Behind BuffaLouie’s Partnership with Heisman Trophy Hopeful Fernando Mendoza

Open a BuffaLouie's. And, and when I found that out, I was like, my God, we gotta do everything we can to help this guy. This is just too beautiful. But when you're just getting going, it's you, like you have to breathe this thing into existence. I didn't want to get in the restaurant business. I wanted to get in the BuffaLouie's business, a standard in Bloomington that I, I've fallen in love with.

Like this is a brand that's been around since 1987, was one location for almost 20 years. Is it a lot of pressure? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation.

getindiana.com is your one stop shop for everything Indiana, from festival and event guides, to blog post covering hidden gems, local businesses, small towns, and more. Check it out and learn something new about the Hoosier State@getindiana.com. And don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter right there at the top, my guest today.

First off, we have Ed Schwartzman. Ed is the co-owner of BuffaLouie's in Bloomington. He has run the restaurant with his wife Jaimie since 2011. He's known for embedding community minded values into the business, supporting local causes in Bloomington, and just being an all around hilarious individual.

We've had 20 minutes here so far, and I'm really excited to dive into this. I'm also joined by Nick Williams. Nick is an Indiana University alum and former part-time Buffalo employee who has risen to become the managing partner of the new Carmel location. He's bringing an insider's perspective on expanding a beloved local brand to the broader Indianapolis region.

Today we're gonna talk about Ed's journey that took him from Lake County down to Bloomington to get into the restaurant biz. We're gonna talk about the evolution of BuffaLouie's and how it became an institution to Indiana Hoosiers everywhere. And we're gonna talk about the expansion into Carmel and some of the fun things you guys were doing, maybe with this really good football team that people might have heard of before.

Gentlemen, welcome to the show. Thank you, Nate. Yes. Thanks for what a, what? An intro. Wow. Come on now. I think we should just cut and say that's a wrap. There it is. I mean, there's one thing you gotta, you gotta just hook 'em in in the first 60 seconds of the podcast. Now they're locked in and we're gonna learn all things BuffaLouie's , um, the interesting piece is.

Neither of you are the original founder of BuffaLouie's, correct? That is correct. Who originally founded the restaurant? So, unlike the movie The Founder, which you might've seen with Michael Keaton, where he pretends to be the founder, uh, a lot of people think I am the founder, but I am not. I'm pr I'm very proud to say that my wife and I saw a great opportunity and we bought the, uh, um, the business from a gentleman named Jay Lieser.

Jay and his family moved from Buffalo, where chicken wings obviously originated. Uh, you might have heard of the Anchor Bar. And um, uh, they moved from Buffalo to Munster, Indiana in the mid to late eighties. Jay came to school down here at IU and um, he saw an opportunity in, in the market there was no chicken wings, and they opened up a hole in the wall restaurant, uh, on 17th Street in Bloomington called BuffaLouie's.

Uh, Jay's grandfather, his name was , he's from Buffalo, and they put it together. And they put it together as BuffaLouie's. And if you look at the, uh, the, the logo that is Louie Lieser, that's Jay's grandfather. Um, the reason he has a cigar in his mouth. I've seen, I've never met Lou. He was passed on long before I, I, I joined the team, but, uh, he always had a cigar in every single black and white picture you'll ever see a blue.

Lisa always had the stokey, you know, working in his hand. I mean, he sounds like a heck of a guy. Yeah, well that's, that's how it was back then. So anyway, so Jay, Jay and his family founded it. Uh, all the recipes are from his mom, Trudy, who, uh, is uh, just a beautiful woman still around and still cooking and very vibrant and, um, through a whole series of random events, which we might get into without boring you to death.

I somehow came onto the picture more about 2007 and eight, but we wound up buying it in 2011. Okay. So you, you started your journey with Buffalo started in 2007. We talked about it a little bit before the show, and I wanna dive into this. Your journey to Bloomington, into the restaurant business is one, a little bit of a rollercoaster, I would say.

Right? Take us back to what brought you, you're originally from New York. Born and raised in New York through a whole series of random events. Uh, I, I'm, I'm a traveling salesman. I wind up at the Park West nightclub in Chicago. It's on Armitage and Diversey. I think it's still around. It's a very popular club.

They have, uh, big names that play there. I'm at the Park West. I meet a young lady as luck would have it, and, uh, what looked like just, you know, a, a summer fling to, you know, one thing leads to another as it often does. And next thing I know, I have an opportunity to move back to New York and, uh, I ask her to move back with me and we wind up getting married.

Uh, then we moved to la back to Chicago. All just a lot of random things that happened. And I'll spare your listeners all the details, but eventually I wind up in Munster, Indiana and, uh, my neighbor, they call that the LA of the, of the Midwest. I'm assuming you're joking. Go Mustangs, baby. Come on. Yeah, yeah.

Well, yeah, Mustangs. But I don't see any similarities to la. But, um, uh, no disrespect to Munster, but nonetheless, uh, became friends with the founder of Buffalo when I was going through my divorce. Uh, and my life was really spiraling outta control. As I mentioned earlier, I lost my son Ben to suicide, which, okay.

Yeah, it was a tough, tough time. And without a question, I'm in a, how old were you at that point and how old was your son, Ben, at that point? Ben, Ben was 19 and I was, um, maybe 45, 44, 45. And once he apartment me, but once he died, you know, all roads led to Ben. And so, and you know, the old, old line, all my friends were her friends.

Uh, meaning that my ex-wife was from there and there was no reason for me to stay, particularly 'cause my daughter was gonna come to school. Down in Bloomington. Pardon me? And question two kids. Two kids, yeah. Ben and Haley. Uh, younger daughter. Older son? Yes. Very good. Okay, so 19. So he had just graduated high school, right?

He was in a freshman year of college. Where was he gonna school at? Purdue Calumet at the time. Okay. So close to home, correct. Obviously this is a, a tragedy at the same time that you guys are going through your divorce, correct? Yeah. That's a, that's heavy. Your daughter was a senior. She was, she was maybe a sophomore or junior.

How did that moment change the trajectory of your life in ways that you can't even measure? Um, I'm able to look back on it now and I'm just so grateful that I had him as a son. You know, Nick just had a, a beautiful boy named Otto. And you know, when, when it, when Ben was born, the doctor would've handed it to me and said, here's the deal, ed.

You're gonna have his son for 19 years. You're gonna love him as much as any father ever loved his son. And he's gonna love you as much as any son ever loved a father, but you're gonna lose him at 19. Would you take the deal? And I would say, I would take it every time. So I, I'm not happy how it ended. I'd give anything to not, you know, yeah.

Talk about 'em in the past tense. But we had 19 beautiful years. Some parents have kids that are, are still alive and they don't speak to each other. And so I have great memories and I'm very fortunate 'cause I've been remarried since and I've two more kids. Um, and Ben left me some amazing music, which I'm working on a project to do something productive with his music.

So it's a matter of perspective. Yeah. Obviously the first two years were brutal. Just getting through the day was not easy. Paralyzing. I used to pray to die every day. I, I wish a meteor would've fallen out the sky if a tractor trailer would've ran me over. But, um, apparently God had other plans and in the words of Ernest Hemingway, the sun also rises and the sun rose for me.

I mean, I was in a dark, dark place for two years. Yeah. And now, I mean, it, it's, I'm, I'm as shocked as anybody about where I am and my position in life and my outlook on life, knowing where I've been. But, uh, you know, they say you gotta stick around, you know, uh, back in the day when the explorers headed west, they would always say, let's see on the, what's on the other side of that hill?

What's on the other side of that hill? Yeah. And there's only one way to see what's on the other side of that hill. You gotta stick around. And, uh, for me, by sticking around and just plugging and chugging and you know, after a while you feel sorry for yourself and you say, well, this isn't working. I gotta do something more productive.

Yeah. I got, I got very lucky. Late in life. Extremely lucky. So, yeah. You said two years. Very dark. What helped get you out of that darkness and, and into this next chapter? Well, without question number one is my wife Jaimie, my current wife. Yeah. While I was going through all this, I, I wind up moving outta Bloomington.

I wind up. Let's talk about that. How do you end up leaving Lake County, leaving the region as some call it to head down to Bloomington at the perfect time, uh, when your daughter is going to be a freshman at IU. Just what every college age girl wants as her dad tagging along for the ride. Correct. And she was not too happy about it?

Not at all. But, uh, it, it worked out well. Ultimately, she wound up working for us, which was a very nice compliment. So you had a friend in my, the original founder, Jay, correct. Was the owner of BuffaLouie's down in Bloomington. Correct. And you said, Hey, can I go work at your restaurant? Well, I mean, he, he, he knew of my struggles.

He knew I'd lost my son and, um, he approached me and said, you know, I've got this shop down in Bloomington. If you're interested, you know, we could use an adult presence. And I and I, I've managed casinos. I, I'm, I'm into guest service. I'm really bad at a lot of things, but I'm very good at very small amount of things.

And one of them is being a, a frontman, just walking around. How is everything folks? Good to see you. Can I get you something else? We appreciate you coming in. That kind of stuff. I'm not good at making food. I'm not good at putting away trucks, but I'm good at being a frontman. And that's what I did in the casino business.

I was the guest service manager and I'd walk the casino floor and, you know, do whatever I needed to do to keep people happy. But, um, so Jay knew my skillset and said, we could use somebody like you down there in Bloomington. And I moved down there really just to get a fresh start and clear my head. Yeah.

And, um, one thing led to another and it, you know, without Jaimie, and it took a while 'cause I was a, an emotional mess as you could imagine. And I encouraged her to stay away. I really did because I just didn't think I was worthy or I just knew she could have done better. Yeah. But she stuck around and stuck around and.

