Celebrity Chef Eddie Jackson, known for his appearances on the Food Network, has successfully transitioned his culinary talents into a thriving business model that blends creativity, mentorship, and efficient operations.
Watch now to learn about the advantage of food trucks, being mentored by Bobby Flay, and streamlining operations with Toast.
Watch now to learn about the advantage of food trucks, being mentored by Bobby Flay, and streamlining operations with Toast.
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00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers, presented by Entrepreneur.
00:09I am your host, Sean Walchef.
00:10This is a Cali BBQ Media production in life, in the restaurant business, and in the new
00:16creator economy.
00:18We learn through lessons and stories.
00:20Want to be a super grateful shout out to Toast, who is our primary technology partner for
00:26sponsoring this show, for believing in storytelling, for giving us the stage, giving us the opportunity
00:31to bring on guests like the guest we have on today.
00:35Today we have Chef Eddie Jackson, TV personality, former NFL player, author, chef on the Food
00:43Network.
00:44He is the owner of Rose Hill Beer.
00:46He's also the owner of Fit Chef Studio.
00:50Chef Eddie Jackson.
00:52I've been really excited for this interview, and now you're here.
00:55Welcome to the show.
00:56What's going on, brother?
00:57I'm doing all right, man.
00:58I'm happy to be here.
00:59So we're going to ask our favorite question, random question, which is, where in the world
01:05is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:10Oh, that is tough.
01:14My favorite venue would have to be, that's hard.
01:20I like Red Rocks.
01:21Have you been to Red Rocks?
01:22I've been to Red Rocks.
01:24Red Rocks is dope.
01:25I like that.
01:26Yeah.
01:27I went to school in Boulder.
01:29I know about Red Rocks.
01:30Yeah.
01:31Red Rocks is nice.
01:32But as far as the stadium, my favorite stadium would probably have to be, I'll have to say
01:40Lambeau.
01:41Lambeau.
01:42Ooh, I love it.
01:43Nobody said Lambeau.
01:44The reason I say Lambeau is because the first time I played there, you literally have to
01:49drive through a neighborhood.
01:51It feels like Friday Night Lights.
01:55It's like chain link fence, and the whole neighborhood is shut down.
02:01You know what I mean?
02:02So it feels like high school football to me, and I'm from Texas, and so that's how it was
02:06for me growing up.
02:07You drive through the neighborhood to get to the stadium, and that's what it felt like
02:11at Lambeau.
02:12Well, we're going to go to Lambeau.
02:14I'm going to talk to Entrepreneur, I'm going to talk to Toast, we'll talk to some other
02:17sponsors.
02:18We're going to rent out Lambeau Field.
02:21The cool thing about this show for me is that the people that listen all over, we have hospitality
02:27professionals, restaurant professionals, creators that listen to this show, but they're people
02:31that do things.
02:32They don't just listen, they actually get involved.
02:35So we're going to host this event at Lambeau Field.
02:38I'm going to put you on the 50 yard line, give you the mic and say, Chef Eddie Jackson,
02:42I need to know two stories.
02:44Give me the story of the day that you signed as an undrafted free agent.
02:51Give me the story of the day that you signed with Food Network.
02:54Oh, man.
02:56You want that right now?
02:57I want it right now.
02:58You got all Lambeau.
02:59We've got all this is full.
03:01Lambeau Field is full.
03:02Lambeau is full.
03:03All right.
03:04So let's talk.
03:05Let's talk about undrafted.
03:06Right.
03:07So, you know, coming out of college, you know, I was a really good athlete, All-American
03:11in track and really good in football.
03:13I was projected to be a third round pick, but I got really injured in between my last
03:19game and like the combine and all that.
03:20So I didn't get to run and do all those things.
03:23So I fell and ended up becoming a free free agent.
03:26And so draft goes by.
03:28My name doesn't get called.
03:29I get three calls, Buffalo Bills, the Carolina Panthers, and I want to say like the Titans.
03:39And I just literally asked my dad, I was like, what team should I go go with?
03:44And at the time, it was a friend of mine that played with me at Arkansas that was at Carolina.
03:48He's like, well, if you go to Carolina, you at least know someone that could show you
03:51the ropes.
03:52So I ended up choosing Carolina and went through the whole, you know, training camp.
03:59And I was I've always been a very hard worker, very hard worker.
04:02So I knew there was like a small chance that I could make this team.
04:06They had drafted Chris Gamble, which was like a first round pick.
04:10And they had just signed this guy like I think his name was Lucas or something like 20 million
04:15dollars.
04:16I'm going to make this team.
04:18But I worked those guys, man, and I ended up making that team my first my very first
04:23year.
04:24And I stayed with them for two years by the grace of God.
04:27So, yeah, that was that was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
04:30I mean, I had to work twice as hard as everybody else because I didn't have a contract, but
04:34I worked my tail off to get that contract.
