Taylor Mason, CEO/founder of Taylor's Tacos, is on a mission to create the “In-N-Out of Tacos”. She’s transforming her beloved taco concept into a streamlined experience that caters to the modern customer’s craving for convenience. It's a shift she’s fully embraced, fueled by her willingness to adapt and, as she says, “fail fast.”
Watch now to learn about growing a restaurant business, using community resources to build a business, and the Good Morning America effect.
Watch now to learn about growing a restaurant business, using community resources to build a business, and the Good Morning America effect.
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00:00Welcome to Restaurant Influencers. I am your host, Sean Walsh. This is a Cali BBQ Media
00:09production. In life, in the restaurant business, and in the new creator economy, we learn through
00:15lessons and stories. We are grateful to Toast, our primary technology partner at our barbecue
00:20restaurants, for giving us the opportunity to bring you the best in hospitality, the
00:26best in storytelling. This show is a testament to all of the crazy people that get into this
00:33beautiful business and somehow make it work. Somehow we persist, somehow we make it work.
00:39We turned our barbecue business into a restaurant and media business. Our goal is to bring the
00:45best people onto the show, to have conversations that hopefully inspire you, to help you realize
00:52sometimes those dark moments, there are good moments too. Today, I get to bring you Taylor
00:58Mason, Taylor's Tacos. I am so excited about this. I got to meet Taylor at the National
01:05Restaurant Association show. We went out to Chicago. We filmed a lot of content in a lot
01:12of days, but we wrapped up filming at Taylor's Tacos for Family Style. I'm not sure when our
01:19Family Style episode for Toast is going to air, but it is on fire. You get to see all the
01:24incredible food. We'll put a link in the show notes whenever that episode airs. But
01:29nonetheless, I got Taylor here. Taylor, welcome to the show.
01:32What's up? Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be here. I'm coming from the
01:37west side of Chi, right in my house. I thought I would be at the shop today, but I said, you
01:41know what? I'm not going in. We got Taco Tuesday tomorrow. I'm just going to take the day for
01:46me. That's what I really want to talk about today. I'm super stoked to talk to you about
01:50that today.
01:51I can't wait to talk about you. You are a highlight of the trip. The tacos were fire, but
01:56more importantly, the story is what I care the most about. That's why I knew I had to get you
02:01on the show. Let's start with where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
02:09Stadium, stage, or venue? That's such a hard question. Oh my goodness. You know, I would
02:16maybe, I can't even, I was going to say like another state, but honestly, Chicago. I mean, we
02:22keep it real. I think it's crazy. You can go to Chicago. It's the only place where you can see us
02:27cheering louder for the other team. I've never seen anything like it. Like, I remember the last
02:32Bulls game I went to, Steph, I mean, don't get me wrong. He like hit him with a double cross and a
02:36fade, made him trip. And it's just like, we're not supposed to be cheering for him. So we rock with
02:41whoever's going well. So I guess I'm just going from the old United Center to the new United
02:45Center. I mean, it's just nostalgia.
02:48Okay, we're going, so it's still called United Center? We haven't done a rebrand?
02:53Yeah, as far as I know.
02:54Okay, United Center.
03:00Fair enough. So we're going to go to the United Center. I'm going to talk to Toast. I'll talk to
03:03entrepreneur, we'll get some brand involved. But we like people that play the game within the game.
03:09This restaurant game is very hard. But the people that listen to this show, they want to level up.
03:15And we're going to put on an event, TEDx style, where we're going to bring real people that are
03:19going to speak real truth on the mic. And I'm going to bring you to center court. And I'm going to
03:24ask you Taylor, please share $1 tacos all the way to your own brick and mortar. Give us the Taylor, give
03:35us the Taylor taco origin story.
03:37Yeah, it's just crazy. Like every day I kind of wake up and I'm so grateful because I never expected to be
03:42here. But I'm here. I feel like I'm meant to make a purpose and make a difference. And this year I can I
03:47can say is my it's the 10 year anniversary from the very first taco I ever made right down the street in
03:53front of my dad's garage, like just having fun saying this is Taylor's tacos. I'm Taylor and I want to give
03:58you something to talk about. And here we are 10 years later, and hopefully I got the world talking about it.