I was said, fine, you wanna get married or let's go. And one thing led to another and we got married, um, in, in Vegas, which was a whole nother story, which we'll say for another day. And it, it was not a shotgun wedding or anything like that. And then a, a year to the, almost a year to the day that we got married, we had our first child, Avery.

And um, five years later we had our second child. And now at the rip old age of 64, I have a 15-year-old who's starting point guard at Bloomington South High School. I'm proud to say. And, uh, co Panthers. Yeah, exactly. She's a Avery Sportsman, a nice little player. And then I have a, a 10-year-old son, Elliot, who is, uh, all boy, I mean all boy, and exhausts me just thinking about 'em.

I get tired just talking about 'em. And, um, I'm a very, I mean, how the sun has risen again for me is. It is really unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, I was at the depths of depression and now here I am. What a wild ride. And when you moved down to Bloomington alongside your, what's your oldest daughter's name? Uh, Hailey.

Hailey. So Hailey goes to be a freshman in Bloomington. You go to run BuffaLouie's in Bloomington. And that's where you guys' paths crossed? Correct. Nick, you were a part-time employee there? That is correct. Where are you from originally? I'm originally from Richmond, Indiana. Richmond. Go, red Devils. I was gonna say, you said Panthers.

I'm see, come on now. Know the Red Devils. Good job. Yeah. Okay. From Richmond, you go down to Bloomington and you get your first part-time job and you walk into, what year was this? Sophomore. So freshman year, I, uh, grades were slipping as most, uh, incoming freshmen do. Yeah. Yeah. Sophomore year we're moving in and we're going to, you know, the, the iconic BuffaLouie's.

And I remember we're sitting up for, for those of our guests that have been there, I'm sitting up in the sky box, uh, with me and my buddies and all of our parents. And, uh, my, my, my really good friend, uh, had worked in the restaurant business. I never have. And you know, ed being the frontman, like he said, comes up to the table, greets us.

And one of his things that he'd always ask is like, who needs a job? And then of course, both of our moms were like, they do, and pointed at me and a buddy. And then, you know, he asked, have, have you guys ever worked in the restaurant business before? And I haven't. And my other guy, he, he had worked at Chipotle part-time, so he's like, yeah, I have.

So Ed was like, all right, yeah, we'll, we'll take him. He ended up, uh. Hiring both of us. My, my guy, uh, my friend Tyler actually ended up not taking the job and I did. Which kind of leads us into a little bit of a funny story. Yeah. Day one, you take this job, you've never worked in a restaurant before. Mm-hmm.

Day one, you show up, Ed's your boss, you walk in, how does it go? So back in the day, you had to go online and this, this is my reasoning. We're, we're gonna stick to this story and, uh, this, this could be false or not false. But anyways, I, uh, had to apply for, uh, what days I could work and what days I had class.

So the days in which I had class, I had. You know, sw swapped the, uh, my availabilities. So first day I'm supposed to come in and work at, uh, BuffaLouie's. I was actually scheduled for class, so no-call, no-show. So the next day I get online to check my schedule and it says, you know, you're blocked, can't get in.

So I call the store and I'm like, what the heck's going on here? And I vividly remember the, the manager on the other line saying, uh, yeah, we fired him. If he wants his job back, he's gonna have to come in on Monday. And, you know, talk to the owner, Jaimie. And I'm thinking, oh, great. Here I go. I just, mom, you know, grades are slipping.

Mom's like, get a job. And I You get fired before you even show up, get fired on day one 'cause of a technological mishap. Yes. So you go in there, what does the conversation look like as you sing for your supper, trying to get your job back? Oh, there's a lot of tears and a lot of whining. No, I, I went in there and kind of honestly laid it down.

Jaimie, um, as Ed will tell you, is a lot more, uh, strict and, and by the book on things. So I, I was nervous and back then they used to have a. Uh, an office that's probably a fourth of the size of this room. Oh, so it's huge. Yes, very huge. Exactly. Massive. Because our podcast studio is very, very large. So I had to go in there and it's, uh, her and Janelle and I'm sitting in there, you know, as a kid and just like, listen, I need this job, blah, blah, blah.

And she ended up giving me the opportunity to get the job back. And um, it's funny 'cause she like a week later was asking some people to help move, uh, some friends out of a house and, you know, I gotta suck up and get some brownie points. So I signed up and said I'll do it. And you know, she always looked back, she's like, man, I had no idea who this kid was.

I just fired him, brought him back, and then now I'm having him help me move a friend out of their house. And here we are, about 10, a little over 10 years later and yeah. Got my own BuffaLouie's. Yeah. That, which is an interesting piece to the story. So. Talk to me one about when did Buffalo become iconic in Bloomington as not an IU grad?

I had heard of it before. I know that people from the area love it, love the wings, all that jazz. When did Buffalo become an institution in Bloomington? So, you know, the crazy thing is that he was the no-call, no-show, day one. And um, obviously back then you would fire people for that. Nowadays, if you're a no-call, no-show, we make you the general manager.

Oh, he didn't come in. We love this guy. Isn't it funny how that works? Yeah. It must mean they're they're very involved, right? They're, I very busy. Their time is important. It's, it's, it's an upside down world, but. Um, we did take him back and what he just said is true. My wife said, I'll bring you back if you move my girlfriend's apartment, whatever it was.

And quick side story, we, uh, when I used to work at BuffaLouie's, there was another gentleman that was a pretty good employee as well by the name of Nate. If he's listening to this, he'll think this is funny. So should never, yeah. Nate Shipman, you can never get our names right. So he would just always call me Nick, Nate, just 'cause he knew I was either one of the two.

So he would just call us both ate, and I think I'm probably still on his phone, you know, as that I'm about to show you. Oh, let's see it. Nick, Nate Williams. That's, that's his nickname. That's Nick. Nate Williams. That's hilarious. So now he's got both of us in here. I don't know what, what to do. So there you go.

Just say he calls you Nick, just take it. Yeah. You say, well, you just keep saying nickname and you won't be wrong. Correct. Right. There we go. Correct. Okay. So what year was it when you were working at BuffaLouie's? Uh, it was going into my sophomore year, which was 2012. There you go. Okay. 2012. Did you work there all through college?

I did, uh, up until my senior year. Um, I started as just a, a fry cook. And then by my senior year I was doing a little bit of assistant managing role. Hey, there, we, ed was developing leaders. So I'm, so two things. One, you asked about like, when did Buffalo become iconic? Sometimes lightning strikes in a bottle, and what I mean by that is we opened in 1987, which also happened to be the last year that IU won a a basketball championship.

So you're saying that since BuffaLouie's opened, IU has not won a national championship in basketball? No. Don't try to correlate the two because I could also tell you we fast forward. We are in the football stadium now. We've been in there for two years, and the football team is undefeated at home with us.

They've never lost since Buffalo. So, so IU football has not lost a game since they started serving Buffalo chicken wings at Memorial Stadium. That is, that's a fact that buddy, that's a fact. Mathematical fact. They love it. So, so, um, so you, so if you're gonna blame us for not winning a championship, and you gotta give us credit for, uh, Cignetti and what they're doing right now.

Yeah, absolutely. But anyway, we opened in 87 and, um, Jay and his father, whose name was also Ed, uh, they, they had some tremendous business sense and one thing, they, they embedded themselves with IU basketball, particularly also Bill Mallory, who was a, a tremendous coach in his own right. And, um, uh, so we, back in the late eighties, uh, IU sports programs were, the stock was up.

Mm-hmm. And so, uh, we, the timing was right. It was a little hole in the wall on a street called 17th Street, which now is an insignificant street. Relatively speaking, but back then there was no Route 46, and so there was no bypass. So 17th was the only way in and out of the stadium. So they were on a main thoroughfare.

If, if you looked where it is now, you'd say that was the main thoroughfare back in the day. It was. And so they opened up in 87 on 17th Street, uh, became a, uh, a favorite of the coaches almost overnight. Uh, and the football coaches would always watch tape and eat wings. Uh, Bobby Knight would come in all the time and you know, the rest was history.

So when you know, back then, wings 5 cents, 10 cents because wings were really an afterthought. Now everybody's got wings, but back in the day they would chop the wing off and throw it away. It was kind of an aftermarket product and nobody gave it much thought. Kinda like the potato skin with an God. It's Fridays up until then, no one's, what are they doing with the skins?

So, uh, but we became pretty much iconic right away. And, um, they moved into the, the building we're in now, which is known as the Gables Building. We moved in there in 2005. So did, were there two locations for a while? At one time? There was, and unfortunately what happened was, uh, Jay's dad, again, his name was Ed, uh, passed away rather unexpectedly.

I, I don't remember the details, but he went into, to the hospital for a surgery and there was complications and, um, uh, either never made it out or it was shortly thereafter passed away unexpectedly. So after his dad died, that kind of opened up this whole thing where he would approach me maybe a year or two later and say, 'cause he had three or four managers down there running the shop.Um, but he approached me, he said, ed, I could really use an adult, an adult in the room. And I dunno if there's video on this show, but I do have a big adult kus. And so, uh, it runs in the family. It's genetic. But anyway, so I, so I moved down there and fell in love with the town, fell in love with Jaimie. And, uh, started a new life, which the whole thing is, is a fantasy to me.

Yeah. So then what ended up happening? So there were two locations in Bloomington at the time, right? And eventually, very early on, this is even before Jaimie and I bought the business, we decided that 17th Street was just cannibalizing, um, our other store, meaning it was taking away from the profits. Yeah.

