Ep. 79 - The Story Behind Pedaler’s Pub

Ever wonder what it takes to build a restaurant that becomes a beloved community staple? Kevin from Pedaler's Pub joins the B-Team Podcast to share the remarkable journey of transforming from school teacher to successful restaurateur.

Kevin's story is refreshingly genuine – starting with a homemade wood-fired pizza oven on a trailer where he perfected recipes before taking the entrepreneurial leap. His philosophy is beautifully simple: serve good food at fair prices, stay open later than everyone else, and maintain unwavering quality. This approach has created not just a restaurant, but a Bentonville institution that recently expanded from 2,500 to 9,000 square feet while keeping its original charm and character.

What truly sets Pedaler's apart is the incredible team Kevin has assembled. In an industry notorious for turnover, his general manager has been there since day one, eleven years ago. His bar manager? Ten years. As Kevin puts it with characteristic straightforwardness, "You can't suck and work here." This commitment to excellence extends to every aspect of the business, from their meticulously crafted wood-fired pizzas (where the oven operator serves as "the quarterback" of the entire kitchen) to their fresh, locally-sourced ingredients.

The expanded location holds some delightful surprises too – like a full golf simulator room available for private rental, pool tables with ample space, and plans for a future patio. Kevin walks us through the challenges of maintaining pizza perfection when cooking with wood fire, the careful decisions behind menu evolution, and why their branded take-home cups have become collectors' items around town.

Whether you're a longtime Pedaler's fan or haven't yet experienced their chicken bacon ranch pizza (a kitchen staff favorite) or their legendary wood-fired spinach artichoke dip, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into the heart and soul of a restaurant that embodies the best of Bentonville's dining scene.

Head to 500 South Main Street to experience Pedaler's Pub for yourself, or follow them online to learn more about their story, menu, and special offerings. Your new favorite pizza place (and so much more) is waiting!

Transcript

Podcast Introduction and Bourbon Tasting

Speaker 1 0:11

Welcome to the B-Team Podcast. I am your host, josh Saffron, 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, matt Mars and our permanent guest. Hey, I showed up today, bobby. Welcome back, bobby. It's always 50-50.

Speaker 2 0:36

Hey, you know I keep the viewers on the edge of the seat.

Speaker 1 0:40

But the reality is, once you heard that Peddler's Pub was coming with pizza and wings, you cleared your calendar. I cleared it.

Speaker 3 0:46

For a week now, completely yeah.

Speaker 1 0:48

This is exciting. I was here early, Kevin. To be clear, to get Bobby to show up is like an act of Congress and God, and so he's like who's coming to Peddler's Pub and he's like Great.

Speaker 3 0:59

Say no more.

Speaker 2 1:01

And he wore a white shirt to eat pizza and wings For the wings. Well then, he asked the next question.

Speaker 3 1:07

He said is Kevin bringing food? I said, yes, he was. I'm definitely in. We had some food.

Speaker 1 1:12

Folks come in at one point and they're like they didn't bring any food. So we're like, oh, that was kind of a letdown.

Speaker 3 1:16

Oh yeah, sure you got to do that. Something soaked the bour, yeah.

Speaker 1 1:21

We're here every Thursday for all things Bentonville, business and bourbon, and we're going to start with bourbon real quick. You guys know 1792. Your favorite, you okay, yeah, I'm fine 1792 is one of my favorites it is. I've been wanting to have the sweet wheat for a long time. Matt got one. Didn't want to bring it.

Speaker 2 1:40

And then I'm like, all right. I didn't see that text.

Speaker 1 1:44

You were in New York.

Speaker 2 1:45

Yeah, you were out of town. You're doing your 17 miles Gotcha 15 and a half, but I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 1:50

Okay, I'm going to pour you first, because you're the guest, that's okay.

Speaker 2 1:52

I appreciate it here.

Speaker 3 1:56

Thank you, you're welcome.

Speaker 2 1:59

So good at that Pouring pouring.

Speaker 1 2:09

Yeah, you know, bobby. Thanks sir. So now, have you ever had this one? No, no, I've been. I've had one at the house and I haven't opened it cuz I didn't have a backup and I don't want to blast through it. So now that I just got this, the allocated these are starting to show up quite a bit now, cuz you found also mm-hmm all right, cheers, cheers, cheers, boys thanks for coming in.

Speaker 4 2:24

Appreciate y'all ahead it's pretty good, that's, that's good, it's really good, it's real good it's a low.

Speaker 3 2:38

It must be low brew I was gonna say it's a little, it's a little hot on the back. Oh, you think I thought, I thought it seemed pretty mellow.

Speaker 2 2:44

Like with a rock, yeah, but with a rock or something.

Speaker 1 2:50

No, I did catch some heat, a little bit, yeah, a little heat on the back, but it's very good.

Speaker 3 2:53

It's real good. You know how I judge bourbons Personally. For years I drank bourbon and then I started getting the aftertaste of stinky gym socks on my upper lip when I would drink bourbon. Every time I drank bourbon, unless it was really good bourbon, we should ask Russ if that's a good job. And then it doesn't leave it. And it doesn't leave it and there's a couple others that don't leave it.

Speaker 1 3:17

We have a guy that comes in and he does it for a living, the way you own a restaurant, and he's always like catching the creme brulee and a little bit of cracked peppercorn but we haven't gotten the gym socks.

Speaker 3 3:30

And everyone I tell that they look at me sort of strangely and they obviously don't get it.

Speaker 2 3:37

Well, I have a few that are like that, that almost taste like a dish soap or something. It's like a weird dish soap.

Speaker 1 3:45

There's been a weird dish soap. There's been a few where we drained it. Yeah, those are the ones you typically bring in. What did you bring? Dry fly that time, or dragon fly, or what was that one?

Speaker 2 3:52

Yeah, it was dry, fly, shout out to dry fly Shout out. It was a gift that someone got me. I had never had it before.

Speaker 1 4:00

It was a gift that kept on giving when you opened it here. Yeah, it sounds like it.

Speaker 2 4:03

I mean, I brought it two or three times.

Speaker 1 4:05

That one would taste like gym socks.

Speaker 2 4:07

Yeah, it sounds like it. More like.

Speaker 3 4:08

Dawn soap.

Speaker 1 4:09

Yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 4:12

Gosh, we're going to have to edit that whole section out.

Speaker 1 4:17

We're going to have to edit that Dirty but clean. Yeah, we can't be do not as possible.

Kevin's Journey into the Pizza Business

Speaker 2 4:22

Well, so in Oxford there's a big liquor store and they had like some special draft. You know where they pick new barrel picks, and it was actually good. But their bottom of the barrel that I had was not you didn't bring one of the store picks that was good here, though no, it's in Oxford. Okay, I got to leave it down there. If you go down there for the hog game, then you'll have that September 13th.

Speaker 1 4:43

Yeah, I saw the schedule. I was like, oh, that's the date that Matt invited us all out there for, and if you want to come, anybody in the community is invited to Oxford. That's great, the Grove is about.

Speaker 4 4:52

It's an amazing experience.

Speaker 2 4:55

So, now we have to talk about, though, the main event of today.

Speaker 1 5:02

Yeah, but you know how the podcast has gotten cool, because I mean, I thought it was always cool. But Barry texted me, barry from Blue, and shout out to Barry. Shout out, barry, have you had Kevin on from Peddlers? I go, no, he goes. You need to have Kevin on from Peddlers. So he sends me your contact information.

Speaker 3 5:22

And it says Kevin Peddlers. I'm like I'll never find you got 100 Kevins in there.

Speaker 1 5:26

Yeah exactly so Kevin from Peddlers. He texted him and he says I'd be happy to come on your podcast. That's awesome.

Speaker 3 5:32

I appreciate the invite. No, I was talking with Barry about that at Wu Zhao one night and we went in to try it.

Speaker 2 5:41

And he mentioned it.

Speaker 3 5:45

And I said, no, I didn't know anything about it, but I thought I know some of these guys well, right here you are.

Speaker 1 5:49

We're right below the Kelsey's and Joe Raymond is us. Yeah, probably heard the other two, I think you're in there, I mean we're getting there.

Speaker 3 5:54

I mean, next time I have peddlers I'm assuming you're gonna be playing this on a loop of one of your TV's, but of course, but of course that's an interesting story how Barry and I met, because when we were just getting ready to open the pub, building out the pub and that was in 14, barry was getting started building Blue out and he and his team. So one of our things in just that we wanted to do for the whole time we, since we open, stay open later than nine o'clock in bentonville, or eight o'clock, and be open on sunday, because nobody's open on sunday and, uh, you know most places were closed down so they were working late and we're open till 11. So he and his crew were in there every night you know they're working hard, you know so they'd come in and we'd just sit around and shoot the breeze and drink the spirits and we became really good friends through that. So we've known each other since we both got started in town basically.

Speaker 1 6:56

Well, what's nice is and we've talked about this on the podcast many times technically you're competitors because you're both serving dinner, but I love the fact that people like they expand the friendships. And I'm not going to eat pizza every night and I'm sure to heck not eat seafood every night, so it's great for people to be able to work together in this community.

Speaker 2 7:12

Well, and it's the same like going, it's fun to see, like going in and seeing Barry in the new restaurant, like he has a smile from ear to ear and it's probably the same, you with your like. We go into your restaurant now and we're like it's twice the size, right, and I mean you guys still have all the familiar faces that, yeah, you've kept, and I don't know we love both of the restaurants. How'd you get into the pizza business like? What's the story?

Speaker 3 7:37

oh, I got tired of teaching school fair shout out to the teachers.

Speaker 2 7:42

Shout out. Second day of school today.

Speaker 3 7:46

And then so I just I wanted to work for myself.

Speaker 3 7:51

No restaurant experience Other than working in them. You know bartending, and I've worked in restaurants for years. My first job when I was 12 was in a little French place in Springfield Missouri, a little French place in Springfield Missouri, and you know I just decided that. You know there wasn't any wood-fired pizza up here. I liked the concept, I liked wood-fired pizza Thought. You know I started fiddling around with it. I built a wood oven on a trailer.

Speaker 3 8:21

I thought I'll start here. That way at home I can start working on recipes, go to parties, like, hey, you guys want me to. You know, come cook pizza for y'all and get feedback. And you know, just kept doing that for a while. And you know, just step by step. You know I went to the Walton Business College down in Fayetteville when I lived down there, business college down in Fayetteville when I lived down there and they have that SBA program and you know, got with some people there and got a lot of demographic information and sort of all the details that I was just checking off the boxes and kind of came down to well, if you're going to do it, you got to go to the bank. So I went to the bank and got started in. You know the end of 13. We opened in 14.

Speaker 1 9:03

So this was you by yourself or you had investors, partners? No, just me and my wife. That's fantastic yeah.

Speaker 3 9:09

And you know, I played in bars and restaurants for years and years as a musician. And you know, when you're sitting on one side and seeing the whole deal, I just sort of thought, you know, I think I can pull this off.

Speaker 2 9:24

Restaurant business is a tough business, yeah, and everybody told me.

Speaker 3 9:27

You know, to the competition part, I've never really seen people in town or other restaurants as competition, because when I started I thought you know, if you serve a good product, whatever that product is, if it's done right, priced, well, um, our hours I mean staying open a little later, having a full bar, that sort of was a big thing in the beginning too, because once people caught on that we were open till 11. It wasn't that. Okay, everybody's outraging now, but it was. You know, you get off work in the summer and and it's, you get done doing something and it's 8, 8, 30, and you go to a restaurant but sun's barely down and everybody's closed. Yeah, you know so. So that's, that's you know kind of how it all got started and it was really great because I was on the Lake Fayetteville Watershed Partnership and so I would start doing pizza with my oven for lunch for all the volunteers and everything, and my whole family would help my grandparents, my mom or not grandparents, my in-laws, kids running around.

