From Dish Pit to 30 Restaurants

Phillip Frankland Lee1:41

You know, it should impress the connoisseur and the person who goes, I don't understand, but that's [ __ ] dope.

Phillip Frankland Lee2:02

Well that's sales

Phillip Frankland Lee2:27

Oh yeah, that was your question. So the music that we're playing is 1920s and 30s Japanese jazz.

Um and I felt that the first location in Los Angeles uh was effectively a speakeasy.

Phillip Frankland Lee2:40

Now I love speak easys and I love Secret Society. I love that whole kind of vibe. But the reason it was a speakeasy is because when I went to my wife who's my pastry chef and business partner, uh, and said, "I'm ready to open my sushi restaurant." Uh, we had three restaurants, four restaurants actually, and they were all in the same plaza in in Encino. And she goes, "You can't leave me here to go play sushi while I run all these restaurants." And so I had the idea, I'm going to turn my office that was in the back of those four restaurants into a little sushi bar.

And so the only way to get there was to go into another place, have a drink, walk through and move into a speakeasy. And so when we were like shopping for the the the menu and everything or shopping for all the plate wear and all the stuff, we were listening to a lot of music like, you know, we were like, do we listen to Japanese punk, Japanese hiphop? Do we just go like Rolling Stones? Like what's the vibe? And we just found this sort of like vaudeville era, you know, uh, speakeasy style music, but out of Japan.

And we were like, "This is killer. This meets this this this kind of secret room vibe." And so it wasn't really necessarily modeled after anything except that I wanted you to really feel like you've stepped out of your normal reality and into my reality. Um, and then you step back into into your world. Um, and so it needed to feel like a separation between your normal life and, you know, um, so from the decor to the music to the fact that chefs don't typically wear button-up colored shirts with ties.

Phillip Frankland Lee4:17

You know, um, but you would imagine like a nice Japanese businessman or, you know, bartender or someone who takes their craft very seriously. So seriously that I'm going to wear a tie while I'm doing my my thing. Um, so there was a lot of those thoughts that went into it. So, it wasn't necessarily a specific time, but I mean, I started, you know, reading about sushi when I was 13. I bought my first book on it. And so, I've been studying the history of sushi for 30 something years.

And um, you know, I draw a lot of inspiration from many little known eras in the 2,000-year history. Uh, and the the amalgamation of all of my experiences, all the things I've learned is kind of how we came up with something that was pretty idiosyncratic.

Phillip Frankland Lee5:28

There's 10 seats. Um, all 10 guests come at the same time. They all sit down at the same time. We make 10 pieces of sushi and we bake 10 pieces of sushi 17 times. So, it lasts about 2 hours.

Phillip Frankland Lee5:53

It's three chefs. There's the head chef who stands in the middle.

Um, and then who's kind of like the conductor of the of the orchestra. Then you have two sous chefs on the side. So two sous chefs on the side, their job is to slice and form, pass it to the middle, uh, where the head chef is the one who physically touches and and and garnishes and seasons every single piece. And then all three of them pass out the food for you as the head chef explains exactly what you're about to enjoy.

Phillip Frankland Lee6:29

I like spicy tuna hand rolls.

Phillip Frankland Lee7:05

Yeah. I mean, I'm a Pisces. I love the water. I've always loved seafood. But, you know, I got a lot of flack for being a white kid making sushi. Um, and you know, I've been doing it now for a decade since I opened the first location. Um, and back then it was all about cultural appropriation. Everyone was getting in trouble. You couldn't do anything, you know. And, um, you know, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Um, in the late 80s, early 90s, sushi was the most prominent cuisine along Ventura Boulevard.

Um, a lot of people don't know this, but the area I grew up has the second highest concentration of sushi bars per capita in the world. And so when I grew up,

Phillip Frankland Lee7:49

Not many people know that. Uh, but when I grew up, it was like tacos, pizza, hamburgers, sushi. So sushi was street food. Sushi was inexpensive. And it was inexpensive back then. And

Phillip Frankland Lee8:14

Well, actually that's interesting that you say that cuz that's how that's why New York sushi's so expensive. It's because of the Breakfast Club.

So after the Breakfast Club comes out and Molly Ringwald eats the sushi, some Wall Street guys have an idea. Let's go to LA. Let's poach some of these these sushi chefs and market it to the New York the New Yorkers as the uh the prestigious exotic food to the stars. That's why sushi in in uh New York is $500 and it's $200 in LA. Got it.

Um so LA was the birthplace of sushi in America. Very first sushi restaurant in America opened in Los Angeles in the60s, I think. And um so it was it was a peasant cuisine. And so anyway, so I'm 5 years old. Uh, I fall in love with sushi. By seven, omocas is the only way I want to eat sushi. I was very lucky that my father was friends with the sushi chef. And so he'd pick me up from school and we would go and sit in, you know, at the counter in front of the sushi chef.

And I learned at seven, don't tell him what you want. Just look here and tell him what you don't want and then he'll feed you.

And, you know, as a grown-up, I look back maybe and you try to self diagnose like how the [ __ ] did I become such a weirdo? And I wonder if there was something to the effect of sitting next to my father who's like, you know, physically looking up towards this gentleman. The spotlight is on this gentleman and my father is enjoying that interaction. I wonder if I wanted to be that guy.

Phillip Frankland Lee9:40

You know, cuz I've never thought that I wanted to be that guy for that reason, but I wonder if that is one of the things.

Um and I just love the food.

Phillip Frankland Lee9:48

So at 13, um there was an Asian market right by my house. would ride my skateboard there. Um, there was a book one day that I walked in on like how to make sushi. So, I bought the book and I would go over to the fish, you know, uh, section and they would have little pieces of tuna and yellow tail and salmon. I'd grab those. I'd grab, you know, cooked pre-cooked rice and little squeeze bottles of soy sauce and was and wasabi and go home and make sushi.

Phillip Frankland Lee11:04

Uh father was a record producer. Uh mother was a uh acting coach uh and um uh like human behavior specialist. And uh I effectively became a high school dropout uh cuz I was playing in bands and my band got big enough to start touring. I was 15 so started living on the road.

Phillip Frankland Lee11:34

Grades college. Yes. I was definitely held to a high standard, you know, like for example, when I I got my first drum set when I was two. Um, and um, I got my first chef's knife when I was three. Um, there's actually a video of it. You can find it on my Instagram or whatever of my dad unwrapping a chef's knife. And you can hear him say on the old VHS, you know, I don't know what to get him. All he wants to do is cook.

So, apparently I was very into food.

Okay. Um but uh no I was you know my dad had me um I think when I was like in the sixth or seventh grade I was going to start a band and I went and said hey dad I want to pull my drums out of storage and he had a studio in the back and he said I'll only set it up for you if you play 2 hours a day 5 days a week minimum.

If you don't you can't I'm not setting this up so you can make some random noise. I'll set this up if you're going to become one of the best drummers alive. So, I was always encouraged to do anything I wanted and was told you can be the president, you can be an astronaut, you can be anything, but two things you have to remember. One, uh, nobody's going to give it to you. You have to earn it. And two, people will try and take it from you the entire time.

So, you have to become undeniable. Uh, and so, you know, I didn't love the fact that I when I was like 12, I would, you know, I was basically told like, "No more lunch money." Um, but I got you a job that pays $5 an hour to go break down boxes and to dust antiques and I'd have to go two days a week uh and not hang out with my friends after school and ride my skateboard a mile and and go and do that for two hours so I can make 10 bucks.

Phillip Frankland Lee13:12

Didn't love it at the time. Very grateful for it now.

Phillip Frankland Lee14:55

So the plan was if the band didn't work out I would actually go to sushi school.

Okay. The band did work out uh for several years.

Phillip Frankland Lee15:03

Well, I was in several different bands there.

Phillip Frankland Lee15:06

Uh probably Alpha and Omega. Um or Last of the Believers.

Phillip Frankland Lee15:11

Uh hardcore. Like hardcore punk.

Phillip Frankland Lee15:14

Yes.

Phillip Frankland Lee15:16

I don't know him personally, but I'm very familiar with his music.

Phillip Frankland Lee15:21

So, think of the 2007 to 10 version of the Cro-Mags. Okay.

Chromags were a bit older school. Yeah. Um, but yes, it's the kind of music that you're front flipping off the stage to.

Phillip Frankland Lee15:35

Um, and you know, you go on tour for 6 weeks, you come home for six weeks, you need a job. And we, you know, so I really wanted to get I I would save up my money to go when we were on tour to be like, "Okay, there's one city with one restaurant I'm gonna go spend $100 on." Got it.

And um so when I came home, I was like, "I want to start cooking." So my godmother actually owned a catering company and so I was like, you know what? I should try to get a job as a cook instead of like I was working at Jamba Juice, BaskinRobins, all that kind of stuff cuz you need

Phillip Frankland Lee16:08

Well, you need a shitty job that will let that he can work at for 5 weeks and then and then leave.

Phillip Frankland Lee16:19

Believe it or not, I'm still front flipping off the stage and I'm almost 40. I love it. So, I wanted to get a job in in cooking. And so, my mom was like, "Your godmother owns a catering company. Ask her." And I never like anything to be given to me. So, I actually instead of asking her for a job, I invited her over for dinner and I cooked. And at the end of the dinner, I was like, I would like to be a be a chef and and and work in your company since you liked my food.

And she said, um, I can introduce you to my chef, but my chef runs her kitchen. I can't guarantee you anything.

