Interview with Kelli Ferrell of Nana’s Chicken-N-Waffles about building a personal brand, balancing work and life, and selling a line of unique products.
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00:00 Welcome to Restaurant Influencers presented by Entrepreneur.
00:04 My name is Sean Walsh, founder of Cali Barbecue and Cali
00:07 Barbecue Media. In life, in the restaurant business, and in
00:11 the new creator economy, we learn through lessons and stories.
00:15 Today we have an awesome guest.
00:17 I'm super fired up because not only is she a restaurateur,
00:20 she is also a content creator.
00:22 She is also a chef.
00:23 She's also a cookbook author, and she has new products that
00:27 she's ready to drop and share with the audience.
00:29 Chef Kelly Farrell. Kelly, welcome to the show.
00:33 Thank you so much for having me.
00:35 I'm super excited to be here with you today.
00:37 I'm super fired up because we're going to talk about
00:39 storytelling on the Internet.
00:41 We're going to talk about the restaurants.
00:42 We're going to talk about all the new cool things that you're doing.
00:45 Let's start with our favorite random question, which is where in the world
00:49 is your favorite stadium, stage or venue?
00:54 Oh, that's pretty good.
00:58 Well, I must say, I mean, I'm in Atlanta, so let's go with
01:03 Mercedes-Benz. We're going to go with Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
01:06 Absolutely.
01:06 Beautiful. Mercedes-Benz.
01:08 So we've got probably how many does Mercedes-Benz fit?
01:12 At least 80,000, right?
01:14 It's a lot of people.
01:15 Yeah. The last time I was there, it was for Beyonce.
01:18 Sweet. All right.
01:19 Well, Beyonce, move over.
01:20 We're putting Kelly right on center stage.
01:24 We're going to fill it with we're going to fill the entire stadium
01:27 with people that love hospitality, that love storytelling, that are
01:31 entrepreneurs. And I'm going to talk to entrepreneur.
01:33 I'm going to talk to Toast.
01:34 We're going to talk to all the big brands.
01:36 But I'm going to put you on center stage.
01:37 I'm going to give you the mic.
01:38 I'm going to say, Kelly, how how do you build a waffle empire?
01:43 One waffle at a time.
01:44 How do you do it?
01:46 How do you do it?
01:47 Well, it's a lot of blood, sweat and tears and a lot of syrup, I must say.
01:55 But, you know, it's one of those things I got to start in the business seven years
01:59 ago, I'm almost on my seven year seventh year anniversary, which will be December
02:03 twenty six, 2016.
02:05 Yeah. Super, super, super amazing.
02:09 So I finally kind of made it all over that hump, you know, that seven year mark.
02:13 But a vision board, honestly, I got started with the vision board.
02:17 I did a vision board a few years ago and it had everything on there that I wanted.
02:23 You know, the the waffle empire, it had the products, it had the the TV shows,
02:30 everything that I I wanted.
02:32 I tried to manifest those things and I didn't do too bad for myself, actually.
02:37 Do you still have the vision board?
02:39 I do still have the vision board, I do, but I have multiple vision boards.
02:46 You know, each year you got to do it because your vision changes.
02:49 You know, you're constantly evolving.
02:52 I kind of surpassed that vision board.
02:54 So the new board, you know, it's it's time for me to do a new board, actually.
02:58 So January is when I usually do that new board with my family and my friends
03:02 and, you know, kind of get our vision in place for the new year.
03:07 But we want to. So we're rolling into twenty twenty four.
03:11 We have multiple brands that you manage.
03:15 First of all, we have who is Kelly so you can follow at who is Kelly and that's K.
03:20 E. L. L. I. We have at cooking with Kelly
03:24 and we have at Nana's Chicken and Waffles. Am I missing any?
03:27 No, I don't need any more.
03:29 I can barely manage those.
03:32 I need them. I can put them all into one.
03:34 But for now, you know, I have I have personal and business
03:38 and all that good stuff. So let's.
03:41 Well, let's start there, because I love I mean, that's why we put on this show,
03:44 is that we believe that we're so much more than just restaurant owners.
03:48 You know, people that are in the hospitality space, creators, people.
03:52 We now have tools like Instagram and TikTok and YouTube
03:56 and the ability to be our own media companies.
03:58 Who is who is Kelly?
04:00 That that's the personal brand.
04:02 Tell me about who is Kelly.
04:04 Who is Kelly is is truly that, you know, it represents who I am
04:09 as an individual, as a mother, as a content creator, as an entrepreneur
04:16 and as that everyday, you know, woman is kind of striving to build her brand.
