Who welcomed the digital hospitality. I am your host. Sean walsh chef is halley. Bbq media production every single week. We talk about our ongoing thesis and that is digital hospitality every business needs to be in the digital business and every business needs to be in the hospitality business. What exactly does that mean. Well we are barbecue restaurant that became a media company for thirteen years. We've been running a barbecue business out of a very difficult location in san diego but because of the smartphone because of all these different apps that have been created we've been able to share our story with so many different small business owners other people that are doing an incredible things in the barbecue world. Other people that are doing things podcasting and other people creating content and sharing stories about their business on all these different apps so every single week. We'd like to bring on people that we are in that inspire us people that we admire. And if you listen to this show you know that we care a lot about branding. We talk about kelly. Barbecue kelly barbecue media digital hospitality typically. I'm wearing a kelly barbecue media hat. But today i have an old hickory pits hat so the only reason i do that is because today we have a very special guest and it is the founder of all hickory It is david b night. He has a barbecue hall of famer. He has been in the barbecue. Business since nineteen seventy four supporting barbecue restaurant owners caterers pitmasters culinary schools all over the globe. They've built an incredible business. And i had the fortune of going with my wife receipts a and gene Back in two thousand sixteen. We actually went out to cape girardeau. We got to shake hands with david. We got to meet his team. Luke gave us a tour of the old facility with the original old hickory factory. Which i believe is still working but then we also got to see the new facility that they were building out because their business was booming and anybody that's been in business for forty seven years has a wealth of knowledge so we can't wait to To ask him questions so that you guys can learn and hopefully implement some of the things that he's learned to grow his business into your david. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much this great here. We since nineteen seventy four cape girardeau. Can you bring us back to the original restaurant that started started. The company certainly again. It's a the original. Restaurant is a historic building built about. Oh fifty years ago and it's right on the mississippi river because of that Since the time the building built a huge concrete floodwall was built in so the restaurant is situated right between the big opening in the concrete wall. And there's another a block away that so that the people can actually walk out on the riverfront and that sort of thing but anyway the building had been abandoned for about twelve years and there is talk about me. Torn out and that that would be a very tragic thing that resource like that historic building. Turn it into a parking lot. And so i've made offer and was able to buy the building and just started from scratch. Rehabbing have had. They'll twos not wiring and no of real plumbing. That would sit good. So we really destructed down sandblasted inside now tech point all the bricks so it was right at quite an undertaking dude. Take this building for the been abandoned for so long to get it up and running but we had started in july and we opened in december. So were you in the real estate business or the restaurant business. When you made the purchase. Neither one point. I was a teacher. Okay perfect so you're a teacher. You decided you didn't have you had enough time. You're three months off that you want. You wanted to get into the restaurant business. Yes that I went to school at arkansas state university and graduated with the mba and got a job teaching marketing and management at jacksonville state university in alabama. Okay and i did that for two years. And i thought well i kind of tried to try. The real world studied business and just to keep talking about. It is not quite as fun as excellent and so be held decide. Yeah a restaurant says first business into a had grown our power you at the time david l. Let's see here empty handed years old. Now let's see Forty seven years ago. And i'm seventy three so you do the math forty seven. Seventy three whatever he So forty seven years ago. Forty seven four okay. Nineteen seventy four. They up and So back in the barbecue is kind of a. Oh that when food cuisine it was on the other in the town or not nearly like it this now but i- grown up at a town of popper bluff. It's about an hour and a half k. Through m best friend His family had barbecue restaurant. I was just fascinated with how far. How far was the barbecue restaurant from where where you opened up our half dry. And so that's where i grew up and but folks moves from up above to near cape gherardo when i moved up to college tape each and They have moved close to date. And i was visiting and i saw this building and i just had one of those eureka moments to make this work. So it's kinda leap of faith. Faith getting into the any business especially the restaurant business but that is one of those stories at as happy yes absolutely. It's really been. Why were you married. Were you married at the time that you know years and years later years and years later. Okay so you get into the restaurant business. Are you doing breakfast lunch and dinner or are you just doing a barbecue. What what was the the initial. It was really lunch and evening meals lunch and evening now and we had a cocktail now onto the bar area and very casual atmosphere kind of one of those places scuttle historic theme to it adding dictators and grabs of the cape dorado area and oh antiques on the wall. We had some old guns that were hanging on the wall of now oh a moose and wild lower and the places got a decorated with a belly stove a lampy adam. Okay so it was kind of you know trying to have something rather than just walk in and tables and chairs sure you wanted to. You wanted to create a hospitality. I mean we're in the you want to create a memorable moment for someone. Tell you memorable moment was opening day of the restaurants helmi. I'd love to you know. This is a little embarrassing usually are in restoration process We had sandblasted the building inside and out and the editor a tall ceiling but it was beautiful. Know for the beat it would a ceiling and that and So we were the the restrooms right across the street not only from the mississippi river but also the burlington northern railroad and so opening night. The just a train. Jane cer- every day jamie was gonna shake to building a little bit there. You go little ambiance and it was on second floor started directly up to that ceiling now plates and really.