Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST
[REPLAY] Lisa Leventhal, Former Brand Ambassador for The House of Somrus
Welcome to Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST!
My name is Jessie Ott, the Host of this Podcast which is all about Beverage Innovation. I talk with Innovation Pioneers from Agriculture to Glass.
📢I talk🎙️with Lisa Leventhal, former Chief Fire Stoker at The House of Somrus. 🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏😋 🥂 😁
She has an incredible journey that started with her career at Disney right here in Orlando, FL. She shares her experience in the World of Mickey before branching out to Bloomin’ Brands and Darden Restaurants where she focused on operations and opened new restaurants all over the US.
She then transitioned to a smaller family-run company that had 20-30 various concepts and was the GM and Beverage Director for Balboa Café in San Francisco. This is when she first tried The House of Somrus and put it on their cocktail menu. Little did she know she would one day work for them.
Realizing she needed a change from San Francisco where real estate is overly expensive she looked into Chicago where she could get a two-bedroom, two bath for less than she was paying in rent per month.
She worked for the Alinea Group where she met the owner of The House of Somrus in her office building. It was an instant connection and well, the rest is history!
Lisa is now the Chief Fire Stoker at The Kurvball Whiskey Company.
NOW ON YOUTUBE!!! Thank you for Listening! Join us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!
Host Jessie Ott's Profile on LinkedIn
Welcome to Thirsty Thursdays @3PM EST!
My name is Jessie Ott, the Host of this Podcast which is all about Beverage Innovation. I talk with Innovation Pioneers from Agriculture to Glass.
📢I talk🎙️with Lisa Leventhal, former Chief Fire Stoker at The House of Somrus. 🍷 🎇 🎉 ✨ 👏😋 🥂 😁
She has an incredible journey that started with her career at Disney right here in Orlando, FL. She shares her experience in the World of Mickey before branching out to Bloomin’ Brands and Darden Restaurants where she focused on operations and opened new restaurants all over the US.
She then transitioned to a smaller family-run company that had 20-30 various concepts and was the GM and Beverage Director for Balboa Café in San Francisco. This is when she first tried The House of Somrus and put it on their cocktail menu. Little did she know she would one day work for them.
Realizing she needed a change from San Francisco where real estate is overly expensive she looked into Chicago where she could get a two-bedroom, two bath for less than she was paying in rent per month.
She worked for the Alinea Group where she met the owner of The House of Somrus in her office building. It was an instant connection and well, the rest is history!
Lisa is now the Chief Fire Stoker at The Kurvball Whiskey Company.
NOW ON YOUTUBE!!! Thank you for Listening! Join us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!
Host Jessie Ott's Profile on LinkedIn
00:00:02:23 - 00:00:27:03
Jessie Ott
Welcome to Thursday Thursdays at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. My name is Jessica. The host of this podcast, which is all about beverage innovation. I talk with innovation pioneers from agriculture to glass this week. Lisa Leventhal, chief fire stoker at the House of summers. She has an incredible journey that started with her career at Disney right here in Orlando, Florida.
00:00:27:05 - 00:00:50:12
Jessie Ott
She shares her experience in the world of Mickey before branching out to Bloomin Brands and Darden Restaurants, where she focused on operations and opened new restaurants all over the US. She then transitioned to a smaller family run company that had 20 to 30 various concepts, and was the GM and beverage director for Balboa Cafe in San Francisco. This is when she first tried the House of Summer and put it on her cocktail menu.
00:00:50:14 - 00:01:11:12
Jessie Ott
Little did she know she would one day work for them. Realizing she needed a change from San Francisco, where real estate is overly expensive, she looked into Chicago, where her brother lived, and she could get a two bedroom, two bath for less than she was paying in rent per month. She worked for the Alinea group, where she met the owner of the House of summers in her office building.
00:01:11:14 - 00:01:32:11
Jessie Ott
And it was an instant connection and, well, the rest is history. Thank you for listening and be sure to subscribe to be notified of all new episodes. Welcome to Thursday, Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. My name is Jessica and I have guest, Lisa Leventhal here with me today. Hi, Lisa. How are you doing today?
00:01:32:13 - 00:01:33:04
Lisa Leventhal
I'm good.
00:01:33:04 - 00:01:46:09
Jessie Ott
How are you? Lisa is representing the House of summers today, and I'm super pumped because you got, a great award this past week with where do you want to talk about it?
00:01:46:11 - 00:01:54:14
Lisa Leventhal
We did. So Miss Coffee got best in show and a double gold.
00:01:54:15 - 00:02:11:22
Lisa Leventhal
It was awesome. Yeah, it was great. We got to have an extra day of tasting people on the floor who may not have tried the product before, and everything like that, and then we got to invite them back to our suite, which was super fun. We held like an ice cream social the afternoons where people could come and get ice cream and put summers all over them.
00:02:12:00 - 00:02:12:13
Lisa Leventhal
One of the best.
00:02:12:13 - 00:02:14:00
Lisa Leventhal
Ways to consume.
00:02:14:02 - 00:02:18:02
Jessie Ott
Alcohol. And it done.
00:02:18:04 - 00:02:34:10
Lisa Leventhal
the percentage alcohol is 13.5%, so it's like a little bit lower than like most cream liquors. but it's super smooth, really. Sessionable. And our cream is actually really light as far as, like the viscosity goes versus, older, more traditional.
00:02:34:11 - 00:02:37:02
Jessie Ott
What is it? I guess it's dairy.
00:02:37:04 - 00:02:43:13
Lisa Leventhal
Maybe it's an oak or. Yep. produced in Wisconsin, which is, you know, arguably the best cheese.
00:02:43:15 - 00:02:48:09
Jessie Ott
Curds on this podcast. You know, now we got dairy. So.
00:02:48:11 - 00:02:48:16
Lisa Leventhal
yeah.
00:02:48:16 - 00:03:02:08
Jessie Ott
I had, right. I had Dylan stolen a few weeks ago, and, he wasn't from Wisconsin. And so I had no idea one, that Brandy was so big there and then. So we had we had a brandy cocktail, and we had a vodka cocktail, and we had to taste the cheese curds with both.
00:03:02:08 - 00:03:07:17
Lisa Leventhal
It was fun. it's a good time. Yeah, it sounds like Wisconsin.
00:03:07:19 - 00:03:14:14
Jessie Ott
So, where are you from, Lisa?
00:03:14:16 - 00:03:19:04
Lisa Leventhal
I'm originally from Florida, but I'm located in the Chicago area.
00:03:19:05 - 00:03:27:17
Jessie Ott
Of Florida, right here in Orlando. Yeah. So, I j it's funny, we flipped. I'm from Iowa.
00:03:27:19 - 00:03:28:03
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, yeah.
00:03:28:04 - 00:03:29:18
Jessie Ott
I live down here part time, so.
00:03:29:18 - 00:03:30:18
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, Connie.
00:03:30:20 - 00:03:37:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah. You love it. We love it here. We we're in Lake Erie, which is just north of Orlando. All right.
00:03:37:07 - 00:03:38:20
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. My dad, you were in Orlando.
00:03:38:20 - 00:03:43:07
Jessie Ott
Born and raised, then in Orlando.
00:03:43:09 - 00:03:49:02
Lisa Leventhal
In the South Florida area. But I split time, between, like, Miami time.
00:03:49:04 - 00:03:54:19
Jessie Ott
My. Well, it was Hallandale, technically, but it was, you know, Fort Lauderdale.
00:03:54:21 - 00:03:59:09
Lisa Leventhal
I'm Hollywood technically, but I just say Miami because it's easier for people to understand.
00:03:59:10 - 00:04:20:18
Jessie Ott
I know exactly where I lived in Hollywood my first few months, I had, a contact of mine. He. There was a house that was going through, the woman had had passed. And so there had, this one bedroom, like room above the garage. So I had I hung a hammock in there for my couch, and I had my.
00:04:20:18 - 00:04:22:08
Lisa Leventhal
Bed and I had.
00:04:22:08 - 00:04:27:10
Jessie Ott
Like a little hot pot, but I had a saltwater pool and literally was on the beach.
00:04:27:12 - 00:04:28:12
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. And then.
00:04:28:12 - 00:04:29:07
Lisa Leventhal
Love that.
00:04:29:09 - 00:04:50:19
Jessie Ott
Great for like 2 or 3 months I was there. And then I had I literally had to get out of there within 24 hours. I had no time. Yeah. So but anyway, I made my way around, that that area has completely changed. There is, in Hallandale, off the beach where I ended up, living. woman from Iowa used to own this fish.
00:04:50:21 - 00:05:01:03
Jessie Ott
This fish restaurant. I don't know if you ever spent much time there. but I went back a couple of years ago. We went on a cruise to Cuba, and it's now a fire station.
00:05:01:05 - 00:05:02:14
Lisa Leventhal
It's like you're there.
00:05:02:16 - 00:05:07:06
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, there has been a lot of change down there in South Florida.
00:05:07:06 - 00:05:15:14
Jessie Ott
Oh, you were from Miami proper there. You lived in Miami some of the time. And back and forth.
00:05:15:16 - 00:05:26:06
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. Pretty much. and then I started my collegiate career at Florida State and then got a job at Disney, so relocated to UCF like most Floridians at some point worked.
00:05:26:06 - 00:05:32:18
Jessie Ott
For, I don't know, I think it would be a lot of fun. And I think you have to do it once. Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:05:32:18 - 00:05:41:05
Lisa Leventhal
It's a ton of fun. Like probably the best training experience I've ever had in my life. You know, it's like a complete immersion into a culture.
00:05:41:07 - 00:05:50:03
Jessie Ott
That's that's really cool. And I would imagine that, the staff has a lot of fun together.
00:05:50:05 - 00:05:56:11
Lisa Leventhal
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's fun creating Disney magic all day, right?
00:05:56:13 - 00:06:16:03
Jessie Ott
I, I actually, last summer was every Sunday. I went into the pool and watched something Disney. It was my Disney afternoon day, and I ended up watching this, series on Disney. And it's fascinating. The whole story is just absolutely fascinating. And how it started.
00:06:16:05 - 00:06:41:01
Lisa Leventhal
There are so many interesting, like behind the scenes things and like interesting facts about Walt and like how he came up with the crazy, ness that is Disney today, like on Main Street. You won't ever see anyone taking out the trash because he thought it was like, not a good look to have like a janitor for a moment, you know, moving by and collecting trash.
00:06:41:03 - 00:07:00:15
Lisa Leventhal
So all of the trash cans and Main Street have shoots beneath them, so you never have to see anyone taking out the trash because he thought it was like an eyesore. And then there's a lot of trash cans on Main Street. And what Walt did was he walked through the park and he was tearing an orange, and every time he dropped a peel, he was like.
00:07:00:15 - 00:07:01:15
Lisa Leventhal
Well, that's good.
