53.124 --> 00:22:53.483
Yeah.

00:22:53.604 --> 00:22:57.044
Uh, he said he was gonna harass you and make you scared about coming in.

00:22:57.604 --> 00:22:59.854
All the, all the scary questions I was gonna ask.

00:22:59.884 --> 00:23:05.463
But, um, you know, he could have just played small ball after a long career.

00:23:05.943 --> 00:23:15.903
Um, and because he's a very debt averse kind of guy and stuff, but he needed a bigger machine like the silver grill afforded to be able to make a real difference, you know, at this stage in his career.

00:23:16.354 --> 00:23:19.693
So he wanted, yeah, he wanted something that was, that was his own.

00:23:20.203 --> 00:23:21.354
And I love the story.

00:23:21.354 --> 00:23:26.733
We met at Lucille's and we said, well, I think this deserves another conversation.

00:23:27.394 --> 00:23:32.554
Uh, we met at maybe a week later and I shared with him all my financials.

00:23:32.554 --> 00:23:35.229
And I said, I gave him five years.

00:23:35.229 --> 00:23:37.499
I said, here's the good, the bad and the ugly.

00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:44.888
Cause you know, it was not all that great during, I mean, it was big money.

00:23:46.499 --> 00:23:48.449
Found some red ink and COVID nation.

00:23:48.509 --> 00:23:52.659
But what I love about it, he came back and he said, well, here's what I think it's worth.

00:23:52.659 --> 00:23:55.038
And he gave me a range of a price.

00:23:55.038 --> 00:23:57.669
And I said, Alan, I said, you know what?

00:23:58.878 --> 00:24:00.648
The high is a little high.

00:24:00.778 --> 00:24:04.868
The low is a little, a little low, but Right in the middles where I'm thinking.

00:24:05.888 --> 00:24:08.489
And he said, done deal.

00:24:09.729 --> 00:24:11.469
We shook hands within a week.

00:24:11.719 --> 00:24:14.878
We worked out a couple of the finer details amongst ourselves.

00:24:15.449 --> 00:24:17.249
Had a handshake deal in two weeks.

00:24:17.653 --> 00:24:22.314
And then, of course, we, we got, uh, attorneys involved that had to formally put it all together.

00:24:22.324 --> 00:24:23.034
Right, right.

00:24:23.233 --> 00:24:26.824
But we, uh, literally closed it in, in about three months.

00:24:27.374 --> 00:24:48.814
You know, I think one of the things that's interesting is, I mean, you've mentioned that you've targeted managers in the past that might be your succession plan or whatever, but as the, as the landlord, the future landlord of the operator of the Silver Grill, like you've got to, your biggest obligation is to make sure you've got a good tenant in there.

00:24:49.308 --> 00:24:50.169
Oh, absolutely.

00:24:50.169 --> 00:24:54.778
We're just going to pay the rent every month and run a good operation and maintain the property properly?

00:24:55.479 --> 00:24:57.638
Yes, and you're exactly right.

00:24:57.969 --> 00:25:07.269
We've all seen really great businesses that somebody comes in and thinks they have a better idea and it just makes no sense to do that.

00:25:07.358 --> 00:25:09.729
So early on in our conversations.

00:25:10.298 --> 00:25:16.098
with Alan, it was Alan, what are your ideas about the restaurant?

00:25:16.128 --> 00:25:18.229
He goes, he said the exact same thing.

00:25:18.239 --> 00:25:19.719
Why would I change it?

00:25:20.179 --> 00:25:20.598
Right.

00:25:20.989 --> 00:25:22.659
And I was very upfront with him.

00:25:22.659 --> 00:25:24.679
I said, you know, it needs new blood.

00:25:24.729 --> 00:25:26.058
It needs new ideas.

00:25:26.439 --> 00:25:31.618
But you've got to keep the concept of a home style diner and just tweak it.

00:25:31.648 --> 00:25:33.449
And he's done exactly that.

00:25:33.729 --> 00:25:36.179
I asked him not to change anything for six months.

00:25:36.348 --> 00:25:37.398
Yeah, and he didn't.

00:25:38.048 --> 00:25:39.439
And now he's slowly changing.

00:25:39.479 --> 00:25:50.398
I mean, to the general public, you, you wouldn't barely notice it, but in any business, but especially in a restaurant, you got to keep up with the times.

00:25:51.068 --> 00:25:57.848
And, and I'll tell you this, that when I bought the silver grill in 1979, ham and eggs was a dollar 40.

00:25:58.148 --> 00:25:58.568
Right.

00:25:58.628 --> 00:26:00.348
Uh, coffee was.

00:26:00.634 --> 00:26:14.054
25 cents and ham and cheese sandwich was literally two slices of white bread and American cheese and two slices of Ham and two dill pickles and some chips and that's what it was.

00:26:14.104 --> 00:26:14.874
And that was 2.

00:26:14.933 --> 00:26:17.523
50 Well, it was probably less than that.

00:26:17.523 --> 00:26:17.973
It was probably 1.

00:26:17.973 --> 00:26:18.973
10.

00:26:19.013 --> 00:26:19.394
Right.

00:26:19.743 --> 00:26:29.989
But my point is is now you go in You could never sell that sandwich in today's marketplace Right, that's what mom served me in the tractor when I was growing up Yeah.

00:26:29.989 --> 00:26:38.328
So, so now you go in and you're, you're getting the, the, the full Monty with it, you know, uh, uh, a great sandwich with all the fixings.

00:26:38.719 --> 00:26:40.058
And so that is my point.

00:26:40.058 --> 00:26:45.999
You, you have to change and you have to continually change in order to succeed in any business.

00:26:46.159 --> 00:26:46.348
Yeah.

00:26:46.348 --> 00:26:58.384
Keep it fresh, you know, 42 years of the same, same thing, but don't change too fast because you're loyalists, you know, like the, the coffee, coffee, Club or a coffee mug club on the wall there or whatever.

00:26:58.394 --> 00:26:59.193
Isn't that fun?

00:26:59.253 --> 00:26:59.913
Oh, it's great.

00:27:00.034 --> 00:27:00.173
Yeah.

00:27:00.183 --> 00:27:03.294
I kind of want one just to have it there.

00:27:03.374 --> 00:27:06.673
You know, even if I only, I go in there, maybe, I don't know.

00:27:07.469 --> 00:27:09.368
Probably once or twice a month.

00:27:09.568 --> 00:27:09.848
Yeah.

00:27:09.989 --> 00:27:15.828
You know, cause I got, I got a love, a lot of love to spread around kind of in different places and whatever, but it's a, it's a consistent one.

00:27:16.689 --> 00:27:18.239
Would that be enough to justify the mug?

00:27:18.239 --> 00:27:18.659
I don't know.

00:27:18.659 --> 00:27:21.858
You know, I don't even drink coffee half the time cause I drink my coffee before I go in.

00:27:21.929 --> 00:27:23.838
It would because it's fun to have that mug.

00:27:23.868 --> 00:27:24.509
That's right.

00:27:24.519 --> 00:27:25.249
That's what I was thinking.

00:27:25.318 --> 00:27:26.229
That's what I was just thinking.

00:27:26.229 --> 00:27:29.909
I just kind of want a mug even if it doesn't pencil out or whatever.

00:27:29.929 --> 00:27:33.038
Oh, we have families, we have that, that buy a mug.

00:27:33.763 --> 00:27:37.564
And maybe their son or daughter going to school.

00:27:37.584 --> 00:27:38.203
Right.

00:27:38.304 --> 00:27:43.473
And they'll fly out once a year or twice a year to see their son or daughter.

00:27:44.183 --> 00:27:45.364
And they've got their mug there.

00:27:45.423 --> 00:27:45.673
Right.

00:27:45.683 --> 00:27:46.473
And they love it.

00:27:46.663 --> 00:27:48.403
And sometimes we have to call them out.

00:27:48.634 --> 00:27:51.693
It's kind of like, it gets overwhelming.

00:27:51.693 --> 00:27:54.894
Like my dry cleaner's like, Hey, you dropped some stuff off a year ago.

00:27:54.894 --> 00:27:56.344
Are you going to pick that up again?

00:27:58.314 --> 00:28:00.493
Um, so yeah, quick, pretty quick.

00:28:00.628 --> 00:28:15.479
Transition then, and then like, did you lurk in the corners for a while and make sure he wasn't changing too much, too fast, or were you pretty comfortable just kind of, I was, I was very comfortable out a couple of spies behind to make sure they told you if something was going weird.

00:28:15.868 --> 00:28:25.648
We had a, we had a, we had a consulting agreement that I would come in and, and, uh, spend so much time and help them with whatever.

00:28:26.239 --> 00:28:30.578
And it was, uh, gonna be for two years.

00:28:31.124 --> 00:28:37.134
And after the first year, Alan, Alan said, you know, I'm not sure if I really need much more help.

00:28:37.134 --> 00:28:39.314
And I said, Alan, you're right.

00:28:40.193 --> 00:28:41.523
You don't need me anymore.

00:28:41.723 --> 00:28:45.513
So as a formal agreement, we, we don't have one anymore.

00:28:45.624 --> 00:28:45.834
Yeah.

00:28:46.233 --> 00:28:54.173
But, uh, he gives me a lot of accolades, and he invites me in, and not only invites me, but welcomes me in.

00:28:54.253 --> 00:28:59.864
I've never heard him say anything, uh, negative about you, both in our podcast and subsequent days.

00:28:59.953 --> 00:29:00.693
So, that's neat.

00:29:00.874 --> 00:29:02.114
Well, he and Jackie.

00:29:02.114 --> 00:29:03.134
I can't leave Jackie out.

00:29:03.144 --> 00:29:03.953
For sure, for sure.

00:29:03.963 --> 00:29:04.588
She is the best.

00:29:05.259 --> 00:29:05.969
Just wonderful.

00:29:06.338 --> 00:29:11.128
Well, and you wouldn't, you wouldn't like him so much if he wasn't taking good care of your baby.

00:29:11.328 --> 00:29:12.019
Oh God.

00:29:12.388 --> 00:29:12.878
No.

00:29:12.878 --> 00:29:14.838
And that could have happened.

00:29:14.858 --> 00:29:15.209
Yeah.

00:29:15.278 --> 00:29:15.519
Yeah.

00:29:15.598 --> 00:29:16.409
That could have happened.

00:29:16.419 --> 00:29:19.519
But no, he's, and, and I know he's doing well.

00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:21.398
And as you know, he bought Verne's.

00:29:21.568 --> 00:29:21.868
Yeah.

00:29:21.939 --> 00:29:24.638
And so now he's got a corner on the silver grill.

00:29:24.888 --> 00:29:26.719
We're on the cinnamon roll market.

00:29:27.538 --> 00:29:31.648
Did you have the cinnamon roll of the month while you were operating or is that something that he's brought in?

00:29:31.648 --> 00:29:33.179
That's something that he's brought in.

00:29:33.229 --> 00:29:43.838
I think that's kind of clever just to keep it a little fresh, you know, the, the peach cinnamon rolls and the peach season and it just gives you an opportunity to showcase some things, you know?

00:29:43.929 --> 00:29:46.199
And that's what I mean by bringing in new blood.

00:29:46.199 --> 00:29:48.449
I, I didn't want to change anything.

00:29:48.449 --> 00:29:50.213
I wanted to keep everything as it is.

00:29:50.614 --> 00:29:57.394
As, as old style as it was, and here's an interesting thing, Kurt.

00:29:58.023 --> 00:30:04.634
Forty years ago when I started baking, probably 40 percent of our cinnamon rolls were raisin.

00:30:05.223 --> 00:30:06.044
Oh, really?

00:30:06.054 --> 00:30:06.634
With raisins.

00:30:07.304 --> 00:30:10.933
And now, well, we finally stopped making them.

00:30:10.933 --> 00:30:13.614
They started going down and down and down.

00:30:14.223 --> 00:30:16.844
You know, we sell about 400 cinnamon rolls a day.

00:30:17.443 --> 00:30:19.233
And some days more, some days less.

00:30:19.544 --> 00:30:24.173
Uh, But we were baking eight raisin rolls and we couldn't sell them.

00:30:25.304 --> 00:30:26.253
That's so funny.

00:30:26.304 --> 00:30:29.364
Like, like, what do they do with raisins anymore?

00:30:29.463 --> 00:30:31.064
Or do they just not even make raisins?

00:30:31.094 --> 00:30:32.304
Like raisin bran.

00:30:32.723 --> 00:30:33.163
Right.

00:30:33.364 --> 00:30:33.624
Yeah.

00:30:33.624 --> 00:30:36.763
I mean, we used to like at grandma's, we would always get little boxes of raisins.

00:30:37.213 --> 00:30:37.773
Right.

00:30:37.814 --> 00:30:44.284
And, and even at church, like the, uh, when I was a volunteer classroom instructor or whatever, they would have little boxes.

00:30:44.528 --> 00:30:46.679
raisin packs for the kids for snacks.

00:30:47.159 --> 00:30:51.509
I don't think they have them any, I mean, I'm sure people eat raisins, but I think, oh I'm sure they do.

00:30:52.439 --> 00:31:04.423
And they're great for you, but I think that in the case, the change of taste over years and years and years and it gets back to my point that you have to continue to adapt.

00:31:04.443 --> 00:31:04.834
Right.

00:31:04.973 --> 00:31:07.354
We're sticking with these raisin rolls if it kills us.

00:31:07.413 --> 00:31:07.773
Right.

00:31:08.203 --> 00:31:14.854
And it's to, here again, to Al, to, to Alan's, you know, credit that he's recognized that.

00:31:14.854 --> 00:31:18.223
So now he's doing the cinnamon roll of the month.

00:31:18.253 --> 00:31:18.554
Right.

00:31:18.824 --> 00:31:20.173
Which I think is doing very well for him.

00:31:20.314 --> 00:31:21.054
I'm pretty sure.

00:31:21.054 --> 00:31:21.544
Yeah.

00:31:21.544 --> 00:31:33.078
It seems like it gives people a reason to engage in the social medias and stuff, which just brings it up to that many more eyes and memories of, that last cinnamon roll and whether it was a raisin one or not.

00:31:33.078 --> 00:31:35.088
Yeah.

00:31:35.088 --> 00:31:41.528
So, um, I guess it feels to me like it's kind of like, let's kind of hear the silver grill journey a little bit.

00:31:41.638 --> 00:31:42.358
Is that fair?

00:31:42.388 --> 00:31:50.183
Kind of jump into like, what was your place in life in the, The year or two leading up to acquiring the silver group.

00:31:50.503 --> 00:31:52.294
Well, I'll, I'll start back a little early.

00:31:52.374 --> 00:31:54.084
You want to, you want to go all the way back in the time machine?

00:31:54.094 --> 00:31:55.044
Let's go back in the time.

00:31:55.044 --> 00:31:55.263
Okay.

00:31:55.263 --> 00:31:56.963
We'll just zoom all the way back and bring it back.

00:31:57.263 --> 00:31:58.463
And I think it's important.

00:31:58.594 --> 00:31:58.834
Okay.

00:31:59.534 --> 00:32:06.433
I was raised in, in a middle class, uh, household, uh, San Francisco Bay area.

00:32:06.614 --> 00:32:06.993
Okay.

00:32:07.094 --> 00:32:08.953
My mother and father were grocers.

00:32:08.953 --> 00:32:11.473
They had a small little mom and pop grocery store.

00:32:11.473 --> 00:32:11.733
Yeah.

00:32:12.068 --> 00:32:14.479
And they always instilled it with me in me.

00:32:14.898 --> 00:32:18.259
Like a beaver's market style almost for Yeah, probably even smaller.