04:37So it worked out.
04:38You remember?
04:39Do you remember signing that contract?
04:41Oh, of course I remember signing that contract.
04:44It was nothing.
04:47You got it.
04:48You got it.
04:49So look, you know, it's like, you know, maybe six defensive backs in this room, you know,
04:53our D-back room, you know, one guy's making like four million dollars, the other guy's
04:58making like ten million dollars, you know, so on and so forth.
05:00And my contract was like two years, like four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
05:07And they had the audacity to like make me go get lunch every day for them.
05:11Hey, man, I was like, whoa, yeah, like ten million dollars.
05:19I saw your paycheck last week, right?
05:23Oh, my God, that's hilarious.
05:26Yeah, but it was it was a great time, man.
05:29Going through that really taught me a lot, you know, not just in sports, but just in
05:33life in general.
05:34You know what I mean?
05:35Like, you know, you're not going to be dealt the corks you always want to be dealt, but
05:38you got to you got to deal with it.
05:40You got to figure out a way.
05:41And so I found a way and I made that team.
05:44I made that team.
05:46And bring us to the Food Network, the most recent Food Network deal, because I know
05:50you've had a couple.
05:51So, yeah.
05:53So the actual funny part about Food Network is that, like I always cook, my
05:57grandmothers were chefs, right?
05:59So I grew up in the food world.
06:01And so when I was in college, I used to sell plates to my teammates to have pocket
06:05change. They make money to make any money.
06:07This is before NIL deals where these kids now getting paid.
06:11This is when we only got a Pell Grant, you know, for like thirteen hundred bucks and
06:14had to last you the semester.
06:16You know, so I would do all I would cook all the time.
06:20And so what happened?
06:22I would my dad was like, look, man, like you spend all your money on food and he's
06:26like, you should start charging these guys.
06:28So I said, well, that's a great idea.
06:30So I would take my menu up for the week and I would give it to the guys and, you know,
06:35just home cooked food, meatloaf and mashed potatoes and fried chicken and spaghetti
06:39things that their mom grandma would cook for them that they were sending in care
06:43packages. I would cook it and I would sell it to them a little styrofoam container.
06:46There you go. I would sell it for five bucks, six bucks.
06:49It's always had a little pocket change.
06:51So I've always been into food and that type of thing.
06:53And so once I retired from football, I started a catering company.
06:57So I would just cater and I would reach out to all of my former teammates that I would
07:00play with in the NFL.
07:01You know, they're always doing events.
07:03And I was like, hey, man, let me cater this event for free just to get my experience up.
07:06So I did that for a couple of years.
07:08And I asked somebody put me in as a prank to do this show called MasterChef.
07:16You ever heard of that show?
07:17I have. So who put you in?
07:20Who put you in as a prank?
07:21So so my wife right now, we've been together for 19 years.
07:28So this one time this was years ago, buddy, I mean, this was like 15 years ago, I was on
07:34season four, so I would always have these leftovers for my catering events.
07:37Right. And so her boss, I've never seen the show MasterChef.
07:40I knew Gordon Ramsay was never saw the show.
07:43So I would have all these leftovers from these big catering events I would do.
07:47And they she would take it to work and her boss was like, man, this guy can really cook.
07:50He should be on MasterChef.
07:52So as a joke, they entered me into MasterChef didn't didn't you know, it didn't tell me.
07:56So I was at the gym one day working out and I got a call from a producer say, hey, you
08:01know, we got your your your application.
08:03Want to make sure that you're going to be here for the for the for the on site interview.
08:07Blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, who is this?
08:09They're like MasterChef.
08:11Boom. Hung up the phone.
08:12Three times they called me, kept hanging up the phone.
08:14I was like, oh, somebody's pranking me.
08:16I get home and I'm telling I'm telling my lady this and she's freaking out.
08:20She's like, oh, they called you.
08:21Long story short, I ended up calling him back, got on the show.
08:25Like almost won the show.
08:26I got down to like six.
08:28And so I remember going back to Miami.
08:30I was living in Miami at the time and I remember going back to them.
08:32I was like, man, I never really want to be on TV with food, but I think I could kind of do that.
08:37Yeah. So two years later, Food Network commercial came out.
08:41I was like, hey, if you think you can be the next guy, Fieri, try out for Food Network Star.
08:46And I just filled out the application, forgot about it.
08:48About a month later, they called me and I got on the show and I ended up winning the show.
08:51And that's how I got on the show.
08:52I got on the show and I ended up winning the show.
08:54And that's how I got on Food Network.
08:56That's on never, never tried to do anything like that.
09:00I just I just went for it and I and it worked out.
09:04What do you remember about the first time that you were on TV for food?
