112: Chef Maria Campbell | A Community Cookbook As a Vessel For Transformation

Adam Lamb: 00:00:00

Welcome back to another episode of Turning the

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Table, sponsored by Benchmark 60.

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Turning the Table is the most progressive weekly pod cast for today's food and

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beverage industry, featuring staff centric operating solutions for restaurants in

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the hashtag new hospitality culture.

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My name is Adam Lamb and I am a career coach for chefs and

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hospitality professionals.

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I would like to introduce you to my cohost Jim Taylor, Benchmark 60, but

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alas, he is somewhere out in California, out on a golf course, believe it or not.

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But how many times in your life do you actually get to play Pebble Beach?

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Right, . This is episode one 12.

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Seasonal Challenges for Restaurant Operator.

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In a moment we'll talk about how you can be better prepared for

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those seasonal slumps that seem to catch us all off guard every year.

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Even though we know where they're coming, we can often have a smug sense of

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satisfaction that we've got this quarter clocked counting on holiday hell week to

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get our numbers where they need to be.

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Still, just as we start to pat ourselves on the back for being titans of industry,

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the deep down, we all hope we are.

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A cold front comes down from Canada a month and a half early and all of a.

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Our October p and l looks just like our January and we start panicking but

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more of that after our shameless plug.

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We ask that you share the show with someone you care about who can

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find this information useful and leave a review cuz it always helps.

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Now, even though we don't have Jim we do happen to have a surprise guest,

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which kind of just waiting for her to show up in the green room you know,

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our luxurious green room with, you know, the stuffed and the hot tub.

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But until then, I wanna get kind of cracking into some of these questions.

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So first thing is, what causes seasonal spikes in labor costs?

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You know, I am in Asheville and North Carolina right now, and for the last

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four days it has been unseasonably cold, got our asses cracked really good.

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Shamefully, I must admit it was about nine o'clock at night and I was out

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in the backyard trying to empty my one person hot tub because the pump had gone

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earlier in the year and I'd forgotten about it, but I knew that if I left

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it there, it was gonna get down to 24.

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And those PVC pipes don't do very well, in the cold.

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So needless to say, I think it caught us all off guard.

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And what a great topic to have.

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And a little goose in the ass to get us going.

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Now, here in Asheville, we actually have four seasons in our in our calendar

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year, especially for restaurants and hotels, which they feast off the fourth

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season, which is, you know, a couple weeks ago when all the leaves started turning.

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It was absolutely gorgeous.

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As a matter of fact, even last week it was, you know, 60, 65,

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72, and just gorgeous outside.

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It was a great excuse to be outside.

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Lots of people on motorcycles.

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Blue Ridge parkways usually jammed up pretty well.

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People kind of gawing at all the leaves now.

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I'd spent 25 years previously in Florida in Fort Lauderdale, and we got to be

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so good at charting the year that you could almost set a calendar by it.

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So we knew that there'd be a small slump for the first two weeks of September when.

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Last week of oct, or last week of August, first week of September when everybody

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went back to school and everybody's kind of getting back into their own lives.

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But surely, you know, towards the end of September, October, people starting coming

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out, doing a little bit of traveling and the numbers start picking back up again.

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And that kind of cruises just like that.

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A little bit of a peak, little bit of peak, little bit of a

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rise right towards Christmas.

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And then as I.

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Holiday hell week when you just gotta hold on for dear life

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between Christmas and New Year's.

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Now that's a really crazy way to build a p and l, especially when

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most of us are on calendar years.

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And so that's the end of our year as well.

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So anything like a cold snap, unseasonable weather, torrential rains, , hurricanes.

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It really, really throws a wrench in our financial liberties, and I

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remember quite well having kind of this knee jerk reaction and pulling

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way, way, way, way back because again, we're all managing under labor costs.

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The great thing about Benchmark 60 and its revolutionary productivity

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metric is that it can show you.

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Within one or two tenths of a percent, what's the sweet spot?

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Because when you cut back too far, now all of a sudden you're losing

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these opportunities to really capture money left on the table.

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Meaning that if you're sufficiently staffed on the floor, then that

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guest is gonna get a second cocktail.

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He's gonna be toured through the menu appropriately and

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and be able to kind of re.

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The benefit of having a nice leisurely dinner.

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And when you're understaffed, not only are people getting stacked up at the

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back or at the front, I should say, but by the time they get in the table,

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get to the table, then it's a rush job.

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And what's actually happening there is losing all opportunities to expand

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the guest check or the customer spend.

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Nobody will ever, ever, ever be able to save themselves.

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To success if you're not managing the top line, doesn't matter

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what you do with the bottom line.

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And I should know, cause I had some of the craziest operation managers,

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one of which Ronnie Ager from Chicago, one of the, one of the most

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dynamic guys I ever worked with.

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But as the service staff used to come through the kitchen door, the.

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Because the air was unbalanced cuz we had all the hoods going.

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It would blow all the cocktail napkin, softer trays, onto the floor and he

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would run around trying to pick him up because he's like this, Seven senses,

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it's 7 cents Now that's kind of an old school way to look at it, but it

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really is kind of the focus of what are we doing with the small things.

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Unfortunately, it's never ever as big as one.

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Solution.

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So Benchmark 60 is pretty unique in that they can be able to lay it off

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so clearly that most operators that we show this solution to come up with

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all kinds of crazy ideas and how to be able to optimize this opportunity.

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And it's not like they're putting that money back in their pocket.

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Our experience has been is that a lot of these operators who

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live through the pandemic in the shutdown, just like all of.

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probably wondering like, how can I do something nice for my staff?

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How can I get, keep them engaged?

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And maybe they were wondering about how they were gonna afford

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healthcare or mental healthcare.

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And now all of a sudden it seems very, very clear to them

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that this is an opportunity.

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And so when that metric goes a little bit higher, when the productivity is higher,

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it's, you know, you don't have to be in the facility to know that everybody

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worked really, really, really hard.

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and.

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For good or ill, There's only so much that folks are gonna be able to take of that.

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The ones that came back to the industry after the pandemic found an environment

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where people were rushing into the restaurants because they wanted to be

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connected emotionally with one another, which is great, but they're also the

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operators who wanted to kind of optimize.

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That opportunity and would open up, , would open up the restaurant

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full even though they didn't have the staff to manage it.

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Because again, it's this kind of short sighted thoughts around

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budgeting for these particular times.