00:07:01:17 - 00:07:01:19
Lisa Leventhal
To.
00:07:01:19 - 00:07:04:01
Lisa Leventhal
Go. Are you serious? That's all the way.
00:07:04:01 - 00:07:05:17
Lisa Leventhal
Down the street doing it. So.
00:07:05:19 - 00:07:14:09
Jessie Ott
Yeah, yeah. So cool. I can't really get enough of, the minds of these creative people. and what I, I know.
00:07:14:10 - 00:07:15:14
Lisa Leventhal
They're genius. Really.
00:07:15:14 - 00:07:38:17
Jessie Ott
Like, they really, honestly. And, I feel kind of silly. I didn't know that Disney started with the riverboat cruise. Yeah, right. Yeah. It started it started with that because he wanted to take people that couldn't travel, and create this, you know, experience, this Jungle.
00:07:38:17 - 00:07:42:03
Lisa Leventhal
Cruise is super cool is. Yeah.
00:07:42:03 - 00:07:50:10
Jessie Ott
And I think in Epcot, he wanted that to be a, multi-use property. I think, if I can remember that right.
00:07:50:12 - 00:08:18:06
Lisa Leventhal
It was Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. And technically, if you've ever been to a celebration in Florida, it's a town that's very close to Disney, that Disney property. And it basically is like Epcot. It is like what Walt imagined the community to be with, like a main street and like, these perfect places with, like, white picket fences that you buy there.
00:08:18:08 - 00:08:25:07
Lisa Leventhal
You're like mortgages for something crazy, like 99 years. You, like, don't own the property. It's like on Disney.
00:08:25:11 - 00:08:26:03
Lisa Leventhal
So at least he.
00:08:26:03 - 00:08:27:01
Jessie Ott
Got what he wanted.
00:08:27:02 - 00:08:40:07
Lisa Leventhal
And he did. I mean, he died so much, you know, further before that happened obviously. but yeah, that was kind of the idea behind that whole thing.
00:08:40:08 - 00:08:53:19
Jessie Ott
Really cool. well, I'm glad something kind of, or at least part of what he imagined came through, whether it was, you know, after he passed. Yeah, that's really cool. I mean, he it's, it's it's just an amazing brain guy.
00:08:53:21 - 00:08:55:13
Lisa Leventhal
And,
00:08:55:15 - 00:09:02:12
Jessie Ott
And the movies are fantastic. I had a lot of fun in the in the sun.
00:09:02:14 - 00:09:04:01
Lisa Leventhal
It sounds like something.
00:09:04:03 - 00:09:05:14
Lisa Leventhal
To me, actually.
00:09:05:15 - 00:09:16:03
Jessie Ott
And I watch movies that I had, you know, before, you know, because they're fun. They're, they're they're for kids, obviously, but adults enjoy them just as much as.
00:09:16:05 - 00:09:21:14
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, they're definitely feel good movies. Yeah. Yeah, definitely a good mood.
00:09:21:16 - 00:09:36:23
Jessie Ott
yeah. So I guess we got sidetracked on Walt Disney, which is. Which is good. I, I forgot to ask you, about a place in Hollywood. so before we go any further lit Hub, does that mean anything to you?
00:09:37:01 - 00:09:37:19
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, look up.
00:09:37:19 - 00:09:38:02
Jessie Ott
Isn't.
00:09:38:02 - 00:09:43:14
Lisa Leventhal
It the. Absolutely. My mom goes to at Lit Hub for my stepdad.
00:09:43:14 - 00:09:43:21
Jessie Ott
Yeah.
00:09:43:21 - 00:09:44:20
Lisa Leventhal
So cool.
00:09:44:20 - 00:09:48:12
Lisa Leventhal
I we used to go there all the time.
00:09:48:14 - 00:09:58:07
Jessie Ott
I happened to be living there, in the middle of them, getting that best burger in GQ.
00:09:58:09 - 00:09:58:20
Lisa Leventhal
oh. Wow.
00:09:58:20 - 00:10:01:00
Lisa Leventhal
That's crazy.
00:10:01:02 - 00:10:21:16
Jessie Ott
You couldn't get in, and there's just this one guy who's who's literally cooking in the mean in a smaller kitchen than this room. Poor guy. But, oh, man, the burgers are so good. The seafood salads, the, so good. It's so quiet down there just to eat.
00:10:21:18 - 00:10:22:23
Lisa Leventhal
00:10:23:01 - 00:10:28:13
Lisa Leventhal
There are a bunch of those, like, great mom and pop little places in, like, Hollywood Beach area. Yeah.
00:10:28:14 - 00:10:52:06
Jessie Ott
What was cool, too? It's on the intercoastal. So people could dock up and, you know, it's pretty, pretty, pretty neat place. When I. Yeah, when we come stuff for when we used to come down for our national sales meeting, I'd take my, my colleagues there. And there's always a favorite is fun. It's kind of a drive from Fort Lauderdale, but it was worth it.
00:10:52:08 - 00:10:53:21
Lisa Leventhal
It's worth it for sure. Worth that?
00:10:53:23 - 00:11:15:10
Jessie Ott
Yeah. So I had to ask that. It's, for for those of you that don't know, it's it's, indoor outdoor, restaurant that's been there for, I don't know how long. Forever. And it's called the tub. I literally have, a toilet, a toilet out front. Right. And then in, in the parking lot, they have, like, tubs and.
00:11:15:12 - 00:11:17:11
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, it's up.
00:11:17:13 - 00:11:19:12
Jessie Ott
It's the best. It's the best.
00:11:19:14 - 00:11:20:10
Lisa Leventhal
00:11:20:11 - 00:11:27:23
Jessie Ott
We went back with the entire cruise. I was like, we have to go get food at the tub. And so we went.
00:11:28:01 - 00:11:28:21
Lisa Leventhal
And.
00:11:28:23 - 00:11:31:06
Jessie Ott
We went to go get food, and we had to wait an.
00:11:31:06 - 00:11:38:11
Lisa Leventhal
Hour to get it into, oh my gosh, that's crazy.
00:11:38:13 - 00:11:48:19
Jessie Ott
But anyway, I digress. Okay, so we're in Central Florida. So what all did you do at Disney? What what kind of what what part of the theme park did you work in?
00:11:48:21 - 00:12:06:09
Lisa Leventhal
I started in the Disney College program, and I was in Animal Kingdom for a really long time. in food and beverage. And then I was asked to stay on after my college program ended and I moved over into resorts. I was at the Polynesian for a little bit, and then I went into it just.
00:12:06:09 - 00:12:08:07
Jessie Ott
For fun part.
00:12:08:09 - 00:12:08:18
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah.
00:12:08:18 - 00:12:15:01
Lisa Leventhal
So yeah, I did all the fun stuff.
00:12:15:03 - 00:12:16:09
Lisa Leventhal
anything from a corporate event to.
00:12:16:09 - 00:12:25:00
Jessie Ott
Like, wedding and you. So you were working for all of Disney then? So any property or any place that there was an event.
00:12:25:02 - 00:12:51:07
Lisa Leventhal
Basically a lot of events happened, in Animal Kingdom. and since I was so familiar with that property, it was super easy. That property used to close the early is so like companies would rent out the whole park and stuff to do, like large dinners and events because it closed at South. so we could clear the park in under an hour and then get certain areas of it set up for events, and not disturb any of the animals or.
00:12:51:07 - 00:12:59:00
Jessie Ott
Anything like, because I know my wife loves that place, and it's the one place we haven't been yet, and she likes to go at night.
00:12:59:02 - 00:13:27:15
Lisa Leventhal
So that's it's beautiful at night. But it's only recently in the last couple of years, has been open later than like 6 p.m. because it's a hot park. There's like no coverage. So if you're there, like on a hot day in the summer, it's a little bit too much. So I, I would agree with her. You want to go when it kind of is cooling down, like at dusk is a really nice time because also the animals all come out then because again they escape from the heat.
00:13:27:15 - 00:13:30:13
Lisa Leventhal
So like in the middle of the day, they all go inside and.
00:13:30:15 - 00:13:30:20
Lisa Leventhal
Lay.
00:13:30:20 - 00:13:33:17
Lisa Leventhal
Down and like chill. They're not like out and about.
00:13:33:17 - 00:13:36:05
Jessie Ott
Okay. Very cool.
00:13:36:07 - 00:13:44:00
Lisa Leventhal
It's like it's why Animal Kingdom won't have any fireworks ever to. I know they have a laser show now, but they can't have fireworks because it would scare the animals.
00:13:44:02 - 00:13:51:04
Jessie Ott
Yeah, well, I didn't, Disney just had their 50th. Was it their 50th?
00:13:51:05 - 00:13:55:09
Lisa Leventhal
So that's they just have their 50th and it's the hundredth anniversary of Mickey.
00:13:55:12 - 00:14:04:07
Jessie Ott
Yeah. That's been a, obviously being in Florida, it's been a really big deal. We love Disney Springs for sure.
00:14:04:09 - 00:14:08:04
Lisa Leventhal
Disney Springs is great. And thank goodness they have like two parking structures.
00:14:08:05 - 00:14:11:03
Jessie Ott
Oh yeah, it's a circus. It's a.
00:14:11:05 - 00:14:12:14
Lisa Leventhal
You.
00:14:12:16 - 00:14:18:23
Jessie Ott
It's in it. It's so easy. I mean you walk you have to be prepared to walk.
00:14:19:01 - 00:14:33:18
Lisa Leventhal
yeah. Anywhere on Disney property, you have to be prepared to walk. It's kind of like the Las Vegas Strip. Everything seems like attainable. Like, oh, you can see it because it's, like, so larger than life. You're like, oh, it's a mountain over there, but it's like a mile away, you know, like, oh, okay.
00:14:33:18 - 00:14:43:06
Jessie Ott
Cool. Yeah. That's funny. yeah. Oh, I was going to say something and I totally forgot. I was thinking about Vegas.
00:14:43:08 - 00:14:43:23
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah.
00:14:44:01 - 00:14:46:11
Jessie Ott
Oh.
00:14:46:13 - 00:14:52:13
Lisa Leventhal
I crossed your wavelengths these days.
00:14:52:15 - 00:15:00:06
Jessie Ott
Okay, so Disney sounds like a lot of fun. So what? What what happened after Disney?
00:15:00:08 - 00:15:18:09
Lisa Leventhal
I started working for a larger. Like. I found that restaurants were kind of my niche. Like, I loved working with people in that capacity. so I started working for Darden, in restaurants and the Outback Group, which I don't know what their name is now. I think they're Bloomin Brands again. So you work.
00:15:18:11 - 00:15:23:09
Jessie Ott
For an office here in Orlando?