04:03So I'm just I can't believe it. And I think it's just so cool. Even when you were talking about your
04:10introduction, introduction, how you have Kelly barbecue, but then you are a media company now too,
04:16because you're doing what you love, you're doing what you want to do. And you found a way through this
04:21to still come back to your purpose. And I'm just like, I feel like I'm finally at that point. But going back and
04:27how I kind of got here. I went to school in Southern California, I'm born and raised in Chicago, but went to
04:33school in Southern California on a full basketball scholarship. I thought I was gonna live my life out there,
04:38never come back to the cold, windy city. And that all changed my senior year. Just before graduation, actually,
04:46my mother had back to back brain aneurysms. So I stayed, I finished school, I expected to be moving into my
04:51apartment in LA. Instead, I came back to make sure my mom was good. It took about three, four years for her to
04:57really get back to health. I mean, I took odd jobs in between there. But once she was really back to her optimal
05:02self, I was like, What am I gonna do? I'm broke. I can't make it back to LA. How am I gonna like, you know, I'm
05:08too old now. I'm like 2324. I'm too old to be asking my parents for money to send me off and I can't give me
05:13anything. They're over here kicking me off my phone off their phone plan at this time. Like I'm really out here. And
05:18I'm like, What can I do? So I really just went back to what I knew I loved. I fell in love with with California street
05:23tacos. We would take those trips down to Tijuana on the weekends. And you know, just getting is getting a taste of
05:30that life. I'm the best taco on the side of the road at two o'clock in the morning. And in Chicago, we have good
05:35tacos. Don't get me wrong. But just nothing like that south of the border that LA Tex Mex vibe. I was just like, I got
05:41to bring that back here. And then I knew I just love bringing people together. I knew food could always do that. You
05:46know, you know, and and that was like, my whole thing is just to fuse my kind of taco, the black taco, if you will, with
05:54that kind of California street style taco. And that's how Taylor's tacos was born. And as you stated, I was selling them
05:59for $1 because I didn't know what I was doing. And I'm like, Okay, if it's bad, at least they only $1 and mad. You know,
06:05and I feel like at the beginning, we don't know our worth. You know what I'm saying? I thought they were good. But I
06:10don't know. Your good is my good. And I'm not trying to have you get my young. So yeah, let's see what's let's see what's
06:15to it. And when I had a line around the corner, and after a couple of gigs of selling out and walking home with $200, I'm
06:21like, Okay, I think I can bump the price up a little bit. I think I can do this. And that's kind of how it all started, man. I
06:27met my wife, my girlfriend at the time, obviously, and she just kind of came in and just, you know, the ladies always make
06:33everything better. She, she, she, her mother was an heirloom gardener. And so she really brought kind of the science of the
06:42food, kind of the farm to table aspect where I'm just, just this little Westside girl, who's just trying to make food, you
06:50know what I mean? But just really learning. It's like, we see all this food in the grocery store, and we don't actually
06:54think, where did it come from? There's actually farmers out here growing my food, who are, you know, making this so I can
07:00eat it. And I'm like, you know, I really do have to learn if this is what I'm going to call my passion, if this is what I'm going
07:04to do. She really made me stop like, No, girl, you need to learn about where this chicken is coming from. Where are you
07:10getting this steak from? Where are these, who's making these tortillas, if you're not making them? What are the
07:13ingredients? Can they process through someone's body? And so that became really important to me. And it's kind of scary to
07:19say that it wasn't, not to say it wasn't important to me, it just wasn't what I was thinking about at the forefront. So she
07:25kind of came in, added that little touch. And from there, we just kind of took off. 2020 is really when things changed.
07:32Because prior to 2020, we were doing it California style, you know, taquero style, we're coming, we're popping up at your
07:38party. It's a vibe. It's a celebration. And then obviously, in 2020, we couldn't do that. I was devastated. You know, people
07:44were calling, let me get my money back. We're canceling our event here and there because nobody could meet in person. And I
07:49was like, I told my wife, I was like, if I get one more phone call, having to give somebody's money back, we're not gonna
07:54like it. What are we going to do? And that's when we had to put our heads together and be like, okay, how can we create
08:00this same vibe, this same flavor, this same experience, without us actually being there. And that was honestly, probably
08:05the best thing that ever happened to us. Because how are we going to scale? You know, we had to be there every single time
08:11that we were going to make money. There was no way to do that. So that's how we got introduced to like the self-serve taco
08:18bar, the pre-made taco trays, kind of all the things that are just as delicious without us being there. And that is when we
08:24really took off. We kind of almost tripled our revenue in that one year, which is crazy. And we've just been expanding
08:31every year. And I've honestly, honestly stuck to slow and steady wins the race. And all my mentors are like, no, you need to
08:39speed this up now. And I'm just like, again, this is all made up. I can go at whatever pace I want, because you don't know
08:45what you don't know. And I've been going around for the past 10 years saying I have no idea what I'm doing. But this is the
08:50year that I'm like, you know what, I'm confident. I'm a businesswoman. I do know what I'm doing. You know, I'm a taco
08:55connoisseur. I'm a restaurateur. I'm an owner. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm all these wonderful things. And I do know what I'm
09:02doing. But I know that there's still a lot that I don't know. And I'm going to keep learning, keep growing so I can build this
09:08empire.