Uh, and then the other thing was that that building needed, desperately needed some TLC. The original store, which you probably never saw, never saw the original store. The building was old and tired. And, um, so the story goes, I think Jay wanted to buy the building and remodel our space. The building was not for sale, couldn't buy it.

And if, if you know anything about, uh, retail and, and restaurants, if you lease the space. And now if you start fixing up the building, you're fixing somebody else's building. Yeah. Which, you know, sounds very benevolent, but you know, you gotta make a living. So we decided not to put the money into the space instead to close it down.

And, um, so that's how that went. When you guys crossed paths, it's 2012. Correct. You end up working there for three years and then you graduate from IU and leave and go off into the world to Yeah, it's been about, it's kind of funny. He talks about being in the casino business. I spent about seven or eight years in the casino business as well.

Oh, where at? Uh, in Shelbyville. So, yeah. Not too far currently on strike. Yeah. They're, they're, they're in a world of, a little bit of a dispute happening in Shelbyville at the moment. For sure. Yeah. A lot of, I don't know if you knew that. No. The dealers walked out. All dealers were on strike. Yeah. Yeah.

Walked out, said they're, they're like, uh, upset with Caesar's. They want more higher pay and it's just cheap to run a casino in Indiana, as you know, Indiana's one of the best real estate markets and. Wow. Yeah, it's tough. Insider inspo on the, that's actually public. You can read kind of about that. That's what the strike's more or less about.

Yeah. Is just the amount of money taking. So then you end up leaving the casino business. Correct. And how many times did someone approached you since you own, since you took over the business and owned it in 2011, so that'd be 14 years. How many times have people approached you about opening new locations?

That is a great question. Now I see why you're such a phenomenal success. Nate Spangle all the time. I mean, on, on busy weekends. Like for example, this weekend, Wisconsin's coming to town. And if I'm walking the store now, unfortunately it's a, it's a noon kickoff. So let's say I'm walking the restaurant afterwards, four o'clock, five o'clock, we, we have a win.

We have a line out the door. We have hundreds of people in the restaurant. There's all these dads from all over, whether it's Chicago, la, whatever. They're eating our wings, eating our burgers. And as they're eating, they're saying to me, man. You order open one of these in and you fill in the blank wherever they're from.

Everyone's, everyone's quick to tell me. We should have one here, open one there, but my response is always, listen, we could open it tomorrow, but it can't be me. I can't be in two places at once. But if you wanna open one, we certainly can now take, lemme take your card. I'm very interested. I'd love to own one of these.

And then of course we never hear from again, no one ever hit because this is like five beers deep. They're eating the chicken wing saying this is the best thing. Well, they get home and they tell their wife and their wife's like, you're not opening a restaurant. And that's the end of that story. Yeah. So, but Nick, a, I want, I'm glad you asked this question, because of all the employees I've ever had.

The greatest thing that Nick Williams had was a can-do spirit. He still does to this day. And what a great way to go through life no matter what the, the situation was. Did you ever see the movie Die Hard? Yes. Okay. Do you remember in the movie Die Hard when, um, uh, Bruce Willis', uh, crawling through the air ducts and he's on the radio with the cops and he says to the cop, listen, pal, you're either part of the problem or part of the solution.

'cause the cops are messing it up, they're not making it better. And he's, and so there are certain employees when there was a problem and you'd see them walking in, you'd say, oh my God, it's about to get worse. 'cause here comes sad Sack Jones. Well, when Nick walks in, thank God, here comes Nick. He's gonna help solve the problem.

I could always envision Nick walking up to me clapping his hands and saying, oh, what can I do for your boss? That, that was his famous line. And a lot of kids, when they would say that to me, I'd say, you know what? Go see if the bathrooms eat cleaning or something. And which is certainly you need to keep the bathrooms clean, but there's also a way to get rid of them.

With Nick, I would give him a real assignment knowing it would get done and, um, the, the can-do spirit of this guy. So he would tell me for years, I'm gonna open one of these, one day I'm gonna open one of these one day. And I, I'd always be like, fine, Nick, I hope you do. But I, I mean, other than me cheering him on, there's nothing I could do.

And then, uh, one day he calls me and says, I think we're ready. I put together a team and, uh, let's go out and find a spot. And, um, it was not easy to find a spot. I mean, we looked and looked and looked. Where, where was the initial thought, Carmel? Was it always Carmel? Uh, no. And we've looked probably everywhere in the Indianapolis area.

Look, downtown Greenwood. Um, but actually a little bit in Broad Ripple as well. Uh, but we correct, we, we ended up, uh, one, one of my partners is is from Carmel and uh, we ended up getting very, very fortunate, uh, landing a spot right on Main Street. Yeah. I mean the spot is insane. Back patio, definitely live music.

You had karaoke ripping on weeknights. It's great. Definitely. I've had, thank you Nate. I think I was there on a wine Wednesday, maybe like half price bottles of wine. You were there on a Wednesday. Yeah, that's definitely our half win. There you go. I think it was wine and karaoke on a Wednesday. That's right.

And it was. Lit, which is very nice for like an adult, like for, you know, like I'm, if temporary expectations, if you're expecting like rock lobster type on a Wednesday, like that's not what we're going for here. But like we were eating wings, drinking wine, listening to people sing karaoke, great vibes. Yeah, I think we're a perfect, uh, mix of both a sports bar and like a, a family style.

I mean, it's perfect for like washed up all alums, just like wanna watch some sports, eat some wings, hang out, like it's the move. So you end up, and if anyone knows you are in like the heart of Carmel. Correct. So you're talking about looking at Greenwood and brought up on all these places and somehow you land probably one of the most expensive pieces of.

Retail real estate in the state of Indiana. Don't remind them. Tell me about that story. Yeah, it, uh, so, uh, like I said, I, I have a, a couple partners, uh, one being, uh, a local, uh, attorney up there. And then the other being, uh, IU basketball player, Yogi Ferrell. We were having a meeting and we were looking all over, like I said, we were in Greenwood downtown looking at massive places and small places.

And, you know, we sat down and we said, okay, what are we doing? Like we, we just have no. You know, recollection of what, you know, we're trying to proceed. We kept saying we wanted something turnkey where we walked in and just turned the door and it was ready to go, which, and definitely didn't happen. But, um, Jay said something, uh, the founder, he said we were in a meeting and he said, you know, we don't need an a location.

We. No, he said We need a a, a B spot in an a location. He said The building doesn't need to be crazy as long as the location's good. So that's kind of where we landed. Right on Main Street and Veterans Way. Uh, it was, uh, an old, uh, the kitchen is was an old barber shop and the, uh, the dining room now was an old, uh, coffee shop.

Talk about turnkey. Yeah, no kidding. Nothing like figuring out how to cook wings in a barber shop for sure. So, and later there's hair on my chicken. Well, it's supposed to be, it comes with it's, yeah, yeah. You know, you get feather, you get like a one two fade and you get some chicken wings. Let's go.

Definitely. So we, uh, you know, ended up buying the building and then, uh, you know, going through our construction phase, which took entirely too long. But, uh, you know, I, I have never heard anyone doing a build out that's ever been like, yeah, we finished a month early, like not one time, which is very true. I think we've put out 215 episodes of this podcast, at least.

Not one single person has ever finished a build out ahead of, ahead of schedule and under budget. That correct? Well, the other thing is, you know, like I said, we're, I come from the casino business, they're restaurant guys. There's only a couple people with, uh, some real, real estate and construction background.

So when we're trying to put this thing together, it, you know, it takes a lot of minds and trial and error and going back and forth on bathrooms. Go here, what goes here? I mean, still to this day there's like little crevices and stuff. I'm like, ah, we could have changed that, this, that and the other. Uh, but one thing that like we really focused on and that I'm pretty proud on is I wanted it it to replicate.

Uh, the Bloomington location as much as possible. Now, for those of you that have been down there, you know, that's not easily said. It's easier said than done because of all the jungle gym type seating in there, but, um, the, the, the memorabilia and all the stuff on the walls down there is like what takes you away when you go up to order at the counter and you see everything.

So I just, you know, really focused on, you know, making it, you know, Indiana themed rural sports themed. Um, you know, it's, it's majority IU, but we have a lot of cold pacers and stuff like that. Um, we try to do any pretty stuff. So we, there is a section with all the big 10 banners and Purdue happens to be in the Big Ten.

So they're, they're up there, but there's not much. I will say this though, for the Purdue listeners, um, and, you know, being, being one year in Carmel, there's tons of Purdue fans up there. We, um, we'll always play Purdue games on at the restaurant. Uh, we actually have a couple couples that come in for the games.

I always say, though, the food's really good, don't pay attention to the stuff on the walls. Uh, and you'll be good to go. So that is a welcome invite to all Purdue fans. Well, that's, by the way, by the way, if anybody listening lives in, uh, Lafayette or West Lafayette and wants to put a buffalo, is there, we're receptive.

In other words, we are IU fans, obviously we make a living in Bloomington, make a living in Carmel. If we set up in West Lafayette. I think we'd be black and gold. And I know I'm gonna be struck down for saying that, but yeah. All your loyal Buffalo listeners are like, hell, like, you could put this thing.

Yeah, they probably, they probably, you could put a buffalo e on the, the sun before we put one in West Lafayette. Yeah. How long does it take to build out the entire Carmel store and get it ready to rock? Probably under what, a year and a half, two years? Maybe too long. Yeah. Were you still working somewhere else at this time?

