The B Team Podcast
Talking all things Business, Bentonville, and Bourbon. Hosted by Josh Saffran, Matt Marrs, and Rob Nelson. New episodes every Thursday!
The B Team Podcast
Ep. 62 - TJ’s Sandwiches, Mermaids Comeback, and Why Bentonville is Booming
The secret to surviving 36 years in the restaurant industry isn't just great food – it's having complementary partners who understand their roles. Meet Todd and Nickki Golden, the culinary power couple behind some of Northwest Arkansas's most beloved dining establishments.
With humble beginnings, razor-sharp business instincts, and genuine passion for hospitality, Todd and Nickki have built an impressive restaurant portfolio that includes Isabellas (with locations in both Fayetteville and Bentonville), Mermaids, and TJ's Sandwich Shop. Their latest venture brings the beloved Mermaids concept to Rogers' Pinnacle Hills area, opening May 6th.
What makes their restaurants special? Everything's made from scratch – from their famous 16-layer lasagna to their signature "beggar's purses" pasta. Todd's culinary creativity shines in unexpected dishes like their French onion soup reimagined with "more cheese, more bread" and their homemade Hugs Ice Cream featuring unique flavors like basil, lavender honey, and balsamic strawberry.
But perhaps more impressive than their food is their ability to retain staff in an industry known for turnover. Their corporate executive chef has been with them since he was 16 years old – now in his 40s. "We've been through the battle with them," Todd explains about their hands-on management approach that builds loyalty.
As Northwest Arkansas continues evolving, so do Todd and Nickki – introducing a new umbrella brand called Golden Table Collective while maintaining the authentic culinary experiences that have made them local legends. Their monthly cooking demonstrations, where Todd prepares multi-course meals paired with wines right in front of guests, showcase their commitment to creating memorable dining experiences.
Want to taste what 36 years of restaurant expertise brings to the table? Visit Isabellas, try their upcoming new Mermaids location, grab a sandwich at TJ's, or attend one of their interactive cooking demonstrations. Your taste buds will thank you.
Welcome to the B-Team Podcast. I am your host, josh Safran, with my co-host, matt Morris and our permanent guest, rob Nelson. We're here every week to talk to you about all things Bentonville, bourbon and business the B-Team Podcast Be here. Welcome to the B-Team Podcast. I'm your host, josh Safran, with my co-host.
Speaker 2:Matt Morris sitting in Bobby's seat. It's a sad day.
Speaker 1:Bobby, our permanent guest. He's not so permanent anymore. What's the opposite?
Speaker 2:of permanent, I don't know. We're going to have to give him the Velcro name tags.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and he's missing good bourbon today and, most importantly, he introduced us to Tyler and Nikki.
Speaker 2:He's taken us there a few times. Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll get into Isabella's and TJ's and Mermaid's and all the amazing stuff that they do, but cheers, smoke wagon on a smoke wagon. So have you had some of your work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's good you a fan. Have to bring good stuff for you. Yeah, smell's good.
Speaker 3:It's a burner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you said you were really needing it today. You said it was a tough day for you. Huh, it's been a long day in the Saffron household.
Speaker 1:Today, the stresses of being a business owner which is perfect segue into our friends Todd and Nikki. Ceo, founder, proprietor, head chef. Janitor right, you do this cleaning job.
Speaker 3:Many, many, many. Todd says my title is gift to gab.
Speaker 1:So we'll see. Emily says my title is the mayor, so it's similar, like we have similar roles. Yeah, shake hands and kiss babies.
Speaker 3:Oh, I hold all the babies that come to the mayor. So it's similar, like we have similar roles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shake hands and kiss babies. Oh, I hold all the babies that come to the restaurant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of weird sometimes. Oh no, I do take them in the kitchen. Sometimes I'm like what baby we haven't?
Speaker 1:gotten offered to go in the kitchen, yet but we're not cute enough. Next time you're in, we'll give you a get a tour.
Speaker 3:Consider it done.
Speaker 1:So now you guys have Isabella's North, which is the new one here which I want to talk about. That's where I got to know you. Then you have Isabella's in Fayetteville yes. Then you have Mermaids Yep, we're getting ready to open the new Mermaids. That's exciting. What a promenade. And then TJ's Sandwich Shop right yeah.
Speaker 3:Now is it up here? No, it's in Fayetteville, but we're lazy and it's that's all right, it happens, but at the new mermaids here, rogers, the caveman club is our most popular sandwich at TJ's. And what is in the caveman?
Speaker 1:club. It's on a sourdough bun. It's a little bit sweet. But you have a smoked ham and Turkey and pepper jack and cheddar and apple smoked bacon and honey mustard and we toast the bun and we cook the meat. We kind of do it in a skillet, you know. So it kind of caramelized the meats and stuff and it melts the cheese.
Speaker 3:Real good it's all gooey and it's delicious. So we're putting that on the Mermaid's menu because when we were talking to the leasing agent she's like can you just put a tea chase up here? So I said we should put a couple of sandwiches on the menu.
Speaker 1:I like that. That's smart. So that'll be a different Mermaid's menu here than down there, or just a couple of tweaks. Well, a couple of tweaks. We're going to be open for lunch and dinner. Actually, we'll be open straight through, which is a little bit different for Mermaid's. It used to be we would do lunch, we would reset or whatever, and then open for dinner, but now we're just going to do straight through. So the menu well, menu will have more. There's going to be some casual stuff on it, but there'll be. We're also going to have steak specials and seafood specials at night, kind of like just what we had at Mermaids in Fayetteville. Now have.
