Burnt Hands Perspective
This is a raw and unfiltered look into the pu$$ification and state of the restaurant industry as a whole, powered by longtime friends Chef/Owner Antonio Caruana and former bartender turned News Anchor/TV Host Kristen Crowley.
Representing all aspects of the industry from the front to the back of the house we will dig into the juiciest stories and pull from decades of experience in one of the sexiest and most exciting industries in the world...the food and beverage industry.
From international chefs, sommeliers, industry pros, and so much more, this show will cover all of it without a filter. You turn up the volume; we'll turn up the heat.
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Burnt Hands Perspective
Ep 30 - From Pungo to Premium Spirits: The woman behind Virginia Beach's iconic Orange Crush oceanfront restaurants
From Pungo Strawberries, to Organic Vodka, to tractor-trailers of oranges and liquor – welcome to the world of Mariah Standing, Virginia Beach's homegrown spirits maven and the woman who helped transform how an entire coastline drinks.
From humble beginnings growing up in Pungo's farmlands to building a beach empire with her husband Mike, Mariah shares the fascinating journey behind the restaurants and Waterman Spirits, Virginia's organic vodka. We dive deep into what makes her strawberry-infused vodka special – the 400 pounds of real berries in each batch and a commitment to authentic ingredients with "no shit in it," setting her premium spirits apart in a crowded market.
We had to uncover the true origin story of Virginia Beach's iconic Orange Crush while we were at it. While Mariah graciously credits Ocean City as the drink's birthplace, she reveals how a chance meeting over a boat sale led to a pilgrimage to meet "King Crush" and ultimately transformed Virginia Beach's drinking culture. The legendary Crush Fest – which once served 11,000 people and required custom-built "OctoCrush" machinery – makes its triumphant return this April after years of absence. YES!
Beyond spirits, we explore the challenges of building and maintaining multiple successful waterfront businesses while raising a family and fighting bureaucratic battles. Mariah offers candid insights into Virginia Beach's development hurdles and her vision for its future, all while reflecting on the entrepreneurial mindset that makes appreciating small wins difficult when you're constantly hungry for growth.
Whether you're a spirits enthusiast, a Virginia Beach local, or someone fascinated by the intersection of passion and entrepreneurship, this episode offers an honest look at what it takes to build something authentic in a world that often settles for artificial flavoring and cheap ingredients.
Subscribe now and join us for more conversations reshaping how we eat, drink, and experience our communities.
Connect and support Mariah! Here's the links!
https://www.watermanspirits.com/
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burt hans podcast. We are live right now with the one and only the one and only standing a local legend, if you will right, she yes, she is Female entrepreneur. Killing it, killing the game, trying, yeah. So, before we even get any further, I want to go right into what's in our cup, right here, because this is the most important part of the conversation today.
Speaker 2:Today is all about the alcohol. Why don't you?
Speaker 1:bring it up, tell us what we're drinking.
Speaker 3:We are drinking Waterman Spirits it Virginia's only organic spirit and what I did was take the base vodka that we make and add 400 pounds of strawberries. So I grew up in Pungo and I love strawberries, so this was like the first kind of.
Speaker 1:So this is a tribute to where you came from and we're indigenous to our area. For all those who don't know, who are watching this Virginia Beach has got, we just have a bunch of indigenous ingredients, whether it be from the ocean or wherever it may be from. Pungo is an area down kind of in the country on your way down to the eastern shore or eastern side of North Carolina, things like that, not eastern shore, I'm sorry, the eastern shoreline of Virginia.
Speaker 1:Okay, so there's a lot of things that come from there. One of them is freaking strawberries.
Speaker 2:Strawberries. They have a whole field Right and the.
Speaker 1:Pongo Strawberry Festival, right, and so, anyway, these strawberries are delicious, they're great, and that's where you're from. So you come up farmland, right, you come from a farm.
Speaker 3:Cornfields cows and all the fun stuff.
Speaker 1:Did you have the horses and all that stuff?
Speaker 3:I did not. I had chickens and turkeys. Chickens and turkeys. My mom would not let me have a horse because I would not feed the dog for one year without complaining about it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the horse is bigger than you and you know now that horses are 10 times bigger.
Speaker 3:She's like nope, no horses for you.
Speaker 1:So you're speaking about spirits, which we'll get into later, but this into later. But this right here is an infusion of a natural. This is all organic, all natural, and you said to me earlier today there's no shit in it.
Speaker 3:No shit in it.
Speaker 1:So what does that mean? You have your vodka, which you distill beautifully. We carry it here Um, so you distill your vodka.
Speaker 3:The non shit you put in it is the strawberry. Pretty much, that's it. That's it. So a lot of products have questionable dyes and all that stuff in it, but the color from this comes from the actual berries itself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So there's no red dye and so there's a maceration process to get to extract that color out. So your spirit is the vodka. Is it macerating with that or is it extracted before and then added?
Speaker 3:The vodka is made, the berries are put into the vodka and after it sits and gets the perfect color and flavor, then it's proofed properly so that it's exactly what it should be proofed at, and put in the bottle.