00:32:18.278 --> 00:32:18.628
Okay.

00:32:18.929 --> 00:32:21.999
Uh, they instilled with me that, you know, all the right things.

00:32:22.108 --> 00:32:24.858
Values and morals and integrity.

00:32:25.368 --> 00:32:27.939
But they always said, you need to be your own boss.

00:32:28.159 --> 00:32:28.459
Hmm.

00:32:28.588 --> 00:32:30.749
That was something that they always instilled in me.

00:32:30.749 --> 00:32:33.108
And they, cause they always owned their own business.

00:32:33.108 --> 00:32:35.028
Where did they come from?

00:32:35.038 --> 00:32:37.278
Or They're both from Italy.

00:32:37.439 --> 00:32:41.068
Uh, Dad immigrated from Italy in 1914.

00:32:41.209 --> 00:32:41.679
Alright.

00:32:41.778 --> 00:32:45.709
Uh, Mom actually is first generation, uh, American citizen.

00:32:45.709 --> 00:32:47.788
She was born in Stockton, California.

00:32:47.808 --> 00:32:48.179
Okay.

00:32:48.519 --> 00:32:50.898
So they met in, in California.

00:32:50.919 --> 00:32:52.028
So you're Italy, Italy?

00:32:52.229 --> 00:32:53.159
I'm Italy, yeah.

00:32:53.169 --> 00:32:56.019
We're both northern, both parents are northern Italian.

00:32:56.028 --> 00:32:56.848
Okay, yep.

00:32:57.384 --> 00:33:03.314
So, when I graduated high school, I always had an attraction to the outdoors.

00:33:03.854 --> 00:33:10.953
My father's side of the family, where he actually grew up when he came from Italy, was in the wine country.

00:33:10.953 --> 00:33:14.884
The Central Valley, San Joaquin Valley, south of Sacramento.

00:33:14.933 --> 00:33:15.294
Okay.

00:33:15.818 --> 00:33:19.999
So that was, uh, that's where all his family are and still there.

00:33:19.999 --> 00:33:23.108
And did you hang out there as a teenager and stuff like that?

00:33:23.108 --> 00:33:23.159
I did.

00:33:23.159 --> 00:33:25.028
And I love, I love the outdoors.

00:33:25.028 --> 00:33:28.989
I love working in the, in the vineyards and the smell of the vineyards.

00:33:28.989 --> 00:33:32.578
And of course, my cousins, they would go hunting and fishing.

00:33:32.709 --> 00:33:32.999
Sure.

00:33:33.209 --> 00:33:39.749
And so now it's 1969 and we're at the height of the Vietnam War.

00:33:39.798 --> 00:33:40.249
Right.

00:33:40.528 --> 00:33:46.048
And I mean, being in San Francisco was a, it was a very, let's say, colorful time.

00:33:46.058 --> 00:33:52.259
Were you spending time on the, what was the, the hill there, uh, where the Grateful Dead were and what not?

00:33:52.269 --> 00:33:54.098
The Grateful Dead, that was Haight Ashbury.

00:33:54.098 --> 00:33:55.259
Haight Ashbury District, yeah.

00:33:55.259 --> 00:33:59.138
Yeah, Haight Ashbury District, and, and, that really wasn't much for me.

00:33:59.199 --> 00:33:59.489
Okay.

00:33:59.499 --> 00:34:02.148
Uh, I Oh, I forgot to offer you a joint.

00:34:02.199 --> 00:34:02.969
Do you want to smoke this joint?

00:34:03.689 --> 00:34:05.689
Uh, I keep it here just in case our guests want it.

00:34:05.949 --> 00:34:07.798
No, we're getting, we're San Francisco.

00:34:07.798 --> 00:34:11.009
I hate Ashbury, so I'm happy with the bourbon.

00:34:11.018 --> 00:34:12.719
We've got a little old, old bourbon.

00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:13.579
I'm happy with that.

00:34:13.579 --> 00:34:16.478
A glass of water, but thanks for the offer anyway.

00:34:16.989 --> 00:34:19.298
Uh, anyway, sorry to sidetrack scroll chase.

00:34:19.309 --> 00:34:19.938
So you're.

00:34:20.713 --> 00:34:21.903
Like, drawn to the country?

00:34:21.903 --> 00:34:28.523
Is that what was drawn to the outdoors, and it was the height of the Vietnam War, and, and I didn't know it at the time.

00:34:28.603 --> 00:34:38.034
Uh, I, I wasn't sure if I was cut out for college, but I had a college counselor that said, you know, there's more to college than just schooling.

00:34:38.164 --> 00:34:38.623
Yeah, yeah.

00:34:38.664 --> 00:34:40.003
It's gonna be a life experience.

00:34:40.014 --> 00:34:43.764
You're gonna meet friends that you Plus you don't want to have to go to Vietnam.

00:34:44.233 --> 00:34:47.364
Well, and that, that was, that would have been motivating for me.

00:34:47.373 --> 00:34:53.143
They had a, well, and as, as I think everybody knows, it was a very unpopular war for sure.

00:34:53.204 --> 00:34:56.713
And I just wanted to go to a school and go to school.

00:34:57.313 --> 00:35:01.724
And I was attracted to Colorado because it was an outdoor state.

00:35:02.003 --> 00:35:16.699
I had never been here and I don't believe mom and dad really had the, Uh, the ability, or quite the finances to, to send me, but I think it was very important for them for me to, to get that student deferment.

00:35:16.878 --> 00:35:21.418
So I came to Colorado and it was, you know, everything that I wanted it to be.

00:35:22.039 --> 00:35:24.619
And, and how did you find Colorado state?

00:35:24.679 --> 00:35:35.628
Like just, it was because of the outdoorsyness and stuff, but yeah, I just, Oh, I had, Oh, I probably applied for half dozen catalogs from different colleges.

00:35:35.688 --> 00:35:42.469
I mean, Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, but they're all kind of mountain, mountain areas.

00:35:43.213 --> 00:35:48.844
And I just put my finger on the map and I said, this is probably The one that's going to be the best for me.

00:35:48.934 --> 00:35:50.043
Seems pretty nice there, yeah.

00:35:50.503 --> 00:35:52.083
Well, learning was so much different then.

00:35:52.534 --> 00:35:53.014
Yes.

00:35:53.043 --> 00:35:53.403
Right?

00:35:53.403 --> 00:35:59.713
Like, I mean, you could go get encyclopedias and dictionaries and, you know, the internet didn't exist when I graduated high school either.

00:35:59.833 --> 00:36:00.224
Oh, no.

00:36:00.923 --> 00:36:06.164
And my grades weren't the best, and I was never the best student, but Colorado State ZSU will take you.

00:36:06.784 --> 00:36:07.864
They took me, yeah.

00:36:07.864 --> 00:36:09.643
They took me.

00:36:09.643 --> 00:36:12.293
So, I came out here sight unseen.

00:36:12.893 --> 00:36:22.534
And to move the story along a little bit, after a couple of years, uh, Vietnam War was winding down and mom and dad said, I think it's time for you to come home.

00:36:22.793 --> 00:36:23.244
Okay.

00:36:23.293 --> 00:36:26.313
And I said, I really want to stay.

00:36:26.373 --> 00:36:29.034
And my parents, I was very, very fortunate.

00:36:29.153 --> 00:36:32.784
They were always so supportive of me and they paid my tuition.

00:36:32.784 --> 00:36:35.844
And I said, well, I, I'm going to drop out for a year.

00:36:36.054 --> 00:36:41.753
I'm going to get my state residency, pay in state because I want to stay here that, that bad.

00:36:41.844 --> 00:36:42.094
Yeah.

00:36:42.429 --> 00:36:49.159
And so my last year of college, I needed to work and that's when I fell into the restaurant business.

00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:49.778
Oh, is that right?

00:36:50.353 --> 00:36:57.003
And so I started working as a waiter here at an old restaurant called the Hermitage Inn.

00:36:57.603 --> 00:37:01.983
This is back in the, it was halfway between here and, and, and Loveland.

00:37:02.603 --> 00:37:10.293
What was the pretty awesome seafood place at Horsetooth and College when I first moved to town?

00:37:10.364 --> 00:37:11.023
Probably Winston's.

00:37:12.264 --> 00:37:12.643
Winston?

00:37:12.914 --> 00:37:14.614
Oh, no, Nate's.

00:37:14.614 --> 00:37:14.648
Nate's.

00:37:14.648 --> 00:37:14.684
Nate's.

00:37:14.684 --> 00:37:15.744
Nate's.

00:37:15.764 --> 00:37:16.253
Yeah.

00:37:16.333 --> 00:37:17.983
Anyway, Nate's was there.

00:37:18.063 --> 00:37:22.023
Uh, that was even a little bit after the, the, the sixties.

00:37:22.054 --> 00:37:23.123
I moved here in 99.

00:37:23.134 --> 00:37:26.193
So yeah, quite a bit later, but that had been around for a long time too.

00:37:26.193 --> 00:37:27.284
Yeah.

00:37:27.284 --> 00:37:27.623
Great.

00:37:27.623 --> 00:37:33.043
But owned by the Mercurio family, just, just, just a great restaurant chain that they had.

00:37:33.704 --> 00:37:45.054
And so I, uh, Graduated and then in business finance and I specialized in at that time they had a specialization in real estate license.

00:37:45.554 --> 00:37:46.324
A real estate.

00:37:46.713 --> 00:37:53.333
So I in fact had gotten my real estate license in the summer that I took the year off.

00:37:53.653 --> 00:37:56.963
So a little bit of real estate, but then when I went back to school.

00:37:57.648 --> 00:38:05.028
I put my, uh, uh, real estate license in, inactive status, and then I fell in love with the restaurant business.

00:38:05.028 --> 00:38:14.998
So when I graduated, I was a year behind, it was 1974, and as all college students believe, they've worked so hard they deserve a break.

00:38:15.159 --> 00:38:15.489
Right.

00:38:15.869 --> 00:38:16.219
Not.

00:38:16.989 --> 00:38:17.579
Sabbatical.

00:38:17.639 --> 00:38:18.378
Yeah, sabbatical.

00:38:18.378 --> 00:38:21.358
So I, I moved to, to Vail, Colorado.

00:38:21.398 --> 00:38:21.619
Yeah.

00:38:22.228 --> 00:38:24.639
And I wanted to be a ski bum.

00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:27.188
So I was a quintessential ski bum.

00:38:27.188 --> 00:38:34.418
And I was always, uh, my, my waiting experience, uh, serving, I was always like the form, formality of it.

00:38:34.489 --> 00:38:46.838
And I always liked the incentive of, of, of the tips because you could go in and work an hourly job and you knew what you got, but if you went in and you were good, you could make a lot of money.

00:38:46.838 --> 00:38:53.963
And then I was, the restaurant I worked at had, uh, was friends with President Ford at the time.

00:38:54.753 --> 00:38:57.963
So then I was asked to serve President Ford in his home.

00:38:58.434 --> 00:39:13.039
And, so that was quite an experience, uh, visiting with the President, and So what, like, what set you apart, uh, if, with, I mean, in all humility or whatever, but why did you do Quite well with the tips.

00:39:13.188 --> 00:39:18.739
Why did you get selected to be the representative of the restaurant that went to President Ford's place?

00:39:18.989 --> 00:39:22.648
Well, I think, uh, Number one, I love the business.

00:39:23.358 --> 00:39:33.748
And I, and I loved, uh, I would say serving people and impressing them and in return we got good tips.

00:39:33.858 --> 00:39:34.108
Right.

00:39:34.318 --> 00:39:44.728
And so then I was selected to be in their gourmet room, which at the time the Red Lion was a very, uh, uh, Well, it was new and fresh.

00:39:44.759 --> 00:39:46.018
Yeah, higher standard.

00:39:46.018 --> 00:39:46.818
Did you know Reno?

00:39:47.478 --> 00:39:48.228
From those days?

00:39:48.228 --> 00:39:50.978
Uh, coincidentally, no.

00:39:51.119 --> 00:39:53.648
Cause wasn't he there at about that same kind of time?

00:39:53.659 --> 00:39:55.666
He was there at the exact same time.

00:39:55.666 --> 00:39:57.074
Maybe a little later.

00:39:57.074 --> 00:39:57.778
He was.

00:39:57.778 --> 00:39:59.208
I lived in the village.

00:39:59.219 --> 00:39:59.708
Yeah, yeah.

00:39:59.759 --> 00:40:02.478
He lived in what they called Lion's Head.

00:40:02.989 --> 00:40:04.208
We never knew each other.

00:40:04.449 --> 00:40:10.548
So for listeners wondering, Reino is the founder of the Egg and I restaurant chain, which grew up side by side.

00:40:10.548 --> 00:40:12.068
I'm sure you got to know each other in Fort Collins.

00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:14.748
We know each other very well and we still do.

00:40:14.748 --> 00:40:18.429
And, you know, very friendly competition, but to answer your question.

00:40:18.429 --> 00:40:21.108
So, uh, I would say it was me.

00:40:21.108 --> 00:40:22.429
I mean, I had a desire.

00:40:22.429 --> 00:40:24.228
I'd like, I like the formality of it.

00:40:24.389 --> 00:40:29.478
Uh, it was a real fun experience and, you know, I had to be cleared by secret service.

00:40:29.478 --> 00:40:30.028
And then, Cool.

00:40:30.028 --> 00:40:30.043
Cool.

00:40:30.043 --> 00:40:32.693
Their standards were higher back then.

00:40:34.914 --> 00:40:38.664
So now, uh, now I'm cleared by Secret Service.

00:40:38.914 --> 00:40:39.474
Oh, forever?

00:40:39.623 --> 00:40:41.153
Uh, well, at the time.

00:40:41.164 --> 00:40:41.726
Oh, okay.

00:40:41.726 --> 00:40:45.583
So then I was cleared to serve at President Ford's house.

00:40:45.594 --> 00:40:46.594
Right, right, get it.

00:40:46.673 --> 00:41:00.634
So, uh, My biggest mistake in, in, in, in my, my short lifetime then was I was bartending a private party for, and usually the private parties were all locals or supporters or donate, donors.

00:41:01.293 --> 00:41:04.543
And, uh, all the guests had, had left.

00:41:05.054 --> 00:41:07.244
And, uh, Mrs.

00:41:07.244 --> 00:41:08.684
Ford had gone to bed.

00:41:08.684 --> 00:41:12.983
President went up with her and he came down and I was there cleaning up by myself.

00:41:13.454 --> 00:41:14.833
And the president came down.

00:41:15.608 --> 00:41:18.548
Big roaring fire, as you can imagine, Vail, Colorado.

00:41:18.548 --> 00:41:19.748
He takes his shoes off.

00:41:19.748 --> 00:41:22.268
He kicks up on, on the coffee table.

00:41:22.278 --> 00:41:25.869
He says, son, now make me a real drink.

00:41:26.829 --> 00:41:28.018
And I said, Mr.

00:41:28.018 --> 00:41:29.278
President, what would you like?

00:41:29.289 --> 00:41:32.938
He said, gin martini on the rocks, two olives.

00:41:34.114 --> 00:41:38.393
So I served him his, his, uh, martini, Mr.

00:41:38.393 --> 00:41:39.054
President.

00:41:39.643 --> 00:41:43.293
And so my biggest disappointment is I felt like I could have sat down with him.

00:41:43.554 --> 00:41:43.983
Right.

00:41:44.074 --> 00:41:45.014
And just chatted.

00:41:45.114 --> 00:41:45.693
Right.

00:41:45.824 --> 00:41:56.518
But I was taught, I was taught by a, a French maitre d And, you know, you were supposed to know your place, and I, at that time, I was a bartender.