00:15:23:11 - 00:15:32:03
Lisa Leventhal
And they did a lot of training and opening stores and stuff like that. but started I was, you know, a server, bartender, trainer and then kind of just worked with.
00:15:32:04 - 00:15:46:21
Jessie Ott
Yeah I, I do love well I love food and beverage. Right. So that's them. I'm all in. But I do love restaurants a lot. I've, I've, I have several concept. If you ever want to open one let me know. I've got some really ideas.
00:15:46:23 - 00:15:49:01
Lisa Leventhal
there's oh my.
00:15:49:01 - 00:16:21:01
Lisa Leventhal
Gosh ideas aplenty. And but restaurants are hard work like I everyone goes out to eat but not everyone's like, worked in a restaurant. And I think people think that restaurant tours are like rich, you know, because they see people like Guy Fieri or Gordon Ramsay and, you know, but the margins on restaurants are so slim, and you always have to have like a perfect ratio of how much liquor, beer and wine you're selling to food and then controlling cost as far as like labor.
00:16:21:01 - 00:16:43:05
Lisa Leventhal
And then with the current shortages on things or the insane prices on some food items, I can't even imagine how that's like squeezing the industry currently. I mean, it's why so many businesses went out of business during Covid. It was just impossible to operate under some of those, restrictions with like the capacity levels.
00:16:43:05 - 00:17:09:10
Jessie Ott
Totally agree. you know, it's because I was going to open a restaurant or pretended to to pretend to want to do it. Whatever. I was so, you know, restaurant forecasts and whatnot to learn and for some reason, it sticks out in my mind that restaurants, if you're lucky, make 3% margin. And if you're making 3% margin, then you're doing pretty good.
00:17:09:12 - 00:17:18:06
Jessie Ott
And, you know, I don't have yeah, I've never run a restaurant, so I don't even know if that's, you know, if that's accurate or not. But, that's.
00:17:18:08 - 00:17:23:08
Lisa Leventhal
It's probably not far off. It sounds a little bit bleak, but it's probably.
00:17:23:08 - 00:17:45:16
Jessie Ott
Not. No restaurants here. there's a couple of seafood restaurants that they can't they can't take on more business. and one of them, he was a market that turned into a restaurant, and, it's it's just, it's awesome. Like the other one. the other seafood place they can't get. They can't get fish dip, they outsource their fish dip.
00:17:45:16 - 00:17:50:16
Jessie Ott
And because of labor, they can't get. And I don't even know anything more than that, but it's really good fish.
00:17:50:16 - 00:17:52:05
Lisa Leventhal
Dip.
00:17:52:07 - 00:17:55:15
Jessie Ott
That we're going there tonight. Yeah. Maybe I'll get lucky.
00:17:55:17 - 00:17:57:14
Lisa Leventhal
And they'll have it.
00:17:57:16 - 00:18:16:08
Jessie Ott
You're right. I mean it's these are big challenges. And then there's the capital expenditures and, you know, rent or whatever it is. And, you know, then you think about all the elements that go into it. But, you know, you need an architect, an architect to design the place, you know, then you get to pick out literally everything, right?
00:18:16:08 - 00:18:18:09
Jessie Ott
From chairs and tables.
00:18:18:11 - 00:18:43:08
Lisa Leventhal
Everything. And then there, like those variables that people don't think of, like labor. Like, I don't know if you've ever been a babysitter in your life, but, you know, imagine or being a, a teacher in a classroom, you know, imagine having 30 to 60 to 100 people under one roof, you know, all revolving through multiple shifts or multiple day parts.
00:18:43:08 - 00:18:45:16
Lisa Leventhal
And, you know, you're like the principal.
00:18:45:16 - 00:19:07:13
Jessie Ott
Of the school. Interesting. You say that because Dylan is a GM of of, Becketts and he has 60 employees. I can't even imagine trying to manage that. Yeah, I mean, that just seems so overwhelming to me. And, you know, then he's got college. Kids are coming and going. I just, I, I admire people that can that can do that because you have to have so many.
00:19:07:13 - 00:19:20:17
Jessie Ott
You wear so many hats in the restaurant industry. You have to be PR, you have to be customer relations. You know, you gotta, you know, have have them a chef, obviously, and then you know, the menu.
00:19:20:19 - 00:19:40:08
Lisa Leventhal
You're also like a therapist. You're like, you know, they mean like you're you're the juggling. I used to call it juggling. Like having all of these different balls up in the air at once and just making sure none of them drop to making sure none of them hit the ground. And, you know, you invest in these people as much as they invest in you, right?
00:19:40:08 - 00:19:43:02
Lisa Leventhal
So it's like.
00:19:43:04 - 00:19:43:18
Lisa Leventhal
Controlling.
00:19:43:18 - 00:20:04:20
Lisa Leventhal
The mini village. and really then, you know, on top of it, trying to like, groom people and train people and get people to the next level. And, you know, there are certain selfish managers that keep people in the same role and don't let them progress because it makes their life easier, because operations is literally like keeping your head above water.
00:20:05:02 - 00:20:07:18
Lisa Leventhal
It's like just constant. It's a constant.
00:20:07:20 - 00:20:09:17
Jessie Ott
Just like keeping daily.
00:20:09:19 - 00:20:12:17
Lisa Leventhal
Like,
00:20:12:19 - 00:20:17:02
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, it absolutely is with new, fun, interesting challenges.
00:20:17:02 - 00:20:27:18
Jessie Ott
You just hope that when you go to the your restaurant, that your hope, your work, your help shows up, right? You just hope that they're there. I mean, I think that would be the scariest thing.
00:20:27:19 - 00:20:41:18
Lisa Leventhal
I mean, that's, you know, you know, the people are there. You hope your orders come in. You hope you know that the machinery is working, that the electricity is working, that everything is going to go swimmingly and undoubtably something goes wrong every day.
00:20:41:20 - 00:20:44:15
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. It's time for.
00:20:44:17 - 00:20:46:04
Lisa Leventhal
So here's a constant troubleshooting.
00:20:46:05 - 00:20:57:18
Jessie Ott
Like you, the distributor, maybe missed like a vodka. So you guys substitute this vodka. You know, I mean, there's always ways to like, adapt. Unless it's an event for you.
00:20:57:18 - 00:21:21:12
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. And then when you work for someone like Darden, where you have, like, a whole marketing team who is rolling out, like, these specials and limited time offerings and all this stuff, they're usually people that have, like, never worked in the restaurant. So they're like, oh, here's this fun new thing that you guys get to do here's like all this extra work that you get to do, but like for no extra money, but like here, it's going to be so much fun.
00:21:21:13 - 00:21:24:18
Jessie Ott
Making money on it.
00:21:24:20 - 00:21:37:07
Lisa Leventhal
Right, right. And and we are going to make so much money off of this and you're just going to work harder. But it's going to be great for everyone. Yeah. So there's, you know, a lot of disconnects from like the ivory tower to the operations level.
00:21:37:07 - 00:21:39:10
Jessie Ott
I guess they should kind of a training.
00:21:39:12 - 00:22:00:15
Lisa Leventhal
So I'm always very cognizant when I'm trying to build a program or, implement new cocktails and stuff into programs, how we do that and how we make it as simple as possible for an operator, because you literally are asking them to do more work on top of all the work they already have. no financial gain.
00:22:00:21 - 00:22:02:11
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, that's true.
00:22:02:13 - 00:22:04:11
Lisa Leventhal
So that's always a fun ask.
00:22:04:13 - 00:22:16:19
Jessie Ott
Well, and with, your maker, that's a fairly, I guess not simple, but it's fairly, explainable. Right?
00:22:16:20 - 00:22:25:12
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. I mean, there are, you know, very simple cocktails that you can make with cream liqueur. And then there are very intricate cocktails that you can make.
00:22:25:14 - 00:22:27:18
Lisa Leventhal
Well, have back.
00:22:27:20 - 00:22:30:02
Lisa Leventhal
I know I should have sent you some booze and we should have.
00:22:30:02 - 00:22:38:01
Jessie Ott
It's really fun. It was kind of an experiment I did with Dylan, and we both had so much fun. In fact, he's going to do another. He's going to do a podcast.
00:22:38:03 - 00:22:38:08
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah.
00:22:38:08 - 00:22:45:21
Jessie Ott
So much fun. Yeah. Oh, no, it's just fun. yeah. Well, next time we'll we'll have.
00:22:45:21 - 00:22:47:05
Lisa Leventhal
Well, yeah. Next time.
00:22:47:07 - 00:22:47:22
Jessie Ott
We'll do.
00:22:48:00 - 00:22:49:13
Lisa Leventhal
We will have festivals.
00:22:49:15 - 00:22:54:01
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. And we'll double up.
00:22:54:03 - 00:23:01:01
Lisa Leventhal
I love that for us. We can double fist. We're we're adults. We're professionals. Look at those.
00:23:01:03 - 00:23:18:01
Jessie Ott
Okay. So you were at Darden and operations training opening new locations which I always thought that would be really cool. did you get to travel around then or live in different parts of the country while you were opening up these different locations?
00:23:18:03 - 00:23:40:08
Lisa Leventhal
I did get to travel, which is something I definitely love. It's probably my favorite part of the business. having grown up in Florida, like, I think people don't realize how large Florida is because on the scale on the map, it like doesn't look that. Yeah, it doesn't look like Texas or California, but you know, from like the tip of Key West to north of Jacksonville to get to Georgia.
00:23:40:13 - 00:24:17:22
Lisa Leventhal
You're talking about a 12 hour drive. Whereas like from LA to San Francisco is less than 12 hours. But it looks huge on a map, you know. so I loved exploring like other cities, other states and stuff like that. new store openings are always a new thing challenge because you're usually trying to finish the building at the same time as, like hiring staff at the appropriate time so that you can continuously pay them and not have them sitting around doing nothing after they're trained to being able to actually open the doors.
00:24:17:22 - 00:24:29:23
Jessie Ott
And if you're if you're relying on, the building to get built out, you always have to add six weeks. you know, our friends.
00:24:30:01 - 00:24:30:20
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, yeah. Double the.
00:24:30:20 - 00:24:38:18
Lisa Leventhal
Time. The timeline there was always projected timelines. And then, like, the actual to what was done.
00:24:38:18 - 00:24:44:18
Jessie Ott
I would say if you're going to get a house built and they tell you it's three months, it's going to be six.
00:24:44:20 - 00:24:47:00
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. Just double it right off the bat.
00:24:47:02 - 00:24:48:03
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah.
00:24:48:05 - 00:24:49:15
Jessie Ott
That would be very exact.
00:24:49:15 - 00:24:51:04
Lisa Leventhal
But at least you.
00:24:51:06 - 00:24:59:00
Jessie Ott
you know, in terms of, the build out and everything, it was pretty standard. Or is that part was probably pretty relatable.