Speaker 1 10:38

But we have Brenda from River Grill.

Speaker 4 10:41

Shout out to.

Speaker 3 10:42

Brenda in season one yeah, she's great.

Speaker 1 10:43

And one of the things we asked her is like you guys are some of the OG in restaurants.

Speaker 3 10:46

You guys have been around a long time.

Speaker 1 10:47

And every week a new restaurant is popping up and popping open and everyone gets very excited for all the new and it's flashy and sexy.

Speaker 3 10:55

But when all's said and done.

Speaker 1 10:56

Everybody goes back to some of the classic favorites.

Speaker 3 10:59

I mean long term, you've been here just so successful for such a long time now? Yeah, and I think it just goes back to the same thing, you know. I mean what we do is not fancy food. There's a lot of fancy food in town that was kind of making the headlines at the time, but there just weren't many places that were just kind of take your family in, the pricing's decent, because pricing in Bentonville is outrageous for the most part, I mean. So we wanted to stay on the lower side of that, you know, and just give good product.

Speaker 3 11:36

You know we take pride in the ingredients of things that we make. They're very fresh, they're very. You know, we get a lot of local produce from some growers in town and those things make a difference on their own. So I think it's just that day-to-day we keep employees for a long time and part of that is that we're busy and that they make a lot of money. But the other part is we try to be a casual place with the idea that you know, if you show up to work, you got to come to work and if you don't, those people usually last about a week or less. But the ones that thrive on it and like the pace and like the excitement of it, you know, and at the end of the night going well maybe that wasn't so bad.

Speaker 3 12:22

We did great. All right, good job, you know. And so I mean so, we've had a lot of people and we have, you know, our general manager, christian Barrett he is I mean? He's the first person I hired when we opened 11 years ago, but that speaks volumes about you yeah Through COVID and all that you go to restaurants downtown and people are

Speaker 4 12:44

how do I know you?

Speaker 1 12:45

well, I was here, then I was here, then I was, oh, yeah, yeah you bounced around all over the place in all the new restaurants but keeping somebody like that for 11 years that talks about testament to you well, I appreciate it, you know.

Speaker 3 12:53

But the funny thing about that is it's more that we just say you can't suck and work here.

Speaker 2 13:00

You know it just doesn't work, because the customers they don't tolerate it.

Peddler's Pub Food and Customer Experience

Speaker 3 13:07

You know they don't want average if they're going out and they're spending money. And you know they want good people and so the good people stay and they. You know, we've had a lot of people there, four, five, six years. Christian started the day we opened, lisa White, our manager, our bar manager, she, you, you know, she was a year in, she.

Speaker 2 13:26

we hired her, so she's been there 10 years yeah, like you go in there and you see, like everyone from the beginning, and it's like how many restaurants? Can you say that?

Speaker 1 13:36

yeah, none, but that also allows you to not feel like you have to be there all the time, because you have people that you trust to run the business.

Speaker 3 13:44

Yeah, yeah. When it came to hiring Christian as general manager three or four years ago, it was just you know what are the things you need out of somebody, and like every box is checked for him. You know, okay, this is it Easy, yeah. He's done great and had a lot of you know, know people that way I'm sitting next to bobby and I hear his stomach rumbling, so uh, oh yeah he's he why we want to try some

Speaker 2 14:11

stuff. Bring out the goods, oh yeah wow, I brought y'all some.

Speaker 3 14:15

Oh, I love these guys. Oh, yeah, that idea is genius I think, tell me about the cups our kids fight over them them, yeah. So for years I've been going to food shows where they highlight product and stuff like that and I would see these things and I always wanted these cups, but they're a little bit expensive and we've never really done any advertising.

Speaker 3 14:39

So when we opened our new place and made the move, we decided let's get these cups, let's brand them and let everybody take them home, so you can come in and get whatever drinks you get and take them all home with you.

Speaker 2 14:51

I think I have at least a half dozen of Bart Nelson.

Speaker 3 14:55

Well, and it keeps the drinks cold when you put that ice in there it brings you back to like when you were a kid. You get that little crisp on the outside almost. And if you do two there's one.

Speaker 2 15:07

As an insulator, game changer All day, I'm having a pool party this weekend, yeah.

Speaker 1 15:12

So when I hear you saying that, put those over there, you see what?

Speaker 2 15:14

happened. He took all of them for himself. You took the Eagle Rare last Thursday, so I don't know where that bottle is. No, he took it.

Speaker 1 15:24

Is it possible that Matt and I can maybe get one each as a souvenir?

Speaker 2 15:26

No, you can come over Thursday and grab one or.

Speaker 1 15:29

Sunday.

Speaker 3 15:30

All right, what do you want us to try? First, Digging the wings. Are there so hot wings? Yeah, we make them, oh Hold on.

Speaker 1 15:37

I had to put this up to the camera.

Speaker 3 15:39

Yeah, you can tell those are good-looking wings. Oh yeah, then we make the sauce from those I'm just going straight in.

Speaker 2 15:46

Now it seems like your menu has pretty much stayed true, like your menus, and what's crazy about your restaurant is you don't have to just go have pizza, all of your stuff's good.

Speaker 3 16:02

Your sandwiches are good, which most?

Speaker 2 16:05

restaurants's like a few things that are good, but somehow you guys, like the very first time we went, that's what we had yeah, so we went there, christian was our, our waiter at the time, probably 10 or 12 years whenever.

Speaker 2 16:18

When you first opened it and I said, I want you to just bring me your favorite pizza, yeah, and he goes okay, I'm gonna bring you the. Is it the Italian? Italian, because I'm bringing Italian, so I go okay. So, carrie and I look at the deal and it says all this about the lettuce and arugula on there and I was like, oh crap yeah, what did I just do? And I was like, well, we got to go with it. Yeah, and he brought it, it's our favorite pizza, it's so good.

Speaker 3 16:40

Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's about our best-selling pizza, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 16:45

I'm not going to lie. I don't eat wings a lot. My wife is a snooty Buffalonian. I'm making up words as I go, she's like oh, you have to have dust and I eat the pizza all week. These are unbelievable. Oh, thank you. Unbelievable.

Speaker 3 17:05

Yeah, we get a lot of people on the wing train at the pub and that come in for the wings, pretty much not the pizza, you know, the menu being the same we've just always. You know, we did a little bit of a menu change in the first year because we've been open a year, like I don't know how. I was home at the time but I was at the house and I get a call from Loren Bates, our old general manager, and he's like the flu's on fire on the oven.

Speaker 1 17:29

I was like the flu, yeah, pre-covid. Oh, this was in 2014.

Speaker 2 17:33

No, yeah, I got you.

Speaker 3 17:36

So anyway, long story short, two weeks before we could get the pizza oven back up and running. So here we are. We're a pizza place. We're only open a year. We've got to be down with pizza for 14 days. So we started just making lasagnas, and we put a bunch of burgers. At that point we had a hamburger or cheeseburger on the menu, so we were forced to put new things on the menu, and everything that we put on stayed, except for the lasagnas. We're like no, we're not really a lasagna place, so that's where the menu sort of stayed.

Speaker 3 18:14

We've got a lot of burgers and sandwiches. We've expanded the appetizers. We added three or four appetizers when we moved because we had a little bit more space to work with a little more refrigerated space.

Speaker 2 18:28

Well, and now you'll go in there with the new space and you'll be like man, it's packed. It's going to take forever, but with you having the two ovens, you guys can roll it out.

Speaker 3 18:41

Yeah, it helps, it speeds things up. Yeah, it helps, it speeds things up. You know, we still mostly cook the pizza in the main oven and then the other oven we do for appetizers.

Speaker 2 18:51

Really.

Speaker 3 18:51

Like wood-fired nachos and cauliflower.

Speaker 3 18:57

The spinach dip the spinach dip, that's so good and the spinach artichoke dip before we were having to do in the oven with the pizzas at the same time. So you know we're getting all these orders for spinach artichoke dip before we were having to end the oven with the pizzas at the same time. So you know, we're getting all these orders for spinach artichoke dip and we've got six, seven pizzas in there and it's just sort of a circus, you know. And so the new, having two ovens has made a big difference.

Speaker 1 19:17

So the move was a big deal. I mean, you were in that location for 10 years, yeah, 10 years. So what was the story for?

Speaker 3 19:25

uh, just just wanted to move um we were looking for a spot uh, uh, not, not actively, um, uh, but um, you know you're, we didn't, we didn't want to move far, we wanted to stay close. So it was looking like probably not going to get to move. But we were getting ready to re-up a lease and it just so happened that the building across the street opened up.

Speaker 1 19:53

Which wasn't a restaurant right, it was a CrossFit.

Expanding to a New Location

Speaker 3 19:56

So that was a big tenant improvement? Huh, it was, but we just felt like the thing I was most scared about was moving away from our regulars. You know, because I'm a regular person.

Speaker 1 20:09

Yeah.

Speaker 3 20:09

So you know, if you take my favorite restaurant and move it five miles away, I'm still going to get there, but it's going to be about a third. You know less than I probably did before. You know. So it just worked out. You know it worked out really well. So it just worked out, it worked out really well. Randy Lawson owns the property across the street which they opened up and he had told me that it came open and we just thought, well, we liked Randy. So we said, yeah, let's just do it and it was twice the size.

Speaker 2 20:41

At least twice right.

Speaker 3 20:42

Yeah, our other place we had about 2,500 square feet, and this place is 9,000 square feet Nine.

Speaker 2 20:47

Oh, I had no idea it was that much.

Speaker 3 20:48

Nine.

Speaker 1 20:49

Yeah, more than triple.

Speaker 2 20:50

Yeah, it was scary.

Speaker 3 20:52

But you know, the thing that we didn't want to do is we didn't want to say, okay, we've got to fill 9,000 square feet full of tables and chairs, because we knew we couldn't really pull that off. So what we did was we built a really big kitchen. We put in a really great beer system with its own cooler inside. All our walk-in coolers came inside. They were all outside.

Speaker 3 21:12

Two of them were outside at our other place. So we brought everything in, so everything's under roof and we put the big kitchen in and then we put two pool tables over on one side. And we gave both of them plenty of room, yeah you know. So we just want to make sure everything had good space and didn't feel cramped, and and then we put in a golf simulator, so we have a golf simulator room. That has been really great. I mean, we're getting ready to have a golf sim tournament next month, is that?

Speaker 1 21:43

a pay to play?

Speaker 3 21:44

mm-hmm, it's a fifty dollars an hour, yeah and a server comes in there and gets you your food and your drinks. You don't even have to leave the room. Really, if you don't want, I didn't even know that was there next time you're

Speaker 3 21:55

in holler at me because I should, okay, um, so as soon as you walk in the door, it's all the way straight, okay, um, and it's a big room and it has a 16 foot by nine foot hitting screen that you hit into. So it's, it's really big and uh, couches and chairs and a table for food, like the perfect party.

Speaker 3 22:15

It's like it's idea, I mean 12 or 15 people in there, whether you're, you know five people are golfing or four or five people are golfing, it's just you, just hang it out and have a drink so in the first 10 years, because we're opening a second I I own the barbershop, the Gent place.

Speaker 1 22:28

Oh, yeah. And so after seven years, we're building a second one now. So it's like all the things I've learned in the seven years that I want I would have done differently. You're now building into the new location, correct?

Speaker 3 22:48

Yeah, absolutely filling the new place. I mean no, it might be busier than the original uh we got, I mean it's. We've been really fortunate, that's just you know.

