 This is start-up storefront change is constant. It's inevitable, but it doesn't always have to be bad Hentifiers aren't strangers to their neighborhood. They're from the community and they're trying to build up the community That's near and dear to their hearts from Hentification We get Hentify a development company founded by Barney Santos The goal is to act as a catalyst to stimulate economic growth through entrepreneurial activities Their first project is Boulevard Market a carefully curated food hall and beautiful downtown Monabello It's committed to serving up good food good drinks and good vibes in this video We talk with Barney Santos about the difference between gentrification and Hentification Keeping money local and being greater than the sum of the stereotypes as a community I thank you to cat footwear for sponsoring this episode They're a premier shoe company that empowers builders and doers to reframe the world to create something more meaningful This marks our final episode celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. So let's go out with a bang All right, welcome to the podcast on today's show talking to Barney Santos from Hentify. We don't know. What does your company do? So Hentify is an investment firm We invest in people places and programs in Latino communities specifically for creatives to kind of build strong local economies Encourage people to invest back into their communities. You and I are like only two developers Hey, it's the first time. It's the first time. We're like the young developer crew of LA. Two developers in the same room Which is nice because most developers don't collab necessarily and so it's good to have like I think we're both young and we have the collab. What was your first thing that like got you into real estate or even just curious like even as a kid Maybe there was something maybe Legos and you're like, okay. Maybe there's something here. Yeah, you know interesting enough man I was never interested in real estate at all whatsoever and so like about about like 18 19 years old and it was funny because like I was essentially like I straight out of high school I've always been a hustler, you know like since forever. I mean high school used to sell like chocolate when to your classmates Yeah, I always laugh at this story because it's like I would find out when like this the other classes were doing like their fundraisers and selling Chocolates and so like I would buy chocolates at like a cheap price and then like flip them Like, you know fundraiser price But like after after graduating like I just wanted to see what I can get into so I was gonna go either work at the YMCA Which you know, I'm paying minimum wage at the time But then my homeboy Jerry was like a dude like like I'm working in real estate in a mortgage in the mortgage side Okay, okay, and he was like he saw me saw my like, you know my candor my my charismatic sort of like nature at the time When I was really young and he was like look here's my last check I can you can get paid this much or you can make this much per hour. Yeah Yeah, I want that check right there. So like that was kind of like the star. I got into mortgage No, it's totally And then he had me on the phones like the next day It's just like bang bang and carrying him out and I got I got a lead that first day We worked it together and so like within like two weeks like I got my first deal close And it was like a refinance and ever since then I was somewhat touching it I had my own mortgage thing and then fast forward got into like foreclosure management for asset for the banks on the on the east side and then on east coast I should say and then yeah, then eventually got into the real estate develop and not even buy it like Oh, that's what I want to do You know, I always whenever we're getting to ventures or projects It's always a byproduct of like what's the need and then I'm like, okay, how'd I learn it right like? I know you kind of like yeah Very similar. Yeah, and it just was the need at the time I'm like, okay, cool. Well, like I'll have to learn development. Like just on the fly You're not gonna go to real estate school. You know, how'd you do? What'd you do like for me? I just got this audio book of like real estate terms. Oh, no, I was like oh and oh, I was like little quiz in myself and oh IRR yeah, I was like, okay, it's people listening audio books help a lot It's a cheat sheet and every world has their own words a whole doctor You got your words and I think a lot of people are scared because they don't want to sound dumb But it turns out there's like a really, you know, quick library of YouTube videos That'll tell you every acronym every word you could go be a surgeon tomorrow or at least pretend your way into the hospital Do you learn anything nowadays? I for me it was don't be scared Don't be scared 100% jump into it because you'll learn it was literally the real estate development for dummies I still have that book in my in my office But it was most about like the due diligence the first part of like the first six months of like real estate development So we're saying yeah, yeah, yeah, like what is a you know, like Environmental phase one study all that stuff right like had to learn all that and then as I was going I just kind of like I'm not a person afraid not to ask questions So like I just ask everybody who I know who's in real estate. Hey, what does this mean? What is this do like is this right? And so they would kind of give me guidance. So it was kind of cool that way Yeah, and then what made you want to zone in on like the Montebello project in particular. Yes So that particular project was a byproduct of the fact that so we were living in my wife And I were living in downtown Los Angeles for like a good. I don't know like a while like eight years We saw it developed from like before Ellie live before Rouse was in there. And so like got to saw the whole Lot of parking lots. Yeah, Joe's parking was just like Malcolm in the middle own parking lots Malcolm in the middle for us. Yeah, the actor like he Immunity has a story where it's like he didn't know where to put his money and he got a lot of advice But he just wanted to be like the cheap parking lot guy in LA Like that's what he wanted to be for no reason and so he ends up buying all these lots around like where you know It's all developed now And then he ended up obviously selling them for a ridiculous amount of money But he just wanted to be the cheap so he'd go look cross-free if it was 10 bucks. He'd be nine bucks That's like that's simple and you just liked it like you just liked giving people a place to park He