Interview with Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, about the origins of FoodieCon, running popular food events, and adapting to social media trends.
Lee Brian Schrager has a knack for turning curiosity into groundbreaking ideas.
As the Chief Communications Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Lee Schrager is also the founder of the South Beach and New York Wine and Food Festivals (powered by The Food Network).
His latest brainchild, FoodieCon, is reshaping the food festival experience by integrating social media influencers and staying ahead of industry trends.
Lee Brian Schrager has a knack for turning curiosity into groundbreaking ideas.
As the Chief Communications Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Lee Schrager is also the founder of the South Beach and New York Wine and Food Festivals (powered by The Food Network).
His latest brainchild, FoodieCon, is reshaping the food festival experience by integrating social media influencers and staying ahead of industry trends.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers, presented by Entrepreneur. I am your host, Sean Walcheff.
00:11This is a Cali BBQ Media production. In life, in the restaurant business, and in the new
00:17creator economy, we learn through lessons and stories. Today, we have Lee Schrager.
00:23He is known by the New York Times as the food festival booker. He is the founder of South
00:30Beach Wine and Food Festival. He's the founder of New York City Wine and Food Festival. He's
00:35the chief communications officer for Southern Blazers Wine and Spirits. In over two decades,
00:43he's raised over $50 million for charity. Lee, I am so grateful for your time. I know
00:50we're recording this on the eve of the big event. Thank you for taking the time to share
00:56some stories with our audience. Good to be here. Thanks for having me.
01:01Where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:10My favorite stadium, stage, or venue? Yes.
01:15Well, I have not been to the Sphere in Vegas, although I'm very anxious to see the new Sphere
01:21and the sense of a venue. I think that looks pretty cool. I'd love to do a party there one day.
01:28I don't know. I think being able to produce the largest wine and food festival in the country on
01:33South Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, is a pretty great setting.
01:39I think the same for New York. Being able to produce the festival with the backdrop of
01:44Manhattan is pretty great. Really, you don't need a lot of decor when you have the Atlantic
01:48Ocean or the backdrop of Manhattan. Listen, it's hard not to be able to find a good venue. You have
01:55to find a good venue that works, that you can build on and make it logistically work for what
02:02you're doing, the infrastructure. I think that's really important. I'd say that we're pretty lucky
02:07to have South Beach in New York as great backdrops and venues. Beautiful. Well, we're going to go to
02:12the Sphere since you haven't been there and I haven't been there. I am magically enthralled by
02:17what they've built there. I believe that you, of all people, could pull off an incredible
02:23hospitality event at the Sphere. I'm going to put you on center stage. I'm going to ask you,
02:29Lee, this audience is packed. These people came from all over the world, the best hospitality
02:34operators, the best storytellers, the best content creators on earth. Lee, can you bring us back to
02:392000 when you were hired to improve a little wine tasting event by Southern and bring us back and
02:48sell us the big pitch? What was the big pitch? Sean, there really was not a big pitch.
02:56I joined Southern in 2000, so I'm here almost 25 years at this point.
03:03It was really a year or two after I joined that I went to the Aspen Classic in Aspen
03:08that's put on by Food and Wine Magazine, the granddaddy of all wine and food festivals.
03:15I remember coming home and thinking, wow, that is so amazing in the beautiful mountains of Aspen.
03:20Imagine how beautiful something similar would be on the beach in Miami Beach and South Beach,
03:26such a beautiful venue. That's really how it all happened. I remember going to my boss,
03:32who's the CEO of Southern, Wayne Chaplin, and saying, well, what do you think about moving the
03:37Florida extravaganza from the campus of the university, FIU, and moving it to South Beach
03:43and really blowing it up and making it into a big national event and making it sexy and popular and
03:49bringing in the greatest chefs in the world? He said, well, let's do it. That was how it happened.
03:53There was no big pitch. I didn't have to sell him, in all honesty. He loved it.
03:58Bring us back because as someone that's put on very small events here locally in San Diego,
04:05we have a barbecue business. We've put on amateur barbecue contests, professional barbecue
04:10contests at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. They start with a big idea, but it comes down to
04:15execution and it comes into a buy-in. You got to get people to buy in. What did you have to do in
04:21the beginning to get people to buy in, to actually execute? It certainly was a lot harder 25 years
04:29ago than it is today. We didn't have big names. I didn't know those people. We had no sponsors,
04:34but what we did have is a relationship with our partners at Southern Glazers.