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So it really behooves us to be able to kind of step back and use

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a very, very clear eye, not only.

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To try to gauge what our opportunity is for revenue maximization, but also

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how much can our staff really take?

Adam Lamb: 00:08:27

Right.

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And I know there's more questions about this, but I wanted to bring

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on a very dear friend, someone who I have been connected with for a

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long time and who my support 100%.

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And that would be Chef Maria.

Adam Lamb: 00:08:41

Hey,

Maria Campbell: 00:08:43

this is like live action.

Maria Campbell: 00:08:44

I'm here live at, actually one of our cookbook contributors, our Faces., so

Maria Campbell: 00:08:50

it's a Corco small oven in Philadelphia.

Adam Lamb: 00:08:54

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:08:54

How cold is it in Philadelphia right now?

Adam Lamb: 00:08:56

I love the, I love the scarf by way.

Adam Lamb: 00:08:57

Well, scar

Maria Campbell: 00:08:58

going on.

Maria Campbell: 00:08:59

I'm feeling the cold.

Maria Campbell: 00:09:00

I got my flannel working.

Maria Campbell: 00:09:02

Yeah.

Maria Campbell: 00:09:02

It's a little chilly, but we're feeling the fall for sure.

Adam Lamb: 00:09:05

I, you and I had.

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had gotten connected again just a, a week or so ago, and you had something very

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special that you wanted to talk about.

Adam Lamb: 00:09:13

I don't wanna lose the thread of our conversation because I think you have

Adam Lamb: 00:09:16

a lot to add because not only are you a very talented educator Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:09:21

community builder.

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But you're also a heck of a consultant, so I, I know that you so I'm gonna

Adam Lamb: 00:09:30

want, I'm gonna want to know before we end, you know, what you would do,

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like, what would be your prescription that maybe some operators who are,

Adam Lamb: 00:09:37

who are watching this, you know, maybe gain a couple insights that they can.

Adam Lamb: 00:09:42

Walk right back into their operation.

Maria Campbell: 00:09:44

So, absolutely.

Maria Campbell: 00:09:46

I mean, I know that you are doing amazing stuff to really get it in the points that

Maria Campbell: 00:09:50

people are not really catching, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:09:53

They're kind of missing some of these marks to retain their staff, keep their

Maria Campbell: 00:09:57

folks, and, and you know, we both care deeply about the restaurant industry.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:02

The workers themselves on project work that I'm doing is going, How can

Maria Campbell: 00:10:06

I, as a couple of people myself, my husband, who's a chef by trade mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:10

say, How can we help these individuals?

Maria Campbell: 00:10:12

And we know there's staffing shortages as you're mentioning.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:15

People are leaving in droves and, but there are people that

Maria Campbell: 00:10:19

deeply care about this and stay.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:20

And for us as Cooks who care founder here Yep.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:24

Working on providing benefits to individuals.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:28

I'm gonna tell you what, I've been trying to tackle this healthcare

Maria Campbell: 00:10:31

situation since six years ago.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:33

Oh, I know you have.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:34

It's too, too big of a beast to go directly to the

Maria Campbell: 00:10:37

healthcare companies I've tried.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:39

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:39

And I haven't been able to succeed.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:41

What I have been able to do is to figure out the infrastructure

Maria Campbell: 00:10:44

to set up a community fund.

Maria Campbell: 00:10:47

And how that works is through the sale of our community cookbook, which the

Maria Campbell: 00:10:52

owner of this establishment, Chad Durkin, participated with a recipe

Maria Campbell: 00:10:56

and 100% of the proceeds can actually pay forward mental health service

Maria Campbell: 00:11:01

access to people who are in industry.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:03

So, hey, I'm a worker.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:04

I need assistance for addiction recovery, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:11:07

Oh, I wanna see a counselor more than one time a month cuz I can't

Maria Campbell: 00:11:10

afford to, or, you know, I need access to a prescription medication.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:16

I mean, and go, You know what?

Maria Campbell: 00:11:17

I don't know if I should eat well this month.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:20

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:11:20

I have to pay that first.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:22

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:11:22

And they can go, Hey, let us help you with that.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:25

And the cool thing is my friend Chef Adam Lamb I just found out something

Maria Campbell: 00:11:31

that blew my mind because once we get this cookbook off the ground,

Maria Campbell: 00:11:38

we're starting in Philly right now, Southern New Jersey area, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:11:42

I can scale.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:44

To different cities all across the United States where anybody who can

Maria Campbell: 00:11:49

raise a certain amount can have an independent fund for their location.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:53

That's fantastic.

Maria Campbell: 00:11:54

Who care?

Adam Lamb: 00:11:56

So, so for, I'm excited.

Adam Lamb: 00:11:58

I, I can tell it's coming off you and, and rightfully so, but I think it would

Adam Lamb: 00:12:03

really serve our listeners to perhaps.

Adam Lamb: 00:12:07

Context.

Adam Lamb: 00:12:08

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:12:08

You and I bumped into one another and at ACF conference.

Adam Lamb: 00:12:11

Yeah, I, I was getting ready to go in and do my presentation and your door

Adam Lamb: 00:12:15

was open just a little bit and I was catching your conversation a little

Adam Lamb: 00:12:18

bit, so much so that I forgot I was late getting into my and then made

Adam Lamb: 00:12:22

a point to come in and say hello.

Adam Lamb: 00:12:24

And that's kind of the way it started.

Adam Lamb: 00:12:25

And so why don't you kind of give our listeners and our viewers a kind of a

Adam Lamb: 00:12:31

snapshot of how you transitioned in the industry to actually focus on community.

Adam Lamb: 00:12:36

Oh

Maria Campbell: 00:12:36

my gosh, yes.

Maria Campbell: 00:12:37

I mean, I think as a chef we are all activists in our own ways because we're

Maria Campbell: 00:12:43

constantly giving the charities, we're constantly the epicenters of community.

Maria Campbell: 00:12:47

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:12:47

as first, during that pandemic, where did the guests wanna go?

Maria Campbell: 00:12:50

They wanted to go to their favorite restaurants.

