I've had more issues with success than I had with failure.
People don't talk about enough as "What's your on top of the world?" How does that affect you? Because that's where for me was the most challenging. You go from the back of the house where you're in the service business. To now where you're running multiple service businesses.
“To manage it at scale, that's what fascinates me. Listen, it's a grind and there's ups and downs.”
I think at the end of the day, everything I do is just about building a brand. I don't think that most people realize the intellectual property they have in themselves. I love that I've built relationships where people feel like there's a long game with me. Instead, I want to invest in your brand. I want to grow your brand. Relationships meant so much to me that it's the greatest way to push a brand.
Where do you think a lot of entrepreneurs that have their head down are going wrong in building the foundation of their business?
I think the most important thing for people out there is...
Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Everyone's in a while. Somebody sits down in this chair and reminds me that optimizing your life isn't just about what's happening inside your cells.
“It's about what you're building with the time you've been given.”
Dave Grottman was my very first podcast guest. He was one of the first people to believe in me. When nobody knew who Gary Bracka was. Today, he runs one of the highest grossing restaurant empires in America. Groot hospitality, live nightclub, poppy steak, one of the highest grossing restaurants per square foot in the entire country. Live nation is his partner, Kim Kardashian wrote his
forward. Johnny I've designed his book cover.
But here's what sets Dave apart from every other name in the hospitality space.
It all comes back to relationships. His new book, "Take It Personal, is the blueprint for any entrepreneur who wants to build something that lasts. This conversation is going to change the way you think about business, legacy, and loyalty." Hey guys, welcome back to the ultimate human podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Bracka, where we go down the road of everything, anti-aging, biohacking, and everything in between.
Long Jevity, and today's guest, we're taking you back. We're heartening you back to my very, very, very first podcast episode. He was my very first guest. He was one of the early believers in Gary Bracka. He was one of my earliest celebrity clients. And before we even start to podcast an introduced this guest, I'm going to give him a enormous thank you because this man helped to put Gary Bracka on the map when nobody knew who Gary Bracka was. The level of trusting confidence he's
had in me, my family, my daughter, Madison has been second and none. He's become a very good friend, and I'm honored to have him back on the podcast. Welcome back, Dave Gratman. This makes me happy. Yeah, yes. And I really do mean that. You know, it's, um, and I got to tell the reader something. I mean, listen, there's something to it. I just got goosebumps thinking about this. In 2021, 2021, I was, I was living in the Porsche design tower and, and, uh, and sunny aisles.
And I got into a skirmish for lack of better words with a very major celebrity. I want to, I won't say it, who it is. It was a few at one time because they were all in the same family. Correct. And it was devastating. And someone had taken pictures of them in my unit. I didn't police it ended up getting put out on social media. Family rightfully flipped out. They called you said,
“this guy is a scam. He's using our name and he flipped out. I will never forget that you call me.”
And you said the best advice that I can give you is to play the long game. And now, here it is manifested in this book. So this is not something that you just threw into words or had some ghost writer put into print. This is something you've been living your whole career. Correct. And that was five
years ago. Right. And, and what you told me was, I'm never forget it. Some of the best advice I've ever
gotten. You said, when you're working with these people, Gary, because on the relationship, get into their flow. Don't ask them for everything, respond to anything. And it'll all work out. And be honest. Yeah. And I've followed that advice and it's been some of the best advice I've ever gotten. And that's why I'm a big proponent of your book. And that's why I would really recommend, this is not just for people that are in a hospitality space or want to
start a restaurant or a nightclub or be in the entertainment business. This is for any entrepreneur that is not yet aware of the foundational importance of relationships. It's the, it's the it's the start of everything that I do. Yeah. And we've had a, we've had a health journey, too. Yeah. Yeah. I used to know, I used to know, big Dave. I knew Fat Dave. That was a friend of mine. Look at those, those, those, those fat Dave pictures. And it still makes me like, like that. But
it's, it makes this part so much more rewarding. Yeah. And I know that, I mean, that's, that's where we started and you know, our journey began there. And, and, and you know, I had a very, very, very,
Short-stint in, in the nightclub business former.
we don't want to do that. But you were, you were actually working at Tantra.
Yes. I mean, I'm going back now. You did a little mint thing for a second. Yeah. And Tantra was
my first place I worked at on the South Beach where they had the grass on the floor. The main place, but it was 30 to run. It was insane. It was probably the greatest thing in the ceiling. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They brought it to another level. You know, when I, when I close my eyes and think of that snapshot to where you are now, maybe the most influential name in the entire hospitality space. It's, it's, don't be humble right now. You're on the same podcast. The name of the podcast is
ultimate human. Okay. Okay. Okay. I only put old mint humans on here. That's it. So, you know, I, I, I, I, I want to, I want to back up for my, for my listeners. And I want to talk a little bit about that journey. Obviously, I want to get into the book, too, but I want to talk a little bit about that journey.