probably cashed out crazy with the cells. Oh, yeah, I mean that stuff is real estate prime. I mean, yeah, I Yeah, I mean we was in that world And so I got to see y'all of downtown LA develop and become kind of like what it is today and saw it gentrified completely You know, I knew you right away. I was like, I remember the moment was like at two o'clock in the morning I looked out my window and I saw like this young 22 year old girl walking her poodle and I was like, oh, okay Like it's changed Yeah So, you know, we moved to Monobello my wife and I cuz you know downtown was just getting too expensive And I just was spending to I don't know if you know, like it's like you're in that environment You kind of want to spend like and so like I was spending like so easy easy downstairs You go to a bar, you know, right eat out, right? And so it's crazy came to Monobello and I noticed like oh wow like, you know, Monobello There's really there was at the time. It was nothing much to do like anything there Within it maybe like a handful of things that were just like traditional businesses legacy business have been there forever And so, you know in in their core downtown corridor, like I said that with air quotes, right? Like I was like, well, this is a downtown. I just came from downtown like where's the disconnect Why is it that our Latino communities don't have this kind of like economically developed place that we can label as a downtown? And so I noticed there's a lot of cities like that and that's but the cities wanted to have that Yeah, and so I saw this piece of land. It was a building right in the corner right in the heart of it Empty broken windows graffiti kind of like a lot of buildings in that downtown So I was like, all right. Well, let's look into it Like let's see who owns it. What can we do with it? You know just start that just that whole process And so and come to find out the city owned it Been empty for like I don't know 15 years or so City bought it with like redevelopment dollars that they weren't supposed to use And so like they were considering putting up for RFP, right with that property and then there was like an acre of land behind it But they wanted to partner with a larger developer. They weren't trying to I mean, you know, I always it's always the case Yeah, yeah, they're not trying to see like someone brand new and be like, oh, yeah Here's an acre and a half right take it over and I get it So I started bringing people to the table like I brought says our job is foundations the table to do affordable housing Behind us and we do the retail they could have penciled out Met some other developers and then finally eventually just kind of like Landed at a concept and some and met some good developers and jumped on to the RFP with them But it wasn't until after like I spoke to hundreds of people in the city found out what the real problem was Which essentially is a you know, like people our age kind of like, you know Uperly mobile millennials going to college traveling watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain Were wanting more out of life retail, you know, like shopping food and The cities that we live in just aren't supplying that and so, you know There was a disconnect between supplying demand and the legacy businesses are scared to change because it's just you know They've been there for 20 years 30 years immigrant on mostly and so they're not gonna it's a cash only business You know like and stuff like that So a lot of the talent was just leaving and so they were just leaving the Monabella area moving to West L.A Downtown Hollywood and so all that look talent was gone. No businesses to serve them And so I was like, all right. Well, let's let's definitely build something here See if we can do something cool that can activate the street, you know, you know revitalize downtown and yeah, that was the same It was the same thing. It's like they I think their biggest problem was how do we keep the young people here? Right, that was the whole thing like everyone was like 30s and there was nothing for them to do And so they realized like all the all the money leaves. I was I grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts And at the time there was an economic developer His name is John Judge great guy that I met and he had this like excellent flowchart of like what happens once kids become 24 to 30 and they would all move to Boston and even if they didn't move to Boston and Boston is 90 miles away There was like literally a graph of the money leaving Springfield because there was not much to do there was stuff to do Bring drain not too much and it would just like they would just drive to Boston for the weekend Yeah, like that's what kids did and they would spend all that money Yeah, his whole thing was like man, how do we get the money to stay? Like how do we build it? But it's hard. It's hard because it's like I think I think naturally people go Even if we build it, they won't come. That's the thing people get wrong. This is the myth The biggest myth is we're gonna do all this work and no one's gonna care and it's totally not the case That's what I love about development. That's what I learned I think with border X was it was just like a smashing success and then I'd get these like DMs on Instagram around how a Family would just be like look before I would uber first of all I get it I get a babysitter, right? So it's like 50 bucks then I'd uber downtown That's 40 bucks then I uber back that's another 40 bucks and then we spend whatever 50 bucks 60 bucks at a brewery Right, and so it's like a two three hundred dollar night And now they have the same experience for like 50 bucks Right in the backyard So once you know, I started getting some of that that was after but it was like oh wow This is it can be that simple. Yeah, you know what I mean? And so the fear of failure or whatever it is Doesn't need to be there and it was funny because talking to a lot of investors too Like even the investor community has that same sort of like mentality They're like, I don't know it's too much of a risk and you know I'd rather invest in like a West L. Air like a downtown or it's proven or whatever. Yeah, yeah Except you're competing with a hundred hundred percent. Yeah, that was my pitch Like that was my pitch with like even recruiting the concepts and the food vendors like was like you know You can go open up in downtown sure But you're competing with like bestia and like, you know, like all these things in all these places Or you can go to a place like Montabello or somewhere on the east side and stand out like crazy You are the you are the attraction. Yeah, right? And