00:41:56.568 --> 00:41:57.028
Right.

00:41:57.088 --> 00:41:58.639
So, but it was a great experience.

00:41:58.639 --> 00:41:59.389
What a neat thing.

00:41:59.789 --> 00:42:03.119
It probably, he was setting up for that potentiality.

00:42:03.509 --> 00:42:08.693
You know, maybe he just wanted to be left alone, but very distinctively, he might have Wanted to just chat?

00:42:08.704 --> 00:42:09.463
He could have.

00:42:09.684 --> 00:42:10.713
I don't know.

00:42:10.884 --> 00:42:11.213
Yeah.

00:42:11.293 --> 00:42:19.094
As it turns out, one of my, one of my best friends, uh, ended up house sitting for president Ford and then in his later life became his aide.

00:42:19.143 --> 00:42:19.804
Oh, wow.

00:42:20.034 --> 00:42:21.893
And so until he passed.

00:42:21.903 --> 00:42:26.923
So this was kind of in that shortly after Vietnam period.

00:42:26.983 --> 00:42:27.494
Is that right?

00:42:27.543 --> 00:42:28.934
This would be mid seventies.

00:42:29.143 --> 00:42:31.373
Uh, so Vietnam was still rocking at that time?

00:42:31.704 --> 00:42:32.143
No.

00:42:32.204 --> 00:42:33.722
Uh, Yeah, it was done.

00:42:33.722 --> 00:42:35.211
It was done about that.

00:42:35.211 --> 00:42:36.903
Vietnam was in 71, 72.

00:42:37.034 --> 00:42:37.353
Okay.

00:42:37.643 --> 00:42:45.753
And then, uh, that's when, uh, President Ford Oh, and Ford took over for Nixon because he got bounced from Watergate.

00:42:45.804 --> 00:42:46.074
Yeah.

00:42:46.253 --> 00:42:51.273
So So what was the perception of Ford in, like, the circles that you ran in and stuff?

00:42:51.733 --> 00:42:55.164
I guess every president at that time was, like, a man of high honor.

00:42:55.673 --> 00:42:55.884
Oh.

00:42:55.934 --> 00:42:59.293
Regardless of their party or their Absolutely.

00:42:59.463 --> 00:42:59.963
Yes.

00:43:00.074 --> 00:43:00.614
Oh, absolutely.

00:43:00.673 --> 00:43:01.704
Totally different than today.

00:43:01.773 --> 00:43:06.094
Totally different than today, but President Ford was Speaker of the House.

00:43:06.414 --> 00:43:06.704
Okay.

00:43:06.733 --> 00:43:15.204
And before that Uh, Vice President Agnew, he resigned and he, he had, was involved in some scandalous things.

00:43:15.204 --> 00:43:16.753
Oh, before Watergate even.

00:43:16.833 --> 00:43:17.364
Yes.

00:43:17.503 --> 00:43:17.724
Oh, I see.

00:43:17.724 --> 00:43:19.963
And then, uh, so then.

00:43:19.974 --> 00:43:20.483
Oh, interesting.

00:43:20.494 --> 00:43:23.313
Uh, Ford then became vice president.

00:43:23.313 --> 00:43:26.594
So he was the first, uh, non elected president.

00:43:26.594 --> 00:43:27.414
That'd be interesting.

00:43:27.673 --> 00:43:31.103
It'd be like, in my lifetime, like Newt Gingrich all of a sudden finding himself.

00:43:31.253 --> 00:43:40.923
Uh, which would have been just as probably, I love, uh, have you ever watched the Simpsons?

00:43:41.503 --> 00:43:57.673
I do once in a while, not again, there's one episode where like somehow like George Bush moves in next door or something somehow and George Bush, I think it's George Bush and Homer just don't get on, but then Gerald Ford comes into the room.

00:43:58.023 --> 00:44:02.603
scene and, uh, Gerald Ford is like, Homer, do you like football?

00:44:03.103 --> 00:44:03.833
Yes, sir.

00:44:03.833 --> 00:44:04.293
I sure do.

00:44:04.293 --> 00:44:05.353
Do you like beer?

00:44:05.753 --> 00:44:06.693
Yes, sir.

00:44:07.014 --> 00:44:08.903
We're going to get along just fine.

00:44:09.094 --> 00:44:16.603
And anyway, they, they give some homage to Gerald Ford, I suppose, as being somebody that would even want to hang out with Homer Simpson.

00:44:17.034 --> 00:44:19.023
He was a very, very likable man.

00:44:19.023 --> 00:44:33.478
Of course, you know, there was, there's always controversy about his presidency and, and all that, but, uh, no, I, I thought he was a, uh, a great man and a good president and left the White House with a lot of grace.

00:44:33.498 --> 00:44:37.969
And so anyway, so sorry, we're getting all over it.

00:44:37.989 --> 00:44:45.048
But, uh, I had a college roommate, uh, that moved, we moved together in, uh, in Vail.

00:44:45.048 --> 00:44:45.969
We lived there together.

00:44:45.969 --> 00:44:47.619
He worked restaurants as well.

00:44:48.108 --> 00:44:50.588
And we, we thought we wanted to open a little restaurant.

00:44:50.588 --> 00:44:51.409
Oh, really?

00:44:51.648 --> 00:44:52.099
Okay.

00:44:52.168 --> 00:45:00.989
So, uh, It had been four years and we said we're, you know, we're kind of done with this Disneyland life, living in Vail.

00:45:01.079 --> 00:45:01.588
Gotcha.

00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:03.719
So you were waiting, you were ski bumming.

00:45:03.719 --> 00:45:06.748
You were, I was ski bumming, chasing pretty girls, whatever else.

00:45:06.838 --> 00:45:09.268
And we were ready, we were ready to settle down.

00:45:09.268 --> 00:45:14.338
And, and I, I made a conscious decision that, you know, I don't want to be a waiter all my life.

00:45:14.338 --> 00:45:17.338
I want to be the person that's getting weighted on someday.

00:45:17.458 --> 00:45:17.699
Yeah.

00:45:18.139 --> 00:45:21.494
So we, here again, fortunate enough, my parents, uh, were able to.

00:45:22.034 --> 00:45:26.693
Loan both Mike and I, or, uh, me some money and Mike's parents a little bit of money.

00:45:26.693 --> 00:45:30.514
So we set out looking for a restaurant.

00:45:30.664 --> 00:45:31.083
Okay.

00:45:31.344 --> 00:45:34.443
And that's another story in itself.

00:45:34.443 --> 00:45:42.824
We, we traveled around and we said, well, we're not finding anything, but let's, let's just move our stuff back to Fort Collins.

00:45:42.974 --> 00:45:46.793
Let's store it in a, in a basement that, that Mike had.

00:45:47.713 --> 00:45:49.534
And we always loved the silver grill.

00:45:50.353 --> 00:45:54.474
And the Silver Grill was, it was a, it was a greasy spoon.

00:45:54.554 --> 00:45:56.423
It was in the middle of Old Town.

00:45:56.614 --> 00:45:56.884
Yeah.

00:45:57.003 --> 00:45:59.483
And in, in Well, Old Town wasn't Oh, Old Town.

00:45:59.483 --> 00:46:00.824
what it is today at the time.

00:46:00.833 --> 00:46:01.123
No.

00:46:01.173 --> 00:46:03.324
Old Town was half empty.

00:46:03.463 --> 00:46:04.534
It was transients.

00:46:04.534 --> 00:46:10.244
It was, it was, uh, you know, hotels I'm told it was where businesses went to die.

00:46:10.679 --> 00:46:11.699
Uh, in the eighties.

00:46:11.969 --> 00:46:12.409
Yeah.

00:46:12.509 --> 00:46:19.509
And the interesting thing is, women did not walk down, uh, in Old Town, day or night.

00:46:19.679 --> 00:46:19.998
Wow.

00:46:20.048 --> 00:46:20.559
Alone.

00:46:20.918 --> 00:46:21.259
Day or night.

00:46:21.329 --> 00:46:22.878
Because of the transient kind of challenge?

00:46:22.898 --> 00:46:24.949
Because of the transients, yes.

00:46:24.998 --> 00:46:25.278
Okay.

00:46:25.318 --> 00:46:30.929
And so, we walked in one day, we said, well, let's eat at the Silver Grill one more time.

00:46:31.458 --> 00:46:34.309
And things seemed to be a little bit amiss.

00:46:34.909 --> 00:46:39.829
And we talked to our, uh, our server, and we just said, you know, things just aren't clicking quite.

00:46:40.309 --> 00:46:41.228
And she said, well.

00:46:41.623 --> 00:46:49.014
Silver Grill was sold about a year and a half ago, and the man who runs it, quite frankly, just doesn't want to run it anymore.

00:46:49.353 --> 00:46:50.434
He doesn't really know what he's doing.

00:46:50.713 --> 00:46:51.704
He wants to sell it.

00:46:52.103 --> 00:46:53.943
And so we said, well, where is he?

00:46:54.483 --> 00:46:56.574
And she said, well, he just walked down the street.

00:46:56.673 --> 00:46:58.744
He's listing it for sale today.

00:46:59.184 --> 00:46:59.474
Oh.

00:46:59.753 --> 00:47:01.634
So we waited for him to come back.

00:47:02.358 --> 00:47:04.159
And we literally negotiate.

00:47:04.199 --> 00:47:07.909
We didn't negotiate, but we, we talked to him in depth for hours.

00:47:08.648 --> 00:47:13.389
And then, uh, we got our, he had just listed it with a real estate agent.

00:47:13.389 --> 00:47:18.099
So I had a real estate agent and we ended up, we, we purchased also with the real estate.

00:47:18.309 --> 00:47:18.668
Yep.

00:47:19.208 --> 00:47:19.378
Yeah.

00:47:19.378 --> 00:47:22.219
Cause there wasn't really hardly a thing like business brokerage back then.

00:47:22.219 --> 00:47:26.028
You had a real estate license and then you could help put business deals together, kind of.

00:47:26.349 --> 00:47:31.719
So I bought it through my real estate agent in February 14th of 1979.

00:47:31.719 --> 00:47:32.139
Okay.

00:47:32.614 --> 00:47:36.184
Oh wow, and the economy was in a weird place at the time.

00:47:36.414 --> 00:47:38.954
Inflation was soaring, Carter was president.

00:47:39.023 --> 00:47:42.483
Oh, that's when interest rates were 15, 16, 17 percent.

00:47:42.523 --> 00:47:42.893
Yeah.

00:47:42.934 --> 00:47:45.273
It, it, it was just off the wall.

00:47:45.284 --> 00:47:50.463
So, we buy this restaurant and all we had ever been were waiters.

00:47:50.563 --> 00:47:50.983
Right.

00:47:50.983 --> 00:47:53.454
You gotta learn a whole bunch of new things.

00:47:53.483 --> 00:48:02.423
So, so Mike, my, my, my partner, My, my new partner, we're driving to work on the 50, 50, I trust for 50, 50.

00:48:02.603 --> 00:48:05.574
And, uh, Mike says to me, well, who's going to cook.

00:48:05.574 --> 00:48:16.978
And I said, because when we bought the restaurant, we, we had three waitresses, a soup cook and a, and a.

00:48:18.518 --> 00:48:20.228
But the owner had been the grill cook.

00:48:20.298 --> 00:48:20.838
Oh, really?

00:48:20.889 --> 00:48:21.298
Okay.

00:48:21.338 --> 00:48:23.829
So I said, well, Mike, one of us has got to learn how to grill cook.

00:48:25.309 --> 00:48:32.409
Maybe I better learn first because, Mike, we were getting ready to pursue other careers because we weren't finding a restaurant.

00:48:32.409 --> 00:48:35.068
So Mike had signed up to be a paramedic.

00:48:35.068 --> 00:48:37.219
And he said, well, I'll finish paramedic school.

00:48:37.699 --> 00:48:38.809
You'll be here more.

00:48:39.414 --> 00:48:49.474
So the first day, we flipped maybe 12 breakfasts, and every other egg we were breaking, because we didn't know how to flip.

00:48:49.474 --> 00:48:52.023
So every time we would flip an egg.

00:48:52.023 --> 00:48:53.653
And how big a place is this at the time?

00:48:53.733 --> 00:48:54.684
It was one building.

00:48:54.954 --> 00:48:55.083
Okay.

00:48:55.634 --> 00:48:56.798
And sat 40 people.

00:48:57.278 --> 00:48:57.929
Forty guests.

00:48:57.929 --> 00:48:59.369
Just that far end unit?

00:48:59.378 --> 00:49:00.139
Is that right?

00:49:00.139 --> 00:49:00.998
The far east end.

00:49:01.009 --> 00:49:01.818
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:49:01.818 --> 00:49:04.259
What looks like kind of the old school diner now.

00:49:04.268 --> 00:49:05.329
Looks like the old school diner.

00:49:05.358 --> 00:49:06.699
That was the first building so far.

00:49:06.708 --> 00:49:09.588
With just a little kitchen on the far back by the, off the alley or whatever.

00:49:09.599 --> 00:49:11.208
The grill was up in the front window.

00:49:11.268 --> 00:49:12.438
Oh, really?

00:49:12.539 --> 00:49:15.789
And everything was, all the orders were verbal.

00:49:16.329 --> 00:49:25.518
You know, we had the lingo, you know, you know, you know, daily special, hamburger, put a dress on it, then it, you know, put lettuce and tomato.

00:49:26.278 --> 00:49:29.838
So we would yell back and forth and we'd have to coordinate.

00:49:29.858 --> 00:49:30.518
No tickets.

00:49:30.628 --> 00:49:31.418
No tickets.

00:49:32.108 --> 00:49:34.449
And we'd have to coordinate with the back kitchen.

00:49:34.989 --> 00:49:38.398
But anyway, that was the first day, 12, 12 breakfasts.

00:49:38.398 --> 00:49:39.898
And we thought, boy, we hit a home run.

00:49:40.514 --> 00:49:43.784
Well, it didn't take us long to find out that the business You hadn't really done a lot of math.

00:49:44.074 --> 00:49:44.514
No.

00:49:44.614 --> 00:49:50.264
Well, we, we, we saw the books, but the books, let's just say they, they weren't up to date.

00:49:50.333 --> 00:49:50.684
Yes.

00:49:50.724 --> 00:50:00.043
And anyway, so slowly, uh, the, the business was tough and, and Mike was more of an administrator.

00:50:00.324 --> 00:50:00.634
Okay.

00:50:00.634 --> 00:50:02.434
So he went on to the fire department.

00:50:02.434 --> 00:50:04.094
I bought him out after three years.

00:50:04.143 --> 00:50:04.563
Okay.

00:50:04.623 --> 00:50:05.043
Okay.

00:50:05.744 --> 00:50:07.708
And, uh Did he do stuff for the business?

00:50:07.869 --> 00:50:11.509
Did he, like, run the back office and take care of the insurance and different things like that?

00:50:11.509 --> 00:50:13.458
Oh yeah, we ran it 50 50.

00:50:13.458 --> 00:50:19.989
Okay, so he was, even though he was in the service world or whatever, he was still giving his time.

00:50:19.989 --> 00:50:29.514
No, after I bought him out, he was, he was Well, of course, then he was gone, but in the meantime, he was Oh yeah, he was cooking and we, and we were Both of them, whatever you're gonna do.

00:50:29.514 --> 00:50:35.543
We were living together and whatever money he made, Made whatever money so real, we threw it all in one pot.

00:50:36.684 --> 00:50:40.643
It was kind of like a marriage, but we couldn't survive otherwise.

00:50:41.164 --> 00:50:44.673
And I was working at night as a bartender at the charcoal broiler.