09:08Because you have media experience, obviously playing in the NFL.
09:12But see, I never had any media experience.
09:14Like I was really one of the guys.
09:16No, no media experience whatsoever.
09:18Not even in college, not even in college as an All-American.
09:22No, we didn't.
09:23But, you know, it was kind of like different times back then.
09:25Like, yeah, you know, I went to school ninety nine to four.
09:29So it wasn't a lot of not like it is today.
09:32A lot of media and social media and all these different things.
09:35It wasn't it wasn't anything like that.
09:36You know, you do a quick interview.
09:38We didn't have any media training.
09:39Yeah, I've always been kind of like a, you know, upbeat, goofy type of guy.
09:43And like just kind of like I'm gonna be myself, you know,
09:46see how it works out like it or you don't.
09:49So, you know, I kind of worked out in my favor.
09:53So people would get me, you know, ask me that all the time.
09:55I said, I mean, you must have did a lot of media training.
09:57I was like, no, this is like what you see is what you get.
10:00This is me all the time.
10:02This is how I am, you know, when the cameras aren't rolling.
10:05And so that that's my media.
10:06I guess life is my media training.
10:08But the same kind of thing with me with Food Network is that
10:13when I went into it, you had these, you know, was around all these people
10:16that went to culinary school and, you know, had, you know,
10:20a lot more experience than I did.
10:22But I was very confident in what I could do.
10:24I was very confident in my personality and my skill set in front of the camera,
10:27but also with my cooking and things like that.
10:31And I had a very good catering background,
10:33but I didn't have any like five fine restaurant background.
10:37But, you know, it's kind of like being a free agent.
10:40I just work my butt off and like very professional.
10:43You know what I mean? You never have to wait for me.
10:45You know, when I do my shows on their own time, I don't bother nobody.
10:49I'm not a diva.
10:50You know, you stop hanging.
10:52You stop hanging up on people.
10:54Yeah. So I started to
10:59started taking the producers more seriously,
11:03take them, take them seriously.
11:04But no, I know.
11:06Just just just just be as professional as you can, man.
11:10And that's what I've been doing.
11:11And, you know, it worked out for me.
11:14When you think about Food Network,
11:16I mean, how many how many shows are you on now currently?
11:20Right now, this year.
11:21So I have Out Shift, which is my my my my newest show was in season three.
11:27And then I do my holiday stuff, which is Christmas Cookie Challenge.
11:30I have three shows that I do now with Food Network.
11:32Amazing. Can you bring us into the show creation process?
11:37Yes. So so the show Out Shift, right.
11:39So I've always done like holiday shows.
11:41I've always done like barbecue shows.
11:44And so my thought process for this latest show
11:47that I came up with in a production company is called Out Shift.
11:51And so I was just thinking about the people that actually watch Food Network.
11:56Yeah. Right. So normally when you think of Food Network,
11:58you know, there's a lot of competition shows now.
12:01And it's always like these high end chefs competing against high end chefs.
12:05Yeah. Right.
12:07And so I thought like Monday morning quarterbacks, right.
12:11You know, people are like, oh, man, I would have did that.
12:13I would have did this.
12:14So now I'm like, OK, prove it.
12:17So all these home cooks, these people that actually watch Food Network.
12:20Monday, I'm like, I'm like, come on.
12:24Yeah. And then now you're going to compete against these people
12:26that you're watching, the Robert Irvines.
12:29Yeah. Alex going to Shelley's, the Bobby Flay's.
12:31And now you're going to compete against them.
12:33And I want to see what you're going to do.
12:35But we, you know, we trick them.
12:36We make them think that they're coming in for an audition to be
12:40be on another show.
12:41And then at the very last minute, I flip the script and I say, hey, well,
12:44actually, this is an audition.
12:46You're going to be competing against a world class chef,
12:49one of our Food Network chefs, and they just lose it. Wow.
12:52They just they lose their minds.
12:54And so it's a real show.
12:55And then the kicker is just to make it even.
12:59I go out in the streets of New York while they're cooking
13:02and I go find random people on the streets to be the judges that don't
13:05really know anything about food. Yeah. Yeah.
13:08And it's about how does how does that work?
13:10Tell me. Tell me how to.
13:12Is it is it a logistical nightmare to get to get cameras through the New York?
13:16Like, well, it's just me.
13:18It's just being like a small camera crew, like men on the streets.
13:20How many cameras?
13:23It's two cameras. OK.
13:25So two cameras.
13:25Some of the shots are horrible, but we still use them.
13:28You know what I mean? Because it's no lighting.
13:31You know, you know, you might have like a like a crackhead
13:34come in and back in one seat.
13:35You know, you just never know.
13:37You just never know.
13:39Yeah, but it's hilarious, though.
13:41It's hilarious.
