 We're not in the business to kill people. Yeah, that should be like the motto. Oh wow, you guys speak in unison. I told them, I was like, yeah, I already put my two weeks notice in. Okay, this is becoming real now. You pushed her off the high dive. I pushed myself off that. What's it like working for your cousin? It's cool. No biggie. What, do you feel the same way? Yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Welcome to the show. As always, this is a show about failure. It's about screw ups. It's about figuring out what you need to do and when you're going to do it. Basically, it's about taking the leap. You know, you've got a corporate gig or you've got something else that you're doing and you want to do something on your own. On today's show, we have a couple of people that started their own restaurant, a poke bar, here in the Seattle area. So gave up on a great marketing career and another guy that was like working at four-star hotels in Hawaii, decides to take the leap and put this stuff together. But before we talk to them, let's check in with our resident mixologist, bartender extraordinaire, Mr. Jack Sanders. Jack, what are you making for us tonight? Tonight we have a brewed drink, flowering tea with a little bit of hot water and a whole lot of alcohol. Name of the drink is Lily's Musings. It's local bourbon as well as a non-alcoholic distillate from over the pond. We're going to start with that one. This is my seed lip and I decided to go with their Grove 42 Citrus, which has a few spice notes to it, but mostly is a citrus infusion. Next I have a little bit of apricot liqueur. This is from Rothman in Winter. And this will give us a fruit profile, just some warmth in the background of the drink. Next I have a quarter ounce of Averna. It's an Amaro little bit of a bitterness, some sweetness, chocolate flavor profile. A half ounce of one of my personal favorites, Grand Duque de Alba Spanish Brandy. And then we have some local rye whiskey from Mischief down in Fremont. This is their John Jacob. We're going to use an ounce of it. One dash of scrappy's aromatic bitters. And then we have a teaspoon of sugar that we'll add to this, just enough to balance out the overall drink. And at this point we want to add our flowering tea. So I have a white peony tea with peach. Let that soak for a little bit. And let's add our hot water dilution to fill. Name of the drink is Lily's Musings. Buddy, welcome to tonight's show. I guess tonight is Bea and Kevin. They have a Poke Bar in Bellevue at Tacoma, Washington. Thanks for being on the show. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Oh wow, you guys speak in unison. This is going to be amazing. Look at synergy. We've been practicing. Okay, we're going to get into your careers, what you've been up to, everything else. But first, we have some amazing drinks that Jack has made for us. Let's toast them out. Let's cheers, toast, whatever. Is there another way I can say cheers or toast? Do you guys know of? What should we say? Just cheers. Cheers. What are we toasting to? We're toasting to? A great new year. A great new year. Yeah, we always want a good new year. Cheers. All right. Let's go. Yeah. We may have another. Yeah, we said, this is supposed to change, I mean, it makes sense, it's tea, right? Okay, that's good. I'm going to take another one too. Let's just have B talk while you and I drink. Yeah. Yeah. That's usually how it goes. I drink, I'm with a drinker. This is really good. This is really, really good. Okay, so let's back up. We'll go back, for both of you, kind of go back to the beginning of where you got inklings of doing this type of stuff. Both of you start off in restaurants originally? Yes. Yeah, where did you start off at? I started off at Olive Garden, my first job. Yes. 17 years old. Yeah, did they have like the unlimited soup, breadsticks, salad stuff there? Soup salad and breadsticks, yes. Soup salad, yeah, I got that totally. 4.95. You said that very well. Yeah, you start off doing that. Did you stay in food for a while or? I did, I moved up, became a server. Yeah. And then I stayed at Olive Garden for quite a bit of time, all of us in college. Yeah. And then moved on, went to a hotel. Yeah. Worked at a restaurant there. That's like cutting your teeth in the food industry. Like is that what you wanted to do or did you just like land the job accidentally? Accidentally. How about you, Kevin? I've been in the industry for over 15 years now. Over 15 years? Yes, sir. Yeah, so you started, wait, where are you from again? I'm originally from Garland, Texas. Garland, Texas and you're from? Tacoma. Tacoma. Tacoma. Yeah. Wait, is that why you opened up the restaurant in Tacoma? You're like giving back? Actually, yes. Well, it's one of those things, you know, like we brought it to Bellevue and we got very good reception. Yeah. And we were talking about it and I said, you know what? Why not bring it back to, you know, our backyard? What do you do that sort of sets you apart from other places? Let's say our customer service. Customer service, consistency. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, they're paying a pretty penny. Not pretty, I mean for like, you know, $12 average for a lunch item, that's pretty good. That's pretty good, yeah. You want it to taste good every single time. My biggest thing is going somewhere and it's good. The first time you come back the second time it's like, oh, what happened here? And that's something we stress, the customer service. The new team in Tacoma, we stress that since day one and they got it. And that's just something that, you know, little things that some people don't really pay attention to and we just pay attention to the details at least. Try to. What's it like working for your cousin? Working for my cousin, it's cool. Works like pretty opposites. Yeah. So it's kind of like what, like my strengths is like her weaknesses and her strengths is my weaknesses. So it's kind of like we keep each other in check. It's cool. No biggie. What, do you feel the same way? Yeah? No, you know what? It really is great. It's Kevin, he's always, he stays calm. And so I'm the one that's always like, you know, we got to do this, this, and this, and this. And he's kind of like, it's OK. Let's just focus on what needs to be done. So I think we are, we work very well together. And there's times when we're battling each other on like. Ideas and this and that. Like ideas for the whole place or just ideas on the food? Yeah, everything. I mean, sometimes we'll discuss like a sweetness level on a beverage or just how we cook this or do that. It's like, you know, we're, how do we meet in the middle? It's always compromise. And then there's a third, third party to this team. And Brian is like the voice of reason, right? Yeah. The husband that she met at Olive Garden. Thank you, Olive Garden. Thank you, Olive Garden. He's like the voice of reason for the most part. It's just, you know, we try and we understand. And the thing is that what works with us is like, we know it's what's best for the bigger picture. So we just make it happen. It's like, I'll give up something. She'll give up something and then just move on from it and just keep on. So right before you open up the restaurant, what were you doing before that? I was in corporate marketing. Corporate marketing. And so wait, so how did you go from, like most people get out of restaurants and then go in to like get a corporate marketing gig? And they're like, ooh. Like I dodged that bullet. Now I'm doing something else. Like what made you want to go back into restaurants? I think for me it was more of I wanted to work for myself. Yeah. I got tired of working for somebody else. I put in a lot of hours. And it's just freedom, right? To have flexibility. I have eight-year-old twins at home. I wanted to spend more time with them. And so that's kind of how the road that we went down. My husband and I always wanted to open something. We just didn't know what. And we kept going back to food. I'm like, oh, let's do this. Let's do this. And I got, I got denied so many times. I'd probably say at least a dozen times on different ideas. Oh, different ideas. Wait, who denied you on the different ideas? My husband. He was like, we are not going into food. Why would you even do this and go out on your own? You had a good marketing gig. Why branch off? I know you said that you wanted more time, but it doesn't a small business. Sort of eat all of your time. Yes, absolutely. Yes, it does eat up a lot of time. I think it was at the point where I'd lay in bed on Sunday night, and I'm like, I don't want to go to work. I just don't want to go to work. And it was like that every single night. And my husband was like, OK, well, what are we going to do about it, right? Now did you know just getting another job or another thing wasn't going to satiate it? Because we're just like, oh, I'll just get another marketing job. No, I just know. I knew that wasn't the solution. Only because you work so hard, and you put in all this effort. And I've been through it, and I'd bring suggestions, and people don't really listen to it. And so it was one of those things where I knew that I wanted to work for myself. And so that's kind of how that started. And my husband was like, let's find something. Let's figure out what it is that we can do to get us there. Yeah, you have an awesome partner. I mean, for somebody to just be like, OK, let's start something. He's probably tired of hearing me say, I don't want to go. He's like, let's fix this. I'm so tired of this. I mean, is he entrepreneurial as well? Like, is this something that he kind of leans toward? Yes. So originally, he wanted to open up his own accounting firm. Oh, OK. He wanted to be a CPA. That's super sexy. Yes. Yeah. It does sound like he completes the dynamic. Yeah, yeah. Be the accountant for us in our trio. So he wanted to do something like that. And instead, you talked him into, that's awesome. That's what I know. And so it kept going back to that. And I was like, hey, let's try it. And he challenged me, find a location, let's put a business plan together. And it kind of just took off from there. And I started on the business plan, and it probably took me about six months or so to do that. Six months with the business plan. Trying to find locations, emailing brokers. But you had, so how old were your kids at the time? Those two years ago, so six. So six? So you took the leap with two six-year-olds? In the beginning, though, I didn't even think about the time that it was going to be taken away from them and this and that. And so it was just more of the excitement, right? Like, hey, we're going to do something on our own. And this is what it's going to be. And we're running the business plan. And talking to Kevin about this is what's going to be on our menu. So I think that helped in that journey. And then as we were getting closer, that's when things