Maria Campbell: 00:12:52

So this, this was something I think You know, after meeting you, we had a

Maria Campbell: 00:12:57

harmony at heart and you didn't wanna leave because we were, at that time

Maria Campbell: 00:13:02

I was talking about millennials and I was talking about bridging young people

Maria Campbell: 00:13:06

into the conversation and the fold.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:08

We often underestimate our teens, especially in their youth.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:12

It used, there used to be a time where apprenticeship was a thing and

Maria Campbell: 00:13:16

we actually brought people in, drove.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:18

Cause we spent time to train.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:20

We don't have time for that anymore.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:23

I mean, I barely see an internship that's actually doing some

Maria Campbell: 00:13:26

good work to train somebody.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:27

And so I've been working even with clients to kind of set the stage of like, how are

Maria Campbell: 00:13:31

we going to intentionally bring up people?

Maria Campbell: 00:13:34

Correct.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:34

How are we going to intentionally share what is gonna help them grow?

Maria Campbell: 00:13:38

And because we've imparted know.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:41

From ourselves.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:42

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:13:42

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:43

So as an educator, I feel like I am constantly teaching.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:46

I'm constantly sharing that information.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:48

I've learned over the years, it's not mine to keep.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:50

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:51

And so if it's, I believe it is our responsibility to

Maria Campbell: 00:13:54

pay forward that knowledge.

Maria Campbell: 00:13:55

And instead of just being in your everyday to day, looking at your bottom

Maria Campbell: 00:13:58

line, I, I say that is important.

Maria Campbell: 00:14:01

But if we are going to keep our people what's not on the bottom line, how people

Maria Campbell: 00:14:05

feel if they're happy to be with us.

Maria Campbell: 00:14:08

And how long that they've stayed.

Maria Campbell: 00:14:11

You know, how we're interviewing people, how are we looking at resumes even,

Maria Campbell: 00:14:15

you know, it's like there's gonna be gaps all over the place of what kind of

Maria Campbell: 00:14:18

biases do we have, you know, that are preventing us from actually not just

Maria Campbell: 00:14:23

retaining our people, but attracting the right folks and bringing 'em up.

Adam Lamb: 00:14:27

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:14:27

I think I think one of the biggest failings that I've experienced You

Adam Lamb: 00:14:32

know, the one critical act that every restaurateur can do a better job

Adam Lamb: 00:14:36

at is onboarding their employees.

Adam Lamb: 00:14:39

It's, and I had the luxury of working at a upscale retirement community

Adam Lamb: 00:14:45

here in Nashville for two years.

Adam Lamb: 00:14:47

You know, I got to bring my entire bag of ideas, like, Okay, I've been working

Adam Lamb: 00:14:50

on this for years now I'm gonna be able to, like, it was my laboratory.

Adam Lamb: 00:14:54

And the one thing that we did that was by far the most impactful

Adam Lamb: 00:14:57

was, is we created a half.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:00

, we called it day two orientation because HR would do their orientation,

Adam Lamb: 00:15:04

which is like, sign all these.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:07

And then the second day they came down and we spent a half a day in a, in a room.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:12

Going over, like doing silly stuff like like showing the Phish video going over

Adam Lamb: 00:15:16

the missions, the why's, like really trying to connect them to the values

Adam Lamb: 00:15:20

of what we stand for in hopes that they were actually aligned to that and

Adam Lamb: 00:15:24

everybody who went through that process.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:27

I had a tenure that outlived me.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:29

Let's put it, they were still there when I left.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:31

Mm-hmm.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:32

. So I know that that's like one of the top two reasons why a lot

Adam Lamb: 00:15:35

of people leave their present.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:37

Employment is just communication or lack thereof.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:42

And so if there's no framework for which that to occur, and I, and I'm

Adam Lamb: 00:15:47

a big systems guy, so I figure that, you know, if we have some guardrails

Adam Lamb: 00:15:51

in place, and some boundaries, then it can be a good thing.

Adam Lamb: 00:15:55

But what caused you to start Cooks Who Care and give us a kind of give us an

Adam Lamb: 00:15:59

idea of what Cooks For Care stands for.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:02

Yeah, I mean, I started it because after being 15 years in the

Maria Campbell: 00:16:06

industry and seeing all of the, the, the dirty laundry, so to speak, and and

Maria Campbell: 00:16:11

just treatment of others I think that being too busy for our personal lives

Maria Campbell: 00:16:17

has caused some harm to our mental.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:20

And if we were waiting on the journey to reach our goals and

Maria Campbell: 00:16:24

then look back in our lives and say, What did I do along the way?

Maria Campbell: 00:16:28

Oh, right.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:28

You might have gotten distracted.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:30

. Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:31

I, I've met a lot of people in the industry that spent 15 plus

Maria Campbell: 00:16:34

years dedicated to the industry, and then they were trying to

Maria Campbell: 00:16:36

dedicate time to their family.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:38

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:38

It's like, well, couldn't we have done something about being

Maria Campbell: 00:16:44

intentional and finding balance?

Maria Campbell: 00:16:45

If we all accept.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:47

That, that part of our lives is just as important as the

Maria Campbell: 00:16:51

goals we're trying to reach.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:52

Right, Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:54

I, I felt bad for.

Maria Campbell: 00:16:55

To be honest, that many people would stand up and say that if I were to

Maria Campbell: 00:17:00

be successful, that pitcher looks like this and it means, mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:03

I've worked 90 hours a week, I've abandoned my family.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:07

I've reached success goals that people should be proud of.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:10

The bottom lines and the percentages that I've been able to maintain.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:13

But at the end of the day, my life is crap.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:16

My family doesn't talk to me, and I have zero relationships

Maria Campbell: 00:17:20

with friends and family.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:21

Oh boy.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:21

And.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:22

I think that seeing that over and over that pattern and, you know,

Maria Campbell: 00:17:27

drug addiction, people losing mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:29

lives, you know, I mean, this is, I find that there are no more individuals.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:35

Are more passionate about what they do than the food industry, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:17:39

They do it for the reasons they express.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:42

Those moments they create, they will sacrifice their entire lives for it.

Maria Campbell: 00:17:46

I have complete respect for that, but at the same time I thought, Isn't there

Maria Campbell: 00:17:51

something culturally wrong with that?

Maria Campbell: 00:17:53

Like, can I have respect for somebody that's a mom and hustling on her

Maria Campbell: 00:17:57

own, or a dad that has kids and is taking care of 'em and doing what

Maria Campbell: 00:18:02

they do, or is in a relationship with a partner and maintaining that

Maria Campbell: 00:18:06

and is successful in their career?

Maria Campbell: 00:18:08

Like I think we've been missing the picture of the circle of

Maria Campbell: 00:18:12

wellness and how we take care of ourselves for a sustainable future.

