Why celebrities all have restaurants, even though restaurants are terrible (PODCAST E73)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ย. 2023
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Imagine if two dudes decided to go to EVERY SINGLE Margaritaville and Rainforest café in the US (and Canada)! That would be insane!
2 hours and 45 minutes of pure unadulterated content 🤌
@@nathansmall7765I bet the two blokes had a jolly fun ol' time and didnt get sick of it by the 3rd Margaritaville. Godspeed to those beautiful bouncing boys!
That video had multiple character Arcs and a betrayal near the end to build up tension
"Eddy Burback" for people who need context
Surely no one has every done that
Can't wait for Adam to open his own restaurant next year
Is that a Ragusea's HelloFresh restaurant?
@@lethaleefox6017the NO!!!
Hey I'm close enough to Knoxville to go visit LOL
"The Seasoned Board."
@@AR-ej2xw I'll be driving to Knoxville to eat at Adam Ragusea's "The Seasoned Board" a month or two after it opens.
If I'm playing so loud that you can't talk to your friend, I'm doing a terrible job. I'm sorry you have become jaded, and am glad that I'm in a region where coffeehouse-style players are still doing well.
I, for one, enjoy buskers. Especially at subway stations. Even if they're playing acoustic guitars. If I don't like what they're playing, I put my ear buds back in.
This feels like when you get out of the airport at some place you've never been before and the taxi driver's trying to have a conversation but he never stays on the same topic enough for you to know what he's talking about
As a former driver I used to do that just to keep the potentially oding ones active or to screw with people
Sometimes it was the adderal I was eating since I worked 20-36 hours straight sometimes with 2 hour naps if I was lucky
Keep pumping out these podcasts, they make you seem more and more unhinged
This was bizarre. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Damn! A lot of contempt from Ragusea toward musicians in restaurants, particularly white guys with guitars. I would not have expected that. It must be personal.
Originally a musician/composer, and this surprises you?
He’s bitter he failed as a musician. That was clear
The old-man-Ragusea moment was so pure and entertaining. He actually said, "Shut off that damn racket".
He really seems to be channeling some old angry dude. Hope all is well.
@@qbNone naw it's just the frustration of not being able to talk to your friends in noisy places. When you hung out weekly in your early 20s not being able to have a real conversation was fine because you're going to see each other next week. Once you're hitting 40+ you both have lives. You might not see each other for a year or two (if you're lucky) so having any moment taken away by random aholes is a very much a "get off my lawn" sort of moment.
He used to be a musician but it didn't pan out the way he had hoped. It makes sense he'd be kind of black-pilled about it.@@qbNone
@@Trahloc it sounded like pure bitterness lol
@@qbNone yeah ... almost looks to me like he's been drunk in some of the recent videos.
I always assumed the celebrities opened restaurants as a branding and money laundering thing
Im almost 100 sure those are in fact the two primary reasons celebs open restaurants.
Although if you have to be there in a restaurant to stop the cash getting kept off the books and stolen I guess you have to be there twice as much to make sure dirty cash from crime gets taken and written on to the books.
@@barneylaurance1865 good dirty accountants are so hard to come by these days
Yeah I figured they were marketing for the celebrity more than actual businesses, which is pretty screwed up. Imagine your job being used to prop up a narcissist's face
“Inn-sewer-ants,” repeated Rincewind. “Tha’s a funny word. Wossit mean?”
“Well, suppose you have a ship loaded with, say, gold bars. It might run into storms or, or be taken by pirates. You don’t want that to happen, so you take out an inn-sewer-ants-polly-sea. I work out the odds against the cargo being lost, based on weather reports and piracy records for the last twenty years, then I add a bit, then you pay me some money based on those odds-“
Color of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Then Broadman immediately set his pub on fire to get the inn-sewer-ants-polly-sea money. To win the dumb bet. lol
Apologies, seemed like a relevant quote.
5:58 Nah man, I like live music. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's very, very, very not good... but I'll generally take it over an iPhone and a Bluetooth speaker any day of the week.
In a pub/bar/beerhall/club, yes! In a restaurant, I'd prefer zero music if possible, or at most some lo-fi recorded vibes filling the background stillness.
my thesis why restaurants have terrible margins: everything else got automated a lot over the past 100-200 years. restaurants are still almost the same like back then: knives, pots, pans, stoves and almost 100% human labor.
It’s because food production is monopolized and they split it up last second through restaurants to make it an illusion
The greatest movie maker of all time has his own restaurant, and the food has to be very good because he never had to beat up food critics in a boxing ring
Who?
Uwe Boll has a restaurant?
i literally worked at that restaurant and was desperately hoping that he would bring him up in the video lmao.
the restaurant closed and he did a bunch of controversial shit towards the end, but the food generally was very good.
@@josephogratino8800 didnt he open another one before covid somewhere?
also you got lucky, the controversial stuff is normal for him.
@@big_water_fan yes, atleast for some time.
Jimmy was very diversified, music, restaurants, merchandising, and he was a best selling author, invested in hotels, casinos, and retirement communities, and I believe he also was part owner of a company that builds boats.
he even produced a few Broadway musicals (including that awful one about Princess Diana that was on Netflix)
I didn't know about the Diana thing.@@disgruntledcashier503
Jack of all trades
"Someone with an ownership stake has got to be there." So what I'm hearing is we should run restaurants on the worker's owned cooperative model?
I would eat at a cooperative restaurant!
There’s a cooperative coffee shop in my town and it’s fantastic!
I mean there are large chains where it works quite well. Even so, that also means that the majority hodler should still be there. And not just standing around micromanaging everyone. Like actually working the kitchens, preps, amd service floor (no tips for them though. They own the place.)