so like people some people got it some people didn't my thing for that was always and I still use this all the time It's basically like look it's density So within a five mile radius of anywhere in LA like throw a dart There's a million people and for you to be successful as a business You just need a hundred or two hundred of those to show up a day. Yeah, it's a pretty good odds Yeah, you know if this were in the desert, I'd say you have a point Mr. Investor, but you don't you have no point Yeah, right and LA is proven. I think of any other city LA's proven that you can create destinations in places that no one would ever go 100% and if the product's good, that's it or there's a vibe Yeah, you know, and I think that's my whole thing now if there's if there's one million people then five miles You win period. Yeah, I mean density is key man. Yeah diversity, too, right? It's like you can you can build something for a niche niche market But there's still a lot of those people to whatever those people look like a ton of those people I mean Bell is a perfect example of that Yeah, and and even in that market itself like there's still a lot of you can look at the data and see who's there But there's a bunch of people who are like Not on the data sheets, right like sort of like Undocumented, but there's a ton of them. Yeah, yeah There's a lot of us in this community is just kind of like ready to spend money But just have no one really cool to go to and so like I think there's a whole market to be tapped into That's the thing you always talk about. It's like we deserve nice stuff. Yeah, that's the thing you say a lot Yeah, I believe it. Can you like that impact that though? Like what do that mean to you? Yeah, man? You know, I just you know, it's There's a lot of like stuff that people always have a conversation with me about in relation to like Latino communities And like what what is there and what's usually gets opened up in these places? And so like, you know, and I get it, right? Like People want to pander to like the lowest common stereotype, right? But I think we're greater than the sum of our stereotypes as a community And so, you know, a lot of times what happens You'll see people open up concepts that have like all kinds of pictures of like Frida Kahlo or you know Conchas on the wall or whatever, right? And so I'm just like, well, you know, that's cool and there's a market for that totally I'm not just like discriminating against that either But I just feel like there is a community that wants nice stuff that you can get only like on the west side or downtown That still feels authentic that still feels like connected to who we are as people and all it is is little touches and nuances of design Aesthetic music, right? All that stuff like, you know, all that stuff you programming And so that's what I mean by like, okay Well, our community deserves nice stuff because not I'm saying that there isn't nice stuff there It's just that I think the elevated experience that people want from our community is it's hard to find and so I think that's a key That was always my thing like being from Peru There's a bunch of Peruvian restaurants here or in general like everywhere But every time I go to one it would just it would be like the design would be awful Be super rundown and it's a thing that like when you up when you peel back the onion being in Peru If you were in Peru like the 80s, even the architecture is really built around like safety first It's built around there's fences outside, you know There's spikes on the things and it's something you don't see in America Like that's not a thing you grow up with and so when you're a culture That's at some point was that war and all this stuff or whatever or like Civil War then it defines the architecture We just want a meal like we don't care how it looks, right? But then you move to America a different culture It's got it has to be both you have to and if you have a cocktail program That has to be good too all three of these things have to exist and I'm seeing more of that now Now there's like obviously some pretty good Peruvian restaurants around LA and with great design beautiful bar program the whole thing But it's like the migration of the cultural mindset Yeah, of like give yourself permission to be free kind of a thing Yeah, because it's stem it's like it stems back from you know oppression or just or just these like well the bare minimum Bare minimum yeah, I'm good with it just being like good food and that's it like and the common thing I always hear is like it's not it's got to be better than what I can make at home and the experience has to be better too Right, especially COVID COVID like through a hole. Oh, yeah, you know true. It's got to be wait because people start how to cook So it's like it's got to be really how to drink a lot more Yeah, but yeah Salvadorian food too like I you know, I'm a Salvadorian and like same thing with like You know the getting purposes everywhere all over town same exact thing Like it's very few and far in between Salvadorian places that you find like whoa It's true dope like yeah location good spot. Which is like why I love Vicho so much, right? Yeah, it's kind of like it's great. Yeah. Yeah, so they kind of they know how to balance the two Which is it's just hard to do give people a sense of the program that you have at the location at Boulevard market Yeah, so Boulevard market essentially is you know indoor outdoor food hall has old 100 year old building that you know We repurpose and we got it Reinforced they kept the bones of it to make it look gorgeous and old and then we have the outdoor courtyard Which we kind of there was a building outside We tore down So we can open wide because we kind of looked at we studied architecture from like Europe and you did kind of like We saw it like how Europeans do food halls and how Mexico City does food halls and just in general architecture We liked how like in Spain how they have sort of like this general design where it's almost like enclosure And then they have like a community inside of that and it almost like you're talking about like the Barcelona Yeah, yeah, the square blocks. That's right the square blocks. Yeah, that's exactly right We kind of like that idea of like, okay, you can create this insulated experience you know still within this grand grander sort of conversation of the street and We landed at that because it was the most cohesive to creating like it's almost like inner density, right? It feels like a tight environment So we have a total of eight concepts in total at bull of our market, you know We have I think it's like