Yeah. And I go in and meet with her chef and her chef, you know, what do you want to do? Blah, blah, blah. And I say, 'Well, I want to be the the best chef in the world one day. I want to own my own restaurant. And she goes, "Okay, here's your interview. There's 15 of us. You've got an hour and a half. I want lunch." And so I had to cook lunch for 15 people.

Phillip Frankland Lee17:09

I don't remember. I probably grilled some chicken and made some, you know, a salad. It was nothing good. I was 18 at the time. And after lunch was over, I said, "Oh, you know," she's like, "Let's talk." And I she said, "How'd I and she said, "I'm not going to hire you as a cook, but I'll let you be a dishwasher." And I was very, very, you know, bummed out. She goes, "Listen, you're not ready to be a cook yet, but I'll make you a deal.

You come on as a dishwasher, and anytime that dish pit is clean, you can come over and we'll teach you we'll teach you things on how to cook." And I said, "Okay." Okay. And she she rationalized to me that like if you want to have your own restaurant one day and if you want to be the best one day, you have to understand the absolute bottom of the of of the barrel. Um again, didn't love it. Kind of like when my father made me do those things.

Didn't love it. Now I'm very grateful for it. And I later learned that had I not told her my ambitions, she would have just made me a cook for my my godmother. But because of my ambitions, she started me at the very very bottom. And then I just sort of worked my way up. I'd go on tour, come back, work at a restaurant, go on tour, come back, you know, work at another restaurant, you know, work my way from dishwasher to prep cook to line cook.

And then eventually I got to the point that I was playing in a couple of bands. And I was just getting a little bit at this point. I was maybe 20, 19, I don't remember. Um, and I just was like, I love this so much. And it feels like I'm in a band. And it feel like the the the going out after the show and partying is the same as going out after service and partying. And it's the camaraderie and the service is like playing a show.

And the only difference is I get to sleep in my own bed and I don't have to sleep on a in a van or on the floor. Um and so I actually quit all the bands I was in at the time one day. Enrolled in culinary school. Um

Uh Cordon Bleu in Pasadena.

Phillip Frankland Lee19:02

Yeah. We found out later that they got class action lawsuited because it was actually Devry who just purchased the name and um

Phillip Frankland Lee19:10

The Cordon Bleu in Paris is like that is

Phillip Frankland Lee19:14

Apparently they they like uh purchased the rights to use the name. I don't know. I dropped out after 3 months.

Phillip Frankland Lee19:21

I just Well, actually I'll tell you the exact reason I dropped out. First of all, I'm not really good at school. I'm not really good at those things. But um I got invited to dine at the the French Laundry.

Phillip Frankland Lee19:36

Yeah. Uh, so I got invited to dine at the French Laundry,

Phillip Frankland Lee19:41

Thomas Keller. Um, I mean, the most influential chef of our generation, you know, the the standard bearer for what is American cuisine.

And one of the chefs I had worked for or was working for while I was in school invited me for his birthday. He got the private dining room, a bunch of us, you know, cooks, some of the chefs, and then me as, you know, bottom of the the the totem pole invited to to have lunch at the French Laundry. So, I go to my chef instructor and I I was in breakfast class and I said, "Uh, I know you guys have a strict if you miss two day, you fail the course policy, but I have this opportunity to go to the French Laundry.

It will require me to to miss two days." Um, however, it's an egg cooking class. Um, I know I've already looked at what we're doing this on this Thursday and Friday or Friday and Monday, whatever it was. Um, I work the egg station at one of the best brunch restaurants in town. I do seven pan pickups for 400 cover brunches. I know we were learning how to poach eggs this Friday. I typically poach like 400 every weekend. Um, so I'd like to request that you let me take the test or do the stuff makeup or whatever.

And he said, "Unfortunately, the rules are the rules." And I said, "There's I got to talk to someone." Sends me to talk to the dean. And I say, "Hey, Dean, I have this opportunity. Not only should you uh allow this, I should get extra credit for going to dine at the French Laundry." And they said, "You know what, son? I'm sorry. Rules are rules. If you go, you will you will fail the class." And I said, "You know what? Well, then [ __ ] you and [ __ ] your rules and [ __ ] this school.

I quit."

Phillip Frankland Lee21:10

Cuz uh I

Now that's very punk rock. Well, in the DIY, punk rock, skateboarding, like mindset is like

Phillip Frankland Lee21:22

Because the thing is, I'm going to do it.

Phillip Frankland Lee21:24

Uh you can't really stop me if I want to do it. Um because no one's going to control my destiny but me.

Phillip Frankland Lee21:32

[ __ ] unbelievable. I learned so much more than I did f if I would have poached eggs, you know, that Friday night.

Phillip Frankland Lee22:02

So those days uh for better, for worse are gone."

Phillip Frankland Lee22:07

Yeah. There is a very very famous chef, probably the most prominent chef alive, who just got cancelled, who just had to leave his restaurant.

Phillip Frankland Lee22:14

Uh Ren? Redzepi.

Phillip Frankland Lee22:18

Um over allegations of things from a decade ago.

Phillip Frankland Lee22:22

Um I'm of the last generation that was physically and verbally abused. Um and I had a very strong rule for myself cuz I was the dude who would [ __ ] fight you. I was the dude that would say, "Fuck you." Yeah,

You know,

Phillip Frankland Lee22:40

Well, I had a personal thing for myself. Um, first of all,

You don't want to take bullets, but you want to be a cop, get a desk job.

Phillip Frankland Lee22:50

So, um, not that taking bullets is great, but like it comes with the territory. Or at least it did. It no longer does. But I had a rule for myself.

If you were the [ __ ] man or the [ __ ] woman, I'm talking about the chef.

Yeah. and I believed that you were God's gift to food and I was there to to to be a sponge around you.

Phillip Frankland Lee23:10

Then you could do anything you wanted to me and I would say thank you because to me uh that was the price of admission.

Um because it was a volatile environment. It really was. Um, and typically the people who were God's gift to cuisine, they weren't yelling or degrading uh because they were mean or they were petty. They were yelling and they were degrading because they were passionate about the art they were trying to make and you were [ __ ] it up.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm with Um, and there's a big difference between somebody who's a bully and somebody who uh overreacts from from the outside perspective to something that appears to be small to those who don't care.

Phillip Frankland Lee23:55

Um,

And so, you know, I think it's about entering like a dojo and understanding your place

In that world. um and go, "Look, my job here is to shut the [ __ ] up and keep my head down and learn and be a part of this person's vision and try to not mess it up for them." A lot of people walk in and they go, "I'm entitled. I should get this. I should get that." And then they immediately don't understand why they're, you know, not enjoying the experience.

Phillip Frankland Lee25:22

Yeah. And that's why I try to um run my restaurants in a very different way. You know, I was spanked and I'm so grateful I was, but I'm never gonna put my hands on my daughter.

Phillip Frankland Lee25:32

Right. I think our job as humans, as leaders, as men, as as anything, um, is to appreciate what made us who we are.

Yep.

And figure out how to do better for the next generation. Um, and so I try to do that in the restaurants. I try to make prep the most fun part of the day and I try to make service the most fun part of the day. Um, you know, I worked in kitchens where you weren't allowed to speak out loud or if you went that you would get yelled at cuz that was too loud. Um, and people might think that's crazy, but also those kitchens weren't like serving fried chicken sandwiches.

They were they were competing for best in the world. And if you got 30 guys doing that at the same time, it's like walking into a poker room and hearing all the chips.

Yeah. It it'll it'll it'll drive you crazy and only crazy people try to, you know,

Try to compete for best in the world and they need absolute silence. Um or at least some of them do. I like some music and I like to dance and feel it, you know.

Phillip Frankland Lee26:55

So, I've done a couple restaurants in between there. Prep cook, line cook. Um I get a I get a job when I'm 21 to be the sous chef for a celebrity chef named Stefan Richter. Um in Santa Monica, California. Uh German. Yeah.

Uh well, raised in Germany, Finnish.

Okay. um he would be offended if I uh didn't say that.

Phillip Frankland Lee27:28

Yeah. So imagine like in a lot of fields there's the guy who has the vision who is the figure head and then there's the guy who does most of the work.

Phillip Frankland Lee27:44

Think of like a first AD versus a director. You know what I mean? Like AD's out there getting stuff done while the director is

Waxing poetic. And there's nothing wrong with either of those positions. They're different positions. Um my job was to unlock the door. You know, every I was 21 and the schedule said Phillip all seven days said OP-CL which is open to close. So, I my job was to unlock the door, lock the door, uh, and to make sure that, uh, I would order the food, I would receive the food. I'd put it away. I'd make sure that everything was cleaned properly, that all the cooks were, you know, clocking in, clocking out, uh, prepping their food correctly, tasting their dish, their their food, having them throw it away, remake it if it was wrong.

Phillip Frankland Lee29:19

Well they they want to be known as the best

Phillip Frankland Lee29:48

Yeah. So, I have a clipboard and you just Every restaurant does this. There's somebody. It's typically the sue chef's job. Yeah. You have the clipboard and you have a list of every single item that the restaurant takes to operate. Yep. And you go through and you check, okay, carrots, how many carrots do I have?

Okay. Uh, you know, I need 5 lbs. Then you write 5 lbs down. After you write down a full inventory every single night of every single thing, and you write down what I need to get myself through the next day or days, you then pick up the phone.