04:20 So that gives you a little bit about me.
04:23 You know, I talk about some cooking aspects on there a little bit.
04:26 We of course, fashion.
04:28 A lot of people don't know my degree was in fashion, merchandising and design.
04:31 Wow. Had nothing to do with culinary.
04:33 So you'll get a little bit more fashion inspired things, but it's food
04:37 and fashion that really you would see on who is Kelly.
04:39 And those are the things that I try and intertwine.
04:42 So you'll get to see that.
04:44 And of course, you'll see my four beautiful daughters.
04:46 I'm a mom of four girls.
04:48 So you'll see a little bit of our crazy lifestyle, you know, from here and there.
04:51 You might see a magazine cover.
04:53 You might see a, you know, Christmas party.
04:56 You just never know.
04:59 But it's fun, you know, and hopefully it's inspiring for others.
05:02 And that's that's what, you know, social media is all about.
05:05 You know, it's like building the content and inspiring others and creating,
05:09 you know, that for me, I just have fun with it.
05:12 I never get too serious with it.
05:14 I've never posted anything that might, you know, be in a harmful manner.
05:21 It's always fun and games, you know, and inspiring.
05:24 That's what that's what it's here for.
05:26 Absolutely. Do you remember your first brand deal?
05:28 My first brand deal.
05:32 One of my most powerful
05:37 brand deals, I can say, was with with Lowe's Home Improvement.
05:42 Wow. Share it.
05:44 Yeah, it was with Lowe's Home Improvement.
05:47 Kind of during the pandemic, really, I did
05:50 a night of low man's with Lowe's.
05:54 And that was it was on USA Today.
05:59 It was like everywhere. It was super cool.
06:00 But I was I was able to kind of get creative.
06:03 You know, it wasn't just about cooking.
06:05 Of course, I showed everyone how to build a really fun charcuterie board.
06:09 But we did the board from scratch.
06:12 So, you know, show them how to get all the tools from Lowe's, the things to get.
06:17 And then we cooked and we had fun and, you know, with a little bit of food
06:20 fashion, we made mocktails and it was fun.
06:24 So that was one of really a cool brand partnership that I've done.
06:28 And did you reach out to them or did they reach out to you?
06:31 They reached out to me.
06:33 And how how did you come up with how did you guys coordinate?
06:37 Because so many of the times, you know, depending on the on the brand,
06:41 a true brand partnership is when they let the creator create.
06:44 Yeah. You wouldn't probably be sharing it on the show
06:47 if you didn't have fun doing what you did.
06:50 No, I had a blast and they were really receptive,
06:53 but they have a great team as well.
06:54 So they're like on it.
06:57 And we just kind of took it, you know, of course,
06:59 I think we partnered with one of the paint brands.
07:01 I can't remember which one as well.
07:03 But we got really creative with it and they were very open and receptive.
07:07 And we had fun and it turned out to be a really, really great event.
07:13 And it was it was live.
07:14 It was like on a zoom, I believe, if I'm not mistaken,
07:16 because it was during kind of that pandemic time.
07:19 So no one was like really, truly in the store.
07:21 But it was great to approach Lowe's with food
07:25 as well as kind of giving them that luxury kind of experience as well.
07:30 Just with, you know, low man's and Valentine's Day.
07:32 Who thinks to go to Lowe's for Valentine's Day?
07:34 But it was a great thing.
07:36 And honestly, Lowe's has a lot of great things for special holidays.
07:41 They have an aisle just for those things.
07:43 So it was pretty cool.
07:45 Had a great time.
07:46 When did you launch Cooking with Kelly, the K-O-O-K-I-N-G with Kelly?
07:52 When did that Instagram handle launch?
07:55 Cooking with Kelly happened after Nana's Chicken and Waffles.
08:03 And that truly was Cooking with Kelly was always there.
08:08 Let's be clear.
08:09 Because Cooking with Kelly was always there.
08:13 From the moment I was a little girl, you were cooking with Kelly
08:16 and Kelly was cooking with Nana and Kelly was cooking with Gigi.
08:19 But I decided that I needed to kind of create a separate brand
08:26 from Nana's Chicken and Waffles for myself after doing some of the shows.
08:30 So like doing some of like Food Network and things like that,
08:34 because I knew that I had the brand Nana's Chicken and Waffles,
08:38 but I was also my own separate brand of things that I wanted to do.
08:42 And Cooking with Kelly is really birthed for food and fashion.
08:47 It's one of those things like I'm not a classically trained chef.
08:50 I'm a self-taught chef.
08:52 Normally, you won't see me with the apron on.