Speaker 1:And then you're strained and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:I just had a conversation with her GM about this and when he told us it was 400 pounds of strawberries per batch and that's like the good strawberries, so you have to go through, pick the fruit.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of strawberries.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of strawberries.
Speaker 1:Right, right. So it's almost like it's a no, it's not. But you know the point we're having this is. There's out there that will throw artificial flavor in there and call it their infused vodka, and it just drives me nuts. This is real infused vodka. It's really important to talk about this process because in the wine world or anytime you add, even in the cooking world the maceration process that's when your fruits and your skins and everything are in contact with the juice you're trying to extract from it. That's your maceration process. So that's where you get your colors, your flavors and all your sugars and everything right. Most people want to skip that step and they're going to go buy a syrup that's already either fake, artificially made or already extracted and they're just going to use it for time's sake and everything else. They're just going to add the syrup to their damn drink and sell it and everyone loves it and it becomes some 7-Eleven ghetto juice.
Speaker 2:I call it. Yeah, like that slurpy taste, right, and I don't like it, and it's stuff we used to drink when we were 18, just getting pounding it, you know, like the Boone's Farm.
Speaker 1:You know that's all artificial stuff, bad dog Bad dog. But you know what I mean. This is not what this is. This is in the cornfield though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, true, because I was on that train too.
Speaker 1:So when you're drinking Waterman's vodka, Waterman.
Speaker 3:We have to call it Waterman Waterman.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, waterman Sorry, and I'll tell you why I'm calling it Waterman's in a minute, okay, where I come from and probably why we have to do that. So we're going to explain that. I already know why. However, when we're drinking Waterman vodka, you're drinking a high-end and vodka. You could drink this straight right up. It's in the upper tier. This is not a crap vodka. It's very, very. Their distillery alone is absolutely beautiful. It's clean. I recommend everyone go there and see what an actual vodka distillery looks like A real one.
Speaker 2:And you can go there and actually drink and it has a full bar and you have a tasting room.
Speaker 1:This podcast brought to you by Waterman Spirits, virginia Beach's own fine vodka.
Speaker 2:Pump fine is now. She's now sponsoring the podcast.
Speaker 3:I love it, fyi Cheers.
Speaker 2:Cheers to bringing us alcohol, because this is what happens. But your journey in this and this is why I mean we knew each other but didn't like, through all of your coming up in the restaurant industry and for a woman to be able to go through the steps you went through and now have we can lead into the restaurant, the tasting room, the, you know, the spirits world. You kind of diversified, but where did you start, like in the restaurant business, where was your first?
Speaker 3:Busing tables.
Speaker 2:Okay, where here?
Speaker 3:At Waterman's.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:When I first got into the, I honestly I met my husband and I had never worked in the restaurant before until I met him. Okay, so, I started as being the girlfriend Right, and then soon after it was like six months, then it was the fiance.
Speaker 1:Sure Sure.
Speaker 3:That's a good girlfriend. You moved up quick Really easy.
Speaker 1:That's a good girlfriend, he's so easy. Yeah, that's a good girlfriend, he's so easy. Yeah, so now we're back there. So you said you started at Water Men's Water man. So that's where we got the difference in why you have to call one the other one. Is that not to confuse? Is that branding? What is that?
Speaker 3:Well, there's a few things. So when I grew up in Pungo, my father had a beautiful garden. He was a commercial fisherman. I would fish at Munnins Point with a cane pole. We had very humble upbringing so I feel like being a waterman is part of my soul and my like from my childhood to now. And then I met my waterman, mike, and then the restaurant was obviously and he's, and he's a true sport waterman.
Speaker 1:He's out fishing all the time. He lives on the water. Your restaurant waterman's surfing, your kids are in the water all the time and the restaurant itself is literally on the beach in Virginia Beach, in the most prime location of water sports and Virginia Beach lifestyle. Virginia Beach has its own culture and Virginia Beach's culture to me is a modge podge of all kinds of is that the right word? Hodgepodge, modge podge. So it's got stuff. It's got a California vibe, it's got a surf vibe, it's got a fishing vibe. It's got a northeast scalloping lobster boat vibe. It's got all the watermen's sports. It's a melting pot All the Waterman sports. It's a melting pot Right, it's a melting pot of all water. It doesn't have its own Like. If you go to Maine, the water stuff is pretty much lobster. You go to scallops, you go into a new, you go get clams and stuff in Rhode Island, massachusetts. If you go out to California, you surf. You know what I mean. Here we have pretty much all of it.
Speaker 3:We really have everything. So I feel like that's my heart and soul. It was a little play or a big play on the success of the restaurant, but it's really just the ethos of my spirit and our community.
Speaker 1:It's all in Coverman. So when you have, when you are a Waterman or you live that lifestyle, of course the words are always going to come out. It's like me saying I'm an Italian restaurant, I'm Italian, this Italian, that Because, no matter what I do, it kind of revolves around it, just like that. So going back to people know this area, know Waterman's, the restaurant, it's a legacy here, really. Now let's talk about this frigging Orange Crush situation.