Speaker 2 22:52

Yeah, people have been great to us and well, and I never would have thought, but like I knew like the bar was kind of like at the original one was kind of like the place where it was always hard to get a seat there. And then you'd sit there sometimes waiting for a table, but like now, you can't even ever think about going there, unless you're there early, I know. Because, that area is just.

Speaker 2 23:14

And we doubled the number of seats at the bar, and then we added all those two tops that are right next to the bar part of the bar At some point will you do like an outdoor patio? It looks like you've got some doors.

Speaker 3 23:25

We were trying to squeeze it all in and we just couldn't really get it through without sort of feeling like we were really rushed and maybe it wasn't going to be the way we really wanted it.

Speaker 2 23:36

Might as well live in the space.

Speaker 3 23:39

Try to get it ready for spring.

Speaker 2 23:41

Tell us about this pizza. Figure out how to feed everybody on the patio.

Speaker 3 23:43

What for spring?

Speaker 2 23:43

Tell us about this pizza Figure out how to feed everybody on the patio.

Speaker 3 23:45

Yeah, so that'll be challenging.

Speaker 2 23:46

What do we have here? This is a chicken bacon ranch.

Speaker 3 23:49

Oh and so chicken and bacon, it's got ranch and hot sauce, yellow onions topped with sunflower seeds.

Speaker 1 24:00

Feta. It's got feta on it. Can we hold that one up, Bobby? Yeah?

Speaker 2 24:06

Not too much. I mean, if you were a permanent guest here regularly, you'd know where the camera is? Yeah, exactly, well, they keep on moving. It's the camera's fault. So can you share any secrets Like what kind of wood are you using for us foodies? Hold?

Speaker 1 24:18

on Before you answer. Are you committing here that you're not going to open a competitive pizza place?

Speaker 4 24:22

Because I know that you've been just making sure Only in my backyard. Okay all right, all right. I do have a pizza oven in my backyard. Just making sure we're not. He's good at making pizza.

Speaker 2 24:34

Yeah, if you ever need someone to throw pie. I can throw a pie.

Speaker 3 24:39

So mostly we use red and white oak. You know, most hardwoods are all good. Fruit woods are all good. You know the guy that um down in rockwall, texas, where my mom used to live. Uh, he had a place called still does, zanata's wonderful place. He kind of took me under his wing just from visiting there with my mom and said oh yeah, if you want to come back in the kitchen, do whatever, sir.

Speaker 3 25:03

Yeah, you can see how we do things before I ever got up. And they use pecan because there's pecan trees everywhere down there. And it's a good one, but the red oak, white oak is what we use to mix them both.

Speaker 1 25:17

I have not had this one before. This is really good. Neither have I. This is really good.

Speaker 3 25:20

That's on the menu because it was a kitchen favorite. All of us that worked in the kitchen that's what we started making. It was the perfect combination at the time.

Speaker 2 25:29

Really good flavor. Yeah, thank you, that's what ours is. I've never had this one, but like the Archi and the Italian are my favorite, every time my favorite is probably the V10.

Speaker 3 25:39

Oh yeah, that one's good too we debated whether to ever even put that on the menu, because we were getting a lot of people saying you know, hey, give us a deluxe, give us whatever. And, as you know, as a pizza cooker for wood fire, it's very thin crust. So when you add a bunch of juicy stuff, on it and greasy stuff.

Speaker 2 25:59

You better know what you're doing.

Speaker 3 26:00

You got to cook it just right, or you get a soggy bottom.

Speaker 2 26:05

Yeah, or the pizza is stuck to the bottom of the oven.

Speaker 3 26:06

Yes, stuck to the bottom of the oven and you shut it out.

Speaker 2 26:09

So that's why, oh yeah, that's why you're, you're careful.

Speaker 3 26:13

I am telling you that the job of the person on the oven is is is one of the most difficult jobs in any restaurant. You're like the quarterback. You're the quarterback all the way. I mean, if your fire is not hot enough, your floor is not hot enough, rather, you're done. You're done for 30 minutes because you got to take everything out of there. You got to get your floor heated up, so you got to maintain this heat all the while. Pizzas in and out, cutting pizzas, spinning pizzas.

Speaker 1 26:43

Did you know this or did you learn this along the way? This is what I learned along the way, the hard way is usually how you learn.

Speaker 3 26:49

From many failed caterings, of showing up a little too late and not getting my fire hot enough where my floor was hot enough to really put out pizzas, and after the whole thing had gone to shit like the last pizza's cooking like a dream.

Speaker 2 27:02

And it's ready now that you're done. It's like when you make pancakes, like the first tin or trash, and then it gets perfect and everyone's full.

Speaker 4 27:11

It's really nice.

Speaker 2 27:15

I never thought about it, that it depends on what you put on the pizza. But yeah, you guys do good with all of your stuff.

Speaker 3 27:22

It's a little bit of a trick which you know in most of the other pizza cooking scenarios, other ovens and things that aren't wood-fired. It's easier to control, you know. So you can kind of you put it on 450, it stays on 450. You put it on 700, it stays on. You know, but it's a hard thing.

Speaker 2 27:41

So like there's no gas or anything, it's just wood in there, 100% wood. So, it is.

Speaker 3 27:48

It's like a regular smoker, it's like you start smoking and you're in the middle of smoking and you realize you've got no fire left or something, yeah, and then you've got to do something that doesn't overcook, or you know Surely.

Speaker 2 28:00

It probably takes what over an hour to get that oven to temp in the morning, you know when it's running.

Speaker 3 28:08

So Tuesday, we run Tuesday through Sunday. So we put the last stick of wood in the oven on Sunday night probably about 1030 most Sunday nights and then we don't do anything with the oven on monday. Coming on tuesday, the oven's still 350, 400, right, you know so then you gotta get it from there up.

Speaker 3 28:35

So it takes a little while it's usually a couple hours to open the fire alone just to get it to you know where during lunch. You know you don't have to have it quite as hot because you're not rifling as many pieces through that often I don't know.

Speaker 2 28:47

Sometimes I'm there during lunch and seems as busy as dinner.

Speaker 1 28:50

Yeah, yeah, it's true kevin, I need to interrupt you for one second. I apologize with all the amazing delicious food here. Matt's chomping on celery.

Speaker 2 28:56

That's why I just make sure everybody's aware of that. Yeah, I love so. Is it healthy for?

Speaker 3 29:00

you or what? No, I just like how it tastes it. I'm weird. It's one of my favorite things to cook with too, because of the flavor of it, I mean all this delicious stuff, and grab some celery.

Speaker 2 29:10

I mean, I was going to dip a few dips in the ranch, you were going to do a double dip. I knew you'd lose it if I did.

Speaker 1 29:15

Well, I mean the thousands and thousands of viewers would have called in and said is he really double dipping the celery?

Speaker 2 29:19

in. Right, I could like get the viewership up. Probably that way, you could, you could, but now like, um, it's just so crazy that you started your your first restaurant and it's been a success like it's been, and and you're on our show. Yeah, I mean, this is, I would say, you're one of the, you're one of our top restaurants that we go to and it's always a constant yep, it's always good and it like.

Speaker 2 29:46

I think, like you said, you made the new space kind of feel like the old space on the inside and you kept but 3x the size.

The Golf Simulator and Hidden Features

Speaker 3 29:54

I didn't realize it was that big, I didn't either, but it is huge in there well, we had a lot of people that were really concerned, I think, for us, because I think they felt like we were going to try to do something different, like, okay, we, they felt like we were going to try to do something different. Like, okay, we've done this, we're going to try to go do something different. That just never has been our but feedback's amazing. How much feedback do you get? Oh yeah, I get plenty of feedback, so much feedback.

Speaker 1 30:18

Everybody wants to tell you how to do it.

Speaker 3 30:20

Of course, and our goal was just to be the same, except we just didn't want to be where we were anymore, and so we took basically everything the way it was designed and we went over there and we did it the same way. It's just a little bit bigger and the bar. I'd like to mention that. So when we built the bar in the beginning, I went down to Second Life Wood down in Fayetteville and a younger guy was working in there. He's the one I was dealing with. He was a real sharp guy.

Speaker 3 30:48

Loren Bates is his name and he, you know we picked out all the wood, whatever. When it came time to install it, he brought it up and they installed it, and so he was there late and I'm there late and I'm working on the oven. He's working on the bar. We just became fast friends and he started working there as a manager, ended up being the general manager or as a bartender, and then he became the general manager. But when we so, ten years later, I called him up and said, hey, man, we're moving A couple things I'd like for you to do the bar and I'd like for you to move our old bar, and here's what I want to do with the old bar.

Speaker 3 31:24

So when we moved, we took our old bar, because it wasn't going to be anywhere near big enough. We took our old bar and we basically cut it in half, down in the center of the front-blown space of the bar, and then we took it and we put it where our bar is now, I mean where our pizza oven serving area is now.

Speaker 4 31:45

So one side of it. Is there the other?

Speaker 3 31:46

side fit perfectly on the other side. And then we had a six-foot piece of quartz that was our serving window out of pizza from our old place and we put that in the middle of the bar.

Speaker 2 31:58

So it's bar serving window, bar from the old place I never knew that was the old bar and then lauren built us a new bar that's which turned out great.

Speaker 1 32:09

Well, you got to keep a lot of the stuff from the history. You just get rid of it.

Speaker 3 32:12

I mean every single thing we had over there is in our other place. Yeah, yeah, I mean we replaced a bunch of equipment to update some equipment, but all the decor and all the other stuff was all there. And then we added, we added several bikes. I had several friends say, you know, we were moving, getting ready to do the build out, and several friends said, you know, hey, I got this awesome bike that you know we look good up there, you know. So we hung that, you know, got new, some new bikes also on top of what we already had you guys should say, hey, well, I got some stuff for the new gents place I don't get my friends, don't help me the same way that you're fighting.

Speaker 2 32:44

I mean, we got some stuff for you, but you know, are you?

Speaker 1 32:49

allowed to though yeah, yeah, we'll figure it out, yeah, we'll figure it out. And the VIP wing for you, I mean maybe we'll take it to peddlers sounds like he's full with stuff.

Speaker 3 33:03

Yeah, we got room, we got space, we got 9,000 feet, we got 9,000 square feet.

Speaker 2 33:08

I wish GM was here also, because he's a huge golfer. He's going to flip when he finds out.

Speaker 3 33:13

Yeah, oh, it is a blast.

Speaker 4 33:15

I mean the room itself is a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 33:22

And I mean, you don't even have to play golf in there.

Speaker 2 33:23

You don't want to steal random for a picture, which is what you and I would do. Yeah, we would just hang out, but those rooms are super cool, yeah.

Speaker 1 33:28

You stand there. You don't have to hit golf balls. If you want, they come in with pitchers of beer.

Speaker 3 33:37

They're bringing the food and you're sitting in a private room. It's super cool. You got a. There was a zoo out there in the restaurant and my goal wasn't I wasn't going to be seen at all out there. You know I wasn't going to get roped into anything, Walk out the door in the bathrooms right here around the corner. Almost nobody could see, so I didn't go out there all night.

Speaker 1 33:57

You almost don't even know anything's going on out there. Is it $50 per hour per person? No total, so hold on. Matt's not known to treat for these types of things, so we get 10 people in there and it's $50 for one hour.

Speaker 2 34:08

And Matt's covering $50?. Josh, you could rent it out and invite all your hosts.

Speaker 1 34:12

You could make money, you and I could co-host, you could pay and I could host. It feels like we're always a winner.

Speaker 2 34:19

There you go. No, I never knew that was there. Well, we haven't really pushed it very hard.