13:42You know, I've I've got my palm read once, you know,
13:48I've I've come across a whole music ensemble.
13:53We got a whole rugby team in there one time.
13:55Yeah. The fire department, you know, I went to the fire department
13:58or one of the precincts and got those guys to come in.
14:01And they have no idea who's cooking.
14:03It's just a total blind taste test.
14:04And, you know, you'd be surprised how many times the home cook,
14:07you know, wins.
14:09Running our barbecue restaurant in San Diego is no easy feat.
14:12We are always looking for ways to save time for myself
14:15and for my management staff.
14:17Sometimes supplies run out.
14:19We are super excited that Walmart Business now has an app
14:22that we can order our business supplies from directly and save time
14:26so that we can get back to running our restaurant.
14:28Shop any way you want in store or online
14:32and get everything you need for your business delivered,
14:35shipped or picked up curbside from your local store.
14:38Just use the app and conveniently access everything you need
14:41right from your phone.
14:46What have you what did you learn about the catering business
14:48when you first started?
14:49I mean, you started, like you said, doing it for free, just
14:53taking care of friends.
14:54And what did you learn about the actual business?
14:56Because it goes as you grow a catering business or any food business,
15:01you can no longer just be the chef.
15:03You know, we're fortunate that we've had some incredible guests
15:06on this show, the Emeril Lagasse and Chef Michael Mina or Chef Robert Irvine.
15:10Like you talked about.
15:12Well, in order for them to grow a business,
15:14they can no longer be the chef in the kitchen.
15:17How did how did you how did you learn how to not just be the chef in the kitchen,
15:21but actually run the business behind?
15:25So, for one, it's kind of a two part answer to that.
15:28I went to school for for business.
15:31Because I grew up in a family where, you know, with businessmen.
15:33So I wanted to make sure I had like at least a good business foundation.
15:38But one of the biggest things with with any restaurant
15:40industry catering where we end, you got to learn how to delegate.
15:44And so if you do not know how to delegate,
15:46you are going to drive yourself into the ground.
15:49But also, if you really want to go grow your business,
15:51you have to be a great teacher.
15:53So you have to be an outstanding teacher to teach these people
15:57that are underneath you, whether it's your suit, your side or whatever,
16:02to replicate and have that same product, put out that same product that you do,
16:07but also have that same passion and know what to look for, just like you do.
16:12So that takes that.
16:13You have to be a great teacher.
16:14You have to have patience and you have to be able to delegate.
16:18And that's the only way you're going to be able to to grow your business,
16:21because if you feel like you can do it all yourself, trust me,
16:24you will not be able to.
16:26Do you remember day one of the Caribbean grill, your first food truck?
16:30I do. So the Caribbean grill.
16:32So I lived in when I retired in Miami and
16:37after I retired, I started the catering and then I got the Caribbean grill.
16:41So my wife, she's Jamaican.
16:43And so I used to go to Jamaica all the time for Miami.
16:46It was like a two hour flight and it was cheap back in the day.
16:49You can go to Jamaica for one hundred fifty bucks.
16:52Well, I was going to I was going to Jamaica three and four times a month
16:55because her aunt on the on a couple of restaurants there.
16:59And I fell in love with with the cuisine when, you know, when I went.
17:03And so I was going back and I was just dodging the restaurant with her
17:06and she was teaching me all these different, you know,
17:08Caribbean flavors and techniques and ingredients.
17:11And I fell in love with it being from the south.
17:14I had never seen any of these type of things before.
17:16So I started incorporating those techniques and cooking styles and flavors
17:19and to my style of cooking.
17:21And so that's when I came up with the Caribbean grill.
17:23And I remember when I went and bought that truck and.
17:28Man, it was amazing.
17:29I had to buy a new you buy a used truck.
17:33No, I brought this brand.
17:34I brought this brand spanking new
17:37now looking back on it, I would I wouldn't do that ever again
17:40because within a month of working on that day, it looked like it was two years old.
17:45I was like, it was just like, yeah, I would never buy anything new again.
17:53But but no, it was worth it was a learning experience.
17:58It did what it was supposed to do.
18:00And so I actually don't use it anymore.
18:01It's retired.
18:02I actually have it at the beer garden, kind of parked in the back.
18:05OK, but I still keep it there so I can see it just as a, you know,
18:10as a memory, man, I look back on it.
18:12I mean, I bought that truck almost 15, 16 years ago, maybe.
18:18And so now, you know, involved in more trucks and bars
18:22and things like that, but I still keep that that little
18:25little piece of me in the back of my of my bar.
18:28Tell us about Rose Hill Beer.
18:31So Rosa Beer Garden right now, I'm in Cypress, Texas,
18:34which is right outside of Houston, this basically Houston.
18:37And so when we moved here, I moved here to I really want to get into
18:42explore and expand in the food industry.