Five outside and shipping containers and then three inside in the building. What's the mix of like food and drink or? Yes dessert stuff like that. It's mostly all food. The only thing that's not food was coffee, right? So we have coffee santo coffee santo that while how amazing what I can coffee Yeah, they're really really artisans when it comes to their coffee and then we have alchemy craft Which is the bar that my wife and I own but other than that it's all food everybody else What has been the hard part of this so whenever I tell people about development It's there's a lot more behind the scenes in terms of working with the tenant to help them understand business or their financials And I think I think like people like us know that but I think the world doesn't right and so like we have a publicist on our team It's the same. I'm like you wouldn't believe the level of like consulting that we end up doing for some of these companies Because it's like I can't make beer doesn't make me dumb They don't know how to create a deck doesn't make them dumb, but when we're doing this for these communities It's like very much a collaborative a lots more there than than I think people realize. It's an interesting dynamic I will say that that is probably the one surprising thing that if I were to tell people people would be like shocked about Because everyone thinks everything's got it's together. You know, it's totally not First of all like for us we're dealing with seven other Businesses right with a bar so I deal with myself, but like I said we're lying on Yeah, so and two of those is an incubator. So we have an incubator program at boulevard So we have one kitchen at art our restaurant. We own the permit. It's our kitchen We have two concepts working out of there. So we're really hands-on with them right like we're you know We meet with them Often talk about their P&L's and help them put together. Is that you or do you have a team? Myself and with Claudia so Claudia Morales shout out to Claudia. She is an amazing she I met her at USC She was in the social entrepreneurship program, but she is a background in like, you know a nonprofit world and case management and working with Organizations and since she got work started working with me. She's been she died deep into like the food space and food security But she runs out with me and so we both kind of like do our parts She helps with like more the organization the operation side of the program creating all the documents and like everything Formalities and metrics reporting and meeting with them also and then I do a lot of the business advising So like I help with giving the feedback of a marketing about their P&L's about their numbers Yeah, you know even but even yourself even as little as like menu design and like people don't understand the nuance of like Yeah, don't have 40 things on the menu. Well, yes Yes, but also like she's a factor The placement of what of what you want to sell like also like there's a lot of studies about like, you know Putting those stuff you really want to sell the high the most the best margin stuff in more in the eye line versus like above or below Like if you you know, there's little things like that You kind of like once you start implementing them you see like massive Yeah sales and signs matter signs matter border X we learned that they didn't have anything They had it like up there like in the rafters, which was cool. It looked cool Yeah, but no one would you know like this Behind the TV Benny boy just did it actually the Benny boy now has one lowered it so they have two They have one that is eye level, but then there's always a line like if it's busy There's a line of like 20 30 people and so if you're in that if you're like, let's say 10 people deep you now There's one for you So the whole idea there is you're right, you know as soon as you order you ready know to go Yeah, that's great. So but it's like little things like to your point that make the biggest difference Yeah, but you know all that hand-holding with with our groups, which is phenomenal That's the point what we did it like we love that It's been such a joy to see people develop in their career in their business But then there's also the inner dynamics of how to even communicate with different tenants Right because every tenant is so different and how they function and how they work and how their styles some are extremely assertive Some are really like I'll do anything it takes to make this work and some are a little more lax and sort of their marketing approach And some people have you know, like maybe they don't do any marketing Do you do all the programming for them or do you collaborate? I guess maybe we kind of collaborate I mean we kind of like set the precedent for like, okay Well, this is what we're gonna do. We try to do one big activation per month at Boulevard That's like what we decided to do and you had a big one. Yeah a TV. Yeah. Yeah, some people like that I was dope with Netflix. So we did one last year around. I think it was November Which is pretty crazy because considering the fact that we were just open like for two months Yeah, we're in we partner with Netflix on the season two premiere of hentified the show hentified Which is funny because our name exactly name is hentified. So it's a perfect pair perfect Yeah, I really what they know about that ahead of time. I know one of my friends from grad school kind of connected us Jessica she connected me to Michael who was on the team at the time Netflix would built out some like a multi cultural marketing team Focus on community and they were gonna do some activation I think with like a food truck and go to like a film premiere. It was kind of like pretty standard Pretty standard. It's kind of not really interesting not it and she yeah, exactly So she was like no don't do that talk to Barney Boulevard. It was right. So this whole thing and so We had conversation initially what it could look like and then they just ran it up the chain of command And apparently America Ferrero, which was like the person who created the show. She was like, I love it. Let's do it And so yeah, we had two activations at Boulevard One was that like a private event where it was just like all the influencer people from the show America Ferrero was there able Longoria like all the creators They all kind of came out in part and we had a good time there But they also did like a lot of press that day So they had live, you know streaming interviews and then the second one which was my favorite part Which was like the public-facing event and that was a major activation. I shut down the street next to