started like, OK, this is becoming real now. We found a location. We're going to sign the lease. And I'd sit there and I'm like, I don't know. Are we really doing this? So it's one of those things that we started. And it just worked somehow. Was there a point when you felt like you were kind of at the edge of the diving board looking down? And you were like, oh, now once I jump, like I've jumped right at that point. Do you know if you're going off a high dive, you're like, well, this is it. You're in the air and you go down. I put my two weeks in notice six months. Oh, wow. Yeah, I told my executive team and stuff like that. I was like, yo, I think it's time for me to go. But we're heading into the busiest time of the year. So I was like, yeah, you know, I love what I do. Yeah, yeah. And I love my team and Waikiki. And I love my team everywhere. And I stayed and did what I had to do. But I told them, I was like, yeah, I already put my two weeks notice in. And they were like, and then when he told me that, I was like, oh my gosh, you know, I went to Brian and my husband, and I was like, Kevin put in his notice already. Are we really doing this? Like, I think that was a tipping point for me, like, we are really doing this. You pushed her off the high dive. I pushed myself off the high dive. Cousins, right? Only by blood. Only by blood? Yeah. Cousins, right? Yeah. But like, wait, not straight cousins. That's weird. Why would I say that? You're like an older cousin. You're like a grand cousin. Is that? Well, no. I'm her uncle-ish. If you break it down. Yeah. I am technically her mom's cousin. Oh, OK. But because of the age difference and because it's just weird to have somebody. Yeah. We just call each other cousins. It's easier to call each other cousins. Not uncle cousin. No. The kids call me grandpa. Uncle grandpa. Uncle grandpa? That's a good one. Do you like being uncle grandpa? It's fun. It's hip. All the single moms, they get a kick out of it. It's cool. You're like, it works. Yeah, it works. So when you guys, when you decided that you wanted to open up a restaurant, was he the first guy that came to mind? Yes. Really? Yep. I remember that. Hit him up in, I think it was Messenger. And I was like, hey. Oh, on Facebook? Yes. Oh, wow. I'm down in California because I'm a total foodie. I love eating. And so we take several trips down to California. And I just find really good places to eat. And so we were at a poke bar down there. It had just opened. And I messaged him right away. Because after each bite, I was like, oh my gosh. This is so good. This is so good. And I was like, hey, what do you think about this idea? And he was like, oh, that's cool. But then I never really heard back from him again. And so we went back down to California. I'd say three months later, my husband and I. And I said, OK, we got to do this. And at that time, there wasn't any poke bars up here yet in Seattle when we had this discovery. How long have you had the poke bar here? A little over two years. Two years. And so there wasn't a lot even two years ago. No. And so we were the first in Bellevue. And we would have been the first if we weren't so picky on our location. So you're one of the first. Yes. But Bellevue for sure were the first. And then there's like five more now. Yeah. Just nonstop, like popping up, yeah. So my husband and I went down. And then so I messaged him again. I said, hey, I really think this is a good idea. What do you think? And we talked about it, took some time. He flew up to Seattle. And when we visited or did we, I think we just started putting stuff together. Yeah. That's super serious if you fly up and you fly up for that. You got to understand my delay. I was living in Hawaii. I had a nice little bachelor pet overlooking the ocean. You know what I mean? Like I had the world in my hands. And they want me to give that up. It took me a while to realize it, but it made sense. Now what were you doing in Hawaii? What type of restaurants were you working for? I was a chef at Nobu in Waikiki. Before that, I helped open the Lanai location. Yeah. But before that, $100. So fancy, fancy. It's up there. Yeah. I couldn't afford it if I wasn't on it. And then you talked him into coming in and starting a poke restaurant, like a poke bar. I like the way you say that powerful. Like she said, she's like, yes, I did. Yeah. Like I said, man, I'm a very chill guy. Hawaii was definitely for me, but they dangle that carrot in front of my face. And I was just like, OK, I have the opportunity to do my own thing, so I have no kids. I'm not married yet, or plan. But you didn't say that on camera. Oh, sorry. But yet. That's very hopeful of you. You know what I mean? If I'm going to do something big, this is my chance. OK, so you ever try anything that didn't work then? Like flavors you kind of pull together, and they're like, oh, no, no, no, no. Something specific. Oh, yeah. I mean, one of the sauces that we have on our menu now, which is the gochujang ponzu, that took about four to five takes. You know what I mean? I started off, and I wanted a real authentic flavor, but then it was too authentic, and I had to tone it down a little. There was just two on the fishy side. Like what goes into the sauce? The gochujang, obviously, is a Korean chili paste. Our ponzu sauce is pretty solid. It's soy, citrus, vinegar. I had some other things, and some spices, some anchovy paste, this and that. You put anchovy paste in it. Yeah, like for the