08:54 If you do, it's pretty fun.
08:56 And I'm cooking in heels nine times out of ten.
08:58 That's awesome.
09:00 So I wanted to kind of create my own lane of who I was in individuality
09:04 because I named the restaurant after my Nana.
09:07 However, you know, when I go when I go places, they're like,
09:11 you're not a Nana, you know?
09:13 Who are you?
09:15 And I'm like, well, I'm the owner of Nana's, you know,
09:18 but I'm also Cooking with Kelly.
09:19 So I wanted to really kind of separate myself from the Nana's brand.
09:24 Still, you know, identify as my own, so to say.
09:30 So that's how kind of Cooking with Kelly came about.
09:32 That's awesome.
09:34 Can you tell share?
09:36 So consumer packaged goods are a huge deal.
09:38 And how do you get from Nana's chicken and waffles to all the cool products?
09:43 What are the products?
09:44 What do you guys what are you guys launching right now?
09:46 I'm super excited.
09:47 So I just launched my first waffle mix.
09:51 So I have waffle mix. Very cool.
09:53 Yeah. So it's traditional waffle mix.
09:54 And this will be a line of waffle mixes.
09:57 The first one, I just wanted to do our traditional mix,
09:59 kind of get us through the holiday, build that base and show people like,
10:03 you know, the fun that you can have with just a traditional waffle mix.
10:06 And then I did a Cajun grit.
10:10 So in my restaurant, we do Cajun grits.
10:12 We don't do a normal grit.
10:16 So we do a Cajun stone ground grit.
10:17 And I do a lot of things with our grits inside of the restaurant.
10:21 We have deep fried grit cakes.
10:23 Of course, we do shrimp and grits, barbecue shrimp and grits.
10:25 And you have a love hate relationship for my grits.
10:28 You either love them or you hate them.
10:30 But nine times out of ten, you love them.
10:33 So I wanted you to be able to take them home
10:35 and get creative with them.
10:37 So I did the Cajun grits as well.
10:39 And then another reason of cooking with Kelly,
10:43 I wanted to do a 24 karat gold maple syrup. Right.
10:47 So you kind of get like that food and fashion luxury.
10:50 So I did a 24 karat gold maple syrup.
10:53 And that's just for holiday.
10:55 After that, we'll just have our maple syrup, a 24 karat gold maple syrup
10:59 is just for holiday.
10:59 And you have those beautiful gold flakes that you can put on top of your waffle
11:04 mix or you can put inside of a little cocktail,
11:08 a little brandy.
11:10 And then you can also put them in your candy.
11:14 That's amazing.
11:15 Yeah. And for these products, are they available on your website?
11:19 Are they available for purchase in store?
11:21 Do you have distribution partners?
11:23 How are you how are you going about that?
11:25 So they're available on the website, both websites, Nana's Chicken
11:28 and Waffles, Cooking with Kelly.
11:30 They are available at a few local stores here,
11:33 and then they're available inside the restaurant as well.
11:35 We're working on distribution right now.
11:37 That's very cool.
11:39 Yeah. You when you started your restaurant journey,
11:43 you said that you went to Google and YouTube University
11:47 to learn. Yes.
11:50 Do you remember any of the content that came up that helped you?
11:53 Um, it was it was content, but it wasn't a lot of content.
11:59 It wasn't good content.
12:02 It wasn't good restaurant business content.
12:05 Shocking. Yeah.
12:07 It's nothing like what you have, like what we have now.
12:10 You know what I mean?
12:12 You might have found a few things, a few websites, maybe like restaurant
12:17 owner dot com, you know, one of those programs you would find,
12:20 you know, some some some tutorials and things like on YouTube, maybe,
12:24 you know, how to run a kitchen and managing the kitchen.
12:27 You know, when I first started the business, I literally knew nothing
12:32 about restaurants. I had never worked in a restaurant.
12:35 I was an entrepreneur, so I knew I could handle it,
12:39 but I didn't know the expectations.
12:42 And I mean, from one restaurant to another, it's nothing like our lives.
12:47 Like it's you can be an entrepreneur, but to be a restaurateur, I mean.
12:53 It's it's it's for the tough skin, like you got to you got to have some skin
12:59 in the game to really understand the ins and the outs of the business
13:03 and all aspects, you know, the front of the house, the back of the house,
13:07 the side of the house, the bottom of the house.
13:09 And then you got to go back to the house, you know, you got to go back home
13:15 and deal with home, but it's it's it's a never ending story.
13:19 You know, it's nonstop.
13:22 So we are a different caliber.
13:23 We're a different tribe.