us I asked a bunch of like lowriders to come and hang out Pop-ups because you know, it's like when you're Boulevard. It's like the culture of the downtown and We gave away like a hundred items for each vendor people had special menus that they created for that were like based on the show It was like a dope activation. I found like a paletero cart guy. I was giving away pop I mean, it was so cool. Yeah, it was really representation of the community, but it felt authentic It wasn't like pandering, you know, right? It was like an authentic and it was packed I mean, it was crazy packed. What has been the hard part like have you had tenant turnover? What has been the part that surprised you on the other side of it? Thankfully, we haven't had any tenant turnover like that is actually I'm really proud of fact that we've been open for a year That's amazing zero tenant turnover, which is actually from what I hear is kind of rare Yeah, I have a couple other friends because you give a shit a lot. That's that's a lot Like I tell people it can be that simple. Just care. Yeah It's it is true. It is true. Honestly, it is true Yeah, like, you know, like we care about so much the experience for the customer and we do a lot and we change We're constantly iterating changing lights like adding plans doing this changing the music I mean, we're learning as you go all do its constant iteration constant iteration but you know, I study entrepreneurship at Cal State and USC and a little bit other places and it was all about tech and like the whole iteration process of like customer discovery and Development and so, you know lean startup methodology and so like for me, it's like it's a I'd rather I opened in like All right, let's just constantly improve. We'll eventually it's a place where it's perfect, you know But right now it's constantly at at at so it's been good. That helps a lot. I mean, but the hardest thing I think for us has been You know, initially I didn't I didn't think about the dynamics of in order for everyone to be super successful We have to have an enormous amount of transactions that happened on a monthly basis We have to probably have like about 25 to 30,000 transactions that go through that place a month for everybody to be like we're good So that's a that's a pretty 50 grand 60 grand something like that 50 60,000 total transaction all the vendors like per month. Okay. Yeah Yeah, so that's Roughly buff. Yeah, it could be like about 40 to 60,000 per per vendor. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense Yeah, so, you know, so that's a whole it's a lot of traffic, right? It's a whole lot of traffic. And how big is the whole space? It's about 8,500 square feet. So it's there's some outdoor space, too Yeah, that's that courtyard. So that's that's predominantly where people want to hang out. Yeah, it's Yeah, it was a premium for us the bars bar outside. No, it's inside Yeah, but it's it works as people come in and out and they kind of you making drinks Do you ever go back there and do your thing? I did in the beginning. That's a lot. I would totally do. I did It was fun. That's totally my wife until I get pissed. I mean, why are you back there? Yeah, I get by many as two items Peaceco Sour Margarita My wife was totally like get out of there. You shouldn't be there. You should be hiring people, but it was fun It's fun. It's also like the feedback, right? The thing you're the thing entrepreneurship thing you're talking about You know when it's broken like people tell you or like you can see the expression on their face And that's that's something that's how I look at I'd be like, I'm gonna make great drinks But also get the feedback and just talk just what's going on. What would you eat? Yeah, you like it So then when you do you know exactly what you're looking for you're also watching how like you like how humans Because the human being is funny where super funny, but you you'll see them enter. What do they do then? You'll take notes. Oh, they're going. Oh, this is where they go more often Okay, then like they found me to get a drink was that obvious or not And then like where do they go after that and you'll see the behavior Yeah, you never know the behavior until you're open no matter what an architect tells you Yeah, 100 they do weird shit They go where is the most intuitive the path of least resistance right essentially and so like I get it But you're right. That was the constant I was always looking asking and then also on top of that the process for us The bar is like I always looked at it as like how do you make it like a vending machine in the sense of a soda? Like you just pick a button he comes out of product right like in the sense of efficiency and time So even the drinks and we mix mixed drinks like how do you cut the how do you cut the time? Like how do you make it faster, right? It's like a margarita is like we pre-make them and put them in kegs So it's like all drinks. Oh nice. Yeah, so like stuff It's so it moves quick quick quick so we could turn the customer over because people get pissed like it's weird Like at a bar in Hollywood you wait what like maybe 20 minutes sometimes 30 minutes for drinks They're going to boulevard markets. They don't have to have that experience. Exactly, but they'll get pissed if they wait for 20 Yeah, so, you know, we we try to cut it and we try to we get it down to like, you know Two to three minutes like per customer. So we kind of just burn it through fast But um, it was a lot of that in the beginning, but now I'm I'm no longer like behind the bar Yeah, my team's like, you know No one wants dad to be home. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's how it goes Now my team's awesome though. They're great. I love them. They're it's like a family man We just celebrate like I said a year and did you have them like on flexible leases just because you didn't know or was it all Are they all in long-term leases? Yeah, or maybe they even preferred that no That was the one thing that we because we didn't build out the tenant improvement spaces like they they invested in their own Improvements they we got we gave them like long-term leases to kind of help offset that because the typical food home models the developer develops Everything builds up the kitchens and then gives people like a one-year lease, right? Because food halls, you know, you never know something my hip might not and they ask people to leave or whatever We're like we're vested into all of us. And so like we want to make sure everyone's successful We're playing with the concept around like a startup to storefront building where it's like we do this similar