I wonder what would happen if you set up a ghost kitchen like a barbershop and only allowed high quality chefs to rent out kitchen space, and since the rent is happening on a daily or weekly basis it wouldn’t be crazy for a chef to move on to opening up their own standalone spot, and allowing their previous sous chef to take over because that chef wouldn’t be required to obtain a large loan to buy the brand or building.
This transition could be made even easier if the ghost kitchen segments the food into genres and promote the head chefs name specifically. So instead of forcing the chef to build their own brand they will borrow the name of the ghost kitchen. For example lets imagine if Panda Express did this, and had segments inside the restaurant labeled Panda Steakhouse, Panda Wok, Panda Burger, Panda Fish, Panda Sushi, Panda Burrito. If the chef renting any of those spots gets bad reviews they can get dropped and replaced encouraging them to put the effort into providing a high quality service.
Also, the ghost kitchen could make obtaining a spot easier for a broke chef by giving them the first week free, and allowing them to use that money to pay for the next week’s rent. So worst case scenario the chef essentially just runs a popup store for free.
Also, this method could help the business optimized profits. Sure the rent each chef pays wouldn’t be a huge amount compared to owning a very popular Michelin starred restaurant, but the diversity of restaurants would make the revenue generation more stable than a typical restaurant, and in exchange the people making the food get a larger portion of the profits, or at least have an achievable dream to rent their own spot in the future when their owner moves on to something new, or if the ghost kitchen owner opens up another kitchen in the town next door.
On top of that, they could have flexibility to stay open 24/7. If designed right they could operate clubs, bars, karaoke, or munchie food during the late night hours.
This place could easily host popup events by popular chefs or youtube creators to use the kitchen spaces when a restaurant owner wants to take some days off.
Don't conflate musicians with zero tact and self-awareness with all musicians. Live music is a legitimate job, especially for those who can't stand traditional work. The performers who care about their reputation and livelihood will not annoy the living shit out of you. There's a reason I do not kiss the mic. There's a reason I know a lot of songs I originally didn't like. There's a reason I profile my audience and venue so heavily. I respect and enjoy the edutainment made by academics like yourself. It would be cool if you respected small time musicians.
Agree, that was a very off-putting rant by Ragusea
I think you all forget that Adam was first a musician and a music major, then a journalist, the a professor and is now a youtuber and tends to talk not very well about things that his younger and according to himself very annoying self would do
As a sound engineer who's worked in all sorts of venues through the past 15 years, from small bars to arenas, I have to say that most musicians don't care about their craft as much as you seem to do.
Maybe the "white guy with a guitar" thing he mentioned might be more of a regional thing than he realizes.. Live music where I'm from in usually very welcomed. I was very confused about that bit until I realized he lives in Nashville (I think), a city known for its musicians. I could see it being annoying if it happened everywhere
White guy with a podcast ragging on white dudes with a guitar seems in poor taste
I noticed that its pretty common for famous people to act like owners when in reality they have no actual money invested. You would think that famous people are rich, why wouldn’t they use that money to build their businesses, but in reality their fame is usually enough to convince a sucker to invest their money and give the celebrity a percentage of the business in exchange for acting like an owner and promoting the business.
Single restaurants are probably more likely to be bankrolled by the celebrity theirself because realistically, the operating costs of a single restaurant is not a lot of money compared to their income, and like Adam said, being the owner of a clubhouse is fun.
As a certified white guy with an acoustic guitar i can say that i will not indeed stop
Wage theft is far more common and significant than workers "stealing" from employers. Every other kind of theft pales in comparison to employers stealing wages from employees. Not bringing that up and highlighting "cooks eating an extra fillet" instead seems unfortunate, despite it not being exactly on topic.
Also, like another commenter said, all this sounds a lot like so many more reasons to support the worker-owned cooperative model for restaurants (and everything else).
You failed to mention Wage Theft in your tirade about workers (supposedly) stealing restaurants into bankruptcy. I believe it was minutes before you lapsed into a mild defense of *checks notes* Monarchies.... because you dislike the personalities of politicians (as opposed to say the underlying power structures that guide their decisions....).
Is this like a character you're playing? I genuinely can't tell.
No Adam is that much of a lib.
He is talking about it as an owners of the restaurant not as an employee
@@MayorOfEarth79 exactly. he has expressed zero class consciousness in any of his videos. Idk why people would expect him to do it now that’s he’s wealthy.
@MrJahka To be fair he didn't do it when he was poor either.
Not every video on every subject needs 'class consciousness' (or whatever you want to call it) injected. He was talking about why it makes very little sense to start a restaurant and why celebrities still do it despite all. If he makes a video about why is it insane to take a bellow-the-minimum-wage job and why people do it regardless, he doesn't need to cover the employers' perspective to stay 'class conscious'. I, for one, am glad he's not injecting politics, identity or otherwise, into every story he decides to tell...
so i stumbled on something interesting after you mentioned ghost kitchens. i used to work in a bingo hall, and our kitchen was on the food delivery apps for "harry ramsden's" fish n' chips, (context, i'm in england, and harry ramsden's is a known fish and chips restaurant.
the nature of me led me to googling him after this thought, and i cant find anything about his existence other than apparently founding harry ramsden's restaurants in the 1920s.
im now thinking the name was made up to sell fish and chips, hence no existing info on the actual guy.
Whats with all the hate!?
I once ate at Clint Eastwoods restaurant in Carmel, the food was good and the place stayed open 27 years before he sold it to a friend. Really beat the odds when it comes to both restaurants and celebrity owned ones.