13:24 And, you know, it's one of those reasons why I created the other brand
13:27 of women in restaurants.
13:29 But tell me about women in restaurants.
13:31 Yeah. So women in restaurants literally came about.
13:36 Shout out to Edie Weintraub.
13:38 She is my co-founder and business partner with women restaurants.
13:42 But I wanted to start running restaurants because I found that when I was going
13:47 to Google University and YouTube University,
13:50 it wasn't many people that looked like me.
13:52 It wasn't many women who, you know, ran the business and who was,
13:58 you know, you might see women in the kitchen, but not necessarily running
14:02 the business and understanding the ins and the outs of what that looks like.
14:06 So I wanted to create a platform or we wanted to create a platform
14:10 that was. Warm and welcoming to two to people that look like us,
14:17 whether that be a food truck owner, whether that be a restaurant manager,
14:21 a restaurateur, executive chef, just kind of creating that environment
14:26 and that element that we can just have open conversations and understand
14:30 one another and, you know, we have quarterly events and just networking
14:35 and trying to figure out, you know, how to get to that next level.
14:40 With a male dominated sometimes, I can say we it was a male dominated.
14:49 So it makes me excited to see so many more women that are getting involved
14:55 in not only the kitchen, but in the business aspect and the aspect of hospitality
15:00 in general, from accounting to, you know, architects to development.
15:06 It just makes me super excited.
15:09 So, yeah, there we are.
15:12 We're not to say you guys are not crushing it, but we are crushing it as well.
15:15 Absolutely. And we're we're all for more stories being told
15:20 because it's such a diver.
15:22 We're talking about no matter where you are on earth.
15:24 And that's the coolest thing for us is, you know, having a platform
15:27 like this on Entrepreneur.
15:28 And we've reached 29 million people since we've launched this show.
15:32 And, you know, shout out to Toast, our technology partner at our restaurant
15:36 for believing in the power of storytelling.
15:38 But to your point, we all don't look the same.
15:41 I mean, that's the magic of hospitality is there's so many different
15:44 incredible people on all different parts that have different restaurants,
15:47 that have different food, that have different drinks that they offer.
15:51 And when we get to break bread with people that are strangers,
15:54 making them friends and making them family, that's why we do what we do.
15:58 You know, it's crazy hard.
16:00 It's a crazy hard business, you know, which is why I love having conversations
16:04 with people like you that you're thinking beyond the restaurant,
16:07 because the restaurant is a brand.
16:09 But you yourself, you're also a brand.
16:11 And how can you add other revenue streams with a cookbook,
16:15 with media appearances, with consumer packaged goods?
16:18 When you think about the empire that you're building,
16:22 what is on the vision board for twenty twenty four?
16:24 Wow, it's so much, you know, I have I'm working on other restaurant
16:31 locations, a different concept or the same concept, the same concept.
16:35 So my goal is to hopefully start franchising soon.
16:38 That's what I've been working on, getting the getting the business
16:41 structured, everything ready for franchising.
16:43 The next goal, of course, is products and honestly cooking with Kelly,
16:48 the lifestyle brand.
16:49 It's not just, you know, consumer good foods.
16:52 It's waffle makers. It's pots and pans.
16:54 It's a really cool coffee machine.
16:57 But it's fun. It's lifestyle.
16:59 It's kitchen candles. I mean, the list can go on.
17:01 I have a ton of things that I would love to do that I will eventually do.
17:06 Just trying to build, of course, you know, the empire one waffle at a time.
17:09 So I do have some other restaurant concepts that, you know, I have.
17:14 But right now, I really just want to focus on franchising.
17:17 Nana's getting that successful and seeing people like me,
17:21 you know, to be able to be restaurateurs and small business owners,
17:24 families like me. So I'm super excited for that.
17:28 That's what my main focus is.
17:30 When I look at all of the content that you put out
17:35 from all the channels, you have such a diversity of truth
17:39 from photos to videos to collaborations.
17:43 Can you kind of bring us inside the game?
17:46 How do you how do you collaborate with so many different videographers,
17:50 so many different photographers?
17:52 How do you think about which what do you post on which channel?
17:55 How often are you posting?
17:57 We have so many people where we're encouraging restaurateurs
18:00 to think beyond if you're a burger place or a waffle place.
18:03 Like it's not just the waffles.
18:05 The fact that you're a mom is so cool.
18:07 The fact that you're doing women in restaurants, that you're going
18:09 and speaking on conferences.
18:11 These are things that you don't think are going to sell more waffles,
18:14 but actually inspires other small business owners, other big business owners to go.