Maria Campbell: 00:18:17

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:18:17

, that's what made me wanna start cooks.

Maria Campbell: 00:18:19

And

Adam Lamb: 00:18:20

you know, that that whole idea about sustainability is so

Adam Lamb: 00:18:24

powerful because you know, anybody who's been has any grounding and

Adam Lamb: 00:18:29

economics has gotta understand that with limited resources, you know,

Adam Lamb: 00:18:32

there can only be so much expansion.

Adam Lamb: 00:18:34

There can only be so much unhindered growth.

Adam Lamb: 00:18:37

And I think one of the great things that Covid did was, and, and the

Adam Lamb: 00:18:43

pandemic shutdown, was it thin, the.

Adam Lamb: 00:18:45

Folks who were out there, you know, kind of on a wing and a prayer, you know,

Adam Lamb: 00:18:49

trying to string something together for the pure profit motive, you know,

Adam Lamb: 00:18:53

they got stripped out and so it's okay.

Adam Lamb: 00:18:57

There doesn't have to be hundreds and hundreds of restaurants or, you know,

Adam Lamb: 00:19:02

several restaurants doing the same thing.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:04

My, my coaching is, you know, at this point now we all need a

Adam Lamb: 00:19:08

niche down and get so specific.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:11

So you started Cooks Who Care, which I thought.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:13

It's really interesting way to do it because it's not like you came out

Adam Lamb: 00:19:16

and said we're gonna aggregate you know, we're gonna just deal

Adam Lamb: 00:19:21

with mental health and wellness, like a lot of other organizations out

Adam Lamb: 00:19:26

there and, and, and doing great work.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:29

But you focused it around community building.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:33

Mm-hmm.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:34

, like bringing everybody together.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:37

I was fortunate enough to be able to come up to Philly for

Adam Lamb: 00:19:39

an event, Couldn't believe how.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:41

, you know, restaurant folks were in one building.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:43

And it's such amazing thing because it's so easy to get siloed in your operation.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:49

Yes.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:49

I mean, I know I did.

Adam Lamb: 00:19:50

And when you were talking about, you know, the things that we sometimes well

Adam Lamb: 00:19:55

that all of us make a bargain for I like, you know, I am guilty as charged.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:02

I, there was a large portion of my time when I was not around

Adam Lamb: 00:20:05

because I thought that I needed to reach a certain level financially.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:10

So I could take care of my children, even though that meant I couldn't be around

Adam Lamb: 00:20:14

them, which was the stupidest . Like my daughters didn't give a shit about

Adam Lamb: 00:20:19

the, you know, about the new shiny toy.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:21

The thing that they wanted most was my time.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:23

Right.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:24

And I don't know how I fucking lucked out, but you know, they, after

Adam Lamb: 00:20:28

spending their entire dir entire lives in, You know, they now live

Adam Lamb: 00:20:33

an hour away from me in Tennessee.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:35

Wow.

Maria Campbell: 00:20:37

That's amazing,

Adam Lamb: 00:20:38

chef.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:38

It is, it is.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:40

And it's been a reinvigoration of, of relationships that I had worried

Adam Lamb: 00:20:47

that, you know, had run its course.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:49

So speak to me about what it's like to build community and, and

Adam Lamb: 00:20:55

what that, what, what benefit that.

Adam Lamb: 00:20:59

Other than addressing, say, drug a.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:02

directly.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:03

I, I love this, I love this point, and thank you for that question.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:07

I need to let everybody know that when Chum came up to Philadelphia, okay,

Maria Campbell: 00:21:13

for this event that was at the Bonham Brothers restaurant, which is a big

Maria Campbell: 00:21:16

restaurant group here in Philadelphia, and what he did was he was our guest

Maria Campbell: 00:21:21

speaker, and we had, I don't know maybe 60 plus individuals in the room

Maria Campbell: 00:21:26

that were in the restaurant industry, and Adam commanded the room just by.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:31

Grabbing that microphone and resonated with everyone.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:35

And you wanna know why?

Maria Campbell: 00:21:36

It's because of your honesty.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:37

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:38

, It's because of your directness and your candid nature to just speak truth.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:42

People's heads were like looking down and when Adam was speaking,

Maria Campbell: 00:21:45

everyone's like, What is going on?

Maria Campbell: 00:21:47

Like, well, there was community.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:49

Go ahead.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:49

You know, community is all part of that.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:51

There

Adam Lamb: 00:21:52

there was, there was some great food there.

Adam Lamb: 00:21:54

. Yeah, there

Maria Campbell: 00:21:54

was.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:54

There was some great food.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:56

Great food great experience.

Maria Campbell: 00:21:58

And I think that that feeling, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:22:01

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:01

, it's how we feel about what we do.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:03

Like we're creatives, okay?

Maria Campbell: 00:22:05

We can't, we're not robots, although robots are infiltrating our

Maria Campbell: 00:22:08

restaurants, there is a whole energy behind the people that do this work.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:14

You gotta be freaking crazy, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:22:16

Okay.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:16

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:16

In some way, shape, or form, you.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:19

An intensity that says I wanna do this and give myself whatever

Maria Campbell: 00:22:24

representation that is to someone else through a form of service.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:28

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:28

. And to me, there, there's only certain people that do that.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:31

And when you are in a room of 60 plus people that do the

Maria Campbell: 00:22:34

same freaking thing, right.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:35

There's an energy you cannot replicate.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:39

. That's why community is so important to me because people needed to

Maria Campbell: 00:22:43

feel, you know, the energy of others who were doing the same thing.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:46

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:46

. Cause I could be in my, you know, four walls.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:49

This, here I am in Portco small, and then, you know, these guys don't leave here.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:53

They, they go to work and they, they, they go home.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:55

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:56

You know?

Maria Campbell: 00:22:56

So I knew that.

Maria Campbell: 00:22:58

And because even during the pandemic, we were serving food to mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:02

individuals, I literally loaded up my car.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:05

Medical marijuana company, Ale Healthcare actually gave us money when

Maria Campbell: 00:23:08

we weren't even a nonprofit, Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:10

And said, We wanna help you in your cause.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:12

I bought 100 meals from eight locations in Philly and.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:17

The community piece, which I'm threading through right, Was I, I bought those

Maria Campbell: 00:23:23

meals, put it in my car, and actually Park codes was part of that too.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:26

Here, , and then I giving people Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:30

I, I, I resonate with giving people like yourself mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:33

. So when I did that, it was during the time when Philadelphia

Maria Campbell: 00:23:36

was gonna shut down for Covid.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:37

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:38

And it was thank right before than.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:41

Shitty.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:42

Okay.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:42

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:43

I remember that time period as being just one of the goosebump rising experiences

Maria Campbell: 00:23:50

for me because there was people smoking cigarettes on front steps, you know,

Maria Campbell: 00:23:55

not having service people like come in.