09:09Running our barbecue restaurant in San Diego is no easy feat. We are always looking for ways to save time for myself and for my
09:16management staff. Sometimes supplies run out. We are super excited that Walmart Business now has an app that we can order our
09:23business supplies from directly and save time so that we can get back to running our restaurant. Shop any way you want, in store or
09:31online, and get everything you need for your business delivered, shipped or picked up curbside from your local store. Just use the
09:39app and conveniently access everything you need right from your phone.
09:46Love that you said that because it's something that we've experienced so much like, you know, getting into the barbecue game in San Diego,
09:52people like you're crazy. You can't do that. You're turning yourself into a media company. You're crazy. You can't do that. And if we
10:00believe them, we wouldn't be here having this conversation with you for entrepreneur on behalf of toast. Like, that's just real. You know,
10:07that's just, that's just the honest real about it. And I think, you know, as restaurateurs, we don't know anything. I think that's kind of
10:15if we didn't know, I don't jump into the deep end the way that we do. I just think that's why we exist, right? Because we have no idea
10:24what we're getting into. Because if we actually knew there would be nobody doing this.
10:28I just interviewed somebody and they told me that if you if you want to punish a person, give them money to open up a restaurant.
10:34I got to use that.
10:40If you truly want to pay someone, give them money and give them a lease to a restaurant.
10:47Everybody, when did you, when did you find your worth? You said you didn't know what you were worth. You know, charging $1 for a taco
10:53when when did that that we got game like we actually need to turn this into a business like we're not running a nonprofit here.
11:03You know, as soon as we I went from $1 to $2. I was like, Oh, I'm ready for a restaurant. Let's do this. Let's let's open we got this. And it
11:13took so long to get it. And that was obviously because you know, the universe knew I wasn't ready. I didn't know nothing about nothing. I
11:19barely had two nickels to rub together. I lived I bootstrapped this from, you know, the ground up. I mean, we had once. So 2014, the very
11:27first taco was made 2016. We had our first kind of unofficial launch party, where the our family and friends, we were able to generate
11:34$3,000 with 2000 of it coming from my wife's mom at the time. So we were like, I gotta push I gotta make something. And from that 3000. Now we
11:45have, you know, gone into the seven figures. And so now, we're just trying to figure out, I guess, I guess, I knew my worth to kind of go
11:54back to your question. I really didn't know my worth. I think until this year, I think this is the first year that I actually am like, you
12:00know what, I don't have to do this. I know that I have a good product. I know I have a consistent product. I know that I can weather the
12:07storms. I've been weathering them for 10 years. You know, I feel like I have the 10,000 hour rule. Like, you know, I feel like this is
12:13finally the time, you know, where they say where they're gonna pay for the time that I put in, you know, and that's only now $5. I'm still
12:20only selling my tacos for $5 now. So I'm up to a whole five. But I think, like I said, this year has been a game changer, because we want to
12:31grow so many different ways. I think, you know, when we talked on the show, it was we've learned, like, we want to do this cantina
12:38concept, we want to do this, we want to, we want to be in two states, we want to franchise, we want everybody to have Taylor's tacos. But in
12:44order to do that, we have to take we have to make sure that our, our, what do you call it, our foundation is fortified, you know, that all the
12:52little things are done, right. And we're not when they're good, but they're not great. They're easily breakable. You know, some somebody
12:58could go off off kilter at any moment and, and do their own thing. And I have to just make sure that all of the like all of our
13:04structures, all of our procedures, so that we can really grow this thing to where we want. And that's why I'm taking a step back. Right
13:12now, we're a fast casual brand, I feel like the trends right now is people either want something quick and convenient that they can order off a
13:18third party, or they want to wine and dine and go out to dinner and see a smoke show and something they can put on Instagram and tell all their
13:25friends about you know what I mean? And it's just like, we don't we don't fall in that category. You know, the days I mean, we get the people
13:32who are coming from the hospital and you know, stopping, it's convenient for them that they're because they're physically there. But that's not
13:37really the target that I want to get if I mean, if I want people to come in and enjoy or third party or what have you, we really have to go down to the
13:45fast food concept. And I think that we can do that. I think that we have a product that that can withstand that we can do CPG, we can be in multiple
13:52states, we can, we can be like the in and out of tacos is kind of like what I'm thinking of where we can go with this. So that's kind of like, and I