I have dreams of opening a whiskey lounge, but it's definitely not the venture that will take me to retirement. Rather, it's what I plan to do once I'm comfortably retired. Profit margins on liquor are right up there with insurance, so as long as you keep the liquor from evaporating off the shelves into your or your employees gullets, you're golden.
Insurance margins are dismal.
The insurance business is actually one where it's incredibly easy to mess up. It's one of the few industries where the default is to run at negative margins every single year. The entire business model is predicated on exploiting the large float and eaking out just barely positive cash flow from a set of highly contingent assumptions. There's a reason why actuary is the highest average paid undergraduate degree and it's because of how difficult it is to make money doing insurance.
According to the various news sources (like the NY Times), a lot of insurance companies are leaving states and cutting back coverage because they lost nearly $300 billion dollars over the previous three years due to weather caused catastrophes.
@@palmercolson7037 And in Florida specifically, State Farm (I think? Maybe it's AAA) blamed the government for not taking care of environmental issues caused by climate change when they quit covering property.
@@palmercolson7037
I'm not from the US, but I do, on occasion, wonder about this. Floods and hurricanes and wildfires and such seem so prevalent... insurance must be hellishly high for home owners.
It’s so hard to make money in the insurance industry that they only turned $19,000,000,000,000.00 in profit last year 😢
I was a casino wiseguy in my 20s in the early aughts. Went to college to ride out the Great Recession, and got friendly with a professor in my senior year (a guy who was infamous as the "gatekeeper" because if you didn't pass his brutally difficult Accounting 403 class, you didn't get an accounting degree.)
One night after class, I stuck around and we got to talking about how actuaries and professional gamblers work in the same job. And we ended up filling five whiteboards with equations and analogies and there was a drawing of a craps table involved (I'll be damned if I can remember the context, it was over a decade ago now.) It was a very "Good Will Hunting" kind of hour well wasted.
Anyway, the next time class met two days later, the professor said to me "You caused quite a stir in the faculty lounge when the next professor to use this classroom in the morning asked about the whiteboards."
Every time someone compares insurance companies to casinos (and it's come up more than once in the time since, as I've worked in insurance at a couple of points since graduation), I'm reminded of my favorite academic memory from college.
@aragusea, it is easy to be cynical. I would encourage you to do the difficult thing and be better than this. I would guess a lot of celebrities have restaurants because they don't see it as a business opportunity, they see it as an opportunity to support something they love. Eric Idle once asked George Harrison why he morgaged his house to finance "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". His answer? "I wanted to see the movie."
There are people out there who like being recognized because they like people. They like meeting and interacting with people who like what they do. Just because you're not like that doesn't mean everyone who's not like you is a psychopath. Be better Adam.
It's the same reason, any semi successful TH-camr starts a mediocre to bad music career, at that point, you just can without any worry
I must say, on the note of live musicians at eating establishments, the only good one I ever encountered was a gentleman who regularly plays at a restaurant in my town called "Blend on Main" (you may know from Gordon Ramsay's "24 Hours: To Hell and Back). It was a failing bistro that actually became wildly successful as a result of whatever it was Gordon did and is now a prime spot to eat where I live. And every time I've gone, there was a guy improvising, very softly, on his electric guitar over some wonderful jazz backtracks. He is the only musician-in-a-restaurant I've ever tipped because he was genuinely an amazing player and fit the vibe perfectly. Props to that guy.
I'm always drawn to your podcast because of the fun professor vibe. I miss going to lecture lol.
I highly recommend eddy burback's video on ghost kitchens too. Absolutely fascinating look into that world
i went to ditka's in chicago a few years ago... mike ditka was at the bar... people in my party recognized him... he called them all over, they all got a picture, and talked for a minute... they said "you're probably never here, are you?"... he said "i'm here all the time, i live right down the street!"
Why do we like spices so much, even though they're not as nutritionally important as let's say sugars or fats?
I can't get this question out of my head, so I'm hoping Adam or someone out there knows the answer.
Hello! I think you have a good question, so I wanted to answer you.
I summarize a part of the German book „Opium fürs Volk - Natürlich Drogen in unserem Essen“ (engl. „Opium for the people - Natural drugs in our food“) by Udo Pollmer, Andrea Fock, Jutta Muth and Monika Niehaus:
There are a lot of mood enhancing substances in our food, namely psychotropic substances like alcaloids and amines.
They can either already be in the food itself or they can be created through a specific cooking process. That’s why we have recipes: to create those opiates in our food. Often times one needs the right spices to create those opiates. Our appetite is heavily influenced by this.
Examples:
There’s hops in Bavarian beer. In the hops there’s hopein which acts similar like morphine.
In salad there’s sesquiterpenes which act like opium. In the past pharmacies sold the dried juice of salad as a substitude for opium.
In wheat there are exorphines which are short amino acid chains (oligopeptides). After eating wheat our digestion sets these exorphines free. Pharmacologically they are identical to morphine.
The highest amount of exorphines can be found in milk - they are calles casomorphines. These exorphines have a soothing, satisfying and painkilling effect. That’s why babies often fall asleep during breast-feeding. Cow milk has the same effect in humans, because we can „read“ the biological information in the milk of other mammals.
Saffron tastes plain and is actually tocix. But in saffron there’s picocrocin from which safranal is generated. Both are highly reactive substances from the chemical class of aldehydes. Aldehydes bond eagerly with amines which are present in most groceries and create new substances. Often times the reaction between aldehydes and amines creates psychotropic substances. They act anticonvulsive and antidepressive, similar to the drug Imipramin (an antidepressant).