00:50:44.704 --> 00:50:45.164
Okay.

00:50:45.543 --> 00:50:50.923
And so, I mean, I'd get up at five in the morning, cook all day, clean up, and then go bartend.

00:50:51.333 --> 00:50:52.414
Go straight into work and bartend.

00:50:52.664 --> 00:50:54.134
So it was, yeah.

00:50:54.293 --> 00:51:07.349
Well, I think, I guess, you know, I think the illustrated point here in some ways, John, is that you had to put in an extraordinary effort for an extended period of time to get over the hump and make it.

00:51:07.768 --> 00:51:08.289
Yes.

00:51:08.648 --> 00:51:08.778
Yes.

00:51:08.818 --> 00:51:12.469
You know, without that, you wouldn't, you know, you could have given up.

00:51:12.673 --> 00:51:16.043
Anytime in those first three to five years and you're exactly right.

00:51:16.043 --> 00:51:22.963
And you know, being an entrepreneur, I put a lot of, a lot of weight into this.

00:51:22.963 --> 00:51:26.534
I mean, being an entrepreneur is it's, it's really in your soul.

00:51:26.893 --> 00:51:29.114
You really, you have to have it.

00:51:29.153 --> 00:51:29.384
Yeah.

00:51:29.384 --> 00:51:30.503
You have to have that drive.

00:51:30.693 --> 00:51:32.333
Give up almost has to be busted.

00:51:32.423 --> 00:51:32.443
Yeah.

00:51:34.623 --> 00:51:37.043
You just, you can't, you don't want to.

00:51:38.579 --> 00:51:39.708
You have to succeed.

00:51:39.708 --> 00:51:46.398
So I plugged along and Mike, uh, was out and I got married in, in, in the interim.

00:51:46.978 --> 00:51:50.208
And so where'd you find time to meet a girl in this bartending?

00:51:50.489 --> 00:51:51.719
Well, that's silver grill.

00:51:53.398 --> 00:51:54.458
She was my customer.

00:51:55.748 --> 00:52:05.318
So, uh, after about seven years, we, we talked about it and I said, you know, I have one idea, And I said, let's take one more chance.

00:52:05.338 --> 00:52:07.268
And I want to bake a giant cinnamon roll.

00:52:08.119 --> 00:52:12.228
So I had the idea of the cinnamon roll and, and Verne's was baking cinnamon rolls.

00:52:12.429 --> 00:52:14.489
Johnson's corner was baking cinnamon rolls.

00:52:15.369 --> 00:52:17.108
So I didn't have a recipe.

00:52:17.108 --> 00:52:18.148
Couldn't find a recipe.

00:52:18.148 --> 00:52:24.889
I was trying to see, I was trying to steal recipes from people and, and I, I couldn't find them.

00:52:24.989 --> 00:52:29.378
Trying to hire the Verne's, uh, former pastry chef to try to get the Verne's.

00:52:29.478 --> 00:52:29.809
Did.

00:52:29.809 --> 00:52:30.568
How did you know?

00:52:30.568 --> 00:52:32.809
So I tried to do that.

00:52:33.333 --> 00:52:36.193
And that finally turned to a Better Homes than Card and Cookbook.

00:52:36.193 --> 00:52:42.164
I got a sweet roll recipe and so the first day I, I didn't know anything about baking.

00:52:42.193 --> 00:52:44.273
I didn't know about You gotta measure.

00:52:44.344 --> 00:52:44.753
Yeah, you gotta measure.

00:52:44.753 --> 00:52:45.193
It's really hard.

00:52:45.884 --> 00:52:56.998
I didn't know how to let the dough rise and First day I baked 18 cinnamon rolls and they came out like hockey pucks and I, I was prancing, prancing out of the kitchen.

00:52:57.048 --> 00:53:03.599
I was just proud as a peacock and I was, I'm giving them away and people were just, I can't really eat this.

00:53:05.458 --> 00:53:12.539
These are really good, but you, but you know, Kurt, I, I, I got really good quick and the business started picking up.

00:53:12.539 --> 00:53:16.039
And then was the cinnamon roll part of that?

00:53:16.429 --> 00:53:17.599
Like why business picked up?

00:53:17.989 --> 00:53:19.108
Absolutely.

00:53:19.278 --> 00:53:28.498
And then about three months later, I, I, I was starting to bake it, uh, I was getting up, you know, two o'clock in the morning and working all day.

00:53:28.509 --> 00:53:28.699
Yeah.

00:53:28.699 --> 00:53:29.028
Yeah.

00:53:29.259 --> 00:53:30.739
And I realized I needed help.

00:53:30.739 --> 00:53:40.119
So I put an ad in the paper and, uh, an older man, probably in his late sixties, uh, had been a German hand baker.

00:53:40.239 --> 00:53:40.628
Hmm.

00:53:40.829 --> 00:53:44.248
He called me and he was a little kind of rough on the phone.

00:53:44.248 --> 00:53:47.059
He says, Oh, he says, I just need to come in.

00:53:47.059 --> 00:53:48.039
I need to work.

00:53:48.938 --> 00:53:53.579
He says, I've been retired three years and my wife is driving me crazy.

00:53:54.679 --> 00:53:55.159
Perfect.

00:53:57.028 --> 00:53:58.438
Russ Hamilton, great guy.

00:53:58.438 --> 00:54:00.699
This sounds like the kind of guy I don't have to pay too much.

00:54:00.699 --> 00:54:02.949
Well, okay.

00:54:02.949 --> 00:54:06.759
No, I said to Russ, I said, Russ, I, I can't afford to pay you.

00:54:07.668 --> 00:54:11.259
What you're worth is all I want to do is bake.

00:54:11.998 --> 00:54:17.449
So Russ and I got, became very close and he taught me how to bake like a professional baker.

00:54:17.478 --> 00:54:19.869
And we, we took that original recipe.

00:54:19.869 --> 00:54:21.548
We kept tweaking it and tweaking it.

00:54:21.548 --> 00:54:25.849
And he taught me how to tenderize the rolls and how to make the frostings.

00:54:25.849 --> 00:54:28.309
And we worked together for well over two years.

00:54:29.228 --> 00:54:35.128
But, uh, what was significant about the cinnamon rolls is it gave me a signature item, a differentiator.

00:54:35.998 --> 00:54:37.219
And it, and it gave me.

00:54:37.889 --> 00:54:39.278
I knew my food was good.

00:54:39.518 --> 00:54:40.748
It was basic, but it was good.

00:54:41.248 --> 00:54:42.648
So people started coming in.

00:54:42.648 --> 00:54:43.509
It's sausage patties.

00:54:43.509 --> 00:54:43.958
It's eggs.

00:54:43.958 --> 00:54:44.889
It's hash browns.

00:54:44.889 --> 00:54:45.159
Right.

00:54:45.188 --> 00:54:47.418
They came in to go, I want a cinnamon roll of cheese.

00:54:47.719 --> 00:54:48.708
The food's pretty good.

00:54:49.349 --> 00:54:53.478
So my business within a year had increased 50%.

00:54:53.688 --> 00:54:54.168
Wow.

00:54:54.708 --> 00:55:00.119
And then, and then it just started, then I was able to buy the building and then the building next door.

00:55:00.628 --> 00:55:05.719
And, and every time I bought a building, the business would increase.

00:55:06.309 --> 00:55:06.719
So.

00:55:07.123 --> 00:55:18.313
That, that all started in about 1986 and by 1995, uh, well I'll go back a little bit, in the late 80s, we were in another deep depression.

00:55:18.364 --> 00:55:18.643
Yep.

00:55:18.793 --> 00:55:22.773
Gene Mitchell, great developer who started and developed Old Town.

00:55:24.063 --> 00:55:26.554
you know, obviously that went into receivership.

00:55:26.563 --> 00:55:30.034
So the, the, the market was deflated.

00:55:30.043 --> 00:55:36.494
Real estate was deflated and I was able to buy my adjoining buildings at a reasonable price.

00:55:37.054 --> 00:55:39.574
And by 1995 I had five buildings.

00:55:39.664 --> 00:55:40.014
Wow.

00:55:40.083 --> 00:55:49.833
And every time, every time I bought a building, of course it was another major remodel, because those buildings just, well, but back in those days, the city didn't make you dance like they would make you dance today.

00:55:49.833 --> 00:55:52.634
If you try to do something like that, it wouldn't have been possible.

00:55:52.974 --> 00:55:55.063
And, and I have to compliment Four Cause.

00:55:55.063 --> 00:56:00.074
They, they, they were always very good to me and they saw the significance.

00:56:00.273 --> 00:56:06.364
you know, maintaining and, and, and recreating old town, if you would.

00:56:06.364 --> 00:56:09.764
So, yeah, they gave me a lot of leniency.

00:56:10.284 --> 00:56:13.963
And then in the year 2000, I was able to get a matching grant.

00:56:14.543 --> 00:56:14.994
Oh, yeah.

00:56:15.003 --> 00:56:26.063
From, uh, from the, when they were doing the downtown development authority kind of stuff, it was actually a Colorado grant, but it was a matching grant or like a historic renovation kind of thing for the storefronts.

00:56:26.278 --> 00:56:26.369
Uh huh.

00:56:26.818 --> 00:56:29.818
So I brought back all the five storefronts to their Oh, cool.

00:56:29.818 --> 00:56:30.748
To their original.

00:56:30.748 --> 00:56:33.509
They, they matched the mortar, the brick and everything, so.

00:56:33.509 --> 00:56:33.989
Oh, wow.

00:56:34.289 --> 00:56:48.849
So, uh, you know, I have a lot of people to thank, uh, you know, my first remodel, I, gosh, I had a budget and I blew the budget by four times, and, and I didn't have any money to pay my contractors and.

00:56:49.579 --> 00:56:51.898
You know, business is all about relationships.

00:56:52.599 --> 00:56:56.679
And I went to each of them and I, and I worked out terms and deals, right?

00:56:56.679 --> 00:56:57.518
Here's how much I can give you.

00:56:57.548 --> 00:57:01.239
Now you get free breakfast until I get you covered.

00:57:02.079 --> 00:57:08.958
But you know, in the end, after about a year, uh, I've, I was able to get a bank to support me and you had mentioned.

00:57:09.623 --> 00:57:13.884
Local banks, and I've always been, I've always done real well with local banks.

00:57:13.889 --> 00:57:14.018
Yeah.

00:57:14.393 --> 00:57:14.454
Yeah.

00:57:14.454 --> 00:57:17.179
Was the Bank of Colorado going way back, or you have other favors?

00:57:17.289 --> 00:57:24.793
Back in the day, it, it was, uh, Tom Ton and he was with, uh, first State Bank, Uhhuh, and, uh, or fa, first Interstate Bank.

00:57:24.793 --> 00:57:27.043
It might have been no first interstate bank.

00:57:27.494 --> 00:57:29.324
And then I moved to, uh.

00:57:29.659 --> 00:57:36.938
Uh, First National for a bit, and then I went to, uh, Homestate Bank owned by Harry Devereaux.

00:57:36.958 --> 00:57:37.869
Sure, sure.

00:57:37.878 --> 00:57:43.139
And, uh, and then when Homestate sold, then I ultimately went to Bank Colorado.

00:57:43.148 --> 00:57:46.108
And that's been about maybe six, seven years.

00:57:46.548 --> 00:57:48.228
And, uh, you know, they're a good company.

00:57:48.458 --> 00:57:49.798
local Colorado bank.

00:57:49.829 --> 00:57:56.989
That was my first, uh, kind of family owned stop along my banking journey was working for Tom Pranger in Windsor, a bank, Colorado.

00:57:56.989 --> 00:58:05.259
And I went for my first interview and, uh, it was supposed to be just with Cody Fulmer from the Fort Collins Bank.

00:58:05.259 --> 00:58:05.949
I've known him for years.

00:58:05.949 --> 00:58:12.909
Kim Day was, um, my coworker at my first banking stop and I show up at the Togan Country Club.

00:58:12.909 --> 00:58:20.478
And it's not just Cody, but it's also Tom Gotton, whoever was pre predecessor of Sean Ooff.

00:58:20.599 --> 00:58:20.809
Yeah.

00:58:20.869 --> 00:58:28.668
In that role, Tom, something true G Tom G And then the, the son of, uh, one, one of the.

00:58:29.858 --> 00:58:30.938
Family members.

00:58:30.998 --> 00:58:36.708
Uh, it was Chris of the family that owns the Pinnacle Bank Corp.

00:58:37.128 --> 00:58:37.518
Okay.

00:58:37.909 --> 00:58:39.034
I didn't know Chris, but Yeah.

00:58:39.039 --> 00:58:47.329
Yeah, there's a, I forget the, the family, but anyway, so I'm like meeting literally with the regional president and one of the owners of the bank.

00:58:47.659 --> 00:58:49.418
And the guy I thought I was interviewing with.

00:58:50.039 --> 00:59:06.199
And, uh, yeah, as it turns out, they shipped me off to Windsor instead of Fort Collins, but it was just such an honor because I'm like a second year guy working in the bank and I'm like meeting with the owners of this bank, which was a much smaller bank at that time, 20 years ago, whatever, 25 almost.

00:59:06.719 --> 00:59:09.148
So anyway, I've always had a lot of respect for bank Colorado.

00:59:09.878 --> 00:59:10.619
And they're great.

00:59:10.628 --> 00:59:13.079
And they helped me, they helped me through COVID.

00:59:13.643 --> 00:59:14.273
Right, right.

00:59:14.273 --> 00:59:23.034
They helped me with my remodel and they believed in me and so, uh, a lot of that is lost now with, with these bigger banks, you know, the old community banks.

00:59:23.034 --> 00:59:28.574
So no, I'm, I'm always, uh, if you're listening out there, always go with a community bank if you can.

00:59:28.994 --> 00:59:31.833
Yep, I totally agree with you.

00:59:31.844 --> 00:59:36.824
The big banks are 1 800, I don't really actually care about you, I just care about making profit off of you.

00:59:36.934 --> 00:59:37.244
Yep.

00:59:37.574 --> 00:59:41.474
Um, I'm gonna call a short break, and then we'll come back and talk a little bit more.

00:59:41.574 --> 00:59:42.293
Oh, that'd be great.

01:00:25.599 --> 01:00:48.989
And we are back from the break and you know, one of the things I was thinking about during the break, John, is that like, yes, you had a plan, you and your, your former roommate, veil, waiter, friend, person, you know, you, you had a plan to find a restaurant and buy it and operate it and then, but you didn't really find traction and then you stumbled into an opportunity and you jumped on it.

01:00:49.884 --> 01:00:57.954
Um, has that, and even with, as far as like the expansion of the restaurant over time and things like that, it sounds like most of the time you didn't really have a plan.

01:00:57.963 --> 01:01:00.494
Maybe you planted some seeds and then they came along and grew?

01:01:01.143 --> 01:01:02.903
Well, I think you're exactly right.

01:01:03.414 --> 01:01:07.949
Number one, we were both 26 and 27.

01:01:07.949 --> 01:01:08.088
Yeah.

01:01:08.088 --> 01:01:09.739
And it's interesting.

01:01:09.739 --> 01:01:13.239
We thought, Oh my God, we're, we're kind of old to get started.

01:01:13.929 --> 01:01:14.639
Right at that time.

01:01:14.949 --> 01:01:15.539
It felt like that.

01:01:15.539 --> 01:01:16.168
Yeah, we did.

01:01:16.168 --> 01:01:17.378
And so you're right.

01:01:17.378 --> 01:01:23.829
We didn't have a plan, but yeah, I've got a tribute and thank my parents and Mike's parents.