14:00guess I'm been convincing myself, like, that's okay, it's okay to change. It's okay to be like, you know, I constantly have to remind
14:07myself, and why I think I'm successful today is because we fail fast. If something isn't working, or if something just doesn't feel good. We back out
14:15like, you know, we were like, you know, we tried it, we did it. It's not right. So you know, this has been kind of a long lesson, because we've had the shop
14:23open now for a little under two years. And we're about to change our hours to completely be a catering company, because that's who we are. We've kind of
14:32let ourselves get away from what we do. Like, sure, we're going to open the the fast casual shop for the taco shop. But in the interim, we're going to shut our
14:40doors, we're just going to be open on Taco Tuesday, so that we can really hone in on this fast, fast food concept, and even how we're going to change our
14:48kitchen and set it up so that we can make 200 300 orders for the day. And part of me and then use that other time to use my kitchen for what really makes me
14:57money, which is the catering. And I think I'm so concerned, like, Oh, what are the people gonna think that people say that I'm never open? And the people? Yes, the
15:05people pay my bills, but the people I still need to do what I can to be able to even serve the people like I have to be okay. And so if I'm not okay, I can't give a
15:16good product. It starts with me and I can only take the business as far as my personal growth. And so I've really been trying to make sure that I find that
15:23balance and making sure that I'm growing, making sure that I'm learning, making sure that I'm taking care of being the best leader that I can for everyone around me. So I can
15:30really take this thing to the top. So that's kind of where I am right now.
15:34Who are your mentors? You said you have mentors.
15:38I have so many mentors. I say it takes a village to raise a business and I got the village behind me. I utilize as many as many resources, especially free resources, and
15:49small business resources that I can throughout the city of Chicago. And I'm a part of so many cohorts and accelerators and programs. They don't want to see me coming because I've been in them all because I have to learn. There's so much to
16:05know. And I feel like I know so much, but I still have so much that I need to learn. And so my mentors kind of come from everywhere, whether it be kind of the Chamber of
16:14Commerce's to these cohorts and accelerator programs, such as like the NYPACE or Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program or SCORE or the Women's Business Development Center. You know, I'm a part of it all. So I would say for all the restauranteurs out there, if you aren't utilizing the resources in your city, please do. You know, there's too many webinars. I think I'm signed up on average for about 12 to 15 webinars a week. And if I don't see them in real time, I go back and I watch them before I go to bed or first thing in the morning.
16:44You know, I got to learn. I'm learning about all this AI stuff. Like you just have to stick with the trends. You have to know what's going on, what the people are doing, what the people want, because it's changing out here. You know, I got a moving emoji today. Okay. A moving emoji. I didn't even know those existed. That's crazy. They didn't change the alphabet song. I'm like, you have to stay with the changing times. You got to know what's going on in the world around you.
17:06Can you share about just the behind the scenes about shooting family style?
17:13Oh, my gosh. Family style was fun. I think you were phenomenal. You were such an awesome guest.
17:20Thank you so much. I'm just so honored and humbled. You know, like I said, this was just we started making tacos in front of my dad's garage. And now I have a business where I employ 12 people. Like, this is crazy to me. You know what I mean? It's just I don't take it for granted. I'm so grateful. And for toast and for you guys to come in and just really kind of capture that because you don't really say, you know, you're in the grind. You got to know. So the grindstone you're paying, you know, you're obviously paying attention to more of the negative things that are happening and why me and why you.
17:50Why this and why is the dishwasher out today and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, I think the show really made me stop and smell the roses for a second. Like, wow. You know, we really have like we really were selling tacos for a dollar. It made seven thousand dollars our first year. Now we're just about to be under a million for this year.
18:07That's nuts. You know, like I'm about to pitch in two weeks to bring on, you know, over one hundred and fifty K and investors. And it's just like the fact that people want to believe in my business and put money behind my businesses is just is is nuts to me. But then again, it's like it's not nuts. I've worked my ass off for this. So, like, I'm trying to shine, you know, so.
18:27Well, what's the pitch? You never know who's going to listen to this. Maybe someone out there. Let's go. What's the pitch?
18:34Like I told you to make a long story short, you heard the story West Coast to the West Side. We got a taco shop. We got an event space. We got a non-for-profit called Tacos Create Community because I'm all about cleaning up the West Side.