Yeah. I mean, listen, journey was being a back of the house guy. Just making sure that you,
I used other brands, marketing equity to kind of build my brands. I didn't really have budgets and those kind of restaurants and nightclubs. And by doing partnerships with other brands and using their equity to push, push my brand, I saw the value in that. And I kind of like skill my whole life to that, that relationship, relationships, relationships meant so much to me that, um, yeah, it's, it's a greatest way to push a brand. And I think at the end of the day, we're all just building
brands. Do you, do you, you talk a lot in the book about your own personal brand. You actually talk about your IP being everything. Right. This chapter seven or chapter eight. And you talk about your IP being everything. And I don't think that most people realize the intellectual property they have in themselves, right? Of course, their name, image and likeness, their NIL. Yeah. And whatever business
“they start either, they need to make sure whatever you're doing, it's about IP. You have to have ownership”
of the name. Hmm. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs are even unaware that you can trade mark your name. You can copyright your content. You know, until I got into this business media, you know, producing media, I didn't even know that I copyright my podcast and I could stop people from republishing it, you know, publishing it. I didn't realize the value in owning my own NIL, my own name, image and likeness, but you talk a lot about that. I want to understand, like, you know, you go from
the back of the house where you're in the service business to now where you're running multiple service businesses. And that is like, that's a long trajectory. Because I think you did it in the most competitive market and maybe the industry with the most amount of sharks and landmines because you've got employees and in, in that space, the nightclub space, the restaurant space. I had a short stint in the restaurant space too. Everybody was sleeping with everybody and everybody was
stealing from everybody. There's a lot of stuff that goes on. It's a lot of nonsense to manage it
“at scale. That's what fascinates me. I think everybody could get one place right, but to do it at”
scale. Yeah, I think, listen, it's just about building the team. And I would love to say, hey, look at me, look at me, look what I did, but if I didn't have the team around me, then I would be a zero. And, you know, as you keep growing and growing, people also, they want to do their own thing too. So you want to also try to career path people to being your company for a long time, but also I love to see when people leave and they go beyond entrepreneurs as well. Do you ever
have, you have you had people to have work with you, been a part of this journey, left and am now come back into your life as partners or joint ventures? So I've had people that were partners that left to go do their own thing and know they they haven't come back, but they do their own thing. And, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I don't know. We get thrown under the boss. We need names. No, I don't know how that works out for, you know, let's talk them on social media.
You know, everybody thinks grass is greener on the other side and sometimes I'm sure it is. And, and people have to figure out their own, their own journey, their own path too. And I can't like, I don't, you know, of course I hate it in the beginning. I'm like, oh, it's person's leaving, but you know, what's that in the back again? No, it's okay. But I got to say, I've had some people that work, I've worked for me for over 20 years. And I love to see that they've
“come along with me for the whole journey. And I've made some people millionaires. So I think that's,”
that's a good thing as well. So, but on this, on this rise, because when you were back at the house,
were you that guy that actually, did you always think I'm destined for more, was it, was it?
Because I wanted to make more money. I saw myself as an owner. Like, what was the vision like? Because, you know, so many entrepreneurs have to, I think they get into this for the wrong reason. They're like, I want to set my own hours. I want to be my boss. Right, right, set your
Own hours.
setting your own hours. Guys, running your own business. Because you want to set your own hours, entrepreneurship should be for you. Because you're right. It's from nine to nine. That's your hours, entrepreneurship. I love that people are like, oh, if I, if I, if I own my own company, I could just, you know, take off whenever I want. I could take as long as vacation. I could work remote. No one's going to tell me what to do. I love the reality check in something like that.
I mean, my phone is, is, I'm entering texts from the second I wake up to the second I go to sleep and then I wake up in the middle of the night and I go, I have to go to the bathroom. And I check my phone then, too. The, the concern and where you have is, is not like anything else. Of course, everyone gets paid before you and everyone gets their bonuses before you get. And, you know, hopefully at the end, there's a little bit left over for you as well.
That being said, I couldn't be any happier doing it my way. You know, I, I, I was interviewing
a, a very wealthy entrepreneur one time and he said, I've never owned a business. All my business
has its own name. I was like, it's actually kind of an interesting. Yeah, and also people are like, you know, like, servers, they get 18 to 20% gratuity added to every check. So that means they're my 20% partner on the gross. Yeah, I wish I got, I wish I made my money just on the
“gross and not on EBITDA or anything like that. But, you know, that's how I kind of look at things,”
too. And that's kind of how I, I try to create hospitality within the place and ownership. I want everyone to take ownership of their place. And if a server, bus, or bar bartender bar, the all think that they're, they're all part of this, this, the service church's gratuity that is really a percentage of the gross sales. This is their place. They should take as much ownership as I am. They're my partners. Yeah, you know, you know, one of the things that I've noticed
and, and I've been fascinated by is, you know, you, you've, you've grown some of these concepts, poppy stakes. Sure. One of the, and if I'm as quoted, tell me that, that I'm as quoted, but, um, one of the highest grossing, if not the highest grossing restaurant per square foot. I think it's by far one of the highest grossing restaurants per square foot with my partner, Poppy, David, Ironhorn, the greatest. Yeah. Uh, and what a great story that's been to
to see him grow in Skyrocket and just be there to be as partner and to help put him on the, on the, on the platform that he's just accelerated beyond anything I could have ever expected.