00:24:59:01 - 00:25:22:20
Lisa Leventhal
They were all very standard. Obviously you'd run into like, snags sometimes with, the city or the state, you know, giving approvals and stuff like that. That was usually where the biggest holdup was, because at least when I was doing this, there wasn't any kind of severe supply chain issues the way there are now. So like, you know, Darden would have like hundreds of booths and stuff in warehouses and they would just ship however many they needed, right.
00:25:22:20 - 00:25:48:21
Lisa Leventhal
And tables and this, that and the other, Darden was well prepared for anything that could possibly go wrong. Like at one point they had an issue with their produce vendor and they were like, never again. So they literally bought their own like farm so that they wouldn't have to, like, could take out middlemen and stuff like that because we never wanted to be, like, left in the lurch again.
00:25:48:23 - 00:25:51:03
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. So they like, have like their own produce.
00:25:51:03 - 00:25:54:15
Jessie Ott
Like that is so smart.
00:25:54:17 - 00:26:17:19
Lisa Leventhal
For like, you know, the I'm trying to think of like when you get like a salad at like Olive garden when it has, like all that stuff in it and everything, they at one point I know they don't do it anymore. They were shipping like bags of it already. Wow. So that it was just go and they would they would clean it and do all the things out and then package it and everything like from start to finish, ready to go.
00:26:17:19 - 00:26:18:05
Lisa Leventhal
It takes.
00:26:18:05 - 00:26:18:22
Jessie Ott
Time.
00:26:19:00 - 00:26:20:13
Lisa Leventhal
It's saves.
00:26:20:15 - 00:26:23:07
Jessie Ott
I'm sure profitability.
00:26:23:09 - 00:26:24:14
Lisa Leventhal
Saves labor and.
00:26:24:15 - 00:26:27:19
Jessie Ott
The kitchen staff. Right. Because they don't have to.
00:26:27:21 - 00:26:30:11
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah it helps with consistency and saves time on labor.
00:26:30:11 - 00:26:34:12
Lisa Leventhal
So where are these.
00:26:34:14 - 00:26:50:23
Lisa Leventhal
I think people started like altering like you know taking things out of the salad. So they just started like sending everything separately. But are they cut and are they already washed and cut. Still ready to go. same with like when they had Red lobster and stuff. I know there's like a mix to their like salad and.
00:26:51:01 - 00:27:00:13
Jessie Ott
Yeah, well that's good. I mean they're biscuits, right? Everybody loves their biscuits. I don't know how they do those biscuits.
00:27:00:15 - 00:27:02:06
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. Magic.
00:27:02:08 - 00:27:02:19
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Their own.
00:27:02:19 - 00:27:03:13
Lisa Leventhal
Version of Disney.
00:27:03:13 - 00:27:07:01
Lisa Leventhal
Magic for sure. They have good sandwiches.
00:27:07:03 - 00:27:08:21
Jessie Ott
I digress.
00:27:08:23 - 00:27:10:02
Lisa Leventhal
Okay.
00:27:10:04 - 00:27:21:12
Jessie Ott
So that sounds like a really interesting experience in at Darden because you, it sounds like you kind of worked almost all in all the different aspects of of the restaurant between training.
00:27:21:14 - 00:27:29:12
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, it definitely helped with if I were ever to open my own restaurant. But like, I, like I told you, I don't think I, I don't foresee that happen or.
00:27:29:16 - 00:27:35:02
Jessie Ott
It's just like, oh, my spot. I live in Lake Mary.
00:27:35:04 - 00:27:48:01
Lisa Leventhal
I mean, I've been have a lot of reasons for a minute and that's definitely been on purpose. Not that like the liquor industry is lighter as far as like working hours and being up all hours of the night. Still very similar.
00:27:48:03 - 00:27:51:05
Jessie Ott
Very true. I mean, especially if you have events and whatnot.
00:27:51:07 - 00:27:52:14
Lisa Leventhal
00:27:52:16 - 00:28:04:20
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Okay. So that's that's really exciting. So what was where was your favorite place that you opened. Do you have one.
00:28:04:21 - 00:28:22:18
Lisa Leventhal
I mean I have some interesting stories. I don't know if it's like the fun funniest place but like I got to open the stores in the village, so I don't know if you know about the villages. So there were a lot of really interesting conversations we overheard in the Russians in the village.
00:28:22:18 - 00:28:25:04
Jessie Ott
Imagine. I,
00:28:25:06 - 00:28:26:07
Lisa Leventhal
I heard I've.
00:28:26:07 - 00:28:28:18
Jessie Ott
Heard some interesting.
00:28:28:18 - 00:28:30:22
Lisa Leventhal
Stories, a lot of.
00:28:30:22 - 00:28:31:13
Lisa Leventhal
Stories.
00:28:31:13 - 00:28:40:11
Jessie Ott
I'm sure somebody that I used to know, I used to know someone there, and then, Yeah, it's not far from here. It's like an hour and 15 minutes.
00:28:40:13 - 00:28:43:04
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, yeah, it's not too far from there. It's just.
00:28:43:06 - 00:28:45:08
Jessie Ott
So. Yeah.
00:28:45:10 - 00:28:49:17
Lisa Leventhal
But yeah, I think I have the most entertaining stories from working in that market.
00:28:49:17 - 00:28:51:17
Jessie Ott
Anything you want to share?
00:28:51:19 - 00:29:23:17
Lisa Leventhal
but, yeah, I, I left Florida finally because, as much as I enjoyed working for all of these very large corporations, it was hard to make, effective change, because they were so set in their ways. And even if it meant making the company more money, they would still like you have to have conversation after conversation after conversation before giving like approval to change anything.
00:29:23:19 - 00:29:48:14
Lisa Leventhal
So after working my whole career in Florida, I moved to the West Coast and started working in the San Francisco Bay area, for a hospitality group called Point Jack hospitality do. And they have like hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, retail locations. So it really ran the gamut of hospitality. And I think you can tell I love a good challenge.
00:29:48:16 - 00:29:56:01
Lisa Leventhal
So it was really fun to kind of get to poke around into all of those different types of hospitality experience.
00:29:56:01 - 00:30:00:13
Jessie Ott
Interesting that a company can do that, you know, and be good at it.
00:30:00:15 - 00:30:02:13
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, absolutely.
00:30:02:15 - 00:30:04:12
Jessie Ott
That's fascinating.
00:30:04:14 - 00:30:22:00
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, they're only the not the only but between all of the properties, I think it's probably in the 20s or maybe low 30s is but all profit generating qualities.
00:30:22:01 - 00:30:23:13
Jessie Ott
Okay.
00:30:23:15 - 00:30:24:13
Lisa Leventhal
great. I mean like.
00:30:24:13 - 00:30:28:07
Jessie Ott
20 to 30 locations. Well.
00:30:28:09 - 00:31:04:09
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. Of of different, of different entities. Not all the same entity. like for retail locations with the same name. It was management of a couple of different hotels. so, like, they run plumb jack up in, like, Squaw Valley, up in, like the Tahoe area where the Olympics were. The Winter Olympics were one year. and then like, probably most notably the Balboa Cafe in San Francisco, which is like 100, maybe 112 year old bar now.
00:31:04:09 - 00:31:16:06
Lisa Leventhal
And for America, that's pretty old, right? yeah. So a staple in the city. another great place to grab a burger. they do a burger on a baguette, and it's kind of like.
00:31:16:08 - 00:31:21:19
Lisa Leventhal
Oval, making me.
00:31:21:21 - 00:31:24:08
Lisa Leventhal
You.
00:31:24:10 - 00:31:47:17
Lisa Leventhal
So it was nice to go to a company where, like, you had direct access to the CEO and the CEO and the CFO. And if you wanted to make a change that was going to, you know, improve the staff life or improve, the quality of what we're putting out as far as cocktails or food. or make any of these significant changes, you could.
00:31:47:19 - 00:32:18:01
Lisa Leventhal
So I really appreciated working for, smaller entity where, like, my opinion mattered. You know. Yeah. And make a difference in like, these people like lives. Like explaining what, like a livable wage was in a city like San Francisco and being at the forefront of that movement before San Francisco even got to $20 an hour. it just made people, like, work for you, you know, like, if you were ahead of that curve, you it showed you valued your employees.
00:32:18:01 - 00:32:19:09
Jessie Ott
And that's great.
00:32:19:09 - 00:32:27:02
Lisa Leventhal
We did. And we we treated them like family. And it was great. And it's owned by a family. So it's really nice to have that like yeah intimate.
00:32:27:02 - 00:32:33:08
Jessie Ott
So I guess they're kind of a multi-generational family of hospitality.
00:32:33:09 - 00:32:36:11
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much.
00:32:36:13 - 00:32:47:09
Jessie Ott
Yeah. What did you think about San Francisco. Because I think it's, it's kind of tough these days isn't it. I don't know if there is a lot of problems with.
00:32:47:11 - 00:33:19:10
Lisa Leventhal
San Francisco still I don't think have bounced back post-Covid. you know, the cost of living is so egregiously high and the living conditions aren't great. You know, like small apartments, like really old apartments that, you know, I think the landlords don't have to, like, fix up or do anything nice to because they're always going to have a tenant.
00:33:19:12 - 00:33:43:18
Lisa Leventhal
And these people have owned these buildings for years. So like, they, you know, they're just collecting money hand over fist. And the city is dirty. Like, I, I live in downtown Chicago and I constantly compare it to Disney because there are just little workers on the streets always cleaning. And Chicago has alleys, unlike San Francisco in New York.
00:33:43:19 - 00:33:52:07
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. So you never see trash. It's not like when you're in Manhattan or San Francisco and like, the entire sidewalk is covered with trash.
00:33:52:07 - 00:33:55:14
Jessie Ott
And you're walking at night all all over growth.
00:33:55:16 - 00:33:58:01
Lisa Leventhal
And it's just it's so clean, like Chicago.
00:33:58:01 - 00:33:58:06
Lisa Leventhal
Is.
00:33:58:06 - 00:34:04:16
Lisa Leventhal
So unbelievably clean that I do often compare it to Detroit when people are like, you're crazy. And then they come visit and they're like.
00:34:04:16 - 00:34:10:03
Jessie Ott
Last year we went to Lady Gaga. Well, I grew up in Iowa, so I grew, you know, we went to the cubbies and.
00:34:10:05 - 00:34:10:19
Lisa Leventhal
00:34:10:21 - 00:34:24:21
Jessie Ott
You know, whatnot. Yeah. And, you know, we're a big fan of Chicago. And so my partner had never been. And so we went to Lady Gaga at Wrigley Field. It was postponed, of course, like three years.
00:34:24:23 - 00:34:26:18
Lisa Leventhal
Reich is like, oh, no, but it was.