18:45And we'll talk about that. I just don't understand how people can dirty their environment. But we're going to stick a pin in that. And we'll talk about that a little later.
18:52But like I told you, the blue sky is we want to franchise fast food chain. You know, we want to have canteen cantinas kind of Taco Bell style, but Taylor's Taco style, of course.
19:01And then we want to have our catering and events because that's what we do. I'm a caterer. I love to create vibes. I love to bring people to interaction, connection and quality experiences.
19:12But like I said, before we can do that, we have to fortify our foundation. We have to make sure that our standards, our procedures are perfect. So no matter where we pop up at Taylor's Tacos, it's the same way. It's a consistent consistency every time.
19:27And so we need the small things. We need to remodel our kitchen, a couple of kitchen fixes just to make sure that we're set up for optimum service and flavor. We need a cater truck. If we're going to be doing these large scale events, we got to make sure that we're pulling up in style, baby.
19:40And then we have to make sure that we can pay and train these people because nobody wants to work. So they want to make sure that they're coming in for a good buck and they want to make sure that they're taken care of and they can take care of their family.
19:52And we completely understand that. And so we got to make sure that we have enough money to pay them and train them properly, because that's what I feel like a lot of my people is my people.
20:01I'm speaking to y'all. Make sure we have those standards, procedures, those policies in place so that we can train and that we can give consequences when they are due or give praise when it's needed. And that's super important to me.
20:15And then finally, just marketing. You know, if you can have the best product in the world and people don't know about it, they not come in.
20:21And so with all of those things, we need the money to be able to pay for it. And finally, we're going to refinance our debt just because, you know, it's it's this isn't cheap. It costs a lot of money to keep a restaurant going.
20:32And where we've been over 70 percent profitable, we also have a lot of money that we've just you know, we have accounts receivable. We have money that's on 60 day pay that takes a second to get to us sometimes.
20:43So we want to make sure we can just refinance a little debt and pay out these wonderful bankers that are going to be in the room that I give this pitch to.
20:49And with that, the experts, you guys can help us grow so that ultimately we can sell this business for five hundred million.
20:56Come and contact me.
20:57Taylor's Tacos.
20:58Boom. Taco Chicago.
21:00I'll see you in the dot com.
21:02That's what I'm talking about.
21:03I absolutely I mean, right when I first met you and saw how you run the shop and I mean, you were so focused on being hospitable to us as a production crew.
21:12But like you cared about the tacos, like you cared about the people that were coming in.
21:16You cared about your product.
21:18And like I was I was bought in.
21:20And then when I tried the tacos, holy shit, game changing.
21:23Like that's and that's coming from a kid from that grew up.
21:26And so it was the sexy shrimp.
21:29Oh, yeah. The sexy crispy.
21:30Oh, yeah. Sexy.
21:31Crispy. Other people in Chicago come out this Saturday.
21:35We're actually giving them away for free with the dig in.
21:38No love from eleven to three.
21:39We're not even open on Saturday because we're open on Saturday just for this free, sexy, crispy shrimp tacos.
21:46So you can try the Pepsi zero and live your best life when.
21:52Tell me about winning the best taco in Chicago on Good Morning America.
21:57Oh, my gosh. The countdown is on because we have like nine days left in our reign.
22:01And I'm just trying to soak it all in, because last year, August 28th, twenty twenty three, we were we were the best taco in Chicago winner.
22:11We went head to head with another restaurant here in Chicago.
22:14And we came out victorious.
22:16And that was the day I think I was like, wow, all of you know, there was I remember when I first started, someone had said there's going to be a day where you can look back at this and laugh at what you were doing, showing up when there's just tumbleweeds going through the brewery because nobody's there to buy the tacos.
22:33And she was like, you're going to lose.
22:34Going to be a day where you look, look back at this day.
22:36Like this was just, you know, a dot on the map.
22:39And I think that was the day that I could have a laugh.
22:41Like, wow, we did it.
22:43We really do have the best taco in Chicago.
22:46And what happened?
22:46I mean, what happened from from that media appearance?
22:50Oh, my gosh. What didn't happen?
22:51I mean, it just really I mean, besides just having bragging rights in Chicago, which is a big thing, people know about it.
22:58You know what I mean?
22:59Everybody's like, oh, the Keith Lee effect.
23:01What about the Good Morning America effect?
23:02OK, we had a line around the corner.
23:05We were we were but I mean, there's still to this day people who stop me on the street.
23:09Oh, you're on Good Morning America.
23:10Oh, I saw you there.