Speaker 3 34:27

You know everything has been even talking with all the managers and we sit down and we try to. You know, hey, what do we need to do going forward here? You know we're to this point now. What do we need to do? And all of that was based on the smallest steps. You know, here it has been a year that we've been there and we've had this the whole year, but we don't really advertise because it's just we've got to get everything else really on board first before, all of a sudden, that's smart.

Speaker 4 34:50

This is going to be crazy. Could you open how? Long now it's been one year, one year.

Speaker 2 34:54

It doesn't seem like a year, but it goes by, you're not kidding, it seems like it's been two months.

Speaker 3 34:59

I thought you're going to see it, oh no, it seems like it's been two months. Yeah, it doesn't seem like it.

Speaker 2 35:03

I remember when you closed for like a few weeks and it felt like months.

Speaker 1 35:06

And then we were like is it?

Speaker 2 35:08

open yet. Oh, kevin, we would like text Christian. We're like when are you opening? He's like well, I got delayed another week. We're like.

Speaker 3 35:19

I got pretty fit working in there for the past year, before we opened it, doing the build-out. Oh, I forgot.

Speaker 4 35:28

Where's my screw?

Speaker 3 35:29

gun. Oh, it's at the other end. Walk all the way there.

Speaker 4 35:32

Oh, I'm back.

Speaker 3 35:33

Oh, and I forgot this.

Speaker 1 35:33

I'm back 9,000 square feet. That's a lot of steps.

Speaker 2 35:36

Exactly, it's a long way, did you build most of it out yourself? No, no.

Speaker 3 35:40

No, but I did the ovens. Me and a crew moved the oven, the old oven, disassembled it, moved it. I built the stands for the new oven. So I did that at my shop, out of my house, so we had the stands ready waiting there. And then you know, I built the chandelier, the big chandelier, that's all bikes, and then we did all the sound system and um, that's cool. I gotta give a shout out to my uh boy, robert wilson, shout him out, he was there. Yeah, he, he was up there with me almost every day helping me.

Speaker 2 36:21

He retired and he was bored as hell. And he, he would help me every day. That's awesome. That's awesome for one thing or another. So the oven are those ovens? I've never seen a pizza oven like that. I think he probably made those himself so I buy these kits.

Speaker 3 36:34

It's a company called Forno Bravo. They're out of Italy. You know them? I think so, but they make in California this feels like a pizza off here.

Speaker 2 36:43

Oh, it does Rob's like taking notes. They ship as a. They make in California. It feels like a pizza off here. Oh, it does Rob's like taking notes. They ship as a.

Speaker 3 36:51

But they. You know, the first one I built I mean it was on trailer I built it bulletproof, like the stand, I used channel steel and then I poured a slab basically around the oven so it just couldn't move at all and it was great. So the next one I built. So I built four of them and they're good ovens.

Speaker 4 37:15

But the new one for the new place it shipped 4,000 pounds oh wow.

Speaker 3 37:22

And that's unfinished, so like the tile that we put on the new one, that's without all that mortar and all that tile, and without the stand. So it's probably like 8,000 pounds sitting there, that big oven. Do you see how engaged he is today? How is?

Speaker 2 37:39

Kevin going to take it? He loves this stuff. How is Kevin going to take it? Pizza is my favorite food and you love wings, yeah.

Speaker 1 37:46

In two days Rob's going to announce he's opening Peddler's Club in downtown Benville With pizza and wings.

Speaker 4 37:51

Peddler's Club.

Speaker 2 37:57

I've been married for a long time and one of the promises I had to make my wife is I'd never open up a restaurant.

Speaker 1 38:02

Oh yeah, yeah, funded by. Rob Nelson yeah, to make my wife is, I'd never open up a restaurant, oh yeah, yeah, funded by Rob Nelson. Christian's going to come over and run it Everything's going on.

Speaker 2 38:11

Right now, I've got a pretty cool outdoor kitchen and I've got all the toys out there and I get my fix, you know, once or twice a month, and that's all I need, sure, well, it's a process, you know, and that's why I don't cater much anymore is because you know you've got to get the oven for catering.

Speaker 3 38:27

I get it there, Then you've got to start the fires and all you really want to do is eat pizza, and it takes you three hours to get ready to cook five minutes of pizza.

Speaker 2 38:36

Matt and I would run your catering once or twice a month on the weekends have a fire up the oven?

Speaker 1 38:42

That'd be fun. That's like wait. What are you signing me up for?

Speaker 4 38:44

How do you do that?

Speaker 1 38:44

from.

Speaker 2 38:45

BYU.

Speaker 1 38:45

Yeah exactly. A lot of bourbon.

Speaker 2 38:50

But no, like it's fun to see Rob like because he gets excited about like he loves that outdoor kitchen that you have.

Speaker 1 38:57

I don't even think you eat inside anymore at your house Very rarely the best text I got today is like hey, I'm making pizzas, Come over on Sunday. I'm like, and yeah. Right, that was the best text I got.

Speaker 3 39:06

And that's the thing. When you make pizza, you want everybody there. Yeah, it's not worth it, to make it for me and my wife.

Speaker 2 39:11

Right, yeah, maybe some kids, exactly, that only takes five minutes. Yeah, if I'm the calzones and the strombolis, that's his, so I like, so he'll wait the one time I couldn't go so I like, got like the everything but the kitchen

Speaker 4 39:30

sink. Yeah, it was like what was left over. I just threw it all.

Speaker 2 39:32

It was a to-go order for you, oh yeah yeah, he made it and brought it over we were doing I don't know what we had going- on.

Speaker 4 39:37

I think you were sick or something do you?

Speaker 2 39:39

guys make strombolis, we do okay, yeah, I was just gonna say I to say I know I haven't seen them on the menu.

Speaker 1 39:44

It's on the menu at Peddler's Club though.

Speaker 2 39:48

Twice, you want that at my house, I'll make it he's like whenever someone doesn't know how to slide the pizza under there we make them yeah we just fold it over it's a Stromboli, it's a pizza roll.

Speaker 4 40:04

It's supposed to look like, take me back to the 80's.

Speaker 3 40:06

They had pizza rolls.

Speaker 4 40:08

Gino's Pizza.

Speaker 1 40:09

Rolls.

Speaker 3 40:10

Gino's Pizza Rolls shout out to General Mills you like that call?

Speaker 2 40:13

out huh that's right but no, that's, I'm just. I love that your guys like I love your new location and I love that Bentonville is lucky enough to have a great like somewhere that feels, like you said, it's like home. I love your new location and I love that Bentonville is lucky enough to have a great somewhere that feels like you said, it's homey and not an uppity dress-up, which I like that side of it too, but it's nice to have somewhere that you're like.

Speaker 3 40:36

Let's run to Peddler's and just grab yeah, that's been our goal from the beginning. It's a casual place. Our goal from the beginning.

Speaker 2 40:43

So our, my wife's, one of her cousins, her husband Trey Johnson, he used to play. So that's why every time I go by there I'm like when are they going to get that open? So we get the bands back, no joke yeah. But I think your new is it going to be on the back side off the pool tables.

Speaker 3 41:02

Would you do that?

Speaker 2 41:05

So it'll be better, because the other one you were in that hot sun late, so like the new one will be the backyard's going to be a lot better August come.

Speaker 3 41:10

I mean, nobody's sitting out there day or night, you know Too hot and too many flies, and you know what do you? That's the worst thing ever is. Yeah, there's nothing Without some guy just standing there fogging the whole place. Yeah, you know, there's just flies in the summer and it's food. So I mean yeah, yeah, and you turn a fan on and then the fan's too loud, you've got to turn the fan off. Yeah, oh but the flies are going to let down.

Speaker 2 41:35

Yeah, maybe leave the patio off. Yeah, maybe forget about the patio.

Speaker 3 41:45

Forget about the. The golf idea is better, alcohol only. Pool is, you know, pool tables. And then there's the two doors, and in between the two doors that's a server station. So we set that up. So there's doors in and out for the patio on both sides, and then the servers have their own station there for all soda and tea and all that, and then the bar is pretty close there.

Speaker 1 42:02

Do you have a surprise treat menu? I know everybody's known for the wings and the pizza, but if you guys are there you've got to try this. Fill us in for something like that.

Wood-Fired Pizza Techniques and Challenges

Speaker 3 42:15

I mean the spinach artichoke dip is we make it it's all super fresh. I mean we cook up the artichokes and the spinach every day and it's all real cheeses and it's a lot of cheese, nothing out of a can. No, it's really, really. It's really good stuff and we do it in the wood oven, so you get a little wood, you get a little burnt crust on the top. You know that's my favorite part.

Speaker 2 42:41

Yeah, yeah, like the pieces of dough.

Speaker 4 42:44

Yeah, the other guy the other. Like being not on the menu.

Speaker 2 42:55

That's my favorite, which I probably shouldn't be saying, but like mixing that hot with the garlic.

Speaker 3 42:57

Oh yeah, that's like those wings, yeah, yeah that's how I was. Another thing that I said it what's the?

Speaker 2 43:01

best way to have the wings and they're like well, we mix this you know.

Speaker 3 43:03

Yeah, they know, cuz they have all day. Then you get the garlic, and they're not as hot, yeah.

Speaker 2 43:08

Then you get the butter yeah, I would say that pizza to like that Buffalo was Buffalo chicken, chicken, bacon, ranch spicy chicken.

Speaker 3 43:19

Yeah, that was good that was that's another one.

Speaker 2 43:21

I've never had that before. No, I've never had that. That's really good.

Speaker 3 43:25

And you know something I didn't even realize until I started cooking pizza was feta on a pizza is just wonderful. Feta, yeah, feta, and then it gets even a little dark on top or something.

Speaker 2 43:35

You have feta peperonni on your pizza For me. I love trying all these different pizzas, but when I go into a pizza place for the first time, pepperoni that's how I judge a pizza place At.

Speaker 1 43:44

Peddler's Club. You're going to double up on the pepperoni Double chacarroni. He does Any pizza place we go to he has to get pepperoni, just plain pepperoni.

Speaker 4 43:56

I gotta get a baseline. That's what he said.

Speaker 2 43:59

I just got back from New York City. I had a lot of pepperoni pizza. So when Josh said you were bringing pizza, I was like ooh I had my share.

Speaker 1 44:11

Peddler's Pub pizza.

Speaker 2 44:11

Hey, I crushed two slices. You did it was really good.

Speaker 1 44:16

So we're running out of time, unfortunately. We could probably do this for hours.

Speaker 2 44:19

Yeah.

Speaker 1 44:20

Website address location for the few people that don't know where to find you.

Speaker 3 44:23

Peddlerspub at gmailcom is an email that you can inquire about whatever, and then peddlerspubcom.

Speaker 1 44:32

And location.

Speaker 3 44:33

I know there's two or three people in the whole town that don't know where you are. 500 South Main Street, bentonville, walking distance from you.

Speaker 1 44:40

We're behind Gearhead.

Speaker 3 44:41

They're kind of our neighbors there and they've been great neighbors.

Speaker 1 44:45

Ted, we're behind Gearhead. They're kind of our neighbors there and they've been great neighbors. Ted and his place. They're great. Ted's my neighbor on the campus, oh, excellent.

Speaker 2 44:47

Yeah, excellent, he's good people Ted?

Speaker 1 44:48

No, he's good folks, yeah, and if you haven't been there.

Speaker 2 44:50

I mean you've got plenty of parking.

Speaker 3 44:52

Yeah, there's a lot of parking, a lot of parking, and it's all paid parking.

Speaker 2 45:05

Yeah, it's close. Well, you guys have so much room in there now that we'll be like well, we'll probably have to wait 20 minutes, we'll get in there and you guys, somehow, are like get you seated, so it's good.