Maria Campbell: 00:23:56

There was Right individuals that I dropped off lunch from Pocos to them

Maria Campbell: 00:24:01

and they were like I can't remember the last time somebody bumped me lunch.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:04

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:05

people crying because it was right before Thanksgiving and like, what am I

Maria Campbell: 00:24:09

gonna do to get money for the holidays?

Maria Campbell: 00:24:11

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:11

It's shitty.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:12

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:24:13

And so the community part is important because while, especially when they

Maria Campbell: 00:24:17

were isolating at that time, everyone's like, I didn't know my neighbors

Maria Campbell: 00:24:20

getting the same meal I am today.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:22

Oh, I didn't know the restaurant down the street was doing the same thing.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:25

Like, Oh, thank you.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:26

Like some people were like, You're doing God's work.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:29

, I think.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:30

A feeling right of us just being connected.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:33

I was like, this is staff meal, community staff meal.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:37

And people just felt like, okay, we're, we're being brought together.

Maria Campbell: 00:24:42

And I, I think like think of just even with food we gather, I think it's an

Maria Campbell: 00:24:47

essential element to the work we do.

Adam Lamb: 00:24:49

I could, I couldn't agree more.

Adam Lamb: 00:24:51

Like I think that you were ahead of the curve at, at, in this particular

Adam Lamb: 00:24:55

approach because it came to.

Adam Lamb: 00:24:57

In my particular focus around shifting the old, you know, hospitality culture.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:04

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:04

It seemed to me, Well, let me back up a little bit.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:07

There was a, there was a, I wish I remembered the guy's name, but he did

Adam Lamb: 00:25:11

this, he did this rat park exercise where he basically in a clinical

Adam Lamb: 00:25:17

environment got, had rats who were.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:20

Was taking sips of their water bottle that had laced with I think opioids.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:26

And what happened is these, these rats all just kind of went into their own

Adam Lamb: 00:25:29

corners and continued to drink the water.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:33

And then when he put those same rats in a park-like environment in community

Adam Lamb: 00:25:39

with other rats, they most often made a dec, made a choice to be with the other

Adam Lamb: 00:25:45

rats as opposed to drinking that water.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:48

Now I'm not saying.

Adam Lamb: 00:25:49

That, that's, you know, a cure all for addiction, because I know in my own

Adam Lamb: 00:25:53

particular case, when I was, you know, troubled and addicted to opioids, I, I

Adam Lamb: 00:25:59

didn't wanna do anything except hide out.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:01

I didn't wanna be around anybody else.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:02

Mm-hmm.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:03

. And so when people would try to go meet into like, no, no, no, come

Adam Lamb: 00:26:06

out, I would most often push off because of my own shame and regret.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:10

But I also get that without that type of connection mm-hmm.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:15

things probably wouldn't have gotten that far.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:18

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:18

So it seems to me that while most operators and I'm including myself,

Adam Lamb: 00:26:24

focus on the outside community as being the, the ones that are most important

Adam Lamb: 00:26:29

to the ones that they need to connect to, whether they're making TikTok

Adam Lamb: 00:26:31

videos or, or you know, talking to 'em.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:34

It's that's it.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:36

Shane, look at you, man.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:38

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:38

Fantastic.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:39

Shane said, Dr.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:40

Bruce Alexander.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:41

The Rat Park study was done here in Vancouver at ubc.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:43

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:44

Yep.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:45

Yep.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:45

That should an operator decide to shift and give equal, equal time and attention

Adam Lamb: 00:26:53

to the internal community within his o operation, his or her operation.

Adam Lamb: 00:26:57

And this doesn't have to be, you know, the owner or, or the, the,

Adam Lamb: 00:27:01

this could be the chef or the front of the house manager to connect

Adam Lamb: 00:27:04

everybody to sh a set of shared values.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:07

Yeah, which is what any community's about.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:09

Then that's probably the first step to shifting the culture

Adam Lamb: 00:27:13

because you know, as well as I, It's all happening elbow to elbow.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:15

It's not a poster on the wall or anything.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:17

So, no, the question is, is how do you get everybody agreed

Adam Lamb: 00:27:20

to the same set of values?

Adam Lamb: 00:27:22

Cuz everybody's gonna have their own opinion and yet focus on this idea

Adam Lamb: 00:27:27

that we are, we're not a family, we're a team, but we're also a community.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:31

And from that standpoint, let that grow.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:33

And that's why I thought your particular.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:36

Focus on the community was so revolutionary and I didn't get it

Adam Lamb: 00:27:39

until a couple years later cuz I remember calling you and saying,

Adam Lamb: 00:27:42

Okay, so how do you build a community?

Adam Lamb: 00:27:44

Yeah, yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:45

Enough.

Adam Lamb: 00:27:45

Like, can you

Maria Campbell: 00:27:46

gimme the roadmap?

Maria Campbell: 00:27:47

Yeah, exactly.

Maria Campbell: 00:27:49

And I think aligning your values, you're right on it.

Maria Campbell: 00:27:52

When you can align values, then we can share in the community.

Maria Campbell: 00:27:57

Mm.

Maria Campbell: 00:27:57

And so that doesn't happen until you lay that groundwork first.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:01

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:02

There's something people identify with.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:04

Somebody might see themselves or someone they know or resonate or relate.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:08

And I, I can't build community until people see that bigger picture.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:12

Sure.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:12

I think that works in any organization.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:14

You are your independent self with your own experiences and.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:18

You know, what you've gone through in your life an identity that makes you, you.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:23

And when we have just a sliver of overlap where something, a string in

Maria Campbell: 00:28:28

me and a string in you goes, Oh, that connects, you stop in that ACF room.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:33

We, we talk all throughout the years of us going on our own journeys.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:37

It's because we overlap on a value.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:39

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:28:40

You know, we care about people and we're not afraid to put

Maria Campbell: 00:28:42

ourselves out there to tell people

Adam Lamb: 00:28:44

about it.

Adam Lamb: 00:28:44

That's so true.