I've never seen somebody where a diamond tea, tea won't stake. By the way, that's a Tomahawk.
It's a Tomahawk. It's a Tomahawk. It's a Tomahawk. And he's given some out to some very famous people that have such pride in it. Yeah. That's cool. Um, but you know, I'm always looking for, not, not the basic advice, build a good team, you know, work hard, you know, be honest. There's, there had to be, in fact, I know there was, because I remember you had a stint with the opium group. Sure. Wow. You were a mansion, um, uh, either Prevae or Skybar,
Prevae, opium garden, mansion, and uh, Roman Jones, who owned that, you know, now owns, uh, geeky on the river and a BB. Yeah, yeah. It's doing great. If your energy is low during the day, the problem usually started the night before, sleep affects focus, mood, metabolism,
literally everything. And most people never learn how to properly support it. Our free sleep
challenges April 29th and 30th, and it's designed to teach the basics of better sleep in a way that's realistic and easy to apply. If learning how to sleep better feels like the right place to start, we'd love to have you join our challenge on April 29th. Now let's get back to the ultimate human
“podcast. Yeah. No, I mean, they're, they're all great guys, but I think there, there are people”
that were in that sphere that were, I would say, maybe equally as talented, maybe equally as connected, but this meteoric rise that you had, there's, there, what was the, it factor? I think you take it mostly back to relationships. Always, it always stems back to relationships and building those relationships for those years. At that time, it was just, Miami was one of these places where people would come to one or two times a year. And I wanted to make sure that experience when
they came to Miami was the greatest from the second they got there. Even if it wasn't at one of the places I was with, I would take them to winwood at the time and winwood was just a bustle, it was just starting out then, but it was very underground. And I would take them there. I would take them to a meal and order stuff off the menu to just blow them away. All these little things that make people feel like that you care is that the reason why is, how you start to build relationships.
Yeah, you've done this for me a number of times too, for my, for my son's birthday, you know, just the way that you're staff handled things, cutouts of his head, you're, they went and they, they pulled images of him off a social media. But she doesn't have much on social media. He doesn't.
“He was very anti-social media. We had a, I think Madison had a, like, supplies or some pictures.”
Yeah, this is called, which, by the way, was the last time, oh, no, I actually did not drink that night. I was the sober skipper of that night. Is that true? That is true. I had actually
Gotten a stem cell IV that morning, so I couldn't drink that night, so I was ...
driver. Okay. Yeah. Well, listen, anything you can make someone feel special, any little thing. Yeah. You could think of either a name on a menu, calling them by the name, remembering their favorite drink, remember the favorite, favorite food. Now, we have a lot of technology now in the restaurants that help us with that too. Like, we are able to now see all your track records, see everything you're doing, see what's your favorite cocktail. And make sure we could have those
waiting for you when you go right. Yeah. But I think what happens to most businesses when they start to scale is you lose the founders compulsion for these relationships. And you know, like, when I have
people in the podcast, I'm always impressed by like great athletic, athleticism. I'm even more
impressed by someone who can dominate their sport for a long period of time. The, the, the, the, the Tom Brady's, the Lance Armstrong's. Anyone can be great one. So, you know, you, you, you, you, you spur up a, a nightclub, but the, but the hospitality group creates these relationships in these environments at scale. So, at some point, you've got to create a culture that's actually taking, you know, your heart, your desire, your compulsion for relationships. And you've got to somehow
“weave it into that culture. Because you're not everywhere all the time. Well, Gary, that's why it's”
so great to career path people within your own company. Because they know your DNA. They know how you think they know what you're doing. And the longer people have been with me, you know, it's been great. I've had the same Chief of Staff next to me for nine years Max and people go to Max instead of me now because Max is great. People love Max. My love is one of the greatest human beings in the world. And anyone that works with me, whether it's on the hospitality group on the
investment side, they'll tell you right away Max Palette keeps everything together. And what's great is you have these people that learn how you think and you want to keep those people around you because that's how your life is easier because if someone's being proactive and not just reactive with everything that that's associated with you, it gets so much more done. Were there any big tipping points on the journey? Can you point to any and and said, you know, that was the milestone.