23:11And they come and they support our business.
23:13It's so crazy because I'm just now having to really put money into marketing.
23:17I've never I haven't had to and I really don't have to.
23:20But I just I want to make sure that I stay ahead of the curve.
23:22Yeah, it really has been word of mouth.
23:25People know about Taylor's tacos.
23:26I have people come. Oh, I just saw this on TikTok.
23:29And I'm like, from where?
23:30Oh, I like I haven't even had to post anything on Instagram because I'm just getting collapsed.
23:34Yes. Thank you for making my day.
23:36Easy check. I accept, please.
23:38Yes. It's not into the world.
23:40So I'm just so grateful that people that that I had that platform
23:44to really just showcase who we are.
23:47How have you what have you learned about Instagram specifically for Taylor's tacos?
23:51What have I learned about Instagram?
23:53I need to get off of Instagram.
23:55That's like as a restaurateur.
23:58You know, we have so many industry friends.
24:00We're scrolling and what everybody's doing.
24:03And I'm like, how did she get it?
24:05You know what I mean?
24:06And I just have to remember, you know, they probably say the same thing about me.
24:08How did I get this? You know what I mean?
24:10So I'm like, I got to stay off and just be happy for people and clap it up.
24:14You know, I need to get off Instagram.
24:17Oh, that's the best answer.
24:19I think I think I might have ever got.
24:25I love community.
24:27You love community.
24:28Tell me about tell me about your community.
24:30How do you how do you build community as a restaurateur?
24:33I mean, my community was it kind of I felt the need,
24:37especially being a black lesbian woman,
24:42you know, and who came out in L.A.
24:44OK, so L.A. gays are way different than Chicago gays.
24:48OK, L.A. gays are wild and free.
24:51And it's just you can be anybody anywhere you want to be.
24:53And nobody cares. And they use pronouns.
24:55And it's so great.
24:56You come back to Chicago.
24:57They are trying to put you in a box, lock it up.
24:59And if you don't fit in there, then what do you know?
25:01Like just coming as a young 22 year old
25:05straight from this like blissful place to Chicago, where it was like,
25:09get it together. What's going on?
25:10Where do you what? How do you identify?
25:12You know, I knew it was super important to bring those people
25:15who are just as confused as me together, you know, and just giving you
25:20giving everyone a safe space and to be able to do that with food.
25:23It made it so easy, you know.
25:26It's always you never have to beg people to come over if you cook it.
25:30You know, you can just cook and the people will come.
25:33And it's just so good to be able to break bread together,
25:35to create what we call universal experiences, because you never know
25:39who's going to be coming to get Taylor's tacos.
25:41And then once you get these people in the room, just to be able to
25:45just build that space of safety, to build a space where you can speak,
25:50where you can eat, where you can enjoy and everybody just kind of vibes.
25:54That's what Taylor's tacos is all about.
25:56And so I think I mean, just in short, I'm just so grateful
26:00that I've been able to even be able to do that
26:04and kind of create the spaces that didn't exist when I was growing up. So.
26:08I'm going to keep it going.
26:10If you could go back 10 years and give yourself some advice
26:13about the 10 years ahead, what would you tell yourself?
26:17You know, I was listening to this podcast the other day,
26:20and someone has suggested that you write a letter to your younger self.
26:27And it's like they're always telling you to write to your future self
26:30or like what's going to happen in the future.
26:32And like just to my younger self and looking at my younger self,
26:36I would say, like, you're OK, you know, your pace is your pace.
26:39And when you're ready to jump, you're going to jump, you know?
26:43And I think that's the biggest thing I would tell myself to just stay true.
26:48You got this, you know, and it's going to be hard.
26:51It's inevitable.
26:52You have no control over anything outside of yourself.
26:55And when you can remember that constantly,
26:58then that stays at the at the forefront.
27:01Life's going to be good.
27:03And I think I'm finally, finally getting there.
27:05Reminds me of something I heard recently that I keep repeating,
27:08but stop praying for as fast as possible and start praying for as long as it takes.
27:14Yeah, I love that.
27:16As long as it takes. Now, don't get me wrong.
27:18Sometimes we can get a little fed up and sometimes
27:21make it longer on ourselves, you know, but I think that that's how
27:24we make it plenty long on ourselves.
27:26The losses just have to be lessons, you know, just
27:30and, you know, some some lessons are super expensive
27:33and just making them less expensive, less expensive.
27:36Mistakes is kind of what our mantra is.
27:39What do you do to take care of yourself?
27:42You know, I'm really starting to work on that, you know, like just doing things
27:46that really bring me joy.