Speaker 2:Look at her laughing.
Speaker 1:So we're talking about a festival.
Speaker 2:Yes, right.
Speaker 1:That would get all you got out of. It was fucking wasted. Was drinks Wasted, Did you guys? Soon it's coming, bringing it back. It's back, it's back. Waterman's is back with the frigging Crush Fest.
Speaker 2:y'all Crush Fest we will do it. Oh, we should Huh. Oh, we can do that.
Speaker 1:We're setting up.
Speaker 3:We can do that for you. I feel like I'm 27 again. It takes you back.
Speaker 1:It's so much fun.
Speaker 2:So my question the orange crush though.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the crush. You're right. Go ahead and ask the question.
Speaker 2:This is the thing is, I've been to other states now and now that it's gone national, there's always an origin story. So tell us the origin story.
Speaker 3:So our origin story goes back to a boat. So really, the Crush, I feel like, came from Ocean City, maryland. I will give all the credit to them. And I actually think there's a gentleman I cannot remember his name, but I call him King Crush and he owns this restaurant in Ocean City on the water called Harborside Crush it. Yeah, and we went there and met with him. Mike sold a boat to a friend named Jimmy Grant and he's from Ocean City. He sat at Waterman's Restaurant waiting on Mike to sign some paperwork and he ordered an orange crush. Well, at that time we made the orange crush out of the gun juice. It was the most disgusting thing.
Speaker 1:Basically a screwdriver.
Speaker 3:That what everybody did yeah. Screwdriver on crushed ice right I don't even know if it was crushed ice. It was probably regular ice. Jimmy goes what the heck is this? This is not an orange truck. He's like you've got to come with me to Ocean City. That is basically what transformed that trip for Mike and I and Jimmy Grant to go to Ocean City. Then we came back to Virginia Beach and changed the way that we made it. We modified King Crush's recipe, but it was incredible.
Speaker 1:Crushed ice Right, and they were calling it an Orange Crush then at that time too. Yeah, so the name came down here. You guys revamped it, revitalized it, and some people around here don't realize that story, so a lot of people around here think it kind of came from you.
Speaker 3:That's okay, that's okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 3:What I coined was what did I say? Waterman's or Virginia's original crush house?
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:So I feel like it's true, there's no lie you guys were the first's doing the fresh pressed, because that's the key ingredient, so crushed ice fresh, fresh juice.
Speaker 1:So I was talking to her and I was still not that you're not here, but I was talking to her last year, two years ago. We were talking about this and you were telling me the numbers of what you guys were doing and this all goes to a charity. This was a charitable event, right? So Crush Fest was a charitable thing and I was like what that charity needs to come on with this way a little bit, but it worked out amazing. But how much pounds of oranges, how much vodka?
Speaker 3:what the hell was going on and I say we because this is when I was in the restaurant business and working as a whole partnership um, we bought a tractor trailer. We did. We got a delivery from abc in richmond, directly from abc to the restaurant of alcohol. Then there was a tractor trailer that was filled with oranges.
Speaker 2:There's a whole tractor trailer ranges in one case. So you do the math oh my god, yeah, and did you go through all of it?
Speaker 3:and it was all fresh. Mike invented this thing called octocrush, so he stayed up at night. Of course he did.
Speaker 1:I mean the octrush.
Speaker 2:The Octocrush.
Speaker 1:The Octocrush.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Have this one unit of a machine that's cutting oranges and then it's dispensing the orange juice to these other people that were making crushes, Because they just can't crush each time it's too much.
Speaker 1:It's too much. They've got Popeye arms.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got to switch arms, you've got to be a switch hitter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And 11,000 people were able to be served fresh crusts.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, so the OctoCrush 11,000 people.
Speaker 1:That's more people that's in. There's more people there in your parking lot, which is the size of this room, yeah, then there's 11,000 people. That's about. For those who don't know, think about going to a college football game, right, right, yeah, it's like a smaller college, smaller, smaller, right, or? Yeah, that's a lot still.
Speaker 2:Smaller college football A lot of people.
Speaker 1:You know, that's a lot of people 11,000 people, 11,000 people.
Speaker 3:There's 11,000 people. I don't know if there's there was going to be too many people, so we moved it to the campground Best decision ever.
Speaker 1:And that's where it's going this time.
Speaker 3:No, this time it's in the shack parking lot.
Speaker 1:Oh, perfect, yes, Perfect. So now you got it Good, so the shack.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about good so the shack, let's talk about that. Yeah, so let's keep building on the empire here, right.
Speaker 1:so the Waterman's Restaurant was big. Then came Chick's. Chick's was great, still is Great place to go in the summertime, except for I can never get a damn seat. So I don't go there anymore because I just can't frigging go there. So on my days off I'm like, all right, I need to go have a crab cake like that. So the food that you guys have is very well reflecting of virginia beach and what we do here.
Speaker 2:You have the sirtunas, the, the crab cakes, classic seafood, the mahi, you have all that type of stuff.