Nowadays, you can do it on email and stuff, but pick up the phone and you call your your produce rep. Then you call your fish vendor. Then you call your meat vendor uh and if you have other ones and you say, "Okay, tomorrow I need and this is at 1:00 in the morning. It's going to be delivered at 6:00 a.m. and I need uh 20 lbs of uh pork belly. I need 50 lbs of this, 15 lbs of that." Then you got to be there to get it and you got to open up every single package.

You got to smell everything. You got to taste everything. You got to be like, "Yo, this [ __ ] salmon is a little bit old. Take the [ __ ] back. stop giving me, you know,

Phillip Frankland Lee30:53

Yeah. Yeah,

Phillip Frankland Lee30:56

Well, [ __ ] I'm not taking bad salmon. So, take it back. It's coming off the menu today. What else do you have?

Phillip Frankland Lee31:08

So, we would train the servers to talk with the the guests. You have Would you prefer rotten salmon or would you prefer no salmon tonight? Unfortunately, we did our best, but um it just

It came in. chef was not not pleased with it and you know and so unfort but I had this beautiful fill in the blank you know you know so that's what we would do but yeah I mean so sous chef at 21 um was there for a while and then I got an opportunity to work at um I went and applied for actually I went to apply for a sous chef job at a one Michelin star restaurant called um Hatfields in uh in um West Hollywood and uh I went in for the the we used They used to do things called stages.

You'd go in for several days and basically you would check out the restaurant, they would check you out and that would be how they kind of

Phillip Frankland Lee32:00

Yes. It's a trial run.

Trial run. Yes. It's now been made illegal. Um so the only way you're allowed to do it legally is if they pay you, which a lot of restaurants don't want to pay you to come to work for 3 days.

Phillip Frankland Lee32:20

But the problem is most restaurants survive by the smallest amount of a rounding error. The largest even the Michelin

Most Michelinist restaurants do not make money.

Phillip Frankland Lee32:30

Most do not make money. Most of them are owned by wealthy people on their prestige project.

Phillip Frankland Lee32:35

Well, so that they can tell their friends, you know, I have a Michelin star restaurant. Yeah. Very few are owned by the chef. Very few. Really?

Yeah. I would say less than less for sure less than 5%. And I would, if I had to gun into my head, 2% or less are owned by the chef.

Phillip Frankland Lee32:59

I worked at L2O

Phillip Frankland Lee33:00

He was like a savage everything. I've never met the gentleman. Um I was going to get to him in in the he's in my story actually. So I go to Hatfields and they go, "Listen, we won't hire you as a sous chef." I'm also, again, I'm still I'm 21 years old. I won't hire you as a sous chef, but I'll hire you as a chef de partie.

Chef de partie means long line cook. It's one step below sous chef. Okay?

Technically, there's there could be some others in between, but most of the time it's one step below.

Phillip Frankland Lee33:30

And so I decided, okay, I'll take a step back and I'll become a chef de partie at a onear.

Four or five months in, chef pulls me into the to the um the office. I think I'm getting fired because it was an intense [ __ ] environment. Uh, I'd like to make you my sous chef. So now I'm the sous chef at a one-star.

Phillip Frankland Lee33:56

Um, well I was effectively running the kitchen of the of LA Farm.

Um, so I was effectively the authority in the restaurant. Y

When I went to this onear restaurant Hatfields ran by Quinn Hatfield

Uh and his chef the cuisine Brian Best I could not have been the furthest furthest thing from authority and I'm here under two of the best chefs in the world um and I'm 21 years old so uh the things they are doing the way they are approaching things a lot of the stuff at LA Farm um and and and Stefan was a phenomenal chef um but I was kind of left to my own devices for me. I figured a lot of stuff out on my own.

Okay. And I got stuff done, but I probably didn't get it done the correct way, but I still got it done. So, going into that kitchen, it was like, "Oh, wow. You're supposed to wrap your fish in paper, then plastic, then tape, and then you're supposed to put it in a perforated pan, bury it nice with another pan underneath." Like, I thought you just put fish in the fridge. Yeah. You know, like, so there's there's levels to these standards. You know, we used to take tape and you just rip it.

No, no, you cut your tape and your tape is positioned in the middle. You know, it's not just slamped on there. So, I mean, there's levels to these things. And so, I mean, it was very intimidating, but again, I wanted to work harder than anyone, uh, work faster than anyone, work quieter than anyone. Um, and uh, so after like four or five months, pulled me in the office, made me sous chef, and uh, I learned to this day I credit that restaurant for being the one that taught me how to cook.

And I've worked in two stars and three stars. Um, and I've earned multiple one stars, but that was the restaurant where I learned how to cook.

Phillip Frankland Lee35:43

But from there, I got hired by Laurent GR to move to Chicago, which was going from a onear to a three star.

Yeah. And in the three star, I would go back to chef de partie again. So I went from chef de partie to sous chef at a nostar, back down to a chef de partie to one star to a sous chef. And now I'm going to go back down to chef de partie at a three star. To me it was all about getting to the next level. And to me that was the next level.

Phillip Frankland Lee36:11

Yes. Over the phone. And then unfortunately Well, so back then you would give like a 90-day notice when you were leaving somewhere. So, I gave a 90-day notice. By the time I got there, Laurent had moved on.

Phillip Frankland Lee36:27

So, Let Us Entertain You is like one of the biggest restaurant corporate groups like in the country, and they're based in in Chicago. And that was their their show pony of a restaurant. And they got three stars. And I believe I could be wrong, but I believe the day after they got three stars, Laurent left.

And they got three stars while I was still in LA. And then I was like, "Oh, [ __ ] He's gone." But I was like, "It doesn't matter. I'm I'm already going. I'm still going to learn." So then, you know, from there, I didn't stay honestly for very long in that restaurant because I got there in a three-star restaurant without it needs someone at the helm

Phillip Frankland Lee37:07

Well, he is the leader of the battalion and the battalion is still there. The general's gone. Think of any great sports team.

Yeah. You know what about pre and post Phil Jackson, you know what I mean? Like that's those it's true. I mean, you can take killer talent, but you sometimes need somebody

To get everyone together to perform. And in the case of a restaurant, the chef is the one who's actually like writing all of the songs and writing all of the, you know, the plays and and so I got there and it was a bit of a it wasn't for me.

Phillip Frankland Lee39:27

Okay. um uh and um got hired at another restaurant called Next, which is Alinea's second restaurant. Uh in the long story short, I ended up not starting at that restaurant. Um and I went to a restaurant called Park Grill where I was the executive sous chef of like a 400 seat restaurant. And basically like the re the thought process was in opening next it was going to be like first it was like the coolest thing ever and then it was like I'm going to be a chef departi who makes the concept was every four months they changed the concept and so I learned that each chef would have one dish every four months.

So that meant in a year's time I would only learn four dishes.

Phillip Frankland Lee40:11

I was like that's not really the next thing I want to do. Instead, I wanted to go I went to this restaurant, Park Grill, 400 seats, working with local farms. I was like, I haven't ran like here. I'm going to run a 20man line and do, you know, 30 million in food sales. I don't have that skill. I have the skill set of doing one thing slowly at a time. And I'm a lot of that experience. I don't have the experience of running a [ __ ] restaurant.

So, I went that that did that instead. And then I moved there with my girlfriend at the time. We broke up. She went back to LA and um

Phillip Frankland Lee40:48

Okay.

The bean sits on top of it.

Phillip Frankland Lee40:50

Girlfriend moves back to LA. We break up. Um and uh I just get this wild hair that I should buy a ring and go back and propose. So I quit. Went back, proposed. We've been married now for 14 years.

Phillip Frankland Lee41:02

Yeah. and uh it puts me back in in in Los Angeles uh where I have this idea to open a um delivery service, but we're going to deliver you a 10 course tasting menu. And uh yeah,

Phillip Frankland Lee41:23

So I worked with this company and they had like faux china with interlocking lids and like I mean it looked like if if if I had it right here, you'd think that was fine china. Okay.

And the food, I mean, there's there's fuagra, there's pork belly, there's lobster.

Phillip Frankland Lee41:46

You know, the idea was you don't have there's no cleanup. You don't have to deal with other people in your house. You want to have a double date. And it's it's a fun interactive thing where like you get to unbox it for your friends and it's like, you know, pour me into a thing, heat me up, and pour me over the top. you know, stuff like that. So, it was it was fun. While I was doing that, I got I delivered it to someone who was like, "This is incredible.

My friend's looking for a chef at his restaurant

And I got hired for my first executive chef job and stopped doing the delivery." And then uh had had a chef job and my wife um was an incredible pastry chef. And so I went to the owner of this restaurant. I was like, "There's no pastry chef. We need to hire her." And he's like, "Um, there's no budget." And I got hired at 32,000 a year, I think, was my salary. And he's I was like, "Well, we need her." And he goes, "Well, give her, you know, share your salary." So, I did.

So, we split 32,000. Um, but we live together, so who cares? Uh, again, it wasn't about getting rich. It was about we're doing this thing.

Phillip Frankland Lee42:55

Yeah.

Phillip Frankland Lee43:00

Um, you know, we went on this restaurant had been there for 20 years, but we really revamped it, but kept true to what it was. And, you know, things like Thrillist named us like best new restaurant. Apparently, we we changed enough to like re-qualify as best new restaurant and we were getting accolades. And one of the regulars comes in one day and he's like, "Hey, I have a coffee shop in Hollywood. Um, can I hire you to consult?" I love how you like re-imagined the restaurant.