18:45And in Miami, it really wasn't that type of city.
18:48You know, Miami is more of like Vegas.
18:51Back then, it wasn't like a culinary hotspot.
18:54And being that I'm from Texas, I knew that I need to get back to Texas
18:57if I want to do this food truck thing.
18:59At the time, it was either Houston or Austin.
19:03But Austin was kind of at the point was getting very congested.
19:08And then it was kind of trending more towards tech than food.
19:12A lot of the tech companies
19:13have started to move here and Google and Amazon's and all different things.
19:16And it was getting very expensive.
19:18So I chose to come to Houston.
19:20And so when I moved to Houston, I still had my my Caribbean grill.
19:24That's the only that's the only thing that I had at the time.
19:26And I was doing my events and going and, you know, going to festivals
19:30and concerts and all these different things are getting booked for a lot of things.
19:33And I was like, I want one place to where I can have multiple trucks
19:37and have this kind of beer garden vibe.
19:40So I had been looking for land and things like that.
19:42And so in Texas and Houston, we have crawfish season.
19:46So I'm close to my house, fairly close to my house, maybe like 10 minutes.
19:51There's this it is really nice neighborhood.
19:53There's just like three acre plot of land that had overgrown trees, grass,
19:57and it had this little bitty tiny barn on it.
19:59It looks out of place.
20:00Like, I mean, literally looks out of place.
20:02And that was this old guy that would sell crawfish from in front of this barn.
20:07This guy's like straight from Louisiana.
20:08No teeth in his mouth.
20:09He sound like the dude from Bobby Boucher.
20:11Hey, I got those.
20:12I said, I got the coffee for you.
20:13But I mean, if I know about this, you won't die.
20:15I gave you my five pounds of crawfish.
20:18So since I'm being honest, bro, I don't know what it was.
20:22A good crawfish.
20:24It was it was live crawfish.
20:25You know, you make it good.
20:28OK, fair enough.
20:29Yeah. So
20:33where was it?
20:33OK, so I'm driving past and like this place is huge.
20:37It's, you know, three acres, but it's trees and grass and just just filthy.
20:43So I asked him one day, I go there and get some crawfish.
20:46I say, hey, have you ever thought about doing anything with this land?
20:49He's like, there's nothing you can do.
20:51It floods and this and that, blah, blah, blah.
20:53And I was like, OK, maybe a month past.
20:56And I was driving past to go to Restaurant Depot to get some supplies for an event.
20:59And I had a sign for sale out.
21:01Well, I mean, I couldn't turn in fast enough.
21:06Got the place.
21:08And then, you know, I had a vision for it.
21:10Necessarily didn't have didn't have all the money for my visions.
21:14So most of the work that I did, I say 85 percent of the work
21:19that we did to get open was just me and some of my friends, my wife.
21:25We literally bulldoze everything, clear the lot,
21:28all the paint and screwing and nailing and fencing and all that stuff.
21:33We did just to get it open.
21:35And then, you know, as we got open and made money, we put money back into
21:38the business.
21:39But now it's one of the hottest places out here and on the north side of Houston.
21:43So we have about 10 food trucks.
21:46We have this indoor, outdoor bar stage, live music, playground for kids, pet friendly.
21:53Wow. I mean, it's a hot spot.
21:54It's definitely a hot spot.
21:56What is what's the goal?
21:57Are you hoping you want to open up any more of them or you like it right now as is?
22:02Yes. So strategically,
22:05strategically, I think we're going to be opening up some more locations.
22:11We've been approached by a few groups that want to kind of expand out
22:13and over Texas and over in Austin and things like that.
22:18So I'm bringing in a couple of the guys that's smarter than me
22:21when it comes to operations.
22:23That's one thing I know that can kind of help me navigate through that.
22:27But right now, I mean, we're rolling and we got opportunities to open up a few more.
22:31So we want to see where that's going to go.
22:33And during this year, what kind of advice would you have to somebody
22:37that's just starting out that's thinking about getting into the food truck space?
22:42So with the food truck space for me, so I had opportunities to open up
22:46restaurants earlier on, but for me, I love the food truck space
22:50only because it gives you more freedom to be creative out of the bat.
22:54And you can really see what works.
22:57So right now, my latest thing, for instance, like my latest thing that I open up
23:00is Eddie's Burger.
23:02So when you see it, so Eddie's Burger is a truck that I open up there.
23:05And it's we use Texas Wagyu beef, locally sourced.
23:08Everything is made from scratch and, you know, literally on the food truck.
23:14And so now it's to the point to where we're selling out every single day.
23:18So now I know that I can take this concept and go into actual brick and mortar.
23:23And I know I know what to work.
23:24The demand is there.
23:26But I will be terrified to just go there like without anybody knowing it.