thing But the people inside of just like fans and members of the podcast people that have been on like vitro Oh, yeah, X CJ all these different companies and then creating like a cool Immersive space where it's like what we have one empty space all the time for a company That might be new or like like that the lettuce grow in the back Yeah, they do pop up sometimes but that's new to them And so it could be a place for like let's just do a pop-up do a bunch of these cool farm stands in a really unique way And I was like but it's creating the the here We are serving entrepreneurs and trying to make more and now we have a space, right? So it's like it's almost like the eat your own dog food type You kind of like what we did here. Yeah, but more of them. Yeah. Yeah. No, I like the idea But again, it's like I know nothing about that. Yeah, it's the same thing. It's like starting over like, okay Let me break it. Well, that's dope though, right? I mean, I personally if you're like me like I I love learning Yeah, the part of the start where you have to immerse yourself in something totally brand new That's I like that like I'm sure you guys did that when you started the podcast too, right? It was a massive deep dive into this thing this thing was like an art to be honest That's what I like about it when people ask me like, oh, you know, did you ever think it'd be a business? I'm like, honestly, no like everything you see has just been a slow evolution and natural like Very organic, you know, we had like one follower on YouTube Yeah, but that's the game But it's Coming it's own yeah, which is great But also just talking to people right so it's also like to me this is therapy to me This is mind-share to me. This is making like deeper connections And so yeah, it also satisfies a lot of things that aren't on any financial statement, right? Yeah Yeah, it's worth it. It's like that's cool In fact, so somebody I remember like because I used to run the Center for Entrepreneurship at Cal Satellite and I remember it was like 2016-17 somebody I remember a kid asked me like if you can give me some advice So like what to do he was like an undergrad To like just learn more about different things and I was like dude start a podcast and just invite people like, you know Because I just think the idea of just getting that mind-share and like talking to some awesome people like it's just good Like intrinsically just for yourself a side of the business side of it just to personally learn, you know Yeah, and people like it too I mean if you were like we provide great content and so it's like your people aren't just coming on to waste time with us It's like ideally we're gonna put their their their tidbits out into the world and other people can You know, hopefully it grows there their little audience or whatever they're trying to do too. Yeah Yeah, I mean that's dope. Yeah, we were touching on exploring that idea like what do we want to do? Podcasts is one of those things not for us to do but to provide a space for the community to do it, you know Because I think that's the other component too. That's like a lot of people just don't have that access like this equipment They cost money, you know, and so there's a lot of creative people that just have the gap and they want to do and express themselves They just don't have a space to do that So there's there's ideas like that we've been exploring too about kind of how we can I mean the whole goal for us as a Company is like how do you empower people right the creatives in the community to kind of do their thing without getting in their way What are you working on now? So we're we're dialing then even more like boulevard, you know, as you know Like sometimes building something is great and you could pass it off and hands off a little bit But like, you know, we operationalize boulevard market operationalize the bar completely 100% so that I'm not it's not dependent I mean, oh whatsoever and we're pretty close to that now We have all our people in place and then the next project We're working on is we just want an RFP for this for those of you don't know it's like a request for proposal for a city For a development in the city of Whittier Whittier has this like downtown area. It's called uptown Whittier and Yeah, it's great location developed has a lot of businesses there, but it's not really cohesive There's nothing really connecting it all together And so the city had like six acres of land that they wanted to develop They wanted to do housing affordable housing market rate housing and then retail and so essentially the RFP that we applied for was To jump in with three with two other partners to do this collective six acre development So we're taking on the retail side of it. And so the next project will be, you know We're finalizing everything we the ENA agreement and all that stuff with the city But yeah, it's about 11,000 square feet right in the heart of their uptown like piece of land It's been there for like 30 40 years Just land not even there's nothing on it So it's like perfect and right behind it is this massive like five-story like Parking structure, which is like gold for us. That's awesome. Yeah, that's perfect 100% so it'll be like a similar concept similar in the sense that it will be Retail food community focus, but like I don't I don't think I'm gonna use containers You know for me the containers thing it was never I'm not like I've heard they don't last or they kind of get run down No, not even that I mean for sure. They're building material like anything, right? But like I think for me the the use of the the material was more of like I was inspired by like downtown project and like Tony Shae You know they were they were our advisors when we first started the development We actually reached out to Zappos and they showed us and you know, they were like Oh, you know, you can do this in your town and at the time nobody was doing it And then more people started doing it. Yeah community. So it's not as became a fad. Yeah Well, I would say it's like right at the border now, right of that like and so anything more than now I'm like, okay, it's not cool. It's not hip. It's not innovative anymore The thing that excites me is how can you do something different like how do you like change the landscape a little bit? And make people think differently and inspire them to kind of like invest in their communities in new ways And so we're trying to figure out how we can do that with this new space Like how do we still do the idea of Boulevard like in a different fashion? But like using different materials different design methods and see how we can approach