01:01:23.838 --> 01:01:24.528
Right, right.

01:01:24.858 --> 01:01:25.148
They were.

01:01:25.188 --> 01:01:28.018
Why did they believe in you to put money behind your venture?

01:01:28.219 --> 01:01:33.393
You know, I don't, I don't have an honest answer for that.

01:01:33.414 --> 01:01:54.043
Uh, you know, we both had really great parents and they believed in us and my parent, my, my mom and dad both being in, in business, I'm sure buying the silver grill probably sounded like a bonehead move, but you know, they believed in us.

01:01:54.043 --> 01:01:54.403
Yeah.

01:01:54.764 --> 01:01:56.724
And they never questioned anything at all.

01:01:56.724 --> 01:01:58.523
They were, were proud of us.

01:01:58.824 --> 01:02:01.034
Well, and you worked your ass off to prove them right.

01:02:01.063 --> 01:02:02.634
Whatever we, you know, for years.

01:02:02.634 --> 01:02:03.634
Whatever we did.

01:02:03.704 --> 01:02:08.474
And, uh, so, yeah, I attribute a lot of that.

01:02:08.934 --> 01:02:09.784
To our parents.

01:02:09.784 --> 01:02:17.213
And then when we bought the silver grill, I, I think we made, we made mistakes, but we didn't make big mistakes that really hurt us.

01:02:17.494 --> 01:02:22.103
I think the smartest thing we did is we had been waiters as, as we talked about.

01:02:22.583 --> 01:02:28.023
And, but we didn't have any kitchen experience and we recognized that number one, we love the silver grill.

01:02:28.083 --> 01:02:29.733
We love the old style diner.

01:02:29.733 --> 01:02:32.643
We, we love the, you know, these big, big pies.

01:02:32.643 --> 01:02:35.054
We love the, the local.

01:02:35.469 --> 01:02:42.219
Uh, and we, we thought, well, this is a, this is not going to be enough to support two guys.

01:02:42.219 --> 01:02:44.498
This farm is too small for two families.

01:02:44.568 --> 01:02:44.789
Yeah.

01:02:44.789 --> 01:02:50.219
So we thought we would build up the silver grill and then after a year, we'd probably buy a second restaurant.

01:02:50.889 --> 01:02:55.039
And our thought was Mike would, would run one and I would run the other.

01:02:55.329 --> 01:03:00.378
Well, we quickly found out that the first one wasn't enough to support us.

01:03:00.378 --> 01:03:02.208
So then it was just survival mode.

01:03:03.128 --> 01:03:03.938
That's why Mike.

01:03:04.364 --> 01:03:14.063
Continued to pursue paramedics and fire department and I continued, uh, we, I worked at the charcoal broiler and then we had, we started a janitorial company.

01:03:14.153 --> 01:03:14.963
Oh, is that right?

01:03:14.994 --> 01:03:18.574
And on our nights off, we, we called ourselves the Walnut Street Janitors.

01:03:18.614 --> 01:03:22.233
You cleaned your own restaurant and then went down the street and We cleaned, we cleaned offices.

01:03:22.963 --> 01:03:23.393
Oh, wow.

01:03:23.474 --> 01:03:24.134
At night.

01:03:24.693 --> 01:03:25.014
Wow.

01:03:25.094 --> 01:03:32.184
And so, yeah, truly, I mean, there's this, just this will to survive.

01:03:32.724 --> 01:03:36.833
I think part of it was we didn't want to disappoint our parents.

01:03:36.983 --> 01:03:37.304
Yeah, sure.

01:03:37.833 --> 01:03:42.403
You know, and it was always a big deal that I wanted to be a self made man.

01:03:42.423 --> 01:03:43.054
Yeah, yeah.

01:03:43.153 --> 01:03:46.844
And, uh, yeah, that's how we started, that's how we started the journey.

01:03:47.153 --> 01:03:49.474
What was it like when you bought him out?

01:03:49.474 --> 01:03:57.664
Do you remember how much you paid for his 50 percent share of the I paid, I paid him when I, I'll tell you, we paid 30, 000 for the silver grill.

01:03:57.664 --> 01:03:59.509
And when I bought him out, I did.

01:04:00.039 --> 01:04:01.929
Paid him his 15, 000.

01:04:02.259 --> 01:04:06.889
But, uh, I still owed my parents and I still I'm sure it wasn't easy from there.

01:04:06.929 --> 01:04:08.199
No, I still owed his parents.

01:04:08.278 --> 01:04:08.998
Oh, right.

01:04:09.079 --> 01:04:11.778
So I continued to make payments to both of them.

01:04:11.858 --> 01:04:13.159
Until they were paid off.

01:04:13.778 --> 01:04:15.708
Over time, did he ever regret that?

01:04:15.739 --> 01:04:19.989
Or did he, like, enjoy the journey that he had nonetheless?

01:04:20.293 --> 01:04:21.414
Oh, I don't think so.

01:04:21.414 --> 01:04:24.034
You know, I know that there were people that teased him.

01:04:24.034 --> 01:04:26.094
They said, do you think you sold out too soon?

01:04:26.193 --> 01:04:26.704
Right, right.

01:04:26.764 --> 01:04:28.713
But you know, he became very successful.

01:04:28.713 --> 01:04:35.403
He became an administrator and second in command for Poudre Valley Fire Authority.

01:04:35.414 --> 01:04:35.833
Yeah, yeah.

01:04:36.938 --> 01:04:40.159
She got a bigger paycheck than you did a lot of times without working as hard.

01:04:40.159 --> 01:04:41.668
Well, maybe you worked as hard.

01:04:41.668 --> 01:04:42.018
I don't know.

01:04:42.599 --> 01:04:42.889
Probably not.

01:04:43.708 --> 01:04:51.878
We both, we both worked, we both worked hard in different ways, but I'm most proud of the fact that, uh, we we've maintained a very close relationship.

01:04:51.889 --> 01:05:00.219
Did you, uh, did you come up with a steak dinner or something like that after you sold to Alan and got that first big check or anything?

01:05:01.489 --> 01:05:04.608
Well, the night of the closing, if that's what you're asking.

01:05:04.958 --> 01:05:05.259
Yeah.

01:05:05.259 --> 01:05:05.438
I.

01:05:05.909 --> 01:05:07.309
We went out for a big celebration.

01:05:07.918 --> 01:05:08.778
Good, yeah, yeah.

01:05:08.789 --> 01:05:09.289
We did.

01:05:09.389 --> 01:05:13.849
I mean, you didn't owe him anything, really, but, you know, he was ultimately your co founder, so that's kind of a fun thing.

01:05:14.009 --> 01:05:14.778
Yeah, yeah.

01:05:14.829 --> 01:05:15.338
Oh, yeah.

01:05:15.898 --> 01:05:18.268
We, we've celebrated in the right ways.

01:05:18.619 --> 01:05:32.358
What would you say, like, I don't know if there was like a silver grill way, or maybe staff and management and people, like, who fit the best on your team, and how could you tell that?

01:05:33.449 --> 01:05:44.344
Well, Early on, and I will say this, that in a small business, when you have two or three or four employees, I'm not going to say it's easy, but it's They're right there.

01:05:44.403 --> 01:05:46.014
You talk to them about anything You're there.

01:05:46.043 --> 01:05:47.534
You're part of their lives.

01:05:47.554 --> 01:05:48.793
It's easy to manage.

01:05:49.103 --> 01:05:56.239
As you grow, you have to Uh, obviously hire more employees and you have to learn how to delegate.

01:05:56.438 --> 01:05:56.699
Yeah.

01:05:56.849 --> 01:06:00.679
And you have to, you have to learn that you can't do everything.

01:06:00.688 --> 01:06:03.059
You have to learn that you're not the best at everything.

01:06:03.748 --> 01:06:13.278
So, as you, we first started talking about, uh, you know, uh, I think previously we were discussing about mentor groups and being part of.

01:06:13.719 --> 01:06:16.318
Uh, I learned a lot from my peers.

01:06:16.918 --> 01:06:18.998
I learned a lot from personal friends.

01:06:19.329 --> 01:06:21.389
But I also learned a lot from employees.

01:06:21.449 --> 01:06:21.969
Yeah, yeah.

01:06:22.099 --> 01:06:26.588
Uh, I mean, especially, not especially, but I'll say cooks.

01:06:26.838 --> 01:06:27.239
Okay.

01:06:27.298 --> 01:06:30.778
Uh, and, you know, we developed recipes together.

01:06:31.099 --> 01:06:34.818
And, so it was a, it was a learning process.

01:06:35.858 --> 01:06:44.068
For years, if I look back, I said, To myself, maybe I should have worked for a chain first to learn learn systems.

01:06:44.099 --> 01:06:44.701
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:06:44.759 --> 01:06:52.094
And uh, and, and I didn't do that, so I had to, through the school of hard knocks, as they say, I learned as as I learned.

01:06:52.094 --> 01:07:00.358
And were you the builder of those systems or was that kind of more key employees that No, I learned, I learned from, no, I was builder of the, of the systems.

01:07:00.364 --> 01:07:00.454
Okay.

01:07:01.134 --> 01:07:07.384
But you have to remember, Kurt, you know, we're talking 45 years ago.

01:07:07.463 --> 01:07:09.023
We're not talking software systems yet.

01:07:09.063 --> 01:07:11.414
Computer systems were just coming in.

01:07:11.463 --> 01:07:11.934
Yeah, yeah.

01:07:11.994 --> 01:07:22.239
Uh, and, and I, uh, I bought one of the original computers with the amber screen, and I took some classes, and I was never, never very good at it.

01:07:22.759 --> 01:07:32.768
But, uh, we, we tried, I always tried to be a little bit ahead of the curve, uh, whether it was in the accounting or whether it was in food systems.

01:07:32.768 --> 01:07:36.039
If it wasn't you doing it, somebody was installing this next part.

01:07:36.184 --> 01:07:36.614
Yes.

01:07:36.623 --> 01:07:44.463
Stage inventory tracking, you know, absolutely not ordering more Romaine when you've got a bunch of Romaine getting ready to go bad already or whatever.

01:07:44.653 --> 01:07:44.784
Right.

01:07:44.813 --> 01:07:45.974
And you're exactly right.

01:07:45.974 --> 01:07:48.414
As I grew, I hired a bookkeeper.

01:07:48.414 --> 01:07:50.153
I hired a kitchen manager.

01:07:50.364 --> 01:07:52.983
I did not have a manager for the first 10 years.

01:07:52.983 --> 01:07:58.233
And I thought, Oh my God, I don't know if the silver grill could ever afford a manager.

01:07:58.813 --> 01:08:02.364
And then as I expanded, of course, the key was sales.

01:08:02.994 --> 01:08:03.474
Oh, right.

01:08:03.483 --> 01:08:04.954
The sales grew.

01:08:05.438 --> 01:08:14.248
And that was your highest and best use in some ways, I know it was for Reino, like just being, just walking around egg and eyes and saying hi to people.

01:08:14.248 --> 01:08:16.838
Like that was some of his highest and best use at times.

01:08:17.109 --> 01:08:24.738
I always remember Reino because I, I was, I was approached, you know, to, to franchise or to do a second one.

01:08:24.738 --> 01:08:31.179
And Reino always told me, and I, and I know Reino's real happy now and I'm real happy, but he said, he says it changes.

01:08:31.198 --> 01:08:31.998
He says, yeah.

01:08:32.219 --> 01:08:41.658
When you start expanding and you, you know, be, become a small chain, then you, you're driving between restaurants and you're really not doing what you love to do.

01:08:41.809 --> 01:08:43.368
What you love to do is be in your restaurant.

01:08:44.158 --> 01:08:44.679
And.

01:08:44.809 --> 01:08:49.609
Well, that was why it was such a beautiful thing when he sold everything but three, I think, or something.

01:08:49.609 --> 01:08:52.708
And he could just be the, the owner guy of those three.

01:08:53.469 --> 01:08:53.769
Yep.

01:08:53.868 --> 01:08:57.809
And, and, and the big part of the silver grill is being in downtown.

01:08:57.908 --> 01:08:58.269
Totally.

01:08:58.269 --> 01:09:01.658
Being in old town, being in the old, old buildings.

01:09:01.668 --> 01:09:02.719
That would have been.

01:09:03.059 --> 01:09:04.048
Hard to duplicate.

01:09:04.109 --> 01:09:04.958
Yeah, totally.

01:09:05.208 --> 01:09:05.998
You couldn't.

01:09:06.679 --> 01:09:13.408
I mean, I could build a silver grill someplace else in a strip mall, but it might have good food, but it's not going to have the same ambiance.

01:09:13.479 --> 01:09:14.689
Right, totally.

01:09:14.708 --> 01:09:21.899
And, and if you put a silver grill in some old building down in Boulder or downtown Denver or something like that, that's just not It's just not the same.

01:09:21.899 --> 01:09:22.759
It's not the same community.

01:09:22.759 --> 01:09:23.748
It's not the same environment.

01:09:23.748 --> 01:09:27.509
It didn't come together over 90 years, you know, all that stuff.

01:09:28.229 --> 01:09:40.929
Um, what would, uh, what would your, your favorite employees, uh, from across the years say were your special talents, if you will, uh, as a restaurant owner, as a manager, as a leader?

01:09:40.998 --> 01:09:42.288
I don't know where your talents lie.

01:09:43.309 --> 01:09:45.679
You know, I, I think I was always a good delegator.

01:09:45.819 --> 01:09:46.139
Okay.

01:09:46.179 --> 01:09:48.021
I was comfortable with that.

01:09:48.021 --> 01:09:49.024
Oh, always.

01:09:49.173 --> 01:09:53.423
Honest and straight with my employees now, that doesn't mean all my employees like me.

01:09:53.434 --> 01:09:53.753
Sure.

01:09:53.753 --> 01:09:54.024
Yeah.

01:09:54.333 --> 01:10:04.554
Uh, I some people don't like honesty that much Tell me i'm good at my job I was I was a uh, I I was Could be tough.

01:10:04.604 --> 01:10:05.453
Mm hmm.

01:10:05.453 --> 01:10:18.408
There was there was a few of us in town that were pretty tough and fiery And as you know, the restaurant business is probably the most the the most I mean most difficult business To run.

01:10:18.559 --> 01:10:19.078
Yeah, yeah.

01:10:19.328 --> 01:10:31.838
And when you're not making money, or enough money, and you have employees that don't show up, or you have employees that just have attitudes, you have a tendency to get fired up.

01:10:31.838 --> 01:10:32.679
Make rapid decisions.

01:10:32.698 --> 01:10:33.828
Make rapid decisions.

01:10:34.418 --> 01:10:36.078
I had a 24 hour rule.

01:10:36.078 --> 01:10:37.038
I didn't get angry.

01:10:37.048 --> 01:11:02.264
I let things simmer for 24 hours, and if it still bothered me in 24 hours, Uh, but one of my favorite stories is a little off subject, but I had a phone call about 10 years ago, and it was a lady, it was an email, and she said, I just saw an ad about Budweiser and Fort Collins, and she said, I remember working there when I was a college student.

01:11:03.054 --> 01:11:07.844
And she said, I'm just wondering how you're doing and how the Silver Grille is doing.

01:11:08.314 --> 01:11:09.533
This is all through email.

01:11:10.083 --> 01:11:12.944
She was like, you probably don't remember me, so I emailed her back.

01:11:12.953 --> 01:11:14.913
And I said, you know, her name was Lisa.

01:11:14.923 --> 01:11:15.533
Lisa, you're right.

01:11:15.533 --> 01:11:17.094
Lisa DeFonte.

01:11:17.154 --> 01:11:18.634
I don't, I don't remember you.