Speaker 2:Have you been to Mermaids? All right, what's your thoughts on Mermaids? I love these things. Yeah, it's good, it's good. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, have you not ever been there? I've not been to Mermaids. No, we used to live down there.
Speaker 1:Oh, sorry, here we go there. We opened Mermaids in 03. Yeah, and then we closed this past, lost our lease. It's kind of a weird deal, whatever. But um, but um, but so we've been trying to find a new spot in Fayetteville. No luck so far. But uh, the Pinnacle people really wanted us, so they we uh, we're happy to be up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, is this nice to feel wanted? Oh, my god, right, I told Todd. I said he finally paid to be us.
Speaker 2:You know, kind of did well and like most of all of our friends. You know it's as you guys know there's been like a shift. You know it used to be, fayetteville used to be the place to go, but not anymore. All of our friends live in Fayetteville, out to come up here to go to good places.
Speaker 1:But it used to be if you want to have something good, you go down south. Now everybody's coming up north, Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, because we've been in business 36 years. Oh, that's a long time. We see a lot of changes. Yeah, we have. Yeah, the biggest change is when we lost the fayetteville airport and the airport up here open.
Speaker 1:So and then that's when everything started coming because most of your business up until recently has been in fayetteville. Right, I mean, isabella's is your first business up here. Everything else has been Fayetteville-based. That's right. Okay, yeah, they're starting to come up here. Yeah, yeah, they're morphing. Yeah, I mean, we're going to stay, we're going to have a presence in Fayetteville. Yeah, we live in Fayetteville.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's Bella's. You know they're right kind of across the street from each other.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've been down there or not, but but we won't hold that against you that you guys are. Maybe you can build us a little apartment. Yeah, now, we, we, we love Fayetteville. I think you know there's a lot of politics. I think they just made some bad decisions over the years to writing people off. But I think in the yeah, yeah, that's what we want, it is what it is. Yeah, internet yeah, it is what it is. Yeah, it's not worth it.
Speaker 1:It is what it is, yeah, but then so we met you guys, because, to your point, we don't get down to Fayetteville a lot. So, bobby, rob Nelson, who was not here with us today, permanently, he's here, like I. May he rest in peace, he's just, he's here, but he's not here, yeah. So he said, hey, have you tried isabella's? I said where is it? That's where whole hog used to be. And I said I didn't know, whole hog wasn't there anymore. So we, we walked in the place and I was blown away by the decor. Like it's. It's very cool on the outside, but it's unbelievable inside with the chandeliers and the blue and like the, and then the room and the room back the private room the back, that's the Aspen room.
Speaker 1:So we go in and say, all right, I'm a New Yorker, bobby's a New Yorker, good Italian. So we're like, all right, we'll see how it is. And we're like, whoa, this place is great and the food, the customer service, the wait staff. So we got to come in here more often, so we started going regularly and then we went there a few weeks ago where we met you at this wine tasting, wine dinner pairing, which I'd love to hear more about. You missed it.
Speaker 2:I missed him. I came out for for drinks the after drinks yeah, yeah he made the after party. But he didn't make this. We already kids stuff going on right now well, we do these.
Speaker 1:I call them cooking demonstrations because I'm the chef and and so I'll set up a. I'll create a menu, cheesely three courses, and we pair them with wines. And I was telling you earlier, the guests are kind of taken back. At first, they don't know what to expect, but then you get a couple glasses of wine and a couple courses down and before you know it we're all best friends and we're exchange numbers. And it's the funnest experience because, especially when you can see the evolution from the first 10 minutes to the last 10 minutes, it's crazy how much fun people are having at these demonstrations. So I'll do a three-course demonstration. This past time we had a winemaker from South Africa come in. And who was it? What was her name? Again, jane, jane, and she owns the stock, stella kai, big personality.
Speaker 1:She, oh, wow, she was something, yeah yeah and we've met we've known her for a few years now but uh, but it's really fun when we, when we can have the we didn't have the wine, uh the winery owner there and we and we paired it with. You know all the food and the wines and stuff, and it was so that that. So that particular one was especially fun. Well, I thought it was cool and unique. I've done these types of things before, but he was literally cooking 15 feet in front of you, in the middle of the room.
Speaker 1:So it was like he was in the back.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that it was like he was in the back, so he's explaining what he's doing. Most of the things I've been to is like they bring the food out, yeah, explaining it. He was cooking and he's walking around and he's breaking balls a little bit, he's having fun with the group, which you know it was great, like great personality, and then they're serving the food while he's cooking it. So that was like very interactive, which I thought was a great touch, for I mean, the food was great, but the interactive touch I thought was super cool. Yeah, and it helped too when, since we had jane there and she was, she kind of took a little bit of pressure off.
Speaker 1:Usually it's just me up there, you know, I feel like, but but at least she was. She was explaining the wines and we and we usually have someone there that's talking about the different wines that we pair with the food and stuff but but they're a lot of fun, certainly, and we do. We do those at isabel's north and we do them at isabel's in fayetteville as well, and once a month yeah, we do once a month uh, like is there a couple weeks apart. So you know, one week up here and a couple weeks later we do it. So it's like sign up uh yeah, fixed price, and then it's a set group. It's all on our website, you know, so people can just can look and they can even see what the menu and stuff and maybe even the wines that we're pairing with it.