18:19 Well, I'm connecting with Kelly.
18:21 Like I'm going to go to Kelly's restaurant.
18:22 You know, I want to go and support Nana.
18:24 Yeah, I want to go and taste the waffle.
18:26 But but that's beyond that's beyond the way that most people
18:29 think about marketing.
18:30 Can you can you tell us how do you how do you think about it?
18:32 Absolutely.
18:34 You have a social media platform that's free marketing, right?
18:38 Like that's it's not a that's not a check you have to write to the billboard company.
18:42 That's not a check you have to write to a magazine.
18:45 You have a platform that you build off of.
18:49 And I do I have a lot of fun with my following, you know,
18:53 and I make a lot of connections with my following.
18:56 I don't I don't take that for granted.
18:57 So I have Nana's chicken and waffles who literally is just, you know,
19:01 I think we have like over 80,000 followers.
19:03 Amazing. It's awesome.
19:04 You guys are crushing doing amazing.
19:06 And I did the social media for a very long time.
19:09 And then I passed that torch.
19:12 You know, when you're a business owner, you do everything.
19:15 I know you do.
19:16 I'm counting you're on social media.
19:18 You're in the kitchen.
19:19 You the only job I've never done would be a server.
19:22 And that is one job that I cannot do.
19:24 I've even done dishes.
19:25 But serving is just not my style.
19:28 However, social media was and I did a really great job
19:32 at getting the followers there
19:34 as much as I could.
19:37 And I believe in and in building, building with others.
19:41 I've never I've never been a person where I can't, you know,
19:44 get on a live with another restaurateur, another restaurateur
19:48 that has a breakfast concept.
19:49 I believe that it's it's enough room for all of us.
19:52 And I'm really open to that.
19:54 So I don't mind, you know, collabing with other people.
19:58 I just did a collaboration this summer with
20:00 four fat cows where we did an ice cream collaboration
20:04 with ice cream and waffles.
20:06 So we put my waffle chunks in the ice cream,
20:08 which did really, really well
20:10 in regards to, you know, the videographers and photographers.
20:16 It's always a network of people.
20:18 And I just you know, you have to be strategic about who you use.
20:21 I'm very big on, you know, what it looks like
20:24 in regards to that ending product.
20:28 I have a I have my close knit crew, though, you know, like I have my consistent
20:32 people who are the consistent people. Give them a shout out.
20:35 Let me give. Oh, absolutely.
20:37 So you got one. Yeah.
20:39 Elliot J. He's amazing.
20:40 What's his handle? What's his handle?
20:43 What is it? Elliot JTV?
20:45 I believe it is.
20:46 I got it. Elliot JTV. Yes.
20:49 Yeah. He's my guy.
20:50 So Elliot J. What I love about Elliot is
20:53 he's he's been working with me for everything.
20:56 So he does my personal brand.
20:58 He does my family brand.
21:00 He does Nana's brand.
21:03 And he's just that he's just that guy.
21:05 He's punctual. He's on time.
21:07 He's professional and he's fast and he gets he gets the job done.
21:11 You know, content is all about that timing.
21:13 I need photos immediately.
21:15 I need videos immediately, you know, because you're on to the next.
21:19 So you got to make sure I have Johnny.
21:23 Johnny is my social media guy for Nana's Chicken and Waffles.
21:26 He's amazing.
21:29 He goes everywhere I go
21:32 and he gets all of the content, you know, so he doesn't have a professional camera.
21:36 He has the iPhone, but he.
21:38 iPhone's fire.
21:39 Recall smartphone storytelling.
21:41 Fire. Fire. Yes.
21:43 The job done with that iPhone.
21:46 So shout out to Johnny.
21:47 But I have a great a great group of people and I don't mind sharing them.
21:51 You know, I'm always trying to promote everybody.
21:55 And again, just, you know, share that share that influence
21:59 as much as I can with others, for sure.
22:01 Well, I think one of the coolest things about your posts is that you recognize
22:06 what we try to teach restaurant owners and small business
22:09 and even big businesses is understanding.
22:11 You never know. You never know who's watching, you know,
22:14 and that's how you build a community is by sharing, you know,
22:16 and you do such a good job of pointing out the jewelry that you're wearing
22:20 or the design that you're doing.
22:22 Like these are all things that because you're playing the game within the game,
22:26 you know why you're doing it, because not only are you giving love to the people
22:30 that are, you know, the product that you're wearing,
22:32 but it also somebody that's following you, they find inspiration in that,
22:35 you know, and those are the people that that's how you build community for you.
22:40 When you think of your online community and your in real life community,
22:44 how do you how do you collaborate with both of those different places?