Speaker 1 45:16

Maybe we'll bring our fan base to come hit some golf balls on MassDav.

Speaker 2 45:20

Yeah, we should have a viewers event, a viewers event, a viewers event. Yeah, we should have a viewer's event, a viewer's event, a viewer's event. There it is.

Speaker 1 45:25

There it is. You may need more than 9,000 square feet for a viewer's event there.

Speaker 4 45:28

You probably need to double that one more time.

Speaker 2 45:30

A second level. He's like you all can go sit on the patio, yeah. It's like that's still 50 an hour guys.

Speaker 3 45:38

Yeah, that's right person too, to spend.

Speaker 2 45:46

Well, thanks for blessing us with your time today. Appreciate it. Thank you for the food, thank you for the food Cheers.

Speaker 1 45:50

No-transcript. No-transcript. I'm your host, josh Safran, with my co-host, matt Morris, and our permanent guest hey, I showed up today, bobby. Welcome back, bobby. It's always 50-50. Hey, you know what podcast? I'm your host, josh saffron, with my co-host, matt morris and our permanent guest.

Speaker 2 53:23

Hey, I showed up today, bobby welcome back, bobby.

Speaker 1 53:25

It's always 50 50.

Speaker 2 53:26

Yeah, hey, you know, I keep the viewers on their uh on the edge of the seat but the reality is, once you heard that peddler's pub was coming with pizza and wings, you can't. You cleared your calendar. I cleared it for a week completely. Yeah, yep, this is exciting I.

Speaker 1 53:39

I was here early, kevin, so bd clear. To get Bobby to show up is like an act of Congress and God, and so he's like who's coming to Peddler's Pub and he's like pfft.

Speaker 2 53:50

Say no more. And he wore a white shirt to eat pizza and wings For the wings. Well then, he asked. The next question. He said is Kevin bringing food?

Speaker 3 53:59

I said yes, he was definitely in we. He said is Kevin bringing food? I said yes, he was, I'm definitely in.

Speaker 1 54:02

We had some food folks come in at one point and they're like they didn't bring any food. So we're like, oh, that was kind of a letdown.

Speaker 4 54:06

Oh yeah, sure Right, you got to do that Something to soak the bourbon up.

Speaker 1 54:10

Yes, yeah, we're here every Thursday for all things Bentonville, business and bourbon, and we, your favorite. Yeah, I'm fine. 1792 is one of my favorites, it is. I've been wanting to have the sweet wheat for a long time. Matt got one, didn't want to bring it, and then I'm like, alright, I got a second one. So now.

Speaker 2 54:29

I mean, I told you where they were. You did, I was out on that text.

Speaker 1 54:33

I didn't see that you were in New York yeah, you were out of town you're doing guest, that's okay. I appreciate it Right here.

Speaker 2 54:46

Thank you, you're welcome. So good at that Pouring. Yeah, here you go, bobby.

Speaker 4 54:54

Thanks, sir so now.

Speaker 2 54:56

Have you ever had this one? No?

Speaker 1 54:59

no, I've had one at the the house and I haven't opened it because I didn't have a backup and I don't want To blast through it. So now that I just got this, the allocated these are starting to show up quite a bit now, cuz you found also All right, cheers, cheers, cheers boys.

Speaker 4 55:14

Thanks for coming in. Appreciate, joe, it's pretty good. That's, that's good.

Speaker 3 55:24

That's pretty good. That's good, it's really good, it's real good, is it low? It must be low groove. I was going to say it's a little hot on the back. Oh, you think? I thought, it seemed pretty mellow, it was like with a rock.

Speaker 4 55:37

It's 91.

Speaker 2 55:38

Yeah, but with a rock or something.

Speaker 1 55:41

No, I think it's a little heat on the back, it's very good.

Speaker 3 55:44

It's real good. You know how I judge bourbons Personally. For years I drank bourbon and then I started getting the aftertaste of stinky gym socks on my upper lip when I would drink bourbon Every time I drank bourbon Unless it was really good bourbon. We should ask Russ if that's in his job, and it doesn't leave it. There's a couple others that don't leave it.

Speaker 1 56:08

We have a guy that comes in and he's like he does it for a living, the way you own a restaurant, and he's always like catching the creme brulee and a little bit of cracked peppercorn.

Speaker 3 56:17

but we haven't gotten the gym socks and everyone I tell that they look at me sort of strangely and, uh, they obviously don't don't get it well, I have a few that that are like that.

Speaker 2 56:30

Like that almost tastes like a dish soap or something it's like a weird dish soap.

Speaker 1 56:35

There's been a few where we we drained. Yeah, those are the ones you typically bring in. Would you bring dry fly that time, or dragon fly, or what was that one?

Speaker 4 56:46

Yeah, it was dry fly Shout out to dry fly Shout out.

Speaker 2 56:48

It was a gift that someone got me.

Speaker 1 56:51

I had never had it before. It was a gift that kept on giving when you opened it.

Speaker 2 56:53

Yeah, I mean, I brought it two or three times.

Speaker 1 56:55

That one would taste like gym socks.

Speaker 3 56:58

Yeah, it sounds like it.

Speaker 4 57:04

More like it, yeah, more like dawn soap, yeah yeah, gosh, we're gonna have that at that whole section.

Speaker 2 57:13

Yeah, we can't be dogging on someone like that. Oh, dry fly. Yeah, sure we can, well, I, I. So in oxford they have a. There's a big liquor store and they had like some special drive. You know where they pick new barrel picks, and it was actually good but, their bottom of the barrel that I had was not good you didn't bring one of the store picks.

Speaker 1 57:25

that was good.

Speaker 2 57:26

here, though, no, it's in Oxford. Okay, I got to leave it down there. If you go down there for the hog game, then you'll have that September 13th.

Speaker 1 57:33

I saw the schedule and was like, oh, that's the date that Matt invited us all out there.

Speaker 4 57:44

And if you want to come anybody in the community is invited to Oxford.

Speaker 2 57:47

There you go. The Grove is an amazing experience, so now we have to talk about, though, the main event of today.

Speaker 1 57:50

Yeah, but you know how the podcast has gotten cool, because I mean, I thought it was always cool, but Barry texted me, barry from Blue, and shout out to Barry. Shout out, barry. Have you had Kevin on from Peddlers? I go, no, he goes. Have you had kevin on from peddlers? I go, no, he goes. You need to have kevin on from peddlers. So he sends me your contact information and it says kevin peddlers. I'm like I don't think peddlers is his last name.

Speaker 3 58:10

I'm like so that's how, that's how I save people my phone too, otherwise I'll never find you got a hundred kevins in there, yeah exactly so, kevin from peddlers.

Speaker 1 58:19

he hasn't texted him and he says I'd be happy to come on your podcast. That's awesome, I appreciate the invite.

Speaker 3 58:25

No, I was talking with Barry about that at Wu Zhao one night and we went in to try it. And he mentioned it and I said, no, I didn't know anything about it. But I thought, oh, I know some of these guys.

Speaker 1 58:39

Well, we're right below the Kelseys and Joe Rayman is us, so you probably heard of the other two I think you're right there.

Speaker 2 58:43

You guys got it and we're getting there.

Speaker 3 58:45

I mean, next time I have peddlers, I'm assuming you're gonna be playing this on a loop of one of your tvs- that's an interesting story how barry and I met because, um, when we were just getting ready to open the pub, building up the pub, and that was in 14, barry was getting started building Blue Out and he and his team. So one of our things in just that we want to do for the whole time since we opened stay open later than 9 o'clock in Bentonville, or 8 o'clock and be open on Sunday, because nobody's open on Sunday and and most places were closed down so they were working late and we're open until 11. So he and his crew were in there every night. They were working hard, so they'd come in and we'd just sit around and shoot the breeze and drink the spirits and we became really good friends through that.

Speaker 3 59:43

So we've known each other since we both got started in town basically.

Speaker 1 59:46

Well, what's nice is and we've talked about this on the podcast many times technically you're competitors because you're both serving dinner, but I love the fact that people like they expand the friendships.

Speaker 2 59:56

And I'm not going to eat pizza every night and I'm sure to heck not eat seafood every night, so it's great for people to be able to work together in this community well, and it's the same like going, it's fun to see, like going in and seeing barry in the new restaurant, like he has a smile from ear to ear. Oh yeah, and it's probably the same. You with your like. We go into your restaurant now and we're like it's twice the size right and I mean you guys still have all the familiar faces that, yeah, you've kept, and I don't know.

Speaker 2 1:00:24

We love both of the restaurants how'd you get into the? Pizza business like. What's the story? Oh, I got tired of teaching school fair shout out to the teachers second day of school today, and then so um, I just I wanted to work for myself.

Speaker 1 1:00:42

No restaurant experience.

Speaker 3 1:00:43

Other than working in them. You know bartending, and I've worked in restaurants for years. My first job when I was 12 was in a little French place in Springfield, missouri, and you know I just decided that. You know, there wasn't any wood-fired pizza up here. I liked the concept, I liked wood-fired pizza. I started fiddling around with it. I built a wood oven on a trailer.

Speaker 3 1:01:10

I thought I'll start here, that way at home I can start working on recipes, go to parties, like, hey, you guys want me to come cook pizza for you all Get feedback. Just kept doing that for a while. You know, just step by step. You know I went to the Walton Business College down in Fayetteville when I lived down there and they have that SBA program and you know got with some people there and got a lot of demographic information and sort of all the details that I was just checking off the boxes and kind of came down to well, if you're going to do it, you got to go to the bank. So I went to the bank and got started and you know, the end of 13, we opened in 14.

Speaker 1 1:01:54

So this was you by yourself or you had investors? No, just me and my wife. That's fantastic yeah.

Speaker 3 1:01:59

Yeah, and you know, I played in bars and restaurants for years and years as a musician and you know, when you're sitting on one side and seeing the whole deal, I just sort of thought, you know, I think I can pull this off.

Speaker 2 1:02:15

Restaurant business is a tough business.

Speaker 3 1:02:16

Yeah, and everybody told me, you know, to the competition part. You know, to the competition part. I've never really seen people in town or other restaurants as competition, because when I started I thought you know if you serve a good product, whatever that product is, if it's done right, priced well, our hours I mean staying open a little later, having a full bar, that sort of was a big thing in the beginning too, because once people caught on that we were open till 11, it wasn't that. Okay, everybody's outraging now, but it was. You know, you get off work in the summer and it's you get done doing something and it's eight, eight, 30 when you go to a restaurant but sun's barely down and everybody's closed, yeah, you know. So that's you know kind of how it all got started.

Speaker 3 1:03:06

It was really great because I was on the Lake Fayetteville Watershed Partnership and so I would start doing pizza with my oven for lunch for all the volunteers and everything and my whole family would help my grandparents, my mom or not, grandparents my in-laws kids running around.

Speaker 1 1:03:32

But but you're um, we had brenda and we again are from river grill shout out to brendan season one and one of the things we asked her is like you guys are some of the og and restaurants you guys have been around a long time, yeah, and every week a new restaurant's popping up and popping open and and everyone gets very excited for all the new. And it's flashy and sexy. But when all is said and done, everybody goes back to some of the classic favorites, I mean long term.

Speaker 3 1:03:51

I mean, you've been here just so successful for such a long time now. Yeah, and I think it just goes back to the same thing, you know. I mean what we do is not fancy food. There's a lot of fancy food in town that was kind of making the headlines at the time, but there just weren't many places that were just kind of take your family in the pricing's decent, because pricing in Bentonville is outrageous for the most part, I mean. So we wanted to stay on the lower side of that, you know, and just give good product.

