 Today I'm excited to welcome one of New York City's finest mixologist and restaurant owners. He also happens to be a very good friend of mine. St. Jean-Frasel joins us to talk about longevity in business, crowdfunding his new restaurant, and his plans for the future. This is School of Hustle, the show of refined advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of social here at GoDaddy, and I live and breathe the hustle of business. Today we're filming from the hustle of it all at the WeWork Times Square in New York City. Well, welcome. Thank you. It's so great to be here. It's just so much fun. I love the warm welcome from the team. We've all been excited to have you because you and I go back six years. Yeah. And it means a lot to have you on the show. Well, it's really so nice to be here with you. Well, six years ago when I moved to New York City, I stumbled upon Fort Defiance. Fort Defiance quickly became one of my favorite go-to places in New York, saying a lot because there are a lot of restaurants here. Oh, yeah, sure. There's endless choices. What is it that you do every day to get people like me coming in time and time again? Well, I think the success of Fort Defiance has to do with the way it relates to its neighborhood. And I'm talking specifically about Red Hook, Brooklyn. There's something about the post-industrial waterfront charm of it. The views of the harbor. It's special. It really is. It really is. So what is it about going and designing your menu and building a menu that gets people coming in over and over? Well, at Fort Defiance, we really try, and this is sort of the way that I think about a food and drink in general, is it's really hard to do the simple things right, but it's important to do them right. And so instead of doing something flashy or jumping on a trend, we try to do some basic stuff just as well as we know how to do it. So I bring up the Irish coffee there, which is very well-known. And it's like there's only three ingredients in the whole thing, but it's really well-known because people can't get an Irish coffee that tastes like that anywhere else. Now, can you share what the ingredients are or are they secret? Absolutely. No, there's no secret to it. It's a secret sauce, no? So we heat the mug up that it's in. We add Irish whiskey and sugar, and we heat that first as well, so now everything's hot. You fill that up with super hot water, you pour a shot of espresso on top, and then you shake some just real heavy cream and you pour that on top. Don't sweeten it. Just pour that on, shake it until it's nice and thick and pour that on top. And it's that moment when you drink it, where you get the hot coffee and the cold cream, that's when an Irish coffee is all about. Your commitment to making simple recipes, but at the highest quality. That's it. That's what it's all about. And you said something also about making Fort Stick is around the idea of leaning into the community and the geography. And I'm glad you brought that up because I did want to talk to you about Hurricane, I guess, Superstorm Sandy. And it was a time where when Superstorm Sandy hit, the community of Red Hook pulled together to help each other rebuild. So I wanted to bring that up because what you went through through that, to have that kind of a setback and rebuild. How do you have taken a ton of effort? I'd love for you to tell me about that. So the day of the Superstorm, you could see it just like walking up the street. And it was like, oh, this is like, this is actually terrifying. And so it came, I was at home, you know, a few blocks away, but I looked out over the streets and they were just all filled with water. And I knew at that moment, just from the elevation of the restaurant, that the restaurant had about a foot of water in it or more, and that the basement would be completely full of water. So I didn't know what to do. You know, we were only three years into operation at that point. And I was really at a point with the restaurant where things were tough. I mean, you know, running a small business like this is hard. It was still, you know, a moment in time when people really didn't know where Red Hook was or how to get there. And so there was a moment where I was like, well, this is it. This is, you know, I'm going to hang it up. Like this has been a fun three years, but I'm beat. I'm tired. And this is like, this is too much. I mean, you're describing challenges about awareness and people getting into Red Hook. Now you have the challenge of rebuilding your entire basement, restocking everything that just was underwater. That's a lot. Yeah. So what happened was the first day I was in there, which was the day after the storm. People showed up and offered to help. And that happened from... I remember that. The storm had just, was not even 12 hours old. And still people were in the neighborhood and they were like, what do we do? And how can I help? And you rebuild. Yeah. And it's thriving. Yeah. We reopened