22:47 Absolutely. So, I mean, of course, online is going to always be,
22:52 you know, you have to kind of just be a little bit more aware of what you're doing
22:55 online and you know, you just want to make sure that it ties into the brand.
22:59 So I wouldn't necessarily
23:01 do, you know, something in regards to,
23:06 I don't know, let's just say lawn care, because that's not really my
23:12 that's not really my following, you know, and I'm not coming to me for flowers
23:16 and birds and the bees, you know, but they are coming to me for,
23:22 you know, beauty.
23:23 They might come to me for beauty or fashion and they're going to come to me for
23:27 food and they might come to me for some home products.
23:29 So I try and make sure that that whenever I'm doing a collaboration with someone
23:34 that it ties in for both brands and it makes sense.
23:37 You know, I don't want to do something that just is beneficial for me.
23:40 It would need to be beneficial for us all.
23:42 So I just, you know, in regards to the business aspect,
23:47 that was really important for me in regards to personal.
23:51 I get a little fun with my personal, you know, we might do some spa things or,
23:56 you know, something fun.
23:58 But but when I do that as well, that's also still very strategic.
24:02 When you think about entrepreneurship, I mean, you think about us.
24:05 We're working all the time.
24:06 We're you know, we're constantly busy.
24:08 I'm constantly trying to balance motherhood and,
24:12 you know, being an entrepreneur.
24:14 So to take some time for myself sometimes I think is needed.
24:17 And I think other people need to see that, you know, like you can't continuously run
24:21 on something empty. Sometimes I'm very big on my self-care.
24:26 Like that's one thing that I have to do in order for me to be a good person,
24:30 not only, you know, to my family, but but to my team and to my guests
24:35 and to my, you know, customers.
24:37 So that's super important for me.
24:40 So, you know, again, I'm just just always making sure that it makes sense.
24:44 And like you said, people are inspired when they come to your page
24:48 and you never know who is looking and who you're inspiring.
24:53 And I get a lot of messages.
24:54 I get a lot of DMs and I try and share my journey.
24:58 The highs and the lows, because a lot of people don't share the lows.
25:02 You know, some people might share the highs.
25:04 You know, I had to close a restaurant, unfortunately, without.
25:08 You know, long story short, you know, but I had to share
25:12 kind of that journey a little bit, and I wanted to be transparent
25:16 because people will always show you the million dollars,
25:19 but they won't show you the thousand dollars, you know,
25:22 that they started off with to get to get there.
25:25 And that's super important for me.
25:27 So, yeah, I just wanted to I always try and be as transparent as I can.
25:32 And I try and share my journey.
25:35 I try and share my journey as much as I can.
25:40 You know, what did you learn from closing that restaurant?
25:43 Well, I learned a lot of things.
25:49 I learned about partnerships. Yeah.
25:52 I learned about partnerships a lot.
25:56 I learned about.
25:59 Contracts, you know,
26:02 probably the least from, you know what?
26:05 But, you know, it made me realize that moving forward,
26:10 having the right team and having the right people around you.
26:15 I don't do anything without a lawyer or an attorney.
26:18 I don't do anything without my broker and realtor.
26:21 I don't want to even touch it.
26:25 You know, so it's super important for me.
26:30 Moving forward is a lesson learned.
26:32 I needed all of those things to happen in order for me to go where I'm going.
26:36 For for you, I'm happy that you brought up self self-care.
26:43 It's something that we believe deeply in the show,
26:46 something that took me a long time to learn, especially,
26:49 you know, hospitality professionals, we in our DNA is to take care of other people.
26:53 So we're always taking care of our community.
26:56 We're taking care of our village.
26:57 We're taking care of our team and we don't take care of ourselves.
26:59 Is there something that you do for yourself on a do you have daily habit
27:03 that you do that that helps you center yourself as a mom before?
27:07 Absolutely.
27:08 Where everyone wakes up or before everyone goes down.
27:11 Yeah, yeah.
27:17 So before everybody wakes up, I always have that like 15 to 20 minutes to myself.
27:21 I light my candle. I pray I meditate.
27:23 I get myself in order for the day.
27:25 I might have a cup of tea. I might have a cup of coffee.
27:27 And then I scream to the top of my lungs and wake the whole house up.
27:30 But but but before then, you know, before I have to center myself
27:35 to get my day started, I'm not looking at emails.
27:37 I'm not looking at Instagram.
27:39 I'm not looking at my phone.
27:40 I'm literally just being still.
27:42 I might open my Bible.
27:47 And that's just what it looks like.