04:41At that point, it was just Southern Wine. The first event we did was called The Bubble Q. We
04:47got about 10 or 12 of the great barbecue chefs in the country together. We brought in Moet to sponsor
04:52two of America's favorite things, barbecue and champagne, and called it The Bubble Q.
04:57It went from 300 or 400 people to 3,000 people within a few years. We stopped doing it because
05:05it's just so expensive to produce, to get that much champagne provided by any one partner.
05:11We bring it back every few years. We'll bring it back for our 25th anniversary in
05:162026, great champagne and barbecue. Everyone has great ideas. I think execution,
05:23having the right team, having the right partners, and having the right venue,
05:27and having the city of Miami Beach, which has been a huge partner of ours since day one,
05:31believe in what we do and provide that space for us. It makes it a lot easier when you have
05:35a partner that really wants you here and appreciates what you do for the city.
05:38Preston Pyshenko Can you bring us back to
05:40getting the first sponsors on board, some of the big title sponsors? Give us a story.
05:45David Stein I mean, really, the first sponsors that we
05:49secured was Ely Coffee. I think that Ely Coffee was one of the very first partners that we brought
05:57on. They were our brand, Southern Brands. It was Ely and Moet. Those were the really big brands
06:05early on. I think the first big brand we brought on outside of the festival, I mean, outside of
06:14the Southern Glazers, wine and spirit brands. American Express was an early partner of the
06:18festival. American Airlines was an early partner of the festival. That was, again, 23 years ago.
06:29Somebody like Ely Coffee is still with us. American Express is not. We've gone from
06:34American Express to MasterCard to Capital One. We've been really fortunate. There's such a big
06:39market for wine and food events in South Florida that it's not easy, but it's easier to secure a
06:45partner like them. Preston Pyshenko
06:47Can you bring us into how do you create events within events?
06:50David Stein Well, I think we always want to
06:54keep it fresh. It's important for me that we always want to keep the festival fresh, not only for myself
07:01and my team, but for the consumers. We need to sell $7 million worth of tickets every year,
07:06or this year. That's our goal. I think if we keep doing the same things, we won't continue
07:12to sell tickets. I think that, yes, we're always going to have the burger bash, and we're always
07:16going to have best of the best, and we're always going to have a bunch of other staples of the
07:21festival, but continuing to bring in new talent, continuing to bring on new partners, and really
07:27enhance activations is what really keeps us fresh. For a festival that started with six events 23
07:33years ago, we now have 118 events over four days. It's really grown tremendously in the 23 years.
07:41Preston Pyshenko I would love for you
07:43to talk about the new activations. I remember speaking with your team last year about Food
07:48Econ, about this new idea of bringing influencers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, TikTokers into what is
07:55typically known as a celebrity chef-driven event, Food Network bringing all of the biggest names.
08:03I was fascinated that for someone like me that owns restaurants, that has a show on Entrepreneur,
08:10to talk about content creation, to encourage restauranteurs to start to use the internet to
08:15tell their story, to find other revenue streams because running a restaurant is very difficult.
08:21I was fascinated that you guys were embracing this, and not only embracing it, but doing it
08:25in such a big way. Can you share about Food Econ, and what you're doing this year,
08:31and what you hope to see the evolution?
08:33David Stein Well, we launched Food Econ last year at the
08:36festival, so this is the second year we're doing Food Econ. Food Econ was really an idea that came
08:42about. I remember standing at our New York festival two years ago, and just talking to some people,
08:49and saying to myself, wow, what is that long line of people at Capital One's tent? I was
08:55trying to think if I remembered what they were doing, and I didn't remember what they were doing.
08:59When I was done with my conversation, I walked over to Capital One, and I saw that they were
09:04presenting these different influencers. They had Brunch with Babs. They had
09:08Grossi Pelosi. They had a few people who I knew only by following them at that point.
09:13I said to myself right then and there, I said, we really need to do something with influencers. I
09:18said, we should call this Food Econ if the name's available. That was on a Saturday. By Monday,
09:23I already owned the name. I didn't know what it was going to be. I still don't know if we know
09:29what it's going to be, but it's gotten very big. It's sold out. We're doing a cocktail party with
09:34the influencers on Friday night. We're doing a dinner hosted by Robert Irvine, and Olivia,
09:39and Josh Cohen on Friday night. All those events are sold out. Food Econ will have over 1,000
09:44people attending on Saturday. It's just a gathering of some of the most popular,
09:50well-respected influencers in the food and hospitality platform all gathered in one place.