Speaker 1:So you're off the fish. You know you guys do it right and you pretty much not only do it right, but you guys uh, exemplify what virginia beach seafood is, because a lot of people say what type of seafood's here, what type of seafood's there?
Speaker 2:virginia beach has its own type of there's, yeah, yeah, and it's, it's, it is good. Well, and the french fries with the crab meat on top, oh my god I love those.
Speaker 1:They're smothered. Look, she's excited about her own dish.
Speaker 2:I love it they're so gluttonous but they're so fucking good. The cheese sticks are my.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, those are good there's. Yeah, yeah, you brought me a little cup with those one time.
Speaker 2:Come on, man I know, but you've turned like it's almost like putting that spin on things we loved as kids, like even the orange crush, like it's something like you know, we liked, you know if you had the grandma who made you fresh, fresh pressed juice in the morning. It kind of brings back memories. So you have foods based on like really key memories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so me and, uh, me and a friend of mine went down there and we were just going to run an errand down at the beach. I actually stopped in to say hi to you. You weren't there. So I sat at the bar outside in the shack and this was a month or two ago. This was in the winter, and the homeboy who was out there just gave me a couple and it was very good.
Speaker 1:And next thing, I know we just skipped our happy and I had to come back to work and I was like Well, I think it's just cool to see it spread.
Speaker 2:Like I said when we kind of started this, you know, I travel a lot in other cities and we go to a lot of restaurants and food places and now I see an Orange Crush on their menu. And this is like Midwest, where shit takes forever to get there, and I see it and whoever I'm with, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm like, you know, this is in Virginia Beach. Well, it's like a plague, though it's so cool.
Speaker 1:Because think about how many our area is full of all kinds of transient people, whether it be the military, which is huge. They see something and grab something. Now they've been stationed here for four years drinking these crushes. They go out to back to their home in Nebraska or wherever they're from, and they just take their crush. This is called a crush. It's in Virginia Beach and now, next thing you know, they're serving it and this is how these things start spreading.
Speaker 1:So you guys have created something out of Ocean City that came to here and has blown up. Now, the place that Ocean City had. Is it still going? It's still in business. So they're still going there. So that's a great thing. So how did that? Now you have a lot of shoes to fill, because not a lot of shoes to fill, but there's a lot of people that rely on you and Mike and your family and what it is you do here in Virginia Beach. There is a pressure to that because you have chicks, you have the shack. Now you're reopening Crush Fest. You're reopening Crush Fest, from what I would imagine, with all the other stuff aside me being me because you feel a little bit of obligation to that and you want to reclaim what you started and you want to bring it back and I think that you owe that. You need fun and that's what that was.
Speaker 3:You have to do CrushFest again. We can't not do it, it's just because we're getting older, yeah that sucks, I'm not getting older.
Speaker 1:Damn it. I'm doing Crush Fest. You're getting better. We're doing Crush Fest. Damn it, crush Fest. It's like the Catalina wine mixer, except for it's Crush Fest it's almost to the point of being able to drink legally.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:And I think it's really fun.
Speaker 1:I want them to experience what I'm experiencing, right, well, right. And if you're doing it now, by the time they're ready, they're going to carry it on. Crushfest lives. We all win CrushFest for the fucking win, woo. Crushfest I'm saying All right, Well we'll be there for that we will be.
Speaker 3:Well, sunday, I think it's April 5th, is that a Sunday?
Speaker 2:Well, we should Bumped up on the production schedule.
Speaker 1:Yep and sponsor a show.
Speaker 2:And sponsor a show. So guess what? We just made all sorts of side deals in this whole conversation.
Speaker 1:No, but that works out great. So this is going to go out to a lot of people, and then we would like to be there with our stuff so we can show everybody what Crush Fest really is, what it really means. On an impact, yes, it's alcohol. Yes, I'm sure there's a million other things that could be impactful. However, what this does to our community here is it brings everyone together. It makes Virginia Beach what it is. It is a scene. Sorry, folks, it is a party town. We do live on the beach. We do like to get buzzed, we like to ride our beach cruisers, we like to go surfing, we like to hang around.
Speaker 1:We like to fuck off, so come do it all with us in one day, on the Sabbath.
Speaker 3:If it's ugly, let's have a cocktail. If it's snowing, let's have a cocktail. Let's have a cocktail?
Speaker 1:Let's have a cocktail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the hurricane party is drink everything that's cold first and then move on to the red wine last.
Speaker 3:That's pretty much it.
Speaker 2:That's the reason to have a, and I think you coming up in it and again, like I said, we don't get a lot of female presence because, kitchen-wise, you know, you just don't see as much of it in the industry. So I mean, you've been in it now for how many years is this?
Speaker 3:So 23 years.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So 24 years. So Mike and I will be 23 years married in April.