Speaker 3:So it's now, next friday, which usually we don't do them on fridays, but a lady from italy's coming, so we're doing. It's just a dinner. Todd will not be cooking in the room, but it's going to be a five course dinner with five pairings of.
Speaker 1:Yes, we'll be doing there, but but it'll be more of just a wine dinner. All right, instead you already have the menu set. Yeah, can you like tease us a little bit? So I, uh, let's see if I can remember, we're doing it. We're just going to start out with the charcuterie thing where we're having our champagne and everybody's kind of mingling, whatever, and then uh, uh, you're gonna do the shrimp oh, yeah, malvasivius shrimp, so it's kind of like a louisiana barbecue shrimp. It's a little bit spicy and what.
Speaker 1:And uh like, yeah, it's really good, and we serve it with a little little piece of, uh, french, french bread that we kind of crisp up with Parmesan, hence Mount Vesuvius. And then the next course is going to be some wallow that we get from Hawaii. We'll wrap that in prosciutto and we'll serve it on grits, but polenta, like an Italian grit, and with a couple different sauces, like a red and green pepper coulis. And then we're going to do a lamb rack or lamb chop with a port wine at Lamb's Yew, and then for dessert, I think we're doing chocolate mousse. Is that right? You know, I don't even know. There's lots of moving parts.
Speaker 1:By that point, I won't even care about dessert.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:And then it's going to be up here, or down south.
Speaker 2:No, it's just in Fayetteville. You have to drive, yeah come on, I'd love to get to that.
Speaker 1:So what I didn't tell you because normally you're late, as evidenced by today. But when we had the tasting last time with Jim and Corey and the phones ringing and it's Bobby, he's like where are you guys? We're waiting for you. You're holding up the whole thing. I'm like you got to be joking me and we walk in and literally the whole line was waiting for us to start and then I felt bad because I thought he was kidding. And we walk in and there's like 25 people and they're all like oh, these are the latecomers. We can't start until they're here. Yeah, they're late. So I'm like let's get them on the podcast I can make it no A smidge, just a little.
Speaker 3:I knew I liked it right away. Yeah, just a little.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is my kind of people. Yeah, exactly. So now what?
Speaker 3:did you serve for us today? Well, we brought our famous lasagna, and usually it's, you know, twice the height.
Speaker 1:That's a 16-layered lasagna. Yeah, so we just packed it nice.
Speaker 3:Oh, look at that. Yeah, are you guys going to have any of it? Oh no, we don't want to take away from y'all One's for you, and one's for me Exactly.
Speaker 1:You can meet that staff outside. It was glaring at me when we came in.
Speaker 3:And then this is our beggar's purses. So they're like little handbags, like little-.
Speaker 1:Beggars.
Speaker 3:Yeah, women used to carry is what it looks like with the string. So it's, and they're filled with.
Speaker 1:Mushrooms in there With cheese and then we serve with prosciutto ham, mushrooms, artichoke hearts. You can eat that whole thing.
Speaker 2:I didn't have lunch today, knowing they were coming. You only want half. Well, I guess I have to become a let's look at it that way.
Speaker 1:That's all he's getting, yeah.
Speaker 2:So now this is on isabella's menu. Yeah, yeah, what's our lasagna? We? You know, what I love at isabella's is your. I love the way that you make the uh, oh, the caesar bowl. No well, I love that too, yeah, my favorite. But I love the uh, the french. I like how you just make it. It's like a muffin top, right, yeah, like you, you make the best part of the French onion soup and I don't put the bowl of au jus that you don't really like in the bottom, I know.
Speaker 3:And that's so funny.
Speaker 1:you say that, that's exactly how we designed it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I said honey, why are you doing it in skillet?
Speaker 1:And he's like more cheese, more bread, and I'm like you need to have French onion soup. I said we're an Italian restaurant. Like it didn't make sense to me and then I had to go oh, I get it now. I mean it was that's kind of a signature dish and we use a Havarti and Swiss blend on that for the cheeses. It's really good, oh, good, good.
Speaker 2:It's neat that you're the chef too. Yeah, well, because so many restaurants nowadays like someone owns it, but they're not the chef.
Speaker 1:Well, it's always been that way, you know, with all the places we've had. I'm the chef, she's out front because she likes to talk to the customers. I don't really like the customers. I like the customers. You need them though, but yeah, but I don't like to talk to them. I prefer to be in the back.
Speaker 2:You know, making sure everybody's food is good, perfect, so it's perfect because you guys have you have your eyes on what's going on, both parts which it takes both.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we have, you know, some of our staffing has been with us for 25 years. Have, uh, you know, some of our staffing has been with us for 25 years. My corporate, uh, executive chef, philip chandler. He, he's been with us since he was 16 years old now he's 42 or whatever. His yeah, so he's, he's been with us for a long time. He's almost he's family. He is, he is family.
Speaker 1:We talked about that before the podcast, when we were waiting for Matthew to arrive, who was 10 minutes late, and what was like for somebody to stay with you for 25 years. He could have bounced around and went to multiple different restaurants. That talks to the character of you guys, that somebody wants to stay and work with you for that long. Well, we've been real lucky in that respect and I think it has a lot to do with our work habits. Like Nikki said, we're really hands-on type owners and we've been through the battle with them and I think that they respect that. Some of those days you're just getting your whatever handed to you. I don't know if we beat that hot or not, but that's the way I feel and we're right there with them, and so then at the end of the night we have a beer and we talk about you know the battle or whatever, and it just builds. You know camaraderie and loyalty and you know family or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Probably talk about people like Josh.