09:57It's great programming. I'm excited to be there. I'm going to spend most of Saturday there. That's
10:01something I normally don't do, spend that much time at any one event. I'll definitely be there
10:05looking to see who's going to it, look at the demographic, look at the talent, and see how we
10:12continue to grow it until it's a point where it may be its own freestanding festival. Food Econ
10:18may always be part of South Beach in New York, or maybe we spin it off. I don't know that yet.
10:23Still very early, and it's very early stages, but I'm really thrilled about the success of it so
10:29far. And now a quick break from restaurant influencers to welcome our newest sponsor
10:34to the show. It's Zach Oates, the founder of Ovation. Ovation is helping restaurants to
10:40improve operations with the human touch. We are a guest experience platform for multi-unit
10:45restaurants like Friendly's, Muya, PDQ, Taziki's, and even Cali BBQ with thousands of others that
10:51starts with a two-question survey and drives revenue, location-level improvement, and guest
10:57recovery. So here's how it works. The guest answers two questions. The first one is how
11:01was your experience? And then from there, happy guests are invited to do things that are going
11:05to drive revenue, and unhappy guests share privately what went wrong so you and your team
11:10can resolve that concern in real time. Our AI will even help you do that. Then the magic happens.
11:15We take all the public reviews. We take all the Ovation feedback. We categorize it using our AI
11:21and give you detailed feedback in 34 restaurant-specific categories to improve your
11:27operations. So we make sure that guests feel good, that you look good. And if you're interested in
11:31learning more, visit OvationUp.com forward slash Sean, because any listener of Sean's is a friend of Ovation's.
11:45I can't wait to see where it goes. I think it's something that I appreciate you for making that
11:50investment, for supporting those influencers, supporting those creators. And what's
11:56interesting, too, is the collaborations that happen with the influencers when they're meeting
12:02some of their biggest heroes, the biggest chefs that they admire, the TV
12:06personalities, the cookbook authors, the people that they grew up watching and admiring.
12:12Sure. And listen, those people want to be there meeting the influencers. I mean-
12:16Absolutely. They want to learn the tricks, too.
12:18Yeah. I mean, Bobby Flay is moderating a panel. Neil Patrick Harris is on a panel.
12:23There are other people who wanted to get involved. I mean, it was not a hard ask to get the food network talent to want to get involved.
12:31They were all there looking at it. I mean, they all have nice followings, but somebody like the pasta
12:37queen or Nick Giovanni, those people have millions of followers in a really short period of time.
12:42So I think everyone's interested in what they're doing and seeing what they can
12:46do on their own and to enhance their followings.
12:49Can you bring us back to launching the New York Festival? How did it come about?
12:55New York Festival just celebrated its 16th year in October. Actually, I was in the middle of
13:00planning a LA festival. We were really very close to announcing an LA festival when my
13:06boss, who I referenced earlier, said, you know what? Southern is going to enter the New York
13:10market. It's more important for us that you do something new and exciting in the New York
13:15market. And that's really how that happened. We were a few days away from launching LA. So
13:21I was happy to refocus my energy into New York, one of the toughest cities to do anything and
13:26kind of make a success of it. And that's how it happened. A lot of the same partners like
13:31the Food Network, our credit card partners, we've been really fortunate that New York has
13:35been so successful as well. When are you coming to the West Coast?
13:39Well, personally, I'll probably be there traveling. I'll definitely be there in the
13:46spring. But it's just too far away for me to do what I do. As you said, I have a real job.
13:52I handle communications for Southern Glazers, which is a huge job. And one festival's enough,
13:57two is incredible. I just can't imagine doing another, a third festival, I have to say, and
14:03spending a day on a plane to get to LA. Although I love the West Coast, I'd love to do something
14:08there. I'll leave it to some of the young people to take that on.
14:13Fair enough. Can you share a little bit more about the relationship with Florida International,
14:19the tourism and hospitality management school and how you give back and how you support
14:24the students there and the next generation? Sure. Well, Southern at that point was already
14:31involved in the hospitality school, hence why we did the one-day event, the Florida Extravaganza
14:36there on campus. And that's what turned into the South Beach Wine and Food Festival.