Nutmeg is toxic as well - a few nutmegs can kill an adult. In the essential nutmeg oil there’s elemicin and myristicin. Enzymes in the human liver convert both substances to amphetamines. In German amphetamines are called „Speed“ (engl. „pep“). It affects the central nervous system and elicits a euphoria. In the liver myristicin is converted to 3-methoxy-4,5-methylen-dioxy-amphetamine which is MMDA. This molecule looks similar to ecstasy. Elemicin is converted to 3,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamin which is TMA.
Both substances have a psychotropic effect which resembles mescaline: from slightly mind-altering to intensive hallucinations (e.g. feeling like you are levitating, altering your sense of time and space).
That’s why nutmeg is popular in Christmas cookies. The hippies of the 60’s used to consume nutmegs when they ran out of drugs.
Coke or similar beverages contain large amounts of myristicin and elemicin. But in coke there’s also a lot of sugar. Sugar causes an increase of serotonin in the brain which improves our mood. The encymes monoamin oxidases in our body break down serotonin. MMDA and TMA inhibit the monoamin oxidases in the liver. Thus MMDA and TMA slow down the breakdown of serotonin - that’s the additional kick of coke.
Myristicin and elemicin are part of the group allylbenzenes. Theoretically the body can produce amphetamines from all allylbenzenes. The allylbenzene apiol is found in parsley, for example. The allylbenzene eugenol is found in allspice and cloves.
When the meat in sausages ripens all sorts of amines are created from amino acids and proteins. German butchers traditionally spiced sausages with nutmeg. The myristicin in the nutmeg reacts with the amines. This way amphetamines are created which resemble the stimulant methamphetamine Pervitin - in the drug scene known as crystal meth.
When you cure meat with nitrite curing salt, the hallucinogenics harman and norharman are created.
That’s why German sausages used to have a good reputation - similar to Swiss chocolate and Spanish sherry - before butcheries and sausage factories substituded spices with artificial flavors.
The most important spice in European history is pepper. Until medieval times pepper was often used to pay tribute, as payment for dues, pensions and tolls, as ransom, as valuable gift or as inheritance. Nevertheless pepper was mostly used for consumption.
The perception of spiciness in the mouth after pepper consumption, is a pain sensation. Because of the pain opiates are released which occur naturally in the body, called endorphines. Endorphines suppress the sensation of pain and elevate the mood. When someone eats spicy food regularly, their body learns to provide endorphines immediately.
Pepper has an anticonvulsive and analgesic effect. Pepper's spiciness is mainly caused by piperin which acts antidepressive. Piperin is one of the strongest insecticides. But it doesn’t only kill insects, it can also enter the blood circulation. Piperin is fat-soluble and reacts with albumin and the red blood cells. There it changes the ion channels. This helps to fight a dangerous illness: malaria. The higher the pepper consumption, the higher the amount of piperin in the blood. Malaria was a huge problem in the Roman Empire and even in the Northern provinces.
The anti-malaria effect of piperin can be enhanced by adding turmeric. This was known even in ancient times. Chilis enhance the effect of piperin, too. This explains the great popularity of curry: it is a very effective medicine against malaria. Culinarily the combination of pepper and chili doesn’t make sense. But from a pharmacological viewpoint it does make sense.
This explains why the curry pastes in India and Thailand are much spicier than the adapted versions in Central Europe: because there’s no malaria in Central Europe any more.
The popularity of chilis in Asia and Africa can also be ascribed to their germ killing effect. The saponins capsicidin and capsidiol in chilis can kill germs which can cause severe of fatal food poisoning, like Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis or Clostridium botulinum. Capsidicin and Capsidiol also operate against the pathogen of tetanus (Clostridium tetani) and against the pathogen of scarlet fever (Streptococcus pyogenes).
So to summarize: The human body is an opium den. The cause of our appetite for spices is a biological process. We use spices in our food because they help us chemically with our mood or our health. That’s why humans like spices and are willing to ship them from afar with immense effort. Europe‘s wealth was established along the spices trade routes.
I'm usually a fan and usually think if you don't like something just keep scrolling but because I like this podcast so much I am leaving some honest feedback here. This episode did seem mean-spirited and angry and so divergent from what I expected. The topic itself was fine but then spent way more time ranting and hating on random stuff than explaining. Sidenote: I'm no parrot head but the way Buffett's music was described was downright vitriolic. I remember reading an interview years ago about his workaholic nature in antithesis to his beach bum persona and how he built his brand. I think his business-side is easily researchable if you were honestly looking into how he became a billionaire (vs saying maybe he's smart or just lucky 🤷♂️). And the skin cancer comment was a whole other level of cringe. I hope this doesn't become the norm. I'm excited when new podcasts drop and this one is the first I regretted listening to. Seriously hoping this was just an off week because this really is one of my faves.
Couldn't agree more. Where did this come from? Not researched, not insightful, and just plain mean to nearly everyone and everything he mentioned. Why make a video slamming someone who just died and whose fans are likely upset about that fact? What does that get you? Felt like it belonged in an April Fools video, not a labor day video.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
that jimmy buffet thing literally right after he just died seemed wildly inappropriate… that man is a godsend do not say a single negative word about him especially in the direct aftermath of his death
Someone else said, but he directed a lot of his bitterness towards musicians which makes sense since he was a failed musician.
Looked in the comments for something like this. 100%. Really lost respect for Adam after these strange comments.
That live music rant is the most boomer I’ve ever heard Adam sound. I need live music, I crave it, even if it’s bad, if I’m going out to a restaurant, I would prefer 100 times out of 100 to hear a mediocre white guy playing mediocre guitar than top 40 radio CIA torture music on repeat. Because at least it’s human, and if it’s worse than mediocre it’s not rage inducing like bad radio, but fun rather and a story to tell, and if it’s better than mediocre it will make the night more beautiful, and completely unique.