Speaker 1:He's one of those, the tough customer. Remember the guy showed up late for the wine tasting today at how Dairy Bowled Us Up. Yeah, I get it, the guy. You know who else I like too, the guy who's the guy who runs the front at TJ's.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's Fabian, this guy. So you walk in.
Speaker 1:Is this Bill then? Oh, the sandwiches are amazing, oh Amazing, because, like you, always fall an individualized custom right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, we cook the meat, we slice the meat. You know, it's not come in packaged already pre-sliced.
Speaker 1:But I'm locked in and I'm sitting there and every time I go he's always there for some reason. Like what do I want today? And he's got this huge personality. I was like I loved being there, like again I was getting a sandwich, but the reality was I felt so good when I was talking to him and you could see everybody was waiting in line with a big smile, ready to talk to Fabian. Oh yeah, I call him Fabulous and he's so good and he knows like when somebody walks in, he knows oh, you want the cheesesteak, extra cheese, right, you know, I mean your order yeah he's just, he's real personal, he's good, good guy to have around.
Speaker 1:But that speaks to the experience because again, I talked about our barbershop. You can go up and down walton and get a good haircut. There's a lot of sandwich shops right on college but you people come in there for the reality of. I want to talk to fabian. The food's fantastic. I get a great experience when I leave.
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah, yeah, what do you think? Wow, I loved there's a little more.
Speaker 2:I know that's why I can't get any more, because I'll eat it and then I'll be. I love lasagna. This is really good. That was fantastic.
Speaker 1:So, talib, thank you. So last question. So on the menu do you change it? Is it your call? Do you experiment with things? Do you have to bounce it off the missus? Do you have to bounce it off the staff? How do you decide what goes on the menu? I need to answer that question. I was going to say I'll be out there for a reason. It's an illusion. She thinks she has control, but she doesn't.
Speaker 3:No, I was not going to say that at all.
Speaker 1:It's like, but now that you said it that way, Well, you know, with our culinary team we work. You know when it's time to do menu changing and stuff. It's always hard, though, because you can't take the lasagna off, you can't take the beggars first off, so what ends up happening is you just keep adding these stuff and you get more.
Speaker 2:Before you know it, they have a ridiculously large menu.
Speaker 1:You know, and this is kind of interesting because you know we're getting the new mermaids in pinnacle and and it's it's given is an opportunity to kind of, you know, just kind of start, dial it back a little bit, start over reboot or whatever, and be like, okay, let's just pick the best of the best, you know. So, like all the menus we've had over the years, we went through and we picked out all what we think are like the best items, maybe the ones that you know the best crowd pleasers, the best, whatever. So we were the menu that we came up with, you know, like we said, we put the caveman club on it, you know, but that's from tj's but still it's like um, you know, it's one of our best, you know things, whatever. So the the menu that we came up with for for mermaids is we're real happy about that and excited about that and what's funny is today we're doing Mermaid's Lunches, tuesdays and Thursdays at Isabella's, trying to ease the pain that we close.
Speaker 3:We miss Mermaid. And this lady came in and she said okay, pesto chicken sandwich is my favorite and I understand it's not on the menu at Rogers. What are you going to do about that?
Speaker 2:So Melissa who's?
Speaker 1:a waitress who's been with us, like five plus They'll make it for you, but that's the hard part because in our business the same thing like people come in and for all the positive reviews and good reviews, like the ones that are not happy and they leave a bad Google review and you go off like it bothers you so much. You can't please everybody and you can't have a menu that's got a thousand items for a million reasons. You'll have a lot of thick spoils and things that you're going to throw out. You can't run a profitable business. I don't think people really understand that. And then they get all upset how come it's not on the menu? And then you go whip it up for them and sometimes they're happy and sometimes they're not. Customers are tough, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:They are and they're. You know, like I don't mind going and just trying different things all the time, but some people are like if they go to, if they go to, if they go to mermaids, this is all. I get like there's no, there's no veering you off of that, so it's hard like it is.
Speaker 1:Yes well and that goes back to having a lot of this, the help that's been with this for so long that you know philip, my main guy I was telling you about. Yeah, he worked with us at Belvedere's. That's where he started. Belvedere's was an Italian place we had in Fayette. I remember that and people will come in to this day and they'll be like can we get that dish? It was on the Belvedere's menu.
Speaker 1:They do and Phillip remembers and I do too, of course, but remembers what's in it, how it should look and how it tastes. And we remembers what's in it, how it should look and how it tastes, and we may, we mix it, we fix it up for, yeah, but on a busy night that's hard to do, or I mean, if we have the ingredients available, we do it sometimes.
Speaker 2:The rule is you have to ask the chef first before you promise, and it's always yes you know what's amazing that you guys have, like I'm we're fortunate that em Emily is so outgoing or Josh's wife. She got the oh heck, calamari. The calamari that you guys have, it's like a steak, but calamari, yes, yes, it was literally like most people would be like yeah, because we're creatures of habit, right, right, I'm not Because you know, we're creatures of habit, right, right, right. And come to find out, you know that was 10 times better than what? Than the tentacle thing that you usually get, right that, whatever, you know, I don't know how you came up, I've never seen that on a menu, but it's so good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and when Todd was doing the menu, he's like I think I'm going to calamari steak and I'm like, yeah, you know what, honey, I don't you know?
Speaker 1:we had some calamari steak on the menu at um belvedere's.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we did at lunch. Yeah, oh it was so good.