fish. Like that umami flavor. Oh, you just said umami. Yeah, umami. Now we gotta talk about, yeah, yeah, yeah. Umami is like that savoriness, that depth and flavor. Yeah, cook it down, give me some umami. And that's the thing about us, is the same dishes I would do at Nobu or at any of my other stints, I put the same amount of love into our food I've been to over the bar, so some people appreciate it, some people don't, and it's too strong, you know? So when you would make the sauce there, it's a little... Yeah, it took a while. I was gonna say like too much umami, but that's totally possible, like it goes in, you're like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, it was just a little too funky, like we have a couple of Korean family members in the Mixed Pokebar family. They were like, this is something my mom would cook, and I'm like, ah. I don't know, that's what I was going for. Let's take a step back, and then I just kept working on it, kept working on it, and it was just something. I don't know if that's what I was going for. That's kind of hilarious, because I'd meet somebody else and they'd be like, well, these meatballs taste like my mom's, and they're like, yes! But not you, you're like, oh man. I'm so sorry. Just, you know, the application for the sauce is not meant to be like that, and that's where it just took me down a different path, and I figured out all the balances and stuff like that, so we got it right, and it's low key, pretty popular. Now B, has that been something like a big deal to you all along, the customer service stuff, or is that, yeah? Absolutely, I think it's just being in the industry, I was in the restaurant industry for 12 years before we started this business, and as a retail, and so it's one of those things that it's like, customer service is always number one, right? I mean, you can turn somebody's day around, right? I mean, just by smiling, and you know, walking them through the menu, and I think Kevin can speak for this, is you know, we've had people approach us in Tacoma where they were, I think, they had a gluten allergy, and he walked them through the entire menu, and converted them, I mean, they actually ended up ordering what was, two bowls or so? Two bowls and came back, they're pretty, yeah, regulars now. So wait, they had the chef walking them through the whole menu? Well, I mean, I don't go around saying I'm the chef, but yeah, like, you know, like the thing, the goal is to have the person- You don't wear it on your hat? No, no, I don't. If somebody walked out there, they're like, wee-lee? I'm not like the Swedish chef, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Or anything like that. I just do what I gotta do, and I try to get the team up to par, and they didn't know their allergies, they need to know what ghosts and saw this stuff. We're not in the business to kill people. Yeah. Just being honest. So that should be the, yeah, that should be like the motto, or like the tagline for the business, yeah. What advice would you give to other people that have, so they have a job, it's a good job, but they've got this itch where they kinda wanna create things on their own, go out on their own, they wanna make their own way, do their own type of stuff. What advice would you have for them? I kinda move forward with that. I would say, if you have the means to do it. Yeah. Do it. Yeah. What's the worst that could happen, right? It's a conversation that we've had. It's like, okay, well, it's just money, you know, like, I can go and get a corporate job again. Yeah. I think we're here in America, we have the opportunity, you know, there's so many resources out there that can help you. And there's like groups out there, like small business groups that will answer questions and stuff. And so I, any conversations that I have with people that even think about opening something on their own, I'm always like, hey, you know, I dig a little further and not really push, but it's like, hey, you could make it happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just wanted to. And so, you know, I'm no, I used to be scared. I'm no longer scared now. I mean, we've been through lots of stuff. Every, every thing. Yes. Like simple things, like, just somehow it just slips through the cracks. But yeah, I mean, I think it's, it comes down to the American dream, right? Yeah. Our parents came here for a reason. This was probably the opportunity that they wanted for me and I took it and you'll never be ready. You just gotta do it. Yeah. And I told every single person like, I don't know what I'm doing. I think I know what I'm doing and I'll figure it out when we get there. Same with that. I mean, I don't know how, they probably know a lot more than me, but I'm just doing it, you know, just go. Yeah. You'll figure it out. Cool. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. We have drinks that we need to finish, but I won't make you keep talking while we take them down if that's okay. Bee, Kevin, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are inspiring. I love your story and I can't wait to to eat fish in a bowl right at your restaurant, man. And go find some real papaya salad. There we go. Yeah, right on. Okay, cheers. Cheers, y'all. Yeah, right on. Thanks, bro. Hey everybody, this episode is brought to you by GoDaddy. If you have taken the leap and you think you can inspire other people with your story, we'd love to hear from you. And hey, hope to see you on the show.