This
It's human, sure, but it's also WAY WAY WAY louder than everything else in the restaurant. I'm only 30 and I despise going to restaurants with live music. Restaurants are simply not designed for live music. Also with live music, if they're bad, it's bad the whole way through. If they play radio, if you get a bad song, you might get a good song the next time.
I can't remember ever enjoying a live musician in a restaurant. It gets even worse when you hear the guy over and over and he plays the same stuff each time.
@@BioYuGitheres something called, talking to the fellow human on the stage, or even to the staff, asking them to turn it down a bit is a legit way to fix your problem, like civilised people we should be.
If they're being a dick about it, sure then, but at least it means you're not one.
Plus live musicians need the money more than Spotify
Can't wait for the Ragusea Restaurant
Raguseraunt
Raguseafood Bar
I disagree with what you said about buskers, I love them and I never hear acoustic guitar buskers, and how you kinda riffed on jimmy buffet by saying his death was ironic does seem a bit crass.
Don’t forget Jimmy toured a lot and millions of fans buying merchandise at hundreds of venues is a ton of money and no doubt his licensing fees fed that gravy train.
Stealing from work is the morally correct thing to do.
I would say most restaurant owners deserve to get robbed by their employees, since they don't pay well.
This is the Food Analysis x Celebrity Culture crossover I need 👏🏽
Is it just me or is Adam really angry about this? Why?
Today he’s "Adam Rageusea"
@@gigglybeastnice ;-)
20:11 - "most businesses serve other businesses". I'm not sure it really makes any sense to measure the size of the "global business to business to market" in comparison to business to consumer if you're measuring by adding up the revenues of each business.
There are many businesses in a supply chain, if a business that only very slightly marks up its products merges with its only supplier then the total revenues of the two businesses halve. If they de-merge the revenues almost double, but if the merger is just on paper and there's no real integration of the processes then nothing that matters has actually changed.
There might be a more interesting comparison if you can find total up the profits+labour costs of each business (i.e. the money it makes that isn't paid out to other businesses) rather than all the revenue.
The revenues halve, but don’t the margins increase as well?
@@stevendorries The margins increase as a percentage, but the absolute total margin stays the same. You can't add up percentages anyway.
This is one of those things that underlines the boneheadedness of using GDP as a measure of economic activity… Revenue tells you very little about what actual productivity is going on.
@@oldvlognewtricks I'm not sure it does show the problem with GDP. GDP only counts "final goods", i.e. consumer goods. The revenues of all the companies along the supply chain don't go into the GDP total. Very roughly speaking if you add up all the wages paid to workers, and the profits paid to investors you get GDP. It doesn't matter for that whether they're in one big company or all working for tiny separate companies.
If you think of it in the way of profits then the B2C at the very end of the chain has to pay all the B2B below them so their profits are capped between the prices consumers pay and what the B2B offer.
Not a fan of the live music rant. Forget the white dude with a guitar strawman, for a lot of musicians performing is how they get joy out of life. Obviously a live music act has to tailor their performance to the venue they’re playing for, and if they don’t it gets annoying and intrusive. I don’t wanna do that “oh you like waffles so you must hate pancakes!?” Thing. But really, if musicians want to perform, and you take away the entire live music option, what is left for them other than to dedicate all their time and energy into uploading on youtube/soundcloud/whatever or just dropping their passion completely? While I wish I could say I do music just for myself, it’s a performance art. You shouldn’t be precluded from expressing your passion until you’re famous enough to be on whatever prerecorded playlist a venue has chosen.
Was not expecting a defense of hereditary monarchy in today's podcast episode, but I'm here for it.
so this is how i find out jimmy buffet died.
I am going to push back on Adam’s distain for live music a little bit. I can speak to this because I am involved in the live music scene, I don’t know why, but people actually do show up to the punk rock shows. I am in at least three punk/eMo bands at any given time and people show up, God knows why, I can’t really speak to the scene involving the lone acoustic guitar guy playing at the Gastro pubs on Thursday nights, but when we go periods of time without playing live, show, people actually blow up our Instagram and ask us why we have not been playing. While I do agree with Adam in principle, for some reason, the punk rock/metal seen seems to be immune and I don’t know why lol.
Well you're describing an entirely different scenario. You're talking about shows, where the music is the entire point of going to the event.
Live music at a restaurant is something different and far more annoying. People want to go to the restaurant to eat, and converse with their friends/family. If music is playing, it makes it near-impossible to hold conversation. Heck, it makes it hard to talk to the waitstaff to actually order.
@@BioYuGiMmm. Maybe. I feel you, but there kind of a blurry delineation point sometimes. Unless you’re going to an ultra schmancy place in like DC or LA, in a lot of America at least, your typical bar, pubhouse, dive, where people used to just go to grab food, now doubles as an indie concert venue, and people are showing up, who knows why.
@@adamJKpunk In the past two months I've been to an Italian restaurant, a burger restaurant, and a seafood place right by the ocean, that all had live music playing, none of them felt appropriate to have live music but the restauranters keep bringing them in...
The common factor: all those people can afford to lose money on a restaurant but also stand to benefit intangibly
Adam loves barbershop quartet to accompany any expensive steak dinner.
I'm a huge fan of live music in restaurants, especially just a guy with an acoustic guitar. With the right talent, and set selection, it can really improve the vibe... white guy or not (you seem to be a bit obsessed with noticing that a lot of people are white). Entire bands tend to mean more volume, that can get a bit much.
Me too. I've never had a bad time listening to a live acoustic guitar player with a mic..
Yeah, especially when that music actually comes from the heart unlike the chicken wings, burger pattues and the sauce, which are all industrial garbage.