01:11:19.493 --> 01:11:21.434
And then I got thinking about it.

01:11:21.764 --> 01:11:26.644
And I sent her an email back and I said, Lisa, Did I by chance fire you?

01:11:27.814 --> 01:11:29.673
She goes, matter of fact, you did.

01:11:30.113 --> 01:11:31.734
She goes, and I deserved it.

01:11:33.194 --> 01:11:39.493
And, uh, she, she lives in New York and she and I have now been email pals.

01:11:40.524 --> 01:11:41.333
10 years.

01:11:41.338 --> 01:11:41.569
Yeah.

01:11:41.573 --> 01:11:41.814
Yeah.

01:11:41.844 --> 01:11:44.724
I haven't, I have not seen her in 45 years.

01:11:46.384 --> 01:11:47.104
And, but that's a, but that's awesome.

01:11:47.149 --> 01:11:47.974
It, it is a funny story.

01:11:47.974 --> 01:12:04.033
Well, I have the same, I've told this story on the podcast at least once before, but, um, when I became the acting president of the bank, when my boss got let go back in 2009, um, we had gone down from 12 to seven staff and.

01:12:04.783 --> 01:12:17.974
Myself and the teller manager, uh, uh, gal made the decision to let another teller go because she just, she was smart and cute and just wanted to be an artist or a photographer or something.

01:12:18.173 --> 01:12:21.134
And she resented the fact that she had to work in a stupid ass bank.

01:12:21.873 --> 01:12:23.134
Uh, Allie was her name.

01:12:23.713 --> 01:12:28.293
And, uh, we let her go that same day.

01:12:28.734 --> 01:12:29.154
She.

01:12:29.703 --> 01:12:30.913
Was pissed.

01:12:31.333 --> 01:12:38.974
She went and got a job at Walmart photo studio, you know, which was a less good job than working at the bank by a couple of bucks an hour or whatever.

01:12:39.323 --> 01:12:45.253
But then she eventually started her wedding photography business and then her art studio and then this and that.

01:12:45.253 --> 01:12:51.753
And she tagged me five years later and said, thanks to the best and shortest live boss I ever had.

01:12:52.694 --> 01:12:54.123
You know, thanks for firing me.

01:12:54.423 --> 01:13:00.104
Five years ago, because that was the thing that opened the door to me actually finding some fulfillment.

01:13:00.194 --> 01:13:04.814
And it sounds like this person you're talking about, Lisa, had the same kind of general experience.

01:13:04.814 --> 01:13:09.613
Like, I respect you for calling me out on my shit, and I changed my ways in part because of you.

01:13:09.613 --> 01:13:20.378
It's happened, not specifically like that, but I, I have terminated young people, and I've had Their parents call me and say, thank you.

01:13:21.038 --> 01:13:25.208
Thank you for, you know, they, they need to accept that responsibility.

01:13:25.738 --> 01:13:33.179
And when they say they're, you know, they're scheduled to show up, they need to show up in this one particular young girl, she didn't show up.

01:13:33.628 --> 01:13:36.109
And I, I had a hard, fast rule.

01:13:36.168 --> 01:13:39.469
You don't show up, you don't come back.

01:13:39.939 --> 01:13:50.309
And it's very difficult in any business, but especially at a restaurant, because when you're short a server, you're short a cook, everything is bogged down and the customer does not understand.

01:13:50.349 --> 01:13:50.738
Totally.

01:13:50.788 --> 01:13:52.729
Some do, but some don't.

01:13:52.953 --> 01:13:54.654
Yeah, you know, we're short staffed.

01:13:54.654 --> 01:13:55.304
I'm sorry.

01:13:55.663 --> 01:14:02.043
So it's, it's very important that you have staff and you've got to maintain that and you've got to maintain good relationships.

01:14:02.043 --> 01:14:17.849
I didn't always have good relationships and I didn't always have great employees, but as, as it's grown and we've become more sophisticated as a restaurant and old town has become sure what it is destination for many destination.

01:14:17.849 --> 01:14:18.229
Yeah.

01:14:18.519 --> 01:14:25.128
Uh, our employees are, like a better word, more quality employees.

01:14:25.548 --> 01:14:37.194
Uh, well, as you became dominant, you know, probably people know that as a silver grill weight person, you make more consistent, uh, Better tips with a shorter day than a lot of other places.

01:14:37.594 --> 01:14:37.783
Yeah.

01:14:37.783 --> 01:14:44.083
And that's what drew me to the sewer grill is I knew I wanted to have a family someday and I love the restaurant business.

01:14:44.113 --> 01:14:47.354
And in Vail, it was, it was late nights.

01:14:47.944 --> 01:14:48.423
I mean, it was.

01:14:48.764 --> 01:14:52.253
Start your days at 11 and then at 2am.

01:14:52.333 --> 01:14:54.283
You'd ski all day, work all night.

01:14:54.283 --> 01:14:58.524
And then of course you have to go out and spend your money at night, go to the local bars.

01:14:58.554 --> 01:15:01.213
And I knew, excuse me.

01:15:01.243 --> 01:15:02.554
I knew that was not going to be.

01:15:02.753 --> 01:15:02.993
Right.

01:15:03.274 --> 01:15:04.213
It's a long term.

01:15:04.213 --> 01:15:04.524
Yeah.

01:15:04.604 --> 01:15:06.154
No, that was not a long term thing.

01:15:06.154 --> 01:15:08.484
So I made, I made some good decisions.

01:15:08.484 --> 01:15:08.493
Meh.

01:15:09.394 --> 01:15:15.344
The decisions, the bad ones that I made weren't, uh, necessarily, uh, didn't necessarily hurt.

01:15:15.344 --> 01:15:15.894
Didn't wreck ya.

01:15:15.904 --> 01:15:16.104
No.

01:15:16.963 --> 01:15:17.524
Fair enough.

01:15:18.033 --> 01:15:29.894
Um, Any last thoughts, uh, you know, maybe some words to an aspiring restauranteur out there that's, uh, bussing tables or working the counter at a bartender job or whatever?

01:15:30.234 --> 01:15:39.503
I think you've got to be, it's, and I said it before, it's got to be in your soul, but you've got to be commitment, committed, and you've got to be consistent.

01:15:40.423 --> 01:15:47.854
And, and when I'm saying, it's consistent with everything, consistent with service, consistent with your hours, consistent with the food.

01:15:48.444 --> 01:15:52.219
If the food's not good, I mean, you've got to make it right.

01:15:52.439 --> 01:15:54.569
My, my father taught me a lot of things.

01:15:54.569 --> 01:15:59.319
And one thing that's there's still a plaque on the wall is you never close early.

01:15:59.979 --> 01:16:09.988
And that, that, that was said a lot more than, than just that, but you've got to, the customer has to know what to expect.

01:16:11.439 --> 01:16:14.198
If you're going to open up a six by guy, you better open up a six.

01:16:14.838 --> 01:16:17.819
You don't close early just because the employees want to go home.

01:16:17.849 --> 01:16:18.078
Right.

01:16:18.078 --> 01:16:19.788
And there's no customers there right now.

01:16:19.788 --> 01:16:20.069
Yeah.

01:16:20.298 --> 01:16:23.529
They have to know your customers need to know what to expect from you.

01:16:23.609 --> 01:16:24.208
Absolutely.

01:16:24.878 --> 01:16:25.859
They've got to know.

01:16:25.859 --> 01:16:37.168
And I used to drive by And at closing time, or before, and if that close sign was turned around, they would hear from me.

01:16:37.918 --> 01:16:38.338
Yeah.

01:16:38.399 --> 01:16:41.759
You know, we all have little hot buttons that we push.

01:16:41.769 --> 01:16:42.668
Sure, yeah, yeah.

01:16:42.708 --> 01:16:44.759
And there were, that was one of them.

01:16:44.759 --> 01:16:48.498
You've got to stay You got to do what you say you're going to do.

01:16:48.698 --> 01:16:52.519
And, and I've, I've taught to the, that's my boys.

01:16:52.618 --> 01:16:55.719
I mean, you've got to, you've got to be a man of your word.

01:16:56.729 --> 01:16:57.779
It's an interesting thing.

01:16:58.288 --> 01:17:11.878
You know, we were talking before we went live with this podcast, even about what Loco Think Tank does and what I do for a living, and it's really hard for me to describe to would be members of Loco Think Tank.

01:17:12.123 --> 01:17:16.783
What that experience is going to actually be, because I don't know, I'm not going to be there.

01:17:17.304 --> 01:17:18.594
You know, you're going to love it.

01:17:19.154 --> 01:17:22.644
It's going to be a confidential forum where you can break down hard things.

01:17:22.644 --> 01:17:28.514
You can share your fears and failings as a business leader and be held accountable by other peers.

01:17:28.514 --> 01:17:31.863
And, but I don't know what your experience is going to be.

01:17:32.984 --> 01:17:36.323
And I, I should probably get better at that, like telling that story.

01:17:36.323 --> 01:17:40.283
Maybe there's multiple stories, but I know what my experience is going to be at the silver girl.

01:17:41.529 --> 01:18:08.359
I'm going to roll in, I'm going to, you know, if I want to split a cinnamon roll with my wife, I know what that cinnamon roll is going to taste like virtually, I know what the brisket, uh, not brisket, uh, what's the corn, corned beef, corned beef, I don't know what the corned beef, uh, hash breakfast tastes like, as well as many of the other options, you know, it's very consistent, whereas like each of my 90 plus members has a different experience.

01:18:08.429 --> 01:18:23.488
And, and to some extent, a slightly different value proposition, even some are there for, you know, accountability, some are there for learning, some are there for perspective, some are there for cheap therapy, some are there for to, I don't know what they're there for always.

01:18:23.599 --> 01:18:24.748
Anyway, I digress.

01:18:25.248 --> 01:18:37.548
Um, but it is an interesting, like rest running is hard, but I think the definition of what you're trying to deliver is a little bit more known than maybe than what my weird little business is here.

01:18:38.349 --> 01:18:38.588
Yes.

01:18:38.588 --> 01:18:38.948
I don't know.

01:18:39.279 --> 01:18:39.509
Yeah.

01:18:39.559 --> 01:18:41.069
Uh, just thinking out loud here with you.

01:18:41.578 --> 01:18:51.189
Um, I think it's time, faith, family, politics, the, uh, things that thou shalt not but must talk about when you come to the look of experience.

01:18:51.719 --> 01:18:53.248
Um, where do you want to start on that?

01:18:54.179 --> 01:18:58.078
Well, I, you know, I, I, I'm very soulful.

01:18:59.314 --> 01:19:03.203
And I would say soulful and spiritual.

01:19:04.094 --> 01:19:08.394
You know, I believe You mentioned some Zen stuff earlier, kind of, when you're fishing and whatever.

01:19:08.394 --> 01:19:10.514
Oh, when I'm fishing, it's definitely one with nature.

01:19:10.514 --> 01:19:13.423
I think I connect mostly with nature.

01:19:14.144 --> 01:19:16.113
Uh, I've been very fortunate.

01:19:16.113 --> 01:19:17.953
I do like to horseback ride.

01:19:17.953 --> 01:19:18.894
I've been very fortunate.

01:19:19.043 --> 01:19:19.304
Oh, fun.

01:19:19.913 --> 01:19:22.043
To ride with the Crow Indians.

01:19:22.373 --> 01:19:22.953
Oh cool.

01:19:23.043 --> 01:19:26.804
In Custer's last stand and experience a sweat lodge.

01:19:26.913 --> 01:19:27.573
Oh, wow.

01:19:27.694 --> 01:19:30.453
And did you get some, uh, what are they peyote or something like that?

01:19:30.503 --> 01:19:32.673
It was no peyote, but it was, it was.

01:19:32.804 --> 01:19:33.583
Intense?

01:19:33.654 --> 01:19:35.543
Intense and hot.

01:19:35.703 --> 01:19:36.094
Okay.

01:19:36.154 --> 01:19:40.634
And when you get hot, it gets up to 180, 190 degrees.

01:19:40.634 --> 01:20:01.248
Oh! You're, you're, you're hallucinating and you're, you become one with nature and that is, that was really an experience that happened, uh, uh, about 25 years ago that I've, that I've never forgot, but I, I do relate to, to nature and there's, there's a greater being out there.

01:20:01.524 --> 01:20:04.213
Okay, so there's a creator force of some sort in this universe.

01:20:04.213 --> 01:20:11.573
There's a creator force and, and, uh, you know, it's out there and it's hard to grasp exactly what it is.

01:20:11.623 --> 01:20:12.014
Yeah, yeah.

01:20:12.014 --> 01:20:13.783
But I think you have to believe in something.

01:20:14.423 --> 01:20:15.094
I would agree.

01:20:15.423 --> 01:20:20.033
I've heard it said, you know, if you don't believe in God then the state is the state.

01:20:20.439 --> 01:20:30.578
Is the highest being no, and that's trouble for both the state and the people, you know, uh, and even just, uh, uh, a target of something to point at.

01:20:30.859 --> 01:20:34.519
And that's what I find interesting about comparative religions.

01:20:34.519 --> 01:20:50.139
If we want to call them that is that they have all got us pointing at largely the same kinds of things, you know, integrity, honor, justice, truth, love, like all of those things have pretty much the same definitions.

01:20:50.488 --> 01:20:56.719
Whether you're a Hindu, or a Jew, or a Christian, or, uh, whatever else, right?

01:20:56.788 --> 01:21:01.179
I kind of capsulize that by saying, whose God is really God?

01:21:02.019 --> 01:21:06.689
And we all have a God, or maybe it's the same God.

01:21:06.779 --> 01:21:07.288
Right, right.

01:21:07.628 --> 01:21:09.088
No, that's what I think, honestly.

01:21:09.088 --> 01:21:11.554
I think it's different perceptions of the same God.

01:21:14.814 --> 01:21:17.404
And I've traveled, uh, I've traveled quite a bit.

01:21:17.404 --> 01:21:29.043
I've been to Nepal and I've, I've experienced Buddhism and Hinduism and, and of course, and Muslims and I've been in Vietnam and so I've been around the world.

01:21:29.043 --> 01:21:32.663
So yeah, it's, it, it, everyone has their own belief structure.

01:21:33.264 --> 01:21:35.154
What was your family background?

01:21:35.163 --> 01:21:36.783
Like, you were Northern Italians.

01:21:36.793 --> 01:21:39.694
It's the land of the Catholics, I assume, but maybe not.

01:21:39.743 --> 01:21:40.634
Roman Catholic.

01:21:40.694 --> 01:21:41.104
Okay.

01:21:41.613 --> 01:21:44.713
I was raised Catholic, but not a very religious family.

01:21:44.724 --> 01:21:45.243
Yeah, yeah.

01:21:45.583 --> 01:21:48.873
We just followed our own Over a Christmas and Easter kind of Catholic kind of thing.

01:21:48.894 --> 01:21:49.533
Yes.

01:21:49.573 --> 01:21:51.963
Confession wasn't really something you were acquainted with.

01:21:52.113 --> 01:21:56.583
Confession was not something I was No, I was not very familiar with.

01:21:56.583 --> 01:21:57.043
Fair enough.

01:21:57.413 --> 01:22:00.503
Um, You want to talk about family or politics next?

01:22:01.463 --> 01:22:04.234
Oh, you know, let's, uh, whatever you want.

01:22:04.474 --> 01:22:04.863
Okay.

01:22:05.243 --> 01:22:06.434
I, I'm happy with both.

01:22:06.444 --> 01:22:07.884
Let's go to family next.

01:22:07.963 --> 01:22:11.724
Um, can we talk about your ex wife and the mother of your children?