Adam Lamb: 00:28:47

I'm always so invigorated by your enthusiasm, and I know how hard you work,

Adam Lamb: 00:28:52

Maria, and I know that your challenge throughout this entire experience

Adam Lamb: 00:28:56

is about how to channel some of that back inside to your own self care.

Adam Lamb: 00:29:00

But before I go there, I, I wanted you to talk specifically.

Adam Lamb: 00:29:04

Okay.

Adam Lamb: 00:29:04

So why a cookbook?

Adam Lamb: 00:29:06

What's its purpose?

Adam Lamb: 00:29:08

Yep.

Adam Lamb: 00:29:08

How can we.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:10

Yes, the cookbook is a vessel of transformation, . I, I was

Maria Campbell: 00:29:16

like, started in January, I should say.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:19

I was afraid to ask our community because I didn't wanna burden

Maria Campbell: 00:29:24

everyone with more shit, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:29:26

Like, everybody's already got their own stuff.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:28

So I, I put a, an ask out to the community.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:32

Would people be interested in contributing a recipe to a community cookbook?

Maria Campbell: 00:29:37

28 people said yes.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:39

. I was like, Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:40

We're make, We're making a cookbook.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:42

There we go.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:44

I had a partner with Eric Lovett, Jr.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:46

Who's 100% volunteered his time to film.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:49

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:50

in 4k.

Maria Campbell: 00:29:51

Like we had four location, like doors just kept opening and opening because

Maria Campbell: 00:29:56

I said, I found the foundational tool.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:00

I can start an account to pay forward mini grants right away.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:03

So that, which by the way took Sue care was gonna get denied for my

Maria Campbell: 00:30:08

non-profit status, which led me on that journey really one week before

Maria Campbell: 00:30:13

my application was going to expire.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:16

Okay.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:16

Amazing.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:17

I was in a three month courting process with tcf or GCF helps.org.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:22

They are our fiscal sponsor now, and they said We're gonna sign with you.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:28

First, I said, I only have two grand.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:29

What can I do with it?

Maria Campbell: 00:30:30

. Second, they said you are the only person making impact in the community right now.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:36

People have budgets and they have money, and they have this whole thing.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:39

And they go, You're doing the work.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:41

We already know there's a need.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:42

And so they signed me on and then my husband and I went to

Maria Campbell: 00:30:46

their event where now we can write off donations and I don't have.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:51

Tell everybody we don't exist anymore.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:53

So , I feel I'm serving our purpose.

Maria Campbell: 00:30:57

I said, If, if I'm not supposed to do this, stop me.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:00

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:31:00

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:01

So that's, that's where I am with all of this right now.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:04

But because I had community champion behind me mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:08

, we were able to connect the infrastructure for setting up these accounts and

Maria Campbell: 00:31:13

then have the, the cookbook be the way to connect the customer.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:17

How many times have we said the customers don't understand what we're going through?

Maria Campbell: 00:31:22

Sure.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:22

They don't identify what the service we had.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:24

And I thought that was one missing element that I've, I've struggled with over the

Maria Campbell: 00:31:28

years is not connecting with industry, it's been connecting with the customer.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:31

Yep.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:32

So the, the vessel, the physical entity, it'll be a digital book

Maria Campbell: 00:31:36

and we're working hard to get a digital print book ready by December.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:39

But I would say that the customer, it's.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:43

Entertaining for mental health.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:47

. Excellent.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:48

So we're, we're, we're keeping it light.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:49

All of these individuals that shared either a drink, a

Maria Campbell: 00:31:52

mocktail an entertaining recipe.

Maria Campbell: 00:31:56

It was all because we wanted to bring the customer into our lives, into

Maria Campbell: 00:32:00

our world, meet us where we are.

Maria Campbell: 00:32:02

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:32:03

And it's not just a recipe.

Maria Campbell: 00:32:04

They get to see a video of how to make.

Maria Campbell: 00:32:06

That's crazy.

Maria Campbell: 00:32:07

It's like, here's our craft, here's what we do.

Maria Campbell: 00:32:10

And they all shared a personal story about their own experiences.

Maria Campbell: 00:32:14

So it's a unique book for sure.

Maria Campbell: 00:32:17

But I thought the greatest way to make impact include the customer, include

Maria Campbell: 00:32:22

the community, , and boom, help others

Adam Lamb: 00:32:25

again, slightly ahead of the curb area,

Adam Lamb: 00:32:30

About six months ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing, I think

Adam Lamb: 00:32:33

about 60, 65 chefs as I was rebooting the podcast Chef Life Radio.

Adam Lamb: 00:32:37

And I can't tell you, I mean, I think it was like 90, 95% of those that I spoke to.

Adam Lamb: 00:32:43

One of the most predominant things that was up for them to talk about 'em in

Adam Lamb: 00:32:48

that particular moment was this feeling of being unappreciated by the guests.

Adam Lamb: 00:32:54

Yes.

Adam Lamb: 00:32:55

They also had the other part of it where they were feeling underappreciated,

Adam Lamb: 00:32:58

you know, by their employers.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:00

But what really chapped their ass was the idea that the guests

Adam Lamb: 00:33:04

had no had no conception of what they were going through.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:07

And I think, you know me well enough to know that I've always said, like, Look,

Adam Lamb: 00:33:10

if you're, if you're expecting anybody to understand how much you put in, you

Adam Lamb: 00:33:13

know, you're standing there for a while.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:17

I and I get at that particular point, the emotionality of the release and the desire

Adam Lamb: 00:33:22

for connection was so strong that yeah, they probably didn't think very much.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:26

And I know from all the accounts that we've seen and heard of in

Adam Lamb: 00:33:30

the papers and on news reports of like people acting very, very badly.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:34

Yes.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:35

And and I thought, Goddammit, that's brilliant, Maria.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:40

Get them bought in so they have some conception of what's going.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:43

Exactly.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:44

A little bit of the dust is settled now.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:46

Well, well done.

Adam Lamb: 00:33:47

So how can we support this effort?

Adam Lamb: 00:33:50

Because, because the proceeds are going to what?

Maria Campbell: 00:33:53

The, the community fund.

Maria Campbell: 00:33:55

So there, and it's called community.

Maria Campbell: 00:33:57

It's a community fund.