So for a little bit. Um, it's a little bit of both. I, uh, started off, uh, working in the casino business while we started off the first like couple stages of the construction project. Mm-hmm. And then once, uh, we were getting a little bit closer. 'cause like I said, those timelines and such don't really come to fruition until the end of the project.

So I kind of held out in the casino business as long as I could. And then once I, uh, pulled the trigger with that, I spent about, uh, a year with Ed down in Bloomington, kind of greasing the skids again and taking the training wheels off. And uh, so I did that for a year. And then when. We were getting ready to open, I think we took about two or three months just, uh, up in Carmel hiring and, uh, doing a little bit of training up there.

Why, like, why, you know, start this career in the casino and entertainment business and then go back to your college job to start a Buffalo . Well, it's, it's, it's good. You're right. This is great question. So, um, like Ed said, I, I've always kind of told him just like everyone else has about, Hey, I wanted to open a BuffaLouie's.

Uh, but there was, uh, one day in, um. It was right after, it was like kind of during the pandemic, kind of on the outskirts of it. I was, uh, downtown with my, my roommate and I was working till 1:00 AM and I was tired of just the casino business being there every night doing all this stuff. And I wrote down on my phone, I was, I was just having these ideas and I wrote down on my phone, open a BuffaLouie's, and I didn't, I said it as a reminder every day for eight 30 and I just thought like, you know, hey, maybe I should do this.

Maybe I should do this. Um, I've always believed in BuffaLouie's. I always say, tell people I didn't wanna get in the restaurant business. I wanted to get in the BuffaLouie's business. So I didn't quit my job to go open up my own restaurant or do something that I came up with. It was a, a, a, a standard in Bloomington that I've fallen in love with, that everyone's kind of fallen in love with.

I had known it from an insider's perspective, uh, working with Ed and Jaimie and I, you know, always say, you know, I learned just as much, if not more from them working with them than I did like at Indiana University. But I, uh. You know, I had that idea and I put it in my phone, and probably it was two or three years later when, until it started coming to fruition.

So I had to have that reminder every day to do it. And then it was during COVID. So, uh, one thing about Buffalo ' people know if we've done delivery and carry out service from, you know, before all these DoorDash, before all the Uber Eats. And so when COVID hit all these restaurants, had to get, you know, quick on their feet and get to takeout, get to carry out and figure out how to, you know, stay alive with carryout.

And I remember thinking, man, Buffalo was delivering and had their own delivery drivers doing this stuff before it was cool. Now we're on the outside of the pandemic and, you know, being the owner of Buffalo, and Carmel, we do tons of carryout business. I mean, a lot of people these days love to take food home and eat as opposed to going out.

And, uh, other than pizza, you know, that's probably the number one most takeout food wings is number two. Oh, for sure. Right. Like big sports game, you know, it's, it's 50 50. Are you like no one's. All the respect to Curry. But like, no one's like, let's, let's get some curry and watch the game. You know? Yeah.

Like, it'll be a fun Saturday. Well, I always say wings a pizza. Well, baseball, you think of hot dogs. Football, you think of, of wings. Honestly, that's so true. For sure. Getting wings, watching football, like the Super Bowl. You gotta have wings for sure. Yeah. I, I want to add something about, uh, what Nick just said, that, um, there's a very famous story about Jim, well, what he did, I forget the psychological term, but he's predicting, he's determining his own future.

Yeah. By, by him setting a reminder every day he would wake up, I think it was at eight 30 in the morning, and I found this out very late in the process. I think somehow he, I think somebody said, ed, ed, you need to see his phone. You need to see what he gets every day at eight 30. So he showed me, and there's a very famous story about Jim Carrey, the actor.

So when Jim Carrey was a starving artist and nobody would give him the time of day, uh, he wrote himself a check for a million dollars. Are you familiar with this story? Yes. He writes him, check himself a check for a million dollars, folds it up, dates it, maybe five years in the future. He has no money at this point.

He's, I think he's homeless and he keeps this, this check in his wallet for three years, four years, five years, whenever he can cash it. The week before that check in theory could be cashed. He lands Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Right? And whatever that check was, let's say it's a million dollars, he could have check, he could have cashed it.

In other words, when he wrote it, he had nothing. But by the time the date came to cash that check, he had the funds, which he basically predicted his own future. And the same thing with Nick. He, every single day he would get a reminder, open a BuffaLouie's, . And, and when I found that out, I was like, my God, we gotta do everything we can to help this guy.

He's either half crazy or. You know, half insane or I dunno what, but both we, we, we can't, this is just too beautiful. A lot of times people grow up and you start to float. You get comfortable with whatever you're doing. You know, like, oh, I wake up, I go to work, I come home, I make dinner. I maybe like, you play with your kids.

Do that thing there. But like from this dream or goal, like whatever that might be, whether it's professional, whether it's, you know, being the best parent you can be, being the best athlete, you can be running the fastest marathon, whatever your goal is. Having that constant reminder and, and the motivation to like, keep working.

Right, keep going. So important. Oh my gosh, I love it. Two years in the build process, you finally get Buffalo ' caramel open, which would've been, there were some other stores back in the day, but this would be your first new BuffaLouie's ', correct. In how many years? 15 to 20. 15 to 20 years. Talk to me about opening weekend.

Like you said, there's not any other locations out there, so it wasn't like we had a, a manual that said, all right, step one, step two, step three, this is what you gotta do. I remember we did a couple soft opening, uh, events where we invited friends and family out. Uh, some of the staff down in Bloomington came up as well, and we were just, you know, trying it out here and there.

And, uh, after about two or three of those, we just kind of looked at each other and we were like, well then, you know, no better time than now. We ended up opening on, uh, October 21st. It was a Monday of last year, and uh, we did on a Monday hoping it would be a little slower, and boy, it was like a Saturday night, probably for the first like couple weeks.

We were just crazy figuring things out, um, figuring out what worked and stuff. And that's the thing with restaurants, right? You had a. Oh, you have, they get pressure tested early. Definitely. And things that, you know, may work in, in Bloomington may not work for us up there. I mean, they're, they're laid out differently.

Uh, there's different and a little bit different of a clientele, you know, like, I feel like most definitely. Is it majority college students that come in down in Bloomington, or is it like when parents. Visit Bloomington, you take your parents and go to Buffalo? Both. Both, yeah. Versus like, I don't know how many college students are, it's probably more of like alumni who wanna be nostalgic and, you know, hang out at a spot that reminds them of Bloomington.

They've been around since 1987, have built that, you know, staple. And for us to be, you know, a year old and, you know, have that iconic BuffaLouie's name, you know, attached to our building. Like, I feel like we have, uh, big shoes to fill. Uh, one, you know, Carmel is more competitive in restaurant business. Yeah. So I feel like, I mean, in the last year.

Yeah. So you think about everything that's opened up there, like is, it's challenging, you know, there's, yeah. I mean, new salt goes in new 1933 goes in spectacular spot, by the way, for that upscale, you know, I, I, I do really enjoy that. Definitely. Obviously I'm also And Josephine's. Yeah. You hear me talking. I love Buffalo too.

So, but I feel like it's kind of like we did, what did we do? We went to dinner. Over there. And then we went, we said nightcap. Obviously we end up on the patio, the back of BuffaLouie's in Carmel. Spectacular time. Um, but it is competitive. Is this before we got the pergola or after? There was a pergola. Nice. It was fire.

Uh, and then we had like a DJ back there, like spending karaoke by, this is probably like a month ago maybe. Yeah. We, we liked to dip our hands in a little bit of everything. Too much. I mean, it was cool and, and there were lots of people and I like, this is the crazy part to me. Oh, you talk about how competitive Carmel is in this space.

I graduated in 2019. I could never have dreamed of going out on a Friday night in Carmel. Are you joking me? Like it was so old and suburbian and stodgy and now it's like between you guys and the goat and all three up, it's like the place to be on a Saturday night. It's crazy. No, Carmel is, you know, has a bunch of, you know, new restaurants coming in.

They're redoing a lot of stuff on Main Street down on the end. Um, we're kind of in one of the older style buildings, which I think plays into our character a little bit. And there's not a ton of sports bars No. Right? Correct. Like, that's like places to watch sports in like the greater downtown Carmel area.

A lot of, and that's where I think we fill a pretty good niche up. There is a lot of the restaurants are fine dining, white tablecloth. And I think, you know, we're. You know, right in the middle of the pack where if you want to come get a really good burger, some good wings and watch the game and have a cold one, that's what you need to do.

I was gonna say like on IU game day, is it just unreal? It is. Like you said, perfect timing to open a buffalo when you know Indiana football's doing so well. Um, and everybody saw that coming by the way. Right? Raise your hand if you knew that was gonna happen. Yeah, and anyone, if you are out there and you put your hand up, you're a liar.

So yeah, I mean, it's been absolutely crazy. One thing I always, you know, is our crutch on those days is we fill up, I mean, we just get full. That's why we added that pergola really fast. Um, we went through those winter months where we just had the inside and we just knew we needed more space. So we added that kind of quickly.

It was, uh, a little bit of an investment, but we definitely needed it. What's the most unexpected part about. Owning operating a restaurant. You know, they have been around since 1987. And yeah, we use the same sauce, the same recipes, and do everything. Pretty much the same thing, but there's just, you have to figure it out for yourself and you have to live it.

And there's no way to really understand any restaurant, in my opinion, until you just do it or wing it, let's say. Yeah. Wing it until you wing it. There you go. Exactly. What business are we in? We're in the wing business, so there you go. You're always winging it. I would say maybe not unexpected, but just to pivot on that is, and I'm sure Nick would agree, the relationships that he's already made and will continue to make, um, you know, I've been doing this a lot longer than him and I go out into the community and people know me and it's, I mean, I'm not talking like out of an ego thing, but it's a beautiful thing.