23:29So I built built it up through a food truck that only cost me about 30 grand,
23:34you know, as opposed to 200 grand to go to 50 to go to a brick and mortar,
23:39you know, you know, and not know anything.
23:42So that's what I would tell people.
23:43That's the beauty of a food truck is that it gives you the opportunity
23:45to see if your product works for, you know, not I say it is a lot of money
23:50to some people, but as opposed to just walking into like a brick
23:54and mortar in a strip center or, you know, opening up a standalone restaurant
23:58kind of gives you a little bit more freedom to see if your product works.
24:01It gives you time to see if your operations are there
24:06to see helps you with your ordering, because, you know, with the food trucks,
24:09you have to order on a smaller level, multiple times a week,
24:13as opposed to one big order, you know, once a week that you do
24:16at a typical restaurant, things like that.
24:18So it kind of helps you kind of get your foot in the door
24:20and get some type of basic understanding before you throw yourself to the wolves.
24:24And that's why I love food trucks.
24:26And in the end of the day, if you come up with something that don't work,
24:29it's much easier to take the sign off a food truck
24:32and come up with something else and put up another sign.
24:34It's very hard to do that with a brick and mortar.
24:38For sure.
24:39Do you share a little bit about personal branding,
24:42about how you develop the Chef Eddie Jackson brand, how you grew on Instagram?
24:48Yeah, so for me, I've been authentic, being your true self.
24:52I think that's the thing that people gravitate towards.
24:56If you look at a lot of these,
24:58especially in the food space,
25:01a lot of people that are very successful with the branding is
25:05they're very true to themselves, like their personality.
25:08And so when people meet me, the first thing I say is like, oh, man,
25:12you're just like I see on TV or you're just like you are on Instagram or whatever.
25:17And I'm like.
25:19Yeah, yeah, that's that's me in my life.
25:23Yeah, yeah.
25:24So that's that's that's the number one thing that I would tell people
25:26is just be true to yourself.
25:28Don't go in there and try to be so like I've never portrayed myself to be,
25:32you know, this James Beard, you know, chef and all these different things.
25:36Like, no, like I'm an amazing chef and I that's who I am.
25:41I don't portray myself to be a know it all and this and that.
25:44And and so that's the only thing I can tell people is just try to be true
25:49to yourself and be as authentic as you can with who you are.
25:54Do you have any stories of any mentors at Food Network
25:58that kind of helped you pave the way or give you some advice
26:01that you maybe didn't think
26:04kind of unorthodox advice that turned out really well?
26:07I wouldn't say unorthodox advice, but for me,
26:12like I've been on record saying this is Bobby Flay has been
26:17a great mentor for me.
26:18We've actually become really good friends.
26:19And when I was doing Food Network Star, you know, Bobby was Bobby and Giotto.
26:24They were my mentors.
26:26But before I even won, Bobby
26:30kind of pulled me to the side where we were talking one day.
26:32He was like, as long as you keep being Eddie, because I would crack jokes
26:36or while I'm filming on camera, I would just be me.
26:38And like, I would have people laughing, but not on purpose.
26:42It's just, you know, just me being me.
26:44He's like, you keep doing that.
26:46You keep being your authentic self like you're going to win.
26:49Yeah, this is what he said.
26:50And so that's 100 percent what I did.
26:53And I end up winning.
26:54And so I didn't see him for a while after I won maybe a year.
26:58And we did a show together called Christmas at Bobby's.
27:02And so this show were for Christmas and invited all these
27:07about 10 people from Food Network to Bobby's house
27:10to do all this cooking and stuff the night before Christmas.
27:14And so it was people that, you know, basically was everybody
27:16that's been on Food Network for years and just me.
27:19I'm like the rookie.
27:20And I got invited to do this.
27:22And at that point, I had like a couple of shows that was out.
27:26And I guess Bobby had, you know, he saw the shows and he was like,
27:30I see you doing exactly what I, you know, I told you to do.
27:34He was like, you're the same person, the same character, the same authentic
27:38Eddie that people fell in love with, you know, day one on Food Network star.
27:43You know, you didn't switch up and like, oh, now I'm this type of person.
27:46I'm this and that.
27:48And it's working for you.
27:49He's like, just keep doing that.
27:50And that's that's what I've tried to do my entire career at Food Network.
27:54I've been there
27:56nine years, I think, eight or nine years now.
27:59And so it's working.
28:00Whatever I'm doing is working out.
28:02Keep asking you back.
28:04Yeah. Keep asking me back.
28:06So I don't I don't see the train slowing down anytime soon.
28:10That's awesome.
28:11Well, we we believe that every restaurant on Earth
28:14has the ability to make an impact.
28:16We have the technology at our fingertips to become.
28:19I mean, we're a barbecue business here in San Diego.
28:21And I'm here having a conversation with you.