Speaker 1:Now do you? Is there a history where you vetoed something? Like we said, like has there been a little I say a little riff? Potentially, here goes the phone, goes away. Well, it's kind of I think it was. It's gotta be a good story here. Well, I mean we there are some, definitely some nights where we have pillow talk. You know, oh, you know how it is. You've been, we've been married forever, and however long that would be, how long is that?
Speaker 1:uh, well, since 88. So I don't do the math, that's better than that. And also also, we've been in business together since 89, you know. So, uh, and that's that's so. That's that's working together and and sleeping together and living together, and and then when we go on vacation.
Speaker 1:We're together and that's what we want to be with you know, yeah, but we talked again before the segment about how hard it is to I. I think it's hard. My wife runs a business with me. It's hard. You're in bed and you want to go to sleep and it it's like can you believe what happened? Oh, I know Today. Or can you believe and you go, I just want to go to bed, but never a good time, a downtime, other than right before bed, right, and then it's just super active.
Speaker 3:Some nights we'll be driving home from Bentonville and be okay. Let's just don't talk about work for 10 minutes.
Speaker 1:And 30 minutes later we're talking about work Maybe a different subject, you know, but still work. Three minutes later you're like did you take the trash out? Yeah?
Speaker 3:it's hard. We say we pay mortgage for our furniture because we're never there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're never there. No, and it's a labor of love it is. You have to love what you do, doing what you guys do, yeah, and you're obviously good at it, because it's funny, because so many you did say you may want a little bit more, I know. Just a tad, that's good, but so many you know it's a command keep your hand on what's going on it. It's hard to last.
Speaker 3:it is smart that you guys it's funny that people are like, oh, the restaurant business that's a hard business. I'm like you think you gotta tell me that, but then again that's all we know you know.
Speaker 1:Look at all these rings. I'm only 34. Oh God.
Speaker 2:That's exciting news, though, that you're going to open a Merc, so where is the Burmaids going to be up here?
Speaker 3:Right there. Do you know where the Wild Bird Sanctuary is?
Speaker 1:Five Guys Brothers.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, it was the catfish place, and what's so weird is two years prior we tried to get that spot.
Speaker 1:And they beat us to it.
Speaker 3:And he beat us to it, and then he moved out, and now we're again.
Speaker 1:So you're probably the one person that went to the Catfish Place, because isn't Carrie a big catfish fan?
Speaker 2:Yes, I don't know that we went there, see that the one person that liked catfish, but I think so. You know, this area is becoming kind of the hub of Northwestern. This little area, this Pinnacle Hills area, yeah, Well, there's still room.
Speaker 3:I mean, you go down to Bentonville, to the square, where are you going to park?
Speaker 2:And that's what's so nice about up here, especially over there too. You can park Right, there's plenty of parking. You can go to Bathsport you can park Right, there's plenty. You can go to the mall, you can go to a parking, you can go to a bath Like there's a lot of different things.
Speaker 1:That's easy to get in and out. Of. You're not having to drive downtown and stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And people are getting used to the nice, like the Ruth Gracious Open. I mean, we were there the other night. It was insane. People are used to more fine dining. Yeah, we really are. Yeah, Now the commuting is out to be adding on to you guys. All right, I mean, it's not like you're driving an hour, but you were typically going five minutes back and forth to the restaurants. Oh yeah, Now you guys are coming up here a little bit more, which is more time to decompress in the car on the ride home.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, you know what? I've started driving more because I'm kind of like oh, this is nice, you know getting back in the driving scene. Plus, we're kind of off the schedule.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we don't know. We don't drive during the rush hour time. You guys are before and after, so it's, you know it's 20 minutes. It's not that bad. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, it's really good. What time do you have to get in in the evening, like three o'clock, two o'clock? Yeah, I mean well, you know there's sometimes. There are sometimes the drive up. That can be a little bit, you know, heavy, but certainly drive at home middle of the night.
Speaker 3:You're driving midnight, one o'clock ish like now the perks of being the owner you get to come and go as you want well to a point.
Speaker 1:You know you don't have to, you don't have to garbage the bitter end.
Speaker 3:You know, you know todd's not scrubbing down the line, which he's done his fair share of. I'm not closing the restaurant completely down, waiting for all the servers to do their side work and their paperwork.
Speaker 1:You know, that's one perk, but they appreciate the fact that you're there hustling with them, oh yeah, which is great. That builds a lot of credibility and equity with your team.
Speaker 3:You know we're doing a little um, what is that with the rogers chamber tonight, kind of a meet and greet they're having like a little thing. Y'all can come, and from 5 to 6 30 that's smart to do, yeah. So, and one of the guys that had worked for us for a long time at mermaids now he just works for us kind of part-time well, he's going to be there tonight and I'm so excited to see him. You know, it's just like we're talking about the family, you know, and it's uh, it's a it's. It's been a good 36 years and I think you'll have.
Speaker 2:I think I don't think you'll lose a lot of the fate, like the fayetteville people that were core people. It's not a big deal, like you said, to 20 minutes oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, the lady wanting that peso chicken sandwich she's. We're going to be coming up there and I'll win it. Don't worry, we'll get it.
Speaker 1:Have you guys thought about marketing? Are you having any successes up here? Is there word of mouth or anything you guys are doing? Yeah, we do have a marketing company that we're working with about Belford Group out of Fayetteville, yeah, and they have a lot of good ideas. But the whole thing of that is just keeping your name in front of you know.