You walk around and people come up and say hello. I've had people take pictures with me, which is like mind boggling. Um, and, uh, it's fun, you know, it also, it makes you a better corporate citizen when you know people know who you are. You, you wanna make sure that you're behaving, that you're not acting like an ass.

Whenever we go out for dinner, my wife's like, you gotta tip really heavy. Like even if the service sucked, I have to over tip. She goes, they know who you are. They, you know, if word gets out that the owner of Buffalo didn't give a 25% tip, you know, we're, we're, we're gonna be done. And meanwhile, well wait a minute, I got bad service now it doesn't matter.

Give 'em 25%, but I don't want to, you have to do it anyway. Is it a lot of pressure? Like this is a brand that's been around since 1987, obviously like was one location for almost 20 years, and then you get to branch out and start the, the second location. There's pressures everywhere. I mean, from which angle?

I mean, financially, my wife, it's life. Yeah. The brand. I mean, they're everywhere. But that's, yeah, like you said, that's life. And I kind of, you know, being a year into it now, um. That I, that's how I prefer it. I, I like to, you know, bet on myself. Um, I'd rather, you know, work for myself and, you know, work with people that genuinely care and try to, you know, build something special as opposed to, you know, work the corporate ranks and try to, you know, get to the top that way.

So, yeah, it's definitely, you know, more of a risk and, uh, you know, you got a lot of pressure from a lot of people, but it definitely is, it's not for everybody, but it's definitely for me for sure. Amen. Well, you know, you could say the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. And you literally, whether you're owning a restaurant or owning a lawn care business.

You're trading one set of problems, you know, working for somebody else and worrying, is there gonna be a Black Friday, are they gonna fire 20% of the staff? I know Nick in the casino business suffered through many Black Fridays as I did as well. Um, so you know, the only guarantee is there's no guarantees.

So if you run the business, you have those anxieties of am I gonna make payroll? I've gotta make a lot of decisions that I don't always wanna make decisions. Sometimes it's very taxing, but the flip side is that you don't have to worry about, you're gonna come in and someone's gonna fire you. So you literally trade one set of problems for another.

For sure. Mo money, mo problems. Ain't that the truth? The caramel location isn't the only new venture that you've kind of been working on, ed. Very good. Nate, you're a New Yorker, right? Correct. You come to Indiana. I had a delicious bagel this morning. Thank you. Yeah. The, the ed brought up here. Talk to us about Gables Bagels.

Born and raised in New York. I've always, uh, I was a bagel baker at two different bagel shops in New York. Bagels a part of my culture. I mean, to me, a Saturday morning, Sunday morning, eating bagels, you know, with coffee, particularly in the fall. I mean, I I, I'm sure there's maybe a better way to start, but as far as I'm concerned, that's a heck of a good start.

And so, uh, my dad, when I was young, used to play a lot of tennis and there was a great bagel shop near his tennis court that he would play. And every Saturday and Sunday he would stop and pick up a fresh bag of bagels. Come home and I would hear that bagel, the bag rustling just like this, the bag that I just brought in here this morning.

Oh, it was rustling, lemme tell you. Yeah. And, uh, Robert's on his third one out there. Yeah, yeah. I could, we could hear it now, in fact. And, uh, anyway, the point is that this is how I grew up and, uh, you leave New York much, like if you leave Indiana and there are things that you miss, I dunno what it would be.

I dunno if it's a pork tenderloin sandwich or there's gotta be something, you know, a specific, if you're in Philadelphia, can't get a good cheese steak anywhere. If you're in Boston, can't get a good lobster roll. Well, to me, I, I felt the bagels in the Midwest were lacking, no disrespect to any of the bagel shops that I've tried, but they just weren't for me.

And, um, during COVID said, you know what, there, there was a spot near our restaurant that, uh, um, I thought I could convert to a bagel shop. I convinced my wife, which was not easy to, to support me. And, um, we took a shot. And the biggest concern I had was not necessarily failing, although that certainly was a possibility.

The bigger concern was, is my wife now gonna have the right to say, I told you so, and you never get to go out on a limb again because you failed. And so, I mean, the financial loss would've been devastating, but the, the pressure of my wife being able to give me grief for the rest of her life that I couldn't have taken.

So thank God, the business that we opened up three years ago, and, um, it's been a phenomenal success. Uh, I'm very proud to say we're the number one Google-reviewed the number one Yelp-reviewed, uh, restaurant in Bloomington. And, um, we're actually, wait, just restaurant in general? Yeah. No way. Yeah. Uh, we're, we're 4.8.

I don't know, we, maybe there might be somebody 4.9, but. I like to say that if I'm wrong, Sumi, I think I'm, I'm, I'm def we're definitely in contention. I will say there's a little fun fact about BuffaLouie's spinoff is they, before we opened our second location, someone told either Ed or myself that they were the largest reward system database in the country for a single store restaurant.

That's correct. Wait, BuffaLouie's had the largest rewards database. You know how you get points for, you can get free meals Yeah. For one single store. Yep. That's pretty cool. The largest database in the country. That's fun. Well, that, that also speaks to the loyalty of our customers. That they're willing to give us the, the data.

For sure. Oh, absolutely. They trust you. You're not gonna blow 'em up. And they plan on coming back. Okay, here it is. We're talking. This is spectacular. This is a local guide. This, this review. She's given 27 reviews, okay? In her, which is a lot in terms of Google. We've got Gables Bagels, 4.8 on Google. She says, visiting from Alabama for the senior week.

I don't think I've ever been to a business with such an enthusiastic owner. He connected with every customer. He also kept the extremely long line moving, but at the same time took the time to connect with us and offer recommendations, asking if we were first time visitors and where we were from. So 10 out 10 on the atmosphere and culture.

We ordered the strawberry bagel. Oh, with the a jalapeno popper breakfast sandwich. Or jalapeno pop or breakfast sandwich. Talk to me. I'm interested. Basically they're saying this was incredible. Five out five. Five out five. Five out. Five. 10 outta 10. Nice. And they even waited a decent in the line. Yeah. And they said, well, it's the same thing about 's.

I mean, people I know when my dad was alive and he would come at BuffaLouie's, he'd say, son, I would never eat here if it wasn't your place. I wouldn't eat. Why dad? 'cause he doesn't want to stand in the line. And uh, you know, the long lines can be very intimidating and it never ceases to amaze me.

Whether it's BuffaLouie's or the bagel shop, people stand in line to give us money. It's, and I always wanna move the line, move the line. But obviously look for that part, me, that intersection of. Um, quality, speed. Yeah. Et cetera. What would you guys say, what advice would you have for other potential restaurateurs, whether they're opening a franchise, whether they're starting their own restaurant, or, you know, building a second location for an iconic brand?

What advice would you give to them? Back to my story is you really ha you have to believe in it. Um, like I said, I would not have done this if it was any other restaurant, um, if it was any other brand. I mean, you can come up with your own brand and stuff like that, but you really have to have, you know, full head of steam and belief in it.

And then you have to just. Pull the trigger and go. I mean, there's a lot of, like you said, how many people have asked you about opening a BuffaLouie's? Countless. There's a lot of, you know, di daddling around. And sometimes it is, it is nerve wracking. I mean, it's a financial risk. It's, uh, a lot of things and marital.

Yeah. If, if you aren't, you know, prepared for that, then it, it can be tough. And I just think, you know, if it's something that you want to do and, you know, I enjoy doing it now at the age of, you know, 31, about to be 32. I just had a, a little boy a couple months ago, so now like the pressure's on even more.

So you gotta just, you know, really want it and just, uh, you gotta be willing to, you know, consume yourself with it. You know? I, I feel like I left the casino business and I worked, uh, a lot there, and then now I work 10 times more, but it doesn't feel like work. Yeah. You know, I just live it. So you just have to really.

You don't want that. That is an interesting piece about when, when it's ownership is you do forego a little bit of work-life balance, especially when you're getting started. I think eventually you get afforded the opportunity to 100% if you so choose it, you know, show up to all the basketball games, be there for whatever it might be, but when you're just getting going, like it's, it's you, like you have to breathe this thing into existence.

Well, he's, he's got a, a little boy named Otto and in the beginning of life, life is the most precious in the beginning of the restaurant. The success of the business is extremely pre is is fragile. Yeah. You know, a couple of bad reviews, couple of big mistakes and you know, word starts getting around town and you're finished.

So the beginning, the beginning is so tough, but you are a hundred percent correct. Eventually, you can get to a point where you have peace of mind where you have, you surround yourself with good people who do the job. I mean, Nick and I are sitting here right now. His restaurant is open, my restaurant's open.

And went out checking our phones. Our phone's not blowing up. Yeah. And we're doing just fine 'cause we're surrounded by good people. Yeah. But I wanted to say something else about, you asked, you know, what advice would you give somebody opening a restaurant? You know the old phrase, ready, aim, fire. Well, there's another version of that.

It's the name of the autobiography of Bill Cook who was, uh, Indiana's wealthiest man. He passed away a few years back. He was in the medical device business outta Bloomington. And his autobiography is Ready, Fire, Aim, not Ready, aim, fire. And the difference is, my wife is a ready, aim, fire gal. She will think and study.

I remember when I said I'm opening up the bagel, she shop, she said, do you have a business plan? I said, yeah, my plan is to sell bagels. She said, no, no, no. Do, do you have your food costs laid out, you know, and spreadsheets. I said, I don't need all that nonsense. And so, you know, when we opened up. I started firing and then making adjustments.