It really depends on the restaurant. Too many places invest in the live acts, then serve crap food because they know people come for the music. It sounds like Adam goes out to eat good food and talk to his friends, live music distracts from that.
@@awrebyawe to me it sounds like Adam is a bit subjective here. A good rant is always appreciated, but musicians generally do equally as good or committed a job as everybody else at a restaurant and deserve no extra bashing.
The US have great live music culture, and covid has shown many people how valuable that is. Adam honestly sounds more angry than sarcastic here, and that feels inappropriate at best.
@@larsio72 right I get that but I'm saying it really depends on what kinda experience you're looking for. Personally I agree with Adam that music is distracting, if I'm paying for an expensive meal, I want to be able to focus on it and enjoy the food for what it is, live music that isn't a simple pianist, cellist or violinist is distracting and would take my attention away from the food, I would start discussing the music instead of the food.
Why do podcasters record a podcast in a greenhouse, even though greenhouses are terrible because they have annoying cicadas? And especially so when they have a perfectly great and quiet recording studio in their basement?
Because the greenhouse is more visually interesting than a basement and his podcast is also a video on TH-cam as evident by your commenting on TH-cam.
I agree. The cicadas are audio poison.
@@Obscurai Sure, slightly more visually interesting, but far more aurally annoying.
(I listen to it as a podcast, but this is the only place I can really publicly comment about it)
Maybe it’s just my midwestern-ass speaking but I love the cicadas
It's a little gross to hear "employees will rob you blind" when employers are robbing at least an order of magnitude more from their employees (and restaurants are some of the worst offenders).
Wage theft is, BY FAR, the largest form of theft in the US. Not even close.
Look it up.
Examples: making employees work off the clock (clock in late, clock out early), not paying overtime, skimming tips, just flat out underpayment of wages, and failure to make up the difference in tips and minimum wage. Most employees don't know they HAVE recourse much less how to go about it. _Or if they do, they (often reasonably) fear retaliation._ If it's happening to you, dear reader, contact your state's labor board. They'll be delighted to hear from you. Not sure how it works outside the US but if you are here there ARE things you can do.
isn't every wage theft calculation notoriously terrible
I doubt Adam would argue with any of your points. He was just writing this essay from the perspective of an owner. He was trying to keep things focused.
@@61pokepiin that the margins are wide yes. In estimating the loss of money to employees? No.
@@61pokepiHow else would you approximate something ubiquitous but by definition not auditable?
For sure. Even the idea of taking your legally mandated break when you're working in a restaurant is often treated like a joke.
Adam... I hope you had a lapse in judgement and were reading from Indeed's script, and not voicing your own opinion of working class individuals.
Really disgusting.
On Labor Day too. I’m a fan but this episode was just awful
"Closing is what restaurants do" is what I chant when I drag my Balkan friends visiting NYC to the Turkish joint in Hells Kitchen that's been open for over fifteen years
I didnt like this episode as much as most of the others, Adam seems more negative and pessimistic and less thoughtful than usual. The comments about restaurant employees robbing the owners blind, the 200k investment from a celebrity to their old friend to start a restaurant going straight up the friend's nose, the rant about live music in restaurants, and the lack of any comments about the ethics of investing in a business and reaping the profits despite never doing any work for that business, the way he assumes all initial celebrity restaurant investments play out (under the influence of alcohol), the seeming astonishment he has for celebrities ever investing in restaurants despite "only having 3-5% profit margins at best" without consideration for the thousand other reasons a celebrity might make such an investment without being too worried about fhe monetary return, etc. Just wasnt feeling this one.
You summed up my thoughts on this episode far more eloquently than I could. I feel there was a lot of punching down in this one and I really did not enjoy it
I agree. I don't know where the anger is coming from. The other assumption that, "anyone who likes being famous is either a narcissist or a psychopath..." really seemed mean and not as "fact checked" as his usual fare. He seemed really angry at times in his latest guest spot on The Greatest Trek too. I wonder if something is happening in his private life... or maybe just a bad week.
Congrats. Are you just now figuring out he's a liberal and not a leftist? His refusal to investigate and criticize systems is one of the worst qualities of Adam. It makes me glad he's not a journalist anymore.
@@aldenkahl8703 well he made it plenty clear in an earlier episode where he was critiquing capitalism but stopped himself and said something like "but I suppose I'm still a capitalist because it's the best system we've got". So close and yet so far
@@ronanmcintyre Yea he stopped the critique. It's pretty easy to argue for socialism. You get to keep the free markets and the democracy. The better system is one law away and he stops his critique because he lacks the wherewithal to actually go after systems.
To assend past capitalism to a better system a we have to do is pass one law that says businesses have to be democratically owned and controlled by exclusively the workers.
I hate the fact he won't put in the 5 seconds of extra thought.
you’re showing your wealth-detachment in this podcast dude.
i genuinely despise live music in restaurants and actively avoid restaurants with music because the bands always want to BLAST their shit to advertise to people outside the restaurant (can’t blame them), but this podcast was just… annoyingly bitter… like i’m listening to you complain about buskers trying to make a living while you record a podcast in your Greenhouse… ok
Yeah, this one didn't sit right with me. Of course musicians at restaurants aren't playing *for you*, and to assume they should be is a pretty entitled opinion to hold; they're not cruise ship entertainers with a specific contract that focuses on creating a positive "guest experience." They're either making a few bucks for themselves doing something they love or are trying to get the word out about their new album or a bigger upcoming show, etc. The exasperation in Adam's voice over this completely trivial thing that's totally optional to sit through really bothered me.