That was a tipping point. So the first time I sold my company to SFX, which eventually they went bankrupt. They bought all these music festivals and all that. They went bankrupt. They got my my company back. And then I, and then I was able to add Komodo and all my restaurants together and start a new hospitality group called Gruit Hospitality. Also, by the way, one of the highest grossing restaurants in America. Yes, it's all set out there. And, and then Michael Rapunzel from
Life Nation, so why don't we do a deal? And he bought 51% of my company. And the tipping point, not just with my company, but they have someone by your side just to guide you. And to know that
you got someone that's probably the most powerful person in the hospital in the entertainment
business on your side, it's been amazing. And it's been great to use it as leverage to help other artists and stuff like that that want to do stuff or want to play it live or, you know, be part of my ecosystem. They know I have this amazing relationship with Michael Rapunzel. And if it's kind of like him signing on that you're a great person. And I'm so glad to be able to have that flag of life nation to be able to carry it through my ecosystem as well. Yeah, what sparked that deal?
I mean, what, what made my nation come to it? Because what's the root of hospitality? It's just been
“Gruit Hospitality for almost about a year. And, and for Rose, like you have to meet this man,”
Michael Rapino, he's, uh, he's going to help you get to the next level. Between Michael Rapino and Jeff Sofer at the foul and blue opening of the foul and blue Las Vegas and being able to grow my company on such a major scale that way has been the two biggest tipping points for me. There you go. And then of course, marrying my wife is a Bella
Grutman who has been an amazing partner next to my side. And again, as much as those two people
are influential in my life, she's just as much. Yeah, I mean, it's funny. I was actually watching a podcast that you were on with Isabella. And it was, it was actually almost like a comedy show. It's like, she's like, sometimes I have to be really mean. But I'm only mean in short sentences. And then he stops whatever he's doing. Yes, he's very scary. That, that, that tiny, beautiful Brazilian model they can. I know. Right. The Latina. That's like, buddy, that you don't mess with
that man. Those training you out. And it runs through the thread into your girls. And you know, she's obviously, she has a great majority now. And she's just so entrepreneurial. And also her
“non-profit style saves. I think has been really great to see my girls. But this is a girl that”
could have done set on the pitch. I think about all the time. She could have just gone out the lunches and done nothing. And instead, she said, that's it. I'm going to go do my own business. I'm going to make my own way. And it's great for my girls. My two daughters to see because
It's not only does it inspire me, but I know it's inspiring, though.
though. She's been involved in a lot of the interior design. A lot of your places. You have forms, all the stuff. Yeah. There's no one's taste level. I trust more than her.
Yeah. I would totally agree with that. She's been in her, and her jewelry is amazing.
You know, Christmas every year I go and maybe she'll be more than Christmas just to be honest. Okay. So I'll start. I'll start throwing it. That's sorry. That's about my daughter is decked out head to toe. And so I'm invested. And she's for those of you that don't know his wife. She is, I don't want to say the polar opposite of David. She is like a very grounded, very calm, incredible mother. And you know, when I've had,
I've had the luxury of seeing behind the curtain. David and I lived four or five floors apart in the 1000 museum for a few years. And so I was in and out of his place. They were in and out of my place. My daughter's very good friends with them. And I just see the intentionality that they have with their family. Yeah. Hina scenes. That's probably what I respect most about you. Is that on this climb to the top, you drew your family closer and closer and closer. And I see how
you and Isabella are behind the scenes the way you're with their daughters. And you're a good dude, Ben. Thank you. I mean, to me it's the most, I've done a lot of cool stuff as I'm sure you know, and I've seen a lot of cool things. But nothing's cooler than being that. Yeah. So let's, let's go to the book. Let's go to the bomb. Let's go to the book. So, um, I actually want to read
“something for the audience here. Okay. Please. Um, and, and, and I think it's, it's very telling.”
In order to be successful in life, you don't need to be special. You just need to know what most people, you just need to be what most people aren't consistent, dependable, and willing to work for it. If I know anything about Dave, it's that he works his ass off. He loves people. He loves his family. I'm getting goosebumps. Um, I'm so happy he opens up and cheers with others. What he's learned
on this incredible personal and professional journey. I was Tom Brady. So, uh, clearly it's, it's,
it's a book worth reading. I've read it. But I want to talk about the, the impetus for the book, because you have a course at FIU. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm, I've been to, uh, this, the, it's some of your year and wrap ups where they bring this celebrity's in and your, your, your hospitality course, son and I, my daughter, bended that several times. You've gone from, um, you know, building this hospitality group, or now, to wanting to give away some of the secrets. I wanted it a blueprint. I think the most
important thing for people out there is there was nothing like this for for myself when I was coming
“into the business. And I think it's so important to do it now, not after I retired and stuff like that.”
But if I can help share some of the issues I've had or challenges I've had and give it, be able to share it today, because so many people are coming out of school and, and because of all the different platforms and, and, and ways for them to be entrepreneurial, I really love entrepreneurship. To me, that's, it's, it's inspiring to me. And that's, to be able to say, hey, guys, these are the challenges I faced through through starting my own business and growing my own business.