Speaker 3:I mean it's a different game now. I mean it used to be you advertised in the newspaper, you advertised on the radio and that's all. Yeah, or TV.
Speaker 1:And now radio I mean who listens to it. You'll probably get two million views from the podcast alone, maybe. I mean who listens to it. You'll probably get 2 million views from the podcast alone, maybe 3. We'll take 3, okay, or 3, I bet it's 3, like 1, 2, 3. Yeah, rob's got his mug and Haley appears, yeah, yeah, so you're going to get a few watches in this trip potentially, and you never know.
Speaker 3:But it's just a different game these days. Don't break anything, it's expensive.
Speaker 1:Eric, cut me off, cut you off. I want to talk a few minutes about staffing. You talked about people that have been with you guys a long time. Are you seeing, are you having a harder time staffing up here in Bentonville with the influx of restaurants, or are you easily to get waiters and bartenders and servers and dishwashers Not too bad, no, bartenders and servers, dishwashers not too bad, no, I, you know. I mean, plus, the type of places we're opening, um, you know, they're a little bit more high end, yeah, you know, with a higher check average. So, as a server, certainly you're thinking, hey, I can probably do better in a place like that. You're waiting on fewer people and, uh, you can, you're offering better service, you know, instead of the slam, slamming it out or whatever you know. So, so, as far, on that end, we, we don't really have any that much trouble. You know, keeping help, um, yeah, and then the then on the kit on the kitchen end.
Speaker 1:If you're a cook and you want to be a cook and you want to learn, you mean it's a great opportunity for you to come in and, um, you know, because it's not, you know, I like a lot of those change, you know you, you take the little microwave bag of pasta and the sauce that's either on the steam table or something like that. I mean we're making sauces to order and we're cooking pasta. I mean it's the real thing, it's the real deal. You actually learn how to cook and that's getting to be a lost art because of the change. Oh my gosh, well, your daughter goes to the culinary school here, right, yeah, oh, fantastic chef, wow.
Speaker 2:Right, she just won state for so she's going to Baltimore for a pro start. And then she won state for like a commercial baking thing, oh, yeah. Excellent, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:So yeah, she might need a job, what's?
Speaker 1:her name. I'll see you guys a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mallory. Shout out to Mallory Her main thing.
Speaker 3:She likes to do desserts oh and that's a hard one to find. Shout out to Mallory Her main thing she likes to do desserts and pastries, and that's a hard one to find.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really is, because you're waiting for a job.
Speaker 2:What's the starting pay for? It yeah, the last name is Morris Selfishly like Is that an extra zero?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, take a zero away.
Speaker 2:Well, and I was like if the nice thing about pastry is you can come in early in the morning and be home by four or five if you're, if you're younger and right, you know gonna have a family and stuff, so she's, she's excited that you know how kids are, that could change. It'll change 10 times, so she's gonna do yeah but, like I told her, you can't ever take that, that the knowledge that she's learning away.
Speaker 3:Absolutely no.
Speaker 1:And you know the good thing about that is, if she wants to um, there's plenty of so many opportunities, so many, so many different places If she, if she wants to move to New York or whatever, god forbid, uh, yeah exactly yeah, but you know and if you're listening and you have all these awards and stuff, she can go write her own ticket. Yeah, or can certainly help. If you're retired, you could low off Mallory.
Speaker 2:You never know. She's good at what she does. That's awesome. She has a little cookie business she does and she makes cakes, and then she does all this stuff.
Speaker 1:She's a busy girl, you, you would do.
Speaker 2:You need always I have a maiden.
Speaker 1:I could tell you look good. Did you look good? This young does. She sell them in the Mars General store up on no, she, she didn't.
Speaker 2:It's pretty much a good idea.
Speaker 3:That's the mortar stuff, okay well, we get him in the store. She'll have to put him in. We can sell the cookies at TJ, some and Mermaid's. Yeah, mallory, come talk to Nikki. Come on, mallory.
Speaker 2:I'll have her come talk to you.
Speaker 1:That's right, she actually may have to watch this episode now, because I know that my wife does either. Carrie, carrie, you're going to have to watch this episode. Matt's wife refuses to watch any of our episodes because because they're not true crime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she likes crime podcasts, so she listens to all the crime stories. You know, I think she's always plotting and, as I told her, yeah right, she has all the tools.
Speaker 1:She always has her notebook out, right. Yeah, might get a little worried.
Speaker 3:Do you sleep with one eye?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll never get worried when she wants to start up in the life insurance.
Speaker 3:There we go.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, coming back to mermaids, do you guys know an open date? Do you guys have any more information about approximately when we're real close Shooting for May 6th? Yeah, so a few weeks. Yeah, perfect timing for the podcast. Yeah, we'll send you guys Excellent. Yeah. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 3:Waiting on a permit.
Speaker 1:you know how that goes, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, send you guys. Yeah, Excellent, yeah, yeah, I love that Waiting on a permit. You know how that goes.
Speaker 1:And yeah, we love Rogers. Did you have to do a lot? No, I mean, we love Rogers.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you guys have to do a lot of build out in the space? No, the funny part was all we wanted to do was put a vestibule in so we can try to control the heat and air. Yeah, like when you open the door in the wintertime, that cold air will last in. Well, if you have the vestibule, it's a little buffer zone, so we wanted to put that in. That was the only construction we did in the whole spot and has that taken a while. Cosmetic stuff it was great, Flooring and yeah.