Can you come and reimagine my coffee shop? I have a whole breakfast menu, whatever. So, I go in and I'm I'm checking it out. It's right on on uh Hollywood and Labraa. Y um on the Walk of Fame, you know, I'm from LA, so that's like a you know, cool area. He's got a cool kitchen, a coffee bar, all these seats right around like the kitchen so you can like watch the guys cook. Um but they're making like breakfast burritos and whatever.

At the end of the day, he goes, "So, what do you think?" And I said, "Yeah, I'll do it." And he goes, "Well, we haven't really talked about money yet." And I go, "Listen, I'll do it for free. I'll come here. I will I will train your team. I will write your menu. I will change the the the menu every quarter. I will make, you know, everything. And I you don't have to give me a dollar, but here's what I do want. Your coffee shop is open from 6:00 to 4:00.

At 5:00, I want the keys to open my own restaurant."

Phillip Frankland Lee44:21

So at 5:00, we turned into a tasting menu. only fine dining restaurant called Scratch Bar.

Phillip Frankland Lee46:09

So Scratch Bar is our first restaurant. We opened in 2013 in a coffee shop in Hollywood. We immediately best dish of the year, best new restaurant, all these things. And um

Phillip Frankland Lee46:26

There's some people you recognize a lot of back then a lot of the critics were anonymous.

Phillip Frankland Lee46:31

Um

But will you would you guys talk about it? Like [ __ ] I think the critic from uh [ __ ] XYZ. And it was also I was 25 years old. So, um you know I I it was but here's the thing. We only had I always liked small restaurants. So it's like the philosophy was so many restaurants and so many restaurants I worked in are like you know they're big and they're like critic is critic is coming in and they all the attention is on that critic or they're like and for me it's like just treat every single guest like they're a critic and then you don't have to worry about which one is the critic.

So great. Every night I tell every single cook in every one of my restaurants, tonight we have 30 people on the books, all 30 of them are Michelin inspectors. If you treat each one of them like they're a Michelin inspector or your grandmother that and that should be the same treatment you think

We're going to be [ __ ] fine.

Phillip Frankland Lee47:34

So within about 6 weeks.

Phillip Frankland Lee47:38

Well, within about 6 weeks, it's over. The guy comes to me one Saturday night. We were We would We would only operate, I think it was like Wednesday, Thursday. No, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Yeah. And then we'd be closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We would do the coffee shop and then like our tasting menu was just four nights a week.

Okay. comes to me on a Saturday night, which is the end of the week, and uh was like, "Hey, um I've been thinking I'd like you to put a little bit more like of your efforts into the morning menu, and I'd like you to go down to just Fridays and Saturday nights." That conversation ended with me telling him to go [ __ ] himself and walking out.

Phillip Frankland Lee48:13

I mean, it went from having, you know, I mean, a coffee shop in Hollywood does business, right? But now they've got like housemade pickles that go into the like everything tastes good and it's, you know, it's me at 25 like trying to [ __ ] make the best like, you know, like

Phillip Frankland Lee48:36

Well, I'm also just not going to sleep every night. I'm just the only thing that exists in my world is creating the best food and doing it with my best friends and doing it with my wife and

And he's making money though.

Phillip Frankland Lee48:44

He's also not paying me or my staff who are effectively running his restaurant. Uh because we're doing it in turn to have a free restaurant at night.

Phillip Frankland Lee49:02

Don't know. I I to be honest, I I'm much I used to be a hotthead. I used to put my hand through walls. I used to I mean I used to be have a very short fuse. Um and um again, it was never I've never been a bully. I've been the dude who would step in front of someone who's getting bullied and then fight.

Um but I you know out of passion I had a very short fuse. And um you know this dude was not about to [ __ ] [ __ ] with my [ __ ]

Phillip Frankland Lee49:31

And you know today if somebody came to me and said that I say listen let's go grab a coffee. Let's sit down. And I would explain to him why this is good for him. And you know and if you want to go that route then let's talk about potentially separating. We'll come up with like a six week plan. And you're not when I'm [ __ ] 20 now. I'm a grown-up. I wasn't a grown-up back then.

Yeah. So, I leave that night and I'm literally drinking a beer and crying in the shower because I'm sold out the next week.

Phillip Frankland Lee50:00

What the [ __ ] are we going to do?

So, we gut our one-bedroom apartment and go downtown and get a bunch of free tables and chairs off of Craigslist. Get a uh like a parking valet jacket for one of my cooks. We lived in West Hollywood, got them like uh all like the parking passes and we just emailed every person who had a reservation and said new address and we ran did like 50 60 covers a night out of our one-bedroom apartment. Um

Phillip Frankland Lee50:35

When one guy would you mentioned earlier that that you just got to become so good and become undeniable. kind of I agree with that, but I I I think what you actually have to do is just decide that you're not going to lose.

If you decide there's never been anyone in the history of the world who pursued something that they cared about forever and not found success in it.

Now, it might take five minutes and it might take 5 years, might take 500 years, but if you refuse to lose, then the only option is to win. I just unwilling to give up and it sort of sets the stage for later. Um, but you know, I truly also believe that if you just put your head down and work on towards the thing, doors will open for you. Yeah.

You know, a door like just keep walking into the wall and eventually the wall will open. And so what happened was two weeks into that, this guy from London is one of our guests and is like, you know, this is this I haven't felt energy like this since like, you know, the underground punk scene in the 80s in London and Soho. And he's like, listen, um, you don't have a restaurant. I have an empty restaurant space on restaurant row next door to Matsuhisa, across from Lawry's, um, on Los, which is, you know, I grew up in LA.

Yeah,

Your grandparents would take you to restaurant row for your birthday.

He has a restaurant that's empty on restaurant row. And he goes, "If you want to go 50/50, you can move your whole operation in there. Any money you need, you guys are going to have to put up, but um we'll we'll you can move this in and you can move in next week." And so we did. And we went from 100% to 50% owners of Scratch Bar. And uh now we had a restaurant on I mean Nou Matsuhisa. I had a tandem parking spot with no with Nou himself.

Oh my god. you know, at 25 years old. So, he would you come over. Philip, can you move your car? I got to get out, you know. Um, and again, 14 years ago or whatever. Um, and so now we have our own actual restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Phillip Frankland Lee52:47

Um, it didn't exactly take off. Um, it was tough. I mean, we got great accolades, you know, but like we we definitely I think it really took off when we got our first review by Jonathan Gold. Um, who was uh the only I believe still the only food critic to ever win a Pulitzer Prize for his writing. Um, he was like the voice of food uh and criticism in Los Angeles. He's since passed away um which was a devastating loss to food criticism in general. He just decided publicly um he realized what happened when he gave someone a bad review.

And so he decided to use his powers for good and never evil. So if he came to your restaurant, he didn't care for it, he would not write about you.

Phillip Frankland Lee53:33

Yeah. I I mean the world could use an more Jonathan Gold in it.

Phillip Frankland Lee53:39

He did. And he called me the most idiosyncratic chef in a city full of idiosyncratic chefs. And I think to this day it's the best compliment I've ever received.

Phillip Frankland Lee53:50

I mean, it's it's it's I don't know. It's just it's other I mean, it's almost out of body. Yeah.

Right. Because so much of this when I look back at my story, it almost feels like it didn't really happen.

Phillip Frankland Lee54:02

Like I try to like line up timelines. I'm like, how does this even make sense? You know, um

I think I've just been kind of along for the ride. Yeah.

I kind of, you know, I I have this weird idea that we're actually a lot of people are into like simulation theory.

Phillip Frankland Lee54:16

I don't I've looked into it. I don't like simulation theory, but I do think that we kind of exist like in an open world RPG game.

And if we don't exist in one, if you play it like one, you're going to [ __ ] crush.

Phillip Frankland Lee54:28

Um, and I've kind of played it like that. The story line is kind of take I just like I've and I've it's actually interesting. I've learned this through time is like

There is very very clear uh paths forward and you have to kind of like learn how to see them. And a lot of people they just see a black wall right there. But I kind I but I see that there's a very clear opening, but you have to kind of level up

And see enough of them to start to notice it like, "Oh, that's just

It just keeps going that way. You just keep going with it that way and you'll be fine."

Phillip Frankland Lee55:01

Uh, you know, it's it's funny. We never We didn't really blow up. We became overnight successes in 2021.

Phillip Frankland Lee55:11

Yeah. That's when we became like I mean we were like a cult classic. We were like your favorite punk rock band. We're not We don't make on the [ __ ] radio. We're not on anybody's lists. We're not nobody's We're not getting, you know, uh the the normal love. We're not a soldout restaurant.

But we have a cult. We're cult classic. We have, you know, we have a strong the people who cared about us cared about us.

Phillip Frankland Lee55:31

I opened that in 2013. Uh in 2014, we opened our second restaurant. I actually uh one day I was in the shower and I got some water in my ear and it didn't come out. Long story short, they found a tumor in my ear. It was up against my inner ear uh touching my my eard drum and um thankfully it was benign, but they had to remove it. And in uh what happened was the the doctor's like 50% chance you're going to lose your hearing cuz we got to like cut you open and it's touching your eardrum.

If we touch the eardrum, you could lose your hearing.