Here they are, you know, you want to, you want to, you want to build relationships, get the book, follow the, follow the steps that I put into place, and some of them you could agree with, and some of them you don't have to agree with, but I'm giving you all the steps that I go through, because I've broken it down for my college class. You know, what I said, I want to teach about, teach people how to have relationships to break it down. And these kind of steps,
I feel is so important to life, because it's not something that just comes natural.
“You have to focus on people. You can't just focus on the celebrity and not the other people at the”
table. You can't just be in a room and say, oh, a networking, I'm networking. No, you're not networking. You're looking for authentic relationships out there. And when you're talking to somebody, don't be looking at the other people. Oh, who's bigger, better in the room? I hate that. And you could feel when someone's doing that to you. And being done to me, it's just, I write those people off right away. But listen, it takes work to sit there and have to ask, but for me, I want to know
everyone's story. So when I would go out the dinners with a celebrity or a DJ or an artist, they
always have some kind of entourage. But the entourage, I actually love to find out the stories of
the entourage. I like to find out the stories of the manager, the public is the agents. I want to know what drives them to be able to work with this person. How did they find the talent in this person to be able to grow their lives with that person? Hmm. Hey guys, let me tell you about one of my favorite new hydration drinks. Now, this is for distance athletes, hits cardio exercises, people that sweat a lot or exercise intensely. And a game is a hydration drink. It has a essential
vitamins. It has all of the electrolytes, the entire suite of B vitamins. Before you freak out and read that as 21 grams of sugar, which it does, the sugar is coming from natural cane sugar and honey. My preferred mechanisms for getting glucose into the blood during intense exercise. It also has natural flavors. But these natural flavors don't come from bacterial fermentation. They actually come from real citrus fruits. And the color is from vegetable juice, not artificial dyes. So next
Time you're looking for a great hydration drink and you're exercising intense...
Now, let's get back to the ultimate human podcast. I think I think that can reframe the way a lot of entrepreneurs think about their employees and think about their customers. Oh, they're my guests. Yeah, they're your guests. So yeah, I like that. Not customers. But if you take it as if listen, by taking a personal, that's another thing like you come to my home. I'm going to treat you. It's like you're coming to my home. You're my guest. That's why I try to treat people. Yeah. And that's
“where people, that's why I think people resonate or why people want to do things with me”
because they think it's not just transactional. I think if people think it's just transactional, then it's then it's you've really done nothing for your life. Right. I love that I've built relationships where people feel like there's a long game with me that it's not just a one show, a one DJ gig, a one, a one deal for for for for marketing or whatever it is. Instead, I want investing your brand. I want to grow your brand. You've also morphed into a bit of a business
tycoon. I mean, you've actually taken brand. So some of which you brought to my table. We've gone bested in course before. I want to just recently five X. So thank you very much for that. And but you have a pension for spotting trends as well. So you you talk about it and you've already done a choice on this podcast. You talk about the ecosystem. Of course. And how you want to control the entire chain in the ecosystem. And now it seems like you're also layering in
this almost like investment banking, you know, fun manager, portfolio manager kind of kind of really. Yeah, it's been it's been a great part of this. I love consumer brand goods and that's like, you know, I love finding these young founders that are that are starting these new brands that you and I could add a lot of magic to or bring people into also add magic and we all kind of take the right together. And I tell all my celebrity, I tell all my friends, period that have some kind of
“influence. Stop taking fees and sponsorships. Of course, you have to live and I get all that.”
Of course. But once you get to that point, I think if you could if you could stomach, if you could take the ride, I think, on having equity in the brand is way better than just getting a sponsorship or transactional fee. And if you're going to be the one that's turning the needle for that brand, why not, why not be part of that upside? Taking the equity. What are some brands you're comfortable talking about and you put into. Oh, so much like, you know,
skinny dipped as you know, that's when you went into. And of course, you and I both just did a
symbiotica, which I think is going to be a $2 billion brand, the liposemo, you know,
supplicant liposomal liposomal, whatever. But again, it goes, it also goes down to not only the product, but the founders. You know, you think the founders of symbiotica are great people and founder on a, they're amazing. And just the fact that when I went to ask people to come in on the deal, everyone's like, I already used it. It's one of my favorite brands. It's like the gold standard of supplements. Yeah. People, you're like, the weekend has it on his rider. Like, it was the
easy, hey, you want to come in on this deal with me. And now that you have all these amazing people, part of this brand, it just grows to brand that much faster, that much quicker, right? Yeah. And I think that's a cool thing. And when the exits happen, you can say, hey, I put you in that
“deal. Yeah. It's a great thing. I've got art on my wall that you put me into. That's what you”
want to do. You know, it is why I find something special, whether it's a person, a product,
a, anything. I always want to share that with the world. Yeah. And having this ecosystem
provides additional value in addition to capital. Of course. Right. Of course. So, um, you can get back to the book for a minute. Where do you think a lot of entrepreneurs that have their head down sort of shoulder the grindstone are going wrong in building the foundation that their business? Where do they go wrong? I think, um, you know, one thing I, I really like to talk about Gary with this whole thing is I've had more issues with success than I have with failure.