14:41But, you know, so we already had that commitment. We already had the wine center there that we were,
14:47that we had named. It was the Southern Glazers, the Southern Wine and Spirits beverage management
14:53program. So we've always had a commitment. And, you know, Southern is always giving back in the
14:57communities that we do business. And the fact that Miami is our headquarters and where the owners
15:01live and the principals live, it made a lot of sense to really take one of the finest hospitality
15:06schools and bring this hands-on, you know, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the students to
15:11work alongside some of the greatest winemakers and distillers and chefs and bartenders in the world
15:16and raise funds and awareness for the school at the same time was a no-brainer. So, you know,
15:21the students are really the backbone of the festival. You know, the students are basically
15:27staffing the entire festival. They are ambassadors. They are the ones that are
15:31working with the chefs. They're the ones who are taking the people's tickets. They're the ones who
15:35are working at the auction. You know, we do this for and with the students of the hospitality school,
15:39now the Chaplain School after all these years. So it's the Chaplain School of Hospitality at FIU,
15:45no longer just the School of Hospitality, now the Chaplain School of Hospitality at Florida
15:50International. When you get asked to speak, what's the most frequent question that people want to
15:56know? You've asked a minute. You've asked pretty, you know, how did it start? Partnerships,
16:07the importance of relationships, you know, building relationships with the talent and sponsors.
16:12People often want to know, do I have a favorite event or which do I know? The answer is no.
16:17Do I prefer New York over South Beach? The answer is no. They're both different.
16:21Do I have a favorite personality? Yes, but I wouldn't say it or else I'd have none.
16:27So those are the common questions. Those are the common questions. When you look back on your
16:33career and you're, in my opinion, just getting started and what do you think you want to
16:38accomplish moving forward? You know, I think that I want to just continue doing what I'm doing. I'm
16:44not looking to do more. I'm looking to take what we have and just continue to make it better,
16:49to continue to raise awareness and funds for the hospitality school, to continue to make a unique
16:54experience for the students here at FIU in New York, continue to work with great charity partner
16:59like God's Love We Deliver, promote the hospitality industry that took a beating in New York and is
17:05just now really getting back on its feet. So, you know, I don't need to do more. I think I just want
17:10to continue to do what I do, loving every moment of it and, you know, bringing new people and
17:16keeping it fresh for me and for the consumer. That I think is really my goal. Can you bring us back
17:21to the restaurant business days, nightclub days? Well, I did have restaurants and nightclubs. I had
17:30two restaurants on South Beach in the heyday of South Beach in the mid 80s. I had a restaurant
17:39with the actor Mickey Rourke. It was called The Spot or Espanola Way. So that was kind of a bar
17:44slash restaurant and nightclub. I owned a seafood, I don't know why I'm saying seafood. I owned a
17:51healthy restaurant called Chow, C-H-O-W, and they owned a nightclub on South Beach called Torpedo
17:57in the late 80s during the Versace days. So, you know, I was very active in South Beach and,
18:02you know, I loved having restaurants. I loved the nightlife, but I would never do it again.
18:07Why did you get out? It was time. I didn't, you know, I didn't want to be there every night. I
18:12didn't want to live in a bar. I didn't want to have to have 10 different partners, meaning
18:17people stealing your money when you're not there. It's a very tough way to make a living.
18:21I have great respect for people, respect for people who run bars and restaurants and nightclubs.
18:26You know, just there were too many partners, unofficial partners of mine. And, you know,
18:31you really have to be there morning, noon and night. And that was just something I didn't
18:35want to do. So, you know, I really got in at the right time and got out at a better time
18:39in South Beach. I was really fortunate. Preston Pyshenko
18:42Can you tell me about the Grand Tasting Village?
18:44How did it start? And where is it now?
18:47Well, it started as, you know, a kind of a, I hate to call it an exhibit hall because it's
18:52outside on the Atlantic Ocean. It's under a tent, the backdrop is the water. It's on the hard pack
19:00sand. And imagine, you know, the first year we probably had 30 or 40 suppliers participating
19:06and a bunch of sponsors and culinary demos with local talent. And now we have hundreds
19:11and now we have hundreds of brands participating, hundreds of sponsors participating,
19:16every great name at the Food Network doing culinary demos. So it's really, you know,
19:20it's kind of our, it's our campus. I mean, on the beach, that's really our campus where everyone
19:24comes in and out of over the weekend, you know, there'll be over 30,000 people coming in and out
19:29of the Grand Tasting. So it's really, I think what we're most famous for other than our late
19:33night, you know, our party events at nighttime, the burger bash and the Italian event and things
19:37like that. But really the Grand Tasting is just, you know, everybody in the day, just really eating
19:42and drinking and learning and meeting and socializing, such a great opportunity and
19:45great value for the money. So recently I started following
19:50at Lee Schrager, which I will put a link into the show notes to make sure that you, the audience,
19:56please, please follow him because I really appreciate the fact that you're willing to
20:03share the type of content that you share on your page. Can you bring us into social media,
20:08into why you do what you do and what you've learned along the way?