Speaker 3:But you're waiting on love, rogers. Yeah, shout out to rogers. Yeah, yeah, and we weren't going to change the floor or anything and we're trying to be good, just so we could get open. And hannah comes in one day and she's like we're not keeping this floor, are you? And I looked at todd and I said I'm?
Speaker 1:I guess not.
Speaker 3:Feedback is a gift, right, that's right she's way too much like her parent, but a few weeks away.
Speaker 1:On that, yeah we're close yeah. That's exciting. I'm sure Bobby will be invited to the grand opening. You'll probably not be able to come. No, you'll certainly be late, yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm always late.
Speaker 2:That's what I love about Isabella's Like. I love that you can get in and out of there and park Right. I don't know, I think you're in a good location there too, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if we could only find some valet gas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be. It's a big parking lot and we're not open during the day. During the day, there's a lot of businesses that are primarily daytime businesses, but we're just a nighttime business, so we have the whole parking lot, you know, available. Yeah, that was smart, so that worked out really good for us. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then you can go get Krispy Kreme donut afterwards. But it's easy for like to tell people when we get that's what.
Speaker 1:I tell everyone Behind Krispy Kreme. That's what I'll say. Everybody knows. You know what I mean. It's the same thing with the barbershop. Well, I don't know where you're at. We're by Crumble Cookie. Ah, I know where that is. Everybody does.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, but at Isabella's you should stay and have the chocolate crepe with the basil ice cream. Okay, that's amazing, we make that ice cream.
Speaker 1:We call it Hudson's. I couldn't believe he brought up going to Krispy Kreme.
Speaker 2:Well, that's okay. To be fair. I haven't been to Kristen's probably since it opened. We went there a few times. It was my kids that always wanted to.
Speaker 1:He did have the basil ice cream that night. Yeah, it was so good, very, very good yeah, we make all that in-house too. So now, who? You don't do the ice cream, do you? No, I mean, we came up with all the recipes, but now we have a son-in-law, the recipes, and but now we have a son-in-law. Oh boy, love you. Buddy, this had his husband. Yeah, uh-huh, and shout out he's taking over the ice cream business for us yeah and we do like him, though.
Speaker 1:Right, yes, at least for the wink wink, not not one wink for yes, two weeks for no, oh no, he's like good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it, and he loves Hannah, so that's the most important thing, Most important thing, and we've been working together on the ice cream thing now for, you know, a year or so They've been back in town. They moved back from New York, but the whole, you know, we sell it at the farmer's market, of course, we sell it at TJ's. That's a big thing, you know, know. And then we use it in all our other businesses too, like at mermaids. We'll have, we'll have. Uh, we do brownie pie, you know, in different flavors it's, and the layered one. And then we also do, uh, bananas, fosters, like, and we roll crepes with our, with our ice cream, and then make the foster sauce um, I don't know so.
Speaker 3:And then uh, and then we have the trio dip, so you can get three dids of ice cream Right.
Speaker 1:So our little ice cream company it's around, but eventually we'll be in the Mars General.
Speaker 2:Store or something like that. I'm sure they would love that. Yeah, what do you say? You just get one of those little coolers like when we were kids?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Consider it done.
Speaker 1:It feels like Mallory gets a job that's right In return At the Mars Mercury that's right.
Speaker 3:Ken and Nolan are hanging out Ginny and Ian.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think when they get that quill project done, that whole side is just going to be. You know, on the east side it's all walking traffic, so it would be the perfect spot. I didn't realize.
Speaker 1:All your ice cream, it's all walking traffic, so I know it would be the perfect spot. I didn't realize. All your ice cream was homemade. That's what makes it. We have 12 flavors, so we have the basil You'll never get enough Lavender honey, we do balsamic strawberry.
Speaker 3:She said you're not going to get them all. He won't. I never can either.
Speaker 1:Chocolate, vanilla cookies and cream clue-in coffee. Where am I at? I got five to go. My favorite Caramelized banana, there you go. Blueberry cheesecake. This is impressive.
Speaker 3:Mimi's apple pie.
Speaker 2:I bet that blueberry cheesecake's good.
Speaker 1:Don't distract him. He's good and he's almost at 12. He's got 10.
Speaker 3:Pistachio that's 11.
Speaker 1:Uh, we said colloidal coffee and and I don't know salted caramel salted caramel, oh yeah, our best seller it is our best seller.
Speaker 3:Uh, dolan's like I've gotta make salted caramel again.
Speaker 1:I'm like sorry do you guys sell it to go to like packaged? Yeah, we have. We have ones and pint, we have pints. You know what's funny at tj's? We have a in our drive-thru, we have a speaker so the cooks can hear the orders. So, because we can, so we can start cooking it. Right, right, oh, that's right.
Speaker 1:Right as we got, right as they're in this slam it out right, yeah, we're all about deficiency, yeah, but but what's funny is you can hear them. Sometimes they'll be like well, I want a caveman club and I want a cheesesteak. Oh, give me, give me a dip of uh you know, clue in coffee and a dip of caramelized banana. So I'm thinking, so you can eat the ice cream on the way home before you, yeah, before you eat your sandwich and then you're like honey, I got those sandwiches.
Speaker 2:What's the pistachio ice cream?
Speaker 1:yeah, that happens all the time. So smart, yeah, because the ice cream won't make it home, I know, but we do sell pints, so when you go through the drive-thru you can get a pint of something and we call it hugs because everyone loves a hug. In all seriousness, I have to take you to tjs. Yeah, yeah, I have. I had a sausage sandwich last time.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's the russell, the robot, oh it was.