Speaker 3 1:04:27

You know we take pride in the ingredients of things that we make. They're very fresh, they're very. You know we get a lot of local produce from some growers in town and those things make a difference, you know, on their own. So I think it's just you know that day to day, you know we keep employees for a long time and part of that is that we're busy and that they make a lot of money. But the other part is we try to be a casual place with the idea that you know, if you show up to work, you got to come to work and if you don't, those people usually last about a week or less, but the ones that thrive on it and like the pace and like the excitement of it, you know, and at the end of the night going, well, maybe that wasn't so bad we did great.

Speaker 3 1:05:13

All right, good job, you know and so yeah, um, I mean. So we've had a lot of people when we have, you know, our general manager, christian Barrett. He is the first person I hired when we opened 11 years ago, but that speaks volumes about you.

Speaker 2 1:05:31

Through COVID and all that.

Speaker 1 1:05:33

Restaurants, downtown people are how do I know you? Well, I was here then. I was here, then I was, oh, yeah, yeah you bounced around all over the place, but keeping somebody like that for 11 years that talks about a testament to you. Well, I appreciate it you know.

Speaker 3 1:05:44

But the funny thing about that is it's more that we just say you can't suck and work here.

Speaker 2 1:05:50

You know it just doesn't work because the, because the customers they don't tolerate it.

Speaker 3 1:05:57

You know they don't want average if they're going out and they're spending money. And then you know they want, they want good people and so the good people stay and they, you know, we've had a lot of people there, four or five, six years. Christian started the day we opened, lisa white, our manager, our bar manager, she, you know, she was a year in, she we hired her, so she's been there 10 years.

Speaker 2 1:06:25

Yeah, like you go in there and you see, like everyone from the beginning, and it's like how many restaurants can you say that?

Speaker 1 1:06:29

yeah, none.

Speaker 3 1:06:29

But that also allows you to not feel like you have to be there all the time because you have people that you trust to run the business yeah, yeah, when it came to hiring christian as general manager three or four years ago, it was just you know what are the things you need out of somebody, and like every box is checked for him. You know, okay, this is it Easy. Yeah, he's done great. And had a lot of you know people that way.

Speaker 1 1:06:55

I'm sitting next to Bobby and I hear his stomach rumbling.

Speaker 4 1:06:57

Oh, yeah, we want to try some of this stuff.

Speaker 2 1:07:01

Yeah bring out the goods. Oh oh yeah, we want to try some of this stuff. Yeah, bring out the goods.

Speaker 3 1:07:05

Oh yeah, wow.

Speaker 2 1:07:05

I brought you all some cups. Oh, I love these cups, aren't they great? Oh yeah, that idea is genius. Tell me about the cups. Our kids fight over them.

Speaker 3 1:07:13

Yeah Well, so when we opened. So for years I've been going to food shows, you know where they highlight product and stuff like that and I would see these things and I always wanted these cups. But you know they're a little bit expensive and we've never really done any advertising. So when we opened our new place and made the move, we decided let's get these cups, let's brand them and let everybody take them home so you can come in and get whatever drinks you get and take them all home with you. I think.

Speaker 2 1:07:41

I have at least a half dozen of Bart Nelson.

Speaker 3 1:07:44

Well, and it like they keep the drinks cold when you put that ice in there it brings you back to like when you were a kid. You get that little crisp on the outside, almost you know. And if you do two, there's one as an insulator, game changer All day.

Speaker 2 1:07:59

Yeah, I'm having a pool party this weekend.

Speaker 4 1:08:05

So yeah, put those over there.

Speaker 2 1:08:06

You see what happened he took all of them for himself you took the Eagle Rare last Thursday, so I don't know where that bottle is is it possible that Matt and I can maybe get one each as a souvenir? You can come over Thursday and grab one or.

Speaker 1 1:08:20

Sunday what do you want us to try?

Speaker 3 1:08:21

first the wings are there. We make them. Come over thursday and grandma or sunday, all right, what do you want us to try first? Uh, dig in the wings. Are there so hot wings? Um, yeah, we make them.

Speaker 1 1:08:26

Oh, hold on, yeah yeah, yeah, those are good looking ones. Oh yeah, then we make the sauce from those I'm just going straight in now have you as your, it seems like your menu has pretty much stayed true, like your menus.

Speaker 2 1:08:45

And what's crazy about your restaurant is you don't have to just go have pizza, all of your stuff's good Like your sandwiches are good.

Speaker 3 1:08:54

Which most?

Speaker 2 1:08:55

restaurants. There's like a few things that are good, but somehow you guys, like the very first time we went, that's what we had.

Speaker 2 1:09:04

So, we went there, christian was our, our waiter at the time, probably 10 or 12 years, whenever, when he first opened it and I said I want you to just bring me your favorite pizza, yeah, and he goes okay, I'm gonna bring you. Is it the italian italian? He goes, I'm bringing italian. So I go, okay, so carrie and I look at the deal and it says all this about the lettuce and arugula on there and I was like, oh crap, yeah, what did I just do? And I was like, well, we got to go with this, yeah, and he brought it. It's our favorite it's so good.

Speaker 1 1:09:31

Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's about our best-selling pizza, yeah, yeah I'm not gonna lie, I don't eat wings a lot. Yeah, my wife is a snooty buffaloan I'm making up words as I go. She's like oh, you have to have dust, and I eat the pizza all the time. These are unbelievable. Thank you, unbelievable.

Speaker 3 1:09:54

Yeah, we get a lot of people on the wing train at the pub and that come in for the wings, pretty much not the pizza. You know, the menu being the same we've just always. You know we did a little bit of a menu change in the first year because we've been open a year. I don't know how I was home at the time, but I was at the house and I get a call from Loren Bates, our general manager, and he's like the flu's on fire on the oven.

Speaker 1 1:10:19

I was like the flu, yeah, pre-covid. Oh, this was in 2014.

Speaker 3 1:10:23

Oh, yeah, I was like the flu. Yeah, pre-covid.

Speaker 1 1:10:24

Oh, this was in 2014. Oh yeah, I got you.

Speaker 3 1:10:26

So anyway, long story short, two weeks before we could get the pizza oven back up and running. So here we are. We're a pizza place. We're only open a year. We got to be down with pizza for 14 days, so we started just making lasagnasas and we put a bunch of burgers. At that point we had a hamburger or cheeseburger on the menu, and so we were forced to put new things on the menu, and everything that we put on stayed, except for the lasagnas. We're like no, we're not really a lasagna place, but so that's where the menu sort of stayed.

Speaker 3 1:11:04

We've got, you know, a lot of burgers and sandwiches. We've expanded the appetizers. You know we added three or four appetizers when we moved because we had a little bit more space to work with a little more refrigerated space.

Speaker 2 1:11:19

Well, and now you'll go in there with the new space, space, and you'll be like man, it's packed. It's going to take forever. Yeah, but with those with you having the two ovens, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 1:11:32

It helps, it speeds things up. You know we still mostly cook the pizza in the, in the main oven and then the other oven we do for appetizers.

Speaker 2 1:11:41

Really oven and then the other oven we do for appetizers so really like wood-fired nachos and cauliflower and um, we're just spinning the spinach. Yeah, that's so good.

Speaker 3 1:11:50

And the spinach art choke dip before we were having to in the oven with the pizzas at the same time. So you know, we're getting all these orders for spinach art joke dip and we've got six, seven pizzas in there and it's just sort of a circus, you know.

Speaker 1 1:12:03

And uh, so that the new having two, ovens has made a big difference, so the move was a big deal. I mean, you were in that location for 10 years yeah 10 years. So yeah, let's just what was the story for.

Speaker 3 1:12:16

Uh, just just wanted to move um were you?

Speaker 1 1:12:21

you looking for a spot?

Speaker 3 1:12:30

Not actively, but you know we didn't want to move far, we wanted to stay close. So it was looking like probably not going to get to move. But we were getting ready to re-up a lease and it just so happened that the building across the street opened up.

Speaker 1 1:12:44

Which wasn't a restaurant right, it was a CrossFit, so that was a big tenant improvement?

Speaker 3 1:12:48

huh, it was, but we just felt like the thing I was most scared about was moving away from our regulars. You know, because I'm a regular person. Yeah, because I'm a regular person, yeah, so you know, if you take my favorite restaurant and move it five miles away, I'm still going to get there, but it's going to be about a third. You know, less than I probably did before. You know, probably, yeah, so it just worked out. You know it worked out really well. Randy Lawson owns the property across the street which they opened up and he had told me that it came open and we just thought when we liked Randy.

Speaker 2 1:13:27

So we say, yeah, let's just do it, and it was twice the size, and I mean the extra space, at least twice right, yeah, our other place, we had about 2,500 square feet and this place is 9,000 square feet Nine. Oh, I had no idea it was that much. Nine, yeah, more than triple.

Speaker 3 1:13:42

Yeah, it was scary, but you know, the thing that we didn't want to do is we didn't want to say, okay, we've got to fill 9,000 square feet full of tables and chairs, right, because we knew we couldn't really pull that off. So what we did was we built a really big kitchen, we put in a really great beer system with its own cooler inside. All our walk-in coolers came inside. They were all outside after two of them were outside at our other place. So we brought everything in, so everything's under roof, and we put the big kitchen in and then we put two pool tables over on one side, which squat and we gave both of them plenty of room, yeah you know.

Speaker 3 1:14:18

So we just want to make sure everything had good space and didn't feel cramped. And then we put in a golf simulator, so we have a golf simulator room. That has been really great. I mean, we're getting ready to have a golf sim tournament next month.

Speaker 1 1:14:33

Is that a pay to play?

Speaker 3 1:14:35

It's $50 an hour.

Speaker 1 1:14:37

$50 an hour yeah.

Speaker 3 1:14:38

And a server comes in there and gets you your food and your drinks. You don have to leave the room, really, if you don't want.

Speaker 2 1:14:43

I didn't even know that was there. Yeah, where is that?

Speaker 3 1:14:45

you're in holler at me cuz I said okay, so as soon as you walk in the doors it's always straight, okay, and it's a big room and it has 16 foot by 9 foot hitting screen that you hit into it's really big and couches and chairs and a table for food.

Speaker 2 1:15:04

Like the perfect party.

Speaker 3 1:15:05

It's ideal, I mean 12 or 15 people in there, whether you're you know five people are golfing, or four or five people are golfing, it's just, you're just hanging out.

Speaker 1 1:15:15

So in the first 10 years, because we're opening a second, I own the barbershop, the Gent place.

Speaker 4 1:15:18

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 1:15:19

And so after seven years, we're building a second one now. So it's like all the things I've learned in the seven years that I want I would have done differently.

Speaker 4 1:15:25

You're now building into the new location correct.

Speaker 3 1:15:27

Yeah, absolutely that was nice.

Speaker 2 1:15:29

And you have no problem filling the new place. I mean no it might be busier than the original we got.

Speaker 3 1:15:38

I mean, we've been really fortunate, that's just you know, people have been great to us.

Speaker 2 1:15:43

Well, and I never would have thought, but like I knew, like the bar was kind of like the original one, was kind of like the place where it was always hard to get a seat there. And then you'd sit there sometimes waiting for a table, but like now, you can't even ever think about going there unless you're there early. I know Because that area is just.

Speaker 3 1:16:05

And we doubled the number of seats at the bar, and then we added all those two tops that are right next to the bar.

Speaker 2 1:16:11

Part of the bar At some point. Will you do like an outdoor patio?

Speaker 3 1:16:15

It looks like you've got some doors we were trying to squeeze it all in and we just couldn't really get it through, uh, without sort of feeling like we were really rushed and maybe it wasn't going to be the way we really wanted it, so might as well.