01:22:11.894 --> 01:22:12.404
Yes.

01:22:12.533 --> 01:22:14.463
Uh, where did you find her along this journey?

01:22:14.463 --> 01:22:16.963
You said you were, she was a customer at Silvergrill.

01:22:16.974 --> 01:22:18.934
She was a customer at Silvergrill.

01:22:18.934 --> 01:22:21.814
I had owned the Silvergrill for approximately about a year.

01:22:21.963 --> 01:22:22.503
Okay.

01:22:22.634 --> 01:22:24.123
Uh, we So you were totally broke.

01:22:24.578 --> 01:22:25.578
She didn't marry you for your money.

01:22:25.588 --> 01:22:27.009
She did not marry me for my money.

01:22:28.179 --> 01:22:30.859
We, uh, we, we connected.

01:22:31.238 --> 01:22:33.828
And, uh, we dated for three years.

01:22:33.908 --> 01:22:36.838
Um, and then we got married.

01:22:37.029 --> 01:22:37.149
Yeah.

01:22:37.198 --> 01:22:43.118
Um, and, you know, life and marriage, as you know, it's, it's It's a struggle.

01:22:43.118 --> 01:22:44.538
It's it's work every day.

01:22:44.679 --> 01:22:49.929
Yeah, and The business played a I'll say a small role in it.

01:22:49.948 --> 01:22:54.748
I was very entrepreneurial She was not she didn't like the risk.

01:22:55.029 --> 01:22:58.878
That's up scared her Yeah, and and we we had two boys.

01:22:58.958 --> 01:23:06.719
Okay, very proud of my boys and we'll talk more about them in a moment and We, uh, eventually started pooling, pooling apart.

01:23:06.838 --> 01:23:07.238
Yeah.

01:23:07.618 --> 01:23:10.849
And sometimes, as you know, you grow together, you grow apart.

01:23:10.908 --> 01:23:18.493
How old were you boys when you We had been married 20 years and I had two boys age 14 and 18 when we were, when we were divorced.

01:23:18.503 --> 01:23:22.373
So they were starting to gain their independence and whatever.

01:23:22.373 --> 01:23:26.694
You didn't have to be team Arnolfo to really support them well.

01:23:27.123 --> 01:23:28.844
Um, let's talk about those boys.

01:23:29.434 --> 01:23:35.474
Uh, one thing we always do is, uh, one word description of the children, if you're willing.

01:23:36.264 --> 01:23:41.434
Can you think of a favorite word or a most descriptive word for either and you can expand beyond that.

01:23:41.434 --> 01:23:41.583
But.

01:23:42.453 --> 01:23:44.583
First thing that came to my mind is great.

01:23:45.583 --> 01:23:45.993
For the pair.

01:23:46.354 --> 01:23:46.673
Yeah.

01:23:46.684 --> 01:23:49.423
Do you have an individualized word for them?

01:23:49.434 --> 01:23:55.854
No, you, you know, they're, I had a friend that always said, I just want to raise good human beings.

01:23:55.913 --> 01:23:56.373
Yeah, yeah.

01:23:56.613 --> 01:23:58.873
And my boys are great human beings.

01:23:58.894 --> 01:23:58.944
Yeah.

01:23:59.224 --> 01:24:00.743
And we're extremely close.

01:24:00.974 --> 01:24:01.283
Okay.

01:24:01.363 --> 01:24:03.484
We don't have a lot of interests together.

01:24:03.694 --> 01:24:03.934
Yeah.

01:24:04.144 --> 01:24:06.793
Uh, I like the outdoors.

01:24:06.854 --> 01:24:09.003
Neither of them really like the outdoors.

01:24:09.073 --> 01:24:09.283
Huh.

01:24:09.738 --> 01:24:17.259
Uh, but coming from a family background, uh, family's important to me, so I try to have a family dinner once a week.

01:24:17.319 --> 01:24:17.759
Oh, cool.

01:24:17.918 --> 01:24:21.559
And they, uh, they each work, work on their, they both live in town.

01:24:21.958 --> 01:24:23.599
Are they, do you have grandkids, or?

01:24:23.798 --> 01:24:24.578
No, they're both single.

01:24:24.578 --> 01:24:25.969
Both single, still, interesting.

01:24:26.078 --> 01:24:29.859
One's 34, 38, I might have mentioned that, and they're both, both single.

01:24:29.918 --> 01:24:30.219
Yeah.

01:24:30.548 --> 01:24:31.319
And I have a son.

01:24:31.663 --> 01:24:32.884
Older sister in town.

01:24:32.894 --> 01:24:35.054
She's married with no children.

01:24:35.623 --> 01:24:37.814
So every Sunday we try to have a family.

01:24:37.833 --> 01:24:42.863
Oh cool And then we and then quite often we'll invite Somebody else.

01:24:42.873 --> 01:24:48.564
Yeah, someone from the outside That it just doesn't work It just adds a little, just spice some things up a little bit.

01:24:48.564 --> 01:24:49.045
Adds yeah, yeah.

01:24:49.050 --> 01:24:51.054
Adds, adds things up a a little bit.

01:24:51.054 --> 01:24:52.884
So I had a habit for a while.

01:24:52.884 --> 01:24:57.304
I was doing, me and Jill, I have a table, a square table for eight.

01:24:57.573 --> 01:24:57.934
Yes.

01:24:57.934 --> 01:24:59.283
One of those IKEA tables.

01:24:59.283 --> 01:25:05.224
Or maybe it's not Ikea American furniture, but it butterflies out to be like a nice square table with two in each side.

01:25:05.894 --> 01:25:10.003
And uh, I've had a lot of dinners where I would cook, but I would have.

01:25:11.559 --> 01:25:12.899
that I thought would like each other.

01:25:13.458 --> 01:25:20.729
And, uh, it was just so much fun to have that kind of steady mix of new conversation in the room, but it's a big effort.

01:25:21.154 --> 01:25:33.423
Uh, so, compliments to you for being consistent on family dinner, and uh, so how long, it's been a while that you've lived a single man's existence in?

01:25:33.474 --> 01:25:34.173
Twenty years.

01:25:34.184 --> 01:25:34.974
Holy cow.

01:25:35.083 --> 01:25:35.984
Been a long time.

01:25:36.573 --> 01:25:39.073
Uh, I've had some relationships.

01:25:39.083 --> 01:25:39.444
Sure.

01:25:39.738 --> 01:25:45.288
Uh, as older people know, it gets increasingly difficult.

01:25:45.479 --> 01:25:47.908
There's, there's, the, the, the tracks are deep.

01:25:48.128 --> 01:25:48.488
Yep.

01:25:48.708 --> 01:25:53.548
And I live a very, uh, extreme single lifestyle.

01:25:53.548 --> 01:25:54.038
Right, right.

01:25:54.038 --> 01:25:58.979
I, I, as I say, I do like to travel, like to get up and go.

01:25:59.389 --> 01:26:03.028
Uh, it'd always be nice to have a, have a partner and someone to do things with.

01:26:03.028 --> 01:26:06.769
And there's So you still got your radar up for that if you find the right option.

01:26:06.779 --> 01:26:12.509
And there's still, still ladies that, uh, I'm interested in and ladies that I do things with.

01:26:12.538 --> 01:26:15.389
And so, uh, What kind of things, John?

01:26:15.429 --> 01:26:15.878
Just kidding.

01:26:18.929 --> 01:26:19.748
We don't need to go there.

01:26:20.618 --> 01:26:22.548
So, anything else in the family front?

01:26:22.548 --> 01:26:24.958
You want to give any more kudos to your parents?

01:26:25.458 --> 01:26:31.338
Um, for, you know, trusting you, giving you encouragement on don't work for the man, whatever else?

01:26:31.389 --> 01:26:40.974
Well, you know, they They, and I believe this about all immigrants, that they all had this pull yourself up by the boots attitude.

01:26:40.974 --> 01:26:51.673
And I don't care who you're talking about now, and I'm not getting political, but generally people that want to move to the United States, America.

01:26:52.484 --> 01:26:55.283
They want a better life, and they're hard workers.

01:26:55.823 --> 01:26:58.673
And, I mean, you can find I think historically that's for sure been true.

01:26:58.684 --> 01:27:03.014
Absolutely, I mean, it was the Italians, it was the Irish, it was the Polish, it was A hundred percent.

01:27:03.234 --> 01:27:12.569
Well, and I think some of the stories online about, Hey, you can stay in a bougie New York City hotel if you immigrate there as a Yeah.

01:27:12.569 --> 01:27:13.639
Haitian refugee.

01:27:14.099 --> 01:27:14.389
Or whatever.

01:27:14.399 --> 01:27:19.809
Like, I think that actually is very harmful to the, the notion that it's not going to be hard.

01:27:19.819 --> 01:27:21.708
They're going to give you a debit card full of money.

01:27:22.088 --> 01:27:25.698
They're going to take you to a place, you're going to stay in, you know, whatever.

01:27:25.748 --> 01:27:26.238
Yeah.

01:27:26.359 --> 01:27:26.868
I don't know.

01:27:26.939 --> 01:27:28.349
That's not the way it used to be.

01:27:28.429 --> 01:27:28.738
Right.

01:27:28.738 --> 01:27:29.139
Right.

01:27:29.298 --> 01:27:30.128
No, a hundred percent.

01:27:30.149 --> 01:27:32.078
You had, some things are similar.

01:27:32.088 --> 01:27:33.798
North Dakota is full of immigrants.

01:27:33.899 --> 01:27:34.819
You know, nobody.

01:27:35.689 --> 01:27:39.019
Nobody moved to North Dakota unless they were trying to start a new life somewhere.

01:27:41.338 --> 01:27:44.979
But you know, you had to come when you went, and I'm talking a hundred years ago.

01:27:44.988 --> 01:27:45.319
Sure.

01:27:45.448 --> 01:27:47.309
You had to come with a sponsor.

01:27:47.479 --> 01:27:47.819
Yep.

01:27:47.908 --> 01:27:59.604
And you had to come, arrive in, whether it was Ellis Island or where it was, you 50 in your pocket to show that you weren't, you know, And, uh, you know, that's how my parents came in.

01:27:59.694 --> 01:28:03.793
Very interesting, Kurt, is I'm still going through boxes of things.

01:28:03.793 --> 01:28:08.863
And I found my grandfather's immigration papers last night.

01:28:09.493 --> 01:28:15.394
And what was interesting about it is they say the immigration system's broken.

01:28:15.394 --> 01:28:21.259
I, I don't necessarily like that word, but it, it, it, It's never been great.

01:28:21.298 --> 01:28:22.578
We'll call it low functioning.

01:28:22.748 --> 01:28:24.998
Yeah, so here's what's interesting.

01:28:25.569 --> 01:28:29.953
So I was born in 1951, and I found this one page book.

01:28:30.293 --> 01:28:38.503
Paper last night of my grandfather who I always thought came through Mexico Okay, and I found his paper.

01:28:39.154 --> 01:28:45.264
He came here in about 1915 okay, and on this paper.

01:28:45.274 --> 01:28:51.073
It was a one page document Application he came through Ellis Island the name of the boat is there.

01:28:51.094 --> 01:28:56.253
So now I know my grandfather came Ellis Island Yeah, and I never knew that until last night.

01:28:56.304 --> 01:29:01.894
Well, he didn't apply for Citizenship Until 1951.

01:29:02.203 --> 01:29:03.283
Oh, wow.

01:29:03.684 --> 01:29:06.404
My father came in 19 Preparing for your arrival.

01:29:07.703 --> 01:29:08.213
Or something.

01:29:08.224 --> 01:29:08.673
Yeah.

01:29:08.724 --> 01:29:10.054
It was the same year.

01:29:10.113 --> 01:29:10.543
Right.

01:29:10.554 --> 01:29:15.043
So my father was here, uh, uh, arrived in 1914.

01:29:15.594 --> 01:29:20.724
He didn't get citizenship until he was inducted into World War II, into the Army.

01:29:20.743 --> 01:29:21.083
Sure.

01:29:21.474 --> 01:29:23.304
So, here we go.

01:29:23.304 --> 01:29:26.394
We're not talking politics, but we need to, we need to fix it.

01:29:26.474 --> 01:29:26.844
Right.

01:29:26.884 --> 01:29:27.524
A hundred percent.

01:29:27.583 --> 01:29:29.076
Well, We need to welcome them in.

01:29:29.076 --> 01:29:29.804
It can either be broken.

01:29:29.833 --> 01:29:30.548
Yeah, I agree.

01:29:30.819 --> 01:29:44.748
Like, and, and walk and have some screen, like we can't like, like I'm not a Trumpy fan necessarily, but when he says Venezuela is intentionally emptying their mental institutions and their prisons into our country.

01:29:45.618 --> 01:29:46.538
You fucking know they are.

01:29:47.099 --> 01:29:48.088
Like, why wouldn't they?

01:29:48.328 --> 01:29:48.639
Yeah.

01:29:48.729 --> 01:29:49.309
I would.

01:29:49.698 --> 01:29:51.019
You know, Iran would.

01:29:51.109 --> 01:29:51.998
Colombia might.

01:29:52.019 --> 01:29:52.889
Mexico might.

01:29:53.088 --> 01:29:57.569
You know, if there isn't something opposing that notion, why wouldn't ya?

01:29:57.878 --> 01:30:00.729
We want people coming here that want a better life.

01:30:00.918 --> 01:30:01.139
Totally.

01:30:01.139 --> 01:30:01.979
And willing to work hard.

01:30:02.019 --> 01:30:02.328
Yep.

01:30:02.349 --> 01:30:02.849
100%.

01:30:02.998 --> 01:30:03.309
Yeah.

01:30:03.889 --> 01:30:12.724
Um, So, good family from Northern Italia, and uh, have you been traveling there, where your family's from?

01:30:12.753 --> 01:30:13.413
I have.

01:30:13.413 --> 01:30:13.806
Are your parents from there?

01:30:13.806 --> 01:30:14.484
Are your grandparents?

01:30:14.543 --> 01:30:19.404
I've been, you know, I didn't travel very much until really 20 years ago, then.

01:30:19.889 --> 01:30:22.569
After my divorce, I took my boys to Italy.

01:30:22.569 --> 01:30:24.738
I wanted them to see their family roots.

01:30:24.748 --> 01:30:25.488
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:30:25.599 --> 01:30:27.979
And now, since then, I've been back twice.

01:30:27.988 --> 01:30:28.019
Okay.

01:30:28.019 --> 01:30:34.198
And I've been, I've traveled extensively now, and I've had that opportunity.

01:30:34.479 --> 01:30:39.689
I just, uh, I've, so I, I don't know if I mentioned, but I've got an exchange student now from Finland.

01:30:40.229 --> 01:30:43.519
But two students ago was a young man from Italy.

01:30:43.533 --> 01:30:56.779
And I was just listening to a documentary podcast kind of thing, and when the Romans moved out of Rome, like, Eventually kind of got retracted to that.

01:30:56.779 --> 01:31:01.349
As far as the empire, they moved to Ravena because it was like swampland.

01:31:01.349 --> 01:31:05.128
It was easily defensible up against the, the, the Huns and the barbarians.

01:31:05.128 --> 01:31:05.189
Yeah.

01:31:05.189 --> 01:31:07.168
That ultimately knocked off the Roman Empire.

01:31:07.974 --> 01:31:09.418
I, I love old shit like that.

01:31:09.418 --> 01:31:16.269
I don't know why, like, give me a six hour podcast and the history of Northern Italy and I will eat that up.

01:31:16.599 --> 01:31:18.309
Well, we, I just booked a trip.