it I'm I want to do something new with retail and change it a little bit. So we'll see how that works It's so we're still in the I excited do excited cliffhanger. Yeah, I mean too good stuff, but I'm sure it'll be great It's a bunch of creative people and like the one thing I like to do is I like to kind of let people do their thing I don't want to get in their way. I kind of like say like this is the prompt There's and then push and we kind of like let's push it a little bit more Let's push a little more and then we kind of fine-tune it But I think the creative abrasion part of it is my best in my favorite part Yeah This aspect of like the design and the elements the division like that's fun because it's like create It's all creative and it's 100 and then you figure out how to do it, right? That's the best part well in the vein of what's next last week I think you tweeted out something like if I don't build a business within the next year. I'm gonna buy one. Yeah, you saw that It's a really cool statement. We go deep. Yeah, but I wanted to like pick your brain on that and like What's in your mind for like what you would build or what you would buy and how that would factor into what you're already doing Yeah, I mean, so I think for me it's a byproduct of like, okay like I want to keep growing I want to keep investing in the community and so That's the that's where it comes from 100% holy like the more opportunities we get to invest the more jobs We can create the more opportunities we can give to entrepreneurs. So when I look at okay, like I'm starting to get anxious now a little bit like, you know building and Managing two different things all together, right? And so like I like managing a lot. It's great, but I love building I'm I love creating So I'm getting a little anxious now and so like I'm like now I want to okay Like how do we what's the next thing I want to sink my teeth into The Whittier project is gonna take a lot of time. We have another thing that we're working on right now I can't announce but it's if it goes through it'll be a big thing for next year for Boulevard extension of our brand But I think the next phase is like, okay, like either we're gonna do launch something new or acquire something I've always been fascinated with this idea of like private equity, right? But like for good first, you know, because a lot of private equity is all about like slashing costs and high firing people So like how do you leverage private equity an innovative model at the local level? Like can you do roll-ups? Can you acquire like legacy businesses that are like sort of the owners are want to retire and they have nobody to pass It on to like can you buy like ten of them and roll them into one concept and then scale You know like across the board, you know So things like that are kind of interesting me and then how do you leverage a layer of social impact on top of that? Like can you do workforce development programming? Can you do entrepreneurship training on those things? That's the layer that I every project we want to sink our teeth into has to have a layer of that It can't just be I mean There's gonna be probably some projects that are purely like a pure capitalistic endeavor to help create more like revenue for the other stuff But mostly everything has to have some sort of social impact and enterprise along along the line So to answer your question, yeah, I just I'm getting anxious and I need to take my teeth into something Let it drive you bro. Let that anxiety drive you. Yeah, totally does Everything you're talking about it has to deal with the community and earlier you talked about how these legacy businesses in Montabello were Against it and I'm sure you face some some nimby ears pushing back on on the gentrification And I'm just curious how you deal with that because when no one knows you and No one knows like your intentions or anything like how do you? address that pushback from the community that you are trying to enrich and and all that stuff Yeah, so, you know hentify comes from the term hentification Which is so gentrification is when outsiders come in and push people out, you know, you know intentionally or unintentionally But hentification is when people from the community invest back into their community, right? So like they're opening up concepts and businesses and they do it in a responsible way That's in alignment with kind of like the fabric the social cultural fabric that's there And you know, hopefully creating interventions to help offset some of the negatives, right? At least that's what I think and so the company hentify We bill wanted to be the action verb of that and so like how do we? Initiate that more in the communities that are considered our communities with local people at driving it So for me, it's like, okay. Well knowing that every project we sink our teeth into There is a lot of research that goes in that we have to do like meeting the community having karma Like even before Montabello we met with probably over 200 people like just from the local community look organizations Chamber of Commerce Council members like leaders in the community We had town hall meetings not even to say this is what we're doing, but like hey, what do you want? Like what what is it you need? so my opinion like asking the community and Asking them what they're nervous about and afraid about like first and trying to figure out How do you create interventions to offset that stuff, right? So I think that's the key is being intentional as you possibly can so you're tapping into like their their fear of the is Of the unknown and so the more information that you can provide them the better off they'll be and the more supportive they'll be Yeah I mean I I think the easier it is for you to get an honest representation of what the needs of the community are Right so you can address them directly and build something that that will have a higher chance of being successful and also You know try to offset some of those negative externalities that you don't want look I mean gentrification is a real thing, right? Like it's a real thing, but by the time a restaurant pops up in the corner It's a byproduct of things that are already taking place, right? Like the community is already changing and so like Communities change on their own like they evolve over time. They just do The question is how do you create interventions and how do you be responsible about how you participate right in evolutions? Can you do it responsibly? Can you do it effectively? Can you lobby for more affordable housing? Can you leverage your your voice and like work with council members to create