Speaker 2 1:16:27

We're going to do that live in the space yeah, try to get it ready for spring? Yeah, tell us about this pizza, figure out how to uh feed everybody on the patio yeah, you know, so that'd be what do we have here?

Speaker 3 1:16:38

this is a chicken bacon ranch, and so chicken bacon. It's got ranch and hot sauce, yellow onions topped with sunflower seeds.

Speaker 1 1:16:50

Feta. It's got feta on it. Should we hold that one up, Bobby? Yeah?

Speaker 2 1:16:56

Not too much.

Speaker 1 1:16:57

I mean, if you were a permanent guest here regularly, you'd know where the camera is. Yeah, exactly, oh, they keep on moving them.

Speaker 2 1:17:02

It's the camera's fault, so can you share any secrets like what kind of wood are you using for us foodies?

Speaker 1 1:17:08

so hold on before you answer. Sure are you committing here that you're not going to open a competitive pizza place, because I know that you've been just being only in my backyard. Okay, all right. All right, so I do have a pizza oven in my backyard just making sure we're not he's good at making pizza.

Speaker 2 1:17:24

Yeah, if you ever need someone to throw pie, I can throw pie.

Speaker 3 1:17:29

So mostly we use red and white oak, you know most hardwoods are all good Fruit woods are all good. You know the guy that down in Rockwall, texas, where my mom used to live, he had a place called still does Zanata's Wonderful place. He kind of took me under his wing just from visiting my mom and said oh yeah, if you want to come back in the kitchen, do whatever. Sir, you can see how we do things before I ever got up. And they use pecan, because there's pecan trees everywhere down there.

Speaker 3 1:18:02

And it's a good one. But the red oak, white oak is what we use to mix the both.

Speaker 1 1:18:07

I have not had this one before. This is really good. No, neither have.

Speaker 3 1:18:09

I.

Speaker 4 1:18:09

It's really good.

Speaker 3 1:18:10

That's on the menu because it was a kitchen favorite. All of us that worked in the kitchen that's what we started making. It was the perfect combination at the time, really good flavor.

Speaker 2 1:18:20

Yeah, thank you, that's what ours is. I've never had this one, but like the Arky and the Italian are my favorite, every time.

Speaker 3 1:18:28

My favorite is probably the V10. Yeah, oh yeah that one's good too, we debated whether to ever even put that on the menu, because we were getting a lot of people saying, you know, hey, give us a deluxe, give us whatever. And, as you know, as a pizza cooker, on for wood fire it's hard, it's very thin crust. So when you add a bunch of juicy stuff, on it.

Speaker 2 1:18:49

You better know what you're doing.

Speaker 3 1:18:51

You got to cook it just right, and or you get a soggy bottom or the pizza is stuck to the bottom of the oven and you shut it out, so that's why, oh.

Speaker 2 1:19:00

So that's why, oh yeah, that's why you're, you're careful.

Speaker 3 1:19:03

I am telling you that the job of the person in the oven is is is one of the most difficult jobs in any restaurant. You're like the quarterback. You're the quarterback all the way. I mean, if your fire is not hot enough, your floor is not hot enough, Rather, you're done. You're done for 30 minutes because you got to take everything out of there. You got to get your floor heated up, so you got to maintain this heat all the while. Pizzas in and out, cutting pizzas, spinning pizzas.

Speaker 1 1:19:34

Did you know this or did you learn this along the way? This is what I learned along the way.

Speaker 3 1:19:38

The hard way is usually how you learn, so many failed caterings, of showing up a little too late and not getting my fire hot enough where my floor was hot enough to really put out pizzas, and after the whole thing had gone to shit like the last pizza's cooking like a dream.

Speaker 2 1:19:52

And it's ready now that you're done. It's like when you make pancakes, like the first tin or trash, and then it gets perfect and everyone's full it's really nice. I never thought about it.

Speaker 3 1:20:11

Depends on what you put on the pizza. But yeah, you guys, you guys do good with all of your stuff. It's a little bit of a trick which you know in most of the other pizza cooking scenarios, other ovens and things that aren't wood fired and, uh, it's easier to control, you know. So you can kind of you put it on 450, it stays on 450. You put it on 700, it stays on.

Speaker 2 1:20:27

You know, but it's so like there's no gas or anything, it's just wood in there so it is. It's like a chart regular.

Speaker 3 1:20:39

Yeah, smoker, you start smoking and you're in the middle of smoking and you realize you've got no fire left or something, and then you've got to do something that doesn't overcook, surely.

Speaker 2 1:20:50

It probably takes what over an hour to get that oven to temp in the morning, you know when it's running.

Speaker 3 1:21:00

So Tuesday we run Tuesday through Sunday. So we we put the last stick of wood in the oven on Sunday night, you know probably about 1030, you know most nights, sunday nights, um, and then we don't do anything with the oven on Monday. Coming on Tuesday, the oven's still 350, 400, you know. So then you got to get it from there there up so it takes a little while it's usually a couple hours a little fire alone just to get it to. You know work during lunch. You know you don't have to have it quite as hot because you're not rightfully as many pieces through that often.

Speaker 2 1:21:37

I don't know sometimes I'm there during lunch and seems as bad. Yeah, yeah, it's true.

Speaker 1 1:21:42

Kevin, you didn't wrap you for one second. I apologize. With all the amazing delicious food here, Matt's chomping on celery I just want to make sure everybody's aware of that.

Speaker 2 1:21:49

I love celery. Is it healthy for you? No, I just like how it tastes it's good.

Speaker 3 1:21:53

It's one of my favorite things to cook with too, because of the flavor I mean all this delicious stuff and grabbing some celery.

Speaker 2 1:22:00

I mean I was going to dip a few dips in there. You were going to do a double dip. I knew you'd lose it if I did.

Speaker 1 1:22:05

Well, I mean the thousands and thousands of viewers would have called in and said is he really double dipping the?

Speaker 2 1:22:10

celery in the rice. I could get the viewership up probably that way. You could, you could, but no, like. It's just so crazy that you started your your first restaurant and it's been a success, like it's been, and and you're on our show. Yeah, I mean, this is, I would say, you're one of the, you're one of our top restaurants that we go to and it's always a constant yep it's always good and and it like.

Speaker 2 1:22:37

I think, like you said, you made the new space kind of feel like the old space on the inside. That was the goal and you kept but 3X the size. I didn't realize it was that big. I didn't either, but it is huge in there.

Speaker 3 1:22:48

Well, we had a lot of people that were really concerned, I think, for us, because I think they felt like we were going to try to do something different, like, okay, we've done this, we're going to try to go do something different, that this, we're gonna try to go do something different, that's just never has been our but feedback's.

Speaker 1 1:23:04

Amazing, how much feedback. Oh so, oh yeah, I get plenty of feedback.

Speaker 3 1:23:07

So much feedback everybody wants to tell you how to do it of course, and our goal was just to be the same, except we just didn't want to be where we were anymore so we just you know, and so we took basically everything the way it was designed and we went over there and we did it the same way.

Speaker 3 1:23:22

It's just a little bit bigger and the bar, you know like, mentioned it. So when we built the bar in the beginning, I went down to second life wood down in fayetteville and a younger guy was working it, working in there uh, he's the one I was dealing with. He was a real sharp guy. Lauren bates is his name and um, he, you know we picked out all the wood, whatever, and when it came time to install it, he brought it up and they installed it, and so he was there late and I'm there late and I'm working on the oven. He's working on the bar.

Speaker 3 1:23:52

We just became fast friends and he started working there as a manager, ended up being the general manager or as a bartender, and then he became the general manager, end up being the general manager or as a bartender and then he became the general manager. But when we so 10 years later, um, I called him up, said, hey, man, we're moving a couple things. I'd like for you to do the bar and I'd like for you to move our old bar, and here's what I want to do with the old bar. So when we move, we took our old bar because it wasn't going to be anywhere near big enough. We took our old bar and we basically cut it in half down in the center of the front long space of the bar, and then we took it and we put it where our bar is now, I mean where our pizza oven serving area is now.

Speaker 2 1:24:35

So one side of it is there.

Closing Thoughts and Contact Information

Speaker 3 1:24:37

The other side fit perfectly on the other side and then we had a six foot piece of quartz that was our serving window out of pizza from our old place and we put that in the middle of the bar. So it's bar serving window, bar from the old place I never knew that was the old bar. And then Lauren built us a new bar, that's perfect, which turned out great.

Speaker 1 1:25:00

Well, you got to keep a lot of the stuff from the history. You just got to get rid of it.

Speaker 3 1:25:02

I mean every single thing we had over there is in our other place. Yeah, we replaced a bunch of equipment to update some equipment. I mean, we replaced a bunch of equipment to update some equipment, but all the decor and all the other stuff was all there. And then we added, we added several bikes. I had several friends say, you know, we were moving, getting ready to do the build out, and several friends said, you know, hey, I got this awesome bike that you know we look good up there, you know. So we hung that, you know, got new, some new bikes also on top of what we already had you guys should say, hey, well, I got some stuff for the new gents place.

Speaker 1 1:25:31

I don't get my friends don't help me the same way that you're fighting well, I mean never mind, we got some stuff.

Speaker 2 1:25:40

We got some stuff for you, but you know, are you allowed to though?

Speaker 1 1:25:43

yeah, yeah, we'll figure it out. Yeah, but we'll figure it out in the vip wing for you, I mean maybe we'll take it to peddlers sounds like. Sounds like he's full with stuff.

Speaker 3 1:25:53

Yeah, we got room, we got space, we got 9,000 feet.

Speaker 1 1:25:56

We got 9,000 square feet.

Speaker 2 1:26:01

I wish GM was here also, because he's a huge golfer. He's going to flip when he finds out.

Speaker 3 1:26:03

Yeah, oh, it is a blast.

Speaker 4 1:26:06

I mean the room itself is a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 1:26:09

Yeah yeah, the room itself is a lot of fun, yeah, yeah, and I mean, you don't even have to play golf in there. You don't want to.

Speaker 2 1:26:13

You can still rent them, which is what you and I would do. Yeah, we would just hang out. Those rooms are super cool, yeah.

Speaker 1 1:26:19

You stand there. You don't have to hit golf balls. If you want, they come in with pitchers of beer.

Speaker 3 1:26:25

They're bringing the food so you play your own music. You can't hear what's going on. I mean we'd go up there one night it was a zoo out there in a restaurant and my goal wasn't I wasn't going to be seen at all out there.

Speaker 4 1:26:38

You know I wasn't going to get roped into anything.

Speaker 3 1:26:41

Walk out the door in the bathrooms right here around the corner. Almost nobody could see, so I didn't go out there all night.

Speaker 1 1:26:46

You almost don't't know anything's going on out there. Is it $50 per hour per person? No total, so hold on. Matt's not known to treat for these types of things, so we get 10 people in there and it's $50 for one hour.

Speaker 2 1:26:59

And Matt's covering $50?. Josh, you could rent it out and invite all your hosts. You could send them hosting. You could make money. You could make money.

Speaker 1 1:27:04

You and I could co-host you could? It feels like we're a little bit.

Speaker 2 1:27:11

No, like I didn't, I never knew that was there. Well, we haven't really pushed it very hard.

Speaker 3 1:27:16

Yeah, you know everything has been, I mean even with talking with all the managers, and we sit down and we try to. You know, hey, what do we need to do going forward here? You know we're to this point now. What do we need to do? And all of that was based on the smallest steps. You know, here it has been a year that we've been there and we've had this the whole year, but we don't really advertise because it's just we got to get everything else really on board first before all of a sudden that's smart.