Firing versus aiming and aiming and aiming until you, you know, you shoot that bullet and you're still off and you still have to make an adjustment. For sure. So I, I think people who are more Ready, Fire, Aim are much more successful than ready, aim, fire because those people are gonna think and think and think and eventually say, ah, you know what, it probably won't work.

And, you know, it's like asaps fables with the, the sour grapes. Yeah. Those grapes are probably sour anyway. Yeah. So to me, you, you've gotta have that mentality of we're just gonna make mistakes, we're gonna screw up, but the sun will rise and, uh, we're gonna be fine. And he is. Yeah. I'm gonna add this to my, to my reading list.

The Bill Cook story Ready, Fire, Aim, written in 2008 by Bob Hammel who just passed away. He was a friend of mine. Bob was, yeah, he, he, he was a Bloomington guy. Oh, so Bloomington guy wrote another Bloomington guy. Yeah. Uh, 'cause Bill Cook was probably, uh, what, when did he pass away? I'll say five years ago.

Yeah. Um, yeah, so, so the Bill Cook story, Ready, Fire, Aim, the biography of a visionary Indiana billionaire. I mean, who doesn't wanna read that? 4.3 stars. Come on, I'll take that. We're, this is the review episode. We're talking about reviews, speaking of reviews. Okay. We talked about this, right? Like in the early stages of a restaurant, it's fragile, like couple bad reviews, this, that, the other thing.

How do you guys deal with that? You know, like you, when you're there, when you can be the frontman and welcome every guest and give that. A plus plus, plus plus owner experience. It's great if you're not there, if you get a bad review, if someone goes on the internet and says something, let's say distasteful about the product that you're offering, how do you guys handle that?

As, as owners, the customer's always right, and I I, even if they're not, but I, I think sometimes it's people just wanna be heard and if you mess up and you own the mistake and try to make it right, then I think that's just the best thing to do. I mean, we're all human. Yeah. It's because you're not gonna win.

Like even if you are right, let's say whatever happened and they were in the wrong, like they tried to order pizza and they're like so pissed 'cause you don't have pizza or whatever it is, you know, and you're like, Hey lady. Chill out. Like you can't say that. You're like, you know what? 'cause you're never gonna convince them that you are.

Right. You just have to give them what they want. And I think that's a tough place to be in. 'cause you kinda just have to say like, smile and accept. It's like smiling, getting punched in the face, like mm-hmm. Yep. Yes ma'am. May I have another? Well, I, I think you also gotta keep it in perspective, meaning we all know that bad news travels 10 times fast.

Look at the newspapers, bad news travels, you know, much faster than good news. Yeah. And so, um, if we have a thousand tickets on a day, you know, and we get three reviews, which is probably a lot for one day. Even if you have a thousand different families coming in. And I sometimes ask people, you know, say, do me a favor, you know, oh, we love this place.

And I'll say, Hey, do me a favor if, if you're so inclined, if you wanna leave review. I know the team really appreciates it. And I always try to make it about the team, not about me. But, you know, people of course, will tell you they will. And of course they don't. Mm-hmm. 'cause people lie like rugs. But the point is, is that, um.

Uh, if I get a thousand tickets and I get one negative review outta those thousand orders, that tells me I, at 999, that we did just fine. And, uh, one thing I always do is I always try to respond to every single review, even the bad ones. And it's painful. Um, and I've had people, I'll never forget one time I, you know, when I'm out in the dining room at BuffaLouie's and, you know, where are you folks from Missouri.

Oh, what brings you to town over here for, you know, my son is, uh, performing at the Jacob School of Music or whatever. And I'll say, oh, that's great. How'd you hear about us? And they'll say, well, we went online and at this point they don't know that I'm the owner. And they'll say, you know, we started reading your reviews and we saw that the owner responded to every review and I do.

And, um, and I do too now. Yeah. And so, um, they said that meant a lot to us. That really imp impress. They didn't care that the reviews were good or bad. It meant a lot. You know, and, and I will tell you this, every bad review I've ever had, I, I break the rules and I put my phone number out. I say, Joe, I would love to meet you to talk more about this.

Here's my cell. Please text me. I'll buy you lunch. You know, you're not supposed to say you'll give him anything. You're not supposed to put your phone number out there. I do it all the time. No one's ever, ever, I think I had one person ever take me up on my offer to try to, you know, make it right. So how did that go?

Uh, beautifully. They actually wrote a, they, they wrote a very lovely review, as you know. They wrote a review about the review, correct? Correct. Well, they came back, they said, listen, the first time there was this, it was that the second time, you know, ed had brought us in and, and they were, they were very complimentary.

So, you know, you try to, you win as many battles as you can. The ones you don't win, you keep it in perspective. It's like, you know, listen, signi is 20 and two. That's pretty gosh darn good. If we serve 999 people and one person gives us a bad review, we're 9 99 and one. That's a pretty good record. We'll take that.

Uh, this is the interesting piece, the best intersection. I read a book about this. The best intersection to make the most loyal customer is actually on the heels of a mistake without question. Right. If like, if you, you know, make mistakes, something gets wrong and then you go above and beyond to make it right.

That's how you get the most loyal customers. Correct. Correct. Which is crazy phenomenon. It's like you could serve them spectacularly 10 times in a row and it won't motivate them to make a review. You could mess something up, fix the problem above and beyond. Then they'll be like, oh my gosh, this place is so great.

That's exactly right. People just wanna be heard. Yeah. I mean, there was a review we got recently, I think it was the bagel shop guy said something to the effect, you know, I've been here so many times and they always get it right today. They didn't. And he wrote, wrote what the negative view was and I wanted to write back, Hey asshole, and, and shame on me for saying this, but.

I looked and looked. I couldn't see any of your positive reviews. What is it about your personality that you hear? You are saying that we got, we did a five. Outta five every time, but today because we were two outta five. In your eyes, today's the day you're gonna leave the review. Yeah, true. I mean, that's human nature.

That is human nature in a nutshell. It's so true. Even told us we're always great, except that day. Yeah. Well, speaking of reviews, if you like what you're hearing right now, please go on to Spotify, apple Podcasts. Leave us a review. It would mean a lot to our editor, Robert. He's on a mission to get, I think, a hundred reviews for the show, so please make that happen.

That would be awesome. See that segue there? That was well done. Yeah. There we go. Well, we've come to the next segment. This is the final segment of the show where we talk all things Indiana. So we have our first question here. It's brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond.

Check them out at homeisjchart.com. I do believe they have. At least one property down in Bloomington. So if I use students or listen to this, check out JC Hart. My question for you, gentlemen, why do you call Indiana home? Well, in my case, I, I might have mentioned it off air or maybe on air, I don't know.

But my life is kinda like the, the Forrest Gump leaf. I've kind of gone where the wind's blowing, and I've lived in la I've lived in New York. I lived in Chicago twice for each of those cities. And my point is, somehow I wind up down here after this horrific situation, losing my son and the city, my wife. It became part of my, my renaissance, my rebirth.

And literally for the first time in my life, I'm 64 now. Um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a member in decent standing in the community. I mean, I'm not pretending that I'm anything I'm not, but I feel like I matter. Not, and I don't say that in a, a, you know, a bragging way, but. I know I have, I have great friends. My, my kids are surrounded by great friends.

Uh, I, I, I'm, I'm in the words of John Mellencamp. It's probably where they'll bury me. I mean, I was not born in a small town, but I'm not going anywhere now. I mean, a tank of gas last me a long time. I live five minutes from the store. I hardly ever go on a highway. I'm never stuck in a traffic jam. And even when I am, it's just a couple of lights on, you know, college, mall, road life is good down there.

I mean, it's a college town, and, uh, it's got all the, the flavor of a big city. I got all the sports I need, all the culture I need. Although I don't go to the ballet, I don't go to, you know, modern dance or the, the, the, the opera. But it's there if I wanted to for sure. And, uh, I, I, we have good food. Good, great weather.

Southern Indiana is, and just so we, we go out on Lake Monroe, we have a small boat that we love. Nothing fancy. I lead a good life and I didn't always lead a good life, so I'm very lucky late in life. And so that's why Indiana, for me, being born here obviously helps. But, um, like you said, the cross of living and just, uh, after graduating from college and getting different jobs and offers elsewhere, it just, uh, didn't seem, uh, a fit to leave.

I had a lot of family and stuff here and then, uh, you know, taking this risk, opening a restaurant. I wouldn't wanna do this in Long Beach or Manhattan, but, you know, here in Indiana you can, you know, make a, make a living with, uh, not too much. So, yeah, I, I love the state. I've been here my whole life, but being a Hoosier is, is is definitely something that means a lot to me.

Yeah. Did you, hold on, did you mean Long Beach, California or Long Beach, New York. Uh, man, but Long Beach, New York, California, because I, I lived, did I mention that earlier? Is that why you said that? I knew that my, my, uh, in-laws used to live in Long Beach. Oh. I just, he was naming expensive real estate. He was just, yeah.

You know. Um, okay. Alright gentlemen, what's the go-to order at BuffaLouie's? Don't tell anybody I said this, but, you know, carbs are the enemy, so you gotta lay off the carbs. Although I, I, I go feast or famine with the carbs, you know, I'll go three days where I just devour every piece of bread I find, and then I'll go, um, uh, three weeks without eating any.

Um, so if I am not, if I'm eating carbs, I'll go 10 medium flats or I get all flats. I don't like the drums, so I go 10 flat, medium, extra crispy, and, uh, with a ranch. And then I, I take a two ounce, um, cup of blue cheese crumbles and I sprinkle 'em on top. And our amazing cheese bread also with ranch. So a cheese bread with ranch.