Maria Campbell: 00:33:58

I didn't know that they existed.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:00

They, they exist and I was able to recreate this infrastructure with

Maria Campbell: 00:34:04

the help of our fiscal sponsor.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:05

So there's a couple of different ways.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:07

Obviously when the book comes out, people can buy it.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:09

Right.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:09

The other is that I, I have to get this book print.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:14

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:34:14

And I'm saying that the energy that I'm pushing between now and

Maria Campbell: 00:34:18

November 7th is super important because I will have the digital book.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:22

I've already fundraised for that, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:34:24

We've got it right away, honestly supported by industry members.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:28

I'm, I'm so amazed once we'll have that ready for December, right?

Maria Campbell: 00:34:32

But guess what?

Maria Campbell: 00:34:33

I could by November 7th, cuz I have to prepay for the book.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:37

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:34:37

And if you think about all these companies have raised like millions

Maria Campbell: 00:34:40

of fricking dollars and they don't even have an idea in the world of

Maria Campbell: 00:34:42

what they're gonna do with the money.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:43

Right?

Maria Campbell: 00:34:44

And know what I'm gonna do with the money.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:46

I'm gonna buy the book, and then we're gonna grow the fund for holiday

Maria Campbell: 00:34:49

sales because buy the holidays.

Maria Campbell: 00:34:51

How many people are gonna wanna give a cookbook to somebody?

Maria Campbell: 00:34:54

and put it in a present, put it under, you know, in their

Adam Lamb: 00:34:57

homes and, you know, and the double bonus says that, hey,

Adam Lamb: 00:35:01

it's, it's a 5 0 1 3 C nonprofit and yep, it's for a good cause.

Adam Lamb: 00:35:05

Now wait a second.

Adam Lamb: 00:35:06

Are you asking for support around getting the book printed?

Adam Lamb: 00:35:09

Like is there anybody in our network?

Adam Lamb: 00:35:11

Yeah, so I'm just gonna put it right up.

Adam Lamb: 00:35:12

Absolutely.

Adam Lamb: 00:35:13

I'm just gonna put it out right here in the chat.

Adam Lamb: 00:35:15

And in the show notes if anybody has any leads or connections for print.

Adam Lamb: 00:35:20

Cookbooks, which we all know is not an easy thing.

Adam Lamb: 00:35:24

We

Maria Campbell: 00:35:24

have a printer, I just gotta pay for it.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:26

So I'm raising, I'm raising 24 grand.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:29

I've already raised three.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:31

Actually more than that because I talked to a few people today.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:34

I, I need to raise $19,000 more to get to my goal by November 7th.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:39

And there's a couple ways people could do it.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:41

Portion of proceeds, events at their.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:44

And then just donate a percentage of sales to Cook Secure to kick this off.

Maria Campbell: 00:35:49

Or they can actually get a direct link in our, in, be in the book

Maria Campbell: 00:35:54

and digital how to videos with a direct link to their business and

Maria Campbell: 00:35:58

or organization by sponsoring $500.

Maria Campbell: 00:36:01

Okay.

Maria Campbell: 00:36:02

And that's, that's the way we're connecting the community.

Maria Campbell: 00:36:05

We're kicking it off.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:07

Where can people go to get more information about this?

Adam Lamb: 00:36:09

I mean, I, I'm, I'm jotting down my notes as quick as I can.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:13

But you threw that $500.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:14

I'm like, Oh my God, that, that would be fantastic.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:16

Right?

Adam Lamb: 00:36:16

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:17

And so, You're looking for partnership to get the book produced and

Adam Lamb: 00:36:21

there's various ways to do that.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:22

Where can they get more information?

Maria Campbell: 00:36:24

I would say right now go to our Instagram at KSU Care.

Maria Campbell: 00:36:27

We're working on getting the up the update for the website.

Maria Campbell: 00:36:32

It's slower on that area, but Instagram is updated right away so they can get

Maria Campbell: 00:36:36

more information about it right there.

Maria Campbell: 00:36:38

And it's

Adam Lamb: 00:36:38

Cook and Facebook and it's Cook who?

Adam Lamb: 00:36:40

It's Instagram slash cook who?

Adam Lamb: 00:36:44

Correct.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:45

Wait a second, I'm gonna put that around.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:46

Mm-hmm.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:47

. Mm-hmm.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:47

. Mm-hmm.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:48

. Maria Campbell: You'll see our thermometer

Adam Lamb: 00:36:53

You know, from area businesses who are supporting such as High Street

Adam Lamb: 00:36:56

Hospitality, the Binum Brothers group.

Adam Lamb: 00:36:59

You know, we're, we're so grateful for these energies.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:02

Tattooed moms, a couple restaurants in our area and including one in Ohio.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:07

That's fantastic.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:08

I, So the word is already getting out and the deadline is for.

Maria Campbell: 00:37:12

November 7th.

Maria Campbell: 00:37:13

I know it's tight.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:14

Well, we gotta, Oh my gosh.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:16

Now if, if we can't get it done, no one can get it done.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:23

And and on Facebook, I know that there's a Cook Who Care community.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:27

There's, but there's also a Cook Who Care Facebook group, right?

Adam Lamb: 00:37:31

Forward facing.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:31

Yes, there

Maria Campbell: 00:37:32

is.

Maria Campbell: 00:37:32

Yep.

Maria Campbell: 00:37:32

Yep.

Maria Campbell: 00:37:33

Okay.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:33

Fantastic.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:34

I wanna make sure that I put that in there.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:36

And I also put contact information for you in case they wanna get

Adam Lamb: 00:37:40

ahold of you directly, cuz who knows?

Adam Lamb: 00:37:41

There may be somebody who wants to come out and just write a big old fat check.

Adam Lamb: 00:37:44

That would be fantastic, wouldn't it?

Adam Lamb: 00:37:46

Chef?

Maria Campbell: 00:37:46

This would be amazing because once we do this structure

Maria Campbell: 00:37:49

then we can replicate this everywhere.

Maria Campbell: 00:37:51

So that's, that's really what I'm standing behind.

Maria Campbell: 00:37:53

I I, I, I always laugh when I'm like, Oh, this guy raised like, you know, $2

Maria Campbell: 00:37:57

million and, and they don't even know what they're gonna do with the money yet.

Maria Campbell: 00:38:01

This is making impact right away.

Maria Campbell: 00:38:03

And especially as I wanted to kick this off sooner because,

Maria Campbell: 00:38:07

you know, we know seasonal depression is starting to kick in.

Maria Campbell: 00:38:10

Yep.