more policies to help offset some of those negative things? That's what my feelings are. It's like, how do you be responsible in the community? So like we generally haven't gotten much pushback because I think people see us as genuinely caring about those things I remember with with Benny boys the same as like we literally knocked on doors at the beginning of this Yeah, really the hypothesis is do you want me here or not and if not that's okay We can have the discussion I can move this project somewhere else And that's really it and I think if but it takes time I mean you got to be willing to knock on people's doors introduce yourself to the and yeah, I don't know It's a it's a relationship is the way I phrase it and that those things take time Well, I well we don't want to do is pretend like we know what the solutions are right, right? Like what I do know for sure is the community knows what the problems are And so the more we can hear the voice of the community understand what the problems are the better it is That we can sort of interpret that and say like okay Well, this is essentially the insight we're we're extracting from that And this is the solution that we can potentially create to address those things on Benny boy It was funny. So the the building or the lot was zone pf which means public facility which means it's meant for like a hospital or like Fire station something like that, but it's too small. It's too small to build anything like that on you couldn't park it and when we were going through like the approval process there was somebody that Put out into the news like the local news saying The government was spending money and instead of building something for the public. They were building a brewery And so we had this like weird. I mean it felt very like fake news Trump very like I don't even know how to combat this, you know, and so I'm like, I'm there at the neighborhood council Just explaining this and I have someone Like yelling because they firmly believe yeah, I'm like read the headline and they bought in Yeah, and it's like it's the moment where you realize logic doesn't matter, you know I'm like even saying something like why would the government pay for a brewery like that's dumb like that doesn't matter to them And so it was it was it was weird It was the first time I had literally dealt with that and someone on the neighborhood council was the one who leaked that and so they were they were pushing that narrative They had their agenda. They had an agenda and it was like super weird Sometimes it happens. Yeah, that was a good experience because I was like even even It's not that you can do in that situation. I can't undo the fact that this human believes. Yeah that thing and I was like, all right. Well, I mean and sometimes people might not even really believe it But they just have a thing also like I don't know there's lately We've been getting some a couple people like There is a crosswalk in front of our property that like that is dangerous as hell There's no lights. It's like or why I almost get hit all the time by And people are like, you should fix it Or like, well, dude, I don't I talked to city all the time and try to lobby on behalf I try to get signatures to get people to see, you know, next thing is we're trying to talk to the Council, I mean the congresswoman or like supervisors say they have funds for it We could do our part, but it's like it's difficult to kind of like Do civil type of like, you know improvements like that It's like I'm doing that with Benny boys right next to it. There's like this at the bottom of the street There's this beautiful view of downtown la uninterrupted cal trans is there union pacific is there And then because of the popularity of the brewery the people cross that super busy road And so I've been pitching this I made an instagram video about this People started like fighting each other on the video I had the street artists have my back because it was a dumping site This whole thing's like the like old couches get laid out here And so I'm like, why are people fighting me around like me trying to make this like an art walk or something Like a cool life everybody and even when we were filming there, there were tons of discarded needles all over the ground and so then like I've been pitching this for a long time to the council members and to I had gens are on board and then gens are pitched this project Unbeknownst to me internally and it got selected Which means now I have a staff of six people at gens are working on this And I like know the cal trans people the up people, but it's the same It's like this is going to take me to the probably the olympics for sure, but We're starting the discussion and we're going to crosswalks a big part of it Lighted crosswalks slowing down the street a bunch of art. Yeah, and so we'll start to have a lot of those community discussions You know probably in like two months time, but people always ask me. Oh, he's doing it because he's making money I'm like, there's no money to be made on this. I'm just doing this because I look at this neighborhood And it was a dumping site and that doesn't make any sense to me It's the most beautiful view of downtown l.a. And I think people deserve that Yeah, I think it's simple. I have the skill sets like right. I have the things that Like I'm the right chef for this particular situation. That's it. I think some people just aren't aware of the process either, right? Yeah, I think that's they're they're completely unaware. They think it's as simple as like, you know, like I don't know Pay five thousand bucks and like take care of it Or you know, like we're just bringing up to the council member and make sure you tell him It has to be done. Yeah, it's like so much more so much more involved. So it's a little different But yeah, I mean at the end of the day, like it's great. I mean the Investing in community is always going to pay off no matter what like the ROI just from a community standpoint is huge Like yeah, I truly believe that and impact massive massive. Yeah. Well, Barney. Thanks for coming on the podcast, man Thank people where they can find you how they can support boulevard market Yeah, so they can just follow us on instagram at blvd m r k t or they can follow me on instagram at barney santos b a r n y s a n t us Legend. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Appreciate it. Come on the show. Absolutely my pleasure Hey, yeah, you listening. Thank you so much for making it to the end of the episode Make sure to follow us on instagram subscribe on youtube and we cannot wait to see you next week for another great episode. Cheers