And um we instead he was like, "It's slow growing. you have some time if you want like you know alternate you know try other things. So we put me on a wild diet for like 8 weeks 12 weeks something like that. I didn't eat anything that my wife didn't make for me or drink anything that she didn't drink. I cut out all alcohol, all red meat, all everything. You know my my my mother has, you know, uh healers in Bali working on me. All this kind of stuff.

We're doing we're [ __ ] trying everything.

Yeah. And I go back in after 8 weeks and he looks in my ear and he goes, "I don't know." He's like, "I got to call the medical journal because these ear drops I gave you, it shrank 90%. I think I can get this thing out right now." And he does. And it clicked something for me. So my next restaurant I opened was a vegan restaurant.

Phillip Frankland Lee56:54

And I I say

Phillip Frankland Lee56:57

Yeah. Well, he's a hardcore and a vegan. Now, I say vegan because that's a short version. I actually never use the word vegan in it cuz I feel like vegan food isn't human food.

Vegan food is not ve vegetables are not vegan. Vegetables are for humans.

Phillip Frankland Lee57:12

Fake chicken is vegan.

Phillip Frankland Lee57:16

Yes. So I I what I wanted to do was I realized that something happens when you put it into your mouth and it comes out the other side. Something happens. And I was like, my I wanted a vegetable restaurant for meat eaters by meat eaters cuz I wanted to and we were doing a crazy tasting menu and I wanted to encourage you to maybe eat red meat one less day a week.

Phillip Frankland Lee57:36

I'm not saying don't, just saying you didn't know vegetables could be good. Check this [ __ ] out.

Phillip Frankland Lee57:42

Um,

Phillip Frankland Lee57:43

It was called the Gadarene Swine. Um, which again, funny name for vegetable restaurant, but the Gadarene Swine is a philosophical fallacy

And I like fallacies and interesting things like that. Um, and so I wanted I I named a vegetable restaurant after a pig. Uh, that is a fallacy.

Got it. And so during that time, uh, you know, I I, uh, started going on Food Network and, um, I didn't get a paycheck for the first three years of owning a restaurant.

Phillip Frankland Lee58:16

I started going on Food Network and winning competitions. That was keeping I was making like 40 grand a year making comp like winning competitions. And so within a couple years, I became the most winningest chef on the, you know, uh, I had the most consecutive wins across Food Network.

Phillip Frankland Lee58:34

Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, Guy's Grocery Games, uh, you know, all of those ones.

Phillip Frankland Lee58:42

Guy is one of my first champions and, um, great friend and I I love that dude.

Phillip Frankland Lee58:48

Yeah. Yeah. He's got a house up, you know, I have a restaurant near where he lives and when I go to town, I stay in his guest house. I mean, he's awesome.

He's been an incredible incredible person to me. Uh, man, for over over a decade.

Phillip Frankland Lee59:03

Um, and uh, yeah, so I started doing that and then I get asked to go on Top Chef.

Phillip Frankland Lee59:08

Uh, go on Top Chef. While you're in Top Chef, you um are fully sequestered for six weeks. Um, I got kicked off a Top Chef in a in a very uh controversial manner. Um, in a way that I was basically like I don't want like I don't want anything to do with this anymore. Um, and so even after you're out, you're in um

Phillip Frankland Lee59:34

Sequestered. Uh, but I didn't give a [ __ ] anymore. So I snuck my wife into the sequestered, you know, thing cuz I [ __ ] you guys. I don't care.

Phillip Frankland Lee59:43

Well, well, not kicked off. Every episode someone goes home, right? So it's I didn't get like thrown out. I just was the I was eliminated from a competition.

Phillip Frankland Lee59:52

Yeah. So there's like 17 chefs. Every episode someone gets eliminated. Sometimes the double eliminations.

You're probably familiar. You you can't talk about anything that doesn't air typically unless they they they approve it. However, they approved what I'm about to say

And I couldn't believe they approved it. Some intern must have been the one who approved it. Um, but I got, you know, I was asked, "Was I surprised to get sent home?" And the answer was yes. And the reason, obviously, the follow-up was, "Why were you surprised?" And the reason was when I went on to do Top Chef, I went on to do it for one reason, to [ __ ] win $100,000. And to have job security for my guys, my girls, my brother was my dishwasher, my wife worked with me, my best friends worked with me, and we wanted a busy restaurant.

And if you go on Top Chef and you win, you have a busy restaurant. It just is how how it is.

And so, you know, I've I've watched all the the the seasons. I've seen the caliber of talent. And I was like, I I I'm going to [ __ ] win this thing.

This could sound arrogant. It could sound pompous. It wasn't about that. It was about participating versus competing. I really believe if you refuse to lose, you [ __ ] win, right? And so, I was like, I'm just going to go [ __ ] win. So, on this episode, and it became apparent to me pretty quickly I was not going to be winning this this show. um based on some of the feedback I was getting cuz I would taste my food and I I'm I'm very objective.

That's how I got to where I am is I'm my biggest critic, but I'm also my biggest champion and cheerleader. So, when it's good, I'm [ __ ] happy for myself. And when it's bad,

We [ __ ] fix it.

And I'm getting feedback that just doesn't jive with my reality. And I'm starting to like it's starting to like weigh on me. And I'm like, this is cra like am I losing my mind? Yeah.

How is it that I'm tasting this and you're tasting this and we are having entirely different experiences?

Phillip Frankland Lee1:01:43

Well, that kind of plays

Phillip Frankland Lee1:01:48

Well, that kind of weighs into some of the speculations of what ends up going down.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:01:52

So, my last episode I'm on where I get eliminated is called Restaurant Wars. It's the most It's the number one episode of every season because the season where the teams team up in groups of four and they open restaurants and they do restaurant service the rest of the thing.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:02:12

There's some people who are in who are line cooks. There's some people who are sue chefs. There's some people who are executive chefs. And then I own and operate two chefs or two restaurants that do, you know, 10 plus course tasting menus. I should be a favorite statistic if if if there's odds I should be a favorite.

That is the first year that they actually do two services. So we do lunch and we do dinner.

Um what they do is they they bring in like a hundred people and we do a lunch service for like 100 people and every person when they're done with their there's four people on each team. So each person gets four courses and then they get a little comment card and they get to check mark their favorite dish. Their favorite dish from lunch, their favorite dish from dinner. the end of the night, I went around and collected them because I was the front of house guy in dinner.

So, I went and collected all of these things and then we looked at them and I had the out of both teams, I had the number one uh rated dish for lunch and I had the number one rated dish for dinner. So, several months before um Top Chef before going on it, um I mean, I drank a lot back then.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:03:17

I decided no more drinking. We're going to start exercising. and we're going to get our mind [ __ ] right. We're going to win this [ __ ] thing. So, you know, it's a reality show. Every night they're like, "Booze is put in front of you. I haven't touched alcohol. I'm on it. I'm 5 weeks in or however long. I've not touched alcohol." That night we popped [ __ ] champagne because I was winning [ __ ] restaurant wars, the most important one. And clearly I was going to be the guy cuz they announced the winning team and then the winner from that team.

Yeah. Yeah. The next morning, uh, we go to the judges room and I'm on Cloud9. I'm so [ __ ] proud. I'm excited. Uh,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:03:55

They announce that our team was beaten by the other team. Okay. Well, at least I know I'm [ __ ] safe.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:04:01

And then they tell me that they didn't understand any of my food. It was They used the word stupid in describing my the food that I did. Um, and told me that uh to pack my knives and go.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:04:19

Yeah, it was like that upset me.

It upset me a lot. Um uh anyway, that's why, you know, at that point when they're like, "Okay, you can't have anyone over." I go, "I can't have anyone over." Cuz in my mind, that did not seem like a legitimate uh judgment.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:04:36

It's very it's very unlikely. Food is subjective, but the likelihood that I'm the fan favorite and I'm the in eighth place for these three people, but I'm the fan favorite for those 200.

It's just not very likely.

When I got out the next day and I go into the sequester, cuz everyone's, you know, everyone's like, "Oh, Philip, [ __ ] We knew it was going to be you." And I go, "How the [ __ ] did you guys know?" They're like, "Well, yesterday the OAD came out opinionated about dining. It's the most important or at least it was the most important like top top 100 restaurants in North America. This was the definitive guide. I was listed I think three spots ahead of Tom Kikio who's the head judge uh on the thing.

Um now it's never been verified that had anything to do with it, but it's a [ __ ] coincidence that I get kicked off right after I

Phillip Frankland Lee1:05:36

I don't think it was him. I think it was um what's her name? Uh Gail.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:05:42

And then also while I was on that, the 101 best restaurants came out and both of my restaurants were within five of a head of his Los Angeles restaurant. So, two big big lists came out and I was crushing him and in in all of them. Um and uh again, speculation, you know, for all I know, he thought my food sucked. Um and maybe it did. Maybe it sucked. you know, maybe it was inconsistent. Maybe everyone else's food was good and his was bad. Um, but uh yeah, so anyway, when I get off out of sequester, and there's a reason I'm telling all the story about sequester,

I get back from being sequestered and um it turns out that uh I get I start getting sued by a bunch of companies. All of our our fish company, our meat company, um

Phillip Frankland Lee1:06:33

Yeah. Turns out uh our partner from London hadn't paid the staff or any of the or any of the vendors.