20:12I started social media, you know, in the early days really to promote my books. I've written
20:17three books and the publisher said, you know, you got to promote it. And, you know, I don't
20:23follow social media as much as I post on social media. I post, you know, once or twice a day,
20:27but I'm religious about posting once or twice a day. I don't sit hours on it, looking at people
20:33on social media. I don't have that type of time. You know, do I wish I had a million followers?
20:39Yeah. I wish I had a hundred thousand. You'd think I would have a hundred thousand, you know,
20:44you know, by the time I have a hundred thousand, I want a million there. I will not get,
20:48I don't think. But, you know, it's just a great way for me to use my voice to promote things I'm
20:55passionate about. It's a great way for me to share my humor with people. Most of what I post
21:01is more humorous than informative, meaning I post about the festivals and I post about my
21:08favorite chefs and restaurants and the good meals I'm having. But I really just kind of use it as a
21:13way to entertain myself and to, you know, to meet people. It's amazing to me how many times I meet
21:20people and they say, oh, we follow you. And I'm like, you know, again, I think I have 27,000
21:23followers, not a huge amount, but you know, I think I've met all 27,000 people who follow me.
21:30That's amazing. What can you share about communications?
21:36How can someone that's listening to this be a better communicator?
21:40Listening, listening to people. I think, you know, in order to be a good communicator,
21:44you need to listen to people. I think you need to be open for criticism. I think you need to
21:49be open to suggestions on how to do it differently. You need to be open to change. I think change is
21:55really important just to stay current with the trends between, you know, X and social, you know,
22:01Instagram and, you know, all the different, you know, I don't, I don't do TikTok. I don't even
22:06want to learn how to do TikTok. But I think it's really important, you know, for a company like
22:10Southern Glazes to communicate. I mean, for us, not only is it a great way to talk about the brands
22:15that we, that we work with all over, you know, 44 states. But it's also a great way to talk about
22:21events that we're involved in. Great way to talk about winemakers and distillers that we have
22:25relationships with. So for us, it's really, you know, it really is such a great opportunity for us,
22:31you know, to communicate in an easy way. Do you remember when you were young,
22:38how you learned how to tell a story or when you found your voice?
22:45No, I don't remember that. How I, you know, but I've always tried to use my voice for something
22:55I believe in. I think, you know, I don't mouth off, I don't talk badly about people. If I don't
23:00like something or a restaurant, I don't mention it. You know, if I don't, if I went to a restaurant
23:05and I didn't post about it, normally means it was nothing special. Or I just, you know, wanted to
23:10enjoy a meal and not spend my night taking pictures. But more than likely, at some point,
23:16if I don't post normally, it's just something that just, you know, wasn't special enough for
23:21me to post about. In my mind, that's only in my opinion, no one else's. But I think that,
23:25you know, I was very vocal during COVID about supporting the restaurant industry. I think I
23:29was lucky to be able to use my voice there to raise money, to raise awareness for how the chefs
23:34were hurting. We raised millions of dollars by doing online cooking classes during the festival.
23:41We were doing cooking classes online by early April when the pandemic really hit in the middle
23:47of March. I was up doing cooking classes and working with big sponsors like Barilla and
23:53a bunch of partners to promote cooking classes. And, you know, it was a great for me because I
23:57can get all the talent who used to say they're busy or they had other things. You know, everyone
24:01was home during COVID. So everyone wanted to do one of our classes. And we had, you know,
24:06thousands of people signed up to do it for free. So it's something that was really something I
24:10really enjoyed a lot. You know, social media, it was really helpful. I loved that we were able to
24:16bring Martha Stewart into your home to do a cake decorating class or, you know, Yotam Adelenge from
24:22London doing one of his really cooking classes. I, you know, I, as much as I was thrilled that
24:27COVID was over, I really kind of missed that intimacy of texting back and forth as a chef,
24:32you didn't have 20 assistants because everyone was working from home. You know, it was a great
24:36relationship builder time for me during COVID. I hope we never see it again, but I love that.