00:34:27:00 - 00:34:48:22
Jessie Ott
It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. A friend of ours, there is a sidewalk missing and she was talking and she she landed on her wrist and broke it in several ways. So she didn't end up getting to go to the concert. So we're doing a redo, but we're going to see pink and instead. Yeah, so nice going back to Wrigley.
00:34:49:04 - 00:34:51:15
Lisa Leventhal
So we can do it again. So,
00:34:51:17 - 00:35:19:16
Lisa Leventhal
Wrigley is great. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I'm a huge sports addict, so Wrigley definitely didn't get me to Chicago. Okay. Oh my God, yeah, I was, because I was in San Francisco for the, ten 1214 when the Giants won the World Series. And. Yeah. And when, like, the, the Warriors won almost all of their titles.
00:35:19:18 - 00:35:26:07
Lisa Leventhal
I'm a huge baseball fan, and my brother was already living in Chicago, and the first time he took me to Wrigley, I was like, oh my God, this.
00:35:26:12 - 00:35:28:01
Jessie Ott
Is a lovely place.
00:35:28:03 - 00:35:28:09
Lisa Leventhal
You know?
00:35:28:09 - 00:35:39:12
Lisa Leventhal
It's it's like one of the only stadiums that, like, you know, Babe Ruth played in Joe DiMaggio, played in like, it's just so I don't know, it's like heartwarming.
00:35:39:12 - 00:35:41:05
Jessie Ott
It's a great stadium.
00:35:41:07 - 00:35:52:05
Lisa Leventhal
The food still sucks and the beer still sucks, but, like, it's still great as long as I'm like a Chicago dog and like a cold beer on a hot day doesn't really bother Nellie's.
00:35:52:05 - 00:35:55:19
Jessie Ott
Isn't that the hot dog?
00:35:55:21 - 00:35:56:07
Jessie Ott
Portillo's.
00:35:56:08 - 00:35:58:00
Lisa Leventhal
Oh, Portillo's.
00:35:58:02 - 00:36:01:03
Jessie Ott
Sorry. Portillo's.
00:36:01:05 - 00:36:01:16
Lisa Leventhal
that's where.
00:36:01:16 - 00:36:14:19
Jessie Ott
We were going when our friend fell, and she. It was right in, oh, like half a block away. And we were right next to a hospital. But there's hospitals on every block in Chicago.
00:36:14:21 - 00:36:16:08
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. So much.
00:36:16:08 - 00:36:21:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah, we we had so much fun just. Just walking Chicago, is really fun.
00:36:21:05 - 00:36:24:19
Lisa Leventhal
We it's a great walking city.
00:36:24:21 - 00:36:29:01
Jessie Ott
And it was chilly.
00:36:29:03 - 00:36:30:22
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. It was.
00:36:31:01 - 00:36:34:08
Lisa Leventhal
When did you kind of hear it? Must have been the fall.
00:36:34:10 - 00:36:35:03
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah.
00:36:35:05 - 00:36:37:00
Lisa Leventhal
It was August and it was chilly.
00:36:37:00 - 00:36:52:22
Jessie Ott
Shirts. It was really weird. I don't remember I don't know why it was so chilly. and then while we were staying at the, at the, at the W right there. Oh, that looks over the harbor. And there was a next to it. Yeah. The one on the one.
00:36:52:22 - 00:36:55:18
Lisa Leventhal
I'm like sure like constant like.
00:36:55:20 - 00:36:57:21
Jessie Ott
it's very sad.
00:36:57:23 - 00:36:59:21
Lisa Leventhal
Like in traffic.
00:36:59:23 - 00:37:06:17
Jessie Ott
I think a boat had backed up on somebody and in the water like it. and I was texting my friend.
00:37:06:19 - 00:37:07:21
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, it's right near the place.
00:37:07:21 - 00:37:14:18
Jessie Ott
And my friend, I was like, this just happened. She's like, unfortunately, that's like every weekend. And I'm like, oh.
00:37:14:20 - 00:37:17:03
Lisa Leventhal
That's sad. I think I'll pass.
00:37:17:05 - 00:37:24:01
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. During the summer, because people are just like wild in the summer because they, we have such an early and.
00:37:24:03 - 00:37:24:18
Jessie Ott
Oh yeah.
00:37:24:18 - 00:37:26:11
Lisa Leventhal
So we were literally across the.
00:37:26:11 - 00:37:31:17
Jessie Ott
Street from the Navy Pier, which was so much fun.
00:37:31:19 - 00:37:38:12
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, it's a great spot either way you go Navy Pier or into River North, you're like in the thick of it.
00:37:38:12 - 00:37:52:21
Jessie Ott
You're going to stay there again. So yeah. Anyway I digress again I'm sorry. This is a podcast about you but you not my trips to Chicago. But I share the love. I share your love for because it is really a lovely, lovely city. It's just really.
00:37:52:21 - 00:37:56:05
Lisa Leventhal
Cool.
00:37:56:07 - 00:37:58:20
Lisa Leventhal
It is. It can be pretty and you.
00:37:58:22 - 00:38:11:15
Jessie Ott
So that's fun. Yeah. Yeah. So what brought you then to Chicago from San Francisco. Besides the covet.
00:38:11:17 - 00:38:23:00
Lisa Leventhal
Predominantly cost of living. I was like I don't think I can retire here ever. Like if I stay in San Francisco, I was like, what's my like, retirement plan.
00:38:23:01 - 00:38:27:01
Jessie Ott
When it's all going to someone else?
00:38:27:03 - 00:38:51:02
Lisa Leventhal
yeah. so, my brother was living in Chicago, as I said, and I came to visit and I started looking at property prices and, you know, a two bedroom, two bath condo downtown to buy was less expensive than my portion of rent in San Francisco. So I was like, well, I should definitely start like, I'm old.
00:38:51:02 - 00:38:53:09
Lisa Leventhal
I should start like, building equity somewhere.
00:38:53:09 - 00:38:54:05
Lisa Leventhal
Like.
00:38:54:07 - 00:39:20:08
Lisa Leventhal
I can't just keep renting my whole life. because I have to have a retirement plan here someday. and so that was kind of the main focus. And then when I moved to Chicago, initially, I started working for the Alinea Group. so that was super fun and very interesting. And that's where I ran into the owners of some resort.
00:39:20:10 - 00:39:40:13
Lisa Leventhal
And I had been buying some rest when I was out in San Francisco for our restaurant group, and I just thought it was this crazy cool new product. and having worked in the industry for, you know, 15 plus years at the time, I had never tasted anything like it. And that's like.
00:39:40:13 - 00:39:40:21
Jessie Ott
Yeah, it's.
00:39:40:22 - 00:39:41:20
Lisa Leventhal
Pretty insane to.
00:39:41:20 - 00:39:46:16
Jessie Ott
Say. And you're seeing all kinds of stuff come through.
00:39:46:18 - 00:40:07:21
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. The first thing I tasted was some rice chai, which used to be called the original, like some rice. The original Indian cream liqueur. so it was like, really hard to decipher for people, like what was in the bottle with the flavor profile. and I absolutely loved it. I, like, fell in love with it. What was I can I try it?
00:40:07:23 - 00:40:09:14
Jessie Ott
And I think, like, the texture.
00:40:09:18 - 00:40:34:00
Lisa Leventhal
What's so different about it? Like I said, the the viscosity of the creams is really light. It's almost like the same viscosity of skim milk versus like Bailey's is more like a heavy whipping cream. Yeah. it doesn't, like, completely coat your tongue in a way that just discombobulated all of your taste buds the way that Baileys does and becomes, like, very overpowering.
00:40:34:02 - 00:41:02:22
Lisa Leventhal
And because it's rum based, it actually plays really well with any other spirit base. there's absolutely no burn. It is like the smoothest thing to drink. Again, it's only 13.5% alcohol by volume, so obviously it's not a ton of alcohol. but it's delicate and beautiful and light. The main flavor profile of some fresh chai is green cardamom, and I'm a huge chai like buff.
00:41:02:22 - 00:41:27:05
Lisa Leventhal
I loved chai before, like Starbucks made it. and like the Starbucks version of chai is really sad to me because it's very like cinnamon based, because cinnamon is so inexpensive versus cardamom, which is the third most expensive spice in the world. Yeah, the most expensive is saffron. And then Madagascar vanilla beans and then green carnation cardamom.
00:41:27:07 - 00:41:33:08
Jessie Ott
I mean, where does it grow or where do you buy it?
00:41:33:09 - 00:41:56:11
Lisa Leventhal
all over. I mean, you can get the pods in, like a Publix. To be honest, I literally picked them up for a, and it has, like, the most beautiful, like, floral, almost scent. So chai is comprised of green cardamom, pistachio, almond, rose and saffron. And it just has this, like, look, I'll have to send you some.
00:41:56:13 - 00:42:03:19
Lisa Leventhal
You put, put it in your coffee. It's like a dirty chai latte. It's delicious. How else? and so I was using.
00:42:03:19 - 00:42:07:22
Jessie Ott
It to drink it outside a smoothie.
00:42:08:00 - 00:42:37:17
Lisa Leventhal
So I used to use it in the restaurant and gin fizz, because I had a lot of people who wanted the fizz but didn't want an egg white in their cocktail. And this cream foams a ton when you chill it and shake it hard. so I didn't need to add like aquafaba and I didn't need to add an egg white, and the bar that I ran was such a high volume bar that I wouldn't have even had time for that if I wanted to.
00:42:37:19 - 00:43:01:03
Lisa Leventhal
So this was kind of like a cheater. I use so much chai and I use no let's gin. a little bit of fresh lemon juice, a little dash of orange blossom water and just shook and shook and shook. great cocktail. My kind of easy dough too, is chai is a vanilla chai teeny with just some vanilla vodka.
00:43:01:05 - 00:43:03:20
Lisa Leventhal
and then in coffee, it's like.
00:43:03:22 - 00:43:04:22
Lisa Leventhal
A no brainer.
00:43:05:00 - 00:43:05:14
Lisa Leventhal
Or tea.
00:43:05:15 - 00:43:06:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah.
00:43:06:07 - 00:43:07:13
Lisa Leventhal
Just so you know, that stuff.
00:43:07:19 - 00:43:10:14
Jessie Ott
And off the shelf during Covid,
00:43:10:16 - 00:43:11:21
Lisa Leventhal
I'm sure.
00:43:11:23 - 00:43:13:09
Jessie Ott
Everybody was put. Yeah.
00:43:13:11 - 00:43:16:04
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah.
00:43:16:06 - 00:43:32:00
Lisa Leventhal
I know, because everyone was on those morning zoom calls and everything, and yeah, I was definitely guilty of drinking, like a whole bottle in a day. One day by accident. It's just easy, you know, like when you're pouring in coffee and using it as your creamer. Like, it's just easy. You go through, like 4 or 5 cups, you're like, oh, no.