27:48Like I went to a Sky Game the other night, you know, they got their butts
27:52chopped off, kicked and handed back to them, excuse me.
27:56And then, you know, going to get a massage,
27:59just really taking bath time and taking breaths.
28:02I've just started yoga. That's really difficult for me.
28:06I've actually like been boohoo crying.
28:08And I found out that that's actually like normal because there's just so much
28:13everything that's leaving these old achy joints
28:16that you haven't stretched in forever and you really hold things and trauma.
28:20You know, like you talk to the astrology babes and you're just like,
28:23I don't know if I like I believe in the universe.
28:26I believe that there's definitely power outside of us.
28:29But just really aligning, I think, is what I'm working on is grounding,
28:32really just bringing it inward, because I'm always so concerned
28:36about everything outside of me that I never worry about what's going on
28:40inside of me.
28:41And I think that I've really finally my wife has been barking at me about it
28:45for since we've been married.
28:47And I finally am listening like, yes, I can't go anywhere without me.
28:51So I got to take care of me.
28:53And it's just doing the things that I love and taking solo trips, solo trips.
28:57I like that. Yes.
28:58You know, I it's so necessary, especially being married, you know,
29:02and especially my wife is my business partner.
29:04And we've definitely finally carved out our duties where we like
29:07don't have to see each other in the work day.
29:10And it's a wonderful thing.
29:12But just taking time away, you spend every waking moment with your spouse.
29:16You know, you're with them forever.
29:18Like I was I was wondering, I was like, wow, I've known you
29:20for like a third of your life now. This is nuts.
29:23And just making sure you find that balance, even within the love,
29:27you know, it's you got to I can't miss you if you're not gone, you know.
29:32So we we believe that everyone that's listening is their own media company,
29:36that marketing can be media if we take the tools like it's unbelievable
29:40that we're here in twenty twenty four and we don't need to make YouTube
29:43or Instagram or TikTok, like literally we just need to publish.
29:47Like we need to go onto the platform, speak our truth, talk about our restaurant
29:50and you can build community.
29:52But it takes time.
29:53You know, no one wants to look stupid, sound stupid.
29:55Everyone wants a sexy commercial from their restaurant.
29:58Like that's what prevents them from using the using their smartphone.
30:02I'm going to ask you a couple smartphone questions.
30:04Are you an Android or iPhone?
30:07Definitely iPhone all day.
30:08You androiders are a different, different breed.
30:11You which which version of the iPhone?
30:16I just got a new one.
30:18I have no idea, but I just got a new one.
30:20OK, like the newest one.
30:22It was so funny because I set up two of my friends on a blind date
30:26a couple of weeks ago and I was sending like a text from the girl,
30:31like just to show her that she was in and blah, blah, blah.
30:34And it was all green.
30:35And she's like, oh, my God, not an Android user.
30:39Dates off.
30:45I was like, oh, my God, that's good.
30:48That's fantastic.
30:50Do you prefer phone calls or text messages?
30:54I don't know. It depends.
30:55I really like phone calls, but as of late and now
30:58that we're really getting more popular, don't call me.
31:01I'm actually trying to find like so for personal, for business.
31:04Personal over personal.
31:06Call me. Call me. OK.
31:08And then do you leave voicemails?
31:12I love leaving voicemails.
31:13Voicemails are a lost art.
31:15It's crazy.
31:16And I'm surprised that actually now, too,
31:17because it actually comes up on your screen written.
31:19Why wouldn't you want to leave a voicemail?
31:21Fantastic.
31:23How many emails do you get a day?
31:26I usually about a day, about 150, 150.
31:29And how many of those do you enjoy reading?
31:32Well, luckily, you know, because it's who not how.
31:35OK, I have an assistant who goes through all of my emails
31:38and she just brings the one that are important to the top.
31:41So they're all great for me.
31:44Perfect. And then which map app do you use?
31:47Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze?
31:50I used to be a Waze, but Waze has really been failing me.
31:53So I have I think it's Apple Maps.
31:55I don't know what's the one that's connected to the calendar.
31:57So maybe it's Google.
31:58Google Maps. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:00Google Maps. OK, Google Maps.
32:02Which music app do you use?
32:06Spotify, you Apple music people are weird, too.
32:09I'm sorry.
32:10Like what's going on?
32:11I did. I did a friggin talent show, not a talent show.
32:14It was my dad's 65th birthday.
32:16We we threw him the Social Security Social.
32:18It was lit. OK.
32:19And we had like a karaoke party at the end.