27:49 I might put on a meditation music.
27:51 I love, you know, just kind of those meditation mantras in the morning.
27:56 So just try and be still and simple, simple
27:58 and just try and get my thoughts in order for the day.
28:01 My day and day life looks crazy, you know, so I'm up at six fifteen.
28:05 I'm up at six fifteen.
28:07 The rest, you know, the first cook is getting to the restaurant at six thirty.
28:10 So I'm on the cameras making sure everybody's there,
28:13 making sure the delivery got there, you know.
28:16 And then I'm up to getting the girls ready to school.
28:19 I take them to school every morning.
28:22 But I do let you know, they catch the bus in the evening
28:25 and the nanny picks them up.
28:26 But it's my it's my time in the morning with them to just kind of make sure
28:30 that they're off to a good start.
28:32 We laugh, we joke, we play, we listen to music
28:34 and carpool and have our carpool chronicles, so to say.
28:38 And then I get my day started.
28:41 I might head over to the restaurant. I might have some meetings.
28:44 I try and get a little yoga in when I can.
28:47 And then, you know, who knows what the remainder of the day looks like.
28:51 And I'm back home, hopefully around seven or eight o'clock.
28:54 Might have some networking events.
28:56 You know how it goes.
28:57 It's just it's not it's nonstop.
28:58 Like you said, we we're in the people business.
29:01 You know, we are in the in the people business, the service business.
29:04 So we're constantly making sure that everyone around us is OK.
29:09 But we definitely have to make sure that we are good
29:11 in order for us to be good to others.
29:13 So, yeah, yeah.
29:16 Every single week we meet on LinkedIn.
29:20 Now we used to meet on Clubhouse, but we meet on LinkedIn for audio events.
29:23 And if you the listener, you that's watching this, we want to hear about you.
29:28 That's why we put this on.
29:29 That's why Toast believes in this project is your restaurant matters.
29:33 Your voice matters if you're in sales, if you're in marketing,
29:36 if you're in technology.
29:37 Please send me a DM on Instagram.
29:39 It's at Sean P. Waltschaff, and I will send you a link to those events.
29:44 That way we can hear your story and you never know
29:46 when we can collaborate on different projects that we're working on.
29:50 Kelly, I would love for you to give a shout out.
29:53 This is we already gave a couple of creator shout outs, but someone from Nana,
29:56 Nana Chicken and Waffles, somebody that's gone above and beyond that
30:00 that we you'd love to give them some love.
30:03 I'm going to give a shout out to my whole team.
30:06 Can I just tell you that they are freaking doing?
30:09 They're crushing it right now.
30:11 They are dealing with holiday hours, holiday chaos.
30:14 Are those two and three hour wait?
30:17 Shout out to my kitchen, because those
30:21 those 300 tickets on the weekends are going like crazy, but they're killing it.
30:26 And even down to my dishwashers.
30:27 Shout out to you guys, to the front of the house, to the back of the house,
30:31 to the cashier, to the to the bartender.
30:33 Shout out to security who comes on Saturdays and Sundays to make sure
30:37 you have security. I love it.
30:39 We have to try to make sure everybody's on their best behavior sometimes.
30:42 I love it. I love we do.
30:44 We do security and hospitality at our barbecue shop.
30:46 Yes, you know, we do security.
30:48 We do security with a smile.
30:50 We do like wait.
30:52 Like, how's that guy?
30:53 How is he so nice?
30:55 Like, that's how we do it.
30:56 Yeah, no, we have a we have a great security company.
30:59 Yeah, amazing job.
31:01 So I'm grateful for my entire team.
31:03 My parents are, you know, are helping me out over there and my sisters.
31:08 And, you know, we really are really family owned business and family ran business.
31:11 So I'm grateful for my team, my extended family
31:14 and all the love and support and hard work that they give constantly.
31:18 So you're only as good as your team.
31:21 And my team is freaking amazing.
31:23 So before we wrap up, I need to learn some of your smartphone
31:26 storytelling secrets. So I need to know, are you iPhone or Android?
31:30 I mean, come on now.
31:35 Double phones.
31:38 OK, explain the double phones.
31:40 We have two iPhones. What's up?
31:42 What you got? One for work and one for personal.
31:45 OK, now do you have have you separated apps?
31:48 Are you accessible for all social platforms on both or is one for one?
31:53 How do you how did you segment it?
31:55 Personal does not have Instagram.
31:57 Personal does. And that's by choice.
32:00 Yes. By choice. OK.
32:02 I like it, too. I love the two phones that you can't have enough.
32:06 That is awesome.