00:43:32:05 - 00:43:37:18
Lisa Leventhal
This is really, really one. You know, doing half and half.
00:43:37:20 - 00:43:55:14
Lisa Leventhal
Right. So I was buying it a ton in San Francisco, and I was probably at the time one of their only on premise account. How did you find the United States? Because they were very young. So broker came to me one day and I only even sat and met with him because he was friends with one of my managers.
00:43:55:16 - 00:44:10:22
Lisa Leventhal
And, you know, when brokers come to present things, they usually have like 20 products. So he literally pulls out like 20 products and puts them on this table. And I like have to look at him and be like, well, I don't need any new tequilas and I don't need any new whiskeys or Bourbons and they don't really need any vodka.
00:44:10:23 - 00:44:29:16
Lisa Leventhal
So like, what else do we have? And this was kind of like The last Man Standing again. Taste of it had never tried anything like that in my entire life and was thrilled and just was like, okay, I'm gonna use this. So send me like a couple cases and, soon that guy, like, left and got a new job.
00:44:29:16 - 00:44:40:09
Lisa Leventhal
So I started communicating with the owners directly, right. Because I didn't know where to get it. because they didn't have a distributor, because California is one of the states where you can, like, kind of direct ship.
00:44:40:11 - 00:44:41:00
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I didn't know.
00:44:41:03 - 00:45:14:02
Lisa Leventhal
Interestingly enough, there's, you know, crazy liquor laws, antiquated liquor laws all over the United States in every state. And so I was communicating directly with the owners. And then so I knew their names. And then when I started working for the Alinea Group in Chicago, I was working on a day I wasn't supposed to be working. I was in an area I wasn't supposed to be in, and I had checked out all the reservations because the Alinea group was very thorough and everyone that comes through the door, we like, stalk people and find out who they are and what they do.
00:45:14:02 - 00:45:34:12
Lisa Leventhal
And if they have anything to do with hospitality and, I recognize the name of the owner. So when she came in, she wasn't in my section, but I went over and said, hey, are you the same Monica Bellini with some rest? And she was like, yes. And I'm like, oh, I'm Lisa Leventhal. And she was like from Balboa Cafe in San Francisco.
00:45:34:12 - 00:45:35:15
Lisa Leventhal
And I was like.
00:45:35:17 - 00:45:35:20
Lisa Leventhal
How.
00:45:35:20 - 00:45:54:13
Lisa Leventhal
Do you know me? And it was because we'd been communicating so much, and I was ordering cases in cases and cases of this product. And, I was in like their PowerPoint presentation. It's like, oh, this is how you use it in restaurants and stuff like that. And I didn't even know she, like, pulled out her laptop. She's like, here you are.
00:45:54:13 - 00:46:04:06
Lisa Leventhal
And I was like, oh my God, that is cool. so she invited me the drinks. She was like, you have to come work for me. I need you like we're my place of work.
00:46:04:08 - 00:46:04:20
Lisa Leventhal
And I was like.
00:46:04:20 - 00:46:08:05
Lisa Leventhal
How about we get a cocktail girl like, that sounds good. Let's just get a.
00:46:08:05 - 00:46:11:19
Lisa Leventhal
Drink and, like, talk.
00:46:11:21 - 00:46:33:13
Lisa Leventhal
And so we did. And then I met the rest of the team and, you know, female driven, female led, minority led all things. I was like, this is these are my people. Like, this is my jam. and I was just like, you know, it was so serendipitous that we even ran into each other. I was like, this has to be my next move.
00:46:33:14 - 00:46:34:00
Lisa Leventhal
Like, this.
00:46:34:00 - 00:46:35:19
Jessie Ott
Is that story.
00:46:35:20 - 00:46:39:11
Lisa Leventhal
So that's how I came to be. With some rest.
00:46:39:13 - 00:46:48:14
Jessie Ott
1 in 1,000,000, really, on how that whatever how you can be in the same building, same floor, same area.
00:46:48:16 - 00:47:05:07
Lisa Leventhal
Right. Yeah. And, you know, even just paying attention that day because like, there are plenty of days, I'm sure I went to work and was either exhausted or overworked or whatever and didn't pay as much attention. And I just, I put the name together with what I knew, that how I knew them.
00:47:05:07 - 00:47:28:01
Jessie Ott
And that is congratulations. I love this story. super, super cool. can we go back to and talk about the cocktails that you were just talking about and how, like, did you have a team that would work together, or did you have a bartender or someone that you, would work with to kind of come up with these, these different?
00:47:28:01 - 00:47:45:08
Jessie Ott
Because I would never know to put this water with this. And like, how could you the way you explain that there's so many different things going on, but I'm sure it came together perfectly, but I can't I can't get my head wrapped around all these ingredients and this cocktail for sure.
00:47:45:09 - 00:48:17:14
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. No, I had an extremely talented bar staff. my bartenders had been working at the Balboa Cafe for like 20 plus years. They basically been there since inception of this ownership group taking charge of this property. and we were very fortunate that since we were such like a, standard in the city and like a classic bar that all of our cocktail builds were classic cocktail bases with like, riffs.
00:48:17:16 - 00:48:40:17
Lisa Leventhal
So, you know, a gin fizz we literally just exchanged out of a couple ingredients to make it like a simple execution. because all of our cocktails were like, this was the fizz was like the most touch points because there were four. most of the other cocktails are like 2 to 3 ingredient cocktails just because of ease of execution.
00:48:40:19 - 00:48:43:10
Jessie Ott
It's a high volume.
00:48:43:12 - 00:49:15:08
Lisa Leventhal
I'm guessing super high volume. thank goodness I had that background with like, Darden and, Outback to really be able to kind of hone in on how to get certain flavor profiles using the most minimalistic ingredients, or creating simple sirups from scratch that had like, we're, you know, packed with flavors that you didn't have to do a lot of crazy things to, you know, manipulate a cocktail into tasting good.
00:49:15:10 - 00:49:17:23
Jessie Ott
That's a great way to get a great flavor.
00:49:18:01 - 00:49:32:00
Lisa Leventhal
Because, yeah, simple sirups are kind of the easiest way and the least expensive because if you try to infuse a vodka or a rum or tequila and you mess up like you messed up the most expensive part of the process.
00:49:32:02 - 00:49:57:17
Jessie Ott
I have a love hate relationship. I guess I would say with sugar because, in cocktails, because for me, I mean, obviously I'm a I'm a beverage person, right? It's my my whole career. I want to taste the bourbon. I want to taste the tequila, I want to I don't want a pint glass margarita like, you know, and to me, when I see that pint glass margarita, I just go, oh, the sugar in there.
00:49:57:17 - 00:50:00:04
Jessie Ott
Because it's like the,
00:50:00:06 - 00:50:08:20
Lisa Leventhal
Right. Like, oh, God, what's the filler in here? Because all I really want is like, tequila and fresh lemon and lime and, like, a little bit of something like orange.
00:50:08:23 - 00:50:31:02
Jessie Ott
And so when I, when I made those cocktails with, with Dylan, these were not three ingredients. These were a little bit more than that. and muddling and but, I realized at that point the importance of a little bit of sugar because I found that it does, it.
00:50:31:02 - 00:50:32:00
Lisa Leventhal
Cleanses.
00:50:32:05 - 00:50:39:07
Jessie Ott
It kind of binds all these different flavors together and smooths them out. It was a.
00:50:39:09 - 00:51:07:09
Lisa Leventhal
It's really like sugar, acid in spirit and that it's the right ratio. Like once you know the ratios, you can literally make anything like no cocktail recipe is original. And if anyone tells you that it is, they're just a lot of like they're all based off of like mathematical equations and ratios that work that are tried and true just with newer ingredients or different ingredients.
00:51:07:11 - 00:51:27:13
Lisa Leventhal
But it's it's hard. Like you tiki drinks for me, like people that do tiki. Like I bow down to those people you're talking about like six, seven, eight touch points and all like quarter, ounce, half, quarter, ounce, quarter sounds like bar spoon and, you know, like three dashes of this and two dashes of that. And I'm like, my brain doesn't work like that.
00:51:27:13 - 00:51:30:03
Lisa Leventhal
I can't even remember all of my friends phone numbers anymore.
00:51:30:03 - 00:51:32:01
Jessie Ott
I don't even know my dad's.
00:51:32:03 - 00:51:36:06
Lisa Leventhal
Cell phone number.
00:51:36:08 - 00:51:58:14
Lisa Leventhal
So, like, I try to make recipes where my mom can make them. That's that's usually my, like, litmus test is, hey, Kathy, can you put those together? Like, if I give you this, can you figure it out? because, you know, most people are buying cream liquor, too. They're buying it to enjoy in the privacy of their home.
00:51:58:14 - 00:52:09:17
Lisa Leventhal
They're not like going out to a bar and getting wasted and being like, I'll take 20 shots of somewhere. It's like, that's not what's happening. So you try that. I try to make things as simple as possible.
00:52:09:17 - 00:52:19:19
Jessie Ott
You are in this meeting with this broker. You try the try, right? That's did he just have to try? Because I think you another flavor we haven't talked about yet.
00:52:19:21 - 00:52:35:18
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. Back in the day all they had was some was the original cream liqueur, which we now affectionately call Ty because it's just less of a mouthful and really, in one word, explains everything in the bottle. so a couple years after that, they released Summers Mango Yummy.
00:52:35:20 - 00:52:36:12
Jessie Ott
I have not have.
00:52:36:12 - 00:52:37:10
Lisa Leventhal
You tried this one?
00:52:37:11 - 00:52:38:04
Lisa Leventhal
Every time.
00:52:38:06 - 00:52:40:10
Jessie Ott
I just go to the store and get some.
00:52:40:10 - 00:52:41:16
Lisa Leventhal
00:52:41:18 - 00:52:43:14
Jessie Ott
It's making me thirsty.
00:52:43:16 - 00:52:45:10
Lisa Leventhal
Publix. All your Publix neighbors.
00:52:45:10 - 00:52:46:18
Jessie Ott
Feel like this is like a live in.
00:52:46:18 - 00:52:48:14
Lisa Leventhal
Florida. Yeah.
00:52:48:16 - 00:52:50:11
Jessie Ott
I'll have to look.
00:52:50:13 - 00:52:57:22
Lisa Leventhal
I'm not sure. I just know the big names because it's easier for me to tell someone to go Publix. I also love Publix. It's like the only reason I.
00:52:57:22 - 00:53:03:21
Jessie Ott
Love Active Florida. It's just that their wine prices are so high. Yeah.
00:53:03:23 - 00:53:05:08
Lisa Leventhal
I know, they're atrocious, right?
00:53:05:09 - 00:53:06:10
Jessie Ott
I guess I don't.
00:53:06:12 - 00:53:11:16
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, we you don't go because not all of them have those little liquor stores.