like right before Thanksgiving that year. So we were closed for only about a month. I loved seeing the community come together. It was great. And the same spirit is actually reverberating in your life right now because you are also in present day time, you are rebuilding something else. Yeah. This is so crazy. I cannot be more excited. I mean, I... Stingen. Yeah. This is wild. It's wild. Stingen is rebuilding an old iconic New York chop house in Brooklyn. Yeah. And you have crowdfunded this entire endeavor. So community is coming together once again and we are rebuilding once again. And we're moving into something really exciting for you. So I would love for you to tell us about Gage and Tolner. Yeah. Gage and Tolner. Exactly. So what happened was with that is I was looking to open a new bar. And I wanted to do something small. Like a little 30 seat, 40 seat cocktail bar in downtown Brooklyn. And I was looking at places with my friend. And I didn't like what we were seeing that day. And the realtor said, let me show you something else ever in the corner. And starts to lead us over on Fulton Street. And I'm like, is she walking us into Gage and Tolner right now? Yeah. And sure enough, she had the key and just walked us right in. And so that started a journey that, you know, we're still on. But it took us 18 months to put the deal together to sign the lease. And I lived in fear every one of those 18 months that somebody was going to wake up, realize this was available and snatch it out from under us. Now, you also did something very unique to get this up and running outside of signing the lease. But you crowdfunded. Yeah. Like you're literally going to like social to your friends to ask to help me fund a restaurant. Right. You know, the budget for the project basically, you know, quadrupled and more. Yeah. And we said, OK, well, we need a lot more money than I thought. So we tried to raise it the old fashioned way, which is like you just ask rich people for money and then try to make a good case. And hopefully they'll give you some. And after the last one, you know, the last potential deal kind of fell through. And we said, we got to do this a different way. And we set up this thing where we tried to raise a quarter of the budget of the restaurant through just people on the street, through people of the world, you know. And we launched it in August. We got really good press like right away. Yes, you did. And we knew we would because, you know, Gage and Tolner hold such a special place in the hearts of so many people who live in Brooklyn and in New York in general. So I knew those people were out there. And if I could just get the word out that we were doing this, I knew that they would show up and they did. So we met our minimum goal. So what that did, all the press around that and the activity on that site, that attracted the attention now of the larger investors who were able to come in and take on a bigger chunk of the funding. That's amazing. Now this is one of my favorite parts of the show. St. John, we are going to play a game called Hustle Time and see how many questions we can get through in 60 seconds. I'm psyched. So say the first thing that comes to mind. Yep. I will try to read fast. Okay. I don't want to cost you. So team, 60 seconds on the clock. Last person you texted. My girlfriend. Early murder night owl. Early murder. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Favorite part of your day? Morning. Best part of your workout? Kettlebell. Personal trainers. Effective or too much cash? Fireplace or fire pit? Fire pit. Most powerful emotion? Anger or love? Love. So shaming your roles? Role. First place you'll visit when you retire? When I say this. Time to take two to get ready in the morning? Half an hour. Aliens, Factor, Fiction? Factor. Finish the sentence, when I dance I look like? I'm sorry, what was the question? When I dance I look like? When I dance I look like an octopus. You could have one superpower, what would it be? Invisibility. Would you rather fly or talk to animals? Talk to animals. Favorite holiday? My birthday. Instagram or Twitter? Instagram. binge watch or watch weekly? Binge watch. Your go-to outfit? I'm wearing it. Vacation, lunch on the beach or active hike? Active hike. Dogs or cats? Dogs. Favorite movie theater treat? Popcorn. Oh! I feel good about that, I feel good about that. I feel good about that. Oh my gosh. How'd I do? How'd I do? 22. Oh! Now for this next set of questions, these are the questions that we ask everybody. Yeah. And you know, feel free to not like short answer like hustle time, but short, just to kind of move through. Sound good? Yeah. Okay. Favorite part of your day? Really the morning. When my body changed when I had a kid, he's nine years old now and I used to be a serious night owl, now I'm totally a morning person. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? I was having a hard time and I turned to my dad for advice and he said, well, get used to it. That's kind of, that's the best piece of advice. I love it. Worst piece of advice? Oh my God. I'm in the restaurant business. I get bad advice every day. You know what you should do? You know what you should serve here? Yeah. I love the unsolicited opinion, right? You know what you should do? Yeah. Exactly. I get those all the time. Good. How do you use your career to inspire others? You know, I try to be a good person, treat my staff well, and you know, we're in the hospitality business, so there's lots of opportunities to, you know, be nice to people. Absolutely. Ever felt like walking away? Oh, all the time, every day. One thing you still need to learn. Got one thing? How to run a restaurant? Lots of things. Yeah. So many things. I mean, I'm learning all the time. That's what keeps you going. What do you want people to learn from you? I don't know. When I'm at my best, I can really, you know, tap into a well of compassion that's there and I think it exists in everybody. And if you can just get there, you can't get there every day, but when you get there, it feels real good. What's next for you? Gage and Tolner, man, downtown Brooklyn. Who inspires you? Oh, there's, well, there's just so many people in the bar business that inspire me every day. It's like really, it's a really cool business with really nice people in it. Who challenged you? My girlfriend. She's a straight shooter. And I can always count her for honest opinion. Well, we also let everybody know in social that you are coming and Paul Merz Adam had a question. Why did you choose between crowdfunding and private investment loans in your new restaurant? You know, the reason that we thought that crowdfunding would be a great fit for this is the story is awesome and we knew there was a huge audience out there for what we were doing and who would support us and it's even bigger than we thought it was. But if you have a good story and you think that the public will respond to it in a big way, then go public. Don't even, you know, you don't take any loans, don't deal with institutions, just bring it right to the street. Well, Syngin, you've answered a lot of questions for us and we so much appreciate you opening up about what you've gone through to rebuilds, to put yourself out there, crowdfund. There's so many lessons here and thank you for that. I do, however, have one more question for you. It's actually from one of my favorite GoDaddy employees named Moodle. Moodle is just so inspired by this whole conversation and he's had this lifelong dream to open the PugPub. Oh, yeah, that's a good idea. And he seriously wants your help. Give him just a few pieces of advice to make sure that PugPub is successful and keeps customers coming back over and over again. So first of all, I know you're just thinking about one PugPub, but really, when you open your business, you should think about it as if you're opening like 50 of them. Think of it as if you're opening a franchise and that way you get these systems in place that will serve you for all the years that you're open. Also, be consistent. Don't change the offerings every day. If you need to change a direction at the PugPub, do it like you're on an ocean life or just do it very, very gradually. I love it. Well, in closing, in the spirit of a good meal, I love Chinese food at the end of a good Chinese meal as a fortune cookie where you're lucky to find a thought, right? So I actually have three thoughts here and I'm going to read them all to you, three short quotes. And I want you to tell us which of these three quotes resonates most with you and why. Yep, great. One, our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall. Number two, courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. And three, when you fill your mind with positive thoughts, your life will start to change. Was that the first one? Right here. Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall. Yeah, I like that a lot. There's, you know, you fail all the time. You can't lose your mind over. You have to just, you know, always improve, always, you know, try to do better. That's, you know, the unofficial motto of Fort Defiance is Excelsior, which means it's the state motto of New York. It also means ever upward. Like, we may not be the best, but we are better today than we were the day before. That's so great. Thank you, my friend. My pleasure. It's so good to see you. It is so good to see you. And I am so excited for everything you're doing. And I love what you're doing. I hope everybody watching loves what they're seeing at School of Hustle as well, because we are bringing more inspiring stories like Singins to you every Wednesday on Facebook and YouTube, Instagram TV. We're posting across Instagram Stories, Twitter, LinkedIn, basically follow Godaddy everywhere and catch these every week. And don't forget to follow Gage and Toner, because this is going to be New York's next best thing. I'm really excited. Fall 2019. Thank you, everybody.