Maria Campbell: 00:38:10

The, you know, challenges during the holidays, it's not happy happiness for

Maria Campbell: 00:38:14

everybody during this time of year.

Maria Campbell: 00:38:15

And you know, we had a few people last year that, that committed suicide,

Maria Campbell: 00:38:19

unfortunately during the holidays.

Maria Campbell: 00:38:20

And you know, I'm trying to see, we can make impact as early as December and

Maria Campbell: 00:38:25

I'm trying to push for that to help more.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:27

Perfect.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:29

I commend you.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:30

I'm always as I said invigorated and ready to jump back in.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:35

And it's, you know, it's just crazy because again, you know,

Adam Lamb: 00:38:40

you seem to be ahead of the curve.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:42

and maybe, maybe we've had the same experiences either like

Adam Lamb: 00:38:45

feeling like you're like seven and a half minutes ahead of your time.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:50

, . Maria Campbell: I always

Adam Lamb: 00:38:52

Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:53

Well, that's because we're time travelers and we're never, ever,

Adam Lamb: 00:38:57

ever where we're supposed to be.

Adam Lamb: 00:38:58

So Maria, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show.

Adam Lamb: 00:39:03

This has been really en.

Adam Lamb: 00:39:04

I know we didn't talk about seasonal challenges, but you know, to, Do you

Adam Lamb: 00:39:08

have a word that, or a thought for those operators out there who perhaps haven't

Adam Lamb: 00:39:13

prepared themselves enough from a p and l standpoint to deal with cold snaps?

Adam Lamb: 00:39:17

I mean, not everybody can hold off until, you know, holiday hell week in

Adam Lamb: 00:39:21

order to get the revenue going, so yes.

Adam Lamb: 00:39:23

What, what can somebody do right

Maria Campbell: 00:39:25

now?

Maria Campbell: 00:39:26

I love your suggestions of how you can be accommodating, like with the half days.

Maria Campbell: 00:39:30

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:39:31

. I think that because burnout is real mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:39:34

as far as what the holidays and people will go through, we gotta think about our

Maria Campbell: 00:39:37

own steam, the steam of others, right.

Maria Campbell: 00:39:40

There's even good things that you could do even before you go to work.

Maria Campbell: 00:39:42

Like maybe everyone takes a walk, like, you know, for half a mile before they

Maria Campbell: 00:39:46

get started and maybe they take that coffee break before the shift starts and.

Maria Campbell: 00:39:51

We're doing something unique or we are, I know Pocos does this often

Maria Campbell: 00:39:55

where they'll collaborate with a neighboring organization to get lunch.

Maria Campbell: 00:39:59

You know, so that way it's not just your own staff meal.

Maria Campbell: 00:40:02

And I know it gets busy, we.

Maria Campbell: 00:40:04

, we gotta be weary of that word, busy in how we use it.

Maria Campbell: 00:40:08

Mm-hmm.

Maria Campbell: 00:40:08

And to say, Could I spend 30 minutes walking down the

Maria Campbell: 00:40:11

street with my team outside?

Maria Campbell: 00:40:12

Yes, you can.

Maria Campbell: 00:40:13

Okay.

Maria Campbell: 00:40:14

I, I think that 30 minutes, just like your one-on-ones, like maybe

Maria Campbell: 00:40:17

even doing something is just as useful as being in a private room

Maria Campbell: 00:40:21

with them saying, How are you doing?

Maria Campbell: 00:40:22

Oh, I think, how

Adam Lamb: 00:40:23

are things?

Adam Lamb: 00:40:23

Everything's selling.

Adam Lamb: 00:40:23

I think it can be much more impactful.

Adam Lamb: 00:40:26

The other point about that is like, I was thinking that you'd give them some

Adam Lamb: 00:40:30

type of business advice in, in regards to like how they could manage their

Adam Lamb: 00:40:34

p and l for the rest of the quarter.

Adam Lamb: 00:40:35

Oh, sure.

Adam Lamb: 00:40:35

But what you are actually talking about is there's always gonna be

Adam Lamb: 00:40:38

stress during these holidays anyway, whether we've done it to themselves

Adam Lamb: 00:40:41

or the situation we find ourselves.

Adam Lamb: 00:40:43

And for those of us who love this industry so much that

Adam Lamb: 00:40:47

we just keep coming back, we.

Adam Lamb: 00:40:50

Let ourselves get taken out.

Adam Lamb: 00:40:52

So by taking the time to self nurture, by taking care of ourselves, maybe we're

Adam Lamb: 00:40:57

showing up differently emotionally at work and maybe not so stressed out.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:00

Because as we both know, you know, ain't no, ain't no miracles

Adam Lamb: 00:41:06

happening when you're stressed, , no.

Maria Campbell: 00:41:09

And is your face look like this when you like walk in?

Maria Campbell: 00:41:12

Do you look miserable?

Maria Campbell: 00:41:14

You know, and you're like this, You're not even making eye contact,

Maria Campbell: 00:41:16

Are you like smiling at people?

Maria Campbell: 00:41:18

Literally just look.

Maria Campbell: 00:41:20

And like make facial expressions because I've heard from staff members going, Oh,

Maria Campbell: 00:41:23

I feel like my boss is like really upset.

Maria Campbell: 00:41:25

Or maybe there's something I did.

Maria Campbell: 00:41:26

They're really stressed, like, people pick up on your energy and

Maria Campbell: 00:41:30

they're gonna take that energy.

Maria Campbell: 00:41:31

So if you're not changing your attitude and everybody else,

Maria Campbell: 00:41:34

you're not gonna be productive and you're not gonna make your numbers.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:37

Great, great stuff.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:39

I, and I, and I'm, I wanna put a pin in it right there because again, you

Adam Lamb: 00:41:43

and I could just be here forever, but, We got, we got money to raise clearly.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:48

Okay.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:49

? Maria Campbell: Yeah.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:50

Yep.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:51

Chef Maria, thank you so very, very much.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:53

I really appreciate it.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:54

Thank you.

Adam Lamb: 00:41:54

Thank you for coming short notice because I know it wasn't easy to cover for our

Adam Lamb: 00:41:59

good friend Jim Taylor of Benchmark 60.

Adam Lamb: 00:42:02

But to those listeners have an epic week and we'll see you next week.

Maria Campbell: 00:42:06

This is awesome.

Maria Campbell: 00:42:07

Thank you,

Adam Lamb: 00:42:08

Chef.