Speaker 1:So that's 23 years of restaurant bar experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, decades in April, so that's 23 years of restaurant bar experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's 23 years of not the marriage part of it, but that's 23 years of a life you probably didn't expect. You didn't expect to be a restaurateur or vodka or anything like that, so so that's pretty interesting because a lot of people fall into it by accident and they make the best of it, and then you have some people that work their ass off to be into it and just can't fit into it because they can't get through the work mode and a lot of our podcasts end up being on that. It's such a hot topic how much people want for less People want to come in and work they don't want to put in the value of what they really are.
Speaker 1:They think they're overvalued. They overvalue themselves all the fucking time and don't realize it just comes down to work. Dude, if you're not willing to do the same work that I did to be where I am, we're never going to be on the same page, and it's not a comparison, it's an understanding, you know.
Speaker 3:There's a different level of grind that is in somebody's soul that is an entrepreneur or a successful entrepreneur or that is passionate about their product or what they're serving.
Speaker 1:I don know it's. I don't think that can be taught, I think it's inherent. Yeah, people say to me all the time I want to be like you and I say well, you know something? That's funny. You say that because sometimes I want to be like you. Right, I want to wake up and not give a shit me. I want to wake up and not have to do a fucking thing. I want to wake up, I want to. I want to wake up and be five minutes of work. I want to wake up, I want to. I want to wake up and be five minutes of work. I want to show up to you know, yeah, I want to show up to work 10, 20 minutes late, not give a fuck, I want to bitch a little bit about having to be.
Speaker 1:I want to do, I want to be you. So you think you want to be me. No, you don't Go ahead. Try, give me a week of your life. I we have to get from one step to the next, to the next, to the next, and people don't understand that Eventually they will the younger people, hopefully, will at some point in time.
Speaker 3:I have a lot of hope for this new generation because I think that my contemporaries had it kind of easy. There was not a lot of hardship, but the kids that went through COVID and saw what was went through covid and now their lives have changed a little bit. I think they are going to be more grinders, they're going to stand up for what they believe in more.
Speaker 1:I think it's I'm younger yeah I think the generate gen x kids parents yeah our kids are in that generation coming up and I think that they're a reflection of us and I think anyone in their 20s and early, even coming into their 30s, is is going to be the hope for us. I think they have the generational they need to. They're the ones who are going to be working more. They're the ones I can count on more. It's some people in their mid-30s right now going into 40s. They're hard.
Speaker 1:It's hard, man, because not all of them, but man the big percent, they're hard. It's hard, man, because not all of them, but man the big percent, it's hard.
Speaker 3:Parents did a little more gifting to that 30 year old age group right now, I think so.
Speaker 1:Coddling maybe, or something, but I don't understand it. I don't have to understand it. All I know is that the new age of people now, the mid twenties, early twenties, those people that are coming in are the hope. I think they're the ones that are grinding and getting it, but enough of them. Enough of them. Who cares right now? Let's talk about this. I want to talk about your future. I mean you. You guys are known at the beach. You have a lot going on, which means you have a lot of interest in the beach, which means you have heartfelt. You want the right things to happen in the beach. So when you're, when you're in a position like that, no matter where you live, that, what do you see happening? Because it reflects on everywhere. It's all the same.
Speaker 3:I don't know if I can talk about this um, well then, don't.
Speaker 1:Don't talk about the politics, the politics of the beach. I'm talking about what we just said the direction. Where do you think it's going to happen to virginia beach as a, as a scene, as a life, as a, as a?
Speaker 3:I think we have one of the most beautiful beaches on the East Coast. I think it's very underdeveloped and I think that's beautiful. I think we have a lot of ugly buildings and stuff that's unkept. Our oceanfront looks, I feel, the same.
Speaker 1:I think that our trapped in the 80s mentality as far as holding everyone accountable to run. I feel that if it was just easy for me to snap my fingers I would have an outline of everything on how it's supposed to kind of agree and have something format. We have a format of how you're supposed to carry your business and conduct it to make a proper looking city.
Speaker 3:If you don't know what color to paint your building, paint your building white and black yeah make it simple right keep it simple, like a creole, a crayon yeah, but that's 70, that's a 90s, it's still that old beach town yeah, like it's bad something just neutral, I think would class up the atlantic avenue right, not the aqua colored wall with a purple trim.
Speaker 1:What the fuck like 42 colors yeah, it's not good. So I understand what you're saying there, where you're going with that it is.
Speaker 3:It is like that but my passion would be for making. We need local people to start reinvesting in their properties and reinvesting in operating business and stop just soaking off the tourists that come through and hope they get another, another round of tourists.
Speaker 1:It's almost like they're just waiting for another round of tourists and hoping they come. Well, eventually they're not going to come, fuckers, because you keep making it look like shit. That's what she's saying. Tighten up.
Speaker 3:There's that Goddamn vodka.
Speaker 2:There's that. Well, I mean, what are the growing pains that you foresee in the next couple of years, Like I mean that they're really going to have to overcome couple of years, like I mean that they're really going to have to overcome.
Speaker 3:I think it's expensive to maintain buildings and expensive to repair, and it's really hard to find people in the trades to work. So I think there's that. I think our city in general is difficult to work with, with having permits issued in an efficient manner, which then costs more. You have delays. It's just a bunch of bureaucratic crap.