Speaker 1:It was unbelievable. Like again from a new yorker, it's all right, how'd you do this? Wow, it was. I pull out my laptop, asked for the wi-fi, fabian was. It was all over the place. Laughing, joking. I'm like this is amazing. I worked there for like two or three hours. People are walking past. It was great, oh yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 3:I have to put him on the next commercial.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, t Jennings. Yeah, he can be on our next podcast. Oh, I love it. And the TJ Jennings, oh I was going to ask where the pain came from.
Speaker 2:Well, done and where is TJ's now? I know it's in Fayetteville.
Speaker 3:Right on the corner of College and Rolling Hills. It was an old KFC. Across from Fiesta Square it was funny because they closed down at COVID and I said, todd, we should move TJ's over there. And he's like, no, we are not going over there. No, no, no. So I'm over there. No, no, no. So I'm like, okay, two weeks passed by and the leasing agent called us and he said why don't y'all go? Look at the kfc building?
Speaker 1:I'm like I've been trying to get todd to go it's a great idea when it's not from your wife, though correct, that's what it was so todd's like okay, we'll go look.
Speaker 3:And he walked in. He's like, oh, this place is nice.
Speaker 1:And I was like yes but is that a true story?
Speaker 3:It is true, it's partially true, yeah, but little did I know. Two weeks after that he said oh, and, by the way, we're going to open another restaurant where we move TJ's out of.
Speaker 1:And I went what Well, we still had the spots. Yeah, so Isabella's was born. It's called Humble, and so Isabella's is kind of like a Belvedere's 2.0. When we had Belvedere's, we did a lot of the similar type items like spaghetti and lasagna and tortellini and stuff like that. And now, when you come home, it had been 20 years since we sold Belvedere's and we'd learned a lot. You know, then we learned a lot of different, you know tricks and a lot of different dishes and so that way. So, so that then we created the isabella's menu and and and it's kind of like the best of the of the best too, like, kind of like what we're doing at mermaids. You know, we we're we're taking all of our years of experience and pick, pick it and choosing the best of the items. Well, I love that you're keeping.
Speaker 2:You know you're keeping the name, that mermaid's name, just because it's.
Speaker 1:I mean for years everyone does yeah. Is the menu for Isabella's South and North the same? Exactly, exactly, is it Okay? Well, do you guys want to give us website information, instagram, any of that other fun stuff, so everybody can come follow you guys, if they're not doing it already? Yeah, uh-oh.
Speaker 3:You don't just want to tell them? Yeah, but I'm going to make sure I tell them right? Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:You don't want to spell mermaids like M-E-J-Q dot com. Yeah, Wait what.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so this is when we need Angela, because we're doing the new Golden.
Speaker 1:Table Collective yeah well our marketing team, we've decided to make an umbrella with all the different brands under it, so it's going to be called Golden Table. Collective Love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, isn't that nice. Who came up with the name? Angela did, yeah, shout out to Angela. Shout out to Angela, our new permanent guest, that's me. I'll come back anytime.
Speaker 1:Well, you're going to replace Bobby Bobby 2.0.
Speaker 3:Okay, just call me.
Speaker 2:All you have to do is show up.
Speaker 1:Just show at her, okay, and if you're here early, it's a bonus, yeah, which probably won't happen. No, because I'm late, well, neither yeah.
Speaker 2:They, I'm late, like you. To me, if you say three, that really means 315.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, that's the way I grow, that's when you leave the houses at three.
Speaker 3:Well, it's just so weird, because if you're a late person, like I am, when you are early you're like I know you're like what's going on. Why am I sitting here waiting?
Speaker 1:I have to start telling them we're filming at 245.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that works. Five yeah, that's that works. So anyway, we have, like um, isabella's fayettevillecom, we have mermaidsws right now, which is an old one, and then isabella's vintonvillecom, but that's all gonna change soon to that golden table collective, so everything will be under that one.
Speaker 1:I love it umbrella, yeah, and a big grand opening party for mermaids. You guys are going to do so, but we're going to give it a couple months and then do a grand opening and then we'll probably use the chamber, um, you know, as a platform for that, yeah, uh, and have a big party on you, maybe like in june sometime yeah, on the patio I love it.
Speaker 1:Well, you guys were a blast. Yeah, thanks for thanks for having us. It was fantastic. One last thing I'm coming in for my daughter's graduation. Yes, and my mom from New York the stereotypical New Yorker is going to be eating Italian food here and we chose to come to your place. That's how confident I am. That's a nice compliment. Hopefully we can wow her, you know, I'm sure it'll be amazing.
Speaker 3:Shout out to my mom she's nothing like y'all well, we just want everyone to come give us a try, because we're old dogs at this. It's not a new trick, that's for sure you're the old dog well, I am old, oh well, I'm still going. Yeah, all of our friends in Fayetteville, they're like are y'all ever going to stop? You're the old dog? Well, I am old, but I'm still going.
Speaker 2:Really fast yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all of our friends in Fayetteville. They're like are y'all ever going to stop? We're like, eh, we stop. And then you guys are growing rapidly, which is great. And then Hannah goes no more restaurants and we're like I'm like that's what we did.
Speaker 1:No more this week. Yeah, there we go. You're not lying there, yeah Well, thank you for coming in. We're real excited you're joining us. Thank you for having us. It was an honor in Medinville.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:It was amazing and we'll definitely be back soon. Okay, cheers, thanks, thank you.