32:08 Do you do you prefer email or text?
32:10 Text. Text or.
32:14 Go ahead. Yeah.
32:16 Text. Let's just say text.
32:17 They're going to say I don't respond, but it's OK.
32:20 Text or phone call. Text or phone call.
32:22 Phone call. Phone call over text.
32:25 How many emails do you get a day?
32:28 Too many.
32:31 I think I probably have like over 50,000 emails.
32:35 Fifty thousand unread emails.
32:36 What is that?
32:41 What is your favorite app?
32:44 My favorite app? Yeah.
32:47 Truist. Truist. What's that?
32:49 The banking app.
32:52 OK, I am. I don't know about Truist.
32:54 You Truist Bank? No, I'm like, yeah, the favorite app is checking to make sure.
32:59 OK, there you go.
33:00 Well, shout out to the Truist app.
33:03 No one's dropped a banking app on me.
33:04 That's fantastic.
33:05 I love it.
33:08 What's your least favorite app?
33:11 Least favorite?
33:13 I don't know. You know, I'm not really that big of a cell phone girl.
33:17 Like I'm not like I don't play games on my phone.
33:20 Which notifications do you not want to see?
33:24 Email? Email?
33:26 I don't know.
33:30 You know, just maybe some like random things that just, you know, maybe.
33:35 I don't know.
33:36 None of it really bothers me.
33:38 I just because I don't look at it, really.
33:40 So I'm not a big news girl.
33:42 I'm not a big news girl like I don't.
33:45 The news makes me sad.
33:46 That's fine.
33:47 Apple, Apple Music or Spotify?
33:50 Apple Music all day.
33:51 Apple Music all day.
33:52 OK, fair enough.
33:54 Right on.
33:55 Well, what if speaking of women in restaurants,
33:59 what is your parting message to any woman in hospitality
34:03 that might be listening to this?
34:05 Girl, just go for it.
34:07 Just go for it.
34:08 And if you never nothing beats a failure, but a try.
34:11 If you don't try, who like who knows where you would have,
34:14 you know, where you would go.
34:16 So just go for it.
34:17 It's not going to be easy.
34:19 It's not going to be easy, but it's damn sure going to be worth it for certain.
34:23 So just go for it.
34:25 Just go no matter what.
34:26 And, you know, you know, it's so crazy.
34:28 I always say like.
34:31 The higher, the higher being, and for me, it's God.
34:35 Yes. He gives he gives you a vision and he gives you
34:40 sometimes a vision that only you could see.
34:42 Not everybody's going to see that vision and not it could sometimes not be your
34:46 you know, your spouse or your family member or a best friend.
34:50 And, you know, sometimes it's so big that it can be unbelievable.
34:54 But when he plants it in you, you've got to go for it.
34:59 And you you got to live in it and manifest it and just shoot for the stars.
35:04 So I always think, thank God that I went for that dream
35:07 and went for that vision, and I didn't stop no matter what.
35:10 Well, I thank God and I thank the universe that put us together on this show
35:16 that we can share it with entrepreneurs and hospitality professionals
35:19 all over the globe.
35:21 Cooking with Kelly will put links to the new products, the 24 karat gold,
35:26 the waffle mix, the grits, also Nana chicken and waffles.
35:31 If you're in the Atlanta area, please go say what's up.
35:34 And Kelly, it's been a pleasure.
35:36 We truly, truly appreciate it.
35:38 If there's anything we can ever do for you, you let us know.
35:40 Thank you so much.
35:42 Thank you for having me and continue to inspire us all.
35:45 We need it. Appreciate you. Thank you.
35:47 Want to give a special shout out again to toast.
35:50 Thank you for believing in the power of storytelling.
35:52 Thank you for empowering restauranteurs with technology
35:57 that will improve their business.
35:59 Please share this show.
36:00 It's the only way that we grow.
36:02 Share the show with another restaurant owner, with another content creator,
36:05 with someone in the hospitality space that wants to level up.
36:09 We love people that are playing the game within the game.
36:12 The best way to connect with me is at Sean P.
36:15 Walsh F. S. H. A. W. N. P. W. A. L. C. H. E. F.
36:21 That's on Instagram is the quickest way to get me
36:24 or you can find me on LinkedIn, Tick-Tock, Facebook, all the platforms.
36:28 We tell stories everywhere.
36:30 We're weirdly available and we care about you.
36:32 We care about your story.
36:34 One day, we'd love to feature you on digital hospitality,
36:37 restaurant influencers, family style or any of the content that we do.
36:41 Please connect with us and share and subscribe. Thanks.
36:44 (upbeat music)