We're on the carbs. Yeah. Yeah. Cheese bread, 10 wings flat, extra crispy, medium. And I, I get an extra saucy and I take that cheese bread and I mop it through the sauce, put the blue cheese on. Oh, it's um, the crazy thing is our cheese bread to me is one of my favorite things on the menu, and it's so simple and I think that's why I like it so much.

There's nothing very complex about it, but nobody does the cheese bread as good as we do, which blows my mind. Nobody does wings as good as we do, which also blows my mind. Uh, I'd probably have to say traditional wings as well. Um, and probably our hot garlic sauce. It kind of moved around a little bit for me.

I used to like our hot barbecue, so we, our, our most famous sauce is sweet barbecue. And then we have our, uh, mild through, you know, mild, medium hot all the way up to Lucifer. But then we also mix those, uh, barbecues with, uh, the, the buffalo sauce. So hot barbecue is probably like, used to be my favorite, even when I was in college.

But then as of recently, uh, and it just kind of become our store favorite as well. Uh, hot garlic on some wings. Yeah. Um, it's definitely a, uh. An employee favorite. We recently did a spin on, uh, they had the Gables Burger, which is the building down in Bloomington. So we did what's called the Main Street Burger, and it was just kind of a way for our staff to be able to, uh, come up with a burger that they, uh, wanted to name after, like our store specifically.

And they ended up putting, uh, some hot garlic on that. Yeah, it's, it's like a Southwest burger. So yeah. They, they really love it. I loved it. So, and it's not too spicy, but if you like spicy stuff, that'd probably be your best. Well, that, and that's not the only custom burger you guys have the Main Street Burger and The Gable Burger.

You also have a partnership with the Mendoza brothers, correct? Uh, maybe you guys have heard Heisman, front runner, Fernando, um, you guys have a partnership with Yes. With them, right? Yes, that is. And you created a burger that isn't just lining in the pockets of anyone in particular. It's helping raise money for a cause.

Correct. Nate, I'll tell you, I'm very impressed with you, Nate. I'm, I could see why you're so good at what you do. You really are. Um, so, uh, earlier this summer we get an email. From a company outta California that it turn turns out to be Fernando's, um, sports agency. So Fernando and his younger brother, Alberto, uh, they're signed up with them.

I dunno if it's their agent or their agency, whatever the term is. I'm not sure. But basically the email says, uh, we represent the, uh, the Mendoza brothers. And when, when Fernando was at Cal last year, Cal Berkeley, there was a local taco shop that made a taco in honor of his mom. His mom suffers from MS, which is a horrific illness.

And, um, she, her name is Elsa. She's just the sweetest woman. I've met her several times. And so they said, uh, we're not looking for a money deal. We just would like something on the menu where you donate the proceeds to fight MS and we tie it in with the Mendoza brothers. Would you be interested? And um, my first thought was, wow.

This sounds too good to be true. And often when it is, it usually is too good to be true. So I remember I sent the, the email to Nick and we have the team, uh, the founder, Jay and his, uh, group is still involved. So I sent it to everybody. It's like, I think I'm gonna say yes to this. What do you guys think?

And, uh, and I, I love doing collaborative stuff because it just makes life easier for everyone's on board. Upfront versus I say, here's what we're doing. And then they say, wow, we, it would've been nice if he would've thought of this, that, or the other. Mm-hmm. So it's always better to get buyin upfront. Nick chimed in right away and tell him what you said about Elijah ot.

Another little tidbit about me. I come from a little bit of a sports marketing and management background as well. So, uh, when he brought it to me, to my attention, I, I was giving him like quotes on a couple other receivers and stuff that we were trying to negotiate to do some, uh, you know, meet and greets and like some autograph signings and they were wanting, you know, an arm and a leg just to do that.

And, you know, meanwhile, the, this guy who I had a lot of faith in to be the Heisman favorite is, uh, wanting to do a partnership with us, name a burger after him, and then donate all the money to pro, uh, to a charity. I mean, it sounded like a no-brainer. Like Ed said, is it too good to be true? Uh, but then, uh, they ended up, uh, making it happen.

Um, Fernando and Alberto are both, you know, quarterbacks on the team and they worked with Ed to make a, a great, you know, Cuban-inspired sandwich. And I think it's done really well. It's done great in Bloomington and, uh, up in on game days, uh, it seems to be a favorite and uh, it's going to a great cause. So, yeah.

Absolutely. And that's, that's really cool and that's awesome of those guys to, I don't know, for, like, sometimes I feel like college sports has become all about money and making the most amount of money and like everything you do has to be something you're getting compensated for. And to have an initiative and to help bring this to life, I think is super cool and says a lot about their character as well as your guys' character as well.

Well, and I, I've had the fortune of, uh, meeting Fernando and Alberto multiple times. I've met his family, his mom, his dad, his extended family. And, um, they're, they're like a superior race. They're all gorgeous. They're all six foot 12. They're, they're all got like model skin. I mean, it, it, it's really something when you hang out with them.

And, um, uh, what, what I love about the story is when I said yes, I'd yet to meet them and, um, we had set up a, a taste, a test, a taste test at BuffaLouie's. And he was gonna, he brought in four or five of his, uh, teammates plus Alberto. They came into BuffaLouie's when we were closed, pardon me. And we ate like six or seven different burgers and they couldn't have been nicer.

And then we went over to the bagel shop where we make a Cubano for them. And, um, we were gonna film for Fernando and he said, no, no, no. Wait, wait. I need my brother in this shot. And he's all about sharing the light with his brother. You know, it's, it's the Mendoza brothers. It's not the Fernando Mendoza brothers Burger.

Um, what's really cute, they have a younger brother named, um, max, who's about 12 or 13, just the most precocious, cute 12, 13-year-old kid you've ever met. And I go, uh, I, I wound up delivering a lot of food to their, uh, house slash apartment after one of their, our big victories. And uh, this little boy comes up to me and I shake his hand.

I say, how do you fit into this group? He says, well, you've got my name on your menu board at BuffaLouie's. And me being so stupid, my first thought I'm thinking is his last name, Gables, is his last name Sweet Lou. Is it all American? Like what Burger? His named after this little kid. He goes, I am Max Mendoza. I am the youngest brother.

And the burger says Mendoza Brothers Burger. It doesn't say Fernando, it doesn't say Alberto. I said, good for you. Little Max. Yeah, great kid. I mean, they, they're just a delight, so it makes it so much easier. To wanna support the cause. And obviously the whole goal here, you know, we're, we're, we're donating about three bucks a sandwich, which is nice, but it's not gonna move the needle as you know, you know, the cost of, of, of medical research.

But what it could do, you know, we have so many, uh, alumni, I heard recently that IU has more active alumni than any college in the world. It's the largest alumni association in the world. Bizarre. I mean, maybe it's the, maybe it's the fact that it's the alumni association versus just just plain alumni. But regardless, that means they're willing to send money to IU to be part of this association.

We just need one or two, like a Mark Cuban to support the Cubans, or you know, oh, hello. See what we did there? Yeah. Come on. But in other words, if one of them, and we, you know, we use our QR code so they could tie it to our campaign. So we're gonna maybe raise a thousand dollars a month or something. 'cause we're doing a match.

Yeah. Which is nice. But if with money and awareness, if other people look on and say, you know what, yeah, uh, I wanna donate big numbers. That'd be lovely for sure. Yeah. That's incredible. Um, so it might happen. Yeah. And uh, one of my favorite story, I think it was, I dunno, a, a month or so back when Alberto got into one of the games and had like an insane run up the sideline.

And I saw someone like on Twitter, like, I can't believe they still have Fernando. And like, they're like, running up the score, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, no, it's just another Mendoza that's playing quarterback for IU. Like the world is, is so screwed. Like, we're gonna just keep rolling. Well, and then the other thing that drives me nuts is that our field goal kicker wears 15 just like Fernando, which I don't, I don't understand.

And if you, if you don't follow the, and they don't wear their names in the back of the jersey and so if, um, am I correct, there's no football? They do, they do, but it says Mendo. Oh well, but you can't see the name. So all of a sudden, 15 is lining up for a field goal. It's like, wait a minute. Yeah. Right. The kicks field goes to, maybe they do that on purpose in case they need to run a fake man, run a fake fake.

But it's like, is it one, is it uh, Fernando 15 and Alberto 16. 16, yeah. And so you see like a, a 15, 16. It's hard to tell he had scammers down the side that I'm like, dang. Can't believe they still have him in. It's like, no, there's, that was my intro that they were two of them. Yeah. Which is incredible. And he's good.

Alberto's very good. For sure. Um, so we've come to the final three questions that we ask every guest who comes on the show. Uh, this is where we just learn a little bit about your perspective on Indiana. So, uh, ed, we'll start with you. We'll go to Nick, we'll go to Nick, we'll go to Ed. We back and forth.

There we go. Born in New York, lived in Chicago, lived in la, lived in the region, lived in Bloomington. Been a lot of different places. As you're going there, what's one thing the world needs to know about Indiana? Back in the day, they would call this flyover country. I dunno if you know that term. I do. And that's a New Yorker's view.

You'd fly over the Midwest to get to LA and, and it wasn't worth stopping. Um, I would say, um, keep flying over. Don't stop. In other words, let, I love our little charm down in Bloomington. It really is special. I mean, I wouldn't mind if it grew a little bit faster. It's a very slow growing town by, and that's not by accident.