Um and I later on find out that all the paperwork I signed to become a partner in the LLC never got turned into the c the government. So I'm not a partner,

But I did personally guarantee every single thing including the IRS. So now the IRS is like you owe us 40 grand. The fish guy is like you owe us 20 whatever. I mean, it was like 60 70 grand in total.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:07:11

No. No. Um, and I and I, from what I understand, he left the country and hasn't come back.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:07:18

No idea. And I don't care.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:07:21

Um,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:07:24

Yeah. Um,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:07:27

Don't know.

How often did you interact with him? a lot in the beginning. A lot in the beginning. And I I mean, he was he was my guy. You know, I've I've I've dealt with a couple of bad partnerships or people who in like very much surprised me. But again, here's the thing. I'm 20. This is 2015. I'm uh 28. I think I was born in ' 87. What is that math? 15, right?

Um so I'm 28. Thank god I'm not 38 with two kids. Yeah,

Right in a mortgage. Um, you know, at the time,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:08:06

So, I shut down that. So, we have two restaurants now. It turns out the other one he did make me a partner on the LLC.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:08:13

The the vegetable restaurant.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:08:15

Um, well, the thing was, I guess, and he tried to justify it, which didn't seem justifiable, but he already had the LLC's of the first restaurant that we moved into. Um, but the second restaurant we opened together and every it was all new formations because

Phillip Frankland Lee1:08:31

But but anyway, um, I don't need to get too far into the weeds of how I got confused, but um, I went to the IRS. I went to each of these purveyors and I and I asked for to for a sit down with their CEOs and I explained to them what happened and I gave them my word that if they did not pursue the legal like don't sue me I will make just get put me on a payment plan and every single penny that these restaurants produce will go to you guys.

Um and then every Monday morning when the you know the the sales from the weekend would come through they would disappear. So, I had to go to the the um you know the the courts and get a a restraining order so that you know he couldn't touch the bank accounts anymore. But this is where I really believe that you know if you just keep running it like it's part of it's part of the journey because uh and I had no idea we're going this direction. This is a little bit therapeutic for me.

Um I don't know how you long these these usually run. So tell me to hurry up if you need.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:10:14

I could tell you were into it, you know.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:10:23

I I can see sales for the six weeks I'm gone. We should not be upside down. Okay,

I know the margins we run. and I know how much our food cost is. We should not be upside down. Anyway,

The day that I find out that all of this is going down, of course, I I want to kill myself. I want to like I'm I'm distraught. I have to shut down the restaurant. I don't know what to do. Maybe a year prior, maybe a year and a half prior, there was this gentleman who um would was one of our big regulars who um millionaire, billionaire, I don't know, very very wealthy, CEO of multiple companies. He'd always come in, have a couple of drinks, come in the kitchen.

Philip, you know, one day I'm going to retire, me and you, we'll do something together, you know. So, the day that this happens, I shut I close the restaurant and I go over to the other restaurant because I, you know, I'm I'm going to keep this restaurant going. And um I'm behind the counter and this regular bine walks in, Philip, I'm so glad you're here. And I'm like my my eyes are [ __ ] red and he's like, hey, um I got I want to talk to you about something.

I go, what's up? He goes, I decided to retire. I want to see if you want to open a restaurant together. Come on. the same [ __ ] day.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:11:42

And I literally just start crying and he's like, "Wait, wait. What's going on?" And I was like, "I let's go outside and I can I can tell you."

And so in that that conversation, he's like says the same reaction that you had to this other gentleman. And um he's like, you know, let's uh he's like, I I'll get you the best lawyers in town and you know, blah blah blah. And um and so that's how I was able to like get a restraining order and and do those things. But then leave, you know, that restaurant's closed. We go and with this new partner, we open Scratch Bar. So Scratch Bar's closed. We we reopen Scratch Bar.

Keep the Gathering Swine uh open for another year until every single thing is paid off. And the minute it's paid off, I close the restaurant.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:12:28

Because he wanted a million dollars for the name and the IP for his 50% of the name.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:12:39

So, the courts are not able to remove a partner in an LLC and all they could have done so eventually we dropped the suit because all they could have done is like he was out of the country. We didn't even like but all they could have done was get a judgment against him for damages and the attorneys were like you can't if he has no money you're getting nothing. So at a certain point like he's not taking like he's not there's no more harm being done.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:13:09

So you can still operate the restaurant and but the technically once the restaurant's profitable he gets 50% of the profit.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:13:20

Well he was his distribution was tied to profits. Profits were tied to not being in debt. Got it.

Um and then once I'm out of debt I guess I could sit on the money but once I distribute to myself I have to distribute to him. [ __ ] that. I'm not working for him.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:13:37

December 2nd of 2015, we open our second location. So, 6 months maybe, maybe less from the time I find out to we have a new restaurant open to the public.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:13:52

And he's retired. He used to run he used to run a restaurant group out of Seattle with like 15 20 restaurants in his younger younger years. So, he's ready to [ __ ] roll up the sleeves and do it with me. Um, he's a bit older, mid to late 60s, so it tends it's it's a lot of work. Um, eventually, you know, we have the opportunity to go into Monaceto. Um, the owners of a hotel there want us to open restaurants in their their thing. Um, the the agreement was always basically like he's the money guy and the business guy and my wife and I are the creatives and the operators of the dayto-day.

Um eventually as we needed more capital he sold off some shares. Um and uh eventually he sold all of his shares. Now I have a new 50% partner. Um we're now up you know we we go to Monaceto. We open several restaurants. You know we get ourselves all the way to basically the pandemic and I think we have one two three six restaurants open when the pandemic hits and um overnight everything closes. I actually got denied for unemployment. So, no money coming in the restaurant. I mean, restaurants operate on a very, very, very fine, you know, margin.

So, it's like basically you close the restaurant, you pay everyone out and there's no money left. Yeah. You know, cuz nobody was planning on closing the restaurant. You you basically are always behind the eightball and then you have a big weekend that incorporates, you know, you just beat payroll. The the goal is always is just beat payroll.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:15:22

Um

Phillip Frankland Lee1:15:27

Well, I tell people it is the most incredible life I would never wish on my worst enemy.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:15:34

So, pandemic happens. We reopen. We're the first We're the first sushi restaurant in in um uh I maybe in America. We we reopened the day they were allowed us. I mean, we did takeout first, then we did indoors, then we did outdoors, then we went back indoors and outdoors, then we went back outdoors, and then in December of 2020,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:16:04

I have a I have an interesting thought on that. And I I actually don't have that much of a problem with him doing that. I have a there's some other hypocritical things that did bother me, but I do understand that when you are trying to make a decision for millions of people, if you were in a vacuum of seven people, your decision-m would be very, very different. And so, I can understand that why he maybe wasn't practicing what he preached. Um, do I think it's the right thing to do?

No. Would I have done it? No. But I totally understand that he believed it was cuz here's the thing. If you just put seven random people in a room on one night, you're not really going to have a lot of problems. But if you let a million seven rooms at the same time, you're going to have an, you know, especially with what we thought back then. Now it's a different story, but um

Phillip Frankland Lee1:16:56

I also have this weird problem where I give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:16:59

It's probably how I get in a lot of these situations.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:17:02

But uh they shut down outdoor dining, so you couldn't even do outdoor in December of 2020. that was going to [ __ ] put us out of business for good. So, I had this idea. Let's go to Austin, Texas. Um, and we'll go do a fiveweek popup because, um, you were only supposed to be closed for 5 weeks and this way I could keep everyone employed. We could make money. And we went to Austin and uh, during the third week, uh, Joe Rogan came in. Um, didn't know him.

Didn't know we had a podcast. That's how you know.

He liked the food. He liked it enough that he uh asked me if I, you know, how do I eat this again? And I said, you know, I'm only here for two more weeks, we're completely sold out. When you go, you know, I know you just moved here, but when you go back to California, we're there. He's like, California is not going to reopen. You should just move here. And I'm like, dude, I can't move to I have five, six restaurants have to reopen. He's like, well, you know, they're not going to open in a couple weeks like they say.

It'll probably be at least a few, excuse me, at least a few more months. I said, yeah, you're probably right. And he goes, listen, don't think about just say yes to what I'm about to say to you. And I go, "What?" And he goes, "Agree right now to extend this one more month, and if you do, I will guarantee that month is sold out." And I go, "What do you mean?" He goes, "I'll post about it, and any seats that don't sell, I'll pay for." And I go,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:18:19

I go, "Uh, thank you. Yes. Okay. Thank you." So that night at midnight, I open up the reservations. He goes on, makes himself three or four nights of reservations in the month of February of 2021. post about it on on Instagram and within four minutes the entire month is sold out. The next morning there's 25,000 people on the wait list. This was our overnight success at year 10 or 11.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:19:00

Yeah. I mean, and and um

Phillip Frankland Lee1:19:04

No. So, so I'm going to get to why I'm all the way out in [ __ ] bum [ __ ] nowhere.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:19:09

Yeah. Um

Phillip Frankland Lee1:19:16

During F1 we we partnered with Red Bull and everybody. We actually had one year where we did chopper service in into it from downtown.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:19:23

Um

But uh so anyways, becomes the hardest reservation in the country. Yeah. and we were only there for one month and it becomes clear we need to extend this and eventually I I go on Instagram and I say listen I'm so incredibly moved you know I'm from born and raised in Los Angeles but Austin you were here for us in our darkest hour and I will not shut down this popup until every single person on this wait list gets in the wait list just kept getting longer and um eventually like five six months in we were like we hadn't gone back to LA my wife and I were like we probably should tell the IRS because uh you know so now we're Texans and Private Equity comes along and offers to to to effectively buy that location and that is the fourth location of of it used to be called Sushi Bar.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:20:11