Speaker 2:Well, and you've had to build out several spaces so you also have the event space. Now you have the tasting room. I mean you've built out different spaces.
Speaker 3:My husband and I, when we were like together on this particular piece of property, have been battling the city for a couple of years. They've been battling us. They literally it's. I can't explain to you. You would think that because there's so much property ownership between him and so much personal investment in the community and having your family, business and family be there for the. He's the third generation that you would get a little bit of respect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really sad. Why are you fighting? Somebody that wants to do good and you got to take in all those generations of taxes that were brought in, employees that were paid, careers that were fulfilled, all that stuff. And it's hard when you get that good old boy network behind everything, it's hard to break and penetrate that sometimes.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm ready for the good old boy network behind everything. It's hard to break and penetrate that something. Well, I'm ready for the good old network to come back, because what we have right now, yeah well, they are there, it's just not your good old boys well, it's not the same.
Speaker 1:It's not the same um like they're just someone else's good old boy. What?
Speaker 3:year to be efficient, and I think we as a city lack efficiency.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I think that's most. I mean, that's most cities. But what year did Waterman's open? What was the 81. Okay, so yeah, you've been a staple down there for that many years and to see successful businesses, but it was prior to that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my husband's family owned the building and the land prior to that.
Speaker 1:So for those that have the most to gain also have the most to lose and they also have the most to say. So that's kind of where it is, and then you have everyone underneath or everyone below it that don't really pay attention to it. So there's never, you can never get ahead because there's not enough numbers to come ahead with you, and and but all's we can keep doing. All's we can keep doing is producing and providing everyone who looks up to us.
Speaker 3:Try to lead by an example. I want the properties landscape beautifully, I want everything done beautifully and tastefully where other people, men and women feel comfortable, and I think the best thing is to be welcoming in your city, and once everybody does that, then we can have a much better place where it's happy.
Speaker 2:It's just more comfortable to be there. But, yeah, I'm excited that Crush Fest is back too, and I'm excited and this is one story I have to share because, just to attest to your work ethic so there's certain people who work hard every day, no matter what it was. When we did our podcast release, you were there, sponsored cocktails for it, which was amazing, and we were trying to put up the banner in the back, and this bitch is in like a skirt and heels and she just like throws her shoes off, jumps on the ground, starts putting things together.
Speaker 1:Like didn't even have to ask yeah, took charge.
Speaker 2:And those are the people you want to work with, that I've seen you operate in your best and you're back.
Speaker 3:you're doing everything there's nothing that I won't do. How can you ask somebody else to do it if you won't do?
Speaker 1:it Exactly, I hear you, or, having done it Right, you know what I'm saying. So here's the thing I want to know with that attitude is why it's kind of leading into my next thing. Here You're. You're jumping into the vodka industry. The spirits, let's say, vodka. It is a, if you really want to think about it, it is a complete risk because it's such a diluted industry. Just like me jumping into the pasta sauce game. Right, it's a risk we take because we really believe in our product and we believe that we're going to put in the work it takes, so on and so forth. Do you find yourself challenging some of these bigger vodka companies that have so much money? I mean, you're online on par with Tito's and all this other stuff. They have the time behind them, the national press, the public, the money. Do you find yourself trying to Right, but they didn't. At first they had what you had. So are you finding it hard to penetrate that thing, or is it coming natural or what?
Speaker 3:I'm finding it hard to be okay with the little pieces of success, like where I think I'm going to have a personal problem is not appreciating the small wins that ultimately lead to bigger wins.
Speaker 1:Right, right, and then we all do that Sure.
Speaker 3:Is it ever enough For?
Speaker 2:you Probably not.
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 1:Same thing with us when we're doing our podcast. So if we put a lot of time, our team is right here. You can't see him on camera. We all put a lot of time and energy and effort into this, every piece of this production, and you can see here there's a lot of stuff going on back there. And if we sat there every day wait a minute, I sit there every day and look at these frigging numbers and the stats and the likes and the subscribes, you can't help but do it. And even though you got some decent numbers that week, like you said, that ain't shit. We need more. And it seems like, no matter what we do, there's never going to be, unless somebody just said hey, did you see the thing? Today there's a million subscribers all of a sudden, and then we made it and then never make it but then we'll be looking at like how come it just won't hit a million?
Speaker 1:yeah yeah why can't I get that extra one? Now you're fiending yeah so it's. It's hard for people like us and I think that's what keeps us going is like you said. So that's great answers is that it's really hard to grab small wins, it's hard to go, and now you want the next big one.
Speaker 3:My mom wrote me a little note the other day. She goes I've been by the house a few times to see you, but you haven't been here. She goes. You need to appreciate what you've worked for.
Speaker 1:You need to slow down you know like just giving the mom love? Everyone says that and it doesn't happen.
Speaker 2:But you have. I mean, you're also a mom. Yes, like you have to balance the kids, the sports, the school, the trips, the businesses, the husband. Like you have to balance it all. And yeah, you're not going to be home much, we do make that, yeah, and it's it's what we all have to do and it's been.