It's a restaurant's choice to allow local musicians to perform, so why shit on the people who are just taking one of the (very) few opportunities available to get somewhere profitable with their creative outlet? Blame *the restaurant*, not the performer.
In a weird twist I actually really liked this podcast, you definitely had strong opinions but they aren’t hard set opinions just general ones. I’ll leave you guys with this quote, “What is a man who doesn’t believe in something? A person”.
As someone who loves to perform... Let people perform ☹️ a whole ass band where you can't hear your friends talking is one thing, but I always enjoy a guy with a guitar and a microphone. I don't care that he's performing for himself.
I hate performing but that was an exceedingly bitter rant.
"World class professionals have recorded music at a very high level so fuck anyone for thinking they're allowed to perform below that level."
Adam has a degree in music or something, I genuinely don’t understand how he wouldn’t appreciate hearing the same song played slightly differently and played well. It’s my favorite way of listening to music.
I love live music. This is just sour grapes from Adam.
I tried to listen to couple of Adam's podcasts and sadly I've come to the conclusion that he's like male version of Karen. Won't try to watch anything that isn't cooking or cooking science video from him again.
@@indomiebrothenjoyerit's because he washed up a white musician with acoustic guitar and pan flute instrumental, and now he can't handle hearing anyone try to make it where he didn't despite his success in other areas lol
Why is Adam becoming more of a jerk? I couldn't listen more than a couple of minutes.
i was thinking the same thing
Perhaps he’s not becoming a jerk but he’s showing his opinion in this episode more than others. Normally, he educates us on food science and other food related topics. This episode appeared to have little factual substance and was mostly his opinions which seemed to be based on a lot of assumptions. I agree though, this wasn’t his best episode.
@@ColinTheCasualCookI mistakenly thought his opinions were largely based on facts... at least that's what he's sold since Day 1. Maybe it was just a bad day/week, but lordy.
While he certainly was a bit more ranty than usual, can you name which parts are making him a jerk in this particular episode?
@@zwerkoshitting on a dead guy, shitting on indie musicians, shitting on restaurant workers (who are routinely exploited and underpaid in the US), low-key defending monarchies.
6:29 😂 the salt for this pan flute guy, and the lack of transition afterwards, really made me laugh
Great insight into the celebrity restaraunt industry. You do an entire series on this. Next maybe do one the wild food truck industry and logistics/economics. Or also farmers markets.
I got a kick out of the first story because I was one of the unlucky few that also went to that Cheeseburger in Paradise in Bloomington. I did not go back.
"[Restaurant closed] because that's what they do" is reminding me of "repetition legitimizes (repetition legitimizes)". A mutual watcher of Adam Neely maybe?
It's not about money. It's about sending a message
The Guy Fieri ghost kitchen thing was great when I was in Massachusetts but I moved to California and now it is not good at all. Which I guess plays to your point.
_Cut to spring of 2024_
It's the "Adam Ragusea Homemade Kitchen and restaurant!"
(The exclamation point is part of the trademarked name).
And of course their sister restaurant, "Lauren's!"
Also, the exclamation is part of the trademark name.
We specialize in homogeneity, basic ketchup meatloafs made with crushed up Cool ranch Doritos, vinegar chicken, and various loud and sour soups 😊
Come try our signature classic, "ye olde pot o'protein"!
*(No sharing, no takehome plates)*
Funny, but I expect that Adam is smart enough to realize the best bang for his buck in food services is to license his brand to a meal delivery service.
It's heterogeneity! 😂
6:37 OMG, you've encountered a Pan Flute guy, too?! I still remember the one I saw at an open mic night years ago. He had a guitar too... played/sang several Donovan songs, and a version of Iko Iko with weird(er) lyrics, punctuated with Pan Flute solos.
This was definitely one of the worst ragpods like...ever. too ranty, too much speculation, and way too much mean spiritedness. I try to avoid negative comments on the internet because there are plenty of those to go around, but I dont feel bad responding to such negativity in kind. Especially the bit about live music. That added nothing to the point of the show even. Just like, angry and annoyed at something plenty of people enjoy for no reason. Chill dude.
"Negativity is bad except when I do it in the name of JUSTICE!"
As a counter to "justice" guy, I agree. Also, there is a significant difference between saying, "I don't like this vibe." and, "Live musicians are selfish morons only out for their own egos." There is a significant difference between having a negative opinion, and ranting and generalizing.
@@EdwardLindonthat's not my point at all. The other guy nails it on the head. Complaining about something and complaining about complaining to me are very different.
@@EdwardLindon I imagine life must be very difficult for you given your poor reading comprehension
My guess: Some restaurateur or investor approaches them and pitches that, while restaurants generally fail (maybe they don't say that out loud), with some celebrity branding and buzz, perhaps THEY could make it work. And celebrities are, generally, not known as great investors.
21:39 That was actually a really cool sounding performance! You'd sound great as a classic heavy metal vocalist.
I wholeheartedly disagree with your take on live music live music is way better than recorded music and you can't replicate that feeling otherwise
Preferring to give Spotify money over a struggling musician has gotta be one of Adam’s worst takes
Look, I’ve heard some distracting, too loud, annoying live music, but most of the time, it’s such a pleasure to hear something live. It’s communal in a way that listening to a recorded song together just doesn’t hit in most situations.
Recorded music is so much better than live music. You don't have people making noise over the music, the sound is mixed properly, and it's their best take so there aren't any flubbed words.
We can debate whether live or recorded is better when the goal is to listen to music, but that's not really relevant to the point he was making.
Most of the time people are at a restaurant, their goal is a meal and socialization. When that's your goal, any distraction from it can easily be annoying. Pre-recorded music can fade into the background much more easily than can a live musician, who is necessarily going to be less polished, needs to take breaks between songs, and likely tries to interact with the patrons.