24:41I love that experience. When you think about, it's funny that you,
24:49because of who you are and what you've built, people know when you or your office is calling.
24:55So you don't have to pitch yourself anymore back to the early days of letting people know that you
25:02have a big event. What kind of advice do you have to somebody that's trying to do something in the
25:08beginning? They have an idea about an event that they want to do local in their community. How do
25:13you go, how do you go, how do you go about pitching big ideas? Well, I guess the best advice I would
25:18say a no is just an answer. You know, no, I, I, you know, turning a no into a yes is, you know,
25:25still one of my greatest challenges. At least you got a response. Again, I'd rather get a no from
25:29somebody than wait six months to hear back from somebody and say, well, we don't know. I'm like,
25:34listen, give me a quick no, don't waste my time. I'd rather a quick no than a, you know, a long
25:40drawn out yes. And I still, today I still feel the same. You know, everyone's busy. You know,
25:44everyone can commit. If Bobby Flay can commit and Rachel could commit and, you know, big,
25:49Massimo Battura can come to South Beach, you know, by planning correctly, I, there's no reason,
25:54you know, if you want to do it, that you really can't find the time. You know, it's not like
25:57we're calling you a week out. We call you eight months out. We have our tribute dinner honoree
26:01locked in for South Beach already for next year, you know. But I would say perseverance, you know,
26:08again, to me, a no is just a starting place. You know, it's an answer. You at least have their
26:12attention. And, you know, I love getting a no and turning it around. I heard you on a nationally
26:20syndicated show, The Elvis Show, talk about David Grutman. He hosts incredible events during your
26:31festivals. He had DJ Khaled last year, but I heard you basically call him out on the show saying that
26:39he hasn't announced who's going to be participating in the festival. I thought it was a master class
26:45in storytelling, in relationships, knowing that you obviously have a deep love for David and
26:51everyone that works for him in order to be able to do that. But soon enough that I go and I look
26:56at the event and DJ Khaled is performing again this year. Can you share a little bit about how
27:04you do that, why you do that in the relationship with Dave? Well, if I didn't love David, I wouldn't
27:09have done it. You know, if I didn't have relationships, I wouldn't have done it.
27:11But, you know, his PR people who are my friends called me and said, he's going to be really upset
27:15with you. I said, he owed us an answer. You know, we didn't get the answer. And I said, he's not
27:22being responsive. I said, you know, putting, you know, he, you know, he, you know, calling him out
27:27there makes him accountable, which he is accountable. Dave's the most reliable, credible person.
27:32But he was weeks late in getting the message out there, helping us get the message out there.
27:37And I can tell you right after that round on notional national news and his PR people said,
27:41he is going to be furious. I said, I don't think he's going to be furious. And they called me the
27:46next day. He hadn't heard it, but he had heard about it. And he got a link to it. Someone got
27:51sent him a link to it and he went, he loved it. You know, of course he did not. You know, I knew
27:57he wouldn't, you know, I, David is somebody who'd never wants to disappoint people. So his team
28:02thought he would be upset because he disappointed me by not having talent, but confirmed, but I knew
28:08David would deliver talent. I knew he would. So I wasn't worried. And if I was worried, I wouldn't
28:12have called him out. That's for sure. It was, it was a beautiful masterclass.
28:16We'll we'll put a link in the show notes just because we care so much about storytelling and
28:21the way that you did it with love, with empathy, but with accountability, that's, you know, you
28:27can only do that if you have true friendship and if you have true friendship, you can go on the
28:31biggest platform. Those are things that I, the people that I admire and respect they do it the
28:38best. And I just wanted to give you, give you compliments of, of, of the work that you were
28:42doing. I know you've spent a career doing that kind of work. That's why you have the relationships
28:47that you have. Is there anything you'd like people to know about this year's event? Obviously this
28:51is going to get published after this year, but anything looking forward to next year or to the
28:56New York event? Well, you know, we're starting gearing up for New York right now. Remember when
29:01I do these festivals, I'm planning six months out. I mean, so I, you know, oftentimes people say,
29:07Oh, tell me about this. I'm like, really, are we doing that? Or tell me about this chef. I'm like,
29:11is she coming? Um, you know, because I do it so far out. So now I'm kind of just beginning,
29:16you know, of course, a few days out, I've reread everything and I'm aware of the programming and I,
29:20you know, uh, I'm a lot more aware, but, you know, my job is kind of getting it programmed
29:24and get the big talent locked in. And then my team really does everything else, make it happen
29:28and bring it all together. And then the last weeks, I kind of read up and go back and go
29:32through the guide. And I'm like, wow, this is a great lineup. I forgot we had this. And
29:36I forgot that Daddy Occhini was coming in and doing a dinner with Nancy Silverton. I did.