00:53:11:16 - 00:53:13:14
Jessie Ott
Because,
00:53:13:15 - 00:53:16:19
Lisa Leventhal
Because Florida is one of those stores where they can't sell liquor. So.
00:53:16:21 - 00:53:22:06
Jessie Ott
You know, Florida. Oh, to.
00:53:22:08 - 00:53:25:09
Lisa Leventhal
Texas is way worse. Pennsylvania is worse. There's a bunch of control states there.
00:53:25:09 - 00:53:27:06
Jessie Ott
Woolworths do.
00:53:27:07 - 00:53:28:01
Lisa Leventhal
yeah.
00:53:28:03 - 00:53:47:05
Jessie Ott
Yeah. So we have a Winn-Dixie, a brand new Winn-Dixie over here, and you can't beat their prices. And another point and I. Yeah, is we ain't going to Winn-Dixie. It's even better than, they don't have a selection. Obviously, it's a total line, but it's a 20 minute drive to get the total wine from here.
00:53:47:07 - 00:53:50:04
Lisa Leventhal
And so we just go to Winn-Dixie. That's a lot.
00:53:50:04 - 00:53:58:13
Lisa Leventhal
That's that's excessive for like, a couple bottles of wine. You know what I mean? I guess if you're going for a whole case or like, you're having a party or something, like maybe.
00:53:58:15 - 00:53:59:16
Lisa Leventhal
Go out, you were way.
00:53:59:18 - 00:54:16:08
Jessie Ott
Spoiled. We have all that in Dallas. We have like ten grocery stores. Spec's. yeah. We literally respect of less than five mile radius of our house. It's crazy. Total wine specs. Yeah.
00:54:16:08 - 00:54:17:00
Lisa Leventhal
Wow.
00:54:17:01 - 00:54:23:23
Jessie Ott
It's insane for for so spoiled. But yeah. Publix okay I will I will. Look I.
00:54:23:23 - 00:54:24:19
Lisa Leventhal
Love those.
00:54:24:21 - 00:54:27:07
Jessie Ott
Yeah I.
00:54:27:09 - 00:54:52:19
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. See when they came out with mango and so all of the flavor profiles are based on Southeast Asia, specifically India. so in northern India, everyone drinks tea, they drink chai. And then in southern India, everyone drinks coffee. And this is specifically like chicory coffee. And in the south of India, it was part of the spice route.
00:54:52:21 - 00:55:16:11
Lisa Leventhal
So, coffee originally when it was passing through India, was so expensive that they added chicory with it to cut it, to make the yields grow. No, they had to do something because it was just so egregiously expensive. So it's very similar to the same kind of coffee that you'd find in like New Orleans, like what you get at cafe du Monde.
00:55:16:13 - 00:55:45:21
Lisa Leventhal
It's delicious. Yeah. You'll it's great. And then, Alphonso mangoes are like the national fruit of India. They're often referred to as the Rolls Royce of mangoes. They have a really short growing, season. And when they're imported to the United States, they're like almost $10 apiece. The flesh is very consistently referred to as the same consistency of, like, a creme brulee.
00:55:45:23 - 00:56:00:14
Lisa Leventhal
It's not like a normal mango that's like stringy or anything like that. You can literally just kind of like scoop it out. And it's very similar to like a crumbly consistency. And it's a smaller mango with a larger pit. So there's less fruit as well.
00:56:00:17 - 00:56:00:21
Jessie Ott
Like.
00:56:00:21 - 00:56:09:14
Lisa Leventhal
Champagne. but that is like the true flavor of this. My mom puts this on her vanilla ice cream. It's like her favorite, like after dinner.
00:56:09:14 - 00:56:18:09
Jessie Ott
So, yeah, I my dog. So I love mango so much. It's her favorite fruit. at least I think it is.
00:56:18:11 - 00:56:19:20
Lisa Leventhal
Bananas. Yeah, it.
00:56:19:21 - 00:56:30:17
Jessie Ott
Just goes crazy. But I love mangoes so much. So yeah, I'm definitely going to try that. And I love vanilla ice cream. So yeah, I think that sounds like a good treat.
00:56:30:19 - 00:56:40:05
Lisa Leventhal
And if you go to Disney at all for the Flower and Garden Festival, we're being featured at the Pineapple Promenade on the summers, mango on the Dole, where.
00:56:40:11 - 00:56:43:17
Jessie Ott
That is all right now. And when is that?
00:56:43:19 - 00:57:02:18
Lisa Leventhal
It is. It's going on right now. And I want to say it ends at the end of June. because, food and wine starts at the beginning of July, and then Summer Chai is featured at the India booth, during season.
00:57:02:18 - 00:57:07:18
Jessie Ott
Will be back in June, so maybe we can hit both.
00:57:07:20 - 00:57:15:15
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, yeah, that would be good magic. Yeah, well, summer's in your life. Yeah.
00:57:15:17 - 00:57:34:06
Jessie Ott
That's really, really cool. I know you're busy. Do you have a few more minutes? I just have one more. I have one more journey I want you to take us on, and I. It's kind of going back to San Francisco. It's going back to when you first tasted this. This chai. what was your first dance like?
00:57:34:08 - 00:57:50:18
Jessie Ott
Do you, did you did you think of it as being a mixer and in cocktails, or did you take the bottle or the K straight to the bar and be like, let's make let's figure this out and like, whip up some different cocktail ideas, like, what's that process or what was that process for you?
00:57:50:20 - 00:58:22:13
Lisa Leventhal
the first thing for me was just how unique the flavor profile was. It was alarming for a better choice of words in like, such an interesting way that like, my brain started kind of pumping on all cylinders and being like, I love this. Now how do I incorporate this into some cocktails? So then I immediately started thinking of all like those old timey cocktails that use cream, like, a pink squirrel or a grasshopper or a fizz.
00:58:22:15 - 00:58:46:02
Lisa Leventhal
And, I didn't start, like, busting it out and, like, making a whole bunch of cocktails all at once. I definitely got to that point, but I was just so thrilled to have found something unique and completely different to anything I've ever tried. because like I said, that that doesn't that opportunity doesn't happen in my industry with how long I've been in the industry.
00:58:46:02 - 00:58:47:11
Jessie Ott
So it really does.
00:58:47:13 - 00:58:58:08
Lisa Leventhal
at this point, like nothing. Yeah. Nothing surprises me. Nothing like it delights my taste buds. But this one really took my mouth on a journey I like. Couldn't stop the.
00:58:58:11 - 00:58:59:07
Jessie Ott
Connection to the.
00:58:59:07 - 00:59:00:15
Lisa Leventhal
Brand. I was like.
00:59:00:17 - 00:59:15:21
Jessie Ott
On all cylinders, the different flavors that you were experiencing, the the texture that you like, it was lighter. Probably. It was a nice finish and it just was a great experience from from the beginning.
00:59:15:23 - 00:59:38:20
Lisa Leventhal
From start to finish, it absolutely was. And I think one of the things I started thinking was if I were to try to infuse something else with these flavor profiles, it would take me so long to do. And I'd use so many ingredients and so many different things. I could never recreate this, so why wouldn't I just use this one bottle and make everyone's life easier?
00:59:38:20 - 00:59:41:07
Jessie Ott
Yeah, and it doesn't have a lot of.
00:59:41:09 - 00:59:42:23
Lisa Leventhal
So that's kind of what happened there.
00:59:43:01 - 00:59:45:23
Jessie Ott
Alcohol content. So you could totally mix it.
00:59:46:01 - 01:00:23:21
Lisa Leventhal
So yeah. And the other thing I mean this is a little bit, insider information from an operator is I knew that if I use this as the base spirit instead of a modifier, that I would keep people from getting drunk fast. They might have 2 or 3 cocktails instead of 1 or 2. And that cost wise, it was more effective for me to use a less expensive ingredient, as the bulk of the cocktail than a base spirit traditionally cost.
01:00:23:21 - 01:00:27:15
Jessie Ott
It's a really good point, because.
01:00:27:17 - 01:00:30:20
Lisa Leventhal
So from an operator's perspective, I was winning all over.
01:00:30:22 - 01:00:35:02
Jessie Ott
It was probably the most profitable drink on your menu.
01:00:35:04 - 01:00:45:23
Lisa Leventhal
It was the most profitable cocktail we had on the menu, and it was probably the second or third most popular cocktail behind things like a margarita in an Old Fashioned, which, you know, you're never really going to beat those out.
01:00:46:00 - 01:01:00:18
Jessie Ott
A standard bar on a menu. It seems to be like an old school kind of. Yeah, that. Yeah, you're always going to have those cocktails for sure. So what was the angle? Of course, for that.
01:01:00:20 - 01:01:24:02
Lisa Leventhal
So it's Summer Chai gin, but like a gin that doesn't I used no, no let's because it was very complimentary two summers. And the nice thing is, even if you're using summers as the base, if you're using a gin or a vodka or rum or tequila, you can always taste the base spirit right through the whole cocktail.
01:01:24:04 - 01:01:38:22
Lisa Leventhal
The cream portion never becomes overwhelming. It's because of that lightness and the viscosity. So some rich chai, you know what's gin? a little bit of orange blossom water.
01:01:39:00 - 01:01:40:19
Jessie Ott
awesome.
01:01:40:21 - 01:01:41:13
Lisa Leventhal
01:01:41:15 - 01:02:00:21
Lisa Leventhal
It's kind of like rose water, and it's usually, like a tiny little bottle. And it usually has like an eye dropper because you don't want to, like, almost like a pinch too much, like a very little bit goes a long way. It's kind of like a bitter, but, but like, more like the essence of something in a water form versus like an almond extract.
01:02:00:21 - 01:02:07:19
Lisa Leventhal
That's an alcohol base. and I think that was it.
01:02:07:19 - 01:02:14:18
Jessie Ott
Okay. Anyways, I'm just fascinated that, came up with these, this cocktails. So amazing.
01:02:14:20 - 01:02:26:14
Lisa Leventhal
And then, I mean, and I rotated it seasonally on my menu. So like, the next one we did was like a pineapple pina colada with the chai. And we use the chai as the base.
01:02:26:16 - 01:02:27:19
Jessie Ott
Now what is there.
01:02:27:21 - 01:02:48:11
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. So basically like anything they had cream in it was just super easy. You know for October we would always do a pink squirrel with it because it was so pretty in pink. And it mixed really well with the other flavors. but it's nice to have like a classic cocktail with a bit of a twist, you know, something bringing it into.
01:02:48:11 - 01:02:51:02
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. And I think 20, 20.
01:02:51:04 - 01:03:02:14
Jessie Ott
to a restaurant. And they if they do have a cocktail menu, they're always going to be scouring at least me. I mean, I know I'm in innovation and everything, but I'm always going to look for what's what's the new what's what's unique and fun.