32:22And one girl, though, only everybody else is like 50 years old enough
32:26who's in the show.
32:27And then this 22 year old comes up.
32:29She's like, oh, I can only play Apple music.
32:31This is the only one that I get.
32:33I'm like, if you're about you're disqualified, like you're out.
32:37We're not listening.
32:38We're not listening to your playlist.
32:40You're out. Right.
32:43What is your favorite social app?
32:46I the one I need to stay off of Instagram, I want Instagram entirely too much
32:52too much. Do you prefer photos or videos?
32:55Um, I don't know.
32:57I guess I really like a photo.
32:59I mean, is that that's super old school.
33:00But I know the videos are more engaging, but I'm a photo girl.
33:05That's all good.
33:06Well, Taylor's Tacos.
33:07What's the best place for people to come and buy catering?
33:12Hundreds of thousands of dollars of catering orders.
33:14Please. Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
33:17Please call me. Give me your contracts.
33:19Yes, exactly.
33:21Live a good life with my wife.
33:22But no, we're about to be home of the Taco Tuesday starting in September.
33:26You can come to Taylor's Tacos on Taco Tuesday.
33:30So lament day.
33:32OK, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., we will have breakfast burritos
33:37all the way in the tacos taco of the week.
33:39And we're going to do two dollar tacos all day, every taco Tuesday.
33:43I'm so stoked. I'm super excited.
33:46And then we're going to cater in.
33:47Our shop will be closed for private events the rest of the week.
33:50So just like this Saturday, we're doing the event for the Pepsi dig in.
33:55We have some. Oh, yeah.
33:56We have Taylor's got talent coming up.
33:58You got to check that out. Please stay tuned.
34:00We're doing a talent show that's like Apollo style.
34:04And you the winners gets a thousand dollars.
34:06And so we have we did the auditions last week.
34:09We've got a show plan that's going to be Friday, September 13th
34:13at our other location, Tailored, which is an event space, a space for community,
34:18because that's what it's really all about.
34:20And yeah, come see us.
34:211512 West Taylor Street, right off of Taylor and Ashland.
34:24Amazing. We'll put links into the show notes.
34:26We'll put links to Taylor's family style episode on toast.
34:30If you guys want to get in touch with me, it's at Sean P.
34:33WALCHEF, S.H.A.
34:34WNP WALCHEF.
34:37Instagram's the quickest, but I'm active on all the platforms, LinkedIn, all of it.
34:42Happy to connect with you.
34:43If you guys want to join us, you can come on to a live show.
34:46If you go to Cali BBQ Media on LinkedIn, we do live shows
34:50every Wednesday, every Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
34:53So we got restaurant owners.
34:54We have content creators, sales professionals, marketing professionals
34:58from all over the globe.
34:59It's a chance for you to get on stage and tell us your story.
35:02Speak your truth.
35:03Join our community.
35:04But Taylor, seriously, I it was an honor to spend a day with you filming.
35:10Can't wait for your episode to come out every time.
35:12I mean, I go to Chicago now every year because of the National Restaurant Show.
35:16So you're going to you're going to have to see me every single year in the team.
35:19Now, don't don't be surprised when I'm bringing all these other restaurant owners
35:23to to to your shop.
35:25Yeah, we're going to throw a party.
35:26We did one like just for this past one.
35:28You guys missed it.
35:29It was a great time, but I really enjoyed family.
35:31So I was so nice to meet you, the whole crew.
35:34You're doing the Lord's work, baby.
35:35Thank you so much.
35:36Yeah. Keep up the good work.
35:38We we're grateful.
35:39We're grateful for you.
35:40Thank you for sharing your truth.
35:42As always, guys, stay curious, get involved and don't be afraid to ask for help.
35:45We'll catch you next week.
35:51Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
35:54If you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at Sean P.
35:58Walsh of S.H.A.W.N.
36:00P.W.A.L.C.H.E.F.
36:02Cali Barbecue Media has other shows.
36:05You can check out Digital Hospitality.
36:08We've been doing that show since twenty seventeen.
36:10We also just launched a show season two family style on YouTube with toast.
36:16And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand and you're looking
36:20to launch your own show, Cali Barbecue Media can help you.
36:23Recently, we just launched Room for Seconds with Greg Majewski.
36:28It is an incredible insight into leadership, into hospitality,
36:33into enterprise restaurants and franchise franchisee relationships.
36:38Take a look at Room for Seconds.
36:40And if you're ready to start a show, reach out to us.
36:43Be the show dot media.
36:45We can't wait to work with you.