29:40Um, I'm like, why am I not going to that dinner? So, um, I, I, I think that, you know,
29:46the best advice I can give, if that was a question, it probably wasn't, was I think having a good team
29:50surrounding yourself with a good team. And, uh, again, we're not saving lives here. You know,
29:54no one's, uh, you know, uh, you know, this is what we do is fun. What we do is raise awareness.
30:00We raise fun. It's eating and drinking should be a fun thing. Everyone, you know, the best things in
30:05life happen around food or over food or what great wine and spirits. And, uh, I, you know,
30:10we can't take it too serious. I think we want to continue to do the best job that we can.
30:15We want to continue to have the best talent and to just continue in both markets, New York and
30:19South beach to, you know, be great partners for God's love in New York and the chaplain school
30:24down here and, uh, continue loving what we do every second of, of, of it. Because when you,
30:28when you don't love it, it's becomes work. And I never think of what I do as work.
30:33Do you love writing books? I do. I do love writing books, uh,
30:36but they take too much time and I've, uh, I, they take way too much time and they
30:41financially they've never been worth it for me. I'm not a Bobby Flay. You have to have a food TV
30:46show to, you have to have a TV show or have a number one restaurant to sell big books. So,
30:50uh, but I've enjoyed, you know, I've, I've enjoyed the people that I've met.
30:53I've enjoyed, uh, you know, uh, traveling to write the books and I'll probably, you know,
30:57do one more book at one time, but you know, not tomorrow.
31:01Have you ever considered launching your own show? Not for, not, not for TV, but for the internet?
31:09No, I, no, I, you know what? No, I haven't. I really haven't. I mean, I, I, I've been offered,
31:14I've had opportunities from radio shows and I know I have no desire to do that. I kind of
31:18love doing it a few times a year and, uh, talking about what I'm doing. And, uh, you know, I love,
31:23I love talking with people who appreciate what I do or don't appreciate what I do sometimes even
31:27more. Um, but no, I, I'm happy. I'm happy just as it is. I wouldn't change a thing in my life.
31:33Well, Lee, it has been an absolute honor. You're a legend. Uh, I consider myself very lucky and I
31:39consider the audience lucky to be able to spend some time with you one day. I will make it to
31:44New York. I will make it to South beach. I can't wait to see what you've built,
31:47especially the food econ. That's something that, uh, we believe deeply in, in the creator economy
31:52and influencer economy, but everything that you do, giving back to the hospitality, uh, school,
31:57as well as the next generation, this stuff is important. And like you said, it's not saving
32:02lives, but so many lives are impacted by hospitality. And, uh, in order to create events
32:08like this, you're really highlighting the best of the best. So thank you for what you've done.
32:12And I can't wait to see what you continue to do as you continue. Thanks for your time. I'll look
32:17forward to meeting you and I hope you do get down one day. And I appreciate that. And if you guys
32:21want to keep in touch with me, it's at Sean P Walsh F S H a W N P W a L C H E F best way to
32:28get me as on Instagram. You can also connect with Lee at Lee Schrager on Instagram, and we'll put
32:34links to the festivals, which are easy to find and the best content on the internet. So definitely
32:39give them a follow. Thank you so much. Lee have a successful event and, uh, we can't wait to meet
32:44you in person one day. Likewise. We'll share it. All right. You got a deal. Thank you. Bye-bye.
32:49Yep. Bye-bye. Thank you for listening to restaurant influencers. If you want to get in touch
32:53with me, I am weirdly available at Sean P Walsh F S H a W N P W a L C H E F Cali barbecue media
33:03has other shows. You can check out digital hospitality. We've been doing that show
33:07since 2017. We also just launched a show season two family style on YouTube with toast.
33:15And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand, and you're looking to launch your own show,
33:20Cali barbecue media can help you. Recently. We just launched room for seconds with Greg
33:26Majewski. It is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality, into enterprise
33:33restaurants and franchise franchisee relationships. Take a look at room for seconds. And if you're
33:39ready to start a show, reach out to us, be the show dot media. We can't wait to work with you.