Speaker 1:It's an honor having you here. We really appreciate you.
Speaker 3:It's been hard to lock her down because you're so busy and and and they're all legitimate business as I know you and and when you say I can't be here because I have to to go to a trade show, yeah, you're still going for this product. Yeah, yeah, pound town, yes, fun. I just came up with a cocktail yesterday called the porch pounder oh yes, nice, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh, that's gonna be good, okay, I need to.
Speaker 1:All right, that'll be funny, okay, okay so we have wines, I have certain rosés and stuff I call the patio pounders because they have a patio.
Speaker 2:Not balcony. Not balcony, but porch. Well, we're going to have a. We're a little classier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Keep your skirt up. Keep your skirt up girls. So anyway, listen.
Speaker 2:Where it all goes downhill, let's do one thing.
Speaker 1:Let's do one thing. I want you to sit down with me, Nikki. Let's get Nikki over here with a review. Let's do a quick review.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, yeah, let me do this one. Yeah, we have time, we have like five minutes.
Speaker 1:Let's do a quick review. We're asking if we have time. It's for social media, let's do it.
Speaker 2:So we'll pick one that's kind of more generic food-wise, because you probably dealt with this with the ingredients part of review, so now just for these are reviews online that are one star for Tony.
Speaker 1:So so what I do is I just for all those who don't know I go online. I look at all the reviews all the time. There are some what would some people would call bad reviews that actually have some substance to them that we can learn from. Those are actually put into the good review file because if we can learn from them and gain from them and fix the problem and there was a solution, that's very important, just as important as a great review, right? So when that a bad review? For me, when I shit on them, it's just an outlandish review that they can go fuck themselves. It's just like you know what dude, I don't know who hurt you or touched you on your butt when you walked through the door. Oh my God, I don't know who touched you, but that's what we're going to talk about now. So go ahead and read one, chris. I don't know what it is, let's see it when I go ham. Yeah, because they deserve it.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, there's two that I really like, so this is really hard. Do we want to do a takeout order on pizza or do we want to do someone who visited from Chicago and didn't get a seat for 20 minutes?
Speaker 1:Let's do both, but we'll do them quick, Do them quick go, Because we haven't done these in a bit.
Speaker 2:Okay, this one's short, so we're just going to comment on this, because you deal with takeout and fresh ingredients all the time, so this is a good one. One star, tyrone, here in Chesapeake.
Speaker 1:One star All right, I'm going to call Tyrone out.
Speaker 2:I ordered takeout from Luce Friday night. I must say the of marks.
Speaker 2:When I initially walked in. It made me want to dine in. Everyone was enjoying themselves, the ambiance was wonderful. Then we go downhill. I was directed to the bar to retrieve my order. I ordered the margarita pizza, which I mean it was not pizza, so we'll clarify on that in a second. I have never been so disappointed. It tasted like cardboard, to be honest, like it was fresh out of a box. The crust was super hard, not your typical crunch. The mozzarella was fake. Every bite the whole mozzarella would slide off the pizza. No flavor whatsoever, actually, they put once so ever, so they need to spell check. I also ordered a slice of chocolate cake which seemed to come out of a box. Horrible experience. I'll try to dine in to change my opinion, but as of now, not impressed. So let's just talk about the to-go thing. When you're ordering, especially that, well, it's not pizza.
Speaker 1:Right, so it's a pizza. So it's a Roman pizza which is a hard crust. It's almost like it's a pre-baked dough. This is how they do it in Rome. It's a pre-baked dough. Your toppings go back on it again and then it let everything melt, unlike a conventional pizza where the whole thing goes in raw, cooks up together. Okay, so it is a crustier, almost like an artisan or artisanal bread crust, and it's absolutely delicious, definitely 100%, a million times over.
Speaker 1:Not something you take to go. You need to eat it as it comes out right away. Of course, fresh mozzarella is going to get hardened again. It melts out and then it becomes tight again because it's fresh, it's real. So is going to get hardened again. It melts out and then it becomes tight again because it's fresh, it's real. So if you do bite it, it's not like regular shredded fake cheese that just stretches. It's all crazy after 20 minutes. It's just the way it is. Tyrone, when you come here to eat my ingredients, what we do here is white tablecloth. As you walked in and looked around the whole place, you should have read the whole room and realize that when you're paying for these type of ingredients that we spend all this money getting here. We don't do it with the intentions of putting it in a fucking box. That's a coffin and we don't want to do it. And I don't even like the fact that sometimes you can get to-go food here, because I really don't.
Speaker 1:But some people will take it and they just won't write a bad review on it because they understand that it's not going to be the quality they got so I'm not going to call tyrone okay, I'm not, don't call and I think that what you should do, tyrone is yeah, maybe you should come here and try it again, but I don't know that's going to help unless you talk to me.
Speaker 1:let me cook for you. Let me show you what it is we're really about and let me make that same exact pizza the way it's supposed to be made, right here. Eat it when it's supposed to be eaten. It's a challenge and let's have that fun. That's a challenge, tyrone, you better call them.