There's a lot of restriction on growth, whereas Carmel, there is cranes everywhere. There's explosive growth. I wouldn't mind if it was somewhere in between, but I think what we've got going on in Bloomington is really special. And I can't speak for the whole state. I don't travel the whole state. I'm in Bloomington, 99 days out of a hundred.

I do love getting around. I love going up to Zionsville. Carmel is very lovely. Um. But I don't know enough about the entire state. I should, um, I do, although I do drive with my daughter to different basketball games. I've been at every high school gym in the country. Um, but to me it's a lovely state. I, I love living here.

I, I think it's safe. Mm-hmm. Um, it seems to be pro business. I got no complaints. There you go. The people for sure. Yeah. Um, you know, being a year into it, it's the best thing about being a business owner is meeting different people. And so many people are wanting to help you succeed. And I think a lot of places in this world probably are not like that.

It's too competitive and people, you know, will bite at each other. And here in Indiana, I just feel like anywhere you go, whether it's Bloomington, Carmel, back home in Richmond, I feel like you're gonna get, uh, some genuine support. You're gonna have some that you know, don't, but I, I feel like a majority of the hosier state is very supportive.

Amen. Okay. This is, I I have an anecdotal story to Yes. Support that. So, right after COVID, we we're, we reopened and we have a line out the door for the first time in months. And I mean, I'm overwhelmed with joy 'cause you know, financially we're upside down. And, uh, a customer walks in. I don't even remember who it was.

And I recognized him and I said, you know, Joe, I'm so sorry that we're so busy. 'cause he was gonna stand in this line. He said, ed, I am so happy to see how busy you are. Oh yeah. And I'll gladly stand in this line. I'm like, wow, what more could you want? There you go. This guy's willing to stand in line to give me his hard-earned money.

I don't, like I said, I don't remember what it was, but I'll never forget that sentiment, that he was happy to see how successful we were that day. So that, there it is. That, that, that pivots off what Nick just said. People are rooting for you. You do the right thing. You carry yourself in a, you know, you support all the local causes, whether it's Fernando Mendoza, whether it's cancer, whether it's, um, uh, we're big supporters of the Boys & Girls Club.

You do the right thing and the community notices. It also softens the blow when you screw up inevitably. Which, which you will. Sure. I love. Yeah. So true. Um, Nick, we're back to you. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? The, the stone quarry is down in Bloomington. Yeah. Uh, you might get in a little little trouble trying to get there these days, but I remember, uh, in college those were, uh, somewhere we'd go park on the side of the street and one of my buddies would lead us through the woods, and all of a sudden you'd find this perfectly cut out, uh, stone quarry that's got this crystal blue water and you could jump off cliffs and stuff like that.

Um, you, you, you can get in trouble doing it now, uh, because I think it's owned by private property, but it's probably one of the coolest things in, uh, Indiana. They mentioned it in the movie, uh, Cutters, but Breaking Away. Breaking Away. Sorry. Um, but, uh, they were the Cutters. Uh, but yeah. Yep, yep. You got it right.

Uh, yeah, it, that was probably, when I think of like Bloomington, I think of Indiana. That's, yeah. When John Mellencamp was writing his songs, he was talking about the snowboard. Amen. So Ed, what's your hidden gem in Indiana? Well, my first thought is, I'm wondering how many of your listeners even are familiar with the movie Breaking Away?

'cause it was filmed in the late seventies. It's all about cycling, right? Yeah. And, and about Little 500, which is considered the biggest weekend in college, just in college in America. And it's an amazing movie. And I cry like a baby every time I watch that movie. Every time. I mean, I just turned it on and I'd just start crying right away.

It's empathetic. And the funny thing to me is a sports freak before I moved to Indiana. The three greatest sports movies all took place in Indiana, breaking Away Rudy, and of course, number one, Hoosiers. Hoosiers. Right. I got to interview Angelo Pizzo, uh, a few months back. He's a friend. He comes in Buffalo. He's a good friend.

Yeah. He, he's a good friend. He talks, uh, he's a funny guy. Yeah. Yeah. You, you, I could see you two having some good banter back and forth. So, uh, hidden gems. So, um, I, I like that you said the, the quarry. That's certainly one, and there is some danger there, but you certainly, uh, it's, it's worth it, particularly if you've seen a movie, uh, breaking Away my, um, my hidden gems, brown County State Park is phenomenal.

Um, another one is, uh, Marengo Cave. Yes. If you've never been to Marengo Cave, and I went, uh, we had, uh, some kids living with us from Myanmar and we were looking for things. We had some exchange students. We've done that many times and we love doing that. And so that forces us to do things that we nor normally wouldn't do.

And Marengo Cave. Now there's a cave in Kentucky called Mammoth Cave, which is big, but it's not pretty. Marengo Cave is gorgeous. It's crazy. It's got the, the, the stalactites and stalagmites. I don't know what the hell they're called. Yeah, yeah. But it's Have you ever been? I haven't. I've been to Mammoth Cave, but I've never been there.

Mammoth is just Mammoth. Yeah. It's just not real pretty. It's. Marengo Cave is just gorgeous. I mean, it is like, you have the Yeah. The Oaks form over, where is it at? Tons of Morengo is in Crawford. It's Indiana, Crawford County. So down it would probably be east of Bloomington, uh, east of Jasper that way.

Okay. Uh, kinda like down, almost towards like the ville, Harrison County area. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Correct. Um, but it's incredible. They have two big loops you can go on in there. It's really cool. Hmm. I mean, I'm a little bit or a lot, a bit claustrophobic at times, so like type, tight spaces and caves aren't that fun for me.

But I really enjoyed my time at, uh, well, yeah, there are some things you could do to get clo You, you wouldn't be claustrophobic if you just do the tour. But I love about the story though, is I think it was two kids playing in the yard. And they just find this case? Yes. No, it's just there. They fell into it.

Yeah. Just Blanche Hiestand and her brother Orris discovered it. Uh, so Blanche heard some local boys talking about a nearby sinkhole. So basically she goes out there with nothing but a candle and as the legend goes, falls into it with her brother and that's how they end up discovering this entire cave system down below there.

Wow. This, this girl heard the boys talking about it. They were two chicken to go in it. Blanche goes in there, falls in the hole, and someone eventually finds them and they discover this massive spanning cave. When, when was that? 1883. Nice. Imagine that though. It's dark in there and it's still the same thing that they found.

Mm-hmm. It's like it's pretty dark in there. Imagine like when they turn off all the lights and it's just like silence. Imagine falling in there as a 15-year-old kid with your brother. Right? I would be terrified. It's like the Goonies. Oh my gosh, that would be so scary. Alright gentlemen, final question.

This is where we source new guests and we learn about other Hoosiers that are doing inspiring things. Ed, we'll start with you. Who's a Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar. Someone who's doing big things well, I'm gonna get selfish and I'm gonna talk about my son, Ben. Yeah, so my son Ben was a Hoosier. He was from Schererville, he was a musician.

He's on Spotify. Um, he left us 11 songs and, uh, whenever you listen to his music, uh, a proceed goes, the proceeds go to Centerstone, which is a mental health organization. And if, if your listeners would give Ben's music a listen, it would mean a lot. Where can, what do I need to search on Spotify to find it?

Ben, Ben Schwartzman. And there's a lot of other stories behind that. I won't, you know, get into too much detail. But yeah, we lost him in 2007, but his music still lives on and we're trying to do something good with his music and, um, it's working. I just, I'm just wanna do more. Yeah, absolutely. That's incredible.

I think, uh, the new basketball coach at IU is somebody that we need to pay attention to. I mean, a lot of the focus is on Coach Cig, but I, I think Coach DeVries is gonna do just fine with the program. And I, uh, that, that'd probably be one of my Hoosiers to kind of keep an eye on. Who is the, um, oh man, the Sam Houston State guy.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, Lamar Wilkerson. Yeah. Lamar Wilkerson gets signed from Sam Houston State to IU, gets a big NIL check and then writes over a hundred thousand dollars check back to Sam Houston State as a thank you for helping develop him. Absolute. Is it? I don't like, I don't know what all the details and stuff are, but that's the way, like I read an article about it.

That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. You know, 'cause he gets whatever payday coming here and he's like, you know, I wouldn't have gotten this opportunity without Sam Houston State. So he writes them a six figure check. I like him. I'm a fan. You are doing something big Lamar. There we go. I love it.

Gentlemen, this has been such a pleasure. Thank you for coming on and sharing the story that led you down to Bloomington for the first time to get involved with what would later be your, uh, your ownership stake in BuffaLouie's '? I think it's an incredible journey. Um, I do encourage people to go look up your son, Ben, on Spotify.

Thank you. Listen to you said. Yeah, he's got. An album on there or multiple albums we got. We gotta whole discography. Yeah, he's got 11 songs. Yes. That's incredible. Thank you. It's such a fun time. Makes it easy. Obviously go check out the bagel shop as well down. And there's a new one in Zionsville, in Zionsville.

Should be, by the time this show airs, I'm assuming in December. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, it should be open. Heck yeah. Uh, obviously keep rooting on the Hoosiers. Gentlemen, Nick, thank you so much for coming on. Uh, keep rocking things in Carmel. I love having new places to go and visit and I'm sure that every IU alumni that lives on the north side of Indianapolis likes to, you know, spend a Saturday walking back down memory lane, uh, and checking out obviously wings, the garlic, the cheese bread.

I mean, we got the, we know the pro orders now, gentlemen. Keep doing great things. We appreciate y'all and, uh, thanks for stopping by. Yeah, thanks Nick. Thank you. Thank you for allowing us to get in there. Cut it there. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater.

If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.