He’s in a fit of rage today.
We have 2 restaurants in my town of Joshua Tree, CA. I wish we had more!! We need a Greek, Japanese, Italian, and a French restaurant for starters.
this episode seemed extremely negative, or at least more negative than this stuff usually is. hating on a dead celebrity, hating on musicians who want to play at restaurants, seems weird.
I commented the same thing. I didn't like it.
And the weird pauses like he’s waiting for a laugh track he edited it later after every one liner is a bit much
Why is adam so angry today?
Some days, you're just in a mood. Happens to us all
@@tylerboothman4496yeah, but we don't post our rants to 2M people ;-)
one day when adam opens a restaurant ill remember this video
Amazing episode timing as my local boston market closed
I met my wife while she was busking her stringed instrument. She has a masters in performance and is wonderful. I don't actually care that you took a shit on this thing that I think is vital to public art and is such a meaningful part of my life... its just a little wierd that you can be so cavalier towards some folks whilst taking such pains not to offend certain other groups acording to the dictates of wokeness. Just be more of an equal opportunity hater, won't you?
I didn't realize the profit margin was so narrow! All of sudden, it really makes sense that the liquor is so expensive and why it's pushed much more than the food--and why it's always delivered promptly!
I used to work for online food delivery apps and there was this 1 Indian restaurant with an all Indian staff in my neighbourhood that do multiple cuisines, anything but Indian food under multiple different names and I was so confused, the ghost kitchen concept makes so much sense now. Granted the Indian and Middle Eastern refugees and immigrants have a monopoly on the food delivery app where I live so yeah...
Reminds me of those "Italian" restaurants in Germany, owned and ran by Turkish people, with the flag of Italy and a big sign: Pizza, Pasta, Doner, Schnitzel. The food is generally decent (fulfilling) though, no matter what you choose, but best to choose a specialized restaurant for what you want.
Adam has really found his calling and his talent with these podcasts. I love listening to them.
There's an interesting proposal for a solution to the problem that only the kind of people you don't want in power tend to want to run for election: sortition. We randomly select representatives on a regular basis. They have to accept, they're paid for their time, and their job has to be held until their term is up. I don't know that I'm in favour of this, but it's interesting to think about.
Jamie Oliver’s restaurant HIYAAAAH
"You only get one kind of guy, and fuck that guy" I love this
Carrol O'Connor owned "The Ginger Man" in Beverly Hills which was a bar and restaurant that was pretty successful, for another anomaly.
I'm sorry but the term margaritaville will be linked to south park forever in my head
The cheeseburger in paradise over by my folks’ place in the Chicago suburbs was wildly popular when it opened and for a couple two three years. Then it became progressively less popular. And then my parents finally went when there was no lines. And the floors were sticky with piss or other substances. And the food sucked. As did the service. Then it went out of business. And no one gave a shit. Now it’s an Outback Steakhaus
The only restaurants I’ve seen thrive for decades (other than fast food chains) were ones embraced by the locals. These were restaurants where the owner was very active in their community, they basically knew everyone in town, and because of that the owners didn’t really have to put as much effort into maintaining their high quality. As time went on the owner’s friends would eat at the restaurant regularly. Its these regulars that would end up becoming the owner’s eyes and ears. If the food or service wasn’t as good as it usually was the owner would find out. The owner also was incentivized to spend more time at the restaurant because that is a place where they could meet and catch up with friends.
These are the type of businesses that are so secure that they would literally shut the restaurant down for a couple weeks or a month every year so they could fly to Italy and visit their relatives.
When the owners inevitably have to sell due to old age, without fail the new owners end up ruining the product and losing regular customers. Even if the new owners were given the exact recipe, the new owners can’t succeed unless they have a similar relationship with the regulars. Quality control is just too hard otherwise.
@@WARnTEA Just go in there with a disguise and eat the food every week, they'll never know what hit em lol
On one trip to NYC more than a decade ago, me, my wife, our kids and 2 nieces all went to one of Aaron Sanchez’ restaurants (don’t recall the name). The food was mediocre, at best and cost an arm and a leg…..
i work as a csr for an insurance agency. hearing the berkshire hathaway namedrop at the end had me questioning everything lmao
sushi raw salmon/cod steak is nice, all the rice gets out of the way and gives the fish central stage
I'm pro live music, and seek it out. But I'm also pro you are the background to my dinner. Keep it down, like karaoke. I want to still be able to talk in the bar, not shout over a showboater. But I would much rather have live music over all a recording or muzak.
Elbows deep in the books.
Elbows deep in the food.
But not elbows deep in the cooks...
I like the live music rant but I still love Blues and Jazz clubs in my area. They are the best!
RIP Jimmy Buffett
Yeah, that bit seems to have been left out...
Celebrity: -slaps roof of anything- This bad boy can fit so much of my name in it
I appreciate you and thank you for making content.
I literally screamed with excitement when he mentioned Tasty Burger!
Meanwhile I, born and raised in Wakefield, thought to myself "you want good burgers in Boston, go to any roast beef place on the North Shore with 'Famous' in its name. And as long as you're there, don't forget to ask for the Super Beef sauce on the burger."
Uburger was so good! I went down almost every during the four year of undergrad school. My favorite was the grand slam.
Adam is so bourgeois
Mr Ragusea, I must inquire as to which "empire" your alternate-self in a goatee refers to in the mirror universe where global food culture evolved slightly differently.
we need a collab between the game theory guy and adam on his pod
Actors own restaurants because of ego.
I thought my eyes were going the first half of the video, but the cataracts cleared up for the second half.