Speaker 2 1:27:40

This is gonna be crazy how long now it's been. One year, one year. Yeah, it doesn't seem like a year, but it goes by, you're not kidding, it seems like it's been two months.

Speaker 3 1:27:49

Yeah, I thought you were gonna. It seems like it's been two months. I thought you were going to say it seems like it's been two months.

Speaker 2 1:27:53

I remember when you closed for like a few weeks and it felt like months, are they? Open yet we would like text Christian. We're like when are you opening? He's like well, I got delayed another week. We're like we need our pizza.

Speaker 3 1:28:10

I got pretty fit working in there all for the past year before we opened it, you know, doing the build out. Oh, I forgot Where's my screw gun. Oh, it's at the other end. Well, I'll go over there. Oh, I forgot 9,000 square feet.

Speaker 1 1:28:26

That's a lot of steps.

Speaker 2 1:28:26

Exactly, it's a long way, Did you build most of it out yourself?

Speaker 3 1:28:29

No, no no, no, but I did the ovens. Okay, me and a crew moved the oven the old oven, disassembled it, moved it. I built the stands for the new oven. So I did that at my shop, out of my house, so we had the stands ready waiting there. And then, you know, I built the chandelier, the big chandelier. That's all.

Speaker 2 1:28:52

Yeah, that's cool, all bikes.

Speaker 3 1:28:53

Yeah, and then we did all the sound system. That's cool. I got to give a shout out to my boy, robert Wilson Shout him out.

Speaker 1 1:29:03

He was there, bobby Wilson.

Speaker 3 1:29:04

Yeah, he was up there with me almost every day helping me. He retired and he was bored as hell and he, he would help me every day.

Speaker 2 1:29:12

That's awesome.

Speaker 3 1:29:12

That's awesome for one thing or another, you know so the oven like are those ovens like?

Speaker 2 1:29:18

I've never seen a pizza oven like that. I was like I think he probably made those himself.

Speaker 3 1:29:22

But so I buy these kits. It's a company called forno bravo and um. They're out of it. You know them well? I think, think so, but they they make in California it feels like a pizza off here.

Speaker 2 1:29:34

Oh it does, rob's like taking notes over there the first they ship as the but they, you know, the first one, I built.

Speaker 4 1:29:44

I mean, it was on trailer.

Speaker 3 1:29:47

I built it bulletproof, like the stand. I used channel steel and then I poured a slab basically around the oven so it just couldn't move at all and it was great. So the next one I built. So I built four of them and they're good ovens. But the new one for the new place, it shipped 4,000 pounds.

Speaker 4 1:30:10

Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 1:30:14

And that's unfinished, you know. So, like the tile that we put on the, on the new one that's without all that mortar and all that tile and and without the stand, and I mean. So it's probably like 8 000 pounds sitting there, that big oven do you see how engaged he is today, how.

Speaker 2 1:30:30

How is Kevin going to take it? He loves this stuff. How is Kevin going to take it? Pizza is my favorite food and you love wings, yeah.

Speaker 1 1:30:36

In two days Rob's going to announce he's opening Peddler's Club in downtown. Benville.

Speaker 4 1:30:41

Peddler's Club.

Speaker 2 1:30:47

I've been married for a long time and one of the promises I had to make my wife is I'd never open up a restaurant oh, yeah, yeah, funded by Rob.

Speaker 1 1:30:53

Nelson Christian's going to come over and run it.

Speaker 2 1:30:55

Everything's going on right now. I've got a pretty cool outdoor kitchen and I've got all the toys out there and I get my fix once or twice a month and that's all I need. Sure, well, it's a process and that's why I don't cater much anymore is because you've got to get the oven for catering.

Speaker 3 1:31:18

I get it there. Then you've got to start the fires and all you really want to do is eat pizza. Yeah, and it takes you three hours to get ready to cook five minutes of pizza.

Speaker 2 1:31:26

Matt and I would run your catering once or twice a month on the weekends, have a fire

Speaker 4 1:31:31

up the oven. That'd be fun. That's like wait, what are you signing me up for? How are you going to do that from?

Speaker 1 1:31:36

BYU. Yeah, exactly, a lot of bourbon.

Speaker 2 1:31:39

But no, like it's fun to see Rob like because he gets excited about like he loves that outdoor kitchen that you have. I don't even think you eat inside anymore at your house Very outdoor kitchen that you have. I don't even think you eat inside anymore at your house.

Speaker 1 1:31:51

Very rarely. The best text I got today is like hey, I'm making pizzas, come over on Sunday when you're in. Yeah Right, that was the best text I got and that's the thing when you make pizza, you want everybody there.

Speaker 3 1:31:59

Yeah, it's not worth it, to make it for me and my wife Right.

Speaker 2 1:32:07

Yeah, maybe some kids you know, that's right, matt loves when I make the calzones and the strombolis that's his so I like so he'll wait. The one time I couldn't go, so I like got like the everything but the kitchen sink yeah, it was like what was left over.

Speaker 3 1:32:21

I just threw it all. It was a to-go order for you.

Speaker 2 1:32:24

Oh yeah, yeah he made it, brought it over, we were doing I don't know what we had going- I think you were sick or something, do you? Guys make strombolis, we do Okay.

Speaker 1 1:32:35

I was just going to say I know I haven't seen them on the menu. It's on the menu at Peddler's Club, though Twice a month at my house.

Speaker 2 1:32:40

I'll make it. He's like whenever someone doesn't know how to slide the pizza under there we make them. Yeah, we just fold it over.

Speaker 4 1:32:52

It, it's a, it's a pizza roll it's supposed to look like back to the 80s they had pizza rolls.

Speaker 3 1:32:59

Gino's pizza rolls shout out to.

Speaker 1 1:33:01

General. Mills you like that call out huh, that's right but no, that's, I'm just.

Speaker 2 1:33:08

I love that your guys is like. I love your new location and I love that Benton is like I love your new location and I love that Bentonville is lucky enough to have a great like somewhere that feels, like you said, it's like homey and not not like an uppity dress up.

Speaker 4 1:33:22

Yes.

Speaker 2 1:33:22

Which I like. I like that side of it too, but it's nice to have somewhere that you're like let's run to Peddler's and just grab yeah, no, that's.

Speaker 3 1:33:32

That's been our goal from the beginning.

Speaker 2 1:33:33

So our, my wife's, one of her cousins, her husband Trey Johnson, he used to play. So that's why every time I go by there I'm like when are they going to get that open? So we get the bands back.

Speaker 4 1:33:46

No joke yeah.

Speaker 2 1:33:48

But I think your new is it going to be on the the back side off the pool tables, would you do? That yeah so it'll be better because you're at the other one. You were in the hot sun late, so, like the new, one, the backyard.

Speaker 3 1:33:59

It's going to be a lot better.

Speaker 4 1:34:00

I mean nobody's sitting out there, yeah, yeah or night you know, yeah, too hot and too many flies.

Speaker 3 1:34:05

And you know what? Do you know? That's the worst thing ever is the fly thing. Because what?

Speaker 2 1:34:10

do you do?

Speaker 3 1:34:10

yeah, there's nothing without some guy just stand there fogging the whole place. Yeah, you know, there's just flies in the summer and it's food. So I mean yeah yeah, and you turn a fan on and then the fan's too loud. You gotta turn the fan off. Yeah, but the flies are gonna look down, yeah maybe leave the patio up.

Speaker 2 1:34:28

Yeah, maybe forget about the patio. The golf idea is better. Alcohol only.

Speaker 3 1:34:36

Pool is, you know, pool tables, and then there's the two doors and in between the two doors that's a server station. So we set that up, so there's doors in and out for the patio on both sides, and then the servers have their own station there for all soda and tea and all that.

Speaker 1 1:34:52

And then the bar is pretty close to it.

Speaker 3 1:34:53

Do you?

Speaker 1 1:34:53

have a surprise treat menu on the other, like something like hey, I know everybody's known for the wings and the pizza, but if you guys are there you've got to try this. Fill us in for something like that.

Speaker 3 1:35:05

I mean the spinach artichoke dip is we make it. It's all super fresh. I mean, we cook up the artichokes and the spinach every day and you know it's all real cheeses and it's a lot of cheese nothing out of a can no it's really, really, it's really good stuff. Um, and we do it in the wood oven, so you get a little wood, you know, get a little burnt crust on the top. That's my favorite part.

Speaker 2 1:35:32

Yeah, like the pieces of dough that you guys cut up the other thing not on the menu. That's my favorite, which I probably shouldn't be saying, but mixing that hot with the garlic, oh yeah, that's the best. Like those wings they're the best.

Speaker 4 1:35:50

That's how I eat them.

Speaker 3 1:35:50

That was another thing that I said, what's?

Speaker 2 1:35:51

the best way to's how I eat them. That was another thing that I said. What's the best way to have the wings and?

Speaker 3 1:35:54

they're like well, we mix this, you know, they know, because they eat it all day. And then you get the garlic and they're not as hot, yeah, and you get the butter.

Speaker 2 1:35:59

Yeah. I would say that pizza too, Chicken bacon ranch Spicy chicken bacon ranch. That's good. So, none of us ever had that before. No, I'd never had that.

Speaker 3 1:36:14

That's really good. And you know something I didn't even realize until I started cooking pizza was feta on a pizza is just wonderful. Feta, yeah, feta, and then it gets even a little dark on top or something.

Speaker 4 1:36:24

Feta peperoni on a pizza.

Speaker 1 1:36:36

For me, like I love trying all these different pizzas, but when I go into a pizza, place for the first time, pepperoni.

Speaker 4 1:36:38

Yeah, that's how I judge a pizza peddler's club.

Speaker 2 1:36:39

You're gonna double up on the pepperoni. He does any pizza place we go to he has to get pepperon, just plain pepperoni. I just got back from New York City. I had a lot of pepperoni pizza, so when Josh said you were bringing pizza, I was like ooh.

Speaker 1 1:37:00

I had my share. Peddler's Pub pizza.

Speaker 2 1:37:02

Hey I crushed two slices. You did it was really good.

Speaker 1 1:37:07

We're running out of time, unfortunately. We could probably do this for hours.

Speaker 4 1:37:09

Yeah.

Speaker 3 1:37:10

Website address location for the few people that don't know where to find you uh, peddlerspub gmailcom is a email that you can, you know, inquire about whatever and then peddlerspubcom and location. I know there's two or three people in town, south main street, bentonville, yeah, walking distance for you. We're behind gearhead, they're kind of our neighbors there and they've been great neighbors, ted and his place. They're great.

Speaker 1 1:37:35

Ted's my neighbor on the campus. Oh, excellent, yeah, excellent.

Speaker 4 1:37:38

He's good people, ted he's good folks and if you haven't been there.

Speaker 2 1:37:40

I mean, you got plenty of parking yeah, there's a lot of parking and it's all paid parking yeah, which is nice, yeah yes, and even if you go there and the parking lot's full and you have to park across the street or wherever you guys have so much room in there now we'll be like well, we'll probably have to wait 20 minutes, we'll get in there and you guys somehow get you seated, so it's good maybe we'll bring our fan base to come hit some golf balls we should have a viewers event.

Speaker 1 1:38:12

A viewers event A viewers event.

Speaker 2 1:38:15

There it is, there it is.

Speaker 1 1:38:16

You may need more than 9,000 square feet for a viewers event there. You probably need to double up one more time. A second level he's like you all can go sit on the patio.

Speaker 3 1:38:24

Yeah, it's like that's still 50 an hour guys.

Speaker 1 1:38:37

Yeah hour guys, it's a minimum of 50 per person to the spin well thanks for blessing time today. Thank you for the food.

Speaker 2 1:38:40

Thank you my food cheers.