28:24You know, thanks to TJ Void, who's our producer on our show,
28:27who met you and was like, dude, you got to get Chef Eddie Jackson on the show.
28:31I am grateful for TJ.
28:33I'm grateful for our entire media team, as well as our barbecue team.
28:37I want to talk to you about your personal tech stack.
28:40So are you an Android or an iPhone user?
28:44iPhone, iPhone all the way.
28:46I don't know. Do you know anybody that has an Android?
28:50Yeah, but they're not friends of mine.
28:52That's right.
28:54Hey, hey, go back.
28:56Let's let's rewind a little bit because shout out to Toast, man.
29:00Shout out to Toast. Oh, yeah. Let's go.
29:03Man, I use Toast at the beer garden.
29:06Yeah, it makes everything so easy.
29:10So before I was having to,
29:13people will have to go to each food truck individually. Right.
29:19And then people have to wait in line to get their drinks and things like that.
29:22So what we've done with Toast is been able to have these QR codes
29:28all over the beer garden and at each table. Nice.
29:31And so now people just sit down, they can order from all the all the trucks
29:34on one Toast system.
29:36And so you can order from any truck you want.
29:39And we have runners that bring you the I mean, the Toast is when you said it.
29:45I didn't know that Toast was that.
29:46Oh, yeah. Toast is freaking amazing.
29:50You can do anything.
29:51Inventory, payroll, like everything.
29:53Just one stop shop with Toast. Look at that.
29:56It's by far like one of the better POS system for a restaurant,
29:59like for for being efficient that you can use.
30:03There it is. Toast see unsolicited.
30:05We this this is why we do the show is to tell lessons and stories.
30:09Obviously, we use Toast at Cali Barbecue.
30:11We use order and pay also.
30:13Did you use Toast before with with Caribbean Grill?
30:17No, I didn't use Toast before, so I only started using Toast
30:19with the beer garden, but I didn't know the capabilities of Toast until.
30:24Maybe we've been open six years now, two years.
30:27We were just simply just using them for just POS.
30:30And then we had a separate system for, you know, ADP for payroll
30:33and then this for this.
30:35And I didn't realize inventory like four different things
30:37when I didn't realize that Toast can do all of it.
30:40Yeah. And so now that we've kind of streamlined everything with Toast,
30:43I'm like, oh, this is so much better.
30:46That's awesome.
30:47Do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
30:52Text messages.
30:53Do you listen to voicemails?
30:57I catch up on voicemails.
31:00How many emails do you get a day?
31:04Right now, I have one thousand two hundred and two.
31:07Stop it.
31:10I get so many emails.
31:12So, look, I'm very I have an assistant.
31:14I need to get another assistant for my assistant.
31:19Like I'm an overachiever, right?
31:22When I come up every, you know, my wife, she's just like,
31:27you got another idea.
31:28You got another big idea.
31:30I'm always coming up with things like in the middle of night.
31:32I was like, I want to write a cookbook.
31:33Yeah. And then nine months later, I had a cookbook come out.
31:37There you go.
31:37You know, like, oh, I want to open up a beer garden.
31:39And a year later, we open up a beer garden.
31:42I just open up to gym franchises like, you know what?
31:45I want to get back into the gym space.
31:48So I open up to hot works.
31:50I don't know if you ever heard of hot works.
31:51It's like an infrared fitness studio. OK.
31:53So I open up two of those.
31:55At the same time.
31:56Did you open them at the same time or you open them one after the other?
32:00I open up at the same time.
32:02I bought two franchise license at the same time.
32:04And duly, I was opening them up.
32:07So I'm always thinking of things.
32:09Like I said, I went to school for business.
32:10So I'm always thinking of, you know, a way to make a dollar.
32:14So, you know what I mean?
32:15So I'm constant.
32:16My brain is constantly working, but that's why I'm so busy.
32:20And so, like, I'm always on the go.
32:22So I like a quick text message.
32:23Or when I have a moment to check my emails or catch up on a voicemail
32:28or things like that.
32:28So if you text me, I can see it.
32:30I'm like, OK, how's your notification management?
32:33I mean, we know how many emails you have on your phone.
32:35But what about all the other all the other apps?
32:37You got a lot of notifications or no?
32:40No, like I don't do like a like my assistant kind of handles all that stuff,
32:44like with my Instagrams and all that other stuff.
32:46Yeah, I'm not a big tech guy.
32:50You know what I mean? Yeah.
32:52I don't know. Maybe it's the area that I grew up in, but I'm not really into tech.
32:55I know how to check my email.
32:56I can take photos.
32:57Do you take photos?
32:59I do take photos.
33:01I do. I do take photos, but not well.
33:04I'm in the process of building a studio at my house here
33:09because I want to do more on my social media with little cooking videos.