I think that's one thing in the book that they don't tell you in school and in life. They're everyone's like, oh, you know, everyone gets up and they talk about their failures, their failures, and of course I've had many failures. I have great success, but I have many failures. And what people
always want to harp on is, you know, oh, I, you know, I failed, but I got back up and I did it.
And yeah, of course, that's, that's how we are as humans. I don't know many people that did it once failed and didn't try to get back on the horse. Right. That's fine. But what they don't people don't talk about enough is, once you're on top of the world, how do you, how does that affect you? Because that's where, for me, was the most challenging. Right. I opened live. I was on fire. That's when your ego comes out. That's when you think you're unstoppable. That's when you don't
Ask for help.
need help? And that's also when you get very cocky and you forget about where you came from.
Did you recognize that? Oh, I took, was there a good friend of ours, Wayne Boitz from reserved to say to me one time? Hey, my man in the middle of, and no one live was just kicking off. He's like, you're not, you're not saving lives. It's not heart surgery you're doing here. It's a nightclub. And I'm like, okay, you're right. And then as you're so cocky and your ego's so driven. But you know, the ego's a funny thing, Gary, because the ego drives you to do things that you, that normal
people wouldn't do and things. And if you wrote it down on a piece of paper, probably didn't make sense,
“but you did it anyway because that was your ego. And that's what changes the world. Right? That's”
those are the things that were the miracles come out. It also is the thing where, again, you don't ask for help. And you don't look at things in the business sense. You just do it for ego and that later on hurt you later on. So it's having the people around you that keep you focus, but also in line. So not just having a bunch of yes men around you, people that tell you man need to hear not what you want to hear. I, listen, nobody, when they're at the top of the, at the top of the
pyramid, do they want to hear a no from somebody or this, I've learned to take that breath and try to hear someone's other opinion. And that's a lot of magic's come out of that as well, is when I take that second and I go, you know what? I'm not going to just respond back like I know it all in me here at their vision. And I've learned is the youth do bring new ideas to the table.
“And that's why I try to surround myself with so many youth because their ideas look at the world”
differently than you and I look at it. And I have to like take a breath back and I, and I actually put a lot of a lot of interest in their ideas. Yeah, I find that with my kids too, and my kids are in, in the, in the business. You know, Maddie's got a, like listen guys, let's be honest. Gary, yes, got me to where I was, but he's so famous now and he's so big. He doesn't have time for me.
I use Madison, Rebecca. She's the most important person in my life as Madison,
Brecco. Dude, we are going to clip that from the podcast. Good thing this is they're not life. No, I agree, Maddie. I love your daughter so much. She's a smartest girl. I know. But she does not give me food dosage shots that I, I'm like Madison. I need a higher dosage, and she's like, no, she's a nurse. She stays within the guidelines. Dude, I wanted to go outside the guidelines. I know you do. It's a constant struggle with you. Yes, constant struggle.
But I mean, that is the greatest gift God has ever given me is to have adult children want to hang out with me and, and to have your adult children in the business and on the journey. And I know your daughters are kind of migrating because moms and entrepreneurs, dads and entrepreneurs. You also make entrepreneurs some fun. Yeah, listen, it's a grind and there's ups and downs and there's of course, like how you're going to make this payroll meet and do all this kind of, and is this
distributor? Is this, it's just, it's just big box going to take the product or not take this product,
“or is this colossal, them bringing back the dire will, if is that going to really work?”
I don't know, but yes, I think it does. Yeah. And I think it's a coolest thing when you, when you build a brand, I think at the end of the day, everything I do is just about building a brand. If you know me, you know I'm a huge believer in the benefits of hydrogen water. H2 tab delivers cost-effective portable tablets that generate ultra-clean molecular hydrogen at 12 parts per million. One of the highest concentrations on the market with over 1,300
public studies showing benefits of oxidative stress, energy, recovery, brain function, and so much more
taking charge of your health has never been easier or more cost-effective. Just drop a tablet in water,
let it dissolve and drink it back. It's less than a dollar a day. Science backed and part of my daily routine. I never travel without this, and it is my favorite bio hack. Visit drinkh2 tab.com. That's drinkh2 tab.com and upgrade your hydration today. Now let's get back to the ultimate human podcast. Do you, are you now considering things outside of the hospitality space where have you learned that as an entrepreneur that you're going to build your kingdom and your ecosystem?