So we had three sushi bars in in in California. Um one of them Sushi Bar Matceto with a Michelin star and then we had Sushi Bar atX. So that's our fourth location of Sushi Bar. um they came in and wanted to buy that restaurant and they were going to buy, you know, I was going to I was going to still own and operate the three in LA and they would own and operate that one. I would give them the playbook and they would just collect all the money cuz when you have a restaurant that is sold out with a weight list, it does have much better margins than when you're just trying to run a restaurant.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:20:54

I would I I'll tell you off the off the record, but this goes

Phillip Frankland Lee1:21:03

YEAH. The everything that's happened to me up until this point was like I was still on level one. I hadn't gotten to the boss of level 10 yet.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:21:12

This is like the first Koopa, not not [ __ ] Bowser.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:21:19

Um, so here's what. So, at first I say, my wife and I say, "No, we didn't do so." But here's the thing. If we sell this one, we can turn around and buy back the other 50% of all of our six restaurants in California and go back to 100%. So, we'll go from 50% of seven restaurants to 100% of six.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:21:39

It just you just flip a switch. I take 100% of these. They take 100% of this.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:21:59

Effectively.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:22:01

It wasn't physically a check. But transactional,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:22:06

But there was a three-year non-compete in Austin city limits.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:22:10

Which is why my sushi place

Is 30 minutes outside of town.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:22:21

15 days later, I'm sued for $15 million.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:22:26

How much they in in cash?

Phillip Frankland Lee1:22:28

Okay. So, tech. So, here's the the the longer story. And I was trying to breeze through it for time, but we'll get a little further into it. I mean, I think your viewers might be interested in this cuz

Phillip Frankland Lee1:22:49

So the private equity guys were minority shareholders in my other So these guys were already involved.

I see. So the original original bad guy, new guy. New guy sells half of his shares.

He then sells all of his shares. That guy then dilutes his shares to private equity. So, I'm still have my my shares, but now I have a third partner who's diluted to private equity. The new part that third partner and private equity would like to basically make a trade. We'll take this restaurant and you take those other five restaurants. Okay? Because that restaurant is a cash cow. It's a it's a unicorn. And the other restaurants

Are successful, but also we don't know. They're all, you know, post pandemic, we don't know what this world is going to look like.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:23:40

Correct.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:23:44

I mean they got to keep the money that was the bank account of this and I get to keep the money in those bank accounts. But

Phillip Frankland Lee1:24:04

I brought the guy to the table for him.

Oh, okay. And also I have in the operating agreement gives me cart blanch to do to run the company

Phillip Frankland Lee1:24:41

15 days later on Christmas morning, we get we get served papers. Uh my wife is pregnant with our first and um we get sued for $15 million and we read it and obviously first of all, how do you get $15 million in damages in 15 days?

Yeah. You have a restaurant that has a weight list for 10 years. What could you even allege? What does it matter? You and I both know that for $350 and and you can sue anyone for anything.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:25:16

I try not to take anything personally. I don't think

Phillip Frankland Lee1:25:20

I'm not I'm not a mean guy. So, I don't think I would have like

Phillip Frankland Lee1:25:36

So, it was brought to my attention that that uh obviously they're private equity and I've got no money and it's going to be very very expensive to to to you know the I mean for anyone at home who doesn't understand how litigation works, if you run out of money, you lose.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:26:04

Yeah. I'm not I'm not generalizing at all. I'm just using the term like their company is called X, not the letter X, but you know, fill in the blank private equity. And so, um,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:26:21

No, no. Yeah. Yeah. partner was the equity company.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:26:24

Um Okay, keep going.

And so it's basically, you know, um brought to my attention that uh you know, they would be willing to drop it if I give them all five of my restaurants.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:26:43

Because it effectively they're they're going they believe they believe in their suit. I don't I think it's bogus, but they believe in it. they believe in it.

And um in believing in it, they will pursue this till the end. I will eventually run out of money because I can't compete with private equity

Phillip Frankland Lee1:27:02

If I eventually run out of money, they'll end up taking all my restaurants anyways. So, why not just save myself the year or two years of of hardship and just accept my fate? Um, now I'm not saying that any one of them said that directly to me. That's how it was kind of explained to me,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:27:24

And clearly they did not know me at all or clearly they hadn't been paying attention because I

Not only will I go down with the ship. I will destroy the ocean.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:27:37

Um, so I found an attorney who was a, you know, a big fan of our, you know, uh, we he sells wine to us. He's been a big fan of the restaurant for a long time and he knows me and and the he knows that it's that I it's all [ __ ] So, he agreed to uh take it on with basically look, we'll let the meter run and you can pay me as you can. I don't care if it takes 10 years.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:28:04

And we defended ourselves for several years until it never made it to to court. And

Phillip Frankland Lee1:28:13

The re seven figure [ __ ] legal bill. But

Phillip Frankland Lee1:28:17

I did not go and get an investor. What I did is I opened more restaurants, generated more revenue, used that revenue to go to to fund my defense, to save myself. When this was all said and done, I looked up and I went, I have 25 restaurants. You have 25 restaurants right now?

I have 31 right now. And I had no desire. I mean, of course, I I you know, everyone has a desire to be crazy and do every, but like I wasn't on a trajectory to open 30 restaurants in the next, this was in two, this was in January of 22. I did not have the desire to open 30 restaurants in the following in the next four years. But I went on a kill crazy restaurant opening rampage so that I could generate more revenue so that I could give that revenue to the attorney so that he could defend us so that I don't lose everything.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:29:09

Zero.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:29:13

In NADC. Uh my best friend Nean Williams, he owns 50%.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:29:18

Him and I started making burgers in my backyard and this was never supposed to be a thing. Now we have 13 locations. Uh but no, but we we have no money raised. Um we carry a tiny bit of debt, but you know, six figure debt, not seven figure debt. Um

Phillip Frankland Lee1:29:37

And every and I'll pay 3 to one on on versus equity.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:29:42

You know what I mean?

Um at this point

Phillip Frankland Lee1:29:55

But even if it's 50%. If you believe you're going to be successful in the long run, take a hundred grand, give him 600 because eventually you might have to give that guy five million.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:30:07

So, um you know that and and so yeah, I um I do have this new restaurant that I mentioned to you um on 4 acres where I'm going to hunt the food and stuff like that.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:30:17

I have allowed some friends who've been asking for a long time to be involved um but to to throw in some money.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:30:46

And it is only friends of mine, some of our mutual friends. It's friends who make this kind of money in a weekend. Yes,

You know, who are doing it because they want to throw some money in a restaurant with me, not because they're trying to make money. Now, if we do a good job, we will make money,

But I'm This is not putting any other kids through [ __ ] through college, you know? Um, this is more of like they want to be a part of something. So, like in that case, I do have some investors in that one restaurant.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:31:16

So, uh, I got

Phillip Frankland Lee1:31:18

It's in uh it's about 30 minutes outside of of downtown Austin. Okay.

Um, it is I bought 4 acres several years ago. It's got 150y old log cabin on it. It's got seven bedrooms. Um, I just finished putting in a 70 tree, excuse me, orchard. Um, I have an acre and a half garden in the ground. Uh, dairy cows, goats, chickens, uh, pigs. Um, the restaurant will be my wife and my first attempt, our first attempt at three Michelin stars and to hit the top 10 of the world's 50 best list. We will effectively serve a tasting menu, all cooked over wood um in an old like wood burning cabin style stove.

Also, we refurbished the original fireplace to be we can cook inside the fireplace in this old house and we will cook effectively what we grow uh you know when the cheese trolley comes out after the steak course that'll be from the cow's milk that we milked and the steak course will be from the cow that we fed for the last 6 months sent to slaughter aged ourselves and now was on the menu. Uh, and then additional proteins. Uh, I'll grab a rifle um or a fishing rod uh with the team and we'll go out and get them.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:32:49

Oh, I don't know that. I thought you were going to say Blackberry Farm.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:33:02

When you're not a foodie, you know, Thomas Keller, you know, Chateau, you know, all this stuff. You sell yourself short.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:33:56

And that's our thing is we're, you know, we're, it's going to be an old world in is the way that we're going to operate. Like all of our restaurants, we call them experientially driven fine dining.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:34:05

So I want to have experientially driven uh lodging with a culinary perspective.

Oh, so people can stay at Yeah. So effectually I want it to be that the only way you can dine is if you stay on on site. so that I can curate an 18-hour experience opposed to a 2-hour experience.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:34:26

And so that one, you know, because we self finance all of our restaurants, we don't spend a lot. You'll never find a crystal chandelier or a nice painting in any of our restaurants. We were originally going to um do this one ourselves as well. And then enough friends had come to me and one of my friends who's, you know, very well off, who's also a hunter, um, and knew I was getting into hunting, he's like, "Dude, this is the perfect restaurant. Like, let us be involved." And I just thought, you know what?

I could open this on my kind of shoestring budget, or I could let this actually breathe and be the place it's supposed to be because I want it to be one of the most prestigious places of our generation. The odds of me hitting it on my shoestring budget only grow exponentially if I allow some friends to get involved. And you know, I now have my 30 restaurants.

This now gets to be my passion project that like it will do better than break even. It will make money. But I don't need to pull the money out. I already have a business.