33:13So, I mean, I don't know if you see the lighting right now,
33:15but this is all new right here.
33:17Sweet. So I mean, I invested into some
33:21a nice little studio space in our house
33:22to start doing some little cool videos that my videographer is helping me with.
33:26But, you know, you got to evolve with the times, man.
33:29Now everything is social media.
33:30So you got to be willing to evolve with the time.
33:32So you're your own media company.
33:34You got to build the studio.
33:36You got to build it, man.
33:37You got to do it.
33:38Which which map app do you use?
33:41Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze?
33:44Google Maps.
33:45Google Maps.
33:46Which music app do you listen to Lenny Kravitz on?
33:50Spotify.
33:53That is hilarious.
33:54That is so I'm like, I'm like, man, he's really listening to Lenny Kravitz.
33:59I was just listening to this last night.
34:01Eddie thought I was listening to Lenny Kravitz to start the podcast.
34:05I listen to everything.
34:07I listen to everything, man.
34:08You hear some Jay-Z, then you hear some Lenny Kravitz.
34:11Me too. You just never know what I might be listening to.
34:14Me too. What's your what's your favorite app on your phone?
34:17My favorite app on my phone is probably.
34:22Who is tough?
34:30Probably I get addicted to this, probably acorn acorn.
34:34Nice. Yeah, that's awesome.
34:36I have everything I have.
34:38I have all of my, you know, when you when you spin stuff and all that,
34:42you know, when you when you spin stuff and all the what they call it, the excess change.
34:47Yep. So I like to go in at the end of the day if I, you know, I spent a lot of money
34:51and see how much money rolled over into my little savings that I can invest in.
34:55I've been with Acorn like three years now, and I got a lot of money
34:58because I spent so much money on my one card and they just roll over.
35:01We got 50 cents left.
35:02They're rolling over to your Acorn account.
35:04That's awesome. There it is. Acorn. How about that?
35:08Chef Eddie Jackson, what's the best place for people to connect with you?
35:12Learn more. We're going to put links in the show notes to Rose Hill Beer,
35:16Chef Eddie Jackson on Instagram. Any other platforms?
35:20Yeah, so tick tock.
35:22Same thing, Chef Eddie Jackson, Instagram, Chef Eddie Jackson.
35:25Rose Hill Beer Garden is on Instagram as well.
35:30And the show's where I'm at.
35:31Give me the shows.
35:32So we got out chef Thursday night.
35:35Some Food Network, 930, 830 Central.
35:39And then this fall, we'll start up my all my holiday stuff.
35:42Christmas cookie challenge that I do with re drumming
35:45that I kick off on Food Network.
35:47And you can stream all of that on Max as well. Sweet.
35:50And if you guys want to keep up with me, it's at Sean P.
35:53Well, Chef S.H.A.W.N. P.W.A.L.C.H.E.F.
35:57If you have a restaurant, we want to hear your story.
35:59If you're a storyteller, we want to hear your story.
36:01Connect with us.
36:02Chef Eddie Jackson.
36:04Watch him go out and visit Rose Hill Beer.
36:06And chef, thank you for your time.
36:10Is that a fake background?
36:12Our media studio is not in New York overlooking Manhattan.
36:16Not yet. One day.
36:18There you go. One day.
36:19But we're now we're in San Diego.
36:21This is my studio, my home studio.
36:23OK, this is how we go.
36:25What is that back there?
36:25That's just a fake.
36:26Is that is that just wallpaper?
36:28Yeah, yeah.
36:29See, that's what I'm putting in my I'm putting wallpaper
36:31in in my my studio space.
36:33Not bad, right?
36:34Yeah, I like that.
36:36Better than a zoom background.
36:38Yeah, I like that, bro.
36:39There we go.
36:40Inspiration.
36:41There it is.
36:42Well, if you ever make it to San Diego, please come get some barbecue.
36:46That'll be on us.
36:47We appreciate you.
36:48Thank you for being here.
36:49Anybody that's listening,
36:51please come out and visit us.
36:52Please connect with us.
36:54As always, stay curious, get involved and don't be afraid to ask for help.
36:57We'll catch you guys next week.
36:59Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
37:01If you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at
37:05Sean P. Walcheff, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
37:10Cali Barbecue Media has other shows.
37:13You can check out Digital Hospitality.
37:15We've been doing that show since 2017.
37:18We also just launched a show, season two, family style on YouTube with toast.
37:23And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand
37:27and you're looking to launch your own show, Cali Barbecue Media can help you.
37:31Recently, we just launched Room for Seconds,
37:35with Greg Majewski.
37:36It is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality,
37:41into enterprise restaurants and franchise, franchisee relationships.
37:46Take a look at Room for Seconds.
37:48And if you're ready to start a show, reach out to us.
37:50Be the show dot media.
37:53We can't wait to work with you.