01:03:02:16 - 01:03:03:23
Lisa Leventhal
You know.
01:03:04:01 - 01:03:05:18
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. What's unique in this.
01:03:05:18 - 01:03:22:23
Jessie Ott
Right. This is this has been really fun. I love the product. Congratulations on a great career. It sounds like you've been able to live in a lot of really cool places, meet a lot of really amazing people. Just even starting with Disney, I'm sure you're still in touch with a lot of those people just because it's such an incredible experience.
01:03:23:01 - 01:03:27:16
Lisa Leventhal
I am, as you can tell by our Disney presence, presence at Disney.
01:03:27:18 - 01:03:40:01
Jessie Ott
Yeah. Yes. Right. Yeah. Good point, good point. So, yeah, that's very cool. I guess. maybe we'll have to go and have a cocktail when I come to Chicago this summer.
01:03:40:03 - 01:03:48:19
Lisa Leventhal
100%, please. You have my contact information, hit me up and we can go to some cocktail places here that used somewhere. So very interesting. We will be.
01:03:48:19 - 01:03:49:20
Jessie Ott
Four of us as well.
01:03:49:20 - 01:03:51:12
Lisa Leventhal
So, Yeah.
01:03:51:14 - 01:03:57:01
Jessie Ott
Well, yeah. Nice. Perfect. Summer is.
01:03:57:03 - 01:03:59:14
Lisa Leventhal
I love it. Decisions. Depletions. Depletions.
01:03:59:16 - 01:04:01:07
Lisa Leventhal
Okay, well, let's go.
01:04:01:09 - 01:04:17:14
Jessie Ott
Buy some right now, because now I have to try it. I know, I love this next time I definitely want to make that cocktail, from the restaurant. And then I guess, I'll let you pick the others. Are you guys planning on. Sure. Roll.
01:04:17:18 - 01:04:33:07
Lisa Leventhal
That's moving. You know, we feel like these three flavors really represent India. from top to bottom and kind of in a very well rounded way. you know, we don't want to be like Bailey's where.
01:04:33:07 - 01:04:33:23
Jessie Ott
We're here the month.
01:04:33:23 - 01:04:59:04
Lisa Leventhal
There's innovation for the sake of a line extension or just selling more cases. that's not our intent. Our intent is to kind of share with the world these unique flavors that have never been represented in the liquor space. and, yeah, we don't have any plans currently to extend the line because we kind of feel like, yeah, these are our three kids.
01:04:59:06 - 01:05:01:17
Lisa Leventhal
I'd like to see them. I think, you know, we're.
01:05:01:19 - 01:05:08:12
Jessie Ott
Actually it's a good billboard. If you can get all three on the shelf, you know, because the bottle.
01:05:08:12 - 01:05:14:20
Lisa Leventhal
Yep. Yeah. We've all three. Publix. It's a very nice facing. It's very bright and colorful.
01:05:14:20 - 01:05:20:14
Lisa Leventhal
As you can see. okay. Yeah. I'm perfect.
01:05:20:16 - 01:05:22:07
Jessie Ott
it's the little things in life, isn't it?
01:05:22:12 - 01:05:29:23
Lisa Leventhal
So, It is, it is. I'm always so, like, delighted when I walk into a public and I'm like, there they are.
01:05:30:01 - 01:05:33:04
Lisa Leventhal
It's my kids. Like.
01:05:33:05 - 01:05:35:08
Lisa Leventhal
You're so proud, right? Like.
01:05:35:10 - 01:05:51:11
Jessie Ott
Yeah, I think it would be. That would be a very proud moment. I mean, Publix is a big chain and from what I understand they can Publix is huge to like, right? If you just want to be in a certain market or a certain area. Yeah, yeah. It's very cool.
01:05:51:13 - 01:05:52:00
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah.
01:05:52:01 - 01:05:57:07
Jessie Ott
I feel like we didn't really go through my questions but I, we talked.
01:05:57:09 - 01:05:59:17
Lisa Leventhal
We talked a lot about.
01:05:59:19 - 01:06:11:11
Jessie Ott
you know, things we would have gotten to. But do you have any shout outs to any mentors that you or resources or anybody that, you know, you're thinking of that kind of.
01:06:11:12 - 01:06:33:09
Lisa Leventhal
You know, the women I work with here that has really changed my vision on, like, careers and like, glass ceilings and barriers to entry and all of that. so it's, it's nice to have kind of like a clan of women who are all so goal oriented and each of us has our strength, right? Like, I am not the financial person.
01:06:33:09 - 01:06:47:22
Lisa Leventhal
And that's like with good reason. Like while I have a pretty solid head on my shoulders, if you told me to throw a party like you've got to give me a budget because I will just like lose my mind, you know, because like when I worked for Disney, it was like, oh, you need the topiary of The Little Mermaid, I got you.
01:06:47:22 - 01:07:13:00
Lisa Leventhal
I know who to call. Right. And, so I have that same mentality of like, we should go big or go home, right? so it's really great to have all of them because they're such great sounding boards and like such experts in their area. so it's nice to be able to voice my opinion and have it be heard whether or not it is like the direction we go.
01:07:13:00 - 01:07:21:21
Lisa Leventhal
At least I get to, you know, give my $0.02 and I have a seat at the table. Yeah, that's super important and empowering and inspirational.
01:07:21:23 - 01:07:30:03
Jessie Ott
That's for sure. Sure. I, I'm glad to know that there's those, opportunities out there. You know, we kind of live in a.
01:07:30:05 - 01:07:33:21
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah, you just have to find them. It's like creating your own destiny. Kind of, you know, when you've.
01:07:33:21 - 01:07:47:11
Jessie Ott
Done that throughout your career, too, you you found your you were in the corporate world and then you moved to a family, and then now you moved to a woman owned business. And so you've you've definitely kind of found your niche.
01:07:47:13 - 01:07:50:14
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah I have this is like, you know, my new work.
01:07:50:14 - 01:07:56:00
Jessie Ott
Fam, I love that. So do you guys work from home or do you have an office?
01:07:56:02 - 01:08:07:17
Lisa Leventhal
We have an office. in the suburbs of Chicago, out in bridge. but I travel significant amount and I do work from my home. Like, in between traveling a lot.
01:08:07:19 - 01:08:14:03
Jessie Ott
Yeah, especially if you're on a plane or train going somewhere. Lots of planes.
01:08:14:03 - 01:08:14:23
Lisa Leventhal
Lots of planes.
01:08:14:23 - 01:08:16:02
Lisa Leventhal
I,
01:08:16:04 - 01:08:20:17
Jessie Ott
I don't know what happened, but I just don't like to fly anywhere.
01:08:20:19 - 01:08:26:15
Lisa Leventhal
Just don't make it. well, I don't blame you. Yeah.
01:08:26:17 - 01:08:29:07
Jessie Ott
It's exhausting. I don't know.
01:08:29:09 - 01:08:31:09
Lisa Leventhal
And people in airports have gotten crazy.
01:08:31:09 - 01:08:48:00
Jessie Ott
Well, I got Covid, last week or going to Iowa, I got Covid, thank goodness I knew my dad, but, Yeah, but, Yeah, I mean, I'm going to be one of these people that are just going to get Covid. And so I'm just going to I'm going to be one of these people that just wear masks at target.
01:08:48:00 - 01:08:54:16
Jessie Ott
And, and, and Costco and, and airplanes, airports. And I just have to be careful.
01:08:54:18 - 01:09:01:19
Lisa Leventhal
I still wear a mask in the, in the airplane. Like, I just think it's like there's so many people you can't you've no idea where these people were.
01:09:01:19 - 01:09:04:04
Jessie Ott
Like, I feel bad because I was.
01:09:04:06 - 01:09:12:19
Lisa Leventhal
They I have no idea where I've been half the time or what time zone I'm in. I'm just like, I could have anything. I've been traveling for weeks at a time. Like, don't know, I don't know.
01:09:12:19 - 01:09:28:02
Jessie Ott
I mean, I thought it was allergies. and so, I mean, I had a mask on, but I was coughing and, you know, within my mask and everything, but it's still like. Yeah, you know, I know that they say that the the air is cleaned like an intensive care, like an ICU. Yeah.
01:09:28:04 - 01:09:31:17
Lisa Leventhal
It's like fine, but like, it's the smell.
01:09:31:19 - 01:09:35:01
Lisa Leventhal
Yeah. I'm like, it still doesn't smell good. So, like, what are you guys doing in there?
01:09:35:01 - 01:09:36:10
Jessie Ott
In essence.
01:09:36:12 - 01:09:39:09
Lisa Leventhal
What are I know.
01:09:39:11 - 01:09:42:07
Lisa Leventhal
I know, it's just like, spread some in the air.
01:09:42:09 - 01:09:44:08
Jessie Ott
this has been fun.
01:09:44:10 - 01:09:48:17
Lisa Leventhal
They may frown. Yes, they might frown upon that, though.
01:09:48:19 - 01:09:52:16
Jessie Ott
Maybe. Well, someone will be allergic.
01:09:52:18 - 01:09:53:20
Lisa Leventhal
Someday. So, yeah.
01:09:53:20 - 01:09:58:13
Jessie Ott
Somehow you have to be careful about all that stuff. Now, I'm one of those people.
01:09:58:15 - 01:10:00:01
Lisa Leventhal
But.
01:10:00:03 - 01:10:12:10
Jessie Ott
But this has been really fun. Lisa, I really appreciate you taking the time to hang out with me for, you know, this time. And, definitely cocktails this summer. And,
01:10:12:11 - 01:10:20:12
Lisa Leventhal
100%. And I appreciate you inviting me on here, and I'm always happy to do a part two with some cocktails if I know we didn't get through, like, half.
01:10:20:16 - 01:10:24:08
Jessie Ott
Well, but I was the one asking you the questions. I was so.
01:10:24:08 - 01:10:27:04
Lisa Leventhal
Fascinated with your career.
01:10:27:06 - 01:10:47:06
Jessie Ott
you know how, like, the whole cocktail thing really intrigued me? I think it's super cool. I love the story of how you were introduced to this company in a completely different role, and how you it led you to, you know, being the face of the brand now. So I think that's like an incredible journey. So yeah, I appreciate you sharing it with us.
01:10:47:08 - 01:10:48:08
Lisa Leventhal
Okay. First.
01:10:48:11 - 01:10:52:03
Jessie Ott
Well, we'll see you this summer. Take care already.
01:10:52:05 - 01:10:55:05
Lisa Leventhal
All right. Sounds good. We'll see you in Chicago.
01:10:55:07 - 01:10:57:08
Lisa Leventhal
Bye. Alright.
01:10:57:10 - 01:11:02:18
Jessie Ott
Bye. This week's episode was produced by Fedora Jay Productions.