Well listen, I definitely invest in stuff that's not hospitality as well, that I think is just cool as shit or super cool. We just talked about colossal. I think that investing. You got me into that too, yeah. Another great company. I think it's just cool when people are you know, they're doing things that I think will people will have an increasing engagement for. That's what I really look for at the most is it's not just about food beverages or that. It's about
What's the engagement with it?
anything that's not healthy, then there has to be something to this skinny dipped chocolate peanut butter nut or whatever this brand is. And when I did a deep dive and met the founders and I understood why. So I look for little things like that. Same thing with DJs. Who are the next up-and-coming DJs? Who are the kids today really engaging with? Not so much if they have
a billion followers or anything like that, but where's the engagement? Are they obsessed or
“are they talking about? Are they talking on their social medias? Are they reposting all their stuff?”
I think that's my, it's not even about music or it's about energy and I'm great at sensing energy. That's great. You know, I call it trend spotting. Wow, you know, but you're the best trend spotter I have ever known. I mean, really, you're so far ahead of your time on so many things, including, you know, hospitality. I want to draw back into the book for a second because I think it's applicable to any entrepreneur that's starting a business. I mean, I think whether you're doing
a car wash, you're starting a paper route, whatever it is, this book gives you a blueprint carry of everything that I look for, everything I do, my failures, my wins, my everything, I put it here. And you know, it's so cool about the cover is Johnny, I did this cover. A lot of people don't know that. Johnny, I've designed the iPhone. Wow, did he really? Yeah, he designed everything. He did a great job. He designed the most, the most sold watch in the world, which is the Apple watch. And then he left
to go work with Sam at Chatchee PT and he just did a big six billion dollar deal to design the
devices for Chatchee PT. It's funny when the publisher was sending me all these book covers. And I was like, I can't do these book covers. I can't, these are, this is not me, faith on it. No, no, no, I had like a martini. It looked like it was sex in the city. It was crazy. And I'm like, what do I do? Who could do this? This is, this is my life's work. I'm putting into a book. I need the right book. And I go, I used a coupon with Johnny Iv and I said, Johnny,
please, I need you to do the cover. And I had just done his kids 21st birthday. I just hosted them to plenty. And anytime he goes to a city, I'm the first guy to say, let me help with whatever I can do. I said, please, man, I can't have my life's work be the sex in the city cover of a book. And then one day he came back with this, the whole thing, it's the most perfect thing I've ever seen. And just to know that Johnny Iv did my book cover. I remember talking to the publisher.
She's like, Johnny, I did your book. And I go, yeah, she goes, how much are you paying him? Like, well, he just did a six billion dollar deal. So it's either six billion or free. So I'm going to go with the free. She was $6.1 billion or free. Yeah, she's like, okay, let's do it with the free.
“Okay, I love that. And just same thing with like Kim, when I said, listen, who am I going to have?”
Who am I going to have to do my forward that that's known me that actually has taken the ride and I've seen take her ride from the beginning to where they are now was Kim. Yeah. And I think Kim's gone from being, you know, a reality to start to an entrepreneur and a boss. And she runs a fund and she runs a family and she's a great mom and she builds business. I mean, what she's done with skims. I don't care what anybody says. It's the most impressive thing I've seen.
Yeah, it is astounding. And you and you have a genuine relationship with that family. I'll never,
I don't forget I was sitting on your couch one day and Kendall Jenner walked in. And she had a, she had a mask on, it's turned COVID. She walked in with a mask on and you go, Kendall, take that off. You look ridiculous. And I was like, I just, I just, I just, I was like, no, Dave, I'm not taking them away. You know, because we were open first. The COVID mask really bothered me for a while. Yeah, but I think it bothered a lot of people.
I think we realized the pendulum's won the little far on that one. Yeah. Yeah. We, we, we, we, we're never doing that again. No, we're the next pandemic comes, but we did really well in my amy. So like, not that I wish we were blessed. We were blessed. Yeah, it's pretty good. I had a good governor. Yeah. And a good mayor. There's also a good friend of yours. Yeah.
“So I think that, you know, entrepreneurs maybe knowing what not to do is as important as knowing”
what to do. Yeah. And I, I love the title, you know, take it personal. What's behind that tagline? Because I care so deeply. And I think if you care so deeply, you're going to succeed. I care about the details. I care about everything. If something's going to bother me, so in my bones, that's what I'm going to win. And that's when change really happens. Right? Yeah. If nothing really bothers you and you're not taking a personal, do you really change? Yeah.
I've seen you when you're in your restaurant. You're a assassin. It's either either you love
Doing it or you hate doing it.
and straighten napkins, fix, fix, fix over, make sure that water, water glasses are full again. It's like a 3D scanner that's going like this around. And you can like spot something, you know,
cross the room and you just go over and fix it or have somebody fix it. And I've always admired that
about you. I mean, you've been doing that, you know, the entire decade that I've known you like
“never taking your eyes off the details. I think the details is what makes it. I think where people”
take their eyes off the details, it's when people don't care. And it's it's the it's the number one sign for for me when I go into one of my spots and I see a light bulb out or something like that. That's when I lose my mind. That means they really don't care. And does that permeate then the culture of your organization? Of course. And listen, every every organization has to keep retweaking, retweaking, retweaking, retweaking and people that you think hold up your entire
company that you need and when they leave and your your company thrives even more is even better, because Gary, I've been through this where my number one guy leaves. And I think, oh my god, it's going to go. And what happens is all your people step up. And it opens it up for people to feel like now they have a say. And they can add value. And I think, you know, retweaking your company over and over again. Don't be afraid of people leaving. And if someone's not wanting
to be on the right, don't try to convince them to stay with you. I've made that mistake too. I have to.