Speaker 3:And enjoy your dirty martini made with Waterman Spirits.
Speaker 1:Waterman.
Speaker 2:Spirits Right here.
Speaker 1:Okay, next one.
Speaker 2:All right, so this is a two-star, so we moved up a little bit. Oh, okay, two Okay. So this conflict. So all right, I'm torn with this review, but I needed to share oh yeah, we love when it starts that way it's tough out here, james it's tough in these streets, all right.
Speaker 2:when we were there last weekend, visiting from chicago, my wife and I didn't have a reservation but got a seat after a 20 minute wait. Not sure if not having a reservation made the host upset, but we were met with a super aggressive attitude, blatant condescension, eye rolling it. I'm not sensitive, so we just assumed they'd had a tough day. Give people the benefit of the doubt and not take it personally After we're seated. The same rude host was our server, or our server was great, but when the host took the menus we had more negative energy and they slammed our menus into the corner on the floor so loud that other patrons asked why they were throwing a tantrum.
Speaker 2:I was honestly worried they were going to do something to our food. We would have left, but I was hungry. Luckily, the food and the other staff were wonderful, but we should never feel like that in a place like this. I saw their feedback and reviews from the owner about how they run a tight ship. Just wish they held their employees to the same standard. Again, the food was amazing. Patrons shouldn't come to feel that way when they go out to eat. I Patrons shouldn't come to feel that way when they go out to eat.
Speaker 1:I recommend the food, but not the ambiance. Okay, so let me tell you.
Speaker 2:Why would you leave too Okay?
Speaker 1:This review was from my Norfolk location and this right here just for the review people out there, this is one of those borderline ones. This is borderline. This could have some validity to it to where it could sneak into the good category. So this is good that you brought this one up Into the good category. So this is good that you brought this one up. Yeah, because she did or he did, sorry, he did mention the food was good, everything was good except for the server. This is where it goes wrong for me the host, not even the server, just the one person. Well, at this time during the week, the host sometimes is a server. It's a very, very small place.
Speaker 2:It's like 20, I mean it's not a big place.
Speaker 1:There's week to two week reservations out at all times. You're luckily got in on a walk-in. Somebody either canceled or they just happened to be lucky. If you got in in 20 minutes Now forever my staff member was at that time had a problem or a stick up their ass, I would have instantly fired them on the fucking scene on the spot, right then and there.
Speaker 1:It wouldn't have been a problem if they were slamming down menus, if the whole restaurant was bad, if everyone saw them rolling their eyes at you. That is a complete. I believe there's a little bit of drama involved, but it's not unrealistic. It's not unrealistic. So I'm actually going to reread this. I'm going to reread this on my personal time now again. Go back and go back and recheck it out. But here's the problem, which was his name. I'm sorry, james, james, james.
Speaker 1:Next time you have an issue like this, reach out to the restaurant management or the owner. You can go online. You can find them online. You can go to their websites they always have forums where you can find them and actually drop a concerning message here so we can deal with it, instead of giving us a two-star review, because every other day, with every other staff member. We're typically right on the money and we do hold it accountable.
Speaker 1:But putting a two-star review on there takes away from the other six or seven to 14 one-star review I mean five-star reviews that the staff got. So as a collective, the staff probably did their good job and by putting a two-star review on there you're taking away from their hard work and efforts. I can easily handle that one person. You can easily fuck up everyone else by having a stupid two-star review. So easily fuck up everyone else by having a stupid one-star two-star review. So call the management, call the owner. They would love to hear from you. This is a borderline decent to good review. I'm not going to say this is all that bad I kind of like that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, James, you did all right.
Speaker 2:It could be fixed. It's one that could be rectified or could have been rectified.
Speaker 1:You had valid problems there. You didn't tear, the whole Food sucked because you had a bad reaction. You said the person sucked. There's only a few I can pick from, so I'm going to go bring this review back and do my work. James if you got so on fire today, James, here's to you. I hope they don't have kids.
Speaker 2:You just ruined Christmas, James.
Speaker 1:Yep, Christmas is coming early this year. Buddy James, you and me are taking this to the home. You just lost up a job. All right, hey, listen, waterman Vodka Spirits Amazing, check them out at the beach. Where can we find you?
Speaker 3:Location and online 712 Atlantic Avenue, oceanfront Road at Virginia Beach and WatermanSpiritscom. And all the.
Speaker 2:ABC stores.
Speaker 1:All the stores.
Speaker 2:You can get it there. You can join me there for $6 Martini Monday on occasion. I've been known to be up there a few times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and high-end vodkas infused with real natural, organic ingredients. It's not a joke. Don't take it as a joke, okay.
Speaker 2:Support local women-owned businesses. Correct, that's what I'm going to say.
Speaker 1:All right, and support this podcast by hitting subscribe and like and sharing it with your friends, and thanks to Mariah for sponsoring the podcast Ciao.
Speaker 2:For now she's like what did I just pay for Ciao?