01:31:18.338 --> 01:31:21.609
Uh, I have, I have a buddy that I travel with and.

01:31:22.059 --> 01:31:28.939
And my sons, and one son's not able to go, but we just booked a trip to Dublin, London, and Paris.

01:31:31.134 --> 01:31:31.993
It should be fun.

01:31:32.033 --> 01:31:33.224
It should be fun.

01:31:33.234 --> 01:31:34.163
It should be a lot of fun.

01:31:34.253 --> 01:31:39.014
Uh, Faith, then we've covered, you want to talk any politics, uh, more than we've done so far?

01:31:39.014 --> 01:31:42.243
You know, I think politics is very interesting for me right now.

01:31:42.474 --> 01:31:42.774
Yeah.

01:31:42.804 --> 01:31:50.283
Um, I've always described myself as, as, uh, fiscally conservative and socially moderate.

01:31:50.854 --> 01:32:09.529
But now with the, and I've always been an independent, I've never, because I can't allow, align myself with either party, but, but now with what's going on and you listen to that without getting to specifics, you, you listen to both sides and they both have good points.

01:32:10.819 --> 01:32:17.748
So, I, I'm somewhere I can't align to the right, I can't align to the left, so now I'm looking at the person.

01:32:18.168 --> 01:32:29.279
And, and I think I've always been that way, and more so than ever, you know, I think we need a third party, or, or something that I can align with 100%.

01:32:29.988 --> 01:32:35.439
Yeah, yeah, well, when you look at the person, like, aren't you grossed out on both fronts, kinda?

01:32:35.838 --> 01:32:36.408
Yeah, yeah.

01:32:38.349 --> 01:32:38.918
I'm just saying.

01:32:39.179 --> 01:32:39.738
Yes.

01:32:40.009 --> 01:32:40.569
Um.

01:32:41.238 --> 01:32:44.064
And so, What are we to do about this?

01:32:44.064 --> 01:32:49.173
Like, I feel like both Trump and Kamala are the products of the system.

01:32:49.184 --> 01:32:53.394
You know, they're a symptom of the disease, not the cause of the disease.

01:32:54.213 --> 01:32:55.243
If that makes sense.

01:32:55.944 --> 01:32:57.213
Although Trump is different.

01:32:58.434 --> 01:32:58.904
I don't know.

01:32:58.923 --> 01:33:02.054
Do you think Trump is hated because he doesn't want to do war much?

01:33:02.404 --> 01:33:05.884
Is that why the media is kind of so opposed to him or is it because he's a.

01:33:06.134 --> 01:33:09.623
I think he's racist because like, what is the story there?

01:33:10.453 --> 01:33:14.514
I think it's maybe all of those things, but I think he's so abrasive.

01:33:14.533 --> 01:33:14.823
Right.

01:33:14.823 --> 01:33:15.154
Right.

01:33:15.253 --> 01:33:16.503
He's just so abrasive.

01:33:16.533 --> 01:33:16.974
Yeah.

01:33:17.224 --> 01:33:29.293
And I can certainly align with a lot of his policies and now with Kamala and what she's saying, I could align with a lot of her policies, but now it gets down to who do you believe, who do you trust more?

01:33:29.293 --> 01:33:29.514
Yeah.

01:33:29.783 --> 01:33:32.578
And then, You know, then you get into the politics.

01:33:32.588 --> 01:33:36.498
So they saying it's just because of politics to get elected and all.

01:33:37.149 --> 01:33:40.798
So that's been an interesting thing to watch.

01:33:42.378 --> 01:33:49.604
I mean, I don't want to be critical, but like as Kamala's basically stolen a couple of Trump's, Like big things.

01:33:49.644 --> 01:33:49.984
Yeah.

01:33:50.373 --> 01:33:52.884
It was like, well, just come up with something.

01:33:52.884 --> 01:33:54.533
You gotta have some really smart people on your team.

01:33:54.533 --> 01:33:58.613
Not just like, we're doing a 5, 000 tax credit for kids.

01:33:58.673 --> 01:34:00.404
Oh no, we're doing a 6, 000.

01:34:01.713 --> 01:34:02.184
I don't know.

01:34:02.654 --> 01:34:04.094
I just come up with some of the original.

01:34:05.144 --> 01:34:05.953
Yeah.

01:34:05.953 --> 01:34:07.654
RFK.

01:34:08.134 --> 01:34:09.703
How do you feel about his third party run?

01:34:10.668 --> 01:34:13.618
Well, I think, you know, I don't think he was treated very well.

01:34:13.828 --> 01:34:14.448
For sure.

01:34:14.529 --> 01:34:14.998
Yeah.

01:34:15.038 --> 01:34:16.099
By really either.

01:34:16.099 --> 01:34:26.729
Well, the Democratic establishment basically made it impossible for him to win, even if he To win, and he wasn't allowed on the, uh, on the ballots.

01:34:26.729 --> 01:34:27.759
Most of the ballots.

01:34:28.048 --> 01:34:32.559
Except for when he tried to remove himself, and they're like, nope, sorry, you gotta stay on the ballot now, motherfucker.

01:34:33.009 --> 01:34:33.668
Excuse my French.

01:34:33.779 --> 01:34:33.988
Yeah.

01:34:34.208 --> 01:34:34.708
It's weird.

01:34:34.719 --> 01:34:35.838
It's gross, right?

01:34:35.849 --> 01:34:36.738
Like, it's so corrupt.

01:34:36.738 --> 01:34:44.588
It's so different than what I And I'm not just blaming the Democrats, um, uh, the Republicans too, like they will play the game as hard as they can.

01:34:45.529 --> 01:34:48.569
Within the rules to screw the other guy.

01:34:48.569 --> 01:34:53.429
And we need to be a United America that says, okay, Gerald Ford's our guy.

01:34:53.889 --> 01:34:54.059
Yeah.

01:34:54.059 --> 01:35:08.009
And as, as you know, back in, after nine, nine 11, which was horrible, that was the first time I've ever really seen our country United and there was no party system, it was just, we were all Americans for like six weeks.

01:35:08.338 --> 01:35:08.599
Yeah.

01:35:08.788 --> 01:35:11.788
And by, by golly, that's what we want to get back to.

01:35:12.248 --> 01:35:13.588
We want to get back to that.

01:35:15.099 --> 01:35:15.809
He's been interesting.

01:35:15.819 --> 01:35:17.059
Having this finished guy.

01:35:17.498 --> 01:35:20.009
with us because they've got like fragmented, right?

01:35:20.389 --> 01:35:21.998
They've got 17 parties.

01:35:22.538 --> 01:35:24.189
And so just nobody cares as much.

01:35:24.198 --> 01:35:39.099
It isn't so tribal because you're a green, you're a red, you're a socialist, you're a whatever, and it's okay because we're all kind of, it isn't this very polarized thing and, and, uh, anyway, cheers.

01:35:39.408 --> 01:35:43.319
I hope we find a more United America together in that regard.

01:35:43.628 --> 01:35:43.988
Yeah.

01:35:43.988 --> 01:35:50.698
And I, you know, I, I think regardless of who's going to be the president, We're still American.

01:35:50.698 --> 01:35:53.099
It isn't gonna be as bad as the other team is saying right now.

01:35:53.099 --> 01:35:56.519
No You may not like one or the other.

01:35:56.519 --> 01:36:01.439
And you know, there's certain things with all the administrations that I didn't like, but by God we're all Americans.

01:36:01.439 --> 01:36:08.618
What do you think about the censorship, misinformation, disinformation kind of conversation, if you will right now?

01:36:08.618 --> 01:36:14.043
Like, like Elon was Times man of the year in 2020 and then he buys Twitter and all of a sudden he's.

01:36:15.083 --> 01:36:19.993
Kind of persona non grata alongside Trump in some respects.

01:36:20.323 --> 01:36:20.564
Yeah.

01:36:20.564 --> 01:36:23.024
I, or is it because he's manipulating it?

01:36:23.054 --> 01:36:26.844
Like, is he manipulating this, this microphone he purchased for 44 billion?

01:36:26.844 --> 01:36:29.024
Or is he defending free speech?

01:36:29.753 --> 01:36:31.863
I really, I really don't think it.

01:36:32.203 --> 01:36:35.594
Any of us Americans really know what's going on.

01:36:36.844 --> 01:36:39.373
We really don't know what's going on.

01:36:40.073 --> 01:36:41.434
And I think you're right.

01:36:41.764 --> 01:36:42.583
Unfortunately.

01:36:43.314 --> 01:36:49.423
Uh, well, that's, you know, that's the first step toward, uh, taking down the red pole, John.

01:36:51.974 --> 01:36:52.314
All right.

01:36:52.314 --> 01:36:53.854
We're closing segment.

01:36:54.304 --> 01:36:55.564
The loco experience.

01:36:55.583 --> 01:36:59.823
What's the craziest experience that you would care to share with our listeners?

01:36:59.823 --> 01:37:04.083
Remember you're retired and independently wealthy at this point with that real estate and stuff.

01:37:04.094 --> 01:37:06.123
Nobody's going to, you're single.

01:37:06.734 --> 01:37:11.033
Well, you know, but I also won't ask you to tarnish your reputation.

01:37:11.194 --> 01:37:12.514
No gosh, well.

01:37:12.644 --> 01:37:14.974
I love Fort Collins.

01:37:15.573 --> 01:37:17.344
I love, I love Old Town.

01:37:18.024 --> 01:37:20.753
I was here, I'm going to say, at the beginning.

01:37:21.113 --> 01:37:26.293
Beginning meaning in the 70s when everything was, it was the dregs downtown.

01:37:26.863 --> 01:37:35.743
We've had some great founding fathers, you know, and, and, Uh, the, one of the men we mentioned, gene Mitchell Sure.

01:37:35.833 --> 01:37:42.783
Who had a vision, he really was the catalyst that, that Totally, that, that started the old town experience.

01:37:43.083 --> 01:37:48.804
But we've had, we've had some great f founding fathers that have led us in, in the right direction.

01:37:48.863 --> 01:37:49.224
Yeah.

01:37:49.224 --> 01:37:49.225
Yeah.

01:37:49.344 --> 01:37:58.564
And, and I'm so appreciative of Fort Collins and, you know, you can see a lot of criticism about everything.

01:37:59.479 --> 01:38:08.309
the city government, the council, you know, uh, But they have really supported me as a small business person.

01:38:08.588 --> 01:38:10.246
The city has, and the county, and whatever else.

01:38:10.246 --> 01:38:12.009
The city, and the public.

01:38:12.009 --> 01:38:12.488
Yeah, yeah.

01:38:12.529 --> 01:38:22.359
And the public, and, and, and, you know, years ago, I, I think I was viewed as just a young guy, you know, that didn't know anything, which they're probably right.

01:38:22.759 --> 01:38:32.338
Now, uh, I, rather than, uh, not getting criticized, but now I get accolades, and they go, Oh, John.

01:38:33.078 --> 01:38:35.828
We remember when you flipped burgers in the front window.

01:38:35.828 --> 01:38:36.458
Right, right.

01:38:36.698 --> 01:38:38.708
And we remember how hard you worked.

01:38:39.168 --> 01:38:46.019
So, I get a lot of gratification from just the local people walking down the street.

01:38:46.038 --> 01:38:48.569
And that's very, very fulfilling for me.

01:38:49.529 --> 01:39:00.128
You know, I think that's something that, like in this kind of transient society of, you know, maybe I'll do this for five years, that for five years, this for three, that for two, that for seven.

01:39:00.248 --> 01:39:00.498
Yeah.

01:39:02.038 --> 01:39:09.469
That's probably an under, so I was, um, you probably know Doug Johnson from the Intersphere and stuff like that.

01:39:09.609 --> 01:39:10.639
He's got Tiger 21.

01:39:10.639 --> 01:39:14.849
He's Elizabeth Ledoux's compatriot in the Tiger 21 thing.

01:39:15.378 --> 01:39:30.679
Um, and, uh, Like, I've, I've, I've known him forever, and I don't quite remember why I got to hear, but like, just, like, we've, we've lived totally parallel, but different tracks, me and Doug.

01:39:31.269 --> 01:39:37.868
Um, oh, he invited me into University Connections years ago.

01:39:37.868 --> 01:39:38.689
You know what that is?

01:39:38.689 --> 01:39:41.908
With, uh, Edwards, David Edwards was helping to fund that, and different folks.

01:39:41.908 --> 01:39:42.646
Yeah, they did very well.

01:39:42.646 --> 01:39:42.793
Yep.

01:39:42.993 --> 01:39:48.694
And, and some of the outcomes from that very first session were like the Mason corridor bus line thing.

01:39:48.694 --> 01:39:55.253
And some of the, some of the signage for Oak street and different kinds of waypoint markings and stuff.

01:39:55.863 --> 01:40:02.003
And I was just this like 29 or 32 or something year old banker.

01:40:02.014 --> 01:40:04.384
And Doug was like, I can tell you're extra smart.

01:40:04.394 --> 01:40:09.604
You know, I'm going to invite you into this like extra smart people's kind of group thing.

01:40:09.604 --> 01:40:15.474
And it was kind of a transition for me of being invited to the conversation.

01:40:16.399 --> 01:40:31.569
If you will, and you know, you've been in the conversation for, you know, most of 40 years now, and I don't know, you know, it's, it's not like you can really move things, but know that you've been a part of the conversation, you know, you've impacted things, people.

01:40:32.764 --> 01:40:40.323
Well, and I'm really proud of, you know, obviously what I've done, but also what Fort Collins has done.

01:40:40.413 --> 01:40:40.873
Totally.

01:40:40.953 --> 01:40:49.224
And, you know, we, we had visions and obviously as a younger man, I was very involved with the Downtown Business Association, the Chamber of Commerce.

01:40:49.224 --> 01:40:52.804
And I was, I always served on a, on a, on a different board.

01:40:53.979 --> 01:41:07.059
And 40 years ago, as we've talked this, you know, the old town and downtown, it wasn't much and we had this vision, uh, and there was a group of people that had a vision of what old town might look like.

01:41:07.179 --> 01:41:07.469
Yeah.

01:41:07.838 --> 01:41:11.929
With restaurants and boutiques and, and fine dining.

01:41:11.939 --> 01:41:13.059
Walking areas.

01:41:13.088 --> 01:41:17.259
Walking areas and we, we have the best alleys in the country.

01:41:17.279 --> 01:41:17.689
Totally.

01:41:17.828 --> 01:41:22.969
So now we, we have, uh, you know, groups coming from different cities to.

01:41:22.979 --> 01:41:22.998
Yeah.

01:41:23.828 --> 01:41:26.929
to try to model their cities after us.

01:41:26.929 --> 01:41:27.319
Yeah, yeah.

01:41:27.328 --> 01:41:29.578
So, I don't take anything for granted.

01:41:29.609 --> 01:41:37.538
I mean, I, there's nothing you can criticize about Colorado, Fort Collins, downtown.

01:41:37.639 --> 01:41:38.838
I mean, it's They're trying.

01:41:39.099 --> 01:41:40.538
It's At least that.

01:41:40.588 --> 01:41:41.618
Yeah, it's wonderful.

01:41:41.668 --> 01:41:46.729
Well, thank you for being one of those kind of city fathers in this renaissance of Fort Collins.

01:41:47.059 --> 01:41:48.109
Kurt, thank you very much.

01:41:48.198 --> 01:41:49.158
I hope you've enjoyed the time.

01:41:49.338 --> 01:41:49.849
I have.

01:41:50.109 --> 01:41:50.378
Good.

01:41:50.418 --> 01:41:50.599
Thank you.

01:41:50.689 --> 01:41:51.256
Godspeed, sir.