“I'll like, no, you have to stay with you. We have to do this. No, no, no.”
And then six months they're gone anyway, no matter what. And you just buy yourself some time and at the end of the day, once they leave, your life is so much better. And that's where people should not be afraid of. And it's it's happened to me a few times now. And I'm just like, oh my god, no, the company actually rises and the everyone steps up so much more. It's almost like when you have, and you're like, should I have had this layer even there?
Yeah. Yeah, Elon Musk talks about that about like skimming the layers. Like if you weren't starting meeting with reducing your department by like 10%. He wouldn't even continue the meeting. You know, it's, you know, it's, it's simplicity. Like the complexity is in this simplicity.
You have all these amazing people, and maybe you haven't pulled all the talent out of them,
and you pull somebody out of the top, and they just rise. Oh, and what's really interesting perspective are saying to them what your message is instead of you saying your message. And no one could ever get your message correct like you do. And having, by taking certain layers out of my business, it's built a relationship with the executive chefs with my general managers, my director by all those people now feel like they have a say in my company and have instead of have people
you know, layers in between that could be saying to them different than what you really want them to be hearing. Hmm. So you got the night club. She got the restaurants. Yeah, you got the book. You got the investment funds. You're actually getting into results. They're not funds. They're not funds. Okay. There. I'm just, I just invest in brands, and I'd love to share them with my friends.
“Yeah. And you brought me into some of those. What's next?”
Great question. So I'm working on a members club. We're trying to grow poppy steak. That's right. We are growing poppy steak out of the country. I'll talk about that at a later date, but we have two locations out there. And I'm just really trying to focus on my brands here and trying to scale my brands that I have now. Yeah. You know, I noticed that you use the word wellness more often too, because the course, the the biggest attention trend in the world right now is
anti-aging longevity wellness. So over there a long time ago, that's when you brought it to my attention, longevity longevity like unlike there's something so cool about this. The new luxury. So how how is your brand going to since this is the ultimate human podcast? How is your brand going to incorporate wellness longevity and tagging that sort of, I think it's, I think the fact that's so much such a big part of my lifestyle, right? And I magnify that message out there. No,
and stop. And also I invested in those kind of brands from neurogum to symbiotica, and coconut coat, the probiotic yogurt to be is just that one. They're going to win the battle of gut health. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a huge issue. Monster issue. As a Jewish boy, it's like the
woman I shoot. All the Jewish boys are back. We always have the worst guts. So, you know, your next
4A is going to be this member's club. Can you say about where it's going to be? Or what? No, but it's going to be in Miami. I feel like I need to do it to make it special. So for me, you know, I have a lot of great entertainment venues. For me, I just really want super luxury brand. And I think that's the next thing for me. And the one thing, you know, as my, as my audience keeps growing older and different and they're kind of changing too and their taste levels change as well,
people want luxury and they just want insane hospitality. So this is going to be luxury and
Insane hospitality.
ultimate human podcast, I always ask a one question. And there's no right to wrong answer to this.
I know. You know, it's coming. What does it mean to you to be an ultimate human? That everything's firing from your, from your personal to your business, to your emotions.
“But everything is firing on all cylinders. And to me, that's what an ultimate human is.”
Yeah. And that's a great strive to be every day. So get everything firing.
Yeah. I think you're an ultimate human man. I've been a part of not responsible for it, but a part of my journey. What do you mean? Well, I've been a part of your health journey. I can
“have been, not, I don't know of dead, but I could have been, yeah, definitely wouldn't have had”
the energy to keep up with what's going on in my life. Thank you. I appreciate that. But I just want to say with every fabric of my being to my audience, this is one of the most authentic human means I've ever met. What you see is what you get. What he says is going on behind the scenes is
actually going on behind the scenes. You're a great father. It's a great husband. You're an amazing
entrepreneur. You've been an incredible friend of my family. I hope everybody goes out and gets this book. I'm going to put a link to it on on the site. I'm actually going to give away on my Instagram,
“I'm going to buy a couple hundred of these books and give them out to my audience because I think”
it's so impactful. I think it's not just applicable to the hospitality space. I think it's applicable to life. And especially if you are an entrepreneur, but it is a great lesson in life. I learned this lesson from day five years ago. I've applied it every year since. I want to thank you. Thank you for coming on the ultimate human podcast. I hope congratulations and all your success. Gary, it's for me. It's good so nice to see you the ride. Thank you, brother.
And until next time, guys, that's your science.