So now I can give up. And again, I'm not giving it to business people. I'm giving it to guys and girls who who couldn't care less about the the restaurant business but are my friends and like the idea of being a part of something that's going to be, you know, important.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:35:58

Well, you'll have to come.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:36:04

I mean, I asked him cuz I I was like, "Yo, do you want to come do a um like a uh I I had this idea." A lot of restaurants do wine dinners. Bring in the wine maker. They pour wine.

I want to do a hunter series.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:36:17

So, you know, whether it's Cam or Joe or whoever, they're going to bring the whole animal.

I'll do an entire menu with that animal, nose to tail, and they'll present their animal to, you know, to the guests who are there for that special night.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:36:54

Have you done one of the hollow eyes?

Yes.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:37:49

And they put people like you and I and they go, "Run out and get it."

Phillip Frankland Lee1:38:04

Yeah. And I could not I learned so much.

Yeah.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:38:10

Well, they're not just pros. They're real men. Yes.

And so many people Let me qualify that cuz I think people might think like they're real men cuz they kill [ __ ] and No. No.

We sat there and it was the like it was a men's group.

Yes. They're talking about setting their intentions for the evening. Some [ __ ] that like I would have thought you would people would be making fun of, you know, like these are the type of guys I would think would make fun of that kind of stuff.

But they're not doing it for their ego or because, you know, it's a pissing contest. They're really honoring what they do and how they work together. And it's like a real like almost military operation. And there were so many things that they did that I was like I was taking notes. I'm like, I'm going to implement this in my company. I've already talked to like I want to bring some of my my head chefs out here and like see how you guys interact and how cuz for them I mean they're they're rolling around in the pitch dark shooting things.

[ __ ] can go sideways real fast. You can't have two dudes who are beefing you know when when you're doing that. And so

Phillip Frankland Lee1:39:09

It's hard work and it was it was

Anyone out there who has the opportunity to go do a hollow eye with Maui Nui. Um I don't think it's open to the public. Maybe I'm wrong, but if you ever get that that opportunity, drop whatever the [ __ ] you're doing that weekend and go.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:40:44

And they don't shoot silenced or suppressed out there. So it like you feel it in your chest.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:40:56

I think he might have told some of the boys that story. It sounds familiar because one of the one of the guys that I was with has never hunted before. He like didn't have his years in and I think he might I think Mark

Phillip Frankland Lee1:41:41

So, I'm very much in that camp. I've been offered so many times to go on these helicopter hog hunts and stuff like that. And I have no desire to take a life that I'm not going to consume.

You know, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel. And so, um, now here's the thing. I have, you could give me a whole deer, a whole pig. I've never done it with a whole cow, but I'm sure I could figure it out. whole fish and I can I break them and I've broken down hundreds if not thousands of them and I just kind of thought that is it I shouldn't do that if I can't take the life myself.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:42:15

And if I and maybe I don't want to take the life every time, but I need to at least experience it and really understand. I need to be able to look it in the eye because it's so easy to just like forget that this was an animal. It's so easy to just be like, "Oh, the lobster comes out of the back room." No, it doesn't. You know, and they do make some noise when they cry, when they when they when they're when they're boiled. Um, really, it's just the the the steam, but you know, but you know, for me it was it was really about that.

And so, um, you know, I actually I I went deer hunting on this trip for like two or three days and unfortunately I was not able to get a deer. We were doing spot and stock

With a bow. Okay. And it is [ __ ]

Phillip Frankland Lee1:43:00

I I got within 30 yards twice.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:43:02

And I got within 30 yard. My very first one. I stand up. I begin my draw. And as I'm about 70% wave my of my draw,

He doesn't hear me or see me. He just takes a two steps behind the bush.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:43:17

Um and then uh I did get a a uh wild boar.

Oh, cool. And unfortunately when we went to process him, he was festering with ticks

And with worms and and parasites. Like it was

It was gnarly.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:43:38

Um and unfortunately we were not. But I was planning on doing I was going to roast the entire pig for all people. But unfortunately I mean sometimes you can't consume the animal, you know. But it seemed like we may have put him out of his misery cuz there's no way he that that pig that infested was living a beautiful life.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:44:23

They'll have the so the there really isn't a prep kitchen. It's just a cabin with an open kitchen. Everything will happen on the big center island. If I got full on the island

Phillip Frankland Lee1:44:34

To come in have, you know, while they're having breakfast, they'll see things happening or whatever. or like they'll have the opportunity to go and you know pick pick vegetables out of the farm with us if they want great

You know I mean I really want this to be a and it'll be it'll be curated but you can kind of do it at your leisure there's a lot of stuff to do but you also could just eat dinner go to sleep go home you know or you can really be a part of this thing you know however you want to experience

Phillip Frankland Lee1:45:16

Yeah. So, I I make it a um I make a habit or what's the word? I make a an effort every day to acknowledge where we are and how lucky we are and what we do have. Um you know, we live outside of Austin. Um, you know, I tell people when they're like, "You live that far?" And I'm like, "Look,

If you live in downtown Austin, you're paying Manhattan prices." Truly, a studio apartment's 5K.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:45:49

But every 3 minutes, your money doubles on the highway. And if you drive 30 minutes, you're getting a [ __ ] You know what I mean? And so, like, you know, we live in a beautiful house, one that we would never have thought we'd be able to afford and one we couldn't afford in a major city, but we can afford

In the suburbs, you know, in the in the boons. Um, but there's not a day that goes by that we don't actively practice acknowledging um and acknowledging, to be honest, when I say my prayers, I include the private equity people.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:46:39

Yeah, so we're opening uh Not a Damn Chanceburg. This will be our 13th location. We've had one on Broadway um downtown inside of Jelly Rolls Good Night Nashville. Um it was very important to him that we had our burger on the menu when he opened. Um and so uh we we knew already that we wanted to be in Nashville. Um and so that was sort of like a little teaser for us coming to Nashville. So we um tomorrow morning we're opening an ADC Burger uh down um in the arcade just a couple blocks off of Broadway.

Um right next to is it Printers Alley? Is that what it's called?

Phillip Frankland Lee1:47:14

Yeah. Right next to Printer's Alley. Um, and tomorrow morning we have um, you know, the mayor and Jelly Roll himself are going to come. Uh, this will air way after that, so don't try to run down tomorrow morning. Won't be able to see Jelly Roll. Uh, but when I told him that the mayor wanted to do a ribbon cutting, he's like, "Bubba, I want to come cut the ribbon with you." So, um, I think that's so [ __ ] cool. This is his city. Um,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:48:19

Again, I think when he logged into this this video game, this open world RPG,

He I mean, a lot of I mean, there's so many people out there, you you have to wonder like, how is it that they just go about doing nothing?

You know what an NPC is? Yeah. Yeah. a bunch of like there are real players out there who are [ __ ] trying to compete and then there are participants. Yes. You know, but there also are some real players who just kind of like walking around and exploring and not really playing, you know, just doing a few side quests or

Phillip Frankland Lee1:48:52

Yeah, just I don't think you would ever think an NPC I don't think you'd ever think a real character a real player is an NPC. I think it's very obvious when someone's an NPC um because they're not actually playing. They're not actually competing.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:49:29

I'm here for like 18 hours and I have 2 hours at this time.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:49:44

I do believe there's a big correlation between saying yes and following through,

Phillip Frankland Lee1:49:51

And finding success. Yes. You know, I think that, you know, I have a podcast with Nene Williams called Not a Damn Chance, and it's it's about, you know, it is the

It's about the mindset of not giving up. And so, we've we sit down with people who are at the top of their field and talk about how they found success. I don't give a [ __ ] that you get into a cold plunge every morning. I give a [ __ ] that you didn't give up when you were getting sued and you had to file for bankruptcy and you wouldn't take no for an answer. And the main through line, there's two things that every single person we've interview, we've interviewed 40 people so far.

There are two things that every single one of them shared. One, they shared gratitude for their adversity that they that they had to overcome in the same way that I'm grateful for all the things that happened to me in this in the stories that I've told you tonight. And two, they just [ __ ] refuse to lose.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:50:39

They just they they go, I'll be there. And then they're [ __ ] there.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:50:52

If I read the first chapter, I'll read all of it.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:51:31

Yeah. Well, it's in 13 cities now, so almost any major city you're in, you can I mean, you got my number now. Hit me up.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:51:37

you might not have That was one of the most I really again and I know we're trying to wrap this up but I really believe that you're supposed to be where you're supposed to be.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:51:55

And I have faith right here. And the reason I have faith right here is it it's when you decide to cook you're spending your days like this and this is to remind me that I am where I'm supposed to be and everything out there is okay. And um I didn't know Jelly Roll was coming in that night. I didn't know who Jelly Roll was. I didn't know who Joe Rogan was that night. I didn't know who who you know and well I didn't know I [ __ ] love Fear Factor but um like I am in that I was in that restaurant I don't know 13 services a year

And I happened to be there that night and had I not been there that night I wouldn't have met you I wouldn't have met him that would I wouldn't have been in Nashville like all the things have to happen and I truly believe that

The world is again maybe it's not an RPG game but if you approach it like one you will find it's the same the same mechanics and it works and you just respect the fact that there is a story line and you just got to kind of be there for the ride and enjoy it and understand and appreciate that any video game that was so easy that you never got hit would be a boring video game.

Phillip Frankland Lee1:53:14

Well, let me know. I I'll I'll come in when you come in.